Links 8/17/2024

More Than 4,000 Moth Species Flit Across Texas. One Scientist Photographed 550 in His Yard. Texas Monthly

Girl discovers dinosaur footprints on beach walk BBC

Demystifying Sovereign Wealth Funds JSTOR Daily

Climate

From growth fetish to post-growth Democracy Collaborative

Public EV Charging Sees Consistent Progress for Two Consecutive Quarters, J.D. Power Finds (press release) J.D. Power

Massive analysis of EV charging stations finds reliability issues galore Tech Brew. Commentary:

Catalogue for the Aftertime Via Negativa

Syndemics

What’s in your Covid Emergency Kit? Violet Blue

* * *

Why You Don’t Need to Panic About Mpox Jessica Wildfire, OK Doomer

Mpox And Mask Bans – A Recipe For Disaster Judy Stone, Forbes. See NC on mask bans here and here. Meanwhile:

Schools have made slow progress on record absenteeism, with millions of kids still skipping class AP

China?

China’s anti-corruption net has risk-averse officials afraid to innovate South China Morning Post

China’s countryside calls to city-dwellers: settle in, relax and revitalise rural regions South China Morning Post

The Koreas

Made in Korea: When a British boy band got the K-pop treatment BBC

Syraqistan

Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian village (video) Al Jazeera

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Biden says Gaza ceasefire in sight, warns against efforts to undermine deal Al Jazeera

US-led mediators present ‘bridging proposal’ to end Israel-Hamas war FT

Israeli negotiating team to travel to Cairo on Sunday to continue Gaza cease-fire talk Anadolu Agency

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How Pro-Israel Groups Shape Global Media Coverage of Palestine Declassified UK

‘The Golan won’t accept any killing or regional war in our victims’ names’ 972 Magazine

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Zero States for Two Peoples? Jewish Thinkers Are Pondering a Mass Return to Exile Haaretz

The Great Game

‘An island of freedom’: Inside the secret beauty salons of Afghanistan Al JazeeraT

Dear Old Blighty

‘Strike pain’ and ‘has Labour lost control of the unions?’ BBC

Never forget Labour’s ugly biases Funding the Future

New Not-So-Cold War

As Ukraine Invades Russia, Kyiv’s Troops Are in Trouble on the Eastern Front WSJ

Ukraine orders evacuation in east amid steady Russian gains FT

Ukraine war: as Russian troops close in, Kyiv urges civilians to evacuate Pokrovsk South China Morning Post

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Ukraine on the Offensive Nataliya Gumenyuk, Foreign Affairs

The Kursk Offensive and the Risk of a Wider War The American Conservative

What Military History Tells Us About Ukraine’s Kursk Invasion RAND

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Dmitry Trenin: This European region could be the next Ukraine RT

Biden Hints at Major Missile Upgrade For Ukraine’s New F-16 Fleet Military Watch

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry denies Russian allegations of planned “dirty bomb” strikes Ukrainska Pravda

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US oil services group SLB expands in Russia as competitors withdraw FT

South of the Border

Ecuador slams vice president’s gender complaint against President Noboa as coup attempt BNE Intellinews

2024

Gov. Tim Walz shares his ‘white guy’ taco recipe with VP Kamala Harris FOX

Why Dem lawmakers are giving Harris a pass on policy proposals Politico

Election officials keep Green Party presidential candidate on Wisconsin ballot AP

Healthcare

Heartbreaking reality of fit patients in their 20s being hit with colon cancer is laid bare by oncologist who reveals his ‘critical’ discovery about the cause Daily Mail

Digital Watch

Has your paper been used to train an AI model? Almost certainly Nature

Nvidia Sued for Scraping YouTube After 404 Media Investigation 404 Media

Hidden data could reveal if an AI model was trained on copyrighted material Imperial College. Copyright traps.

Mosaic Memory: Fuzzy Duplication in Copyright Traps for Large Language Models Igor Shilov, Matthieu Meeus, Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye, Imperial College arXiv. From the Abstract: “Copyright traps have been proposed to be injected into the original content, improving content detectability in newly released LLMs.”

Defending AI Systems From Malicious Data Poisoning Attacks CMB Insurance Brokers

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Will we run out of data? Limits of LLM scaling based on human-generated data arXiv. From the Abstract: “Our findings indicate that if current LLM development trends continue, models will be trained on datasets roughly equal in size to the available stock of public human text data between 2026 and 2032, or slightly earlier if models are overtrained.”

How to Tell If What You’re Reading Was Written By AI LifeHacker

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California trims AI safety bill amid fears of tech exodus The Register

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AI Gone Wrong: An Updated List of AI Errors, Mistakes and Failures Tech.co

These cool but creepy features of AI phones will erode trust in everything Business Standard

Zeitgeist Watch

Buddhist Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path: Śāntideva on Virtue and Well-Being Philosophical Reviews

Buddhist Anarchism: Theory and Practice The Anarchist Library

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Abstract representations emerge in human hippocampal neurons during inference Nature. From the Abstract: “Learning to perform inference by trial and error or through verbal instructions led to the formation of hippocampal representations with similar geometric properties. The observed relation between representational format and inference behaviour suggests that abstract and disentangled representational geometries are important for complex cognition.”

Photon entanglement could explain the rapid brain signals behind consciousness Phys.org. “A research group in China has shown that many entangled photons can be generated inside the myelin sheath that covers nerve fibers. It could explain the rapid communication between neurons, which so far has been thought to be below the speed of sound, too slow to explain how the neural synchronization occurs.”

Class Warfare

Minnesota Workers Strike Down Shady Provision That Restricts Their Freedom of Employment Workday Magazine

Mastercard planning to lower global workforce by 3% Anadolu Agency

‘Pig Butchering’ Online Scams Are Proliferating. Here’s Why They Work So Well. WSJ

Antidote du jour (Barry Aumiller):

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.

212 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Gov. Tim Walz shares his ‘white guy’ taco recipe with VP Kamala Harris’

    He forgot the part of the recipe where he turns to Hillary and borrows some of her hot sauce from her handbag.

    1. Lou Anton

      Who knew the (D) next to Walz’s name stood for Dad Jokes?

      Also, Harris’ line of “what is that, like mayonnaise and tuna?” was pretty funny too.

      1. Pat

        I now wonder what would have fueled the dark memes for our time if Benioff and Weiss had not adapted Martin’s dark dystopian fantasy for HBO.

      2. Paleobotanist

        Chère Madame Yves,

        I was eating my lunch when I clicked that link, fortunately salad. I will be off my kibble for awhile. Sigh.

    2. Wukchumni

      My dad for some reason detested Mexican food, I think because he was from the old country where they fed corn to pigs, it turned him off.

      It was kind of a family joke, because the rest of us adored it, although mom being from the other end of the border practically ensured that all we ever got from her were hard shell tacos with ground beef and I dare say sections of itty bitty tomatoes and more iceberg lettuce than could ever be needed, it was Can-Mex at its finest.

    1. Pat

      With the uproar with artists upset about the use of their music for rallies, I have to wonder if regular people who spent the time and effort to do something like recreate the Travolta dance with two white dudes in suits will get upset (and have any traction to do anything about it) when someone uses a cheap AI filter to plaster someone else’s face on the dudes in order to make a political statement to get some social media credit.

      (Mostly because I cannot imagine going to all that effort to suddenly have Trump and Musk’s ugly mugs on it. Although it could be worse it could be Clinton and Biden’s. ;-) )

  2. doug

    My news review started with a smiling picture of Bernie telling us that the D presidential candidate has ‘strong progressive agenda’. Ok. Whatever…

    1. Samuel Conner

      an “agenda” is just a list, in this case a “list of things to ‘fight for.’ ” No actual victories in sight, one suspects. It’s the journey that matters, not the destination. /s

    2. Mark Gisleson

      Misread that as “strong progressive gender” at first. The more I think about it, the more I think “agenda” was a typo.

    3. Jason Boxman

      As I recall, someone drove off with Obama’s agenda, and later the same happened to Biden! But not this time!

  3. griffen

    Cancer research article…yeah that is astounding. Particularly when it’s happening to younger fit, active adults only into the middle 20s and early 30s. I ate a lot of “crap food” at that stage, but also suspect an active thyroid kept my metabolism unusually high…even then I was active several days per week and not terribly sedentary outside of work hours.

    Lots of rationale and reasoning… livestock cafo practices I am certain aren’t a boost. I eat a lot of chicken but it’s mostly take out, yeah I know that’s nothing ideal. I’m at that point where a colonoscopy is in my future. Added, an angry or an inflamed gut is very uncomfortable. I really should eat yogurt or similar cultured or fermented foods more frequently.

    1. Lunker Walleye

      My neighbor’s son died at age 29 from colo rectal cancer. He was a good person and extremely athletic with a fiancée and he had a good future. Sam was diagnosed at Stage IV. He passed three years ago last month. RIP Sam.

  4. bertl

    “This European region could be the next Ukraine”. Must admit, I’ve never really seen the point of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania other than as means to absorb the EU’s cash, and to provide excuses for waging future proxy wars with Russia, not to mention their role as obstacles to Russia’s ease of access to the Kaliningrad Oblast.

    Also each of the three have laws discriminating heavily against “non-national groups”, like Poles, Russians and their descendants who’ve lived there through the Soviet years, plus they have arguably even more dangerous, war-crazed politicians than the rest of the EU put together, and their rhetoric and continuous demands for NATO action against Russia positively invite a quick, successful and bloody war to secure Russia’s Baltic border.

    And it would be one very effective way to make it clear to other European leaders that it’s best to play nicely with Russia or, better yet, to ignore the bloody place whilst it gets on with helping create a prosperous future for the Rest through, inter alia, BRICS, while it watches the West rot in it’s own exceptionalist self-righteous and self-defeating cupidity.

    1. Frank

      I’m not really a Russian imperialist, but I agree with your comment wholeheartedly. Russia might have to take out the Baltics as a matter of principle more than practicality. Small nations living next to large, powerful ones have an onus to behave responsibly and the Baltics are failing at this task rather sorely. But I think Moldova will be addressed before the Baltics, assuming a comprehensive defeat of Ukraine.

      1. John

        The Baltics prove the insanity of NATO expansion. Finland joining NATO confirms that insanity. Small nations sucked into the US/NATOstan fixation on the strategic defeat of Russia.

      2. Kouros

        Why do you think Moldova will be addressed before the Balts, because it is not in NATO?

        That can be arranged in 3 days, with the re-unification of Moldova and Romania (which has the western, biggar part of historical principality of Moldova within its borders)…

        1. bertl

          Not so easy because of Transnistria, although I agree with the concept of an Odessa, Transnistria and Moldova corridor linking with the Hungarian communities of the Zakarpattia Oblast which will become a part of Hungary, thus giving Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova the opportunity to develop much more productive relationships with Russia and the rest of BRICS than they can ever enjoy with a withering EU.

          My guess is that most of the formerly Soviet controlled territories of the USSR, and some which weren’t, will probably gravitate towards and end up in BRICS and establish normal, mutually comfortable political, economic and cultural links with Russia.

          After the insanity of Kursk, it is difficult to see Russia refusing in any way to allow the break up of what is left of the Western Ukraine rump allowing Poland, Romania and Hungary to each get their slice of the borderlands pie and they can deal with the Banderites on their territory as they see fit.

    2. Kouros

      If Luxembourg can be a country, then the Baltic States can have their countries, if I am concerned. However, indulging their histericals and the treatment of their own citizens is really of the mark and of course, EU does nothing to curtail that. But hey, Hungary…

  5. Captain Obvious

    Massive analysis of EV charging stations finds reliability issues galore Tech Brew.

    Who could have guessed that tech bros aren’t really into interoperability and reliability, but stuff like vendor lock-in and planned obsolescence.

    1. .human

      In a previous life as a break/fix technician, I serviced some of the early rollout of this equipment. There were always communications and network problems, including having to get a hold of the correct vendor and remote tech responsible for a specific issue, software freezes, hardware failures and the occasional vehicle damage as these charging stations are usually in busy shopping and parking areas. In addition, the power transfer equipment was often in an unsecured area where anybody could enter and just shut equipment down. It’s been years so I don’t know if anything has changed.

  6. Pilar

    Love that Tim Walz recipe. Reminds me of when I would visit my grandma in Nebraska when I was little. I mostly grew up eating Filipino and Japanese food so it was such a fun treat to eat a bunch of stuff out of cans thrown into a baked casserole.

    1. Bugs

      Considering the FoxNews viewership demographic, the piece is rather sympathetic to Walz.

      My very conservative (libertarian, ugh) sib said that Walz is “utter scum, the worst kind”. Hard for me to understand the aggressive view but whatever.

      Of course, my sib’s partner is Asian-American, and loves spicy and “exotic” cuisine, as long as it’s “clean”. Weird.

    1. Ignacio

      Alternatively you can placidly miss this utterly forgettable read that comes as the next idiotic effort to justify the next idiotic military move planned by the CW. In this case it is justified because audacity (supposedly) brings an advantage. That’s it all about.

      1. lyman alpha blob

        You got me to skim the first couple paragraphs, where Ukrainian ‘boldness’ is heavily lauded.

        I would just remind readers that Pliny the Elder, the Roman credited with uttering the phrase “Fortune favors the bold”, said this just before sailing a ship toward an erupting Vesuvius and wound up dead shortly thereafter.

          1. Kouros

            Yup, apparently the number of Russian men volunteering to join the army has doubled since Kursk. I guess they reached the conclusion that Ukies must be finished once and for all…

      2. Lefty Godot

        Hoping to blow up the spent fuel pools of a couple of nuclear power plants is certainly a bold move. So bold one might even call it insane. A good deal of radioactivity would be wafted over Poland, Germany, and Scandinavia, right? Of course if Zelensky said the Russians blew up their own power plants, the Anglo-American media would treat that as absolute gospel truth, judging by how they’ve responded in the past.

        1. Joker

          Zelensky would say that Russians blew up their own power plants, while claiming that both of those are in fact his power plants.

    2. diptherio

      The cope in that article really is something. The final two paragraphs are a real object lesson in cognitive dissonance.

      Russians today, and Vladmir Putin in particular, should learn from the Germans and their failure at Kursk in 1943, and ultimately the overall defeat of Germany in WWII: an enemy who defends their homeland in a fight for their existence is tough to beat. That is especially the case when that enemy applies bold, risk-taking operations that are sequenced and sustained with follow-on obtainable objectives.

      These three case studies suggest that Ukraine’s audacity has created an advantage. After gaining and maintaining the initiative against the enemy, it can still win its war against the Russian invaders. [emphasis added]

      So, do the RANDians understand that Ukraine is a civil war, mainly being fought on the territory of Russian speaking peoples who see the Russians as defending their homeland? And do they not get that the incursion into Russian makes the Ukrainians the invaders in someone else’s homeland? And have they not cottoned to the fact that Putin does see this war as existential for Russian? And finally, do they actually believe this nonsense about maintaining the initiative? Did they think the Ukrainians were maintaining the initiative during the vaunted summer offensive that went exactly nowhere? I sure hope RAND has some smarter folks than this hanging around its offices.

      1. NN Cassandra

        I too got lost at the point where Ukraine going into Kursk is presented as lesson for Putin about not invading other people homelands. Must be some sort of triplethink I didn’t master yet.

      2. jsn

        On your last point, lack of loyalty to “the narrative” is a purgeable offense, so no, no one smarter.

      3. Chris Cosmos

        Indeed! This NATO planned invasion worked well since there were few if any defenders in the area of the invasion. But, at the end of the day, this “occupation” is going to be limited by the ability to keep supplies flowing.

      4. scott s.

        I wouldn’t write off Gentile like that. I get that he is going against the dominant POV here.

        1. MFB

          Yes and no. Your overall point is valid, but Germany in 1918 had just defeated Russia and saw some hope in attacking before the Americans arrived in numbers; also Ludendorff, for all his insanity, was a capable general and Operation Michael had sensible objectives.

          It’s more as if the Germans had responded to the collapse of their front in September 1918 by invading Denmark.

    3. skippy

      Watching the Equip and People being vaporized again and again and calling it victory is some really strong head shrinking mate.

    4. bertl

      RAND has long been the home of the somewhat dubious, highly credentialed, congenitally unbright.

      My first thought was that the Russians had deliberately created a soft target which the crazies could not resist and ensured that perception was reinforced by conscripts who would be given the order to retreat or surrender to the enemy. And, building upon previous failures, the Ukrainians would pour in more and more fighters from the Donbass which the Russians blow away at their leisure.

      This was also my second and third thought, and is now my settled view. Sometimes genuine opportunities do arise in war, and sometimes they are choreographed by an intellectually and professionally competent but utterly ruthless enemy who will dictate the timing as well as the terms of victory.

    5. ilsm

      Montgomery, Bradley, Patton all working for Eisenhower had the Red Army wrecking the Wehrmacht, Patton romanticism allowed!

      Inchon, Walton Walker’s 8th Army was pushing up the peninsula! US had complete air control! The daring was going in around the flood tide!

      I doubt the Ukie commanders are Geo Washington.

      Ukie daring is picking a part of the Russian border almost as open as the US boarder around El Paso, with no airpower!

      RAND and such seem to not question the hopium, but are pushing it!

  7. The Rev Kev

    “What Military History Tells Us About Ukraine’s Kursk Invasion”

    The better parallel is, as many have pointed out already, the Battle of the Bulge. The Ukraine has thrown in some of the last best units, some British Challenger tanks, Patriot anti-air defenses, at least one German IRIS-T system, German armour, HIMARS systems and everything else they could put together. We know this because all of the mention weapons systems are being destroyed and the Russians have the receipts to prove it. They stripped other parts of the line so that in parts, platoons are holding sectors that a battalion should be holding and the Russians are making solid advances there. The aim seems to have been to take the Kursk nuclear power plant according to prisoners but that failed so they went with pushing into territory that they could never hold, simply to make the optics look good. There is still the threat that the Ukrainians may try to hit the Kursk nuclear power plant the same way that they hit the Zaporozhye – not that the IAEA would ever say who dd it – so the Russians have warned the Ukrainians of severe consequences if that try and I mean severe. That could include lights out for Zelensky too. Nobody needs another Chernobyl.

    1. hk

      Gettysburg (which, ppl outside States forget, was prompted by a Confederate Invasion of the North in attempt to force negotiations) except Zelenski is no Jeff Davis.

      1. Pat

        Even if that was what Zelensky and the Ukrainian military were attempting, they were never going to succeed. Mostly because the Russians know that over 90% of what they would they require in negotiations would be vetoed by Zelensky’s ownership.
        Crimea left alone.
        No NATO, No EU membership for Ukraine. Most if not all of the country being a demilitarized zone.
        All anti Russian language laws and refusal to teach the entire history of the region ended.

        The Ukrainians themselves may be desperate for a negotiated end of this, but unfortunately they sold their soul to the company store and that company and the war mongering idiots who run it don’t care what happens to Ukraine or its people.

        1. Yves Smith

          Please no Making Shit Up. Ukraine had agreed to Crimea as Russia, no NATO and (in concept) limits on the size of their armed forces in the March 2022 Istanbul negotiations. Admittedly, there was a big gap between what Russia and Ukraine wanted in terms of the cap at that point.

      2. Alice X

        ~a Confederate Invasion of the North in attempt to force negotiations

        and an effort to find shoes, as I recall it…

        1. hk

          Nah, the shoes eposode happened because the invaders had no shoes–they did not invade for the shoes. I do have a hunch that Ukro-Confederate soldiers might be doing the same thing, though.

      3. Wukchumni

        One time when Humordor tried to kill me with high heat and humidity, we went to the museums in DC and then hightailed it for CW battlefield sites.

        Antietam in no way, shape or how resembles a battlefield, but Gettysburg was tailor made for a skirmish, and there’s enough scrap metal in the myriad of memorials festooned around, to allow for one hell of a payday.

    2. MicaT

      I think the invasion was all for PR. . There is no hope they can keep the land. There are not enough troops to do anything. It does divert attention from the massive advances Russia is making all along the lines further south.
      2. There may have been a tiny hope to take the power plant. But won’t happen now.
      3. The US media is going insane with this latest episode. My centrist dem friends are in a fever over how great this attach is.
      4. And the DNC convention is next week. More money for Ukraine
      5. And in the WP there was an article about negotiations for a settlement had been in progress. That’s now off the table. I guess Ukraine and the west again was negotiating in bad faith.

      It was never about an actual military operation, only PR.

      1. Polar Socialist

        Ironically, that PR stunt has caused members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to announce their readiness to provide Russia with help should Russia officially ask for it. Unlike Ukraine, Russia actually is a member of a military alliance, it turns out.

        The Collective Rapid Reaction Force would be 4 brigades and 2 battalions of non-Russian troops and a one heck of an controlled escalation. Not to mention that Russia now has a legal basis of asking Belarus to help fighting the invasion.

    3. rowlf

      In the recordings of Forrest Pogue interviewing General Of The Army George Marshall, Marshall commented on the Battle Of The Bulge,

      For example, you can take the [German] operation into the Bulge later on. If it was successful, it was a grand thing. But it wasn’t successful. It took a chance that could have been very fatal. You can sometimes win a great victory by a very dashing action. But often, or most frequently, the very dashing action exposes you to a very fatal result if it is not successful. And you hazard everything in that way.

      1. fjallstrom

        Because if it had been successful and cut off the Allied forces in the north, it would actually have changed the battlefield.

        I fail to see “a grand thing” this Kursk offensive could have achieved.

  8. Samuel Conner

    To the extent that there is still an actual Left left in US, I wonder what would happen if there were a concerted effort to build a Left political movement within the “swing” states. Even if such a movement had difficulty gaining ballot access for its candidate nationwide, its policy preferences might exert oversized influence on the stances of the duopoly parties on policies related to “universal concrete material benefits” because of those parties’ competition for votes at the margin in the swing states.

    1. Cat Burglar

      Consider the impact of the Uncommitted movement in Michigan as relevant to your proposal. They had a big impact on the primary vote, and caused a management problem for Democrats still. Events in Israel-Palestine may cause them to deny Harris Michigan.

      There are plenty enough Medicare-For-All supporters in Wisconsin to swing the election.

      1. Procopius

        Errrr,.. Swing the election to whom, Cat? I haven’t been paying much attention to the politics, but I’m sure Trump is solidly against M4A, and nothing will persuade me that Harris or Walz are for it.

  9. Jabura Basaidai

    regarding Henry Madison “Everything old is new again” – i remember seeing old DSR (Detroit Streets & Railways) buses in Mexico in the late 60’s – also remember riding electric buses when i was a kid – neighbor a few houses down was a DSR driver back in the day when a person of modest income could afford to won a house – have a picture of my great grandfather’s electric car – in 1915 we had rail trolleys in Detroit and up to the 60’s there were electric buses that had overhead connection to a DC power line, they all went bye bye –
    https://detroitography.com/2014/12/12/map-of-detroit-interurban-lines-1915/
    http://www.detroittransithistory.info/PhotoGalley/Photos1940sE.html
    http://www.detroittransithistory.info/DSR/RouteMap-1950.html

    1. Rolf

      Those electric buses w/overhead catenary look exactly what I remember in metro Boston/Cambridge in the 60’s. Don’t know if they’re still running.

    2. Mirjonray

      When my late grandmother was quite young she used to be a cook in a wealthy household in Detroit. She used to drive an electric car when she went grocery shopping for the family. My dad said she often wondered why electric cars didn’t replace gas-engined ones. She loved how all you needed to do was plug it in overnight and it was ready to go. My dad also remarked that the electric cars at that time were super slow, and were known as being “ladies’ cars”. We all know that would have been the kiss of death for any kind of marketing campaign.

      1. caucus99percenter

        > the electric cars at that time were super slow, and were known as being “ladies’ cars”

        Perfect for Grandma Duck, clan matriarch in the Donald Duck cartoon universe created by Carl Barks.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Electric#In_popular_culture

        https://cbarks.dk/thecars.htm

        Being electric driven, almost two-thirds of its weight came from the many batteries which could run the car for about 120 kilometers at a maximum speed of 50km/h. It was considered a real ladies’ vehicle as there was almost no maintenance involved. It was also extremely easy to start as no cranking or choking skills were required. The steering was done through a single handle that was directly connected to the front axle. The front seat swivelled, and all the windows were furnished with curtains.

  10. sarmaT

    What Military History Tells Us About Ukraine’s Kursk Invasion RAND

    Russians today, and Vladmir Putin in particular, should learn from the Germans and their failure at Kursk in 1943, and ultimately the overall defeat of Germany in WWII: an enemy who defends their homeland in a fight for their existence is tough to beat. That is especially the case when that enemy applies bold, risk-taking operations that are sequenced and sustained with follow-on obtainable objectives.

    This is hilarious.

    1. ilsm

      Opinion and smart sounding analogies are how we pay the pentagon’s $880billion a year “bar tab”, and lose to the Taliban!

      This talent show been going since the 1947 Natl Security Act

    2. Procopius

      Does he mean to imply the Germans were not defending their homeland in a fight for their existence? I swear, these guys must be like the pulp fiction writers of my youth, who were paid (very little) by the word.

      1. ambrit

        Well, one old time writer of “pulp fiction,” L Ron Hubbard to be exact, turned “fiction” on its head and ‘created’ his own “religion,” Scientology, to carry out a more lucrative form of ‘fictioneering.’ The authors of this RAND “study” have obviously studied the Old Masters. They are trying to create a ‘new’ religion.
        I’m tempted to deploy a Titanic reference here but must aver that I have been beaten to the punch by the writer of that excellent tome, “And The Banderites Slayed On.” It too is about “managing” a disaster.
        See, for reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_the_Band_Played_On

  11. The Rev Kev

    “‘An island of freedom’: Inside the secret beauty salons of Afghanistan”

    ‘In Kabul, an army of clandestine beauticians is keeping morale alive among women living in fear of the Taliban-led government.’

    It’s funny what news will come out of Afghanistan these days. Just this week the Afghans held their “Afghan Jihad” Victory Day to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the last American leaving that country. They held a big military parade at Bagram base featuring dozens of US-made armored vehicles-

    https://www.rt.com/news/602628-afghanistan-withdrawal-taliban-parade/

    Of course not everybody was happy to see this-

    https://x.com/GrahamAllen_1/status/1823752965854801929

    Don’t know why but sometimes the Taliban remind me of the Fremen from “Dune.”

  12. Will

    Slow motion train wreck…

    Canadian ERs keep closing this summer — but there’s no easy fix

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canadian-ers-closing-second-opinion-1.7295567

    “There continue to be just unprecedented numbers of emergency department closures,” said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, an advocacy group that released last year’s headline-making tally of [temporary] shutdowns in the province.

    That 2023 report found there were close to 870 emergency department closures across Ontario that year — an all-time high — and Mehra said her team’s early data for 2024 shows a similar trend.

    “Up until a few years ago,” she said, “we’d never seen anything like that.”

    Parts of Alberta, Quebec, P.E.I. and beyond are also reporting ER closures, and they’re usually linked to staff shortages.

    No mention of doctors and nurses out because of the ongoing Covid pandemic of course, but also that’s just the latest blow to an already strained system. Sadly, I don’t think anything will be done to really address the problem when closures start happening in cities. Instead, it’ll just be an excuse to accelerate privatization.

    1. Yeti

      In BC ER closures are happening weekly due to staff shortages even though Dr Bonnie Henry recently rescinded the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers-sort of. They will still be required to show their Covid-19 vaccination status among others to health authorities.

      “A new immune status reporting requirement will make sure health care workers in B.C. continue to help keep people safe”
      Full government outline here: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/managing-your-health/immunizations/health-care-worker

      https://www.wltribune.com/local-news/williams-lake-without-emergency-services-at-hospital-again-overnight-7430476

        1. Rolf

          Thanks for this skippy. LOL Tucker again betrays his status as an entertainer — only. He occasionally does have interesting stuff. But despite (or rather I guess, because of) his large income, resources, access, etc., he seems unable to shed his FauxNews suit (and those blinking, screwed up, incredulous expressions) and attempt true journalism.

          1. outside observer

            I do think this interview falls under the category of his occasionally interesting stuff. In any case, I appreciate the ability to hear different interviewee perspectives regardless of what I think about the interviewer.

          2. Enter Laughing

            Actually the video “fact check” states that the abiogenic theory is plausible and cites an example.

            From the video, Sabine Hossenfelder:

            “…there is little doubt that most hydrocarbons that we have dug up so far come from fossils. There are some exceptions to this, for example there are pockets of methane below the ocean beds. Some of these, geologists believe, were formed by chemical reactions with rocks at high pressure. But it’s the exception rather than the rule. None of this means that there couldn’t be many more abiogenic hydrocarbons deeper down in earth.”

            1. urdsama

              I feel this is a bit dishonest.

              I watched Sabine’s video and you massively distort her position. In short, she said it was possible, but in any case under no circumstance should it be seen as a viable resource as it would only make our current situation much worse. Which was the whole point of Tucker’s video – peak oil is a myth and we can pretty much continue as normal.

              1. jsn

                Sort of like the chemically produced oxygen from the deep ocean floor: an interesting natural curiosity, but not a significant source of the substance at issue.

    1. Mikel

      The doctor that said: “It’s a disrespect of life.”
      Bingo. It about sums up where we are. It’s especially a disrespect of life in the present.

      1. Neutrino

        My young adult children are ahead of the curve on understanding the pharma and food poisons.
        They buy organic food when possible and healthy/ier soaps and shampoos.
        They are researching vax info to see if there are safe alternatives without mercury adjuvants for their children, for example.
        Happy to report that there are more people learning and practicing based on conversations with them. :)

    2. Waking Up

      Thank you for the link flora. Historical information on the food industry which even most food scientists and nutritionists probably aren’t aware of. Casey and Calley should run the FDA.

    3. Henry D

      That was packed with a lot of good info. Surprised they didn’t mention that RFK has this as part of his platform and the primary reason I support his campaign hoping at the vary least he can force Trump and Harris to debate these issues. I feel this needs to addressed before we can address all the other problems we are facing (Maslow’s hierarchy). Getting the incentives correct at the base layer will make getting them correct at the higher levels possible.
      Also note this study shows how difficult it is to wash pesticides off, which I can only imagine gets much worse when they’re coated with apeel.

      1. Victor Sciamarelli

        Firstly, cheers to flora for the link. It’s a must see interview.
        And I was glad to see a mention to RFK Jr. From his earliest interviews he said it was his priority as president to wrest control of the regulatory agencies from the corporations like big Pharma and big food. And imo had the DNC allowed him to challenge Biden in a primary debate, we would have seen Biden’s deficiencies much earlier.
        I wish both Casey and Calley Means praise and honors with their new book. Unfortunately, like RFK Jr, I suspect their book will not be reviewed by the msm but even if it is, any review will likely be laced with the code words: controversial, conspiracy, anti-vax, debatable, and I would not be surprised if disinformation is widely used.

  13. Wukchumni

    Xmas in August!

    Here comes Kamala!
    Here comes Kamala!
    Right down the Donkey Show Lane!
    Michelle & Barack and all his rain men
    Pulling on the reins
    Bells are ringing, main stream media singing
    All is merry and bright
    So hang your diaphragm and stash your Trojans
    ‘Cause Kamala cash comes tonight

    Here comes Kamala!
    Here comes Kamala!
    Right down the Donkey Show Lane!
    She’s got a bag that’s filled with $6,000 ploys
    For those contemplating having boys and girls again
    Hear those coins jingle jangle
    Oh, what a beautiful sight
    Jump in bed, procreate instead
    ‘Cause Kamala’s cash comes tonight

    Here comes Kamala!
    Here comes Kamala!
    Right down the Donkey Show Lane!
    She doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor
    She loves you just the same
    Kamala knows we’re all capable of having children
    That makes everything right
    So fill your wallets once the EPT test comes in
    ‘Cause Kamala cash comes tonight!

    Here comes Kamala!
    Here comes Kamala!
    Right down the Donkey Show Lane!
    She’ll come around when your pride & joy comes out

    That it’s a cash call morn again
    Peace on earth will come to all
    If we don’t follow the hard right
    So let’s give thanks to the Obama above
    ‘Cause Kamala cash comes tonight!

    1. Bugs

      Anecdata – it worked very well for my wife and I. Test negative day 4 after symptoms, no rebounds. I had an awful copper taste in my mouth though. Ate gummy bears to deal with it. Four months later I was diagnosed with Long Covid and had to take a month off. Better finally now after an ayurvedic treatment in India. Paxlovid is still 100% covered in France even without supplemental but if you have to pay because you are a foreigner, it’s €999.20 a box!

    2. Lee

      From the article you linked, emphasis added:

      Paxlovid is used to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in people who are at high risk for severe COVID-19, hospitalization, or death. The drug was shown to reduce hospital admission or death by about 88% in people who took Paxlovid within five days of when their symptoms started.

      1. VTDigger

        Yes it does work the first time, most of the time. After that it tends to make matters worse esp if you get a different variant the next time around:

        https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06609-0

        The pharma method is not the most effective here.

        Counter-anecdota, both my aunt and uncle have had covid 3x, and each time they took paxlovid. Each infection lasted about a week longer than previous, with the last one taking about a full month to resolve.

    3. Ann

      This is what the meta analysis says of Paxlovid:

      “Outcomes in paxlovid studies. Pfizer has denied access to Paxlovid for independent RCTs (Ledford). Pfizer RCTs report very good results, while non-Pfizer RCTs show relatively poor results (Liu, Yu). Hoertel find that 50% of patients that died had a contraindication for Paxlovid. Retrospective studies that do not exclude contraindicated patients may significantly overestimate efficacy. Black box warning. The FDA notes that “severe, life-threatening, and/or fatal adverse reactions due to drug interactions have been reported in patients treated with paxlovid” (FDA). Population studies often do not account for the different expected outcomes for the class of patients that seek out and receive early treatment. Kamo show significantly increased risk of acute kidney injury. Resistant variants are likely (Jochmans, Zhou).”

      Check out the table of relative risk that I can’t copy here:

      https://c19early.org/plmeta.html

      1. VTDigger

        That’s an interesting site but hard to follow. It looks like all the studies for Ivermectin show higher efficacy vs Paxlovid?

  14. tegnost

    …white boy tacos? a hot dog?
    Cripes, this crap has gotten old already and it’s only been a week…
    And just as with hills, my pmc brethren have already declared victory!
    Policy proposals? We don’t need no stinkin’ policy proposals…!

    1. griffen

      In the past it was Nancy Pelosi stating that we must first pass this legislation before we actually read or comprehend what’s in the legislation…

      Fast forward a mere decade and the goalposts are shifting again… Harris must win, America can only win if Trump is defeated at last…”Our Democracy!”…\sarc

  15. ChrisFromGA

    RE: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/17/biden-says-gaza-ceasefire-in-sight-warns-against-efforts-to-undermine-deal?traffic_source=rss

    Aljazeera is really giving journalism a bad name, isn’t it?

    + Doesn’t even mention that Hamas wasn’t at the table until the last few paragraphs
    + Uncritical of Biden and fails to show even an ounce of skepticism
    + Contradicts other media reports (The Guardian) that portray the talks as having no breakthrough:

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/16/gaza-ceasefire-talks-to-resume-next-week-no-breakthrough-qatar-israel

  16. The Rev Kev

    “US-led mediators present ‘bridging proposal’ to end Israel-Hamas war”

    Is Biden actually trying to sell them a bridge as far as peace is concerned? Biden and Blinken have been “negotiating” with the Israelis for nearly a year now. So maybe they should get off the pot and give another country room to negotiate a peace. How about China? I’m sure that they have a lot of muscle that they could exercise to get things finally moving and the best thing? None of the members of China’s National People’s Congress has an Israeli minder in tow.

    1. John k

      Biden is trying to sell the us public that he’s trying to bring about peace when he is one with the zionists regarding river to sea and beyond concept. Imo Neither Israel leaders or most of their public want peace until Palestinians have been cleared from Palestine.

      1. ChrisFromGA

        Why is Trump not campaigning harder on this issue? Perhaps he’s in a credibility trap as he won’t break free of the “give to Bibi whatever he wants” paradigm.

        Conclusion: Trump is just as pro-Zionist and we have no one except Jill Stein to represent the people who want an end to this slaughter.

    2. Neutrino

      All it will take is a lot of money to both sides. Just keep it coming, baby.\
      Next, do Ukraine.
      Checkbook diplomacy overdraws again.

  17. Ghost in the Machine

    The noisy century just wasn’t to make oil barons rich. Each barrel has about 5.8 million btus or 1700 kWH of energy. Years of physical labor assuming a human can produce about 100 W of power consistently in one barrel of oil. Americans average about 10,000 W of total energy usage of which about 80% is derived from fossil fuels. 10000 Watts is 100 ‘energy slaves.’ That 80% hasn’t changed even in recent years with increased renewable energy because growth. The new energy doesn’t replace buts adds to fossil sources which are also growing.

    It is more than making oil oligarchs rich. It is why we live the way we do and not like we did 3 centuries ago. This level of energy use will end.

    1. John Wright

      One needs to always integrate watts over time to determine energy as in kw-hours.

      For example a human developing 100 watts for one hour is 0.1kw-h.

      However, this human needs food/fuel and I have seen estimates that 7 to 10 calories of hydrocarbon energy is used to provide 1 calorie of food to a USA citizen.

      I only see a hard landing as various resource boundaries are hit.

      1. Ghost in the Machine

        Yes, I should have said Americans average about 10,000 W of total POWER, not energy. So if humans can generate 100 W that is 100 ‘slaves.’ At 10,000 W Americans use about 240kWh of total primary energy per day, about 80% of which is fossil.

        It turns out that GDP is not directly proportional to total energy but proportional to the rate of energy production change.

        Are there basic physical constraints on future anthropogenic
        emissions of carbon dioxide?
        https://arxiv.org/pdf/0811.1855

        Past world economic production constrains current energy demands: Persistent scaling with implications for economic growth and climate change mitigation (Garrett and Steve Keen)
        https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237672

        So total energy is proportional to something like total wealth or capital.

        the future is going to be a lot poorer, at least by our current metrics.

        1. Revenant

          Do you have a link for GDP being proportional to the rate of energy production change?

          I can see an intuitive argument: it would mean that individual or societal wealth (GDP integrated over time) would equal the rate of individual or societal energy production. Because without energy flows, machines are just sculptures etc.

          However, I am hoping somebody has shown the relationship in data: is there a paper that supports this with data beyond my handwaving analysis?

          1. Yves Smith

            It continues to annoy me that you post assignments to the commentariat, which winds up being me and is therefore a violation of our written site Policies. You regularly ask readers to do research for you rather than avail yourself of a search engine.

            It’s been regularly used by financial analysts for China, whose economic reports are considered not reliable. You can find discussion of this in NC archives, FFS. Michael Pettis has explained long form that China’s reported GDP is actually planned numbers, not results. It seems incredible that a fact so basic is not better known, but instead various commentators harrumph about the dodgyness of Chinese data without unpacking why.

            Here is one example commenting on the use of electricity consumption as a proxy for GDP from the St. Louis Fed:

            We found that the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics has improved its source data and its collection practices, making its final official statistics higher quality than those of many counterparts in the developing world. However, due to the country’s complex economy and challenges posed by the transition from a command economy to a market economy, China’s economic statistics remain unreliable.

            These issues with official Chinese government statistics have fostered attempts to obtain better estimates of Chinese GDP, using methods that vary widely. Some methods are simply corrections to the official Chinese GDP numbers, while others use alternative variables like energy imports that are correlated with output. Alternative data series are particularly useful if they are not compiled by the Chinese government….

            Without more transparency from the NBS, the academic community has been forced to rely on alternative measures to track Chinese GDP growth. One alternative measure is the change in energy consumption. As an emerging economy with a large manufacturing sector, China consumes a lot of energy. Changes in energy consumption may be a good proxy for changes in output because energy usage typically correlates with output and can be verified by data sources outside the Chinese government; as an input to manufacturing, energy also is a variable that China’s command economy statisticians were well-equipped to measure.

            Economist Thomas Rawski studies Chinese GDP through the lens of energy use. He points out that between 1997 and 2000, official figures reported that Chinese real GDP grew 24.7 percent, yet energy consumption decreased 12.8 percent.5 The difference implies a 30 percent reduction in energy use during those years, which seems unlikely for an industrializing economy. Rawski bolsters this argument by comparing energy use in other Asian countries during their respective episodes of growth. Figure 2 highlights his results. In each case, even that of China during an earlier growth period, a double-digit increase in GDP is related with a double-digit increase in energy consumption. But for the 1997-2001 period, Chinese energy consumption declined despite GDP growing at a faster pace than in the 1987-91 period.

            https://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/regional-economist/second-quarter-2017/chinas-economic-data-an-accurate-reflection-or-just-smoke-and-mirrors

            1. Revenant

              Hi Yves, sorry, I didn’t mean to set an assignment. I was curious about the statement.

              Like you, I am well aware of the use of change in energy consumption as a proxy for change in GDP (and other proxies in China such as cardboard production / consumption for all those shipping boxes!). A good friend edited China Economic Quarterly and did research for Joe Studwell. Thus, I would have expected to hear that total GDP is proportional to total energy production or consumption.

              Ghost in the Machine’s comment explicitly rejected this and said that GDP is proportional to the rate of change of energy production, I.e. to the first derivative of energy production with respect to time. Which would mean a country with static energy production has zero GDP. Only countries with increasing energy production would have positive GDP.

              That sounds absurd at first but if you think about it, production of real goods requires energy and a reduction in system entropy; continuing production of goods requires continuing energy and in addition energy to maintain to mechanisms of production and the goods already produced. So, in an arm waving way, one could argue that even static economic production requires increasing amounts of energy. This would be reinforced if one considers energy return on energy invested measures, where the historical trend is that the winning of energy from any given source requires increasing energy over time (discoveries of easy to pump oilfields etc are mere blips in the trend).

              Further, this all implies that wealth, being GDP summed over time, would be proportional to energy production itself (NB production is probably the wrong word, energy transformation might be better, I can import a barrel of oil and, net of transport costs and thermodynamic losses, I can still “produce” energy by burning it etc).

              It was a startling statement by the OP and at odds with the received relationship (e.g. the example you quoted).

              I wasn’t setting an assignment, I promise, I was just interested in discussing it and asking if the OP had a reference was a (perhaps clumsy) way of inviting the OP to say more about the contention.

    2. Jason Boxman

      I’ve often marveled at this as well; all this energy to sustain a system which is quite literally on borrowed time, borrowed from the past, or the future, take your pick. But work being done in vast excess of what would be possible. The bill comes due.

      1. John Wright

        I have suggested that buried hydrocarbons are dinosaur seeds that were buried millions of years ago.
        Dinosaurs needed a future lifeform to extract the “seeds” and burn them to recreate an environment closer to when they flourished. dinosaurs didn’t need all the metals or agriculture that humans require. But the “dinosaur seed” assertion does not work if humans make the earth inhospitable to all life.

      2. jsn

        The Reagan Revolution turned Capitalism into a death cult.

        We knew everything we needed to know then to manage capitalist production in a pro-social way, between Popescu-Rogen, Galbraith and the Institutionalists, and The Club of Romes “Limits of Growth”.

        Instead, the capitalist gangster class seized power and systematically dismantled any opposition to their death cult, from attacking the EPA to destroying public education, they determined to burn the world for their own short term pleasure.

  18. Wukchumni

    Its pretty obvious the powers that be don’t want to call it monkeypox, so why not primatepox, most of the population will assume it means prime rate pox, so there isn’t any association with us being tied to monkeys.

    1. The Rev Kev

      Considering how well the CDC handled Covid, I am sure that how they deal with monkeypox will end up making a monkey out of all of us. Here, have a banana.

      1. ambrit

        Not to mention climate change where the “Usual Suspects Group LLC” was awarded both the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and the Cavendish Prize for Theoretical Physic for their work in the public perception of the phenomenon. (There is some controversy here as it is asserted that the two institutions use different definitions of the term “spin.” The case is being referred to the United Nations Special Commission for the investigation of Weapons of Mass Communications Destruction.)

    2. Ben Panga

      I find it weird how many humans see themselves as separate from our monkey cousins, and animals as a whole (as in “humans aren’t animals)”. Our technology may be advanced, but I’m pretty sure we’re still just apes blundering around. Human rationality seems massively overstated.

  19. The Rev Kev

    “Ukraine orders evacuation in east amid steady Russian gains”

    ‘“Once the enemy is within 10km of Pokrovsk, children will be forcibly evacuated,” she said, referring to a decree Ukraine introduced last year that allows local police to evacuate children from active conflict zones even if their families refuse to leave.’

    That is one way to stop people staying in a town for the Russians to come. Seize their children which will force those parents to go west so that they are not separated. And if those stories are to believed, to stop their children being sold on the spare parts market too.

      1. The Rev Kev

        It’s one of the rules of the International Rules-Based Order-

        ‘It’s OK when we do it!’

  20. Ghost in the Machine

    Zero States for Two Peoples? Jewish Thinkers Are Pondering a Mass Return to Exile Haaretz

    I don’t think this idea of exile is healthy. You can’t be organically part of any society that is not an ethnically and religiously pure Jewish state? Are white Christian nationalists in exile because they are not living in a white Christian nationalist state? Maybe they feel that way, I am not sure. Human history is complicated. There were all sorts of forced and unforced migrations. Some of my ancestors were forced to leave Ireland. Am I an Irish exile? I feel American for bettor or worse. Are there really any ethnically and religiously homogeneous nations anywhere in the world? Trying to make one makes atrocity inevitable. Ditch the exile concept.

    1. Bsn

      Remember the concept of the “Ugly American”? I can imagine a Jewish person as a tourist placing a Canadian patch on their rucksack. Is “reap what you sow” in the Jewish bible?

    2. JTMcPhee

      “But a fourth option hovers above the others: the return of the Jews to a situation of exile, meaning zero states.”

      Big chunks of NY boroughs are (doctrinally fractured) Jewish enclaves. Same a lot of other places. Maybe home is where the synagogue is.

      Having f—ked up the occupation and displacement in Palestine, zealous Zionists cast eyes on nice safe landing spots where they expect to be welcome, much as SS Ukrainians deserting their Mother Country do all over Europe and Canada and elsewhere.

      Looking to escape war at home, Israelis seek refugee status in Portugal

      “PORTO, Portugal — Since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, Nufar Bar, an Israeli immigration lawyer living in Porto, has seen a nonstop flow of requests from Israelis seeking refugee status.

      “We get them almost every day,” said Bar, who works with the Portuguese law firm Cotarelli e Rodrigues helping Israelis move abroad.

      Portugal offers many options for those seeking to immigrate, but Bar has found that many Israelis choose to apply as refugees through the asylum application process in Portugal as detailed by the UNHCR.”

      https://www.timesofisrael.com/looking-to-escape-war-at-home-israelis-seek-refugee-status-in-portugal/

      Hard to get a visa, citizenship too much hassle, so take advantage of the UNHCR which the Zionists have killed in Gaza to become privileged “refugees,” claiming “asylum,” with benefits. Portugal seems like such a nice place.

      The hypocrisy, it burns…

      Not sure how that’s going to work out. The Zionist impulse will be part of their baggage, looking for a new place to take root.

    3. LifelongLib

      “Are there really any ethnically and religiously homogeneous nations anywhere in the world?”

      Probably not, but there are plenty where one ethnicity/religion/what have you predominates and is not in danger of being overthrown. In most of those whatever was done to get to that position is lost in the mists of history. Late comers on the other hand have their national sausage-making exposed for all to see.

      1. hk

        I do think that most nations have a collective idea of “self” that may involve some idea of cultural or ethnic homogeneity. In fact, whatever it is, the idea of a nation has to be based on some kind of homogeneity, ie there is X that all of us share, and culture and ethnicity are easier than others–even if they are fake (why I think the Romanticist ideas were central to their rise, and why Ametican “Enlightenment” had strong element of Romanticism.)

    1. Ben Panga

      Clarification: there’s some confusion as to the guy’s identity as there are apparently two Mark Smiths in the FCDO.

      Via https://x.com/HindHassanNews (guy who originally published the resignation letter):

      “He is NOT a senior diplomat as some people are reporting, he is a second secretary based in Dublin.”

      “For those casting doubt on the resignation letter from British diplomat Mark Smith:

      I saw the original resignation email.

      He is based at the British Embassy in Dublin.

      He signs off as Second Secretary Counter Terrorism.

      The photo being used in some articles is wrong.”

      1. Aurelien

        His resignation message says that he was previously in the Middle East and North Africa Department of the FCDO, where he was the desk officer for arms export issues. It doesn’t confirm what he was doing when he resigned. In any event, a Second Secretary is a junior rank–vaguely equivalent to a Major in the Army.

        1. Ben Panga

          I’m grateful for sharper minds like yours Aurelien.

          The original senior diplomat wording continues to get passed around Twitter. Sigh.

  21. Expat2uruguay

    Doesn’t this prove that Mpox is not primarily transmitted through sexual contact?:

    Reviewing the underlying report used in the Ok doomer article, https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2024-DON522 ,

    We can see that 73% of the reported cases were among people under the age of 15. Based on the same data cases in people under the age of five years old were 39% of total reported cases and 62% of deaths due to total reported cases of Mpox.
    In another graphic of confirmed cases we find that 43% of confirmed cases were in people under the age of 11, unlikely to be from sexual contact!!!!

    Does this not prove that the sexual contact focus is in fact misinformation? Do your own research indeed!

    1. Belle

      Actually, even the prior variant was not spread through sexual contact, but close contact. Certain media outlets and pressure groups just picked up on the fact that many early spreaders had sexual contact, in part to demean gay men. (Many early spreaders were gay men.

      1. A Nonny Mouse

        Grindr is sending out updated mpox warnings:

        “GET THE FACTS: MPOX

        The World Health Organization has declared mpox outbreaks a public health emergency of international concern. Cases are surging globally. Here’s what you need to know.

        Don’t Panic.

        Understanding the facts helps protect you and

        those around you.

        How It Spreads

        Mpox spreads through close contact, including respiratory droplets, skin-to-skin contact, or sharing items like bedding or towels.

        Watch for Symptoms

        If you or a recent partner (within 21 days) have unusual sores r a rash, see a healthcare provider and mention mpox.

        Get Vaccinated

        If you are able to get vaccinated, it’s strongly recommended to do so. Two doses offer better protection than one.”

        1. The Rev Kev

          Quick! We need to get Dr. Fauci – America’s Doctor – out of retirement. He has so much experience here. /sarc

    2. Henry D

      Perhaps those lovely picture plants in the antidote a few days ago hold some promise as I don’t have much faith in the vaccines currently being developed to be very effective or safe.
      “Cells were mock-infected or infected with MPXV and subsequently left untreated or treated with S. purpurea or carrier at the times indicated. Western blots for the presence of the MPXV-F3L protein (ortholog of the VACV-E3L protein) were performed to determine if a successful MPXV infection had occurred. When treated with the extract at 0 or 15 minutes post infection, S. purpurea treatment prevented the accumulation of the MPXV-F3L protein, whereas high levels of MPXV-F3L were detected in the both the untreated and carrier treated cells (Fig. 4a).”

  22. Brian Beijer

    There are so many things wrong with the CDC*s recommendations, it was difficult to know which wrong thing the poster was refering to at first. For example, “Wear a respirator if you are at home and within 6 feet of the infected, and an adult”.

    So, are we back to sacrificing our children then? Are they hinting that children will develop “natural immunity” to monkey pox if exposed to it? I guess that could be true as long as you’re willing to allow 10% to die. Since Covid, I wouldn’t be surprised at all that this is the CDC’s thinking. Finally, why does this “6 feet” rule continue to have legs after Fauci admitted he totally made it up? Who do they think will buy this garbage their trying to sell? Perhaps businesses will because it will allow them to continue operating as usual, but no one else will believe the CDC despite having Covid addled brains.

  23. Sub-Boreal

    My techno-vignettes from yesterday:

    I was taking a couple of new colleagues on a local field trip to view sites that I’ve used for teaching purposes over the years, and they supplied the transport – a new Subaru SUV. Before we set off, I watched them fiddle for a couple of minutes to get one of their phones properly synched with the vehicle’s black box in order to get a map to appear on the screen in the middle of the dash. Me – I just opened up the map book that I had on my lap and pointed out our route.

    Later in the morning, we’d finished up at one of our sites, and needed to back out of a partly overgrown bush road to get to a spot where we could turn around. Suddenly there was an abrupt lurch as the brakes locked without warning. Apparently the automatic collision avoidance system was being triggered when it detected some knee-high clumps of grass growing on the trail. Fortunately, we were on a slight slope, and my hosts realized that they could bypass the system just by shifting the transmission into Neutral, and letting the vehicle roll back to where we could turn around.

    Self-driving cars? Nope, I’ll pass. I’m going to be gentle with my 2010 Toyota with manual stick shift and everything controlled by buttons and dials! Plus, the stick shift gives it some theft-proofing too!

    1. Bsn

      On this site I have been accused of “virtue signalling” regarding not having a smart phone. Is it virtue signalling that the less one is plugged in the better off one is? You can bet that an engineer is taking notes that the automatic collision avoidance system needs to be in effect even when in neutral. Reminds me of the days when the water pump on an old car had failed, far away from any repair shop. Had to drive up hill watching the temp needle scream into the red but then regain the blue on the downhill side (in neutral).

      1. Neutrino

        Old emergency kit would include pantyhose, knotted just so for an impromptu fan belt, and the old standby duct tape, just because, right next to a gallon of water.

        1. Revenant

          My mother famously donated her tights to replace the fanbelt of my father’s Triumph Dolomite when they were touring Scotland.

      2. Sub-Boreal

        You can bet that an engineer is taking notes that the automatic collision avoidance system needs to be in effect even when in neutral.

        Drat! Silly me.

  24. Pat

    Ben Panga included this winner of from Kamala Harris in his comment yesterday on the Grauniad’s article of Harris supposed proposals:

    Harris: “I think if you want to know who someone cares about, look who they fight for.”

    That has been rattling around in my brain infuriating me most of the early morning to now. I so wish I had a spare million or ten. I would be running ads with her saying that and then point out the things the Democrats have supposedly been fighting for and how often they controlled the levers of power. And finish “with she is partly right, but you have to look at the results to realize who they fight for isn’t who they say it is for in campaign speeches. Final screen: ‘Look at the fights they do win. If they aren’t winning the fights for your policies, they probably aren’t fighting for you.’

    Somebody else opined that the only good thing from Trump winning would be a possible anti-trust agenda continuing. I think the immediate round filing of Kamala Harris would also be a good thing. (She doesn’t have the network base of the Clinton’s and despite the gushing her actual appeal is pretty limited.)

    As total eclipse of the two party system and the two parties that have run it into the ground along with the end of unlimited money in campaigns is impossible I’m not sure there is a best option out there. (Both Stein and Kennedy being stripped from the ballot here in NY has left me more cynical about this election than ever before.)

    1. .Tom

      Harris: “I think if you want to know who someone cares about, look who they fight for.”

      A – They fight for (care about) themselves, their donors, and their friends.

      but then

      B – The party exists to gain control of as much of government as possible.

      A and B conflict in some important ways. B requires getting votes, which requires governing to voter’s approval but what voters want isn’t always what donors want so, for example, the Democratic party would rather D. Trump be president than B. Sanders. That’s because the cost to party insiders (A) of failing to get enough votes (B) might be smaller than the cost of lost donations (A) from giving voters what they want (B).

      1. hk

        You get always “steal” the votes to get to B, with “steal” defined broadly (it’s not always overt and obvious electoral fraud as people imagine it–all elections in, say, Belarus are “free and fair,” for example, within technical definition thereof.). It’s not just fine, but a duty if you are stealing the votes for “Our Democracy(tm)”.

        1. .Tom

          I described only the system of main incentives in a political party in isolation (assuming no limits to donation). But as you correctly point out, there’s more than one. For example, in the USA there are two such parties and they operate to some extent as a cartel, which makes the system more complex. But we can apply quasi-game theoretic thinking, e.g. the Clinton’s persuade Trump to run as a Republican so that Hillary and subsequent D’s can be the Savior of Democracy.

          I said quasi-game theory. Tricky calculations. Margins of error.

          As Chomsky noted, there’s something weird about the American two-party system producing statistical ties https://chomsky.info/200101__/ The cartel ensures that the voting options have no bearing on the lives of the voters. It’s actually stabilizing to each individual party, allowing them to focus on A. American elections are big business and it’s in both parties interests to not screw with that revenue stream.

      2. Carolinian

        One increasingly suspects that Harris would merely be four more years of Biden–which is to say incompetence with lots of attitude if anyone objects to her mistakes. Of course attitude was all that our Nikki was selling and unsurprisingly Nikki thinks Harris is the kind of candidate she aspired to be. No problem with not doing your homework if you can fire the teacher.

        So three years from now after some new FP disaster Kamala’s response will be “at least I’m not Trump.” TDS will never die.

  25. Alice X

    Wellie, IIRC JFK wanted AIPAC to register under FARA (it seems to me it certainly should). This article doesn’t mention them but it does have what might be some useful information from a recent hack (or leak?, I’ve read the piece but have not internalized it yet, some readers may want to have at it?)

    Guardian:

    Israel feared legal trouble over US advocacy efforts, leaked files suggest

    Exclusive: officials concerned by foreign agent law proposed creation of American nonprofit to avoid scrutiny

  26. Wukchumni

    I predict that Kamala will soon announce that any mothers that deliver on Labor Day in 2025 will get triple the $6,000 bonus if they stick the landing within that 24 hour period.

        1. ambrit

          That’s encouraging. With retail inflation being what it is, I was getting ready for future meal deals featuring Round Robin Cuisine.
          Lunch ‘on the wing’ I suppose. “Round and round it goes. When it’s cooked, nobody knows!”
          Round Robin Cuisine also lends itself to Brunch Virtue Signaling tweets.

  27. caucus99percenter

    Sincere apologies to both Yves, Lambert, and the commentariat. I understand; it won’t happen again.

  28. Sea Sched

    Re: younger colon cancer patients
    I would be interested to see if they are looking into whether these patients were born via C-section vs vaginally which has a huge effect on the microbiome. And also whether they were breastfed as infants– breastfed infants are at the very top of the food chain and get the most concentrated dose of toxins via the mother, especially if they are the first born. There are lots of immune/microbiome benefits of being breastfed but perhaps they are negated by how progressively contaminated our environment has become with persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, etc…

  29. Wukchumni

    A curse is Kursk of course of course
    And no one can talk of truth of course in Kursk
    That is, unless it comes from the mouth of the Feds

    Go right to the source and ask the course
    They’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse
    This war is always on a steady course
    Talk to the Feds

    People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day
    But the Feds will never speak unless they have something to say

    Our curse is in Kursk of course, of course
    And the mainstream media will talk ’til their voice is hoars
    You never heard of a stalking horse?

    Well listen to this…

    …they are the compulsory led

  30. Jason Boxman

    From ‘Pig Butchering’ Online Scams Are Proliferating. Here’s Why They Work So Well.

    GOCHENOUR: Sure. So if you get that wrong number, the text to your phone, you respond, saying wrong number. I’m not Paul. Jane. Whoever. They say, oh, so sorry. Uh, my assistant gave me your number. I hope I’m not bothering you.
    Sometimes they even send you a picture. That sounds interesting. So you continue to talk. Oh, what’s your name? Where do you live? What do you do?

    Been getting these text for years. Once I said wrong number, and the person wanted to keep talking. I replied a few times and quit because it was pointless, texting some rando back. I figured it was a scam.

    What a third world country the US is, that you can’t simply block unknown numbers from sending you a text message. I mean, problem solved mostly. Solved enough that this won’t be quite so lucrative. There’s always the possibility you need text messages from strangers in an emergency.

    1. neutrino23

      You can block messages from unknown contacts on both iPhones and Android phones.

      https://www.guidingtech.com/how-to-block-text-messages-from-unknown-numbers-on-iphone-and-android/

      For a while I was getting phone calls about my **** credit card. They spoofed the number so that it looked like it was from the credit card company. It was great entertainment while it lasted. I would ask them where they were calling from. “I am calling from The United States of America.” LOL. Where are you calling from? “The Billings Department.” Billings Montana? “Yes.” LOL You sound Romanian. Are you calling from Romania? Click. What a piker. After about three of these calls they gave up.

  31. CA

    “China’s anti-corruption net has risk-averse officials afraid to innovate”

    This is simply a copy of an essay that has been copied several times since the original was published almost 8 years ago:

    https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/with-its-corruption-crackdown-china-is-also-stamping-out-innovation/

    November 7, 2016

    With its corruption crackdown, China is also stamping out innovation
    By Yuen Yuen Ang

    The point is that as international high-quality science publishing and high-value patenting show China is remarkably innovative with all the efforts being made for high ethical social behavior standards.

  32. Ben Panga

    Germany to halt new Ukraine military aid (Politico.eu)

    “The ban, which is already in place, will affect all new requests for assistance to Kyiv, Germany’s FAZ newspaper reported…..

    ….future funding would no longer come from Germany’s federal budget but from proceeds from frozen Russian assets”

    Interesting timing coming right after the German police declared the Nord Steam sabotage to be a Ukrainian operation.

  33. TomDority

    All this endless war, China bad, endless infusion of arms onto this limited planet. It all appears to me that it is a USA gambit to persuade other nations into a buying binge to 1) create an industrial economy in the USA (my opinion is a MilitaryIndustrialEconomy) whereby, 2) the debt traps that inevitably will swallow other nations ,is designed to force the extraction of the key natural resources from those other nations – at glut prices that enrich the speculative financial class – I could go on but- it’s not about China or Russia or any other USA predatory speculative financial class infestation.
    My biggest worry is that upon saturating the global market with military equipment in order to force nations to give up their natural resource at fire sale prices – after this is exhausted and the MIC/MilitaryIndustrialEconomy losses growth….well the predatory class will want a return to growth and the only way to do that is to have countries (in economic straight jackets) use their military equipment to source raw materials in order to promote demand or gain the ability to repay – maybe I am a crazy.

    “A highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang as when single; and a nation that makes an unjust war is only a great gang.” -Benjamin Franklin

    “No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.” -Alexis de Tocqueville

    . “War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.” -George Orwell

    “The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor.” -George Orwell

    “A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.” -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

    After all, what do these other nut-jobs know

    1. CA

      “All this endless war…”

      Interesting comment, that sets in context Chinese diplomatic efforts to re-affirm and expand the purposes of the United Nations. President Xi repeatedly speaks to this with other heads of state and there are those such as very recently Brazil’s Lula who wish for the same:

      https://english.news.cn/20240815/bff21dab8f5246f6b5aef4f51a89d0e1/c.html

      August 15, 2024

      Xi says China ready to work with Brazil to promote building of China-Brazil community with shared future

    2. albrt

      Fortunately, most US military equipment doesn’t work (in the military sense – it works great for the intended purpose of looting the treasury).

  34. spud

    courtesy of the supreme court.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VNPXtdFHiY

    ANGRY father confronts Sheriffs on Inappropriate Snapchat to minor by Chief Deputy

    till we over turn the complete immunity that has created this monstrosity, we will never regain our civil society.

    the reason why i do not bother with the Turley types, is because that type is sheltered from the reality they helped to create, enforce and ignore.

    if you are worried about the 1st amendment, you really got to look at qualified immunity, tery stops, mims vs. pa, and so on.

    to understand that this elevation of a group of people who are beyond the law, who now view us with contempt and as prey, its this type of outrageous policies that are helping to undermine the bill of rights.

    1. spud

      although i agree with the judges take, and it ties in with the destruction of the bill of rights, on the international scene, what country does not engage in this?

      in america, the last thing you want to do in my opinion, is call 911, the police, or even get caught in the eyes of the cops.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fHTdqaJinE

      Police Body Camera Video Shows Adrian Lee Holding A Water Bottle When Shot

      they were begging 911, not to send the cops.

  35. spud

    even Dore gets it. the white tower types that are only worried about the national political side of things. really does not understand how deep it goes. to get free speech back, you must get the bill of rights back.

    a majority of americans no longer have a bill of rights. dore says it best, the rest of the world knows america is a police state.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6zuY5A9uwg

    UNBELIEVABLE Story About Chinese Police Doing Their Job!

  36. Willow

    > Zero States for Two Peoples? Jewish Thinkers Are Pondering a Mass Return to Exile

    This is why Israel is doomed irrespective what Iran & co. do. It started before Gaza conflict with Netanyahu’s challenge to the courts & independence of legal system. In the Pentagon papers there was a tit-bit about Mossad dissenting. Will Mossad itself disperse and go into exile? Embedded in other agencies with an underlying duty to protect the diaspora? Aligned against what has become a fascist ‘neo-Nazi’ Israel which is putting the global Jewish community at grave risk?

  37. XXYY

    Thanks, AP:

    When chronic absence surged to around 50% in Fresno, California, officials realized they had to remedy pandemic-era mindsets about keeping kids home sick.

    “Unless your student has a fever or threw up in the last 24 hours, you are coming to school. That’s what we want,” said Abigail Arii, director of student support services.

    This is definitely the cruelest, as well as the stupidest, timeline.

  38. Willow

    > What Military History Tells Us About Ukraine’s Kursk Invasion

    Surprise, surprise RAND doesn’t mention Operation Michael in WW1.

    “The Central Powers knew that they could not win a protracted war, but they held high hopes for success in a final quick offensive.. German forces achieved an unprecedented advance of 60 kilometres. The initial offensive was a success; after heavy fighting, however, the offensive was halted. Lacking tanks or motorised artillery, the Germans were unable to consolidate their gains.” [Wikipedia]

    After which came collapse of the German forces ending in complete defeat.

  39. The Rev Kev

    In Aussie news today in New South Wales which brought a smile to my lips. So it looks like the Liberal party – sort of like the US’s Republicans & the UK’s Tories – forgot to nominate dozens of their candidates in upcoming elections and the Electoral Commission has said no extensions. Oopsies. In Sydney alone, perhaps 12 Sydney councils will have no Liberals standing. The words ‘a monumental stuff-up’ don’t even begin to cover it-

    https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-liberal-party-refused-extension-to-local-council-election-nomination-period/80adce2b-04fa-4886-a1f7-8b0e510d9fbc

    1. Willow

      People don’t just forget these types of things. You’d have reminders within reminders. Sounds like serious internal conflict and the losing side with the nominees decided not to lodge the applications.

      1. Ben Panga

        Previously I’d have agreed with you Willow. In the last few years though the incompetence within various (western) nation’s establishments seems to have skyrocketed.

        How often do we see things today as “business-as-normal” that just a few years ago would be sensational news?

        I don’t think it’s COVID related brain damage although that definitely wouldn’t help. Something else is going on.

        The two factors I think about most.

        1. The internet has made everybody nuts. I think people don’t factor this in enough. The radical change in how information/news is created and distributed and the inevitable pushback from the establishment has created whatever the heck we have now. Mad-Max epistemology?

        2. As jackpot and neoliberal collapse continues, we have entered a kind of nihilist kleptocratic state. Institutions are no longer thinking long term. The most shallow and venal rise to the top. The smart powerful are planning for a radically different future outside of the system. Only actual idiots become politicians or institutional leaders in this dying system.

        1 and 2 interact. So careful thinkers are discarded in favour of loudmouths with seductively easy solutions. We have incompetent idiots all the way down.

        I’m also planning for life outside the system, as I’d guess are many of the commentariat here.

        I still have enough joy in my heart to laugh at Rev’s Liberal idiocy story though :)

  40. The Rev Kev

    For something completely different, here is an article about Aussie firefighters helping out in the Californian fires. One part said-

    ‘During a brief chat with the Herald, one US wildlife officer mentions that cougars and black bears are in the area, but the yellow jacket wasps pose the most common wildlife threat as they escape the fires.’

    Yeah, we don’t have to worry about such things here if you don’t count the drop bears-

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/on-the-firefront-aussies-lend-expert-hand-to-battle-us-blazes-20240814-p5k28k.html

        1. MarkT

          :-( those fires affected the weather here. The soot particles, I suspect. Enhanced thunderstorm activity over the Southern Alps.

  41. Jason Boxman

    Looks like the Mpox thing might be a fast moving situation. I hope not. Public health isn’t in a state to tackle this.

    I can’t believe we’ve gone back to 19th century epidemics of communicable disease. In the 21st century. This is otherworldly. Granted it always relied upon functional public health to keep disease in check. It’s a delicate balance. Like the rest of America’s infrastructure. It’s been left to atrophy.

    I just can’t see this ending well with COVID immune disregulation. Hopefully just needlessly alarmist. But this is the stupidest timeline.

    1. MarkT

      My experience of our neoliberal/ubercapitalist world is that there is no forward thinking involved. Unless it involves short term profit. Everything else, medium and long term, is reactionary. Has a lot to do with values.

    2. SocalJimObjects

      Unlike Covid though, there’s no way to hide mpox once you got it, so it only takes one of the Kardashians to contract this for the public to demand some answers and accountability from public health officials.

      1. MarkT

        If there is a vaccine, they will be first in line to get it, no matter how much it costs. Others will be pushed out of the way.

        1. SocalJimObjects

          Taking a vaccine beforehand requires some awareness from the part(ies) involved. I am skeptical the topic of mpox would even come up in conversation in the Kardashians’ (or people like them) social circle.

      2. Jason Boxman

        We shall see. I’m not optimistic. Over a million dead hasn’t produced any awareness. Or millions with long COVID. And I’ve forgotten about H5N1. A wild card. But Mpox is now. The scope I guess we’ll see.

  42. JCC

    The “cool but creepy” Google article reminded me of a quote I read, and saved, years ago:

    “We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
    — William Casey, Director of the C.I.A., 1981

    This was originally reported by Barbara Honegger, who was part of the Reagan Administration and claimed to be in that meeting, confirming that Casey said it.

  43. The Rev Kev

    ‘Henry Madison
    @RageSheen
    Everything old is new again. What a noisy, polluting, wasteful century we just had, all to make oil barons rich.’

    You know what would be cool? That map showing where all the electrical charging stations were in Chicago and include exact addresses. Imagine reformatting that page so that when you click an address, that it shows you what is there now with a popup image. You could almost do it with Google StreetView alone and it would be one of those Now & Then works. Here is an example with one – 6556 Sheridan Road, Chicago – that shows there to be a bank there now-

    https://www.google.com.au/maps/@42.0017711,-87.6607894,3a,75y,269.96h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1lvELDgIZDmvdTXHaX9Eww!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu

  44. korual

    Photons in brain article.

    Interesting to read that consciousness requires photons in the brain. Obviously they are entangled as it requires advanced technology for physicists to unentangle quanta. Perhaps this is a clue for the physical base of panpsychism. Einstein already showed that the speed of light is the root of all energy and mass. There must be something about photons that leads to the emergence of consciousness, such that consciousness is a higher dimension of illumination (light in space and time). We are unartificial, quantum intelligences.

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