Links 5/24/2025 | naked capitalism

New Jersey Hawk Develops Clever Hunting Strategy Using Traffic Signals ScienceAlert

Container ship barely misses Norwegian man’s house after running aground Washington Post (Kevin W)

Can We Trust Social Science Yet? Asterisk (Anthony L)

“When you see this, I will be dead” Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T). Important.

COVID-19/Pandemics

‘Between 2022 and 2023 there were 1.5 million “missing Americans,” referring to excess deaths. It’s prompting questions about what could be driving this.’

I never imagined things could get this ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/A7Xiy4N1Fd

— Jammer (@acrossthemersey) May 23, 2025

FDA-approved vaccines had randomized, placebo-controlled trials.

Polio?Measles, mumps, rubella?Haemophilus influenzae B?Diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis?Meningococcus?Varicella?Pneumococcus?Rotavirus?RSV?Hep B?Influenza?HPV?COVID-19?Shingles?

YEP.

A thread🧵

1/

— Andrea C. Love, PhD (@dr_andrealove) May 5, 2025

This report is obviously sensationalistic. No idea if the underlying study (see its design) confirms the conclusions:

BREAKING! Alarming Study Reveals That Far-UVC Light Might Not Be as Safe as Previously Believed, Can Cause DNA Damage!https://t.co/8eR6tUPmPV#BreakingNews #BREAKING #News #Alerts #FarUVC #Disinfectant #COVID19 #H5N1 #CleanAir #Health #WorldNews #Coronavirus #Warning #222nm

— Thailand Medical News (@ThailandMedicaX) May 24, 2025

Climate/Environment

Study: Expanding Renewable Energy Does Not Lower Fossil Fuel Production OilPrice

Warming of +1.5 °C is too high for polar ice sheets Nature

Clouding the forecast: Why so many climate models are wrong about rate of Arctic warming PhysOrg

China?

China’s space ambitions ‘forcing’ Washington’s Golden Dome strategy: commander South China Morning Post

Anti-missile system intensifies US-China nuclear competition Asia Times (Kevin W)

Chinese Work Less For Longer Retirements Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)

The US-Japan alliance – its past, present and unclear future Engelsberg Ideas. Wowsers, others encouraged to comment but I had to stop here:

This transformation was anything but pre-ordained, nor was it simply the result of rational, overlapping interests. Rather, it was the consequence of shrewd alliance management, psychologically astute and empathetic diplomacy, and bold leadership on both sides of the Pacific. It also relied on the two countries’ ability to weather the pressures of their sometimes fractious domestic politics, as well as their capacity to navigate sharply contrasting cultural and historical traditions, not to mention often radically different approaches to economic management.

Bullshit. The US interfered so that socialistic leaders did not come into power by backing many senior people from the old regime…who by any rights should have been purged and even prosecuted as war criminals. Perhaps the insinuation is that the US would not have invested in the absence of right wingers being in charge.

South of the Border

China-CELAC Summit Announces Cooperation Initiatives and $9 Billion Credit Program Venezuelanalysis. Robin K: “A week ago. Ongoing.”

European Disunion

“A short history of exploding pipelines.” The Floutist

Old Blighty

Voters are sick of lectures from the lanyard class The Times (Paul R)

Starmer’s Chagos deal to cost UK up to £30bn The Telegraph (Kevin W)

Israel v. the Resistance

…’Not a single child in Gaza should remain there’…

👇THIS 👇 pic.twitter.com/H19fqkQKAz

— Judge Napolitano (@Judgenap) May 20, 2025

Israel’s aid plan for Gaza is a key part of its strategy to expel Palestinians Mondoweiss

Israel’s reinvasion of Gaza is a strategic disaster Financial Times

America may not be hopeless:

“Do you hear about the babies that were beheaded?

They were never beheaded, that was a made up story.”

Americans are slowly waking up… pic.twitter.com/bQQiKE7crW

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) May 23, 2025

Why Negotiations With Iran Are So Difficult American Conservative (resilc)

New Not-So-Cold War

Ukraine: a country that never was Julian Macfarlane. Includes translation of much-discussed Medvedev remarks, where the punch line was that Ukraine needs to accept the current Russian offer or else it will soon no longer be a state.

Analysis: Russian ‘Triple Chokehold’ Tactic, + Offensive Season Outlook Simplicius

A flagless fleet is threatening the seas Financial Times (resilc)

Make Moscow Pay Foreign Affairs

HOW MUCH MORE WAR CAN RUSSIA AFFORD? Seymour Hersh, Hoo boy….

So Much for Western Expertise on Russia Larry Johnson

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The Russian army has begun using a ‘triple chokehold’ tactic at the front, which allows for slow but steady advancement – The Telegraph

▪️First comes the ground attack to pin down the Ukrainian Armed Forces, forcing them to take up positions rather than maneuver. Then… pic.twitter.com/7m6MeVoQBx

— — GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 — (@GeromanAT) May 23, 2025

Ukraine: a country that never was Daniel Larison

Canada, Norway to deepen Arctic, defense ties amid Ukraine war Anadolu Agency

Well deserved but also means Lavrov can’t retire for at least another year 🙂

Putin presented Foreign Minister Lavrov with Russia’s highest award, the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called

“The talent, knowledge, experience, and intelligence of Russia’s chief diplomat Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov have earned him unconditional respect both in our country and… pic.twitter.com/fQcW6NiyIL

— Olga Bazova (@OlgaBazova) May 22, 2025

Imperial Collapse Watch

Poured in 2022 pic.twitter.com/hXxCP1293X

— KC NoDak Brim 🇺🇸 (@brim006) May 23, 2025

bob:

Everyone is looking at the quality of the concrete, or the finishing, it’s all bad!“Don’t build it like they used to…”

It’s a ramp to a sidewalk that doesn’t exist! There is no continuity to the sidewalk in the background. I’d personally bet to the right too,

Aggressive Virus Feeds on Brains of Western Leaders Oliver Boyd-Barrett

Navy pushing billions for sea-based nukes that nobody seems to want Responsible Statecraft

Lessons From Hurricane Helene on Evacuation Orders, Messaging and Emergency Managers ProPublica

50 Years Later, Majority of Vietnam Veterans and U.S. Adults Think the U.S. Should have Stayed Out of Vietnam Emerson Polling (resilc)

Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the CIA, and Me Joe Costello. Important.

Trump 2.0

US Reinstates Funding to Propaganda Outlet NED Antiwar.com (Kevin W)

Trump fires dozens from National Security Council in major power shift PressTV. Less possibility of informed input, more concentration of power in Trump’s hands. Also now the lead story in the Financial Times.

4 top partners quit Paul Weiss, Big Law firm that cut deal with Trump Business Insider

U.S. Officials Sold Stocks Before Trump’s Tariffs Sank the Market ProPublica (Robin K)

Trump’s Campaign Against Elite Law Firms Suffers Another Defeat in Court Wall Street Journal

Cuts to Medicaid and maybe Medicare Angry Bear. The Medicare part is not well known.

Trump v. Harvard

Judge temporarily blocks Trump admin from revoking Harvard enrollment of foreign students Reuters (Kevin W). Hearing on the 29th. It will still take some time (given the high profile of this case, my guess is at most 10 days) for the judge to issue an order, unless the judge deems the case of one side to be so weak that she rules from the bench. I don’t regard the latter as likely since even if so, it does not look so hot to an appeals court.

Harvard v the Department of Homeland Security

Harvard Sues Trump Administration Over Move to Bar International Students New York Times. Recaps argument in the complaint.

Trump’s Assault on Harvard Is an Astonishing Act of National Self-Sabotage Yascha Mounk

These Are the U.S. Universities Most Dependent on International Students New York Times (resilc)

Tariffs

Trump threatens 50% tariffs on EU and 25% on iPhones BBC

Why Trump Lashed Out at Europe Over Trade Wall Street Journal. Lead story. The fact of this clearly planted piece indicates some on the Trump team are working overtime to try to manage the optics and somehow make Trump look less emotionally immature and destructive than he is. But the “lashed out” in the headline = the Journal not fully buying what it was being sold. But the body is unduly understated, for instance depicting the EU having a “more staid and process-oriented approach” when that is how trade negotiations pretty much have to be done unless one side is dictating terms.

Donald Trump ‘not looking for deal’ as he threatens EU with 50% tariff Financial Times. Hoo boy.

Japan again ‘strongly’ urges US to remove additional tariffs Anadolu Agency

Allianz Trade Global Survey 2025: Trade war, trade deals and their impacts on companies Allianz

The Tyrant’s Trade War Daniel Larison

Immigration

DHS Is Getting Ready to Identify Everyone Who Leaves the Country, Expanding Immigration Dragnet Murzata Hussain

Democrat Death Wish

US senate to investigate who really ran country under Biden RT (Kevin W)

‘Abundance’ Requires Redistribution Compact

Our No Longer Free Press

FBI Visits Me Over Manifesto Ken Klippenstein

Microsoft Bans the Word “Palestine” in Internal Emails Drop Site

Anthropic’s new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline TechCrunch

Google’s New Video-Generating AI May Be the End of Reality as We Know It Futurism

CEOs report 25% of AI projects delivers expected ROI Fortune (resilc)

SoftBank just patented EVERY possible AI application LinkedIn (Micael T)

The Bezzle

Influencer who attended Trump’s memecoin dinner says he got a ‘Walmart steak’—and no access to the president Yahoo! (Kevin W). BWAHAHA

Republicans Work Overtime To Help Boeing Avoid Consequences For Its Deadly Plane Jalopnik

Class Warfare