A Magnificent 1,000 Day Mushroom Timelapse Laughing Squid (resilc)
‘I knew aliens were real’: Marine’s footage of mystery objects over military base sparks UFO talk Raw Story (furzy)
Triangle-Wheeled Bike Gives New Meaning to ‘Tricycle’ Gizmodo
Questioning physicians about health conditions at medical licensure registration: How should policy evolve in Canada? CMAJ (Dr. Kevin)
German surgeon fired after getting hospital cleaner to assist amputation Associated Press (resilc)
#COVID-19
China’s New Covid Wave Set to See 65 Million Cases a Week Bloomberg (ma)
Minimizers are surely going to start in with “maybe those kids were already at risk for diabetes and also at higher risk for COVID”.
Maybe that’s it, and COVID infection doesn’t actually lead to diabetes.
Either way, the answer is DON’T JUST LET KIDS GET INFECTED REPEATEDLY. https://t.co/0HU6WkUNMl
— T. Ryan Gregory (@TRyanGregory) May 23, 2023
China?
More unwarranted US sense of its own superiority. And I recall Scott Ritter saying months ago China could and would sink a US aircraft carrier before it got very far:
I understand many will dismiss this report as nothing but nonsensical Chinese propaganda.
I am, on the other hand, very inclined to believe it describes precisely what would happen to a US carrier group in a war scenario in the South China Sea.
1/2https://t.co/qzvgL0kYSV
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) May 24, 2023
A Poor Province in China Splurged on Bridges and Roads. Now It’s Facing a Debt Reckoning Wall Street Journal
Climate/Environment
PIPELINE COMPANY SPENT BIG ON POLICE GEAR TO USE AGAINST STANDING ROCK PROTESTERS Intercept (resilc)
Incredible: China is on track to install 154 gigawatts of solar capacity this year, which is more than the entire total ever installed in the US (144 gigawatts)!https://t.co/AGFO2RCalx
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) May 23, 2023
Climate scientists flee Twitter as hostility surges following Musk’s takeover France24 (furzy)
France bans short-haul domestic flights that could be made by train ABC Australia (Kevin W)
As the West surges toward electric cars, here’s where the unwanted gas guzzlers go Bloomberg (ma)
Cocoa planting is destroying protected forests in west Africa, study finds Guardian (resilc)
European Disunion
Normalization on the Extreme Right: Alternative for Germany Party Again Gaining Ground Der Spiegel (resilc)
Greece: another chapter CADTM (Micael T)
Old Blighty
They don’t think the rules apply to people like them. They never did – and they still don’t. They think rules are for little people. https://t.co/B2eYnlmT5t
— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) May 23, 2023
New Not-So-Cold War
German spy chief sees no ‘cracks’ in Putin system DW. Resilc: “Geeeee what newzzzzzzzzz.”
IS NATO A NAZI ORGANIZATION? [MATT EHRET AND CARY HARRISON ON KPFK 90.7 FM] Bitchute (Micael T)
Ukraine war: US distances itself from Belgorod incursion into Russia BBC (Kevin W)
F-16s To Ukraine Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
The War in Ukraine Was Provoked—and Why That Matters to Achieve Peace Common Dreams (furzy)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
U.S. Intelligence Building System to Track Mass Movement of People Around the World Vice (resilc)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Pentagon loses a million F-35 parts RT
2024
70 percent of US voters fear intel agencies will interfere in elections: Harvard poll The Cradle (Kevin W). Wowsers
Biden
Driver who crashed at White House said he wanted to kill Biden, ‘seize power,’ officials say NBC (furzy)
GOP Clown Car
DeSantis’s $13.5m police program lures officers with violent records to Florida Guardian (resilc)
Risk and reward as Ron DeSantis links arms with Elon Musk BBC
Democrats en déshabillé
Obama promised the average would save $2,500 a year in premiums with the ACA.
Let’s do the numbers. In 2009 health costs for a family of four was $16,771 a year. Last year it was $30,260. That’s $13,500 a year, every year, of added cost for a family.
That’s… very bad.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) May 22, 2023
Texas bills on school chaplains, 10 Commandments merge church and state Washington Post (furzy)
Our No Longer Free Press
Australia’s Creepy Covid Cops Matt Taibbi
Gunz
Mass shootings’ cascading impact Your Local Epidemiologist (Dr. Kevin)
What Unites Organised Crime in Europe With Rebels in Myanmar? 3D-Printed Guns. Vice
Debt Ceiling
White House and Republicans struggle to make headway in debt ceiling talks Financial Times
The Democrats Have Already Lost the Debt Ceiling Fight New Republic. Resilc: “Like abortion, when they had years to do something. Always political theater for next electionzzzz.”
Biden is at his moment of maximum risk. Look out. Ryan Grim
Saddled with Trump, unpopular policies, GOP toys with tanking economy under Biden MSNBC
U.S. Treasury asks about later payments as debt ceiling deadline nears Washington Post (furzy)
Court sets legal showdown on debt limit 14th Amendment argument Politico (furzy)
Opinion: The best way to deal with the debt ceiling: Ignore it Los Angeles Times
AI
Fake Pentagon explosion photo goes viral: How to spot an AI image Al Jazeera (furzy). So what might focus minds is that AI could generate propaganda better and cheaper than the official kind.
Bill Gates Says AI Could Kill Google Search and Amazon As We Know Them CNBC
“If I am having a conversation with someone, and I cannot tell whether it is a human or an AI—that’s the end of democracy,” warns @harari_yuval in a guest essay
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) May 4, 2023
Microsoft launches AI moderation tool RT (Kevin W)
Ford Decides It Won’t Kill AM Radio After All The Verge
The Bezzle
Binance Commingled Customer Funds and Company Revenue, Former Insiders Say Reuters
Crypto sector gets its first set of global rules from watchdog Reuters. Global coordination did not get much of anywhere after the crisis.
U.S. Is ‘Losing’ the Bitcoin Movement: Cathie Wood Coindesk. As if that were a bad thing.
Virgin Orbit Shuts Down After Bankruptcy Sales CNBC
Guillotine Watch
The Joy (and Anxiety) of Sleeping on $2,000 Sheets New York Times (resilc)
More super rich names are coming up in the Jeffrey Epstein cases Washington Post (Kevin W)
US authorities destroyed dossiers on Lord Mountbatten at the request of the British Government after discovery of wartime FBI file accusing aristocrat of having a ‘perversion for young boys’, historian claims Daily Mail
Class Warfare
Who’s Funding ‘No Labels’? Pro-GOP Billionaires Opposed to Democracy Common Dreams (furzy)
Tory anti-strikes bill passes latest vote as UK trade unions mount token protest WSWS
Toward a Leisure Ethic Hedgehog Review (Micael T)
Antidote du jour (furzy):
And a bonus (Chuck L):
The Alpine Ibex (a herbivore) lacks salt and other essential minerals in their diet which they can’t get from grass. So the Ibex has to seek out natural salt licks. In springtime, when salt requirements are the highest, the Ibex can be seen licking rock surfaces or dam walls for… pic.twitter.com/i9PjoiL2ip
— Levandov (@blabla112345) May 21, 2023
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
