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Links 3/27/2021

Beverly Cleary, Beloved Children’s Book Author, Dies at 104 New York Times (David L)

I Have Come to Bury Ayn Rand Nautilus (Anthony L)

Scientists Pin Down When Earth’s Crust Cracked, Then Came to Life Quanta (Anthony L)

The ancient fabric that no one knows how to make BBC (UserFriendly). Paging Jerri…..

We are at a crossroads in the search for a new physics Aeon (Anthony L)

Native Americans tried to help the starving Donner Party, research shows. They faced gunshots. California Sun (Anthony L)

Invisible killer’: fossil fuels caused 8.7m deaths globally in 2018, research finds Guardian

Solar Geoengineering Should be Investigated, Scientists Say Scientific American. UserFriendly:

Honestly there is about a zero percent chance no one pulls the trigger on this once the shit starts hitting the fan, which is all but guaranteed to happen soon.

The ‘Green Energy’ That Might Be Ruining the Planet Politico

Top scientists warn of ‘ghastly future of mass extinction’ and climate disruption Guardian (UserFriendly)

Did the Black Death Rampage Across the World a Century Earlier Than Previously Thought? Smithsonian Magazine

Pop-Tarts, Rice Krispies Treats, Cheez-Its contain preservative that may harm immune system, study says USA Today (David L)

#COVID-19

Science/Medicine

Interferon Resistance of Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants bioRxiv (UserFriendly)

How a coronavirus variant tore into an English island – and the world Reuters (resilc)

Control of the global pandemic is a balance between achieving population immunity (vaccines, natural infection) and containing/suppressing/eliminating the virus through public health measures (find, test, trace, isolate, behaviour change). Lockdowns are a sign of failure. (1) Anthony Costello, Threadreader (guurst)

US

New Jersey gym celebrated by Fox News is offering free memberships to people who refuse to take a COVID-19 vaccine Business Insider (Kevin W)

COVID-19 vaccines are $500 on the dark web Boing Boing (resilc)

Democrats call for $1bn shift from weapons of mass destruction to ‘vaccine of mass prevention’ Guardian. Resilc: “A billion = a pint of warm spit.”

North Korea’s new missile a strategic game-changer Asia Times (Kevin W)

Old Blighty

Why the Deloitte clause for drafting ministerial answers is a further assault on civil service norms David Allan Green (guurst)

Brexit

Brexit Impact Report UK Meat Industry (guurst)

SNP Civil War

Former Scottish first minister Salmond launches pro-independence party Reuters (resilc)

Alex Salmond to take Scottish government back to court Politico (UserFriendly)

Syraqistan

The War in Iraq Exposed Huge Flaws in American Strategic Thinking National Interest. Resilc: “Big assumption that they think at all.”

Hawkish Iran letter falls flat in the Senate Responsible Statecraft

Unlikely kingmaker Mansour Abbas is playing for the pot YNet (resilc)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Blow Up the Global Trading System Clyde Prestowitz, Washington Monthly. Prestowitz is a former USTR. Subhead: “Yes, really. U.S. and international efforts to stop Beijing’s economic onslaught haven’t worked. It’s time for President Biden to go big.”

In Quest of a Multi-Polar World Consortium News. Michael Hudson and Pepe Escobar.

Pentagon Official Says Moving Troops Out of Somalia Had ‘Significant Downsides’ Antiwar. Resilc: “For their careers and combat pay.”

Biden

Border Crossings by Migrant Children to Rise Sharply, U.S. Estimates Show Wall Street Journal

Biden spokesperson Jen Psaki worked for Israeli spy firm Electronic Intifada (resilc)

Georgia voting overhaul provokes fury from Democrats The Hill

Gov. Kemp defends Georgia election bill criticized as ‘Jim Crow in 21st century’ New4Jax

The Right Created Boot Camps for Destroying Democracy and Voting Rights Jacobin (furzy)

Is Democracy Still Possible? Los Angeles Review of Books (Anthony L)

Cuomogate

Gov. Andrew Cuomo Aides Receive Subpoenas in Sexual-Harassment Investigation Wall Street Journal. Linking to them because it looks like they broke the story.

Gunz

Federal Bump Stock Ban Blocked by Divided Appeals Court BloombergLaw (Dr. Kevin)

At Least 36% of Mass Shooters Have Been Trained By the U.S. Military CounterPunch (resilc)

Woke Watch

US tensions with China risk fueling anti-Asian harassment at home The Hill. I am old enough to recall the loud and repeated demonization of the French by many prominent government officials after France not only refused to join the Iraq War “coalition of the willing” but had the temerity to clear their throat as to why. Some French restaurants in NYC closed as a result of the decline in business but I don’t recall any incidents of violence against French nationals.

Our Famously Free Press

Congress, in a Five-Hour Hearing, Demands Tech CEOs Censor the Internet Even More Aggressively Glenn Greenwald

Stuck Ship

Suez Canal: Sisi is a danger not only to Egypt, but to the world Middle East Eye (Chuck L)

For current status, see: Is that ship still stuck?

111 Texans Died In Last Month’s Shock Winter Storm, State Says Forbes (resilc) 🙁

WeWork agrees $9 billion SPAC merger to finally get stock market listing Reuters

The Australian underwriter who provided Greensill Capital’s lifeline Financial Times. UserFriendly: “David Cameron broke the law against lobbying he implemented. For this clusterf***. What a moron.”

Amazon argues it’s not liable for product that severely injured toddler ars technica (resilc)

Student loans: How much the government collects each year. Slate (resilc)

Class Warfare

Amazon takes a page out of Trump’s playbook, accusing critics of spreading ‘alternative facts’ and picking fights with politicians on Twitter Business Insider (Kevin W)

Fast Food Giant Claims Credit For Killing $15 Minimum Wage Walker Bragman, Andrew Perez, and David Sirota

The Amazon Union Vote Is Ending in Bessemer. Workers Are Already Preparing for the Next Fight. New Republic

Twitter is playing serious games. Local TV had clips of Bernie Sanders speaking in Bessemer. So I went to Twitter and searched on “Bessemer Bernie”. The first tweet that came up was the one below, from Sanders’ account featuring Killer Mike. I like Killer Mike so I listened to it and was about to grab the embed code. The feed suddenly refreshed. Even though I scrolled down to view >60 tweets, I didn’t see the Killer Mike tweet. I had noticed Sanders’ account had tweeted it, so I went to find it there. I put in Bernie Sanders, but not in quotes, and Twitter did NOT offer dropdown with links to individual accounts, as in particular a link to Sanders account, even after I switched from the “News” header to “People.” But I did get the expected dropdown when I tried Russell Brand, Adam Schiff, and Joe Manchin. And I follow Sanders!!!!

An unholy union: “With a struggling economy and few work prospects, Bessemer, Alabama, has been called an “unlikely” place for an epic union battle with Amazon. They don’t know Bessemer.” Vox. Not buying it. The South is very religious; one of our aides calls her company God Sent Me 4 U. However, Birmingham is a post Civil War iron and steel town. Unions were important until they went under attack in the Reagan era. There’s a lot of labor muscle memory here.

Virtually No One in US Is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail Consortiumnews (UserFriendly)

Vive Madame Roland! Aeon (Anthony L)

Antidote du jour. An almost-Easter bunny. Tracie H:

The lighting could be better, and maybe it’d be nice to see the little bunny’s face, but I loved he was on his back feet, and that lovely red stripe! Plus, he wouldn’t turn around for me.

And a bonus (resilc):

Another bonus (guurst, Chuck L):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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