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2:00PM Water Cooler 3/29/2024 | naked capitalism

2:00PM Water Cooler 3/29/2024 | naked capitalism

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Hen Music of the Day

Pink-winged Blackbird (Pink-winged), Sapsucker Woods, Tompkins, New York, United States. “Music of a male and a track of a feminine responding instantly.” Jogs my memory of summer season within the fields within the Midwest (accurately?).

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In Case You Would possibly Miss…

(1) Trump’s money.

(2) Kennedy and Shanahan.

(3) Extra Tcakik on Boeing.

(4) The Black Epstein?

Politics

“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in actual fact a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

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2024

Lower than a 12 months to go!

RCP Ballot Averages, March 29

I feel I’ll depart this up for the entire week, so we are able to at the very least mumble one thing about developments. Nationally, Trump is up 2.4% within the 5-Manner, similar as final week, give or take. Trump continues to be up in all of the Swing States (extra right here). I’ve highlighted PA, (1) as a result of Trump is definitely down there, and (2) it’s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn’t Trump doing effectively there?

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Trump (R): “Right here’s How A lot Money Donald Trump Has” [Forbes]. As of March 8, $413 million: “Right here’s how we arrived at that determine. We start with an actual quantity: $293,834,128.42, which was Trump and his corporations’ money stability as of June 30, 2021, per paperwork filed within the New York lawyer normal’s case in October 2022…. Regardless, from there, we are able to depend up the most important sources of money coming in and going out by combing via paperwork revealed within the fraud case, Trump’s public monetary disclosures and different public data…. The massive takeaway: Trump is probably going sitting on an enormous pile of money—however not sufficient to repay his authorized collectors with a easy wire switch…. Money as of June 2021: $293,834,128.42. Smaller property gross sales: +$6 million. Revenue from books, speeches and NFTs: +$21 million. D.C. lodge sale and associated bills: +$112 million. Trump Hyperlinks contract sale: +$60 million. Mortgage payoffs: -$67 million. Plane bills: -$13 million. FINAL TOTAL Roughly $413 million.” • That is earlier than the $91.6 million bond Trump posted for the Carroll case, and the $175 million for Engoron, but in addition earlier than the Fact Social public providing.

Trump (R): “Trump attends NYPD officer’s wake as he highlights crime on the marketing campaign path” [ABC]. “Former President Donald Trump on Thursday attended the wake of slain New York Police Division Officer Jonathan Diller, whom officers say was shot and killed whereas conducting a visitors cease earlier this week. ‘What occurred is such a tragic, unhappy occasion, such a horrible factor,’ Trump informed reporters afterward. Briefly remarks, he reiterated his condolences for Diller’s dying and used the wake to give attention to a frequent marketing campaign season message about crime and public security. ‘Now we have to cease it. Now we have to cease it,’ Trump mentioned. ‘Now we have to get again to regulation and order. Now we have to do a number of issues otherwise, as a result of this isn’t working.’” • Kennedy appears to have sucked all of the air out of the room, a brand new expertise, for Trump, albeit little question momentary.

Trump (R): “Trump’s RNC struggles in swing states as Biden’s staff grows” [Axios]. “Lower than eight months earlier than the Nov. 5 election, vital components of the RNC’s get-out-the-vote operation in states prone to resolve the election are enjoying catch-up after Trump’s staff ousted 60 staffers in its current takeover. A few third of these ousted staffers had been state administrators and regional political administrators, jobs which can be key to recruiting, coaching and mobilizing volunteers far forward of Election Day. They’ve been in limbo for 2 weeks, after receiving an e mail telling them they had been being laid off however might reapply for his or her jobs.” In the meantime: “President Biden’s staff has been bringing on skilled staffers to guide efforts in swing states — which additionally embrace Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.” And this nugget: “Many Republicans concern the RNC upheaval — and unrelated chaos in state events, notably in swing states Michigan and Arizona — is a setback for a celebration that for years has tried to get extra volunteers to recruit help of their neighborhoods. That mannequin was the GOP’s model of the native organizing strategies that Democrat Barack Obama used to get elected president in 2008 and 2012.” • That mannequin, or one thing akin to it, can also be how Fetterman gained PA, which is a pivotal swing state for Trump, but the state the place he’s weakest. OTOH, greatest to be doing a employees shake-up now!

Trump (R): “Trump Has a Huge Downside With GOP Voters” [Daily Beast]. “In a collection of state main elections held after Nikki Haley grew to become the final Trump challenger to drop out, cussed and sizable minorities of Republicans have continued to forged ballots in opposition to the previous president. In Kansas’ main on March 19, as an example, Trump secured 75 p.c of the vote—spectacular if he had been dealing with energetic competitors, however troubling given the competitors had all withdrawn. Haley obtained 16 p.c of the vote in Kansas, whereas 5 p.c voted for ‘not one of the names proven.’ In Arizona’s main on the identical day, Trump gained 79 p.c of the vote, whereas Haley gained 18 p.c. The previous president additionally didn’t crack 80 p.c of the vote in Ohio.” • Making swing states even swingier, and if the “sizable minority” of Republicans say, doubles in dimension, probably presenting issues for a Republican governing coalition, if Trump wins.

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Biden (D): “Say It Ain’t So, Joe: The Home Formally Invitations President Biden to Testify in Impeachment Inquiry” [Jonathan Turley]. “Home Oversight Committee chairman James Comer has despatched a seven-page letter (under) to ask President Joe Biden to testify within the Republican impeachment inquiry. The letter is the most recent, and greatest, discount of the obtrusive contradictions within the President’s previous statements on his household’s well-documented affect peddling operation. President Biden shouldn’t be anticipated to testify. Nevertheless, the media ought to be fascinated by his answering the questions introduced by the Committee. It’s now clear that the President lied throughout his marketing campaign and through his presidency on his lack of information of his son’s enterprise actions in addition to his denial of any cash gained from China. But, the White Home responded, once more, with mockery — a way of impunity that solely exists resulting from an enabling media.” • Quoting from the letter:

The Committee’s investigation has proceeded in phases. The investigation started with a evaluate of Suspicious Exercise Stories (SARs) within the custody of the Division of the Treasury. The SARs offered the Committee adequate info to find out which financial institution accounts to narrowly goal in issuing subpoenas. The second part of the investigation—the subpoenaing of sure third-party financial institution accounts—confirmed info from the SARs and revealed a posh net of shell corporations that funneled or obtained funds originating from China, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, and different nations. Subsequent, the Committee subpoenaed the financial institution accounts of members of your loved ones and their entities receiving the overseas funds. This part highlighted the over $15 million obtained by members of your loved ones, and the Committee has traced tens of 1000’s of {dollars} from China to your checking account as effectively. The Committee then proceeded to an interview part. This part consisted of transcribed interviews and depositions with witnesses who offered inconsistent testimony concerning your function in your loved ones’s enterprise. This part included a transcribed interview of your brother, James Biden, and a deposition of your son, Robert Hunter Biden.

Confronted with contradictory testimony from most of the witnesses interviewed concerning your participation in your loved ones’s affect peddling, the Committee invited a number of witnesses—together with a witness of the Democrats’ selecting—to testify at a public listening to in an try to reconcile the discrepancies. Two of these listening to witnesses have said you participated in schemes to supply entry to your or others’ workplaces in change for funds to your loved ones: Mr. Tony Bobulinski and Mr. Jason Galanis. Mr. Bobulinski and Mr. Galanis agreed to supply testimony to the Committee in a public setting to reiterate these claims and have them evaluated by each Republican and Democratic Members of the Committee. Regardless of the Committee’s invitation, your son Hunter Biden—who has claimed you didn’t take part in these schemes and who beforehand demanded a public listening to—didn’t seem. The general public is left with two irreconcilable narratives. The primary—asserted by you—is that you just didn’t have interaction in affect peddling in change for funds to your loved ones. The second—asserted by witnesses and a physique of proof I’ll briefly evaluate under—is that you just had been certainly concerned in these pay-for-influence schemes and that you’ve been repeatedly untruthful concerning a matter related to nationwide safety and your personal health to function President of the USA.

Actually a greater narrative than Benghazi. The factor that will get me is that the sums concerned are so trivial. “[T]ens of 1000’s of {dollars} from China”? Not lots of? Not hundreds of thousands? What’s Biden, some kinda piker?

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Biden (D): “Three Presidents With a Advanced Previous Workforce Up in Effort to Defeat Trump” [Wall Street Journal]. “The relationships carry a level of complexity: Some members of Biden’s interior circle felt Obama’s staff was dismissive of the then-vice president. Present White Home officers have privately chafed at feedback by a high-profile Obama alumnus questioning the president’s re-election prospects. And Obama’s encouragement of Hillary Clinton to pursue the White Home within the 2016 election—lengthy earlier than Biden had made his personal resolution—was an irritant linking all three camps. Now, although, ‘they’re all united by the specter of Trump,’ mentioned James Carville, a former Clinton marketing campaign strategist. ‘Each politician has a historical past with one other one. That’s simply a part of life. However I do suppose they’re fairly unified by the menace.’” And: “One longtime Clinton adviser mentioned the fundraiser will doubtless mark the beginning of the deployment of main Democratic belongings, from Obama and Clinton, and key surrogates within the occasion, now that Trump has turn out to be the presumptive Republican nominee. Obama is anticipated to carry fundraisers for the marketing campaign arms of Home and Senate Democrats, as he has finished previously, whereas Clinton expects to play a extra energetic function than lately—and can assist each time he’s requested.” • Clinton “expects,” eh?

Biden (D): “President Biden’s celeb-packed $25M fundraiser is the peak of Dem elitism” [New York Post]. “Thursday evening supplied the prospect to have a glam photographer snap you slapping arms with President Biden, or predecessors Barack Obama and Invoice Clinton, for a donation of a mere $100,000 to Biden’s re-election marketing campaign: Fairly posh for the supposed occasion of the working class. The Radio Metropolis Music Corridor occasion featured a three-prez chat moderated by “The Late Present” host Stephen Colbert, plus performances from Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Lea Michele and extra. With tickets ranging as much as $500,000 a pop, the marketing campaign reportedly pulled in $25 million earlier than the doorways even opened, a pleasant addition to the $155 million the Biden-Harris effort has in hand, en path to doubtless elevating a billion or two whole (not counting delicate, darkish and different off-the-record cash).” • Moderated by Stephen Colbert…. I’m so outdated I keep in mind when political comedians had been deemed to be gamers.

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Kennedy (I): “Meddlers for RFK Jr.” [Kimberly Strassel, Wall Street Journal]. “However dread is now constructing amongst Democrats that these third-party campaigns are dangling in entrance of Republicans a ripe and tempting new tactic—one Democrats know all about, having perfected it. For greater than a decade, left-wing teams have interfered in GOP primaries, boosting the candidates they contemplate most beatable in a normal election. Solely this month, a bunch related to Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer dumped hundreds of thousands into highlighting the ‘too conservative’ Ohio businessman Bernie Moreno, who gained the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate. Modify this technique for a normal election and a third-party marketing campaign. How lengthy earlier than GOP tremendous PACs are operating adverts in swing states highlighting, say, Mr. Kennedy’s proposal to ban fracking (one thing Mr. Biden hasn’t finished), labeling him an ‘excessive environmentalist’? What number of younger local weather activists may just like the sounds of that label? Think about an advert reminding younger voters—pissed off by Mr. Biden’s collapsed guarantees on school debt—that Ms. Stein was for student-loan forgiveness earlier than it was cool. And people are the refined eventualities. Why not a GOP-funded advert on city radio stations that immediately slams Mr. Biden for his failure to assist minorities and touts Mr. West? A current article in Mom Jones posited such a ‘sneaky’ and ‘weaponized’ transfer by the GOP, underneath the headline: ‘Will RFK Jr. and Different Third-Get together Candidates Assist Doom Democracy?’ The piece in some way failed to notice that it was the Democrats who mainstreamed such techniques.” • Two can play the “Pied Piper” recreation….

Kennedy (I): “Will RFK Jr.’s Help for Israel Restrict His Attraction on the Left?” [Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine]. “The RFK Jr. campaign is primarily centered on his relentless perception within the ‘company seize’ of presidency on each entrance, from protection to well being care to scientific analysis to agriculture to his unique coverage subject, the atmosphere. Pharma and Huge Ag and the medical career and the military-industrial advanced and chemical corporations are the preeminent villains of his lurid story of American Carnage (comparable in ferocity however not in precise content material to Donald Trump’s). Any voters with even a imprecise dedication to free markets and company advantage couldn’t put up with a lot publicity to RFK Jr.’s message. The extra you hearken to the candidate and his supporters’ intense anger over processed meals and weight problems and overdevelopment, the much less you possibly can think about any frequent floor with the fast-food-chomping real-estate developer of Mar-a-Lago. This was evident at Kennedy’s March 26 rally in Oakland, California, the place he introduced fellow ex-Democrat Nicole Shanahan as his operating mate. The Bay Space setting bolstered the sensation of a left-wing insurgency. When Kennedy spoke fondly of his father’s cozy relationship with the Oakland-based Black Panther Get together, you knew you had been far-off not solely from the Republican Get together however from the type of centrist impartial motion represented by No Labels.” Extra: “Nevertheless, there’s an enormous impediment between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and any hope that he might turn out to be 2024’s pied piper of progressive youth, a lot as his dad grew to become 56 years in the past. It’s his intensely pro-Israel place in its conflict with Hamas…. In Oakland, Shanahan referred to as RFK Jr. the ‘solely anti-war candidate at present, [the] solely peace candidate.’ Nevertheless, Kennedy opposes a cease-fire within the Israel-Hamas battle.” • Yep. It might even be, nonetheless, that Kennedy’s positions will not be that coherent or fastidiously thought via.

Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr. threatens to play 2024 spoiler as No Labels struggles to construct ticket” [Washington Examiner]. “‘[Kennedy’s] numbers are so small ultimately that statistically, it’s truly actually exhausting to inform for positive who they’re going to be taking extra votes for,’ [Bernard Tamas, an associate professor of political science at Valdosta State University] mentioned of third-party candidates. ‘So, though it seems proper now prefer it hurts Biden extra, no one truly is aware of that, which I feel explains why Trump can also be attacking RFK Jr.’ Trump attacked Kennedy in a Fact Social put up early Wednesday morning, calling him the ‘most Radical Left Candidate within the race’ and claiming that ‘he’s Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, not mine. I really like that he’s operating!’ [political consultant Nachama Soloveichik] cautioned that ‘some individuals might keep house. Some individuals might exit and vote for down-ballot races like Senate and issues like that and simply depart the presidential poll clean. It might be a spread of issues.’ ‘[Kennedy’s] a chaos issue,’ [Lee Drutman, senior fellow in the political reform program at New America] mentioned. ‘Partly as a result of it appears fairly clear that he’s going to get some help from a type of unpredictable slice of the voters, and I feel he has the potential to trigger some actual uncertainty.’” • Volatility!

Kennedy (I): “Neglect Kennedy Democrats. Right here Comes the 2024 Kennedy Voter” [Politico]. “The brand new Kennedy voters scattering via the cavernous venue have traveled a good distance from Camelot. Speaking to them, it’s clear their misgivings about highly effective establishments — what they see as a panoply of venal politicians, an untrustworthy media, Huge Ag, Huge Pharma, Huge Tech — has led lots of them to embrace fringe theories. A shared aversion to vaccines hardened throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. They fear about chemical compounds and monoculture crops eroding public well being. They’re weary of grinding overseas wars. They admire Kennedy’s historical past of difficult highly effective companies. However above all else, they imagine the American political system is basically damaged and that each President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will perpetuate its disrepair. They’re ex-Democrats, former Republicans and newly energetic independents — and so they all discuss feeling each a profound disillusionment within the state of the nation and a deep optimism that Kennedy would make them one thing higher. ‘The opposite two candidates promote the division that’s plaguing our nation,’ says Sarah Morris, a former ‘party-voting Democrat’ who felt ‘ostracized by the left’ for not eager to get the Covid-19 vaccine [which is absurd, because ‘the left’ has been nowhere through the entire pandemic]. Some individuals ‘weaponize the concept of being a conspiracy theorist,’ she says, so she determined to ‘put on it as a badge of honor.’ Actually: She confirmed up sporting a grey baseball cap with the phrases ‘Tin Foil’ written on it.” • The treachery of photographs, eh? In reverse?

Kennedy (I): “The Memo: RFK Jr. set to harm Biden greater than Trump — but it surely’s difficult” [The Hill]. “There’s an obvious contradiction on the coronary heart of polling on Kennedy. Regardless of his seeming capability to extend Trump’s edge, he’s seen way more favorably by Republicans than Democrats. In a brand new Economist/YouGov ballot launched Wednesday, for instance, Kennedy was considered favorably by 52 p.c of Republicans however by solely 25 p.c of Democrats. A number of attainable causes might clarify this. Firstly, Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism resonates extra powerfully with conservatives than with liberals. The identical is true, at the very least to a point, about his views on the conflict in Ukraine. Extra usually, his critiques of Biden and willingness to run in opposition to him, in addition to his rhetorical assaults on the shady forces of the political, media and medical institutions clearly have at the very least some overlap with the MAGA worldview. Democrats and Biden allies have stepped up their efforts to neutralize the menace from Kennedy in current weeks. Trump, in the meantime, blasted him in a social media put up Wednesday morning as ‘essentially the most Radical Left candidate within the race, by far.’ However the former president went on to make one in every of his forays into election punditry, musing, ‘I suppose this may imply he’s going to be taking votes from [Biden], which might be a fantastic service to America.’”

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Kennedy (I): “Nicole Shanahan is a Mama Bear Outsider with Empathy. That’s a Good Factor” [The Kennedy Beacon]. “Shanahan has set a excessive bar for us, organizing walkouts in highschool to protest the Iraq Conflict, serving to victims of civil conflict in El Salvador, determining what could have triggered her daughter’s well being to tank, producing documentaries about what would assist our society get wholesome once more, and calling boldly (whereas many in “science” shout, “Nothing to see right here!”) for analysis into each attainable factor that might be making Individuals chronically in poor health. Like Kennedy, her life speaks inspiration into existence. The lesson I’ve taken from a cursory peek into her backstory: do no matter you possibly can.” • In order that they’re going with “Mama Bear”?

Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr. Is Gold-Digging With His VP Choose” [The Nation]. “Selecting Shanahan helps Kennedy in at the very least two methods. Twenty-three states require an impartial candidate to decide on a operating mate earlier than searching for poll entry. Plus, Shanahan can use her wealth to fund the difficult authorized maneuvering and signature-gathering that course of requires. Kennedy is at the moment on the poll solely within the state of Utah, although his marketing campaign claims to have the signatures to get there in a number of swing states. ‘All of her cash is difficult cash, to allow them to use it for something, together with poll entry,’ Third Manner’s Matt Bennett informed The New Republic’s Greg Sargent—which means she will be able to contribute limitless {dollars}, which might be used for just about any authorized marketing campaign exercise.” • As I speculated, now Kennedy doesn’t must kowtow to the Libertarian Get together for entry to their poll line (although I do must perform a little analysis on how a lot cash Shanahan has, herself, personally, versus cash she may increase).

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“Democratic committees are out fundraising GOP committees this election cycle” [Open Secrets]. “President Joe Biden and the Democratic Get together now have about $155 million money readily available of their joint accounts after elevating a mixed $53 million in February, sustaining an edge over the GOP. The Republican Get together raised $32 million final month and entered March with an $81.3 million warchest throughout the RNC, Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee and Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee…. Republicans’ monetary woes observe infighting on the RNC, which culminated in a triumvirate of former President Donald Trump loyalists taking on the group…. The RNC entered 2024 with $8 million in cash-on-hand — the worst begin to an election 12 months in nearly a decade — whereas the DNC began the 12 months with greater than $21 million.”

“The battle to flip the Home simply obtained tougher for Dems. They usually have New York in charge” [Politico]. “Whereas there’s an outdoor likelihood of one other last-minute redistricting earlier than November, after two vital courtroom rulings this week the Home panorama is basically locked in place — and the GOP is respiration a sigh of aid that this mid-decade spherical of redistricting went its manner…. The GOP got here out forward due to the redistricting aggression of North Carolina Republicans — and the timidity of New York Democrats…. However essentially the most consequential post-midterm redistricting passed off in New York — the place traces drawn by the Democratic legislature solely made pretty small tweaks to the state’s map. It was a stunning flip of occasions after years of authorized wrangling. The state has an impartial redistricting fee break up evenly between the 2 events — however finally, the Democratic-dominated state legislature will get the ultimate say. And in 2022, when Democrats in Albany handed a gerrymander so aggressive that Republicans referred to as it the ‘Hochulmander’ — a portmanteau with Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s identify — the GOP sued. The bombshell authorized victory Republicans gained earlier than the midterms resulted in a hypercompetitive, court-drawn map being utilized in 2022. The GOP almost swept all the contested seats, key to Republicans’ slim Home majority. However Democrats wished one other shot. After the midterms, they finally gained a procedural courtroom ruling permitting them to begin the entire course of over — the fee with the primary crack, and ultimate approval to the Democratic legislature. Pursuing one other likelihood at a redraw led to rampant hypothesis that Democrats wished one other shot at a gerrymander — although maybe not fairly as ruthless as final time. But it surely was to not be. The state’s impartial fee got here to a bipartisan settlement on a map that solely made modest modifications. The Democratic-dominated state legislature signaled it was sad with that map and would make modifications of its personal — however then solely made minor tweaks on traces that finally obtained bipartisan approval.” • I dunno. New York Democrats appear to be nice at lawfare, not too good at anything. Readers?

#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

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Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of 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 handle given with the crops. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!

ake impact by summer season. The transfer by the Democratic administration angered board members, who referred to as it a ‘last-minute stunt’ that undermines their regulatory course of. It additionally sparked a protest by warehouse staff, who quickly shut down the assembly as they waved indicators declaring that ‘Warmth Kills!’ and loudly chanted, ‘What do we wish? Warmth safety! When do we wish it? Now!’” • Gavin Newsom, the employee’s pal.

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 secure on the market!

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Covid is Airborne

“Three years in the past on today ASHRAE said that Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is important” [David Elfstrom, ThreadReader]. “Right now, WHO lastly launched a mannequin () of #CovidIsAirborne threat by specialists within the subject.” • The hyperlink is: https://iris.who.int/deal with/10665/376346 and I get a 403 forbidden when I attempt to learn is. Even when the same old suspects don’t appear to have blessed it:

That droplet dogmatist John Conly appears to have signed off on it:

Be aware that “airborne” is utilized in its regular sense!

There’s additionally an evaluation device:

Coverage

Brunch:

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TABLE 1: Each day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new at present; all others will not be up to date.

2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”

NOTES

[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out on the degree of earlier Trump peaks. Not a fantastic victory. Be aware additionally the realm “underneath the curve,” in addition to peaks. That space is bigger underneath Biden than underneath Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if erratically.

[2] (Biobot) Backward revisions, I hate them.

[3] (CDC Variants) As of Might 11, genomic surveillance knowledge might be reported biweekly, primarily based on the provision of constructive check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice every week; semiweekly.” Appears like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform.

[4] (ER) “Charts and knowledge offered by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous 12 months, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.”

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Appears like a really gradual leveling off to a non-zero baseline, to me.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless down. “Maps, charts, and knowledge 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†”.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.

[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit within the rear view mirror.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants) JN.1 dominates totally.

Stats Watch

Private Revenue: “United States Private Revenue” [Trading Economics]. “US private revenue rose by 0.3% from the earlier month in February of 2024, decelerating from the one-year excessive enhance of 1% within the earlier month and barely under market expectations of a 0.4% development.”

* * *

Manufacturing: “Would Boeing homicide a whistleblower? [Moe Tkacik, ThreadReaderApp]. “Earlier than this month I’d have mentioned it relies upon. I didn’t suppose Boeing would kill a center supervisor who by no means labored on the 737 Max & left in 2017. What stunned me was what number of extra knowledgeable observers felt Boeing…may…. ‘I don’t suppose one could be cynical sufficient in the case of these guys,’ mentioned a longtime exec.” • Lengthy thread, like a sketchbook of the place Tkacik is on the story, effectively price a learn. Or maybe not executives? Commentary:

There’s a contented thought!

Tech: “Amazon fined in Poland for darkish sample design tips” [Tech Crunch]. “[The country’s consumer and competition watchdog, the UOKiK] discovered shoppers who ordered merchandise on Amazon might have their purchases subsequently cancelled by the tech large because it doesn’t deal with the second of buy because the conclusion of a gross sales contract, regardless of sending shoppers affirmation of their order — even after shoppers have paid for the product. For Amazon, the conclusion of a gross sales contract solely happens as soon as it has despatched details about the precise cargo. In a press launch detailing the enforcement, it mentioned Amazon failed to obviously talk this salient element to consumers, discovering it solely offered the knowledge at ‘the final stage of buy’. It additionally discovered the knowledge was generally ‘troublesome’ for shoppers to entry, noting for instance Amazon might use a gray font on a white background in textual content displayed on the very backside of a web page — a basic instance of so-called ‘darkish sample design‘. The UOKiK contrasts that misleading design alternative with suggestive messaging Amazon exhibits to consumers on gross sales buttons — which learn ‘Purchase now’ or ‘Proceed to finalize the acquisition’ — which it mentioned indicate that by ordering the product the patron is concluding a contract with Amazon. Which isn’t, in actual fact, the case.”

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Right now’s Concern & Greed Index: 71 Greed (earlier shut: 70 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 67 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Mar 28 at 8:59:51 PM ET.

The Gallery

Nature morte:

It’s humorous how the nonetheless life is barely a minor style in pictures. I ponder why that’s?

Zeitgeist Watch

“Diddy’s Properties Reportedly Fitted With Hidden Cameras In Each Room” [Blast]. “Based on courtroom paperwork filed by Diddy’s former worker, Rodney’ Lil Rod’ Jones, the rapper purportedly put in a number of hidden cameras in his properties positioned in Los Angeles and on Star Island. These cameras supposedly captured alleged disturbing footage of his friends together with ‘celebrities, athletes, politicians, worldwide dignitaries, and music label executives.’ Jones claimed within the swimsuit that these events had been sponsored by main gamers within the recording trade, giving them entry to ‘s-x, medication and underage ladies.’ …. The producer additional alleges that Diddy has salacious tapes of Hollywood’s greatest names, file CEOs, and politicians doing medication and cavorting with prostitutes and minors. So far as he knew, the events had been a “enterprise mannequin” that gave upcoming artists an opportunity to climb up the profession ladder by giving them entry to music executives. Jones additionally shared that past sponsoring these events, music executives had the behavior of handing the Unhealthy Boy Data founder ‘massive wads of money.’” • The Black Epstein? Or are all wealthy people like this? All these multi-million greenback homes on Zillow. Are all of them wired?

Information of the Wired

“Recollections are made by breaking DNA — and fixing it” [Nature]. The deck: “Nerve cells type long-term recollections with the assistance of an inflammatory response, research in mice finds” (!!). “When a long-term reminiscence types, some mind cells expertise a rush {of electrical} exercise so sturdy that it snaps their DNA. Then, an inflammatory response kicks in, repairing this injury and serving to to cement the reminiscence, a research in mice exhibits. The findings, printed on 27 March in Nature, are ‘extraordinarily thrilling’, says Li-Huei Tsai, a neurobiologist on the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how in Cambridge who was not concerned within the work. They contribute to the image that forming recollections is a ‘dangerous enterprise’, she says. Usually, breaks in each strands of the double helix DNA molecule are related to ailments together with most cancers. However on this case, the DNA damage-and-repair cycle gives one clarification for the way recollections may type and final…. Tomás Ryan, an engram neuroscientist at Trinity Faculty Dublin, says the research supplies ‘one of the best proof to this point that DNA restore is necessary for reminiscence.’ However he questions whether or not the neurons encode one thing distinct from the engram — as an alternative, he says, the DNA injury and restore might be a consequence of engram creation. ‘Forming an engram is a high-impact occasion; it’s important to do a number of housekeeping after,’ he says.” • If certainly “engrams” are greater than theoretical!

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Contact info for crops: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a test if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are wonderful! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! In order for you your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it in the beginning of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From tennesseewaltzer:

tennesseewaltzer writes: “This occurs with snow and rain and freezing temperatures, which average to provide the icicles. Usually alongside a state thoroughfare reduce via the native stone which undergirds a lot of Center Tennessee land.” A reasonably scene… I feel there are lichens on these rocks. Someplace….

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Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not lined by the annual NC fundraiser. So for those who see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see wherever else, please don’t hesitate to specific your appreciation in tangible type. Keep in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common constructive 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 nervous. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I consider that trickle when setting fundraising targets

Right here is the display screen that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:

For those who hate PayPal, you possibly can e mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I gives you instructions on how one can ship a test. Thanks!

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