The philosopher who wants schools to slow kids down Big Think
American Heart Association Reveals The Optimal Daily Cups of Coffee For Your Health Science Alert
#COVID-19/Pandemics
🚨 Africa CDC issues a stark warning: The current Ebola outbreak risks becoming the worst documented in world history.
"It’s unfortunate to let you know we have 900 deaths. Sixty-five days into this outbreak, we already have more than 2,400 confirmed cases. If we do not stop it…
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) July 21, 2026
Daily Ebola update:
– Cases: 2,444 (+79)
– Recovered: 488 (+3)
– Deaths: 969 (+37) pic.twitter.com/uo1KYWPD0K— BNO News (@BNOFeed) July 21, 2026
Climate/Environment
Japanese firms sell ‘fridges for humans’ to cope with heatwave Telegraph
The U.S. Is Pulling Back on Energy Efficiency Just as Prices Are Rising New York Times
Cloudy skies have slowed global warming – but that may be changing New Scientist
The earth has stopped being as shiny. Insurers are worried Insurance Business Magazine
Slowdown in Arctic ice melt ends after largest winter decline on record Guardian
Swiss plan to turn snow cannons onto forest fires SwissInfo
Rapidly thawing permafrost is acidifying streams across North America The Conversation
Is the Colorado River in a climate doom loop? Washington Post
Extreme heat grips Central Asia: how countries are responding Asia Plus
EXTRAORDINARY
July Records smashed allover the Hemisphere in Namibia,Zambia,Botwana,Zimbabwe,Madagascar,Malawi up to TANZANIA where the National record of July highest temperature was pulverized:
33.8C Tabora 1200m aslMost extreme event in Southern Africa winter pic.twitter.com/rbJAoHQtDl
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) July 20, 2026
China?
Trump softens tone on alleged China election meddling before Rubio-Wang talks South China Morning Post
China is leading the global nuclear race:
China now has 39 nuclear reactors under construction, more than the next 12 countries combined.
This is followed by India and Russia, at 8 and 7, respectively, less than half of China's total combined.
China also has a much younger… pic.twitter.com/wvHGXjxTF3
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 21, 2026
Nike to cut off thousands of online distributors in China, restructure digital footprint CNBC
Japan
Tokyo urges men to wear shorts to work, but some women say it’s ‘leg hair harassment’ BBC (Kevin W)
India
UN experts demand release of Indigenous activists arrested for protesting proposed luxury hotel next to Kaziranga National Park in India REDD. Micael T: “So the BRICS are going to rescue us from the collective West?”
Africa
Egypt says Nile issue is existential, rejects Ethiopia’s unilateral moves Middle East Online
O Canada
Trump Is Squeezing Canada. Don’t Expect Carney to Roll Over New York Times. No archived version yet.
Trump’s Canada tariff leaves Maine Republicans scrambling for distance Politico
South of the Border
The US has collected about $13bn of Venezuela’s oil money. Where is it? Financial Times
European Disunion
Brussels prepares first digital rulebook fine against Google, risking Trump’s ire: media reports Euronews
The Counterfeit Empire: How the European Union Occupies Europe Speculum Orientis (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Burnham Approves Use of UK Bases for Some US Strikes on Iran Bloomberg
Burnham stated that the first person he would call is Zelensky.
[Who would you call first? President Trump? President Zelensky? Or someone else?]
Those will be my first calls. And today, I will clearly tell President Zelensky that there are no changes. I will be 100% with him,… pic.twitter.com/2K1AO7BOmi
— 𝕊𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕻𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤 (@SprinterPress) July 20, 2026
‘My shirt was wringing’: National Express bus drivers speak out on 40C conditions Guardian
Israel v. The Resistance
This is a settler genocide in which annihilation and mass expulsion are followed by land seizure and the territorial annexation of most of Gaza, while Israeli ministers march in support of establishing colonies in the areas the military is fencing off. pic.twitter.com/gNWXVtVhTN
— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) July 21, 2026
Lebanese Troops Deploy to Pilot Zone, Immediately Come Under Fire From Israelis Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Trump Approves Landmark Nuclear Deal With Saudi Arabia in Big Win for Kingdom Wall Street Journal. No online version yet.
Of course the Israelis are ecstatic. The Americans are fighting an entire war for them, and Arab states are getting degraded. Yes, Americans are now dying for Smotrich, and Ben Gvir and Netanyahu. Smart. https://t.co/HuuPMabWR3
— Sharmine Narwani (@snarwani) July 21, 2026
* * * US Establishment Shell Shocked by Rapid and Paradoxical Advancement of Iran’s “Lethality” Simplicius
You are fighting a land, not a state shuka.muz (Cindy W)
The Current Situation Is Best’: Smotrich Says Israel Has No Interest in Joining US Attacks on Iran Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Rubio says US still willing to negotiate over Iran crisis Arab News
How Sky News pieced together how 120 children were killed in an attack on an Iranian primary school YouTube (Cindy W). See also the underlying Forensic Architecture work
New Not-So-Cold War
Kremlin Hardens Demands on Occupied Land in Ukraine, Blaming US Bloomberg. Wowsers. Anyone who had been following Lavrov’s speeches and Putin’s speeches and Q&As knew this quite a while back.
Zelenskyy sacks army chief Syrsky after days of protests Euraciv. Events in Ukraine called it: Syrsky kaput?
Syrskyi Out, Drapatyi In: Fedorov Welcomes Shakeup as His Own Role Remains Unclear Kyiv Post
Russia’s Long Range Strike Campaign on Kiev/Political Crisis in Kiev Mark Sleboda
Tension Still in Kiev; Russian Attacks More Intense Olivier Boyd-Barrett
Wildberries warehouse strikes leave sellers facing more than $1bn in losses BNE
Brief Frontline Report – July 21st, 2026 Marat Khairullin
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
US Police Now Armed With Israeli Spy Vans Simulating Mobile Phone Towers Cybernews. Note that cell phone triangulation has been found in court not to be accurate enough to be used as evidence of location. However, in combination with other data….? The lesson is that airplane mode and Faraday bags are your friends.
Imperial Collapse Watch
And It Goes On Aurelien
The Death of Glory American Conservative. resilc: “Yeh, I remember the great days of WWI and our Civil War.”
The Nested Machine: Symbolic Culture and the Viability of the Empire Steven Newbury
‘War criminals not welcome’: Protesters rally in Manila as Rubio visits Aljazeera (live feed entry)
Anti-US protesters clash with police during Rubio visit; 2 journalists nearly arrested ABS-CBN
Structural Engineer Speaks out about Column Failures in the Former Pfizer building New York City YouTube. resilc: “Lawyers win.”
Trump 2.0
Trump’s unpopularity, low confidence in ICE, socialism, and more YouTube
5 takeaways from Hegseth, Caine hearing on emergency Iran funding The Hill
Hegseth says Iran war has cost $37.5 billion. Sources say the total price tag could be far more CBS (Kevin W)
Iran is turning into the sort of ‘forever war’ that Donald Trump promised to avoid The Conversation (Kevin W)
America First? Trump’s Foreign Income Exploded in 2025 New Republic (resilc)
The FDA Says It Didn’t Apologize to Supplier Linked to Diarrhea Outbreak, Actually Wired. resilc: “Trump et Team Trump is never wrong.”
Immigration
US appeals court overturns order releasing pro-Palestinian advocate Mahdawi Reuters
House passes stopgap measure to fund federal government The Hill
AIPAC
The Collapse of the Bipartisan Consensus over US-Israel Ties Juan Cole. resilc: “And all it took was a couple million dead and a few trillion buck$.”
NANCY PELOSI’S PICK FOR HER SF HOUSE SEAT TAKES ANTI-AIPAC PLEDGE Intercept
New York Sculptor Bet $100,000 on a Charlie Kirk Statue, Now No One Wants to Buy It ArtNews (Micael T)
Mamdani
Mamdani concedes that NYC lacks the authority to execute the ICC arrest warrant:
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal. pic.twitter.com/YRezmW6YVx
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) July 22, 2026
Mamdani Leaves Palestine in Trump’s Hands Sam Husseini. Since when does New York City conduct foreign policy? FFS, Mandami was asked in a debate during his campaign when he would visit Israel and he said he woudn’t, NYC was job. Mandami using his bully pulpit and raising the issue of the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu is not trivial. He could cut the NYPD ties to Israel but the NYPD is close to an independent power center and hard to influence despite being nominally civilian controlled.
Our No Longer Free Press
Trump administration sought phone records of New York Times journalists and their relatives Guardian (Kevin W)
Economy
Iran war forces cash-strapped Asian nations to buy expensive LNG Economic Times
US readies new tariffs as Trump’s 10% global levy to expire Channel News Asia
Trump’s 100% Generic Drug Duty Threatens US Low-Cost Supply Bloomberg:
Yet it’s unclear how forcing companies to make more medicines in the US will help bring prices down, given the lower costs of labor and manufacturing in established location like India. Unlike makers of innovative medicines under patent protection, generics producers compete on low pricing, making it far harder to absorb tariffs.
Manufacturing in the US would remove the cost advantages that foreign generic producers have against branded drugmakers, forcing them to either raise prices or withdraw from the market…
2% of What? Redefining inflation is not the way to achieve price stability. Claudia Sahm (resilc)
AI
The AI investment race BIS Working Papers (resilc). Modeling confirms widespread concerns and then some.
America’s Losing the AI Race Hard Ian Welsh
Google Is Building an A.I. Fence Around the Internet It Once Championed New York Times
OpenAI admits an AI ‘agent’ caused a major cyber breach by itself Financial Times
A Light Tap on the Wrist for AI Use Misuse? Credit Slips
AI Companies Are Buying Tons of Old Books Because They’re Free of AI Slop 404 Media (Dr. Kevin)
Class Warfare
America Has Eight Political Tribes. Which One Do You Belong to? New York Times (resilc)
House Prices Are Falling and We Haven’t Solved the Problem of Restrictive Zoning Dean Baker
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
Just a dog having the best day of its life. pic.twitter.com/mYKZrXCnOJ
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 20, 2026
A second bonus:
man rescuing the horse from the flood pic.twitter.com/17vUYJ2DY4
— Antidepressant Content (@depressionlesss) July 19, 2026
A third:
When you call your dog… Without calling him. pic.twitter.com/iHvt7YkTjo
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 18, 2026
And a different type of bonus:
This. More of this. pic.twitter.com/iItjXdE3Kd
— positive side of X 🌞 (@positivityofx) July 15, 2026
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
‘𝕊𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕻𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤
@SprinterPress
Burnham stated that the first person he would call is Zelensky.
[Who would you call first? President Trump? President Zelensky? Or someone else?]
Those will be my first calls. And today, I will clearly tell President Zelensky that there are no changes. I will be 100% with him, just like Keir Starmer. And Keir has done truly incredible work, not just supporting Ukraine, but also being there in person. And I will be right there with him as well.’
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss – and nothing will change. Will Burnham spend more time in Kiev than in London? Will Trump levy 20% tariffs against the UK because Burnham thought it more important to call Zelensky than him? Will Burnham cut pensioner’s heating subsidies because Zelelnsky needs a coupla billion more for his real estate portfolio? I predict that Burnham’s popularity will drop like a rock and before the end of this year.