2:00PM Water Cooler 4/8/2024 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chicken Tune of the Day

American Goldfinch, Tompkins, New York, United States. A woodpecker, too.

In Case You May Miss…

(1) Democrats and the working class.

(2) Starry Evening, up to date.

(3) Diddy, Son of Epstein?

Politics

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

2024

Lower than a yr to go!

RCP Ballot Averages, April 5

Right here is Friday’s RCP ballot. Trump continues to be up in all of the Swing States (extra right here), however nonetheless main with one exception: PA. I’ve highlighted it once more, (1) as a result of BIden is now up there, and (2) it’s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn’t Trump doing nicely there? (I’ll work out a greater means to do that, however for now: Blue dot = transfer towards Biden; pink dot = transfer towards Trump. No statistical signficance to any of it, and state polls are unhealthy anyhow!)

* * *

Trump (R): “Florida man discovered with contraband” [Adam’s Legal Newsletter]. “Donald Trump contends that he can’t be prosecuted for possessing labeled paperwork at Mar-a-Lago as a result of, whereas he was President, he exercised his authority below the Presidential Data Act (PRA) to categorize these paperwork as “private data.” On April 4, 2024, Decide Cannon denied Trump’s movement to dismiss the felony indictment primarily based on that concept, whereas declining to resolve the events’ dispute on the right interpretation of the PRA. On this put up I’ll supply my tackle this fracas. Govt abstract: 1. The PRA protection is horrible, but in addition sort of humorous. 2. The court docket’s order on this situation was misguided, however 3. P(Doom) on this specific situation is low.” P_Doom is the likelihood of doom (for some definition of doom). I feel that’s a neat assemble! The entire article is nicely price a learn.

* * *

Trump (R): “Contained in the Terrifyingly Competent Trump 2024 Marketing campaign” [Vanity Fair]. Vital. “Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign has already demonstrated Trump can run an efficient operation. ‘This marketing campaign is locked down,’ a Republican near Trump stated. In earlier cycles, Trump populated his campaigns with large egos like Roger Stone, Kushner, Ivanka, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Corey Lewandowski, and Brad Parscale, amongst others. In 2024, Trump’s internal circle is made up of heads-down operatives Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita, Miller, and James Blair, who don’t play their agendas by way of the media. ‘You’ve gotten skilled individuals who don’t leak,’ longtime Trump confidant Stone stated. Trump trusts his senior staff to do their jobs. Up to now, Trump labored the telephone consistently, soliciting recommendation from a large circle of mates, household, Manhattan enterprise associates, and media personalities. Trump’s fashion of pitting staffers towards each other created an incentive to leak. ‘The aspect whose opinion misplaced would run to the media,’ a 2020 marketing campaign veteran defined. ‘This time, he’s not speaking to randos.’ Most of all, Trump is disciplined as a result of concern is a robust motivator: His wealth and freedom are at stake.” And: “In early February 2023, Miller, the CEO of right-wing social media platform Gettr, joined the marketing campaign as senior strategist and messaging guru. With Miller and spokesperson Steven Cheung driving the message, the marketing campaign began to vary the information cycle. Trump visited the city of East Palestine, Ohio, weeks after a practice derailment induced a disastrous chemical hearth.” Too unhealthy Biden by no means confirmed up. Extra: “In October 2022, the 56-year-old Marine veteran, who has a shaved head and linebacker construct, joined the marketing campaign as senior adviser. LaCivita is a practitioner of the political darkish arts. In the course of the 2004 presidential election, he suggested the Swift Boat Veterans for Reality group that smeared John Kerry’s Vietnam Battle report. It was a supreme act of chutzpah: Kerry’s opponent, George W. Bush, by no means served in Vietnam. LaCivita is greater than a road brawler. He has a Talmudic understanding of major guidelines. Final summer time, LaCivita lobbied state Republican events to vary their processes to favor Trump. (For instance, he satisfied the California GOP to apportion all delegates to the winner.) ‘Whereas everybody was dicking round final yr, the Trump individuals had been altering all these celebration guidelines, getting their individuals in place, altering the battlefield,’ a high GOP strategist stated.” • Presumably, the marketing campaign staff has discovered a approach to make the most of Trump’s court docket appearances. The story opens with a hilarious anecdote of Trump making seven million bucks in two days off his Atlanta mugshot.

Trump (R): “Trump warns: “lunatic” Biden might begin World Battle III” [Infobrics]. TRUMP: “This man has no clue. He can’t put two sentences collectively, and he’s coping with Putin, and he’s coping with President Xi, and he’s coping with Kim Jong-un. All individuals I do know very nicely. We had been below no risk from anyone till this man received in workplace. Now they’re speaking nuclear on a regular basis. We didn’t discuss nuclear…. You had been protected as a result of they revered your president, and so they revered the US of America. And now you’re not protected. .” Fascinating to see Infobrics selecting up a FOX transcript. And on nuclear warfare: Is Trump flawed? That flawed?

Trump (R): “Trump Says States Ought to Chart Their Personal Path on Abortion” [Wall Street Journal]. “Former President Donald Trump stated abortion ought to be left to the states, avoiding taking a place on the variety of weeks at which the process ought to be banned as he tries to navigate a problem that has animated Democrats.

‘My view is now that we’ve got abortion the place all people needed it from a authorized standpoint, the states will decide by vote or laws or maybe each. And no matter they resolve should be the legislation of the land,’ Trump stated Monday in a marketing campaign video. ‘Many states shall be completely different…On the finish of the day, that is all in regards to the will of the individuals.’ Trump’s stance is unlikely to please spiritual conservatives who need him to embrace more durable restrictions, and one outstanding group shortly expressed its disappointment. And Democrats are sure to proceed guilty him for the 2022 Supreme Court docket ruling that ended the constitutional proper to the process.” • In fact they are going to, however that’s solely as a result of they by no means take responsibillity for something (together with the composition of the Court docket).

* * *

Biden (D): “Biden Not Solely Cause for Dems To Panic” [RealClearPolitics]. “What issues much more is that the Republican Celebration is displaying indicators of waking up from its lengthy uniparty slumber and recognizing that preventing again is one of the simplest ways to win an election. You noticed components of this renewed engagement final month when the brand new management of the GOP opted to companion with group activist Scott Presler to extend voter registration and authorized poll harvesting in battleground states. Presler, the co-founder of Gays for Trump, goes by the deal with #ThePersistence on social media, and his help for Donald Trump and MAGA has seen him journey tirelessly in pursuit of each authorized Republican vote he can discover. Final month, he was registering members of the Amish group in Pennsylvania. Sensible!… Grassroots Republicans, who see themselves changing into empowered by individuals like Presler and Kirk, and by the Precinct Technique program that’s taking management of the Republican Celebration away from the Outdated Guard. No marvel Democrats are panicking. In the event that they lose their higher hand in recruiting new voters, turning out the early vote and seizing each alternative to enhance their possibilities for victory in battleground states, then the electoral map might very probably rework right into a landslide victory for Trump and the Republicans.”

Biden (D): “Decide calls out blatant double normal relating to Biden’s Justice Division and Hunter” [Jonathan Turley, New York Post]. “The Home is within the midst of an impeachment inquiry that features allegations of affect over the Hunter investigation. Whereas insisting that there was no stress or particular dealing within the matter, the DOJ has blocked key sources of proof. That led to the Home subpoenas…. The one means for the Home to analyze such corrupt particular dealings is to interview the precept actors, together with these two attorneys. In any other case, as Democratic members have executed, critics can insist that they don’t have any direct proof of wrongdoing…. [US District Judge Ana Reyes] famous the plain: “There’s an individual in jail proper now since you all introduced a felony lawsuit towards him as a result of he didn’t seem for a Home subpoena.” The DOJ demanded six months in jail. Navarro is serving a four-month sentence…. The Justice Division insisted that it’s completely different when its personal prosecutors refuse to testify and famous that the Home had additionally refused a requirement to produce other Justice Division legal professionals current for the depositions. They then burdened that the choice to defy the subpoena got here after prolonged deliberations ‘at a excessive degree.’” Like what? The Oval Workplace? Extra: “Reyes then requested if the DOJ would drop its opposition if it had been allowed to have DOJ legal professionals within the room for the questioning. When the legal professionals stated they might not reply that query at the moment, Reyes exclaimed, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

* * *

Kennedy (I): “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questions prosecutions for Jan. 6 assault, says he desires to listen to ‘each aspect’” [Associated Press]. “Unbiased presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a prolonged assertion Friday steered that the prosecution of rioters who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, may be politically motivated, partly aligning himself with the false portrayal being pushed by former President Donald Trump and his allies.” What on earth does “partly aligning” imply? Extra: “‘One can, as I do, oppose Donald Trump and all he stands for, and nonetheless be disturbed by the weaponization of presidency towards him,’ Kennedy stated.” • The gallows nonetheless making an look, I see.

Kennedy (I): “Spoiler alert: RFK Jr. embraces the chaos, has Democrats ‘paranoid’ he’ll price Biden” [Washington Examiner]. “‘Democrats are proper to take the third-party risk very severely. Donald Trump is overtly rooting for each No Labels and RFK to empty Democratic votes,’ stated Matt Bennett, the manager vice chairman for public affairs at Third Method, a centrist Democratic group, in a press release to the Washington Examiner. ‘He remembers how third events gained simply sufficient votes in 2016 to permit him to seize the three Blue Wall states and the presidency. Democrats discovered the exhausting means how harmful third-party spoilers could be in a intently divided citizens and are mobilizing allies throughout the anti-Trump coalition to stop third events from serving to Trump win once more.”” • I don’t know the place this “Blue Wall” trope got here from. From the Labour Celebration’s “Pink Wall” within the UK? It’s a rotten metaphor. Precincts aren’t like partitions (until you’re a baby enjoying Threat, or an armchair strategist working from a map).

* * *

“Democrats spar over registration as worries over younger and minority voters develop” [WaPo]. Vital. “For many years, nonpartisan teams allied with the Democratic Celebration have run wide-ranging efforts aimed toward rising voter registration amongst individuals of colour and younger individuals — teams that are inclined to lean Democratic however have traditionally voted at decrease charges than older and White individuals. . Aaron Strauss, an influential information scientist who helps direct progressive spending on the agency OpenLabs, sparked personal disagreements over this situation in January, when he despatched a couple of dozen main Democratic donors a confidential memo that challenged conventional nonpartisan registration. ‘,” Strauss argued within the memo, which was obtained by The Washington Submit and cited current polling that confirmed Trump’s energy amongst unregistered voters. He additionally warned that efforts to realize Democratic votes amongst youthful and non-Black individuals of colour had been typically costly — costing greater than $1,200 per web vote in 2020, by one estimate — as a result of the teams now embody so many non-Democrats. Amongst voters of colour, he wrote that ‘solely African American registration is clearly a main alternative,’ including that netting Democratic voters amongst Black individuals price roughly $575 per vote in 2020. He referred to as on donors to nonpartisan nonprofits to additionally donate to political teams that focus voter registration spending on ‘particular, closely pro-Biden populations’ like Black People, whereas utilizing extra focused methods amongst different teams to filter out doubtless Trump supporters.” • Heaving the NGOs over the aspect? Unthinkable!

“How Home Dems plan to make use of abortion poll initiatives on the marketing campaign path” [Politico]. “The DCCC is zeroing in on races in Arizona [swing], Colorado, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada [swing] and New York — all states that might have an abortion measure on the poll — with 18 races the place Democrats are enjoying protection or hope to flip GOP-held districts. The celebration sees abortion as a possible swing-seat turnout booster, pointing to purple-district Rep. Sharice Davids’ (D-Kan.) 2022 win after an abortion referendum was on her state’s poll and elevated turnout in Ohio final cycle.”

* * *

FL: “Florida Is (Hypothetically) Winnable for Biden and the Democrats” [Washington Monthly]. “The 62 p.c supermajority in favor of the abortion rights referendum, from a November ballot by the College of North Florida, is buoyed by 53 p.c help amongst Republicans. … Can abortion immediate a 3.4 share level shift within the presidential race and flip the state to Biden? The info from the 2022 midterms is uneven. Republican governors in Georgia and Texas had been re-elected in 2022 regardless of polls displaying opposition to their abortion bans. However abortion does seem to have helped speed up the bluing of Arizona, the place within the 2022 gubernatorial race, Democrat Katie Hobbs edged MAGA Republican Kari Lake by lower than some extent, following two double-digit victories by Republican Doug Ducey.”

FL: “Florida not in play as a swing state as GOP voters surge over Dems by almost 900K: DeSantis” [FOX]. “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis believes Democrats don’t stand an opportunity within the Sunshine State going ahead. This comes as reviews point out registered GOP voters now outpace Democrats by almost 900,000. ‘You’re speaking a couple of million-plus voter registration shift,’ DeSantis advised Fox Information’ Maria Bartiromo, saying that older numbers indicated Republicans had been behind their Democrat adversaries by almost 300,000 registered voters in 2018.” • That’s a steep hill to climb…

NE: “Contained in the battle over Nebraska’s electoral faculty votes” [Semafor]. “Six months in the past, Nebraska Republican Celebration Chairman Eric Underwood pitched Ronna McDaniel on a easy thought that might assist the GOP win the presidency once more. Since 1991, Nebraska had cut up its electoral votes; two for the statewide winner, then three for the winner of every congressional district. Trump misplaced the Omaha-based 2nd district in 2020, and if the GOP misplaced it once more in 2024 — even when it flipped Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia — it might lose the presidency by a single vote. There was a invoice frozen within the state legislature that might change that, assigning all 5 electors to the statewide winner, if Republicans rescued it. Underwood’s query for the RNC chair and its authorized counsel was: Would the nationwide celebration assist? ‘In essence, the response was: I’m a federal officer, it is a state situation,’ Underwood recalled this week. ‘Thanks for the heads up, inform us the way it goes.’ The thought went nowhere till late Tuesday morning. Underwood received a textual content from Tyler Bowyer, the chief working workplace of the conservative activist group Turning Level USA and an RNC committeeman from Arizona, who was one of many loudest voices within the profitable current marketing campaign to oust McDaniel. Bowyer requested if the Nebraska legislature was nonetheless in session, and whether or not the ‘winner-take-all’ invoice might nonetheless be revived. Underwood stated that it might. Inside 36 hours, that plan was endorsed by Gov. Jim Pillen, Sen. Pete Ricketts, Donald Trump, and many of the GOP supermajority within the unicameral state senate.” • So sure, the Trump operation is competent. (The invoice hadn’t handed, nevertheless it seems like Lara Trump can’t probably be worse than McDaniel.

OH: “Biden could also be lacking from Ohio’s normal election poll as a result of key deadline situation, election official warns” [FOX]. “President Biden could fail to get on Ohio’s normal election poll after the state’s high election official warned his marketing campaign about lacking a key deadline on Friday. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, notified high Democratic officers that their celebration’s nationwide conference is scheduled to happen nicely previous the deadline for certifying a presidential candidate in Ohio. ‘The Democratic Nationwide Conference is scheduled to convene on August 19, 2024, which happens greater than per week after the August 7 deadline to certify a presidential candidate to the workplace,’ LaRose wrote to Ohio Democratic Celebration Chairwoman Liz Walters, based on the letter first obtained by ABC Information. ‘I’m left to conclude that the Democratic Nationwide Committee should both transfer up its nominating conference or the Ohio Common Meeting should act by Could 9, 2024 (90 days previous to a brand new legislation’s efficient date) to create an exception to this statutory requirement,’ LaRose authorized counsel, Paul Disantis, wrote within the letter.” • Could 9 shouldn’t be distant.

PA: “‘Now They’re Voting Pink’: A Pennsylvania Fracking Growth Weighs on Biden’s Re-Election Probabilities” [Wall Street Journal]. “Pittsburgh is on the middle of a category inversion between the 2 events that’s redefining American politics. Democrats have traded their former blue-collar base for professional-class, metropolitan staff, whereas Republicans have turn into overwhelmingly depending on working-class voters concentrated in far-flung suburbs, small cities and rural areas…. In Pennsylvania, the biggest 2024 battleground state, President Biden’s victory 4 years in the past depended largely on huge positive aspects amongst [the city’s heavily Democratic professional class]. However these positive aspects have been overtaken by opposition from voters like Sabo, who works within the natural-gas trade, a sector that has given a lift to blue-collar staff in rural counties. These energy-economy voters see Biden as hostile to fracking, which faucets pure fuel trapped in sedimentary rock deep underground. The sector has drawn billions of {dollars} in new funding in Pennsylvania, a lot of it within the state’s southwest nook. Biden has been notably harm by his determination to cancel the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which native corporations say lower into demand for his or her companies; and his order this yr to pause new permits to export liquefied pure fuel, which might deprive drillers of recent markets. Many of those voters additionally consider the president’s push for People to undertake electrical automobiles will undercut jobs tied to fossil fuels.” And: “There’s little signal that Biden can regain substantial help in seven largely working-class and rural counties that encompass [Pittsburgh], each certainly one of which produced a bigger vote margin for Trump in 2020 than in 2016. The resistance to Biden’s vitality insurance policies is making it tougher for the incumbent to cease his celebration’s decline amongst noncollege voters there, forcing the celebration to wring extra votes out of a Democratic base elsewhere that, to this point, appears dispirited.”

Democrats en Déshabillé

“Man Arrested for Setting Fireplace at Bernie Sanders’ Workplace. Motive Stays Unclear” [Time]. “Shant Soghomonian, 35, who was beforehand of Northridge, California, entered the constructing on Friday and went to Sanders’ third-floor workplace the place safety video confirmed him spraying a liquid on the door and setting it afire, officers stated. The constructing’s inside suffered some harm from the fireplace and sprinklers that doused the world with water, however nobody was harm. Sanders, an impartial, was not within the workplace on the time. Soghomonian was arrested Sunday on , based on a press release from Nikolas Kerest, the U.S. lawyer for Vermont. The motive remained unclear.” • What a bizarre cost. Anyhow, submitting this below “Democrats en Déshabillé” for causes which can be, at this level, apparent….

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Batya Ungar-Sargon: Class, Not Race, Is the Dividing Line in American Politics” [RealClearPolitics]. “Batya Ungar-Sargon, the deputy editor of Newsweek and creator of the brand new ebook, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America’s Working Males and Girls, speaks with RCP Washington bureau chief Carl Cannon on Thursday’s version of the RealClearPolitics radio present”:

“Individuals don’t discuss it like it’s an outrage,” [Ungar-Sargon] stated in regards to the transformation of the Democratic Celebration into one thing apart from a celebration for the working class. “It’s such a fait accompli at this level that we overlook that it’s outrageous for a celebration that used to signify labor, the little man towards huge companies and the wealthy, fully deserted that constituency to cater to an over-credentialed faculty elite on one hand, and the dependent poor on the opposite. And it’s double outrageous as a result of that celebration nonetheless masquerades because the celebration of the little man, regardless that it isn’t the case anymore.”

Carl Cannon requested: “Do they actually hate the working class, or are they only of their politically right bubble and don’t see what they’re doing?”

“They can not stand the concept that they are going to lose, even when they lose in a really clearly democratic means,” Ungar-Sargon stated. “They’re very comfy once they can sit there on cable information making hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to sneer on the working class. They’re comfy when the working class can’t clap again.”

“This was actually Obama’s revolution, the concept that the ‘good set’ ought to run issues. We should always have an oligarchy of the credentialed. However when the working class has their audacity to vote in their very own curiosity and clap again by placing any person like Donald Trump in energy, that sneering contempt turns to hate.”

Properly, sure, the Democrats actually do hate the working class; see Thomas Frank, Hear, Libera! (that’s, do your studying, Batya!). Nonetheless, it’s not solely the working class that voted for Trump; loads of native gentry voted for Trump as nicely. Additional, even when that is my sort of pink meat, let’s be clear that no one’s speaking about empowering the working class, as a category, actually not Trump.

Pandemics

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

Covid Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Common Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be at liberty to contact me on the deal with given with the crops. 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 protected on the market!

Airborne Transmission: Covid

“Proof from Complete Genome Sequencing of Aerosol Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 nearly 5 Hours after Hospital Room Turnover” (summary solely) [American Journal of Infection Control]. ” Complete genome sequencing throughout an outbreak steered in-room transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to 2 sufferers admitted almost 2 and 5 hours, respectively, after discharge of an asymptomatic contaminated affected person. .” • Yo, HICPAC. Are you listening? _{MR SUBLIMINAL Lol no}

“Investigation of a superspreading occasion previous the biggest meat processing plant-related SARS-Coronavirus 2 outbreak in Germany” [SSRN]. 2020, missed it on the time. From the Summary: “Transmissions occurred in a confined space of a meat processing plant wherein air is continually re-circulated and cooled to 10°C. Index case B1 transmitted the virus to co-workers in a radius of greater than 8 meters throughout work-shifts on 3 consecutive days…. Our outcomes point out local weather circumstances and airflow as elements that may promote environment friendly unfold of SARS-CoV-2 through distances of greater than 8 meters and supply insights into potential necessities for pandemic mitigation methods in industrial office settings.” • Like CAFOs?

Immune Dysregulation

“CDC Monitoring “Harmful” Bacterial An infection Spreading in New York” [WIBX]. “The New York State Division of Well being is monitoring the unfold of the “Neisseria meningitidis” micro organism. This virulent pressure is extremely invasive and might result in loss of life if left untreated. Neisseria meningitidis causes meningococcal illness in addition to a critical blood an infection referred to as meningococcal septicemia. This micro organism can also be able to inflicting meningococcal meningitis as soon as it infects the linings of the mind and spinal wire. If this sounds alarming, that’s as a result of it’s. This micro organism is understood to strike shortly and trigger critical well being problems and even loss of life inside days.” • CDC says it’s not airborne, luckily (not unfold by respiratory).

Transmission: H5N1

Vector transmission from @LazarusLong13:

“Detection of H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus from Mosquitoes Collected in an Contaminated Poultry Farm in Thailand” (PDF) [Vector-Borne And Zoonotic Diseases]. From 2008.

Blood-engorged mosquitoes had been collected at poultry farms throughout an outbreak of extremely pathogenic avian influenza in Central Thailand throughout October 2005. These mosquitoes examined constructive for H5N1 virus by reverse transcription-polymerase chain response (RT-PCR). Outcomes had been confirmed by restricted sequencing of the H5 and

N1 segments. An infection and replication of this virus within the C6/36 mosquito cell line was confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Nonetheless, , and additional analysis is required.” • One thing to ponder.

“The potential of home flies to behave as a vector of avian influenza subtype H5N1 below experimental circumstances” [Medical and Veterinary Entomology]. From the Summary: “The current examine exhibits that the flies could harbour the [avian influenza (AI) H5N1] virus and will act as a mechanical vector of the AI virus.”

Sequelae: Covid

“COVID-19 and Its Ophthalmic Manifestations: A Literature Evaluate” [Cureus]. “The most typical ocular manifestations which were famous are episcleritis and keratoconjunctivitis and irritation of the sclera and conjunctiva of the attention, respectively. A examine performed by Zhou et al. [10] examined postmortem eyes and surgical specimens of COVID-19-positive sufferers. Immunohistochemical assays had been carried out on every pattern, revealing angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors are expressed within the conjunctiva, cornea, and limbus floor of the attention. The findings offered on this paper emphasize the significance of the attention as a reservoir for COVID-19 and the way transmission can happen with out correct eye and hand care [10, 11]. The ACE 2 receptor is utilized by the virus to enter cells [12, 13]. One other examine confirmed neuropathic corneal ache as a debilitating manifestation of the long-COVID syndrome [14].” • I don’t assume this supply is all that nice, nevertheless it shouldn’t be that arduous to do a literature overview, and in any case I can’t discover KLG trashing them.

Elite Maleficence

WHO promotes dishevelled blues [bangs head on desk]:

When you’ve gotten doubts about air flow in enclosed areas, #WearAMask to assist shield your self and others from COVID-19, flu and different respiratory diseases. #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/w3k7x0eLyH

— World Well being Group (WHO) Western Pacific (@WHOWPRO) April 8, 2024

“Federal Decide Hits CDC Over Withholding Information on Opposed Vaccine Reviews” [Jonathan Turley]. “The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) continues to withstand disclosing data on claimed unwanted effects and issues with its COVID-19 vaccines, together with from healthcare staff. Resulting from a January order by U.S. District Decide Matthew Kacsmaryk in a Freedom of Data Act case, the CDC is being pressured to show over a whole lot of hundreds of “free textual content” entries from V-safe. The court docket has scolded the CDC for its persevering with efforts to withhold data on these complaints…. For a yr, the CDC has been preventing these efforts. The lawsuit by the Knowledgeable Consent Motion Community, revealed ‘almost 8% of V-safe customers stated they required medical care, one other 12% couldn’t carry out regular each day actions and one more 13% stated they missed work or faculty.’ With restricted ‘packing containers’ equipped by the CDC, individuals needed to write of their problems. The CDC then didn’t disclose these reviews. The free-text entries reportedly help some of the controversial strikes by the CDC to downplay coronary heart problems. Litigants say that the brand new disclosures present a frequency of signs related to myocarditis – irritation of the the center muscle myocardium.”

TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new as we speak; all others will not be 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 below Trump. Not an amazing victory. Be aware additionally the world “below the curve,” apart from peaks. That space is bigger below Biden than below Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if inconsistently.

[2] (Biobot) No backward revisons….

[3] (CDC Variants) As of Could 11, genomic surveillance information shall be reported biweekly, primarily based on the provision of constructive check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Appears to be like 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 affirm. UPDATE Sure, depart 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 preferred the ER information, as a result of it appeared actually exhausting to sport…

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Appears to be like like a really gradual leveling off to a non-zero baseline, to me.

[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, Check Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.

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

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

[11] Appears to be like just like the Instances isn’t reporting loss of life information any extra? Possibly I would like to return to The Economist:

Stats Watch

There are not any statistics of curiosity as we speak.

At the moment’s Worry & Greed Index: 64 Greed (earlier shut: 61 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 67 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Apr 8 at 1:47:15 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes up two (!) on Earthquakes and Plagues. “The strongest quake in 25 years hit Taiwan” and “CDC says bacterial an infection instances are rising” [Rapture Ready]. Report Excessive, October 10, 2016: 189. Present: 187. (Do not forget that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Chicken flu not a priority?

The Gallery

Up to date:

Zeitgeist Watch

“Two weeks after raid on Diddy’s properties, it’s quiet on the information entrance” [WaPo]. “Two weeks in the past, federal brokers raided Sean “Diddy” Combs’s mansions in Miami and Los Angeles, looking for proof tied to a sex-trafficking investigation. The surprising headlines prompted a wave of hypothesis that Combs, some of the highly effective producers within the music trade, may quickly be arrested in connection to any of 5 current lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault. He has denied all the accusations.

However since then, there was no arrest and few, if any, revelations for tabloids.” • One can solely marvel why–

“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Former Bodyguard Claims Music Mogul Had Tapes of ‘Politicians’ and ‘Princes’” [Modernity]. “The previous bodyguard of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ claims the music mogul had blackmail tapes of politicians, princes and different outstanding people who had been concerned in his intercourse events. Gene Deal, who was current the evening when Infamous B.I.G. was fatally shot in 1997, made the sensational feedback throughout an interview with ‘The Artwork of Dialogue’ YouTube channel. ‘I don’t assume it’s solely celebrities gonna be shook. He had politicians in there, he had princes in there. He additionally had a few preachers in there,’ stated Deal. ‘Are you able to think about, he had each room bugged,’ he added. When requested why Combs’ media division had stayed silent on the allegations towards him, Deal responded, ‘Both they took half in a number of the stuff that occurred, or they’re scared that it could mess up their model.’ Fox Information host Jesse Watters speculated that the tapes, in the event that they exist, are actually within the fingers of the feds and ‘that’s a whole lot of blackmail.’” • Certainly. “I’d say that our Mr. Swain has not too long ago come into possession of a really high-grade supply of intelligence and is busy changing it into energy. ” –William Gibson, Mona Lisa Overdrive>

Fascinating query:

Sure, I bear in mind my mother and father doing this; cocktails, and so forth. When did these customs die out? When “celebration” turned a verb?

Class Warfare

“Individuals quasi-randomly assigned to farm rice are extra collectivistic than individuals assigned to farm wheat” [Nature]. The Cultural Revolution as a pure experiment (!): “The rice concept of tradition argues that the excessive labor calls for and interdependent irrigation networks of paddy rice farming makes cultures extra collectivistic than wheat-farming cultures. Regardless of prior proof, proving causality is troublesome as a result of individuals are not randomly assigned to farm rice. On this examine, we make the most of a singular time when the Chinese language authorities quasi-randomly assigned individuals to farm rice or wheat in two state farms which can be in any other case almost an identical. The rice farmers present much less individualism, extra loyalty/nepotism towards a buddy over a stranger, and extra relational thought fashion. These outcomes rule out confounds in assessments of the rice concept, equivalent to temperature, latitude, and historic occasions. The variations recommend rice-wheat cultural variations can kind in a single era.” • Fascinating! By way of Marginal Revolution, who commented:

It’s lengthy been argued [by, say, The Bearded One] that the means [and mode] of manufacturing affect social, cultural and psychological processes. Rice farming, for instance, requires complicated irrigation programs below communal administration and intense, coordinated labor. Thus, it has been argued that profitable rice farming communities are inclined to develop individuals with collectivist orientations, and cultural methods of considering that emphasize group concord and interdependence. In distinction, wheat farming, which requires much less labor and coordination is related to extra individualistic cultures that worth independence and private autonomy. Implicit in Turner’s Frontier speculation, for instance, is the concept that not solely might a younger man say ‘take this job and shove it’ and go west however as soon as there they might set up a small, viable wheat farm (or different dry crop).

Information of the Wired

I’m not feeling wired as we speak.

Contact data for crops: 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 test in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are effective! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you’d like your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it initially 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: “That is the Cactus Backyard on the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona Del Mar. It’s received fairly a range and a few relatively massive specimens. The Spanish structure works particularly nicely with this part of the gardens.” That bench within the shade makes me wish to go and sit down….

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not lined by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you happen to see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see anyplace else, please don’t hesitate to precise your appreciation in tangible kind. Keep in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common constructive suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. Once I get no donations for 3 or 4 days I get nervous. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising objectives: