Recent Items

Links 9/13/2024

Posted on by

This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 818 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, PayPal, Clover, or Wise. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser, what we’ve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, karōshi prevention.

Baby pygmy hippo the star at Chon Buri zoo Bangkok Post

Reassessing William the Conqueror History Today (Anthony L)

Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin by Sue Prideaux review – savage with a sensitive side Guardian (Anthony L)

Ask Ethan: Could we determine if UAPs/UFOs are aliens? Big Think

How El Nino and mega ocean warming caused the greatest-ever mass extinction ScienceDaily

Why do we have earlobes? They make no evolutionary sense. Popular Science (Dr. Kevin)

World-leading expert reveals alarming reason for soaring young bowel cancers – a childhood bug that’s in one of five people’s guts Daily Mail. Important. Notice victims typically not overweight and often very active. I wonder if some drink meal replacements. I see ads on YouTube sometimes for ones that claim to be super healthy and are clearly intended to be consumed daily.

#COVID-19

Whatever you want to believe, COVID-19 still surges through Kansas. Even worse waits in the wings. Kansas Reflector (Robin K)

Climate/Environment

Farmers use ‘magic dust’ to capture millions of tonnes of carbon
BBC. Robin K: “Volcano centric.”

Climate Change Will Force a New Political Perspective on Migrants Bloomberg

Banana wine: Malawi’s growing industry to beat climate change BBC (Robin K)

Staggering’ destruction in Yemen after deadly flash flooding Digital Journal

Nigeria floods affect one million people after dam collapse Aljazeera

China?

China’s goals in Africa “Debt trap” or equality? Anti-Spiegel (Micael T)

Chinese troops to join Brazil’s military drills with US forces Reuters (Robin K)

China’s deepening footprint in the South Caucasus Asia Times (Kevin W)

European Disunion

Card payments disrupted throughout Germany Tagesschau (guurst)

Old Blighty

Our values: killing pensioners to save money Alex Krainer (Micael T)

‘Special’ relationship: PM Starmer blames Tories for ‘broken’ Health Service in England but they warned that ‘he is placing Britain on the path to destitution’ International Affairs (Micael T)

Gaza

Infected wounds, maggots and no escape. Gaza’s humanitarian crisis hits new lows as sanitary conditions plummet CNN. ma: “You might need to put a trigger warning on this article. And I did not realize Israel has not been allowing medical evacuations, limited as those were, for four months.”

“Until our last breath”: Journalist Anas al-Sharif on Documenting Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Every Day for 11 Straight Months DropSite

Palestinian child awaits Gaza evacuation as pacemaker battery nears depletion ABC (ma). The fact that this is an MSM account is progress of sorts.

New video, witnesses challenge Israel’s account of U.S. activist’s killing Washington Post. Exclusive, not paywalled. Susan C:

Surprisingly good report from the Washington Post. Ferocious comments critical of Israel too. I served with the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank twice some 20 years ago. The purpose is to use your international status, your obvious presence, simply and nonviolently, to protect Palestinians from the Israeli military and violent settlers.”

Palestine’s UN envoy sounds alarm at Israel-Hamas escalation in Gaza Skip Kaltenheuser, Washington Diplomat

How Israel’s genocide in Gaza is creating enemies on all sides Middle East Eye (guurst)

Israel and the Coming Long War Foreign Affairs. Lordie.
,
Canadian FM says she has recently suspended 30 permits for arm shipments to Israel Times of Israel. Robin K: “Canadians gesture.”

New Not-So-Cold War

Putin issues new warning to NATO RT (Kevin W)

What are Storm Shadow missiles and why are they crucial for Ukraine? BBC (Kevin W)

Ukraine SitRep: End Of The Kursk Incursion – Long Range Missiles – Ending The War Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

‘They Have Stolen Our Business’: When You Leave Russia, Putin Sets the Terms Bloomberg (ma)

UK already permitted Kiev to use Storm Shadow, but will not admit it publicly — paper TASS (guurst)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

EXPOSED: HOW ISRAELI SPIES CONTROL YOUR VPN Mint Press. Important.

Apple Vision Pro’s Eye Tracking Exposed What People Type Wired (BC)

EU kicks off an inquiry into Google’s AI model The Register. Personal data concerns.

Syraqistan

US imposes sanctions on suppliers to Pakistan’s ballistic missile program Reuters

Imperial Collapse Watch

The Dangerous Silence on Nuclear War Consortium News. Robin K: “As I recall, having seen it while sitting on my apartment couch in Austin, TX, the ad in question was pulled after appearing on network TV one time. In the ’60s, that was not censorship but, um, just good taste, so we were told.”

Military Alliances of the Great Powers Global Affairs (Micael T)

Trump

Judge drops 2 counts against Trump in Georgia election probe CBS

Trump says he won’t participate in another presidential debate CNN (Kevin W)

German Foreign Office try to dunk on Trump’s debate performance but get their numbers wrong and provoke the ire of a close adviser to the man who may well be the next president of the United States Eugyppius (Micael T). Might get that case of TDS seen to.

Kamala

THE HOLES IN HARRIS’S DEBATE VICTORY Seymour Hersh

KFile: Harris told ACLU in 2019 she supports cuts to ICE funding and providing gender transition surgery to detained migrants CNN

2024

Black voters in key battleground states highly motivated to vote in November: poll The Hill

Goldman Sachs says Harris has a slight edge over Trump but it all comes down to Georgia Fortune

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban resigns amid federal investigation Gothamist. This matters because, per Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD was the 7th biggest army in the world as of the crushing of Occupy Wall Street. Presumably he was excluding reserves in the measurement of national armies. If his math was right then, it’s plausible on the same basis that the NYPD is still in the top 10.

Our No Longer Free Press

USPS’ long-awaited new mail truck makes its debut to rave reviews from carriers Associated Press (Kevin W)

AI

https://newrepublic.com/article/185490/ray-kurzweil-ai-machines-proving-right” rel=”nofollow”>The Machines Are Proving Ray Kurzweil Right—Sort Of New Republic (Anthony L)

The Bezzle

Man Arrested for Creating Fake Bands With AI, Then Making $10 Million by Listening to Their Songs With Bots Futurism. Micael T: “Only Spotify and VC, PEs are allowed to earn money from stealing IP.”

Class Warfare

Rent, utilities rise faster than home value Free Republic. Robin Kash: “The cost of rent and utilities in 2023 rose faster than home values for the first time in a decade, the latest sign that a distorted housing market has pushed more people into renting.”

Treasury proposes rule to prevent large corporations from evading income taxes Associated Press (Robin K)

France: Class Struggle, 2024 Edition Contre-attaque, translated by Alain Marshal

Antidote du jour. William B: “A small painted turtle races across the 7th green at Inverwood GC, headed to the pond.”

And a bonus (Robin K):

A second bonus (Robin K):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
34 comments

  1. Antifa

    AM I BLUE?
    (melody borrowed from Am I Blue?  by Grant Clarke and Harry Akst, as performed by Billie Holiday)

    Am I Blue?
    What’s my hue?
    I’m so tired of these wars that we do

    I can’t choose
    Red or Blue?
    Wish we had a real choice, yes I do

    Was a time when politics was fun
    We used to have a choice of who could run (Lordy!)

    All they say is wordplay
    I’m a pawn who can’t choose
    Red or Blue?

    (musical interlude)

    Every day phone surveys
    Two political zoos
    Red and Blue

    What a yawn I’ll break free
    Red or Blue . . .

    Reply ↓
  2. The Rev Kev

    “Reassessing William the Conqueror’

    I read a story once about an incident in his life which, though I cannot verify it, would indicate that he thought fast on his feet if true. While climbing out of the boat in that invasion landing in England he stumbled and went down on his knees. Knowing that his troops would regard this as a bad omen, he grabbed sand in both hands and shouted ‘See? I have seized England.’ I would not be surprised if it is true but as they say – ‘When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.’

    Reply ↓
    1. Zagonostra

      A legend whose “unflinching belief that he was right led him to commit acts that caused the deaths of countless thousands of ordinary folk. His notorious ‘Harrying of the North’ during the winter of 1069–70, which reduced England beyond the River Humber to a desert”

      How little has changed in a millennia

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        You bring up a very interesting point. You never hear of William the Conqueror being accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing but that is exactly what the Normans and their merc allies were doing to the Anglo-Saxons while turning the survivors into helots. I guess a case of the winners writing the history books though with the twist that a lot of the descendants of that invasion force are still running the country – and are proud of it.

        Reply ↓
        1. Blue Duck

          Upon reflection, britains history of exporting genocide is a mirror image of a lifetime of genocide within the island itself. The beaker people wiped out by the celts, the celts wiped out by the Romani-Britons, the RB slaughtered by the Germanic tribes, their Anglo-Saxon descendants killed by the Normans. Hell, the alternate history Nazi invasion of Britain would have been just another cycle of destruction in the long view of history.

          Reply ↓
    2. Steve H.

      KING RICHARD
      Needs must I like it well. I weep for joy
      To stand upon my kingdom once again.
      [Kneels to touch the ground]
      Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,
      Though rebels wound thee with their horses’ hoofs.
      As a long-parted mother with her child
      Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,
      So weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,
      And do thee favours with my royal hands.
      Feed not thy sovereign’s foe, my gentle earth,
      Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense,
      But let thy spiders that suck up thy venom,
      And heavy-gaited toads, lie in their way,
      Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet
      Which with usurping steps do trample thee.
      Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;
      And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower
      Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder,
      Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
      Throw death upon thy sovereign’s enemies.
      Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords.
      This earth shall have a feeling, and these stones
      Prove armed soldiers ere her native king
      Shall falter under foul rebellion’s arms.

      * Shakespeare, Richard II

      Reply ↓
  3. Wukchumni

    Luna & Leo were in Springfield, they said
    So in danger, the moggies had a certain dread
    Soon everybody knew the thing was dead
    He shouts, she bites, they debate through the night, yeah
    She go crazy, he got to make a getaway

    Donald say, “Oh, no hesitation
    No tears and no hearts breakin’
    No remorse”
    “Oh, congratulations
    This is your Haitian divorce”

    He takes the rumors as a hard sell
    Bon Appétit, as far as he can tell
    He drinks in the news from JD’s cell
    He feels all right, he’ll get it on tonight, yeah
    Mr. Moderator, i’ll tell you where the felines flay

    Papa Doc Donald say
    “Oh, no hesitation
    No tears and no hearts breakin’
    No remorse”
    “Oh, congratulations
    This is your Haitian divorce”

    At the debate in the moderator’s chair
    Sits the David with the fact checking dare
    When he smiled, he said it all
    The story was not so
    They dashed the famous tall tale
    Now Donald walks it back
    Now we fade to black

    Tearful reunion for Whiskers in the USA
    Day by day, those mystery meat memories fade away
    Some rumors grow in a peculiar way
    It changed, it grew, and everybody knew, yeah
    Semi-no-go, what’s this kitty Donner Party so-and-so?

    Papa Doc Donald go
    “Oh, no hesitation
    No tears and no hearts breakin’
    No remorse”
    “Oh, congratulations
    This is your Haitian divorce”

    Haitian Divorce, by Steely Dan

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKMCz1b2RxE

    Reply ↓
  4. The Rev Kev

    “How Israel’s genocide in Gaza is creating enemies on all sides”

    ‘The Israeli military’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and the settlers’ terrorism against the Palestinians in the West Bank have sowed the seeds of hatred in a neighbour all by itself. Jordan, which has been quiet for 50 years on the Palestinian question, is quiet no more.’

    Got that right. Netanyahu is already talking about fortifying the border with Jordan in cooperation with them. Is Bibi doing a Trump and demanding that Jordan pay for most of it? It would be neither cheap to build nor cheap to maintain which Israel may have difficulty paying for. That would go down like a lead balloon in Jordan as a guess. Bibi was also trying to put the blame on Iran but the fact of the matter is that most Jordanians hate the Israelis but not so much who they are but for what they do-

    https://www.palestinechronicle.com/a-border-of-peace-netanyahu-vows-to-build-barrier-along-border-with-jordan/

    Reply ↓
    1. chris

      And yet to hear my Jewish friends and acquaintances talk, the death of Israeli citizens on 10/7 excuses any and every action taken afterward. God help us.

      I think the most interesting comment around NC in the past week regarding the continuing atrocity in Gaza and the West Bank was the reference to the Old Testament. The type of mass scale slaughter described in that collection of books was probably not too different from what we’re seeing now. This is absolutely what it means to cleanse the earth of a people. How will we ever move past our complicity in this horror? Why should the other countries in the world ever listen to the US again about the rule of law or protecting the innocent?

      Reply ↓
  5. timbers

    Big Brother is Watching You Watch ****** Just learned it’s common practice for cities that hire corporations for trash collection for the drivers to video record your trash, to document it complies w/regulations. Some of those “regulations” seem rapious profit driven in the finest neo-liberal tradition. If the barrel (ridiculously small – there was quite a fire storm of protest in Brockton when the trash barrels were announced a few yrs back as being absurdly too small. Now I understand why they were made to be obviously too small) for non-recylicable trash is full, you allowed to place at curbside special green plastic bags filled with trash with town name embolden upon it. No trash w/o these very special bags will be collected. These very special bags are quite expensive. They are only sold at a handful of stores usually grocery, and are kept securely behind the counter at customer service and must be requested. In my Massachusetts town sell for $1.25 per bag, but the clerk cheerfully volunteered she lives in a neighboring city that sells them for $2.50 per bag, so I was lucky. I tried to determine if our collection service makes these bags, but was unsuccessful on the Google. Quite a racket they have going with these very valuable special bags.

    Reply ↓
    1. gk

      > These very special bags are quite expensive.

      This was exactly what they did at my capoluogo in Italy (down to the selected supermarkets and special counters for them). But they’ve now eliminated them, and they charge the building based on the weight of garbage in the non-recyclable bin.

      Reply ↓
  6. JW

    ‘China’s deepening footprint in the South Caucasus’
    from that Canadian located outfit.
    The map in this article showing something called ‘north caucasus’ coloured differently from Russia leaves you in no doubt the motives.
    I think its pretty self-evident that Russia and China have decided to split responsibilities for the lead roles in trade routes, pipelines etc across mid-Asia, which reflect their own geographical imperatives. China will lead on east/west, Russia on north/south. Co-ordination bi-laterally and through SCO principally.

    Reply ↓
  7. Zagonostra

    Ahmed Alnaouq
    @AlnaouqA

    This is Zionism

    My utter and total disgust of Zionism is hard to articulate. Those who would support the “Collective Biden” in the guise of Kamala or Trump is even greater.

    Reply ↓
  8. FreeMarketApologist

    Re: NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban resigns amid federal investigation :

    Good riddance to another ‘leader’ with minimal skills and ethics. If we’re lucky, the FBI work will clean out the rest of the questionable people surrounding the mayor (and maybe even the mayor himself).

    Meanwhile, the continued practice of handing out ‘courtesy cards’ highlights the corrupt and unprincipled leadership of the police union, and lack of ethics by those who receive and use them:
    Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/nyregion/mathew-bianchi-nypd-traffic-tickets.html
    Follow up: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/nyregion/matthew-bianchi-nypd-tickets-settlement.html

    (It’s not just in NY – I remember the donor stickers that Houstonians used – the $500 one was essentially a get out of jail free card.)

    Reply ↓
  9. The Rev Kev

    ‘Square profile picture
    Daily Caller
    @DailyCaller
    According to a CNN poll, Kamala Harris has LOST support of voters on who they trust to handle the economy, and Trump has gained’

    I have read and heard a number of people saying that their finances were better when Trump was President and I think that this came up in a Democrat focus group after the debate. But since Biden-Harris were elected, everything has become much more expensive and inflation is actually a thing in spite of that some MSM sources say. And certainly Trump didn’t cheat them of $600 on Day One of his Presidency. So speaking as an outsider, I can see how people are thinking that they can’t afford to support four more year of a Democrat admin if the prices and inflation levels continue to spike. It’s too risky they must be thinking.

    Reply ↓
  10. griffen

    USPS is rolling out their new mail carrier vehicles which feature air conditioning! It’s a remarkable leap forward…also I’m gonna hope the vehicles perform well and are up to the task*. They’re being built about 25 or so miles away from where I have lived since 2016, off the I 85 corridor in the upstate region of South Carolina.

    Up to the task will mean they last a long time, are reliable and dependable for their intended usage. It will reflect well upon the hillbillies of SC who are building them after all…\sarc

    Reply ↓
    1. Zagonostra

      I remember a time when Sundays were quite in my rural PA town, now I regularly see USPS trucks delivery for Amazon.

      Whatever happened to drone deliveries? I can’t wait to hear the quad rotors roaring overhead.

      Reply ↓
      1. Wukchumni

        Whatever happened to drone deliveries? I can’t wait to hear the quad rotors roaring overhead.
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Outsourced to Jet Pack operators…

        Reply ↓
  11. Es s Ce Tera

    “Surprisingly good report from the Washington Post. Ferocious comments critical of Israel too. I served with the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank twice some 20 years ago. The purpose is to use your international status, your obvious presence, simply and nonviolently, to protect Palestinians from the Israeli military and violent settlers.”

    Sadly, I suspect this story was allowed to go to print mainly to discourage anyone from joining ISM or protesting in Israel.

    Reply ↓
  12. griffen

    Another day another Trump tax policy. The man is intent on giving out sugar laden candy for everyone. Hard to take much of it that seriously, to be fair.

    So the future is driving on overtime for an Uber or DoorDash and all income reported as tip income…then when I hit Social Security after age 62, I’ll find a gap due to how the wages are recorded ( okay may I am extrapolating too much from these changes )? Admittedly I need to read up on some of these mostly vague policy proposals.

    Reply ↓
  13. Zagonostra

    Buitengebieden
    @buitengebieden
    Where’s the ball?

    If ever there was a metaphor for the DNC and politicians in general. Where is my $600 dollar check!?

    Reply ↓
  14. VTDigger

    “The arc of the universe bends democratic”
    Bwahahahaaaaahahaha

    Why does anyone take Kurzweil seriously? The zingers never stop with this fool.
    He started studying AI aged 14 and hasn’t aged a bit intellectually…

    Reply ↓
  15. DJG, Reality Czar

    I got “cross-linked” to this article by Aaron Maté from April 2024.

    Many readers here will recognize his line of argument and the facts and events that he marshals. What is important is that Maté puts everything into one place.

    Highlights: A photo (!) of the famous whistleblower Eric Ciaramella, who was supposed to testify during Trump’s first impeachment but failed to turn up. Hmmm. Vindman was busy ratting out Trump, and natch, Heather Cox Richardson was busy taking stenography from the Vindman Bros. Win-win-win.

    Cameo appearance by Svoboda. But Ukraine has no Nazis! Just blond and buff right-wing loonies with Freedom-Loving Tattoos that hearken back to the glories of ring-wing history. (See also: Blinken in the Nazipizzeria in Kiev with Kuleba.)

    And for those who have followed events in Ukraine more closely than I have — I don’t agree with Maté’s assessment that Ukraine might have dislodged Russia from Crimea by taking action immediately. My impression is that Crimea is what Russia truly wants and will retain — geography is destiny for Crimea. The other four oblasts along the Sea of Azov weren’t in the original plan, which is why the annexations and referendums seem to have been ad hoc.

    Link:
    https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/04/30/what_10_years_of_us_meddling_in_ukraine_have_wrought_spoiler_alert_it_wasnt_democracy_1027411.html

    Reply ↓
  16. Bosko

    Regarding the Mint News VPN article, I’d be interested to know of good alternatives to the ones owned by Israeli intelligence…

    Reply ↓
    2. flora

      I looked into VPNs a few years ago. The ones I was thinking of using all required the installation giving the VPN full access to everything on my machine, for safety reasons. (Of course.) Decided not to use a VPN.

      Reply ↓
  17. Zagonostra

    >France: Class Struggle, 2024 Edition

    Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux was the embodiment of French capitalism. He led efforts to liberalize the economy, privatize public assets, and weaken workers’ rights. In 2020, speaking from his castle near La Baule, he called for the abolition of public holidays and the extension of working hours to “support recovery” post-COVID.

    During the pandemic, he also declared, “An autocratic system currently seems better equipped to handle a pandemic than our democracies.”

    First of all “democracies” should be in quotes and secondly the “autocratic system” is well underway with the “pandemic” serving as cover for rolling out every more intrusive/invasive/undemocratic means of controlling the proles and eviscerating past gains of public holidays and reduced work week. All part of the plan, we must “trust the process.”

    Reply ↓
  19. Zagonostra

    Collin Rugg
    @CollinRugg
    JUST IN: Former top Clinton adviser calls for an internal probe of ABC for rigging the debate against Trump.

    Curious if the picture of Kamala Harris’s earring is a radio transmitter. Such is the speculation on some TwitterX post that I’ve seen. The close-up of her ear piece supposedly matches a common communication device. Interesting speculation coming from various sources but I’ve not seen anything from the Trump team indicating that the “rigging” included such a device or whether this a flight of fantasy…or not.

    Reply ↓
  20. The Rev Kev

    ‘il Donaldo Trumpo
    @PapiTrumpo
    I LOVE THE INTERNET!!!🤣🤣🤣
    CATS IN OHIO RIGHT NOW’

    Ninjas have got nothing on cats.

    Reply ↓
  21. The Rev Kev

    “Our values: killing pensioners to save money’

    Priorities, lads, priorities. Starmer just gave the Ukraine a new £600/US$781 million aid package for Ukraine this week and it was only several weeks ago that he said that the UK will give Ukraine £3 billion a year ‘for as long as it takes.’ That money had to come from somewhere so maybe granny and grandpa should spend some of their pensions on more blankets or something as in a way that will be paying for all that aid – with their lives.

    This idea of the State supporting the aged and the poor with heating is not a new thing and was always so – till now. So I was reading an account from Oxfordshire in 1868 where they had a scheme to support the poor over the winter with a delivery of about 8 hundred-weight (about 900 pounds/410 kgs) of coal to each household that needed it. They could do stuff like that in the 19th century but are saying now it cannot be afforded. Noted.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *