A European Florida could strengthen America. With European control over the state, infant mortality rates would fall, education improve, and healthcare for all would extend life expectancy. Far from breaking the alliance, such a settlement would reset it.

This is some “let the abusers do foreign policy” logic right here. “We wouldn’t have to hurt you or leave you if you would just lie down and take it. Then we will need you to abuse forever and never leave you baby” (Of course from clarem*nt)

A tragic but important world first. Climate change means new things for us all.

Make it make sense. When will news outlets properly interrogate this AI alarmism. If we've only got months at best, no entity could catch up anyway. This is just dumb.

Wildfire survivors call fire-prediction markets “morally reprehensible” and worry they could increase the risk of arson. www.wired.com/story/predic...

this guy is the co-founder of Airbnb

"Of course, it’s ironic that many events, including one on extreme heat, were cancelled due to the heatwave, but it should also be used as momentum to amplify the message." H/t @ceps.eu cepseu.substack.com/p/as-europe-...

Spelling was an elite globalist obsession.

Trump's envoy to Belgium goes full alt-fact and calls anyone who doubts a "moron or a liar." Must-read interview with Bill White by Leo Cendrowicz. www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/2206...

Let’s check in on how Jared and Ivanka’s luxury Albanian resort is doing…

Challenge: how's your reflecting pool? Brussels doing OK.

The art of the deal

Re Versailles, history sure comes at you fast when you are as reckless as Donald Trump.

Seems like further confirmation that Kaja Kallas has participated in a private society called Dialog run by far-right investor Peter Thiel. Jens Spahn and Tom Tugendhat in there too.

Imagine how healthy people would be if cars were banned from cities.

US officials appear increasingly desperate to attract guests to their Freedom 250 extravaganza in Brussels. The invitation "may have ended up in your spam folder" so "please let us know whether you have received it or not," the missive sent Monday from the US Mission to the EU implores invitees.

Mr. Schlichting, a three-time Trump voter, said he was satisfied with the president’s explanation of why he led the country to war, then added, “I don’t know how much of it is true.”

A merged Meta-Ireland tricolor that's going round the socials and foreshadowing the kicking that the upcoming Irish presidency of the EU can expect from digital rights advocates.

Our cunning plan is to use AI to cut consumption of power, which is increasingly scarce because of AI.

Archive.ph down again. I suspect whatever tussling is going on over this site and others like it would make for an intriguing media story. Perhaps a candidate for @onthemedia.bsky.social as publishers must be weeping and gnashing their teeth.

EU officials say they are being tortured by the longer charge times needed to use electric cars during their monthly trips. It's a non-debate.

Sorry not sorry Coca-Cola! There never should have been an automatic right to put advertising in cities and the backlash is growing to change the social contract e.g. @adfreecities.bsky.social

Right-wing extremists polling at record highs in German state prompts prominent reporter at Sueddeutsche to write that "democratic politics as it has functioned in Saxony-Anhalt for 36 years and in the Federal Republic for 77 years has reached its limits." www.sueddeutsche.de/meinung/sach...

Temu got fined €200mln today by the EC but Musk is the story. Last year he was fined a paltry €120mln for 3 violations of the DSA amid suspected ongoing threats to democracy. Meanwhile Temu was fined more for what appears a one-off about dodgy toys. EU is fighting shy of real threats from Big Tech.

An EU watchdog is taking a stand against normalization of fascism in EU politics. Excellent scoop @maxgriera.bsky.social cc @terryreintke.bsky.social

Rep. @brotherjones.bsky.social at the CA state capitol: “We chanted ‘we will not go back’ — I burned a confederate flag outside the chamber to send a message we will not go back to the times in which our folks were met with Billy clubs & the blast of the fire hose…” 🇺🇸

The is Zarbiv’s full quote about Gaza demolitions: Gazans “will be returning to nowhere. Tens of thousands of families are left without papers, without childhood photos, without ID cards, they remain with nothing. If they return, they will not know where their home is. All they will find is sand.”

The title of this essay comes from a quotation by Avraham Zarbiv, the rabbinical judge and IDF reservist bulldozer operator who is the public face of the semi-irregular force of military and contractor earthmover operators who have both pushed for and executed mass demolition operations in Gaza

As tech bosses like Sam Altman play an increasingly influential role in our lives, concerns are growing over how much we really know about these powerful individuals.

The US enforcing a blockade puts China and the US in direct and immediate conflict 👇

Europe doesn't want Tehran or Trump tolls on the Strait of Hormuz but it's up to shipping companies themselves whether to pay per barrel and/or $2 million per ship.

I converted to Catholicism last week. Here’s why it’s necessary for the United States to invade Vatican City and install its own pope.

Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal seemingly bribed Trump to lower tariffs on Canadian steel. Curious what EU and Canadian trade authorities knew, and when they knew it.

Hegseth just fired the Army Chief Gen Randy George. Immediately. Gen George the most competent and experienced combat leaders I have ever encountered. Courage. Integrity. Takes care of soldiers. A government of gangsters.

Trump's rambling press conference raises new questions about Joe Biden's mental state.

Gen AI has become ubiquitous in the EU Bubble. I found this artefact in a newsletter this morning.

Everyone needs to stop what they’re doing and watch this video. “It seems like there’s a lack of diversity here today, and it’s mostly people who look like you and me, and I just…?” This lady’s response is🔥

The Athletic | Tiger Woods was arrested for a DUI at 1 o'clock in the afternoon after flipping his SUV. Could he be a future candidate for Secretary of War?

Nouriel Roubini foresees "escalation and a US-Israeli victory (with regime collapse in a few months) as more likely than escalation and a US-Israeli defeat." NB: escalation is also the scenario he personally favors: "Trying to finish the job is better than the alternatives."

When a supposed member state of the EU, Hungary, is using the talking points of a supposed EU ally, the US, to justify election interference that will undermine the EU, that is a truly grotesque situation.

Non-negligible chance that Deutsche Bank is improving its abject image rather than Brussels. May be a script worth flipping.

after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...

Heckuva job Rutte

This is very interesting on Bayer's role in the pharma-military industrial complex. Trump needs Bayer's white phosphorus for warfare. Meanwhile the German company appears to be getting sweeteners for its glyphosate weed killer business.

One of the reasons US IT billionaires supported Trump was that they expected his regime to be able to pressure EU to loosen its regulations and grow their business. Totally opposite is happening: we are only beginning to see the long lasting business damage that Trump is causing to US companies.

Wow. Looks like Trump just lost Amazon Web Services its contract with Finland for cloud-based management of election information. No price given. But would be interesting to know how soon European digital sovereignty might start to mean something to US hyperscalers' bottom lines.

The way this numbers station story made it into so many big UK and US media at similar moments seemed a bit weird to me. The net effect was that any threat from Iran seemed even more salient.

Let's crush this grotesque flirtation before it gains anymore steam. There is no common ground with Tucker Carlson. There is no common ground with those who claim common ground with Tucker Carlson. There are no "good" fascists vs. "bad" fascists. Fascists=fascists.

Exactly 10 years ago suicide bombers detonated two bombs at Brussels Airport one at Maelbeek metro station. These brief profiles of the 32 people who died will leave a lasting impact on anyone who reads them. @maajtee.bsky.social