Called an emergency vet clinic to treat a standard ear infection on my dog.

Quote came back at $940.

I asked the receptionist how long the procedure takes.

She goes: "about 10 minutes."

I said: "so I'm paying $5,600 an hour for labor?"

She looked around and whispered:

"I make $18 an hour. The private equity health conglomerate that bought out our local vet clinic last year sets mandatory revenue quotas on every single exam room."

Then she showed me her tablet.

If she doesn't hit $2,500 a day in diagnostic upsells, her clinic manager writes her up.

The original family vet ran that practice for 25 years charging $75 a visit and knew every animal by name.

Now Wall Street private equity owns veterinary clinics, dental chains, and optical stores across the country….. jacked up prices by 400%, and put animal caretakers on corporate sales commissions.

You aren't paying for veterinary care anymore.

You're funding a private equity fund's debt service on a basic ear drop that costs $4 to manufacture.

People seem confused about why Tesla is getting so much backlash over its new "flying Roadster." For those of us who were once genuinely enthusiastic about Tesla, this isn't about hating innovation. It's about a long history of broken promises, misleading expectations, and increasingly absurd marketing.

Tesla unveiled the second-generation Roadster in 2017, took customer deposits, and promised deliveries in 2020. Six years past that deadline, it still hasn't delivered the car. Instead, it's demonstrating an even more outrageous version with features that will likely never make it into production. The original 2nd gen Roadster would still be an amazing car today. Why not just deliver what was promised?

Then there's Full Self-Driving. Tesla marketed the idea that Model 3 owners could turn their cars into income-generating robotaxis. That never materialized. Even if the technology eventually gets there, the opportunity has already passed for many early buyers. Timing matters. Delivering something a decade late isn't fulfilling the promise you sold to customers.

And then there's Solar Roof. Unveiled in 2016 as a revolutionary approach to residential solar, it struggled with costs, installation challenges, and adoption far below expectations. After nearly a decade, Tesla discontinued it entirely in August 2026. Another grand vision abandoned, leaving existing customers with a discontinued product to maintain.

Then came the Cybertruck, marketed as a nearly indestructible, revolutionary truck. Instead, we got a vehicle with questionable build quality, numerous recalls, expensive repairs, disappointing results in several real-world off-road tests, and specifications that fell short of the original promises. It literally looks like a dumpster, but aesthetics aside, the collapsing demand speaks volumes about the reality of what Tesla delivered. Another heavily hyped product that fell dramatically short of expectations.

This is how consumer trust erodes. Not through one disappointment, but through years of accumulating them. And this is part of the reason why many people who were once enthusiastic about Tesla have become critical and cynical about it.

But there's something even more fundamental here: Tesla has completely departed from the grounded, practical vision that made so many of us enthusiastic about the company in the first place.

Electric cars were ambitious, but the idea was grounded in reality. People could charge at home, infrastructure could gradually expand, technology could improve, and millions of ordinary people could eventually benefit. There was a realistic path toward mass adoption.

What the hell does a flying Roadster powered by compressed-air thrusters have to do with any of that?

It's an expensive, impractical engineering stunt with enormous packaging, safety, and regulatory challenges, and no credible near-term path toward mass-market usefulness. Modern electric cars already achieve ridiculous acceleration without this nonsense. What practical problem does it solve? Who actually needs it? When will ordinary consumers benefit?

And watching Tesla fans compare this experimental prototype in a Roadster-shaped shell to actual production vehicles people can buy today is ridiculous.

What's especially infuriating is the cult-like mentality surrounding all of this. You can't point out the history of failed promises, question the practicality, or demand realistic timelines without being accused of being a "hater" or having "Elon derangement syndrome."

Tesla deserves recognition for helping make electric cars a reality, but that success doesn't give it a blank check to keep marketing increasingly fantastical promises while failing to deliver on previous commitments.

This isn't hatred. It's disappointment from people who once believed in the company, watched it accomplish extraordinary things, and have since watched it increasingly substitute practical innovation with spectacle and promises.

Elon fanboys are also ignoring a bigger pattern that goes beyond Tesla.

What made many of us enthusiastic about Elon and Tesla and in the first place was a grounded vision of technological progress that could genuinely improve millions of lives. Electric cars were ambitious, but practical, achievable, and useful to ordinary people. Now we're supposed to get excited about flying cars with compressed-air thrusters that have no credible path to mass adoption and solve no meaningful problem for the average consumer.

It's the same kind of thinking behind marketing the colonization of Mars as some urgent necessity for humanity's survival. There's nothing wrong with space exploration, but Earth isn't about to become uninhabitable because of the Sun. We're talking about geological timescales, while humanity faces enormous problems RIGHT NOW: poverty, hunger, access to education, corruption, abuse of power, wars, and a lack of government accountability. We have plenty of very real problems to solve before worrying about humanity's survival on another planet.

And then there's DOGE. I was genuinely excited about the original idea of making government more efficient, reducing waste, and increasing accountability. Instead, we got questionable savings figures, inexperienced people making sweeping decisions, serious concerns over access to sensitive personal information, and an initiative that ultimately fizzled out without delivering its grand promises. Another enormous narrative that fell apart when confronted with reality.

That's what makes all of this so frustrating. It's not that we stopped believing in technological progress. It's that we've watched someone who once pursued grounded, transformative ideas increasingly embrace fantastical promises, political spectacle, and questionable narratives disconnected from practical reality.

And somehow, pointing out this history of disappointment gets you labeled a "hater" or accused of having "Elon derangement syndrome."

The problem isn't dreaming big. It's repeatedly selling people those dreams, failing to deliver, and then expecting everyone to applaud the next, even more ridiculous promise without asking what happened to the last one.

The world doesn't need more spectacular promises. It needs practical solutions to real problems, honest expectations, and accountability for what was promised. That's what made Tesla exciting in the first place, and that's what so many of us feel has been betrayed.

France is on fire at home at the EXACT moment it goes to WAR abroad for Saudi Arabia…

For months, I had told my readers UK, France and Italy would be forced into the war in the Middle East because as the prolongs, it becomes Existential for EVERYONE.

World Wars starts in this exact method, everyone’s self interests start to converge and conflict with someone’s.

We have these exact situations converging now.

I have called this war THE EXISTENTIAL WAR OF MIDDLE EAST because that is exactly what’s happening now…

The French streets are seeing the biggest strikes in years, furious over fuel prices, the cost of living and another round of austerity under Macron, with the government in turmoil and a new prime minister already under pressure.

While all of that burns, France has quietly committed troops and air defence systems to the defence of the Red Sea and Gulf to protect Saudi Arabia's Red Sea oil port at Yanbu, as the Ansarallah Houthis step up their missiles.

Paris calls it “strictly defensive” but the public needs to know, during wars, the only thing you control is when you land, everything else is dynamic and the battlefield continually changes.

Putting French soldiers and air defences on a combatant's soil in the middle of a shooting war is DIRECTLY participation, whatever the label may be.

A move like that would normally run on the FRONT pages for weeks and draw heavy opposition in a country with France's history of anti-war politics.

Instead it has PASSED almost unnoticed, buried under the fire at home.

A government sending its soldiers into someone else's war wants the home front looking the other way, and the French public is fixed on its own streets right now, not on the Red Sea on purpose.

The grievances are real of course and the anger is earned and it is being allowed to happen so that the deployments do not become the main issue.

I believe the protests in France were manufactured to cover the deployment of French troops into the Existential War.

Even without that believe, the timing does the job either way.

Whether it was engineered or just convenient, a country consumed by its own local unrest, amplified by significant local and international coverage are the perfect place to enter a foreign war with no debate.

There is also the money.

France is cutting at home, telling its own people there is “nothing left”, while it finds the forces and the funds to defend another country's oil.

That contradiction pours more fuel on the streets, which keeps the public busy, which keeps the deployment quiet.

The home front burns, the deployment proceeds, and almost no one in France is talking about the second one.

Your government will sell you out faster than you image. Observe what’s happening abroad diligently so you can see more clearly how politics works at home. Because at home you may be blinded by your emotions towards the party you voted for.

Do not be in denial. Governments destroy their own people all the time. France may be one of those scenarios playing out and we need to learn from this situation on how consent is manufactured for war.

𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗔𝗟, 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗡𝗢𝗜𝗦𝗘!!

Replacing physical door keys with smartphone apps in an independent living building isn't "modernization." It’s negligence masquerading as tech innovation.

My 84-year-old grandmother lives in an apartment complex where mostly retirees reside. Two months ago, corporate ownership bought the property and swapped every single deadbolt for a "smart access" digital lock system.

No more brass keys. You have to open an app, connect via Bluetooth, and swipe to unlock your front door.

Last Thursday, she walked down to the lobby at 7:30 PM to grab her mail in her slippers. Her phone died in her cardigan pocket.

She got back to her door and was locked out in the hallway.

She walked down to the front desk. The office closed at 5:00 PM. She picked up the emergency wall phone. The automated recording said: "To report a maintenance lockout, please submit a ticket through the Resident Connect portal or wait until regular business hours."

An 84-year-old woman sat on a carpeted hallway floor for three and a half hours until a neighbor coming home from a late shift spotted her.

Human civilization spent four thousand years perfecting the brass key a piece of notched metal that works in an ice storm, requires zero electricity, never needs a software update, and never runs out of battery.

We replaced it with a digital failure point so an out-of-state landlord could save thirty dollars on a locksmith.

Why are we allowing basic physical shelters to become dependent on apps?

BREAKING: 🇮🇱 ISRAEL DISCOVERED HACKING MILLIONS OF PHONES

Israel has been caught running one of the largest spyware operations in history, even developing a new next-gen spyware.

They’ve hacked the phones of MILLIONS worldwide including Journalists, politicians, activists, courts, universities and defence organisations.

This should be headline news but but the media is IGNORING it.

Israeli ad company Discover-Tech used ordinary online ads to infect people’s devices with spyware WITHOUT them having to click on anything.

If the ad appeared on a website or app in front of you, you got infected.

So far, over 120,000 websites and 70,000 apps were found to be pushing Israeli spyware at least 10 million times a day…

And Discover-Tech was found accounting for 2%-10% of ALL digital ads in Palestine…

The company was working with an Israeli spyware vendor the U.S. blacklisted in 2021. Yet somehow it passed vendor review for SIX years by Google and other ad platforms. I wonder why….

The vendor was called Candiru and now goes by Integrity Labs (lol).

Always use an ad blocker and refuse personalised ads.

https://x.com/leahfiles/status/2111094612399960459

Here's what to do to protect yourself: (1) Use an ad blocker. Citizen Lab calls ad-blocking a cybersecurity best practice and says there is no consistently safe way to be exposed to targeted ads. On iPhone, add a Safari content blocker. On Android, use Brave or Firefox with uBlock Origin. Ad blockers only work in your browser, not inside apps, so it also helps to delete free ad-supported apps you don’t need. Kill your advertising ID.

(2) iPhone: Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking, and turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track.” Then Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising, and turn Personalized Ads off.

(2) Android 12 or later: Settings > Privacy > Ads > Delete Advertising ID. Then in Settings > Google > All Services > Privacy & security > Ads > Ads privacy, turn off Ad topics and Ad measurement.

(3) Windows 11: Settings > Privacy & Security > General, and turn off personalized ads using your advertising ID.

(4) Update your phone and restart it often. Many zero-click exploits don’t survive a reboot, so a daily restart forces attackers to reinfect you.

Stay tuned!

A voice of reason and sanity during the hysteria of COVID, when mandates and censorship, cancelling and deplatforming, firings and fear mongering reigned.

European leaders and media are once again in lockstep, employing the same fear tactics as last time in order to build support for a nuclear standoff with Russia.

https://x.com/confrontfr/status/2111450703080182089

From DeepSeek

Overall Thesis

00:00–02:01

This Duran interview with Garland Nixon frames the current moment as the neocon project crashing into the wall after running fast since the mid-1990s. Nixon agrees with the host that the crisis must be seen through two lenses: external inability to accept the limits of Western power, and internal collapse of the gap between elites and ordinary people. He argues that the same authoritarian mindset that treats the world as a chessboard is now unraveling both abroad and at home.

Nixon says the West tried to go head-on against China economically and quickly discovered it could not smash through global supply chains and material interdependence. It still talks about destroying China, India, or whoever it wants, and still imposes sanctions, but it cannot accept its economic limitations. The military limitations are even more obvious, yet Western officials keep promising to hit Iran hard again and again, while Iran absorbs the attacks and returns to its long-term strategy.

External Limits Of Western Power

02:01–05:18

Nixon argues that the West cannot accept that it cannot “force” Russians to a negotiating table, because force and diplomacy are contradictory by nature. He also points to repeated threats against Iran that do not produce a decisive result, showing that the old coercive playbook is failing. The inability to accept limits is not just a policy problem; it is a psychological refusal to accept that the game is no longer theirs to play.

Internally, Nixon sees a widening chasm between the masses and the political and elite classes. People expect representation, but they are waking up to the fact that their governments do not represent them and are actively harming them. He says this is why the authoritarian nature of the ruling class is unraveling the whole situation worldwide, because the public is beginning to see the gap between democratic rhetoric and actual rule.

Russian Air Campaign Shocks The West

05:18–10:18

The host relays that the Russian air campaign in Ukraine has left the West “completely spooked,” because it is the kind of campaign the West thought only it could conduct. Eric Schmidt’s interview with The Economist is cited as an example: the Russians were supposed to be slow and backward, but now the other side is at least as good as the West. This is described as a shock because it breaks the assumption of permanent Western technical and military superiority.

Nixon says something even worse is that Russia and Iran can conduct and sustain long-term strike campaigns, while the collective West lacks the weapons, variety, and industrial base to do the same. The adversaries also adapt on the fly, evaluating new Western weapons within months and producing counter-options. He compares the West to a 38-year-old boxer who cannot accept that a 21-year-old is stronger and quicker, while still wanting to dominate in a hegemonic way.

Iran, Yemen, And The Nuclear Danger

10:18–13:36

The wars are not over, and Nixon expects another attack on Iran over the horizon. Trump’s statement that he will not attack before the midterms is read as an admission that an attack is being contemplated after the midterms. The Houthis in Yemen are fighting the Saudis and their allies, the Strait of Hormuz remains a major problem, and oil markets are being affected as Iran tightens pressure again.

The host raises the possibility that if Iran cannot be defeated conventionally, nuclear means might be considered, and cites Trump’s UN speech language about “annihilating Iran.” Nixon warns that a nuclear strike would not produce a clean victory. It would create regional fallout, Iran could still retaliate from mountain fortresses, and a “dead hand” response could unleash missiles on Tel Aviv, Haifa, and desalination plants, producing a catastrophe of unimaginable consequences rather than a victory.

Europe’s War Talk And Elite Desperation

13:36–18:02

The host says open talk of war with Russia in Europe is becoming extremely unnerving, with some people desperate to escalate because the war has not been won. Russian warnings about capabilities are dismissed as bluff, including warnings about Kaliningrad, while preparations continue. This raises the question of whether there is any point before crisis when these people will stop.

Nixon links this desperation to internal uprising and economic trouble. He mentions France looking like a zombie apocalypse movie, Macron watching missile tests, and Lithuania offering to host weapons on Russia’s border, which he calls a recipe for the end of Lithuania. He argues there is an attempt to unite people against an external enemy because the elite is horrified by economic decline and wants access to Russian resources, while ordinary people are losing jobs and worried about prices.

Elites Talk War While People Talk Bills

18:02–23:47

The host describes a dysfunction between Western elites and the vast majority of the population that he has never seen before. Elites talk about war, geopolitics, Russia, Iran, rearmament, and hybrid wars, while people talk about impossible bills, failing schools, closing factories, rising taxes, and rising prices. When people organize around these issues, they are accused of being manipulated or working for the other side, as if protest is almost treasonous.

Nixon calls this an epistemological crisis rooted in desperation. The ruling class is not stupid; it is desperate, so when someone states the obvious, it attacks rather than discusses. He says the masses are saying they do not have bread, and the political class has no answer, so it demonizes whoever says it and tries to shut the discussion down. The host adds that in Germany, recent regional election results showed opposition parties winning partly because they were seen as opposed to the drift toward war.

Young People And The Cannon Fodder Problem

22:09–23:47

Nixon says unhappiness with the status quo is widespread across the West, especially among people under 30. Young people are looking for other options and are very unhappy, and war is seen as a threat because they will be the cannon fodder. Up to now the war talk has been theoretical, but once governments start demanding uniforms and service, physical pushback will begin.

He points to young Germans saying they simply will not go, and says this is where the rubber meets the road. The West is getting closer to dangerous standoffs where governments tell people or other countries they must do something or cannot do something. In Ukraine, Kiev is falling into disrepair to the point where it may not be a city where people can live or where a government can be run.

Western Officials Rush To Kiev Empty-Handed

23:47–27:26

The host notes attacks on Kiev, bridges, the electricity system, and other targets, while two sets of Western officials rushed to Kiev: the German chancellor and a group of NATO generals. They came with nothing, no real solution for defending Kiev and no diplomatic initiative to resolve the crisis differently. Zelensky afterward said Europe needs to do more, and the host says he almost sympathizes because they tell him they are behind him while his capital is being hammered.

Nixon says they all came running to Kiev in desperation, and “running is not a plan.” He compares it to bureaucratic meetings where nobody has a clue but cannot admit it, so they produce an empty manual with a table of contents. He says what is being heard now is the sound of inevitability, the limits of Western power expressing themselves in the air war over Kiev. When Kiev falls, people in Ukraine will see the thing is over, and the same pattern applies in the Middle East.

Middle East Limits And Saudi Anxiety

27:26–30:00

In the Middle East, the host says MBS calls Trump to bomb the Houthis, but Trump says no because bombing will not succeed and can make things worse. MBS then calls Erdogan and the Pakistanis, but the response is aircraft to Saudi Arabia and no ground troops, because nobody wants to actually fight the Houthis. Erdogan reportedly says Turkey will not even bomb Yemen, which the host reads as an admission that Western power has hit its limits.

Nixon adds that Turkey and Pakistan have domestic concerns: many Shia in Pakistan and ordinary people in Turkey do not side with the US and its ostensible allies. Leaders fear instability if they are perceived as allying with the US and Israel. He also suspects that if troops are sent to Saudi Arabia, it may not be to confront Yemen but to quell insurgent forces or prevent other factions inside Saudi Arabia from getting ideas about overthrowing the Saudi government.

America Iran Deal And The End Of Empire Narrative

30:00–35:59

The host believes the US-Iran deal signed in April was actually a very good deal for the United States. It would open the Strait of Hormuz, get the US out of the Persian Gulf, reduce a drain on resources, and open the way for stabilization and possibly a rapprochement between Iran and Persian Gulf Arab states. Yet it was massively opposed as capitulation, and nobody is now considering a way back to that kind of solution.

Nixon agrees it was a good deal for a side that had effectively lost the war. But the problem is that taking the deal exposes that the United States is no longer the hegemon it believes itself to be. The language of forcing people to the negotiating table implies domination and a unipolar moment, and accepting a deal recognizes that Iran has a say and enough power to get some of what it wants. That kills the narrative of empire, because empire at this stage is largely a narrative, and the only people still believing it are the neocons making the world dangerous.

Diplomacy As Capitulation And “Green Eggs And Ham”

33:28–35:59

The host says Western diplomacy has become a process of getting the other side to agree to its own capitulation, which is not diplomacy in any meaningful sense. Nixon calls it “Green Eggs and Ham” diplomacy: the same offer is made over and over, the other side says no, and the West comes back next week with the same offer. Ceasefires are offered to Russia and Iran as if the offer itself should be accepted because the West wants it.

He says the West negotiates with itself, decides what it must offer the Russians, and then offers it again even after it has been rejected. This reflects the absence of real diplomats and the redefinition of diplomacy as skillful manipulation and domination. Even if the West had good diplomats, nobody would trust the people behind them, because once trust is lost, signed assurances are not believed.

Democracy Rhetoric And The Moral High Ground

35:59–41:07

The host asks about the claim that the West is protecting a liberal democratic system threatened from all sides, which supposedly makes diplomacy with adversaries impossible. Nixon says the people inside the system do not agree that it is a shiny jewel worth protecting. They see a rotten system that is not working for them, so the question becomes what exactly is being protected, and the answer looks more like the elite’s right to rule.

Nixon also says the moral argument has collapsed. The West claims moral superiority over authoritarian governments, but people say they cannot say what they want, cannot criticize the government, cannot travel freely, or have their phones taken. The Epstein files add to the sense that the political class lacks moral high ground, and ordinary people feel more moral and upright than the “Epstein class.” The host adds that the European Commission headquarters in Brussels has a giant banner saying “democracy what we protect,” while anti-riot barriers are being built around the same building.

Economic Fakery And The Coming Internal Smashup

41:07–45:37

The host cites Germany’s claim of 1.3% economic growth, saying the government revised previous years’ GDP upward and reassigned the uplift to this year to create the appearance of growth. He says the Financial Times article acknowledges this sleight of hand. Meanwhile people face harder conditions, protests in France, elections in Germany and Spain, a misreported by-election in London, and US midterms that look bad for Republicans.

Nixon says the question is where the smashup will come: externally with Russia, in the Middle East, or internally through uprising. He has long argued it will be internal first. A growing fuel crisis going into winter could create internal instability that makes it impossible for leaders to ignore discontent or dismiss it as Russian, Iranian, or North Korean disinformation. Once people can no longer survive, the elite will have to address it and will not have the bandwidth for an external smashup.

American Anger, Lost Trust, And Europe’s Fear

45:37–52:34

The host describes visiting Chicago and finding nobody happy with the Democratic Party or the general situation, and a strong radicalization among young students. He says the hardening of opinion over one year surprised him. Nixon says there is anger, fury, and distrust in the United States, and while Republicans may get smashed, the Democrats are so messed up they could screw that up too.

Nixon says people are politically disoriented, angry, frustrated, and do not see a way out through the traditional parties. Many conclude voting does not matter and that there is no area within the system that can be used to fix the system. Trump’s 180-degree turn on his promises damaged trust, and now people expect Democrats to do the same, producing a complete loss of trust in traditional institutions, media, and academia.

The host notes that the British elite is spooked by the US decision to remove bombers from Britain, because without the United States they are militarily nothing. Nixon says the US may pull some assets out of Europe but will not give up trying to control European military and foreign policy. US politicians are spooked by domestic unmanageability, fear of a Democratic supermajority, and fear of losing the ability to predict what happens next, because unpredictability is what horrifies the ruling class most.

https://x.com/BrianMcDonaldIE/status/2111519108642537818

​https://press.un.org/en/2026/gaspd841.doc.htm

https://x.com/BrianMcDonaldIE/status/2111503506125267325

https://youtu.be/CraQKye2zdQ?si=A8XMyAOC_4TInDgn

https://x.com/BowesChay/status/2111177939626733717

Additionally, the United States has delivered at least 847 PAC3 interceptors to Ukraine

3314 - 1800 - 847 = 667

UHOH

https://x.com/tomek525/status/2110624411778785506

During the past 2 months, the ship was repaired at Novorossiysk Naval Base, and is now able to launch Kalibr cruise missiles again.