Walking on water: Tales of perilous treks across frozen Lake Erie to Canada Erie Times-News
Sebastopol Sharks dive into underwater hockey The Press Democrat
Pandemics
Let’s talk about COVID, brain damage & society.
Specifically, what happens when a neurotropic virus repeatedly infects the population, targeting the frontal lobe & almost nobody talks about the consequences?
This thread is for the skeptics.
I’m a neurologist, stay with me 🧵 pic.twitter.com/fbMIhtObaz
— James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath (@JamesThrot) July 17, 2025
Climate/Environment
Overnight flooding in Kansas City leads to water rescues, power outages and road closures KCUR
Flooding downpours from Gulf tropical rainstorm expanding inland Accuweather
Pakistan monsoon rains death toll rises to 159 after 63 die in one day Al Jazeera
***
Biofuel demand to consume 27% of global cereals by 2034: OECD-FAO report Down to Earth
Have renewables decreased electricity prices? The Climate Brink
AI Is Heading For an Energy Crisis That Has Tech Giants Scrambling Science Alert
He helped Microsoft build AI to help the climate. Then Microsoft sold it to Big Oil. HEATED
China?
US-China in a defining race for quantum supremacy Asia Times
China and Huawei are winning the 6G race: A boon for the BRICS, and very bad for the US and Europe Kevin Walmsley
Remember: ultimately the price of AI will converge to the price of electricity.
And in general, tomorrow’s economy will be powered by electricity to an even far greater extent than today. The whole economy, ultimately, is energy transformed and, more and more, electricity… https://t.co/BWqxTkKcxL
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 17, 2025
A new cold war with China won’t help the US FT
TSMC aims to make 30% of high-end chips in US with Arizona fab build out The Register
US Set to Impose 93.5% Duty on China Battery Material Bloomberg
***
China joins US in hunt for ripples in spacetime with new telescope in Tibet South China Morning Post. “One of the few surviving examples of China-US collaboration in basic science.”
A Eulogy to China’s Art Museums Art Review
Old Blighty
The Big Chill Craig Murray
DWP just gave a company a £15m contract to spy on benefit claimants The Canary
Government’s ‘weak’ evacuation plans for disabled high-rise residents ‘fail to learn the lessons of Grenfell’ Disability News Service
Syraqistan
🚨Israel just bombed the very Gazan church Pope Francis used to call daily during the genocide
They injured the very priest, Gabriele Romanelli, who used to update the Pope on the situation.
2 church goers were killed, 6 wounded. pic.twitter.com/P1Pi9YqCIf
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) July 17, 2025
British Surgeon in Gaza Reports ‘Unprecedented Malnutrition,’ Says IDF Snipers Targeting Aid Seekers Antiwar
“Zionist terrorism in the West Bank.” The Floutist
West Asian Fog Oliver Boyd-Barret
Iran and the Logic of Limited Wars RAND
“I’m From the Mossad, and I’m Here to Help” Séamus Malekafzali
George Abdallah: Europe’s longest-held political prisoner to be freed Al Mayadeen
European Disunion
UK signs treaty on defense, trade and migration with Germany as Europe bolsters security AP
New Not-So-Cold War
EU approves new Russia sanctions with lower oil price cap Reuters
Russia will face 100% tariffs on all its goods exported to US if no deal
Russias exports have fallen to $1.2bn in 2024.
And it’s actually the American companies that pay duties to govt not the Russians.
This is bonkers. https://t.co/bCX9rbwPp9
— BenAris (@bneeditor) July 17, 2025
Case Study of Tariffs/Sanctions Enabling New Market Opportunities Karl Sanchez
Four EU countries bail out of paying for Trump’s weapons for Ukraine Intellinews
Trump says Patriot missiles for Ukraine ‘already being shipped’ from Germany Anadolu Agency
Merz: Germany and US nearing deal on Patriot delivery for Ukraine DPA International
Yep:
Does anyone even realize how exposed the West looks right now?
The largest Western economic powers cannot even manage to scrape together an old air defense system that is already ineffective against Russian ballistic missiles to send it to Ukraine for its final destruction. Could…— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) July 17, 2025
Some of Ukraine’s Last S-300 Air Defences Destroyed in Russian Iskander-M Ballistic Missile Strike Military Watch
Army Europe chief unveils NATO eastern flank defense plan Defense News. ‘For example, Donahue noted, Kaliningrad, Russia, is roughly 47 miles wide and surrounded by NATO on all sides and the Army and its allies now have the capability to “take that down from the ground in a timeframe that is unheard of and faster than we’ve ever been able to do.”’
World War mastermind: Here’s America’s most dangerous person Tarik Cyril Amar. Lindsey.
🇵🇱 will love this: Zelensky signed a decree naming 🇺🇦’s 31st Mechanized Brigade after Leonid Stupnytsky, a general in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), the 1940s armed wing of the OUN “Banderite” faction that butchered Poles & Jews during the Holocaust. https://t.co/k8AUDbazvD pic.twitter.com/BE95dBKVWK
— Moss Robeson 🇵🇸 (@mossrobeson__) July 17, 2025
Caucasus
Georgia explores switching to China’s CIPS amid SWIFT alternatives AzerNews
L’affaire Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump. WSJ. Ruh-roh.
Trump directs AG to release Epstein case grand jury transcripts Axios. But not the evidence from the trial nor the sealed files from 2008 “completely unprecedented” plea deal.
Trump Was Attempting to Block Publication of Embarrassing WSJ Jeffrey Epstein Story Variety
You don’t say. https://t.co/6In4E5yxHS pic.twitter.com/AlAr48FYrK
— TARNISHED GOLDEN SUNFLOWER (@_gothlorien) July 17, 2025
“Liberation Day”
The (Muted) Impact of Tariffs on Inflation Barry Ritholtz
Trump 2.0
Trump Diagnosed With Blood Vessel Disease MedPage Today
Democrats en déshabillé
102 House Democrats, Including Jeffries, Help GOP Send Crypto Bill to Trump’s Desk Common Dreams
Tens of thousands in US set to join ‘Good Trouble’ anti-Trump protests honoring John Lewis The Guardian
Is It Time To Revoke John Lewis’s Lifetime Civil Rights Hero Pass? Black Agenda Report. From 2017, still germane.
Sanders Proposes ‘Pensions for All’ as Trump Aims to Open 401(k)s to Private Equity Vultures Common Dreams
Mamdani
What Bernie Sanders told Zohran Mamdani about antisemitism and pushing back on Democratic leaders CNN
A Typology of Socialisms in the 21st Century Left Notes
The Shocking Rise of One of the Tech Right’s Favorite Posters Mother Jones. The individual who provided the New York Times with hacked data showing Mamdani identified as both Asian and African American on his app to Columbia U.
Realignment and Legitimacy
Is ‘Toxic Empathy’ Pulling Christians to the Left? Ross Douthat, New York Times
Imperial Collapse Watch
🇺🇸🇮🇷 Wow, the US Unveiled “Lucas” – a copy of Iran’s Shahed-136 Drone
Yes a COPY – it has the EXACT size, shape and payload as the Shahed
Arizona based developer SpektreWorks describes LUCAS as reliable and cost-effective
And soon the US will accuse Iran of being a copycat 🙄 pic.twitter.com/3zPo9nCh5u
— David Roth-Lindberg (@RothLindberg) July 17, 2025
Big Brother Is Watching You Watch
Smart toilets measuring stool’s colour, hardness on sale in Japan, targeting health-conscious users Straits Times
Police State Watch
Trump administration hands over Medicaid recipients’ personal data, including addresses, to ICE AP
Meet the Disaster Capitalists Behind Alligator Alcatraz Maureen Tkacik, The American Prospect. “Incompetent and militarized ‘emergency response’ is on track to be a trillion-dollar industry by the end of Trump’s second term.” Well worth a read.
ICE Again Gives The Law The Finger, Denies Member Of Congress Access To Detention Facility Tech Dirt
National Guard came to L.A. to fight unrest. Troops ended up fighting boredom Los Angeles Times
In Distraction From Epstein Files Uproar, AG Pam Bondi Comes to SF to Tour Alcatraz SFist
Trump Justice Department seeks one day in prison for ex-officer in Breonna Taylor case NBC News. Were the allegations that Taylor’s killing was part of a Louisville PD operation to clear out a block for a major development project ever settled?
MLBPA urges players to carry docs amid immigration raids Sports Business Journal
The Bezzle
House Passes CLARITY Act Defining Crypto Regulation Coin World. Gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) more regulatory oversight over crypto, and wait for it…
Class Warfare
AWS sheds more jobs as Jassy’s automation layoff prophecy comes true The Register
Opaque Algorithms Are Setting Prices Just For You Boondoggle
How to ‘Drop Out of Society’ Hickman’s Hinterlands
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
