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Links 7/19/2024

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Why Do Dogs Bark? Madras Courier

What Lies Beneath bioGraphic. The deck: “With their astounding sense of smell and ability to find what humans can’t see, dogs are quickly becoming some of conservationists’ best friends.”

Climate

Scientists say they can now forecast El Niño Southern Oscillation years in advance Space.com

Experts see ‘mismatch’ between US utility planning cycles and data center builds S&P Global

California Grid Breezes Through Heat Wave due to Renewables, Batteries This Is Not Cool

Funds tapped, Florida stops taking new applications for home-hardening program Orlando Sentinel

California Faces a Brutal Wildfire Season, With More Land Burned to Date Than in Recent Years Smithsonian

Syndemics

COVID Levels ‘Very High’ In California As New Variant Spreads: CDC Banning-Beaumont Patch

England’s ongoing Covid wave and new Long Covid research Diving into Data & Decision Making

China?

Readying for war or being prepared for crises? China’s stockpiling of resources raises eyebrows and questions Channel News Asia

Going Postal at the Qiaopiju JSTOR Daily

The Philippines’ and Vietnam’s South China Sea Strategies Have Failed RAND

Commentary: Political upheaval in Vietnam is holding its economy back Channel News Asia

Myanmar

Ayeyarwady vice: Law and disorder in the Delta Frontier Myanmar

India

India is not destined to be the next China BNE Intellinews

Bangladesh TV news off air, communications disrupted as student protests spike Bangkok Post (Furzy Mouse).

Syraqistan

Mike Johnson Threatens to Arrest Lawmakers Who Disrupt Netanyahu’s Congress speech Haaretx

Biden expected to meet with Netanyahu next week, despite COVID diagnosis The HIll. Big if true:

Also big if true:

* * *

New health crisis unfolds in Gaza as poliovirus found in sewage Anadolu Agency

Yemen’s Blockade Bankrupts Israel’s Port of Eilat Consortium Newws

Drone attack kills one person in Tel Aviv FT

The Great Game

“Debts must be repaid” – Expert on Azerbaijan-France relations JAM News

New Not-So-Cold War

Ukrainian defenders withdraw from Urozhaine, Donetsk Oblast Ukrainska Pravda

Ukrainians say it’s time for peace negotiations with Russia Deutsche Welle

Slovakia and Hungary say Ukraine suspended transit of Lukoil oil Ukrainska Pravda

Dear Old Blighty

Private equity groups battle it out for $15bn schools group FT

Private equity firm behind Six Nations rugby considers bid for Telegraph Guardian

Biden Administration

Court halts Biden’s student loan repayment plan. How this affects California borrowers Sacramento Bee

Pentagon inspector general to put the microscope on hypersonic defenses, CJADC2 ‘strategy‘ Breaking Defense

2024

‘I’m not supposed to be here’: 5 key points from Donald Trump’s acceptance speech FT. Commentary:

I described this “riffing” behavior here at NC in 2016.

Trump comes out fighting after rally shooting: 5 takeaways from RNC’s last night The Hill. Commentary:

Donald Trump appears to a be a changed man. And that’s a big deal for both Republicans and Democrats FOX

Melania Trump watches husband’s convention speech in rare appearance BBC

Critic’s Notebook: Donald Trump Returns to Bad Form — and Gives the Democrats Hope Hollywood Reporter

* * *

Can J.D. Vance’s Populist Crusade Succeed? Matt Stoller, BIG

What Trump picking Vance for VP means for the Senate Politico

O’Brien Speech Played into Republicans’ Phony Pro-Worker Rebrand Labor Notes

* * *

Inside the Trump Plan for 2025 The New Yorker

The political media’s fantasy of an “unified” America defies reality Dan Froomkin, Press Watch

* * *

‘He’s got a gun’: The 60 minutes leading up to Trump assassination attempt Al Jazeera

Whistleblowers come forward on Trump rally security, Judiciary Committee says Just the News. Commentary:

Via FaceBook.

Secret Service struggles to quash congressional fury over Trump assassination attempt Politico

How It Happens Here Nina Illingworth

Democrats en Déshabillé

Donald Trump is Democratic Failure Ross Barkan, Political Currents

Karma, Bitches Declassified with Julie Kelly. The deck: “The most powerful American institutions colluded in 2020 to steal the election for Joe Biden. Now those same interests are collaborating to get him off the 2024 ballot. Sit back and enjoy!”

Who Is Favored To Win The 2024 Presidential Election? FiveThirtyEight

The Supremes

What employers can expect following the end of Chevron deference Construction Dive

Digital Watch

Major Windows BSOD issue takes banks, airlines, and broadcasters offline The Verge. Commentary:

Human or AI robot? Who is fairer on the service organizational frontline (PDF) Journal of Business Research

ChatGPT Isn’t ‘Hallucinating’—It’s Bullshitting! Scientific American. AI = BS (Naked Capitalism, January 31, 2023).

5 ChatGPT Prompts To Start A Successful Business Forbes

Imperial Collapse Watch

For the Rest of the World, the U.S. President Has Always Been Above the Law Foreign Policy

The F-35 Urgently Needs a New Engine: The Engine Core Upgrade Program’s Design Review Highlights Why Military Watch. “A new engine for the F-35 is considered an urgent priority for multiple reasons, among them the aircraft’s perceived wholly insufficient range and flight performance for operations over the Pacific.”

Class Warfare

Average Japanese Wage Hikes Reach 33-Year High of 5.1% in 2024 Nippon.com

How gravity falls down on falling down Physics World

Antidote du jour (Wallace Keck):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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53 comments

  1. Antifa

    WHERE THOSE BULLETS COMIN’ FROM?
    (melody borrowed from Mama Told Me Not To Come  by Randy Newman, as performed by Three Dog Night)

    Two teams of snipers with their spotters
    For Trump’s security
    We’re the Secret Service but we’re Team Number Three
    His primary team had some other place to be
    ‘You hear that pop-pop-pop?—you see what I see?’
    ‘Where those bullets comin’ from?’
    ‘Where those bullets comin’ from?’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, no!’

    There’s panic in the bleachers—sniper’s rifle goes boom
    Trump is back on his feet—for the cameras I assume
    Trump is bleeding from his ear, one fan of his is dead
    ‘Shooter’s down’ says a sniper from the roof overhead
    ‘Where those bullets comin’ from?’
    ‘Where those bullets comin’ from?’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, run!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, run!’

    (musical interlude)

    Our prep work was bad—we left a wide open door
    We all know sure as shootin’ we don’t work here any more
    We’ll end up mercenaries on some foreign shore
    This was the kind of screwup the bosses can’t ignore
    ‘Where those bullets comin’ from?’
    ‘Where those bullets comin’ from?’
    I said, ‘Must be some guy with a gun, run!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, no!’

    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, no!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, run!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, no!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, run!’

    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, no!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, run!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, no!’
    ‘Must be some guy with a gun, run!’

    Reply ↓
  2. The Rev Kev

    ‘Sulaiman Ahmed
    @ShaykhSulaiman
    BREAKING: ICC ARREST WARRANTS TO BE ISSUED
    Israel’s Channel 14 reports that the ICC is expected to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant within the next two weeks.’

    So I am thinking that the black shirts that both of them are wearing may suit their character and their black hearts. After all, Netanyahu just stopped the building of a field hospital for wounded Palestinian children. But maybe the both of them may be wearing another colour one day. Perhaps something in orange?

    https://news.antiwar.com/2024/07/18/netanyahu-blocks-order-to-build-field-hospital-for-gaza-children/

    Reply ↓
  3. Terry Flynn

    NHS app has big warning on front screen that it isn’t guaranteeing up to date/current info.

    Whilst I’m aware that servers/other machines at my ISP may well be relying on the dross that is Windows, I sit here happily typing on my Linux PC with Firefox+all the add-ons to watch cat videos to my heart’s content.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Same here on my Win7 ‘puter using Firefox as well. It seems that those using Win10 got hit pretty hard. The root cause is suppose to have come out of Crowdstrike. If that name is not familiar, this was the mob that swore back in 2017 that the Russians totally hacked the computers of the DNC’s emails – but refused the FBI permission to examine their servers (you can do that?). Popping my tin foil hat on, I thought for a brief moment that Crowdstrike deliberately caused this chaos around the world simply so that Trump’s speech at the convention would not be covered much. Good thing that we do not live in such a world.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChrisFromGA

        I’ve been reading about this all morning. It sounds like updating the buggy piece of software from Crowdstrike isn’t as simple as applying a patch and rebooting. It requires going into “Safe Mode”:

        You Fix It, IT monkey!

        For IT professionals only
        If your machine has crashed and is not recovering after rebooting, you can follow these steps:

        Boot Windows into Safe Mode or the Windows Recovery Environment

        Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory

        Locate the file matching “C-00000291*.sys”, and delete it.

        Boot the host normally.

        Wait a few minutes. If your system does not crash within a few minutes, then the workaround is successful.

        Now, that’s going to be fun for virtual machines and POS systems. Tempted to take a run down to my local bank and see if the ATM is blue screened.

        Reply ↓
        1. ChrisFromGA

          Come to think of it, that’s missing a step or two.

          Locate CrowdStrike Folder, delete it.

          Delete all registry keys tied to CS

          Restore from last known good image prior to installation of CS

          Fire somebody!

          Reply ↓
          1. Terry Flynn

            I am very glad I don’t need to boot into my W11 partition until next week. I really don’t want to have Windoze mess up my otherwise beautifully running PC.

            Reply ↓
            1. ChrisFromGA

              If you don’t have the CrowdStrike software installed, you should be fine.

              (not official advice, statements made by random people on the internet may not be reliable, etc.)

              Reply ↓
              1. Terry Flynn

                Thanks for the clarification. The thing that always worries me is that so many software packages that you don’t want or need get installed because they “enable functionality” of something else that you use.

                Thus I’d never know whether CrowdStrike was on my device unless I go look for it and check that it isn’t something required to “support” (ha!) one of the programs I do actually use.

                From what you say, it sounds like something irrelevant to me, but this just goes to show how next time it could be a program that looks innocent but is the “backbone” to something we all use.

                Reply ↓
              2. furnace

                I guess theoretically you could have troubles if some other software you depend upon is itself dependent on CrowdStrike for its services if those are stored on the cloud, etc. But afaik local users are unaffected; from what I gathered on HackerNews it’s the result of some kernel changes that CrowdStrike implements conflicting with Windows code. As they put it, you really really shouldn’t roll out untested updates worldwide to a software that is mission critical (and which bricks computers if it fails). Maybe this is the Boeing rot spreading out, since no minimally sane corporation (or rather, management) would do something so dangerous and potentially catastrophic. People most likely have literally died from this, given 911 went offline!

                Reply ↓
    2. griffen

      Global outages… In the US airports have been grounded, bank systems are in an unknown state it appears…reboot all the servers…I have high anticipation about logging onto my work PC in the next hour or so…nearing 8am on the east coast.

      Lead story on CNBC this morning. Crowdstrike is the vendor in the penalty box. Sounds to be an upgrade implementation might be an explanation.

      Reply ↓
    3. furnace

      Though I understand why people cannot and do not want to change their OS (it’s a lot of work…) I’ll say that changing to Linux is such a nice thing. So long as you do not pick one of the more complex distributions like Arch (unless you want to learn, of course) and stick to a variant of Debian or Ubuntu, you don’t have much to worry about, and it in general just runs so much smoother. Gone are the days in which you had to be a real whiz in order to leave Windows behind! (It’s not a panacea, of course, but I do find it takes a lot of stress out of using the computer once it’s set up right).

      Reply ↓
      1. Terry Flynn

        Indeed. My first two attempts to migrate to Linux were spectacular failures.

        2-3 years ago I discovered Mint and I’ve never looked back. It just works. I only need the Windoze partition for the voice recognition program and zoom (which for some reason misbehaves under Linux and I’m too old/tired/brainfogged to work out why).

        Reply ↓
  4. Revenant

    Subedtitor service:

    Unfortunately for a citation of NC’s own work, the citation here is wrong!

    “ChatGPT Isn’t ‘Hallucinating’—It’s Bullshitting! Scientific American. AI = NS (Naked Capitalism, January 31, 2023).”

    This should read “AI = BS”.

    Did ChatGPT confabulate this? :-)

    Reply ↓
    1. ddt

      And to compound the BS some more, go enter your entrepreneurial hopes and dreams via 5 magical prompts to chatgpt (Forbes article)and watch the money roll in. Ka-ching!

      Reply ↓
  5. flora

    I watched last night’s RNC convention from 6:30 until 11:00. I watched on the RNC convention utube channel so I could see it without commercial breaks or MSM running commentaries.

    It was one big party. Everyone was happy. The music was great. The Texas delegates wore their straw cowboy hats, the Wisconsin delegate wore their cheese head hats (you couldn’t miss them in the crowd), I felt good after watching everyone. Doesn’t mean I agreed with everyone. Clearly aimed at working class and middle class voters who might be undecided. It was courting voters. That’s what parties are supposed to do. T said he would be president for all Americans, not just half of Americans. All presidential candidates say that.

    Great show, very entertaining, very energetic, very upbeat. All the energy is on the GOP side right now.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      Saw on the news tonight that some were wearing imitation ear patches just like Trump has. But yeah, it seems to be a party atmosphere and lots of happy people there. Boris Johnson turned up, probably so he could demand continued support for the Ukraine in front of that entire crowd. So the Repubs stuck him in a small conference room to make his speech where hardly anybody turned up to hear him.

      Reply ↓
      1. Ben Panga

        Boris, Farage, and Truss have all been hanging round the RNC like charity muggers at a shopping center. Seemingly nobody there gives two hoots about them, which is nice.

        Reply ↓
        1. Terry Flynn

          Look on YouTube for the videos showing the “crowd” who turned up to watch Boris like this.

          Crowd seems to have been redefined to mean “five or so”. Big LOL.

          Plus there’s a big former Tory who actually made comments on YT that could be interpreted that he thinks Truss is seriously mentally ill. I’ll add the “allegedly” so nobody gets into trouble but come on, I’ve yet to find a person who thinks Truss is NOT “proper mental” as we’d say colloquially in UK midlands.

          Reply ↓
          1. The Rev Kev

            I guess that Trump is not one to respect the “special relationship.” And he cares for Europe even less.

            Reply ↓
    2. griffen

      Hulk Hogan, actually convincing but hey he’s a former wrestler who performed at a high level in his craft. Trumpamania… Trumpamania…the shirt ripping was classic Hogan.

      On the other hand…Kid Rock performed and Lee Greenwood sang his famous tune… I’m not too sure how many delegates and attendees younger than say about 55 know Kid Rock…ha ha. I kept thinking Toby Keith would’ve definitely been on stage singing a few big hits.

      Reply ↓
  6. Joker

    The Philippines’ and Vietnam’s South China Sea Strategies Have Failed RAND

    Unlike the Extending Russia Strategy, that is going swell.

    Reply ↓
  7. furnace

    Drone attack kills one person in Tel Aviv FT

    Praise be to the Ansarallah. They have become the heroes of the world, the only ones willing to actively fight against the “Israeli” entity for no other reason than in defense of the Palestinians (Hezbollah is also contributing a lot, but clearly the reasoning is more complicated there). With “Tel Aviv” now under strike range, “Israel” has utterly lost its mandate of being a “safe haven”; hopefully more settlers will leave in droves.

    Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      What that article does not mention is that that drone hit near the US Embassy which was only about a block away. If Ansarallah had hit the US Embassy, would the US have run to the UN to complain that Ansarallah had hit an Embassy in a third country? That might lead to embarrassing question about what Israel itself did in Syria not long ago.

      Reply ↓
  8. rob

    I don’t get the 538 prediction that joe biden will win the race in ’24….
    just on the face of their own screen shot…… all the polls have trump winning…. yet they flip those guesses… opinions and then write the headline that biden will win…. based on their “filters”

    Is this just an admission that they just “make stuff up”?

    Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        Now we have German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock who said that her government simply does not listen to what voters want. Progress!

        Reply ↓
        1. Terry Flynn

          Meanwhile according to the Guardian, Angela Merkel is (probably very wisely) marking her 70th birthday by avoiding anything political and actively getting as far away from politics as you can get!

          I always got the feeling that she came from East Germany to (practically) lead the EU and then thought “WTAF? We thought you guys knew how to do stuff and now I have to run this madhouse?”

          I did my PhD and post-doc with two “Ossis” circa 2000 and both were already refreshingly cynical about the “glorious west” that they had submitted to. Plus nicest people I ever worked with.

          Reply ↓
            1. Terry Flynn

              Thanks Rev Kev. Sometimes I think “why not use that shiny Aussie passport and escape?”

              Then my friends down under tell me of all the shenanigans that never made it to our UK media thanks to Murdoch pressure etc. *sigh*

              Maybe I should have married that rich definitely-not-mafia-type Chinese woman who needed Aussie citizenship back in 2015 to get me some real resources……!

              Reply ↓
      2. marym

        Just the occassional gentle reminder that:

        Most people in most states use hand-marked paper ballots – mail-in or election day in-person (major exceptions for in-person election day voting: GA, KS NV, TX)
        https://verifiedvoting.org

        A full hand recount was done of the 2020 AZ presidential and senate elections, organized by Republican partisans.

        A full hand recount was done of the 2020 GA presidential election (hand marked and machine marked ballots) by law and decision of the Republican SoS.

        “A total of 48 states conduct some type of post-election audit. Alabama and New Hampshire do not require post-election audits but piloted different audit types in the 2022 election.”
        https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/post-election-audits635926066.aspx

        Potential for BMD ballot counting discrepancy:
        https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/04/links-4-9-2024.html#comment-4023920

        Reply ↓
    2. griffen

      538 was acquired by a bigger media concern, and founder Nate Silver has departed for greener pastures and open fields. Silver has started a substack for his newest effort.

      Now that the RNC anointing is complete for Trump, I’ll need to check out what projections look like currently.

      https://www.natesilver.net/

      Reply ↓
  9. Mikel

    “Debts must be repaid” – Expert on Azerbaijan-France relations JAM News

    And as it’s been discussed on NC: Debts that can’t be repaid, won’t be repaid.

    These days in Baku, the “Congress of Independence Movements from France-Colonized Territories” is taking place. The event is attended by leaders of more than 15 political parties and movements advocating for independence of overseas French territories such as Corsica, Melanesia, Polynesia, and groups of Caribbean and Antillean islands.

    —–
    Elsewhere in the world, when a second look has been taken at the books, thngs like this have been discovered:
    https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/illicit-financial-flows-africa-a-net-creditor-to-the-rest-of-the-world-11887/

    Illicit financial flows: Africa a net creditor to the rest of the world

    Reply ↓
    1. furnace

      As usual, Michael Hudson has it right. And the only real power the Europeans still have is debt bondage of the Third World (martyred Haiti knows it best…); once the Third World bands together (hopefully under a multipolar umbrella) and refuses to repay those odious debts under the Europeans’ and Americans’ terms, it’ll be the nail in the coffin for the 500yo world dominance (I guess that’s why China making what seems to be mostly reasonable debts which they often forgive or renegotiate is met with such alarm in Western media).

      In fact, I’d go as far as to argue that dedollarization in its full scope, as Yves often criticizes, is probably small peanuts in a geopolitical sense in comparison with the end of Global South debt peonage. You can replace the dollars with some other currency or basket of goods or whatever and have very little change; but if you make it so that countries can raise capital and create infrastructure without onerous terms you’ll have a change so radical I can’t even fathom it. That being said, both processes go alongside one another.

      Reply ↓
      1. Mikel

        A multipolar order must include a break from neoliberal economics – and the unviversities that exalt that type of economics – in order to have a chance of benefiting more than the global elite.

        Reply ↓
  10. Carolinian

    Re Karma, bitches–as it happens Melvyn Bragg’s In Our Time just did a podcast on karma. And the notion that sins will be punished, virtue rewarded also has a big place in Christianity even if “faith” is wielded by some branches as a get out of jail free card. Being of the lapsed Baptist branch I do buy into the notion that honesty is the best policy in the long run if not the short. As Yves has said “trust” is the lubricant that has traditionally smoothed the economic machine and Cronkite said “credibilitty” was the product the news business was supposed to be selling. That both concepts are currently at low ebb could be why Trump’s Back to the Fifties pitch is finding an audience. It turns out societies do need to work for all that individualism to thrive.

    Not that we should take his late life version too seriously but anything would be better than now.

    Reply ↓
  11. Michaelmas

    Explicatory footnote to your “Debts must be repaid” – Expert on Azerbaijan-France relations JAM News’ link.
    From the same outlet, in 2023 —

    “Why does France behave in our region in this way and not otherwise?” View from Baku, JAMnews
    https://jam-news.net/why-does-france-behave-in-our-region-in-this-way-and-not-otherwise-view-from-baku/

    More here —
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashoda_syndrome

    Brought to you by the Department of The Past Isn’t Dead, It’s Not Even Past.

    Reply ↓
    2. The Rev Kev

      Re the Fashoda Incident. At first the French and British were pointing their guns at each other when the British arrived but then Lord Kitchener met Marchand and things quickly settled down and they became friends with each other. They agreed to fly the French, British & Egyptian flags, settle down to daily life and let Paris and London sort it all out where both capitols were going nuts. I always thought that a good example.

      Reply ↓
  12. Michaelmas

    And this. Good God.

    Labour’s new defence adviser Fiona Hill: from the White House to Whitehall
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/19/labour-defence-adviser-fiona-hill

    Labour insiders well appreciate that Hill is not the route to boost relations with Trump. But she brings with her … valuable knowledge of Washington’s vast national security apparatus …. Her background points to another aspect of Labour’s plans. Labour wants the defence industry to form part of Britain’s regeneration, although an embrace of the arms trade may not be popular with some of the party’s traditional supporters

    Reply ↓
  14. Mikel

    Experts see ‘mismatch’ between US utility planning cycles and data center builds – S&P Global

    Which reminds me…
    Here’s an idea to address that matter coming from one of the mainstream media’s favorite Forbes 30 Under 30 alumni:

    Altman’s $3.7 Billion Fusion Startup Leaves Scientists Puzzled
    https://archive.ph/QzSaY/
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-18/sam-altman-s-helion-energy-promises-fusion-power-by-2028?srnd=homepage-americas/

    I thought actual, thorough peer review meant more than publishing papers – which is how Altman’s team presents the meaning of peer review in this article.

    I’m guessing they’re going with the OceanGate School of Science and Technology on this one.
    But the scientists around here may see something different.

    Reply ↓
  15. Carolinian

    Interesting Stoller on Vance. By this take Vance–who Kirn calls a California person more than an Ohio–would be taking the side of those who want to re-atomize the web and diminish the dominance of Google. That Google’s once claimed benevolence is not to be trusted now seems obvious as Google allies with the censors and would be information controllers.

    Of course the alternative may not be so benevolent either but choices are good. The Dems see their alliance with Big Tech as a mans of control. Is a Silicon Valley political war on the horizon?

    Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie

      Stoller, Cass and Vance all appear oblivious to the climate crisis. The working class folks they claim to care about will be the first to be washed out of the hollers (Kentucky in 2023), flooded in the swamps (as in Houston and New Orleans), burned up in the fires (as in Maui) and starved by the high food prices brought on by crop losses in floods and drought. There is no higher priority than addressing the absolutely necessary need to stop further carbon emissions. How that’s achieved can be guided by degrowthers like Jason Hickel who seek to eliminate non-essential emissions from the conspicuous consumption of the affluent while undertaking an expansion of public goods available to all.

      As you noted above, the Repubs are sounding a Back to the Fifties call as the cure for our problems. Dinah Shore singing “See the USA in your Chevrolet” just gets us deeper into disaster. Somebody has to get real with the citizenry or our collective ability to manage this transition will end quite soon.

      Reply ↓

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