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

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16 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
  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
  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
    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
  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
  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
  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

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