Packed like sardines: the crowded Commonwealth

Via the Boston board on Reddit: MA Ballot 7 Small Lot — https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1x1sj9g/ma_ballot_7_small_lot/

Am not advocating for forcing people to depart Massachusetts. Perchance we might strongly encourage the MAGA folk to seek out some locale more amenable to their politics, but I digress, for such a measure would be neither lawful nor terribly democratic. Nor is there, I suppose, a great deal that may presently be done about the root problem at hand. Nevertheless, we have simply far too many individuals living within this geographically diminutive state, most especially in and around Boston. In truth, throughout this entire region of the country, we have too many people occupying too little space.

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The older I get, the less I am able to abide being packed together like sardines; yet I am in no position to leave, and whither, in any case, doth one go? The whole blasted country is falling apart, whilst neither Canada nor Europe appears especially eager to receive an influx of Americans, for which, frankly, they cannot be blamed.

But there it is: overpopulation lieth at the root of all of the world’s miseries. More people, more problems; thus hath it ever been. It is why seemingly every remaining inch of land in Eastern Massachusetts is being devoured, and why getting from Point A to Point B proves a wretched ordeal each time one ventures forth. Why, even getting around my town at present is a royal pain in the arse, with so many streets closed off for roadwork. More cars and more people mean more congestion, greater wear upon infrastructure, and ever more demands upon the roads themselves. I never want to leave my abode anymore, and I am stressed to the gills every single time I am compelled to do so. Thankfully — in a sense, at least — my health and circumstances allow me to remain at home most of the time, yet I do not envy those who must be out there as a matter of daily necessity (most people). This is torture, and not exactly how human beings are hardwired to live.

Overpopulation is a nightmare, and its consequences manifest themselves everywhere upon this beleaguered planet: from climate change, to crime, to chronic housing shortages, and unto every manner of societal ill. More people, more problems.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The last barrels of empire

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Living on an oil market credit card’ — US strategic petroleum reserve falleth to its lowest level since October 1982. {Oilprice Intelligence 28 September}

https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/u-strategic-petroleum-falls-lowest-183000158.html

October 1982. I was enrolled in nursery school; ‘Jack & Diane’ reigned atop the American charts, whilst Culture Club sat atop the UK charts; Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher presided as the leaders of the free world, and the Soviet Union remained a menace, with glasnost and the end of the Cold War not yet on the horizon. The World Wide Web did not exist; commercially available handheld mobile phones lay yet in the future; and only roughly a third of American households had access to cable television, to say nothing whatsoever of YouTube, TikTok, and today’s sundry other contrivances. 

At that time, the United States lay mired in a fairly deep recession; the ‘malaise’ associated with President Jimmy Carter’s 1979 crisis-of-confidence speech remained palpable, though the cloud would begin to lift over the ensuing two years. Though I was but a small lad, the pessimism characterising late-1970s and early-1980s America proved, by any reasonable measure, decidedly mild when set against the distressing temper of Trumpistan in 2026.

Perchance one day the world shall have achieved complete independence from fossil fuels — an argument for another day — but for now, oil remains a form of geopolitical currency and, for producing states, a potent source of wealth and international leverage. And whilst painfully foolish Americans continue to bray incessantly concerning the supposed wonders of this Donald Trump’s leadership, the international community at large beholds, instead, a cutthroat, oligarchical régime engaged in stripping its own nation of wealth and resources; an orange-hued dictator and underlings rendering their country both sicker and poorer in equal measure; and altogether too many Americans comporting themselves as belligerent idiots, without respite or relief. 

I may have been but four years of age, and my personal memories of those halcyon days remain, at best, exceedingly hazy; yet I know, without the slightest doubt, that this nation was assuredly neither so foolish nor so crass in October 1982 as it is forty-four years hence. Nor doth it presently possess uncontested global primacy, notwithstanding protestations to the contrary emanating from the very cabal undermining it, together with their useful dupes residing amongst us. Those who maintain otherwise are lying — to others and to themselves, whilst placing their faith in the flatteries proffered by populist demagogues.

Populism is, ever hath been, and ever shall be a cancer upon any nation or people that falleth beneath its sway.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

When the pipeline falls silent

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Saudi Aramco tells European refiners they will receive no October crude following drone attack on key pipeline. {Bloomberg 18 September}

https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/oil-gas/saudis-european-refiners-no-crude-next-month

FTA: Saudi Aramco told at least two oil refining customers in Europe that they will be allocated no crude oil next month after the kingdom’s key pipeline to the Red Sea was attacked, people informed of the decision said.

European customers normally receive Saudi Arabian crude on so-called term contracts, ensuring a steady flow of supply every month. Those deliveries will not take place next month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The decision applies to all European buyers, they said.

Saudi Aramco didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment made outside normal working hours.

Saudi Arabia was forced to shut its East-West pipeline last week after it was attacked by drones. The line is due to partially restart within days and be fully back up and running within six weeks, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

European refineries typically lift Saudi crude from Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir, which is connected to the Red Sea via a pipeline.

The pipeline halt caused panic buying from some of Aramco’s customers. Poland’s Orlen SA issued more than ten tenders since Friday in a race to secure alternative supplies.

European countries in the OECD  imported 577,000 barrels a day of crude from Saudi Arabia in June, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly Oil Market Report.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The first cracks in the supply

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Harbingers of what is to come: isolated diesel shortages are now being reported in the former United States. {Newsweek 17 September}

https://www.newsweek.com/some-gas-stations-out-of-diesel-as-prices-surge-12454753

FTA: Photos appearing to show gas stations running out of diesel have spread across social media as U.S. fuel prices climb to record highs, but industry data does not currently show any widespread shortages.

One image posted on X showed a station in North Texas displaying an "out of diesel" notice. Another post on X said a station in Orlando, Florida, had also run out.

The images arrive as concerns grow over the availability and cost of diesel as global supplies tighten due to the ongoing U.S.-Israel war in Iran, which has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping routes through which about one-fifth of global petroleum consumption normally passes. Vessel traffic has fallen sharply owing to the fighting and attacks on regional energy infrastructure since the war was launched on February 28.

However, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, cautioned against interpreting individual stations as evidence of national shortages.

"GasBuddy is not seeing any high level outages in our data, nor through our Pay with GasBuddy card," De Haan wrote on X, adding that current shortages remained within normal levels.

In a second post, De Haan warned of "false alarmists" spreading claims that stations are widely running out of diesel.

Individual stations can temporarily run short for a number of reasons, including high local demand or delays in fuel deliveries. GasBuddy's nationwide data indicates that, at least for now, the incidents being shared online remain isolated. For now, there is an increasingly tight and expensive diesel market, but not a nationwide wave of gas stations running out of fuel.

De Haan told Newsweek that reports of outages posted on social media should be taken with a "grain of salt" and that there is "lots of misinformation that is being misinterpreted or elevated."

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Bridging the pariahs

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Russia opens its first road bridge with North Korea. {DW 7 September}

https://www.dw.com/en/russia-opens-first-road-bridge-with-north-korea/a-79142595

FTA: Russia and North Korea on Monday cut the ribbon on the first road bridge linking the two countries as Moscow and Pyongyang deepen their strategic partnership.

The crossing spans the Tumen River and marks another expansion of transport links between the two countries.

The road crossing is near the existing Friendship Bridge, a railway bridge commissioned in 1959 following the Korean War.

Russia and North Korea already have direct rail and air connections, but until now there had been no road bridge between them.

The new bridge is named after Soviet Red Army officer Yakov Novichenko, who is credited with saving North Korean founder Kim Il Sung's life. Relatives of Novichenko attended the opening ceremony.

Construction began in April 2025 after the project was agreed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea in 2024.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said the new crossing should boost economic development, tourism and employment.

"I am convinced that the expansion of cross-border transport infrastructure will provide a powerful impetus for the further development of trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation," the TASS news agency quoted Mishustin as saying by video link at the opening ceremony.

Relations between Moscow and Pyongyang have strengthened considerably since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

North Korea sent thousands of troops to Russia's Kursk region to help Russian forces repel a Ukrainian incursion launched in 2024.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

In the shadow of the Himalaya

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Rescue efforts continue in Nepal and Tibet following deadly glacial flooding. {The Guardian 31 August}

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/31/nepal-tibet-floods-rescuers-hundreds-trapped-hydropower

FTA: Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, ​the ⁠country’s disaster ​management authority has said.

The death toll from the ⁠unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud ​and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 are missing on the two sides of the border.

About 500 of the missing hydropower workers at projects damaged by the flooding in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts are thought to be trapped in tunnels built to control the flow of water.

As rescue efforts drag on, experts fear the chances of finding survivors in tunnels are diminishing as oxygen levels fall.

Some workers called for help when flooding started on Wednesday and those who had managed to escape tunnels said many of their colleagues were still trapped, said Mohan Kumar Dangi, the president of the Nepal Independent Power Producers’ Association.

Rescue efforts have been complicated by difficult terrain, persistently high flood waters and difficult weather. With more than 40 bridges destroyed, rescuers are relying on helicopters, while India and China are sending prefabricated truss bridges to help restore access.

The swollen Trishuli River has also continued to change course unpredictably, making planning a challenge. Areas that were dry one day are flooded the next, and further floods are a constant concern.

Hundreds of bodies, many unidentified, that were swept down the mountains by the torrent, have been buried in shallow graves after DNA testing on the plains ⁠of the Himalayan region.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Development at the edge of Eden

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“The political pressure being brought to bear is very unusual.” Trump eager to sell off land around Yosemite to developers. {The Telegraph 28 August}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/d13546c1f3d93ab2

FTA: Donald Trump is reportedly considering selling off land in Yosemite National Park to a developer.

National Park Service staff were under pressure to transfer a quarter-mile strip of land inside the park to Kingsbarn Realty Capital, a real estate private equity firm, sources told Notus.

The plan has provoked alarm that Yosemite, the 1,200-square-mile park renowned for its granite cliffs and waters, which has been protected under legislation first signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1864, could be sold off for development.

“The political pressure being brought to bear is very unusual,” a person familiar with discussions within the administration told Notus.

Kingsbarn, according to government documents seen by the outlet, plans to develop two 40-acre parcels of land outside the park, located around five miles from one of its ancient sequoia groves, and build a road connecting the property to one of Yosemite’s main thoroughfares.

The road would give the company private access to the park that is otherwise almost entirely surrounded by national forests.

Kingsbarn would in return buy land of equivalent value, either near Yosemite or elsewhere in California, and hand it to the Park Service.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Weathering in the dark

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Weather forecasting in the former United States is set back decades by the Trump regime. {The Independent 24 August}

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/doge-noaa-weather-usa-b3035937.html

Rapidly descending to the status of a Third World s**thole —

FTA: Experts told Forbes that there are simply fewer weather monitoring instruments being used today than before agencies like the NOAA suffered cuts under the Trump administration

According to the report there are fewer buoys measuring wave conditions than in 2024, and fewer weather balloons being launched to collect data on air pressure, temperature, humidity, and windspeed.

That data feeds weather models, which is then used to build forecasts by weather apps and local forecasters.

One program, enacted 20 years ago to measure arctic ice, was recently cut by the Trump administration. Plans for a next-generation weather satellite meant to replace two older, faltering structures that may begin to fail in the next several years have been scrapped.

Overall, the Trump administration has cut between $1.6 and $1.7 billion in funding from the NOAA’s budget, and more than 800 NOAA workers since February.

The impacts on the nation's ability to reliably produce forecasts isn't just an annoyance for TikTokers. Fishers, farmers, pilots, shipping companies, insurers, utility operators — virtually everyone who has to operate in the physical world to do their jobs relies on accurate weather data.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Shattered interdependence

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Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatens to cut critical minerals and electricity to the former US over Trump's forthcoming tariffs. {AP 24 August}

https://apnews.com/article/canada-trade-trump-ontario-53c4f83c8365c14b372b314396ae8179

FTA: In the AP interview, Ford said Trump had “declared war, economic war against his closest friend and ally” before invoking Reagan, whose opposition to tariffs Ford previously featured in a television advertising campaign aimed at Americans.

Ford noted that Trump keeps a portrait of Reagan near his desk.

“He’d be throwing up on him from the picture if he knew what was going on, spinning around in his grave right now,” Ford said. “He should maybe take that picture off the wall and move it somewhere else. Because right now, Ronald Reagan would be disgusted with President Trump.”

Ford’s comments came after Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from trade negotiations with the Trump administration late Friday, saying Washington demanded too much in exchange for tariff relief. The United States imposed 50% tariffs Saturday on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, while Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation beginning Sept. 8.

Ford said “everything is on the table” if the dispute worsens, including cutting off electricity and critical minerals from Ontario. He also called for Canada to consider using oil and potash as leverage.

“I’ll cut them off,” Ford said of critical minerals. “You won’t get a grain of sand out of Ontario.”

Critical minerals are increasingly important to U.S. national security and manufacturing. The Pentagon has sought more secure supplies of minerals used in military aircraft, missiles, munitions and electronics as Washington tries to reduce reliance on China, which dominates the mining or processing of several strategically important minerals.

Ford specifically cited high-grade nickel shipped to the United States and uranium refined in Ontario.

“What would they do without the high-grade nickel that we ship down to the U.S.?” Ford said.

Ford said Canada should consider increasingly severe retaliation if Trump continues targeting Canadian industries, including oil and potash, while Ontario could raise electricity prices or stop sending power south.

“We power 1.5 million homes and businesses,” Ford said. “Everything’s on the table. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The price of an empty pasture

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Will Tyson Foods’ shuttering of two US plants mean even greater pain at the grocery store in Trumpistan?  {The Guardian 21 August}

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/21/tyson-foods-close-facilities-beef-prices-cattle-shortage

Pray the experts have got this one right. Nobody hold their breath, though — 

FTA: Tyson Foods, the largest meatpacking company in the US, announced last week that it is closing two of its facilities in Iowa and Utah and selling a beef facility in Washington state, and will lay off hundreds of workers as the supply of cattle hits a 75-year low.

The historic cattle shortage has been driven by a multi-year drought, rising costs and severe economic pressures, including consolidation among cattle ranchers. Beef prices have soared over the last year due to the shortage, though economists said the Tyson plant closures likely won’t hit consumer prices so hard.

Earlier this month, Tyson reported in its third-quarter earnings that beef volume is down 15.9% and beef operating loss is at $138m.

Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economist at Kansas State University, said the US has had excess capacity for processing and packaging beef for several years now, and beef that would have been processed in Tyson’s Iowa and Utah plants will just be rerouted.

“For the majority of the last 40 years, nationally, the US has had more capacity to harvest cattle than we’ve had cattle,” he said. “Anytime you have too much capacity, or ‘too much’ supply relative to what is needed in the market, that puts downward pressure on the margins in that sector. That’s not new.”

With not enough cattle to harvest, meatpacking plants have been taking measures to slow down operations, including reducing shifts or cutting Saturday workdays. If operations don’t pick up, plants eventually close.

But these closures won’t change the amount of beef that is packed and processed, since the country has enough infrastructure to take on the current supply, experts said. While it may slightly increase transportation costs for the cattle producers who are located close to the shuttered Tyson plants, it is not likely to affect the price of beef overall.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The night #Murica went dark

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The entire US power grid is at substantial risk for a major blackout that could last as long as eighteen months. {Advance Local 20 August}

https://www.nj.com/news/2026/08/us-power-grid-at-risk-of-18-month-blackout-1-city-now-in-dark-for-more-than-a-week.html

Every facet of our lives would fundamentally change if the entire nation were to be deprived of electrical power for any extended duration. That is to say, those among us who would still remain alive to witness it: millions upon millions would perish in the interval. One would suddenly find oneself living within an entirely alien paradigm from what exists presently, and those who endured would emerge from the ordeal fundamentally transformed in every fibre of their being. The possibility of such an event no longer belongs solely to the realm of science fiction, if indeed it ever genuinely did. Our whole civilisation hath been erected upon a proverbial house of cards, and, sooner or later, the deck is going to collapse.

FTA: The United States power grid is at risk of a major blackout that could last up to 18 months, according to a new report. Concerns are heightened as one U.S. city has been without power for more than a week.

Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), told The New York Times Magazine that America’s aging infrastructure is badly outdated and potentially vulnerable to a coordinated attack. He first raised the alarm in 2013 after gunmen shot up 17 transformers at an electrical substation near San Jose, California

Wellinghoff said the FERC did an analysis that determined the U.S. power grid could be seriously disrupted if similar incidents targeted the 10 most important substations in the country’s three sections: Western, Eastern and Texas Interconnections. Substations are where multiple high-volate (sic) lines meet, routing electricity between power plants, transmission lines, and local neighborhoods

“We came up with some very astounding numbers,” Wellinghoff told the publication. “If you knock out nine total substations along those three grids, you can black out the entire United States.”

Wellinghoff added that it didn’t matter which nine substations were hit, as long as they were among the 10 most important in its respective region. He told the NYT Magazine that even 12-year-olds could find them with a map on the internet, and anyone with enough guns could destroy them in 20 minutes.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The architecture of ruin

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Trump throws a fit after the courts block his proposed WH ballroom, again insisting it is indispensable to national security. {The Mirror 7 August}

https://www.themirror.com/news/politics/breaking-furious-trump-posts-500-1973368

Upwards of ninety-nine per cent of Americans would never be allowed entry — should it ever be built — and yet this jackass hath the temerity to describe his proposed ballroom as ‘a Gift from President Trump and Great Patriots of the United States of America’ (sic) and to portray it as a matter of national security. Also note that he continues to lie about the ballroom being privately financed, notwithstanding reporting by the Washington Post and other outlets confirming that taxpayers are footing at least part of the bill. FTA: 

The project is estimated to use around $350 million in taxpayer funds, though construction at the site has been temporarily halted due to another ruling prior to the one announced by Trump on Friday.

“This is taxpayer-free," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office back in March. "We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents."

In fact, summaries provided by Virginia-based company Clark Construction to the White House show that the work was projected to rely heavily on taxpayer money from the moment it was announced, the Washington Post reported.

The Trump administration has repeatedly sidestepped litigation by arguing that the ballroom is vital to "national security" and instead, presenting it as a Military Center rather than a recreational space.

Trump reiterated the claim in his frantic post, detailing the security measures, writing, "The single, integrated project includes Bomb Shelters, State of the Art Hospital and Medical Facilities, Protective Partitioning, Top Secret Military Facilities, Structures and Equipment, Protective Missile Resistant Steel, Columns, Roofs, and Beams, Drone Proof Ceilings and Roofs, Military Grade Venting, and Bullet, Ballistic, and Blast Proof Glass."

Trump is not even really denying that the bloody ballroom is just a cover to build himself a secure bunker; he is extremely devoted to the false maxim ‘L'État, c'est moi’ (‘the state, it is me’, famously attributed to Louis XIV). In his sick head, he is the father figure of the nation and its very embodiment made flesh; any threat directed against his person are construed as a threat to America itself, and this delusion he embraces with something approaching religious conviction. Somehow, he persuaded a vast swathe of the country to believe likewise, and that is precisely why we find ourselves mired in this horrible mess.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

No safe harbour in the pipes

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Iran-linked hackers target US water systems across at least twelve states, exposing years of cybersecurity neglect {NYT 5 August}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/us/politics/water-supply-warnings.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3FA.g6Dt.niWaXpE7xVzo&smid=url-share

The EPA under President Biden sought to institute more stringent cybersecurity provisions, and Republican officials in numerous states blocked it from happening. Now cyberattacks on America’s water infrastructure are on the rise, and Iranian-affiliated hackers are suspected to be the culprits. FTA: 

In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration proposed creating stronger cybersecurity guidelines to better safeguard the nation’s water supply from hackers.

The steps were modest, but necessary, officials said at the time: Many municipalities lacked even basic protections, and the computers that monitor and adjust water quality, including chemical-treatment levels, were easy-to-find targets for a would-be intruder.

The E.P.A. rescinded the order, however, after Republican-led states and industry groups sued to block its enforcement. They argued that the E.P.A. lacked authority for the move and that smaller, underfunded utilities would struggle to adopt the new standards.

The episode is just one of several in recent years in which efforts to bolster the cyberdefenses of America’s water systems were blocked despite repeated attacks that highlighted vulnerabilities. Just a little more than a month after the E.P.A. proposal was killed, a small town in western Pennsylvania disclosed that a hacking group tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps briefly took control of equipment used to adjust water pressure.

Now federal and state officials are racing to address an alarming, widespread assault on the nation’s water supply that they believe is also probably the work of Iranian hackers.

Last week, at least seven states, including Minnesota and Michigan, reported incidents to the F.B.I., and in some cases the hacks — or the response to them — degraded water operations. The tally of states reporting possible attacks to the F.B.I. is now at least a dozen, according to people familiar with the investigation. The F.B.I. has not disclosed the states publicly, but some have come forward to confirm activity.

At least 100 municipalities have detected recent malicious hacking efforts related to their water systems, though some of those may be unrelated incidents, the people said. Some security experts said the number of vulnerable systems nationwide could be far higher.

What y’all voted for, #Murica. This is the price the former United States now pays for the mass belligerence and willful ignorance exhibited by the dominant white working class and the political party to which they have pledged their allegiance. These jerks will never take a look in the mirror; whatever calamity should arise, and under whatever administration it should occur, culpability shall invariably be assigned elsewhere. I am thoroughly sick of both this horrid state of affairs and those Americans who have brought it into being. A ‘national divorce’ grows more appealing with each passing day, for I do not want these individuals — and their orange s**tbag president — lording over the rest of us a moment longer. They are literally dismantling this country on all fronts, all the while brandishing the flag and styling themselves ‘patriots’. One way or the other, this must end.

linktr.ee/arthurnewhook

🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Running on empty

Getty/AFP

America’s emergency crude oil supplies are at a forty-five year low. {The Mirror 5 August}

https://www.themirror.com/news/world-news/only-43-day-emergency-buffer-1969944

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Running on vapours

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Britain’s second-largest airport is rapidly running out of fuel. {The Express 2 August}

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2235352/london-gatwick-airport-fuel-shortage

The biggest error made was assuming perpetual growth and prosperity. FTA: 

Gatwick Airport has warned that it's facing a fuel shortage amid the busy summer holiday season. The UK's second-largest airport issued a notice to pilots, telling them to fill up at other airports where possible, The Sun reports.

It stated: "Gatwick has a shortage of fuel for the next two days. Please uplift max possible fuel at outstations." Another "emergency" alert added that airline bosses should be prepared for "potential disruption to the Gatwick fuel supply".

Long-haul flights are understood to be the worst affected, as pilots will have to stock as much fuel as possible at foreign destinations without exceeding weight limits.

A source told The Sun: "Most flights beyond 2.5 hours will still need extra fuel in Gatwick. The fuel shortage warning came with many long-haul flights already en route to the UK, meaning crews were unable to bring extra fuel with them.

"Pilots will be trying to supplement as much fuel as they can down-route to protect the long-haul flights and stretch out supply.

"The longer the fuel shortage lasts, the tighter it will get. It means there is a good chance of disruption, particularly Monday onwards."

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The last tears of Hartman

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An entire town in rural Colorado is deemed ‘abandoned’ following extreme water health hazards. {TNND 31 July}

https://abc7amarillo.com/news/nation-world/small-town-in-colorado-abandoned-after-health-hazard-related-to-drinking-water-denver

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

Between the dragon and the sun

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Energy prices soar, led by a seventeen-year high in the cost of natural gas. {Bloomberg 13 July}

https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/us-cost-gas-power-17-110000139.html

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The lady of the Black Sea

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Inside Ukraine’s campaign to cut off Crimea by air, land, and sea. {The Telegraph 11 July}

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/261ace880b5d185a

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

The plunder of Eden

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A crime against nature: the Trump regime moves to undo regulations that have protected endangered species for fifty years. {NYT 10 July}

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/climate/endangered-species-act-harm.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wlA.sROY.QiZOjeuzP9GG&smid=url-share

Some of the regulations currently in place may indeed be overly burdensome, and there was a time when I would have argued that certain revisions to the Endangered Species Act were warranted. Now, however, I am older and under no such illusions. The veil hath been lifted: human beings — particularly those motivated by profit — simply cannot be trusted. Private industry, despite its frequent proclamations to the contrary, cannot be relied upon to serve as a good steward of either the environment or the natural world.

Donald Trump and the individuals who comprise his dictatorial government cannot be trusted to protect nature. Indeed, many of them have repeatedly demonstrated all the qualities of cartoon villains and would probably relish the destruction of habitats and the extinction of entire species. Therefore, even if some regulations are overly burdensome, I am afraid they remain necessary for so long as human beings are fallen and sinful creatures.

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.

No one thought the fire would reach them

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Ukraine drone strike halts Russia's largest Omsk refinery, hitting key fuel producer and worsening shortages. {Kyiv Post 8 July}

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/79829

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🪐💔 #QueSeraSera 𓅨 🕈

Copyright 2026, Arthur Newhook.