[ad_1]
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Hen Music of the Day
Nice Cuckoo-Dove, Varirata Nationwide Park Central, Papua New Guinea. A fowl calling. Elevation: 486 m.”
* * *
Politics
“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in truth a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
The Constitutional Order
“Proof that the President is an “Officer of america” for Functions of Part 3 of the Fourteenth Modification” [James Heilpern and Michael T. Worley, SSRN]. From the Summary: “Half I evaluations Blackman and Tillman’s article [at NC here] and the usage of its arguments within the Colorado litigation. In Half II, we reply to those arguments as a textual matter, finally concluding that ‘officer of america’ was not a time period of artwork on the time of the Founding. In Half III and IV, we then flip to the that means of the phrase on the time of the ratification of the Fourteenth Modification. In Half III, we talk about and make sure that historic data together with the textual content, legislative historical past and ratification debates of the Fourteenth Modification, the legislative historical past of the Fifteenth Modification, and standard sources resembling up to date newspapers reveal that elected officers may be ‘officers of america.’ Half IV then discusses particular proof that the President is not only an officer, however is an ‘officer of america’ as contemporaries of the 14th Modification would have understood that time period, counting on quite a few texts, together with legislative historical past, newspapers, and proclamations from President Andrew Johnson himself Half V reexamines case legislation that Blackman and Tillman depend on.” • If that is in truth dispositive, that knocks out one huge argument on the anti-Part Three aspect.
“The Supreme Courtroom is anticipated to find out whether or not Trump can preserve working for president. Right here’s why” [Associated Press]. • It is a moderately fair-minded abstract of the problems at play. Value a learn!
* * *
“May a Trump Win Put His Working Mate in Workplace?” [The New Yorker]. Wild stuff! “What if Trump wins the election and Congress declines to take away his disqualification [under Section Three for insurrection]? The chance that Trump can’t maintain workplace till Congress votes to let him is the centerpiece of the amicus temporary, additionally filed on Wednesday, on behalf of the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee and its chair, Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana. Authored by Noel Francisco, Trump’s former Solicitor Normal, and different revered conservative attorneys of the Supreme Courtroom bar, the temporary states that, ‘even when the Colorado Supreme Courtroom had been appropriate that President Trump can’t take workplace on Inauguration Day,” he’s nonetheless permitted to run ‘and in addition search elimination of any alleged disqualification [the ‘disability’ of Section Three] from Congress if crucial [which takes a two-thirds vote from each House].’ What occurs within the meantime, in line with the N.R.S.C., is specified within the Twentieth Modification, which Trump’s petition acknowledges solely in passing: ‘if the President elect shall have didn’t qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President till a President shall have certified.’… That means that voters who consider that Trump is disqualified as an insurrectionist have the flexibility to elect him anticipating that his working mate can be President, probably all through the four-year time period. … That Trump’s former Solicitor Normal, Senate Republicans, and distinguished, extremely credentialed, conservative attorneys are foregrounding a situation whereby Trump’s working mate acts because the President on Day One invitations, wittingly or not, a Republican insurgency that might assert Trump’s disqualification solely after his working mate rides Trump’s recognition to electoral victory and successfully turns into President-in-waiting.” • So Trump responds by selecting who as insurance coverage? Certainly not Haley or DeSantis. How about RFK Jr.? Kidding! I feel….
“It’s not simply Trump: Democrats are shifting to bar Republicans from ballots nationwide” [Jonathan Turley, New York Post]. “As the choices disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the 2024 election work their approach by means of the courts, a brand new submitting in Pennsylvania seeks the identical ‘poll cleaning’ by barring Republican Rep. Scott Perry…. Former congressional candidate Gene Stilp, who’s made headlines by burning MAGA flags with swastikas outdoors courthouses, filed the problem…. However what’s chilling is what number of assist such efforts, together with Democratic officeholders from Maine’s secretary of state to dozens of members of Congress. Rep. Invoice Pascrell (D-NJ) sought to bar 126 members of Congress underneath the identical idea for difficult the election earlier than Jan. 6, 2021. Comparable laws from Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) to disqualify members obtained 63 co-sponsors, all Democrats, together with New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Ritchie Torres and ‘Squad’ members Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan…. The grounds had been nearly similar to these of Stilp. He accuses Perry of supporting challenges to Biden’s election and opposing its certification. After all, he ignores Democratic members who sought to dam certification of Republican presidents underneath the exact same legislation with no factual or authorized foundation.” • For instance:
Individuals who ought to be IMMEDIATELY disqualified from workplace pursuant to Sec. 3 of the 14th Am:
GaetzGreenBoebertPerryJordanCruzHawleyJohnsonTubervilleGrassleyPerryGoemertBrooks
— Pam Keith, Esq. (@PamKeithFL) January 3, 2024
Capitol Seizure
“One assault, two interpretations: Biden and Trump each make the Jan. 6 riot a political rallying cry” [Associated Press]. “Biden’s marketing campaign additionally introduced an promoting push beginning Saturday with a spot centering on the Capitol assault. Within the advert, Biden says, ‘There’s one thing harmful occurring in America.’ ‘There’s an extremist motion that doesn’t share the fundamental beliefs of our democracy,’ Biden says as photographs from the rebellion seem. ‘All of us are being requested proper now, what is going to we do to take care of our democracy.’ His marketing campaign is spending $500,000 to run the 60-second advert on nationwide tv information and on native night information in TV markets in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in addition to shorter variations on digital platforms.” • $500,000 isn’t very a lot. And I’ve gotta say, I’ve obtained a tough time reconciling the get together of the Censorship Industrial Complicated with democracy, not to mention “ours.” Right here’s the advert:
Right here’s the ultimate body. I don’t assume “DEMOCRACY” is in Gotham, however that fussy look is bound Obama 2008:
Dudes, that marketing campaign was 2024 – 2008 = 16 years in the past. That’s a very long time.
2024
Lower than a yr to go!
* * *
“Trump attorneys search to carry Jack Smith in contempt of courtroom in 2020 election case” [Axios]. “Former President Trump’s authorized workforce on Thursday filed a movement arguing that particular counsel Jack Smith ought to be held in contempt of courtroom for allegedly violating a keep order within the federal 2020 election case. Trump’s workforce is arguing that Smith and his workforce continued to submit courtroom filings after Choose Tanya Chutkan ordered a pause to proceedings within the case.” • We haven’t heard from any authorized beagles but, so I’m by myself right here. Right here is the docket; right here is Trump’s movement for a keep; right here is Chutkan granting it. Trump: “President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits this movement for an order implementing the automated keep of all district courtroom proceedings….” Chutkan: “the courtroom hereby STAYS the deadlines and proceedings scheduled by its Pretrial Order, as amended.” What’s a “continuing”? Authorized Data Institute: “A judicial continuing is any continuing over which a choose presides. The exact definition of judicial continuing varies relying on the jurisdiction, and should embody quasi-judicial proceedings.” What Trump is ticked off about is that Prosecutor Jack Smith is continuous to make filings. Is submitting a doc with the clerk of the courtroom a “judicial continuing”? IANAL, however I’m doubtful. Maybe a reader who truly is aware of what they’re speaking about can weigh in!
“Trump shores up new wave of congressional assist forward of Iowa caucuses” [Washington Examiner]. “The previous president boasts greater than 100 endorsements and counting within the Home and Senate as a result of he “by no means stops working the telephones,” in line with senior Trump adviser Jason Miller…. The polls, wherein Trump has expanded his lead and maintained the assist of the vast majority of Republicans, are driving members to make their transfer, [GOP strategist John Feehery] stated.”
“Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor Will Be Investigated within the Trump Case. However by Whom?” [New York Times]. “For the reason that indictment of former President Donald J. Trump and 18 of his allies final summer season on election interference expenses in Georgia, a fragile query has gone unanswered: Would legal expenses even be coming for Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a longtime Trump supporter and one of the crucial bold politicians within the Southern swing state? Mr. Jones was one of many 16 Republicans who acted as pretend electors for Mr. Trump in Georgia in an effort to overturn his 2020 defeat. Three of them are charged with felonies, together with violating the state racketeering legislation. However in 2022, a choose blocked the Fulton County district legal professional who led the investigation, Fani T. Willis, from growing a case towards Mr. Jones, citing a battle of curiosity as a result of she had headlined a fund-raiser for his Democratic rival within the lieutenant governor’s race. It’s now as much as a state company referred to as the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to discover a particular prosecutor to research Mr. Jones, who has denied any wrongdoing. The top of the company, Peter J. Skandalakis, has for months stated little concerning the choice course of.” • Holy moley, Georgia politics. What a tangle!
“Trump Touts But ANOTHER Lifeless-Finish 2020 Election Fraud Report” [The Daily Beast]. “Trump wrote proudly that the report is “absolutely verified, a lot of the info was gotten from Authorities Sources, Tapes, and different Public Data, and compiled by essentially the most extremely certified Election Consultants within the Nation.’” • Right here’s a replica of the report, which at the very least is written in a sober model (I say “copy” as a result of this one is undated and unsigned. No authors (!). I’ve to say, although, that the after studying concerning the bucket of snakes that’s Georgia politics, I want I had time to undergo that part, if solely to debunk it. As far as I can inform, this isn’t coated wherever however the Day by day Beast.
* * *
“Joe unplugged: Biden fundraisers conflict with US script, please donors” [Reuters]. “As president, Joe Biden has relied closely on Teleprompters and pre-written scripts for his public speeches, a largely disciplined method that’s been in sharp distinction to his many years of free-wheeling, generally less-than-diplomatic remarks…. Biden’s open-mic disclosures are clashing with the White Home system constructed to maintain him on script. The feedback generally baffle, rankle, or fear his aides, who’re pressured to clarify or contradict them later. They typically wrestle to shift consideration again to the administration’s message of the day, or clarify why Biden’s feedback are seemingly at odds with official U.S. coverage. As Biden himself has acknowledged, his candor can generally trigger issues. ‘Nobody ever doubts I imply what I say,’ Biden informed donors final yr. ‘The issue is I generally say all that I imply.’” • However right here’s an instance:
Biden additionally informed donors on the identical fundraiser that he informed Netanyahu his authorities wanted “to alter,” and he had stated previously that “I don’t agree with a rattling factor you need to say.” As Biden warmed as much as the subject, reporters had been requested to go away the room by Biden’s aides, however declined to take action… The feedback on Israel immediately turned a high information story of the day, displacing a go to to Washington by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was pleading with Republicans in Congress to approve extra funding to repel Russia’s invasion.
However wouldn’t that be precisely what Biden wished?
* * *
“Christie says Haley ‘knew precisely what she was doing’ in Civil Battle remarks” [The Hill]. “‘She’s sensible and she or he is aware of higher. And he or she didn’t say it as a result of she’s a racist. As a result of she’s not … The explanation she did it’s simply as unhealthy, if not worse, and will make everyone involved about her candidacy: She did it as a result of she’s unwilling to offend anybody by telling the reality,’ Christie stated within the remarks offered by a spokesperson. Christie’s remarks continued: ‘If she is unwilling to face up and say that slavery is what brought about the Civil Battle as a result of she’s afraid of offending constituents in another a part of the nation, if she’s afraid to say that Donald Trump is unfit as a result of she’s afraid of offending individuals who assist Donald Trump, and since possibly she harbors at the back of her thoughts being vice chairman or being secretary of State and since she received’t deny it, we now have to consider that she’s keen to do it … What’s going to occur when she has to face up towards forces in our personal get together who need to drag this nation deeper and deeper into anger and division and exhaustion?’” • Christie’s not improper!
* * *
What concerning the poll line in Utah?
Los Angeles – we can be holding a really particular city corridor “To Liberate All Individuals All over the place” on Sunday, January seventh from 12PM to 3PM. This salon model dialog will absorb place within the historic #LeimertPark, that includes varied highly effective femme voices of shade as invited… pic.twitter.com/ZdrjQpTdEZ
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) January 3, 2024
* * *
“The Battle for Normie Ridge” [John Halpin, The Liberal Patriot]. “The true contested battle for the presidency lies amongst a blended group of much less engaged Individuals who fall into two fundamental classes of what are sometimes referred to as “normie voters”: individuals who dislike politics, don’t care a lot for both Biden or Trump, maintain mainstream views, and simply need secure and safe lives for his or her households with out a number of drama. A few of these voters are nonetheless deciding and others are contemplating whether or not to vote in any respect. One department of normie Individuals presently leans extra Democratic, and is made up largely of college-educated, white, suburban voters who don’t like excessive politics and candidates of any type, who assist abortion rights as a authorized matter, and who typically place a premium on quality-of-life points round crime, colleges, and the economic system. The opposite broad group of normie Individuals leans extra Republican and is made up of working-class voters and not using a 4-year diploma (largely white however more and more black and Hispanic) who don’t like social lecturing and bizarre views from elites, who stay pinched from the lingering results of inflation and stagnant wages, and who additionally fear about crime however are most involved about immigration and the chaos on the southern border. The issue for Biden and Trump is that neither one among these normie voter teams alone can be sufficient to drag out an Electoral Faculty victory in a handful of states.” • In some way “stagnant wages” aren’t a “high quality of life” situation. That’s our Democrats!
“Wish to Perceive 2024? Take a look at 1948.” [Nate Cohn, New York Times]. “There was a interval of financial unrest that bears a putting resemblance to at this time: the aftermath of World Battle II, when Individuals had been close to nice prosperity but discovered themselves annoyed by the economic system and their president…. However within the period of recent financial knowledge, Harry Truman was the one president apart from Joe Biden to supervise an economic system with inflation over 7 p.c whereas unemployment stayed underneath 4 p.c and G.D.P. progress saved climbing. Voters weren’t overjoyed then, both. As a substitute, they noticed Mr. Truman as incompetent, feared one other melancholy and doubted their financial future, although they had been on the daybreak of postwar financial prosperity. The supply of postwar inflation was essentially much like post-pandemic inflation. The tip of wartime rationing unleashed years of pent-up shopper demand …. The Chilly Battle, civil rights, Israel and different home points mixed to place extraordinary political stress on an more and more fractured Democratic coalition… In the long run, Mr. Truman received in maybe essentially the most celebrated comeback in American electoral historical past, together with the long-lasting ‘Dewey Beats Truman’ headline and {photograph}.”
Republican Funhouse
“We Sat Down With the Conservative Mastermind Behind Claudine Homosexual’s Ouster” [Politico]. “However this actually was a workforce effort that concerned three major factors of leverage. First was the narrative leverage, and this was performed primarily by me, Christopher Brunet and Aaron Sibarium. Second was the monetary leverage, which was led by Invoice Ackman and different Harvard donors. And at last, there was the political leverage which was actually led by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s masterful efficiency with Claudine Homosexual at her hearings. Whenever you put these three parts collectively — narrative, monetary and political stress — and also you squeeze onerous sufficient, you see the outcomes that we obtained at this time, which was the resignation of America’s strongest tutorial chief…. However I knew that as a way to obtain my goal, we needed to get the narrative into the left-wing media. However the left-wing uniformly ignored the story for 10 days and tried to bury it, so I engaged in a sort of a considerate and substantive marketing campaign of shaming and bullying my colleagues on the left to take critically the story of essentially the most important tutorial corruption scandal in Harvard’s historical past…. As soon as my place — which started on the best — turned the dominant place throughout the center-left, I knew that it was only a matter of time earlier than we had been going to achieve success…. I’ve run the identical playbook on essential race idea, on gender ideology, on DEI paperwork. In the meanwhile, given the construction of our establishments, this can be a common technique that may be utilized by the best to most points.” And: “I labored on essential race idea for a really very long time earlier than it yielded fruit, however this Claudine Homosexual story has proven that we are able to drive main, paradigm-shifting victories over a compressed timeframe. I’d like to interact in additional experimentation on how we are able to cycle up a few of these campaigns in a short time.” • Very fascinating and nicely price a learn. After all, this confuses liberals and the left, and liberals have certainly, as Rufo factors out, grown “complacent, lazy, entitled and ripe for disruption.”
“One other Home Republican plans early exit from Congress” [Axios]. “Rep. Invoice Johnson (R-Ohio) is planning an earlier-than-expected departure this month to develop into president of Youngstown State College…. Johnson is a member of the centrist Republican Governance Group, the pragmatist Major Avenue Caucus and the bipartisan Downside Solvers Caucus…. Republicans can be down to simply 219 seats to Democrats’ 213 as soon as Johnson leaves.”
Democrats en Déshabillé
“How Greg Abbott Compelled Democrats to Change” [Newsweek]. “Texas Governor Greg Abbott has reshaped the U.S. political panorama on immigration by busing migrants from Texas to Democratic-led sanctuary cities. Abbott, a Republican, in 2022 started busing migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to sanctuary cities that shield undocumented immigrants from deportation, amid an inflow of migrants arriving to the southern border. There have been greater than 2.4 million encounters on the U.S.-Mexico border throughout the 2023 fiscal yr, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, in line with knowledge from U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP)….. Mona Kleinberg, assistant professor at Queens Faculty of the Metropolis College of New York, informed Newsweek that Abbott has put Democrats in a ‘lose-lose’ scenario by convincing a ‘notoriously immigrant-friendly metropolis that immigration is a burden.’” Hmm. Was is Abbott who did the convincing? Extra: “She warned that Abbott’s success doesn’t bode nicely for Democrats in 2024, as immigration stays a hot-button situation. Biden should provide a ‘optimistic counter-narrative on immigration’ or danger backing Republicans’ stance, Kleinberg stated.” Kamala’s answerable for that, so what’s the difficulty? Extra: “‘In the event that they undertake an anti-immigrant stance just like the Republicans, they will even alienate the voters who vote Democratic as a result of Democrats have traditionally been extra pleasant—or let’s assume—much less hostile, towards immigrants than the Republicans. So it’s a lose-lose scenario except Democrats can current coverage options that embody optimistic messaging on migration.’” • Being a “sanctuary metropolis” is all very nicely, till anyone takes you up on the provide.
“Blue states open 2024 election yr with migrant disaster escalating” [Politico]. “Texas has additionally sidestepped new guidelines for sending migrants to Chicago, which has seen greater than 26,000 asylum seekers arrive since August 2022. At 1 a.m. on Sunday, a Boeing 777 from San Antonio dropped off 350 asylum seekers to the airport in Rockford, about 90 miles west of Chicago. Eight buses chartered by Abbott’s administration then dropped off the migrants to surrounding suburbs. The brand new arrivals took trains and different modes of transportation from there to make their technique to the touchdown zone in downtown Chicago, in line with the town. The transfer follows guidelines handed final month to tremendous bus firms that don’t comply with the drop-off procedures for migrants. They embody solely delivering the brand new arrivals to the town’s touchdown zone on Mondays by means of Fridays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.”
“The FBI-Tainted Whitmer ‘Kidnap Plot’ You’ve Heard Subsequent to Nothing About” [Julie Kelly, RealClearInvestigations]. “On Oct. 8, 2020, Whitmer introduced the surprising arrests of a number of males accused of planning to kidnap and probably assassinate her. The case produced alarming headlines simply weeks earlier than Election Day; Democrats, together with Whitmer, used information of the plot guilty Trump for inciting violence. Joe Biden counseled the FBI for thwarting the kidnapping plan and, in a written assertion issued the identical day, claimed that “there’s a by means of line from President Trump’s canine whistles and tolerance of hate….” Biden continued that line of assault throughout marketing campaign speeches in Michigan, a swing state that voted for Trump in 2016, and one Biden wanted to seize to win the presidency…. [C]ourt paperwork have recast the episode as one thing extra sinister. As a substitute of a heroic effort by the FBI to safeguard the nation from home terrorists, it now seems to have been a broad conspiracy by legislation enforcement to entrap Americans who held unpopular political opinions…. the operation sound like one thing out of a Hollywood script. It options secretive money payouts; drug- and booze-fueled events; a convicted wife-beating FBI investigator; a profession felon revealed as a longtime FBI asset and later accused of appearing as a ‘double agent’; and a dramatic takedown scene on the finish. Public defenders representing the accused have recognized at the very least 12 FBI informants and three undercover FBI brokers managed by FBI officers in quite a few discipline workplaces answerable for framing the boys.” • Attention-grabbing play within the playbook? (I’ve a obscure reminiscence, and I can’t run it down, that FBI brokers concerned on this entrapment scheme had been additionally lively in January 6. Readers?)
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Trump’s Closing Battle Has Begun” [Frank Bruni, New York Times]. “‘I see our political course of pulling away from the place individuals are on the bottom,’ stated Danielle Allen, a professor of political philosophy, ethics and public coverage at Harvard who’s an advocate of higher civics training and extra constructive engagement in civic life. ‘The political course of has develop into a sort of theatrical spectacle, and on the bottom, since 2016, we’ve seen this unimaginable progress of grass-roots organizations engaged on every kind of civic well being. I feel individuals are getting more healthy — or have been — over the previous seven years, and our politics doesn’t replicate that.’ She famous that in a rising variety of states, there are severe actions to cast off get together primaries, a political reform supposed to counter partisanship and produce extra average, consensus winners.” • Allen’s perspective is actually distinctive, and welcome, if true. Can readers remark? (Are the “grass-roots organizations” actually simply liberal Democrat NGOs? Or is one thing happening that’s not making the information?)
#COVID19
“I’m in earnest — I can’t equivocate — I can’t excuse — I can’t retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; contains many counties; Wastewater Scan, contains drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Normal Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be at liberty to contact me on the tackle given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!
Assets, United States (Native): 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 studies); 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).
Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).
Assets, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tricks to useful 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, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Keep protected on the market!
* * *
Covid is Airborne
An excellent dialogue from Naomi Wu:
I do know that fecal aerosols are an issue, however possibly the Asian “squat bathroom” has one thing going for it:
Utilizing a public restroom and not using a masks is probably going one of the crucial dangerous issues an individual can do 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Y5OHJ1yP5Q
— The fed up Chef (@TheChefsGardens) January 2, 2024
Maskstravaganza
Anti-masking is an assault on the working class (1):
Why would you proceed to place the workforce in a surgical masks which isn’t designed to forestall transmission by inhalation as a defence towards a illness which is transmitted through the air and enters to contaminate through inhalation? https://t.co/tSZjcpD2HR
— Dr Evonne T Curran NursD 💙🇺🇦 (@EvonneTCurran) January 2, 2024
Anti-masking is an assault on the working class (2):
I attempted to warn you.I actually tried to warn you.I informed you that this was going to be the scalpel that they might use to peel the pores and skin again from the bones of all danger mitigation, and also you thought that I used to be exaggerating, however I wasn’t, and the painful deaths that ensue will ravage… https://t.co/a0kjqpuzBX
— tern (@1goodtern) January 3, 2024
An assault that’s hopefully defeated:
Extra proof for my “tradies are masks allies” idea
Wasp elimination man arrives, I reply the door masked & undergo my “I’m not sick, I simply have an autoimmune illness & have to be cautious” rationalization
& he apologises, runs again to his van & comes again in a 3M respirator 🤩 pic.twitter.com/TDHVavm8tj
— Sue J (@SMpwrgr) January 4, 2024
Immune Dysregulation
“The Cough That Doesn’t Finish” [New York Magazine]. “I used to be at a long-awaited panel dialogue at my associates’ personal residence, listening to Senator Kristen Gillibrand talk about paid go away and reproductive rights with girls’s-health entrepreneurs Priyanka Jain and Alessandra Henderson, once I first heard it: the Cough. Henderson, the founding father of a girls’s-health firm referred to as Elektra Well being, coughed discreetly from the makeshift stage. Then she coughed once more. It was dry and fast and frequent. Occasionally, she would flip her head, elevate her arms, and, behind the swishy curtain of her stylish blonde bob, cough. A girl stole over and slipped her a cough drop. Gillibrand had warmed up and was on a tear about TikTok. (Not a fan, by the way in which.) And nonetheless, discreetly however actually not imperceptibly, coughing. Henderson didn’t in any other case appear sick. She was an influence girl on a panel with a senator, in peak kind, however what can I say? Lately, you discover the cough. Who amongst us has not walked the streets of New York beset by the scourge of the season, the persistent hacking cough? Possibly you presently have one your self, or the individual within the subway seat subsequent to you is coughing, otherwise you’ve narrowly escaped catching a chilly out of your throat-clearing cubicle neighbor. Even when you’re been personally spared, you’ve seemingly seen that the whole metropolis is hacking away proper now, or possibly on this countless COVID period, it’s all simply more durable to disregard.” • That is truly a superb piece, in that it mentions Covid. (Maybe the “respiratory virus season” body permits this.) There’s even point out of air filters! Nonetheless, there are two lacking items of knowledge. First, immune dysregulation from Covid isn’t talked about. Why are so many so sick? Second, there’s no point out that Covid transmits asymptomatically; it’s not solely the coughing folks you need to fear about!
Denial and Cope
Right here is one other wildly speculative rationalization for what Jessica Wildfire calls “The Nice Abdication” (Hyperlinks, at this time). Like yesterday’s considering, this comes from the Neurodivergent (ND) group, who should do a number of fascinated by why Neurotypical (NT) folks behave as they do. Once more, sorry for the small dimension, but it surely’s one of the best I can do given my monitor:
An infection
It actually is feasible to keep away from an infection with layered safety. Right here is how one mom protected her child:
Proper earlier than Christmas, my toddler examined optimistic for RSV. Oof. Being sick for Christmas isn’t any enjoyable.
What we actually did not need is for it to unfold to our child. It is their first RSV season, in order that they’re within the danger group for RSV.
What did we do and the way did we fare? 1/🧵 pic.twitter.com/XqyYgsflNo
— Megan Ben Dor Ruthven (@_mbdr_) January 3, 2024
Sequelae
Lack of govt operate within the plane collision in Japan?
ATC transcript launched by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism point out that JL516 had been cleared to land on runway 34R. JA722A had been instructed to carry brief on taxiway C5. This instruction was learn again appropriately. https://t.co/Fg4RZLVkwG pic.twitter.com/PIAZCY976F
— Breaking Aviation Information & Movies (@aviationbrk) January 3, 2024
The airplane (JA722A) that pulled out onto the runway learn again the Tower’s directions to “maintain brief” appropriately. Then they did the precise reverse, pulled out, and JL516, touchdown, crashed into them.
Origins Debate
“CIA accused of hiding data that analysts took ‘financial incentives’ to bury COVID lab leak discovering” [New York Post]. “An offshoot of the conservative Heritage Basis is suing the Central Intelligence Company, accusing it of withholding data detailing payoffs to analysts to bury findings {that a} lab leak was the most certainly rationalization for the COVID-19 pandemic. The assume tank’s Oversight Undertaking filed a federal lawsuit towards the CIA Dec. 22, alleging the company didn’t adjust to its Freedom of Data Act (FOIA) request about analysts who allegedly “acquired financial incentives to alter their place on the origins of the virus,” in line with a replica of the criticism first reported Tuesday by the Day by day Caller.” • Hmm.
* * *
Case Knowledge
NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater knowledge, December 23:
Lambert right here: Nonetheless going up. As a very “intestine really feel” tapewatcher, I might anticipate this peak to satisfy or exceed the 2 earlier Biden peaks; in any case, we haven’t actually begun the subsequent bout of vacation journey, or the subsequent rounds of superspreading occasions celebrations. Plus college students haven’t come from from college, after which returned. So a better peak appears just about “baked in.” And that’s earlier than we get to new variants, like JN.1. The true factor to look at is the slope of the curve. If it begins to go vertical, and if it retains on doing so, then maintain onto your hats.
Regional knowledge:
Regional cut up continues.
• FFS:
Pleased New Yr 🎆 There is no such thing as a knowledge replace for this week as a result of our workforce took some well-deserved relaxation over the vacations. We’ll return to our common schedule subsequent week!
— Biobot Analytics (@BiobotAnalytics) January 2, 2024
Verily and CDC are additionally not up to date. So right here we’re within the midst of a peak, and no knowledge. What a public well being debacle.
• CDC additionally has a this “nationwide developments” chart from the Nationwide Wastewater Surveillance system, which is, as we now have come to anticipate from CDC net designers, utterly separate from its “wastewater surveillance” web page. Anyhow, right here’s from NWSS, although it too ends on December 23:
Evaluating NWSS to Biobot, the peaks and valleys are roughly the identical, however lack Biobot’s regional bifurcation (which begins in December). The chart can be a bit of misleading, in that “all outcomes” may lead the naive to consider that the chart covers the whole pandemic, when in truth NWSS solely goes again to January 2022. Nevertheless, the gray bar to point knowledge topic to backward revision is sweet, and Biobot ought to undertake it.
Variants
NOT UPDATED From CDC, December 23:
Lambert right here: JN.1 now dominates. That was quick.
From CDC, December 9:
Lambert right here: I positive hope the volunteers doing Pangolin, on which this chart relies upon, don’t all transfer on the inexperienced fields and pastures new (or have their entry to services lower by directors of unwell intent).
CDC: “As of Might 11, genomic surveillance knowledge can be reported biweekly, based mostly on the provision of optimistic take a look at specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Appears like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform.
Covid Emergency Room Visits
NOT UPDATED From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, December 30:
Lambert: Return to upward motion. Solely per week’s lag, so this can be our greatest present nationwide, present indicator.
NOTE “Charts and knowledge offered by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous yr, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not the whole pandemic, FFS (the implicit message right here being that Covid is “similar to the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week interval” is suitable for bothMR SUBLIMINAL I hate these folks a lot. Discover additionally that this chart reveals, at the very least for its time interval, that Covid isn’t seasonal, although CDC is attempting to get us to consider that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the present institutional equipment for injections. And naturally, we’re not even entering into the standard of the wastewater websites that we now have as a proxy for Covid an infection total.
Hospitalization
Bellwether New York Metropolis, knowledge as of January 3:
Lambert right here: I nonetheless don’t just like the slope of that curve, and spot we’re approaching earlier peak ranges (granted, not 2020 or 2022, however respectable).
NOT UPDATED Right here’s a distinct CDC visualization on hospitalization, nationwide, not by state, however with a date, at the very least. December 23:
Transferring forward briskly!
Lambert right here: “Maps, charts, and knowledge offered by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Check Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”. So the place the heck is the replace, CDC?
Positivity
Lambert right here: Discover that for each Walgreens and the Cleveland Clinic, that though the proportion of positives is secure, absolutely the numbers have vastly elevated; Walgreen’s doubled. This speaks nicely of individuals; they’re getting examined earlier than the vacations (and in face of a shit*tstorm barrage of propaganda and peer stress to attenuate, too).
NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, January 2:
1.1%. Up. (It will be fascinating to survey this inhabitants typically; these are individuals who, regardless of a tsunami of official propaganda and large peer stress, went and obtained examined anyhow.)
NOT UPDATED From Cleveland Clinic, December 30:
Lambert right here: Share plateaued. Absolute numbers steadily rising.
NOT UPDATED From CDC, traveler’s knowledge, December 11:
Turning down.
Down, albeit within the rear view mirror. And listed below are the variants for vacationers, December 4:
BA.2.86 again up, completely dominant. This may be an amazing early warning system, if the warning had been in truth early, as a substitute of weeks late, good job, CDC.
Deaths
NOT UPDATED Right here is the New York Occasions, based mostly on CDC knowledge, December 23:
• “Lengthy COVID Has Precipitated Hundreds of US Deaths: New CDC Knowledge” [Medscape]. “Whereas COVID has now claimed greater than 1 million lives in america alone, these aren’t the one fatalities brought about at the very least partly by the virus… Greater than 5000 Individuals have died from lengthy COVID because the begin of the pandemic, in line with new estimates from the CDC… It’s additionally troublesome to differentiate between what number of deaths associated to the virus finally happen on account of lengthy COVID slightly than acute infections. That’s as a result of it could depend upon quite a lot of components, together with how persistently medical experts comply with the CDC tips, stated Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, chief of analysis on the Veterans Affairs, St. Louis Well being Care System and a senior scientific epidemiologist at Washington College in St. Louis. ‘Lengthy COVID stays massively underdiagnosed, and loss of life in folks with lengthy COVID is misattributed to different issues,’ Al-Aly stated.”
Stats Watch
Employment State of affairs: “United States ADP Employment Change” [Trading Economics]. “Personal companies within the US employed 164K employees in December 2023, increased than a downwardly revised 101K in November and beating forecasts of 115K. Leisure and hospitality led the way in which, because the sector added 59K jobs, adopted by training/well being companies (42K), building (24K), monetary actions (18K), and commerce/transportation/utilities (15K). In distinction, job losses had been seen in manufacturing (-13K), info companies (-2K) and pure assets and mining (-2K). ”
Employment State of affairs: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of Individuals submitting for unemployment advantages sank by 18,000 to 202,000 within the final week of 2023, firmly under market expectations of 216,000 to mark the bottom declare rely since October.”
* * *
Immediately’s Worry & Greed Index: 77 Excessive Greed (earlier shut: 72 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 78 (Excessive Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jan 4 at 1:30:16 PM ET.
Zeitgeist Watch
And when streaming fails?
Bodily media is gold. There are an rising variety of movies and musical works that I can discover solely on DVD or CD https://t.co/Vhu3RlCwG9
— Leta McCollough Seletzky, JD 🐳 (@LaSeletzky) January 3, 2024
A lot for all our cultural inheritance….
Information of the Wired
“‘Large’ predator worms greater than half a billion years outdated found in North Greenland” (press launch) [University of Bristol]. “The brand new fossil animals have been named Timorebestia, that means ‘terror beasts’ in Latin. Adorned with fins down the perimeters of their physique, a definite head with lengthy antennae, huge jaw buildings inside their mouth and rising to greater than 30cm in size, these had been a number of the largest swimming animals within the Early Cambrian instances…. ‘We’ve many extra thrilling findings to share within the coming years that can assist present how the earliest animal ecosystems regarded like and developed,’ [Tae Yoon Park from the Korean Polar Research Institute, senior author and field expedition leader] concluded.”
“Fossil proof of photosynthesis will get a billion years older” [Ars Technica]. “New fossils described by a workforce on the College of Liège push unambiguous proof of photosynthesis again over a billion years to 1.7 billion years in the past.” • Possibly some type reader can translate the remainder!
* * *
Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a examine if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are tremendous! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! In order for you your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it at first of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize by utilizing your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From TH:
TH writes: “This little fella with exceedingly lengthy antennae is exploring an Alyogyne hakeifolia, (Purple Centered Hibiscus) Naples Island, Lengthy Seaside, CA.”
• Type readers, I nonetheless am not comfy that I’ve sufficient vegetation within the queue. Snow-covered bushes! Icy flowers! The autumn harvest! Autumn leaves! Final yr’s wildflowers! Additionally, in fact, honorary vegetation like fungi and lichen! Algae!
* * *
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not coated by the annual NC fundraiser. So when you see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see wherever else, please don’t hesitate to precise your appreciation in tangible kind. Bear in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common optimistic suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. Once I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get apprehensive. Extra tangibly, a continuing trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising objectives:
Right here is the display that can seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
When you hate PayPal, you possibly can electronic mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I provides you with instructions on tips on how to ship a examine. Thanks!
[ad_2]
Source link
