Links 05.12.2022 | naked capitalism
In Mexico, endangered monarch butterflies offer hope for a comeback Reuters
There is growing evidence that some dinosaurs lived in the snow and ice. How do they do it? BBC (Kevin W.).
Feeling superior because the heating is still off? You may be a New Englander WSJ
Climate
Fighting climate change won’t ‘save the planet’ Interception
Fossil fuel industry cheats media and quietly funds nonprofits to block renewables Popular Information
The return of the dialectic of nature: the struggle for freedom as a necessity Monthly review
#COVID-19
The New Zealand government has banned COVID testing to keep infected people at work. WSWS
China?
Anthony Blinken says Biden administration backs coronavirus protesters in China CNN
Protests in China are not uncommon, but the current unrest is significant Talk
Factory orders from China fell 40% due to an inexorable drop in demand CNBC
Apple plans to move production out of China WSJ (Re Silk). Re Silc: Can Tim Cook React, Not Anticipate?
A dirty road to clean energy: How China’s electric car boom is destroying the environment Rest of the world
Myanmar
Dozens of Myanmar junta fighters killed in three days of resistance attacks Irrawaddy
‘Russia is a concern’: UN delays decision on representation in Myanmar Al Jazeera
in Syracuse
European disconnect
Europe has reduced gas demand by a quarter to get rid of dependence on Russia FT
Energy-hungry Europe cannot count on US shale resources to fill any gap in OPEC Hellenic Shipping News
Switzerland plans to ban electric vehicles on the roads and order game consoles to be turned off during power outages to reduce energy consumption. Daily Mail (BC).
Macron’s visit to the United States speaks of the alienation of Europe Indian Punchline (Kevin W.).
Dear old Blighty
UK economy to contract in 2023, risking ‘lost decade’: CBI International Business Times
The mysterious fate of the world’s first submarine off the coast of Rila North Wales Live (Kevin W.).
New not-so-cold war
Two Russian bombers damaged in alleged Ukrainian drone strike on air base Daily mail. AT
BerpelsonAir base Engels-2, 600 km east of Ukraine. If true, then not as big as other Ukrainian tricks (like the Kerch Bridge, which they didn’t do very well). Also a transparent attempt to provoke retribution, which will lead to an escalation of the war on NATO territory.Military Briefing: War in Ukraine Reveals ‘Hard Reality’ of Western Weapons Potential FT. Like anyone who listens Andrey Martyanov would have known months ago.
Bayraktar TB2 practically does not fly in Ukraine, there are no new deliveries Bulgarian military
US intelligence chief optimistic about Ukrainian forces AP
* * * FT Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelensky. “I’m more responsible than brave” FT
More observations about Russia today Gilbert Doctorow
Resentment on the Western Front Project Syndicate
Biden administration
Trump Judge Seizes Control of ICE, Supreme Court Will Decide Whether to Stop Him Voice
2024
Trump’s call for a “termination” of the Constitution draws rebuke New York Times. Comment:
Whether it’s Joe Biden seeking to pay off student debt or Donald Trump seeking to repeal the entire United States Constitution, presidents on both sides have chosen to be bold in pushing their agendas.
— New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) December 4, 2022
healthcare
Calgary Children’s Hospice Discharges All Delayed Patients, Relocates Staff to Children’s Hospital CBC. This video is worth watching:
Canadian health crisis:
Discharge from children’s hospice gives patients a breather, so staff are transferred to a children’s hospital that does not have enough staff to keep up with the influx of patients
Dr. @JVipondmd says he does not recognize the society in which he liveshttps://t.co/Vq2ZKElTun pic.twitter.com/Ncup8QPMZD
— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) December 5, 2022
“This is not the society I subscribed to.” Partial transcript:
More misinformation spread by our Leaders: “Children are less likely to get serious illnesses, #Omicron mild – We’ll all get sick – Hybrid immunity is better for us – We need to get sick to protect ourselves from getting sick.”
— Dr. Line Filiatro (@DrFiliatrault) December 5, 2022
Why did so many German doctors join the Nazi Party early? International Journal of Law and Society. German since 2012. From the abstract: “Few have tried to explain the Nazis’ unauthorized admission of such an overwhelming part of the German Medical Society. This article provides insight into this paradox by examining some of the main vulnerabilities, motives and rationalizations that may have predisposed German physicians to Nazi membership – occupational vulnerabilities among physicians in general (the value of obedience and obedience to authority, evaluation of infection prevention and combating mortality). ). , and having a primary interest in biomedical knowledge and research), economic factors and motives (related to the economic insecurity of physicians and incentives for economic progress), and Nazi ideological and historical rationalizations (beliefs in social Darwinism, eugenics, and the social organism as sacred)” . Speaking of eugenics:
We were taught in school that socialism is evil because it does not respect the sanctity of human life… pic.twitter.com/otIszsiOz6
— Alan McLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) December 3, 2022
Our famous free press
Twitter is fun again! Matt Bivens. Deck: “Now let’s get to the rest: it’s all in the files about how the national security agencies manipulate what we see and hear.” Useful chronology with good detail.
Twitter files, explanation Gizmodo
Surrogate mother censorship: why Musk’s document dump could be a game-changer Jonathan Turley, Holm
* * * How Web Platforms Collapse: The Facebook Case Ted Gioya, The Honest Broker. Cruel and entertaining Facebook trampling.
Bezl
What is the ChatGPT AI chatbot phenomenon and can it replace a human? Guardian Fanboy:
Um… I just had a 20 minute chat with ChatGPT about the history of modern physics. If I had this shit as a high school and college tutor… MY GOD.
I think we can reinvent the concept of education at scale. The college as we know it will cease to exist.
— Peter Wang (@pwang) December 4, 2022
But:
Mirror, mirror on the wall. https://t.co/Nj0iEjBnF1
— @interfluidity@fosstodon.org (@interfluidity) December 4, 2022
And but:
I got a longer answer pic.twitter.com/Lo8Ry8fQgV
— Matt Bruenig (@MattBruenig) December 5, 2022
No mention of US sanctions against Venezuela, strange.
However, VCs have already plucked up the courage as another round of theft and rent-seeking awaits:
So these harmless AIs were just going around doing their own thing, perpetuating and exacerbating social inequality and injustice, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a bunch of “AI ethicists” and “AI security researchers” started *censoring*. them. pic.twitter.com/Q0F70YGqtm
— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) December 5, 2022
Please note that OpenAI commentators choose people who are willing to give up their phone number required for registration.
* * *
zeitgeist watch
Walking backwards has a surprising number of health benefits. Talk
Panty attack could leave North Carolina without power for days Lawton Constitution. Local coverage of vandalism at Moore County electrical substations in good detail. Makes you wonder if the criminals borrowed tactics from the war in Ukraine.
class war
Other implications of Biden toughening up railroads:
The idea that people should be forced to work in unacceptable conditions because they are “vital to the economy” rather than improve their working conditions is mind blowing, and everyone in the medical field should think about the implications.
— Anesthesiologist (@fuzzymittens) December 3, 2022
Combine with working by the rules and you can get something:
A union source told me that their next push will be Biden’s demand to include rail workers in an executive order that requires 56 hours of paid sick leave.
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) December 1, 2022
* * * The Democrats and the Republican Party team up to sell the American worker. Maybe we need the Labor Party. Will Bunch, Explorer
Global income inequality: time to reconsider the elephant Branko Milanovic, Social Europe
Life through the revenge of capital Charles Hudson
Bacon Bacon Shakespeare The Spy New Atlantis
Antidote for the daypath):
See yesterday’s links and Antidote du Jour here.