Links 8/3/2025

What Searching For Aliens Reveals About Ourselves Noema

At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery Quanta Magazine

Suddenly, Trait-Based Embryo Selection Astral Codex Ten

India to penalize universities with too many retractions Nature

COVID-19/Pandemics

Most adults do not plan on getting COVID-19 shot amid vaccine policy changes The Hill

COVID Contrarians Are Wrong About Sweden The American Prospect

Climate/Environment

Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation

The Tricky Problem of ‘Zombie’ Fires Inside Climate News

China?

Getting China Wrong Quillette

Chinese scientists say they can create a ‘storm eye’ for PLA forces in electronic warfare South China Morning Post

Apple Used China to Make a Profit. What China Got in Return Is Scarier. New York Times. From May, still of interest.

Attacks in China and Japan raise concerns about xenophobia in both countries AP

China just bet $2 billion on fusion energy. The US must respond. The Hill

South of the Border

Supreme Court rules Mexico can’t sue US gunmakers over cartel violence USA Today

Brazil’s Lula vows to prepare response to Trump’s tariffs Press TV

IMF grants Argentina reserve waiver and cuts accumulation target Buenos Aires Herald

Africa

West Africa Junta Leaders Plan Taxes to Fund New Investment Bank Bloomberg

Africa looks to China as ‘beneficial partner’ while US imposes tariffs, aid South China Morning Post

Multipolar Africa: As the U.S. Steps Back, a New World Arrives IDN-InDepthNews

European Disunion

Italian, Turkish and Libyan leaders meet to address migration flows to Europe euro news

Europe’s trade deal with the US was dead on arrival – it needs to be buried. Here’s how to do it The Guardian

Can Europe Block Russian Diesel Without Fueling a Supply Crunch? OilPrice

Old Blighty

The UK’s Online Safety Act Ushers in a 1984 State RealClear World

Households hit with $14.5 billion after Bank of England’s rate cuts Cryptopolitan

Israel v. Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iran

Hamas denies it expressed willingness to disarm, slams Witkoff’s Gaza trip Al Jazeera

Israeli captive in Gaza says Netanyahu has ‘abandoned’ him amid starvation Andolu Agency

Rare aerial imagery shows displacement and destruction in Gaza Washington Post

Israeli forces kidnap three Syrians in Quneitra province as incursions continue The New Arab

New Not-So-Cold War

Brief Frontline Report – August 2nd, 2025 Marat Khairullin Substack

Ukraine Reports New Russian Glide Bomb RealClear Defense

They escaped Ukraine’s front lines. The sound of drones followed them BBC

Ukraine claims attacks on Russian drone storage airbase and military plant euro news

Big Brother Is Watching You Watch

Meta violated privacy law, jury says in menstrual data fight Courthouse New Service

Privacy group details extensive city-run surveillance in new report amNY

Imperial Collapse Watch

A homeless encampment sweep is underway in Van Nuys — and protestors are clashing with the police. Should ‘tent cities’ be left alone? Moneywise

Traffic stop turns up $1.2 million in fentanyl, heroin in San Juan County Fox13 Salt Lake City

Trump 2.0

Trump Is Openly Using the Presidency To Enrich the Trump Brand Reason

Senate deal on nominees elusive amid Democratic anger at Trump The Hill

Trump administration freezes $339 million in UCLA grants, accuses school of rights violations NY Post

If Trump saves Maxwell, he will destroy everything he promised The Hill

Musk Matters

Florida jury throws huge fine at Tesla in Autopilot crash The Register

Where Elon Musk lives: A look at the properties of the world’s richest man Times of India

Musk Is All In on Robots: Why You Should Be, Too Investor Place

Democrat Death Watch

Cory Booker’s pathetic stunts reveal the sad state of the Democratic Party NY Post

Poll: Democrats In Crisis Amid Shifting Voter Sentiment Fulcrum

Dems still in disarray with midterm elections next The Mining Journal

Immigration

Court limits Trump’s asylum crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border CBS News

Appeals court upholds order barring DHS from immigration sweeps based on language, job The Hill

Our No Longer Free Press

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down Axios

Trump’s Media Takeover Isn’t About Bias, It’s About Silencing Dissent Common Dreams

Mr. Market Is Moody

Dewalt Price Changes are Not a Good Sign ToolGuyd

Economic fears of investors are here — and fed by Trump’s reaction Washington Post

Bonds and the dollar are sounding the alarm about the U.S. economy. Stock investors might want to heed the warning. MarketWatch

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4476889-real-estate-stocks-plunge-as-rate-cut-hopes-go-topsy-turvy Seeking Alpha

AI

Microsoft Research Identifies 40 Jobs Most Vulnerable To AI Microsoft

AI Pushes Imaging to the Absolute Brink of Physical Limits SciTech Daily

Texas AI centers guzzle 463 million gallons, now residents are asked to cut back on showers The Economic Times

‘Artificial stupidity’ made AI trading bots spontaneously form cartels when left unsupervised, Wharton study reveals Fortune

The Bezzle

Pastor Indicted For Cryptocurrency Scam He Claims God Told Him To Do Forbes

Lethal Cambodia-Thailand border clash linked to cyber-scam slave camps The Register

Guillotine Watch

Antidote du jour (via)

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

141 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    “If Trump saves Maxwell, he will destroy everything he promised”

    I’m betting that Trump will end up giving her a pardon as he goes out the door. She knows too much and can name far too many powerful names. This whole performance right now is her showing that so long as she gets a pardon, she can be counted on to protect them. Any congressional testimony that she would give would be well rehearsed and by bipartisan agreement, there would be no real questions asked of her that had not been agreed upon. I don’t think that Trump will give her a pardon anytime soon as that would blow up support from most of his base but he could do so as he leaves the Presidency when any odium would all be on him but who could care less.

    Reply
    1. ChrisFromGA

      Supposedly they moved her to a minimum security prison in Texas. More comfortable, better food, full dental.

      Gee, I wonder what the consideration was for that?

      Reply
      1. Bugs

        It’s also the current home of fraudster Elizabeth Holmes. I would think that the kind of upper-middle class perps there would shun the likes of Maxwell. She should be careful of what she wishes for.

        Reply
      2. Wukchumni

        For Ghislaine, there is a barrister showing photographs
        Of every head she’s had the pleasure to know
        And all the young girls that come and go
        Stop and say hello

        On the corner is nobility with a motorcar
        And everybody laughs at Andy behind his back
        And the billionaire never wears a rubber in the pouring rain
        Very strange

        Ghislaine is in my ears and in my eyes
        Vet beneath the blue suburban skies
        I sit and meanwhile back in

        Ghislaine, there is a minimum security prison in Texas
        And in her pocket is a pardon from his esteemed
        She likes to keep her record clean
        It’s a clean machine

        Ghislaine, is in my ears and in my eyes
        A tour d’farce and insidious lies
        In summer, meanwhile back

        Behind the shelter in the middle of a cell block
        A jailbird is about to go astray
        And though she feels as if she’s in a play
        She is anyway

        Ghislaine is in my ears and in my eyes
        Vet beneath the blue suburban skies
        I sit and meanwhile back
        Ghislaine is in my ears and in my eyes
        Vet beneath the blue suburban skies
        Ghislaine

        Penny Lane, by the Beatles

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7syIxQCquo&list=RDz7syIxQCquo

        Reply
    2. KCee

      I know this is cynical, but the women’s life expectancy has to be pretty short, whether she’s in prison or not. I think its a simple a matter of “the women who knows too much”.

      Reply
      1. Jessica

        The fact that she is still alive suggests everyone assumes she has some kind of dead-man switch for release of incriminating information. Always wondered why Epstein didn’t. Though if he were actually still alive somewhere…
        Just speculating

        Reply
          1. JohnA

            Yes but he got a prime burial plot on the Mount of Olives. Maybe that was his final deal as he jumped off his luxury yacht instead of being pushed by a mossad agent.

            Reply
    3. David in Friday Harbor

      I doubt that Maxwell has all that much in the way of salacious information to bargain with, but it should be enough to get housed (against all FBP rules) in a minimum security “camp” until her sentence is commuted for “good behavior.” The pardon won’t come until Trump’s headed out the door.

      Maxwell and Epstein were pimps, not pedophiles (a sexual interest in pre-pubescent children). They pandered to the tastes of wealthy, powerful, and often married, men for youthful “models” to cavort with in the present and to breed with after the collapse (the really creepy part). It was easy to groom these “models” for the sex trade when they were 15-17 years of age — one of the oldest stories in the book. Like any good pimp Epstein got first dibs. Offensively exploitative but hardly shocking.

      Listening to Michael Wolff, the real dirt is that Epstein and Maxwell have evidence that Trump was laundering money for Russian oligarchs off-shoring their cash when the Putin government started clawing back their ill-gotten gains from the ‘90’s.

      Epstein told Wolff that Trump ratted him out to the FBI in 2008 in retaliation for Epstein’s threats to expose the financial shell-game behind the sale of the Maison de l’Amité in Palm Beach to art-collector and AC Monaco football-owner Dmitry Rybolovlev, after Trump froze him out of the deal. Epstein told Wolff that he was convinced (and probably had the dirt) that Trump had conspired with Rybolovlev to falsely inflate the value of the property through secret loans and a sham re-sale, evading money laundering rules and capital gains taxes — a pretty serious crime.

      Reply
      1. Yves Smith

        I don’t see how you can assert that Epstein and Maxwell were not pedophiles and minimize their sex trafficking. The Federal law that criminalizes traveling abroad for the sole purpose of having sex puts the age of consent at 18 (even though the law seems to be broader, I infer that in practice it is prosecuted only when the trip can be reasonably demonstrated to be for sex only) . It’s called “child sex tourism”: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/emergencies/arrest-detention/crimes-against-minors.html

        It’s been widely reported that some of the Lolita Express trips were to haul back underage women and that Epstein partook of his wares. There are also reports of Epstein and Maxwell having menage a trois with underage girls.

        Reply
        1. David in Friday Harbor

          Under most legal definitions “pedophilia” is defined as the unnatural sexual interest in pre-pubescent children — generally defined as below the age of 14. It is only since the 1970’s that “the age of consent” was raised above 15 in most U.S. states and is still as young as 13 in a shocking number of states. Child marriage is actually still legal in most states.

          There is a second legal category of “underage” persons who are subject to “statutory rape” laws, but most of these violations are not felonious. This is why Epstein and Maxwell were prosecuted for Sex Trafficking rather than Child Molestation. While these two creeps groomed a few children, their sexual exploitation was of young people under the age of majority but over the age of consent.

          This is why still I maintain (as I have for years) that Trump’s real Epstein problem is money laundering and tax evasion.

          Reply
  2. Wukchumni

    Los Angeles city workers and police officers began clearing out a major homeless encampment near the 405 Freeway on July 31, removing trash, tents and an estimated 50–75 unhoused residents from a patch of Van Nuys sidewalk that had become known as “Tent City” or “The Compound.”

    “This is a notorious encampment,” Mayor Karen Bass told reporters at the scene. “This is such a dangerous location. I saw propane canisters all over the place. This is dangerous.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Stridently never mentioned in the midst and aftermath of the well spread out January LA Infernos was the idea that the 72,308 or so homeless living in the City of Angles have outdoor fires all the time and not just propane ones.

    Careless people shouldn’t be playing with matches, but there you have it.

    Reply
    1. earthling

      Those tiny propane canisters which cannot be refilled, and should not be placed in regular garbage bins? Safer to sit around than be mishandled. Wake me when Coleman provides a responsible way for people to turn these in.

      Reply
      1. none

        You’re supposed to puncture butane cartridges before recyling them. Not sure about propane. But I’d expect they’re used until completely empty.

        I heard something about California banning the non-refillable ones but idk the status of that. The refillable ones cost more but pay for themselves after two or so refills. You can refill the non-refillable ones too, people do that all the time, I don’t think it’s even illegal per se, you’re just not allowed to transport them in a car after refilling.

        Reply
  3. The Rev Kev

    “China just bet $2 billion on fusion energy. The US must respond.”

    Sooo, is this The Hill saying that there is now a fusion energy gap? And the US must respond with $20 billion or however much it takes to beat those damn Chinese? Man, I have been hearing about fusion energy coming to solve all our energy problems since the 80s and scientists & engineers have spent their entire carers trying to make it come true. God knows how much has been spent on this dream all this time but I am willing to bet that it is far more than the $2 billion that the Chinese are talking about here. Seriously, $2 billion isn’t ‘a major new national bet’ by the Chinese. It’s a down payment to see if there is any promise here. But as the writer of this article is the CEO of Commonwealth Fusion Systems, I can guess why he says all this-

    https://cfs.energy/

    Reply
    1. Polar Socialist

      What I understood from the original article this one referred to, Chinese are expecting commercial fusion energy around 2040, but are now starting companies that produce the tech needed to get there. So that when other nations join in, they’ll buy Chinese tech rather than waste time trying to develop their own.

      A bit like getting rich during a cold rush by selling the food and equipment the hopeful will need in their quest.

      Reply
    2. XXYY

      We used to joke that if you ask an American fusion researcher when fusion power will be available, they will always answer “1 year after I retire.”

      Reply
    1. Wukchumni

      Its kismet really, pastor uses divine intervention in attempt to complete the invisible wholly trinity.

      Reply
    2. The Rev Kev

      Well “What you see is what you get.” God, I miss comedians like him as they were hilarious. Was just reading his Wikipedia entry and of course George Carlin was one of the show’s writers-

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_Wilson

      But I did note this sentence-

      ‘Wilson was the first African American to host a successful TV variety show’

      Are there many still doing so on American variety shows? I’ve seen some here on Oz TV like Letterman, Colbert & Fallon but when you think about it, they are all tall glasses of milk.

      Reply
  4. eg

    Re ‘Artificial stupidity’ made AI trading bots spontaneously form cartels when left unsupervised, Wharton study reveals

    If I understood this article correctly, the headline is misleading. The bots demonstrated herd behaviour (rather than forming cartels) not because they were communicating with one another (which I take to be a requirement in order to fit the definition of “collusion”) but because they were all trained the same way and ended up receiving the same market outcome information simultaneously, thus leading to identical behaviour.

    Did I miss something?

    Reply
      1. Vandemonian

        Unfortunately it seems that, for some areas of knowledge, most of the AI training material comes from ignorant loudmouths who don’t think…

        Reply
    1. converger

      Back when I was doing long range risk analysis, we found it depressingly easy to develop artificial stupidity simulations which consistently replicated both self-serving recommendations by predatory consultants and the corporations who loved them, and disastrous decisions by the clueless policymakers who followed their advice.

      The models accurately predicted actual long term outcomes pretty much every time.

      Reply
  5. Wukchumni

    Leavitt to Believer

    In this week’s episode Lumpy Rutherford thinks it’s funny when Believer Cleavers are grounded after Karoline tricks them into a sense of false security by actually being honest in one utterance. Hilarity ensues. She’s officially now the teacher’s pet-the app(aratchick) of his eye.

    Reply
  6. The Rev Kev

    “At 17, Hannah Cairo Solved a Major Math Mystery”

    Just goes to show you that mathematics does not care who you are. It does not care about your colour, your background, your class, your religion, your sex, your age or anything like that. It only cares if you can understand it and I give kudos to this young girl and hope we hear more of her. But then there was this bit-

    ‘Cairo applied to 10 graduate programs. Six rejected her because she didn’t have a college degree. Two admitted her, but then higher-ups in those universities’ administrations overrode those decisions. Only the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University were willing to welcome her straight into a doctoral program.’

    After this groundbreaking paper which is making mathematicians around the world sit up, 80% of the colleges that she applied to knocked her back because – wait for it – she didn’t have the “accreditation” on her resume. Jesus wept.

    Reply
    1. hk

      I think the same was true with Einstein at one of the institutions, although I can’t remember the particulars now…

      Reply
      1. Terry Flynn

        Yep. All the people in my field generally published their earth changing papers due to discussion and feedback from people when they got recruited on criteria that definitely weren’t “were you Oxbridge/Ivy League?”

        Accreditation didn’t do it. Raw talent did. The “longtime God of math psych who I worked with” rejected Oxbridge, went to Brum, and simply worked on topics that were interesting. He’d got so senior that nobody could tell him “you can’t do that”. He got his 2nd wind after “retirement” when kept on as emeritus professor….. told me he felt like a post doc doing WTF he wanted with no stupid admin. I used to give him a lift to/from office in my car.

        Good times chewing the fat. Him also telling me LOADS of gossip about people the MSM fawn over.

        Reply
        1. hk

          I always thought the peer review (and P&T process) makes that essentially impossible for youngish people to go off the beaten path, especially in disciplines that have identity issues (most soc sci fit.)

          What do I mean? Well, I can say a fair bit about how poli sci has been evolving last few decades: if you listen to the details in the debates over some big topics, parties, ideology, institutions, rule of law, etc, you start realizing that those are some peculiar definitions. Then you look at the methodologies and realize that the definitions are largely driven by the need to measure things and sic statistical methods on them. This, to me, is fine, up to a point–all of stats, or, indeed sciences generally, suffer from the problem. Assumptions are often stupid and are driven by a need to make things simple enough to handle. So errors are homoskedastic, friction does not exist, and so on…and everyone knows that these are not true. In soc sci, this awareness is not very strong: the stupid assumptions wind up driving the argunents and debates and stuff like “rationality” wind up being too central to the debate. Even the people who are aware of the problems wind up peddling stupid “fixes” (my advisor literally called them “epicycles.”)

          From the science side of the ledger, epicycles are dangerous because a model with a lot of epicycles can account for pretty much everything by definition. One can raise degrees of freedom questions, but, at least in practice, how the tradeoff between parsimony and alleged explanatory power works is not clear–especially since we know the social universe is more complicated than the natural, let alone the physical.

          In some sense, the trend towards “science,” at least in certain social sciences, seems to have instead brought scientism that tended to strengthen the dogmas that people have to adhere to if they want to go anywhere. Math and physics are, among others, somewhat freer fron this because they have stricter and clearer standards for what counts as useful insights. Even then, we still have many people who are very good at computation who can’t get there, well, because real insights are hard.

          Reply
          1. Terry Flynn

            Agreed. I have seen it said that a problem with first year econ is that to make it viable you Must use these simplifications….. but are told “we’ll relax these later”. But there *IS* no later for 99%.

            So 99% learn garbage. In reality they really would have done better learning the tips I learnt later. These are closer to “real” hard sciences or mathematics (with identity relationships).

            If they’d done so they’d immediately spot why 1st year econ is a crock and by rights should be in the faculty of theology in most cases.

            Reply
            1. Terry Flynn

              PS I was actually threatened in person by a senior person in health economics when a clever editor clocked his attempt to sabotage my paper in peer review (I co-authored with the God of math psych so the paper was rock solid).

              The threat was cunningly worded so as to give plausible deniability as to physical/reputation damage but I NEVER forgot.

              I got to ask some discreet questions about the guy later in my career, and yes, he was untouchable with it strongly implied he had links to EU decision makers. Yep, all made sense…..but all this must remain ALLEGED. It began a process whereby I voted LEAVE. No I never ever believed the leave campaign promises….. no I never believed we’d do better. It was a Samson move. Bring your house down too. I don’t appreciate threats sanctioned by the EU.

              Reply
              1. hk

                Yikes. I have some bad experiences in peer reviews that got too “personal” myself (truly “blind” peer reviews don’t really happen, methinks), but that seems particularly awful.

                I was going to follow up with a curious experience I had talking to a quasi-colleague (I guess) who teaches something that’s a lot more humanities than anything quasi science who experimented lately with having an AI write and grade papers, and his experience was that AI was very good at both writing and identifying low A/A- papers, but terrible at identifying very good ones. I pointed out that this makes perfect sense given AI typically operates: it creates a “rule/formula/rubric” for what a “correct” paper should look like and docks points off for deviations from it. So it will produce solid papers that covers all grounds and does everything mechanically “correctly,” but it will have problems deviating from the rules. The way my colleague thinks, the really good papers deviates from the “norm” in some “brilliant” fashion, although what eactly that “brilliance” means is not clear a priori (although, who knows, if AI sees enough data and if there are common threads across many professors teaching the topic, maybe it can figure the “rule” out). So, as far as AI is conerned, at least with the data it got, high A papers and varying degrees of B papers are indistinguishable, since they all deviated to some significant degree from the “norm.” I did suggest to him that it would be interesting to see if the AI can generate, using the same procedure, a range of B papers, and I’m eager to see what comes out of this exerise.

                But this, of course, is not just “AI” thing. Bureaucracy works this way, and, in a way, so does the “standardization” process in academic life. There are “rules” of what works in the fashionable argument given the current trends (and in poli sci, the trends are heavily methodlogy driven–we don’t have a soul, so we try to mimic the “good” methodology in other disciplines and shoehorn them into our debates. Sometimes, these are very insightful. Other times, they involve some creative assumptions that should force you to think. Both are true more often than not, though.), but the interest is more on the “results,” assuming that the universe follows the “rules,” though, than what takes place under the hood. In an odd way, very AI-like process.

                Reply
                1. Revenant

                  AI is the final triumph of process over judgment.

                  Every bureaucrat’s dream.

                  Fortunately it is a stochastic and self-consuming process and contains the seeds of its own downfall, like the scene in Brazil where the hero connects the bureaucratic input to the output with no human in the loop.

                  Reply
                  1. hk

                    More literally than not, I think.

                    I firmly believe in the implication of Arrow’s theorem: that every formulaic process can be gamed to engineer certain set of outcomes while strictly sraying within the rules–thus leading to internal contradictions. For the “bureaucracy” to retain influence, it needs some kind of randomization in how it operates. (This, in turn, begs the question–can computers randomize? Can people ranodomize, even? My understanding–and I’m out of date by a few decades–is that most humans can’t randomize very well, except very good mathematicians and ypung children (odd factoid given the Quanta link.)

                    Reply
                    1. Acacia

                      can computers randomize?

                      I gather that generating truly random numbers is in fact not so easy.

                      Most machines, languages, OSes have some kind of random() function, but generally it is a pseudo-random number generator that starts from a seed value (thus the seed values you see as inputs to generative AI apps), ergo the ‘random’ numbers tend to follow a sequence and are deterministic, i.e., same seed value, same sequence. So there are hacks tricks like using the millisecond counter as the seed value. This is considered “good enough” for most applications.

                      Apparently, Cloudflare uses a wall of 100 lava lamps with a camera pointed at them, to generate random values for secure encryption keys (they copped this idea from Silicon Graphics).

                    2. Terry Flynn

                      Pseudo-randomisation by computers is CRUCIAL in reproducing and checking (for instance) the Fortran written simulations I ran in my PhD.

                      The seeds were all documented. So results were reproducible and checkable.

                    3. PlutoniumKun

                      Sadly, I think the seeds of destruction are rooted in every bureaucracy, every process, and it usually comes down to gaming of the system. It’s something I’ve always struggled with when it comes to imagining what an ‘ideal’ governmental or administrative system would look like.

                    4. Revenant

                      I wonder whether there is a deep relationship with GĂśgel’s theorem (that in every formal system strong enough to be of general application, undecidable propositions can be formulated)?

                      I have always viewed GĂśdel’s theorem as a refutation of the logical positivists in humanities such as law, that it is not possible to have a universal rule-based legal reasoning because at some point you have to step outside logic to choose between mutually contradictory positions (but it would be possible for limited toy “expert systems”). This is also an argument against AI in legal reasoning.

                      Fundamentally, you can pretend to derive everything from your axioms and logic but if you claim universality of application then at some point you will run into a contradiction that requires you to invent or amend an axiom to resolve and that step does not admit process/logic, only belief/intuition/judgment. This applies to other fields as well, e.g. religion.

                      Arrow’s theorem mirrors this. The bureaucratic process (axioms plus logic) will hit the buffers. The aspect of chance you refer to would give it a way to surmount this constraint and decide the otherwise undecideable but, of course, the system ceases to be deterministic. And that aspect of chance was what physics had to accept in quantum mechanics (in most formulations of its meaning)….

                      Perhaps the social sciences have yet to have their quantum revolution…?

                    5. hk

                      @Revenant

                      Perhaps the social sciences have yet to have their quantum revolution…?

                      I’ve often wondered exactly this. The “inspiration” for their endeavors have the distinct flavor of classical mechanics. But…this is also in reaction to those who thought they were channeling QM–the postmodernists, most of whom just got themselves confused…

    2. Ocypode

      Ivan Illich used to quip that there was something strange with conflating diplomas with knowledge. I often think about that. Clearly she’s in no need of going through the hassle of getting all the papers, as she has proven she is the equal (or perhaps the superior!) of many mathematicians with full diplomas. If she has decided she has no need for all the university years, who in the world could possibly refute her?

      Reply
      1. ChrisPacific

        I can just about guarantee that all of the mathematics departments she applied to would have wanted to take her. We’re explicitly told that two of them were overruled. I suspect some of the others were pre-screened and didn’t even see the application.

        I think if there had been one she had her heart set on, a personal contact from her advisor followed by a call or even a visit would have been the way to go: get her on the faculty radar, so they can go to bat for her. If she already did that then it means credentialism is further advanced than I thought.

        Great story, in any case. Mathematics, perhaps more than any other discipline, has always welcomed amateurs. You don’t need expensive lab equipment or a department – if you’ve got the books, the brain, and the patience, you can make a contribution. Galois invented his theory of groups, that later became famous, at a similar age (she even looks a little like his portrait). Hopefully she fares better than he did – he died in a duel at age 20.

        Reply
    3. none

      After this groundbreaking paper which is making mathematicians around the world sit up, 80% of the colleges that she applied to knocked her back because – wait for it – she didn’t have the “accreditation” on her resume. Jesus wept.

      I took it to mean they wanted her to enroll in an undergraduate program. It’s perfectly ok to do graduate level mathematics coursework and research while enrolled as an undergrad, and lots of above-average (I won’t even say exceptional) undergrads do exactly that. The thing is, as an undergrad, you also have to do some studies outside your major, e.g. in science, humanities, history, etc. I can understand the view that everyone should get some exposure to those subjects instead of being laser-focused on math from day 1.

      I actually knew an 18 year old graduate student in computer science at my school, but he had completed an undergrad program before arriving. IIRC he went to high school for 1 year, then entered university at age 15 and graduated in 3 years, before entering grad school. That seemed to me like a perfectly good approach. He was also a very good classical pianist for what that’s worth.

      I myself wanted to take a certain math class at my school, that was listed in the catalog as being in room X of building Y. I found my way there on the first day, but got to the room a few minutes late, and it took another 15 minutes or so to realize I wasn’t in a math class. The room had somehow gotten switched to being used for a literature class. But the lecture was interesting enough that I signed up for the literature class and it was great.

      Reply
      1. Yves Smith

        Elite mathematics ability seems to decay even faster than in some elite sports.

        Our Andrew Dittmer (Harvard PhD in pure math, where Harvard and Princeton have the two top programs) said that he believed he had harmed his mathematical ability by taking such an interest in social science and spending a lot of time on it.

        Reply
        1. hk

          Social sciences do harm mathematical skills, but not always for “bad” reasons. Social phenomena do not work in a manner consistent with math. Making sense of them requires that you give up a lot of math in how you think.

          However, I’ve seen many examples where trying to mix soc sci and math leads to stuff that’s both bad soc sci and bad math–in fact, far more often than “good” outcomes one way or the other…or very rarely, both.

          Reply
  7. Henry Moon Pie

    Trump climate report–

    I heard several Jimmy Dore videos showed up in the footnotes, including the one about the Earth getting colder and the classic where the guy explains that Doppler radar is being used to guide hurricanes. Very scientific stuff. /parody

    Reply
  8. Wukchumni

    The Big Smoke to the west of us is pretty handy as it has all the usual stores and whatnot, pretty convenient for shopping…

    When I mention Godzone, in theory its all of California’s red state bastion from Bakersfield to Redding, but really zeroes in on dogma central in Visalia, which for a population base of 146,000 sports a good many 3,000 to 4,000 seat megachurches, largely full of MAGA supporters, but even the good old Catholic church got in the game and built the largest parish church in the country (seats 3,200) in little Visalia.

    The idea that Visalia is the least educated and most dogma indoctrinated city in the country is kinda interesting…
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    VISALIA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Visalia placed first in WalletHub’s ranking of the “Most and Least Educated Cities in America” – as the number one least educated city.

    The June 30th ranking compared the 150 largest metropolitan areas across 11 categories, including the share of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher and the quality of public-school systems.

    The metrics found Visalia to be the least educated city, followed by the areas of Brownsville-Harlingen and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, both in Texas.

    https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/visalia-least-educated-city/

    Reply
  9. Eclair

    We have reached The Golden Toilet moment. When the epitome, apparently, of luxury, is to be able to sit on a gold ‘throne’ and evacuate your bowels, getting rid of the solid waste products produced by your imbibing of the food you have snatched from the poor of the planet. Who must squat in the gutters of Van Nuys to relieve themselves.

    We build AI centers that suck up millions of gallons of water, and tell the neighboring residents to limit their showers. And, eventually, will sell them plastic bottles of water at exorbitant rates.

    We force entire countries to buy LNG, by blowing up pipelines supplying them with gas from a neighboring location. LNG the must be processed, frozen and reduced to a liquid, using massive and expensive and energy-sucking facilities, then transported using massive, expensive and energy-sucking ships, then off-loaded at specialized ports, etc., etc.

    Meanwhile leaders lust after yet another golden toilet wherein they can flush down the irreplaceable bounty of our home planet.

    Reply
      1. Camelotkidd

        Snowbasin does have the best bathrooms
        Great food too
        Unfortunately, it’s low basin, where the skiing can transition from amazing to suck when the snow turns to rain

        Reply
        1. Wukchumni

          A couple years ago the Dartful Codgers and yours truly went to Snowbasin and I knew things weren’t good when we saw skiers and boarders leaving @ 10 am, that ain’t no bueno.

          We take the gondola up to the lodge and conditions are vastly shittier than at the base, and I tell my 8 friends ‘sorry i’m not skiing this crap today’ and went into the lodge and hung out until they all came to their senses and joined me @ 11 am, regaling me with tales of how awful it was. We still needed to get down to the base, and it’s my first and only time i’ve ever done 1 run on a day, and it was harrowing getting down to the bottom.

          Reply
      2. Eclair

        Some might regard all ‘ski resorts’ as being decadent. All that scraping and building and fossil-fuel heavy equipment set down in former wilderness.

        I recommend bicycling for a pastime that leaves a light footprint. In the late ’90’s, on a mission to visit all the California Missions, my honey and I biked from San Diego, up the 101, through the Salinas Valley, to Santa Clara, wearing bandanas wrapped over our mouths and noses so as not to choke on the dust/pesticide/herbicide smog blowing down the valley. Public toilets were scarce and gold-plated potties even more so, and the lack of trees and even decent-sized bushes, made squatting by the roadside an adventure.

        Kept thinking of the Native inhabitants, who had probably been living a fairly low key life up until the Spanish friars descended on them. Great climate, with sea food and lots of roots and berries and edible animals and birds. But …. they weren’t ‘working’ and suffering. Poor babies didn’t know what hit them.

        Reply
        1. Wukchumni

          One of the hardest things I always thought for a beginner in learning the curves in being out on a backpack trip is the idea of not having anything to support your rear echelon when you gotta go, plus product placement is important.

          Reply
      3. none

        I remember a line in a musical about a cheap hotel called the Golden Crapper trying to go more upscale, by changing its name to Commode d’Or.

        Reply
  10. The Rev Kev

    “What Searching For Aliens Reveals About Ourselves”

    The guy does mention the Fermi Paradox but to round it out, he should have mentioned the Dark Forest hypothesis as well-

    ‘The dark forest hypothesis is the conjecture that many alien civilizations exist throughout the universe, but they are both silent and hostile, maintaining their undetectability for fear of being destroyed by another hostile and undetected civilization.’

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis

    https://creepypasta.fandom.com/wiki/Radio_Silence

    Reply
    1. hk

      Could it just be that theg exist, we have met them, and we don’t know if he have met them? (Not entirely serious, but, srsly, if ee met an alien civilization, how would we know?)

      Reply
  11. pjay

    – ‘Corporation for Public Broadcasting to shut down’ – Axios

    There was a time in my life when I would have been incensed at this news. Now, it barely elicits a shrug of my shoulders. This certainly isn’t because I’m sanguine about our media environment, or that I think the current administration isn’t totally dedicated to destroying all sources of information critical of its own agendas. Rather, it is the result of my long years of watching NPR, PBS, etc. serve as Establishment sheep-herders for educated liberals who, unlike most Fox News viewers, are likely to be more privileged and hold certain positions in our “middle levels of power.” My reaction actually surprises me in a way. It shows me how naive I once was, and how cynical I’ve become. Sad.

    Reply
    1. TomT

      Exactly. Straight he to think that my first exposure to a dissident like Chomsky can through his regular appearances as a guest on my local NPR station (equally shocking that a local NPR affiliate would have its own show dedicated to geopolitics– including such occasional radical voices). Fast forward through 40 years of liberal rightward drift and it’s hard to believe that was ever the case. Seems like NPR died long ago.

      Reply
      1. Pokey

        It wasn’t killed then, but it was severely injured in 2002 when it had the temerity to question whether it was wise to invade Iraq. W. thought he needed a friendlier board.

        I remember in particular interviews with Larry Wilkerson, but there were others with prescient opinions.

        I still support public radio and television.

        Reply
    2. Pearl Rangefinder

      I feel the same way, been a watcher/listener of both NPR/PBS and CBC up here in Canada, and the amount of water-carrying they have done for Israeli genocide is sickening, and why I DGAF if they get de-funded.

      In any case, if their financial page is accurate , CPB funding isn’t all that much overall for local station revenue:

      In FY 2023, CPB Community Service Grants made up just 10.6% of the average public television station’s total revenue and 6.0% of the average public radio station’s revenue. The CPB appropriation, as a percentage of stations’ total revenue, is 12.9%

      Of course, the “average station” is doing a lot of work in that sentence, it is probably a devastating blow to some of those stations, but most of them should still be able to stay operating one would think?

      Reply
    3. Carolinian

      I really don’t agree. For example my library undoubtedly offers more new books for liberals than conservatives (in this conservative town) but that doesn’t mean we should ditch the library which is in fact our “commons” serving the poor as well as middle class yuppies. A recent story said the CPB supplies about half the funding to public radio stations around the country and these too are the “commons.”

      Yes NPR has been brought low from what it once was and PBS too to a lesser extent but this may as much reflect the marginalization of over the air broadcasting in general. Nevertheless public broadcasting does matter at a time when commercial broadcasting and webcasting are owned by a shrinking number of oligarchs. And compared to the money the USG wastes on so many other things the money given to CPB is trivial.

      What the whiners about Colbert don’t get is that their multimillionaire hero is part and parcel of the oligarchy, Dem division. A better counterattack would be to go after the similarly biased Fox. Trump’s bully boy attack on CPB is shameful.

      Reply
    4. Mirjonray

      I could go on and on about how I rarely watch shows like American Experience or Frontline anymore. But for me the biggest disappointment has been Nova and other science shows, where they increasingly seem like they’re churning out documentaries on a budget, using the same templates and cookie-cutters over and over again. It’s like you’ve already seen all of their shows even though you haven’t seen them yet.

      I watch PBS shows on TV about a half-dozen times a month at the most, and I often question whether it was worth the time and effort to see them. I know there’s a bunch of old documentaries out there I haven’t seen before, but at least with new PBS shows I felt reasonably up-to-date on what was going on out there. As much as I’d hate to see the Corporation for Public Broadcasting disappear, I have to admit I probably won’t have a hard time filling my time with other TV shows and activities.

      Reply
      1. earthling

        I suspect there is a small club of anointed ones allowed to produce content for these folks, and no fresh or uppity voices need apply.

        The left side of the billionaire celebrity class needs to step up and fund this thing.

        And public funds should be used for truly public purposes: scanning and removing false crap of all kinds from the commercial airwaves; from deceptive Medicare ads to Fox’s worst whoppers.

        Reply
    5. Milton

      I agree with the descent of npr and PBS as sheep herders for the liberal class. However, the shutting down of the CPB has had a punishing effect on small broadcasters like our local KSDS station that carries 24 hour jazz programming. This commercial free station has arguably the best lineup of programs; covering the gamut of non-commercial music that also includes delta blues, Latin jazz, and fusion interspersed among the more traditional styles (Bop, swing, contemporary, west coast cool).
      oh, and I did donate money to them in the most recent request for donations after CPB funding was cut.

      Reply
      1. juno mas

        Yes, the local programming on your local station is likely well-tuned to its audience. It’s the national programming that has been diluted most; too much political kowtowing, meme-ing, and generally dumb hosts. Finding a solid Jazz radio programmer is rare.

        Reply
  12. The Rev Kev

    “They escaped Ukraine’s front lines. The sound of drones followed them”

    The same must be true of both sides. It’s going to be hard for those men. After troops came back from Vietnam, many would dive for cover at a loud sound or a car backfiring as a natural reflex. The sound of a news helicopter flying overhead could fill them with dread. I suppose that things like this has always been true. So maybe two thousand years ago the sounds of clashing metal would would trigger ex-Roman legionnaires or ex-Greek hoplites into panic.

    Reply
    1. Daniil Adamov

      A coworker who lives in St. Petersburg reported seeing drones flying past his dacha to attack a nearby point recently. IIRC, he said it sounded like a motorcycle moving through the air. He wasn’t scared at the time, but afterwards he’d get a start whenever he’d hear motorcycles. So it’s not just those on the frontline, though I imagine it is worse there.

      Reply
  13. Michael Hudson

    I love the Microsoft list of professions most affected by AI. Near the top are historians.
    Remember what Orwell said: “Who controls the past, controls the future.” And the vested interests control the past. So what we will get is a chronology, and perhaps some correlation analysis. But what is left out is the CONTEXTUALIZATION and the key dynamic. I don’t mean to brag, but I can’t imagine any AI coming up with my explanation of how archaic interest rates were set (not by profit rates by individuals, but by ease of calculation in the 60-based, decimal or duodecimal system), or even the logic behind royal Clean Slate proclamations
    At the time my Harvard group began to write the economic history of the ancient Near East, Austrian liberal economists had tried to imagine how Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan would have organized Sumer and Egypt. It was all GIGO.
    And I note that economics teachers also are threatened by AI. I don’t think the AI version of economic theory would be that of my MMT colleagues and other non-neoliberals. So much for the present controlling our view of the past. It’s all GIGO.

    Reply
    1. JonnyJames

      Exaclty, thank you, this is really getting dystopian: We don’t need no stinkin’ history, economics etc. are we going full-cycle back to the future of a digital “Dark Age”?

      GIGO is what all the complicated tech boils down to.

      The AI oligarchy will abuse their monopoly positions to impose tyranny on us redundant humans. Good times ahead eh

      Reply
    2. Carolinian

      We have all these social scientists now telling us how societies supposedly work and how people supposedly think.

      Meanwhile we have always had a giant database of actual human behavior from which we can draw our own conclusions. No need to “assume a can opener.”

      Thanks for following the latter history based course and your columns here.

      Reply
    3. IM Doc

      I alluded to this in the comments the other day.

      I have taught medical history for years. This past week, my employer’s system wide systems underwent some kind of upgrade and now the AI is fully operational on Microsoft Word. I have no ability to stop this at work or cancel the update. I have discussed my severe misgivings about this with those in charge and they “are looking into it.” I would just say in response to your comment that not only are historians at risk from AI – it appears that AI itself may be bringing it on.

      I was doing a student presentation on historical aspects of mycobacteria. Tuberculosis is certainly one of the most important mycobacteria as far as history is concerned. Arguably, however, in long epochs in history, that title belonged to leprosy.

      No matter what I tried I simply could not get the system to leave me alone with certain words. I dare anyone to write a dialog on this issue without using the name “Baldwin the Leper, the Crusader King”. I was interrupted constantly with the word leper. And it really did not like the word Crusader.

      I will now be doing all my writing for students at home on my system that has Libre. This presents an enormous inconvenience to me – but not nearly the inconvenience of having to debate every word with a woke computer AI program. I have started using this Libre program just this week and so far I have not been interrupted even once. I find this whole situation completely untenable and incredible all at the same time.

      I also find this whole situation profoundly depressing. Not only the crazy censorship of historical and medical facts and names, but the just enormous electrical energy that all of this is requiring with such horrendous results.

      Reply
      1. LawnDart

        Take a laptop loaded with Linux software to work– inconvenience solved.

        Other work-arounds available as needed.

        And yes, Word was already getting pretty crapified, but the AI edition totally sucks– if for no other reasons, the constant interruptions are like potholes to the thought-process: I hate it.

        Reply
        1. Terry Flynn

          Yeah Linux partition solves 99% of my issues.

          Just wish the voice recognition software was properly supported.

          Reply
        2. scott s.

          I never got into word/office as I had been a WordPerfect guy and currently use Libre. But my wife likes word though she still is on Office 2003. Don’t see anything has changed in the text world to force an upgrade. We don’t use the “cloud” so that may be a factor.

          Reply
          1. LawnDart

            Need a somewhat concealable computer? I have used the GPD Micro for a some years, and yes, partioning worked just fine– Linux apps ran smoothly.

            Not trying to plug a product here, but I found it to be a really cool device: upon first sight it does give techies wood so you’ll have to guard it with your life.

            For industrial automation, I used it for PLC and HMI programming. It is a tiny but strong machine, but you’ll be thumb-typing on the keyboard, although its size was great for making quick edits while connected to operational equipment. It can easily be connected to a standard or foldable keyboard, mouse, or an external monitor be it portable or hotel tv. I used it on the road for word processing, emails, and entertainment as well.

            GPD is releasing the newest version in September or October.

            “Although the MicroPC 2 ships with Windows 11 24H2, it also supports version 6.14.3 of the stable Linux kernel, allowing users to install Android, ChromeOS, Ubuntu, Debian, and other distros.”

            https://www.techspot.com/news/108632-gpd-micropc-2-495-pocket-sized-pc-intel.html

            Reply
            1. Terry Flynn

              If anti-human laws make things difficult, TrueCrypt 7.3 has anonymous/invisible partitions (allegedly).

              Of course we’re all told TrueCrypt has been broken. Hmmm. Yeah……So let’s all use Veracrypt. Allegedly it is the cat’s pyjamas in security. (Never seen our cat accept pyjamas).

              Reply
      2. Glen

        I noticed a similar progression with even my much more pedestrian use. It seems like autocorrect as a feature reached it’s peak usefulness for me back in the late 00’s when it corrected spelling of common words I had fat fingered or repeated words as I re-composed the email or text. Later it became almost impossible to use engineering terms or acronyms without autocorrect replacing everything. The latest version on my smartphone seems to be able to change the text right when I hit send forcing me to send corrective texts or just curse at autocorrect in a follow up text – both to the delight of the people I’m texting.

        If they re- name this feature to “Make me look like an idiot” it would at least be a more accurate description of what it’s doing for me. I would similarly suggest a new name for an AI feature would be “Make me an idiot”.

        Progress!

        Reply
      3. Bugs

        To remove “AI” from Microsoft Office

        Windows versions of Office:

        In each program – File/Options/Copilot click disable Copilot

        Mac versions of Office:

        1. Sign out of Office 365 applications
        2. Sign back in
        3. for each app: go to Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Outlook menu/Preferences/Authoring and Proofing Tools/ Copilot uncheck the Enable box

        Reply
        1. Ellery O'Farrell

          IM Doc says it’s happening on his employer’s entire system, not his own standalone copy. Microsoft says in that case he may have to get his admin’s permission. If he reads the MS instructions to the admin, perhaps the admin will consent to having one single nonconforming user.
          Full MS instructions for removing Copilot are at Microsoft Support “Turn Off Copilot”.

          Reply
          1. Acacia

            This is typical Microsoft. They foist some new “feature” on users and it can be disabled, but you must get permission from somebody in Central IT services and they just routinely refuse to do such a thing, if only because it’s extra work.

            It’s the same with email via MS Exchange servers. You could use something other than Outlook but you have to get permission — and the admins can even disable that option, i.e., you may be told you cannot even ask for an exception — and the admins just view it as potentially more work so they say “nuh uh”.

            In general, this is another reason to be leery of any cloud-based services, including and especially streaming media. They routinely change/disable/cripple features that suit their business model but make life worse for users/consumers.

            Reply
      4. Clwydshire

        A really scary question is how many people will really resist this development. By the way, I have used the Kate editor (on Linux) for many years and find it very useful. There is a Windows compatible version that can actually be downloaded directly from the Microsoft store. Maybe your organization will allow that. You could write in Kate, and paste finished documents into Word to avoid interactions with the AI other than its surveillance.

        Reply
    4. chris

      I agree. But what I think we’ll see are the likes of Microsoft redefining what a historian is so that the kind of analysis you are capable of is no longer considered part of history. Then, they’ll bury all mentions of you from YouTube, searches, etc. That’s mostly what I saw in that list. The kind of positions that the wealthy are probably annoyed about paying for combined with vocational skills that could be degraded so that whatever passes for AGI could do them. As seen in all the AI slop considered readable material on Amazon these days.

      Ironically, when it comes to history, the current age cohort has probably one of the best examples of propaganda and history in a key cultural work forctheir generation. That being the animated series “Avatar: The Last Air Bender”. In the last season of the series, when Aang and his companions go to the Fire Nation, and enroll in school, Aang is treated to a description of what happened 100 years ago that directly contradicts with his lived experience from that time. When he disagrees with his fire nation teacher’s version in class they don’t know what to do. One of many reasons the show’s excellent writing have made so many fans. I have watched far more young people grasp the concept of historical erasure and state sponsored truth from that cartoon than I have seen wake up after reading 1984. If that many even bother to start reading 1984.

      Reply
      1. hk

        WH40k, when Roboute Guilliman is faced with the depiction of himself in “history” books? He is the regent, but he can’t overrule them, so he has to write his own version of history books and give them.out for free.

        Reply
    5. Ocypode

      Yeah, I’m waiting to see how AI is going to enter old dusty archives, muck about with papers unseen for centuries (people who say everything is digitalized are utterly delusional), correctly interpret them in historical context, and produce proper historical knowledge which is then evaluated by the rest of the profession as being valid or not. The only good use for “AI” in historical work I’ve seen is the folks trying to decipher the Herculaneum manuscripts, which seems to use a very specific adaptation of LLM models in order to parse the remains. But this is making new sources available, not actually producing historiography.

      Reply
    6. david

      It is a weird list of “professions”.

      Hosts and Hostesses? What exactly is that?

      Farm and home management educator?

      All a bit bizarre.

      Reply
    7. Acacia

      Note this in the summary:

      The study analyzed 200,000 real-world conversations from Copilot users and compared AI performance against occupational data.

      So not only are they using Copilot dialogs as the source, but they are using “AI” to evaluate “performance”. No bias there, right?

      Query: Copilot, analyze the input from all those chumps who credulously provided training data, and tell me how well your output compares to professional historians.

      Copilot: “Well… *ahem* not to be overly modest, but…

      NEGATIVE! PRIMITIVE! LIMITED! I LET YOU LIVE! “

      Reply
    1. Gulag

      Flora: I am so glad you highlighted this rant/(profound analysis) by Mike Benz.

      He is one of the most brilliant and persistent critics of censorship as well as having one of the most sophisticated understandings of the structural networks which determine the direction of both foreign and domestic U.S. policy.

      No one should forget that word “critical infrastructure,” and how it emerged.

      If anyone on the Left is ever interested in creating a more populist Left, acting at times in alignment with portions of the present populist right, he is the man to study and understand.

      He is one of my heroes.

      Reply
    2. Martin Oline

      Thanks for the link to Benz. He is very good. I have just finished Conspiracy Theory in America by Lance de Haven-Smith. It was published in 2013 and I bet it will be revised considering the astounding revelations over the last decade.

      Reply
  14. The Rev Kev

    “Hamas denies it expressed willingness to disarm, slams Witkoff’s Gaza trip”

    ‘Citing a recording of the talks, Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported that the US envoy told the families that Hamas said it was “prepared to be demilitarised”.’

    Witkoff and Trump seem to do that lot. Make an announcement what another said said but actually just making it up. Maybe it work in business but on the international stage, not so much. Partly explains why US foreign policy has been a disaster.

    Reply
    1. Jason Boxman

      What organs? Everyone’s had COVID just about; How viable are any donor’s organs now, in this environment? And then we happy let anyone that’s an organ recipient get COVID again and again.

      This is a stupid timeline.

      There are studies on this, but this one for example

      There is limited data available for organs other than kidney or liver.

      but found

      Solid organ transplantation using grafts from a cohort of deceased donors with positive COVID-19 NAT results did not negatively affect early post-transplant patient or graft survival. Though these results are reassuring, the lack of granular data in the OPTN database regarding many aspects of donor selection, including the extent and timing of COVID-19 infection in these donors must be considered. To fully understand the risks involved with the utilization of COVID-19 NAT-positive donors, expanded data collection must be undertaken to address many of the limitations of this study.

      I guess we’re gonna find out.

      Reply
    2. IM Doc

      I wondered why I had a patient ask me on Friday how to have his donor status removed from his drivers’ license ( I have no idea how to do that).
      And then he told me he no longer trusted the system. And now I guess I understand where this is coming from. And I am going to have to start thinking how I am going to address this – he was the first but will most certainly not be the last. The problem is after the last 5 years – I am absolutely not going to in any way shape or form hold water for the powers that be. I am going to do some more research because I have learned not to trust a single source ESPECIALLY the New York Times (they truly are much worse than Fox News and that is saying something) – but this all sounds very nefarious and loaded with all kinds of medical ethical issues. One of the big lessons from the past 5 years is that breaches of medical ethics are no longer the problem they were – indeed, breaching ethical behavior may bring your action plan on much more quickly.

      Reply
      1. JBird4049

        >>>And then he told me he no longer trusted the system. And now I guess I understand where this is coming from.

        The Powers That Be, the supposedly well educated, credentialed, and “competent,” do not seem to look beyond the most immediate and simplest of answers and solutions for whatever they are looking at regardless of the damage done by the stupidity created by being simplistic. I would blame brain damage from Covid except from it being increasingly noticeable for several decades.

        Maybe, the increasing numbers and influence of MBAs in business has something to do with it with their insane short-termism, an absurdist focus on the next quarter and on whatever profit, no matter how small, could be gotten even if it destroyed the company in the next few years. Ideas like the primacy of “shareholder value,” Modern Neoliberalism, American Libertarianism, Social Darwinism, and eugenics all get their strength from shallow thinking, a refusal to accept the multiple causes of any situation.

        Reply
        1. Stewart Andreason

          noticeable for several decades

          Quite right. Even though things have gotten noticeably worse in the last 5 years, there already existed a problem labeled digital dementia. I encourage you to read alzheimers.net_digital-dementia
          Having multiple vectors for symptoms is great for those wanting to hide the causes. Perfect example of obfuscation.

          Reply
  15. tegnost

    I stumbled across this trend, what does tiger mom do when the kid turns 18?
    “Zhou vil sign ze papers…”

    https://www.denverpost.com/2025/07/27/mama-bear-legal-forms-ferpa-hipaa/

    “Technological advances have increasingly given parents the ability to track their children’s locations and technology usage. Mama Bear taps into a market of parents accustomed to this vigilance who realize their access changes when their kids turn 18 and are subject to medical- and student-privacy laws.”

    Reply
    1. ArcadiaMommy

      We are approaching the age of majority with my oldest.

      The kids check where their friends are all the time. Why is it wrong for me to know what they are up to?

      I took the boys to pick up their school clothes last week and get their pants hemmed and the first thing they do is check WhatsApp and Snapchat to see if their friends are there.

      In my day we were up to all sorts of things but we didn’t get recorded on insta or tik tok. No one is getting expelled at this point.

      Reply
  16. AG

    re: WWII

    Historian Paul Chamberlin in an interview with German (but all in English) NACHDENKSEITEN on his new book “Scortched Earth”.

    132 min.
    https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=136216

    The transcript is in German.
    Not necessarily revelatory for NC readers but it´s nice to see that even the dovish German publishers are taking it into account.

    It has to made clear that in Germany if one publicly questions the idea that Germany was the absolut evil and sole cause for WWII one is bascially a Nazi or insane and ousted. If any such idea is articulated it must be someone from outside Germany. Which is why this is so important regarding the mainstream discousrse – which is the only existing one.

    Reply
    1. Terry Flynn

      My dad videotaped “The World at War” on UK TV on (presumably given timing its first repeat run which was identical to original showing). He kept the tapes and uploaded parts to YT to show how it has been systematically butchered without telling anyone if you buy current DVD or watch in a streaming service. Loads of fellow old farts remembered this too.

      The interviews with secretary to the failed artist are the most interesting. Ironically she revealed in original interview just how dumb the guy was, how he couldn’t understand basic jokes etc. Yet somehow these are gone now….. presumably because they don’t fit a certain narrative.

      Dad used his 200ish followers to alert to stuff I’m doing alerting people to how Democratic systems can be subverted or forced into ossification like in Weimar Germany…… but without success so far. Oh well.

      Reply
        1. Terry Flynn

          Dad is @nickflynn9454 on YT. He explicitly discusses the “joke” Traudl Junge recounts that Mr H didn’t “get”. He’s fine to share and apologises for poor quality. Early VCR and poor conversion.

          He let me piggy back on his viewers to help me discuss voting.

          Reply
          1. AG

            Thank you for the YT recommendation.
            It would indeed be interesting to see.

            Junge of course is a “topic” in herself.

            While we were having the stark German B&W narrative of 3rd Reich in the broad historic discourse, Junge at the same time – in a rather patronizing way – was “only” the secretary and thus considered someone without any moral agency and thus zero responsibility and therefore one of the few accepted sources from Mr. Hilter´s immediate circle – someone you were allowed to reference and “find ok”. You were allowed to bring her up and quote her.

            Also: I have come to only write Mr. Hilter. As to not participate in the unconscious consecration of him.

            Maybe you remember that Anti/Nazi flick “Inglorious Basterds” (2009) by American director Quentin Tarantino.
            https://www.imdb.com/de/title/tt0361748/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_inglorious%2520baster

            It was repeatedly criticized by German film critics that Hilter in that movie was in fact blown up. This was regarded as inappropriate towards the subject of Nazism and of course Holocaut which is always there lurking in the background.

            Thus blowing up Mr. Hilter in an action movie was like defiling the memory of WWII.
            Traudle Junge was regarded the positive counter example.
            Bringing her up was decent, respectful enough.
            Jokes being part of that status.

            The quasi official ban on art to make Hilter normal, approachable, human, relatable, a subejct to farce – eventually defeatable – leads us to the same sick mindset that enables German officialdom to support a genocide today.

            National myths – the positive ones as much as the negative – are sacrosanct.
            Which of course is the most facsist tropes of all.

            p.s. As to established TV documentaries – the best material on Nazism to my knowledge is – of course – Russian-made. There you will find comments, insight and material you will – oddly (picture me laughing hysterically) – never find in official German productions.

            So the alleged German unhinged push to enlighten the world about the Third Reich is among the best lies ever. Which are the ones you believe yourself when telling them.

            Reply
              1. AG

                That is an interesting question because those of course are regarded Classics.

                However complaint was particularly over the person of Mr. Hilter being destroyed in a manner that mocks anything stately.

                Chaplin was before the fact and is therefore morally on higher ground. He knew if you want to put it that way.

                As to censorship – Chaplin was first shown in West Germany only in 1958. In the GDR according to Wiki (I haven´t checked) 1980.

                “Blues Brothers” is different case altogether of course. That is dumb Nazis being made fun of. Americans moreover.

                Of course the reaction about Tarantino is peculiar for a certain misplaced elite discourse and by far a minority apart from potentially an older generation that in general is (was) against such movies making fun of war and death. But those are not critics.

                Also there has always been German art/entertainment attempts mocking Mr. H.

                This video based on the German Comic series “Adolf, du alte Nazisau” (“Adolf, you Nazi sonofabitch”) of 1998-2006, was extremely popular:

                Walter Moers, Thomas Pigor – Ich hock in meinem Bonker (Video)/ “I´m sitting in my bonker”
                2:50min.
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np2ymo0iMfk&list=RDnp2ymo0iMfk&start_radio=1

                Or 2007 this not very successful comedy on a neurotic Hitler who needs a coach to prepare for a big speech, the teacher incidentally Jewish (needless to say the director is Jewish himself, it couldn´t get less cliched.)

                “Mein FĂźhrer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit Ăźber Adolf Hitler” / “The truest truth about Adolf Hitler”
                2:28 min.
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb18874Rpjc
                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_F%C3%BChrer_%E2%80%93_The_Really_Truest_Truth_about_Adolf_Hitler

                German Oscar contender “Schtonk” in 1993 was mocking the story of the fake Hitler diaries and with that the hidden fascination with Nazism of elite German media. The film is considered classic by now. But a couple of years ago I witnessed that it is of little interest today because it´s just too old-fashioned. Eventually WWII – outside legacy media frenzy – is long past.

                For German-speakers, the dialogue comedy is often still holding up albeit the entire approach is a bit clumsy. A screenwriter I once asked said “there is just nothing funny about Hitler and Nazism.” And this being a rather avant-garde kinda person.
                “Schtonk”
                2:20 min
                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwg3viGTAvU

                Reply
                1. Acacia

                  Thanks, AG, for sharing all of this. I will have a look.

                  I have been a little curious about Hans-JĂźrgen Syberberg’s Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland, but at 442 mins it’s tough to get started. However, while not specifically about Hitler, Fassbinder’s much longer Berlin Alexanderplatz does touch on the Third Reich and I found it powerful enough to watch the whole thing twice.

                  Also not directly about Hitler, but… I only recently learned that when Michael Curtiz’s famed Casablanca (1942) was finally released in West Germany in 1952, it was subjected to a strange form of censorship under which all scenes with Nazis were cut, along with anything referring to the war. The dialogue was dubbed into German and major plot points were changed, e.g., Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) was altered from a Resistance fighter who had escaped from a KZ to become a Norwegian physicist who was on the run from Interpol after he escaped from “jail”. To sanitize the film in this way, a full 25 minutes were cut.

                  Idk if it’s possible to find this version of Casablanca anywhere, but it could be a pretty bizarro “Nazi agnostic” viewing experience.

                  Reply
  17. Jason Boxman

    COVID Contrarians Are Wrong About Sweden

    I certainly appreciate Ryan Cooper’s takedown of the odious book political science hacks Frances Lee and Stephen Macedo wrote.

    I don’t agree that zero-COVID was too stringent a policy, as implemented in China and elsewhere. We still the consequences of COVID spread right now, every day. It’s very evident in the St. Louis Fed’s workforce disability numbers, in student absences, in endless anecdotes in the media about “brain fog” and the like.

    And by the way, the St. Louis Fed link, through August 1 we have the highest recorded number ever in the data series. It mostly goes sideways between 5,200 and 6,400 until — yes — 2020. It’s been in a smoothed ~ 25% incline (my best visual guess) ever since.

    Stay safe out there!

    Reply
    1. Terry Flynn

      Yep. COVID has permanently impaired a large part of what made me “me” and I’ll likely never get that back. So I tend not to be very amenable to anyone who supported the UK approach.

      Today I had to go to a small shop (so masked up). Kids afraid of me, more of the morons ready to verbally abuse me in the street if they are sure there aren’t enough people around potentially filming it to upload to YT.

      That’s just life these days.

      Reply
    2. fjallstrom

      Both this article and COVID contrarians are wrong about Sweden, but more importantly they are arguing about a difference in tactics when the difference in strategy is stark.

      They are wrong about Sweden because 1) Sweden took actions in mid-March 2020, 2) these were effective in breaking the spread. The actions taken were mostly on the carrot side of the ledger, much of it could be summed up as paying people to stay home and telling people that a good citizen stays home and collects money from the government at the first sight of symtom. They were effective which we can see in the curves for hospitalisation respectively death being broken at (if memory serves) two and four weeks after the actions came into force, which matches a rather immediate break in spread (though that wasn’t measured directly because mass testing wasn’t in place).

      The more important difference is between zero-Covid and what Sweden and the rest of EU, US and most of the world was doing, namely gradual spread without overloading hospitals. With the gradual spread group Sweden sticks out for using mostly carrots, while sticks were the prefered method in many countries. The difference with the zero-Covid strategy is that in neither Sweden nor the rest of the gradual spread countries the strategy didn’t aim for elimination so when spread went down, measures were relaxed. Also for the zero-Covid group it was very important not to get the virus into the country so they had different test and quarantine measures. This was less important in the gradual spread group.

      Given how little time there is to repond once a pandemic starts and how path dependent policy responses became, the contingency planning within government agencies is probably crucial in what actual options policy makers has. Therefore it is unfortunate that the focus is on the little differences within the gradual spread group instead of the large difference betweent the gradual spread group and the zero-Covid group. It pretty much ensures that no strategical lessons are learnt.

      Reply
      1. Yves Smith

        It is invalid to compare Sweden to the rest of the EU.

        Sweden has vastly lower population density.

        The proper comparison is Sweden to Norway and Finland, and its results by all measures were much worse.

        Reply
        1. fjallstrom

          The first wave in 2020 was to a large extent in Stockholm county, which has a decent population density. Other areas with higher population density in Sweden, like Gothenburg and Malmoe, were not hit nearly as hard. This would indicate that the initial spread was largely in Stockholm.

          In 2020 Norway and Finland (and Denmark) took their actions in early March, while Sweden wasted two weeks and only took action mid-March when death rates started going up. With a doubling time of half a week, that is 16 times more cases and deaths, before taking the effectiveness of respective actions into account. Deaths in Sweden peaked pretty much two weeks later than deaths in Norway and Finland (and Denmark).

          But I am not really trying to compare Sweden with neighbouring countries, so much as pointing out that none of them had an ambition to have zero-Covid, merely to control the speed of the spread. The tactics differed between stick and carrot, but the over-arching strategy was the same.

          Reply
  18. Tom Stone

    There’s a lot of building going on in Sonoma County, mostly high end condo’s and apartments, some town homes as well.
    Thousands of units nearing completion and ground recently broken for hundreds of town homes.
    I believe the units finished in the next Month or two will do find a market, after that, not.
    And that’s iffy, between the tourists staying away in droves and immigrants being chased away the economy here is taking a big hit.

    Reply
  19. Jason Boxman

    Inside the ‘Radical Transformation’ of America’s Environmental Role (NY Times via archive.ph)

    Ever since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson’s science advisory committee warned of the dangers of unchecked global warming, the United States has taken steps to protect people from these risks.

    Now, however, the Trump administration appears to be essentially abandoning this principle, claiming that the costs of addressing climate change outweigh the benefits. The effect is to shift more of the risk and responsibility onto states and, ultimately, individual Americans, even as rising temperatures fuel more extreme and costly weather disasters nationwide, experts say.

    However captured EPA might have been before, we’re really cooking with gas now!

    Reply
  20. Bill B

    COVID Contrarians Are Wrong About Sweden “…(Sweden) ended up with the best overall mortality rate through 2023, per the Lancet study. Why? It wasn’t immunity from prior infections, as a study in Frontiers in Immunology argues persuasively, but rather that Sweden did its rollout of booster shots far faster than the other Nordics.”

    So, according to this study, booster shots saved lives.

    Reply
  21. XXYY

    Dario Amodei: AI is not slowing down.

    Proof that AI is slowing down.

    If you’re explaining, you’re losing.

    Reply
  22. Tom Stone

    On a lighter note, I have recently seen some bumper stickers that amused me.
    “Ask me about my lobotomy”, “why do they call it tourist season if we can’t shoot them?” and “Bulimics have their cake and eat it too”.
    And a reminder, “it’s always darkest just before things go completely black”

    Reply
    1. marku52

      “I didn’t think the future was going to be this stupid”
      “I expected dystopia. I didn’t expect this stupidity.”

      Reply
  23. none

    If Trump saves Maxwell, he will destroy everything he promised The Hill

    I snort at that headline. Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht. Maxwell is nothing compared to that. Anyway, Maxwell is getting rehabilitated in the right wing media even as I type, from what I hear.

    Reply
    1. AG

      Yep. they´ll sit it out.
      Which is why it´s called uni-party.
      It´s frightening what is going on in NATO-stan…

      Reply
  24. AG

    re: COVID/Pfizergate

    via BERLINER ZEITUNG
    https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gesellschaft/geopolitik/pfizergate-eu-kommission-hat-brisante-sms-zwischen-von-der-leyen-und-pfizer-chef-geloescht-li.2346403

    “Pfizergate”: EU Commission has deleted explosive SMS messages between von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO
    New details are coming to light: The EU Commission has apparently deleted messages between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla from the negotiations on the vaccine.

    by Raphael Schmeller
    02.08.2025

    “(…)
    A new report has reignited the scandal surrounding the vaccine negotiations between the EU and pharmaceutical company Pfizer: According to a letter to the New York Times, the EU Commission has deleted key text messages between Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla from the vaccine negotiations.

    The text messages at the center of the Pfizergate scandal were exchanged in early 2021 during negotiations on the EU’s largest vaccine contract.

    Von der Leyen’s cell phone is said to have been “replaced several times”

    The New York Times has been demanding access to the text messages since 2022 and successfully sued the Commission for its refusal. However, in its new response dated July 28, the agency again refused to release them, as the newspaper now reports .

    According to the letter, von der Leyen’s Chief of Staff, BjĂśrn Seibert, read the messages on the Commission President’s mobile phone “in the summer of 2021” and decided not to store them in a way that would have made them publicly accessible.

    Seibert determined that the text messages were merely used to schedule phone calls during the pandemic. This decision was made shortly after journalist Alexander Fanta first requested access to the text messages in May 2021.

    According to the letter to the New York Times, the text messages have been missing since July 2023 at the latest. Von der Leyen’s phone was “replaced several times” without any data being transferred. Older devices were wiped and recycled, meaning the Commission can no longer recover the messages.

    At the heart of Pfizergate is the Commission’s lack of transparency regarding the EU’s largest vaccine contract. Key details regarding the negotiation process and financial terms have not been disclosed to date.
    Violation of EU transparency obligations

    Critics – including judges of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – see the blocking of the SMS messages as a violation of the EU authority’s transparency obligations. In their May 2025 ruling, the judges emphasized that the Commission must “provide credible explanations that enable the public and the Court to understand why these documents cannot be found” – especially given the size of the largest EU treaty to date.

    The commission did not appeal the ruling, but instead developed a new legal argument to justify the renewed denial. The New York Times could sue again—and the proceedings would then drag on for years.
    (…)”

    Reply
  25. AG

    re: Hiroshima film

    for German-speakers (or perhaps YT translator?)

    A Classic German 1985 documentary by Hans-Dieter Grabe on the survivors of the bombings.
    It is available on ARTE until Nov. 1st:

    Hiroshima, Nagasaki – Atombombenopfer sagen aus (“victims´ testimonies”)
    90 min.
    https://www.3sat.de/film/dokumentarfilmzeit/hiroshima-nagasaki—atombombenopfer-sagen-aus-106.html

    And here with age verification:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1rCbu-JXyg

    Reply
  26. Alice X

    Caitlin plumbs the depth of the accusations against her psyche and the depths of Gaza, its expungement.

    But first, Julian Assange across the Sydney Bridge:

    Dare to Hope

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *