By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Chicken Track of the Day
Dune Lark, Port Nolloth, Northern Cape, South Africa.
Politics
“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in truth a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
The Supremes
“Justices train when the Supreme Courtroom isn’t in session. It might probably double as an all-expenses-paid journey” [Associated Press]. “Educating is inspired as a strategy to demystify the nation’s highest court docket whereas exposing the justices to a cross-section of the general public. For many years, they’ve traveled the globe throughout court docket recesses to lecture. It’s a permissible observe as long as their incomes are lower than the court docket’s roughly $30,000 cap on exterior revenue…. Paperwork obtained by The Related Press by public data requests reveal that some all-expenses-paid journeys — to Italy, Iceland and Hawaii, amongst others — are gentle on classroom instruction, with ample time carved out for the justices’ leisure…. ‘It is a stage of luxurious that the majority Individuals won’t ever see. And the truth that the justices are receiving it by advantage of their positions appears to be exterior moral bounds,’ stated Gabe Roth, the chief director of Repair the Courtroom, a nonpartisan watchdog group devoted to following the Supreme Courtroom. The particulars of those excursions are sometimes shrouded from public view as a result of the justices are solely required to supply a spare accounting on their annual monetary disclosure types. However particulars obtained by the AP reveal that these journeys, which might price the justices 1000’s of {dollars} if paid out of pocket, are in some circumstances sponsored by nameless donors to the colleges whose motivations might be troublesome to evaluate.” • Oh?
“E-book gross sales, a lure for cash and extra takeaways from the AP investigation into Supreme Courtroom ethics” [Associated Press]. “Supreme Courtroom justices insist that they can not and don’t take part in fundraising occasions. However the emails obtained by the AP present that the court docket’s definition of a fundraiser — an occasion that raises greater than it prices or the place company are requested for contributions — excludes a lot of the work that usually goes into persuading a rich donor to chop a examine. That’s given faculties extensive latitude to court docket wealthy patrons. For example, forward of a 2017 occasion with Justice Clarence Thomas, officers at McLennan Neighborhood School in Texas labored with the distinguished conservative lawyer Ken Starr and his spouse, Alice, to craft a visitor listing designed to reward college patrons and incentivize future contributions. In an interview, Starr’s widow referred to as it ‘friendraising.’ In an electronic mail planning the occasion, the chief director of the faculty’s basis wrote that she had ideas about whom to ask ‘primarily as a result of they’re rich conservative Catholics who would align with Clarence Thomas and who haven’t beforehand given.’…. Thomas isn’t the one one whose standing as a justice has been leveraged by faculties wanting to capitalize with donors. Earlier than Justice Elena Kagan visited the College of Colorado’s regulation college, one official instructed a ‘bigger donor to employees ratio’ for a 2019 dinner along with her, emails present. One other occasion organizer stated the organizer was ‘open to strategies about which VIP donors to domesticate relationships with.’ A college spokesperson stated the attendees weren’t requested for any donations related to the occasion. Clemson College in South Carolina hosted Sotomayor for a 2017 session with college students and for a non-public luncheon. One official stated it was hoped the occasions, which included donors, would ‘in the end generate sources’ for the college’s Humanities Development Board, which performed a lead organizing position. As college officers devised a visitor listing, an alumni relations official wrote: ‘Whenever you say $1M donors, please make sure to embrace our company donors at that stage, too.’” • Ick.
2024
Time for the Countdown Clock!
* * * “Trump says Biden ‘dragging’ US ‘into World Warfare III’ by sending Ukraine cluster bombs” [The Hill]. • Asking for my vote….
“‘5 laps forward’: Trump thumbs his nostril at Iowa traditions” [Politico]. “He’s threatening to skip the first debates. He’s publicly trashing the Republican governor of Iowa, infuriating conventional GOP operatives within the first-in-the-nation caucus state. And on Friday, for the second time in two months, Donald Trump will duck a serious cattle name of GOP major contenders there. If it’s the prerogative of the frontrunner to choose and select his spots, the previous president is taking it to a brand new stage, thumbing his nostril at any establishment or Republican politician he prefers to not court docket or seem alongside. In a extra aggressive presidential major, not being on the controversy stage or snubbing Gov. Kim Reynolds would possibly matter extra. However on this GOP contest, it’s a mirrored image of Trump’s dominance that he can dismiss them — to date, with seemingly no value to pay. ‘A part of the rationale he’s 5 laps forward is that this how he offers with issues,’ stated Dave Carney, a Republican strategist primarily based in New Hampshire. ‘He doesn’t play the standard candidate card. He is not going to mow a single garden in New Hampshire this summer season — different candidates would possibly.’”
“The Memo: Trump delaying tactic on trial may scramble 2024 race” [The Hill]. “The choice by former President Trump’s authorized group to hunt a protracted delay of his trial within the Mar-a-Lago paperwork case is injecting recent volatility into the 2024 presidential race. The submitting from Trump’s attorneys, which got here lower than an hour earlier than a Monday night time deadline, seeks an indefinite postponement of the trial, which had been scheduled for December. If their demand have been acceded to by the choose within the case, it could open the door to a number of explosive eventualities. One is the trial going down within the warmth of GOP major season. One other is the proceedings occurring after Trump plausibly turns into the Republican nominee for president. A 3rd is the trial being pushed previous the date — Jan. 20, 2025 — on which Trump may develop into president once more. ‘There’s most assuredly no motive for any expedited trial, and the ends of justice are greatest served by a continuance,’ Trump attorneys Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche wrote within the submitting, by which they have been joined by attorneys for the previous president’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta. A scenario by which no trial in any respect takes place earlier than the 2024 normal election is the one that the majority worries impartial authorized consultants, in addition to Trump critics. Even authorized minds who haven’t any fondness for the previous president acknowledge a sitting president may order the Division of Justice to discontinue a case — even when it’s a case the place that president is himself indicted. Harry Litman, a former U.S. legal professional and deputy assistant legal professional normal, stated the controversy about whether or not a president can pardon himself may find yourself being moot.”
“Justice Division reverses course on defending Trump in E. Jean Carroll case” [NBC]. The deck: “DOJ backed off its earlier place that Trump was appearing throughout the scope of his presidential duties when he made “crude and disrespectful” feedback in regards to the author.”
“Fulton County DA empaneling new grand jury to weigh Trump election fees” [ABC]. “The Atlanta-area prosecutor investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia is empaneling a brand new grand jury that might in the end determine whether or not to approve fees in opposition to former President Donald Trump…. [Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis] formally launched the probe in February 2021, sparked partly by the now-infamous Jan. 2, 2021, telephone name Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger by which Trump pleaded with Raffensperger to ‘discover 11,780 votes,’ the precise quantity Trump wanted to win Georgia…. In April, Willis signaled publicly that potential fees may very well be introduced as quickly as this summer season.” • “Notorious” the decision could also be, however not notorious sufficient for one grand jury to do the job?
“Maggie Haberman Says Trump Trial is GOP Area’s ‘Finest Guess’ To Beat Him: ‘Clarify To Me What’s Going To Cease Him’” [Mediaite]. Haberman: “[T]he different candidates who’re competing in opposition to him within the Republican major and within the Iowa caucuses… are hoping that this trial takes place earlier than the caucuses. That’s in some methods their greatest guess, as a result of in any other case, I assume you need to clarify to me what’s going to cease him.” • Effectively, one other candidate, like… like… like….
“Perception: Swing state Republicans bleed donors and money over Trump’s false election claims” [Reuters]. “Actual property mogul Ron Weiser has been one of many largest donors to the Michigan Republican Occasion, giving $4.5 million within the latest midterm election cycle. However no extra. Weiser, former chair of the get together, has halted his funding, citing issues in regards to the group’s stewardship. He says he doesn’t agree with Republicans who promote falsehoods about election outcomes and insists it’s ‘ludicrous’ to say Donald Trump, who misplaced Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020, carried the state. ‘I query whether or not the state get together has the required experience to spend the cash effectively,” he stated. The withdrawal of bankrollers like Weiser displays the excessive value Republicans within the battleground states of Michigan and Arizona are paying for his or her full-throated help of former President Trump and his unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The 2 events have hemorrhaged cash lately, undermining Republican efforts to win again the ultra-competitive states that might decide who wins the White Home and management of the U.S. Congress in subsequent November’s elections, in response to a Reuters assessment of economic filings, plus interviews with six main donors and three election marketing campaign consultants.”
MI: “Trump lands endorsements from six GOP reps in Michigan” [The Hill]. “Former President Trump acquired endorsements from all six members of Michigan’s Republican delegation within the Home, his marketing campaign introduced Tuesday. The marketing campaign stated in a launch that GOP Reps. Tim Walberg, Invoice Huizenga, John Moolenaar, Jack Bergman, Lisa McClain and John James declared their help for the previous president within the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest. All of them will function the leaders of Trump’s Michigan federal management group, working to attempt to assist Trump win the state’s electoral votes. Trump beforehand endorsed all six of their races for his or her Home seats throughout final 12 months’s midterm elections. The discharge notes that Trump’s win in Michigan in the course of the 2016 election marked the primary time a Republican received the state in a presidential race in practically 30 years. He received the state in 2016 by about 10,000 votes however misplaced when operating for reelection in 2020 by about 150,000 votes.”
* * * “Ron DeSantis says he wouldn’t be Trump’s operating mate: ‘I’m not a No. 2 man’” [NBC]. “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated Tuesday he wouldn’t be former President Donald Trump’s operating mate if given the chance to hitch him on the ticket. ‘I don’t assume so. I’m not a No. 2 man,’ DeSantis stated on the ‘Wisconsin Proper Now’ radio present, saying he would reasonably keep on as governor as a result of the vice presidency ‘doesn’t actually have any authority.’ Requested about his personal ideas on a operating mate, DeSantis stated, ‘It’s a little bit bit presumptuous to be doing that at this stage.’ ‘I’m right here to win the early primaries, and that’s what we’ve received to do first,’ he added.”
“Murdochs Begin to Bitter on DeSantis: ‘They Can Scent a Loser’” [Rolling Stone]. “Because the starting of the Biden presidency, the highly effective Murdoch household has favored the Florida governor within the 2024 presidential major, largely attributable to a conviction that DeSantis could be a extra electable, and much less chaotic, evolution from Donald Trump. However in latest weeks, the Murdochs have grown more and more displeased with the DeSantis marketing campaign’s perceived stumbles, lackluster polling, and lack of ability to swiftly dethrone Trump, a number of sources inform Rolling Stone. They’ve additionally severely questioned whether or not the governor is able to defeating Trump within the 2024 GOP presidential major. Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch particularly has been voicing his doubts and frustrations in non-public discussions and calls, at occasions questioning if a DeSantis ‘comeback’ is feasible at this level. Murdoch is the longtime patriarch of the household that controls Fox Information, the New York Submit, The Wall Road Journal, and different media properties which might be extremely influential amongst conservatives. ‘[Rupert’s] comprehensible fear is that we could find yourself being caught with Trump anyway,’ a senior Fox supply tells Rolling Stone. ‘And DeSantis is underperforming. Anyone can see that … [and the Murdochs], they’re seeing it, too.’” • That’s a damned disgrace.
* * * “DeSantis Confronts a Murdoch Empire No Longer Fairly So Supportive” [New York Times]. “Mr. Murdoch has privately advised those that he would nonetheless prefer to see Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia enter the race, in response to an individual with information of the remarks. And he has made clear in non-public discussions during the last two years that he thinks Mr. Trump, regardless of his recognition with Fox Information viewers, is unhealthy for the Republican Occasion.”
“‘Cease sitting on the sidelines’: Youngkin challenges pro-Trump Republicans’ election technique” [Raw Story]. “Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched a brand new initiative Tuesday to push Virginia Republicans to make the most of legal guidelines Democrats handed making it simpler to vote early, regardless of lingering resistance to mail voting from the get together’s pro-Trump wing. The ‘Safe Your Vote’ program pushed by Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC and the Republican Occasion of Virginia encourages voters to join the state’s everlasting absentee voting listing, which permits ballots to be mechanically mailed to members each election cycle. That listing and absentee voting itself have come below sharp criticism from some GOP lawmakers who argue ballots going out through mail are extra prone to fraud. ‘Republicans gotta cease sitting on the sidelines and permitting the Democrats to do a greater job of voting early,’ Youngkin stated in an look Tuesday morning on Fox Information, the place he stated his get together places itself at an obstacle by ceding Virginia’s 45-day early voting window to its opponents.”
“‘If Republicans Nominate Trump, We Are Willingly Reelecting Biden’: Will Hurd On Forbes Street To 2024” [Forbes]. “Hurd is a self-described ‘darkish horse’ contender — a Morning Seek the advice of tracker has him with 0% help simply over per week after his announcement. The identical ballot discovered former President Trump, somebody who Hurd has often spoken out in opposition to, far and away main the pack at 57%. How will he make a lane for himself on this crowded race? ‘In case you’re making an attempt to be a clone of Donald Trump,’ Hurd tells Forbes, ‘you’re going to have a troublesome time.’ The Texas Republican additionally vows to not help Trump ought to he clinch the Republican nomination, a transfer that can maintain him off the RNC’s first debate stage. ‘I simply can’t deceive the American public in an effort to get entry to a microphone.’ He additionally provided a stark warning to the Republican Occasion ought to they nominate Trump: “We’re willingly reelecting Joe Biden — interval. Full cease.’” • A darkish horse who will keep darkish?
“The GOP’s tribal warfare” [The Spectator]. ” it is rather clearly not the outdated GOP. And the rationale it isn’t is that in 2016 Trump did one thing that’s nonetheless under-discussed: he was capable of construct a base among the many furthest-right voters, after which, utilizing his celeb, to vacuum up votes from lower-information moderates who largely tuned out the opposite campaigns and have been uncovered solely to Trump. These voters are nonetheless an identifiable bloc within the Trump major coalition. We are able to see this lower-information cohort in a breakdown of the Republican major citizens once we check fifteen totally different issues with the language conservative voters would possibly use themselves — from ‘wokeness’ in faculties and companies, to racial and gender ideology, to socialism, to ‘tender on crime prosecutors,’ to the US changing into too enmeshed within the battle in Ukraine. And we discover a stable core — 32 p.c — who’re extraordinarily involved about practically every part, who’re predominantly very conservative and probably to be contemplating each Trump and DeSantis, however are backing the previous president by a 3:1 margin. A few quarter of Republicans are merely a milder model of this, divided into two teams: 20 p.c who are inclined to say they’re merely very involved about practically all these matters, the place Trump leads by a extra modest twenty factors, and a 6 p.c splinter faction who’re extraordinarily involved about most points however reject the Trump-led assaults on fellow Republicans monkeying with Social Safety and Medicare. The most important remaining group are these we name MAGA Moderates, who’re 20 p.c of the get together. They aren’t extremely exercised in regards to the outrage du jour, registering low ranges of concern throughout points (although they’re barely increased on Trumpian totems like Ukraine intervention or defending entitlements). The MAGA Moderates comply with conservative media at a lot decrease charges, are contemplating the fewest variety of candidates, are two-thirds feminine, and the least college-educated group. Trump at present leads a full Republican poll with these voters with 57 p.c, with, amongst his challengers, solely DeSantis (barely) cracking double digits.” • Value a learn.” • “Trumpian totems like Ukraine intervention or defending entitlements.” Asking for my vote…
* * * “Pritzker goes world” [Politico]. “Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is heading out on a commerce mission to London proper on the heels of President Joe Biden’s go to throughout the pond…. Not so way back, such a visit would have raised eyebrows since abroad ventures by state officers would possibly point out an effort to broaden their overseas coverage chops forward of looking for increased workplace. However Pritzker, who has been talked about as a doable (future) presidential candidate, is a agency backer of Biden’s reelection bid and has acted as a surrogate for the marketing campaign.”• Uh huh [nods vigorously].
* * *
* * *
Republican Funhouse
“McCarthy summons GOP factions to counter menace of a brand new conservative riot” [Politico]. “With the Home again for a closing stretch earlier than its August recess, McCarthy on Tuesday afternoon summoned a gaggle of leaders from a number of corners of his convention to form a method for staving off additional right-wing revolts — which his group can’t afford this summer season. Underscoring the urgency of their activity, the group of GOP lawmakers met within the shadow of what may develop into a brand new right-flank riot over the rule for debating a must-pass Pentagon coverage invoice…. One other conservative stated he’s not ruling out taking a drastic step to voice his discontent to management: voting in opposition to debate on the protection coverage invoice, basically blocking it from coming to the ground. ‘It’s 1,500 amendments for one thing as necessary because the nationwide protection authorization. We want to ensure they’re the best amendments. … It takes a very long time,’ stated Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who holds distinctive energy on the Home Guidelines panel.”
2020 Submit Mortem
“‘I used to be cruising to election’: New Bob Woodward tapes reveal Trump blamed COVID for killing rallies” [Raw Story]. “‘If we didn’t have the virus, I used to be 10, 12, factors up. I used to be cruising to election,’ Trump complained. ‘Yeah, effectively, persons are apprehensive in regards to the virus,’ Woodward defined. ‘I do know that, Bob. However the virus has nothing to do with me,’ Trump complained. ‘With COVID, you actually can’t do rallies — in all probability airport rallies — however you’ll be able to’t do stadium rallies, you’ll be able to’t do the indoor area rallies.’”
Democrats en Déshabillé
Affected person readers, evidently persons are truly studying the back-dated publish! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are various updates. So I must do 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 publish, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “dwell” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Occasion is, in truth, a tough drawback. I do assume 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 Pay attention, 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. Depart apart characterizing the relationships between components of the Occasion (ka-ching, however not completely) these components comprise a community — a Flex Internet? 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 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.
* * *
Realignment and Legitimacy
Primarily based on cellphone information, “Solely 3% of Individuals attend providers “weekly,” far fewer than the ~22% who report to take action in surveys.”
I’m wrapping up a paper (see summary beneath) titled “Spiritual Observance in America: Proof from Cellphone Information”. I’ve a gazillion figures about faith that I believe are fairly fascinating and make for enjoyable Twitter content material. pic.twitter.com/WZi8XMDIcv
— Devin Pope (@Devin_G_Pope) July 11, 2023
“Households making an attempt to maintain Nashville college shooter’s writings non-public win authorized victory” [USA Today]. I missed this from early June: “Possession of the writings of a shooter who carried out a lethal assault at Nashville’s Covenant College might be transferred to almost 100 households who sued to stop the paperwork from being made public. The sudden announcement got here Thursday from legal professional David Raybin. He represents the mother and father of the shooter, who was a former pupil on the college and killed 3 college students and three lecturers in March.” • Thereby burying the problem; I’ve all the time thought the aim was defending the church, so by all means let the mother and father do this.
“How False Historical past Is Used to Justify Discrimination In opposition to Asian Individuals” [The Tablet]. “Within the aftermath of the ruling, reasonably than celebrating the victory in opposition to racial discrimination, a lot of distinguished media figures superior a story blaming Asian Individuals for betraying different racial minorities. The narrative went as follows: Black Individuals and their work main the Civil Rights Motion are the rationale you Asians are in America within the first place—how dare you now promote out the very individuals you ought to be thanking for bringing you right here….. This trope about Asian American money owed didn’t emerge spontaneously in the previous few weeks. It was seeded into the general public discourse by essentially the most influential venture of historic reframing in latest American historical past: the activist-journalism of The New York Instances’ “1619 Undertaking.” In her opening essay for the 1619 Undertaking, Nikole Hannah-Jones asserts that ‘Due to black Individuals, black and brown immigrants from throughout the globe are capable of come to the USA and dwell in a rustic by which authorized discrimination is not allowed. It’s a actually American irony that some Asian-Individuals, among the many teams capable of immigrate to the USA due to the black civil rights battle, are actually suing universities to finish applications designed to assist the descendants of the enslaved.’ Now taught throughout the nation in public college curriculums, the claims of the 1619 Undertaking have develop into official historical past… Besides that this narrative is totally false. Quite the opposite, many Black Individuals have been understandably anti-immigration. Within the early twentieth century, Black staff within the then-nascent labor motion apprehensive that immigrants—Europeans, West Indians, and Asians alike—would take away their jobs. A. Philip Randolph, the chief of the primary profitable Black labor union in America and a key organizer of the Civil Rights Motion’s 1963 March on Washington, maintained a hardline restrictionist stance on immigration. Randolph declared that ‘It’s time to name a halt on this grand rush for American gold, which over-floods the labor market, leading to reducing the usual of dwelling, race-riots, and normal social degradation. The extreme immigration is in opposition to the pursuits of the lots of all races and nationalities within the nation—each overseas and native.’” • Hmm. Right here at the least is a supply for the Randolph quote.
#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; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “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 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 experiences); 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!
Maskstravaganza
Shedding their minds:
If he wears a masks, how will he construct up his immunity to silica!
— Jolene please do not take my masks (she / her) (@hatchikerz) July 12, 2023
Prevention
“Prenol, however Not Vitamin C, of Fruit Binds to SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1 to Inhibit Viral Entry: Implications for COVID-19” [The Journal of Immunology]. “Fruit consumption could also be useful for preventing an infection. Though vitamin C is the celeb part of fruit, its position in COVID-19 is unclear. As a result of spike S1 of SARS-CoV-2 binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on host cells to enter the cell and provoke COVID-19, utilizing an α-screen–primarily based assay, we screened vitamin C and different elements of fruit for inhibiting the interplay between spike S1 and ACE2. We discovered that prenol, however neither vitamin C nor different main elements of fruit (e.g., cyanidin and rutin), diminished the interplay between spike S1 and ACE2.” • From Wikipedia (sorry): “Prenol happens naturally in citrus fruits, cranberry, bilberry, currants, grapes, raspberry, blackberry, tomato, white bread, hop oil, espresso, arctic bramble, cloudberry and keenness fruit.” Prenol is manufactured industrially. There’s a Prenol medicine, however it’s a steroid. So I’m undecided if this text has sensible implications. Although I can all the time drink extra espresso!
“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. A number of exceptionally nasty sequelae, probably deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we’d add mind injury, together with persona adjustments therefrom.
* * *
Elite Maleficence
“The CDC is in disaster — can its new chief put it aside?” [Nature]. “As soon as thought to be the gold commonplace for public-health businesses, the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) faces an unprecedented disaster, fuelled by persistent underfunding and anger in regards to the company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However now the company has a brand new chief to attempt to put issues proper: Mandy Cohen, a doctor who served as North Carolina’s well being secretary till the top of 2021. She began her tenure as CDC director on Monday. Cohen takes over the position beforehand crammed by Rochelle Walensky, an infectious-disease specialist who left the CDC lower than a 12 months after saying an initiative to overtake the company’s construction and operations. Among the many challenges that Cohen inherits are restoring public and political help for the CDC, rebuilding the company’s infrastructure and bettering its potential to make fast selections within the face of emergencies. However public-health specialists say that Cohen’s expertise on the state stage has outfitted her effectively to sort out the duty. ‘Dr Cohen spent a number of years working in North Carolina, having to do that difficult stability between what’s the proper factor to do from a purely scientific perspective, and the way that may be applied when you think about the entire challenges of public coverage,’ says Jay Varma, co-director of the Cornell Heart for Pandemic Prevention and Response at Weill Cornell Medication in New York Metropolis.” • Cohen beginning out with seen help for Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions:
Hello @CDCDirector! Did the individuals you’re photographed with should covid check earlier than sharing area with you unmasked? Did you? As a constituent, I can think about you’d agree that it could be irresponsible for an individual in your place to mannequin lower than protected practices!
— it’s babs ✨@itsbabs.bsky.social✨ (@babs_zone) July 11, 2023
Oh, wait….
Case Information
NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater information, July 10:
Lambert right here: Nonetheless a pattern upward. Completely satisfied July 4! Absent a brand new variant to race although the dry tinder, I don’t see an oncoming debacle even with July 4 journey. However loads of individuals will nonetheless get sick (once more).
Regional information:
In case you have a look at yesterday’s Biobot regional information, you’ll see that the information for each the West and the South has been retrospectively revised (upwardly).
Regional variant information:
No matter the reason for the uptick within the Northeast, it’s not EG.5 (the orange pie slice), which appears evenly distributed.
Variants
NOT UPDATED From CDC, July 8:
Lambert right here: EG.5 transferring like a bat out of hell, displaying unactionable nature (uselessness) of those CDC two-week-lag charts (right here, and in positivity, too). They’re not even performative!
From CDC, June 24:
Lambert right here: Unsure what to make of this. I’m used to seeing a brand new variant take down the beforehand dominant variant. Right here it appears to be like like now we have a “tag group,” all working collectively to chop XBB.1.5 all the way down to dimension. 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 sick intent).
CDC: “As of Could 11, genomic surveillance information might be reported biweekly, primarily based on the supply of optimistic check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Seems to be 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, July 1:
NOTE “Charts and information supplied by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous 12 months, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not your entire 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 exhibits, at the 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 present institutional equipment for injections.
Positivity
NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, July 10:
5.7%. Going vertical, although absolutely the numbers are nonetheless very small relative to June 2022, say. Apparently, these don’t correlate with the regional figures for wastewater.
NOT UPDATED From CDC, June 19:
Lambert right here: That is the CDC’s “Traveler-Primarily based Genomic Surveillance” information. They are saying “maps,” however I don’t see one….
Deaths
NOT UPDATED Iowa COVID-19 Tracker, June 28:
Lambert right here: The WHO information is nugatory, so I changed it with the Iowa Covid Information Tracker. Their methodology: “These information have been sourced, through the API from the CDC: https://information.cdc.gov/NCHS/Circumstances-Contributing-to-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Stat/hk9y-quqm. This visualization updates on Wednesday evenings. Information are provisional and are adjusted weekly by the CDC.” I can’t appear to get a pop-up that exhibits a complete of the three causes (prime proper). Readers?
Complete: 1,168,533 – 1,168,5051,168,414 = 28 (28 * 365 = 10,220 deaths per 12 months, in the present day’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “dwelling with” Covid (fairly a bit increased than the minimizers would really like, although they will speak themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could should determine that is what the powers-that-be take into account “mission achieved” for this specific tranche of dying and illness).
Extra Deaths
Extra deaths (The Economist), July 12:
Lambert right here: That is now being up to date day by day. Odd. Primarily based on a machine-learning mannequin. (The CDC has an extra estimate too, however because it ran eternally with a large typo within the Legend, I figured no one was actually it, so I received rid it. )
Stats Watch
Inflation: “United States Inflation Charge” [Trading Economics]. “The annual inflation fee within the US slowed to three% in June of 2023, the bottom since March of 2021 and in comparison with 4% in Could and expectations of three.1%. The slowdown is partly attributable to a excessive base impact from final 12 months when a surge in power and meals costs pushed the headline inflation fee to 1981-highs of 9.1%.”
Attire: “Indiana’s Prime Enterprise College Proudly Partnered With Shein, Then Quietly Lower Ties” [Forbes]. “March 2022, Indiana College’s Kelley College of Enterprise struck a take care of Shein, the Chinese language-born quick trend large. College students would have the ability to find out about firm practices and get entry to executives whereas doing analysis for the corporate, and Shein would have the ability to scout expertise — much like the college’s different partnerships with corporations like Macy’s and The Residence Depot. The partnership, Shein’s first with an American college, was aptly timed. Indiana was set to be the placement of Shein’s first American warehouse, which might open on the finish of 2022 with the promise to create 850 new jobs. However after an effusive press launch famous the partnership was a ‘pure match’ that may spotlight ‘the financial progress Shein is bringing to Indiana,’ the college quietly scuttled the deal simply months later — and nobody is aware of why. Kelley’s glowing press launch was deleted from its web site, and the college has by no means defined what occurred.” However: “‘I don’t assume anyone is aware of what that deal was,’ Mary Embry, a senior lecturer in merchandising, who teaches in Eskenazi College of Artwork, Structure and Design, a sister college to Kelley, advised Forbes. However, she famous, Shein’s clothes is ‘not moral,’ and ‘I believe it was very tactical of [Kelley] to let it die.’”
At this time’s Worry & Greed Index: 80 Excessive Greed (earlier shut: 79 Excessive Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 79 (Excessive Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jul 12 at 1:39 PM ET.
Zeitgeist Watch
America, America….
Half a bottle of mouthwash, thanks bro pic.twitter.com/nfOV2JbqPD
— waria 🤌☭ (@EternalDago) July 10, 2023
Museum-grade!
The Gallery
A portray shouldn’t be “immersive” by definition:
Step right into a Van Gogh portray! 🎨
— Van Gogh Exhibit (@VanGoghExp) June 21, 2023
This exhibit can don’t have anything to do with Van Gogh’s intent; what’s the purpose?
Information of the Wired
“Counting sheep on the Chajnantor plateau” [European Southern Observatory]. • Headline anchoring….
Contact info for crops: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a examine if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photos of crops. Greens are effective! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you need your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it at first of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From RM:
RM writes: “Dogwood tree within the yard of the Cuyahoga Nationwide Park. They hire this out for weddings and different events. Such a shocking sight amongst all of the inexperienced timber.”
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not lined by the annual NC fundraiser. So should you see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see anyplace else, please don’t hesitate to specific your appreciation in tangible type. Keep in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common optimistic suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. Once I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get apprehensive. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising objectives:
Right here is the display screen that can seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
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