Dear patient readers,
We are light at launch because I lost a lot of Links work. Please come back at 7:30 AM EDT for a full ration.
The double-fanged adolescence of saber-toothe EurekAlert (Chuck L)
J Doyne Farmer: The man reinventing economics with chaos theory and complexity science New Scientist (Dr. Kevin)
In Iceland, almost all diagnosed Down syndrome pregnancies are aborted after prenatal testing. Some bioethics experts are concerned ABC Australia (Kevin W)
Two medicines for opioid addiction also help with compulsive gambling New Scientist (Dr. Kevin)
Three women likely contracted HIV from ‘vampire facials’ at closed New Mexico Spa: CDC USA Today. From the weekend, but nevertheless a headline for the ages! Separately, any provider who handles blood products, even if supposedly your own, needs heavy-duty scrutiny. I was screwed up bigly by an MD years ago who had a clinic and tons of fancy equipment. Fortunately not in a lasting manner.
#COVID-19
That SARS-CoV-2 is now confirmed to infect megakaryocytes long-term (studied in Long Covid patients) should definitely alarm the public health authorities everywhere.
Intent is not to doom tweet here. But we should tackle this like we did for HIV.
You can replace HIV with… pic.twitter.com/9eeGfw58pq
— Farid Jalali, MD (@farid__jalali) April 30, 2024
Climate/Environment
EPA bans consumer use of a toxic chemical widely used as a paint stripper but known to cause cancer Associated Press (Kevin W)
America’s Wind Power Production Drops For the First Time In 25 Years Bloomberg
Extreme Heat Continues To Scorch Large Parts of Asia Straits Times. Temps here are high enough to produce expat whinging but only about two Celsius higher than normal. But also a longer peak heat season than the old normal. A bigger deal is rainy season start is late and last year, rainy season was also underwhelming, soak wise.
China?
I dimly recall a reader (PlutoniumKun?) pointing out that new LNG carrier supply, which was dominated by South Korea, as already booked up for years. So this is a very big deal:
Big day for China’s industries as CSSC signed world’s largest single shipbuilding deal w/ Qatar Energy to build 18 LNG Carriers w/ 271,000 cubic meter in carrying capacityThis is world’s large LNG Carriers – 57% greater than standard 174k cubic meter carriersDesigned by HD… pic.twitter.com/ZNzX6luQfx
— tphuang (@tphuang) April 29, 2024
China Launches World’s Largest Electric Container Ship Tech Times.com
European Disunion
Call me Ursula. Von der Leyen rebranded ahead of elections. Politico (UserFriendly)
Pfizergate: Ursula von der Leyen’s shady Covid vaccine deals prove she can get away with anything RT
Freedom of expression and freedom of the press will be abolished in the EU Anti-Spiegel via machine translation (Micael T)
Luxembourg: Poverty in Europe’s wealthiest country DW Documentary YouTube (furzy)
Margita, 84, is forced to turn off the electricity after the increased fee: “It’s terrible” Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
Windows Onto History: The Defenestrations of Prague (1419–1997) Public Domain Review (Anthony L)
Gaza
‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 206: Blinken says Israel has no plan to ensure civilian safety in Rafah Mondoweiss
Exclusive: Israel planning ring of checkpoints to prevent men from fleeing Rafah Middle East Eye (Kevin W)
Blinken in Israel seeks cease-fire and hostage deal to stave off Rafah move Washington Post. And I want a pony.
Netanyahu vows to invade Rafah ‘with or without a deal’ as ceasefire talks with Hamas continue Arab News. So why should Hamas bother with this charade?
The Israel-US game plan for Gaza is staring us in the face Jonathan Cook (Chuck L)
UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in Palestine, @FranceskAlbs, tells the EU Parliament:
“Israeli soldiers have published endless footage boasting about their killing of families, mothers, children, the bombing of homes, mosques and schools. Self-incriminating…
— Dimitri Lascaris (@dimitrilascaris) April 29, 2024
Report of the Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel Just Security (guurst). The media has picked up on the report, which describes in detail how Israel sure looks to be perpetrating war crimes.
CBS reporting the Biden admin is thinking about bringing Palestinians into the U.S. as refugees.Refugee status includes housing assistance and a pathway to citizenship. https://t.co/t7k513Iy1e
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 30, 2024
UserFriendly remarks:
Oh, I see. Biden wants to lose the entire working class, not just whites. Sorry black people, I know you wanted reparations, but you see, we need to let Israel displace 2 million people so we can give them all homes. I hope you don’t mind the rent increase either. Oh, and Jews, who vote 75% Dem, hope you enjoy your new fellow citizens.
Pure genious.
Not to state the obvious but this is a clear call to terrorism on gigantic scale. Yet another one by a member of this government.By the (INSANE!) standards we apply to our enemies, this makes the entire Israeli gov terrorists or terrorist supporters, & thus, legitimate targets… https://t.co/rmQKt5G4fF
— Remi Brulin (@RBrulin) April 30, 2024
Palestinian students at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany received an email from the school that they’ve been recategorized as “stateless” due to governmental “changes in the statistical requirements.”
Germany no longer recognizes Palestinian as a nationality. pic.twitter.com/AcDQsxsvjg
— Talia Jane (@taliaotg) April 29, 2024
Israel Said Their Sons Were Murdered by Hamas. These Mothers Weren’t Convinced. Wall Street Journal. A break with the narrative.
Gaza Protests
New York police storm Columbia University and arrest pro-Palestinian protesters Financial Times. Lead story and I am now geolocating in Asia….
New York police arrest dozens as protesters cleared from Columbia campus BBC. Perhaps I missed it but aside from snipers, I have not seen much/any of the more aggressive crowd control methods, like tear gas, sound cannons, and supposed new tech like goo that impedes good footing and makes protestors fall down, and of course tanks. CNN per the pink paper above did report the use of flash bangs and pepper spray in the Columbia clearing. I dimly recall only one deployment of mounted cops. Is this because the powers that be are trying to deny the protestors a “police brutality” talking point (despite some mess-ups like putting the George Floyd hold on a female professor)?. Or because campus administrators don’t want the grounds messed up any more than absolutely necessary before reunions, a big fundraising event, which generally take place right after graduation? Or is this simply that (significantly) white kid protestors of course get kid gloves treatment compared to say, BLM or back in the day, the clearing of Occupy occupations?
Police arrive on UCLA campus amid reports of violence; Columbia building cleared Washington Post
Professor remains hospitalized after being beaten by police during pro-Palestinian protest at US campus YaniSafik. Headline by HuffPo on same story fails to mention still hospitalized.
Always remember: Elon Musk collaborated with his good pal Bibi Netanyahu to call these American college kids “Nazis” for having the audacity to protest Israel’s war of annihilation in Gaza! Yes, that really happened! https://t.co/4oCGWd2Wze
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 1, 2024
Columbia protesters should “leave the area now” after demonstrations “coopted by professional, outside agitators,” Mayor Adams says CBS (Kevin W)
BREAKING: @medeabenjamin arrested for disrupting “Defense” Sec. Lloyd Austin this morning.
“The whole world is watching what we are doing in Gaza right now.”
“Secretary General, You are supporting a genocide!” pic.twitter.com/0b5CHqfSkT
— CODEPINK (@codepink) April 30, 2024
TODAY: University of Southern Florida students were raided and violently arrested by police within hours of setting up a Gaza solidarity encampment to protest USF’s affiliation with Israel’s war. pic.twitter.com/xN5M9zOPTs
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) April 30, 2024
A group of Israel supporters have attacked anti-war protesters at UCLA university in Los Angeles in the US. The group was filmed carrying out assaults and using fireworks and pepper spray on demonstrators at the Gaza war protest encampment. pic.twitter.com/FW1HnSUSer
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 1, 2024
NEW: ALL SEVEN CONTINENTS HAVE STUDENT GAZA SOLIDARITY PROTESTS 🤯 https://t.co/BVJxZbcd76 pic.twitter.com/4tX2ODKfZW
— Saul (@saaaauuull) April 30, 2024
Gaza Palestinians Thank U.S. Students for Solidarity Protests Against Israel TrimFeed
‘Global Intifada’ – Palestinian Students Force Germany’s Envoy to Flee from Palestine Museum Palestine Chronicle (Kevin W)
On May Day, over 1,000 workers are blockading the UK Trade Department in London and BAE Systems’ arms factories in Scotland, Wales and Lancashire 🇵🇸 🚩- here’s @lslothuus breaking it down! pic.twitter.com/2duiseWYvB
— ashok kumar 🇵🇸 (@broseph_stalin) May 1, 2024
Meet the ‘homegrown violent extremism’ researcher behind the crackdown on pro-Palestinian students at USC Mondoweiss
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine war live updates: Russia shows off NATO military hardware captured in Ukraine; Moscow to beef up weapons, front line forces CNBC
What 10 Years of U.S. Meddling in Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler Alert: Not Democracy) RealClearInvestigations. UserFriendly: “Aaron Mate’s magnum opus.”
Now we need to pay Finnland too? https://t.co/r68eKF3wwP pic.twitter.com/a25Typ4qlR
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) April 29, 2024
MAY DAY! MAY DAY! CELEBRATION FOR RUSSIA, NOT A STRESS TEST John Helmer. Russian economic forecasts.
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
FCC fines wireless carriers for sharing user locations without consent ABC (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
The quality of what is coordinated Steve Waldman (UserFriendly)
WHERE ARE THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATES? Seymour Hersh
The Trump-Biden World War III Bill Wayward Rambler (UserFriendly). A stinging recap.
Trump
Elise Stefanik Is a Trump Stooge—and This Ethics Complaint Proves It New Republic (furzy). Stefanik is a horrible person, witness her persecution of university presidents over trying to preserve free speech on campus. But it is crystal clear that all of the major actors behind Trump cases, including Smith, are pretty obviously trying to move them along as rapidly as possible so as to hurt Trump before the election, whether by him losing or simply forcing him to be in court and not out campaigning.
How Far Trump Would Go Time. UserFriendly: “They should re-title this ‘Things that Biden is willing to let happen so he can keep committing Genocide.’”. Moi: Look at how this was retitled. URL suggests first was the bland “Donald Trump 2024 election interview.” An reader sent a print cover image (who sees print these days?) as “If He Wins.”
We Are Talking About the Manhattan Case Against Trump All Wrong New York Times (furzy)
Our No Longer Free Press
MSNBC’s Wallace: “All of the Conspiracy Theorists are Republicans.” Jonathan Turley. Remarkable they can say that with a straight face after Russiagate.
Why I’m Resigning From The Intercept Ken Klipperstein. Erasmus: “The latest indictment of the PMC establishment that ruins journalism and suffocates institutions. (Glenn Greenwald had quit years ago.)”
What is prebunking? Those Nerdy Girls (Dr. Kevin). I doubt that this works. There is a significant literature on debunking that found that repeating a meme had the effect of reinforcing it….which oddly the wannabe debunkers ignore. For instance, trying to explain that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 reinforced the idea that they were connected merely by having the key words in the same paragraph. Prebunking as described here has the same flaw.
Cigna Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly, Says Former Cigna Medical Director ProPublica (Dr. Kevin)
The Bezzle
UnitedHealth Group is the biggest employer of doctors and the largest health insurer. Its holdings are vast. Know what else United owns? A bank. It’s called Optum Bank. And it’s had problems. 🧵
— Patrick Rucker (@PatrickMRucker) April 30, 2024
Guillotine Watch
The Tech Baron Seeking to Purge San Francisco of “Blues” New Republic (BC). Important. Makes Snow Crash’s dystopia look tame.
Class Warfare
May Day is not just about work, it’s also about cops, because cops opening fire and killing striking workers on May 3, 1886, is what the Haymarket rally the next night was in response to, which the state responded to by legally executing four anarchists.
— A░R░C░H░I░V░E░I░N░B░I░O░ (@M_Gouldhawke) May 1, 2024
NYC to hand out subway fliers to deter migrant children from selling candy Gothamist (furzy). “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”
Antidote du jour. From reader Stephen T:
My neighbor Mark lost one of his cats last week. Ernie, a tuxedo, left us suddenly after a brief illness. He was a wonderful cat. He was a great companion to Mark, who has suffered many health issues in the last few years; Ernie’s care for his human was a huge part of what has kept my friend going through his troubles. Ernie always greeted me warmly during my visits, jumping into my lap and cuddling with me each time I stopped by. His loss is a terrible blow to Mark, and is keenly felt by his friends like me. I would love it if you could honor such a wonderful cat by including him as an Antidote; Ernie is richly deserving of such a tribute. Thank you for your time and compassion for Ernie and Mark.
And a bonus (Erasmus):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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