Raccoons are self-domesticating and getting cuter Boing Boing
Scientists Say Kissing Is Over 20 Million Years Old and It’s Not Just a Human Thing ZME Science
More countries report rising levels of drug-resistant gonorrhoea, warns WHO World Health Organization
Climate/Environment
‘Potent Metaphor’: Fire Forces Evacuation of UN Climate Conference Common Dreams
James Hansen is trying to get a message across Moving Day
Thousands of US hazardous sites are at risk of flooding because of sea level rise, study finds AP
Media reports that FEMA council report being edited by DHS, raising concerns about FEMA future Balanced Weather
Pandemics
Important Long-COVID Lessons From AIDS Researchers Medscape
‘Too little, too late’: damning report condemns UK’s Covid response The Guardian
Measles outbreak in Arizona and Utah could spell the end for U.S. elimination status NBC News
Japan
Japan exports Patriot missiles to U.S., 1st under eased restrictions Kyodo News
China?
China imports no US soybeans for second month, Brazil arrivals up 29% Reuters
US lawmakers press for new tactics to challenge China’s grip on rare earths South China Morning Post
U.S. Senate passes bill seeking to remove limits on Taiwan engagement Focus Taiwan
Myanmar
Myanmar Junta Accuses US of ‘Hidden Agenda’ in Anti-Scam Crackdown The Irrawaddy
Syraqistan
Huckabee Held Meeting at U.S. Embassy With American Who Spied for Israel New York Times. Huckabee apparently cannot find the time to meet with this American:
🚨 A US Embassy official visited Mohammed last week and gave his father a terrifying update. Said he is “not doing good at all,” has black circles under his eyes, more weight loss, and that guards beat him when he tried to wave to his father on the courtroom security camera.… https://t.co/kkaDzWPKYw pic.twitter.com/fyAvby4T6Q
— jasper nathaniel (@infinite_jaz) November 19, 2025
When Israel’s courts become ‘instruments of revenge’ against Palestinian citizens +972 Magazine
Bill to block UNRWA access to water, electricity passes Israeli Knesset’s first reading TRT World
Old Blighty
Ministry of Justice set to take away the right to a trial by jury The Canary
Central Banks and Government Budgets – As If Democracy Matters Ann Pettifor
European Disunion
EU’s digital law cuts spark fears and doubts on competitiveness Euractiv
How ASML Got EUV Construction Physics
Poland to close last Russian consulate in response to train line sabotage Notes from Poland
Poles’ negative attitudes towards Germans rise to highest level in 25 years Notes from Poland
New Not-So-Cold War
The Alleged 28-Point Ukrainian and Russian Peace Plan Larry Johnson
Leaked ‘Peace Proposal’ Carries Hidden Intrigues, as ‘Camo-Putin’ Signals Defiance Simplicius
High Noon In Kiev Moon of Alabama
THE BULLIES ON THE BEACH ARE BEACHED — TRUMP COVERS RETREAT FROM UKRAINE FRONT John Helmer
Putin Visits West Group Command Post Karl Sanchez
Africa
Bamako is grinding towards a halt The Continent
Mali holds firm: West eyes new front to sabotage Sahel independence The Cradle
The Great Game
Chinese diplomatic tour strives to blunt US trade momentum in Central Asia Eurasianet
South of the Border
Russian Tanker Idles Near Venezuela After US Warship Enters Path Bloomberg
RUBIO SAYS MADURO IS TERRORIST-IN-CHIEF OF VENEZUELA’S “CÁRTEL DE LOS SOLES.” IS IT EVEN A REAL GROUP? The Interecept
U.S. Banks Shelve $20 Billion Bailout Plan for Argentina WSJ
L’affaire Epstein
Epstein Bill Has Foreign Policy Loophole Sam Husseini
Larry Summers is institutional rot: a close Jeffrey Epstein associate & apologist for Israeli apartheid & genocide. No surprise, he has a named professorship at Harvard. https://t.co/0guB8X8kIt pic.twitter.com/LwbsCvrMqy
— Zachary Foster (@_ZachFoster) November 19, 2025
Trump 2.0
Issue 97 – This is hardship Molly White
Trump buys millions in Boeing bonds while awarding it contracts Responsible Statecraft
Trump and big tech take two more stabs at ending AI democracy Blood in the Machine
Donald Trump Faces New MAGA Discontent Over AI Proposal Newsweek
Economy
The US is losing blue-collar jobs for the first time since the pandemic—year-on-year job losses have hit 59k as manufacturing industries lose jobs at a rapid pace while growth in construction & transportation has nearly zeroed out pic.twitter.com/fCOhbA7hqk
— Joey Politano 🏳️🌈 (@JosephPolitano) November 20, 2025
Fox News Poll: Voters say White House is doing more harm than good on economy Fox News
“Liberation Day”
Moody’s: U.S. Ports Face Decline as Tariffs and Policy Uncertainty Cloud 2026 Outlook gCaptain
Shutdown
How the shutdown broke America’s food chain — and what happens next Grist
Democrats en déshabillé
National Security Moms Are Here Ken Klippenstein
WOULD YOU EVER GO ON VACATION TO A PLACE LIKE THAT? Seymour Hersh. A conversation with Thomas Frank.
This Data Shows Why Dems Shouldn’t Run from Climate Aaron Regunberg
How California Spent Natural Disaster Funds to Quell Student Protests for Palestine The Intercept
“MAHA”
CDC Website No Longer Rejects Autism-Vaccine Link MedPage Today
The anti-vaccination disinformation on the CDC site is the predictable consequences of public health downplaying COVlD for years.
People were told vax & relax, wash your hands, C19 is seasonal, don’t isolate. They get infected, health declines, & blame the shot, not the virus. https://t.co/mjw431PSl1
— Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA (@michael_hoerger) November 21, 2025
TRANSLATED EXCERPTS
About MAHA, “One Health”, “Function Health”, article by Alexandre Monnin,philosopher:
“Not treating patients: a current trend”
Very important article for those who want to understand the transformation of public health.
Horrifying.
1/12https://t.co/nuL5ZRJos2 pic.twitter.com/RVEnOdyXYz— Redkiraz (@Redkiraz) November 19, 2025
Imperial Collapse Watch
Dialogue in Hiroshima Emmanuel Todd
Three Roads Beyond Liberal Democracy Deep Cosmopolis
U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols WaPo
Davos assured Trump ‘woke’ topics were off the agenda FT
Police State Watch
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with ‘suspicious’ patterns AP
ICE Says Critical Evidence In Abuse Case Was Lost In ‘System Crash’ a Day After It Was Sued 404 Media
How the FBI Became the Face of Deprofessionalization Can We Still Govern?
Homeland Security says operation in Charlotte ‘not over’ despite earlier reports WBTV
AI
The only people who benefit here are the executives of the major labels and AI startups. We need the Living Wage for Musicians Act, which would pay a new streaming royalty ONLY to human musicians, not to corporations making AI slop. pic.twitter.com/jksVmx2Yeq
— United Musicians and Allied Workers (@UMAW_) November 20, 2025
In the A.I. Race, Chinese Talent Still Drives American Research New York Times
Musk says AI and humanoid robots will eliminate poverty, make work ‘optional’ Anadolu Agency
Kicking Robots Harper’s
Holes in the web Aeon
Groves of Academe
When grades stop meaning anything The Argument
Antitrust
Meta Wins Antitrust Case as Big Tech Moves from a Monopoly to a Macro-Economic Problem BIG by Matt Stoller
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Former Google chief accused of spying on employees through account ‘backdoor’ Los Angeles Times
Class Warfare
Child care expenses top the cost of rent in dozens of U.S. cities, analysis finds. See where. CBS News
California’s child farmworkers: Exhausted, underpaid and toiling in toxic fields Los Angeles Times
The Promise Of Automation and Abundance Ian Welsh
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
““Modi on board”: Jeffrey Epstein Pressed Steve Bannon to Meet With Indian PM Shortly Before His Death ”
That is the thing about Jeffrey Epstein. The more you delve into this guy you wonder just who the hell he was. Here he is playing diplomacy on a fairly high level and previously he was trying to set up a back channel between the Russian Federation over Syria though the Russians had his number and lost interest. Again, this too was diplomacy on a high level and you wonder where his diplomatic clout came from. So again, who exactly was this guy?