Toddler bites cobra to death after venomous 3ft-long snake coiled itself around his hands in India Daily Mail (Micael T). Shades of the snake-strangling young Heracles.This kid is already a legend. Hope his reputation proves to be a boon as opposed to a curse.
Return of wolves to Yellowstone has led to a surge in aspen trees unseen for 80 years LiveScience (Paul R). In case you missed the classic video How Wolves Change Rivers, that process continues.
It doesn’t get much better than this 😍 https://t.co/7uVvLKkYx8
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) July 25, 2025
During a medical procedure in 2020, Dagmar Turner performed her violin while surgeons operated to remove a tumor from her brain’s right frontal lobe.
This unique act aimed to help surgeons avoid harming the brain region responsible for coordination and delicate hand movements,… pic.twitter.com/GwVFYrSQLW
— Fascinating (@fasc1nate) July 28, 2025
Scientist claims to have evidence ‘our entire universe is trapped inside a black hole’ Unilad (Robin K). From March but not featured here. Seems apt.
Christopher Lasch, Plain Writing, and Democracy Providence (Anthony L)
What We Still Get Wrong About Psychopaths Nautilus. Micael T: “The good thing is that the guillotine doesn’t care about what goes on in the heads of the elites when it is time.”
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Study Shows a Need for Vigilance When Observing Long COVID Symptoms in Younger Children Rutgers. “Rutgers researchers say clinicians and caregivers may not recognize the symptoms because they are unfamiliar with it.”
⚠️BREAKING
Updated joint @FAO @WHO @WOAH public health assessment on H5N1 BirdFlu in animals and humans published today.✴️Global public health risk of influenza A(H5) viruses thought to be low.
✴️Viruses remain Avian without adaptation to mammalian hosts (I disagree).
✴️No… https://t.co/5mOKJTpwa2
— Dr Richard Hirschson (@richardhirschs1) July 28, 2025
Climate/Environment
Reindeer Flee to Cities as the Arctic Bakes in Unprecedented Heatwave Gizmodo
Syria’s traditional agriculture nears collapse amid drought and crop failures New Arab
A Third of Slum Dwellers at Risk of ‘Disastrous’ Floods 360 Yale
Record marine heatwaves may signal a permanent shift in the oceans New Scientist
China?
Investor alert: Chinese AI is booming in global markets, and Huawei’s chips beat Nvidia’s Kevin Walmsley
Huawei just stole Google’s dream OS and is giving it to Xiaomi. HarmonyOS is no skin. It’s the Android killer Silicon Valley ignored.
Huawei tops Q2 2025 smartphone market, thanks to this mid-ranger – Huawei Central https://t.co/DVmdWCsVqC
— William Huo (@wmhuo168) July 27, 2025
Koreas
North Korea says it has ‘no interest’ in dialogue with South Korea Aljazeera
Thailand-Cambodia
Thai army condemns Cambodia for breaking ceasefire agreement Bangkok Post
But: Thai, Cambodian generals agree to halt strikes, reinforcement until Monday Bangkok Post
Africa
Sudan paramilitaries announce a parallel government, deepening the country’s crisis Los Angeles Times
South of the Border
The AMIA case: The untold story Raphael Machado (Chuck L)
European Disunion
Imaginary Deals and the Temporal Moment Warwick Powell
US tariffs to cost German car giants over €10bn – study RT (Kevin W)
Click through for a translation:
Morituri te salutant (mit Daumen)
Noch demütigender als das Verhandlungsergebnis selbst ist es, dass die EU-Spitze nach erfolgter Demütigung bereit war, mit strahlendstem Lächeln für ein PR-Foto zu posieren, um das historische Ausmaß ihrer Demütigung auch noch für die Nachwelt… pic.twitter.com/kyqaMzk0Gk
— Martin Sonneborn (@MartinSonneborn) July 28, 2025
Europe loses another neutral state Vzgylad viz machine translation (Micael T)
Germany Plans Compulsory Military Screening for Young Men DefensePost (Kevin W)
Confirmed: This is a verified catastrophic data breach targeting Naval Group, the French military-industrial giant specializing in submarines and advanced naval platforms. The leaked package, posted openly on a dark forum by a user named SaxX / Neferpitou, contains:
Full CMS… pic.twitter.com/0fN8am3UOs
— Thomas Keith (@iwasnevrhere_) July 28, 2025
Mit starrem, ausdruckslosem Blick verkündet General Freuding eine orwellsche Satzkonstruktion:
“Alles für die Freiheit aufzugeben, das ist Freiheit.”
Ob die zwangsrekrutierten Ukrainer im Schützengraben diese Sichtweise teilen? pic.twitter.com/GGGymMLIZe
— Dr. David Lütke (@DrLuetke) July 25, 2025
The right was better before Aftonbladet via machine translation. Micael T: “So was the left.”
* * * US-EU tariff deal a big Trump win but not a total defeat for Brussels BBC (Kevin W). “Not a total defeat”?
Old Blighty
Britain risks following France into a terrifying debt crisis Telegraph
Israel v. The Resistance
‘Worst-case scenario of famine’ unfolding in Gaza: IPC report Anadolu Agency
‼️‼️THREAD: One thing that I have not seen discussed nearly enough in discourse about Gaza is the scale of intent and accusation in a mirror. There are ten stages of genocide. Zionism had already completed many of the first steps long before October 7th. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/NHr6vCGlbE
— maryam alwan🇵🇸 (@maryamalwan) July 27, 2025
In a First, Leading Israeli Rights Groups Accuse Israel of Gaza Genocide New York Times (resilc)
WSJ promotes Israeli-backed warlord linked to aid theft as Gaza’s ‘future leader’ The Cradle (Kevin W)Amazon Union Leader Chris Smalls Detained & Beaten by IDF, But US Media Ignores It Mike Elk
Easily the stupidest and most disgusting article of the month.
I read it and the article is actually insulting beyond words to China, as his central argument is that the “Rape of Nanking… echoes, almost uncannily, the horrors that the Jewish people—and especially Israeli… pic.twitter.com/G1x5R416Mw
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 26, 2025
* * * Houthis say they’ll target all ships linked to firms dealing with Israeli ports Times of Israel
* * * Iran’s plan to abandon GPS is about much more than technology Aljazeera (Guardian)
Syraqistan
Breadlines and Bare Shelves: Suweida Faces Deepening Humanitarian Crisis Syrian Observer
New Not-So-Cold War
Trump reduces Russia-Ukraine ‘deadline’ to 10-12 days RT (Kevin W)
E.U. Cuts Aid to Ukraine Over Corruption Concerns New York Times
Ukrainian “black PR man”: Ukraine’s richest oligarch is preparing a coup d’etat with the help of the army Top War (Micael T). Ukraine being Ukraine, even if true, this may just be a Zelensky shakedown operation based on guesstimates about the scale of his skimming.
🚨⚡️ Russia signals LEGAL CLAIM to Soviet legacy:
“Legally, the USSR was never properly dissolved — which means the Ukraine crisis is an INTERNAL RUSSIAN AFFAIR.”
– Putin’s advisor Anton Kobyakov. pic.twitter.com/hLd6t7eJuO
— RussiaNews 🇷🇺 (@mog_russEN) July 27, 2025
Russia throws out Siemens – replaces German turbines with high quality Iranian ones.
German company Siemens halted services to Russia due to Western sanctions.
Iran has just signed a contract to supply Russia with 40 turbines for its gas industry, amid Western sanctions. pic.twitter.com/uXlMq8iEpB
— Alternative News (@AlternatNews) July 27, 2025
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Tech giant Palantir helps the US government monitor its citizens. Its CEO wants Silicon Valley to find its moral compass The Conversation
Imperial Collapse Watch
US used about a quarter of its high-end missile interceptors in Israel-Iran war, exposing supply gap CNN
Looming US troop cuts in Europe raise questions about NATO’s future South China Morning Post
Trump 2.0
Trump uses press conference with Starmer to boost his golf business Guardian (Kevin W). Gross.
Justice Department files formal complaint against Judge Boasberg The Hill
Trump v. Fed
When will the press and public, in a variant of “the Emperor has no clothes,” start to see these fights as pathetic?
Federal Reserve likely to stand pat on rates this week, deepening the gulf between Powell and Trump ABC
Who’s funding a Christian nationalist effort in Middle Tennessee? Channel5 (Paul R). This story shows up in search results but I am getting a 403 error.
Our No Longer Free Press
A Pro-Israel Nonprofit is Funneling News Content Through Bari Weiss’s “Free Press” Drop Site
Joe Rogan Gives Benjamin Netanyahu A Dose Of REALITY Young Turks. At the top, reports that Rogan refused a request by Netanyahu to appear on his podcast. Big props to Rogan.
Police State Watch
Militarized Law Enforcement Reaches a New Level under Trump Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Mr. Market is Moody
America’s looming debt crisis could blow up the entire financial system MoneyWeek. Misleading headline. Article describes zombification, not a “blow up”. Admittedly, as Japan shows, the costs of zombification are routinely underestimated.
AI
Generative AI Asahi Linux Documentation (Paul R). ZOMG, the opener:
It is the opinion of the Board that Large Language Models (LLMs), herein referred to as Slop Generators, are unsuitable for use as software engineering tools, particularly in the Free and Open Source Software movement.
The AI explosion means millions are paying more for electricity Washington Post (Kevin W)
Cheyenne to host massive AI data center using more electricity than all Wyoming homes combined Associated Press (Kevin W)
The Bezzle
Stablecoins: the next big financial crisis waiting to happen Telegraph
Crypto lenders dial up risk with ‘microfinance on steroids’ Financial Times
Guillotine Watch
Billionaire Peter Thiel backing first privately developed US uranium enrichment facility in Paducah WKMS (Paul R)
Class Warfare
Thread 🧵
1) “When 79-year-old George retired, he didn’t buy a golf club or a hammock. He hung a handmade sign in his garage window: “Broken things? Bring ’em here. No charge. Just tea and talk.”
His neighbors in the faded mill town of Maple Grove thought he’d lost it. “Who… pic.twitter.com/l5or6CstcY
— Mr PitBull (@MrPitbull07) July 27, 2025
She Gave Away Her Inheritance. Now What? Bloomberg (resilc)
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus (Chuck L):
These elephants got drunk after eating lot of ripe Marula fruit in MalaMala Reserve..🐘🐾😅🥴🙂 pic.twitter.com/EQ5XqK0RqE
— 𝕐o̴g̴ (@Yoda4ever) July 24, 2025
A second bonus:
A guy wanted to adopt a cat, but he wouldn’t leave his brother’s side, so he had to take both of them.pic.twitter.com/Z4YqwB12OI
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 28, 2025
And a third (guurst):
Если бы не камера, никто бы не поверил. pic.twitter.com/hI8dV6vluS
— Natasha🇷🇺 Z (@Nikiforova1967) July 26, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
