Links 10/22/2023 | naked capitalism

An Arresting Optic Nerve Tops the 2023 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition Colossal

Superconductivity ‘damaged’ as researchers look to move on from retractions Physics World

Climate

The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle The New Yorker

Evacuees live nomadic life after Maui wildfire as housing shortage intensifies and tourists return AP

In the Nineteenth Century, Scientists Set Out to Solve the “Problem of American Storms” Humanities

#COVID19

Canada:

Seems about right, it’s approaching omicron’s debut numbers pic.twitter.com/dEpLLGhytd

— ☠️C19☣️CO2☢️WW3☠️ (@bohtog) October 22, 2023

Wow, if only we had data like this!

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Tell the CDC: Release the Draft! National Nurses United. “Publicly post HICPAC’s draft Isolation Precautions guidance update in full, with ample time for review and consideration by the public.” Lol, no.

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Exploring the Relationship Between Marijuana Smoking and Covid-19 Outcomes Chest Journal. From the Abstract: “Marijuana smokers had better outcomes and mortality compared to non-users. The beneficial effect of marijuana use may be attributed to its potential to inhibit viral entry into cells and prevent the release of proinflammatory cytokines, thus mitigating cytokine release syndrome.” Big if true.

Hematopoietic memory of severe COVID-19 infection Cell Research. “In the past 3 years, the intense study of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 highlighted the role of dysregulated immune responses…. A new study describes that individuals who recovered from severe coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) exhibit long-term epigenetic changes in their hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, which are subsequently conveyed to circulating progeny myeloid cells.”

China?

Taliban plans to join Chinese Belt and Road Initiative The Cradle

Myanmar

Commentary: Who decides the cessation of violence in Myanmar? Channel News Asia

India

Russia makes up 40% of Indian crude oil imports, dents OPEC’s share Business Standard

Syraqistan

Uh oh:

Can confirm. This is never a good sign for the sailors. pic.twitter.com/QtSMd2F013

— John Cobb 🐇 (@acutelilbnny) October 21, 2023

US Navy intercepts missiles fired from Yemen, ‘potentially’ aimed at Israel France24. Shot:

1/USS Carney Shot Down More Missiles, Drones Over Longer Period

Carney’s engagement in the #RedSea highlights some issues for the @DeptofDefense & @USNavy in modern naval warfare.https://t.co/HiWg6z3Ilk

— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴‍☠️ (@mercoglianos) October 21, 2023

Chaser:

5/If Carney is the sole US destroyer presence in the area, then an shooting down 23 missiles/UAVs may have greatly depleted if not exhausted her armament; known as going Winchester. pic.twitter.com/vsFjnSGPBu

— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) 🚢⚓🐪🚒🏴‍☠️ (@mercoglianos) October 21, 2023

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Behind the Curtain: Rattled U.S. government fears wars could spread Axios. “Not one of the crises can be solved and checked off. All five could spiral into something much bigger.” Not a good time for a collapse of executive function in our governing class.

EU staff members express fury over von der Leyen stance on Israel-Hamas conflict The Irish Times

The U.N. Is Powerless To Help Gaza. That’s How The U.S. Wants It. The Intercept

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Cairo Peace Summit ends without Gaza breakthrough Reuters

Egypt’s difficult questions in the Gaza war MadaMasr (venue).

While we Scream and Shout, Egypt Sorts it Out Benjamin Studebaker, Sublation

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As a ground incursion looms, the big question remains: What is Israel’s plan for Gaza? CNN. Fallujah:

💥”The word repeated in Israel’s top echelons re:Gaza is Fallujah. “We’ll do in Gaza what the US did in Fallujah… Meanwhile, Israel estimates the 1st phase of Gaza’s ground operation will last at least 1 1/2 months, with the aim to physically take possession of Hamas power hubs” https://t.co/qsu4TeEH6Q

— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي💙 (@NTarnopolsky) October 21, 2023

Israel’s Tet Moment Ettingermentum Newsletter. From last week, still germane

Israel Bombed Gaza Hospital and Lied About It Tikun Olam

The October Horror Is Something New Peggy Noonan

An axe to grind should make you sharper European Review of Books

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Saudi television interviews Hamas:

I haven’t seen such relentless interrogation of Palestinian leadership before, esp. in Arabic.

On Saudi Arabia’s main TV channel, Hamas leader is clearly startled by the intensity of the questions & responses to his answers.pic.twitter.com/mj5r2bTXyc Crucial points in next tweets

— Hassan I. Hassan (@hxhassan) October 20, 2023

The Spies of Hamas (excerpt) Spy Talk

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A Surge in Suppression n+1. For example:

At the same time if you call the police for burglary/assault, you won’t get a police officer for at least 24 hours…goodness me.

— Shaan (@Akh_Shaan) October 21, 2023

Company bosses and workers grapple with the fallout of speaking up about the Israel-Hamas war AP

At least the Times has a reporter on the ground (UserFriendly):

When Israel ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza, Samar Abu Elouf, a photographer for The New York Times, fled south to the city of Khan Younis. There, she found the same horror and grief she had seen in Gaza City. https://t.co/rdqsF6y3lA pic.twitter.com/EPJ9OYm4Pf

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 21, 2023

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Scott Ritter Extra Ep. 108: Ask the Inspector (video) Scott Ritter (interview), U.S. Tour of Duty

European Disunion

The Polish Continuum New Left Review

New Not-So-Cold War

Battle for Avdeevka – Close Study Simplicius the Thinker(s). Well worth a read, both for the descriptions of the ground and the media critique. As usual, the lack of links and provenance drives me nuts (“that’s not blogging. That’s typing”).

Not Enough Artillery Rounds For Both War Zones: U.S. Diverting Ukraine-Bound 155mm Shells to Israel Military Watch

Ukraine fears drone shortages due to China restrictions BBC

Finland suspects Chinese ship linked to gas pipe damage Channel News Asia

South of the Border

How the U.S. Drove Venezuelans North In These Times

Could Venezuela’s diaspora hold the key to its opposition primary race? Al Jazeera. Looks like Greedo’s used up!

2024

Biden let the world down. Brother West on the POTUS address to the American People (video) Cornel West, YouTube

Bidenomics and the Left nonsite.org. Commentary:

JUST IN: Percentage of subprime auto borrowers 60+ days past due on loans hits a record 6.1% in September.

This is the highest delinquency rate of all time, even above the 6.0% peak in 1994 and 5.0% in 2008.

The return of student loan payments has added pressure to many of… pic.twitter.com/eByVSff2c3

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 21, 2023

Republican Funhouse

McHenry open to expanding his powers as acting speaker — but only with a ‘formal vote’ Politico

“Faith partners”:

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) recalls that he first learned to support Israel in Sunday School and from his mother hanging Moses’s Ten Commandments on his bedroom wall. Ever since, he has made sure to support our “faith partners” in Israel as “the eyes and ears for America” pic.twitter.com/gaMwYOnqS9

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) October 20, 2023

Spook Country

The Rise of the New Spycraft Regimes Foreign Policy

Breyer on chat control investigative research: EU Commissioner as double agent of foreign interference Patrick Breyer

Face Scanning and the Freedom To “Be Stupid In Public”: A Conversation with Kashmir Hill The Markup

Tech

Instagram ‘Sincerely Apologizes’ For Inserting ‘Terrorist’ Into Palestinian Bio Translations (excerpt) 404 Media

Bombshell Stanford study finds ChatGPT and Google’s Bard answer medical questions with racist, debunked theories that harm Black patients Fortune. This will not surprise NC readers: See from April 23, 2023, April 26, 2023 (and this from January 30, 2023). All the stupid money sloshed out of crypto and Web 3.0, and sloshed into AI. And here we are!

Police State Watch

‘Didn’t State Who He Was’: Federal Drug Agents Seize Millions from Passengers at Atlanta Airport While Posing as Regular Travelers In Plainclothes In ‘Cold Consent Encounters’ Atlanta Black Star (CI). CI: “This is just theft!”

Healthcare

The 10 Year Anniversary of the HealthCare.gov Rescue Paul Smith. We covered this in great detail at the time, and called it. Although it was even worse than we imagined.

MMT

A Mathematical Analysis of a MMT Type Coordinated Fiscal and Monetary Stabilization Policy in a Dynamic Keynesian Model Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. First sentence of the Introduction begins: “Recently, a subgroup of Post Keynesian economists developed a somewhat heretical macroeconomic theory….” I wasn’t aware that “heretical” was a term of art in mainstream macro, but you learn something new every day!

The Final Frontier

Metals from spacecraft reentry in stratospheric aerosol particles PNAS. From the Abstract: “Measurements show that about 10% of the aerosol particles in the stratosphere contain aluminum and other metals that originated from the “burn-up” of satellites and rocket stages during reentry… With many more launches planned in the coming decades, metals from spacecraft reentry could induce changes in the stratospheric aerosol layer.” Thanks, Elon!

Zeitgeist Watch

Stanford scientist, after decades of study, concludes: We don’t have free will Los Angeles Times. “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living,” but we “make their own history.”

Former NH Pastor Sentenced to Over 10 Years in Prison for ‘Horrific’ Child Sex Abuse Crimes The Roys Report. This keeps happening.

Class Warfare

The Great Amazon Heist: New doc exposes inconvenient truths about world’s biggest online retailer Big Issue

Amazon’s bestselling “bitter lemon” energy drink was bottled delivery driver piss (20 Oct 2023) Pluralistic

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Federal agents found more than two dozen minors working in Ohio poultry plant NBC

He wakes up in his car. Then he lovingly chooses your avocados. WaPo. “Inside the life of an Instacart shopper.” Frankly, knowing my personal shopper sleeps in their car is the best part of the service!

Leave No Trace Principles Field & Stream

Antidote du jour (via):

Bonus antidote:

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.