Hiroshima marks 80 years as US-Russia nuclear tensions rise Agence France-Presse
Lightning Kills Way More Trees Than You Would Ever Believe ScienceAlert (Dr. Kevin)
Titan implosion that killed all five on board was ‘preventable’, says report BBC (Kevin W)
Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds New York Times
Our Brain—Immune Axis Gets A Jolt Eric Topol (Robin K)
COVID-19/Pandemics
Clinical and Functional Characteristics of Cardiovascular System in Children Who Have Undergone COVID-19
🔥Retrospective study from Kazakhstan( 228 C19 PCR pos children, with 24 – 36 months follow-up in 2023-2024).
😡Teaser: What have we done, and continue to do, to our… pic.twitter.com/yjxbPQDhzD
— Harry Spoelstra (@HarrySpoelstra) August 5, 2025
🚨 CHINA IS BACK IN LOCKDOWN – THIS TIME, IT’S MOSQUITOES
– 7,000+ infected with chikungunya, a rare mosquito virus.
– Entire districts in Guangdong sealed off.
– Patients isolated in mosquito-proof quarantine beds.
– Drones, fines, chemical sprays: full COVID-style crackdown.… pic.twitter.com/xHoqk5m8iN— HustleBitch (@HustleBitch_) August 5, 2025
Climate/Environment
3 RECORD HEAT WAVES IN EUROPE-NORTH,WEST,EAST
>44C in Northern Portugal,
Records in FRANCE:36.6C Sete,August record,Hundreds of records in the Caucasus
More record heat in NORWAY
AUGUST RECORDS
28.5 Bodo
HIGH MINS
19.2 Mosjoen,18.4 StraumsnesHundreds of records on the way pic.twitter.com/3SUtDqEylt
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) August 5, 2025
Fire in southern France burns 8,000 hectares Le Monde
The surprising reasons floods and other disasters are deadlier at night Grist
‘Maddening’ Proof Plastics Industry Knew Recycling Was False Solution in 1974, New Document Shows DeSmog
China?
China’s high-speed rail nears 50,000km milestone – but debt and profit concerns mount South China Morning Post
China Deploys its Most Heavily Armed Nuclear Submarine Class For New Operations Military Watch
Africa
Trump’s Africa deal: Peace plan or power grab? Aljazeera
Both the famines in Palestine and Sudan have crossed beyond stage 5. This means they’ve reached a level of no return. Beyond fixation. The starvation has changed the very genetics of our people. I will never forgive the world for what it allowed to happen. We are beyond tired.
— Karim Wafa-Al Hussaini (@DrKarimWafa) August 5, 2025
AFRICA/DR CONGO – Ituri youth peace demonstration marked by Komanda church massacre Agenzia Fides
South of the Border
US steps up efforts to help Bolsonaro avoid jail over alleged coup plot Guardian (resilc)
European Disunion
Fyodor Lukyanov: Europe’s last security project is quietly collapsing RT
How a fertiliser crunch made Europe’s defence industry more vulnerable Euractiv
Germany’s bizarre selective outrage: legitimising extremists abroad while delegitimising democracy at home Ciarán O’Regan
Their families fled the Nazis. Facing Trump, US Jews are making Germany ‘Plan B’ France24 (resilc)
F-35 Not Purchased, FCAS is Falling Apart: Spain Faces Sad Prospect of Being Left With 4th-Gen Fighters Defense Express (resilc)
Estonia to solve wild boar meat surplus by sending it to Ukraine err.ee Micael T: “‘…spread of African swine fever’- so now the Ukrainians know what the Estonians really think of them. “
Old Blighty
Rachel Reeves needs to put up taxes to cover £40bn deficit, thinktank says Guardian
Israel v. The Resistance
Israel is now officially starving its own captives https://t.co/CQvWVTFVP3
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) August 6, 2025
With No Governing Alternative in Gaza, Israel’s Push for Hamas to Disarm Is a Pretext for Forever War Haaretz (resilc)
Bennett: Israel’s status in US ‘has never been so bad,’ it’s becoming a ‘leper state’ Times of Israel (resilc)
US Congressman Khanna leads push to recognise Palestinian state Middle East Eye. resilc: “Too funny.”
Israel evacuates embassy staff in Greece amid anti-war protests: Media Anadolu Agency
‘World has been turned upside-down’: Sa’ar says UNSC, world must condemn Hamas Jerusalem Post
Iran and the Logic of Limited Wars Rand (Robin K). From July, still germane.
New Not-So-Cold War
US Greenlights $200M More in Military Sales to Ukraine Kyiv Post. Couch lint.
Sanctions on Russia’s partners ‘obvious next step’ – US NATO envoy (VIDEO) RT
The Secondary Sanctions Squeeze Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
About 50 thousand Ukrainian militants and foreign mercenaries may try to break into the Bryansk region TopWar. Micael T: “So it wasn’t enough with 70,000 dead in Kursk? The bloodlust, the bloodlust.”
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Mastercard wants everyone to have a digital wallet and mDL to make ID like payments Biometric Update. I am opposed to getting a mobile digital license.
Imperial Collapse Watch
The great myth of empire collapse Aeon. Anthony L: “This time will be different. The Holocene is in the mirror.”
The Militarization of Silicon Valley New York Times (resilc). This is news?
IMEC’s imperial illusion: Why the US-backed trade corridor will fail The Cradle
Christian Nationalism’s Plot on Civil Society: The Seven Mountains Mandate Matthew Boedy (resilc)
Trump 2.0
Trump Promised to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill.’ The New Rigs Are Nowhere to Be Found Wired. resilc: “Lots of steel in that rig.”
Fighting Wildfires Is Hellish Work. It’s Even Worse Under Trump. New Republic (resilc)
NASA Satellites That Scientists and Farmers Rely On May Be Destroyed On Purpose NPR
Trump Threatens Federal Takeover of D.C. After Member of DOGE Assaulted New York Times (resilc)
Trump may be off the hook for his 2020 election plot, but his allies aren’t Politico. Lead story.
Health secretary RFK Jr. shuts door on U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research STAT
* * * Trump Just Got a Fresh Shot at Bending the Fed to His Will Wall Street Journal
Trump rules out Scott Bessent as Fed chair New York Post
Tariffs
What’s It Like to Deal With Brutal U.S. Tariffs? Ask Malaysia. New York Times (resilc)
Russiagate
Clintons subpoenaed to testify in congressional Epstein investigation BBC (Kevin W)
Meet the 30-Year-Old Far-Right Provocateur Nominated by Trump to Investigate Jack Smith Zeteo
Why my liberal friends disowned me Unherd (Anthony L). “Russiagate drove Americans mad”
GOP Clown Car
Trump and Johnson face escalating GOP revolt on redistricting Axios
Early GOP rift emerges as Congress braces for shutdown fight The Hill
Democrat Death Wish
Where are all the Democratic donations? Angry Bear. A must read.
AI
WTF
Atlassian laid off 150 employees via pre-recorded video???Workers had to wait 15 minutes after watching it to find out if they were cut.
Then came the email.
Then came the laptop lockouts.The reason?
“AI can do it now.”
Welcome to the future of work… or shall I say……
— Amanda Goodall (@thejobchick) August 4, 2025
Microsoft CVP thinks we’ll be ditching mice and keyboards in a future version of Windows in favor of AI chats — “The world of mousing around and typing will feel as alien as it does to Gen-Z to use MS-DOS.” Windows Central (Kevin W)
An Illinois Bill Banning AI Therapy Has Been Signed Into Law Mashable
‘We didn’t vote for ChatGPT’: Swedish PM under fire for using AI in role Guardian (resilc)
Google Agrees To Pause AI Workloads To Protect the Grid When Power Demand Spikes The Registe
The Bezzle
The housing market is a rigged game Steve Keen (Micael T)
Foxconn says EV sales are so slow it’s converting a factory to build AI servers instead The Register
So Long to Tech’s Dream Job New York Times (resilc)
Class Warfare
Buy now, pay later is taking over the world. Good Economist
Versus the discussion by Charlie Kirk starting at 28:30. Recall that Kirk is not even remotely a finance guy but does talk to tons of right-leaning young people, mainly men. If he is hearing about a lot of reports about debt overhang and distress when that is the sort of issue he would not be following, this is a real concern. Recall that the likes of the Economist were all for microfinance, which put people (mainly women) in poor countries in debt traps.
Charlie Kirk on how continuing to ignore the debt slavery of Gen Z will lead to revolution.
(0:00) How the Russiagate Hoax Paved the Way for America’s War With Russia
(11:42) Donald Trump’s Fight Against the Intel Agencies
(17:11) What Really Is the Deep State?
(18:42) Why Don’t… pic.twitter.com/lCruWuUMve— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 21, 2025
About half of US adults say grocery costs cause major stress, poll finds Associated Press. resilc: “Excluding food and energy is the joke the the century.”
Poorest US workers hit hardest by slowing wage growth Financial Times
For a Few CEOs, Pay Keeps Growing—by the Billions Wall Street Journal. resilc: “Luigisation of USA USA needs to expand greatly.”
Antidote du jour (via):
A bonus (Chuck L):
Bro felt it for the first time 🥹pic.twitter.com/nxIx0D00QN
— Interesting things (@awkwardgoogle) August 5, 2025
And a second:
this is my new favorite video on the internet pic.twitter.com/BhTHEZYiC3
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 5, 2025
And a third:
Dogs who love water very much pic.twitter.com/MxVANstc1H
— Enezator (@Enezator) August 5, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
