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.
Guilty Dog Pictures and the Myth of Canine Shame Atlantic (furzy)
A 1,300-Pound Walrus Could Be Killed if She Endangers the Public New York Times
Watch this video to learn how to noodle for catfish Boing Boing. Oh, I thought of goose noodling! This is at least sort of fair fighting.
First of NASA’s SunRISE SmallSats Rolls Off Production Line Space Channel (furzy)
Salman Rushdie ‘On a Ventilator and Could Lose An Eye’ After New York Attack Bloomberg
The last American aristocrat UnHerd (Anthony L)
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
I recently had a patient in their 50s die of multiorgan failure from infective endocarditis from a rare organism the ID physician, nor I had ever heard of before. A bit like an immunocompromised patient. Sure enough, there was lymphopoenia at presentation 3 weeks post-COVID https://t.co/AbH861dFQt
— Dr Satoshi Akima FRACP 『秋間聰』 (@ToshiAkima) August 12, 2022
Covid still packs a punch — and likely will for some time, experts say STAT (resilc)
US
CDC is allowing 𝙣𝙤𝙣-𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 for kids who want to avoid COVID pic.twitter.com/1GPBwwcRfP
— Farid Jalali MD (@farid__jalali) August 12, 2022
Monkeypox
An alarming graph shows Monkeypox cases rising rapidly Boing Boing
Monkeypox: experts give virus variants new names WHO (Kevin W)
Climate/Environment
European drought dries up rivers, kills fish, shrivels crops Associated Press (furzy) 🙁
EU countries rush to help France tackle ‘monstrous’ wildfires Guardian. Kevin W: “Logic dictates for a continent-wide EU firefighting force. Experience shows that the EU would fuck it up and turn it into a scam.”
Finns say yes to nuclear waste DW (resilc)
Mass crop failures expected in England as farmers demand hosepipe bans Guardian (Kevin W)
Climate change increases odds of cataclysmic California flood. NPR (Kevin W)
Mass Death of Sequoias Is the Harbinger of Earth Systems Collapse Truthout
China?
China-US decoupling gushes out Indian Punchline
China State-Owned Giants to Delist From US Amid Audit Spat Bloomberg (furzy)
India jumps in as China plays Scrooge with Sri Lanka South China Morning Post
Old Blighty
Liz Truss is easy to mock, but she could do more damage than Boris Johnson ever did Guardian. Resilc: “Like DeSantis after Trump, be careful what you ask for.”
New Not-So-Cold War
News Update: Russia Planning to Leave the ISS. What’s Next? Space Channel (furzy)
Note Twitter took this Tweet down. It purported violated Twitter rules by showing a Ukraine propaganda video. Gonzalo Lira earlier showed how 4 Ukraine videos meant to be different (different characters and topics) all used the same set, passed off a dead Ukraine tank as Russian, and had soldiers in nice clean uniforms and pristine weapons.
‼️ 🇺🇦🏴☠️In Gostomel, the “directors” of the Kiev regime shoot a staged video about the alleged atrocities of Russian troops against civilians…
What a banana West-puppet country… pic.twitter.com/iWUqfOsRAC
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZmilitary1) August 12, 2022
Russia Advances Deeper Into Bakhmut; China’s Xi Goes to Saudi Arabia, Discussing Alternatives to USD Alexander Mercouris, YouTube. See at 25:50. Mercouris cites a report which not only states that shelling will not harm the reactor, and the reactor can be shut down if the cooling systems are damaged, but more important, that shelling will not cause dirty bomb type contamination even if it hit the spent fuel storage areas. I assume in practice that means employees and Russian soldiers guarding the facilities would be at risk, not the general public.
Berlin names candidate to negotiate with Moscow RT
Public buildings in Germany to be heated to 19° Celsius – econ minister Reuters
German nuclear operators push on with shutdowns despite rethink Financial Times
Syraqistan
US commits a perfect murder in Kabul Indian Punchline (Kevin W). Important.
Iranian Tanker Reloads Oil Confiscated in Greece, Embassy Says Bloomberg
What the U.S. Gets Wrong About Iran New York Times. Resilc: “I was born in 52, my entire life we supported the wrong side of the Persian Gulf.”
Afghan cleric killed by explosives in attacker’s artificial leg, say officials Guardian
Space Cooperation Between Russia, Iran Raises Western Concerns Informed Consent. I thought this was Juan Cole’s site but it looks like he has sold out. Resilc notes:
“Copyright (c)2020 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.”
I lived and travel around the world and never met anybody, American, US official or local, who ever listened to RFW/RL
‘We killed a little boy, but it was within the rules’ +972 (guurst)
Assange
PRESS CONFERENCE: #Assange US Attorneys Sue Pompeo & Spanish Security Firm
AUG 15 11am EDT
Margaret Ratner Kunstler, Plaintiff
Deborah Hrbek, Plaintiff
Richard Roth, Attorney
Robert Boyle, Attorney
Nathan Fuller, @DefenseAssange
John Goetz, Journalisthttps://t.co/MpStwgxC9F pic.twitter.com/TkvUjgLLTz— Consortium News (@Consortiumnews) August 12, 2022
Julian Assange Wins Right to Appeal His U.S. Extradition at Supreme Court Daily Beast
Trump Raid [the Financial Times called it a raid in a subhead with no quotes, so we can too]
FBI Recovered 11 Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search Wall Street Journal
Trump search warrant: FBI took top secret documents from Mar-a-Lago BBC. Resilc:
In November 1980 I was a very junior foreign service officer in Jakarta. my first “duty week”, handling after hours and weekends at the AMNEB, covered the election. before going to bed I heard Reagan won on the BBC. Middle of the night I get a call from the embassy, we are sending a car…top secret immediate cable. action/action, a car will pick you up…….cable said Reagan wins basically…….top secret is a joke most of the time imo…
Trump spy chief on classified documents: ‘Virtually impossible to prosecute’ Washington Examiner
Ex-CIA Chief Michael Hayden Implies Trump Should Be Executed for Taking Classified Docs National Review
Anger at the Mar-a-Lago ‘Raid’ Can’t End Well Atlantic. Resilc: “The same FBI that killed Black Panthers, MLK, etc, is now the hero of the DNC/MSNBC crowd.”
Gestapo the Steal James Howard Kunstler. Looks like we’re going to have a lot of speculation and hyperventilation and not much new information.
Tucker Carlson Tonight 8/12/22 FULL Fox. Tulsi Gabbard guest hosted! No more Team Dem for her! Is her play to be The Donald’s veep? The problem with the commentary is that the Trump supporters miss the fact that Trump was not supposed to take any presidential records. But the flip side is not a crime since the Presidential Records Act lacks an enforcement mechanism, which includes criminal penalties. Admittedly, pretty much every president in the last few decades has taken records, and it seems as if partly by design, partly by accident. The normal process is the National Archives say they think stuff is missing and sometimes there is a wrangle. But the contention here is that Trump’s conduct was outside the pale, of the “differences in degree is a difference in kind.” So this is why the classified document angle becomes important, since merely foot-dragging on returning records isn’t a crime, so non-compliance there can’t be obstruction of justice.
Clarifying the System and Authorities to Classify Information–Trump Followed the Law Larry Johnson. Making some assumptions…but worth keeping the issues he raises in mind.
Rudy Giuliani Promises Revenge Raid of Biden’s House If Trump Wins in 2024 Vice. Somebody needs to put Giuliani in a Hannibal Lecter mask. He seemed to be Doing Something in his first term as NYC mayor, but most of that was due to hiring William Bratton as police chief. All downhill after that.
Other Trump
What’s up with the investigations of and lawsuits against Donald Trump CNN (furzy)
Judge Denies Trump Executive’s Request to Dismiss Manhattan Tax Case New York Times (furzy)
Biden
Biden Plots a 2024 Presidential Run — and a Trump Rematch Bloomberg. Resilc: “The best we can do for USA USA?
GOP Clown Car
Dick Cheney set Liz Cheney’s demise in motion decades ago Washington Post (furzy)
Democrats en deshabillé
Federal Appeals Court denies Democrats’ bid to block Green Party from N.C. ballot Carolina Journal (resilc)
Eli LillyCharity Finances Groups Opposing Insulin Price Controls Intercept (Dr. Kevin)
Abortion
Waiting Rooms With Bulletproof Windows FiveThirtyEight (resilc)
Anti-Abortion Utah Councilman Knows Placenta Facts. You Think You Know Placenta Facts? Wrong. Wonkette. Furzy: “Too funny!” Moi” I hope he knows more about sex than he knows about fetuses, otherwise he’s never getting laid.
Southern Baptist Convention Says It Faces Federal Investigation for Sexual Abuse New York Times (furzy). Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
Supply Chain/Inflation
How Bad Is Inflation? Mysterious Price of Mayonnaise Holds All the Answers Bloomberg
This was a good week for inflation numbers, but whether it can last is the big question CNBC
Is America’s Job Market “Too Good”? Matthew C. Klein. Resilc:
there is no supply of:
teachers
nurses
MDs
tradesmen
mechanics
to keep up with demand
roger my 50 year old tractor mechanic has a heart condition. now, so do i…
California proposes to extend life of last nuclear plant at cost of $1.4 billion Politico. Kevin W: “Cheaper to keep running than to close?”
The Bezzle
Crypto Plunge: Pharma Bro Shkreli’s Coin Drops More Than 90% Bloomberg (furzy)
Guillotine Watch
New £20m superyacht destroyed by fire weeks after delivery to owner Guardian
Class Warfare
In Wealthy City, a Marxist Mayor Wins Over Voters New York Times (resilc)
U.S. Housing Affordability in June Was the Worst Since 1989 Wall Street Journal
In Chile, Even Water Is Privatized. The New Constitution Would Change That. Intercept (resilc)
Antidote du jour:
A bonus:
they’re polar opposites pic.twitter.com/9DMXSiNq1a
— Dont Show Your Cat (@DontShowYourCat) August 10, 2022
A second bonus:
“Come on mom, play with us” 😅 pic.twitter.com/L7KjVsUbSk
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) August 10, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
