Fox found with impressive shoe collection in Berlin BBC
Seth Klarman Says Fed Is Infantilizing Investors in ‘Surreal’ Market Bloomberg
Fitch cuts US outlook as federal deficit climbs FT
Congress forced Silicon Valley to answer for its misdeeds. It was a glorious sight Matt Stoller, Guardian
I Tried to Live Without the Tech Giants. It Was Impossible. NYT
Australia now has a template for forcing Facebook and Google to pay for news Ars Technica (KW).
Florida Teenager Is Charged as ‘Mastermind’ of Twitter Hack NYT. Wait ’til they get all their college curricula digitally on Zoom….
#COVID19
Estimating Global Epidemiology of Low-Pathogenic Human Coronaviruses in Relation to the COVID-19 Context Journal of Infectious Diseases (via). Correspondence: “Monto et al have nicely presented the seasonal distribution of the identified cases in Michigan according to the 4 LPH-CoV types [3]. We performed similar analyses by pooling 5 studies with relevant data, and all these studies were from countries in the northern hemisphere. We confirmed their findings that more cases were detected in the winter season (Figure 1C). However, we are cautious about the interpretation of these seasonal distribution data (Figure 1C) [3] because they only specified the identified cases and not the rate of infection, as the total number of tested cases in each month was not given. More importantly, whether SARS-CoV-2 will develop into a seasonal and/or endemic virus only time will tell.” But see also Reply to Li et al from the same source: “To enable valid comparisons, meta-analyses necessitate careful scrutiny of eligibility criteria to ensure standardization of study design, including case definitions and denominator data, the period of observation, and stratification or adjustment by age and illness severity. Li et al [1] have not described their study inclusion and exclusion criteria. Hence, it is not possible to examine the validity of their pooled estimates.”
What are coronavirus risks from riding trains? A new Chinese study analyses passenger data South China Morning Post
* * *
‘A huge experiment’: How the world made so much progress on a Covid-19 vaccine so fast STAT
Bill Gates: We will have a coronavirus vaccine, but the disease will keep coming back if there’s a US ‘leadership vacuum’ Business Insider
AstraZeneca to be exempt from coronavirus vaccine liability claims in most countries Reuters. Handy!
Reflections on the 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination Program Emerging Infectious Diseases (ED). From 2006, still germane.
* * *
L.A. County’s tracing team repeatedly failed to detect coronavirus outbreaks at workplaces Los Angeles Times. “Many of those getting sick are low-wage workers who fear financial ruin if they stop working and are too afraid of retaliation to report unsafe work conditions.”
‘Mini surge’ of coronavirus among Greenwich teens blamed on house parties The Hill. “Contact tracers say they have had difficulty finding teenagers who will admit they were at any of the parties, making it harder to keep the virus in check.”
More than a quarter of Victoria coronavirus patients not at home when doorknocked by ADF ABC Australia
Florida Man Arrested For Enforcing Social Distancing By Firing Shots In Hotel Lobby Jonathan Turley. Wouldn’t “stand your ground” laws cover this?
COVID-19 Hospital Data System That Bypasses CDC Plagued By Delays, Inaccuracies NPR. Before we get too worried, remember that a key CDC technology was fax, and there has been no national, standard digital process for data submission (granted, I have priors).
China?
China says Hong Kong election delay ‘necessary and reasonable’ Channel News Asia. Xi [musical interlude].
Hong Kong’s top public prosecutor quits, says he was cut out of new national security cases Reuters
Police order journalists from five media platforms to leave press conference Hong Kong Free Press
$17 Billion China-Backed Subsea Baltic Tunnel Is Set Back Bloomberg
India
Scheduled international flights suspended till August 31; travel bubbles with more countries soon Times of India
The Koreas
(LEAD) Shincheonji leader arrested on charges of obstructing anti-virus response Yon Hap News Agency
UK/EU
37.8C = 100.04°F. Equatorial! From alert reader Clive:
Today’s 37.8 °C at Heathrow makes it the UK’s 3rd hottest day on record pic.twitter.com/0DCF04DXRs
— Met Office (@metoffice) July 31, 2020
Maybe flipping the Atlantic Conveyer wouldn’t be such a bad thing. at least for the UK.
New Cold War
Election Spotlight: Russia Council on Foreign Relations
Pompeo Says U.S. Will ‘Do Everything’ To Stop Nord Stream 2 Project Radio Free Europe
Exclusive: White House to lure U.S. firms to Latam from Asia in nearshoring drive, senior adviser says Reuters. Important!
Media Cover for US Clients’ Covid Catastrophes in Peru, Ecuador and Chile FAIR
Trump Transition
Trump threatens to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. USA Today. I would rather have China steal my data, because what can they do with it? Also, isn’t TikTok Vine, and didn’t Jack Dorsey deep six Vine? Anyhow, if TikTok goes, where will we go for content like this (dk):
“Pets lower your blood pressure” pic.twitter.com/I0e0ptjWjy
— bare minimum ben (@fleur_de_livres) July 31, 2020
Not DFC’s Best Kodak Moment: Five Questions About the Development Agency’s First Domestic Investment Center for Global Development
How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air” Vanity Fair
2020
Burn the Republican Party Down? Peggy Noonan
Council to the rescue for President Trump Page Six
Inside the Massive Foreign-Policy Team Advising Biden’s Campaign Foreign Policy. Read all the way to the end.
Two Economic Ideas for Biden Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect
Most Loved Brands 2020 Morning Consult. Note #1.
Obama Legacy
Bill Clinton credits Barack Obama for Super Tuesday’s “Night of the Long Knives” at 0:15:
for some WEIRD reason its almost impossible to find this clip of Bill Clinton today *explicitly* making it clear that Clyburn & Obama + DNC Establishment coalesced to destroy Bernie Sanders.
They’ve been saying it’s a ranting raving conspiracy theory.
He straight up says it. pic.twitter.com/zDQn93UxId— Daniel Riley (@DRstweets) July 31, 2020
Clinton looks bad, like Dorian Gray after he stabbed his portrait.
Health Care
It’s the healthcare system, stupid Thomas Frank, Le Monde Diplomatique. This is a must-read. (Le Monde is, I believe, French. That Frank got blackballed after Listen, Liberal! implies, at the very least, the necessity of a hermenutic of suspicion for those who continue to be allowed to publish.)
Frank comments:
There’ve been so many stories about populism v covid that I started wondering, what would a populist healthcare system actually look like? The answer makes you rethink the total credulity toward experts/professionals that is urged upon us these days.https://t.co/AuOOkwY04w
— Thomas Frank (@thomasfrank_) July 30, 2020
But how can professionals tell us “Noble Lies” if we aren’t credulous?
Think, Tom!
How To Pretend That You Are Smart Current Affairs
L’Affaire Joffrey Epstein
Unsealed Epstein documents detail alleged abuse by Ghislaine Maxwell The Hill. The “trove” nobody is talking about is Epstein’s video. All agree Epstein’s homes were wired and that recordings were taken during the festivities. Not to go all CT, and don’t you either, but given Epstein’s Rolodex and flight logs, these videos are almost certainly high-grade intelligence and unlikely not to have been convered into power. The press seems curiously silent on this point, preferring the focus on the foibles — granted quelle foibles — of the individual actors. Odd.
Our Famously Free Press
When Corporate Power Is Your Real Government, Corporate Media Is State Media Caitlin Johnstone
Different from editing, apparently:
Get it right from the beginning: sensitivity reads should happen at the beginning of the publication process, with compensation for those who do them. (6/8)
— NYTimesGuild (@NYTimesGuild) July 31, 2020
No copy editing, but sensitivity reads. Not to mention RussiaGate. That is where we are at the Times.
The psychology of misinformation: How to prevent it First Draft (TPH).
The Prophecies of Q The Atlantic. Symbol manipulation for the uncredentialled and disempowered?
‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,’ Better Known as UFOs, Deserve Scientific Investigation Scientific American
Police State Watch
From 9/11 to Portland, it was inevitable ‘Homeland Security’ would be turned on the American people Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer
Kentucky town hires social workers instead of more officers – and the results are surprising Wave3
Protests
How Portland became nation’s hotbed for clashes between protesters and federal agents ABC
Class Warfare
Is the National Day of Action for Safe Schools (Aug. 3) a Precursor to a Nationwide Teacher Strike? Ed Notes Online
Why we need to talk about caste in America FT
If “Cancel Culture” Is About Getting Fired, Let’s Cancel At-Will Employment In These Times
Researchers Discover How Human Sperm Really Swim Smithsonian
Man who lost penis to blood infection has new one built on his arm NY Post
My Cat Wanted to Blog, So I Let Him Write This One Gizmodo
Antidote du jour (via):
No time for tears!
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
