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.
Japanese Shrine Creates Custom Water Sanctuary for Honey Bees To Stay Hydrated My Modern Met (David L)
A man paddled 38 miles down the Missouri River in hollowed-out pumpkin CNN (furzy)
The British islands that disappear every day BBC (furzy)
Artemis I launch scrubbed due to engine issue NBC
‘Man of the Hole’: Last of his tribe dies in Brazil BBC (Kevin W)
It took everything’: the disease that can be contracted by breathing California’s air Guardian (resilc). Eeek!
Microscopy technique finds hidden nanostructures in cells and tissues Mirage (Kevin W)
Wrinkly ‘sac’ with no anus probably isn’t humans’ earliest ancestor. (Thank goodness!) Live Science. Anthony L: “If I had any taste I wouldn’t send this.”
Why Commonsense Knowledge is not (and can not be) Learned Walid Saba (David L)
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
Long and recurrent COVID are a massive strain on our workforce and our economy.
We need to minimise our COVID case burden: relaxing isolation rules will not do that.
The evidence is clear. 5 days iso is not enough. pic.twitter.com/p4WS7XW8JE
— Dr Monique Ryan MP (@Mon4Kooyong) August 30, 2022
US
US cuts off free COVID-19 rapid testing WSWS
New: Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor rejects bid by NYC police detective to block city’s requirement that employees get Covid vaccine. She denies request with no explanation and without asking city to respond.https://t.co/Yyf9E74w0k
— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr) August 29, 2022
California’s Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would allow regulators to punish doctors for spreading false information about Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments. https://t.co/P0blXHBcE4
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 30, 2022
My right wing contact says this is a big deal, hence the tweets above to show Covid measures are of continuing interest to some:
‘LESSONS LEARNED’: @joerogan offers advice to Americans outraged by COVID-19 restrictions infringing on their lives. https://t.co/h14TyFZ6gp pic.twitter.com/V5jihlO0yv
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 30, 2022
Climate Change/Environment
Building a backyard ‘frog hotel’ could help species recover from bushfires abc.net.au (David L)
Elon Musk Says World Needs More Oil and Gas As Bridge To Renewables Bloomberg. So much for saving the planet
People are still moving to hot, dry places like Phoenix and Las Vegas Vox (resilc)
How Safe Is the Salmon on Your Plate? Bloomberg. Yours truly eats pretty much only boring but fairly safe wild canned sockeye from Alaska. There was a big expose in the early 2000s in NYC where the intrepid New York Magazine bought wild salmon from all sorts of supposedly reputable vendors like Citarella. They DNA tested it. Only one place sold actual wild salmon was a Zabars family breakaway, EAT on 3rd Avenue. That place is always so empty I wonder what business it is really in….
UK looks to Sweden for a solution to nuclear waste BBC (David L)
Zombie ice from Greenland will raise sea level 10 inches Associated Press (David L)
Does California have enough electricity to ban gas cars? Quartz. Resilc:
It’s like magic. It just happens. Our normal mail person is on vacation so only priority mail likely gets delivered for two weeks, so i am now told. UP drives a temp in a 75k$ new chevy monster pick up to deliver two “priority” books today. Point is, if we can’t staff the USPS, how can we staff grid builds???
Climate activists damage frame of a Rubens painting in Munich DW (resilc)
China?
Mahathir Mohamad urges Asean to move towards China after Taiwan ‘provocation’ Financial Times
Young and out of a job in China: how Covid-19 is creating an unemployment crisis South China Morning Post
Germany wants EU to cancel national vetoes RT (Kevin W). To facilitate EU expansion. As if that was such a bright idea.
Old Blighty
Dinosaurs extinct because they voted Tory Daily Mash
New Not-So-Cold War
Pentagon stockpiles ‘uncomfortably low’ due to Ukraine arms transfers: DoD Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Kherson: Ukraine claims new push in Russian-held region BBC
“Kherson Offensive” Announced by Western Media New Atlas, YouTube
How Ukraine is using resistance warfare developed by the US to fight back against Russia CNN. Alex Christaforu flagged this story, pointing out that this amounts to an admission that Ukraine has lost the conventional war. And as far as I can tell, this “resistance operating concept” is old color revolution wine in slightly less old bottles.
* * * Europe’s Economic And Social Suicide – Provoked by The U.S. And Helped Along By Europe’s Leaders Moon of Alabama (Chuck L). Shout outs to Michael Hudson and your humble blogger.
In Poland, where coal is king, dozens are lining up at the Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka coal mine, waiting for days and nights to stock up on heating fuel. Read more: https://t.co/jVGwSEfLam pic.twitter.com/zZV3vtzEQk
— Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) August 27, 2022
MORE – Wien Energie is reportedly not able to deposit over 1.7 billion euros as collateral next week due to skyrocketed wholesale power prices. The federal government has to step in.https://t.co/jjPFTdI7V5
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) August 28, 2022
* * * Britain’s financial support for Ukraine to run out by new year – Sunday Times RT. Kevin W: “Original Sunday Times article at https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/six-months-into-the-war-is-britain-suffering-ukraine-fatigue-vdqgkzr6w
Putin is trapped and desperate. Will his friends in the west rescue him? Simon Tisdall, Guardian (Kevin W). This would be funny except he believes it and some people listen to him.
The Mysterious Murder of Darya Dugina Masha Gessen, New Yorker (Kevin C). Your humble blogger does not buy this thesis, and my contacts who know Gessen and Russia don’t either. For instance, I have seen officers of big financial firms you heard of take credit for trades they didn’t do to present themselves as top dogs in a hot product (I knew they hadn’t done them because my client had). Ponomarev similarly has every reason to take credit to get more Western funding.
* * * Finland confiscates cash from Russians returning home – media RT (Kevin W)
From Politico’s morning European newsletter. Note Alexander Mercouris worries in his Monday video that the ban will go forward; the tone below suggests not:
GERMANY AND FRANCE POUR COLD WATER ON VISA BAN: Berlin and Paris are attempting to defuse a plan seeking to ban Russians from entering the EU on tourist visas. Leaders of eastern and Nordic countries have in the past weeks loudly called for the EU to close its borders to Russian travelers. But France and Germany are warning that could be counter-productive, strengthening President Vladimir Putin’s autocratic hold over his population rather than undermining it.
The conflict will come to a boil on Wednesday, when EU foreign affairs ministers meet in Prague. Ahead of that meeting, ministers from the pro-ban countries will gather separately to come up with a common position and decide how strongly they want to push for the travel restrictions, before heading to the full 27-minister meeting, according to several diplomats.
Fighting for Russian hearts and minds: France and Germany have circulated a memo to EU capitals, making clear they oppose a travel ban and warning against the unintended consequences of such a measure. “While limiting contacts with regime representatives and authorities to areas of vital EU interest, we need to strategically fight for the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Russian population — at least the segments not yet completely estranged from ‘the West,’” Paris and Berlin write in the memo, seen by POLITICO.
Battle lines: Pro-ban leaders argue emotionally that it’s unfair for wealthy Russians to be allowed to travel to Europe, seemingly unconcerned by the war on Ukraine. “I personally find it deeply provocative that Russian tourists can spend their vacation in Europe while Ukrainian cities are being shelled and destroyed,” Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod told my colleague Stuart Lau. “Seeing tourists here in Europe, Russian tourists, it’s like the war has no consequences … I think it’s wrong.”
Don’t stop the brain drain: France and Germany, however, argue that allowing Russians to leave their country is a good thing. They insist they “wish to maintain a legal framework that allows in particular students, artists, scholars, professionals — independent of whether they are at risk of prosecution on political grounds — to travel to the EU.” The memo warns “against far-reaching restrictions on our visa policy, in order to prevent feeding the Russian narrative and trigger unintended rallying-around the flag effects and/or estranging future generations.”
Pakistan
Pakistan floods: One third of country is under water – minister BBC (furzy)
IMF approves $1.1bn bailout package for Pakistan to help stave off default Financial Times
Syraqistan
Buildings stormed after Moqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi political leader, retires BBC (furzy)
PALACE COUP Watch as furious protesters storm palace and take dip in presidential swimming pool as police open fire on crowds The Sun (resilc)
Residents of Misafer Yatta being — Slowly Ethnically Cleansed by Israel — take Refuge in Cave Juan Cole (resilc)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
FTC Sues ‘Massive’ Data Broker for Selling Location Info on Abortion Clinics Vice (Kevin W)
Civilian AI Is Already Being Misused by the Bad Guys SpectrumIEEE (David L)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Why US hegemony is incompatible with a ‘rules-based international order’ Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Free Speech Doesn’t Matter If Propagandists Determine What People Say Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W
Trump Raid
Justice Department says it found “limited set” of potentially privileged material in Trump search CBS (furzy). Um, finding ANY attorney-client privileged docs is bad and could be used to argue that either the search was conducted improperly or that the warrant was overly broad and therefore a “general warrant” which is prohibited by the Fourth Amendment. But Trump seems to have a pretty weak legal team these days.
THE START OF THE UNRAVELING OF THE TRUMP MAR A LAGO RAID Larry Johnson (spud. Recall Johnson is former CIA…..
Biden
A ‘radical shift’ at the border is making things tougher for Biden CNN (furzy)
Supremes
Supreme Court Justice Alito’s Crusade Against a Secular America Isn’t Over New Yorker (furzy)
Democrats en déshabillé
Ruy Teixeira on the Democratic Majority That Never Emerged Wall Street Journal (furzy)
Hackers have laid siege to U.S. health care and a tiny HHS office is buckling under the pressure Politico (resilc)
Gunz
‘The Least Safe Day’: Rollout of Gun-Detecting AI Scanners in Schools Has Been a ‘Cluster,’ Emails Show Vice (resilc)
Police v. Prisons Barry Ritholtz (resilc)
When Private Equity Takes Over a Nursing Home New Yorker (resilc)
American Real Estate Was a Money Launderer’s Dream. That’s Changing. New York Times (resilc)
The Bezzle
Martin Shkreli claims porn virus cost him $450K in crypto tokens Input (Anthony L)
Trading Volume On Top NFT Marketplace OpenSea Down 99% Since May Fortune
The ‘Flashy, Gimmicky’ Student Debt Piñata Heisenberger Report (resilc)
Fed rate hikes won’t curb inflation if spending stays high, paper says CNBC (furzy). You cannot make this stuff up.
US Fed’s wrecking ball slams Asian markets Asia Times (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour (Tracie H). Your humble blogger is a skunk fan:
And a bonus (guurst):
— Ink Blot (@inkblotio) August 27, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
