By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Readers, there will be a Live Blog for The Debate. Doors open at 8:30PM EDT (and the link won’t work before then). Bring your bingo cards and appropriate libations! –lambert
And readers, patient readers, I had a bit of a technical debacle, where an intermittent fault in posting caused me to lose some precious time. And now I must hustle! –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Eastern Meadowlark (Eastern), E OF DRYDEN; VIRGIL RD.; DANIEL CORY FARM, Tompkins, New York, United States. This is fantastic. Not only is it over five minutes long (with a “recorded announcement,” I grant) it’s older than I am. What a great resource.
In Case You Might Miss…
(1) The Debates, pre-game analysis.
(2) Murthy v. Missouri.
(3) Digital ID exposure debacle.
(4) CDK auto dealer outage and consumer spending.
Look for the Helpers
“Fossil of child with Down syndrome hints at Neanderthal compassion” [Reuters (NL)]. “Living among a small band of Neanderthals in what is now eastern Spain was a child, perhaps 6 years old, with Down syndrome, as shown in a remarkable fossil preserving traits in the inner ear anatomy indicative of this serious genetic condition.
This fossil, unearthed at the Cova Negra archeological site in the province of Valencia near the city of Xàtiva, not only represents the earliest-known evidence of Down syndrome but, according to scientists, hints at compassionate caregiving in these extinct archaic humans – close cousins to our own species…. “The pathology which this individual [‘Tina’] suffered resulted in highly disabling symptoms, including, at the very least, complete deafness, severe vertigo attacks and an inability to maintain balance,’ said paleoanthropologist Mercedes Conde-Valverde of the University of Alcalá in Spain, lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances, opens new tab. ‘Given these symptoms, it is highly unlikely that the mother alone could have provided all the necessary care while also attending to her own needs. Therefore, for Tina to have survived for at least six years, the group must have continuously assisted the mother, either by relieving her in the care of the child, helping with her daily tasks, or both,’ Conde-Valverde added. Among other pathologies, there were abnormalities in the semicircular canals – three small tubes that govern balance and sense head position – and a reduction in the size of the cochlea, the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. The fossil’s precise age has not been determined, but Conde-Valverde noted that the presence of Neanderthals at the Cova Negra site has been dated to between 273,000 and 146,000 years ago.” • Compassion, then, is adaptive (which doesn’t say much for neoliberalism, or its Rule #2).
My email address is down by the plant; please send examples of there (“Helpers” in the subject line). In our increasingly desperate and fragile neoliberal society, everyday normal incidents and stories of “the communism of everyday life” are what I am looking for (and not, say, the Red Cross in Hawaii, or even the UNWRA in Gaza).
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 Supremes
“Get ready for the Supreme Court to drop some bombshell decisions” [Politico]. “The court is scheduled to issue opinions Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. By far the biggest pending decision is Donald Trump’s bid to be declared immune from federal criminal charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election.” • Friday, then (meaning also that the Supreme Court denied the voters the opportunity to see the candidates duke it out on executive power, a case “for the ages,” good job).
“Supreme Court Rules Anyone Who Had Abortion Under Roe Must Be Re-Impregnated” [The Onion]. From 2023, still germane. “In a controversial 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that any American who underwent a legal abortion under Roe v. Wade must now be re-impregnated. ‘Any U.S. citizen who terminated a pregnancy during the nearly 50 years that it was nationally legal must immediately report to a governmental agency or Catholic hospital to be re-impregnated,’ read the conservative-led decision penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, which went on to explain that now that the highest court in the land has negated bodily autonomy as a constitutional right and made it vastly difficult to find reproductive care, they finally have time to work backwards in punishing anyone who was able to benefit in the past. ‘Frankly, after working tirelessly with local and state governments to all but sever the ability of an American woman of child-bearing age to retain authority over her own uterus, it brings me great pleasure to right this wrong once and for all by undoing the long-completed lawful abortions of the Roe era.'”
“US Supreme Court allows emergency abortions in Idaho for now” [Reuters]. • Vote for Trump, suburban women!
Vote for Trump, oxycontin victims!
It's insane that Kagan and Sotomayor dissented on this one. https://t.co/FpG8TklkGU
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 27, 2024
2024
Less than a half a year to go!
At this point, we should entertain the hypothesis that the Bragg verdict is a damp squib, unless Biden can somehow leverage it in the debate. Swing States (more here) still Brownian-motioning around. Of course, it goes without saying that these are all state polls, therefore bad, and most of the results are within the margin of error. If will be interesting to see whether the verdict in Judge Merchan’s court affects the polling, and if so, how. NOTE Sorry for the excess red dots; I can’t seem to make them go away!
* * * The Debates: “Biden-Trump Debate Takes Shape as Clash With ‘No Love Lost'” [Wall Street Journal]. “Biden held several days of debate practice at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. Most of the mock sessions were held in a movie theater on the property and some of the debate preparation went late into the evening, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump took a different approach, eschewing mock debates and multiday briefings in favor of policy refreshers with aides and allies, including some senators on his vice-presidential shortlist. Both candidates were to fly to Atlanta on Thursday before the debate.” • If Trump thinks he can wing it, that’s a problem. Can he really work to a two-minute timer? If not, will he try to dominate the moderators? With his mike cut off?* Not a good look. NOTE * Maybe Trump could bring a cellphone and broadcast his post-cut-off remarks out to Truth Social (or possibly Rumble). That would be amusing; presumably the entire venue is not in a Faraday cage.
The Debates: “Debate expectations are low. But it could still upend the 2024 race” [Politico]. “This year’s contest features the highest share of adults in at least three decades expressing negative views of both candidates, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey — higher than even four years ago, when the candidates first matched up. For these hate-watchers — independents and voters who do not have favorable opinions of either candidate — expectations may be low. But it’s where the battle may be won or lost, in an election likely to be decided at the margins. The stakes are only low ‘if you’re judging it as a kind of theater,’ said David Axelrod, the former top Barack Obama strategist. ‘It may be one of the more consequential in American history.’ As in 2016 and 2020, voters who hold an unfavorable view of both the Democratic and Republican candidates tilt slightly toward Trump now. But polling suggests that they are more persuadable. Polling commissioned by the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter showed voters who view both Trump and Biden trust Trump more on most issues but are more worried about Trump’s temperament than Biden’s age — the two most important measuring sticks for each candidate in Thursday’s debate.” • But given sufficient volatility, the measuring stick carefully devised by opinion-havers might turn out not to be relevant at all.
The Debates: “3 answers to the most challenging debate questions for Joe Biden” [Salon]. • No reason to quote this, but it might be interesting to check back later and see if word got through to Biden’s staff. It’s not bad!
The Debates: “Biden seizes debate limelight for “Project 2025″ push” [Axios]. “The Biden campaign is using Thursday’s debate to launch a new offensive against Trump allies’ radical plans to transform the U.S. government, known as ‘Project 2025.’ The Biden campaign wants to convince jaded voters that a second Trump presidency poses grave risks to the country. Biden officials see Project 2025 — which calls for an unprecedented expansion of presidential power — as a useful blueprint for what Trump’s return would bring. The controversial transition agenda was compiled by the Heritage Foundation with input from close Trump allies and former aides — some of whom are likely to take top jobs if he wins — but Project 2025 is not an official campaign platform. The Trump campaign points instead to the Agenda47 website for policies explicitly endorsed by former President Trump…. Google search interest in “Project 2025” surged earlier this month, and a John Oliver segment on Trump’s plans for a second term racked up nearly 5 million views on YouTube in under a week. The Biden campaign, whose messaging around Project 2025 accelerated after March’s State of the Union address, is trying to capitalize on the viral momentum.” • Google searches and John Oliver? I wouldn’t call it “viral momentum”; I’d call it “preaching to the choir.” It’s also a little late for Biden to try to define Trump before Trump defines himself (TRUMP: “After the 2016 transition, when the first thing Jim Clapper did was leave a horse’s head in my bed, I felt the next transtion — sorry, Joe, hey, wake up! — needed a little attention from our team.” Well, not really, but you see what I mean.)
The Debates: “In This Debate, CNN Is the Decider” [New York Times]. “For the first time in decades, a single television network will have sole discretion over the look, feel and cadence of a general-election presidential debate. Unlike in past years, when an independent, nonprofit commission oversaw the contests, CNN has picked the moderators, designed the set and will choose the camera angles that viewers see. Lest any voters forget who’s in charge, the red CNN logo will be ubiquitous: Rival channels seeking to simulcast the event had to agree to leave the network’s on-air watermark untouched.” More: “Within the cutthroat TV news industry, the debate is seen as an enormous marketing coup for CNN, which even at a time of austerity for cable television has stood out for ignominious reasons. The channel is currently on track for its lowest-rated month in prime time since 1991, with fewer than 100,000 average viewers a night among adults 25 to 54, according to Nielsen.” And: “[T]he last time CNN hosted a major televised political event, at a New Hampshire town hall last May, it was widely perceived as a debacle…. The CNN leader behind that evening, Chris Licht, was fired a month later. Thursday’s debate is a significant test for his successor, Mr. Thompson, a former chief executive of The New York Times and director general of the BBC.” Finally: “On Thursday, much focus will be on the moderators, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, and their ability to keep proceedings on track. Neither anchor has moderated a general-election debate, but they both have experience at various Republican and Democratic primary debates sponsored by CNN, including an audience-free bout between Mr. Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders in March 2020.”
The Debates: “The Guy Playing Trump in Biden’s Debate Prep Has Some Thoughts” [Politico]. “Bob Bauer is Biden’s personal attorney and has had a long career as one of the Democratic Party’s top campaign lawyers. But these days, he may be best known for playing Trump during Biden’s mock debate sessions.” Bauer on the format: “[L]et’s start with it being a Kennedy-Nixon format without an audience. Let’s take down the, if you will, the politics of audience. That is to say the hooting and the endless effort on the part of moderators to warn the audience that they really need to be quiet and not create any kind of commotion. This is a serious format. It’s a format in which the candidates can be heard, but they’re the only ones who are heard and they’re performing for the country, not performing for a select audience, some of whom were fortunate enough to receive tickets to the event. So I think that is a very strong point in its favor.”
* * * Trump (R): I guess we’lll see how Trump does with only two minutes per answer to work with:
Be as objective as you can. Policy differences aside, watch the first 20-30 minutes of Trump's interview with @theallinpod — where, unscripted, he's pressed on complex policy questions — and then try to argue his supposed "cognitive decline" is in the same universe as Biden's: https://t.co/cm8TjYvtKZ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 22, 2024
Trump (R): Pretty soon the Democrats are going to have to pivot away from racism:
Yet another poll shows Trump making huge gains with Black and Latino voters, while stable or slightly losing ground with White voters
2020 Trump vote:
White: 58%
Black: 12%
Latino: 32%2024 Trump vote (per YouGov poll):
White: 57%
Black: 24%
Latino: 44% pic.twitter.com/x8MET1XwYX— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) June 23, 2024
* * *
The Wizard of Kalorama™
“Michelle Obama’s voting initiative teams with Headspace to help voters manage mental health” [The Hill]. “When We All Vote, the voter registration and engagement organization launched by Michelle Obama, and the mental health platform Headspace are teaming up ‘to help voters manage their mental health throughout the 2024 election season.’ See next snippet. And: ‘People need mental health support during this time of uncertainty now more than ever,’ When We All Vote said in a statement announcing the partnership on Thursday, citing a poll released in May by the American Psychiatric Association that found 73 percent of Americans are ‘particularly anxious’ about the election. The alliance between Obama’s [***cough***] nonpartisan [***cough***] effort — which the former first lady launched in 2018 — and Headspace will include a voter registration portal, an ‘election season survival guide’ that features free audio and video mindfulness exercises and an election stress assessment. Headspace will also debut a section in its app dubbed ‘Politics Without Panic’ that will include meditations ‘intended to help voters leverage stress-relieving tools needed to stay calm and focused.’ Obama said in an interview earlier this year that fears about the 2024 White House race were keeping her up at night. ‘I am terrified about what could possibly happen,” Obama said in January.” • That’s another way of saying 2024 is existential for Democrats; see below at Realignment and Legitimacy. And who, you may ask, runs Headspace?
“The Election Bias” [Russell Glass, LinkedIn]. From 2016. Russell Glass is CEO of Headspace (also involved with Rock the Vote, so the connection makes a sort of sense). “To bring us back to the real world, with real names, if Hillary and Donald were the two people above, I would vote for Hillary…. Our choice is not between two qualified and equally capable candidates for President. It is between Donald Trump – who is arguably the least qualified candidate for President in history if judged by zero public service experience and a spotty business record, and Hillary – who is arguably the most qualified presidential candidate in history if judged by holding office at almost every level of the federal government (including being fourth in line for the President already as Secretary of State).” • So it’s absurd to pretent that HeadSpace’s “survival guide,” or “stress assessment,” or “meditations” will be anything other than partisan tools. And it’s especially shameful to use mental health apps as a recruiting tool; the masquerade and the bait and switch reminds me of the conservative “pregnancy center” scam.
“Exclusive: Michelle Obama’s private frustration with the Bidens” [Axios]. “Former First Lady Michelle Obama privately has expressed frustration over how the Biden family largely exiled her close friend Kathleen Buhle after Buhle’s messy divorce from Hunter Biden, two people familiar with the relationship told Axios. The family tensions — and the former first lady’s disdain for partisan politics — are partly why one of the Democrats’ most popular voices hasn’t campaigned for President Biden’s re-election, the sources said, even as former President Obama has been a willing surrogate…. When Buhle published her own memoir in 2022 she used Michelle Obama’s publisher, and several of Michelle’s former communications aides were hired to coordinate the book’s rollout. The famously insular Bidens disapproved of Buhle writing the book with some unflattering details about the family, but Buhle’s defenders noted that she wrote it only after Hunter’s own book had included intimate details about their marriage and his addictions.” • Which would be why Michelle Obama prefers indirection, as described above. She is, after all, still the Chicago Alderman’s child.
Republican Funhouse
“Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump’s vision” [Associated Press]. “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” –Mike Tyson. Meaning, as I urge here, that planning is one thing, and the ability to execute is another. More: “With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own. Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president’s return — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024. With a nearly 1,000-page ‘Project 2025’ handbook and an ‘army’ of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the ‘deep state’ bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.” • To be fair, I need to dig into the Heritage Foundation’s plan for the civil service, assault on the civil service, and so forth (out of scope for this post). Offhand, though, I don’t think boot camps for conservatives are going to do the job (or, rather, they will do about as well as Liberty University Law School did in producing putatively Christian lawyers for the Bush Administration). Governing really is a skill. It’s not like running a business or, for pity’s sake, a start-up.
“House Dems angle to head off Project 2025, second Trump term” [Courthouse News Service]. Reading all the way to the end: “The Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year approved a subpoena for the Federalist Society founder, demanding he turn over the financial details of his relationship with Supreme Court justices. Leo, however, has refused to comply with the summons and Democrats have been largely silent about whether they will step up enforcement action against him.” • I would certainly be shocked and horrified if all the Democrat pearl-clutching about Project 2025 was nothing but a fundraising gimmick (and a talking point for Joe Biden, master debater).
* * * GA: “In Georgia, post-conviction relief for Trump” [Washington Examiner]. “In Georgia, a new poll shows Trump as strong as he ever was. In the survey, done by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the University of Georgia, Trump leads Biden by 5 points, 43% to 38% — just outside the poll’s margin of error. Together with the two other polls that have have been done since Trump’s May 30 conviction, the survey shows Trump’s support holding steady despite momentous events.”
NV: “Why Nevada Is the Most Unpredictable Swing State in the 2024 Election” [Bloomberg]. “Of all the battleground states in the US presidential election, none is a greater puzzle for Joe Biden and Donald Trump than Nevada. That’s because the state – with its relatively sparse population and high proportion of Spanish-speaking residents – is unusually difficult to poll. In one example of its inscrutability, two surveys conducted on overlapping days in May had sharply different results: A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found Biden and Trump tied in Nevada, while a New York Times/Siena College poll found the Republican ahead by 12 points. No other battleground state has produced such a wide range of recent polling results, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Add to that some of the most rapid demographic change anywhere in the US, and the state whose major population center is Las Vegas is shaping up to be the race’s biggest crapshoot.” • Worth reading in full. It’s complicated out there on the ground!
NY: “Jamaal Bowman’s Loss Is the Start of a New Era” [Ross Barkan, New York Magazine]. “George Latimer ousted Representative Jamaal Bowman, a two-term leftist and critic of Israel, in what’s believed to be the most expensive congressional primary ever fought. For moderates hoping to check the power of the Squad in Congress, it was a joyous night; for the many progressives who hoped to save one of their most prominent politicians, it was a deeply dispiriting — if no longer shocking — turn of events. Latimer was technically an insurgent but didn’t campaign like one. Recruited by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Westchester County executive targeted Bowman for failing, in his view, to adequately support Israel in the wake of the Hamas attacks. AIPAC spent at least $14 million on behalf of Latimer, an extraordinary sum, drowning television and radio stations with advertisements lacerating Bowman and propping up the more conservative Latimer. Notably, the AIPAC-funded ads said nothing about Israel, instead focusing on Bowman’s alleged lack of loyalty to Joe Biden, who is liked enough by many Democrats. Bowman’s embrace of the Democratic Socialists of America, who are explicitly anti-Zionist, may have alienated moderate Jewish voters even more.” • Well… Bowman was not the strongest candidate. Remember the ridiculous fire alarm incident? And Bowman had been, in any case, marked for death by the New York Democrats:
gerrymandering is a hell of a drug pic.twitter.com/CoLW272piS
— Samit Sarkar (@SamitSarkar) June 26, 2024
So the lesson is not that AIPAC is all-powerful; the lesson is that AIPAC had to spend a boatload of money to take down a weak candidate in a newly gerrymandered district — I mean, the Bronx and Westchester? Really? — with a strong candidate of their own (and Latimer was a strong candidate; well known, well-liked). I’m not saying that AIPAC isn’t powerful; but they’re not all powerful.
* * * “The Day My Old Church Canceled Me Was a Very Sad Day” [David French, New York Times]. “When we moved to Tennessee in 2006, we selected our house in part because it was close to a [Presbyterian Church in America] church, and that church became the center of our lives. On Sundays we attended services, and Monday through Friday our kids attended the school our church founded and supported. We loved the people in that church, and they loved us.” But: “I was a senior writer for National Review at the time, and when I wrote pieces critical of Trump, members of the alt-right pounced, and they attacked us through our daughter. They pulled pictures of her from social media and photoshopped her into gas chambers and lynchings. Trolls found my wife’s blog on a religious website called Patheos and filled the comments section with gruesome pictures of dead and dying Black victims of crime and war. We also received direct threats. The experience was shocking. At times, it was terrifying. And so we did what we always did in times of trouble: We turned to our church for support and comfort. Our pastors and close friends came to our aid, but support was hardly universal. The church as a whole did not respond the way it did when I deployed. Instead, we began encountering racism and hatred up close, from people in our church and in our church school. The racism was grotesque. One church member asked my wife why we couldn’t adopt from Norway rather than Ethiopia.” • An experience not unique on the right, I might add. Nevertheless.
“Tampa dentist arrested after making more than 100 online threats, FBI says” [Tampa Bay]. “In one text message, Kantwill made death threats to a person he identified as a ‘fake Reverend.’ ‘Being the anti-Christ piece of s–t that you are, we are going to kill you. Torture first, then death,’ the text from Kantwill reads. The victim installed nearly $4,500 worth of surveillance cameras ‘due to his genuine fear of Kantwill,’ according to court records. A private message sent by Kantwill through Instagram to another person reads, ‘Cannot wait to shoot your ghetto ass in the street,’ followed by a racial slur. In September 2019, he wrote to one victim: ‘God bless the Great President Trump and his family. F–k you and yours. Hire extra security … you’re gonna need it.’ The next month, the FBI interviewed Kantwill and told him to stop sending the messages. ‘Despite the FBI’s warning, Kantwill spent the next 10 months sending threats to over 40 victims via social media and email,’ the motion states.” • Again, not unique to any political party or faction, though operating differently in different cases (for example, the Canadian government closing the bank accounts of protesting truck drivers, pretty violent if you’ve got to make rent). However, I translate this to harassment of election officials, where every case I know about came from Trump supporters post-2020. I think that’s a bad thing, partly because election officials tend to be volunteers, and also because those in my small town are church-going older ladies.
Realignment and Legitimacy
Today’s SCOTUS decision in Murthy v. Missouri is a win for fighting election disinformation. It overturns the 5th Circuit’s extreme ruling, and allows government agencies to resume sharing their expertise/information on foreign interference, voting disinfo, and election threats.
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 26, 2024
As I have been saying for some time, the
spooks areintelligence community is seeking the power to determine whether elections are legitimate or not; that is what the Brennan Center’s tweet amounts to operationally. What happens on Wednesday, November 6, when stories on “foreign interference” and “election disinformation,” sourced to anonymous government officials, appear on the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post? (Remember, again, that for Democrats, election 2024 is existential.)
Syndemics
“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
Covid 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!
Transmission: Covid
“COVID Cases Are Rising Again. Here’s How to Stop It From Ruining Your Summer” [Self] (20 million readers, they say). When I see an article like this in a mainstream venue like Self, I feel like the tide is slowly turning in favor of sanity. The deck: “Two new variants are fueling an uptick in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.” “Uptick”? Minimizing, not so good. But where conventional public health MR SUBLIMINAL [groan] practice is to treat only deaths and hospitalizations as the important metric, this article mentions infection (a critical metric in every previous pandemic). And the lead: “Four years into the pandemic—which, yes, is still very much a thing” (!!!). And: “Research suggests that repeat infections increase your chances of getting long COVID and could magnify the severity of your symptoms if you already have it.” And: “How you choose to stay safe during this mini-surge in coronavirus activity is generally a personal decision, given that the government scrapped all preventive measures and basically left public health up to the honor system” [ouch]. • Anyhow, I read the rest of the article, and I don’t think anybody could go very wrong with it. Ritual handwashing mention, but N95 mentioned (“in public places where you might encounter elderly people or more folks who have health conditions that weaken their immune system,” which means everywhere, right?).
| Wastewater | ||
| This week[1] CDC June 17: | Last Week[2] CDC June 10 (until next week): | |
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| Variants [3] CDC June 22 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC June 15 | |
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| Hospitalization | ||
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data June 26: | National [6] CDC June 1: | |
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| Positivity | ||
| National[7] Walgreens June 17: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic June 22: | |
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| Travelers Data | ||
| Positivity[9] CDC June 3: | Variants[10] CDC JUne 3: | |
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| Deaths | ||
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC June 15: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC June 15: | |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) This week’s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated.
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.3 dominating.
[4] (ER) This is the best I can do for now. At least data for the entire pandemic is presented.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Now acceleration, which is compatible with a wastewater decrease, but still not a good feeling .(The New York city area has form; in 2020, as the home of two international airports (JFK and EWR) it was an important entry point for the virus into the country (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, as the rich sought to escape, and then around the country through air travel.)
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). This is the best I can do for now. Note the assumption that Covid is seasonal is built into the presentation. At least data for the entire pandemic is presented.
[7] (Walgreens) 4.3%; big jump. (Because there is data in “current view” tab, I think white states here have experienced “no change,” as opposed to have no data.)
[8] (Cleveland) Still going up!
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn’t even run back to 1/21/23, as it used to, but now starts 1/1/24. There’s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn’t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that’s why the shape of the curve has changed.
[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads. I’m leaving this here for another week because I loathe them so much:
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.
[12] Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
Employment Situation: “United States Initial Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US fell by 6,000 from the prior week to 233,000 on the period ending June 22nd, below market expectations of 236,000. The claim count fell for a second consecutive week since hitting the 10-month high of 243,000, but remained well above the average from this year to underscore that while the US labor market remains at historically tight levels, it has softened from its post-pandemic [sic] resilience.”
Manufacturing: “United States Durable Goods Orders” [Trading Economics]. “New orders for manufactured durable goods in the United States rose by 0.1% month-over-month in May 2024, following a downwardly revised 0.2% increase in April and better than market forecasts of a 0.1% fall. It marked the fourth consecutive monthly advance in durable goods orders, albeit slowly.”
Manufacturing: “United States Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Kansas City Fed’s Manufacturing Production index fell to -11 in June 2024 from -1 in the previous month, pointing to the fourth monthly contraction. The decline was primarily driven by paper, plastics, machinery, and transportation equipment manufacturing. All month-over-month indexes were negative and fell from last month, except supplier delivery time and the price indexes.”
GDP: “United States GDP Growth Rate” [Trading Economics]. “The US economy expanded an annualized 1.4% in Q1 2024, slightly higher than 1.3% in the second estimate, but continuing to point to the lowest growth since the contractions in the first half of 2022.”
Tech: “ID Verification Service for TikTok, Uber, X Exposed Driver Licenses” [404 Media]. “A company that verifies the identities of TikTok, Uber, and X users, sometimes by processing photographs of their faces and pictures of their drivers’ licenses, exposed a set of administrative credentials online for more than a year potentially allowing hackers to access that sensitive data, according to screenshots and data obtained by 404 Media. The Israel-based company, called AU10TIX, offers what it describes on its website as ‘full-service identity verification solutions.’ This includes verifying peoples’ identity documents, conducting ‘liveness detection’ in a real-time video stream with the user, and performing age verification, where a service will predict how old someone is based on their uploaded photo. AU10TIX also includes the logos of other companies on its site, such as Fiverr, PayPal, Coinbase, LinkedIn, and Upwork, some of which confirmed to 404 Media they are active or former AU10TIX clients.” • But no retina or fingerprint data, so everything is good!
Tech: “Think the CDK outage is just about cars and dealerships? Think again” [CNN]. “If you aren’t in the market for a car or your family’s income isn’t tied to a car dealership, you might not be aware of crippling cyber attacks that have left nearly 15,000 dealerships across North America struggling to provide services to customers. Or if you are aware of it, you might think, ‘Well that sucks, but good thing I won’t be hurt by it.’ Not so fast…. Just like the strikes that upended many parts of the economy last summer, the longer the CDK outage goes on, the greater the impact it will have on the US economy. Yes, you read that right. The CDK incident isn’t an isolated event implicating only dealers and buyers. Last month there were $122 billion of transactions at car dealerships, according to Commerce Department estimates. That accounts for 17% of all retail sales in May. An outage lasting through June 30 would mean 10 days without dealership access to CDK. If sales slide even just 10% at the average dealership as a result, total auto retail sales could dip by around $4 billion for the month, according to estimates by Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial, based on last month’s retail sales report. But in his view, the average dealership will probably experience a more drastic drop, closer to 40% for each day the outage drags on. If it ends up lasting 10 days, he estimates they’ll lose $16 billion in sales. That, he estimates, would depress total retail sales by 2.3%. Now here’s where it gets even more glaring: Retail sales aren’t just some minor part of the economy. They account for about a third of all consumer spending.”
Tech: “The Revenue Agency puts Google in its sights: alleged 1 billion tax evasion” [First Online]. Italian (and their own translation): “After the agreement signed in 2016, the Italian tax authorities once again put the spotlight on Google, challenging the Mountain View giant for alleged tax evasion worth one billion. The Revenue Agency puts it in the sights again Google. And this time the bill could be billions. She reveals it The Sun 24 hours, according to which the Italian tax authorities are challenging the Mountain View giant alleged tax evasion amounting to approximately 1 billion of Euro. The Milan Prosecutor’s Office is also investigating the matter.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 46 Neutral (previous close: 41 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 40 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jun 26 at 1:24:11 PM ET.
Class Warfare
What kind of party is “split” on working class issues?
Democrats are really split on the rights of working people, and no policy shows that better than the fight over non-competes. Here Rhode Island Governor @GovDanMcKee vetoed a bill passed by both legislative chambers unanimously. https://t.co/VjsFsjqZGn
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) June 27, 2024
News of the Wired
“A Spud Gunners’ Guide” [SpudGuns.org]. The deck: “The definitive potato cannon guide,” More: “Well it’s been a long time in coming however I’ve finally ported a great design for spudguns.org that I’ve had sitting on the back burner for a number of years. Took a bit of doing to code the design by hand in Notepad with all the nested tables originally, however with Dreamweaver it’s only taken a few hours, not weeks. My goal on this site is to be a on[e] stop shop to reference existing designs, math, ideas, everything related to potato guns.” • I have a vague memory I was thinking of building one of these things to fire at the woodchucks, but readers talked me out of it. So maybe not news you can use.
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 griffen:
Griffen writes: “Recent May hike excursion in North Carolina’s Dupont Forest. Pretty decent rainfall prior to going there.”
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Where’s the Beef?
“ID Verification Service for TikTok, Uber, X Exposed Driver Licenses” [404 Media]. “A company that verifies the identities of TikTok, Uber, and X users, sometimes by processing photographs of their faces and pictures of their drivers’ licenses, exposed a set of administrative credentials online for more than a year potentially allowing hackers to access that sensitive data, according to screenshots and data obtained by 404 Media. The Israel-based company, called AU10TIX, offers what it describes on its website as ‘full-service identity verification solutions.’
“Allowing “hackers” to access…” – if that’s what you want to call them.
> “Allowing “hackers” to access…” – if that’s what you want to call them.
Yep. I really wonder who knew about this first (and how they got wind of it).
The Sackler criminal family has been handed an epic defeat!
Nonconsensual third-party releases allow tortfeasors to win immunity from the claims of their victims, including for claims (like wrongful death and fraud) they could not discharge in bankruptcy, and do so without placing anything approaching all of their assets on the table. Endorsing that maneuver, the Trustee says, would provide a “roadmap for corporations and wealthy individuals to misuse the bankruptcy system in future cases.”
I’m sure I won’t be able to stomach watching all of the “debate”, which would be more accurately described as a pooslingfest. But I may tune in just long enough to hear Trump call his favorite moderator “Fake Tapper” and then tap out.
I put the over/under on that happening at one minute, and I’m taking the under.
New word of the day? The things one learns around here!
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Poo%20Sling
Are we to see man bras in action? Wouldn’t surprise me, but we will have to tune in to find out and that may just be a deal breaker.
I want to watch just to see how bad of a $hit show it will be, and how rigged they make it against Trump, but I really hate to give CNN the clicks as I despise them and love to see their ratings plummet.
I found it interesting, the debate is the hot topic of my PMC friends today. Their going on about Trump’s dementia, but are worried if Biden has one little flaw the media is going pick on him endlessly. I had to giggle at that.
The second giggle was when most said they weren’t going to watch and will let the “news” shows and word of mouth tell them what went on. Yea, I’m sure Maddow will have a great take on it all, and by all means whatever your current echo chamber/bubble people will say.
Jumpin’ Joe still has it – what a great debate – Joe kicked his butt!
The betting pools are all over this. They actually have odds on how long Biden’s brain freezes will be:
“Biden falls asleep or has a five-second brain freeze are each 12-1.”
And on who is on drugs…
“— Which candidate will be the first to suggest the other candidate is “on drugs”? Trump is a -700 favorite, and Biden is a 4-1 underdog.”
But they don’t appear to have heard that the mikes will be off, so no one can interrupt anyone even if they wanted to. There are a lot of bets about that. You gotta love the bookies. I looked up the odds for Biden falling off the stage, but as yet none are reported. I guess there are limits even for them.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/betting/prop-bets-posted-for-donald-trump-joe-biden-presidential-debate-3075296/
On a related note, Biden’s debate prep buddy says, “This is a serious format”.
Bwaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaaaa!!! They must have changed the definition of the word “serious” recently, along with “vaccine”, “censorship” and a few others.
It’ll be serious until SlowJoe challenges Trump to a fist fight and the Donald kicks him in the family jewels.
I’d give it about 20 minutes until things get real testy like that – this time I’ll take the over, but just barely, and just to be sporting.
I think it is more serious than the previous formats, which were rather like a game show.
“I was looking for a pony and all I got was a lying dog faced pony soldier.”
If it can’t be serious it can at least be amusing.
I am so sorry, friends. I won’t be able to watch it with you. I am in bed by 7pm every night so I can get enough sleep before the 3am dog pilling. Very much looking forward to reading your comments with breakfast tomorrow, so don’t hold back.
And I love “Fake Tapper”. That’s awesome. If I ever run into him on campus, I will bust it out.
I’m going to a dumpster fire. Pretty sure I won’t miss anything, but the commentariat’s take will fill in anything without me having to make myself stupid by watching a bunch of media clowns.
Thank you all for your service.
I think the SCOTUS decision in Murthy versus Missouri was preparing for the Soopreem Kort’s hoped-for future in which the Republicans will win back enough governmental power ( including Presidential power) that they can use these methods against ” liberal” and “left-wing” media and on-line targets. The Federalist Society Soopreem Kort is playing a long game here.
On “the Plan:” I worked at the US EPA from 1978-2000, through the Reagan Anschluss, which largely hewed to the Heritage Foundations’s “Mandate for Leadership” — the precursor to “Project 2025.” The Bushies came in with their own version of the document, under the same title and to the same effect.
I’d observe that following that “government is the problem, not the solution, kill the regulators” plan, the Reaganauts did a damn good job of tipping the administrative agencies that were supposed to do stuff like protect human health and the environment and enforce antitrust and such, right on their sides. They did do a lot of layoffs, terrifying any do-gooders who did not have a trust fund to fall back on into acquiescence with the “program.”
I was an enforcement attorney and eventually assistant regional counsel, tasked with developing enforcement cases against critters like Dow Chemical and Monsanto and other corporate malefactors, including criminal cases against corporate officers, for violations of the Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and eventually the federal Superfund legislation.
The first thing the Reagan appointees and the rest of that government in waiting, lined up in cooperation with the Heritage Foundation, did was tell us not to be bothering them with any more enforcement cases, and to reset our thinking to the new model: we were a customer service organization now, and “Business” was our customer. We were to help the malefactors “achieve compliance” going forward, not threaten them with penalties and injunctions and, God forbid, perp walks on corporate officers and employees for criminal violations.
The second thing they did was to trash the Agency’s libraries, with all he studies and reports and importantly the monitoring reports that polluters were formerly required to submit, essentially under oath, to demonstrate compliance with their permits and development of new chemicals and spills and various bad events. But they made sure to have many copies of “Mandate for Leadership” on the few remaining shelves. I believe in the Region V office in Chicago, with responsibility for Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, and cross-border protection of the Great Lakes, had 118 copies, and all the senior staff were expected to be familiar with its content. The books were also placed in each of the Region’s local and program offices. The chapters on dismantling and neutering EPA were only part of the whole massively detailed program.
There’s so much to the history that has just faded right out. The EPA staff that gave a hoot about human health and the environment was replaced in various Reduction in Force (the dreaded “RIFs”) tranches, or cowed by the continued suppression of data and studies showing real and deadly problems.
Heritage told the Reaganuts to sell the idea that regulations should only be based on “good science,” which was dog whistle for “don’t see a problem here.” There was a Green Book of “approved” science and tech people who toed the pro-corporate line, along with a blacklist of “unreliable” science and tech people. Holdouts got kicked into slots where they had no pathway to do any protection or enforcement, or just rendered so ineffectual that they quit in frustration — or crossed over to protect their pensions. The people who filled the remaining slots largely were of the “conservative persuasion,” selected by the upper reaches of the civil service and Excepted Service hierarchies to reinforce the mandate. Leading to the toothless remnant that is the US EPA today.
There’s a book that sort of covers the period and the process — “A Season of Spoils: The Reagan Administration’s Attack on the Environment,” never a best-seller and long out of print. For anyone inclined to pursue the history and how it was done.
So i would have to say that the Reagan advent was kind of like Mike Tyson’s battering of Michel Spinks. The Reaganuts, like Tyson, had a plan, and they executed it.
Thanks. This is terrific stuff, and when I get round to the Civil Service section of Project 2025 I will be sure to incorporate your experience. (This topic was not in scope for my post, which was narrowly focused on whether Project 2025 = fascism (I urge that it does not)). That doesn’t mean, however, that Project 2025 is A Good Thing, or that I support it. Unfortunately, because coverage is so horrid, I actually have to read it personally, which takes level of effort). One thing, however: I am not sure that today’s conservatives are as competent as the Reaganauts. No James Bakers today.
So basically you were told to “foam the runway” for business. But isn’t that also what Obama and his DOJ were doing? Haven’t the DC regulators become vastly more business friendly under both parties?
I doubt if Trump even knows what’s in Project 2025 although there are a lot of people running around–as when he was actual president–pretending to be his spokesperson.
Yep. Clinton and Obama both had 8 full years to reverse this, and pretty much did nada.
In the good old days, the Democrats were the ones who kept government running.
Republicans since the 1980’s are intent with cutting taxes and by default getting government off of businesses’ backs. Starting with the Clinton and then the Obama Administrations; laws were ignored and fees for service implemented. Agencies like FDA and EPA still say that their decisions are science based but in reality aren’t anymore. “Money talks” in a corporate-state. So this election is a choice between the current corrupt federal government that no longer works like Veteran Affairs that gave it Senior Executives in DC millions of dollars in bonuses intended to hire staff for treating veterans exposed to burn pits. Yet, for some ungodly reason, traffic radio is now running VA advertisements to veterans to sign up for “the best, most affordable health care in America” when in reality the actual wait time to see a primary physician is three months and Clinics are impossible to reach by phone. This is the Biden Administration.
Not to mention, the proxy WW3 in Ukraine and Gaza that has no end and is heading towards Taiwan.
Re-electing the alternative will extract revenge for making Donald Trump a felon by eliminating “Deep State” villains, assuring a Red Blue State split up, and dividing up the remaining working plutonium weapon pits between them.
I remember it was the Nixon admin that created the EPA. I also remember the Reagan wing of the GOP hated the Nixon wing. I’m sure the Reagan wing was happy when Nixon resigned. / ;)
Thanks for that report. It must have been a pretty bleak time in your life to watch a public service taken apart by an administration that was carrying out the wants and desires of the business community. They may have had a plan but that plan has led to the America of 2024.
I have some observations; only some of then are local.
My mom told me a couple of days ago that she went to the pharmacy in the nearby small New England city where she typically shops. She went to buy a condolence card for a horse, and she noticed that the condolence card section for humans was nearly empty. That got her attention.
She has a helper whom she has hired (who is also a friend) who is about her age who has a granddaughter who is in her mid twenties. The girl has been working diligently as a nanny for a while now, and has been saving as much as she can, and now she is going to spend her savings. She will be buying a ticket so that she can go to England for one day. Just one day. To go to a Taylor Swift concert.
The Santa Clara, CA county influenza data is up again. It is still a low zig zag; it should be at zero this time of year but instead there were some huge spikes in Gilroy and small spikes in surrounding areas. Presently Gilroy looks like it is working on its next big spike. I also noticed that the second highest spikes have been in Palo Alto. There are no cows in Palo Alto; I wonder what that is about.
As I made a five mile drive Tuesday night, two separate drivers on my route stopped at the red light and then proceeded. Even though the light was still red. This was in a rich town in Silicon Valley at about about 7 p.m.. That was strange.
There are presently covid cases where I volunteer. Since it is at the low end of high in the local wastewater that isn’t a surprise
Thanks, this is great. Reminds me of the beginning of some extremely creepy movie*. (The card detail is great.)
NOTE * In the movie, the granddaughter would come back from the UK not with Covid, but with something like Cordyceps (from The Last of Us).
I just shipped her a whole box of condolence cards via Amazon in case the local stores actually run out. Prepping!!!!!!
Ship her some Ivermectin. Seriously. Good luck on all accounts.
I take Ivermectin myself as an intermittent prophylactic (I declined the shot, and wear an N95, and use Xlear and claritin, and have so far avoided covid). And I did send her some Ivermectin early on. But she has so many health problems that have come on over the past few years that I couldn’t really advise her at this point. I think her pancreatic insufficiency is due either to the vaccine or due to her having caught covid. I think her not so good kidney readings are due to either the vaccine or due to her having caught covid. But she’s 81 and getting “excellent medical care.” I did have her check if she could take nattokinase and her doctors said yes, but she got bored with taking one more thing. It’s all a mess. If she dies tomorrow everyone will figure it is because she is 81 y.o., but that might not really be it.
Re: Nevada is the most unpredictable swing state. I have to wonder how many Democrats checked out of the process over there after the ’16 election debacle in which they ended up with two different Democratic parties. Haven’t heard much about that lately, but I cannot imagine that it worked out well. Nevada sounds ripe for an WFP type surge.
I may have seen this here as well, but Jimmy Dore has also put out a vid* about Dana Bash’s husband being one of the “intelligence professionals” that signed a letter saying that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation. What are the odds that Trump might not spend a couple of minutes bashing Dana’s husband to delegitimize the moderators. It would be a real hit with his MAGA base, and might get him out of a sticky situation.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1DJZ-3jxuo&t=306s
Thanks, I couldn’t get to the moderators. Of course, Tapper’s no angel either.
Re: Dana Bash, I hate to use the “please kill me now” trope but:
How cozy! And yes, Jeremy Bash was one of the 51 intelligence professionals….
And then, of course, there’s this: Get to know Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, the Jewish moderators of the Biden-Trump debate Jewish Telegraphic Agency:
Again, how very cozy. (Because I’m not a trusting soul, I scanned Temple Micah’s calendar to see if there were any events where Israeli real estate speculators were selling plots of Gazan land; nothing crass like that.)
I find that I simply cannot take anything I read or see from main stream sources seriously anymore precisely because of all of these incestuous relationships. When you find that you have to research every single source to find out the real news it just ain’t news anymore, it is a friggin’ PHD thesis.
Another case in point is that Nevada article. How many people remember that Jon Ralston was the guy who made up the story about Bernie bros throwing chairs at the Nevada state Democratic convention? These people never seem to do enough to discredit themselves, and few, including myself, have the brain space to remember all of their exploits.
Hence the supreme value of this place. This is a real brain trust I wouldn’t trade for anything.
> How many people remember that Jon Ralston was the guy who made up the story about Bernie bros throwing chairs at the Nevada state Democratic convention?
Me! Me! (Ralston isn’t quoted in the piece, either, and he never made it onto the national stage, despite his best efforts. How sad for him.)
Oh, I remember, too! It seems Ralston’s latest gig has been “reporting” on the Harry/Meghan soap opera. I’m just thrilled for him.
Not having cable I can’t even get CNN and look forward to the NC version tonight. Brave souls will watch the debate so I don’t have to.
CNN even said they forbid others to stream their video whereupon Musk said X users can do whatever they like. But I don’t do X either.
ABC is streaming the CNN feed on their broadcast network. And the Washington Post website will also have it.
CNN’s website says you can watch the debate live without a cable login at CNN dot com
My drinking game is how much I’ll have to drink to turn it on.
Inside the debate prep
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-biden-and-trump-have-prepared-for-their-debate-rematch/
Germany demands new citizens accept Israel’s right to exist
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/europe/german-citizens-israel-right-to-exist-intl/index.html
Subtle.
Meanwhile, any Palestinian person in Germany is regarded as a Stateless person and thus a second-class citizen – of sorts.
To make up for my slow start, I added a boatload of orts and scraps. Plenty of debate material to prime you call for the evening’s festivities.
‘People need mental health support during this time of uncertainty now more than ever,’
So first crank up the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) and then offer Headspace as a kind of psychiatric help lemonade stand. It self licks.
And doesn’t the above merely demonstrate what a hopeless lightweight Michelle Obama is? The Dems would do better to run actual Oprah. Perhaps that is harsh but Michelle is the woman who hugged Dubya because “he’s a fellow Presidential.” It never rises above the personal.
Of course it’s quite likely that Michelle herself understands all this which is why she is not offering herself up as the Dem savior. She’s found her niche as self help guru and is happy to fill it.
> self help guru
Which self, one can only ask.
Nice about the neanderthal post, I was just about to put it in the comments via sciencealert. I feel like every couple of years there is a study about altruism in nature and how surprising it is…
There seems to be a constant low-grade simmer of COVID coverage in the mainstream press that hints at it being a thing to be concerned about. But it can’t seem to get escape velocity, yet. Perhaps another year of reinfections will do the trick. :(
Nice pic btw. Dupont has several waterfalls, one of which was featured in Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans (filmed in North Carolina).
It looks like a very beautiful region that. The sort of place you could go visit for awhile to chill out and relax.
The Mohicans story is set in upper NY state but that region now features twee resorts and heavily logged mtns so they chose more lightly populated Western NC for locations. The long drop waterfall in the final sequence is Hickory Nut Falls at Chimney Rock Park near Lake Lure.
I love the movie and have watched it many times.
“The stakes are only low ‘if you’re judging it as a kind of theater,’ said David Axelrod, the former top Barack Obama strategist.”
“But, Mr. AxelRove, it is all theater!” If the last few years have proven anything at all, it is that the president actually doesn’t have much to do with policy. That is all done by their donors, and they don’t call it a uniparty for no reason. The very reason that the BBB was so disappointing is that it underscored the fact that only corporate welfare is allowed in these United States anymore. Instead, anything that could actually help the citizenry is taken off the table by the Senate Parliamentarian while the dregs that are left are turned into tax breaks for oceanfront properties.
Either way the cookie crumbles, AxelRove is still going to have his cushy job over on some CNN opinion havers coffee klatsch declaiming how the electorate is not as serious as it needs to be to get the job done until the rest of his hair drops off and he becomes even less photogenic then he is now.
It is very hard to take such people seriously.
Thank you so so much, Lambert and crew for the live Blog upcoming for the debate. A reminder, watch it via CSPAN here: https://www.c-span.org/
They are wonderful in that often they just put 1 – 2 cameras on and show the footage, no right wing ranting or Democratic drivel. It’ll be interesting, for these interesting times.
> but N95 mentioned (“in public places where you might encounter elderly people or more folks who have health conditions that weaken their immune system,” which means everywhere, right?).
This strikes me as “not good enough”; it seems to neglect the fact that whenever sharing air (not necessarily “synchronously”, either) with people (of whatever immune status) of unknown infection status, one may be inhaling CV exhaled by low- or no-symptom spreaders (or, for that matter, symptomatic spreaders who are mitigating their symptoms with OTC medications [I suppose that concealing one’s COVID symptoms with meds is a form of “masking” that would meet with the approval of many who disdain actual respiratory protection]).
I seem to be cranky today. And the debate hasn’t started yet.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/us/oklahoma-public-schools-bible.html/
Oklahoma’s State Superintendent Requires Public Schools to Teach the Bible
Magical thinking is essential to the status quo.
On the other hand, they are about to open a can of worms.
So many cults around the Bible interpretations are going to cause all kinds of fights.
Lived briefly in a Southern town that had a First, Second and Fourth Baptist church. Nobody could or would offer info on what happened to the Third Baptist Church. Maybe a partial Rapture cuz they achieved Total Sanctity? Nah…
Martin Luther, did you know, was fed a steady diet of worms, one of which magically resurfaced in young RFK Jr.’s brain. It’s a small, yet awfully strange, world.
And of course the original Martin Luther had his own problems with Worms-
‘The Edict of Worms was a decree issued on 25 May 1521 by Emperor Charles V. Its contents proscribed Luther’s writings, declaring him a heretic and an enemy of the state, even permitting anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence.’
So much for the separation of Church and State. And if you are Jewish or Muslim, do you get a religious exception?