Experiments training rats to play Doom have reached a new level. Rats can now shoot their enemies — wraparound AMOLED screen provides virtual environment for neuroengineer’s expanded open source project Tom’s Hardware
Rethinking Holiday Centerpieces The Enlightened Omnivore
Brutal Beats Orion Magazine. About British brutalist architecture and pirate radio.
Can we really claim that civilization is on a path of steady progress? LitHub
Rob Reiner’s wife found dead inside Brentwood home, suspected murder KTLA
Climate/Environment
To power data centers, Pennsylvania faces new fracking boom Yale Environment 360
Top herds hardest hit by recent drought, Midwest study
The EPA was considering a major lead cleanup in Omaha. Trump then reversed course. flat water free press
Shade Equity: To understand the problem and solution, see Tucson The Revelator
Polar bears are rewiring their genes to survive a warming climate NBC News
pandemic
The new RECOVER study, which looked at the health records of 6.4 million people, shows that the risk of long-term coronavirus has not decreased from 2020 to 2024. Incidence rates remain stable across variants, reinforcing that long-term COVID-19 infection is an ongoing public health priority.
Read the study: https://t.co/RN66kGhyxM pic.twitter.com/j93jKQCxML
— RTHM (@RTHM_Health) December 10, 2025
Japan
Japan to create cabinet posts under National Intelligence Agency concept Japan Times
China?
China’s economy stalls in November amid calls for reform and growth Business Times
US military raider seizes cargo heading from China to Iran WSJ
Geopolitical competition intensifies: The Dart Wars Carl Sanchez
SpaceX claims Chinese satellite is at risk of colliding with Starlink PC Mag
Who is Hong Kong’s pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, who was convicted of violating national security? first post
Chinese billionaire gives birth to dozens of babies born in the U.S. via surrogate WSJ
India
India and Russia work together to resist President Trump’s Indian Ocean strategy John Helmer
Thailand and Cambodia conflict
Thailand launches new attack as Cambodia suspends all border crossings Al Jazeera
sydney shooting incident
Mossad warns Australia of risk of anti-Semitic terrorist attacks Jerusalem Post
Officials say Ynet suggests Iran may be involved in deadly Sydney attack
The Israeli narrative has been debunked – the Bondi terrorists were linked to ISIS. dissident
syrakistan
Israel’s Gaza proxy strategy is collapsing +972 Magazine
President Trump vows to respond to suspected ISIS attack on US troops in Syria Anadolu Agency
US special forces conduct arrest operation in Syria after killing of three Americans New Arab
The upcoming conflagrations in Lebanon and Syria are very likely to be a joint effort between the United States and Israel. This will also send Gaza and the legendary “Phase 2” into oblivion.
— Alon Mizrahi (@alon_mizrahi) December 13, 2025
What on earth is going on? https://t.co/4uE5yLufnP
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 13, 2025
US seizes Iraq’s West Qurna field, supports Russia, reaffirms energy dominance The Cradle
old blighty
UK: ‘We want a quarter of the world’s lithium’
discord in europe
🧵 Part 1/2 – Mr. Merz stood in front of a party at CDSU and said two things in the same speech that were supposed to stop the cold in Europe.
“Pax Americana is over,” he declared. And he reached out to Europe’s darkest memories…Munich, the Sudetenland, Hitler, and insisted that Russia “would not…” pic.twitter.com/msPDyUSvbC
— Islander (@IslanderWORLD) December 14, 2025
Guest post: War clouds in Europe? Johan Rossow Written by Emmanuel Todd
Estonian court sentences pro-Russian politician to 14 years in prison for treason ERR
A new war that’s not so cold war
Ukraine’s Zelensky proposes withdrawal of NATO bid as Trump special envoy monitors progress in peace talks France 24
⚡️⚡️⚡️ BREAKING NEWS: Ukrainian President Zelensky has ordered lawmakers to draft a bill that would allow elections to be held under martial law.
According to sources, media outlets friendly to Zelensky’s camp now say Kiev expects the US to pressure the Kremlin to stop shelling. pic.twitter.com/1JBR0FiwVp
— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) December 15, 2025
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presses Putin for limited ceasefire on ports and energy facilities
EU reparations loan vote must be rejected Intellinews
‘The front line is everywhere’: new head of MI6 warns of growing Russian threat The Guardian
south of the border
Pilot narrowly avoids ‘mid-air collision’ with US Air Force plane near Venezuela The Guardian
Far-right Casto wins in Telesur, Chile’s presidential election run-off
President Javier Millay of Argentina:
The left wing retreats. Freedom advances. pic.twitter.com/X9BXfxkolR
— Crash Report (@clashreport) December 15, 2025
Trump 2.0
US intelligence chief warns of ‘direct threat’ from terrorist suspects in Anadolu
When asked if he would carry out attacks against presidentially declared domestic terrorist organizations (such as Antifa) on U.S. soil, General Guyot, commander of NorthCom, said he would do so as long as it was legal.
Senator Reid: If the President declares an organization, terrorist organization, or DTO… pic.twitter.com/vpxwq0SolK
— Ken Klippenstein (NSPM-7 compliant) (@kenklippenstein) December 13, 2025
Good question:
Was Purdue Pharma a narco-terrorist?
—Rudy Havenstein, Senior Market Commentator. (@Rudy Havenstein) December 1, 2025
“Trump and the ‘end of history'” Patrick Lawrence
accelerationist
AI Billionaire’s 2026 Blackmail Campaign Is Already Working Rolling Stone
Deshabille Democratic Party
Harris steps forward to run a new White House Axios
spook country
How did the CIA lose its nuclear device? New York Times
immigration
20 States Sue Trump Administration Over H-1B Visa Fees: 9 Notes Becker’s Hospital Review
Judge condemns Trump administration’s illegal and ‘unacceptably punitive’ use of Guantanamo to detain immigrants Andy Worthington
imperial collapse watch
AI Bubble in 2026 (1/4) About Edward Ongweso Jr.’s “New Empire Strategy”. It’s well worth a read.
About the strategy of the coalition war policy tensor
US Navy now wants new frigates and rapid combat zones
The U.S. Navy isn’t losing to China at sea, it’s losing in the shipyards.
No matter how you look at it, there’s no way the U.S. Navy is having trouble building ships. It has the world’s largest defense budget, unparalleled operational experience, and decades of technological leadership. Still, as… pic.twitter.com/YWBcNbaMMN
— Ignis Rex (@Ignis_Rex) December 14, 2025
fashion
Lockheed Martin’s unlikely rise and uncertain future The streetwear business of fashion
health care?
Anthem’s 62% Margin on Federal Employee Health Benefits Contracts Covers Uncovered Health Care
A.I.
Ownership of the means of thinking called Archederia
The idea: AI earrings that whisper to you and help you make decisions. pic.twitter.com/sOemSliQe5
— Shivers (@ Thinkingshivers) December 14, 2025
“Until the day I got fired, I had no choice but to use AI.” Copywriter reveals how AI is disrupting the industry Blood in the Machine
It’s crazy to me that Adobe products have always been known to be expensive for us artists, and have also come under fire for their hidden fees and difficult cancellation processes. These have never been user friendly, but now they make their products available for free to anyone who erases art. https://t.co/V7kxOoqxCy
— Raph (@RaphDeee) December 13, 2025
Podcast industry under siege as AI bots flood airways with thousands of programs Los Angeles Times
Trains suspended after fake video of bridge collapse BBC
big brother is watching you
Denmark plans to drastically restrict young people’s use of social media The Associated Press
guns
Brown University shooting update: Person of interest released from custody. Under investigation NBC News
sports desk
Established anomaly N+1
economy
The US labor market will stop in 2025. The risk in 2026 is that the labor market will crack. Yahoo! finance
Mr. Market’s Bright Horizons
‘Not at all hawkish’: Wall Street optimistic about stock market rally in 2026 after Fed rate cut Yahoo! Finance
Fundamentally, all US growth is being driven by the “wealth effect” that the massive AI investment boom and stock market boom are having on consumption. This may explain why polling on the economy is mixed despite seemingly solid headline growth. 🫧🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RDXCYrj8Nq
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) December 15, 2025
class war
Secret documents show Pepsi and Walmart colluded to dramatically raise food prices across the economy by Matt Stoller
NEW: Behind the beauty of Italy (and Parmesan cheese) lies a radical tradition of cooperatives.
In some regions it accounts for nearly one-fifth of GDP.
We traveled to Emilia-Romagna, one of the country’s wealthiest regions, to investigate how Italian workers built a more democratic economy. pic.twitter.com/3NbfuxsJwU
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) December 12, 2025
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