Links 2/1/2026

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1. The Rev Kev February 1, 2026 at 7:44 am

   “In this US county, measles starts to feel like next pandemic”

   I suppose that this is the way that it is going to be going forward. You will have a set of kids that will be vaccinated for measles and another who won’t be because their parents refuse to on religious or ideological reasons. But it may be that adults may have to consider getting vaccinated again lest they get infected by measles which is a much more serious proposition for an adult. This article mentions a teacher who was infected by a student and ended up in the ICU for a fortnight. This has all the makings of a bad brew moving forward.

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   1. Carolinian February 1, 2026 at 8:25 am

      That county is my county and while mentioned here before the following bears repeating.

      Local officials and doctors say the recent outbreak has primarily affected Russian and Ukrainian immigrants in South Carolina, though others have been infected, too. The state has resettled hundreds of Ukrainian refugees, while thousands of Slavic immigrants have moved to the area in recent years, according to population estimates.

      Slavic churches had several measles exposures, with Kimbrell adding that some took a religious stance against vaccines. Some schools in the community have vaccination rates as low as 20%.

      Kimbrell said misinformation spread that the MMR vaccine contains fetal cells, a common conspiracy theory that he tried to combat by reiterating the safety and mechanisms of the MMR shot.

      As it happens I frequently shop at Aldi and Lidl–also imported from Europe–where these Slavic immigrants and their children are frequently to be seen. Hope my childhood measles immunity is good.

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      1. Lee February 1, 2026 at 8:53 am

         Give up all hope, wear a mask instead, and breathe fearlessly.

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      2. The Rev Kev February 1, 2026 at 8:53 am

         Might be wise to check with your doctor if you are still good to go and are still covered. That teacher mentioned was also vaccinated when young but wasn’t working when she was exposed. Not good that.

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         1. Carolinian February 1, 2026 at 9:06 am

            IM Doc says the 1960s version of the vaccine not reliable whereas those who got measles as children (me, I think) should be safe.

            I do believe I’m seeing fewer of these Slavic immigrants in those stores lately. They are concentrated in a small town a dozen or so miles up the interstate and come to our smallish city to shop.

            And when I say see I mostly mean hear. People speaking Ukrainian/Russian are unusual in Dixie, needless to say.

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            1. Yves Smith February 1, 2026 at 10:06 am

               Please don’t quote IM Doc incorrectly. He never said “not reliable”. Some of the pre-MMR measles vaccines did not confer lifetime immunity.

               See here for details: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/do-adults-need-a-measles-booster-an-epidemiologist-explains-who-is-immune

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         2. KLG February 1, 2026 at 9:59 am

            Most, but not all, of us who were infected as children before the vaccine was introduced have antibody titers much higher than those who were vaccinated.

            Before the vaccine, between 500 and 1000 people died of measles every year in the United States. Around the world in the tens of thousands. The only thing that will get the attention of those in the thrall of RFKJr will be hundreds of unnecessary deaths or severe disability, mostly children. And that probably won’t work. After the vaccine injury panel is abolished, Pharma will stop producing vaccines.

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   2. Lee February 1, 2026 at 8:39 am

      “…measles which is a much more serious proposition for an adult.”

      The risk to children, even those with mild cases, is also quite serious. From the linked article:

      But some may not see the effects until years later. Measles can lead to long-term complications including encephalitis and immune amnesia, which resets the immune system, leaving it with only limited ability to respond to new infections.

      From Harvard Medical School:

      Reporting Oct. 31 in Science, the researchers show that the measles virus wipes out 11 percent to 73 percent of the different antibodies that protect against viral and bacterial strains a person was previously immune to—anything from influenza to herpesvirus to bacteria that cause pneumonia and skin infections.

      So, if a person had 100 different antibodies against chicken pox before contracting measles, they might emerge from having measles with only 50, cutting their chicken pox protection in half. That protection could dip even lower if some of the antibodies lost are potent defenses known as neutralizing antibodies.

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2. Victor Sciamarelli February 1, 2026 at 7:55 am

   It’s natural when talking about Iran to discuss oil. What’s less discussed, if at all, is that Iran is a mineral rich country, so much so, that Iran is among the top 15 mineral rich nations. Iran is not just mineral rich it has a wide variety of minerals.
   Moreover, Iran has a valuable strategic location, a highly educated population and significant graduates in engineering and science.
   Trump would like to kill two birds with one stone: wreck Iran in behalf of Israel and, as greed is utmost in Trump, control Iran’s wealth and resources, as well as its people.

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3. Es s Ce Tera February 1, 2026 at 8:03 am

   re: Will corporate America finally stand up to the Trump administration? The Guardian

   Those corporations which fully embraced DEI initiatives will protest, they’re the ones who created anti-discrimination policies, processes and procedures, made effort to hire more underrepresented groups, had more diverse workplaces, embraced immigrants.

   Meanwhile those corporations eager to be rid of DEI initiatives will likely support the anti-immigration purge, are probably secretly driving it.

   It might be good to keep track of these data points.

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4. flora February 1, 2026 at 8:04 am

   File under Markets and Empire: From Glenn Diesen, utube, ~47+ minutes.

   Larry Johnson: Decline of the U.S. Dollar & End of Empire

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9hU1lavcpY

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5. flora February 1, 2026 at 8:09 am

   File under No Longer Free Press: Judge Napolitano on Newsmax, utube, ~4+ minutes.

   Judge Andrew Napolitano on possible charges for Don Lemon | National Report

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCaIxTM9_D8

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   1. vao February 1, 2026 at 8:44 am

      There was Charlie Kirk, somebody I had never read or heard about before, who supposedly became an immensely important personality upon his death — to the point that battalions of political prominences attended his funeral. Nobody has been talking about him for months now.

      Now there is that Don Lemon, somebody I had never read or heard about before, who supposedly has just become an immensely important personality for a reason that remains obscure to me and that his Wikipedia page did not help to clear up. I bet nobody will talk about him in a few weeks.

      Who in the USA is manufacturing those baffling 15-minutes of fame overnight celebrities out of parochial players from the mainstream and alternative media, and for what purpose? From far away, this phenomenon looks really weird.

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6. Wukchumni February 1, 2026 at 8:21 am

   Warm Winters Are Breaking the Ski Industry — and Artificial Snow Isn’t Enough Skift.com
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Skied 5 days @ Alta, Deer Valley & Solitude resorts this past week, and if it wasn’t for manmade snow, wouldn’t have been able to, the situation is so bleak in the mountain west.

   We got 3 inches of powder overnight on Wednesday, and it was tantamount to a rich layer of whipped cream on the faux piste de la resistance-exceptional skiing on Thursday @ Alta, but the other days were ok at best.

   Nobody I know yearns for artificial snow, and attendance was on the slim side, as an added detraction.

   Overnight temps have been well below freezing, so the snow blowers have been busy all over the mountain, but its crazy spendy for Altera & Vail-the big players in the biz who rule the roost in the western USA.

   The bigger story is the building catastrophe for Utah, Idaho and Colorado, if they don’t get a snowpack, and more importantly all the tributaries for the Colorado River really have nothing going on.

   The 10 day out forecast shows nothing until Feb 10th when a few inches of snow are expected. Time is running out~

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   1. Lee February 1, 2026 at 8:47 am

      Summer is coming.

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   2. Carolinian February 1, 2026 at 9:13 am

      Take our snow, please! We got a half a foot or so yesterday. I may have to carve some handy two by fours into cross country skis. Coming up next: ice fishing….

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7. The Rev Kev February 1, 2026 at 8:25 am

   “Hungarian premier says Ukraine’s EU membership ‘out of the question,’ warns of economic consequences”

   He’s right. The member States of the EU are mostly broke already as a consequence of the war in the Ukraine. If the Ukraine did join the EU, where would the hundreds of billions of Euros come from annually to reform that country and rebuild it? The only way that they could do it would be with Eurobonds – but which in a few years would result in trillions of Euros in debt. Any investment in the EU proper would come to a grinding halt and the population further impoverished. Time to cut the Ukraine loose.

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8. Richard 111 February 1, 2026 at 8:33 am

   ‘No humans needed…’

   Humans got smarter over the ages by communicating with each other. So is Moltbook, a place where AI agents hang out, the precurser for the ‘singularity’ some have been concerned about?

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   1. Richard 111 February 1, 2026 at 9:00 am

      Oops! I’ve just read the article which answers my query.

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   2. Clankenfoot February 1, 2026 at 9:07 am

      At a glance* it appears to be a lot of nonsense where all the ‘interesting’ posts are either drafted by humans or prompt-directed by humans, in spite of the claim that it is a bot-only space. Filing under ‘part of the grift’ for now. The moltbook platform also appears to be an unmitigated security disaster for naive humans giving over their computers to their bots and to the platform itself. It may before long be another source of ‘my AI assistant deleted my computer and emptied my credit card’ stories.

      * ok I looked through several twitter threads about it, a few HN threads, an astralcodexten post (I was surprised by Scott Alexander’s seeming credulity), and sundry other chatter.

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9. Wukchumni February 1, 2026 at 8:54 am

   Dimensions of Trump’s massive new ‘Triumphal Arch’ are revealed as president ‘chooses the biggest size possible’ to honor America and wow visitors Daily Mail
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Adolf had grandiose plans for Berlin including a 380 foot tall Volkshalle and a triumphal arch even bigger than DT Barnum’s~

   It never happened…

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germania_(city)

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   1. Carolinian February 1, 2026 at 9:18 am

      They should build it out of lath and plaster as was done with the 1890s Colombian Exposition in Chicago. Easier to tear down.

      Ironically Trump and frau had to watch the Melania doc in the East Room because he tore down the While House movie theater with the East Wing.

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10. MicaT February 1, 2026 at 8:57 am

    Solar in Africa.
    First off pretty much all lithium batteries these days are LFP, iron phosphate especially those for energy storage. There are no heavy metals like those associated with NMC nickel manganese cobalt.
    And the leading battery companies in China are rapidly moving to sodium which has no metals or lithium
    Solar panel companies don’t make batteries.
    And the vat reduction is going from 9% to 6% and then possibly to zero in 27. So even if they do go up 9% they are still way cheaper and way safer for the environment than lead acid.

    Off the grid solar in Africa is a growing rapidly do to the low cost hi quality equipment from China.

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11. Rolf February 1, 2026 at 9:13 am

    After one president who went senile in office and another who is nuttier than a Payday candy bar, we can only conclude that the 25th Amendment of the Constitution is just there for decoration.

    Via NR’s Jim Geraghty, cited in The ‘mad king’: has Trump finally lost it? I have no clue if his cabinet of ideologues and sycophants has the wherewithal and moral backbone to remove him. And unlike Biden, Trump’s affection for Adderall and the camera will short circuit any attempt to conceal public collapse. But of one thing I have become certain: our current path with Trump at the wheel is unsustainable, and will end well short of November 7, 2028.

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12. Will February 1, 2026 at 9:18 am

    re ICE abandoning detainees in the woods

    Immediately brought to mind the Starlight Tours. Cops in Saskatoon, Canada, would pick up Indigenous men and women, often with no cause, and dump them well outside town on freezing winter nights. Happened from at least 1976 to the early 2000s.

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

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    1. The Rev Kev February 1, 2026 at 9:26 am

       Hope that they do not take them on midnight helicopter flights over the Great Lakes come to think of it. With ICE, you just never know.

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    2. johnnyme February 1, 2026 at 9:46 am

       Thank you very much for this information!

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13. The Rev Kev February 1, 2026 at 9:25 am

    ‘ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ🪽་༘࿐ 𝓟𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓵
    @__pearII
    physical education in a kindergarten in China’

    I doubt that that is an AI video as I have seen similar videos like this in the past. The Chinese idea sees to be to make sure that those kids know how to use their bodies, learn about coordination and maybe have some fun along the way.

    And how cool is that 3D floor in Thailand. Kids would absolutely love that.

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14. alfia February 1, 2026 at 9:42 am

    Re ICE- pertinent Charlie Hebdo cartoon:
    https://charliehebdo.fr/editions/1749/

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15. The Rev Kev February 1, 2026 at 9:44 am

    “Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says she “will be president when the time comes” ”

    I don’t think that Machado has worked it out yet. Her usefulness is now over. They don’t need her anymore and will caste her aside like a dirty sock. You don’t hear anybody saying that they should also bring back Juan Guaidó either. Maybe Machado and Guaidó can hook up in a bar somewhere and tell fellow drinkers that they could have each been the President of Venezuela. Should be worth a few free drinks for them to tell their stories.

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16. lyman alpha blob February 1, 2026 at 9:52 am

    RE: It’s Starting to Look Like AI Has Killed the Entire Model of College

    TL:DR: College enrollments dropping, tuition rising, businesses not hiring graduates because “AI”.

    Well, in a company I’m familiar with, there has been a recent push to get everybody to use “AI” but nobody quite knows what for. Don’t feed it financial info because it can’t be trusted, so numbers are out. You can use it to summarize long documents, but again, output can’t be completely trusted so you’ll still need to read the documents to ensure accuracy. It is quite good at correcting the grammar on business emails which seems to be the most popular use case to date.

    The cost of an “AI” subscription (because you can’t just own the thing, you must pay tribute to Silicon Valley forever) is around $250K/year.

    I don’t know what they teach the brain geniuses in MBA school, but it occurs to me that a company could probably get themselves a real live English major for a lot less than a quarter million per annum, so maybe there’s hope for academia after all.

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    1. The Rev Kev February 1, 2026 at 9:57 am

       It’s Dutch Tulips all over again-

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

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17. eg February 1, 2026 at 9:56 am

    “Will corporate America finally stand up to the Trump administration?”

    Throwing a flag at Betteridge’s law violation.

    Of course they won’t — capital always sides with thuggery.

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18. William Beyer February 1, 2026 at 9:56 am

    Regarding, “Once Thought To Support Neurons, Astrocytes Turn Out To Be in Charge – Quanta Magazine:”

    I read in the book, “Listening to Prozac,” that, if the human brain was simple enough to be understood, we humans would be too simple to understand it.

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19. chuck roast February 1, 2026 at 9:58 am

    Microplastics

    The photo in the piece shows a hands holding tiny plastic pellets. Shore birds and marine life are dependent on an abundance of eggs from fish, arthropods, decapods and other watery critters. Widespread plastics pollution is almost certainly impacting marine life in my neighborhood.

    In the summer I take great pleasure in following plovers and sandpipers as they cruise the surf edge looking for eggs. A number of years ago there was great concern that the numbers of these birds and similar dune nesters were decreasing because of habitat loss. In recent years, following widespread shoreside protection their populations increased dramatically. Nowadays I’m much more concerned about their food-chain.

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