A couple had an owl be the ringbearer at their wedding — It flew away New York Post
What plant philosophy says about plant agency and intelligence aeon (Dr. Kevin)
The Passing of the Age: The Battle of Lepanto Big Serge. Big Serge is always a great read.
John Lee Clark is pioneering an emerging language — and culture MPR (Chuck L)
Midlife Blood Biomarkers Predict Late-Life Dementia MedPage
Bird flu cases are going undetected, new study suggests. It’s a problem for all of us. CNN. Paul R: “They are getting sick from it without being diagnosed with it. So there is limited visibility.”
US Prepares For Bird Flu Pandemic With $176 Million Moderna Vaccine Deal ars technica
#COVID-19
People who had severe covid-19 show cognitive decline years later New Scientist. Paul R: “An analysis of people who were hospitalised with covid-19 in the first wave of the pandemic has revealed that the ongoing decline in their cognitive abilities is the equivalent to losing 10 IQ points”
Climate/Environment
🚨In the 24 years that have elapsed since the year 2000 we humans have dug, drilled and blasted more minerals/metals/fuels from the earth’s surface than we did in the ENTIRE 20th century. Way more.
🧨This is our story – like it or not.
🪨We are living in a Material World🪨 pic.twitter.com/4p9G7SgevO— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) August 1, 2024
Hillary Clinton-run group helps fund Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion Telegraph
Maui Wildfire Plaintiffs Reach $4 Billion Settlement as Anniversary Nears New York Times (Kevin W)
China?
China Continues To Crush In Science & Intel Falters In Chips Ian Welsh (Micael T)
China central bank adviser calls for greater stimulus, inflation goal Reuters
US to tighten China chip squeeze with old Cold War rule Asia Times (Kevin W)
Supply Chain
CO2 shortages: How did we get here? Gas World
Hospitals face shortage of bottles for blood cultures, and it’s a big problem Chief Healthcare Executive
Africa
Famine officially declared in Sudan Telegraph
European Disunion
EU snubs Hungary and Slovakia over Ukraine oil sanctions Politico
Scholz cuts funding for social housing Jacobin via machine translation (Micael T)
Sweden and the United States enter into new nuclear power agreement Government.se. Micael T: “First step of Sweden to develop and station nuclear weapons on its territory? Sweden did sign the surrender agreement for ”defense cooperation”, which does not exclude nuclear weapons in Sweden directed at Russia.”
Old Blighty
The number of births in Scotland has fallen to its lowest ever recorded level BBC
Gaza
>In show of support for Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader, US to send more fighter jets and warships to Middle East WSWS
Israel’s war on Gaza live: Israel kills 5 in Tulkarem strike, raids city Aljazeera
Exclusive: Haniyeh killed by projectile and not a planted bomb, eyewitnesses say Middle East Eye. This matters because the NYT ran a long piece attributing the blast to a bomb planted about two months ago.
Erdogan to Biden: Israel wants to spread Gaza conflict to region Middle East Online
Houthis Urge ‘Dangerous’ Response to Israel Over Killing of Hamas, Hezbollah Leaders Sputnik
Gazans’ extreme hunger could leave its mark on subsequent generations The Conversation (Dr. Kevin)
Craig Murray: The Israeli Nihilist State Consortium News (Judith)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine SitRep: Catch up Moon of Alabama. A good overview, particularly for those who haven’t had time to keep close tabs.
The interesting details of the prisoner exchange between Russia and the USA Anti-Spiegel (Micael T)
Russian-West Prisoner Exchange – What the MSM Won’t Tell You, Real Target of Israeli Assassination of Hamas Political Chief in Iran is the USA, more Mark Sleboda, Faultlines
Ukraine watches warily as prisoner swap shows Moscow and West can negotiate Washington Post (Kevin W)
Russian MOD Purges Hit Fever Pitch, as Belousov Scythes Corruption Simplicius
Syraqistan
As Misery Multiplies, Pakistanis Rise Up Against the Ruling Elite New York Times
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Here we go again with more AI crime prediction for policing The Register
Imperial Collapse Watch
U.S. not ready for global war, commission warns. Axios
Germany helps protect South Korea’s border Tagesschau via machine translation (guurst)
Georgia Averts Coup by US-Backed War Criminal Group Active Measures (Micael T)
Pentagon chief revokes plea deal with three September 11 attack suspects, reinstating them as death penalty cases ABC Australia (Kevin W)
TRACKING DOWN LIEUTENANT CALLEY Seymour Hersh (Robin K)
Kamala
Harris campaign eager to maintain its momentum The Hill
KAMALA — UNSCRIPTED FOR THE FIRST TIME:
“This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy.”
WHAT? pic.twitter.com/lxlhhG1xhT
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 2, 2024
🚨 Harmeet Dhillon TORCHES “Chameleon” Kamala after working professionally with her for +20 years:
“Kamala only seemed to be Indian when she’s asking for money from Indian-Americans. Her ludicrous accent, she’s not from the South. No one talks like that in Jamaica. Its Cringe” pic.twitter.com/dp7FGhsW9m
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 1, 2024
Trump
Biden victim of ‘a coup’ – Trump RT. Trump has been throwing a lot of wide-of-the marke haymakers recently. Perhaps is he regaining his footing?
I am crossing the Rubicon and backing the Republican Party and President Trump.
Many — including a former version of myself — get trapped in a mental framework that becomes their identity and prevents them from radically evolving their thinking with new facts and information. I…
— David Marcus (@davidmarcus) July 31, 2024
Trump Assassination Post Mortem
Secret Service’s Tech Issues Helped Shooter Go Undetected At Trump Rally Guardian
SECRET SERVICE AND FBI STILL NOT TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT WHO SHOT CROOKS Larry Johnson
GOP Clown Car
Paul Dans, the Man Behind Project 2025’s Most Radical Plans ProPublica (Robin K)
2024
Mr. Market Has a Sad. READER ALERT: See the three data points indicating a sudden, sharp weakening in the US economy. Do you have any consistent or contradictory anecdata or industry news?
Intel Stock Drops Toward 50-Year Low Amid Mass Layoffs Business Insider
Central banks are turning the ship, but their path is unclear Reuters
Wayfair CEO likens home goods slowdown to 2008 financial crisis CNBC
Hershey Slashes Annual Forecasts After Sales Collapse Finimize
Hoisting from Lambert’s 8/1 Water Cooler:
“We have a 30 year old family member who works on the assembly line building Peterbuilt trucks in Denton, Texas. (a PACCAR company) He has seniority and works the #1 shift. He was told not to come to work next week. Shutting down the assembly line for a week due to lack of…
— Dave Collum (@DavidBCollum) July 31, 2024
Our No Longer Free Press
Censorship Industry: GARM Members Receive Billions in Federal Contracts Foundation for Freedom Online (Li)
TikTok to Ban Some Criticisms of Zionism Following Pressure from NGO Backed by Former Israeli Intelligence Officials Lee Fang (Robin K). From earlier in the week, still germane.
Falling Apart Boeing Airplanes, Space Edition
IT’S SOUNDING LIKE BOEING’S STARLINER MAY HAVE COMPLETELY FAILED The Byte (Paul R). At least the astronauts can be rescued.
Class Warfare
The hidden role of public pensions in raising rents in California Los Angeles Times. Paul R: “Pirate equity buys apt building, jacks up rents. Tenants shocked to find that CALSTRS invests in funds like that. Oops.”
Antidote du jour. Karma fubar sent this a long time ago, so apologies!
A young hawk shot by my stepmom at my parents house. They have a large wooded lot, and hawks set up a nest in one of the larger beech trees. I reduced the file size via jpeg compression, but did no other alterations. I particularly like the painterly effect of the background caused by being out of focus.
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
