Good and patient students,
Forgive me for the mini-rant. Readers may have noticed that the poor state of search has gotten worse thanks to AI. Browsers such as Firefox and Safari limit the choice of default browsers and do not allow unusual ones such as Yandex or Kagi. Google is now unusable. When you try to search on sites, which is an important feature for me, now we always give false positives:
There is an upside. This will now force me to use Orion + Kagi, and no usage history.
‘No one believed’: how a YouTube video accidentally proved the Libyan cat was real The Guardian (Rolf A)
Mountain lions have changed everything in this small California preserve Science Daily (Kevin W)
Lost in translation Nible (Micael T)
War and Peace Mauricio Berman (fk). Important.
When the Wait’s Over for the Oldster (Micael T)
Kids Fly into Furies When Their iPads Are Taken by Futurism. As of last month, still germane
#COVID-19/Pandemics
Dengue outbreak in Sri Lanka reaches epidemic level as cases top 50,000: Health officials Anadolu Agency
Climate/Environment
The race to understand how and when Thwaites glacier will collapse New Scientist
Sky Warming Has Caused a New Era of Unpredictable Storms Atmos
Ocean warming above 1.5°C could cause year-round ocean disturbances worldwide, study shows PhysOrg
Record coal emissions compare strongly with Energy Live’s emissions reduction claims
‘This is scary’: Colorado River, lifeline to seven states, burns at source Los Angeles Times
Iowa’s renewable energy push pays off Cedar Rapids Gazette (Robin K)
China?
US Navy maintenance gap could give Pacific war to China Asia Times (Kevin W)
China shuts down more Japanese businesses as row deepens The Japan Times
a href=” rel=”nofollow”>Even the World Cup can’t save America’s tourism industry, as China takes the lead Kevin Walmsley
Japan
Yen Hits Ten-Year Low in Historic Slide Rattled Japan Bloomberg
Japan protests against China’s maritime claims near southern island The Straits Times
India
Drought Under the AI Revolution: India’s Data Centers and the Future Water Crisis CounterCurrents
Southeast Asia
Why $20 durians are now being sold at half price – or given away by the BBC for free
How war and poverty are driving the drug problem in Myanmar UCA News
Africa
The Sahel: how the return of El Niño can increase instability in the 24ORE
Tanzania has been hit by a nationwide blackout following a major failure of the national grid ChannelAfrica
South of the Border
Satellite images show devastation from Venezuela earthquake Al Jazeera (Kevin W)
Government loosens rules on dollar lending, raising hints of 2001 crisis Buenos Aires Herald
The struggle continues’ in Bolivia’s Morales heartland France24
How Venezuela’s earthquake shook President Delcy Rodriguez Aljazeera
Peru’s Keiko Fujimori wins presidential election, in latest victory Latin American Right Guardian (Robin K)
The breakup of Europe
Trump threatens 100% tariffs on European imports if countries tax digital services Associated Press (Kevin W)
Europe risks starting winter with gas stocks at 15-year low Financial Times
EU faces ‘China shock’ ahead of key Brussels trade talks South China Morning Post
Visiting the family of Hüseyin Doğru – readers can see for themselves on the site Nackdenkseiten with machine translation (Micael T)
The European heatwave is very bad and cannot happen without a climate crisis, scientists told the Guardian. As of last week, still germane.
The extreme heatwave across Europe is increasing the power and inflation concerns CGTN
Germany joins push to delay EU methane rules Politico
+1000% de mortality chez les poules, +200% chez les porcs, +45% chez les bovins.
Several million d’animaux d’élevage sont morts sous l’effet de la canicule. Nous sommes en train de vivre une catastrophe agricole majeure, qui rejoint le traumatisme de 2003 comme étant les deux… pic.twitter.com/dxJvW9PFS5
– Dr. Serge Zaka (Dr. Zarge) (@SergeZaka) June 26, 2026
Von der Leyen’s office accused of ‘feudalism’ over air conditioning RT (Kevin W)
I’m an American living in Europe during the Great AC Wars Revolver (Li)
Europeans should learn to love air-conditioner Economist (Li)
Old Blighty
Financial curse engulfs UK LFF (Colonel Smithers)
Burnham’s rise revives talk of war bonds to finance the UK’s military fortune
Ask for political stability to help the agricultural industry BBC
The shortage of pea grows after the first harvest in 14 years Independent
The Balkans
The Kushner-related protests reveal the depth of anger among Albanian leaders The Japan Times
Serbia: Protests continue after Vucic says he will step down from DW post
Israel v. The Resistance
Series on medical research conducted on at least 1,000 Yemenite Jewish children stolen from hospitals by the Israeli government in the early 1950s.
— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) June 29, 2026
Report: Israel Revives Gaza Ethnic Cleansing Program, Rebrands it as ‘Free Movement Program’ Antiwar.com (Kevin W)
Bayer in league with Israel’s use of glyphosate, white phosphorus Eye Middle East Eye (Robin K)
I don’t really care who ends this evil, but it has to end.
— Kathleen Tyson (@Kathleen_Tyson_) June 29, 2026
The Jewish Community Center in Birmingham, which I was a part of (70% goyim membership because of the gym and swimming pools; also a 1 minute walk from the house) received 2 bomb threats from this actor and implemented all kinds of new security procedures. Workers appeared to be very traumatized:
Michael Kadar, a US/Israeli dual citizen was indicted in Florida on Monday for making bomb threats against Jewish institutions in 2016 and 2017.
The ADL included Kadar’s incidents in its 2017 antisemitism report, which accounted for 9 percent of all incidents.
Racially motivated hate crimes such as… pic.twitter.com/G1cstQLGKB
— GenXGirl (@GenXGirl1994) June 28, 2026
In the shadow of Minab: Inside US tests of ‘new missiles’ in Lamerd Middle East Eye of Iran (Kevin W)
That’s where he’s going, btw. Trump has made us vulnerable to this reality with his stupid war. And the Iranians have NO interest in ending anything because they know they can win this tournament. We are looking at the cliff. God help us all.
— Brandon Weichert (@WeTheBrandon) June 29, 2026
Iraq arrests protesters as riots spread over New Arab power cuts
Syracistan
Iraqi officials arrested in major corruption scandal The Associated Press (Robin K)
I can’t stress enough how wrong this tweet is.
First, Prime Minister al-Zaidi is by no means the person who started this campaign. In fact, he oversaw its implementation in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief. The most likely driving force is within the Iraqi court…
— Harith Hasan (@harith_hasan) June 28, 2026
Israel says army kills militants in southern Syria, vows to continue military presence in Kurdistan24
The New Cold War
One reason to believe that things are not so bad in Russia is that real average wages have risen 25% since the war began, inflation has fallen to single digits, and the unemployment rate is 2.5%. In terms of macroeconomics, Russia is doing better than anyone in the western world.
— Policy Tensor (@policytensor) June 28, 2026
BREAKING: Dealer of Death Warns Russia Prepares Deadly Attack on Western Europe Tucker Carlson (Micael T)
Russia has begun arming its ships, The Times reports.
Two 12.7mm Utes guns were spotted on the bridge of the Marshal Vasilevsky, one of Russia’s largest LNG carriers, likely to protect against drones and boarding attempts. pic.twitter.com/wmTa7Wt8dX
— Comment by Victor vicktop55 (@vick55top) June 29, 2026
Ukraine is changing regional power with a strong stance on Belarus The Times
The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service reports that the Kiev regime has strengthened cooperation with Mexican drug cartels, increasing human trafficking through the port of Odessa and providing infrastructure to flood Europe with more drugs.
This was a great success… pic.twitter.com/89t9vMpKHn
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) June 29, 2026
Imperial Collapse Watch
Trends for 2026: geopolitics and rising events in Ukraine
America wants its own McDonald’s missile-making model Financial Times
Steven Spielberg’s Moral Equivalent of Un-Diplomatic War
Trump 2.0
The Supreme Court ruled that Trump cannot fire Fed member Lisa Cook; it gives him more power over other independent stations than NBC
The Supreme Court rules it can count late ballots, rejecting a Trump-led challenge, The Associated Press.
MAHA feels betrayed after Supreme Court ruling on Monsanto, glyphosate The Hill (Kevin W)
Ours is No Longer Free
When saving journalism pays better than doing journalism Amphibian(s)
The economy
Can Power Be Money? Doug Casey (Micael T)
Water shortages could prevent US from digging more lithium, deepening reliance on imports Life Science
Mr. Market Needs A Healer
Trillion-dollar Borrowing Binge Drives Stock Market to Risky Heights Wall Street Journal
Oil markets are priced for rising supply which is not guaranteed by OilPrice
Big oil’s secret trading weapons have had an unusual year for the Economist
Bezzle
Zepbound Craze Fuels $1.3 Billion Windfall on Religion Bloomberg (fk)
Class War
College is unaffordable for most Americans – but don’t blame tuition hikes Kansas Reflector (Robin K)
Millions Lose ACA Coverage After Trump and Republicans Let Funding Expire The Intellectualist
Why are record numbers of American adults living with their parents? RT (Robin K)
Antidote du jour. mgl: “Canada geese + goslings, Potter Marsh, Anchorage, Alaska. It’s spring!”
And bouns:
Sammy the seal was always asking for food at the Irish restaurant, so the staff started feeding him every day at 9am, 1pm, and 4pm. Now he crawls out of the water, looks both ways, crosses the road, and waits for his prize at those exact times every day. He doesn’t drink. pic.twitter.com/0qkpwR81i7
— Wolf of X (@WolfofX) June 28, 2026
Second bonus:
Kitty is seriously teaching her owner how to file her nails lolololol
She’s so cute lol pic.twitter.com/AehXspln3Y— cats with powerful vision 🐾 (@catshealdeprsn) June 28, 2026
And a different kind of antidote. We’ve featured resilc metal art before. I love pinwheels and this one spins. If I were in the US and had a yard, I would send one and find a way to get it to me.
See yesterday’s links and the Antidote du Jour here
