Cat calendar wins the internet for Portland’s Army Corps of Engineers Oregon Live (o4muse). It is charming how lame the Photoshopping is.
Who can die? Canada wrestles with euthanasia for the mentally ill BBC
Saints, Knights, and Dragons American Conservative
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations Nature (Paul R)
An important study from the UK Biobank that showed that ‘mild COVID-19’ increased the risk of all-cause death by 10-fold. And COVID that results in hospitalisation increases this 100 fold. No form of COVID is harmless or trivial. https://t.co/aaDfm4RNBa
— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) January 14, 2023
CDC, FDA see possible link between Pfizer’s bivalent shot and strokes Politico (Paul R)
Chinese hospital staff report severe disease linked to reinfections with Omicron
Reinfected patients are presenting with more severe disease, some only a month out from their first bout, due to the damage done to the immune system by the first infection with COVID-19,” Li said.
— Kate Pritchard (@KatePri14608408) January 13, 2023
COVID-19 is more widespread in animals than we thought National Geographic
Let Them Eat Plague! Red Clarion (John S)
Asia
China Reports Almost 60,000 Covid-Related Deaths in a Month Bloomberg
US
⚠️Sobering—STRAINED WINTERS FOR YEARS—White House COVID19 response coordinator @AshishKJha46 said the US health-care system may not be able to withstand the continued #COVID viral onslaught, straining ability to care for other serious illnesses. Wow.🧵https://t.co/W4FO8V3Nip pic.twitter.com/d2kGOWjJLP
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 13, 2023
Climate/Environment
Australia-Singapore $35 billion solar deal fades to black Asia Times (Kevin W)
Is California still in drought after storms? What maps and charts show SF Chronicle. EM recommends the color-coded drought status map.
China?
Indonesia sends warship to monitor Chinese coast guard vessel Bangkok Post (furzy)
New US Congress agrees on one thing: China threat Asia Times (Kevin W)
Japan’s Kishida says allies must act in concert on China Reuters
India
Under Modi, India’s China Strategy Has Gone From Strategic Proactivism to Docility The Wire
Brazil
Behind the Terrorist Attack on Brazil’s Government BrasilWire (guurst)
Brazil Supreme Court to investigate Bolsonaro role in Brasilia riots RTE
EXCLUSIVE: EXTREME ESCALATION OF BRAZIL’S CENSORSHIP REGIME | SYSTEM UPDATE #22 Glenn Greenwald, Rumble (Alice X)
Old Blighty
UK may shelve controversial Brexit protocol bill in show of goodwill to EU Guardian
New Not-So-Cold War
Russia-Ukraine war live: explosions and air raid sirens in Kyiv as Russians attack Guardian
🇺🇦🚫💡⚡️Emergency blackouts was introduced in Dnepropetrovsk region also
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) January 14, 2023
🛰️🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦Soledar direction: urban area with a difference of six months on 2 satellite images
August 1, 2022 and January 10, 2023 pic.twitter.com/Atgj0MnxXe
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) January 11, 2023
Will Western Main Battle Tanks Turn the Tide in Ukraine? What do Russian Gains in Soledar Mean? Brian Berletic
Ukraine defence minister: We are a de facto member of Nato alliance BBC
* * * Russia speaks on endgame for Ukraine conflict RT
Laying the foundations for a settlement in Ukraine: Now that Kyiv is in a strong position to negotiate, the US must flex its diplomatic muscles to bring both sides to the table. Responsible Statecraft. I am sure readers will have fun this.
ERICH VAD: WHAT ARE THE WAR AIMS? Emma (guurst). Original here.
* * * German media report defense minister soon to resign DW
* * * US ARMY VET FROM IOWA RATS OUT UKRAINIAN CORRUPTION Larry Johnson. So if this is accurate and representative, Ukraine is sabotaging its military campaign. Looting is more important than winning.
Thread of the most cringey, embarrassing establishment perception management being done around Zelensky and Ukraine, in no particular order. Suggestions welcome.
#1: House Republican Introduces Resolution to Place Bust of Zelensky in the Capitolhttps://t.co/OPsp3TzuFV pic.twitter.com/xS2wrIDuTH
— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) January 14, 2023
Top US lawmaker Menendez objects to potential F-16 sale to Turkey ekathimerini. We said Erdogan would need a bribe to vote for Sweden to join NATO. Might this be it?
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Google says India antitrust order poses threat to national security TechCrunch (Kevin W)
Meta Sues Surveillance Company for Scraping Data With Fake Facebook Accounts The Verge
Android TV Box On Amazon Came Pre-Installed With Malware BleepingComputer
Imperial Collapse Watch
This tweetstorm (hat tip guurst) is today’s must read:
Emmanuel Todd, one of the greatest French intellectuals today, claims that the “Third World War has started.”
Small 🧵 translating the most important points in this fascinating interview.https://t.co/eYdKoBJx7B
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) January 13, 2023
The Incorrigible Ideologues of Empire Daniel Larison
Trump
Trump Org. fined $1.6 million after conviction for 17 felonies, including tax fraud CNN
Biden
Obama-era White House counsel will represent Biden on classified documents Politico
Biden’s Corvette Defense Was a Lemon But His “Inadvertence” Defense Could Prove Worse Jonathan Turley
GOP Clown Car
The GOP’s New Crusade Is Destroying America’s Comeback Umair Haque (Randy K). Earth to Haque, there was no comeback for the Republicans to mess up. With (among other things), private equity buying even more housing and now healthcare, even middle class workers are on their way to becoming debtcroppers. All the GOP and Democrats are fighting over is the slope of America’s downward trajectory.
Transgender youth health care bans have a new target: adults The Hill
Missouri Republicans pass a rule requiring women to cover their arms in the state House chamber Business Insider (Kevin W)
Our No Longer Free Press
Remembering Aaron Swartz Ryan Grim
Why Tesla is dropping prices across the US The Hill
EVs are getting too heavy and too powerful, safety chief says ars technica (Kevin W)
The Bezzle
Crypto.com Cuts 20% Jobs Amid ‘Unforeseeable’ Industry Events TechCrunch
Bloomberg, WSJ, CoinDesk Among the Media Outlets Seeking to Know Who Bailed Out Sam Bankman-Fried CoinDesk. An interview with Puck.com (which I have not read because paywalled) reports that SBF has security. That’s awfully rich even for Stanford profs.
Yellen Says US to Take Extraordinary Steps to Avert a Default Bloomberg
Global bond market rebounds strongly as inflation fears recede Financial Times
Class Warfare
Wage Gains Lag Behind Inflation for Another Year Wall Street Journal
Just a reminder that we COULD have had a single payer healthcare system when Obama 1st got elected. He caved to the insurance lobby, among other things. I voted for him twice – for the record. https://t.co/ujKQSuoHk6
— Lana Dell #MMT #DumpTheIncumbents (@organicfanatic5) January 13, 2023
Antidote du jour. Ann M: “Penny settling into her favorite chair back in NYC after 2 years and 8 months in RI.”
And a bonus (guurst):
— Ink Blot (@inkblotistan) January 13, 2023
A second bonus (guurst):
— Ink Blot (@inkblotistan) January 10, 2023
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
