Lessons From Lucy Sapiens
Aztec Death Whistle Was Designed to Haunt the Mind, Brain Scans Confirm ZME Science
Private equity: vampire capital Michael Roberts’ Blog
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 arrives with a “full digital twin” of Earth Ars Technica
Climate/Environment
NYC issues first drought warning in over 20 years after record rainless streak NBC News
Water
NYU scientists create crystals to extract water from air without using energy Interesting Engineering
The Great Mediterranean Drain: How 70% of Its Water Vanished in a Geological Crisis SciTech Daily
When Rome’s fountains run dry The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
Pandemics
A California child tested positive for bird flu. Here’s why this case is different Cal Matters
California agriculture faces significant losses as avian flu outbreak spreads. ‘It’s a mess’ Fresno Bee
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COVID-19 winter surge expected to hit marginalized communities hardest, experts warn Copper Courier
China?
Taiwan, U.S. sign NT$10.7 billion deal for Air Force, Navy equipment Focus Taiwan
U.S. report suggests NATO Plus arms status for Taiwan TVBS Taiwan
Denial Without Disaster—Keeping a U.S.-China Conflict over Taiwan Under the Nuclear Threshold RAND
Old Blighty
British PM Starmer is taking a short break from supporting a genocide in Palestine, escalating a proxy war in Ukraine and arresting British people for mean tweets, to lecture China on human rights pic.twitter.com/yJnqEzHfPX
— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) November 19, 2024
DWP admits winter fuel payment cuts will plunge tens of thousands of pensioners into poverty Big Issue
The Lucky Country
McBride Speaks From Prison at Australia’s Top Press Award Event Consortium News
European Disunion
The German army takes steps toward economic militarization Harici
Experts question Euro countries’ scare tactics hyping Russia threat Responsible Statecraft
New Taurus missile proposal for Ukraine will be set for Bundestag vote Euromaidan Press
Von der Leyen eyes major reshuffle to boost control over EU budget Politico
Syraqistan
WATCH: Israel is using facial recognition technology to organize how it conducts mass arrests and forcible displacement in Gaza. Some Palestinians say the technology is also being used to carry out field executions. pic.twitter.com/HDeQgElJez
— Mondoweiss (@Mondoweiss) November 19, 2024
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Netanyahu Offers $5 Million Reward to Any Palestinians Who Free Israeli Hostages Asharq Al-Awsat
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Turkish strikes in Syria cut water to one million people BBC
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Yemeni Ansurullah Strikes Turkish Bulk Carrier Supplying Cargo to Israel Military Watch
Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Leaves Middle East, Vinson Carrier Strike Group Deploys USNI News
The Houthis Are In ‘Panic Mode’: The F-35C Has Gone Into Battle The National Interest
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Israel Finds Large Troves of Russian Arms in Hezbollah’s Hands WSJ
Russia boosts presence near Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to help Syria ‘prevent escalations’ The Cradle
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine fires 8 ATACMS missiles at warehouse in Bryansk Oblast, Russia shoots down only 2 Ukrainska Pravda
Kiev fires ATACMS missiles at Russia’s Bryansk Region – MOD RT. MOD says five of six shot down.
US embassy in Kyiv shutters after ‘significant’ air attack threat Euronews
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Our Sixty Days of Nuclear Chicken Have Begun Matt Taibbi, Racket News
Note On US Launch of Long-Range Missiles into Russia The Journal of Belligerent Pontification
What happens now, after the Ukraine’s ATACMS strike on an arms storage site in Bryansk oblast, Russian Federation? Gilbert Doctorow
Putin Signs Russia’s New Nuclear Doctrine As the US Crosses the Red Line Larry Johnson, Sonar21
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Ukraine Needs More Missiles to Take Full Advantage of New Biden Policy Foundation for Defense of Democracies
A Trump peace deal needs European boots on the ground to secure Ukraine, Estonia says Politico
Biden approves anti-personnel mines for Ukraine, US official says Channel News Asia
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Russia arrests German citizen on sabotage charges — reports Deutsche Welle
Germany says ‘sabotage’ presumed in damaged Baltic Sea telecom cables Al Jazeera
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Poll: over 50% of Ukrainians support an end to the war ASAP Responsible Statecraft
The Caucasus
EU to send mission to Georgia to investigate electoral fraud OC Media
Georgian opposition reclaims protest site Bne Intellinews
Leader of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia resigns after protest deal AFP
South of the Border
Venezuela Condemns Erik Prince’s Involvement in Attacks on PDVSA Oil Facilities Orinoco Tribune
Spook Country
CIA Democrats and Other Party Hawks Win Races in 2024 Election Covert Action Magazine
Biden Administration
Biden’s AI Spying Rules Are A Last Gift of Power To Trump Forever Wars
Biden got Trump out of a Ukraine jam Asia Times
BIDEN MUSES THAT HE COULD BE SENT TO SPACE TO RESCUE STRANDED ASTRONAUTS Futurism
Astronauts found to process some tasks slower in space, but no signs of permanent cognitive decline Phys.org
Trump Transition
How the stock market could be last guardrails to corral Trump’s wildest whims The Independent
Trump and Allies Plot Cuts to Medicaid, Food Stamps to Fund Tax Cuts for Wealthy Truthout
Trump Taps Dr. Oz to Run CMS MedPage Today
Trump plans to nominate billionaire buddy Howard Lutnick as Commerce secretary Minnesota Reformer
Trump picks former WWE executive Linda McMahon for education secretary The Guardian
Wall Street isn’t panicking with ‘known entity’ Jay Clayton as new top cop Yahoo! Finance
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The Promise of Trump’s Realist China Grand Strategy American Conservative
Hyperglobalisation, Big Government & Three Systemic Challenges System Change
2024 Aftermath
Is Trump 2 the End of ‘Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome’? The Northern Star
Hate and harassment towards women spreads after Trump’s election Copper Courier
Democrats en déshabillé
DNC union blasts Dems for laying off workers without severance on one-day’s notice: ‘Betrayal of party values’ New York Post
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Data privacy experts predict some wins under Trump 2.0 The Record
Imperial Collapse Watch
Privatizing the VA: The Unseen Costs to Veterans and Taxpayers Alike HEALTH CARE un-covered
Ukraine, Middle East wars depleting US air defence stocks — US admiral TRT World
AMERICA’S LAST CHANCE WITH THE GLOBAL SOUTH Foreign Affairs
This is SO telling and absolutely hilarious.
As everyone knows, China funded and built a new $3.5 billion megaport in Peru which was inaugurated 3 days ago.
Blinken, in an obvious attempt to show that the US wouldn’t be outdone, announced the next day that “the United States… https://t.co/PY5Tb2dkEr
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) November 18, 2024
Our Famously Free Press
NY Times killed investigation of Israeli hooligans, internal email reveals The Electronic Intifada
Supply Chain
The U.S. Chinese immigrants running Temu shipping centers from their homes Rest of World
Class Warfare
No raise for California’s minimum wage workers. Voters reject Prop. 32 Cal Matters
Revisiting Religion in the Struggle for Workplace Justice The Saint Louis University Law Journal
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
