Survivor’s island: coyotes seen paddling across deep San Francisco Bay waters Guardian (Kevin W)
The Vanishing Art Of Building Sacred Spaces Nomea (Micael T)
#COVID-19
Children are not spared from #LongCOVID. A study from Taiwan shows that in children ages 6 to 18 years, COVID infection can lead to changes in the brain that are associated with persistent headaches, memory, and attention problems.
➡️ MRI scans of the brain showed enlarged gray… pic.twitter.com/ha39kVVqCn
— Vipin M. Vashishtha (@vipintukur) September 8, 2025
Positive Covid tests among hospital patients are at the highest level in 10 months
Experts predict further increases as immunity given by vaccines and previous infections has waned and a highly contagious new Covid variant is now dominant
Read more: https://t.co/VBISXPmAZA pic.twitter.com/XiINf4qzw1
— The i Paper (@theipaper) September 8, 2025
Vaccine chaos: Even some vulnerable seniors can’t get COVID shots amid spiking cases MedicalXPress (Robin K)
Climate/Environment
U.S. mines are literally throwing away critical minerals Grist
World Meat Prices Reach New High as Consumers Clamor for Beef Bloomberg
Drought hit over half of Europe in mid-August, EU data shows Agence France-Presse
Floods affect over 4 million people in Pakistan’s Punjab province Xinhua. From a few days ago, still germane
China?
China’s Export Momentum Slows, Missing Expectations Wall Street Journal
China’s Exports to Africa Are Soaring as Trade to U.S. Plunges New York Times
Chinese travellers mull Russia for visa-free National Day holidays South China Morning Post
China’s MEGA bubble Is a Warning To The World Eurodollar University, YouTube (Li). From a few days ago, still germane.
India
India urges BRICS to tackle deficits as bloc rallies against U.S. tariffs CNBC
Koreas
South Korea in Deadlock Over $350 Billion Investment Fund Bloomberg. That was fast.
Tensions rise as North Korea continues sending water into South from border dam Korea Joongang Daily
Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba to resign amid fallout from disastrous elections Guardian (Kevin W)
Southeast Asia
Revealed: the huge growth of Myanmar scam centres that may hold 100,000 trafficked people Guardian
Thai court rules Thaksin Shinawatra must serve one year in jail Bangkok Post. Deadly to any remaining political aspirations of the Shinawatras. Recall that the Shinawarta family had been sheltered in Cambodia by Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen. It was Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra calling him over a border dustup, and addressing him “uncle” and dissing the military in a leaked phone call which got her removed from office by the Constitutional Court. I was told by an ex-government employee that there is a very large offshore gas field which falls nearly all in Thai waters but a tiny bit is Cambodian. No deal has been struck. The rumor is that Thaksin and Hun Sen had come to an agreement, with each to profit personally, and the border skirmish was somehow part of completing the agreement. The reason that Paetongtarn calling Hun Sen “uncle” was that the Thai word is much more groveling, and is mainly used when addressing senior monks.
Africa
South Africa’s economy collapsing one domino at a time Daily Investor
Sudan, Egypt FMs urge Ethiopia to change course ahead of megadam launch Al-Monitor
Terrorists killed at least 63 people in northeastern Nigeria while storming a town whose residents had been returned from a displacement camp, the state governor said TRT
South of the Border
The growing Israeli foothold in South America: Three new battlegrounds The Cradle
JD Vance: I don’t care if strike on Venezuela drug boat is war crime Telegraph
Maduro vows to defend Venezuela’s sovereignty as tensions rise with US Independent
Huge crowds rally for Brazil’s Bolsonaro ahead of verdict in coup trial Aljazeera
Argentina President Milei suffers crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial election Associated Press (Kevin W)
European Disunion
French government collapses as PM François Bayrou loses confidence vote Financial Times
A new, more dizzying chapter in French politics Le Monde
Peace could save European economy — so why are EU leaders sabotaging it? Cocotteminute
Old Blighty
Why even an IMF bailout couldn’t save Britain now Telegraph
The fiscal straitjacket facing Labour must be broken New Statesman (Colonel Smithers)
Arrests at rally against Palestine Action ban rise to 890 BBC (Kevin W)
New footage from yesterday’s Defend Our Juries demonstration reveals horrific police conduct, particularly towards elderly protesters. These individuals risk years in prison for opposing the British government’s crackdown on pro-Palestine advocacy. The emerging evidence… pic.twitter.com/tnTYPr47zh
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) September 7, 2025
Banksy mural of judge beating protester at Royal Courts of Justice in London to be removed CBS (Kevin W)
Israel v. the Resistance
IDF Orders Sweeping Evacuation of Gaza City Ahead of Planned Takeover Haaretz
Yemen announces second day of strikes on Israeli targets Tehran Times
Major internet outage amidst suspicion that Houthis behind undersea cable cuts Janta Ka, YouTube
Iran FM Araghchi warns Europe against ‘reckless’ approach to nuclear deal Aljazeera
Three Dams in Iran Dried Up, Eight More Near Collapse Iran Focus
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s Victory Redefined Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
Coalition of the unwilling gets stuck in Groundhog Day Ian Proud (Colonel Smithers)
British journalist Peter Hitchens has been covering Russia for 47 years. He’s a critic of Vladimir Putin so nobody can say he’s “echoing Putin’s talking points.” Hitchens writes: “You’ve been fed a steady diet of propaganda rubbish about Ukraine and the invented Russian menace.”… pic.twitter.com/EzhraAPY1X
— Alan Watson (@DietHeartNews) September 8, 2025
Treasury secretary says U.S. and European Union must partner to ‘collapse’ Russian economy NBC. It is striking how Administration officials don’t just say stupid things, but seem to delight in repeating them.
Ex foreign minister of Ukraine & now @Harvard fellow, who said that Ukrainians would fight with shovels, fled Ukraine: “Zelensky bans Kuleba from leaving the country. He says, “I’m in Poland.” “I never thought I’d have to flee my country like a thief in the night,” Dmytro Kuleba… pic.twitter.com/LR4OyChmeW
— Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) September 8, 2025
Inside Russian drone terror ‘hunt’ targeting Ukrainian children who are ‘playing football’ Express. resilc: “They cook them and eat them like Clinton did is next?”
HIGH IN THE ARCTIC, NORWAY’S UNEASY TIES WITH RUSSIA ARE FRAYING Bloomberg
Medvedev proposed to return to the issue of Finland’s reparations payments TopWar (Micael T)
Imperial Collapse Watch
29 million deaths linked to EU and US sanctions – study RT (Micael T)
The Worst Cartel Julian Macfarlane
Vance Celebrates Trump’s Murder Policy Daniel Larison
Trump 2.0
Trump is turning the White House into Mar-a-Lagoland Financial Times (resilc)
Trump asks Supreme Court to let it cut billions in foreign aid Aljazeera (Kevin W)
Appeals court upholds E. Jean Carroll’s $83.3M defamation judgment against Trump Associated Press
RFK Jr.’s Lies Stain the Republic Washington Monthly
Thune says Senate will change the rules to push through Trump’s blocked nominees Associated Press
Immigration
Workers in shackles, companies in shock: Georgia raid spooks foreign investors in US Financial Times. See our related post.
As our post describes, a MAGA influencer running for Congress was responsible and somehow got ICE interested:
Lawyer for Hyundai plant employees: One thing that’s been unclear through all of this is why did ICE go to this plant? They didn’t even bring a single Korean translator with them. Every one of these individuals had entered on a visa. They told Customs and Border Protection why… pic.twitter.com/6wYHP37eyN
— FactPost (@factpostnews) September 8, 2025
US Supreme Court rules immigration agents can now racially profile people Middle East Eye
Trump shows S Korea who’s boss with Hyundai plant raid Asia Times (Kevin W)
L’affaireEpstein
US lawmakers release Epstein ‘birthday book’ with alleged Trump note BBC
Remember when Trump said the birthday card he signed and sent to Epstein “doesn’t exist”?
Anyway, here it is: pic.twitter.com/QdpTKe25lz
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 8, 2025
How JPMorgan Enabled the Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein New York Times (Kevin W)
Mamdani
Mamdani Holds Huge Lead in Mayor’s Race, Times/Siena Poll Finds New York Times. BWAHAHA
Mr. Market is Moody
Scenario of a Triple Whammy for Long-Term Treasury Yields Wolf Richter. See the post today on bonds for a contrasting view.
Most bizarre housing market crash of the US: Top Economist Steve Keen, YouTube (Micael T)
AI
Data Shows That AI Use Is Now Declining at Large Companies Futurism
Two activists have gone on hunger strike outside the offices of Google DeepMind in London and Anthropic in the US, calling on companies to pause the development of advanced artificial intelligence India Today
ChatCGT evades count to one million TikTok. Wowsers. Micael T: “The nightmare is here. Is it time for a ChatGTP-guilloutine already?” Moi: This is our collective future.
This Stanford computer science professor went to written exams 2 years ago because of AI. He says his students insisted on it Fortune
Google’s AI cites web pages written by AI, study says The Register (Chuck L)
The Bezzle
Hunched and hideous digital model reveals what influencers could look like in 2050: ‘Her lifestyle has left its mark’ New York Post (Micael T)
Guillotine Watch
The Storm Hits the Art Market Artnet (Paul R). Important. A sign of distress or at least worry at the high end. I knew things would end badly when banks started lending against art in the early 1990s. Took a while but is finally happening.
Class Warfare
Rebalancing Retirement: How 401(k) Plans Exacerbate Inequality and What We Can Do About It Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance
Report shows top 400 richest Americans now taxed less than general population PhysOrg (Dr. Kevin)
Electricity Costs Are Soaring and AI Will Make Matters Worse Michael Shedlock
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
A normal day in Istanbul 🐾 pic.twitter.com/aSJdP9uHE2
— Why you should have a cat (@ShouldHaveCat) September 9, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
