California Takes Steps Toward Officially Recognizing Bigfoot SFGate
On this day in 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York.
In 1964, Malcolm X was profoundly affected by his visit to a Palestinian refugee camp in Gaza. Seeing the displacement and hardship resulting from the 1948 Nakba evoked deep empathy in him. He… pic.twitter.com/nyLtidfry3
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) February 21, 2025
🔊ON & UP😍✊🏾’The grand welcome of Leonard Peltier. ND'(FB VID: Shannon Cartwright. Feb 19, 2025)#LeonardPeltier #GrandEntry #NativeAmericans #Indigenous #FirstNations pic.twitter.com/1Kp5KRrX83
— Haida Princess (Lori) (@HaidaPrincess) February 21, 2025
Amazon buys James Bond franchise – The Reg has some scripts The Register (Chuck L)
Every aspect of life is being stripped of color.
Many have noticed this trend — but why exactly is it happening?
Something deeper is going on… (thread) 🧵 pic.twitter.com/CFSKmgWgqO
— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) February 19, 2025
#COVID-19/Pandemics
In 2020 I claimed covid infections and reinfections would cause T cell exhaustion and harm to T cells
Now, to my minimal surprise, the head of the american association of immunology has published the very hypothesis disparaged and called nonsense below; that covid harms the… https://t.co/NCx3OdDRh2 pic.twitter.com/4QC33RHiGE
— AJ Leonardi, MBBS, PhD (@fitterhappierAJ) February 22, 2025
This is making the rounds. Dr. Kevin sent: New coronavirus with potential to cause pandemic discovered in China Daily Mail Online
GM’s take:
Clickbait.
This is just another in the line of regular such papers they have been putting out for 20 years, on a number of such viruses, and none of them would have received all that much attention had it not been for the pandemic.
Not only is #H5N1 virus spreading in more animals & species around humans, it’s adapting as it goes. It’s critically important for every lab (state, local, academic, vet) that detects H5N1 to sequence & share all virus data urgently. Don’t wait on USG chaos. Your data are… https://t.co/ImzZCWjk5J
— Rick Bright (@RickABright) February 21, 2025
Climate/Environment
Trump to shut down all 8,000 EV charging ports at federal govt buildings Electrek
Trump energy chief says there are upsides to ecological collapse Heated
China?
I’m generally one to believe that outcomes in China have a strong and direct relationship to gov’t plans and policies.
Because OP’s thread is so confidently worded, and appears to target people like me directly, I took a moment to really think about it. But I just can’t buy it. https://t.co/ZoDRWv6roe
— David Fishman (@pretentiouswhat) February 20, 2025
Japan warns over threat from China’s chip material export controls Financial Times
Commercial flights diverted as Chinese warships undertake apparent live-fire drill in sea between Australia and New Zealand Guardian
Tech bros back in China’s official spotlight as Jack Ma meets Xi Asia Times (Kevin W)
European Disunion
Chartbook 354: Of trains and tanks. Or does the German political class actually know how bad things are? Adam Tooze (Micael T)
Ukrainian move – collecting info from ordinary Swedes Aftonbladet via machine translation. Micael T: “Is this an off-ramp for military analysts laying blame on the people or are they gauging how well the war propaganda is working?”
Old Blighty
The great British food shortage: Why your weekly shop is about to get worse Independent
Britain’s productivity puzzle is turning into a crisis Financial Times
Thirty English councils granted exceptional financial support packages Guardian
Israel v. The Resistance
“The I.O.F. ‘weaponizes’ UNRWA.” The Floutist
Lebanese returnees document the massive destruction left behind the Israeli occupation forces in Kafr Kela, southern Lebanon, after the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the area. pic.twitter.com/Tzvlo6Pula
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 21, 2025
Iranian Christians feared death in Iran. Then the US deported them to Panama USA Today. resilc: “I think a trade up from both Iran AND USA USA.”
New Not-So-Cold War
This timing makes sense. Russia had massed troops on the Ukraine border in March-April 2021:
Jeffrey Sachs just told the European Parliament that Jake Sullivan privately admitted what he refused to acknowledge publicly—a simple truth about NATO that could have averted the Ukraine war. Utterly damning. Everything Sullivan touches turns into chaos, destruction and misery. pic.twitter.com/1UY05fs7s9
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) February 21, 2025
Brief summary from the front on February 20, 2025 Marat Khairullin
On Ukraine, Macron attempts to prepare public opinion for an unprecedented war effort Le Monde
Putin orders regulation of process of return of foreign companies Kommersant via machine translation (Micael T)
Trump ‘very frustrated’ and Zelensky must strike minerals deal, says adviser BBC
US, Ukraine near agreement on mineral rights deal Anadolu Agency
Nigel Farage dissents from Trump’s Zelenskyy ‘dictator’ claim Guardian (Kevin W)
By Drones, Mines And Missiles – The British Naval War Against Russia In Ukraine Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Apple yanks encrypted storage in U.K. instead of allowing backdoor access Washington Post (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Who will now stabilise the world economy? Financial Times. Huh? The US lack of concern about how its interest rates affect the rest of the world has been a major source of instability. Volcker sending US rates to the moon caused the Latin American debt crisis, FFS. More recently, in 2014, a group of central bankers headed by Raghuram Rajan called on the Fed to complain about how the Fed’s indifference to the effect of its rate changes worsened hot money flows in and out of emerging economies. Of course nothing changed.
Potomac River Midair Collision: An Accident Waiting to Happen Sonar 21.
Trump 2.0
“Is Trump Wrong on Tariffs?” Top Economist Warns the US pic.twitter.com/Youmme2pXB
— Dr. Steve Keen (@ProfSteveKeen) February 21, 2025
No friends, only foes in Trump’s trade war onslaught Asia Times (Kevin W)
How Tariffs Could Shock America’s Power System Wall Street Journal (resilc)
‘Brics broke up’: Trump claims bloc went silent after 150% tariff threat Business Standard
* * *
Trump fires top US general CQ Brown in shake-up at Pentagon BBC. Holy shit. Not just moved out of post as head of Joint Chiefs but fired.
The anti-woke overcorrection is here Financial Times
* * *
Roaming Charges: America on Droogs Counterpunch
Elon Musk spells danger for Accenture, McKinsey and their rivals Economist. BWAHAH
Supreme Court rules that government watchdog fired by Trump may temporarily remain on the job CNN (Kevin W)
DOGE
WHY SHOULD WE CARE IF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, AND MUSK’S DOGE, ARE ACTING UNCONSTITUTIONALLY? Nathan Tankus (Bill B)
How Is the Trump Administration Funding DOGE? ProPublica (Robin K)
White House restores 9/11 health program funding after uproar The Hill
Immigration
Trump’s extremist border policies are part of a global authoritarian moment Aljazeera
DHS makes shock decision on Prince Harry’s secret US visa records that could reveal if he lied about drug use Daily Mail (Li)
Our No Longer Free Press
FTC Launches Broad Tech ‘Censorship’ Probe Targeting Meta, Uber Bloomberg
AP Sues Trump Officials for Retaliatory Blocking of Reporters Common Dreams
Canada dispatch: Montreal activist jailed after series of charges over Israel-Gaza social media posts Jurist
Police angry at my writing about ridiculous charges, so add more Yves Engler
AI
The most underreported and important story in AI right now is that pure scaling has failed to produce AGI Fortune
The Bezzle
DOJ Investigates Medicare Billing Practices at UnitedHealth Wall Street Journal. Or US Probes UnitedHealth’s Medicare Billing Practices, WSJ Reports Reuters
Guillotine Watch
Luigi Mangione lawyer says Mayor Adams publicly discussed undisclosed evidence Gothamist
Luigi Mangione’s lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo:
“Luigi’s right to a fair trial is being infringed upon because he’s not being afforded the presumption of innocence until proven guilty…Also his rights were violated due to an illegal search and seizure.” pic.twitter.com/nTz9aBFLYN
— Power to the People ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) February 21, 2025
A mobile billboard truck advertising JURY NULLIFICATION outside the courthouse ahead of Luigi Mangione’s appearance. pic.twitter.com/ESoi6TfteI
— Power to the People ☭🕊 (@ProudSocialist) February 21, 2025
Many pix of Mangione doing a very good simulation of a model at the hearing on X:
The shackled feet of Luigi Mangione. pic.twitter.com/2Q9QRul6uN
— ✰ favs pop culture ✰ (@favspopculture) February 21, 2025
Powerful legal and financial services enable kleptocracy, research shows PhysOrg (Paul R)
Class Warfare
Software Engineering Job Openings Hit Five-Year Low Pragmatic Engineer
The (AI-Driven) White-Collar Recession Crisis Investing (Micael T)
The West’s dirty secret: How most affluent nations poison the Global South RT (Robin K)
Antidote du jour. mrsyk: “This is Buster storming the snow fort. Despite his sister Dude’s stoic defense, an emphatic sacking was the result.”
And a bonus (IM Doc):
This is Buster. He’s having the best day ever. Gets to play in the pool AND get rained on at the same time. 13/10 every lab’s dream pic.twitter.com/8cP9s8Y7AV
— WeRateDogs (@dog_rates) February 20, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
