Does morality do us any good? The New Yorker (Anthony L.). Yes, it often makes decisions easier. You also typically create fewer enemies.
The Space Between the Stars London Book Review (Anthony L). About Kubrick.
The unphilosophical torture of life Unherd
FDA Reconsiders Efficacy of Phenylephrine Cold Medications Naveen Sankar
Milan to ban smoking outdoors from January 1st L’Unione Sarda
#New Coronavirus/Pandemic
Pregnancy with COVID-19 may increase risk of autism, study finds Bloomberg (ma)
Climate/Environment
Hochul signs law to penalize companies for greenhouse gas emissions The New York Times Mr. Lambert published a similar article yesterday. It’s above my pay grade, but I don’t see how this will survive a legal challenge. Even if we try to say that this is similar to Superfund law for discrete acts that caused harm that can be traced to specific criminals, it is not.
China?
China pushes ahead with construction of huge and controversial dam in Tibet The Washington Post
Will China give up the renminbi in 2025? Asia Times (Kevin W)
President Trump asks Supreme Court to suspend TikTok ban, but Biden administration says app poses ‘serious’ threat CNN (Kevin W)
Wired (Kevin W)
India
India: America’s renaissance is worse than you think (Lee). Hey, kid. I’m sure many readers will raise the issue.
israel vs resistance
We told you…the real goal is to take more land.
“We will not allow them to rebuild.” [Gaza]…Nothing moves, and everything that moves dies. That’s it. “Then they get attacked and are wiped out.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pic.twitter.com/cMKpXKuT6C
— Abiel (@abierkhatib) December 26, 2024
Children suddenly freeze to death in Gaza Mondwais
Soldiers and tanks surround the last barely functioning medical facility in northern Gaza. The facility is preparing to be emptied after being targeted for more than two months. https://t.co/xqq4wEOOfFl
— Nicola Perugini (@PeraginiNic) December 27, 2024
WHO Director-General says he was at Yemeni airport targeted by Israeli airstrike CNN (Kevin W)
The Houthis claimed they targeted Ben Gurion Airport after Israel attacked Sanaa Guardian (Kevin W). FWIW, Ben Gurion is a legitimate target as he regularly uses military flights.
A new war that’s not so cold war
NATO is no good, NATO is absolutely no good👇
For us, it doesn’t matter if it’s one year or ten years.
❗️Biden once proposed simply postponing Ukraine’s membership in NATO, but if that were Trump’s plan, that would also be unacceptable. — Putin pic.twitter.com/1IUdIgrzrJ
— Ignorance, the root of all evil (@ivan_8848) December 26, 2024
Taras Chumut: Ukrainska Pravda military headquarters is in turmoil
EU state threatens Ukraine with power outage RT (Kevin W)
Kazakhstan plane crash was caused by “external physical and technical interference”: initial findings of Azerbaijan Airlines Anadolu Agency
Leaderless uprising in Georgia? Sopo Japardze
syrakistan
Syria will never be unified Edward Luttwak, Anhard
Requiem for Baathism (Part 1/2) Niccolo Sordo
Turkish analyst quits BBC Turkish Minute after calling for killing of Syrian Kurdish militants
The US-backed militia behind the collapse of Afghanistan is more sinister than the Taliban: New York Times (Kevin W)
Chuck L: “We don’t have confirmation yet, but it’s something to keep an eye on.” Moi: If it’s true, it’s huge.
Nuclear attack in Tartus (Syria):
Radioactive fingerprints of the nuclear weapon (Tartus) measured in Cyprus within ~16 hours after the attack.
[Note that the dose rate peak cannot be ascribed to precipitation as higher precipitation occurred on Dec 5 with no discernible radiation increase] pic.twitter.com/HPWDNn96gW
— Hans Benjamin Braun (@Ben68638515) December 23, 2024
big brother is watching over you
Former NSA cyberspy’s not-so-secret hobby: Hacking Christmas lights
Paper passports are dying Wired
imperial collapse watch
The West Dismantles Itself: Liberalism in Theory and Practice György Varga, Nachdenkseiten (machine translation) (Micael T)
Why the world’s economic powers will make 2025 a year of great struggle South China Morning Post
1/6
How the Capitol Police has changed since January 6, 2021 Politico (Kevin W)
Trump 2.0
TRUMP REDUX New Left Review
From Panama Canal to Greenland, President Trump defines ‘new territory’ for US security Just the News. Yes, just as Biden wanted a Russian pony to topple, Trump wants his own pony.
Trump’s tariff threat will cause an ‘abnormal situation’ in global supply chains Bloomberg
President Trump’s plan to repeal climate change policies is spooking green energy investors New York Times (Kevin W)
Deshabille Democratic Party
Leading DNC fundraiser announces departure from Democratic Party after attack: ‘It’s like leaving a cult’ Fox (MA)
immigration
Short-sighted technology companies are further displacing America’s STEM talent. Jordan Schaxel (Michael T.). Lambert says MAGA-type Twitterverse battles are v. The Musk/Vivek fans are impressive and the MAGA crowd has some very good arguments…including ones that come very close to the commodification of labor.
1. During my 45th year in the Trump White House, I led the drafting of legislation that created a new legal immigration framework. I have seen firsthand what happens when visa reform is proposed. Executives from the largest multinational corporations and lobbyists from all industries are fiercely opposed to the bill. https://t.co/5M4B1pyzn0
— Theo Wold (@RealTheoWold) December 26, 2024
Our press is no longer free
CNN enters death spiral as viewer ratings plummet Sputnik
Kali Lake raises concerns on Voice of America the Hill. As if there is no “partisan interference” now?
sports desk
Why it’s getting harder to love college football Seattle Times (Robin K)
Mr. Market is in a bad mood.
Credit markets’ calm façade will crack in 2025 Reuters
antitrust law
Microsoft’s bundling practices are the focus of federal antitrust probe ProPublica
A.I.
Microsoft forces AI assistants on people and pays the Wall Street Journal. Bwahahaha. This is why I bought Microsoft instead of buying a subscription over the objections of tech women.
Nothing is sacred: AI-generated slop comes to Christmas music 404 Media (Micael T)
Chinese company trains AI models at scale for just $5.5 million TechCrunch
How to Solve Computing’s AI Energy Problems: The New Scientist by Doing Everything in Backwards (Dr. Kevin)
basil
Apple also won’t be able to make VR headsets mainstream in 2024 ProPublica
guillotine watch
Game Theory: Abandon Private Justice or End the State’s Monopoly on Violence Ian Welsh (Michael T.)
What is life like in the Brooklyn jail where Mangione awaits trial? It’s really bad, experts say. Gothamist. MDC is notoriously terrible.
class war
The irony of Mr. Vivek’s post is that his flawed analysis of how American culture is broken is itself indicative of how broken American culture is.
I mean, how insane is it to think that people would buy into the vision that early life needs to be optimized for corporate success… https://t.co/faegwIztXi
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 27, 2024
The Global Fertility Trade: A Story of Exploitation, Exploitation, and Opportunity Bloomberg (MA)
“Living proof that money can be spent on the poor”: Utopia is coming to the Mexico City Guardian (Allen K.)
U.S. homelessness rises 18%, affordable housing remains out of reach for many Associated Press
The flight was already terrible. After that, America stopped using headphones. wall street journal
If you have some free time, check out Sandel and Piketty Parts 1-3 on YouTube. Robin K:
Part 1:
a href=”https://youtu.be/WTW1Eoec4Ew?si=U-sSwZ4Rx8J7rYKn”>https://youtu.be/WTW1Eoec4Ew?si=U-sSwZ4Rx8J7rYKn
Part 2:
Part 3:
Piketty’s vision of fantastical globalism (a unified world with progressive taxation) and Sandel’s identitarianism make for a strangely interesting exchange. Sandel is more likable when he just asks questions. Even when he tries to explain it, it comes off as a big rant and a rambling mess. Mr. Piketty remains on track with his clear defense of leftist political economy.
Main takeaway: Big money is about globalism, with the free movement of capital and free trade, while marginalized people fight each other at borders for the free movement of labor, i.e. immigration or anti-immigration. It depends on whether you are an immigrant. Immigrant nationalist. The buffet was nailed down. There is a class struggle and his class is winning.
Temporary antidote (Tim H):
And bonus (Chuck L):
A rare African black leopard under the stars – a photo that took a photographer six months to capture Credit: Will Burrard-Lucas pic.twitter.com/LYDt7viwBo
— Nature is amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) December 25, 2024
Click here for yesterday’s link and Antidote du Jour.
