Through Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Hen Music of the Month
Peruvian Meadowlark, Guayaquil – Engunga Hills, Guayas, Ecuador. “Short grass and bushes doing flight display, and at dusk with 2 Lesser Nighthawks in flight at end.” Contains mosquito! And a bee. Grantchester Meadows feeling right here…
* * *
In Case You Would possibly Leave out…
(1) Trump’s Unutilized York trial strikes to charging directions.
(2) Stefanik information ethics criticism in opposition to Merchan.
(3) Trisha Greenhalgh publishes monumental masks/respirator learn about, stomping anti-maskers.
(4) “Trust your immune system.”
* * *
Politics
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
* * *
2024
Not up to a part a hour to progress!
RCP Ballot Averages, Would possibly 10:
Nationwide effects static, however lots of the Swing States (extra right here) are incrementally, however regularly, shifting Trump’s approach. Pennsylvania leans extra Trump this hour than closing. In fact, it is going with out announcing that those are all climate polls, due to this fact evil, and lots of the effects are throughout the margin of error. Now, if both candidate begins breaking away in issues, rather of tenths of some degree…. NOTE I modified the notation: Up and unwell arrows for will increase or decreases over closing hour, circles for refuse exchange. Crimson = Trump. Blue could be Biden if he have been well-known anyplace, however he isn’t.
* * *
Lambert right here: The charging directions consultation is residue for me to digest as of late. All I will be able to do is give some highlights, and word I’ll put my yellow waders on prior to terminating arguments start after Tuesday:
Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): At the Heisenbergian object offense (1): “Prosecutors and Trump’s Lawyers Will Jockey for an Edge With Jurors” [New York Times]. “Jury instructions are typically meant to translate legal treatises into something intelligible to the 12 laypeople who will decide the case. The instructions provide jurors with a road map to help them apply the law to the facts they have gleaned from the witnesses, documents and other evidence that has been presented to them…. The prosecutors’ proposed instructions, among other things, ask the judge to give the jury what legal experts said was unusual flexibility in determining whether Mr. Trump had a role in the creation of the false records at the center of the charges. Prosecutors argue that even if Mr. Trump did not create the records himself, the jury can find him responsible if the creation of the false records was ‘a reasonably foreseeable consequence of his conduct.’… To convict Mr. Trump of the felonies he is charged with, prosecutors must show that he falsified business records in order to commit or conceal another crime. The prosecution’s proposed instructions say that other crime is the violation of an election law statue that makes it illegal to conspire to promote or prevent a candidate’s election by ‘unlawful means.’ But what are those unlawful means? Prosecutors want the judge to instruct the jurors that they can choose any of three options: a federal election law violation; the falsification of other business records; or a tax crime. The jurors must unanimously agree that Mr. Trump conspired to promote his own election by unlawful means. But prosecutors are asking the judge to instruct jurors that they do not need to reach a unanimous conclusion about what the unlawful means were.”
Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): At the Heisenbergian object offense (2):
Put up via @ecmclaughlin
View on Fibres
Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Prosecution and defense debate jury instructions in Trump’s criminal trial” [ABC]. “Trump lawyer Emil Bove asked for a jury instruction that would get at, as he put it, ‘the fact that this entire trial was based on the word of an attorney who worked for President Trump, and he was entitled to draw some inferences from that’ about the legality of various things. However, the argument presented a problem: the defense said months ago that it wasn’t going to use what’s known as an advice-of-counsel defense — that a defendant’s conduct was guided by a lawyer’s OK. By deciding against it, the defense didn’t have to waive Trump’s attorney-client privilege or turn over various documents, Judge Juan M. Merchan noted. But, he complained, the defense has since tried to invoke the advice-of-counsel concept under different names, such as ‘presence of counsel’ or ‘involvement of counsel.’ ‘My answer hasn’t changed, and honestly, I find it disingenuous for you to make the argument at this point,” he advised Bove, who began to get up to reply.”
Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan: Stefanik information ethics criticism in opposition to Merchan (great timing):
🚨🚨🚨 I simply filed an reputable judicial criticism with the Unutilized York Shape Fee on Judicial Behavior in opposition to Performing Best Court docket Justice Juan Merchan for his sunlit violation of the Laws of Judicial Behavior for the Unutilized York Shape Unified Court docket Gadget because of his community… %.twitter.com/6JjIv7XpTP
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) Would possibly 21, 2024
This is category 100.3(E)(1)(d)(iii):
IANAL, however for the reason that Merchan’s daughter is a Democrat guide, I’d say Stefanik has a prima facie case.
* * *
Trump (R): “Trump’s trials may help, not hurt, his shot at the White House” [The Hill]. “New polling by our firm, Schoen Cooperman Research, indicates that thus far, the ongoing trials have had virtually no impact on the former president’s standing with voters nationally. Even if Trump were forced to spend the majority of his time between now and election day off the campaign trail and in courtrooms, only 22 percent of registered voters say they would be less likely to vote for the former president, while one-quarter of voters actually said they would be more likely to vote for Trump should he be forced to spend much of his time in court. Notably, a 53 percent majority is unmoved by the Trump trials, underscoring that keeping Trump in court and off the trail likely will not be the decisive factor some had presumed. In that same vein, Schoen Cooperman Research’s poll underscores the very real chance that the indictments against Trump actually benefit the former president by allowing him to reprise a role that he thrives in — playing a political martyr. Indeed, there is considerable uncertainty as to whether or not the indictments facing Trump are legitimate or are politically motivated. A 47 percent plurality of voters say the indictments are legally sound, yet a sizable 40 percent say they are political persecution. A similar 48 percent say that Trump did something wrong and he should be prosecuted, while 39 percent say that either Trump did something wrong but should not be prosecuted (13 percent) or that Trump did nothing wrong (26 percent). However, one-half (50 percent) of voters agree that “The indictments against Donald Trump are a form of election interference, being carried out by liberal prosecutors, the Biden administration, and the Justice Department.” • Schoen’s occupation trajectoy is… fascinating.
Trump (R): “No, Biden Did Not Order the FBI to Assassinate Trump at Mar-a-Lago” [Rolling Stone (Furzy Mouse)]. “Documents unsealed Tuesday revealed that more classified material was found at the former president’s Palm Beach estate after the FBI’s August 2022 raid. Republicans, however, have zeroed in on standard language in FBI search warrants authorizing the use of deadly force in appropriate circumstances, claiming Biden and the DOJ wanted Trump dead — even though he wasn’t even present on the property that day. ‘WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE,’ Trump wrote Tuesday of the FBI’s boilerplate authorization to use deadly force. “NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!” In a marketing campaign fundraising electronic mail, Trump additional claimed that he ‘nearly escaped death’ and that Biden used to be ‘locked & loaded ready to take me out!’” • In fact, the FBI warrants did authorize deadly force — it’s boilerplate language. That mentioned, the liberality Democrats recently orchestrating a dogpile in this are not likely to have had community contributors whacked via police officers, or doorways busted unwell via SWAT groups deployed to the unsuitable deal with, or cancelled and upcoming assaulted for putative tail-light violations, or skilled asset seizure when wearing money. The ones delectations are reserved for (fractions of) the operating elegance, to whom Trump is making an attempt to attraction. So flip the report* over and play games the alternative aspect. NOTE * A vinyl recording medium, for many who got here in past due.
* * *
Trump (R): “Meet Trump’s ‘Human Printer’” [The Bulwark]. “Whenever Donald Trump brandishes a stack of papers or reads a printout of a social media post, he’s relying on the work of Natalie Harp. Harp, 32, occupies a unique role in the history of presidential campaigns: aide who travels with a portable printer (plus paper and rechargeable batteries in a large bag) whose job is to feed Trump a steady stream of information on 8.5×11″ pieces of paper. That way, the 77-year-old doesn’t have to strain his eyes on a smartphone to read all the news that’s fit to print in MAGAville. Harp’s nickname on the campaign—’the human printer’—underplays her importance. That’s because in Trump’s orbit [or any powerful person’s], proximity to the principal is power. And with her portable printer at the ready, Harp is constantly around Trump—whether she’s sitting close to the defense table in the Manhattan courthouse on weekdays or riding the links with Trump on Sundays in Florida. Perhaps more than anyone else, Harp gatekeeps much of what Trump sees on social media and reads in the news. ‘If you want the President to see something, the best route is Natalie,’ says a knowledgeable source who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the internal workings of Trump’s inner team and who has passed information to the candidate via Harp. ‘Don’t underestimate her importance.’ It’s been an interesting journey for Harp. She comes from a conservative Christian family in California and graduated from Liberty University in 2015.” • After we had “body men.” Now we have now “human printers”!
* * *
Biden (D): “Liberals sound the alarm: Biden is losing” [Washington Examiner]. “President Joe Biden is trailing, and liberal pundits are increasingly saying he has mainly himself to blame… [I]t is a trend in elite Democratic and liberal opinion that should worry the Biden camp. If this is what people are willing to contemplate with Trump ahead by 1.1 points nationally in the RealClearPolitics polling average, what happens if the Democrats lose ground? Or if Trump gets a mistrial, or even an acquittal bounce, should he not be convicted in the New York hush money trial? The Biden campaign would like Democrats to be patient. Trump’s polling lead isn’t that big. The polls arguably understated Democratic support in the midterm elections and some special elections. Team Biden believes it has the better ground game. The decision to debate suggests Bidenworld has some sense that the incumbent is losing, but outside allies see a five-alarm fire.” • Occasions, pricey boy, occasions. Biden’s election possibilities would additionally appear to rely very much on movements via Putin, Zelensky, Netanyahu, and Xi, none of whom are underneath Biden’s keep watch over.
* * *
NH: “Shock Poll: Trump Tied With Biden in Blue New Hampshire” [NH Journal]. “Democrats have all but owned the Granite State’s four Electoral College votes, winning seven of the past eight presidential contests – including Joe Biden’s eight-point victory over President Donald Trump in 2020. But the latest NHJournal/Praecones Analytica poll finds Biden tied with Trump in New Hampshire, putting him at risk of becoming the first Democrat to lose the state since Al Gore in 2000.”
* * *
“Scoop: Senate Democrats plot reproductive-rights blitz” [Axios]. “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is planning to zero in on reproductive rights next month — potentially forcing Republicans to take tough votes on issues such as contraception and in vitro fertilization…. The move is meant to tap into the potency of abortion rights as a voter-turnout generator for Democrats five months from Election Day. It’s timed to roughly coincide with the two-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, on June 24…. November ballot measures seeking to guarantee abortion rights are either locked in or under consideration in several states — including Arizona*, Montana, Nevada* and Florida — that also are home to Senate races that could be pivotal in determining control of the chamber next year.” • NOTE * Swing states.
“Biden Is Counting on Abortion to Help Him Win. That’s Risky” [MSN]. “It may feel like Dobbs has increased public support for abortion, but three major polls don’t register much change in opinion. Gallup has run the same abortion poll around once a year for decades—in which a majority of respondents, since 1989, said they thought Roe should not be overturned. As for support for legal abortion, in May 2023, Gallup found that 34 percent of respondents said abortion should be legal in any circumstances. In May 2022, it was 35 percent; in 2021, 32 percent. Pew has found similar numbers over the years, with an increase of just a few points in support for abortion being legal in most cases since Dobbs and a slight decrease in those who want abortion to be legal in all cases. Overall, Dobbs appears not to have significantly changed people’s views on whether abortion should be legal. A few findings in the 2024 Pew poll further complicate the image of abortion as a broadly popular get-out-the-vote issue. About six in 10 respondents (58 percent) said it would be easy for someone to get an abortion in the area where they live, and only 31 percent of respondents said it should be easier. (It’s not immediately clear how those groups overlap.) Among Democrats specifically, only 48 percent wanted obtaining an abortion to be easier. This suggests that while a majority of people in the United States think that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, about just as many think it’s easy to get one, and some people don’t think it needs to be any easier—including many Democrats.”
“Trump says he will ‘never advocate’ for contraception restrictions after earlier saying he’s ‘looking at’ them” [Politico]. “Donald Trump insisted in a social media post Tuesday that he has ‘never, and will never advocate imposing restrictions on birth control or other contraceptives,’ after an interview released hours earlier included Trump saying he’s ‘looking at’ restrictions on contraception. The post came after Trump said in an interview with a local TV station in Pittsburgh that he plans to share a policy on contraception ‘very shortly,’ without providing details. ‘We’re looking at that, and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think it’s something that you’ll find interesting,’ Trump told KDKA political analyst Jon Delano when asked if he supported any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception.” • Neatly executed Susie Wiles.
“Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoes a bill that would protect access to contraception” [USA Today]. “Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a series of bills passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly Friday, including one that was aimed at protecting contraception access…. The bill that Youngkin vetoed stated that a person ‘shall have the right to obtain contraceptives and to engage in contraception’ and that no commonwealth or locality should implement any rule that ‘prohibits or restricts the sale, provision, or use of any contraceptives,’ among other requirements…. Youngkin argued in a veto statement that the bill ‘creates an overly broad cause of action against political subdivisions and parents, as well as medical professionals’ and ‘undermines the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning their children’s upbringing and care.’”
Republican Funhouse
“Mike Johnson loses trio of key policy aides” [Punchbowl News]. “Three leading members of Speaker Mike Johnson’s policy team are leaving his office by the end of May, robbing the House’s top Republican of a critical core of experienced aides. Brittan Specht, Jason Yaworske and Preston Hill — all of whom also worked for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy — are heading to Michael Best Strategies, a lobbying firm with offices in D.C. and around the country. The departure, which is striking in size and in experience, strips Johnson of a significant amount of expertise in his domestic policy shop. Specht was McCarthy’s policy director and was key in crafting the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which raised the debt limit and set budget levels for two years. Yaworske is a well-respected adviser to the speaker on the appropriations and budget matters. As the House Appropriations Committee begins marking up the FY2025 spending bills, Yaworske’s expertise on government spending is in demand. And Hill, a longtime figure in GOP leadership, was in charge of overseeing House Republican policy in burgeoning policy areas such as cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence as well as Education and the Workforce and Financial Services. Another common thread here is that all three have been at the table during high-stakes negotiations — something that is a rarity at the top levels of the Republican leadership.” • If you need a chum in Washington, purchase a canine.
Syndemics
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
* * *
Covid Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; contains many counties; Wastewater Scan, contains drilldown via zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (particularly on hospitalization via town).
Lambert right here: Readers, thank you for the collective try. To replace any access, do really feel independent to touch me on the deal with given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic order. Thanks!
Assets, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater 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).
Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Govt of Canada).
Assets, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tricks to useful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Keep secure available in the market!
* * *
Maskstravaganza
“Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review” [Trisha Greenhalgh, C. Raina MacIntyre et al’, Clinical Microbiology Review]. Impressive. Magisterial. Quoting the Summary in its entirety:
This narrative evaluation and meta-analysis summarizes a vast proof bottom on the advantages—and likewise the practicalities, disbenefits, harms and private, sociocultural and environmental affects—of mask and overlaying. Our synthesis of proof from over 100 revealed evaluations and decided on number one research, together with re-analyzing contested meta-analyses of key scientific trials, produced seven key findings. First, there’s robust and constant proof for airborne transmission of extreme acute breathing syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and alternative breathing pathogens. 2nd, mask are, if appropriately and constantly old, efficient in lowering transmission of breathing illnesses and display a dose-response impact. 3rd, respirators are considerably simpler than clinical or fabric mask. Fourth, masks mandates are, total, efficient in lowering public transmission of breathing pathogens. 5th, mask are remarkable sociocultural symbols; non-adherence to overlaying is on occasion connected to political and ideological ideals and to broadly circulated mis- or disinformation. 6th, hour there’s a lot proof that mask aren’t normally damaging to the overall society, overlaying could also be somewhat contraindicated in folks with sure clinical statuses, who would possibly require exemption. Moreover, sure teams (particularly D/deaf society) are deprived when others are masked. In spite of everything, there are dangers to the state from single-use mask and respirators. We advise an time table for while analysis, together with stepped forward characterization of the conditions through which overlaying will have to be advisable or mandated; consideration to relief and acceptability; generalized and disability-focused verbal exchange aid in settings the place mask are old; and building and checking out of album fabrics and designs for stepped forward filtration, breathability, and environmental have an effect on.
I will have to hustle alongside in order that there’s some at the 2024 elections, so in slightly I can circle again right here and come with Greenhalgh’s entertainly brutal stomping of droplet dogmatists and, as a double bonus, Defect Prevention and Keep watch over (IPC/IC infesting HICPAC, amongst alternative playgrounds).
And now the yarn (this is the ThreadReader model):
On [genuflects] RCTs:
We searched widely for fine quality proof in all areas. We did NOT think that every one RCT proof used to be “gold standard”, nor that every one non-RCT proof used to be “low-quality”. Certainly, we puzzled whether or not the RCT merits its hallowed condition on this garden. 6/ %.twitter.com/ozZuRoh3FW
— Trisha Greenhalgh (@trishgreenhalgh) Would possibly 22, 2024
At the one worthy RCT, which HICPAC suppressed:
We searched widely for fine quality proof in all areas. We did NOT think that every one RCT proof used to be “gold standard”, nor that every one non-RCT proof used to be “low-quality”. Certainly, we puzzled whether or not the RCT merits its hallowed condition on this garden. 6/ %.twitter.com/ozZuRoh3FW
— Trisha Greenhalgh (@trishgreenhalgh) Would possibly 22, 2024
On [genuflects] IC/IPC (Defect Keep watch over/Defect Prevention and Keep watch over):
We searched widely for fine quality proof in all areas. We did NOT think that every one RCT proof used to be “gold standard”, nor that every one non-RCT proof used to be “low-quality”. Certainly, we puzzled whether or not the RCT merits its hallowed condition on this garden. 6/ %.twitter.com/ozZuRoh3FW
— Trisha Greenhalgh (@trishgreenhalgh) Would possibly 22, 2024
At the stupidest of the numerous silly anti-masker speaking issues:
We searched widely for fine quality proof in all areas. We did NOT think that every one RCT proof used to be “gold standard”, nor that every one non-RCT proof used to be “low-quality”. Certainly, we puzzled whether or not the RCT merits its hallowed condition on this garden. 6/ %.twitter.com/ozZuRoh3FW
— Trisha Greenhalgh (@trishgreenhalgh) Would possibly 22, 2024
All of and is the reason why this Brownnose Institute weasel in an instant slithered out of his scrimy burrow to safe the discredited anti-mask Cochrane learn about:
The primary model of this meta evaluation of bodily interventions to forbid virus unfold got here out in 2006. It’s been up to date ever since. The belief: they don’t paintings. Everybody knew this in 2020. https://t.co/9dkxquBo6Y
— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) Would possibly 20, 2024
Be aware that the Cochrane learn about used to be funded, at one take away, via Brownstone Institute cloudy cash, as I display right here, and Brownstone additionally snuck certainly one of their creatures, Carl Heneghan, into the learn about as an unlisted writer however with out credit score, violating Cochrane’s putatively rigorous requirements.
Denial and Cope
(1) “Trust your immune system”:
Haha.Trusting your absolved machine.
What a completely ****ing silly factor to mention. https://t.co/XiqDjOYTaZ
— tern (@1goodtern) Would possibly 19, 2024
(2) “Trust your immune system”:
“Hey babe, I don’t want to – they’re uncomfortable. Don’t you trust your immune system?” -Marc Veldhoen
/s
— Existential Bread (@exist_bread) Would possibly 21, 2024
(3) “Trust your immune system”:
My absolved machine attacked my thyroid (hashimoto’s infection). I don’t accept as true with it and can strengthen at each and every alternative.
— Typhoon henri bréboeuf 🇨🇦🐧 (@HenriBreboeuf) Would possibly 22, 2024
(4) “Trust your immune system”:
I’ve SLE and Hashimoto’s. My absolved machine nearly killed me with a unprecedented and competitive method of lymphoma. Lately, I used to be a minute too competitive with the dental floss, chopping my gum. My absolved machine determined sepsis used to be the proper treatment. Accept as true with my absolved machine? Ha!
— Eva Hamilton she/her (@TOknitter) Would possibly 22, 2024
I don’t perceive the mentality at the back of this oft-repeated piece of family knowledge in any respect. I accept as true with my optical, however I put on glasses. I accept as true with my ft, however I put on footwear. “Experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions,” as Madison put it. However no longer all agree–
(5) “Trust your immune system”:
#donotcomplytoanotherlie #freespeech with a #decal. #donotcomply. #Godisgood and he gave us an absolved machine that may fight anything else. #wethepeople wish to deal ourselves #holistically. We will be able to’t accept as true with our clinical machine. https://t.co/Pw4p8av4Hg
— TruthforWethePeople (@TammyQue_1111) Would possibly 22, 2024
(6) “Trust your immune system”…. A-a-a-a-n-d this Brownnose Institute weasel crawls out of his hollow once more:
Having studied and written about all of this for 4 years, and taking a look even on the frequent pandemic plans for the while, it’s my regarded as opinion that the entire protocol used to be designed for one function. The goal from the start used to be to saving the immunological…
— Jeffrey A Tucker (@jeffreyatucker) Would possibly 21, 2024
Learn that sparsely. It’s the subtlest justification for collection homicide I’ve ever perceptible.
Transmission: Monkeypox
“CDC issues stark warning on rapid spread of deadlier Mpox strain” [FOX32]. “he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a stark warning to Americans this week regarding the rapid spread of a deadlier form of Mpox currently sweeping through the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While the outbreak has yet to reach the shores of the United States, the CDC has intensified surveillance measures as a precautionary measure. In response to the escalating situation, the CDC and health officials advised individuals at high risk to get vaccinated and take necessary precautions. This recommendation is particularly pertinent for those with weakened immune systems.” • And what would the ones “precautions” be? The rest non-pharmaceutical?
Prevention
“Could Putting Neosporin in Your Nose Fend Off COVID?” [Scientific American]. We connected to this PNAS learn about again in April. “”This can be a analysis learn about—it’s no longer a scientific learn about, and it’s by no means supposed for society to progress available in the market and get started the use of Neosporin each and every hour,’ says Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale College and a co-author of the untouched analysis. ‘It’s simply an preliminary pilot learn about.’ Iwasaki hadn’t heard concerning the passion in nasal Neosporin early within the pandemic, however she is operating to seek out untouched makes use of for broadly to be had merchandise, and the usual ointment suits that invoice. Intriguingly, one of the most 3 antibiotics it incorporates is neomycin, which is an aminoglycoside compound—a gaggle of chemical substances that she and alternative researchers had, in 2018, motivated greater resistance to a territory of viruses in mice. When an aminoglycoside encounters a bacterium and acts as an antibiotic, the compound interferes with the microbe’s talent to form proteins. However that’s no longer how Neosporin would possibly battle off viruses. In lieu neomycin seems to rev up the innate absolved machine on this case. That machine appreciates overseas elements generally, against this to the adaptive absolved machine, which appreciates and assaults explicit overseas fabrics it has encountered prior to. In particular, neomycin seems to cause the tonality of what scientists name interferon-stimulated genes: a suite of masses of genes—possibly even one 10th of a human’s genes—that seem to play games a job within the innate absolved machine. Throughout an defect, the frame produces a compound known as interferon that binds to those genes and dials up the innate absolved machine. Neomycin seems to perform the similar outcome, even though the scientists aren’t certain precisely how. ‘It’s mainly tricking the host into considering there’s a viral defect and inducing those protecting genes,’ Iwasaki says. Within the untouched analysis, she and her colleagues examined neomycin in a handful of various experiments. In a single, they handled mice nasally with concentrated neomycin, upcoming gave them the virus that reasons COVID (additionally by the use of a nasal path). Handled mice misplaced much less weight and have been much less more likely to die from the defect. In a detached experiment, the researchers gave already inflamed mice neomycin, and the impact used to be indistinguishable. The findings recommend that neomycin each secure the mice from defect and helped them battle it off.” • Turns out like that is low value, low chance, very top acquire?
* * *
Lambert right here: Affected person readers, I’m moving to must reconsider this superbly formatted desk. Biobot information is long gone, CDC variant information purposes, ER visits are lifeless, CDC cancelled obligatory medical institution information assortment, Unutilized York Occasions demise information has cancelled. (Be aware that the 2 metrics the hospital-centric CDC cared about, hospitalization and deaths, have each long gone cloudy). Preferably I might substitute hospitalization and demise information, however I’m no longer certain how. I may also make bigger the wastewater category to incorporate (yech) Verily information, H5N1 if I will be able to get it. Tips and assets welcome. UPDATE I changed the Occasions demise information with CDC information. Amusingly, the URL doesn’t come with parameters to assemble the tables; one will have to reconstruct upcoming manually each and every life. Caltrops abound.
TABLE 1: Day-to-day Covid Charts
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts untouched as of late; all others aren’t up to date.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution symbol, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) at the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (Biobot) Useless.
[2] (Biobot) Useless.
[3] (CDC Variants) FWIW, for the reason that the fashion utterly ignored KP.2.
[4] (ER) CDC turns out to have killed this off, because the hyperlink is damaged, I believe in bias of this factor. I can aim to substantiate. UPDATE Sure, drop it to CDC to explode a web page, and upcoming announce it used to be archived a hour then. And heaven forfend CDC will have to provide an explanation for the place to progress to get similar information, if any. I preferred the ER information, as it gave the impression truly brittle to recreation.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Fairly, however distinctly up. The Unutilized York town segment has method; in 2020, as the house of 2 global airports (JFK and EWR) it used to be an remarkable access level for the virus into the rustic (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, because the lavish desired to resignation, and across the nation thru wind progress). So my herbal inclination is to peer how wastewater at JFK and EWR is doing. CDC, prior to it determined to butcher wastewater visualization, equipped information all the way down to the sewage remedy plant stage, so I may test the Brooklyn plant for JFK (and likewise the Brooklyn plant for LGA). Neatly, that’s not imaginable, however the Verily [vomits quietly] wastewater web site — Biobot being kaput — supplies information on EWR. Right here it’s:
So, Unutilized York Town Hospitalization up, Covid from wind progress up. Manufacture of that what you are going to. Covid could also be up in Singapore and France, you are going to recall.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless unwell. “Maps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET†”.
[7] (Walgreens) Little uptick.
[8] (Cleveland) Leveling out.
[9] (Vacationers: Posivitity) Up and unwell.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants) KP.2 enters the chat, as does B.1.1.529 (with backward revision).
[11] CDC’s information and visualization, nonetheless being up to date.
Stats Supervise
Housing: “United States Existing Home Sales” [Trading Economics]. “Existing home sales in the US declined 1.9% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.14 million units in April 2024, the lowest in three months, compared to an upwardly revised 4.22 million in March and forecasts of 4.21 million. “Home sales changed little overall, but the upper-end market is experiencing a sizable gain due to more supply coming onto the market,” mentioned NAR Important Economist Lawrence Yun. Gross sales declined within the 4 main US areas.”
* * *
Tech: “OpenAI No Longer Takes Safety Seriously” [Lawfare] “For top-tier AI researchers who, like Sustskever and Leike, are seriously concerned about AI risk, OpenAI is arguably the best place in the world to work. It is the leading lab pursuing AGI. It currently has the best AI systems—crucial objects of study for safety work. It has top-notch talent and immense resources. For an engineer hoping to help solve the alignment problem and ensure that advanced AI benefits, rather than harms, humans, a job at OpenAI is hard to beat. It is also arguably the place to be for someone who hopes to be well-positioned to sound the alarm if and when a truly dangerous AI system arrives. Thus, if Leike, Kokotajlo, and O’Keefe are being honest when they say that AI risk is deadly serious, then their departures should themselves constitute alarm bells. By leaving OpenAI, they are foregoing perhaps the best opportunity to make substantive progress on the problem that, by their lights, is the most important. The only reason for them to leave would be if it were clear that OpenAI really had abandoned its commitment to supporting safety work.” • Be aware the supply, and word the photographs right here. So, hmm.
* * *
Nowadays’s Concern & Greed Index: 61 Greed (earlier similar: 62 Greed) [CNN]. One hour in the past: 61 (Greed). (0 is Utmost Concern; 100 is Utmost Greed). Extreme up to date Would possibly 22 at 1:21:43 PM ET.
The Gallery
Talking of waves:
Gustave Courbet, The Tide %.twitter.com/KKWxC2rUpf
— Impressions (@impression_ists) Would possibly 20, 2024
Given Courbet’s “complex” political affairs, possibly there’s a subtext right here.
Information of the Stressed out
I’m really not feeling stressed out as of late (or all too stressed out, I’m no longer certain).
* * *
Touch data for vegetation: Readers, really feel independent to touch me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a test in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are advantageous! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you need your care for to seem as a credit score, please park it in the beginning of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In a different way, I can anonymize via the use of your initials. See the former Aqua Cooler (with plant) right here. From GS:
GS writes: “Fern Trees, Flecker Gardens, Cairns QLD Australia.” Looks as if a dinosair’s crudité!
* * *
Readers: Aqua Cooler is a standalone entity no longer coated via the once a year NC fundraiser. So should you see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see anyplace else, please don’t hesitate to precise your awe in tangible method. Be mindful, a tip jar is for tipping! Ordinary certain comments each makes me really feel excellent and shall we me know I’m on target with protection. When I am getting refuse donations for 3 or 4 days I am getting nervous. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations is helping me with bills, and I consider that trickle when environment fundraising objectives:
This is the display screen that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
If you happen to dislike PayPal, you’ll electronic mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I can come up with instructions on ship a test. Thanks!
