2:00PM Water Cooler 12/3/2024 | bare capitalism

Date:


By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Affected person readers, I’m touring once more, I really feel a WiFi useless zone arising, and I wish to take a nap. I needs to be again in kind tomorrow. –lamnert

Chicken Tune of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Mesquite Oasis San Diego, California, United States. “A part of an extended recording.” Longer than three minutes!

* * *

Politics

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

* * *

Biden Administration

“Why Biden’s Pardon of His Son Is So Controversial” [Bloomberg]. “A Republican-controlled committee within the Home of Representatives seized on the enterprise dealings of Hunter Biden, and Republican Kevin McCarthy, then the Home speaker, launched an impeachment probe into Joe Biden for what he known as a ‘tradition of corruption.’ Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer gathered proof that from 2014 to 2019, Hunter Biden and associates obtained some $24 million from people or corporations primarily based in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Kazakhstan. However the impeachment inquiry finally failed.” • If anyone had a idea of that failure, I missed it. Not like the farcical Benghazi hearings, Comer had a transparent timeline. And the checks.

Trump Transition

“Congress faces shutdown dilemma that might mess with Trump’s first 100 days” [NBC]. “As Congress returns this week for one final burst of exercise earlier than it wraps up the session, it faces a key deadline of Dec. 20 to avert a authorities shutdown. Democrats and Republicans seem resigned to passing a seamless decision, or CR, that may briefly fund the federal government into early 2025 — almost certainly March — as they run out of time to strike a full funding deal this yr. The 2 events haven’t even agreed on an total spending stage for the brand new fiscal yr, not to mention the way to allocate the cash throughout components of the federal government. Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., alluded to the inevitability of a short-term invoice Monday, saying, “We have to maintain divisive and pointless provisions out of any authorities funding extension, or else it should get tougher to move a CR in time.” For Republicans, that could be a double-edged sword. The upside for Republicans in punting the deadline is that they’d have extra leverage to form authorities funding within the new yr, with President-elect Donald Trump returning to the White Home and the GOP taking management of the Senate and sustaining a slim Home majority. The massive draw back is it will create a crucial deadline early within the Trump presidency, doubtlessly taking worthwhile time away from confirming his nominees by way of the Senate and from the large party-line invoice that Republicans are to increase his tax cuts and advance his immigration and border safety agenda.”

“Single Home race stands between Republicans and 1-seat majority” [FOX]. “Home Republicans might start the brand new yr grappling with a one-seat majority, a perilously slim margin for the 119th Congress as President-elect Donald Trump weapons for an lively first 100 days. Final-minute GOP losses and exits in favor of the brand new administration imply Republicans might start that interval with treasured little room for dissent, and one congressional race might determine the distinction between a possible one- or two-seat majority…. In California’s thirteenth Congressional District, Rep. John Duarte, R-Calif., is preventing for his political life towards Democrat Adam Grey. As of Monday afternoon, Grey leads Duarte by a couple of hundred votes – a margin of roughly 0.1%. California state legislation mandates that counties certify their election outcomes by Dec. 5. If Democrats flip the seat, the Home would have 220 Republicans and 215 Democrats heading into the New 12 months. Nonetheless, three Republican lawmakers’ departures are anticipated to whittle that down additional. Now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned from the 118th and 119th Congresses amid consideration to be Trump’s lawyer basic.”

Marketing campaign Finance

If fraud will be dedicated, it should have already got been dedicated:

The #Resistance

“‘We’re nonetheless on this combat’: the resistance to Trump considers its choices after bruising election defeat” [Guardian]. “The sense of malaise round “Resistance 2.0″ could partly be as a result of, whereas Trump’s first victory felt like stunning accident of historical past, his second was delivered by an voters that is aware of precisely what it’s getting. Whereas he misplaced the nationwide widespread vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016, he gained extra votes nationwide than Harris and claims a mandate. For a lot of liberals, that end result was a intestine punch that appeared to undermine the work of three election cycles.” And: “Talking from the Hudson valley of New York, [organizer LA] Kauffman added: ‘What I’m seeing is that folks wish to discover a solution to meet these wants for group connection in quieter, extra intimate methods. There’s quite a lot of gatherings which can be taking place in individuals’s houses and group centres and neighbourhoods. It’s not a mass coming collectively that gave us a sense of monumental collective togetherness. It’s taking place in smaller, tighter, face-to-face communities.’” • “Huge collective togethernes.” Let’s to the WInter Palace rapidly!

Democrats en déshabillé

“Democrats received’t win elections by labeling all white males as oppressors, both” [USA Today]. “Previous white working-class males have grow to be pariahs in lots of Democratic occasion circles. More and more, a lot of the rhetoric coming from Democratic candidates, who don’t fall into the class with which I establish, brazenly vilify individuals corresponding to myself just because they’re lumping us into a gaggle that they’ve labeled oppressors. A lot laborious work and sacrifices have gone into preventing prejudice primarily based in group identities, but my very own Democratic Get together has condoned or permitted such prejudice with regards to outdated working-class white guys. Am I claiming to be oppressed? Completely not! I acknowledge that I’ve benefitted from privilege afforded me by my gender and ethnicity. I help fairness in all areas of life for all people. I work to help fairness for marginalized teams day by day and I acknowledge the battle isn’t over. However I’m shedding help for a celebration that allows me to be vilified by its lots of its members, primarily based upon the mix of my age, race, gender, and working-class roots. Current electoral outcomes have a tendency to indicate that I’m not the one one feeling slighted.” • Nonetheless, I don’t assume the mishegoss of “slights” produced by id politics can ever be netted out. Finest to heave all the enterprise over the aspect and middle the working class as such.

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

* * *

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 information). “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 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 experiences); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (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!

“Influenza A(H5N1) shedding in air corresponds to transmissibility in mammals” [Nature]. “A rise in spillover occasions of extremely pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses to mammals suggests choice of viruses that transmit properly in mammals.” • Oh.

Elite Maleficence

“After Motion Evaluate of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Classes Discovered and a Path Ahead” (PDF) [Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Committee On Oversight and Accountability]. Comer, the Committee chair, shouldn’t be a nutter, which is sweet. I’ve skimmed it. Nonetheless, I although I might search on “airborne”; it seems precisely as soon as. Right here it’s in context:

And “aerosol”:

I’m involved by the truth that an unlimited battle waged by outsiders towards CDC and WHO, to drive them to acknowledge a science-based paradign for Covid transmission goes unmentioned within the report. particularly since this effort would appear to be precisely the citizen-driven method that MAGA seems to need in different fields. Much more disappointing is that Democrats, by their very own silence, performed alongside. One would possibly virtually assume that bipartisan agenda-setting was at play.

“Jay Bhattacharya and the Vindication of the ‘Fringe’ Scientists” [WSJ]. “Francis Collins, the NIH chief between 2009-21, derided Dr. Bhattacharya as a “fringe” scientist for urging the federal government to concentrate on defending the weak whereas letting others go about their lives.” • “Fringe” is actually silly framing (though not each sufferer of the Semmelweis Impact is, in reality, a Semmelweis). It could have been higher to have framed “Dr.” Bhattacharya as a eugenicist, which has the advantage of being true.

* * *

TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts

Lambert right here: Regardless that the Covid numbers appear low, please keep in mind that the info shouldn’t be practically pretty much as good because it as soon as was, that it lags, and that the draw back dangers of catching Covid are appreciable. For individuals who have developed their very own private protocols, I wouldn’t calm down them. Possibly subsequent yr.

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

Variants [3] CDC November 23 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC November 23

Hospitalization
New York[5] New York State, information November 29: Nationwide [6] CDC November 28:

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

Vacationers Knowledge
Positivity[9] CDC November 4: Variants[10] CDC November 4:

Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 2: Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 2:

LEGEND

1) for charts new as we speak; all others will not be 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 widespread. XEC has entered the chat. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has carried out an ideal job normalizing successive waves of an infection.

[4] (ED) Down.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Steadily down.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Truly improved; it’s now one of many few charts to indicate all the 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

There aren’t any official statistics of curiosity as we speak.

* * *

The Bezzle: “How a California pot firm went from $575 million in money to a ‘debt demise spiral’” [SFGATE]. “Jay-Z’s hashish model seemed timeless as quickly because it launched in 2020. The billionaire rapper, authorized title Shawn Carter, rolled out his Monogram line of luxurious joints and hashish flower with a photograph shoot on the well-known Frank Sinatra home in Palm Springs. Fashions elegantly smoked joints in entrance of mid-century pool furnishings, as if the model had been round for many years. Glowing profiles in GQ, Vogue and Vainness Honest quickly adopted…. The mother or father firm behind Monogram, confusingly known as The Mum or dad Firm, hasn’t fared any higher. The conglomerate initially hit California’s market with $575 million in money and plans to take over all the business, however after burning by way of half a billion {dollars}, it has merged into one other firm, which itself seems to be in monetary bother… it seems the model is the newest hyped-up superstar pot model to wither away in California’s punishing authorized weed market.”

* * *

At this time’s Concern & Greed Index: 67 Greed (earlier shut: 66 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 64 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Dec 2 at 1:53:27 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. File Excessive, October 10, 2016: 189. Present: 183. (Keep in mind that bringing on the Rapture is sweet.) • Exhausting to consider the Rapture Index goes down. Do these individuals know one thing we don’t?

E-book Nook

Good concept:

Although I’d be flip. Would I would like my favourite books within the tree, or simply any books?

Gallery

Lowry?!?!?

Class Warfare

How’s that 2028 basic strike coming?

Information of the Wired

I’m not feeling wired as we speak.

* * *

Contact data 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 verify in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are positive! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you need 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 lcm:

lcm writes: “This fall-blooming camellia often loses most of its flowers and buds to a tough freeze in mid-October right here in central Virginia, however no freezes this yr!”

* * *

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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 real looking cynical. Let me briefly clarify them. I consider 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 Submit Workplace Financial institution additionally fall underneath 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 concerning the “ism” that delivers the advantages, though whichever one does need to put frequent 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 difficulty — and this is the reason Medicare for All is at all times first with me — is the tens of 1000’s of extra “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton research, 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 considerations of id politics — even the worthy combat to assist the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — brilliant shiny objects by comparability. Therefore my frustration with the information movement — at present in my opinion 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 continuously forces me to concentrate on 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 occasion institutions will open the area for voices supporting packages much 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 day by day for fourteen years, however every thing I write has this angle behind it.













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