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1. As you probably know LA is to host the 2028 Olympics.  It is also scheduled to be a 15-minute City (aka, C40 City).  All by 2028, which goes along with fires.  

   Today I saw the linked article, the wages increases are astounding.  Do you think this is intended to shut down the hotels and turn them into housing for the15-minute city?

   https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/economics/la-hotel-and-airline-employees-min-wage-38-per-hour/

   1. In my opinion, wage increases are being using to destroy small businesses.

      They only want corporate institutions in place.

      1. * used not using

2. Hill & Valley forum in DC included sessions on tech policy, including AI & robots.

   https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRP4BIi8wgw_4DnvhT5Wa8F2OKY7IDAN2

   Interview clips with some companies and investors in those emerging industries, https://x.com/tbpn/status/1918406534285131909

3. Just a FYI re middle East/Syria

   The spook NGO behind the app paid $40 per month to Syrian army soldiers/officers who installed it. They were only earning around $20 per month at the time. In exchange, the miscreants (almost certainly Israel) got almost complete, real-time surveillance of the Syrian Army.

   They could also countermand orders given by senior officers via malware additionally installed on their phones.

   This would have resulted in magically precise attacks and tactics by the invaders vs comical incompetence by the Syrian side. It certainly makes re-examining critical assessments of Russia’s decision to abandon ship all the more prudent.

   https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/how-a-spyware-app-compromised-assads-army/

   1. Fascinating. Will post.

4. Americans not agreement-capable? For Iranians in Oman, the Trump-team is completely non-sensical. Witkoff team reposnds positively to Iranian uranium-consortium proposal, then the team returns to DC and gets marching orders from Miriam Adelson that are in complete opposition. The team then goes on the Sunday talk shows and announces a zero-uranium policy. The probelm is that EVERY announcement that Trump makes … positive or negative, destabilizes the Iranian economy. Iranians are befuddled.
   The Surprising BIG Problem With Iran Peace Negotiations! w/ Max Blumenthal
   (June 3 2025)
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agNBTLjpWBQ

   1. I am having a hard time acknowledging that the whole Western world has succesfully gutted the competent train tracks of human capital that was capable of running a country. The West is currently run by competing di capo types. This transition happened on my watch in tiptoe fashion. The leaders of today are weak, very weak! I wonder if those crop of current leaders would be election billboard material 40 years ago? Genocide egged on under Western stewardship today, is no problem at all, that’s the reality! Westeners where asleep at the weel when other countries governments where replaced with rulers that benefitted our needs more all under the banner of democracy, all the while not seeing the same was happening under our own noses. Talk about irony!

5. Europe is definitely falling apart compared to how it was 40, 50 years ago. It’s definitely deteriorated and lost a lot of its unique characteristics. It’s been corporatized. It’s full of graffiti everywhere. I was in Germany in February and it was dirty compared to how it was in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s, and even 1990’s.

   1. I was just in Europe, disappointed to see graffiti everywhere. A lot of immigration coincides with this. Same here in the states.

   2. The US has been falling apart since the 1970’s and it’s a 3rd world country regardless of the propaganda about our preeminence. But Europe has been deteriorating since the 1970’s too. It’s a targeted plan to destroy Western countries. I lived in both Europe and US during 1960’s and 1970’s. The quality of life in US and Western Europe has deteriorated tremendously. And Europe is starting to do the quiet, latent, stealthy “great replacement” of white collar workers with foreign labor via early retirement, layoffs, etc. Corporations and private equity excel at cost cutting. They no longer excel at innovation and generating revenue. This has been the paradigm since the Reagan Admin.

      1. The food in Germany was also horrible. And when Od ask the Germans to recommend good restaurants they never recommended an authentic German restaurant. They recommended Thai and Japanese! I can get that here in the US.
         Then we were at a hotel restaurant and one German picked up the bottle of Acqua Panna and said, “I don’t know why they’re serving us this water as we have our own great bottled water!” Which they do! I said that maybe Nestle had the contract with the hotel chain since Nestle bought San Pelligrino.
         I dined in German restaurants but the food was not good. I could make the authentic dishes better myself. I think too their bread didn’t taste ‘right’ the way I remembered it…so I’m wondering if they are getting flour from mass produced corporate sources. Most likely since the inception of the EU. The EU has destroyed the unique sovereign characteristics of many of these countries. China just bought Bialetti.
         But it’s the same with US products. Everything is diluted.
         I can tell when I go into an ‘Italian’ restaurant if the chef is Mexican. I know, sounds crazy, right?! But it’s true. Many of the famous Italian cafes and restaurants in North Beach in SF, CA are owned by Mexicans.
         There’s a Persian restaurant near my house that I love. The Persians sold to a family from Burma (if I recall). The food is still great but it’s not excellent. Something about the authenticity is just missing.
         It’s like seeing the replica of the David in the Square vs the in the real one in the museum. But if one has never experienced if they’ll never know there’s a difference.

         1. Germans no longer work in the restaurant business. The kids don’t want to work that hard and don’t want the responsibility. It’s now largely immigrants from Poland etc… At least, that’s what my family in Austria says.

            1. I don’t know why one can only reply and not edit their comments.

               The other thing I noticed in the US is that Contractors and restaurants, whether painting, roofing, handyman, start businesses, plumbers, etc. charge enormous fees / rates, and send over a group of Mexicans, and / or central and South Americans. They probably pay them $100 per day cash and then keep thousands for themselves.
               Serf City, USA.

            2. It seems so. Same in US. It’s sad because the unique characteristics and charm that made the culture is so diluted. And people who only started traveling or do it as a tourist, worker, government employee, will never experience what made those countries unique.
               There were so many multinational hotels and restaurants owned by corporate entities. Like the Uber Arena in Berlin, the IHG hotel group.
               Many decades ago I remember falling asleep in the car in the way to Canada. When we we were in Canada the only distinction from the US was kilometer signs. Everything else was strip malls with the same shops, etc.

6. Catherine,
   Musk and Trump have separated according to the news. What do you make of it? Thanks

   1. So Elon Musk can stay pretending to be a good guy when the fallout of the “unconstitutional” DOGE operation becomes cristal clear to every American. Would you want to be attached to a presidency that has let this happen? DJT is two for two. The first jabs and the second firm traintracks to slavery! If history survives, I don’t think it will be in a favorable light.

      1. This whole DOGE operation is so disturbing. Extracting federal data in order to privatise them. It’s happening in plain sight.

         1. Well they’ve been doing it in stealth mode for decades. Check out Carlos Slim. He’s privatizing what use to be public utilities. Then it creates a digital web into all of our data for them to create information.

      2. 100%

7. Re : Ukrainian Drone strikes at Russian strategic assets.
   Allegedly five Russian military airfields were targetted. Of these, one container went on fire on the road a day prior to launch. The driver died from an explosion. Only two of the remaining attacks reached their targets.
   It appears, from my reading, that 10-12 nuclear capable bombers plus one A50 surveillance were damaged or destroyed, possibly providing the most significant damage.
   Possibly two more A50 aircraft, at Ivanovo, but I’ll put that down to propaganda and the fog of war. If true, it would have been all over the news.
   “There was no visual evidence confirming that Ivanovo and Dyagilevo were hit. According to Russian media, all the drones launched at the two air bases were intercepted, the launchers were found and the drivers were arrested.”

   The implcations for this are worldwide, with a possible untraceable means to bring civilisation to a halt at minimal cost.

   1. Thank you for the summary update.

      The strange thing about the reporting is that is not covered by FOX. It seems to be the only silent MSM.

      1. That should tell you something critical.

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