Yves’ mother asked me to convey that she very much appreciated the kind reader wishes in anticipation of her 93rd birthday today. Also, we are on Comments Holiday through next Monday. –lambert
Thanksgiving Turkeys May Have Been Tamed 1,500 Years Ago in Mexico NYT
Could Google Soon Face… Competition? Matt Stoller, BIG
Pretty Soon There’ll Be Just One Big Book Publisher Left The New Republic
#COVID19
High court blocks NY coronavirus limits on houses of worship AP
What Do Christians Do in a Plague? Public Discourse. From April, still germane.
* * * COVID-19 on Surfaces: Examining the Known Unknowns MedPage Today.
A systematic review of research on SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces found 78 articles, the majority of which centered around healthcare settings, but there remains an inability to align what is known about surfaces contaminated by the virus with survivability of SARS-CoV-2 on those surfaces, reported Gabrielle String, PhD, of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Not only that, but researchers have yet to match this information to whether or not disinfection of surfaces is effective, she said at a late-breaking presentation at the virtual annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.
Seems like we’ve got a lot more conventional wisdom on fomites than we have science, as with droplets v. aerosols. (That said, wash your hands and clean surfaces; that ballistc and floating stuff has to land somewhere!)
No evidence for increased transmissibility from recurrent mutations in SARS-CoV-2 Nature. From the Abstract: “[R]ecurrent mutations currently in circulation appear to be evolutionary neutral and primarily induced by the human immune system via RNA editing, rather than being signatures of adaptation. At this stage we find no evidence for significantly more transmissible lineages of SARS-CoV-2 due to recurrent mutations.”
* * * The Logic of Pandemic Restrictions Is Falling Apart The Atlantic
Addressing the Effect of COVID-19 on Democracy in South and Southeast Asia Council on Foreign Relations
* * * Expert raises flag over the ‘shaky science’ behind Oxford’s Covid jab and claims data behind promising vaccine ‘was patched together and doesn’t include many over-55s’ Daily Mail. Bastian’s piece in Wired, which we ran yesterday, makes it to mass media in a single news cycle. Plus more material on the Oxford team.
Most Americans will comparison shop the coronavirus vaccine Yahoo Finance. If they’re free?
What the biopharma industry is doing to build confidence in Covid-19 vaccines STAT
Purdue Pharma Pleads Guilty to Role in Opioid Crisis as Part of Deal With Justice Dept NYT
China?
China’s Recovery Stabilizes as Exports, Markets Continue to Boom Bloomberg
U.S. China Policy Under Biden: New Ground or Back to the Past? China Law Blog
How Joe Biden’s victory paves the way for a global corporate tax rate South China Morning Post
How Agents Keep China’s Housekeepers Grateful — and Dependent Sixth Tone
Devil horns meet sutras in Taiwan’s Buddhist death metal band Agence France Presse
Disgraced Minister Edhy Prabowo Spends Bribe Money on Rolex Watch during Hawaii Trip Jakarta Globe
Indonesia woos US private equity for new sovereign wealth fund FT
The Koreas
Breaking News Analysis: Ministry of Justice Suspends the Supreme Prosecutor The Blue Roof
Makoto Sakurai: An essay on Japan’s monetary policy experience and lessons (PDF) Bank of International Settlements. The author is a member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan.
Lessons from Japan: High-income countries have common problems FT. But not entirely (fan site, in Japanese):
Reminds me of this station in Hokkaido that despite having no other passengers was kept open because one girl used the train to commute to school — it was finally closed when she graduated. Straight out of a Hayao Miyazaki film.https://t.co/qxzbWg6I1q pic.twitter.com/3TRT4K80zW
— Irène DB (@UrbanFoxxxx) November 25, 2020
India
Farmers’ protest live updates: Pubjab CM terms use of force on farmers as undemocratic, unconstitutional Times of India
India bans more Chinese apps as tensions remain high CNN
This book revisits the history of India through the eyes of imagined animals who played a part The Scroll
CIA officer killed in combat in Somalia CNN. Oh.
Ethiopia to begin ‘final phase’ of offensive in Tigray region, says PM Reuters
Why it is wrong to draw parallels between Trump and Mugabe Al Jazeera
World’s Outlier on Remittances Has Currency Woes to Blame Bloomberg
UK/EU
Failed Vocation London Review of Books. “It is an intellectual vice on the left to think that because the world is best understood in terms of the operation of broad structural forces, personal qualities are less important. With regard to political leadership, the past five years have tested that thesis to destruction. A leader’s first qualification must be that they should want to lead.”
The EHRC Report is Neither Robust nor Reliable. It is Deeply Flawed Truth Defense
Emmanuel Macron Is Creating a Liberalism Without Civil Liberties Jacobin
Brexit
Brexit: trust is good, but law is better EU Referendum
Europe’s finance sector hits ‘peak uncertainty’ over Brexit FT
EU derivatives decision leaves London in the lurch Reuters
Gove faces secrecy claims over Brexit haulage ‘shambles’ Sky News
Swedish Life Expectancy to Drop for First Time in Century Due to Covid-19 Bloomberg (Re Silc).
Biden Transition
Reality check on Biden’s national security team Politico
Inside Janet Yellen’s head is an enormous dove Macrobusiness
Members of Congress finding agreement on a tech antitrust agenda Axios
Growing Momentum for Increased Scrutiny of Hedge Funds as U.S. Prepares for the Biden Administration Morning Consult
New Cold War
Trump Transition
Trump Announces Full Pardon of Michael Flynn in Thanksgiving Eve News Dump Rolling Stone. Commentary:
I really hope that pardoning Flynn is not the "final salvo." The final salvo should include declassifying documents — including the attribution for the core Russia hacking allegation — and pardoning Edward Snowden & Julian Assange, foes of the Russiagate fraudsters. pic.twitter.com/WkeSQ2SbEs
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) November 26, 2020
Our Famously Free Press
Demanding Silicon Valley Suppress “Hyper-Partisan Sites” in Favor of “Mainstream News” (The NYT) is a Fraud and VIDEO: Interview with Edward Snowden on Silicon Valley Censorship, Biden, and Lurking Press Freedom Dangers Glenn Greenwald
Sports Desk
Argentine football legend Diego Maradona dies at 60 ESPN. Tribute:
Just the light from Maradona’s box at the Bombonero pic.twitter.com/p0Q2Ta8TKk
— Ben Kay (@BenKay5) November 26, 2020
Boeing
Struggling electric jet startup Zunum sues Boeing for fraud and misuse of trade secrets The Verge
Imperial Collapse Watch
What If We Aren’t Living In The End Times? The American Conservative
Making America ungovernable Richard Heinberg
Class Warfare
At the Frontlines of the Debate on Masks: Worker Experiences Enforcing COVID-19 Safety Protocols (PDF) Clare Hammonds and Jasmine Kerrissey, University of Massachusetts Amherst Labor Center’s COVID-19 Workplace Project. “The most resistance to masks and distancing occurred in retail and hospitality industries, and towards low wage workers. Sixty percent of workers earning under $15 an hour reported compliance issues. By contrast, 39% of workers earning over $21 an hour reported similar resistance.”
U.S. Billionaires Grow Wealth By Over $1 Trillion Since Pandemic Began: Report HuffPo (original).
For What Are America’s Wealthy Thankful? A Worsening Culture War Matt Taibbi, TK News
Spacecraft with precious asteroid cargo is almost home after 3 billion-mile trek Live Science. Meanwhile, on Mars:
Thanksgiving is almost here, and with it, my second anniversary on Mars. Wherever you find yourself this #Thanksgiving, I hope it’s as peaceful and calm as it is here. pic.twitter.com/JjxkPJp3RS
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) November 25, 2020
WKRP in Cincinnati’s ‘Turkeys Away’ Is Still the Best Thanksgiving Episode Ever New York Magazine. Grab a cup of coffee and a slice of pie:
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
