Links 12/5/2020
World’s oldest known, banded wild bird returns to nest at Midway Atoll Star Advertiser (chicken ticket). Nice pix!
One country, one picture, one year Reuters (resilc). Only looked a few, but good choices.
Evolved to run – but not to exercise Irish Times (furzy)
The Great Barrier Reef Is Now Officially in ‘Critical’ Condition Vice
The Wings of Insects Might Have Evolved From The Legs of Crustaceans ScienceAlert (Kevin W)
How Easy Is it to Build a Robot Assassin? LawFare (David L)
Alaska May Be Hiding a Huge Volcanic System Gizmodo (Kevin W)
Chinese photonic quantum computer demonstrates quantum supremacy PhysOrg (David L)
MOMENT massive Arecibo telescope collapsed caught in jaw-dropping footage RT (singnet)
#COVID-19
Science/Medicine
MIT study: Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and other vaccines may not do as well covering people of Black or Asian genetic ancestry as they do for white people https://t.co/n1shnNga88
— Tim Mak (@timkmak) December 4, 2020
Long COVID in the Faroe Islands – a longitudinal study among non-hospitalized patients Oxford
Covid-19: Asymptomatic cases may not be infectious, Wuhan study indicates BMJ
A new PNAS study on the impact of face masks on the spread of COVID-19 in Germany.
“We conclude that 20 days after becoming mandatory face masks have reduced the number of new infections by around 45%.”
https://t.co/CE7ekoj8GH— Max Roser (@MaxCRoser) December 4, 2020
The COVID Vaccines Are Approaching. Is the FDA Ready to Inspect the Plants Where They’re Made? Vanity Fair (UserFriendly)
What it feels like to get an mRNA coronavirus vaccine CNN (furzy)
People with asthma less likely to contract COVID-19: study The Hill
How key decisions slowed FDA’s review of a Covid-19 vaccine — but also gave it important data STAT (Kevin C)
US
US #COVID19 cases:
1st case to 1M – 96 days
1 to 2M- 44 days
2 to 3M- 27 days
3 to 4M – 15 days
4 to 5M – 17 days
5 to 6M – 22 days
6 to 7M – 25 days
7 to 8M – 21 days
8 to 9M – 14 days
9 to 10M- 10 days
10 to 11M- 7 days
11 to 12M- 5 days
12 to 13M- 7 days
13 to 14M – 5 days— Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (@JHSPH_CHS) December 4, 2020
Joe Biden: Covid vaccination in US will not be mandatory BBC
Wall Street and finance workers could get COVID vaccines before most Americans MarketWatch. Marshall remarks: “There’s nothing more essential than doing God’s work.”
Six Bay Area regions — San Francisco, Santa Clara, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda counties, and Berkeley — to enact stay-at-home order starting Sunday Boing Boing (David L)
US Congress slow to issue directives as Covid spreads at a high rate among lawmakers Guardian
Stellar, detailed reporting from Florida on Gov. DeSantis orders to downplay and cover up the true extent of #COVID19 in his state, leading up to the elections.https://t.co/bHziKucsyF
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 5, 2020
How Iowa Mishandled the Coronavirus Pandemic Atlantic (resilc)
The Freakout About Giving COVID Vaccines to Prisoners Has Already Begun Mother Jones (resilc)
Finance/Economy
Weakening Jobs Numbers Spur Pandemic Aid Efforts Wall Street Journal
Bernie Sanders announces opposition to $908 billion covid relief package as lawmakers push for deal Washington Post (UserFriendly)
Payment pause for student loan borrowers will be extended, U.S. Department of Education says CNBC
China?
China becomes second nation to plant flag on the Moon BBC
Uighurs forced to eat pork as China expands Xinjiang pig farms Al Jazeera
China conducting biological tests to create super soldiers, US spy chief says Guardian (resilc)
So We’re Already At The ‘Chinese Super Soldiers’ Part Of The Propaganda Campaign Caitlin Johnstone
Brexit
Exhausted negotiators struggle to strike Brexit deal Financial Times
Brexit: Johnson and Von der Leyen to take over with direct talks Guardian (Kevin W)
👇
H/t @Chris__Parsons
· https://t.co/TtAHHURxwu— Dr Anna Jerzewska (@AnnaJerzewska) December 3, 2020
Progressive Media Promoted a False Story of ‘Conflict Beef’ From Nicaragua FAIR (UserFriendly)
New Cold War
Swiss drop Browder’s fake charges against Russians: no proof Lucy Komisar
Moscow Discovers Climate Change Can Be Good Business Forbes (resilc)
Syraqistan
Biden inherits Middle East’s grapes of wrath Asia Times (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
224 killed, 186 aircraft lost. Military pilots worry about being ‘the next accident’ Task & Purpose. Kevin W: “Most of the world’s Air Forces don’t have 186 aircraft.”
U.S. Marines Won’t Stop Taking LSD Vice (resilc)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Trickbot trojan found to now have the ability to modify a computer’s UEFI TechXplore and The Internet’s Most Notorious Botnet Has an Alarming New Trick Wired (Robert M)
Trump Transition
Trump orders Pentagon to pull nearly all troops from Somalia The Hill
Donald Trump will get Secret Service protection, classified briefings and a pension for life when he leaves the White House abc.net.au. This should not be treated as news…
2020
Trump campaigns as wild card in Georgia runoffs The Hill. Remember his popularity is back up to the high end of its range.
Lamar stands firm in his last days in the Senate Politico. UserFriendly: “He killed Judy Shelton, Thank God!”
Biden
Joe Biden’s Role in the Student Debt Crisis Dates to the 1970s Intercept
The economy President-elect Biden is inheriting Economic Policy Institute
Will Michele Flournoy Be the Angel of Death for the American Empire? CodePink
Biden Is the Perfect Figure for the National Security Establishment Intercept
Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile Vanity Fair (UserFriendly)
It Wasn’t the First Time the NYPD Killed Someone in Crisis. For Kawaski Trawick, It Only Took 112 Seconds. ProPublica (UserFriendly)
Gambling on the future of food Farm and Dairy (Carla R)
Class Warfare
Liberalism, Class and the Politics of Austerity Counterpunch
I’m at a vigil for a man named Patrick.
Patrick, who friends say was homeless, was shot and killed in Tacoma yesterday evening.
Witnesses say he was shot after a small group of men attacked an encampment with sticks or clubs. pic.twitter.com/N0U4uT0y3q
— Will James (@OtherWillJames) December 5, 2020
US Senate passes bill eliminating per-country cap for H-1B work visas Deccan Chronicle. From Dave in Santa Cruz:
Millions of Americans are unemployed, but Facebook needs foreign workers changed to their desks by their visas. I’ve previously mentioned the San Jose police chief complaining about Obama’s regular — and unpublicized — visits to Silicon Valley to collect checks in exchange for certifying that U.S. STEM grads lacked necessary qualifications. Now they’re going to bump-up Green Cards for Indians, to free-up more H1-B slots.
These practices are far more pernicious than tolerating poor refugees from Latin America; as a prosecutor and judge pro gem in Silicon Valley I saw actual abuses by high-caste Indian immigrants far worse than the claims made against Latin American refugees. The DOJ suit is typical of the day late and a dollar short incompetence of the Trump administration — but Biden will be nothing but a subsidiary of Facebook on immigration, just like Obama was.
Antidote du jour. Furzy’s sister’s llamas, “Off on a trek in the Oregon hills.”
And a bonus (guurst):
Trail camera in Russian Far East caught a male Amur leopard Leo 104M leaving a scent mark by rolling in the snow- and v soon a female Leo 181F coming to ‘read’ the message. Amur leopards r the world’s rarest big cats; less than a 100 of them live in the wild. Video @Leopard_land pic.twitter.com/jnjgTuU0BZ
— The Siberian Times (@siberian_times) December 4, 2020
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
