Links 1/17/2021
Share
‘Extraordinary’ research finds electric eels hunt in packs CNN
Google’s Revolving Door (US) Tech Transparency
A new and innovative way for Google to kill your SaaS startup GoMox, Medium. “We never properly established the cause of the issue, but we chalked it up to some AI tripping on acid at Google’s HQ.”
Amazon is filled with fake reviews and it’s getting harder to spot them CNBC
SPACs are a new part of the same market story Yahoo Finance. Musical interlude.
Credit card firm Capital One fined for violating U.S. anti-money laundering law Reuters
Big Meat: facing up to the demands for sustainability FT
Capitol Seizure
The American Far-Right Is Dangerous but Disorganized Foreign Policy and Capitol riots: Police describe a ‘medieval battle.’ BBC Tactics and weaponry.
Federal official walks back allegation rioters intended to ‘capture and assassinate’ NBC. Note the original URL: “strong-evidence-shows-rioters-intended-capture-assassinate-elected-officials-prosecutors.”
#COVID19
Why Has Israel Succeeded At COVID Vaccination? Elad Blog (Re Silc). “[I]t is more important to move fast to save lives than to create and enforce complex rules. However, it turns out these complex rules are not needed.” Whaddaya know, complex eligibility requirements. Hey, how about we incentivize vaccination uptake with tax credits?
Nearly 170,000 get 2nd COVID shot; initial study shows no major side effects Times of Israel. 13 cases of temporary facial paralysis is the worst side effect.
Thousands of Covid-19 vaccines wind up in the garbage because of fed, state guidelines NBC. The last mile problem, important thread:
We’re deploying vaccines like we do annual flu shots rather than the mass vaccinations done in Africa & Asia where millions are vaccinated in weeks
Years ago, Joe Rhatigan & I studied these campaigns. They offer several lessons that can inform what we need in the US now
THREAD
— Ranu Dhillon (@RanuDhillon) January 17, 2021
Isolation of SARS-CoV-2 from the air in a car driven by a COVID patient with mild illness (preprint) medRviv. From the body of the paper: “Taken together, our data highlight the potential risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by minimally symptomatic persons in the closed space inside of a car (with closed windows and air conditioning running), and suggest that a substantial component of that risk is via aerosolized virus.” Here is a good thread on airborne transmission, starting with this article:
📌1/Infectious #SARSCoV2 in the air of a car 2 hrs after unmasked driver w/mild #COVID exited vehicle. Researchers found the virus in tiny air samples (0.25-0.5 um) and showed the virus retained ability to infect cells in a lab. H/T @UniversalMaski2 1/8🧵https://t.co/xXJSw5g1GB pic.twitter.com/mMOdq1MgIn
— Dr. Ali Nouri (@AliNouriPhD) January 16, 2021
Badger Seal (Mask Fitter) UW Makerspace. With yet another thread on mask-hacking:
I have used this for months. I like it. I used it over my1st surgical mask and use another on top for esthetics. Usually a 4 ply and then a thin pretty cloth. I’ve upgraded to kn94 ( BOTN) and it’s a nice tight fit. https://t.co/ZgZEvFtwIT
— Lucy (@lucycookiz) January 16, 2021
New coronavirus variants could cause more reinfections, require updated vaccines Science
The Future of the Coronavirus? An Annoying Childhood Infection NYT
Mysterious Wheat Deals Complicate Hunger Fight in Ethiopia Bloomberg
Coronavirus second wave surges across Africa FT
China?
China builds 1,500-bed hospital in five days amid surge in Covid cases Independent
Coronavirus: China reports 96 new infections, links superspreader to 102 asymptomatic cases South China Morning Post. The deck: “Authorities in Jilin province say superspreader is a 45-year-old man who has been touring the region giving lectures on health.” More interesting detail in the text.
Hong Kong civil servants given four weeks to pledge loyalty to the government Reuters
COVID-19: Indonesia vaccine rollout bucks trend by targeting younger generations Sky News
A black market for illegal coronavirus vaccines is thriving in the Philippines WaPo
PM Muhyiddin and govt can’t be ousted while emergency is in effect, says Malaysian gazette Straits Times
Why is Laos building Mekong dams it doesn’t need? Deutsche Welle
Fire-Resistant Tropical Forest at Brink of Disappearance in Indonesian Regions Due to Human Modification (press release) Swansea University
Syraqistan
U.S. Navy Ohio Class Submarine Filmed By Iranian Navy While Submerged Naval News
Israel to push Biden to take it easy on Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt Axios
How Israel Built a Nuclear Program Right Under the Americans’ Noses Haaretz
Brexit
Falklands disappointed and frustrated with Brexit deal Penguin News
UK/EU
French prosecutors open probe into influence-peddling by ex-president Sarkozy France24
5 things to know about German CDU chief Armin Laschet Politico. Merkel’s replacement.
New Cold War
What Will 2021 Bring the Russian Regime and Society? Carnegie Moscow Center
General Madness Irrussianality
Trump Transition
Governors angrily accuse Trump administration of misleading states on vaccine supply ABC
Impeachment
6 questions about Trump’s 2nd impeachment trial answered, much still unknown ABC
Impeachment is more dangerous than Trump Michael Tracey, Unherd
Biden Transition
Biden plans dozens of executive orders for early days of presidency Politico
How Joe Biden’s team hopes to turn five vaccine doses into six Slow Boring
Statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico only needs 50 votes The Week. It’s truly amazing what liberal Democrats will do to avoid appealing to voters with universal concrete material benefits. Of course, events may knock some sense into Biden. We’ll see.
Cynical Realism LRB. On the Supreme Court.
Rock Bottom for Democracy Should Focus Americans on Election Reforms Sightline Institute. Alaska just adopted RCV.
Democrats in Disarray
Dems Reject Bigger Survival Checks, Float Tax Breaks For The Rich David Sirota, Daily Poster. Too bad the Democrats campaigned on those $2,000 checks — yes, literal checks — while winning the Senate in Georgia:
Parsing Warnock, he did say — using the typical Democrat trope — that he would be “fighting for” the $2,000 checks. He didn’t say he’d deliver them. Harris tries to put the toothpaste back in the tube:
“We will finish the job of getting a total of $2,000 in cash relief to people who need it the most.
The $600 already appropriated is simply not enough.”
—Your next president, @JoeBiden— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 15, 2021
Biden’s toothpaste, as it happens:
$600 is simply not enough when you have to choose between paying rent or putting food on the table.
We need $2,000 stimulus checks.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 11, 2021
Parsing Biden, he only said that we “need” $2,000 checks. He didn’t say he’d deliver them either. Next, I suppose, “access” to checks.
Well, I’m sure the Biden administration will be able to execute on complex challenges, even if they can’t get simple things right.
Republicans in Disarray
Post Trump, Republicans Are Headed for a Bitter Internal Showdown NYT. Frank Luntz focus group:
I asked my group why 60+ courts had ruled against Trump’s election challenges over the past two months if there is “so much evidence.”
Attorney @Manny_Alicandro was the vocal dissent in the group. pic.twitter.com/4ZKHjt1NKx
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) January 15, 2021
Health Care
Joe Biden to shore up Affordable Care Act after Trump assault on health law ABC
FTC to Study the Impact of Physician Group and Healthcare Facility Mergers (press release) FTC
‘Slippery slope territory’: Health officials propose waiving regulatory review of medical AI tools STAT
Boeing
NASA’s Delayed Deep-Space Rocket Suffers Test Failure on the Ground WSJ. Oopsie. More oopsie:
Again the Boeing company could add a new member of the board of directors who has aircraft engineering and or manufacturing experience but they refuse. https://t.co/oYSg0zoVKq
— Isaac ✈ Alexander (@jetcitystar) January 15, 2021
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Everything We Know About The Mysterious Dark Helicopters That Have Been Circling Los Angeles The Drive
Here Are 4 Better Responses to the Capitol Riot Than Expanding “Domestic Terror” Crackdowns Jacobin
A New Film Details the FBI’s Relentless Pursuit of Martin Luther King Jr. Smithsonian
Imperial Collapse Watch
The Rise and Fall and Rise (and Fall) of the U.S. Financial Empire Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
The Excellent Empire or the Prison of the Peoples? A review of Pieter Judson’s “The Habsburg Empire: A New History” global inequality
Guillotine Watch
Class Warfare
Rebuilding Worker Power Lawrence Mishel, IMF (!). “[W]ages have been kept low in the United States because workers have been systematically disempowered as a result of corporate practices and economic policies that were adopted—or reforms that were blocked—at the behest of business and the wealthy.” Musical interlude.
GWU Worker Co-op Resource Game Workers Unite
Business Exit During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Non-Traditional Measures in Historical Context (PDF) Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “Looking ahead, exit expectations appear historically elevated among small businesses in mining, transportation & warehousing, information, education, leisure & hospitality, and other services (this latter sector includes many ‘local’ businesses like beauty salons, auto mechanics, and churches). But some sectors appear set to do better than average, such as construction, finance & insurance, real estate, and professional, scientific, and technical services.”
Bill Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner The Land Report
Ex-Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones ‘turning herself in’ to face new charge USA Today
Most Execrable and Abominable or Irreligious Lapham’s Quarterly. Testing and informed consent…
Antidote du jour (via):
See Yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
