ECONOMY

Links 2/9/2025 | naked capitalism


Scientists find whale song, human language share same structure CGTN

I gave up my life in London to become a goat living in the Swiss mountains: Brit created prosthetic legs, ate grass, became accepted by the herd… and says they make ‘better people than we do’ Daily Mail

Climate

Carbon dioxide reaches record high Arctic News

Inside the CIA’s Decades-Long Climate “Spy” Campaign 3 Quarks Daily

Syndemics

USDA Summary Of Nevada’s H5N1 Genotype D1.1 Spillover Into Cattle Avian Flu Diary

Flu season in the US is the most intense it’s been in at least 15 years AP. We learn nothing:

North Carolina tuberculosis cases rising for first time in decades following one of the worst outbreaks in U.S. history Independent

China?

China faces uphill battle to boost demand despite consumer price recovery in January South China Morning Post. Commentary:

The US relies on China for key medicines. They won’t be spared from tariffs The Hill

‘What’s high tech about clothing?’ Life on the margins of China’s economic reboot FT

India

Modi’s BJP wins big in high-stakes Delhi election BBC

Syraqistan

Israeli Sources Believe Netanyahu Intends to Derail Gaza Cease-fire as Delegation Heads to Doha Haaretz

How to Measure Famine London Review of Books. The deck: “Alex de Waal on the classification of catastrophe in Gaza.”

It is time to move the UN and international law out of the West Al Jazeera

European Disunion

Paris prosecutors open probe into Musk’s X over alleged algorithmic distortions France24

Economy, migration, defence loom large in German election: A turning point for Europe? France24

New Not-So-Cold War

As Ukraine struggles to field soldiers, recruitment centers are attacked WaPo

Ukraine Inches Closer to Final Call-Up Simplicius, Simplicius the Thinker

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Trump confirms call with Putin, says Russian leader wants Ukraine war to end: Report Anadolu Agency

Sharp Turns and Continuity in Donald Trump’s Policy Valdai Discussion Club

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Russia Assembles Flotilla of LNG Carriers in Arctic Waters Ahead of EU Transshipment Ban gCaptain

America’s Economic Warfare Is Sowing Its Own Demise Foreign Policy

Trump Administration

What has Donald Trump not done yet? Here are some policy areas where he might act next AP. Note the lacunae:

Spending bill talks bog down after Trump’s efforts to slash government AP

* * *

Trump directs Secret Service to give him ‘every bit of information’ about his attempted assassins: report FOX

Trump’s Executive Order to Rename Debt and Deficits Stephanie Kelton, The Lens

Directive From New Interior Secretary Weakens Public Land Protections to Push Fossil Fuels Inside Climate News

* * *

Russ Vought, tapped as CFPB’s acting director, directs bureau to issue no new rules, stop new investigations FOX. Commentary:

Why Trump’s in-your-face campaign will never end Axios. New spokeshole:

There’s no reason to believe what Bessent is saying after the “access” imbroglio, especially since there’s no way to independently check it (see below). In addition:

“Highly trained”?

US welcomes ‘persecuted South African’ refugees: State Department Anadolu Agency. Commentary:

DOGE

Musk says Treasury, DOGE instituting reporting changes to all government payments Politico:

The government payments will now have a ‘payment categorization code’ for auditing purposes, he wrote in a post on X, the social media site he owns.

Musk also said payments must provide a rationale in a comment field, adding they are ‘not yet applying ANY judgment to this rationale’ but that all payments must have one.

“Yet” is doing a lot of work, there, no? Essentially, Elon wants the memo field on government checks filled out. There is no reason for this, either for the code or the rationale, if you believe (modulo cases of fraud) that all that is required to issue a check is Congressional appropriation (i.e., a statute) or agency approval, as has hitherto been the case. The obvious reason for this architectural change to Treasury’s outputs is to bolt a kludge a second processor onto the existing back-end of the payments system. This second processor take existing outputs as input, but the “reporting changes” would enable the Executive to impound checks based on the category or the rationale (or, for that matter, on the SSN; why not?). A less obvious reason is for future integration into “the blockchain,” perhaps “a bad idea whose time has come.” And even less obvious reason is to alter the checks: If you want to reduce Federal Spending by 20%, reduce the amount of every check by 20%. Not the Pentagon, of course. Or the spooks.

* * *

Musk’s DOGE Blocked From Treasury Data in State AGs Lawsuit Bloomberg

Inside the ‘lawfare’ plot to sabotage DOGE Daily Mail

Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew ProPublica.

Can anyone stop Elon Musk’s hostile takeover of the US government? FT

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Trump Vs. Education Department: Musk’s DOGE Reportedly Using AI To Look For Cuts—Here’s What We Know Forbes

Elon Musk’s DOGE Is Expected to Examine Another Treasury System Next Week ProPublica

Democrats en déshabillé

How Democrats lost the DEI war Politico

Hakeem Jeffries met privately with Silicon Valley donors in bid to ‘mend fences.’ Politico

The Bezzle

US endowments join crypto rush by building bitcoin portfolios FT

As One State Gets Closer on a Crypto Reserve, Others Jump Into the Fray CoinDesk

Digital Watch

When it comes to AI ROI, IT decision-makers not convinced The Register

Why AI Is A Philosophical Rupture Noema

Zeitgeist Watch

Should People Be Fired for Social Media Posts? What JD Vance Gets Right and Wrong. Zaid Jailani, The American Saga

Kids in New York keep dying while ‘subway surfing’ on top of trains. Can they be stopped? AP

Arrests in luxury home burglaries targeting NFL, NBA players are the ‘tip of the iceberg’ AP

Realignment and Legitimacy

The doomed politics of MAGA Romantics Unherd. The deck: “Why do they hero-worship a huckster?”

Red states create their own DOGE efforts to cut state government Kansas Reflector

Class Warfare

Workers’ rights caught in collision of Trump’s priorities Axios

Good news:

On the American Chestnut, see NC here.

Antidote du jour (Cody Pope):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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