Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Link 6/1/2021

Random factoid: Remember our cross-posted article a few days back on how American conservatives are promoting carnivore-ism as an ideological marker, and putting the right to eat red meat up there with the right to own gunz? Oh, and then further depicting Team Dem as about to take your beef away? This is a real meme.

I was puttering along on the site with the TV on (a concession to my mother; she is good about turning it down on phone calls and when I need to concentrate) and an ad for Impossible Meat came on. The aide volunteered that she’s tried it and it really did taste astonishingly like a juicy beef burger. She then added that Biden was going to ban beef as if it were a well-known fact.

I disabused her of that idea. But I wonder where she heard this. She’s black so she would not listen to talk radio, which is yuuge down here and the big propagator of conservative cray cray. But she might listen to religious stations. They work in plenty of conservative commentary in with the Christian songs and “Trust in Christ” exhortations. Will probe and get back to you.

Dog Carries His Bowl Full Of Food To Eat On The Couch Animal Rescue

California’s $1M plan to revive its monarch butterfly population in ‘catastrophic decline’ Audacy (David L)

Send in the Bugs. The Michelangelos Need Cleaning. New York Times (furzy, Dr. Kevin)

Since the nose doesn’t know pot is now legal, K-9s retire Associated Press (resilc)

Destination Moon: Is it time for us to send astronauts back? PhysOrg. Kevin W: “The article is better than the title.”

Space Debris Has Hit And Damaged The International Space Station Science Alert (David L)

Weird Electromagnetic Bursts Appear Before Earthquakes – And We May Finally Know Why ScienceAlert (Kevin W)

Futuristic Portal ‘Brings Unity’ to Vilnius and Lublin Interesting Engineering (Chuck L)

Transplanted coral retains resistance to heat in new environments New Atlas (David L). A rare bit of good news on the corals front.

Worst Sandstorms In A Decade Engulf Mongolia And China NPR (David L)

There are more than 8 million empty homes in rural Japan, and local governments are selling them for as little as $500 in a bid to lure residents Insider (Kevin W). Waiting for them to offer permanent residence if you also make a big prepay for medical/social services. Most wealthy countries do not like old people since the governments believe the old critters plan to suck off their safety nets.

Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open, citing anxiety over media interviews after $15k fine NBC (furzy). I hope mental health orgs rip these greed, promotion-driven sports officials a new asshole. Independent of Osaka’s depression, why should athletes who are struggling to reverse sub-par results be required to deal with confidence-deflating reporters?

Quelle surprise:

#COVID-19

Covid-19 variants to be given Greek alphabet names to avoid stigma Guardian (Kevin W). I can’t believe the officialdom doesn’t even see how bone-headed it looks to worry about issues like this.

On the Covid Front Lines, When Not Getting Belly Rubs New York Times (David L)

I am envious of those that live in countries that can have headlines like this:

Science/Medicine

The Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory Is a Tale of Weaponized Uncertainty Wired

Asia

Malaysia teeters on edge of Covid-19 catastrophe Asia Times (Kevin W)

UK/Europe

Ministers urged not to ‘threaten’ NHS staff over mandatory Covid jab Guardian (Kevin W)

BBC Covid distancing sensor devices beset by noise and fire safety issues Guardian (Dr. Kevin)

China?

US is chasing China’s tail on 5G Asia Times (Kevin W)

Anti-China Trade Bill Is Big Boost for Big Tech Intercept

Syraqiatan

Israel-Palestine conflict at crucial inflection point Asia Times

‘No longer afraid’: Palestinians vow to fight Jerusalem evictions Al Jazeera

Facebook’s popularity plummets as users suspect censorship during Israel-Hamas conflict NBC (Kevin W). Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.

Pakistan: Taliban donations, recruitment on the rise DW

Pakistan leans towards giving US military bases Asia Times. Resilc: “Kicking the Afghani can down the road south.”

New Cold War

It’s a Nikolai Patrushev-Yang Jiechi world Pepe Escobar, The Saker (resilc)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Drone Autonomously ‘Hunted Down’ Human Target, UN Experts Say Gizmodo (BC)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Space Force Seeks Major Increase in Funding for 2022 Budget Antiwar

US nuclear weapon bunker security secrets spill from online flashcards since 2013 The Register (vlade)

Trump

Op-Ed: Did Stormy Daniels’ $130,000 break campaign finance laws? The FEC is too dysfunctional to decide Los Angeles Times (furzy). This is not quite correct. The long standing practice at pretty much every level of government is that campaign finance violations lead to fines only. So this fulminating is out of proportion given the givens.

Michael Flynn Calls for Myanmar-Style Coup in the U.S. Daily Beast (resilc)

Biden

Is the Biden Administration Proud of its Pentagon Budget? Defense One

Colleges look to Biden for visas to bring back international students Politico. Resilc: “Chinese cash cow is DOA.”

GOP Civil War

Bare life notesfromdisgraceland. Resilc flags key section:

What on the surface appears as a consolidation in the ranks of the post-Q-anon Republican Party, from Hawley’s clenched fist and Lyin’ Ted’s escapades, the psychotic trailer-park vitriol of Boebert and Taylor-Greene to the full immersion of Stefanik, the disoriented and stunningly myopic maneuver devoid of any logic and common sense, is not an ideological realignment, but the fight for bare life – a desperate attempt to secure a financial bloodline necessary for their short-term survival.

Texas Gov. Abbott says he’ll target legislator pay after Democrats block strict voting bill NBC (furzy). If the Ds were half as ruthless as the Rs, they might occasionally get something done.

Our Famously Free Press

How did I miss this disgraceful defenestration? I don’t always check in on Twitter, but where was the press/blogosphere/CJR reaction? I gather NC’s own comment section picked this up and I must have been too overloaded to check in.

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Karen Calls Cops on Michigan Black Woman for Talking Too Loudly, Cops Entertain That White Nonsense by Fining Black Woman The Root (Dr. Kevin)

Gunz

San Jose shooting: Guns, petrol and 22,000 rounds of ammunition found BBC

An Arms Race in America: Gun Buying Spiked During the Pandemic. It’s Still Up. New York Times. Resilc: “We have a neighbor, who gets via ups, thousands of dollars of ammo all the time…”

Trump loving church that uses guns in holy rituals buys compound near Waco, Texas Independent (resilc)

General Motors, Best Buy, PayPal Talk Up Voting Rights, Then Fund Effort to Restrict Them Newsweek (furzy)

Times Of Fraud, Mania & Chicanery Investor Amnesia (resilc)

In SE Minn., legal dispute over an old cemetery raises questions about who owns the past MPR (Chuck L)

Amazon, Google, and Big Tech Want to Eat Health Care Next. New Republic. Private equity got there first. I would bet on PE. They are huge SOBs with much greater ownership of top legal talent and Wall Street. And they have the advantage of being sort of incumbents.

How a Wave of Corporate Takeovers Ushered In the Gospel of Shareholder Value Promarket (Kevin W). This is very good except it has one bit of causality wrong. In 1976, the Department of Labor liberalized its interpretation of ERISA to look at risk on a portfolio basis, rather than on an investment by investment basis. That allowed for more investment in stocks and made “alternative investments” like venture capital fair game. It was VC industry, not the funds, that pushed for the rule change. Public pension funds are not governed by ERISA but still follow its principles. The reasons the funds liked higher return investments was it allowed them to lower current contributions.

Intel reiterates chip supply shortages could last several years Reuters (resilc)

Who Are These Economists, Anyway? James K. Galbraith, Levy Foundation (Chuck L). From 2009, still germane.

Class Warfare

Where have all the workers gone and will they ever come back? Financial Times

Meet Nigeria’s child apprentices Al Jazeera. Resilc: “Kids in USA USA dont know what side of a screwdriver to use.”

The Social Life of Opioids Scientific American

North Minneapolis renters wage a fight with private equity landlords – StarTribune. Chuck L: “North Minneapolis has been heavily minority, especially
African American, since before World War II.”

Chris Hedges: “Dying for an iPhone” Scheerpost (Tom D)

Antidote du jour (Wayne W):

And a bonus:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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