Ukraine Bio Scare! Trump Laid Bare! Billionaire Buying Power Ain’t Fair! Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Needs Child Care!

By Robert Eringer

“DNI Gabbard Reveals Evidence of U.S. Taxpayer-Funded Global Biolab Program” (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)

These biolabs include labs in Ukraine, which may be at risk of compromise due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. For example, the Intelligence Community previously warned that a US-funded biolab in Ukraine likely housed dangerous pathogens.

The release of documents by DNI Tulsi Gabbard ignites an interesting fact that no one has discussed with reference to Vladimir. Putin’s war on Ukraine.

Ukraine possesses trained scientists, biological research facilities, pathogen collections, and the institutional knowledge associated with them.

History teaches that governments do not always advertise their capabilities.

Nor do they advertise what they are prepared to do when faced with extinction.

“The Ukraine invasion has lasted longer than the First World War. That alone is a defeat for Putin” (The Telegraph)

He enjoys, presumably, the death and destruction he has brought. But his campaign makes the First World War trenches look like a war of movement.

“Russian MP warns Putin: We’re on the brink of social collapse” (The Telegraph)

Another ‘“patient” destined for psych ward?

The trouble with long-serving rulers is that, sooner or later, reality begins to sound subversive.

“Trump reveals Tehran ‘no longer’ wants a nuke” (Cali Post)

Even if it gets signed, mullah signatures are not worth the ink expended.

Of course Iran wants a nuke. More than ever before. Not least because we bombed the hell out of them and were complicit in Israel whacking their “supreme leader,” his wife, assorted relatives—and many others.

They are bent on revenge—and mindful that nuclear powers tend not to get invaded.

“Iran extracts last-minute peace deal concession from Trump” (The Telegraph)

The latest: Iran inserted an eleventh-hour amendment allowing it to charge vessels for passage through the Strait of Hormuz after the 60-day negotiation period expires.

Which means the much-heralded “free passage” provision may be only temporarily. Perhaps the fine print will reveal otherwise. Assuming we ever get to read it.

“Kennedy Center says it has fully removed Trump’s name from its building” (CNN)

The present is for policies.

Memorials belong to the future.

Let history decide who deserves a name on a building.

“Independent Cascadia? Greater Idaho? Disunited States Look Toward Divorce” (NYT’s)

The curious thing about Cascadia is that it already exists.

The mountains exist. The rivers exist. The forests exist. The culture exists.

The only thing that does not officially exist is the line on the map.

For generations, citizens were encouraged to believe that political boundaries naturally reflected cultural, economic, and geographic realities.

Increasingly, they do not.

Coastal Washington and coastal Oregon often have more in common with British Columbia than with a hundred of miles inland.

Likewise, many residents of the Pacific Northwest find their priorities and values inadequately represented by distant capitals and political systems increasingly distorted by gerrymandering

Maps are not sacred.

They deserve to be tested.

And if they no longer reflect the realities of the people living within them, perhaps the question is not whether the lines should move.

“What Elon Musk’s trillion means in real terms” (AP)

Good for Elon Musk.

He built something remarkable.

But what happens when a society—its financial system—enables individuals to accumulate wealth on a scale once reserved for kingdoms?

For centuries, the West gradually dismantled the feudal order.

Lords owned the land. Serfs worked the land. Lords collected the rents.

Modern capitalism was supposed to replace inherited aristocracy with opportunity, competition, and upward mobility.

Yet technology may be quietly rebuilding a similar structure.

Not through castles, fiefdoms, nor hereditary titles.

By through platforms, networks, and ownership.

A burgeoning trillionaire class may soon control the communications systems, transportation systems, artificial intelligence systems, financial systems, and information systems upon which everyone else depends.

Trillionaires may buy up and own most of the property—certainly the best ones.

A medieval peasant paid rent because there was no property to buy and own.

Tomorrow’s citizen may pay subscription fees, platform fees, transaction fees, licensing fees, access fees, and AI fees and rent—because there are no houses left to buy.

“Shocking three-word tweet aimed at Elon Musk that cost California billions” (Cali Post)

California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher’s tweet in May 2020: “F— Elon Musk.”

A day later Musk replied: “Message received”—and relocated to Texas. Musk was polite. He meant “F— California.”

“Andrew’s jaw-dropping tirade to staff that saw him demand to be called Sir or The Duke until ‘a vampire sucks every drop of blood from my royal veins’” (Daily Mail)

As if there’s really such a thing as “royal blood.”

Some people inherit wisdom.

Others inherit a seating arrangement. And when it’s taken away and they no longer have a throne at the table, they continue to fantasize about “royal blood.”

“‘They’ll leak medical records, tax records, they’ll bug his phone and leak that...’ Why the Establishment will do anything to stop Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister” (Daily Mail)

Yeah, they tried that here, too. But the tide is turning in the UK (and in Ireland as well).

Whether Nigel Farage ultimately reaches Number 10 remains to be seen. But it is no longer a prospect that can be dismissed.

“Recurring Deep Space Transmission Puzzles Researchers” (Journal of Cosmic Anthropology)

And finally…

“Undersea espionage? Bizarre claims of secret spy turtles send China into a panic” (NY Post)

Deep Tonsils has been elusive of late. But I managed to reach out—and he called in…

What a week—whew!

“WE GIVE A HOOT!”

And you should too.

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