Through Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Chicken Music of the Era
Orchard Oriole (Orchard), Hamilton–Royal Botanical Fields (Princess Level), Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. “Young male, photographed, audio recorded. Continuing.” Freeway roar, I believe, however a lovely tune.
* * *
In Case You Would possibly Pass over…
(1) North Carolina legislature bails for the weekend with out passing the anti-masking invoice, so there’s nonetheless date to name.
(2) Pristine Cohen’s testimony within the Bragg trial, plus theories of the case.
(3) Biden and Trump debate.
(4) The Impressionists and the Paris Commune.
* * *
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
Lower than a half of a era to progress!
RCP Ballot Averages, Might 10:
Nationwide effects now shifting Trump’s approach. The entire Swing States (extra right here) are actually in Trump’s column, together with Michigan and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania leans extra Trump this past than terminating. After all, it is going with out announcing that those are all circumstance polls, subsequently unholy, and many of the effects are inside the margin of error. Now, if both candidate begins breaking away in issues, in lieu of tenths of some extent…. NOTE I modified the notation: Up and ill arrows for will increase or decreases over terminating past, circles for negative exchange. Pink = Trump. Blue could be Biden if he have been well-known any place, however he isn’t.
* * *
Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Michael Cohen pressed on his crimes and lies as defense attacks key Trump hush money trial witness” [Associated Press]. “Cohen is prosecutors’ final witness — at least for now — as they try to prove Trump schemed to suppress a damaging story he feared would torpedo his 2016 presidential campaign and then falsified business records to cover it up.” Scheming to “suppress a damaging story” isn’t in keeping with se unlawful, and is same old fare in any crusade; indisputably this isn’t the thing offense. Extra: “Over several days on the witness stand, Cohen placed Trump directly at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories to fend off damage to his White House bid.” Ditto. Extra: ” Trump’s pitch modified when, months after, Cohen pleaded accountable to federal campaign-finance fees and implicated him within the quiet cash scheme. Trump used to be now not charged with against the law alike to the federal investigation.” • Cohen’s accountable plea to federal crusade fees appears to be the one untethered crime floating about, so possbily Bragg intends to manufacture that the thing offense that converts the putative industry data violations into felonies. If this is the case, (a) does a circumstance actually get to put in force Federal regulation, (b) why on earth didn’t the Feds price Trump after they had the prospect, and (c) the industry data violations instrument park nearest the crusade finance violations, so isn’t this principle a reversal of reason and impact? Turns out like Bragg is attaining.
Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Trump New York hush-money trial is far from a slam dunk” [BBC]. From April: “Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign violations as part of the alleged cover-up, which he said was directed by Mr Trump.” • As above, however be aware this helpfully erases the timeline (level (c)).
Trump (R): (Bragg/Merchan): “Almost end times for Trump trial spectacle but there’s still room for fireworks: 3 things to watch” [Andrew McCarthy, FOX]. “It is undoubtedly true that, to convict Trump, the jury must believe Cohen’s uncorroborated testimony that Trump knew – from the Trump Organization’s then-CFO, Allen Weisselberg – the details of how Cohen was going to be paid. Prosecutors have projected the illusion that they’ve offered tons of evidence to corroborate Cohen. But they have only corroborated elements of the story that are not incriminating and not in (much) dispute. On the disputed issue of Trump’s state of mind, there is no support for the key Weisselberg story. It’s just Cohen’s word.” And, oddly, the prosecution has now not referred to as Weisselberg. At the industry data offense: “Retainers* do not have to be in writing, so the fact that there isn’t a written retainer does . Cohen was holding himself out as Trump’s lawyer throughout 2017, he was available to work for Trump whenever asked, and he did in fact do lawyer work for him in 2017-18. And the Trump Organization knew it was paying for more than the Stormy Daniels NDA. So how could it be fraudulently false for the Trump org CFO to refer to payments to Cohen as pursuant to a retainer? Cohen did the things a retained lawyer does.” A protection case? “Costello is a savvy New York defense lawyer who represented Cohen at the start of the federal investigation. He has been released from his attorney-client confidentiality obligation (because Cohen waived confidentiality when he told the feds about his discussions with Costello). On Tuesday, Costello testified before a House committee, asserting that Cohen’s testimony was rife with lies – a claim Costellos says he can back up with emails, texts, etc. Costello also testified to that effect in the grand jury. I expect Blanche will use Costello’s House and grand jury testimony in attacking Cohen on cross-examination.” As well as, Costello would possibly testify. Federal Marketing campaign Finance. “Team Trump should renew its request to call former FEC official Bradley Smith as an expert witness in the defense case to explain why NDAs are not actionable campaign expenditures under federal law. Judge Merchan has previously indicated he would not permit such expert testimony, rationalizing that only the court should instruct the jury on the law. But Merchan has let Cohen and David Pecker explain to the jury that they believed the NDAs violated federal law. Especially given that Bragg has no authority to enforce federal law, and Merchan has no expertise in it, shouldn’t the jury hear from at least one person who actually knows something about the subject?” • Extra to come back! NOTE * That is possibly the solution to a controversy that “Cohen was not a Trump’s lawyer because he wasn’t on retainer,” which, if provide within the protection, I ignored.
Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Could Manhattan court acquit Trump?” [Washington Times]. “Having served on three Manhattan juries, I would not be surprised if the 12 men and women hearing New York v. Donald J. Trump acquit him of all charges. In two civil actions and one criminal case, my fellow jurors were serious, professional, and movingly civic-minded. A quiet, solemn patriotism infused our deliberations. Several jurors said that we should respect the justice system because we might need it to respect us someday… With 48% of registered voters telling Reuters-Ipsos last month that Mr. Trump’s Kafkaesque cases are “excessive and politically motivated” (41% incorrect), even a Ny jury may just scrap Mr. Bragg’s contraption. If only one juror concurs, this example will finish with a hung jury. And if ‘lurid but legal’ displays the evaluations of 12 of my fellow Manhattanites — who have a tendency to be tricky however truthful — next former President Donald Trump might be acquitted on all 34 fees and progress again the place he belongs: the crusade path.” Would indisputably be true if the defendant have been any one however Donald Trump. Oh, and this snark is lovely just right: “Mr. Trump faces 34 counts of alleged falsification of business records because his bookkeepers posted ledger entries for checks to Mr. Cohen as ‘legal expenses.’ Would Mr. Bragg prefer false descriptions like ‘plumbing supplies’ or ‘marble tiles’? Mr. Trump faces prison for reporting legal expenses as ‘legal expenses,’ which is legal.”
* * *
Biden (D) Abortion:
Just about one in 5 electorate in battleground states say that President Biden is chargeable for finishing the constitutional fair to abortion, a pristine ballot discovered. https://t.co/oUPkcRMcU3
— The Pristine York Occasions (@nytimes) Might 16, 2024
If most effective the Democrats had codified Roe, in lieu of fundraising of it.
* * *
“Biden and Trump Are Set to Debate—For Now” [NBC]. “Two years ago, former President Donald Trump bullied the Republican National Committee into passing a resolution declaring zero cooperation with the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates. Trump was convinced the group that has run the events since 1988 was stacked against him. He also wanted the debates to start sooner, well before the early-vote window opened. Trump insisted to anyone who would listen that he was far from afraid of sharing a stage with President Joe Biden, and would welcome as many as 20 such encounters. Well, the double-digit double dates remains a long shot, but it looks like the ex-President is getting much of what he wanted in facing the current one. Wednesday morning, Biden and his campaign issued their own terms for a pair of one-on-one debates, and most of them matched up nicely with Trump’s red-line demands. The Commission on Presidential Debates is left out in the cold, the first session could come as early as next month, and the whole thing would be captured for a national television audience.” Extra drama to come back: “[E]ven in accepting Biden’s topline terms, Trump was still holding out hopes that there would be an audience, something the Biden proposal explicitly excluded. ‘I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue,’ Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump is also likely to raise objections to Biden’s term that would mute a candidate’s microphone when it is not their turn—essentially silencing Trump’s constant interjections that, four years ago, resulted in an exasperated Biden muttering with disdain: ‘Will you shut up, man?’ And no one has yet said where, physically, the TBD host would stage these events, regardless of whether megadonors and hardcore activists are in the room or not.”
“Jake Tapper and Dana Bash tapped to moderate CNN debate” [The Hill]. “CNN has selected anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash to moderate the first presidential debate of the 2024 cycle between President Biden and former President Trump. The June 27 debate, which will be broadcast live, will take place at CNN’s Atlanta studios and won’t feature a studio audience. CNN’s is the first of two debates Biden and Trump agreed to Wednesday, with a second planned for September, hosted by ABC. ABC has yet to announce moderators for the September debate.”
“Why Biden did the debate throwdown, Trump agreed, and the risks for each side” [Howard Kurtz, FOX]. “Candidates debate when they have to debate. That’s why Donald Trump didn’t during the primaries. That’s why Joe Biden, battling abysmal poll numbers, surprised everyone yesterday by agreeing to two debates. And why Trump, who’s been demanding a side-by-side comparison… immediately accepted.” And: “It’s hard to overstate the importance of these two events, which more than any debate since Ronald Reagan told Jimmy Carter in 1980 ‘there you go again,’ could decide the election. Biden was on track to lose the election. He’s been shielded and hardly making any news, even before Trump’s hush money trial began. His team must belatedly recognize this. Joe had to do something to shake things up. The Biden camp believes that his superior knowledge will become evident in no-frills debates. There’s also a conviction that the more the public sees of Trump, who’s been cooped up in a Manhattan courthouse, the better it is for the president. On the other hand, Trump’s sheer physical presence, and bombastic style, will present a favorable contrast to Biden’s elderly mien and thin voice (though they’re only 3-½ years apart). And trust me, as someone who’s sat down with Donald for an hour-long interview, he can focus and exercise discipline when he wants to.” • See the RCP chart I run each and every Friday; the race could be very akin. Each applicants may also be released for taking whichever aspect of “half empty or half full” they snatch. It kind of feels the applicants themselves each and every made up our minds to crack a stalemate and inject volatility into the race themselves (with out looking forward to occasions). Alternatively, I might speculate that, simply as within the markets, volatility maximum favors the ones with the private wallet, and Biden has more cash than Trump. OTOH, a Trump greenback is going farther than a Biden greenback. So… let’s wait and spot.
“Scripps News Exclusive: Trump willing to include Kennedy in debates with Biden” [WKBW]. “In an exclusive interview with Scripps News on Thursday, former President Donald Trump said he would have ‘no problem’ sharing the debate stage with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if the independent presidential candidate met the polling threshold… ‘I would have no problem if he got whatever the threshold is,’ Trump told Benson. ‘But he’s very low and seems to be heading in the other direction, in the wrong direction.’”
* * *
Kennedy (I): “R.F.K. Jr. Isn’t a Spoiler Now, Poll Suggests, but He Could Be in November” [New York Times]. “Mr. Kennedy draws disproportionately from voters who usually back Democrats but have defected to Mr. Trump. In fact, Mr. Kennedy actually takes more Biden 2020 voters than Trump ’20 voters, even though Mr. Kennedy draws more Trump ’24 voters than Biden ’24 voters. He drew 8 percent of Mr. Biden’s 2020 supporters to 6 percent of those who backed Mr. Trump, even though more of his supporters would back Mr. Trump today. Similarly, Mr. Kennedy drew 7 percent of self-identified Democrats, compared with 4 percent of Republicans. And he drew 8 percent of those who backed Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate in the four states where we asked about them, compared with 6 percent of those who backed the Republican candidate. It might seem confusing that Mr. Kennedy is disproportionately strong among the sliver of Trump voters who usually vote Democratic, but it makes a lot of sense. The polls show many disengaged young and nonwhite voters who usually lean Democratic, but have soured so much on Mr. Biden that they backed Mr. Trump in the polls. But it’s not as if they love Mr. Trump. They voted against him last time, after all, and they usually vote Democratic. So it’s easy to see why these voters would prefer Mr. Kennedy to Mr. Trump. All of this adds up to an unusual takeaway: Mr. Kennedy may be winning over voters whom Mr. Biden may need in order to win, even if those voters have soured on him so much that they wouldn’t vote for him even if Mr. Kennedy weren’t on the ballot. He may not be a spoiler now, but perhaps he could be if Mr. Biden’s standing improved.” • I might wager it’s now not most effective “disengaged young and nonwhite voters.”
Kennedy (I): On now not ‘specifically valuable authority:
BREAKING: A signature-gathering company leased to stock Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s poll spot in Pristine York used to be in reality covertly operating for the DNC, and invalidated many of the amassed ballots. Prison motion towards the company is approaching, in keeping with Kennedy.
— Patrick Webb (@RealPatrickWebb) Might 15, 2024
I will be able to’t to find this showed any place, and I don’t see the rest in this in Kennedy’s feed. After all, the Democrats would, however that doesn’t heartless that they did. Readers?
* * *
PA: “Will Robert F. Kennedy Jr. make the ballot in Pennsylvania?” [Inquirer]. “Independent candidates and third-party nominees must file petitions for ballot access by August 1. As an independent, Kennedy Jr., needs to file 5,000 signatures of registered voters and pay the state $200. That’s a relatively low threshold in the nation’s sixth most populous state. Delaware, which has a fraction of Pennsylvania’s population, sets a signature threshold of 1% of registered voters — which for this election is more than 7,600. Missouri, which has roughly half of Pennsylvania’s population, has a threshold of 10,000. The petition signers can be from anywhere in Pennsylvania, belong to a political party, or be unaffiliated. A spokesperson for Kennedy’s campaign said volunteers will soon begin collecting signatures in Pennsylvania. Campaigns could start filling them out in mid-February…. Kennedy’s petition signatures in Pennsylvania will need to survive expected legal challenges from the Democratic National Committee or outside groups. The DNC has launched an offensive against Kennedy, deploying mobile billboards to areas where he is campaigning that blast Kennedy for receiving donations from Trump donors.”
Spook Nation
“US intel chief warns of increasing threats to 2024 election” [Agence France Presse]. • On account of path they’re. That is so, so silly. Electoral politics is a coarse recreation and a troublesome industry. Even the most efficient of experts, operatives, campaigners omit the mark, nearest spending monumental quantities of cash and struggle. Will we actually imagine some Russki influencers, regardless of how dastardly — are going so as to impact this procedure — digitally! — to the slightest stage? It’s demented, like imagining a mouse can attack an elephant. The actual time table right here, I might put up, is finishing up with a gadget wherein the spooks certify elections as being “clean.” Refuse hesitancy that’s what the spooks need, however can we? Anyways, right here we progress once more:
The United States executive is absolutely reviving the Russiagate hoax for the 2024 election. percent.twitter.com/jge06myrXE
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) Might 16, 2024
–>
The Genius of Kalorama™
“Obama will headline fundraiser to boost Democratic Senate candidates” [NBC]. “The June 5 event in Potomac, Maryland, will feature Obama and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the state’s junior senator, discussing ‘the importance of protecting Democrats’ Senate majority and the stakes of the election,’ a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aide said. Longtime Democratic donors Jeffrey and Lora Drezner are hosting the evening fundraiser, according to a copy of the invitation.” • The Drezners aren’t AIPAC. However they’re Sidwell Pals! So a pleasing tight minute family.
Pandemics
“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 Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; comprises many counties; Wastewater Scan, comprises drilldown through zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (particularly on hospitalization through town).
Lambert right here: Readers, thank you for the collective struggle. To replace any access, do really feel independent to touch me on the cope with given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the matter series. 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 reviews); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Sources, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Executive 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 barricade in the market!
* * *
Maskstravaganza
“North Carolina Senate panel advances anti-mask bill” [WRAL]. “Senate Judiciary Committee Republican voted in a voice vote with Democrats objecting to advance a law to enhance penalties for people who wear masks while committing another crime or for those who block traffic. House Bill 237 now moves to another Senate committee. But the bill also removes a provision that exempts people who wear masks for health and safety reasons that was added in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.”
“North Carolina House Bill 237” [LegisScan]. Right here in related phase is the textual content:
Senator Dollar Newton: “The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson County, said the bill is not intended to “prosecute granny for wearing a mask in the Walmart — unless she was sticking steaks in her bag.” • What a knuckle-dragger. If what he says is right, next why delete category 6? Let Granny put on her masks and next prosecute her for shoplifting, which is already unlawful, masks or negative. Here’s what HB237 outlaws:
This might be ILLEGAL in North Carolina: my niece and nephews protecting for my condition and protection nearest my double lung transplant for cystic fibrosis. As a result of circumstance Senator Dollar Newton feels threatened through faculty children protesting, no one can masks. #HB237 #ncpol #ncga percent.twitter.com/nk1BjqDV88
— Cat Williams (@dizzycatdesign) Might 15, 2024
Alternatively, the invoice has now not but handed:
We nonetheless have no idea when #HB237 might be voted on within the NC Space. They convened as of late and nearly instantly voted to proceed to Monday at 10am. That implies there’s nonetheless date to touch your reps and within the interim, masks up! 😷 https://t.co/U3vLSdR2uw
— GiannaMarie – Charlotte Masks Bloc (@the_GiannaMarie) Might 16, 2024
(For numbers to name, see the day gone by’s submit right here.)
In the meantime, Maskless Mandy — quondam Secretary of the North Carolina Branch of Fitness and Human Services and products — might be in-state in a while; I surprise if she’ll have the rest to mention:
Hello @CDCDirector—any phrases for the circumstance of North Carolina as they forget about “health care issues”? You’ll be there in 6 days for @WakeForest‘s graduation; will you talk on an people fair to usefulness the gear @CDCgov recommends to regulate&cancel condition?https://t.co/9GZHbHXIlw https://t.co/kn03Rr0vc1 percent.twitter.com/sNmztaJjvS
— itsbabs.bsky.social ✨ (@babs_zone) Might 14, 2024
Sequelae: Covid
“”Spanish flu,” encephalitis lethargica, and COVID-19: Proceed made, classes realized, and instructions for week analysis” [European Journal of Neurology]. “The so-called “Spanish flu” used to be the primary globally documented viral pandemic and used to be energetic most commonly between 1917 and 1920 in Europe, america, and alternative nations. It differed from alternative globally pervasive and energetic illnesses corresponding to polio or measles insofar as its infectious unfold used to be in distinct waves that led to a top mortality of kids and adults. It killed >20 million crowd international, greater than had died all over the primary Global Struggle. It incapacitated massive disciplines of city dwelling and ended in the utmost of faculties, universities, and alternative establishments. Family transportation used to be affected, as used to be any more or less people communique. Even supposing the form of transmission through wind used to be sooner or later recognized because the perhaps form of transmission, coverage from being bothered used to be now not unclouded when the pandemic clash first of all. It introduced alongside a pervasive concern of contagion. Dressed in of mask, hand hygiene, averting people gatherings, and isolation of the diseased in particular medical institution wards have been the primary measures of coverage for people. Roughly 2-3 million crowd advanced an acute neurological defect named ‘encephalitis lethargica,’ which had a top mortality of roughly 40%, receded most effective slowly, and within the mid-Twenties had nearly disappeared. Overdue, continual modes persevered and befell as much as the overdue Thirties, and hideous instances have been most commonly handled in psychiatric establishments. Some sufferers additionally advanced a postencephalitic parkinsonism (PEP). In stark distinction to the memorials for the fallen infantrymen of the hot warfare, nearly negative memorials have been arrange in remembrance of this horrendous pandemic, which speaks of a noteceable repression within the people consciousness of this horrendous condition.” • Looks as if we dodged a bullet on an encephalitis lethargica an identical; Lengthy Covid is unholy, however doesn’t have a mortality charge of 40%. Alternative than that, we don’t appear to have realized a lot. And given our Covid revel in, the “repression in the public awareness” doesn’t appear “remarkable” in any respect, however instead the norm.
Origins Debate
“HHS suspends federal funding for EcoHealth Alliance” [STAT]. “The Biden administration has suspended federal grants issued to EcoHealth Alliance, the infectious disease research group caught up in a controversy over its work in China, and plans to bar it from receiving future funding. The Health and Human Services Department dispatched its decision in a letter Tuesday, two weeks after House lawmakers grilled EcoHealth President Peter Daszak on the nonprofit’s research, oversight, and safety measures, particularly its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and contentious infectious disease studies known as gain-of-function research.” • Will have to were finished way back, even depart Wuhan and imaginable gain-of-function analysis apart; EcoHealth used to be obviously on omnishambles (Vainness Truthful, 2022). Even supposing one would possibly certainly query whether or not omnishambularity served alternative functions….
Elite Maleficence
First, this atrocity:
Mandy’s minute doodle right here mentions younger households and being pregnant. Babies have the very best C0VlD hospitalization charge of any year staff, and pregnant girls are 8x much more likely to die in the event that they get inflamed with C0VlD. She must perform a little finger paints with the blood on her palms. https://t.co/hZfTSpLFot
— Derek Franks (@Derek_a_Franks) Might 15, 2024
(The drawing taste at manage left is popular — be aware the extraordinarily innocuous and tentative half-smile — and it makes my again tooth itch.)
Now, this atrocity:
Seems uninsured American citizens gained’t be capable of get independent COVID photographs from @CDCgov this autumn
Utmost era, federal Bridge Get entry to Program pledged photographs till December. That may now result in August, nearest Congressional cuts
“difficult decisions had to be made”https://t.co/lspZjMgugd https://t.co/jukUgj6DAt percent.twitter.com/vZ7DfiT8Jf
— Alexander Tin (@Alexander_Tin) Might 15, 2024
* * *
Lambert right here: Affected person readers, I’m committing to must reconsider this superbly formatted desk. Looks as if Biobot information nonetheless purposes, CDC variant information purposes, ER visits are useless, Pristine York hospitalization appears to be useless since 5/1 [No, it’s alive!], when CDC forbidden necessary medical institution information assortment, Walgreens purposes, Cleveland Health center purposes, CDC traveler’s information purposes, Pristine York Occasions loss of life information has forbidden. (Observe that the 2 metrics the hospital-centric CDC cared about, hospitalization and deaths, have each long gone ill). Preferably I might exchange hospitalization and loss of life information, however I’m now not positive how. I may additionally make bigger the wastewater category to incorporate (yech) Verily information, H5N1 if I will be able to get it. Tips and assets welcome.
TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts pristine 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) Little upward motion, supported through the day gone by’s Walgreen’s positivity.
[2] (Biobot) Refuse backward revisons….
[3] (CDC Variants) FWIW, for the reason that the fashion utterly ignored KP.2.
[4] (ER) CDC turns out to have killed this off, for the reason that hyperlink is damaged, I believe in partiality of this factor. I will be able to attempt to substantiate. UPDATE Sure, loose it to CDC to execute a web page, and next announce it used to be archived a time after. And heaven forfend CDC must give an explanation for the place to progress to get an identical information, if any. I preferred the ER information, as it appeared actually crisp to recreation.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) The knowledge is now updating once more. I guess to a tame epidemiologist it looks as if “endemicity,” however to me it looks as if some other tranche of lethality.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Nonetheless ill. “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) Flattens.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants) JN.1 dominates totally. Nonetheless negative point out of KP.2
[11] Looks as if the Occasions isn’t reporting loss of life information any further? Possibly I want to progress again to The Economist….
Stats Oversee
Work Status: “United States Initial Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US fell by 10,000 to 222,000 on the week ending May 11th, less than market expectations of 220,000. It was the third-highest reading this year, keeping the claims well above the last 9 months’ average, and pointing to the weakening labor market in the US.”
Production: “United States Industrial Production MoM” [Trading Economics]. “Industrial production in the US was little changed in April, following a 0.1% increase in March and missing market expectations of a 0.1% growth. Manufacturing output, which makes up 78% of total production, decreased 0.3 percent, compared with market forecast of 0.1% increase. Also, mining output decreased 0.6 percent, largely because of an 18.1 percent decline in the index for coal mining. On the other hand, the output of utilities increased 2.8 percent.”
Production: “United States Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index in the US remained positive but dropped 11 points to 4.5 in May 2024, from a two-year high of 15.5 in April, below market expectations of 8.”
Housing: “United States Housing Starts” [Trading Economics]. “Housing starts in the US rose 5.7% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 1.36 million in April 2024, reversing from a downwardly revised 1.287 million level in March. Figures came once again below forecasts of 1.42 million, as high rates and home prices continue to weigh on home builders.”
* * *
The Bezzle: “The hunt for rare bitcoin is nearing an end” [Ars Technica]. “In the same way a dollar is made up of 100 cents, one bitcoin is composed of 100 million satoshis—or sats, for short. But not all sats are made equal. Those produced in the year bitcoin was created are considered vintage, like a fine wine. Other coveted sats were part of transactions made by bitcoin’s inventor. Some correspond with a particular transaction milestone. These and various other properties make some sats more scarce than others—and therefore more valuable. The very rarest can sell for tens of millions of times their face value; in April, a single sat, normally worth $0.0006, sold for $2.1 million. [Billy] Restey is part of a small, tight-knit band of hunters trying to root out these rare sats, which are scattered across the bitcoin network. They do this by depositing batches of bitcoin with a crypto exchange, then withdrawing the same amount—a little like depositing cash with a bank teller and immediately taking it out again from the ATM outside. The coins they receive in return are not the same they deposited, giving them a fresh stash through which to sift. They rinse and repeat.” • Utterly fertile task, smartly use the power expended.
* * *
These days’s Concern & Greed Index: 61 Greed (earlier akin: 59 Greed) [CNN]. One past in the past: 46 (Impartial). (0 is Ultimate Concern; 100 is Ultimate Greed). Utmost up to date Might 16 at 3:18:03 PM ET
Zeitgeist Oversee
“Always Angry? How Pent-Up Fury Sabotages the Body” [Inside Hook]. “Uncontrolled anger has a long list of unsavory side effects. Think: headaches, indigestion, insomnia, eczema and muscular tension (especially in the neck and shoulders). Chronic anger can even affect entire systems in the body — a study published in Immunology demonstrated that unchecked anger can even suppress the immune system, which makes you more susceptible to infections and illnesses. This line really stuck out to me: ‘Individuals with below average levels of anger control were shown to heal significantly slower than subjects less disposed to this emotion.’ The key word there is ‘control.’ It would be ridiculous to suggest that anger isn’t a real and valuable emotion in the human arsenal; the same study discusses anger’s advantageous role for our ancestors, priming their bodies before a fight. But we live in a different age — and slamming your hand against a laptop is not the same as battling a beast in the jungle. When you’re angry, your blood pressure, heart rate and adrenaline levels are all elevated. This puts a massive strain on the body, and especially on the cardiovascular system. Angry brains are swimming in way too much cortisol, all the time. This can impact your sense of memory, concentration and decision-making…and perhaps compel you to do angry little things (like getting embroiled in a road rage incident), feeding a self-defeatist cycle.” • Diverse methods steered, together with bodily task, deep respiring, speaking it out, timeouts, and “experiment” [lambert bangs head on desk].
The Gallery
Now not crisp to respond to, however what nice-looking art work:
Monet or Turner? percent.twitter.com/redoRss5bx
— Impressions (@impression_ists) Might 11, 2024
“‘A Plaything for Rich People and Fancy Museums’? Reevaluating Impressionism at 150” [Artnet]. “Context, in short, is key. ‘Many of the artists are responding to the traumatized citizens of Paris after ‘l’année terrible’ [“the terrible year,” as Victor Hugo referred to as the violent sequence of conflicts rocking Paris from 1870-1871], and you can’t have what crowd call to mind as Impressionism… with out bearing in mind what took place 3 years previous within the capital, which used to be severe,’ stated [Mary Morton of the National Gallery]. Because of this, the Impressionists felt a ‘need to move forward, to forge a new path, and not be mired in the past, to move beyond all the trauma,’ added [Kimberly Jones at the NGA in Washington]. ‘We’re presenting this so crowd perceive what they’ve lived via, and why this artwork is forward-thinking, and why there’s a stage of optimism on this.’…. As the arena they knew shifted underneath them, the Impressionists, conscious that each one can have been misplaced within the fresh wreck, took a soar and started appearing the poetry and worth of a fleeting era. Their fast portray method used to be preferably fitted to this, permitting them to grab an ephemeral affect of brightness, or any easy operate of day by day lifestyles. This used to be certainly radical, and a long way from frivolous. It used to be life-affirming, and, for some, a mechanism for survival.” • I’m now not positive the subtext at the Paris Commune is right kind, right here (I heartless, “all could have been lost.” What could be incorrect with dropping Adolph Thiers?) I’m now not positive about “art as a response to trauma” both. Have we not hidden any of that from Covid? I heartless, excluding Taylor Quick’s excursion?
Magnificence War
On “techno-feudalism,” so-called:
If any reader has date on their palms, most likely they may grasp a cup of espresso and spot how Varoufakis’s thesis holds in combination.
Inquiring for my vote:
🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/751HgALnrH
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) Might 15, 2024
Information of the Stressed
“I Don’t Want To Spend My One Wild And Precious Life Dealing With Google’s AI Search” [Aftermath]. Skillful rant: “Google’s AI search has arrived, uninvited, to my browser, and I cannot make it leave. It isn’t just that it serves me crap whenever I enter a question into my search bar, but that I have to wait for all the crap I don’t want in the first place. Let me tell you a story from my day: I was paying invoices, and I wanted to doublecheck that the number of episodes of our podcast, Aftermath Hours, squared with what our producers had billed for. I typed “Aftermath hours spotify” into my browser window, which–relying once I’ve terminating cleared my historical past–both autofills the URL for the podcast on Spotify or takes me to Google seek effects, the place our Spotify web page is the manage consequence. However now, when I am getting Google, I’ve to attend via a just about three-second refreshment prior to AI details about the podcast seems on the manage of the web page, adopted through a hyperlink to Spotify and alternative effects. Past I admire that, on this example, the AI-generated details about the podcast is right kind, this knowledge isn’t what I’m in search of, and I’ve to attend 3 seconds for it to turn up in order that I will be able to forget about it. Those 3 seconds are wrecking me. I’m now not a kind of lifehacking sorts who needs to optimize each and every bit in their time, however that 3 moment wait is simply plenty friction that I realize it each and every date. It’s a petite annoyance within the era, however over the process a time’s queries–any essayist or writer can let you know that the collection of bizarre searches you do provides up–that friction begins to form right into a drag. I think like I’m dropping chunks of my one and most effective lifestyles looking forward to bullshit I didn’t ask for and don’t wish to load onto my display screen so I will be able to scroll while it. That’s one thing I already offer with when visiting the ad-laden internet sites Google seek brings up; I don’t want a preview! It makes the already unfortunate revel in of Google seek even worse than it already is. Ahead of some stray AI evangelist leaps into the feedback to agreement the tech will get well, I wish to be unclouded that despite the fact that it have been prompt, I nonetheless wouldn’t need it. I didn’t ask for effects from the plagiarism device!” • I will be able to’t wait….
I actually just like the Midwest Fashionable account (having grown up within the Midwest):
That is height promoting. You have to pay advert guys 1,000,000 greenbacks they usually wouldn’t get a hold of one thing this just right. https://t.co/tUioXS0HpX
— Midwest Fashionable (@JoshLipnik) Might 6, 2024
* * *
Touch data for vegetation: Readers, really feel independent to touch me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a take a look at in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me pictures of vegetation. Greens are nice! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you wish to have your care for to seem as a credit score, please park it in the beginning of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Differently, I will be able to anonymize through the usage of your initials. See the former Aqua Cooler (with plant) right here. From TH:
TH writes: “So our drive from Westminster California to Trona, California always includes a long stretch of highway 395. There’s nothing along the route for many miles—I’m going to say take a stab and say 20 (give or take), but I’m never paying close attention. On that same note, I never think about what city I’m in, but according to my phone, this is Helendale. We just had to stop for the rainbow, and happily, my iPhone is smart enough to tell me where I am. I have to look this city up and see if anything exists in Helendale besides desert flora and fauna. I’m afraid I do not know what the yellow or purple wildflowers are.” Neatly, that is absurdly gorgeous! I am hoping it’s a portent!
* * *
Readers: Aqua Cooler is a standalone entity now not lined through the once a year NC fundraiser. So for those who see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see any place else, please don’t hesitate to precise your revere in tangible method. Consider, a tip jar is for tipping! Habitual sure comments each makes me really feel just right and we could me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. When I am getting negative donations for 3 or 4 days I am getting anxious. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations is helping me with bills, and I think about that trickle when atmosphere fundraising objectives:
Here’s the display screen that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
Should you abhor PayPal, you’ll e mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will be able to come up with instructions on methods to ship a take a look at. Thanks!
