People you'd hate to be trapped in a lift with: America’s new oligarchy - as.ft.com/r/5d8f77d7-3...

America’s new oligarchy

Under Trump an ultra-wealthy clique has infiltrated government, raising concerns about democratic integrity

as.ft.com

Free weekend update is out. This week a detailed analysis of a Trump con, which the press fell for entirely. He always knew Ukraine was dependent on Patriots, and used that leverage to harm Ukraine. He had no intention of letting Ukraine have a Patriot license… open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Weekend Update #197: Anatomy Of A Con:

The Overreaction In the Press: Ukraine Has Not Gone From Winning To Losing

open.substack.com

OK, in honor of the The Odyssey, give me your top 3 films about trying to get home (NOT including The Odyssey) Here's mine: 3. Shrek (2001) 2. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) 1. Groundhog Day (1993) bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · 2d ago

OK, in honor of the The Odyssey, give me your top 3 films about trying to get home (NOT including The Odyssey) Here's mine: 3. Apollo 13 (1995) 2. The Hunt for Red October (1986) 1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)

1908: the Lancet, one of the most respected scientific journals, calls for 18 age limit on reading in bed amidst a moral panic surrounding children becoming "addicted" to novels, which were "designed to keep kids hooked" and destroy their attention/mental health

"Jos me emme tee mitään, se tekee meistä osallisia." yle.fi/a/74-20239886

Timo R. Stewartin kolumni: Euroopan kannanotot palestiinalaisten sorrosta ovat surkuhupaisaa piipittämistä

Israel viittaa kintaalla Euroopan maiden huolille ja lausunnoille. Gaza on tuhottu ja Länsirantaa liitetään nyt kiihtyvään tahtiin, Stewart kirjoittaa.

yle.fi

Jussi Ahokas@ahokasjaj.bsky.social · 2d ago

Niin. Kansanmurhaajia olemme mekin. #turpo #yhteiskunta

Niin. Kansanmurhaajia olemme mekin. #turpo #yhteiskunta

Timo R. Stewartin kolumni: Euroopan kannanotot palestiinalaisten sorrosta ovat surkuhupaisaa piipittämistä

Israel viittaa kintaalla Euroopan maiden huolille ja lausunnoille. Gaza on tuhottu ja Länsirantaa liitetään nyt kiihtyvään tahtiin, Stewart kirjoittaa.

yle.fi

Your 'moment of doom' for Aug. 7, 2026 ~ The big lie. "Our ability to share knowledge and understand the situation we’re in has become utterly compromised, and deadly. If so many people weren’t dying and going to die, it would almost be impressive." www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-mas...

The Gargantuan Lie That is Collapsing The World’s Climate

Thinking we have time left to address climate change, or that “Net Zero by 2050” will save us, is driving us toward full social collapse in ways that become more obvious with every new broken temperat...

currentaffairs.org

Tässä kävi juuri kuten arveltiin, tosin yllättävänkin nopeasti: oikeistopuolueet luistavat saman tien velkajarrustaan, kun se uhkaisi vaalimenestystä. Mutta AIVAN VARMASTI sitä käytetään lyömäaseena muita puolueita vastaan jatkossakin. Kannattiko suostua, vihreät ja SDP? www.ku.fi/artikkeli/54...

On syytä julistaa velkajarru kuolleeksi, sanoo ekonomisti ja perustelee väitteensä – ”Myös institutionaalinen järje

Valtiovarainministeri Riikka Purra esitteli alkuviikosta budjettiesityksensä ensi vuodelle. Hallitus käsittelee sitä myöhemmin. Biosin ekonomisti Jussi Ahokas sanoo, että hallitus viittaa

ku.fi

Toimittaja soitteli. 🚨 Nyt on perusteltu, miksi velkajarru voidaan julistaa kuolleeksi. 🪦 Toisaalta haastattelun lopussa uumoilen, että jonkinlainen zombie-velkajarru kuitenkin jää meitä kiusaamaan. 🧟 Sellaista se on talouspolitiikka oikeistohegemoniassa! ➡️ #talous #politiikka

On syytä julistaa velkajarru kuolleeksi, sanoo ekonomisti ja perustelee väitteensä – ”Myös institutionaalinen järje

Valtiovarainministeri Riikka Purra esitteli alkuviikosta budjettiesityksensä ensi vuodelle. Hallitus käsittelee sitä myöhemmin. Biosin ekonomisti Jussi Ahokas sanoo, että hallitus viittaa

ku.fi

oh we're still doing this ok

Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · 6d ago

US President Donald Trump is pushing Iran to reach a deal with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz as soon as Tuesday, or face devastating air strikes on the country.

I hear Donald Trump speaking about the war with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz and I cannot shake the feeling that the US press and the Repubican Party think he is the American reincarnation of Scheherazade, not the president of the USA.

Democratic engagement may be slow and messy, but tends to be the most reliable method for producing durable results. The case of Finland becoming the first country in the world to solve the #nuclear waste problem is instructive!

Janne M. Korhonen@jmkorhonen.fi · 3d ago

After suitable geological sites had been identified, the municipalities were thoroughly informed and engaged with for years. They also had an absolute veto right to refuse the disposal site. The end result: two Finnish municipalities actually *competed* for the honor of hosting the site.

The Finnish Radiation Safety Authority STUK greenlighted the operating license for Onkalo, the world's 1st final disposal site for highly radioactive spent #nuclear fuel. One more STUK approval is needed before any waste is entombed, but it is expected to follow. #energy stuk.fi/en/-/the-rad...

The US and the Roman Empire are not that different: the Roman Empire had a batshit crazy Year of Four Emperors, the US has four years of a shits-his-pants crazy Emperor.

Need another reason for regulations on clean air in schools, hospitals, care homes and other public places. AI being used to make new viruses. That’s reason #4376.

Avis Favaro@avisfavaro.bsky.social · 3d ago

This A.I. Just Created Viruses Not Found in Nature So…. What comes next? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/s...

God I'm tired. This story has been stuck in Groundhog Day mode for months, but no-one involved will ever reach the state of enlightenment required to break the spell.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago

Q: Has a deal been reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz? TRUMP: It's sort of open right now. We control it.

Julkisen talouden lisäsäästöt. Mitä se tarkoittaa? Makrotaloustieteessä säästö on tulot - menot (*kansantalouden tilinpidossa monimutkaisempi juttu). Lisäsäästö on siis tämän erotuksen kasvattamista. Säästö voi olla negatiivinenkin eli sektorin alijäämä. Säästöä voi tehdä siis tulo- ja menopuolelta.

Kotitaloudella lisäsäästö on aika helppo juttu. Lisätä tienestejä tai leikata menoista. Mutta isoilla toimijoilla, kuten valtiolla se ei menekään näin, koska vaikutukset tulojen ja menojen muutoksiin ovat niin mittavia, että ne vaikuttavat lukuisten taloustoimijoiden tuloihin ja menoihin piankin.

Onhan nimittäin niin, että yhden toimijan meno on aina toisen tulo. Toki kotitaloudetkin voivat kollektiivina aiheuttaa makrovaikutuksen, jossa oma pyrkimys lisäsäästöön menoja leikkaamalla osuukin omiin tuloihin. Jos siis kaikki alkavat hakea lisäsäästöä yhtä aikaa menopuolen kautta.

SCOOP: the Europeans weren’t looped in www.ft.com/content/d992...

US euro sale to prop up yen blindsided ECB

Christine Lagarde and Scott Bessent spoke only after Washington’s historic intervention

ft.com

It's child abusers all the way up. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Meta told to pay another $567m in New Mexico child safety lawsuit

The ruling is in addition to $375m in fines Meta was already ordered to pay in the case, for a total of $942m.

bbc.com

The US Repubicans have claimed for a while to be the commanders of all pregnant women, so this is the next "logical" step in their madness. And they already proved that legality is not something to stop them from fulfilling their nightmares. bsky.app/profile/kevi...

Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 3d ago

The president's authority as "commander in chief" refers to the military only. The president cannot use executive orders to expand the definition of who is eligible for birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. The president's aide saying these things is a virulent white nationalist.

(Long) Commentrary🧵: Sydney Towle, who recently turned 26, has died of cholangiocarcinoma. 2 lessons to be learned from online responses to this TikTok influencer: 🔺️The public couldn't be worse at discerning fact from fiction. 🔺️Disabled & chronically ill folks... www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/s...

Sydney Towle, Who Chronicled Her Cancer on TikTok, Dies at 26 (Gift Article)

For an audience that grew to more than a million followers, she challenged assumptions about how people with serious illnesses should look and live.

nytimes.com

It is very equivocal, actually. For example, if the US sanctions a Canadian ICC judge, he does nothing. If a wanted war criminal crosses our airspace, he does nothing.

The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv)@theserfstv.bsky.social · 3d ago

Mark Carney just said "our support for the ICC is unequivocal" in a press conference. Also Mark Carney:

A new book by the British Israeli architect and political activist Eyal Weizman tells the story of Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza street by street, farm by farm, and hospital by hospital. foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/04/g...

The Architecture of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza

A new book describes the destruction of Palestinian life street by street.

foreignpolicy.com

A study shows male mice recovering from severe COVID-19 can pass anxiety-like traits to their offspring. The virus alters RNA molecules inside their sperm, suggesting a father's infection before conception could change how the next generation develops mentally. Source: archive.md/U7dad

Study: Paternal SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts sperm small noncoding RNAs and increases anxiety in offspring in a sex-dependent manner. Published: 11 October 2025 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Paternal SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts sperm small noncoding RNAs and increases anxiety in offspring in a sex-dependent manner - Nature Communications

Whether paternal pre-conceptual SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts sperm RNA content, or effects offspring phenotypes, has not been previously investigated. Here authors report changes in sperm noncoding RN...

nature.com

Does anybody know if the price includes the surgery required for the direct connection to the brain? bsky.app/profile/rct1...

Ron@rct1348.bsky.social · 5d ago

One of my monitors at work died. My supervisor told me to pick a new one out. Going to send him the link for this

That's a radical change. The younger Scott Bessent would cheerfully make a lot of money on the other side of that trade.

Katie Martin@katie0martin.ft.com · 5d ago

asia.nikkei.com/editor-s-pic... 🤔

What’s happened since? A spike in reckless driving. On Ottawa’s Katimavik Road, 86% of drivers obeyed the limit when cameras were in use. Now just 20% do. In Toronto, the share of vehicles >11 kmh over the limit jumped 4x. In Guelph, the share of cars >15 kmh over has more than tripled.

Most drivers speeding at 8 former camera sites, city data shows | CBC News

New City of Ottawa data shows that fewer than half of drivers are complying with posted speed limits at eight former speed camera sites in May, months after the province banned automated speed enforce...

cbc.ca