In January 1933, Hitler is appointed Chancellor despite only minority support in the election. A few months later, he becomes dictator and all opposition parties are banned. Image via Anne Frank House from Bundesarchiv, 146-1972-026-11/ photograph: R. Sennecke. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Rights: CC-BY-SA 3.0 DE

Word of the day is ‘latibulate’ (17th century): to hide in a corner in an attempt to escape reality.
— Susie Dent, from the memebrary

It really does seem as if the American Empire, with the complicity of both US parties, most major corporations, the corporate-owned media, and the cowardly, appeasing leaders of the other countries in the larger White Empire, is hell-bent on emulating the ‘rise’ and world domination aspirations of Germany in the 1930s. The parallels are now too overwhelming to ignore.

Independent Canadian journalist Tod Maffin likens the behaviour of the US Administration to that of a school bully. The analogy is perfectly apt. The UN and the courts are the hapless school authorities. The Canadian/European/Australian ‘leaders’ are the bully’s terrified ‘allies’ and apologists for the bully’s behaviour, out of fear and incomprehension they will be next. They’re fine with the brutality and theft as long as it’s the poor, weak kids getting beaten up and robbed, not them. I suppose we hope that the bully will ‘graduate out’ of the school in the next US election, and the problem will magically disappear. That’s what the world figured in the early 1930s about Germany.

In the meantime, Canadians are now at least talking about the probability of annexation, military intervention, economic sanctions (sieges) and other hostile actions threatening our sovereignty.

It is absolutely conceivable that the carnage will continue until all of the Americas, and the entire Middle East, has been declared the bully’s territory. The bully will continue his behaviour until he stops getting exactly what he wants and demands. Just like in the 1930s. ICE killed 32 people last year, and has over 68,000 locked up, mostly without charges. Just like in the 1930s. Their target is “100 million”, to enable an Aryan US Empire “no longer besieged by the third world”. Just like in the 1930s.

First they came for the Communists…

COLLAPSE WATCH

photo via Bill Rees’ blog, by Emre Ezer on Pexels, free to use

Is the looming financial collapse behind Trump’s war-mongering?: Tim Morgan poses an interesting thesis: If as most believe financial ‘assets’ are ludicrous overvalued (especially AI ‘assets’), and if (see Lawrence Wilkerson’s article linked below) the massive government and private debt that has been created to try to keep the economy pumping is basically un-repayable when it comes due, then this suggests that countries dependent on financial ‘wealth’ (the US, and Europe to a lesser extent) are facing catastrophic economic collapse and contraction, while countries that rely on their material resources (China, Russia, Canada, Venezuela, Iran) should be able to weather the storm relatively well. What’s a resource-poor, finance-dependent country to do? Well, obviously, steal the resource-rich countries’ resources (oil, land, water, minerals) to lessen the blow.

Why collapse is inevitable: A 3-part essay from ecological economist Bill Rees. Bill’s summary:

Part 1 argues that modern humans are maladapted by nature and nurture to the world they themselves have created. Our paleolithic brains are befuddled by the sheer scale, complexity and pace of change of both our socio-cultural and biophysical environments.
Part 2 suggests that much of our befuddlement is due to unfamiliar behaviours and circumstances that emerge from the internal machinations of large-scale societal organizations and their interactions with the biophysical systems that contain them. Our Paleolithic brains are not up to the challenge. Socially stable, eco-compatible large-scale societies cannot emerge from these turbulent confrontations.
Part 3 makes the case that what does emerge is something else altogether—gross societal malfunction-to-collapse—which may be at least partially explained by pan-cultural ‘psychopathy’.

This month in collapse: Erik Michaels provides a comprehensive and compelling summary of the best new writing on collapse, every week. Definitely worth subscribing or putting in your RSS feed. His latest includes this remarkable paragraph from ecologist Lyle Lewis:

We often end [discussions about extinction] with reassurance; with the idea that we can still choose how deep the crater goes. But history offers little evidence that we can. Knowledge without the capacity to act is irrelevant, and our species has always followed the same imperative: to consume what sustains us until it’s gone. The truth is that this extinction isn’t a problem we can solve; it’s a process we set in motion simply by being what we are. All that remains is to bear witness; to understand what it means to live in the final stages of the unmaking of the world. In truth, every hominin of the last 2.5 million years has lived somewhere along this descent; life will go on, but not the life we’ve known. We’re simply witnesses to its undoing.

Orange rivers as the permafrost melts: A new NOAA study reveals how quickly the Arctic environment is changing as polar temperatures rise 3-5x faster than they are on the rest of the planet. And in the process Canada is quickly and irreplaceably losing its glaciers.

LIVING BETTER

via Stephen Abram, originally from a pro-vaccine site

It starts with humility: Those of us privileged to have obtained advanced degrees and high salaries and powerful-sounding titles can easily begin to believe our own press — that what we have to say is important and invariably right. It came as a shock to me when I retired to discover most of the stuff in my professional bio was just self-serving crap, and that I really had not accomplished anything of enduring value. And that all the people I worked for and with likewise had not accomplished anything of enduring value — and the more they had been paid and the ‘higher up’ they went, the more that was true. Not because any of us were/are dumb or incompetent (though some were), but because that’s not how sustained, lasting change happens in complex systems. It sounds like Mark Eddleston has had a similar epiphany, and he’s written an articulate and achingly humble book about it. First chapter is here.

Seven ways to make housing affordable: Now that Vancouver housing prices have stabilized, there’s a new opportunity for governments to help residents cut the absurd cost of housing, that apply just about everywhere. “Letting the market” solve the problems has never worked.

Getting religion out of the health care system: Finally, BC’s courts have been forced to confront the absurdity of publicly-funded hospitals dictating health care policy based on religious orthodoxy.

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS AS USUAL

produced, apparently by accident, by AI (not my prompt); out of the mouth of bots

Patrick Lawrence’s eulogy for the rule of law as the world descends into chaos: Patrick’s a wonderful writer, and his three latest essays should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand what’s happening in the world. I’m providing multiple links to try to skirt the paywall (let me know if you can’t access any of them), and have asked him to ‘package’ and release them for wider distribution:

1. Free Speech and It’s Enemies: What we’re able and competent to say and write has a powerful impact on what we’re able to conceive and think. (CN copy.)
2. The Coup: The American Empire baldly announces what has been its covert modus operandi for decades: It claims the entire Western Hemisphere (and the Middle East) as its territory to deal with as it chooses, and recognizes none of these nations’ sovereignty. (Alt Substack copy.)
3. An Abyss of Lawlessness: In the words of Trump cabinet minister Stephen Miller: “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world… that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time. The “rule of law” is one of those “international niceties” that has been completely discarded. (CN copy)

Imperialism, Militarism & Fascism: Short takes:

Lawrence Wilkerson predicts that $3T in US government debt imminently coming due will bring down the US economy, and Trump’s military adventures and thefts are all desperate smokescreens to try to cushion the collapse. Quiet backroom deals with China and Russia will be needed to prevent it turning into a global economic collapse.
And in a related vein, the inevitable shift to a multipolar world is explained by Arnaud Bertrand.
Indrajit explains why the likely reason China and Russia aren’t doing more than condemning the most recent US atrocities is because they’re smart enough to realize that those atrocities are backfiring (citing Napoleon: “Never interfere with your enemy when he is making a mistake.”).
Israel bans Doctors Without Borders and dozens of other humanitarian organizations from Palestine.
The brutal War in Sudan is a civil war between two greedy militias; just follow the money.
Indrajit Samarajiva’s clever analogy to the US/White Empire going “white dwarf” as it explodes and then collapses.
The son of a Chilean Nazi, who’s also an overt supporter of the brutal Pinochet dictatorship, has won the presidency of Chile.

Propaganda, Censorship, Misinformation and Disinformation: Short takes:

Mossad, whose agents are deployed in large numbers in Iran, and whose infiltration inside Iran crippled the country’s response to last summer’s US/Israeli bombings, is actively involved in fomenting violence among the protestors demonstrating against shortages in that country, with the goal of turning the protests into anti-regime demonstrations, trying to trigger a violent response from the Iranian government to enable new planned US/Israeli bombings and regime change operations. The western press continues to ignore and censor reports of Mossad’s active involvement in creating a smokescreen for another war against Iran. But some “third world” countries are reporting on it. Here’s a report from India on Mossad’s activities. And of course Caitlin is also all over it. And Larry Johnson has an update. And Moon of Alabama says the pro-government protests now dramatically outnumber the anti-government protests.
How the US/Israeli propaganda campaign deliberately exploits public confusion, exhaustion, and disbelief, while sowing fear of daring to protest throughout the west.
Jeremy Corbyn laments Starmer’s continued abject submission to the US on its recent war crimes.
The US/western media refuse to call Trump’s attack and war crimes in Venezuela “acts of war”.
Dozens of western media used the identical headline terms in response to the Bondi shooting: “The globalized Intifada comes to Boston”. Coincidence?
The NYT continues to report on the US/Israeli genocide in Palestine as acts of “law enforcement”.

Corpocracy & Unregulated Capitalism: Short takes:

A Goldman exec explains how they encourage the ‘pump and dump’ scam to exploit uncertainty over the economic situation, and to make a quick buck on AI.
How to deal with corrupt corporations, and how to fix unions that discriminate against new members (very different problems).
How the ‘financial industry’ is just a casino: “In our society the classic three ways of making a fortune still apply: inherit it, marry it, or steal it. But for an ordinary citizen who wants to become rich through working at a salaried job, finance is by an enormous margin the most likely path. And yet, the thing they’re doing in finance is useless. I mean that in a strong sense: this activity produces nothing and creates no benefit for society in aggregate, because every gain is matched by an identical loss. It all sums to zero.”
The Skeena Resources mining company offered $10,000 bribes to First Nations members to approve the mine’s reopening.
Cory Doctorow explains in detail why he thinks it’s so important for our economy and for tacking inequality to repeal the “anti-circumvention laws” most countries have agreed to sign as part of trade agreements, which funnel staggering amounts of money to giant US corporations for doing essentially nothing, and hamper national innovation in the process. Not an easy read, but this is important to understand.

Administrative Mismanagement & Incompetence: Short takes:

The US CDC has slashed most of its recommendations for childhood vaccinations, based entirely on RFK Jr’s ideology, and contrary to all established science on the benefits and risks of these vaccines, putting millions of children at risk.

Department of Health Prevention: Short takes:

As a result of the aforementioned RFK Jr incompetence, the public health community has rallied in support of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which continues to advocate for a full slate of safety-proven vaccinations. Many US state health organizations are also supporting them.
The brain-wormed Health Secretary has also turned the ‘food pyramid’ of foods recommended for a healthy diet upside down. Red meat and dairy (the country’s largest Big Ag lobbies and biggest sources of saturated fats) have been elevated to the wide top of the pyramid, and whole grains and nuts apparently demoted to the very bottom. In delivering its confusing, anti-science, ideological message, the deranged Kennedy said that the stuff at the bottom is also important, but that’s not how the bizarre diagram reads. Absolutely appalling, but fortunately most Americans ignore ‘food pyramids’ anyway; we can only hope they will continue to do so.
Influenza cases and deaths in the US (and likely Canada) have reached the highest levels since CoVid-19 years.
Soaring health care insurance costs in the US are forcing some Americans to marry their housemates.

FUN AND INSPIRATION

from the memebrary

Does a mirror reflect a past version of yourself?: Yes, says Hank Green, scientifically that’s true. But actually “your self is an illusion, a fake idea created through a process of natural selection to successfully pass on its genes to the next generation… Your body is a prison”.

The curious case of Earl Mardle’s cow: The cow’s behaviour suggests an odd mix of instinctive and ‘judgemental’ reactions to a challenging situation. The long and complex story is worth a read. It just might contain clues to whether cows do or don’t have “selves”.

Vancouver’s soaring vacancy rates: It’s perplexing — the city is one of the world’s most popular places to live and retire, and among the world’s most expensive, but its rental vacancy rates have jumped from near-zero to 40-year record highs. Why? Not government policy or increased supply, say the experts. The Tyee reports the real reasons: Reduced demand as rental prices stayed high and renters’ disposable income dropped (so renters doubled up or moved away). A sharp drop in non-permanent residents, as Canada fell in line with Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric and cut quotas. And “a sluggish retail market” as owners who’d bought properties to speculate on continuing price rises gave up trying to resell them and put them on the rental market. That’s not just true in Vancouver, I’d venture to say.

Rick Beato’s personal favourite songs of 2025: Taste is so tricky to understand. Rick is an expert, and I do like his choices better than the actual top sellers per Spotify (except for Die With a Smile, which IMO is already a classic). But otherwise, my favourites didn’t overlap at all with either list.

What do you mean by ‘India’?: Indrajit Samarajiva provides a fascinating explanation of how most people’s sense of ‘where they live’ has nothing to do with what politicians talk about or where mapmakers draw the lines.

What reading does to your brain: OK, so there’s the orthodox view on this, how reading makes you think better and improves “attention, memory and empathy”, which this video covers. (Thanks to Liz ‘Oofdah’ for the link.) But I don’t think the author realizes that reading crowds out a lot of other potential uses of your brain’s capacity (and no, it’s a myth that we only use 20% of our brains). And reading can also lead to groupthink, acceptance of propaganda, and entrenchment of beliefs that are simply not true. So much depends on what and how you read.

The “impossible” machines that manufacture the world’s most advanced computer chips: Were it not for these machines, decades in the making against high odds and doubts, Moore’s Law would have broken by now, and our computers would be much slower and bulkier.

The arrest of Mark Carney will bring peace and prosperity: A clever satirical ‘editorial’ that draws whole sentences from the official text of Trump’s kidnapping of Maduro, to propose that the Canadian PM likewise be ‘arrested’.

THOUGHTS OF THE MONTH

from the memebrary — apparently a collaboration between those cited at bottom

From a transcription of Trump‘s press conference after kidnapping Maduro and bombing Caracas and its port city (thanks to Caitlin Johnstone for telling us what he actually said, rather than what they think he might have meant):

We’re gonna take back the oil that frankly we should have taken back a long time ago… We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground, and that wealth is going to the people of Venezuela, and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in Venezuela, and it goes also to the United States of America in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused us by that country.

We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country, and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so… We have tremendous energy in that country. It’s very important that we protect it. We need that for ourselves, we need that for the world…

We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition. So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in… We’re not afraid of boots on the ground. And we have to have, we had boots on the ground last night at a very high level.

[to Fox News] This incredible thing last night… We have to do it again [in other countries]. We can do it again, too. Nobody can stop us.

From the speech by Venezuela’s VP and now de facto President Delcy Rodríguez, immediately after Trump’s kidnapping of Maduro and the bombing of Caracas and attempted theft of its oil (via Moon of Alabama; once again, you won’t find much mention of this in western media):

The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, in an attempt to forcibly break the nation’s political independence. They will not succeed. After more than 200 years of independence, the people and their legitimate government remain steadfast in defending their sovereignty and their inalienable right to decide their own destiny. The attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a “regime change,” in alliance with the fascist oligarchy, will fail like all previous attempts.

From Hank Green: A couple of clever remarks from recent Vlogbrothers videos:

AI is Wealth’s attempt to gain access to Skill while preventing Skill from having access to Wealth.

[Too much of social media is] grievance-based-attention farming.

From Dorianne Laux‘s The Book of Men:

DARK CHARMS

Eventually the future shows up everywhere:
those burly summers and unslept nights in deep
lines and dark splotches, thinning skin.
Here’s the corner store grown to a condo,
the bike reduced to one spinning wheel,
the ghost of a dog that used to be, her trail
no longer trodden, just a dip in the weeds.
The clear water we drank as thirsty children
still runs through our veins. Stars we saw then
we still see now, only fewer, dimmer, less often.
The old tunes play and continue to move us
in spite of our learning, the wraith of romance,
lost innocence, literature, the death of the poets.
We continue to speak, if only in whispers,
to something inside us that longs to be named.
We name it the past and drag it behind us,
bag like a lung filled with shadow and song,
dreams of running, the keys to lost names.