Links 11/12/2022 | naked capitalism

Slaves to the rhythm: rats can’t resist a good beat, researchers say Guardian (David L)

The lava from Indonesia’s Kawah Ijen volcano has an electric blue appearance

Large quantities of sulfuric gases emerge at high pressures along with the lava, exposed to oxygen in the air and ignited by lava, the sulfur burns producing blue flames 1/2pic.twitter.com/3dXbHCtb2t

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) November 9, 2022

Debris From Destroyed Space Shuttle Challenger Found On Ocean Floor 36 Years On CBC

Inside a radical new project to democratize AI MIT Technology Review (David L)

https://t.co/EQya6cLF2M

— T. Ryan Gregory (@TRyanGregory) November 11, 2022

Measles outbreak erupts among unvaccinated children in Ohio daycare ars technica (resilc)

Donuts, chips and pizza should be redefined as DRUGS, scientist say Daily Mail Online (resilc)

A Peek Behind the Curtain: Life Expectancy Peter Zeihan. Resilc: “How can USA USA progress when we have two warring cults in a never ending war and never ending election mode?”

#COVID-19

Science/Medicine

COVID-19 reinfections substantially increase risk of death and Long COVID WSWS

COVID-19 reinfections may be riskier than they seem Popular Science

Guys, let me make it very clear

The average adult gets flu once every 5 years

Before Omicron, covid was estimated to infect every 16 months

Covid dysregulates far more than flu, it infects T cells and depletes dendritic cells

What do you think the cumulative effect will be?

— Anthony J Leonardi, PhD, MS (@fitterhappierAJ) November 10, 2022

⚠️SERIOUS—Babies <6 months have “high #COVID19-associated hospitalization rates”—(but no vaccines avail) according to a damning new @CDCgov @CDCMMWR report. ➡️All the smug & arrogant pundits who say kids “low risk” & “practically immune” need to be branded for child endangerment! pic.twitter.com/BYHzVaHta9

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) November 10, 2022

US

People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report People’s CDC (dk)

China?

Exclusive: U.S. blocks more than 1,000 solar shipments over Chinese slave labor concerns Reuters. Resilc: “You mean like the ones USAID just gave Lebanon?”

Wow, actually an interesting insight from Kevin Rudd (who knows US’s China policy intimately).

The US tried to convince other countries for 6-12 months to join them on their tech sanctions against China but failed to convince *a single* one! That’s why they went ahead alone. pic.twitter.com/p99MxbN41M

— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) November 11, 2022

HK stocks surge as Beijing eases Covid rules Asia Times (Kevin W)

The kind of thing a financialized society will never do:

The plan calls for the government to build integrated communities at selected locations around the country

An integrated Community includes:
Community kitchens for elderly
Community Kindergarten
Community health clinics
Service centers etc

— Zhao DaShuai 无条件爱国🇨🇳 (@zhao_dashuai) November 5, 2022

Old Blighty

U.K. Economy Shrinks as Threat of Recession Nears New York Times

European Disunion

Ocean Viking: Meloni slams ‘aggressive’ France as migrant rescue ship row escalates Access to the comments EuroNews (Kevin W)

KFC apologises after German Kristallnacht promotion BBC. Resilc: “Why I turned off the Twitter ap connected to the E-bidet Alexa ordered me.”

New Not-So-Cold War

World leaders to forgo G20 ‘family photo’ over Russia’s presence Guardian (Kevin W)

US worried about EU commitment to punishing Russia RT. As the Washington Post indicated, this was the reason Zelensky was told to engage in peace posturing, which he isn’t even trying to fake. And if you read the NYT story that has everyone so excited, Mark Milley’s argument apparently is that Ukraine should “cement gains”. Admittedly before winter, but that means the Pentagon is warning odds favor Ukraine taking losses from here. This leak may just be the Pentagon throwing down a “We told you so” marker.

Consistent with my priors: Russia Completes Kherson Pullout in Good Order, Captures Pavlovka, Doubts US Diplomatic Moves Alexander Mercouris. I listened to this after I wrote the above. At around 19:45, he mentions a statement from Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov that Russians have “no information” about diplomatic initiatives.

The Present and Future of Europe’s Energy Supply Der Spiegel (resilc)

US sets conditions for India to keep buying Russian oil RT. Kevin W: “That’s mighty white of them. /sarc”

Versus: EXCLUSIVE India can buy as much Russian oil as it wants, outside price cap, Yellen says Reuters. Note RT parsed this story rather differently than the headline message.

🇮🇳🛢️🇩🇪Bloomberg: The gas conflict between Germany and India has moved into the political one

The trade contradictions between Germany and India over the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have turned into a diplomatic dispute between the two countries-Bloomberg.

— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) November 12, 2022

German parliament approves nuclear plants life extension DW

Greece threatens to block gas price correction mechanism ekathimerini

From Rybar, believed to be one of the more accurate Telegram accounts; you can scroll down from this link to read other posts:

🔻The Russian Ministry of Defense officially announced the completion of the withdrawal of the group of troops of the Russian Armed Forces from the right bank of the Dnieper: the last equipment and personnel completed the transfer at 5 am. According to military correspondent Alexander Sladkov, over 20 thousand personnel and 3.5 thousand pieces of equipment were withdrawn.

▪️The Russian Defense Ministry says that not a single piece of military equipment and weapons was left on the right bank of the Dnieper. Apparently, reports from the field were submitted this way, because there are enough personnel with captured equipment. Another question is that this equipment could be out of order for a long time, and its evacuation seemed inappropriate…

▪️Russian artillery and air strikes, the use of mines and explosive barriers stopped Ukrainian units 30-40 km from the area of crossings across the Dnieper. We plotted this radius on the map and noted which settlements are already under the control of Ukrainian troops.

▪️Throughout the withdrawal operation, a wide network of informers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine, in a hurry to get “pardon”, transmitted data on the routes of transfer and the location of Russian military personnel…

In the Kherson region , Russian troops completed the withdrawal of troops to the left bank of the Dnieper. After crossing the last units of the Russian Armed Forces, they blew up the Antonovsky bridge in Kherson and the bridge of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station near Novaya Kakhovka.

Rather than be tortured?

Zelenskyy’s warning for Russian “soldiers, mercenaries and collaborators” who were left behind in Kherson and other liberated southern cities was: “The only chance for salvation is for you to surrender to Ukrainian captivity” https://t.co/8yMvA3MzPJ

— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 12, 2022

WOULD THE SOVIET UNION BE ABLE TO DEFEAT THE NAZIS IN WORLD WAR II IF SOCIAL MEDIA EXISTED? Larry Johnson

S Korea ‘all in’ on US economic security alliance Asia Times

LEAKED DOCUMENT REVEALS WHY INTERPOL OVERTURNED U.S. “RED NOTICE” AGAINST PUTIN ASSOCIATE YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN Intercept (resilc). Interpol looks to be better at investigating than the Intercept. The first para of this story attributes a statement to Prigozhin that was first started on a fake Twitter account and then Prigozhin amped it up to what was obvious trolling…except the West, including the White House, treated it as bona fide (see Moon of Alabama for details). Similarly, he US charged the alleged Russian meddlers assuming no one would show up to defend the cases; they dropped them when someone did.

‘Unconventional’ delivery of US airpower in Arctic tailored to serve notice to Russia Stars and Stripes (guurst)

Syraqistan

US and Mikati ‘fooled’ Lebanon into thinking Iranian fuel deliveries would be permitted: Report The Cradle (guurst)

Israel’s Far Right in New Government Eyes Security Ministries; Who will Stop them from Just Shooting Down Palestinians? Juan Cole

In an environment where every Palestinian is considered a suspect by default, just about anything the Israeli authorities decide is necessary can be justified for ‘security reasons’ – even the most heinous of acts.

Powerful statement from our Co-director, @YaelLotan3 👇 https://t.co/yQNs89Bq5u

— Breaking the Silence (@BtSIsrael) November 10, 2022

Tariq Ali, Assassination Time Again New Left Review (Anthony L)

Imperial Collapse Watch

The Bunker: The Trillion-Dollar Pentagon Pogo (resilc)

The battle for who owns ‘conservative statecraft’ Responsible Statecraft (resilc)

Biden

Biden Says Agenda Backed by Midterm Voters Is Reducing Inflation Bloomberg. Resilc: “Reality denier.”

Trump

Trump v. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack United States Court, Southern District of Florida (Kevin W). Fighting the subpoena to testify next week.

Jan. 6 committee staffers told preliminary plan for final report would focus largely on Trump, not on law enforcement failures, sources say NBC (resilc)

Trump’s wild claim about using the FBI to stop 2018 vote-counting, explained Washington Post

User Clip: Trump Promotes Quick Trials and Death Penalty for Drug Dealers C-SPAN

Satmar Rebbe: Trumpism has infiltrated Judaism, twisted many minds Jerusalem Post (resilc)

Noose found at Obama Presidential Center halts construction Chicago Tribune (resilc)

2022

Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak ousted in Nevada The Hill

GOP Clown Car

Can DeSantis Unseat Trump? Atlantic

Marjorie Taylor Greene posts a video saying, “Joe Biden, you’re not a president, you’re a piece of shit” Boing Boing (resilc)

Trump-loving “prophet” Julie Green weeps as she calls upon God to “let our rightful president take his place back where it rightfully belongs to him.” pic.twitter.com/sXXkjxt8n3

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 4, 2022

Our No Longer Free Press

DuckDuckGo officially joins the dark side pic.twitter.com/8H9LoPT8bA

— Plana Terra (@Mike727health) November 8, 2022

The West renounces freedom of expression Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Net (Chuck L)

The Age of Social Media Is Ending Atlantic. Resilc: “Then why does everyone have their heads in their phonezzzzzzzz?”

Musk tells Twitter employees “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question” as it descends into chaos Boing Boing. Note Musk told employees about the daily rate of losses before he took over….

Hey Hollywood, Elon Musk is Turning Your Tesla into a Maga Hat on Wheels The Wrap (resilc)

From Tom H: “Thread of spoof brand accounts, e.g., “Teslas sent to Ukraine because most advanced explosive devices”.

The verified brand situation is getting out of control. Quick thread of twitter blue brands, and brands who might be pissed off at Elon right about now. pic.twitter.com/bZ9PSqZKtf

— Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN (@JoshuaPHilll) November 11, 2022

Kyrie Irving Is Not Antisemitic, Says NBA Commissioner Adam Silver New York Times. Resilc: “Contract too large to be antisemitic. Besides, an Alibaba owner and we need the Chicom market.”

Tesla vehicles will soon have Zoom video conferencing TechCrunch. Kevin W: “I don’t think that killing your customers is an effective long term strategy here.”

U.S. year-round sales of an ethanol-gas blend wins oil group’s support Reuters (resilc)

The Bezzle

FTX says it is probing ‘abnormal transactions’ after potential hack Financial Times. Including this?

– Algod realizes that he may not get his money, so thinks: What if I just did identity fraud? Openly offers $100K on his Twitter if someone from FTX would process his fake KYC application as a Bahamian to make this happen. pic.twitter.com/lucPxbAWZ4

— ∱allibilist (doppelgänger) (@TFallibilist) November 11, 2022

Bankrupt FTX Hit by Mysterious Outflow of About $662 Million Bloomberg. Note bigger # than reported at FT.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s $32bn FTX crypto empire files for bankruptcy Financial Times. From comments:

The egregious part of this story is that FTX’ meltdown appears entirely attributable to two things that any remotely competent executive would know are wrong: (1) as an exchange, lending customer assets to, of all things, an affiliated entity; and (2) as a leveraged hedge fund-market maker, investing heavily in a thinly-traded coin issued by an affiliated entity. Avoid those obvious missteps, and FTX probably could have had its $32bn slice of cake and eaten it too.

Does Bankman-Fried Deserve A Bail Out? Heisnberg Report (resilc). Delicious:

All I’m suggesting is that if, instead of possibly mishandling enormous sums at a crypto exchange and trading house, Bankman-Fried allegedly ran a drug exchange and trading house, and if, instead of being Sam Bankman-Fried, born on Stanford’s campus (literally) to a pair of highly accomplished law school professors, he were a hypothetical Terrell “Big Dolla” Williams, born in a Chicago housing project to a poor single mother, or Williams’s hypothetical boss, Diego “El Jefe” González, born to nobody knows who in Sinaloa, and currently living in the Chicago suburbs in a $4 million home purchased by his wife, would he still have an active Twitter account? (Maybe, under Elon Musk, but that’s a separate discussion.) Would his organizations still be functioning at all? Would he be in discussions with an investor group to inject $9 billion into his crumbling empire? Would Bloomberg and Reuters still be reaching out for quotes? If not, why not? After all, the scenario I’ve just posited assumes that no guilt has been established for Bankman-Fried, Big Dolla or El Jefe. They’re all innocent until proven otherwise. Or at least that’s the way the legal system is supposed to work….

Finally, let me pose an even more uncomfortable question to readers: Who’s smarter, more capable and deserving our collective adoration: The Stanford-born, all-lanes-open whiz kid who made $16 billion by way of legal goods and services which some believe should be illegal, or the child born to nothing, with nothing and with no lanes open, who made $16 million trading illicit goods and services which many people believe should be legal?

Stupid move. Argentina has an extradition treaty with the US:

Holy shit https://t.co/v6NfCj6Rck

— Literally Sean Bannon (Post-Command Arc) (@LiteralSheridan) November 12, 2022

The Swiss National Bank Began Unloading its Biggest US Stock Holdings, incl. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Wolf Richter. It’s nuts for a central bank to buy stock, worst of all foreign stocks, with the exception of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, now the Saudi Central Bank, which also acts as a sovereign wealth fund and winds up holding lots of foreign currency positions due to the Kingdom being a big exporter.