The ancestor of all modern birds probably had iridescent feathers ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
The sports where women outperform men BBC (Dr. Kevin)
Has pop music got less melodic? I’ve immersed myself in 70 years of hits – this is what I’ve found Guardian (Kevin W)
This 112-Year-Old NYC Icon’s Secret to Living Forever Is Pretty Easy Vice
#COVID-19
Disappearing Seats, Defiant Eateries and the End of an Era: Outdoor Dining Deadline Arrives THE CITY. As in Covid “dining sheds” which often were partly or fully enclosed and so did nada to reduce Covid risk.
Climate/Environment
US to invest $2.2 billion to overhaul national power grid Reuters (Kevin W). First, the amount sounds like couch lint. Second, how much will wind up paying for what utilities would have done anyhow?
Cheaper, Faster, Cleaner: Scientists Have Developed the World’s First Anode-Free Sodium Battery SciTech Daily (Chuck L)
Rising rates of cancer in young people prompt hunt for environmental culprit Financial Times
EPA Takes Emergency Action To Stop Use of Dangerous Pesticide Washington Post
China?
South China Sea: Chinese military holds joint patrol around Scarborough Shoal South China Morning Post
Giorgia Meloni and Europe’s incoherence over China Asia Times (Kevin W)
US, China compete to study water on the moon: Why that matters for future missions Des Moines Register. Robin K: “China’s moon water breakthrough came as NASA shuttered VIPER program.”
The Koreas
Read North Korea’s Official Announcement as it Forward Deploys 1000 Manoeuvrable Solid Fuelled Precision Guided Missiles Military Watch
Thai Constitutional Court dissolves progressive Move Forward Party Aljazeera
Africa
How PMC Wagner Got SMOKED in Africa History Legends, YouTube
Bangladesh
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to head Bangladesh’s interim government Guardian. Hoo boy. See this takedown of microcredit.
Old Blighty
UK Travel Alerts Issued Worldwide Asia Today
Top prosecutor considers terrorism charges over riots, as more suspects face court BBC. The BBC made it extremely difficult to access this story.The site initially goes for me to my bookmark, bbc.co.uk, so I very briefly see the UK headlines. Then it quickly flips to bbc.com with a different landing page. On bbc.com, when I searched on “prosecutor terrorism riots,” this article did not come up. I had to load bbc.co.uk 6 times and click on the headline. Even then it usually flipped to the bbc.com landing page first, but I finally got to the article.
Anglo-Italian arms firm Leonardo embroiled in Indonesia corruption scandal Declassified
Gaza
Hamas chooses Yahya Sinwar as new leader following Haniyeh killing Middle East Eye. Recall Haniyeh was moderate…so the Hamas hardliners winding up in a stronger position looks to have been an intended outcome.
Israel’s Bomb Shelters Are Last Line of Defense as Iran Strike Looms Wall Street Journal
Hezbollah drones strike Israel; 12 killed in Israeli raids on West Bank Aljazeera
Hiroshima commemoration and the genocide in Gaza: discussion on Iran’s Press TV Gilbert Doctorow
Gaza As A New(?) Western Method To Wage War Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Syraqistan
The Yemen deal: Riyadh capitulates, Washington loses leverage The Cradle (Chuck L)
New Not-So-Cold War
What the Ukraine war has in common with Vietnam Responsible Statecraft
800,000 Ukrainians Have Gone ‘Underground’ To Dodge Draft – MP RT. We reported some months ago (largely hoisting one of the few in-depth discussion of current economic conditions in Ukraine) that the Ukraine government had put a tight cordon on its borders. Hence hiding as opposed to fleeing.
Zelenskyy extends mobilization, martial law by another 90 days in Ukraine Anadolu Agency
US warns Turkey of ‘consequences’ over military-linked exports to Russia Financial Times
🚨🇺🇦Uprisings against Zelensky in the ethnically Polish city of Kovel in Western Ukraine. Is this Poland’s chance to annexe it’s former territory?
The uprising in Kovel and the sabotage, partisan activities such as etting military recruitment cars on fire will seem like… pic.twitter.com/L96woKEPfi
— Aussie Cossack (@aussiecossack) August 4, 2024
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Israeli Study Shows Smartwatches Can Warn You Have COVID or a Migraine Is About to Happen Haaretz (ma). IMHO the real utility is the Mossad getting your data.
Imperial Collapse Watch
The U.S. Faces Multiple Crises: Who is Running the Government? Glenn Greenwald
Now Labour is the incumbent Single Transferable Party of government what chance is there for the Left? Richard Murphy. Colonel Smithers highlights big shout out to Aurelien.
Kamala
Kamala Harris introduces running mate Tim Walz at raucous Philadelphia rally Guardian
‘Republicans for Harris’ rallies members of GOP to campaign for Democratic ticket Iowa Capital Dispatch (Robin K)
IMHO important because it speaks to poor staff work:
Remember that time Kamala Harris discovered that electricity doesn’t have a smell and then held onto the plug as if she was pumping gas into the car?
Today feels like a good day to re-share one of the great moments in political history.pic.twitter.com/7DHykmdFfo
— Mark Harris (@itismarkharris) July 3, 2024
The Republican talking points v. Walz:
Welcome to the race, Tim Walz!
Let’s make sure America knows who you are.
You helped ignite the George Floyd riots, the worst the country had seen in decades. While Minneapolis burned, you stalled on deploying the National Guard for an entire day, blaming the city for not…
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 6, 2024
Tim Walz was arrested for driving 96 mph in a 55-mph zone, then blew a .128. That’s really bad, but just as bad is that he’s lied about it ever since. He’s repeatedly claimed he wasn’t even drunk, and has instead blamed it all on him being deaf. But the court transcripts tell a… pic.twitter.com/D1CL13mWMA
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 6, 2024
Li asks, “Did they vet this guy?”
𝐄𝐗𝐂 – 𝐕𝐏 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐢𝐦 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐳 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩’𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
He spoke alongside the president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with… pic.twitter.com/IRqlV1Qb7o
— Natalie Winters (@nataliegwinters) August 6, 2024
Democrats en déshabillé
“Squad” Rep. Cori Bush loses her Democratic primary Politico
Governor Newsom is effectively putting Oakland’s law enforcement under state trusteeship, sending in CHP to do the job of a local force unable to do basic police work, and National Guard lawyers to make the prosecutions the county DA refuses to make. https://t.co/KWQBhmNV6e
— Leighton 明 Woodhouse (@lwoodhouse) August 6, 2024
Trump Assassination Post Mortem
BREAKING: @HawleyMO says @SecretService whistleblowers tell him that the lead agent on the Trump Butler job was NOT enforcing the normal security protocols that day and she wasn’t having ID’s checked that day. He describes it as a free-for-all and says as we speak, this lead… pic.twitter.com/g0bR55KPas
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) August 6, 2024
Our No Longer Free Press
The GARMs Race: The House Moves Forward With its Investigation of Blacklisting Company Jonathan Turley. NewGuard picked on some of the wrong people.
NEW: Axios is laying off 50 people across the company. CEO @JimVandeHei just sent out this note — which says the layoffs are because of “changes in the media business” pic.twitter.com/lLVemNFh0N
— Katie Robertson (@katie_robertson) August 6, 2024
Elon Musk’s X sues coalition of advertisers over boycott The Hill (Kevin W). Of course, freedom of speech exists only in a government context, as in officials or agencies not suppressing speech. But the antitrust angle here is clever. If it is well enough argued, he could get past summary judgement and get to root around in the advertisers’ communications. No only might he encounter plenty of salaciously ugly stuff, but there might be some evidence of collusion with governments.
Mr. Market Has a Sad
Tokyo stocks brace for further volatility after biggest single-day jump Nikkei
A tale of two bubbles Asia Times
Antitrust
The Biggest Loser in Google Search Ruling Could Be Mozilla and Firefox Fortune
Apple Thinks Bing is Pretty Bad The Verge. From the ruling in the Google anti-trust case.
Falling Down Boeing Airplanes….and More!
It Turns Out Boeing’s Derelict Starliner Is Unable to Fly Without a Crew on Board Futurism (BC)
NASA likely to significantly delay the launch of Crew 9 due to Starliner issues ars technica (BC)
The Bezzle
Intel: Our balance sheet is a smoking ruin, but we think our new chips work The Register
Class Warfare
U.S. households are piling on record credit card debt, says Fed report Yahoo! Finance (Kevin W)
Antidote du jour. Tracie H: “While visiting the San Diego Botanic Garden; peering from a pond strewn with many little yellow flower petals, was this little prince-to-be, waiting for his kiss.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
