By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Patient readers, as usual after a weekend I have more than I know what to do with, and the awards ceremonies (see below) took longer than I thought. More soon. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Pine Siskin, “Frog Ranch”, Brown, Indiana, United States. “Flock.”
Politics
“But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51
“Here’s food for thought, had Ahab time to think; but Ahab never thinks; he only feels, feels, feels” –Herman Melville, Moby Dick
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Biden Administration
“Biden to travel to Egypt for COP27 climate conference” [Politico]. “After arriving at the world’s most consequential climate discussions largely empty handed last year, Biden will now be able to tout the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill that devotes hundreds of billions of dollars to clean energy initiatives and brings Biden’s pledge to cut U.S. emissions in half by 2030 closer within reach.”
2022
* * * Very tight:
New NYT/Siena polls of key Senate races:
ARIZONA
Kelly 51
Masters 45GEORGIA
Warnock 49
Walker 46NEVADA
Masto 47
Laxalt 47PENNSYLVANIA
Fetterman 49
Oz 44These polls should shake up The Narrative.https://t.co/FDfBjbrEmK
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 31, 2022
“Democrats turn to Obama to rescue them from a midterm shellacking” [Politico]. “Obama hit a trio of battleground states over two days to rally the base for Senate and gubernatorial hopefuls in tough races. On Tuesday, he’ll be in Nevada to do the same, before heading to Phoenix on Wednesday and then Pennsylvania alongside Biden on the final weekend before Election Day. Obama’s closing act is something of a role reversal for the former and current president compared with past years. It was often Biden and his everyman appeal that was most appreciated in some of the nation’s tightest races, particularly those for the House. While Biden aides insist he’s largely succumbed to the reality that his services are a better fit at the moment in blue states — places such as Oregon, California and Maryland, where he’s set to appear for the second time — he’s publicly bristled at the suggestion that campaigns want him to stay far away from them.” And: “Even as he stars as the party’s biggest draw and chief base motivator, there’s an unmistakable fear that even he can’t prevent what may end up being inevitable bloodletting on Nov. 8. Some Democrats also contend that for all his considerable talents to drive an argument, even Obama has struggled in the past to translate his own popularity and successes onto others in his party. Democrats suffered heavy losses in both midterms of Obama’s presidency.” • So, to be clear, there’s little real data suggesting Obama will do any good at all?
* * * PA: “The Battle for Blue-Collar White Voters Raging in Biden’s Birthplace” [New York Times]. What Are the Drums Saying, Booker? Except PMC. ” But it is among white working-class voters in rural areas and smaller towns — places like Sugarloaf Township, where Mr. Papp lives — where the Democratic Party has, in some ways, both the furthest to fall and the most to gain…. White blue-collar voters are a large and crucial constituency in a number of top Senate battlegrounds this year, including in Wisconsin, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio. And the need for Democrats to lose by less is already an urgent concern for party strategists heading into 2024, when Donald J. Trump, who accelerated the movement of blue-collar voters of all races away from Democrats, has signaled he plans to run again.” • “Of all races”? How did Trump do that?
PA: Cheeky:
Flying over the Eagles game today…. pic.twitter.com/kP8l3Mb0yO
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) October 30, 2022
No dead puppy blimp? Perhaps that woud have been crass.
SD: “Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to campaign for Gov. Kristi Noem in Sioux Falls, Rapid City” [Aberdeen News]. “Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard will join Gov. Kristi Noem for two campaign stops in Rapid City and Sioux Falls next Wednesday, according to Noem’s re-election campaign… Gabbard is the second guest coming to campaign for Noem. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is scheduled to be at another Noem rally in Sioux Falls the same day. In the latest poll from Emerson College/The Hill, Noem comfortably led Smith and Quint with 56% of voters favoring the first-term governor.”
* * *
Democrats en Déshabillé
Patient readers, it seems that people are actually reading the back-dated post! But I have not updated it, and there are many updates. So I will have to do that. –lambert
I have moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Party (“the Democrat Party is a rotting corpse that can’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated post, to which I will periodically add material, summarizing the addition here in a “live” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It turns out that defining the Democrat Party is, in fact, a hard problem. I do think the paragraph that follows is on point all the way back to 2016, if not before:
The Democrat Party is the political expression of the class power of PMC, their base (lucidly explained by Thomas Frank in Listen, Liberal!). It follows that the Democrat Party is as “unreformable” as the PMC is unreformable; if the Democrat Party did not exist, the PMC would have to invent it. If the Democrat Party fails to govern, that’s because the PMC lacks the capability to govern. (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” of course.) Second, all the working parts of the Party reinforce each other. Leave aside characterizing the relationships between elements of the Party (ka-ching, but not entirely) those elements comprise a network — a Flex Net? An iron octagon? — of funders, vendors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with assets in the press and the intelligence community.
Note, of course, that the class power of the PMC both expresses and is limited by other classes; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial model’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to mind. Suck up, kick down.
* * * The Pelosi Matter, which I have so little interest in (at least until there is actual reporting):
If readers wish to check out what was on the SFPD scanner on the night of the attack:
David DePape reportedly told Paul Pelosi he would wait in the home for Nancy Pelosi:
"RP stated there's a male in the home and that he's going to wait for his wife. RP stated that he doesn't know who the male is but he advised that his name is David and that he is a friend." https://t.co/0us6UgCRcw
— Demian Bulwa (@demianbulwa) October 28, 2022
(I’ve been to the openmhz link in the tweet and the recordings are there, as of this writing.) Note that the time codes change according to your timezone! (Appparently, 2:27:56 AM Pacific Time is the place to start. There is, naturally, dispute already. Readers may wish to decide for themselves whether @demianbulwa’s transscript is accurate, and what it means.
“Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack had list of targets, law enforcement sources say” [CBS]. Horrid stuff:
The suspect in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi had a list of people he wanted to target, law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation confirmed to CBS News.
Law enforcement sources can’t “confirm” anything; cops lie. (@greg_doucette is the goto account on this topic.)
And on the hammer:
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said Friday that officers observed both Pelosi and the suspect holding a hammer, and then “the suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it.”
Wait. So Pelosi was assaulted while the cops were there? And lest anyone forget–
“Ed Buck, once a prominent Democratic donor, sentenced to 30 years in prison” [CNN]. “Democratic donor Ed Buck, who in 2021 was convicted by a federal jury of nine felonies, including giving methamphetamine to two men who died at his West Hollywood apartment after being injected with the drug, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, a spokesperson for the United States Attorney’s Office Central District of California said Thursday.” • Amazing this story has gone unmentioned. Surely it provides context? UPDATE I think there’s plenty of evidence that the San Francisco area in general and the California Democrat Party in particular are, shall we say, less than chaste in their mores (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Readers, please try to avoid speculation, however juicy it may seem, on the Pelosi matter; it adds no value. Evidence and reporting, on the other hand…
“Sharing that member’s rhetoric”:
Last year, a GOP Congressman shared a depiction of himself killing me. When the House rose to censure, @GOPLeader defended him.
Yesterday, a man sharing that member’s rhetoric tried to assassinate the Speaker and her spouse.
What has @GOPLeader said? Nothing. This is who he is.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 29, 2022
Holy Slippery Slope, Batman! (An administration “sharing” AOC’s “rhetoric” allowed over half a million Americans to die of Covid on its watch. Do we really want to go this route?)
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Legitimacy crises in embedded democracies” [Benjamin Studebaker, Contemporary Political Theory]. “When subjects resent a decision because they disagree with it substantively, but accept it procedurally, they experience resentment, but that resentment will likely still come alongside stable, non-crisis political behaviour. Subjects who accept procedures cannot respond to a substantive defeat by moving to modify the procedures, because they by definition continue to accept those procedures. But once the resentment goes a bit deeper than this and extends to the procedures, crisis behaviour becomes possible. Resenting procedures can give rise to proposing and prioritising procedural reforms, while resenting substantive policies alone does not suffice for this. It is in this way that a particular form of resentment—resentment of procedures—gives rise to the politicisation of procedures and increased emphasis on procedural reforms that this article associates with the chronic crisis.” • Hmm. Worth more attention than I can give it here. Readers?
“Where Will This Political Violence Lead? Look to the 1850s.” [Politico]. “Democratic violence in the 1850s ultimately led a majority of Republicans, who represented the political majority, to draw a line in the sand and enforce it by violence when necessary. If history is a guidepost, we are on the precipice of dangerous future in which politics devolves into a contest of force rather than ideas. That’s a future everyone should want to avoid.” • Contrary to the thesis of Studebaker’s article, above.
#COVID19
Patient readers, today I have not one but two sociopaths of the day. I apologize for the excess. I also apologize for the crudity of the artwork; I should have spent time getting the backgrounds right. OTOH, having been in a past life graphic artist, I’m actually pleased with the ugliness and slapdashery, because it’s so unlike the deference today’s recipients recieve from book jacket designers, NPR booking agents, TED talk types, and so forth. When they think you’re technical, go crude.
• Our first awardee: Emily Oster, JJE Goldman Sachs University Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Take a bow, Emily!
From Oster’s “Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty“:
But most errors were made by people who were working in earnest for the good of society.
Mistakes were made, but I think we should let the Hague Tribunal sort them out. Or possibly a Truth and Justice Commission (which we assuredly will not get from either party).
• This on Oster’s putative area of expertise (hustling children back into unventilated death traps):
I honestly don't understand why this has been so difficult to understand: the "learning loss" wasn't about whether or not kids were going to school in-person. It's that *no matter what,* they were going to school in a pandemic https://t.co/7s6kpmUVIs
— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) October 29, 2022
• Our second awardee, Monica Gandhi. I want to see your smile, Monica!
For this quote in The Hill:
“We have incredibly high levels of population immunity this year, which is really different than this time last year when BA.1 hit, which was the first variant of omicron,” said Gandhi. “At that point … we still didn’t have the levels of vaccination that we have now, and we hadn’t gotten repeated waves of infection.”
Those repeated waves of omicron infection have helped build up people’s immunity to the virus, Gandhi said. “We have had so much natural exposure on top of vaccinations, [creating] hybrid immunity, which paper after paper shows that hybrid immunity is stronger than either vaccination-induced immunity or infection-induced immunity alone. … so I think it’s very different in the winter of 2022 than the winter of 2021.”
The immunity was “built” by piling up a million bodies or so….
Of course, I don’t really mean “sociopath.” “Hegemonic PMC” will do.
• National Covid Memorial?
To heal we must remember the lives lost to Covid.
We are proud to debut the #NationalCovidMemorial: a memorial that allows us to share our stories in our own words.
Our deepest gratitude to @Snapchat & co-designer @MarcosLutyens. Experience it: https://t.co/V3RPr479N6 pic.twitter.com/x7FLZMEwtk
— Marked By Covid #FBLC (@MarkedByCovid) October 27, 2022
Sadly, it’s digital. But still a good idea.
• “Opinion Put your masks back on, please” [Kathleen Parker, WaPo]. ” I’ll tell you what’s everywhere — COVID-19 — and it smells your fear. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, and don’t deceive yourself into thinking we’re all done with it. We’re not by a long shot. Despite our best efforts to thwart the virus that leads to COVID — and despite my own adherence to best practices — it got me again. That’s two vaccinations, two boosters, and now, two COVIDs — appropriate for a Libra, I suppose. This isn’t to suggest that one shouldn’t get shot and boosted. I’m confident that my suffering would have been far greater had I not taken these precautions. The bear of it is that the newest omicron variant doesn’t care. The honey badger of infectious diseases, it will find a way to find you and gobble you up, if you’re not careful. It also likes to linger, and its victims tend to test positive for longer periods, which translates into longer quarantines. I will say that this time was worse than the previous round, even if experts say this newest version is supposedly ‘mild.’ Compared with what? Well, smallpox, I’d reckon. I felt very sick for about four days, then slowly better. Also, I’m still testing positive 10 days after symptoms began. The virus is getting smarter with each new turn, and our bodies and medicines are slow to keep up. What does this mean? Nobody wants to say this, but I think it means masks are back in order in public spaces and especially in crowded areas. My contagion point was probably a packed art gallery I visited on Saturday, Oct. 15. By Monday night, I had a sore throat; by Tuesday morning, I felt like a plank — immovable with aches, fever, a headache that lasted a week and all the rest.” • They believe it when they experience it themselves. Parker understands that closed, crowded, close contact spaces are dangerous. She even gets that “mild” is bullshit. But what’s the issue? The groupthink of “nobody” [who is anybody] “wants to say this.” I have to say, I do think that “the honey badger of infectious diseases” is a keeper.
• Maskstravaganza: This is great:
My hand painted fanart mashup of Felipe Pantone x @DentecSafety #maskart #MaskUp pic.twitter.com/pxfmEu3hrM
— nic (@nickelpin) August 26, 2022
However, what we need are masks explicitly designed for this use case. Which we won’t get from hospital monopolies who want to buy in bulk from China!
• Maskstravaganza: I’d certainly consider one of these:
There are no surviving masks that were actually worn from Ancient Greek Theater. Some of earliest known images of Gorgons in fact come from terracotta masks from 7th Century BC, from a shrine of Artemis.
Detailed Post –https://t.co/EMsHjwbqIq#archaeohistories pic.twitter.com/eHmNMqa14F
— Archaeo – Histories (@archeohistories) October 30, 2022
Halloween Corsi-Rosenthal box:
Inspired by @robwiss 90 degree sandwich design, I made a #MiniCR based on the same principle. This config gets the highest cadr from multi fans in Rob’s tests. 2 6×10 MERV13 NP filters and cheapest rgb fans on AZ, UpHere. #CRBox pic.twitter.com/U6Yj8xvYiC
— Alex 💨CR Boxes Everywhere (@CRBoxKits) October 30, 2022
Transmission
Here is CDC’s interactive map by county set to community transmission. (This is the map CDC wants only hospitals to look at, not you.)
Lambert here: I have to say, I’m seeing more and more yellow and more blue, which continues to please. But is the pandemic “over”? Well….
Positivity
From the Walgreen’s test positivity tracker, October 26:
1.3%. Faster increase.
Wastewater
Wastewater data (CDC), October 23:
October 23:
Variants
Lambert here: It’s beyond frustrating how slow the variant data is. Does nobody in the public health establishment get a promotion for tracking variants? Are there no grants? Is there a single lab that does this work, and everybody gets the results from them? [grinds teeth, bangs head on desk]. UPDATE Yes. See NC here on Pango. Every Friday, a stately, academid pace utterly incompatible with protecting yourself against a variant exhibiting doubling behavior.
Variant data, national (Walgreens), October 19:
Lambert here: BQ.1*, out of nowhere. So awesome.
Variant data, national (CDC), October 8 (Nowcast off):
Lambert here: Most of the screenshots of CDC variants running around crop out whether Nowcast (CDC’s model) is on or off; see red box at top. The BQ1.* figure of 27% that’s running around is CDC’s Nowcast projection, three weeks out. (It’s telling that CDC would rather build a model than fund faster acquisition of real data.)
Deaths
Death rate (Our World in Data):
Total: 1,095,204 – 1,094,596 = 608 (608 * 365 = 221,920, which is today’s LivingWith™ number (quite a bit higher than the minimizers would like, though they can talk themselves into anything. If the LivingWith™ metric keeps chugging along like this, I may just have to decide this is what the powers-that-be consider “mission accomplished” for this particular tranche of death and disease.
It’s nice that for deaths I have a simple, daily chart that just keeps chugging along, unlike everything else CDC and the White House are screwing up or letting go dark, good job.
Stats Watch
Manufacturing: “United States Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ general business activity index for manufacturing in Texas decreased to -19.4 in October of 2022 from -17.2 in September. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, edged down three points to 6.0, suggesting a slight deceleration in output growth. The new orders index slipped to -8.8, its fifth month in a row in negative territory, suggesting a continued decrease in demand.”
Tech:
real footage of Twitter exoduspic.twitter.com/CZLUhtJmHS
— Ben Golub 🇺🇦 (@ben_golub) October 31, 2022
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 59 Greed (previous close: 60 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 48 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Oct 31 at 1:41 PM EDT. A swing to greed? Weird. Honestly, if it means Mr. Market thinks there won’t be a nuclear war, I’m a happy camper. But still…
The Gallery
A jape:
My oil painting of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish w/Strawberry Shake & Fries pic.twitter.com/O8I93vKWg7
— Noah Verrier (@NoahVerrier) October 29, 2022
But seriously folks, I wonder what kind of paintings en plein air, Impressionist techniques would yield when thrown against, say, the kind of territory that Chris Arnade walks. Why not?
Zeitgeist Watch
Everything wrong with America packed into one vehicle:
I’m the average male height the at 5’9”
This vehicle should be illegal. pic.twitter.com/4AM3L6CHwy
— Tyler Newcomb (He/Him) (@tylernewcomb_) October 30, 2022
Under the Influence
Mommie Blogger Dearest:
I remember the first time I came across the TikTok of a girl that grew up as the daughter of a mommy blogger. She spoke about how it negatively impacted her life and how she felt exposed. This video is a letter from an anonymous teen of a vlog family. Please watch. pic.twitter.com/rtxdvaP8fb
— Krissy (@Krissys_Couch) October 30, 2022
Guillotine Watch
“At San Francisco restaurant, pups chow on filet mignon” [Associated Press]. “Dogue, which rhymes with vogue, opened last month in the city’s trendy Mission District. For $75 dollars per pup, doggie diners get a multiple-course “bone appetite” meal featuring dishes like chicken skin waffles and filet mignon steak tartare with quail egg.” • Oh.
Class Warfare
Funny thing. The death rates for the PMC are a lot lower than those for “essential workers” (remember them?):
COVID-19 death rates among U.S. residents aged 16–64, by usual occupation group: 46 states and New
York City, 2020https://t.co/UFUoaepVdX pic.twitter.com/5OO3YMMr6F— wsbgnl (@wsbgnl) October 29, 2022
And PMC vaccination is a lot higher:
I’d also ask how govt and employers may have helped downplay covid risk for many in-person workers (e.g. never closing and absence of OSHA standard) and set those workers up to believe covid might be less of a threat than side effects from the vaccinehttps://t.co/trATHcBnW0 pic.twitter.com/5mKaKNTYmN
— wsbgnl (@wsbgnl) October 29, 2022
PMC, in chorus: “Because we’re smarter!”
“Starbucks Union Group Ordered to Turn Over Messages With Reporters” [Daily Beast]. “Starbucks Workers United, the organization behind unionizing Starbucks stores in western New York, has been ordered to hand over their messages with journalists to the company. The federal ruling is highly unusual and will give the coffee company access to private conversations as they battle with unionizing groups. Several Starbucks workers have accused the company of union-busting. Starbucks said this ruling will help them uncover ‘misinformation’ the union organizers have dispelled.” • So that’s alright then. Liberal goodthinkers hate “misinformation.”
The stakes are high:
If Starbucks workers win a great contract, then workers everywhere will be inspired to unionize to win the same
But if Howard Schultz indefinitely escapes bargaining in good faith with those who voted to unionize, the result could be widespread demoralization & demobilization
— Eric Blanc (@_ericblanc) October 29, 2022
“Maine Lobster Union Points the Way for Organizing Gig Economy Workers” [Bloomberg]. “Local 207—the only lobstering union in the US—so unusual. The decade-old group in Maine represents about 200 lobstermen (as men and most women in the business call themselves). The union members own three 18-wheel trucks, a pair of smaller vehicles for hauling the produce from wharves, and a so-called tank room, a warehouse packed with tubs of refrigerated ocean water in which the crustaceans spend a final few days in something resembling their home environment before reaching their ultimate fate: a quick plunge into a vat of boiling water. “We work for the fisherman,” says Jason Rizzitano, manager of the tank room near Bar Harbor. The lobster union offers a potential model for gig economy workers seeking to push back against large companies that siphon off the bulk of profits in many trades, says Rebecca Lurie, a professor of Labor Studies at the City University of New York. By working together, such groups have organized Uber drivers, home health-care workers, and cable-internet technicians. Moreover, they can get a big boost from organized labor, which “offers unparalleled support, as well as an air of legitimacy,” she says.” • Dirigo!
“Inside the Fight to Unionize NYC’s VITAL Climbing Gyms: ‘Gloves Are Off’” [Hell Gate]. “VITAL, which opened its first location in Carlsbad, California, in 2010, has recently spread rapidly throughout New York City. Fans rave about its dynamic facilities; critics bemoan its corporate, Silicon Valley-esque ambiance. Its massive 45,000-square-foot Williamsburg gym, which opened last spring, is open 24 hours a day and features a sauna, a rooftop deck, and a cafe. Just a few months after opening the flagship facility, VITAL acquired two locations in Manhattan previously operated by Steep Rock Bouldering Gym. In marketing materials and interviews, the company’s founders deploy the language of progressive politics and inclusivity. ‘Climbing gyms have become community centers and we’re there to serve the community,’ one founder told Climbing Business Journal. And the Brooklyn location’s Instagram profile notes that its aerial silk classes and rooftop parties take place ‘on the homeland of the Lenape.’ But when VITAL took over the Manhattan gyms, former Steep Rock employees became concerned that their voices weren’t being heard by their new bosses. ‘People started talking, worried about potential changes at the company. We just wanted to make sure we weren’t losing the culture,’ Goodwin said. ‘Those conversations turned into organizing.’On September 19, employees at both VITAL Manhattan locations filed a petition to the National Labor Relations Board to form Climbers United, an affiliate labor union of Workers United. It would include 21 workers. Mail-in ballots were sent on October 17 for a certification election with the NLRB and they will be tallied in mid-November. The gym has chosen not to voluntarily recognize the union.” • That the “language of progressive politics and inclusivity” is entirely compatible with union-busting should at this point surprise nobody,
“Ten Years Ago, Occupy Sandy Didn’t Just Help New Yorkers, It Redefined Disaster Response” [The City (NL)]. “A decade ago, a group of friends who had come together to protest economic inequality as part of the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement wanted to figure out how to help New Yorkers affected by Superstorm Sandy. They realized people needed food, clothes and other essentials, and in concert with community groups, they did what they could to provide. Calling themselves Occupy Sandy, the endeavor ballooned. It became a grassroots, people-powered response to a devastating storm. Sandy destroyed thousands of homes, caused about $19 billion in damage and resulted in the deaths of at least 43 people in New York City. Based on relationships forged and logistical lessons learned during Occupy Wall Street, when protestors camped out in the Financial District’s Zuccotti Park, a network of about 60,000 volunteers spanned the five boroughs to distribute supplies, connect people with resources and even help rebuild homes.” •
News of the Wired
I don’t run my own server any more. Can anyone tell me if this is true?
🔥 Weird one: Any HTML element can be visible and editable with display:block; and contenteditable – including style tags! pic.twitter.com/zRf2zFYb1i
— Wes Bos (@wesbos) October 29, 2022
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Copeland writes: “Arachnoides simplicior ‘Variegata’, the East ndian Holly Fern.” I deprecate bark mulch. But what lovely textures!
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COVID-19 death rates among U.S. residents aged 16–64, by usual occupation group: 46 states and New
York City, 2020https://t.co/UFUoaepVdX pic.twitter.com/5OO3YMMr6F
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation category has Retail beat on deaths.
And food services his the highest. Not making me eager to eat out.
I am curious as to why death rate is so high in the farming, fishing and forestry category.
My guess would be these workers had limited/no ability to get any health care.
Here was a response to the same question in the thread:
Snakes among us
@UsSnakes
·
Oct 29
Replying to
@CKJohnsonBk
and
@wsbgnl
Close living & working quarters-migrant camps, boats, meat processing assembly lines.
Everyone isn’t always above deck on a boat.
At a loss with the reason behind Forestry. But makes you wonder about dead animals and fires?
Its worth noting that these are rates of those who tested positive, not rates of everyone in that sector (at least thats my understanding). For that reason, a higher likelihood of contracting Covid wouldnt necessarily have an effect on the death rate. It might even have a positive effect as people start getting covid their second or third time and are less likely to die then the original infection
LaRuse is probably correct–these are jobs likely to be in rural areas with bad healthcare and health outcomes already
Edit: After reading the technical note/methodology I’m not longer sure this is correct
Could it also include agricultural workers such as meat packing and slaughter houses? The rate by industry group includes agriculture with farming and fishing (next page of the CDC report).
Another consideration is the likelihood of more co-morbidities among these workers vs what I will call office workers (includes management).
These are all dangerous jobs, and ones which require extremely hard work. I imagine any illness on top of that is more likely to become severe than otherwise.
I recall Chris Martenson at Peak Prosperity calling COVID a “honey badger of a disease” from the beginning. It is also the name of his farm, though…
He has been downplaying it for a while now. (as with many people)
Yes, I recall. It now seems he has drifted away from covid and to me is just touting his paywall, looking to get more eyeballs. ca-ching! Too bad, he was ahead of the curve in the beginning, His “The Crash Course” is still a good intro/explaner of sustainability concepts.
“But seriously folks, I wonder what kind of paintings >en plein air, Impressionist techniques would yield when thrown against, say, the kind of territory that Chris Arnade walks. Why not?”
Oakland California’s own Anthony Holdsworth might be up to the job. Perhaps an introduction between Arnade and Holdsworth could be made.
https://lunarienne.com/shows/mission-lake
https://www.anthonyholdsworth.com/home/2011/10/occupy-oakland-too-close-for-comfort-an-artists-view
Rod Penner
Richard Estes
I have an Holdsworth on the wall, I used to stop and talk to him at lunchtime when I worked in Downtown Oakland and eventually bought one of his works.
He used to have an open studio every Month and may still do so
A genuinely nice man and a fine artist.
All finished.
Seamlessly, I might add. I got here late today and I cannot tell the added content from the original post.
It’s like none of it was ever late!
I guess Penner isn’t all that impressionistic, more photo-real.
Stewart Shils
Ben Aronson
David Kapp
Working link for Ben Aronson
I’d be interested to know the methodology. I dont see how this could be accurately calculated since data has been so woefully collected. I think its safe to assume “essential”/low wage workers are less like to have access to testing or to even get testing if they do have access. They cant afford to miss work. Compare this to their “PMC” brethen, who are in a much better position to miss work or work from home if they tested positive. Given the numerator (positive case count) for each group differ, no reliable comapirsson can be made about death rates
That said, the PMC does tend to have lower death rates for everything–so it shuoldnt be surprising this applies to Covid as well: https://www.quora.com/Which-professions-have-the-longest-life-expectancy-Which-ones-have-the-shortest
I’d like to see comparisons of:
• Parents with school aged children vs non-parents
• Customer service vs management
• Entry level vs C-Suite
• dorms vs fraternities/sororities
• CDC employees vs Wall Street traders
I was going to suggest comparing different collegiate sports conferences but I don’t know what their names are these days.
HTML and JavaScript and other resources like CSS stylesheets are visible and can be edited LOCALLY only. This is a common developer tool feature of all browsers.
For anyone who might think this is hard to get to
– In FF, click on the hamburger menu on the top right
– Select more tools
– Select Web Developer tools
thats it…. simple. You’ll get a new pane (or window) with way too much information!
A good starting point is to click on the arrow pointing at a screen icon on the top right. That will change your mouse pointer to a dynamic highlighter showing were every element on the screen is in the html.
All the other mainline browsers have more or less the same tools available.
I use this feature to make clean copies of articles.
It’s pretty easy to delete page elements that contain adverts, and then save to PDF. Reader mode is of course the simplest way, but sometimes it doesn’t work. At that point, editing the page is a good option.
Democrats suffered heavy losses in both midterms of Obama’s presidency.
It seems like there is a lesson there. Surely, Obama’s endorsed successor had a big win in 2016? Right?
She would have, but Putin ….
My money was on monkey pox but we now have an active case of tuberculosis on campus. For your reading pleasure I share the following regard transmission from our college health officials:
“People with active TB are able to spread TB if they cough, speak, or sing around others. TB is not spread by actions such as shaking someone’s hand or drinking from someone’s glass.”
Really, really, really glad I’m working from home.
A girl in my first year dorm, named Jen (hmmm), had TB. Hers was still latent. She worked in a plant nursery the previous Summer.
I’ve been on campus a lot and I am so glad I’ve been wearing an N95 every time(and at work and on the bus). That was definitely not an email I was expecting to get this afternoon! Between the “Day of Caring” activities and Homecoming this past weekend, that contact list might be kinda long.
“At San Francisco restaurant, pups chow on filet mignon” [Associated Press]. “Dogue, which rhymes with vogue, opened last month in the city’s trendy Mission District. For $75 dollars per pup, doggie diners get a multiple-course “bone appetite” meal featuring dishes like chicken skin waffles and filet mignon steak tartare with quail egg.” • Oh.
Meanwhile, people eating insects is being promoted.
They can go straight to –
I foresee a future where “bugeaters” becomes a epithet….
Cafe Renfield. / ;)
“R. M. Renfield is a fictional character who appears in Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.[2] He is Count Dracula’s deranged, fanatically devoted servant and familiar, helping him in his plan to turn Mina Harker into a vampire in return for a continuous supply of insects to consume and the promise of immortality.” – Wiki
~~~~~~
Happy Halloween.
Lambert – I also thought of the Ed Buck story over the weekend. But I also thought of Mr. Pelosi’s previous DUI arrest a few months ago. Just who was the man in the Porsche with him in the middle of the night while he was driving home from Napa? Especially when jail time was handed down? Is it not interesting that this person has never been disclosed to the public? I have learned the hard way with our current media atmosphere that glaring omissions are very often crucial to the understanding of the story.
And here we are this weekend…..I have told the commenters here repeatedly that a good internist should be a Sherlock Holmes like individual. Picking up minute details here and there on just a glance or a side-eye. Unfortunately, I have to say this happened to me yesterday with this very story.
I cannot remember which breathless Dem office holder it was that was being interviewed yesterday – but they managed to let a cat out of the bag with me. In a very condescending tone to the American people watching the show – they said “The perp had a wad of zip ties on him…..what other possible reason could he have had to have a wad of zip ties then to harm the occupants of that house.”
It really is laugh out loud funny what these people reveal when they do not mean to.
You see, I, like many other physicians have lots of experience in big inner-city hospitals. You learn to pick up on things that people say, wear, do, or smell like. In an instant. It is part of the job.
So you see a young male AIDS patient in the ER. If that particular patient happened to have a wad of zip ties around his belt or in his pocket, you immediately know that individual is very likely a prostitute that specializes in probably older gay male clients. You would therefore instantly be on the lookout for any tell-tale signs of other STDs or anything else that could affect his care. Why? Because zip ties are used by some hustlers as impromptu c#@k r*(^gs. This is especially true if they know they are going to be seeing someone a little older that night. Furthermore, they are also often used for clients that are into things a little more rough and full leather regalia was impractical. There has been not often, but certainly more than once, I have had to carefully extract a stuck zip tie from nether regions on the client. Yes, that will make you cranky.
Mind you – I am not judging these prostitutes. I have learned over the years they are actually among the most honest and straightforward among us. They often have years and years of baggage to work through.
So to those of us who have a modicum of experience with this underground culture, a wad of zip ties was indicative of something that was not at all what was being told yesterday. It could be exactly what they are saying – but there is absolutely another explanation.
As an aside —– On a very handful of occasions in decades of practice, I have had the unfortunate situation of having a long-married couple come undone by just this type of thing. Husband had been hanging out in bars and parks with hustlers for years. Wife absolutely knows – but just shuts up – especially if grown kids/grandkids are involved – and especially if they are wealthy. It has happened more than once in decades of practice. I have been amazed in these situations how law enforcement just looks the other way. I have always thought of this as being chivalry out of respect for the wife. Unfortunately, in my experience, that chivalry only extends to those who are of a certain social standing. It is an absolute tragedy for the wives and the kids. As these men get older, they often get more cocky and/or demented – and many mistakes are made. Unfortunately, that is what I have to consider when I am viewing these Pelosi events unfold.
One of my old mentors in medicine now long gone, when asked what was the hardest thing he had to deal with after years of being a physician —- His very short answer – Secrets. After a few of these issues in my own practice – I understand completely.
LOL and thanks for your insights
Don’t really care how a multi-millionaire spends his weekends but the implication was that the attack was politically motivated. Maybe. Can it also be that there were financial motivations as well?
According to the WaPo, this crime has been solved and if you don’t believe their story then you’re just another conspiracy theory-believing Trumper.
“Republicans and others on the right are amplifying misinformation and outright falsehoods about last week’s violent assault on Paul Pelosi by a hammer-wielding intruder searching for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA),” the Washington Post reports.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/31/pelosi-attack-republicans-house-speaker/
Until this complaint was filed, the only non-anonymous sources about what happened were the cops, who hadn’t said much on the record. Meanwhile, both sides “solved” the case with media and social media narratives fitting their usual demonization the “other” side.
I am a life long Dem. As I have stated above, I have seen this play out too many times – once is too many – in my career. I hope for everyone’s sake that there is no more hurt going on.
However, what really upsets me – making my decision to not vote for any Dems this year ever more firm in my mind is what I witnessed on the news channels yesterday AM on Sunday AM.
I was getting caught up on paperwork in the doctor’s lounge and the news shows were on in the background.
I really did not see any GOP lawmakers saying much of anything about this issue. If they were asked – they said they thought it was tragic and then moved on. The Democratic Party however apparently decided as a group to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. One after the other, over and over again, Dem lawmakers decrying the GOP and its rhetoric for causing this to happen. Even blaming GOP voters for this. It was constant and on almost every channel.
I am very angry about this for 2 reasons –
1) My GOP aunts and uncles and other family members who vote the GOP have nothing to do with this. The very suggestion they do is imbecile.
More importantly –
2) This country is facing an economic meltdown, a COVID crisis, a possible nuclear war scenario, failing public education, an energy crisis, etc etc etc. We are one week out from the midterms – a very consequential election…. And the Dems were on these shows spending all their airtime talking about Pelosi and the big bad MAGA. Seriously? All the while the GOP people were actually talking about the issues.
My God – A baboon can tell there is more to this Pelosi story than what is being advertised. Yes – it is none of our business – BUT THE DEMS ARE THE ONES TALKING ABOUT IT on the broadcast media.
It has made me realize one thing for certain – the modern Dem politician cannot learn from the mistakes of history. They should all know from the Jussie Smollett fiasco to keep the powder dry until the story comes out. But no – we all get to see our MAGA family members held accountable for this. I am so ashamed of these people in my party – and cannot wait for the cleanout. We need a reset in the worst way.
What a joke. I was just BEGGING for one of them to say to the moderator yesterday – “You know, that is an ongoing case and a private affair with the Pelosi family. I will not comment on that – let’s talk about inflation.” I was listening all morning – and not a word like that was said.
That is what speaks volumes to me.
Well, things just went from bad to worse for the “perp”:
Issues, things of importance to voters, please. As we all know since they are the supposed opposition party they have to clear any such statements with their donors. Can’t get too far out over their skis. But since I don’t watch those Sunday political shows I am dependent on local coverage. And to be honest I am not seeing much talk about issues on the GOP side either.
Here it is interesting how nobody is talking inflation, food, utilities etc are sky rocketing and the unlikely to win GOP are all about crime and police support, while the Dems are protecting access to abortion. The few safe GOP candidates are about lowering taxes.
I don’t think most of the people running for most state and federal offices are interested in issues anymore. We can all come up for reasons for it, some of it even just having been defeated by the system,but…
One thing I will say that is that Dems have taken righteous affront and frightened outrage to new heights, it must be easier than relying on the one or two safe policy positions. I fully expect them to be topped by the GOP in the next cycle though.
let’s wait for complete reports, in the mean time lets signal boost the most toxic blame-the-victim rumors coming from the most right wing sources.
And what about the “blame the MAGA deplorables” exhortations coming from the most faux ‘left’ wing sources?
I really do not think that politicos from either party will recognize real leftists until said leftists poke them in their fundaments with pitchforks.
This entire exercise shows the extent to which American politics has devolved into a spectacle of circus acts. “Three rings to beguile them all.”
One thing this does show is how much anger there is in the public about their supposed “ruling elites.” The real ‘story’ here is in the responses to the crime.
Sorry. You are missing the point.
We are on the precipice of multiple disasters. It was the Dems talking about this all day on tv yesterday, not the GOP. I know there are right wing toxic people out there. But they were not on national TV all morning talking about this. Who is the demographic most likely to vote? The over 50 crowd. Who was watching that display yesterday AM and the most likely to be viewing Sunday AM Tv? The over 50 crowd. They by and large do not look at Twitter to see the toxicity to which you refer.
So instead of talking about issues that matter yesterday, they were stirring up the MAGA stuff. I am certain I am not the only older Liberal-leaning individual who finds this nauseating. Again, blaming my GOP family for this just because they are GOP voters is beyond contempt. But yet that is what the Dems are running with. Is this how we convince GOP voters to see the light these days?
Maybe Dem leaders should spend some time with the other non-PMC side to see what their lives are truly like……It is very possible many of them are going to have all kinds of time to do that very soon.
I don’t know. I just think that tactic is past its shelf life. Maybe the Dems are relieved about this SF issue. They did not have to talk about any of the other issues in what should be the closing argument time in their campaign. They have certainly not wrapped themselves in glory this past two years in issues that matter to the working people of this country.
amen, man…but “things of concern to working people”?
lol.
im 53 and have been at least somewhat politically aware since the late 70’s.
i dont remember that being a concern, at all…save for the bullshit utterings that are just standard fare for campaigns.
“i feel your pain”, etc.
we are the Great Unwashed, the Hoi Polloi, the frelling Peasants.
and we’re effectively curtailed by the myriad divisionary tools available, and easily deployed….abortion, steelers vs oilers, hillary’s a commie, trump’s a fascist, etc etc etc.
last time Us’n’s were together on big things was because of the Great Depression, then, inadvertently, the War.
we had 30 years of peace and prosperity(sans black and brown and gay and female folks, of course…but still..)
the most dangerous thing to the PTB is Us’n’s finding common cause and a common enemy(PTB).
and uniting against it.
Could the comment about “Where’s Nancy” have been more in the context of he sees the police and then sarcastically asks…”Where’s Nancy?”
As in “you called the police. why didn’t you call Nancy, too?”
Funny how people are so willing to take up whatever crap that seeps up from the right wing sewer, at least when it concerns people that they don’t like. I would say that they’re gullible fools, except they want to be fooled.
I don’t know any details on what happened in that attack, beyond what’s been reported in the news, and neither do you. With stories like this, I find it helpful not to jump to any conclusions. Perhaps you should do the same.
How dare you. Your comment is completely out of line, a straw man of IM Doc, plus a misrepresentation of the original source of the key factoid.
IM Doc did not jump to conclusions. He pointed to the fact that the perp carrying a lot of zip ties not only did not necessarily debunk the alternative narrative but could actually support it. And the source of the claim about the zip-ties was a Pelosi defender! He’s the one who offered this additional tidbit and tried to spin it.
You can’t refute his comment about other implications of a man carrying a lot of zip ties so you instead engage in a nasty attack on the party providing the information. That is bad faith argumentation and a violation of our written site Policies. You were already in moderation for previous violations of our Policies.
Moreover, please tell me what explanation you have for the fact Paul Pelosi let the perp into his house in the late-ish evening and even make a call from his bathroom, facts reported publicly and not disputed? The official story makes no sense. Paul clearly knew the perp.
I trust you will find your happiness elsewhere on the Internet. I’m not tolerating Dem loyalists acting as enforcers to censor discussion of this case.
I miss that Yeves music to my ears & You.
Votefor6, do you have Any information to add?… or just another opinion dressed as fact?
Immediate mind-reading based on social media gobbledy-gook is jumping to conclusions.
Thanks IM Doc. I just learned a lot from your post.
Thanks for the zip ties image, which I will never be able to erase from my brain.
Note that it’s probably a trigger word for the symbol manipulators, since one of the Capitol Seizure rioters was carrying some.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-31/chilling-new-details-emerge-in-attack-on-paul-pelosi/
“…Authorities recovered zip ties in Pelosi’s bedroom, plus rope, another hammer and rubber-and-cloth gloves along with a journal inside a backpack believed to belong to DePape…”
So DePape understood all the security measures (or lack of) at the residence and knew exactly where the bedroom was located. He knew all of that, but did not know whether or not Nancy was at home.
That is a great point depending on how this is presented going forward. Not knowing what to believe of course, if this guy really wanted Nancy, and I know most criminals are not too sharp (this one looks like a real nutcase), wouldn’t he at least planned well enough to know if she was home?
Just another hole in this piece of Swiss cheese.
But he specifically brought a hammer. Why not a hammer and a crowbar or more than one tool?
He just “guessed” that all he would need would be a hammer?
Why did he think Nancy would be home that particular evening?
Why the hell didn’t he wear the gloves to break the window? Sharp glass, fingerprints, WTF?
And have the police released any information about the forensics concerning the hammer? Or is it too soon, procedure wise.
You know the old saying, “If your only tool is a hammer, every problem is a Pelosi.”
You nailed it!
It’s the hammer of Justice
It’s the bell of Freedom
It’s the song about Love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land
Unlikely, but we can hope.
‘Defund Ukraine
@DoctorFishbones
Paul Pelosi’s neighbors in Pacific Heights include Larry Ellison of Oracle and Ann Getty, and you’re telling me some crazy Berkeley nudist managed to break in like he was walking into a department store’
https://twitter.com/DoctorFishbones/status/1587164840103116803
And how many pairs of gloves can he wear at once?
I had not heard there was someone in the DUI car with him and the radio silence does seem a bit suspicious. Not that I care about Pere Pelosi’s private life, but if Hillary et al are going to start hip shooting Repubs and MAGAs then his private life becomes fair game. As Lambert says above, facts should surely soon become available. If not then we can draw our own conclusions.
Thank you IM Doc, I was unaware that zip ties can be used thusly.
Your remarks regarding age, alcohol and risk taking by older Men Bi, Gay or Straight are well taken, and that risk taking is seldom confined to one aspect of their lives.
I’ve known a number of sex workers and will second your statement about their honesty and will add that their sense of humor tends to be very well developed.
Wait… I think I’ve heard your nom de blog before, somewhere.
Yikes. Time for a new acronym–MOARH–Mother Of All Rabbit Holes.
Yea, for sure. I hope this story doesn’t go away. Just once, I beg, let’s really go down the rabbit hole.
#MakeLawsMatterAgain
I hope that isn’t illegal here.
I’m thinking of Tom Wolfe’s book The Bonfire of the Vanities for some reason.
What, chuck our elites on a bonfire? Well I suppose that that is one idea but one I would have to think about first.
No worries. In Wolfe’s book they unwittingly chuck themselves on the bonfire…figuratively. / ;)
Cue the pivot to calling anyone who questions the narrative homophobic in 3, 2, 1
Very insightful as usual. It’s like reading the summary of the latest House MD episode minus the theatrics.
Thank you, as always, IM Doc, for some perspective on this.
In a way, I can’t blame Paul Pelosi for seeking out male escorts for outings to the wine country, or even inviting them into the residence for “hammer time”.
I mean… imagine being married to Nancy… shudder.
David Brooks to Thomas Friedman, playing a friendly game of poker:
“Hey, saw one of your latest articles and I’ll raise you “a Bono”:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/12/u2-bono-memoir-surrender/671894/
“But people who operate out of a scarcity mindset usually have their resentments on full display. As far as I can tell, Bono doesn’t have a resentful bone in his body. Scarcity people never seem fully happy no matter how much they achieve. Bono is generally happy, energized, enthusiastic…”
Bono is apparently having no issues paying his energy bills.
Don’t Look Now But Progressives Are About to Expand Their Ranks in Congress
https://inthesetimes.com/article/progressives-dark-money-midterms-squad-democrats
Twitter should be ablaze with rancor about Speaker McCarthy. So may progressives, so little progress.
ouch, that’ll leave a mark, lol.
Maybe if they reach some critical mass threshold something will happen?
Nah.
Any Prog not considering WFP as troublesome as Blue Dogs… Oh never mind, they are all Democrats. Progs have consistently played this game, failing those who take progressive platform issues seriously for at least the last 80 years.
Weak tea, so weak. This is like PR from an intern from The Nation. Always striving, never doing anything at all.
Pelosi: federal charges
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1548106/download
Your title is miss leading;-) I was hoping it was pelosi who had been charged.
Well, I’m sure we can trust the FBI to do the right thing.
I also couldn’t help but notice that the agent filing the report was a counter-terrorism specialist. Not a great track record there.
That said, thanks marym for posting this. It is informative and pretty straightforward, if accurate. There are still some key unanswered questions (e.g. about the perp’s motives and state of mind, security, etc.). But this does clarify the official story at least, given the haze of politicized s**t-slinging by *both* sides.
Darn tooting’ the FBI will do the right thing, ask Whitey Bulger if you don’t believe me.
This should be no surprise. Lambert is correct once again as well.
Well I finally got it.
Last wednesday I’m walking around the small island, a very isolated place where I’ve felt pretty safe so I’m not wearing a mask, and up drives an island denizen wearing a loose fitting but at least kn 95…his dog is barking as usual…not threatening really, just he only knows one word, and says it over and over again…he says to stay back he has covid and I’m like, oh, maybe a little disturbed but I’m outside and over 6 feet away so…and he says second infection, don’t worry it’s mild, 30 seconds, 45 seconds and off he goes. A bit later I have to go to the mail shack, 6×10, small space, no one inside, the door is closed, I tell myself it’s not a good idea to go in, and then I go in anyway, get my stuff and leave. I’m a loner, haven’t been in an enclosed space with another person since the 18th when one of the few people I hang around with took off for arizona. No conversations or idle chatter with anyone since then until the contact with the positive case. Friday night, end of the phillies game it comes on, fever and chills, one of those I can’t believe how slowly the clock is moving, 12:30am, 1:15, 2:00 you know the deal…get up in the am, test positive. Sinking feeling. Oh well…fever goes away, not really feeling too bad, but not good. Night 2, maybe slept a little better, no fever, and once again, not well, need a couple of deep breaths at maybe 4am. When my friend got it she was provided a pulse oxymeter and it was always worst numbers in the am, actually down into the uper 70’s once so I’m on the lookout for that so conscienceness of risk maybe had something to do with the breathing. Day goes by, drinking tea, cdc says ibuprofen or acetaminophen, I don’t like acetaminaphen so I go with ibuprofen, seems to work, I feel sort of ok but not doing anything. Last night, (3) I sleep ok, sinuses dry, minor dry slightly productive cough, no breathing issue. Wake up today, headache, bodyache, no fever, feel worse than the other days, groggy like, not hungry (throughout I’ve just made myself eat 2x a day). Lungs not fluidy, but not right either. Read NC link on myocarditis, get a feeling of profound I guess disillusion,being just completely let down by the whole messaging that allowed the guy to think it’s just mild…covid flu no problem. No point being mad at anyone, I’m just lucky enough that it’s really easy to contact trace my activity. The point I’d emphasize is it didn’t take much to be infected, the positive just came back from canada, probably rural BC borderlands, his kid is in college in ID so above eastern washington somewhere. If I were to choose, I’d say order of likelihood (1)mail shack as it’s enclosed even though no one was in there, he could have been there 5 mins before and I wouldn’t have known, (2) the barking dog was emitting aerosol, and (3) the roadside chat.
I really do not want a second infection. The positive definitely boosted, I had the first two and was just thinking about novovax. Too late for this one though… I wonder if you can figure out which variant you have via symptoms.
Sorry to hear about this tegnost. Hope that you get through it quickly and easily. Just try to take care of yourself and maybe have somebody check on you daily by phone to make sure that all is well. My daughter caught it earlier this year and it had her laid low in her room for several days and not being well enough to call us on her mobile for anything.
I hope you recover quickly. It’s kind of depressingly amazing how people like you can be careful and still get it in such a short time of contact.
I handed out 500+ pieces of candy tonight (one per person), and I’m hoping those many brief encounters don’t add up to trouble.
Thanks to you and the rev…it’s really morphing a lot…at least on halloween it’s easy to mask up. The insidious part is sometimes I feel good enough to get out and around which is great for the virus, I don’t think I’ll check the mail… I’d rather not pass it along. Catching up on my pulp fiction, Mickey Spillane “bloody sunrise” last night… Evil Russians! John D MacDonald “the scarlet ruse” today
i likely had it a month ago, due to busting my mother in law out of the hospital in austin.
2 weeks of feeling like crap, and a cough that’s just now letting up.
cursory search for a rapid test…,none available around here(sigh).
as for halloween invaders…easy peasy: just live on a dead end dirt road in the wilderness, and maintain the glamour of Scary Weirdo Guy…problem solved.
when we lived in town, i was the guy who gave all the kids apples, instead of dentistry props.
so theres that, too.
I’m sorry you caught this. I’m also sorry that it was so exceedingly easy to catch. I hope you have no long term problems from it. Thank you for describing how it went; it does make me think that it will be nearly impossible to avoid this entirely.
Thanks, it’s not impossible, I just wasn’t wearing my mask or carrying one around with me even though over all I’ve been pretty obsessive about it. Had I had a mask with me I could have donned it when I went in the mail shack. Today is day 4,basically the same as yesteday, my left lung throughout seems to be where the action is. Thanks again,I might have kept it to myself but I think there’s some value in the travelogue, and I had limited exposure so the contact tracing is more clear.
Mask Up!
I wish I had gotten a pulse oxymeter.
The Visual Effects Crisis
Enjoy the snazzy visual effects of the otherwise moronic MCDCU movies and their ilk? The artists don’t. They are overworked and burnt out, clocking in 100 hour weeks isn’t unusual:
https://youtu.be/eALwDyS7rB0
Re: “Opinion: Put your masks on, please”
“My contagion point was probably a packed art gallery I visited on Saturday, Oct. 15. ”
OK, it’s behind a paywall, so I couldn’t read the whole thing.
Did she wear a mask to the packed art gallery?
I posted this on Saturday links by mistake late Sunday, so I’m reposting today because it is so cool! This being Lambert’s place, and a world record passenger train, it needs notice.
Swiss narrow gauge railway sets record for world’s longest passenger train – Trains
Video 1:11, plus 8 photos
https://www.blick.ch/schweiz/graubuenden/laengster-personenzug-der-welt-weltrekordversuch-der-rhaetischen-bahn-exklusiv-auf-blick-tv-id17989529.html
Switzerland really celebrates its railroads! The RhB is a world class operation, not to be missed if you’re in Switzerland.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cdc-director-tests-positive-covid-paxlovid-rebound-case-rcna54870
CDC director tests positive for Covid again after taking a course of the antiviral pill Paxlovid
Dr. Rochelle Walensky had mild symptoms Sunday and is isolating at her home in Massachusetts, the CDC said Monday.
That’s a damn shame.
At least Ms Wollensky is fully immune now and won’t have to worry about catching it again.
I love the way she smiles in group photographs with other people who are too important to wear masks and I hope to see a lot more of that soon.
It is lovely to see our Leaders smile.
So are rebound cases a thing, or is it really just having COVID the whole time but experiencing intermittent symptoms and maybe not sticking the thing up your nose far enough?
5 days of Pavloxid treatment knocks down virus levels to undetectable levels. Patient stops taking it. Levels rebound & Covid returns. Very well-known Pavloxid effect. Wollensky should have known
Thanks John S!
Paxlovid should really be renamed to Reboundlovid.
re: Deep Fried Oil Paintings
https://youtu.be/EFtU3olKhpE
from the artist umami
That video about children being used by their parents is terribly sad. I wonder if we will see lawsuits arise in the future. How can you see your way clear to making your child so publicly available? Knowing some guy somewhere is getting off on videos of them?
Of course, Youtube has a lot of videos that families put up. Whatever, but there seems to be something narcissistic about it all. Some do little skits and such, some are talking about how annoying their spouses can be, stuff like that. Social media is, I think, a net negative.
Emily Oster’s ‘Let’s Declare a Pandemic Amnesty’ deserves the yellow waders treatment. It is a mini-masterpiece of casual cruelty, complacency, and shameless politicking dressed up as some kind of professional middle class emollience.
Ok, phew. I mean, I was worried that the Covid pandemic was treated throughout the Western world not as a public health crisis (still ongoing), but as a means to profiteer and then numbing the population to a new reality of endless infection, death and drastically worsened health outcomes. I thought there was a concerted effort to dragoon teachers and students into patently unsafe environments because their neoliberal utility is in providing daycare for workers rather than providing education. But bleach? That sounds bad. Good thing there were some souls, honest and true, fighting the good fight against all that disinformation.
And thank goodness for this timely Amnesty idea – a sober and humble decision to strike a line in the sand. We just didn’t know then what we know now (except those who did). Covid is airborne. Gathering people in poorly ventilated indoor environments was then, is now, a disaster – and not one waiting to happen, but waiting to continue happening, over and over, while we sicken, and weaken, and are left alone to deal with the consequences. But, you know, we have also learned that we are in an Information War. Ideas take flight on social media, online trolls, Russia. We may have been exhausted having to tell people not to shoot up bleach to kill Covid, but we learned. We learned to be humble, we learned to trust the science.
What’s that?
Oh.
” And I certainly don’t need to dissect and rehash that time for the rest of my days.”
But she will, bet on it.
Well, how can you learn but by constantly remembering all the times when you were right, stunning and brave, while the oiks were wrong?
Her arguments about schools were predicated on sloppy data and she came to nonsensical conclusions about children not driving spread, which was merely telling a certain class of people what they wanted to hear. It was atrocious work, and many teachers have, in fact, died (or been rendered disabled). Now, as the toll of Covid on children is becoming harder to ignore, one wonders if she is getting out in front of a possible backlash. Inshallah.
If it was a merely ordinarily cunning type of person, I’d consider it very likely that she was indeed floating the Covid amnesty idea in order to get ahead of and preempt any possible backlash to the socially murderous courses of action she and most of the PMC clamoured for over the last 2 years. That would be smart, in a kind of predictable, self-interested way.
But considering the evidence we have over the last half decade – let’s say since other members of her class unironically penned (and put their names to) tear-soaked jeremiads after HRC’s 2016 loss* – I’m not so sure. This is a class that doesn’t do self-awareness even when it might serve their own interests or preservation. In that sense, I could really see that she believes she was, in fact, a paragon of stunning bravery throughout the pandemic, fighting the good fight against Disinformation, and that her call for an Amnesty is not directed at fellow PMC’ers like Drs Jha and Wallensky, but standard-issue strawmen like Joe Rogan. It was a humblebrag pat on the back to her and those of her ilk, and yet another cri de couer against the horror of Ivermectin. And I’m sure there is nothing in this world that can or could persuade her that in fact herding children and educators into Covid-riddled schools may not have actually been a good idea after all – just as she probably believes sincerely in her (entirely self-serving) science, rather than so much as suspecting such calls were just a thinly veiled demand for workers to get back on the job and deal with the consequences.
*A classic of the genre is viewable here: What Happened on Election Day. In case you can’t stomach the whole piece, here’s a highlight:
Biden got testy in call when Zelensky asked for more military aid: report
President Biden lost his temper and raised his voice on the phone with Volodymyr Zelensky when the Ukrainian president continued to press for more aid even after Biden signed off on $1 billion worth of military assistance earlier this year, according to a report Monday.
https://nypost.com/2022/10/31/biden-lost-his-temper-with-zelensky-over-more-aid-report/
My gut is the blank check policy isn’t playing well when people hear about it.. People have been silenced, but is support for the Kiev rump state an applause line on the trail?
50 billion in a lame duck while dumping on Americans is really not going to play well.
I truly fear there will be a moment, when Xi will make his move and it’ll be financial first….dump our Treasuries and clamp the 5 tigers. Won’t last but it will hurt and won’t take long from wall st to main st.
“China’s Large Position in U.S. Treasuries
China, which owns an estimated $972 billion in U.S. Treasuries, is the number-two investor among foreign governments, according to the August 2022 figures released by the U.S. Treasury.2 This amounts to more than 13% of the U.S. debt held overseas and about 3.2% of the United States’ total debt load.31”
&
“The yuan has fallen sharply against the dollar this year as concerns about the Chinese economy have grown and as the US Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates.
A cheaper currency typically makes exports more competitive, but Beijing has appeared anxious not to let its currency slide too far.
Sassan Ghahramani of SGH Macro Advisors agreed with Turner that the the sell-off could continue as geopolitical friction between the US and China runs high. Those tensions have flared since a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in August to Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.
“The drive to reduce USD exposure has been an ongoing strategic objective of Beijing’s, but one which is now repeatedly being reemphasized in private by officials and is apparently being accelerated,” Ghahramani said.
China is still a major foreign holder of US Treasuries, second only to Japan, the official figures showed.”
Xi still wants payments. Luxembourg has 1/3 of the holdings as China. It’s a nothing burger. The real issue is countries buy from China instead of Cisco etc.
China is third behind wealthy Americans and a very distant third. The national debt has always had a natural solution.
Given the alternatives, US treasuries are a solid bet.
Actually, after considering your comment….I’m more afraid of our why & how our treasurer plans some desperate buybacks…
The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a group of banks and investors that advise the government on its funding, has said that Treasury buybacks could enhance market liquidity and dampen swings in Treasury bill issuance and cash balances.
It added, however, that the need to finance buybacks with increased issuance of new securities could increase yields and be at odds with the Treasury’s strategy of predictable debt management if the repurchases were too variable in size or timing.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-treasury-asks-major-banks-if-it-should-buy-back-us-government-bonds-2022-10-14/
They seem to be about to thread a needle: Today, US Treasury said Q4 borrowing estimate assumes end-December cash balance of USD 700bln and it expects to issue USD 578bln in net marketable debt in January-March 2023, assuming end-March cash balance of USD 500bln. Furthermore, it expects to issue USD 550bln in net marketable debt in October-December 2022 period (prev. August estimate of USD 400bln) with the increase in the Q4 borrowing estimate due to changes in fiscal activity, greater-than-projected discount on marketable securities and lower non-marketable funding.
Specifics to be announced Wednesday before FOMC mtg…
‘its first estimate for borrowing during the January – March 2023 quarter, the Treasury expects to borrow $578 billion in new debt, assuming an end-of-March cash balance of $500 billion. Said otherwise, another $1.1 trillion in debt issuance in the next six months.”
Wait until Biden seizes that $972 billion using the ‘Grabbing China’s Money To Spend Here In America To Make Us Look Popular Again Act.’
Grounds for impeachment!
But looking at the article, the call was from this summer. How many billions has he forked over since the temper tantrum?!? This “news” coming out now is abject political posturing.
Doh. That’s a good point. Poor reading on my part.
Per NTG’s comment above, I wonder how the Dems think they can spin this up? Or are they playing the “losing makes for great fundraising” routine?
It’s amazing that no one bothers to proof read anymore:
(bold mine)
Can you spot the typo?
And I see this weekly at some place or another, including the NY Times.
Journalism ain’t what it once was, eh?
High Lambert. I’ve missed you appalachian bad. I notice the hairs on my arms been rising strange hours thru the nights…sure enuff, the deep pockets don’t know where to go and I remember this feelin DECADES AGO.
Man I had a ball here! The majority were the smartest people in the room, many the coolest heads and then there were a few of us that took you n Yeves years to tame….real sorry that didn’t work out. I still ponder Optimizer using his entire front yard to grow purple basil for Ice Cream…and if From Mexico is still From Mexico. And HunkerDown gave me best Advice Eva…I came undone on some lame dc appointee, she was all smiles about how we’re gonna work BS reforms, when HunkerDown posted to me “Always tell the reformer YOU FIRST”…knee slappin hilarious.
One weeknight RJS forwarded me a pdf he didn’t have time to look over, and wasn’t even sure who sent it to him….so, in my usual fashion of ‘what the hell is this shit’, I see a corp in FL with a former senator as CEO….still no biggie UNTIL I SAW THEIR “INVENTORY” OF HOUSES. I waited not one second of screaming for Yeves, she answered me immediately and freaked….it was proof the banks aren’t holding mortgages. Next time RJS dropped numbers on me I was stumped, couldn’t see a pattern of what I was looking at UNTIL THE 5TH PAGE SHOWED UNPAID DEBIT OF 515 TRILLION IN TAX DERIVATIVES. One can only imagine that number now.
Oh, and remember one of those strange Sunday eves, we were crunching #s an such when somehow things went south, literally. The subject was about should women shave their pubic hair. I was the only female that jumped and said yes, for sanitary purposes….of course the lowest of us enjoyed each other’s opinions and YOURS TOO…until some schoolteacher came undone on us and tried to shame us….big mistake, we didn’t care. Actually we cared more about our wet underwear.
What a mess these days…if Xi dumps our Treasuries at just the right time (which will never exist for any of us) he’ll throw costly tantrums…like pootin-paper.
I backed into a comedian theat reminds me of THIS HOME, back in the day, an it’s got History too. Again, I miss You (coolest head to prevail)
https://youtu.be/zYUIOR2hgr0
But what is prison itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” -AbyN
Good to see you back. This place thrives on a fully rounded selection of viewpoints.
Your crazy diamond at your service.
Missed you too AmBrit if Louisiana!
Shine on!
I’m out to lunch, but is JD Vance going to be a Senator? I guess whining about China isn’t a vote getter.
That Politico argument by Joshua Zeitz gives a good summation of the situation in the pre Civil War United States, as well as the right’s use of violence afterwards, but his linking it to the current Republican slash conservatives is lacking. Or rather, his attempt to blame them almost entirely for the current hatred and the potential for violence ignores almost everything that the Democratic Party and its apparatchiks in the Professional Managerial Class, mainstream media, and the security state is doing to create hatred and violence. It is an example of lying with the truth.
‘I’m the average male height the at 5’9”
This vehicle should be illegal.’
I could be wrong but that vehicle – isn’t it a Canyonero?
Why yes, it is! It certainly dwarfs my sedan. Unless it’s a four wheel drive that monthly does carries the groceries of family living in the Great Basin, which I really doubt, just wtf is someone doing with it besides killing squirrels and the occasional car? And just how do you park it?
It parks wherever it wants to.
Detroit Chrome Mountain.
https://mycotopia.net/uploads/FFFB/The%20Fabulous%20Furry%20Freak%20Brothers%20%203.pdf
Well, that link sure brought back some memories! Featuring not only Gilbert Shelton, but collaborative work by the late Dave Sheridan, too. To think that it’s been nearly half a century since that more-innocent era…
Thanks, ThirtyOne for the link, i am very gruntled.
sidd
This being the month of November, I especially appreciate the shout-out for the Mannlicher Carcano rifle and the Warren Commission Report.
So, with all the nuclear weapons talk “in the news”, here’s very good recap of all the times that America has accidentally dropped nukes by Ward Carroll, a retired USN F-14 RIO:
Times the Military Accidentally Dropped Nukes on America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sqWPPimshU
Broken Arrows: Nuclear Weapons Accidents
https://www.atomicarchive.com/almanac/broken-arrows/index.html
Yeah, you heard that right, DROPPED NUKES.
One hopes the present insanity in Ukraine can be wound down ASAP!