By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Pleased Friday the Thirteenth to those that rejoice! –lambert
Chicken Music of the Day
Northern Mockingbird, Siboney; BIOECO Estacion Ecologica Siboney-Jutici, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. “That is all one steady lower even by my announcement.” Seize a cup of espresso. Eighteen minutes (although the final two minutes or so are the “announcement.”
In Case You May Miss…
- RFK, Trump, and vax.
- Covid “viral reservoir” idea recieves assist.
- The place oil earnings went.
- New Covid charts: Excellent news, however positivity uptick.
Politics
“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are actually a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Capitol Seizure
“Watchdog finds FBI intelligence missteps earlier than Jan. 6 riot, however no undercover brokers had been current” [Associated Press]. “The report from the Justice Division inspector common’s workplace knocks down a fringe conspiracy idea superior by some Republicans in Congress that the FBI performed a task in instigating the occasions that day, when rioters decided to overturn Republican Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden stormed the constructing in a violent conflict with police. The assessment, launched almost 4 years after a darkish chapter in historical past that shook the bedrock of American democracy, was slim in scope, however aimed to make clear gnawing questions which have dominated public discourse, together with whether or not main intelligence failures preceded the riot and whether or not the FBI in a roundabout way provoked the violence.” • I’d be so much happier if I may cross two oddities off my checklist for the day: No one is aware of who constructed the gallows or took them away; and no person is aware of who left the pipe bombs on the DNC (when Kamala was there). For these two tales, take the Justice Division story as learn: It wasn’t the FBI. So, who was it?
“DOJ IG reveals 26 FBI informants had been current on Jan. 6” [FOX]. “Justice Division Inspector Normal Michael Horowitz mentioned there have been greater than two dozen confidential human sources (CHSs) within the crowd outdoors the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, however solely three had been assigned by the FBI to be current for the occasion, whereas stressing that not one of the sources was licensed or directed by the bureau to ‘break the regulation’ or ‘encourage others to commit unlawful acts,’ Fox Information has discovered.” • “We had been simply informanting. We weren’t agent provocateuring in any respect, completely.” OK, fantastic.
Trump Transition
“Trump to debate ending childhood vaccination packages with RFK Jr.” [Reuters]. “He (Kennedy) doesn’t disagree with vaccinations, all vaccinations. He disagrees in all probability with some,” Trump mentioned.” • “In all probability” is doing a number of work there. And if Kennedy needed to preseve polio vaccines, then his mimion wouldn’t be making an attempt to revoke their approval. And if you wish to do away with the polio vaccines, then you definitely would possibly as nicely “disagree” with “all vaccinations.” Trump ought to put RFK again in his field on this one.
* * * “Trump Transition Staff Needs To Finish Crash Report Requirement Opposed By Tesla, Report Says” [Forbes]. “President-elect Donald Trump’s transition crew needs to scrap a regulatory order requiring automakers to report crashes involving automobiles with automated driving techniques, Reuters reported Friday, aligning with opposition to the rule by Elon Musk’s Tesla, which accounts for many crashes reported underneath the requirement to date.” • Oh.
* * * “SEC expenses Cantor Fitzgerald, led by Trump’s Commerce decide, with breaking securities legal guidelines” [CNBC]. • If we hadn’t simply had 4 years of Democrat lawfare, I’d be aghast.
The #Resistance
Democrats en déshabillé
“Democrats’ downside with working-class voters is greater than free commerce” [Eric Levitz, Vox]. “In mild of deindustrialization’s most pernicious results, Democrats ought to make American employees’ entry to remunerative employment and collective bargaining rights much less contingent in the marketplace’s whims, whereas rebuilding the social gathering’s popularity for sound financial administration.” • Daring! The issue is straightforward, from a 30,000-foot degree (the place certainly most issues are easy). The Democrats are the social gathering of the PMC. Because the governing class, they’re within the enterprise of working the numerous and assorted rental extraction schemes that dominate our financialized financial system, and which enrich the (propertied) ruling class on the expense of the (enwaged) working class (medical health insurance being one such). Due to this fact, the category pursuits of the Democrats and the working class are diametrically opposed. The Democrat Celebration founders on this contradiction. “A home divided in opposition to itself can not stand…. I don’t anticipate the home to fall — however I do anticipate it should stop to be divided. It’ll grow to be all one factor, or all the opposite.” –Abraham Lincoln.
Republican Funhouse
“Home Republicans launch investigation into CVS Caremark for potential antitrust violations” [The Hill]. “Home Republicans need to know whether or not pharmacy profit supervisor (PBM) CVS Caremark violated federal antitrust legal guidelines by threatening unbiased pharmacies to maintain them from utilizing money-saving instruments outdoors the PBM’s community. In a letter to CVS obtained by The Hill, Home Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) requested the corporate for paperwork and communications about pharmaceutical hubs, a kind of digital pharmacy service that may streamline the method of accessing and managing complicated, high-cost specialty medicines for sufferers. Jordan expressed concern that CVS prevents unbiased pharmacies from taking part in hub preparations, as a result of the corporate needs to move off potential competitors. If an unbiased pharmacy works with a hub outdoors the PBM, it might be excluded from the PBMs community.” • Good.
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; contains many counties; Wastewater Scan, contains drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and 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 tackle 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 stories); 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 secure on the market!
Airborne Transmission
Phrase of the day (or the last decade):
WORD OF THE WEEK:
Ca•cough•ony
A portmanteau of the phrases ‘cacophony’ + ‘cough’.
An disagreeable refrain of loud of coughing.
Typically skilled throughout carol live shows, nativities, pantomimes, faculty assemblies & different indoor mass gatherings simply earlier than Xmas.@susie_dent pic.twitter.com/nDyRqpBfQB
— Cat within the Hat 🐈⬛ 🎩 🇬🇧 (@_CatintheHat) December 13, 2024
Maskstravaganza
“Days after Period Tour ends, Taylor Swift spreads vacation cheer at Kids’s Mercy Hospital in KC” [Knox News]. • And that’s not all she’s spreading, is it?
Vaccines: Covid
“COVID-19 vaccination and short-term mortality danger: a nationwide self-controlled case collection examine in The Netherlands” (preprint) [medRxiv]. From the Summary: “We performed a retrospective data-linkage examine together with all Dutch inhabitants to research the influence of COVID-19 vaccination on extra mortality utilizing a modified self-controlled case collection methodology. We discovered a 44% decrease relative incidence of all-cause deaths within the first three weeks after the first vaccination in comparison with greater than three weeks after vaccination (IRR 0.56, 95percentCI 0.54-0.57). This decrease incidence was constant throughout vaccine sorts, doses, genders, age teams, and people with or with out prior SARS-CoV-2 an infection or comorbidities, and for non-COVID-19 associated deaths. For booster vaccinations, the relative incidence was comparable (IRR 0.49, 95percentCI 0.49-0.50). As compared, we noticed a 16-fold increased incidence of all-cause deaths within the three weeks following a registered constructive SARS-CoV-2 an infection in comparison with greater than three weeks after an infection (IRR 16.19, 95percentCI 15.78-16.60). A decrease relative incidence of short-term deaths following COVID-19 vaccination assist that COVID-19 vaccination isn’t related to the noticed extra mortality.” • “Not related” for that (comparatively quick) timeframe, as they certainly say.
Variants: H5N1
“Novel human-type receptor-binding H5N1 virus in stay poultry markets, China” [The Lancet]. “In January, 2024, findings from a surveillance examine close to Poyang Lake in southern China revealed a excessive prevalence of novel H5N1 viruses that confirmed enhanced binding affinity for human-type sialic acid receptors…. Given the established function of [Live poultry markets (LPMs)] as a serious supply of human H5N1 infections, we spotlight the pressing want for enhanced surveillance and public well being interventions to mitigate the widespread transmission potential of those novel human-type receptor-binding H5N1 viruses in these markets.” • “Novel” within the headline and repeated within the textual content doesn’t sound good. Maybe a sort reader can translate all the summary.
Sequelae: Covid
“Multi-Organ Unfold and Intra-Host Variety of SARS-CoV-2 Assist Viral Persistence, Adaptation, and a Mechanism That Will increase Evolvability” [Journal of Medical Virology (Jason Boxman). The Abstract:
Intra-host diversity is an intricate phenomenon related to immune evasion, antiviral resistance, and evolutionary leaps along transmission chains. SARS-CoV-2 intra-host variation has been well-evidenced from respiratory samples. However, data on systemic dissemination and diversification are relatively scarce and come from immunologically impaired patients. Here, the presence and variability of SARS-CoV-2 were assessed among 71 tissue samples obtained from multiple organs including lung, intestine, heart, kidney, and liver from 15 autopsies with positive swabs and no records of immunocompromise. . All organs presented intra-host single nucleotide variants (iSNVs) with low, moderate, and high abundances. The iSNV abundances observed within different organs indicate that . In agreement with previous data from respiratory samples, our lung samples presented no more than 10 iSNVs each. But interestingly, when analyzing different organs we were able to detect between 11 and 45 iSNVs per case. . We elaborate on how compartmentalized evolution in multiple organs may contribute to SARS-CoV-2 evolving so rapidly despite the virus having a proofreading mechanism.
Yikes.
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts
Lambert: After repeated attempts, this is what I get for CDC’s wastewater page:
I conclude that CDC doesn’t know how to run a server, along with everything else they don’t know how to do.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC December 2 | Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC December 7 | ★Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC December 7 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★New York[5] New York State, knowledge December 12: | ★ Nationwide [6] CDC December 12: |
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| Positivity | |
| Nationwide[7] Walgreens December 9: | ★ Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic December 7: |
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| Vacationers Knowledge | |
| ★Positivity[9] CDC November 25: | ★Variants[10] CDC November 25: |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new as we speak; all others usually are 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) Excellent news!
[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) A bit of uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Up!
[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 as we speak.
Manufacturing: “Boeing Plans $1 Billion Growth in South Carolina” [Industrial Equipment News]. “Boeing yesterday introduced plans to take a position $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades at its Charleston County, South Carolina website. The enlargement will create 500 new jobs over the following 5 years. The announcement was made by the South Carolina Division of Commerce (SCDC). Boeing South Carolina is house to all the 787 Dreamliner manufacturing cycle and fabricates, assembles, and delivers the 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10. The manufacturing unit has been in operation for greater than ten years.” • That’s non-unionized South Carolina.
Manufacturing: “Boeing, Airbus nonetheless battle with provide chains and personnel shortages” [Leeham News & Analysis]. “Michael Haidinger, president of Boeing’s European and Center Jap areas, and Juergen Westermeier, chief procurement officer for Airbus, agree challenges stay within the close to future. ‘There’s at all times a scarcity of expert aerospace expertise intensified by the pandemic,’ Haidinger mentioned this month on the annual Aviation Discussion board (2024) in Munich, Germany. ‘As all of the professionals retired, fewer new staff entered the sector. Our trade wants extra individuals who not solely deliver experience but additionally embrace the mission of advancing aerospace.’ Haidinger added, ‘The deficit of expert engineers, technicians, and different aerospace employees has made ramping up manufacturing tougher. Attracting and retaining expertise has grow to be a prime precedence for us. [We are] with many corporations investing in workforce improvement, partnerships with universities, coaching packages, and apprenticeship packages.’”
In the present day’s Worry & Greed Index: 50 Impartial (earlier shut: 48 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 52 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Dec 13 at 2:43:33 PM ET.
Musical Interlude
Toe-tapping goodness:
Groves of Academe
“Comparative lit class shall be first in Humanities Division to make use of UCLA-developed AI system” (press launch) [Newsroom, UCLA]. “The textbook: AI-generated. Class assignments: AI-generated. Educating assistants’ sources: AI-generated.” After I ran a Literary Hub put up on this story, alert reader and important thinker PJay requested a terrific query: “Are we certain this isn’t a Sokal-type hoax?” So I went and dug up this press launch; the percentages of hoaxdom are vanishingly small. Right here once more, on your reference. is the AI artwork for the textbook. Put down your espresso:
The course is Comp Lit 2BW within the UCLA School Division of Humanities [sic]. Would some sort soul with a UCLA connection be capable to throw copies of the instructing materials over the transom? I’m certain the readership would get pleasure from them. My e mail tackle is down by the crops.
Annals of Faith
“How a Story of Demonic Possession Predicted the Decline of an Early Medieval Empire” [Smithsonian]. “Historians can look again and see the tensions that resulted within the coup of 830, and the way its lack of decision led to a different coup try in 833 and finally to a brutal civil conflict within the 840s. However all through all of the homicide, treason and plotting, most historic sources, from the Annals of Fulda to the Annals of St. Bertin, stay dedicated to the parable of stability, inevitability and God’s blessing.” • Plus ça change….
Healthcare
“UnitedHealth Group C.E.O.: The Well being Care System Is Flawed. Let’s Repair It.” [Andrew Witty, New York Times]. Witty is the chief government officer of UnitedHealth Group, the mother or father firm of UnitedHealthcare. “He believed choices about well being care ought to begin with the person and championed plans during which shoppers may see prices and protection choices upfront, so they may resolve what’s finest for themselves and their households.” • Oh.
“Brian Thompson, Not Luigi Mangione, Is the Actual Working-Class Hero” [Bret Stephens, New York Times]. “Thompson’s life could have been lower brutally quick, however it should stay a mannequin for the way a gifted and decided man from humble roots can nonetheless rise to the highest of company life with out the advantage of wealthy dad and mom and an Ivy League diploma.”
“The Disaster of Elite Indifference to Company Mass Homicide” [Nathan Newman, Left Future]. The deck: “And a Modest Proposal to License No Greater than 10 CEO Murders Every Yr to Enhance Company Accountability” NOTE: Satire. Form of like Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. Because the creator mentions!
UPDATE A sometimes sensible thread by Moe Tkacik:
The homicide of the UnitedHealth CEO by a man who underwent spinal fusion surgical procedure for debilitating ache has unleashed a livid debate about US well being care, most of it dumb
Fortunately I discovered a whistleblower go well with filed by a surgeon UHC employed to disclaim spinal fusion surgical procedure protection.. pic.twitter.com/Ekivc1k75l— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) December 13, 2024
It’s actually making an attempt to be a weblog put up, and it’s too lengthy to display seize, however right here is the whistleblower (“knowledgeable witness”) half:
The knowledgeable witness surgeon was aghast, however when he took his proof to his overlords at UnitedHealth, they…. made him take de-escalation coaching.
In the meantime, Durrani fled to Lahore, the place he’s…at present performing pointless surgical procedures. pic.twitter.com/oi9zN3kJvV— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) December 13, 2024
Price a clickthrough, although I assume the total article will seem shortly.
“Luigi Mangione’s Mom Spent Months Trying to find a Son Who Didn’t Wish to Be Discovered” [Wall Street Journal]. “Over the previous yr, the household was at a loss for the place Luigi was or what he was doing, in response to the folks near the Mangiones. Within the fall, his family emailed lots of his mates to hunt their assist. One pal posted to Luigi on X, ‘Hey, are you okay? No one has heard from you in months, and apparently your loved ones is searching for you.’ In November, his mom reportedly known as the San Francisco Police Division to report her son lacking. ‘She would have completed the whole lot to seek out her son and couldn’t,’ mentioned a type of near the Mangiones.” • Hmm.
“Lakeland lady threatens insurance coverage firm, says ‘Delay, Deny, Depose’: police” [WFLA]. “A Lakeland lady was charged Tuesday after police mentioned she ended a name to an insurance coverage firm with the phrases, ‘Delay, Deny, Depose.’ In an arrest affidavit, the Lakeland Police Division mentioned officers had been contacted by the FBI on Tuesday, Dec. 10 relating to an alleged menace remodeled the telephone. Briana Boston, 42, had reportedly positioned a name to BlueCross BlueShield relating to latest medical insurance coverage claims she was denied. The whole telephone name was recorded, in response to the affidavit…. Police made contact with Boston at her house in Lakeland, the place she reportedly admitted to utilizing these phrases throughout the name, telling detectives that ‘healthcare corporations performed video games and deserved karma from the world as a result of they’re evil.’ ‘My shopper is 42, married mom of three. By no means had any legal expenses or convictions. Might you launch her on her personal recognizance,’ her legal professional Jim Headley mentioned to a choose throughout her first look in court docket. Nevertheless, the choose set her bond at $100,000, stating, ‘I do discover that the bond of $100,000 is acceptable .’ Boston was charged with threats to conduct a mass capturing or an act of terrorism, in response to the affidavit.” • Hoo boy.
“Girl threatens BlueCross BlueShield, saying ‘delay, deny, depose’, then will get arrested” [WHAM]. “Boston is charged with one rely “Written Menace to Kill or Injure- Conduct a mass capturing or an act of terrorism.” • This seems just like the related Florida statute;
However telephone calls are exempt, and Boston made the alleged menace over the telephone. Maybe a authorized knowledgeable from Florida can weigh in?
Guillotine Watch
Class Warfare
NEW PAPER: The 2022 fossil gasoline worth jumps brought on an oil and gasoline revenue explosion. We present the US reaped the most important revenue improve (USD 275bn) of any nation. Huge Oil claims this advantages the American folks. Actually, 51% went to the richest 1%, only one% to the underside 50%. A 🧵 pic.twitter.com/2p1SVQqImO
— Isabella M. Weber (@IsabellaMWeber) December 12, 2024
“Man alleges Sean Combs drugged and raped him throughout a gathering at a New York lodge” [NBC]. • Been awhile since we heard from Diddy!
Information of the Wired
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 in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are fantastic! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you need your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it firstly 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 timotheus:
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