CBDCs could create a two-tier wealth system: non-programmable assets for the elite and total digital surveillance for the population.
Thursday, February 12, 2026
Has the Rate of Global Warming More Than Doubled?
Troubling global warming updates from the authoritative James Hansen.
Bloomberg’s $108 Oil as Worst Case Iran War Scenario: Too Optimistic?
A detailed Bloomberg report lays out different scenarios for oil prices if Iran attacks. Is its forecast of a worst case of $108 a barrel too cheery?
Suffocating an Island: What the U.S. Blockade Is Doing to Cuba
Medea Benjamin provides a gripping on-the-ground report of how conditions in Cuba are deteriorating due to the US oil blockage.
Satyajit Das: On Cinema – Antonioni’s Mysteries
A look at the major works of Michelangelo Antonioni and how he influenced film-making.
Coffee Break: Crisis of Credibility Edition
The crisis of credibility faced by Western elites as they try and fail to patch over the bursting abscess that is the Epstein files release heralds something much more profound: potential systemic collapse.
Costs of Device-Reliant Parenting: Kids Deficient in Empathy and Storytelling Skills, Can’t Read, Show Declining Cognitive Performance
Another disconcerting report on the harm done to kids by device and tech heavy parenting
/a>Health and Wellbeing in the Age of Diagnosis
In this modern world, sometimes it seems that everyone has “something,” and many of these conditions are relatively “new” and their incidence is increasing. Leading diagnoses from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), include ADHD, autism, depression, and anxiety. Conditions that have become more common in recent years that have no primary […]
Reuters Finds AI-Using Surgery Devices Harmed Patients; Nature Magazine and Reuters Find Medical Chatbots Not Beating Patients’ Own Internet Sleuthing
More reasons to be concerned about the aggressive implementation of AI in medicine.
The Finance Curse Is Killing Britain
A well-warranted harsh look at the high cost an overly-large and ever-more-extractive finance sector imposes on society as a whole.
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – The Incredible Shrinking “Most Powerful Military in History”
The United States is not merely losing military capacity—it is losing the ability to recognize what it no longer has. As political posture outruns material readiness, allies and adversaries are conditioned to expect reserves of power that do not exist. The result is systematic risk mispricing, easier escalation, and a growing risk of military defeat.
‘This Is Your Money’: Trump Assault on CFPB Has Cost Consumers $19 Billion
The affordability crisis includes the cost of being cheated, which due to the weakening of the CFPB alone is a handsome sum.
