5 planets will align on March 27 and you won’t want to miss it. Here’s where to look. Space.com
Where Financial Risk Lies, in 12 Charts WSJ
Climate
Satellite images show breadth of massive seaweed belt stretching across the Atlantic Ocean FOX
How and where we build needs to change in the face of more extreme weather – the insurance industry can help The Conversation
Water
‘We’ve lost the aqueduct’: How severe flooding threatens a Los Angeles water lifeline Los Angeles Times
B-a-a-a-a-d Banks
U.S. Bank Failures Pose Risk to Global Growth WSJ
A New Chapter of Capitalism Emerges From the Banking Crisis Bloomberg
#COVID19
Illinois’ Bold Move: 60,000 HEPA Air Purifiers To Be Distributed In Schools To Battle Respiratory Viruses Country Herald
* * * The effects of COVID-19 on cognitive performance in a community-based cohort: A COVID Symptom Study Biobank observational study (preprint) medRxiv. n = 3335. “This study adds to existing evidence of cognitive deficits following SARS-CoV-2 infection, but finds important exceptions. At initial testing in mid-2021, cognitive deficits are not found for individuals who self-report as feeling recovered from COVID-19, even for those with longest symptom duration. In follow-up testing in mid-2022, we find that deficits appear persistent for those with earlier infections and ongoing symptoms, consistent with previous smaller studies.” Seems tailor-made for survivorship bias.
Functional Neurological Disorder Emerges After COVID Infection, Vaccines MedPage Today
* * * Organ transplant patient dies after receiving Covid-infected lungs NBC. I was asking about Covid-infected transplants just the other day….
* * * Robust T cell responses to Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine compared to infection and evidence of attenuated peripheral CD8+ T cell responses due to COVID-19 Immunity. From the Abstract: “[P]rior SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in decreased CD8+ T cell activation and expansion, suggesting that prior infection can influence the T cell response to vaccination.”
* * * Stories from the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic from Ethnographic Collections Library of Congress. From 2020, still germane. AFAIK, the 1918-1919 was erased from the collective memory, most importantly becauase a second pandemic did not follow. Of course, a century ago America was a rising imperial power; more importantly, climate change was not a thing. Those happy circumstances do not apply today.
Polio and Vaccination: A Memoir of What We’ve Forgotten The Tyee. From 2018, again germane.
China?
Hong Kong still has its edge as legal hub, says deputy justice minister Horace Cheung after visit to Europe, Thailand South China Morning Post
Taiwan ex-president Ma heads to China ‘to improve cross-strait atmosphere’ RFI
An Anxious Asia Arms for a War It Hopes to Prevent NYT. Crocodile tears.
Myanmar
Q&A: NUG’s Lashi La says military leaders ‘don’t want peace’ Frontier Myanmar
Myanmar junta chief vows continued crackdown, then elections Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
The angry divide in Israel over the rule of law and religion FT. Impressive:
🇮🇱 ALERTE – Israël s’enfonce dans le chaos en raison d’un projet de réforme visant à accroître le pouvoir des élus sur les magistrats. Le plus gros syndicat de travailleurs va appeler à la #grèvegénérale. Les universités se mettent en grève. Manifestations massives à #TelAviv. pic.twitter.com/jSKPB9pFX9
— Mediavenir (@Mediavenir) March 26, 2023
Bibi’s residence (1)
The moment protesters break through barricades in front of Prime Minister’s residence. One newscaster calls this by its name, a popular uprising. Tomorrow a nationwide strike is on horizon, joined by universities. The military is more fragile than ever. pic.twitter.com/GegHPKo6UK
— Louis Fishman لوي فيشمان לואי פישמן (@Istanbultelaviv) March 26, 2023
Bibi’s residence (2):
Midnight in Jerusalem. Netanyahu’s house surrounded by 1000s of angry pro-democracy protesters on all sides. Both ends of the road, the little park across the road and his upstairs neighbors. Water-cannon has run out of water pic.twitter.com/VqihcXjauZ
— Anshel Pfeffer אנשיל פפר (@AnshelPfeffer) March 26, 2023
Facing Israeli Army Mutiny, Defense Minister Calls to Halt Regime Change Agenda Tikkun Olam
Netanyahu not even close to breaking down, Gallant’s firing proves that – analysis Jerusalem Post
* * * Israeli jets bomb Syria’s main hub for earthquake aid deliveries The Cradle
Iranian, Saudi foreign ministers discuss meeting in Ramadan after normalization Andallu Agency
In Ethiopia, China and the US map rival roads to lasting peace South China Morning Post
European Disunion
Use of force signals ‘crisis of authority’ as France’s pension battle turns to unrest France24
Germany hit by biggest transport strike in decades Andalu Agency
New Not-So-Cold War
A long thread on geopolitics worth reading in full. The bottom line:
The end result of this interaction bw our strategic autism and the response functions of our allies, adversaries and third parties, is that we’re running a substantial risk of losing the Cold War we’ve started outright. We’re going to end up diplomatically isolated. /24
— Policy Tensor (@policytensor) March 26, 2023
Ian Welsh has a similar view:
The level of incompetence and stupidity required to turn Russia into China’s firm ally is awe-inspiring, and I truly do feel awe.
— Ian Welsh (@iwelsh) March 24, 2023
* * * European ammunition maker says plant expansion hit by energy-guzzling TikTok site FT. The deck: “Norwegian group Nammo blames ‘storage of cat videos’ for threatening its growth as data centre corners spare electricity.” So cat videos are a force for peace? Have at it, say I. Fern:
Fern was trying to eat the furniture when she was struck by a spell of cat madness. pic.twitter.com/tRlsLPyXC4
— The Dracula Galaxy (@bombsfall) March 27, 2023
Maru:
* * * How Zelensky was Prevented From Making Peace in the Donbas Covert Action Magazine
Zelenskyy: It is wrong when soldiers feel that civilians act like the war is over Ukrainska Pravda
Biden Administration
Lina Khan’s FTC has challenged health system mergers — but not disruptors Becker’s Hospital Review
DIA CEO Phil Washington withdraws nomination to lead FAA AP. “Republicans attacked his resume and seized on disclosures that his name appeared in search warrants related to a corruption investigation in Los Angeles.” Most of the other headlines frame the outstanding warrant thing as “GOP criticism.”
2024
Fmr. President Trump Holds Rally in Waco, TX (transcript) C-SPAN (marym), Marym: “It’s in several parts. Keep scrolling down and “show full text.”
What It Means For Trump’s Campaign to Start in Waco The Intercept
The Trump Campaign’s Collusion With Israel The Nation. The deck: “While US media fixated on Russian interference in the 2016 election, an Israeli secret agent’s campaign to influence the outcome went unreported.” Odd!
Tech
There’s one sure winner in the AI explosion, say analysts: Dutch outfit ASML The Register
Read this thread all the way to the end:
Ten reasons why we should turn off ChatGPT: a thread
— Marco Piani (@Marco_Piani) March 26, 2023
“Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidinin ampulla pendere….”
* * * Elon Musk puts $20 billion value on Twitter – The Information Reuters. Valuation ignores the possibility that (a) Musk wants to make Twitter profitable, which it has not been, and that in any case (b) Musk has “taken one for the team” by proving you can fire a horde of labor aristocrats and retain a working site (at which point the owners of other tech firms happily followed his lead).
Opinion: How Big Tech’s predatory culture fuels failures like Silicon Valley Bank Los Angeles Times
Don’t panic about social media harming your child’s mental health – the evidence is weak iNews
Healthcare
MMT
MMT — Krugman still does not get it! Lars P. Syll
Zeitgeist Watch
Agatha Christie classics latest to be rewritten for modern sensitivities Telegraph. Whatever these sensitivities are, they’re not modern. Somebody should take a new book that does conform to “modern” “sensitivities” and rewrite it, so that it…. doesn’t.
Class Warfare
Mixed Feelings Among UAW Union Democracy Activists about Fain’s Victory Payday Report
Air Pollution and Mortality at the Intersection of Race and Social Class NEJM
Matthew Desmond: ‘America does so much more to subsidise affluence than alleviate poverty’ FT
Credit ratings are a torment nexus:
Today I found out my credit score dropped 120 points because of a $190 medical bill I didn’t even know I owed. We were planning on buying a house next year, and now my credit score isn’t good enough. Even if I pay the $190, it’s staying on my credit score for 5-7 years.
— Sara Luterman (@slooterman) March 26, 2023
Need a consultant? This book argues hiring one might actually damage your institution NPR
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
