Grandmother, 80, is killed in freak accident in her Sleep Number bed Daily Mail
A new timeline for Neanderthal interbreeding with modern humans ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
Beatrix Potter’s Quiet Rebellion Humanities (Anthony L)
Kafka’s Screwball Tragedy: Investigations of a Philosophical Dog The Reader (Anthony L)
A philosopher engages with the mystical tradition Times Literary Supplement (Anthony L)
Philosophical Dead Ends Los Angeles Review of Books. Anthony L: “Dawkin’s simple (minded) story appealed to many, and still does, but not, I think, for reasons they admit.”
Leading Scientists Urge Ban On Developing ‘Mirror-Image’ Bacteria Science
Climate/Environment
Study finds Arctic warming tied to severe cold spells in UK, Europe PhysOrg
Arctic tundra is now emitting more carbon than it absorbs, US agency says. Guardian
A Controversial Plan To Refreeze the Arctic is Seeing Promising Results CNN
How Drought Insurance Can Leave Millions Without Food Bloomberg
Housing must take priority over nature, says Starmer in green belt reform plan Guardian (Kevin W)
China?
China gorging on silicon before Uncle Sam slams the door The Register
The Red Dragon Strikes Back Lau Vegys (Micael T). Important.
China’s ‘explosive’ ironmaking breakthrough achieves 3,600-fold productivity boost South China Morning Post (Chuck L)
Koreas
The Failure of Yoon’s Desperate Power Grab Daniel Larison
Myanmar
Bloody siege ends Myanmar army control of western border BBC
China Urges Kachin Rebels to Stop Fighting Myanmar Junta Irrawaddy
India
Who’s afraid of George Soros? Indian Punchline
European Disunion
A NATO coup just took place in Romania Thomas Fazi. Micael T: “Let’s see if this will end up like the Greek NATO coup in 1967 with a military dictatorship.”
Norway Wants to Scrap EU Power Links amid Surging Prices OilPrice (Kevin W)
How von der Leyen sold out European farmers Thomas Fazi (Micael T)
Cocaine consumption in Germany is increasing Tagesschua via machine translation (guurst)
France’s New PM: Is the Wait Over? European Conservative (Li)
Israel v. The Resistance
📍Gaza
It’s just after 10 a.m. in Gaza, where Israeli attacks have killed at least 37 Palestinians since dawn Thursday.
➤ 16 aid workers and volunteers were killed when Israel launched two missiles at an aid convoy, resulting also in 80 trucks to be looted.
➤ 15 people were… pic.twitter.com/z7dqyE5IDB
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) December 12, 2024
Haaretz confirms: Dr Iyad Rantisi — head of obstetrics at Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, was tortured & killed by the israelis while in their custody https://t.co/Bv9yBQX0Te
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) December 11, 2024
Within less than 10 hours, Israeli forces have killed three doctors in Gaza:
Dr. Mahmoud Al-Namleh, a respected academic.
Dr. Saeed Joudeh, northern Gaza’s orthopedic surgeon.
Professor Abdelsalam Abu Zaida, Dean of Graduate Studies at Al-Aqsa University. https://t.co/n4KVpqvHvI pic.twitter.com/eKkUvrEBWy
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) December 12, 2024
Please click through to read the tweet below in full. Another indicator that relying on unverified sources is problematic. This take may prove to be incorrect, but at this point, it looks like a better assessment based on currently available information than other Resistance-supporting accounts:
Did Israel win? Is Palestine doomed?
For those who fear The Resistance has been mortally wounded by Syria’s demise–that Palestine’s destruction is now essentially guaranteed–here are some ‘balancing’ thoughts to consider…
It’s always good, after experiencing a devastating… pic.twitter.com/PUUJ4yorQO
— James Jos. Kroeger (@JamesKroeger5) December 11, 2024
‘As much and as quickly as possible’: Israeli settlers eye land in Syria, Lebanon 972 Magazine (Kevin W)
Netanyahu Hilariously Claims Israel Doesn’t Seek To Intervene In Syria’s Affairs Caitlin Johnstone
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia will reply Julian Macfarlane
About Russian Response Andrei Martyanov
ABC News reports that one million Ukraine soldiers have died.pic.twitter.com/hqxpXTdpSv
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) December 12, 2024
SITREP 12/11/24: Zelensky Draws Line with US in Mobilization Impasse Simplicius (Kevin W)
Trump says he will not ‘abandon’ Ukraine RT
Gref warns of risk of stagflation in Russia RBC via machine translation. Micael T: “Some in the West take this as the end for Russia being nigh.”
Low global demand creates opportunity for more US sanctions on Russian oil, Yellen says Reuters (Kevin W)
Syaqistan
How the US and Israel Destroyed Syria and Called it Peace Jeffrey Sachs, Common Dreams
New regime forces in Syria carry out summary executions in Latakia Defend Democracy
1/ Varoufakis critiques anti-imperialism by rejecting both imperialism & governments like Assad’s, advocating for “minimum ethical standards.” While well-meaning, his analysis is idealistic, failing to grasp the material realities of imperialism & sovereignty struggles. A🧵 https://t.co/embiYQDCIm
— Yusuf 🔻☭ (@viulenny) December 10, 2024
As images and videos emerge from “liberated” Syria of “rebels” exterminating human beings in the streets for not being the right ethnicity or religion, many are equating it to the previous government’s actions.
However, the Syrian government under President Assad “brutalized”… https://t.co/ng31yTXhb6
— Brian Berletic (@BrianJBerletic) December 11, 2024
Iraq rejects asylum for Syria ex-regime soldiers, Maher al-Assad The New Arab (Kevin W)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Federal government sending drone-specific radar to New Jersey to investigate mysterious sightings Gothamist
Imperial Collapse Watch
NATO tells members to divert social spending to militaries RT (Kevin W)
Patrick Lawrence: The Centrists Cannot Hold ScheerPost (Chuck L)
Amid Cuts To Basic Research, New Zealand Scraps All Support For Social Sciences Science. Only spending with economic benefit allowed. That is not what basic research is supposed to be about.
Trump 2.0
Trump weighing options to stop Iran going nuclear, including preemptive strikes – report Times of Israel
How to Trust a Trump Voter London Review of Books. From early in the month, still germane. Anthony L: “Never stop the blame cannons! – This guy is the LRB’s go to on ‘populism’ etc. Little by little the LRB converges on The Guardian.”
🚨🚨BREAKING: Update on the RINO Removal Project. #RRP
RINO Removal Project Next Steps
1.Create a Charter outline that will be finalized via the Leadership Committee and Local Chapter Leaders. Draft version #1 12.10.2024
2.Start the RINO Removal Project Community on X.… https://t.co/Gt7TMSmEVG pic.twitter.com/MYG8y9gt4s— Leo The Lion (@LeoTheLion1964) December 12, 2024
The “Perestroika” in the USA Anti-Spiegel via machine translation. Micael T: “That would be the day. I do not understand the hype and expectations on Trump. Given his first performance and organizational inertia and political resistance, he will deliver tax relief for the rich and that‘s about it. Perestroika it ain‘r.”
2024 Post Mortems
Kamala Harris Ignored Big Corporate Monopolies. It May Have Cost Her the Election Zephyr Teachout
Our No Longer Free Press
The Onion Can’t Buy Infowars Yet Matt Levine, Bloomberg (Micael T)
— Chris Hedges (@ChrisLynnHedges) December 11, 2024
Tech Platforms Diverge on Erasing Criminal Suspects’ Digital Footprints New York Times
Antitrust
It’s Time to Break Up Big Medicine Matt Stoller (Dr. Kevin). Important. An epic shellacking of Noah Smith.
Lawmakers push health insurers, PBMs to sell pharmacy businesses The Hill
AI
Losing our voice? Fears AI tone-shifting tech could flatten communication Guardian (Kevin W)
Guillotine Watch
Robert Sterling’s Post LinkedIn. On Brian Thompson. Micael T: “The comments even on LinkedIn are scathing.”
Class Warfare
Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger calls for prayer and fasting for employees Fox. Paul R: “WTF. This explains a lot.”
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “Mr. Livingston (Jonathon), enjoying a stroll along the shore on a lovely December afternoon.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
