By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Too-patient readers, thank you for your expressions of concern over my “major life event” (and no, I didn’t win the lottery, or get married). The requirement is dealing with a host of inter-related project management issues, including sunk costs. Life has prepared me for such matters, I hope. If I need help (doubtful, except for your accepting my temporarily limited time) I will reach out, thank you! Meanwhile, if I had wanted to share detail, I would have. So please don’t speculate. And talk about election 2024 as much as you like in comments; just play nice! –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Catbirds are in the Mimidae species (!), like mockingbird and thrashers. Readers have said they like the mimicry, so hopefully MacCaulay Library has enough recordings to keep us all satisfied, at least for a time.
Black Catbird, Planta de Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales de San Miguel, Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
In Case You Might Miss…
- “It’s too soon to tell”.
- Detective sought for Kamala mask video.
- Pandemics are mobility-borne.
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
2024
Less than one hundred days to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
Good news for Trump in that last week’s deterioration seems to have been slowed, although we shall have to see if Kamala gets a convention “bounce.” Remember, however, that all the fluctuations — in fact, all the leads — are within the margin of error. If you read most of the press, you’d think Kamala has this race in the bag. It’s not so. Do note, however, Trump’s deterioration in North Carolina: +2.4 last week to +0.9 this week, when OG pollster Sabato moved it to “toss-up” status from “lean Republican.” No wonder Trump held a rally there this week. NOTE With Kennedy, it would seem, about to drop out, I started tracking the national percentage as “Top Battlegrounds,” where Trump’s shrinking lead is +0.1 this week (as opposed to “5-Way RCP Average, where Harris led by +1.1 last week).
“Who Is Favored To Win The 2024 Presidential Election?” [FiveThirtyEight]. No longer Nate Silver, as reader have reminded me. “n Friday, Aug. 23, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was suspending his campaign for president and endorsed former President Donald Trump. The endorsement from Kennedy, at 4 percent in the popular vote in our forecast, has the ability to give Trump a crucial boost in battleground states. Our model forecast a 4-in-10 chance that Kennedy’s vote share in November would be larger than the margin for either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris in at least one decisive state. Both candidates will likely welcome that probability going to zero. It is difficult, however, to provide a quick analysis of RFK’s impact on the race. On the one hand, his impact on our polling average is small and Kennedy’s voters mostly otherwise look like strong partisans. But it is not so easy for a forecasting model to react to such a sharp change in the race, mainly because it needs data (from the polls) to do so. Although you and I know that Kennedy endorsed Trump, which should in theory help him a little, the model does not have access to that information until it sees polling data showing such a shift. Programming the model a different way would require us to speculate, mostly with ad hoc rationalization, about the future trajectory of the race. We prefer to leave such forecasting to the model. Readers should expect our model to react to this news over the next week, if Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump does in fact change the polls.” • Hard to say “It’s too soon to tell” in a hundred- now seventy-day race, but it’s too soon to tell. Absent another staggering event, I’d say “it’s too soon to tell” will persist all the way to the end of the race.
It’s too soon to tell:
Checked in with sources in MI WI and PA today and all of them said the race is essentially tied — within the margin of error. https://t.co/UGOKAFAYkW
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 26, 2024
Let’s wait a week, then see!
* * * Kamala (D): “Black Lives Matter Statement on Kamala Harris Securing Enough Delegates to Become Democratic Nominee” [Black Lives Matter]:
While Joe Biden wasn’t our preferred candidate, we cannot ignore the troubling actions of the Democratic Party:
- The DNC refused to host debates during the primary, even though a vast majority of Democratic voters wanted them. This would have likely allowed America to see the decline of Joe Biden in 2023.
- The DNC changed the primary schedule and created rules that made it almost impossible for non-Biden candidates to appear on the ballot, effectively clearing the field of any challengers to the incumbent president.
- Following the primary where millions of Black voters weighed in, after one poor debate performance, the DNC Party elites and billionaire donors bullied Joe Biden out of the race.
Now, Democratic Party elites and billionaire donors are attempting to manipulate Black voters by anointing Kamala Harris and an unknown vice president as the new Democratic ticket without a primary vote by the public. This blatant disregard for democratic principles is unacceptable. While the potential outcome of a Harris presidency may be historic, the process to achieve it must align with true democratic values. We have no idea where Kamala Harris stands on the issues, now that she has assumed Joe Biden’s place, and we have no idea of the record of her potential vice president because we don’t even know who it is yet.
They sound just like Kennedy. More:
Let us be clear: This is about the Democratic Party following a process that protects the legitimacy of any future Democratic president following this unprecedented moment. Installing Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee and an unknown vice president without any public voting process would make the modern Democratic Party a party of hypocrites. It would undermine their credibility on issues related to democracy. Imagine our first Black woman president not having won some sort of public nomination process. The pundits would immediately label it as affirmative action or a DEI move, and any progress made by a President Harris would be on shaky foundations. If Kamala Harris is to be the nominee, it must be through a process that upholds democratic principles and public participation.
The DEI talking point is already out there (although as a Republican talking point.)
Kamala (D): “‘Simply put, they are out of their minds’: Kamala Harris won’t let Republicans hide their misogyny” [Amanda Marcotte, Salon]. • I didn’t know Marcotte was still typing.
* * * Trump (R): “The Case for Staying Nervous in the Slog Ahead” [The Bulwark]. “Bounces following conventions have thinned in recent cycles because rising polarization has yielded fewer swing voters. Hillary Clinton received an 8-point bounce after her convention and then lost to Trump. Trump is surely flailing, unable to command the attention he once could, and self-destructing because of it. The odds are that at the debate scheduled for September 10, the real Trump will show up, be an asshole, and lose.” • That Trump is an asshole is already priced in. The question is when and how (I mean, was Trump an asshole when he said Biden “beat it to death” on Medicare? Certainly. Did he win the debate and knock Biden out of the race? He did.
* * * Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr. says he’s been tapped for Trump’s transition team” [Axios]. “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Tucker Carlson during an interview that aired Monday that he was asked to join former President Trump’s presidential transition team, and he’s ‘looking forward to that.'” • In my hot take on Kennedy’s enlistment in the Trump campaign, I emphasized the “fuzziness” of Kennedy’s future position in the executive branch. Anybody who remembers what happened to the Sandernistas on the Biden transition team will look askance at this.
Kennedy (I): “Will RFK Jr.’s endorsement swing the election to Trump?” [The Hill]. “Millions upon millions of Americans feel totally disenfranchised by a system seemingly rigged to benefit the elites. For a multitude of reasons, Kennedy may be the best person to grab their attention and convince a number to either cast their vote for Trump or switch their vote from Harris. Even a 1 percent swing in Trump’s favor could make all the difference in states such as Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina. By attacking Kennedy, Biden-Harris, the Democratic powerbrokers and much of the mainstream media foolishly awakened a sleeping giant — one who, because of his own exceptional body of work and his still-revered family name, has tremendous rapport with and respect from minority communities; blue collar workers; rust belt workers; union workers; parents of children with chronic diseases; communities dealing with polluted lands and waterways; young voters; independent voters; and the disenfranchised.” • Maybe. It’s. Too. Soon. To. Tell.
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Swing States Notch Major Victories For Election Integrity” [Association of Mature American CItizens]. I won’t be joining this one! “Election integrity” (“Never eat at a place called Mom’s”) is a term to watch out for. But this is a good compendium of actions taken at the state level, including paper ballots.
Syndemics
“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, KF, 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!
Transmission: H5N1
“”PROPAGANDIZED?” Media and Federal Avian Flu Responses Stress Covid-Era Trust Issues Amid mRNA Push” [Beef News]. “‘It’s almost as if the public has been propagandized,’ Thornsberry said during a phone interview with BeefNews. ‘For whatever reason, the media and the USDA have really downplayed the impacts of this virus on dairy farms, while misleading the public on human risks.’ Following the devastating Texas panhandle fires in early March, dairy farms in the Texas Panhandle began to notice a decrease in milk production in a few lactating cows. Initially, symptoms were thought to be connected to the fires, until some cows began discharging thick, yellow milk, about the consistency of Elmer’s glue. Tests for mastitis came back negative as other symptoms began to present in a small percentage of the regional dairy herd. According to the presentation, about 20 percent of the Texas dairy herd Petersen oversaw began going off their feed and salivating excessively. A smaller percent of the herd (about 5 percent) exhibited significant symptoms—such as high fevers between 105-107 degrees. As one of the first veterinarians on the front lines, Petersen ran every test she could think of, but they all came back negative. Casting a wider net, Petersen sent in samples to test for Avian Flu, which then came back as positive. While the virus itself winds down, the media narrative and federal regulations are ramping up—neither of which appear to be helpful.” • Good to see Peterson get a shout-out. I hadn’t known the Texas Panhandle fire was a possible precursor. But as for “the virus itself winds down”, how would we know that? (I suppose if State Fair season ends without a major outbreak, we can breathe a sigh of relief, but that method seems a little rough-and-ready.)
Vaccines: Covid
One hates to attribute motive, but the continuing FDA hold-up on Novavas doesn’t explicable on either a health or public policy basis:
When you have Redfield saying the obvious and more effective vaccine is from NOVAVAX…..
Maybe @US_FDA and @CDCDirector should think about life being more important than Moderna and Pfizer’s PROFITS and your future career moves https://t.co/VLch3wXY3N— Evaluar (@bio_evaluar) August 18, 2024
Transmission: Monkeypox
You have dozens if not hundreds of flights departing a hot zone hosting a novel Mpox clade with a current mortality rate of close to 4%. You just can’t make this stuff up. pic.twitter.com/10p5NjGqYS
— Michael (@mrmickme2) August 27, 2024
Norman, Bar-Yam, and Taleb got this exactly right in January 2020 (!): “Global connectivity is at an all-time high… Fundamentally, viral contagion events depend on the interaction of agents in physical space… With increasing transportation we are close to a transition to conditions in which extinction becomes certain both because of rapid spread and because of the selective dominance of increasingly worse pathogens…. [T]hese observations lead to the necessity of a precautionary approach to current and potential pandemic outbreaks that must include constraining mobility patterns in the early stages of an outbreak, especially when little is known about the true parameters of the pathogen…. It will cost something to reduce mobility in the short term, but to fail do so will eventually cost everything—if not from this event, then one in the future.”
Elite Maleficence
Although I had hoped to post on masking at the DNC, the clock ran out. Tomorrow, a big round-up. However, as soon as the DNC masking story got traction, this Tiktok video from a Harris-affilated site, in which Kamala is masked, started propagating on the Twitter. Are there any detectives in the readership? Here’s the video:
@2024voteharris “I was waiting to talk to you” 🥹 #kamalaharris #harris2024 #trump #trump2024 #democrat #election #republican #unitedstates #usa ♬ original sound – HARRIS 2024
Reader detective, can you run down when and where this video was recorded? “I was waiting to talk to you” doesn’t show up anywhere but in this video and derivatives (i.e., not in any reporting). So far as I can tell, Kamala was not scheduled to appear at any schools after the convention, so the video was recorded beforehand. But how much before? I’m guessing when the Biden administration still recommended masking, but Lambert the Cautious would like to be sure. Thank you! (Stylish black masks, though. They weren’t easy for a lot of people to get.)
CDC and CMS move, one hopes, in response to pressure for good data:
Thanks to everyone's advocacy, CMS will be requiring hospitals to report key COVID, flu, and RSV data again, after the CDC ended this requirement earlier this year. https://t.co/kqQfjH0Loa
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) August 23, 2024
Maybe if HICPAC can manage to get a quorum together for the next meeting, they’ll do something equally sensible and require universal masking in hospital settings.
Lambert here: Readers, I apologize for butchering the table formatting yesterday; I just spent some time reformating the HTML so it’s not so fragile. Do feel free to bring formatting issues to my attention in comments.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC August 20: | Last Week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC August 17 | ★ Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC August 17 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| New York[5] New York State, data August 23: | ★ National [6] CDC August 10: |
|
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens August 20: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic August 17: |
|
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| Travelers Data | |
| Positivity[9] CDC July 29: | Variants[10] CDC July 29: |
|
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC August 10: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC August 10: |
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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] (CDC) This week’s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated. Keeps spreading.
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular. XDV.1 flat.
[4] (ER) Worth noting Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Going down. Doesn’t need to be a permanent thing, of course. (The New York city area has form; in 2020, as the home of two international airports (JFK and EWR) it was an important entry point for the virus into the country (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, as the rich sought to escape, and then around the country through air travel.)
Lambert here: Since things are bad out on the West Coast, I went looking for California hospitalization data to compare with New York’s, and found this: “Due to changes in reporting requirements for hospitals, CDPH is no longer including hospitalization data on the CDPH dashboard. CDPH remains committed to monitoring the severe outcomes of COVID-19 and influenza, including the impact on hospitals. CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) will remain open to accept data, and CDC and CDPH strongly encourage all facilities to continue reporting.” Thanks, Mandy!
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.
[7] (Walgreens) Fiddling and diddling.
[8] (Cleveland) Jumping.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn’t even run back to 1/21/23, as it used to, but now starts 1/1/24. There’s also no way to adjust the time range. CDC really doesn’t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that’s why the shape of the curve has changed.
[10] (Travelers: Variants) The new variant in China, XDV.1, is not showing up here.
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.
[12] Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
There are no official statistics of interest today.
Tech: “The Root Causes of Failure for Artificial Intelligence Projects and How They Can Succeed” [RAND]. “By some estimates, more than 80 percent of AI projects fail — twice the rate of failure for information technology projects that do not involve AI. Thus, understanding how to translate AI’s enormous potential into concrete results remains an urgent challenge. The findings and recommendations of this report should be of interest to the U.S. Department of Defense, which has been actively looking for ways to use AI, along with other leaders in government and the private sector who are considering using AI/ML.” • The “root cause” bullet points address neither AI bullshit (not “hallucinations,” bullshit) nor AI training set theft. Other than that, this page might have been machine-generated from some combination of pre-existing white paper slop.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 55 Neutral (previous close: 52 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 46 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Aug 26 at 1:32:02 PM ET.
Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 182. Current: 183. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Hard to believe the Rapture Index is going down. Where are there people getting their news?
Pissaro paints the night sky better than I can photograph it:
Boulevard Montmartre at Night by Camille Pissarro pic.twitter.com/yNml5RUUH0
— Impressions (@impression_ists) August 27, 2024
I’m a little suspicious of this account — it is AI? but the juxtapositions are still interesting. Thread:
A thread on famous paintings that influenced some of cinema's most iconic film scenes.. You'll be surprised by some of these..!
1. Alien 3, directed by David Fincher
Reference to : Girl’s Head beside a Skull by Rex Whistler pic.twitter.com/wEbNHEIIc7
— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) August 26, 2024
“Eating the Birds of America: Audubon’s Culinary Reviews of America’s Birds” [US Bird History]. “Whether birds were large or small, familiar or obscure, palatable or nauseating, Audubon made sampling their meat a part of his extensive process of studying America’s birds for his Ornithological Biography, or, An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, a five-volume text that would accompany the 435 paintings that composed his Birds of America, for which he gained his fame. Alongside a description of each bird’s appearance, diet, behavior, and breeding habits, Audubon frequently included a reflection on the taste of the bird’s flesh.” • Hmm.
Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From IM:
IM writes: “It’s that time of year. Is it a sunset photo or a plant photo? If you are on team plant, it is Doug Fir * 4 starting from the left, then a Gingko. If on team sunset, it is Aug 2 at about the 49th parallel.”
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. Material here is Lambert’s, and does not express the views of the Naked Capitalism site. If you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn’t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:
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Comments are closed.
More than 200 Bush, McCain, Romney aides endorse Harris
Well, I can’t say I’m a fan of those people, and sure as hell would never vote for them. Actually, I think they are the scum of the earth. Kamala seems to be getting the endorsements of all the right people – war people.
War is something not too many are talking about, but maybe we should be??? Where is old Joe anyway. Is he still CIC? Does he still hold the launch codes? Do they work from the beach?
Let us not forget that Kamala is only following in the footsteps of HRC in accumulating the neocon endorsements. Let us also remember that Victoria Nuland may have initially set up the Ukraine operation under HRC, but she started out as Dick Cheney’s protégée.
And as for Old Joe, he has always been thin-skinned and vindictive, qualities not usually improved by dementia. He’s an Old Testament kind of guy and perhaps the question should be how much he identifies Kamala with Delilah, if he still has access to the launch codes.
It’s neocons all the way down…
Can we call them Bush Democrats yet?
Insert a picture of Michelle Obama giving George a piece of candy.
[taps mike].
I added a few more Covid posts to make up for the time I spent on the table.
Harris mask video Connecticut 03/2021:
https://www.wshu.org/news/2021-03-26/harris-promotes-stimulus-at-west-haven-child-development-center
Marym, I bow in awe. How did you find it? Image search????
Searched on Harris visit school then clicked on images.
Excellent work!
I don’t use image search enough!
Good find. So, Harris circa 2021 being re-fobbed on TikTok — she’s still hiding from the media?
Yeah. That was a looong time ago, long before COVID was officially declared over…
The reports of COVID being over have been greatly exaggerated.
But would Harris show up wearing a mask NOW? The picture seems to imply the event is recent, notwithstanding the “official fact” that there is no typhus in Moscow, eh, Covid in Ameroca. (Borrowing a line from Pasternak)
#SleuthOfTheDay
Bravo!
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/health/covid-19-tests-vaccines-masks.html
August 27, 2024
On the Covid ‘Off-Ramp’: No Tests, Isolation or Masks
For many, Covid is increasingly regarded like the common cold. A scratchy throat and canceled plans bring a bewildering new critique from friends: You shouldn’t have tested.
By Emily Baumgaertner
Jason Moyer was days away from a family road trip to visit his parents when his 10-year-old son woke up with a fever and cough.
Covid?
The prospect threatened to upend the family’s plans.
“Six months ago, we would have tested for Covid,” Mr. Moyer, 41, of Ohio, said. This time they did not.
Instead, they checked to make sure the boy’s cough was improving and his fever was gone — and then set off for New Jersey, not bothering to tell the grandparents about the incident.
In the fifth summer of Covid, cases are surging, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported “high” or “very high” levels of the virus in wastewater in almost every state. The rate of hospitalizations with Covid is nearly twice what it was at this time last summer, and deaths — despite being down almost 75 percent from what they were at the worst of the pandemic — are still double what they were this spring…
People can regard it however they like. The “common cold” does not have ACE2 bindings, so it doesn’t infect the brain, the vascular system, basically about every organ in the body can be infected, unlike cold rhino viruses and corona viruses.
It sucks that we, each of us, has to become a virologist, immunologist, and epidemiologist to safely exist in neoliberal America.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=17ENT
January 4, 2020
Labor Force men and women with a disability, * 2010-2024
* Age 16 to 64
(Indexed to 2010)
> to safely exist in neoliberal America
I’m not sure that it’s enough to become those three kinds of medical or public health professional. How does one protect oneself from system failures caused by low-grade COVID-induced brain damage in people with key functions like air traffic control or nuclear power station operation? (Or, come to think of it, foreign policy toward nuclear-armed adversaries?)
I don’t lose sleep over things I can’t influence, but boy are my daydreams troubled.
Yes, I over sold it. You need these skills to risk reduce. But you can’t do anything if someone with brain damage drives a car into you or the hospital infects you with COVID during your stay or the provider gives you the wrong dose of drugs and so on. All these risks are magnified now.
COVID is a force multiplier for societal collapse.
I trust nothing coming from officials in regards to COVID. Not that they are wrong or even mainly wrong–I just don’t trust the information. We are in a position that we can’t believe any official narrative or data.
Anecdotally, a friend tested positive for Covid on the 15th day after he first noticed symptoms.
Wow, that is so heartwarming. Didn’t tell Grandma and Gramps. I guess it can get tiresome, waiting to inherit.
My brother showed up here for a visit a month ago. Tested before coming over to house from hotel. Positive. Spent a week here in hotel. Husband and I went to state fair. I opted to wear mask and mostly stayed out doors. Husband went inside took off mask and walked around 20 minutes. 2 days later woke up in the night to severe muscle aches and tested positive next morning, I have stayed away continued to wear mask as he has also. Everyone seems to have it. Was very angry after I read article, who would visit their elderly parents and give them Covid!?! Article was really over the top. Wow!
Photo – is stunning, almost abstract. thank you for sharing it.
Yes, beautiful photo, thanks to IM.
And one of my favorite Pissarro paintings, thanks to Lambert.
In the event anyone is interested in the Georgia Democratic Party ballot access challenges, here are a couple of links to the state of play:
https://roughdraftatlanta.com/2024/08/26/georgia-judge-rejects-candidates/
And
https://ballot-access.org/2024/08/26/georgia-administrative-law-judge-removes-jill-stein-robert-f-kennedy-jr-claudia-de-la-cruz-and-cornel-west-from-the-ballot/#comment-1247144
I had never heard of any signature campaign that required signatures for its slate of electors! How many would one have to have in California, for example, if that were the standard? It just boggles the mind that they even argued this, but it looks like both West and De la Cruz are going to soldier on with appeals. After all is said and done I would be interested in seeing how much money the Dems spent to keep third parties off the ballot in all the states. Protecting their (form of) democracy is going to cost a lot.
But, hopefully, at least one of the three appeals are going to make it through so that we have an anti-war candidate on the Georgia ballot this fall.
Let me guess. They all tasted like chicken.
In the early days of colonizing New England, robins on toast was a popular breakfast. I guess you’d need a dozen or two to feed a family – they must be delicious to justify the work in catching and dressing them!
“So please don’t speculate.”
“Is it irresponsible to speculate? It would be irresponsible not to.”
—Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal, 24 April 2000 (quoted in FAIR here)
Ha, couldn’t resist, especially given that you have a certain fondness (inexplicable to me) for “Nooners” (oh, and you like to paraphrase that quote).
Let’s say that Trump has offered Kennedy some sort of position in a Trump administration, but then upon taking office freezes Kennedy out. What is Kennedy to do at that point? Admit he was duped and helped to dupe voters as well?
BTW, I’m generally favorable to what Kennedy and Shanahan are doing here. But there is this rather gigantic reputational downside.
Reputational downside? Amongst who exactly, neoliberals and shitlibs, the people who pulled every dirty trick to keep him off “their” ballots. As for what he does if Trump betrays him as well, who knows maybe he come out swinging, maybe he pulls a Bernie. At that point it doesn’t really matter. The American Voters memory is measured in days, and the media will rewrite history however their owners want, so he can come back and reinvent himself however he wants in four years,
Does that thread end up with quotes from anyone citing the inspiration?
Nope.
My COVID data point for today
From a meeting notice emailed by my former academic employer:
This session is not being livestreamed; we are encouraging in-person connections.
(Ironically, the meeting concerned services for First Nations students, who come from a group which suffered COVID mortality rates that were well above the Canadian average.)
Covid anacdata: Trying to find a covid safe periodontist and dermatologist in Ann Arbor, Mi, city of blue maga, Harris lawn signs and education. One perio who will turn on a hepa filter and he and the dental staff will wear surgical masks if asked, but not, apparently, the front staff. No individual hepa filters in the dermatologists exam rooms. Eight dermatologists and nine dentists.
As of a month ago, U of M hospital was asking visitors/patients to self diagnose before requiring baggy yellows upon confession. The same at the V.A. hospital here as of yesterday.
I’m assuming it’s no better anywhere else, so yeah Lambert – it’s eugenics all the way down.
p.s. On the drive back from the V.A., NPR was reporting that Zuckerberg of Facebook was complaining that the Biden (not Biden-Harris) administration coerced him into censoring some covid info back when.
Almost hit someone!
Eating the Birds of America, not to be confused with Eating the Birds of Great Britain by D. H. Lawrence.
Why Is the Loneliness Epidemic so Hard to Cure? (NY Times via archive.ph)
Nowhere do neoliberalism or capitalism appear in the text, naturally.
Heh. And I wonder what became of the institutions and traditions that “once held us together”?
Cue shrugman.
Man, this garbage doesn’t disappoint, either:
(bold mine)
Literally people lost the ability to make social connections because we closed bars for a few months?
This is gonna be the horse that’s flogged forever and a day.
“Concurrently, the usage of “frictionless forms of interaction,” like self-checkout displays…”
Yeah, right…as if people demanded that places like grocery stores stop hiring cashiers so that we could all take on extra work while we shop.
Professional cycling & Covid:
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/covid-and-cycling-why-the-virus-still-disrupts-the-sport-in-2024
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/medical-report-and-withdrawals-vuelta-a-espana-2024-update-stage-5-rui-costa-abandons-after-disaster-ef-crash
crashes, hitting deer, heat stroke, and Covid! The life of a professional cyclist…
The biggest challenge is not being hit by a car when training. The pros do thousands of miles during the year away from the racing. Dangerous
Has anyone noticed in the latest CDC wastewater maps that the “Category change in last 7 days” is negative or zero in every category? I don’t think that’s mathematically possible, but there it is.
60-80% and 80-100% categories are both up in % and number of sites (since we have this week’s and last week’s data, thanks!), so either that calculation is wrong or I just don’t get it.
Mere coincidence that the CDC will start counting COVID cases again immediately AFTER the election?
#Kennedy
> Anybody who remembers what happened to the Sandernistas on the Biden transition team will look askance at this.
Touché! And 100% on point!
COVIDInfection
> “The ability of the virus to rapidly evolve in immune-protected areas of the body, such as the brain or the testes, could drive future dangerous variants.”
What pray tell is an “immune protected area” of the body? One where the cells don’t have ACE receptors? I find this type of statement troublesome given what we know about how COVID infects cells and it’s potential to affect T cells.
#Sigh
I started watching #TeamBlueMSM again since the Harris Ascension. Just to peek in and get a sense of the brain-addled-ness.
Man oh man, it never stops. Just over the course of a couple hours around chores and such: another indictment leaves Erin Burnett gleeful; Anderson Cooper interviewing two Republicans on Trump’s “you won’t have to vote again” and “dictator on day one” sound bites; 200 former Bush, McCain, Romney alums write an article urging voting for Harris; Billy Graham’s daughter urging voting for Harris – see #EvangelicalsForHarris.
It sounds and all feels a bit like they doth protest too much. I commented earlier that there is a GOP constituency that wants to rid the party of Trump. They want him to lose to basically put paid to any future political ambition. That way the 2028 GOP Primary can get back to business with the likes of De Santis, Haley and Youngkin. On one of the segments, there was talk about Ukraine and the veil was lifted again – Kamala Harris must win so that the US can keep supporting Ukraine.
Worst. Familyblog. Timeline.
#LateNiteLOL
Lukashenko on “western democracy” (smooth assist by Putin, via X)
A friend works for a company that was bought out by PE. Salaried employee. The ‘new’ company is pressuring for transition to being a contractor, and on rather short notice. Compensation for possible loss of benefits/vacay is unclear.
Is there some general labor law in the US that says an employer must give 30 days notice on proposed changes of contract, or is that now out the window with PE?
Most states are “at will” employment states which means that you can be terminated at any time for any reason. There are exceptions associated with personal contracts, union membership, conflicts associated with workers comp/whistle-blowing etc.
There is also the Federal WARN act which mandates a 60 day notice of mass layoffs for certain employers.
Your friend will need to research their state. Some links below.
https://www.atticus.com/advice/workers-compensation/what-is-at-will-employment
https://www.schneiderwallace.com/practice-areas/employment/warn-act-mass-layoff-closure/
Thank you! Looks like it’s in an “at will” employment state, and some of the exemptions do apply (e.g., “good faith” and “implied-contract”, though I suppose it depends on whether it’s the state in which the employee lives, or the state in which the company resides). There is no union, ergo nobody to mediate or help with the nego.
I’m not sure about the “covenant of good faith exemption”, as it sounds like the PE company is trying to get out of paying basic benefits like social security, medicare, and the existing paid vacay. I asked and there’s no specific retirement benefit, no 401k, no forthcoming bonus and no existing HMO subscription, but trying to dodge SS payments by pushing an employee to become a contractor sounds kinda questionable.
Could that be considered a breach of good faith on the part of the PE company?
I’m also not clear on the “implied-contract exemption”. My friend is still employed, but it sounds like the new company doesn’t want to offer a continuation of the salaried employment contract, so it sounds like kind of a de facto termination.
I gather some other people in the old company were terminated by the PE firm, but only a few, so it probably can’t be called a “mass layoff”.
Is Germany’s rising superstar so far left she’s far right? (Politico.eu)
Centrist horseshoe theory brain rot is strong here.
Left/right is so misleading when it applies to social rather than economic issues. Wagenknecht’s “crimes” include:
* Not being a fan of the Ukraine war (“appearing on German television to offer takes that echoed Kremlin propaganda“)
* Being against uncontrolled immigration (“The stronger the welfare state, the more of a sense of belonging there must be,” Wagenknecht told me in Berlin. “Because if people have no connection to those who receive social benefits, then at some point they will refuse to pay for those benefits.”“)
* “Another example was Wagenknecht’s vote against a bill passed by the German parliament earlier this year to make it easier to change one’s legal gender — a law, she said, that would “just be ridiculous if it weren’t so dangerous.””
Article doesn’t touch on economic issues. Because they’re not relevant to a discussion of left/right politics?
[BP slaps himself in face with Brat flag and Daddy Walz friendship bracelet]
I am much more bothered that the DNC Dems and the mainstream repubs agree on 90%of things than that the outcasts agree on less war and don’t trust big business.
“When I went to work in 1961, my salary was $100 a month.”
My first summer job in college between my freshman and sophmore year paid $90 per week. In 1965. In a warehouse.
Either Dr Hudson was making a charitable contribution of his labor to some long forgotten cause, or he is not recollecting accurately.
Maybe $100 weekly is more accurate.
Otherwise, a wonderful summary of his thoughts regarding debt servitude.
Yup. My first summer job (1974), slinging crates of coca-cola, paid $4.40 per hr. When I started driving a delivery truck, it went up to $6.23 per hr. From $176 per week to $249.20 per week.
It is possible that Dr. Hudson had a job with a considerable “training” discount – when my Dad was articling at a law firm in the mid-1950’s, it was expected that articling lawyers had an income – i.e. that they were wealthy. His salary was $75 per month. At that point my Mom made almost four times as much working as a nurse.
12 Durov (Telegram CEO) charges released by French prosecutor (pdf,via wikileaks twitter)
– Complicity – web-mastering an online platform in order to enable an illegal transaction in organized group,
– Refusal to communicate, at the request of competent authorities, information or documents necessary for carrying out and operating interceptions allowed by law,
– Complicity – possessing pornographic images of minors,
– Complicity – distributing, offering or making available pornographic images of minors, in organized group,
– Complicity – acquiring, transporting, possessing, offering or selling narcotic substances,
– Complicity – offering, selling or making available, without legitimate reason, equipment, tools, programs or data designed for or adapted to get access to
and to damage the operation of an automated data processing system,
– Complicity – organized fraud,
– Criminal association with a view to committing a crime or an offense punishable by 5 or more years of imprisonment,
-Laundering of the proceeds derived from organized group’s offences and crimes,
-Providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration,
– Providing a cryptology tool not solely ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration,
– Importing a cryptology tool ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration.
Taibbi’s latest. Public excerpt.
Zuckerberg Defies the Borg
As governments everywhere tighten their grip on the Internet, Meta’s CEO blows a hole in years of official lies. How authorities brought this on themselves
https://www.racket.news/p/zuckerberg-defies-the-borg
from the longer article:
Zuckerberg’s letter touches on this larger story. The FBI involved itself in electoral politics by lying to business leaders and Congress about the origin of the Burisma tale. Senators Johnson and Grassley were bluntly threatened, informed that the FBI considered their investigation to be in service of a Russian plot and put “on notice” that their behavior going forward would be monitored. Was Facebook similarly “warned”? What would that record look like? What would Zuckerberg say about it, if he could give a frank and extended interview?