Jupiter Is Bigger Than Some Stars, So Why Didn’t We Get a Second Sun? Science Alert (Chuck L)
Girl Scout Cookies contain palm oil sourced using child labour, new study reveals Business Insider (Kevin W)
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
Weed and Seven Benadryl and Other Wild Lengths COVID Docs Are Taking to Get Sleep Daily Beast
Covid-19: Antibodies protect against reinfection for at least six months, study finds BMJ. Large but not fully representative sample. However, this doesn’t yet prove much, since I don’t think anyone suggested that immunity from getting Covid was generally less than six months, given that that’s the shortest immunity period among other common coronaviruses. However, I now know someone in my circle who has been reinfected after a few months…..
Study of 2,351 people with #COVID19 from Brazil, of whom 50% had previously been infected with dengue. Past dengue infection was associated with a halving in the risk of death from COVID-19, suggesting dengue might provide some immunity against SARS-CoV-2.https://t.co/EgD1U43WVL pic.twitter.com/RQlnOdS2Px
— Dr Zoë Hyde (@DrZoeHyde) January 3, 2021
Covid-19 Was Consuming India, Until Nearly Everyone Started Wearing Masks Wall Street Journal (resilc)
The COVID-19 pandemic masks the way people perceive faces Nature
Musings of an anonymous, pissed off virologist. pic.twitter.com/IVU1COZPof
— Paul Bieniasz (@PaulBieniasz) January 2, 2021
UK/EU
England will go back into full national coronavirus lockdown, Boris Johnson announces Business Insider (Kevin W)
US
“The U.S. coronavirus death toll is forecast to hit around 502,601 on February 4, while the country’s daily COVID-19 death count is projected to peak about a week later at around 5,489 on February 10, according to the latest projections from (IHME).” https://t.co/oYBJgBSxwD
— Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) (@IHME_UW) January 5, 2021
‘Last Responders’ Brace for Surge in Covid Deaths Across US KHN
Hundreds of Arizona teachers stage sickouts to prevent in-person learning as cases skyrocket WSWS
Florida’s Disastrous Vaccine Rollout Has Seniors Camping Out for Shots Vice (resilc)
U.S. may cut some Moderna vaccine doses in half to speed rollout, official says Reuters
Meet the nurse who’s running a Texas COVID-19 clinic all on her own Popular Science (resilc)
At State Department, Some Concerned That Political Appointees Are Jumping the Line to Get COVID-19 Vaccine Foreign Policy
Georgia’s New QAnon Congresswoman Refused to Wear a Mask at Her Swearing-In Vice
UC San Diego installs coronavirus test kit vending machines KTLA (resilc)
Finance/Economy
Biden Shift Shows Pressure Can Work David Sirota. IMHO this is seriously overstating the case. Biden did give the $2000 checks lip service but did nada in the way of follow through. So now he’s made the promise again to bolster the GA Senate Dem candidates. How about trying to get it passed regardless and seeing if the Dems could get the moderate Rs in poor states (Murkoswki and Collins, the usual suspects) to join?
California and New York will start paying out an extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits soon, but other states could take weeks Business Insider
China?
NYSE Scraps Plans to Delist Chinese Telecom Stocks Wall Street Journal
Brexit
Tweetstorm mentions that traffic at Dover now 85% below normal levels:
And in a sign of potential trouble ahead, he said he'd received multiple calls from businesses today who thought they didn't need any new paperwork to cross the border, because the free-trade deal meant they could continue as normal (?) 5/
— Joe Mayes (@Joe_Mayes) January 4, 2021
EU share trading flees London on first day after full Brexit Financial Times
So… here's what happened.
Uk had to decide how to collect VAT on things people bought online from other countries…UK Govt decided *every company in the world* must sign up for a VAT number, charge VAT & send it to HMRC.
The world said "Nope"?♂️ https://t.co/iD92jf8ucr— Bryan Smith #RejoinEU (@BpsmithUk) January 4, 2021
#BREAKING Firms across sub-Scandinavian Europe are refusing to deliver to addresses in reclusive island kingdom of Britain citing concerns over possible tribal violence as ongoing implementation of AU-brokered Brexit peace agreement raises ethnic tensions in the oil-rich nation.
— gathara (@gathara) January 4, 2021
From Clive:
Syraqistan
Key U.S. allies ease years-long feud as Saudi Arabia lifts blockade of Qatar Washington Post
Iran Missile Program Must Be ‘On the Table’ in Nuclear Talks, Biden National Security Adviser Says Haaretz (Kevin W)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Singapore Police Can Access COVID-19 Contact Tracing Data For Criminal Investigations ZDNet
MindGeek: The secretive owner of Pornhub and RedTube ars technica. fk: “A digital honeytrap?”
Imperial Collapse Watch
America The ‘Torn Superpower’ Is Biggest Global Risk, Not COVID: Report Heisenberg Report (UserFriendly)
America’s Defining Problem in 2021 Isn’t China: It’s America American Conservative. Chuck L: “The Richard Hanania piece that Bacevich channels”: China’s Real Threat Is to America’s Ruling Ideology Palladium
The U.S. Navy Paid $6,000 for Its First Airplanes — Today’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Is $110 Million Popular Mechanics (resilc)
Assange
Assange ‘free to return home’ once legal challenges over, Australia PM says Reuters
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture @nilsmelzer talks to German State Broadcaster @dwnews on todays Assange decision: “Only when I started to look into pieces of evidence – I saw that the whole narrative that had been spread about Assange for so long – was not supported by evidence” https://t.co/6saCIphxcJ
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 4, 2021
The Assange Extradition Ruling Is A Relief, But It Isn’t Justice Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W). The fact that this judge acceded to the appalling US request that Assange be given the Hannibal Lechter treatment in court, put in a cage in the back of the room where he couldn’t hear what was going on well, let alone communicate effectively with counsel, said she’d already decided before the facts were presented. Craig Murray, however, did say that the judge looked uncomfortable with the US high-handedness, so that may explain why the baby was split this way.
VIDEO: The Extraordinary Rejection of the U.S.’s Request to Extradite Julian Assange Glenn Greenwald
Julian Assange verdict does little to protect press freedom Guardian
Julian Assange: Imminent Freedom Craig Murray
Trump Transition
Why Congress Should Impeach Trump Again New York Times (David L)
Democrats ask FBI Director Wray to open criminal probe into Trump after leaked phone call NBC (furzy)
Attorney says Census count to determine congressional seats won’t be done until February The Hill. “The postponement of Census data delivery beyond Inauguration Day would dash Trump’s efforts to remove undocumented immigrants from the final count for states, thus reducing their representation in the House and their portion of allocated federal funding. “
Biden
“I’ll Be Fierce for All of Us”: Deb Haaland on Climate, Native Rights, and Joe Biden Mother Jones (Kevin C)
Expand the Postal Service in 2021 Nation
THREE MINUTES (AND COUNTING) ON THE OMB TRANSITION OF POWER Politico
What Josh Hawley Is Teaching Democrats Washington Monthly (resilc)
Black Injustice Tipping Point
Proud Boys leader ‘held for burning Black Lives Matter flag’ BBC
I’m leary of all new accounts here that showed up suddenly with strong opinions on both sides of #ForceTheVote
There’s definitely a David Brock/CorrectTheRecord-style effort now to amplify division on the left. I suggest being skeptical of letting new accounts infiltrate groups.
— Pat the Progressive ?? (@PatTheBerner) January 4, 2021
The House just approved my proposal to shed light on conflicts of interest in Congressional hearings. As of today, expert witnesses must report grants they receive from foreign governments, and any legal obligations they have to organizations that they testify about.
— Rep. Katie Porter (@RepKatiePorter) January 4, 2021
Hedge fund manager Scaramucci launches cryptocurrency fund Reuters. Resilc: “I’m cashing out of my Trump collectible $2 space force dollars and into this….”
Dizzying Valuations, IPO Craze Tick Boxes on Bubble Checklist Bloomberg (Kevin W)
The biggest story in tech no one’s talking about is Uber discovering they’d been defrauded out of $100M – or 2/3 of their ad spend.
And all bc Sleeping Giants kept bugging them to block their ads on Breitbart. pic.twitter.com/SiS3MndewS
— Nandini Jammi (@nandoodles) January 3, 2021
CalPERS Not Ready to Pick CIO Chief Investment Officer (Kevin W)
The world in 2030 may be worse than in 2020 Washington Post (resilc)
The Prophet of Maximum Productivity New York Review of Books
Class Warfare
White Hot Harlots — Anything changed yet? White Hot Harlots (UserFriendly)
Janet Yellen made $7 million for giving speeches over two years. How big of a deal is that? Vox (Kevin C)
More than 200 US Google employees form a workers’ union Guardian
Vons, Pavilions to Fire “Essential Workers,” Replace Drivers with Independent Contractors KNOCK (UserFriendly)
Statement of Congressman Jamie Raskin and Sarah Bloom Raskin on the Remarkable Life of Tommy Raskin Medium (Chuck L).
Antidote du jour (CV). Oh, would I like to lounge on a beach!
And a bonus. Lance N: “Now I’m fascinated, I didn’t know fish would grow outside the egg sac
and slowly suck it down.”
The #babySkates are definitely doing better. Lots of movement, vascularity looks good, and yolks looking round and healthy. pic.twitter.com/U4JIsBLuXu
— Adam P. Summers (@Fishguy_FHL) January 4, 2021
And another bonus (guurst). The colors!
This is the squirrel in the video below that people keep asking about.
It lives in India and it’s called the Malabar Giant Squirrel.
Jack fruit is a main part of its diet along with bananas. They also eat nuts, bark, and flowers. https://t.co/rS45cyDoRk pic.twitter.com/OmhLcAtopt
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) December 28, 2020
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
