Skunks’ warning stripes less prominent where predators are sparse, study finds (press release) University of Bristol
Aurubis to spend $700m on US smelter for recycling materials Mining Technology
Climate
The Emperor’s New Climate Scenarios (PDF) Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, University of Exeter
Oceanis: Financiers disagree on the meaning of ‘greenness’, making shipowners’ options less clear Hellenic Shipping News
Water
The Historic Claims That Put a Few California Farming Families First in Line for Colorado River Water ProPublica
#COVID19
Medical Board Reprimands Doctor Who Worked While COVID-Positive MedPage Today
Physicians’ Refusal to Wear Masks to Protect Vulnerable Patients—An Ethical Dilemma for the Medical Profession JAMA (antidlc). I don’t get it. What dilemma?
Recognition of COVID-19 with occupational origin: a comparison between European countries BMJ. “COVID-19 can be recognised as OD or OI in 94% of the European countries completing this survey, across different social security and embedded occupational health systems.” Let the lawsuits begin!
China?
What do we know about China’s new financial watchdog? Channel News Asia
Outspoken Chinese economist Yu Yongding issues stagflation warning on Beijing’s fiscal policies South China Morning Post
Syraqistan
‘This is a first step’: what the Israel-Hamas hostage agreement means FT. The Blob speaks:
This vile man is Stuart Seldowitz, former Director of the National Security Council under President Obama.
His identity was confirmed by the PR firm at which he most recently worked. https://t.co/jxUX8ngwhJ
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) November 21, 2023
Of course, Seldowitz was immediately thrown under the bus and lost his K Street gig, but how many more with his views are there, more circumspect?
Israel and Hamas agree to hostage deal, four-day pause in fighting in Gaza Axios. And after the “pause”:
It’s almost as if the IDF’s target is not Hamas and its tunnels at all, but the entire civilian population of Gaza.
The secret negotiations that led to the Gaza hostages deal Reuters
BRICS condemns Israel war on Gaza in signal to the West Al Jazeera
Israel-Gaza war: only a two-state solution can bring real peace, China president says in first public speech on conflict South China Morning Post. And we do what with 700,000 “settlers” on the West Bank?
An Open Letter on the Misuse of Holocaust Memory The New York Review
Opinion: Here’s what the mass violence in Gaza looks like to a scholar of genocide LA Times
Harvard Law Review Editors Vote to Kill Article about Genocide in Gaza The Intercept
Pro-Palestinian marches are far more frequent than pro-Israeli ones. How U.S. reaction to the Israel-Hamas war has changed LA Times
3 arrested after paint poured on Merrimack facility of Israel-based defense electronics company WMUR. Red paint. Commentary:
What happened at Elbit in Merrimack yesterday was an act of vandalism – not free speech. At a time of rising antisemitism in America, this must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I’m grateful to law enforcement for keeping Elbit employees safe. https://t.co/mc70pcHbVZ
— Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (@SenatorShaheen) November 21, 2023
Pending global threats from the Israel-Hamas war that are not being aired in Western media just yet Gilbert Doctorow. For example:
The Israeli-owned Galaxy Leader cargo ship, being escorted to Yemen by Houthi boats, now flying the Yemeni and Palestinian flags on its deck. pic.twitter.com/CdSJGRka0x
— Séamus Malekafzali (@Seamus_Malek) November 20, 2023
Israel’s fears, its delusions and its future (video) Daniel Levy, Middle East Eye. A calm voice:
[embedded content]
Israel allegedly enforces ‘Hannibal Protocol’ on Oct. 7, killing festival-goers to prevent their captivity Anadolu Agency
Israel’s Campaign Against Palestinian Olive Trees The Yale Review of International Studies
Fool Me Twice Séamus Malekafzali
European Disunion
The Swedish Left Failed the Vulnerable During the Pandemic Jacobin
More than 200 mobsters convicted in historic Italian mafia trial France24
New Not-So-Cold War
‘A perfect storm is brewing for Ukraine and its allies. Negative developments everywhere are converging’ Le Monde
Putin is having his best month since Russia invaded Ukraine The Times. It’s now mud season.
US and Germany risk owning Ukraine’s stalling war effort FT
Ukraine’s Bridgehead on the Dnipro, the Military Nuts and Bolts Kviv Post
South of the Border
López Obrador says state ‘mega pharmacy’ will open in December Mexico News Daily. Mexico is a serious country.
Biden Administration
Secretive White House Surveillance Program Gives Cops Access to Trillions of US Phone Records Wired (Chuck L).
Our Famously Free Press
Media Matters’ Deceitful Study to Silence X/Rumble. Plus: Darren Beattie on New 1/6 Tapes, Argentina’s Election, & Israel-Gaza Glenn Greenwald. Again, I remember very well how the spooks, the press, Parliamentary Labor, and the Israeli embassy took down Jeremy Corbyn with a dogpile of false charges of anti-semitism. So my heuristic is that all such charges are performative and motivated until proven otherwise.
Media Matters and the Fake News Era Go to Court (excerpt) Matt Taibbi, Racket News
Sacha Baron Cohen Slams TikTok: “Creating Biggest Antisemitic Movement Since the Nazis” Hollywood Reporter
Antitrust
With filing in Sanofi and Mylan insulin lawsuit, FTC amps up scrutiny on pharma’s patent tactics Fierce Pharma
Kellogg, Kraft Secure Victory in Price-Fixing Lawsuit Against Egg Producers Bloomberg
The Supremes
The Fifth Circuit Will Soon Be the New NLRB On Labor (PR). New source; About page.
Justices schedule major cases on deference to federal agencies SCOTUSblog
The Bezzle
Binance CEO CZ quits, Richard Teng to take over; crypto exchange to pay US$4 billion for money laundering The Business Times
Digital Watch
OpenAI says Sam Altman to return as chief executive under new board FT. The deck: “Former Salesforce chief Bret Taylor and former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers to join as directors.” Larry Summers. ZOMG. That [family blogging] guy.
The Money Always Wins The Atlantic. Altman (hence investor) hagiography. “As is always true in Silicon Valley, a great idea can get you only so far. It’s the money that gets you over the finish line.” Yes, that’s why robot cars are the success that they are.
What OpenAI shares with Scientology Crooked Timber
Meta disbanded its Responsible AI team The Verge
The Dystopian AI Future Some Fear Is the Present-Day Reality Others Live FAIR. A must-read.
Thanksgiving Pre-Game Festivities
US officials warn against dangers of deep-frying turkeys BBC
Healthcare
Just What the (Urgent Care) Doctor Ordered NYT (dougiedd). Dougiedd writes: “[T]his is nothing but an infomercial.” He’s right. (Whenever you see one of those harmless-looking, “friendly” illustrations, whether in a brochure, or a story that might as well be a brochure, like this one, watch out!)
UnitedHealth uses AI model with 90% error rate to deny care, lawsuit alleges Ars Technica. So, we’re dealing with a proven technology?
How the shakeup at OpenAI underscores the need for AI standards in health care STAT
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Era of Total U.S. Submarine Dominance Over China Is Ending WSJ
The Crumbling of the World Order and a Vision of Multipolarity: The Position of Russia and the West Valdai Discussion Club
Class Warfare
The UAW’s Game Changer: The Right to Strike over Mass Layoffs Les Leopold, Wall Street’s War on Workers
Anger Is What’s Driving the US Economy Bloomberg. “A deep-seated anger about how the economy is ‘rigged’ has been simmering since long before the pandemic.” Prices rise because firms raise them. Anger rises because firms raise it.
Can inequality only be fixed by war, revolution or plague? The Economist. From 2018, still germane.
Seeing Beyond the Map Grassroots Economic Organizing. A comic about Elinor Ostrum (see NC here).
In the Gut’s ‘Second Brain,’ Key Agents of Health Emerge Quanta
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
