The Ozempic Revolution is Finally Coming for Our Pets. Up next: Chonky Cats ZME Science
How getting richer made teenagers less free Kelsey Piper
‘Magical’ galaxy frogs disappear after reports of photographers destroying their habitats The Guardian
Higher-order interactions shape collective human behaviour Nature Human Behaviour
What is ‘holiday heart syndrome’? Doctors share triggers, prevention USA Today
Climate/Environment
11 House Democrats Help GOP Pass ‘Disastrous’ Pro-Polluter Permitting Bill Common Dreams
Global Temperature in 2025, 2026, 2027 Climate Uncensored
Windy and warm are the weather words of the day Balanced Weather
Crazy winds in Southern Idaho today! Waterfalls flowing the wrong direction, trampolines flying, trees down, flipped over semi trucks… 🥴🤨😬 pic.twitter.com/vZFA0F4zHS
— Jenny (@teacher_mom03) December 17, 2025
The Persian wind tower (بادگیر) or how a 700-year-old air conditioner could cool an environment up to 12°C with no electricity
[📹 Never Enough Architecture]pic.twitter.com/u8SV0dc4dn
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) December 14, 2025
Pandemics
You Recovered From COVID, But Did Your Brain? New Scans Raise Questions StudyFinds
China?
US must ‘immediately stop’ arms sale to Taiwan – China RT
China’s First Supercarrier Fujian Makes First Transit of Taiwan Strait During Service Military Watch
Report: China demands control of Panama ports operator Freight Waves
China reportedly sticking to its soybean deal with US, but worries remain South China Morning Post
China’s ByteDance signs deal to form joint venture to operate TikTok US app Reuters
China Ships More Rare-Earth Products as Export Controls Ease Bloomberg
“Gen Z” Spring
How Asia’s Gen Z is losing out to China’s US$1 trillion surplus Business Times
Asian Spring: Implications of Gen Z protests in South and Southeast Asia WTW
Egypt targets Gen Z online activism with arrests and surveillance The New Arab
US regime change front funded Nepalese youth revolutionaries, leaks reveal The Grayzone. From last week, still germane.
India
Who was Sharif Osman Hadi? Why has his killing resulted in anti-India violence across Bangladesh? Firstpost
World-Beating 55,000% surge in India AI stock fuels bubble fears The Hindu Businessline
Syraqistan
Lone Soldiers And Dual Nationals: How Genocide Was Globalised Nate Bear
you read this and you immediately think that the mossad is planning something really big now. pic.twitter.com/5yR3YTiab5
— Hi (@TOliveFern) December 17, 2025
South Africa ramps up coal exports to Israel despite diplomatic hardline against Gaza genocide The Cradle
Saudi-backed forces gather on Yemen border as separatists face pressure to pull back The Guardian
Africa
Latest Somalia strikes bring 2025 total to nearly twice AFRICOM’s previous annual record Stars and Stripes
Old Blighty
Man boards Heathrow flight without ticket, boarding pass or passport in major security breach The Standard
European Disunion
Slovak PM’s plane damaged at Brussels airport ahead of EU summit ED News
EU officials ordered to evacuate amid escalating farmers’ protest Euractiv
🔴 Un tracteur fonce sur des policiers pour les faire reculer.
La manifestation des #agriculteurs européen contre le Mercosur dégénère fortement devant le Parlement Européen.#Brussel #Brussels #Bruxelles pic.twitter.com/kAcipS3HSA
— Luc Auffret (@LucAuffret) December 18, 2025
Germany launches $152bn fund to crowd in private equity capital Private Equity Insights
Russia wants to drain Europe’s investigative resources with its sabotage campaign, officials say AP
New Not-So-Cold War
EU to issue €90 billion in joint debt for Ukraine after hitting a wall on reparations loan Euronews. The rules-based order in action:
The legal innovations coming out of EU this week (Article 122 override of unanimity, permanent freeze of sovereign reserves in violation of international law, and now Article 20 selective carve out to enable EU borrowing of ‘joint debt’) should have EU and global lawyers… https://t.co/u7p3sTQPVA
— Kathleen Tyson (@Kathleen_Tyson_) December 19, 2025
‼️ EU commits €90bn to Ukraine for 2026-27 through UNPRECEDENTED use of enhanced cooperation for budget-backed borrowing:
24 member states in, 3 out (HU, CZ, SK). But the constitutional implications are significant. 🧵
1. Enhanced cooperation has been used approx. 10 times for… pic.twitter.com/VgfPfaGV8l
— Alberto Alemanno 🇪🇺 (@alemannoEU) December 19, 2025
Exclusive: Poland to start producing anti-personnel mines to lay along eastern border Reuters
History repeats Julian MacFarlane
South of the Border
US Southern Command Blows Up Another Boat in the Eastern Pacific Ocean Antiwar
Trump’s Tanker Blockade Leaves Venezuela Running Out of Oil Storage Bloomberg
How Policies From The Bi-Parisian Foreign Policy Establishment Led To Trump’s Venezuela War. The Dissident
Neoliberal shock therapy has begun in Bolivia. Fuel subsidies have just been cut by the new pro-US govt, massive inflation begins:
Gas prices ⬆️ 83%
Diesel ⬆️ 163%
Bus fares ⬆️ 100%
Food ⬆️ 100+%Unions have given the govt 24hrs to reverse the decision or mass protests begin. pic.twitter.com/6kcZPSAe64
— Ollie Vargas (@Ollie_Vargas_) December 19, 2025
US says Bolivia’s reforms will encourage international investment Straits Times
The Great Game
Kazakhstan is building Nato-standard ammunition factories – and Moscow is not happy Intellinews
L’affaire Epstein
Justice Department prepares to drop trove of Epstein files as deadline looms Fox News
Epstein, Israel, and the CIA: How the Iran-Contra Planes Landed at Les Wexner’s Base Drop Site
Harris defends Biden administration decision not to release Jeffrey Epstein files The Hill
Trump 2.0
Trump’s social media business is merging with a nuclear fusion company CNN
Trump commits to Moon landing by 2028, followed by a lunar outpost two years later Ars Technica. Nuclear reactors there, too!
Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio, wife to donate to 300,000 Trump accounts The Hill
Trump’s $1,776 ‘warrior dividend’ repurposed from military housing aid The Guardian
Coast Guard Removes “Hate Symbol” Designations Despite Assurances It Wouldn’t Truthout
GOP Funhouse
Johnson faces new rebellion from the center The Hill
The Double Whammy Behind the 2026 ACA Premium Shock HEALTH CARE un-covered
Democrats en déshabillé
Dem Leaders Decide to Bury Damning Report on Why Trump Won in 2024 The New Republic
Cong Dems now have a -55 net approval, an all-time low & lower than the Dead Sea.
2 causes: Dems gives them a -6 pt net approval(!), & they’re at -61 pts with indies!
The effect? Dems lead on the generic ballot is less than half of what it was at this pt in the 06 & 18 cycles. pic.twitter.com/Os17D7BkHR
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) December 18, 2025
2028
AOC Dismisses Premature 2028 Polls, But Says ‘I Would Stomp’ JD Vance Common Dreams
Our Famously Free Press
Florida politicians may give Big Sugar legal power to go after activists and silence critics Seeking Rents
Imperial Collapse Watch
Bondi Beach in focus, the ‘rise’ of ISIS in Syria and the global Zionist movement expansion as Trump increases pressure on Venezuela Vanessa Beeley and Fiorella Isabel
Conflicts to Watch in 2026 Council on Foreign Relations. Handy map:
Navy Ship Fire Prevention Falters on Contractor Oversight Gaps, GAO Warns gCaptain
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Mass hacking of IP cameras leave Koreans feeling vulnerable in homes, businesses Korea JoongAng Daily
Police State Watch
Conventional Wisdom and “Popularity” Alec’s Copaganda Newsletter
Immigration
These Seven Democrats Voted for Pervy GOP Bill Allowing Strip Searches of Migrant Children Migrant Insider
AI
Moloch’s Bargain: Emergent Misalignment When LLMs Compete for Audiences arXiv
There has to be a way Blood in the Machine
OpenAI has discussed raising tens of billions at about $750 billion valuation: The Information Reuters
Antitrust
How Wall Street Ruined the Roomba and Then Blamed Lina Khan BIG by Matt Stoller
Casino Nation
Polymarket’s Vile Gambling Market On The Brown University Shooting Gambling Harm
Suspect in Brown University shooting and MIT professor’s killing found dead AP
The Bezzle
Waymo Spotted Driving Wrong Way Down Busy Street Futurism
Trapped in Uber’s Maze Boondoggle
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
‘Israel prepares for a ‘Mass Immigration Event.’
Well I suppose that if they could convince all the Israelis that abandoned the country over the past two years to return, then that would count for a ‘Mass Immigration Event.’ Good luck with that.
There probably isn’t a need for any more bad news, but I’ll just squeak this in:
Michigan’s largest AI data center can move ahead after DTE wins key approval
The puppy will take as much power as a million homes. DTE says rates will actually go down. Alrighty then…
“Waymo Spotted Driving Wrong Way Down Busy Street”
Obviously the ‘Mr. Magoo’ navigational software package installed in Waymo cars has not proven a great success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8GTHXTEvIc (30 secs)
Re Stoller hand wringing over Roomba–he reveals that the silly robot vacuum is now IOT to which one says “whaaa?”
https://www.ptc.com/en/blogs/cad/smart-connected-affordable-irobot-is-adapting-product-design-to-iot
HBO’s Silicon Valley did a joke about internet refrigerators and as I sit here I can get a wifi beacon from a neighbor’s fridge. Orwell take a bow!
Regarding, “Epstein, Israel, and the CIA: How the Iran-Contra Planes Landed at Les Wexner’s Base,” it’s hard to believe that Bill Barr, head janitor of the Iran-Contra cleanup, whose CIA cover was VP of Southern Air Transport, is not mentioned once. Is Drop Site engaging in yet another limited hangout?
File under 2028:
Is Kamala Harris eyeing a 2028 run for president? Here are some clues
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/california/2025/12/15/kamala-harris-hints-at-2028-presidential-campaign/87775098007/