The South Carolina special election to replace the late, great Lindsey Graham was held last night and the stupid won in a big way, by that I mean his sister.
Recent Items
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Coffee Break: Someone Stupid Heads From South Carolina to DC
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Nat Wilson Turner at 2:00 pm | 11 Comments »
This American City Perfected Clean Water for Beer — Now It’s Fighting to Keep Cancer-Causing Nitrates Out of the Tap
Rural communities can treat water to reduce nitrates to safe levels. But what about well water polluted by runoff from fertilized fields?
Topics: Environment, Guest Post, Health care, Politics, Regulations and regulators
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 7 Comments »
Links 8/26/2026 Plus Iran War Note
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 113 Comments »
Imperialist Realism and American Empire
“May you live in interesting times.” So says the apocryphal Chinese proverb that may well have been more properly attributed to Austen and Neville Chamberlain’s father. All of us here can be said to have lived in interesting times, if interesting means, among other things, unsettled and inscrutable, not to mention ugly and unstable. But […]
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Politics, Social values
Posted by KLG at 6:45 am | 22 Comments »
Understanding Iranian Victory
Iranian strategic logic and why Tehran believes it has already won against the US.
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Economic fundamentals, Energy markets, Guest Post, Media watch, Middle East, Politics, Social values
Posted by Yves Smith at 5:50 am | 30 Comments »
Is Sikorski’s “European Legion” Proposal a Way for Poland to Deploy “Peacekeepers” to Ukraine?
A sketchy “European Legion” scheme which could deploy to Ukraine illustrates the huge gap between EU belligerent intent and ability to act.
Topics: Doomsday scenarios, Europe, Guest Post, Politics, Russia
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:00 am | 14 Comments »
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Humanoid Soldiers and Vanishing Valor
Humanoid robots are approaching the physical capabilities required for infantry combat. Once machines become stronger, faster, more precise, more expendable, and easier to reproduce than human soldiers, military competition could make the human infantryman obsolete. But the deeper consequence may be cultural: what happens to warfare when armies no longer require courage, sacrifice, or heroes?
Topics: Guest Post
Posted by Haig Hovaness at 2:00 pm | 26 Comments »
Gates and Rockefeller Foundations’ Green Revolution Failing Africa
How 20 years of Gates and Rockefeller Foundations’ green revolutions initiatives have yielded little in Africa and even done harm.
Topics: Africa, Agriculture, Guest Post, Income disparity, Permaculture
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:55 am | 6 Comments »
Links 8/25/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:59 am | 88 Comments »
Robert Urie: There Is No Bond Market Panic. Who Benefits from Claiming That There Is One?
You have been had! The current bond market media panic is a con! But cui bono, aside from clickbait-y sites?
Topics: Credit markets, Currencies, Doomsday scenarios, Dubious statistics, Economic fundamentals, Federal Reserve, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Investment outlook, Macroeconomic policy, Media watch, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:58 am | 24 Comments »
Iran War: Bessent’s “The Nigger Gets It” Iran Sanctions Strategy as His Ex-Boss Druckenmiller Trashes His New Treasury Scheme; Iran Hits US Escorted Tanker as Strait of Hormuz Transits Fall Further
Today’s Iran war news: Even more Trump Administration flailing about in the form of Bessent’s Operation Economic Outcast.
Topics: Banking industry, China, Currencies, Doomsday scenarios, Dubious statistics, Economic fundamentals, Globalization, Media watch, Middle East, Payment system, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:57 am | 88 Comments »
A Failed Murder-for-Hire Plot in Bolivia Exposes the Inner Workings of the US’s Donroe Doctrine
The rise and fall of “Maga’s Man” in Latin America.
Topics: Guest Post
Posted by Nick Corbishley at 6:45 am | 14 Comments »
Coffee Break: Trump’s Policies Could Hurt GOP Senate Candidates in Maine and Texas
The crude venality of the Trump administration blew up trade talks with Canada and are triggering a backlash with rural Texans that could cost the GOP control of the US Senate.
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Nat Wilson Turner at 2:00 pm | 27 Comments »
How Riding the Subway as a Kid Changed the Way I See the World
An ode to the public transportation commute—for the way it forces a visceral reminder of our shared humanity.
Topics: Income disparity, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 9:55 am | 13 Comments »
Links 8/24/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 75 Comments »



