A barrage of Russian missiles has forced the shut-down of six nuclear power plants at a time when the Ukrainian power infrastructure has already sustained significant damage, threatening Ukrainians with blackouts and a cold winter.

Huge Foxconn iPhone plant in China rocked by fresh worker unrest

China’s ‘iPhone city’ tightens Covid rules after violent protests

Something Just Cracked in Spain’s Mortgage Market

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg hedges on how the Biden administration would respond should a strike occur.

Building Fast and Slow: The Empire State Building and the World Trade Center (Part I)

Association between vitamin D supplementation and COVID-19 infection and mortality

Solzhenitsyn’s Ivan Denisovich at 60.

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, NOVEMBER 23

The Army Within: Chechnya’s Security Forces

As COVID Cases Surge, China Locks Down Beijing, Shanghai and Other Major Cities

Hundreds riot at Foxconn iPhone plant over terrible conditions

With their bank accounts frozen and their savings inaccessible, Lebanese depositors are turning to drastic means to withdraw their money.

Ansarallah threatens to target oil ships in ports under Saudi control

Four crucial drugs for fighting respiratory illnesses are in short supply in America amid the ‘tripledemic’

Major tax-filing sites routinely shared users’ financial info with Facebook

Meta researchers create AI that masters Diplomacy, tricking human players

Study raises doubts about role of ‘good’ cholesterol in heart health

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, NOVEMBER 22

The IAEA has said Iran is continuing to accelerate its nuclear program and is producing highly enriched uranium at a new site.

All Unions are bound to support a strike if one of them does so in once sense this has already been decided. But the number of unions rejecting it gives you an idea of how hard it will be to resolve this. The votes appear to be in for the two largest railroad unions. WSJ reported Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) said 54% of members who participated in the vote would accept the five-year labor deal. However, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART-TD) rejected ratifying the labor agreement.

Amazon Alexa is a “colossal failure,” on pace to lose $10 billion this year

US Consumers Are Doing Exactly What They Did Just Prior To The Crash Of 2008

Biden Administration Reverses Course at COP27 on Climate Reparations

More interesting for what it says about the used car market then anything else. Carvana is going to cut 1,500 jobs, which is about 8 percent of its workforce.

The ‘Respect For Marriage Act’ Is An Exercise In Tyranny, And Everyone Knows It

A Soil Fungus That Causes Lung Infections Is Spreading Across the U.S.

A combination of ultrasound and nanobubbles allows cancerous tumors to be destroyed without invasive treatments

Is this really the only portrait of William Shakespeare made in his lifetime?

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, NOVEMBER 20

City Has Been Liberated, But a Few Are Not Happy

Megalopolis: how coastal west Africa will shape the coming century

Leak at Pennsylvania gas storage well spewing methane

Rate of premature births in U.S. rises above 10%

US imports from China falling faster than from other countries

How many yottabytes in a quettabyte? Extreme numbers get new names

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, NOVEMBER 18

Can Ukraine’s infrastructure survive the winter?

Russia’s commercial airlines face a slow death

A Chinses view on current US politics.

As reported by Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun, in a meeting on Nov 2, the Energy Conservation Subcommittee of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry resolved to begin working group discussions with the aim of gaining the ability to remotely turn down privately owned air conditioner/heater units.

China debt: local government ‘land grabs’ raise concerns amid tumbling fiscal revenues

The real scandal is that Facebook was handing out access to change people accounts to low level employees like security guards as a job perk!!! Why this is not more of a scandal is beyond me. Meta Employees, Security Guards Fired for Hijacking User Accounts

LA Port Traffic Down Sharply in October

The main significance is that these are all happening before Christmas busy season. What is going to happen after Christmas? Layoffs? You Want To Talk About Layoffs? Here Are 10 Major Announcements Which Have Happened Within The Past 10 Days

To beat Ebola in Uganda, fund what worked in Liberia

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, NOVEMBER 16

Household debt soars at fastest pace in 15 years as credit card use surges, Fed report says

Feds Had Informants In Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for J6

I remain dubious about this. Until people make more of an effort to deal with criticisms that this is just a measurement artifact (see end of article) I will not be convinced. Sperm count is declining at accelerating rate worldwide

Inventing the Crypto King

Container Glut Growing As Global Trade Slips

Israel-Lebanon gas deal proceeds with TotalEnergies, Eni agreement

OPEC Oil Production Fell In October As Members Missed Targets

What happened at Alameda Research

DEA’s most corrupt agent

My views get me pilloried. Self-described anti-racists bombard me with the view that I am “white adjacent”, “honorary white”, “white passing”, and part of the “dominant culture”.

Fentanyl vaccine potential ‘game changer’ for opioid epidemic

So the fragile grid teeters on. But the first thing the renewable energy star state had to do was dump their solar power because it threatened to push the system over. The highest risk moment they are worried about now is midday Thursday, because it looks like being a sunny day. Oh, the woe!

In Horrific Move, Iran’s Parliament Votes to Execute 15,000 Protestors to Teach ‘Hard Lesson’ This Iranian sympathizing newspaper says that this story is not true and they are probably right. But note that the truth is that the legislators only signed a letter calling for for the executions and not actually passing a law. I am not sure that is the defense they think it is.

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, NOVEMBER 14

US, Russian spy chiefs meet in Turkey over Ukraine war

Kinburn – the Indirect Approach

Potential Ban On Russian Metals Pushes Aluminum Prices Higher

Amazon To Fire 10,000 Employees, Largest Layoff In Company History

A Remedy for the Federally Funded Physician Shortage

Canada will soon allow medically assisted dying for mental illness.