By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, this Water Cooler has just a little something in most categories, except for the Covid charts, where there are numerous updates (including a whole new variant, KP.2). Now I need to hustle along and finish up a post on the Gaza encampments. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
American Robin, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.
Politics
“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
2024
Less than a year to go!
National results are still moving Biden’s way. But all the Swing States (more here) are moving Trump’s way, although in tiny increments. It’s hard to attribute this consistency to mere chance. “All” with one exception: Pennsylvania. If Susie Wiles is such a brain genius, why isn’t she fixing this?
* * * “‘A lot would have to go wrong for Biden to lose’: can Allan Lichtman predict the 2024 election?” [Guardian]. Only in August. Lichtman’s well-deservedly famous keys. Readers may care to review:
They came up with 13 true/false questions and a decision rule: if six or more keys went against the White House party, it would lose. If fewer than six went against it, it would win. These are the 13 keys, as summarised by [American University’s] website:
1. Party mandate: After the midterm elections, the incumbent party holds more seats in the US House of Representatives than after the previous midterm elections.
2. Contest: There is no serious contest for the incumbent party nomination.
3. Incumbency: The incumbent party candidate is the sitting president.
4. Third party: There is no significant third party or independent campaign.
5. Short-term economy: The economy is not in recession during the election campaign.
6. Long-term economy: Real per capita economic growth during the term equals or exceeds mean growth during the previous two terms.
7. Policy change: The incumbent administration effects major changes in national policy.
8. Social unrest: There is no sustained social unrest during the term.
9. Scandal: The incumbent administration is untainted by major scandal.
10. Foreign/military failure: The incumbent administration suffers no major failure in foreign or military affairs.
11. Foreign/military success: The incumbent administration achieves a major success in foreign or military affairs.
12. Incumbent charisma: The incumbent party candidate is charismatic or a national hero.
13. Challenger charisma: The challenging party candidate is not charismatic or a national hero.
More on Lichtman:
He is likely to make his pronouncement on the 2024 presidential election in early August. He notes that Biden already has the incumbency key in his favour and, having crushed token challengers in the Democratic primary, has the contest key too. “That’s two keys off the top. That means six more keys would have to fall to predict his defeat. A lot would have to go wrong for Biden to lose.”
• With Biden, a lot can go wrong. “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up.” —Obama
Republican Funhouse
“Kristi Noem defends dog slaying as ‘responsible'” [Politico]. “The story of Noem shooting and killing her 14-month-old puppy has taken a toll on the potential VP pick’s public image.” • See NC from 2012: “Animal Crackers.”
Pandemics
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
Prevention
“Can Neosporin Protect You From Getting COVID-19?” [Time]. N=12. “A small study recently published in PNAS presents a similar, if lower-tech, idea. Coating the inside of the nose with the over-the-counter antibiotic ointment Neosporin seems to trigger an immune response that may help the body repel respiratory viruses like those that cause COVID-19 and the flu, the study suggests. The research raises the idea that Neosporin could serve as an ‘extra layer’ of protection against respiratory illnesses, on top of existing tools like vaccines and masks, says study co-author Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine and one of the U.S.’ leading nasal vaccine researchers. The study builds upon some of Iwasaki’s prior research—which has shown that similar antibiotics can trigger potentially protective immune changes in the body—but it’s still preliminary, she cautions. For the new study, her team had 12 people apply Neosporin inside their nostrils twice a day for a week, while another seven people used Vaseline for comparison. At several points during the study, the researchers swabbed the participants’ noses and ran PCR tests to see what was going on inside. They found that Neosporin—and specifically one of its active ingredients, the antibiotic neomycin sulfate—seems to stimulate receptors in the nose that ‘are fooled into thinking there’s a viral infection’ and in turn create ‘a barrier that’s put up against any virus,’ Iwasaki explains. In theory, she says, that means it could protect against a range of different infections.” • Vaseline was the placebo. Seems like a low-cost high-gain no-brainer (modulo issues with antibiotic stewardship).
“NoriZite™ Nasal Spray” (advertisement) [Birmingham Biotech]. “The formula has been engineered to “plume” rather than “jet” when applied with a typical nasal spray applicator, offering more than 6x the coverage of standard sprays against airborne virus particles, allergens, pollen, dust, and more. Iota-Carrageenan (a natural polymer derived from red seaweed) & Gellan gum (a polysaccharide gel that coats & retains virus, so they do not go further down the respiratory tract).” • “Gumming up the works” with Iota-Carrageenan is a tenable mechanism, used by others. What interests me is that products like this are still coming out (note worldwide distribution). Must be a demand for them. For some reason.
Elite Maleficence
At this point, the insistence on handwashing seems almost Freudian (“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand”):
🚨The more they talk about handwashing being 'critically important' the more they distract you from the fact that these viruses are caught mostly by inhalation of airborne particles.
⏬You can decide for yourself if this is malice or incompetence, or incompetent malice. https://t.co/k0UZFnHZWN pic.twitter.com/pCFkDR4lsc— tern (@1goodtern) April 29, 2024
Then again, both WHO and CDC have entire departments devoted to handwashing. So there’s that.
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts
| Cases | |
| ★ National[1] Biobot April 29: | ★ Regional[2] Biobot April 29: |
|
 |
| ★ Variants[3] CDC April 27 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC March 23 |
 |
 |
| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data April 26: | ★ National [6] CDC April 20: |
 |
 |
| Positivity | |
| ★ National[7] Walgreens April 22: | ★ Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic April 20: |
 |
|
| Travelers Data | |
| ★ Positivity[9] CDC April 8: | ★ Variants[10] CDC April 8: |
 |
 |
| Deaths[11] | |
| Weekly deaths New York Times March 16: | Percent of deaths due to Covid-19 New York Times March 16: |
 |
|
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out at a level far above valleys under Trump. Not a great victory. Note also the area “under the curve,” besides looking at peaks. That area is larger under Biden than under Trump, and it seems to be rising steadily if unevenly.
[2] (Biobot) No backward revisons….
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.2 has entered the chat, at least in the model. As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.” Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.
[4] (ER) CDC seems to have killed this off, since the link is broken, I think in favor of this thing. I will try to confirm. UPDATE Yes, leave it to CDC to kill a page, and then announce it was archived a day later. And heaven forfend CDC should explain where to go to get equivalent data, if any. I liked the ER data, because it seemed really hard to game.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Flattening out to a non-zero baseline. I suppose to a tame epidemiologist it looks like “endemicity,” but to me it looks like another tranche of lethality.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Still down. “Maps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Slight uptrend.
[9] (Travelers: Posivitity) Uptick.
[10] (Travelers: Variants) JN.1 dominates utterly. And no mention of KP.2
[11] Looks like the Times isn’t reporting death data any more? Maybe I need to go back to The Economist….
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 held relatively steady.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing: Dead whistleblower warned of safety breaches” [BBC]. “The transcript of Mr Barnett’s deposition has now been released by his lawyers. The lengthy document runs to more than 140 pages…. Mr Barnett’s lawsuit is expected to continue. It will be taken forward by his mother Vicky Stokes and his brother Rodney Barnett as representatives of his estate. The case is now expected to go to trial in September.” • Good.
Manufacturing: “Boeing’s Cash Goal Is $10 Billion in Dead Weight” [Bloomberg]. “[Soon-to-be-ex-CEO] Calhoun worked at GE for nearly three decades, and his refusal to back down from Boeing’s cash flow target is reminiscent of the can-kicking by another GE CEO, Jeff Immelt, on a much maligned pledge to generate $2 in earnings per share in 2018. That forecast looked out of reach by 2016 as plunging crude prices pressured GE’s oil and gas operations and industrial demand more broadly, but Immelt held onto the target anyway, saying the company could make up for the shortfall with cost cuts and share buybacks. The amount of time he spent talking about the target grew exponentially, and so did analysts’ doubts that GE could actually pull it off. Amidst this pursuit of an ultimately arbitrary number, cash flow challenges in GE’s power business festered, as did a giant insurance money pit. Immelt never explicitly pulled the target before he stepped down in 2017. GE ended up missing it by a mile. There’s a lesson in that saga for Boeing and Calhoun: if a CEO has to constantly defend a financial target, it’s probably not serving the intended purpose.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 44 Fear (previous close: 41 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 38 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Apr 29 at 1:16:25 PM ET.
Rapture Index: Closes down one on Satanism. “The lack of activity has downgraded this category” [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 187. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Bird flu not a concern, apparently. And I hate even to go here, but the “Tribulation Temple” category is a mere 3. If Tribulation Temple = Third Temple = whatever temple it is that the Red Heifer loons want to build, then the Rapture Index is making a call, and it’s saying “Don’t worry about the Red Heifers.”
The Conservatory
A good band:
A great band:
“Sheet Music: the Original Problematic Pop?” [JSTOR]. “How do you handle the fact the content can be so problematic, racist and xenophobic? Whenever we have these collections with harmful content, we add a content warning. In particular, with teaching with the collection, whenever I’m teaching in person with these collections, it’s always a conversation we have with the students, to put it into context, talk about why we have it. We encourage them to take breaks, or stop working on it if they encounter something they’d rather not work with. I often need to take breaks when I work with these collections. We have a reparative description working group where we’re looking at archival records and looking at the language that was used. Sometimes it’s the dealer’s description, or the title of the work itself that is racist. We’re finding ways to look at these records and repair the descriptions and language that the people described in our collections used to describe themselves, which of course changes over time. We’ve done a large project to identify any of the minstrel music in the collection. Minstrelsy was a really racist form of popular entertainment from 1820 to around 1920. We have this big description on our Lester Levy page, our main collection, to describe what our process was, why we undertook it, and what the results were.” • I suppose. But what fragile (and presentist) people; that “harmful” word really grates on me. I mean, I know it’s not their responsbility, and frankly I always welcome a scholarly note, “harms” — and censorship — aside, but holy moley, if you want “harms” go over and straighten out mainstream macro.
Guillotine Watch
“Tech bros love talking about microdosing – but the legality of psychedelics is a messy grey area” [Independent]. “‘[M]icrodosing’ has also become a common practice in Silicon Valley, with high-profile executives such as Elon Musk and Google co-founder Sergey Brin speaking openly about their use of ketamine and psilocybin respectively.” • Good to know major capital allocation decisions are being made by tripped-out bros, no doubt straight from the cuddle puddle. Why haven’t the Chinese thought of this?
News of the Wired
I am not feeling wired today.
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Elon may be micro-dosing psychedelics, but I’d bet dollars to donuts he’s also macro-dosing amphetamines of some variety.
I think he is regularly drug tested because of his work with nasa.
Now’s that a urine sample that glows bright.
And they called it puppy loathe
Oh I guess they’ll never know
How a dog named Cricket done me wrong, how it really feels
And why I loathe it so
And they called it puppy loathe
Just because I shot it in a gravel pit
Tell them all
Oh please tell them it isn’t fair
To take away my Veep dream
I cry each night
It’s tears for you, Donald
My tears are all in vain
I hope I hope and I pray
That maybe someday
I’ll be back (i’ll be back) in consideration (in consideration)
Once again
Someone help me
Help me please
Is the answer, is it up above?
How can I
Oh how can I ever tell them?
This is not a puppy love
(This is not a puppy love)
Someone help me
Help me please
Is the answer up above?
How can I
Oh how can I tell them?
This is not a puppy love
(This is not a puppy love)
Puppy Love, by Paul Anka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyshr1hhv3E
> (modulo issues with antibiotic stewardship)
I think that horse is already out of the barn. Neosporin is over-the-counter.
I agree that it’s a concern, but it’s hard to imagine that our public health authorities take such concerns seriously. I suppose we can all do our individual risk assessments (“protect against CV now, but at the risk of promoting the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens?”). Maybe the academics will save us: perhaps it would be possible to trigger this mucosal response with agents that don’t also have antibacterial effect.
i, for one, will start worrying about my own,personal, culpability for antibiotic resistance…just as soon as frelling giant feedlot operators are held to account on the same, frelling, issue.
i mean, we’re on our own, healthcare-wise, right?
As they used to say in Africa: debrouillez vous!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_15_(idiom)
A good indication of where we are in the USA now.
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/29/hospital-reporting-covid-flu-rsv
Turning point: COVID-era hospital reporting set to end
If it’s not reported, it doesn’t exist, right?
To throw back one of the PMC’s favorite aphorisms:
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
Trump said something similar where he said that if you don’t test for it, you won’t find it. Reminds me of driving through intersections with your eyes closed in the belief that if you do not see those cars, you won’t be hit by them.
I am surprised they kept it in place this long. Not only do they not care about the stress on most hospitals (I am pretty sure those in the top 1% are sure there is always a room for them), they have long wanted there to be no official data that contradicts the Covid is over propaganda.
RE: Grauniad and the Lichtman predictions
Lichtman may be a successful and renowned election predictor (and so was Nate Silver until he wasn’t), but the issue here seems to be not his list, but the Guardian’s interpretation of it.
1. Ds had the House after the 2018 midterms, Rs have it now – fail for GenocideJoe
2. No contest for the D nomination (although that’s partly due to cancelling primaries, but I’ll overlook for purposes of simplicity) – win for GJ
3. win for GJ
4. I would count RFK Jr as a significant 3rd party campaign – fail for GJ if RFK sticks it out
5. The economy may not technically be in recession, but then again figures lie and liars figure, and people can still see all the homeless living in tents all over the US. Perception matters – 1/2 fail for GJ
6. Don’t have the stats for this one, but GJ did shovel a lot at the rich using the rona as an excuse, so quite possible per capita GDP is up. Tentative win for GJ, but only by using a BS benchmark
7. Build Back better was a PR stunt that was watered down – no major policy changes. Fail for GJ
8. Social unrest – appears to be quite a lot of that going on as a direct result of policies Biden wholeheartedly supports – fail for GJ.
9. Biden’s scandals are pretty damn major (Dear Hunter!), although one’s knowledge of it depends on the major source of news. But just because some don’t cover it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen – fail for GJ and his crack smoking scion.
10. Embarrassing Afghanistan withdrawal on Joe’s watch, watching US weaponry blown to smithereens in Ukraine, and then of course the namesake genocide he’s supporting – epic fail for GJ.
11. No foreign affairs success (unless you want to count Micronesia having the US’ back) – another fail for GJ.
12. Biden has all the charisma of a slowly deflating blue balloon floating down the gutter – fail for GJ.
13. Trump may not be a national hero but charisma is about all he’s got. Man can read the room more often than not. – Fail for GJ.
So by the criteria cited in the article, seems like something is going to need to start going majorly right for Biden to have a chance.
I think you can absolutely count 6 as a fail for GJ. Oh I know it is supposed to be about measurable economic factors, but this time I think the CARES act and the Democratic abandonment of it coupled with corporately enhanced inflation will haunt GJ. The GDP might do well. Wall Street might hang in there. For too many people though asking them if they were better off now or in 2020 the answer will not be the one GJ would need. The cognitive dissonance is off the charts for this.
Barring a few national level Lazarus and Loaves and fishes miracles, I have GJ on the losing end of 11 of the 13. But then maybe he will eke out a win on your less certain ones, yet he would still fail. It will be interesting to see how Lichtman presents it in August.
Biden is the least liked and most disliked president up for reelection since approval ratings started during the Truman administration. (538 has graphs for the curious.) The only reason he still has a chance is that Trump is almost as disliked.
Apart from interpretation of the actual conditions, and gaming of the indicators, I don’t think it is a given that it’s the same factors that breaks a tie if you like two candidates and if you hate two candidates. “Who would you rather have a beer with” versus “Who would you rather kick in the nuts” doesn’t need to work the same way. For example incumbency could very well go from a positive to a negative.
Are other folks seeing a plantidote? I have a blank box.
It’s there, and it’s a real sausage hang…
I for one am never, ever interested in or motivated by financial targets or goal posts. They invariably have an extremely contrived feel, and to me send the message that the C-suite is out of touch and out of ideas.
Why that number instead of some other number? What effect will that particular number have on the more meaningful aspects of the company? Why is management so far down the rabbit hole that they think others will be excited by this? What real problems could have been solved instead? Workers and the public are never enthused over inside-baseball metrics anyway, so at the very least, they represent a missed opportunity to get these important constituencies behind you.
Numerical achievements should be mentioned in passing at the earnings call at most.
Well it depends what the intended target is. In this instance, the target is cash flow driving stock price (and commensurate C-suite and Wall Street wealth).
The article makes clear the fundamental problem with Boeing as well as many other companies – the financial tail is wagging the operational dog. Boeing revolutionized air travel with its 707 and 747 aircraft but that company is long gone. Now the focus is on doing little enough to put the safety and QC problems in the past (in the short term) so that the Boeing leadership can get back to what’s important: making the numbers for Wall Street. Similarly, consider the solution proposed by Immelt (quoted in the article) to make the EPS target at GE in 2016: cut costs and share buyback. The latter action to drive EPS is nothing more than cutting the pizza into 6 slices rather than 8 and patting yourself on the back for “bigger” slices. It’s still the same pizza.
In a different timeline, the next CEO of Boeing might say, “We’ve lost sight of what’s most important – making the finest aircraft available using the highest quality materials and the most skilled labor available”.
A person can dream…………….
I have read some polls today other than here that don’t have good numbers for Biden. Apparently my PMC friends have too. But they have an excuse (as usual). People who don’t watch the regular MSM news are stupid because they don’t, and are more than likely not voting for Biden because of it. So it’s the other news that is at fault nobody other than them think Joe Biden and the democrats are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Oh brother!
Well, by their own admission a lot needs to go wrong for him not to get elected and they are hitting on all cylinders! Can’t make this stuff up.
So it’s the voters’ fault for not being informed enough to reach the right conclusion, and if the voters don’t reach the right conclusion then their votes don’t count?
Meow?
Is that seriously the argument here?
I love Caitlin Johnstone and her righteous fire, but Margaret Kimberly’s words can burn as fierce as the flames of Hell.
Re; Politics
Watching US Fascism in Action from China
In recent days the United States has once again shown itself to be a rogue state and a fake democracy which is firmly under the control of its oligarchic class. Elected representatives are their tools and the people are indoctrinated into thinking that the duopoly partners in crime are actually different from one another, even as they work in concert.
https://blackagendareport.com/watching-us-fascism-action-china
Why limit oneself to just one?
Lichtman’s keys:
Last 4 are already against Biden, No. 4 and 8 may be turning against him on the Palestine issue, and No. 5 and 6 are on the slide. Not looking great. Commander better keep his muzzle on or No. 9 will be gone too.
My sense of things is that the election will be determined by the response to one or more tragic events this summer. They will overwhelm all other considerations.
Never really understood the adoration by some rock fans of Eric Clapton. Ok guitarist, mediocre singer. His best song is only that because he was too lazy to finish either of the two songs that made it up. That said, Layla is a great song.
Crossroads with Cream.
Huge in Britain before Cream.
Hendrix knocked him off the pedestal.
The Clapton version is all about Clapton. The Stones version is all about the song (and the interaction between the musicians, especially Keith and Charlie, who is having a great time).
I’ve seen him twice live, both times many years ago, decades. Every song is a great tune, and none of them are simple, or easy to play. He is so smooth and makes it seem effortless but everything is spot on. He’s an incredible performer in my book. I’m not one into rankings, I either like it or I don’t. Personally he had a lot of life problems, not so shocking for a rock star.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/24/russia-economy-west-sanctions-00142713
i hardly ever venture into MSMland, these days…and this howler is an excellent example of why.
the unexamined assumptions are shot throughout…like the implicit assumption that the USA! has the right and, indeed, duty, to police the world.
its getting pretty derned stupid up there, in the pleasure dome.
You can see the sense of frustration in that article as things did not work out they way they wanted – and that’s not fair darn it! It’s not suppose to be this way and why can’t the real world be more like Politico wants it to be. Politico can be a very sad publication sometimes.
Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger ft. Christina Aguilera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEPTlhBmwRg
No one had commented on the critical question of whether the sausages of the sausage tree were edible, so here it is:
Those Chuck Berry classics were barely ten years old when Derek and the Dominos and the Stones covered them.
The robin’s song. That’s their springtime song. I’m hearing it lots every morning now. A sure sign of spring’s arrival. By July and August the birds’ happy, loud, 6:30 a.m. choruses will be toned down.
re: Sheet Music
One generation’s aghastitude about some current assessment of unacceptable violations of current correctitude bysome historical item becomes the next generations’ looked for history and context. See the astounding prices now fetched by early 20th century black fabric dolls with beautiful hand stitched eyes and lips made for little black girls, purchased now by black people wanting a piece of their own history. And yet, I heard a white person years ago who was shocked, shocked that these dolls (which they called Mamie dolls) were ever made. She assumed they must be racist. Get over yourself already.
“Problematic Pop”
LOL, Ray Stevens: “Ahab, the Arab” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYn_6NjcopY&ab_channel=raystevensmusic
i literally hate it when alex jones is more right than wrong.
https://twitter.com/Cancelcloco/status/1784807500317102178
wife and i used to listen to him, 25 or so years ago on an austin station when we were coming back from obtaining weed(locals were all narcs, it turned out…confirming my suspicions/paranoia).
he was on about black helicopters, at the time…notably AFTER i had seen silent helicopters passing over my place one night.(not 300′ above me…big gunship types…if i hadnt been outside having a wee at that moment, we would have never known)
….and…consider this proof that i do, indeed, try hard to read/listen to all sides of a given situation.
I love it when you see Tucker Carlson and Jimmy Dore doing videos together and discovering with each other that they are after the same thing – actual democracy.
I’ve never consciously listened to Jones, although I’ve seen snippets over the years, some of which I agreed with and most of which I haven’t. But outright dismissal of any one’s opinion about anything is not helpful, especially at a time when everyone is at each other’s throats over expressing them. When the only person willing to interview and air Stephen Cohen’s concerns about “War with Russia” was Tucker Carlson (not my favorite person by a long shot) I started tuning in.
I too have had a strange reaction to the fact that it’s likely the students protesting Israel’s most recent (and typical – killing Palestinians has been its sport for decades) horror show are probably the same students who have been quick to express a racist hatred for Russia and Putin when it comes to Ukraine. I can not express an opinion about Ukraine w/o being called a MAGA/Trump supporter by people and family who I genuinely love and care for. It makes no sense. It’s just not logical.
The Nation has been all afire about the Gaza genocide, yet it was so willing to put forth egregious opinions about Russia, celebrating Navalny, mocking Putin with ahistorical falsehoods and cheering on the Democrats’ psycho-babble that I just don’t go there much anymore. Sad and frustrating. Shutting up in the face of it all seems the worse possible response, but when speaking up invites vitriol it stops being worth it especially since what I think and believe, and what they think and believe will ultimately have no effect on TPTB fomenting the all too familiar divide and conquer strategy.
During the retaliation from Iran, I got onto the twitter of some of those folks. One of them interviewed Alex Jones in fact, and some of the people in MAGAland seem to have an earnest America First mindset, which of course naturally leads one to question why US gov’t people are tripping over eachother to hand money to Israel and censor/oppress everyone who dares to question. Strange bedfellows…
I’m hearing a lot of rumbling about how the Ukrainians are going to take out the Kerch Bridge while Russia is celebrating during the Moscow Victory Day Parade.
Luckily for America, we recently showed them how to do it with a combination of neoliberalism, MBAs cutting costs (including redundancy, preventive maintenance, safety) to the bare minimum, and lack of government will to invest in infrastructure resulting in this:
Moment bridge collapses in Baltimore after cargo ship collision
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVdVpd-pqcM
As we say in the West, slow but sure will get you there and wreck it in fine fashion. It’s still not too late to air drop a massive amount of Wall St MBAs on Russia, and let them work their magic! I mean, look what they did to Boeing!