The plants that change our consciousness New Statesman
HOW VOLTAIRE HELPED SPREAD THE LEGEND OF EUROPE’S MOST FAMOUS PRISONER, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK Crime Reads
America’s Obsession With Self-Help The New Republic
In the Footsteps of Garibaldi: Tim Parks Traverses Italy—and Two Centuries of History Literary Hub. Tim Parks, born in England, resident in Italy since the early ‘80s, has written several acclaimed books about his adopted home.
The Medici as Artists Saw Them New Yorker
Haiti President Jovenel Moïse killed in attack at home BBC
Jacob Zuma turns himself in to South African police Al Jazeera
Life in the Stacks: A Love Letter to Browsing The Walrus
The Enduring Spectacle of Fat Suits in Hollywood Jezebel
Mysterious illness is killing songbirds across the US, officials say NY Post
On Being A Bit Wrong Craig Murray
City of Bees Plough. Bees are now active in our garden. I watched some cover themselves in pollen yesterday, diving into rose of Sharon blossoms on the bush that shades our patio table, and buzzing past my nose as I was enjoying my lunch.
#COVID-19
Why aren’t diseases like HIV and malaria, which still kill millions of people a year, called pandemics? Stat. Good question.
Long COVID Symptoms – Such As Fatigue, Brain Fog, and Rashes – Likely Caused by Epstein-Barr Virus Reactivation Sci Tech Daily
Dangerously low blood supply in U.S. forces some hospitals to postpone surgeries CBS News
NHS hospitals forced to cancel operations again by unfolding third wave Guardian
***
Tokyo Olympic Games: State of emergency announced as Covid cases rise BBC
WHO warns of ‘epidemiological stupidity’ of early Covid reopening Guardian
Quarantine-free travel to start for double-jabbed residents of England FT
European holidays could be off limits to 5m Britons given Indian-made AstraZeneca jab Telegraph (furzy)
Global experts urge Boris Johnson to delay ‘dangerous’ Covid reopening Guardian
Singapore Excludes People Who Got Sinovac Shot in Official Vaccine Count Bloomberg (furzy)
***
Why is Delta such a worry? It’s more infectious, probably causes more severe disease, and challenges our vaccine The Conversation
CDC says delta variant now makes up majority of US cases The Hill
Coronavirus Variant Has Some Worried about a New Autumn Wave Der Spiegel
***
Covid-19: Government looking at longer-term MIQ facilities RNZ (Jeotsu)
Covid-19: Government considers permanent MIQ facility, dismisses UK’s decision to ‘live with Covid’ stuff nz (Jeotsu)
Fiji Covid-19: 48 arrested for failing to wear a mask RNZ (Jeotsu)
***
Amid Coup Crisis, COVID-19 Hits New Daily Highs in Myanmar The Diplomat
BUGGED OUT Miss Mexico pageant hit by mass Covid outbreak as HALF of all beauty queen contestants test positive The U.S. Sun
Cuba tightens COVID-19 measures amid record spike in cases; Delta variant was detected Miami Herald
***
TIL: What We Know About COVID Transmission Through Faeces India Spend
What went so wrong with covid in India? Everything. MIT Technology Review
Kill Me Now
Bill Clinton and James Patterson are back in action — and still ridiculous WaPo. Missed this last month, still ridiculous.
Canadian governments have spent $23 billion supporting three pipelines since 2018: report The Narwhal
Hundreds died in the West’s heat wave last week. Now another one is gearing up. CNN
Climate Change Drove Western Heat Wave’s Extreme Records, Analysis Finds NYT
More than a billion seashore animals may have cooked to death in B.C. heat wave, says UBC researcher CBC (DK)
Climate crisis ‘may put 8bn at risk of malaria and dengue’ Guardian
DeSantis: Surfside condo ‘had problems from the start,’ won’t commit to statewide review Miami Herald
Surfside tower collapse: ‘Zero’ hope of finding survivors BBC
Biden Administration
EPA scientists allege in letter that the ‘war on science’ has continued under the Biden administration AlterNet (DK)
Trump Transition
Julian Assange
Julian Assange Case: Key Witness Admits He Lied, US Media Ignores Exculpatory Revelations The Wire
Assange Extradition: British High Court Grants US A Limited Appeal The Dissenter
Glenn Greenwald: “Professional jealousy” keeps media “silent on Assange” https://t.co/808hwB65dg pic.twitter.com/fx4xVaspjH
— The Hill (@thehill) July 6, 2021
Just got a seven day Facebook ban for quoting the declaration of Independence: pic.twitter.com/pDCvdA3VkK
— Irami Osei-Frimpong (@IramiOF) July 5, 2021
Health Care
Street Medics Battle Bureaucracy to Bring Health Care to the Homeless Capital & Main
Waste Watch
Biden’s right-to-repair order could stop companies from blocking DIY fixes Ars Technica
Biden Sets Up Tech Showdown With ‘Right-to-Repair’ Rules for FTC Bloomberg
New York City to Welcome 7 New Electric Garbage Trucks TreeHugger
‘Electric is not easy’: LA, NYC look to build capacity for more battery EVs in refuse fleets Waste Dive
Pineapple leaf leather and carbon-capture clothing: Fashion is looking for sustainable alternatives CNBC. I’ve never seen pineapple leather. But pineapple fiber was a traditional weaving fiber in some parts of the world, and I’ve seen woven samples. For some background, see WHAT IS PINEAPPLE FIBRE AND HOW DO YOU MAKE TEXTILES FROM IT?\
Class Warfare
U.S. job openings hit record 9.2 million, but businesses can’t find enough workers to fill them MarketWatch
Campaign to Rein in Mega IRA Tax Shelters Gains Steam in Congress Following ProPublica Report ProPublica
Payday Tracks Its 1,400th Strike as “Retail Worker Rebellion” Grows Payday Report
36 states, D.C. sue Google for alleged antitrust violations in its Android app store Politico
The basic idea here is to move antitrust cases faster to the Supreme Court. Why would that matter? They’ll just rule for big tech faster. https://t.co/lSvIqLEvUK
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 7, 2021
Syraqistan
Revealed: UK troops ‘secretly operating in Yemen’ Classified UK (chuck l)
A Saigon moment in the Hindu Kush Asia Times. Pepe Escobar.
A Generation of Afghan Professionals Flees Ahead of Taliban Advance WSJ
India
Readers’ comments: India’s crisis now is worse than during the Emergency Scroll
Explained: Why India Is Protesting EU’s ‘Carbon Border Tax’ India Spend
A Tale of 2 Navies: Reviewing India and China’s Aircraft Carrier Procurement The Diplomat
China?
Exclusive | European Parliament to call for Beijing Winter Olympic boycott and sanctions on Hong Kong leaders over Apple Daily closure South China Morning Post
Antidote du Jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
133 comments
Comments are closed.
Long COVID Symptoms – Such As Fatigue, Brain Fog, and Rashes – Likely Caused by Epstein-Barr Virus Reactivation https://scitechdaily.com/long-covid-symptoms-such-as-fatigue-brain-fog-and-rashes-likely-caused-by-epstein-barr-virus-reactivation/
Super interesting. I did not realize how many adults had antibodies for Epstein-Barr. I have heard theories that covid reactivates whatever is in your system (herpes/shingles was one example). Given that 90% of adults have had some form of EBV, a certain percentage must be having reactivation.
Just out of curiosity, I went and searched “Epstein Barr and Zinc.” There’s a link between zinc and EBV antibodies immortalizing: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690687/
I’ve now been taking zinc more or less daily for about a year. I have more energy and haven’t gotten sick in a long time. You can definitely overdo it, but I recommend it to everyone! Pharma can’t get rich off zinc so it’s just not promoted. We need Big Zinc. The Zinc Industrial Complex.
I found it interesting too, as a colleague of mine who has been suffering serious Long Covid for a year now told me his mother had chronic fatigue (which could have been Epstein-Barr) for decades and his symptoms were very similar to hers.
As for zinc, yes, it seems to be a very crucial mineral, one that many people may be deficient in. Its a cheap and safe supplement, so I can’t see any good reason for most people to take it fairly regularly.
Not only interesting but important even if this doesn’t explain all long Covid cases. These latent viruses including other cousin herpesvirus are probably and unknowingly behind many diseases. Such as in some (or many, not sure) cases of type two diabetes and probably a long list of unknown etceteras.
I think its possible that very many low level chronic conditions are related to low level viruses, or interactions between otherwise harmless viruses and other factors. The more we find out about how the body works the more complex it gets. A very narrow ‘Disease X is caused by Y, therefore you cure it by stopping Y’ model just isn’t good enough for many conditions.
PlutoniumKun
July 8, 2021 at 7:28 am
At least in Fresno, when I first started looking for zinc about a year ago, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I just managed to snag a bottle about 3 weeks ago or so.
I thought there would be shortages here when Covid hits, but I’ve not seen any issues with this when shopping. Vitamin D briefly became hard to get, thats it.
For supplements such as Zinc and other, harder to find things, Swansons has great prices and availability, super fast shipping etc.
Not all zinc is alike. For the immune system I think you need to look for Raw Zinc plus vitamin C. It can be found online.
Well now I am convinced simulation theory is real, this name is a bug in the sim
Is zinc all that safe? I used to think so too! I recently lost all my bottom teeth due to an infection and I have a bottom plate and now I have to use a fixative, which of course I researched to see what the problems with fixatives might be. One company that does not use zinc in their fixative any more was sued for poisoning people with zinc a few years back:
https://www.aboutlawsuits.com/super-poligrip-lawsuit-filed-over-zinc-poisoning-4213/
As with all drugs and supplements, it is the dose that counts.
I have definitely overdone it with zinc. My symptoms were intense hyper behavior, like I was on coffee, as well as an almost feverish feeling. Also had to pee a lot. Definitely no neuropathy, though. That would have scared me off!
I basically take 25mg now. To Fresno Dan’s point above, for a long time the only tabs I could find were 50mg, which for me is too much, since I get zinc from my diet too (meat, leafy greens, etc).
I have noticed that if I overdo the dosage of zinc that I get an arthritic type of pain, so I’m careful with it.
Worth pointing out, from your linked article “Researchers have found that zinc side effects from Fixodent, PoliGrip and other denture cream adhesives can cause users to be exposed to as much as 330 mg of zinc per day.” vs typical Zinc pills sold over the counter in the 30 mg range
And it is interesting that those fixatives that still do contain zinc do not tell you how much zinc you can be exposed to!
@PlutoniumKun
July 8, 2021 at 7:28 am
——-
“so I can’t see any good reason for most people to take it fairly regularly.”
Looks like there should be a “not” after “people”.
Be aware that too much zinc per day interferes with copper absorption and that is a problem.
It is important to make sure that there is enough copper in the diet, otherwise there are a range of conditions due to copper deficiency that are not nice. Including maybe high blood pressure.
The book The Body Electric was written by researchers studying the electrical properties of bone. They concluded that copper was important to building strong bones.
Here’s my zinc anecdote: At the beginning of December, I forget what made me decide to do this, but I began taking 150 mg of zinc, 4000 iu of vitamin d, and 2000 (whatever the common units are) of vitamin c. (These doses are daily, of course.) Two weeks later my wife contracted Covid. I spent the next 14 days in isolation with her in the same house. I never developed symptoms.
Since then I’ve reduced my zinc intake to 50 mg and my vitamin d to 2000 units. I still take the same amount of vitamin c. I’m fully vaccinated with the Moderna “vaccine”. I don’t know which of the supplements protected me, or whether it was the combination of them, or whether it was just the good Lord, but I’m grateful to have stayed healthy and that my wife had a mild case.
This is interesting. I had Herpes emerge on my mouth about a week after I got well after Covid. I also got this tiredness syndrome couple of weeks later. It is giving me trouble when I do longer car trips.
Anecdotally, it has been reported that Ivermectin can help clear up longer-term symptoms such as fatigue etc.
I have been tested and have the anti-bodies, and my mother was tested way back in the 80’s at the Mayo Clinic to find out what was causing her Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and she had them as well. I have a severe case of Mono the summer my first year of college so…
Big deal though because they do nothing about it one they find you have the antibodies. So no idea why they test for it. I do not blame my mental health and fatigue issues totally on EBV, but the more links they are finding between Mental Health and the immune system makes me hopeful. But they are sure dragging their heels.
I cannot exert myself as much as the average person, that is for sure. Sometimes it goes away and I feel like a new man, but it vanishes quickly.
And thank you for mentioning the link to Zinc so I did not have to sound like a broken record! The one population I have been following is people with Down’s Syndrome. They have a much much higher incidence of zinc deficiency, have worse issues with COVID, and now they found that the gene TMPRSS2 that essentially helps the virus destroy ACE2 (which contains Zinc) TMPRSS2, is more often triplicated in people with Downs Syndrome and looks like the link between all of these things.
Not a doctor, so this is not medical advice, just personal experience and preferences which should be taken with a grain of zinc, er, salt. My body absorbs zinc poorly, so I’ve got a bit of experience with it. AFAIK, there are 3 ways to test your zinc levels, listed in increasing levels of cost and accuracy:
1) Chew a chewable zinc lozenge. Does it taste strongly metallic? If so, you’re probably getting enough zinc.
2) A doctor-administered oral test. This involves swishing a zinc solution in your mouth for a few seconds. If it tastes strongly metallic, you’re getting enough zinc.
3) A doctor-administered serum blood test. This will accurately tell you how much zinc you’re getting. I would aim for the higher end of the safe range, as the RDA of zinc is lower than it should be. Get your copper level tested at the same time.
Zinc comes in many forms and formulations. I like zinc methionine tablets, as studies have shown this formulation is more readily absorbed by the body. One 30mg tab per day will satisfy the FLCCC prevention protocol. I like the OptiZinc brand, as it also has copper.
Too much zinc can result in not enough copper, which is why it’s important to monitor copper levels along with zinc. If megadosing on zinc, I suggest that at least half of your zinc comes from a source with no added copper, otherwise you’ll get to much copper, which is much worse than too much zinc.
At one time, I was taking 38X the RDA for zinc just to get enough into my bloodstream. I’ve since improved my absorption enough to get my intake down to 14X what’s recommended. I’ve gotten sick once in 7 years, and the one time was due to bad hygiene. Correlation isn’t causation, but I have to think I have a stronger immune system thanks to zinc.
Note that sexually active men require more zinc than normal. Ejaculate can contain quite a bit of zinc. The main symptom of my zinc deficiency was bipolar disorder, which didn’t manifest until I hit puberty. For decades I wondered why I would become deeply depressed the day after sex. Then I started taking zinc, and the wild mood swings disappeared. 3 days without zinc is all it takes for them to come back. Needless to say, I take zinc religiously and without fail. ;)
FWIW, when I meet someone with bipolar disorder, I suggest they experiment with megadosing on zinc for a week (say, 300-400mg/day). A week isn’t long enough to build up to toxic levels. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it does work for some. If you do see your moods level out, halve your dosage every week until symptoms reappear, then up the dose a tab/day per week until they go away again. Then get a blood test to make sure your zinc/copper balance is right.
Wow great info and from krystyn too above. This is a great blog!
Also take selenium as that follows the same trajectory as zinc when exiting.
I can safely predict that there will be no statewide review of structural safety of large buildings in Florida. The potential liability cost if even a relatively small percent were found to be potentially dangerous would be gigantic.
I think that you may be right. Do they really want to know the potential liabilities for Florida? And some Florida jurisdictions are simply demented. I was reading today of how Fort Lauderdale has accepted a proposal by the Boring Company to build an underground transit tunnel there. And because of Florida’s geology alone, that idea is nuts-
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-s-proposed-fort-lauderdale-tunnel-is-a-flood-1847246787
Sea level rise alone was enough to persuade my father to sell his (inherited) commercial property in Fort Lauderdale, despite the fact that the long-term lease to a large corporation was a reliable supplement to his income (it took years for him to persuade the co-owners whose consent was required for a sale to happen, and the co-owners didn’t have enough money to buy out my father’s share, otherwise he would have sold out much sooner) (also, the lease predates when my father inherited the property, his grandfather was the one who first agreed to lease to this tenant). However, never having to deal with the city government of Fort Lauderdale was another source of motivation, especially since they went after him, the nobody, instead of the corporate tenant, who actually controlled what happened on the land and had deep pockets. They were forcing him to deal with all kinds of bureaucratic nonsense related to transit projects which didn’t make sense. Also, dealing with the corporate tenant was getting worse. In the past, my father negotiated directly with an employee inside the company who managed their land leases and had a clue, but a few years before my father finally managed to sell out the corporation outsourced all of their real estate management to an incompetent firm and negotiating lease renewals with them was a pain because they didn’t really know what was going on with the tenant or the land itself.
No problemo. Los Angles County METRO is planning to extend the Wilshire Purple Line subway directly underneath the La Brea Tar Pit. They have the engineering studies to prove the safety of tunnel boring here. You can stand on the sidewalk there and watch the tar bubbling up in the street. Really, what could go wrong?
I think that is America’s policy towards all infrastructure. Close your eyes really really tight and pretend everything is OK! You’ve all heard that old American saying: “What you don’t know can’t hurt you”, haven’t you?
You are so right. Here is a Florida implementation of that policy:
In Florida, officials ban term ‘climate change’
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article12983720.html
Quit saying it – that’ll fix it!
We really need to help all the global warming deniers move to Florida.
Or at the very least have a majority of their stock portfolio consist of Florida property investments and Florida insurance companies.
And get away from a system that is all based on quarterly reports.
How do you possibly take action for climate change when your actions are based on a THREE MONTH window?
Could that be the work of our official republican friends? Serving their corporate masters? All parties have failed, and fallen short of the glory of God. The children are hungry, and their fathers feed them stones, or, in Florida’s case, limestones.
The state of Florida may decide they don’t want to know right now, but the insurance companies for these buildings are demanding that the risks be better understood. And they’ve given the buildings a time limit on when they have to tell them what their status is.
If the insurance companies pull out from insuring these buildings, there will be many consequences, including the need for the state to become the insurer of last resort. So one way or another, this is going to be looked at and understood. The only questions are how long will it take and who is going to pay for it?
I maintain that is going to be a gift to private equity. They’ll bailout the condos that are in rough shape, by purchasing them for cash at fire sale prices, and the government will give them some kind of favorable treatment for doing so. Then, even if all they really get is the land, they’ll still make out well. And if they can rehab and recert any of the buildings, they’ll collect the rents that companies like Blackrock seem so desperate for these days.
How will the private equity companies acquire the condo buildings? Unit by unit?
Does Florida has it’s property tax records on line? I’d be interested to see how the state splits the land and building values.
It will be interesting to see where the lawsuits against the Surfside Condo board go.
The lawsuits might go nowhere. There seems to be evidence that the condo owners were told that significant repairs needed to be made and that they would be expensive. The numbers I’ve heard amount to 100k$ per owner back in 2018. That’s a lot for a retiree to handle! Or anyone else for that matter!
So what if there’s no one to file a suit against with any chance of it helping things, and we’re still left with a building either needs to repaired or demolished? Now multiply that problem by 500. And consider what it would do local estate prices. That’s why I think a big State actor will be stepping in. And it’s why they seek help from their good friends in PE.
Absent that scenario coming about… you want to know how anyone will buy these up? With cash and connections. Not a lot of cash either if you have the connections. Because you’ll be buying the value of some land with worthless condos on top.
I’ve seen some reports that the builders may have used significantly less steel than required by the specs, and that engineers have already found this in some parts of the building. I’m sure there will be a lot of forensic investigations of the building, but right now these reports are unconfirmed. Could turn out to partly corner-cutting by the builders, compounded by failure to make regular repairs.
I wonder what the high rise condo market will look like in 6 – 12 months.
“…the state [State] to become the insurer of last resort. So one way or another, this is going to be looked at and understood. The only questions are how long will it take and who is going to pay for it?”
*****
That is now the model for all of US failed industries, rackets, professions, etc.: the Government is the bagholder of last resort. As far as coastal properties, US Gov is now the insurer of last resort, a sop to all the wealthy coastal property owners. Climate change will require more bailouts and bag holding. Florida and the Hamptons, for example, will not be abandoned without significant looting, after all housing for the Essential is essential. Look for rich, coastal properties to be high on Climate Infrastucture racketeering.
And all those MBS over at the Fed, how many stuffed with FLA and other dicey condo developments. The quants working right now on how to exploit this recent RE disaster.
Crime pays:
15 States Drop Opposition To Controversial Purdue Pharma Oxycontin Bankruptcy [NPR]
Congratulations to all the top tier lawyers who have represented Purdue and the Sacklers over the years – Eric Holder and Mary Jo White among them – for proving once again that the law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, to steal their bread or to deal drugs on street corners.
I still don’t understand how killing thousands upon thousands of people in pursuit of obscene wealth results in civil and not criminal cases being brought. Long prison sentences are the only thing that will begin to change the griftopia we call American capitalism.
Given what I know of the Oxycontin overdose epidemic, I have always thought that a slap on the wrist would have been criminally negligent homicide.
Obtaining wealth at the expense of working people is and has always been the point of capitalism. Pay attention.
Because it wasn’t illegal. Don’t you remember why Obama said the DoJ didn’t prosecute any banksters? “A lot of what they did wasn’t illegal.” (Which implies that some of what they did was illegal, but he skipped over that).
So they may have been negligent in not being more critical of sales of five or ten Oxycontin pills for every man, woman, child, and yellow dog in a Kentucky county, but it didn’t rise to the level of a crime. //s
‘We addicted & killed some folks..’
The MSM, as always, withholds pertinent information. In this case what’s missing is how these drugs improved millions of people’s lives by reducing their pain to tolerable levels. Those who say that all pain can be controlled by lesser means have never tried to live through severe, chronic pain, a relatively common affliction.
The MSM talks about opioid related suicides but fails to distinguish between prescription and illegal drugs inflating the number of prescription related suicides. Nor does the MSM discuss how many of those suicides are because the sufferer, cut off from prescription drugs, can no longer control their pain any other way than suicide. It’s common to withhold the last handful of pills for that purpose.
As best I can tell the hype over prescription opioids is just legalized extortion with no concern for the people who are harmed by the draconian restrictions on the drugs. Those seeking to make money from the settlements are just as guilty of torture and murder as the doctors who overprescribed them. We need a balance, not a ban.
You forget to mention that the “new” opioids are not the only pain killers out there. The real problem with the Sacklers et. al. was their knowingly pushing the overprescribing of “new” drugs known to have more severe side effects than the older, more “pedestrian” pain killers. The older drugs were usually cheaper since they were not given “special” status through the patent system. The ‘newer’ drugs were gold mines for the patent holders.
Follow the money. Always follow the money.
The article claiming the UK is going too fast in opening back up also applies to the US. I live in upstate NY. Where I live only 40% have been vaccinated yet people are now acting like COVID is over. I think this will lead to a major outbreak in COVID. I watch people wearing a mask but either their mouth of nose isn’t covered. I have to bite my tongue so I don’t say something to them.I will continue being careful by not changing my behavior. The big problem is with gutless politicians that are only interested in staying in office. They cave to the public instead of listening to the science. Many will suffer or die because of this stupidity.
I suspect many politicians are learning from the UK that you can screw up repeatedly but not suffer politically if you play it right (and the media is on your side). The Tories so far don’t seem to have suffered in any way, despite having probably Europes worst record, all things considered. How the UK government escaped blame for allowing delta to excape from India is baffling – it was almost all down to their refusal to shut down flights.
Their sole success was the vaccine roll out, which is down to the underlying strength of the NHS. I think the Tories have calculated that even if the opening up causes chaos, they can successfully push off the blame on someone else, or simply claim credit when it eventually recedes naturally.
My guess is that the thinking among Bidens crew is that further waves can be blamed on Trump deplorables and their failure to vaccinate. Even if the data contradicts this, don’t expect the establishment media to report it.
Something else to consider: Some are ready for the mask wearing to end because they’ve spent too much on their cosmetic dental work (and assorted cosmetic surgeries) and can’t wait to again flash it around.
The governor of New Jersey has repeatedly said that if you’re vaccinated the pandemic is over for you. That kind of statement being broadcast every 30 minutes on the news probably has an effect on people.
Murray was a little premature in his praise. UEFA are now investigating England because of booing of the Danish national anthem and someone shining a laser into the Danish goalies eyes.
Yes, Craig was on a bit of a Twitter rant last night with Sterling ‘dive’/ very soft penalty. And from a certain point of view, correct: The Engs would be spitting nails for the next 55 years if that penalty had been given against them. Plus the added insult of Wembley booing the Danish national anthem. Really? The Danes? Is there a nicer country overall than Denmark?
But I tried to console Mr Murray by saying “We are all Italians now”
To be fair, booing the Danish anthem is small fry. They usually sing songs about bombing the Germans, how war is the national game of Germany, not surrendering to the IRA and similar tasteless ditties. Plus the England team now takes the knee before games, which to the neanderthal fans, is akin to Marxism.
Craig is getting on a bit like myself & perhaps remembers how it was in the 70’s & early 80’s, when almost every game involved varying sizes of a riot. My local team had a hardcore National Front mob, probably numbering between 3 – 500, with the rest of Kop end being made up of stupid kids like myself, who just thought it was all very exciting & some even liked the long ball Soccer.
Thatcher took them on but it was the introduction of cameras that gradually got rid of the psychos, who if they had nobody else to fight would fight each other. The Inter City Firm from East London club West Ham were I think the worst but when it got too hot, they moved into providing drugs & security for illegal raves. A cousin of mine got on the wrong side of them & we took him in up North until it blew over.
PK – I imagine that you might recall the scenes at Landsdowne Road when England played Ireland, I think in the 90’s when due to the behaviour of England fans, the English Ireland manager Jack Charlton had to be held back from attacking his fellow countrymen. People were apparently surprised that many of those the Guards clobbered & arrested were Middle Class proffesionals – not me, many of those in what was called the Stoke Tunnel mob were the same, including the leader who always turned up in a pin striped suit & tie.
Why aren’t diseases like HIV and malaria called pandemics?
Nowhere in the article does the author – the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria – discuss the terms “pandemic” and “epidemic” as anything other than “branding”.
They don’t call the meds they have for people with HIV “vaccines” either….even though they help prevent hospitalization and death.
Presumably because not all treatments that prevent hospitalisation and death are vaccines?
@Basil Pesto
July 8, 2021 at 10:32 am
and
@Mikel
July 8, 2021 at 9:14 am
——-
The difference is that a vaccine uses some form or part of the infecting virus or bacteria to boost the immune system to fight off the infection.
“Definition of vaccine
1: a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease: such as…”
–Merriam-Webster
What do you call a drug that PREVENTS you from catching a disease?
I believe preventative treatment is called prophylaxis and the drug itself, a prophylactic: malarone for malaria prevention for example.
Thank you; that would have been my answer
Isn’t “pandemic” a new disease which sweeps much of the world relatively fast and suddenly?
Whereas the traditional diseases like malaria have been traditional for centuries or millenia and haven’t suddenly spread to somewhere new. So we call them “endemic”, just like we’ll be calling coronavid in the fullness of time.
RE: A Saigon moment in the Hindu Kush Asia Times. Pepe Escobar.
Apparently the rest of the world was unpersuaded by the “keeping the world safe from terrorism” and “securing the rights of women and girls” arguments for the occupation of Afghanistan. They saw it more as a case of spreading american “values”:
The travel writer Dervla Murphy wrote a fascinating travel book ‘Full Tilt’ about her cycle from Ireland to Afghanistan back in the early 1960’s. Even at the time, she wrote about how Kabul was full of Soviets and Americans, jostling for influence with the government and various warlords. Afghanistan at the time was far more open and liberal than most people realise. The major cities were big transit points on cross-Asian travel and were very multicultural. It was the defeat of the Soviets that really gave momentum to the most conservative of forces there, and in turn they were heavily influenced by Wahhabist money.
Its a pity though that Escobar repeats the cliche about Afghanistans mineral wealth. Sure, it has lots of minerals, but it does not have anything close to the infrastructure required to mine and transport much of it. The vast majority of their minerals are not commercially viable, nor likely to be so in the future.
He also greatly exaggerates China’s potential role in Afghanistan. If he thinks the Taliban will ignore what China is doing to muslim minorities he’s smoking something. They aren’t stupid. They will, as all successful central Asian powers do, play all the major players against each other to extract what they can. But they will always see their immediate land neighbours as potential enemies. They will be far more interested in links with the rich Gulf States and Pakistan.
Philip Glass in his autobiography mentions travelling through there on his way to India in 1966:
The pre-9/11 Taliban concerned itself with Afghanistan only. They never had any desire to wage global jihad and even offered to hand over Bin Laden to the US on the condition that he be tried in a neutral third country. Dubya of course didn’t accept the offer.
The Bush administration deliberately conflated the Taliban and al-Qaeda even though they were, and are, very different organizations. The Taliban is a strictly Pashtun Islamist organization that had very little in common with al-Qaeda.
Because he was a fellow Muslim they didn’t kick Bin Laden and his gang out of Afghanistan but the Taliban leadership made it clear to AQ that they weren’t thrilled with their activities there, which drew unwanted attention from the American war machine.
If the Taliban reassert themselves as the government of Afghanistan they are certainly not going to get involved in skirmishes with the Chinese military or launch terrorist attacks against China. Verbal and moral support for Uyghur separatists in Xinjiang , maybe, but even that isn’t a given.
The Taliban are not an international organization and will not seek out conflicts that threaten their own stability.
You are aware that China’s mistreatment of its Muslim minority in Xinjiang is hugely exaggerated, yes? It’s certainly not a genocide and the fact that the country that since 1991 has killed and displaced tens of millions of Muslims in West and Central Asia, and is still killing them in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, is pushing this deceitful narrative and presenting itself as a deeply concerned moral arbitrator is absolutely depraved.
Even plucky little Israel, that staunch defender of Muslims everywhere and their right to self-determination, has bravely taken China to task and voiced its support for the Uyghur minority.
That such depraved and cynical hypocrisy and self-serving truth bending is never challenged by the media and generally accepted by the public…ugh, pass the sick bag please.
Hear, hear!
I remember reading at the time that bin Laden was also Mullah Omar’s son-in-law, so that made it less likely they would just hand him over. The U.S. at the time had no evidence linking bin Laden to 9/11, only speculation based on his connection to past terrorist acts. The claim that a terrorist organization needed a permanent base was always bullshit; the guys who actually did 9/11 didn’t do any of their planning or training in Afghanistan.
Sure, it has lots of minerals, but it does not have anything close to the infrastructure required to mine and transport much of it.
That may be true, but China annexed Tibet and has subsequently developed infrastructure to transport, at least, the minerals there, don’t know about actual mining ops yet. But, I submit, that if it is possible in the inhospitable Himalayas, it should be possible in Afghanistan.
The Taliban can dislike China’s counter-Islamist actions all it likes. If it tries to counter them in any way, China can get Pakistan to stop the Taliban from doing any of that support. How? Let’s just say China can give a few hard jerks on Pakistan’s ” one ball one choke-chain” and bring Pakistan to heel,
Maybe the Chinese can tell the Taliban that if they want to repair all the damage in Afghanistan and build back the infrastructure, they can joint the Belt and Road Initiative. It would be a win-win scenario and would help bring stability to this region. After all, today’s Taliban is not your pappy’s Taliban.
Well, if that was the motive, then China will have the last laugh. Because China will exploit the minerals.
“Bill Clinton and James Patterson are back in action — and still ridiculous”
This would be really sad reading this. I suspect that Bill Clinton would like to think of himself as the Harrison Ford President in the film “Air Force One.” So I was sitting here trying to think of what could be even sadder and I thought of one. So Rachel Maddow gets together with James Patterson to write a book about an intrepid news program host who discovers a dastardly plot by the Russian to wait until it is like -50 degrees in that Dakotas – and the kill the power. Also that they would get all the natural gas lines that service Sioux Falls just go poof, causing millions of Americans to lose their heat indefinitely and the temperature matched the temperature in Antarctica. In a race against time, our heroine forms together a crack team composed of Wolf Blitzer, Tom Brokaw, Chris ‘Fredo’ Cuomo, Megyn Kelly, Keith Olberman and Joe Scarborough to track down the terrorist who is seeking to do this who is only known by his code name of “Tukerko Karlsonski.”
Don’t encourage her! You jest, but you might be able to sell such a book.
The West Wing watchers would all buy it. So would millions of Pink Pussy Hat Clintonites.
I hope that Rachel Maddow finds out about this idea and writes the book. “Buying the book” or not could be an intelligence test. Did you buy a copy? You flunk the intelligence test.
This is a plot in a Clive Cussler except it’s the Chinese and they want to disrupt the Gulf stream to sell heaters to Europe.
As for Bill, there is a certain amount of pleasure to be taken in knowing he knows airport fiction is his highest achievement.
Yeah, the subject of Bill Clinton and airports is best not mentioned. No, not because of the “Lolita Express.” I mean that other time-
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/05/04/when_loretta_met_bill_on_the_tarmac_140244.html
Funny you bring that up, Rev. Very sad story, left his wife and 3 little boys behind, and still a mystery why. The Globe tabloid seen in the supermarket checkout lane ran with a conspiracy theory. Here is The NY Post story, though:
Christopher Sign, Alabama news anchor who broke Clinton tarmac story, dead at 45
Snip(more at the link): “The Alabama TV anchor who broke news of the infamous 2016 “tarmac meeting” between former President Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch died Saturday in an apparent suicide, according to reports and his employer.
Christopher Sign, 45, was found dead by Hoover, Ala., police around 8:13 a.m. Saturday after cops received a call of “a person down” at his Scout Trace home, according to Al.com. The former college football player’s death is being investigated as a suicide, Hoover Lt. Keith Czeskleba said, according to the outlet.”
> The former college football player’s death is being investigated as a suicide
Which makes sense, given the connection between football, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and suicide.
Poor guy. Can’t even get a Netflix show or a podcast with Bruce Springsteen.
Re:Blood shortages. Time was, the hemoglobin test required a value of 12.5; and I had no trouble donating blood two or three times per year for 20 years.. Then it was raised to 13.0 for men, so now I can’t ever donate, and my doctor is constantly recommending diagnostic colonoscopies.. (Routine colonoscopies showed no problems.) Their approach seems to be, if you meet the minimum value you can donate every 8 weeks forever, but if not, there is no safe interval, which seems wrong in my case. I think a six month interval for people in the high 12’s would probably work. But it would sell fewer colonoscopies.
Oh yes. I’m now above 65 and have essential hypertension. Not even the vampires who hang around the local all night coffee shop want a pint of me.
A serious question for the real medicos lurking here. How prevalent is “White Coat Fever,” aka hypercondrial blood pressure spikes? I get these every time I go to the medico’s.
“White coat fever” is very common, ambrit. Any form of stress (even worrying that your BP might be high) will put it up. Blood pressure also runs higher in cold weather. Ideally it should be measured after sitting for five minutes at rest in a quiet room, and then measured again after another five minutes at rest. Few doctors or nurses have the time to do that. You could always buy a meter, and check your own blood pressure.
I appear to be a classic Moderne. Stress is my daily portion. It’s somehow reassuring to know that this problem is fairly common. Thank you for the pointers. A little behaviour modification is in order.
I do have a home meter and check my blood pressure. That’s how I discovered the discrepancy.
However, the pressure as measured at the medico’s is the “official” pressure reading that is used to ‘guide’ treatment. I have checked my home unit against the medical office unit and found it to be accurate.
This really is a case where the ‘patient’ must take control of his or her treatment regime.
I really should have gotten into meditation when young. Now, I’m faced with a learned response on the cellular level. Bene Gesserit help me!
“I must not have high blood pressure.”
“High blood pressure is the killer.”
“High blood pressure is the little-death that brings total oblitteration.”
“I will face my high blood pressure.”
Etc.
Stay safe!
My husband’s doctor has the nurse retake his blood pressure at THE END of the appointment. Both numbers are appreciably lower and that is the one he usually puts in the computer. My husband has “white coat syndrome” in spades.
Thank you for that idea. My medica is fairly reasonable. I’ll give it a try.
…the hands acquire shakes
The shakes become a warning
It is by will alone I still my heart from motion…
“Life in the Stacks: A Love Letter to Browsing’
Can you imagine a world where browsing for books in a book store was like browsing online? After the first visit, everything would get changed based on what you looked at there. All those sections that you were thinking about looking at would be gone and because on the first trip, you casually picked up a book on FD Roosevelt, half the bookstore is now composed solely of books on politics, many with a hard right bent. And every further visit would worsen this trend and you would find yourself in a sort of book bubble and you would wonder about all the sections of books on other subjects that you are no longer seeing.
I couldn’t think of a better way of controlling a literate population.
There has to be an app for that. Some algorithm that presents the user to the internet every time as an absolutely “new” individual personality. Perhaps a program that scrambles one’s ip address at every sign on. A ‘one time’ ip address.
One of the reasons I still like bricks and mortar. The shopping AIs online do not seem capable of respecting, let alone facilitating, wonder and random intellectual curiosity.
In an age where most people seek to specialize rather than learn a little of everything, I wonder if the shopping algorithms make this problem worse.
Explained: Why India Is Protesting EU’s ‘Carbon Border Tax’ India Spend
It would be stupid to blame this take as nationalist-populist trash without acknowledging that most media and everywhere do exactly the same. Instead of focusing on how to deal with CO2 emissions and comply with more strict rules let’s call this as protectionism and play, as usual, the blaming game. Notice that if you are going for more strict policies companies can be tempted to externalize their production and you might end causing more pollution.
Carbon self-discipline by some countries will only lead to carbon dumping into those countries by other countries or by businesses re-locating into those other countries to work the differential-carbon-control-costs arbitrage rackets.
The only way to prevent this is by rigid militant belligerent Protectionism proudly proclaimed. It would probably require formal secession by the Eco-Protectionist Countries from the Free Trade International Order.
(paywall)
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2021/07/07/dallas-county-reaches-herd-immunity-even-as-new-covid-cases-continue-to-hold-steady-experts-say/
Dallas County reaches herd immunity even as new COVID cases continue to hold steady, experts say
Looks like they have declared victory. Shoot me now.
The only thing that can explain it is Mad Cow Disease.
Can someone provide the missing link to the beautiful bird in today’s Antidote du Jour (via)?
Done! Apologies for omitting that link earlier.
This is often the day’s most valuable link. The yellownape photo is excellent.
It’s a type of woodpecker?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_yellownape
Lithub. Parks and the march of the garibaldini.
If you would like another perspective on the events of 1849–the fall of Rome to the French, in particular–I recommend Melania Mazzucco’s novel L’Architettrice. The story includes interludes about the siege of Rome, told from the point of view of the garibaldini defending the city. It has to do with the work of the “Architettrice,” who designed and built a palace that ended up as a point of contention and destruction between the opposing forces.
And as to this line from Parks: “Through the rugged hills of Lazio and Umbria, where the garibaldini eluded the French. Then, zigzagging through prettier Tuscany”
By all means, you should avoid those rugged hills of Lazio! And Umbria, impassible and so rugged! Avoid!
Stick to Tuscanylandia!
Cancel culture: Texas
“As the Texas Legislature prepares to convene a special session expected to focus on Republican voting restrictions, the House has filed a bill that closely resembles a sweeping GOP-backed measure that died in May but removes some of its most controversial provisions.
…
However, many elements of the original GOP elections package remain intact. They include bans on drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting, and criminal penalties for election officials who proactively send out vote-by-mail applications — methods that were pioneered by Harris County in 2020 for greater convenience during the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill also still contains limitations on early voting hours, new ID requirements for those who vote by mail, and provisions affording “free movement” to partisan poll watchers at polling places.”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-House-offers-new-elections-bill-that-drops-16300093.php
And yet nothing about hand marked, hand counted, in public.
Nothing without the above can be considered as serious. All the rest is performative politicking.
Mail ballots are hand-marked and most states have a process for at least partial public hand recounts of hand-marked paper ballots and voter-verifiable machine marked ballots even in undisputed elections.
In a completely hand-marked and hand-counted system procedures would still need to be addressed as to whether they mitigate a real risk or just impede voting, such as signature validation, potential introduction of “fake” ballots into the workflow, permissions and restrictions for observers and challengers at polling and counting locations, adjudication and curing procedures for ambiguously marked ballots and envelopes, procedures for maintaining voter rolls, and voter registration requirements.
Measures now moving through state legislatures would make it more difficult to vote and easier for state officials or courts to overturn the results even in a system of hand-marked, hand-counted ballots:
I’m prejudiced in thinking that a shift to completely hand-marked, hand-counted ballots is unlikely. I may be wrong, of course, but in the meantime I’m interested in the voter suppression project as it exists today. I lack statistical and technical expertise to judge the extent to which routine partial recounts and machine testing and audit procedures are likely to identify or mitigate problems with machine voting and tabulation.
I’m with you concerning machine voting. As with so much in today’s society, it looks like “the fix is in.”
Ideally, the methodology of public voting is a subdivision of the entire voter suppression project.
One aspect of the machine versus hand count is that, in this instance, less efficient is preferable. One can make a process so “efficient” that it becomes completely opaque to the general public. For voting, transparency is the key.
“European Parliament to call for Beijing Winter Olympic boycott and sanctions on Hong Kong leaders over Apple Daily closure”
The European Parliament is no longer fit for purpose. They helped burn all the bridges between the EU and Russia and with that work now complete, seek to do the same for EU-China relations. So in Japan right now, there is a trial going on for the two men that helped Carlos Ghosn escape the country. Is the European Parliament going to also call for a boycott of the Tokyo Summer Olympics over this?
I present to you the May/June 2021 American Journal of Health Behavior, open access sponsored by Juul. #TrustTheScience
“European holidays could be off limits to 5m Britons given Indian-made AstraZeneca jab”
This is another issue that is arising. As people in different countries take vaccinations from different sources, it has not yet has been worked out which countries will accept which vaccinations. So the EU at the moment does not accept people vaccinated with the Sputnik V vaccine and that is just one example. The Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccines are another. You think that medical evidence would be enough but the same people who use the term ‘vaccine diplomacy’ are now basing their decisions for vaccine certificates on politician grounds-
https://www.rt.com/russia/528670-talks-vaccines-travel-certificates/
Smoked a fancy pre-rolled joint last night and now i’ve been banned from observing the Olympics in person. Whether there is any correlation remains to be seen.
Hmmm… Jokes concerning your residing in the “High” Sierras come to mind.
Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt – High Sierra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GKs3qxsPUg
They also play the Grand Tetons.
https://instantrimshot.com/
Feel the earthquakes?
Re the backwardness of Intel–as the article points out Intel is still quite profitable while the article’s premise is a tad questionable. To be sure Intel’s chips may lack the advanced specs to make their way into smartphones but so what? Perhaps it’s the smartphones themselves we should regard as a dubious tech dead end with ever more advanced features making their way into a form factor that is inherently impractical for many uses.
Intel was there in the personal computer revolution when it really mattered. Now that we have universally available mature devices it matters far less. A fifty dollar smartphone can do all the most important things that a thousand dollar IPhone can. And smartphones themselves–Steve Jobs big brainstorm–are socially dubious spybots that the world might very well be better off without (I do own one). Time for all those Stanford graduates to get a new gig?
The 2 part HBO documentary by the brilliant Alex Gibney “The Crime of the Century” details the collusion of congress, FDA and Pharma in flooding the country with opioids marketed as non-addictive and a fine tuned system of kickbacks up and down the chain of distribution.
The resulting crisis bankrupted many communities emergency and public services. Many addicts then turned to heroin so the resurgence of that drug and crime is directly connected to pharma also.
I painfully injured my ankle after an accident. The ER’s ortho referral declared it just a sprain with 30 day supply of Vicodin and 2 refills. It’s a vile drug with GI upset and I used it minimally and cautiously. But after months I still needed a cane. The doctor basically said, “it’s just a sprain and keep taking Vicodin, let me know when you need more”
At that point I got a referral to another Ortho specializing in ankles and two surgeries and 5 months later I could walk unaided and was not an addict.
I’ve had several experiences with doctors promoting questionable prescriptions while taking substantial monies from the pharma manufacturers. Like so much, It should be illegal but it’s not.
Here you can check who is taking money from whom. However, there is now a “gold rush” with companies merging and collaborating to produce covid cocktails and drugs, so the drug manufacturer’s payments may be under the name of a different pharma if a collaboration is identified in Google.
https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/
Is there a way to challenge that doctors license? Could there be a movement for trying to delicense doctors who do that kind of thing all over the country?
Greenwald, according to the Hill, said that the press “don’t understand or don’t care about the grave press freedoms posed by this indictment and the precedent it could set that could allow them and their own work could be criminalized.”
But what does our famously free press need press freedoms for? Why should they defend freedom they don’t need? It reminds me of Jeff Schmidt’s point that the only people who have academic freedom don’t need it. It’s only ever given to the timid or those who can be trusted to not need any protection.
China strikes back at Amerika.
https://asiatimes.com/2021/07/china-to-us-two-can-play-at-technological-war/
This won’t end well for Amerika
Maybe worse than you think. If the US cannot access the hundreds of millions of medical records and sequences of the DNA of a large portion of China’s population, then the only recourse would be to substitute that of the population of the US and other countries. And come to think of it, I think that I read how Boris’s UK was selling the patient info from the NHS to a US health corporation. In any case, there will be laws changed so that people in the US will be forced to hand over all their medical into to those corporations.
Instead of the BIDEN ADMINISTRATION header, I propose:
” Meet the new Boss, Same as the Old Boss”
Shouldn’t that be; “Meet the New Old Boss, Same as the Old Old Boss?”
This quote is from The Hill’s article about the Delta variant being more than half of the new cases in the US.
This quote comes from the White House Press Secretary, and badly needs to be fact-checked. One dose does not count as “vaccination”, especially against the Delta variant!
Glenn Greenwald’s latest. ( paywalled )
The Capitol Police, Armed With $2 Billion in New Funding, Expanding Operations Outside of D.C.
AOC and two other Squad members — who spent months chanting “Defund the Police” — had the power to stop this, but instead voted “present” to ensure it passed.
The Capitol Police on Monday announced a multi-pronged plan to expand its operations. Armed with close to $2 billion in additional spending which the House approved in May, the force intends for the first time to create a permanent presence outside of the Capitol, “opening Regional Field Offices in California and Florida with additional regions in the near future to investigate threats to Members of Congress.” The statement issued by Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman also vowed that the police force will continue its “pivot towards an intelligence-based protective agency.”
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-capitol-police-armed-with-2-billion
The US House controls the Capitol Police. The Senate isn’t part of that legal control structure. What… the House Dems don’t think the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA are enough “intelligence-based” law enforcement??
I guess that before long the Capitol Police will become the 18th intelligence agency.
Nancy needs her own national guard now? /heh
Will they be nicknamed the ‘Nancy Brigade’ then?
ha!
I still think “The Nancy’s” is best, with like manolo blanicks and those dapper red overcoats she fancies for uniforms…and they could be men, women, women men, men women black, caucasian, asian and etc…a total stew of identities and soooo like the america we all know and care for deeply…
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, inside a US Federal Courtroom, “exculpatory evidence” does not include a minor whom Assange chose to put on the payroll is still a lying liar, a criminal, in other words, then. But is not lying now? Because “embezzlement” requires authorized access, a prosecutor would argue, above a mere stringer’s access, all of which happens to be a common element of the conspiracy corroborated by Chelsea Manning’s statements. The $50,000 looks like payment for stolen property, 50/50 split. On the balance, this news has a little exculpatory value, but a motherlode of inculpatory value.
Life in the Stacks: A Love Letter to Browsing The Walrus
********
I have seen a number of items at NC from the Walrus, a Canadian publication. I thought I would post here some information about Walrus, where is gets its money, etc.:
“A year ago I wrote an exposé for CANADALAND — The Cushy Connections Between The Walrus And The Liberal Party Of Canada — that shone light on how the foundation is littered with patronage appointments for the Liberal-connected (a few Conservative and NDP supporters are also in the mix, and thanks to the painstaking work of National Post investigative journalist Zane Schwartz in making a database of political donations made in Canada in the past 20 years, which I used to further scrutinize the political connections to the Walrus Foundation).”
https://ravingcanuck.com/2018/04/30/the-blubbery-and-gluttonous-walrus-magazine/
There is a lot there in that article to digest. To me the short of it is: the CDN Government has coopted not only the media but all charitable institutions to make them comply and serve Government interests. Thus, alternative media faces quite a high hill to climb since it is financially disadvantaged. In addition, the Government regulates registered charities which are able to issue tax deductions. If your content is not to their liking, then they will yank your charitable status.
As to the Walrus, I gave up on that years ago, just another CDN vapid publication serving the CDN Elite and Government. There won’t be any exposes in Walrus, unless Government/Elite approved.
I don’t think the article about browsing has any pretensions to exposé.