The big idea: Are cats really domesticated? Guardian
Scientists find crocodile ‘virgin birth’ at Costa Rica zoo Reuters
“Someone always knows”:
Well, this is unusual.
On June 5th, someone opened new $COIN $50 weekly puts for $107,000. They were 19% OTM & expired in four days!!!
On June 6th, the SEC sued Coinbase, $COIN.
Those positions were up 2572%.
They turned $100K to millions.
Someone always knows. pic.twitter.com/NRtZOqSRZt
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) June 7, 2023
Climate
The Big Smoke:
Canadian wildfire smoke moves into Northeast U.S. Wildfire Today. Indeed:
This is absolutely wild. I have been a pilot and aircraft owner for thirty five years and I have never seen anything like this
This is an aviation “sectional” map. Each green/blue/red/pink dot is an airport reporting weather
Green is the “best” weather. Pink is the “worst.” pic.twitter.com/NilzetnrjG
— Gregory Travis. Make schools #DavosSafe (@greg_travis) June 7, 2023
Wildfire smoke makes New York air quality worst in the world FT. Looks like a Beijing sandstorm:
Ah well, nevertheless:
Hochul: 1 million N95 masks to be available to New Yorkers Thursday NY1. Not “Baggy Blues”? And we had them all along?
A long thread on how to protect yourself:
1/n Because public health is so incompetent here are my thoughts if you’re at home surrounded by wildfire smoke.
A. If you have the wherewithal – prepare your home for vacation & leave until its safe to come back. Arrange to meet your home owners insurance requirements.
— Robert Bean #COVIDisAirborne (@healthyheating) June 6, 2023
Especially “J. Stay hydrated!”
A Public Power victory in New York State MR Online
An Uncertain Energy Transition a Century Ago JSTOR Daily
Water
Las Vegas Won’t Save the Water It Needs by Just Removing Lawns ProPublica
“Forever Chemicals” Makers Hid Dangers for Decades The Lever
#COVID19
Coronaviruses Use ACE2 Monomers as Entry-Receptors Angewandte Chemie International Edition. From the Abstract: “[O]ur data demonstrate that a single S protein interaction per virus particle with a monomeric ACE2 receptor is sufficient for infection, which provides SARS-CoV-2 a high infectivity.”
SARS-CoV-2 infection and viral fusogens cause neuronal and glial fusion that compromises neuronal activity Science. From the Abstract: “e show that SARS-CoV-2 infection induces fusion between neurons and between neurons and glia in mouse and human brain organoids…. We demonstrate that neuronal fusion is a progressive event, leads to the formation of multicellular syncytia, and causes the spread of large molecules and organelles. Last, using Ca2+ imaging, we show that fusion severely compromises neuronal activity. These results provide mechanistic insights into how SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses affect the nervous system, alter its function, and cause neuropathology.” Well, that’s awful!
Predictive power of wastewater for nowcasting infectious disease transmission: a retrospective case study of five sewershed areas in Louisville, Kentucky medRxiv. From the Interpretation: “These findings show that wastewater data may be valuable for infectious disease nowcasting when clinical surveillance data are absent, such as early in a pandemic or in low-resource settings where systematic collection of epidemiologic data is difficult.” “Low resource” settings like the entire United States!
Why more needs to be done to reduce COVID-19 transmission in health and aged care settings Croakey. Australia. “‘In Canberra Hospital ICU there are people dressed in full PPE, negative pressure rooms and pretty extreme measures to contain the two people there with COVID to ensure it’s not spreading. But outside of the ICU masks were optional. This makes no sense – either it’s safe to be around COVID or it’s not,’ Wallace said.” It makes sense to Hospital Infection Control. They are controlling for droplets in the ICU. To them, Covid is not airborne, and so does not spread through the entire facility.”
Attempting to define Long COVID: The NIH-funded RECOVER initiative trial WSWS Cf. NC here.
China?
Chinese banks slash deposit rates in bid to boost sluggish growth FT
Beijing voices support for Taiwan’s pro-unification forces in latest exchange South China Morning Post
Myanmar
In the targets of the junta: life and war inside rebel-held Myanmar Guardian
India
Need for Speed Has Taken Focus off Rail Safety The Wire
Syraqistan
Pakistan’s Imran Khan formally named in ‘abetting’ lawyer’s drive-by murder Channel News Asia
Dear Old Blighty
#2 The Startup Party: reflections on the last 20 years, what could replace the Tories, and why Dominic Cummings
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine Situation Report: Offensive Going Better Than Expected, U.S. Says The Drive. So sayeth spook asset David Ignatius.
Has Ukraine’s counteroffensive really begun? The Atlantic Council. On the Atlantic Council, see this illuminating article from Racket News, linked to yesterday.
First Leg of AFU’s Offensive Has Begun Simplicius the Thinker(s)
At The Bleeding Edge Of Ukraine’s Counteroffensive, The Ukrainian Marine Corps Switches Up Its Tactics Forbes. Putting armored personnel carrier lipstick on the tankless pig.
Wagner chief makes prediction if Putin’s army loses territory to Ukraine CNN. Useless. Russia has form: They will trade space for Russian casualties. They may well “lose” territory. But the meatgrinder will still grind away, chewing up public relations as it goes.
Ukraine ramps up operations as dam destruction blame game unfolds Al Jazeera
In pictures: The collapse of Ukraine’s Nova Kakhovka dam BBC. After an old lady in a boat, a young woman holding a cat.
The West isn’t ready to give Ukraine the security pledges it wants Politico
Zelenskyy comments on Washington Post investigation claiming Ukraine planned to blow up Nord Stream pipelines Ukrainska Pravda
Russia warns that supplying nuclear weapons to Ukraine would lead to ‘global, irrevocable collapse‘ Anadolu Agency
“Cover Those Nazi Symbols, Please?” Matt Taibbi, Racket News. The real “embedding” is in their heads.
Spook Country
FBI helps Ukraine censor Twitter users and obtain their info, including journalists Aaron Maté. Well worth a read.
Lie, Cheat, and Steal: The CIA’s Disastrous Scientific Legacy Science for the People
2024
Prosecutors ready to ask for Trump indictment on obstruction and Espionage Act charges The Independent. Some may find it comforting to know that Assange was indicted under the same Act (hat tip, President Wilson, progressive icon).
Big Tech rolls back misinformation measures ahead of 2024 Axios
South of the Border
Lula reveals new plan to stop deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon region Anadolu Agency
Peru’s president testifies in hearing over deaths during anti-government protests Anadolu Agency
Digital Watch
First Impressions of Vision Pro and VisionOS Daring Fireball
Tools for Enslavement The American Conservative
Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network WSJ. As vast as Epstein’s black book?
How a Chatbot Went Rogue WSJ. “‘We can’t yet trust AI to offer sound mental-health advice,’ said [Ellen Fitzsimmons-Craft, an associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine].”
Healthcare
Why a showdown over Jared Polis’ big health insurance reform program fizzled — and what it means Colorado Sun. Democrats will die in the last ditch defending insurance companies, who this time around are sabotaging a state-level “public option.” Nobody could have predicted….
Black Injustice Tipping Point
Dream of reparations hits political reality in California Politico
Class Warfare
Giving It All Up For The Davos Elite Pandemic Enclave. As I have often said: “‘Democidal’ elites is a parsimonious explanation.” Though “democidal” never took, nor has “eugenicist.” Perhaps “Depopulating.”
The economic consequences of major tax cuts for the rich (PDF) LSE Research Online. From 2020, still germane. The Abstract: “This paper uses data from 18 OECD countries over the last five decades to estimate the causal effect of major tax cuts for the rich on income inequality, economic growth, and unemployment. First, we use a new encompassing measure of taxes on the rich to identify instances of major reduction in tax progressivity. Then, we look at the causal effect of these episodes on economic outcomes by applying a nonparametric generalization of the difference-in-differences indicator that implements Mahalanobis matching in panel data analysis. We find that major reforms reducings taxes on the rich lead to higher income inequality as measured by the top 1% share of pre-tax national income. The effect remains stable in the medium term. In contrast, such reforms do not have any significant effect on economic growth and unemployment.”
For an Inch of Blue Sea Verso
Catalina Swinburn Meticulously Excavates the History and Ceremony of Textiles in Her Woven Paper ‘Investitures’ Colossal
Martin Luther and “Shiny Happy People”: Reflections on Parenting, God, and Reformations Patheos
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
