St. Patrick Opened a Portal to Purgatory on This Little-Known Irish Island Smithsonian Mag
Columbia Engineers Develop Light-Controlled Molecular Devices SciTech Daily
Climate/Environment
Researchers connect declining atmospheric sulfur dioxide levels to rise in Legionnaires’ disease Phys.org
Water
CDC Report on U.S. Drinking Water Contamination Warns Legionella Outbreaks Increasing Aboutlawsuits.com
Taps Run Dry in Africa’s Richest City VOA
#COVID-19
Up to 5.8 million kids have long COVID, study says. One mother discusses the “heartbreaking” search for answers. CBS News
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What Might the US Owe the World for Covid-19? Jeffrey D. Sachs, Common Dreams
‘Lab-leak’ proponents at Rutgers accused of defaming and intimidating COVID-19 origin researchers Science
India
The Dawn of India’s Semiconductor Era The Diplomat
‘Make in India’: Can South Asian giant surpass China and become world’s biggest factory? The Straits Times
Africa
Undersea cable failures cause Internet disruptions for multiple African countries Cloudfare
U.S. Steps Up Intervention in Somalia Covert Action
The Central African Republic – the end of Françafrique and the return of imperialist competition Review of African Political Economy
China?
China in Sub-Saharan Africa: Sanction-Proof Supply Lines and Dual-Use Ports Royal United Services Institute
Philippines, Japan near long-range missile milestones as they arm up for China Breaking Defense
For many Chinese, there are ‘more important things’ than Taiwan unification Al Jazeera
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China loans grow at slowest pace on record amid weak demand The Business Times
Gold beans all the rage with China’s Gen Z as deflation bites The Business Times
China ponders mass-producing ‘God’s particle’ Asia Times
Syraqistan
Netanyahu Rejects Hamas Truce Proposal, Approves Rafah Invasion Plans Egyptian Streets
War on Gaza: Torture, executions, babies left to die, sexual abuse… These are Israel’s crimes Jonathan Cook, Middle East Eye
The U.S. Corporations Profiting from the Israeli Occupation Dollars & Sense
The Turkiye–Israel trade boom: Talk is cheap, but money talks The Cradle
Houthis vow to extend attacks deeper into the Indian Ocean Splash 247
UK Refuses to Say if Israeli Bomber Planes Are Using Its Cyprus Base Declassified UK
Israel detains 20 more Palestinians in West Bank, bringing total arrests since 7 Oct to 7,605 Middle East Monitor
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‘You’ve starved us Sisi’: Dozens arrested during Egypt protest against falling living conditions The New Arab
Egyptian Leverage Phenomenal World. On Egypt’s negotiations with the IMF, food import dependence, and the military.
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Turkey, Iraq Reach PKK Security Deal and Seek Closer Trade Ties Bloomberg
Doha hunts for whistleblowers who revealed Qatar’s funding of ISIS The Cradle
New Not-So-Cold War
Odessa Strike Kills Top Ukrs, Putin Rus Retaliate Ukr Strikes, Big Rus Gains Avdeyevka; Scholz Macron Quarrel Alexander Mercouris, The Duran (video)
Don’t rule out troops to Ukraine, Finnish FM says POLITICO. ‘[John] Kirby told reporters… that the administration wouldn’t oppose other nations sending their forces to help Kyiv fight. “Those are sovereign decisions,” he said.’
Bonapartist Solutions New left Review
Western troops in Ukraine: How a big lie could lead to the biggest war RT
***
In this Ukrainian village, almost no men are left WaPo. Paywalled. Commentary:
I have it on good authority that Ukrainians want to fight so we must keep funding their war effort. If the Washington Post is trying to imply that Ukrainians are being conscripted involuntarily to fight a doomed war, it has fallen prey to vatnik propaganda. pic.twitter.com/FVdCvOTWMl
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) March 16, 2024
Ukraine’s Frontline Air Defences Stretched Thin After Loss of Donbas Patriots and S-300s Military Watch
Ukraine faces ammunition crisis as air defence missiles dwindle The Telegraph
Interest from Russian assets to be spent on Ukraine arms: Scholz Al Mayadeen
EU sprinkles $560 million over defense firms to grow ammunition output Defense News
Imperial Collapse Watch
Our Real National Security Budget Spoils of War. “$2 Trillion, Here We Come.”
F-35 Fifth Generation Fighter Finally Begins Full Scale Production After Seven Years of Delays Military Watch
Controversy brews in Copenhagen over F-35 rental amid US turmoil Bulgarian Military
Survey of Blue Star Families finds considerable reluctance for recommending military life Stars and Stripes
Boeing
Boeing criminal inquiry expands with subpoenas and grand jury New York Times
White House stops short of saying it’s currently ‘safe’ to fly on Boeing planes Washington Examiner
Listen airplanes losing parts is like excess mortality.
Once we get about 5 years in, the new numbers are going to seem normal and there’s no more excess lost plane parts.
At that point we say plane mishaps have become endemic.
Capiche?
— Jonathan Mesiano-Crookston’s translucent form (@jmcrookston) March 15, 2024
Spook Country
Exclusive: Musk’s SpaceX is building spy satellite network for US intelligence agency, sources say Reuters
2024
Pro-Ukraine PAC launched with eye on congressional races The Hill
Why are so many voters frustrated by the US economy? It’s home prices AP. Well, even if owning a home is out of reach, at least the student loan “experience” is being improved (from a Department of Education email Friday):
The Supremes
SCOTUS Rules Public Officials Can Sometimes Be Sued For Blocking Critics On Social Media AP
AI
AI ‘Ghosts’ Could Be a Serious Threat to Mental Health, Expert Warns Science Alert
Nvidia CEO Wishes “Pain and Suffering” on Young People Futurism
Tech
Screen time can affect children’s language development, study suggests CBC
Blessed Are the Rich, for They Can Afford to Limit Their Kids’ Screen Time Christianity Today
Parents have a problem with screen time, too, teens say WaPo
Laid-off techies face ‘sense of impending doom’ with job cuts at highest since dot-com crash CNBC
Healthcare?
Oh So Close to Tackling the Corporatization of Medical Care Boondoggle
More States Cut Training Requirements for Some International Medical Graduates MedPage Today
In Hospitals, Affordable Housing Gets the Long-Term Investor It Needs New York Times
Police State Watch
Sophisticated ‘burglary tourists’ fly from South America to rob wealthy homes, LAPD says Los Angeles Times
New data explodes myth of crime wave fueled by migrants Popular Information
Our Famously Free Press
Assange Truth and UN Shenanigans Craig Murray
Class Warfare
‘That’s What US Capitalism Does Right Now. It Jettisons Its Elders.’ FAIR
Homelessness and Mental Illness: Medicalizing a Housing Crisis Journal of Human Rights and Social Work
Why We Search for Silver Linings Nautilus
Wondering When to Plant? There’s a Map for That The Allegheny Front
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
