Cub found alone in US woods now being raised by wildlife staff in bear costumes The Guardian
Colossal scientist now admits they haven’t really made dire wolves New Scientist
Climate/Environment
Tornado Alley has become almost everything east of the Rockies — and it’s been a violent year Kansas Reflector
With soaring summer temps ahead, AI data centers could strain electricity supplies in the Mid-Atlantic Allegheny Front
A fungi that can ‘eat you from the inside out’ could spread as the world heats up CNN
Pandemics
Here’s really strong evidence of immune damage from COVID among bacterial infections with no vaccines. Look at the sharp climbs in all since 2020.https://t.co/NjrKk15mxj pic.twitter.com/5D704AQ7ve
— Michael Olesen 💉😷🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@maolesen) May 24, 2025
US sees COVID variant NB.1.8.1 surge: Why are more than 300 people in America still dying from pandemic every week? The Economic Times.
Intravenous SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein induces neuroinflammation and alpha-synuclein accumulation in brain regions relevant to Parkinson’s disease Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
A friend just messaged to say that her neighbour is having leech therapy for their long covid, and, honestly, this is where we now are in 2025.
Flipping leeches. pic.twitter.com/Rg8iO9KcYl— tern (@1goodtern) May 24, 2025
Japan
Japan flexes military muscle at biggest-ever defense expo Asia Times
China?
Chinese ambassador criticises plan to return Darwin Port to Australian ownership Channel News Asia
Why Apple can’t just quit China Rest of World
India
Foxconn to expand India focus with $1.5 billion investment The Economic Times
Africa
Dismantling Green Colonialism: Against the “anti-imperialists par excellence” Review of African Political Economy
European Disunion
Merz backs Nord Stream ban to prevent US and Russia restarting gas link FT
BETWEEN HOPE AND FEAR: ECONOMIC WEAKNESS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF THE FISCAL PACKAGE, BUREAUCRATIC OBSTACLES AND STRUCTURAL CHANGE German Council of Economic Experts
The EU is finally paying the price for its unfair trade practices Thomas Fazi
Resistance and extractivism: Inside Carrara, home of white marble Al Jazeera
The global gateway to nowhere Africa Is A Country
Syraqistan
IDF: 75% of Gaza to Be Occupied in Two Months; 2 Million Civilians to Be Concentrated in Three Zones Haaretz
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch tells Sky that ‘Israel is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the UK, just like Ukraine is.’
So apparently, the Ukraine war is a proxy war after all, according to Badenoch.
And apparently, genocide is ok because Israel is “doing it for us…” pic.twitter.com/AvXfoZAGRT
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) May 25, 2025
Red Cross pleads for Gaza ceasefire after two workers killed AFP. A strike on their home.
Gaza doctor loses 9 children as Israel bears down on war amid growing pressure NBC News
Secretive Gaza checkpoint contractor reported as outgrowth of private intel firm All-Source Intelligence
🚨UAE condemns Israel for forcing aid trucks to go through “red zones” where Israel-backed ISIS-linked criminal gangs & drug dealers loot aid under IDF protection
UAE says out of 24 food trucks that entered yesterday, only 1 arrived safely to warehouses
UAE was supposed to 103… pic.twitter.com/wYguwU4oQE
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) May 24, 2025
Yemen’s Houthis Fire Missile at Israel for Third Time in Four Days Antiwar
Death toll in US strikes on al-Qaeda members in Yemen rises to 9 AFP
New Not-So-Cold War
Putin’s helicopter was caught in Ukrainian drone swarm – commander RT
🇷🇺🇺🇦 UKRAINE TRIED TO KILL PUTIN!
Vladimir Putin’s helicopter was attacked by Ukrainian drones in the Kursk region.
This happened on May 20, said the commander of the air defense division, Yuri Dashkin.
The intensity of the attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kursk region, when… pic.twitter.com/XXo2aYkUWo
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) May 25, 2025
CCTV camera captured the moment of a Russian strike with the 9M723 Iskander-M (or North Korean KN-23) ballistic missile on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv last night. pic.twitter.com/k7gjCwjeKM
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) May 25, 2025
💥 Russian Armed Forces strike targets in several regions
Explosions are heard:
🟥 in Dnepropetrovsk;
🟥 in the Odessa region;
🟥 in Poltava region;
🟥 in Sumy region;
🟥 in Chernihiv.
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) May 25, 2025
Russia Launches Massive Aerial Assaults on Ukraine, Defying Trump’s Peace Calls WSJ. Western media and politicos ignore drone attack on Putin helicopter and run with this line.
There are 81 co-sponsors for the Graham-Blumenthal bill in the Senate to impose harsher sanctions on Russia. Co-sponsors include Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Tim Sheehy (R-MT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Jim Justice (R-WV), Dave McCormick (R-PA), Ted Budd…
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 25, 2025
Trump administration finally responds to large-scale Russian attacks on Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda. Keith Kellogg trots out the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols.
Trump blasts Russian leader: ‘I’m not happy with what Putin is doing’ The Hill
If military aid to the Banderite regime continues, the buffer zone could look like this: pic.twitter.com/0ueLOTeJaH
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) May 25, 2025
Buy American: How Europe Must Stock Up On Weapons for Ukraine Bloomberg. Shocker.
YLE: Recycled fishing nets become Ukraine’s frontline anti-drone tool Euromaidan Press
Russia to issue note of protest to Sweden after attack on Russian embassy — diplomat TASS
Spook Country
Death of a Master Manipulator SpyTalk (Lambert)
Chinese laser cracks spy dream, can read letters size of a sesame seed from a mile away Interesting Engineering
“Liberation Day”
Trump delays 50 per cent EU tariff until 9 July Euractiv. EU-China summit in late July.
Trump 2.0
GOP senators say Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ needs spending cuts The Hill
Trump backing for Nippon Steel deal comes with big questions Business Times
Donald Trump, Mark Twain, and another Gilded Age 48 Hills
JD Vance’s Irish ancestry claim hits a genealogical dead end The Times
Maxed Out Matthew Karp, New Left Review
Democrats en déshabillé
THE COMING DEMOCRATIC CIVIL WAR Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic. Commentary:
Jonathan Chait in the Atlantic saying the quiet part out loud — just stating explicitly that yes, abundance is about defeating progressives and remaking the Democratic Party as a libertarian, Never Trump Republican Party. Great, can we stop pretending it’s anything but that? pic.twitter.com/FuIs39Hxj3
— Aaron Regunberg (@AaronRegunberg) May 25, 2025
Obama Legacy
Guess which president signed S-PAYGO into law as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling limit in 2010? https://t.co/bv2p5P6TQU https://t.co/XuoyLT42UE
— Stephanie Kelton (@StephanieKelton) May 24, 2025
Imperial Collapse Watch
Police State Watch
The first rule of ICE Club? Don’t talk about ICE Club. And treat all migrants as criminals. Kansas Reflector
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Groves of Academe
11-Year-Old California Girl Graduates College, Breaking Record Set by Her Brother Just Last Year People
The Friendly Skies
Montgomery Field Airport weather instruments not functioning properly at time of plane crash kpbs
New ‘Superdiffusion’ Proof Probes the Mysterious Math of Turbulence Quanta
AI
OpenAI’s desperate quest to become an AI monopoly Blood in the Machine
OpenAI ChatGPT o3 caught sabotaging shutdown in terrifying AI test Beta News
War on the Slop Machines Left Notes
Supply Chain
Shipping bottlenecks in Europe send a warning signal to US, Asia Business Times
Healthcare?
The Trouble With ‘Do Your Own Research’ for Drugs MedPage Today
Our Famously Free Press
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Bluesky is the liberal Zone of Interest https://t.co/1KIDWNrGbR
— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) May 25, 2025
The Bezzle
Crypto Investor Charged With Kidnapping and Torturing Man for Weeks New York Times
A crypto turn to save the US dollar? Warwick Powell’s Substack
AI agents are poised to be crypto’s next major vulnerability Coin Telegraph
Class Warfare
The Dead End of Checks and Balances Boston Review
William Blake’s The Gates of Paradise (1787-93) The Public Domain Review
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
