Links 3/25/2025 | naked capitalism - TheAdviserMagazine.com

Chimpanzees act as ‘engineers’, choosing materials to make tools based on structural and mechanical properties ScienceDaily (Kevin W)

The sudden, surprising rise of beard transplants: ‘This industry is a wild west’ Guardian (Terry F)

Updated physical model helps reconstruct sudden, dramatic sea level rise after last ice age PhysOrg (Chuck L)

Why physics today stands on the wings of angels and demons aeon

6.7-magnitude earthquake hits off New Zealand’s South Island Straits Times

#COVID-19/Pandemics

Best piece I’ve read on Covid’s impact on the brain:

“Scientists have found that those who have had Covid are more likely to have elevated levels in their blood of the same proteins that are prevalent in people with Alzheimer’s disease.” #LongCovid pic.twitter.com/m63BwPEjo1

— charlos (@loscharlos) March 24, 2025

Scientists Tested a DIY Air Cleaner – And It Beat Expensive Filters SciTech Daily (Chuck L)

Climate/Environment

Conflicts Over Water Are on the Rise Statista

China?

China calls for global business to ‘resist protectionism’ as American executives gather in Beijing CNN

TSMC making a risky bet on MAGA Asia Times (Kevin W)

Africa

If 70 people in Palestine were beheaded, quite rightly, you’d have heard about it.

If 70 people at Pride were murdered, quite rightly, you’d have heard about it.

70 Christians were beheaded in Congo recently. Did you hear about it? pic.twitter.com/FgWkcGS7RA

— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) March 25, 2025

An exception that proves the rule: The country where beheadings and jihadi violence are rife – but nobody is talking about it Independent

European Disunion

Europe’s Anti-Democratic Militarization Compact Magazine (Micael T)

Europe’s “military coup” Thomas Fazi

Greenland’s prime minister slams ‘highly aggressive’ visit by US officials, including second lady Usha Vance CNN

Greenland’s government hits back at Donald Trump over US visit to Arctic island Financial Times. Kevin W: “Trump has said that Denmark is not a good ally.”

We can’t conjure up shelters in a crisis Aftonbladet via machine translation. Micael T: “So you choose between dying from artillery or choking to death in a shelter. Neoliberal fantasy camp.”

Old Blighty

Councils and NHS could face millions in extra costs due to disability benefit cuts Guardian

Israel v. The Resistance

🚨Israel just bombed the Red Cross in Gaza

There is NOT a single redline left that Israel hasn’t crossed; not a single international law it hasn’t already obliterated…

Yet the EU is still pretending Israel hasn’t even violated “article 2” on respect for human rights! pic.twitter.com/ve4ecE4Vjc

— Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) March 24, 2025

World ignores calls ‘to stop the madness’ as Israel kills dozens in attacks Aljazeera

Report: Netanyahu Demanded the IDF Bomb Homes Without Intelligence Antiwar.com (Kevin W)

Jordan proposes exiling 3,000 Hamas members from Gaza to end Israel’s war Middle East Eye (Kevin W)

Iran Deploys Missile Systems on Disputed Gulf Islands Amid Rising Tensions Kurdistan24

Iran: No ‘direct’ talks under maximum pressure; onus on US to change policy PressTV

New Not-So-Cold War

No statement from latest round of talks in Saudi Arabia. 40 minutes with Ukraine, which = a one-way communication. 12 hours of US-Russia negotiations. Team so tired they will make their statement tomorrow.

You may not have heard of Yevgeny Primakov. But in Moscow’s corridors of power, his ideas are very much alive — and shaping how Russia is engaging the United States right now. 🧵

As US-Russia talks grind on, one thing is clear: the Kremlin is not looking for a reset. It’s not… pic.twitter.com/7brG6pCB13

— Brian McDonald (@27khv) March 24, 2025

Turkiye

What’s Erdogan’s end game with Imamoglu’s arrest? Middle East Eye

This is Turkey.

If 1/10th of this happened in Russia, Iran, or China Western media would call it a revolution and demand the regime change of “the dictator” but they seem silent right now since Erdogan is sending oil to Western colony Zionistan. pic.twitter.com/AAgHZXFHGQ

— Hassan Mafi ‏ (@thatdayin1992) March 24, 2025

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

DNA of 15 Million People For Sale In 23andMe Bankruptcy 404media

You know that generative AI browser assistant extension is probably beaming everything to the cloud, right? The Register. I do not do extensions at all, on the assumption they are spyware. General rule: if something is free, you are the product.

Imperial Collapse Watch

Regime Change in the West? London Review of Books (Anthony L). Today’s must read.

BREAKING: The Trump admin accidentally texted a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, from The Atlantic, their top-secret war plans on Yemen.

Texts are below between Vance and Hegseth, in which the journalist was included.

Imagine if Biden did this! So incompetent. pic.twitter.com/CGIkNq0iNX

— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) March 24, 2025

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans Atlantic

Publish the Leaked Trump Texts Ken Klippenstein

Mike Johnson says Mike Waltz, Pete Hegseth shouldn’t be disciplined over war plans Signal chat The Hill. If this was Russia or any reasonably run country, the outcome would be very different.

* * *

As trust in the US collapses, leaders in Australia and around the world are frantically recalibrating Guardian

Trump 2.0

A pretty hard core conservative reader has volunteered that he thinks Trump was kept on a fairly short leash during the campaign and is now wildly out of control and Musk is really in charge (which said contact does not see as good). This reader has noticed a pattern he suggests we hoist into a regular feature: “Red Hat Distraction of the Day.” Conservative media has been hyping daily news bright shiny objects like the F-47 (so we really need a F-35 2.0?) to cheer up the base and divert attention to the increasingly MAGA-betraying policies of Team Trump. Can you help provide sightings?

Dr. Oz and the Plot Against Medicare DropSite. Important.

The ‘Golden Dome’ Scam Daniel Larison

GOP senators warn Trump agenda will be slowed by internal divisions The Hill

They helped Trump take back the White House. The rewards have come swiftly. CNN (Kevin W)

Pentagon chief offers choice between war and defense RT (Kevin W)

Trump says countries that purchase oil from Venezuela will pay 25% tariff on any trade with U.S. CNBC (Kevin W)

Buying the vote MuskWatch

JFK files: CIA contaminated sugar destined for USSR RT (Kevin W)

DOGE

Elon Musk Disguises IRS Building As Tesla Dealership So Democrats Will Burn It Down Babylon Bee (Chuck L)

Tax revenue could drop by 10 percent amid turmoil at IRS Washington Post

DeJoy stepping down as USPS postmaster general immediately Axios (Kevin W)

Immigration

Judges Rip Trump Officials Over Deportation Flights Wall Street Journal

US treated Nazis better during WWII than Trump treated deported Venezuelan migrants: Federal judge Anadolu Agency

Police State Watch

How the Iraq War turbocharged police militarization Stephen Semler

‘Record’ payout for world’s longest-serving death row inmate BBC

Our No Longer Free Press

Anti-Zionist, But Not Anti-Semitic Larry Johnson. The fact that he wrote this suggests he is getting more pushback.

Meta considers charging for ad-free Facebook and Instagram in the UK BBC (Kevin W)

Mr. Market Is Moody

Diverging US Economic Data Begs the Question: Is a Slowdown Coming? Bloomberg

#TheDeepSeekEffect DeepSeek-V3 now runs at 20 tokens per second on Mac Studio, and that’s a nightmare for OpenAI | VentureBeat https://t.co/MIMk8n41Z7

— Paul Triolo (@pstAsiatech) March 25, 2025

The Phony Comforts of AI Optimism Ed Zitron

The Bezzle

White House Says Gold Reserves May Be Used to Purchase Bitcoin Benzinga. Paul R: “Am I on a drug trip or what? This can’t possibly be real.”

Tesla’s Europe sales collapse as anti-Musk backlash grows Politico (Kevin W)

Tesla sales drop 35% in San Diego County Fox5SanDiego

Tesla Stock Value and Elon’s Power in DC JD Lindeberg. Way too kind to Team Dem…

Guillotine Watch