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Links 8/24/2024

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Researchers capture video of possible wolf-dog hybrid in northern Minnesota MPRNews (Chuck L)

Looks like Audrey at the start:

New virus that causes ‘staggering disease’ discovered in US – and it can kill pet cats and those in the wild Independent (Robin K)

Long-hidden family scandal in Jamestown colony revealed 400 years later by ancient DNA CNN (Kevin W)

Where crashing cars is the point Economist. I completely get this interest even though I never went to a demolition derby. My absolute favorite toy as a toddler was a crash car.

#COVID-19

Climate/Environment

Amid Changing Climate, Colorado Plans to Restore the Wolverine Undark (Kevin W)

Water-Related Conflict On The Rise Across The World, Study Finds Forbes

Cities are trying to cut down on cars. Some states are standing in their way. Yale Climate Connections

China?

China AI devs using cloud services to game US chip sanctions The Register

Advanced IC packaging is next front in the chip wars Asia Times (Kevin W)

Readouts of Xi-Starmer call Pekinology

Koreas

Why North Korea may find the South’s new vision for unification provocative The Conversation (Kevin W). This is a feature, not a bug. South Korea does not want reunification because it cannot afford it. The unification of West Germany and the GDR due to much lower incomes in the GDR. It was very costly and was “solved” by serious wage repression. The gap between income per capita for South Korea v. North Korea is a chasm compared to that of West Germany and the GDR when the USSR fell. See Reuters in 2024, reporting on a growth surge in North Korea in 2023:

North Korea’s nominal gross national income in 2023 was estimated to be 1.59 million won ($1,147.56) per capita, equivalent to just 3.4% of the South’s 47.25 million won.

Hyper-Aggressive Monetary Expansion Kicks Into Overdrive in Myanmar Irrawaddy

Africa

Fuel scarcity stifles economic activities as SMEs battle mounting losses The Sun (Nigeria)

Sudan: 20 Tons of Life-Saving Medicines Airdropped teleSUR (Robin K)

European Disunion

German Private Sector Contraction Deepens RTTNews

Germany’s far-left disrupter claims credit for limiting aid to Ukraine. Financial Times

Old Blighty

Nigel Farage could be the real winner if Labour lets teens vote Politico (Kevin W)

Royal Society of Medicine embraces ‘tweakments’ and cosmetic surgery The Times (Dr. Kevin)

Gaza

Gaza live: Dozens killed across Gaza as Israeli army forces new displacement Middle East Eye

Israeli opposition leader Lieberman says ‘no more food, no more goods’ into Gaza Middle East Eye (guurst)

Cash crisis worsens already dire situation for Palestinians in Gaza as all banks halt operations Associated Press

* * *

Iran will hit Israel, ball is in US-Israeli court Indian Punchline (Kevin W)

Iran’s response to Israel is coming, with Mohammad Marandi Electronic Intifada, YouTube

* * *

Greek oil tanker on fire and adrift after multiple attacks in Red Sea Aljazeera (Kevin W)

New Not-So-Cold War

Despite Russian Fumbles, Ukraine Continues to Unspool Simplicius

Ukraine to begin production of 155mm shells using Norwegian military technologies Euromaidan (Robin K)

US announces new round of military assistance for Ukraine Aljazeera. $125 million does not rise to the level of being couch lint.

Here’s why Russia won’t talk to Ukraine RT (Robin K)

Syraqistan

Iraq and Turkiye: A strategic realignment amidst regional shifts The Cradle

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Microsoft plans Windows security overhaul after CrowdStrike outage Financial Times (Kevin W). This announcement is very late in coming.

Imperial Collapse Watch

The American Empire is Losing Money in Europe. Will It Abandon Europe Glenn Diesen (Micael T)

Navy Could Sideline 17 Support Ships Due to Manpower Issues USNI (Kevin W)

Airpower on a budget: US to revive light fighter concept Asia Times (Kevin W)

Trump

X and Meta Employees Meet With MAGA Hub Sludge (TF)

I doubt this is a winning to pitch to anyone other than the stereotypical California health obsessive who has the time and money to eat only very pure foods (according to their standards) and experiment with alternate treatments (which IMHO can be very helpful but finding good modalities and then practitioners within them is often hit or miss). Mind you, I say that as a health fetishist myself. The FDA should pay me for all the experiments I have run on myself.

Nevertheless, even though readers in comments on Lambert’s RFK, Jr. speech responded positively to this messaging, he spoke specifically of harm to children. How many parents are willing to admit to themselves that they were responsible for their children’s poor health via letting them become overweight (eating too many foods with obvious and not so obvious sugars) and eating too much highly/ultra processed food? IMHO the cohort receptive to that message is largely already converted. I suspect (and we will see soon enough) that it is also is not big enough to sustain a campaign and I am not sure even rich enough in total even to give much of a boost. But perhaps all of this talk about health is to cover for a plan to make RFK, Jr. head of the CIA, which would get him or Trump killed were anyone to get word.

However:

Kamala

Harris’ Hollow Words on Gaza Daniel Larison

“She’s completely incompetent!” | Norman Finkelstein is not impressed with Kamala Harris Smart Cookies, YouTube (britzklieg). From two weeks ago but refreshingly unabashed.

GOP Clown Car

Republican-led States Challenge Effort to Aid Undocumented Spouses New York Times

Our No Longer Free Press

Has the Online Left Given Up? Jacobin (UserFriendly). I never knew the “Online Left” was A Thing. Nevertheless, the successful Democrat neutering of Sanders played a big role.

There can be no freedom without free speech Scott Ritter (Chuck L)

Antitrust

Justice Department Sues RealPage, Alleging It Enabled Price-Fixing On Rents CBS

Mr. Market Gets What It Wants

Fed’s Powell, in policy shift, says ‘time has come’ to cut rates Reuters (Kevin W)

The last great engine of the world economy is sputtering out Telegraph

Rate cuts won’t prevent a recession and the economy is deteriorating ‘quite rapidly,’ investment strategist says Business Insider

Quantitative Tightening Goes Global for the First Time, in Test for Markets Bloomberg

Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda warns global markets are ‘unstable Financial Times

Guillotine Watch

Elon Musk was just forced to reveal who really owns X. Here’s the list Yahoo! Finance (Kevin W)

Class Warfare

Canada forces arbitration in freight train labor dispute to avert economic crisis. Union cries foul and later Canadian union threatens to strike against freight railroad hours after trains resume service Associated Press (Kevin W)

Railway Shutdown Threatens Agriculture And Bill Gates Is The Largest Share Holder Of CN Rail!! Odysee (DO)

“Greeks can have vacations in the village, not on the islands,” says Minister Defend Democracy (Micael T)

Revisiting How Many People Have Filed Bankruptcy Credit Slips

Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “This is a skipper butterfly spotted on a brief stroll around the seaside town of Corona Del Mar (California) – The butterfly was kind enough to let me intrude on its flower visit”

A bonus (Chuck L):

And a second bonus. The word “heroic” is used too casually in the US. This man took real risk and so IMHO the label fits:

And another bonus:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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177 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “Royal Society of Medicine embraces ‘tweakments’ and cosmetic surgery”

    Not so sure that I am a fan of this idea from the part that I could read. Came across a video recently which shows which way this has already gone and it appears to be set in a hospital-

    https://www.bitchute.com/video/rhVblhdrLq9u/ (1:12 mins)

  2. Steve H.

    St Clair caught Covid, and brainfogged an overlap of Faulkner and the DNC convention, producing this prose:

    > People take different turns sitting on the coffin. First, there was Cash with his broken leg, set in concrete and turning black. Then Miss Hillary, dressed in white, waving her arms like Bill’s pants were on fire. Again. Then the buzzards landed. Up in the rafters near the MSNBC booth. Nancy Pelosi didn’t sit on the coffin, even though she drew up some of the plans for it. They say Joe don’t cotton to her anymore. And a cat, but Vardaman chased it away, thinking it might eat the fish, which was his mother. Every party needs a cat and cat lady, I reckon. Then Obama sat on it for a while and preened. Obama thinks his mother is Ronald Reagan. Or Nancy. I can’t remember which. Then Michelle chased him off, saying his yacht was waiting on the Gold Coast of Lake Michigan, and he was late. Given her convention speech, AOC must think her mother is Hillary Clinton. Nobody inside seemed to mind the smell. Or even notice it. Not the smell of the casket or the smell outside, which nearly everyone else was gagging from.

    2. Carolinian

      And continuing

      “Kamala has a daddy who she doesn’t mention for reasons most everybody knows but can’t say. But her daddy is tonight Joe Biden, though it used to be Willie Brown. And her momma is Nancy Pelosi. And Biden and Pelosi fight. So they can’t be together in the same room. Kamala isn’t Daisy Dell. But she might have been once, no one’s quite sure. FoxNews is trying to find out. Now she’s nobody’s mother, which makes her suspect for many. An unproductive grifter, I guess, who won’t have any function at all in her post-menopausal years, which are fast approaching, if they haven’t yet arrived. Watch those nuclear codes.”

      Not many examples of Faulkner, poet of poverty, these days. You have to make up your own.These days Mississippi has car plants but still one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

    3. Watt4Bob

      Just when I was wallowing in pity that there was no Hunter S Thompson to break the news about the stench.

      Thank you, that was a refreshing break from the disgusting effluent that passes for journalism these days.

      1. Ben Panga

        Some Random HST for you. A letter to Anthony Burgess (writer of ‘A Clockwork Orange’).

        Dear Mr. Burgess,

        Herr Wenner has forwarded your useless letter from Rome to the National Affairs Desk for my examination and/or reply.

        Unfortunately, we have no International Gibberish Desk, or it would have ended up there.

        What kind of lame, half-mad bullshit are you trying to sneak over on us? When Rolling Stone asks for “a thinkpiece”, goddamnit, we want a fucking Thinkpiece… and don’t try to weasel out with any of your limey bullshit about a “50,000 word novella about the condition humaine, etc…”

        Do you take us for a gang of brainless lizards? Rich hoodlums? Dilettante thugs?

        You lazy cocksucker. I want that Thinkpiece on my desk by Labor Day. And I want it ready for press. The time has come & gone when cheapjack scum like you can get away with the kind of scams you got rich from in the past.

        Get your worthless ass out of the piazza and back to the typewriter. Your type is a dime a dozen around here, Burgess, and I’m fucked if I’m going to stand for it any longer.

        Sincerely,

        Hunter S Thompson

        1. Ben Panga

          Yves, my apologies, I tried and failed to delete the above (and replace it with the below) when I realised it might not be family-blog suitable.

        1. Watt4Bob

          I always liked his description of Richard Nixon, something like;

          “…a man so crooked, that when he dies, they won’t be able to bury him, they’ll have to screw him into the ground.”

          HST once said JoeBiden shouldn’t be punished for cheating in Law School, he should be punished for going to Law School at all.

  3. Ben Panga

    This isn’t a reaction to any particular link; more a growing feeling I’ve had reading through links the last few months.

    War is coming(?). As in “big world war” type war.

    I’m reminded of the rumour that Rishi Sunak quit because he didn’t want to be a war leader.

    Censorship, lawfare, election chicanery (or just ignoring them in France), crumbling economies with no obvious fix, repeated provocations of Russia and Iran.

    I really hope I’m wrong.

    And I’m still not discounting a big reveal about UFOs (absurd as I feel typing it). There’s too much coming out of the US gov about them the last months/years for it to be heading nowhere

    2. Wukchumni

      I can see the Golden Billion being relegated to single-A ball, no reason to still be in the bigs, all are heavily indebted in a series of mutual reliances.

      Just as WW1 was the end of royalty in the old world, you sense the end of royalties is dwelling in some dank corner near you.

      1. jefemt

        I’m still waiting from my royalties from Elon for his using my share of low-earth-orbit for starlink. Different Royalty? Gumby . Gumby long wait.

        1. The Rev Kev

          Low-earth-orbit are part of the commons. So of course billionaires like Musk want to seize control over it and monetize it for themselves. And that is why they are also investing in spacecraft. So that if you want to get into orbit, you can only do so at their sufferance. It’s like letting billionaires buy up the elevators in skyscrapers for their own profit. Can you imagine?

    3. ilsm

      There is a point in time (history does not suffer fools) when the USUKEU is overshadowed by the “resistance”.

      The point of the 2014 coup in Kiev was to kick off a war before….. that point.

      Iffy whether that point has been passed!

      Hitler wanted war before France got industry mobilized, his generals over stated the French British threat!

    4. MaryLand

      After plagues come wars. It will put the nail in the coffin of our environment. Hard not to be pessimistic these days. Just enjoy what you can in the present.

    5. Jason Boxman

      I hope not UFOs. If you ever play the Mass Effect series, best RPG 3rd person shooter ever made, you know it doesn’t end particularly well for humanity in the end. The remastered Legendary Edition is simply fantastic, lovingly redone and great in 4k. I don’t think they make games like that anymore. Every couple of years I spend a month or two playing games, I guess this has been my two months this cycle.

  4. The Rev Kev

    ‘Dr. Lucky Tran
    @luckytran
    GOOD NEWS: The US government has announced that it will again offer free at-home Covid tests starting in late September.
    You will be able to get 4 more free test kits sent through the mail.’

    Why would the US government do that when Biden assured everybody that the Pandemic was over back in September of ’22? He wasn’t wrong by any chance, was he? If so, that horse has fled the barn, took off through the county, headed to the nearest port and took a boat out of the joint before anybody had a chance to shut those barn doors.

    1. CanCyn

      And really, what is the point in testing? No one is tracking results, there is nowhere to report them. And didn’t we read about a recent survey in which 30% of respondents said they’d fly knowing they have COVID? I think people are convinced that COVID is no big deal and they are not one bit concerned about spread. Perhaps headlines like the one from the Montreal Gazette will wake people up? I have my doubts. Fall is coming, brunch will soon have to happen indoors!

        1. Randall Flagg

          Wait, Covid?!?!
          All I hear is: “It’s just a summer cold”. Or, “my allergies are acting up”. Oh, also: ” Oh boy, this was a tough pollen season”

          I think people are behaving about Covid like those DNC delegates leaving the arena and covering their ears while walking past the protesters reading the names of the Palestinian children killed in Gaza.
          See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil (except when it comes to anyone not supporting the Ds, the D’s policies or Kamalala. Then, not enough evil can be spoken.

        2. JTMcPhee

          Just made it worse for me, on the rebound.

          Truly a wonder med! Big Money to Pharma for another med that does not work even close to “as seen on TV’ image.

      2. Jason Boxman

        The other issue is simply that it isn’t enough tests; we know that people don’t necessarily test positive immediately. These are less sensitive than PCR tests. And if you test to exit quarantine, which sadly isn’t a thing anymore, you might need multiple more tests. This is barely sufficient for a single infection, and with other things circulating, it’s possible you don’t have COVID, and now you’ve used up precious tests.

        What a joke. I wonder if they’ll be expired again this year?

        1. Yves Smith Post author

          Yes, very few are told they need to test a second day if they are symptomatic and get a negative, due to the high level of false negatives. The small # of tests handed out unwittingly reinforces incomplete instructions.

      1. Mark Gisleson

        The archive.ph links are appreciated and I don’t think most readers appreciate how often you must be the first to archive an article (and then have to wait and wait for the site to bypass the paywall to produce a working link which then has to be checked to make sure all the content survived the archiving).

        Thank you for all the work you do to make this my favorite website.

    2. The Rev Kev

      Unbelievable when you think about it. They say that the US is stalling out but why are they surprised? They impoverish average citizens, let corporations get away with loading them up with killer debts for healthcare, education, etc, and then let other corporations jack up prices the past few years for things like food so that profits can be boosted leading to executive bonuses. And then when average Americans are tapped out and can’t spend into the economy, they moan that the economy is stalling out. What did they think would happen?

      1. ilsm

        In the background; printing money like aarzy!

        With well over a year of tightening the balance sheet is $7.14 trillion, down .999 trillion year on year. Not quite the $90 billion a month!

        They burned all of Milton Friedman’s books.

        Economy run by gaslight and soon to be revised reporting.

  7. ex-PFC Chuck

    Working link for the “Chinese grenade drone:”
    x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1826671986468421829/video/1?

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      Sorry you are having trouble. The tweet with the image should come up if you wait for it to load. I can see it just fine along with the other embedded tweets.

    2. The Rev Kev

      It’s one thing to have some guy on the other side chucking a grenade in your direction. Nothing personal – it’s just business. But the thought of a grenade doing slow circles, marking you out and then going after you kinda makes it sound personal.

      1. JTMcPhee

        This is just a puny (in current explosive load) version of the “FPV drones,” increasingly autonomous, that are in huge use in 404 and other “proxy” and hot wars and “police actions” all over the planet. Used to loiter, then mark and hunt down and blow “the enemy troop” or hapless Palestinian to gory bits, while the “operator” whoops with murderous glee. Local cops in a lot of places looking forward to, or already have, inclusion of these tools in varying degrees of lethality for keeping the mopery down. https://www.thedrive.com/article/15092/drones-in-law-enforcement-how-where-and-when-theyre-used

        Dystopia arrives with a buzz of rotors.

        1. Ben Panga

          I remember some months back reading a Palestinian account of being hunted by a drone. It was horrifying.

  8. vao

    The Queen of Night blooms only once a year – in the dead of night.

    It is correct that this flower only blooms during the night, but it is wrong to state it does it only once per year. 3-5 times is typical.

    Another interesting point: the flowers emit a strong scent — spicy, unlike roses or violets that are just suave and sweet; quite pleasant if you like tropical fragrances. If you have such a plant in your apartment, the scent spreading through it is the signal that the flowers are in full bloom. It grows vigorously, and it is therefore necessary to keep pruning it.

    1. Otto Reply

      So glad you mentioned the aroma. Heavenly. Smells like Beamon’s chewing gum. We have 2 plants outside. Frequently with multiple blossoms that seemed to align with the full moon. The blossoms came in waves and as this time lapse shows, last only 1 night. Further, we noted that bats were drawn to the blossoms. Very cool plant.

      1. vao

        I read in Wikipedia that in Mexico (its country of origin), pollination of that plant occurs via bats. That would explain the blooming at night, the large flowers, the strong scent…

  9. Wukchumni

    Well now she’s respected in society
    We don’t worry about the things that she used to be
    We’re talking a heroine as the president
    Well it’s a problem, sir, but it can’t be bent
    Uh yes

    Well now you’re a pillar of society
    You don’t worry about the things that you used to be
    You’re a tirade-trade girl, you’re the queen of yawn
    You’re got the easiest way to the White House lawn

    Get out of my life, don’t come back
    Get out of my life, don’t come back

    She’s so respectable
    She’s so respectable
    She’s so unelectable
    She’s so respectable
    Get out of my life
    Don’t cause more strife
    Don’t come back
    Get out of my life
    Don’t cause more strife
    Don’t come back

    What I say

    She’s so respectable
    She’s so respectable
    She’s so respectable
    She’s so respectable

    Get out of my life
    Don’t cause more strife
    Don’t come back
    Oh get out of my life
    Don’t cause more strife
    Don’t come back, alright oh

    She’s so respectable
    She’s so respectable
    She’s so unelectable
    She’s so respectable
    Get out of my life
    Don’t cause more strife
    Don’t come back woo

    Get out of life
    Don’t cause more strife
    Don’t come back
    Get out of my life
    Don’t cause more strife
    Don’t come back, come back, hey

    Respectable, by the Rolling Stones

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hl5WmTTPo

  10. cnchal

    > The last great engine of the world economy is sputtering out

    The “h” is missing at the beginning of http.

    Great engine, eh? It’s sputtering because the intake manifold is choked with carbon, the exhaust is plugged and the rings and valves don’t hold pressure anymore. You see, we have collectively ripped out the air filter, never changed the oil or coolant and completely neglected it, expecting it to run forever. Let er r.i.p.

  11. viscaelpaviscaelvi

    @ Elon Musk was just forced to reveal who really owns X. Here’s the list Yahoo! Finance

    Is there anything in the article that justifies The Donald’s pic heading it? Perhaps in the list? It’s so blatant, I am left doubting myself. Did I miss anything?

    1. Revenant

      No but perhaps we should worry about Bamdera Capital LLC…?

      Apparent a USD200bn+ hedge fund, run by a Gregory Bylinsky. I cannot find his bio so it is not clear if Bandera is a coincidence or a devotion.

  12. The Rev Kev

    “Researchers capture video of possible wolf-dog hybrid in northern Minnesota”

    They say that that hybrid is a one-off but what if it isn’t? Not only does it look larger, it looks healthier and better suited to cold weather. What if it breeds and passes on some of these traits to a new generation of wolves? It might even mean a new sub-species of wolf based out of Minnesota. An interesting thought. If it does breed, then Minnesota should grab the opportunity and give it a name. It’s a pity that the name Minnesota Timberwolves is already taken. :)

  13. JohnnyGL

    I enjoyed the sanity check from Matt Karp. Lots of leftish media commentators are soooo quick to jump right back on board with team dem as soon as they feel like they’re being lied to in a more skillful way that makes them feel respected.

    This party wouldn’t even raise the federal minimum wage! They even did that during the Obama era! They’ve moved RIGHT in a lot of ways.

    Are free school lunches really worth the massive increase in war-mongering?

    1. The Rev Kev

      Pretty sure that Fauci got Covid for the third – official – time only recently in spite of all the shots and boosters that he had. It would be a matter of supreme irony if those repeated Covid infections hammered his immune system thus allowing his body to catch this dose of West Nile virus. Maybe I should feel sorry for the guy but I can’t as with people like him, for me it is a case of never forgive & never forget.

      1. Randall Flagg

        >Maybe I should feel sorry for the guy but I can’t as with people like him, for me it is a case of never forgive & never forget.

        Have to admit to being a dick and agreeing with that sentiment so well expressed RK.

        But, we should be careful here, remember what he said. You and I probably just put ourselves on a list somewhere. LOL
        https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/06/09/fauci-on-gop-criticism-attacks-on-me-quite-frankly-are-attacks-on-science/

      2. Mikel

        mRNA is doesn’t actually seem to be an effective vaccine – in the old school definition of vaccine.
        It’s a treatment, an experimental gene therapy where people are still waiting to learn the long-term effects.

        1. ilsm

          Supposed positive effect “presence of antibodies” spurred by human cells producing S proteins, which we do not know what those antibodies fight, are as temporary as they are illusive!

          Negative effects are yet to be studied, that would embarrass many.

          Waiting for Biden to defeat covid.

        2. Lee

          We don’t know about the long-term effects of the vaccines but both the short and long term effects of the disease, particularly on the unvaccinated, are pretty well established. Pick your poison.

          It appears that to be at all effective that the Covid vaccines must target the ever and rapidly changing spike protein rather than more genetically conserved parts of the the virus. If true, there will not be what I believe you mean by an “old school” vaccine any time soon. I do hope I’m wrong.

          1. Mikel

            I had ONE J&J shot back in 2021.
            I’ve been exposed to Covid and doing fine.
            I’ll skip the mRNA poison.

          2. Mikel

            Those shots never prevented the spread of Covid – even without mutation.

            The narrative went from an over-hyped “stopping the spread” to “preventing severe illness”.

            1. Lee

              “Those shots never prevented the spread of Covid…”

              The oral polio vaccine is even worse in this regard as it actually can cause infection. It does this because after taken it reverts in the human gut from the attenuated version to the wild type. While immunity is conferred on the person who takes it, these recipients can then for a time pass it on to the unvaccinated. The injectable polio vaccine does not do this.

              Because the oral vaccine is still used outside the developed world, I wonder which version will possibly be made available in Gaza.

              1. The Rev Kev

                Doesn’t matter as the Israelis have blocked the delivery of any polio vaccines to Gaza – while ensuring that their troops have the vaccine.

                1. JTMcPhee

                  It appears now that nasty variants of tuberculosis and other deadly pathogens are loose in the remnant population of Gaza. https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/disease-going-take-hold-gaza-thanks-purposeful-dismantling-heath-care-action-humanity Not many recent reports on this issue, those peaked seemingly in late 2003 per Google.

                  The cynic in me wonders if the Israelites, with their close connection to the US agencies and NGOs that run those secret imperial bio labs about which the Empire claims “strategic ambiguity,” might not have set incurable diseases loose, as part of their “final solution” — sorry, “decisive plan” — to the “Palestinian problem.” https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2017/05/10/israels-final-solution/

                  Also appears IDF troops might be in the zone of exposure: https://www.newarab.com/news/israeli-forces-gaza-suffer-severe-stomach-illnesses

                  Maybe the IDF could pass out some nice blankets infected with smallpox, while they are at it… (I note that some shade has been cast on the assertion that the Colonists, and later the US military, used germ warfare to get rid of pesky occupants of land they coveted… why is the notion so controversial? We’ve done worse.)

                  1. The Rev Kev

                    Not an assertion. I read an early contemporary history of Virginia in which they came out and said that they did precisely that – gave the Indians blankets infected with smallpox – and then wept about all the Indian deaths after.

                  2. Daniil Adamov

                    I think the notion may be legitimately controversial because smallpox can spread with and without human intent. Sometimes it can be hard to tell which was the case in any particular instance, and the politicisation of history muddles the waters further (it is politically profitable to pretend to know for certain what happened when there is no firm evidence one way or another).

                    However, biological warfare is certainly a well-known part of human culture, so there is nothing inherently unbelievable about it. Mongols did it. As for the Anglo-Saxon colonists, there are some convincing sources cited here: https://asm.org/articles/2023/november/investigating-the-smallpox-blanket-controversy

        3. LifelongLib

          My understanding (welcome correction) is that earlier attempts at conventional vaccines for common-cold corona viruses didn’t work very well either. There are various explanations for this — corona viruses mutate rapidly, and/or our immune system just doesn’t work very well against them.

          That said, mRNA vaccines may have additional problems of their own. FWIW I’ve had several covid shots (Moderna) and so far haven’t had any issues I can ascribe to them.

        4. steppenwolf fetchit

          Maybe to distinguish it from vaccines ( ” classical” vaccines), we should refer to mRNA “vaccines” as mRNA para-vaccinoids.

    3. Tom Stone

      A little poetic justice for Fauci is nice to see, what he did during the AIDS epidemic was unforgivable, what he has done regarding Covid is deserves life in prison, a very long life..

    4. debug

      Thank you IM Doc.

      I live in an area where we regularly see cases of WNV in the summer mosquito season. Last summer, I reported a die-off of Blue Jays in the neighborhood to a state wildlife biologist and he noted that die-offs of corvids sometimes indicate the presence of WNV. Of course, corvids include jays, magpies, crows, ravens, etc.

      Following up that communication I did some research on WNV and found that wherever there is a reported human case, there are usually dozens or scores of milder unreported human cases.

      Just thought I’d share this with the commentariat as a possible indication of a heightened need to DEET yourself when outdoors if you see a corvid die-off in the skeeter season. I have one acquaintance and heard of several more folks through the grapevine over the years who have had bad cases. You don’t wanta get this, it can be very nasty. DEET’s a good idea anyway with the rise of all sorts of mosquito vectored diseases on the rise. And even though most mosquitoes prefer dawn and dusk hours, some disease carrier kinds do bite in the daytime, too.

      My area is one of the darker blue ones on the CDC map at the moment. Our city/county has been running the spray trucks frequently.

      1. Jason Boxman

        It’s interesting to note the spray trucks — this is public health, or at least what’s left of it. Strange, that controlling mosquito borne illness is seen as an important public health activity, but limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is not. The latter would be substantially more expensive, but then, it’s gonna be even more expensive to do nothing with increasing population disability, at times in subtle ways, like reasoning skills and emotional regulation. Sigh.

        1. Brian Beijer

          What kills me is that making the necessary renovations to buildings to prevent Covid would also decrease the spread of every other airborne disease, from monkey pox, the flu, even the common cold. Imagine all the money businesses and the governement could save in reduced sick time/ death of their employees. In 10-15 years, the savings would more than pay for the investment. But they still won’t do it. That’s how little they care about us. It’s almost enough to make one think that their end goal is to kill as many people as possible. Maybe it’s not a conspiracy, but just the result of ignorance, stupidity, apathy and arrogance. Who knows? And, in the end, does it really matter?

            1. Yves Smith Post author

              Please forgive me for mildly editing your comment to make it family blog friendly. Perhaps you can use a milder or more coded (even if deserved) derogatory term next time.

    5. SocalJimObjects

      Fauci’s body will become a reservoir for new types of viruses, and one of them will no doubt be named after him once it’s gotten out into the wild and turned into a major public health crisis. That’s his legacy people, if you think you’ve seen the last of him after his retirement, then you are sadly mistaken. 50 years from now when some of us have shed our mortal coils, Fauci’s legacy will still haunt the world, because he understands that you live only as long as the the last person who remembers you.

  15. Mikel

    Rate cuts won’t prevent a recession and the economy is deteriorating ‘quite rapidly,’ investment strategist says – Business Insider

    What usually happens is the rate cuts start and the instability increases and decline accelerates anyway, so rates are cut even more. Those closest to the cheap money spigot and well-connected still can make out like bandits while most suffer. This accelerates the wealth inequality even more. Some kind of “recovery” is eventually claimed (led by asset prices that re-inflate due to the cheap money) and these recoveries after each crisis have diminishing returns – fewer actually “recover” each time.
    Did I miss anything?

      2. Mikel

        And now there are more wars developing around the world with the byzantine global supply chains and what is called de-industrialization of “developed” economies to go along with the conflicts.
        That’s the only thing makes it “different this time” and not in a good way.

      3. ilsm

        Wonderful economy!

        The Fed ended ZIRP in 2017 for Trump, they did a modest QT in 2018 to slow the Trump economy.

        But for Nov 2024 we are now back to “transitory” inflation!

        So much “level the playing field” for the incumbent economy be darned!

        Bidenomics lives by the federal reserve!

        1. SocalJimObjects

          No matter who wins next year will stoke the fires of inflation. Kamala has promised a bunch of goodies and Trump was never Mr Conservative when it comes to spending other people’s money. Dow 100K, here we come!!!

    2. JTMcPhee

      Only fed tool is interest rate (and opaque oracular ejaculation.) Seems absolutely clear that this “tool” has no correlative effect on “inflation.” Why is the private financialization engine collectively called “the Fed” allowed to even exist any more? (Purely rhetorical question, of course — “they own us. Lock, stock and barrel.”

      1. Mikel

        https://fortune.com/2022/02/16/record-inflation-fed-outlook-wealth-effect/

        Then the Fed cuts rates as if low interest rates trickle down to everyone equally.
        The wealthy hold on to their assets and then borrows more low interest rate money to spend (the assets are collateral). They eventually re-inflate the assets if those have fallen in valuation.
        Then people are told the inflation is because of wages that haven’t really kept up with the decades of compounding inflation.

        Most only see the extreme low interest rates reflected in their savings accounts….never their credit cards (for one example).

  16. Louis Fyne

    Reportedly/allegedly the IDF razed thr last mosque in Gaza.

    https://t.me/intelslava/65509

    Back during the Iraq War, if US Marines did this in Fallujah, the NYT/MSM would keep this footage in the news cycle for days on end.

    But I guess it’s ok if it’s Israel

    1. The Rev Kev

      What’s Hebrew for ‘It’s OK when we do it.’

      Of course there is one last mosque that the Israelis really want to destroy but haven’t worked out yet how they can get away with it. But when they do, let the sacrificial animal slaughter commence.

  17. Mikel

    The last great engine of the world economy is sputtering out – Telegraph

    “We think it would be a mistake for the Fed to conclude that the turmoil was a head-fake,” said Krishna Guha from Evercore ISI.

    And it’s a mistake to think inflation isn’t still a problem. Inflation keeps compounding whether it happens at a fast or slow rate.

    It’s called being in a trick bag.

    1. Mikel

      “We will find out soon whether or not the Powell Fed has committed a second error by staying too tight for too long…”

      They’ve lost all perspective if they think a about a year of small hikes, then about a year of holding steady at still rather low rates was “too long” after decades of QE. Something is fundamentally wrong with a hyper-financialized economy.

    2. Louis Fyne

      the Fed is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. just like the BoJ.

      real reform (tax reform, industrial policy, etc) is impossible. so we’ll (eventually no one knows when) crash into the wall at 200 kph

  18. jefemt

    Deteriorating economy: is it just me, or is there perhaps a pre-four year election economic doldrum where the power/money sector, heck – even Joe Six Pack, sort of move to the sidelines and sit on their hands?
    Seems to me I see this ever four years, starting in April /May. Irrational psychological phenomena?
    My deal: self-employed, no employees (failed unaspiring Capitalist!) sole proprietor meager income micro business – but I KNOW how the election cycle years are lean and mean.
    Are there implications for Powell/Fed to move or not move on rates based on the mini-cycle, nothing to do with 7 year business cycle(tm)?
    Also, if AI and job impacts are occurring and as dire as predicted, are we not into a new paradigm where Fed Magic Pixie Dust may be old medicine for a new paradigm and illness?

    OK… more coffee, for sure.

  19. Verifyfirst

    FDA has approved new Covid vaccines for the fall–not Novavax of course.

    https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-and-authorizes-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently

    Stalwarts on twitter are apparently writing and calling the person responsible for this decision to not include Novavax–if I recall correctly(can’t find the post just now), they believe he is delaying in order to get a sinecure at Pfizer, as his direct predecessor in that position did last year. Seems likely, what would be the medical rationale for the decision?

    Hopefully Novavax gets approved soon, I am a year out from my last Novavax shot I wanted to get a second shot six months ago, but I could not figure out eligibility, despite some efforts…..

    1. JTMcPhee

      Once again, FDA has only “granted emergency use authorization,” because as far as I know, NONE of the mRNA shots has gone through the full FDA approval process.

  20. rudi from butte

    The Smart Cookie clip with Norman F…..interesting that he thinks Biden stuck it to them by endorsing Kamala.
    I hadn’t heard that….did you guys? Did I miss that one or is this pure Norman?

    2. JM

      There were a couple people here saying similar things, that she wasn’t the one the people who shived Biden wanted. The delay in endorsement from Obama and Pelosi were indirect evidence if I remember correctly. But it was only a few days before everyone was onboard and stoking the hype train, so who knows the truth.

      1. JTMcPhee

        A couple of decades ago, it was “Kremlinology.” Now we got “Kamalinology.” And the DemRepUniparty sure recalls to mind the Yeltsin Days of the USSR. Same caste, that’s “caste,” and cadres of looters, tearing an empire apart, for fun and profit. Contradictions all sharpened, ready to be stuck in backs and bellies.

        Apologies to Joseph Heller, but “I’ll tell you what MICMACPMC ethics is. It is a knee in the gut from the floor on the chin at night sneaky with a knife brought up down on the magazine of a battleship sandbagged underhanded in the dark without a word of warning.”

        Who will be our Putin, to undo the stink of the recent past? But the only spirituality we have, the only history, unlike Russia even if a lot of the Putin lecture is sort of made ot order, is individualization and looting. Not much to (re)build on, is there?

    3. Mikex

      I haven’t heard anything from anywhere indicating that, but I have to say that was my first thought on the day Biden dropped out of the race. Considering the move to install Harris as the candidate was completely opaque and 100% undemocratic I think it’s as valid as any other possible explanation pending actual details being revealed. I wouldn’t expect us commoners will ever get that explanation. If I remember right both Obama and Pelosi called for an open convention on the Sunday Joe dropped out, so Harris as candidate was not a done deal even among Dem big-wigs. It’s hard to remember that Harris was basically Danielle Quayle up until about 2 weeks ago. I could see Biden saying “ok, you force me out but I am going to decide who replaces me and you guys can deal with it.” Once he endorsed her no one was stopping that train.

      1. albrt

        If that is true then it would be one of the very few Biden decisions that I agree with. People keep saying nobody voted for Harris, but they did vote for her to be vice president, and the job description of the vice president is to be the president’s replacement. It would have been cleaner if they actually removed Biden like the constitution says they should have, but the kludge that actually happened is at least sort of parallel to what should have happened.

        Allowing Obama and Pelosi to run a game-show insta-primary would have been much worse in my opinion, because I doubt we would ever go back to locally controlled elections with actual voting.

    1. Mikex

      I especially liked the very affectionate cat one. I have 2 cats and they are much more likely to swipe/scratch my eye if I moved in for a kiss. To borrow a common phrase “everyone should find a cat that looks at you like that one looks at his human.”

  24. ChrisFromGA

    Re: hyper monetary expansion kicks into overdrive in Myanmar

    [Jerome Powell enters the chat]

    [heart emoji]

      1. ambrit

        Breathless sounding speeded up announcer voiceover:
        “Come on over to Kamala’s Klassy Kutz! Get an oh so close Burma Shave along with a Big Bond Haircut! Just say: ‘Jerome and Willie sent me!’ Also visit our Rate Massage Parlour next door! Home of the Happy Economic Ending! Coming soon to the storefront next to the Parlour, Treasure Island Tours. Book your vacation for your fortune. No taxes, some fees. See prospectus for details. {If you have a gambling addiction, tough! As in Tough Love. We love our customers!}”

        1. mary jensen

          “Act fast for this one time special offer, this one time special offer at just $9.99 just $9.99 for this special limited offer. Act fast call now!”

  25. Mikel

    “My absolute favorite toy as a toddler was a crash car.”

    Indeed. In my house as a kid, the whole point of playing with those easily assembled, plastic, automated race tracks back in the day was to eventually create spectacular crashes.

    1. Wukchumni

      I was mad about trains until I hit 8 years old and then like the USA, lost interest in them.

      Received a few train sets for Xmas-nothing nice mind you-the kind you’d be ok with a 6 year old getting and then having destroyed in a series of model choo-choo calamities by New Years…

    3. Yves Smith Post author

      What I had was lower tech. I don’t recall if plastic or metal, but a small car where you wound the springs up by holding it and running the wheels across the floor a few times. Then you let go and it would careen into a wall and fall into pieces. Put back together and repeat. It seemed massively entertaining at the time.

    4. Tommy S

      Yep, and I loved the demo derbys at Ohio country fairs in the 70’s. Also you know, you can still get a HO crossing between train and HO cars….so you can crash into trains…etc.

  26. Tom Stone

    We had showers in Sonoma County last night, just enough to leave the roads slick and mildew the grapes.
    The vineyard owners are cussing a pink streak ( It’s California) and praying for cool, windy weather.

  27. Mikel

    “I doubt this is a winning to pitch to anyone other than the stereotypical California health obsessive who has the time and money to eat only very pure foods (according to their standards) and experiment with alternate treatments (which IMHO can be very helpful but finding good modalities and then practitioners within them is often hit or miss). Mind you, I say that as a health fetishist myself. The FDA should pay me for all the experiments I have run on myself.”

    About all that will come of it is policy punishments for people that don’t have access to or can’t afford certain treatments or foods – or for whatever reason don’t conform lifestyle-wise.

  28. The Rev Kev

    ‘Science girl
    @gunsnrosesgirl3
    This guy goes out into a frozen lake to rescue a dog’

    Gutsy move on the part of that guy to go out into a frozen lake wearing only shorts and a t-shirt to rescue that poor dog. But it was great to see all those people who were probably strangers strip off their outer gear to wrap around that guy after he returned so that he could start to warm up. You could see that he was exhausted from the effort.

    1. Wukchumni

      One time I was with a couple of friends @ Precipice Lake in Sequoia NP, and it was the subject of a famous Ansel Adams photo in 1932, a great looking lake with a northern wall that vaguely resembles a WW1 battleship camouflage scheme, and as a result often holds snow much longer in the summer than other lakes because it gets a lot less Sun.

      Sheila dared us to swim 20 feet out to an ‘iceberg’ for a photo op and Jaybo and I didn’t hesitate and whoosh we were there in a jiffy with arms extended onto the ‘berg for our Kodak moment.

      When you dive from the shore you have a lot of inertia but not so much coming back, and I remember us getting back to shore, absolutely knackered from the experience and had to lay there for a few minutes to recover.

      Going 40 feet out might’ve been the end of us, respect frigidity!

      https://jesswandering.com/complete-guide-to-backpacking-the-mineral-king-loop/

      1. Yves Smith Post author

        ZOMG! I have a cousin once removed, a nurse, who every morning would swim in the Atlantic until about November She noted her stop date got later with global warming. She would also do the Jan 1 polar bear swims. She looked terrific for her age. There’s evidence that hot/cold contrasts or just cold baths boost immune responses.

        But it never occurred to me how hot drinks could buffer the cold to that degree, even though I read a story (New Yorker?) of a polar swimmer. One of her tricks was to fill herself with hot fluids before taking her plunge.

        1. mary jensen

          Swimming the English Channel just absolutely blows me away. There’s a pub/restaurant in Dover “The White Horse” wherein the walls are covered with the names and times of such intrepid people who’ve made the crossing.

  29. nippersdad

    NYU has now clarified its position on discrimination to include attacks against not just Zionists, but Zionism itself:

    “New York University (NYU), the site of extensive protests related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, updated its student code of conduct to include attacks against Zionists and Zionism as a violation of its nondiscrimination policies.”

    If I was one of the parents of those students I couldn’t pull my kid out of there fast enough.

    https://thehill.com/homenews/education/4845135-nyu-clarifies-antisemitism-policies-antizionism/?tbref=hp

  30. Mark Gisleson

    Chiming in to agree with Norman Finkelstein on Harris. I’ve spouted off on this too many times but surely there are other NC readers who have had to work with large numbers of people closely. I’d love to know your opinions of Harris.

    To me, she’s one of the most obvious frauds I’ve ever seen in politics, George Santos included. Just me?

    1. Tom Stone

      Harris a fraud?
      She has consistently helped the wealthy and powerful evade responsibility for their criminal acts and she has consistently acted with cruelty and disdain toward the weak and helpless.
      A see her as a very high functioning psychopath with a mile wide streak of cruelty.

    2. Lefty Godot

      She’s the walking, talking definition of a nothingburger.

      I think someone posted this apropos quote from H. L. Mencken a couple of days ago, but here it is again:

      As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last and the White House will be adorned by an outright moron.

  31. pjay

    Re Venezuela

    I may have missed it, but I don’t think I’ve seen the results of the Venezuelan Supreme Court decision mentioned here. They confirmed the official election results on Thursday. The article below from the Orinoco Tribune describes the process in detail. It is worth reading. I realize these results will change very few minds, since those who charge the Maduro government of corruption will simply extend it to the Supreme Court of Justice as well. Regarding those startling election results presented by Maria Corina Machado that were splashed all over the Western media – for a few days – it is interesting how they seem to have dropped out of sight. They were withheld from the Supreme Court investigation as well:

    “August 7-9. Nine of the ten former presidential candidates attended, as well as 38 representatives of the political parties that nominated them. The parties allied to Edmundo González, that is, Plataforma de la Unidad, Un Nuevo Tiempo, and Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, stated that they did not have any voting records or other documents from the elections. According to witnesses, their representative Manuel Rosales stated that “Súmate handled that,” before the three justices of the Electoral Chamber, according to witnesses [Súmate is an NGO founded by María Corina Machado and funded in part by the US National Endowment for Democracy].”

    Again, I doubt this will convince many people. But I was struck by that New Left Review piece the other day by a supposedly “leftist” academic that gave considerable credibility to what I consider clearly compromised sources.

    https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-supreme-court-confirms-nicolas-maduros-victory-far-right-response/

  33. Kouros

    Korean reunification.

    I don’t think that will ever be in the cards as long as the US will keep military bases and military based treaties in place. The commander in chief of the R of Korea military is after all an American general.

    Russia and China will not let that happen.

    Also, S Korean president seems to forget that ultimately N korea can open up to China and Russia and these two will cooperate if they think things need to improve a bit in DPRK such that some regime change might happen. Especially if all those nukes get in the hands of US friendly S Korea…

    Also, S Korean tv series are rife with exposing hyerarchical and capitalist corruption, with state officials and business in cahoots for outright theft (that includes the historical tv dramas as well). For once, I would allow lots of those into DPRK…

    1. Ranger Rick

      The main question is, who is in charge after the countries merge? I doubt the North Koreans would simply allow the South to roll in and take control even after reunification. I expect it will continue to operate autonomously for quite some time after the fact, and nuclear disarmament will likely become a major part of any discussion of international aid.

    2. scott s.

      I don’t think it is correct to view Combined Forces Command as “commander in chief of the R of Korea military” any more than to say SACEUR is “commander in chief of FRG military”.

      As far as Korean historical TV drama, a common theme is war with Manchuria (when not at war with Japan). Or you could see wars in the three kingdoms period as emblematic of N/S Korea today.

      1. hk

        The NATO command structure is a good comparison. If there is a war situation, the chains of command may combine with the US general in charge, but that’s always a big if. Rather than Germany, whose military has a lot of historical baggage, I might be tempted to suggest France as the better analogy (now that they are officially back in the NATO command structure.).

        Many Korean historical drama features wars with either Japan or China (Koreans think Manchus, or even Mongols, are basically “Chinese.” They don’t care too much for cultural distinctions among the historical northern invaders.) because they are the only neighbors Korea has had historically and wars are a good topic for historical dramas…

    3. hk

      Also, let’s not forget that no Korean really wants unification. They are now totally different countries, as much as Germany and Austria, or even Sweden and Norway. So called “re-“unification keeps coming up because that’s the politically correct thing to say. But, in practice, no one wants to even think about what it might take.

      I tend to think the alleged US command authority over South Korean military gets too much mention that’s undeserved. South Korean soldiers will obey only the South Korean command authority. The nominal US authority would only work because South Korean command authority agrees. It’s really just a scrap of paper, nothing more–and besides, it has never been really put to test. (Even during the Korean War, no US general ever “ordered” a South Korean unit (at least of a decent size) without consent of South Korean chain of command.)

      1. Daniil Adamov

        Didn’t North Korea flat out reject reunification recently?

        I do know the countries aren’t even named the same in Korean… which may be an incidental detail but still suggests a difference in mentality from the German situation, to me.

        1. hk

          Yes and no. Various North Korean gpv’t agencies and int’l media outlets premised on “eventual” goal of unification remain. However, North Korea has been steadily increading references to itself as a separate entity even in Korean for a number of years now. Kim Jong Un, as far as I can tell, does not care much for being a “Korean” as opposed to “North Korean” leader. But, if so, he’d be merely saying the quiet part out loud: for the past 30-40 years, nobody in either Korea really wanted “re-” unification, regardless of the official line.

          The names are a bit of complicated story: both are historical names of Korea. It’d be almost as if one might consider “America” and “USA” to be different names. However, there is a difference in emphasis (altbough the origins are historical, before the current sitiation.) The name of the South Korean state is basically “the land of the Han people” (the Han being the name of the Korean people–although the Chinese are also a ‘Han” people (written differently, with different pronunciation in Mandarin), which can cause confusion sometimes. This was apparently fashionable in late 19th/early 20th century, as Thailand adopted its new name on the same grounds roughly the same time. The North Korean name, in contrast, is a more geographic name: while it is the state name of the last Korean kingdom, it was also the name of the first and specifically referred to its core region, now called Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

      1. The Rev Kev

        There is an agreement that if there is military trouble, then a US general will be put in charge of all forces in South Korea which includes the South Koreans themselves.

  34. Jason Boxman

    On the Microsoft/CrowdStrike fiasco, giving user-space applications direct access to the kernel has always been complete lunacy. And American governments at all levels have naturally adopted Microsoft systems as the default, instead of an Open Source supported system, which is absurd in the extreme. But in any case, this issue is solved on Linux, and has been for a long time, with a privileged way to access kernel space:

    eBPF-based sensors offer a compelling alternative. They are safer, more flexible, and easier to deploy and manage than traditional kernel-based sensors. By leveraging the power of eBPF, we can build security solutions that are more resilient, adaptable, and better equipped to protect our systems from the ever-evolving threats we face.

    The lack of competition in the operating system space continues to cause untold damage below the waterline, so to speak. As we’ve seen with critical Open Source libraries that are maintained by one aging volunteers, the software supply chain, as it were, is a huge vulnerability in a technology addicted society, and we should have a national corps of software developers, on the government payroll, that work on these things as a public trust. And government entities must be required to use an open platform, not Windows.

    We know this can work: Look at the EHR system adopted by the VA, written in part by and in consultation with VA physicians. Naturally that’s finally being privatized by one of the garbage Big Two EHR vendors, but before that, it was a system that actually worked for veteran’s and doctors and staff. For like over 30 years.

  35. divadab

    Re: Wolf-Dog hybrid:

    “Coydogs” have been a known thing in New England and Southern Quebec for years. Personal anecdote: I was streamwalking one fine spring day and came up out of the brook and onto a rise in recently-logged land and was face to face with a pack of seven coydogs. (The lead dog looked kind of like a neighbor’s old dog (“Boots”) who had been shot for running deer). Anyway I was looking for a tree to scale – they had been hunting me, I think – the pack melted into the trees while the lead dog kept his eyes on me before scampering off himself.

    I think they’ve interbred with the residual wolf population also – they are bigger than coyotes I’ve seen in California and Arizona, rangier, maybe 70 lbs – and the locals trap them actively as they find calves and lambs delicious,

    I think perhaps the interbreeding is the result of “predator control” reducing the available breeding population – any old port in a storm – and that Minnesota has larger wolf populations than New England, where wolf eradication was pursued for over 200 years.

    1. ambrit

      Unfortunately, wolf ‘eradication’ policies in New England stopped short of the Courthouse and the Legislature. There are still a lot of ‘wolves’ to be hunted out. Now, with the advent of Public/Private Partnerships, there are hybrid ‘wolf’ species in those places too.
      I have it on good authority that wolves have been sighted on Wall Street in New York City recently.

      1. Rolf

        Wolves on Wall Street begs shades of the underrated (IMV) 1981 film, Wolfen with Albert Finney, Diane Venora, and Gregory Hines. Michael Wadleigh directed.

    2. Boomheist

      I worked with Ray Coppinger in 1970 when I was in grad school tracking coydogs and trying to determine their origin. Back then the theory was a dog wolf combo began to breed true, maybe a mixture between local dogs and wolves released from Corbins Game Farm in New Hampshire during the 1938 hurricane. Wild canids have a pineal glad and domestic dogs do not as I recall and we were trying to see if coydogs had such a gland.

  36. Andrew

    From Simplicius article….”The United States Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Ukraine now using ground based transportation options that are privately available…”
    The American embassies of Saigon and Afghanistan were evacuated via helicopters to the rooftops. This time I hope to see any American personnel leave Kiev huddled on the back of donkey carts. The in transit meal consisting of shoe leather and a maybe a few potatoes that Ukrainian farmers don’t want.

    2. SocalJimObjects

      So about those F-16s ……….. I guess we won’t be seeing them anytime soon then.

  37. antidlc

    https://x.com/ashishkjha/status/1827071484491128988

    Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH
    @ashishkjha
    ·
    22h
    Improving indoor air quality gets no love

    It’s not sexy

    It’s coolness factor is not that high

    But it is one of the most important public health interventions we could be making

    So am thrilled to see @EPA
    stepping up to do more

    The above was a reply to:
    https://x.com/glagoudas/status/1827070064052285823

    Georgia Lagoudas
    @glagoudas
    EPA announced awardees for $34M to improve indoor air quality – so great to see these initiatives launched to help schools have cleaner air!

    Remember the ventilation upgrades for the Newton school system.
    https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/09/how-ashish-jha-rochelle-walensky-newton-ma-protect-their-children-from-covid-but-not-yours.html
    How Ashish Jha and Rochelle Walensky of Newton, MA Protect Their Children from Covid (But not Yours)

  38. Tom Stone

    I saw my first “Kamala Harris” flag, rainbow colors and very nicely done…in Sebastopol which is no surprise.
    Srsly, putting a “D” after your name is all it takes in some locales and Sebastopol is one of them.

  39. Wukchumni

    On my drive from Visalia to Bakersfield encompassing the lions share of Godzone, just 1 Trump sign in 70 miles of Hwy 99.

    You get the feeling the hard right in Cali’s red evang bastion aren’t that into him.

  40. spud

    i have always said that under qualified immunity and that officer safety is paramount. then cops no longer serve and protect if their so called safety rises above the safety of the citizens they say they protect and serve.

    this sets up situations where cops become elites, drunk with power and have nothing but contempt for us.

    as i have said, the cops are a terrorist occupational army that intimidates and dominates, and now judges are beginning to concur.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onbpwxr52G8

    Violent arrest leads to federal lawsuit

    watch what the judge says at the end.

    1. The Rev Kev

      Are they serious? Next year? I’m not sure that even getting rid of that Starliner capsule attached to the ISS is going to be easy either as it has to undock manually. If this had happened twenty years ago they could have asked the Russians to help out and maybe give them a ride home. These days they won’t even ask. So now it is all up to Musk to save the day. This is what the corporatization of space gets you.

      1. Ana

        The Russians have stepped up and helped. They sent extra food, air, water and supplies up a few weeks ago.

        Yes, in the middle of a war we started with them, they are keeping our astronauts alive along with the others currently on the space station. Just amazing.

        Ana in Sacramento.

  43. ChrisRUEcon

    #TheOnlineLeft

    > I never knew the “Online Left” was A Thing.

    ::bickering sibling voice::

    But Yves, you started it! LOL

    I’ve been compiling a list of left monikers used here for a year or so. Thus far, we are at:
    Alt Left
    Bernie-Bro Left
    Dirtbag Left
    Left Infiltrate
    Liz Cheney Left
    NeoLib Left
    New Left
    Podcast Left
    Soi-Disant Left
    Synthetic Left
    Lifestyle Left
    Online Left
    Vraiment Gauche Left

    ;-)

    The dissolution of the Bernie movement essentially forked the corpus thereof into two main branches: the pragmatists, who returned to the Dem and Dem-adjacent fold – I include DSA in this; and the indignant, who were really angered by the capitulation of the movement. That indignant group further split into sub-sections who sought to latch on different movements: some went Green, some went West (Cornel), some went RFK/Trump and some latched on the the growing M/L-adjacent spheres where you’ll find folks like our friends at Historic.ly, BAR etc. The major distinction across all the component parts is the degree of anti-imperialist philosophy. You can start on one end of the spectrum with Dem/DSA who largely buy into propaganda like #RussiaGate and #PutinManBad to the other end of spectrum which sees the world as one effectively enshittified by US/EU belligerence and hegemony. I think Online Left is probably too broad a brush stroke on its own because it will include various shades across this entire spectrum.

    1. ChrisRUEcon

      #TheAmericanMuslimVote

      Well, well … I just found this:

      Inside Donald Trump’s Effort to Woo Arab Americans (via The New Yorker, 8/4)

      Did this make #Links or #2PMWC? Apologies if I missed it, but this would seem to be an interesting move in light of the DNC’s mistreatment of Muslim voters on the Palestine issue. I had suggested as much months ago – that Muslims should reach out to Trump since they were being categorically ignored by the Dems. This outreach might not have meant much 20 days ago, but in light of RFK’s move, things could get interesting in Michigan (via X).

  44. antidlc

    I live in what used to be a very red county.

    In my area I have seen exactly one Biden-Harris yard sign.

    A house down the street had a Trump yard sign but the house is now for sale and the yard sign is gone.

    Another house had a “Dear God anyone but Trump” yard sign, but it, too, went up for sale and the yard sign was taken down.

    I saw two Trump flags (not yard signs) in my area.

    1. The Rev Kev

      A really good article up until the end when they say that the US sending in a carrier division did not work the last time – so let’s do it again and maybe we will have better luck this time. And when at the top it says ‘But the EU and France haven’t given up. They’re still fighting for freedom’ I question what sort of freedom that they are talking about. The freedom of shipping corporations to make money? If the US forced Israel into a truce in Gaza, the attacks would stop. But we know that that will never happen.

    1. Kouros

      It is like with AIDS in the US. They started looking into it more seriously only after it started affecting within the “ranks”…

  47. Ben Panga

    Telegram messaging app CEO Durov arrested in France (Reuters)

    “Durov was travelling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation.
    TF1 and BFM both said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app.”

    1. The Rev Kev

      Pavel Durov was saying not long ago that the US was demanding access to all Telegram’s messages as well as building in backdoors for them to use. Looks like the French have been chosen to lean on him to get him to cooperate. Of course Durov might, as Telegram is the preferred means of communications for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his officials, give them the chop to put counter pressure on as that would force Zelensky & his officials to go to Musk’s X. It does not matter whether it is Tik Tok or Telegram or whatever, the US will not tolerate a major social media that is not based in Silicon Valley so that it can be abused and backdoored like X used to be before Musk took over.

      1. Ben Panga

        I agree and would only note that the EU has been well ahead of the US in legal (rather than backdoor à la Twitter Files) efforts to reassert control over information.

      2. Kouros

        How would the backdoors happen then? Even if Durov were to agree, would the Russian overseers allow that to happen? Or the CIA/FBI/NSA think that this would be a “secret” deal?

  49. Tom Stone

    Lambert has mentioned that the Dems may not recognize a Trump win, and it would not surprise me if they went that way.
    Trump was not supposed to win in 2016, even though the spooks interfered it was not enough.
    They did it again in 2020 and it worked, however they were much more overt.
    The Tulsi Gabbard surveillance shows that they are getting even bolder and they have a candidate in Harris who is a “Win at any cost” type.
    To me it seems quite possible that the election might be cancelled or if Trump wins the electoral vote that the Blob will decide it is not an acceptable outcome…
    And there is always the possibility of a fatal accident.
    If that seems foily, look at what the blob has actually done in the last two election cycles, without any serious consequences.

  50. JerryDenim

    Norman Finkelstein link- disgusting. The guy had no critique of Harris other than she was a “black woman” a “moron” and “stupid”, he also felt the need to point out Karine Jean-Pierre is a “black woman lesbian” and “pretty stupid”. All of this in less than two minutes, just racism and sexism with no other substance. The Black Agenda Report had this to say about Finkelstein: https://www.blackagendareport.com/finding-your-whiteness-time-crisis-reeducation-norman-finkelstein

    To use a Lambertism; when you’ve gone too far on race and gender for the Black Agenda Report…

    I’m still feeling very disoriented by the recent changes here. A bit confused?

    1. Yves Smith Post author

      This is ad hominem, a violation of our written site Policies. Nowhere do you offer any proof that Kamala is not stupid.

      Let me remind you:

      1. She has widely been depicted as chosen by Biden as impeachment insurance

      2. YouTube has zillions of clips of her acting like an idiot in public presentation. I’ve depicted her manner as acting as if she is talking to particularly dumb children. And she acts as if what she is saying is profound! She’s had Covid at least 2x so some of this may be due to recent impairment.

      3. A big reason for Biden not being defenestrated earlier is the openly-voiced belief that Harris was seen by just about everyone as too lightweight or worse to be a candidate. Her terrible performance in 2020 made this view well founded.

      4. Kamala has not engaged in a single unscripted public encounter since the Biden coup. That suggests her minders know bloody well she can’t handle them.

      So it’s pretty remarkable that the entire history of widespread distaste about Kamala’s smarts and chops has been wiped from your memory (I am charitably assuming you paid enough attention to politics to have noticed).

      As to Finkelstein’s charge that she was chosen because she was a black woman, did you also forget that Biden EXPLICITLY made that a requirement for his VP pick? Finkelstein is correct here. He also points out that Biden had some smart black women he could have selected but didn’t.

      As for Jean-Pierre, I think she’s an idiot and her smugness is particularly offensive given that. But Team Biden likes that type, see also John Kirby. And the Biden Administration went on overmuch about Jean-Pierre being a black woman lesbian so as to very strongly signal that her being in that demographic was important to them.

      So just because Finkelstein is transgressive on these issue does not make him wrong. No one thought twice if someone called Dan Quayle or Shrub or Sarah Palin stoopid. So why does Kamala deserve kid glove treatment?

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