The Causes of and Responses to Today’s Inflation (PDF) Joseph E. Stiglitz and Ira Regmi, Roosevelt Institute. “Our analysis concludes that today’s inflation is largely driven by supply shocks and sectoral demand shifts, not by excess aggregate demand. Monetary policy, then, is too blunt an instrument because it will greatly reduce inflation only at the cost of unnecessarily high unemployment, with severe adverse distributive consequences.” Perhaps the cruelty is the point.
How does the Consumer Price Index account for the cost of housing? Brookings Institution
Martin Wolf on the economy in 2023 FT
Climate
Massive storm to impact the Central and Southern U.S. The Watchers
As the Arctic Warms, Beavers Move In Smithsonian. On beavers as ecosystem engineers, see NC here, here, and here.
#COVID19
Reducing the particles generated by flushing institutional toilets Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. From April, still germane. “Airborne particles play a significant role in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. A previous study reported that institutional flush-O-meter (FOM) toilets can generate 3–12 times as many droplets as other toilets by splashing (large droplets) and bubble bursting (fine droplets).” Yes, airports use them. Photo (note the lack of tank and the lack of a lid):
Stay safe out there in your holiday travels!
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A liver drug reduces SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells Nature. Hamsters + donated human organs. “A widely used drug called UDCA reduces SARS-CoV-2 infection in human organoid structures, animals and human organs maintained outside the body. Individuals using UDCA for liver conditions are less likely to develop severe COVID-19 than are people who did not use it. UDCA treatment could help to protect people with suppressed immune systems and offer protectionagainst vaccine-resistant variants…. UDCA is widely used, accessible, cost effective, off-patent and easy to manufacture and store — overcoming cost and distribution barriers. It does not target the immune system or the virus itself and could therefore be both effective in people with weak immune systems and protect against viral resistance. It could also be effective in future coronavirus pandemics, because ACE2 is a doorway for many such viruses…. [T]his study is not a clinical trial, and our findings must be validated and confirmed in large groups of individuals who are studied over time.”
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Two Years of U.S. COVID-19 Vaccines Have Prevented Millions of Hospitalizations and Deaths Commonwealth Fund
Urgent Need for Next-Generation COVID-19 Vaccines JAMA. “[I]f immunity that reduced disease transmission could be elicited by a relatively inexpensive, easily administered vaccine stored at room temperature, a much greater fraction of the world’s population could be readily immunized, perhaps slowing the emergence of troubling variants.”
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Why We Fight Peste. The deck: “An introductory letter to the 2022 Public Health Disservice Awards,” similar to my Sociopath of the Day Award. The Achievement in Public Health Disservice is a tie between Stanford (home of the Great Barrington Declaration) and UCSF (home of Vinay Prasad, Bob Wachter, and Monica Gandhi). Worthy winners, certainly, but did not WHO and CDC at least deserve Dishonorable Mentions?
China?
Coronavirus: China stops counting asymptomatic cases as country moves to living with Covid SCMP. Amazing to see the “living with” formulation infect China. It’s almost as if the PMC — in this case, the editors who passed the headline — are the first truly international class (aside from billionaires, of course). Everybody knows what “living with” Covid means, too; it means dying from it, for everyone but those who propagate the “living with trope” (this is Rule #2, but see Invariants #1 and #2).
Unrest in Mongolia: Who Stands to Gain? Indian Punchline
“Online testing is a joke”: How Chinese students cheat on U.S. college entry exams Rest of World. (Founder is Eric Schmidt’s daughter….)
Dear Old Blighty
The NHS is now no match for its foreign counterparts. These are the alternatives The Telegraph. “The mantra of efficiency, which has created “just-in-time” supply chains in many sectors, was imported to the NHS to a degree not seen in most other health systems – especially those with a competitive motive to keep things bright and shiny for their customers.”
European Disunion
EU ministers fail again on gas price cap to contain costs AP
What Is The Reichsbürger Movement Accused Of Trying To Overthrow The German Government? Madras Courier
Thousands in Montenegro clash with police over political tension Andalou Agency
New Not-So-Cold War
“Far, far from Ypres” (lyrics):
It’s probably reached peak winter mud season at this point in eastern Ukraine, as seen here, a Ukrainian Zu-23-2 armed MT-LB struggles to push through what is effectively soup. pic.twitter.com/NjBD8cUwKy
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) December 13, 2022
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The United States Couldn’t Stop Being Stupid if It Wanted To Stephen Walt, Foreign Policy
Putin’s annual State of the Nation Address is likely to be held in 2023 — source Tass. Perhaps Putin willl be busy in the meantime?
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Did Russia and China sign a secret defense pact? Responsible Statecraft
U.S. Eyes Giving Ukraine Patriot Missile Defense Systems WSJ
Royal Marines have taken part in ‘high-risk’ covert operations in Ukraine, general reveals for first time Daily Mail. What could go wrong?
Peru’s armed forces to take control of airports, other key infrastructure amid protests South China Morning Post
Lula looks to reduce role of armed forces in Brazilian politics FT
Biden Administration
Lawmakers Announce Bipartisan Breakthrough on Full-Year Omnibus Spending Bill Government Executive
Biden Kills Senate Resolution To End Yemen Genocide Caitlin Johnstone
What the Respect for Marriage Act Actually Does (and Doesn’t Do) Jezebel
Capitol Seizure
Exclusive: An intel analyst tried to prevent the Jan. 6 attack — but DHS failed to act Yahoo News
Intelligence Community
Cambridge University’s Course For Spooks Declassified UK
Police State Watch
The City That Kicked Cops Out of Schools and Tried Restorative Practices Instead In These Times
The Bezzle
SBF’s “dirty money” Axios
Binance CEO says deposits returning to exchange Reuters
Crypto Was Always Smoke and Mirrors The Atlantic
Carlyle to miss deadline for $22bn fund as investors cool on private equity FT
Tech
Nuclear fusion reactor ‘breakthrough’ is significant, but light-years away from being useful LiveScience
States Demand That Google, Apple Raise Content Ratings for TikTok WSJ
Apple planning to allow third-party App Store alternatives on the iPhone for the first time 9to5 Mac. Thanks to EU regulators.
Our Famously Free Press
The stuff uncovered in the Twitter whistleblower report @AvidHalaby, Thread Reader. Jawdropping.
Supply Chain
U.S. shale oil output to keep growing, at snail’s pace – EIA Reuters
2023 to Only Be the End of the Beginning of Commodity Market Rebalancing Hellenic Shipping News
More Nations Are Tightening Control of Strategic Mineral Exports Maritime Executive
Sports Desk
Messi, Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 to reach World Cup final AP. From the game:
Another angle of Messi ‘s insane assist vs Croatia.
Poetry in the motion 🔥pic.twitter.com/HziLWx2eK1
— Semper Fi (@SemperFiMessi) December 13, 2022
Messi deked that guy really badly. Is Messi like the Shane Warne of soccer?
‘Camel Flu’ Threat At FIFA World Cup? Here’s What Health Authorities Say NDTV
Realignment and Legitimacy
We need the return of the state Tax Research UK
Class Warfare
Railroad Union Votes Out Union President – 100,000 UK Nurses Strike – 500 Authors Protest HarperCollins Payday Report. The only coverage of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen vote as of this writing, remarkably enough. And (of course (and for now)) see Twitter. Two days ago:
Just spoke to Eddie Hall, a BLET member out of Tucson, who appears to have just won an unbelievable upset election against incumbent Dennis Pierce. Official results should be out tomorrow or the next day — but an absolute stunning outcome. https://t.co/xPSmHjj5ep
— Jonah Furman (@JonahFurman) December 12, 2022
And today:
BREAKING: RAIL TEAMSTERS VOTE OUT BLET NATIONAL PRESIDENT
In an upset, Rail Teamsters in the BLET have voted out incumbent National BLET President Dennis Pierce and elected challenger Eddie Hall. pic.twitter.com/kM7pLw3ki4
— Teamsters for a Democratic Union (@TeamsterRnF) December 13, 2022
Let the work-to-rule begin!
Workers at one Lake Michigan Credit Union branch are unionizing mLive (marknaess2).
Behind the Key Decision That Left Many Poor Homeowners Without Enough Money to Rebuild after Katrina ProPublica
I Knew You Were Trouble When I Logged In Slate. Ticketmaster.
Antidote du jour (Marku52):
Stylish! And:
Marku52 writes: “Here is our Rescue GMC (Giant Mutant Chihuahua). About twice the weight of a true ChiHua. Genetics says he is part Poodle?”
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
