Links 8/3/2026

Protecting earth from extraterrestrial contamination: The case for a lunar biocontainment facility Ambio Is spending money to make friends morally permissable? Pavement Philosophy How to torment a scammer The Grudge Report A town haunted by the smell of rotting fish for 20 years is getting some relief The Independent The Summer When Peace Died Forum Geopolitica Climate/Environment Spokane fires destroy hundreds of structures Washington State Standard 2 killed when firefighting helicopters collide near Athens as Europe’s wildfire emergency rages Kathimerini July 2026 ends as a top 5 warmest on record for many western cities – continuing trend toward hotter summers Balanced Weather In stride with the predicted temperature extremes, global water vapor levels are forecast to reach record highs through the rest of 2026. I also expect 2027 to blow past 2024’s vapor record. pic.twitter.com/My3Ge2LJyT — Ben Noll (@BenNollWeather) August 3, 2026 5 Urgent Facts About Chile Flood Emergency as Deadly Storm Hits TeleSur An Unexpected Message from the Edge of Collapse The Climate Casino Pandemics RFK Jr tells US families to vaccinate children against measles amid outbreak The Guardian RFK Jr. tells CNN host that constitutional rights take priority over public health Politico Japan Japan, US confirm joint yen-buying intervention, signal more action Reuters China? Strategic Stability, Different Scripts: U.S.–China Tensions Boil Ahead of Xi’s Visit George Chen China’s Hardware is Ready. Its Geopolitical “Software” is Not. Haokai Li India An exam leak in India exposed a Gen Z jobs crisis that goes much deeper CNBC Syraqistan Israeli energy minister says no deal reached to halt attacks on Gaza as killings continue The Cradle Iraq, NATO agree to open mission office in Baghdad, expand security cooperation Iraqi News Trump cancels strikes on Iran, says talks to resume: Decoding the big U-turn by the US president First Post As Cease-Fire Teetered, Iran Plotted a Wider War With Aid of Its Proxies New York Times THE IRANIAN COUNTERSTRIKE OPTION Larry Johnson God, the original counterinsurgency guy Yasha Levine European Disunion The Danube Running Dry: Hungary’s First Post-Orbán Energy Crisis Energy Geopolitics & Statecraft Merz’s fortnight from hell The Telegraph Africa Morocco says Trump highway naming is mark of ‘deep appreciation’ Straits Times Ethiopia’s $12.5 billion airport has become the latest investment battleground between the U.S. and China in Africa Business Insider Africa US mocked after mislabelling every country in Africa on AIDS conference map The Canary Old Blighty There is no news from a government that’s in office but on holiday during a crisis Richard Murphy The Hard Right Packing of the UK Supreme Court Craig Murray New Not-So-Cold War Explosion at Moscow cafe kills three, injures 15, Russian media reports Intellinews ‘We know exactly who’s behind’ Moscow bombing – former US officer RT ‘Russian Amazon’ founder put on Ukraine’s ‘kill list’ RT Italian Navy boards tanker from Russian shadow fleet Euronews What Are The Odds That Ukraine Is Allowed To Use Starlink Or Starshield Over All Of Russia? Andrew Korybko TRUMP’S BOILING FROG STRATEGY AGAINST PUTIN John Helmer South of the Border US oil blockade leaves Cuba grappling with another nationwide blackout after grid collapses TRT World Historic? The Venezuelan gov’t has celebrated that Acting President Delcy Rodríguez made the cover of Time Magazine, even though she’s pictured next to Trump and Rubio and the article in question calls her a “Trump proxy.” Here are some highlights from the interview (thread) pic.twitter.com/Iu2XJ4Msvu — Venezuelanalysis (@venanalysis) August 2, 2026 Spook Country Justice Dept. Subpoenas Times Freelancer in Effort to Identify Sources New York Times. Commentary: Don’t let the DOJ’s lawfare distract from the real story here, that JSOC routinely does lethal covert operations that are not disclosed to Congress. These are lawless institutions that only protect each other. There’s nothing they hate more than the principles of open government. https://t.co/cbEtevsU8Z — Seth Harp (@sethharpesq) August 2, 2026 Trump 2.0 Acting US Attorney General orders cancellation of $1.8B anti-weaponization fund Anadolu Agency GOP Funhouse Senate GOP looks for ‘chorus’ of Republicans to fill void left by Graham The Hill Democrats Suck This Senator Has a Very Midwestern Plan to Save the Democrats Politico. CIA Slotkin. Hardly a mystery. JSOC and the CIA have the technology to access any and all data on your phones and computers. Under US law, they can’t use those powers against American citizens. However, the law in this country is a joke and criminals are now in charge. Does that help? https://t.co/14e3ekJWu1 — Seth Harp (@sethharpesq) August 2, 2026 “If I Prove That You Can Win Statewide Taking on AIPAC, That Is Catastrophic” Mother Jones. Michigan’s Democrat primary is tomorrow. Police State Watch Combat Robot Kicks Child in Chest … The 100 Days Imperial Collapse Watch Defense Dividends Phenomenal World Big Brother Is Watching You Watch Flock, Ring and Atlanta’s network of more than 28,000 integrated cameras haven’t improved city’s crime clearance rates Atlanta Press Collective How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking WaPo New spinning drone hides in plain sight Northwestern Sean Duffy Wants To Introduce Freedom Cars To Unshackle Us From The Constraints Of Data-Bonded Cars Jalopnik Healthcare? Can a Betting Market Offer Hope to a Cancer Patient? MedPage Today. What could possibly go wrong? The Hospitals That Close, and the Hospitals That Open, Are Not in the Same America HEALTH CARE un-covered Economy AI Monopoly Round-Up: Are Big AI Firms Cooking the Books? Matt Stoller OpenAI’s amazing — but vastly oversold — new model Astra Gary Marcus Studio Ghibli in the age of A.I. reproduction Read Max Pangram and Substack’s Collaboration is Worse Than Video Surveillance Philosophy and Beyond Nobody Knows if OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s AI Hacking Sprees Are Illegal Wired Class Warfare America’s biggest companies report ‘rock solid’ profits as consumers face higher costs FT Unfinished Modernity Black Lodges Rebuilding Democracy Requires Rebalancing Power Can We Still Govern? Antidote du jour (via): See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here. “Combat Robot Kicks Child in Chest …” IDF immediately orders ten thousands units for instant deployment in the territories Politico: Elissa Slotkin, Very Midwestern. Adam Wren, the profiler of Midwesternness, has this in his biog: “He was part of the team behind the investigation that led to Graham Platner’s withdrawal from the Maine Senate race.” Oh. Then we get the Slotkinisms and Wrenisms about the Midwest, which appears to extend from Pittsburgh to the border with Colorado and from north to south from the fudge shops of Mackinac Island to, I s’pose, Biloxi. This sort of condescending cultural stuff will eventually backfire: “As she crisscrosses the Midwest, joking about tailgates and Tractor Supply, she is workshopping material for a presidential campaign.” I spent my life in the Chicago area, umbilicus of the Great Lakes States, before running off to the Undisclosed Region. My parents sometimes shopped at Farm and Fleet, but the cultural markers of Chicagoans are things Slotkin isn’t mentioning like Italian beef sandwiches, flaming saganaki, Art Institute membership (very common), and a statue of Saint Francis in the back yard, with a garden gnome nearby. Some jamoke like Slotkin may think that checking off boxes about her desire to eat venison burgers will win elections. It won’t. Look at poor beleaguered Pete Buttigieg, who now graces Traverse City, Michigan, and is not an improvement to its spectacular scenery. Compare them to the appeal and reach of Nina Turner. And as to bullshit: “She doesn’t have a lot of time for BS,” said her friend and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill. “And a lot of times, that means standing up to people in your own party.” Bullshit. Mikie Sherrill, Lady Carville. Also, the profile fails to acknowledge Slotkin’s disastrous interview with Krystal Ball, in which Slotkin shilled for Israel and couldn’t say the word “genocide.” I also note that she’s spending a whole lotta time at events in Indianapolis and Kansas City, both areas considerably more conservative than most of the Great Lakes States. So she’s signaling about culture and she’s likely out of sync with Michiganders. Pass the coffee and the bismarcks. And of course the coffee has to be black.