Swimming Cougars Take to the Sea, Astonishing Researchers in the Pacific Northwest TreeHuggers
Nihilistic and crazed, Cocaine Bear is zoological zeitgeist for these end times Guardian
Record-breaking global bond rally crumbles as fresh inflation fears grip investors FT
Climate
Pipeline debate at center of California carbon capture plans AP
The Christian case for fighting climate change is being tested in Eastern Oregon Oregon Public Broadcasting
#COVID19
Millions of workers are still missing after COVID. Where did they go? Bloomberg. “Tis a puzzlement!
Endemicity Is Not a Victory: The Unmitigated Downside Risks of Widespread SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Covid. From the Abstract: “Our modeling suggests that endemic SARS-CoV-2 implies vast transmission resulting in yearly US COVID-19 death tolls numbering in the hundreds of thousands under many plausible scenarios, with even modest increases in the [Infection Fatality Rate (IFR)] leading to unsustainable mortality burdens. Our findings highlight the importance of enacting a concerted strategy and continued development of biomedical interventions to suppress SARS-CoV-2 transmission and slow its evolution.”
* * * Multi-organ impairment and long COVID: a 1-year prospective, longitudinal cohort study Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. n = 536. From the Abstract: “Single- and multi-organ impairment were present in 69% and 23% at baseline, persisting in 59% and 27% at follow-up, respectively.”
Long Covid disabled them. Then they met a ‘broken’ Social Security disability process CNN
Ex-Senator Jim Inhofe Retired Due to Long COVID, Says at Least 5 Other Congress Members Also Have It The New Republic (Re Silc).
* * * Ocugen sniffs out COVID-19 vaccine opportunity, landing rights to nasal candidate with India authorization Fierce Pharma
Bharat Biotech has developed capacity to make 10 mn doses of nasal vaccine against COVID-19, top exec says Business Today. Meawhile, Blue Lake’s nasal vaccine, not “not invented here,” will move to Stage 2 clinical trials “soon.”
* * * Washing the guilt away: effects of personal versus vicarious cleansing on guilty feelings and prosocial behavior Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. From 2014, still germane. “These findings suggest that washing one’s own hands, or even watching someone else wash their hands, can wash away one’s guilt and lead to less helpful behavior.” Hmm. How’s the study?
Bird Flu
WHO concerned about bird flu after girl’s father tests positive in Cambodia Khmer Times. More detail:
Cambodian CDC releases a statement about the recent human #H5N1 infection in #Cambodia
Virus belongs to Clade 2.3.2.1c viruses (=endemic in Cambodia) and NOT 2.3.4.4b that is causing infections around the globe in poultry, wild birds, and mammalian species. pic.twitter.com/jnJRqmuLxc
— Jurre Y Siegers, PhD (@jurreysi) February 25, 2023
The date looks wrong, but that’s a Facebook translation bungle; the date (February 25, 2023) is correct in Khmer.
China?
How badly has COVID-19 affected some of China’s villages? Channel News Asia
Anti-China Rhetoric Is Off the Charts in Western Media The Diplomat
China to target self-styled financial elites with ‘extravagant’ lifestyles in anti-corruption campaign South China Morning Post
Myanmar
The Limits of Beijing’s Support for Myanmar’s Military United States Institute for Peace
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on verge of making history Jakarta Post. Seems unlikely. Worth a shot!
The Koreas
K-pop’s movers and shakers fight to create dominant music agency FT
European Disunion
PKK/YPG being financed in Sweden, says Swedish security service Andalou Agency
Dear Old Blighty
Northern Ireland Protocol: New Brexit deal ‘inching towards conclusion’ BBC
New Not-So-Cold War
Why the War Will Continue Richard Haas, Council on Foreign Relations
French President Emmanuel Macron to visit China in April on mission to help end Ukraine war South China Morning Post. Oddly, nothing current in Xinhua, as of this writing. By contrast–
Belarusian President Lukashenko to visit China Xinhua
G-20 meeting in India ends without consensus on Ukraine war AP
Financial crime watchdog FATF suspends Russia over Ukraine war Reuters
* * * Hear us roar! EU allies announce Leopard tanks for Ukraine Politico. Commentary:
Game Changer? pic.twitter.com/FzkDvEw5aM
— FatFinger™ (@longshortgamma) February 24, 2023
I count 31 + 14 + 18 + 14 + 14 + 8 = 99. Maybe with Spain and Finland we’ll break 100. That doesn’t seem like very many, even if we are dealing in bespoke Wunderwaffen.
China needs Russia to remain a credible military threat to Europe, if it supplies Putin with weapons it will slow Ukraine’s fightback, writes military expert JUSTIN BRONK Daily Mail (Furzy Mouse). From RUSI.
* * * Zelenskyy believes Putin will be killed by his own inner circle Ukrainska Pravda. Projection?
Breaking the World to Save It IM—1776. Bosnia, 2001.
South of the Border
President of Mexico nationalizes lithium Green Car Congress
The Cost Of Deglobalization NOEMA. Commentary:
18/19
We have to return to the old, discredited (but highly successful) idea that a more legitimate purpose of economic development is in fact to increase, or at least maintain, the relative share households retain of what they produce.— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) February 25, 2023
Biden Administration
Inside the EPA’s close relationship with a Montana mining company High Country News
RussiaGate
From Russiagate with Love: Corporate Media Spin and Revisionist Reporting on Russia’s Alleged Meddling in the 2016 Election Continue Censored Notebook. Takedown of reactions to Gerth’s CJR story.
The Supremes
Justices narrow bankruptcy relief from debts incurred by fraud SCOTUSblog
The Bezzle
New SBF Indictment Exposes How Washington Really Works. Plus, Investigative Reporter Lee Fang In-Studio! Glenn Greenwald. Long but informative.
Everything Is Corrupt Eschaton. “I ‘obsess’ about SBF because there were a lot of things that didn’t make any sense to me until it was revealed that half of ‘liberal’ DC was on his payroll, one way or another.” That’s it. That’s the post.
* * * ChatGPT Heralds an Intellectual Revolution Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher, WSJ. Kissinger was on the Board at Theranos.
The future of AI could hinge on two philosophical concepts Tom’s Guide (Rev Kev).
Healthcare
New antibiotic cures superbugs without bacterial resistance Science Daily
Realignment and Legitimacy
Opinion: Is Cedarville U the Latest Campus to Experience Revival? The Roys Report
Measles case in Kentucky linked to viral Christian revival at Asbury University, officials say Cincinatti Inquirer
Imperial Collapse Watch
Guillotine Watch
My Surreal Years Tutoring the Children of the Super-Rich Vogue
Class Warfare
East Palestine:
EPA orders ‘pause’ of derailment contaminated waste removal AP and Michigan, Texas officials unaware Ohio contaminated soil, water, taken to their areas: ‘We were sandbagged’ FOX
What I saw in East Palestine, Ohio The Spectator (KLG). Yikes.
The Devil’s Milkshake Tarance Ray, The Baffler
Biden does not plan to visit site of Ohio train derailment Reuters
The Spaceport at the Edge of the World Wired (UserFriendly). UserFriendly: “I don’t think I have ever read one article that has touched on so many of NC’s themes at the same time as this one.”
Antidote du jour (AM):
AM writes: “Mrs Barkley, my mother in law’s recently adopted black lab. She is now retired from the puppy bearing business and is very happy in her new home. A very loving dog. But she is a profuse shedder, unfortunately.”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
