Fowl Track of the Day
Affected person readers, this Water Cooler is a bit abbreviated, as a result of I must hustle alongside and publish on Trump’s memecoin (! (and Melania’s (!!))). –lambert
Brown Thrasher, Rondeau PP–South Level Path East, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. Feels like a freeway within the background, or a waterfall, however the chicken is sort of virtuousic. (That is the old style sort the place the birder places the metadata on the finish of the tape, verbally.)
It occurred to me that useless birds falling from the sky could be one good main indicator of chicken flu, after which that such knowledge may and ought to be crowd-sourced, so I went to search for it, and located dbird.com, match for goal, however oriented towards collisions (as with airplanes or glass buildings), not useless birds as such. There have been 6480 studies in 2024.
In Case You Would possibly Miss…
- Democrats take their farewells.
- DOGE commissars.
- An internet past the platforms.
Politics
“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are actually a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Biden Administration
Democrat gavage means my timeline is full of horrid, self-congratulatory materials like this:
Vice President @KamalaHarris has had a historic 4 years.
🗳Set a brand new file for essentially the most tie-breaking votes solid in Senate historical past as Vice President
🏛️Led the first-ever White Home Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention
🏥First Vice President to go to a reproductive well being… pic.twitter.com/4TTeJSYfa9— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) January 19, 2025
That’s Kamala’s #1 accomplishment? Sitting a brand new file for casting essentially the most tie-breaking votes?
In the meantime, a Democrat with some precise accomplishments, even when Biden by no means ran on them (in a populist yr, but):
Whereas at @FTC, I’ve targeted on imposing the legislation with out concern or favor & utilizing all our instruments to advertise truthful, sincere, aggressive markets.
Grateful to my senior workforce & the workers who delivered so many wins for People.
A abstract of what we achieved:https://t.co/5LqTlTbN3d pic.twitter.com/nNo3kl7KFg
— Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) January 20, 2025
X Group Notes for the win:
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
It happens to me to marvel if what was completed with Google bombs might be completed with Grok, on condition that Grok incorporates actual time knowledge algorithmically.
“Biden pardons Fauci, Milley and the Jan. 6 committee in effort to protect towards ‘revenge’ by Trump” [Associated Press]. ” President Joe Biden on Monday pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the Home committee that investigated the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, in a rare use of the powers of the presidency in his remaining hours to protect towards potential “revenge” by the incoming Trump administration…. Biden, a Democrat, has used the ability within the broadest and most untested method potential: to pardon those that haven’t even been investigated. His choice lays the groundwork for an much more expansive use of pardons by Trump, a Republican, and future presidents. Whereas the Supreme Court docket final yr dominated that presidents take pleasure in broad immunity from prosecution for what might be thought-about official acts, the president’s aides and allies take pleasure in no such defend. There may be concern that future presidents may use the promise of a blanket pardon to encourage allies to take actions they could in any other case resist for concern of working afoul of the legislation.”
“The Key Questions Trump Should Reply Earlier than His Inauguration” [Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine]. “[T]he unofficial however probably very highly effective Division of Authorities Effectivity initiative Trump delegated to First Buddy Elon Musk and his tech-bro sidekick Vivek Ramaswamy may in a short time intrude with a clean transition to Trump 2.0. Already DOGE is deploying workers to be ’embedded’ in each federal company to root out inefficiency and massively reduce prices, which might be an unwelcome distraction for the Trump appointees taking up these entities. The brand new president must make it clear instantly what if any official standing these self-appointed commissars will take pleasure in and the way (if in any respect) their suggestions might be meshed with the budgetary and coverage work of the brand new administration. In any other case, a very nasty intra-MAGA civil conflict may escape throughout your entire panorama of the federal authorities.” • “Commissar” is the best phrase, implying because it does a celebration construction parallel to the federal government.
* * * “Gabbard deserves to be confirmed ASAP” [Douglas MacKinnon, The Hill]. From final week: “On Ukraine and different controversial points, Gabbard is in lockstep with Trump and unafraid to tackle the traditional knowledge of the entrenched elites or their insatiable want to empty the Treasury — and American taxpayers — by frequently placing America final as they search to interact in armed battle world wide. As for Gabbard’s ‘propaganda’ about Ukraine, allow us to additionally bear in mind it’s the similar ‘propaganda’ being provided up by the likes of President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is a message ‘propaganda’ simply because it seeks to finish the bloodshed in Ukraine and produce peace to the area. [sic]” The interval ought to be a query mark, a typo that signifies to me that MacKinnon was writing from a spot of real perception. Extra: “A method which, as Trump has frequently and rightfully identified, has led us to the sting of World Struggle III. Gabbard is an distinctive nominee who doesn’t should be ‘slow-rolled’ by Democrats on the trail to her affirmation. The folks have spoken, and Trump deserves his nominees to be put in place as quickly as potential.”
“For concern of discovering one thing worse: Trump and the tip of the worldwide rules-based order” [The Hill]. “If these [Rules-Based Order] establishments are merely solid apart, the U.S. will, for now, retain its hegemonic place. It’s the world’s largest economic system — larger than China, Japan and Germany, its closest rivals, put collectively — and spends extra on protection than the following 4 nations mixed. The place would possibly is correct, the U.S. is mightiest of all. That will not all the time be so. If the American economic system falters, or its army energy is matched or eclipsed, Trump could have positioned the nation for which he espouses such love in a world the place there are not guidelines or safeguards for anybody. The president-elect isn’t a recognized fan of author and politician Hilaire Belloc, however he ought to bear in mind the destiny of the eponymous boy within the poem, ‘Jim’ — he ran away from his nurse’s care, and was eaten by a lion. Jim’s father warned the opposite youngsters to ‘attend / To James’s depressing finish / And all the time preserve a-hold of Nurse / For concern of discovering one thing worse.’” • Certainly.
* * * “My Decade with Donald Trump” [Salena Zito, The Free Press]. That is nicely price a learn for the element. This caught my eye: “[T[here was a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which led to a devastating leak of toxic waste. I raced to the scene to talk to the people who lived there. And guess who else was there? Donald J. Trump. He had arrived with two 18-wheelers filled with water bottles, and bought everybody around him McDonald’s. He wandered through the town in galoshes, stepping in puddles. You could see the slime and scum in the water. His appearance that day sent a message that was, essentially, I see you. I’m here for you. I’m not leaving you…. I remember scribbling in my notebook that this might be a turning point.”
* * * “WATCH: Village People performs ‘YMCA’ at Trump rally on eve of Inauguration Day” (video) [PBS Newshour, YouTube]. • Personally, I regard this as a really wholesome signal.
DOGE
2024 Publish Mortem
“‘Woman McBiden’: Alexandra Pelosi Blasts the First Woman” [Politico]. “Since breaking her hip in Europe final month, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been deluged with messages, flowers and calls of concern from heads of state, colleagues in each events and even royalty, most notably Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri, who was internet hosting her when she fell and has been solicitous by her restoration. But it’s who she has not heard from that’s most outstanding, and that has infuriated Pelosi’s family and friends: Joe and Jill Biden…. ‘If I used to be Woman McBiden, I’d placed on my huge woman pants, play the lengthy sport and take into consideration my husband’s legacy,’ Alexandra Pelosi, the previous speaker’s daughter, advised me Saturday. ;There aren’t that many individuals left in America who’ve one thing good to say about Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi is considered one of them.’ The youthful Pelosi made clear she was talking just for herself. The deafening silence from the White Home in response to a request for remark marks the end result of the bitter feud between the president and onetime speaker, two of the age’s most outstanding Democrats and the bookends of the get together’s Obama-era excessive and Trump restoration low.”
Syndemics
“I’m in earnest — I can’t equivocate — I can’t excuse — I can’t retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Assets, 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 knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Common 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 vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. 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 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 (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities 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, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Keep secure on the market!
Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions
“Espresso as a dietary technique to forestall SARS-CoV-2 an infection” [Cell & Bioscience]. “Right here, we recognized that espresso can inhibit a number of variants of the SARS-CoV-2 an infection by restraining the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and lowering transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2) and cathepsin L (CTSL) exercise…. in a human trial of 64 topics, we recognized that espresso consumption (roughly 1–2 cups/day) is enough to inhibit an infection of a number of variants of SARS-CoV-2 entry, suggesting espresso might be a dietary technique to forestall SARS-CoV2 an infection…. Primarily based on the outcomes, we additionally counsel a coffee-drinking plan for folks to forestall an infection within the post-COVID-19 period.” • Huge if true. Maybe a reader extra knowledgeable in evaluating science — junk science? — can have a look. That mentioned, it received’t take a “plan” to get me to drink extra espresso.
Elite Maleficence
Mission achieved:
Heads-up: new CDC knowledge baseline change alters C19 wastewater reporting to artificially scale back group transmission ranges. Going ahead, wastewater will appear like the US has “no C19” per its official (CDC) knowledge. pic.twitter.com/gnI4GHVRPF
— Violet Blue® (@violetblue) January 19, 2025
Out of thoughts, out of sight. As far as I can inform, there’s no justification for this in any respect; a brand new variant may nonetheless emerge, destroying the belief of so-called “endemicity.”
TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts
Lambert right here: I don’t like plenty of this week’s charts. In wastewater, too many crimson dots concentrated within the Midwest and the Atlantic coast, so I began circling areas in crimson, once more. New York’s weirdly persistent increased hospitalization price continues. Traveler positivity is up, and worse, the dominant traveler variants are JN* and KP*, which, whereas current within the nationwide variants, are very low. And within the two demise charts, the projected deaths appear to have leveled out, when prior to now they decreased. Nothing earth-shattering, but it surely does make me queasy, and it’s nicely after the vacation bump.
| Wastewater | ||
| This week[1] CDC January 10 | Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week): | |
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| Variants [3] CDC January 18 |  |
Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC January 11 |
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| Hospitalization | ||
| New York[5] New York State, knowledge January 16: | Nationwide [6] CDC Janurary 16: | |
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| Positivity | ||
| Nationwide[7] Walgreens January 13: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic January 4: | |
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| Vacationers Information | ||
| Positivity[9] CDC December 30: | Variants[10] CDC December 30 | |
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| Deaths | ||
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 11: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 11: | |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new right now; all others usually are not 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] (CDC) Seeing extra crimson and extra orange, however nothing new at main hubs.
[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has completed an amazing job normalizing successive waves of an infection.
[4] (ED) Slightly uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Undoubtedly jumped.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward pattern since, nicely, Thanksgiving.
[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants). Positivity is new, however variants haven’t but been launched.
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
Manufacturing: “Boeing Below Stress: Activists And Warren Buffett Circle” [Forbes]. “Current occasions have difficult the story; activist traders present a robust curiosity within the enterprise, and studies of Warren Buffett could also be taking a look at a place. With main ramifications for Boeing’s personal future in addition to for its shareholders and the bigger aerospace sector, this confluence of high-profile consideration will demand a turning level for the corporate. The rumor is that activist traders and the nice Warren Buffet are circling the corporate.” And: “Warren Buffett is well-known for stressing shopping for shares of companies at costs lower than their inherent worth, and Boeing is a type of names. Buffett emphasizes companies with affordable enterprise ideas, good long-term prospects, constant earnings energy, and succesful administration. Usually driving Buffett to spend money on companies whose shares are momentarily undervalued by the market, this rigorous strategy stresses long-term development and stability over short-term rewards, however ought to this be adjusted within the present surroundings? Buffett’s ardour for respected industrial companies with a robust aggressive benefit, that’s, what he describes as ‘moat,’ is well-known. Main names in sectors together with insurance coverage, power, and shopper items abound in his portfolio, the place regular returns are ordinary. Given this backdrop, Boeing would possibly match Buffett’s investing requirements.”
Right this moment’s Worry & Greed Index: 38 Worry (earlier shut: 28 Worry) [CNN]. One week in the past: 26 (Worry). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jan 17 at 1:37:47 PM ET.
Photograph E-book
“‘Deserted Theatres’ Spotlights the Stays of Small-City Midwestern Cinemas” [This is Colossal]. • Break porn, however none the more severe for that:
“Marc Andreessen Appears to Suppose Hillary Clinton Was Really President” [Gizmodo].
[P]eople who learn the Occasions transcript noticed this when studying the investor’s phrases:
Andreessen: So that you’re on this sandwich from all your constituents, and then you definitely’ve bought the press coming at you. You’ve bought the activists coming at you, and then you definitely’ve bought the [federal] authorities coming at you.
Douthat: However wait, the federal authorities is run by Donald Trump on this interval, proper?
Andreessen: Not likely.
However when you truly listened to the audio, that is what you heard:
Andreessen: So that you’re on this sandwich from all your constituents, and then you definitely’ve bought the press coming at you. You’ve bought the activists coming at you. And then you definitely’ve bought the federal government coming at you. And naturally, after which even, sorry… the federal authorities… we’ll discuss that extra.
Douthat: However wait, the federal authorities is run by Donald Trump…
Andreessen: Not likely.
Douthat: …on this interval, proper? So that is, I imply, that is the peculiar factor in regards to the narrative, proper?
It’s fully regular to wash up a transcript to delete repeated phrases or “um” and “ah” simply to make issues simpler to learn. However deleting a complete line that claims “the federal authorities radicalized arduous below Hillary,” is simply ridiculous.
“Preventing for our internet” [Molly White, [citation needed]. White runs “Web3 is Going Simply Nice” (Web3 was the rip-off the tech bros have been working after they began working crypto however earlier than AI. Anyhow: “We are able to construct the net that we need to see, and we will return to that place the place the net is a spot of marvel, the place all of us really feel that very same burning feeling of pleasure as we push the net again in direction of the fantastic, lovely, joyful place it must be.” • I agree! Price studying in full.
“Enshittification isn’t attributable to enterprise capital” [Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic]. “It’s lazy and straightforward to suppose that our buddies who’re caught on legacy platforms run by Zuckerberg and Musk lack the self-discipline to wean themselves off of those companies, or lack the angle to know why it’s so pressing to get away from them, or that their ‘hacked dopamine loops’ have addicted them to the zuckermusk algorithms. However when you truly take heed to the individuals who’ve stayed behind, you’ll be taught that the primary motive our buddies keep on legacy platforms is that they care in regards to the different folks there greater than they hate Zuck or Musk. They depend on them as a result of they’re in a rare-disease assist group; or all of them coordinate their children’ little league carpools there; or that’s the place they keep in contact with household and buddies they left behind after they emigrated; or they’re clients or the viewers for inventive labor. All these folks would possibly need to go away, too, but it surely’s actually arduous to agree on the place to go, when to go, and how you can re-establish your teams while you get some other place. Economists name this the ‘collective motion downside.’ This downside creates ‘switching prices’ – plenty of stuff you’ll should stay with out when you change from legacy platforms to new ones. The collective motion downside is tough to resolve and the switching prices are very excessive.” • Therefore the necessity for knowledge interchange, which challengers like Mastodon enable with ActivityPub, and front-runners like X and Fb mightily resist,
Contact data for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a examine in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are wonderful! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! In order for you your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it in 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 dogwood:
Dogwood writes: “A Puffball Mushroom in our again yard.” Appears to be like like an alien sphere.
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