2:00PM Water Cooler 9/2/2022 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Chicken Tune of the Day

Nice Bowerbird, Western Australia, Australia. Notes: “Male initially singing/calling close to bower, then strategy and scold me in direction of the top of the recording. Different Behaviors: Promote, Scold. Habitat: Dry Forest.”

Politics

“However what’s authorities itself, however the biggest of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51

“Right here’s meals for thought, had Ahab time to suppose; however Ahab by no means thinks; he solely feels, feels, feels” –Herman Melville, Moby Dick

“You possibly can’t actually mud for vomit.” Nigel Tufnel, That is Spinal Faucet

Biden Administration

“Jon Stewart and the Pentagon honor Ukrainian Nazi at Disney World” [The Gray Zone]. “This August, throughout the Division of Protection’s annual Warrior Video games at Disney World in Orlando, Florida this August 19-28, liberal comic Jon Stewart awarded a Ukrainian navy veteran named Ihor Halushka the ‘Coronary heart of the Workforce’ award for ‘inspiring his workforce’ along with his ‘private instance.’ Halushka occurs to have been a member of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, which has been armed by the US and built-in into the Ukrainian Nationwide Guard. The award-winning ultra-nationalist wore a sleeve over his left arm as he accepted the prize, presumably to cowl up his tattoo of the Nazi Sonnenrad, or Black Solar…. Previous to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of this yr, mainstream shops from the Each day Beast to Vox to International Coverage, and even the US authorities propaganda outlet Voice of America, have every acknowledged the Azov Battalion’s embrace of Nazism. Proper Sector group has been equally recognized as a fascist group. Because the invasion, nonetheless, Western company media has downplayed the presence of Nazis within the Ukrainian armed forces as teams like Azov have taken on outstanding front-line roles. Reached by telephone, Warrior Video games communication director Travis Claytor wouldn’t inform The Grayzone who lined the journey bills of Workforce Ukraine and different international rivals.”

2022

* * *

“Biden seeks to reframe midterms into stark selection between democracy and Trump-led extremism” [ABC]. “‘There’s no query that the Republican Get together as we speak is dominated, pushed, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the ‘MAGA Republicans,’ and that could be a menace to this nation,’ Biden mentioned Thursday throughout a prime-time speech at Independence Corridor in Philadelphia. His remarks represented the end result of weeks of ramped-up rhetorical assaults on not all Republicans however Trump-loyal Republicans, whom he has blasted as ‘ultra-MAGA Republicans’ and ‘MAGA extremists.’ Final week, he mentioned ‘your entire philosophy that underpins; the GOP was akin to ‘semi-fascism.’” • However not suburban Republicans, good Lord no. “For each blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we are going to decide up two reasonable Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia.” I’m going to placed on my yellow waders and take a look at Biden’s speech this weekend, however for now, I don’t even know what “akin to ‘semi-fascism’” even means. It’s not a critical assertion. Possibly Biden is pondering of semi vans? In the meantime:

Since begin of his presidency, Biden has gotten a few of his lowest scores for ‘bringing the nation nearer collectively.’ In July, 26% of adults (44% of Democrats, 6% of Republicans) mentioned they have been very or considerably assured in him to realize this.https://t.co/mFsbt9SsWO pic.twitter.com/CZjFMcQ2HF

— Carroll Doherty (@CarrollDoherty) September 2, 2022

Including, the Democrat did ballot on “darkish Brandon.” Ne

Earlier than an Independence Corridor lit shiny by blood-red mild, Biden warned that extremism of his predecessor threatened the well being of the Republic, trying to attract out “excessive MAGA ideology” from the “soul of this nation” like poison drawn from a wound.https://t.co/lBkaiOeqLu

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) September 2, 2022

(To be truthful, I feel this picture crops out the blue and white. Nonetheless, Marines within the background? Why not F-15s, whereas we’re at it?)

2024

“Trump search stock reveals empty ‘categorised’ folders, commingled prime secret and unclassified gadgets” [Los Angeles Times]. “Twenty-seven paperwork with categorised and prime secret markings have been recovered from former President Trump’s workplace at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, in response to an in depth stock of what the FBI eliminated throughout its court-approved search of the house final month. The eight-page stock detailing over 10,000 authorities paperwork eliminated within the search consists of the placement the place every merchandise was discovered and if it was categorised, however not the subject material. In lots of circumstances, extremely categorised supplies are listed as having been saved in the identical bins as a whole bunch of unclassified gadgets, together with newspaper and journal clippings and clothes.” • Right me if I’m mistaken right here — I’m not as on prime of the element right here as I ought to be, as a result of I’ve issues to do, like re-organizing my sock drawer or mendacity within the solar with my eyes closed — however simply because a doc is marked “Categorised” doesn’t imply it is Categorised. Which, presumably, is why the Los Angeles Occasions is cautious to say “markings.” The identical goes for “paperwork” and “gadgets.” So the headline is a bit misleading.

#COVID19

“Tiny discovery in Chinese language lab may very well be a giant deal in stopping Covid-19” [South China Morning Post] (Nature authentic). “A Chinese language analysis workforce has developed a nanomaterial that may discover Sars-CoV-2 viruses in a residing cell and take away them. Not like most present Covid-19 medication, the fabric can inhibit infections from all main variants together with Alpha, Beta, Delta and Omicron with excessive biosafety, the researchers mentioned….. The construction of the fabric – known as CIPS as a result of it’s fabricated from copper, indium, phosphorus and sulphur – takes the type of nanosheets which can be about 200 nanometres, across the dimension of two viral particles…. Usually, the Sars-CoV-2 virus invades human cells with assist of the spike protein on its floor. The spike protein binds with the ACE2 protein on the floor of the human cell in the identical approach a key opens a lock, thus permitting the virus to invade the host cell. CIPS, nonetheless, is able to selectively binding with the virus’ spike protein, ensuing within the an infection course of being blocked… As soon as CIPS has captured the virus, it kinds a secure complicated. The complicated is then recognised and eradicated by the host’s macrophages, giant white blood cells within the human immune system that digest international substances…. The excellent news is that the nanomaterials may very well be comparatively low cost sufficient for mass manufacturing and widespread purposes.” • Go away to the Chinese language to show stopping an infection into a producing drawback*. (Mouse research; no scientific trials.) NOTE * And take useless goal at Large Pharma, too. Who must sink an plane service?

Now make it a clear house helmet with a respirator:

If you happen to missed it, right here’s a publish on my queasiness with CDC numbers, particularly case depend, which I (nonetheless) take into account most necessary, regardless of what Walensky’s psychos at CDC who invented “neighborhood ranges” suppose. However these are the numbers we now have.

Case Rely

Case depend for the US:

Circumstances are undercounted, one supply saying by an element of six, Gottlieb pondering we solely decide up one in seven or eight.) Therefore, I take the nominal case depend and multiply it by six to approximate the actual stage of circumstances, and draw the DNC-blue “Biden Line” at that time. The earlier depend was ~87,550. Right this moment, it’s ~83,350 and 83,350 * 6 = a Biden line at 500,100 per day. (Bear in mind these information factors are weekly averages, so every day fluctuations are smoothed out.) The black “Fauci Line” is a counter to triumphalism, because it compares present ranges to previous crises. If you happen to take a look at the Fauci line, you will note that regardless of the bleating and yammering about Covid being “over,” we now have solely only recently reached the (nominal) case stage of November 1, 2021, and we’re very removed from that of July 1, 2021. And the actual stage is way worse.

Regional case depend for 4 weeks:

The South:

Florida and Texas to renew their dance, although Texas remains to be a bit coy.

The South (minus Texas and Florida):

Doing fairly nicely!

The West:

Backward revision in California fully adjustments the form of the curve. Downward. Very downward.

California on a “excessive plateau”?

Wastewater

Wastewater information (CDC), August 29:

Very sad with the gray dots in California, or nearly no dots in Texas and Florida. We have now no verify on case numbers in crucial states.

For grins, August 27:

What I’m actually anxious about is a rise in gray dots (“no current information”), as a result of that might imply the hassle is being shut down or defunded.

Positivity

From the Walgreen’s check positivity tracker, September 1:

-2.2%. The downward development contained in the pink circle is definitely encouraging.

Transmission

NOTE: I shall most definitely not be utilizing the CDC’s new “Group Stage” metric. As a result of CDC has mixed a number one indicator (circumstances) with a lagging one (hospitalization) their new metric is a poor warning signal of a surge, and a poor method to assess private threat. As well as, Covid is a illness you don’t wish to get. Even in case you are not hospitalized, you’ll be able to undergo from Lengthy Covid, vascular points, and neurological points. For these causes, case counts — recognized to be underestimated, because of dwelling check kits — deserve to face alone as a quantity to be tracked, irrespective of how a lot the political operatives in CDC management wish to obfuscate it. That the “inexperienced map” (which Topol calls a “capitulation” and a “deception”) remains to be up and being taken significantly verges on the felony. Use the neighborhood transmission instantly beneath.

Right here is CDC’s interactive map by county set to neighborhood transmission. (That is the map CDC needs solely hospitals to take a look at, not you.)

That is truly nonetheless enhancing. Extra yellow within the Plains states and the Mountain states.

Speedy Riser information, by county (CDC), August 30:

I suppose that if case counts are certainly stage, it’s possible there could be few speedy risers.

Earlier Speedy Riser information:

Hospitalization information, by state (CDC), August 30:

Plenty of inexperienced, which ought to make the hospital-centric goons on the Facilities for Illness completely happy. Then once more, Gentle Inexperienced is trending down, and Darkish Inexperienced is straight down. What I wish to see is a whole lot of Darkish Inexperienced. However I’m not.

NOTE: Speedy Riser and Hospitalization information are up to date Wednesdays and Fridays.

Variants

Lambert right here: It’s past irritating how gradual the variant information is. I seemed for extra charts: California doesn’t to a BA.4/BA.5 breakdown. New York does nevertheless it, too, is on a molasses-like two-week cycle. Does no one within the public well being institution get a promotion for monitoring variants? Are there no grants? Is there a single lab that does this work, and all people will get the outcomes from them? Extra sources from readers welcome [grinds teeth, bangs head on desk].

Lambert right here: The final actual — i.e., not modeled — information from CDC is August 6. That’s such a ginormous derelection I don’t even know what to say. Fundamental disrespect for sincere, hardworking People making an attempt to make their “private threat assessments.” How on earth are individuals supposed to try this with out variant information? Do the morons at CDC suppose BA.5 goes to be the final?

NOT UPDATED Variant information, nationwide (Walgreens), August 20:

Nonetheless no signal of BA2.75 at Walgreens, regardless of its success in India and presence in Bay Space wastewater.

Variant information, nationwide (CDC), August 13 (Nowcast off):

Nonetheless no signal of BA2.75.

Deaths

Loss of life fee (Our World in Knowledge):

Whole: 1,072,125 – 1,071,420 = 705 (705 * 365 = 257,325, which is as we speak’s LivingWith™* quantity (fairly a bit increased than the minimizers would really like, thought they’ll speak themselves into something. Fluctuates fairly a bit, however even the low numbers are dangerous). Fairly lots; perhaps CDC discovered some deaths in a drawer. I’ve added an anti-triumphalist black Fauci Line. It’s good that for deaths I’ve a easy, every day chart that simply retains chugging alongside, in contrast to all the things else CDC and the White Home are screwing up or letting go darkish, good job.

Stats Watch

Employment Scenario: “United States Unemployment Fee” [Trading Economics]. “The US unemployment fee rose to three.7 % in August of 2022, the best since February and above market expectations of three.5 %.

The Bezzle: Thread on fossil gasoline possession adjustments:

Right this moment’s Worry & Greed Index: 43 Worry (earlier shut: 45 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 55 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Sep 2 at 1:20 PM EDT.

The Gallery

1947:

1917:

Guillotine Watch

“The Haves and the Have-Yachts” [The New Yorker]. We ran this earlier than, however I missed this half: “If you happen to’ve simply put half a billion {dollars} into a ship, you’ll have qualms in regards to the truism that materials issues convey much less happiness than experiences do. However this, too, might be finessed. Andrew Grant Tremendous, a co-founder of the ‘experiential yachting’ agency Berkeley Rand, advised me that he served a uniquely overstimulated clientele: ‘We name them the bored billionaires.’ He outlined just a few of his expertise merchandise. ‘We are able to plot half of the Pacific Ocean with coördinates, to map out the Battle of Halfway,’ he mentioned. ‘We re-create the full-blown battles of the large ships from America and Japan. The children have haptic weapons and haptic vests. We put the scent of cordite and cannon fireplace on board, pumping round them.’ For individuals who aren’t soothed by the scent of cordite, Tremendous provided an alternate. ‘We fly 3-D-printed, architectural freestanding eating places into the center of the Maldives, on a sand shelf that may solely final one other eight hours earlier than it disappears.’” • “Imaginary gardens with actual toads in them” (as Marianne Moore mentioned of poetry). Maybe different types of over-stimulation are on the horizon?

Class Warfare

Win for Amazon Labor Union:

“The State Of The Unions 2022” (PDF) [Ruth Milkman and Joseph van der Naald, City University of New York]. Among the most dramatic union wins occurred in New York: the primary Starbucks shops the place unionization votes succeeded in 2021 have been in Buffalo, and the warehouse the place the impartial Amazon Labor Union famously gained an election in April 2022 is within the New York Metropolis borough of Staten Island. Extra usually, as pages 4-9 beneath doc, New York Metropolis leads the nation within the current wave of union organizing ” However: ” the size of this new wave of organizing has been inadequate to reverse the long-term downward development in privatesector union density. To take action would require much more in depth, large-scale efforts. ” • Effectively value a learn.

“On line casino Capitalism, Actually” [The American Conservative]. “When Sen. Estes Kefauver’s organized crime investigation found in 1951 that unlawful playing dens close to Keesler Air Pressure Base in Biloxi have been absorbing $500,000 out of the bottom’s $4 million month-to-month payroll, no one mentioned that airmen have been grownups who ought to spend their cash nonetheless they need. Folks mentioned that casinos and slot parlors took benefit of traits that each human possesses and navy males possess in abundance—urge for food for threat, concentrating on the current somewhat than the lengthy view—so as to separate them from their cash. Summary notions of freedom of commerce weren’t assumed to be a protection. That’s how current day regulators ought to regard Large Tech. There are a lot of concepts floating round for learn how to restrict expertise’s addictive energy, from banning autoplay to limiting apps’ potential to tailor stimuli to particular person customers based mostly on their private information. A few of these concepts might not be sensible. However none of them ought to be dismissed out of hand. Taking a look at Large Tech and saying it’s free speech is like taking a look at a on line casino and saying it’s simply commerce. It’s not. It’s a parody of commerce.”

Information of the Wired

“Youngsters Yell “Poop” At Alexa, And These Musicians Revenue” [Wired]. “There are a lot of matters that my 5-year-old and I don’t see eye to eye on: what number of popsicles per day is affordable or the virtues of sleeping previous 7:30 a.m. on a Sunday. However there’s one space the place we’re in philosophical lockstep: ‘Poop’ is a humorous phrase. So when my son commanded our Amazon Echo Dot, ‘Alexa…play poopy diaper,’ I shot him a faux-stern look that indicated this isn’t applicable, however I’ll enable it. And when Alexa replied, ‘OK, enjoying ‘Poopy Diaper’ from Spotify,’ I used to be intrigued. When the voice robotic creation of one of many richest males on the planet began enjoying a thumping techno banger with a hovering refrain of a lady vocalist signing, ‘I’ve bought a poopy diaper, a poopy diaper, that’s me,’ I descended into hyperventilating eye-watering laughter. Because it seems, there are fairly just a few songs that can fill Alexa requests for the entire gamut of issues a kindergartener would possibly dream up: poop, diapers, canine poop, smelly butt, farts.” • The stupidest timeline. Then once more, this dude is silly sufficient to put in a surveillance machine in his home. So right here we’re, fathers and sons.

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

Copeland writes: “I planted these black oil sunflowers to draw birds throughout the winter months however they certain are attracting and feeding a whole lot of bumblebees and different bee species proper now. Curiously I’ve by no means seen any European honey bees on them.” That is the time of yr for sunflower pictures!

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