By Lambert Strether of Corrente<\/p>\n
There will be plenty more about the exciting events in the Democrat Party. \u2013lambert<\/p>\n
Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Northern Mockingbird, Rocky Rill Farm; Farmyard, Whitfield, Georgia, United States. A reader asked for mockingbirds; here\u2019s six minutes-worth!<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/p>\n
(1) Many new Covid charts, emergency department visits being especially disconcerting.<\/p>\n
(2) Biden\u2019s defenestration.<\/p>\n
(3) Harris: Let the oppo begin!<\/p>\n
(4) What if we stop reading?<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Politics<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.\u201d \u2013Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
2024<\/p>\n
Less than four months to go!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s RCP Poll Averages:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-19.png\")
<\/p>\n
Virginia and North Carolina added to the list. NC was never going for Biden, but Virginia? Yikes! <\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Unelecting Biden:<\/p>\n
Events, dear boy, events.\u201d \u2014Harold MacMillan (apocryphal)<\/p>\n
Patient readers: \u201cEvents\u201d are moving too fast for me to rise above them with generalizations, and therefore I\u2019m going to throw my timely gleanings into buckets with which you are already familiar. But it\u2019s worth noting that our patient examination of events has yielded at least two results: The term \u201ccircle\u201c*, and the idea of the \u201cInner Party,\u201d which is a FlexNet (stigmatized here as the \u201cWretched Hive\u201d of scum and villainy). Neither type of entity, you will have noticed, is small-d \u201cdemocratic\u201d to the slightest degree. I\u2019m still long volatility. NOTE * We can now ask, for example, what Kamala\u2019s circle is, and how it differs from Biden\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Biden Circle<\/p>\n
\u201cInside Biden\u2019s unprecedented exit from the presidential race\u201d [CNN]. \u201cBiden\u2019s final decision to leave the race was reached in the last 48 hours, a senior campaign adviser said, as he consulted family and top advisers by telephone while recovering from Covid. A source familiar with the matter said the plans to exit the race began Saturday night and were finalized Sunday. The adviser said the president \u2018was not dug in\u2019 but was studying the data coming in and became convinced he would \u2018weigh down\u2019 the ticket and be a complication to defeating Trump. Biden\u2019s decision did not have to do with any medical issues, a senior White House official told CNN.\u201d We are now revising the narrative to eliminate both Covid and Biden\u2019s cognitive difficulties. \u201cIt was the polling!\u201d And indeed, that was part of the picture, but not all of it. More: \u201cWhen Biden huddled with his two closest advisers Saturday, the information they provided on polling and where top Democratic officials stood underscored that a path to victory was \u2018basically nonexistent,\u2019 according to another person familiar with the matter. There wasn\u2019t any single poll number, wavering Democratic official or fundraiser presented in the meeting with longtime aides Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti that pushed Biden toward his decision, the person said. Instead, the information highlighted that the path back to a viable campaign had been severely damaged by declining national and swing-state poll numbers, along with party defections that were likely to rapidly accelerate. The information included polling and details gathered from outreach outside Biden\u2019s inner circle.\u201d \u2022 But see the concept of \u201cbuzz\u201c; sometimes the spontaneous gets a little help.<\/p>\n
The Inner Party<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not undemocratic for the Democrats to dump Joe Biden\u201d [VOX]. \u201cWhat\u2019s unfolded in the two weeks since has been a steadily intensifying pressure campaign from various members of the press, pundits, donors, and current and former elected officials aimed at making Biden quit. Some of these entreaties were made in private \u2014 and, when Biden didn\u2019t appear to be listening, more spilled out [note lack of agency] into public view. They argued that he couldn\u2019t win and, eventually, he listened. There may arguably be something a bit uncomfortable about the role of Democratic power brokers and donors in pushing Biden aside after his primary win. But while they\u2019re doing this without voters\u2019 explicit say, they\u2019re doing so in an attempt to (belatedly) respond to voters\u2019 beliefs that Biden is too old to serve another term.\u201d \u2022 I am not sure of the timing on this. First, that \u201c(belatedly\u201d) is doing more work than a mere adverb should ever be called upon to do; these are all party professionals, how the heck did the problem sneak by them? Second, the Democrats have now managed to place a candidate on the top of the ticket who has never won a single Presidential primary in her life; this is remarkable, but how can it possibly be characterized as \u201cdemocratic\u201d? The only time Harris faced the voters, they rejected her! In her home state! And here we are. Third, considering how the Inner Party nobbled Sanders in 2016 and 2020, I\u2019d say they have form, and the Party cannot be fairly characterized as democratic at all. Finally, putting on my tinfoil hat, the special model that works from 30,000 feet, this entire operation has the stench of a bait and switch. How far back did the planning go?<\/p>\n
The DNC<\/p>\n
\u201cReplacing Biden: What happens now?\u201d [Semafor]. \u201cOnly Harris, whose name is on the campaign\u2019s organizing documents, would inherit the current Biden campaign and its resources. If the delegates rejected her, the Biden-Harris war chest could be donated to the DNC or a super PAC.\u201d<\/p>\n
Electeds<\/p>\n
Clyburn endorses Harris:<\/p>\n
My statement on President Biden. pic.twitter.com\/xEq1tsQhAl<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jim Clyburn (@ClyburnSC06) July 21, 2024<\/p>\n
The Spooks<\/p>\n
Lambert here: The spooks are silent. Kamala was on the Senate Intelligence Committee. What does that tell you?<\/p>\n
The Press<\/p>\n
\u201cEditorial: Biden\u2019s decision not to seek nomination was courageous\u201d [Los Angeles Times]. \u201cIn announcing Sunday that he is abandoning his candidacy for reelection, President Biden admirably put his party and the country above his personal interests. That he was responding to an increasing chorus from within the party doesn\u2019t make his decision any less statesmanlike. His willingness to step aside, and the respectful calls for him to do so from other Democrats, amount to a striking contrast to the Republican Party, which has a cult-like focus on the supposed indispensability of Donald Trump.\u201d \u2022 Crap Material like this is all over my Twitter feed like kudzu. Everybody who stuck a shiv in Biden\u2019s back is now professing admiration for him in the most fulsome terms. They all turned on a dime! Together! First, if indeed it was \u201ctime to take away the car keys\u201d from Biden, it\u2019s not clear that his decision was \u201cccurageous\u201d at all, because we can\u2019t be sure of his mental capacity. Second, note the contrast between Democrats and Republicans: Biden\u2019s defenestration by Democrats courageous decision was entirely a case of the Inner Party putting pressure on his circle by leaks in the press; totally top down. By contrast, say what you like about Trump, but his ascendancy in the Republican party was bottom up, i.e. small-d democratic. Republican voters weren\u2019t having Jeb!, or Haley, or any RINO, and they kept banging on their party apparatus until it did (in their terms) the right thing. <\/p>\n
The Campaign Trail:<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Harris (D): From the archives:<\/p>\n
Am I the only one who remembers the time Kamala Harris\u2019s father upbraided her in public? pic.twitter.com\/JuBY6a263v<\/p>\n
\u2014 Alice (@AliceFromQueens) July 22, 2024<\/p>\n
I certainly do. And so it begins\u2013<\/p>\n
Harris (D): \u201cScandal behind the cackle! As Kamala\u2019s former lover \u2013 who\u2019s 31 YEARS her senior \u2013 demands Biden make her president NOW\u2026 all the sordid secrets America\u2019s \u2018Momala\u2019 hopes you\u2019ve forgotten\u201d [Daily Mail]. I wouldn\u2019t expect this to be slow in crossing The Pond. \u201cIn 1994, Harris was a 29-year-old rising star in the Alameda County District Attorney\u2019s Office when she struck up a relationship with Brown \u2013 the 60-year-old speaker of the state Assembly and one of the most powerful men in California\u2026. In a 2019 op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle, [Brown] wrote: \u2018Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So what?\u2019 conceding that he \u2018certainly helped with her first race for district attorney in San Francisco,\u2019 but that he also assisted other prominent California Democrats.\u201d Weak oppo. The key point (from WikiPedia (!)): \u201cIn 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.\u201d It\u2019s one thing to have a girlfiend; it\u2019s quite another to arrange for her to be take a State salary. And apparently, Willie Brown is still at it: \u201cSpeaking outside John\u2019s Grill, where he holds court with the city\u2019s political elite, just moments after President Joe Biden\u2019s surprise announcement that he\u2019d immediately suspended his campaign, Brown put forward a bold idea. \u201cNot only should Joe stand aside as a candidate, he said, but Biden should also resign as President, allowing Harris to take up the role. \u2018[Harris\u2019s] chances go up if [Biden] would at this moment say not only am I no longer the candidate, I\u2019m no longer the president \u2014 she is,\u2019 Brown said. Sounding more like a doting teacher than a past lover, he heaped praise on Harris, telling The San Francisco Chronicle: \u2018In all the jobs she\u2019s had\u2026 she\u2019s always been outstanding.\u2019 It\u2019s a sharp change of tune from Brown, who advised Harris in 2020 to turn down Biden\u2019s invitation to be his running mate, telling her the second seat was a \u2018dead end\u2019. Brown\u2019s about-face is in line with a general shift in the Democratic party \u2013 as left-wing [sic] political operators and a sympathetic media rush to rehabilitate Harris\u2019s image in the hopes that she can take on and beat former President Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
IL: \u201cBiden\u2019s decision changes the calculus for 2028 hopefuls\u201d [Politico]. \u201c[Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois] has been working behind the scenes for years preparing for a future presidential run. His political team is made up of veterans from two past political campaigns for governor, including the seasoned campaign manager Anne Caprara. The question is whether running for president risks Pritzker, who co-chaired Hillary Clinton\u2019s campaign in 2008, being seen as pushing out a woman \u2014 and a woman of color \u2014 in what would be a historic candidacy. Unlike other potential presidential candidates, Pritzker is a billionaire who can self-fund a campaign and wouldn\u2019t need Biden\u2019s campaign funds to move forward. He can write a check and build infrastructure in every state and get on TV tomorrow, according to Illinois campaign veterans who were granted anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive subject.\u201d \u2022 And best of all, he didn\u2019t date Willie Brown! That we know of, at least.<\/p>\n
MI: \u201cGov. Whitmer endorses Kamala Harris for president, says she\u2019s not leaving Michigan\u201d [Detroit News]. \u201cAsked Monday morning if she was interested in being vice president, Whitmer said: \u2018I am not leaving Michigan. I am proud to be the governor of Michigan. I have been consistent. I know everyone is always suspicious and asking this question over and over again \u2026 I am not going anywhere.\u2019 Whitmer announced her support for Harris a day after Democratic President Joe Biden revealed that he was dropping his reelection bid, 107 days before the general election on Nov. 5. Whitmer, whom many Democrats see as a potential future candidate for president, had been a co-chairwoman of Biden\u2019s campaign and had repeatedly touted her belief in the 81-year-old Biden as others called for him to get out of the race.\u201d \u2022 Eight years of Kamala means the blight of the Democrat bench continues. If the Democrats can win the House or the Senate, ideally both, with Biden off the top of the ticket, it might suit a lot of ambitious electeds if Kamala didn\u2019t make it.<\/p>\n
PA: \u201cPennsylvania Democrats give mixed response to idea of Harris as nominee\u201d [Washington Examiner]. \u201cPennsylvania is arguably the most important swing state in the country. But while gushing endorsements for Harris came from the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Pennsylvania party leaders sang a different tune\u2026. Sen. John Fetterman, a fearless supporter of the current president, said he was unimpressed with the members of his own party who pushed Biden out, who then praised him extravagantly only after he withdrew. \u2018Spare me the soaring accolades from people with their fingerprints on the blades in our President\u2019s back,\u2019 he said\u2026. One longtime Democratic voter, a union Democrat who has never voted Republican, said he felt, \u2018Harris wasn\u2019t up for the job, I hope it will be someone else, I don\u2019t like how they pushed Joe out.\u2019 \u2026 .While elected Democrats, including Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro, spent the day sending out full support for Harris, Democrats here in Pennsylvania worry about her appeal in the state, especially in Western Pennsylvania where hydraulic fracking has been an economic game changer\u2014something Harris adamantly opposes\u2026. On the politics of the Keystone State, political science professor Jeff Brauer said Pennsylvania remains essential to a presidential victory of either party. \u2018Biden has always had close ties to Pennsylvania, especially with his hometown of Scranton and First Lady Jill Biden considering herself a Philadelphian,\u2019 he said, adding, \u2018without Biden on the ticket, the chances for Democrats in this all-critical state certainly diminish.\u2019 Brauer said if Harris is chosen, this state is in flux for Democrats, more so than it was before the debate and the assassination attempt on Trump here, \u2018Many in Pennsylvania, which is generally a moderate state, will find her to be too liberal,\u2019 he said. Which means undoubtedly, her vice-presidential pick then will become very important electorally, and he points to Shapiro as an excellent selection in this regard.\u201d \u2022 See The New Arab, \u201cWho is Josh Shapiro, the \u2018pro-Israel\u2019 frontrunner tipped to be Kamala Harris\u2019 running mate?\u201d and Spotlight PA, \u201cShapiro orders state employees to avoid \u2018scandalous\u2019 conduct amid Gaza protests, raising free speech concerns.\u201d However, with Shapiro, the Democrats may trade a better chance in PA for worse chances in MI and MN. And they need all three.<\/p>\n
Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018I\u2019m not voting\u2019: Why should Donald Trump, Kamala Harris or anyone else make a difference to my finances? I\u2019ll never be able to retire and I\u2019m always broke.\u201d [MarketWatch]. Question: \u201cDear Quentin, I don\u2019t care. I think they are all the same. My life has been a struggle for the last 10 years and it has made no difference who is president of this country: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or whoever ends up taking over the Democratic ticket for president. What does it matter to someone like me? I\u2019ll never be able to retire. A brief summary: I am in my 50s and still renting. I cannot afford to buy a house and I never have any money at the end of the month. I earn $67,000 a year, a decent salary by most standards, but it doesn\u2019t go far. I dread getting older as I will need to keep working. America is divided between red and blue, but I\u2019m tired of all the game playing and point scoring. Just sharing my thoughts about why I\u2019m not voting. You read that correctly: I won\u2019t be going to the polling booth in November. \u2013Fed Up in Virginia (and Fed Up with D.C.). Lengthy answer, concluding: \u201cDear Virginian\u2026. It\u2019s not good to feel you will never be able to afford to retire. But remember: Social Security was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat or Independent, go to the ballot box on Nov. 5, and let your voice be heard.\u201d <\/p>\n
Syndemics<\/p>\n
\u201cI am in earnest \u2014 I will not equivocate \u2014 I will not excuse \u2014 I will not retreat a single inch \u2014 AND I WILL BE HEARD.\u201d \u2013William Lloyd Garrison<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); \u201cIowa COVID-19 Tracker\u201d (in IA, but national data). \u201cInfection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts\u201d (especially on hospitalization by city).<\/p>\n
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put \u201cCOVID\u201d in the subject line. Thank you!<\/p>\n
Resources, United States (Local): 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 reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d\u2019Alene; 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).<\/p>\n
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).<\/p>\n
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux us\u00e9es); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).<\/p>\n
Hat tips to helpful 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, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3). <\/p>\n
Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Transmission: Covid<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Lambert here: Looks like the holiday travel dumped accelerant on the pre-existing surge; see especially the growth in wastewater \u201chot spots.\u201d Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/p>\n
LEGEND<\/p>\n
1) \u2605 for charts new today; all others are not updated.<\/p>\n
2) For a full-size\/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and \u201copen image in new tab.\u201d<\/p>\n
NOTES<\/p>\n
[1] (CDC) This week\u2019s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated. Keeps spreading.<\/p>\n
[2] (CDC) Last week\u2019s wastewater map.<\/p>\n
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular.<\/p>\n
[4] (ER) Worth noting Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.<\/p>\n
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Keeps up steady increase. (The New York city area has form; in 2020, as the home of two international airports (JFK and EWR) it was an important entry point for the virus into the country (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, as the rich sought to escape, and then around the country through air travel.)<\/p>\n
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.<\/p>\n
[7] (Walgreens) An optimist would see a peak.<\/p>\n
[8] (Cleveland) Still going up!<\/p>\n
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn\u2019t even run back to 1\/21\/23, as it used to, but now starts 1\/1\/24. There\u2019s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn\u2019t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that\u2019s why the shape of the curve has changed.<\/p>\n
[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads. <\/p>\n
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.<\/p>\n
[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n
Stats Watch<\/p>\n
There are no official statistics of interest today.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Tech: \u201cThe serious science of trolling LLMs\u201d [lcamtuf\u2019s thing]. \u201cWe were talking about trolling large language models \u2014 that is, the practice of fiddling with the prompt to get the machine to say something outrageous or nonsensical, and then publicly displaying the result to earn retweets and likes\u2026 [B]ecause the models\u2019 internals are inscrutable, the proxy measurement we rely on is the extent to which the models appear human-like. An LLM stuck in the uncanny valley is bound to scare the customers away. Responding to this incentive, vendors engage in sleight-of-hand. The models are made to appear more human by forcing them to feign emotions, profusely apologize for mistakes, or even respond with scripted jokes that mask the LLMs\u2019 inability to write anything resembling humor\u2026. The vendors\u2019 hope is that with time, we will reach full human-LLM parity; and until then, it\u2019s OK to fudge it a bit. From this perspective, the viral examples that make it patently clear that the models don\u2019t reason like humans are not just PR annoyances; they are a threat to product strategy. Far from being a waste of time, internet trolling is becoming a legitimate scientific pursuit. When a model aces a human benchmark, it\u2019s hard to know how much of this can be credited to reasoning and how much of it boils down to recall from the training data set. It\u2019s when it fails at a simple task that we know what the limitations are \u2014 and trolls are the torch-bearers of this new englightenment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing is offering a stark and expensive example of how supply-chain shortfalls can trigger cascading problems across a company\u2019s operations\u201d \u201c[Logistics Report, Wall Street Journal]. \u201cParts shortages and other issues have left the jet maker facing a major storage issue, with about 200 fully or mostly finished airplanes sitting in airfields, outside plants and\u2014in one location\u2014an employee parking lot. The WSJ\u2019s Sharon Terlep reports that supplier shortages have saddled the company with planes short of parts such as seats and emergency doors. But a handful of 777 freighters in Everett, Wash., are awaiting engines because manufacturer GE Aerospace has struggled with shortfalls from its own suppliers. Boeing had delivered only two freighters this year through May. But the engines have started rolling in, and Boeing delivered five of the planes in June. The bigger problem is with passenger jets including some single-aisle 737 MAXs that are now several years old.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 53 Neutral (previous close: 49 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 63 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 22 at 12:14:59 PM ET.<\/p>\n
Rapture Index: Closes down one on Floods. \u201cIt has been dry in many parts of the US\u201d [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 184. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) \u2022 Hard to believe the Rapture Index is going down. Where are there people getting their news?!<\/p>\n
The Gallery<\/p>\n
Add an element of horror to the brushwork, and I\u2019m reminded of Francis Bacon!<\/p>\n
Tennis Game by the Sea pic.twitter.com\/KoeyJj1r8R<\/p>\n
\u2014 Edouard Vuillard (@edouardvuillard) June 15, 2024<\/p>\n
Zeitgeist Watch<\/p>\n
What happens to Western Civilization if nobody can read?<\/p>\n
For lit classes, I require PAPER TEXTS. I email students ahead of the semester and explain this so they are not horrified on day 1. They can opt out and use e-texts if they come to me with a reason (disability etc)\u2013but they have to provide a reason. (I never say no)<\/p>\n
\u2014 Alden Jones (@aldenejones) July 20, 2024<\/p>\n
This is a long thread; click through for a complete image (especially if you are a teacher).<\/p>\n
Class Warfare<\/p>\n
\u201cNo One Expects Young Men To Do Anything and They Are Responding By Doing Nothing\u201d [Rob Henderson\u2019s Newsletter]. Hmm:<\/p>\n
If you come from poverty and chaos, you are up against 3 enemies:<\/p>\n
1. Dysfunction and deprivation<\/p>\n
2. Yourself, as a result of what that environment does to you<\/p>\n
3. The upper class, who wants to keep you mired in it. <\/p>\n
The people with the most money and education\u2014the class most responsible for shaping politics and culture and customs\u2014ensure that their children are raised in stable homes.<\/p>\n
But actively undermine the norm for everyone else. <\/p>\n
The educated class decides cohabiting partnerships are just as valid and important as marriage. And they also believe it\u2019s okay to walk away at a moment\u2019s notice from a cohabiting relationship.<\/p>\n
Luxury beliefs are ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class while often inflicting costs on the lower classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cActively undermining norms\u201d reminds me of what our ruling class has done to public health.<\/p>\n
News of the Wired<\/p>\n
I am not yet completely wired.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From SC:<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
SC writes: \u201cBee foraging at a Milkweed plant of questionable parentage.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:<\/p>\n
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