By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Chicken Track of the Day
Brown Thrasher, Wannagan Creek Cabin space, Billings, North Dakota, United States.
In Case You Would possibly Miss…
- Trump transition affirmation course of.
- DOGE as procurement seize?
- Tiktok customers flee to RedNote.
- Boeing supply woes.
Politics
“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are the truth is a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Spook Nation
“Head of Notorious “Info Dysfunction” Fee Promoted at NPR” [Matt Taibbi, Racket News]. “Amid a busy information day Monday, a well-known determine was named Chief Working Officer of Nationwide Public Radio. Ryan Merkley, who directed the Aspen Institute’s Fee on Info Dysfunction and likewise appeared within the Twitter Recordsdata as Wikimedia’s liaison to ‘Business Conferences’ with federal regulation enforcement, was elevated to the job by NPR president/Titania McGrath clone Katherine Maher…. Merkley’s identify figured in a number of high-profile efforts to regulate ‘disinformation’ by means of aggressive content material moderation…. Digital censorship years in the past expanded past eradicating content material, as key actors noticed alternatives to advertise political targets like correcting historic injustices or advancing range targets by increasing the definition of ‘misinformation.’ NPR has lengthy been an outlet in alignment with Aspen concepts, which turned clear when former enterprise editor Uri Berliner final April penned a whistleblowing essay in The Free Press. Beliner pointed amongst different issues to NPR’s assertion concerning the Hunter Biden laptop computer story: ‘We don’t wish to waste our time on tales that aren’t actually tales.’ It could be that these strikes change into moot shortly, however they’re price stating nonetheless.” • Or perhaps not. See Susie Wiles under.
Vitality within the government:
True or false, it’s attention-grabbing that Haaretz printed it, and “it’s on the market.”
“The Trump Issue: Gaza Ceasefire Deal Seems Shut” [Jeremy Scahill, Dropsite News]. “The truth that Trump emerged because the decisive participant in pushing a possible ceasefire ahead is proof that Biden by no means used the total powers obtainable to a sitting U.S. president to seal the deal in the summertime. Whereas Trump has publicly repeated his menace that he’ll ‘unleash hell’ on Hamas if the Israeli hostages should not freed, his strain has not been solely centered on Hamas; Trump and his aides have made clear to Netanyahu that the president-elect expects Israel to conform along with his calls for, too. ‘I perceive… there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it completed—and perhaps by the top of the week,’ Trump advised Newsmax Monday night time.”
* * * “Nearly 8,000 troopers bussed in for Trump’s ‘peaceable transition’” [Telegraph]. “Nearly 25,000 cops and seven,800 troopers will descend on Washington DC for Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, officers have mentioned, because the capital prepares for a ‘peaceable switch of energy.’ Two FBI area workplaces, a fleet of drones and greater than 30 miles of fencing might be used to maintain Mr Trump, different world leaders and attendees protected as he takes the presidential oath of workplace for the second time. Native and federal officers revealed the safety plans for the ceremony on Monday, and mentioned that regardless of receiving no particular threats in opposition to the president-elect, they’re ‘ready’ for the worst.” • Presumably the “world leaders” are additionally bringing their very own safety with them, too.
* * * “Some Trump nominees face affirmation delays with ethics and background checks not on time” [Government Executive]. “Senate Republicans are pausing the affirmation course of for a few of President-elect Trump’s picks to guide businesses over delays within the vetting course of as watchdogs and Democrats proceed to press management to not transfer ahead with out first contemplating the funds and different components of would-be cupboard members’ backgrounds. Lawmakers are hurrying to get at the very least a few of Trump’s nominees into place by Inauguration Day subsequent week, although some Senate committee chairs have mentioned they’re awaiting background checks from the FBI or critiques by the Workplace of Authorities Ethics. A few of these steps have been delayed after Trump’s staff spent months holding off the transition course of. Lots of Trump’s meant cupboard picks have been scheduled for affirmation hearings this week, however a few of these have since been postponed as related committees are awaiting background data secretary-designates. That can seemingly imply Trump has fewer of his picks confirmed on his first day in workplace than Senate Republicans had initially hoped for.”
“Scoop: Trump staff units pink line on Hegseth’s FBI background verify” [Axios]. “Protection Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth’s affirmation listening to is changing into a check of will for Republicans on guaranteeing FBI recordsdata aren’t distributed all through the complete Senate. The Trump transition staff is demanding that the president-elect’s nominees be handled the identical approach they insist Joe Biden’s have been. Meaning no FBI background verify entry for rank-and-file senators, based on two folks conversant in the matter.”
Lawfare
“Hunter Biden particular counsel hits out at president’s selective prosecution declare” [Guardian]. “The legal prices in opposition to Hunter Biden ‘have been the end result of thorough, neutral investigations, not partisan politics’, the prosecutor who led the inquiries mentioned in a report that sharply criticized Joe Biden for having maligned the US justice division when the president pardoned his son. ‘Different presidents have pardoned members of the family, however in doing so, none have taken the event as a chance to malign the general public servants on the Division of Justice primarily based solely on false accusations,’ mentioned Monday’s report from particular counsel David Weiss, whose staff filed gun and tax prices in opposition to the youthful Biden that resulted in felony convictions that have been subsequently wiped away by a presidential pardon from his father.”
DOGE
“Understanding DOGE as Procurement Seize” [Anil Dash]. “Now, think about you have been a tycoon who can also be a protection contractor that’s making an attempt to promote tons of of billions of {dollars} of army gear to the federal government, and you realize that the procurement course of requires them to go together with the bottom bidder. However, because you’re a dude with tons of of billions of {dollars}, it doesn’t appear honest that the system isn’t much more rigged in your favor. How would you “repair” this technique? Properly, you’d should seize procurement… Say you’re a authorities worker making an attempt to determine who to purchase rockets from. Possibly it higher be from the man who runs the “division” that’s in control of deciding the place cash will get spent within the authorities! However what if you happen to’re that authorities worker and also you’re nonetheless making an attempt to do issues by the ebook, and comply with the legal guidelines as written, and hearken to the method that claims you must go together with the bottom bidder so you’ll be able to spend much less taxpayer cash on issues? Properly, wouldn’t it’s a disgrace if the man who runs the “division” additionally ran an enormous social media firm, and likewise had began mentioning particular person authorities workers by identify, and had a rabid military of followers who constantly focused these workers for violent threats — together with demise threats — and had the truth is simply carried out two completely different terrorist assaults within the final week whereas particularly speaking about how enemies of this new regime wanted to be focused for violence? Would that be sufficient to get you to rethink following these written insurance policies? Possibly so.” • I don’t say it’s fanciful, and a phishing equilibrium is clearly attainable, however I learn it twice, and I don’t see procurement seize truly occurring. One thing to look at. And–
“Elon Musk Is Anticipated to Use Workplace Area within the White Home Advanced” [The New York Times]. “The house anticipated for Mr. Musk’s use is within the Eisenhower Govt Workplace Constructing, which is adjoining to the White Home. The placement would enable Mr. Musk, who owns corporations with billions of {dollars} in contracts with the federal authorities, to proceed to have vital entry to President-elect Donald J. Trump when he takes workplace this month.” And: “It was not clear whether or not Vivek Ramaswamy, Mr. Musk’s associate in main the venture, would even have workplace house within the Eisenhower constructing.” Possibly Susie Wiles will let him have a kennel out on the garden? Plus extra on ethics guidelines and monetary disclosures, legal battle of curiosity legal guidelines, FACA vs. “particular authorities worker standing”, and FOIA. I don’t anticipate President Musk to care a lot about such issues, however presumably some sensible Republican legal professionals can determine one thing out. Or perhaps they’ll simply let ‘er rip! One thing to look at.
Our Famously Free Press
“Washington Publish visitors craters, loses $100M amid identification disaster as expertise, readers flee: stories” [New York Post]. “The Washington Publish’s readership reportedly cratered throughout Joe Biden’s presidency — and the Jeff Bezos-owned broadsheet misplaced $100 million final yr alone — because the embattled paper continues to undergo an exodus of high expertise. The left-leaning [sic] publication drew about 2.5 million to three million each day customers to its website final summer season, a fraction of the 22.5 million each day guests at its peak when Biden took workplace in January 2021, based on inside knowledge shared with Semafor. The plummeting website visitors led the enterprise to lose round $100 million on weak subscription and advert income in 2024, the Wall Avenue Journal reported.” • I ponder what the Graham Household thinks of Jeff Bezos’s stewardship.
Republican Funhouse
“Trump made the GOP a big-tent get together. Now, he’s caught with the infighting” [Politico]. “A coalition of MAGA die-hards, tech bros and blue-collar staff have been key to Donald Trump’s November victory. Now, a few of them are already at one another’s throats. Free merchants and protectionists are at odds over Trump’s promise to enact ‘common’ tariffs. Immigration hard-liners are butting heads with tech corporations that help authorized immigration. And isolationists are grappling with the president-elect’s apparently more and more expansionist world agenda. And days earlier than he takes workplace a few of Trump’s most ardent authentic supporters have been probably the most proof against the larger tent.” And: “However some Trump allies argue these divides are a function — not a bug — of Trump’s governing model. Throughout his first administration, the president-elect was identified for working his Cupboard like an government boardroom: He introduced collectively a cadre of various pursuits, allow them to duke it out after which, on his personal, determined the trail ahead. That technique, of encouraging competitors amongst his advisers, allowed Trump to retain the final word decision-making authority and prevented anybody group from gaining an excessive amount of energy.” I consider FDR used an analogous technique. It’s a very good one.
“As Trump prepares to take energy, MAGA can’t cease the ugly infighting” [WaPo]. “[T]he MAGA motion has at all times been a loosely stitched-together confederation led by a person with comparatively few ideological convictions. It and he have at all times been far more animated by Trump the person than any specific set of beliefs. And since Trump has proved so malleable, there’s a premium on being the one in his ear. That dynamic is already resulting in a rash of infighting over who grabs that ear and guides each Trump and his base.
And the struggle over what Trumpism means has gotten fairly ugly fairly rapidly.” • I disagree on “beliefs.” The H1B debate on X was coverage, all the best way. I awarded the win to MAGA, who knew the coverage arguments chilly (and had, in lots of instances, been personally affected). Trump sided with the tech bros in opposition to MAGA on that one (and who is aware of how that may play out). As for Trump being “malleable”…. I do know it’s a speaking level, however is it true? What do readers assume?
“Texas Sends Hundreds of thousands to Disaster Being pregnant Facilities. It’s Meant to Assist Needy Households, However No One Is aware of if It Works” [ProPublica]. “12 months after yr, whereas Roe v. Wade was the regulation of the land, Texas legislators handed measures limiting entry to abortion — who may have one, how and the place. And with the identical cadence, they added tens of millions of {dollars} to a program designed to discourage folks from terminating pregnancies. Their price range infusions for the Options to Abortion program grew with nearly each legislative session — first regularly, then dramatically — from $5 million beginning in 2005 to $140 million after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom overturned the precise to an abortion…. However an investigation by ProPublica and CBS Information discovered that the system that funnels a rising pot of state cash to anti-abortion nonprofits has few safeguards and is riddled with waste…. Lawmakers across the nation are contemplating packages modeled on Options to Abortion.” • NGOs, gotta love ’em.
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 Basic Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the handle given with the crops. 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 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 (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 protected on the market!
Airborne Transmission
Extra excellent news from the schoolsL
California Division of Public Well being has up to date its Indoor Air High quality Steering for Colleges :
– Necessities : 5 ACH or 30 CFM/p (50 m3/h/p)
– Optimize the Mechanical Air flow
– Open Doorways and Home windows
– Add Air Purifiershttps://t.co/BgISGM7NAd@CAPublicHealth https://t.co/R0JlxOc1rN pic.twitter.com/XEzEkfJido— LET’S AIR (@nousaerons) November 14, 2024
I don’t oppose handwashing, however couldn’t AP have gotten a masks in there someplace?
TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts
| Wastewater | |
| ★ This week[1] CDC January 10 | Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC December 21 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC January 4 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, knowledge January 13: | Nationwide [6] CDC Janurary 9: |
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| Positivity | |
| Nationwide[7] Walgreens January 13: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic January 4: |
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| Vacationers Knowledge | |
| Positivity[9] CDC December 23: | Variants[10] CDC December 23 |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 4: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 4: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new immediately; all others should 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 pink 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 achieved an excellent job normalizing successive waves of an infection.
[4] (ED) A bit of 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
Inflation: “United States Producer Costs” [Trading Economics]. “Producer Costs in america elevated to 146.84 factors in December from 146.52 factors in November of 2024. Producer Costs in america averaged 118.02 factors from 2009 till 2024, reaching an all time excessive of 146.84 factors in December of 2024….”
Enterprise Optimism: “United States NFIB Enterprise Optimism Index” [Trading Economics]. “The NFIB Small Enterprise Optimism Index within the US soared to 105.1 in December 2024, the very best since October 2018, in comparison with 101.7 in November and beating forecasts of 100.8. It’s also the second consecutive month the studying stays above the 51-year common of 98, because of an improved financial outlook following the election. “Small enterprise homeowners really feel extra sure and hopeful concerning the financial agenda of the brand new administration.’”
Manufacturing: “Boeing delivered lower than half as many planes as Airbus final yr” [Quartz]. “Boeing delivered 57 industrial aircraftin the fourth quarter of final yr, and 348 for the complete yr, the Virginia-based aircraft producer reported Tuesday. That’s down from a complete of 611 deliveries in 2023…. [Airbus] reported final week that it delivered 766 industrial plane in 2024 — a 4% year-over-year enhance and probably the most since 2019.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing government sees supply-demand steadiness by finish of decade” [Investing.com]. ” Boeing expects to achieve a steadiness between provide and market demand for passenger jets by the top of the last decade, an government mentioned on Monday. ‘From my perspective that’s … a few five-year impression by way of what we have to do … to get again to steadiness’ from the present provide deficit, Darren Hulst, Boeing’s vice chairman for industrial advertising, advised the Airline Economics convention in Dublin.” • Not subsequent quarter, then?
Manufacturing: “Akasa Air grounds tons of of pilots whereas awaiting Boeing MAX deliveries” [Aerotime]. “The Indian low-cost-carrier Akasa Air has grounded tons of of pilots after the variety of Boeing 737 MAX deliveries slowed in 2024. Based on the publication The Hindu, round 400 people out of 850 pilots are at the moment grounded, with solely 60% at the moment wanted to fly its fleet of 26 plane…. Akasa Air co-founder and CEO Vinay Dube had initially scheduled to obtain 72 plane by the fifth yr of flying after its first industrial flight in August 2022. At first of 2024 Akasa had acquired 22 MAX plane however deliveries slowed in the course of the yr with solely three arriving.”
Manufacturing: “The chart that proves Boeing has misplaced its battle with Airbus” [Telegraph]. “[I]t is now six years since Boeing final occupied the highest spot within the airliner trade…. Nick Cunningham, an Aerospace analyst, mentioned 2024 was ‘Boeing’s annus horribilis.’ He mentioned: ‘You’d think about that issues actually can solely get higher for Boeing, nevertheless it’s going to be a gradual restoration as a result of the issues run so deep. Kelly Ortberg, the brand new chief government, is a extremely good man however there’s an terrible lot to come back again from. It’s a case of, ‘If you wish to repair it, you actually wouldn’t wish to begin from right here.” … Boeing mentioned it can present an replace on its manufacturing outlook with full-year earnings on the finish of this month.” However: “Regardless of its crushing lead over Boeing, Airbus can also be affected by supply-chain points. It initially focused 800 aircraft deliveries for 2024, later revising the purpose to about 770.”
Tech: “Meta Is Blocking Hyperlinks to Decentralized Instagram Competitor Pixelfed” [404 Media]. “Meta is deleting hyperlinks to Pixelfed, a decentralized Instagram competitor. On Fb, the corporate is labeling hyperlinks to Pixelfed.social as ‘spam’ and deleting them instantly. Pixelfed is an open-source, group funded and decentralized picture sharing platform that runs on Exercise Pub, which is similar know-how that helps Mastodon and different federated companies. Pixelfed.social is the biggest Pixelfed server, which was launched in 2018 however has gained renewed consideration during the last week. Bluesky consumer AJ Sadauskas initially posted that hyperlinks to Pixelfed have been being deleted by Meta; 404 Media then additionally tried to publish a hyperlink to Pixelfed on Fb. It was instantly deleted.” And: “Pixelfed is experiencing a surge in consumer signups in latest days, after Meta introduced that it could loosen its guidelines to permit customers to name LGBTQ+ folks “mentally in poor health” amid a bunch of different adjustments that shift the corporate overtly to the precise. Meta and Instagram have additionally leaned closely into AI-generated content material. Pixelfed introduced earlier Monday that it’s launching an iOS app later this week.” • Streisand impact, amongst different issues.
Right now’s Worry & Greed Index: 28 Worry (earlier shut: 26 Worry) [CNN]. One week in the past: 35 (Worry). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed).Final up to date Jan 14 at 1:44:22 PM ET.
Gallery
Little little bit of M.C. Escher happening?
John Singer Sargent, Staircase in Capri pic.twitter.com/3xXKG313dw
— Impressions (@impression_ists) January 11, 2025
Change vs. extra of the identical:
The second all the things modified pic.twitter.com/zQxnBSsoK7
— Taylor McCoy 🦖 (@TM9380) January 11, 2025
“The Case for Letting Malibu Burn” [Long Reads]. • tl;dr: It at all times has. Properly price a learn for the historical past.
“What sparked the Palisades hearth? A beloved mountaineering path might maintain the grim solutions” [Los Angeles Times]. “Hikers and outside lovers have lengthy been drawn to Cranium Rock north of Sundown Boulevard in Pacific Palisades…. Now, this space is the topic of an investigation as a possible start line for the Palisades hearth, which burned hundreds of buildings final week…. The overall space was the positioning of a small hearth on New 12 months’s Eve that burned for a number of hours earlier than hearth officers mentioned they snuffed it out with assist from a water-dropping helicopter…. If it seems the Palisades hearth was brought on by a rekindling of the sooner hearth, it could match a sample. The large Oakland Hills hearth of 1991 — which destroyed greater than 2,500 buildings — exploded after firefighters thought that they had contained it. That fireplace was initially six acres and was declared contained however not out.” • This is also price a learn; good element.
“Elon Musk Uncovered Over Proper-Wing Lie on L.A. Fires” [The New Republic]. “Elon Musk was fact-checked on his personal livestream after making false statements concerning the California wildfires, and Gavin Newsom was fast to name out the tech mogul on social media. In a publish on X Sunday night time, the California governor posted an excerpt from the livestream, the place Musk was receiving a briefing with the command staff dealing with the Palisades hearth in Los Angeles. Musk requested an emergency official twice about water to struggle the fires being obtainable within the Malibu space however not within the Palisades. The official corrected Musk, pointing on the market was not a water scarcity however that the fireplace required far more water than may very well be pumped.”
“There Is No Secure Phrase” [Vultures]. The deck: “How the best-selling fantasy writer Neil Gaiman hid the darkest components of himself for many years.”• That is exceptionally creepy and nasty — approach past “they have been careless folks, Tom and Daisy” — and I don’t actually wish to excerpt it. Nevertheless, if you happen to’ve seen indirect references to Neil Gaiman not too long ago, that is the supply.
“Good Omens Creator Neil Gaiman Accused of Alleged Sexual Abuse By A number of Ladies” [People]. “In a Jan. 13 Vulture report, a number of girls spoke on the document about their alleged experiences with the famed novelist, 64, together with Scarlett Pavlovich, who previously babysat for Gaiman and his ex-wife Amanda Palmer.” Palmer doesn’t come out actual nicely both. However: “Gaiman has denied all allegations since 2023.”
“Can nonviolent battle defeat a dictator? This database emphatically says sure” [Waging Non-Violence]. “[T]he International Nonviolent Motion Database, or GNAD, constructed by the Peace Research division at Swarthmore Faculty. Freely accessible to the general public, this database — which launched underneath my course in 2011 — comprises over 1,400 instances of nonviolent battle from over 100 international locations, with extra instances frequently being added by pupil researchers. [T]he database particulars at the very least 40 instances of dictators who have been overthrown by means of nonviolent battle, courting again to 1920. These instances — which embody among the largest nations on the planet, spanning Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America — contradict the widespread assumption {that a} dictator can solely be overcome by violence. What’s extra, in every of those instances, the dictator had the need to remain, and possessed violent means for protection. In the end, although, they simply couldn’t overcome the facility of mass nonviolent battle.” • I would love for this to be true. I might additionally wish to verify these 40 instances for contamination by spook-driven coloration revolution, and the geopolitical context. (For instance, you’ll be able to conceptualize the autumn of the East German regime as a case of non-violent battle, however certainly the bigger context of anarchistic relations between states issues as nicely?)
“Chinese language social media app RedNote tops App Retailer chart forward of TikTok ban” [The Verge]. “RedNote, the Chinese language social media app also called Xiaohongshu, rose to the primary spot on the Apple App Retailer as a US ban closes in on TikTok. The app gives a mixture of photos, short-form movies, and textual content posts throughout ‘comply with,’ ‘discover,’ and ‘close by’ feeds…. RedNote, which launched in 2013 as a shopping-focused app, now has greater than 300 million month-to-month energetic customers and surpassed $1 billion in revenue final yr, based on Bloomberg…. ikTok customers could also be flocking to RedNote now, however the ban additionally implicates different Chinese language-owned apps, together with RedNote, WeChat, and the opposite apps run by ByteDance like Lemon8 and CapCut.” • Nonetheless probably the most encouraging information I’ve heard in a while (although wait ’til the assorted governments concerned fire up bother):
My Chinese language Spy and I reunited on RedNote
Now of their American spy 🤧🖤 She’s been my spy on TikTok 🖤 pic.twitter.com/EdyuSLFtTF
— ☆ Kaden ☥ (@AmdusciasShadow) January 14, 2025
And:
People are serving to the Chinese language with their English homework within the feedback of RedNote😭 pic.twitter.com/phHLUsG0TY
— Massimo (@massmandato) January 13, 2025
Did I point out the federal government:
Leftists at the moment are flocking to RedNote, an app owned by the CCP and knockoff of TikTok.
Customers discover that for some odd cause Luigi Mangione is closely promoted by the algo. pic.twitter.com/Q3PkhhxNRs
— Susie Wiles (@RealSusiewiles) January 14, 2025
That Wiles is immediately on high of this speaks nicely of her capacities as a authorities official, however one would possibly query precisely why our authorities thinks social media is so vital…..
Contact data for crops: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a verify in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me pictures of crops. Greens are wonderful! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you need your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it firstly of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize by utilizing your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From Doug:
Doug writes: “Amaryllis and callicarpa from the entrance yard. The nice and cozy fall has produced some odd pairings reminiscent of this.” Neat idea for a climate-related photobook…
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