Toxic PFAS Chemicals Found in Maine Farms Fertilized with Sewage Sludge The Intercept. I was saying just the other day that stuff was nasty.
Turns out there’s more plastic pollution in the deep ocean than the Great Pacific Garbage Patch USA Today
Quiet U.S. Fire Season May Get Active Later This Year Weather Underground
California Reckons With the Cost of Wildfires to Come NYT
A Strange Blight LRB
U.S. Economy Celebrates 10 Years of Growth, But No One’s Partying Bloomberg
Syraqistan
U.S. Ambassador to Israel: Israel has right to annex part of West Bank Jerusalem Post
Under Trump arms deal, high-tech U.S. bombs to be built in Saudi Arabia NBC
The seasons after the Arab Spring Le Monde Diplomatique
Brexit
UK’s Boris Johnson says would withhold Brexit bill as PM France24
Everything you think you know about Leavers and Remainers is wrong New Statesman
Michael Gove admits to taking cocaine on ‘several occasions’ Guardian
China?
Is It Too Late to Stop a New Cold War With China? NYT
China and the US are too intertwined to keep up the trade war FT
U.S. 7th Fleet Cruiser Ignores Rules At Sea – Nearly Collides With Russian Destroyer Moon of Alabama
Years of Warnings, Then Death and Disaster: How the Navy Failed Its Sailors Pro Publica. On the Seventh Fleet; re-upping this from Links, February 10, 2019.
India
India Readies for Delicate Trade Talks with US, as Shadow of Section 301 Probe Looms The Wire
India heatwave kills ‘dozens’ of people as temperatures hit 50C Independent
The Burning Sun scandal that torched South Korea’s elites The Interpreter
Why We Rushed to Believe Kim Executed His Own Officials The American Conservative
Korea’s Nine Years of Darkness: Part VI – The Candlelight Ask a Korean
Venezeula
U.S. failed in its policy against Venezuela: senior gov’t official Xinhua
Venezuela: Pompeo Exposes Frustration Over Opposition Divisions as China, Russia Call for Non-Interference Venezuelanalysis
Venezuela crisis: Border with Colombia reopens after four months BBC
New Cold War
Global Peace: Why a Major War Is Impossible in Modern International Relations Valdai Discussion Club
Is Russia Waking Up? The Nation
Trump Transition
Mexico crisis shows the limits of Trump’s brinksmanship Politico
Mexico Agreed to Take Border Actions Months Before Trump Announced Tariff Deal NYT
Ex-WTO chief Pascal Lamy calls Donald Trump’s migration deal with Mexico a win for ‘hostage taking’ South China Morning Post
FTC went to Silicon Valley to solicit antitrust complaints Politico
Three ways that Big Tech could be broken up FT
YouTube is deleting videos on Nazi history as part of its hate speech crackdown MIT Technology Review
Many Turn to YouTube for Children’s Content, News, How-To Lessons Pew Research Center. From 2018, still germane.
2020
Joe Biden Had A Very Bad Week HuffPo. Biden not doing so well in the invisible primary.
Boeing 737 MAX
Boeing turns to high-powered defense attorneys in 737 MAX investigation Seattle Times
FAA’s Boeing-Biased Officials: Recuse Yourselves or Resign Ralph Nader, Common Dreams
Vanguard raises ‘concerns’ with Boeing leaders over 737 FT. Boeing’s largest shareholder.
Some airlines want Boeing’s new ‘797′ to fly with just one pilot on board CNBC. What could go wrong?
The Corporate Debt Stories Show People Still Don’t Understand the Great Recession Dean Baker, CEPR
Class Warfare
Reining in CEO compensation and curbing the rise of inequality Economic Policy Institute
College admissions scandal shows ‘sacrifice matters less than money,’ prosecutors say Los Angeles Times
What 10,000 Steps Will Really Get You The Atlantic
‘Cultural Marxism’: The Mainstreaming of a Nazi Trope FAIR
The Underground Art of Prison Tattoos The Marshall Project
Arnaud Dubus – death of a foreign correspondent MediaPart (DK).
Antidote du Jour (via):
See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.