The pet I’ll never forget: the fox I invited into my home – but never quite trusted Guardian
Cuts Are Back in the Air After Inflation Surprise John Authers, Bloomberg
How did the auto dealer outage end? CDK almost certainly paid a $25 million ransom CNN
Climate
Half a Million Will Be Under Houston Outages a Week After Beryl Bloomberg. URL: no-shops-no-gas-large-swaths-of-houston-are-still-in-the-dark. Meanwhile:
The Whataburger app works as a power outage tracker, handy since the electric company doesn’t show a map.
Still nearly 1.9 million power outages. pic.twitter.com/d8srWmw1oV— BBQ Bryan (@BBQBryan) July 9, 2024
Gov. Abbott calls for investigation into power restoration as more than one million customers remain without power KHOU
World’s largest tropical wetland burned this year Wildfire Today. Commentary:
the forest service is very, very sure will burn, and that those new homes make it increasingly impossible to manage the forest for future fires:
To manage fire, you have to burn the forest. But if you put homes there, you can’t. It’s already nearly physically impossible …
— (((Matthew Lewis))) progressive federalism SOS (@mateosfo) July 8, 2024
On Canadian wildfires and real estate, see NC here and here.
Google says datacenters, AI cause its carbon emissions to rise sharply S&P Global
Climate Change Risk to National Critical Functions RAND
Legal Personhood: Extending Rights to Nature? JSTOR. See NC on Lake Erie and legal personhood here.
China?
Cooking oil scandal may prompt China to tighten food safety policies, observers say Channel News Asia
India
Russia to kick Indians out of the army after Modi complains to Putin BNE Intellinews
Modi’s Russia visit part of larger push for India to be a global power, say observers Channel News Asia
Huge earthquake 2,500 years ago rerouted the Ganges River, study suggests Space.com
Bangladesh police fire tear gas, rubber bullets at student protesters Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
Gaza live: Fighting rages on in Gaza City as Shujaiya destroyed Middle East Eye
Optimism Over Hamas Deal Spreads From Washington to Israel’s Top Brass. Netanyahu Has Other Concerns Haaretz
Biden says ‘disappointed’ with troubled Gaza aid pier Agence France Presse. Commentary:
Israel’s military admits it delayed entering kibbutz as Hamas attacked FT. Commentary:
Based on Israeli media and military sources, these by my count are the confirmed locations so far of where the Israeli military enacted the Hannibal Directive and killed Israelis on Oct. 7th:
1. Nova Rave
2. Kibbutz Be’eri
3. Erez military base
4. Re’im army base
5. Nahal Oz…— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) July 10, 2024
‘More than 186,000 dead’ in Gaza: How credible are the estimates published on The Lancet? France24
Pro-Israel Group Censoring Social Media Led by Former Israeli Intelligence Officers Lee Fang
The Case for an International Hard Law on Corporate Killing (PDF) Keele Law Review. From the Abtract: “Soft law options have not brought about a sufficient reduction in instances of deaths caused by corporate behaviour across jurisdictional borders. This article will argue that the time has now come to establish an international hard law on corporate killing, and for states to ensure that there is a viable path towards a redress for victims and their families along with adopting a duty to assist the victim or their family to pursue redress to ensure a fair balance of power against transnational companies.”
Africa
Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso: How a triumvirate of military leaders are redrawing West Africa’s map France24
European Disunion
Brussels confirms that Orbán rubbing shoulders with Putin violates EU treaties and Six EU countries to boycott ministerial meetings during Hungarian presidency Ukrainska Pravda
Why is Greece introducing a six-day working week? Al Jazeera
From Nazi bunker to hipster hub FT
Small fire in towering spire of medieval cathedral in French city of Rouen is under control AP
Dear Old Blighty
Labour needs to abolish the hereditary peers Funding the Future
Journamalism:
Access journalism is stupid because they never uncover anything important. It is merely being a member of the PMs PR team when paid by another entity.
It needs to be turned obsolete https://t.co/LYXW7iO9Qs
— Esha K (@eshaLegal) July 11, 2024
New Not-So-Cold War
Can the West Still Win? Analyzing Claims of Ukraine’s Coming Tech Supremacy Over Russia Simplicius the Thinker(s)
Russia To Occupy ‘Remaining Ukrainian Lands’ After Ceasefire: Medvedev Newsweek
Ukraine Seeks New Summit With Russia Ahead of US Elections Bloomberg
US Announces It Will Deploy Previously Banned Nuclear-Capable Missiles To Germany Antiwar.com
Zelenskyy says the problem with the coming F-16 fighter jets is the same one Ukraine had with the Abrams tanks Business Insider
Northrop Grumman finalizes deal to coproduce ammo in Ukraine Breaking Defense
Exclusive: US and Germany foiled Russian plot to assassinate CEO of arms manufacturer sending weapons to Ukraine CNN
Russia’s war-driven brain drain reverses as up to 45% of emigres return home BNE Intellinews
Why are NATO and China facing off over Ukraine? Al Jazeera
NATO Summit
Key takeaways from Biden’s NATO news conference: gaffes and defiance Al Jazeera. Commentary:
The problem with this press conference is that everyone’s watching for Biden’s lucidity and/or basic competence, rather than the substance of what he’s saying, which entails drastically escalated bloc conflict with China and Russia. (Trump has virtually identical positions, FYI)
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 12, 2024
Joe Biden vows to ‘complete the job’ in closely watched press conference FT
Scholz joins shaky chorus of world leaders sticking with Biden Politico
NATO Summit declaration omits mention of Georgia’s accession possibility JAM News
The Pentagon and Its Pet NATO Monkey Matt Bivens, The 100 Days
2024
Hollywood’s Democratic donors turn away from Biden BBC
Presidential battle could play role in control of state capitols in several swing states AP
Democrats Escalate Election Year Pressure on Supreme Court WSJ
Biden Administration
NS Endorses NTSB’s National Safety Policy Recommendations Railway Age
The Supremes
The Consequences of Loper Bright (PDF) Cass Sunstein SSRN. From the Abstract: “[C]urrent evidence is consistent with the following proposition: If the goal is to predict whether a court of appeals will strike down an agency’s interpretation of law, it may be more important to know whether the panel consists of Republican or Democratic appointees, and whether the agency’s interpretation leans left or right, than to know whether Chevron or Loper Bright is the governing law.”
Thinking Out Loud: The Chevron Doctrine American Council on Science and Health
Healthcare
Funding Postauthorization Vaccine-Safety Science (abstract only) NEJM. Commentary:
Dr. Stanley Plotkin, the world’s leading vaccinologist, and his disciples, have just capitulated. After decades of claiming vaccine safety is robustly studied, they just admitted it is not, neither before nor after licensure. But don’t be fooled – read my stack or this long tweet… pic.twitter.com/FAxYgmy678
— Aaron Siri (@AaronSiriSG) July 10, 2024
Can a reader with an NEJM account comment?
Serious errors plague DNA tool that’s a workhorse of biology Nature
Digital Watch
OpenAI Scale Ranks Progress Toward ‘Human-Level’ Problem Solving Bloomberg
Imperial Collapse Watch
More ex-military officials are becoming VCs as defense tech investment reached $35B TechCrunch
Guillotine Watch
Capital allocation/spectacular bad taste:
Class Warfare
New York Amazon Workers Demand Paid Juneteenth Holiday Labor Notes
Teaching Teachers to Bust Unions Exposed by CMD
Why Ernest Hemingway’s Younger Brother Established a Floating Republic in the Caribbean Smithsonian
Antidote du jour (Adrian Pingstone):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
