2:00PM Water Cooler 6/14/2023 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Hen Music of the Day

Cozumel Thrasher, San Miguel; Isla Cozumel, Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico “Breeding standing: Territorial. Different Behaviors: Promote. Habitat: Forest, Evergreen Forest, Deciduous Forest, Second-growth, Scrub.” That is nice!

(I had initially thought to pair this species with skateboarding thrashers, however I can’t discover any movies that aren’t both company or influencer-ish. Oh nicely.)

Politics

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

Biden Administration

2024

I suppose it’s time for the Countdown Clock!

* * *

Holy moley, that is epic. A must-listen:

Ep. 3 America’s rules are at stake pic.twitter.com/eJNSUVvvqY

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 13, 2023

The important thing passage:

We are able to level to the exact second that everlasting Washington determined to ship Donald Trump to jail. right here it’s it’s from the Republican candidates debate in Greenville South Carolina:

[TRUMP:] “We must always have by no means been in Iraq; we’ve got destabilized the Center East. They lied, okay. They stated there have been weapons of mass destruction there have been none and so they knew there have been none there have been no weapons of mass destruction.”

We must always by no means have been in Iraq, Trump stated. We destabilized the Center East. Now by the point Trump stated that a variety of Republican major voters have been beginning to attain the identical conclusion; how might they not. Nevertheless it was the subsequent line that doomed Trump to right now’s arrest. “They lied” he stated, “there have been no weapons of mass destruction” and so they knew there have been none.

Now when he stated that a couple of within the crowd booed, most simply sat there in silenced surprised. Can he say that? Properly he stated it anyway and by saying that he sealed his destiny. That was the one factor you weren’t allowed to say as a result of it implicated too many individuals on either side, which on this subject is actually only one aspect.

Hillary Clinton was responsible of it, however so was Paul Ryan. All of them have been responsible; all of them knew, all of them lied, and to an individual they hated Donald Trump for exposing them.

After that it was fairly clear that even when he did get elected president Trump was going to have a really arduous time controlling the federal authorities he was imagined to be accountable for. Most of everlasting Washington determined that thwarting Trump was the one most necessary mission of their lives.

So Trump is that this man:

The man who threw sneakers at Bush. Besides Trump threw his sneakers at everybody who works “for presidency” in uber-Blue Fairfax, Virginia, plus each spook and eight-star basic that makes financial institution on the teebee, plus each “entry” journalist on the nationwide safety beat, and let’s not neglect the navy industrial advanced and its Mighty Rice Bowl. Or the squillionaires with arms sellers of their portfolios, who likely phoned the household workplace from poolside once they noticed the clip and stated “cope with the matter” adopted by “No, I don’t care how.”

“Trump raised $2 million hours after arraignment” [Politico]. “The marketing campaign raised $2.04 million throughout a “candlelight dinner” with high donors and marketing campaign bundlers, in response to an individual accustomed to the marketing campaign. Trump gave temporary remarks to his supporters and was seated at a desk with donors and supporters that included Sen. Tommy Tuberville, (R-Ala.), in response to an attendee. Whereas Trump’s marketing campaign has principally relied on small greenback, grassroots donors, the fundraiser — which had a objective of elevating round $2 million — demonstrates how Trump has nonetheless been in a position to depend on deep pocketed supporters to fill his marketing campaign coffers even amid his authorized troubles. The marketing campaign has not but launched info on how a lot cash Trump raised within the aftermath of his indictment, but it surely deliberate to make these numbers public following consideration for his arraignment and a wave of fundraising pleas from his marketing campaign.” • Single-sourced, however… “They” by no means needed to arrest Sanders, did they….

“The Trump Prosecution by the Numbers: 90, 70, 12, 1” [Jonathan Turley]. On “1”: “For Trump, his crew should run the desk on all the 37 counts. As a person who will flip 77 years previous on Wednesday, Trump can not enable for a single depend to outlive as a result of the costs include a possible of 10-12 years in jail. … The #1 is also looming for Jack Smith. Simply as Donald Trump can not lose a single depend, Smith can not lose a single juror with out going through a hung jury.” • Properly price a learn.

“CBS Information ballot evaluation: GOP major voters nonetheless see Trump as finest shot in opposition to Biden” [CBS]. “Former President Donald Trump is Republicans’ best choice for a presidential nominee, not solely as a result of they like what he did as president, but additionally as a result of they assume he can win. Regardless of questions on his electability, they nonetheless see him as their finest shot to defeat President Joe Biden. And views of electability rely on what voters favor in a nominee: interesting to People within the center or turning out the bottom. Regardless of Trump’s a number of indictments, six in 10 Republican major voters say he would ‘undoubtedly’ beat Mr. Biden in a 2024 general-election rematch. And evaluating information collected earlier than and after federal prices have been unsealed, the brand new indictment has not put a dent into this quantity — at the least not but.” • Properly, I’ve gotta say: I doubt very a lot that my views of Trump map nicely to the views of the typical Republican voters. However Trump: (1) Removed TPP in his first days in workplace, and (2) his administration put an infinite dent in poverty with the CARES Act, (3) carried out Operation Warp Velocity, and (4) didn’t get us concerned in a significant floor battle (Ukraine) and tried to get us out of 1 (Syria). Additionally (5) Trump saved me $600 by abolishing the tax penalty that was the ObamaCare mandate. In the meantime, Biden owes me $600. All in all, Trump’s report stacks up in opposition to Biden’s, Obama’s, Bush’s, and is arguably higher than Clinton’s, just because Clinton did a lot uncooked evil. Do I need to have a beer with Trump? No. Do I like stable gold Louis Quinze lavatory faucets? No. Is Trump careless, mouthy, undisciplined, and crooked? Sure. And?

“No Labels more likely to again off third get together bid if DeSantis emerges as GOP nominee” [Politico]. • Grifters gotta grift.

* * *

RFK on Snowden and Assange:

RFK JR:

“I might put a statue of Snowden in Washington… Assange I’m going to pardon on Day 1.” pic.twitter.com/7wLiRGDSfK

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 13, 2023

Good! Let’s see if RFK’s polling numbers maintain up.

RFK on RussiaGate:

.@RobertKennedyJr explains why he modified his thoughts on Russiagate—and the way that hoax was crucial to the breakdown of US-Russia relations:

“Now I see that because the runway to the Ukraine Battle… that we have been being propagandized to see the Russians as an existential enemy.” pic.twitter.com/7br6za9t0c

— System Replace (@SystemUpdate_) June 12, 2023

Good!

I’m so previous I keep in mind when liberal Democrat comedy was truly humorous:

After I turn out to be president, I vow to ARREST Invoice Gates, Anthony Fauci, and Klaus Schwab for crimes in opposition to humanity!

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Parody) (@basedRFKJr) June 7, 2023

No, however severely, Invoice Gates? Home windows ME was unhealthy, however was it “crimes in opposition to humanity” unhealthy?

Good platform, however what (see above) about Ukraine?

Sure, I assist Marianne Williamson ⁦@marwilliamson⁩ for President
— and right here’s why 👇🏼👇🏽👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/K7AVNhS4a7

— Harvey J Kaye (@harveyjkaye) June 14, 2023

Cornel West goes Inexperienced:

The Inexperienced Social gathering welcomes Dr. Cornel West as a candidate looking for the get together’s nomination for president. Dr. West is a vital voice for social and financial justice in keeping with our get together’s platform. We stay up for him taking part within the nomination course of. @CornelWest

— Inexperienced Social gathering US 🌻 (@GreenPartyUS) June 14, 2023

I’m unsure whether or not this can be a Folks’s Social gathering/Inexperienced Social gathering unity ticket, or West fixing his Nick Brana drawback by throwing the Folks’s Social gathering beneath the very small bus that’s all it will take, or whether or not he’s attempting to unravel his poll entry drawback, assuming the GP nominates him. (Lengthy-time readers will recall that my expertise with the Maine Inexperienced Social gathering was excruciating; the emblem we see within the GP tweet, professionally designed for good or unwell, and delivered with a whole graphic, er, id, was the supply of long-running controversy, with some native groupuscules refusing to undertake it, and so on., and so on. Perhaps issues have improved now.)

* * *

Republican Funhouse

“Trump Allies Take Out Anger on FBI Headquarters Mission” [Wall Street Journal]. “In latest days, some Home Republicans have begun coalescing round a plan to remove funding for a brand new FBI headquarters in response to the bureau’s position within the indictment, essentially the most clearly outlined piece of a multipronged assault on the Justice Division. Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has expressed assist for the concept of scuttling the undertaking. ‘It sends a message to the FBI that they should act extra responsibly if they need us to spend over a billion {dollars}, manner over a billion {dollars},’ stated Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.), a member of the Home Appropriations Committee. Democrats condemned Republicans for threatening to derail the long-awaited undertaking. Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated it will be ‘an infinite slap within the face of the actually hundreds of FBI workers who work to guard the nation.’” • That’s a rattling disgrace, though it restores my religion in humanity to come across an elected who thinks a billion {dollars} continues to be actual cash.

Our Famously Free Press

“Was Tucker Carlson’s New Twitter Present Truly Watched By 114 Million Folks?” [Mediaite]. “[T]right here is little comparability between tweet views and cable information rankings. First, let’s begin with Carlson’s new Twitter present. Did one third of the US watch Carlson’s first episode? Not precisely. Musk has made an enormous push to indicate off the ‘tweet view’ metric of posts on his platform, including it to the interface. Now you possibly can see how many individuals have seen every tweet on the positioning. Final month, he hid the ‘video view’ metric, which confirmed how many individuals watched a video on Twitter. Even the video view metric was fairly flimsy: in response to Twitter, for those who watch a video for 2 seconds, with solely half the video participant in-view, you depend as one video view. The tweet view metric is even much less precious. It merely counts how many individuals seen the tweet, so for those who scrolled previous Carlson’s video on Twitter, you counted as one of many 114 million…. As Steve Hasker, the previous president of Nielsen who now serves as CEO of Thomson Reuters, defined in 2015: ‘In TV, the usual measurement unit for viewership is the average-minute viewers — what number of viewers there are in a median minute of content material. Within the digital house, however, video measurement is usually expressed because the gross variety of occasions the video is seen, even when just for one minute or one second. These two metrics are fairly completely different, and evaluating one to the opposite unfairly tilts the comparability in opposition to TV.’” • So, apples and oranges. However suppose Carlson’s numbers are off, relative to TV, by an order of magnitude. That’s 10 million. Nonetheless spectacular!

“Fox Information sends Tucker Carlson cease-and-desist letter over Twitter collection, stories say” [Associated Press]. “Fox has demanded Carlson cease posting movies to Twitter, The New York Instances additionally reported Monday — because the community’s attorneys accuse Carlson of violating his contract, which runs till early 2025 and restricts his potential to seem on different media retailers. In the meantime, Carlson’s attorneys have stated the community breached the contract first. A spokesperson for Fox Information Media and attorneys representing Carlson, Bryan Freedman and Harmeet Dhillon, didn’t instantly return The Related Press’ requests for feedback on Tuesday. ‘Doubling down on essentially the most catastrophic programming choice within the historical past of the cable information trade, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent till after the 2024 election,’ Dhillon stated in a press release despatched to Axios and the Instances. ‘Tucker is not going to be silenced by anybody.’” •

Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, plainly persons are truly studying the back-dated put up! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are a lot of updates. So I must try this. –lambert

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

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

Notice, in fact, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is proscribed by different courses; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.

* * *

“AOC on local weather voters: ‘I’m wanting ahead to pushing for extra’ [Axios]. • So, “pushing for” is the brand new solution to say “combating for”? As a result of combating is simply too aggressive, possibly? (Axios’s advertising and marketing division solely lets me see the headline, sadly.)

“George Soros-linked PAC, additional races give Virginia Democrats fundraising edge in essential major election” [FOX]. “Democratic legislative candidates in Virginia have a fundraising edge due partially to donations from a George Soros-linked political motion committee and having extra nomination contests than their Republican counterparts, a nonprofit discovered.” See, Republicans have NGOs too! Extra: “The fundraising haul is just not totally excellent news for the state’s Democrats because it reveals some political in-fighting as profitable candidates are trying to oust seasoned incumbents.”

Realignment and Legitimacy

Covid and “Lefty” organizations. I feel that is very perceptive, and I haven’t heard it stated earlier than:

Granted, this comes out of convention organizing, so are we coping with NGOs, or a real left? Unknown. Alternatively, for a real left, there’s alternative right here. And the left wants to satisfy in #DavosSafe rooms too, as DSA’s absurdly imprecise* annual convention insurance policies — nothing digital, although, that’s clear — couldn’t present extra clearly. NOTE * “The Conference will comply with a sturdy protocol in keeping with different in-person DSA occasions (e.g. NPC conferences, committee conferences). This coverage can be put collectively by the Conference Committee and voted on by the NPC. As soon as it’s finalized, it will likely be linked right here.” “Sturdy” is a type of phrases you by no means need to hear. Operationally, it means an enormous honkin’ three-ring binder, and no follow-through. And three years right into a pandemic pushed by an airborne pathogen, with the position of air flow and masking well-known, why on earth does the protocol must be “put collectively by the Conference Committee and voted on by the NPC”? Can’t these individuals truly set up something? Do they need their convention to be a superspreader occasion? And in the event that they’re so all-fired “democratic,” why is there no hyperlink for feedback or proposals? Concern of the disabled group?

“Amber waves of ache” [Lyz Lenz, Fingers]. “Farmers account for lower than 1 % of the inhabitants in America. However the American farm occupies an outsized position within the company creativeness…. Manufacturers like Busch and Miller Excessive Life need to align themselves with the essence of being American. Or, at the least, the imagined concept of what’s American. On this narrative, America is open areas — inexperienced fields, blue skies, a lone farmer in a subject with nothing however a tractor and nature to maintain him firm…. However this picture of America is extra fiction than actuality…. Pictures of American farmland swathed in rows of soy and corn are additionally photos of poison. Yearly, hundreds of kilos of hog shit are sprayed on fields and run off into streams and rivers, making their manner into the Missouri and Mississippi river basins. Iowa’s agricultural waste has performed an enormous position in making a useless zone within the Gulf of Mexico, which is an oxygen depleted space of the ocean…. There is no such thing as a place in America that’s higher than some other. Laughter in America’s heartland isn’t extra real than in New York Metropolis. The heartland is just not outdoors of or above America’s political divisions, it’s not a impartial house; it isn’t nicer, or extra real than some other a part of America. And when firms fetishize farmers and fields, they work to disregard the violent realities which can be roiling beneath the bottom.”

#COVID19

“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

Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; contains many counties); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort.

Sources, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater stories); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

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

Sources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (9), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (5), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep secure on the market!

Maskstravaganza

Had been they smiling with their eyes? Or solely with their lips?

my 89 y/o stepdad had minor surgical procedure right now in NYC and the HCWs made him REMOVE HIS 3M Aura N95 and PUT ON A SURGICAL MASK. my mother stated the HCWs have been tremendous smiley and completely happy. not masked ofc. they’re GLEEFULLY endangering my aged mother and father. i’m so freaking offended.

— Ever (@genderlessflesh) June 14, 2023

The so-called HCWs mustn’t have been allowed to “make him.” They need to have given him an lodging. Struggle for one, if you’re ever on this state of affairs.

Censorship and Propaganda

“Silvio Berlusconi, scandal-ridden former Italian prime minister, dies aged 86” [Guardian]. • Not one point out of Covid. However in 2020: Italy’s Berlusconi leaves hospital after ‘harmful’ COVID-19 battle and in 2021 Silvio Berlusconi leaves hospital after 24 days medical supervision “as a result of alleged long-term results of Covid-19.” Alleged? By whom? Is there some crime concerned?

“One thing Terrible”

Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” could be a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. Numerous exceptionally nasty sequelae, almost definitely deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we would add mind injury, together with character adjustments therefrom.

* * *

“A methylation clock mannequin of gentle SARS-CoV-2 an infection supplies perception into immune dysregulation” [Molecular Systems Biology]. From the Summary: “DNA methylation contains a cumulative report of lifetime exposures superimposed on genetically decided markers…. We characterised the temporal trajectory of blood epigenetic transforming in 133 individuals in a potential examine of younger adults earlier than, throughout, and after asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 an infection. The differential methylation attributable to asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infections was indistinguishable….The medical trajectory within the younger adults and in a various cohort with extra extreme outcomes was predicted by the similarity of methylation earlier than or early after SARS-CoV-2 an infection to the model-defined postinfection state. .” • I don’t like that final sentence in any respect. However the entire piece is to this point over my head I can’t even inform it’s woo woo. Maybe a member of the Mind Belief will remark.

“Pfizer sees antibiotic provide working out as scarcity worsens” [Bloomberg]. “Pfizer will run out of a number of doses of penicillin, which deal with syphilis, strep throat, and different infections, later this yr as shortages ripple throughout the US provide chain. The corporate anticipates working out of the kids’s dose of the syphilis drug Bicillin L-A by the top of June, in response to a letter Pfizer posted Tuesday on the Meals and Drug Administration’s web site. The corporate says it’s prioritizing manufacturing of bigger doses of Bicillin L-A, which is really useful for pregnant individuals with syphilis as a result of it’s the solely drug that may cross via the placenta and likewise deal with the fetus. A unique Pfizer penicillin, Bicillin C-R that treats different bacterial infections however not syphilis, is predicted to expire within the third quarter, which ends Sept. 30. Pfizer’s penicillin has been in scarcity since April. ‘The provision interruption is the results of a posh mixture of things together with important will increase in demand, as a result of a rise in syphilis an infection charges in addition to aggressive shortages,’ Pfizer stated within the letter, which is dated June 12. . Shortages of the kids’s type of this drug led to extra want for antibiotics like penicillin, which treats comparable infections.” • “rising charges of respiratory infections.” Huh! Whaddaya know. Commentary:

We Don’t But Know Whether or not To Minimise The Drug Scarcity Or To Blame One thing Else, However Please Be Fully Reassured That We Gained’t Blame Widespread Repeat Covid Infections. pic.twitter.com/STgnWV3vWL

— The Vertlartnic (@TheVertlartnic) June 14, 2023

Coverage

The spectacle of the GBDers screaming “Assist! Assist! I’m being oppressed!” whereas they efficiently gave the political class cowl to undertake stochastic eugenism as the popular coverage possibility…. Properly, let’s simply go forward and say it’s not edifying:

I do not recall a single credible voice wherever explaining intimately the injury of lockdowns in 2020. All i keep in mind is a bunch of fringe loonies shouting “let it rip” whereas 1000’s of individuals a day have been dying from it. Then promising us there’d be no second wave, then ALPHA hit us. https://t.co/edZo5DvhHu

— Ted Brautigan (@T_Brautigan) June 14, 2023

Elite Maleficence

Case Knowledge

From BioBot wastewater information from June 13:

For now, I’m going to make use of this nationwide wastewater information as one of the best proxy for case information (ignoring the medical case information portion of this chart, which for my part “goes unhealthy” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). At the very least we will spot traits, and examine present ranges to equal previous ranges.

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, June 10:

Lambert right here: Seems to be to love XBB.1.16 and now XBB.1.16 are outcompeting XBB.1.9, however XBB.1.5 has actually endurance. I positive hope the volunteers doing Pangolin, on which this chart relies upon, don’t all transfer on the inexperienced fields and pastures new (or have their entry to amenities reduce by directors of unwell intent).

CDC: “As of Could 11, genomic surveillance information can be reported biweekly, based mostly on the supply of optimistic check specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per 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. Seems to be like the Walgreens variants web page isn’t updating.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, from June 10:

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

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, June 12:

0.1%.

Deaths

NOT UPDATED Dying fee (Our World in Knowledge), from June 7:

Lambert right here: Theatre of the absurd. I can imagine that deaths are low; I can not imagine they’re zero, and I can not even imagine that each one medical doctors signing demise certificates have agreed to make it so. Seems to be to me like some administrative minimizer at WHO put the worst intern accountable for the undertaking. And thanks, Johns Hopkins of the $9.32 billion endowment, for abandoning this information feed and passing duty on to the clown automobile at WHO.

Complete: 1,166,818 – 1,166,713 = 105 (105 * 365 = 18,250 deaths per yr, right now’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “dwelling with” Covid (fairly a bit larger than the minimizers would really like, although they’ll discuss themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could should determine that is what the powers-that-be take into account “mission completed” for this specific tranche of demise and illness).

Extra Deaths

NOT UPDATED Extra deaths (The Economist), revealed June 13:

Lambert right here: Nonetheless some encouragement!

Lambert right here: Primarily based on a machine-learning mannequin. (The CDC has an extra estimate too, however because it ran eternally with a large typo within the Legend, I figured no person was actually it, so I acquired rid it. )

Stats Watch

Inflation: “United States Producer Costs Change” [Trading Economics]. “The annual producer inflation in the US eased for an eleventh straight month to 1.1 % in Could 2023, the bottom since December 2020 and under forecasts of 1.5 %.”

Retail: “Amazon Calls On Governments To Assist Crack Down On Pretend Critiques” [Forbes]. “Nonetheless, the corporate is looking for extra assist from governments by way of laws and enforcement. ‘The precise state of affairs varies by nation. In some nations, governments ought to set up enforcement authority or stronger enforcement instruments to penalize pretend evaluation brokers,’ it says. ‘In nations that have already got laws or rules in opposition to soliciting pretend opinions, we imagine regulators needs to be doing extra to make use of their present enforcement authority to take motion in opposition to pretend evaluation brokers.’” • Amazon opinions are, actually, a feedback part and demanding to Amazon’s continued success as a model. However Amazon isn’t treating them that manner. They’re attempting to do content material moderation on a budget with algos, and since that doesn’t work, they need, in essence, to provide their algos powers of arrest. Why not rent a content material moderation crew?

Retail: “Bud Mild Loses Title as Prime-Promoting U.S. Beer” [Wall Street Journal]. • Perhaps Pritzker should purchase them on a budget?

The Bezzle: “South Korean Crypto Lending Big Suspends Withdrawals Amidst Hovering Market Volatility” [BSC News]. “South Korean cryptocurrency lending firm Delio has introduced the suspension of withdrawals, citing elevated market volatility, in response to the native media outlet, Decenter. Delio, which operates as a Digital Asset Service Supplier (VASP) and stories to monetary authorities, holds important quantities of BTC, ETH, and different alt-coins totaling $9.3 billion. Delio didn’t reveal when withdrawals will resume. The choice to halt withdrawals comes as a response to the latest suspension of deposits and withdrawals by Haru Make investments, a transfer made to guard buyers following a enterprise error. Delio CEO Jung Sang-ho acknowledged that the suspension was a essential measure to deal with the surge in withdrawal requests and keep asset safety. The precise particulars of Delio’s transactional relationship with Haru Make investments weren’t disclosed. Delio’s suspension led Upbit, one among Korea’s largest crypto-asset exchanges, to cut back digital asset withdrawals from Delio as a part of its investor safety measures. ”

At the moment’s Concern & Greed Index: 81 Excessive Greed (earlier shut: 80 Excessive Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 76 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jun 14 at 1:30 PM ET.

Class Warfare

“Madison Avenue Takes On Capitalism” [Forbes]. “When you have a look at the model inside the American financial system most brand- challenged proper now – one which each dominates virtually and but struggles attitudinally— it’d nicely be capitalism itself. Regardless of its historic position as the best prosperity engine ever created, and regardless of the resilience of U.S. productiveness and employment figures even throughout this rocky time, capitalism, has turn out to be more and more unpopular inside the nation synonymous with it. Simply 57 % of People have a optimistic view, in accordance to an enormous Pew Analysis survey final summer season, versus 65 % in 2019, numbers that comport with quite a few different polls, together with ours, performed with The Harris Ballot. Drill down by age cohort, and people outcomes turn out to be positively alarming: amongst adults beneath 30, solely 40 % have optimistic emotions (in contrast with 44 % who stated the identical about socialism). America’s subsequent era of leaders appears extra eager to create the subsequent AOC than the subsequent AOL. And oblivious to what socialism means when utilized dogmatically throughout a rustic, whether or not Venezuela right now or East Germany a era in the past.” If “the subsequent AOC” is the end result, then capitalism can relaxation simple.” • Fascinating article. I’ll simply pull out one deliverable:

Neither has anybody else. There’s no such factor.

I’ve linked to and quoted Insider currently. Sorry, guys:

Information of the Wired

“Amtrak St. Louis-Chicago journey getting upgraded from present 90 mph to 110 mph” [ABC7]. • That’s virtually supersonic! What’s it, maglev?

A variant of the drunk searching for his keys beneath the lamp put up:

Contact info 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 if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photos of crops. Greens are fantastic! 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 WB:

WB writes: “First MN wildflowers of the Spring — Siberian Squill — apparently an invasive however fairly nonetheless.” Properly seen!

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not coated by the annual NC fundraiser. So for those who see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see wherever else, please don’t hesitate to specific your appreciation in tangible type. Bear in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common optimistic suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. After I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get nervous. Extra tangibly, a continuing trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I consider that trickle when setting fundraising targets: