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How to drive investment into sustainable infrastructure World Economic Forum

‘Investment in Fossil Fuels Yields Much Less Returns Than the Green Sector’ FAIR

Why we need water futures MarketWatch (dk). Paging Michael Burry.

EY, WeWork, and another connection Francine McKenna, The Dig

Ex-eBay workers to plead guilty to sending spiders to Massachusetts bloggers CBS

When coffee makers are demanding a ransom, you know IoT is screwed Ars Technica

Amazon’s Bizarre Home Drone Flies Around Inside Your House Wired. No.

Google parent agrees to $310M misconduct lawsuit settlement Seattle Times. Sexual miscount by executives. No drinking of blood, apparently, except metaphorically.

#COVID19

Covid-19: Do many people have pre-existing immunity? British Medical Journal. “A stream of studies that have documented SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells in people without exposure to the virus are raising questions about just how new the pandemic virus really is, with many implications. At least six studies have reported T cell reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 in 20% to 50% of people with no known exposure to the virus…. Though these studies are small and do not yet provide precise estimates of pre-existing immunological responses to SARS-CoV-2, they are hard to dismiss, with several being published in Cell and Nature.”

Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Children and Adolescents Compared With Adults JAMA. “Findings: In this systematic review and meta-analysis including 32 studies, children and adolescents younger than 20 years had 44% lower odds of secondary infection with SARS-CoV-2 compared with adults 20 years and older; this finding was most marked in those younger than 10 to 14 years. Data were insufficient to conclude whether transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by children is lower than by adults.”

Cloth Masks to reduce COVID19 transmission christina j williamson. Well worth a read, whether you make your own masks or not. The bottom line:

A good mask needs to work well in three ways:

1. filtration – double layered tight weave, high thread count fabrics are best, and additional filter materials sandwiched between fabric can make it even better
2. fit – it needs to properly cover both nose and mouth, and to fully seal around the face)
3. breathability – if you can’t breathe through it at the rate you need to for your level of activity, it is more likely to leak and you are more likely to take it off or create a by-pass

Also — obvious when you think about it — if your glasses fog up, you don’t have a mask problem; you have a fit problem.

* * *

I moved to Canada right before the pandemic began. When COVID struck, I found a community Globe and Mail

The Virus Sent Droves to a Small Town. Suddenly, It’s Not So Small. NYT (Re Silc). “As for [Anna] White, she has found herself wondering how all these remote workers — many in tech or finance — will change the social fabric. The other night, at the Red Fox Inn, a bar in Winhall, she approached a couple she had seen around town, asking them, simply, ‘Covid refugees?” The answer was yes.’”

China?

Indo-Pacific strategy gains support as China’s assertiveness fuels fears South China Morning Post

US tightens trade restrictions on Chinese chipmaker SMIC The Verge

Tesla’s Nemesis in China Is a Tiny $5,000 Electric Car From GM Bloomberg

Freezing bodies for ‘reanimation’ in China and why the country’s cryonics tech has the potential to leapfrog the West South China Morning Post

Malaysia will not follow US sanctions against 24 Chinese companies, says ambassador Straits Times

Vietnam’s Struggles in the S. China Sea: Challenges and Opportunities The Maritime Executive

India

India’s Biggest Slum Successfully Contained COVID-19. But Can Its Residents Survive the Economic Collapse? Time

Nationwide Protests Against Bills a Marker of Success, Farm Leaders Say The Wire

Why Modi’s government is not up to the task Monthly Review

Syraqistan

Mossad and the movies — how Israeli spies took over our screens FT

Leaks show Chelsea owner Abramovich funded Israeli settler group Guardian

Brexit

UK scraps Brexit alternative to EU’s Galileo satellite system Politico

The day Brexit hit boiling point BBC. 25 September 2019. And here we are!

UK/EU

Users report issues as Covid-19 app launches in England and Wales Guardian (J-LS).

New Cold War

U.S. Air Force B-52s Just Flew A Mock Bombing Run On Russia’s Baltic Fortress Forbes

RussiaGate

Justice Dept. disclosures cast fresh doubt on Trump-Russia investigation WaPo. The lead:

The Justice Department has released a pair of documents casting fresh doubt on the judgment of senior law enforcement officials who investigated possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016, showing that one of the FBI case agents thought prosecutors were out to “get Trump” and that a key source of allegations against the president had been previously investigated as a possible Russian asset.

Oh.

New Documents Further Unveil Obama’s Anti-Trump Campaign Moon of Alabama

2020

Outlook for the Country and the Economy is Less Negative AP-NORC

Trump pledges to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, designate KKK a terrorist group in pitch to Black voters The Hill. Useful for the debate no doubt.

US oil groups grow less fearful of a Biden presidency FT

Error discovered on Georgia touchscreens in US Senate race Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This is a programming error in already horrid user interface, and separate from the following database issue–

Group files court document alleging setback in Georgia’s election preparation WXIA

Supreme Court Battle

President Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court seat ABC

Democrats debate whether to engage — or withdraw — in Supreme Court fight WaPo. The lead: “As Democratic senators begin mapping out how they will wield their limited procedural weapons in the fight over President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, they are grappling with a central question: How much legitimacy do they give his candidate?”

Outside Schumer’s Home, Activists Demand Dems Block Trump SCOTUS Appointment Common Dreams

‘She’s been groomed for this moment’: Amy Barrett’s Supreme Court preparation began early. Politico (DG). I didn’t know Antonin Scalia clerked for General Franco. Good to know.

The Truth About People of Praise Peggy Noonan

There Should Be No Doubt Why Trump Nominated Amy Coney Barrett Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker. The Federalist Society’s long march through the institutions claims victory. Resistance was slight:

Conservative women, who support Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, pray while touching the doors of the Court as Jacquelyn Booth cries on the ground, mourning the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. pic.twitter.com/5uTjnklLVP

— Erin Schaff (@erinschaff) September 26, 2020

RBG’s Big Mistake London Review of Books

Democrats in Disarray

Centrist Democrats got their COVID bill, now they want a vote The Hill

Democrats have no plan: Trump is bulldozing democracy — and nobody’s ready to stop him Salon

Incrementalism:

‘If you advocate for ending slavery the conservatives will call you a socialist or communist. I have a plan to expand slave rights over the next 10 years
Text JIM CROW to 30….330 and together we can give more rights to slaves under my plan.’ https://t.co/XxphUgIfTr

— Jaybefaunt🌹🌻🏳️‍🌈♋ (@Jaybefaunt) September 26, 2020

Then again…

Progressives Wrestle With How To Address Allegations of Mistreatment in San Francisco Race The Intercept

California NAACP president aids corporate prop campaigns — collects $1.2 million and counting Cal Matters. I wonder if she’ll get as much press as Rachel Dolezal…

Our Famously Free Press

Four years ago, Trump survived ‘Access Hollywood’ — and a media myth of indestructibility was born Margaret Sullivan, WaPo

FOX is free; NYT and WaPo are paywalled:

But, you shitlib lanyards are so sure you’re the cats ass, you think you can charge for propaganda that the other guy is giving away for free and then you turn around and ask “why are we losing the war for the hearts of minds of middle America” – you’re stupid. Very stupid.

— Donald Trump is a fascist & so are his supporters (@NatSecReporter) September 26, 2020

Protests and Riots

How a Pledge to Dismantle the Minneapolis Police Collapsed NYT

Class Warfare

Covid-19 Is Causing a Global Jobs Crisis Tribune

The looming legal minefield of working from home FT

Meet The Secretive Billionaire Who Makes McDonald’s McNuggets, Burger King’s Impossible Whoppers And More Forbes

Universalism and means-testing Interfluidity

Less than 1% of calls to state unemployment call centers were answered, audit shows Journal-Sentinel

Find Yourself a Tailor. It’s Not Fancy, It’s Freeing NYT

Agricultural Time During a Pandemic Sierra (DG).

Urban design explained: the signs, the symbols, the mysterious objects, and why LED panels have replaced the glow of neon South China Morning Post

Antidote du Jour (via):

Bonus antidote:

A pair of Octopus cyanea on a date among the dunes pic.twitter.com/m1UkYeO91L

— Keishu Asada (@CephWarden) September 25, 2020

See yesterday Link and Antidote du Jour here.