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.
Floating Human Foot at Yellowstone Is Grim Reminder of Hot Spring Dangers Agence France-Presse (Chuck L). Eeew.
“Never seen Jupiter like this’: James Webb telescope shows incredible view of planet Guardian (furzy)
Illuminated Cut Paper Landscapes Encapsulate Enchanting Worlds in Glass Vessels MyModernMet (David L)
Risk of volcano catastrophe ‘a roll of the dice’ ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
Do WTC Responders With Cognitive Impairment Show Signs of a New Form of Dementia? Stony Brook
AI Model Can Detect Parkinson’s From Breathing Patterns MIT News
Electrical Currents To the Brain Improve Memory for Older Adults, Study Finds The Verge
Why I Left Academia (Since You’re Wondering) Quilette (Anthony L). Important.
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
Regular physical activity may lessen Covid risks, study finds Guardian (Dr. Kevin)
Note that there’s even more data suggesting that getting Covid also depletes T cells (Anthony Leonardi has been all over this, for instance). Nevertheless:
It looks like the theory of T cell damage from the jabs is being verified. 😞 pic.twitter.com/wtxjNYS9Ze
— Jinnia (@JinniaDivinia) August 21, 2022
Have not yet gotten Covid brain trust input, so take with a grain of salt:
“The potential for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to be the catalyst of this patient’s cutaneous manifestations of his immune system responses is also hypothesized.”
I’m afraid that secondary syphilis might be a vaccine-associated comorbidity.https://t.co/5TXG1ABmCy
— Hiroshi Yasuda (保田浩志) (@Yash25571056) August 20, 2022
Asia
When u arrive at a hotel in Shanghai these days ur given a document with every high and medium risk area in China on it. You are told to check the list and confirm with signature that you have not been to one of these places recently pic.twitter.com/fMN4jYUzTT
— Don Weinland (@donweinland) August 22, 2022
Exclusive: Covaxin’s Manufacturing Practices Remain ‘Unacceptable’ Says WHO The Wire (J-LS)
Climate/Environment
Why the US Army electrifies this water YouTube (Steve D)
One flood-ravaged Kentucky community is suing a coal company, saying its negligence made damage even worse NBC (furzy)
China?
Has China’s show of force over Taiwan revealed a well-coordinated military? South China Morning Post
India
Euro Falls Below Parity With the Dollar Reuters
Citi projects UK inflation to breach 18% in January as energy prices skyrocket CNBC
Ai Weiwei Unveils Thought-Provoking Cage Installation Commenting on Refugees in Europe My Modern Met (David L)
New Not-So-Cold War
A Deadly Glimpse of Russia’s Bombardment of Ukrainian troops Larry Johnson (Chuck L)
* * * Ukraine – Dugina Killer Identified – War Of Attrition Continues Moon of Alabama
From Politico’s European newsletter:
GAS PRICE JUMP: The sun may still be shining as Europeans soak up the final rays of the summer, but it looks like a long, tough winter ahead. Spot gas prices rose to a high of €292 per megawatt hour on Monday in intraday trading — a new record, as markets brace for gas shortages.
Details: The price surge was triggered by Russia’s state-owned Gazprom announcing it would stop supply through the Nord Stream pipeline — again — at the end of the month for three days of “maintenance.” But as our colleague America Hernandez reports, worries about gas supplies aren’t confined to the Russian-Germany pipe connection.
No-flow Norway: In Norway, gas export flows are down by about 34 million cubic meters per day, due to a series of gas field production outages this week. That’s roughly equal to all the gas currently flowing through Nord Stream. But Norway’s volumes are expected to ramp back up before the end of the month.
No respite: Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Monday that Europe could be facing “five to 10” difficult winters — an alarming reminder that there’s no quick fix to the energy crisis.
Another shocking day in European gas / power:
Dutch TTF nat gas jumps to €295 per MWh (that’s almost $500 per barrel of oil equivalent)
And record prices in the benchmark 1-year forward electricity market. France (chart) surges >€800 per MWh and Germany rises >€700 per MWh pic.twitter.com/I5NmmVyNy6
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 22, 2022
Neighbors warn Norway about dangerous solo show Energy Watch. More descriptive headline would be: “Sweden, Denmark and Finland plead with Norway not to cut electricity.”
Ukraine battles to avoid hyperinflation as war costs soar DW
* * * August inflection point (Live) w/Andrei Martyanov & Larry Johnson The Duran
Discussing Ukraine. Glenn Diesen interviews Scott Ritter and Alexander Mercouris YouTube. A bit long but informative, particularly opening section on Russian adaptation and logistics..
IHC to initiate contempt proceedings against Imran for controversial remarks regarding sessions judge Dawn ((J-LS)
Syraqistan
What if the US took a more nuanced view of Iran? Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Google labels parents as sex offenders for photos of own naked toddlers – NYT RT (Kevin W). See what you get with Google as your new overlord.
Assange
The CIA plan to kill or kidnap @WikiLeaks Publisher and Journalist Julian Assange in London | @CBSNews #FreeAssangeNOW pic.twitter.com/2gq6OpV3W6
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 19, 2022
Imperial Collapse Watch
Military families’ housing benefits lag as rents explode Associated Press
Giant slide closed down hours after opening because of major design error LADBible (David L)
1/6
Mike Pence Owes the Country an Explanation Atlantic (David L)
Trump Raid
Trump sues justice department over Mar-a-Lago search BBC (furzy). A lawyer in the readership thinks the 4th Amendment claims could stick (the warrant was arguably a verboten general warrant), but Trump has seldom had good representation in court.
Trump’s legal team asks for ‘special master’ to go through Mar-a-Lago evidence and determine if some should be returned CNN (Kevin W)
Gang of 8 wants to see Trump Mar-a-Lago search docs Politico
Other Trump
Trump’s attack on Elaine Chao revs up feud with McConnell The Hill
Copied voting systems files were shared with Trump supporters, election deniers Washington Post (furzy)
Cheney to launch anti-Trump organization after primary defeat Politico (furzy)
Cheney vows to fight other Republicans who embrace Trump’s election lie Guardian (furzy)
Democrats en déshabillé
Democrats angling to defeat Stefanik look to donors nationwide Times Union, Albany and Similar platforms, different strategies: Castelli, Putorti vie for Democratic nomination to challenge Stefanik Adirondack Daily Enterprise bob:
This is a primary race to run against Stefanik, a well known trump sycophant.
If you can believe any of this shit, the current favoirte* is a CIA agent.
*NY primary polls are not very predictive, they usually show what the DNC wants to happen. In very recent times “the leader” 2 days before the election ended up losing by over 10points.Now back to his resume- how would his former employer approach this situation? Bribe the locals and run some push pols.
The other frontrunner in the race is an Oxford grad.
Real men of the people.
And now fundraising!
CIA man launders money via election fund raising. I know, I know, how can anyone say where the laundering begins and the fund raising stops.
Abortion
U.S. judge questions Idaho abortion ban challenged by Biden administration Reuters (furzy)
Gunz
Parkland gunman’s brain irretrievably broken, jury hears BBC (furzy)
That mysterious New Jersey deli once owned by a publicly traded company is closed, regulatory filing shows CNBC (Kevin W)
Ford Confirms Layoffs, Says It Is Cutting About 3,000 Jobs Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk Subpoenas Former Twitter CEO in Legal Battle Over $44B Deal CNET
Tesla’s ‘full self-driving’ controversy now features homemade mannequins and tests on real kids CNN (Dr. Kevin)
Home Sellers Are Slashing Prices in Pandemic Boomtowns Bloomberg
Seven Philosophies Better Than Longtermism Intercept
Class Warfare
Criminal barristers in England and Wales vote to go on all-out strike BBC (Kevin W)
Workers at UK’s biggest container port Felixstowe due to begin 8-day strike Reuters
Paywatch: Top Lifeguards are Making a Killing Statista (Dr. Kevin)
Struggling Taxi Drivers See Congestion Pricing as Fee That Breaks Their Backs The City
Americans’ Pay Floor for Accepting a New Job Rises to $73,000 Bloomberg
Bullshit. Canceling all student debt would improve the lives of 45 million Americans. Wanna pay for it? Tax the damn Wall Street speculators who made you obscenely rich, Larry, the same guys you helped bail out. And by doing that we could also make public colleges tuition free. https://t.co/6soOqJlq8O
— Warren Gunnels (@GunnelsWarren) August 22, 2022
Antidote du jour. Tracie H:
Dove and black-breasted Phoenix red rooster palling around together beside the Kern River. You may not be able to use this one. It’s difficult to get a good photo of a white bird and a black bird, especially when back-lit, that does them both justice, and I’m not sure I did either of them justice—I was just eager to get a picture of them together.
And a bonus (Cliff H). A fan movie of sorts:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
