The man who turned into a dog says he wants to be another animal Scripps (Furzy Mouse)
This Week in Death – #19: A Chinese Chicken Shop (transcript) Grant Williams (PI).
The weather
Mongolia’s War on Desertification and Land Degradation The Diplomat
IKEA is blamed for the destruction of Romania’s Monga Bay forest
Solar project to destroy thousands of Joshua trees in Mojave desert LA Times
Climate activist arrested for attacking Monet painting at Orsay museum in Paris France24
Preserving Art in Revolution, for Revolution JSTOR Daily
Water
A Closer Look at America’s Water Crisis The Progressive
This troubled California lake just turned so green it’s visible from space SFGATE
Syndemics
Rising flu figures, COVID-19 cases put Victorian ambulances under the pump The Age
South Australian public hospitals working on internal emergency, special surgery has suspended ABC Australia
Traveler with confirmed measles at Seattle International Airport as US cases rise FOX
COVID-19 linked to higher risk of erectile dysfunction Health Health Science
Driver’s brain fog from covid-19 linked to Cork crash that claimed lives of elderly couple Irish Examiner
in Myanmar
Myanmar Junta Orders All Security Personnel Forwarded As Losses Rise In Irrawaddy Region’s Tough Orders
Syracistan
UPDATE Pinned on Biden’s account:
Israel has now offered a road map to continued peace – and the release of all hostages.
Yesterday, this proposal was forwarded by Qatar to Hamas.
Today, I want to spread its principles to the world. pic.twitter.com/0cdypBP9wb
– President Biden (@POTUS) May 31, 2024
Blinken discusses the Gaza ceasefire proposal with Turkey, Jordan, and his Saudi Anadolu Agency colleagues
Right-wing Israeli ministers are threatening to dissolve the government if Netanyahu accepts Biden’s Gaza proposal Anadolu Agency.
Bipartisan leaders formally invited Netanyahu to address Congress on The Hill. Who is the king?
The breakup of Europe
EU members reportedly to punish Hungary for weak portfolio in next Commission BNE Intellinews
The New Cold War
On Friday, Ukraine Received Permission to Launch US Rockets at Targets Inside Russia. Hours later, the HIMARS Opened Fire. Forbes. Belgorod, twenty miles from the border (and not, say, a shell factory across the Urals. It’s not clear to me where Biden’s red lines are, although it’s clear that every line Biden has drawn, over time. erased; see Big Serge here, and read to the end).
US should allow Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons against military targets in Russia – ISW Ukrainska Pravda
The Biden administration is not fully convinced that Ukraine can win, even with the new help of Politico
Biden’s Secret to Letting Ukraine Hit Russia Is Dangerous Ken Klippenstein
****** In Ukraine, Russia Begins to Receive Mutual Benefits RUSI. From mid-May, still germane. “Ukraine has spent several months fortifying Kharkiv, but storming this city is not the way Russia intends to fight. Russia’s target this summer is the Ukrainian army, and against this target it has begun to consolidate its advantages…. Russia’s goal is not to achieve great success, but rather to convince Ukraine that it can continue its unwavering progress, kilometer by kilometer, ahead.”
SITREP 6/1/24: Ukraine’s Latest Gasp Starts Rocky Simplicius the Thinker. Simplicius prints an updated version of this article:
Change in Title pic.twitter.com/8DvpRFWhhg
— Editing TheGrayLady (@nyt_diff) May 30, 2024
Ukraine Retreats From Villages On Eastern Front As It Awaits US Aid NYT
****** The EU in the South Caucasus: Can Brussels become a geopolitical player? JAM news. Vassals are not players.
The war in Ukraine has created an “arc of instability” from the Balkans to the Caucasus BNE Intellinews. Like Libya, Syria, Iraq….
How Globalization Rose and Fell with Nord Stream Foreign Policy
****** The Russian Armed Forces also struck the Yavorovsky training center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where foreign instructors were located Top War. Russian milblogger site. FWIW: “Confirmed: Russian “Kinzhals” turned NATO bunkers and police in Ukraine upside down‼️” ThreadReader (ctlieee). It’s worth staying tuned.
Hello Old Blighty
Starmer has made it clear now: he intends to rule on behalf of the Future the Future rich
Starmer promises to reduce immigration under Labor BBC
Global Election
India election results 2024: How will the votes be counted? Al Jazeera
Mexicans are voting in an election overshadowed by a violent attack on the BBC
South Africa’s ANC has lost its parliamentary majority for 30 years after the Al Jazeera elections
The US presidential election is entering uncharted waters with Trump’s historic case France24
Trump’s decision places the US among countries notorious for persecuting opposition leaders: Who else is on the list? THE CONCENTRATION
****** If voters adopt ranked-choice voting statewide, Colorado could ban the Colorado Sun from operating
Kansas constitution excludes right to vote: state supreme court majority FOX
The Biden Administration
President Biden votes for crypto security bill TechCrunch
Not being trusted
Is Ticketmaster Telling The Truth About Its Fees? Matt Stoller. GREAT
Trust busting as freedom is Ink
2024
Plot twist: WA has a law against gangs fighting for the position of the Seattle Times. I wonder how many other states there are.
A digital clock
Google admits that the AI overview needs work, but we’re all helping beta test TechCrunch. Get inflamed. Where do I send the invoice?
AI and Finance: Insights from the Experts alts.co. One of the use cases: “To summarize a company’s earnings as a buy or sell based on the language used by management.” A complete revolution, one giant step for humanity, just like replacing call center serfs with bots.
AI on Trial: Legal Models Include Hallucinate on 1 of 6 (or More) Rating Questions (press release) Stanford University
****** Google API Leak Should Change How Marketers and Publishers Do SEO SparkToro
More dark Meta patterns, what a surprise:
1. I am shocked by the design of the @Methaa new notification informing us that they want to use the content we send to train their AI models. It is purposely designed to be very difficult to reduce the number of users who will object to it. Let me backtrack. pic.twitter.com/rhKNFt7CEu
– Tantacrul (@Tantacrul) May 26, 2024
****** Self-driving cars are under Matt Yglesias, Slow Boring
Codd of power! Is the century of SQL already over? Register. Standards are important, strong mathematical foundations are important, and use cases are declarative. Listen and learn, LLM nimrods.
Our Famously Free Press
Twitch pulls Palestinian activists as rival sites push back on politics Taylor Lorenz, WaPo
Stanford, Silicon Valley, and the Rise of the Censorship Industrial Complex RealClearPolitics
Zeitgeist Watch
About 1 in 3 Americans report losing someone to a drug overdose: Study The Hill. Rule #2.
Nostalgia: A History of Dangerous Emotions by Agnes Arnold-Forster review – the past is not a foreign place The Guardian
Boeing
The first test flight of the Boeing Starliner crew was delayed at the last minute Channel News Asia. A loose door? Comment:
They realized there was a small helium leak in the delivery system so they had to kill it quickly to meet the next launch window in 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/xMqK4s1gMe
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 1, 2024
Imperial Collapse Watch
Jeffrey Sachs: The Untold History of the Cold War, CIA Coups Around the World, and COVID’s Origin (video) Tucker Carlson, YouTube. Updated from 5/30, now that I’ve listened to it carefully. Two hours, so grab a cup of coffee. Fortunately, there are chapter headings in the video so you can scroll to higher places; Sachs’ history with the pot of neocons is pretty good. With the origins of Covid, I think it would have been better if Sachs had stayed in his lane. Diseases of Visionaries: Not knowing the limits of your own knowledge. Sachs, however, is very good at geopolitics and is worth listening to. Thanks to Carlson for an excellent, kind interview.
Off Leash: Inside the Secret, Global, Far Right Group Discuss The New Republic. Erik Prince among others.
Class War
The $150,000 Homeowner: Wage Inflation Kicks into Second Gear Charles Hugh Smith
Dream Thing: Reinventing the Economy of the Venezuelan Community Monthly Review
Russian Village Sophie Kropotkin, Anarchist Library
Legal Theory Bookworm: “The Interbellum Constitution” by LaCroix Legal Theory Blog
Antidote du jour (Aris riyanto):
See yesterday’s links and the Antidote du Jour here.
