By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Patient readers, this Water Cooler is a little bit light, but I am commanded elsewhere. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Peaceful Dove, Sturt National Park–Mount Wood Homestead and Campground, Northwestern NSW, New South Wales, Australia
Politics
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
The Constitutional Order
“Trump’s Legal Arguments Are Getting Increasingly Embarrassing” [Slate]. “On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump’s attorneys tried to convince a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that their client is entitled to ‘absolute immunity’ from criminal prosecution for the actions he took while in office related to Jan. 6 and his efforts to steal the 2020 election…. During Tuesday’s arguments, the D.C. Circuit panel consistently pointed to the horrific implications of Trump’s immunity argument. If Trump’s argument holds, that also means that a president could take bribes to issue pardons, sell military secrets to America’s enemies, or order a military assassination of a political rival and never face prosecution—just so long as he left office before being impeached and convicted. As Judge Karen L. Henderson, a Republican appointee who has sided with Trump allies in previous cases involving the former president, put it: ‘I think it’s paradoxical to say that [a president’s] constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal laws.’ Principally at issue in the case is whether or not the president has absolute immunity from prosecution for allegedly criminal actions if he insists those actions were taken as part of his official duties. His team allows that under this wild interpretation of presidential immunity, the only opportunity for consequences is if the president is impeached and convicted for the conduct in question.” • Sounds horrible, or would if Bush hadn’t been granted retroactive immunity by Congress for his illegal program of warrantless surveillance. Or Obama, for al-Awlaki père et fils.
“Will the Supreme Court Keep Trump off the Ballot?” [Jason L. Riley, Wall Street Journal]. “No matter how the justices rule, millions of voters already have determined that the courts are playing an unwelcome role in the 2024 election. They believe that President Biden’s Justice Department has been loosed to go after his likely opponent in November. And they believe state efforts to keep Mr. Trump off the ballot are the backup plan. None of this is good for our democracy.”
Biden Administration
“Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s mysterious absence, explained” [Vox]. “The secretary was hospitalized and placed in intensive care on January 1, but the public wasn’t informed until three days later — and, even more surprisingly, neither was Austin’s ultimate boss, President Joe Biden….. The most straightforward explanation for what happened is simple confusion resulting from the fact that Austin’s chief of staff was ill and his deputy was on vacation at th]\e same time he was hospitalized.”
“Hospitalisation of US defence chief Lloyd Austin came after cancer surgery complications” [Financial Times]. “Austin had temporarily delegated some of his responsibilities to his deputy defence secretary Kathleen Hicks but resumed them on Friday from Walter Reed. Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, had blamed the communications breakdown in part on Austin’s chief of staff Kelly Magsamen, who was out for much of last week with the flu.” • “The flu,” eh?
“Lloyd Austin’s mistake should be career-ending” [The Spectator]. “The disappearance of defense secretary Lloyd Austin for a few days without notifying the White House, or even the second in command at the Pentagon, is more than a one- or two-day story…. Let’s start with the problem for the military. It is absolutely essential that the military have a clear chain of command that is clearly specified and operational at all times…. When the secretary of defense goes AWOL, that chain of command is severed. The severance appeared to be even more severe because the second in command to Secretary Austin was herself on vacation…. When the secretary of defense goes AWOL, that chain of command is severed. The severance appeared to be even more severe because the second in command to Secretary Austin was herself on vacation.”
“Calls for Defense Secretary Austin to Resign Are Attacks on Black Success” [Newsweek]. “Neither the White House, nor key Pentagon officials were informed of Austin’s hospitalization until three days after he checked in. Austin, a decorated military leader known for following orders as well as giving them, was faced with a life altering health scare and he sought and received treatment. That’s the story… For Austin’s part, he made sure that his second in command, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was informed, even if she was on vacation. This is much ado about nothing.”
“‘Reckless and irresponsible’: Pentagon officials reel from news Austin kept cancer diagnosis quiet” [Politico]. “Stunned Defense Department officials struggled on Tuesday to digest the news that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and kept it a secret for weeks…. POLITICO spoke to five officials in the Pentagon and administration, as well as two former officials, all of whom were granted anonymity to give candid reactions to the disclosures. They said they are sympathetic to Austin’s desire for privacy, but confused as to why he kept his diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization from his own staff and top Pentagon leaders. And some are incensed that Austin withheld his cancer diagnosis from President Joe Biden until Tuesday, weeks after Austin learned of his condition in an early December prostate screening.”
2024
Less than a year to go!
* * * “Editorial: Better that voters reject Trumpism than judges do it for them. But Trump makes that case hard to argue” [Chicago Tribune]. “Unlike the previous two times Trump ran for the highest office in the land, he’s apparently refusing this time around to sign a customary pledge in Illinois to refrain from urging the overthrow of the government. The story, broken by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, highlights a peculiar vestige of the McCarthy era. Illinois at that time began asking those running for office to sign this loyalty oath. The courts since have ruled the pledge an unconstitutional infringement on free speech, but the state has continued to ask candidates to sign it voluntarily. Other candidates, including Florida’s Ron DeSantis, have made that simple pledge. That Trump has done an about-face is cause for concern on how he will react if he wins the nomination but loses again in the general election.”
“Donald Trump didn’t sign Illinois loyalty oath that pledges he won’t advocate overthrow of government” [USA Today]. “‘Donald Trump can’t bring himself to sign a piece of paper saying he won’t attempt a coup to overthrow our government,’ said Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden campaign, in a statement Saturday. ‘We know he’s deadly serious, because three years ago today he tried and failed to do exactly that.’… The Trump campaign did not explain why the candidate did not sign the oath, but instead issued a statement predicting the former president would defeat Biden at the polls.”
* * * “Hunter Biden unexpectedly shows up at his House contempt hearing” [Axios]. “Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday geared towards holding him in contempt of Congress…. The committee is trying to hold the president’s son in contempt for refusing to testify at a closed-door deposition last month as part of their impeachment proceedings against President Biden… Hunter Biden walked into the hearing room Wednesday with his attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Kevin Morris, shortly after Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) gave his opening statement…. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) pointedly asked [Chair James Comer (R-Ky.)] to recite committee rules around depositions, including that a stenographer must be present and that members be given three days’ notice. ‘So, just to clarify, we can’t have someone just walk in,’ Greene responded.” • A stunt.
“Hunter’s Art Dealer Contradicts White House Claims Over Art Sales” [Jonathan Turley]. “Likewise, [Georges Bergès, Hunter Biden’s art gallerist] admitted that most of the art was actually purchased by lawyer Kevin Morris, who has reportedly given Hunter millions to cover unpaid taxes and expenses. So, as media was reporting how Hunter’s art was being eagerly purchased by art lovers, it appears to have been an illusion. It was Morris, and he only paid Bergès’ 40% commission on the $875,000 purchases. Bergès admits that he has never seen a deal where the purchaser just paid his commission…. The art sales were portrayed as a way for Hunter to support himself in a new (and successful) emergence as an artist. The Independent gushed how buyers were ‘floored’ by Hunter’s talent and eagerly flocked to the shows. However, it was largely Morris according to Bergès. So Hunter sent the art to New York and the press played up his success as an artist. Morris then bought most of the art and just paid Bergès his fee. The public was then left with the impression that Hunter was not only a successful artist, but supporting himself. Bergès knew that. Morris knew that. And, more importantly, Hunter knew that.”
* * * “Why Haley Won’t Break Through” [Politico]. “Nikki Haley’s Tuesday rally outside Des Moines was a fittingly pedestrian event in this desultory excuse of a presidential primary. Haley delivered a 15-minute stump speech with the precise same words and intonations of her every public appearance, took no questions from voters before posing for pictures with them and then conducted a Fox News interview beneath the overhang of an Irish pub while ignoring her travelling press corps, who stood without cover in the wind and snow. It was the cautious performance of a frontrunner, not that of a candidate lagging by double-digits with less than a week before the Iowa caucuses. Which is to say it was typical of her events and altogether reflective of an oddly bifurcated campaign in which Donald Trump is the dominant frontrunner but his two leading opponents are competing against one another as though they’re still in the before times… The most memorable feature of Haley’s otherwise forgettable gathering was not what she said but the nature of her audience — and how it explains why Trump is poised to win overwhelmingly in Iowa on Monday but will face the same general election challenges in 2024 he did in 2020. I struggled to find a single attendee in the suburban strip mall tavern who was not a college graduate. Similarly, the day before, I couldn’t find a Haley admirer who showed up to see her in Sioux City who was not also a college graduate.”
* * * NH: “Secretary of interior announces salt marsh preservation funds in New Hampshire visit” [WMUR]. “Recent and upcoming visits from White House officials: Dec. 8: Administrator of the Small Business Administration Isabel Guzman, Dec. 11: Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Dec. 18: U.S. Trade Rep Katherine Tai, Jan. 4: Arati Prabhakar, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Danielle Carnival, OSTP deputy director for health outcomes, Jan. 4: Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Tom Perez and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson, Jan. 8: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Jan. 8: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Jan. 9: Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Jan. 10: Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Jan. 12: Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.”
IA: “Opinion: Iowa may decide if there’s a GOP alternative to Trump” [David Axelrod, CNN]. “For DeSantis — once considered Trump’s most challenging opponent — Iowa has become a matter of political survival. He and his aligned super PACs have spent tens of millions on the air and the ground in Iowa, hoping to break through there. A third-place finish in Iowa would almost certainly mean a one-way ticket back to Tallahassee for the Florida governor. For Haley, who focused more of her time and resources on New Hampshire at the beginning of the race, Iowa has become an opportunity to build momentum. Second place there would likely further shrink the field and give her more octane leading into the January 23 primary in New Hampshire. A CNN poll released Monday shows her narrowing the gap with Trump in New Hampshire, trimming his lead to single digits.”
#COVID19
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
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 “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
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’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 (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
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).
Stay safe out there!
Look for the Helpers
“How to Organise A Covid Safe event” [Lev Konstantinovskiy, Google Docs]. “It is ‘good cop’ activism. Instead of raising fear, just model correct use of the tools of protection. There is a need for the warnings of course – and there are good people doing that already. I want to show how easy and affordable it is to organise in-person fun events where no one gets covid. A shared covid safe public social space, where an immuno-compromised person can meet someone who lives with a non-masking teenage child. I would like to make a new poster of masked people having great fun together. ‘Having fun doesn’t kill people. Greed and indifference do.” • Looks really good and systematic.
Maskstravaganza
Having conversation:
Oh, ALSO, convo began because he said, "Guess what? Average human life spans declined last year!" I told him they had for four years running, and then we were off.
— Eaton Hamilton (@eatonhamilton) January 9, 2024
Sequelae
“Muscle abnormalities worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID” [Nature]. “In conclusion, this study reveals that local and systemic metabolic disturbances, severe exercise-induced myopathy, infiltration of amyloid-containing deposits, and immune cells in skeletal muscles of long COVID are key characteristics of post-exertional malaise. While these explain the symptomatology of post-exertional malaise in long COVID, the molecular pathways underlying these alterations in patients suffering from post-exertional malaise remain to be determined.”
Case Data
NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater data, January 9:
Lambert here #1: Still going up. As a totally “gut feel” tapewatcher, I would expect this peak to meet or exceed the two previous Biden peaks; after all, we haven’t really begun the next bout of holiday travel, or the next rounds of superspreading events celebrations. Plus students haven’t come from from school, and then returned. So a higher peak seems pretty much “baked in.” And that’s before we get to new variants, like JN.1. The real thing to watch is the slope of the curve. If it starts to go vertical, and if it keeps on doing so, then hold onto your hats.
Lambert here #2: Called it. Impressively, the Biden administration has now blown through all previous records, with the single exception of the Omicron, the top of the leaderboard, a record also set by itself. Congratulations to the Biden team! I know a lot of people think the peak will come in the next two weeks or so; I’d like to hear at least some anecdotal evidence of that beyond the models (because recall JN.1, whose peak this is, is extremely infectious).
Lambert here #3: Slight decrease in slope, due to the Northeast and the West (unless it’s a data issue). Personally, I wouldn’t call a peak, based entirely on the anecdotes I’m scrolling through, which are not encouraging, particularly with regard to the schools. (To be fair, the MWRA chart shows a slight drop, too.) Very unscientific, I agree! Let’s wait and see. Note that I don’t accept the PMC “homework” model, whose most famous exponent is Sociopath of the Day Bob Wachter, where you adjust your behavior according to the (horrible, gappy, lagged) data about infection levels (ignoring “risk of ruin”). Just stick with your protocol day in and day out. K.I.S.S. However, tracking these trends, besides having intrinsic interest, is pragmatically useful for major decisions, like travel, cruises (surely not, readers), relocation, family events, communication with recalcitrant HCWs, etc.
Regional data:
Regional bifurcation continues. The slope of the curve in the Northeast got less steep, which is good news (although, as ever, Biobot data is subject to backward revision).
Variants
NOT UPDATED From CDC, January 6:
Lambert here: JN.1 now dominates. That was fast.
CDC: “As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.” Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.
Covid Emergency Room Visits
From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, January 6:
Lambert: Down, but New Year’s reporting?
NOTE “Charts and data provided by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the past year, using a rolling 52-week period.” So not the entire pandemic, FFS (the implicit message here being that Covid is “just like the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week period” 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’re not even getting into the quality of the wastewater sites that we have as a proxy for Covid infection overall.
Hospitalization
Bellwether New York City, data as of January 10:
Lambert here: I like the slope of that curve even less, and we’re approaching previous peak levels (granted, not 2020 or 2022, but respectable).
NOT UPDATED Here’s a different CDC visualization on hospitalization, nationwide, not by state, but with a date, at least. December 30:
Moving ahead briskly!
Lambert here: “Maps, 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†”. So where the heck is the update, CDC?
Positivity
From Walgreens, January 8:
0.5%. Up. (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.)
From Cleveland Clinic, January 6:
Lambert here: Percentage and absolute numbers down.
NOT UPDATED From CDC, traveler’s data, December 18:
Down, albeit in the rear view mirror. And here are the variants for travelers, December 18:
Note the chart has been revised to reflect that JN.1 is BA.2.86.1 (the numbers “roll over”).
Deaths
NOT UPDATED Here is the New York Times, based on CDC data, December 30:
Stats Watch
There are no offical statistics of interest today.
Manufacturing: “737 incidents prompt new scrutiny at Boeing” [Leeham News and Analysis]. “[W]e have the Jan. 5 incident on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 in which an emergency exit plug door blew off the airplane at 16,500 ft. This may indicate another quality assurance failure at either Boeing or Spirit AeroSystems…. We don’t know if this is a Boeing problem, a Spirit problem, a bolt manufacturer problem, or an Alaska Airlines problem. It’s way too soon in the investigation to draw conclusions. Certainly, because it’s Boeing’s name on the airplane, and especially given the MAX history, people are jumping to the conclusion that Boeing screwed up again. While this may ultimately prove true, LNA is not at all prepared to conclude today that this is the case.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 75 Extreme Greed (previous close: 73 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 75 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jan 10 at 1:36:18 PM ET.
News of the Wired
“The Youth Mental Health Crisis is International, Unless You Rely on a Flawed International Dataset” [After Babel]. “A recent paper by Matti Vuorre and Andrew Przybylski garnered a fair amount of attention for its claim that, at a global level, they can’t find evidence linking an increase in youth mental illness to the arrival of the internet or mobile broadband adoption…. As we read the Vuorre paper, we noted that it relied heavily on a particular dataset for its measures of youth mental health – a dataset called the Global Burden of Disease study. Relying on that study, they report that there actually has not been much of an increase in youth mental illness in the past 15 years, but this also contradicts our findings. Again, what gives?
We decided to see for ourselves whether the GBD study is reliable. It is not, as Zach shows below. It fails to detect known rises in depression, self-harm, and suicide, in countries like the U.S. the UK, and Australia, where there is excellent data. Therefore the GBD cannot be used to evaluate whether the arrival of the internet had any effects on youth mental health.” And: “I will show that the GBD—in every case that I looked at—systematically and substantially underestimates official statistics, and fails to detect the large increases that happened in the 2010s. Therefore the GBD should not be used when trying to understand changes in youth mental health or the causes of those changes.” • Yikes!
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 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 TH:
TH writes: “The flowers look like daisies to me, but I’m not positive they are. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this particular version where the p[lant is a perfect ball of dense blooms. This is landscaping at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA.”
• Kind readers, I think I’m OK on plants for awhile, though it never hurts to have more!
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The plantidote is a potted mum. You can prune them into tight little balls like that at home, but one seldom actually does it because of the time and the immense amounts of fertilizer and watering required. Much easier to do in a nursery, where I suspect they got that one from.
It’s in the Daisy family, to be fair (Asteraceae, formerly Compositae). The ones in the back are Marigolds (tagetes). Not to be confused with Marigolds (calendula). They are all in the Daisy family to tell the truth. It’s a big club.
Absolutely right, it is a huge family. When I think of a daisy it looks like this…
https://www.americanmeadows.com/product/perennials/shasta-daisy-snowcap?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnfmsBhDfARIsAM7MKi2VfXHIn9IJ-Xy6BCZfX84eNgGF3PlGxdDGe6Hm-L_BAHKhbb_82QkaAiOOEALw_wcB
or, when pruned into a ball, like this.
https://www.jacksonandperkins.com/leucanthemum-whoops-a-daisy/p/38235/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAnfmsBhDfARIsAM7MKi3NhettdZFHJH25-4mktRgQ1LYf9lbiG4FTqB-Q37DAxonOFqq7IowaAv8dEALw_wcB
You just don’t see native daisies without their landing pads for pollinators.
Here in Middle Tennessee mums like the one in the photo are all the rage in early autumn. A local nursery, now defunct, used to offer these large potted ones in various colors. I was told by the nurseryman that there no longer is any human pruning needed to achieve the look. They are bred to produce the tight ball .
> The plantidote is a potted mum
Keep my mother out of this.
Odious as she is, Haley is doing exactly what she should under the circumstances – make as few mistakes as possible and hope that the Team R nomination falls into her lap as a result of one or more of the following:
* Trump scandal/mistake
* Trump imprisonment/removal from ballot
* Liberals desperate to preserve empire
Basically, there is little or nothing Haley can herself do at this time to secure the nomination, but there are external circumstances that can put the nomination in reach, so she wants to avoid making mistakes.
She just has to be there and keep the Deep State happy.
And keep her seat on the Boeing board of directors.
Updating on that giant sucking sound that Ross Perot warned about.
Maybe she could end up running against Kamala Harris?, a woman who grew up in Canada after the third grade, is 1/8 black, descended from Irish Jamaican slave owners, but who claims to be 50% black, and an East Asian, versus Nimarata Randhawa, who is a true East Asian by parentage.
https://people.com/all-about-nikki-haley-family-7965486
See fifth image in this page :
I’m sure Middle America will vote for this: :-)
Axtually, Kamala Harris is the Haley prototype. Both have gotten to where they are by their willingness to do whatever it takes to get ahead, to the point where the only thing they can do to advance any further is to wait and not screw up.
Nikki Haley is no longer on Boeing’s Board of Directors:
https://www.boeing.com/company/general-info/corporate-governance.page
There is a Harris on the board, but it ain’t Kamala (guess she wouldn’t be allowed anyway).
A bit off topic from the thread theme and late to reply but it reminded me…
Ross Perot’s 1992 comment on NAFTA
“giant sucking sound”
gave us one of my favorite cartoons.
It must have been Far Side by Gary Larson
Searching tonight, best version I could find was #6 on this page
https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/n/nafta.asp
I agree with you. They say that 90% of life is simply showing up, so Haley need only keep showing up and she may yet win. And bigly too!
Imagine a debate between word salad H1 and babblegab H2.
First up, word salad Harris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jc-kL22fQU
Next up, bafflegab Haley:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4guzMmLK7o
Sure, it would be comic. But the winner of that election would still be the president.
Yes, both Harris and Haley are particularly shameless in their utter lack of principles. But pointing this basic fact out does nothing to stop them. Just as the political class in general are mendacious, stupid, grasping and sociopathic.
They Don’t Care. And they don’t care whether we know it or point it out.
Ah, but we care. / ;)
What was it Thomas More said?
“The devil…the prowde spirite…cannot endure to be mocked.”
Not that either of these ladies are “the devil”, but they do show hubris, ignorance, pride, etc. Oh, sorry, maybe that’s the general definition of the highly credentialed and enbubbled PMC class. And we can have some fun with their witless display of that “prowde” spirit. / my 2 cents
Trump is the devil incarnate so at least the saying holds true for some. He, more than any other politician I have seen or heard, hates to be mocked and lashes out repeatedly at the mocker.
Or… maybe not. There’s an old thing about ‘laughing the devil out.’ This mashup of a Leni Riefenstahl film clip and a pop 1970’s TV show’s theme for example. (There is no graphic violence or anything like it in this film spoof. I don’t know why utube wants you to click ‘I agree’. Utube never used to. What’s going on?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3YRWhg4YaA
Shorter: mocking authoritarianism , laughing at its supposed invincibility, is the best defense against it’s grab for power. imo.
adding: for me the tell of authoritarianism is lack of humor. / ;)
The devil incarnate? Hyperbole much?
Well, maybe, maybe, one or both of them are now alerted that it’s important to know where your Secretary of Defense is at all times, and in what condition. Uhm, maybe?
Big nothingburger given current state of the world. (Sarcasm ahead).
Quick call to Google will tell the President where the SoD is and a quick call to Apple will tell what condition the SoD is in.
Like saying slavery was about free enterprise? You way overestimate Haley. The woman wants a war with Iran and probably Putin too, thinks SS and Medicare must be on the table, has shady financial doings in her recent and distant past. Go over to The American Conservative and they hate her. And I’m while not very plugged into state affairs, I don’t think she was even popular here in SC. There has to be some “there there” no matter how much the Kochs and the Dems want her to be chosen.
So if Trump goes down here’s betting it won’t be Haley. She’s too ripe a target and has benefited so far from being in the background and not a highly visible front runner.
I saw in a video the other day where Nikki was supposed to have a meet and greet in a restaurant for local supporters. But nobody turned up. Nobody. They then cancelled the event. So pretty much all this ‘support’ that she has is astroturfing.
Of course Obama was in many ways a “casting director” candidate chosen to tick certain boxes rather than for a record of accomplishments. But he at least had smarts and talent for the appointed role of party figurehead if not that of good president.
Guess we’ll see what happens. But for Haley to get out from Trump’s shadow it needs to happen now, not later. And Trump’s still very much around.
Read this article in Fortune this morning:
The narrative of Bidenomics isn’t sticking because it doesn’t reflect Americans’ lived experiences
Kind of interesting WSJ and Fortune are starting to actually make sense contrary to the common narrative.
Ha! WSJ and Fortune’s writers discover Main Street is not a mythical place believed in only in legend by a long forgotten peoples. It’s a real place! … The official narrative crafters really need to get out more. / ;)
March 2022, Joe Biden announced that “We will all have to sacrifice for as long as it takes until Ukraine is free and democratic.” Ummm O.K.
Then he slammed the door on importing Russian grain, diesel, oil, meat and fertilizer, and man did that raise food prices. Everyone eats, so it affects all of us. You can’t hide what people are paying to eat.
FJBstickers and grafitti are all over America, written on dollar bills, the back of road signs and even seen on trails, as someone used a knife to carve that on his heels, which left the raised letters every step he took.
All Trump has to utter to the electorate for the next 11 months is pretty simple…
‘Are you better off now than 4 years ago?’
You must live in a feisty neighborhood. I don’t see anything like that around here but I can well believe that the substantial portion of the country that can’t stand Biden is more passionate than those who defend him. Meanwhile the latter can’t stand Trump but are not more passionate than those who like Trump. I’d say it’s the Bidenistas who are most out of touch. Why do they believe the status quo will hold? All the legal trickery is perhaps a sign that they don’t.
The Wall Street Journal and Fortune think that Wall Street is Main Street. If the economy is going great there, then it must be great everywhere else.
Er, um, “I’m alright, Jack” bubble-omics?
Here’s the Free Money scene from the The Magic Christian , a movie from 1969. / ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xg2v_T2XH8
Almost like they knew what neoliberalism was before it was a thing. / ;)
My spouse’s and my first date was seeing “The Magic Christian.” They knew what capitalism was and is.
The second date, the next night, was front-row tics at Jefferson Airplane’s “Volunteers” tour where they opened with this song.
My spouse-to-be was thoroughly warned early on about my politics.
If you’re participating in an election and are elected, how can it be construed as urging the “overthrow of the government?”
Maybe Trump needs to change his language to “Re-imagining Government” or conducting a “National Performance Review.”
https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/papers/bkgrd/brief.html
Saw that yesterday and it sounded stupid then. It sounds even stupider today, now that I see that this loyalty oath is a vestige of the McCarthy era. But also very a propos, given the resurgence in red-baiting among the Democrat party.
I thought I saw something where Trump said he signed it the last time, and didn’t need to do it again. Sounds like a good answer to a dumb request to me.
No one is mentioning that the winner of the election must swear to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States at their inauguration. I do believe that that should cover “overthrow” as well as “subvert.”
This is definitely a throwback to the McCarthy Era.
“Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the American Public?”
“No Senator. I have never sunk that low!”
“I have no further questions for the Representative of the Duchy of Silicon.”
“Thank you Senator. Please like and subscribe.”
Tomorrow, January 11, 2024, South Africa presents its oral argument that Israel is practicing genocide in Gaza at the Court of International Justice in the Hague, from 9:30/10:00 o’ clock European Time (3:30 EST, probably streamed for later viewing). Let’s see what DC and the media make of the whole thing? Or will they ignore it? Search webtv.un.org/en/schedule/2024-01-11
I am really looking forward to that. From various reports I have seen it looks like the US is working the refs behind the scenes, trying to buy off the judges by any means necessary rather than convince them of anything. It will be interesting to see how that works out.
The potential blowback could be harsh. SA didn’t name the US as co-conspirators in the genocide, but that doesn’t mean it still couldn’t happen. To have evidence of such strong arm tactics would just be disastrous for both Israel and the US. When the US did that to German and Spanish judges at the ICC over Iraq it was news even here, and I’m not sure they could quash it to the degree that they did last time now. That is what comes of getting a reputation for underhand dealings.
I was just watching Judge Napolitano interviewing Max Blumenthal, who says that a group of a hundred South African lawyers have drafted an additional filing which would bring in the US as parties to the genocide.
At the 25:50 mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv8b75bO3dc
So Blinken and Kirby saying that the accusation of genocide being perpetrated on Palestinians is without merit just may get their day in court to explain why.
I went by the pharmacy today in Santa Rosa, masks are required in health care settings…of the 6 pharmacists and pharma techs all were wearing baggy blues and five were wearing them as chin diapers.
I now both look at the label AND the pills to make sure I’m not getting birth control pills rather than blood pressure meds.
There will likely be two more waves of Covid before the November Election.
Oh, shit.
RE: Trump’s Legal Arguments Are Getting Increasingly Embarrassing
Once again, I think Trump’s deranged detractors are completely missing the point. Trump’s lawfare opponents have run a gish gallop on him, throwing everything they can think of against the wall and hoping something sticks, because they fear they won’t beat him electorally. I don’t believe Trump is trying to make convincing legal arguments – he’s just returned the favor served up by his opponents, whose own charges against Trump using “novel” legal arguments should be considered embarrassing themselves. Especially considering how many of Trump’s opponents have done strikingly similar things.
Trump’s opponents could not care less whether their arguments are absurd, as long as they can get them enforced.
Just as Russiagate conspiracy theorists did not care that all the facts militated against their conspiracy theory – as long as it hamstrung the Trump presidency, then the conspiracy theory performed exactly as intended.
People of influence and authority could not care less about facts, evidence, logical consistency or their own rank hypocrisy. They care only about power.
No president has done more for Homelessness, Childhood Poverty or Covid than Joseph Robinette Biden Jr !
I have no doubt we’ll see LOTS more of all of these, real soon.
Bless his heart.
Bless his enlarged heart.
Well … sadly, my efforts fell short during holiday travel. C19+
On the one hand, happy that so far I’m the only one in the household to test positive, and I am isolating. But seriously stumped as to where I could have been exposed to an infecting degree, but not the others. False positive crossed my mind but chills and fatigue feel similar to my first infection in April 22. So yes, that’s two for me … hopefully sufficiently far apart to not wreck my immune system.
Across the two flights and three airports, there was to be found very little masking at all, and waiting lines for customs/immigration processing were not social distanced either. I think there may well be a post travel bump when figures refresh next week. I’m likely not the only one who had a nasty surprise to start the year.
Stay safe, everyone.
Sorry to hear you got hit, Chris. I took a quick trip from Seattle to Phoenix and back in late December and kept rough counts of masks. In Seattle airport lines, about 5 to 8% (including me and my wife) were masked. I didn’t keep track of different types of masks, but I think more than half, maybe even 3/4 were real respirators properly worn. On the plane from Seattle the overall rate was a solid 9-10%. At Phoenix airport it was more like 1%. In security lines there were proforma ID checks where we were asked to pull down our masks. When I do that, I take a deep breath first, then drop the mask, then exhale after replacing it. The ID check is pretty laughable since the TSA people take only the briefest glance at the photo (and my photo is rather old and shows me with a beard I no longer wear, since it spoils the seal on a mask). As for social distancing, I haven’t seen anybody, in any context, take it seriously in the last two years. Otherwise the security lines would require literally 5 or more times as much space as they are allotted. Plus distancing was conceived as a defense against droplet transmission, not aerosols. Going around town in Phoenix I basically never saw a mask, including in my mother’s assisted living facility.
Thank you, AN …
> Plus distancing was conceived as a defense against droplet transmission, not aerosols.
… and a good reminder of this as well.
Take care of yourself and your family fellow Chris.
Thank you, chris! Using the time in isolation to catch up on random guitar noodling!
I find that Nikki Haley audience demographic fascinating. Have we discovered the 2024 equivalent of the oft-maligned Low Information Voter? The inverse; the Highly Informed Non-Voter, for whom the campaign is a lifestyle. Not content to merely consume political news, they actively participate in political events — taking up valuable campaign time to zero appreciable effect.
Lambert has tsked me before for throwing around low info voters, but the ignorance of people who.go to political events is just astounding.
This is a great and problematic question. Are people who are outside the PMC economic class and whose life experiences swing far wide of the 2 main parties assumptions about economics and voter preferences, are these so-called outlier people “ignorant”? Or are the 2 main parties and their establishment leaders and their assumed base voters completely out of touch with most American’s lives, work, and daily and ever more dire economics?
I thought Biden/Trump was an increasing nightmare from Clinton/Trump, but honestly Harris/Hayley is worse.
I just can’t.
Well . . . how about Hillary/Hayley then?
We’re really hitting the bottom when the thought that rises up from the murk is: “well… maybe Hillary actually has some merits over Harris…?”. I agree with Lambert’s take on volatility, though things could really get worse.
Well, as Morpheus said . . . ” There is no bottom.”
The speeches would be less stream of consciousness but otherwise the same. Pretty sure the same background interests would be at play.
Hunter Hunter
Into the Fray
Hunter Hunter
Will Have His Say
In front of the House
For all to See
I have changed, I say
Buy my art, You see
I will pay what is owed
I will pay up to the Man
No more questions though
About the 10% for a “Big Man”
We are Bidens
We are One
We all pave the way
10% for the Big One
Are all Ivy league trained lawyers royal pricks? Maybe it’s just him, after all.
You’d think that Biden Enterprises® would be a little bit more clever in their subterfuge, but naaaaaaah.
It is amazingly blatant. Apparently one reporter today asked Hunter the appropriate question: “what’s your favorite brand of crack?”
For the Big Guy we’ll have to ask Jill about the secret sauce ingredients.
IIRC years ago there was a politician who “wrote” a book (actually just a collection of his campaign speeches) that briefly became a best-seller, because of all his supporters buying copies. Can’t think of a name but this art scheme brought it to mind.
The sad decline of environmental geographer, Vaclav Smil, much beloved by Bill Gates.
(Somewhat of a tangent: can’t help thinking of other late-60s Czech emigres that I got to know in Canada over the years. They were probably the most cynical, bitter people that I ever knew. Certainly, the experience of ’68 would squash almost anyone’s idealism, but the sad part was that so many of these folks ended up as supporters and mouthpieces for the worst of the Right – who’d be as bad as any of the commissars that they fled from – in the places where they ended up.)
There were ’48 & ’68 Czech emigrees, and I noticed growing up in the USA that the latter had a much harder time of it, fresh off the airplane after a score of years under Communism, whereas my dad barely experienced the phenomenon.
Their command of English was in a word, for shit. Everything out of their mouths was this halting one word after another cacophony of trying to communicate, it was awkward for a 10 year old like me who pretty much only knew cuss words in their accent laden lingua franca.
That said, I know the Czech mentality a bit and it strikes me we’re still pissed off in regards to being on the losing side in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 and the re-Catholicization of Bohemia, so cynical comes with the territory.
My father’s generation loathed the French & English for handing over the Sudetenland and the western border defenses to the Nazis, he was still bitter about it around the turn of the century as we were walking around Prague-which was probably saved the fate of Warsaw only on account of that happening in 1938.
Read most of your link (A Walrus article) – seemed like a decent profile of Smil. The sense I got was of a man in his autumn years who would rather “tend his own garden” then participate in the clown show of modern media “discourse”. Thanks for sharing.
Re: Austin – As a former low level manager for the government, l will say it was unheard of in my area to take time off for any reason without delegating someone to act for you until your return. That someone could not be on vacation either.
On the President’s job being to faithfully follow the law, tell that to the cop speeding to catch a speeder. Isn’t he breaking the law to enforce the law? Retroactively prosecuting President Bush is the specter being raised, or President Obama for killing an American overseas using a drone, or how about the terrorists in Guantanamo? So are trump’s lawyers raising unrealistic arguments? Maybe.
Whatever his motives, if the President felt the election was being circumvented, was he supposed to sit on his hands? So he sees video which seem t show memory sticks being passed around by pol workers, should h do nothing? Or how about reports of suitcases of ballots showing up to be counted? This one is personal to me because I took the risk of appearing in person during the pandemic, possessed of a REAL ID driver’s license, and had to sign three times to satisfy the poll worker. What validation was there for mail in ballots? And how many state laws regarding mail in ballots were circumvented due to the pandemic? Like who vouched-safed all of those?
Bottom line? To my pea brain the integrity of the last election was laughable, but the left won and have subsequently used a) the tactics of Russia, Russia, Russia plus b) near total control of the media to ridicule everybody with enough brain to wonder.
So now they are aghast those one the right are lining up to hear a boor like Trump in the biter cold of winter just so they can stick their finger in the eye of the left? Small wonder things aren’t worse. Especially in light of the riots and deaths of the BLM riots whilst another riot, one with no deaths except one by a cop of a citizen with no warning whatsoever, is called an insurrection. They must think people are stupid.
Anyway, I learned long ago not to pay any attention whatsoever to the seeming skepticism of the judges based on their questions and await the actual verdict. I’m thinking it’ll be interesting no matter what.
Your argument would carry a lot more weight if you ceased refering to the Biden administration–or indeed Democrats in general–as “the left”. There is nothing “left” about any of these people.
He should do that for sure, but it won’t help his argumment. It seems he blames the so-called “left” for elections run by corporate interests, right down to the hackable computers owned by multi-national holding companies, with no software audit trail whatsoever.
Paper ballots, hand counted, in public. Problem solved. Same way the phony right never will consider jailing CEOs who hire illegals while shitting their pants about it all. Or raise taxes on billionaires while decrying the decay of American society. Boo f’ing hoo.
We do live a purported democratic republic, but it has become the play ground of predatory willful oligarchs. Blaming the minions and lapdogs for doing their master’s bidding? Solves nothing.
Voting with paper ballots hand counted in public with no mail ins and absentee balloting limited to a narrow definition of necessity might make a difference, but you’d still have those pesky oligarchs with their delusions of omnipotence picking the candidates. Or so it seems.
“a decorated military leader known for following orders as well as giving them”
Think how funny this would all be if not for the vast numbers of innocent dead people and the unceasing efforts to crush the human spirit.
The hysterical left are agitating for SecDef to resign. I call BS. So the guy goes in for prostate surgery. Big deal. He had a complication? OK, bigger deal. But does anyone not living under a rock really believe the guy doesn’t have staff who knew exactly what was going on *and* how to reach him? Add to it, does anybody with two spare gray cells believe the whole defense structure comes falling down because the boss is indisposed a few days? And does anybody believe the President didn’t know his SecDef was going in for surgery? Really? Get real folks!
More likely is there’s more going on than appears on the surface. So for 20-something y/o editors with English degrees at left-wing rags like Slate. Vox, The Spectator, et al to be agitating at the behest of publisher through the executive editor means the game is a foot. What game? Dunno. But they’re doing what they’ve been told to do by the White House, which is agitate for removal. Anyway, this is happening above my pay grade, and yours.
My suspicions? This black dude is toast and they don’t want the DEI structure falling in on their heads when they run him out of town on a rail. Why? Again, dunno. But unless they replace him with a political hack, any 4-star general they select to replace him means a transparent change and the Department will continue to function with zero change in SOP.
However, while they get their marching orders from the President, as we witnessed with President Trump, the blob’s reach is astounding. Means they’ll do as they damn well please but perhaps with a bit more circumspection.
Who is this “hysterical Left” of whom you speak? Slate and Vox are not “the left”. They. like their colleagues at WaPo, NYT, et al, are stenographers for the DNC and the alphabet agencies. Your insistence on conflating corporatist warmongers with the Left is either ignorant or disingenuous.
Well, the Secretary of Defense serves at pleasure of the President. No excuse needed to get rid of him. And if a fig leaf was wanted “health reasons” would be enough.
Believe what you will about the situation, but Austin allowed his boss to be sandbagged. Bad form.
Thinking of Spirit as distinct from Boeing is smoke and mirrors, as the company was a Boeing division that was sold off as recently as 2005 and still has Boeing as its biggest customer. Never mind that both Boeing and Spirit are beholden to the demand for ever growing profits by Wall Street.
And why was it sold off? You guessed it – to shift it off the books and make Boeing more appealing to Wall Street.
I see the CEO has made a dramatic mea culpa speech now that the quality problems are obvious to everyone. I’m skeptical about how much he can unwind the clock, though. All the various financialization steps that were taken at the expense of quality were under the oversight of the board, and I haven’t seen any indication that they’ve changed their view. So either he’ll end up failing to deliver on his promises as things get even worse, or he’ll get out of step with the board and be fired for falling short of financial targets.
Fewer Wall Street types and celebrity directors on the board and more directors with engineering and safety backgrounds would be a good start. Until that happens, I don’t see much hope for improvement.
Goyvin Newsom offers Zionism and Militarism:
Biden’s seeming heir apparent, California Governor Gavin Newsom, had the colors of the Israeli flag projected on the state capitol building on October 9, then flew off to Israel to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog and grandstand about how personal Israeli anguish had become to him after meeting with survivors of the October 7 Hamas attack. His official statement said nothing about Gaza or Palestine. In late November, Newsom chastised the Oakland City Council for passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza without condemning Hamas.
https://blackagendareport.com/gavin-newsom-zionist-waiting
That’s just gross. Genocide Gavin?
They already want political candidates to sign a loyalty oath that pledges they won’t advocate the overthrow of government. How long until they want every candidate to swear a loyalty oath to a Zionist Israel?
Newsom is a slick, ambition crazed, narcissistic shark who does not have any principles beyond himself. He will be unreservedly pro Zionist and ignore the Gazan genocide until the moment it is more political advantageous not to.
Well at least it wasn’t 1000 years /s
We are living in terrible times but in 20 years, not 600, how many of these devoted Zionist politicians will be considered dinosaurs given what is happening now? If things are going well for Israel then why are the rightwing forces there gaining so much power?
I wonder how much of the “increase in youth mental illness” is just their recognition that everything is getting progressively shittier and no one in authority is actively trying to counter that. When faux savior Obama turned out to be a glib corporate stooge and continued the warmongering of his two predecessors, maybe these kids noticed, you know? I mean, they’re not completely stupid, even with all those hormones and social media affecting their brains. So maybe mobile phones had something to do with it, but maybe actual quite depressing developments in society and politics had a lot to do with it too.
As Krishnamurti said, “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
That goes double for the declining birth rates and life expectancy.
Civilizational failure in slow motion …
https://time.com/6553340/covid-19-reinfection-risk/
Is It Dangerous to Keep Getting COVID-19?
January 10, 2024 10:19”
Getting COVID is “less scary” than it was three years ago?? Last time I checked, it’s still biosafety level 3 and can leave you debilitated.
And what is her proof for “Most of the time, repeat infections aren’t as severe as they were the first time..”?
Every time I see this Matt Orfalea utube video I wonder just what the heck is going on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI3yU5Z2adI
That video is genius.
I’ve watched it a number of times since it came out, and every time I end up laughing hard whilst asking myself why am I laughing so much?
Where’s Mandy?
Her last tweet was December 29:
https://twitter.com/cdcdirector
I’d get warned on Twitter for this by the system, but I hope it’s a visitation of COVID for her.
‘Donald Trump didn’t sign Illinois loyalty oath that pledges he won’t advocate overthrow of government’
People forget but before the 2020 election, Hillary said that if Trump won again then his victory should not be recognized but be worked against. Did she ever sign a loyalty oath before the 2016 election?