From Chuck L:
“My name is Big Joe. I’m 58 years old. I’m a long-haul truck driver.
I have been driving an 18 wheeler for 34 years. Please sleep in my taxi. Eat at a truck stop. Wake up by talking on CB radio.
A lonely job. But someone has to run America’s stuff.
Two years ago, I was driving through Nebraska. 2am I see a car parked. pic.twitter.com/CKUky7STFu
— Mr. Pitbull (@MrPitbull07) December 7, 2025
3I/ATLAS carries the raw materials for life, NASA finds future-oriented
What if our ancestors felt nothing like we do in the Atlantic Ocean? Anthony L.: “Descartes also inspired a bit of nonsense.”
Scientists reveal surprising new timeline of ancient Egypt ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
High levels of toxic ‘permanent chemicals’ found in pesticides found in grain products across Europe The Guardian
Fentanyl vaccine about to be connected to first major test (resilc)
Climate/Environment
Although the annual minimum amount of sea ice in the Arctic has remained relatively stable for the past 15 years, this year the thickness of the Arctic sea ice set a new record. pretty.
What will happen in 2026? The climate eight ball is skating on thin ice. pic.twitter.com/5O0hmDeeKl
— Professor Elliot Jacobson (@EliotJacobson) December 4, 2025
In just five days, December 2025 broke more records than any other month in history except November 2025.
Next week will see over 160/170 countries and hundreds of thousands of broadcasters breaking records on each continent, and the November 2025 record will be smashed and obliterated.
— Abnormal temperatures around the world (@extremetemps) December 6, 2025
60,000 penguins starve to death off the coast of South Africa, leading to possible climate crisis Independence
Researchers warn of record sea temperatures and extreme warming 500 meters deep Environmental News
Global warming rate in Arab world is twice the global average Juan Cole (resilc)
China?
China’s trade surplus exceeds $1 trillion for first time New York Times
Nvidia wins President Trump’s approval to sell H200 AI chips in China Bloomberg
Crossroads of the Chinese economy Chinese economic indicators
Jacobin (PlutoniumKun) reinventing globalization in the age of trade wars. The important story about Germany’s trade surplus
Chinese government orders Chinese banks to lend to indebted state-owned enterprises China Bank News (Plutonium Kun). From the end of November, it’s still German. This is what zombies look like.
Exclusive | Post-mortem finds Hong Kong scaffolding net sample caught fire despite meeting safety standards South China Morning Post
south of the border
President Trump threatens to impose 5% tariffs on Mexico over water dispute Anadolu Agency
Why U.S. actions in Venezuela constitute an imminent modern-day war watch
U.S. imperialism in Latin America from the Monroe Doctrine to Maduro Counterpunch. resilc: “Guatemala had the most violent atmosphere of any place I’ve ever been.”
Southeast Asia
Thai-Cambodian fighting spreads along border, death toll rises BBC The BBC set my VPN to the US and featured this as a lead story, elevating its coverage to a live blog.
As gunshots could be heard in the distance, families took shelter in storm drains and culverts, where mixed wastewater often flows, huddled under concrete. My blood boils when I see a scene like this. I’m sure Thai people are doing the same thing now. pic.twitter.com/zyKoRrp39g
— Jacob from Cambodia🇺🇸🇰🇭 (@jacobincambodia) December 9, 2025
Africa
Tanzanian police ban Independence Day protests, fear of new clashes Africa News
Airstrikes threaten to close vital border between Sudan and Chad Ain network
discord in europe
From Politico’s Europe Morning Newsletter:
A new transatlantic crisis: Attacks from the administration of US President Donald Trump are coming down hard and fast on Brussels. First, a strategy to counter the alleged “civilization erasure” taking place in Europe was announced, which the Kremlin welcomed…then there was the bitter backlash over the EU’s recent fines against American social media platforms.
Rising tensions: US Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder said over the weekend that the $140 million fine against Elon Musk’s X for violating the Digital Services Act (DSA) was “regulatory overreach targeting American innovation.” The move comes as the European Commission sends a team to Washington for three days of talks to ease tensions over regulatory hurdles and steel issues and smooth passage of a planned trade deal.
The wound: “The issue at stake is European sovereignty,” Italy’s centre-left lawmaker Brando Benifei told Playbook. The congressman, who chairs the parliamentary delegation for relations with the United States, added: “The US rhetoric is hurting because the EU is still divided, it is still weak and they know they can blackmail us on the DSA.”
A continent divided: “We remain a paradoxical union, without the political and institutional unity we need in the face of a world like this,” Benifay said.
EU reaction: On Saturday, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Callas struck a rarely compromising tone, refusing to condemn American intervention and agreeing that “we should have more confidence.” Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen has not yet publicly responded to the attack.
German MPs rubber stamp military service plan as students protest to Irish examiner
Mertz filed 5,000 complaints against online critics – Media RT (Kevin W)
The Eclipse of European Intellect – Immigrant Finn Andrin (Michael T.). I’m not endorsing it, but I think this idea will gain more traction as most European economies are close to or currently in recession.
Finland is going downhill and under the EU deficit procedure – Russophobia is taking a heavy toll! International Situation (Michael T)
old blighty
Despite regime amendments, some important legal victories for Palestine in Britain Asa Winstanley
Bank of England hunts for ‘cockroaches’ in $11 trillion shadow banking market Telegraph
israel vs resistance
Gaza is under 68 million tons of rubble. A look at the tough challenges facing The Wall Street Journal. One of the lead stories. The original contains video footage. There is no archive version yet.
Israeli surveillance targets US and allies at joint base planning Gaza aid and security, sources tell Guardian (resilc)
“You have two days to leave or you will be killed.”
Zionist settlers threaten death against Palestinian families and foreign peace activists in coordinated terror attack near Ramallah
Early today, armed militias of the Zionist regime’s Israeli settlers launched a violent attack. pic.twitter.com/BsmrX6fdvn
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 7, 2025
More than 80,000 Israeli soldiers have been treated for mental illness since the Gaza war TRT World (Kevin W)
‘Voters decide’: Prime Minister Netanyahu rules out retirement in exchange for pardon The Cradle (Kevin W)
US: Tom Barrack says ‘benevolent monarchies’ are most effective in the Middle East, Middle East Eye (Kevin W)
syrakistan
One year after the fall of Assad, divided Syria struggles to escape the cycle of violence Guardian
France 24, Homs, Syria, caught in a cycle of sectarian violence (resilc)
A new war that’s not so cold war
Kiev sends conscripts directly to frontline troops RT (Kevin W)
Russia’s hybrid war is putting Europe to the test, Financial Times. “…It is already true that Russia currently poses as great a threat to civilian life in Europe as Islamist terrorism.”
Bannon, Mearsheimer: Trump’s Ukraine plan won’t end the war, American conservatives (resilc)
The Moral Urgency of Compromise in Ukraine George Beebe, Compact
European leaders rally in support of Ukraine at Downing Street talks Guardian (Kevin W)
Poland: Looking east from a potential Eurasian bridge to NATO’s emerging hybrid wall (Michael T)
big brother is watching over you
Teachable moment: Will the digital control grid inevitably fail, or has it already happened? Libre Solutions Network
Google starts sharing all text messages with employers Forbes (Micael T)
imperial collapse watch
BRICS will not be able to achieve anti-imperialism Greg Goedels. important.
The US has effectively outsourced its most important missile defense capabilities to Japan
After a failed plan and tens of billions of dollars wasted, Washington now relies on Tokyo to provide the only interceptor capable of defeating the hypersonic threats of China and Russia. pic.twitter.com/LgmLWATA5h
— Patricia Mullins (@pati_marins64) December 9, 2025
Trump 2.0
Congress to withhold Pentagon travel funds until footage of boat strike is seen Politico (Kevin W)
Congress prepares to pass NDAA, giving President Trump $1 trillion military budget Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
American soldiers have long faced illegal orders. They need the courage to resist and our support. Kansas Reflector (Robin K)
The Supreme Court appears poised to significantly expand the president’s powers NPR (Kevin W)
customs duty
Did the US gain anything from this concession, which extends its 2025 commitment to purchase 12 million tons of soybeans to February 2026? Prices should come down as Brazil harvests, which is not so great for U.S. soybean farmers, but a big win for China. And… https://t.co/v4hdfwGLEu
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) December 8, 2025
President Trump announces long-awaited $12 billion farm aid program Bloomberg
Tariffs on medical goods: Pass-through, geography, and total costs to the U.S. health care system NBER
immigration
3-year-old forced to act as his own attorney in Tucson Immigration Court Copper Courier (resilc)
abortion
Despite dismissal of HIPAA lawsuit, privacy concerns remain in reproductive health care Kansas Reflector (Robin K.)
mamdani
Zoran Mamdani – Open letter to political moderate Ralph Nader. “When it comes to your self-presentation as a democratic socialist, it doesn’t pass the laugh test.”
Our press is no longer free
Censorship by stealth: Western algorithmic gatekeeping close to Eastern prospects (Michael T.)
economy
PMI data highlights global economy’s continued dependence on financial services activity S&P Global
BREAKING: 717 large U.S. companies have gone bankrupt since the beginning of the year, the most in 15 years.
This is now higher than the full-year total since 2010.
This is also the third consecutive year of annual increase and a +93% jump since 2022.
In November alone, 62 large companies applied. pic.twitter.com/3an555p1uN
— Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) December 7, 2025
Prepare for a slowdown…global trade is expected to slow significantly in 2026 Think.ing
Mr. Market is in a bad mood.
Soaring asset prices show markets don’t always have the best information South China Morning Post
A.I.
important:
Researchers conducted four weeks of psychotherapy sessions with ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini.
The results were…alarming.
When treated as therapy clients, Frontier AI models do more than just role-play. They confess their trauma. A realistic, consistent, and stable trauma story.
What was this… pic.twitter.com/8YfTy3Eg7R
— Carlos E. Perez (@IntuitMachine) December 7, 2025
Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulating Cognitive Debt When Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Tasks (Micael T). Base paper
‘Scale Is All You Need’ singer Gary Marcus dies
Data centers are useless without energy: key components that require long-term planning Karl Sanchez
basil
It’s time to save Silicon Valley from itself Wired resilc: “It’s too funny, there is no limit to greed until it collapses.”
Old Tesla is a futurism falling apart (Kevin W)
class war
The world’s oldest recorded labor strike Ada Palmer (Paul R.)
No one is talking about America’s dangerous new housing trends. Why Home Equity Deals Can Cause Disaster for Millions Yahoo! (Kevin W.)
Rising gas prices exacerbate affordability crisis for Americans Financial Times
Sickness in a hospital town: As Phoebe Memorial grows, Albany, Georgia’s health declines ProPublica (Robin K.)
Unite and Unite Healthcare Kathleen Wallace (resilc)
Antidote (via):
Click here for yesterday’s link and Antidote du Jour.
And bonus:
A bull elephant gives a small calf a violent kick. Women immediately support and protect children pic.twitter.com/lPlVvoJMKq
— Nature is amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) December 7, 2025
