2:00PM Water Cooler 3/19/2024 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Readers, I’m touring at present. This Water Cooler is a bit gentle, as a result of I’m posting it in a window of connectivity. –lambert

Chook Tune of the Day

Sadly, Cornell Ornithology Lab is having a deliberate outage. No hen music at present. –lambert

“Birding for Lengthy-Haulers” [Ed Yong, The Ed’s Up]. My favourite birding moments typically contain stillness. I stand in entrance of a single tree, watching a conveyor belt of warblers passing by. I sit at a shoreline, scanning via massive teams of foraging shorebirds. I lean in opposition to my automobile at night time, listening for owls within the darkness. At these instances, with my physique rooted and my senses totally engaged, I really feel a peculiar mix of serenity and adrenaline, of presentism and disconnection. And through one such second, I assumed: This may be excellent for individuals with lengthy COVID… I began questioning if I might share the passion that has develop into so restorative to me with the group that has develop into so essential to me. Birding might increase the world that lengthy COVID has contracted. It might provide long-haulers the therapeutic advantages of being outdoor and immersing in nature. It might salve among the solitude that continual sickness brings, providing social time in an out of doors setting with low danger of respiratory an infection. It may be accomplished with comparatively low bodily or cognitive calls for, minimizing the possibilities of triggering a PEM crash.” • A really hopeful put up!

In Case You Would possibly Miss…

(1) Boeing story isn’t precisely advancing….

(2) International elites kind mind genius membership.

(3) The science and artwork of rooster sexing.

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

Capitol Seizure

“Newly obtained video reveals motion of group suspected of developing Jan. 6 gallows hours earlier than Capitol siege” [CBS]. “Newly obtained [how and from whom?] video reveals motion of group suspected of developing Jan. 6 gallows hours earlier than Capitol siege. The individuals who erected the notorious gallows and noose on the west entrance of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, started their work within the predawn hours that day, based on newly launched movies obtained [how and from whom?] by CBS Information… Surveillance footage shared [by whom?] with CBS Information reveals the brazenness of the work behind the gallows and noose.” • Whoever “shared” the movies to CBS was a little bit gradual transferring, sure?

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

* * *

Trump (R): “‘Arbitrary Enforcement’ of Federal Legislation Roils Labeled Paperwork Case” [Julie Kelly]. Jack Smith’s Florida case. “[Judge Aileen] Cannon repeatedly requested either side for examples of felony prosecution for ‘different officers who did the identical.’ She questioned the ‘arbitrary enforcement’ of the espionage statute, forcing the federal government to confess that no different former president or vice chairman has confronted felony prosecution for maintaining comparable paperwork and failing to return them. ‘This speaks to the arbitrary enforcement…that includes on this case,’ Cannon advised Bratt. Cannon additionally pushed again on claims Trump ought to have anticipated to face prosecution for storing categorised information. As soon as once more noting no former president or vice chairman—Mike Pence additionally found categorised data after Trump was indicted in 2023—has been charged, Cannon prompt it was honest for Trump to count on the identical therapy since ‘no historic precedent’ is on the books. ‘On condition that panorama,’ Cannon continued, Trump might argue he has been unfairly focused. Which his group already has. In a movement emailed to the court docket and the federal government final month, Trump’s attorneys requested to dismiss the case primarily based on ‘‘ Though the movement shouldn’t be public, Jack Smith rapidly responded to defend the Division of Justice’s option to pursue Trump and never Biden. ‘,’ Smith wrote in a March 7 response. ‘Second, the proof regarding the two males’s intent—whether or not they knowingly possessed and willfully retained such paperwork—is starkly completely different.’ In an virtually comical passage, Smith admits Biden unlawfully retained categorised data—simply not as many as Trump. ‘Biden possessed 88 paperwork bearing classification markings, together with 18 marked High Secret. In contrast, Trump possessed 337 paperwork bearing classification markings, together with 64 marked High Secret. Ah okay. So Biden was just a bit bit pregnant…” • I’m unsure that “selective and vindictive prosecution” flies as a matter of legislation. As a matter of politics? I believe so.

* * *

Biden (D): “Biden seeks to reinvigorate numerous coalition in vital 2024 marketing campaign swing out West” [CNN]. “Arizona and Nevada might see abortion rights provisions on ‘Nevadans and Arizonans are gathering signatures for poll initiative to provide voters the chance to guard abortion entry of their states’ structure in 2024. Nevada is without doubt one of the most pro-choice states within the nation. And the overwhelming majority of Arizonans help abortion entry, as nicely,’ Dan Kanninen, the Biden marketing campaign’s battleground states director, mentioned.” • Does anyone imagine that if the Democrats gained the Presidency and each homes of Congess, that they’d codify Roe?

Biden (D): “Democrats urge marketing campaign to ‘let Biden be Biden’ as polling stress mounts” [Washington Examiner]. “The Biden marketing campaign defended the president’s smaller occasions final week in Michigan and Wisconsin, although an absence of planning [ha ha] meant reporters touring with him couldn’t hear him throughout his Saginaw, Michigan, cease. A marketing campaign aide described the occasions as alternatives for Biden to talk and join with supporters and voters in “a really private” capability, one that may be amplified on social media afterward. ‘The crowds in Milwaukee and Saginaw have been thrilled to see the president,’ the aide mentioned. ‘They have been fired up, and the president was, in flip, thrilled to see them, and he was fired up. I believe everybody received a handshake. ” • Oh. So that’s how they consider us.

* * *

Kennedy (I):

About two weeks from now, shortly after RFK Jr has introduced his operating mate, poll entry home windows will open in 23 states (WA, OR, ID, ND, SD, KS, OK, IA, AR, LA, IN, OH, KY, TN, AL, FL, VA, PA, NJ, CT, MA, VT, and ME)!

Are you able to be part of this tidal wave? Unsure…

— Peace-loving Impartial 🌺🌎🕊️💗⚖️🌺 (@CRLady2016) March 18, 2024

I can’t for the “poll entry home windows,” however a nationwide motion to get a candidate on the poll could be interesiting.

* * *

“A very powerful Senate major of the yr is only one of at present’s elections” [Politico]. “Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno … has spent the ultimate days of the intently contested GOP major attempting to maneuver rapidly previous an Related Press story about an account on an grownup web site that he says was created by an intern in 2008…. Moreno is locked in a aggressive, three-way race for the nomination to face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in what might be the decisive contest for management of the Senate. There’s little in the way in which of dependable, impartial polling, although most observers see Moreno and self-funding state Sen. Matt Dolan — who’s operating in a extra average lane — as the highest contenders, with Secretary of State Frank LaRose a tier beneath. Trump is placing his political capital behind Moreno, trekking to Ohio for a weekend rally simply 48 hours after the AP story was revealed. He reportedly scheduled the journey the week earlier than the first after polling confirmed Moreno had not locked down the nomination regardless of Trump’s long-standing endorsement.” 2024 – 2008 = 16 years in the past? That’s some well-funded oppo — which I don’t image AP as taking the lead in, often. Can any Ohio readers remark?

The Wizard of Kalorama™

“Thriller as Barack Obama noticed exterior No10 Downing Avenue for unannounced go to” [The MIrror]. “Mr Obama smiled and waved at photographers earlier than he entered No 10 shortly after 3pm. Downing Avenue later mentioned Mr Obama – who has not visited No10 since leaving workplace – was making an ‘casual courtesy drop-in’ whereas within the UK capital. The ex-President, who served within the White Home from 2009 to 2017, was seen leaving round an hour later with US ambassador Jane Hartley. He held a gathering with Rishi Sunak, who’s at present having a troublesome time on the helm.. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman mentioned: ‘He was making an off-the-cuff courtesy drop-in as a part of his journey to London, the place he’s conducting work of the Obama Basis..” • Oh, completely. Possibly Obama is aware of the place Kate is?

Democrats en Déshabillé

“The Democratic Occasion Owes Us Some Candor” [Brian Beutler, Off Message]. From February. ” Latest reporting suggests even outdated colleagues from the Obama-Biden years can’t get straight dope from the individuals operating the Biden re-elect. They need everybody else to assume that all the things’s going based on plan. But it surely’s clearly not… For this reason I’d nonetheless just like the Biden marketing campaign to be candid with the occasion rank-and-file about how we received so far. Presumably being down two factors in mid-March was by no means a part of their plan. Why do they assume it occurred?Did Democrats make a mistake by treating Trump as if he’d entered exile, giving him vast berth to rehabilitate himself and smear Biden with out pushback? And if that was a mistake, how do they plan to repair injury accomplished over three years within the subsequent few weeks or months?” • “With out pushback” apart from a multipronged lawfare assault, together with an effort to take away Trump from the poll altogether below Secion Three of the Fourteenth Modification. “With out pushback.” Actually?

“How Truly Present Democrats Run for Workplace” [Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect]. “Final week, the Heart for Working-Class Politics, along side Jacobin and Arizona State College’s Heart for Work and Democracy, launched a exceptional survey that went about answering this query in a means I hadn’t seen earlier than. They checked out all of the 966 Democratic candidates for federal workplace (the Home and the Senate) who ran within the 2022 midterm elections (primaries in addition to the November generals), studying all their web sites and data of their talks to see the themes, the platforms, and the phrases themselves that the candidates used.” Extra: “[O]n web page 13. the authors current the information on simply what number of of those practically 1,000 candidates, spanning all kinds of districts and ideologies, invoked the themes and language of the cultural left. To nobody’s shock, a hefty majority of Democratic candidates devoted their consideration to the problem of abortion and the suitable to decide on. About one-quarter of them raised points referring to gays and lesbians, and a little bit greater than 10 % these referring to undocumented immigrants. However on the opposite 40 matters that to many Individuals outline at present’s Democratic Occasion—starting from reparations and defunding the police to open borders and gender identification—the share of Democratic candidates who had a lot as a phrase to say averaged below 5 %, and for numerous these points, was a flat zero. Which raises a relatively essential query: How has the Democratic Occasion come to be outlined by points and considerations that its candidates and officeholders don’t even discuss? How have the Democrats develop into recognized with positions they don’t maintain?” • Mayerson’s reply is Republican propaganda, amplified by a grievance press. However there might be different elements….

Realignment and Legitimacy

“How Revolution Occurs—and How you can Cease It” [Tucker Carlson, Mordern Age]. “It occurred as a result of just one aspect of the revolution acknowledged that it was a revolution. The opposite aspect had no thought. One aspect noticed these modifications for what they have been: Let’s fully change American society, from the underside to the highest. Let’s get rid of any sense of shared tradition or historical past. Let’s atomize the nation to the purpose the place there’s no viable opposition to what we’re doing. And as soon as we’ve accomplished that, let’s addle everybody with pharmaceuticals. Let’s encourage them to be unhealthy, single, and childless, after which we will do no matter we would like. And nobody’s conscious on the opposite aspect—which isn’t simply the suitable, however the huge bulk of everybody else, which would come with loads of Democrats and simply regular individuals who aren’t in any respect within the revolution. That they had no thought what was occurring. It’s essential to know the second that you simply’re in. It cuts in opposition to the very core of human nature to know that, as a result of denial is probably the most highly effective of all human instincts.” • Hmm. I wouid have mentioned that each one the revolutionary vitality is on the suitable. Revolutions might be reactionary, certainly?

#COVID19

“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

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 information). “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 happy to contact me on the tackle 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 reviews); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); 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, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Covid is Airborne

Droplet dogma took us backwards?

In 1888, Massachusetts District Police inspectors monitored faculties and public buildings with a conveyable CO2 meter to verify whether or not indoor air renewal was good. If not, the college was quickly closed to hold out air flow work.

It was codified, documented and enforced. 🔽 https://t.co/PtuAilLVcz pic.twitter.com/7ARV5DnJZI

— LET’S AIR / NOUS AÉRONS (@nousaerons) March 18, 2024

Maskstravaganza

Extra conversational ideas:

Stranger: Why you sporting a masks
Me: It’s making me wealthy
Stranger: What
Me: My coworkers are sick on a regular basis. I don’t get sick, so I’m making shitloads of cash on time beyond regulation since I’m the one one who’s persistently obtainable to work. Cool with me, I’m advantageous with retiring early! pic.twitter.com/NUmcbGrmsh

— 🐀 (@Guiness_Pig) March 16, 2024

Media

Dying Panel podcast goes after that horrid NPR story:

In our newest, we take an in depth have a look at a broadly shared piece from NPR which presents avoiding covid each because the product of unreasonable “nervousness” and as one thing immunocompromised individuals ought to let go of lest their family members contemplate abandoning themhttps://t.co/vRrfdwNFOB

— Dying Panel (@DeathPanel_) March 18, 2024

Elite Maleficence

Readers, thanks a lot in your assist with getting a replica of “The politics of ‘letting it rip.’” Since I’m touring, at present shouldn’t be the day to return your kindness, however quickly. –lambert

TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new at present; 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] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out on the stage of earlier Trump peaks. Not an incredible victory. Observe additionally the realm “below the curve,” apart from taking a look at peaks. That space is bigger below Biden than below Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if inconsistently.

[2] (Biobot) Midwest ticks up.

[3] (CDC Variants) As of Could 11, genomic surveillance information will probably be reported biweekly, primarily based on the supply of constructive check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Seems to be like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform.

[4] (ER) “Charts and information offered by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous yr, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.”

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Nonetheless down.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless down. “Maps, charts, and information offered by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Check Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.

[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit within the rear view mirror.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants) JN.1 dominates totally.

Stats Watch

Housing: “United States Housing Begins” [Trading Economics]. “Housing begins within the US soared 10.7% month-over-month to an annualized price of 1.521 million in February 2024, after falling by 12.3% in January, and beating forecasts of 1.425 million, amid a persistent scarcity of beforehand owned homes. ”

Manufacturing: “Boeing Faces Tough Steadiness Between Security and Monetary Efficiency” [New York TImes]. The lead: “Lower than 4 weeks after a gap blew open on a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet throughout a flight, firm executives face a thorny query: Ought to they emphasize security or monetary efficiency?” • I do know! I do know! Commentary:

In the meantime, the silence on Barnett’s demise from in Charleston Submit and Courier’s “good, quiet, little seaside group” turns into ever extra deafening, as six days cross with no followup story.

At this time’s Concern & Greed Index: 69 Greed (earlier shut: 71 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 69 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Mar 19 at 11:58:19 AM ET.

Class Warfare

Day by day Beast]. “With simply 1,500 members, World.Minds is a concentrated collective of wealth and energy with a roster that features former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and retired Gen. David Petraeus, philosophers Peter Singer and Daniel Dennett, and billionaires Invoice Ackman, Henry Kravis, and Alex Karp. Below its constitution, no less than 51 % of the group should work within the sciences to make sure that it doesn’t ‘devolve right into a enterprise membership.’ World.Minds doesn’t settle for membership functions, its web site coldly states: ‘Until you might be a world scholar, don’t contact us. We are going to contact you.’ By no means thoughts that there is no such thing as a electronic mail tackle or cellphone quantity listed.” • Nicely. with Geithner and Petraes on board, I don’t know what extra we have to know!

“Extremely-Rich Are Souring on Chicago’s Most Elite Neighborhood” [Bloomberg]. “The historic Gold Coast, that includes 100-year-old mansions, opulent condos and designer boutiques, has misplaced a few of its most illustrious residents and attraction in recent times as the town’s excessive taxes and crime inspired the rich to relocate. These staying in Chicago are choosing extra fashionable houses in trendier areas, leaving Gold Coast properties sitting in the marketplace for months.” And; “Houses within the Gold Coast have been already struggling as a result of maintenance prices of the older ornate properties, and the expansion of different neighborhoods. Jennifer Ames, an actual property agent with Engel & Volkers Chicago who has an inventory within the space, mentioned a part of the problem is that whereas the houses are stunning, they require consumers to have a ‘curator mindset.’ ‘Take into consideration like Downton Abbey, proper? It’s tremendous cool, actually enjoyable to observe, however no person lives like that anymore,’ she mentioned.” • Can’t discover good assist?

Information of the Wired

“The US authorities appears critical about creating a lunar financial system” [Ars Technica]. ” Final yr, the protection company introduced it was initiating a examine, LunA-10, to know how finest to facilitate a thriving lunar financial system by 2035. In December, DARPA introduced that it was working with 14 completely different corporations below LunA-10, together with main area gamers reminiscent of Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, in addition to non-space corporations reminiscent of Nokia. These corporations are assessing how companies reminiscent of energy and communications might be established on the Moon, and so they’re due to supply a remaining report by June. Issues are transferring sooner than that, nevertheless. The DARPA program supervisor overseeing these actions, Main Michael “Orbit” Nayak, revealed a paper earlier this month primarily based on learnings from these research that solely started just a few months in the past. ‘Based mostly on technical work and improvement performed below the LunA-10 examine, I’ve recognized six hypotheses the place, if revolutionary enhancements in expertise might be made, I assess {that a} direct acceleration to the fielding of a lunar financial system is more likely to happen,’ Nayak mentioned within the paper.” • Since when did the horrid “learnings” substitute “classes”? Who did it? And who’s accountable for the nimbus of authority surrounding “assess”? The spooks?

Medium]. “With out moving into the intricacies, seems, even for probably the most well-trained people, ascertaining the intercourse of a day-old chick was laborious. The chick’s rear finish had a constellation of folds, marks, spots, and bumps that exposed the intercourse of a chick. However, these have been extraordinarily laborious to learn. By some estimates, there are as many as a thousand completely different vent configurations {that a} sexer has to be taught to develop into competent at their job. And on condition that they need to make these selections in seconds, it grew to become even tougher to know how they do what they do.” And: “Seems, even probably the most skilled sexers have been unable to elucidate how they did their job. It was simply… an inexplicable artwork 😮. Inside 3 seconds, they simply ‘know’ the intercourse of a chick. They noticed issues {that a} widespread individual merely doesn’t see. Seems, tt’s a novel artwork, as a lot as ability.” Enter (in fact) AI: “Within the context of the demise knell that’s AI, there’s a lesson to be taught from Hen sexers. A marketer’s job is enunciating differentiation. If AI is a studying mannequin educated on what exists, it’s at finest the highest 10% of what’s on the market. That’s the arbitrage for a marketer. If you wish to foolproof your job, it’s important to beat the highest 10% of an AI mannequin. Good odds, in case you ask me 😜”

Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a verify in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photos of vegetation. Greens are advantageous! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you’d like your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it at first 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 TH:

TH writes: “I’m guessing not all of those are actual. Hopefully, some are. It’s this cheery assortment of flowers greater than the meals that pulls me to “Yellow Vase Bakery, Café, Flowers”. This one is in Malaga Cove (Palos Verdes Estates, CA).” Nature morte … However not fully!

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