2:00PM Water Cooler 11/29/2023 | bare capitalism

By
Admin
-
0
2


By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Fowl Tune of the Day

Southern Screamer, Reserva Pure Formosa, Formosa, Argentina. “Duetting, however more often than not one of many people calls. After 10:30 from starting of recording, each birds in flight.” Eleven minutes of the Southern Screamer. Additionally different birds and, I swear, a cow…

* * *

Politics

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

The Constitutional Order

“California struggles in addition Trump” [Politico]. “The window is narrowing to attempt to knock former President Donald Trump off California’s March 5 major poll…. One massive query looming over the push to take away Trump from the poll is the query of who has the authority. Can the highest elections officers in every state act unilaterally? Democratic secretaries of state throughout the nation, together with these in pivotal swing states like Arizona and Michigan, have largely been skeptical about making an attempt to exert that authority. However Weber hasn’t taken a definitive stance. Her workplace has repeatedly stated she is reviewing the difficulty…. Eleven Democrats within the California Meeting, led by Assemblymember Evan Low, despatched state Legal professional Common Rob Bonta a letter final month urging him to make use of his authority to hunt an expedited state courtroom ruling. Low stated lawmakers are nonetheless urging Bonta to behave as a result of Trump ‘continues to be a transparent and current hazard to free and truthful elections in the USA.’ Bonta hasn’t publicly responded to the lawmakers’ request. In the meantime, the clock is ticking.”

Biden Administration

“Scoop: Biden administration sending free COVID assessments to colleges” [Axios]. “The Biden administration for the primary time will enable all colleges to order free COVID-19 assessments from the federal authorities forward of the vacations, officers instructed Axios first…. The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), an company inside HHS, has a stockpile of lots of of thousands and thousands of COVID assessments. It’s teaming up with the Division of Schooling to permit faculty districts to order assessments on to distribute to households. HHS officers stated colleges may order assessments at a charge they may anticipate to distribute them, however they didn’t specify a restrict. “I may think about a scenario the place maybe a fifth grade classroom, it has a COVID-positive pupil after which they ship everybody house with a COVID take a look at within the backpack from that fifth grade class,” O’Connell stated.” • Testing on this situation is after the actual fact. #CovidIsAirborne. How about sending some HEPA filters and N95s?

“Kamala Harris will attend the COP28 local weather summit in Dubai” [Boston Globe]. • Properly, that’s too unhealthy. I had thought COP28 was necessary.

“Possibilities dim for Senate vote on rail security invoice: Advisor” [Freight Waves]. “Prospects for rail security laws in Congress to maneuver ahead within the waning weeks of 2023 seem dim, given different urgent nationwide points and even ‘psychological exhaustion’* amongst politicians, in keeping with a former U.S. Division of Transportation official who now heads a consulting agency. ;I feel the underside line is that it’s most likely unlikely at this level that we’re gonna see any laws this yr. And subsequent yr — being an election yr — can be wanting fairly grim so far as prospects for the invoice,’ stated Loren A. Smith Jr., president of Skyline Coverage Threat Group, a analysis and consulting agency centered on the provision chain. Smith beforehand served as deputy assistant secretary for coverage at DOT.” • NOTE * Dwelling with Covid will try this.

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

* * *

“Closely redacted paperwork associated to look warrant for Trump’s Twitter account launched” [New York Post]. “The search warrant, issued in January towards the corporate now often called X, was amongst a number of paperwork launched by the Justice Division Monday as a part of a lawsuit introduced by media organizations in search of daylight on the particular counsel’s investigation into Trump’s actions main as much as the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the US Capitol.” To me, that is the fascinating half. From the search warrant: “All info from the ‘Join’ or ‘Notifications’ tab for the account, together with all lists of Twitter customers who’ve favorited or retweeted tweets posted by the account, in addition to all tweets that embrace the username related to the account (i.e. ‘mentions’ or ‘replies’), the warrant states.” • Right here is the warrant. Right here is the related passage:

Be aware that the warrant limits the seizure to “October 2020 to January 2021.” However, if I retweeted a Trump tweet, I may get a go to from the Justice Division? In America? Actually?

“Trump Rallies Aren’t Even Actually About Politics at This Level” [Slate]. “For all of Donald Trump’s rhetorical improvements, character quirks, and alleged felony malfeasance, what has made him actually distinctive as a political determine is how a lot he has merged fan tradition with American politics. It’s commonplace for People to idolize presidents—Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama are nonetheless actively revered by many—however no different president has impressed the identical stage of merchandise strains or themed automobile flags. A MAGA bumper sticker typically isn’t merely a press release of loyalty; it’s a cultural signifier of group very similar to the dancing bear bumper sticker is for a Grateful Useless fan. Nowhere is that this extra clear than at Trump’s rallies. He’s turned his marketing campaign occasions into one thing that has extra in widespread with a Bruce Springsteen live performance than a Harry Truman whistle-stop tour. A late-November Trump rally in Fort Dodge, Iowa, was pretty much as good an instance of the style as any. Held in a fading blue-collar metropolis about 30 miles from the interstate, attendees began lining up for the rally early within the morning for the possibility to see Trump seem in a highschool health club embellished with banners celebrating victorious softball and bowling groups…. Trump has lengthy drawn a group of superfans known as ‘Entrance Row Joes’ who deal with his occasions with the identical regard that Deadheads used to deal with a reside present. Whereas Jim and Sandy Pamperin of St. Paul, Minnesota, weren’t fairly in that group—Sandy had been to a mere eight Trump rallies whereas Jim had solely been to a few, together with a canceled one in Iowa earlier this yr—it was nonetheless an necessary occasion for them.”

“I Will Make America Nice Once more for Younger Individuals” [Donald Trump, Newsweek]. “A latest NBC Information ballot discovered that we’re main Biden 46 p.c to 42 p.c nationally amongst voters ages 18 to 34—a transparent signal that younger People are rejecting Joe Biden’s reign of failure, incompetence, and corruption. Through the first Trump administration, we created the strongest and most affluent economic system within the historical past of the world. Below my management, annual incomes went up by greater than $6,000, inflation was underneath 2 p.c, and we had gasoline all the way down to $1.87 per gallon. Family internet value reached an all-time excessive, with the underside 50 p.c of American households seeing a 40 p.c enhance of their internet value. The U.S. economic system had by no means been higher for younger People, however for the previous three years, younger individuals have borne the heavy prices of the failed Biden agenda: crippling inflation, hovering costs, skyrocketing rates of interest, unaffordable housing, and escalating crime. Over the course of the Biden administration, actual incomes have gone down by $7,400 per household. Fuel costs reached as excessive as $7 a gallon in some locations. Cumulative inflation is eighteen p.c. And mortgage charges are pushing a brutal seven p.c—making house possession out of attain for numerous younger People. Once I was in workplace, the 30-year mortgage charge reached a document low of two.65 p.c—and the median-income American household may afford a mortgage. But because of Biden’s disastrous economic system, rates of interest have skyrocketed, making home-ownership out of attain for too many People, particularly younger People who in earlier generations could be trying to begin a household. Because of this, traditionally excessive numbers of younger individuals are delaying marriage and youngsters.” • Dunno who the ghostwriter is, however fairly good!

* * *

“JPMorgan’s Dimon: Democrats ought to increase Nikki Haley” [Politico]. “JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon urged Democrats to assist Nikki Haley within the GOP presidential major, arguing that she presents a powerful different to former President Donald Trump. ‘If you happen to’re a really liberal Democrat, I urge you to assist Nikki Haley, too. Give them a alternative on the Republican aspect that could be higher than Trump,’ Dimon, who leads the nation’s largest industrial financial institution, stated onstage on the 2023 DealBook Summit on Wednesday. Dimon has been speaking up Haley in latest weeks as the previous South Carolina governor has gained within the polls. Whereas she’s nonetheless trailing properly behind Trump, she has received endorsements from an influential tremendous PAC backed by the Koch community and has began to fundraise with Wall Road heavyweights.” • Hey, nimrod: The State is believed to have relative autonomy from the capitalist class. Keep in your lane! (The opposite squillionaires, too, if it involves that.)

“Influential GOP donors are betting their thousands and thousands on Haley in a brand new push to beat Trump” [CNN]. “The forty fifth president’s enemies on the best are mustering for a ultimate massive cash showdown designed to crush his hopes of a 3rd consecutive Republican nomination lower than 50 days earlier than voting begins within the GOP major race. Nikki Haley would be the lavishly funded vessel carrying the hopes of the influential community funded by billionaire Charles Koch and high industrial and company donors who suppose Donald Trump is a threat too far subsequent November.” • Not an empty vessel, one hopes….

* * *

“How Arab American voters’ backlash may imperil Biden’s 2024 marketing campaign” [Axios]. “Arab American and Muslim American anger over President Biden’s dealing with of the Israel-Hamas conflict might be endangering his re-election within the majority of 2024 swing states. Michigan, Virginia, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania all have notable pockets of those populations. There aren’t dependable statistics on what number of are registered voters — however even tiny shifts of assist in any of those super-tight states that Biden received in 2020 may make a distinction…. An Axios assessment of 2020 leads to these essential states reveals that if even a sliver of the Arab American and Muslim American vote have been to remain house or defect to Republicans, Biden might be in a deep gap.” • Properly value a learn (and maybe the reason for Biden’s latest vibe shift).

“Hunter Biden is lastly going to face laborious questions from those that received’t ‘ask properly’” [New York Post]. “‘The Bidens are the most effective at doing precisely what the Chairman desires.’ These phrases from Hunter Biden to a Chinese language businessman got here on the top of the alleged affect peddling by the Biden household. After years of delay and denials, the Home is about to substantiate precisely what the Bidens have been so good at doing … and what international figures needed a lot that they have been prepared to pay the Bidens thousands and thousands. Hunter Biden is scheduled to look earlier than the Home Oversight Committee on Dec. 13 to reply questions on what’s alleged to be the most important influence-peddling operation in historical past. Regardless of being subpoenaed, Hunter remains to be demanding situations for answering questions. His lawyer Abbe Lowell beforehand stated Hunter would testify solely when ‘the time is correct’ and is now saying that Hunter would testify in public, not the scheduled non-public session. Republicans rejected that demand.” • As certainly they need to!

Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, evidently individuals are really studying the back-dated submit! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are a lot of updates. So I should try this. –lambert

I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Occasion (“the Democrat Occasion is a rotting corpse that may’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated submit, 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 Occasion is, actually, a tough drawback. I do suppose the paragraph that follows is on level all the way in which again to 2016, if not earlier than:

The Democrat Occasion is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Hear, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Occasion didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” in fact.) Second, all of the working elements of the Occasion reinforce one another. Go away apart characterizing the relationships between parts of the Occasion (ka-ching, however not totally) 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 group.

Be aware, in fact, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is restricted by different courses; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.

* * *

Realignment and Legitimacy

“On the planet of sexual fetishes, crossing the political aisle is a kink” [WaPo]. “The Democrat, who works within the auto-insurance business, spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of he fears his household discovering out about his fetish. He stated he found political fetishes on a BDSM social media web site a few years in the past. ‘Quite a lot of [the content] was liberals submitting to conservative Republicans or MAGA or being ‘red-pilled’ into supporting and worshiping Trump,’ he stated. He acquired turned on, and it shocked him as a result of ‘,’ he stated. ‘Domination from a political social gathering and a[n] ideology that I can’t tolerate, made it … far more of a turn-on.;…. Though he has a variety of fetishes, that is the one which he considers essentially the most excessive…. It’s not simply Democrats fantasizing about being dominated by Republicans. It generally works the opposite manner as properly. A 60-year-old man, recognized by his fetish persona Grasp Black Satyr Dragon Wolf, unexpectedly turned a political fetish dominant when a 22-year-old straight-identifying faculty pupil responded to his Craigslist advert in search of a BDSM accomplice. ‘I need to be punished by an individual of colour as a result of I voted for Donald Trump,’ the coed wrote.” And: “In contrast to within the non-fetish world, the place most Biden and Trump supporters have few pals who vote for the opposing candidate, within the fetish world, political opposites mingle. And in case you are into political fetishes you could develop into, paradoxically, extra open-minded to the opposing aspect’s views, in keeping with RightMakesMites. ‘. So for those who’re sitting there, considering, ‘Oh, Trump has the solutions on every thing. How may anybody presumably suppose in any other case?’ Properly, you’re not gonna be an excellent dom of a liberal,’ he stated.” • Wowsers. I dunno (and I’m recalling that liberal Democrats really dreamed about Trump…).

#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

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 knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Common 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 tackle given with the vegetation. 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, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: 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, Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

* * *

Covid is Airborne

“Examine: Air air purifier use at daycare centres lower children’ sick days by a 3rd” [YLE]. “Use of air purifiers at two daycare centres in Helsinki led to a discount in sicknesses and absences amongst youngsters and workers, in keeping with preliminary findings of a brand new research led by E3 Pandemic Response. Air purifiers of assorted sizes and kinds have been positioned in two of town’s daycare centres throughout chilly and flu seasons. The preliminary outcomes from the primary yr of analysis are promising, in keeping with researcher Enni Sanmark, from HUS Helsinki College Hospital. ‘Youngsters have been clearly much less sick in daycare centres the place air purification units have been used — down by round 30 p.c,’ Sanmark defined. The air purifiers have been modified at two daycare centres serving as a management within the experiment, in an effort to rule out the impact that attainable epidemic fluctuations may have on the outcomes. The research’s subsequent part will proceed till April. ‘We can analyse whether or not there have been solely decreases in flu-type sicknesses or whether or not using air purification may additionally assist scale back abdomen illnesses,’ Sanmark stated. On common, daycare centre-aged youngsters undergo 10-13 infectious sicknesses yearly, with every sickness lasting from one to a few weeks, in keeping with the analysis.”

Maskstravaganza

Sort phrases:

I distrust any type of glorification… however on the entire and on the typical, I feel Browne’s acquired it proper. Cf. Matt 10:22.

Immnune Dysregulation

“Affiliation of COVID-19 with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in youngsters aged 0–5 years within the USA in 2022: a multicentre retrospective cohort research” [BMJ]. ” COVID-19 was related to a considerably elevated threat for RSV infections amongst youngsters aged 0–5 years in 2022. Related findings have been replicated for a research inhabitants of kids aged 0–5 years in 2021. Our findings counsel that COVID-19 contributed to the 2022 surge of RSV instances in younger youngsters via the massive buildup of COVID-19-infected youngsters and the potential long-term opposed results of COVID-19 on the immune and respiratory system.” • Good factor we compelled all our kids again into poorly ventilated colleges, then….

“COVID-19 and Immune Dysregulation, a Abstract and Useful resource” [World Health Network]. From March, nonetheless germane. “The immune system is amazingly complicated consisting of T cells, B cells, antibodies, dendritic cells, platelets, and a number of other extra cell varieties. Every kind of cell can have quite a few subtypes….. Within the references hooked up we see that COVID-19 can have an effect on and injury, at the very least quickly, all of the points and all of the cell sorts of the immune system. It seems to age elements of the immune system, which could be everlasting. We merely have no idea but. The results of COVID-19 are seen in T cells, B cells, dendritic cells, monocytes, and platelets, amongst different methods.”

“Looking for an evidence about why N.M. pediatric hospitals are overflowing” [Source NM]. ‘Tis a thriller! And the deck: “Nobody has dominated out that COVID leaves individuals extra inclined to extreme an infection.” I ought to actually file this underneath propaganda: “Quite a few medical specialists [lol] have stated over the previous couple weeks that a part of the reason being that the general public well being measures New Mexico took in response to COVID made it so youngsters didn’t get uncovered to respiratory viruses as they usually would have. However in interviews with Supply New Mexico, an immunologist and an evolutionary biologist discover that clarification to be incomplete, and an evidence may embrace the truth that COVID assaults the immune system, and like different respiratory viruses, makes an individual’s airways extra inclined to an infection.” • Fascinating to see the assault on public well being so open.

Variants

The “Pirola” clan:

An infection

“Spare me. You probably have a runny nostril, keep house” [Sydney Morning Herald]. “The Uber driver coughed. A moist, sickly sound that performed on repeat each minute or so, often punctuated by a loud sneeze. He was unmasked, and he’d requested me to close the rear window in order that mud didn’t get into the automobile. Frankly, I used to be extra involved with what was already inside it. Each cough made me flinch, and with each sneeze I reflexively touched the straps of my masks, to reassure myself that I used to be – as a lot as attainable – protected.” • One would suppose that Uber may devise a company coverage to stop this kind of factor. (Additionally, nonetheless, asymptomatic transmission is harmful, so maybe all Uber drivers ought to take a look at….)

Sequelae

“New CDC life expectancy knowledge reveals painfully gradual rebound from covid” [WaPo]. “The brand new numbers are clearly constructive — in contrast with 2021. However the identical knowledge present the dramatic, and protracted, impression of the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2021, life expectancy dropped 2.4 years, and the 2022 bounce restored only one.1. years of that deficit. (Males misplaced 2.8 years in these first two years, and ladies 2.1 years.)” And: “Life expectancy rose in a comparatively regular trend for all the twentieth century and the primary decade of the twenty first. However beginning in 2010, the nation entered a decade of stagnation on this key metric.” • Thanks, Obama!

“One thing Terrible”

Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” could be a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. A number of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most certainly deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we would add mind injury, together with character adjustments therefrom.

* * *

Elite Maleficence

Emily Oster was the winner of our very first “Sociopath of the Day” Award, in October 31, 2022. Now she’s within the information once more:

* * *

• “#CovidIsntOver Traits As Covid-19 Hospitalizations Rise By 8.6%” [Forbes]. “[W]ithout any actual nationwide system in place for monitoring new Covid-19 instances, the U.S. is kind of flying blind in terms of SARS-CoV-2 exercise. Since emergency room visits and hospitalizations have a tendency to return at the very least every week or two after individuals have been contaminated, rises in such numbers imply that rises in SARS-CoV-2 exercise most likely occurred two or perhaps even three or 4 weeks prior. And it’s a complete lot tougher to stop an upswing that has already been occurring after the actual fact, assuming that you simply don’t have a DeLorean automobile that serves as a time machine. Basing Covid-19 prevention insurance policies on hospitalizations and deaths alone could be kind of like exhibiting individuals a burnt down home and saying, ‘Do you suppose that we have to set up some hearth extinguishers on this home?’” • Certainly.

Case Information

NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater knowledge, November 27:

Lambert right here: Case counts transferring neatly upward (and tinfoil hat time: That is the, er, inflection level CDC was making an attempt to hide after they gave the contract to Verily and didn’t guarantee a seamless transition).

Regional knowledge:

That Midwest near-vertical curve is regarding, though as ever with Biobot it’s important to look ahead to backward revisions.

• Lambert right here: I’ve checked out Verily’s slick new dashboard, and have some ideas. However not immediately!

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, November25:

Lambert right here: High of the leaderboard: HV.1, EG.5 a powerful second, however BA.2.86 arising quick on the skin.

From CDC, November 11:

Lambert right here: I certain 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 in poor health intent).

CDC: “As of Could 11, genomic surveillance knowledge will likely be reported biweekly, based mostly on the provision of constructive take a look at 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.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, November 25:

Lambert right here: Slight will increase in some age teams, conforming to wastewater knowledge. Solely every week’s lag, so this can be our greatest present nationwide, present indicator till Verily will get its home so as (and dealing class-centric, since I’d doubt the higher crust goes to the ER).

NOTE “Charts and knowledge supplied 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 eachMR SUBLIMINAL I hate these individuals a lot. Discover additionally that this chart reveals, at the very least for its time interval, that Covid is not seasonal, although CDC is making an attempt to get us to imagine that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the prevailing institutional equipment for injections.

Hospitalization

Bellwether New York Metropolis, knowledge as of November 29:

Up. Degree-ish, however I guess hospitalization drops over the vacation weekend. Let’s wait and see. New York state as a complete seems extra like a spike. (I hate this metric as a result of the lag makes it misleading, though the hospital-centric public well being institution loves it, hospitalization and deaths being the one metrics that matter [snort]).

NOT UPDATED Right here’s a special CDC visualization on hospitalization, nationwide, not by state, however with a date, at the very least. November 18:

Lambert right here: “Maps, charts, and knowledge supplied 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, November 27:

0.4%. Up. (It will be fascinating to survey this inhabitants usually; these are individuals who, regardless of a tsunami of official propaganda and large peer strain, went and acquired examined anyhow.)

NOT UPDATED From Cleveland Clinic, November 25:

Lambert right here: Improve (with backward revision; guess they thought it was over). I do know that is simply Ohio, however the Cleveland Clinic is nice*, and we’re starved for knowledge, so…. NOTE * Even when hospital an infection management is making an attempt to kill sufferers by eliminating common masking with N95s.

NOT UPDATED From CDC, traveler’s knowledge, November 6:

Down, albeit within the rear view mirror. And listed here are the variants for vacationers, November 6:

BA.2.86 coming alongside properly.

Deaths

Whole: 1,183,455 – 1,183,396 = 15 (15 * 365 = 5475 deaths per yr, immediately’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “residing with” Covid (fairly a bit greater than the minimizers would love, although they’ll speak themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I may must resolve that is what the powers-that-be take into account “mission completed” for this explicit tranche of loss of life and illness). 

Lambert right here: This quantity is just too small it doesn’t matter what. Iowa Covid19 Tracker hasn’t been up to date since September 27, 2023. I could must revert to CDC knowledge. Yech.

Extra Deaths

NOT UPDATED The Economist, November 18:

Lambert right here: Based mostly on a machine-learning mannequin.

Stats Watch

Company Earnings: “United States Company Earnings” [Trading Economics]. “Company income in the USA surged by 4.1% from the earlier quarter to $2.709 trillion within the third quarter of 2023, essentially the most in a single yr, and lengthening the 0.5% enhance from the earlier quarter…. Nonetheless, in comparison with the corresponding interval of the earlier yr, company income edged decrease by 1.7%.”

Wholesale Stock: “United States Wholesale Inventories” [Trading Economics]. “Wholesale inventories in the USA fell by 0.2% month-over-month in October 2023, following a downwardly revised 0.1% rise within the prior month and worse than market estimates of a 0.1% enhance, preliminary estimates confirmed.”

Retail Stock: “United States Retail Inventories Ex Autos” [Trading Economics]. “Retail Inventories Ex Autos in the USA decreased by 0.9% over a month in October 2023, following a revised 0.4% fall within the prior month, preliminary estimates confirmed.”

* * *

* * *

Immediately’s Concern & Greed Index: 66 Greed (earlier shut: 65 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 66 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Nov 29 at 12:11:04 PM ET.

Healthcare

“Causal proof that herpes zoster vaccination prevents a proportion of dementia instances” (preprint) [medRxiv]. A intelligent pure experiment. “To offer causal versus merely correlational proof on this query, we benefit from the truth that in Wales eligibility for the herpes zoster vaccine (Zostavax) for shingles prevention was decided based mostly on a person’s precise date of delivery. These born earlier than September 2 1933 have been ineligible and remained ineligible for all times, whereas these born on or after September 2 1933 have been eligible to obtain the vaccine. Through the use of country-wide knowledge on all vaccinations obtained, major and secondary care encounters, loss of life certificates, and sufferers’ date of delivery in weeks, we first present that the share of adults who obtained the vaccine elevated from 0.01% amongst sufferers who have been merely one week too previous to be eligible, to 47.2% amongst those that have been only one week youthful. Aside from this massive distinction within the likelihood of ever receiving the herpes zoster vaccine, there isn’t a believable purpose why these born only one week previous to September 2 1933 ought to differ systematically from these born one week later…. We then present that receiving the herpes zoster vaccine diminished the likelihood of a brand new dementia prognosis over a follow-up interval of seven years by 3.5 share factors (95% CI: 0.6 – 7.1, p=0.019), akin to a 19.9% relative discount within the incidence of dementia.”

The Gallery

Shot:

Chaser:

One other chaser:

Class Warfare

“People want an additional $11,400 immediately simply to afford the fundamentals” [CBS]. “The standard American family should spend a further $11,434 yearly simply to take care of the identical way of life they loved in January of 2021, proper earlier than inflation soared to 40-year highs, in keeping with a latest evaluation of presidency knowledge…. Though inflation is cooling, many shoppers will not be feeling a lot reduction as a result of most costs aren’t declining (One main exception: fuel costs, that are notoriously risky and which have declined about 5% previously yr.) Shoppers are nonetheless paying extra, albeit at a slower tempo, on high of the upper costs that have been locked in when value hikes surged in 2022 and earlier this yr.” • Costs don’t “surge” (notice lack of company). Costs rise as a result of corporations elevate them.

Information of the Wired

“The camel, the rope, and the needle’s eye” [Kiwi Hellenist]. Exegesis of Mark 10:25: “It’s simpler for a camel to undergo the attention of a needle than for somebody who’s wealthy to enter the dominion of God.” So: “In line with the parable, ‘camel’ is a misreading: initially, it was a ‘rope’ going via a needle. Nonetheless inconceivable, however not surreal like ‘camel’. Supposedly, the textual content initially had kamilos, however kamēlos ‘camel’ and kamilos ‘rope’ sounded the identical in imperial-era Greek, so that they acquired blended up…. The manager abstract is that this: the phrase supposedly which means ‘rope’ was made up within the fifth century or shortly beforehand, and it was made up particularly to weaken Jesus’ condemnation of wealth.” • Vindication of Jesus as surrealist class warrior!

“My $500M Mars Rover Mistake: A Failure Story” [Chris LeWicki]. That is nice. “The heart beat was despatched to the motor. As all the time, the end result was rapid, however this time, alarmingly unfamiliar. The strip chart didn’t appear like something we had seen earlier than. It didn’t even appear like a damaged motor. It was decidedly — one thing else. My thoughts raced for explanations and in what appeared like an instantaneous, arrived on the most certainly clarification. My eyes adopted the wires from our breakout field on the take a look at cart to the spacecraft, and the rationale for the unfamiliar sign landed like a dagger via my coronary heart. All that energy we simply launched didn’t go into the RAT-Revolve motor. Attributable to a mistake I had made with the break-out-box, it went the opposite course on the connector interface, sending a surge of electrical energy straight into the spacecraft, as a substitute of the motor. Ooooohhhh ssshhhhiiiiitttt.” • However there’s a cheerful ending!

* * *

Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a examine in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are superb! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you would like your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it in 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 MG:

MG writes: “Went again to California for my sins for the a centesimal yr anniversary of my highschool, and noticed this tree within the automobile park of the resort (once more, I need to abjectly apologize for my poor digicam work).” It’s true that the topic doesn’t should be within the heart. Alternatively, maybe this topic does!

* * *

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 anyplace else, please don’t hesitate to precise your appreciation in tangible kind. 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 objectives:

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

If you happen to hate PayPal, you may e-mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I gives you instructions on find out how to ship a examine. Thanks!

Print Friendly, PDF & Email



LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here