Links 12/12/2020 – Church Security

Snow Leopards Are the Latest Cats to Get the Coronavirus New York Times (David L) 🙁

This Greenland Shark (Somniosus microcephalus) is about 400 years old. Scientists radiocarbon dated its eye lens. It may well be the oldest living vertebrate #ArcticLife https://t.co/Mea3tqM2TO pic.twitter.com/NZ6oXl6UuF

— The Ice Age ❄️🌞 (@Jamie_Woodward_) December 4, 2020

Severe Wildfires Are Devastating the California Condor Wired (resilc)

Tasmanian devils claw their way back from extinction Science (furzy)

China’s pigeon fanciers race for fame and fortune Reuters. Resilc: “My dad, as a kid in the 1930s, used to get railroad conductors to release his pigeons miles away from Joliet, Illinois, which was a national rail crossroads….”

For 30th Anniversary, Hubble Releases Images of 30 Celestial Gems NASA (David L)

Global carbon emissions down by record 7% in 2020 DW

World’s largest iceberg may strike island in South Atlantic this month NBC (furzy)

The greening of the Earth is approaching its limit PhysOrg (Robert M)

EROI of different fuels and the implications for society ScienceDirect (BC)

#COVID-19

Update on our border: To keep Canadians safe, we’ve extended the measures currently in place at the Canada-US border by another 30 days. Non-essential travel between our two countries remains restricted until at least January 21st, 2021.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 11, 2020

Science/Medicine

Metabolic reprogramming and epigenetic changes of vital organs in SARS-CoV-2 induced systemic toxicity JCI Insight

New on the COVID-19 Front Lines: Children May Be Driving the Pandemic After All Der Spiegel (resilc)

Peru suspends clinical trials of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine CNA

Coronavirus airborne: Infrared video shows how droplets spread the virus Washington Post (furzy)

US enters brutal stretch of pandemic, even with approaching vaccines The Hill

POLL-More women than men in U.S. nervous about fast rollout of COVID vaccine, and that’s a problem Reuters (Kevin W)

What an F.D.A. Committee Weighed in Voting for the Pfizer COVID Vaccine New Yorker

FDA advisor explains why she voted against recommending Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for emergency use CNBC. Note over a very narrow objection.

Covid-19 in the US: a society that puts the individual before public health lacks common sense South China Morning Post (resilc)

Portland’s entire Bramhall and Engine 11 Fire Stations call out sick out of an abundance of caution concerning COVID-19 News Center Maine

UK/Europe

Dozens of GP practices in England opt out of Covid vaccine rollout Guardian (resilc)

From guurst. Can’t recall an official here making a statement like this:

“I really am sorry, from the bottom of my heart. But if the price we pay is 590 deaths a day then this in unacceptable.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel begs Germans to follow coronavirus restrictions in an unusually emotional appeal ahead of Christmas. pic.twitter.com/dNRge9cvdJ

— DW News (@dwnews) December 9, 2020

Asia

S Korea’s Covid success story sunk by third wave Asia Times (Kevin W)

Finance/Economy

Unsold U.S. Hotel Rooms Near 1 Billion as Lodging Crisis Deepens Bloomberg (resilc)

Landlords Have Filed More Than 150,000 Eviction Notices Already. By January It Will Get Much Worse. Mother Jones

U.S. Billionaire Wealth Surges Past $1 Trillion Since Beginning of Pandemic — Total Grows to $4 Trillion Institute for Policy Studies

Brexit

Terrifying account of Johnson in Brussels, if true.

All our fates in the hands of this calamitous human blunderfuck. https://t.co/gngRZqiZP0

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) December 11, 2020

With Tories at His Back, Boris Johnson Can’t Cave in on Brexit Bloomberg

UK puts Royal Navy on standby to deter European fishing boats Financial Times

As promised, a little story. Of how the EU ask of the UK on the level playing field is indeed new, how that came about, and why we should have been able to deal with this a lot better. And how, indirectly, David Frost is one of the reasons. Beware, contains analysis… 1/

— David Henig (@DavidHenigUK) December 11, 2020

After 48 hours of ‘Brextensity’, Northern Ireland is still not ‘sorted’ LSE

EU states urged to push UK into new talks in event of no-deal Brexit Financial Times (Kevin W)

Albanian protesters burn Christmas trees over police killing BBC (resilc)

Syraqistan

Aramco To Sell Stakes In Subsidiaries To Raise Cash OilPrice. Resilc: “Bye bye Saudi pie.”

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

U.S. Schools Are Buying Cellebrite Phone-Hacking Tech Gizmodo (BC)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Reuters: US and Morocco Negotiating Advanced Drone Sale Antiwar. Resilc: “Trump going out of business sale. ALL DRONES MUST GO. LOST OUT LEASE.”

Trump Transition

Trump Pursues Appointing Special Counsel to Probe Election, Hunter Biden Wall Street Journal

Justices throw out Texas lawsuit that sought to block election outcome SCOTUSblog

Senate passes defense bill, setting up Trump veto fight The Hill

BREAKING: Christmas Eve is now a federal holiday in 2020, according to an executive order signed Friday by President Trump.

— Niels Lesniewski (@nielslesniewski) December 11, 2020

Senate approves funding bill by voice vote to avert shutdown The Hill

2020

Donald Trump’s Presidency Will End On The Day Of A Comet, A Meteor Shower And A Total Eclipse Of The Sun Forbes (DK)

Think the 2020 Election Was Uniquely Dysfunctional? Think Again American Conservative

Biden

Biden’s Cabinet Picks Are Getting Weird New York Magazine

Joe Biden Might Have Good Instincts, But His Foreign Policy Team Doesn’t American Conservative (resilc)

Biden’s Pentagon Pick: a Five-Sided Blunder CounterPunch (resilc)

The American Petroleum Institute Is Working to Kill Voting on Local Measures Truthout (Carla)

Our Famously Free Press

The YouTube Ban Is Un-American, Wrong, and Will Backfire Matt Taibbi

Florida Governor Defends Police Raid On COVID Data Whistleblower Yahoo

Argentina Is One Step Away From Legalizing Abortion Vice (resilc)

Disney Setting A Precedent For Not Paying Writers Ian Welsh (Randy K)

Everything We’ve Learned About Modern Economic Theory Is Wrong Bloomberg (David L). *Sigh*. This is very old news. We wrote about this in ECONNED ten years ago, following Keynes.

California Seeks to Join DOJ Antitrust Case Against Google Wall Street Journal

U.S. Congress bans anonymous shell companies Reuters (resilc). This is meaningful. You could previously set up Wyoming LLC and keep the identity of the owner secret.

D.C. Dysfunction & The Lost Art Of Civic Responsibility Heisenberg Report

U.S. military gives boost to flying cars and taxis Seeking Alpha. Resilc: “Just what we need, stuff crashing on top of us.”

Class Warfare