Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Coffee Break: Oracle’s Exploding Debt and Plumeting Stock Price Threaten Paramount Media Empire?

The foundations of the hastily assembled Ellison family hasbara media empire — Paramount, WBD, American TikTok — are cracking as Oracle stock has lost $600 billion in market cap since its September 2025 peak and its nearly $200 billion in corporate debt is close to junk bond status.

Latest Chapter in Long-Running Kentucky Retirement Systems Case: Attorney General, Acting on Behalf of Private Equity Kingpins, Throws Legal Mud at Wall to See if Enough Will Stick to Confuse Judge Wingate

An update on the latest twists and turns in the astonishingly long-running Kentucky Retirement Systems case.

Links 7/22/2026

Iran War: Iran Rumored to Be Readying Big Attacks as Trump Vows More Escalation and Rubio Disses Talks; Brent Rises to $94 a Barrel as Hormuz Transits Fall, Ships Turn Away from Bab el-Mandeb; Hegseth Fried in Iran Hearings

Today’s Iran war news: How the US is clearly losing military as pressures are rising on the economic and political fronts.

Why Is NATO Attacking ExxonMobil and Chevron Infrastructure in the Black Sea? 

Russia blockades Odessa, grain wars, friction increases between Ankara and Moscow, and NATO lake plans have failed miserably.

Yanis Varoufakis: An Athenian View of America’s Democracy

At 250, America is now producing a mindless, raw power and exponentially growing instability.

Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – The Two Faces of Starlink

Commercial technologies are increasingly finding themselves at the center of international security. Starlink began as an ambitious effort to provide global broadband internet, but its rapid integration into Ukraine’s military operations transformed engineering decisions into questions of governance.

More Testosterone Won’t Make a Better Soldier or a Tougher Man – Aggression and Strength Drive T Levels, Not the Other Way Around

Pete Hegseth is almost predictably wrong. His beliefs about testosterone supplementation are par for the course.

Links 7/21/2026

Iran War: Washington Post, Telegraph Confirm US Inability to Sustain War; Ansar Allah Closes Bab el-Mandeb Amid Reports of MBS Dethronement; Possibility of Nuclear Attack on Pickaxe Mountain

Today’s Iran war news: As the US becomes weaker and Iran gets stronger, will the US resort to a nuclear bomb?

The US Escalates Its Assault on Brazil’s Free-to-Use (for Citizens and Micro Businesses) Digital Payments System

“[F]ew things have provoked more outrage [in Brazil] than Trump’s attack on PIX, the country’s beloved instant-payment system.”

Turkiye Is Poised To Open Up A New Containment Front Against Russia in the Black Sea

Turkiye committing to ensuring Ukraine’s maritime security poses a serious threat to Russia.

Coffee Break: The Worst People on Earth Have Big Plans for Us All

There are a lot of very very bad, no good at all things happening in the world right now and a vanishingly small number of really really awful people behind an astonishing amount of the worst of it.

Europe’s Heatwave Is Becoming an Energy Crisis

The US escalation in its war against Iran couldn’t come at a worse time for Europe.

Links 7/20/2026