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.
CatMeows: A Publicly-Available Dataset of Cat Vocalizations Zenodo (Micael T)
Safari-goers in Namibia have close call with cheetah after it tries to climb into vehicle YouTube (Li). Darwin Award entrants.
Connected-up-brains aeon
Fin-tastic! Growing ‘mermaiding’ subculture makes a splash Associated Press (David L)
Curiosity rover finds more evidence of ancient watery regions on Mars TechSpot (Kevin W)
‘Superworms’ may hold the key to world’s trash crisis NPR (David L)
World’s biggest bacteria discovered in Caribbean mangrove swamp Financial Times (David L)
60% of high school students in northern Thai city have HIV Thaiger (furzy)
Couple sues Boston hospital over loss of baby’s body Associated Press (resilc)
The philosophy of selfhood became real when my mother got dementia Psyche (Chuck L)
Kurt Vonnegut documentary took Robert Weide 40 years to film Sydney Morning Herald. Anthony L: “So he was unstuck in time.”
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
Antibody profiles of internal viral proteins predict severe COVID-19 outcomes News-medical.net (Kevin W)
The direct evidence of a reservoir has been found- persistent spike in the blood at one year
The secondary evidence- the naive t cell depletion- this is bad. The sloughing could progress
we need more antivirals imo https://t.co/Z4BdjnOR1L
— Anthony J Leonardi, PhD, MS (@fitterhappierAJ) June 24, 2022
“.. similar to patients with HIV-1, the children previously infected by SARS-CoV-2 may have a repetitive immune activation.. children may be prone to infections by other viruses, which would contribute to the development of acute hepatitis.”https://t.co/BoddH9fJ2C
— Hiroshi Yasuda (保田浩志) (@Yash25571056) June 23, 2022
So far being ignored by mainstream types. Paper is a pre-print:
Study from Senior Editor of the British Medical Journal Peter Doshi, et al, finds the absolute risk of serious AE from mRNA vaccines exceeds the absolute risk reduction of serious covid-19 infection.https://t.co/6JxOyIZVEH pic.twitter.com/PHhODa2dYt
— PLC (@Humble_Analysis) June 22, 2022
SARS-CoV-2 escapes direct NK cell killing through Nsp1-mediated downregulation of ligands for NKG2D BioRxIv (guurst)
UK/Europe
Covid infections rise 20% in England as new Omicron variants spread Financial Times (Kevin W)
Asia
Thailand discovers 200 cases of Covid-19’s newest subspecies strain of BA.4 and BA.5 TPN National News (furzy)
US
Who Was Responsible for the Botched Pandemic Response? Midwestern Doctor (Glenn F)
Climate/Environment
Germany Pushes for G-7 Reversal on Fossil Fuels in Climate Blow Bloomberg. Many of you have likely noticed that it’s the German Greens that are super hawks on Russia.
Biden Snubbed Oil Firms And Met With Offshore Wind Partnership OilPrice (Kevin W)
Lake Mead is less than 150 feet away from becoming a “dead pool,” making much of the Southwestern U.S. uninhabitable Natural News. Furzy: “Amazing shot of nearly empty Lake Mead….(only on NaturalNews tho!!)”
Dutch power grid can’t handle influx of electric car charging points NLTimes
China?
We need a reset in US-China relations Asia Times (Kevin W)
Chinese banks lend Pakistan $2.3bn to avert foreign exchange crisis Financial Times
Old Blighty
Charles tells Commonwealth leaders dropping Queen is ‘for each to decide’ Guardian (resilc)
Nobody in Brussels has much interest in Brexit anymore. The U.K. is a third country and will have to live with the disadvantages. Brexit didn’t even get a mention at the two day European Council summit. https://t.co/J02jUVnuAD
— John O’Brennan 🇺🇦 (@JohnOBrennan2) June 25, 2022
New Not-So-Cold War
Europe Gorges on Russian Oil Ahead of Ban EnergyIntel (Kevin W)
Germany: Consumer gas prices could triple amid Russian threats, official warns DW. Um, that Gazprom St. Petersburg part for Nordstream 1 really is still stuck in Montreal and Trudeau hasn’t come up with a way to release it. In the mean time, Russia has offered to open up Nordstream 2. But the EU is also acting as if Russia will agree to an edict that it won’t buy gas if the price rises above a certain level…when Russia had urged EU utilities to sign up for fixed rather than floating rate contracts. So the EU is about to revoke a contract and Russia acting accordingly is somehow a “Russia threat”?
However…Germany plans to nationalize parts of Nord Stream 2 – report Teletrader. Remember Russia created “special retaliatory economic measures” for parties that steal property or intellectual property of Russians, broadly defined, and parties that do business with the perp. Russia has only made a very limited use of these provisions. This nonsense after stealing the Gazprom assets could lead to sterner and more wide-ranging countermeasures.
Factbox: The three stages of Germany’s emergency gas plan Reuters
“Russia is taking the whole world hostage” Tagesschau (via Google Translate, original here, courtesy guurst)
Norway blocks food delivery to Russian miners in Svalbard MailBD
Halting Ukraine war ‘only chance’ to avoid economic crisis, Hungary tells EU Financial Times. The skunk at the party.
* * * Ukraine SitRep – Zolote Cauldron Closes – Lysichansk Blocked (Corrected twice) Moon of Alabama. Consistent with Alexander Mercouris’ account. Mercouris notes that an attempt to break out of Lysychansk resulted in Ukraine troops being “shot to pieces” and more details of surrenders.
For those who want more detail: Ukraine. Military Summary And Analysis 24.06.2022 YouTube. By the time this post is up, he’ll probably have his 25.06.2022 talk up.
Ukraine War Day #121: Return To Snake Island (continued) Awful Avalanche (guurst). Contradicts quite a few not-buying-what-Ukraine-is-selling commentators, who see Snake Island as a PR asset, although Russia has put a few S-300s on this not very large rock.
* * * * * * Russia will not join Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons — MFA TASS
* * * Microsoft Compares Russian Hacks of Ukraine to Assassination That Started World War I Vice. Resilc: “Got back from WalMuerto in North Adams, MA. poor, sad zombies walking through the store. USA USA. I could give a rat’s ass about the Ukraine.”
Syraqistan
Expert groups call Biden’s dithering on Iran deal return ‘perplexing’ Responsible Statecraft (resilc). Um, it may already be over, see Scott Ritter (remember an arms control guy) on this YouTube starting at 122:30
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Tehran, June 23, 2022 Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. See remarks on the JCPOA and the bombing of the Damascus airport.
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
The Federal Bureau of Tweets: Twitter Is Hiring an Alarming Number of FBI Agents MintPressNews (Kevin W). We linked to another report on this practice, but this one has good detail.
D.C. Power Players Are Paying Thousands of Dollars to Find Dates Politico. The finding part is not what they are paying for. It’s the snooping part. Paul R flags this section:
You could do it, too. For several thousands of dollars a month — double what the average person spends on rent for a one-bedroom in D.C. — this matchmaker will not only seek out potential soulmates with your exact criteria in mind but will do the sort of investigative work that, coming from you, would seem invasive and creepy — trawling LinkedIn for singles with degrees from prestigious universities, or NextDoor for homeowners in affluent zip codes, or LegiStorm for Congressional staffers’ bios, salaries and contact information.
Lawmakers Want FTC to Investigate Apple, Google Over Mobile Tracking Wall Street Journal (David L)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Boeing Wants More Money For New Air Force One, USAF Official Says Defense One
Abortion. I no longer recognize this country. Lambert also covered this development yesterday in Water Cooler, with considerable attention upon the flaccid response of Team Dem.
LIVE It’s a sad day for the US, says Biden after abortion ruling BBC. Live blog.
Biden Allies in G-7 Aghast at US Abortion Rights Reversal Bloomberg. Lead story at 6:00 AM EDT.
‘Blood on their hands’: world’s medics condemn US overturn of abortion rights Guardian (Kevin W)
The Onion isn’t taking any prisoners today. pic.twitter.com/qB9JWZQq6f
— Scott Edelman (@scottedelman) June 24, 2022
‘Matter of National Security’: Democratic Veterans, Advocates Call For Codifying Right To Abortion Defense One. Resilc: “Ruskies overturned Roe.”
Collins, Manchin suggest they were misled by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch on Roe v. Wade NBC (resilc). Help me.
We’re Not Going Back to the Time Before Roe v. Wade. We’re Going Somewhere Worse New Yorker (furzy)
EFF security and privacy tips for people seeking abortion Electronic Frontier Foundation (Paul R). OMG this is a complete and utter disgrace. Do they think women are too stoopid/lazy to take the necessary (strict) precautions if they are in a prosecution gung ho state? We’re talking jail time and end of life as you once knew it as consequences. Yes, the good news is even these punitive states will have limited police/investigation resources, but they will get tips and women getting abortions will want to leave no attack surface.
They don’t insist on burner phones and strict separation of it from the rest of your activities as essential? They don’t tell readers that deleting stuff from your computer does not mean it’s deleted unless it’s overwritten? And if you used e-mail, your ISP and recipients have records? How about the just about universal recommendation of NC readers when I asked about how to set up a FB account w/o tipping FB off about my meat world identity, a dedicated burner laptop to be used anywhere but at my regular IP address? There’s also no mention of avoiding geolocation (these phones all do have backdoors, I don’t buy for a second you can fully turn it off) like by leaving your phone at home or getting in the habit of using a Faraday bag pretty much all the time?
And they say nothing about cars, that newish cars are full of tracking goodies, and if you use interstate and many state roads, your license plate is tracked too? This article isn’t just unserious,it’s affirmatively dangerous.
Clarence Thomas: Supreme Court should ‘reconsider’ rulings on contraceptives and same-sex marriage The Week (resilc)
Lawrence struck down sodomy laws that criminalized gay sex (all sodomy, all the time) and straight sex (lots of sodomy, lots of the time). Ever sucked a dick? Gotten your dick sucked? Gone down on a woman? 69’d? Had anal sex? Pegged? Congrats, you’re a sodomite too.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) June 24, 2022
Federal appeals court puts FDA ban on Juul e-cigarette sales on hold NBC
How Singapore Got Its Manufacturing Mojo Back Wall Street Journal (resilc)
Class Warfare
Who’s Going to Save Local Businesses From Amazon And Other Monopolies? The U.S. Postal Service. Washington Monthly (resilc)
Rental crisis driving up cost on mobile homes CNN
‘I’m Retiring From Sex Work With $1 Million. What Next?’ The Cut. Resilc: “Move to Costa Rica.”
Antidote du jour. This is Bob H’s Tippy, coming out of a skunk cabbage swamp:
And a bonus (dk):
— No Context Russia (@Russia_NC) June 24, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
