By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Hen Music of the Day
Northern Mockingbird, 34 Peregrine Crossing, Chatham, Georgia, United States.
In Case You Would possibly Miss…
- Trump presser.
- AOC loses key vote. If any.
- Thriller drones.
- Disaster hotline for CEOs.
Politics
“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in actual fact a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Trump Transition
* * * “Elizabeth Warren asks Trump to set conflict-of-interest guidelines for Musk” [WaPo]. “The letter despatched by e-mail from the Democrat’s Senate workplace to Trump’s transition group notes that common members of the Trump Vance 2025 Transition Group function beneath an ethics coverage that requires them to ‘keep away from each precise and obvious conflicts of curiosity.’ These guidelines, which have been revealed by the Common Companies Administration, embrace prohibition from transition group members working ‘on specific issues involving particular events that have an effect on’ their pursuits. Musk, who’s price $474 billion in line with the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, spent greater than $250 million to assist elect Trump president and has since embraced the label ‘first buddy’ to explain his function. He has been a frequent presence at Trump’s aspect, advising on authorities formation and taking a lead function in a brand new effort to chop federal spending. It isn’t clear what ethics guidelines, if any, Musk, has agreed to comply with in his function as a Trump adviser. ‘Placing Mr. Musk ready to affect billions of {dollars} of presidency contracts and regulatory enforcement with out a stringent battle of curiosity settlement in place is an invite for corruption on a scale not seen in our lifetimes,’ Warren wrote. ‘As your Transition Group Ethics Plan makes clear, the function of presidency is to not line the pockets of the wealthiest Individuals; a powerful, enforceable ethics plan for the world’s richest man is a essential first step for delivering on that promise.’” • Nicely, I’m glad she’s in there punching. And “First Buddy”? Pricey Lord. However certainly a billionaire in authorities is confliced by definition?
“Trump’s for-profit presidency” [VOX]. “”Victory” cologne and fragrance. ‘Crypto President’ watches. Restricted-edition ‘American Eagle’ guitars. T-branded golf sneakers and ‘Combat Combat Combat’ high-top sneakers. These are only a pattern of the numerous merchandise licensed to bear President-elect Donald Trump’s model, together with some that he has promoted on his social media web site Fact Social simply weeks earlier than his inauguration. If he continues to hawk his merchandise after returning to the White Home, that would increase moral considerations.” • “Don, I preserve tellin ya. Arrange a Basis!”
* * * “Trump passes over RFK Jr.’s daughter-in-law for CIA’s No. 2 job” [WaPo]. “President-elect Donald Trump has instructed shut aides he’s now not contemplating Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter-in-law to function deputy director on the CIA, after a marketing campaign by Republican lawmakers who [Yeah, who wants that?], in line with individuals conversant in the matter…. Cotton, a staunch supporter of subversive espionage operations overseas who prior to now has advocated the overthrow of Iran’s authorities, is without doubt one of the most hawkish voices on international coverage in Congress and is anticipated to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee subsequent yr.” • Hmm….
On Kennedy at HHS:
I want Trump + RFK had caught to MAHA (“Make America Wholesome Once more”), which was an amazing and even encouraging thought. This appears like throwing crimson meat the bottom.
* * * “Decide rejects Trump’s bid to toss hush cash conviction due to Supreme Court docket immunity ruling” [Associated Press]. The nugatory Bragg case lives on: “A decide Monday refused to throw out President-elect Donald Trump’s hush cash conviction due to the U.S. Supreme Court docket’s latest ruling on presidential immunity. However the total way forward for the historic case stays unclear. Manhattan Decide Juan M. Merchan’s choice blocks one potential off-ramp from the case forward of the previous and future president’s return to workplace subsequent month. His legal professionals have raised different arguments for dismissal, nevertheless. It’s unclear when — or whether or not — a sentencing date is perhaps set. Prosecutors have stated there ought to be some lodging for his upcoming presidency, however they insist the conviction ought to stand.” • You’ve gotta give credit score to the New York Bar — Bragg, Merchan, and naturally the agency of Paul, Weiss — for being deeply dedicated to the bit.
2024 Publish Mortem
“The Electoral Faculty votes to substantiate outcomes for the 2024 presidential election right this moment. Right here’s what to know” [CBS]. “At state capitols throughout the U.S. Tuesday, the presidential electors shall be gathering to solid their electoral votes, formalizing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris within the 2024 election.
“13 2020 faux electors will solid actual Electoral Faculty votes for Trump on Tuesday” [CNN]. “13 Republicans who participated within the 2020 faux electors plot, together with some who’re going through legal fees, will solid actual Electoral Faculty votes Tuesday for President-elect Donald Trump, as electors within the states finalize his victory. These Republican activists hail from Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada – essential battleground states that Trump carried this yr, after shedding all of them in 2020. 4 years in the past, they signed faux certificates falsely claiming Trump gained. They had been picked once more by Republicans to be electors this yr, and can signal the genuine certificates.” • I don’t settle for the “faux” framing. A number of the “contingent” electors signed in good religion, persauded by the much more culpable Republican legal professionals.
Democrats en déshabillé
* * * “Senate Democrats push plan to abolish Electoral Faculty” [The Hill]. • This is their focus? Actually? Don’t ever change, Democrats!
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Individuals Move Judgment on Their Courts” [Gallup]. • Helpful chart:
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 information). “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 deal with given with the vegetation. 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!
Airborne Transmission
Air flow priorities for the subsequent airborne syndemic:
Faculties, for instance, are v efficient propagators of outbreaks:
– Giant numbers of contacts
– Indoor air high quality typically poor
– Lengthy period of publicity
– Common attendance
– Youngsters do not dwell alone: they dwell in households with different age teams -> group unfold.2/
— Amanda Kvalsvig (@AmandaKvalsvig) December 13, 2024
TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts
Lambert right here: Walgreen’s positivity hasn’t gone up, however it hasn’t gone down, both.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC December 9 | 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, information December 16: | Nationwide [6] CDC December 12: |
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| Positivity | |
| ★ Nationwide[7] Walgreens December 16: | 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 right this moment; all others are usually not up to date.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) Seeing just a little extra crimson, however nothing new main worldwide hubs. Curiously, Calculated Threat is watching wastewater too.
[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has accomplished an amazing job normalizing successive waves of an infection.
[4] (ED) Somewhat 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
Retail Gross sales: “United States Retail Gross sales YoY” [Trading Economics]. “Retail Gross sales in the USA elevated 3.8% year-on-year in November 2024, the largest annual rise since December final yr, and following an upwardly revised 2.9% achieve in October.”
Manufacturing: “United States Industrial Manufacturing MoM” [Industrial Production]. “Industrial manufacturing in the USA fell by 0.1% from the earlier month in November of 2024 to increase the 0.4% contraction in October, and contrasting with market expectations of a 0.2% rise. The end result was in step with different surveys that pointed to softness in US manufacturing, unveiling the sector’s battle forward of potential tariffs by President-elect Trump subsequent yr.”
Capability: “United States Capability Utilization” [Trading Economics]. “Capability utilization within the US fell to 76.8% in November 2024, the bottom studying since April 2021, from a downwardly revised 77% in October and beneath forecasts of 77.3%. The speed is now 2.9 share factors beneath its long-run common.”
Manufacturing: “One Boeing manufacturing unit has been secure from layoffs and is about to begin hiring” [Quartz]. “Though Boeing (BA) has been sluggish to restart manufacturing of the planes constructed by its unionized workforce and has been laying lots of them off amid a yr of struggles, the corporate introduced it might be making an enormous funding in a non-unionized plant. The planemaker stated final week that it might be sinking $1 billion within the South Carolina plant the place it builds 787 Dreamliners and creating 500 jobs there.”
Right this moment’s Worry & Greed Index: 52 Impartial (earlier shut: 56 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 47 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Dec 17 at 1:39:53 PM ET.
Thriller Drones
“Drone detectors in New Jersey have discovered ‘little or no proof’ of wrongdoing, governor says” [Associated Press]. “Murphy instructed reporters in Trenton that there have been 12 sightings of suspected drones within the state on Saturday and one on Sunday. He declined to enter element concerning the detection gear, however stated it was highly effective sufficient to disable the drones, though he added that’s not authorized on U.S. soil… Federal officers, together with Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have repeatedly stated there aren’t any indicators that any drone operators have proven dangerous intent, neither is there proof of international involvement.” • So, that’s alright then.
“Drones newest: FBI addresses thriller lights over East Coast as public warned to not shoot them down” [Independent]. “‘Having carefully examined the technical information and suggestions from involved residents, we assess that the sightings to this point embrace a mixture of lawful business drones, hobbyist drones, and regulation enforcement drones, in addition to manned fixed-wing plane, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones,’ the federal businesses stated.” However not planets? Extra: ‘ and don’t assess the exercise to this point to current a nationwide safety or public security danger over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or different states within the northeast.’ The FBI workplace in Newark has in the meantime moved to warning the general public towards making an attempt to shoot down the unmanned units, warning they might injure themselves.”
“Don’t panic – these thriller drones over New Jersey may not be so mysterious in any case” [Techradar]. A brand new principle: “There was a bigger drone take a look at carried out both by the native or federal authorities or an organization that wished to see how properly a supply fleet operated at evening. Since 2021, the FAA has approved some drone evening flights, although the drones nonetheless have to stay at elevations beneath 400 ft. Which will account for why these drones have been so seen. They’re bigger and can’t break the principles by flying in air house reserved for airplanes.” These can be the SUV-sized drones (see NC right here). And: “After that preliminary flight (and perhaps a number of subsequent ones), undiscerning eyes began to assume that any gentle within the sky that they might not establish was additionally a drone. Drones of the scale most individuals declare they’re seeing, by the best way, are usually not simple to fly, and evening flights would require much more experience.”
“Army skilled says ‘authorities is aware of the supply’ of drones amid thriller sightings” [Hindustan Times]. Further theorizing: “[Col. William] Dunn, an assault helicopter pilot who spent 33 years within the Marine Corps, stated that he believes the ‘drones originate from contained in the US’ as a result of ‘it’s very tough to fly an airplane the scale of a automobile into the USA with out being detected.’ He went on to say that ‘a big drone has received to be refueled,’ suggesting that the drones that had been lately noticed in New Jersey should have been refuelled someplace inside the nation.” • These are, once more, the SUV-sized drones (and never the intense lights within the sky, that are planes, or planets).
“Thriller as radioactive cargo goes lacking in New Jersey amid drone invasion” [Daily Mail]. “A bit of medical gear used for most cancers scans was shipped from the Nazha Most cancers Middle in Newfield on December 2 for disposal, however the ‘delivery container arrived at its vacation spot broken and empty.’ The system, often called a ‘pin supply,’ contained a small quantity of Germanium-68 (Ge-68) that’s used to calibrate a medical scanner’s accuracy. If dealt with with out correct gear, it may trigger radiation poisoning.” • In the event you purchase the seek for radioactivity principle, the timeline is mistaken: The large (HPGe), SUV-sized drones first appeared in November 18. In any case, the dosage from the medical gear is small, disproportionate to the trouble.
Annals of Faith
“Survivors search a reckoning as FBI investigates little one intercourse abuse in little-known Christian sect” [Associated Press]. I’m submitting this right here due to the headline, however in actual fact it’s the institutional construction of the sect that pursuits me: ” Practically each element concerning the spiritual group Lisa Webb’s household belonged to was hidden from the surface world. Its followers met in properties moderately than church buildings. Its management construction was laborious to discern, its funds opaque. [The group known as the ‘Two by Twos’] didn’t even have an official identify…. [T]he sect has largely prevented authorized repercussions, protected by its decentralized construction, hidden funds and state legal guidelines that restrict the timeline for legal fees…. The sect, additionally recognized to its members as ‘The Means’ or ‘The Fact,’ was based in Eire in 1897 by William Irvine, who railed towards the existence of church buildings. The one solution to unfold Christianity, he argued, was to do as Jesus instructed within the E-book of Matthew: to ship apostles out to dwell amongst these they sought to transform… [T]he sect’s aversion to property leaves it with out obvious belongings that is perhaps used to pay settlements, authorized consultants say…. The sect grew as volunteer preachers — often called staff — went “two by two” to dwell within the household properties of followers for days or even weeks at a time. Sect historians say there have been up to a couple million members just some many years in the past, however present estimates put the determine at 75,000 to 85,000 worldwide…. Employees are presupposed to shun worldly possessions, counting on followers for meals, shelter and transportation.”
Class Warfare
“New Disaster Hotline for CEOs?” [Ken Klipperstein]. Differrent from the political events? “New York state is contemplating making a particular hotline completely for CEOs to report perceived threats, CNN reported this morning. Good little reminder of simply how responsive authorities will be in relation to company executives…. The shortage of any concrete risk hasn’t stopped officers from getting ready for one. Final Thursday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul instructed MSNBC’s Morning Joe about her plans to carry a “proactive” assembly on Tuesday with 175 company representatives in addition to Homeland Safety and counterterrorism officers to debate how you can share intelligence with company safety, in line with Kathy Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York Metropolis…. ‘Demonization of company executives just isn’t new,’ Wylde instructed Politico final week. ‘It was a part of the rhetoric within the monetary disaster of 2008-09.’” • Keep in mind within the S&L disaster, when company executives truly went to jail? That was earlier than Obama, in fact.
“Shock ballot: 41 % of younger voters discover killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO acceptable” [The Hill]. “The survey from Emerson Faculty Polling discovered 68 % of all respondents discovered the actions of the one that shot and killed Thompson unacceptable. However a startling 24 % of these aged 18-29 discovered it ‘considerably acceptable,’ and 17 % of that group discovered it utterly acceptable.” • Hoo boy.
“MIT research explains why legal guidelines are written in an incomprehensible type” [MIT News]. “Authorized paperwork incessantly have lengthy definitions inserted in the midst of sentences — a characteristic often called ‘center-embedding.’ Linguists have beforehand discovered that this type of construction could make textual content far more obscure. ‘Legalese someway has developed this tendency to place buildings inside different buildings, in a manner which isn’t typical of human languages,’ [Edward Gibson, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences] says. Simply as magic spells are written with a particular type that units them other than on a regular basis language, the convoluted type of authorized language seems to sign a particular form of authority, the researchers say. ‘In English tradition, if you wish to write one thing that’s a magic spell, individuals know that the best way to do this is you set loads of old school rhymes in there. We predict perhaps center-embedding is signaling legalese in the identical manner,’ Gibson says.”
“90-hour-a-week Wall Road bankers snorting traces of Adderall at their desks” [The Telegraph]. • Our capital allocation goes nice.
“Absinthe: From Inexperienced Fairy to Ethical Panic” [History Today]. “Underlying absinthe’s dramatic fall from grace was a change in customers. As soon as the costly drink of the French bourgeoisie and artists, absinthe turned extra inexpensive within the second half of the nineteenth century, whereupon staff, girls and people within the French colonies, from North Africa to Indochina, started ingesting it. Consequently, absinthe got here to be blamed for working-class criminality on the whole and, extra particularly, for the acts of the revolutionary Communards after the siege of Paris in 1871. The creator Maxime du Camp, for instance, described these Communards in his 1881 e book Convulsions of Paris, as ‘knights of debauchery and apostles of absinthe’.”
Information of the Wired
“U2’s Larry Mullen Jr: my dyscalculia makes ‘counting like climbing Everest’” [The Times]. “Larry Mullen Jr, the U2 drummer, has revealed that he can not depend or add numbers as a result of he suffers from dyscalculia — a studying incapacity that impacts numeracy…. ‘When individuals watch me play generally, they are saying, ‘you look pained’. I’m pained as a result of I’m making an attempt to depend the bars,’ Mullen stated. ‘I needed to discover methods of doing this — and counting bars is like climbing Everest.’… About 6 per cent of the UK’s inhabitants suffers from dyscalculia, in line with the Dyscalculia Community.” • 6%? Actually?
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