Avian cultural services peak in tropical wet forests Society for Conservation Biology. “For farmers, urbanites, and birdwatchers alike, species valued for identity, bequest, birdwatching, acoustic aesthetics, and education were more likely to occupy wetter regions and forested sites, whereas disliked species tended to occupy drier and deforested sites.” Interesting article, but I am so dubious about that ubiquitous word “services,” because a service is something you can put a price on. Putting a price on nature seems problematic to me.
Maintaining sound money amid and after the pandemic Bank of International Settlements. Austerity signal?
A digital euro is on its way FT
The American Dream Is For Rent DealBreaker
#COVID19
Regeneron seeks EUA for COVID-19 antibody as Trump vows to provide it for ‘free’ Fierce Biotech
Vaccine Chaos Is Looming The Atlantic. The first vaccines, if they pass trial, will require refrigeration and other complex forms of handling. The URL is less weaponized: covid-19-most-complicated-vaccine-campaign-ever.
Council on Foreign Relations Discussion on COVID-19 and Pandemic Preparedness (video) Council on Foreign Relations
We already know how to keep the next pandemic from catching us off guard Popular Science (nvl).
Road to recovery: What we have learned from other cities’ and states’ responses to COVID-19 D.C. Policy Center. Many natural experiments in D.C. and other cities.
The Saga of False-Positive COVID-19 Tests GIS2 at Ryerson (CEA).
The code: How genetic science helped expose a secret coronavirus outbreak (free) WaPo
Bjorn’s Corner: Do I get COVID in airline cabins? Part 12. New results. Leeham News and Analysis
China?
China’s Economic Recovery Leaves the Bottom 60% Behind Bloomberg. Doing better than Obama, then…
Trending in China: For Love or Money? Gold Mining Boss Remarries After Redistributing Wealth Caixin
China Dodging Minsky Moment Is a Signal to Trust John Authers, Bloomberg
Onboard China’s Belt and Road Express: Does Laos stand to benefit? Southeast Asia Globe. Anybody who owns real estate near the stations surely will.
Indonesia Has 270 Million People—and One of the World’s Lowest Covid-19 Testing Rates (free) WSJ
India
Special report: A silent crackdown sweeps through Delhi in the guise of probing riots conspiracy Scroll.in
India Will Not Be Able To Ignore the Threat of Tech and Data Oligopolies for Long The Wire
Brexit
Brexit: No 10 snubs tougher food rules to keep trade deals on the menu The Times
UK/EU
Boris Johnson Is Fighting Seven Battles at Once Over Lockdown Plans Bloomberg
Britain’s banks turn cyber sleuths to crack $100 billion mortgage mystery Reuters
Firm run by ex-associate of Tory peer Michelle Mone wins £112million NHS deal Mirror
Assange
How a Police State Starts Craig Murray
RussiaGate
New Files Highlight Brennan’s Role Promoting Clinton’s Russia Collusion Narrative Andrew McCarthy, National Review
2020
Biden to participate in ABC town hall Oct. 15 in lieu of Trump debate The Hill
Presidential Debates: Time To Change Commission Leadership Yashar Ali
Joe Biden’s plan to fix the world Vox. “‘He’s looking at an across-the-board restoration project,’ said a former Obama administration official.” As I have said, although perhaps my definition of Restoration differs from Vox’s.
‘Middle-Class Joe’ Doesn’t Understand the Middle Class The Nation. I would urge that there is nothing to understand; the concept is incoherent, which is, in fact, its value. One can reason to any conclusion from false premises.
Why U.S. Elections Do Not Change Its Foreign Policies Moon of Alabama
* * * Plans to kidnap Whitmer, overthrow government spoiled, officials say Detroit News
Conservative operatives Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman to be arraigned today in election robocall scheme in Detroit Detroit Metro Times. Busy times in Michigan….
After summer of protests, U.S. National Guard puts troops on standby for coming months: officials Reuters
* * * Progressives unveil 2021 agenda to pressure Biden Politico. Holy Lord, Congressional progressives allowed the Warren-endorsing Working Families Party to write their agenda. The heatlh care section: “Make health care free and universal and take hospital and health insurance profits out of it.” To be fair, at least the WFP has an infrastructure out there, unlike the “Peoples Party” mooted in August.
Dying in a Leadership Vacuum New England Journal of Medicine. The NEJM does great work. Nonetheless, a little humility from the institutions at the top of the PMC food chain would, at the present juncture, be more than appropiate:
NEJM in April: Masks don’t work.
NEJM in Oct.: Stupid Americans in flyover country refuse to wear masks. pic.twitter.com/Koz9bkeamC— Dogma_Is_Dead (@IsDogma) October 8, 2020
American Populace Worried They’re Not Likable Enough To Attract Good Candidate For President The Onion. Comity tonight!
Trump Transition
House Democrats to unveil bill to create commission on ‘presidential capacity’ The Hill. The idea apparently got traction after Trump fired Comey.
House Democrats back antitrust overhaul of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple Roll Call
Apple made ProtonMail add in-app purchases, even though it had been free for years The Verge. “In our interview, [ProtonMail CEO Andy] Yen compares Apple’s tactics to a Mafia protection racket.”
Trump’s Case of Covid
“Trump VS Covid – Who Won?!” [Russell Brand, YouTube (MP)]. Well worth a listen:
Trump’s treatment puts a spotlight on Regeneron, and the pugnacious pair who run it STAT (nvl).
White House coronavirus outbreak may have exposed thousands from Atlanta to Minnesota USA Today. It’s one thing to get infected. It’s another thing to infect others. As for example–
Top White House aide hosted lavish Atlanta wedding in May despite virus restrictions Atlanta Journal-Constitution (MV).
Democrats in Disarray
Roy Cohn’s Acolytes Once Tried to Take Over the Manhattan Democratic Party Political Currents. Fascinating details of Trump’s early career.
The Other Democratic Party The Bulwark. Interesting:
[W]e spent three years living in three blue strongholds that unexpectedly voted Republican in the 2016 presidential election: Ottumwa, Iowa, a small industrial city with a meatpacking plant; Johnston, Rhode Island, a suburb of Providence; and Elliott County, Kentucky, a small rural community with a history of coal mining and tobacco farming
….We found that Trump is not an oddity in these Democratic communities. Although he ran as an outsider, he resembles some of the most beloved political insiders. In these places, the political culture has long been Trumpian. Their most beloved Democratic leaders are crass, thin-skinned, and nepotistic. They promise to take care of their people by cutting deals–and corners, if necessary. In these respects–and others–they continue to practice a forgotten tradition of boss politics in the Democratic Party.
Understanding this forgotten tradition is critical both to Democrats who hope to rebuild a broad-based working-class party and to Republicans who will need to revamp their party once Trump finally fades from the scene.
Health Care
What Ails America New York Review of Books. “We all take part in the collective of pain. Those of us who are doing better are harming those who are less well-off. When health care is competitive the winners do wrong to others, but they also get worse care themselves. Distracted by their relative advantage, they do not see that by harming others they are also harming themselves.” Well worth a read.
Refuge in the Storm? ACA’s Role as Safety Net Is Tested by COVID Recession KHN.
Jessica Banthin, a senior health policy researcher at the Urban Institute and until 2019 deputy director for health at the Congressional Budget Office, said it’s anyone’s guess how many people who lost their job-based coverage this year will choose this option. She said numerous factors will influence people’s health insurance decisions this fall, and into 2021.
Chief among them is gauging whether they might soon get a new job, or get back an old job, that offers insurance. That may hold some people back from enrolling in an ACA plan this fall, Banthin said. Plus, buying insurance may be too expensive, especially for families more concerned with paying for housing, food and child care while going without a paycheck.
What kind of hellish system forces people to make health care decisions by betting on the state of labor market a year from now? Well, yes, the one we have — Barry, Joe, take a bow! — but you know what I mean…
Heritable Human Genome Editing: The International Commission Report JAMA
MMT
Mainstreaming MMT Los Angeles Review of Books
Bill Mitchell: job guarantee will suppress working class power Western Sydney Work
Class Warfare
Riding the storm (PDF) PWC. URL: UBS-PwC-Billionaires-Report-2020
Biden and Trump are failing the American worker Oren Cass, CNN
NLRB: Google Contractor Moving Work From Pittsburgh to Poland to Bust Union PayDay Report
Teachers Left Out of School Reopening Discussion—Even on the Left FAIR. Needed a strike wave in August and September.
World’s garment workers face ruin as fashion brands refuse to pay $16bn Guardian (J-LS).
This Brutal World Architecture Magazine
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
