Our brain doesn’t perceive time as a clock. Instead, time flows with experiences, study finds ZME Science
Is The Future Worth It? The Break Down
The puzzle as propaganda Africa Is A Country
Climate/Environment
In Alabama’s Bald Eagle Territory, Residents Say an Unexpected Mining Operation Emerged as Independence Day Unfolded Inside Climate News
‘Forever chemical’ polluters land hefty contracts to meet electric vehicle battery demand The Examination
Water
Lithium Critical to the Energy Transition Is Coming at the Expense of Water Inside Climate News
Pandemics
Everyone Is Getting Covid In Summer 2024 Because Covid Is Over And Seasonal And Getting It Again Builds Your Immunity So You Won’t Get It Again But You’ll Definitely Get It Again This Winter And Maybe Next Summer Because It’s Seasonal And Over But It’ll Be Fine, Honestly… pic.twitter.com/3KpudE9J0Y
— The Vertlartnic (@TheVertlartnic) July 20, 2024
When Does a Pandemic End? Pandemic Accountability Index
The end of the official Covid emergency now potentially hindering bird flu outbreak analyses. Inside Medicine
I also hear from farm workers who believe they’ve been exposed & infected w/ #H5N1, very symptomatic. They’ve reached out to @CDCgov for help, guidance, and mostly testing.
They say, outreach has been ignored; no follow up, no call back, no investigation, no help getting… https://t.co/2fEhNrlkK5
— Rick Bright (@RickABright) July 19, 2024
None of the blood samples collected from people who had been exposed to infected dairy cows in Michigan showed H5N1 antibodies. This is an important finding because it suggests that asymptomatic infections in people are not occurring. https://t.co/A7rbmeEEw9
— Marguerita Cattell (@MegCattell) July 19, 2024
Africa
Kenyan Protests, Part Three: Thoughts on potential pathways forward An Africanist Perspective
Whom the Gods Want to Destroy, They First Make Mad The Elephant
India
India-Russia relations march ahead Gateway House
The End is Nigh As Government Crackdown Sparks Bloodshed and Fury Across Bangladesh The Wire
Understanding the quota-reformation protests in Bangladesh The Leaflet
China?
Trump says Xi wrote him ‘beautiful note’ following shooting Politico
‘Protection fees’: can Taiwan still rely on US defence if Trump returns to office? South China Morning Post
It’s a pity that some of the US experts don’t understand the nature of Taiwan’s public opinion. If US only presses Taiwan to defend itself, Taiwanese people will feel unease and “Skepticism on US” will spread in Taiwan. CPP has been trying to create this situation for years. https://t.co/w43FpojRtg
— ogasawara_yoshiyuki (@ogasawara_yoshi) July 20, 2024
Syraqistan
Netanyahu claims Al Hudaydah port in Yemen that Israel struck used to supply Iranian weapons to Houthis Anadolu Agency. Commentary:
Israel bombing a Yemeni port critical for humanitarian aid is on brand, and a consequence of letting Israel weaponize starvation.
Now there’s accounts on here calling for Israel to starve Yemenis…because starving 2 million Palestinians in Gaza is apparently not enough for them.
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) July 20, 2024
5,000 UAVs could be fired at central Israel, and the IAF is not remotely prepared – analysis Jerusalem Post
🇮🇱🇾🇪 BBC on the Houthi drone attack that hit a target in Tel Aviv.
“This attack calls into question the billions of dollars spent by the American and British coalition in the region.
This is Yemen’s deepest attack yet and is significant in terms of both timing and location.… https://t.co/QjlM6KDJNb pic.twitter.com/RVm8REcPPx
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) July 20, 2024
Without Tanks or Trainers, Israel Reveals Its Inability to Open Any Other Front Elijah J Magnier
CENTCOM chief urges ‘broad expansion’ of illegal war against Yemen: Report The Cradle
Saudi Arabia denies involvement in the Israeli attack on Hodeidah Al Mayadeen
***
Iran ‘now probably 1 or 2 weeks away’ from nuclear weapon breakout: Blinken Anadolu Agency. Commentary:
🇮🇷 🇮🇱 39 Years later on, they’re still trying the same “Iran is in the final stages of a nuclear bomb” line.
They’re getting desperate to start WW3. pic.twitter.com/yWYWXleqxA
— Ken O’Keefe (@KenOKeefe1TJP) July 19, 2024
***
US warns ICJ ruling on Israeli presence in West Bank, East Jerusalem will ‘complicate’ peace efforts Times of Israel
Why are North American synagogues selling West Bank real estate? The New Arab
***
Anyone who interrupts Netanyahu’s Congress speech could face arrest, US House speaker says The New Arab
Polio outbreak in Gaza threatens Israelis as much as Palestinians, experts say Ynet news
European Disunion
Slovak PM blasts Ukraine’s Lukoil sanctions as oil flow stops Euractiv
Hungary facing fuel crisis as Ukraine turns up heat on Russian oil supplies Politico
Orban’s Peace Efforts Raise Suspicions of Hidden Agendas Dagens News
REPORT OF PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBÁN TO CHARLES MICHEL, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL CABINET OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
New Not-So-Cold War
NATO at the Crossroads Big Serge Thought
Blinken points to wider pledges to support Ukraine in case US backs away under Trump Politico
Poland to Triple Forces on Belarusian Border From Next Month Military Watch Magazine
Old Blighty
A failure of state: the damning verdict of Covid Inquiry Counterfire
The Bonfire of Structures Tribune
Existence vs Expansion Craig Murray
South of the Border
United States Spied on Lula for Decades, US Government Documents Reveal Orinoco Tribune
Biden
Biden eyes Georgia and Texas trips from Rehoboth bunker Axios
A PRESIDENCY’S BITTER END Seymour Hersh
US: Joe Biden completes his sixth dose of Paxlovid.
Has KP.2.3 variant. “Still experiencing a loose, nonproductive cough and hoarseness”
Letter from White House Physician, 20th July 2024https://t.co/19ToEYIDyr pic.twitter.com/FIoFR5vOiv
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) July 20, 2024
Obama’s unseen but clearly felt presence has brought a Shakespearean quality to the drama now playing out. One former aide at last month’s Hollywood fundraiser said Obama seemed shaken by how much Biden had aged and appeared disoriented. https://t.co/eiFCtLVCGI
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 19, 2024
2024
Professor Who Accurately Predicted Past Elections Says ‘Biden Can Win’ Newsweek
Ready for Round 2: Why we Need Hillary more than ever The Hill
Clintons privately urge donors to keep giving to Biden as long as he remains presumptive nominee CNN
Trump
Does Trump deserve a clean shave? David Ignatius, WaPo. Spook mouthpiece gives a thumbs down.
Secret Service says it denied Trump additional resources even as his team complained CNN
Vance
J.D. Vance, the Tech Oligarchs’ Populist Nonzero Newsletter
His investment firm, Narya Capital, still owns a significant stake in this company.
It says here that Vance stepped back from running Narya Capital. But there’s no sign that he’s sold his stake or handed over control of his ownership.https://t.co/9Y7f8vPRDI
— Dr Sarah Taber (@SarahTaber_bww) July 17, 2024
Realignment and Legitimacy
Pro-Trump multimillionaire and election denier boosts funds to far-right voter-conspiracy groups The Guardian. Commentary:
So important. The rise of conspiracy theories is not just some natural expression of an alienated working class it is an intentional strategy funded by billionaires so that they can steal our money and destroy the planet. https://t.co/ksWAA4NwXU
— Alex Vitale (@avitale) July 20, 2024
Boeing
Exclusive: US-Japan Patriot missile production plan hits Boeing component roadblock Reuters
Imperial Collapse Watch
Liars, war-mongers and politics at the apex of power Gilbert Doctorow, Armageddon Newsletter
Abortion
Groves of Academe
Columbia removes 3 senior administrators over ‘very troubling’ texts High Ed Dive
Universities, police spread ‘jaw-dropping’ misinformation about encampments The Breach
After today’s ICJ ruling, any university presidents who sent police to dismantle protest encampments or threatened to do so are explicitly on par with their counterparts in the 1980s who worked to shut down campus protests of apartheid South Africa.
— T. Ryan Gregory (@TRyanGregory) July 19, 2024
Healthcare?
Private Medicare Plans and Vertical Integration Yields UnitedHealth $15.8 Billion in Profits Between January and June HEALTH CARE un-covered
Police State Watch
The Body Camera: The Language of our Dreams Yale Journal of Law & Liberation
Crowdstrike
CrowdStrike ‘close to rolling out fix’ after IT outage crashes 8.5m Windows devices globally Irish Times
CrowdStrike is the cyberfirm that generated the claim that Russia hacked the DNC, setting off Russiagate. Even though CrowdStrike was working for the Clinton campaign, the FBI relied on it rather than independently investigate the “hacked” DNC servers.
It only emerged four…
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) July 19, 2024
Global IT outage shows dangers of cashless society, campaigners say The Guardian
Class Warfare
99% of Disneyland Workers Authorize a Strike! Mice Chat
As Florida temperatures soar, Disney World workers struggle and pass out from the heat Orlando Weekly
Screening Room
Egalitarian Production Dollars & Sense
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Anyone who interrupts Netanyahu’s Congress speech could face arrest, US House speaker says”
Is anyone really going to try to disrupt Netanyahu’s speech to Congress if he does make the trip over? When he spoke to Congress back in 2015 he got 28 standing ovations in 47 minutes which meant that members of Congress were up and down like that Assyrian Empire. Must have been hard on the elderly members of Congress as jumping up and down on command is kinda hard on the knees. And this time around, will female members of Congress dress in blue and white to show their support and loyalty? We will have to wait and see.
Maybe Netanhayu and the standing ovations is a medical benefit for the gerontocracy?
https://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-0003-10-86
Ha. I remember when I realized we were getting old, when I went to a Hot Tuna concert and Jorma had to play sitting down because of a bad back, and, when it came time for the standing O, the front row took forever to get up out of their seats. Then I was dragged to a Steve Miller concert, and we were seated by the walker and wheelchair section.
Yesterday there was discussion about VT Senator Bernie Sanders… Independent. He is running for reelection to his Senate seat this year. He’s 82 years old. I don’t see any net positive in holding an official position for such a long period of time, House or Senate or on the Supreme Court. Life long appointments or very secure positions in Congress, either scenario, should have a mandatory age of retirement…just maybe.
Ah, the Spice must flow and it’s good to see the Big Boss once in a while. Mazel tov. Uneffing believable.
It is clarifying that the PM of Israel seems to be regarded to be more worthy of deference than, say, the President of US (thinking of the famous “you lie!” charge at a BHO SOTU address; it’s hard to imagine that BN will utter fewer falsehoods in the upcoming address than BHO did in that one).
Lawmakers who try to interrupt Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress next week may face arrest, US House Speaker Mike Johnson warned on Friday.
Geez – I thought the law was that while in session Congress and it’s members cant face arrest for anything short of murder. Mike Johnson certainly knows how to speak out his hind orifice.
“Report of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to Charles Michel, President of the European Council”
Sounds like that Orbán thinks that the fighting will intensify and nothing will change externally until the US elections are over in November. What happens internally to the Ukraine is another matter altogether. Naturally the EU was keen to learn his direct insights for the main characters involved and what Trump might do if he becomes President. Nah – just kidding. When Orbán scheduled an informal meeting of EU foreign minsters in Budapest to expand on this report, the EU immediately scheduled a meeting of those same foreign ministers in Brussels the same day and made attendance mandatory. They are nothing but petulant children.
China? Trump says Xi wrote him ‘beautiful note’ following shooting Politico
The world needs more humanity. Trump at least still has some (not an endorsement just an observation feel free to disagree). In contrast, Neo-liberals respond with scripted neo-liberal robotic idealogues.
Has anyone watched a recent movie “Arrival” 2016 with Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker? It contains a crucial scene with an actor clearly meant to represent China’s Xi and even looks like Xi. It is a revolutionary clarifying and emotionally moving scene providing the missing link that pulls together the entire plot puzzle in one brilliant stroke. Human encounter with aliens extremely intelligent and more advanced. The human response is…sadly predictable. The lead, Amy Adams, is a linguist expert as the govt at least understands is needs to learn the language of the aliens.
The scene shocked me when I first saw. Portraying a Chinese leader as a multidimensional, humane good guy? Wow.
1000 X Yes! I just rewatched it and had totally forgotten the militaristic aspect of the plot. And the music is also amazing. Sorry but I wept at the end…
Yes I wept also The script does a not-dumbed-down yet succinct job of highlighting fundamental clashes involving morals, principles, language, meaning, methods between Amy the linguist and the military types who are running the show, as she challenges their very core language and methods telling them how dangerous and threatening they can be, are brilliant as they go to the very core of meaning and principle. The scene where she explains “war” in ancient time translates literally to “lack of cows” is a jaw dropper moment (pardon if my detail are slightly off).
Wiktionary has “Two hands on a plowshare” as ancient origin of 爭, the second character in 戰爭 “war, invasion.”
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%88%B0%E7%88%AD
A wonderful film IMO. Coincidentally today’s first few links pair nicely with the ruminations on time in ‘Arrival’:
https://www.space.com/35696-arrival-movie-alien-language-explained.html#:~:text=Circles%20are%20a%20very%20important,movie%20has%20a%20circular%20layout.
Bit disappointed how it was a religious nut that tried to sabotage first contact, just like happened with the film “Contact.” They could have tried something original. But agreed that that part with the Chinese leader was an outstanding part of that film,
Blinken, at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, looks a LOT older than in previous photos. Looks like he hasn’t even had time for a haircut recently.
It must be all the stress. He first off he has his loyalty to the Ukraine because of his family connections to that country. Then he is also loyal to Israel and when he arrived in Israel after the October attack, he immediately declared himself to be Jewish and not the US Secretary of State. And in his spare time I am sure that he is loyal to America as well. So it is kinda a three way split for him and the stress is telling.
Perhaps repeated CV infections are adding up, too. It seems that the top levels of US government are not all that safe a place to work from a “CV mitigations” perspective. JRB is presumably getting CV protection as good as anyone in USG gets, and he recently notched his 3rd publicly acknowledged infection. Shame on the Secret Service (/s)!
In local observation, many people seem beaten down. Doubtless there’s a “stupidest timeline” malaise/dread psychological aspect to it, but I suspect that there may be accumulating CV sequelae as well.
Yes. Precisely put. He looks alternately puzzled and alarmed to me. Perhaps it is nothing more than his divided loyalties whipsawing him. Of course, the fact that he has not a diplomatic bone in his body is a large factor. He is at best an over matched clerk, out of his depth from day one. The March 2021 Anchorage debacle put paid to any regard I might ever have had for him or his equally unqualified running mate, Jake Sullivan. I sometimes think of the saying, “The boys throw stones at frogs in jest, but the frogs die not in fun but in earnest.” They know not what they do, but I do not forgive them their errors.
The guy does not look like it but he is actually a thug in his behaviour with other diplomats. As an example, before the war he told Lavrov that of course the US was going to station nukes in the Ukraine and the only question was just how many. But that reminder about the Anchorage fiasco was a good reminder. Was that all his idea of what to do to the Chinese?
It’s from too much rocking in a free world.
Mecouris comes up with an interesting take on Harris replacing Biden, beginning by insulting her, but, cannot say he isn’t right. About 20 minutes in. Harris should do this. Only has to deal with the office for a few months, then live with “The First Female Person of Color to be President” for the rest of her life. It could be worth hundreds of millions, in this ex president’s market, as it stands. She’s an attractive woman, looks good on TV. Hire a good agent, and she’ll live very well, with little effort.
https://youtu.be/qQ1-GWnJAzg?si=UYv-c_OR91TNcPuV
But there’s also a public humiliation aspect, recapitulating (but probably much worse) HRC’s humiliation in 2016. And perhaps forever after remembered (wrongly, IMO; BHO deserves the credit, for his “thumb on scales” in 2020) as the person who gave us a 2nd DJT term.
She’s married to a wealthy person already; may not need the $x10^8 from a personal comfort perspective; marginal utility of money and all that.
The CNBC article linked above is worth reading, and some on the ground reports from the latest campaign event where Harris was speaking.
“… Biden as one of the most consequential presidents in history.”. Make space on Mt. Rushmore? Vomit worthy statement, just my opinion.
https://www.dw.com/en/serbia-activists-warn-of-protests-if-rio-tinto-lithium-mining-goes-ahead/a-69707176
Serbia: Protests on the cards if lithium mining goes ahead
As Olaf Scholz travels to Serbia for a summit on critical raw materials on Friday, Serbian activists have labeled their government’s decision to greenlight lithium mining “an epic crime against people and nature.”
Please run HRC! Help us, you are the only hope as one of the most qualified ever to run for high office. You win if we choose who as a candidate is least likely to die next! \Sarc
God help us, or your deity of choice if you got one in mind and heart. Good grief the cope, and the hope. This isn’t real….I hope it isn’t real.
Granting the present assumption that the election is DJT/JDV’s to lose, perhaps we powerless mopes should be rooting for a D nominee who would provide the greatest entertainment (and, n.b., “schadenfreude” is a form of entertainment) value.
HRC might score high by that metric.
Trump
Larry Johnson posted an informative 3D animation of bullet trajectories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz8xdWeLtUc
Looks like that kid got off two or three aimed shots at Trump but missed and then in frustration, sent a whole bunch of bullets downrange not caring who they hit.
It was at that moment that he knew he f*cked up.
Re: Drug Traffickers Said They Backed an Early Campaign of Mexico’s President.
They would say that, wouldn’t they? All the cited traffickers seem to be facing charges in the US. I’m rethinking my temptation to click ProPublica’s Donate button. Looks like they’ve found new donors.
Re: “If US only presses Taiwan to defend itself, Taiwanese people will reel unease.
Our Taiwanese friends feel unease over how the “defense of Ukraine to the last Ukrainian” translates into Taiwanese.
Probably something along the lines of ‘Yew Go Dai!’ Doesn’t help to know that the US has promised to blow up Taiwan’s chip factories just so the Chinese do not get them – along with the rest of the world. You wonder if they will destroy the infrastructure as well just so that they can create problems for China – while blaming them for all that damage.
In foreign policy the US has become the ultimate dog in the manger. I say again. Russia is not going to fold. Ukraine is a slaughter pen for Ukrainian bodies and the pretensions of the hubristic West. Iran is an enemy only if it is made into one. Israel is an unruly client state. Support is one thing. Giving genocide a free pass is another. Finally, do you really want to provoke a nuclear war? Climb down off your high horse, a high horse that more and more resembles Rocinante.
“Secret Service says it denied Trump additional resources even as his team complained”
Can’t confirm it but I heard that the SS guys doing security weren’t regular security detail people but those taken from other departments. This could be very well true. There is a clip of this female SS agent who has all sorts of trouble trying to holster her gun until she gave up as if she was unfamiliar with how to do it. And remember how it was only after this shooting and at Trump’s request that RJK jr was assigned a detail as well. Hopefully the SS will start training their people in how to deal with sloped roofs soon.
That concern echoes the first item (DJT detail in Butler was not his regular SS detail) in a substantial list of concerns raised in a discussion between Larry Johnson and Larry Cunningham. Here’s the text summary (the discussion, which is an hour long, is embedded in the post).
I don’t know what to make of it, but hope that it really is “stupidest timeline” level stuff and not something even more disturbing. This many goofs, if intentional, seems very disturbing, as if TPTB don’t care if it looks bad.
https://www.mlive.com/reckon/2024/07/the-secret-service-agent-who-protected-trump-is-now-the-target-of-a-vicious-body-shaming-campaign.html
The secret service agent who protected Trump is now the target of a vicious body-shaming campaign
“Some bad ass white male Marine or Army Ranger was passed over for Melissa McCarthy,”
.“So we’re just supposed to believe that the 5′5″, objectively unfit, obese woman beat out all able-bodied men for Trump’s Secret Service detail? #AbolishDEI”
“I’m so sick of DEI hires. Why is this woman Secret Service? As a woman, we don’t need woman in Secret Services. And especially ones that look like they can’t even run the mile in less than 15 minutes.”
This may be related to a concern raised in the discussion between Larry Johnson and Larry Cunningham linked in the 7/20 (just yesterday; it feels like more than one day has passed since then) NC daily news links. Their first concern is that the regular SS detail was re-assigned and new people brought in.
Re: Body camera kabuki
A promising long read. Worth a glance just for the Langston Hughes epigraph.
RE: Ready for Round 2: Why we Need Hillary more than ever The Hill
So, to recap…
In 2016, hrc and her deranged fanatics unleashed the soft coup of the Russiagate hoax on the country with the help of “cybersecurity” firm crowdstrike, which has just unleashed a shitstorm of chaos of its own on the world through its incompetence.
crowdstrike’s perfidy was also responsible for the torture and near murder of Julian Assange, who has now been freed, hrc’s wish to drone him dead notwithstanding.
twitter, social media “platform” extraordinaire, which enabled this gross criminality at the time through its censorship in conjunction with its fbi/cia overlords is now owned by Elon Musk, who has just purged the hapless crowdstrike from all of his companies’ systems in addition to pledging $45 million per month in support of Trump.
(Even zuckerberg is calling Trump an american “badass” and claiming to be staying out of the political game this time around.)
Then there is the clinton/biden/crowdstrike (founded by “ukrainian-american” alperovitch) connection to the massive money laundering operation and all around clusterfuck known as the ukrainian “war” facilitated by ftx sap sam bankman-fried.
All of which is to say that there’s a LOT of water under that “one of the most qualified people ever to run for office” bridge in the eight years since 2016 that ain’t goin’ away any time soon if Trump has anything to say about it.
I saw an amazing photo the other day of the fires from the Yemen port bombing.
Anybody able to estimate the amount of CO2e released due to the bombing/fires? It’s not my area and I’m not sure where to begin with such an estimate.
Even if this professor is correct (and his model seems impressive), at this point even if Biden legitimately won somehow—hard to believe but maybe, just maybe, the Democratic apparatus can marshal enough discipline to do so by cajoling, blackmailing and threatening voters with the ‘lesser evil’ as always—it would most likely end up in an actual civil war, since no one would believe that’s the case, and would lead to immediate and obvious charges of tampering, sabotage and fraud. Not a pretty moment for the creaking US system! Guess it’s never really much fun to be in the “end of empire” stage of empires.
“Our brain doesn’t perceive time as a clock. Instead, time flows with experiences, study finds”
This is entirely logical when you think about it since clock time is really only a recent invention but it does make me wonder . What happens if you are trapped in a job or situation where each day is more or less the same as before or those in retirement that have few interests so that the days flow into each other. I wonder how the brain perceives time then.
Peter Baker, NYT, and the, errr, drama
Shakespeare? Evoking Shakespeare?
Like the time Fred Mertz lost his mind and Desi Obama had to cut short a lucrative tour. To be “visibly shaken.”
Meanwhile, Hillary “Lucy” is touching up her makeup to give the Nation another season of madcap Shakespearean comedy. Special guest star: Jake Sullivan as Puck.