World’s oldest cheese found smeared on heads of 3,600-year-old mummies StudyFinds
“We sold our house for this”: Cruise passengers ‘stranded’ in Belfast before 3-year long trip Belfast Telegraph
Climate/Environment
Lambert will have a separate post on Helene coming later today.
Asheville cut off from world; damage estimated $100B in South The Center Square – North Carolina
Hurricane Helene’s ‘historic flooding’ made worse by global heating, Fema says The Guardian
Western NC Open Thread: What do you need/know/want? North Carolina Rabbit Hole
***
Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades Science (IME)
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Poison PR Lighthouse Reports. The deck: “US taxpayers funded a covert campaign to downplay the risks of pesticides and discredit environmentalists in Africa, Europe, and North America.”
U.S. Races Towards Lithium Independence with Ambitious Mining Projects OilPrice
Electric cars causing fires after Hurricane Helene flooding WFTS Tampa Bay
Pandemics
RNA-Seq analysis of human heart tissue reveals SARS-CoV-2 infection and inappropriate activation of the TNF-NF-κB pathway in cardiomyocytes Scientific Reports. Translation:
Inflamed from Within: How COVID-19 Ignites Heart Damage
Here is a version non-medical language terms.
Scientists recently uncovered something unsettling in a study of 54 heart tissue samples. The virus behind COVID-19 can creep into heart cells too, stirring up a storm of… https://t.co/iPL4dJW5Ir
— David it Up! (@Dave_it_up) September 29, 2024
China?
China property shares jump as major cities ease buying curbs Channel News Asia
China unveiled its hydrogen-powered train at a trade fair in Germany. The zero-emission train generates electricity through a hydrogen-oxygen reaction, producing only water as a byproduct。pic.twitter.com/jrVNS3ECC8
— Zhang Meifang (@CGMeifangZhang) September 29, 2024
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Biden Approves $567M Defense Assistance for Taiwan The Defense Post
Zheng Yongnian: Asia-Pacific, destined for world war? The East Is Read
Old Blighty
Britain Can’t Afford Rachel Reeves (2) Building a New Economics
European Disunion
Email from Athens set to cause von der Leyen, Metsola headaches Euractiv
Austerity, corruption, and neglect: How the Greek railway became Europe’s deadliest Modern Diplomacy. From last year, still germane.
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Austria: Right-Wing FPÖ Achieves Historic Victory The European Conservative
Sahra Wagenknecht wants to coordinate BSW negotiations and break them off if there is no willingness to compromise Die Sachsen. “Wagenknecht reiterated in the RND that the state governments must take a clear position on the deployment of US medium-range missiles.”
Sahra Wagenknecht’s Party Is a Bad Example for the Left Jacobin
First Week of German Border Controls Had Little Effect on Immigration European Conservative
Sweden’s spreading crime epidemic alarms its neighbors Politico
War in Lebanon could fuel another European migration crisis Unherd
Syraqistan
Israeli F-15s Strike Infrastructure in Yemen After Ansuruallah Ballistic Missile Targeted Ben Gurion Airport Military Watch
Heavy bombardment hits Israel from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen The Cradle
An Israeli airstrike hits central Beirut for the first time in nearly a year of conflict AP
IDF may have already begun small raids on Hezbollah in south Lebanon – reports Times of Israel
US occupation base hit by ‘intense’ rocket, drone strikes in Syria The Cradle
‘Israel’ expands aggression, intensifies strikes on Bekaa, Hermel Al Mayadeen. Commentary:
They’re now bombing Baalbek.
Baalbek is a world heritage site. And the same people who issued condemnations of ISIS, rightfully so, for their destruction of Palmyra will be silent if Israel destroys the temple of Bacchus. https://t.co/OAU96H1kla pic.twitter.com/q4M1U1POwL
— Philip Proudfoot 🇱🇧🇵🇸 (@PhilipProudfoot) September 29, 2024
Samantha Power and Sir Andrew Wood: where are they now with respect to Israeli atrocities in the neighborhood? Gilbert Doctorow
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‘Israel’ assassinated Sayyed Nasrallah with US-made bomb: US senator Al Mayadeen
Legal Experts Criticize Biden for Praising Israel’s Extrajudicial Killing of Hassan Nasrallah Orinoco Tribune
End of an Era: What Hassan Nasrallah’s Assassination Spells for the Middle East New Lines Magazine. Commentary:
September 27th is the most important day in the Middle East since the Abraham Accords breakthrough.
I have spent countless hours studying Hezbollah and there is not an expert on earth who thought that what Israel has done to decapitate and degrade them was possible.
This is…
— Jared Kushner (@jaredkushner) September 29, 2024
Hezbollah leadership already replaced following Israeli airstrikes BNE Intellinews
Hezbollah: 10 Things You Need To Know Hauntologies by Elia Ayoub
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Microsoft’s CEO for Israel to Appear at Event Celebrating Israeli Military AI Drop Site
Chase Doubles Investment in Israeli Weapons Manufacturer The Progressive
Google Was Set to Host an Israeli Military Conference. When We Asked About It, the Event Disappeared. The Intercept
New Not-So-Cold War
The West is trying to pressure Russia through Iran, but is it possible? RT
Zelenskyy on preparation for Ramstein meeting: We must decide how to increase pressure on Russia Ukrainska Pravda
Zelensky US Trip Flops; West Says Ukr Losing; Vuhledar Siege; F16s Destroyed; MidEast All Out War Alexander Mercouris (video)
Sources say Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Chief Budanov could be replaced soon Euromaidan Press
Norway is mulling building a fence on its border with Russia, following Finland’s example AP
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland want EU funds to beef up border with Russia Euronews
Trump
Kamala
Retired military general described as ‘the finest warrior’ backs Harris for president The Independent. Stanley McChrystal, who among many other post-retirement duties, is chairman of the Board of Siemens Government Technologies and is on the strategic advisory board of Knowledge International, a licensed arms dealer cozy with the UAE.
Why Harris’ support from retired U.S. military leaders matters MSNBC
When odious foreign policy elites rally around Harris Responsible Statecraft
Kamala Harris campaign motorcade halted by confused robotaxis The Register
Democrats en Déshabillé
As FTC Chair Lina Khan’s Term Expires, Democrats Are Torn Between Donors and Their Base Wired
Gov. Newsom vetoes California’s controversial AI bill, SB 1047 TechCrunch
As extreme heat rises, Newsom blocks bill to protect California farmworkers Cal Matters
Imperial Collapse Watch
Belarus expects approval as BRICS prepares to add 10 new members Anadolu Agency
Police State Watch
“I Saw a Mirror”: Marcellus Williams’s Execution Enrages Palestine Solidarity Protesters The Intercept
Our Famously Free Press
The Empire Strikes Back Ken Klippenstein
All That Twitters The Baffler. The deck: “Who owns a piece of Elon Musk?”
Supply Chain
US East Coast port strike set to start Tuesday, says union Reuters
AI
Southern California’s hottest commercial real estate market is for tenants that aren’t human Los Angeles Times
The Bezzle
Crypto founder paid LA cops to help extort victims for crypto, FBI alleges Coin Telegraph
Guillotine Watch
In the US, opioid-maker Purdue is bankrupt. Its global counterparts make millions The Examination
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Corporate Slumlords and Housing Cartels BIG by Matt Stoller
Class Warfare
Tenants vote for rent strike at Independence Towers, Quality Hills if demands aren’t met Kansas City Star
Tenants Rise Up The Baffler
A tribute to longtime Maui resident Kris Kristofferson The Maui News
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Kamala Harris campaign motorcade halted by confused robotaxis”
Like pagers, it may only be a matter of time until these things are weaponized. So you could have a motorcade going down a street when some hacked robotaxis make their move. While two or three block the motorcade from the front and the rear, another that is laden with explosives makes a direct run at its target. No risk to the assassins who may not even be in the same city as the attack. Nobody will even see it coming until the first time that it happens. And such an attack does not even need the resources of a nation state to conduct it. Oh brave new world…
I just chalk it up to karma: the brainless meets the brainless. Not to get foily, of course.
Hmmmm. I’m just considering an AI that only used Kamala’s speeches and interviews as a training set. Man, that would be hilarious that.
Or perhaps it will be something even more ominous:
“It is unclear if the cars that got in the way of Harris’s motorcade were glitching, or if the incident signifies the beginning of a robot uprising or other AI-organized political protest.”
The robots could be Trump supporters! AI deplorables! We’re doomed!
On the positive side, maybe it’s the first glimmer of the Singularity and AI will start taking over to save the Earth from the destructive homo sapiens.
If I was Ernst Blofeld III and new leader of SPECTRE, I would not harm Western political elites and protect them at all costs—-someone competent might actually rise up to replace them!
Sounds like a good investment opportunity for Isrseli govt funded capital. But does it really need to 15 yrs this time?
“How beauteous robotkind is! Oh brave new world that has such automatons in ‘t!”
We have been read our Miranda rights. Tis a Black Mirror that reflects back our sable hearts.
We conjure things mechanical. It is a rough magic that we here make.
Good morning, I look forward to the post by Lambert on the disaster caused by Helene.
Helene was really a nothing-burger in my immediate area, but I have friends and co-workers in Western NC, and the scale of the damage there is simply devastating. Roads washed out, I-40 shut at the TN line because half of the eastbound side just washed away (the entire thing looks structurally unsound.) Stories of people being evacuated by helicopter, mudslides impeding folks ability to get out of their homes, no power possibly for weeks. The governor said over the weekend to consider all roads into W. NC as closed.
I think this may be the future for a lot of areas in mountains in the east where “orographic lifting” due to upslope enhances rain totals from tropical storms. I also think that the media is underplaying/ignoring the story because it is in mainly rural “flyover” areas that don’t matter to the PMC and coastal elites.
I wondered this too, so I checked CNN yesterday afternoon. At the top in the middle was a video of the flooding and an article or two just below. On the left and right side was Trump, the wars, and other things I can’t remember. My take was, OK, there is some info, but not a lot. Seems less than what I remember in the past, but I might be remembering wrong.
Some PMC friends of mine were talking about it as well, and this one really made me perk up. Somebody mentioned a Tweet where the Tweet said; I saw more coverage on Fox Sports pre-football game than they did in all of cable news. The reply was priceless, IMO.
Of course…
Coming from the same people who accuse any non vote blue no matter voter a cult member. We can’t vote our way out of this when people on both sides believe in fairy tales.
I’m finding the estimates of damage and the actual loss of people pretty startling myself. I’m in the impacted area as well, upstate of South Carolina to be specific, didn’t get through unscathed but now have power up and the water was always running. One appreciates creature comforts, like for instance using your personal choice of cash or card to purchase a few gallons of gas….I never call the Quik Trip to ask if they have gas for sale at the ready!
Am hoping to work ( remote 100%, a nice advantage ) today and have some normalcy. As for parents and the teachers of local schools…i don’t imagine western NC parents are too concerned at this moment. South Carolina has much damage but less catastrophic, it would seem.
I’m appreciative of the coverage and related treatment here when it’s covering climate or environmental events.
My sister lives in Spartanburg County. As of ~8:00 AM this morning, more than 90% of ~175K Spartanburg residences are without power, including my sister, and virtually all other Duke Energy supplied residences:
Poweroutage.us
She is a middle school teacher, no school Friday (power went off early Friday morning) or today.
I’m looking forward to Lambert’s post too as I only see snippets about this disaster in the media. Maybe what is needed is a disaster map. Ever seen those radar maps showing the intensity of storms by colours so light rain might be depicted with yellow but by the time you get to intense rainfall, it is coloured black? So you could have a map of eastern America with light damage depicted in yellow, heavy damage in red and finally severe damage in black. You could call up an overlay map showing which areas have no power while another overlay map might show which areas have had their water cut. Yet another overly map would show which roads and railway lines have been cut and which airports have had to shutdown.
The damage wrought here in the medium climes of the Sierra Nevada due to orographic lift by 2023’s atmospheric rivers did so much more damage than to the flatlands, with clogged culverts that weren’t taken care of beforehand, being the leading reason for road failure.
We took a drive a year ago in May to assess the situation and were repeatedly stymied by missing parts of road, the most spectacular being little Eshom Creek-a pipsqueak of a creek usually, but not that one day when deluge came where it was large enough to remove a bridge to the point where there was 60 feet of nothing where the span used to be, and a chasm 30 feet deep, yikes!
A couple of motorcyclists rode up, and I offered them a buck each to jump the span, Evel Knievel style. Maybe I could have sold the deal were there suitable ramps on either side, but all I got was a ‘you’ve got to be joking!’ look that spoke of the volume that came by once upon a time.
How do you prepare for 20-25 inches worth of something liquid comes this way?
That will be our new normal~
About 15 years ago in early October we received the perfect storm, a warm one out of season that rained up to around 8k totaling 8 inches with no damage done aside from chairs, coolers, etc. by the river that were swept away into the lake, and another inch would have meant a fair amount of destruction by those close to the rivers, a couple inches would have doubled the destruction and so on.
20 inches of rain would destroy most every business here on Hwy 198 along the river, which is sadly what happened in NC on a widespread basis.
The photo of I-40 is so reminiscent of the damage to our roads here, one stretch in particular en route to Cedar Grove that took a year and a half to fix as there was no nothing underneath what used to be the road.
Good thing israel, ukraine and taiwan claimed their “fair share” of american taxpayer cash before Helene hit.
I’d imagine there are some “low information,” non-college educated americans who might reach the conclusion that american cash should be spent on americans first…
>‘Israel’ expands aggression, intensifies strikes on Bekaa, Hermel Al Mayadeen. Commentary:
During the early hours of Monday, the Israeli occupation struck the al-Bass refugee camp in Sour, South Lebanon. Several casualties were confirmed, including the head of the Teachers’ Union in Lebanon at UNRWA, Fateh al-Sharif, who was killed alongside his wife, son, and daughter.
If you’ve been following the guest on Judge Napolitano’s Utube channel, Danny Haipong and others with the same orientation, the titles of their podcast often paint Israel as on the ropes, flailing, and on the brink of collapse. But given the success Israel has had in decapitating Hezbollah’s leadership, the supine Islamic states that keep supplying Israel with oil and other commodities. It seems that Israel is far from failing. When your population is being slaughtered and your infrastructure decimated it may be a case of short term suffering for future strategic victory, but recent events give me pause.
I’m starting to think I’m getting a distorted view. The majority of the world condemns Israel and their expansionist genocidally actions, but as the attendance at Gerald Celente’s peace rally this past weekend underscores, unless the danger is imminent, the vast majority of people will not exert the necessary pressure on those running the gov’t to change policy.
Maybe it’s just wanting the “good guys” to win. And like in Ukraine, I wish that the oligarchs in the West, the “Collective Biden” were held to account and were eating humble pie…wishful thinking.
I am in the exact same spot you are, regarding the relative position of strengths of Isrsel vs The Resistance. Has the evaluation of strengths of each just been wrong, are we missing something, or is this drama of the moment? If the goal of the resistance is slow boil Israel as your entire leadership is felded, it doesn’t seem to working. Importantly, how is Isreal getting all these targets? From moles inside the resistance? Is it even possible to try to avoid full on war when your opponent is 100% committed to getting one? If so, is war inevitable regardless of the resistance strategy so pick whichever time your opponent is weakest before you are too weakened? In general, the US is at a low point strength wise. I am astonished by the lack of support from the Arab nations for the resistance. Am also astonished more effective drones/missiles haven’t found their way to the Houthiese, Syrians, and others at odds with the US and Israel.
As I said before: ANIMALS!
However as animation movies go, “robotaxis” are almost as good. I guess they are even treated similiarly on narrative terms by the entertainment industry.
So it´s animals, machines and A.I. that will make our day as new-age information-“Soma”.
* * *
on a different note:
JACOBIN with an interview on the 1940s campaign “Dixie” to unionize the South.
Operation Dixie Failed but Pushed Racial Equality Forward
An interview with William P. Jones
The famous Operation Dixie campaign to unionize the South in the 1940s was mostly unsuccessful. Still, it left a positive mark on American society. It’s even possible that the civil rights movement wouldn’t have staged the March on Washington without it.
https://jacobin.com/2024/09/operation-dixie-cio-civil-rights
“The West is trying to pressure Russia through Iran, but is it possible?”
‘Meanwhile, as the West continues to impose strict sanctions on Iran, it audaciously demands that Tehran join the international restrictions against Russia.’
Gee, does this mean that Iran will have to tell the Russians to pack up all their air defence systems protecting Iran from Israeli strikes and take them back home? And also the Russian fighters being delivered that would replace the 1970s era fighters that they have to us? Who would ever trust they West to deliver on their promise and guarantees? They can’t be negotiated with and see everything as a zero-sum game.
p.s. Jacobin Germany has a text about the increased military expenditures in Poland.
The author´s understanding of history and geopolitics is limited but it has a few numbers.
However I again cannot get the auto-translation archived.
Dunno why…so this is German (but is easily translated via Google)
“Poland’s fear of war is great and expensive
Fearing Russia, Poland plans to spend almost 5 percent of its GDP on armaments next year. No other NATO country invests as much in defense. But it is questionable whether this spending will make Poland safer.”
by By Jan Opielka
https://jacobin.de/artikel/polen-aufruestung-russland-putin-ukraine-donald-tusk-nato
Taibbi’s speech at Rescue the Republic. No paywall.
My Speech in Washington: “Rescue the Republic”
Freedom of speech isn’t just a legal right, but a way of life. On its history
https://www.racket.news/p/my-speech-in-washington-rescue-the
RIP Kris
Just the other side of nowhere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKT7CMlQmag
“Zelenskyy on preparation for Ramstein meeting: We must decide how to increase pressure on Russia”
I read one example of how Zelensky is doing this. So the Ukraine is taking the Russian Federation to court, specifically the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. And the complaint lodged by the Ukraine? That the Crimean Bridge was illegally built so therefore the Russians have to demolish it-
https://www.rt.com/russia/604665-crimean-bridge-hague-arbitration/
They really do hate that bridge.
Re: the still germane article about the state of Greek railways. 2 near collisions only recently after the deadly one last year that killed 50+ mostly young kids returning to their studies after holidays on a night train. Government stonewalling how the freight train crashing with the passenger created a huge explosion and fireball. Most victims burned. Some parents were not given remains. One theory that makes a lot of sense, the freight was loaded with chemicals used to adulterate fuel (eg toluene). That would mean that some powerful interests complicit in said adulteration have huge sway with the Greek government.