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Links 7/23/2024

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11 Extraordinary Sharks That Live in Deep Sea Waters ZME Science (Dr. Kevin)

Mysterious ‘Dark Oxygen’ Discovered at Bottom of Ocean Stuns Scientists ScienceAlert (Chuck L)

Ancient microbes offer clues to how complex life evolved ScienceDaily (Kevin W)

Could a Conflict-Borne Superbug Bring on Our Next Pandemic? Rolling Stone (Paul R)

ISU research identifies possible point of entry for avian flu in cattle Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)

Finland offering farmworkers bird flu shots KFF Health News (Robin K)

Why We Need an Immunome Eric Topol (Robin K). I pinged the Covid brain trust for reactions. KLG roused himself:

Just spent a lunch half-hour skimming the papers Topol refers to. Huge, comprehensive, and absolutely full of conventional statistics. Hypotheses are fuzzy. Trends are real, mostly minor, with very little predictive capacity for any given individual. No way this will have much clinical applicability. And it will be expensive. How to remain healthy is not a mystery. Bad luck is just that. HPV-mediated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in a tonsil, for example. The current HPV vaccines will prevent this, but not head and neck cancer caused by smoking and drinking, which has a dismal prognosis.

This reminds me of the blood tests for multiple cancers, first developed by Ken Kinzler and Bert Vogelstein at Johns Hopkins. Those are sensible and could be useful, but in one trial I read about, ~10,000 tests detected ~20 cancers. Good for those in these 20 people who could be helped. Still, early detection of a tumor in the head of the pancreas could mean successful surgery instead of death within a few months of diagnosis from the advanced version. But these have not taken the world by storm as expected. IIRC Vogelstein and Kinzler sold their company in Baltimore for more than $2 billion a few years ago, so that was a success. Hopkins no doubt has profited handsomely. The (other) Galleri version is here: https://www.galleri.com/patient/the-galleri-test/cost
Costs about $1000, not covered by insurance, naturally.

I am a natural skeptic but “-omic” sciences (e.g., genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, glycomics) have not been all that impressive to me. Computation heavy, hypothesis light. The “immunome” is an even fuzzier network problem than these examples.

Novel Vaccine Could Offer Lifetime Immunity Against Evolving Flu Strains Technology Networks (ma). Even if this works as advertised, “novel vaccine” is going to put off a lot of patients.

#COVID-19

IM Doc has lots of anecdata from oncologists in tertiary medical centers that is consistent with this claim:

Climate/Environment

The Whitest Paint Is Here & It’s the Coolest – Could Help Curb Global Warming SciTech Daily (Dr. Kevin). Sigh. I recall reading a Wall Street Journal in the early 2000s that called for painting urban roofs white and mixing titanium dioxide (white) into asphalt to increase reflection and lower surface heating, counteracting climate change. It even had some math on how low cost this would be. So why did this idea go into a black hole for two decades?

With No Recovery in Sight, Lithium Prices Force Miners to Reevaluate Output Bloomberg

China?

Bohai Bank to sell US$3.5 billion in loans to China’s bad banks in bid to shore up capital South China Morning Post

Koreas

South Korea warns North Korea will ‘pay a fatal price’ after new wave of trash balloons Independent

Weeks of escalating student protests over a quota reform for government jobs have spiraled into Bangladesh’s worst unrest in living memory with over a hundred deaths in the past few days DW

European Disunion

The basic child benefit has failed Jacobin, German edition via machine translation (Micael T)

Old Blighty

Universities face cash ‘catastrophe’ with threat of mergers and course cuts. Academics plead for emergency bailout to save jobs The Times

South of the Border

Argentine Judge Forces Milei to Distribute Stored Food Telesur (Micael T)

Developing countries face worst debt crisis in history, study shows Guardian. This humble blog has been warning of this outcome for over a year, courtesy Jomo’s posts.

Gaza

This is the same doctor who was part of the pair that reported their horrific Gaza experience to Politico. While the facts are horrible, it is important that they get out. The doctor discussed how snipers are targeting children, which the press has shied away from admitting:

Sorry this was not the original tweet I had here but Twitter has this horrible way of determinedly keep stuff on the clipboard, and I could not find the tweet I first used, which had a bit longer clip:

Polio and the destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure Mondoweiss (guurst)

Will Hezbollah and Israel Go to War? New Yorker (furzy)

How western Big Tech giants enable Israel’s occupation The Cradle (Micael T)

Finally recognizing the Israeli opioid disaster Jerusalem Post

Jordan’s quagmire: NATO sets up shop in Amman The Cradle. Micael T: “One would think that NATO is considered fools after Ukraine and outside of the collective West but apparently not.”

New Not-So-Cold War

West Admits Ukraine is Losing, Encourages Ukrainians to Fight on Anyway Brian Berletic, YouTube

American B-52 bombers intercepted near russian border in tense standoff MSN

Private creditors forgive Ukraine 20 billion euros and thus postpone its national bankruptcy Anti-Spiegel via machine translation (Micael T)

Türkiye

Erdogan threatens to build naval base in Cyprus amid tensions FirstPost

Türkiye pushes for diplomatic, economic influence in Africa Daily Sabah

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Google Won’t Be Deprecating Third-Party Cookies In Chrome After All Digital Day

Imperial Collapse Watch

Russian expert: “The world expects an era without disarmament treaties” Anti-Spiegel via machine translation (Micael T)

Geopolitics overtakes inflation at top of sovereign wealth fund worry list Reuters

The meaning of freedom and security Alex Krainer (Micael T). Lambert featured yesterday but more important than anodyne title suggests.

Biden Exits, Sort Of

Yes, I know we should probably not promote questions like this, but even one of our readers noticed the underscore to the signature was not normal for Biden. He’s not alone in wondering (see also Moon of Alabama):

Succession by Defenestration: How Biden’s Withdrawal May Trigger a 25th Amendment Fight Jonathan Turley

Biden is gone, but BlueAnon remains Aaron Mate

Harris

Is Kamala Harris’ mental health shaky? The presidential hopeful’s ‘word salads’ and inappropriate laughter could be symptoms of a little-known psychological disorder Daily Mail (Li)

* * *

Kamala Harris cannot use Biden’s election campaign funds – WaPo RT

Kamala Harris Suffers Double Polling Blow Against Donald Trump Newsweek (furzy)

Kamala Harris can’t count on American labour Financial Times

Trump Assassination Attempt Post Mortem

Live updates: Secret Service director grilled over Trump shooting The Hill. I can’t believe she is still in her post. She must have the 5×7 glossies on the Bidens from all the SS supervision. An instance of hair smelling gone too far? Or maybe they know who that cocaine found in the White House belongs to?

Mace moves to force a vote on impeaching Secret Service director The Hill. Paul R: “Someone on Lemmy: “peak performative pearl clutching”.

Note the contact URL. This is not a bunch of randos:

Our No Longer Free Press

Hugo Mercier says we’ve been misinformed about misinformation Freethink. Micael T: “Again blaming the people for failing to believe our misleadership. A radical idea: how about people in power were to have words and actions coincide? Maybe trust would be established and there would be no misinformation?”

Meta Risks Sanctions Over ‘Sneaky’ Ad-Free Plans Confusing Users, EU Says ars technica

‘Google says I’m a dead physicist’: is the world’s biggest search engine broken? Guardian (Kevin W). So it’s not until errors this big arise that people take notice?

AI

We Need An FDA For Artificial Intelligence Nomea (Micael T)

Crowdstrike 404

Insurers can withstand loss from CrowdStrike chaos: Fitch Anadolu Agency

Recession pop’ is in: Why so many listeners are returning to music from darker economic times CNBC

The Bezzle

Investing in Opportunity Zones Alts (Micael T)

NullShip selling counterfeit postal labels, FreightWaves investigation finds FreightWaves. Lance N:

Someone advertised themselves as a logistics company, and sold their customers fraudulent shipping labels. UPS/USPS confiscated some of the packages, and the company said “oh this happens sometimes”. Amazing.

Boeing Expects Its Pilotless Air-Taxi To Begin Carrying Passengers ‘Later In the Decade’ Reuters

Guillotine Watch

Billionaires’ utopia company California Forever scraps plan for ballot initiative in wake of damning report Mercury News (furzy). Notice the URL, which presumably was the original headline.

Silicon Valley Investors’ Plans for a New City Put on Hold New York Times (furzy)

Class Warfare

Our obsession with ownership Steve Keen (Micael T)

Antidote du jour. Alan T’s poms, ready for a road trip:

And a bonus:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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44 comments

  1. Antifa

    PALESTINE
    (melody borrowed from Red Red Wine  by Neil Diamond, as performed by UB40)

    Palestine
    One million dead
    Decades of genocide
    The world sees it so

    Palestine
    Not only for the Jew
    This land’s for everyone
    It always was so
    Always was so

    To be born in our time
    Is to live as walking dead
    Death is always in mind
    It’s a thing no child forgets

    Palestine
    River to sea
    This is the land I love
    The Jews have no heart
    One day they’ll depart

    As we mourn each war crime
    Weary stunned and underfed
    We’re not lost or resigned
    We’ll be free as we have said

    Palestine
    River to sea
    This is the land I love
    The Jews have no heart
    One day they’ll depart

    Palestine
    River to sea
    This is the land I love
    The Jews have no heart
    One day they’ll depart

    Reply ↓
  2. zagonostra

    Gaza – While the facts are horrible, it is important that they get out. The doctor discussed how snipers are targeting children, which the press has shied away from admitting:

    Someone who won’t shy away from admitting the carnage and slaughter of children is Rep. Brian J. Mast of Florida District 21. I happened to be on an Allegiant flight from PBI to PIT yesterday morning and on the adjacent flight preparing for take-off from PBI to DCA was Rep. Mast. His two prosthetic legs made him easy to identify in the crowd. He wore a neatly pressed suit with a pink striped tie and a button on his label. I accosted him and told him that the images of children being slaughtered with aid from the U.S. made me sick, that there has to be a better solution to achieve peace. I asked how he could justify such horrendous killing of civilians whose images come to me each day on my phone. He was unperturbed, face smooth and calm with a patronizing smile playing on his lips. He told me wars kill people, including innocents. I protested that this wasn’t a war, that the Palestinians huddled in tents have no weapons. The conversation went back and forth and lasted a couple of minutes ranging over various topics.

    In retrospect, I’m ashamed that after the repartee and back and forth, when he stuck out his hand to shake mine, I took it. I should have walked away. As I waited in line I could see him in line talking amicably with a constituent. Unlike the press, Rep Brian J. Mast doesn’t shy away from the bloodshed of innocent, he told me himself that we are at war and that Israel is an ally and we need to support them no matter the slaughter of innocents.

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  3. Terry Flynn

    Re UK uni catastrohpe re universities. Good.

    The polytechnics should never have been relabelled as universities (in the name of some egalitarian nonsense) during the 1980s. They served a valuable role as they were, producing people who had far more practical or applied skills. Only the most blind can fail to see that we need trained electricians, plumbers and a host of others with “higher level skills that are nevertheless not deemed to be worthy”.

    Members of my family went mental when I entertained thoughts of going to a polytechnic to learn applied skills regarding accountancy/book-keeping and business studies rather than the “proper subject” (Economics) at a “proper university”. I then spent 20 years unlearning the dross that Cambridge University taught me. Fundamental rethink required.

    Reply ↓
    1. Colonel Smithers

      Thank you, Terry.

      I don’t disagree.

      It will be interesting to see what happens.

      The Blair business empire was first founded on lets in university towns, especially Bristol and Manchester. Therefore, a bail out may suit the family.

      Euan Blair, the eldest child, has vocational training and AI businesses, including the Sunaks as minority investors, so may want competition from universities out of the way.

      One wonders what Blair will counsel Starmer.

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    2. .Tom

      > Fundamental rethink required

      Abolish the universities, I say. What social benefit do they offer? Mostly they manufacture class division and produce the trustworthy minions for maintenance of the status quo.

      Reply ↓
    3. Aurelien

      I have to agree. I remember the relabelling episode well, not least because there was a great deal of sark at the time about the PR changes to institutional names: South-East Staffordshire Polytechnic becomes University of Central England, and such. But more importantly, the relabelling simply encouraged the Polys even further down the road of aping universities and dropping their original functions, and by sleight of hand made it look as though a far higher proportion of young people in the UK were in university.

      The reality is that only about 20% of young people are fitted for university courses, and it’s cruel and misleading to tell others that they are. Those others are better off elsewhere, learning something useful and avoiding crushing student debts. I don’t think Blair ever realised that if you make universities into private-sector operations, they could go bankrupt. Clever, that.

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    2. Yves Smith Post author

      Sorry!! Sort of fixed. Could not find original tweet but have another there with the key video footage.

      I HATE what Twitter has done to its embed function. This was a Musk change. It used to be that an embed was a one-click operation. Now it takes 3 clicks. And critically, Twitter does NOT like replacing an earlier embed with a new one, so all the time I wind up duplicating embeds and not always catching it.

      Reply ↓
  5. Mikerw0

    In regards to lithium, no one should be surprised, at all. I have been involved with commodities as an investor (from various platforms) for over 40 years. What few people fail to talk about is where these futures markets came from, as in what their original purpose was, what they have become and how mining companies think.

    In short, commodity markets are actually pretty thin. So, when a group of investors, typically hedge funds, decide to play in one, they quickly move the price — by a lot. So when EVs and the batteries they require were going to be all the rage they went long cobalt. The price broke its typical range in the mid $30,000/mt and shot up to over $80,000. Oops. As soon as it wasn’t the next hot thing the trade completely unwound.

    Miners see the world very differently. They typically look at the long term average price (usually not recovering inflation, because that is what the data says happens), and not the short term price in deciding to make a investment in new production. In same ways an over simplification, but the basics are correct. They are humans after all and when they see a price below what they think is required to justify the investment they tend to delay. Remember, in takes years of planning, engineering, etc. to bring on mining capacity (and for some ores well over a decade to do so).

    Reply ↓
    1. i just don't like the gravy

      Thank you for your comment – any suggestions on further reading related to mineral commodity markets? I’m fairly familiar with ag commodities due to previous professional work & my own interests (“Invisible Giant” is a short read and highly recommended to the NC commentariat).

      Reply ↓
  6. Jake

    “Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett says she’s “not confident at all” in Kamala’s chances — because “behind closed doors,” Democrats are saying “it can’t be her.” Yikes!”

    To me, Kamala is already disqualified. She has been in Joe’s orbit, she knew what was going on, but she went along because she hoped to take over after Joe dies. This whole thing is so bad for the Democrat party. They shouldn’t be allowed to exist after keeping Joe in place when they all had to know how bad he had gotten. The whole thing was a bait and switch to make sure no real progressive could jump in the mix, or even attempt to. As it has been most of my life, this is a time when the Republican party should be cratering, but the Democrat party is so ridiculous that they make the Repubs look like a better choice. Democrats won’t govern, they only know how to scream “Look how bad THOSE OTHER GUYS are!!!!!!!!!111.”

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    1. DJG, Reality Czar

      Jake: You should see my Fcbk feed, mon frère. It is like 2015 / 2016 all over again. My head was spinning from the déjà vu, because August White Chicks are already out in force lecturing people on the evils of Trump and on how one must vote. Otherwise, one is showing one’s “privilege.”

      Yes, being a leftist is a “privilege.” Doncha know?

      Meanwhile, Biden fanbois seem to be twirling, twirling, and, well, twirling.

      It is not a winning tactic, but I expect Fcbk to be a swamp for the rest of 2024.

      And there will be no discussion of the wars in Ukraine, Palestine, and (impending) China, because that would impair their sterling qualities.

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    2. Carolinian

      Scream and do other things. Funny how the Black Lives Matter protests simply stopped after Biden became president. One might suspect that they were really about Trump who had little control over local police and their abuses.

      That doesn’t make the grievances that were being protested untrue, but some of the protest means, the leadership, the sponsors?? During Biden political arguments were even injected into health care with legitimate questions about the vaccines and Covid policy tagged as MAGA “disinformation.” We have devolved into partisanship instead of government.

      Reply ↓
  7. disc_writes

    Re: Sarco

    I could find nowhere on the interwebs that the Swiss will offer it as a way out for poor citizens. The articles I find only say that the Sarco might be used this year for the first time.

    Note that the Swiss welfare state is generous enough that a ll Swiss citizens can afford necessities. It seems quite unlikely that they may encourage suicide for less well-off.

    A few Swiss MDs assist people who want to die, but the selection is usually quite strict and based on their customers’ health, not their bank account.

    So if there is a Swiss source reporting this, please link to it. Otherwise, the tweet is at the very least misleading.

    Reply ↓
    1. vao

      I can confirm that the tweet is utter rubbish — if there is an example of fake news, then this is it.

      1) The legality of the Sarcopod in Switzerland has not been settled. Switzerland is a federal State where health care is the responsibility of cantons — and at least two of them have already officially forbidden the use of the Sarcopod under threat of criminal prosecution. The approval of pharmaceutical products and medical devices is a responsibility of the federal government, but Swissmedic, the equivalent of the FDA, has already stated that the approval of the Sarcopod is outside its purview, since it serves to kill a person, instead of curing or alleviating an ailment.

      2) The Sarcopod has not been used yet; its inventor hopes that the first application will take place this year. He chose Switzerland because of its liberal legal framework regarding assisted suicide. Unfortunately for him, the established organizations that have (many years ago) set up assisted suicide operations in Switzerland — such as Exit and Lifecircle — are dead set against the Sarcopod, since it contradicts all the principles of euthanasia in the country (among others: process controlled by a physician, possibility for the dying person to keep in touch with his friends/relatives till the very end).

      3) The $20 is a complete misunderstanding of the situation. The Sarcopod is a, well, pod, within which a person lies. Death occurs when a capsule releases nitrogen that ends up displacing oxygen in the lungs, and hence choking the person. The cost of such nitrogen capsules is CHF18, which corresponds to the USD20 mentioned in the tweet. The inventor of the Sarcopod has declared he wants to make it available for free, excluding the cost of the nitrogen capsule — i.e. people would pay CHF18 to get euthanasied.

      That is all there is to it. A complete treatment (in German) of the topic can be read here.

      Reply ↓
      1. Yves Smith Post author

        Sorry, a reader sent this. It’s the second time he’s sent me bad information. Not intentional (he’s been a follower for many many years) but lack of discernment.

        Reply ↓
  9. Samuel Conner

    Re: COVID and brain damage, I’ve been wondering since early in the pandemic, when reports of “brain fog” started to appear, what affect this would have on university-based research and academic careers.

    That is a highly competitive career path and I would think that universities would have an interest in “best practices” to protect their valuable faculty, and the faculty themselves would have an interest in protecting their own cognitive function for the sake of maximizing their research outputs and grants inflows.

    I get the impression (from NC commenters like, IIRC, petal, that even at elite universities, there is a relaxed approach to “personal safety” for staff, faculty and students.

    I have difficulty understanding this. Students spend $x10^5 to obtain a credential (and, presumably, an education) in some field that (surely) requires good cognitive function, but don’t take zealous measures to protect their own cognitive function.

    What is going on?

    Reply ↓
    2. Louis Fyne

      it costs a * lot* of money to put in true-HEPA quality HVAC in an institutional building.

      it is rare to get a bonus for spending a lot of money to prevent a mess—this is one of those iron laws of institutions, maybe it’s already a named “razor”.

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    3. Louis Fyne

      getting HEPA-clean air in an non-HEPA institutional building is not just a matter of slapping different filters and calling it a day. and i bet a provost is loath to buy one hepa machine for every cubicle.

      at home too. don’t just slap the highest rated HEPA filter in the blower slot—your furnace may not be able to handle the restriction of airflow. check the specs of the unit.

      at home, you need dedicated machines and/or Corsi boxes

      Reply ↓
    4. Samuel Conner

      Thank you, GramSci and Louis.

      I see how there could be institutional resistance to public acknowledgement that an institution’s work and study environments are hazardous to the brain health of workers and students. And the further that can is kicked down the road, the stronger the incentive to keep kicking it.

      I remain puzzled at what I interpret to be a lack of individual initiative to undertake self-protective measures. I get the impression from petal’s reports from her institution that there is not a lot of masking. I appreciate that not everyone is as well-informed about CV hazards as is the readership of NC, but reports of cognitive impairments, going back to the first year of the pandemic, are surely not invisible to these people.

      It makes me feel a bit anxious about how these people will approach “risk management” in their future areas of work responsibility.

      Reply ↓
    5. i just don't like the gravy

      Yes, based on personal experience the “elite” universities are no different. You still see masks but they are about as frequent as anywhere else in society.

      I firsthand noticed cognitive decline in both students and professors/research staff alike. Simultaneously astounding and terrifying.

      Give it another year or two of more infections and these supposedly elite individuals might finally realize they are significantly dumber than before.

      Edit for examples: the oft-described brain fog; reduced ability to remember conversations and/or information from a week+ in the past; difficulty in discussion remaining focused and able to hold abstract ideas without being asked to repeat what you said; quick to be irritated, and lack of patience generally; attraction to outlandish fantasy, such as “AI” which I saw captured the gullible minds of people I previously thought immune to BS marketing.

      Reply ↓
  11. TomDority

    The Whitest Paint Is Here & It’s the Coolest – Could Help Curb Global Warming SciTech Daily
    Now, if they can figure out a way to keep it clean for more than a few weeks – might go somewhere then.

    Reply ↓
    1. Carolinian

      Prob is that in the 1950s Bauhaus to Our House era lots of buildings had flat roofs whereas now my town is replaceing some of those buildings with retro style buildings that have sloped roofs (flat roofs often leak). If I paint my roof blindingly white the neighbors might object.

      Reply ↓
    2. Benny Profane

      Many towns in Southern Spain are known as the White towns, due to the ubiquitous use of white paint everywhere.

      Reply ↓
  12. William Beyer

    The Whitest Paint Is Here & It’s the Coolest – Could Help Curb Global Warming?

    In fact, 3M was advertising the benefits of white roofing in the early 1950s in the pages of Northwest Architect magazine.

    Reply ↓
  13. eg

    “Kamala Harris can’t count on American labour” because American labour can’t count on Kamala Harris …

    Reply ↓
  14. Kevin Smith

    re: Why We Need an Immunome
    The other problem with screening tests which detect, for example, ~20 cases in ~10,000 patients is that you will also generate a WHOLE LOT OF false-positives, which will lead to ALL SORTS OF ADDITIONAL TESTING AND CONSULTATIONS, making your total cost per positive test VERY HIGH.

    We do NOT have unlimited resources, so choices will have to be made …

    Reply ↓
  15. Cassandra

    Re: the twit questioning Biden’s signature. Given that it is a fuzzy image, all of the executive orders offered for comparison seem to have the exact signature, indicating that they were robosigned. If, indeed, they are actual images and not manufactured for the twit… It also is a remarkably clean signature for someone with advanced dementia.

    Which is not to say that the situation isn’t exceedingly fishy, just that it may be years since the man actually carried out executive duties.

    Reply ↓
    1. Cassandra

      OK, I went and looked up the original documents. I didn’t do an exact comparison of the images, but it looks like a robosignature, perhaps captured at the beginning of his term or even as vice-president. This may be standard practice as opposed to the performative bill-signing with the souvenir pen.

      Reply ↓
    2. Dr. John Carpenter

      To me, it’s not just the signature. It’s the whole thing: The abrupt turnaround on this after being so adamant he wasn’t dropping out. The fact that he resigned from the race via Tweet and I’ve read this was how people in the campaign found out. We still haven’t seen or heard from him since, aside from a call at a Kamala appearance that could have been a recording (and she even slips and says recording at one point.) The fact that they don’t have a plan B lined up yet..on and on and on.

      I don’t mean to sound conspiratorial, but after all the gaslighting and lying about Biden’s condition over the last four years it would be insane to take them at face value now.

      Reply ↓
  16. communistmole

    The tweet about the Sarco capsule is quite misleading.

    Switzerland is known to have a very liberal legal situation when it comes to euthanasia, which is due to the federal system that gives the cantons considerable rights.

    The organization The Last Resort, which offers this capsule for dying, held a press conference in Zurich and confirmed that it is in talks with several cantons, but did not give any specific details.

    Since then, there has been some discussion – Exit, the oldest and best-known euthanasia organization, for example, is against it – and some also fear that Sarco could jeopardize the liberal Swiss euthanasia system or at least trigger regulations.

    Euthanasia is gaining popularity in Switzerland because many old people want to die in a self-determined way, and poverty in Switzerland is not a question of age, but of class.

    Reply ↓
  17. Carolinian

    Re that RT on the campaign funds–here’s the original WaPo story with a little extra detail.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/21/biden-harris-campaign-dollars-legal-challenge/

    Because Harris’s name was listed on the Biden campaign committee’s paperwork — and because she would still be running in the general election if she becomes the party’s nominee — former FEC chairman Trevor Potter said he does not think Harris would have to return those general election contributions.

    But, Potter added, “that has never been tested, because we’ve never had a situation like this.”

    The gist is that current law says the transfer allowed only after the ticket formally selected at the convention. After all Biden could have gotten the nomination and then he or the party selected a different VP to run with him.

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  18. TomDority

    “Our obsession with ownership
    Our need to own a home is pushing prices ever higher.” Steve Keen (Micael T)
    Maybe our need for shelter is being taken advantage by speculative investors which is pushing prices up.
    A little bit of history repeating —
    “The gloom is fading from the real estate situation. More nibbles during the last few weeks than the last three years. If January brings us good rains, this next year will open the door to the sunshine – a case of rain bringing the sun.
    It is to be hoped, however, that there will never be another boom. The crash of the boom of 1923 was due to the same causes that wrecked the wall street stock market. People sold what they did not own. They made a payment down in the hope of getting the property off their hands before it began to burn. Real estate fell into the hands of sharp-shooting gamblers who had no interest in land. To them it was just a pile of blue chips on a roulette wheel.”

    Reply ↓
  19. LawnDart

    Re; Boeing Expects Its Pilotless Air-Taxi To Begin Carrying Passengers ‘Later In the Decade’

    Wisk is developing a four-seater autonomous aircraft that will have a range of 90 miles (145 km).

    Wisk’s strategy is a departure from other major air-taxi makers, which are developing models that will require a pilot to fly the aircraft. The company has said operators of its aircraft will save on pilot costs.

    But industry experts at Bain say a full autonomous passenger flight is not expected before the late 2030s and pilotless aircraft will face competition from autonomous vehicles on the road.

    Meanwhile, in China…

    China moves closer to launching flying taxi services as EHang seeks Beijing’s go-ahead

    The CAAC earlier this year granted EHang’s EH216-S the country’s first production certificate for a passenger-transport eVTOL aircraft. The same pilotless aircraft obtained its type and standard airworthiness certificates – both required for commercial operations – from the CAAC last year.

    Nasdaq-listed EHang’s successful certification initiatives mark a breakthrough in mainland China’s multipronged effort to establish the nation’s low-altitude economy, covering a wide range of industries related to manned and unmanned eVTOL aircraft operating below an altitude of 1,000 metres.

    Recognised as a strategic emerging industry at the tone-setting central economic work conference in December, the low-altitude economy has seen heavy investment and policy support from Beijing – in similar fashion to the country’s electric vehicle sector.

    https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3271569/china-moves-closer-launching-flying-taxi-services-ehang-seeks-beijings-go-ahead

    China is easily a decade or more ahead of the US with regards to this tech. This Chinese aircraft has many more advantages over Boeing’s Wisk: it has been flying for several years without incident, it is simpler and of safer-design, it’s low-cost, it’s autonomous, and it is officially begining commercial operations/flights within the next few months– not several years away.

    Also note that Wisk’s aircraft utilizes tilt-rotors. These are utilized by the much-maligned Osprey as well, and are known to cause unstable flight charactetistics during transition from vertical to horizontal positioning.

    Will the FAA rush approvals for Wisk and other US eVTOLs at the expense of safety in order to “compete” with China?

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  20. DJG, Reality Czar

    Estee Palti and Mike Sperrazza vids:

    Damn, they are funny. And salty.

    I am reminded that during dire times, as when Hades kidnaps Persephone, and the goddess Demeter is in mourning, one can break through the mess with some obscenity.

    Goddess Baubo, Expository, ora pro nobis.

    The fragment which mentions Baubo’s anasyrma is from an Orphic hymn and is five hexameters in length.[12] It is preserved in the Protrepticus of Clement of Alexandria, written in the second century CE:[13]

    This said, she drew aside her robes, and showed
    A sight of shame; child Iacchus was there,
    And laughing, plunged her hand below her breasts.
    Then smiled the goddess, in her heart she smiled,
    And drank the draught from out that glancing cup.[14]

    [From the wikipedia entry, Baubo. Wiki has its uses, eh.]

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  21. Benny Profane

    I’m not the only one to think we are living in a very bizarre moment in history. Matt Taibbi agrees with his latest substack, but I have no idea how to link it, and it’s behind a paywall anyway. Who’s Running This Country? He always comes up with some great snark, and I love this: “To say a president breaking up with America via digital post-it note is bizarre is a massive understatement.” I mean, he dropped out of contention, and sight, by way of a Twitter post! A Twitter post that seemed to surprise his Twitter manager! WTF? And all I see on the front of the NYT this morning is Harris campaign material that the editors sent out orders for the kids to write up, fast. Not, where the hell is our President? We’re lobbing missiles into Russian territory and Netanyahu is about to fly in to DC and try to drum up support for a war with Iran as the genocide continues! All this after it’s starting to look pretty plausible that somebody besides a 20 year old dork from Butler tried to kill Trump. I know we can’t count on the MSM to even try telling us the truth, but this is getting absurd. I smell a real nasty false flag coming around the corner, and I usually laugh off most “conspiracy” theories.

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  22. Mr. Woo

    I was wondering why the blackstone tweet was posted when there are user comments attached to the tweet showing the story is 4 years old.

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  23. ilsm

    In 10 days we have observed a failed assassination [despite the total ineptitude of security apparatus], and a successful [inadequate/partial] coup both attempts arguably benefitting the deep state.

    e rest of the Biden coup, 25th amendmenting Biden would not benefit the deep state.

    The loyal opposition must push the 25 th Amendment! cui bono? The deep state.

    This election is deep state vs America

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