Links 6/13/2023

Links 6/13/2023 1

Silvio Berlusconi’s death draws tributes, even from critics, in Italy and beyond Associated Press (Kevin W)

Protect Grassland Birds by Mowing Later iBerkshires. Resilc: “I mow late for my lighting bugs, who put on a great show June 21-25.” Moi: “Very very sad here, crash in lightning bugs last year to this year.”

Biomedical labs bleed horseshoe crabs for vaccines with little accountability NPR. Furzy:

These horseshoe crabs are living, sentient critters. One day in Napeague, on Long Island, a windy day with a stiff surf hitting the shore, I came across a horseshoe crab that had been flipped upside down by the waves, and unable to turn over. So I gently flipped him up, and carried the beastie into deeper water. To my utter amazement, the crab turned around and looked at me, despite the heavy surf! I felt a thank you, of sorts….

Recording the entire process of a tera-electron volt gamma-ray burst during the death of a massive star PhysOrg (Chuck L)

UK hobbyist stuns math world with ‘amazing’ new shapes PhysOrg (Chuck L)

A tale of two cities: Paris proves that you don’t need skyscrapers to thrive Guardian (Kevin W)

#COVID-19

The Great Grift: How billions in COVID-19 relief aid was stolen or wasted Associated Press (resilc). A feature, not a bug.

Notes from the Memory Hole: The Great Double-Talking Vaccine Scientist Matt Taibbi

Climate/Environment

Why the U.S. Electric Grid Isn’t Ready for the Energy Transition New York Times (resilc)

Narrowing the scope of the 1972 Clean Water Act Angry Bear

The Climate Crisis Will Be the Mother of All Financial Crises Common Dreams (furzy)

Recycling Process Of Waste Beverage Soda Cans And Making Aluminum Wire In Factory YouTube (resilc)

Ten statistics on global plastic addiction and its consequences France24 (resilc)

China?

An earlier tweet via guurst we managed to miss:

Old Blighty

UK Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer slanders Roger Waters, demands censorship WSWS

Britain’s post-Brexit policy drift alarms world’s executives Japan Times (Kevin W)

New Not-So-Cold War

Zelensky Backstabbed His Polish Patrons By Making A Power Play For Their Grain Market Andrew Korybko

* * *

Despite the big Ukraine offensive being on, so far aside from embarrassing wunderwaffen casulaties, so far all it has produced is some not big and generally short-lived penetration of the line of contact, a good 18 km or so in front of the first fortified line, as in in an intended-to-be-a-buffer-for-opportunistic-use. Russian officials warning not to get cocky, Ukraine still has a lot of men and materiel yet to be deployed.

Fresh overnight report, yet more Russian strikes across Ukraine: More Troops At The Vremevka Tactical Bridgehead | Massive Strike. Military Summary 2023.06.13 YouTube

Ukraine SitRep: Destruction Of Its Third Army – Issues To Negotiate Moon of Alabama (Kevin W). Unwittingly shows lack of bargaining overlap even if talks were commence. Russia would need to change far more facts on the ground before the West will accept Ukraine ceding more land. I can’t see the West swallowing letting Russia have what it has already taken, let alone agree to give up territory not yet won by Russia.

WHAT COULD RUSSIA DEMAND TO END UKRAINE WAR – Larry Johnson Judge Napoltano, YouTube. See particularly at 14:50, Zelensky whinging about Western failure to put humanitarian boots on the ground re the Kakkovka

* * *

Testing Russia’s red lines could become a fatal experiment Responsible Statecraft. Brian Berletic recently reminded viewers that Russia was extremely patient in Syria. The West seems to think Russia not reacting immediately to provocations is a sign of weakness, as opposed to discipline.

Syraqistan

After LIV Golf-PGA merger, what sports are next for Saudis? New York Post (resilc)

The World Food Program suspends food aid for 8,000 families in Gaza, citing lack of funds Mondoweiss (guurst)

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Talitrix Prison-Monitoring System Tracks Inmates Down to Their Heart Rate Wired

1/6

Trump

According to Twitter-land, Tucker Carlson will have a show on the Trump indictment later today. How many views it gets will be a proxy for how many are at least willing to hear a Dem-critical slant (yes, some Dems will wind up watching just to get their blood pressure up, but it’s not crazy to assume >85% of the views would be from Trump fans + Trump ambivalents). As of wee AM, Tucker’s views on his first show were 115 million and his second, 56 million.

Trump drew one of his favorite judges. Here’s how she could help his case. Politico. Lead story.

Why Biden, Clinton classified documents cases differ from Trump’s Washington Post (furzy)

PATRICK LAWRENCE: The Rape of Lady Justice ConsortiumNews (Carolinian). A fierce piece.

The impossible challenge of telling Trump fans the truth Washington Post (furzy). As Hillary Clinton learned, deplorables-contempt and blaming is not a winning strategy.

Biden

Grassley: Burisma executive who allegedly paid Biden has audio recordings of conversations with Joe, Hunter Fox News (Chuck L) and Republican Senator says foreign national at center of Biden bribery allegations has recordings of 17 phone calls with Joe and Hunter that he has kept as ‘insurance policy’ Daily Mail

Tara Reade: US Will IMPRISON ME If I Leave Russia | Exclusive Interview With Biden Accuser Rising, YouTube. From a few days ago, still germane. Sealed indictment? An Interpol red notice?!?! FFS, that would be enough to get her seized when she crossed most borders.

GOP Clown Car

DeSantis supporters wave Nazi flags outside Walt Disney World Boing Boing (resilc)

US senator Thom Tillis reprimanded by Republicans for support of LGBTQ+ rights and gun control Guardian (resilc)

McCarthy, Scalise tensions bubble into public over GOP rebellion The Hill

The War on Drugs Is Getting Meaner and Dumber, and Texas and Florida Show How Bad It Can Get New Republic (resilc)

NYC Will Charge Drivers Going Downtown CNN. The latest increase in taxi fares and charges put them in nosebleed area. The only people who will be able to afford taxis will be 1%ers and/or on expense account.

Our No Longer Free Press

Censorship and the Twitter Files with Matt Taibbi RFK Jr Podcast Spotify

AI

I applied to McDonald’s and other fast food jobs but chatbots made it impossible Business Insider (Paul R)

Can a chatbot preach a good sermon? Hundreds attend church service generated by ChatGPT to find out Associated Press (furzy)

Plagiarism Engine: Google’s Content-Swiping AI Could Break the Internet Tom’s Hardware (Paul R)

Google To Get Hit With EU Antitrust Charges for Ad Tech Abuses Blooomberg

The Bezzle

Surging stockmarkets are powered by artificial intelligence Economist (Paul R)

US Patent Office Proposes Rule To Make It Much Harder To Kill Bad Patents TechDirt

SEC lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies raise questions about industry’s future Associated Press (resilc)

Robinhood’s May Crypto Trading Volume Falls 68% To $2.1 Billion Coindesk

Home foreclosures are rising nationwide, with Florida, California and Texas in the lead NBC (resilc)

Inflation report Tuesday will be critical for the direction of Fed policy CNBC

Class Warfare

Fed Will Keep Rates High Thanks to Inflation Fueled by Corporate Greed, Investors Say Bloomberg (ma)

What’s Killing Productivity? Some Think It’s the Banks Wall Street Journal

Wabtec & UE Reach Deal – Reddit Moderators Strike – Hawaii Gas Strike Shuts Down Restaurants Mike Elk

Antidote du jour (Tracie H):

Links 6/13/2023 2

And a bonus (Chuck L):

And a second bonus (Chuck L):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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