No observations this week. I have been sidelined. Spring break or horrible flu? To make up for this, I will add extra links.

The Day The Dinos Died – New Yorker profile and reporting on an archaeological find that may definitely point to a giant asteroid causing the dinosaurs extinction. One find will keep paleontologists busy for decades. The rate they find bones and discover new things is out of a story. The central figure has some flair and style, which is refreshing to read. He plays up the big kid excited to be Indiana Jones schtick. It is just who he is. The contrast between him and the dry academics is entertaining.

A Profile of Thierry Baudet – This profile is on the rising star in the latest wave of European elections who seems to get it. He uses lines that any of you would say on Twitter. He makes Geert Wilders look like a schmuck. This might be the pattern. Salvini after Berlusconi, Baudet after Wilders, so maybe a real deal politician with a vision will come after Trump.

A Modest Proposal – This is a long read that puts forth of proposal to fix the financial system before it is too late. He knows it will not happen, but the big message is actually enforcing laws. An effective message would be an anti-corruption reformer message. Once in, the reformer takes a sledgehammer to the system.

USG Desperation – The US worries about losing its military advantage, so where to turn? Direct energy weapons. If they attach lasers to everything, this will solve the problem. No, it is bad governance and a mad ideology. That is the problem and no amount of tech is going to cover for it. The failure of Iraq and Afghanistan is the Wilsonian spirit rum amok.

New Middle East Alliance – There is some hyperbole here but if you look at the list of nations, there are a couple of quasi-sovereign states in there. Erdogan has done an amazing job of setting Turkey up into a nice position to wiggle out from under USG’s control. The current F35/S-400 tension for Turkey’s purchases is a bigger story than reported. Can the USG Empire recover when Trump is gone and get back to normal? I doubt it. These nations see what happened in Syria and see what farce is unfolding in Venezuela and are acting properly. I’m not sold on Jordan wiggling away. Maybe they know something…

Ghawar declining – Maybe they know the Saudi’s oil production is bunk. The Peak Oil guys got things wrong, but now with released data, we see they were right about Ghawar’s decline. If we pay attention to recent history and look at the near future, America currently does what Israel and the Saudis want while the rest of the Middle East is rotating. We’re tied to a declining petro-state that exports Sunni extremism and the Jewish homeland with no exports but mil-tech that they use to spy on us (and awful toilet paper). Good job, good effort!

E. Michael Jones on the Gay Mayor – A gay mayor from South Bend, Indiana is running for president and is earning some good PR from the media. E. Michael Jones has written about him and his family, and yes, the gay mayor is a media meme. The election of Obama proved that it does not matter what one’s resume is, just do they fit the progressive stack at the right time to build the Democratic voter Jenga tower. Buttigieg, Beto, Bernie, Kamala, Booker… any single one of them ever accomplish anything or inspire the feelings that they would be decent as a decision maker?

Xi’s Speech – The CCP released a six year old speech by Xi. He proclaims that the Chinese model of socialism will win. Hard to argue with the Chinese model of nationalist state directed economics lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.

Russophobia: From Carter to Brennan – This is a great read on how the seeds for today’s Russophobia and hysterics are found back in the Carter administration. This is all about the empire, and the empire cannot allow competitors. One of the important developments for the BRIC bloc was Russia’s creation of an alternative to SWIFT. I blogged on that years ago. It was far sighted to plan for the day when USG would cut them off or provoke conflict. It also takes time to build the infrastructure to challenge the economic system that USG rests on. It also took years for Russia to attract China.

Is America Dying? – This essay is inspired by the documentary on Seattle (Seattle Is Dying). America as we envisioned it is dead, and it will take a new form after transitioning. Seattle is undergoing what San Fran has undergone and that is the high Gini Coefficient socioeconomic condition that yields billionaires and scores of homeless in tents and sleeping bags as everyone else wonders why the city is going to crap. A great point is made how the city does not match the image it has from the old tech days. Because the media censorship privilege, the insanity of deep blue cities in blue states is hidden from nearly everyone outside a city’s homestate. Some hipsters told me there are progressive cities and progressive cesspool cities. Seems the magic mix is a blue city within a red state. There has to be some limit function on the city’s insanity. Otherwise the only way to deal with the tragedy is to treat it as a comedy, right?