Links For Today

This same cry of wolf has come up many times, but that don’t mean it will never come true. “The senior ministers of the Israeli government met twice last week to discuss the possibility of open war with Iran. They were mindful of the Iranian plan for a drone attack from Syria in August, aborted at the last minute by an Israeli air strike, as well as Iran’s need to deflect attention from the mass protests against Hezbollah’s rule in Lebanon. The ministers also reviewed the recent attack by Iranian drones and cruise missiles on two Saudi oil installations, reportedly concluding that a similar assault could be mounted against Israel from Iraq.”

As a desperate old man once told me “I have to have yield.” “Greece has lost the dubious distinction of being the riskiest government borrower in the eurozone after its bond yields dipped below Italy’s for the first time since 2008.”

Eventually, this is always a problem after you win. Is Iran’s honeymoon in Iraq over?

Not in the news: Hunter Biden’s Ukraine gas firm pressed Obama administration to end corruption allegations, memos show

It is dangerous in totalitarian organizations to fly too close to the sun: Is the PKK worried by the YPG’s growing popularity?

Links for Today

One problem with this article is that there is not enough farmers left for them to be a critical constituency of anyone. Nearly 40% of 2019 farm income will come from federal aid and insurance

The real reason for the hysteria is the certain leftest want to be able to classify opinions they don’t like as being terrorism. A “national security crisis” or a law enforcement challenge? Consider the data

Bits and pieces of information that are in the news strung together in a way that you will not find in the news. Why is Adam Schiff — as chair of the Intelligence Committee — running the impeachment inquiry?

Links for Today

The games that are played. Ireland’s second quarter GDP data is so extreme—so strange—that it almost reads like a plea for a new system of national accounts from the Irish statistical authorities.Investment went from 27 to 60 percent of Ireland’s GDP in a single quarter.Service imports (no doubt imports of intellectual property) rose from 62 percent of GDP to 97 percent of GDP.

Remember this when they talk about how horrible the Spanish were for destroying native American culture. Archaeologists uncover ancient remains of 250 children and 40 warriors sacrificed in Peru

The future is now: Seniors at California complex ‘abandoned’ during blackout

Yep How the World to the Dark Tower Came

Links For Today

Truth: Advocates argue their single-payer Medicare for all health care system will overall cost us all a lot less. They are right that their systems can be a lot less expensive by expanding Medicare to everyone––primarily because government payment rates are so much smaller.But here’s the hitch––paying Medicare rates on behalf of all patients would literally bankrupt the system we have.

A different view: Sunspots are continuing to become few-and-far between of late. And while it’s really anyone’s guess what next year will bring, the likelihood of 2020 surpassing 2019’s spotless days total is very high, as the sun looms inevitably-closer to its next Grand Solar Minimum.

That China is a threat is a pretty standard line. But not many people are paying attention to its problems. Beijing’s newfound assertiveness looks at first glance like the mark of growing power and ambition. But in fact it is nothing of the sort. China’s actions reflect profound unease among the country’s leaders, as they contend with their country’s first sustained economic slowdown in a generation and can discern no end in sight. China’s economic conditions have steadily worsened since the 2008 financial crisis. The country’s growth rate has fallen by half and is likely to plunge further in the years ahead, as debt, foreign protectionism, resource depletion, and rapid aging take their toll.

Mostly Funny Links

You did not think this all the way through: Migrating Russian eagles run up huge data roaming charges

Maybe you are just in the wrong profession if you don’t want to do your job: Hitman hires hitman who hires hitman who hires hitman who hires hitman who tells police

Slight regard is such a devastating insult.

Why should anyone care?: Fed Ups Its Wall Street Bailout to $690 Billion a Week as Media Snoozes

Links for Today

An Israeli perspective on the current situation in the Middle East:

Up until recent months, the IDF had assessed that the various fronts were not connected or dependent on each other, and that a clash with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza would not necessarily affect the northern front or vice versa. This assessment is shifting. The IDF must now quickly prepare for the possibility that the next confrontation on the northern front will almost immediately ignite the southern front and could potentially spark confrontations on additional ones — not just with Hezbollah, but also with Syria and Iran. Other potential threats could even emerge from the southern branch of the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula or from a maritime terror attack on Israel’s Western sea front. Add in that Iran is growingly daring and the IDF assumes that the next attack on Syrian territory will trigger an immediate Iranian military retaliation, and it is clear why warning bells were ringing this week at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.

A perspective on the California blackouts that might not be in the news. California Blackout: Turning the Lights Off This is the news — A Utility Company Is Scheduled To Shut Off Power To Nearly 3 Million Californians As A Massive Fire Grows

What he said: $500,000 of Russian Cheese, Wasted?

Wholesale coffee prices are cratering in large part due to Vietnam’s major growth as a coffee producer. This is creating profound hardships for many small scale coffee growers in Central American and Africa. The resulting economic problems may lead to a surge in people trying to get into the US and renewed instability in many regions of the world dependent on coffee. All this information is contained in this article but boy do you have to wade through a lot of crap to extract it.