Do Animals Get Drunk? Natilus (Micael T)
Bear helps itself to 60 cupcakes from Connecticut bakery, scares employees Associated Press (resilc)
The hidden mini statues of Budapest Budapest Flow (BC)
France to launch bird flu vaccination programme after ‘satisfactory’ tests France24 (resilc)
The 2022 Tonga Eruption Created a Very Rare ‘Super Plasma Bubble’ in The Ionosphere ScienceAlert (Chuck L)
Así el Volcán #Popocatépetl este 22 de Mayo, 2023.
.#Popocatepetl #VolcanPopocatepetl #VolcánPopocatépetl #PopocatepetlVolcano pic.twitter.com/9Xj8qm2EZg— Enrique Barquet (@enriquebarquet) May 23, 2023
Loop introduces new ‘living’ coffin which turns human flesh into compost Interesting Engineering (Chuck L)
Effect of Free Medicine Distribution on Health Care Costs in Canada Over 3 Years JAMA (Dr. Kevin)
What performance-enhancing stimulants mean for economic growth Economist (Dr. Kevin)
Examining the role of the Catholic church in shaping ideal societies PhysOrg. Chuck L: “This is somewhere between weird and hilarious. Doesn’t Professor Justin Tse have a clue that these two “social movements” were anything but authentic?”
#COVID-19
8) There is also a new XBB family strain of COVID spreading in China. 65 million cases a week would be ~5% of China infected per week if you think carefully at the scale of China’s 1.2 billion population. But hey, pandemic over? #CovidIsNotOver https://t.co/vuIWS99yMc
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) May 26, 2023
The Director of the CDC quietly resigned after a conference to declare COVID over infected 181 people. We desperately need a new media. pic.twitter.com/buTtTiYETI
— Guns are Post-Birth Abortifacients (@ritaresarian) May 26, 2023
Climate/Environment
As electric cars boom, locals fear Chinese battery plant will harm land in drought-stricken Hungary Associated Press (resilc)
Recent reduced abyssal overturning and ventilation in the Australian Antarctic Basin Nature (guurst)
Top Solar Firm Warns Excess Capacity Risks Wave of Failure Caixin Global
‘Outraged and furious’: Germans rebel against gas boiler ban Financial Times
Amazon Gives Up a Key Part of Its Climate Pledge, Deletes Blog Post That Announced ‘Shipment Zero Initiative’ Business Insider
California Advances Bill Banning Hedge Fund Water Profiteering Bloomberg (furzy)
China?
‘No need to exaggerate’: risk of imminent Taiwan conflict is overhyped, says cross-strait affairs expert South China Morning Post
US and China hold more trade talks despite strained ties Financial Times. Makes it sound as if the sidebar conversation was planned…and is at odds with with the statement below. So maybe not planned?
🇨🇳
China refuses to communicate with the US after the meeting in Vienna – Assistant Secretary of State for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Eli Ratner
“Chinese officials refuse phone calls, meetings and any dialogue with American representatives,” he said.— Spriter (@Spriter99880) May 27, 2023
Factbox: What is Volt Typhoon, the alleged China-backed hacking group? Reuters
Old Blighty
Rishi Sunak warned over possible UK recession in 2024 Guardian (Kevin W)
Punch-drunk Britain Chris Grey
Peruvian police seize 58kg of cocaine bearing pictures of Nazi flag Guardian (resilc)
New Not-So-Cold War
John Mearsheimer Ukraine Salon YouTube (Robin K)
UKRAINE CLAIM OF ATTACK ON RUSSIAN SHIP, THE IVAN KHURS, DEBUNKED Larry Johnson
#UPDATE Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told China’s special envoy Li Hui on Friday that there were “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks, blaming Ukraine and Western countries.https://t.co/z4OKh01amg pic.twitter.com/ZDJvONs0IF
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 26, 2023
Rep. Nadler ‘Wouldn’t Care’ If Ukraine Used F-16s to Strike Russian Territory Antiwar
Tech-Mythologies New Left Review. On Diia, Ukraine’s wunderapp.
Due to the hour, I have not run the Der Spiegel article through a translator to see what it says. However, the Twitter comments suggest it relies on the five/six guys and a boat theory:
It took 5 investigative writers with German magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ to track down who blew up the Nordstream pipelines
Their conclusion –
Ukraine did it but without #Zelensky ‘s knowledge.They also tracked down Santa Claus’s secret hideout – The North Pole pic.twitter.com/TvWDaM2bHo
— White Don (@don570don570) May 26, 2023
Russian tanks reach the Atlantic near Lisbon… Gilbert Doctorow (guurst)
Overnight two kamikaze drones attacked the administrative building of the Transneft oil pumping station in the village of Litvinovo (Pskov Oblast, bordering Belarus). pic.twitter.com/TzJHFjssoT
— Pierre Davide Borrelli (@PierreDBorrelli) May 27, 2023
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Bill Gates’s younger Russian ‘lover’ and her links to notorious Kremlin spy Anna Chapman Daily Mail (Li)
Turkiye
Analysis: Turkish lira’s long decline a symbol of strife Reuters. Kevin W: “The boys at The Duran were just saying that the Turkish Lira has been under attack to help Erdogan lose the election.”
Yeah… I’m thinking Turkey is pretty much gone at this stage. Only the second largest army in NATO, no big deal. 🤷♂️ https://t.co/rz7xpbYjGT
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) May 26, 2023
Syraqistan
The Devil’s In The Details When It Comes To Pashinyan’s Karabakh Peace Proposal Andrew Korybko (Micael T)
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2021 UN Office on Drugs and Crime (resilc)
‘He slipped and died’: How Israel hides its troop deaths The Cradle (Kevin W)
BREAKING: On Sunday 28 May, the #Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation chaired by Yariv Levin (MoJ, Likud) and Itamar Ben Gvir (Jewish Power) will consider – for endorsement – the draft bill tabled by Ariel Kallner (Likud) imposing a 65% tax on foreign aid to Israeli and… pic.twitter.com/VLv1AStw74
— Itay Epshtain (@EpshtainItay) May 24, 2023
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Imperial Collapse Watch
Jamie Raskin and Rachel Maddow, brought to you by Peter Thiel and Lockheed Martin Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Marine Corps touts armed Long Range Unmanned Surface Vessel Task and Purpose (resilc)
At 100, Kissinger basks in US praise with no accountability Agence France-Presse
Closing The Case Of Regime Changer Roman Protasevich And His Ryanair Flight To Minsk Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
US would rather see the world end than lose its supremacy Global Times (guurst)
More and More Teenagers Are Coming to School High, N.Y.C. Teachers Say New York Times (resilc)
GOP Clown Car
Is DeSantis’ War on Big Tech a Scam? Revolver (Li)
Abortion
A Judge Has Temporarily Blocked South Carolina’s Extreme Abortion Ban New Republic (furzy)
Inside Google Founder Sergey Brin’s Secret Plan to Build Airships Bloomberg (furzy)
Hedge Fund Treasury Trade With a History of Blowups Is Back Again Bloomberg (furzy)
Debt Ceiling
Can Biden, McCarthy Avoid Losing in Debt-Ceiling Fight? Bloomberg (furzy)
$49.5 Billion in U.S. Treasury? For These Billionaires, That’s Nothing New York Times (BC)
Yellen says US will run out of money by June 5 if debt ceiling not raised The Hill. Ahem, not that she had much credibility.
The Bezzle
Neuralink: Elon Musk’s brain chip firm says US approval won for human study BBC (resilc)
Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Protecting Elon Musk If His Rockets Explode and Kill Workers New Republic
Guillotine Watch
Oh, Rats: Hamptonites Are Freaking Out Over Vermin Vanity Fair (furzy)
Class Warfare
Former Maryland trash hauler graduates from Harvard Law School Guardian (resilc). Exceptional cases like this held up to reinforce the myth that the system is meritocratic.
An economist from one of the richest private schools in America proposing to drain your bank account while poorly disguised as a blue-collar worker in brand new denim and Carhartt. https://t.co/ADrHJlZIOK pic.twitter.com/94Jqnb8PCC
— Hunter Pauli (@paulimeth) May 25, 2023
Antidote du jour (Tracie H):
And a bonus (guurst):
Aweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee first jump! 🤗🤗pic.twitter.com/rrj5YPBesV
— Figen (@TheFigen_) May 25, 2023
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
