By Lambert Strether of Corrente.<\/p>\n
Bird Song of the Day<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Evening Grosbeak (type 3), Bourgo Home, Bayfield, Wisconsin, United States.<\/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
The Constitutional Order (Insurrection)<\/p>\n
\u201cGaetz, Stefanik offer resolution declaring Trump \u2018did not engage in insurrection’\u201d [The Hill]. \u201cReps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) unveiled a resolution Tuesday that declares former President Trump \u2018did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.\u2019 The resolution \u2014 which spans one page and has more than 60 GOP co-sponsors \u2014 comes as groups across the country try to disqualify Trump from appearing on their 2024 presidential election ballots on claims that he engaged in an insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol\u2026. \u2018If we\u2019re the purported victim, in Congress, and we\u2019re saying this was not an insurrection, I think that will hold a great deal of weight,\u2019 [Gaetz] added.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSen. J.D. Vance: Congress \u201cShould Have Fought\u201d Over Multiple Slates Of Electors In 2020\u2033 [RealClearPolitics]. Vance: \u201cDo I think there were problems in 2020? Yes, I do. Do I think it was a problem that big technology companies, working with the intelligence services, censored the presidential campaign of Donald Trump? Yes. Do I think it\u2019s a problem that Pennsylvania changed its balloting rules in the middle of the election season in a way that even some courts in Pennsylvania have said was illegal? Yes, I think these were problems, George, and I think there is a political solution to those problems. So, litigating which slate of electors were legitimate I think is fundamentally the political solution to the problems that existed in 2020. It\u2019s a reasonable debate to have. \u2026 If I had been vice president [musical interlude] I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there. That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, think had a lot of problems in 2020. I think that\u2019s what we should have done.\u201d \u2022 I do have a vague feeling that PA could have been a little whiffy; IIRC, the rules for ballot box drop-offs were changed under circumstances that gave rise to controversy. <\/p>\n
\u201cMeet the GOP insider leading the push to disqualify Trump in Colorado\u201d [Ivana Saric, Axios]. \u201cThe lead plaintiff in the lawsuit filed to keep Donald Trump off of Colorado\u2019s 2024 ballot is a 91-year-old fixture of the Colorado GOP\u2026. A staunch Republican, Anderson had a 19-year career as a Colorado legislator and was the first woman to serve as majority leader in both the state House and state Senate\u2026. Anderson told the Colorado Sun that she\u2019ll be watching the Supreme Court arguments closely and is hopeful a decision will be reached quickly. \u2018I\u2019m very happy I\u2019ve done it,\u2019 she said. \u2018It does take courage.’\u201d \u2022 I\u2019m feeling a little queasy about this narrative, which takes the focus off the NGOs driving the cases collectively, as lawfare. And Saric seems a curious choice for this beat. Also, although when \u201cmajority leader in both the state House and state Senate\u201d I\u2019m sure she was an insider, not now, not if she\u2019s a moderate who voted for third-party candidates in 2016 and 2020. <\/p>\n
Capitol Seizure<\/p>\n
\u201cFBI charged with Jan. 6 \u2018cover-up\u2019 in Ashli Babbitt shooting case\u201d [Washington Examiner]. \u201cIn its new FOIA suit, Judicial Watch said that not only has the FBI refused its two demands for files but that the law enforcement agency has also stiff-armed the Justice Department office that advocates FOIA compliance, the Office of Information Policy\u2026. In the wrongful death suit [brought by Aaron Babbitt and Judicial Watch] a new camera angle of the shooting was provided. The time-stamped video showed an unarmed Babbitt being pushed into the House Speaker\u2019s Lobby as Byrd raises his gun. After he shot, she fell back, bleeding from the shoulder and neck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden Administration<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind the border mess: Open GOP rebellion against McConnell\u201d [Politico]. \u201cTrump and Speaker Mike Johnson helped squash the border bill\u2019s prospects in the House while Ron Johnson, Lee, Cruz, Scott and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) pummeled it on TV and social media. The intensity of that assault turned many GOP senators sour on a border security deal that would have amounted to the most conservative immigration bill backed by a Democratic president in a generation \u2014 a bill they once said was the key to unlocking Ukraine aid. Though McConnell touted the work of Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and the bill\u2019s endorsement by the Border Patrol union, he conceded what was obvious by Monday night: This legislation is dead. \u2018The reason we ended up where we are is the members decided, since it was never going to become law, they didn\u2019t want to deal with it,\u2019 McConnell said in the interview. \u2018I don\u2019t know who is at fault here, in terms of trying to cast public blame.\u2019 At Tuesday\u2019s party meeting, Cruz told McConnell that the border deal was indefensible, while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) questioned why the GOP would walk away from it, according to two people familiar with the meeting. That followed a Monday evening private meeting where Johnson got into a near-shouting match with Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), one of several senators who has tried to rebut Trump\u2019s influence on the party.\u201d \u2022 It wouldn\u2019t have helped Biden anyhow; why wouldn\u2019t voters vote for a real Republican?<\/p>\n
For those curious about how conservatives see the failure of the deal\u2026 <\/p>\n
\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) February 7, 2024<\/p>\n
2024<\/p>\n
Less than a year to go!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201cTrump\u2019s legal battles are at a critical moment with major implications for the 2024 election\u201d [CNN]. \u201cThe collision between November\u2019s presidential election and Trump\u2019s extraordinary tangle of legal liabilities, trials, court appeals and tests of the rule of law is deepening as he tightens his grip on the Republican nomination. Several civil cases are moving toward their conclusions, with painful financial consequences for the ex-president. But there are growing signs that his delaying strategy, designed to postpone full accountability until after the election, could be working on several criminal fronts. And the nation\u2019s top judges and justices are now wrestling with the consequences of Trump\u2019s attempts to strain the guardrails of the political system to their limits. The resulting precedents will echo for as long as America remains a republic.\u201d \u2022 A good round-up, if you filter for the aghastitude.<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201cTrump plans to stay away from Supreme Court arguments after turning past court appearances into campaign stops\u201d [CNN]. \u201cOn Tuesday and Wednesday, lawyers and advisers for Trump are holding their first mock arguments to prepare to face the justices. The so-called \u201cmoot court arguments,\u201d a staple of Supreme Court advocacy, are just one aspect of Trump\u2019s more traditional approach to Thursday\u2019s case\u2026. Former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell will argue the case for Trump. This will be his sixth time arguing a case before the justices. He\u2019s also an accomplished legal scholar who has published numerous works of scholarship in law journals and written on issues at the heart of the case, including the 14th Amendment. Unlike many Trump lawyers, he has mostly worked in government and academia before opening his own firm in 2018. Longtime Trump lawyer David Warrington also has played a significant behind-the-scenes role to prepare for Thursday. Warrington does not have Supreme Court experience but has worked with the former president for years and \u201cunderstands how to get things done in Trump world,\u201d according to a source familiar with the matter. And John Sauer, the lawyer who argued Trump\u2019s immunity case before the DC Circuit, is expected to attend and participate in the moot courts this week in Washington, along with some of Trump\u2019s criminal defense lawyers and his close legal adviser Boris Epshteyn. The caliber of lawyers and their methodical approach to this case are a stark contrast to that of Trump\u2019s legal team in the recent trial in New York to determine damages owed to former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll for defamation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump (R): \u201cWhat Happens, Exactly, If Trump Is Sentenced to Prison?\u201d [Ankush Khardori, New York Magazine]. The lead: \u201cIn the moments after the verdict, Donald Trump would not be hauled off to prison right away. White-collar defendants are typically allowed to remain out on bail pending sentencing, which means, in the case of our former and maybe future commander-in-chief, that he could continue to campaign for president in the meantime. But let\u2019s game it out: If Trump is found guilty, how long till he has to put on an orange (or, as we\u2019ll learn, olive-green) jumpsuit?\u201d \u2022 The sheer thirst in this piece is overwhelming. It\u2019s like very high-class prison pornography.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Haley (R): \u201cNikki Haley loses to \u2018none of these candidates\u2019 option in Nevada primary\u201d [Washington Examiner]. \u201cWith 86% of the ballots tallied, \u201cnone of these candidates\u201d had 63% of the vote, while Haley had 31%, and former Vice President Mike Pence, who dropped out of the race last year, netted 4% of the vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Biden (D): The stupid! It b-u-u-r-r-r-r-n-n-n-n-n-s-s-s!<\/p>\n
You got it. <\/p>\n
\u2014 Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 6, 2024<\/p>\n
Mutually reinforcing hysteria about brown working class people at the Rio Grande, nothing about H1B\u2019s in Seattle and Palo Alto (\u201cThey\u2019re just like us!\u201d), and nothing, nothing at all, ever, about an asymptomatic, airborne Level Three Biohazard loose in the population, that\u2019s already killed a million people and looks likely to kill a few hundred thousand more. (Yes, I know the population at the border is more, er, diverse these days. But the clich\u00e9s are clich\u00e9s because they express certain truths.)<\/p>\n
Biden (D): \u201cCounterpoint: Bidenomics\u2019 rosy data vs. the price of Snickers bars\u201d [Bruce Yandle, Orlando Sentinel]. \u201cBy many indicators that matter to a lot of brilliant economists, industrialists, financial analysts and Democratic Party politicians, \u201cBidenomics\u201d is delivering the goods. But for rank-and-file voters, something is missing. Public sentiment about the economy has been rising lately, but it remains well below the pre-COVID years in respected measures like the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. The mood, it appears, fails to match the latest 2023 real GDP growth estimates, which came in at 2.5%. Clearly, there is a disconnect, and we shouldn\u2019t brush off the understanding of consumers who are more bothered by their job prospects or the prices of Snickers candy bars, ground beef or a tank of gas than they are impressed by Consumer Price Index trends. In fact, a closer look at the data reveals a picture more murky than rosy\u2026. Writing recently on the disconnect in economic perceptions, economist Paul Donovan argued that we need a \u201cSnickers bar index.\u201d If politicians want to know how consumers really feel, they need to shop regularly at a typical grocery store, keeping an eye on the changing prices of Snickers (candy went up about 13% last year), ground beef and a pound of coffee. People buy and consume these things frequently; few scan or even care about Department of Commerce reports.\u201d \u2022\u00a0I left out the part about Carl Jung on data v. understanding. A Mercatus Center dude quoting Carl Jung; that\u2019s a turn-up for the books!<\/p>\n
Biden (D): \u201cWhy Is Joe Biden So Unpopular?\u201d [Sean Trende, RealCalerPolitics]. \u201cGrowth is over 3%, unemployment is under 4%, and inflation has fallen from its peak. So why the seeming paradox of an unpopular president in a time of strong economic growth, especially when the strength of the economy is itself a traditional predictor of presidential job approval? There are two reasons. First, we ought not fall into the trap that many commentators \u2013 especially political scientists \u2013 fall into of economic reductionism. Yes, it is \u2018the economy stupid,\u2019 as the iconic sign hanging inside Bill Clinton\u2019s campaign headquarters famously reminded his staff in 1992. Less well-remembered, however, the sign also listed \u2018Change vs. more of the same\u2019 as the first principle of the campaign, with \u2018Don\u2019t forget healthcare\u2019 as an additional item. So people do care about the economy, but they also care about things ranging from the war raging in the Middle East to their overall perception of the president\u2026.. More importantly, commentators misunderstand the nature of inflation\u2026. First, inflation is never \u201ctransitory.\u201d Even after it is over, price levels rarely fall appreciably (indeed, deflation has its own problems). Consumers don\u2019t automatically reset their baseline. So even if prices are level (and there is still inflation in the U.S.; it is just the rate that has slowed), people are still surprised when they pay $2 per pound for chicken, comparing it to when chicken was $1.44 for a pound in 2021. Second, inflation is constantly in our face. Every time a consumer goes to the store and makes a purchase, they\u2019re reminded of the impact. This is true for gasoline, food, clothing \u2013 every commodity an individual consumes. That\u2019s not to say other indicators don\u2019t hurt; it\u2019s just to say they are not felt as often. It isn\u2019t just goods and services either. The main tool the Fed has to fight inflation \u2013 raising interest rates \u2013 has secondary and tertiary consequences\u2026. [F]or a society accustomed to using their houses as ATMs when interest rates were low, it\u2019s an unsettling change. For people who want to get into the housing market for the first time, it\u2019s an even bigger problem. Finally, and most insidiously, inflation affects everyone\u2026. Inflation hits you no matter what you\u2019re purchasing. If your idea of a night out is dinner at McDonald\u2019s, your extra value meals cost more. If your idea of a night out is Outback Steakhouse, prices were up by 5% in 2022 alone (though the beloved franchise has vowed to rein in price increases moving forward.) As for fine dining, my wife and I celebrated a special occasion at a fancy steakhouse in Ohio recently and shelled out around $80 per steak.\u201d \u2022\u00a0$80 for a steak? Yikes! Does this match reader experience?!<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Biden (D): \u201cBiden and the Democrats have a significant cash advantage\u201d [MSNBC]. \u201cBiden\u2019s main campaign committee started 2024 with about $46 million in cash on hand, significantly more than Trump\u2019s $33 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings. To be clear, Biden\u2019s lead over Trump isn\u2019t massive, and around the same point in the 2020 election cycle then-President Trump had a whopping $102.7 million in cash on hand. But there are a number of reasons that Biden\u2019s financial advantage may be particularly durable. While Biden isn\u2019t facing a significant challenger in the primaries, Trump will have to spend money in the GOP primaries to defeat former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley \u2014 who has a decent amount of cash on hand herself and could theoretically carry on for a while even if she continues to lose nominating contests. The bigger drain on Trump\u2019s war chest, though, is his vast array of legal entanglements. The Trump campaign and affiliated political action committees reportedly spent around $50 million on legal bills for Trump and his inner circle. These efforts will continue to be a drain on Trump\u2019s wallet, siphoning funds that would otherwise be spent on messaging, turnout and other campaign operations.\u201d Lawfare working as intended, then? More: \u201cSome \u2014 including my colleague Hayes Brown \u2014 would argue that Trump recoups some of his legal spending because his court appearances and his widely discussed legal arguments function as a kind of advertising for his presidential campaign and a way to boost his coffers. There\u2019s some truth to that. But Trump\u2019s ability to capitalize on his legal woes is waning: A new Reuters report shows that whereas his main fundraising group was once able to raise up to $4 million in a day around court appearances, by the end of last year those fundraising hauls sank to close to Trump\u2019s overall daily fundraising average of $300,000.\u201d \u2022 That should change when the cases begin; it\u2019s interesting to think that Trump\u2019s strategy of delay on the court cases might lead to a massive infusion of cash later in the election.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy A Second Trump-Biden Matchup Won\u2019t Be A Rerun Of The 2020 Election\u201d [HuffPo]. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to overlook the ways in which Biden-Trump 2.0 would be dramatically different from the first time around\u2026. Back in 2020, the campaign took place right as COVID-19 was first spreading, creating a[n ongoing] once-in-a-lifetime [we hope] public health crisis. This election is unfolding amid a pair of violent international crises, the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The main economic challenge in 2020 was to prop up the economy as the pandemic threatened to shut it down. Today, the main challenge with the economy is to keep it running without letting it overheat. Violent crime is now going down instead of up. Illegal border crossings are going up instead of down. And of course, in 2020, abortion was still a right throughout the U.S., albeit with restrictions. Now it exists only in some states, and is under threat in others. But there\u2019s another, less obvious difference between 2020 and 2024, and it might matter even more. Today, we know a great deal more about the two men who are likely to appear on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocratic and Republican elites fear RFK Jr.\u2019s growing path to victory\u201d [The Hill]. \u201c34. That may very well become the symbolic magic number in the November presidential election. In what is shaping up to be a three-person contest between President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the question becomes: Which candidate can garner 34 percent of the popular vote or higher?\u2026 [B]y becoming the standard-bearer for the Libertarian Party, Kennedy would be significantly more likely to get on state ballots, including key battleground states\u2026 All of that hints at a very interesting political and electoral possibility. What if Kennedy \u2014 who \u201chas no chance\u201d and is only going to serve as a \u201cspoiler\u201d \u2014 not only runs on the Libertarian Party ticket and gets on key swing state ballots but continues to peel off more and more young and independent voters with a smattering of dissatisfied Democrats and Republicans? Some polls have already shown Kennedy at about 21 percent of the popular vote. With just over nine months to go before the election, what if he grows his support at just over 1 percent per month? Impossible?\u201d \u2022 Gotta brush up on what happens if an election is thrown to the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cThird-party candidates could win Trump the White House again\u201d [Unherd]. \u201cBiden is six points ahead of Trump in a two-way national race, but the addition of RFK Jr., Stein and West reduces his lead to just two points in a separate Quinnipiac poll. Kennedy takes the lion\u2019s share of third-party votes, 21%, compared to West and Stein\u2019s 3% and 2%. December polling indicates that a three-way race involving RFK boosts Trump by five points, and it can safely be assumed that Stein and West primarily win votes from would-be Biden supporters. \u2026 Any impact of third-party candidates in heavily blue or red states would not bridge the massive margins that Joe Biden or Trump are projected to win in those states \u2014 only influence in swing states meaningfully impacts the election. \u201d \u2022 Handy chart:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Trump-states_2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
That \u201cthree-way\u201d locution is extremely unfortunate\u2026.<\/p>\n
Spook Country<\/p>\n
Democrats en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/p>\n
One of my favorite accounts, from Black Twitter days:<\/p>\n
Why should anyone reelect a political loser? If a regular person got hired to drive a specific bus route, but they never did it because of their inability to adjust to traffic they\u2019d be fired and rightfully so. But somehow we gotta keep voting for ineffective politicians? \ud83e\udd74<\/p>\n
\u2014 AshleyStevens (@The_Acumen) February 5, 2024<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal\u2019s campaign make up dozens of false news stories?\u201d [Philadelphia Inquirer]. \u201cRochelle Bilal ran for Philadelphia sheriff as a reformer in 2019, pledging to clean up an office long plagued by corruption, controversy, and financial irregularities so extensive that they gave accountants actual nightmares. Her first term in office has been bumpy, to put it mildly, as she has dealt with everything from whistle-blower lawsuits to a broken tax-sale system. But Bilal has been telling a different story on her campaign website. It features dozens of favorable headlines attributed to local news organizations such as NBC10, CBS3, WHYY, and The Inquirer, all listing the dates of publication. \u2018This page,\u2019 the site proclaims, \u2018highlights Sheriff Bilal\u2019s record of accomplishment during her time in office.\u2019 One snag: No one can seem to find any of the supposed news stories\u2026. By Friday morning, the link to the 31 phantom news headlines had been removed from Bilal\u2019s main campaign site\u2026. Reaction from communications ethicists and media studies experts ranged from \u2018nutty\u2019 and \u2018really odd\u2019 to \u2018brazen\u2019 and \u2018outrageous.\u2019 One theory: Maybe a campaign staffer used an AI chatbot to generate headlines about the sheriff.\u201d \u2022 Oops. Makes me wonder what else we\u2019ve missed\u2026.<\/p>\n
#COVID19<\/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
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, 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
Maskstravaganza<\/p>\n
\u201cNot wearing a mask during COVID-19 health emergency isn\u2019t a free speech right, appeals court says\u201d [Associated Press]. \u201c\u2018A question shadowing suits such as these is whether there is a First Amendment right to refuse to wear a protective mask as required by valid health and safety orders put in place during a recognized public health emergency. Like all courts to address this issue, we conclude there is not,\u2019 the court said.\u201d \u2022 What a shame. \u201cThe right to infect others shall not be infringed.\u201d <\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
\u201cPhil Hellmuth Wants Ike Haxton to Take Off the Facemask: \u2018This Isn\u2019t Online Poker’\u201d [Poker News]. \u201c\u2018No one should be able to cover their face, unless you use your own hands to do it. This isn\u2019t online poker. \u2018Tells\u2019 matter in live poker: it is a skill to hide your tells and another skill to read your opponent\u2019s tells,\u2019 Hellmuth wrote\u2026. \u2018When there\u2019s six people left in a tournament, you don\u2019t have any real concerns of COVID,\u2019 Hellmuth continued.\u201d Dear Lord. No, #CovidIsAirborne, and moves like smoke through the entire facility. Anyhow, the obvious solution is to mandate universal masking.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpinion: Hellmuth Should Walk Back His Comments About Ike Haxton\u2019s Mask-Wearing\u201d [Vegas Slots Online]. \u201cTaking a bizarre shot against players who choose to wear a mask at the table, Hellmuth proclaimed that \u2018no one should be able to cover their face\u2019 at the poker table. He singled out Haxton as someone who he claims gains an advantage over his opponents by wearing a mask. It was a puerile take backed up by weak arguments about the importance of live tells. Haxton doesn\u2019t wear a balaclava. He wears N95 Respirators and similar quality medical masks that provide respiratory protection to the wearer by very effectively filtering airborne particles. Hellmuth questioning his motivation is asinine and as Haxton rightly points out, poker writers that \u2018both sides\u2019 this story should be ashamed of themselves.\u201d \u2022 Masks don\u2019t \u201ccover the face,\u201d since our eyes \u2014 the windows of the soul \u2014 aren\u2019t covered (at least by a respirator; we\u2019re not going all Darth Vader here). Is Hellmuth really saying that eyes give no tells? And how come \u201cnobody should be able to infect anyone else with an asymptomatic, airborne Level Three Biohazard\u201d part of the discussion?<\/p>\n
Vaccines<\/p>\n
A good question:<\/p>\n
They tweeted about it <\/p>\n
\u2014 Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) February 7, 2024<\/p>\n
Eliminate the \u201csterilizing\u201d part, and capitalism will swing into action. A subscription-based nasal vaccine business model would be a surefire winner!<\/p>\n
Sequelae<\/p>\n
The labor market would like a word:<\/p>\n
After the delta & 1st omicron surge in the US, my lab had to abandon cognitive screenings (memory) to assess study eligibility because tasks like subtracting 7 from 100 (93\u202686\u202679) was a barrier for COLLEGE students to enter. Of those who passed, most couldn\u2019t perform the nBack. <\/p>\n
\u2014 Dr. Sean Mullen (@drseanmullen) February 7, 2024<\/p>\n
\u201cDang. I know I put those bolts somewhere!\u201d<\/p>\n
Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n
I guess I have to follow US Right to Know more closely, because here they\u2019re doing the Lord\u2019s Work on airborne transmission:<\/p>\n
\n
\u2014 Jim Haslam (@jhas5) February 7, 2024<\/p>\n
Shorter: They knew. (Munster claims priority on #CovidIsAirborne as of February 20, 2020 \u2014 how long ago but Xi told Trump the same thing on February 7, according to Woodward.)<\/p>\n
\u201cMeasles has exploded in Europe. Clinicians say it\u2019s only a matter of time before outbreaks hit Canada\u201d [CBC]. It\u2019s almost as if there\u2019s a common thread here, all these contagious diseases so suddenly. Anyhow: \u201cBut measles is exceptionally contagious. \u2018Normally we think that, as long as somebody doesn\u2019t cough in our face \u2026 or shake our hand with their, you know, snotty hand, we will be OK, right? \u2018 [Dr. Jeffrey Pernica, division head of infectious diseases at McMaster Children\u2019s Hospital] said. \u2018That is sort of the rule for most respiratory viruses.’\u201d \u2022 What is it with hospital infectioon control? <\/p>\n
One more reason to avoid air travel:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/airline_travel.png\")
<\/p>\n
What will they do? Eject passengers who care them?<\/p>\n
\u201cLong COVID research goes private\u201d [National Public Radio]. \u201cProal doesn\u2019t work for the government or a university. She runs a nonprofit called PolyBio Research Foundation. It\u2019s funding much of this cutting-edge work thanks to $30 million donated by a Russian Canadian billionaire from the world of crypto.\u201d \u2022 [bangs head on desk]. <\/p>\n
* * *<\/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] Yes, up, but we\u2019ll want to wait until next week to see if there are backward revisions. I\u2019d be more comfortable if some positivity figures were up, too, or the ER (UPDATE: It\u2019s not). Verily data, FWIW, also suggests an increase:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/covid-verily-cases-national.png\")
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[2] Biobot data suggests a rise in the Northeast. MRWA data does not suggest that:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/covid-mwra-cases-ma.png\")
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I also tried Verily\u2019s regional data and CDC\u2019s mapm but I wasn\u2019t confident I was seeing a signal in either.<\/p>\n
[3] \u201cAs of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.\u201d \u201cBiweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.\u201d Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they\u2019re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.<\/p>\n
[4] Does not support Biobot data. \u201cCharts and data provided by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the past year, using a rolling 52-week period.\u201d So not the entire pandemic, FFS (the implicit message here being that Covid is \u201cjust like the flu,\u201d which is why the seasonal \u201crolling 52-week period\u201d is appropriate for bothMR SUBLIMINAL I hate these people so much. Notice also that this chart shows, at least for its time period, that Covid is not seasonal, even though CDC is trying to get us to believe that it is, presumably so they can piggyback on the existing institutional apparatus for injections. And of course, we\u2019re not even getting into the quality of the wastewater sites that we have as a proxy for Covid infection overall.<\/p>\n
[5] Decrease for the city no longer aligns with wastewater data (if indeed Biobot\u2019s spike is real).<\/p>\n
[6] Still down \u201cMaps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET\u2020\u201d. <\/p>\n
[7] It would be interesting to survey this population generally; these are people who, despite a tsunami of official propaganda and enormous peer pressure, went and got tested anyhow.<\/p>\n
[8] Lambert here: Percentage and absolute numbers down.<\/p>\n
[9] Up, albeit in the rear view mirror.<\/p>\n
Stats Watch<\/p>\n
Supply Chain: \u201cUnited States LMI Logistics Managers Index Current\u201d [Trading Economics]. \u201cThe Logistics Manager\u2019s Index in the US increased to 55.6 in January 2024, the highest in three months, from 50.6 in December. For the first time since September 2019, every metric is in expansion territory, led by an increase in the restocking of inventories (52.8 vs 44.3), especially for retailers, after a busy holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tech: \u201c\u201dWherever you get your podcasts\u201d is a radical statement\u201d [Anil Dash]. Late to the party, but a welcome guest. \u201c[B]eing able to say, \u201cwherever you get your podcasts\u201d is a radical statement. Because what it represents is the triumph of exactly the kind of technology that\u2019s supposed to be impossible: open, empowering tech that\u2019s not owned by any one company, that can\u2019t be controlled by any one company, and that allows people to have ownership over their work and their relationship with their audience. See, podcasting as a technology grew out of the early era of the social web, when the norms of technology creators were that they were expected to create open systems, which interoperated with tools by other creators and even other companies. This was based on the successes of earlier generations of the internet, like email and even the web itself. Podcasting was basically the last such invention to become mainstream, with millions of people listening every day, and countless people able to create in the medium. And of course, it creates tons of oppportunities for businesses too, whether it\u2019s people making amazing podcasts like Roman Mars does, or giants like Apple or Spotify building businesses around the medium. Contrast this to other media formats online, like YouTube or Tiktok or Twitch, which don\u2019t rely on open systems, and are wholly owned by individual tech companies. On those platforms, creators are constantly chasing the latest algorithmic shifts, and are subject to the whims of advertising algorithms that are completely opaque. If a creator gets fed up enough to want to leave a platform, they\u2019re stuck \u2014 those viewers or listeners are tied to the company that hosts the content. But in the podcasting world, creators can (assuming they work out the business deals necessary to do so) actually take their ball and go home, because the underlying \u2018feed\u2019 \u2014 the special file that podcasting apps look at to know when there\u2019s a new episode \u2014 is something they can actually move over to a new system or a new host, without losing all their subscribers or followers. Indeed, this idea of having a \u2018portable\u2019 audience is so appealing that it\u2019s even been revived in the new wave of open format-based social networks that have arisen.\u201d \u2022 What the blogosphere used to be before the Robber Barons of Silicon Valley took over. Should be \u201csocial [inter]media[tion].\u201d That way the rental extraction part \u2014 the flip side of which is the censorship part, that being the social media side hustle \u2014 gets neatly erased.<\/p>\n
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Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 74 Greed (previous close: 73 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 65 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 6 at 2:26:21 PM ET. <\/p>\n
The Gallery<\/p>\n
\u201cThirteen Ways of Looking at Art\u201d [William Deresiewicz, Salmagundi]. \u201cArt is for increasing life. That, I believe, after all the other purposes receive their due, is really what it\u2019s for\u2014why we revere it, why we give our hearts to it. What do I mean by increasing life? How can we live more, given that we can\u2019t live longer? Through attention and intensity. Being fully present to the world, and feeling without reservation: the two things that making art requires and that experiencing it involves. \u201cBeing in love,\u201d Tim Kreider writes, \u201cis one of the only times when life is anything like art,\u201d but the reverse is also true. Art is one of the only times when life is anything like being in love. Attention, intensity. It is also one of the only times when waking life is anything like dreaming. I awaken from a dream, from its saturation of meaning and feeling, its world of color and complete fulfillment, its crowd of presences, of distant friends, old lovers, dead parents, to the drabness of quotidian life, to the narrowness of my existence, to my same old dismal self. Oh yeah, it\u2019s me again. How can I regain that paradise, which was here just a moment ago? Only through art: through music, through story, through the alchemy of verse. I was listening to Abbey Road the other day. Somewhere between \u201cYou Never Give Me Your Money\u201d and \u201cGolden Slumbers,\u201d I finally understood Nabokov\u2019s definition of aesthetic bliss: \u201ca sense of being somehow, somewhere, connected with other states of being where art (curiosity, tenderness, kindness, ecstasy) is the norm.\u201d It is in this respect, and this one only, that art is utopian\u2026.\u201d \u2022 \u201cArt is for\u201d used as anaphora\u2026. (Source of the \u201cThirteen Ways\u201d trope.)<\/p>\n
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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 BB:<\/p>\n
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BB writes: \u201cThis dahlia plant was seeded indoors in mid-April then transplanted outdoors; where it survived the munching rabbits. Then, after surviving a few light frosts, the dahlia plant finally bloomed late in the season.\u201d Too all late bloomers everywhere\u2026.<\/p>\n
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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 five or ten 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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If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!<\/p>\n
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