2:00PM Water Cooler 12/6/2024 | bare capitalism

Date:


By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Fowl Tune of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, Ensenachos, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. “One singing in timber out again of 3400 constructing.”

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In Case You Would possibly Miss…

  1. Krugman hangs up his keyboard.
  2. UnitedHealthcare taking pictures: Particulars proceed to emerge.
  3. Inequity aversion solely in people?

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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

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Biden Administration

“Biden is contemplating preemptive pardons for officers and allies earlier than Trump takes workplace” [Associated Press]. “President Joe Biden is weighing whether or not to concern sweeping pardons for officers and allies who the White Home fears may very well be unjustly focused by President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, a preemptive transfer that might be a novel and dangerous use of the president’s extraordinary constitutional energy. The deliberations up to now are largely on the stage of White Home attorneys. However Biden himself has mentioned the subject with some senior aides, in accordance with two folks conversant in the matter who spoke on situation of anonymity Thursday to debate the delicate topic…. Whereas the president’s pardon energy is absolute, Biden’s use on this vogue would mark a major enlargement of how they’re deployed, and a few Biden aides worry it might lay the groundwork for an much more drastic utilization by Trump. In addition they fear that issuing pardons would feed into claims by Trump and his allies that the people dedicated acts that necessitated immunity.”

Trump Transition

“Hegseth says he received’t withdraw as he struggles as Trump’s Protection choose” [Politico]. “Pete Hegseth spent this week making an attempt to woo senators — and others — as he fought to stay Donald Trump’s choose for secretary of Protection. He met with cautious and supportive lawmakers, his lawyer tried to shoot down misconduct allegations and even his mom went on Fox to defend her son…. However with out [Jodi] Ernst, who serves on the Armed Companies Committee and is a veteran and sexual assault survivor, together with different skeptical Republicans like Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, Hegseth’s affirmation seems in jeopardy.” And: “‘I’m a distinct man than I used to be years in the past, and that’s a redemption story that I feel plenty of People admire, and I do know from fellow vets that I’ve frolicked with, they resonate with that as effectively,’ Hegseth stated in response to the allegations. ‘You struggle, you go do powerful issues in powerful locations on behalf of your nation, and typically that adjustments you just a little bit.’” • Honey, I’ve modified!

“Trump aides say Pete Hegseth nonetheless has an opportunity to be confirmed as protection head” [Guardian]. “Trump himself has not expended any actual political capital by calling holdouts on Hegseth’s behalf, the Trump aides engaged on his nomination have, each with senators and inside Trumpworld to make sure he has the president-elect’s backing. Hegseth’s staff, which incorporates aides who’re near the vice-president-elect JD Vance and Trump’s eldest son Don Jr, signify a very highly effective group that has the flexibility to succeed in Republican senators and the Trump interior circle. The trickiest hurdle for Hegseth, the folks stated, seems for now at the least to be convincing Republican senator Joni Ernst to again his nomination or guaranteeing her resistance doesn’t embolden her shut colleagues within the Senate to vote in opposition to him. Ernst, an Iowa Republican and fight veteran who has spoken about being sexually assaulted herself, had a closed-door assembly with Hegseth on Wednesday however didn’t supply her endorsement when she emerged, in addition to in an interview on Fox Information the next morning. For various our senators, they wish to make it possible for any allegations are cleared, and that’s why we have now to have a really thorough vetting course of,” Ernst advised Fox Information, agreeing with the host Invoice Hemmer that she had not reached a ‘sure’ on Hegseth. The continued resistance from Ernst sparked complaints from Trump’s staff at Mar-a-Lago, the place the transition operation is headquartered, that Ernst was content material to sink Hegseth’s nomination as a result of she was within the job herself.”

“Venture 2025 pressuring US Republican senators to verify Pete Hegseth as defence chief” [Associated Press]. “The think-tank behind Venture 2025, the conservative blueprint linked to US president-elect Donald Trump, is launching an effort to again Trump’s imperilled choice for secretary of defence in its newest try to wield affect within the incoming Republican administration. Heritage Basis President Kevin Roberts stated on Thursday that his group will spend US$1 million to strain senators unwilling to again Pete Hegseth, whose nomination to guide the Pentagon has come into query over his views on girls serving in fight and stories about his private behaviour.” • South China Morning Publish rips an AP story from the wire….

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“Trump Names David Sacks as White Home AI and Crypto Czar” [Bloomberg]. “Donald Trump says he’s choosing enterprise capitalist David Sacks of Craft Ventures LLC to function his synthetic intelligence and crypto czar, a newly created place that underscores the president-elect’s intent to spice up two quickly growing industries. ‘David will information coverage for the Administration in Synthetic Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas essential to the way forward for American competitiveness. David will give attention to making America the clear world chief in each areas,’ Trump stated Thursday in a publish on his Fact Social community. Trump stated that Sacks would additionally lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Expertise.” • America is already a world chief in fraud, so what precisely is Sacks going to try this’s totally different?

“Trump names ICE chief and makes one other spherical of immigration bulletins” [Politico]. “Trump stated he was nominating Rodney Scott as commissioner of Customs and Border Safety. Scott served for nearly three many years within the Border Patrol, and because the chief of the company over the past 12 months of the Trump administration and starting of the Biden administration. He helped implement Trump’s Stay in Mexico Coverage, Title 42 and Protected Third Nation agreements. Trump additionally introduced he was tapping Caleb Vitello, who’s presently the assistant director of the Workplace of Firearms and Tactical Applications in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to function performing director of ICE.”

2024 Publish Mortem

“5 Takeaways From the 2024 Elections Now That They’re Lastly Over” [Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine]. “[T]otal GOP management of the federal authorities in all probability received’t final greater than two years, and there are not any explicit indicators of an electoral realignment down poll. Republican triumphalism and Democratic despair are equally unmerited from the attitude of the election itself.” And concluding: “So the good expectation going ahead is sustained partisan polarization and extremely contested elections, not some crimson apocalypse.” The ever-level-headed Kilgore is all the time value a learn. This, nonetheless, caught my eye: ” The GOP beneficial properties amongst Democratic “base” constituencies (particularly Latinos and younger voters) that acquired a lot consideration this 12 months are most simply defined by short-term response to deeply detrimental financial perceptions somewhat than some basic alienation from the Democratic Occasion that we are able to take with no consideration going ahead.” • I’m not so positive. I hold going again to that extraordinary map of counties displaying shifts to blue, or crimson. And nearly your complete nation was crimson. That universality argues to me that there’s one thing deeper happening than “brief time period response,” and I’d speculate it’s a response to PMC governance as such. This codes as wokeness, after all, however the PMC is greater than our nationwide HR division. The additionally extraordinary outpouring of reactions to the Thompson taking pictures match into this hypothesis (which in all probability received’t be leveraged by Republicans, and can’t be by Democrats (“I can’t minimize my throat two methods,” as Toby Esterhase remarks someplace in Tinker, Tailor)). However by any individual?

Marketing campaign Finance

“Elon Musk donated greater than $250mn to Donald Trump’s marketing campaign, electoral filings present” [Financial Times]. “Elon Musk donated greater than $250mn to Donald Trump’s election marketing campaign, together with at the least $75mn within the ultimate weeks earlier than the vote, US electoral filings have revealed.” • In some unspecified time in the future, Musk’s gonna neglect that Trump is the President, not him…

Our Famously Free Press

“Paul Krugman retires as Occasions columnist” (press launch) [The New York Times Company]. “Paul is a vital determine within the current historical past of Occasions Opinion. Repeatedly, he took on the massive fights, grappled with coverage deeply and significantly, held the highly effective to account and spoke onerous truths — typically as a lonely voice arguing retro positions. He was a powerful, clear, early opponent of the American invasion of Iraq and spent years shining a light-weight on the lies and penalties concerned with that conflict. He was a principled critic of George W. Bush’s management and plenty of of his coverage priorities and, with lucid prose, helped readers perceive the implications of the Bush tax cuts and his proposed privatization of Social Safety. And Paul was loads powerful on Bush’s successor, too: Barack Obama hadn’t even taken workplace in 2009 when Paul memorably took aside the president-elect’s prescription for the Nice Recession: ‘The financial plan he’s providing isn’t as sturdy as his language in regards to the financial menace,’ Paul wrote. “In truth, it falls effectively wanting what’s wanted.’” • After election 2000, Krugman was one of many only a few main figures, on both aspect of the aisle, keen to name out Bush (Al Franken, amazingly, being the one different I can recall. The Democrats have been completely supine). I used to be dwelling in Philly on the time, and once I would go into Barnes and Noble, I’d be confronted with a stacks upon stacks and shelf after shelf of pro-Bush books; I carried out a small act of resistance by turning the seen books over to cover the covers. Krugman (and Franken) are the one voices from that point I keep in mind, and Krugman deserves credit score for that (regardless of his subsequent evolution and the issues with mainstream economics typically).

“Putin’s Friends Say Tucker Carlson Is Performing as a Secret Again-Channel to Trump” [The Daily Beast]. • And that is dangerous why? Who do we would like for the job? Vicky Nuland?

The Wizard of Kalorama™

“Obama calls political ‘divisiveness’ one of many ‘biggest challenges of our time’” [Politico]. “Former President Barack Obama referred to as out divisiveness and polarization as ‘one of many biggest challenges of our time,’ as he averted any particular political references in his first public remarks because the election….. ‘It’s about recognizing that in a democracy, energy comes from forging alliances and constructing coalitions… not just for the woke, but additionally for the waking,’ Obama advised the group of about 650 contributors on the Obama Basis occasion on Chicago’s South Facet, just some miles from the place Obama’s presidential heart is below building.” • I’m wondering how lots of the 650 “contributors” have been from the neighborhood. Anyhow, so far as “divisiveness and polarization” and polarization, I’ve not forgotten or forgiven how, 2024 – 2008 = 16 years in the past, at Day by day Kos, “You’re a racist” was actually the second transfer within the Obot script. Like calling any individual a fascist, calling any individual a racist is a bell you’ll be able to’t unring. They didn’t study a factor, did they?

Realignment and Legitimacy

Like baseball card assortment, however of oligarchs:

Combine ’em! Match ’em! Share ’em with your pals! There are, says UBS, about 2700 billionaires on the planet, and we have now 11 of them within the Trump administration, a not negligible absolute numbers. It’s attention-grabbing to have oligarchs working instantly in authorities, somewhat just like the boss firing the managers and coming onto the store flooring due to course they will do it higher. The press protection will naturally be sycophantic….

“A Bipartisan Slippage in Requirements” [Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal]. “It’s embarrassing as a citizen to see the president of america pardon his son, and in such an all-encompassing approach, for any authorized transgression going again almost 11 years, which looks like a concession to the idea that his extra attention-grabbing law-stretching or -breaking could also be but unknown. The president had promised incessantly and explicitly that he wouldn’t pardon his son, that he’d play it straight and let the course of justice play out. Which implies he knew it was necessary to folks, to how they seen him, and so he lied to reassure them. All this did what others have stated: lowered belief in political leaders, made the cynical extra cynical…. The pardon struck me as a bitter motion, too. A president who cared about public opinion, and even that of his personal get together, wouldn’t have carried out it, or fairly this fashion. It’s the president flipping the hen to an ungrateful (and likewise somewhat decadent!) nation that coldly turned on him after a single debate, after which elected that tramp Donald Trump—they deserve what they get… As to the Politico report that the White Home is contemplating pre-emptive pardons for officers not but even accused or convicted of breaking the legislation, wow. If that’s true it makes you marvel. What have our leaders been as much as the previous 4 years that they require such unprecedented forgiveness? Even with fears of a vengeful Trump Justice Division, pre-emptive pardons are an extreme transfer. Now to the incoming administration’s slippage of requirements, the unique cupboard picks that veer from ‘that’s a stretch’ to ‘that’s insane.’ The extra unique nominees—Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Well being and Human Companies, Pete Hegseth at Protection, Kash Patel on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mehmet Oz at Medicare and Medicaid Companies—don’t have backgrounds that match the roles. Taken collectively they appear like individuals who wish to blow issues up.” You say “blow issues up” like that’s a nasty factor. And eventually: “Too lots of the Trump nominees have stated, a technique or one other, that they intend to take out the deep state, however they need to begin explaining precisely what they imply. The deep state isn’t actually a conservative perception, and it isn’t a brand new one.” • It’s an earworm, to not be defined.

Syndemics

“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

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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 Common 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 handle 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!

Origins Debate

“Wuhan lab samples maintain no shut kin to virus behind COVID” [Nature]. “After years of rumours that the virus that causes COVID-19 escaped from a laboratory in China, the virologist on the centre of the claims has offered knowledge on dozens of latest coronaviruses collected from bats in southern China. At a convention in Japan this week, Shi Zhengli, a specialist on bat coronaviruses, reported that not one of the viruses saved in her freezers are the latest ancestors of the virus SARS-CoV-2. Shi was main coronavirus analysis on the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a high-level biosafety laboratory, when the primary circumstances of COVID-19 have been reported in that metropolis. Quickly afterwards, theories emerged that the virus had leaked — both by chance or intentionally — from the WIV. Shi has constantly stated that SARS-CoV-2 was by no means seen or studied in her lab. However some commentators have continued to ask whether or not one of many many bat coronaviruses her staff collected in southern China over many years was carefully associated to it. Shi promised to sequence the genomes of the coronaviruses and launch the info. The newest evaluation, which has not been peer reviewed, consists of knowledge from the entire genomes of 56 new betacoronaviruses, the broad group to which SARS-CoV-2 belongs, in addition to some partial sequences. All of the viruses have been collected between 2004 and 2021.” • Huge if true. Appears just a little late.

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TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts

Lambert: Sadly, I can’t get CDC’s wastewater web page to load. Hopefully Monday.

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC November 25 Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week):

Variants [3] CDC December 7 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC November 30

Hospitalization
New York[5] New York State, knowledge December 5: Nationwide [6] CDC December 5:

Positivity
Nationwide[7] Walgreens December 2: Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic November 23:

Vacationers Information
Positivity[9] CDC November 19: Variants[10] CDC November 4:

Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20: Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20:

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 carried out an important job normalizing successive waves of an infection.

[4] (ED) Down.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.

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

[7] (Walgreens) Down.

[8] (Cleveland) Down.

[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

Employment State of affairs: “United States Unemployment Fee” [Trading Economics]. “The unemployment fee in america went as much as 4.2% in November of 2024 from 4.1% within the prior month, in keeping with market expectations.”

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Manufacturing: “FAA administrator says Boeing nonetheless not producing MAX planes after strike” [Reuters]. [FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker] stated Boeing’s plan is to slowly restart manufacturing later this month and he plans one other assembly in January as the corporate ramps up…. He declined to say when he thought the FAA would restore Boeing’s skill to provide greater than 38 planes per 30 days, however stated he could be stunned if it was lower than a number of months earlier than they get near the 38 most…. Whitaker, who introduced one other audit of Boeing in October, has stated it might take 5 years for Boeing to reform its security tradition, however famous the planemaker has deployed a brand new components administration system and improved coaching, including, ‘What I noticed this week was actually what I anticipated to see.’ He needs Boeing to undertake an efficient Security Administration System, that are a set of insurance policies and procedures to proactively determine and handle potential operational hazards. ‘We haven’t seen proof of it working the way in which it’s presupposed to work, the place your danger evaluation is driving your habits,’ Whitaker stated. The Nationwide Transportation Security Board has additionally stated Boeing’s SMS did not catch issues years earlier.” And: “Whitaker stated he has had some preliminary conversations with the Trump transition staff and plans extra, including it was too early within the dialog to say if he expects to stay within the job.” • Good little litmus check.

Manufacturing: “Boeing pauses surveillance plan to trace staff on the workplace” [Seattle Times (PI)]. “Hours after The Seattle Occasions requested Boeing a few program to put in digital surveillance sensors in its Everett workplaces, the corporate stated it has ‘paused our pilot program in any respect places and can hold staff up to date.’ Boeing started Monday putting in ‘office occupancy sensors’ in the principle Everett workplace towers that use movement detectors and cameras mounted in ceiling tiles above workstations, convention rooms and customary areas. The sensors are meant to assemble info that’s then analyzed utilizing synthetic intelligence to feed knowledge to Boeing actual property and amenities managers about how many individuals are coming to the workplace and utilizing particular areas, and for the way lengthy. For folks already involved about how their web and cellphone use might be tracked exterior work, this new type of office surveillance proved unwelcome, regardless of Boeing’s insistence that it doesn’t invade anybody’s private privateness. The plan was outlined to staff final week and one was creeped out sufficient on the prospect to share the PowerPoint presentation with The Seattle Occasions. ‘It scared me to my core,’ stated the worker, who declined to supply their identify. ‘What you’ll be able to see is, to say the least, evil.’ Whether or not from such reactions or from the press inquiry on Thursday, Boeing has backed off for now.’ And: “Boeing’s presentation gave staff fulsome assurances that the ‘sensors don’t seize any identifiable info.’” • After all, after all. Is it presumably that Ortberg is evem worse than Calhoun?

Tech: “Why is printer ink so costly?” [Digital Rights Bytes]. “Printer firms have a number of strategies to make it onerous for you, and for opponents, to switch their costly first-party cartridges… Competitors: The printer firms have a really concentrated market—an oligopoly. After gobbling each other up, solely 5 main firms are left standing. Authorized: Printer firms depend on a mixture of “mental property” (IP) legal guidelines to dam third events from reverse engineering their printers …. Technical: Ink cartridges from the massive firms usually now embody microchips designed to cease you from utilizing third-party ink. It’s doable to make a program that lies to your printer in your behalf, so {that a} $5 third-party ink cartridge tells your printer, “Yup, I’m an HP ink cartridge.” However printer firms additionally exploit their units’ always-on community connections to push “updates” to your printer that trigger them to reject third-party ink cartridges from firms which have braved the authorized dangers to give you cheaper ink.” And; “So why do printer firms cost a lot for ink? .”

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At present’s Concern & Greed Index: 54 Greed (earlier shut: 55 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 67 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Dec 6 at 1:41:43 PM ET.

Healthcare

Extra on the UnitedHealth taking pictures. I attempted to chop out as a lot duplication as doable:

“Hunt for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare’s CEO reveals new clues about actions in New York” [Associated Press]. “Investigators imagine the suspect could have traveled to New York final month on a bus that originated in Atlanta, one of many legislation enforcement officers stated…. Investigators have discovered the person lowered his masks on the entrance desk of the hostel as a result of he was flirting with the girl who checked him in, one of many legislation enforcement officers advised the AP, resulting in a photograph of his face. The lady advised investigators that in that encounter she requested to see his smile and he pulled down his masks [amateur], the official stated. Investigators imagine the suspect used a pretend New Jersey identification card when he checked in on the hostel, the official stated.” • I wish to know what sort of masks; I’ve seen “ski masks” specified, nevertheless it’s onerous for me to think about checking in carrying a ski masks, even in a really tough hostel.

“Search continues for gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York” [WaPo]. “Police reiterated on Thursday that they imagine the assault was premeditated, which raised questions on how and why the shooter was in a position to find Thompson — who was staying in a distinct lodge — at that particular time and place. Whereas Wednesday’s investor convention had been introduced final month, the placement was not particularly included in that info.” Oh. Oligarchs settling their variations, then? However: “New York is teeming with surveillance cameras, and photographs from one obtained by The Washington Publish appeared to point out that a few half-hour earlier than the taking pictures, the person later recognized as an individual of curiosity exited the 57th Avenue station for the F Practice and headed down Sixth Avenue towards the Hilton. Pictures launched by police additionally appeared to point out that individual had used money to purchase one thing at a Starbucks earlier than the taking pictures.” And: “Investigators are ready for DNA check outcomes on gadgets they suppose could have belonged to the shooter — a water bottle and a cellphone deserted close to the crime scene, in accordance with the official.” So, beginner?

“Was Brian Thompson’s Killer a Hit Man? Unlikely, Specialists Say” [New York Times]. “[David Shapiro, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and a former F.B.I. special agent] added: ‘When it comes to an expert hit man, that appears unlikely. It will be very onerous to get any individual to do one thing like this. It’s very excessive danger.’” And: “the shooter left a path of clues.” Apart from the Starbucks and the hostel: “After the taking pictures, the police discovered not solely the shell casings but additionally a cellphone that they’re analyzing. None of this appears just like the work of an expert, the consultants stated.” And: “‘I feel he deliberate this as meticulously as his talents permit,’ stated [Michael C. Farkas, a defense attorney who has worked as a New York City homicide prosecutor]. ‘And he’s in all probability clever sufficient to know the percentages of evading seize indefinitely usually are not in his favor,’ he stated. ‘He clearly wished to ship a message, and he’s making an attempt to get away.’” •

“Hit Males Aren’t What You Suppose” [Slate]. “The factor that struck me was the truth that he knew the place [Thompson] was going to be and when he was going to be there. Usually, you get that info by observing the person. You discover their schedule and their routine, and you then intercept them someplace alongside the road on their routine. This was clearly not a routine setting. So he needed to have some purpose to imagine that Thompson was going to be popping out of that door at an approximate time to have the ability to lay in wait. As a result of it’s Manhattan, standing round ready dangers the chance of being challenged by a cop or safety guard coming by, which means that he had purpose to know when the man was going to be popping out. It suggests some form of inside info.”

“On-line sleuths are racing to catch the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer” [WaPo]. “The early proof shared by police has largely been composed of pictures from New York’s huge infrastructure of surveillance cameras, a mixture of private and non-private recording units that investigators routinely entry to determine and monitor felony suspects all through town. In 2021, as a part of a crowdsourcing undertaking, volunteers with the human-rights group Amnesty Worldwide counted greater than 25,000 cameras on buildings, poles and streetlights throughout New York Metropolis. Stanford College researchers that 12 months estimated that New York’s digicam density was almost 4 occasions increased than Los Angeles. The homicide scene’s location in one among Manhattan’s busiest districts in all probability ensured the person was recorded from many angles, stated Ralph Cilento, a former commander of detectives with the New York police who retired in 2021 and now teaches police science at John Jay School. ‘Midtown is just like the Iron Dome of cameras,’ Cilento stated, referencing the rocket-repelling air-defense system that blankets the Israeli skies. ‘You can not get into Manhattan in any respect now with out being caught on digicam.’ However discovering and gathering all that visible proof can require appreciable effort — and take extra time than some sleuths on social media are ready to provide. ‘They’ll monitor the man right through town,’ he stated, however “it’s terribly tedious work.’”

“The highlight is on medical insurance firms. Sufferers are telling their tales of denied claims, chapter and delayed care” [Yahoo News]. “For a lot of, the price of life-saving care is just too excessive, and medical debt is the No. 1 reason behind chapter in America. That’s to say nothing of the emotional labor of navigating the advanced system. With Thompson’s killing and the Anthem coverage, there’s been widespread response with an analogous by way of line: a pervasive contempt for the state of medical insurance in america. Essentially the most illustrative reactions, although are the non-public ones, the tales of denied claims, battles with insurance coverage brokers, delayed care, submitting for chapter and extra.” • Attention-grabbing to see “emotional labor” sneak in there; I’d say it’s labor, initially.

Information of the Wired

“No proof for inequity aversion in non-human animals: a meta-analysis of settle for/reject paradigms” [Proceedings B]. The Summary: “Disadvantageous inequity aversion (IA), a detrimental response to receiving lower than others, is a key constructing block of the human sense of equity. Whereas some theorize that IA is shared by species throughout the animal kingdom, others argue that it’s an solely human evolutionary adaptation to the selective pressures of cooperation amongst non-kin. Important to this debate is the empirical query of whether or not non-human animals are averse in the direction of unequal useful resource distributions. Over the previous 20 years, researchers have reported that people from a variety of taxa exhibit IA; duties the place contributors can reject or settle for a given distribution of rewards delivered the majority of this proof. But these outcomes have been questioned on each conceptual and empirical grounds. Within the largest empirical investigation of non-human IA thus far, we synthesize the first knowledge from 23 research utilizing settle for/reject duties, overlaying 60 430 observations of 18 species. We discover no proof for IA in non-human animals in these duties. This discovering held throughout all species within the dataset and pre-registered subsets (all species reported to exhibit IA, primates reported to exhibit IA, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys). Different interpretations of the info and implications for the evolution of equity are mentioned.” • Hmm. Individuals with pets, do you agree?

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This entry was posted in Water Cooler on by Lambert Strether.

About Lambert Strether

Readers, I’ve had a correspondent characterize my views as reasonable cynical. Let me briefly clarify them. I imagine in common packages that present concrete materials advantages, particularly to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime instance, however tuition-free faculty and a Publish Workplace Financial institution additionally fall below this heading. So do a Jobs Assure and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can ship on such packages, as a result of the 2 are totally different flavors of neoliberalism (“As a result of markets”). I don’t a lot care in regards to the “ism” that delivers the advantages, though whichever one does should put widespread humanity first, versus markets. May very well be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t a lot care, so long as the advantages are delivered.

To me, the important thing concern — and because of this Medicare for All is all the time first with me — is the tens of hundreds of extra “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton examine, and different current research. That big physique depend makes Medicare for All, on the very least, an ethical and strategic crucial. And that stage of struggling and natural harm makes the issues of identification politics — even the worthy struggle to assist the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — shiny shiny objects by comparability. Therefore my frustration with the information movement — presently for my part the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the opposite by out-of-power liberals and their allies within the State and within the press — a information movement that consistently forces me to give attention to issues that I regard as of secondary significance to the surplus deaths. What sort of political financial system is it that halts and even reverses the will increase in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I’m additionally very hopeful that the persevering with destruction of each get together institutions will open the house for voices supporting packages just like these I’ve listed; let’s name such voices “the left.” Volatility creates alternative, particularly if the Democrat institution, which places markets first and opposes all such packages, isn’t allowed to get again into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I really like the tactical stage, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been running a blog about it each day for fourteen years, however all the pieces I write has this attitude in the back of it.













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