Dear patient readers,
We are light at launch. Please come back at 7:45 AM EDT for a full ration.
6-week-old boy dead after family dog attacked him in crib, Tennessee family says 7ABC. Paul R: “Holy crap. I wonder if dogs also get covid and become aggressive.”
ANALYSING CENTAURS, NYMPHS, AND GODS: CARL JUNG AND FRIEDRICH CREUZER Antigone
AS ‘BIRD FLU’ IN CATTLE RAISES CONCERNS FOR MILK SAFETY IN THE US, SCIENTISTS CONFIRM THAT PASTEURISATION EFFECTIVELY INACTIVATES INFLUENZA VIRUSES University of Glasgow (Paul R)
#COVID-19
San Francisco, CA is about to hit the highest wastewater level of the entire pandemic at their bigger wastewater site. This is a major red flag and something we need to keep an eye on. If I was the CDC I would be doing extra variant sequencing there ASAP. pic.twitter.com/VrIHXu899d
— Data Report (@CovidDataReport) June 3, 2024
Excess mortality across countries in the Western World since the COVID-19 pandemic BMJ (Paul R)
Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths Telegraph
China?
US risks ‘forever’ trade war with China Bloomberg
China to retaliate if Europe raises EV tariffs Asia Times (Kevin W)
China ready to ‘forcefully’ stop Taiwan independence: Defence minister Aljazeera
Goodbye inhalers? Chinese trial offers potential one-shot asthma cure Interesting Engineering. Chuck L: “First insulin and now asthma. China’s derailing Big Pharma’s gravy trains.”
India
Modi on course for India election win with weakened mandate Financial Times
South of the Border
Peso falls as Claudia Sheinbaum wins Mexico presidency by landslide Financial Times
Mexico’s next president will have to boost tax take to pay for social programs Reuters (Robin K)
European Disunion
ECB Rate Cut Will Be Rare Bright Spot in Troubled Euro Region Bloomberg
French far right has big lead over Macronists in European election, polls show The Local
Over Dead Bodies for a Profit German Foreign Policy (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Keir Starmer to declare Labour as ‘party of national security’ Guardian (Kevin W)
“Politics, like business, can select for psychopathic traits”: https://t.co/J7qSuCpAzG https://t.co/LljcE6ifwE
— Chris Dillow (@CJFDillow) June 4, 2024
Energy bills ‘to remain high because of delays to nuclear plants The Times
Gaza
To Save Time, Biden To Drop Next $320 Million Cash Directly Into Ocean Babylon Bee (Chuck L)
Tzipi Navon, ex-aide to Netanyahu’s wife, fantasized about avenging non existent beheaded babies by skinning Palestinian militants alive, ripping out their nails, cutting their genitals off, cooking them and feeding them to captives
“Save their tongues for last, so we can enjoy… https://t.co/QgE7LsDUEj pic.twitter.com/gdXaIrZlqH
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) June 1, 2024
‘The New McCarthyism’: NY Hospital Fires Nurse for Empathizing With Gaza Mothers Antiwar.com
‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 241: Israel contradicts Biden over ceasefire proposal Mondoweiss. My guess is the Israel government is figuring out how to blow up the deal while pinning blame on Hamas. That won’t be easy. Mind you, the hard right wingers have no such compunctions but I am not sure they have the numbers.
Arab foreign ministers say important to deal with US Gaza proposal seriously, positively Arab News
Gaza ceasefire plan turns into deadly game of survival BBC (Kevin W)
Alastair Crooke: How the West Must Change Judge Napolitano, YouTube. An important discussion of how Saudi policy on Palestine, set by the king, can’t be changed until there is a new king, and current policy does not allow for the sort of Israel deal the US keeps talking up.
Attacks, arrests, threats, censorship: The high risks of reporting the Israel-Gaza war CPJ (BC)
Lebanon’s Hezbollah says strikes Israeli bases as clashes intensify New Arab
Gaza Protests
What I Saw—and Learned—at a New York City Student Walk-Out for Palestine Corey Robin (UserFriendly)
Gaza strike expands to two more University of California campuses, as UAW bureaucracy promotes dead-end divestment strategy WSWS
Queens College president had police waiting at gates of commencement Lucy Komisar
Columbia University alumnus donates $260 million to Israeli university in major snub of his alma mater as expert warns ‘it’s just the beginning’ after pro-Palestine protests engulfed campuses Daily Mail
October 7 survivors are suing pro-Palestinian groups. But what is the aim? Al Jazeera (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
Scholz must explain change of course on use of arms against Russia — lawmaker TASS (guurst)
US close to ‘fatal’ miscalculation – Moscow RT
The New Theory of Ukrainian Victory Is the Same as the Old American Conservative (Kevin W)
First strike capable: why Russia is indifferent to damage to one or another ground based radar installation Gilbert Doctorow
PJH sends:
Today I read a BlueSky-tweet by Atte Harjanne, who is the leader of the Green Party’s parliamentary faction in the Finnish parliament. He published a blog on support for Ukraine, in which he says (https://atteharjanne.fi/2024/06/03/tukea-ukrainalle-on-ryhdistettava/, Finnish original follows):
Thirdly, it is necessary to prepare for the sending of Western troops to help Ukraine on the ground. Supporting Ukraine also in this way is fully in line with the UN Charter. Western forces could act in Ukraine as trainers, as I wrote already in January, as technical and maintenance support, as an aid to the air defense of civilian targets to fight Russian missiles and drones, or to protect the borders against Belarus or Transnistria. This would enhance Ukraine’s ability to defend itself and free Ukrainian troops to the front without Western and Russian forces meeting on the battlefield.
Such deployment of troops should be carried out in the widest possible cooperation between Western countries. If Finland were to participate, the forces would be assembled in a similar way to crisis management operations.
EU DECEIT, FRENCH PROFITEERING IN THE NEW GRAIN SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA John Helmer
Note the last story about a Zelensky purchase proved false. So if this is another tall tale, it suggests a concerted effort to dirty him uP;
‼️♨️‼️Zelenskyj bought one of the biggest casinos in Europe
Turkish media reports that Film Heritage Inc. acquired the Vuni Palace hotel-casino located in Kyrenia, a city on the northern coast of Cyprus. Film heritage incl. registered in Belize and owned by Vladimir Zelenskiy… pic.twitter.com/nXxafU2RCI
— Peacemaker (@peacemaket71) June 3, 2024
Syraqistan
Several are killed after Israeli air strike targets Syria’s Aleppo TRT World
Imperial Collapse Watch
U.S. Retrenchment from the Middle East Is Long Overdue Daniel Larison
Ukraine War rips veil off of US weapons superiority Responsible Statecraft (Bill B)
The F-35 Will Now Exceed $2 Trillion As the Military Plans to Fly It Less GAO Blog (Bill B)
Deaf and Blind: The Maladies of American Diplomats ScheerPost (Micael T)
Trump
Buzz Kill: The Trump Conviction Presents a Target-Rich Environment for Appeal Jonathan Turley
Rand Paul Warns Of “War In The Streets” Coming From Trump Verdict Modernity
Which Movie Will It Be? James Howard Kunstler (Chuck L)
Why Trump continues to defy electoral gravity Fred Luntz, Financial Times
Biden
Biden ducks strife at Democratic National Convention with Zoom nomination Washington Times
Will Biden’s new border restrictions sway voters? The Hill
Jury is chosen in Hunter Biden’s federal firearms case and opening statements are set for Tuesday Associated Press (Kevin W)
FirstEnergy, the center point of a bribery plot, could officially beat the rap this summer Clevelend (Carla R)
Our No Longer Free Press
Money woes, staff issues strain the Intercept Semafor
How School Shootings Are Changing the Design of American Classrooms Wall Street Journal (Dr. Kevin)
Oil alliance OPEC+ extends collective crude production cuts into 2025 CNBC (Kevin W)
Extreme weather and Red Sea crisis are driving up the prices of commodities OilPrice
Antitrust
Microsoft could be about to write a fat check to stave off cloud antitrust complaint The Register
The Bezzle
Toyota apologizes for cheating on vehicle testing and halts production of three models Associated Press (Kevin W)
A commercial real estate crisis is hiding in plain sight The Hill
Google Can Keep Your Phone If You Send It In For Repair With Non-OEM Parts Android Authority
Class Warfare
CEOs made nearly 200 times what their workers got paid last year Associated Press (Kevin W). Note these metrics understate CEO earnings, so the ratio is even worse. Bill Lazonick and others have described how long form.
French authorities continue to expel homeless people from Paris ahead of Olympics Anadolu Agency
Antidote du jour. carycat: “An occasional visitor to my backyard”:
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
