Man who transformed into a dog says he wants to become another animal Scripps (Furzy Mouse)
This Week In Doom – #19: Chicken In A China Shop (transcript) Grant Williams (PI).
Climate
Mongolia’s Fight Against Desertification and Land Degradation The Diplomat
IKEA blamed for Romanian forest destruction Monga Bay
Solar project to destroy thousands of Joshua trees in the Mojave Desert LA Times
Climate activist arrested for attacking Monet painting at Paris’s Orsay museum France24
Saving Art from the Revolution, for the Revolution JSTOR Daily
Water
A Closer Look at America’s Water Crisis The Progressive
This troubled California lake just turned so green it’s visible from space SFGATE
Syndemics
Rising numbers of flu, COVID-19 cases puts Victorian ambulances under the pump The Age
South Australia public hospitals operating in internal emergency, elective surgeries paused ABC Australia
Traveler infected with confirmed case of measles at Seattle International Airport as cases in US increase FOX
COVID-19 associated with higher risk of erectile dysfunction News Medical Life Sciences
Driver’s brain fog from covid-19 linked to Cork crash that claimed lives of elderly couple Irish Examiner
Myanmar
Myanmar Junta Orders All Security Personnel to Frontline as Losses Mount in Hard-Hit Regional Commands The Irrawaddy
Syraqistan
UPDATE Pinned on Biden’s account:
Israel has now offered a roadmap to an enduring ceasefire – and the release of all the hostages.
Yesterday, this proposal was transmitted by Qatar to Hamas.
Today, I want to lay out its terms for the world. pic.twitter.com/0cdypBP9wb
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 31, 2024
Blinken discusses Gaza cease-fire proposal with Turkish, Jordan, Saudi counterparts Anadolu Agency
Far-right Israeli ministers threaten government dissolution if Netanyahu agrees to Biden’s Gaza proposal Anadolu Agency
Bipartisan leaders officially invite Netanyahu to address Congress The Hill. Who’s the sovereign?
European Disunion
EU members reportedly set to punish Hungary with weak portfolio in next Commission BNE Intellinews
New Not-So-Cold War
On Friday, Ukraine Got Permission To Launch American Rockets At Targets Inside Russia. Hours Later, HIMARS Opened Fire. Forbes. Belgorod, twenty miles in from the border (and not, say, a shell factory beyond the Urals. It’s really unclear to me where Biden’s red lines are, though it is clear that every line Biden has drawn has, with time. been erased; see Big Serge here, and read to the very end).
US should allow Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons against military targets in Russia – ISW Ukrainska Pravda
Biden admin isn’t fully convinced Ukraine can win, even with new aid Politico
Biden’s Secrecy on Allowing Ukraine to Strike Russia Is Dangerous Ken Klippenstein
In Ukraine, Russia is Beginning to Compound Advantages RUSI. From mid-May, still germane. “Ukraine has spent several months fortifying Kharkiv, but storming the city is not how Russia intends to fight. The Russian target this summer is the Ukrainian army, and against this target it has started to compound its advantages…. Russia’s aim is not to achieve a grand breakthrough, but rather to convince Ukraine that it can keep up an inexorable advance, kilometre by kilometre, along the front.”
SITREP 6/1/24: Ukraine’s Latest Gasp Off to Rocky Start Simplicius the Thinker(s). Simplicius prints the revised version of this headline:
Ukraine Retreats From Villages on Eastern Front as It Awaits U.S. Aid NYT
EU in the South Caucasus: Can Brussels become a geopolitical player? JAM News. Vassals aren’t players.
Ukraine war created “arc of instability” from Balkans to Caucasus BNE Intellinews. Just like Libya, Syria, Iraq….
How Globalization Rose and Fell With Nord Stream Foreign Policy
The Russian Armed Forces once again struck at the Yavorovsky training ground of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where foreign instructors were located Top War. Russian milblogger site. FWIW: “Confirmed: Russian “Kinzhals” turned bunkers with NATO officers in Ukraine upside down‼️” ThreadReader (ctlieee). Worth keeping on eye on.
Dear Old Blighty
Starmer has now made it clear: he intends to govern on behalf of the rich Funding the Future
Starmer promises cut to net migration under Labour BBC
Global Elections
India election results 2024: How will votes be counted? Al Jazeera
Mexicans vote in election overshadowed by violent attacks BBC
South Africa’s ANC loses 30-year parliamentary majority after election Al Jazeera
US presidential election slips into uncharted waters with historic Trump criminal conviction France24
Trump verdict puts US among infamous countries that prosecuted opposition leaders: Who else is on the list? FOX
If voters adopt statewide ranked choice voting, Colorado may prevent it from taking effect Colorado Sun
Kansas Constitution doesn’t include right to vote: state high court majority FOX
Biden Administration
President Biden vetoes crypto custody bill TechCrunch
Antitrust
Is Ticketmaster Telling the Truth About Its Finances? Matt Stoller. BIG
Trust busting as freedom The Ink
2024
Plot twist: WA has a law against felons running for office Seattle Times. I wonder how many other states do.
Digital Watch
Google admits its AI Overviews need work, but we’re all helping it beta test TechCrunch. Swell. Where do I send the invoice?
AI and Finance: Insights from an Experts alts.co. One of the use cases: “Summarizing a company’s earnings call as a buy or a sell based on the language used by the executives.” Totally revolutionary, one giant step for mankind, exactly like replacing call center serfs with bots.
AI on Trial: Legal Models Hallucinate in 1 out of 6 (or More) Benchmarking Queries (press release) Stanford University
The Google API Leak Should Change How Marketers and Publishers Do SEO SparkToro
More dark patterns at Meta, what a surprise:
1. I’m legit shocked by the design of @Meta’s new notification informing us they want to use the content we post to train their AI models. It’s intentionally designed to be highly awkward in order to minimise the number of users who will object to it. Let me break it down. pic.twitter.com/rhKNFt7CEu
— Tantacrul (@Tantacrul) May 26, 2024
Self-driving cars are underhyped Matt Yglesias, Slow Boring
Codd almighty! Has it been half a century of SQL already? The Register. Standards matter, solid mathematical foundations matter, and declarative implementation matters. Listen and learn, LLM nimrods.
Our Famously Free Press
Twitch draws pro-Palestinian influencers as rival sites back off politics Taylor Lorenz, WaPo
Stanford, Silicon Valley, and the Rise of the Censorship Industrial Complex RealClearPolitics
Zeitgeist Watch
Nearly 1 in 3 Americans have reported losing someone to a drug overdose: Study The Hill. Rule #2.
Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion by Agnes Arnold-Forster review – the past isn’t a foreign place Guardian
Boeing
Boeing Starliner capsule’s first crewed test flight delayed at last minute Channel News Asia. Loose door? Commentary:
They realized there was a small helium leak in the propulsion system and so have to do a quick whistleblower murder to meet the next launch window in 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/xMqK4s1gMe
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 1, 2024
Imperial Collapse Watch
Jeffrey Sachs: The Untold History of the Cold War, CIA Coups Around the World, and COVID’s Origin (video) Tucker Carlson, YouTube. Re-upping from 5/30, now that I have listened to it carefully. Two hours, so grab a cup of coffee. Fortunately, there are chapter headings in the video so you can scroll to the high points; Sachs’s potted history of the neocons is really excellent. On Covid’s origin, I think it would be best if Sachs had stayed in his lane. Consultants Disease: Not knowing the limits of your own knowledge. Sachs is, however, excellent on geopolitics and is well worth a listen. Kudos to Carlson for an excellent, graceful interview.
Off Leash: Inside the Secret, Global, Far-Right Group Chat The New Republic. Erik Prince among others.
Class Warfare
The $150,000 Housekeeper: Wage Inflation Kicks Into Second Gear Charles Hugh Smith
The Dream of a Thing: Refounding the Economy of a Venezuelan Commune Monthly Review
A Russian Village Sophie Kropotkin, Anarchist Library
Legal Theory Bookworm: “The Interbellum Constitution” by LaCroix Legal Theory Blog
Antidote du jour (Aris riyanto):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
