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.
G-20 Finance Meet Ends Without a Communique But Progress on Food Bloomberg
Scientists Have Found a Way to Save Energy And Boil Water More Efficiently Science Alert (KW). Now comes the scaling up part.
Long lines are back at US food banks as inflation hits high AP
Car repossessions are surging — a troubling sign for the used car market CBS
The Slow Erosion of Amazon’s Power Matt Stoller, BIG
Nearly half of Gen Z is using TikTok and Instagram for search instead of Google, according to Google’s own data Business Insider
Climate
We need to draw down carbon—not just stop emitting it MIT Technology Review
Climate change a far greater threat to global economy than Covid-19 pandemic amid rising intensity of heatwaves and floods, Swiss Re says South China Morning Post
United Kingdom issues first Red Extreme heat warning The Watchers
Ice melt:
Global warming started 150 years ago, the Strait between Baffin Island and Greenland used to freeze over, Inuit from both islands used to cross the ice and there were intermarriages.
Living relatives today still keep in contact but cannot cross the strait on ice anymore.— angusandersen900 (@AndersenAngus) July 15, 2022
#COVID19
Most of U.S. Population Now in Areas With High Covid-19 Levels as BA.5 Subvariant Spreads WSJ. The story is based on CDC’s infamous “Community Levels” metric, which means that masking is even being considered at least two weeks too late. Of course, Los Angeles is considering imposing mask protection on July 29, so make that two weeks a month.
The BA.5 Wave Is What COVID Normal Looks Like The Atlantic (DL). Joe, Tony, Rochelle, good job.
Novavax’s Traditional Vaccine for COVID-19 Could Hit the U.S. Soon. Most Unvaccinated Adults Wouldn’t Be Swayed Morning Consult
Vaccines for shingles, measles may protect against severe COVID-19, new research suggests Cleveland.com. Big if true.
Future of intranasal vaccine: What should we know? Times of India. Authors believe nasal vaccines may not be sterilizing; BBV154 still in trials.
China?
‘Too easy to borrow’: debt plagues young people despite China’s scrutiny of fintech microloans South China Morning Post
China growth hopes rest on troubled local government financing vehicles FT. On the Henan bank riots:
4/10
He continues: “Instead of compensating the depositors, who are entitled to up to 500,000 yuan, according to government regulations, officials in Henan have done everything imaginable to silence them.”— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) July 17, 2022
China Maritime Report No. 22: Logistics Support for a Cross-Strait Invasion: The View from Beijing (PDF) China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College
Guangdong launches the world’s first wearable air conditioner What China Reads
Myanmar
Myanmar orders companies, banks to suspend foreign loan repayments – media Reuters
China-Backed Illegal Rare Earth Mining Surging in Northern Myanmar The Irrawaddy
Malaysian assets at risk globally as heirs of sultan, who are Philippine nationals, claim US$15 billion award South China Morming Post
India
UK/EU
Astonishing letter:
BREAKING: All hospitals in England told to take “immediate steps” to find extra space for patients so that no ambulance waits longer than 30mins. This must be done despite the extra burden on hospital staff, say NHS chiefs. pic.twitter.com/Jb71x4PC3w
— Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) July 15, 2022
Gut the system and then charge the staff with managing the “risk” your own actions created.
Is Paul Mason’s parliamentary run a Trojan Horse for British intelligence? The Grayzone. As opposed to Parliamentary Labor and the press?
Ripping BoJo another new one:
Wow. Mark Thomas rips into Boris Johnson on receiving his honorary doctorate from @UniKent in Canterbury Cathedral. 🎥 @MrSplendiferous pic.twitter.com/t4uvYeh89z
— Ian Fraser (@Ian_Fraser) July 16, 2022
And yet BoJo, with awesone tenacity, remains at the top of the greasy pole.
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine: can Russia still win the war? FT
Russia Shows Shoigu Awarding Troops For Ukraine Fighting Radio Free Europe
Ukraine peace talks in the cards? Indian Punchline. Straws in the wind.
“There Is No Good Historical Example” for War in Ukraine Der Spiegel. On territory: Kissinger: “At no point did I say that Ukraine should give up any territory. I said the logical dividing line for a ceasefire is the status quo ante.” What Kissinger said at Davos: “Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante.” “Ideally” is doing rather a lot of work there, which most coverage seemed to recognize.
Russia’s Gazprom says no sign of Nord Steam 1 turbine Deutsche Welle. Maybe President Manchin could give Trudeau a call?
Speaking of Harpoons Andrei Martyanov, Reminiscences of the Future
Biden Administration
Tucker Carlson claims that witness from 2020 campaign says Biden took ‘pills’ under wife Jill’s supervision before every public appearance and was ‘like a child’ without the medication Daily Mail. Big if true; it would also seem that Hunter comes by his tendency to self-medicate honestly….
Biden fails to secure major security, oil commitments at Arab summit Reuters
IRS refuses to fix controversial ‘math error’ notices that have baffled millions of taxpayers Fast Company
Democrats en Déshabillé
Promises, promises:
As president, I will:
– Implement nationwide mask mandates
– Ensure access to regular, reliable, and free testing
– Accelerate the development of treatments and vaccinesI won’t waste any time getting this virus under control.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 7, 2020
Game On Eschaton.
Abortion
Op/Ed: Dr. Caitlin Bernard right to protect privacy of 10-year-old rape victim Indianapolis Star
Shortages
We should worry about price of food more than petrol, warns BlackRock’s Fink FT
The Bezzle
Musk said not one self-driving Tesla had ever crashed. By then, regulators already knew of 8 LA Times
A wide range of routers are under attack by new, unusually sophisticated malware Ars Technica
Capitol Seizure
Justice Department Steps Up Jan. 6 Probe of Those in Trump’s Orbit WSJ
DOJ seeks longer sentence for Capitol rioter they labeled as a domestic terrorist NBC
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Here Are the Orwellian Details of the U.S. Patent JPMorgan Got Approved for Its Sprawling System of Spying on Employees Wall Street on Parade
Realignment and Legitimacy
Episode 257: Not Yet A Statistic (podcast) Trillbilly Worker’s Party. Former NGO staffers share their woes…..
Growing support for political violence raises alarms The Hill
Poll: Many red-state Trump voters say they’d be ‘better off’ if their state seceded from U.S. Yahoo News. Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
Imperial Collapse Watch
The West is Experiencing a Contraction of its Power Internationalist 360°
Class Warfare
The Hidden Fees Making Your Bananas, and Everything Else, Cost More Pro Publica (Re Silc).
How Uber won access to world leaders, deceived investigators and exploited violence against its drivers in battle for global dominance The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
On Joe Burn’s “Class Struggle Unionism” Industrial Worker
Games People Play: The Revolutionary 1964 Model of Human Relationships That Changed How We (Mis)Understand Ourselves and Each Other The Marginalian. Note that there are good games: Happy to Help, Busman’s Holiday, They’ll Be Glad They Knew Me, Homely Sage
Antidote du jour (via):
Bonus Antidote:
Introverts, unite! Separately! 😅 Watch what happened when a meetup of shy pups took place in Sweden pic.twitter.com/TLPp3oxfGT
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 15, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
