Recent Posts


Tuesday

7.8 out of 10 based on 8 ratings

105 comments to Tuesday

  • #
    TdeF

    The autopen scandal grows rapidly. But seriously, how hard is it to sign an executive order with witnesses, without getting a robot to copy your signature?

    This is not like the latest trend as in Adobe Acrobat of a meaningless make believe signature without witnesses, which is worse. This is a real machine under lock and key at all times.

    So how many times did George Bush or Barack Obama use the autopen? Or Donald Trump?

    Why was is an autopen robot ever required? And who operates it normally? What rules and procedures prevent the abuse of absolute power?

    One energy group has found whole sequences of environmental executive orders were signed with the identical autopen signature. One executive order banned gas sales in Pennsylvania, which no sane politician wanting to win Pennsylvania would have issued.

    And speaker Mike Johnson in a private meeting with Biden in January after the election found that Biden had no idea he had signed a specific executive order the day before. That’s inexcusable unless he truly did not know about it, which was Johnson’s conclusion.

    I think all the executive orders will now be examined. And if there are hundreds of auto pen signatures, answers will be needed from the Chief of Staff and underlings. Signatures are a very special part of law making. They are not hard to do. And you generally require witnesses to any legal signing. It appears even Cabinet members did not have access to Joe Biden for months at a time.

    This incredible scandal may invalidate most if not all autopen signatures and Biden executive orders, including the outrageous pardons. It is possible that America did not have a President for the four years. And that of course everyone knew it.

    371

  • #

    I have been waiting years for this issue to be litigated.
    
    Showdown looms for Empire Wind
    By David Wojick
    https://www.cfact.org/2025/06/02/showdown-looms-for-empire-wind/

    The beginning: “Empire Wind is a big New York offshore wind project that is ready to start construction. The Trump administration stopped it about a month ago but has now unstopped it, supposedly after the President made an informal deal with Governor Hochul to lift New York’s ban on new gas pipelines from Pennsylvania.

    Empire is about to start driving the enormous steel monopiles that hold the turbine towers, but a new wrinkle has hit the fan, setting the stage for a massive confrontation. A group protesting the project has filed a federal lawsuit challenging its approval. Unlike prior lawsuits, this one makes a new argument in addition to some of the usual ones. It challenges the NOAA Fisheries’ authorized harassment of large numbers of a threatened dolphin.

    The issue is the authorization limits in the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which the lawsuit claims are being exceeded by a huge margin. On paper this looks like a strong case, so there is a real possibility the court will stop the project.”

    Lots more in the article, please share it.

    Save the dolphins.

    252

  • #
    MeAgain

    https://www.brot-fuer-die-welt.de/fileadmin/mediapool/2_Downloads/Fachinformationen/Analyse/Analyse_64_en-The_Weakest_Should_not_Bear_the_Risk.pdf

    From the perspective of the UN Development Finance conferences for the development of a rural area a large greenfield investment is considered a lucky strike. Governments look forward to new infrastructures, employment opportunities and revenues and new markets are expected to take root, population is seen expanding and all kinds of economic opportunities are awaited. What economists call “externalities” are often disregarded. Instead – as was the case documented in the following report – the risks for the local people made dependent to new forms of securing a livelihood, the reduction of biodiversity and food security, environmental pollution, noise, dirt and crime and the disruption of traditional social relations were conceived as the harbingers of modernisation.
    Sierra Leone in West Africa, one of the 48 least developed countries, was the arena for a large-scale investment into the production of bioethanol beginning in 2009. Since the “Everything but Arms”-initiative of the EU of 2001 least developed countries may import everything but arms in to the EU free of quotas and tariffs. The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) of 2009 specified that 10 percent fuels from renewable sources should be added to all fossil fuels in the community in order to improve the carbon footprint and bring Europe closer to its greenhouse gas reduction objectives. These two EU-regulations created an ensured market for the plan to produce bioethanol in Sierra Leone and import it into the EU.

    The Addax and Oryx Group (AOG), a holding company of Swiss national Jean Claude Gandur, who had started a business of oil exploration and oil and gas trading in Africa in 1987, was interested in diversifying its energy business. It planned to invest into the production of bioethanol in Sierra Leone in West Africa. The AOG convinced eight European and African Development Finance Institutions (surprisingly, two of them incorporated in Mauritius as offshore companies), the Government of Sierra Leone and the local leadership in the rural area of Makeni, that the investment would create a win-win situation for the local community and the country, the company and EU’s climate objectives.

    Halting the project operations of Addax Bioethanol Sierra Leone (ABSL) in July 2015, retrenching 3,850 local employees and ceasing the local social development programme meant a throwback of the people in Makeni to livelihood practices that were no more viable for them.
    After five years of land lease and high input agriculture on the village lands that were part of the Farmers Development Programme, not only the agricultural practice but also the social situation and the markets in the area had changed considerably. In about 60 villages leasing lands to Addax and becoming part of the new economy Addax’ investment had created, resulted in new labour, tenure and social relations for the local people. To secure their livelihood they had begun to rely more on markets rather than on the requirements of making a living based on biodiverse resources. The failure of the Addax project threw the project beneficiaries deeper than before into income poverty and food insecurity. It clouded all economic perspectives, the youth began to migrate and the communities were more exposed to unwanted social impacts such as drinking, domestic violence, etc

    80

  • #
    Lance

    Australia Abruptly Shuts Down Covid ‘Vaccine’ Safety Study, Destroys All Data

    “There is no longer a scientific and public health need to retain these biological samples for future study.”
    “These samples will be appropriately sterilised and disposed of,” the letter continued.
    “All study data… will be archived… [but] will not be accessed or used for any future purpose.”

    https://slaynews.com/news/australia-abruptly-shuts-down-covid-vaccine-safety-study-destroys-all-data/

    260

    • #

      Only a cynic would wonder why.
      Yet governments have created cynics – by the boatload – through saying one thing and doing another.
      Not just in Australia, or in the UK.

      I wonder why that study has ended.

      Auto

      190

    • #
      Gary S

      F’n disgraceful.

      40

      • #
        Bruce

        Par for the course.

        What else do the guilty bastards plan to “disappear”?

        How much rewriting and obliteration of “history” has gone on in the last couple of decades.

        Were, or are, there ANY stout souls in the “system” who have sequestered their own copies of the incriminating evidence, to be globally “dumped” in the event of an “untimely demise”?

        This is not a dodgy SF novel.

        It is a grim reality.

        Good luck, folks.

        30

    • #
      Yarpos

      Amazing how fast and efficiently governments can act when it suits.

      40

  • #
    • #
      OldOzzie

      Silence is Dangerous – Putin and Trump Quiet as Zelenskyy Brags and Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Turkey End After Less than One Hour

      June 2, 2025 – Sundance

      President Trump has not made any statement after Ukraine launched an attack yesterday deep into Russia targeting long-range nuclear capable bombers.

      Russian President Vladimir Putin has also remained quiet throughout the day today. However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking from Vilnius, Lithuania, publicly bragged about the operation today.

      According to Turkish officials (note silence from Russia & Ukraine), the previously scheduled meeting between Russian and Ukranian negotiators ended today after less than an hour. There are no details about what took place inside the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul, just that once the meeting attendees were seated and gave initial remarks, the event dissolved. Both the Russian and Ukrainian teams left the building.

      White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared full of nervous energy as she spoke to journalists outside the White House, noting that President Trump was in meetings and discussions all day while taking phone calls.

      U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have also remained silent.

      121

      • #
        OldOzzie

        Lessons from the drone attack on Russia’s airbases – analysis

        The Ukrainian attack on the Russian airfields has been seen as a game-changer in warfare.

        By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
        JUNE 2, 2025 16:22

        Ukraine carried out a complex drone attack on Russian airbases far from the front line. The attack has received a lot of attention around the world. It is seen as a game changer in the way drones can be used to attack key strategic military assets.

        For instance, the drones apparently flew out of trucks that had been stationed near several Russian airbases. Dubbed Spider’s Web, the operation targeted the Belaya and Olenya airbases and may have targeted others. It is believed that several Russian Tu-22M and Tu-95 bombers were destroyed.

        Ukraine has been a pioneer in the use of small drones, which are more helpful on the battlefield because they are cheap and attritable, meaning that they can be lost in large numbers at the front and easily be replaced. This means that Ukraine didn’t have to rely on Western countries to resupply its drone fleet.

        Small drones, such as quadcopters, can be easily launched by infantry, and they can be used to help with targeting fire, monitor enemy movements, kill enemy infantry, and help artillery with guidance and battle damage assessment. Over time, the large deployment of these small drones being locally made in Ukraine put this advantage in the hands of small units at the front. Hundreds of thousands of them were flowing to the army. At sea, Ukraine also used unmanned vessels. This gave the embattled country, which lacks manpower and finances, the ability to confront the more powerful Russia.

        Kyiv has shown what is possible, and now, countries like China or even terrorist groups might try to replicate this in attacks on the US military or on other countries.

        However, the challenge is that there are too many places to defend. Because the counter-drone tech, whether it be jammers, lasers, or even rifles and missiles, has a limited range, means every place that needs to be defended requires multiple layers of anti-drone defenses.

        This is not an easy threat to overcome, and it is growing exponentially.

        100

        • #
          OldOzzie

          Ukrainian Drone Swarm Attack Marks Grim “Inflection Point In History Of Warfare”

          Western Intelligence agencies have long raised concerns over the potential for adversaries to hide and deploy missile systems inside standard shipping containers, making virtually any cargo ship, truck, or rail car an undetectable covert mobile launch platform.

          This past weekend, those fears were officially realized when Ukrainian forces launched a fleet of suicide drones deep inside Russia using shipping containers transported by tractor-trailers — effectively bypassing early warning missile defense systems.

          The mobility, deniability, and camouflage of these containers made it a nightmare for Russia, with several long-range bombers at various air bases destroyed by $100 drones with warheads.

          “Ukraine just mounted an attack that marks a turning point in the history of warfare Hundreds of drones were pre-deployed and then struck 40+ aircraft 1000+ km inside of Russia >$1B in damage by <$1m of drones Critical infra is no longer safe,"

          "Trying to think through the implications of this. Asymmetric/ irregular warfare just became way more viable.

          Traditional organized militaries are toast.”

          The nightmare scenario for military and homeland defense planners is intermodal shipping containers outfitted with weaponized kamikaze AI drones that can blend in on commercial transport modes (cargo ships, trucks, trains).

          Containerized drone systems significantly obscure the line between commercial and military assets, enabling strategic deception and surprise.

          The next containerized drone-based attack is not a question of if, but when.

          This is the new face of warfare — covert, mobile, and nearly impossible to detect until it’s too late.

          20

          • #
            Vicki

            Important lessons for Australia. Both airborne and underwater drones may help solve the military predicament we have found ourselves in, after decades of neglect of our Defence forces.

            60

        • #
          el+gordo

          I hasten to add that home grown terrorists could use drones with a molotov cocktaill attached.

          31

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Trump is prone to haste, good to see him wait for the facts and give them due consideration. What POTUS says matters.

        50

      • #
        Yarpos

        Havent heard anything from the media or the Z man about the bombing of civilian trains that happened at the same time.

        20

    • #
      farmerbraun

      Sshh!

      Don’t tell Hanrahan :-

      “Final tally of confirmed hits so far seems to be 5 Tu-95s, 2 Tu-22s, one An-12. According to my info, two of the 95s can most likely be repaired relatively soon, as the damage is not super extensive. At least one is dead for good. The 22s, no idea. Sure hurts but not devastating”

      140

      • #
        Eng_Ian

        Were they nuclear armed at the time?

        Now that would make some news.

        40

        • #
          David Maddison

          I doubt whether they were armed unless they were about to be used.

          However, if they keep “poking the bear” they will get themselves nuked.

          82

          • #
            Hanrahan

            It sounds as if you approve. Shame.

            47

          • #
            Hanrahan

            Why would Russia use a strategic nuke on “their own territory and people”? Tactical nukes are only useful against large troop concentrations. According to uni-socialists Ukraine barely has enough troops to spread along the front so, again, why would they use one? Would it make sense to poke Western nuke nations with only one? Make it worth while and use a dozen.

            ‘Tis a dangerous path you propose.

            20

          • #
            el+gordo

            ‘ … they will get themselves nuked.’

            No they won’t, the war is coming to an end and the dictator should do the damn decent thing and fall on his sword.

            11

            • #
              KP

              ” unaware that his Regime is about to collapse.”

              All regimes collapse, the question is… Can The Donald hold America’s collapse off longer than Putin can hold off Russia’s?

              “the war is coming to an end ”

              No sign of that yet, but all wars come to an end sooner or later..

              00

          • #
            Hanrahan

            To use a tactical nuke on a battlefield the attacking force would need to be very well trained and equipped to go into, or through, the hot zone to consolidate their temporary advantage.

            Could Ru assemble such a force?

            00

            • #
              Yarpos

              Russia has already used an intermediate range ICBM with multiple kinetic warheads in Ukraine.

              Russia has very precis Kinzhal missiles and a pretty much unlimited fleet of 250kg tp 3000kg FAB glide bombs

              Apart from sending a message they have zero need to nuke anything in Ukraine.

              10

              • #
                Hanrahan

                So you are advocating using big bang warheads with only moderate accuracy. They are not accurate enough for precise targeting and gross overkill if they were accurate. The bombers taken out are the ones that launch them but the exercise was a failure.

                Oh, but you didn’t say that, I know.

                01

              • #
                yarpos

                No I didn’t, well spotted and good to see you realize what you are doing.

                and No, I’m saying all the talk about using nukes is stupid

                and if you think any of those things have moderate accuracy you need to update your sources. I know they arent American and therefore fabulous (as Ukraine so well demonstrates) but they are fir for purpose.

                00

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Nuclear bombs don’t “cook off”. No nation would allow them on their aircraft if they did lest it crash at the end of the runway.

          20

          • #
            Eng_Ian

            There has been a lot of Broken Arrow incidents in the US. Some have resulted in the explosive charges going off on impact.

            There is always a chance that a nuclear weapon can go off if the explosive charges are detonated. That chance should be zero but you can never be 100% certain. It’s one of the risks of going to war.

            10

        • #
          John PAK

          My impression was that a the very reason they were out on display and Unarmed was to satisfy earlier deescalation agreements between USA and Russia. They don’t trust each other so agreed to leave their bombers where they could be viewed from satellites. This recent attack most likely used Western Intel so in some ways this attack may have compromised the fragile mutual trust.
          Remember how many Russians died during WW2 and how “well” we treated them for saving us from the NAZIs.

          00

    • #
  • #
    OldOzzie

    US Ambassador Calls For Establishment Of Palestinian State In France

    “If France is truly so determined to see a Palestinian state, I have a suggestion: Carve off a piece of the Côte d’Azur and establish a Palestinian state…”

    The new US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has challenged France to match its advocacy for a Palestinian state by creating a new one on French soil.

    He suggested that France “carve off a piece of the Côte d’Azur,” also known as the French Riviera, for the establishment of such a state. This proposal has prompted an angry response from Paris.

    He added that France was welcome to take such an action, but criticized “putting this kind of pressure on a sovereign nation,” referring to France’s stance toward Israel.

    Huckabee contended that the events of Oct. 7, 2023 – the unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel – “changed a lot.” He deemed France’s initiative at the United Nations to promote a Palestinian state “incredibly inappropriate” given that “Israel is in the middle of a war.”

    France and Saudi Arabia are set to co-chair an international conference on the two-state solution.

    While not explicitly stating whether France would recognize a Palestinian state, French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Friday that the “creation of a Palestinian state” under certain conditions was “not only a moral duty, but a political necessity.”

    160

  • #
    • #
      Shy Ted

      You can see all the colourless, odourless CO2 emissions on the left of the vid.

      Mount Etna erupted on the Italian island of Sicily this morning, prompting a ‘red alert’ warning, with dramatic video showing tourists running down the mountain

      Next headline “killed by climate change”

      110

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      If Greta the Confused is sailing past Sicily on her way to the Holy Land, maybe she could scowl at Etna and shake her clenched fist: how can children breathe with all that atmospheric pollution billowing into the air… the horror!

      Mt Etna 1 v Greta 0.

      150

  • #
    David Maddison

    The end of woke, at least in the United States.

    Almost no corporations are changing their logos to rainbows for this year’s “Pride” month.

    Discussion at https://youtu.be/yrLCPZS-zSA

    They finally worked out “Get woke, go broke”.

    210

  • #
    Skepticynic

    Putin’s Conditions For FULL Ceasefire

    3 sections: conflict settlement, ceasefire process, Russia’s peace roadmap
    No 3rd party military operations in Ukraine in future & exit non-neutral military treaties & be permanently nuclear-free
    Global recognition of annexed territories as part of Russia
    4 Regions Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporozhye joined Russia in Autumn 2022, Crimea joined in 2014 following the Maidan Coup and the Separate Referendum
    Ukraine must recognise its neutrality, non-nuclear status, in a binding international agreement
    Russian Language to be granted official status,
    Ukraine must withdraw troops from territories that have joined Russia since 2014
    Unconditional ceasefire rejected but suggested a 2-3 day temporary ceasefire in certain areas to recover fallen soldiers’ bodies
    huge prisoner exchange, plus Russia will unilaterally return bodies of 6000 Ukrainian soldiers to Kiev next week

    Times of India
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb5067OnWKs

    70

    • #
      Rowjay

      Global recognition of annexed territories as part of Russia

      Annexed meaning – add (territory) to one’s own territory by appropriation.
      Appropriation meaning – the act of taking something such as an idea, custom, or style from a group or culture that you are not a member of and using it yourself

      A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence was held in Ukraine on 1 December 1991. An overwhelming National majority of 92% of voters approved the declaration of independence made by the Verkhovna Rada on 24 August 1991. The regional votes for independence were as follows:
      Donetsk 83.9%, Lugansk 83.9%, Kherson 90.1%, Zaporozhye 90.7%.
      They didn’t “join” Russia in 2022 – they were “appropriated” – Russia admits this..

      a binding international agreement

      Is there such a thing?

      30

      • #
        Vladimir

        I wonder what would be results in Australia ?
        Today – not in 1902 when 16000 young Aussies went to die for the Queen and Empire.

        00

        • #
          KP

          “I wonder what would be results in Australia ?”

          What, if you asked the Aborigines if they agreed to be annexed by the British?

          00

    • #
      el+gordo

      ‘Global recognition of annexed territories as part of Russia.’

      Putin wants nothing less than a full surrender. He is dreaming of past glories, unaware that his Regime is about to collapse.

      43

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – just in case

    “Lightning Strike Conference Report”

    “The short version is that I wish I had been able to attend one of these Lightning Strike and Electrical Shock Survivors conferences very much sooner. As in not long after I was hit. The amount of information I got was almost like being hit with a firehose. Even better was talking with other survivors and finding out I’m not alone and not crazy (well, not in terms of the after effects of the strike anyway).”

    More at

    https://www.laughingwolf.net/2025/06/02/lightning-strike-conference-report/

    30

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Activist Scientists Rage Over Trump’s Order For Rigorous Science, Likening Him To Hitler”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/activist-scientists-rage-over-trumps-order-rigorous-science-likening-him-hitler

    110

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW – for the covid record

    “Dr. Marty Makary Shatters The Vaccine Narrative Live On CBS”

    “But it was the final exchange that landed like a sledgehammer.

    When Brennan questioned why the HHS bypassed the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for the new policy shift, Makary landed a haymaker.

    “That panel has been a kangaroo court where they just rubberstamp EVERY single vaccine put in front of them.”

    He said the committee hadn’t been focused on science, but on messaging and marketing.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dr-marty-makary-shatters-vaccine-narrative-live-cbs

    120

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      It is amazing how COVID remains a binky that a strata of the population desperately holds on to.
      For some COVID IS FOREVER.
      Almost like Japanese soldiers isolated on an island after WWII.
      A Kamikaze Banzai charge for another booster.

      For me, Pandemic exposed the myth of the great age of ‘Science’ Moon Landing Star Trek world I was born into.
      However …
      it appears that the new cutting edge of tech science is organized psychological manipulation.
      It is almost as if there is a new class of pyramid or cathedral of the mind to provide aristocracy to a new cadre of priestly overlords.

      20

      • #
        MeAgain

        COVID-19 did not merely constitute an alleged biomedical emergency; instead, it catalysed the activation of a strangely synchronous governance response in almost perfect unison, with virtually no democratic deliberation whatsoever.

        https://escapekey.substack.com/p/covid-19

        But the largely ignored aspects of the story relate to a response which — though these topics are covered individually — scaled beyond public health into finance, media, digital identity, and environmental domains in a breathtakingly fluent motion, as though this multi-sectoral activation was enabled at the flick of a switch — and this, even cross-country, by and large. An impressive feat, given that governments often struggle to agree on much in general.

        20

  • #
    Greg in NZ

    Even though having recently ‘merged’ into the one bureaucracy, you’d think NIWA and MetService could get their timing right – yeah nah:

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/562847/a-warmer-winter-is-on-its-way-niwa-says

    Brandolino the Bold emits his standard it’s going to get hot for the next 3 months as ENSO is in ‘neutral’ – he claims a warmer winter is on the way every year. The same day, MetService’s John Law warns:

    https://odt.co.nz/news/national/cool-change-snow-and-rain-south-island

    By Friday “cold air [and] wintry weather” could see snow “fall as low as 200 or 300 metres” (1,000ft) on the Mainland as a dreaded, and frigid, sou‘easter looks set to kick in for the weekend, a perfect ‘snow-maker’ for south-facing ski areas. And the shortest day isn’t until Saturday the 21st. Climate, huh?

    120

  • #
    David Maddison

    It’s Suzi Quattro’s 75th birthday today, 3rd June.

    Devil Gate Drive video clip:

    https://youtu.be/9vFTksaposs

    80

  • #
    OldOzzie

    War by Wire: Ukraine’s Drone Cables Stretch Across the Frontlines In the vast agricultural fields of Donetsk region, something unusual is carpeting the land.

    Not crops or craters—but hundreds of lines of fibre optic cables, silently threading across Ukrainian soil.

    These are not signs of peacetime industry.

    They are the backbone of Ukraine’s ground drone operations in areas like Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar, two towns that have become key battlegrounds in Ukraine’s ongoing defence against the Russian invasion.

    Photos and updates posted by Serhii Flash, a well known Ukrainian radio amateur and battlefield observer, reveal entire fields blanketed with thick strands of fibre optic cable.

    These cables serve as critical lifelines between Ukrainian drone operators and their remotely guided machines.

    They ensure secure, jamming proof control in an environment where radio signals are easily blocked or intercepted by Russian forces.

    In some locations, the cables are so numerous that they form tangled webs stretching across hills and dirt roads, with coils lying in trenches or dug into shallow furrows.

    The land, once fertile for wheat or sunflowers, now grows the infrastructure of survival.

    Unlike wireless drones, which risk being hijacked or jammed, fibre guided drones offer stability and precision.

    Operators stay hidden and safe, often hundreds of metres from the line of fire, while the drones scout, deliver supplies, or detonate explosives near enemy targets.

    The use of these wired systems has expanded rapidly, especially in contested areas where every move is tracked by enemy eyes and ears.

    80

    • #
      David Maddison

      Those fibre optic strands can harm animals when ingested and do not decompose in the soil.

      80

    • #
      Rowjay

      War by Wire: Russia’s Drone Cables also Stretch Across the Frontlines In the vast agricultural fields of Donetsk region, something unusual is carpeting the land.

      The Russians perfected and introduced the fibre optic guidance systems well before the Ukrainians, who have only just caught up.
      https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JnyqGOMb3qo

      40

    • #
      Vicki

      Fascinating. Thanks Old Ozzie.

      10

    • #
      MeAgain

      This is giving me a divide by zero error

      Who lays the cables – isn’t the point of the drones that the people don’t have to go there?

      Can’t the enemy just cut all the cables?

      I thought drones were, like, wireless…?

      Thanks for sharing though – my fears of a drone swarm attack have been reduced seeing that the are not as agile as you might think.

      10

      • #
        KP

        The drones lay the cables as they fly, they carry the cable reel on them. That way they are not pulling a cable at all and it can lie over buildings and trees. The cable length is the flight distance limit of the drone.

        I don’t know where they got this from, but it has nothing to do with drones-

        “Many of the fibre installations are deployed under the cover of darkness, laid quietly by sappers or frontline engineers who have trained specifically for this kind of digital logistics. Once the cable is buried or hidden under leaves and debris, a drone can operate without fear of losing contact or being hacked. ”

        “I thought drones were, like, wireless…?”

        They were until everyone realised they could be hacked and controlled by the enemy, or worse, your radio commands gave the enemy your location. Then there were months of jamming and anti-jamming and frequency switching etc until someone decided cable would solve those problems.

        20

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Wireless drones are agile and very effective if you don’t have expensive jamming technology. A thousand dead tanks say so.

        00

  • #
    beowulf

    A real Aboriginal view on “Welcome to Country” theatrics. About time!

    https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2025/06/well-said-lest-we-forget.html

    110

  • #
    Peter C

    Aurora again last night. Sunday night was obscured by cloud at my location on the Mornington peninsula.
    It was hard to see with the naked eye but came up quite well using my IPhone camera.

    60

  • #
    beowulf

    US government cancels funding to Moderna for its bird flu vaccine.

    The Trump Administration has halted an award worth $766 million that was intended to support Moderna in the development of a bird flu vaccine.

    The Administration’s reconsideration of the bird flu investment comes as two other Moderna products are under review at the FDA, including the company’s next-generation covid “vaccine” and its RSV vaccine, which is being considered for expansion to include high-risk younger adults.

    https://expose-news.com/2025/05/30/us-gov-cancels-funding-to-moderna/

    100

    • #
      David Maddison

      The Left and Big Pharma are in meltdown over the TRUMP Administration’s requirement to show proof of efficacy for these products.

      150

  • #
    John Connor II

    Scary story Tuesday: when a quantum supercomputer became the universe

    https://youtu.be/iGqFGefMp1A?si=MUXOX1Z0R2FgaDOG

    00

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Imagine an AI operated nuclear armed submarine going rogue.

      10

    • #
      el+gordo

      Its the awakening.

      10

    • #
      Vicki

      I was amazed to hear from two young adults the other day that they don’t use Google anymore. They now use Chat GBT exclusively. I asked them what effect that will ultimately have on their critical thinking skills. They looked at me blankly.

      Many people have remonstrated that Google brother source engines prejudice information sources. I contest that, as a multitude of sources are still available for scrutiny.

      40

      • #
        Hanrahan

        You worry too much. People say the same about spell checkers. I was an atrocious speller but after years correcting the underlined words I’m not so bad. I use Brave AI search and think it is terrific.

        10

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Notwithstanding Labor PM Albo, Labor Defence Minister Marles & ADF – Australia is in Good Shape re This!

    Ukraine’s war effort relies on old pickup trucks

    Ukrainian volunteers scour the used car markets of Europe to supply vehicles for the troops.

    KYIV — Donald Trump may want Europeans to buy more American cars and trucks, but there’s one market where buyers are much keener on Asian imports — the battlefronts of Ukraine.

    Kyiv’s all-out defensive war against Russia is forcing the country’s soldiers to rely less on heavy armored vehicles and more on civilian pickup trucks.

    And the trucks they favor tend to be tough vehicles like the Toyota Hilux, the Nissan Navara (which ended European production in 2021) and especially the Mitsubishi L200, also discontinued four years ago. “I would say the L200 is the best of them all”, objectively, even despite the grim 200 in its name,” said Andriy Ivanov, commander of the Evil Peregrine Unmanned Systems Battalion. (Cargo 200 is Soviet military jargon for transporting dead soldiers.) “Despite the name, that car has saved many lives,” Ivanov said.

    By contrast, American trucks need parts that can be hard for Ukrainian workshops to obtain — making them far less popular with the troops.

    “Once we had to wait for 30 days just to get one crucial bolt delivered to Ukraine. The U.S. is so far away,” said Nesemos Veteran Auto Hub — an outfit that employs military veterans to repair vehicles meant for frontline troops.

    The use of non-military trucks is becoming a hallmark of the war. “Cars are everything! It’s the way you resupply weapons to the positions; it’s how you evacuate the wounded from encirclement.

    Mobile air defense units use civilian pickup trucks when chasing Russian drones,” Andriuk said. “You can transport up to 10 people, depending on the pickup model. And it’s way easier to repair them.

    They are lighter than armored vehicles and easier to evacuate from in case of an attack,” he added.

    Russia has adopted a similar policy, with its invading troops often relying on private vehicles and even motorbikes to swiftly navigate the front lines while avoiding the clouds of Ukrainian drones that quickly zoom in on tanks and armored personnel carriers.

    40

    • #
      h p

      I grinned at “USA is so far away”. Surely one of the continual stream of visiting politicians would have room for a bolt in their luggage?

      60

    • #
      Vicki

      This awful war is a sad return to many basic aspects of warfare from previous generations – heralded by the reappearance of trench warfare.

      40

  • #
    John Connor II

    Colon cancer in young people caused by running

    A study has found that 35 to 50 years old who regularly run marathons are more likely to develop precancerous tumors in their colon, precursors of the disease.

    Out of the 100 patients studied by DC-based scientists, 41 percent were found to have at least one adenoma – a benign tumor that could develop into the cancer.

    Fifteen percent had advanced adenomas, or more advanced growths. Of these people, more than half reported suffering from rectal bleeding, a warning sign of cancer.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14768309/colon-cancer-running-asco-2025.html

    So, it’s not caused by climate change or the “V” word.
    Next up, watching ABC news causes cancer.
    Or should that read ABC news IS the cancer? 😁

    60

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Should anyone take a lot of notice of a report warning of “more likely” to develop “precursors” without a control group?

      10

    • #
      KP

      “Colon cancer in young people caused by running”

      No, ‘colon cancer found more in young people who run marathons’… Now go look at their diets and think ‘you are what you eat’.

      It would be a great study to cover all sorts of top-end athletes and see what diseases they are prone to.

      10

  • #
    John Connor II

    Transparent glass coffins are now on the market.
    Will they be popular?
    Remains to be seen..

    170

  • #
    OldOzzie

    Uploading The Human Mind Could Become a Reality, Expert Says

    Is it possible to upload the consciousness of your mind into a computer? – Amreen, age 15, New Delhi, India

    The concept, cool yet maybe a little creepy, is known as mind uploading. Think of it as a way to create a copy of your brain, a transmission of your mind and consciousness into a computer.

    There you would live digitally, perhaps forever. You’d have an awareness of yourself, you’d retain your memories and still feel like you. But you wouldn’t have a body.

    Within that simulated environment, you could do anything you do in real life – eating, driving a car, playing sports. You could also do things impossible in the real world, like walking through walls, flying like a bird or traveling to other planets.

    The only limit is what science can realistically simulate.

    Doable? Theoretically, mind uploading should be possible.

    Still, you may wonder how it could happen. After all, researchers have barely begun to understand the brain.

    Yet science has a track record of turning theoretical possibilities into reality. Just because a concept seems terribly, unimaginably difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

    Consider that science took humankind to the Moon, sequenced the human genome and eradicated smallpox. Those things too were once considered unlikely.

    As a brain scientist who studies perception, I fully expect mind uploading to one day be a reality. But as of today, we’re nowhere close.

    20

    • #
      Honk R Smith

      Cool … once I would cross the river Styx.
      Then I would go to Heaven … hopefully.
      Now I hope to be downloaded.
      When does the app come out?
      I usually have limited success downloading stuff.

      I guess soon in order to get downloaded to eternal life I will need a good Social Credit Score … and be able to remember my password.
      Oh well.
      SSDD.

      40

  • #
    OldOzzie

    How ‘vibe coding’ became the new DIY

    Large language models enable us all to create our own apps, but sometimes you need a professional

    Everyone has an idea every now and again for a little online tool or game that ought to exist but doesn’t.

    “There should be an app for that,” we say wistfully, then we move on with our day, since most of us can’t code and are never going to pay a professional to turn our passing idea into reality.

    But thanks to large language models (LLMs), there are now platforms such as Cursor and Replit that make it possible to “code” by simply typing instructions in natural language.

    Welcome to “vibe coding”, a term coined this year by Andrej Karpathy, a former Tesla and OpenAI engineer.

    Karpathy said it was fun for “throwaway weekend projects” to just “fully give in to the vibes” and “forget that the code even exists”.

    Intrigued, I gave it a go. My brother, a professional computer programmer, sat next to me in case I got stuck.

    I wanted to make a very simple app that would allow me to pretend with my five-year-old daughter that my phone was an X-ray machine.

    I set up a free account with Replit, described what I wanted in four short sentences and attached some clearly labelled files of X-ray images we had downloaded from the web.

    In a few minutes, I was looking at something that was almost exactly what I had envisaged, with a few odd additions.

    30

  • #
    el+gordo

    There is general agreement that Xi Jinping has stayed home for a couple of weeks as his Regime falls from grace, soon to be replaced by a moderate.

    This has been coming for a couple of years, Xi’s cronies have been purged from the military and its now in the hands of moderates. Which means we won’t need nuclear submarines.

    Credit should go to Donnie for banning Asian students at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The grandchildren of the elites have been earmarked, this was the straw that broke the back of the CCP.

    13

    • #
      Hanrahan

      The jury is still out on the colour of his replacement.

      Lei’s Real Talk goes into this in detail but Chinese names don’t register with me and I usually listen with headphones and a garden hose in hand so I don’t see their pictures so I will refrain from comment beyond agreeing that his time is limited.

      10

  • #
    another ian

    FWIW

    “Eh Gawd” – hold your hat

    https://www.facebook.com/share/1AdxViprtG/?mibextid=wwXIfr

    ““I Will End the Woke Agenda at Iconic Network.”
    ELON MUSK ANNOUNCES PLAN TO BUY ABC — Appoints Tucker Carlson as CEO in Shocking Power Move
    Disney blindsided.
    The media world on edge.
    And critics are warning: this could trigger an unprecedented shift in American media power.
    Elon Musk has vowed a “complete overhaul” of the network, igniting a national firestorm over free speech, bias, and who really controls the narrative.”

    61

  • #
    MeAgain

    https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/woman-says-floor-disappeared-boat-10231392

    Mark, a local lock keeper, was overseeing the lock and nearby livestock on Saturday.

    He shared: “I heard it before I saw anything. I heard a loud bang! It was all pretty mad.

    “I presumed it was a cruiser that went up in flames. They are made from fibreglass and plastic.

    “If it was a narrow boat, they have a steel plate inside them – so it probably wouldn’t have disintegrated like a cruiser. But we wonder whether it was an electric boat?”

    30

  • #
    MeAgain

    https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/drove-uk-seaside-town-electric-10215685

    Our initial stop was at Leigh Delamere Service Station on the M4, where almost every EV point was occupied. In true British fashion, there was a group of four or five drivers congregated around the parking spaces engaged in what appeared to be a serious discussion as we arrived.

    It transpired that these chargers were agonisingly slow – and their speed would decrease even further when another user connected their vehicle. So after a half-hour wait, and gaining less than 40 miles of charge, we decided to try our luck at another service point in search of a quick charge.

    Time squandered.

    We were directed to Chieveley services, a further 57-miles down the motorway, where we were assured functioning fast chargers awaited us. However, upon arrival, we were greeted by a visibly flustered car park attendant and a crowd of EV users milling about once again.

    It emerged that several of the chargers had malfunctioned – some weren’t accepting card payments, while others failed to detect that cars were even plugged in. It was difficult to ascertain if any of them were actually operational.

    60

  • #
    MeAgain

    Sorry – was on wrong day

    https://escapekey.substack.com/p/inclusive-capitalism

    The reason for listing all 17 SDGs in full is simple: to demonstrate that every single global development goal is already tethered to a corresponding set of indicators, and that most of these indicators are directly supported by existing ISO standards and complementary global metrics.

    This is not a vision of the future — it is a fully developed normative-technical infrastructure, quietly standardised and globally harmonised. The foundation for a programmable, ethical economy — in which financial flows, institutional conduct, and individual behaviour are continuously scored, nudged, or constrained in the name of the ‘common good’ — already exists

    Digital twins — virtual, data-driven models of physical, social, or economic systems — are now being constructed at every scale: from human health, cities and national economies to ecosystems and planetary systems. These twins use real-time and historical indicator data—standardised through frameworks such as ISO 37120/37122, the SDGs, HDI, and Aichi Targets—to replicate and simulate reality. This enables scenario testing, impact forecasting, and predictive modelling of risks and opportunities.

    At the urban level, city-scale digital twins46 can simulate the effects of zoning changes, public health interventions, or transit shifts on goals such as SDG 11 (sustainable cities), climate mitigation, and equity outcomes. Economic twins can model policy changes’ impacts on SDG 1 (poverty alleviation) and SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth). Ecological twins use satellite imagery, IoT devices, and biodiversity data to track and forecast changes relevant to SDG 14 (life below water) and SDG 15 (life on land), aligned with Aichi biodiversity indicators and ISO environmental standards.

    These digital twins operate at multiple levels: micro (individuals and communities), meso (cities and regions), and macro (national and global systems). They integrate data streams from satellites, mobile networks, IoT sensors, health records, and international surveys — making them central tools for governing the emerging global moral economy through simulation, prediction, and ethical constraint.

    10

    • #
      MeAgain

      and as an outgroup, we perversely serve their ends, by giving the ingroup someone to rail against

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muCy_tz63m0

      A nice chat in Irish accents. the perversity stuff at about 50 mins

      00

    • #
      Skepticynic

      From your link:

      While this planetary digital governance paradigm promises immense improvements in efficiency, security, and social alignment with the common good, it also concentrates power at a scale and scope without historical precedent. The integration of scoring systems, behavioural nudging, identity verification, economic access, and health governance into a unified AI-managed infrastructure places extraordinary control in the hands of a small, unelected, and largely unaccountable supranational elite — operating in concert with tightly coupled machine intelligence.

      These systems are not neutral. Though often framed in terms of optimisation or planetary stewardship, their design encodes normative assumptions, institutional priorities, and commercial interests. The opacity of algorithmic governance, especially when combined with the structural incentives of global finance and geopolitics, opens the door to profound asymmetries of power. Entire populations may find their rights, access, and even social standing determined by predictive scores, behavioural flags, or risk profiles generated by systems that are neither fully transparent nor contestable.

      In such a system, governance is no longer merely about representation or law, but about access to the protocol — who controls the infrastructure of inclusion, and who decides what constitutes ethical behaviour, social risk, or alignment with the common good. It is not simply the automation of governance; it is its moralisation, its weaponisation, and potentially, its dehumanisation.

      20

  • #
    MeAgain

    The Erin Patterson trial all feels v. Lindy Chamberlain….

    Same old rubbish media I guess

    10

  • #
    MeAgain

    https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-06/TTM-Insights-3-IPV%20Chapter.pdf

    Not included in the research question – what events led to the ‘violence’? A partner that lost all the family savings on the pokies? An argument on whether to jab the kids?

    An example of evidence to fit policy.

    The final question is intriguing: . Is a quality relationship with a father figure during childhood protective against the use of intimate
    partner violence in adulthood? Specifically, does receiving affection from a father or father figure in childhood predict the likelihood of the later use of intimate partner violence?
    – what State solutions are to be proposed here/

    10

  • #
    MeAgain

    Trump’s recent dealmaking in the Persian Gulf shows that the full weight of US diplomacy is being applied to capture markets for AI. Travelling with Trump on his Gulf tour were CEOs of NVIDIA, Amazon, OpenAI, IBM and Tesla; the results are staggering. Inking some $2.2 trillion in technology deals for US companies, Trump has reversed the “AI diffusion rule”, a Biden-era policy placing export restrictions on AI chips and model weights. Instead, the US now gambles that by flooding Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar with American chips and technology, it will bind them to the US and US companies.

    https://unherd.com/2025/06/the-uks-last-shot-at-ai-relevance/

    30

Leave a Reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>