Leap Seconds Was a Headache. Now Timekeepers Consider Leap Hour Gizmodo
A child’s portrait of Adolf Hitler at a New Jersey middle school sparks an ABC6 investigation
The way to the brain? Alzheimer’s Linked to Notorious Tire Chemical StudyFinds
How to lie about radiation It works Continued
Climate/Environment
The El Niño of 2026-27 is simply amazing.
Tropical Pacific waters are running about 7 weeks earlier than they have been during this El Niño cycle in modern history.
Models now place a maximum of 3.6°C in the Relative Oceanic Niño Index (RONI), a new… pic.twitter.com/bsMmj0C0qs
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) July 9, 2026
June 2026 is the warmest June in Western Europe on record from the Copernicus Climate Change Service
11 dead, 19 missing as Spanish fire roars through AFP village
France’s Heatwave Cuts Wine Harvest As Farmers Prepare For Little Vino Joy
Saharan Dust Lowers the Atlantic Eye in the Tropics
Cities of Dust: The Technosphere Trap Endgame George Tsakraklides
Ebola
Ebola outbreak ‘growing very fast’ as 600 die AFP
Water
Pakistan Ups Ante In Indus Water Dispute With India Diplomat
China?
China factory fire kills at least 28 people Channel News Asia
HELIUM -China banned the export of helium today (MOFCOM/GACC Announcement No. 29, HS 2804290010), effective immediately. It is legal under GATT XI:2(a) , a temporary embargo to alleviate critical shortages, where all three parties have clearly met in view of the Ras Laffan deletion…
— 🇦🇺Craig Tindale (@ctindale) July 10, 2026
Southeast Asia
Should Southeast Asia Fear a Second China Shock? THE FULCRUM
India
Google to plant its AI flag in India: What it means for the country The Economic Times
India’s Persian Gulf diplomacy is a churlish Indian Punchline
Syracistan
Israel Continues Shooting Children in the Head During Gaza Ceasefire
Amid the complete denial of treatment and the absence of even basic medical care here, the children of Gaza are facing excruciatingly severe skin diseases, with indescribable pain—no one can tolerate at all. pic.twitter.com/nOzotLfbBL
— Haitham in Gaza 🇵🇸🍉 (@HaithamElmasri1) July 8, 2026
IDF Chief Tells Pilots to Expect ‘Major’ Israeli Operations Against Iran Antiwar
Israel shared intelligence with the US of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, sources told CNN
What did Jolani and Trump agree on at the Ankara NATO summit and did Erdogan sweet talk and cooperate? Vanessa Beeley
Türkiye’s S-400s headed to third country, sale to be completed on July 10: Report Turkiye Today
Russia is planning the July launch of a commercial port in the Syrian port of Cyprus Mail
Old Blighty
I received a letter from Natwest threatening to close my personal account of 42 years because “some of the payments look like business”.
I spent an hour on the phone with no success asking them to tell me what the jobs are.— Craig Murray (@CraigMurrayOrg) July 9, 2026
The breakup of Europe
Germany records highest corporate bankruptcies in more than 20 years with nearly 5,000 filings in Q2 2026 Europe Says.
The New Cold War
EU countries scramble to avoid catastrophic revision of Russian oil prices Euronews
Capitals embrace the next package of EU sanctions against Russia Euractiv
Shooting Starlink: The “borderless” partnership between Russia and China targets Elon Musk The Insider, Der Spiegel, and Le Monde.
The Murder of an Oligarch Arrested in Monaco Turns into a Reputational Tragedy in Ukraine Andrew Korybko
Russia no longer trusts that the West is ready to negotiate – Lavrov TASS
South of the Border
Venezuela Seeks Access to IMF Reserve Assets for Earthquake Recovery TeleSur
Epstein’s story
THE DIRTY FORTY: EPSTEIN’S BILLIONAIRE FRIENDS AND ORGANIZATIONS ARE ROCKING US ELECTIONS
Charlie Kirk
The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s slaying “said he wished he hadn’t done it,” his roommate told Utah prosecutors CNN.
This is very wild. All of this prosecution is based on statements and evidence given by twiggs, whose DNA is on the gun/towel/screw. Besides we have a bunch of iffy pictures of people who may or may not be Tyler Robinson acting suspiciously but not murderously…
— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) July 8, 2026
Trump 2.0
Trump received at least $10 million in defense stocks last year Responsible Statecraft
Trump fires independent election commission in big move for The Independent
WHAT DO INTELLIGENCE PREACHERS, AI AND THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S CONSTITUTION PROBLEM CONNECT? PART THREE Notes on Disasters
Trump Pardons Another Toxic Chemical Trap
Bipartisan housing bill to be signed into law Friday — unless Trump vetoes Yahoo! The groom
The administration has a new climate change office. It is managed by a weather forecaster. Politics
Trump promotes ‘Freedom Fuel’ stations that sell cheap gas. How they do that is unclear to CNN
Democracies are simple
Maine Democrats have authorized a 600-person convention to elect a successor to Graham Platner Bangor Daily News. Comment:
Maine held a hard-fought Democratic Senate base but unfortunately the voters made the wrong choice and now the DC party leadership needs to elect a new candidate. Sorry, but that’s how democracy works
— Stop Forever Wars (@DoctorFishbones) July 8, 2026
They openly announced the purge of the left. Maybe they will find El-Sayed, maybe they won’t. They didn’t find Mamdani, at least not yet.
But understanding Platner’s scandal as insufficient scrutiny or tawdry personal behavior misses a broader political construct. pic.twitter.com/RV0O2U6Ugn
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 9, 2026
Eying 2028, Rahm Emanuel’s test drives a tough message of love to Israel Responsible Statecraft
DMFI and the Pro-Genocide team agree with Rahm Emanuel’s speech because if they pass Section 219 of the NDAA as planned and Israel gets direct access to the Pentagon’s $1 trillion budget, any political opposition to funding Israel will be meaningless.
— Harrison Berger (@BergerPosts) July 9, 2026
Big Brother is Watching You
Flock Cameras Screw Up, Swarm Innocent Man With Armed Police Futurism
The purpose of Flock’s cameras is to destroy the legal concept known as the “reasonable expectation of privacy.”
This “reasonable expectation” protects you in places like a store dressing room, a private sales area, or standing alone in the field.
The herds are being herded so that they don’t care…
— Retro Coast (@RetroCoast) July 9, 2026
Academe qualifications
Against the New Weapons of Mass Destruction Ziggurat
‘We won’t use them’: California universities stockpile AR-15s, grenades and assault rifles The Guardian
The AI
OpenAI and Google sell AI models to Chinese groups blacklisted by FT
AI Is Turbocharging Managers’ Efforts to Authenticate Their Employees
One ChatGPT User Generated Nearly 28,000 Follower Stories About Pregnancy and It Gets Worse From There ZME Science
Meta Patents AI Device That Tracks Your Emotions, Watches You Take Your Medicine 404 Media
This permission, common to dry cleaners, is now being used to build AI power plants Floodlight
Health care?
Why American ambulance rides are so expensive David Oks
Your next nurse may care for you in the Philippines and the rest of the world
A new proposal for organ donation concerns NPR
Immigration to another country
Mexico to file criminal complaint with US over deaths of Mexicans in immigration enforcement Reuters
Guillotine Watch
Luxury jet: San Francisco is going to build a luxury secret Guardian airport
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s links and the Antidote du Jour here.
