Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war — both real fog and stage fog — in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.
And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.
–Yves
P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:
Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please don’t do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.
Engineer Attempts to Understand How His Cat Can Sleep Through Anything Except the Opening of a Can Laughing Squid (resilc). One of my cats, Blake, stayed with a friend while I was on a foreign trip. She said he though his name was the sound of the refrigerator door opening.
Giddyup! Beer-drinking pony elected ‘mayor’ New York Post. Kevin W: “Maybe he got elected because the previous mayor was an ass.”
Vermont Woman Accused of Using Bear Spray on Hunters Seven Days (resilc). Lordie. They don’t shoot bears but chase them around with dogs to keep them leery of people. Given that bears that get too habituated to breaking into cars and kitchens to eat often get killed, this is helpful, not harmful to bears.
Bumblebees appear to feel pain PhysOrg
New Giant Dinosaur Discovery Reveals Why Many Prehistoric Carnivores Had Such Tiny Arms ScienceTech (furzy)
Nitrogen crisis from jam-packed livestock operations has ‘paralyzed’ Dutch economy Science (David L)
CDC warns deadly bacteria detected in U.S. for 1st time Axios (resilc). Eeek!
Most high blood pressure in children and teenagers is linked with unhealthy lifestyle European Society of Cardiology
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
Mystery over spike in Covid deaths on hottest day of the year: Virus fatalities doubled in 40C heat Daily Mail
How omicron BA.5 became a master of disguise Asia Times
Friend’s 25 yo daughter died suddenly while walking her dog. Turns out she and her young husband, who’s in the Navy, had Covid at least 5x. She was an organ donor but her organs were so damaged no organs were donated. Vaccinated and boosted. Family devastated. 💔
— Nicole Rhodes (@heysissy2020) July 28, 2022
US
Wait What? NY Post Reporter Stuns WH Spox By Asking If Biden’s Covid Was a Saudi Biological Attack https://t.co/dlHT4Fl2VE via @mediaite pic.twitter.com/59TQjMWrxP
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) July 28, 2022
Monkeypox
Sewage reveals spread of monkeypox virus E&E News (Dr. Kevin)
Climate/Environment
Taps Run Dry: Heat and Drought Ravage Monterrey, Mexico Bloomberg (ma)
Wildfire Smoke Is Terrible for You. But What Does It Do to Cows? Wired
Two of the Largest Freshwater Fish in the World Declared Extinct Field & Stream (Dr. Kevin) 🙁
Why Fungi Might Really Be Magic (When It Comes to Climate Change) New York Times (resilc)
China?
China Is Issuing The Same “Red Line” Warnings About Taiwan That Russia Issued About Ukraine Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W)
“Free Trade” Has Put America & Democracy At the Mercy of China Hartman Report (resilc)
In Xinjiang, China, surveillance technology is used to help the state control its citizens CBC (ma)
Old Blighty
British exporters report stagnating trade as post-Brexit delays blamed Guardian. Resilc: “They got Bojo’d.”
FT Exclusive: Developers in west London face a potential ban on new housing projects until 2035 because the electricity grid has run out of capacity to support new homes, jeopardising house building targets in the capital https://t.co/8ir7JsvJAs pic.twitter.com/5KR33uWlXz
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) July 28, 2022
New Not-So-Cold War
🚀Ukrainian army fired a HIMARS missile at a POW prison in Elenovka, DPR. 40+ prisoners were killed & 130+ wounded. They literally killed their own people… pic.twitter.com/nRK5Ttn5vS
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZmilitary1) July 29, 2022
They were set for war crimes trials:
If it was HIMARS used to hit the POW camp and kill all those Azov POWs, it wasn’t an “accident”
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) July 29, 2022
* * * Siemens failed to fulfill obligations: Gazprom on Nord Stream repair Business Standard. That Montreal-visiting part is STILL not back. It does not look like Gazprom is Making Shit Up in complaining about its turbines going kerfluie.
EU gas solidarity complicated by lack of fuel sharing deals ekathermerini
Latvia admits it has resumed purchases of Russian gas Generico
Russia, Saudi Arabia firmly committed to stability of oil market, restoring supply/demand balance Interfax
* * * German consumer sentiment plunges to new record low – GfK Reuters
Polish July Inflation Stays Unchanged at Quarter-Century High Bloomberg. 15.5%
* * * Video about burning wheat silos in Ukraine. According to eyewitnesses, they were deliberately destroyed by Zelensky regime forces.pic.twitter.com/4ghoH0yOvb
— Gonzalo Lira (@GonzaloLira1968) July 28, 2022
Syrian ship carrying ‘stolen Ukrainian barley, flour’ docks in Lebanon, Ukrainian embassy says Reuters (Kevin W). After having documentation and the cargo checked by Turkey and released only then…
Ukrainian MPs approve ‘special status’ for Poles RT (Kevin W)
* * * US Should Not Fund Ukrainian ‘Blacklist’ Scott Ritter, ConsortiumNews
Russia will grant US call request ‘when time allows’ RT (Kevin W). The US might have considered that there would be consequences for the juvenile snubbing of Lavrov at the G20.
Lavrov is on Blinken’s list of people to call Indian Punchline (Kevin W). ZOMG, the headline. But Blinken overstates Lavrov’s recent remarks.
Syraqistan
Biden Aide: ‘Highly Unlikely’ Iran Nuclear Deal Will Be Revived Soon Antiwar. Resilc: “Israelis say no, so USA USA won’t go.”
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
21st Century wire tap? Spies could use fibre-optic broadband cables to EAVESDROP on people from over half a mile away, study shows Daily Mail (BC). One advantage of not yet having fiber optic. Wonder if it can be defeated by white noise.
Imperial Collapse Watch
Emperor unclothed? Why we can’t expect ‘big change’ from the president Andrew Bacevich, Responsible Statecraft. Putin commented on this in his interviews with Oliver Stone. He meet with presidents who made commitments that then fizzled away (the commitments, not the presidents). Putin attributed it to them being hostage to bigger interests.
British Official Says Nuclear War Threat Higher Than During the Cold War AntiWar
1/6
Jan. 6 texts missing for Trump Homeland Security secretary and deputy Washington Post (furzy)
Trump
Trump’s America First Speech Was a Soft Launch for 2024 Atlantic
The Department of Justice Is Circling Donald Trump Very Slowly Charles Pierce, Esquire (reslic). How long has the press talked up indictments? Wake me up when they finally happen.
Biden
“I’ve Delivered”: New Disclosures Demolish President Biden’s Denials on Hunter Dealings Jonathan Turley
GOP Clown Car
‘Total bulls***’: Anger boils over after Republicans block bill to help vets exposed to burn pits Yahoo! News (Kevin W)
Democrats en déshabillé
After Clash, Manchin and Schumer Rushed to Reset Climate and Tax Deal New York Times (Kevin W)
House Dems rally behind Manchin deal The Hill
Abortion
The Right Is Freaking Out About Jane’s Revenge. But What Is It? Vice (resilc)
Gavin Newsom’s plan to save the Constitution by trolling the Supreme Court with a new gun law Vox
Crooked Crook Ltd: company registration scandals on the Tax Justice Network podcast, the Taxcast Tax Justice Network
China’s BYD was written off by Elon Musk. Now it’s beating Tesla Al Jazeera (resilc)
Battery Recycling: The Next Big Challenge For The EV Boom OilPrice
Brembo’s Sensify brakes are nothing short of a small revolution Autoblog. Having mastered the skills of braking on ice and steering out of a skid, I hate these new brakes, because reflexes I learned will put a car in a spin.
‘Here we go’: FTC’s Meta case puts Lina Khan’s antitrust vision to the test Financial Times. Heavy-handed pro-tech-incumbent spin. Not uncommon for regulators and prosecutors to lose initial cases in evolving areas. But the effort here is to force Kahn and he FTC to back off if this first attempt fails.
Powell pushing Asia into a new financial crisis Asia Times (Kevin W)
Supply Chain/Inflation
How bad will the global food crisis get? Financial Times
Here’s Where Private Equity Is Most Involved in Medicine MedPage (Carla R)
Class Warfare
Critical minerals, rare earths industry faces talent shortage Quartz. Resilc: “We are uninvested in skills from plumbers to EEs”
Corporate Landlords ‘Aggressively’ Evicted Tenants During Pandemic, House Report Says Bloomberg (ma)
Trader Joe’s store in Massachusetts becomes first to unionize Guardian (resilc)
Antidote du jour (Tracie H):
And a bonus (Ignacio). I feel sorry for that cat. My cat Blake was very clever in how he trained me to run a thin stream for water for him, by licking at a just-turned-off faucet to get any drops. Of course an attentive human would understand what was wanted and provide it).
El gato Pepe Viyuela no existe.
El gato Pepe Viyuela: pic.twitter.com/eqNiHra7R5
— empeltada (@empeltada) July 26, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
