By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Affected person readers, I received a late begin in the present day. I’ll make it up tomorrow, I swear! –lambert
Fowl Tune of the Day
Brown Thrasher, Lengthy Department SP and Lake, Macon, Missouri, United States.
In Case You May Miss…
- Trump transition: Gabbard, Hegseth.
- “That’s fairly an act. What do you name it?”
- LA fires.
- Tintin now within the public area.
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
Capitol Seizure
“Vance says Jan. 6 members who dedicated violence ‘clearly’ shouldn’t be pardoned” [Associated Press]. “Vance insisted in an interview on ‘Fox Information Sunday’ that the pardon query is ‘quite simple,’ saying those that ‘protested peacefully’ must be pardoned and ‘in case you dedicated violence on that day, clearly you shouldn’t be pardoned.’ He later mentioned there was a ‘little bit of a grey space’ in some instances.”
Trump Transition
“Hegseth’s views on ladies in fight, infidelity and extra — in his personal phrases” [Associated Press]. “If confirmed, [Hegseth] has mentioned there might be no extra ‘social justice, politically appropriate approaches to how we combat and conduct wars.’ As an alternative, he mentioned, ‘that is about lethality, meritocracy, readiness.’” • Nicely… OTOH, we don’t need to flip into the IDF, now can we?
“Trump’s Cupboard disruptors soften key views as hearings loom” [Axios]. “Three of President-elect Trump’s most provocative Cupboard picks have reversed key positions forward of subsequent week’s affirmation hearings, softening their edges for an institution they’ve been charged with tearing down. For as highly effective as MAGA has grow to be, the Senate’s affirmation course of stays a major impediment — not less than nominally — to injecting fringe beliefs immediately into the guts of presidency…. Gabbard instructed Punchbowl Information on Friday that she now helps the Part 702 surveillance program because of up to date whistleblower and civil liberty protections…. RFK Jr. instructed reporters on Capitol Hill final month: ‘I’m all for the polio vaccine’” Now do MMR. Extra: “Hegseth, after an early conflict with Military veteran Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), mentioned he helps ‘all ladies serving in our navy in the present day.’” And: “Their maximalist impulses might have been tamed, however that doesn’t imply Gabbard, Kennedy and Hegseth gained’t have the ability to radically remodel their companies in the best way MAGA envisions.”
“Bessent to divest from property on highway to main Treasury” [The Hill]. “President-elect Trump’s Treasury Secretary choose Scott Bessent has plans to divest from funds and different investments as he prepares to take over because the nation’s high financial official. In an settlement launched Saturday by the Workplace of Authorities Ethics forward of Bessent’s affirmation listening to on Thursday, he outlined his plans. Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund supervisor, additionally shared his monetary disclosures forward of the Senate listening to later this week. High authorities officers usually are required to reveal their holdings and divest from ones that might trigger a battle of curiosity. ‘Within the occasion that an precise or potential battle of curiosity arises throughout my appointment, I’ll seek the advice of with an company ethics official and take the measures essential to resolve the battle, similar to recusal from the actual matter or divestiture of an asset,’ Bessent wrote. Bessent mentioned he’ll resign from his place with Key Sq. Group upon being confirmed by the Senate. He mentioned he would additionally divest his partnership share within the firm ‘as quickly as practicable.’ Bessent mentioned he would resign from his positions at different firms and foundations as nicely.” • Every part going very easily with Bessent.
* * * Good work, Susie:
Vivek has solely posted twice on X for the reason that New 12 months.
Comply with: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/VOikWxjJ5Y
— AF Publish (@AFpost) January 12, 2025
* * * “Trump posts wildly lifelike lip-read of bromance with Obama at Jimmy Carter’s funeral – together with brutal dig at Kamala” [Daily Mail]. “The pair laughed and chatted throughout Jimmy Carter’s funeral on the Nationwide Cathedral in Washington DC final week. Trump was even questioned about what was so humorous following the bizarre show of friendliness. The hypothesis left skilled lip readers scrambling to decipher what remarks between two bitter rivals has sparked such joyous laughter. Trump then determined to launch his personal pseudo-version of occasions reside by posting a wildly inventive – and outrageously pretend – lip-read video to Instagram.” • Right here it’s:
Obama: “I used to be simply as appalled.” Are we certain it is a parody?
* * * “Incoming Trump Group Is Questioning Nationwide Safety Council Employees Over Loyalty” [Associated Press]. • Ick, however after RussiaGate you possibly can see why; Gal 6:7.
Lawfare
“Particular counsel Jack Smith resigns from DOJ” [Politico]. • First Smith butchered his case in opposition to McAuliffe; then Smith butchered his instances in opposition to Trump. I anticipate we’ll be listening to from him once more!
“Cannon permits for launch of Smith report on Trump election interference” [The Hill]. “U.S. District Court docket Decide Aileen Cannon on Monday allowed the discharge of the quantity of particular counsel Jack Smith’s report coping with President-elect Trump’s efforts to dam the peaceable switch of energy. In a five-page ruling, Cannon denied an effort by Trump and his two co-defendants within the Mar-a-Lago paperwork case to dam the discharge of each volumes of the report, noting that prosecutors argued the election inference report has little to do with the continuing trial in opposition to the 2 males…. Nonetheless, Cannon ordered a Jan. 17 listening to on whether or not to launch the Mar-a-Lago report, one thing Legal professional Common Merrick Garland mentioned he deliberate to maintain sealed from the general public given the continuing prosecution into valet Walt Nauta and property supervisor Carlos de Oliveira. The ruling is a victory for the Justice Division, who’ve been pushing for the discharge of the report recapping the Jan. 6 investigation in two completely different courts.”
“Redacted Russiagate docs present the feds are STILL mendacity about Trump and their putsch try” [New York Post]. “The feds are nonetheless mendacity and obfuscating concerning the Russiagate conspiracy in opposition to Donald Trump: Witness the current launch, years late and closely redacted, of a doc concerning the origin of the FBI probe. This involves gentle thanks solely to the dogged efforts of the parents at RealClearInvestigations. The most important factor the Bureau continues to be hiding: The ‘articulable factual foundation’ on which its 2017 probe of Trump’s alleged function as a Russian intelligence asset was legitimated.” Then follows a superb timeline. Conclusion: “[Y]ou don’t should be Picasso (or Vassily Kandinsky) to attach the dots about what the FBI continues to be hiding and why. Nobody can know for certain till the Bureau tells the reality, however it’s past doubtless that the redacted ‘articulable factual foundation’ of the 2017 probe is each non-factual and non-actionable.” • Yup.
2024 Publish Mortem
Not difficult:
Notice that everyone who masterminded the Kamala 2024 marketing campaign retains hegemony (although we will see with the DNC election).
Democrats en déshabillé
‘The Republican disinformation machine is highly effective, however we consider a stronger weapon is giving individuals the details about how Trump and his administration are screwing over the American individuals,’ DNC chief mobilization officer Shelby Cole mentioned in a press release. Between the strains: The account can even take a branding cue from social media accounts which have big, loyal followings, similar to PopCrave and PopBase.” • See, Cole used language like “screwing over.” That proves they’re genuine.
“We’re DNC Members. Right here’s What We Want From the Subsequent Get together Chair” [David Atkins and Michael Kapp, Washington Monthly]. “Because the occasion tries to stem its losses amongst non-white and non-college voters, fixing the DNC’s tradition and construction have to be on the high of the checklist of priorities.” • Conceptualizing the Democrats issues as “losses amongst non-white and non-college voters” erases the idea of the working class totally. Maybe that’s the issue?
“Have the previous 10 years of Democratic politics been a catastrophe?” (interview) [Matthew Yglesias, Vox]. Interviewer Eric Levitz. Throwing a flag on the Betteridge’s Regulation violation right here; how does dropping to Donald Trump twice depend as something however a catastrophe? Anyhow, looking for a raisin on this bowl of mush: “The massive image factor is: Beginning within the 2016 marketing campaign and persevering with afterwards, Democrats talked lots concerning the thought of Donald Trump as an outlier risk to the nation — however in observe, they handled his flaws as a possibility to be extra boldly and aggressively progressive throughout an entire bunch of fronts.” • Like Medicare for All, to take however one instance. Or normalizing genocide. How come Biden by no means will get credit score for that?
* * * “Election math seems prefer it’s simply going to get simpler for the GOP” [The Hill]. “It’s going to get harder and harder for Democrats to win the Electoral Faculty and the White Home if current tendencies maintain, new projections from the U.S. Census Bureau recommend. Democratic strongholds like California and New York seem more likely to lose inhabitants and a number of electoral votes, whereas GOP-leaning states like Texas and Florida are more likely to choose up votes. That may result in a shift in 2030. These adjustments may assist broaden the map for the GOP, except Democrats can work out methods to win Texas, Florida or another states they misplaced to President-elect Trump.” And: “Taken altogether, if the estimated new map was in place for 2024, Trump would have gained 10 extra electoral votes, whereas Vice President Harris would’ve gained 10 fewer.” • So the answer is healthier messaging. Alrighty then.
Realignment and Legitimacy
“A time for fact and reconciliation” [Peter Thiel, Financial Times]. “In 2016, President Barack Obama instructed his workers that Donald Trump’s election victory was “not the apocalypse”. By any definition, he was appropriate. However understood within the unique sense of the Greek phrase apokálypsis, that means ‘unveiling’, Obama couldn’t give the identical reassurance in 2025. Trump’s return to the White Home augurs the apokálypsis of the ancien regime‘s secrets and techniques. The brand new administration’s revelations needn’t justify vengeance — reconstruction can go hand in hand with reconciliation. However for reconciliation to happen, there should first be fact.” After a abstract of JFK, Epstein, Fauci, debanking cryptoids (certainly one of these isn’t just like the others): “South Africa confronted its apartheid historical past with a proper fee, however answering the questions above with piecemeal declassifications would befit each Trump’s chaotic fashion and our web world, which processes and propagates brief packets of data. The primary Trump administration shied away from declassifications as a result of it nonetheless believed within the rightwing deep state of an Oliver Stone film. This perception has light.” And: “Our ancien regime, just like the aristocracy of pre-revolutionary France, thought the occasion would by no means finish. 2016 shook their historicist religion within the arc of the ethical universe however by 2020 they hoped to jot down Trump off as an aberration. On reflection, 2020 was the aberration, the rearguard motion of a struggling regime and its struldbrugg ruler. There might be no reactionary restoration of the pre-internet previous.” • Good shot with “struldbrugg.” Commentary:
I haven’t learn up on Thiel. However from what I’ve learn, I discover myself in settlement with Loomer. Which is somewhat unnerving, to say the least.
Syndemics
“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
Covid 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 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!
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 (wastewater); 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, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Keep secure on the market!
Airborne Transmission
Nearly 5 years after Newton, however good anyhow:
Boston has put in CO, CO2 and particulate matter sensors in 4436 lecture rooms to watch indoor air high quality in actual time. Measurements are freely out there at https://t.co/qTf81QAqOA. An incredible effort in transparency. Different related initiatives: https://t.co/JA1RvPaXQ1 pic.twitter.com/2iOEV0wCHu
— LET’S AIR (@nousaerons) January 13, 2025
TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC December 30 | Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC December 21 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC January 4 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, knowledge January 10: | Nationwide [6] CDC Janurary 9, 2005: |
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| Positivity | |
| Nationwide[7] Walgreens January 13: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic January 4: |
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| Vacationers Information | |
| ★ Positivity[9] CDC December 23: | ★ Variants[10] CDC December 23 |
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| Deaths | |
| ★ Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 4: | ★ Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 4: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new in the present day; all others should not 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] (CDC) Seeing extra pink and extra orange, however nothing new at main hubs.
[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has completed a terrific job normalizing successive waves of an infection.
[4] (ED) Just a little uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Undoubtedly jumped.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward pattern since, nicely, Thanksgiving.
[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants). Positivity is new, however variants haven’t but been launched.
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
There are not any official statistics of curiosity in the present day.
Manufacturing: “AerCap CEO warns tariffs may delay Boeing money restoration” [Reuters]. “AerCap, the world’s largest plane leasing firm, mentioned on Monday that potential new commerce tariffs floated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump may hit provide chains and hinder planemaker Boeing’s (BA.N), opens new tab efforts to revive much-needed money… ‘We’ll have to attend and see … what’s within the element. Numerous components which might be equipped to Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer plane are widespread,” [AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly] instructed Reuters on the sidelines of the Airline Economics convention. ‘What would you do with an engine that’s partly made in France? Are you going to place a tariff of 20% on that engine? Is that counterproductive?’ Kelly added.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing Inventory Would Profit from a Breakup, Specialist Says” [Barron’s]. ‘”It’s time for Boeing ‘s administration to get up and begin creating worth,’ says Jim Osman…. Boeing shareholders are long-suffering. Via Friday buying and selling, shares had been down virtually 50% over the previous 5 years whereas the S&P 500 was up virtually 80%. The explanations for the underperformance have been nicely documented: catastrophic design choices, a pandemic, administration turnover, questionable capital allocation, and poor manufacturing high quality.
Osman is campaigning for a full breakup. He desires to see Boeing cut up into its three foremost divisions: industrial aerospace, protection, and providers.”
Manufacturing: “Troubled Boeing Gives To Help Nigerian Airways Safe Plane Insurance coverage” [Sahara Reporters]. “Boeing Worldwide Company has expressed its willingness to help Nigerian airways in securing ample plane insurance coverage protection. This help might be facilitated by way of partnerships with financially secure lessors and international financiers. Moore Ibekwe, Boeing’s Gross sales Director for the Africa Area Industrial Airways, made this announcement in Dublin, Eire, on the inaugural assembly of the ‘Boeing Lessor Discussion board’, which takes place from January 12 to fifteen.” • At the very least the gross sales division is in there punching.
Tech: Elon’s mercurial pesonality:
Please submit a bit extra constructive, stunning or informative content material on this platform pic.twitter.com/J7JkxdfrAR
— David Leavitt 🎲🎮🧙♂️🌈 (@David_Leavitt) January 12, 2025
One thing happening right here. Maybe we must always invoke the Twenty Fifth Modification?
Right now’s Concern & Greed Index: 25 Excessive Concern (earlier shut: 26 Concern) [CNN]. One week in the past: 37 (Concern). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jan 13 at 1:33:14 PM ET.
Rapture Index: Closes up one on Wild Climate. “The fires in California are the results of very wild climate” [Rapture Ready]. Document Excessive, October 10, 2016: 189. Present: 181. (Keep in mind that bringing on the Rapture is nice.) • “Wild Climate” (#38) versus Local weather (#43).
Zeitgeist Watch
“Slender Roads, Deep Canyons: L.A. Firefighters Confront Nature’s Excellent Firetrap” [Wall Street Journal]. “It’s right here, among the many cliffs and crevices of Topanga Canyon, that crews face an actual dogfight in among the most complicated firefighting topography on the earth. Firefighters’ largest mission is to guard the property and lives of the roughly 10,000 residents, many whose properties cling to steep terrain off winding, tree-lined streets so slender that two autos can’t move in locations. Whereas small in inhabitants, Topanga looms massive in Angeleno lore as a getaway for Hollywood stars within the Nineteen Twenties, and residential within the Nineteen Sixties to rockers Neil Younger, Jim Morrison and Linda Ronstadt, together with serial killer Charles Manson and his household. Wedged within the Santa Monica Mountains, the canyon has seen quite a few blazes over time—though none as menacing within the 57 years that Armida Madrid has lived right here.” • Price a learn for the native shade.
“LA’s wealthy & well-known hiring $2,000-an-hour personal firefighters to guard million-dollar properties & companies” [The U.S. Sun]. “One rich supply mentioned: ‘This week’s occasions have proven you possibly can’t belief town to guard your property.’ The supply added: ‘I’ve the cash, so why not?’ Personal firefighters should not unusual in LA with Kim Kardashian utilizing personal crews to save lots of her house in Hidden Hills California within the 2013 wildfires.” • And all these pretty individuals will search locations to reside which might be “unspoiled.”
“Editorial: From town that used fireplace as a catalyst for reinvention, good needs for Los Angeles” [Chicago Tribune]. “Right here in Chicago, historians see a hearth during which one-third of individuals on this metropolis misplaced their properties and not less than 300 died as a singular catalyst for progress and reinvention, though it it’s typically forgotten that town received plenty of assist from individuals outdoors its borders. Inside little greater than yr, a customer to Chicago couldn’t see many seen indicators of the prior destruction, and the roaring metropolis had gained a fierce and lasting popularity for resilience and new alternative. As soon as the fires are out and losses mourned, LA could have an analogous probability to look onerous on the altering atmosphere during which it lives, enhance its providers with the advantage of bitter expertise and construct again higher. For now, although, we stand with its individuals by way of the painful slog of restoration.”
“The psychological toll of California’s catastrophic fires” [Axios]. “Folks uncovered to California’s deadliest wildfire, the 2018 Camp Hearth, confirmed better power signs of PTSD, nervousness and despair, in accordance with analysis revealed in 2023. ‘These findings dovetail with vital psychological impacts famous after excessive local weather occasions,’ researchers wrote. ‘Warming temperatures have been additional linked to better suicide charges.’ One other examine from final yr discovered that wildfires are related to elevated emergency room visits for nervousness problems within the western U.S. Generally pragmatism comes earlier than grief throughout a catastrophe just like the city wildfires, Katzman mentioned. Folks may first prioritize determining what a return to work or college will may like, earlier than processing the loss…. ‘Solastalgia’ has been used to explain the power misery of seeing adverse environmental change in a single’s house atmosphere.” • Phrase of the day: “Solastalgia.”
Relatively like Occupy Sandy:
When you’re seeing all of the air filters and respirators being handed out at no cost in LA, bear in mind these assets are solely out there as a result of covid activists have remained steadfast in advocating for clear air and masks use since 2020.
— inky labyrinth 📚🍉 (@InkyLabyrinth) January 11, 2025
Gallery
New hen:
Monet, The Magpie pic.twitter.com/gH0oIzUPAK
— Impressions (@impression_ists) January 13, 2025
Previous hen (I apologize for X’s depressing cropping algorithm):
Pieter Bruegel The Elder
The Hunters within the Snow (element) 1565 pic.twitter.com/2ama6QstDU— Marysia (@marysia_cc) January 12, 2025
Information of the Wired
Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a examine if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photos of vegetation. Greens are high-quality! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! 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 TH:
TH writes: “That is an Aloe Tree rising alongside Pacific Coast Freeway in Huntington Seaside, California. (Taken from a sidewalk nicely above it.)” I’m an enormous fan of depth of subject and this picture reveals why.
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