Forest fire threatens Asia’s largest bird park in Chai Nat Nation [Thailand]
Microplastics Found In the Brains of Mice Within Hours of Consumption PhysOrg
COVID-19/Pandemics
This may be the biggest news of the decade. Completely overshadowed by shenanigans in the White House.
It looks like H5N1 reinfections are entirely possible. This means that our farms are going to be a never-ending circulating pump of H5N1.
This. Is. Not. Good.
— Lazarus Long (@LazarusLong13) January 28, 2025
Are we sicker now than we were before Covid came along?
The short answer: YES.
A quick thread on the increase in Norovirus here.
(and I’ll explain this chart) pic.twitter.com/TjDuIam1SX— tern (@1goodtern) January 28, 2025
Climate/Environment
The coming great global land reshuffle Financial Times
‘Last Ice Area’ in the Arctic could disappear much sooner than previously thought PhysOrg
Extreme heat will kill millions of people in Europe without rapid action Nature
How the Mafia is weaponizing wildfires CNN
a href=”https://spectrum.ieee.org/microreactor” rel=”nofollow”>These Microreactors Could Bring Nuclear Power to Remote Areas IEEE Spectrum (Chuck L)
US Solar Boom Continues, But It’s Offset By Rising Power Use ars technica
China?
White House evaluates effect of China AI app DeepSeek on national security Reuters (Kevin W)
‘Cooperation with China will severely impact Trump’s policy on Georgia’ JAMnews
Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo warns of dire consequences if UN fails to intervene in crisis Anadolu Agency
European Disunion
Denmark to pump $2bn into Arctic security as Trump eyes Greenland Aljazeera
Virtually no Greenlanders want to join the US, new poll finds EurActiv (Micael T)
How NATO and the Pentagon simulate the destruction of Europe Thomas Fazi (Micael T)
🇩🇪 German foreign minister, Baerbock, finds it inspiring that her grandfather was a fanatical nazi who fought for Hitler in 1945.
“Wow, we’re standing on the shoulders of our grandparents” pic.twitter.com/Pf1m6xZyso
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) January 27, 2025
French PM angers Socialists with reference to ‘submersion,’ a term popular on far right Le Monde
Taxes for venture capitalists are being lowered – paid for by increased taxes on alcohol and tobacco Breakit via machine translation (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Reeves plans to create ‘Silicon Valley’ between Oxford and Cambridge Guardian (Kevin W). I had a long discussion with a UK technologist who now lives here on how insanely hard it was to start a new business in the UK (as in tons of stupid bureaucratic obstacles, staring with the bank putting him through hoops to open a business account, and not of the KYC sort).
Cardiff University to cut 400 staff and drop subjects including nursing and music Guardian (Kevin W)
Israel v. The Resistance
Israel: Netanyahu to be first foreign leader to visit Trump DW
Israeli strikes on south Lebanon wound 24: health ministry Arab News
In 1951, the US & Israel pressured Egypt heavily to mass transfer Palestinian refugees from Gaza into Sinai
In 1953, UNRWA & Egypt agreed to resettle 12,000 Palestinians in Sinai in return for $30 million from the US (today equals $355 million)
Gaza revolted & killed this plan… pic.twitter.com/5dffvbmCQb
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) January 28, 2025
New Not-So-Cold War
SCOTT RITTER: Trump’s Doomed Plan for Ukraine Consortium News
Ukrainian energy infrastructure on verge of collapse – Forbes RT
Trump & Ukraine: The Coming Battle Over Conscription Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Or see ThreadReader version (Chuck L):
🚨🇺🇦📉 Ukraine is headed for a DEMOGRAPHIC CRISIS
☠ Even if Ukraine somehow ‘wins’ the war, it will be a DEPOPULATED WASTELAND
👇🧵 Here’s what you need to know pic.twitter.com/a9N11YFE7h
— NewRulesGeopolitics (@NewRulesGeo) January 28, 2025
Tucker Carlson claims Biden administration tried to ‘kill Putin’ Politico. Subhead notes the absence of evidence.
Syraqistan
What is Turkey’s vision for the Kurds in Syria? Middle East Eye
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Baguette bandits strike again with ransomware and a side of mockery The Register
CVS Is Turning Locked Shelves Into an Excuse to Make You Download Its App Gizmodo (Paul R). Talk loudly in the store about how you are moving all your prescriptions to Walgreens as you get the staffer to open the cabinets.
New VPN Backdoor Bruce Schneier
Imperial Collapse Watch
U.S. Air Force F-35 Filmed Crashing at Key Arctic Air Base Military Watch
The ‘Iron Dome for America’ Boondoggle Daniel Larison
The True Cost of Guantánamo Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Trump 2.0
Trump’s ‘Flood the Zone’ Strategy Leaves Opponents Gasping in Outrage New York Times. The silence of prominent Democrats, like either Clinton (Bill would obviously be the better spokescritter), Obama, Schumer, Pelosi, is deafening.
Trump sows chaos in federal workforce then says “resign within a week and I’ll give you 7 months severance.” Don’t fall for it! Trump told innumerable contractors he’d pay—then stiffed them. He has no authority to promise severance pay. Wait him out!https://t.co/frtYnVOqbA
— Senator Tim Kaine (@SenTimKaine) January 29, 2025
Trump Buyouts Mirror Elon Musk’s Twitter Purge Ken Klippenstein
Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans Associated Press
NY attorney general sues Trump administration as state gets locked out of Medicaid Gothamist
Trump’s Spending Halt Spawns Day of Chaos Before Getting Blocked Bloomberg
Private emails show RFK Jr. making false claims about Covid-19 shots, linking vaccines to autism STAT (KLG)
Pete Hegseth’s Worldview Is Even Worse Than His Personal Behavior Current Affairs (fk)
EPA fires science advisers Politico
Elon Musk, WH Press Secretary, & Fox claimed that Trump had to freeze grants and govt funding because Biden supposedly sent $50 million in condoms to Gaza. Another lie in a firehose of daily lies. https://t.co/sHbBHrVGXS pic.twitter.com/3e8w5uwLmW
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 29, 2025
Trump signs order to block federal support for minors’ gender transitions CNN
Trump doesn’t talk softly, but does he carry a big stick? Asia Times (Kevin W). Important.
On day one, Trump wasn’t the dictator he promised to be. Jacobin (Robin K)
Trump White House Confirms that Drones Over New Jersey were Approved by FAA Larry Johnson
Immigration
ICE agents in NYC area take at least 20 people into custody in early morning operation, sources say CBS
Dramatic Immigration Arrests Rattle Bronx and Upper Manhattan THE CITY
Antitrust
Record $4.5 Billion EU Fine Punished Its Innovation, Google Tells EU Court Reuters. The claim that Google is in the business of innovation, as opposed to rent extraction, is laughable.
Cloud Services Market Is ‘Not Working,’ Says UK Regulator Gov.UK
Mr. Market is Moody
Glut of New Houses for Sale in the South Is Bigger Even than during the Housing Bust. The Glut in the West Gets Close Wolf Richter
AI
How China’s DeepSeek Outsmarted America Wall Street Journal (Li)
Microsoft Probing If DeepSeek-Linked Group Improperly Obtained OpenAI Data Bloomberg
I’m so sorry I can’t stop laughing. OpenAI, the company built on stealing literally the entire internet, is crying because DeepSeek may have trained on the outputs from ChatGPT. They’re crying their eyes out. What a bunch of hypocritical little babies. https://t.co/Qt2OjiyGTA pic.twitter.com/4PMDQlsQwp
— Ed Zitron (@edzitron) January 29, 2025
Guillotine Watch
Many reported on Nancy Pelosi dumping millions worth of Nvidia ahead of the DeepSeek fallout.
But very few noticed she bought into Tempus AI, a healthcare AI stock that’s nearly doubled in price since her investment.
Why? Because she is betting on Americans getting sicker. 🤨 pic.twitter.com/AvoLnz4s3Q
— James Li (@5149jamesli) January 28, 2025
Class Warfare
Late Stage Social Capitalism Matthew Eric Bassett
Antidote du jour. Timotheus: “Ffrom Sharon J. Sheron in Story Lake, Indiana”
And a bonus (guurst):
Сирота по имени Пиппа🥰
Спасибо доброму человеку, который заменил ей маму❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/OkB5b1aHRZ— 𝕃𝕪𝕦𝕕𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕒 (@nordw51) January 28, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
