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Fungus-controlled robots tap into the unique power of nature ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
Bird flu in cows and poultry continues to fly high Farm and Dairy (Robin K)
#COVID-19
New CDC Covid map just came out pic.twitter.com/BmWhFmu69B
— The Yeti of Kananaskis (@kananaskinyeti) September 7, 2024
They actually said he died of #LongCovid
Many others have, but because it happens outside of the acute phase of the disease, it is almost never listed as such. We need more honesty and transparency.
RIP Sérgio Mendes.https://t.co/M21k16jWhM
— Cat Herding Science Nerd 🔬 (@catladyactivist) September 7, 2024
Climate/Environment
Electrocuted Birds Are Bursting Into Flames and Starting Wildfires Gizmodo
Unbelievable #September temperatures are forecast across #Europe tomorrow, with some regions 12°C above normal for this time of year. Temperature records just keep tumbling. The #climate is warming at unprecedented rates—mitigation is urgent. 🌍🔥 #ClimateCrisis pic.twitter.com/GWwmOoq3gO
— Peter Dynes (@PGDynes) September 6, 2024
Heatwave Across US West Breaks Records For Highest Temperatures Guardian
More Intense Heatwaves Pose Long-Term Hit to Asia’s Economies Bloomberg (ma)
An unlikely line of defense during heat waves: Food banks Grist
China?
Midstream firms to exit China but Germany invests more Asia Times (Kevin W)
The US Made the Dutch an Offer They Couldn’t Refuse CounterPunch (Kevin W)
China warns students against ‘beautiful women’ and ‘handsome guys’ who might turn them into spies NBC
Is an economic crisis in China turning the population obese? First Post. Chinese also have greater propensity to diabetes than Caucasians at normal body weights.
Africa
UN chief warns Africa’s inadequate access to debt relief is recipe for social unrest Reuters
South of the Border
How a Start-Up Utopia Became a Nightmare for Honduras Foreign Policy (ma)
European Disunion
The Metsola exception: The European Parliament president and her lobbyist husband Politico (Kevin W)
In Germany, a bank blocked the accounts of an AfD politician after his election to the Thuringian state parliament Anti-Spiegel via machine translation. Micael T:
It is as if they really want to help AfD run the country. As the guys on Radio War Nerd pointed out, nothing helps fascists as much as victimhood. Also, think Hollywood underdog vs. the big bad ones. Every movie scripted as to root for the underdog through the malice of the big bad ones.
Germany’s firewall against the far right isn’t working Washington Post
Bank robbery! Berlin lets its schools and citizens be plundered Nachdenkseiten (Micael T)
Germany faces jobs crisis ‘of a thousand cuts’ Financial Times. From a couple of days ago, still germane.
Old Blighty
British life-style: 22.8 million people said they would have difficulty affording food or other essentials, such as their mortgage, rent or childcare International Affairs (Micael T)
Labour launches bid to get rid of hereditary peers BBC (Kevin W)
South of the Border
Gaza
‘Days filled with terror’: Palestinians in Jenin recount harrowing 10-day Israeli army invasion Mondoweiss
Inside the brutal siege of Jenin +972 (guurst)
‘Deeply disturbed’ White House calls for inquiry into killing of Ayşenur Eygi Guardian. Where were they for Rachel Corrie?
‘No liquidity’: Israel’s punitive measures bite in the West Bank National News
@binance's recent freeze of Palestinian crypto wallets is exacerbating #Gaza’s dire situation & aiding Israel’s financial blockade.
Weaponizing digital financial tools as oppression must cease & Binance must clarify its actions. Read our full statement:https://t.co/bDq0SwmDjt
— Skyline International for Human Rights (@skylineforhuman) September 6, 2024
Nazareth Faces Economic Collapse as War Devastates Tourism Media Line
* * * Riyadh forcing a Yemeni plane back ‘irresponsible escalation’: Sanaa AlMayadeen
* * * Wave of resignations continues in Israel as police intel chief steps down The Cradle
the post encampment climate on campuses is crazier than I imagined https://t.co/odfNSYOP12
— Yukon Cornelius 🇵🇸 (@NeeedlesEye) September 6, 2024
Banning Fascist and Zionist Activities: A Conversation with Hindu Anderi Venezuelanalysis (Robin K)
The Caucasus
Iran Tells Russia to ‘Back Off’ from Endorsing Baku’s Corridor Plan Through Armenia Asbarez
Armenia sending signals that it wants to back out of a nuclear-energy deal with Russia Eurasianet
Kosovo Citizens Urged to Avoid Serbia Amid Road Blockades Threats Prishtina Insight
New Not-So-Cold War
SITREP 9/6/24: The Grind Continues as Aftermath of Poltava Strikes Reverberates Simplicius
Ukraine SitRep: Ukrainian Army Chief Reveals Lack of Strategy Behind Kursk Incursion Moon of Alabama
FT: How the G7 leaders are tying themselves in knots over Ukraine loan International Affairs
Lies Have Consequences Tarik Cyril Amar (Micael T)
Canada publishing Nazi list would ‘help Russia’ – Ukrainian activists RT (Kevin W)
The Militarisation of Scandinavia & the Coming Wars Glenn Diesen (Robin K, Micael T)
Syraqistan
Imperial Collapse Watch
Notes on the political economy of war Wolfgang Streeck, Journal of Keynesian Economics (Anthony L). Only part way through but this is a very very good piece.
The Machine Stops Aurelien. Another important piece.
The Nibelung’s Ring: The Early Philosophy John Micael Greer (Chuck L)
Not Losing Sight of Imperialism Venezuelanalysis (Robin K)
Kamala
Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he will vote for Harris NBC
More than 90 company executives, 100 law enforcement officials back Harris Reuters (Kevin W)
2024
Republican candidate for governor Mark Robinson is losing the ad war in North Carolina North Carolina Guardian (furzy)
Immigration
Gavin Newsom kills California bill to help undocumented immigrants buy homes Politico (Kevin W)
Our No Longer Free Press
Scared of our Own Shadow Scott Ritter (Micael T)
Justice Department Disrupts Covert Russian Government-Sponsored Foreign Malign Influence Operation Targeting Audiences in the United States and Elsewhere Department of Justice. Links to affidavit. Micael T:
https://en.interaffairs.ru/article/british-life-style-22-8-million-people-said-they-would-have-difficulty-affording-food-or-other-esse/.
Gunz
California Can Ban Guns in Parks and Bars, but Not Hospitals, Court Says New York Times (Dr. Kevin)
Boeing Falling Apart Airplanes
Boeing Starliner returns to Earth without NASA astronauts Associated Press (furzy)
AI
AI worse than humans in every way at summarising information, government trial finds Crikey.com (dk)
The Bezzle
Private Equity’s Favorite Borrowing Tool Sparks Fresh Scrutiny Bloomberg
Class Warfare
Workers lose ground in the global recovery Financial Times
Pharma Charges 80K to cure Hepatitis C. The Manufacturing Cost is $78 Ian Welsh (Micael T)
Port union voices unanimous support for strike, escalating U.S. supply chain fears CNBC (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour. Ann M: “This year’s swan family. The elegant youngsters grow fast. They were quite tiny in May, now are as big as mom and dad. Roger Williams Park, Providence RI. August 25, 2024.”
A bonus (Chuck L):
It is so patient and kind!
What are the crows doing?pic.twitter.com/3Ehcrf0QBw
— Figen (@TheFigen_) September 6, 2024
And a second bonus (Chuck L). Proving that male lions are not always layabouts:
Her partner answered her call
pic.twitter.com/rR3yTm070l— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) September 5, 2024
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Politico: The non-entity Roberta Metsola gets into trouble.
This story, of the august chair of the Europarlament, has been circulating here for a while.
Note this: “Last week Roberta appointed her long-time personal aide and brother-in-law Matthew Tabone to be her head of cabinet. She had tried to elevate Tabone to the role once before but stepped back in the face of media coverage implying she was turning the Parliament into a family business.”
She’s all worried about her high-profile hubby, but when it comes to corruption, she knows how to engage in it.
Figuratevi: The president of the EU, Ursula van der Leyen, is up to her eyeballs in corruption. Recall the Pfizer land grab and the missing SMSs. And Ursula van der Leyen loves war (for the little people).
Metsola makes the right noises about war (for the little people).
And Kaja Kallas, foreign-policy expert, loves war. Lots of war.
And, of course, these three are the best of the best. The brightest of the brightest. (I’m detecting a theme…)
And here we are. And then one wonders why the German states of Saxony and Thuringia are having contentious elections.
“Two astronauts are left behind in space as Boeing’s troubled capsule returns to Earth empty”
A lot of people will complain that those two astronauts could have made it home on that capsule but in cases like this, Murphy’s law rules supreme. You just never know. Good news is that that ISS docking port is now clear for operational use once again and with that capsule on the ground, the engineers will be able to tear it apart and find out exactly what went wrong.
But it will be a very long time before Boeing will be allowed to mount a mission to send their capsule to the ISS again. I would be guessing years.
Musical interlude? https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GyV_UG60dD4
Rev Kev: I would be guessing years.
I’d say never is more likely — and that the odds are at least even odds Boeing itself won’t exist in 5-10 years.
Sure, Boeing will be TBTF as far as Washington is concerned. But Washington’s options will themselves be increasingly degraded and diminished.
– ‘Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he will vote for Harris’ – NBC
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Dick Cheney said in a statement.”
This pretty much says it all. Based on the level of death, destruction, and human suffering unleashed on the world, not to mention the vast expansion of our National Security State here at home, I would put Cheney at the top of my list of the most Evil individuals still living in the world today. And has the audacity to say this! And he’s with her! Go Democrats!
Caitlin Johnstone posted a short but effective statement on this endorsement today:
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2024/09/07/its-the-trump-party-vs-the-cheney-party/
I would say that Cheney and his daughter are both RINOs who just gravitate to whichever party has power in Washington at any particular time. Maybe Cheney is hoping that one day Michelle Obama will hug him in public too like she did with George Bush. Or maybe he could offer her a lolly at a state funeral one day. I would advise her to stay out of his windowless van however. It seems that there are two war parties in DC right now – the Democrats and the Republicans – with the bizarre result that only having Trump return to power may put a lid on the number of wars DC is starting around the planet. I don’t think that even he wants to start a war with Iran as where is the business sense with that?
‘Help us Donald Trump. You’re our only hope!’
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Dick Cheney said in a statement.”
Has there ever been a greater example of pot calling the kettle black in the history of the planet?
If there is a universe in which cheney’s pronouncement is a beneficial thing for ANY presidential campaign, I don’t know where it is, and I’m certainly not living in it.
no sunshine skies of covid here. the local public health establishment has actually awakened to the levels of COVID in my semi-rural corner of northeast US, and has remarkably given some decent advice on mitigating COVID transmission:
“Sullivan added that some “commonsense” measures, such as ensuring crowded gathering spaces have adequate ventilation, wearing masks and getting the latest version of the vaccine, are all effective strategies to avoid spreading the virus.”
of course the vaccine is there, but leading with actual measures is pretty impressive.
https://www.recorder.com/Local-COVID-levels-at-highest-point-since-January-56872617
Is an economic crisis in China turning the population obese? According to Statista, there are 141 million people suffering from diabetes in China, https://www.statista.com/topics/6556/diabetes-in-china/#topicOverview, 1 in 10 people, a truly dubious achievement considering it’s just 1.6% lower than the US.
Another victory for Chinese style socialism?
McDonald’s alone has some 5,000 restaurants in China so perhaps they and the other fast food chains are having an effect.
RE: More than 90 company executives, 100 law enforcement officials back Harris Reuters (Kevin W)
So, when Trump is endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, “one of the nation’s most influential law enforcement lobbies,” kamala is touted as receiving the “endorsement” of “100 law enforcement officials” described thusly:
Some really august top cops there–Bloomington, IN????
Trump’s endorsement OTOH is described as confounding given that he is such a heinous criminal. From AP:
What to do, whom to “believe”?
Republican House member admits things aren’t looking good:
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4866671-republicans-frustration-tony-gonzales-house-prediction/
I predict that the GOP will lose the House, because:
(1) They have no message or platform to run on. It would be nice if they could take advantage of the 64% who think the country is headed in the wrong direction, but they offer no solutions. It would be nice if some candidate would point out that Harris/Biden are accessories to Genocide, but the GOP would just do the Genocide even faster. So they’re stuck in credibility traps.
(2) They have the weakest speaker in 250 years.
(3) They seem to be hoping that Trump loses. I haven’t seen a single story about a Republican supporting President Trump, campaigning with him, etc. This is truly remarkable. It’s as if they think that Trump going down to defeat will magically not translate to House GOP losses.
(4) I don’t see any evidence of the economy falling apart so fast that it influences the election. Still a possibility, but every day we get closer to early voting, and there is one more BLS report likely to influence things in October, so not much time for the wheels to fall off.
I predict we’re going to be saying “House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries” in January.
And president Harris. Go long bomb and war toy makers. Heil Democrats – the party of war – and the Russians are coming.
I was thinking about your comment and was suddenly reminded of the 2019 British general election. At the time, an outsider – Jeremy Corbyn – was head of the Labour party and they took on the Conservatives under Boris Johnson. But the hard right faction of the Labour party deliberately sabotaged their campaigning and on election night, Labour party officials were actually cheering the loss of Labour seats to the Tories. After they were able to get rid of Corbyn but the UK was stuck with Johnson as PM who soon proved his worth by totally botching the arrival of the Covid Pandemic and got the country deep into the Ukraine. So could the Republicans sabotage the November elections and let Harris become the President just so that they can get rid of Trump?
“Mitigation is urgent!”
The climate Cassandras are so tiresome. Yes it is bad. What would you suggest we do sir or madam?
The entire global food system is dependent on diesel or diesel byproduct. There is no quick “Mitigation” short of mass starvation. Donating to your favorite NGO will do less than nothing as those people love their planes more than anyone on earth. The best we can do is gradually reduce the population over several generations while moving away from petro-agriculture.
What is the point of all the screeching?
Looks like we’re back to the “Freikorps” model of university protests for the next academic year.
Safety patrol teams show up at University of Toronto to protect Jewish students as the school year begins. The only unanswered question is whether the university administrators have hired these security teams, are turning a blind eye, or are simply sticking their heads in the curtains. Undoubtedly these scenarios will be playing out across North America once again. Might as well say goodbye to those overseas student numbers for 2026.
California Can Ban Guns in Parks and Bars, but Not Hospitals, Court Says New York Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That’s batshit crazy, but in the end the gun always wins in our country, but doesn’t do very well in the Olympics, where you would think Americans would sweep the shooting events.
Out of 36 potential medals up for grabs in :Paris this year, we nabbed 4.
That new angle of prosecuting parents of teenage mass murderer shooters is interesting, can we push it into adulthood, say prosecute against a 29 year old male’s mom?
Americans could sweep the shooting events at the Olympics mind you, but for some strange reason Olympic officials will not allow automatic fire on the firing ranges. Americans! :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBHNsc5EL1Q (6 secs)