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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Hen Tune of the Day
Snow Partridge, Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India.
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Politics
“So lots 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
Everyone into the pool:
Up to date letter from LG that corrects age requirement error in unique. pic.twitter.com/B3rYOVEdxv
— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) December 20, 2023
This pair of tweets is very humorous as a result of proponents of the concept Part Three of the Fourteenth Modification is “self-executing” imagine that disqualifying a candidate due to their age is conceptually and operationally equal to disqualifying them as an insurrectionist. But right here we have now California’s Lieutenant Governor butchering the straightforward matter of age necessities. (Word additionally the significance of the top run around the discovering of truth within the Colorado case; that the occasions of January 6 had been an revolt, and that Trump is an insurrectionist, is now handled as a given, regardless that there’s a Federal legislation on the books in opposition to revolt, and neither the Justice Division nor any Particular Prosecutor have charged or convicted Trump beneath it.)
“Texas chief needs Biden kicked off state’s 2024 poll over immigration” [Washington Times]. “Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stated Tuesday that President Biden must be taken off the 2024 poll for inflicting an unlawful immigration disaster…. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed a legislation earlier this week that enables for the prosecution of migrants coming into the state illegally. Below the legislation, anybody who enters the nation illegally from Mexico may be arrested. As soon as arrested, they will both depart the U.S. or be charged with misdemeanors. Mr. Patrick stated the Texas Senate spent quite a lot of time writing the invoice, and he believes it is going to ‘survive any kind of Supreme Courtroom problem as a result of we’re being invaded.’” • Undecided I see the speculation of the case right here, however likely The Lege can give you one thing…
“Republicans float booting Biden off state ballots after Trump ruling” [New York Post]. “Whereas condemning the Colorado determination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis contemplated aloud what the limiting precept could be for that coverage. ‘Might we simply say that Biden can’t be on the poll as a result of he let in 8 million illegals into the nation, and violated the Structure?’ he requested Wednesday at a marketing campaign occasion in Iowa. ‘If Colorado is taking Trump off the poll, Florida and Texas ought to take Biden off the poll,’ conservative influencer Rogan O’Handley stated. ‘Permitting 8M+ unlawful aliens into America is the best type of revolt[.] See how slippery this slope will get?’” • Humorous to see phrases like “limiting precept” pop up within the New York Put up. However I feel (see “gingerly” instantly beneath) that the Republicans have managed to pay money for the correct finish of the stick on this. I’ve seen, for instance, that the broader the definition of “revolt” is made — presumably to catch Trump — the extra different circumstances get caught up in it. Once more, had been the George Floyd riots actually an revolt? Why not?
“The Mainstream In opposition to Democracy” [The American Conservative]. “Probably the most pertinent and intriguing query is that this: What would issues have regarded like if, as a substitute of selecting the trail of lawfare and #Resistance, mainstream events had sought to accommodate populist voters and/or provide them an much more attractive imaginative and prescient of what the long run would possibly seem like? That’s the query posed, most acutely, by progressive critics of the Colorado determination, together with Samuel Moyn, Sam Haselby, and Ben Burgis, amongst many others. Their level, addressing the left from the left, is that the Trump phenomenon is a political downside. For those who don’t like him, you had higher provide a compelling different round which a permanent nationwide majority would possibly coalesce. Preserving Trump off the poll in Colorado (and maybe elsewhere), writes Moyn, ‘transforms what should be a nationwide referendum on the way forward for the nation right into a nationwide spectacle of how judges will interpret a provision from its previous.’ Such a transfer would possibly—emphasis on would possibly—save Joe Biden, however it could come at nice price: an unprecedented nationwide explosion. And in the long run, it couldn’t save the Democrats—or institution Republicans, for that matter—’from their nonnegotiable duty to win energy by profitable elections.’” • Not solely do I not love Trump, I’m not a conservative; democratizing capital allocation is hardly a conservative agenda merchandise. So I get close to them fairly gingerly. However right here we’re. Quoting from the article:
Look I am not a elaborate political strategist however I’d assume possibly the Democrats may attempt working somebody who is not 200 years previous and might possibly run on a platform that excites voters.
— Ben Burgis (@BenBurgis) December 20, 2023
And:
The courts are the least democratic department of presidency and the relentless efforts of the liberal Resistance to discover a juridical somewhat than a political answer to Trump are ineffective and reckless.
— Sam Haselby (@samhaselby) December 20, 2023
It’s exhausting to think about something extra “reckless” than setting a precedent for Democrat electeds and appointees to take away Republican candidates from the poll on something apart from mechanical grounds (age, citizenship, and so on.). What occurs when Republicans begin doing the identical to Democrats? Solely a Federalist Society member from the College of Chicago would assume nothing of opening a Pandora’s field like that.
Capitol Seizure
“You noticed all of it”:
Q: Is Trump an insurrectionist, sir?
President Biden: “It is self-evident. You noticed all of it. Now whether or not the 14th Modification applies, I am going to let the court docket make that call. However he definitely supported an revolt. There is not any query about it. None. Zero.” pic.twitter.com/kREbFSDbyV
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 20, 2023
“Self-evident,” in case you are a liberal Democrat:
“Self-evident,” in case you are not:
Biden Administration
The spooks ship a message:
I am calling on the Biden Administration to make use of all of our nation’s leverage to shift the Israeli army’s technique in defending itself in opposition to Hamas. The humanitarian disaster in Gaza is unacceptable and never consistent with American pursuits. pic.twitter.com/w7niHo955F
— Chrissy Houlahan (@RepHoulahan) December 19, 2023
Slotkin, Spanberger, and Sherrill are additionally CIA Democrats. Moulton’s PAC backs them.
2024
Lower than a yr to go!
* * *
“On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari Earlier than Judgment to america Courtroom of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit” (PDF) [BRIEF OF FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL EDWIN MEESE III AND LAW PROFESSORS STEVEN G. CALABRESI AND GARY S. LAWSON AS AMICI CURIAE SUPPORTING NEITHER PARTY, UNITED STATES, In the Supreme Court of the United States]. Ed Meese? What? Anyhow: “The illegality addressed on this temporary began on November 18, 2022, when Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland exceeded his statutory and constitutional authority by purporting to nominate Smith to function Particular First, the Appointments Clause requires that every one federal places of work “not in any other case offered for” within the Structure have to be “established by Regulation,” U.S. Const. artwork. II, §2, cl. 2, and there’s no statute establishing the Workplace of Particular Counsel in DOJ.Counsel for the Division of Justice (DOJ). … First, the Appointments Clause requires that every one federal places of work ‘not in any other case offered for’ within the Structure have to be ‘established by Regulation,’ U.S. Const.
artwork. II, §2, cl. 2, and there’s no statute establishing the Workplace of Particular Counsel in DOJ. The statutory provisions relied upon by DOJ and decrease courts for the appointment of particular counsels over the previous half century don’t authorize the creation and appointment of particular counsels on the degree of United States Attorneys. And United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), doesn’t maintain on the contrary, as a result of no query was ever raised in that case in regards to the validity of the impartial counsel’s appointment…. Second, even when one overlooks the absence of statutory authority for the place, there is no such thing as a statute particularly authorizing the Lawyer Basic, somewhat than the President by and with the recommendation and consent of the Senate, to nominate such a Particular Counsel…. Third, the Particular Counsel, if a sound officer, is a superior (or principal) somewhat than inferior officer, and thus can’t be appointed by any means apart from presidential appointment and senatorial affirmation no matter what any statutes purport to say….. What federal statutes and the Structure don’t enable, nevertheless, is for the Lawyer Basic to nominate a non-public citizen, who has by no means been confirmed by the Senate, as an alternative United States Lawyer beneath the title “Particular Counsel.” That’s what occurred on November 18, 2022. That appointment was illegal, as are all of the authorized actions which have flowed from it, together with citizen Smith’s present try to receive a ruling from this Courtroom.” • Smith was certainly a “personal citizen” (chief prosecutor for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague) on the time of his appointment. So there’s that.
“Jack Smith added a Supreme Courtroom specialist. Trump has the Missouri lawyer who sued Joe Biden” [Politico]. The deck: “A big expertise hole is rising because the particular counsel and the previous president assemble their Supreme Courtroom groups.” • Sure, attorneys, as a category, determined that Trump didn’t deserve illustration and closed ranks in opposition to Trump way back (with the end result that Trump can’t get good assist, and we get clowns like Guiliani or the kraken girl). One imagines the perplexity and distrust on the Courtroom, however maybe they’ll discover a method to overcome it. And one may additionally urge that the more severe your case, the higher your lawyer have to be….
“Jack Smith To SCOTUS: Sure, There Completely Is A Cause To Rush Trump’s Case” [HuffPost]. “The Washington, D.C., legal case in opposition to Trump is ready for trial beginning on March 4. Nevertheless, Trump’s attraction of Chutkan’s ruling denying him immunity has put a maintain on proceedings. Smith went on to the Supreme Courtroom final week to skip over the intermediate federal appeals court docket. Neither Smith nor Trump’s attorneys have put in writing one distinctive function of the case: Trump, if he regains the presidency earlier than the trial is concluded, is nearly sure to order the Division of Justice to dismiss all federal costs in opposition to him.”
“Jack Smith urges swift and ‘definitive’ motion from the Supreme Courtroom on Trump’s immunity declare” [Independent]. Concept of the case: “Prosecutors have argued that the previous president relied on knowingly false [to whom?} claims about the election to pressure state officials to approve fraudulent slates of electors to obstruct the certification of the results, then attempted to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse the outcome, and, ultimately, failed to dissuade a mob of his supporters from rioting at the US Capitol on January 6.” • I have always thought that the “contingent electors” attack was the most dangerous one politically, simply because it looks very much like some innocent true believers got suckered into the process. Not good! But if you look at the verbs and adverbs in that sentence, none of the links in the chain — helpfully underlined — are especially strong. “Failed to persuade” is especially weak. The Capitol Riots were not the Finland Station, not even close.
* * *
“The grifter defense: The Bidens move to embrace influence peddling with a twist” [Jonathan Turley]. “The FBI tape is the newest instance of how the Bidens would market their title and entry. The surveillance occurred within the bribery investigation into Mississippi trial legal professional Richard Scruggs. Like many Biden associates, Scruggs would ultimately go to jail whereas the Bidens remained untouched. Scruggs forked over $100,000 to James Biden when he was searching for to bolster assist for the huge tobacco laws and Joe Biden was considered as skeptical on what some considered as a windfall for trial attorneys. Scruggs admitted to the Washington Put up that ‘I most likely wouldn’t have employed [James Biden] if he wasn’t the senator’s brother.’ Scruggs was simply one other shady determine whose enterprise affiliation with the Bidens would in the end finish with a jail stint. As quickly because the tape got here out, so did the brand new protection. James Biden took the cash however allegedly did nothing to land his brother. If that sounds acquainted, it ought to. After Hunter Biden’s former enterprise affiliate Devon Archer admitted that they had been promoting the ‘Biden model,’ the Bidens’ defenders instantly insisted that it was merely ‘illusory.’ In different phrases, these corrupt figures needed to purchase affect and entry, however they had been simply chumps fleeced by the Bidens. The thought is to get the general public to assume much less of coked up Henry Hill in ‘Goodfellas’ and extra of the lovable professor Harold Hill in ‘The Music Man,’ the charming rascal ripping off hayseeds by promoting marching bands. It’s a curious protection that we aren’t corrupt as a result of we simply ripped off dupes who had been corrupt individuals. The issue, in fact, is that affect peddling is a type of corruption. Certainly, it’s a type of corruption that’s so damaging to good authorities that america has pushed world agreements to ban affect peddling in different nations. The query is whether or not Joe Biden knew in regards to the affect peddling of his brothers and his son.” • Exhausting to think about not; all people did. I imply, there’s Hunter, swanning about, making “informal” calls to Dad from bizness conferences. Grant that Hunter is promoting “the phantasm of entry.” How does Dad not know the rating?
Democrats en Déshabillé
Affected person readers, plainly individuals are really studying the back-dated put up! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are a lot of updates. So I should do this. –lambert
I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Get together (“the Democrat Get together is a rotting corpse that may’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated put up, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “reside” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Get together is, in truth, a tough downside. I do assume the paragraph that follows is on level all the way in which again to 2016, if not earlier than:
The Democrat Get together is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Pay attention, Liberal!). It follows that the Democrat Get together is as “unreformable” because the PMC is unreformable; if the Democrat Get together didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. If the Democrat Get together fails to control, that’s as a result of the PMC lacks the aptitude to control. (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” in fact.) Second, all of the working components of the Get together reinforce one another. Depart apart characterizing the relationships between parts of the Get together (ka-ching, however not fully) these parts comprise a community — a Flex Web? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with property within the press and the intelligence neighborhood.
Word, in fact, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is proscribed by different lessons; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.
* * *
For one superb second beneath the Trump administration, we had one thing approaching a welfare state:
Pandemic support was the most important social program of the final 60 years. The sort of factor Dems promised voters for many years.
They dismantled it the primary probability they received.
Individuals who didn’t profit from the help refuse to grasp how deeply alienating that was. It broke a spell. https://t.co/MQw4FN0TvI
— Decorum Disassembly – mas.to/@decorummanager (@DecorumManager) December 21, 2023
After which Biden was elected. (No matter how you are feeling about vax, the vax program was in truth single payer: Free on the level of care. Harmful!)
The Democrats should imagine, deeply imagine, that “maintain combating for” is efficient rhetoric:
Well being care is a proper, not a privilege.
We will maintain combating to decrease prescription drug prices for everybody, increase well being care protection, and maintain constructing an economic system from the center out and backside up.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 20, 2023
And possibly it’s, however not the way in which that they assume…
Realignment and Legitimacy
#COVID19
“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Sources, 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 information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Basic Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the deal with given with the crops. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!
Sources, 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 reviews); 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).
Sources, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).
Sources, 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 secure on the market!
* * *
Scientific Communication
Or the communication that thrives within the absence of scientific communication:
#1 – Denial – Pretending an issue doesn’t exist to supply synthetic reduction from anxiousness.
Examples:
“Throughout COVID” or “Throughout the pandemic” (previous tense)
“The pandemic is over”
“Covid is gentle”
“It’s gotten milder”
“Covid is now like a chilly or the flu”
“Masks don’t work… pic.twitter.com/W2LbrMyrZC
— Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA (@michael_hoerger) December 20, 2023
I hate that “thoughts virus” time period however there’s no query it names an actual phenomenon, even when the mechanism is (?) off:
Syphilis debt ? https://t.co/iw2RHcZJNc
— Outbreak Updates (@outbreakupdates) December 21, 2023
Simply as smart as “immunity debt,” invented, IIRC, by bent pediatricians within the UK, simply as “gentle” emerged out of the media’s quantum foam in South Africa, and was all of the sudden in all places.
An infection
“Does COVID choose the intestine now? Surging virus detections in wastewater immediate scientific debate” [Bloomberg]. “Spiking COVID-19 circumstances detected in wastewater have prompted some scientists to ask whether or not JN.1, the pressure driving an explosive winter surge, is selectively focusing on peoples’ intestinal tracts. The proof is extraordinarily restricted and theoretical, and there’s no information suggesting that extra individuals are experiencing extreme digestive sicknesses from COVID. But there’s no query that the coronavirus has modified its necessities for getting into cells, stated Sydney virologist Stuart Turville. This can be according to extra environment friendly an infection of specific tissues together with the intestine. It’s simply one of many many debates swirling round JN.1. The variant is so extremely infectious and immune evasive that some scientists imagine it wants its personal Greek title to separate it from its extremely infectious progenitor, omicron…. JN.1 is the fastest-growing variant to emerge up to now two years. The World Well being Group designated it a variant of curiosity Tuesday resulting from its fast development and potential so as to add to the respiratory virus burden within the Northern Hemisphere. “Individuals are detecting it in wastewater at as excessive a fee as they had been detecting omicron when it first emerged,” stated Kanta Subbarao, director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Analysis on Influenza in Melbourne, who chairs the company’s technical advisory group on COVID vaccine composition. ‘However to date, we’re not seeing a parallel or concomitant enhance in hospitalization. I feel we have now to look at that area.’” • No “concomitant enhance in hospitalization” could also be true in Australia. It’s definitely not true within the exhausting hit UK, and I don’t assume it’s true in New York, a minimum of (see beneath). We all know from the CDC’s traveler program that the JN.1 varaint has been rising and now dominates at airports; and since New York is main interational hub, it is sensible it could unfold from there. That was additionally the sample in 2020…
Sequelae
“Research helps clarify post-COVID train intolerance” (press launch) [Yale].
“One thing Terrible”
Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” is perhaps a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. Numerous exceptionally nasty sequelae, probably deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we’d add mind harm, together with character modifications therefrom.
* * *
Elite Maleficence
WHO and CDC not in lockstep to oblivion:
The CDC has not elevated the warning ranges of JN1 variant regardless of it inflicting hospitalization surges worldwide, however the WHO has.
The CDC has not advisable common masking in hospitals and for HCWs, however the WHO has.
The @CDCgov is failing us. Do higher @CDCDirector. https://t.co/wu6wWE44k0
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) December 21, 2023
“States are trashing troves of masks and pandemic gear as big, expensive stockpiles linger and expire” [Associated Press]. • Good timing! Those that don’t be taught from the previous….
* * *
Case Information
NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater information, December 18:
Lambert right here: As a very “intestine really feel” tapewatcher, I’d count on 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 faculty, after which returned. So the next 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. (Subsequent week’s studying, nevertheless, is Christmas Day; there might be a data-driven drop.) Keep secure on the market! Solely 14 superspreading days till Christmas!
Regional information:
Exhausting to see why the regional cut up (and it positive could be good to have extra granular information). Climate forcing Northerners indoors? Appears facile. There’s snow within the Rockies (inexperienced shade, West), for instance.
Variants
NOT UPDATED From CDC, December 9:
Lambert right here: JN.1, proven on the NowCast for the primary time, arising quick on the surface, whereas BA.2.86 fades.
From CDC, November25:
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 minimize by directors of unwell intent).
CDC: “As of Could 11, genomic surveillance information shall be reported biweekly, primarily based on the provision of optimistic check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Appears to be like 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 16:
Lambert: Return to upward motion. Solely per week’s lag, so this can be our greatest present nationwide, present indicator.
NOTE “Charts and information offered by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous yr, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not your entire pandemic, FFS (the implicit message right here being that Covid is “identical to the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week interval” is acceptable for bothMR SUBLIMINAL I hate these individuals a lot. Discover additionally that this chart exhibits, a minimum of for its time interval, that Covid isn’t seasonal, regardless that CDC is attempting to get us to imagine that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the present institutional equipment for injections. And naturally, we’re not even stepping into the standard of the wastewater websites that we have now as a proxy for Covid an infection general.
Hospitalization
Bellwether New York Metropolis, information as of December 20:
Lambert right here: Upward spike confirmed, and regarding.
NOT UPDATED Right here’s a unique CDC visualization on hospitalization, nationwide, not by state, however with a date, a minimum of. December 9:
Transferring forward briskly!
Lambert right here: “Maps, charts, and information offered by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Take a look at Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”. So the place the heck is the replace, CDC?
Positivity
NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, December 18:
-0.3%. Down. (It could be attention-grabbing to survey this inhabitants usually; these are individuals who, regardless of a tsunami of official propaganda and large peer stress, went and received examined anyhow.)
NOT UPDATED From Cleveland Clinic, December 16:
Lambert right here: Plateauing. I do know that is simply Ohio, however the Cleveland Clinic is nice*, and we’re starved for information, so…. NOTE * Even when hospital an infection management is attempting to kill sufferers by eliminating common masking with N95s.
NOT UPDATED From CDC, traveler’s information, November 27:
Turning upward.
Down, albeit within the rear view mirror. And listed below are the variants for vacationers, November 27:
BA.2.86 blasting upward. This may be an incredible 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 Instances, primarily based on CDC information, December 9:
Stats Watch
GDP: “United States GDP Progress Charge” [Trading Economics]. “The American economic system expanded an annualized 4.9% within the third quarter of 2023, barely beneath 5.2% within the second estimate, however matching the 4.9% initially reported within the advance estimate. It nonetheless marks the strongest development since This autumn 2021.”
Employment Scenario: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of People submitting for unemployment advantages edged greater by 2,000 to 205,000 on the week ending December sixteenth, holding near the two-month low of 203 hit within the earlier week and properly beneath market expectations of 215,000.”
Manufacturing: “United States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index within the US declined to -10.5 in December 2023 from -5.9 within the prior month and much worse than market estimates of -3. That is the index’s seventeenth damaging studying up to now 19 months. ”
Manufacturing: “United States Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Kansas Metropolis Fed’s Manufacturing Manufacturing index was at -4 in December of 2023, little modified from -3 within the earlier month. there was a rise in exercise for nondurable items, particularly meals & beverage and plastics manufacturing. Conversely, there was a slight decline in exercise for sturdy items, primarily resulting from main steel and furnishings manufacturing. The manufacturing, shipments, and new orders indexes all had barely damaging values, whereas employment exercise skilled a rebound. Furthermore, after a number of stagnant months, inventories for uncooked supplies and completed items witnessed a minor enhance.”
* * *
Mental Property: “2024’s public area is a banger” [Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic]. “They stole one thing from you. For many years, they stole it. That factor they stole? Your complete tradition. For all of human historical past, works created in dwelling reminiscence entered the general public area yearly. 40 years in the past, that stopped. First in 1976, after which once more in 1998, Congress retroactively prolonged copyright’s period by 20 years, for all works, together with works whose authors had been unknown and lengthy useless, whose correct successors couldn’t be positioned. Many of those authors had been completely erased from historical past as each recognized copy of their works disappeared earlier than they could possibly be introduced again into our tradition by replica, adaptation and re-use (copyright is “strict legal responsibility,” that means that even should you pay to clear the rights to a piece from somebody who has good motive to imagine they management these rights, in the event that they’re mistaken, you’re on the hook as an infringer, and the statutory damages run to 6 figures). Works which can be nonetheless in our cultural currents 50 or 70 or 90 years after their creation are an infinitesimal fraction of all of the works we create as a species. However these works are – by definition – terribly vital to our tradition. The creators who made these works had been capable of plunder a wealthy public area of still-current works as inputs to their very own enduring creations. The slow-motion arson assault on the general public area meant that two generations of creators had been denied the general public area that each different creator within the historical past of the human race had loved.” •
* * *
At present’s Worry & Greed Index: 72 Excessive Greed (earlier shut: 71 Excessive Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 70 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Dec 21 at 1:17:07 PM ET.
The Gallery
Wow:
Album Leaf of Flowers, Bugs and Fish https://t.co/tISYMmW4Jc pic.twitter.com/hovRBngZNL
— HAM: Work (Bot) (@harvard_artbot) December 21, 2023
The blur of the ink offers a way of movement to the fish.
Class Warfare
“$750 a month, no questions requested, improved the lives of homeless individuals” [Los Angeles Times]. “If 100 homeless individuals got $750 per thirty days for a yr, no questions requested, what would they spend it on? That query was on the core of a managed research performed by a San Francisco-based nonprofit and the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck Faculty of Social Work. The outcomes had been so promising that the researchers determined to publish outcomes after solely six months. The reply: meals, 36.6%; housing, 19.5%; transportation, 12.7%; clothes, 11.5%; and healthcare, 6.2%, leaving solely 13.6% uncategorized…. ‘I spent quite a lot of the cash on meals on the go,’ one participant informed the researchers. ‘Easy, low cost issues like bean and cheese burritos. I eat on the run whereas I bike/work for DoorDash. I additionally purchased a membership to REI, so I may get my bike fastened without spending a dime.’” • Homeless DoorDash employees….
Information of the Wired
“Geologists say plastic rocks are actually a factor” [ZME Science]. “In contrast to conventional sedimentary rocks like limestone or sandstone, plastistone is a hybrid of pure rock and artificial plastic. This mix happens when plastic waste turns into intertwined with pure rock parts, resulting in a novel geological formation. The method of lithification, which turns unfastened sediment into strong rock, is at play right here, incorporating plastic as a part of the rock matrix. Plastistones have been discovered on a world scale, each in coastal and inland areas, the 2 researchers say. They type by the fusion of pure rock and plastic waste — a startling indicator of human affect on the planet…. ‘On this context, we suggest the adoption of an current time period ‘plastistone’ with a revised definition to collectively describe these novel plastic types,’ write Liuwei Wang and Deyi Hou from Tsinghua College.” • And talking of rocks–
“New nuclear deflection simulations advance planetary protection in opposition to asteroid threats” [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]. “Researchers at Lawrence Livermore Nationwide Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a modeling software for assessing the potential use of a nuclear machine to defend the planet in opposition to catastrophic asteroid impacts…. Nuclear units have the very best ratio of vitality density per unit of mass of any human expertise, making them a useful software in mitigating asteroid threats, stated LLNL physicist Mary Burkey, who led the analysis…. ‘If we have now sufficient warning time, we may doubtlessly launch a nuclear machine, sending it thousands and thousands of miles away to an asteroid that’s headed towards Earth,’ Burkey stated. ‘We might then detonate the machine and both deflect the asteroid, protecting it intact however offering a managed push away from Earth, or we may disrupt the asteroid, breaking it up into small, fast-moving fragments that may additionally miss the planet.’” • Glad we’ve received that coated….
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Contact info for crops: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a examine in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are high-quality! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you’d like your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it at the beginning 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 Desert Dawg:
Desert Dawg writes: “My daughter despatched this picture of the tree that she walks by on daily basis whereas strolling her canine. Its distinctive form is kind of much like to mine. We each like non regular issues I assume.”
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Right here is the display screen that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
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