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Add Macy’s to the long list of Union Square retail stores that have closed recently — the department store announced this week that it would close 150 locations in the coming years, including its flagship store in San Francisco.

Kiel Institute support tracker from downloaded data XLS file. All aid to Ukraine cumulative from 2/22/2022 to 5/31/2023 Country $billion %GDP Australia 0.46 0.03 Austria 2.04 0.43 Belgium 1.90 0.32 Bulgaria 0.48 0.57 Canada 5.73 0.29 Croatia 0.36 0.53 Cyprus 0.06 0.22 Czech Republic 1.57 0.56 Denmark 3.01 0.76 Estonia 0.54 1.46 EU (Commission and Council) 29.84 0.17 Finland 1.97 0.66 France 8.11 0.27 Germany 19.58 0.46 Greece 0.74 0.34 Hungary 0.48 0.27 Iceland 0.03 0.13 Ireland 0.84 0.17 Italy 6.28 0.30 Japan 7.19 0.15 Latvia 0.51 1.28 Lithuania 0.76 1.14 Luxembourg 0.22 0.26 Malta 0.03 0.19 Netherlands 7.24 0.71...

"It is difficult indeed, but one has to face it. That's why we're here." Civilians turned Ukrainian troops are now training in Spain, where their Captain says they are advancing 'very quickly.'

Perun analysis of Aid to Ukraine, 1 hour + video- "Aid to Ukraine has evolved dramatically since February 2022, and there are few topics that have attracted more constant press coverage away from the battlefield itself. So today I try and set out how aid has evolved, who the major contributors are, and the impact aid has had - and may have in 2023." 00:00:00 — Opening Words 00:01:43 — What Am I Talking About? 00:03:21 — From Korea to Afghanistan 00:04:47 — AID PRE-2022 00:05:00 — The Ukrainian Military of 2014 00:08:27 — Made in Ukraine (with some help)...

Massive Offensive Across the Entire Eastern Front "Something surprising has happened" - DPA It looks like a direct frontal attack right into where the Russians have been trying to advance, and supposedly where they are strongest. The Ukrainians keep surprising all of us. The sourcing is all from Russian Telegram sources apparently. No word yet from the Ukrainian side.

Kherson - Ukrainian breakthrough into Kherson bridgehead, now 30km deep along west bank of the Dneiper. This was reported hours ago by marcusmaximus. This is the first Youtuber that gives detail and context of the sheer depth of this penetration. Earlier report on Defense Politics Asia. Info seems to be entirely from Russian Telegram, Strelkov, Rybar, etc., but it seems to be all over Russian military sources. This is on the same scale as the Kherson/Lyman offensives.

There are a bunch of rumors out about Xi's odd behavior in hastily leaving the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting (in Uzbekistan, where he met Putin) on Sept 16, and seemingly dropping out of the public eye since. And various other odd happenings in China. Jennifer Zeng is a Falun Gong spokeswoman in effect. Falun Gong is also the sponsor of the Epoch Times. Naturally, this is an intensely anti-PRC source. To her credit Zeng brings both pro and con facts into this. Sonething is up, but the fog is still too murky to make out the shape of the truth.

"In her annual speech on Wednesday, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels should have listened to the warnings on Russia from the Baltic states and Poland." "We should have listened to the voices inside our Union – in Poland, in the Baltics, and all across Central and Eastern Europe,” she said, adding that “they have been telling us for years that Putin would not stop” “They have invested in renewable energy, in LNG terminals, and in interconnectors,” von der Leyen said. “This costs a lot. But dependency on Russian fossil fuels comes at a much...

A "Special Military Operation" vs a "Peoples War" Russia is not fighting a war, but a Special Military Operation, as its government calls it. This has severe implications as to the actual force it can bring to bear. Add to that its conscription system is only a limited version of historical conscription systems. Ukraine however is fighting something much closer to a 19th-20th century total war, a whole-society resistance. It is not perfect in this, but given the public will, which seems to be present, they can and almost certainly have raised larger numbers than Russia has or can, unless...

Significant war news we may have missed... Moscow (AsiaNews) - "Those who hear, but do not hear, those who see, but do not see, those who are there, were there and will be there, will not forget my word: raise the strength of Russia, direct our president Vladimir Putin on the path of justice". This is the invocation of Aljona Polin, Russia's leading witch, founder of the 'Great Witches of Russia' association, who held a general council of witches in support of Putin on the evening of 12 March.

From the Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - Carl Benjamin (ex Sargon of Akkad) Talking about how the performance and even structure of the Russian Army is determined by its low status in Russia's pecking order, to the point that even theives (the Russian Mafia) rank higher, and absurdly (this is a real life Monty Python sketch), that the mafia collects protection money from soldiers, officers and military bases. And much more.

Both sides are bringing on foreign volunteers and mercenaries. Many of the participants lining up make very strange bedfellows indeed, and some of the groups involved are straight out of bad fiction. But, as we should know, fact is much stranger than fiction. Anyway, from the Podcast of the Lotus Eaters, Callum and Carl roundup of the foreign groups now showing up in Ukraine.

A video recognition guide to all known models of tanks seen in the Ukraine conflict, for use in evaluating those vast numbers of photos and videos pouring out of Ukraine, as seen on social media and news coverage. This is for tanks only, unfortunately, as there are also large numbers of other armored vehicles involved. This is a very confusing subject, and this guide may be of assistance in resolving questions such as which side a captured or destroyed tank was on, whether it was a new or old model, whether it was well equipped or not, etc.

There is a lot of confusion about whether Covid is killing people or not, about the effect of the "cold and flu" season in general, about the often misleading stream of data about test results, and etc. There is only one complete, unmixed, and incontrovertible fact, and that is death. Have deaths increased due to Covid, where is the current Covid situation vs "normal life", or rather normal death, and what can we expect going forward? The best way to see this whole thing in context vs the pattern of “normal” death rates is here - total deaths taken from...

MANILA, Philippines — Demonic spirits can send text messages to cell phones and use modern technology to harass or lure people to the dark side. Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia, chief exorcist of the Archdiocese of Manila, also says receiving messages from demons is an experience common to priests helping possessed persons liberate themselves. “We did not expect [demons] could do so but if you ask other exorcists, they would tell you the same experience. Usually [the demons would swear at you] or say, ‘This person will never get away from us,’” he says in an interview. ..... But more than...

Ronan Farrow to publish an article in the New Yorker implicating CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves in Harvey-Weinstein-like behavior. CBS stock has fallen, etc. with the usual fallout.

Being reported in several places, Jerry Pournelle has passed away. Noted Science Fiction author, strategic analyst, early popularizer of personal computers, one of the original bloggers. In his own way he was one of the more influential Americans of the 20th century. As per Instapundit in a comment to his own post, "I just talked to Alex. Basically, Jerry just laid down for a nap and passed in his sleep this afternoon. It was nice that he, Alex, and Larry Niven got to hang out and have such a good time at DragonCon. It's as easy a death as one...

Rasmussen White House Watch T 42 C 40 Trump +2 Its interesting that Realclearpolitics has dropped Rasmussen from its RCP average, a couple of weeks ago I think. I wonder why. Rasmussen had solid Clinton leads until recently. "The latest Rasmussen Reports weekly White House Watch national telephone and online survey shows Trump with 42% support to Clinton’s 40%. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson gets seven percent (7%) of the vote, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein earns two percent (2%). Another two percent (2%) like some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click...

A vanity, I apologize if this is old news or if I am being pedantic. We all know about the public pensions crisis, but the PRIVATE pension problem is under the radar. It probably shouldn't be, and it is also affected by government-corporate chicanery. It seems that, because of the sluggish state of the economy and low interest rates, nearly all private pension funds, just like public ones, are in the red. There are various pension fund surveys; most show that private pension funds are on average only about 80% funded; in 2007 they were on average over 100% funded....

Controversial mayor Rodrigo Duterte wins Philippine presidential election following incendiary campaign By South-East Asia correspondent Adam Harvey, wires Updated about an hour ago Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte speaks at an election campaign rally in Manila PHOTO: Rodrigo Duterte said he would "accept the mandate of the people". (AFP: Mohd Rasfan) RELATED STORY: Controversial Mayor Duterte leads Philippines election vote countRELATED STORY: Philippines presidential candidate jokes about Australian missionary's rape MAP: Philippines Anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte has claimed a huge win in the Philippine presidential elections after an incendiary campaign dominated by his profanity-laced vows to kill criminals. Key points: Rodrigo...