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.
The Netherlands Is Building an Ark for Its Bees Reasons to be Cheerful
Tough economic times lie ahead Martin Wolf, FT.
2022 U.S. Cropland Values Hit Record $5,050 Per Acre, Up 14% from 2021 AgWeb
This Is The ‘100-Trillion Dollar Question’ The Heisenberg Report
Is this chart going up or down? The Reformed Broker
Climate
Reversing the Freight Train: The Case for Degrowth London Review of Books
Underwriting decarbonisation: Financing key to steer shipping towards a green future Hellenic Shipping News’
China drought highlights economic damage wrought by global warming FT
Environmental Group Reports ‘Unprecedented’ Algae Bloom, Fish Dying Across SF Bay NBC Bay Area
Water
‘Do Not Drink The Water’: Jackson Water System Failing For 180,000 People Mississippi Free Press
#COVID19
COVID cases at Chicago schools jump in first week back Chicago Chalkbeat
COVID drives down U.S. life expectancy for the second straight year – CDC data Reuters
The curious case of the 471-day coronavirus infection Science Direct. Plenty of time for mutations.
Monkeypox
Strategies Adopted by Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men to Prevent Monkeypox virus Transmission — United States, August 2022 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC
China?
China’s zero-Covid rules spark social media storm as article recalls ‘isolationist’ Ming, Qing era South China Morning Post. See at “the past is not dead“, Links 8/27
China property: Country Garden feels frost that will wilt bank returns FT
China Sets Mid-October Start for Congress to Extend Xi’s Rule Bloomberg
Syraqistan
No, Iranians aren’t negotiating from a weak economic position Responsible Statecraft (Re Silc).
A Very Quiet Bombing Jesse Ventura, Die First then Quit. Somalia.
New Not-So-Cold War
IAEA team heads for Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Reuters
Military briefing: Ukraine makes its move with Kherson counter-offensive FT
Senior Defense Official and Senior Military Official Hold a Background Briefing U.S. Department of Defense. Odd body language on the Ukraine offensive.
Russia Claims Ukraine’s Kherson Counteroffensive Defeated After Ukraine Troops Suffered Heavy Losses (video) Alexander Mercouris, YouTube. Shoutout to NC. Not seeing any Ukrainian flags waving over Kherson, for sure.
Russia deepens Europe’s energy squeeze with new gas halt Reuters
* * * The West’s False Narrative about Russia and China Jeffrey Sachs. “The relentless Western narrative that the West is noble while Russia and China are evil is simple-minded and extraordinarily dangerous. It is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, not to deal with very real and pressing diplomacy.” This is, to some, apparently not a truism.
The Moscow-Berlin Line Policy Tensor
‘A consequential but ultimately tragic figure’: last leader of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev dies aged 91 The Conversation
Lula retains lead over Bolsonaro in Brazil’s election – poll Reuters
Biden Administration
Inflation Reduction Act’s Real Climate Impact Is a Decade Away and First Solar to Invest $1.2 Billion in U.S. Plants, Spurred by Climate Law WSJ. I don’t play the ponies, so my opinion should carry no weight, but I think any firm with “First” in its name is like a restaurant called “Mom’s.”
Student loan relief limited for many by US drug war’s legacy AP
Top agent exits FBI amid charge of political bias undermining Hunter Biden probe, sources say Washington Times
2024
Feds cite efforts to ‘obstruct’ probe of classified documents found at Trump’s Florida estate AP. From the DOJ filing:
NEWS: DOJ’s new filing includes. photo of the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8. https://t.co/nm567c96bi pic.twitter.com/0U2hoSogxQ
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 31, 2022
That rug really ties the room together.
Trump’s possession of intelligence documents raises fears for national security The Hill
Trump hires ex-Florida solicitor general Chris Kise to lead his FBI raid defense NY Post
Realignment and Legitimacy
The Accelerating Threat of the Political Assassination War on the Rocks
RussiaGate
Biden’s Disinformation Dependables: Bash Joins A Line of Biden Officials Who Pushed False “Russian Disinformation” Claims Jonathan Turley. The story continues.
Big Brother Is Watching You
Micky Dolenz Sues FBI to Get Full File on The Monkees Billboard (Re Silc).
Supply Chain
A US Freight Rail Crisis Threatens More Supply Chain Chaos Wired. The deck: “Federal regulators and the White House have been scrambling to prevent poor service and a possible strike from jamming up a vital but often overlooked network.” Mayor Pete’s busy or out of the office?
The Bezzle
Crypto’s Real Value Was Never $3 Trillion Bloomberg. The deck: “The true value of the crypto market isn’t what its believers suggest, but it’s nothing to sneer at, either.” I would never sneer at zero. It’s a very important number.
Sports Desk
‘It’s an epic saga’: An exotic beetle, Barry Bonds, Joey Votto and the end of ash baseball bats The Athletic
Groves of Academe
Worried about Student-Loan Debt? Start Firing Administrators National Review
UCLA professors allegedly charged certain students extra fees. They want to hide the scheme LA Times
Guillotine Watch
Mercedes-Maybach Has Risen Gloriously From the Dead, Again Bloomberg
Class Warfare
Neronian Ruling Class Fiddles While West Burns The American Conservative
Graduates of Elite Universities Dominate the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Study Finds The Intercept. That’s why reporting should be a trade, not a profession.
Chomsky’s puzzling PR strategy Carl Beijer
Cryptic 4,000-year-old writing system may finally be deciphered LiveScience. Linear Elamite stans rejoice!
The AI Researcher Giving Her Field Its Bitter Medicine Quanta. Tenser, said the Tensor.
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus antidote. Time for Maru again:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
