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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Variety readers, we are actually at 177 donors, or 44% of our objective of 400 donors (25 greater than final 12 months). When you get pleasure from beginning Water Cooler with a birdsong, and ending Water Cooler with a beautiful {photograph} of a plant (or honorary plant (or reader challenge)), please help Water Cooler. I hope you benefit from the birds and crops as a lot as I do. –lambert
Fowl Tune of the Day
Pygmy Nuthatch, Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, United States. “About eight.” Busy busy busy!
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In Case You Would possibly Miss…
(1) The multi-threaded epic debacle at Boeing.
(2) Spooks and gaming.
(3) What the TikTok invoice actually says.
(3) WHO downgrades SARS-CoV-2 to BSL2 (however there’s a catch).
Search for the Helpers
Lambert right here: I hope readers will ship in additional examples like this (“brighten the nook the place you might be“). The helper(s) don’t have to be heroic, not to mention dramatic, or ego-driven, and definitely not institutional. To quote, of all folks, the American Enterprise Institute, writing on Occupy, and citing to David Graeber:
Along with trucking, bartering, and knocking one another over the pinnacle, Graeber argues that human beings additionally interact in an entirely completely different type of financial exercise: We frequently share issues we now have with others. When Graeber says that we’re already communists, he’s referring to these fairly acquainted conditions during which we actually do function by the maxim “From every in accordance with his means, to every in accordance with his want.”
Folks of all cultures, together with our personal, invariably observe the communism of on a regular basis life when coping with their household and shut associates. A mom doesn’t anticipate her little one to pay her for her baby-sitting companies. A brother doesn’t lease out his baseball glove to his brother on an hourly foundation. If a pal is sick and wishes one thing from the shop, we choose it up for her and would by no means consider asking for gasoline cash in return.
As Graeber factors out, this type of habits comes out most conspicuously throughout a disaster, reminiscent of a pure catastrophe. At such instances, folks will voluntarily, even cheerfully, prolong a serving to hand to those that are most in want of 1. Much less dramatically, the identical precept is at work each time we’re at a retailer that has a field on the counter that claims “Depart a penny, take a penny,” meant to assist out those that don’t have the precise change. In all these instances we’re witnessing the spontaneous software of the communist maxim, “From every in accordance with his means, to every in accordance with his want.”
In our more and more determined, atomized, and fragile neoliberal society, regular incidents and tales of “the communism of on a regular basis life” are what I’m in search of (and never, say, the Purple Cross in Hawaii, and even the UNWRA in Gaza). For instance–
“NYC’s unlikely hero: A subway ‘ninja’ who shares vibes and canned items” [New York Post (NL)]. “Three days per week, Ray Tarvin, 35, fits up in all black — like an ‘Outdated West’ ninja — and patrols the Fifth Avenue/53rd Road subway station, spreading optimistic vibes and handing out water and canned items to these in want. ‘I’d see folks undergo trash cans in search of meals — there’s loads of them in New York Metropolis — and my coronary heart advised me to stack up on, like, canned items and water and simply, you already know, cross it out.’ Tarvin, a slight and soft-spoken temp worker who works safety shifts in banks by day, begins his shift within the subway round 3 p.m. most Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. He grooves to oldies on an outdated flip telephone and offers thumbs-ups and fist bumps to straphangers.” • Flip telephones are the perfect!
My electronic mail tackle is down by the plant; please ship examples of “Helpers” there.
Politics
Lambert right here: Variety readers: I’ve been writing every day on the American political scene since 2003 or so; I minimize my tooth running a blog on the Bush WMD story. And “I’m not drained,” as Arlo Guthrie sings in Alice’s Restaurant. After so a few years, I don’t really feel I’ve something to show, and I’m not that keen on making “calls” (although readers will recall my Trump protection in 2016). What I’m keen on: Providing you with the instruments to interpret the information of politics, as it’s offered to us. I attempt to be as concrete as doable, about personalities, localities (“all politics is native”), strategies, historical past, all so as that you would be able to come to the absolute best political selections (voting, not voting, no matter). to me, politics by no means will get outdated! “However what’s authorities itself, however the biggest of all reflections on human nature?”, as Madison places it in Federalist 51. There’s all the time one thing dynamic, all the time one thing to study! When you each get pleasure from Water Cooler’s political protection and discover it helpful, now and through the years, please hit the Tip Jar now, as a result of though this protection is difficult work, I’d prefer to hold doing it. Thanks!
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“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in truth a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
The Constitutional Order (Riot)
“Democrats’ Meltdown Over Trump Immunity Case Proves SCOTUS Is Proper To Hear It” [The Federalist]. “Members of Congress and federal judges are immune from civil and legal prosecution for his or her official acts. At present, presidents are solely immune from civil prosecution for his or her official acts. That’s as a result of the Supreme Courtroom has by no means needed to determine whether or not that extends to legal prosecutions, as no president has ever confronted a legal prosecution till the Democrats’ 4 legal indictments towards Trump…. Obama-nominated Choose Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Columbia is working the proceedings fairly speedily; certainly, the case was paused solely due to the immunity enchantment. It’s affordable to ask whether or not she would have adopted the identical schedule had Trump not been a candidate for the presidency, particularly after the Biden Justice Division waited 30 months to carry these novel costs…. Tribe doesn’t need voters to have data; reasonably, he desires voters to have incomplete data. Tribe is aware of that, have been there a conviction, the appellate course of wouldn’t come near being completed by the point of the election.” • Desk-pounding, I feel — meltdowns show nothing however the reality of a meltdown — however not unhealthy table-pounding in any respect!
Biden Administration
. Someone learn the invoice:
When you assume this isn’t a Computer virus and can solely apply to TikTok and foreign-adversary social media corporations, then ponder why somebody thought it was essential to get a really particular exclusion for his or her web primarily based enterprise written into the invoice: pic.twitter.com/LnHsmEgtt9
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 12, 2024
Massey’s query within the second tweet is an effective one (particularly on condition that assessment websites are cesspits of Search engine optimization-driven enshittification). What I wish to know: What does “operated not directly… (together with by way of an affiliate)” imply? Just about any web site the spooks assume is unhealthy? (To me, that parenthetical means “together with” however not restricted to.”
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“Highly effective White Home official — and Jill Biden’s ‘work husband’ — is a #MeToo nightmare with claims of bullying, sexual harassment” [New York Post]. ” A prime Biden White Home official has bullied and verbally sexually harassed colleagues over greater than a decade, The Publish has realized — however is taken into account ‘untouchable’ as a result of first woman Jill Biden regards him as her ‘work husband.’ Anthony Bernal, whose standing as the primary woman’s prime aide grants him monumental clout in each White Home operations and Democratic politics, has repeatedly speculated within the office concerning the penis dimension of colleagues, in accordance with three sources with firsthand data. Two sources mentioned Bernal, 50, shared with them a idea that the scale of an individual’s thumb corresponds to that of their genitalia — citing the speculation each on the White Home and in prior roles throughout President Biden’s marketing campaign and vice presidency below President Barack Obama. ‘It’s to make folks uncomfortable and to have energy over them,’ mentioned one supply who advised The Publish they heard Bernal make the crude remarks over a number of years whereas they labored collectively. ‘It’s Me Too — basic Me Too,’ the supply added. A second supply recounted listening to Bernal speculate ‘typically’ contained in the White Home concerning the endowments of fellow political aides and even Secret Service brokers.” • First shot at “Physician” Biden, subsequently attention-grabbing. As a result of how may she not discover it? Did no one complain to her? If not, why not?
2024
Lower than a 12 months to go!
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Trump (R): “Trump’s Georgia case hangs on key resolution of a comparatively new choose” [WaPo]. “Fulton County Superior Courtroom Choose Scott McAfee was randomly assigned to supervise the racketeering case towards former president Donald Trump and a forged of shut advisers and allies who’re accused of plotting to overthrow a official election to maintain Trump in energy…. McAfee’s ruling is more likely to be a career-defining second for the 34-year-old rookie choose…. Disqualifying Willis and her crew of prosecutors would virtually actually delay, if not outright finish the legal case towards Trump, one in all 4 he faces. Permitting Willis to remain on the case is certain to spark protection requests for enchantment — which McAfee must approve — and anger Trump’s supporters. Prosecutors have argued ‘mere look’ [of conflict of interest] shouldn’t be the usual for Willis’s elimination, whereas protection attorneys have argued that’s greater than sufficient.” • An attention-grabbing, not-quite-puff piece. What strikes me is how, properly, incestuous the Georgia political world is (and people relationships are, I might speculate, an enormous, although unseen, driver behind the case(s)).
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Trump (R): “Trump’s Marketing campaign Is So Poor He Would possibly Not Be In a position to Maintain His Beloved Rallies, Says MSNBC Reporter” [Mediaite]. “After making be aware of the de facto merger between the Republican Nationwide Committee with the Trump marketing campaign, [MSNBC’s Vaughn Hillyard] additionally fielded a query concerning the whether or not the Trump marketing campaign thinks they should elevate and spend some huge cash within the months earlier than November, or whether it is relying on earned media to assist mitigate its monetary drawback. ‘They completely imagine that earned media goes to supply them quite a bit. However right here’s additionally a actuality at play. It takes manpower,’ replied Hillyard. ‘Cash can even assist in the direction of — that is my my huge shtick right here — cash may also help in the direction of really placing of us on the bottom in these states. Within the areas the place they’re going to depend on to drag off victories are in rural components of Georgia, rural components of Wisconsin, rural components of Michigan, rural components of Arizona. And to get of us that usually don’t vote, you bought to go and inform them, ‘We want you to come back vote.”
‘And you’ll go and have a rally in these locations, however these rallies price $400,000,’ he continued. ‘I imply that is the place — don’t anticipate to see Donald Trump to be parading across the nation, as a result of these occasions price a whole lot of hundreds of {dollars} to placed on. They’re in a predicament now, whether or not they prefer to admit it or not.’” • I don’t know if Republicans really feel concerning the RNC the best way that I really feel concerning the DNC (which is quite a bit like I really feel concerning the CDC); but when they do, then forcing Trump to intestine the RNC to economize is likely to be addition by subtraction.
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Biden (D): “Biden had repeated psychological lapses throughout particular counsel interview: transcript” [Axios]. “In his five-hour interview with particular counsel Robert Hur, President Biden repeatedly combined up dates, international locations and the timeline of great occasions, together with the years his son Beau died and Donald Trump was elected, in accordance with a transcript of the interview reviewed by Axios. The transcript helps Hur’s account that Biden had a number of psychological lapses, regardless of current pushback from the president and the White Home.” Hur testifies at the moment. Extra: “Over the course of the two-day interview, which occurred within the rapid aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, Biden repeatedly requested for assist remembering sure essential dates — and his legal professionals ceaselessly stepped in.”
Biden (D): “The Divided President” [The Nation]. The deck: “Who’s in cost within the Biden White Home?” Extra: “After the White Home introduced in April that Biden can be reneging on his promise and leaving Trump’s cap in place for at the very least the 12 months forward, staffers together with chief of employees Ron Klain and Home Coverage Council director Susan Rice launched into a plan to softly nudge the president again to his unique place, an effort that concerned managing Biden’s mood. ‘It was completely clear that Biden would hold elevating the topic himself, often in conferences concerning the border disaster, often with an fringe of aggression,’ [Franklin] Foer tells us [in his book, The Last Politician]. ‘He moaned, ‘Are you able to imagine that they need me to return to these excessive numbers?’ At a second like that Susan Rice would shoot a look throughout the room, which advised aides, ‘Don’t take the bait.’” • For this reason Biden’s canine chew folks.
Biden (D): “Democrats use clips of Trump to counter Biden reminiscence claims” [The Hill]. “Democrats on Tuesday sought to show the tables on Republicans who zeroed in on particular counsel Robert Hur’s commentary on President Biden’s reminiscence, turning repeatedly to video clips of former President Trump mangling phrases, mixing up people or forgetting particulars. Home Judiciary Committee rating member Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) opened the listening to with a video montage of previous Trump statements during which he appeared to confuse Biden with former President Obama, combined up former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) with GOP rival Nikki Haley and mistakenly known as Hungarian chief Viktor Orbán the president of Turkey.” Extra: “And Rep. Mary Homosexual Scanlon (D-Pa.), in search of to rebut claims about Biden’s reminiscence, used video clips for instance Trump’s ‘lapse in reminiscence throughout a deposition.’ One clip featured Trump being requested what years he was married to Marla Maples, to which Trump mentioned he’d ‘should get the precise dates.’ Requested if it was right he married his present spouse in January 2005, Trump mentioned he didn’t know ‘related to that day.” • On the final instance, the marriages, Trump may properly say “that makes me good!” Plus: “Toby had by no means as soon as volunteered the reality, that data was cash to him; even when he counted it worthless, he by no means threw it away.” –John LeCarré, Smiley’s Folks. (Truly, I kinda just like the parallel between the “creep” Toby and Trump: “Shouldn’t this be numbered if it’s a Degas, Toby?” “‘Degas, that’s a really gray space, George.” Good factor Toby wasn’t in actual property!)
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Kennedy (I): “How RFK may smash the two-party system” [Unherd]. “[T]he frictionless progress of each candidates by way of their occasion’s inside processes is concealing a hidden fact about this 12 months’s election. Many Individuals don’t need Joe Biden or Donald Trump. They see the race as a horror-reality present that includes two geriatrics who appear doddery, unwell, and offended at being advised so. It’s more and more doable that they help impartial candidates who may deprive each Trump and Biden of the votes wanted to win the presidency. America may find yourself with a hung presidential election. How would this come about? The Structure requires {that a} victorious president wins at the very least 270 Electoral Faculty votes, which they have to collect from some mixture of the 50 states. It now appears doable that neither mainstream candidate will handle that…. If neither Biden nor Trump reaches the required 270 Electoral Faculty votes, the Structure dictates that the voting shifts right into a “contingent election”. Which means the incoming Home of Representatives will determine the winner primarily based on whoever can kind a coalition of crimson and blue states and win 26 of them first. The Senate would choose the vice chairman. Given that almost all Republican or Democrat politicians are hardly in a position to have a look at one another, not to mention agree any offers, it appears unlikely Biden or Trump may forge that coalition. However Kennedy or the as-yet-unnamed No Labels candidate, who actively domesticate the thought of returning to centrist bipartisan options, doubtlessly may, ought to the presidency slip into the arcana of America’s 18th-century constitutional schematics.” • This subject is admittedly one thing to look at, in the identical method that Part Three was a subject to look at. We appear to have a dynamic the place each edge case is being examined — by occasion operatives in search of “an edge,” in addition to “the sting.”
Kennedy (I): “Large Tech’s Election Interference: Why Google and Meta Went Searching for Former US Intelligence Officers” [The Kennedy Beacon]. “The variety of former Intelligence Neighborhood employees employed by Google and Meta since 2018 is critical. Earlier than then, there have been just a few, however now the numbers are a lot increased: CIA – 36, FBI – 68, NSA – 44, DHS/CISA – 68, State Division – 86, DOD – 121.” No cites for these numbers, although. Extra: “The presence of Jacqueline Lopour as Google’s Head of Belief & Security and Aaron Berman as Meta’s Head of Elections Content material/Misinformation Coverage, each with backgrounds within the CIA, highlights the numerous affect exerted by the company over on-line censorship.” • Ick. That mentioned, I’ve skimmed the earlier put up, and this Twitter thread, and I nonetheless don’t see cites to the numbers. A desk with hyperlinks and names can be good. Readers, can you see one?
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“Battle for the Home: 9 races that may decide the bulk” [The House]. CA-13: Republican Rep. John Duarte and Democrat Adam Grey are advancing to a rematch. CA-22CA-47: In Orange County, Democrat Rep. Katie Porter left her Home seat to lodge an unsuccessful bid for the state’s uncommon open Senate seat. Porter and fellow progressive Rep. Barbara Lee have been boxed out of the highest two in Tremendous Tuesday’s Senate major, with Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff [RussiaGate pays] and Republican Steve Garvey advancing for a partisan showdown. MI-7: Republican Tom Barrett, who misplaced to Slotkin by round 5 factors again in 2022, is working once more for the seat, whereas the Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee (DCCC) has backed former Democratic state Sen. Curtis Hertel. The midterms race was the most costly Home contest within the nation, in accordance with reporting from The Detroit Information — and the 2024 race is about to be one other aggressive battle as each events set their sights on the opening. NY-4: Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) is working in one of the unpredictable toss-up races within the nation this 12 months…. [Laura] Gillen is working once more and might be poised for a rematch with D’Esposito. With Biden more likely to simply carry New York in November, D’Esposito must depend on a comparatively excessive quantity of split-ticket voters as he did two years in the past to win a second time period. NY-17: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) gained a serious shock victory in 2022 when he defeated Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the then-chair of Home Democrats’ marketing campaign arm, by simply over half a share level. Lawler has sought to construct up a status as a reasonable member of the GOP convention and led the cost to expel Santos for the false claims he made about himself and the legal costs he faces. The win was symbolic and key to Republicans profitable the Home majority by just some seats. He appears more likely to face former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), who beforehand represented the district however misplaced a major in a unique district after the maps have been redrawn. NY-22: Of all the doubtless susceptible New York Home Republicans this fall, Rep. Brandon Williams (R-N.Y.) could have probably the most important uphill battle. OH-9: Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) has represented her state’s ninth Congressional District for 4 a long time and had a dependable Democratic-leaning constituency all through a lot of her profession. However Ohio’s redistricting course of after 2020 made her district a battleground…. Kaptur will doubtless face an opponent with much less baggage this time, which may make it her most tough marketing campaign but.” OR-5: Additionally on the West Coast, Democrats wish to take again a seat that flipped into Republican palms for the primary time in a long time when Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer gained Oregon’s fifth Congressional District within the midterms. Chavez-DeRemer gained by 2 factors towards Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner final cycle, turning into the primary Republican lady to signify Oregon in Congress. McLeod-Skinner is working once more.” • The first course of will not be full, so some opponents will not be recognized. CA and NY are virtually battleground states!
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“Column: Biden says America is ‘coming again.’ Trump says we’re ‘in hell.’ Are they speaking about the identical nation?” [Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times]. “Political professionals say a profitable marketing campaign presents voters a compelling narrative, a narrative concerning the state of the nation: What’s gone improper, what’s going proper, and what does the candidate suggest to do about it?… Hardly ever have two main candidates offered narratives so wildly at odds. They appear to be describing wholly completely different realities.” Maybe — hear me out — there are class variations between the bases, or desired bases, of every occasion, they usually actually do expertise America otherwise, and never simply from partisan or ideological bias, however materials circumstances. Extra: “If Biden’s sounds over-optimistic, Trump’s sounds cartoonishly dystopian.”
Democrats en Déshabillé
“Biden’s State of the Union acquired one huge factor proper” [Zack Beauchamp, Vox]. “Considered one of democracy’s core premises is that elections will not be like armed battle, the place both you win otherwise you die. Since all events settle for the essential guidelines of the sport, like aggressive elections and free speech, the stakes of elections will not be existential. Political opponents are much less enemies than rivals; disagreement isn’t catastrophe. Authoritarian populists like Donald Trump win by attacking this foundational democratic norm. They demonize their opponents, arguing repeatedly that their opponents will not be rivals however reasonably monsters bent on the nation’s destruction.” • Holy Lord. From the occasion of RussiaGate?! The occasion that’s checking below your mattress, proper now, for Vladimir Putin? Why, that will make Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden authoritarian populists! Oh, wait… No however critically, if fascism is a smorgasbord, each events appear to be loading up their plates.
#COVID19
Lambert right here: Variety readers: I’ve been writing posting each weekday on Covid for the reason that pandemic started. I don’t assume I’ve to let you know how irritating that’s, or how onerous to analysis is (not simply to search out the fabric, however to get it proper). When you really feel that Water Cooler has been helpful to you in understanding the pandemic, or, better of all, has helped stop you or your loved ones associates, and group from getting sick with Covid, please hit the Tip Jar now!
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“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Sources, 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 Basic Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the tackle given with the crops. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!
Sources, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater studies); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Sources, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).
Sources, 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!
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Sequelae
Crafters and knitters, any feedback?
What I’m seeing in craft circles is incapability/unwillingness to study. Doesn’t appear to be a problem when individuals are going by no means thoughts, it’s silly anyway” after they can’t study to crochet, however what about when that impacts job security & high quality? (We’re positively seeing each)
— Fake There’s One thing Attention-grabbing Right here (@Sleepyweezul) March 11, 2024
Proxies for cognitive impairment at a inhabitants can be: Plane (manufacturing and piloting); driving; now knitting and crafts. One would anticipate to see markets modify to the lack to deal with complexity… Easier knitting patterns, for instance. How about video games?
Elite Maleficence
WHO downgrading SARS-CoV-2 to BSL2 on the exact same day WHO declared declared Covid19 to be a pandemic is a really good contact:
Not even 24 hours after you despatched this heartfelt put up into the world, @mvankerkhove, it got here to mild that the WHO has made SARS-COV-2, BSL2.
BSL2. That which has reasonable danger to laboratorians AND the surroundings.
PPE? 👇 IF wanted. https://t.co/c1yn7xgInN pic.twitter.com/nOyUUlyQ0B
— Lazarus Lengthy (@LazarusLong13) March 12, 2024
However not so quick:
Not even 24 hours after you despatched this heartfelt put up into the world, @mvankerkhove, it got here to mild that the WHO has made SARS-COV-2, BSL2.
BSL2. That which has reasonable danger to laboratorians AND the surroundings.
PPE? 👇 IF wanted. https://t.co/c1yn7xgInN pic.twitter.com/nOyUUlyQ0B
— Lazarus Lengthy (@LazarusLong13) March 12, 2024
So, BSL2 for propadanda, BSL3 within the lab? Readers?
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“Wrestling with my husband’s concern of getting COVID once more” [NPR]. “So whereas the remainder of the world appears to have moved on from the pandemic, in our home, it’s nonetheless 2020. We put on masks after we go into public indoor areas. We don’t eat inside eating places. We don’t go to films. We have now folks take COVID assessments earlier than they enter our home. All this leaves me feeling torn between two feelings. I wish to hold my husband protected and wholesome. However I additionally need our outdated life again.” • So, on the one hand, brunch. And on the opposite, my husband’s coronary heart and mind! It’s too unhealthy NPR didn’t write a narrative like this one:
Lately, I used to be having a dialog with a detailed pal. I mentioned I might take into account an unmasked go to in my properly ventilated area with air purifiers, and she or he mentioned “completely not. My job is just too public. I will not put you in danger.” Now THAT is an effective pal.
— Zoe Martell (@ZoeMartell1) March 12, 2024
However that NPR revealed the story it did… Nicely, that tells us quite a bit concerning the totebag set, doesn’t it? No marvel the PMC’s Covid failure was so full and catastrophic (“The Collapse of the Public Well being Institution is the Collapse of the Skilled-Managerial Class“).
“Disabled folks’s exclusion from indoor areas is a civil rights violation, not an annoyance” [The Guantlet]. “I’m going to attract the lens again and away from this specific lady who wrote this specific article. Her angle is way from uncommon and is the results of years of minimizing, pathologizing propaganda. The main target right here needs to be about why this angle is so frequent, what this angle implies, and for what motive main media shops select to platform folks complaining about their disabled spouses reasonably than our ableist society…. NPR’s resolution to platform a bit concerning the problem of navigating life with a partner who can’t dine indoors, as an alternative of a bit concerning the problem of navigating a society that has made eating indoors unsafe for susceptible teams, is simply that- a call, and a political one. It’s a part of an ongoing effort to forged those that can’t play together with the ‘again to regular’ fantasy- those that are being harmed and killed by it- as bizarre, paranoid, loopy, annoying, and ‘the issue.;…. Lengthy COVID is the defective, load-bearing beam within the rickety pandemic denial superstructure. Have been the general public to know how frequent and the way extreme it’s, the whole post-pandemic facade would come crumbling down. Subsequently, as Lengthy COVID sufferers turn into louder, as their presence turns into extra simple, as their numbers develop, the COVID normalization challenge should pivot from trying to vanish these victims to steadily stigmatizing them.” • Yep.
I additionally thought this thread was perceptive and smart:
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TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new at the moment; 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) Biobot drops, conformant to Walgreen positivity information (if that’s certainly not a knowledge artifact). Notice, nevertheless, the realm “below the curve,” apart from taking a look at peaks. That space is bigger below Biden than below Trump, and it appears to be rising steadily if erratically.
[2] (Biobot) Regional separation re-emerges.
[3] (CDC Variants) As of Might 11, genomic surveillance information will likely be reported biweekly, primarily based on the provision of optimistic 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) Doesn’t help Biobot information. “Charts and information offered by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous 12 months, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.”
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Not flattening. (Date for information corrected; it was a glitch.)
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless down. “Maps, charts, and information offered by CDC, updates weekly for the earlier MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Division Visits, Take a look at Positivity) and weekly the next Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Flattening, per Biobot information.
[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit within the rear view mirror.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants) Backward revisions take away NV.1 information. JN.1 dominates completely.
Stats Watch
Inflation: “United States Client Worth Index (CPI)” [Trading Economics]. “The patron worth index in the USA rose by 3.2% year-over-year to 310.326 factors in February 2024, following a 3.1% enhance in January and barely exceeding the market consensus of a 3.1% advance.”
Inflation: “United States Core Inflation Charge” [Trading Economics]. “The annual core shopper worth inflation fee in the USA, which excludes risky objects reminiscent of meals and vitality, eased to a close to three-year low of three.8% in February 2024, down barely from 3.9% in January however above market forecasts of three.7%.”
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Manufacturing: “Boeing whistleblower who warned of plane security flaws discovered lifeless” [NBC]. After the BBC, oddly. “The assertion from Barnett’s household mentioned he had suffered from post-traumatic stress dysfunction and anxiousness assaults and that the ‘hostile work surroundings at Boeing’ led to his dying.” However: “His [lawsuit against Boeing] was up for trial this June, the household assertion mentioned, including: ‘He was wanting ahead to having his day in courtroom and hoped that it will drive Boeing to vary its tradition.’” • So, if he was “wanting ahead”… Commentary:
Upgrading Boeing to a purchase after they assassinated a whistleblower in the midst of his deposition
— The Fearless Reality Teller (@SeanMcCarthyCom) March 12, 2024
Manufacturing: “50 folks injured after a ‘robust motion’ on Boeing flight to New Zealand” [NBC]. “It’s unclear precisely what triggered the midflight accidents. The South American airline LATAM mentioned in an announcement that there was a ‘technical occasion through the flight which triggered a powerful motion,’ with out elaborating additional.” • A technical occasion? Like somenbody attempting to re-attach a wheel?
Manufacturing: “737 Max anti-ice system repair is gradual going” [The Air Current]. “In the present day, Boeing has but to nail down a conclusive repair for the anti-ice system. A number of choices stay into consideration and its closing resolution could find yourself a mixture of design adjustments. The corporate has activated a multidisciplinary crew to focus solely on the issue. This so-called ‘Tiger Crew’ is getting elevated assets to design the modification for the Max 7 and 10. Neither plane may be licensed by the FAA with out this modification.” In the meantime: “Pilots utilizing personalised reminders for all types of duties within the cockpit is extraordinarily frequent, however the post-it be aware cue underscores the shortage of detailed alerting within the grasp warning system aboard all generations of the 737, counting on pilot reminiscence to change off the doubtless hazardous anti-ice system. ‘Straightforward to get distracted with different duties and miss turning off,’ mentioned [Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines captain and spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association], who has been sharply crucial of Boeing. “That’s why I exploit a decades-old approach.’” • “Straightforward to get distracted.” So, Tajer is assuming to normal diminishment in govt operate because of Covid?
Manufacturing: “Boeing Response in Alaska Airways 737 MAX Probe Is Blasted by Feds” [Wall Street Journal]. “The corporate mentioned the door plug’s elimination was undocumented, so there have been no paperwork to share.” • That’s astonishingly unhealthy.
Manufacturing: “Airplanes and engineering: The way in which we have been” [Star-Tribune]. When it modified: “Working for Honeywell in Minneapolis, I used to be concerned in product developments for a number of Boeing plane: new platforms B-757, B-767, B-777 and B-787, and revisions on older designs, together with the B-737. Every of those developments concerned an intimate relationship between Boeing and Honeywell throughout a number of ranges of group. On the coronary heart of the work have been the purchasers’ necessities. Assembly these drove every day selections within the challenge planning…. One afternoon, we began calling our contacts in Boeing Engineering. Engineering had prioritized the bidders and warranted us Honeywell was their first selection. Nonetheless, they might not verify that Boeing administration had signed off on the choice. We nonetheless believed we’d win this system. Prior to now, Boeing all the time chosen the best technical bidder then renegotiated the worth as this system phased into quantity manufacturing. It was the perfect course of to satisfy Boeing’s and the passengers’ high quality calls for… we have been notified we weren’t chosen for this system. By means of a number of discussions with the Boeing engineering managers, we later discovered that Boeing’s procurement course of had modified. Boeing provide administration downgraded the engineering evaluation from prioritized functionality to both assembly or not assembly the necessities. Then, procurement would choose the bottom bidder from this pool of suppliers assembly the necessities. Engineering was not wanted to log off on the choice. (We heard that Boeing engineers wore a black armband for a month protesting the choice for this program.) The choice course of may now be carried out in a spreadsheet with no account for the uncertainty that engineering typically anticipated and hoped to have some insurance coverage towards. This may turn into a elementary change within the plane trade.” • Price studying in full. (The Boeing 777 was launched in 1990, so presumbly this modified occurred in 1985 or so. There’s loads of spoil in an plane manufacturing firm.”
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In the present day’s Worry & Greed Index: 67 Greed (earlier shut: 74 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 78 (Excessive Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Mar 11 at 2:22:53 PM ET.
The Conservatory
“Smells Like Teen Spirit Cowl In Classical Latin (75 BC to third Century AD) Bardcore/Medieval fashion” (video) [YouTube].
Video games
“FBI, DHS Companion with Gaming Corporations to Combat ‘Extremist Avid gamers’” [Value Entertainment]. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) are coordinating with gaming corporations to root out “home extremist content material” amongst their participant bases, a brand new authorities report suggests. In response to the Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO), a nonpartisan company that audits different authorities departments on behalf of Congress, the FBI and DHS ought to use the identical methods that enable them to police extremism on social media to control the gaming trade. The GAO report, entitled Countering Violent Extremism: FBI and DHS Want Methods and Targets for Sharing Risk Info with Social Media and Gaming Corporations, was compiled between September 2022 and January 2024. It was first revealed internally on January thirty first after which launched publicly on February twenty eighth….. Within the report, the GAO cites interviews with 5 entities throughout the gaming and social media industries: Roblox, a preferred multiplayer sport creation platform, Discord, a social app fashionable with players, Reddit, a web based discussion board social community, and two gaming corporations that requested the GAO to maintain them nameless.” • Hmm.
Zeitgeist Watch
“Unhealthy Cash – Historic Counterfeiters and Their Pretend Cash” [CoinWeek]. “There have been two primary methods of counterfeiting historical cash. The primary technique utilized by historical counterfeiters was to cowl a base metallic core with a skinny layer of valuable metallic after which strike it between engraved dies. If the coating was seamless, the dies of excellent high quality, and the load of the completed piece shut sufficient to the official normal, such cash may cross as real. They’re often known as fourées, from a French phrase that means ‘stuffed.’ A second technique utilized by historical counterfeiters was to make clay molds from an unique coin, after which pour molten metallic into the molds, often leaded copper alloy. Ceramic molds might be mass-produced cheaply, so low-value copper cash might be counterfeited profitably. There was a continual scarcity of small change in historical economies, so even poor high quality fakes have been accepted in markets for lack of something higher. Authorities tended to disregard such forgeries, even after they enforced savage penalties towards counterfeiting valuable metallic cash.” • Information you should utilize!
Information of the Wired
I’m not fairly certain what to file this below:
um…no they didn’t #Seventies @70s_party pic.twitter.com/TNF21J5PWJ
— 70s Style (@70s_fashion) January 4, 2024
Software program-defined radio:
Take heed to FM radio, freenet, street site visitors data…. (That is Mastodon, so maybe the whole thread will likely be accessible and not using a login.)
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Contact data for crops: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a examine if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me pictures of crops. Greens are tremendous! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! In order for you 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 TH:
TH writes: “In entrance of the Frank Lloyd Wright Hollyhock Home in Hollywood, California, is that this landscaping of crops I can’t actually establish, however I all the time discover it curious when butterflies are drawn to greenery reasonably than the same old blossoms.” Concerning the Hollyhock Home: “[A]n ode to California–its freedom and pure magnificence…. Hollyhock Home is a harbinger of California Modernism, inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Checklist.” Neat!
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Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not lined by the annual NC fundraiser. So in case you 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 kind. Keep 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. Once I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get fearful. Extra tangibly, a continuing trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I consider that trickle when setting fundraising objectives:
Right here is the display that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
When you hate PayPal, you’ll be able to electronic mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I provides you with instructions on find out how to ship a examine. Thanks!
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