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A Three-Legged Bear Walks Into a Bar New York Times (furzy)
I Create Minimal Illustrations Featuring Cats Blended Into Landscapes And Other Scenes Bored Panda
Amazing Discovery Claims Elephants Have Specific ‘Names’ For Each Other ScienceAlert (Chuck L)
Golden Orb Found at The Bottom of The Ocean Mystifies Scientists ScienceAlert Chuck L)
Man Tried to Travel the Atlantic in a Hamster Wheel, U.S. Says. Again. New York Times (furzy). He’s proving to have a better survival record than Mr. Titanic Submersible.
“QBism”: The most radical interpretation of quantum mechanics ever Big Think (David L)
MOXIE, an oxygen generator on Mars Perseverance Rover produced oxygen USA Today (furzy)
Remembering Doug Lenat (1950–2023) and His Quest to Capture the World with Logic Stephan Wolfram (David L)
Company pulls spicy chip challenge with teen’s death under investigation The Hill
Smuggler or Rescuer? London Review of Books (guurst)
STEERING WITH SOPHOCLES Antigone (Anthony L)
The Subtlety of J.R.R. Tolkien New York Times (David L). Forgive all the NYT links, but they just had a good run of lighter fare.
Stalin’s Gamble: The Search for Allies against Hitler, 1930–1936 The Postil. Anthony L: “For the history buffs and for a better understanding of today.”
The 3 myths of mindfulness Big Think (Micael T)
Climate/Environment
Heat pumps show how hard decarbonisation will be Economist (David L)
How manure blew up the Netherlands Mongabay (guurst)
China?
It’s no longer a given that China will become the world’s largest economy Financial Times
In Western scaremongering, the alleged Chinese social credit system or social credit score is played up, but does it even exist? Eastern Angle (Micael T)
Extreme projection article of the day, the level of irony is unbelievable. Especially given the fact both authors earn a living from the American military industrial complex.
Reminder: China has spent $0 of wars in 40+ years and its defense budget as a share of GDP hasn’t… pic.twitter.com/huDCuJh7UN
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) September 9, 2023
Indonesia
The Indonesian presidential election produces an unexpected twist Modern Diplomacy (Micael T)
LEAKED: CIA FRONT PREPARING COLOR REVOLUTION IN INDONESIA Mint Press (Micael T)
Dollar Rally Raises Alarm as Japan, China Step Up Defenses Bloomberg (furzy). From earlier in the week, still germane.
South of the Border
Brazil’s Supreme Court Invalidates all evidence from Odebrecht Leniency Agreements De-Linking Brazil (guurst)
US judge says Argentina owes about $16 billion after YPF payout trial Reuters (Kevin W)
European Disunion
Climate regulation is driving support for populism, says EU parliament chief Financial Times
Free voters are getting stronger in polls after the “flyer affair”. Anti-Spiegel (Micael T, via machine translation)
New Not-So-Cold War
Hawks want Biden to take the fight with Russia global Responsible Statecraft
Elon Musk Refused to Enable Ukraine Drone Attack on Russian Fleet New York Times (furzy)
Ice cracking sounds on frozen lake of US-Russia relations Indian Punchline (Kevin W)
Tightened conscription in Ukraine targets mainly Russian speakers — a ploy of the Banderite regime to have “subhumans” killed by “subhumans”? Eastern Angle (Micael T)
Ukrainian Phone Scammers Have Switched From Swindling To Orchestrating Terrorist Attacks Andrew Korybko
The US aim is not to defend Ukraine, but bleed Russia. Hence the slow drip-feed of weapons that were once ruled out, but then suddenly allowed at the opportune moment to prolong the bleeding. And it’s Ukraine that will bleed the most. https://t.co/xqvnVjIecT
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) September 9, 2023
NATO Chief Openly Admits Russia Invaded Ukraine Because Of NATO Expansion Caitlin Johnstone (furzy)
Syraqistan
The End of Widady JewishCurrents (guurst)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
If You’ve Got a New Car, It’s a Data Privacy Nightmare Gizmodo (guurst). Confirming your suspicions…
Pick Up Your Dog’s Poop or Else! Nautilus. Micael T: “No public policy, like training or social education for dog owners, instead a neoliberal surveillance-tech market solution.”
Apple issues emergency patch after Pegasus spyware breach Financial Times (David L)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Western sanctions failing: EU imports more Russian gas, China beats US tech war Geopolitical Economy
Why Swiss Neutrality is essential for American national security Scott Ritter (Micael T)
The unshakeable Putin-Erdogan nexus The Cradle
Trump
Audio: Michigan fake elector outlines Jan. 6 plan to present Mike Pence with “dueling electors” Salon (furzy)
Fani Willis accuses Rep. Jim Jordan of ‘partisan misrepresentations’ over inquiry of election case Associated Press. Normally one would think Jordan is merely trouble-making and Congress indeed has no business trying to interfere with a state prosecution. But by Republican standards, Jordan is pretty careful and I read his demands as formulated to be able to get some traction, that he was highly aware of the irregularity of what he was doing and was trying to find a viable path (and the possibility of DoJ coordination/support for a nominally independent case may amount to that, that is over my pay grade). I confess to not having read the dueling letters. I have no doubt some of Willis’ retorts have merit but I also wonder if she has also straw manned some of Jordan’s queries.
British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read London Daily (furzy). Amazing how many brains Trump inhabits rent free. As I have said repeatedly, I am not a fan but I continue to be astonished by the intensity of reactions.
Immigration
Migrant crisis will ‘destroy’ New York City, mayor says The Hill (furzy)
To see the long-form version:
BREAKING: Mayor Adams basically conceding New York City is done because of illegal immigration and warns New Yorkers illegals will flood ALL neighborhoods. pic.twitter.com/Lj5E3BSvDX
— nycphotog (@nycphotog) September 7, 2023
Watchdog Finds Trump Border Wall Harmed Environment, Indigenous Sites, and Wildlife Common Dreams
Our No Longer Free Press
Biden administration coerced social media giants into possible free speech violations: court USA Today. Taibbi should take a victory lap.
Abortion
As more abortion bans occur, many patients must travel hundreds of miles for care — or be stranded Salon (furzy). Abortion was why the Dems did better than expected in the midterms. Will it rescue them in 2024?
The Harms of Denying a Woman a Wanted Abortion Findings from the Turnaway Study ANSIRH (furzy)
On cue: Republicans try to find new term for pro-life to stave off more electoral losses NBC (furzy)
Gunz
New Mexico governor issues order suspending the right to carry firearms in public across Albuquerque (furzy) Associated Press. Note a 30 day ban on a public health basis.
Could someone explain to me this show of unseriousness about the gun ban? If you are going to test the Constitution, don’t do it in a half assed manner:
Yea, I doubt a federal judge is going to look kindly at this press conference where Governor Michelle Grisham (D.) openly talks about wanting to arrest licensed gun carriers and her view that her own oath of office is not absolute. This video is wild. pic.twitter.com/gKOYjj4S8A
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) September 9, 2023
American Values
Another Christian influencer arrested for child abuse: Why conservatives keep falling for these cons Salon (furzy)
AI
CALL OF DUTY TAKES AIM AT VOICE CHAT TOXICITY, DETAILS YEAR-TO-DATE MODERATION PROGRESS Call of Duty. BC: “The dial just fell off my irony meter…”
Guillotine Watch
As if the iPhone 15 wasn’t expected to be expensive enough! Designers create a $564,000 version of Apple’s upcoming smartphone with 570 diamonds encrusted in the back Daily Mail (BC). I hope someone makes LOTS of rhinestone imitations “
Class Warfare
Who and What Was a Knocker-Upper? JSTOR (Micael T)
The IRS plans to crack down on 1,600 millionaires to collect millions of dollars in back taxes Associated Press. Kevin W: “But not billionaires. Never billionaires.”
Antidote du jour (Tracie H). One fundraiser donor was concerned we were deviating from our cat affinity by having a rash of cute puppy images. So:
And a bonus:
We all need a hug sometimes.. 😊 pic.twitter.com/JaS30OFISU
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) September 9, 2023
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
