Giant Pyramid Buried in Indonesia Could Be The Oldest in The World ScienceAlert (Chuck L)
Did the same collision that formed the moon create mysterious blobs inside Earth? CNN (furzy)
EPA restarts assessment of health risks from nitrate in water The New Lede
The genetic heritage of the Denisovans may have left its mark on our mental health EurekaAlert (Chuck L)
Common dietary nutrient blasts blood vessel plaques in study New Atlas (furzy)
The Happiest Man in the World Nautilus (Micael T)
Climate/Environment
When Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics Intercept (Micael T)
The scientist who warned the US about climate change says it’s worse than we thought. Again. Grist (David L)
Trouble looming? North Korea to raise tourism prices and move to the US dollar Eastern Angle (Micael T)
China?
The Philippines are going full Ukraine. Welcoming new US military bases, pulling out of the BRI, provoking China in the South China Sea and now allowing Japanese troops on their soil.
Quite a reckless strategy, can’t quite see how it benefits the country… https://t.co/0GwfxRsFP0
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) November 4, 2023
India
India, its domestic and geopolitical challenges – an overview CADTM (Micael T)
European Disunion
Temporarily closed – when the fight for daily bread is lost Nachdenkseiten (Micael T, via machine translation)
Gaza
‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 28: Hezbollah leader warns Gaza attack must end to avoid regional war and ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 27: Biden calls for ‘pause’ for first time since fighting began Mondoweiss
Nazrallah Speech On Gaza Moon of Alabama (Kevin W). A lot of saber-rattling but the immediate asks are for economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
Live: Israel’s Netanyahu refuses ‘temporary truce’ in Gaza without hostage release France24
Israel admits airstrike on Gaza ambulance that witnesses say killed and wounded dozens 9News. Kevin W: “They targeted ambulances in Lebanon in 2006 too.”
More children killed in Gaza in three weeks of Israeli bombing than all the world’s conflicts annually Defend Democracy (Micael T)
No privacy, no water: Gaza women use period-delaying pills amid Israel war Aljazeera
* * * What the BBC fails to tell you about October 7 Jonathan Cook (Chuck L)
* * * Wow. Joy Ann Reid really might’ve just dealt a backbreaker to the empire’s propaganda machine. Making this statement during prime time news is massive. https://t.co/J4K7mC9S9Y
— 🇵🇸 #FreePalestine #FreeGaza 🇵🇸 (@realnikohouse) November 3, 2023
“You can’t behold evil and then return and not speak on it.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks about how an experience in Palestine illuminated the connections between the African American and Palestinian liberation struggles, and the moral responsibility to speak out. pic.twitter.com/y0HrXibUJz
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) November 2, 2023
California Protesters Block Military Ship From Leaving for Israel Newsweek (ma)
Students stage walkout of Hillary Clinton’s college class Light Wave Reports (ma)
The Math of Murder Dennis Kucinich (UserFriendly)
* * * Jews Unlearning #Zionism is my absolute favorite genre on TikTok
Incredible transformation #Israel#Gaza pic.twitter.com/OAmQnfmUAI
— Abier (@abierkhatib) November 2, 2023
Israel’s ministers, parliamentarians, generals, president, & prime minister have all said stuff about Gaza that *sounds* genocidal to a lot of experts on genocide.
I laid out the evidence on the @MehdiHasanShow.
Israeli officials, in their own words:pic.twitter.com/TTFQyloJLb
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) November 2, 2023
A fascinating aspect of the discourse on anti-Semitism right now is that acts like these never seem to be the focus of the New York Post or the ADL. No one will be asked to condemn this. https://t.co/4PK5LtS2O6
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) November 2, 2023
According to The Israel Democracy Institute, %83.4 of Israeli Jews don’t think that “Israel should take into consideration the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza.” pic.twitter.com/DE61jMvq6j
— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) October 30, 2023
* * * U.S. Drones Are Flying Over Gaza to Aid in Hostage Recovery, Officials Say New York Times (furzy). If you think this is the main reason drones are there, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. furzy adds: FWIW, Reuters and all the other media are presenting the same story, with the NYT timeline being the earliest. The Hindustan Times points out that the MQ-9 aircraft is known for airstrikes and gathering intelligence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI3rPQOrJnI
Between Iraq and a hard place: Sudani’s US dilemma over Gaza The Cradle (Chuck L)
Who needs the EU’s ‘irrelevant’ Gaza peace plan? The EU does, of course Politico
The House just passed 354 – 53 a resolution that could be read as effectively authorizing war with Iran. “All means necessary” would have to include military means… correct?
Naturally, it also declares support for Israel waging war on Iran
The new Speaker is really on a roll! pic.twitter.com/qDPfVu21eD
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) November 2, 2023
* * * There’s No Lesser Evil, or Even a Slower Collapse Jessica Wildfire (Dr. Kevin). I doubt this thesis. The Iraq War was touted as being about Iraq’s then second-biggest-in-the-world proven oil reserves, and that consisted of highly prized light sweet crude. And why have Israel and the US been entirely reactive if there were a plan to go in? In the end the US has largely punted on doing anything about that, notably the needed development. And a friend who comes from a wealthy and connected Lebanese family in the refining biz says the Palestine claims are contested, that it’s based on a legally dubious drawing of the offshore map.
Russian ordered daubing of Stars of David in France: report Politico. BC:
Huh? So let me get this straight. A “foreign Moldovan couple”, whose names have not been released, have stated that they did it because “someone from Russia told them to”. BUT, “charges have been dropped because they are probably going to be deported anyway”. Makes perfect sense.
New Not-So-Cold War
Massive Russian drone attack hits Ukraine infrastructure Politico
EU has lost $1.5 trillion over Russia sanctions – Moscow RT (Kevin W)
Poland at risk of direct confrontation with Russia, Belarus — Medvedev TASS (guurst)
Imperial Collapse Watch
House approves nearly $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel. Biden vows to veto the GOP approach Associated Press (Kevin W)
War, Terrorism and the Global Economic Crisis. Ninety-nine Interrelated Concepts Michel Chossudovsky (Micael T)
A ‘No Daylight’ Policy with Clients Always Fails Daniel Larison
Trump
Trump Fraud Trial: Ex-President’s Attorney May Ask For Mistrial After Arguing Over Law Clerk Forbes (furzy)
That’s Just the Way It Is Mary L Trump (furzy)
Biden
Job market slowdown looms over Biden reelection bid The Hill
Democrats en déshabillé
U.S. Investigating Whether Adams Received Illegal Donations From Turkey New York Times
GOP Clown Car
Johnson’s strident LGBTQ views put advocates on alert The Hill
Marjorie Taylor Greene Gets Shocking History Lesson on House Floor New Republic (furzy)
Our No Longer Free Press
The game theory critique of free speech absolutism wins again Carl Beijer
Dao Prize Acceptance Speech Matt Taibbi (Chuck L)
Gunz
US teacher shot by 6-year-old can proceed with $60 million lawsuit, judge rules 9News (Kevin W)
AI
‘I love you’: This robot adopts AI to curb senior citizens’ crushing loneliness ZDNET (Dr. Kevin)
Artists May ‘Poison’ AI Models Before Copyright Office Can Issue Guidance ars technica
The Outsized Impact Oil Price Shocks Have on the Economy Douglad Lamont (Micael T)
The Bezzle
Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of fraud over FTX collapse Financial Times. I knew you could stick a fork in SBF when it was revealed a former Salomon Brothers investment banker older than me was a member of the jury. If there were any doubts (and the super speedy verdict on 7 counts says there were none) that SBF was a nerd poseur con artist, someone like that by virtue of training (persuading clients w/o looking like muscling them) and experience (being imprinted on Wall Street on the law and appearance-fearing side of the industry when SEC enforcement was reported as literally giving heart attacks and “whatever you can get away with” traders did not yet dominate the industry) would clear up any misgivings as to what SBF was about.
Tweet of the day:
In the end, the only person SBF could fool was Michael Lewis https://t.co/yhE0xV9CcS
— Matt O’Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) November 3, 2023
Class Warfare
Uber and Lyft to Pay New York Drivers $328 Million Following AG Wage Theft Probe The City
Antidote du jour (Tracie H):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
