The surprising link between drug trafficking and bird conservation Sequencer
Study challenges popular idea that Easter islanders committed ‘ecocide’ Phys.org
Why Mount Rainier is the US volcano keeping scientists up at night CNN
Climate/Environment
California wildfires have already burned 90,000 acres, and summer is just beginning Los Angeles Times
OOPS! GEOENGINEERING TRICK TO COOL BRUTAL HEAT COULD SPIKE TEMPERATURE ELSEWHERE, SCIENTISTS SAY Futurism
Pandemics
Why is The New York Times now promoting an anti-science agenda? Science-Based Medicine
COVID summer wave grows, especially in West, with new variant LB.1 on the rise CBS News
UK Covid hospitalisations increase following emergence of new variant The Independent
Years into a Pandemic, We’re Stuck in Long Denial OK Doomer
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USDA finds unusual twist: Bird flu moved from dairy cows to poultry in Michigan Toledo Blade
La belle France
Fresh unrest in New Caledonia after independence activists flown to France for detention The Guardian
Old Blighty
What Really Happens in Blackburn Craig Murray
India
In a Delhi heat ward, a lonely battle for life The Migration Story. “Migrant workers are the biggest casualty of India’s worst heatwave.”
The Koreas
S. Korea says parasites detected in trash-filled balloons from N. Korea Yonhap
China?
Why Washington’s Plans to Turn Taiwan Strait into “Hellscape” are Fundamentally Flawed New Eastern Outlook
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China’s Fiscal Income Drops at Quickest Pace in More Than a Year Bloomberg
China running short of lottery tickets as youth try their luck amid shaky economy South China Morning Post
China’s ByteDance working with Broadcom on advanced AI chip- Reuters Yahoo! Finance
Nvidia to sell its advanced AI processors to Middle East countries, despite sanctions Tom’s Hardware
Syraqistan
Hezbollah stores missiles and explosives at Lebanon’s main airport, whistleblowers claim The Telegraph. Commentary:
Israeli war propaganda through @TheTelegraph__ has started to counter #Hezbollah‘s drone and try to scare the Lebanese. It shows that #Israel is afraid of what to expect in case of war and is trying in vain to turn a small part of the hostile Lebanese against the resistance. pic.twitter.com/XD6EvvaQI2
— Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺 (@ejmalrai) June 23, 2024
June 12: Israel must target civilian infrastructure in Lebanon
June 23: Here’s some pretense to target civilian infrastructure in Lebanon pic.twitter.com/fsTeuPJfVY
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) June 23, 2024
Thousands of Iran-backed fighters offer to join Hezbollah in its fight against Israel AP
Israel offensive in Lebanon could increase risk of broader war – US general Middle East Eye
US Air Force general: US will not assist Israel in war with Hezbollah as it had with Iran Jerusalem Post
‘Intense phase of war with Hamas about to end,’ focus to shift to Lebanon border, Netanyahu says CNN
Gaza’s missing children: Over 20,000 children estimated to be lost, disappeared, detained, buried under the rubble or in mass graves Save the Children (Press Release)
European Disunion
Plan to announce new far-right group “The Sovereignists” imminent Euractiv. Led by Alternative for Germany.
EU Finds Legal Loophole to Bypass Hungary’s Veto on Arms Purchase for Ukraine – Report Sputnik
New Not-So-Cold War
SITREP 6/23/24: Coordinated Terror Attacks by Ukraine and Friends Seek to Sow Instability Simplicius the Thinker
Terrorists attack multiple sites in Russia’s Dagestan, killing six police officers, priest Anadolu Agency
Moscow blames Washington for deadly Crimea strike RT
U.S. CROSSES REDLINE AND RUSSIA IS NOW READY TO RESPOND WITH FORCE Larry Johnson, A Son of the New American Revolution
Watching Kiseliov commenting the ATACMS attack on Vesti Nedeli now. He promises a Russian response but “of course, asymmetrical” and “at the front” (including explicitly Ukrainian energy infrastructure and “decision-making centers” as “next step), “plus providing missiles to…
— Tarik Cyril Amar (@TarikCyrilAmar) June 23, 2024
🇺🇦🇷🇺🚨‼️ Russia hit the warehouses of the Tavria-V hypermarket in Odessa.
Judging by the secondary detonation from video 1, they hit an ammunition storage.
According to Russian sources, there was a warehouse of NATO missiles there.
Ukrainian sources say it’s “a civilian… pic.twitter.com/sgiqN14ojV
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) June 24, 2024
As U.S.-supplied weapons show impact inside Russia, Ukrainian soldiers hope for deeper strikes AP
Jake Sullivan and the ‘softening up operation’ Gilbert Doctorow
THE U.S. SAYS A FAR-RIGHT UKRAINIAN ARMY UNIT CAN NOW GET AID. A PHOTO SHOWS TRAINING WAS ALREADY HAPPENING. The Intercept. The neo-Nazi Azov Brigade.
South of the Border
The Dream of a Thing: Refounding the Economy of a Venezuelan Commune Venezuelanalysis
The Caribbean
Kenyan police force to leave for UN-backed Haiti mission on Tuesday France 24
Kenya’s President Ruto Defies His Own Country’s Constitution and High Court to Invade Haiti Black Agenda Report. From May 29, still germane.
Spook Country
When Did Everything Become “Disinformation”? Ken Klippenstein
Biden
BREAKING: The White House now has extensive video footage on its channel that every human rights organization in the world, including Israeli, as well as the UN, have said was extracted under torture. I repeat: The White House is laundering torture on its public media channel pic.twitter.com/E0YxdOof3G
— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) June 23, 2024
Trump
Ex-Trump security adviser backtracks on proposal to send all Marines to Asia The Guardian
The ‘Israel model’ for US China policy would be folly Responsible Statecraft
Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former National Security Advisor, finally reveals some details on how Trump will allegedly end the Ukraine war. He’ll impose “massive sanctions” on the Russian Central Bank and try to cripple Russian oil sales. No more of the Biden Admin’s “half-measures” pic.twitter.com/JJ09kBrbMm
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) June 23, 2024
Democrats en déshabillé
Ro Khanna Says Progressives Must ‘Pull Biden Across Finish Line—and Then Organize’ Common Dreams
GOP Clown Car
Louisiana kicks off national fight with Ten Commandments mandate The Hill
2024
Disappointment and ‘depression’: Biden’s biggest fundraisers watch their advantage vanish Politico
In the Market: French bond vigilantes have lessons for the US Reuters
Imperial Collapse Watch
Pentagon Increases Price Cap For B-21 Stealth Bomber Acquisitions Military Watch
Boeing
Federal prosecutors recommend to Justice Department that Boeing be criminally prosecuted CBS News
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Are Conservatives Moving On From Robert Bork? BIG by Matt Stoller
AI
Arch-rivals Apple and Meta reportedly discuss AI partnership for iOS 18 9to5 Mac
Human Brains Can Tell Deepfake Voices from Real Ones University of Zurich
Groves of Academe
The TikTokification of Mental Health on Campus Mad in America
Our Famously Free Press
Corporate Media in the Age of Fascist Politics: Firewalls of Ignorance and Disappearance LA Progressive
Class Warfare
Tech Firms Prey on Poor Under Guise of Expanding Access to Financial Services Truthout
Amazon retaliated after employee walkout over the return-to-office policy, NLRB lawyers say The Verge
The NLRB Is Testing Out a New Tool to Stop Union Busting Jacobin
High Expectations The Baffler. “Budding labor tensions in the cannabis industry.”
Sports Desk
‘Blue screen of death’ at the ballpark: How the Mariners tapped a tech nerve in viral rally video Geek Wire
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.