Dolphins Are So Smart They’re Learning Tool-Use From Their Friends ScienceAlert (Kevin W)
7 Things in Our Universe That Have Astronomers Scratching Their Heads Interesting Engineering
Mystery of Earth’s Vanishing Crust Solved by MagLab Geochemists – Prevailing Theories Contradicted SciTechDaily (Kevin W)
#COVID-19
Hump!, the online porn fest that wouldn’t have happened without quarantine ars technica (Chuck L)
Kenya: 3 people killed in clash with police over face masks Associated Press
US Music Festival Billed as ‘COVID Herd Immunity Fest’ Changes Name After Backlash Sputnik
Science/Medicine
You may want to avoid reopened restaurants after reading this new JP Morgan report on coronavirus outbreaks Fortune (David L)
Wear a mask. That is, unless you want to be intubated by a gynecology intern July 1st who did her last semester of med school via Zoom.
— Dr. Emily Porter, M.D. (@dremilyportermd) June 26, 2020
Coronavirus Traces Found in March 2019 Sewage Sample, Spanish Study Shows New York Times
The Soviet Vaccine Strategy That Could Be a Coronavirus Weapon Popular Mechanics (resilc)
UK/Europe
Swedish exceptionalism has been ended by coronavirus Guardian (resilc)
Covid-19 was in Spanish sewage as early as MARCH 2019, study claims RT. Kevin W: “Not yet peer-reviewed from what I understand.”
‘The atmosphere was ugly’: Bournemouth aghast at beach chaos Guardian
US
Coronavirus: US has ‘serious problem’, says Fauci BBC. A little late to conclude that.
The new visual signifier of American hubris and premature end-zone dancing, replacing the Mission Accomplished banner, is this chart https://t.co/I8oIYa3eFh with @MaxNisen @johnauthers @sarahhalzack and more pic.twitter.com/8iKRUwVgKv
— Mark Gongloff (@markgongloff) June 27, 2020
Gov. Greg Abbott orders Texas bars to close again and restaurants to reduce to 50% occupancy as coronavirus spreads Texas Tribune. By contrast, and I am not making this up, the local Home Instead thinks it’s reasonable to send an aide who works 2 to 3 days a week as a bartender in a bar to care regularly for a 92 year old with COPD. Oh, and the official line is “We can’t tell them what other jobs they can take.” How about not keeping them on?!?!
Florida Governor Scoffs at Fresh Virus Tactics: ‘Like What?’ Bloomberg
The Coronavirus Surge in Florida, Arizona, Texas Isn’t the Same as New York’s Crisis Wall Street Journal
Tom Brady AGAIN defies coronavirus rules to work out with teammates… and posts FDR quote about not ‘fearing’ COVID Sun (resilc)
Newsom Announces New COVID-19 Modeling Website, Open-Source Tools For ‘Citizen Scientists’ CBS San Francisco (Chuck L)
Over 150 College Athletes Contracted Coronavirus After Being Pressured to Practice Vice (resilc)
Finance/Economy
U.S. Consumer Spending Rebounded in May, but Virus Surge Poses Economic Threat Wall Street Journal
Covid-19 Killed the Era of ‘Big’ Flying engadget.com
Damien Klassen on What Will Burst the Bubble | ABC’s The Business MacroBusiness
China-India Row
Galwan Valley: Satellite images ‘show China structures’ on India border BBC
After deadly border clash, India faces uncomfortable truths about its reliance on China Washington Post
Gunmen injure Mexico City police chief; 3 dead Associated Press (Bill B)
Syraqistan
Why Iran won’t be broken Pepe Escobar, Asia Times (heresy 101)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Snowden: Tech Workers Are Complicit in How Their Companies Hurt Society Vice (resilc)
Twitter and other social media corporations have, at the behest of the authoritarian US govt, already been censoring and suspending accounts of Venezuelans, Iranians, Syrians, Chinese, Russians, etc who expose US crimes
Now they’re censoring Bolivians too https://t.co/oGOg6brbcI
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) June 27, 2020
California City Bans Predictive Policing In US First Reuters
Mobilewalla Used Cellphone Data To Estimate the Demographics of Protesters BuzzFeed
Facial Recognition Bill Would Ban Use By Federal Law Enforcement NBC
“Free Speech” In The US Empire Is As Illusory As “Free-Range” Eggs Caitlin Johnstone (Kevin W)
Imperial Collapse Watch
America Is Facing 5 Epic Crises All at Once New York Times
Trump Transition
Trump wants to attend a fireworks show at Mt. Rushmore next week: “For 20 years it hasn’t been allowed for environmental reasons. You believe that one? It’s all stone.”
But the area is “abnormally dry” and some fire experts are worried. https://t.co/9qSjkEylNR
— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) June 24, 2020
Trump says he signed executive order to protect monuments CNN
Judge orders US to free migrant children from family detention, citing virus spread Guardian
The Case for Self-Enforcing Streets Transportation Alternatives
Trump’s use of Pentagon funds for US-Mexico border wall illegal, court rules The Hill
New York City will paint ‘Black Lives Matter’ on street in front of Trump Tower The Hill
2020
There Is No Plan. There Is No Second-Term Agenda. Esquire
Supreme Court Rejects Call for Universal Vote-by-Mail in Texas Bloomberg
Black Injustice Tipping Point
The Struggle for No Police in the Los Angeles Schools: a Great Leap Forward and Victory is in Sight Counterpunch (Heresy101)
St. Louis mayor, on camera, reads names and partial addresses of people writing her letters criticizing police. https://t.co/vclQjdjRPu
— WiseGuyHat (@Popehat) June 27, 2020
“Master bedroom” and “Master bath” won’t be used in Houston’s real estate listings anymore Boing Boing (resilc)
Police and Big Tech Are Partners in Crime. We Need to Abolish Them Both Vice
The Retreat from Globalization Project Syndicate (David L)
American Air to Book Full Planes, Shelve Social Distancing Bloomberg. I flew American last month. They were never social distancing. One flight was oversold, one had only a couple of free seats, and the other two legs were >80% full.
Blackstone skips payment on $274m hotel loan Financial Times
Lenders to Ailing Companies Circle Wagons to Fend Off Distressed-Debt Investors Wall Street Journal
Why venture capital doesn’t build the things we really need MIT Technology Review
Class Warfare
University of Michigan employees can form bargaining units without formal elections, regents decide Michigan Live (mark n)
Antidote du jour. ChetG sent several pix of pollinators in light of recent discussions in Links; this is honeybee:
And a bonus (guurst):
they don’t like the stringy bits on bananas either!!!! i don’t know what i’m going to do with this info yet but it makes me happy to know. pic.twitter.com/pj1TgNMMq3
— mar❁ (@nasacertified) June 19, 2020
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
