The Larry and David Ellison media empire is still in the hunt to acquire WBD even as their CBS triggered the Streisand effect with some clumsy censorship.
Recent Items
Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Coffee Break: Paramount Still Reaching for WBD as CBS Misplays Colbert-Talarico Interview
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Nat Wilson Turner at 2:00 pm | No Comments »
Would Raising Taxes on the Richest New Yorkers Drive Them Away?
What might happen if New York City Mayor Mamdani delivers on increasing income and corporate taxes to the next level?
Topics: Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, Real estate, Taxes, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:57 am | 2 Comments »
Links 2/18/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Yves Smith at 6:55 am | 87 Comments »
Will Russia (and Iran) Be Forced to ‘Restore Order’ in the Caucasus? Part 2: The March to Central Asia
Washington envisions the Caucasus as stepping stone into Central Asia, but it’s China that remains in dominant position there with both sides ironically working to strengthen same trade corridor.
Topics: China, Doomsday scenarios, Energy markets, Europe, Infrastructure, Middle East, Russia, Turkey
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:00 am | 7 Comments »
Twin Cities Unions Planning ‘Largest US Rent Strike in 100+ Years’ as ICE Occupation Drives Eviction Crisis
Renters in Minnesota who’ve been afraid to go to work due to ICE thuggery and allies in labor plan a historic rent strike
Topics: Free markets and their discontents, Globalization, Guest Post, Income disparity, Legal, Politics, Real estate, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 5:50 am | 3 Comments »
One Affordability Battle After Another: What To Do About the AI-Fossil Fuel Industrial Complex
Voters rebel against AI data centers’ electricity costs and fossil fuel pollution, water use, and job loss damage.
Topics: Economic fundamentals, Energy markets, Environment, Free markets and their discontents, Global warming, Guest Post, Politics, Ridiculously obvious scams, Social values, Technology and innovation, The destruction of the middle class
Posted by Yves Smith at 1:56 am | 3 Comments »
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – Requiem for Nuclear Arms Control
The collapse of nuclear arms control is not returning the world to Cold War stability, but pushing it into a more complex and less governable nuclear order. As treaties lapse, latent up-arming capacity, compressed decision times, and multi-actor deterrence dynamics combine to raise systemic risk. This article examines how the erosion of formal limits—rather than malign intent—has made nuclear escalation easier, more opaque, and more dangerous, and why the United States bears central responsibility for dismantling the institutional architecture that once constrained catastrophe.
Topics: Coffee Break, Guest Post
Posted by Haig Hovaness at 2:00 pm | 12 Comments »
Iran Regime Change Tout Spews NSFW, Misogynistic Abuse When Asked Merely to Stop Spamming
A backer of Iran regime change efforts asked to have his ugly, misogynistic exchange with me published, and I am complying with his wishes.
Topics: Media watch, Middle East, Politics
Posted by Yves Smith at 9:04 am | 68 Comments »
Links 2/17/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 83 Comments »
Trump To Host “Six Stooges” Presidential Summit in Miami With Goal of Pushing China Out of Latin America
All six Latin American leaders share an ideological affinity with Trump, and are the closest thing his government has to strategic partners/vassals in the region.
Topics: Guest Post
Posted by Nick Corbishley at 6:45 am | 10 Comments »
Why Does Economics Refuse to Acknowledge John Ruskin’s Illith, as in Harmful Activity?
Why the economics discipline has ignored John Ruskin’s seminal concept of illith, as in destructive activity.
Topics: Environment, Global warming, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, Social values, The destruction of the middle class, The dismal science
Posted by Yves Smith at 4:20 am | 22 Comments »
Urban Slums: Stepping-Stone for Some and Traps (or Shields) for Others
A study in Brazil found that urban slums can offer upward mobility due to access to public education. But how true is that around the world?
Topics: Dubious statistics, Guest Post, Income disparity, Social policy
Posted by Yves Smith at 2:55 am | 4 Comments »
Coffee Break: Rubio and AOC Audition for 2028 in Munich
American 2028 presidential hopefuls, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, treated the Munich Security Conference like an audition.
Topics: Coffee Break
Posted by Nat Wilson Turner at 2:00 pm | 41 Comments »
As Alberta Separatists Court the U.S., Prosperity Is Fuelling a Sovereigntist Turn
Dreams of oil‑funded prosperity In Alberta clash with Canada’s Constitution and the realities of a warming world.
Topics: Energy markets, Environment, Global warming
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 9:55 am | 28 Comments »
Links 2/16/2026
Topics: Links
Posted by Conor Gallagher at 6:55 am | 88 Comments »



