Nonfinancial Economists,
Surplus Energy Economics, Madmen and economists - THE ESCALATING DANGERS OF ECONOMIC DENIAL
One of the greatest mysteries of our times is why the authorities have not only permitted but actively, through their policy choices, promoted the formation of the biggest bubble in financial history, whilst knowing perfectly well, all along, how this must end...
..If it ever became known that the economy had stopped growing and started to shrink, no existing set of social, political or commercial arrangements could survive. The denial of economic inflexion is the sine qua non for the defence of the status quo. Nowhere in the world is worse equipped than the West for surviving the ending and reversal of growth.....What seems to have happened is that the only lever that decision-makers can pull in a slumping economy is the lever of financial stimulus, the use of which in turn triggers a runaway compounding process of escalating risk...
..The Surplus Energy Economics interpretation of economics is based on a comparison between the “real” economy of material products and services and the parallel “financial” economy of money, transactions and credit.The productive process which drives the underlying “real” economy works by using energy to convert other raw materials into products, artefacts and infrastructures, as part of a continuous cycle of production, consumption, relinquishment and replacement.
Though depletion has subjected the non-energy resource base – including minerals, non-metallic mining products, biomass and accessible water – to gradual degradation, the primary factor driving the material economy from growth into contraction has been a relentless rise in the proportionate cost of energy. Measured here as the Energy Cost of Energy, this cost has climbed from 2.0% in 1980, and 4.3% in 2000, to more than 11% today.
But “eventual” has always been a key word in this argument. Though no timescales were specified in LtG, the accompanying charts appeared to put this ending of growth somewhere between 2020 and 2030, which was a matter of little immediate concern when the report was published back in 1972.
LtG has been revisited on a number of occasions, and these reviews have tended to vindicate the original thesis. As this has happened, time has moved on, and the moment of inflexion from economic growth into contraction has drawn ever nearer.
SEEDS analysis concurs with the LtG projections, indicating that material economic growth might already have ended, and that the economy will have inflected into contraction by the end of this decade.
This has been a matter of modelled calculation, but there’s an abundance of external evidence to support it...
..International relations have been degenerating into bare-knuckled fights over scarce and dwindling resources.SEEDS analysis concurs with the LtG projections, indicating that material economic growth might already have ended, and that the economy will have inflected into contraction by the end of this decade.
This has been a matter of modelled calculation, but there’s an abundance of external evidence to support it...
But the single most compelling piece of evidence for the onset of economic contraction is the gigantic bubble that has been inflated across almost all classes of assets in modern times...
..Each dollar of reported growth has been accompanied by net new financial liabilities of at least $8.Even this calculation drastically understates the severity of the situation, for two main reasons.
First, the aggregate financial liabilities referenced here do not include enormous “gaps” in the under-resourcing of forward pensions promises.
Second, and even more seriously, most of the “growth” reported in recent times has been cosmetic, amounting to nothing more than the transactional spending of vast amounts of borrowed money.
SEEDS analysis puts real growth in prosperity since 2004 at only 25%, reflecting a 37% increase in energy consumption, a dramatic rise in ECoEs, and a gradual decline in the rate at which energy use converts other resources into economic value.
The scale risk of extreme increases in liabilities has been compounded by rising complexity risk as the financial system has morphed into a bafflingly Byzantine structure of inter-dependent cross-collateralisation...
..Qualitative risk has increased as the centre of gravity of credit supply has migrated from the comparatively transparent and conservative centre of the financial system to its opaque and dangerous periphery.
Everyone knows how the reckless over-inflation of bubbles always ends, and many are familiar with the truism that “you can’t taper a ponzi”... ..Governments have become primary drivers of credit expansion, with public debt soaring as fiscal deficits now routinely exceed – in some cases, far exceed – reported “growth”. But why would governments and central banks knowingly court the chaos that must result from the bursting of ‘the bubble to end all bubbles’?
Charles Hugh Smith has given us the clue to this seemingly inexplicable behaviour in a particularly perceptive recent article in which he explained that “the entire bubble economy is a hallucination”.A “hallucination”, of course, is ‘a perception that differs from material reality’, or, in the simplest of terms, a false narrative. The “false narrative” to which we have been subjected is that economic growth not only hasn’t stopped, but won’t.
If it ever had to be admitted that economic growth had ended, you see, all existing social, political and commercial arrangements would be invalidated... (It) would put an end to the post-capitalist expediency (PCE) now prevalent in the West...
..The economy is not shaped by money. Within our two economies conception, we know that money has no intrinsic worth, but commands value only in terms of those material things for which it can be exchanged. This, in Surplus Energy Economics, is the principle of money as claim... Unlike money, energy and raw materials can’t be loaned into existence by the banking system, or conjured out of the ether by central banks... Money is a proxy for material economic prosperity, whilst the basis of this prosperity is the use of energy to convert natural resources into material products and infrastructures...
..Far from being limitless, the potential of technology is contained within an envelope of possibility whose boundaries are set by the laws of physics and the characteristics of materials... The claim that ‘exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world’ is made, if not exactly by ‘madmen and economists’, then on the basis of orthodox economics and cornucopian fantasy. Beyond its sheer size, what’s truly fascinating about the mania for all things AI-related is the way in which it fuses together the monetary and technological delusions that support the claim of never-ending economic growth.
Critical to this fusion is a disregard for the constraints of material finality.
Whatever promise the technology itself might offer, the current Western business model for AI makes vast demands for material resources, the most significant of which are energy and water. Even if these resources actually exist at the requisite scale – which is very far from certain [not near enough copper] – they can only be channelled into AI at the direct expense of households and other businesses...
..Whereas most of the money lost in the dotcom bust was equity, most of the value at risk in AI is debt, with significant cross-financing involved. The assets used as collateral for this debt are likely to have remarkably little residual value...Critical to this fusion is a disregard for the constraints of material finality.
Whatever promise the technology itself might offer, the current Western business model for AI makes vast demands for material resources, the most significant of which are energy and water. Even if these resources actually exist at the requisite scale – which is very far from certain [not near enough copper] – they can only be channelled into AI at the direct expense of households and other businesses...
..What we have been seeing, then, is the use of reckless financial expansion in an effort to either counter, or disguise, the ending and reversal of economic growth... fiscal and monetary stimulus is an addictive drug, and a particularly alluring one when no other course of action is available...
..What recent events have been telling us is that, whilst policy-makers seem to be panicking, the moment of economic inflexion is drawing very close indeed. It might, in this context, be of interest that “the astronomical level of insider selling of publicly traded stocks” has now reached levels second only to those of 2007 – and we know what happened after that. https://
Ugo Bardi notes that representative governments flourished with growing fossil-fueled industrial economies. A Seneca Cliff for Global Democracy? https://senecaeffect.
What if they just repudiate that $US debt and start fresh... Mounting debt crisis means global South governments are spending on average 15% of their revenue servicing external debt. This figure has doubled since 2010. More than 3.4 billion people now live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health or education. https://x.com/jasonhickel/
Federal government hardware and software enables writing and cashing checks. First it was the penny now paper checks could eventually disappear altogether https://endtimeheadlines.org/
The EU has an economic emergency it can't openly discuss. EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets
The EU has decided to keep the assets of the Russian Central Bank immobilised for the foreseeable future. The ban, which is based on a provision for economic emergencies, pushes back against external attempts to release the €210 billion in assets before Ukraine is compensated...
..By doing so, the EU locks in the assets under its jurisdiction for the foreseeable future amid fears that the United States might seek control of the Russian funds and use them in a future settlement with Moscow to end the war.
The long-term immobilisation was agreed by ambassadors on Thursday afternoon under Article 122 of the EU treaties, which only requires a qualified majority from member states and bypasses the European Parliament. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/12/11/eu-triggers-emergency-clause-to-indefinitely-immobilise-russian-assets
The EU has decided to keep the assets of the Russian Central Bank immobilised for the foreseeable future. The ban, which is based on a provision for economic emergencies, pushes back against external attempts to release the €210 billion in assets before Ukraine is compensated...
..By doing so, the EU locks in the assets under its jurisdiction for the foreseeable future amid fears that the United States might seek control of the Russian funds and use them in a future settlement with Moscow to end the war.
The long-term immobilisation was agreed by ambassadors on Thursday afternoon under Article 122 of the EU treaties, which only requires a qualified majority from member states and bypasses the European Parliament. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/12/11/eu-triggers-emergency-clause-to-indefinitely-immobilise-russian-assets
The day started with more hysteric-level fear-mongering from the dual totalitarian NATO-EU hydra. Rutte grimly declared that Russia has brought war to Europe, and that Europeans must be prepared for the scale of war that their ‘grandparents’ endured during WWII...
..This comes on the same day that the Brussels mafia has lowered the latch on the final act of its own self-immolation by voting to illegally change the need for a unanimous decision on the matter of returning Russia’s ‘frozen assets’ in order to freeze them in place indefinitely as a backstop to Ukraine’s “reparations”. They did this by using a clause for “economic emergencies”, in essence citing that the EU is suffering severe economic damage as result of “Russia’s war”.
Viktor Orban issued a fiery rebuttal on this occasion...
"With today’s procedure, the Brusselians are abolishing the requirement of unanimity with a single stroke of the pen, which is clearly unlawful.
With today’s decision, the rule of law in the European Union comes to an end, and Europe’s leaders are placing themselves above the rules. Instead of safeguarding compliance with the EU treaties, the European Commission is systematically raping European law ... With this, the rule of law in the European Union is being replaced by the rule of bureaucrats. In other words, a Brusselian dictatorship has taken hold." ...
With today’s decision, the rule of law in the European Union comes to an end, and Europe’s leaders are placing themselves above the rules. Instead of safeguarding compliance with the EU treaties, the European Commission is systematically raping European law ... With this, the rule of law in the European Union is being replaced by the rule of bureaucrats. In other words, a Brusselian dictatorship has taken hold." ...
..The problem is, as I have been outlining in the past two articles, the US has ramped up its pointed war on the current EU superstructure in quite surprising but logical ways. According to new reports, the US intends to pull Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Poland from the EU, pulling the rug from under the decrepit bloc.... This is stated by the publication Defense One, citing an unpublished version of the US national security strategy, which was privately sent to journalists. https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/brussels-crosses-rubicon-in-final
Trump Team Denies Leaked 'Secret Plan' To Break EU Nations Away From Brussels' Grip https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-team-denies-leaked-secret-plan-break-eu-nations-away-brussels-grip
Russian Central Bank Sues Euroclear Over Frozen Assets; Will the EU Be Hoist on the Investor-State Settlement Disputes (ISDS) Petard? https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/12/russian-central-bank-sues-euroclear-over-frozen-assets-will-the-eu-be-hoist-on-the-investor-state-settlement-disputes-isds-petard.html
EU states seek wider boarding powers to counter vessels suspected of aiding Russia’s war effort https://www.euractiv.com/news/eu-to-reinterpret-sea-law-to-confront-russias-shadow-fleet/
Brutal winter storms in Gaza put 850,000 people at imminent flood risk; Over 100 Palestinians detained in West Bank; U.S. military onboards Google’s AI https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/brutal-winter-storms-gaza-flood-risk-united-states-military-google-artificial-intellegience-palestinians-detained-west-bank-raid-drop-site-daily
Gaza Tent Cities Under Water Amid Deadly 'Catastrophic' Storm https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/gaza-tent-cities-under-water-amid-deadly-catastrophic-storm
Their brains can't grow, either. Gaza’s babies ‘scarred by war before first breath’ by malnutrition https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/12/1166539
The truth is that far, far larger numbers of people in Gaza have been actively killed by Israel not through these direct means but through what statisticians refer to as “indirect” methods.
These people were killed by Israel destroying their homes and leaving them with no shelter. By Israel destroying their water and electricity supplies and their sanitation systems. By Israel levelling their hospitals. By Israel starving them. By Israel creating the perfect conditions for disease to spread. The list of ways Israel is killing people in Gaza goes on and on.
Imagine your own societies levelled in the way Gaza has been. How long would your elderly parents survive in this hellscape? https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/israels-biggest-con-trick-hiding
How Israel Organizes and Arms Settler Militias to Terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank
What often appears as sporadic settler violence is in fact an organized system with an official structure fully operating as intended. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-organized-settler-militias-west-bank-palestinians-funding-arms
Israel’s Knesset Approves Legislation That Legalizes Execution of Palestinian Abductees https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-knesset-approves-legislation-legalizes-execution-palestinian-abductees/5908634
Daddy-Warbucks: Measure To Protect Israel From Global Arms Restrictions Tucked Into US Defense Budget https://israelpalestinenews.org/measure-to-protect-israel-from-global-arms-restrictions-tucked-into-us-defense-budget/
Remember what it took the get politicians to start calling for banning social media for kids; awareness of Israel's genocide.
In new peace, US firms will help Israel spy on and target Gazans
The presence of Palantir and Dataminr at the new US military compound in Israel offers a glimpse of how tech companies are cashing in https://responsiblestatecraft.org/surveillance-gaza/
During President Trump's first term, there was a brief moment in which the Maduro regime appeared close to being overthrown, but it was countered by support from Cuba. According to The New York Times reporters Michael Crowley and Edward Wong, that failure frustrated Trump, his advisers, and then Senator Rubio, who had backed regime change.
"Their theory of change involves cutting off all support to Cuba," said Juan S. Gonzalez, who was President Joe Biden's top White House aide for Western Hemisphere affairs. "Under this approach, once Venezuela goes, Cuba will follow." https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/seized-tanker-reveals-cubas-secret-oil-lifeline-trump-turns-gunboat-diplomacy
An American Regime Change War With Venezuela Is Heating Up, These Are The real Motives Behind It. https://the307.substack.com/p/war-with-venezuela-is-heating-up
US preparing to seize more tankers off Venezuela's coast after first ship taken, sources say https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/exclusive-us-preparing-to-seize-more-tankers-off-venezuelas-coast-after-first-ship-taken-sources-say/ar-AA1SaNfC
Eric Gomez, a research fellow at the Taiwan Security Monitor, said the end result was unclear when he participated in a wargame for a Taiwan conflict, but noted the US suffered heavy losses.
“The US loses a lot of ships in the process. A lot of F-35 and other tactical aircraft in the theatre are degraded pretty rapidly too,” he told the Telegraph.
“I think the high cost of it was really sobering when we did the after-action summaries, and we’re like, ‘Okay, like, you guys lost 100-plus fifth-generation aircraft, multiple destroyers, a couple of submarines, a couple of carriers’. “It’s like, ‘oh gosh, man, that was a heavy toll’.” https://archive.is/v93yg#selection-2345.4-2349.82
Chinese Drone "Mothership" Capable Of Swarm Attack Takes Flight https://www.zerohedge.com/military/chinese-drone-mothership-capable-swarm-attack-takes-flight
Mamdani and top New York rabbis will meet privately, but their core divide remains unresolved
Harvard Ousts Director of Human Rights Center Targeted By Trump Admin Over Rampant Anti-Semitism (AKA: Anti Zionist-Genocide)
Mary T. Bassett accused Israel of 'potential genocide' in a message to students and faculty https://freebeacon.com/campus/harvard-ousts-director-of-human-rights-center-targeted-by-trump-admin-over-rampant-anti-semitism/
Belgian PM De Wever not ruling out legal action if the EU seizes Russian assets held by Euroclear
Italy, Bulgaria, and Malta have joined Belgium’s calls for alternatives to a €210 billion loan scheme to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets, in a move that threatens to torpedo the EU’s goal of agreeing the so-called ‘reparations loan’ at next week’s crunch EU summit. https://www.alliansfriheten.se/italy-bulgaria-and-malta-join-belgium-in-push-for-alternatives-to-e210-billion-ukraine-loan-euractiv-com/
He is emphasising the risks of such a seizure and in such a case the risks cannot be borne by Belgium alone. He calls his conditions “rational, reasonable and justified”. https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2025/12/11/pm-de-wever-not-ruling-out-legal-action-if-the-eu-seizes-russian/?
EU states seek wider boarding powers to counter vessels suspected of aiding Russia’s war effort https://www.euractiv.com/news/eu-to-reinterpret-sea-law-to-confront-russias-shadow-fleet/
US revised 27-point peace plan drops ban on Ukraine’s Nato membership
The ban on Ukraine ever joining was included as Point 3 in the original US sponsored 28-point peace plan (28PPP) floated at the end of November that was presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow meeting on December 3.
The revised US peace plan also envisages the demilitarized zone being internationally recognized as Russian territory, the Financial Times reported, citing a draft agreement.
According to the publication, the American side, as part of the peace process, is proposing the creation of a so-called "belt of fortresses" – a territory in eastern Ukraine that Kyiv would be forced to vacate. https://www.intellinews.com/us-revised-27-point-peace-plan-drops-ban-on-ukraine-s-nato-membership-416395/?
The revised US peace plan also envisages the demilitarized zone being internationally recognized as Russian territory, the Financial Times reported, citing a draft agreement.
According to the publication, the American side, as part of the peace process, is proposing the creation of a so-called "belt of fortresses" – a territory in eastern Ukraine that Kyiv would be forced to vacate. https://www.intellinews.com/us-revised-27-point-peace-plan-drops-ban-on-ukraine-s-nato-membership-416395/?
Ukraine ready to consider Donbas demilitarized zone in concession to end war
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, tells Le Monde that the zone would require Ukrainian and Russian forces to both pull back from the front line.
Israeli army kills 3 more Palestinians in Gaza despite ceasefire
Israeli force made up of several military vehicles and bulldozers advanced into Jabalia, witnesses say https://www.aa.com.tr/en/
Rights group: Palestinian prisoners are freezing to death in Israeli jails https://english.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, tells Le Monde that the zone would require Ukrainian and Russian forces to both pull back from the front line.
With downcast eyes and a subdued voice, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz admitted on Thursday, December 11, that Ukraine was now "ready" to accept territorial concessions. Kyiv has agreed to one of the major points in negotiations with the United States and Russia by accepting the establishment of a demilitarized zone in the Donbas. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/
65% for peace, assuming Russia gets Dombas: Russian support for peace talks rises to wartime high as public sees war goals largely met https://www.intellinews.com/russian-support-for-peace-talks-rises-to-wartime-high-as-public-sees-war-goals-largely-met-416055/?source=russia
Israeli army kills 3 more Palestinians in Gaza despite ceasefire
Israeli force made up of several military vehicles and bulldozers advanced into Jabalia, witnesses say https://www.aa.com.tr/en/
Broad-spectrum genocide: Acute malnutrition epidemic stalks Gaza – Not a Ceasefire Day 61 https://israelpalestinenews.org/acute-malnutrition-epidemic-stalks-gaza-not-a-ceasefire-day-61/
Jonathan Cook, Israel's biggest con trick: Hiding the true numbers it has killed in Gaza
Early on, Israel wrecked Gaza’s capacity to count its dead by destroying the enclave’s governmental offices and its hospitals. The 70,000 figure is likely to be a drastic under-estimate.
No, the biggest con trick is that Israel has successfully penned us all into a “debate”, one entirely divorced from reality, that relates only to those killed directly by its bombs and gunfire. The truth is that far, far larger numbers of people in Gaza have been actively killed by Israel not through these direct means but through what statisticians refer to as “indirect” methods.
These people were killed by Israel destroying their homes and leaving them with no shelter. By Israel destroying their water and electricity supplies and their sanitation systems. By Israel levelling their hospitals. By Israel starving them. By Israel creating the perfect conditions for disease to spread. The list of ways Israel is killing people in Gaza goes on and on.
Imagine your own societies levelled in the way Gaza has been. How long would your elderly parents survive in this hellscape? https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/israels-biggest-con-trick-hiding
What often appears as sporadic settler violence is in fact an organized system with an official structure fully operating as intended. https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-organized-settler-militias-west-bank-palestinians-funding-arms
Rahm Emmanuel:
When it comes to our adolescents, it’s either going to be adults or the algorithms that raise our kids. No child under the age of 16 should have access to social media. TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and others are too powerful, too addictive, too alluring and too often target our young kids. Parents cannot fight Big Tech alone. Sensible regulations cut teen smoking and banned phones in classrooms to boost academic and social development. We’ve proven that smart steps are effective. The time for debate and discussion is over. It’s time to protect our kids and strengthen our families. https://x.com/YousefMunayyer/status/1998484362153619872
The presence of Palantir and Dataminr at the new US military compound in Israel offers a glimpse of how tech companies are cashing in https://responsiblestatecraft.org/surveillance-gaza/
It's just a legal contract: Israel will withhold 50 million cubic meters of water from Jordan https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/israel-will-withhold-50-million-cubic-meters-of-water-from-jordan-report-3211038?s=1
Max Blumenthal, Trump proudly announces an act of piracy, with the US theft of an oil tanker from Venezuela bound for Cuba
This act of financial terrorism was aimed at starving Cuba of energy, worsening its blackout crisis and tormenting its population https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1998888422283559051
This act of financial terrorism was aimed at starving Cuba of energy, worsening its blackout crisis and tormenting its population https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1998888422283559051
It wasn't secret: Seized Tanker Reveals Cuba's Secret Oil Lifeline As Trump Turns To Gunboat Diplomacy
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has realized that it is all about following the money. If the U.S. military posture in the Caribbean is one of "gunboat diplomacy" aimed at ushering in regime change in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, against the country's autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, then one way to accelerate regime instability is to weaken Cuba materially. During President Trump's first term, there was a brief moment in which the Maduro regime appeared close to being overthrown, but it was countered by support from Cuba. According to The New York Times reporters Michael Crowley and Edward Wong, that failure frustrated Trump, his advisers, and then Senator Rubio, who had backed regime change.
"Their theory of change involves cutting off all support to Cuba," said Juan S. Gonzalez, who was President Joe Biden's top White House aide for Western Hemisphere affairs. "Under this approach, once Venezuela goes, Cuba will follow." https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/seized-tanker-reveals-cubas-secret-oil-lifeline-trump-turns-gunboat-diplomacy
Caitlin Johnstone, The Empire Is Scrambling To Fully Dominate Latin America, And Other Notes
Stealing the oil hurts both Cuba and Venezuela, who are the two primary enemies of the US empire in the Americas because of their strongly socialist governments. They got a right wing government into Bolivia this year, and now they’re hurrying to push regime change in Caracas and Havana while they’ve got a right wing tyrant in office with a gusano secretary of state. The hope is to force the entirety of Latin America into full alignment with the empire before Trump leaves office. https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-empire-is-scrambling-to-fully
Well, there's that...China will destroy US military in fight over Taiwan, top secret document warns
Beijing’s hypersonic missiles ‘could sink US aircraft carriers within minutes’ “The US loses a lot of ships in the process. A lot of F-35 and other tactical aircraft in the theatre are degraded pretty rapidly too,” he told the Telegraph.
“I think the high cost of it was really sobering when we did the after-action summaries, and we’re like, ‘Okay, like, you guys lost 100-plus fifth-generation aircraft, multiple destroyers, a couple of submarines, a couple of carriers’. “It’s like, ‘oh gosh, man, that was a heavy toll’.” https://archive.is/v93yg#selection-2345.4-2349.82
Remember that US fighter jet and chopper that crashed in the South China Sea recently? China builds an electromagnetic kill zone in the South China Sea
Battle space fuses South China Sea island bases, mobile jammers and shipborne kill webs that could neutralize US power projection https://asiatimes.com/2025/12/china-builds-an-electromagnetic-kill-zone-in-the-south-china-sea/ The Friday after Zohran Mamdani won, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch gave a sermon saying that he believed the incoming New York mayor’s criticisms of Israel aligned with Hamas and that critics of Israel wanted to separate “good Jews” from “bad Jews” in a way that endangers the city’s Jewish community.
Hirsch, a self-described liberal, challenged Mamdani to prove him wrong... A month later, he noted, he is still waiting.
Hirsch, a self-described liberal, challenged Mamdani to prove him wrong... A month later, he noted, he is still waiting.
Mamdani is expected to have an unannounced meeting Thursday with the New York Board of Rabbis, of which Hirsch is the current president. According to two invitees, several rabbis who are attending are planning to propose a unified agenda, asking Mamdani to back away from his rejection of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state or his support of the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
But doing that wouldn’t just put Mamdani at odds with his base since, as Hirsch acknowledged in his sermon, support for Israel has plummeted not just among the far left but within the Democratic Party overall. It would be a reversal from which many of Mamdani’s other convictions flow. As he declared at a Democratic Socialists of America convention just two years ago, “the struggle for Palestinian liberation was at the core of my politics and continues to be.” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/11/politics/zohran-mamdani-new-york-jewish-leaders
But doing that wouldn’t just put Mamdani at odds with his base since, as Hirsch acknowledged in his sermon, support for Israel has plummeted not just among the far left but within the Democratic Party overall. It would be a reversal from which many of Mamdani’s other convictions flow. As he declared at a Democratic Socialists of America convention just two years ago, “the struggle for Palestinian liberation was at the core of my politics and continues to be.” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/11/politics/zohran-mamdani-new-york-jewish-leaders
Mary T. Bassett accused Israel of 'potential genocide' in a message to students and faculty https://freebeacon.com/campus/harvard-ousts-director-of-human-rights-center-targeted-by-trump-admin-over-rampant-anti-semitism/
Peters was trying to save 2020 vote records for a recount, so why so late? Trump Says He Is Pardoning Former Colorado County Clerk Tina Peters https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-says-he-pardoning-former-colorado-county-clerk-tina-peters
Don't let yourself depend on AI: Europol Pinpoints When Skynet-Like Human Resistance To AI Could Emerge
Europol, the EU's central intelligence and coordination hub for serious crime and terrorism, identifies around 2035 as a potential inflection point at which a human resistance movement against AI could begin to take shape, in a scenario that echoes the resistance to Skynet in the Terminator film franchise. https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/europol-pinpoints-when-skynet-human-resistance-ai-could-emerge
Meryl Nass MD, The TELECOM uber spying plan is being pushed by the FCC, NTIA and Congress, to remove all local authority over where the towers go, their health effects and who gets control of all that data
It is important to put these separate pieces of law and regulation together, and see through the phony justifications, to understand our world now https://merylnass.substack.com/p/the-telecom-uber-spying-plan-is-beingThis post usefully summarizes various state laws to restrict the development and use of AI, as well as their current standing. It also points out that the Trump executive order cannot override them; only Congress can do that. But the breadth of the Trump effort shows the scope of the intended domestic pushback. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/12/whats-at-stake-in-trumps-executive-order-aiming-to-curb-state-level-ai-regulation.html
Meryl Nass MD, # Facing Starvation *tripled* in the past decade. A global guide on food and hunger is a good reference to have. How about a WIN-WIN for US farmers and the hungry? "Life-threatening hunger nearly tripled in the last decade to 295 million people across 53 countries." https://merylnass.substack.com/p/facing-starvation-tripled-in-the
Kimberly Milhoan MD, Irony - Fired for being a physician and scientist
My husband Kirk Milhoan, MD, PhD, FAAP, FACC, and I are at the World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Hong Kong this week, a meeting that occurs once every four years (where he, incidentally, presented information regarding our 25 years of experience with international pediatric cardiac medical missions). While here, we found out he was being dismissed from his current practice of pediatric cardiology solely because of his service as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). He disclosed to his employer when he accepted the appointment to this committee, and then again when he accepted the role of chairman. He is a respected and valued contributor to his department. He has no patient or family complaints against him, and numerous accolades. Staff enjoy working with him. Those who broke the news to him apologized profusely, commending his integrity. Why did they fire him? Because of the overwhelming number of calls to their organization demanding his firing for his role on ACIP. The court of public opinion is dictating to a medical organization who can be on their staff, and they are bowing to it. It is a staggering turn of events.....Update: Unfired. Thank you all for your overwhelming support and thank you to a true man of integrity for his intervention. https://kimberlymilhoanmd.substack.com/p/irony
Nicolas Hulscher, World Health Organization Releases 2025 Autism–Vaccine Report — Ignores Vast Majority of the Evidence
The McCullough Foundation Autism Report remains the most comprehensive scientific assessment to date. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-world-health-organizationMeryl Nass MD, Now we can all relax about vaccines and autism/ WHO https://merylnass.substack.com/p/now-we-can-all-relax-about-vaccines
Nicolas Hulscher, Peer-Reviewed Reanalysis of the Henry Ford Birth Cohort Study Finds Vaccinated Children Sicker Across All 22 Chronic Disease Categories - Our reanalysis of the largest U.S. vaccinated vs. unvaccinated birth cohort study ever conducted reveals 54% higher cancer rates and 549% higher autism-related disorders among vaccinated children. https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-peer-reviewed-reanalysis
Meryl Nass MD, *High Dose* Flu Shots in Elderly Show No Benefit and Worse Harms, Compared to Standard Dose Shots/NEJM
From a huge study in Denmark over 3 flu seasons, in which there was a reasonable match of vaccine to circulating strains. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/high-dose-flu-shots-in-elderly-show Dr.Nass, What you can do regarding the cell tower bills and getting rid of COVID mRNA vaccines - One petition to sign and one comment to make https://merylnass.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-regarding-the-cell
John Klar, Kennedy and Rollins Launch MAHA-Inspired Pilot Program to Support Regenerative Farmers https://www.themahareport.com/p/kennedy-and-rollins-launch-maha-inspired
The study, published on Wednesday in the journal Aging, found that theobromine – a common plant compound that comes from cocoa beans – could slow biological ageing.
“Our study finds links between a key component of dark chocolate and staying younger for longer,” said Jordana Bell, the study’s senior author and head of the epigenomics research group at King's College London. https://www.euronews.com/health/2025/12/10/chemical-in-dark-chocolate-may-help-slow-ageing-new-study-finds
“Our study finds links between a key component of dark chocolate and staying younger for longer,” said Jordana Bell, the study’s senior author and head of the epigenomics research group at King's College London. https://www.euronews.com/health/2025/12/10/chemical-in-dark-chocolate-may-help-slow-ageing-new-study-finds
No one is deliberately adding lead or cadmium to chocolate bars.
Lead ends up in cacao post-harvest, as the beans are fermenting and drying. If they are dried on the ground, they may absorb lead from the ground. They may also absorb lead from dust in the air. All of this lead comes from the fact that the heavy metal was released from industrial processes and leaded fuel over decades and has spread widely.
Cadmium occurs naturally in many soils including volcanic soils. As cocoa trees grow, they absorb the cadmium which then ends up in the cocoa pods that are harvested to make chocolate...
..Nonprofit group As You Sow has done extensive testing on chocolates to see which bars contain lead or cadmium. As You Sow didn’t test all chocolates for lead and cadmium, but of the fair or direct trade dark chocolate bars they tested, they found that the following had low levels of either heavy metal: Lead ends up in cacao post-harvest, as the beans are fermenting and drying. If they are dried on the ground, they may absorb lead from the ground. They may also absorb lead from dust in the air. All of this lead comes from the fact that the heavy metal was released from industrial processes and leaded fuel over decades and has spread widely.
Cadmium occurs naturally in many soils including volcanic soils. As cocoa trees grow, they absorb the cadmium which then ends up in the cocoa pods that are harvested to make chocolate...
Equal Exchange Organic Fairly Traded Dark Chocolate Panama Extra Dark 80% Cacao
Divine 85% Dark Chocolate
Endangered Species Chocolate Natural Dark Chocolate with Cherries- 72% Cocoa https://greenamerica.org/blog/lead-and-cadmium-are-chocolate-what-about-fair-trade
Consumer Reports found dangerous heavy metals in chocolate from Hershey's, Theo, Trader Joe's, and other popular brands. Here are the ones that had the most, and some that are safer. https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
Tessa Lena sees 'em over New York; sends pictures: Circular Chemtrails in My Sky - Sky thieves don't rest https://tessa.substack.com/p/circular-chemtrails-in-my-sky
Natural Gardener (pictured with central part of 20 ft. wide spiderweb with dewdrops in morning mist) 
