The fierce battle over the ‘Holy Grail’ of shipwrecks BBC (Kevin W)
‘Sensational breakthrough’ marks step toward revealing hidden structure of prime numbers AAAS (Dr. Kevin)
Measures to prevent golf cart–related injuries are urgently needed CMAJ (Dr. Kevin)
CDC conducting extensive probe into bird flu contracted by Missouri resident Kansas Reflector (Robin K)
#COVID-19
Australia detects the first case of the highly transmissible COVID-19 strain dubbed XEC ABC Australia (Kevin W)
Had anyone noticed that the spectator has finally removed the childish ‘lockdowns’ line from this graph?
Look at that hideous growth in UK disability benefits caseload caused by the long term effects of covid infections. pic.twitter.com/0teA1ugg7D
— tern (@1goodtern) October 3, 2024
Climate/Environment
Innovative method targets removal of PFAS from wastewater PhysOrg (Chuck L)
New Coral Discovery May Solve the Ocean’s “Missing Plastic” Mystery| SciTech Daily (Chuck L)
Making waves: Boxwall Flood Barrier leaves sandbags high and dry Thaiger (furzy)
China?
Chinese hackers access US telecom firms, worrying national security officials CNN
Asian NATO’ calls, Taiwan moves: should Beijing worry as Japan’s Ishiba gets going? South China Morning Post
China’s Options for Retaliation in Highly Charged Dispute With EU Over EVs Sputnik (Kevin W)
Breast cancer in China Lancet (furzy)
South of the Border
The mayor of a state capital in Mexico is killed less than 1 week after he took office Associated Press. Robin K: “Sheinbaum will have a rough six years, even with huge popular support.”
Africa
Chagos islanders displaced for a US military base protest a deal on their future made without them Associated Press (Robin K)
European Disunion
EU needs faster migrant returns, say 17 countries including Germany, France Politico
German government’s 2025 cultural budget: An attack on the freedom of art WSWS (Micael T)
The S-top takes out a government income guarantee – despite a fat ambassador’s salary Aftonbladet via machine translation (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Who is Morgan McSweeney? The Labour election guru replacing Sue Gray as chief of staff Independent (Kevin W)
Israel v. The Axis of Resistance. FWIW, I told Lambert a few days ago that I did not believe Israel would attack until after Yom Kippur, which starts Oct 11. Everyone is supposed to be in shul then. It would be an own goal to give Iran the opportunity to launch a counter-strike then.
🚨 HEARTWRENCHING: A will found beneath the rubble of Rasha, a child only 10 years old, who was killed by the Israeli army in #Gaza:
“Please don’t cry for me, as it would make me sad. I hope my clothes can go to those in need, and my accessories to Rahaf, Lana, and Batool. The… pic.twitter.com/NGTJeeAmct
— Nour Naim| نُور (@NourNaim88) October 2, 2024
Israel’s Genocide Day 367: Israel orders new evacuations in Gaza, expands bombing on Lebanon Mondoweiss (guurst)
Israel sends thousands more troops into Lebanon Financial Times. Note that the “into” may be a stretch. Alastair Crooke claimed on Judge Napolitano on Monday that not on is Israel making what amount to short border incursions that it cannot make stick, but it is also improving appearances by focusing on getting to hamlets known not to be unfriendly to Israel (perhaps Christian dominated?) taking pix, and departing. Note headline on the archived version is outdated; perhaps readers can send a fresh version later.
Over 100 rockets fired at Haifa in heaviest attack on city since start of war Times of Israel
Israel strikes military sites in central Syria, killing 5 Xinhua
‘Death sentence’: Asbestos released by Israel’s bombs will kill generations Aljazeera
* * * Scott Ritter : The Middle East One year after October 7th 2023. Judge Napolitano, YouTube. Many important tidbits, such as why the seismic event in Iran was highly unlikely to be a nuclear test. Ritter also describes how Israel will need to re-do any strike plans in light of possible addition of S-400s to Iran’s defenses. Ritter thinks Israel has to find a way to de-escalate with Iran because it knows doing so would result in the destruction of Israel. But Norman Finkelstein has described Israel as a crazy country and Alastair Crooke, along with others, has said how many Israelis see the country as on an eschatological path. So assuming rationality may be way too generous.
A look at Gaza City before and after October 7, 2023 Associated Press (Robin K)
A year of horror, 76 years of oppression: a visual guide to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Thomas Fazi (Micael T)
How Netanyahu stole defeat from the jaws of victory Middle East Eye (guurst)
* * * Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members Suggest Drop Site (Chuck L)
Israel reveals its military losses RT (Kevin W). Have yet to see commentary as to whether this is seen as an undercount
Irish troops ‘determined to fulfil mission’ in Lebanon as Israel invasion continues Irish Times
🧵1/19 EXCLUSIVE
In an unprecedented & biggest investigation into war crimes in Gaza, we expose the elite & secretive IDF sniper team, the Ghost Unit “Refaim” & their brutal executions of unarmed civilians
Soldiers from Paris, Munich, Illinois, Brussel, Johannesburg, Italy-> pic.twitter.com/0N2asIubvV
— Younis Tirawi | يونس (@ytirawi) October 4, 2024
🇵🇸🇮🇱 Nine minutes of testimonies from both Israeli soldiers and civilians explaining how the IDF killed their own people on October 7.
— Censored Men (@CensoredMen) October 7, 2024
* * * Perfidy in Tehran Alastair Crooke. Aurelien gets a shout out!
General Qassem Soleimani wins: Israel falls into the trap of the Axis of Resistance Lucas Leiroz (Chuck L)
Legal Experts Criticize Biden for Praising Israel’s Extrajudicial Killing of Hassan Nasrallah Orinoco Tribune (Robin K)
Exposing The IDF’s Insane Level Of Incompetence | Greg Stoker, TMR YouTube. Makes Scott Ritter’s assessments look charitable.
What an Escalating Middle East Conflict Could Mean for the Global Economy New York Times
Year of war creates cracks in Israel’s borrowing strength Reuters
New Not-So-Cold War
What if Russia blocks the export of its raw materials? DW
Exclusive: Russia’s Lavrov Warns of ‘Dangerous Consequences’ for US in Ukraine Newsweek. I plan to post on this.
Over 1,000 people evacuated after Ukraine’s drone attack set ablaze Russian fuel storage in Crimea Anadolu Agency
Ukrainian official filmed lying on bed of money RT. Robin K: “Probably readying it to send to North Carolina where the US doubtless originally intended it to go.” Moi: “If this is not a deepfake, someone has really awful judgement or alternatively, everyone in Ukraine of any importance is in on the stealing, so this sort of thing does not register there as provocative.”
Why Europe’s leadership wants war Al Jazeera (Kevin W)
Syraqistan
Pakistan: Imran Khan’s supporters clash with police as army seals off capital, internet cut Economic Times
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Former UK PM suggests Netanyahu planted listening device in his bathroom The Cradle (Chuck L)
American Water, the largest water utility in US, is targeted by a cyberattack ABC (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Future of US airpower in turbulent disarray Asia Times (Kevin W)
Kamala
🚨BREAKING: Walmart is now selling a new book titled The Achievements of Kamala Harris—and all the pages are blank.
This is INCREDIBLE 🤣
pic.twitter.com/gX2LZ67Ipo— Jack (@jackunheard) October 6, 2024
2024
The Most Important US Presidential Election of Our Lifetime: The Rightward Trajectory of the Two-Party System Orinoco Tribune
NC tweaks voting rules in counties ravaged by Helene Axios (Kevin W)
Hurricane Milton is a Category 5. Florida orders evacuations and scrambles to clear Helene’s debris Associated Press (Kevin W)
Immigration
U.S. approving citizenship applications at the fastest speed in years Los Angeles Times. Robin K: “‘Immigration officials said the timing is not driven by the election or any political agenda.’”
Abortion
The Supreme Court has let stand a lower court decision barring emergency abortions in Texas. New Republic (furzy)
Our No Longer Free Press
Meta Is Aggressively Censoring Criticism Of US-Israeli Warmongering Caitlin Johnstone (furzy)
The Censorship Industrial Complex Is US Government Counterpopulist Blowback Michael Shellenberger (Robin K). Interview with Mike Benz
Mr. Market is Giddy
The S&P 500 is almost never this expensive. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. MarketWatch (ma)
Global markets surge as $8 trillion rally faces key tests WION
The stagnation of the world economy MROnline
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: The Fed Took $3k From You and Gave it to Jamie Dimon Matt Stoller. Note that the practice of having the Fed pay interest on bank reserves as a way to manage interest rates is new, a post GFC gimmie. Before, the Fed used open market operations, which did not enrich banks.
Guillotine Watch
I Worked for Democrats for Years. Billionaires Have Unfettered Influence Newsweek (Li)
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus (Robin K):
This is the best thing I have seen today!! pic.twitter.com/ZZhnnCQG7y
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) October 6, 2024
A second bonus:
A farmer couldn’t attend his aunt’s funeral,
so he put out heart-shaped food for his sheep so that “she could see it from heaven.” pic.twitter.com/cztTLABbmq— Figen (@TheFigen_) October 6, 2024
One more bonus (Chuck L):
This horse waited his whole life for this moment. pic.twitter.com/vQae8smgv0
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) October 5, 2024
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
