Lambert and I, and many readers, agree that Ukraine has prompted the worst informational environment ever. We hope readers will collaborate in mitigating the fog of war — both real fog and stage fog — in comments. None of us need more cheerleading and link-free repetition of memes; there are platforms for that. Low-value, link-free pom pom-wavers will be summarily whacked.
And for those who are new here, this is not a mere polite request. We have written site Policies and those who comment have accepted those terms. To prevent having to resort to the nuclear option of shutting comments down entirely until more sanity prevails, as we did during the 2015 Greek bailout negotiations and shortly after the 2020 election, we are going to be ruthless about moderating and blacklisting offenders.
–Yves
P.S. Also, before further stressing our already stressed moderators, read our site policies:
Please do not write us to ask why a comment has not appeared. We do not have the bandwidth to investigate and reply. Using the comments section to complain about moderation decisions/tripwires earns that commenter troll points. Please don’t do it. Those comments will also be removed if we encounter them.
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How did 81-1 longshot Rich Strike win the Kentucky Derby? Watch this StarTribune (Chuck L). Time was still pretty fast, in the top 50 for the Derby historically. I noticed even in the NBC video (admittedly on a second viewing) that the jockey really had to maneuver Rich Strike at the top of the home stretch around a horse on the inside. This video shows him almost forcing his way between two horses a bit earlier. However, Rich Strike deserves full marks for having quite a kick in the last furlong.
Election 2022: Dogs at polling stations BBC (David L)
Minnesota briefs: First wolf pups of the season tagged by Voyageurs researchers StarTribune (Chuck L)
Millions of ‘Baby Blue Eyes’ Bloom in This Breathtaking Japanese Park Each Year MyModernMet (David L)
NASA Releases Ridiculously Sharp Webb Space Telescope Images Gizmodo. Kevin W: “Check out the before & after images.”
When Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King jammed blues for an inspiring session FarOut Magazine (David L)
The Dutch Tax Authority Was Felled by AI—What Comes Next? SpectrumIEEE (David L)
Baby food and autism — do the lawsuits and internet claims have merit? Skeptical Raptor (furzy)
Garbology: How to spot patterns in people’s waste BBC (Dr. Kevin)
Paging Dr. Ultrasound McGill (resilc)
It’s Not Too Late. You Can Boost Your Brainpower at Any Age. ConsumerReports (David L)
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
TLDR:
-SARS-CoV-2 shuts down host MHC-1 to evade CD8+ T cells
-this doesn’t differ between variants (pre-omicron)
-Multiple viral genes responsible (so redundancy built in)
-variant evolution toward greater suppression of innate immune responses rather than CD8 T cell evasion https://t.co/kgFnyAkdAT— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) May 7, 2022
Transmission of infectious SARS-CoV-2 via fomites is possible but unlikely to occur in real-life scenarios, study concludes News-medical.net (Kevin W)
Climate/Environment
Coral reefs provide stunning images of a world under assault Associated Press (furzy)
Fertilizer turning Europe’s farms into massive reservoirs of microplastics New Atlas (David L)
Old Blighty
Government threatening to ditch Northern Ireland protocol unless EU backs down Independent (Kevin W)
Boris Johnson to force through new anti-protest curbs in Queen’s speech Guardian (Kevin W)
Labour gets a bloody nose in Tower Hamlets Counterfire (J-LS)
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka PM resigns, Rajapaksa family home burnt down amid clashes: 10 points Hindustan Times (J-LS)
Dictator’s son a front-runner as Filipinos elect next leader Associated Press (Kevin W)
New Not-So-Cold War
Delusional interpretations on both sides of the Russia-West divide Gilbert Doctorow
Kissinger, chief US warmaker & regime changer for half a century, has lost confidence the US will win its war with Russia; has “no judgement” how Putin thinks; proposes “the option of having a different approach”. https://t.co/ADOFnPCnwj pic.twitter.com/vz3tdepkJs
— Dances_with_Bears (@bears_with) May 10, 2022
Leaks raise concern Ukraine will spill into US-Russia proxy war The Hill. I can’t even…
Commission weighs joint borrowing for Ukraine Politico (Kevin W). Note this comes despite evidence of yet more looting, like soldiers not being paid, families not getting death benefits.
EU drops plans to ban shipping Russian crude in face of opposition Financial Times
But Macron, EU to Push Orban to Drop Veto Threat on Russian Oil Ban Bloomberg
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Ukraine Alone Makes Biden The Worst US President In A Long Time Caitlin Johnstone (David L)
In shift, Democrats de-link Ukraine aid from COVID-19 money The Hill. And now $40 billion:
Democrats want to raise Biden’s Ukraine aid to nearly $40 Billion Responsible Statecraft. Resilc:
The entire State and Foreign Operations spending bill for the current budget year is $56.1 billion, just a smidge higher than what Congress may commit to addressing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in just under eight weeks.
I will be voting for one Green anti war IS senate candidate in NC
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CIA INEPTITUDE, RUSSIAN CAULDRONS AND THE UKRAINIAN MAFIA Larry Johnson (guurst)
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Vladimir Putin Address to Victory Parade on Red Square – May 9, 2022 – English Subtitles YouTube. Short, but you are impatient, transcript here.
Putin’s calm, restrained Victory Day speech ‘left room for negotiations’ Global Times. Misses that the Donbass forces = DNR and LNR militias plus Chechens, with regular Russian army artillery support. In the speech, Putin acknowledged the Donbass militias and apparently some members were present.
March of the Immortal Regiment, St Petersburg, 2022: Impressions of a Participant Gilbert Doctorow. Read to the end.
Sky News Stops Interview With Russian Diplomat Over Mention of Zelensky Posting SS Symbol Sputnik. Rev Kev saw the clip which has apparently been yanked since. But it still lives on Twitter:
Incredible—Sky News host asks Russian Deputy UN Rep Dmitry Polyanskiy about the British Defense Secretary comparing Russian troops to nazis, then CUTS HIM OFF after he pulls out a tablet and shows the audience Zelensky’s Instagram post of an SS totenkopf-wearing Ukrainian soldier pic.twitter.com/gYKhTkANtt
— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) May 9, 2022
Note that Dmitry Polyanskiy in the clip above mentions a May 9 45 minute video by Scott Ritter on Finland. When I went looking on YouTube, all I couldfind is what looks like a hoisting/republication:
Scott Ritter – Ukraine, Finland and Nato, a Warning to the People of Finland . The YouTube search results say at the top: “These results may be new or changing quickly.” I’ve seen that in Google searches only when an article or post has been yanked recently. I believe the reason PayPal demonetized MintPress and Consortium News was that both gave Ritter a lot of play (for MintNews, multiple vids, for Consortium News, both original articles and IIRC, at least one interview on CNLive!). There is a highly distrubing must-listen section on the F-35A starting at 41:00.
Syraqistan
Dubai official criticizes ‘foolish’ US bill that targets OPEC nations The Cradle (guurst). We have lost our minds.
Saudi Arabia flexing its geopolitical oil power Asia Times
Wrong to the Core: The Supreme Court of Israel’s Ruling on Masafer Yatta Verfassungsblog (guurst)
Imperial Collapse Watch
William Astore, Must the U.S. Be Involved in Every War? TomDispatch
A Marine’s Story: Phil Klay’s Memories and Advice for a Nation Still Reeling from Afghanistan and Iraq Washington Monthly (resilc)
US Navy Stonewalls Congress In Working Ship Reports qCaptain (guurst). Subhead:
The US Navy has used a trail of misinformation to stonewall Congress and divert funding from working ships to naval aviation and expensive/sexy warships like the failed USS Zumwalt.
Why America is losing the ‘war by other means’ despite Big Tech, Hollywood and soft power-Opinion News Firstpost (J-LS)
Trump
The Surprising Backstory of How the Steele Dossier Was Created Wall Street Journal or https://archive.ph/9wF7B#selection-109.0-1095.24
The Supremes
There are unconfirmed reports that a Supreme Court justice had to flee his home in light of the draft Roe v. Wade opinion Politico (furzy)
The Roe opinion and the case against the Supreme Court of the United States Vox
John Roberts Losing Internal Supreme Court Political Battles With Right Wing Esquire (furzy)
These Texas DAs Will Refuse to Prosecute Women if “Roe” Is Overturned Nation
Scooping the Supreme Court New Yorker (furzy)
The Fall of ‘Roe’ Would Put Big Tech in a Bind Wired (Dr. Kevin). Gee, they might have to make it possible to opt out of geolocating? But what about all those NSA/FBI back doors?
The Real Origins of the Religious Right Politico (furzy). Confirms my pet thesis, of organized feminists in the 1970s being guilty of not nailing down key rights, particularly to abortions, when they had the wind in their sails.
NYC’s Jewish museum bans DeSantis for having wrong opinions New York Post (furzy)
How Ron DeSantis is following in Viktor Orbán’s footsteps Vox (resilc)
Our No Longer Free Press
A Republican state senator’s campaign said the media wasn’t allowed at their political rally. So @KyungLahCNN rented a hotel room to record the event from the balcony. pic.twitter.com/Hi4dzaGaYW
— CNN (@CNN) May 9, 2022
Police State Watch
U.S. police trainers with far-right ties are teaching hundreds of cops Reuters. Resilc: “Shocked! Shocked I am.”
Villages Told to Evacuate as New Mexico Wildfire Pushes North US News (David L)
Double Down! Doomberg. On MicroStrategy.
A Better Globalization Might Rise from Hyper-Globalization’s Ashes Project Syndicate (David L)
Fed Warns of Worsening Market Liquidity in Stability Report Bloomberg. Gee, ya think?
Class Warfare
Internet Providers Commit to Low-Income Broadband Program Under Infrastructure Law Wall Street Journal. The fact that this is happening only now….after remote schooling during Covid lockdowns, is a disgrace.
Nurses are not OK: Why they’re quitting their jobs, and what it means for the future of healthcare Grid News (resilc)
Antidote du jour (Cliff V):
And a bonus. Robert H is a big fan of this cat, which I take to be a young Maine Coon.
See yesterday’s Antidote du Jour and Links here.
