Links 9/5/2025

The growing threat of vast ravines swallowing streets and homes Phys.org

Sweeteners can harm cognitive health equivalent to 1.6 years of ageing, study finds The Guardian

Climate/Environment

Great Lakes have entered era of extreme temps, study finds Bridge Michigan

A monster seaweed bloom is taking over the Atlantic Science Daily

Wildfire smoke is back for a national encore Balanced Weather

Western Canada tourism operators’ burned by another summer of wildfires The Canadian Press

Pandemics

RFK Jr. says he doesn’t know how many Americans died from COVID as he’s grilled at hearing USA Today. He doesn’t know and those grilling him might know but don’t care.

Get Ready For the Return of Serious Disease Ian Welsh

India

India’s strong economic growth fails to impress equity investors Reuters

ASML Pitches for India Business as Modi Eyes Local Chip Making Bloomberg

The Sino-Indian Rapprochement Is More Than Just a Response to Trump The Wire

China?

US and Taiwanese defence officials held secret talks in Alaska FT

Former official of China’s ministry sentenced to death with two-year reprieve for leaking state secrets: MSS Global Times

China’s AI-fueled stock rally bucks economic ills Asia Times

US-China AI Competition: Southeast Asia Will Need to Strike a Balance Fulcrum

Africa

Military juntas struggling for support as Islamist rebellion gains ground in West Africa Globe and Mail

Syraqistan

Israeli Attacks and Starvation Kill 87 More Palestinians in Gaza Over 24 Hours Antiwar

Sensitive Israeli targets come under Yemeni fire during fresh pro-Palestinian operations Press TV

Israeli intelligence data: Militants account for only 1 in 4 Gaza detainees +972 Magazine

Gaza-bound flotilla condemns Israeli minister’s plan to seize boats, designate activists ‘terrorists’ Anadolu Agency

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Iran’s SCO entry turning into a road to nowhere Asia Times

European Disunion

JPMorgan Bringing Digital Retail Bank to Germany in 2026 PYMNTS

MAGA’s health wrecking ball is heading for Europe Euractiv

LONG READ: Europeans face recession, financial crises, as they struggle to boost defence spending Intellinews

Is Another Europe Possible? Counterpunch. Wolfgang Streeck.

New Not-So-Cold War

Russia’s central bank releases its closely-watched annual medium-term outlook report Intellinews

Trump Presses Europe to End Russian Oil Imports Reuters

US to cut some security funds for European countries bordering Russia FT

SITREP 9/5/25: Rumblings of New ‘Major’ Russian Offensive as Elite Units Regroup Simplicius

Russian Strike Kills 2 Deminers From Danish Refugee Council in Ukraine Moscow Times

Denmark involved in production of Ukraine’s new missiles – media RT

John Helmer: Russia Loses Patience Over Ignored Security Concerns Glenn Diesen (Video). For example…

(1):

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WWII Revisionism

An apparently useful reminder:

South of the Border

Rubio Says US Is Open to Basing Troops in Ecuador as Ties Warm Bloomberg

Rubio Says U.S. Will Work With Other Nations to ‘Blow Up’ Crime Groups New York Times

This whole thread is worth reading:

Notes from the Palestine-Mexico Border NACLA

Trump 2.0

DOJ Opens Criminal Investigation Into Fed’s Cook, Issues Subpoenas WSJ

Search warrant reveals what feds seized at John Bolton’s home The Hill

Police State Watch

Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz detention site to stay open for now, court rules Palm Beach Post

US visa and green card agency creating police force to arrest immigrants and lawyers suspected of fraud The Independent

Antitrust

One of the last, best hopes for saving the open web and a free press is dead Blood in the Machine

Big Tech Always Escapes Justice What We Lost

Accelerationists

Tech CEOs Take Turns Praising Trump at White House Dinner WSJ

Be Best, bots: Melania Trump and tech CEOs discuss saturating US schools with AI The Guardian

The Baby Died. Whose Fault Is It? Wired. “When her son died in utero, a venture capitalist went to extremes to punish her surrogate.”

Imperial Collapse Watch

On Utopias, Imperial Decline, and Monterey, California Un-Diplomatic

Sky-high budget gap: FAA launches air traffic overhaul, lacks cash to finish it The Register

Boeing

Boeing hires replacement workers as defense unit strike enters second month CNBC

Mr. Market

August jobs report to show further ‘softness growing’ in the US labor market as Fed rate cuts near Yahoo! Finance

US Hiring Intentions Pull Back While Job-Cut Announcements Rise Bloomberg. “US-based companies announced in August plans to add 1,494 jobs, the fewest for the month in data going back to 2009.”

Healthcare?

The Surgeon Who Took On UnitedHealth Now Pays the Price HEALTH CARE un-covered

Immigration

Trump Administration Ends TPS for 250,000 Venezuelan Migrants Amid Escalating US–Venezuela Tensions Venezuelanalysis

Groves of Academe

The Culture War Comes to Class The Orchard

Book Nook

Do Indian authors need to be social media influencers to sell books? Vogue India

Our Famously Free Press

Stop the Presses The Baffler

Brave New World

Neuralink’s Bid to Trademark ‘Telepathy’ and ‘Telekinesis’ Faces Legal Issues Wired

Do People Really Want Humanoid Robots in Their Homes? IEEE Spectrum

Guillotine Watch

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says investing for a living could replace labor in a post-AI world Fortune

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

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13 comments

  1. The Rev Kev

    ” Alex Raufoglu
    @ralakbar
    NATO chief Rutte gets it: “Why are we interested in what russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for [russia] to decide”’

    Some guy did a reply to this tweet which pretty well sums it up-

    ‘Michael Morrissey
    @mindbanx
    Replying to @ralakbar
    The whole point of the conflict in Ukraine is that Europe has believed it does not have to consider what Russia thinks.
    If Russia or China put troops in Canada or Mexico, I’m pretty f*cking certain that “what the US / NATO thinks” would be an “issue”.
    It’s hard to fathom that this idiot actually said this. No wonder there is war.’

    And does anybody care what Rutte thinks? No European country would send any troops into the Ukraine without a Russian agreement or the Russians would simply annihilate them. And Rutte knows it.

    Reply
    1. DJG, Reality Czar

      Rev Kev: I am in Sicily visiting the ancestors.

      A brief comment. The Italian government has already indicated through Tajani, Meloni, and Li’l Matteo Salvini that no Italian troops will go to Ucraine. Doing so would cause this government to fall.

      Rutte. I have such fond memories: “Not a euro for Italy.” Che pirla.

      Meanwhile, big demos in Sicilia yesterday to support the Flottiglia Sumud. I chanced on the one in Palermo and joined in. A long line of people in Via Vittorio Emanuele. Much clanging of pots. Banners from some of my favorite groups of commies.

      I had just emerged from a performance of traditional Sicilian marionettes.

      That’s Italy. First the wonderful marionettes, then the Revolution.

      Reply
      1. The Rev Kev

        Wish I was in Sicily too. Got interested in the place after reading about Scipio Africanus making his invasion preps there for Africa but what really sealed the deal was the beautiful views of Sicily to be seen in the Inspector Montalbano series showing the towns and countryside. Have a good time there and raise a glass of Sicilian wine for me.

        And from what I saw in my time in Italy, the people there were too sophisticated to get themselves in a lunatic scheme to send their troops into an active combat zone on behalf of people like Zelelnsy, Rutte and von der Lying.

        Reply
        1. Wukchumni

          Spent a fortnight in Sicily before the turn of the century, and visited about a dozen ancient Greek temples including one with the original roof still intact.

          Much more impressive than the Acropolis in Athens and you can walk all over them, the best grouping is in Agrigento and they are floodlit at night, amazing.

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

          Reply
  2. ProNewerDeal

    I heard on the Kyle Kulinski news podcast that the news that the Trump 2025 Budget Bill will socially-murder 50K extra USians via 17M people losing health insurance (mostly via losing Medicaid, with a few Ms losing ACA private insurance).

    I feel this was the missing recent-last-20-years historical context. The Lancet 2020 study projects the MedicareForAll act to save 68.5K lives annually.

    Thus all recent presidents have been socially-murdering genocider demociders. The newly set Obama status quo set via the ACA makes Obama a 68.5k/year American genocider. Biden arguably slightly reduced this perhaps by 3K? (my uninformed guesstimate) via temporary more generous ACA discounts may have marginally kept a few more percent insured. BTW Obama & Biden campaign-promised Public Option health insurance & then promptly flip-flopped & killed Public Option immediately in office. BushJr’s genocide was worse than Obama for the cohort who purchased unregulated pre-ACA portion of the insurance market that was junk insurance & did not realize it until a serious medical event like a cancer diagnosis, + the cohort whose “prexisting condition” prevented ANY insurer from selling them a policy. Trump47 is the worst genocider of these 4 Presidents/Criminals-Against-Humanity for adding 50K to the 68.5K to murdering 115.5K/yr Americans with his budget bill slashing Medicaid & reducing ACA subsidies.

    I doubt any MSM reported this historicaly context, not even PBS Newshour, much less Faux News/msDNC, C”N”N. Even Kulinski even did not give this historical context on his indy Youtube podcast.

    Reply
  3. The Rev Kev

    ‘Arnaud Bertrand
    @RnaudBertrand
    This is extraordinarily embarrassing: xcancel.com/peacemaket71/status/19…
    Kaja Kallas, the EU Foreign Policy head, doesn’t even seem to be aware that Russia and China were among the winners of WW2.
    Immensely ironically, she dismisses it as “something new” and propaganda for people who “don’t read or remember history that much” 🤦‍♂️
    Not sure how she explains how Russia and China got their permanent seat at the UN Security Council 🤷‍♂️’

    Pretty sure that if you asked Kaja Kallas, that she would modestly admit that it was Estonia that beat the Wehrmacht in WW2.

    Gawd. Russophobia is a helluva drug that will fry your brain.

    Reply
    1. Afro

      I’m honestly flabbergasted by how ignorant Kallas is. How does she manage to get by let alone become EU foreign minister? I think if I were that ignorant I’d be homeless.

      She’s also stated the following:

      “Like I always say, the Chinese have the technologies but are not that good in social sciences.

      The Russians, vice-versa, are very good in social sciences but not that good in technology.”

      https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/keynote-speech-high-representative-foreign-affairs-and-security-policy-and-vice-president-european_en

      It boggles the mind, or at least it boggles mine.

      Reply
  4. DJG, Reality Czar

    Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

    Are there any Danish commenters here?

    Can someone explain what all the public crotchscratching is about? Shouldn’t the Danes offer to solve the North Stream alleged mystery (in their backyard)?

    Has someone eaten too many butter cookies? Was the herring harvest inadequate this year?

    Reply
  5. Jason Boxman

    Just fix the data

    Lutnick predicts ‘better’ job number accuracy after Trump fired BLS chief (CNBC)

    Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick predicted the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ incoming Friday jobs report will be more accurate as a result of President Donald Trump firing the agency’s chief in August.

    “I think they’ll get better,” Lutnick told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked whether people should believe the BLS’ numbers are accurate when the latest monthly jobs report is released at 8:30 a.m. ET.

    Ignorance is the new hotness. That’s one way to mask uncontrolled flight into terrain, blackout the windows!

    Reply
  6. AG

    re: John Helmer

    Not completely through yet but an excellent take by Helmer so far.
    (corresponds with Berletic in a general sense I said to myself: “There is no hope” 🤔)
    And I really enjoy his sharpness.

    Reply

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