Mutant wolves exposed to Chernobyl disaster have evolved a new superpower, scientists discover Daily Mail
Tools of the Wild: Unveiling the Crafty Side of Nature Nautilus (Micael T)
At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, was walking through a park one day in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully.
Kafka told her to meet him there the… pic.twitter.com/gKLLN7Hz2y— Mr Commonsense (@fopminui) February 10, 2024
The Apple Vision Pro is one giant experiment on the human brain Business Insider (Kevin W)
WhatsApp Image Sender Becomes First Convicted Cyber-Flasher BBC
Why the world stopped having sex Telegraph. Sigh. Polls decades ago found women would rather eat ice cream than have sex. Hetero sex is basically defined as the man ejaculating. Aside from a comparatively small proportion of highly-sexed women, women don’t hunger much for sex. Most men are not very good at satisfying women and are too insecure to allow women to teach them. Worse, more men are seeing lots of porn which makes it harder for them to find normal women exciting, and that further reduces whatever inclination they might have had to want to satisfy a female partner. And that’s before getting to more mundane issues, like growing up with devices reduces how much people interact with real people, which almost certainly has impaired their flirting skills
#COVID-19
PMC COVID-19 Forecast, Week of Feb 12, 2024
The U.S. continues to see extremely high COVID transmission.
🔹 58 million infections in the U.S. in 2024 (so far)
🔹 2.5% (1 in 39) are actively infectious today
🔹 1.2 million COVID cases/day
🔹 60,000+ resulting #LongCOVID cases/day… pic.twitter.com/KNuz5DVG28— Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA (@michael_hoerger) February 13, 2024
This is misinformation. Since Biden took office, 800,000+ have died, millions have Long COVID, and higher risk people remain indefinitely locked out of society and unable to access medical care safely. The media has largely given Biden a free pass despite many failures on COVID. https://t.co/4SIknrJW3D
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) February 13, 2024
Climate/Environment
The Great Salt Lake Is Full of Lithium. A Startup Wants to Harvest It. Wall Street Journal (BC)
Climate Change Reversing Gains In Air Quality Across the US, Study Finds Axios
28-Ton, 1.2-Megawatt Tidal Kite Is Now Exporting Power To the Grid New Atlas.
China?
Afghan-like retreat debacle looms in Pacific islands Asia Times
A U.S. PROMISE to Taiwan has quietly imploded after the dramatic collapse of Germany’s industrial sector.
Researchers at the Brookings thinktank said Taiwan’s economy would survive the shock of war in the same way that Germany’s industrial economy would survive the shock of… pic.twitter.com/QiTqzCWIHW
— Nury Vittachi (@NuryVittachi) February 12, 2024
China’s consumers tighten belts even as prices fall Financial Times (Kevin W)
How China Built BYD, Its Tesla Killer New York Times (Kevin W)
Exclusive: Duke Energy to remove Chinese battery giant CATL from Marine Corps Base
The permanent shutdown of the batteries, less than a year after a ribbon cutting that involved U.S. military brass…
The absurdity of policy decisions around Chinese batteries know no bounds……— Paul Triolo (@pstAsiatech) February 11, 2024
Africa
Terrorism in Africa increased 100,000% during ‘war on terror’ Responsible Statescraft (Kevin W)
Famine Looms in Sudan Aljazeera (Tom H)
South Africa’s failed infrastructure privatisation and deregulation CADTM (Micael T)
Old Blighty
UK steps up war on whistleblower journalism with new National Security Act The Grayzone (Kevin W)
I was a student at Oxford at the same time as Boris Johnson was.
I was active as president of the OU Labour Club and in the OU Student Union.
Johnson was one of the most pompous, unserious, vacuous, self-worshipping waste of human space it’s ever been my misfortune to come… https://t.co/5M7FbV7onK
— Benjamin Schoendorff🪁 (@b_schoendorff) February 12, 2024
European Disunion
‘Everyone should be scared as hell’: Democrats call for Trump-proofing NATO Politico
Republicans Seem Completely OK With Trump’s Alarming Russia Comments New Republic (furzy). What most people ignore is that NATO’s Article 5 obliges NATO member ONLY to consider aiding an attacked state, not to saddle up. Moreover, as Alexander Mercouris pointed out, Trump is voicing not-uncommon sentiments in the US, that NATO members have been freeloading and the time has come when they need to carry their own weight. However, that view does overlook the value to us of having lots of bases in NATO member states.
Gaza
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 129: Israel bombards Rafah, killing more than 60 in a night Mondoweiss
The official version: Israel-Hamas war: Israeli hostage rescue in Rafah kills 67 Associated Press (furzy)
Netanyahu uses hostage rescue to justify Rafah strikes as his support dwindles Guardian (Kevin W)
US red line on Rafah blurs as Israeli offensive and hostage negotiations collide Middle East Eye. See subhead: “Biden administration signals it is open to Rafah offensive as it looks to press Netanyahu on hostage deal.”
Biden refers to “our military operation in Rafah.” He corrects himself to say “the major military operation in Rafah”, but this is yet another occasion where his flubs reveal the truth. Every Israeli massacre in Gaza is a joint Genocide Joe production. pic.twitter.com/PI2hPS95m8
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) February 12, 2024
* * * CIA and Mossad chiefs to hold talks on Hamas hostage deal Financial Times. Looks like a big headfake to me. Mossad cannot commit the likes of Netanyahu or Ben-Gvir.
Biden’s Middle East Anti-Strategy American Conservative
Biden’s calls for Israel to mind the laws appear feeble, and ignored Responsible Statecraft
Warsaw-Rafah: Scurrying Cockroaches Norman Finkelstein
* * * Wow, logic and reason from Europe, it’s been a while! And it comes from “garden v jungle” Borrell, who’s unexpectedly proven one of the only sane European voices over Gaza.
Here he states the obvious:pic.twitter.com/NkZqZCAbbS
“Let’s be logical: how many times have you heard the…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) February 13, 2024
The Super Bowl Massacre: While Americans were distracted and the Middle East was asleep, US-UK-EU-armed Israel launched an assault on the city of Rafah in Gaza where 1.9 million displaced and starving Palestinians are crammed into. More than 63 Palestinians were killed.… pic.twitter.com/jG3c8kryyT
— Going Underground (@GUnderground_TV) February 12, 2024
Not sure I’d call drug dealers heroes, but if this is where we have to find them:
Now THIS is solidarity. The heroes we need pic.twitter.com/035iyT5fGn
— Hilary Agro 🍄 (@hilaryagro) February 9, 2024
Dutch Court Moves to Block Export of Fighter Jet Parts to Israel New York Times (BC)
* * * Patrick Lawrence: The Crisis at The New York Times ScheerPost
New Not-So-Cold War
Chinese regime announces “support” for Russia in war with NATO in Ukraine WSWS
WHY PUTIN CARES ABOUT HISTORY
In the aftermath of Tucker Carlson’s world-famous interview with Vladimir Putin, western audiences are left puzzled and confused. Their sentiment can be summarized as follows:
“We wanted to know about the Ukraine war. Why is Putin giving a lecture… pic.twitter.com/rrRVlgLHe3
— Haz Al-Din 🇷🇺 (@InfraHaz) February 9, 2024
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Martin Hellman: We’re playing Russian roulette InfoWorld (Paul R)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Russia ambassador was asked why they no longer quote classics like Shakespeare, Carroll, Dostoesvky@Dpol_un: “Our partners have become less well-read, sometimes we want to express ourselves in simpler terms so that the message gets through… Anglo-Saxon diplomacy, especially… pic.twitter.com/UT69uFj9I9
— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) February 13, 2024
China’s Shipyards Are Ready for a Protracted War. America’s Aren’t. Wall Street Journal
A Little Bit Of News… Andrei Martyanov. Zircons on subs, oh my!
“In The War Of Propaganda, It Is Very Difficult To Defeat The United States” Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W)
Trump
Judge in Trump’s Georgia case will hear evidence on prosecutors’ romantic relationship Politico (Kevin W)
A Brief Oral History of Wayne Barrett, the First Journalist to Doggedly Cover Donald Trump Vanity Fair (furzy)
Biden
House speaker rejects Israel, Ukraine aid package ahead of Senate vote Washington Post. Quelle surprise!
AI
Forcing AI on developers is a bad idea that is going to happen The Register
US CPI Data to Show Disinflation Handoff From Goods to Services Bloomberg
The Bezzle
The Human Rights Industry: A book review Orinoco Journal (Robin K)
How bad is Tesla’s hazardous waste problem in California? The Verge (Miceal T)
Class Warfare
Chelsey Glasson: We need data on laid off pregnant tech workers Fast Company (Paul R)
Maps of Kansas City’s electrified transit, 1926 vs 2024 pic.twitter.com/HU4vyLamZb
— cars.destroyed.our.cities (@CarsRuinedCity) February 11, 2024
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here