Sunday, September 14, 2025
Satyajit Das: US Presidential Politics – The More They Bicker, the More They Stay the Same
US presidential candidates promise policy choices but have little room to manoeuvre. Ergo, politics turns into a contest like American Idol
Study Warns of ‘Irreversible Impacts’ From Overshooting 1.5°C, Even Temporarily
A new paper in Nature finds that exceeding a 1.5°C increase in global temperature is more deadly and durable than previously thought.
11 Communications Rules for Activists to Live By
Seeking reader reactions to recommendations on how to engage in “media activism”.
2:00PM Water Cooler 10/9/2024
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, Pandemics; fun with maps: Helene and Milton could make Pennsylvania the key; Kamala has a beer with Stephen Colbert; on hurricanes; Response to Helene in NC; Boeing talks break down as management walks away from the table. ~
Netanyahu Goes Even More Rogue, Announces Intent to Turn Lebanon into Gaza, Refuses to Inform US of Iran Strike Plans [Update]
Netanyahu, drunk on his power and his love of destruction, keeps upping the ante.
Alzheimer’s: How Not to Study a Disease
KLG returns to why the discredited amyloid thesis as the cause of Alzheimer’s nevertheless persists.
Let’s Stop Pretending That We Can Escape from Climate Change
The search for safe places to hide from climate change impacts is already underway, yet is set to be largely futile.
Big Digital Tech Moves Into Synthetic Biology: The Generative AI Rush / Black Box Biotech P1/2
A new report, Black Box Biotech, warns of the biodiversity and error risk of AI engineered proteins, aka synthetic or “generative biology”.
2:00PM Water Cooler 10/8/2024
~ Today’s Water Cooler: Politics, syndemics; Trump’s 2020 polling underestimates vs. margins in the Swing States today (map); the Feds launder migrants through NGOs to firms owned by the American gentry; Boeing’s stock ~
The Sanctions Poison Pill in Putin’s Peace Offer
A discussion of Putin including a not-much-discussed deal term that the West will never accept: sanctions relief.
Quelle Surprise: Vulture Funds Set Their Sights on the Argentine Gold Milei’s Government Just Shipped to Europe
Europe is hardly the safest place for financial assets these days, as Russia and Venezuela can attest. It may now be Argentina’s turn to have its assets frozen or even stripped.
Rob Urie: Failed US Economic Policies Lie Behind Current Geopolitical Tensions
How US fealty to neoliberalism undermined its economy. And why China’s choices are not likely to produce happy outcomes.
