Radioactive Living — with grand views of San Francisco! Yasha Levine (Randy K)
Record number of dolphins wash up on France’s Atlantic beaches Guardian (resilc) 🙁
Germ-Zapping Lasers Help Cut Down on Infections After Surgery Bloomberg (ma)
‘All the Knowledge in the World’ Review: The Encyclopedia Eternal Wall Street Journal (Anthony L). I loved encyclopedias when I was a kid.
Does a Final Theory Exist?: A Conversation with Alan Lightman Los Angeles Review of Books (Anthony L)
#COVID-19
Status of Global #SARSCoV2 #Genomic #Surveillance
Source: @GISAID | 02/26/2023 update
Note: Jan* & Feb 2023 data is incomplete (*Reporting delays) pic.twitter.com/YiBE0ecoBW
— Raj Rajnarayanan (@RajlabN) February 27, 2023
Protective Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on COVID-19-Related Intensive Care Hospitalization and Mortality: Definitive Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis Pharmaceuticals (furzy)
Climate/Environment
On the Edge Propublica (resilc)
Shortage of Onions Threatens a New Chapter in Global Food Crisis Bloomberg
As Heat Pumps Go Mainstream, a Big Question: Can They Handle Real Cold? New York Times
China?
Note the latest Wuhan stories are here and not under #COVID-19 because the timing (when Bakhmut is about to fall, when the US is accusing China of the thought-crime of considering selling weapons to Russia, when the Collective West is in complete freakout mode about China positioning itself as a better broker of a Ukraine peace even though no way no how will they ever get the call) looks like this new push is designed to stoke yet more China antipathy in the US.
National security adviser: No ‘definitive answer’ on COVID lab leak v. COVID origin report reignites firestorm over ‘lab leak’ theory The Hill. Again, recall the key sentence from the Wall Street Journal when it broke the story: “The Energy Department made its judgment with ‘low confidence,’ according to people who have read the classified report.”
Edward Snowdon Signs On To Distribute U.S. Gov Propaganda Moon of Alabama. The headline is off even if the substance of the critique is correct. Snowden seems to identify with right libertarians and right libertarians have embraced the lab leak theory.
Exclusive: US ambassador’s Wolf Warrior-style ‘nonsense’ about China causes strong dissatisfaction among business circle, source reveals Global Times. This looks like (more of) the US losing its mind. What was this supposed to accomplish? The US is still very much joined at the hip with China, business-wise.
‘Killing Us as if We Were Animals’: 12 Dead After Police Open Fire on Civilians Vice (resilc)
India
Reports of Adani’s eclipse are greatly exaggerated Indian Punchline (Kevin W)
India revives civil militia after Hindu killings in Kashmir Associated Press
Old Blighty
Northern Ireland Brexit deal: At-a-glance BBC
What has been agreed in the new Brexit trade deal? RTE. Mind you, the EU had offered a very long time ago how to work out waivers or easier procedures on goods shipped from NI to Great Britain that were pretty clearly going to stay in Great Britain. Prior Tory governments rejected the idea.
At last, a protocol deal, but we are no further away from Brexit’s poisonous legacy Guardian
It is unacceptable that Northern Ireland is separated from us by a sea, by Mark Francois Daily Mash
IT’S NEVER OVER pic.twitter.com/KJlqTZjDPo
— Sam Lowe (@SamuelMarcLowe) February 27, 2023
‘Brits are suffering but for us it’s boom time’: how Brexit boosted French and Irish ports Guardian (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
Next time someone tells you that energy prices are falling – typically pointing to the fantasy TTF futures price – tell them that British consumers are facing down an almost 50% increase in their energy bills this April. The gaslighting on this issue is insane – excuse the pun. pic.twitter.com/7tjzafCvrW
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) February 27, 2023
Russia explains halt in oil exports to Poland RT (Kevin W)
* * * ‘Something Was Badly Wrong’: When Washington Realized Russia Was Actually Invading Ukraine Politico (Dr. Kevin). No admission that the trigger was the refusal of the West to respond to Russian written proposals in December, Zelensky asking for nukes at the Munich Security conference and also around that time rejecting the Macron effort to revive Minsk, the increases in shelling of Donbass around that time and the massing of Ukraine troops, consistent with an plan to invade in early March. It has been reported that Victoria Nuland had come to the Kremlin in October and told Russian officials in the most sailor-like Russian that Ukraine would send its troops into Donbass and if Russia did not stand aside, the West would destroy its economy.
Treating Putin as an Irredeemable Imperialist has Painted the West into a Dangerous Corner Larry Johnson. The irony is that stance leaves Russia no sound options other than maximalist solutions, since the West keeps calling for the removal of Putin….as if Medvedev would be so much nicer.
* * * Since when do Treasury Secretaries conduct foreign policy? Confirms Alex Christaforu’s recent comparison of Yellen to Boris Johnson:
JUST IN – Yellen makes a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/2N581i9rFG
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 27, 2023
Lukashenko full statement regarding uniting unite the industrial policy of Russia, China and Belarus. pic.twitter.com/tWwbpNqjcs
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) February 27, 2023
Even though Dima of Military Summary can speculate wildly, a few days back he pointed out China had already invested a fair bit in Belarus, and if China wanted to make arms to supply to Russia, one way to create plausible deniability would be to use Belarus.
The State of Ukrainian Democracy Is Not Strong Jacobin. The headline is one hell of an understatement v, the article proper. Note URL for presumed unsanitized version. Very well documented.
THE UKRAINE CRISIS – WITH SCOTT RITTER AND ANDREI MARTYANOV Garland Nixon, YouTube
Syraqistan
Egypt: Affordable Russian cooking oil pours into markets as prices soar Middle East Eye (resilc)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
This hoodie protects wearers’ privacy with infrared LEDs Popular Science (resilc)
US Marshals Service Suffers ‘Major’ Security Breach That Compromises Sensitive Information NBC
Imperial Collapse Watch
US Navy laments China’s shipbuilding supremacy Asia Times. I heard about this over 10 years ago at a small conference in the Pacific Northwest. Acting like this is news is misleading.
The Iraq War was dominated by groupthink and absolutely no humility Responsible Statecraft. Resilc: “Gee, sort of like now?”
Dip, Doritos and drinking: Why the Army can’t get in shape Military Times (resilc)
Biden
Biden’s program for mass hunger: Food stamps being cut back for 42 million WSWS
GOP Clown Car
Ron DeSantis touts his COVID leadership in Florida and fight against ‘power-hungry elites’ Daily Mail (resilc)
MAGA 2024 presidential candidate fails basic U.S. Defense question in embarrassing interview Boing Boing (resilc)
Supremes
The Supreme Court Actually Understands the Internet Atlantic (David L)
Tensions rise as Supreme Court prepares for high-stakes student debt clash The Hill
Northern Suffolk Chemical Bomb
So far, Trump’s rollback of regulations can’t be blamed for Ohio train wreck Washington Post (Li)
Dilbert comic strip dropped by US media over creator’s racist tirade BBC. Boy, he asked for this.
Police State Watch
‘Far from justice’: why are nearly half of US murders going unsolved? Guardian (resilc). This is not new….From ASIS last year:
But the overarching explanation for the decline in clearances during the past several decades is the prevalence of firearms, [crime analyst Jeff] Asher says. Gun murder rates in the United States are significantly higher than they were 50 years ago….
Firearm murders are harder to solve—they take place at a distance, there are fewer witnesses, and there is less physical evidence, he added.
AI
Generative AI could be an authoritarian breakthrough in brainwashing The Hill (Paul R)
Viral AI chatbot to reflect users’ political beliefs after criticism of Left-wing bias Telegraph (Dr. Kevin)
The Imminent Danger of A.I. Is One We’re Not Talking About New York Times (David L)
To Tap Federal Funds, Chip Makers Will Need to Provide Child Care New York Times (resilc)
Future Fords Could Repossess Themselves, Drive Away If You Miss Payments The Drive. So now the real use case for self driving cars is revealed.
In latest round of Twitter cuts, some see hints of its next CEO Platformer (Paul R)
The Bezzle
How the Biggest Fraud in German History Unravelled New Yorker (Paul R)
Coinbase To Halt Trading of Binance USD for Not Meeting Listing Standards The Block
Crypto Con Artists Leave Trail of ‘Rip Deal’ Victims From Amsterdam to Rome CoinDesk
Class Warfare
Eight Lessons From Bernie Sanders’s New Book Jacobin. Resilc: “SP500 rulers would shoot us all down at the drop of a hat.”
And a bonus (guurst):
🔥 Jackie the bald eagle shelters her egg though 40 mph winds in a snowstorm, Big Bear, California pic.twitter.com/iwYQq1qRhs
— Nature Is Lit (@NatureIs_Lit) February 26, 2023
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “This fellow was labeled as a red diamond rattlesnake at the Orange County Zoo (Irvine, California).”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
