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Links 2/3/2025

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What We Can Learn From a Dog’s Way of Looking At the World Lit Hub

Why Does February (Usually) Have 28 Days? Conversable Economist

Climate/Environment

After wildfires, what distance are extra precautions a good idea to protect against smoke, soot, and ash exposures? Harvard School of Public Health

Wildfires and Arctic ice clouds: An unexpected connection Earth.com

Pandemics

CDC says Kansas tuberculosis outbreak isn’t the largest. Here’s what KDHE meant The Topeka Capital-Journal

Kansas tuberculosis outbreak reminds us of long battle for public health — and importance of trust Kansas Reflector

Africa

More than 700 killed as DR Congo military fights M23 rebels Al Jazeera

What’s Happening In Congo Is A Proxy War! African Stream

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Trump Vows to Cut Off Aid to South Africa Over Land Policy Bloomberg

Musk, Thiel and the shadow of apartheid South Africa FT. From September, still germane.

The Koreas

How MAGA Made Its Way to South Korea In These Times

Trade Wars

Here are some goods in the crosshairs of Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China AP

Monopoly Round-Up: What Did Trump Just Do on Tariffs? BIG by Matt Stoller

Trump’s tariffs, cuts may well put tech in a chokehold, say analysts The Register

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TARIFFS ARE A NECESSARY SOLUTION The White House

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Mexico vows retaliation to Trump tariffs without detailing targets Reuters

List of products from the United States subject to 25 per cent tariffs effective February 4, 2025 Department of Finance Canada

Tariff war with US likely to put Canada into recession, say economists Business Standard

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Trump’s Oil Tariffs A Boost For European And Asian Refiners Reuters

EU ‘will respond firmly’ if Trump decides to impose tariffs on the bloc Euronews

Trump appears to spare Britain tariffs – for now The Business Times

China?

China Shrugs Off New Trump Tariffs but Bruising Trade War Looms Asharq Al-Awsat

China’s factory activity growth slows again as Trump tariffs loom South China Morning Post

Big Swing: Chinese golf cart makers are moving to US to dodge tariff blitz

Old Blighty

UK seeks smoother trade with EU but customs union is ‘red line’, Cooper says The Guardian

The sewage crisis is your fault: How water firms use same deceptive tactics as Big Oil and Big Tobacco Big Issue

Syraqistan

Gaza deal’s future hangs on Trump-Netanyahu meeting Axios

Netanyahu heads to Washington to meet Trump, hoping to ‘redraw’ Middle East Times of Israel

ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas commander UN News. From Nov. 21, apparently not still germane.

Netanyahu to postpone talks on second phase of ceasefire deal Al Mayadeen

Families of Israeli hostages accuse Netanyahu, government of obstructing swap deal Anadolu Agency

Trump invites Jordan’s Abdullah to White House while pushing him to take in Gazans The Times of Israel

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Iran unveils new air defence system and ballistic missile Bne Intellinews

Syria’s new leader al-Sharaa meets Saudi crown prince on first trip abroad France24

European Disunion

It’s France vs. the rest on buying US weapons Politico

New Not-So-Cold War

From Proxy War to Proxy Peace Let Me Tell You…

Both Ukraine, Russia must ‘give a little’ to end war, Trump envoy says AFP

Zelenskyy Says Excluding Ukraine From US-Russia Talks About War is ‘Very Dangerous’ AP

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The Empty Tank: Is Demise of the Ukrainian Army Near? Gordon Hahn, Russian & Eurasian Politics

Europe Divided Over Plans to Escalate Ground Force Deployments in Ukraine: France and UK Lead Push For Escalation Military Watch \

European leaders will ‘wag tails’ for Trump – Putin RT

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Zelenskyy: Putin fears talks with Ukraine as he cannot admit defeat Ukrainska Pravda

Panama Canal

Won’t renew Belt and Road deal with China, says Panama president amid US pressure The Economic Times

Rubio’s Stop in Panama Opens a Campaign Against ‘Shadow Fleet’ of Vessels Skirting U.S. Sanctions on Iran and Russia New York Sun

Imperial Collapse Watch

Senior USAID security officials put on leave after attempting to refuse Musk’s DOGE access to agency systems CNN

Is this the same Musk who said “We will coup whoever we want”?:

A lot of celebration about the Trump administration/DOGE coming for USAID, but:

Trump 2.0

Elon Musk spent more than $290 million on the 2024 election, year-end FEC filings show CNN

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover Wired.

Education Department places dozens of officials on leave over Trump’s DEI order, union says USA Today

We need an international alliance against the US and its tech industry Disconnect

Kamala

CBS agrees to release Harris transcript to FCC amid Trump lawsuit The Hill

Democrats en déshabillé

‘We Have No Coherent Message’: Democrats Struggle to Oppose Trump New York Times. They have a message:

And:

Police State Watch

Oklahoma’s Mental Health System Under Threat: A Deep Dive into House Bill 1343 Dissent Speaks. “….proposes to completely dissolve the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) and transfer all its functions to the Department of Corrections.”

Immigration

Marines arrive at Guantanamo Bay as Trump’s migrant deportation plan moves ahead at warp speed Daily Mail

Homeland security chief declines to say whether women, children to be held at Guantánamo The Guardian

Texas National Guard to make immigration arrests under Trump admin deal Axios

AI

DeepSeek might not be as disruptive as claimed, firm reportedly has 50,000 Nvidia GPUs and spent $1.6 billion on buildouts Tom’s Hardware

DeepFreak Epsilon Theory

Add F*cking to Your Google Searches to Neutralize AI Summaries Gizmodo

Class Warfare

Teamsters bureaucracy calls off Costco strike at last minute, sparking outrage from workers WSWS

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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39 comments

      1. The Rev Kev

        Oh my. So USAID – which probably also means the CIA – declared war on Trump to get his orange a** thrown into prison last year. But they lost and now Trump is looking for vengeance as he has never been the forgive and forget type. As payback, he is dismantling USAID and I say good riddance myself. But it is more than that. If the CIA were actually behind this lawfare themselves, this would be Trump telling them that he is taking one of their favourite toys off of them and smashing it as payback. The spooks may have six ways to Sunday to mess with him but Trump knows now that he has the seventh day to do the same to them.

        Reply ↓
  2. flora

    File under healthcare. A long read from Unlimited Hangout. (I’ve got a bad feeling about this.)

    Thiel-Linked HHS Nominee Threatens MAHA Ambitions with Biotech Stance

    Biotech investor and Peter Thiel associate Jim O’Neill is poised to usher in a deregulatory paradigm that would allow a proliferation of dubious products on the US market under the guise of “innovation” and “efficiency.”

    https://unlimitedhangout.com/2025/01/investigative-reports/thiel-linked-hhs-nominee-threatens-maha-ambitions-with-biotech-stance/

    Reply ↓
    1. Mark Gisleson

      If you don’t know enough not to buy snake oil, that’s a failure of our schools, not our health system ; )

      Reply ↓
  3. vao

    This sentence just does not parse in my opinion:

    After wildfires, what distance are extra precautions a good idea to protect against smoke, soot, and ash exposures?

    What about the other readers of NC? Or is it a quirk of the English language that a non-native speaker cannot grasp but that would be typical of the grammar used by the Harvard School of Public Health? Or have AI redactional bots struck again?

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev

      It’s not you it’s them. That is a very poorly constructed sentence in English so literacy standards must be really dropping fast at Harvard to come up with something like that.

      Reply ↓
  4. The Rev Kev

    “Trump appears to spare Britain tariffs – for now”

    Is this like how the civilians living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki noticed that they were being spared the American heavy bombing campaign in 1945? They knew that it meant something but they did not know what exactly.

    Reply ↓
  5. Zagonostra

    >Syria’s new leader al-Sharaa meets Saudi crown prince on first trip abroad France24

    The new Syrian authorities have received a steady stream of diplomatic visitors since toppling Assad in December.

    I spoke to a Syrian lady that works in the back kitchen in a small restaurant in a small town in the middle of PA. She came out to talk to me since she heard me speaking with the owner. She is flying back with her husband to visit family near Aleppo. I asked her if the situation had stabilized in Syria and whether she felt safe. Her answer, in very broken English was that she was hopeful. I asked if I could interview her? You could see the fear in her eyes, she declined and went to the kitchen.

    Reply ↓
  6. ChrisFromGA

    [Bugler plays taps]

    Ladies and Gents, let’s have a moment of silence for the Magnificent Seven stocks (NVDA, MSFT, AAPL, etc.)

    It was an epic run, but all things must pass. It’s feasting time for bears.

    Reply ↓
  7. Zagonostra

    Russian Market
    @runews

    Zelensky says Ukraine only received around $75 billion of the $177 billion in aid sent by the United States.
    “I don’t know where all this money is.”

    For all those in Congress who voted against an auditor being established to trace where the money was going and how it was being spent as a condition of funding, should be forced to cough up the $100 billion from pet MIC spending projects in their district.

    Reply ↓
    1. ilsm

      Some of the last $60B which GOP leader Johnson folded on last summer was $20B for the costs incurred by USEUCOM in Ramstein, direct combat support funds for costs incurred by EUCONM supporting Kiev. I suspect that tranche was similar to spending before this last tranche.

      Then there is funding for USSOPACECOM satellite operations and US airborne sensors and targeting comms……

      Lots of bill holders around the US’ combatant command structure.

      Zelenski won’t have dibs on funds that restocked Biden’s disbursement of US war stocks.

      Reply ↓
  8. YuShan

    “Europe Divided Over Plans to Escalate Ground Force Deployments in Ukraine: France and UK Lead Push For Escalation”

    From the article:
    Nevertheless, the deployment of large formations of active ground units could have a new impact on the conflict, as such ‘flag bearing’ forces may well be protected by their countries’ overseas arsenals including their nuclear deterrents, in order to deter Russian forces fro advancing or striking them.

    They are completely delusional if they think the Russians will hold back. Quite the opposite: Western ground forces will be an absolute magnet for Russian strikes. The Russians know that once body bags start coming to the UK and France, what was left of support for this war among the general public in the West will evaporate real quick. Even to the point of bringing down governments.

    Reply ↓
  9. Wukchumni

    Goooooooood Mooooooooorning Fiatnam!

    Its not as if the platoon wasn’t prepared for a tariffist attack and resulting over the counter measures, it was our commander in-chief’s signature move, hell, Helen Keller would have seen it coming. Despair over disparity.

    Semper finance, Mac.

    Reply ↓
  12. Mark Gisleson

    I’d like Senator Schumer to explain why the price of pizza will go up after tariffs. Is he getting his delivered from Italy? The only two imported ingredients used in pizza are optional: Canadian bacon, and olives. And to be honest, I think the Canadian bacon is made here and not imported.

    Almost all pizza ingredients are agricultural commodities that we grow a surplus of and export.

    Schumer needs new staff, preferably at least one of whom did not go to college.

    Reply ↓
    2. Dr. John Carpenter

      Yeah, I had the same reaction. But I’d assume there’s not a Dem out there who knows how the pizza is made.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev

        As far as politics is concerned, there is nobody in Dem leadership who even knows how the political sausage is made.

        Reply ↓
    3. anahuna

      I hope DJG, Reality Czar, will pardon me from wefomment me for quoting from his comment on this morning’s thread under “Trump Declares Economic War….”. Re tomatoes:

      But what truly indicated to me how messed up the U.S. economy is was the tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes. In the third week of September, which is high tomato season in the Great Lakes States, the Jewel food store was carrying only tomatoes from Mexico and Canada. The indy produce market across the street had only one kind of tomatoes from the U.S. of A. They were from Michigan, which is normal in Chicago. They also were too sweet, as if to reinforce the stereotype that U.S. foodstuffs are cloying.”

      Reply ↓
  13. Terry Flynn

    Adding the swearword to my first google search had no benefit. I suspect Google has already begun patching the loophole. Using Firefox with add-ons on a Linux machine, “What is the maxdiff” gave an industry sponsored link as first hit (which is objectively wrong*) but at least the sidebar from wikipedia was there to put the reader right/provide the academic links.

    “What is the f*cking maxdiff” merely eliminated the wikipedia sidebar but, more worryingly, gave an even worse summary from an industry source seeking your survey design money.

    *I recently noticed that my open access research article in the top choice modelling journal co-authored with the guy who practically invented the field and the guy who calculated the damages for the Exxon Valdez case has now become my most cited article. It was, and is, intended to explain crucial differences between these “techniques” of surveying and be a primer to the novice, written before we had AI try to do this job. I am laughing hollowly at the AI hype.

    Reply ↓
    1. Mark Gisleson

      I asked Google who I was and got all links to my same-named nephew.

      I asked Google who the #@$! I was and all the links were to me.

      Not a fair test. In forums not moderated by Yves, I’m somewhat notorious for swearing. In fact, when I went back to college one of my instructors told me they’d never graded a blue book exam in which the student swore as much as I had. It was in the context of the Hutsi genocide of the Tutsis and I stand by those swears.

      Reply ↓
  14. Zagonostra

    Chrystia Freeland
    @cafreeland
    American neighbours, you depend on us a lot and we are happy to work together but it’s got to be a two-way street.

    With neighbours like Freeland, I’d be wanting to relocate. I saw this segment aired on CNN, less sound, on TV screen at the gym yesterday afternoon. I didn’t know what she was saying. What did strike me is that on the adjacent screen you had Lindsey Graham on FOX, earlier Senator Tim Kaine was on CNN being interviewed.

    Rhetorical question, why does CNN and Fox always dredge up individuals from the swamp. I know there are some Malcom X, MLK, Eugene Webbs, Upton Sinclair types out there. Why aren’t these 2 dinosaur media outlets allowed to die? 30+ Screens blasting “Go Pro” extreme sports, food porn, Football, beauty products…etc. Not one progressive news channel allowed for the proles to fill their visual sphere as the auditory sphere was bombarded by hackneyed “classical” rock and roll that was over played and killed decades ago…thank goodness for sound blocking headpones.

    Reply ↓
  15. Webb

    USAID is a mix of truly vital programs like PEPFAR and FEWSNET and more nefarious work meant to destabilize our enemies. Once Musk, Rubio, and Trump are done with it, all that will be left will be the worst components of American foreign policy. Highlighting things such as USAID grants funding dissident communication networks in Cuba or Ukraine is not a problem with USAID, it is a problem *with the US government*. Disestablishing USAID will only move these types of activities under DoS or DoD, and they will likely even be harder to track once that happens. Of course USAID is lousy with CIA infiltration, but it pales in comparison to what happens in the defense industry and State Department. Anyone would be foolish to think Trump and Musk will change that.

    Reply ↓
  16. Zagonostra

    >JPMorgan Chase Charged by Yet Another Internal Whistleblower with Cooking the Books

    Williams’ lawsuit also charged that the bank retaliated against her protected whistleblowing activities by terminating her employment after she raised concerns about the improper payments.

    Lucky that retaliation was only job termination and and not life, like that of whisleblower Suchir Balaji, whose murder is being memory holed.

    Reply ↓
  18. The Rev Kev

    “Trump Vows to Punish South Africa Over Law to Expropriate Land’

    First thought was that this was Musk getting Trump to do his buddies back home a solid. But maybe not. Maybe this is Trump being transactional. Consider. He may seem erratic with his decisions but some patterns you can make out if you squint your eyes a bit. Shipping lanes. Trump is really focused on shipping lanes. So Panama is a bottleneck for ships going between the Pacific and the Atlantic. The control of Greenland would be used to dominate shipping coming out of the rapidly melting Arctic. The militarization of the Galapagos Islands is a place to keep watch on shipping going along the South American coastline. So what if this was part of a long-term campaign to have South Africa let the US Navy set up a base in a port along that country’s coastline. Say Durban or Port Elizabeth. Give the US over-watch on shipping going along the Cape of Good Hope.

    Reply ↓
  19. DJG, Reality Czar

    I’m not willing to admit that Trump is right about DEI, given the astounding histories of discrimination that I have seen and read about. It isn’t as if discrimination is a made-up problem in the U S of A. (For starters, eh, ask anyone over 55 years of age.)

    And yet, the USA Today article, Dozens of Education Department Officials Furloughed, has this oddity: ‘According to Holder, affected staffers said the decision appeared to be related to employees’ participation in a diversity training called the “Diversity Change Agent” program. That’s an instructional course that the agency previously described as an attempt to “foster an inclusive culture that respects individual talents, values differences, and allows our workforce to fully contribute to our organizational success.”’

    I’m so old, I recall when personnel departments were personnel departments and had about three employees. They were also engaged in “screening”: plenty of screening, often malign. Then these departments became human resources and started to wrap their tentacles around every part of the organization.

    Now we seem to have gone to Revenge of Human Resources, Or Human Resources All the Time. I’m wondering why so much training is going on.

    Just put the company’s goals to avoid discrimination into people’s job descriptions.

    Why are USonians having Maoist struggle sessions over various bogus U.S. racial and affective categories?

    Reply ↓
    1. Christopher Smith

      Trump is right about DEI programs, especially those with Kendi/D’Angelo influence. I fact, those tend to exaserbate racial tensions (see here). Yet he has no plan (not to mention a good plan) to address ongoing discrimination.

      But as someone who got the joy of experiencing a DEI struggle session at a former employer back 2021, I say good riddance to DEI.

      Reply ↓
  20. The Rev Kev

    “Both Ukraine, Russia must ‘give a little’ to end war, Trump envoy says’

    Well I suppose if push came to shove, Russia could agree not to invade the Baltic States so Trump could claim that as a win, I guess. But I suspect that after fighting a three-year war against the Collective West through the Ukraine, they are in no mood to give in to US demands to make Trump look good and come out making the West look like they were the “winners.” Those days are gone.

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      Trump’s strategy on Ukraine appears to blather, spin, and go nowhere, while letting the war run its’ course.
      His empty rhetoric appears meant to appease the neocons, while not actually doing anything. I see no actual movement towards talks or any sort of deal.

      It’s not a bad strategy for now. I suspect though that the neo-con days of rage are coming. The swamp seems dazed and confused like the Donkeys, but they’ll get up off the mat sooner or later.

      Reply ↓
    2. timbers

      Baltic states? How about he agrees to “not invade Britain, Micronesia, or other similar nstions” as it’s charm is it delivers a catagorization of UK some may appreciate others not so much.

      Reply ↓
    3. ChrisFromGA

      By the way, I like Wyatt’s analysis over at Defense Politics Asia. Everything is going the way of the Russians, there is no reason for Putin to talk to Trump. And if you pay close attention to the press harrassing Trump during his oval office Executive order sign-a-thon a week ago, he refused to say that he had actually talked directly to Putin.

      Reply ↓
  21. Carolinian

    RT article

    “‘I assure you, Trump, with his character and persistence, will restore order quite quickly. And all of them, you’ll see, soon all of them will stand at the master’s feet and gently wag their tails,’ Putin argued.”

    lol! Of course the real question is whether Trump will be wagging his tail for Bibi tomorrow. It’s time to get this “who’s the alpha?” issue settled.

    Reply ↓

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