2:00PM Water Cooler 4/25/2024 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chook Tune of the Day

American Woodcock, Powhatan State Park, Powhatan, Virginia, United States. “In flight then calling from floor.” Apparently the peents are from the bottom!

In Case You May Miss…

(1) Anti-trump authorized cabal — Hello, Larry^‡! [waves] — detailed in Politico article.

(2) Sudden emergence of the Molineux Rule, as a problem for Bragg’s prosecution.

(3) Paperwork unsealed by Decide Cannonallegedly reveal DOJ functionary threatening a Trump lawyer with the lack of a judgeship.

Politics

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

Biden Administration

“TikTok’s Ban Invoice Nightmare Is Simply Starting” [Forbes]. “An Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed into regulation a invoice that may drive China-based social media large ByteDance to promote its crown jewel TikTok. If it doesn’t, the app might be banned in america—an unprecedented transfer that will be the primary occasion of this nation prohibiting a foreign-owned social media app…. [C]onsensus is starting to emerge that unraveling TikTok from ByteDance might be all however inconceivable. Forbes reporting on the platform utilized by 170 million Individuals has additionally repeatedly proven simply how entangled the 2 corporations are, with a lot of TikTok operating immediately on ByteDance instruments—its personal variations of Microsoft Workplace, G Suite, Salesforce and the like—constructed years in the past by engineers in China. That has given workers at each corporations, throughout the U.S. and China, broad entry to delicate details about American TikTok customers, TikTok creators, TikTok advertisers and celebrities, politicians and different public figures on the app. The argument that the brand new regulation isn’t, the truth is, a couple of divestiture is one which TikTok has been making all alongside. ‘Make no mistake, this can be a ban—a ban on TikTok, and a ban on you and your voice,’ TikTok CEO Shou Chew mentioned Wednesday in a viral video posted to the platform after Biden handed the regulation. ‘Politicians could say in any other case, however don’t get confused. Many who sponsored the invoice admit a TikTok ban is their final purpose.’

‘Relaxation assured, we aren’t going wherever,’ he added. ‘We’re assured and we’ll hold combating on your rights within the Courts. The details and the Structure are on our aspect.’” • If that is true, the platforms which are a part of the Censorship Industrial Advanced are strangling a profitable rival and an outsider. Twitter can be subsequent.

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

RCP Ballot Averages, April 19:

Right here final Friday’s RCP polling. Trump continues to be doing very nicely in nearly all of the Swing States (extra right here), main with one exception: PA. Neglect all of the arithmetic, and take a look at PA as a check of the Trump marketing campaign’s fundamental competence. What are they doing to repair this? (I’ll work out a greater technique to current this, however for now: Blue dot = transfer towards Biden; pink dot = transfer towards Trump. No dot = no change (presumably as a result of state polls should not that quite a few so removed from election day).

* * *

Trump (R): “Contained in the Off-the-Document Calls Held by Anti-Trump Authorized Pundits” [Politico]. “Each Friday, they meet on Zoom to hash out the newest twists and turns within the Trump authorized saga — and intellectually stress-test the arguments going through Trump on his journey via the American authorized system.” Pricey Lord, “journey.” Who let that one previous? Extra: “The conferences are off the report — an opportunity for the group’s members, a lot of whom are formally or loosely affiliated with completely different media retailers, to grapple with a seemingly infinite array of novel authorized points earlier than they hit the airwaves or take to print or digital retailers to weigh in with their ideas. A couple of dozen or extra folks be part of any given name, although nobody takes attendance. Some group members wouldn’t describe themselves with any partisan or ideological lean, however most are united by their dislike of Trump. The group’s host is Norman Eisen^‡, a senior Obama administration official… ” And I do marvel if Eisen and The Wizard of Kalorama™ chat greater than often. Extra: “… longtime Trump critic and CNN authorized analyst, who has been convening the group since 2022 as Trump’s authorized woes ramped up. Eisen was additionally a key member of the group of legal professionals assembled by Home Democrats to deal with Trump’s first impeachment.” And right here is the listing of very acquainted names: “The common attendees on Eisen’s name embrace Invoice Kristol^‡, the longtime conservative commentator, and Laurence Tribe^‡, the famed liberal constitutional regulation professor. John Dean^‡, who was White Home counsel beneath Richard Nixon earlier than pleading responsible to obstruction of justice in reference to Watergate, joins the calls, as does George Conway^‡, a conservative lawyer and co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Mission. Andrew Weissmann^‡, a longtime federal prosecutor who served as one of many senior prosecutors on Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia investigation and is now a authorized analyst for MSNBC, is one other common on the calls. Jeffrey Toobin^‡, a pioneer within the discipline of cable information authorized evaluation [indeed], can be a member of the crew. The remainder of the group contains recognizable names from the worlds of politics, regulation and media [I wonder who!] … The existence of the decision isn’t essentially stunning: There’s an extended historical past of commentators, journalists and newsmakers discussing present occasions in off-the-record settings, and related teams collect commonly immediately in Washington.” However wait: There are extra names! “You most likely know among the different common individuals on the decision, which attracts in among the most recognizable names within the Anti-Trump Cinematic Universe. They presently embrace Obama-era U.S. Attorneys Harry Litman^‡, Barbara McQuade^‡ and Joyce White Vance^‡, [and] Jennifer Rubin^‡, an opinion author for the Washington Publish who typically covers Trump’s authorized affairs, and Mary McCord^‡, a former federal prosecutor and high-ranking official within the Justice Division, [and] Karen Agnifilo^‡, a former senior prosecutor within the Manhattan District Lawyer’s workplace and CNN commentator, is an occasional attendee, as is Elliot Williams^‡, additionally a former federal prosecutor who supplies commentary on CNN. Different regulars embrace Ryan Goodman^‡, an NYU regulation faculty professor who typically collaborates with Weissmann; Renato Mariotti^‡, a former federal prosecutor and occasional contributor to POLITICO Journal; Asha Rangappa^‡, a former FBI Particular Agent targeted on counterintelligence investigations, Shan Wu^‡, one other former federal prosecutor, an everyday contributor to the Each day Beast and a veteran cable information talker; and Norman Ornstein^‡, a long-time political observer affiliated with the conservative American Enterprise Institute.” • This seems like a cabal to me (versus, say, a Common Employees). Nevertheless, I feel in an emergency — say, a Trump acquittal — the group would tighten up quickly and act as unit. The second listing of names (beginning with Litman) is extra attention-grabbing to me than the primary. Listed here are the previous prosecutors who would act as cutouts to the actual prosecutors (Bragg, Smith, Willis). Presumably there are cut-outs for the judges, too. Nevertheless, this entity is clearly treating the 4 circumstances towards Trump as particular person fronts in a single marketing campaign of lawfare. The Trump marketing campaign takes the identical view. So ought to all of us. I marked all of the names with the image “‡” (I felt “with an asterisk” was too ambiguous), and can attempt keep in mind to take action sooner or later once I cite them, as an indicator that though every one seems to be talking for themselves, they’re actually not.

Trump (R): “Decide unseals reams of data in Trump categorized paperwork case” [Washington Examiner]. “[Judge Aileen Cannon] in Florida went on an unsealing spree this week, making public a trove of paperwork that had beforehand been filed beneath seal or in closely redacted kind in former President Donald Trump’s categorized paperwork case. The revelations got here after particular counsel Jack Smith fought to maintain witness names and accounts beneath seal. Trump objected to holding the knowledge hidden, and Decide Aileen Cannon dominated partially in Trump’s favor, ordering witness accounts to be unsealed however permitting their names to stay redacted.” Right here, it appears to me, is the juiciest bit: “Cannon requested Smith and Trump co-defendant Walt Nauta in August 2023 to file particulars about what transpired, of their views, throughout a controversial assembly between Nauta’s legal professional Stanley Woodward and DOJ prosecutor Jay Bratt, in accordance with a newly unsealed order. Cannon mentioned her order was prompted by information reviews containing allegations that Bratt made a veiled menace to Woodward throughout that assembly by referencing Woodward’s pending judicial software. Accounts from each events point out that Woodward and Bratt attended a gathering at DOJ headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 24, 2022, throughout which Bratt sought cooperation from Nauta on the DOJ’s investigation into Trump’s dealing with of categorized paperwork. Firstly of the assembly, Woodward mentioned, in accordance with unsealed filings, that he noticed Bratt had a folder of details about him, and Bratt talked about that Woodward had been really useful to Biden for a judicial appointment. Woodward wrote. Woodward mentioned Bratt successfully supplied him a ‘quid professional quo.’ ‘In different phrases, ‘play ball or you don’t have any likelihood of changing into a decide,’” Woodward wrote. Prosecutors disputed the account and claimed that Woodward’s timing of elevating the allegation was ‘suspect,’ noting that he had at no level talked about any points with the encounter till 9 months after it, shortly after Trump and Nauta “realized they have been targets of the grand jury investigation,” the prosecutors mentioned.” Let sleeping weasels lie. Extra: “‘The allegations advised an implausible, if not ludicrous, story through which a profession prosecutor who had served the Division with distinction for greater than 30 years concocted a plan to threaten an legal professional by insinuating that, except his consumer agreed to cooperate, the prosecutor would contact the White Home and try to scuttle the legal professional’s nomination to D.C. Superior Court docket, which contact alone would itself violate Division coverage,’ the prosecutors wrote.” • Desk-pounding. I feel it’s completely believable, given a adequate “othering” of DOJ’s interlocutors.

* * *

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Trump lawyer on hush cash case: ‘I don’t have hopes actually that top’” [The Hill]. “Alina Habba, an legal professional for former President Trump, signaled she doesn’t have excessive hopes for the previous president’s success within the New York hush cash trial. ‘However I don’t have hopes actually that top at this second that the New York courts will do the best factor, that the jury will do the best factor,’ Habba mentioned in an interview Wednesday on Newsmax’s ‘Greg Kelly Stories.’ ‘We’re in a blue state, as you understand, Greg. And I feel every thing’s by design.’ ‘We’re in a case that was eight years previous, over the statute of limitations, was denied by [former Manhattan District Attorney] Cy Vance, then introduced solely after President Trump determined he was going to run for workplace,’ she added.” • See above. And see above.

* * *

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Litman: How Trump’s trial will go nicely past the costs to color a damning portrait of him” [Los Angeles Times]. “However the jury, and the nation, are going to listen to lots of proof of Trump’s different allegedly wrongful acts — and a digital avalanche of such proof ought to the defendant resolve to testify. That may paint a broader and extra damning portrait of Trump, who’s reportedly already on tenterhooks about Daniels’ anticipated testimony, giving him much more alternatives to complain that he’s the sufferer of a no-holds-barred railroading by the hands of Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg. Bragg’s group can introduce details about Trump’s different alleged misconduct beneath New York’s guidelines of proof, which mirror the federal courts’. Identified in New York as after the case that outlined it, it’s typically thought of a bonanza for prosecutors and a bane of defendants. It’s an axiom of legal regulation that jurors ought to assess guilt or innocence primarily based on the defendant’s conduct within the case earlier than them. Meaning they shouldn’t make their choice primarily based on judgments concerning the defendant’s character — for instance, that the defendant is a ‘dangerous particular person’ who, having performed dangerous issues previously, most likely did them once more. So it could be improper to introduce the truth that an alleged financial institution robber beforehand robbed a financial institution to point out that he’s a “bank-robbing sort of particular person” and due to this fact probably dedicated the financial institution theft he’s now charged with. New York’s rule typically prohibits the prosecution from counting on ‘character’ or ‘propensity’ proof to induce conviction. Nevertheless it’s riddled with exceptions that let prosecutors to supply proof of prior dangerous acts for a lot of functions apart from character, together with to point out ‘motive, alternative, intent, preparation, plan, information, identification, absence of mistake, or lack of accident’ — roughly something apart from the forbidden character inference. One instance in Trump’s case, greenlighted by the court docket over his vigorous objections, issues a ‘catch and kill’ scheme through which the Nationwide Enquirer agreed to purchase after which bury embarrassing tales concerning the then-candidate. That’s not what occurred in Daniels’ case, however Decide Juan M. Merchan agreed to let the prosecution current it to the jury. His rationale was that it’s a part of the identical ‘narrative of occasions that precipitated’ the alleged falsification of data and will assist show Trump’s purported intent to hide allegations of affairs from voters.” • Ah, narrative. So the Catch and Kill scheme is Molineux proof, which explains why it was launched regardless that it’s not against the law. And abruptly Molineux proof has turn out to be crucial–

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction overturned by New York appeals court docket: Reside updates” [USA Today]. “A New York appeals court docket has overturned embattled Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, after discovering that the decide for the trial handed down improper rulings. The case, which helped provoke the #MeToo motion and spurred a reckoning within the leisure business, was a part of a wave of allegations towards the 72-year-old film mogul…. The New York appeals court docket mentioned in a written opinion Thursday that the decide in Weinstein’s 2020 case, James Burke, admitted testimony from girls with allegations that weren’t part of the case − referred to as Molineux witnesses − however relatively ‘irrelevant, prejudicial, and untested allegations of prior dangerous acts.’… . Weinstein’s attorneys took situation with these witnesses being allowed to testify in his trial when he was not charged in reference to their allegations. In 2022, a state appellate court docket upheld his conviction, concluding that his trial was honest, however New York’s Court docket of Appeals later agreed to listen to the case. Within the New York appellant court docket’s dissenting opinion, the judges mentioned the bulk opinion’s ruling may result in Molineux witnesses not getting used. ‘The Molineux rule — created by this Court docket — has by no means been static. As a substitute, its use has advanced over time to satisfy the challenges of advanced legal prosecutions,'[ the opinion states. ‘Unfortunately, in the context of sexual assault, that evolution lapses today with a decision that has all but ended the use of Molineux evidence in such cases.’” • Now, IANAL, but I would bet that the Trump defense team is reading this decision very carefully. As are the Zoomers listed above,

Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr.: ‘I’m gonna put the entire US budget on blockchain’” [The Hill]. “‘We’re gonna have 300 million eyeballs on our price range, and if any individual is spending $16,000 for a bathroom seat, everyone’s gonna find out about it,’ Kennedy mentioned, showing to reference an extended historical past of scandals stemming from reviews that the Pentagon paid $640 per bathroom seat within the Eighties and $10,000 every for substitute bathroom seat covers in 2018. Kennedy has embraced digital belongings, accepting marketing campaign donations in bitcoin and touting plans to again the U.S. greenback with bitcoin if he’s elected to the White Home in November. However Kennedy has additionally publicly opposed plans for a central financial institution digital forex (CBDC), which the Federal Reserve is presently “exploring,” as have many Republicans together with former President Trump. Whereas Republicans have rallied towards the creation of CBDC, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell mentioned the central financial institution won’t create one with out Congress ordering it via laws. The Unbiased firebrand has described himself as the one pro-cryptocurrency candidate operating for president as he wages a longshot bid in a contest dominated by the rematch between Trump and President Biden. Stand With Crypto — a 501(c)(4) nonprofit launched by grassroots advocates and the crypto change large Coinbase that ‘champions for clear, commonsense laws for the crypto business” — charges Kennedy as ‘strongly supportive of crypto.’”

Kennedy (I): “RFK Jr.’s quest to get on the presidential poll in all 50 states” [CBS]. “— In mid-April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on the poll as an unbiased presidential candidate in Utah and Michigan, although his marketing campaign says it’s working to get him on the poll in all 50 states and the District of Columbia…. Kennedy’s marketing campaign says it has accomplished signature gathering in seven different states along with Utah and *Michigan — Nevada*, Idaho, Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Carolina*, Nebraska and Iowa.” • After all, whether or not the gathered signatures are adequate will solely be decided after battalions of Democrat legal professionals assault them, so we’ll see. But when these state come to fruition, Kennedy might be on the poll in three swing states, sufficient to have an outsized affect on the election (irrespective of who he finally ends up taking votes from).

Democrats en Déshabillé

“The Butterfly’s Wings: FDR, Truman, And Henry Wallace” [3 Quarks Daily]. Fascinating: “Henry Wallace is a footnote proper now—the butterfly by no means bought to flap his wings—however, for a lot of the Nineteen Thirties and 40s, he one of the vital impactful males in America. It was due to his items that he rose to a degree of prominence the place a Presidency was even a chance. FDR had chosen him to be Agriculture Secretary in 1933, when the farm sector was on its knees…. Many households picked up and left. Some headed West with nearly nothing—John Steinbeck was successfully writing non-fiction. Wallace had a ton of concepts, an unlimited quantity of vitality, and a greenlight from a President who was prepared to experiment. Experiment they did—the Wallace-designed Agricultural Adjustment Act and its progeny birthed an entire sequence of laws on crop and livestock administration and storage, worth helps, and money help. An ultra-conservative Supreme Court docket struck down a few of these measures (on the grounds that agriculture was “native” and the federal authorities had no authority to manage), however Wallace confirmed finesse in creating workarounds. In a time of extraordinary stress, with the general public greedy for solutions, Wallace grew to become one of the vital fashionable males in America. When FDR determined to run for an unprecedented third time period, within the course of infuriating his then VP, John Nance Gardne [who?], who anticipated the Democratic nomination, he wanted a brand new VP. FDR the Occasion chief determined to shore up the Left aspect of his coalition and selected one of the vital efficient advocates of the New Deal, Henry Wallace. Wallace didn’t sail via the Conference nominating course of with out a hitch—even in 1940, he was a bit too liberal on many points for the tastes of Democratic conservatives, however FDR’s desire was honored, and Wallace bought the job. You may make an argument that, in the summertime of 1940, FDR was, the truth is, choosing a political ‘inheritor’ and never only a operating mate. Eleanor Roosevelt, a giant Wallace fan and at all times much more liberal than her husband, actually thought that, and Democratic conservatives fretted over it. It’s extra of a stretch to imagine that mortality calculations got here into play. FDR himself was solely 58, and seemingly fairly vigorous. The ticket overwhelmed the GOP’s Wendell Willke-Charles McNary group. FDR then did one thing that both was a shock, or an affirmation of his anointing contact. Gardner himself had mentioned that being Vice President ‘wasn’t value a heat bucket of piss,’ however FDR deployed Wallace in an unconventional approach. Along with the largely ceremonial function within the Senate, FDR tapped Wallace to take cost of financial planning when America’s entry into World Battle II was changing into extra probably. It was on this capability he was picked to be chairman of the Board of Financial Warfare (BEW) and of the Provide Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB). He was additionally named to the High Coverage Group, which introduced to FDR scientists’ suggestions to start creating nuclear weapons. It’s a unprecedented irony of American historical past that Wallace had intimate information of the Manhattan Mission when Harry Truman, the person who changed him as Vice President, had none till after assuming the Presidency.” • Superb.

Pandemics

“I’m in earnest — I can’t equivocate — I can’t excuse — I can’t retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Covid 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 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 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 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).

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!

Elite Maleficence

“As chook flu spreads in cows, fractured U.S. response has echoes of early covid” [WaPo]. “Federal companies with competing pursuits are slowing the nation’s capability to trace and management an outbreak of extremely virulent chook flu that for the primary time is infecting cows in america, in accordance with authorities officers and well being and business specialists… Officers and specialists mentioned the shortage of clear and well timed updates by some federal companies responding to the outbreak recall related communication missteps at first of the coronavirus pandemic. They level, particularly, to a failure to offer extra particulars publicly about how the H5N1 virus is spreading in cows and concerning the security of the milk provide….. Accountability for monitoring and containing the outbreak is split amongst three companies. USDA leads the investigation into the virus in cows, the FDA oversees meals security, and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is monitoring dangers to folks.” • So no person’s monitoring the transmission of the virus throughout species. That looks as if a recipe for fulfillment.

“A Message to the Ag Business about H5N1” [Bovine Veterinarian]. Since March:

By early March, [Dr. Barb Petersen] had begun sending each day emails and textual content messages to her Texas Panhandle dairy purchasers who wanted solutions and assist.

Petersen, who has been in apply 15 years, did her greatest to offer each. However she didn’t know what she was coping with. Neither did every other veterinarian Petersen reached out to inside 200 miles of her apply.

“We began to textual content and electronic mail one another, and provides summaries of ‘OK, right here’s the check that this physician has run. Right here’s what one other colleague has run,’” Petersen remembers.

“We examined for each single viral bacterial mycotoxin, lepto, rumensin toxicity, nitrates… I imply, you identify it, each single factor that we vaccinate for, we examined for, for positive, proper off the bat. After which even among the issues that we don’t or can’t vaccinate for. We tried to forged a very extensive web.”

Not one of the check outcomes supplied a solution.

Some members of the animal well being neighborhood suspected winter dysentery – an acute, extremely contagious gastrointestinal dysfunction that may have an effect on housed dairy cattle of all ages.

Petersen was skeptical.

“The primary medical symptom I noticed was cows that had indigestion. They’d manure that wasn’t well-digested, manure with particles of feed in it,” she says.

As she checked extra cows and talked with colleagues, extra info got here to gentle and she or he started to determine recurring signs: thick, colostrum-like milk; lesions on cow vulvas; excessive temperatures; respiratory misery; a drop in feed consumption; and a corresponding lack of rumination. None of it added as much as winter dysentery.

“This can be a actually robust and fierce reminder to maintain your palms on the cows,” Petersen says. “It’s fantastic to have information, however you must belief after which confirm.”

When Russo at Novonesis bought information of the issue from a colleague, she known as Petersen.

Russo, who’s labored each as a dairy veterinarian and within the poultry business, requested Petersen to assemble no matter samples she may – milk, lifeless birds, lifeless cats – and ship them to a laboratory in a position to flip round outcomes rapidly. Advise them to examine for H5N1, she added.

“I mentioned, ‘You recognize, I’ll sound like a loopy particular person, a tinfoil-hat-wearing particular person, however this sounds a bit like influenza to me that’s been circulating (within the poultry business),’ and I sort of left it there,” Russo remembers.

Science Supplies Solutions

Petersen turned to a former veterinary classmate at Iowa State College, Dr. Drew Magstadt, now a pathologist on the faculty’s diagnostic laboratory.

“At any time when I’ve gotten into an actual jam professionally – like, you might have a query that you would be able to’t appear to seek out a solution to – the group of oldsters which have at all times helped me resolve it have been pathologists,” Petersen says. “It’s been pathologists that I may give the clues to who helped end the puzzle.”

On a heat March night time in Amarillo, Petersen sat resting on her again porch at house when a textual content message from Magstadt popped up on her telephone.

“There’s one thing within the outcomes,” he wrote. “Can I name you?”

On the telephone, Magstadt shared what he’d discovered within the lab assessments: H5N1.

“I used to be like, ‘Are you critical?’” Petersen requested Magstadt. “Are you going to run these assessments once more?”

“Sure,” he mentioned. “Simply to verify.”

The preliminary H5N1 affirmation flabbergasted Magstadt. The following day, he retested the samples to verify the discovering.

“April 24, 2024: HHS press briefing on avian influenza” [Alexander Tin’s notes]. Talking of transmission, Mike Watson, APHIS [00:13:58]:

Moreover, we proceed to see affected cows recuperate after supportive care with little to no related mortality. Nevertheless, over the previous a number of weeks, USDA has famous just a few issues which have been the impetus for us to situation this federal order.

That features unfold between cows throughout the similar herd, unfold from cows to poultry, unfold between dairies related to cattle actions, and cows with out medical indicators which have examined optimistic for the virus.

Additionally on April sixteenth, USDA APHIS microbiologists recognized a shift within the H5N1 pattern, that is one pattern from a cow in Kansas, that might point out that the virus was mutating for adaptation to mammals.

Nevertheless, CDC performed additional evaluation of the specimen sequence and their evaluation is low threat over all, of this one pattern that has that change.

Moreover, APHIS’ nationwide veterinary providers laboratory from asymptomatic coal dairy [huh?] cow that originated from an affected herd was despatched to slaughter.

That coal dairy cattle was condemned by USDA’s meals security inspection service throughout inspection, and didn’t enter the meals provide.

The one sequence shift and the one dairy cow with H5N1 within the lung tissue up to now seem like remoted occasions.

Nevertheless, the novel motion of H5N1 between wild birds and dairy cows requires additional testing.

We’d like time to develop a understanding to assist any future programs of motion. So this federal order is vital to growing info accessible for USDA.

(Laudable, Tin places his notes up on github. I feel extra reporters ought to do that.) That H5N1 has been found in lung tissue appears newsworthy. And what’s a “coal dairy cow”? Is {that a} transcription error?

A superb timeline for the creation of WHO’s “Technical Report on ‘Pathogens That Transmit Via The Air’” (see NC right here):

Further observations on the WHO terminology doc (🧵)

1) The Technical Consulting Group supplied enter, however the doc was truly written by “the WHO Secretariat” – Dr. van Kerkhove (long-time airborne unfold denier, see hyperlink – large COI) & co.https://t.co/sNFcRD6blO pic.twitter.com/x4R7r6TWS5

— Mark Ungrin (@Mark_Ungrin) April 21, 2024

I can’t consider that Technical Consulting Group members are beneath NDAs. Clearly, they need to be launched from them. In spite of everything, the work is finished, proper? And:

So in abstract:
– What’s the actual purpose Dr. Swaminathan left so abruptly?
– Did Dr. Tedros & co then stack the deck to overwhelm the TCG and get the result they wished?
– How have been the “additional” voices chosen, and by whom?
– How did these voices have an effect on the doc?

— Mark Ungrin (@Mark_Ungrin) April 21, 2024

(Thread value studying in full; I can’t make it into a picture as a result of it’s too lengthy.)

TABLE 1: Each day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new immediately; all others should 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 at a degree far above valleys beneath Trump. Not an excellent victory. Word additionally the realm “beneath the curve,” in addition to peaks. That space is bigger beneath Biden than beneath Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if inconsistently.

[2] (Biobot) No backward revisons….

[3] (CDC Variants) As of Might 11, genomic surveillance information might be reported biweekly, primarily based on the supply of optimistic check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice every 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) CDC appears to have killed this off, for the reason that hyperlink is damaged, I feel in favor of this factor. I’ll attempt to verify. UPDATE Sure, go away it to CDC to kill a web page, after which announce it was archived a day later. And heaven forfend CDC ought to clarify the place to go to get equal information, if any. I favored the ER information, as a result of it appeared actually exhausting to recreation.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Flattening out to a non-zero baseline. I suppose to a tame epidemiologist it seems like “endemicity,” however to me it seems like one other tranche of lethality.

[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.

[8] (Cleveland) Slight uptrend.

[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Uptick.

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

[11] Seems to be just like the Instances isn’t reporting dying information any extra? Possibly I would like to return to The Economist….

Stats Watch

Employment State of affairs: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of folks claiming unemployment advantages within the US fell by 5,000 to 207,000 within the week ending April twentieth, the bottom in two months, and under market expectations of 214,000. This surprising downturn supplies extra assist for the notion of a decent labor market, including leeway for the Federal Reserve to delay rate of interest cuts to sort out cussed inflation.”

Manufacturing: “United States Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Kansas Metropolis Fed’s Manufacturing Manufacturing index fell to -13 in April 2024 from March’s -9, signaling a notable decline in exercise. Moreover, the composite index, averaging manufacturing, new orders, employment, provider supply time, and uncooked supplies stock indexes, dropped to -8 from -7. Manufacturing facility exercise decreased in each sturdy and nondurable items, with most month-to-month indexes destructive, apart from flat worth indexes and new export orders. Manufacturing, shipments, provider supply time, and materials inventories decreased, whereas new orders and backlogs moderated.”

Tech: “Over a billion customers might be in danger from keyboard logging app safety flaw” [TechRadar]. “Nearly a billion cell customers, holding varied gadgets, may have had their communications revealed to malicious third events, a report from cybersecurity researchers Citizen Lab claims. It says completely different gadget producers have used completely different keyboard apps which have been relaying unencrypted communications, transmitting keystrokes by way of plaintext, and related. Tencent QQ Pinyin, Baidu IME, iFlytek IME, Samsung Keyboard on Android, Xiaomi (with keyboard apps from Baidu, iFlytek, and Sogou), OPPO, Vivo, Honor, all of those allowed potential menace actors to decrypt Chinese language cell customers’ keystrokes, utterly passively, and with out the customers needing to ship any additional community site visitors. The group says it believes the keyboard apps discovered on these gadgets have been “revealing the contents of customers’ keystrokes in transit”. The one producer whose keyboard app was safe is Huawei, the researchers mentioned. As for Apple and Google, neither app has a function to transmit keystrokes to cloud servers for cloud-based communications, it was mentioned, which made it inconceivable to research the keyboards for the safety of the function. ‘Nevertheless, we noticed that not one of the cell gadgets that we analyzed included Google’s keyboard, Gboard, preinstalled, both,’ the researchers declare. The researchers disclosed their findings to the producers and say that as of April 1, nearly all have addressed their points. Solely Honor and Tencent (QQ Pinyin) nonetheless stay a piece in progress.”

Manufacturing: “Southwest to Exit 4 Airports as Boeing’s Issues Ripple Via Business” [Wall Street Journal]. “Southwest mentioned it now expects to obtain simply 20 new Boeing planes this yr—lower than half the quantity it had been anticipating as not too long ago as March and nicely under the 79 complete 737 MAX deliveries it had anticipated earlier than that. Regulatory approval for a smaller model of the MAX, which Southwest has been ready for, stays up within the air. The delays will thwart Southwest’s progress ambitions this yr, the corporate mentioned Thursday, damping income and leaving it on the hook for greater prices. Because it tries to enhance its fortunes, Southwest is backtracking on a part of its community growth from just a few years in the past and rethinking its one-of-a-kind seating setup. ‘We’re targeted on controlling what we are able to management and have already taken swift motion to deal with our monetary underperformance and modify for revised aircraft-delivery expectations,’ mentioned Chief Govt Bob Jordan. The Dallas-based airline had already deliberate to reasonable progress in 2024, citing the necessity to tweak its community to higher replicate demand. Its prices have crept up, particularly after it struck costly new labor offers with pilots and flight attendants. Its revenue margins have lagged. Southwest had already mentioned it could cease bringing on extra pilots and flight attendants because it adjusts to the jet supply setbacks. It mentioned Thursday that it’s limiting hiring and providing voluntary time-off applications to staff, and expects to finish this yr with 2,000 fewer workers than it had on the finish of 2023.” • Unhappy for the employees, although I feel journey must shrink drastically to forestall future pandemics.

In the present day’s Worry & Greed Index: 39 Worry (earlier shut: 40 Worry) [CNN]. One week in the past: 33 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Apr 25 at 2:45:42 PM ET

The Conservatory

“Jihyo Claims There’s A Hidden Extrovert In TWICE Who’s Extra Outgoing Than All Of Them” [Koreaboo]. “TWICE stands out not just for having one of many largest member counts in Ok-Pop, but in addition for his or her hanging uniqueness—eight out of 9 members are introverts!” • One for purpose for me to be a fan!

“Know thyself − all too nicely: Why Taylor Swift’s songs are philosophy” [The Conversation]. “Swift can be occupied with paradoxes of ethical psychology. Songs like ‘This Is Me Attempting,’ ‘Illicit Affairs’ and ‘False God’ replicate on the philosophical idea of akrasia: circumstances the place folks seemingly know they shouldn’t do one thing however do it anyway. Numerous the philosophical literature about akrasia asks whether or not it’s even potential: If somebody believes their choice is fallacious or dangerous for them, why would they do it? However via her lyrics, Swift sketches psychologically real looking vignettes that counsel real akrasia is at the least potential and possibly taking place on a regular basis – from sabotaging a loving relationship to pursuing one which ‘we have been loopy to suppose … may work.’” • Definitely Swift is an attention-grabbing historic determine. Maybe any Swifties within the readership can remark.

Class Warfare

“Unions Take Purpose at South After UAW Win” [Wall Street Journal]. “The United Auto Staff’ first-ever victory at a international automaker within the South marks a momentous achieve for unions in a area that historically has been hostile to organized labor and is now within the midst of a producing increase. The win, within the face of stiff opposition from six Southern governors who mentioned unionization would imperil jobs and future investments, is anticipated to set off fiercer battles between organizers and elected officers and others immune to their campaigns. ‘The enterprise neighborhood in right-to-work Southern states has largely been proof against sustained, well-funded organizing drives,’ mentioned Michael Lotito, co-chair of the Office Coverage Institute at Littler, a regulation agency that advises employers on labor points. “It appears these days could also be coming to an finish.’ The UAW succeeded Friday in organizing about 4,300 staff at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., profitable 73% of staff who forged ballots. Union officers mentioned the win confirmed the UAW’s stronger place after securing pay raises in final yr’s strike on the Huge Three automakers, in addition to better receptivity to unions, particularly amongst youthful staff.” • As large or larger than the campus protests, however recieiving far much less protection. I nonetheless dream that in the future the transport unions — say, Teamsters, Affiliation of Flight Attendants, the “Huge 4” brotherhoods in rail, and the Worldwide Longshore and Warehouse Union will all resolve to “down instruments” for a single day, by no means thoughts the demand. A lot good would come of it.[5]

Information of the Wired

Dad.

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 examine in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photos of vegetation. Greens are positive! 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 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 SR:

SR writes: “I consider that is an oak tree shading the sq. in Savannah the place Flannery O’Connor grew up.” Flannery O’Connor, Dwelling with a Peacock.

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