German firefighters rescue squirrel stuck in manhole cover AP
Seals can copy human speech and sing Star Wars theme tune, new study says Sky News. n=3.
It’s Younger and Cooler Than a Carbon Tax The Atlantic. The GND.
US gasoline prices rise after blasts at Philadelphia refinery FT
Report: Utility’s Negligence to Blame for Los Angeles Methane Disaster Earth Justice
Syraqistan
Trump Says He Was ‘Cocked and Loaded’ to Strike Iran, but Pulled Back NYT
VIPS Memo to the President: Is Pompeo’s Agenda the Same As Yours? Consortium News
White House Pushes ‘Trump Pulled Back’ Story – He Likely Never Approved To Strike Iran Moon of Alabama
Trump Doesn’t Need to Attack Iran: He’s Winning Already Bloomberg
Northrop Grumman used a fictitious war with Iran to sell its Global Hawk drone to the Pentagon Quartz (Re Silc).
Next Contestant, Iran: Meet America’s Permanent War Formula Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone
Read THIS Before Cheering the Next War Washington’s Blog
Brexit
Boris Johnson: police called to loud altercation at potential PM’s home Guardian
The Empty Promise of Boris Johnson The New Yorker. Qui est ce monstre?
How Oxford university shaped Brexit — and Britain’s next prime minister FT
Britain’s Next Prime Minister Has Probably Already Lost Scotland Bloomberg
There Are Some Fires That Get Put Out, and Some That Don’t n+1. Grenfell Tower.
Rosemary and thyme against Greece’s economic torpor Agence France Presse
China?
What France’s ‘yellow vests’ can teach Hong Kong activists about political protests and the use of violence South China Morning Post
Australians in Hong Kong say this could change everything Sydney Morning Herald
The Depressing Reality Behind Hong Kong’s Protests TNR
Debunking Misconceptions around Hong Kong’s Extradition law Controversy Medium
* * *
As growth slows, the spectre of local-government debt looms once more Economist
The Coming Sino-American Bust-Up Nouriel Roubini, Project Syndicate
RussiaGate
William Barr Looking Into U.S. Finding That Russia Wanted Trump to Win WSJ
Trump Transition
Trump Says He’s Weighing Democrats’ Plan for $15 Minimum Wage Bloomberg. “Make it $18!”
‘Some Suburb of Hell’: America’s New Concentration Camp System NYRB
Policing the Borders of Suffering Jewish Currents
Finally, the U.S. Is Getting Some Diplomats in the Field Foreign Policy
City of Secrets: Estimated 10,000 people in DC are spies WTOP. And that’s just the foreigners!
Libra
European central bankers claim oversight over Facebook’s cryptocurrency Reuters
Mnuchin Says Guidelines Move Crypto Firms From ‘Dark Shadows’ Bloomberg
Facebook co-founder: Libra coin would shift power into the wrong hands FT
2020
‘An existential threat’: Bernie Sanders faces mounting opposition from moderate Democrats Guardian
Why Bernie Should Launch a National Voter Registration Drive Jacobin
Opinion: Listen to bookies, not polls: Trump has a good chance to be re-elected MarketWatch (EM).
Health Care
Obama Alums Tell Health Insurance Lobby “Medicare For All” Won’t Happen MapLight. Alums, plural. Thanks, Obama!
Police State Watch
This Louisiana Parish Allowed a Quarter of Its Sheriff’s Deputies To Work Security for a Pipeline In These Times
An Alabama megachurch will form its own police force after passage of controversial law CNN
Black Injustice Tipping Point
Ta-Nehisi Coates: Reparations Are Not Just About Slavery But Also Centuries of Theft & Racial Terror Democracy Now! (GF).
Black Farm Families Are Losing Their Land. New State Laws Seek to Help. Governing
Cell Phones Are Probably Not Making Us Grow Horns Smithsonian. “The external occipital protuberance is a well-studied trait in anthropology.”
Getting Social Security Fixed May Be the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Finances NYT. After years of rentier propaganda, some sanity. “It is time for you to get political, and to start thinking of activism as a behavior equal to saving and investing.” Interesting proposition, if generalized.
Hello, Summer 2019! Today’s Solstice Marks Season’s Beginning Space.com
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
