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

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Form readers, we are actually at 177 donors, or 44% of our objective of 400 donors (25 greater than final 12 months). For those who get pleasure from beginning Water Cooler with a birdsong, and ending Water Cooler with a stunning {photograph} of a plant (or honorary plant (or reader challenge)), please help Water Cooler. I hope you benefit from the birds and vegetation as a lot as I do. –lambert

Chook Track of the Day

Pygmy Nuthatch, Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, United States. “About eight.” Busy busy busy!

In Case You May Miss…

(1) The multi-threaded epic debacle at Boeing.

(2) Spooks and gaming.

(3) What the TikTok invoice actually says.

(3) WHO downgrades SARS-CoV-2 to BSL2 (however there’s a catch).

Search for the Helpers

Lambert right here: I hope readers will ship in additional examples like this (“brighten the nook the place you’re“). The helper(s) don’t should be heroic, not to mention dramatic, or ego-driven, and definitely not institutional. To quote, of all folks, the American Enterprise Institute, writing on Occupy, and citing to David Graeber:

Along with trucking, bartering, and knocking one another over the pinnacle, Graeber argues that human beings additionally have interaction in an entirely totally different form of financial exercise: We frequently share issues we’ve with others. When Graeber says that we’re already communists, he’s referring to these fairly acquainted conditions by which we actually do function by the maxim “From every in line with his skill, to every in line with his want.”

Folks of all cultures, together with our personal, invariably apply the communism of on a regular basis life when coping with their household and shut pals. A mom doesn’t anticipate her baby to pay her for her baby-sitting providers. A brother doesn’t hire out his baseball glove to his brother on an hourly foundation. If a good friend is sick and desires one thing from the shop, we choose it up for her and would by no means consider asking for gasoline cash in return.

As Graeber factors out, this sort of habits comes out most conspicuously throughout a disaster, equivalent to a pure catastrophe. At such occasions, folks will voluntarily, even cheerfully, prolong a serving to hand to those that are most in want of 1. Much less dramatically, the identical precept is at work every time we’re at a retailer that has a field on the counter that claims “Go away a penny, take a penny,” supposed to assist out those that don’t have the precise change. In all these circumstances we’re witnessing the spontaneous software of the communist maxim, “From every in line with his skill, to every in line with his want.”

In our more and more determined, atomized, and fragile neoliberal society, regular incidents and tales of “the communism of on a regular basis life” are what I’m in search of (and never, say, the Purple Cross in Hawaii, and even the UNWRA in Gaza). For instance–

“NYC’s unlikely hero: A subway ‘ninja’ who shares vibes and canned items” [New York Post (NL)]. “Three days per week, Ray Tarvin, 35, fits up in all black — like an ‘Previous West’ ninja — and patrols the Fifth Avenue/53rd Avenue subway station, spreading optimistic vibes and handing out water and canned items to these in want. ‘I’d see folks undergo trash cans in search of meals — there’s lots of them in New York Metropolis — and my coronary heart advised me to stack up on, like, canned items and water and simply, you understand, move it out.’ Tarvin, a slight and soft-spoken temp worker who works safety shifts in banks by day, begins his shift within the subway round 3 p.m. most Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. He grooves to oldies on an outdated flip cellphone and offers thumbs-ups and fist bumps to straphangers.” • Flip telephones are one of the best!

My e-mail handle is down by the plant; please ship examples of “Helpers” there.

Politics

Lambert right here: Form readers: I’ve been writing every day on the American political scene since 2003 or so; I reduce my tooth running a blog on the Bush WMD story. And “I’m not drained,” as Arlo Guthrie sings in Alice’s Restaurant. After so a few years, I don’t really feel I’ve something to show, and I’m not that inquisitive about making “calls” (although readers will recall my Trump protection in 2016). What I am inquisitive about: Providing you with the instruments to interpret the information of politics, as it’s offered to us. I attempt to be as concrete as potential, about personalities, localities (“all politics is native”), methods, historical past, all so as that you could come to the absolute best political choices (voting, not voting, no matter). to me, politics by no means will get outdated! “However what’s authorities itself, however the best of all reflections on human nature?”, as Madison places it in Federalist 51. There may be all the time one thing dynamic, all the time one thing to be taught! For those who each get pleasure from Water Cooler’s political protection and discover it helpful, now and over time, please hit the Tip Jar now, as a result of though this protection is tough work, I’d wish to preserve doing it. Thanks!

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

The Constitutional Order (Rebel)

“Democrats’ Meltdown Over Trump Immunity Case Proves SCOTUS Is Proper To Hear It” [The Federalist]. “Members of Congress and federal judges are immune from civil and prison prosecution for his or her official acts. At the moment, presidents are solely immune from civil prosecution for his or her official acts. That’s as a result of the Supreme Court docket has by no means needed to determine whether or not that extends to prison prosecutions, as no president has ever confronted a prison prosecution till the Democrats’ 4 prison indictments towards Trump…. Obama-nominated Decide Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia is working the proceedings fairly speedily; certainly, the case was paused solely due to the immunity enchantment. It’s affordable to ask whether or not she would have adopted the identical schedule had Trump not been a candidate for the presidency, particularly after the Biden Justice Division waited 30 months to carry these novel prices…. Tribe doesn’t need voters to have info; quite, he needs voters to have incomplete info. Tribe is aware of that, had been there a conviction, the appellate course of wouldn’t come near being completed by the point of the election.” • Desk-pounding, I believe — meltdowns show nothing however the reality of a meltdown — however not unhealthy table-pounding in any respect!

Biden Administration

. Someone learn the invoice:

For those who assume this isn’t a Computer virus and can solely apply to TikTok and foreign-adversary social media firms, then ponder why somebody thought it was essential to get a really particular exclusion for his or her web primarily based enterprise written into the invoice: pic.twitter.com/LnHsmEgtt9

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 12, 2024

Massey’s query within the second tweet is an effective one (particularly provided that overview websites are cesspits of Web optimization-driven enshittification). What I need to know: What does “operated not directly… (together with by means of an affiliate)” imply? Just about any website the spooks assume is unhealthy? (To me, that parenthetical means “together with” however not restricted to.”

* * *

“Highly effective White Home official — and Jill Biden’s ‘work husband’ — is a #MeToo nightmare with claims of bullying, sexual harassment” [New York Post]. ” A high Biden White Home official has bullied and verbally sexually harassed colleagues over greater than a decade, The Submit has realized — however is taken into account ‘untouchable’ as a result of first woman Jill Biden regards him as her ‘work husband.’ Anthony Bernal, whose standing as the primary woman’s high aide grants him huge clout in each White Home operations and Democratic politics, has repeatedly speculated within the office concerning the penis dimension of colleagues, in line with three sources with firsthand information. Two sources stated Bernal, 50, shared with them a principle that the dimensions of an individual’s thumb corresponds to that of their genitalia — citing the speculation each on the White Home and in prior roles throughout President Biden’s marketing campaign and vice presidency underneath President Barack Obama. ‘It’s to make folks uncomfortable and to have energy over them,’ stated one supply who advised The Submit they heard Bernal make the crude remarks over a number of years whereas they labored collectively. ‘It’s Me Too — basic Me Too,’ the supply added. A second supply recounted listening to Bernal speculate ‘usually’ contained in the White Home concerning the endowments of fellow political aides and even Secret Service brokers.” • First shot at “Physician” Biden, subsequently attention-grabbing. As a result of how may she not discover it? Did no person complain to her? If not, why not?

2024

Lower than a 12 months to go!

* * *

Trump (R): “Trump’s Georgia case hangs on key resolution of a comparatively new decide” [WaPo]. “Fulton County Superior Court docket Decide Scott McAfee was randomly assigned to supervise the racketeering case towards former president Donald Trump and a solid of shut advisers and allies who’re accused of plotting to overthrow a legit election to maintain Trump in energy…. McAfee’s ruling is more likely to be a career-defining second for the 34-year-old rookie decide…. Disqualifying Willis and her staff of prosecutors would nearly actually delay, if not outright finish the prison case towards Trump, certainly one of 4 he faces. Permitting Willis to remain on the case is certain to spark protection requests for enchantment — which McAfee must approve — and anger Trump’s supporters. Prosecutors have argued ‘mere look’ [of conflict of interest] shouldn’t be the usual for Willis’s removing, whereas protection attorneys have argued that’s greater than sufficient.” • An attention-grabbing, not-quite-puff piece. What strikes me is how, effectively, incestuous the Georgia political world is (and people relationships are, I’d speculate, a giant, although unseen, driver behind the case(s)).

* * *

Trump (R): “Trump’s Marketing campaign Is So Poor He May Not Be Capable of Maintain His Beloved Rallies, Says MSNBC Reporter” [Mediaite]. “After making be aware of the de facto merger between the Republican Nationwide Committee with the Trump marketing campaign, [MSNBC’s Vaughn Hillyard] additionally fielded a query concerning the whether or not the Trump marketing campaign thinks they should elevate and spend some huge cash within the months earlier than November, or whether it is relying on earned media to assist mitigate its monetary drawback. ‘They completely imagine that earned media goes to supply them lots. However right here’s additionally a actuality at play. It takes manpower,’ replied Hillyard. ‘Cash may assist in the direction of — that is my my large shtick right here — cash will help in the direction of really placing people on the bottom in these states. Within the areas the place they’ll depend on to drag off victories are in rural components of Georgia, rural components of Wisconsin, rural components of Michigan, rural components of Arizona. And to get people that usually don’t vote, you bought to go and inform them, ‘We’d like you to return vote.”

‘And you may go and have a rally in these locations, however these rallies price $400,000,’ he continued. ‘I imply that is the place — don’t anticipate to see Donald Trump to be parading across the nation, as a result of these occasions price a whole bunch of hundreds of {dollars} to placed on. They’re in a predicament now, whether or not they wish to admit it or not.’” • I don’t know if Republicans really feel concerning the RNC the way in which that I really feel concerning the DNC (which is lots like I really feel concerning the CDC); but when they do, then forcing Trump to intestine the RNC to economize is perhaps addition by subtraction.

* * *

Biden (D): “Biden had repeated psychological lapses throughout particular counsel interview: transcript” [Axios]. “In his five-hour interview with particular counsel Robert Hur, President Biden repeatedly combined up dates, international locations and the timeline of serious occasions, together with the years his son Beau died and Donald Trump was elected, in line with a transcript of the interview reviewed by Axios. The transcript helps Hur’s account that Biden had a number of psychological lapses, regardless of latest pushback from the president and the White Home.” Hur testifies as we speak. Extra: “Over the course of the two-day interview, which occurred within the speedy aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, Biden repeatedly requested for assist remembering sure essential dates — and his attorneys incessantly stepped in.”

Biden (D): “The Divided President” [The Nation]. The deck: “Who’s in cost within the Biden White Home?” Extra: “After the White Home introduced in April that Biden can be reneging on his promise and leaving Trump’s cap in place for at the very least the 12 months forward, staffers together with chief of employees Ron Klain and Home Coverage Council director Susan Rice launched into a plan to softly nudge the president again to his authentic place, an effort that concerned managing Biden’s mood. ‘It was completely clear that Biden would preserve elevating the topic himself, often in conferences concerning the border disaster, often with an fringe of aggression,’ [Franklin] Foer tells us [in his book, The Last Politician]. ‘He moaned, ‘Are you able to imagine that they need me to return to these excessive numbers?’ At a second like that Susan Rice would shoot a look throughout the room, which advised aides, ‘Don’t take the bait.’” • Because of this Biden’s canines chew folks.

Biden (D): “Democrats use clips of Trump to counter Biden reminiscence claims” [The Hill]. “Democrats on Tuesday sought to show the tables on Republicans who zeroed in on particular counsel Robert Hur’s commentary on President Biden’s reminiscence, turning repeatedly to video clips of former President Trump mangling phrases, mixing up people or forgetting particulars. Home Judiciary Committee rating member Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) opened the listening to with a video montage of previous Trump statements by which he appeared to confuse Biden with former President Obama, combined up former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with GOP rival Nikki Haley and mistakenly referred to as Hungarian chief Viktor Orbán the president of Turkey.” Extra: “And Rep. Mary Homosexual Scanlon (D-Pa.), in search of to rebut claims about Biden’s reminiscence, used video clips for instance Trump’s ‘lapse in reminiscence throughout a deposition.’ One clip featured Trump being requested what years he was married to Marla Maples, to which Trump stated he’d ‘should get the precise dates.’ Requested if it was right he married his present spouse in January 2005, Trump stated he didn’t know ‘related to that day.” • On the final instance, the marriages, Trump would possibly effectively say “that makes me sensible!” Plus: “Toby had by no means as soon as volunteered the reality, that info was cash to him; even when he counted it worthless, he by no means threw it away.” –John LeCarré, Smiley’s Folks. (Truly, I kinda just like the parallel between the “creep” Toby and Trump: “Shouldn’t this be numbered if it’s a Degas, Toby?” “‘Degas, that’s a really gray space, George.” Good factor Toby wasn’t in actual property!)

* * *

Kennedy (I): “How RFK may smash the two-party system” [Unherd]. “[T]he frictionless progress of each candidates by means of their social gathering’s inside processes is concealing a hidden reality about this 12 months’s election. Many People don’t need Joe Biden or Donald Trump. They see the race as a horror-reality present that includes two geriatrics who appear doddery, unwell, and offended at being advised so. It’s more and more potential that they help unbiased candidates who may deprive each Trump and Biden of the votes wanted to win the presidency. America may find yourself with a hung presidential election. How would this come about? The Structure requires {that a} victorious president wins at the very least 270 Electoral Faculty votes, which they have to collect from some mixture of the 50 states. It now appears potential that neither mainstream candidate will handle that…. If neither Biden nor Trump reaches the required 270 Electoral Faculty votes, the Structure dictates that the voting shifts right into a “contingent election”. Which means that the incoming Home of Representatives will determine the winner primarily based on whoever can type a coalition of pink and blue states and win 26 of them first. The Senate would choose the vice chairman. Given that almost all Republican or Democrat politicians are hardly ready to have a look at one another, not to mention agree any offers, it appears unlikely Biden or Trump may forge that coalition. However Kennedy or the as-yet-unnamed No Labels candidate, who actively domesticate the concept of returning to centrist bipartisan options, doubtlessly may, ought to the presidency slip into the arcana of America’s 18th-century constitutional schematics.” • This subject is admittedly one thing to look at, in the identical means that Part Three was a subject to look at. We appear to have a dynamic the place each edge case is being examined — by social gathering operatives in search of “an edge,” in addition to “the sting.”

Kennedy (I): “Huge Tech’s Election Interference: Why Google and Meta Went Purchasing for Former US Intelligence Officers” [The Kennedy Beacon]. “The variety of former Intelligence Group employees employed by Google and Meta since 2018 is important. Earlier than then, there have been only some, however now the numbers are a lot increased: CIA – 36, FBI – 68, NSA – 44, DHS/CISA – 68, State Division – 86, DOD – 121.” No cites for these numbers, although. Extra: “The presence of Jacqueline Lopour as Google’s Head of Belief & Security and Aaron Berman as Meta’s Head of Elections Content material/Misinformation Coverage, each with backgrounds within the CIA, highlights the numerous affect exerted by the company over on-line censorship.” • Ick. That stated, I’ve skimmed the earlier publish, and this Twitter thread, and I nonetheless don’t see cites to the numbers. A desk with hyperlinks and names can be good. Readers, can you notice one?

* * *

“Battle for the Home: 9 races that can decide the bulk” [The House]. CA-13: Republican Rep. John Duarte and Democrat Adam Grey are advancing to a rematch. CA-22Democrat Rudy Salas superior to the overall election with Republican Rep. David Valadao, organising a rematch after they went toe-to-toe in a detailed midterm race. CA-47: In Orange County, Democrat Rep. Katie Porter left her Home seat to lodge an unsuccessful bid for the state’s uncommon open Senate seat. Porter and fellow progressive Rep. Barbara Lee had been boxed out of the highest two in Tremendous Tuesday’s Senate main, with Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff [RussiaGate pays] and Republican Steve Garvey advancing for a partisan showdown. MI-7: Republican Tom Barrett, who misplaced to Slotkin by round 5 factors again in 2022, is working once more for the seat, whereas the Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee (DCCC) has backed former Democratic state Sen. Curtis Hertel. The midterms race was the most costly Home contest within the nation, in line with reporting from The Detroit Information — and the 2024 race is ready to be one other aggressive battle as each events set their sights on the opening. NY-4: Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) is working in probably the most unpredictable toss-up races within the nation this 12 months…. [Laura] Gillen is working once more and may very well be poised for a rematch with D’Esposito. With Biden more likely to simply carry New York in November, D’Esposito must depend on a comparatively excessive quantity of split-ticket voters as he did two years in the past to win a second time period. NY-17: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) received a significant shock victory in 2022 when he defeated Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the then-chair of Home Democrats’ marketing campaign arm, by simply over half a proportion level. Lawler has sought to construct up a repute as a reasonable member of the GOP convention and led the cost to expel Santos for the false claims he made about himself and the prison prices he faces. The win was symbolic and key to Republicans profitable the Home majority by just some seats. He appears more likely to face former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), who beforehand represented the district however misplaced a main in a distinct district after the maps had been redrawn. NY-22: Of all the doubtless weak New York Home Republicans this fall, Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) could have probably the most important uphill battle. OH-9: Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) has represented her state’s ninth Congressional District for 4 many years and had a dependable Democratic-leaning constituency all through a lot of her profession. However Ohio’s redistricting course of after 2020 made her district a battleground…. Kaptur will probably face an opponent with much less baggage this time, which may make it her most tough marketing campaign but.” OR-5: Additionally on the West Coast, Democrats want to take again a seat that flipped into Republican fingers for the primary time in many years when Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer received Oregon’s fifth Congressional District within the midterms. Chavez-DeRemer received by 2 factors towards Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner final cycle, changing into the primary Republican girl to characterize Oregon in Congress. McLeod-Skinner is working once more.” • The first course of just isn’t full, so some opponents are usually not recognized. CA and NY are nearly battleground states!

* * *

“Column: Biden says America is ‘coming again.’ Trump says we’re ‘in hell.’ Are they speaking about the identical nation?” [Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times]. “Political professionals say a profitable marketing campaign presents voters a compelling narrative, a narrative concerning the state of the nation: What’s gone flawed, what’s going proper, and what does the candidate suggest to do about it?… Hardly ever have two main candidates offered narratives so wildly at odds. They appear to be describing wholly totally different realities.” Maybe — hear me out — there are class variations between the bases, or desired bases, of every social gathering, and so they actually do expertise America otherwise, and never simply from partisan or ideological bias, however materials circumstances. Extra: “If Biden’s sounds over-optimistic, Trump’s sounds cartoonishly dystopian.”

Democrats en Déshabillé

“Biden’s State of the Union acquired one large factor proper” [Zack Beauchamp, Vox]. “One among democracy’s core premises is that elections are usually not like armed battle, the place both you win otherwise you die. Since all events settle for the fundamental guidelines of the sport, like aggressive elections and free speech, the stakes of elections are usually not existential. Political opponents are much less enemies than rivals; disagreement isn’t catastrophe. Authoritarian populists like Donald Trump win by attacking this foundational democratic norm. They demonize their opponents, arguing repeatedly that their opponents are usually not rivals however quite monsters bent on the nation’s destruction.” • Holy Lord. From the social gathering of RussiaGate?! The social gathering that’s checking underneath your mattress, proper now, for Vladimir Putin? Why, that may make Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden authoritarian populists! Oh, wait… No however significantly, if fascism is a smorgasbord, each events appear to be loading up their plates.

#COVID19

Lambert right here: Form readers: I’ve been writing posting each weekday on Covid because the pandemic started. I don’t assume I’ve to inform you how aggravating that’s, or how laborious to analysis is (not simply to search out the fabric, however to get it proper). For those who really feel that Water Cooler has been helpful to you in understanding the pandemic, or, better of all, has helped forestall you or your loved ones pals, and group from getting sick with Covid, please hit the Tip Jar now!

“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

Assets, 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 at liberty to contact me on the handle given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!

Assets, 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 studies); 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).

Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).

Assets, 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 secure on the market!

Sequelae

Crafters and knitters, any feedback?

What I’m seeing in craft circles is incapacity/unwillingness to be taught. Doesn’t seem to be a problem when persons are going by no means thoughts, it’s silly anyway” after they can’t be taught to crochet, however what about when that impacts job security & high quality? (We’re undoubtedly seeing each)

— Faux There’s One thing Attention-grabbing Right here (@Sleepyweezul) March 11, 2024

Proxies for cognitive impairment at a inhabitants can be: Plane (manufacturing and piloting); driving; now knitting and crafts. One would anticipate to see markets modify to the shortcoming to deal with complexity… Easier knitting patterns, for instance. How about video games?

Elite Maleficence

WHO downgrading SARS-CoV-2 to BSL2 on the exact same day WHO declared declared Covid19 to be a pandemic is a really good contact:

Not even 24 hours after you despatched this heartfelt publish into the world, @mvankerkhove, it got here to gentle that the WHO has made SARS-COV-2, BSL2.

BSL2. That which has reasonable threat to laboratorians AND the atmosphere.

PPE? 👇 IF wanted. https://t.co/c1yn7xgInN pic.twitter.com/nOyUUlyQ0B

— Lazarus Lengthy (@LazarusLong13) March 12, 2024

However not so quick:

The doc says this really (BSL-2 for non propagative diagnostic laboratory work): “Dealing with excessive concentrations of reside SARS-CoV-2 virus variants which might be variants of curiosity (VOI) or variants of concern (VOC) or rising strains with out a recognized organic profile,
1/ pic.twitter.com/vqLZtviLBM

— Themis (@Themislv_vls) March 12, 2024

So, BSL2 for propadanda, BSL3 within the lab? Readers?

* * *

“Wrestling with my husband’s worry of getting COVID once more” [NPR]. “So whereas the remainder of the world appears to have moved on from the pandemic, in our home, it’s nonetheless 2020. We put on masks once we go into public indoor areas. We don’t eat inside eating places. We don’t go to motion pictures. Now we have folks take COVID assessments earlier than they enter our home. All this leaves me feeling torn between two feelings. I need to preserve my husband secure and wholesome. However I additionally need our outdated life again.” • So, on the one hand, brunch. And on the opposite, my husband’s coronary heart and mind! It’s too unhealthy NPR didn’t write a narrative like this one:

Lately, I used to be having a dialog with a detailed good friend. I stated I might think about an unmasked go to in my effectively ventilated house with air purifiers, and he or she stated “completely not. My job is simply too public. I will not put you in danger.” Now THAT is an effective good friend.

— Zoe Martell (@ZoeMartell1) March 12, 2024

However that NPR printed the story it did… Nicely, that tells us lots concerning the totebag set, doesn’t it? No surprise the PMC’s Covid failure was so full and catastrophic (“The Collapse of the Public Well being Institution is the Collapse of the Skilled-Managerial Class“).

“Disabled folks’s exclusion from indoor areas is a civil rights violation, not an annoyance” [The Guantlet]. “I’m going to attract the lens again and away from this explicit girl who wrote this explicit article. Her perspective is way from uncommon and is the results of years of minimizing, pathologizing propaganda. The main focus right here ought to be about why this perspective is so frequent, what this perspective implies, and for what cause main media retailers select to platform folks complaining about their disabled spouses quite than our ableist society…. NPR’s resolution to platform a bit concerning the issue of navigating life with a partner who can’t dine indoors, as an alternative of a bit concerning the issue of navigating a society that has made eating indoors unsafe for weak teams, is simply that- a choice, and a political one. It’s a part of an ongoing effort to solid those that can’t play together with the ‘again to regular’ fantasy- those that are being harmed and killed by it- as bizarre, paranoid, loopy, annoying, and ‘the issue.;…. Lengthy COVID is the defective, load-bearing beam within the rickety pandemic denial superstructure. Had been the general public to understand how frequent and the way extreme it’s, all the post-pandemic facade would come crumbling down. Subsequently, as Lengthy COVID sufferers grow to be louder, as their presence turns into extra plain, as their numbers develop, the COVID normalization challenge should pivot from making an attempt to vanish these victims to steadily stigmatizing them.” • Yep.

I additionally thought this thread was perceptive and wise:

TABLE 1: Each day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new as we speak; 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) Biobot drops, conformant to Walgreen positivity information (if that’s certainly not a knowledge artifact). Notice, nevertheless, the realm “underneath the curve,” in addition to taking a look at peaks. That space is bigger underneath Biden than underneath Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if inconsistently.

[2] (Biobot) Regional separation re-emerges.

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

[4] (ER) Doesn’t help Biobot information. “Charts and information supplied by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous 12 months, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.”

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Not flattening. (Date for information corrected; it was a glitch.)

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

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

Inflation: “United States Client Worth Index (CPI)” [Trading Economics]. “The buyer worth index in the USA rose by 3.2% year-over-year to 310.326 factors in February 2024, following a 3.1% enhance in January and barely exceeding the market consensus of a 3.1% advance.”

Inflation: “United States Core Inflation Price” [Trading Economics]. “The annual core client worth inflation charge in the USA, which excludes risky gadgets equivalent to meals and vitality, eased to a close to three-year low of three.8% in February 2024, down barely from 3.9% in January however above market forecasts of three.7%.”

Manufacturing: “Boeing whistleblower who warned of plane security flaws discovered useless” [NBC]. After the BBC, oddly. “The assertion from Barnett’s household stated he had suffered from post-traumatic stress dysfunction and anxiousness assaults and that the ‘hostile work atmosphere at Boeing’ led to his demise.” However: “His [lawsuit against Boeing] was up for trial this June, the household assertion stated, including: ‘He was wanting ahead to having his day in court docket and hoped that it might pressure Boeing to vary its tradition.’” • So, if he was “wanting ahead”… Commentary:

Manufacturing: “50 folks injured after a ‘sturdy motion’ on Boeing flight to New Zealand” [NBC]. “It’s unclear precisely what brought about the midflight accidents. The South American airline LATAM stated in a press release that there was a ‘technical occasion throughout the flight which brought about a robust motion,’ with out elaborating additional.” • A technical occasion? Like somenbody attempting to re-attach a wheel?

Manufacturing: “737 Max anti-ice system repair is gradual going” [The Air Current]. “As we speak, Boeing has but to nail down a conclusive repair for the anti-ice system. A number of choices stay into account and its last resolution could find yourself a mixture of design adjustments. The corporate has activated a multidisciplinary staff to focus completely on the issue. This so-called ‘Tiger Workforce’ is getting elevated sources to design the modification for the Max 7 and 10. Neither plane might be licensed by the FAA with out this modification.” In the meantime: “Pilots utilizing personalised reminders for all kinds of duties within the cockpit is extraordinarily frequent, however underscores the shortage of detailed alerting within the grasp warning system aboard all generations of the 737, counting on pilot reminiscence to change off the doubtless hazardous anti-ice system. ‘Straightforward to get distracted with different duties and miss turning off,’ stated [Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines captain and spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association], who has been sharply important of Boeing. “That’s why I take advantage of a decades-old method.’” • “Straightforward to get distracted.” So, Tajer is assuming to common diminishment in govt operate as a consequence of Covid?

Manufacturing: “Boeing Response in Alaska Airways 737 MAX Probe Is Blasted by Feds” [Wall Street Journal]. “The corporate stated the door plug’s removing was undocumented, so there have been no paperwork to share.” • That’s astonishingly unhealthy.

Manufacturing: “Airplanes and engineering: The way in which we had been” [Star-Tribune]. When it modified: “Working for Honeywell in Minneapolis, I used to be concerned in product developments for a number of Boeing plane: new platforms B-757, B-767, B-777 and B-787, and revisions on older designs, together with the B-737. Every of those developments concerned an intimate relationship between Boeing and Honeywell throughout a number of ranges of group. On the coronary heart of the work had been the shoppers’ necessities. Assembly these drove every day choices within the challenge planning…. One afternoon, we began calling our contacts in Boeing Engineering. Engineering had prioritized the bidders and guaranteed us Honeywell was their first selection. Nonetheless, they might not verify that Boeing administration had signed off on the choice. We nonetheless believed we might win this system. Prior to now, Boeing all the time chosen the best technical bidder then renegotiated the worth as this system phased into quantity manufacturing. It was one of the best course of to satisfy Boeing’s and the passengers’ high quality calls for… we had been notified we weren’t chosen for this system. By way of a number of discussions with the Boeing engineering managers, we later came upon that Boeing’s procurement course of had modified. Boeing provide administration downgraded the engineering evaluation from prioritized functionality to both assembly or not assembly the necessities. Then, procurement would choose the bottom bidder from this pool of suppliers assembly the necessities. . (We heard that Boeing engineers wore a black armband for a month protesting the choice for this program.) with no account for the uncertainty that engineering usually anticipated and hoped to have some insurance coverage towards. This could grow to be a basic change within the plane business.” • Value studying in full. (The Boeing 777 was launched in 1990, so presumbly this modified occurred in 1985 or so. There’s lots of break in an plane manufacturing firm.”

As we speak’s Concern & Greed Index: 67 Greed (earlier shut: 74 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 78 (Excessive Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Mar 11 at 2:22:53 PM ET.

The Conservatory

“Smells Like Teen Spirit Cowl In Classical Latin (75 BC to third Century AD) Bardcore/Medieval type” (video) [YouTube].

Video games

“FBI, DHS Companion with Gaming Corporations to Battle ‘Extremist Avid gamers’” [Value Entertainment]. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) are coordinating with gaming firms to root out “home extremist content material” amongst their participant bases, a brand new authorities report suggests. Based on the Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO), a nonpartisan company that audits different authorities departments on behalf of Congress, the FBI and DHS ought to use the identical methods that enable them to police extremism on social media to manage the gaming business. The GAO report, entitled Countering Violent Extremism: FBI and DHS Want Methods and Targets for Sharing Menace Info with Social Media and Gaming Corporations, was compiled between September 2022 and January 2024. It was first printed internally on January thirty first after which launched publicly on February twenty eighth….. Within the report, the GAO cites interviews with 5 entities inside the gaming and social media industries: Roblox, a preferred multiplayer recreation creation platform, Discord, a social app in style with avid gamers, Reddit, a web based discussion board social community, and two gaming firms that requested the GAO to maintain them nameless.” • Hmm.

Zeitgeist Watch

“Dangerous Cash – Historic Counterfeiters and Their Faux Cash” [CoinWeek]. “There have been two primary methods of counterfeiting historical cash. The primary technique utilized by historical counterfeiters was to cowl a base steel core with a skinny layer of valuable steel after which strike it between engraved dies. If the coating was seamless, the dies of fine high quality, and the burden of the completed piece shut sufficient to the official normal, such cash would possibly move as real. They’re generally known as fourées, from a French phrase that means ‘stuffed.’ A second technique utilized by historical counterfeiters was to make clay molds from an authentic coin, after which pour molten steel into the molds, often leaded copper alloy. Ceramic molds may very well be mass-produced cheaply, so low-value copper cash may very well be counterfeited profitably. There was a continual scarcity of small change in historical economies, so even poor high quality fakes had been accepted in markets for lack of something higher. Authorities tended to disregard such forgeries, even after they enforced savage penalties towards counterfeiting valuable steel cash.” • Information you need to use!

Information of the Wired

I’m not fairly certain what to file this underneath:

Software program-defined radio:

Hearken to FM radio, freenet, highway visitors info…. (That is Mastodon, so maybe all the thread shall be accessible with out a login.)

Contact info for vegetation: 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 vegetation. Greens are high quality! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you would like your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it in the beginning of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From TH:

TH writes: “In entrance of the Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock Home in Hollywood, California, is that this landscaping of vegetation I can’t actually determine, however I all the time discover it curious when butterflies are drawn to greenery quite than the same old blossoms.” Concerning the Hollyhock Home: “[A]n ode to California–its freedom and pure magnificence…. Hollyhock Home is a harbinger of California Modernism, inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Checklist.” Neat!

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