Hundreds of invaders have taken over the Isle of Man. They are wallabies. Adventure.com
Investment firm ‘ruins’ RV park RV Travel
climate
South African power utility Eskom advances plans for small modular reactors BNE Intellectual News
A New Era of Capitalist Plagues, Part 8: Heatwave Climate and capitalism
US carbon capture tax credits will continue no matter who wins the election: experts S&P Global
Growing evidence: Humans are responsible for large mammal extinctions Physics.org
Lessons from biology for degrowth George Tsakraklides
How Pennsylvania’s oil industry quietly dumped waste across the state Grist
Syndemics
US state restrictions and rising death toll from COVID-19 pandemic JAMA. From the abstract: “If all states had imposed restrictions similar to the 10 most restrictive states, we estimate that excess deaths would have been 10 to 21 percent lower than the 1.18 million that actually occurred during the 2-year analysis period. Conversely, if all states had imposed restrictions similar to the 10 least restrictive states, our estimates suggest a counterfactual increase of 13 to 17 percent. The estimated difference between strong and weak state restrictions ranged from 271,000 to 447,000 deaths, and behavioral changes were associated with 49 to 79 percent of the overall difference.”
* * * San Francisco health officials recommend wearing masks indoors amid summer coronavirus outbreak San Francisco Chronicle
The latest wave of COVID-19 and Biden’s destruction of public health WSWS
* * * How to Read the Pandemic Mitigation Cooperation Model (Part 1) Closed Form
Trends of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City from March 2020 to August 2023 (Preprint) medRxiv. From the abstract: “Here, we leverage extensive surveillance data available in New York City (NYC) and a comprehensive model inference system to reconstruct SARS-CoV-2 dynamics from the pandemic outbreak in March 2020 through August 2023, and further validate our estimates using independent wastewater surveillance data.”
* * * Identification of SARS-CoV-2 persistent infectious epithelial syndrome (SPIES) as a novel disease entity using clinical, histological and RNA program data (Preprint) medRxiv. From the abstract: “Our findings establish a syndrome mediated by persistent viral infection (SARS-CoV2 persistent intestinal epithelial syndrome (SPIES)). We hypothesize that persistent sporadic infections promote ongoing immune signaling and alter motility and function, producing epithelial and motility effects that overlap with (disordered gut-brain interaction (DGBI)) and (inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)).”
China?
China’s dire debt levels likely to worsen as government measures focus on “buying time” South China Morning Post. Commentary:
3/6
In reality, there is no way to curb the rapid rise in debt as long as Beijing insists on a GDP growth target higher than what the real economy can sustainably achieve (probably 2-3% at most).— Michael Pettis (@michaelxpettis) July 28, 2024
The growing impact of upstream Mekong dams Diplomat
US Secretary of State warns China of consequences of support for Russian military-industrial complex Ukrainska Pravda
China recession spreads to luxury goods industry The Wall Street Journal
Commentary: China’s e-commerce platforms are poised to take on the Amazon empire Channel News Asia
Bangladesh protest leaders escorted from hospital by police Channel News Asia
Shiraksta
Israeli army says it’s preparing ‘decisive attack’ on Lebanon Hezbollah France 24
Is Houthi-engineered chaos the new normal in the Red Sea? New Arab
Olympic
Bernard Arnault is known as the Godfather of the Olympics. Here’s how he built his LVMH fortune AP
“The Olympics have been sabotaged” and “A farce!” BBC
Secret Russians at the Paris Olympics The Wall Street Journal
European Separation
Barcelona wants to ban short-term rentals – will other tourist destinations follow suit? AP
A new cold war
‘We will win, and we know how to win’: Ukraine’s top commander turns the tide against Russia Luke Harding, The Guardian
SITREP 7/24/24: General Shirsky shocks with news of Russian armored vehicles and military buildup Simplicius the Thinker
Disorganized Ukrainian forces disrupt their own drones as Russian troops advance towards Pokrovsk Forbes
Russia changes tactics, advances into Donetsk, seizes more territory in Ukraine The Washington Post
* * * Putin is confident he can outlast the West and prevail in Ukraine. Atlantic Council
Ukraine’s foreign minister says there are clear signs China is working to end the war in Ukraine Ukrainska Pravda
Is Ukraine ready to negotiate with Russia? A view from Baku JAM News
How has the all-out war changed Ukrainians, and what is the “new normal” in Ukraine? Ukrainska Pravda
* * * Not in line with reality London Review of Books. NATO.
Mysterious conspiracy leads to unusual call from Russia to Pentagon The New York Times
Pentagon lies about budget again to supply more weapons to Ukraine Alabama Moon
2024
Harris officially signs paperwork to run for office The Hill
Bill Gates on Kamala Harris’ presidential run: “It’s great to have young people in the mix” France 24
President Trump to hold rally in Butler, site of shooting Anadolu Agency
RFK Jr. overcomes state Democratic challenge to run in Nebraska fall election Nebraska Examiner
Americans deserve more debate and transparency in this election. NYT editorial committee member
health care
Structural determinants of health: Unequal hospital capital investment creates health disparities Center for Economic Policy Research
Digital Watches
Restrictions on large-scale language models require strict First Amendment oversight Legal War
Zeitgeist Watch
Never, never, never, never:
These are “advertising walkers”
Yes, they have screens above their heads and move around watching ads.
Never stop innovating pic.twitter.com/0k1LiqSYzg
— Gaut (@0xgaut) July 27, 2024
Empire Collapse Watch
Western history is a little different from what we learned in school. economist
If you don’t love me, I’ll shoot you London Review of Books
housing
COVID-19 outbreak at Charlottesville’s only homeless shelter Daily Progress
Can technology help solve Los Angeles’ homeless problem? One day shelter could be just a click away AP
Overturned Euclid v. Ambler, abolishing zoning for single-family homes Maximum progress
Class struggle
Uber, Lyft, and others win California ruling to treat drivers as contractors The Wall Street Journal
Apple reaches first contract agreement with United States Retail Trade Union TechCrunch
Why the truth about ultra-processed foods will never be known BBC
Ohio Supreme Court Allows Bone-In for Boneless Chicken Wings Columbus Dispatch
Today’s antidote (Marek Szczepanek):
See yesterday’s link and the Antidote du Jour here.
