Economics

2:00PM Water Cooler 1/21/2025 | bare capitalism

January 22, 2025
knowledge


Hen Tune of the Day

Brown Thrasher, Could 2024 Rondeau PP–South Level Path East, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. Identical location as yesterday, however totally different birds and much more full of life.

* * *

In Case You May Miss…

  1. January 6 pardons.
  2. DOGE Govt orders.
  3. Enhancing surgical masks (many strategies).

* * *

In Case You May Miss…

  1. January 6 pardons.
  2. DOGE Govt orders.
  3. Enhancing surgical masks (many strategies).

* * *

Politics

“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in actual fact a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

* * *

Capitol Seizure

“Trump pardons roughly 1,500 legal defendants charged within the Jan. 6 Capitol assault” [NBC News]. “President Donald Trump on Monday issued roughly 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 of his supporters in reference to the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when 1000’s of them stormed the constructing amid his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged towards him. Trump commuted the sentences of people related to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy [despite being riddled with informers]. He then issued ‘a full, full and unconditional pardon to all different people convicted of offenses associated to occasions that occurred at or close to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021,’ a class that included individuals who assaulted regulation enforcement officers.” • This from Julie Kelly was one thing I didn’t know:

2:00PM Water Cooler 1/21/2025 | bare capitalism

Right here is the raindrop concept–

“UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JOHN DOUGLAS WRIGHT” (PDF) [Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, Criminal Action No. 21-341, United States District Court for the District of Columbia]. Kollar-Kotelly was “beforehand presiding choose of the Overseas Intelligence Surveillance Courtroom.” From web page 24:

It could have been fascinating to use the “raindrop” concept of the case to the banksters who “collectively” triggered the Nice Monetary Crash, inflicting “the pointless expenditure of considerable authorities assets.”

Trump Transition

Lambert right here: Affected person readers, Trump simply signed 100 exective orders (EOs) [apparently only 26? Yes] and held a presser. I don’t have the capability to synthesize all that materials, which is probably creating “Shock and Awe” within the political class. The hyperlinks that observe appear essentially the most salient now, however that will change within the coming weeks. What I’ll say is that I’ve skimmed a number of of the orders, and this newest rollout is a tremendous feat of staffwork (hat tip Susie Wiles) that the earlier Trump administration couldn’t even have thought-about. (Some intelligent individuals will even have to put the Govt Orders towards Undertaking 2025 and search for overlaps. My guess is that the Trump administration can have put its personal distinction twists on a number of it. Additionally, I’ll typically scatter the EOs beneath the standard class headings (“DOGE” beneath “DOGE”) as a result of consolidating 100 EOs in a single place could be unwieldy.

Affected person readers, I’ll return with a listing of the manager orders — I’m pissed off as a result of I don’t know what number of have actually been signed — after I deal with some administrativia. –lambert

UPDATE Right here is the checklist. I took it from the Whitehouse.gov web page on “Presidential Actions.” There are 4 buckets: Govt Orders, Proclamations, Memoranda, and Bulletins. (I did this as a result of all of the sources I may discover have been explainers, a degree of abstraction away from a easy checklist of the paperwork Trump signed, which appears to me to be the plain base for any additional evaluation.)

Govt Orders:

  1. Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness (order)
  2. Designating Cartels And Different Organizations As Overseas Terrorist Organizations And Specifically Designated International Terrorists (order)
  3. Reforming The Federal Hiring Course of And Restoring Benefit To Authorities Service (order)
  4. Ending Radical And Wasteful Authorities DEI Applications And Preferencing (order)
  5. Defending Ladies From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Organic Fact To The Federal Authorities (order)
  6. Establishing And Implementing The President’s “Division Of Authorities Effectivity” (order)
  7. America First Coverage Directive To The Secretary Of State (order)
  8. Defending America From Overseas Terrorists And Different Nationwide Safety And Public Security Threats (order)
  9. Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Useful resource Potential (order)
  10. Defending The American Individuals In opposition to Invasion (order)
  11. Reevaluating And Realigning United States Overseas Support (order)
  12. Declaring a Nationwide Vitality Emergency (order)
  13. Restoring The Loss of life Penalty And Defending Public Security (order)
  14. Securing Our Borders (order)
  15. Defending The Which means And Worth Of American Citizenship (order)
  16. Realigning the US Refugee Admissions Program (order)
  17. Unleashing American Vitality (order)
  18. Clarifying The Army’s Position In Defending The Territorial Integrity Of America (order)
  19. Holding Former Authorities Officers Accountable For Election Interference And Improper Disclosure Of Delicate Governmental Info (order)
  20. Restoring Accountability To Coverage-Influencing Positions Throughout the Federal Workforce (order)
  21. Withdrawing America From The World Well being Group (order)
  22. Software Of Defending Individuals From Overseas Adversary Managed Functions Act To TikTok (order)
  23. Placing America First In Worldwide Environmental Agreements (order)
  24. Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Authorities (order)
  25. Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship (order)
  26. Preliminary Rescissions Of Dangerous Govt Orders And Actions (order)

Proclamations:

  1. Guaranteeing The States Safety In opposition to Invasion (proclamation)
  2. Declaring A Nationwide Emergency At The Southern Border Of America (proclamation)
  3. Granting Pardons And Commutation Of Sentences For Sure Offenses Relating To The Occasions At Or Close to America Capitol On January 6, 2021 (proclamation)
  4. Flying The Flag Of America At Full-Workers On Inauguration Day (proclamation)

Memoranda:

  1. The Group for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD) International Tax Deal (International Tax Deal) (memorandum)
  2. Group of the Nationwide Safety Council and Subcommittees (memorandum)
  3. Short-term Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Evaluate of the Federal Authorities’s Leasing and Allowing Practices for Wind Tasks (memorandum)
  4. Restoring Accountability for Profession Senior Executives (memorandum)
  5. Selling Stunning Federal Civic Structure (memorandum)
  6. Placing Individuals Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Present Water to Southern California (memorandum)
  7. America First Commerce Coverage (memorandum)
  8. Memorandum to Resolve the Backlog of Safety Clearances for Govt Workplace of the President Personnel (memorandum)
  9. Delivering Emergency Value Aid for American Households and Defeating the Value-of-Residing Disaster (memorandum)
  10. Hiring Freeze (memorandum)
  11. Regulatory Freeze Pending Evaluate (memorandum)
  12. Return to In-Particular person Work (memorandum)

Bulletins:

  1. President Trump Designates Chairmen and Appearing Chairmen (announcement)
  2. President Trump Pronounces Appearing Cupboard and Cupboard-Degree Positions (announcement)
  3. President Trump Pronounces Sub-Cupboard Appointments (announcement)
  4. President Trump Pronounces Cupboard and Cupboard Degree Appointments (announcement)

So that is the scope of the work for right now; Trump was busy. Maybe a connoisseuer of Federal doc varieties can clarify why an Govt Order in a single case and a Memorandum in one other. I did skim among the EOs; they appear to be of various high quality, some fairly particular as to statute and regulation, others extra like “good issues are good” handwaving. For instance, in “Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship”, this:

Sec. 2. Coverage. It’s the coverage of the US to: (a) safe the precise of the American individuals to interact in constitutionally protected speech;

and:

Sec. 3. Ending Censorship of Protected Speech. (a) No Federal division, company, entity, officer, worker, or agent might act or use any Federal assets in a fashion opposite to part 2 of this order.

Constitutional legal professionals within the readership please right me, however am I proper that this can be a little skinny? Not even a quotation to a court docket case? And “constitutionally” is doing a number of work. Is there speech that’s not constitutionally protected?

* * *

“Trump indicators order to finish ‘authorities censorship’ of social media” [WaPo]. “President Donald Trump on Monday signed an government order supposed to ‘instantly cease all authorities censorship,’ a sweeping motion that might chill years of efforts to fight the proliferation of false data on-line. The order bans federal officers from any conduct that ‘would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.’ It additionally prohibits taxpayer assets from getting used to ‘unconstitutionally abridge the free speech’ of Individuals…. Trump’s order may have an instantaneous influence on years of efforts to bolster coordination between Silicon Valley and the federal government to fight misinformation about elections, pure disasters and public well being.” • However:

Nevertheless:

Eight hours down not lengthy sufficient to implement the algo modifications correctly?

* * *

“Neo-Nazis Love the Nazi-Like Salutes Elon Musk Made at Trump’s Inauguration” [Wired]. “At this level, Musk put his proper hand on his chest earlier than extending it straight out along with his palm going through down and his fingers touching, a gesture widely known because the ‘Roman salute.’ Adopted by the fascist motion a century in the past, it was most famously utilized by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Social gathering in Germany, and is to at the present time related to the fascist proper, particularly in Italy. After he first made the gesture, Musk then circled to members of the gang who have been seated behind him and, along with his again to the digicam, repeated the gesture. ‘My coronary heart goes out to you,’ Musk added… One in all many examples: “”WE ARE FUCKING BACK” the administrator of a Nazi meme channel on Telegram wrote beneath a clip of Musk giving the salute.’” • I need to confess that once I first noticed this take I filed beneath image manipulators searching for symbols after which making leaps in reasoning primarily based on the symbols (which is a really dangerous behavior within the idpol house). I additionally felt that Musk has been awfully herky jerky these days (and there’s the preliminary hand-on-heart gesture, which varieties no a part of the Nazi salute. However now, apparently, it does:

File this, on the very minimal, beneath “Anyone must get this dude beneath management.”

* * *

DOGE

“ESTABLISHING AND IMPLEMENTING THE PRESIDENT’S ‘DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT’” [Whitehouse.gov]. I normalize all-caps to title caps however on this case I’m not, as a result of all of the EOs have this formatting. I hope readers can provide this an in depth studying, however whereas the pre-inaugural DOGE set a horrid precedent, this model appears not so dangerous. The EO hijacks the US Digital Service (USDS), which Obama put in place after Silicon Valley techies saved his bacon my making the ObamaCare web site work. That’s a intelligent concept! ” America Digital Service is hereby publicly renamed as the US DOGE Service (USDS) and shall be established within the Govt Workplace of the President.” And: “In session with USDS, every Company Head shall set up inside their respective Companies a DOGE Workforce of a minimum of 4 workers, which can embrace Particular Authorities Workers, employed or assigned inside thirty days of the date of this Order. Company Heads shall choose the DOGE Workforce members in session with the USDS Administrator. Every DOGE Workforce will usually embrace one DOGE Workforce Lead, one engineer, one human assets specialist, and one lawyer. Company Heads shall be certain that DOGE Workforce Leads coordinate their work with USDS and advise their respective Company Heads on implementing the President ‘s DOGE Agenda.” • This exhibits, a minimum of, any person was occupied with course of. (“Particular Authorities Workers” have been what the the pre-inaugural DOGE operatives — the dudes going round interviewing civil servants — ought to have been.

“‘Everybody desires him out’: How Musk helped boot Ramaswamy from DOGE” [Politico]. “Musk, the tech tycoon and Donald Trump confidant, made it recognized that he needed Ramaswamy out of DOGE in current days, in accordance with three individuals aware of Musk’s preferences who, like others for this text, have been granted anonymity to debate them. An ill-received vacation rant on X by Ramaswamy about H-1B visas apparently hastened his demise…. Ramaswamy maintained to confidants as late as Saturday night that he was actively concerned in DOGE, saying he was at work writing government orders, in accordance with six individuals who had spoken with him. However an individual aware of the association mentioned he had achieved virtually no DOGE-related work since early December. As not too long ago as final week, Ramaswamy hoped to realize some early wins at DOGE earlier than leaving to pursue a gubernatorial bid. Now Ramaswamy and his allies are laboring to place a optimistic spin on his departure, coming simply as Trump takes workplace.” •

2024 Publish Mortem

“The Unhappy Story of Reasonable Joe Biden” [Ruy Teixeira, The Liberal Patriot]. The fascinating a part of this text is on the finish: “Editor’s word: It is a barely longer model of an essay that initially appeared in The Free Press, the place Ruy is now a contributing author.” • This dude is nimble!

“Biden Was Simply That Dangerous” [Caitlyn Johnstone, Consortium News]. “From what we’re seeing to date, Trump is simply returning issues to their horrible commonplace baseline. Trump will go on to do many evil issues as president, simply as he did throughout his first time period, however none of this can reverse the truth that Biden simply spent 4 years advancing genocide, nuclear brinkmanship and authoritarianism. The Democratic Social gathering performs simply as essential a job in selling the tyranny and abuses of the U.S. empire because the Republican Social gathering does, and it’s nonsensical to consider both of them as a lesser evil. The empire itself should finish. It’s attainable that Trump’s time period will represent one other swing from Bush-level depravity to Obama-level depravity. It isn’t regular for the U.S. empire to be as brazenly wicked because it has been in Gaza. Usually its evils are far more well-disguised, as a result of it’s within the empire’s pursuits to protect its picture within the eyes of the western public. You solely see the actually in-your-face acts of monstrosity when a coalition of forces throughout the swamp are capable of seize on a uncommon alternative to shove them via, as we noticed within the wake of 9/11 and once more within the wake of Oct. 7. The remainder of the time, the empire likes to be so much subtler about its abuses, prefer it was throughout the Obama administration and the primary Trump administration.” • One may, I suppose, take into account engulfing Greenland as “refined” in comparison with a full-blown conflict with China. And it’s definitely refined for Trump!

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Trump rescinds Biden’s census order, clearing a path for reshaping election maps” [NPR]. “Among the many dozens of Biden-era government orders that President Trump revoked on Monday was one which had reversed the primary Trump administration’s unprecedented coverage of altering a key set of census outcomes. Because the first U.S. census in 1790, no resident has ever been omitted from these numbers due to immigration standing. And after the Civil Warfare, the 14th Modification has referred to as for the inhabitants counts that decide every state’s share of U.S. Home seats and Electoral School votes to incorporate the ‘entire variety of individuals in every state.’ Biden’s now-revoked 2021 order affirmed the longstanding apply of together with the overall variety of individuals residing in every state in these census outcomes. It was issued in response to Trump’s try throughout the nationwide tally in 2020 to exclude hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents with out authorized standing…. Although it had a chance throughout the first Trump administration, the Supreme Courtroom has but to rule on whether or not the president can exclude people who find themselves within the nation with out authorized standing from the tally that determines political energy in the US.” • Effectively, whenever you body it that approach…

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; contains many counties; Wastewater Scan, contains drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Normal 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 deal with 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 experiences); 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!

Transmission: Nasal Sprays

“Towards a Radically Easy Multi-Modal Nasal Spray for Stopping Respiratory Infections” [Advanced Materials (DougieD). September 2024. “This report introduces the Pathogen Capture and Neutralizing Spray (PCANS), which utilizes a multi-modal approach to enhance efficacy. PCANS coats the nasal cavity, capturing large respiratory droplets from the air, and serving as a physical barrier against a broad spectrum of viruses and bacteria, while rapidly neutralizing them with over 99.99% effectiveness. The formulation consists of excipients identified from the FDA’s Inactive Ingredient Database and Generally Recognized as Safe list to maximize efficacy for each step in the multi-modal approach. PCANS demonstrates nasal retention for up to 8 hours in mice. In a severe Influenza A mouse model, a single pre-exposure dose of PCANS leads to a >99.99% reduction in lung viral titer and ensures 100% survival, compared to 0% in the control group. PCANS suppresses pathological manifestations and offers protection for at least 4 hours. This data suggest PCANS as a promising daily-use prophylactic against respiratory infections.” • Maybe one day it will be on sale…

Maskstravaganza

If you are only permitted a surgical mask:

Here is one modification:

Here is another:

There are a lot more techniques; the thread is worth reading in full.

Vaccines

“Former surgeon general: Vaccine-preventable diseases are still a major threat” [Jerome Adams, STAT]. The Biden Administration vaccine rollout was fantastically damaging, as we see right here. “Whereas there’s a lot to have fun in regards to the present concentrate on enhancing general well being — notably the incoming administration’s emphasis on the MAHA agenda, which promotes higher meals security, vitamin, and bodily exercise — it’s essential that we bear in mind these have to be priorities along with addressing vaccine-preventable illnesses, not rather than them. As I’ve mentioned earlier than, you may’t die of early coronary heart illness at 50 in case you already died from polio at 5. The truth is that vaccine-preventable illnesses are nonetheless a serious menace, even within the twenty first century, and we ignore that at our peril. I hear from pediatricians and well being officers throughout the nation on a near-daily foundation about their rising considerations over declining vaccination charges. Mother and father who would have as soon as trusted their well being care suppliers’ suggestions at the moment are questioning vaccines that must be routine, like MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella). What’s much more troubling is that even the mother and father of long-term sufferers — youngsters who’ve obtained all their vaccines up to now — are more and more opting to delay or forgo these important pictures as a result of new doubts, typically fueled by misinformation. What’s worse is that the default response to well being supplier suggestions has shifted. For a lot of mother and father, the thought of questioning, deferring, or outright rejecting vaccines has turn out to be the norm, fairly the exception. This undermines the belief that has been constructed over generations between well being care suppliers and households, and presents a severe problem for these of us making an attempt to guard the well being of all Individuals, particularly our kids. The influence of this rising vaccine hesitancy will, in fact, be felt most acutely by youngsters whose mother and father are attempting, in deeply misguided methods, to guard them. Whereas we’re unlikely to see a dramatic rise in deaths from vaccine-preventable illnesses within the U.S. within the close to time period, the non-public prices are immense. A single case of measles can result in weeks of missed college, sporting occasions, household gatherings, and different milestones. These are prices many Individuals felt have been insufferable and inexcusable throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but we’re now placing our kids prone to struggling the identical disruptions — disruptions which can be each preventable and pointless.” • As I mentioned, it’s MMR that’s under-assault. After all, now we have already been induced to desert our kids to Covid — thanks, Nice Barrington dudes — so every little thing’s going in accordance with plan.

Elite Maleficence

Maybe the CDC’s normalization of wasterwater information isn’t as dangerous as I believed:

Publish by @[email protected]

View on Mastodon

Violet Blue’s correction right here:

* * *

TABLE 1: Each day Covid Charts

Lambert right here: I don’t like a number of this week’s charts. In wastewater, too many pink dots concentrated within the Midwest and the Atlantic coast, so I began circling areas in pink, once more. New York’s weirdly persistent greater hospitalization fee 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 loss of life charts, the projected deaths appear to have leveled out, when up to now they decreased. Nothing earth-shattering, nevertheless it does make me queasy, and it’s effectively after the vacation bump.

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC January 10 Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week):

Variants [3] CDC January 18 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC January 11

Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, information January 16: Nationwide [6] CDC Janurary 16:

Positivity
Nationwide[7] Walgreens January 13: Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic January 4:

Vacationers Knowledge
Positivity[9] CDC December 30: Variants[10] CDC December 30

Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 11: Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 11:

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new right now; 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 awesome job normalizing successive waves of an infection.

[4] (ED) Slightly uptick.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Positively jumped.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward pattern since, effectively, 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

There aren’t any official statistics of curiosity right now.

* * *

In the present day’s Worry & Greed Index: 41 Worry (earlier shut: 37 Worry) [CNN]. One week in the past: 27 (Worry). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jan 21 at 2:00:37 PM ET.

Structure

“The Misplaced Towers of the Guelph-Ghibelline Wars” [Ex Urbe]. “Seems to be faux, doesn’t it? This implausible Medieval forest of towers, as dense as Manhattan skyscrapers, is our greatest reconstruction of the city of Bologna at its top, towards the tip of the Medieval Guelph-Ghibelline wars. Rich households constructed these as mini-fortresses throughout the metropolis, the place they may defend towards riots, enemy households (suppose Montagues and Capulets) and invasion. Indicators of wealth and status, these all-stone buildings have been additionally fireproof, resulting in a horrible however efficient tactic: take your loved ones, treasures & items up into your tower then set fireplace to enemies’ properties and let town burn round you whilst you sit protected above. This was VERY BAD for cities.” Like this:

Caption: “Seems to be faux, doesn’t it? This implausible Medieval forest of towers, as dense as Manhattan skyscrapers, is our greatest reconstruction of the city of Bologna at its top, towards the tip of the Medieval Guelph-Ghibelline wars. We don’t see many such towers right now… or suppose we don’t, however really their remnants are throughout Italy.” • Neat weblog.

Zeitgeist Watch

“On what ladies need” [Kat Rosenfeld, The Usual Palm Tree]. Reflections prompted by the Neil Gaiman case. “There’s a second within the Gaiman exposé the place the primary accuser, Scarlett Pavlovich, sends him a textual content message asking him how he’s doing. Gaiman says he’s struggling: he’s heard from individuals near him that Pavlovich plans to accuse him of rape. ‘I believed that we have been an excellent factor and a really consensual factor certainly,’ he writes. ‘It was consensual (and great)!” she replies. Besides: she doesn’t imply it.” However: “[I]n the article we’ve been instructed, explicitly and repeatedly, which you can’t assume a relationship was consensual simply because all events concerned gave consent.” And: “The factor is, if ladies can’t be trusted to claim their needs or boundaries as a result of they’ll invariably lie about what they need with a purpose to please different individuals, it’s not simply intercourse they will’t fairly consent to. It’s medical therapies. Automotive loans. Nuclear non-proliferation agreements. Our total social contract operates on the premise that adults are sturdy sufficient to decide on their selections, regardless of the ambient stress from sexy males or sleazy used automotive salesmen or power-hungry ayatollahs. If half the world’s grownup inhabitants are literally simply smol beans — hapless, helpless, fickle, fragile, and far too tender to carry out even essentially the most fundamental self-advocacy — every little thing begins to crumble, together with your complete feminist challenge. You’ll be able to’t have real equality for ladies whereas additionally letting them duck via the entice door of however I didn’t imply it, like youngsters, when their selections have sad outcomes.”

Class Warfare

“New ‘oligarchy’ beneath fireplace as elites descend on Davos” [Agence France Presse]. After all, the elite of the elite are on the Inaugural. “The World Financial Discussion board kicks off within the Swiss Alpine resort on the identical day because the presidential inauguration of Trump, who is not going to be in Davos however will make a web-based look later within the week…. Some 3,000 contributors are anticipated on the Swiss ski village for the discussion board ending Friday — together with 60 heads of state or authorities and greater than 900 CEOs — for days of schmoozing and behind-the-scenes dealmaking.” A dissenting voice: “‘I don’t need to dwell in a rustic with a number of wealthy individuals and plenty of poor individuals,’ mentioned Morris Pearl, a former managing director at funding large BlackRock. He’s now a member of Patriotic Millionaires, a bunch that backs elevating taxes on the wealthy. ‘I’m afraid that we’re going to have civil unrest if we don’t change issues,’ Pearl advised AFP.” • So are they, Morris. So are they.

Information of the Wired

Yikes:

These states aren’t precisely arrange for blizzard circumstances.

* * *

Contact data for crops: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a verify in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are tremendous! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you would like your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it initially 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 MV:

MV writes: “Final spring I visited the Fort Price Botanic Backyard. Connected you’ll find some images. I can solely ship 2 images at a time.” And that is the one I’m utilizing. What an inviting prospect!

* * *

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I’ve had a correspondent characterize my views as reasonable cynical. Let me briefly clarify them. I consider in common applications that present concrete materials advantages, particularly to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime instance, however tuition-free faculty and a Publish Workplace Financial institution additionally fall beneath this heading. So do a Jobs Assure and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can ship on such applications, as a result of the 2 are totally different flavors of neoliberalism (“As a result of markets”). I don’t a lot care in regards to the “ism” that delivers the advantages, though whichever one does should put widespread humanity first, versus markets. Might be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t a lot care, so long as the advantages are delivered.

To me, the important thing challenge — and because of this Medicare for All is at all times first with me — is the tens of 1000’s of extra “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton examine, and different current research. That big physique rely makes Medicare for All, on the very least, an ethical and strategic crucial. And that degree of struggling and natural harm makes the considerations of identification politics — even the worthy struggle to assist the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — vibrant shiny objects by comparability. Therefore my frustration with the information move — at the moment for my part the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the opposite by out-of-power liberals and their allies within the State and within the press — a information move that consistently forces me to concentrate on issues that I regard as of secondary significance to the surplus deaths. What sort of political financial system is it that halts and even reverses the will increase in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I’m additionally very hopeful that the persevering with destruction of each get together institutions will open the house for voices supporting applications much like these I’ve listed; let’s name such voices “the left.” Volatility creates alternative, particularly if the Democrat institution, which places markets first and opposes all such applications, isn’t allowed to get again into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I really like the tactical degree, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been running a blog about it every day for fourteen years, however every little thing I write has this angle in the back of it.











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