Wretchard.com

Hell is a place where nothing exists that we cannot conceive. It is a totally sterile place with no surprises and in Shannon’s sense no additional information. Safety is where we know all the outcomes and nothing unexpected happens. And nothing unexpected happens.

The scales fell from his eyes while tormented in Iranian prison

The Princeton Historian Mugged by Reality

Since being freed from Iranian detention, Xiyue Wang has been unrelenting in his criticism of the authoritarian country—and some American elites’ attempt at rapprochement.

File under “barn door” and “horse”. Better luck next time.

SOS signature-matching guidelines for absentee ballots ruled “invalid” by judge

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson put out guidance to county and local clerks for signature matching on absentee ballots in October, prior to the 2020

Beijing plans to press Washington to reverse many of the policies targeting China introduced during the Trump presidency in the first face-to-face meeting of senior U.S. and China officials since President Biden’s election, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

WSJ

WSJ News Exclusive | China Plans to Ask U.S. to Roll Back Trump Policies in Alaska Meeting

For the first high-level session with Biden’s team, Beijing will ask the U.S. to reverse limits on American sales to Chinese firms, visa restrictions and other measures, according to people familiar with China’s plans.

Denunciations don’t convey much status information about who’s in virtue but about who’s in and who’s out.

New at the Belmont Club.

Arson attacks on Sunday against 32 Chinese-invested factories in Hlaingthaya prompted China’s strongest comments yet on the turmoil gripping its neighbour, where many people see Beijing as supportive of the coup.

China’s Global Times newspaper said “vicious attacks” caused damage worth $37 million and injuries to two Chinese employees. Its embassy urged Myanmar’s generals to stop the violence.

Reuters

Military tightens grip, death toll among anti-coup protesters rises as Myanmar seethes

Myanmar security forces shot dead at least 20 pro-democracy protesters on Monday, an activist group said, and the military junta imposed martial law in parts of the main city Yangon, giving commanders wide powers to stamp out dissent.

New at the Belmont Club. Safetyism vs statism. Suppose the future is China, I kid you not Sherlock.

Well if they say so.

China coal consumption tipped to rise despite green shift

Economic growth is tipped to drive China’s coal consumption despite a shift to green energy.

Why is vaccine skepticism highest among health care workers?

DW investigates why COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is above average for health care and front-line workers, despite clear scientific evidence the vaccines are safe and effective

DW

COVID-19 Special: Vaccine skepticism among health workers | DW | 24.02.2021

DW investigates why COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is above average for health care and front-line workers, despite clear scientific evidence the vaccines are safe and effective

As surprising as the projection may be to some, such a surge in coal consumption is not that unexpected. India’s power generation is set to grow exponentially to 3565 TWh by 2037, more than double 2020’s figure. Electricity production will already exceed 2000 TWh from 2025 and is set to breach the 3000 TWh ceiling from 2034 as a result of an electrification boost and economic growth.

worldcoal.com

Rystad Energy: India’s coal use set to boom a renewable wave cannot keep up with electrification growth

New data from Rystad Energy shows that, despite coal power generation hitting a 5-year low due to COVID-19, coal power is expected to remain important to India’s electricity production.

Don’t that beat all.

Schumer and Gillibrand join Democrats urging Cuomo to resign

The majority of New York Democratic House members have also now called on the embattled governor to step down.

Green baroness regards men as intolerable danger to women after male police officer is suspected of abduction-murder. Calls for 6 pm curfew.

Green Party’s Baroness Jones stands behind her call for a 6pm curfew

Baroness Jones was criticised after using a House of Lords debate to propose legislation that would require all men to stay at home.

Joe hasn’t embraced Iran tightly enough.

Progressives Are Losing Patience with Biden’s Iran Policy

Left-wing voices on foreign policy say pressuring the administration may serve their goals better than joining it.

Coming soon to a theater near you.

Sen. Tim Scott: ‘Woke supremacy is as bad as White supremacy’

Sen. Tim Scott called the current left-wing control of the culture, and its racial attacks on him and other Black conservatives, comparable to America’s history of racism.

New at the Belmont Club. The individually guilty representatives of collective virtue.

The Illusion of Necessity

Lying in a good cause

“The Chinese government has no room for compromise,” Wang said.

China tells Biden to reverse ‘dangerous practice’ on Taiwan

China’s foreign minister has warned the Biden administration to roll back former President Donald Trump’s ”…

Politicians get astronomical speaker’s fees also. Their literary skills must exceed Tolstoy’s.

And he got $245 for each copy of his other book | National Review

For reference, a real writer might expect to be paid perhaps $4 or $5 for every copy of a hardcover book he sells.

Nowadays, many relevant actors of the industry claim that mining is going through the first stages of a deep changeover from the hand of digital transformation. It is said that this process could change how mining is done, passing from human-run operations to autonomous or semi-autonomous remote-controlled mines. Independent if fully automated operations are achieved in the near future or not, the digital transformation is already impacting the industry and will continue doing so.

Did cats fake domestication?

Ancient DNA Shows Cats Domesticated Themselves – Why Are We Not Surprised?

Cats domesticated themselves without becoming domesticated, shows a study looking at 9,000 years of cat DNA history.