RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 31

A sign they are feeling the strain. This deprives them of their main leverage to control Turkey/Israel in Syria. Russia Pulls S-300 From Syria With Likely Black Sea Deployment

‘Radical Shift’: Majority of People Traveling to the Border Come From Outside Mexico, Northern Triangle

U.S. Forces Ordered to Stop Using Gender Pronouns to Improve ‘Lethality’

France reveals hidden swimming pools with AI, taxes them

Feds Find 30K Mexican Passport Holders With Middle Eastern Names in Fraud Investigation

In 2021, the average American could expect to live until the age of 76, federal health researchers reported on Wednesday. The figure represents a loss of almost three years since 2019, when Americans could expect to live, on average, nearly 79 years.

A reminder of how quickly modern life can get much worse. In this case the crisis was adverted but maybe next time it will not be

Deadly Floods Swamp Farms in Pakistan, Flushing Away Crops

Californians are urged to avoid charging electric vehicles, days after state announced ban of new sales of gas-powered cars by 2035

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 30

Pakistan floods: One third of country is under water – minister

New York Senator Pushes Bill Mandating Speed Limiters for All Cars

Reports from Cuba: After milk and beef, bread disappears from the Cuban table

“This Is Beyond Imagination”: Polish Homeowners Line Up For Days To Buy Coal Ahead Of Winter

China Rolls Out Aid to Help Power Firms and Save Rice Harvest

Confidential Report Reveals Iran Is Still Enriching Uranium
Energy Emergencies Declared After BP Refinery Fire In Indiana

Warning sign? NASA never finished a fueling test before today’s SLS launch attempt

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 27

The official response for lay people. The Latest Webb Observations Don’t Disprove The Big Bang, But They Are Interesting

The New Income-Driven Repayment System Could Cause Some Big Problems

Federal Court Blocks Biden Admin from Forcing Doctors to Perform Gender Transitions

Its largest lake is so dry, China digs deep to water crops

Huawei’s profits collapse as US sanctions bite

Pakistan: Death toll from heavy flooding nears 1,000

To put this in context, latest price I could find for an industrial user of electricity in New York state (not the cheapest in nation) was $76. For my costs it is about $96. I am assuming the figures quoted by Oilprice are for the power alone and do not included services and delivery charges. If I am wrong, France will still be paying more then six times for a megawatt compared to what I pay including all taxes and fees and what not that you pay in New York. In France, year-ahead power prices surged as much as 13% on Friday alone, to $1,003 (1,000 euro) per megawatt-hour for the first time ever, per Bloomberg’s estimates. French power prices have now soared tenfold over the past year.

Student loan forgiveness in hands of “understaffed and overcommitted” agency

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 26

Forget showering, it’s eat or heat for shocked Europeans hit by energy crisis

Can Magistrate Judges Constitutionally Issue Search Warrants Against Trump (Or Anyone Else)?

Ethiopian Air Raid Hit Tigray as Govt Vows to Strike Military Targets

Canada takes giant leap toward Room 101 in the Ministry of Love

The Disinformation Governance Board Is Now Officially Dead, But the Enemies of Free Speech Will Keep Trying

SPACEX INVITES WORLD’S CARRIERS TO COLLABORATE — NO MORE CELL PHONE DEAD ZONES

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 25

Canada Is Euthanizing Its Sick and Poor. Welcome to World of Government Health Care.

U.N. atomic agency chief warns Iran may have dealt the nuclear deal a “fatal blow”

Penn medical school expands minority candidate program that does not require MCAT

Commercial Poultry Operation In California Detects First Bird Flu Case

U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Falls To 35-Year Low

Dockworker Strikes at Northern European Ports Add to Supply Chain Disruption

Court Strikes Down “Quarantine Camp” Regulation in New York State

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 22

The plunge in dry bulk shipping: Ominous signal on China’s economy?

A Petty Squabble Between Serbia and Kosovo Has NATO Preparing to Intervene

Libya’s Oil Production Rebounds To Top 1.2 Million Bpd

Experts Concerned As Americans Are Rapidly Losing Interest In Having Kids

The Executive Army

Evangelical Christian furries are worried they’ll be targeted for their faith

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 21

For 14 of the past 15 weeks, England and Wales have averaged around 1,000 extra deaths each week, none of which are due to Covid. If the current trajectory continues, the number of non-Covid excess deaths will soon outstrip deaths from the virus this year – and be even more deadly than the omicron wave.

China just ran into something that could be even more devastating for its supply chains than COVID-19 lockdowns: A record heat wave

Good conversations have lots of doorknobs

There’s been a transformation in the last 6 years — the polarization between attitudes of young men and women is expanding like a bubble.

Digital ID in Canada. Is the US Next?

Huge megalithic complex of more than 500 standing stones discovered in Spain

New York governor Kathy Hochul has directed state to investigate pro-life pregnancy centers

German economy minister rules out keeping nuclear plants running to save gas

Massive Review Shows Vitamin D Really Does Seem to Ease Depressive Symptoms

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 20

Power and gas prices in Germany more than doubled in just two months, with year-ahead electricity at a blazing 570 Euro per megawatt-hour. Two years ago, it was 40 euros. It’s summer but electric heaters sales are already up 1000 percent and online searches for Firewood are running hot. In the UK — householders are facing bills in the order of £5000 a year — (like $10,000, after tax) people are described as being in “pre-panic mode” already. Some are starting to turn off freezers, giving up toast and showering every second day. Shops and Pubs are closing, consumer confidence is at an all time record low, the most depressed in the last 48 years consumer confidence has been measured for.

As FedEx Ground delivery drivers pay the price for soaring inflation and high diesel fuel prices, FedEx’s largest contractor sounded the alarm that at least one-third of the route system is on the brink of collapse.

Non-nutritive sweeteners affect human microbiomes and can alter glycemic responses

Iran nuclear deal Main thing of note: “The idea of keeping the advanced centrifuges in a warehouse, thereby giving Iran an ability to ramp up quickly if the US were to pull out again is what’s known as an ‘inherent guarantee,'” said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “It’s one reason that the break-out time cannot be brought back to the JCPOA standard of 12 months. Another factor making a 12-month break-out period impossible is the knowledge Iran has gained over the past three years.”

The Unexpected Future

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, AUGUST 19

How We Have Been Misled About Antidepressants

U.S. Natural Gas Storage Sees Minimal Injection as Exports Rise

To be clear, he is talking his book, but I think his underlying facts are correct even if his interpretation is suspect. To everyone who sees them, the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images of the cosmos are beautifully awe-inspiring. But to most professional astronomers and cosmologists, they are also extremely surprising—not at all what was predicted by theory. In the flood of technical astronomical papers published online since July 12, the authors report again and again that the images show surprisingly many galaxies, galaxies that are surprisingly smooth, surprisingly small and surprisingly old. Lots of surprises, and not necessarily pleasant ones. One paper’s title begins with the candid exclamation: “Panic!”

How Putin’s War Changed My Moscow