Christmas Ads: The Mundanity Deception Morgoth Review (Micael T)
The flu strain driving this season’s unusually early spread USA Today
Climate/Environment
Earliest polar vortex collapse threatens to unleash weather chaos Telegraph
An unexpected feedback loop may be driving mega heatwaves New Scientist
Drought driven by climate change is redefining how disease spreads, study finds Mongabay
The latest ECMWF update has interestingly shifted its forecast El Niño peak (+4.1°C) one month later to January.
This likely owes to relentless westerly wind forcing that continues to shift warm water eastward across the Pacific.
El Niño’s impacts will extend well into 2027. https://t.co/lvFLyFkCoT
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) November 6, 2026
INSANE BRUTAL ENDLESS SUMMER IN MIDDLE EAST
MINIMUMS >30C every day for over 7 months
EMIRATES MINIMUMS TONIGHT
30.6 Makassib
30.5 Das
30.2 Dalma
30.1 QarnenMore November records
QATAR
29.7 Doha
SAUDI ARABIA
24.0 Sharorah
22.0 Najran
PAKISTAN
22.5 Turbat
21.0 Nokkundi— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) November 9, 2026
Alarming levels of toxins in garden ponds Natursidan via machine translation (Micael T)
China?
Huawei Says It’s Made a 100% Chinese PC The Register
In China’s fierce race for success, mental health struggles are starting earlier South China Morning Post
Ashamed and disillusioned, China’s jobless generation goes into hiding Australian Financial Review
China’s Bad-Debt Collectors Chase After 100 Million Defaulters Bloomberg
India
India questions US ‘double standards’ as Pakistan secures F-16 upgrade deal South China Morning Post
Southeast Asia
Philippine economic slump worsens on Iran war, bad weather Japan Times
Thailand intensifies crackdown on illegal foreign ownership of land Nikkei
Three more businessmen to lose Thai citizenship as probes into Israeli linked business networks ramp up Thai Examiner
Africa
Deadly militant attack leaves over 50 dead in Ethiopia Azer News
How the Sahel’s Demographic Surge Is Impacting Jihadist Recruitment RANE
Bread shortage threatens to plunge more Sudanese into hunger RFI
At least 23 dead in South Sudan clashes Al Ararabiya
South of the Border
Delcy Rodríguez orders state assets valued for sale or return to their former owners Vene*Economist (Micael T)
Paraguay raids ex-president’s home: Why a bank crash brought down Pena Aljazeera
How a Bank Implosion in Paraguay Ensnared a President New York Times
Paraguay’s New Boss Answers to the Old One Paraguay Post
Argentina launches new rockets and buys four new Black Hawk helicopters from Trump Independent
European Disunion
The euro is the worst monetary system on the planet Steve Keen, YouTube (Micael T)
Most Europeans want action to tackle climate crisis but not at any cost, poll shows Guardian
Europe’s youth are rising up Diem25 (Robin K)
German police arrested three people in Berlin today after a man scaled the 30-metre flagpole outside the Reichstag, took down the German “Flag of Unity” and hoisted a Palestinian flag. Two accomplices filmed the climb. All three are suspected of insulting state symbols.
Authorities removed the Palestinian flag using fire service equipment.
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 8, 2026
Over 400,000 on warning strike – IG Metall proposes a solution IG Metall. Micael T: “Not one word about cheap energy from Russia. It seems as if CIA has paid off the union-leaders to help kill the German industry with its narrow focus on salary increase, not societal wellfare as unions did in the beginning.”
France protests draw 146,000 as clashes erupt for fourth straight weekend CNBC
From Politco’s morning European newsletter:
SPAIN’S SEPARATIST SAGA IS BACK
BUBBLING IN BARCELONA: As the Spanish election races toward us, so does the question of Catalan independence. If the conservative People’s Party and far-right Vox form the next government — as polls predict — we can expect the separatist debate to flare up again.
“The independence movement will regain momentum, and it will do so with renewed strength,” Míriam Nogueras, a parliamentarian from the pro-independence Junts party, told Brussels Playbook Capitals.
Forgot about this? It’s been dormant for a while. In 2017, a failed independence bid by the north-eastern region of 8 million people sparked a constitutional crisis, a spell of direct rule from Madrid and the jailing of several Catalan politicians. But tensions have calmed in recent years as the Socialist-led government engaged with the region’s nationalists.
That could now change: The PP and Vox have a stridently unionist approach, creating speculation they would reignite the independence movement by clamping down on separatism.
Greek Coast Guard on Alert for Turkish Challenge in Aegean Tovima
Old Blighty
Russell Brand sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison for rape and sexual assault BBC
Israel v. The Neighborhood
GAZA IS DROWNING AS ISRAEL CONTINUES BLOCKADE of MOBILE HOMES YouTube
Israeli mob attacks Palestinian citizens during Lod rally Middle East Eye
Footage documents a large-scale attack by Israeli settlers on the Palestinian town of Beita, south of Nablus, in which they set fire to Palestinian homes, vehicles, equipment, and machinery. https://t.co/O1sqCFC75T
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) November 9, 2026
Trump Turns On Netanyahu Conflicts Forum
Iran War
Dazed and Confused: Trump’s Two Wars With Iran Larry Johnson
The Swiss Cheese Solution: How Trump May Walk Away From Iran Trita Parsi
Drone attack suspends production at Iraq’s Khor Mor gasfield Aljazeera
The Iran War Is Uniting the Muslim World American Conservative (resilc)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine peace talks to restart after 9 months. What makes them different this time? CNN. If you search on “Abu Dhabi talks,” the hits from mainstream sources all have headlines like this. As Alexander Mercouris has explained long-form over his recent talks, the Russians are not pursuing “Ukraine peace talks”. See his talk from Monday for good one-stop shopping: Russia Ultra Tough Europe Wide Demands; Expects Talks Fail; Again Hammers Kiev; Germany No Patriots. They are picking up the discussion of a new European security architecture in which in which they tried and failed to engage the US in late 2021.
A multinational force for Ukraine – how is that supposed to work? Nachdenkseiten (Micael T)
Latvian farmers protest over ‘blood grain’ trade with Russia Aljazeera
Dagens Nyheter: Sweden lacks even borrowed funds to meet NATO goals TASS via machine translation (Micael T)
Emergency power outages have been implemented in Kyiv, the Kyiv region, and Dnipro UA News
Fuel crisis leaves Chinese cars breaking down across Russia TVP News
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
In the UK, Face Sitting Porn Might Land You in Jail 404 Media
Imperial Collapse Watch
Trump 2.0
Means claims Trump’s staff “treated him like a baby” and used him on fruit-flavored vapes.
Trump posted in 2024: “I saved Flavored Vaping in 2019” and “I’ll save Vaping again!”
Nobody tricked him.
Calling your own president a helpless baby to cover for him is wild.
— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) November 9, 2026
Pete Hegseth was reportedly handed a briefing card explaining why a highly decorated U.S. general was not responsible for security at the site of the deadly Kabul airport bombing. He glanced at it — and, according to The New York Times, replied: “I don’t care.”
That is one of the most striking revelations in a New York Times investigation into the campaign against Gen. Christopher Donahue, one of the U.S. Army’s most experienced combat commanders.
According to the Times, Hegseth believed Donald Trump wanted someone held accountable for the disastrous 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and the suicide bombing at Kabul airport that killed 13 American service members.
Donahue was a senior commander at the airport, but his paratroopers were not responsible for security at Abbey Gate when the bomber struck. Marines were manning the gate. In other words, Donahue appears to have become a convenient target — partly because he was the general in one of the defining images of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The famous night-vision photograph shows Donahue boarding the final U.S. military flight out of Kabul, making him the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan. Hegseth reportedly became fixated on the image and repeatedly referred to it as a “selfie.” It wasn’t. The photograph was taken by an Army photographer. Donahue did not take it and did not distribute it.
Hegseth’s then-chief of staff, Joe Kasper, reportedly tried to correct the record. On the way to the White House, Kasper handed Hegseth a card laying out several basic facts: the photograph was not a selfie, Donahue had not distributed it, and Donahue’s troops were not responsible for Abbey Gate when the bombing occurred.
According to the Times, Hegseth briefly looked at the card, handed it back and said: “I don’t care.”
Donahue’s military record makes the episode even more extraordinary. He served for roughly three decades, completed more than 20 combat deployments, commanded Delta Force and later helped develop new approaches to drone warfare after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. His supporters reportedly regarded him as a generational military talent.
Yet the more senior officers and lawmakers tried to defend him, the more determined Hegseth allegedly became. An effort to arrange a meeting between Donahue and Vice President JD Vance was reportedly derailed after Hegseth learned about it. Senators were later told that lobbying on Donahue’s behalf was only hardening Hegseth’s position.
On August 27, Donahue retired from the Army.
The contrast is remarkable. When a congressman previously suggested that troops deployed to Los Angeles had not been properly cared for, Hegseth indignantly declared: “No one in senior leadership cares more about troops than this secretary.”
But when his own chief of staff reportedly placed evidence in front of him showing that a distinguished combat commander was not responsible for the security failure Hegseth associated him with — and that the supposed “selfie” he had fixated on wasn’t even a selfie — Hegseth apparently did not ask for more information.
He did not reconsider. He did not ask whether he might be scapegoating the wrong man. According to The New York Times, he simply handed the card back: “I don’t care.”
Those three words say more about the episode than any congressional testimony ever could.
P.S. I’m moving from Twitter/X to Substack. Join me there for independent journalism, investigations, and political analysis. Free and paid subscriptions are welcome.
https://t.co/zkWcx5Grt1
— Mykhailo Rohoza (@MykhailoRohoza) November 8, 2026
Fourth DOJ official resigns within the span of a week The Hill
2026 Post Mortems
The vindication of Marjorie Taylor Greene Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
AIPAC In Freefall AFTER DEVASTATING Midterm Election Breaking Points
2028
Vance’s 2028 stock drops: Ranking top 5 presidential GOP contenders after midterms The Hill
Democrat Death Wish
This interchange between the NYT and @GinaHinojosaTX summarizes the 2026 election and explains the freakout by Corporate Dems and corporate media. The former is seeing its political formula rejected, the latter can’t even process what left-populism is. https://t.co/a4rMzOGSqu
— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 9, 2026
Affordability or Accountability? Dear God, Democrats. Do Both—and More New Republic (resilc)
Mr. Market Has Had a Drink
DDL: Record foreign inflows of $1.5 trillion into U.S. stocks over past year Izabella Kaminiska
The global rate hike cycle is accelerating:
~45% of global central banks have raised interest rates over the last 3 months, the largest total in 3 years.
This proportion has surged +40 percentage points since March.
By comparison, between 2024 and March 2026, more central banks were cutting rates than raising them.
Furthermore, global central banks have delivered 42 rate hikes over the last 6 months, the largest number since late 2023.
This figure has quadrupled over the last 7 months and is comparable to the rate hike cycle seen in 2019.
The global monetary tightening cycle is gaining momentum.
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) November 8, 2026
AI
Nvidia Probe Into CEO Affair Raises Thorny Questions for AI Bloomberg. Lead story during Monday business day.
DDL: A counter(intelligence) narrative on the great Jensen Huang honeypot saga Izabella Kaminska
Parents Sue Google Over AI Safety Risks On School Chromebooks SFExaminer
The Heavy Cloud: Hydrosocial Dispossession and the Water Coloniality of AI Infrastructure Royal Geographical Society. Paul R: “My eyes glazed over at the abstract but it seems to say that water-guzzling AI data centers are screwing over people who live near them.”
The Bezzle
HOW PRIVATE EQUITY IS BUILDING A VOLLEYBALL EMPIRE ON THE DREAMS OF 12-YEAR-OLD GIRLS Bay Area Volleyball Group (Paul R). Is nothing sacred?
Wall Street’s $1.5 Trillion Debt Bubble Could Be More Dangerous Than AI Wealth Advisor
Australia Regulator Halts Private Credit Fund on Bathla Risks Bloomberg
Class Warfare
The Parents Suing Schools Because Their Kids Got Bad Grades Wall Street Journal
Antidote du jour (via):
A bonus:
😂😂 https://t.co/Xe4MGHKXUa
— The Figen (@TheFigen_) November 9, 2026
A second bonus:
What a good dog!
How a German Shepherd helped a rescued, scared kitten feel loved again. ❤️❤️ https://t.co/Efy7WvWIZf
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) November 8, 2026
And a different sort of bonus:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
