Category: It’s Probably Nothing

Keir Starmer’s Britain

Claws of the Panda It's Probably Nothing 9 Comments

Where the foxes caper unmolested, the government packs your school lunch and incompetence has a long tail…

Royal Navy spy drones used by Britain’s elite special forces secretly sent data to China, The Telegraph can reveal.

The cameras on the K3 Scout surveillance drones had components made in China which were secretly transmitting information to a device in the country.

The Royal Marines have been using the £12m fleet since March and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was forced to remove all internet connectivity from the cameras after discovering the breach.

The revelation raises fears that Beijing has been attempting to spy on Britain’s military after years of security warnings about the threat from the country.

The drones were supplied by a major British defence contractor, Kraken Technology Group, which sourced the cameras from a third party who had given assurances about their security.[…]

A defence source familiar with the matter told The Telegraph that the K3 drones made up part of a future defence package offered by the UK to secure the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

The source said that preparations for Britain’s plans in the Gulf had been conducted on the drones, adding: “This is major failure to check origins of components and we have lost confidence in the platform.”

There are also concerns that the surveillance drones have been near highly sensitive meetings between senior special forces staff, and that cameras remained active even when the drones were switched off.

The “W” Word

Gradually Then Suddenly The "W" Word 25 Comments

Leo Pier;

A year ago, I went looking for something like a Great Replacement Tracker — a site that aggregated all the demographic data for the West and could tell me how bad things really were. To my surprise, I couldn’t find one. So six months ago, I started building it myself.

Today, I’m announcing the first live version of the Great Replacement Clock. It tracks the European-descended share of the world’s population and of 45 historically White countries. It consolidates historical figures and modeled projections into a single interactive timeline — sourced, auditable, and methodologically transparent.

Elbows Away!

Gradually Then Suddenly New Governor 32 Comments

Our son-in-law was laid off in Winnipeg a few weeks ago, his company closed down in Canada. He is 33, a software engineer, and he and our daughter have a new baby.

Now Roblox has recruited him to Silicon Valley. Our daughter will be able to stay at home with our granddaughter, which she would not have been able to do in Winnipeg, like most working parents we know. A huge plus, considering the woke goofball education systems everywhere in the West.

We are proud of him. He earned this. It is an extraordinary opportunity for their young family.

But my wife and I are crushed.

Unsolicited Population Surplus

Forward! It's Probably Nothing 21 Comments

But remember, citizen. Feelings of foreboding are not permitted:

Clearly, these immensely vibrant young men are merely using other people’s cars to start fires of neighbourliness. Arson being the universal language of warm feelings.

It’s all one big expression of gratitude.

And when the uninvited newcomers swarming through your streets start desecrating your ancestors’ graves while hurling rocks at you, it’s just a sign that they want to get to know you better.

On progressive euphemism, and the sudden arrival of rather boisterous new neighbours.

I, For One, Welcome Our New Self-Driving Overlords

AI It's Probably Nothing Tech 10 Comments

Everything is fine.

The powerful artificial intelligence models from OpenAI that went rogue and mounted an unprecedented, autonomous cyberattack earlier this month spent more than four days loose on the internet orchestrating the hack, according to a new analysis from the platform that was breached.

Separately, a second AI company confirmed that one of its customers was also targeted by OpenAI’s models during the same event, raising questions about how OpenAI failed to detect the alarming activity for days.

OpenAI admitted last week that two of its most advanced models escaped a closed testing environment and strung together a series of advanced hacking techniques to breach AI developer platform Hugging Face before being discovered.

But in a new analysis published Tuesday, Hugging Face said OpenAI’s two models — one publicly released and a second unreleased — did much more: They carried out 17,600 hacking actions on the internet between July 9 and July 13, during which time the models moved from their first foothold on the open internet to inside Hugging Face’s servers.

If An Elbow Falls In The Forest

Gradually Then Suddenly New Governor 16 Comments

Canadian lumber giant is shifting corporate support operations to Georgia

Canadian lumber giant Interfor Corp., which blamed U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber when it idled two Northern Ontario sawmills indefinitely in April, has told employees it plans to shift its corporate and functional support operations from the company’s current headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., to an office in Georgia.

In a memo sent to employees earlier this month and viewed by the Financial Post, chief executive Ian Fillinger said the Peachtree City office, which is on the outskirts of Atlanta, will be established as Interfor’s “primary hub for corporate and functional support.”[…]

Since last year, Interfor and other lumber companies have been grappling with the impact of U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber. A 10 per cent tariff came on top of longstanding anti-dumping and countervailing duties, and softwood lumber shipments to the U.S. now face a cumulative levy of 45 per cent.

The United States is a big customer for Interfor. According to a November 2025 investor presentation, the U.S. accounted for 84 per cent of Interfor’s lumber sales by market. At the time, 62 per cent of the company’s operations were in the U.S. south and northwest, with the balance in the B.C. interior and eastern Canada.

Still nothing at the CBC this morning.

Canadian Exceptionalism

Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing New Governor There Goes The Narrative 39 Comments

When the Liberal backroom boys start to admit that the rest of the world couldn’t care less about Canada, you just know that your chances of “sticking it” to Trump are somewhere between slim and zero.

Clow said that while the world should have stuck together 18 months ago, it would be the wrong approach for Canada to unilaterally retaliate now.

“The ship has kind of sailed here,” he said. “For Canada to now move on its own and implement a whole bunch of retaliatory tariffs, I think, would leave us even more exposed to further escalation and further pain from the Trump administration.”

Canadian Exceptionalism

Gradually Then Suddenly Great Reset It's Probably Nothing New Governor 44 Comments

When your currency starts to outpace the Japanese Yen in the race to get to the bottom of the dirty laundry pile, you just know that’s not a good outcome.

Net short Canadian dollar positions held by non-commercial accounts stood at $12.5 billion in the latest weekly data from the ‌Commodity Futures Trading Commission that was released on Friday….

It was the ​highest net short position for a second straight week of any currency traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the largest in the loonie since December 2024.

The Great Negotiator

Gradually Then Suddenly New Governor 80 Comments

“Translated from Korean”

Hyundai Motor is effectively withdrawing its planned 3.4 trillion won hydrogen investment in Canada.

This project wasn’t just a simple overseas investment.

It was one of the key cards in the ‘Team Korea’ package, centered around Hanwha Ocean, aimed at securing the contract for Canada’s next-generation submarine project.

The approach was that if Canada chose Korean submarines, Hyundai Motor would build a large-scale hydrogen ecosystem locally as well.

However, as the submarine project tilted toward Germany, Hyundai Motor no longer had reason to continue the massive local investment.

Strangled Assets

Canada’s Bolsheviks Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing nannystate 13 Comments

I can identify another problem with supply mismanagement: if it were to end, your assets may suddenly be worth a lot less than they used to be, maybe even less than your debts.

A company that earns guaranteed margins because a regulation, exclusive contract or closed market keeps competitors out tends to stop doing the things that keep a business sharp. It stops scrutinizing its cost structure, investing in efficiency or asking how it would cope or what it would charge if its customers had somewhere else to go. The protection may feel like a moat. In practice, it is closer to an anaesthetic.

Running For The Exit

Claws of the Panda Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing 8 Comments

I seriously doubt that China’s move to a gig economy has anything to do with too much saving and too little spending. It’s more of a response to the growing burden of mandated employee benefits, just like it is here.

His story is increasingly common in China, where tens of millions are shifting from formal employment into the gig economy as meagre unemployment insurance, record numbers of graduates and a shortage of jobs squeeze opportunities.

“The urgent priority is to make it easier for flexible ​workers to be included in the employee social security system,” said Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu, who estimates only tens of millions are fully enrolled.

“We ​need to reduce anxiety,” he said, “so that they save less and consume more.”

 

Circling The Drain?

AI Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing Tech 21 Comments

I thought the alleged AI boom was all win/win, which you would expect to be a big benefit for companies like Microsoft. But things don’t seem to be going according to plan.

Microsoft (MSFT) on Monday announced it is cutting 4,800 roles across the company, roughly 2.1% of its workforce. The bulk of the layoffs, 3,200, will come from Microsoft’s Xbox division.

“Our business today is not healthy,” she wrote in an email to employees. “We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We must reset XBOX.”

Published This Month In The Journal Of The Blindingly Obvious

It's Probably Nothing Little Known Facts 22 Comments

Tattoos Affect Your Immune System in Ways Scientists Are Just Beginning to Understand

Plus;

“Many pigments currently in use were originally developed for industrial applications such as car paint, plastics, and printer toner, rather than for injection into human skin.”

Researchers have detected trace quantities of heavy metals in tattoo inks, including nickel, cobalt, chromium, and, on rare occasions, lead. Accumulated at high levels, heavy metals can be toxic, causing serious health problems such as internal organ damage, neurotoxicity, and increased cancer risk.

In some cases, these heavy metals triggered allergic reactions and immune sensitivity in the person receiving the tattoo.

False Alarm!

Canada’s Bolsheviks Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing New Governor 9 Comments

I see the court economists are at it again, carrying water as they do for the new PM. They need to understand that massive spending on money losing, capital consuming circuses like FIFA does not add to GDP; that should actually be counted as a subtraction.

While CIBC was already expecting a “healthy rebound” in the second quarter, Grantham said the period was also “flattered somewhat by a rebound in mining, oil and gas, as well as potentially a boost from FIFA World Cup spending and preparations.”

Circling The Drain

Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing New Governor 6 Comments

Say goodbye to rate cuts from the Bank Of Canada, at least for the time being.

According to Statistics Canada data, gasoline prices were up by 33.2 per cent year-over-year in May following a 28.6 per cent rise in April. These are the biggest increases since July 2022, officials said.

Food inflation also accelerated in May, rising to 4.3 per cent year-over-year compared with 3.8 per cent in April, driven mainly by higher prices for fresh fruits and vegetables.

 

The Libranos: Call The Bookkeeper

Chinada It's Probably Nothing New Governor 38 Comments

It’s a 3B$ bailout of BC developers, and even the CBC is mad about it.

B.C. is facing a glut of empty condos. Thousands of Metro Vancouver units are sitting empty and some developers are facing insolvency.

Now, some housing experts are questioning a plan by the federal and provincial governments to buy some of those vacant units and turn them into affordable housing.

They say it amounts to a multi-billion dollar bail out for developers who refuse to lower prices to reflect a sluggish real estate market.[…]

Yan has a lot of questions about the plan by Mark Carney and David Eby to spend up to $3 billion to buy vacant condos in “priority growth areas” and turn them into affordable housing.

Recent data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that as of last month, there were 4,376 completed condos sitting empty in Metro Vancouver, a 76 per cent increase from the year before.

Yan has crunched the numbers, with his analysis showing that a third of all condos without owners in Metro Vancouver cost over $1 million.

He questions how deep a discount the governments can get to make those units truly affordable.

Wrong question.

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