2:00PM Water Cooler 7/12/2023 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chicken Track of the Day

Dune Lark, Port Nolloth, Northern Cape, South Africa.

Politics

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

The Supremes

“Justices train when the Supreme Courtroom isn’t in session. It will probably double as an all-expenses-paid journey” [Associated Press]. “Educating is inspired as a strategy to demystify the nation’s highest court docket whereas exposing the justices to a cross-section of the general public. For many years, they’ve traveled the globe throughout court docket recesses to lecture. It’s a permissible apply as long as their incomes are lower than the court docket’s roughly $30,000 cap on outdoors earnings…. Paperwork obtained by The Related Press via public information requests reveal that some all-expenses-paid journeys — to Italy, Iceland and Hawaii, amongst others — are gentle on classroom instruction, with ample time carved out for the justices’ leisure…. ‘This can be a degree of luxurious that almost all People won’t ever see. And the truth that the justices are receiving it by advantage of their positions appears to be outdoors moral bounds,’ mentioned Gabe Roth, the chief director of Repair the Courtroom, a nonpartisan watchdog group devoted to following the Supreme Courtroom. The particulars of those excursions are sometimes shrouded from public view as a result of the justices are solely required to supply a spare accounting on their annual monetary disclosure varieties. However particulars obtained by the AP reveal that these journeys, which might price the justices hundreds of {dollars} if paid out of pocket, are in some circumstances sponsored by nameless donors to the faculties whose motivations could be troublesome to evaluate.” • Oh?

“Ebook gross sales, a lure for cash and extra takeaways from the AP investigation into Supreme Courtroom ethics” [Associated Press]. “Supreme Courtroom justices insist that they can’t and don’t take part in fundraising occasions. However the emails obtained by the AP present that the court docket’s definition of a fundraiser — an occasion that raises greater than it prices or the place visitors are requested for contributions — excludes a lot of the work that sometimes goes into persuading a rich donor to chop a test. That’s given colleges large latitude to court docket wealthy patrons. As an example, forward of a 2017 occasion with Justice Clarence Thomas, officers at McLennan Group School in Texas labored with the outstanding conservative lawyer Ken Starr and his spouse, Alice, to craft a visitor listing designed to reward college patrons and incentivize future contributions. In an interview, Starr’s widow referred to as it ‘friendraising.’ In an electronic mail planning the occasion, the chief director of the faculty’s basis wrote that she had ideas about whom to ask ‘primarily as a result of they’re rich conservative Catholics who would align with Clarence Thomas and who haven’t beforehand given.’…. Thomas isn’t the one one whose standing as a justice has been leveraged by colleges wanting to capitalize with donors. Earlier than Justice Elena Kagan visited the College of Colorado’s regulation college, one official urged a ‘bigger donor to employees ratio’ for a 2019 dinner together with her, emails present. One other occasion organizer mentioned the organizer was ‘open to strategies about which VIP donors to domesticate relationships with.’ A faculty spokesperson mentioned the attendees weren’t requested for any donations related to the occasion. Clemson College in South Carolina hosted Sotomayor for a 2017 session with college students and for a non-public luncheon. One official mentioned it was hoped the occasions, which included donors, would ‘in the end generate sources’ for the college’s Humanities Development Board, which performed a lead organizing function. As college officers devised a visitor listing, an alumni relations official wrote: ‘Once you say $1M donors, please you should definitely embrace our company donors at that degree, too.’” • Ick.

2024

Time for the Countdown Clock!

* * *

“Trump says Biden ‘dragging’ US ‘into World Battle III’ by sending Ukraine cluster bombs” [The Hill]. • Asking for my vote….

“‘5 laps forward’: Trump thumbs his nostril at Iowa traditions” [Politico]. “He’s threatening to skip the first debates. He’s publicly trashing the Republican governor of Iowa, infuriating conventional GOP operatives within the first-in-the-nation caucus state. And on Friday, for the second time in two months, Donald Trump will duck a serious cattle name of GOP main contenders there. If it’s the prerogative of the frontrunner to choose and select his spots, the previous president is taking it to a brand new degree, thumbing his nostril at any establishment or Republican politician he prefers to not court docket or seem alongside. In a extra aggressive presidential main, not being on the talk stage or snubbing Gov. Kim Reynolds would possibly matter extra. However on this GOP contest, it’s a mirrored image of Trump’s dominance that he can dismiss them — up to now, with seemingly no worth to pay. ‘A part of the explanation he’s 5 laps forward is that this how he offers with issues,’ mentioned Dave Carney, a Republican strategist based mostly in New Hampshire. ‘He doesn’t play the normal candidate card. He is not going to mow a single garden in New Hampshire this summer time — different candidates would possibly.’”

“The Memo: Trump delaying tactic on trial might scramble 2024 race” [The Hill]. “The choice by former President Trump’s authorized crew to hunt an extended delay of his trial within the Mar-a-Lago paperwork case is injecting recent volatility into the 2024 presidential race. The submitting from Trump’s legal professionals, which got here lower than an hour earlier than a Monday evening deadline, seeks an indefinite postponement of the trial, which had been scheduled for December. If their demand have been acceded to by the decide within the case, it could open the door to a number of explosive eventualities. One is the trial happening within the warmth of GOP main season. One other is the proceedings occurring after Trump plausibly turns into the Republican nominee for president. A 3rd is the trial being pushed previous the date — Jan. 20, 2025 — on which Trump might turn out to be president once more. ‘There may be most assuredly no motive for any expedited trial, and the ends of justice are finest served by a continuance,’ Trump legal professionals Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche wrote within the submitting, during which they have been joined by legal professionals for the previous president’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta. A scenario during which no trial in any respect takes place earlier than the 2024 basic election is the one that almost all worries unbiased authorized consultants, in addition to Trump critics. Even authorized minds who don’t have any fondness for the previous president acknowledge a sitting president might order the Division of Justice to discontinue a case — even when it’s a case the place that president is himself indicted. Harry Litman, a former U.S. lawyer and deputy assistant lawyer basic, mentioned the talk about whether or not a president can pardon himself might find yourself being moot.”

“Justice Division reverses course on defending Trump in E. Jean Carroll case” [NBC]. The deck: “DOJ backed off its earlier place that Trump was appearing inside the scope of his presidential duties when he made “crude and disrespectful” feedback concerning the author.”

“Fulton County DA empaneling new grand jury to weigh Trump election prices” [ABC]. “The Atlanta-area prosecutor investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia is empaneling a brand new grand jury that might in the end determine whether or not to approve prices towards former President Donald Trump…. [Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis] formally launched the probe in February 2021, sparked partly by the now-infamous Jan. 2, 2021, cellphone name Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during which Trump pleaded with Raffensperger to ‘discover 11,780 votes,’ the precise quantity Trump wanted to win Georgia…. In April, Willis signaled publicly that potential prices may very well be introduced as quickly as this summer time.” • “Notorious” the decision could also be, however not notorious sufficient for one grand jury to do the job?

“Maggie Haberman Says Trump Trial is GOP Area’s ‘Greatest Wager’ To Beat Him: ‘Clarify To Me What’s Going To Cease Him’” [Mediaite]. Haberman: “[T]he different candidates who’re competing towards him within the Republican main and within the Iowa caucuses… are hoping that this trial takes place earlier than the caucuses. That’s in some methods their finest guess, as a result of in any other case, I suppose you must clarify to me what’s going to cease him.” • Properly, one other candidate, like… like… like….

“Perception: Swing state Republicans bleed donors and money over Trump’s false election claims” [Reuters]. “Actual property mogul Ron Weiser has been one of many greatest donors to the Michigan Republican Occasion, giving $4.5 million within the current midterm election cycle. However no extra. Weiser, former chair of the celebration, has halted his funding, citing considerations concerning the group’s stewardship. He says he doesn’t agree with Republicans who promote falsehoods about election outcomes and insists it’s ‘ludicrous’ to say Donald Trump, who misplaced Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020, carried the state. ‘I query whether or not the state celebration has the mandatory experience to spend the cash effectively,” he mentioned. The withdrawal of bankrollers like Weiser displays the excessive worth Republicans within the battleground states of Michigan and Arizona are paying for his or her full-throated assist of former President Trump and his unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The 2 events have hemorrhaged cash lately, undermining Republican efforts to win again the ultra-competitive states that might decide who wins the White Home and management of the U.S. Congress in subsequent November’s elections, in response to a Reuters evaluate of economic filings, plus interviews with six main donors and three election marketing campaign consultants.”

MI: “Trump lands endorsements from six GOP reps in Michigan” [The Hill]. “Former President Trump obtained endorsements from all six members of Michigan’s Republican delegation within the Home, his marketing campaign introduced Tuesday. The marketing campaign mentioned in a launch that GOP Reps. Tim Walberg, Invoice Huizenga, John Moolenaar, Jack Bergman, Lisa McClain and John James declared their assist for the previous president within the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest. All of them will function the leaders of Trump’s Michigan federal management crew, working to attempt to assist Trump win the state’s electoral votes. Trump beforehand endorsed all six of their races for his or her Home seats throughout final 12 months’s midterm elections. The discharge notes that Trump’s win in Michigan in the course of the 2016 election marked the primary time a Republican received the state in a presidential race in practically 30 years. He received the state in 2016 by about 10,000 votes however misplaced when operating for reelection in 2020 by about 150,000 votes.”

* * *

“Ron DeSantis says he wouldn’t be Trump’s operating mate: ‘I’m not a No. 2 man’” [NBC]. “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned Tuesday he wouldn’t be former President Donald Trump’s operating mate if given the chance to hitch him on the ticket. ‘I don’t assume so. I’m not a No. 2 man,’ DeSantis mentioned on the ‘Wisconsin Proper Now’ radio present, saying he would relatively keep on as governor as a result of the vice presidency ‘doesn’t actually have any authority.’ Requested about his personal ideas on a operating mate, DeSantis mentioned, ‘It’s slightly bit presumptuous to be doing that at this stage.’ ‘I’m right here to win the early primaries, and that’s what we’ve obtained to do first,’ he added.”

“Murdochs Begin to Bitter on DeSantis: ‘They Can Odor a Loser’” [Rolling Stone]. “For the reason that starting of the Biden presidency, the highly effective Murdoch household has favored the Florida governor within the 2024 presidential main, largely on account of a conviction that DeSantis can be a extra electable, and fewer chaotic, evolution from Donald Trump. However in current weeks, the Murdochs have grown more and more displeased with the DeSantis marketing campaign’s perceived stumbles, lackluster polling, and incapacity to swiftly dethrone Trump, a number of sources inform Rolling Stone. They’ve additionally significantly questioned whether or not the governor is able to defeating Trump within the 2024 GOP presidential main. Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch specifically has been voicing his doubts and frustrations in non-public discussions and calls, at instances questioning if a DeSantis ‘comeback’ is feasible at this level. Murdoch is the longtime patriarch of the household that controls Fox Information, the New York Publish, The Wall Avenue Journal, and different media properties which might be extremely influential amongst conservatives. ‘[Rupert’s] comprehensible fear is that we could find yourself being caught with Trump anyway,’ a senior Fox supply tells Rolling Stone. ‘And DeSantis is underperforming. Anyone can see that … [and the Murdochs], they’re seeing it, too.’” • That’s a damned disgrace.

* * *

“DeSantis Confronts a Murdoch Empire No Longer Fairly So Supportive” [New York Times]. “Mr. Murdoch has privately informed those who he would nonetheless prefer to see Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia enter the race, in response to an individual with information of the remarks. And he has made clear in non-public discussions during the last two years that he thinks Mr. Trump, regardless of his recognition with Fox Information viewers, is unhealthy for the Republican Occasion.”

“‘Cease sitting on the sidelines’: Youngkin challenges pro-Trump Republicans’ election technique” [Raw Story]. “Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched a brand new initiative Tuesday to push Virginia Republicans to reap the benefits of legal guidelines Democrats handed making it simpler to vote early, regardless of lingering resistance to mail voting from the celebration’s pro-Trump wing. The ‘Safe Your Vote’ program pushed by Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC and the Republican Occasion of Virginia encourages voters to join the state’s everlasting absentee voting listing, which permits ballots to be routinely mailed to members each election cycle. That listing and absentee voting itself have come beneath sharp criticism from some GOP lawmakers who argue ballots going out by way of mail are extra prone to fraud. ‘Republicans gotta cease sitting on the sidelines and permitting the Democrats to do a greater job of voting early,’ Youngkin mentioned in an look Tuesday morning on Fox Information, the place he mentioned his celebration places itself at an obstacle by ceding Virginia’s 45-day early voting window to its opponents.”

“‘If Republicans Nominate Trump, We Are Willingly Reelecting Biden’: Will Hurd On Forbes Highway To 2024” [Forbes]. “Hurd is a self-described ‘darkish horse’ contender — a Morning Seek the advice of tracker has him with 0% assist simply over per week after his announcement. The identical ballot discovered former President Trump, somebody who Hurd has ceaselessly spoken out towards, far and away main the pack at 57%. How will he make a lane for himself on this crowded race? ‘When you’re attempting to be a clone of Donald Trump,’ Hurd tells Forbes, ‘you’re going to have a troublesome time.’ The Texas Republican additionally vows to not assist Trump ought to he clinch the Republican nomination, a transfer that may preserve him off the RNC’s first debate stage. ‘I simply can’t misinform the American public to be able to get entry to a microphone.’ He additionally provided a stark warning to the Republican Occasion ought to they nominate Trump: “We’re willingly reelecting Joe Biden — interval. Full cease.’” • A darkish horse who will keep darkish?

“The GOP’s tribal warfare” [The Spectator]. ” it is vitally clearly not the outdated GOP. And the explanation it’s not is that in 2016 Trump did one thing that’s nonetheless under-discussed: he was capable of construct a base among the many furthest-right voters, after which, utilizing his celeb, to vacuum up votes from lower-information moderates who largely tuned out the opposite campaigns and have been uncovered solely to Trump. These voters are nonetheless an identifiable bloc within the Trump main coalition. We are able to see this lower-information cohort in a breakdown of the Republican main voters once we check fifteen completely different considerations with the language conservative voters would possibly use themselves — from ‘wokeness’ in colleges and companies, to racial and gender ideology, to socialism, to ‘mushy on crime prosecutors,’ to the US changing into too enmeshed within the warfare in Ukraine. And we discover a stable core — 32 p.c — who’re extraordinarily involved about practically every little thing, who’re predominantly very conservative and most certainly to be contemplating each Trump and DeSantis, however are backing the previous president by a 3:1 margin. A few quarter of Republicans are merely a milder model of this, divided into two teams: 20 p.c who are likely to say they’re merely very involved about practically all these subjects, the place Trump leads by a extra modest twenty factors, and a 6 p.c splinter faction who’re extraordinarily involved about most points however reject the Trump-led assaults on fellow Republicans monkeying with Social Safety and Medicare. The most important remaining group are these we name MAGA Moderates, who’re 20 p.c of the celebration. They don’t seem to be extremely exercised concerning the outrage du jour, registering low ranges of concern throughout points (although they’re barely greater on Trumpian totems like Ukraine intervention or defending entitlements). The MAGA Moderates comply with conservative media at a lot decrease charges, are contemplating the fewest variety of candidates, are two-thirds feminine, and the least college-educated group. Trump presently leads a full Republican poll with these voters with 57 p.c, with, amongst his challengers, solely DeSantis (barely) cracking double digits.” • Price a learn.” • “Trumpian totems like Ukraine intervention or defending entitlements.” Asking for my vote…

* * *

“Pritzker goes world” [Politico]. “Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is heading out on a commerce mission to London proper on the heels of President Joe Biden’s go to throughout the pond…. Not so way back, such a visit would have raised eyebrows since abroad ventures by state officers would possibly point out an effort to increase their overseas coverage chops forward of searching for greater workplace. However Pritzker, who has been talked about as a doable (future) presidential candidate, is a agency backer of Biden’s reelection bid and has acted as a surrogate for the marketing campaign.”• Uh huh [nods vigorously].

* * *
* * *

Republican Funhouse

“McCarthy summons GOP factions to counter risk of a brand new conservative revolt” [Politico]. “With the Home again for a remaining stretch earlier than its August recess, McCarthy on Tuesday afternoon summoned a gaggle of leaders from a number of corners of his convention to form a technique for staving off additional right-wing revolts — which his crew can’t afford this summer time. Underscoring the urgency of their activity, the group of GOP lawmakers met within the shadow of what might turn out to be a brand new right-flank revolt over the rule for debating a must-pass Pentagon coverage invoice…. One other conservative mentioned he’s not ruling out taking a drastic step to voice his discontent to management: voting towards debate on the protection coverage invoice, basically blocking it from coming to the ground. ‘It’s 1,500 amendments for one thing as vital because the nationwide protection authorization. We’d like to ensure they’re the precise amendments. … It takes a very long time,’ mentioned Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who holds distinctive energy on the Home Guidelines panel.”

2020 Publish Mortem

“‘I used to be cruising to election’: New Bob Woodward tapes reveal Trump blamed COVID for killing rallies” [Raw Story]. “‘If we didn’t have the virus, I used to be 10, 12, factors up. I used to be cruising to election,’ Trump complained. ‘Yeah, effectively, individuals are anxious concerning the virus,’ Woodward defined. ‘I do know that, Bob. However the virus has nothing to do with me,’ Trump complained. ‘With COVID, you actually can’t do rallies — in all probability airport rallies — however you may’t do stadium rallies, you may’t do the indoor area rallies.’”

Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, it appears that evidently individuals are really studying the back-dated submit! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are lots of updates. So I must do this. –lambert

I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Occasion (“the Democrat Occasion is a rotting corpse that may’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated submit, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “dwell” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Occasion is, in truth, a tough drawback. I do assume the paragraph that follows is on level all the best way again to 2016, if not earlier than:

The Democrat Occasion is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Pay attention, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Occasion didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” after all.) Second, all of the working components of the Occasion reinforce one another. Go away apart characterizing the relationships between components of the Occasion (ka-ching, however not completely) these components comprise a community — a Flex Internet? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with property within the press and the intelligence group.

Be aware, after all, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is restricted by different lessons; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.

* * *

Realignment and Legitimacy

Based mostly on cellphone knowledge, “Solely 3% of People attend providers “weekly,” far fewer than the ~22% who report to take action in surveys.”

I’m wrapping up a paper (see summary under) titled “Spiritual Observance in America: Proof from Cellphone Knowledge”. I’ve a gazillion figures about faith that I believe are fairly attention-grabbing and make for enjoyable Twitter content material. pic.twitter.com/WZi8XMDIcv

— Devin Pope (@Devin_G_Pope) July 11, 2023

“Households attempting to maintain Nashville college shooter’s writings non-public win authorized victory” [USA Today]. I missed this from early June: “Possession of the writings of a shooter who carried out a lethal assault at Nashville’s Covenant Faculty will likely be transferred to almost 100 households who sued to stop the paperwork from being made public. The surprising announcement got here Thursday from lawyer David Raybin. He represents the dad and mom of the shooter, who was a former scholar on the college and killed 3 college students and three academics in March.” • Thereby burying the problem; I’ve at all times thought the aim was defending the church, so by all means let the dad and mom do this.

“How False Historical past Is Used to Justify Discrimination In opposition to Asian People” [The Tablet]. “Within the aftermath of the ruling, relatively than celebrating the victory towards racial discrimination, a variety of outstanding media figures superior a story blaming Asian People for betraying different racial minorities. The narrative went as follows: Black People and their work main the Civil Rights Motion are the explanation you Asians are in America within the first place—how dare you now promote out the very folks try to be thanking for bringing you right here….. This trope about Asian American money owed didn’t emerge spontaneously in the previous couple of weeks. It was seeded into the general public discourse by essentially the most influential challenge of historic reframing in current American historical past: the activist-journalism of The New York Occasions’ “1619 Mission.” In her opening essay for the 1619 Mission, Nikole Hannah-Jones asserts that ‘Due to black People, black and brown immigrants from throughout the globe are capable of come to america and dwell in a rustic during which authorized discrimination is not allowed. It’s a really American irony that some Asian-People, among the many teams capable of immigrate to america due to the black civil rights battle, at the moment are suing universities to finish packages designed to assist the descendants of the enslaved.’ Now taught throughout the nation in public college curriculums, the claims of the 1619 Mission have turn out to be official historical past… Besides that this narrative is totally false. Quite the opposite, many Black People have been understandably anti-immigration. Within the early twentieth century, Black employees within the then-nascent labor motion anxious that immigrants—Europeans, West Indians, and Asians alike—would take away their jobs. A. Philip Randolph, the chief of the primary profitable Black labor union in America and a key organizer of the Civil Rights Motion’s 1963 March on Washington, maintained a hardline restrictionist stance on immigration. Randolph declared that ‘It’s time to name a halt on this grand rush for American gold, which over-floods the labor market, leading to reducing the usual of residing, race-riots, and basic social degradation. The extreme immigration is towards the pursuits of the lots of all races and nationalities within the nation—each overseas and native.’” • Hmm. Right here at the least is a supply for the Randolph quote.

#COVID19

“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot 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 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 happy 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 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, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: 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, Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Maskstravaganza

Dropping their minds:

If he wears a masks, how will he construct up his immunity to silica!

— Jolene please do not take my masks (she / her) (@hatchikerz) July 12, 2023

Prevention

“Prenol, however Not Vitamin C, of Fruit Binds to SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1 to Inhibit Viral Entry: Implications for COVID-19” [The Journal of Immunology]. “Fruit consumption could also be helpful for preventing an infection. Though vitamin C is the celeb part of fruit, its function in COVID-19 is unclear. As a result of spike S1 of SARS-CoV-2 binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on host cells to enter the cell and provoke COVID-19, utilizing an α-screen–based mostly assay, we screened vitamin C and different parts of fruit for inhibiting the interplay between spike S1 and ACE2. We discovered that prenol, however neither vitamin C nor different main parts of fruit (e.g., cyanidin and rutin), decreased the interplay between spike S1 and ACE2.” • From Wikipedia (sorry): “Prenol happens naturally in citrus fruits, cranberry, bilberry, currants, grapes, raspberry, blackberry, tomato, white bread, hop oil, espresso, arctic bramble, cloudberry and keenness fruit.” Prenol is manufactured industrially. There’s a Prenol remedy, nevertheless it’s a steroid. So I’m unsure if this text has sensible implications. Although I can at all times drink extra espresso!

“One thing Terrible”

Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” may be a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. Plenty of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most certainly deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we would add mind harm, together with persona modifications therefrom.

* * *

Elite Maleficence

“The CDC is in disaster — can its new chief put it aside?” [Nature]. “As soon as considered the gold customary for public-health companies, the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) faces an unprecedented disaster, fuelled by power underfunding and anger concerning the company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However now the company has a brand new chief to attempt to put issues proper: Mandy Cohen, a doctor who served as North Carolina’s well being secretary till the top of 2021. She began her tenure as CDC director on Monday. Cohen takes over the function beforehand stuffed by Rochelle Walensky, an infectious-disease specialist who left the CDC lower than a 12 months after asserting an initiative to overtake the company’s construction and operations. Among the many challenges that Cohen inherits are restoring public and political assist for the CDC, rebuilding the company’s infrastructure and enhancing its capacity to make fast selections within the face of emergencies. However public-health specialists say that Cohen’s expertise on the state degree has outfitted her effectively to deal with the duty. ‘Dr Cohen spent a number of years working in North Carolina, having to do that tough stability between what’s the proper factor to do from a purely scientific perspective, and the way that may be carried out when you think about all the challenges of public coverage,’ says Jay Varma, co-director of the Cornell Heart for Pandemic Prevention and Response at Weill Cornell Medication in New York Metropolis.” • Cohen beginning out with seen assist for Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions:

Hello @CDCDirector! Did the folks you’re photographed with need to covid check earlier than sharing house with you unmasked? Did you? As a constituent, I can think about you’d agree that it could be irresponsible for an individual in your place to mannequin lower than protected practices!

— it’s babs ✨@itsbabs.bsky.social✨ (@babs_zone) July 11, 2023

Oh, wait….

Case Knowledge

NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater knowledge, July 10:

Lambert right here: Nonetheless a pattern upward. Joyful July 4! Absent a brand new variant to race although the dry tinder, I don’t see an oncoming debacle even with July 4 journey. However loads of folks will nonetheless get sick (once more).

Regional knowledge:

When you have a look at yesterday’s Biobot regional knowledge, you’ll see that the information for each the West and the South has been retrospectively revised (upwardly).

Regional variant knowledge:

No matter the reason for the uptick within the Northeast, it’s not EG.5 (the orange pie slice), which appears evenly distributed.

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, July 8:

Lambert right here: EG.5 shifting like a bat out of hell, exhibiting unactionable nature (uselessness) of those CDC two-week-lag charts (right here, and in positivity, too). They’re not even performative!

From CDC, June 24:

Lambert right here: Unsure what to make of this. I’m used to seeing a brand new variant take down the beforehand dominant variant. Right here it seems like we now have a “tag crew,” all working collectively to chop XBB.1.5 right down to dimension. I positive hope the volunteers doing Pangolin, on which this chart relies upon, don’t all transfer on the inexperienced fields and pastures new (or have their entry to amenities reduce by directors of in poor health intent).

CDC: “As of Might 11, genomic surveillance knowledge will likely be reported biweekly, based mostly on the provision of optimistic check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Appears like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, July 1:

NOTE “Charts and knowledge supplied by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous 12 months, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not your complete pandemic, FFS (the implicit message right here being that Covid is “similar to the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week interval” is acceptable for each_{MR SUBLIMINAL I hate these folks a lot}. Discover additionally that this chart reveals, at the least for its time interval, that Covid is not seasonal, though CDC is attempting to get us to consider that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the present institutional equipment for injections.

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, July 10:

5.7%. Going vertical, although absolutely the numbers are nonetheless very small relative to June 2022, say. Apparently, these don’t correlate with the regional figures for wastewater.

NOT UPDATED From CDC, June 19:

Lambert right here: That is the CDC’s “Traveler-Based mostly Genomic Surveillance” knowledge. They are saying “maps,” however I don’t see one….

Deaths

NOT UPDATED Iowa COVID-19 Tracker, June 28:

Lambert right here: The WHO knowledge is nugatory, so I changed it with the Iowa Covid Knowledge Tracker. Their technique: “These knowledge have been sourced, by way of the API from the CDC: https://knowledge.cdc.gov/NCHS/Situations-Contributing-to-COVID-19-Deaths-by-Stat/hk9y-quqm. This visualization updates on Wednesday evenings. Knowledge are provisional and are adjusted weekly by the CDC.” I can’t appear to get a pop-up that reveals a complete of the three causes (prime proper). Readers?

Whole: 1,168,533 – 1,168,5051,168,414 = 28 (28 * 365 = 10,220 deaths per 12 months, in the present day’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “residing with” Covid (fairly a bit greater than the minimizers would really like, although they’ll speak themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I may need to determine that is what the powers-that-be think about “mission completed” for this explicit tranche of loss of life and illness).

Extra Deaths

Extra deaths (The Economist), July 12:

Lambert right here: That is now being up to date every day. Odd. Based mostly on a machine-learning mannequin. (The CDC has an extra estimate too, however because it ran perpetually with a large typo within the Legend, I figured no person was actually taking a look at it, so I obtained rid it. )

Stats Watch

Inflation: “United States Inflation Charge” [Trading Economics]. “The annual inflation price within the US slowed to three% in June of 2023, the bottom since March of 2021 and in comparison with 4% in Might and expectations of three.1%. The slowdown is partly on account of a excessive base impact from final 12 months when a surge in vitality and meals costs pushed the headline inflation price to 1981-highs of 9.1%.”

Attire: “Indiana’s High Enterprise Faculty Proudly Partnered With Shein, Then Quietly Lower Ties” [Forbes]. “March 2022, Indiana College’s Kelley Faculty of Enterprise struck a take care of Shein, the Chinese language-born quick style big. College students would be capable to find out about firm practices and get entry to executives whereas doing analysis for the corporate, and Shein would be capable to scout expertise — just like the varsity’s different partnerships with firms like Macy’s and The Dwelling Depot. The partnership, Shein’s first with an American college, was aptly timed. Indiana was set to be the placement of Shein’s first American warehouse, which might open on the finish of 2022 with the promise to create 850 new jobs. However after an effusive press launch famous the partnership was a ‘pure match’ that may spotlight ‘the financial development Shein is bringing to Indiana,’ the college quietly scuttled the deal simply months later — and nobody is aware of why. Kelley’s glowing press launch was deleted from its web site, and the varsity has by no means defined what occurred.” However: “‘I don’t assume anyone is aware of what that deal was,’ Mary Embry, a senior lecturer in merchandising, who teaches in Eskenazi Faculty of Artwork, Structure and Design, a sister college to Kelley, informed Forbes. However, she famous, Shein’s clothes is ‘not moral,’ and ‘I believe it was very tactical of [Kelley] to let it die.’”

Right now’s Concern & Greed Index: 80 Excessive Greed (earlier shut: 79 Excessive Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 79 (Excessive Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jul 12 at 1:39 PM ET.

Zeitgeist Watch

America, America….

Museum-grade!

The Gallery

A portray shouldn’t be “immersive” by definition:

This exhibit can don’t have anything to do with Van Gogh’s intent; what’s the purpose?

Information of the Wired

“Counting sheep on the Chajnantor plateau” [European Southern Observatory]. • Headline anchoring….

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