Elephants can’t sue to leave the zoo, court rules WaPo
California Burning
Batteries (Not) Included The Brockovich Report
Nonstop Wildfires Are Straining the Global Arsenal to Fight Them Bloomberg
Climate
Brave scientists on ‘hurricane hunting’ plane used to study the world’s most lethal tempests prepare to fly into the raging heart of Storm Eowyn as it roars towards Britain Daily Mail. Commentary:
This is the type of graphic I’ve been trying to find for the past few hours! Showing how unusually cold & snowy weather in New Orléans has been carried over by [northern hemi] jet stream to the Dublin & Glasgow creating low pressure cyclone #StormÈowyn pic.twitter.com/6dzhh3vXz1
— Kwadjo-Lancelot on IG (@GuitaringLancey) January 24, 2025
A third of the Arctic’s vast carbon sink now a source of emissions, study reveals Guardian
Earth’s Largest Organism Slowly Being Eaten, Scientist Says Science Alert
How Australia became a test bed for the future of farming FT
Water
‘Dam for a dam’: India, China edge towards a Himalayan water war Al Jazeera
Worrying Signs for Lake Erie Uncovered 7,500 Miles Away in Africa Newsweek
Syndemics
The threat of avian influenza H5N1 looms over global biodiversity Nature. “H5N1 is an outcome of unsustainable production systems that overexploit land and domestic animals.” And a round-up–
Nature Reviews: The Threat of Avian Influenza H5N1 Looms Over Global Biodiversity Avian Flu Diary
* * * Analysis shows significant financial burden of long COVID in US Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
China
China unleashes record short-term funds ahead of lunar new year FT
China’s overlapping tech-industrial ecosystems High Capacity. Handy chart:
* * * China’s cheap, open AI model DeepSeek thrills scientists Nature. Commentary:
Maybe, hear me out here, AI was massively overhyped because NVIDIA is one the last remaining viable American hardware companies and Deepseek is just exposing the whole sector as a giant bubble full of capital misallocation and overinvestment. 🤔 https://t.co/ueWazep8CD
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) January 24, 2025
And:
All benchmarks now confirm it: Deepseek is truly is as good as OpenAI’s o1 (which is top of the range) for 3% of the price. Boom.
And that’s when you want to pay for the API. You can also use it Open Source for “free” (which you can’t do with o1).
There’s no overstating how… https://t.co/FcFSA1KRzu pic.twitter.com/FyFaclFYQo
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) January 24, 2025
And:
Folks, I think we have done it!
If overnight tests are confirmed we have OPEN SOURCE DeepSeek R1 running at 200 tokens per second on a NON-INTERNET connected Raspberry Pi.
A full frontier AI better than “OpenAI” owned fully by you in your pocket free to use!
I will make the Pi… https://t.co/eSlHkQ7kQD pic.twitter.com/tVBg9oXtzB
— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) January 23, 2025
Robot dogs join Spring Festival fun as mini ‘lion dancers’ CGTN
‘Trillions of rupiah’ Indonesia’s central bank channelled to lawmakers allegedly misused: Anti-graft agency Channel News Asia
‘Unacceptable’: Indonesia rejects report of US relocation plan for Palestinians South China Morning Post
Syraqistan
Israel Isn’t Serious About the Gaza Cease-Fire. Nor Is Trump. Foreign Policy
Israel seeks 30-day extension for Lebanon withdrawal amid ceasefire concerns, reports claim EuroNews
Netanyahu’s Gov’t and Trump Administration Greenlight Jewish West Bank Terror Haaretz. In contrast to the headline (1):
.@ggreenwald walks through a list of views that students in the United States of America are no longer to allowed to express at one of the most prestigious institutions of learning on the planet. pic.twitter.com/A62PABVJlB
— a newsman (@a_newsman) January 23, 2025
And (2):
Harvard Hillel’s summary of the university settlement of a lawsuit against it. The crackdown on criticism of Israel is remarkable to behold. pic.twitter.com/OXFrD4iD74
— Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) January 22, 2025
* * * More than 2,400 aid trucks enter Gaza under truce, UN says no big looting issues Reuters
Israeli ban on UN agency could ‘sabotage’ Gaza ceasefire, says chief FT
* * * Interpreting the 20-year military pact between Russia & Iran Responsible Statecraft
Trump says new nuclear deal with Iran can be brokered Anadolu Agency
* * * Hamas commander reappears in Gaza despite Israeli assassination claims Anadolu Agency
Dear Old Blighty
Labour MPs ordered to sink landmark climate and environment bill Guardian. The deck: “Exclusive: Supporters of bill say Labour has already insisted on removal of clauses requiring UK to meet targets agreed at Cop and other summits.” Oh.
New Not-So-Cold War
Russian forces advance on seven key positions: These battles will determine the fate of the conflict RT. The deck: “An overview of the frontline situation – the key areas from north to south.”
Trump: Zelenskyy is “no angel” and he “shouldn’t have allowed this war to happen” Ukrainska Pravda
CIA Busy Polishing Its Ukraine Legacy Larry Johnson, Son of the New American Revolution
Trump Administration
“Blatantly unconstitutional”: Judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship order Axios
What to know about the ruling blocking Trump’s order on birthright citizenship AP
Veterans groups ask Trump to reconsider immigration executive order, cite impacts on Afghan partners FOX
MAYOR RAS J. BARAKA’S STATEMENT ON ICE RAID ON NEWARK BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENT City of Newark
Less process than ‘a traffic ticket’: ACLU sues to stop Trump’s fast-track deportation policy LA Times
Trump undercuts enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Popular Information
* * * US’ Trump signs executive order on crypto markets, digital asset stockpile Anadolu Agency. Commentary:
I’ll explain for non-techies the concept of a national crypto reserve. It’s sort of like creating a folder on your desktop for certain kinds of documents, also the government hands $50 billion to con artists.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) January 23, 2025
SEC Withdraws Controversial Crypto Tax Accounting Bulletin CoinDesk
* * * Trump orders release of JFK, RFK and MLK assassination records AP. Commentary:
1. Partial redactions on page 8 and 10 and the full redaction of page 9 from the June 1961 memo written by White House adviser Arthur Schlesinger to Kennedy on how the president could best accomplish his goal of “splintering the Agency [the CIA] into a thousand pieces and… pic.twitter.com/nbTOcvmfAd
— Mel (@Villgecrazylady) January 24, 2025
And:
There are massive problems with the EO ordering the declassification of the JFK & MLK Files today. This EO should be amended promptly and an independent review board must be set up to lead the declassification effort. Here’s why: https://t.co/VDqbuxdSqd
— Mike Benz (@MikeBenzCyber) January 24, 2025
* * * Trump’s latest hires and fires rankle Iran hawks as new president suggests nuclear deal FOX
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
We are all Big Brother now Boston Globe. The deck: “The largest system of surveillance isn’t run by the government or corporations. It’s the grass-roots panopticon we’re using to judge one another.”
Digital Watch
Leaked documents expose deep ties between Israeli army and Microsoft 972 Magazine. The deck: “Since Oct. 7, the Israeli military has relied heavily on cloud and AI services from Microsoft and its partner OpenAI, while the tech giant’s staff embed with different units to support rollout, a joint investigation reveals.”
Developer Creates Infinite Maze That Traps AI Training Bots 404 Media
Siri Is Super Dumb and Getting Dumber Daring Fireball
The Final Frontier
Notes of concern: ‘chorus waves’ found by China-led study sound alarms for space travel South China Morning Post
Imperial Collapse Watch
Aircraft carrier contrarianism:
Short thought for the evening.
So about every day I see some take come across my feed that aircraft carriers are obsolete because long-range hypersonic weapons or something.
While war has definitely changed in the modern day, this is a bad take. Let’s walk through this.⬇️
So,… pic.twitter.com/5SebCvVC68
— Armchair Warlord (@ArmchairW) January 24, 2025
Class Warfare
Defense (of the internet) (from billionaires) in depth Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic
Antidote du jour (Derek Keats):
Bonus antidote:
If you’re having one of those days when only baby goats in pyjamas can help, here’s some baby goats in pyjamas. pic.twitter.com/ZuuQpiJZ2z
— Paul Bronks (@SlenderSherbet) January 23, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
