‘Warhol cooked us scrambled eggs. Or was it Rauschenberg?’ – Gilbert and George preserve their greatest moments Guardian (Dr. Kevin)
Genomic analyses of hair from Ludwig van Beethoven Cell (Micael T)
Scientists Discover RNA Component Buried in The Dust of an Asteroid ScienceAlert (Chuck L)
Strange Acceleration of Mysterious Interstellar Visitor Finally Explained ScienceAlert. Chuck L: “Bummer. I much preferred the explanation that it was aliens in a spaceship looking for intelligent life and who, after a look-see, passed us by.”
Liberal Commitments Dissent. Anthony L: “I do not like this guy.”
A Paradise for All Lapham’s Quarterly (Anthony L)
Living organ donors deserve priority status for transplants STAT (Dr. Kevin)
#COVID-19
I’m sorry but @Bob_Wachter and @ashishkjha’s comments in this article are ghoulish. From the end of BA.1 last year until now, we’ve had 150,000 #COVID19 deaths. In one bad flu season we have 50,000 deaths. Mission accomplished fellas? Not by a long shot. https://t.co/npid32CVow
— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) March 23, 2023
House of Fauci: How Dr. Christine Grady, aka Mrs. Fauci, Used Her NIH Position To Backstop Her Husband’s Pandemic Health Directives OpenTheBooks (BC)
Climate/Environment
Elon Musk’s Company Plans To Dump Wastewater In The Colorado — And Locals Have Concerns HuffPost (Kevin W)
China?
China’s billionaire population drops: 229 knocked off Global Rich List South China Morning Post
More than 40 percent of Americans support banning TikTok: poll The Hill. Kevin W: “A Washington Post poll.”
Winnie the Pooh slasher flick mysteriously cancelled in Hong Kong The Register (Dr. Kevin)
Xi-Putin Summit
Press statements by President of Russia and President of China Kremlin
On Xi-Putin visit, the US sees only threats Responsible Statecraft (furzy)
US delusionism?
20 March
John Kirby: No other nation in the world has the network of alliances and partnerships US does. China and Russia recognize they don’t have that strong foundation of international support for what they’re trying to do, which is to challenge US leadership. pic.twitter.com/sXJWfKFffx— the Lemniscat (@theLemniscat) March 21, 2023
Old Blighty
Johnson to be wheeled in front of select committee wearing straitjacket Daily Mash
Impervious to advice or rules, Johnson held up the shield of stupidity John Crace Guardian (Dr. Kevin)
Food, Bar Inflation Now Off The Charts In UK Heisenberg Report
La belle France
Understanding What’s Happening in France. Aurelian
South of the Border
Costa Rica, laid-back land of ‘pura vida,’ succumbing to drug violence Gazeweek
New Not-So-Cold War
The current lunatic warmongers in power in the US are getting more and more desperate, thus more and more deranged. This is a very dangerous situation for the whole world. https://t.co/5GsalCnN2I
— Donbass Devushka (@PeImeniPusha) March 22, 2023
EU seals deal to send Ukraine 1M ammo rounds Politico
Garland, Scott and Me. Andrei Martyanov. Kevin W:
Beginning at the 40 minute point Scott Ritter goes into detail about military organizational & technological reasons why NATO & the US will not be able to go head to head with Russia any time soon, if ever. Later he and Andrei get into the world-historical nature turning point triggered by the Ukraine conflict. The whole thing is very much worth a listen.
The lady doth protest too much. Oh, and per Alexander Mercouris, both pilots were women:
“I have no clue why they would give a bravery award to a pilot, who was at worst, maliciously putting himself and US property at great risk, and at best, just an idiot.” https://t.co/simJUfLzaK
— sinapps (@sinapps) March 23, 2023
Syraqistan
Free will trumps determinism in Gulf politics Indian Punchline (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Biden administration to release review of Afghanistan withdrawal in April Anadou Agency
Déjà amnesia The Bunker (rexilc)
Private equity gobbling up defense firms at a frightening pace: Experts Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Arizona State Senate Passes Defend the Guard Act Antiwar.com (Kevin W). Important
Trump
Exclusive: Trump breaks cover for a round of golf as Alvin Bragg ‘struggles’ to convince grand jury to charge him with ‘weak’ case’ that has split the DA’s office: Panel probing Stormy Daniels payment reconvenes tomorrow Daily Mail. Reader Li points out that Trump had said he’d come to New York to surrender (and rumor has it he intended to bring his own cameraman). However, Li argues his much better play would be to stay in Florida. New York would have to extradite him. DeSantis would have to sign the extradition order, which would put DeSantis in a no-win situation.
Donald Trump’s lawyer has to hand over documents in Mar-a-Lago records probe, according to court USA Today
Woke Watch
INSANITY—a complete ban in Florida proposed on health insurance coverage against all “gender clinical interventions”—which includes banning birth control, hormone treatment for menopause, for breast cancer, anti-androgen treatments for prostate cancer, for https://t.co/Ig5mxlPvuc… pic.twitter.com/WaVKxB8Lrj
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) March 22, 2023
‘He was certainly a racist’: J Edgar Hoover and a history of white nationalism Guardian
Rotten Banks
Swiss Are on the Hook for $13,500 Each on Credit Suisse Bailout Bloomberg (Paul R)
US bondholders prepare to sue Swiss over $17bn Credit Suisse wipeout Financial Times (Kevin W). Lordie. You only need to read Wolf Richter’s headline: Total Wipeout of $17 billion in Credit Suisse AT1 CoCo Bonds Shocked Because No One Reads Clauses Anymore? In other words, this smells a lot like an exercise in incompetent US fund managers trying to blame Switzerland for their failure to do a basic inspection of key terms.
Imperial Fed
Market Implied Fed Funds Path, Post-FOMC Menzie Chinn
‘Close to thin ice’: looming credit crunch puts pressure on Fed Financial Times
Some Additional Hikes. Maybe. Heisenberg Report (resilc)
Citi CEO Fraser Warns Mobile Money is ‘Game Changer’ for Bank Runs Bloomberg. So much for financial innovation.
Exclusive: Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott, Democrat Warren unveil Fed oversight bill Reuters
The Bezzle
Hackers Drain Bitcoin ATMs of $1.5 Million By Exploiting 0-Day Bug ars technica
SEC charges celebrities including Lindsay Lohan over cryptocurrency endorsements Guardian (Kevin W)
Coinbase Heads to the Supreme Court in First Crypto Case Gizmodo (Kevin W)
SDNY: EFTA Applies to Crypto Adam Levitin. Forgive acronyms. Levitin explains why this is good for consumers.
Class Warfare
44 People Share The Funniest Job Rejections They’ve Received Bored Panda
Georgia Senator @ossoff introduced a bill to cut farm worker wages. For example: if this bill passed, growers in GA would be able to reduce H2A worker pay by 14%, suppressing wages for entire communities.
Hundreds of millions of dollars would be withheld from farm workers. 1/ pic.twitter.com/DZZ7noAND0
— United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) March 21, 2023
When Thieves Retire London Review of Books (Anthony L)
Antidote du jour (Tracie H):
And a bonus (guurst)
Cat photos by Masahisa Fukase pic.twitter.com/BDJ8uEbiuH
— Härkönen (@yokaihainen) March 19, 2023
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
