Saturn’s Ocean Moon Enceladus Is Able to Support Life JSTOR Daily
What Retail Apocalypse? Shopping Centers Are Making a Comeback. NYT
Boston Should Rename Its Airport for Bill Russell The Atlantic
Fathers’ Day
Commentary:
I am sorry, but I adore this joke and I’m going to inflict it on you pic.twitter.com/jmWtDybKYx
— Forth ❤️🔥 (@forthrighter) June 13, 2024
Climate
Billion-Dollar Thunderstorms in Florida? Thanks, Climate Change Bloomberg
The ‘extraordinary’ record-breaking data that has climate experts baffled SBS
Swiss Re says industry failed to estimate impact of extreme weather FT
Opinion: It’s a perfect firestorm for home insurance Denver Post
Water
India’s weak hydropower output may fuel higher coal reliance amid surging demand S&P Global
Panama Canal Averts Shipping Crisis With Its Water Plan gCaptain
Water shortage in Armenia: Causes and how to prevent desertification JAM News
Syndemics
L.A. County COVID cases, hospitalizations rise amid FLiRT variants summer uptick LA Times
Bird flu traces emerge in Austin sewage, far from dairy farms Bloomberg
CDC A(H5N1) Bird Flu Response Update: Population Immunity to A(H5N1) clade 2.3.3.4b Viruses Avian Flu Diary
China?
Xi Jinping claimed US wants China to attack Taiwan FT. Commentary:
Very important scoop by the FT: in an April 2023 meeting with Ursula Von Der Leyen, Xi Jinping told her that the US “was trying to trick China into invading Taiwan, but that he would not take the bait”.https://t.co/35SW7TDr3i
I’m also personally convinced it’s true, and I know…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) June 16, 2024
Sleepwalking Toward War Foreign Affairs
Evergrande liquidation law firm probing PwC, others for potential claims, sources say Channel News Asia
Philippines files UN claim to extended continental shelf in South China Sea Channel News Asia
India
Author Arundhati Roy set to be tried under anti-terror law for Kashmir comments India Today
Syraqistan
Undeterred Houthi attacks squeeze international trade Axios
Israeli army says eight soldiers killed in armoured vehicle in southern Gaza France24
What Benny Gantz’s resignation means for Israeli policy and politics Brookings Institution
* * * Zionism as textbook barbarism Carl Beijer
Enormous Shifts in Consciousness New York Review of Books
* * * Democrats debate a Bibi blowoff Politico
New Not-So-Cold War
Meeting with Foreign Ministry senior officials President of Russia
Putin offers Ukraine ceasefire, freezing current frontline BNE Intellinews
Russia, China absent as world leaders meet for Ukraine peace conference Al Jazeera
Ukraine-Russia Peace Is as Elusive as Ever. But in 2022 They Were Talking. NYT. Commentary:
The Biden admin has said very little about the Feb—April 2022 peace talks that almost ended the Russia-Ukraine war. US establishment media has dutifully stayed mute as well.
Today the NYT breaks its own vow of silence with a very detailed piece, including copies of leaked draft… pic.twitter.com/LUumnf9xAn
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) June 15, 2024
* * * After Twenty-Seven Months of War, Ukraine Needs Peace (PDF) Magyar Külügyi Intézet. ” The West must be careful in its handling of the situation, as a frustrated Ukraine, with a militant society potentially disillusioned and even resentful towards the West, is not something the West, particularly the EU, is prepared for.”
Zelensky to present peace plan to Russia once agreed by international community France24
Why Ukraine Isn’t Ready for Peace Talks Bloomberg. Commentary:
Need to get this flag for my office pic.twitter.com/Esge8R26ue
— Devon ☀️ (@devonzuegel) June 14, 2024
Morality Is the Enemy of Peace Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy
Azov Brigade commander thanks US for authorising use of US-supplied weapons – video Ukrainska Pravda
European Disunion
The roar from below The New Statesman (DC).
The stakes are high in Macron’s gamble FT
Chartbook 293 “Nope!” or the political void at the heart of Europe’s supposed safe haven – Germany after the European elections. Adam Tooze, Chartbook
Dear Old Blighty
Tory party CEO is director at cancer care firm benefiting from NHS waiting lists Guardian
Analysis: Why more than half of ASEAN states are set to miss Ukraine’s peace summit in Switzerland Channel News Asia
Soufh of the Border
How Venezuela’s Threats Are Restructuring China-Guyana Relations The Diplomat
Global Elections
Democracy Will Not Come through Compromise and Fear Tricontinental
2024
Biden’s Love for His Son Is Beautiful — and It Hits Home for Me NYT. Commentary:
Joe Biden gets mad at TikTok star during White House influencer party, threatens to throw his phone before aides intervene pic.twitter.com/n8xrWvqztX
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 14, 2024
$800,000 wire transfer from billionaire donor to US Chamber raises curtain on dark money The Hill
The Supremes
The Origins of the Major Questions Doctrine (PDF) U of Michigan Public Law Research Paper No. 24-008. From the Abstract: “Rather than upholding separation of powers principles or agency adherence to the text of its authorizing statute, the Supreme Court’s benzene decision is best characterized as a judicial power grab at the expense of both agency expertise and the democratically elected branches of government. The paper concludes by showing how the Supreme Court’s missteps in the benzene case – exaggeration of economic costs, ignoring statutory constraints on agency discretion, and deferring to unqualified experts – have continued to plague the Supreme Court’s ‘major questions’ decisions, and provides suggestions for how the courts and agencies can avoid these problems.”
Police State Watch
More States Restricting ‘Excited Delirium’ as Cause of Death in Police Custody The Marshall Project
Digital Watch
New Wi-Fi Takeover Attack—All Windows Users Warned To Update Now Forbes
* * * GPT-4 has passed the Turing test, researchers claim Live Science. Commentary:
Claiming that GPT4 has passed the Turing Test because “participants judged GPT-4 to be human 54% of the time”.
That’s a 50/50 guess with a little statistical noise and a small sample size.
Sigh.
When will this BS hype stop? https://t.co/v3u9SHekq1
— Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) June 15, 2024
ChatGPT is bullshit (PDF) Ethics and Information Technology. AI = BS (NC, January 2023).
The Great AI Retrenchment has begun Marcus on AI
Healthcare
The Conspiracy to Game the Medical Literature (excerpt) Matt Bivens, The 100 Days
Zeitgeist Watch
The upside of feeling dissatisfied with the world: How to work your “weltschmerz” The Big Think
Liberalism As a Way of Life Notes from the Middle Ground
Class Warfare
No Strike Yet: American Airlines Flight Attendants Reveal Details From D.C. Negotiations View from the Wing
My colleague is not “human”: Will working with robots make you act more indifferently? Journal of Business Research
The Supreme Court Ruling in the Starbucks Case Proves the Law Won’t Save Labor NYT
Antidote du jour (Mark Kent):
Bonus antidote:
A crow just helping a cat pic.twitter.com/DSEbFfIvN6
— Nadir Ç. (@EfsoSahne) June 14, 2024
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
