By Lambert Strether of Corrente<\/p>\n
This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 242 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, PayPal, Clover, or Wise. Read about why we\u2019re doing this fundraiser, what we\u2019ve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, supporting the commentariat.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Gray Catbird, Lake Massapoag, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/p>\n
New RCP charts: race tied (and many revisions to the Covid table as well).
\nKamala\u2019s campaign keeps her wrapped in tissue paper.
\nAnother Boeing manufacturing debacle shaping up nicely.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Look for the Helpers<\/p>\n
Can New Yorkers confirm?<\/p>\n
my favorite new york social code is when a lone person needs to get a stroller up the subway stairs.<\/p>\n
nearly instantly, a stranger picks up the other end of the stroller,
helps carry it up, then departs as quickly as they appeared.
no words are exchanged. eye contact is minimal.<\/p>\n
\u2014 kasey (@kaseyklimes) September 5, 2024<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
My email address is down by the plant; please send examples of there (\u201cHelpers\u201d in the subject line). In our increasingly desperate and fragile neoliberal society, everyday normal incidents and stories of \u201cthe communism of everyday life\u201d are what I am looking for (and not, say, the Red Cross in Hawaii, or even the UNWRA in Gaza).<\/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 one hundred days to go!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s RCP Poll Averages:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/RCP_2024-09-06.png\")
<\/p>\n
I would say the bloom is off the rose for Harris, except for an upward blip in Georgia. Looks like the enormous liberalgasm afte the Convention was confined to party loyalists. The Kamala campaign must be sore as boils Trump is within striking distance, let alone tied with them. What could account for it? Perhaps that\u2019s why the pivot to RussiaGate. Remember, however, that all the fluctuations \u2014 in fact, all the leads, top to bottom \u2014 are within the margin of error. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s close:<\/p>\n
This is the closest presidential campaign 60+ years. The race has been consistently close in a way I’ve never seen. If the polling is off by a single point in the key swing states, the winner would flip. <\/p>\n
The bottom line is this election is up for grabs with 2 months to go. pic.twitter.com\/vmZH3PIVxR<\/p>\n
\u2014 (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) September 6, 2024<\/p>\n
\u201cWho Is Favored To Win The 2024 Presidential Election?\u201d [Project FiveThirtyEight]. \u201cVice President Kamala Harris continues to lead former President Donald Trump in national polls and in the swing states, but her margin has slipped modestly over the last two weeks. On Aug. 23, our polling average had Harris up on Trump by 3.7 percentage points. Her margin today is a comparatively lower +3.2. As the polls have gotten closer, Harris\u2019s probability of victory in our election model has also slipped, from 60-in-100 last week to 56-in-100 today.\u201d \u2022 A slow bleed. Fast enough?<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
The Debate (September 10)<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Kamala (D): \u201cOne Big Thing Kamala Is Getting Right\u201d [Jill Filipovic, Slate]. \u201cIf Kamala Harris wins the 2024 election, she will be the first female president ever, and the first Black and Indian female president too. But despite the historic nature of her candidacy, she doesn\u2019t want to focus on her identity\u2014and, in a pretty notable turn, neither does her party.\u201d Perhaps because Trump threw a brushbaclk pitch? That said, I\u2019m not sure the candidates\u2019s focus is all that reduced; collard greens, and so forth. We\u2019ll also wait to see if Kamala plays that card in debate; I\u2019m guessing she will, since after all how many cards does she have to play? More: \u201cAnd yet I also believe there is something shallow, and sometimes incredibly counterproductive, about a focus on identity. It flattens more than it layers on, and it is certainly damaging to progressive movements when identity is wielded as a cudgel or a gotcha. Donald Trump\u2019s four years in office were such a shock to the system, and such a victory for racism and sexism that the politics of identity on the left went into overdrive. A lot of good came out of this: movements against racial injustice and sexual abuse; a broader shared vocabulary with which to talk about power and fairness. But, as inevitably happens with well-meaning but extremely zealous social movements, there were excesses.\u201d \u2022 This is silly. Identity politics had been in overdrive for years, and very well funded in the NGOs, too. You can\u2019t blame Trump for that. Nice try.<\/p>\n
Kamala (D): \u201cHow Harris dodges scrutiny\u201d [Axios]. Worth reading in full:<\/p>\n
Harris is copying President Biden\u2019s self-protection media strategy \u2014 duck tough interviews and limit improvisational moments. <\/p>\n
Her circumstances are different, for sure. She entered the race just seven weeks ago, did dozens of interviews this year before Biden\u2019s exit, and plans to do more interviews and gaggles.<\/p>\n
But with her debate with former President Trump coming up Tuesday (9pm ET), Harris has big questions to answer in two areas that go to the heart of running America:<\/p>\n
1. Why did President Biden\u2019s top advisers routinely leak word they found her performance as vice president disappointing or episodically problematic?<\/p>\n
2. How did her views change in five years, from liberal to centrist on health care, immigration and energy? Why should voters believe her new views are the ones she\u2019d stick with inside the White House?<\/p>\n
Keeping your candidate wrapped in tissue paper is not a sign of strength. And if there\u2019s one thing we know about Trump, it\u2019s that he\u2019s expert in sniffing out weakness and taking advantage of it. But with Harris in hiding, that\u2019s not so easy to do. Perhaps in \u201cthe\u201d debate (only one? Really? In a Presidential campaign?).<\/p>\n
Kamala (D): \u201cHarris abandons 2019 pledge to ban plastic straws\u201d [Axios]. \u2022 Ouch!<\/p>\n
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\n* * *<\/p>\n
Democrats en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/p>\n
\u201cNavy Secretary Broke Law With Trump-Bashing, Pro-Biden Comments: Watchdog\u201d [Associated Press]. \u201cNavy Secretary Carlos Del Toro broke the law by publicly endorsing the reelection of President Joe Biden and criticizing former President Donald Trump in several statements he made while on official duty overseas, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Thursday. In a report to the White House, the watchdog agency said Del Toro\u2019s comments about the presidential election came in a BBC interview and when he was responding to questions after a speech in London\u2026. The agency said Del Toro\u2019s comments, which were made before Biden dropped out of the presidential race, violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits U.S. officials from engaging in political activity while they are on duty and from \u2018using their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election\u2018\u201d \u2022 Oh. \u201cElection interference\u201d that actually breaks the law. If Del Toro had been a Republican endorsing Trump, the bleating and yammering would go on for weeks.<\/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
\u2013><\/p>\n
Transmission: Covid<\/p>\n
\u201cCovid summer surge continuing into fall, state data show\u201d [Minnesota Refomer]. \u201c\u201dThe size and duration of this surge is unusual for summer,\u201d Brown University epidemiologist Jennifer Nuzzo recently noted on the website formerly known as Twitter. Hospitalizations are also running about 50% higher than during the same period one year ago, suggesting an early start to this year\u2019s COVID season.\u201d \u2022 Gonna have to pry the \u201cseasonal\u201d paradigm form the cold dead hands of epidemologists\u2026 <\/p>\n
Maskstravaganza<\/p>\n
\u201cFree Rein and No Guidance: Long Island\u2019s Cop-Enforced Mask Ban Isn\u2019t Going Great\u201d [Mother Jones]. \u201cSince the mask ban law was enacted, two people have been charged with misdemeanors for violating it, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. In both cases, [Beth Haroules, a senior staff attorney at NYCLU] says, \u2018there probably wasn\u2019t probable cause to arrest either gentleman.\u2019 Haroules agrees with concerns that people of color will be disproportionately targeted for wearing masks. The Nassau County Police Department, Haroules says, \u2018has a documented history of inappropriate interactions with people of color.\u2019 (It also has a troubled record on other fronts, including around residents\u2019 civil rights.) Choosing to wear masks, as Haroules told Mother Jones she herself continues to do on public transportation, is an individual decision which mask bans threaten. Having other community members \u2018enforcing the mask ban by threatening to call police,\u2019 Haroules says, \u2018really suggests that there\u2019s a societal problem.’\u201d \u2022 Indeed.<\/p>\n
Vaccines<\/p>\n
Depopulation continues apace, good job:<\/p>\n
Shocking statistic\u2013 prior to the pandemic Indiana vaccination rates for 3 yr olds stood at 70%. Today just over half of Indiana 3 yr olds have received their routine vaccinations (polio, measles, etc.)<\/p>\n
We are rapidly going backwards on a major predictor of life expectancy. \ud83d\ude1e<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) September 6, 2024<\/p>\n
Morbidity and Mortality<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Australia, COVID-19 deaths may have stopped decreasing\u201d [Virology Down Under]. \u201cThe Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) published excellent data on deaths due to or with COVID-19 in Australia from 2022 to July 2024. Deaths dropped between 2022 and 2023, but they stopped dropping further in 2024. Is this baseline of death \u2018living with COVID-19\u2032?\u201d<\/p>\n
Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n
They know #CovidIsAirborne. They just don\u2019t want you to know:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/parliament.png\")
<\/p>\n
The \u201cpalace\u201d of Westminster. Schools and hospitals should be \u201cpalaces\u201d too. But they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Lambert here: The figures look mildly encouraging for now, but I would expect an immediate worsening after Labor Day travel kicks in, along with grade schools, high schools, and colleges starting up. Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/p>\n
Wastewater<\/p>\n
This week[1] CDC August 26:<\/p>\n
Last Week[2] CDC (until next week):<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-3.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Variants [3] CDC August 31<\/p>\n
\u2605 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC August 31 <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-3.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-cdc-ed-natl.png\")
<\/p>\n
Hospitalization<\/p>\n
\u2605 New York[5] New York State, data September 5:<\/p>\n
\u2605 National [6] CDC August 17:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-1.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl.png\")
<\/p>\n
Positivity<\/p>\n
National[7] Walgreens September 3:<\/p>\n
Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic August 24:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/covid-cleveland-positivity-.png\")
<\/p>\n
Travelers Data<\/p>\n
\u2605 Positivity[9] CDC August 19:
\n\u2605 Variants[10] CDC August 19:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers.png\")
<\/p>\n
Deaths<\/p>\n
\u2605 Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC August 31:<\/p>\n
\u2605 Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC August 31:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity.png\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed.png\")
<\/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. XDV.1 flat.<\/p>\n
[4] (ED) Down, but worth noting that Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.<\/p>\n
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Flat, that is, no longer down.<\/p>\n
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.<\/p>\n
[7] (Walgreens) Big drop, but all those white states showing no change: Labor Day weekend reporting issues?<\/p>\n
[8] (Cleveland) Dropping.<\/p>\n
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Down. 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 range. 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) What the heck is LB.1?<\/p>\n
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up. If the United States is like Canada, deaths are several undercounted:<\/p>\n
Tara Motarity has confirmed our fears.Most provinces are only reporting about 20% of covid deaths.Maybe even less.Which suggests the deaths are close to 5 times to 6+ times the reported figures.Nova Scotia has reported 270 so far this year. It’s actually 1,325-1,700 so far. pic.twitter.com\/6xF6SREyKB<\/p>\n
\u2014 Dr.Robert Strang (@DSlayer520) September 2, 2024<\/p>\n
[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n
Stats Watch<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Manufacturing: \u201cAs strike looms, Boeing pushes 777 jets through chaotic production in Everett\u201d [Seattle Times (PI)]. \u201cFor months, Boeing\u2019s leadership has claimed repeatedly that slowing the pace of jet production and renewing the focus on inspections will ensure production quality. As a potential strike by 33,000 machinists looms next week, that\u2019s not the reality mechanics see inside Boeing\u2019s widebody jet plant in Everett. Managers there are currently pushing partially assembled 777 jets through the assembly line, leaving tens of thousands of unfinished jobs due to defects and parts shortages to be completed out of sequence on each airplane, according to three people working directly on 777 assembly. Though the production rate of 777 jets is at a crawl, with a total of just 11 deliveries so far this year, employees describe a chaotic workplace. Mechanics are chasing airplanes through the Everett factory to install systems that should have gone in earlier and to complete rework of defects on 777 cargo planes that have traveled far down the assembly line and even outside onto the Paine Field flight line, said a veteran 777 mechanic who works on fuselages\u2026. A longtime 777 quality inspector in Everett \u2014 who, like the other employees quoted here, requested anonymity because he feared retaliation \u2014 said Boeing has moved new inspectors onto the assembly line who are unfamiliar with the work.<\/p>\n
\u2018They are not being trained, just thrown to the wolves,\u2019 he said. Boeing personnel conducting inspections out on the airfield flight line are finding multiple structure, systems and interior defects that were missed inside the factory.\u201d \u2022 That new CEO sure has made a big difference, hasn\u2019t he? Meanwhile, the 777 was the one Boeing aircraft I felt safe to fly on. I guess I\u2019ll have to start checking the build dates, if I ever take a flight again.<\/p>\n
Manufacturing: Short \u201cindustrial knowledge\u201d:<\/p>\n
“What is likely to die along with the boomers?” pic.twitter.com\/xIrXYR7b4f<\/p>\n
\u2014 nekro (@nekrodvna) September 5, 2024<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 47 Neutral (previous close: 52 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 60 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Sep 5 at 1:10:04 PM ET.<\/p>\n
Gallery<\/p>\n
A \u201csunny nook\u201d (except outside):<\/p>\n
A Corner of the Garden in Rueil pic.twitter.com\/VloOvDt64j<\/p>\n
\u2014 Edouard Manet (@artistmanet) August 28, 2024<\/p>\n
Zeitgeist Watch<\/p>\n
\u201cChurches Take Homeschooling in a Surprising Direction\u201d [The American Conservative]. \u201ct is hardly news that homeschooling has taken off around the country, especially since Covid. Over the last year alone, according to the Census Bureau\u2019s Household Pulse Survey, the number of US homeschooled students has gone from 3.6 million to 4 million\u2014an 11 percent increase. Less well-known is the role America\u2019s churches have played in not only facilitating the spread of homeschooling but in helping to make it a far more collaborative and even highly structured activity. By providing groups of homeschool families with a space that goes largely unused during the week and a small supervisory staff, many parishes have successfully combined online curricula with an environment more typical of a conventional public or private school\u2026 Exactly how many churches across the country offer such organized forms of homeschooling is hard to say, because only Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Tennessee, and Washington explicitly grant area churches or parochial schools the right to supervise homeschoolers.\u201d \u2022 The least TAC could do is mention ventilation\u2026.<\/p>\n
News of the Wired<\/p>\n
I am not yet wired today.<\/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 MF:<\/p>\n
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MF writes: \u201cTimothy (?) backlit during the Golden Hour, Hudson Valley, NY.\u201d<\/p>\n
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