Happy Winter Solstice!
Dogs Pay the Price in Italian Truffle War Wall Street Journal (BC)
Did the GPT3 Chatbot Pass the Lovelace Creativity Test? Mind Matters (David L)
Adults are buying toys for themselves, and it’s the biggest source of growth for the industry CNBC. I bought myself a Slinky and a Superball some years back, but they were partly for my cats. They did like the Slinky sound.
Under attack: Researchers shed light on how Lyme disease infects body Gina Wadas, Johns Hopkins
#COVID-19
ma: “I don’t know if this is representative, or even what country these parents are in, but if it is…………..seems like an explosion of righteous rage could be coming….directed at who I wonder…..”
At what point do I have the legal right to tell this government I will no longer send my kid into the proverbial Lion’s Den to satisfy the COVID denialists?At what point do I have the legal right to protect my child’s health, first. 2/
— Kathleen Smith (@KikkiPlanet) December 16, 2022
Science/Medicine
‘World Health Organisation Doomed the World by Concealing Evidence of Airborne COVID Transmission’ Byline Times (ma). Note the date.
Africa
Morgue Data Reveal Africa’s High COVID-19 Death Toll BU School of Public Health (ma). So much for the myth that Africa fared well.
Asia
2) Summary of #CCP‘s current #COVID goal: “Let whoever needs to be infected infected, let whoever needs to die die. Early infections, early deaths, early peak, early resumption of production.” @jenniferzeng97
Dead bodies piled up in NE China in 1 night—pic.twitter.com/nx7DD2DJwN
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 19, 2022
US
With “Immunity Debt,” Democrats are Having their Ivermectin Moment The Gauntlet (ma)
FACT SHEET: DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES COMMIT TO CLEANER INDOOR AIR ACROSS THE NATION White House (ma)
Climate/Environment
COP15: Nations reach ‘historic’ deal to protect nature BBC (David L)
Responsible sourcing: Theory and evidence from Costa Rica VoxEU
EU agrees to the world’s largest carbon border tax CNN
China?
Why US really blacklisted China’s YMTC Asia Times (Kevin W)
China pushes for stronger ties with France ahead of possible Macron visit South China Morning Post
China’s Belt and Road comes untracked in SE Europe Asia Times (Kevin W)
Old Blighty
Post-Brexit Britain: a country broken by lies Chris Grey (guurst)
British MPs’ irresponsible anti-China rhetoric may drive UK’s plight even worse Global Times
NHS nurse and ambulance strikes face UK government, army and sellout by union leaders WWS
UK sending 1,200 troops to fill in as ambulance crews strike ABC (ma)
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine to boost Belarus border defences as Putin meets Lukashenko BBC. Defense Secretary Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also went to Belarus. Much speculation from the usual suspects that this was to get Belarus to agree to sponsoring a joint offensive on Ukraine. Dima at Military Summary presented another theory, that Russia wants two military bases in Belarus. My pet view is that this meeting was more something like the latter, and Putin brought along his tippy top officials to flatter Lukashenko and as a deception, to get Ukraine and NATO over-preparing for a big strike from Belarus.
🇺🇦🚫🔌💡⚡️🪫Voltage drops in Kiev few hours ago pic.twitter.com/MW77NH4hzY
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) December 20, 2022
Power shortage in Kiev stands at over 50% – Ukrenergo Interfax
Washington Is Prolonging Ukraine’s Suffering Douglas Macgregor, American Conservative
Ukraine Russia War – Power and Patriot Missiles Judge Napolitano with Colonel Macgregor, YouTube
Congressional progressives, who’ve united to enrich these arms industry sponsors, deserve a table of honor: #SlavaRaytheon https://t.co/0flGAtAq00
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) December 16, 2022
Europe finally agrees to cap gas prices CNN (Kevin W)
Information war: NATO occupies Moldova! Defend Democracy
How Amazon Put Ukraine’s ‘Government in a Box’ Los Angeles Times
Ukraine – Is There Really A Change Of The Narrative? Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Of Course, They Lie. Andrei Martyanov (guurst)
SCOTT RITTER: A Lexicon for Disaster Consortium News. Important.
Syraqistan
Syria says Israeli airstrikes hit sites in Damascus area, two soldiers wounded Times of Israel. See also on October 27 Syria reports Israeli air attack on targets in Damascus area Al Jazeera and Sept. 16 per Reuters.
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
FBI’s Vetted Info Sharing Network ‘InfraGard’ Hacked Brian Krebs (BC)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Pentagon to weed out extremists by banning Marine Corps DuffleBlog
Air Force Grounds Entire B-2 Fleet After Emergency Landing Military.com
All of These Guys Belong in Prison’: CIA Torture Described in Vivid Detail by Psychologist Common Dreams (ma)
1/6
Jan. 6 committee goes out swinging The Hill
DOJ cares about the evidence, not the criminal referrals Politico
Lee Harvey Oswald, the CIA, and LSD: New Clues in Newly Declassified Documents Ryan Grim, Intercept
Police State Watch
The School That Calls the Police on Students Every Other Day ProPublica (Kevin W)
These ladies were trapping stray cats in a public park and taking them to a vet then finding them homes.
The police couldn’t have it though, even after admitting they have a problem with the stray cats, so they arrested 2 senior citizens. pic.twitter.com/5Ak65h9MT5— 🥀_Imposter_🕸️ (@Imposter_Edits) December 16, 2022
Swatters Used Ring Cameras To Livestream Attacks, Taunt Police, Prosecutors Say ars technica
Judge strikes down California gun law modeled on Texas abortion measure Politico
Our No Longer Free Press
‘Twitter Files’ show FBI offered executives top secret info to guide 2020 election censorship Washington Times
Emails show the FBI ‘repeatedly grilled’ Twitter execs over ‘state propaganda’ on the app Daily Mail. BC: “Don’t forget the Obama signed NDA of 2013 that broadened what State Department (and IC) propoganda could be disseminated in US media: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%E2%80%93Mundt_Act
Harvard/Harris: Two-Thirds of Voters Believe Social Media Engaged in Politically-Motivated Censorship and Demand Congressional Action Jonathan Turley
Remember: when presented with a treasure trove of new material showing behind-the-scenes detail of unprecedented intrusions by the US security state to secretly control Americans’ political speech, the media’s first instinct was to dismiss the material and discredit the reporters
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) December 19, 2022
Elon Musk says Twitter will only let paying Blue subscribers vote in policy-related polls after users voted to oust him as CEO Business Insider
The Bezzle
Crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to extradition back to US after Bahamas court appearance descended into farce with prosecution AND defense saying they had no idea why they were there – and he headed back to rat-infested island jail Daily Mail (Li). Have a look at SBF in some of the photos. Rage and menace in his eyes. Also seems entirely conceivable that SBF was responsible for the mixup that led him to be brought to court, since given his givens, that would be a nice break compared to the prison.
FTX seeks to claw back Sam Bankman-Fried’s political donations Financial Times. Oooh, this is gonna be FUN!
Binance’s Books Are a Black Box, Filings Show, As It Tries To Rally Confidence Reuters
Two Men Running a Ghost Kitchen in Northwest Portland Advertise 76 Distinct “Restaurants” on Food Delivery Apps Willamette Week (Paul R)
Lobbyists Have Held Up Nation’s First Right-To-Repair Bill In New York ars technica
San Francisco & Silicon Valley Housing Markets Puke Huge Price Drops, as Startups, Crypto, Tech, Social Media Make Total Mess Wolf Richter
Tesla buyers forced to arbitrate disputes Consumer Law & Policy Blog
Class Warfare
Danish government remains fixed on overturning EU minimum wage directives Anadolu Agency
Antidote du jour (CV):
And a bonus:
Cats 🥰
pic.twitter.com/zmzksw7YbF— Köksal Akın (@mystoryyy333) December 19, 2022
Another bonus:
#Animals love football too🤗
Score a goal for #compassion this #Christmas
Go #Vegan🌱
Do @Veganuary💖@RickyGervais @PeterEgan6 @marcthevet @Protect_Wldlife @ChrisGPackham @RobRobbEdwards @domdyer70 @hilltopgina @Animal_Watch @TrophyXpose @Veganella_ @JohnOberg #WorldCupFinal pic.twitter.com/Ssubcg6Ky7
— ANIMAL ADVOCATE Ⓥ (@_AnimalAdvocate) December 18, 2022
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
