Do Africa’s Mass Animal Migrations Extend Into Deep Time? Sapiens
The World’s Largest Urban Railway System in the Making JRUrbaneNetwork
What if the Italians Built a Subway under Providence? The Transit Guy
It’s not the Baumol Effect Pedestrian Observations
NASA loses contact with MAVEN Mars orbiter Space News
Climate/Environment
WA floods: Evacuations underway near Skagit, Snohomish, other rivers Seattle Times. Potential for 100,000 evacuations.
Potentially catastrophic river flooding anticipated in western Washington state next couple of days Balanced Weather. Meteorologist describes it as “almost incomprehensible.”
Pandemics
SARS-CoV-2 Leaves a Lasting Mark on the Immune System John Snow Project. A layperson overview of important study, ‘Persistent Attenuation of Lymphocyte Subsets After Mass SARS-CoV-2 Infection.’
So more infections = reduced immunity + more infections with other pathogens which increases the amount of pathogens circulating to infect others which futher increases the incidence of other infections. Which increases vulnerability to infection which increases incidence of in https://t.co/AUTrfGBhkR
— Dr Evonne T Curran NursD 💙🇺🇦 (@EvonneTCurran) December 9, 2025
A recent scientific paper explored the impact of mass SARS-CoV-2 infections on Lymphocytes (crucial to the body’s immune system).
I noticed the authors had shared the data behind their charts in the Appendix Supplementary materials, so I built a quick dataviz project.
🧵 pic.twitter.com/jLJiBZL2y1— Mike Honey (@Mike_Honey_) December 8, 2025
Things like mortality rising higher than births in some parts of the country, antibiotic resistance creeping up, disability claims rising, sickness absence climbing…
— tern (@1goodtern) December 9, 2025
***
H5N1’s tipping point: Scientists identify when containment fails Nature
Japan
US nuclear-capable bombers fly with Japanese jets after China-Russia drills, Tokyo says Asia One
China?
New York Times Editorial Board Urges US To Prepare for Future War With China Antiwar
China will destroy US military in fight over Taiwan, top secret document warns The Telegraph
India
Indian arms makers held rare meetings in Russia on potential joint ventures Reuters
Nepal
US regime change front funded Nepalese youth revolutionaries, leaks reveal The Grayzone
Thailand- Cambodia Conflict
Fighting rages at Cambodia-Thailand border ahead of expected Trump call Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
Winter rains flood Gaza tents as Israel bombs, demolishes Palestinian homes New Arab
Gaza’s babies ‘scarred by war before first breath’ by malnutrition UN News
Israel’s biggest con trick: Hiding the true numbers it has killed in Gaza Jonathan Cook
Remember what it took the get politicians to start calling for banning social media for kids; awareness of Israel’s genocide. https://t.co/QKugsK9rk3
— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) December 9, 2025
In new peace, US firms will help Israel spy on and target Gazans Responsible Statecraft
How Israel Organizes and Arms Settler Militias to Terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank Drop Site
Israel will withhold 50 million cubic meters of water from Jordan: Report Türkiye Today
ARE WE STILL FIGHTING IRAN? Seymour Hersh
European Disunion
Europe quietly abandons dream of indigenous 6th-gen fighter Al Mayadeen
NATO IS A FAIRY TALE BOOK AND A BUSINESS SYNDICATE Comidad
Thomas Massie Introduces Bill to Withdraw U.S. from NATO American Conservative
Belgium is Caught Between the Euro Dog and the Russian Fireplug Larry Johnson
New Not-So-Cold War
More war! Events in Ukraine
After “peace”, will Ukrainian ultra-nationalists and NATO continue waging a hybrid war? Andrea Zhok
The Hidden Script Venik
The Russian NSS Julian Macfarlane
Russia’s hybrid warfare puts Europe to the test FT. Unsurprisingly, unnamed intelligence press for continuation war.
Just Shut Up & Fight, Already! US, Europe Waste Time with Delusional Talks While Russia Advances Mark Sleboda (Video)
Making Sense of The Après-Ukraine. Aurelien
Africa
US sanctions Colombians involved in Sudan war but fails to mention UAE link Middle East Eye. Now why might that be?
The Great Game
Kazakhstan to Supply Kashagan Crude to China Directly After CPC Terminal Damage Astana Times. Damaged by Ukraine/NATO attack.
South of the Border
US seizes Venezuelan oil tanker in act of international piracy, as Trump escalates war preparations WSWS
War With Venezuela Is Heating Up: Here Are The Motives Behind It. The Dissident
Inside the Pentagon’s Scramble to Deal With Boat Strike Survivor New York Times
Narcotics as a Hostile Threat? Seven Questions for Retired Major General Steven Lepper The After-Action Report
today is the anniversary of Gary Webb’s murder pic.twitter.com/kamgbGYs2N
— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) December 11, 2025
Hemispheric Fault Lines: Venezuela’s Resistance and Latin America’s Crossroads Between Sovereignty and Neocolonialism Vanessa Beeley and Fiorella Isabel
Congress approves new tariffs on goods from China and non-FTA countries Mexico News Daily
Trump 2.0
US threatens new ICC sanctions unless court pledges not to prosecute Donald Trump Reuters
Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal ProPublica
How Donald Trump Jr’s Fortune Jumped Six-Fold In A Year Forbes
Eric Trump Has Gotten 10 Times Richer Since Dad’s Election Forbes
Is the White House’s AI Policy Coherent? Gary Marcus
Marching Morons: Dystopian Sci-Fi Classic That Inspired “Idiocracy” Puts the Trump Administration In A Grim New Genocidal Light Dougald Lamont
Accelerationists
Book Notes: The Technological Republic (2025) The Scholar’s Stage. Book co-authored by Palantir CEO Alex Karp and his legal counsel Nicholas Zamiska. From the review: “In form and tone it resembles a business class airport book—and this comparison is insulting to the airport paperbacks.”
“Liberation Day”
US-Indonesia trade deal at risk of collapse FT
How Trump’s tariffs forced China to pivot – and export more CNN
Desperate farmers say the ‘system is broken’ as bailout arrives USA Today
The Uniparty
Congress should reject the $901 billion military policy bill Stephen Semler. They didn’t.
Mamdani
Daily Dirt: Real Estate Funds Mamdani’s Transition RealEstate.news
At closed-door meeting, Mamdani reassures developers, investors his door “will remain open” The Real Deal
Immigration
Trump launches gold card programme for expedited visas with a nearly $1.3m price tag Straits Times
Have Top Chinese AI Researchers Stayed in the United States? Carnegie Endowment for International peace
Imperial Collapse Watch
Turning Gabbro into Rare Earths Akin to Spinning Straw into Gold Karl Sanchez
The Decline of Understanding: How America Lost the Ability to Study the World Kautilya the Contemplator
***
Mounting debt crisis means global South governments are spending on average 15% of their revenue servicing external debt. This figure has doubled since 2010.
More than 3.4 billion people now live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health or education. pic.twitter.com/odf7bFPZrp
— Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel) December 10, 2025
GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS AND INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL FRAGMENTATION EVIDENCE AND IMPLICATIONS CEPR (via Adam Tooze who highlights the following:)
[The US and countries geopolitically close to it] account for roughly 65% of global external assets and liabilities. The share of China and countries geopolitically close to China in total gross assets and liabilities has increased in recent years, from about 2% to 3%, hence remaining comparatively low. This stands in contrast with China’s much larger footprint in global GDP (15%) and global trade (13%).
AI
DOW Leak: Inside The AI Platform & Internal Memo Ka’s Counterprogramming
Healthcare?
Trump is (Kind of) Right HEALTH CARE un-covered
Abortion
Obstetric-Related Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act Violations and No Health Exception Bans JAMA Health Forum
Economy
Fed cuts interest rates by a quarter point amid apparent split over US economy The Guardian
Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says U.S. May Be Drastically Overstating Jobs Numbers WSJ
Guillotine Watch
Extreme inequality – and what to do about it Michael Roberts
The Deregulated Casino
Think tanker altered Ukraine war map before big Polymarket payout Responsible Statecraft
Inside the Dark and Predatory World of Crypto Casinos New York Times
Class Warfare
Online/Offline Working Class Storytelling
Tightrope of Hope London Review of Books
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Israel will withhold 50 million cubic meters of water from Jordan: Report”
Maybe Jordan should tell Israel that the next time they go to fight Iran, that they will be sitting that war out. The Jordanian Air Force will stay on the ground and will not help shoot down Iranian missiles nor will their aerial defenses take part in defending Israel either. Israel must be flush with money if they can knock back the money that would be earned selling that 50 million cubic meters of water.
Jordan’s ruling monarchy is effectively propped up by the Zionists and probably the US against the wishes of their population, which consists of a huge number of Palestinian immigrants. The King has made a very few milquetoast reproachments against Israel for the genocide and the settler activity but the 1994 peace treaty remains in effect. A little googling will show a huge amount of writing by opposing think tanks and international organizations on the topic.
Remember those flights that the Jordanian king was taking over Gaza to drop supplies to the Palestinians below because he is such a good guy? It came out that the Jordanians were earning tens of thousands of dollars with each flight and for all we know it went direct into royal coffers.
MCAS as a long term effect of c19 possibly treated by L-theanine
Inside the Dark and Predatory World of Crypto Casinos New York Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the sites grew larger, they paid online celebrities multimillion-dollar deals to promote the casinos. In August, Drake and the famous livestreamers Adin Ross, xQc and Trainwreck gambled together on Stake for a live audience.
Still, mental health clinicians who work with young people see signs that the problem is growing. Matt Missar, a gambling counselor at The Better Institute in Pittsburgh, said he had seen a few dozen patients between 16 and 26 years old in recent years and most of them were gambling on crypto casinos. “They’re watching these streamers, and the streamers are winning their bets,” Mr. Missar said. “They have this false notion in their head that it’s just a matter of time until I hit it big like Drake did, or like Adin Ross did.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adin Ross grew up here in Three Rivers and that’s the only reason i’m aware of him-and I don’t know him, but he went to school with my buddy’s son, so i’ve kind of followed him.
Benedict Donald gave Adin an hour and a half interview before the 2024 election, and that’s the kind of pull these idiotic livestreamers (kids and young adults watch him play video games-how droll) have with young men, and news flash: they’re all degenerate gamblers themselves, wagering huge sums of money on this, that or whatever, and bragging about it online.
When I was in high school a few of my teachers were RTD’s (Race Track Degenerates) who would regale me with tales of the $1,426 exacta win on a $5 ticket thus evading mandatory taxes taken out if you won more than 300x on your wager, but when I went to Santa Anita with them, they couldn’t pick a winner to save themselves.
After I graduated, one of them: Mr. Martin, asked if I could loan him some money and I was so proud to be able to offer up $200 to help him and then it took me forever to get my money back, that’s how problem gamblers are, should’ve been a real warning flag and it took me years to break the addiction, but that was in the days of gambling horse & buggies when everything moved like molasses, not now when you can get a bet down toot suite!
“Making Sense of The Après-Ukraine.”
Lots of interesting viewpoints and material in this essay though I would dispute the attempt to make this war all about Russia vs the Ukraine like talked about here-
‘It’s being fought between two advanced technology nations with indigenous defence industries, whose equipment is similar, and in some cases identical, and largely from the same technological tradition.’
If we are going to be honest, it is actually an American proxy war against Russia. No America, no war. But it is not just America but nearly all of NATO as well as other western allies such as Japan, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, etc. so you are talking about forty nations, many of whom have literally emptied their armouries of military equipment that was sent to the Ukraine. This complicated Ukrainian logistics endlessly as they had to integrate military equipment from all these countries whether you are talking about tanks, fighters, anti-tank missiles and all sorts of other equipment. And just to add the cherry to this turd logistics pie, the west was forcing the Ukraine to use NATO doctrine which simply did not work in this war. Experienced Ukrainian soldiers undertaking NATO training have revolted at the lessons being taught saying they it was a good way to get yourself killed. I mention this to note that although NATO has had nearly four years to learn the lessons from the front, this is still not being done and nothing is changing.
1/2 re: Germany authoritarianism
From the same day earlier this week:
1) Berlin local parliament expands police laws
“The Berlin House of Representatives passed a far-reaching amendment to the General Law on Public Safety and Order (ASOG) on Thursday with votes from the CDU, SPD, and AfD. As reported by Heise , the amendment allows the police to covertly enter apartments to install surveillance software on digital devices.
The new regulations in Sections 26a and 26b concern so-called source telecommunications surveillance and covert online searches. If remote installation of malware is technically impossible, Section 26 explicitly permits the police to “covertly enter and search premises” to gain access to IT systems. In practice, this means that investigators can install spyware directly onto devices such as smartphones or laptops, for example, via USB stick.”
https://www.telepolis.de/article/Berlin-erlaubt-heimliche-Wohnungseinbrueche-fuer-Staatstrojaner-11108351.html
2) Immigration regulations are toughened
“Deportations are being accelerated, “return centers” are being built in third countries, and the mandatory lawyer for deportation detention is being abolished.”
https://www.telepolis.de/article/EU-und-Deutschland-verschaerfen-Asylrecht-11108233.html
And nobody cares.