‘Their resilience is a lesson to us all’: The maritime lions hunting seals on the beach BBC (Kevin W)
The Best Medicine For Joint Pain Isn’t What You Think, Expert Says The Conversation (Chuck L). This is the sort of one-size-fits all nonsense that makes me want to break china: “Yet people who exercise regularly are physically and biologically protecting themselves from developing the disease [osteoarthritis] and from suffering its worst effects.” Complete garbage. My chondromalacia patella is the DIRECT result of exercise. And this article treats all exercise as beneficial for arthritis, when there are many exercises that would further damage my joints. One of my MD, a top specialist in non/minimally invasive procedures says (in my nomenclature, not his) that for women, jogging is knee surgery futures due to nearly all women having too much joint laxity to not suffer damage.
Breakthrough Discovery Could Finally Be the Key to Male Birth Control SciTech Daily (Chuck L)
Your type of depression could shape your body’s future health ScienceDaily (Kevin W)
A Japanese screw craftsman who single-handedly produces 400,000 screws a day — and How to Make It YouTube (resilc)
The Limits of Data Issues in Science and Technology (resilc). Today’s must read.
Climate/Environment
The regional level of Absorbed Solar Radiation increased by 4.2 W/m² in 20 years!!
That’s more than the global greenhouse gas forcing increase since 1750!
The 2 W/m² Net Flux increase indicates that there is a lot more regional warming in the pipeline.https://t.co/yUYNtlsBaM pic.twitter.com/HD2nT2rSDI
— Leon Simons 🌍 (@LeonSimons8) October 10, 2025
Guess who’s back, back again. La Niña’s back, tell a friend.
For the fifth time in six years, La Niña is back.
Is the La Niña trend being influenced by rising global temperatures? Given how important El Niño and La Niña are to weather patterns, it’s critical to figure this out! pic.twitter.com/kPT754RjbJ
— Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) October 10, 2025
China?
Bessent says China wants to ‘pull everybody else down’ Financial Times. Lead story. Exclusive interview. I always thought Bessent was an idiot but here he may just be a mouthpiece for his boss. I can read it and the headline is representative. Unfortunately, I don’t yet have a non-paywalled link that shows the content.
Here’s a question I know many are wondering about: why did China wait until now to use rare earths as leverage against the US? Why not in the first Trump administration when the US started the trade hostilities? Or when the Biden administration unleashed the chips export controls…
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) October 12, 2025
Western executives who visit China are coming back terrified Telegraph (resilc)
US-China trade tensions simmer as port fees take effect BBC
Sending a message: Beijing issues documents without Word format amid US tensions South China Morning Post (guurst)
Hu Xijin: Silence is not gold Pekinology. On the rise in self-censorship.
India-Pakistan
Pakistan closes border with Afghanistan after dozens killed in overnight clashes France24
The Ganges Water Crisis , A Parched River, A Thirsty Nation Dainik Jagran
One after another, Pakistan endures successive climate disasters Mongabay
Southeast Asia
Photos show a town ravaged by civil war in Myanmar Independent
Thailand’s debt spiral BBC. The loan shark rates are horrific.
Africa
Massacre’ in Sudan kills at least 53 including 14 children and 15 women Sky
Madagascar president flees after losing support of key army unit Guardian
South of the Border
The US vs. Venezuela: Who Will Win? Top War (Micael T)
How the IMF and US helped loot and entrap Argentina with debt Thomas Palley
Protesters clash with police in Ecuador amid nationwide strike over fuel prices Independent
A Nation Starves: Haiti’s Hunger Crisis Puts 6 Million at Risk Modern Diplomacy
European Disusion
Europe’s future depends on dismantling the EU — part four Thomas Fazi
How Nord Stream 2 has blown up Europe Unherd
Europe’s Suicidal Follies Gordon Hahn (Micael T)
“Insane” social cuts deepen social divisions Sozialsmus (Micael T)
Old Blighty
Reeves faces a historic challenge with record state spending The Times
Pro-Israel group gets £7m from UK government to ‘identify’ antisemitism Middle East Eye
England sees second worst harvest on record, analysis shows Independent
Israel v. The Resistance
All living Israeli captives and hundreds of Palestinians released; Trump addresses Knesset DropSite
Gaza Hostages Released as Questions Remain in Ceasefire Process Bloomberg. Across the page banner headline and no paywall.
They started implementation: Israel is now going to murder any Palestinian who crosses some imaginary line *beyond* the “Yellow Line” it supposedly retreated too. A classic case of the phenomenon known as “Israeli Ceasefire” https://t.co/Y2QEf1kdOM pic.twitter.com/KrKKDqVemO
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) October 14, 2025
Israeli occupation have barred families of Palestinian captives from celebrating or speaking to press after their loved ones are released. They have also dropped leaflets on the homes of prisoners’ families that read:
“The Israeli security forces will not allow demonstrations in… https://t.co/ngFIZBVZxl
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) October 13, 2025
Another Tenuous Ceasefire in Gaza Daniel Larison
Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan… A Wedding Without a Bride and Groom Larry Johnson (resilc)
What’s next for Gaza? 🧵
After the hostage release, Israel will hold onto a fully depopulated 58% of Gaza.After an international force enters, Israel will hold onto 40% of Gaza where the IDF’s proxy gangs will thrive!
Genocide or reconstruction? The devil is in the details! pic.twitter.com/vvlNQDJAyQ
— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) October 12, 2025
The October 7 Industry American Conservative (Kevin W)
* * * Private US military consultants flock to bolster Lebanese military Intelligence Online
Intensive Israeli air strikes kill one, injure seven in southern Lebanon Aljazeera
IMF Warns Yemen on Brink of Economic Collapse as Public Debt Surpasses 100% of GDP Yemen Online
New Not-So-Cold War
As Russian Aggression Turns West, Poland Says It’s Ready Wall Street Journal
🇱🇻🇷🇺 “Second class”: Latvia will forcibly deport Russian pensioners by November
By November, the country will begin forcibly expelling Russian citizens who failed to pass the Latvian language exam. This was reported by Riga City Council deputy Yulia Sokhina. According to her,… pic.twitter.com/EZT0PybDzn
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) October 13, 2025
The Taliban Claimed That The Crocus Terrorist Attack Was Orchestrated From Pakistan Andrew Korybko
Hillary Clinton replies to my question as a liar or utterly ignorant of reasons for U.S. war in Ukraine. Lucy Komisar. ZOMG. A postcard from neocon alternative reality
Imperial Collapse Watch
Who maintains the scaffolding of freedom? Shruti Rajagopalan
The United States, Israel, and their “right” to murder Rebelion via machine translation (Micael T)
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee Goes to War American Conservative
Nobel Piss Prize Julian Macfarlane (Micael T)
Trump 2.0
Trump Promised a Shipbuilding Boom. He’s Sinking It Instead Washington Monthly (resilc)
JPMorgan announces $1.5 trillion U.S. investment initiative Axios
Benioff retreats from idea of sending troops in to clean up San Francisco The Register
Coal Miners With Black Lung Say They Are ‘Cast Aside to Die’ Under Trump New York Times
Immigration
ICE Raids Are Only Half The Story YouTube. Chris C:
Video where the vlogger talks about farm labor and the H2A visa system. She also talks about changes made to the H2A visa system by the Trump administration as well as the role of farm owners and labor contractors in these changes. Important information about current farm slavery in the U.S.
Shutdown
Why It’s Pointless for Democrats to Negotiate a Shutdown Deal New Republic (resilc)
Dwindling paychecks add pressure on GOP, Trump, Democrats to end shutdown The Hill
Supremes
The Missing Defenses of the Court’s Behavior Steve Vladeck
Our No Longer Free Press
News outlets broadly reject Pentagon’s new press rules Axios. Lead story.
AI
A small number of samples can poison LLMs of any size Anthropic (resilc)
The Grand AGI Delusion Gary Marcus
AI Is Juicing the Economy. Is It Making American Workers More Productive? Wall Street Journal
What Happened When AI Came for Craft Beer 404 Media
Mr. Market is Moody
Stock Bubble Dread Grips Central Bankers in Washington Bloomberg
Watch out for black swans: The trigger for financial crashes rarely is predicted by watchdogs This Is Money
The cracks are starting to appear in the shadow banking bubble
AI rally fuelled by junk debt as crash fears grow Telegraph. Important
Economy
Congo’s Cobalt Export Shock Spurs Rally and Doubts Over Supply Bloomberg
Stronger Growth, Weaker Hiring: Forecasters See a Split-Screen Economy Wall Street Journal
Americans Are Falling Behind on Their Car Payments Wall Street Journal Telegraph
The Dismal Science
The Ghosts of the Physiocrats Relearning Economics (Chuck L)
Process knowledge is crucial to economic development Programmable Mutter (resilc)
Trio win Nobel economics prize for work on innovation, growth and ‘creative destruction’ Reuters. As in the Swedish central bank prize i the name of Alfred Nobel
The Bezzle
Crypto’s Biggest Crash Reveals a Market Littered With Pitfalls Bloomberg
$19B crypto market crash: Was it leverage, China tariffs or both? CoinTelegraph
Class Warfare
Plastic Surgery Comes for the Waist New York Times (resilc)
Antidote du jour. Janet T: “Duchess (yellow lab who has prompted more laughter than any other dog we’ve had) and Moogie (fluffy and chonky boy kitty who is a love), watching the birds and chipmunks.”
And a bonus (Chuck L):
they knew 🥹🤌 he was helping their baby… instead of attacking, they🦢 thanked him. nature is truly beautiful 🥰 pic.twitter.com/i7ckZYroU7
— Nature & Animals🌴 (@naturelife_ok) October 12, 2025
A second bonus:
The backflip, a gymnast is born
— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) October 13, 2025
And a third:
Mission: Save the pandas from extinction.
Obstacle: The pandas. 🐼 pic.twitter.com/Agf1ci5JiR
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) October 13, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
