Recent Items

Links 6/29/2026

Posted on by

Woman Surprised When Flock Surveillance Tower Appears in Her Yard Without Warning Futurism

The Witch Swoops Back Into the Spotlight The Low Countries

The Year 536 AD Was So Bad It May Have Been the Worst Time in Human History to Be Alive ZME Science

Climate/Environment

Flash flooding kills 4 in Kentucky, 1 in Tennessee, prompts numerous water rescues ABC News

Poland records highest ever temperature as European heatwave moves east Notes from Poland

Hungary heat record broken as temperatures reach 40°C near Budapest Daily News Hungary

Heatwave: Which European countries are running out of water? Euronews

Night shifts help brick kiln workers avoid peak heat, not its consequences Mongabay

To Decarbonize Quickly, Think Beyond Electrification Jacobin

Weather Jiu-Jitsu: Prospects for atmospheric nudging to defuse the impact of catastrophic weather extremes PLOS Water

The Koreas

S. Korea to build semiconductor cluster in southwest with 800 tln won in corporate investment Yonhap

China?

Reading Beijing’s Signal to Brussels Pekingnology

Chartbook 454: China shock 2.0 and mercantilist-on-mercantilist violence. Adam Tooze

Southeast Asia

How the Russia-Ukraine War Rewired Southeast Asia’s Arms Trade The Diplomat

Syraqistan

16,000+ killed and injured: ‘Israel’s’ continue to devastate Lebanon Al Mayadeen

Israel recognises Armenian genocide in move slammed as ‘ironic’ amid Gaza onslaught New Arab

Clashes erupt in Daraa as Israeli forces launch strikes in Syria Al Mayadeen

Trump’s Board of Peace plans to grant itself sweeping immunity, documents show The Guardian

***

Mass arrests signal Iraqi PM’s push for reform before Trump talks Iraqi News

In the shadow of Minab: Inside the US testing of ‘new missiles’ on Iran’s Lamerd Middle East Eye

Iran’s Quiet Surrender: The Trap of Normalization With the West BettBeat

***

Pakistan says its security forces killed 29 fighters along Afghan border Al Jazeera

European Disunion

Austerity erodes the governments that impose it Philipp Heimberger

Hungary can join the euro area by 2030 without austerity, prime minister says Intellinews

EU Commission HQ shuts down air conditioning for lower staffers, but keeps it on for most commissioners Anadolu Agency

Volkswagen’s brutal jobs cull sparks prospect of sale of crown jewels FT

Old Blighty

Exposing The Keir Starmer Arson Mystery Kit Klarenberg

UK to buy drone command warships instead of new destroyers UK Defence Journal

New Not-So-Cold War

‘Mystery’ Valdai Meeting Between Putin and Lukashenko Stirs Speculation Amidst Zelensky’s Latest Threats Simplicius

A Senior Ukrainian Sergeant Threatened Poland With Drone Strikes Against Its Cities Andrew Korybko

Bloomberg tries its best to spin Russian oil revenue in a negative light… Marat Khairullin Substack

Putin Addresses United Russia’s 23rd Party Congress Karl Sanchez

On Russophobia Pascal Lottaz

The Great Game

As Trump Cut a Billion-Dollar Mining Deal, His Sons Stand to Profit New York Times

South of the Border

Venezuela’s earthquakes death toll nears 1,500, tens of thousands still missing France24

Trump 2.0

‘We Should Go to Court’: Khanna Says Latest US Bombings of Iran a ‘Blatant Violation’ by Trump Common Dreams

‘Horrifying’: Pulte’s choice for top spy aide stokes fears of Trump vote tampering MS Now

Party Time at the ODNI? SpyTalk

250th

Trump’s Great American State Fair Faces Confederate Flag Controversy And Sparse Crowds Forbes

Not likely to get much better:

Sports Desk

MLB Owners Want the Union Playing Checkers While They Play Chess Neil Paine

AI

AI fuels record $200bn M&A boom in US power sector FT

Microsoft worker emails thousands of colleagues about company’s support for genocidal ‘Israel’ The Canary

China catches up Gary Marcus

Casino Nation

Mr. Market

Healthcare?

Hospitals Are Using AI to Detect Intimate Partner Violence. That’s a Problem. MedPage Today

Why rural healthcare fund’s $50B focus on tech upgrades may not help vulnerable hospitals and providers The Conversation

‘Republicans Created This Crisis on Purpose’: Federal Data Shows ACA Enrollment Plunging Common Dreams

Supply Chain

Cancer drug shortages disrupt hospital supply chains, raise rationing concerns Becker’s Hospital Review

The Bezzle

California Regulators Voted to Release Ride-Hailing Safety Reports. Then They Didn’t. San Francisco Public Press

Agriculture

What to Watch As Screwworm Enters U.S. Food & Power

Guillotine Watch

A Super Yacht Armada Came To Miami, Leaving A Marine Graveyard In Its Wake Bloomberg

Class Warfare

Number of parents worried about “putting food on the table” soars Newsweek

Cops Warn CEO Bodyguards That Luigi Mangione Fever Could Spark Class War The Intercept

Monopoly Round-Up: Why Wall Street Isn’t Yet Afraid of the Left Matt Stoller

Antidote du jour (via):

See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Subscribe to Post Comments
50 comments

    1. JohnnyGL

      It’s even better when I add the 007 music in the background in my head.

      Ultimate cat-o-flage ambush!

      Reply ↓
  2. LawnDart

    Re; Climate/Environment

    Ya’ll gonna love this:

    Farmers Might As Well Ditch Their Long-Range Weather Forecasts

    If you like your humor black and served from the gallows, you’ll note that the short-term forcast included in the article has since spun a complete 180, and not exactly for the better… it seems the weather gods appreciate a good joke too.

    Farmers hoping for a calm, predictable second half to the 2026 growing season are unlikely to get it, according to meteorologist Don Day of DayWeather.

    …Day admits he has “the least amount of confidence in any seasonal forecast that I’ve ever had in doing this for 30-plus years.” He explains that global models are built on historical baselines and cannot easily adapt to unprecedented atmospheric inputs.

    Going out today? Make sure you pack an umbrella, sunscreen, and a snow-shovel.

    Reply ↓
      1. NYT_Memes

        Make sure you pack an umbrella, sunscreen, and a snow-shovel.

        I have lived in Boulder, CO. Old hat to me, but I would add a water bucket and a shovel for small fires if going out of town. Do you have a wildfire alert app if traveling?

        Reply ↓
  3. DJG, Reality Czar

    Mohammed El-Kurd. Click on and read his whole twixt.

    Then, David in Friday Harbor posted the Pascal Lottaz essay on Russophobia yesterday. I read it then, and I recommend it to you.

    Theme: racism.

    And you thought that with all of the blabbing about antiracism, Anglo-America no longer has problems with racism. Ahh, well.

    Some wag in the comments here at Naked Capitalism yesterday recommended the comments to Pascal Lottaz’s essay. That must have been a joke that I misinterpreted. I stuck my toe in.

    Do not go into the comments below Lottaz’s post. They are a vile swamp of the kind of ignorance that the WWW is so good at, the Worldwide Id, spewing and spewing.

    Reply ↓
      1. Tom Stone

        Russophobic propaganda has been a staple of the US MSM since before my Mother was Born in 1920.
        I sometimes wonder why I don’t share that phobia, perhaps because I’m not prone to Hatred and perhaps because i am not particularly fearful as a person.
        There’s also the knowledge that when people tell me I should be afraid they seldom have my best interests at heart.

        Reply ↓
        1. LifelongLib

          Dunno. Growing up in the U.S. during the latter part of the “cold war” (I’m 70) I don’t recall people then hating the Soviets/Russians. The common attitude (at least among those who had one) was “They’re good people with a bad government”. If anything I hear more anti-Russian sentiment now than I ever did then, mainly inspired by “Russia’s full-scale unprovoked invasion of Ukraine” @tm

          Reply ↓
          1. ChatET

            NATO started the war in 2014 through a color revolution in Ukraine then genocidal attacks against ethnic Russians. Russia doesn’t have forces sitting on our border threatening the citizens of the US. The US does.

            Reply ↓
  4. The Rev Kev

    “A Senior Ukrainian Sergeant Threatened Poland With Drone Strikes Against Its Cities”

    So what happens if the Ukraine loses this war and ultra-nationalists like this guy decide that it was all Poland’s fault for not doing enough for the Ukraine? It could very easily happen. Truth be told, if the Ukraine loses this war I am fully confident that western nations will take in people like this – no questions asked. It was what happened after WW2. This guy. Coming to a neighbourhood near you.

    Reply ↓
    1. Skip Intro

      Some of them will be integrated into Western political operations, much like the Cuban expats in the US; right-wing paramilitary units available as ‘off the shelf’ operational capacity. Others are likely to go freelance and up the game of or replace EU’s organized crime. I doubt any of them will have much gratitude for the countries who used Ukraine so poorly.

      Reply ↓
    2. Oregon Lawhobbit

      I seem to recall some discussion a few years back of Zelensky pretty much threatening Europe with all of the unattached young Ukrainian males currently residing there. I suppose a final loss on the Eastern Front will require opening up the Western Front against the “stab in the back” types who did not support the Ukraine in its time of need.

      Reply ↓
      1. ChatET

        Kind of tough after losing 2.4 million troops. Destroying a whole generation of young men the country is going to suffer for a generation or more.

        Reply ↓
  5. Skip Intro

    “Cops warn CEOs…”
    “Nice little oligarchy you got there, it would be a shame if anything were to happen to it”

    Reply ↓
  6. ChrisFromGA

    Taco takes a couple of “Ls” at the Supreme Court! His no good, rotten, bad Monday is here,

    1. Court rules he cannot fire Lisa Cook, Fed Governor.
    2. Court refuses to disallow mail-in ballots after election day

    (note, I don’t completely agree with this, everyone has to deal with deadlines, bosses give them to us, teachers, etc. Why any state would allow this makes no sense to me as it opens the door to fraud. But I think the ruling is narrowly saying that such laws are not in violation of any Federal statute, i.e. states have the right to manage elections the way they see fit, which in general I agree with.)

    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5943129-supreme-court-mail-ballots-election-day-rnc/

    Reply ↓
  7. The Rev Kev

    “Hospitals Are Using AI to Detect Intimate Partner Violence. That’s a Problem.”

    I could see this going wrong in some cases. There are some couples – hetero & gay – who are into a bit of rough and even violent sex. Yeah, it takes all sorts but having an AI decide this is really going to cause all sorts of trouble.

    Reply ↓
    1. t

      And people with mental health issues or violent children. A child who became worse after being in the care home the family could afford and for whom there isn’t much help on offer.

      And victims who are not anywhere near ready or able to face reality.

      I suppose the screening also looks for signs of psychological abuse??? Charles Boyer never laid a hand on Ingrid Bergman.

      Reply ↓
  8. ChrisFromGA

    She can’t be fired

    I’m riding in your car
    You turn up the rhetoric
    You’re pullin’ my leg
    The SCOTUS says no
    They say they don’t like you
    Roberts knows that you’re a liar
    Cause Lisa Cook … can’t be
    Fired!

    Late at night
    You’re eatin’ take-out at home
    You say you want a stay
    But judges want to be left alone
    The Courts they don’t love you
    And you’re sunk by Sotomayor
    ‘Cause Lisa Cook … can’t be
    Fired

    [Bridge]

    You’re gonna fold on this just like Iran
    Your legacy is headin’ for the garbage can
    Your nerves all jumpin’, actin’ like a fool
    Little miss Pam Bondi, better go back to law school …

    Go, launch a round of epithets
    Howl at the moon until you’re tired
    Baby you can bet
    You’re the worlds biggest crier
    Your words are full of (family blog)
    But your words they lie

    Cause Lisa Cook … can’t be
    Fired!

    [Hammond B3 Organ interlude]

    Ooh … she can’t be fired
    (Fired)
    Sorry Don, she can’t be fired
    (Fired)
    We see what you’re doin’ here
    (Fired?)
    Good luck with your legacy
    (Fired?)

    “Fire” as performed by the Pointer Sisters

    (love these ladies!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBtAiwNcsiA&list=RDZBtAiwNcsiA

    Reply ↓
      1. F. Foundling

        An anti-China hawk. Such a thing can’t be compensated by the fact that he combines it with left populism on internal issues.

        Reply ↓
    1. Oregon Lawhobbit

      I dunno – if it’ll keep the dog away from the Sandy Candy Store, I might be up for it… ;-)

      Reply ↓
      1. sixpacksongs

        Pocket door to the cat bathroom with a tiny cat flap does the trick, assuming I remember to slide the door closed enough to deter the furry turd burglar.

        Reply ↓
    1. ChatET

      Next step in the greater Israel project. After Lebanon, Turkey will be on the block. Everything Israel does is for manipulation in search of power.

      Reply ↓
  12. elissa3

    Re: the Zuckerberg clip. Do these insane, stupid, and unhuman oligarchs not realize that 99.99999% of viewers will look at this very negatively. It’s one thing to feed his beef cattle macadamia nuts and IPA, quite another to publicly brag about it.

    Reply ↓
    2. In Cold Chud

      “I’m very into the genetics of the cattle.”

      Back when I was still on Facebook, one of the few sources of levity was a group called “Did Silicon Valley Reinvent the Bus Again?”

      Reply ↓
    3. Jacktish

      The IPA is the weird part but IIRC, in Spain it is not uncommon for farmers to feed their pigs acorns, chestnuts or hazelnuts about 3 or more months before slaughter to give their jamon a special flavor. Maybe macadamias do something for the flavor of beef.

      Reply ↓
    4. ChrisPacific

      It’s probably one of the least harmful things he’s done in his career (except for the cattle, and at least they’re getting a drink out of it). I’ll take it over actively undermining the social fabric with Facebook, or torching billions of shareholder money in a misguided attempt to take virtual reality mainstream.

      Reply ↓
  13. ciroc

    >Reading Beijing’s Signal to Brussels

    While many would like to believe the European market matters significantly to Beijing, as it remains a high-income, standards-setting market and one of the largest sources of China’s goods surplus, the Chinese state broadcaster’s account appears to say that marginal allocation of Chinese corporate attention, capital, and supply-chain planning is more flexible than before. From Beijing’s perspective, that weakens Europe’s ability to assume that China will accept any conditions for the sake of market access – or at least that’s the bargaining message here.

    To teach the arrogant Europeans a lesson, the Chinese could threaten to stop exporting goods to the EU. This would instantly end their comfortable, civilized way of life. Without Chinese products, Europeans wouldn’t be able to afford basic necessities.

    Reply ↓
  14. flora

    re: Trump’s “State Fair.”

    States are getting ready for their own, real state fairs, usually held in August. State fairs are the culmination of county fairs, usually held late June – July, where the winners in the various categories will go on to compete at the state fair in all kinds of competitions: livestock, needlework, sewing, canning, tractor pulls, grains, dairy, kids artwork, adults artwork, woodworking, etc. etc. Not forgetting the all-important homemade pie competition for all varieties of pies and then the grand winner of the whole pie competition.

    The fairway with the rides is only part of the attraction.

    Here’s the website for one of the granddaddies of state fairs – the Iowa State Fair.

    https://www.iowastatefair.org/

    Why visit an imitation state fair in D.C. when your state has a real state fair with much better stuff.

    Reply ↓
    1. ChrisFromGA

      Excellent point! I still remember as a kid going to the Erie County fair. I think every county used to have their own fair, growing up in upstate NY.

      The only thing that Taco’s imitation state fair has in common with the real thing is the smell of horse manure.

      Reply ↓
  15. In Cold Chud

    Matt Stoller piece today

    Probably the dumbest, most infuriating thing about the so-called dirtbag left, from the outset, was its active contempt for policy. Yes, it’s easy to understand, as a response to the fact that policy wonkery has always been just a pretext for austerity and giveaways to capital. Stoller hits the nail on the head* with his description of the vaunted wonk as

    someone who pretended to be nerdy and detail-oriented, but was in fact just a political operative with an Ivy League degree. Pretty soon, the only way anyone could think about governing was through the lens of deference to fake experts, whether economist, pollster, or corporate lawyer.

    But it is still an almost unbelievably stupid, counterproductive response, and it is remarkably prevalent among younger American leftists, because of the influence of podcasts like Chapo Trap House.

    To be fair, though, there were expressions of this attitude before 2016. I vividly recall an appearance Naomi Klein made on Democracy Now!, during Occupy Wall Street, where she praised the protesters’ rhetoric of “one [unstated] demand,” and called lists of specific demands “wonky.”

    *My one potential difference with Stoller, here, is in that his use of the phrase “fake experts” (thought that is indeed what they are) might tend to imply that disinterested expertise, untouched by motivated reasoning, actually exists, when it does not. I realize this might seem churlish.

    Reply ↓
      1. flora

        FDR was mocking the GOP (and mossback conservative Dems who hated the New Deal ) arguments against his New Deal programs.

        The current Dem estab is equally mossback, imo.
        What the current Dem estab forgets is that the New Deal programs saved Capitalism from itself during the Great Depression.

        Reply ↓
  17. Jason Boxman

    What if for-profit health care sucked

    $22,000 Per Hour: Assistants Use a Legislative Loophole to Outearn Surgeons (NY Times)

    It takes a surgeon around three hours to remove a cancerous prostate gland. Most sit behind a console, using joysticks to control a surgical robot with tiny clamps, scissors and other tools on its four arms.

    An assistant stands at the bedside to place the robot’s arms, suction out fluids, and swap instruments at the surgeon’s instruction.

    For those services, the standard fee paid by most health insurers is 16 percent of the surgeon’s earnings. But across the country, assistants are sometimes earning up to 25 times what the doctor makes, according to data reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with officials who manage large health plans.

    They do it by capitalizing on a law intended to protect patients from surprise billing by providers not in their insurance plan. Under the law, those providers can file for arbitration, where they are able to make a case for much higher payments than they could otherwise receive from health plans.

    The entire operating model of America is just grifting and skullduggery. This arbitration loophole has been covered elsewhere earlier this year I think.

    Reply ↓
  18. jefemt

    re: Bloomberg, Miami, Boats n Yachts.
    Two happiest days in a boat owner’s life:
    the day of purchase, and the day of sale.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *