[A monthly link list of recommended articles, videos, podcasts, photos, toots … you name it]
[Videos]
Why Hives Turn Against Their Queens
[Music]
Africa (Toto)…but it lists every country in Africa
[Podcasts]
Another Way Out w/ William C. Anderson [the fire these times] – “This idea that we’re going to be better off if we continue to be better liberals, and be truer and more dedicated to believing in this country, is still very much in place. As long as that’s there, people are not going to see and overcome and get out of this situation in the ways that they need to. It’s there for a reason: to keep people in this situation. It’s not tied to one party or the other; a lot of this is getting lost in, The Republicans are really bad, and if they were gone this wouldn’t ever happen! But all the stage-setting for this situation has been bipartisan.” Never forget. Obama was instrumental in the expansion of ICE and border control.
MF DOOM: Long Island to Leeds [bbc sound] – A podcast about the favorite rapper of your favorite rapper, presented by the least favorite podcaster of your least favorite podcaster (yours truly).
Épisode #241 Camarade violeur [audioblog] – “Quand c’est les "camarades" qui violent, on fait quoi ? Cette semaine, dans Minuit Décousu, on essaie de tirer des fils pour y répondre avec des brochures, des archives autonomes allemandes, des squats non mixtes, le st-grâal de la justice transformatrice, des milieux qui implosent, une archive d’entretien du collectif Bagarre sur la brochure "Ceci n’est pas un call out" et une interview de Emeline Fourment – chercheuse sur la question des VSS dans les milieux libertaires.” A look at the complex situation when sexual abuse occurs in radical leftist circles, which it does. But where we do not want to involve any cops or judges, at least in theory.
[Toot Threads]
[Pandemic Roundup]
Covid: February 27, 2026
Covid: February 19, 2026
Covid: February 12, 2026
Covid: February 5, 2026
[The Must Read[s] This Month]
Reasons to mask in 2026 – A wonderful comic by Gillian Levine explains it all. You have no more excuse now.
Why Are You Building Overrides for Systems That Keep Me Alive? [substack] – “It feels like every time I have been told “you are being too sensitive, you are too much, you are being dramatic”—only to discover, once again, that my body had been right all along.
We choose a different world.
[…]
A world where sleep is sacred — the deep, uninterrupted time the body needs to finish its stories and restore itself.
Where grief is held in warm community, given all the time it needs, until the heart has reorganized around the absence and can open again. Where anger is met with presence, because a boundary that is honored keeps the self intact. Where love is the quiet, daily co-regulation of living nervous systems choosing each other, growing stronger together.” This article blew my mind. I hope i didn’t fall for an ai-generated article here. Fuck, why is everything so suspicious now? Was that the point?
We all live in Jeffrey Epstein's world [substack] – “Epstein has given us an extraordinary portal through which we can now see how hostile state influence, criminality and the impunity of the billionaire class are intimately enmeshed. That’s the piece I still want to write. But we can’t understand any of this until we realise that Epstein isn’t just a doorway, he’s also a mirror.” It’s the capitalist system that inevitably leads to this type of influence and impunity.
[Articles English]
The Line Between Affinity and Conspiracy [jewish currents] – “Faced with this old antisemitic trope of a wealthy, sexually perverse Jewish cabal that controls the interlocking worlds of finance, media, academia, and politics, we can bring a corrective clarity by pointing instead to capitalism itself as the conspiracy; we can also locate Epstein within a much broader and not distinctly Jewish elite network that is bound together not by a shared identity but by a deep misogyny and desire to protect powerful men from accountability for sexual misconduct and crimes. What’s less clear, however, is what to make of the many banal markers of Jewishness that run through the story Epstein and his friends told about themselves. One can recognize a nostalgic, almost kitschy relationship to Jewish identity that plenty of ordinary Jews tend to indulge in.” A brave look at how Epstein instrumentalized his Jewish identity, while the article keeps a clear distinction from antisemitic stereotypes.
Abuse is still rife in dance music [substack] – “In an ever-commercialising scene, protecting revenue is often the immediate and strongest impulse among those with the most to gain financially. This is why we often see festivals deciding not to take action without “proof” and clubs continuing to book popular accused abusers. It isn’t that every allegation should be accepted at face value without scrutiny, but multiple unrelated accusations should be taken very seriously, and in these situations the safety of patrons needs to be prioritised.” Sadly it’s not only in the DJ-techno scene where Metoo did not change all that much.
Six years in, mental health care providers are still uninformed on Long COVID. And it’s making the crisis worse. [the sick times] – “Six years into the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many people living with Long COVID still aren’t getting the mental health support they need. […] People living with Long COVID are twice as likely to develop anxiety and depression compared to those who recovered from a SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to a 2025 population-based study published in the journal Discover Mental Health. And a 2023 study published in BMJ Open found that people with Long COVID can experience worse quality of life than those with other diseases.” You’d think after six years we would not be stuck there.
Don’t Talk Like That | Peter Gelderloos [substack] – “even in the absence of an open war, the smothering of a language is a brutal thing. And it’s a brutality that cannot be imagined by those who only speak a language that is not in danger of disappearing, a language that thrives today because it has a powerful state that backs it, a nation-state that, in the interests of power, has destroyed a dense network of diverse languages in order to build a monoculture. Easy to rule, easier to surveil.” Language as a vector in state building.
Hazardous substances found in all headphones tested by ToxFREE project [the guardian] – FFS!
Forget Maga. Welcome to Mega: Make Empire Great Again | Mehdi Hasan [the guardian] – “In Munich, in Germany of all places, Rubio delivered an encomium to five centuries of the west’s “missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers, pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe”. He lamented the “contracting” of the “great western empires” in the wake of the second world war. He decried the “godless communist revolutions” and “anti-colonial uprisings” which, for the record, helped free 750 million people across 80 former colonies since the founding of the United Nations in 1945.
And the response to his remarks? Europe’s elites gave him a standing ovation, as if he’d just announced a cure for cancer rather than the literal return of empire. And in doing so, they made themselves shamefully complicit in the Trump administration’s rewriting not just of US history, but European and world history too.” Also watch this great summary by somaya.
The Siren 4 – Issue 4 of The Siren is out. Comic to the rescue.
The billionaires' eugenics project: how Epstein infiltrated Harvard, muzzled the humanities, and preached master-race science [thenerve] – “Jeffrey Epstein’s favourite intellectual salon – was sold as a gathering of the world’s finest minds. The files reveal it was something far darker: a decades-long project that cloaked eugenics, race science and sexual misconduct in Ivy League respectability” The crucial role of Joi Ito in all this. Joi was one of the main inspirations for me to start this blog in 2002. May all my heroes fall.
The Children of Dilley [propublica] – “ProPublica went inside the immigrant detention center for families in Dilley, Texas. Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of what comes next.” 💔
Bringing the “functionally extinct” American chestnut back from the dead [arstechnica] – “thanks in part to trees planted in areas where the two fungi don’t grow well, the American chestnut isn’t extinct. And efforts to revive it in its native range have continued, despite the long generation times needed to breed resistant trees. In Thursday’s issue of Science, researchers describe their efforts to apply modern genomic techniques and exhaustive testing to identify the best route to restoring chestnuts to their native range.” Chestnuts rule.
Assessing the Global Temperature and Precipitation Analysis in January 2026 [ncei] – “January 2025 ranked as the fifth-warmest January in NOAA’s 177-year record, with a global surface temperature 2.02°F (1.12°C) higher than the 20th-century baseline. All 10 of the warmest Januarys on record have occurred since 2007, with the most recent five years (2022–26) among the top 10.” Consider how many will say “fifth-warmest” is a sign that it’s getting better.
Proto-Politics in Purgatory [ill will] – “We are not winning. The lie that we are serves as an understandable, yet nevertheless compensatory fantasy, forged under truly heartless conditions of daily abductions and abuses, alongside the unremunerated drudgery of a resistance which we desperately hope will pay off. This copium of the masses, in which we all can't but indulge to varying degrees, offers a brief respite from facing the unbearable reality that resistance as we've been conducting it has not only failed to push ICE out, but even to keep them from killing our patrollers, while exposing many of us to the same risk.” I love the expression copium.
Get Ready for This Year’s Undemocratic, Debt-Ridden, and Mobster-Infused Winter Olympics [the nation] – “With so much money swirling around, it is no surprise that corruption allegations abound. The Italian government’s Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate found that “the Winter Olympics represent a significant event…for criminal syndicates interested in gaining a foothold in the tender awarding procedures.” “Open Olympics 2026” successfully fought for the creation of a portal to track costs related to the Games, but the group notes, “the portal does not indicate who is paying for the cost increases, because financing sources are missing.” This opens the door to “mafia methods” such as extortion, strong-arming, intimidation, and blackmail.” The title kind of says it all, makes me proud to have boycotted this farcical “sports” event. Unpaywalled.
Noam Chomsky, Jeffrey Epstein and the Politics of Betrayal [substack] – “[Noam Chomsky] is, arguably, our greatest and most principled intellectual. I can assure you he is not as passive or gullible as his wife claims. He knew about Epstein’s abuse of children. They all knew. And like others in the Epstein orbit, he did not care. From the email correspondence between Epstein and Valéria it appears she particularly enjoyed the privileges that came with being in Epstein’s circle, but this does not absolve Noam’s acquiescence. Noam, of all people, knows the predatory nature of the ruling class and the cruelty of capitalists, where the vulnerable, especially girls and women, are commodified as objects to be used and exploited. He was not fooled by Epstein. He was seduced. His association with Epstein is a terrible and, to many, unforgivable stain. It irreparably tarnishes his legacy. If there is a lesson here, it is this. The ruling class offers nothing without expecting something in return. The closer you get to these vampires the more you become enslaved. Our role is not to socialize with them. It is to destroy them.” This is how it is done, and Chris Hedges is/was a personal friend of Noam.
At the Speed of Human Being | Alison Rose Reed [substack] – “As we sustain commitments to the collective struggle and insurgent caregiving in our local communities, in Minnesota and all occupied lands, we must remember to pause for deep belly breaths. To have a laugh, or give someone you love a lap dance. Or both at once. Ride high at dawn, whatever that means to you. Go wild. Be a little silly. Do it for the sake of the new world we’re all building in the ashes of the old. Do it for the sake of pleasure.” Is this copium?
Trump’s Imperial Fantasy Begins With Gaza [jewishcurrents] – “Some commentators have suggested that Gaza is now under “international trusteeship.” But it’s worse than that. It’s under Trump’s individual trusteeship. The Board of Peace authorizes him and his cronies to plunder the Strip for personal gain. What is emerging in Gaza may resemble less Mandatory Palestine between 1917 and 1948, which was ruled by the British government, than the Congo between 1885 to 1908, which was the personal property of one man, King Leopold II of Belgium.” Historic context paints everything in ever darker colors.
Our Zine About ICE Surveillance Is Here [404media] – “We are very proud to present 404 Media’s zine on the surveillance technology used by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. While we have always covered surveillance and privacy, for the last year, you may have noticed that we have spent an outsized amount of our attention and time reporting on the ways technology companies are powering Donald Trump’s deportation raids.” PDF.
Narwhals become quieter as the Arctic Ocean grows louder [arstechnica] – “If concrete measures are not adopted to limit the impacts of vessel traffic, underwater noise will continue to hurt whales, as well as other marine life, including fish and crustaceans, Lancaster said. Indigenous communities that rely on these marine ecosystems for food security may also be harmed.” I must be a narwhal.
[Articles German/French]
Steff La Cheffe – Stoff – This month Steff la Cheffe (one of the best female rappers in Switzerland) announced on Insta (sigh) that she is suspending her career, the release of her next album was weeks away, because her body and mind need a rest. This is sad news. It sounds like either a burn out or Long COVID. All the best to you Steff. And this song Stoff makes me crave more.
Palantir klagt gegen die Republik [republik] – “Recherchen zum Unternehmen Palantir, die von der Republik und dem Recherchekollektiv WAV gemacht wurden, haben internationales Medienecho ausgelöst. Nun klagt das US-Unternehmen gegen die Republik auf Gegendarstellung. Der Fall liegt beim Zürcher Handelsgericht.” Fuck Palantir. Love the Streisand effect.
Credit Suisse verheimlichte Nazi-Konten [daslamm] – “Die von der UBS übernommene Bank Credit Suisse soll jahrzehntelang Konten der Nazis während der Zeit des Zweiten Weltkriegs verheimlicht haben, zeigen neue Untersuchungen des US-Senats. Eine laufende Untersuchung habe Hinweise auf 890 Konten mit potenziellen Nazi-Verbindungen ergeben. Darunter befänden sich Konten des wirtschaftlichen Arms der Schutzstaffel (SS), die für zahlreiche Verbrechen der Nationalsozialisten verantwortlich gemacht wird, sowie einer deutschen Rüstungsfirma.” Swiss banks are nazi-collabos.
Wissenschaftskritik: Zeit, den Oligarchen die Stirn zu bieten [woz] – “In «Zeit der Oligarchen», spürbar geprägt vom Horror der US-Atombombenabwürfe über Hiroshima und Nagasaki, warnt Huxley vor der Machtergreifung einer Handvoll Techoligarchen, die im Stil von Gangstern eine Welt regieren werden, in der sich das Kapital in den Händen weniger konzentriert und Politik zum Faustrecht des Stärkeren verkommt, begleitet vom primitiven Gedöns nationalistischer Parolen. Wer da nicht gleich an die USA seit dem Amtsantritt von Donald Trump denkt, hat das vergangene Jahr womöglich unter einem Stein vergraben verbracht.” Huxley’s historic essay seems to be written for our time.
Krasse Links No 77 [mspro] – “Die gesamte amerikanische Elite ist mit Kacke bespritzt und so verschiebt sich die Balance richtiung Aufklärungsinteresse, denn die meisten, die in den Files stehen, werden keine Verbrechen nachgewiesen werden können. Sie alle wissen, dass sie sich von dieser Shitshow nur „reinwaschen“ können (so richtig wird das natürlich nie gelingen), wenn alle Files released, am besten alle Verbrechen aufgedeckt und alle Täter benannt und gefasst sind.” An overview of the recent Epstein files release.
Acht Jahre Haft für Antifaschist*in Maja T. [daslamm] – “Dank euch begreife ich, es lohnt zu bleiben, es lohnt zu hoffen, und ich fühle dort Sicherheit, wo ich an eurer Seite stehe, dort wo es notwendig wird, dort wo kein Zögern bleibt. Und ich weiss, dort ist ein Ort, prachtvoll und lebhaft wie eine wilde Blumenwiese, da ist ein Ort jenseits der Verliese und weit weg von all der Gewalt, an dem du und ich Mensch sein dürfen unter Menschen.” Antifascist Maja T was convicted in Hungary, this is from her manifesto.
Vers une société des devenirs : – penser la neurodiversité au-delà de l'inclusion Régis Cortesero [lundi.am] – “Cette perspective invite à penser les situations neurodivergentes non plus comme des identités minoritaires à protéger (perspective inclusive) ou des capacités à restaurer (modèle médicale), mais comme des devenirs à promouvoir et des agencements à rendre possibles. Ce n’est pas simplement une manière d’être autre dans une société injuste à laquelle il faudrait arracher des aménagements : c’est un rapport au monde, aux autres et à soi qui invente d’autres voies de subjectivation. La neurodiversité y devient un principe actif de reconfiguration des milieux de vie et non plus d’aménagements de modalités de fonctionnements dérogatoires à l’intérieur d’une normativité dominante.” Proposes a much more revolutionary stance than the fight for more accessibility ever could.
[Older articles, still great]
CITY LIGHTS LIVE! Miranda Mellis with Eleni Stecopoulos – Miranda Mellis discussing her novel Crocosmia with Eleni Stecopoulos.
Metaphysical Activism – WILD12 Resolution – “Conventional activism has had undeniable value in progressively helping to mitigate or resolve said crises. Yet those crisis situations continue to worsen in nature and degree, indicating the urgent need for a radically different approach.1
From the perspective of many [Indigenous Peoples], and a growing number of awakening and awakened non-[Indigenous] populations, these predicaments are seen as largely symptomatic of a fundamental underlying crisis, i.e. a crisis of consciousness, or of the spirit of a critical mass of humanity (which for the purposes of this resolution We shall call a [metaphysical] crisis) – both in terms of the cause, and people’s capacity to respond to remediate the situation.” This manifesto was mentioned by Miranda (above).
R.I.P.
Dominique Grandjean (1944–2026) – The Campari Soda dude.
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Header Photo: It almost snowed