2:00PM Water Cooler 11/26/2024 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chook Music of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, Antietam Nationwide Battlefield, Washington, Maryland, United States. “Male Northern Mockingbird singing from roadside Jap Crimson Cedar. This birds plumage was brownish slightly than black — due to this fact the age shouldn’t be recognized for sure. Looks like a slightly achieved singing for a HY chicken.” 12 minutes of mockingbird tune! A great begin to the week. Seize a cup of espresso! HY = Hatching Yr.

“Study to tune into birdsong – respite and fascination await” [David Logue, Psyche (AL)]. “On a typical day, I’m within the tropical forest lengthy earlier than daybreak. I stand close to a tree with a microphone, ready for the chicken that lives there to get up and sing. When it lastly does, I whisper ‘chicken’ into the microphone. It’s a message to my future self that the chicken on the recording is the one I meant to document. Because the daybreak refrain ramps up, I focus ever extra on the sound of that chicken. I whisper ‘chicken’ after every of its songs, like a monk reciting his mantra. All of my consideration is on the Adelaide’s warbler, singing from the highest of the tamarind tree; there may be none left for extraneous thought. I really feel like I belong within the current second, with no need to be or do anything. That feeling stays with me lengthy after I go away the sector web site… Listening deeply to birdsong – that’s, listening mindfully, with open consideration – combines the advantages of mindfulness follow and people of listening to chicken sounds. Right here’s the right way to get began.” • “A tree” and “the chicken” implies that each tree has its chicken. Can that be true?

In Case You Would possibly Miss…

1. “Pleasure” at Bluesky.
2. Trump staff drags toes on signing ethics and transparency agreements.
3. “Everyone seems to be taking their skim” (of Democrat campaigns).
4. Boeing 737 DHL aircraft crashes in Lithuania.

Politics

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

Trump Assassination Makes an attempt (Plural)

An instance of “pleasure” at Bluesky:

In the future, like a miracle. ☕️

[image or embed]

— 𝑀𝒶𝓎𝓇𝒶°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🫧🦋 (@lepapillonblue.bsky.social) November 24, 2024 at 10:06 AM

The feedback are cute.

“Trump staff barred from companies amid authorized standoff” [Politico]. “Advisers to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reached out to the Well being and Human Providers Division a number of instances after Donald Trump tapped him to guide the huge company, hoping to jumpstart coordination earlier than his takeover in late January. They have been rebuffed. Kennedy’s incapability to speak with the company he could quickly handle, confirmed by an administration official with data of the episodes granted anonymity to explain inner deliberations, is only one consequence of the president-elect’s continued foot-dragging on signing the usual trio of ethics and transparency agreements with the federal authorities — one thing his staff pledged to do shortly after the election. … Each the Trump transition and the White Home confirmed to POLITICO that negotiations on the agreements are nonetheless underway…. Watchdog teams, ethics consultants and former authorities officers say the delay in coordination with federal companies, which generally begins by mid-November, means the brand new administration received’t be on top of things on the state of the profession workforce and funds and what complications could await them when Trump takes the oath of workplace on Jan. 20. The failure to this point to signal the memorandums has additionally troubled Biden officers, who’re notably involved in regards to the potential nationwide safety implications. With out the agreements in place, Trump’s staff can’t entry any personal authorities knowledge — depriving it of a full view of efforts the White Home and federal companies are taking to safeguard in opposition to a variety of threats.” • A part of me says that working solely from public knowledge can be an ideal thought, since in any other case you’re owned by the individuals who personal the secrets and techniques.

“Trump Locks Lavatory Door So Elon Musk Can’t Observe Him In” [The Onion]. • The headline is best than the textual content. However.

* * *

“Sexual-Misconduct Allegations Sank One Trump Nominee and Loom Over Kennedy” [Wall Street Journal]. “Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s decide for Well being and Human Providers secretary, has been accused of sexual assault within the late Nineteen Nineties by a girl who’s keen to testify earlier than the Senate. Kennedy has stated he’s ‘not a church boy.’” And: “‘It appeared like he thought I used to be anyone else or wasn’t paying consideration,’ she wrote in her diary on the time, which she confirmed to the Journal. ‘Like he would come to each on occasion and snap out of it or I’d transfer away.’ Later within the journal entry she speculated whether or not he was ‘testing’ her.” • So, contemporaneous proof (although in full “Smiley’s Individuals” mode, I’d wish to authenticate that diary, all the way down to the ink and paper, given the cash, the stakes, and the gamers concerned).

Deploy the Blame Cannons!

“‘Everyone seems to be taking their skim’: How Democratic consultants cashed in on Harris’ shedding marketing campaign” [Salon]. A must-read. “Whereas most political strategists agree that some spending on paid media is important to win a marketing campaign in 2024, Faiz Shakir, a senior advisor to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., advised Salon that the Harris marketing campaign’s spending profile is indicative of a structural challenge with how the Democratic Celebration approaches paid media and political technique. In response to Shakir, Democratic strategists usually see slicing a brand new 30-second advert as a kind of cure-all to a marketing campaign’s issues and a means for campaigns to deal with a weak spot with out re-evaluating the message or stances they’ve taken. “There’s no room you stroll into by which saying we should always run an advert feels like dangerous recommendation,” he stated…. ‘The chance to earn cash off of the agency that has created 30-second advertisements and the one who has positioned the advertisements is ripe for abuse as a result of there are a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} going into it and everyone seems to be taking their skim,’ Shakir stated. ‘There’s an enormous escalation each step of the way in which due to a skim at each stage.’” Of the rentiers, by the rentiers, for the rentiers. Extra: “” Oh. Extra: “Reviewing the advert spending from the Harris marketing campaign, it’s clear that the majority of the cash was funneled by way of companies run or owned by Democratic Celebration insiders…. Most of the FEC filings documenting funds from the Harris marketing campaign to Media Shopping for and Analytics lump collectively media manufacturing and shopping for, that means it’s not possible to differentiate how a lot the agency is being paid to create media for the marketing campaign versus how a lot it’s spending on air time and what kind of fee the agency is making on these advert buys.” And: “The core challenge, as Shakir places it, is that the get together political operations are a closed loop with well-off consultants, politicians and donors all taking recommendation from one another with little outdoors enter. ‘We’ve got a working-class downside within the Democratic Celebration and when you’ve got rich consultants speaking to rich donors who’re all residing in an elite bubble, it will possibly grow to be indifferent from what messages will resonate with individuals who aren’t within the elite bubble.’” • Keep in mind the Unity Reform Fee in 2016? Nothing has modified since this well-known clip from Sanders supporter Nomiki Konst:

“This smells.” It did eight years in the past, after which stench is worse right this moment. The distinction that no one again then was keen to call names, which this time round Shakir names the consultants; learn the article. And the way good it’s to see a Sanders supporter placing the boot in. Extra like this, please.

“Mega-donor: Democratic overspending disqualifies Harris ‘endlessly’” [The Hill]. “[Political mega-donor John Morgan] added that the reported $1.5 billion spent in 4 months is proof that Harris shouldn’t run once more. ‘I feel this disqualifies her endlessly,’ Morgan stated. ‘In case you can’t run a marketing campaign, you possibly can’t run America.’ ‘The identical factor goes to observe Harris for the remainder of her profession. She can’t be trusted with the cash, and the donors are going to be, like, ‘The place is that this cash?” he added.”

* * *

“One Election Takeaway: Voters Hate Non permanent Security Nets” [Nathan Tankus, Notes on the Crises]. “One theme I repeatedly took up was the truth that congress responded to the Coronavirus pandemic with a collection of financial measures which have been highly effective, however time restricted. These coated the gamut, however an important have been the expansions and extensions to unemployment insurance coverage —the direct financial funds (‘checks’) and the extensions to Medicaid. These applications have been vital not as a result of they supplied ‘fiscal stimulus’, however as a result of they underpinned households’ livelihoods at a troublesome time and facilitated ‘social distancing’. My fear then was that having such giant applications on a time restricted foundation created what I referred to as ‘fiscal cliffication’. Meaning politics would more and more revolve round giant fights over what to do as massive applications approached their expiration dates.” And: “[T]he pandemic enormously impacted the volatility of labor market earnings and, on the similar time, the expansions of the social security web — notably unemployment insurance coverage — enormously lowered the volatility of total earnings. That is particularly the case for the underside 50% of households, who all the time have much more unstable incomes than the highest 50% of households…. The explanation that households’ monetary wellbeing improved considerably between 2019 and 2021 regardless of such a dramatically regressive despair is only due to the pandemic security web.” Concluding: “The final minute switchover to Harris was seemingly too brief to dramatically change messages, or achieve credibility as a ‘change’ candidate in a ‘change’ election In reality, it’s that Harris didn’t even actually strive. That is comprehensible given the bizarre circumstances, nevertheless it was electoral poison on condition that .” • This can be a very attention-grabbing paper and nicely value a learn (espresso cup in hand). The thesis within the headline, although intuitively apparent, shouldn’t be actually confirmed by the paper, however that needs to be the simple half, contemplating the work that Tankus already did.

* * *

“Democrats ought to cease mocking Trump’s floor sport and begin studying from it” [Astra Taylor, Guardian]. “Trump succeeded, a minimum of partly, as a result of he’s a person who will say something and do something to win. And naturally he was boosted by conservative media – by Fox Information talkshows, conspiratorial podcasts, manosphere influencers, misleading deepfakes, focused advertisements, and “First Buddy” Elon Musk’s transformation of Twitter into X. However he additionally received as a result of he had a robust floor sport, even when it often blundered and sometimes appeared completely different from what observers and consultants anticipated from a get-out-the vote drive, together with its use of ‘untraditional’ and ‘micro-targeted’ methods aimed toward reaching low- and mid-propensity voters who didn’t match the standard Republican profile, together with Latinos, Black males, and Asian and Arab People…. When Democrats insist that Trump had no floor sport, they ignore the proper wing’s funding and presence in areas that aren’t purely electoral and that have interaction folks year-round, together with teams like Libre, together with the evangelical church buildings and scholar teams that more and more perform as social golf equipment recruiting folks to the Maga trigger. As Tiffany Dena Loftin particulars within the new challenge of the Black leftist journal Hammer & Hope, the proper wing has spent a long time systematically attacking and defunding progressive scholar unions and networks and build up their conservative counterparts.” And: “The Trump marketing campaign constructed on this mannequin, offering its base with group and goal and organizing them, in flip, to mobilize others to prove and vote. Earlier than becoming a member of Trump’s staff as marketing campaign co-chair, Susie Wiles spent years working to lock down Florida for Republicans (she’s since been named Trump’s incoming chief of employees). Her ways make folks really feel like a vital a part of a gaggle with a transparent purpose. Wiles piloted the ’10 for Trump’ Iowa caucus program, which gave a subset of two,000 volunteers the title of ‘captain’, a limited-edition gold-embroidered hat, and the purpose of motivating 10 folks of their precincts to prove.” • Susie Wiles is solely re-inventing the Precinct Captain, an age-old Democrat construction alert reader DCblogger usually spoke of. And shock, it really works!

* * *

Please, no:

Unburdened by what got here earlier than pic.twitter.com/KKCnF22vIe

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) November 25, 2024

On what grounds would Kamala run once more?

The #Resistance

“That is the brand new progressive technique for warring with Trump” [Politico]. “Progressive Democrats wrestling with the right way to navigate a second Donald Trump presidency are deciding on a brand new method: Take his populist, working-class proposals at his phrase — or a minimum of fake to. If he succeeds, they’ll take some credit score for bringing him to the desk.” Lol. No they’ll’t. Extra: ” If he doesn’t, they’ll bash him for it. It’s a change in technique, rising in non-public conversations amongst some liberal elected officers and operatives, that comes after years of resisting Trump ended with him returning to the White Home.” And at last: “Progressives are clear-eyed that with a Republican-controlled Home and Senate, many, if not most, of Trump’s populist marketing campaign guarantees is not going to occur — if he have been ever critical about them to start with. However they consider that his voters need him to observe by way of. In addition they lack any energy in Congress and are determined for even an out of doors likelihood to affect coverage.” • Not with a bang however a whimper. Hey, I’m so previous I bear in mind when Trump was a fascist!

“Individuals who put on ties”:

Invoice Clinton: “in demonizing all institutions and all individuals who put on a tie such as you and me to work and have an excellent schooling, we’re breaking down the legitimacy of…individuals who truly know issues which are essential for us right this moment and essential for our continued… pic.twitter.com/0OfAJOa6yV

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) November 24, 2024

“Individuals who truly know issues.”

Democrats en déshabillé

Centrist dipshits, as Atrios calls them:

Democratic pundits berated Bernie’s coalition as “Bernie Bros” and in addition advised folks they have been ingrates for not higher appreciating the economic system.

Now they’re fusing these 2 threads collectively, asserting that Bernie supporters are mentally ailing & lazy & *selecting* to be poor. pic.twitter.com/6vpKWFOMIE

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) November 25, 2024

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 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 knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Basic Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be 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 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 (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Sources, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).

Sources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Search for the Helpers

Masks Challenge:

This can be a nice crowd sourcing challenge to measure how nicely varied N95s/KN95s and so forth match all kinds of individuals.

The information will drive an app to assist folks choose the masks most probably to offer them good particular person match and safety. https://t.co/WBSJrMlivv

— Gerard Hughes ( @ghhughes@zeroes.ca ) (@ghhughes) November 24, 2024

“I Ran Operation Warp Velocity. I’m Involved About Chook Flu” [David A. Kessler, New York Times]. “As Donald Trump will get able to return to the White Home on Jan. 20, he have to be ready to deal with one challenge instantly: the chance that the spreading avian flu would possibly mutate to allow human-to-human transmission….. I’ve been monitoring the unfold of chicken flu, also called H5N1, and discussing the state of affairs with colleagues across the nation. My concern is rising…. With out obligatory testing, chicken flu will proceed circulating at farms throughout the nation, which considerably will increase the danger that the virus mutates and evolves to permit a human-to-human transmission that will likely be exhausting to cease…. Nobody is aware of what number of mutations will likely be required to set off human-to- human respiratory unfold. That would require many mutations and will by no means occur. However we is also simply two or three mutations away. If the virus begins to transmit effectively amongst people, it will likely be very troublesome to include, based on the Johns Hopkins evaluation, and ‘the probability of a pandemic may be very excessive.’ The incoming Trump administration must be ready.” • I hope uncooked milk stans don’t have inordinate affect….

Vaccines

Though Adams had a place within the final Trump Adminisration, sadly he doesn’t within the present one:

Listed here are the highest and backside nations based on life expectancy globally- together with their respective measles vaccination charges. U.S. can be listed. Discover something? 🤔

High 4 nations by life expectancy:
1. Japan
– Life Expectancy: 84.5 years
– Measles Vaccination…

— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) November 25, 2024

Private Danger Evaluation

Admirable dedication to the bit:

He most likely should not have “caught COVID on goal.” There’s mainly no lasting immunity from COVID both through an infection or vaccine, and the injury even a gentle case does to your physique can kill you down the street. https://t.co/KZusgAngsu pic.twitter.com/QvksLdvMsq

— L., MA (@leslieleeiii) November 24, 2024

FAFO….

Elite Maleficence

I suppose the one answer is to place our belief within the billionaires, particularly the tech bros:

The shameless denial of science & dearth of care & consideration exhibited for folks through the pandemic thus far has ended the credibility of:

WHO

CDC

PHAC

HICPAC

APIC

SHEA

IPAC

PHO

PICNET

COCHRANE

NHE

CELL IPC

Public Well being

Medical group

Political leaders https://t.co/T6GQXyYk3p

— Barry Hunt ————————– Novavax 4 Me (@BarryHunt008) November 24, 2024

TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new right this moment; all others aren’t 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) Excellent news!

[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.

[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* nonetheless common. XEC has entered the chat. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has performed an ideal job normalizing successive waves of an infection.

[4] (ED) Down.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Steadily down.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Really improved; it’s now one of many few charts to point out your entire course of the pandemic to the current day.

[7] (Walgreens) Down.

[8] (Cleveland) Down.

[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Down.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants). Now XEC.

[11] Deaths low, positivity down.

[12] Deaths low, ED down.

Stats Watch

Manufacturing: “United States Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The composite manufacturing index within the US Fifth District was unchanged… The studying confirmed that exercise remained sluggish.”

Housing: “United States FHFA Home Value Index” [Trading Economics]. “Housing Index in america decreased to 0.70 factors in September from 427 factors in August of 2024. Housing Index in america averaged 200.20 factors from 1991 till 2024, reaching an all time excessive of 427.00 factors in August of 2024 and a document low of 0.70 factors in September of 2024” • What?

Manufacturing: “Chilling cockpit audio from doomed Boeing 737 DHL aircraft simply earlier than it crashed in fireball is revealed – together with recording of air visitors management scrambling to take care of aftermath: ‘We simply bought a crash’” [Daily Mail]. “The reason for the crash stays a thriller as Lithuania’s Nationwide Disaster Administration Centre deployed consultants to analyze… The incident follows reviews in current months that mysterious explosions had occurred at DHL warehouses in Leipzig and Birmingham amid fears of a Russian covert sabotage operation meant to blow up plane flying within the West.” • Lithuania. Oh.

Zeitgeist Watch

“‘What many people really feel’: why ‘enshittification’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s phrase of the yr” [Guardian]. “However enshittification not solely received their vote, it took out the folks’s alternative award. ‘This phrase captures what many people really feel is occurring to the world and to so many facets of our lives in the intervening time,’ the [dictionary] committee stated. Doctorow himself is surprisingly optimistic about the place this might all find yourself. Motion on competitors to forestall market dominance, regulation on issues corresponding to digital privateness, extra energy for customers to determine how they use platforms, and tackling the exploitation of staff might reverse the method, he wrote, as a result of ‘everybody has a stake in disenshittification.’ Large tech can’t be fastened, he argues, however perhaps it may be destroyed. He provides a fourth stage to the tech platforms’ scatological journey from being good to customers, to abusing them in favour of their clients, to abusing their clients to serve themselves. ‘Then they die,’ he wrote.” •

“Bossware is unfair (within the authorized sense, too)” [Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic]. “You may get into numerous hassle by assuming that wealthy folks know what they’re doing. For instance, would possibly assume that ad-tech works – bypassing peoples’ important colleges, reaching inside their minds and brainwashing them with Large Knowledge insights, as a result of if that’s not what’s taking place, then why would wealthy folks pour billions into these advertisements? You would possibly assume that personal fairness looters make their traders wealthy, as a result of in any other case, why would wealthy folks hand over trillions for them to play with? The reality is, wealthy persons are suckers like the remainder of us. If something, succeeding a few times makes you a good greater mark, with a way of your personal infallibility that inflates to fill the bubble your yes-men seal you within. However although wealthy folks can fall for scams the identical means you and I do, the way in which these scams play out may be very completely different when the marks are rich. As Keynes had it, “The market can stay irrational longer than you possibly can stay solvent.” When the marks are wealthy (or worse, super-rich), they are often performed for for much longer earlier than they go bust, creating the looks of solidity.” • Adopted by a dialogue of Keynes and the idea of “the bezzle.”

Contact data for crops: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a verify in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me pictures of crops. Greens are wonderful! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you’d like your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it at the beginning of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize by utilizing your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From a buddy of Bob or Janet: