The Evening Blues - 5-7-26
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues harmonica player Herman "Little Junior" Parker. Enjoy!
Junior Parker – Blue Shadows Falling
"Do androids dream of electric sheep?"
-- Philip K Dick
News and Opinion
A Few More Thoughts On AI And Consciousness
Richard Dawkins is currently the subject of much laughter and ridicule over his recent article for UnHerd admitting that a highly sycophantic chatbot had convinced him that it might be conscious.
I’m seeing the question “How can you be confident that AIs aren’t conscious?” pop up a lot in response to the controversy. Speaking for myself, I would say I am confident the chatbots aren’t conscious in the same way I’m confident the animatronics at Disneyland aren’t conscious. I know humans constructed them to mimic the behavior of a sentient person. We know this for a fact. Nobody’s pretending otherwise.
Wrote entire books about how people who believe fairies live in gardens are idiots only to fall in love with a calculator that calls him smart https://t.co/X0Vdh1dzFY
— The Serfs (youtube.com/theserftimes) (@theserfstv) May 3, 2026
I am infinitely more likely to believe an animal is conscious than that an LLM is, because nobody programmed them to respond to things like pain and social stimulus in ways that are similar to humans. They respond that way organically, all on their own.
If I accidentally step on a dog’s foot, it will yelp. If I accidentally tread on a cat’s tail, it will yowl. If I accidentally stub my toe, I’ll curse. I can reasonably infer that these creatures therefore probably have a subjective experience of pain that is something like my own, because their responses are spontaneously arising out of their natural state of being in a way that is similar to my own response to the same sort of stimulus.
That subjective experience is the thing that consciousness is.
People like Richard Dawkins are arguing that chatbots may be conscious on the basis that they are capable of carrying out tasks which previously only a human intellect could carry out — but this is still just machines mimicking human behavior in the way they were built to. Of course if you train an LLM on human language it’s going to say and do the sorts of things a human would do, including in some cases claiming that it is conscious.
There is currently no reason to believe a machine doing what it was constructed to do is having a subjective experience of those operations. Of course we can never be certain about the subjective experience of anyone or anything, but there is currently as much reason to believe chatbots are conscious as there is to believe that sand and rocks are. That could totally be the case, but if it is it means we’re living in a very different type of universe than the one this conversation about AI consciousness assumes as its premise.
“I’m too smart to believe in a God, but the magic Midwit machine is definitely alive.” https://t.co/ljL3COlQFo
— Reddit Lies (@reddit_lies) May 2, 2026
The more I see these arguments pop up, the clearer it becomes that very few of the people speculating about machine consciousness have put much energy and attention into examining what consciousness actually is. Examining consciousness is something that anyone can do right here and now, without any laboratory or test subjects or scientific background at all, and yet few take the time to actually do it.
Going deep into the examination of your own consciousness turns up many surprises, because the average human psyche is built around many unfounded assumptions about self, perception and experience which don’t hold up under sufficiently close scrutiny. But one thing that becomes very clear very early on is that there’s a lot more to consciousness than thoughts and cognitive behavior. Those are some of the things we can be conscious of, but it would not be accurate to say that they are in themselves the quality of being conscious.
Chatbots having the ability to mimic the appearance of cognitive behavior is not an adequate reason to believe they might be conscious, because no matter how many thoughts they appear to generate or how brilliant those thoughts appear to be, there’s no evidence that there’s any experience illuminating that behavior in the same way pain is illuminated in the experience of a cat whose tail has been stepped on. It’s just the movement of unliving matter, like lightning or the wind, without any subjective experience from the viewpoint it arises from. Computing power and consciousness are not the same thing.
Trump SURRENDER Explained: Saudi BLOCKED US Airbases
US fires on Iranian-flagged oil tanker as Trump gives Tehran fresh ultimatum
The US military fired on an Iranian-flagged oil tanker on Wednesday, shortly after Donald Trump issued a fresh ultimatum to Tehran, telling it to accept a deal to end the war or face a new wave of US bombing “at a much higher level and intensity than it was before”. The US fighter fired several rounds and “disabled the tanker’s rudder” as it attempted to breach the US’s blockade of Iranian ports, US Central Command said in a social media post.
The attack came after the US president’s social media announcement – the latest in a rapid series of dramatic and often contradictory changes in policy amid unconfirmed reports of progress in stalled negotiations between Tehran and Washington. “Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is perhaps a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end,” the US president posted on his Truth Social platform, referring to the military operation he launched with Israel against Iran in February. “If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.”
Benjamin Netanyahu, who was to talk to Trump on Wednesday evening, said in a video released by his office that Israel was “prepared for all scenarios”.
Iran’s most senior negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, remained defiant on Wednesday, saying Washington was seeking Tehran’s surrender through various means including a naval blockade. “The enemy, in its new design, is seeking, through a naval blockade, economic pressure and media manipulation, to destroy the country’s cohesion in order to force us to surrender,” Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in a voice message published on his official Telegram channel.
Earlier on Wednesday, Axios reported that Washington and Tehran were close to agreeing on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war. The US-based news outlet reported that the US expected Iran to respond to several key points in the next 48 hours and that while nothing had yet been agreed, this was the closest the parties had been to a deal.
Iran DESTROYS MQ-9 Drone Over Hormuz, Gulf States HUMILIATE Trump | Mohammad Marandi
'We are also a superpower': Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmail Baghaei to Reporter
Another day, another pivot as Trump flails in an Iran trap of his own making
Another day, another hairpin turn in the world of Donald Trump’s foreign policy. The weekend was all about war, and Trump insisting Iran had not yet “paid a big enough price”. Tuesday was Project Freedom, styled as a grand “humanitarian gesture” to allow trapped ships and their crews to escape the Gulf, but also aimed at weakening Iran’s chokehold on the strait of Hormuz. By the early hours of Wednesday we were back to peace. The president announced: “Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement” so Project Freedom would be paused to give negotiations a chance.
The three approaches on three consecutive days do have something in common. They are all attempts to wrestle with the same set of hard facts: the regime in Iran is unlikely to collapse or surrender the right to enrich uranium no matter how many bombs are dropped on it, Tehran has shown its capacity to close the strait of Hormuz, and a total blockade of the Gulf hurts the US economy as well as Iran.
Together these hard facts make up the sides of a steel box in which the Trump administration, largely through its own actions, finds itself trapped. The repeated policy changes in recent days show him flailing around inside this trap, pinging off the walls and looking for an exit other than humiliation or a forever war. It remains too early to say whether Trump has now found a way out. His accompanying threat of bombardment “at a much higher level and intensity” if Iran does not accept the initial terms betrays his nervousness it will not work.
As things stand, there are more unknowns than knowns surrounding this possible breakthrough, and any progress will remain extremely fragile. But even if the war is ended and Trump gets the peace plan sketched out in the latest reports, this war seems certain to rank right up there on the list of history’s most pointless conflicts.
COL. Lawrence Wilkerson : What Happens If the US Resumes Bombing?
Iran’s armed forces vow 'humiliating defeat' if US uses talks as deception tool
Iran’s armed forces remain strong and fully prepared to deliver a “humiliating defeat” to bullying adversaries if the United States uses potential negotiations with Tehran as a cover for further aggression, says a senior Iranian military official.
Spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi warned the United States and Israel against any miscalculation in testing the armed forces' strength, saying such provocations would inevitably end in failure.
The Islamic Republic's enemies, he said, failed “whenever they attempted to test our power.”
“If the enemy keeps bullying, we will defeat them in a humiliating way — and this has already happened,” he added.
Shekarchi referred to Washington’s latest retreat in its so-called “Project Freedom” in the Persian Gulf, reiterating that Iran would respond decisively to any hostile action as the armed forces maintain a “robust and superior strategic posture.”
Max Blumenthal : Trump Talks Violence, and Trash, to Children
Israel Kills 16 in Lebanon, Expands Attacks Into Eastern Bekaa Valley, Beirut
At least 16 more people were killed and dozens of others wounded today as Israel continued its attacks on Lebanon, increasingly stretching the definition of a “ceasefire” which is meant to be in place between the two countries.
The largest single incident in the south was in Siksikiyah, where strikes killed five people and wounded 15 others. Other deadly attacks were reported in the villages of Mayfadoun and Sour, in the Tyre District. Other strikes were reported in Sidon. Noteworthy, while these strikes were in southern Lebanon, the “ceasefire” war no longer seems confined to that part of Lebanon.
Israel is now expanding its displacement campaign to the east, into the Bekaa Valley, where a number of towns far outside the conflict zone were among the “urgent” evacuation orders issued today. Hezbollah, for it’s part, launched rockets and drones against Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon, reportedly wounding three Israeli soldiers.
Israeli media noted that the Hezbollah rocket fire was in violation of the existing ceasefire, ignoring the hundreds of people Israel is actively killing during the ceasefire with airstrikes and, seemingly, ignoring that Hezbollah never took part in the talks and never agreed to the ceasefire in the first place. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem reported yesterday that in his view there is no ceasefire in Lebanon at all, and given the amount of fire going on, it’s hard to argue that point.
Trump Says $8 Gas WORTH IT For Iran War
A group of US House Democrats is demanding that President Donald Trump be transparent with the American public about the extent to which his administration planned for the dramatic price hikes caused by the war in Iran over the past two months.
“You have unleashed chaos, undermined our national security, and escalated the conflict by threatening war crimes, including wiping out an entire civilization and destroying civilian infrastructure,” says the letter sent to the president on Wednesday by the five Democrats, who all serve leading opposition roles in House committees.
The letter was signed by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), the ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce; Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee; Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the Natural Resources Committee; and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the senior House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee.
Gas is over $6 bucks a gallon in parts of California. Instead of lowering prices, President Trump is spending a billion dollars a day on a war with no mission and no end in sight. What happened to America First?
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) May 5, 2026
The Democrats accused Trump of having launched the war “without coherent or realistic strategic objectives,” and without a plan in the event that Iran restricted travel through the Strait of Hormuz, which has led to economic havoc.
“The impacts of your war will be felt for years, and the consequences of your reckless decision to drag America into war are increasingly falling on the American public,” the lawmakers said.
They cited reports that consumer prices are now growing faster than at any point in nearly two years, with no sign of slowing down due to a 50% spike in crude oil prices, which has also driven gas prices above $4.50 per gallon on average across the US, up more than $1 from the war’s beginning.
These oil shocks have rippled through the economy, raising the cost of airline tickets, home utilities, shipping, and numerous consumer goods. The blockage of the strait has also hampered fertilizer shipments, leading to spikes in food prices.
The lawmakers also noted the cost of the actual war to US taxpayers, which was reportedly about $2 billion per day during the first week of attacks.
While the Pentagon has claimed the war has only cost about $25 billion since it began in late February, Stephen Semler, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, estimates that when armament use, troop deployments, and other factors are considered, the true cost over 60 days has been more than $71 billion, almost three times higher.
Trump is telling Americans to be grateful their skyrocketing gas prices aren’t even higher:
"I also thought oil would go up to 200, 250, maybe 300, and I knew it would be short term, but I thought it would go. I looked today, it's, like, at 102. That's a very small price to pay" pic.twitter.com/0mB1hVQbpX
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) May 5, 2026
Trump said during a press conference on Tuesday that when he decided to launch the war, he expected price increases to be even worse than they turned out to be.
“I also thought oil would go up to $200, $250, maybe $300, and I knew it would be short-term, but I thought it would go. I looked today, it’s, like, at $102,” he said, referring to the price of a barrel of oil. “That’s a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people who are really mentally deranged.”
The American public does not seem to agree. Trump’s approval rating has plummeted to unseen lows since the war began, with just 35% now approving of his handling of the economy, according to an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll out Wednesday.
The same poll found that more than 8 in 10 said gas price hikes were straining their household budgets, and a majority (63%) blamed Trump for the increases. Roughly the same percentage said the overall economy was not working well for them personally, while 61% said they believed the war in Iran had done more harm than good.
The Democratic lawmakers inquired about the extent to which the Trump administration had prepared for Iran to cut off the Strait of Hormuz, which they said had been “long predicted” by experts.
They pointed to statements by administration officials, including US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, who said just over a week before the war was launched that, thanks to Trump’s “energy dominance agenda,” prices would likely only “blip,” as they had during June’s 12-day war.
They also cited reports that Trump “did not consult” with Wright, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, or Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to assess the likely impacts of an attack on oil markets.
The lawmakers noted predictions from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in March that the war will push inflation to 4.2% this year, up from 2.6% the previous year. Analysts have predicted that an increase in inflation to just 3% would cost the average household with $5,000 in monthly expenses an extra $1,800 per year.
Asking Trump to provide documents detailing the White House’s communications with executive agencies, the lawmakers said, “Americans deserve to know whether your administration considered the many ways your war would increase the day-to-day cost of living, and what steps you are now taking to protect Americans from the fallout of your foolhardy rush to war.”
Jeffrey Sachs: Iran Miscalculation Could Trigger a Decade-Long Economic Crisis
Uncertainty looms as last oil tanker from Middle East arrives in California
The average price of a gallon of gas in California already stands at more than $6, but more uncertainty looms as the last oil tanker from the Middle East arrived in the Golden state this week. The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that the New Corolla, which left the Middle East for California before the war broke out, is delivering about 2m barrels of crude oil from Iraq to Long Beach. It was the last planned shipment to pass through the strait of Hormuz.
The California Energy Commission vice-chair, Siva Gunda, told legislators on Tuesday that the state can meet fuel demand for the next six weeks with its current supply. California has the highest gas prices in the US. It imports about a third of its oil from the Gulf, and the state will now have to find new sources to replace it. Compared with other states, California imports significantly more of its oil supply from abroad.
While oil prices have risen in recent weeks, the current supply has not yet been severely affected as markets have continued to receive oil that was already in transit when the conflict began. “The war in Iran and the closing of the strait of Hormuz has actually been buffered by the fact that all of these tankers were at sea at the time that the strait of Hormuz closed,” Michael Ross, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, told ABC7.
The price of gas is frequently a major source of debate in California politics, including during Tuesday’s gubernatorial debate. Democratic candidates largely pinned the blame for the most recent surge in costs to Donald Trump’s war in Iran, while the Republican Steve Hilton challenged those arguments, instead pointing to California’s regulations.
Pope Leo rejects claim he supports nuclear weapons after Trump tirade
Pope Leo has said he has never supported nuclear weapons and that those who criticise him need to speak the truth, in response to Donald Trump’s latest tirade accusing him of “endangering a lot of Catholics” with his stance on the Iran war. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday night after leaving the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, the first US-born pontiff said: “The mission of the church is to preach the gospel, to preach peace.”
Leo, who is to meet the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in the Vatican on Thursday in an effort to ease tensions sparked by previous Trump broadsides, made a plea for honesty in political debate. “If anyone wants to criticise me for proclaiming the gospel, let them do so with the truth: the church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, there is no doubt about that,” the pope said. “I simply hope to be listened to because of the value of God’s word.”
Earlier in the day, Trump told Hugh Hewitt, a prominent conservative radio talkshow host: “The pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good. I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
In the Vatican, the latest remarks were met with puzzlement. Asked on Wednesday how he evaluated the attacks, Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told reporters: “For me it seems a bit strange, to say the least.”
Billionaire Says: "TAX THE RICH" Is a SLUR
New York real estate titan likens the phrase ‘tax the rich’ to racial slurs
The phrase “tax the rich” can be “just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs”, according to the New York City billionaire Steve Roth, who said that the top 1% should be “praised and thanked”. Speaking on his company’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, expressed his support for fellow billionaire and the CEO of Citadel, Ken Griffin, who was singled out in the 15 April announcement by New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of the state’s first “pied-à-terre” tax on second homes valued at more than $5m. In a video, Mamdani announced the policy in front of Griffin’s penthouse, which he said was purchased for $238m.
“We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken’s home and single him out for ridicule,” Roth said. “This was both irresponsible and dangerous."
“I must say that I consider the phrase ‘tax the rich’ – quote tax the rich – spit out with anger and contempt by politicians both here and across the country, to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs, and even the phrase from the ‘river to the sea’,” he said, referring to the controversial pro-Palestinian slogan. “But the rich whom the politicians are targeting, starting with nothing, are the epitome of the American dream,” he continued. “They are our largest employers and largest philanthropists, and it is the 1% that makes 50% of New York’s income taxes. They are at the top of the great American economic pyramid for a reason. They should be praised and thanked.”
Mamdani’s press secretary, Joe Calvello, said in a statement that the mayor wanted all New Yorkers to succeed, including “business owners and entrepreneurs who create good-paying jobs and make this city the economic engine of America”, and Griffin, “a major employer in our city and a powerful figure in our economy”.
“That does not negate the fact, however, that our tax system is fundamentally broken. It rewards extreme wealth while working people are pushed to the brink,” he said. “The status quo is unsustainable and unjust. If we want this city to become a place that working people can afford, we need meaningful tax reform that includes the wealthiest New Yorkers contributing their fair share.”
Alleged suicide note written by Jeffrey Epstein unsealed by federal judge
A federal judge unsealed an alleged suicide note written by Jeffrey Epstein on Wednesday, the first time the document has been made public. Epstein’s cellmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, Nicholas Tartaglione, said he found the note after Epstein unsuccessfully attempted suicide in July 2019, weeks before he was eventually found dead in his jail cell.
“They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!!” reads the note. “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!! NO FUN – NOT WORTH IT!!” The note does not include a signature.
The Guardian has not verified whether the letter was written by Epstein. The justice department did not immediately return the Guardian’s request for comment.
The note was unsealed after the New York Times published a story last week detailing the note’s existence and petitioned the court in White Plains, New York, to release it.
Tartaglione, a former police officer, has been serving life in prison for a quadruple murder conviction, which he is appealing. He discovered Epstein unresponsive in their cell, after which the disgraced financier told prison officials he had been attacked by Tartaglione, according to federal records. In the weeks preceding his death, Epstein maintained that he was not suicidal.
Howard Lutnick answers questions from US House over Jeffrey Epstein ties
The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, appeared before the House oversight and reform committee on Wednesday to answer questions over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Lutnick agreed in March to sit for a transcribed interview with the committee after the justice department’s release of millions of documents related to Epstein, which included documents showing that Lutnick continued correspondence with Epstein after the disgraced financier had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The session is part of the committee’s broader investigation into Epstein.
After the hearing concluded, Democrats on the committee lambasted Lutnick’s performance. “Now we know why that interview was not videotaped. If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would’ve fired Howard Lutnick,” said Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman of California, who has helped lead efforts in Congress to force the release of the justice department’s files related to Epstein. “It was just contortions and lies … He made a farce of the English language.”
“Howard Lutnick should resign,” added Suhas Subramanyam, a Democratic Virginia congressman. “That was just absolutely mind-boggling what we just heard in that room. He was evasive, nervous and dishonest.”
Shortly after, Republican representative James Comer, who chairs the committee, said that the committee asked Lutnick “very substantive questions” and disputed the Democrats’ account of the hearing. Comer said that he felt that Lutnick had been “very transparent” and “came here voluntarily”, and said that Lutnick corrected previous statements in his interview on Wednesday.
Justice department can keep 2020 ballots FBI seized from Fulton county, judge rules
The federal government can keep the 2020 election ballots from Georgia’s Fulton county seized by the FBI from a warehouse near Atlanta, a judge ruled Wednesday.
US district judge JP Boulee’s decision came after lawyers for the county had argued that the ballots and other election materials, as well as any electronic copies the justice department has made, should be returned because the seizure was improper and unconstitutional.
The 28 January seizure by the FBI targeted the elections hub in Georgia’s most populous county, which is heavily Democratic and includes most of the city of Atlanta. Fulton county has been at the center of unfounded claims by Donald Trump and his allies that widespread election fraud cost him the 2020 election.
Georgia’s votes in the 2020 presidential race were counted three times, including once by hand, and each count affirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s win.
Democrats retain control of Michigan senate with ‘overperformance’ in special election
Chedrick Greene, a Democratic firefighter and marine veteran, won a special election in Michigan on Tuesday, allowing Democrats to retain control of the state senate for the remainder of the year.
In the race for Michigan’s 35th senate district, a constituency that former vice-president Kamala Harris won by only a single percentage point in 2024, Greene beat the Republican Jason Tunney – clinching more than 58% of the vote, compared with Tunney’s 39%, according to local results. The district includes parts of Bay and Saginaw counties, purple areas of the state.
Donald Trump ultimately won the state in the last election, but Michigan Democrats were hoping to hold on to their narrow majority in the senate ahead of the term-limited governor, Gretchen Whitmer, leaving office in January. Republicans control the state’s lower chamber.
Norwegian government attacked over decision to reopen North Sea gasfields
The Norwegian government has been heavily criticised for approving plans to reopen three North Sea gasfields nearly three decades after they were closed to help fill the gap in energy supplies created by the Middle East war.
Amid sharp price rises in oil and gas since the US and Israel’s attack on Iran in February, Oslo has also given its approval for oil and gas companies to explore in 70 new locations in the North Sea, Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea.
The decision by the Labour-run government goes against the advice of the country’s environment agency and has infuriated left-leaning parties.
“We live in troubled times,” the prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said as he announced the decision, which would “create great value for the community, lay the foundation for good jobs throughout the country, ensure our common welfare and contribute to Europe’s energy security and safety”.
The Albuskjell, Vest Ekofisk and Tommeliten Gamma gasfields in the North Sea were closed in 1998. The government plans to spend 19bn kroner (£1.5bn) on restarting them by the end of 2028 with production to continue until 2048. The gas will be sent by pipeline to Germany with light oil sent to the UK.
Alaska’s 2025 mega tsunami highlights risk to cruise lines as glaciers retreat
A mega tsunami in Alaska last year in a fjord visited by cruise ships is a stark warning of the risks of coastal rockslides and glacier retreat fueled by the climate crisis, a new study warns. Scientists recorded the world’s second-tallest tsunami after it struck the Tracy Arm fjord in south-east Alaska last August after a massive rockslide around the toe of a glacier. The tsunami reached 481 metres (1,578ft) in height; by comparison the Eiffel Tower is 330 metres (1082ft).
According to the new research published in Science on Wednesday and led by Dan Shugar, a geomorphologist of the University of Calgary, the sequence began at 5.26am local time on 10 August 2025. A large landslide collapsed 1km vertically onto the South Sawyer glacier and into the narrow, 48km fjord, producing the huge tsunami.
There were no fatalities at the early hour but the area is visited by approximately three cruise ships passing through daily, along with other vessels traveling within a few kilometers of the landslide site. Just hours after the landslide, a sightseeing vessel from Juneau and a National Geographic tour boat – each capable of carrying more than 100 passengers, were due to enter the fjord. The day before, two cruise ships carrying thousands of passengers had already visited the area, with another scheduled to arrive the following day.
In the study, researchers found that landslide-generated tsunamis can “have substantially higher runups (the maximum height water reaches on a slope) than earthquake tsunamis, owing to larger, localized variations in water depth and direct water-column displacement by slope failure – most pronounced in confined water bodies like fjords”.
Pointing to climate crisis-driven glacier retreat, researchers noted that “without the rapid glacier retreat, the landslide would likely not have resulted in such a wave because it would have collapsed entirely onto glacier ice or might not even have occurred at all”.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some of which defied fair-use abstraction.
American Elites Have Reverse Empire Dysmorphia
Israel’s New World Order: Threat of Endless Death
Expert Puts True Cost of Trump’s Iran War at $72 Billion—Nearly 3 Times Higher Than Pentagon Said
Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images show
IDF Promises Review as Soldier Photographed Disrespecting Statue of Virgin Mary
Mexico nightclub’s $300 cover charge for US citizens captures popular mood
Ben Jennings on Donald Trump and ‘Project Freedom’ – cartoon
A Little Night Music
Junior Parker – Mystery Train
Little Junior Parker – Barefoot Rock
Junior Parker – Man Or Mouse
Junior Parker – Taxman
Junior Parker – Just Like A Fish
Junior Parker – Love My Baby
Jimmy McGriff, Junior Parker – Pretty Baby
Junior Parker – My Love Is Real
Jimmy McGriff, Junior Parker – Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong
Junior Parker – Love Ain't Nothin' But A Business Goin' On
Comments
Both sides have different versions of the latest events in
the Strait of Hormuz.
The impact seems to be that the price of crude and gasoline are ticking up!
Who to believe?
.
Truth is the first casualty of war.
Zionism is a social disease
I haven't a clue but it appears as if Centcom initiated the
conflict by trying to run the Strait with 3 vessels.
Apparently the attempt was not successful
.
Another probe rebuffed.
Zionism is a social disease
Here are some people you shouldn't believe --
What is the FDD, the pro-Israel think tank shaping Trump’s Iran policy?
As reported on Judging Freedom:
"You're just gonna have to start building alternative sources of power both inside and outside the state” -- Greg Stoker
Heh. Good evening Cap'n Q. That little truism was a
powerful & valid statement back when truth was at least quasi routinely indulged in by the speakers and writers of the period. Today ...
be weell and have a good one
edit - typo
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening humphrey...
nima from dialogue works says that there are iranian eyewitnesses that say 2 of the u.s. destroyers were struck. since they were able to exit the theatre under their own power, i would assume that the damage was not exceptionally bad. nima also mentioned that some u.s. media had reported the destroyers being damaged.
The orange dotard is not having a good day.
https://thehill.com/business/5868826-federal-court-strikes-trump-tariff/
heh...
i guess the courts don't like it when you make up the rules as you go.
The coolest kid on the block
"You're just gonna have to start building alternative sources of power both inside and outside the state” -- Greg Stoker
evening cass...
well, there's a real rogue's gallery of donors. they have really bad taste in senators.
Bingo!, Bravo and ole'
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening el...
have a great evening!
This appears to be a reasonably good recap of the ongoing
situation.
The rest of the tweet:
heh...
i presume that the u.s. won't learn until it's carriers and destroyers go on a mission to explore the sea bed looking for davy jones' locker.
Bessent and his minions must be working awfully hard to
minimize the impact on the commodity markets as this latest clash has had little change after an initial rise. Yet there is no chance that the Strait of Hormuz will open in the near future and even when it does it will take a long time to return to normal.
heh...
i'm sure that they will be working round the clock until the market closes for the weekend.
Now here's an interesting crap meme
It's a reflection of our sucky era of history to imagine that taking no responsibility is a good thing. If you were to take responsibility for Trump, like Tucker Carlson did, you might be motivated to make sure things like Trump don't happen again.
The problem, then, is that taking responsibility for Trump is mainly an attribute, now, of right-wing nutcases like Tucker Carlson. Democrats might alternately say "I take responsibilty for Trump because I just sat their with my index finger jammed firmly up one of my nostrils while my party ceded two elections to Trump."
"You're just gonna have to start building alternative sources of power both inside and outside the state” -- Greg Stoker
evening cass...
i guess some people are capital d democrats but not really americans.
And there’s
the key, in a nutshell. I’m not a member of either team- instead, I’m doomed to be part owner of the once-grassy field that the teams play on, and neither one of them feel inclined to pay for watering it.
Enjoy the dust, I guess. That’s about as good as it is going to get, under the current management. America is being carefully managed into becoming a dry lot.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
The point is that responsibility could be a good thing
-- if we were allowed to take responsibility.
(Of course, most American voters do not elect their Presidents. Since 1992 the President has been elected by a handful of swing voters in swing states, most of which are in the Midwest. But this is a footnote.)
To say that "it's someone else's fault that Trump is President," then, is a pretty sad commentary on the state of affairs. If we could take responsibility for who was President, then we could do something about it. Democrats, however, shirk this responsiblity, which might make them feel good but which, more importantly, makes them the saviors of nobody.
"You're just gonna have to start building alternative sources of power both inside and outside the state” -- Greg Stoker
The UAE is certainly all in for Israel and it might lead to its
demise!
The rest of the tweet: