By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Bird Song of the Day
Common Nightingale, Taliouline, Morocco. 28 minutes of nightingale, so grab a cup of coffee.
In Case You Might Miss…
(1) Cannon throws out Smith’s case.
(2) Trump’s would-be assassin appeared in a Blackrock ad.
(3) Unelecting Biden: How’s that going?
(4) Responses to bird flu still absurdly slow….
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 (Immunity)
“Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity is more limited than it appears” [The Hill]. “The new rule of ‘absolute immunity’ states that when the Constitution grants the president ‘conclusive and preclusive’ power — meaning that the Constitution delegates a specific government function to the executive branch alone — the legislative branch cannot make any laws, including criminal laws, to restrict him. So the president cannot be prosecuted for a veto or an appointment, for example. The president is also ‘presumptively immune’ for ‘official acts’ if a prosecution would intrude on executive branch power. To demonstrate that this rule is narrow, evaluate the argument proposed by the dissenting justices that a president who stages a coup, assassinates a rival, or takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon would now be immune from prosecution. None of these hypothetical fact patterns would qualify for ‘absolute immunity,’ because each involves competing Constitutional powers. In such cases, the president’s acts would not be ‘conclusive and preclusive.’ Each would also involve unofficial conduct, which remains fully prosecutable. Presumptive immunity would be overcome for the same reasons. The specific holdings in the Trump ruling underscore this view. For example, the court held Trump immune for threatening to remove his attorney general if he did not comply with unlawful acts. Although this sounds disconcerting at first blush, the court decided only whether Trump is immune for alleged discussions with his own attorney general. The court did not hold, however, that a president would be immune for exercising the fearsome powers of the Department of Justice to extort state officials into corruptly overturning an election (the equivalent of a coup).”
Trump Assassination Attempt
“BlackRock Says Gunman From Trump Rally Appeared in Firm’s Ad” [Bloomberg]. “Crooks was one of several students who appeared in the background of the 2022 ad and was unpaid, BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, said in a statement. The ad was filmed at Bethel Park High School, where Crooks graduated in 2022, and featured a teacher, the company said.” • If Crooks was indeed a “troubled loner,” he seems to be a socially competent one. Odd:
BlackRock pulls ad that featured Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks https://t.co/24ViyLsLGj pic.twitter.com/y6xCpp2wGk
— New York Post (@nypost) July 15, 2024
Blackrock certainly wasn’t on my Bingo card!
“Grateful, defiant Trump recounts surviving ‘surreal’ assassination attempt at rally: ‘I’m supposed to be dead'” [New York Post]. “‘A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,’ Trump said. ‘They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.’ He added, ‘I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot.'” • “Iconic.” Called it :-)
“The Gunman and the Would-Be Dictator” [David Frum, The Atlantic]. “Fascism feasts on violence… Now the bloodshed that Trump has done so much to incite against others has touched him as well.” • I admire war criminal David Frum‘s commitment to the bit. Never mind that we don’t even know the assassin’s motive; Carl Schmitt is the chef who served up the fascist smorgasbord from which both parties are feasting. If, as Schmitt has it, the central theme of politics is the friend/enemy distinction, Democrats, by loudly declaring Trump to be the next Hitler, have provided anyone sufficiently gullible with a motive for assassination. After all, if you can’t go back in time and kill baby Hitler, why not kill the real one in the here and now? The tendency of liberals to wish death on their enemies is well known (see Stoller, “On Mocking Dying Working Class White People“). As for example:
Granted, the Hampton’s aren’t the country, but “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.” Or:
Sitting at outdoor restaurant in Hamptons as waitress told us what happened , lots of comments from other tables from very well off people about ” What did Trump think would happen behaving like he does ? “
— GardinerIslandCapital (@GardinerIsland) July 14, 2024
“Both sides are right / But both sides murder / I give up / Why can’t they?” –X, I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts
“‘BlueAnon’ conspiracy theories flood social media after Trump rally shooting” [WaPo]. The deck: “Researchers who track online conspiracies say liberals are increasingly vulnerable to — and generating — QAnon-like bursts of misinformation.” After RussiaGate? You don’t say. More: “Minutes after Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., liberals began flooding social media platforms with conspiracy theories. They claimed the blood on former president Donald Trump’s ear was from a theatrical gel pack; that the shooting was a ‘false flag,’ perhaps coordinated by the Secret Service in collaboration with the Trump campaign; that the scene of a bloodied Trump raising his fist under an American flag was ‘#staged.’ ‘When did the Secret Service start allowing the President under duress to tell them ‘to wait’, then stand up to be seen by the crowd fist-pumping?” one user posted on X. “Can you blame me for thinking this is fake?’ The shooting threw into overdrive a phenomenon dubbed ‘BlueAnon’ — a play on the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon — that refers to liberal conspiracy theories online. As more Americans lose trust in mainstream institutions and turn to partisan commentators and influencers for information, experts say they are seeing a big uptick in the manufacture and spread of BlueAnon conspiracy theories, a sign that the communal warping of reality is spreading well beyond the right. ‘The [Schmittian] good-versus-evil paradigm of QAnon has really taken hold of the anti-Trump movement and you’re seeing two sides that feel like they are fighting a battle between good and evil,’ said Mike Rothschild, author of “The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy Theory of Everything.'” • Musical interlude.
2024
Less than a half a year to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages: CTUTP
Second post-debate polling: No massive swing to Trump that I can see. It would be hilarious if the Biden Debate debacle had exactly the same effect as Trump’s 34 bazillion felony convictions, i.e., none, both parties are so dug in. Of course, the Biden “buzz” (yesterday) is bad, and may yet have an effect. And who, may I ask, is making the buzz? 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.
* * * The Calendar
“Trump rally shooting upends Democrats’ Biden crisis” [Axios]. “Congressional Democrats’ all-consuming angst over President Biden’s candidacy has taken an abrupt backseat in lawmakers’ minds in the wake of an assassination attempt against former President Trump. Democratic lawmakers say their immediate focus is on their personal security and that of their staffs, not on their party’s political woes, helping to allow a crucial cooldown period for the embattled president. A second senior House Democrat told Axios that the Trump shooting has taken some of the heat off because it would ‘be bad form to make any statements against President Biden.’ Another Biden-skeptical Democrat, asked about lingering questions around the president’s candidacy, told Axios: ‘I don’t think that’s the focus right now.’…Most lawmakers who spoke to Axios said it is too early to say whether the cessation in tensions will last until the Democratic National Convention next month. But the second senior House Democrat offered one reason for why it might: ‘We’ve all resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency.'” • Not with a bang but a whimper? Because the stakes, objectively, are exactly the same after Trump’s assassination as before.
The DNC
“Democrats’ Foremost Expert on Party Rules Explains How Biden Could Be Replaced” [Politico]. Elaine Kamarck is a longtime member of the DNC’s rules committee and a scholar at the centrist Brookings Institution. “‘The reason people tear their hair out is that people don’t realize that the business of nominating a presidential candidate is ultimately party business,’ Kamarck said. And the party decides.” From July 13, though it seems like a week ago: “I think if [Biden] was inclined to get out, he should do it as soon as possible before the convention so that the party can sort out who wants to run. And at this point, I don’t think there’s a lot of people who want to run. I think that if he wants to get out, he should do it soon and let the party come together around Vice President Harris or perhaps somebody else, and do it in time for there to be a good convention. Remember that the convention planning is going on. They’re writing a platform, they’re already choosing speakers.” • If replacing Biden with Harris were easy, it would have already have happened. So, who else? When? How?
Electeds
“Playbook: Can Trump pivot — and can Biden run out the clock?” [Politico]. “Not a single Democrat has joined the effort calling for Biden to step aside since Saturday’s horrific events. And given the hard sharp turn toward unity and security, few expect those numbers to grow in the coming days — especially with the press focused on the shooting and the Republican convention, rather than Biden. It’s positive news for the embattled president, who — with five weeks until the Democratic convention — seems intent on running out the clock. Even Democrats who want Biden to step aside are now resigned to the notion that he’s here to stay. ‘I think this is over,’ one Democratic aide told us, arguing that the news cycle was what was crushing Biden — and the story has now moved on…. many continue to watch former Speaker NANCY PELOSI, the one person many think could shift the tide. ‘At some point, Pelosi has to fish or cut bait here,’ one Democratic aide.” • What fish? What bait?
* * * Trump (R) (Smith/Cannon): “Judge dismisses Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified docs criminal case” [Politico]. “Under Cannon’s view, the Justice Department lacks a legal basis to bring private lawyers into the department to head up special counsel investigations. Her conclusion would have nixed the appointment of Robert Mueller, named in 2017 to examine allegations of ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, as well as that of Robert Hur, selected last year to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified records. Some other special counsels named from the department’s existing ranks of prosecutors, though, would not have been impacted. Smith’s team argued that the history of such appointments over the past quarter century meant Congress had blessed such arrangements, but Cannon disagreed.” • No great loss. Was it Mueller liberal Democrats were naming their dogs after? Here is Cannon’s opinion (PDF):
Here is the Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2:
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The Legal Information Institute’s interpretation:
By default, the Appointments Clause requires that all “Officers of the United States” be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.1 However, the Clause authorizes Congress to vest the appointment of “inferior Officers,” at its discretion, “in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.” 2 Because of this language, the Supreme Court has recognized two classes of officers: (1) principal officers, who must be appointed by the President with the Senate’s advice and consent; and (2) inferior officers, whose appointment Congress may assign to the President alone, the courts, or a department head. This dichotomy has led to questions about whether there are constitutionally significant differences between principal and inferior officers.
I don’t understand why Smith isn’t an “inferior officer,” but apparently that’s not Cannon’s view. Perhaps legal mavens in the commentariat can comment.
Trump (R) (Smith/Cannon): “Judge dismisses classified documents case against Donald Trump” [Financial Times]. “Cannon’s ruling echoed misgivings about the DoJ special counsel expressed by Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, who wrote in a concurring opinion in the presidential immunity case that he had ‘serious questions’ about the constitutionality of the appointment. Smith is one of several special counsels appointed in recent years to manage politically sensitive investigations. A special counsel oversaw the probe into Biden’s handling of classified documents, while another was named to investigate the conduct of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, who was later charged with gun and tax offences. The ruling from Cannon could jeopardise both federal criminal cases. Meanwhile, two other criminal cases pending against Trump in state courts are also hitting hurdles.” • Cannon’s ruling can be appealed.
Trump (R) (Smith/Cannon): “Judge dismisses Trump’s federal classified docs case” [Axios]. “Trump, who at one point was staring down four criminal cases, is now unlikely to face another trial before Election Day.” • So the lawfare strategy crashed, and now the Democrats don’t seem to have another. And yet the race, as of last Friday, was still 50/50, according to RCP averages. Wouldn’t it be amazing if that was true next Friday?
* * * Trump (R): “”Playbook: Can Trump pivot — and can Biden run out the clock?” [Politico]. “1. Trump rewrote his convention speech to focus on unity, he told Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito, a Pittsburgh native who was at the rally and scheduled to interview the former president afterward but instead found herself shielding her daughter from flying bullets. Pre-shooting, the address he was planning to give ‘was going to be a humdinger,’ he told Zito, whom he called up yesterday because he felt bad about missing her interview, we hear. ‘Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now,’ he continued. ‘It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance.’ 2. Trump’s team also spent much of yesterday reaching out to convention speakers and asking them to avoid focusing on the shooting or blaming the left for it — and instead center their attention on the fundamentals of the campaign. 3. The pivot was the brainchild of an early Sunday morning call with Susie Wiles, Chris LcvCivita, Jason Miller and pollster Tony Fabrizio. After hours of relentless and incendiary Republican attacks blaming Democrats for inciting the violence, the team agreed the party would need a reset: The convention shouldn’t be about the shooting but about drawing a contrast with President Joe Biden on the issues Americans care about most. Alittle later, just before 8 a.m., we’re told Trump personally drafted his own Truth Social post adopting the ‘unify’ messaging and clicked send. To understand the difficulty of this pivot is to understand just how badly Trump’s team wants to win. Yes, they’re upset about the shooting — more than upset: shaken, angry, worried. But they also know the moment that they’re in. Right now, Trump has the potential to become a much more sympathetic figure in the eyes of undecided voters. Using the convention to mount an all-out assault on Democrats or entertain conspiracy theories could cause that goodwill to evaporate as quickly as it appeared.” • Amazing to think that Trump might take the high road (as Vance did not). As I asked once: Can Trump become a Face, after being a Heel for so long? (Kayfabe: “A wrestler may change from face to heel (or vice versa) in an event known as a turn, or gradually transition from one to the other over the course of a long storyline.”)
Trump (R): “The low road, the high road, and the way the wind blows” [Nate Silver, Silver Bulletin]. “In the present moment, [the assassination attempt] at the very least makes Trump much more sympathetic and undermines the implicit premise of the Biden campaign to restore order and stability to America It perhaps also unlocks a permission structure to vote for Trump among a certain type of voter. Elon Musk and Bill Ackman officially endorsed Trump in the wake of the shooting, for instance. I don’t think this is a particularly important development on its own, not least because Musk and Ackman were pretty obviously in the Trump camp to begin with (even if they hadn’t admitted it publicly, or even to themselves). But those Americans in the pox-in-all-houses mindset — and there are a lot of them — might find it easier now to pull the lever for Trump. And Trump fans will now walk over glass for their martyr.”
* * * Kennedy (I): “Calls grow for RFK Jr. to get Secret Service protection” [The Hill]. “Shortly after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., where the former president was injured and one attendee was killed, political figures from both sides of the aisle emphasized the need for Kennedy to receive Secret Service protection.” • This would not be hard to do, and even the molasses-brained Biden administration should have done it by now.
Kennedy (I): “Ballot Access HQ” [Kennedy Shanahan]. An impressive effort with some weaknesses. Petitioning is complet in purple states. But that doesn’t mean the ballots are approved and Kenney is on the ballot. Handy map:
To find out where Kennedy is actually on the ballot, you have to click on the individual state (poor UI/UX). I clicked the swing states, and put a “☑️” on the states where Kennedy has a ballot line. Kennedy is not on the ballot in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Virginia. He is on the ballot in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
* * * “Only an ‘October Surprise’ can swing the presidential election” [The Hill]. “What, then, could cause a decisive shift in Biden or Trump’s favor? Quite simply, the answer is an outside event. Or, as it’s otherwise known, an October Surprise. To that end, given that Biden’s and Trump’s strengths and weaknesses are familiar to voters, it is more likely that a truly pivotal October Surprise comes in the form of a foreign policy development that either drastically helps or harms Biden…. All of this is to say that if there is a major geopolitical crisis, Biden will play an outsized role. If he rises to the occasion, it will do more to address concerns over his fitness than virtually any press conference or campaign rally ever could.” • Given early voting, “October” may be too late. With a little more time, I’d research the earliest early voting in the Swing States….
Our Famously Free Press
“‘Morning Joe’ pulled from air Monday because of Trump shooting” [CNN]. “The decision by MSNBC to leave one of its most recognizable programs on the sidelines amid a seismic politics-driven news cycle, with the Republican National Convention getting underway in the wake of the Saturday shooting at Trump’s campaign rally, is certain to raise eyebrows. A person familiar with the matter told CNN that the decision was made to avoid a scenario in which one of the show’s stable of two dozen-plus guests might make an inappropriate comment on live television that could be used to assail the program and network as a whole. Given the breaking news nature of the story, the person said, it made more sense to continue airing rolling breaking news coverage in the fraught political moment.” • Anyone on Morning Joe from the Hamptons?
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, KF, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
Transmission: Covid
Personal risk assessment:
If the odds were like this 👇🏼
For winning the lottery
Everyone
Would buy a ticket https://t.co/gEhkG9asAq— oeuf 👋🏻O (@mairE_keyL) July 13, 2024
Regional breakdown:
Ratio of people currently infected by region:
Midwest: 1 in 79 ⬆️
South: 1 in 43 ⬆️
Northest: 1 in 79 ⬆️
West: 1 in 37 ➡️ pic.twitter.com/505zi2PaBt— JWeiland (@JPWeiland) July 12, 2024
Transmission: H5N1
“Bird flu outbreak at Colorado farm as 5 workers reported positive: Experts warn of ‘turning point,’ call for urgent action” [Fortune]. “‘I am extremely concerned that we are on the brink of this being really already in humans—and once it’s in humans, it is going to be a real problem to control,’ says Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist and immunologist at Emory University who specializes in influenza. ‘I will tell you that what has been driving me the past few months is trying to prevent H5 from becoming a pandemic…I have never felt that we were as close as we are now.’ In its own way [lol], the CDC echoes that concern, referencing in general terms the ‘pandemic potential’ of H5N1 and other novel flu viruses once humans are in the mix. But the agency added that it hasn’t yet seen genetic changes in the virus that would make human transmission more likely, and it continues to judge the risk to the general public as low…. “There’s no such thing as just a little conjunctivitis. or just a little respiratory (issue) when you’re dealing with a deadly virus,” [immunologist Rick Bright, a former federal health official] says. The virus, he adds, has already demonstrated the ability to mutate ‘very easily, very quickly, and it can cause severe illness and death. So let’s stop it in its tracks, not wait and see and let it get worse.’ Whether the CDC will follow the experts’ suggestions remains an open question. The agency’s response so far has been muted, with no change in official recommendation. For those who’ve been closely tracking this bird flu, though, the signs are ominous, and they warrant a proactive response-including vaccination of frontline farmworkers. ‘That’s why we have these stockpiles,’ Seema Lackdawala says. ‘It’s surprising to me that they haven’t been leveraged…We always expected this at some point in time.'” • Second verse, same as the first:
Rick is not wrong here. This is unfolding more slowly than Covid did, but in the exact same manor. Lack of testing and visibility into the depth of spread, media and Congress focused on other issues so no coverage, and a feeling that we’re waiting for a dam to break…🤦🏽♂️ https://t.co/8J73AsyKW9
— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) July 15, 2024
“Manner,” but never mind!
Airborne Transmission: H5N1
“Experimental reproduction of viral replication and disease in dairy calves and lactating cows inoculated with highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b” (preprint) [bioRxiv]. “We sought to experimentally reproduce infection with genotype B3.13 in Holstein yearling heifers and lactating cows. The heifers were inoculated by an aerosol respiratory route and the cows by an intramammary route. Clinical disease was mild in the heifers, but infection was confirmed by virus detection, lesions, and seroconversion. Clinical disease in lactating cows included decreased rumen motility, changes to milk appearance, and production losses consistent with field reports of viral mastitis. Infection was confirmed by high levels of viral RNA detected in milk, virus isolation, lesions in mammary tissue, and seroconversion. This study provides the foundation to investigate additional routes of infection, transmission, and intervention strategies.” • Oh good.
Maskstravaganza
“An invisible mask? Wearable air curtain, treated to kill viruses, blocks 99.8% of aerosols” (press release) [University of Michigan]. “An air curtain shooting down from the brim of a hard hat can prevent 99.8% of aerosols from reaching a worker’s face. The technology, created by University of Michigan startup Taza Aya, potentially offers a new protection option for workers in industries where respiratory disease transmission is a concern. Independent, third-party testing of Taza Aya‘s device showed the effectiveness of the air curtain, curved to encircle the face, coming from nozzles at the hat’s brim. But for the air curtain to effectively protect against pathogens in the room, it must first be cleansed of pathogens itself. Previous research by the group of Taza Aya co-founder Herek Clack, U-M associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, showed that their method can remove and kill 99% of airborne viruses in farm and laboratory settings. ” And: “Taza Aya’s prototype features a backpack, weighing roughly 10 pounds, that houses the nonthermal plasma module, air handler, electronics and the unit’s battery pack. The handler draws air into the module, where it’s treated before flowing to the air curtain’s nozzle array.” And: “In October of that year, Taza Aya was named an awardee in the Invisible Shield QuickFire Challenge—a competition created by Johnson & Johnson Innovation in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program sought to encourage the development of technologies that could protect people from airborne viruses while having a minimal impact on daily life.” • This is pretty neat. I’d like to see some Chinese manufacturers take the ball and run with it, and reduce the weight of the backpack and start selling them for like a hundred bucks.
5.3 million followers:
Plane be like…
Me be like…
We really need to clean up our indoor air, but until then thank you @zhouliang_mask! pic.twitter.com/LYXLvAscXh
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 13, 2024
Crypto bros not all bad?
Crypto bro boarding a plane with a CO2 monitor and a respirator and schooling his 5M+ followers on indoor air quality and why catching airborne diseases is bad, actually, was not on my cc bingo card, but apparently the co-founder of Ethereum is one of us. #YallMasking
— A. 🇵🇭🇪🇸🏳️🌈😷🍉💜 (@coffeeteanxiety) July 13, 2024
Celebrity Watch
Masked Olympians:
William Turner pic.twitter.com/TMJXk9ref2
— Impressions (@impression_ists) July 14, 2024
Violet Affleck before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors:
Violet Affleck: "To confront the Long COVID crisis I demand mask availability, air filtration and far-UVC light in government facilities, including jails and detention centers and mask mandates in county medical facilities. We must expand availability of tests and treatment.… pic.twitter.com/zg4b7Z9vxy
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) July 10, 2024
Her parents of course do not mask….
Selma Hayek:
Actress Salma Hayek revealed she had a life threatening case of COVID-19 (5/2020) & suffered from #LongCOVID.
“My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad,” Hayek said. “I said, ‘No, thank you. I’d rather die at home.'”#pwLC #LC
🧵🧵🧵 pic.twitter.com/Uc0hWs6pbP
— Long COVID Foundation (@LongCFoundation) July 12, 2024
Elite Maleficence
The Newest Must-Have Home Amenity for the Rich: Purified Air [Kanebridge News]. “Luxury homeowners are known to splurge on sleek kitchens, custom decor and art, but they are increasingly turning their attention to something less visible. Forest-fire smoke, the pandemic and increased awareness of sensitivities to mould and other irritants are making their interior environment a priority. Many are investing in complex systems and flexible designs that promise healthier indoor air but still include spaces, such as glass-enclosed rooms, that make being indoors feel natural. Listings are increasingly touting pollution-fighting amenities to lure home buyers. In Santa Rosa, Calif., a 13-acre estate for sale at $15 million has a whole-home air purifier. This spring, the Dovecote building, under construction in Manhattan’s Harlem neighbourhood, will offer six, three-bedroom condos built to strict green and clean-air standards, starting at $1.5 million. Malin, founder of Troon Pacific, a San Francisco-based developer of $15 million to $45 million properties that he calls healthy homes, said he focuses on the smallest details that can affect air quality. New tools allow for more-precise measurement of various particulate matter and carbon dioxide levels, he added. ‘Covid changed people’s perspective on connecting air quality to health, and the [wildfires] only enhanced that.'” • “People’s perspective.” Not all of them, and one can only wonder why. Commentary:
i come into casual contact w rich ppl due to my job
when i tell you they never stopped covid precautions lol. everything they implemented is now permanent
all their home air filters got swapped out, personalized medicine, staff wearing masks 24/7, etc
— 🌸 (@livelaughlmao) July 14, 2024
Can readers confirm?
“The summer surge of COVID in the US and the implications of the anti-public health policy” [WSWS]. “The US is in the midst of an accelerating summer COVID wave, the ninth such wave since March 2020. The current epicenters are located in the West (one in 37 infected) and the South (one in 43) of the country. Given the complete abandonment of all public health measures, including vaccination, this development is being driven more by waning population immunity coming off the winter peak and less by any unusual ‘seasonality’ patterns to SARS-CoV-2…. No principled public health figure has ever defined an endemic state as a perpetual saturation of the population with a viral pathogen as is the current situation.” • Nope. Though I don’t know why WSWS doesn’t go ahead and say “eugenicist” rather than “anti-public health.”
Lambert here: CDC claims (albeit with an exculpatory footnote) to update its vaunted National Wastewater Surveillance System data every Friday by 8pm. It has not updated the data since June 24. If it’s not updated by Monday, I can only conclude that the data is really, really ugly. Stay safe out there!
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts
| Wastewater | ||
| ★ This week[1] CDC July 8: | Last Week[2] CDC June 24 (until next week): | |
|
| |
| Variants [3] CDC July 6 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC July 8 | |
 |
|
|
| Hospitalization | ||
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data July 12: | ★ National [6] CDC June 22: | |
|
|
|
|
| Positivity | ||
| ★ National[7] Walgreens July 15: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic July 6: | |
 |
 |
|
| Travelers Data | ||
| Positivity[9] CDC June 17: | Variants[10] CDC June 17: | |
|
 |
|
| Deaths | ||
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC July 6: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC July 6: | |
 |
 |
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. Worse than two weeks ago. New York is a hot again, and Covid is spreading up the Maine Coast just in time for the Fourth of July weekend, in another triumph for Administration policy.
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) LB.1 coming up on the outside.
[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, which in fact shows that Covid is not seasonal. At least data for the entire pandemic is presented.
[7] (Walgreens) Still going up! (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.
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.
[12] Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
Manufacturing: “United States NY Empire State Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index declined to -6.6 in July 2024, slightly below market expectations of -6. New orders remained stable, while shipments saw a slight increase. Delivery times improved and supply availability stayed the same. Inventories decreased, reflecting ongoing challenges.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 57 Greed (previous close: 51 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 52 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 12 at 12:26:44 PM ET.
Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 186. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Not what the climate coverage implies.
Permaculture
Restoring a landscape dominated by bracken, a thread:
First, some basics. Bracken is a native fern, that emerges from the ground annually in late spring and summer. Its fronds can form a dense mass + grow to 2m or more.
It then collapses and dies off in the autumn, its energies subsumed into a deep underground network of rhizomes. pic.twitter.com/UzhXAvvfB8
— Eoghan Daltun 🌍 (@IrishRainforest) July 12, 2024
I wonder if there’s an equivalent approach for kudzu…
Photo Book
“Relax to Mesmerizing Aerial Views of Iceland’s ‘Glacial Flour’ Pulsing Through Waterways” [This is Colossal]. “As glaciers expand and recede, they have the capacity to grind rock so fine that geologists refer to the pulverized material as glacial flour. It slips down rivers and into lakes, carrying the otherworldly turquoise hue through a unique and resilient ecosystem. In Iceland, the blue-green color is complemented by rivers that flow yellow, thanks to sulfur from nearby volcanoes, or red from dissolved ferrous iron—also known as bog iron. Coursing over rock and black sand, the streams take on dazzling, rhythmic patterns.” • For example:
Looks like the surface of Jupiter!
The Gallery
Sailors’ delight?
William Turner pic.twitter.com/TMJXk9ref2
— Impressions (@impression_ists) July 14, 2024
Zeitgeist Watch
“A Deal With the Devil: What the Age-Old Faustian Bargain Reveals About the Modern World” [Literary Hub]. “The legend of the Devil’s contract is the most alluring, the most provocative, the most insightful, the most important story ever told. It concerns a humanity strung between Heaven and Hell, the saintly and the satanic; how a man could trade his soul for powers omnipotent, signing a covenant with the Devil so that he could briefly live as a god before being pulled down to Hell…. [T]he Devil’s hoof-prints can be found across the wide swatch of history, in our willingness to embrace power and engage in exploitation, to summon self-interestedness and to conjure cruelty…. Marlowe staged [Doctor Faustus] at the very beginning of what is increasingly being called the Anthropocene, the geological epoch in which humanity was finally able to impose its will (in an almost occult manner) upon the earth. There are costs to any such contract, as the wisdom of the legend has it… It may be appropriate to rechristen this age the Faustocene. Because whether or not the Devil is real, his effects in the world are.” • Hmm.
The 420
“Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago” [The Atlantic]. “rive through durham, north carolina, where I live, and you might get the impression that marijuana is legal here. Retail windows advertise thc in glittery letters and neon glass, and seven-pointed leaves adorn storefronts and roadside sandwich boards. The newest business near my house is the Stay Lit Smoke Shop, where an alien ripping a bong invites you to use the drive-through. In fact, neither medical nor recreational marijuana is legal in North Carolina. Technically, we’re getting high on hemp. This is probably not what Congress had in mind when it passed the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, commonly called the 2018 Farm Bill, which made the production of hemp—cannabis’s traditionally nonpsychoactive cousin—legal for the first time in nearly a century. Lawmakers who backed hemp legalization expected the plant to be used for textiles and nonintoxicating supplements, such as CBD oil and shelled hemp seeds (great on an acai bowl). They didn’t realize that, with some chemistry and creativity, hemp can get you just as high as the dankest marijuana plant. The upshot is that although recreational marijuana use is allowed in only 24 states and Washington, D.C., people anywhere in the U.S. can get intoxicated on hemp-derived THC without breaking federal law. These hemp-based highs are every bit as potent as those derived from the marijuana available in legalization states.’ • Finally some good news….
News of the Wired
“How Virginia Woolf’s list-making paved the way for her literary experiments” [Financial Times]. “Each day followed a pattern. Woolf noted the weather; any insects or birds seen on her walk (“3 perfect peacock butterflies”); her daily tally of mushrooms or blackberries (“A record find”, “Enough for a dish”); gardening or domestic activities (“Made chair cover after tea”); what was happening in the fields (“German prisoners cutting wheat with hooks”); what she had for supper (“Eating our own broad beans — delicious”); and the price of rationed goods (“Eggs 2/9 doz. from Mrs Attfield”). Adhering to a structure in her diary gave shape to her convalescence. Woolf rarely used “I” and yet we catch sight of her out walking, or sewing on the terrace in a straw hat. It’s not by chance that she wrote the laundry list on the inside cover of this notebook. During this period, listmaking and diary-keeping became part of the same practice of paying attention to small things and of setting down her experience, sparely and without flourish, on the page. To biographers, this slender diary has appeared inconsequential compared with the weightier stuff of her later longhand diaries and letters.” • Well worth a read, especiallly if you write. I love lists!
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 CH:
CH writes: “Fritillary on milkweed, Asheville, NC.” At least I think it’s a fritillary (from my high school butterfly collecting days). Readers?
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn’t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:
Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:
If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!
“BlackRock pulls ad that featured Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks” https://t.co/24ViyLsLGj pic.twitter.com/y6xCpp2wGk
He may have “acted alone,” but there’s a chance he didn’t think he was acting alone.
He did not act alone. His co-conspioritors were years of bullying, his father buying an AR-15, and the idiocy of the world.
Out of anyone I feel the most sorry for Thomas.
Just the type that can be manipulated.
Your honor, it wasn’t my fault. It was the idiocy of the world.
Yea, I remember these very same people wishing me dead for refusing an experimental shot we knew little about.
I have read everything I can find about the incident on Saturday, and what people are saying about it. The unity thing isn’t going to work, even though it is a little subdued right now. The hatred of anyone “not them” is still there just waiting for the chance to resurface again. They have spent the last 8 years hating on people – that’s not going to change. In fact, IMO, before we get to November (5th??) it will be as bad as ever.
Is the election November 5th. Funny that happens to be the date this year. Maybe I’ll write in Guy Fawkes.
Maybe that security detail request finally gets completed by Secretary ( Clown Act ) Mayorkas, expedite post haste. Should not be withheld. 3rd world country nonsense.
I’m not planning to cast a vote exactly for the man but last I knew or checked, he was polling at about 9% to 10%.
The fates do seem to be favoring Trump at the moment. A sign from above?
Some of us though have but one small request from the electorate: anyone but Biden! Patrick Lawrence calls him the worst president of his lifetime and that takes in a lot of ground.
I fear Trump’s speech will mention the mountain top…
“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” – MLK
Marx is often quoted as writing: Religion is the opiate of the masses. But actually the more complete thought of what he wrote translates as: Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
MLK was a rare treasure who dared to speak out, and paid for it.
We’ve had a few ” worst presidents of our lifetime” so far. And I expect to live long enough to see at least a few more.
It reminds me of what Morpheus said in that Matrix movie . . . ” There is no bottom.”
( Someone with a sense of satire could give themselves the pen name of Sue Tonyus and write a book called The Lives of The Presidents.)
I fear you are right. Every time I think no one could be as bad as X…someone new comes along and does it. There is no bottom.
Surprisingly as bad as Trump was, and it was bad, I considered him a respite after Obama. And Biden is a return to the worst of Obama and more, even with the bright spot of Lina Khan. Yup I would rate Trump better than either Obama or Biden and even Bush 2. But I fear that Trump 2.0 might be worse overall as I think he was somewhat hamstrung by inexperience the first time around. I don’t want to give him a chance to ‘improve’ his record.
I basically see a steady downward trajectory since the 1970s with very little variation – mainly in rhetoric only – through Democrat and Republican administrations, each building on the previous one to get us where we are today. That said, I think the degree of pure Evil of the Bush/Cheney regime dwarfs the others. Leaving the many unanswered questions about 9/11 aside, what they did after this “Pearl Harbor moment” (much of it planned beforehand) unleashed a massive expansion of our National Security State and incredible death and destruction in the Middle Ease and Central Asia. The degree of impunity with which they acted and the level of lies they used to justify their actions was unmatched by those who came after, bad as they also were. That the Bush/Cheney record is now memory-holed as we label Trump as “Hitler” and “the worst President in history” is an atrocity. That Michelle and ‘W’ can be best candy-sharing buddies after makes it worse.
Here’s where some of my long term memory hurts. I absolutely include Biden among those whose used 9/11 to decimate our civil liberties, that long term planning you mentioned included him. I condemn Obama not just for not prosecuting the torturers and those who lied to get us into that mess, but also for the increased privatization of our medical system. ACA not only bailed out the insurance companies it absolutely decimated many of the controls that more responsible states had put in place. And do not forget that it was his (and Clinton’s State that oversaw the coup in Ukraine that started that fiasco. Not to mention that his choice to save the bankers not the people (and let the banks deal with the actual amounts loaned not their financialization accounts as the rescue) led to the both the mortgage fraud and a huge loss of financial security, some record breaking, for the American public while those that caused it were made whole or better.
Bush/Cheney unleashed the monster, but Obama continued and extended those choices and then expanded financialization. Biden has done that, along with encouraging ignoring an ongoing pandemic, increasing homelessness, further decimation of the healthcare sector as in the providers and hospitals and tops it all off by continuing to supply a country actively involved in genocide with the weapons to do it. (Oh and leaving Afghanistan may have been from a Trump agreement but without actually going full fledged active military we were being kicked out, same as in Iraq, so he cannot even get credit for that.)
Like I said Trump was a respite, but I cannot say that of either Obama or Biden. They spent their time in office happily dancing around and drinking from, not to mention refilling the cauldron of evil that Bush and Cheney planted.
spud had a compelling comment yesterday. Lest we forget.
Not only Trump, but potentially the Republican party as a whole. This might have favorable down-ballot effects for them as well (though it is not guaranteed).
Somebody somewhere is saying: “Hold my beer.”
Have you seen that an injury on the right ear is a Sign of Fate?
( according to the Picatrix)
Lol
Maybe the shooter wanted Trump out of Narnia so chose right ear /s
;-)
My mother, a devout Catholic, brought up this chapter from the Bible (Luke 22:47) saying; “Trump is just a servant, on the side of the Romans”
~
The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus.
While he was still speaking, a crowd approached and in front was one of the Twelve, a man named Judas. He went up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” His disciples realized what was about to happen, and they asked, “Lord, shall we strike with a sword?” And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said in reply, “Stop, no more of this!” Then he touched the servant’s ear and healed him. And Jesus said to the chief priests and temple guards and elders who had come for him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? Day after day I was with you in the temple area, and you did not seize me; but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.”
At this time of year in 2016, Hillary Clinton was leading by a substantial margin in the polls (sometimes by double digits), Trump was floundering, and all the smart money said she was gonna win in a walk. We all know what happened next.
Now in July 2024, Trump is leading in the polls, the Biden Democrats are floundering, and all the smart money is saying Trump landslide, so… don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched.
A couple weeks ago the focus was all on Biden’s debate meltdown, triggering a historic crisis–we’ve never had an attempt to push out a major-party nominee so late in the campaign. Now that’s been totally eclipsed by this shooting. In two more weeks, who knows where we’ll be?
I suspect when all is said and done, the happenings of the last month will be far from the craziest incidents that have happened this election cycle. We appear to be headed towards the event horizon of the singularity. The closer we get, the faster things move and the more extreme they become.
The world we live in today is far more unstable than the world of mid-2016: the uncontrolled COVID pandemic having triggered a profound upheaval. The state of things is very volatile, and a lot of stuff that’s been repressed (often for decades) is bubbling up and coming to light. It’s very hard to make accurate predictions about what’ll happen in two weeks, let alone four months.
I think it would be deeply arrogant at this juncture to declare which side the fates are favoring. If indeed they’re favoring any “side.”
> don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched
I’m certainly not. I expect more volatility. And remember that the fundamental driver on the Democrat side remains, Biden or no: Trump cannot be permitted to take office. Could get ugly,
I see Walgreens positivity just beat out Biden’s second highest positivity peak on the graph, to become our second highest peak! Congratulations to Biden, Walensky, and Mandy!
And I’ve been saying the thing about winning the lottery in regards to long COVID since, I think, 2020. Who wouldn’t play?
I prefer the analogy, if you’re driving a car with a 10% chance of an accident every time you get behind the wheel, how often would you?
“Anyone on Morning Joe from the Hamptons?”
Is anyone really from the Hamptons? A few days ago, when the focus was all on Joe’s “mental acuity,” Steve Rattner appeared with the byline beneath him, “The Hamptons.” Steve was missing his Israeli flag lapel pin that he sported one day while trying to teach us about how great the economy is while using his nifty graphs. More growth!
Joe Brezinski would have had no trouble this morning. He could have declared he was offering prayers of thanks for Trump’s survival and not batted an eye. He’s flip-flopped on Joe Biden multiple times beginning when he yelled at Joe to get out of the way so Bloomberg could stop Bernie.
I had thought the hemp plant has way less of the drugs and resins on its flower buds than what the varieties of cannabis bred for drug production have. If my memory is correct, then way vastly huger amounts of hemp tops would be needed to get meaningful amounts of drug from. That is where the ” some chemistry and creativity” would come in.
I hope the hemp lobby is strong enough that this will not be taken as an excuse to re-outlaw growing hemp, considering all the non-drug benefits that hemp-growing and hemp-products provide.
Some of us, in podunk, e.g., suffer under our er, rules-based order:
Paragraph One– CBD products containing less than 0.3% [THC] are legal in Arkansas, legalized specifically by the Arkansas Agriculture Act of 2017¹
Sigh.
https://www.gvbbiopharma.com/how-to-start-a-hemp-business-in-arkansas/
Terpenes,(resins), not marijuana derived, but botanical, can be added to mimic different strains, of indica and sativa. The same chemical consituents. (It’s illegal to ship marijuana derived terpenes,–but botanically derived are OK.) Terpenes are also psychoactive. And there are lovely lab reports attesting to the purity,–no heavy metals, etc— of the products. These are often, umm, proprietary blends. That spooks me. It’s really a lab created product.
not good news. we know of the safety of weed from its long time use in humans for millennia. we dont have a clue what the long term effects there are from delta 8 and HHC and other synthetic cannabinoids. worse, these shady as hell completely unregulated hemp derived ‘thc’ companies arent subject to any regulations like legal real weed is, such as heavy metals or fertilizers, insecticides/herbicides, biologicals such as mold and bacteria… and best yet, the owners of these shady companies lobby their respective states to keep real weed illegal.
as a long time pothead, i had some ‘legal’ ‘thc’ gummies from texas (hemp derived, didnt know till afterwards, from a friend – i grow and process my own weed) and i had horrible anxiety and panic from it. not enjoyable at all.
and dont get me started about the hemp derived carts…
Second all of this absolutely.
I’ll add: the process of making these farm-bill-compliant hemp highs is bad as well:
1. one particular molecule (delta-9 thc) has to be removed, and others are extracted to be used (d8, d10, and an ever growing list of acronyms) using a solvent which predictably ends up in the final product. This is a harsh process and completely unregulated.
2. The d9-less stuff we extracted in part 1 is then either a) sprayed in to dried hemp flower and sold as a weed type product b) added to carts or edibles.
The high is not the same, you’re probably smoking solvents too.
There is one other loophole in the Farm Bill of 2018. As the law stipulates 0.03% d9 thc by weight of product sold, one can easily make larger gummies or other edibles that comply using natural weed and avoiding all the chemical process.
When I lived in Kentucky 2021-23 these chemical extract products were everywhere and I tried plenty. I may as well have sniffed glue.
Part of my response was somewhat bloodthirsty. I didn’t think assassinating Trump would do diddly to help America unless it was coordinated to take out Biden and at least a half dozen others in each party as well.
I also amused myself with thoughts of how Biden would or wouldn’t react to a similar attempt on his life, as in his ear also got pierced by a bullet. The thing is that I know the first is merely a commentary of how bad our political class is in America, and the second is just a ghoulish recognition that Biden would not be able to handle it as well as Trump did not a thought that he or anyone else should have to handle it.
I find that a lot of the violence that is advocated in America comes down to three things:
1. Fear. Usually fear of the other, or fear of the future from the uncertainty that has overwhelmed our lives in so many ways.
2. Anger. People who are hurt or lost or have had a great wrong done to them get angry. And yes, that spawns dreams of revenge.
3. Uncertainty. fear might be a minor part of this, but when people are on uncertain ground, or don’t know the rules anymore or just feel lost, they get defensive. And that can fuel violence.
Our leaders, and in this it is bipartisan, have spent years stripping away much of the fabric of our society. Usually this has been done to enrich their top donors, sometimes themselves and very rarely because they honestly thought they were doing the right thing. Good jobs, education, homes, healthcare have all been weakened or made nearly unattainable or sustainable in the past half century. I do not discount the Republicans in all this, but for the Democrats it meant absolutely throwing their traditional base out and forgetting their one time core beliefs. They pretended for a while but Obama was running the last time they even bothered to do that. But now they have little or nothing but we aren’t them and in particular him, meaning Donald Trump. And because even their evidence that they aren’t falls apart if you look it with any kind of logic, the finger pointing and screaming like it is the end of the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (RIP Donald Sutherland) gets louder and more histrionic. They have to pretend that a riot of overwrought tourists is a deadly insurrection, meanwhile people who know what deadly is are either ignored or marginalized.
Trump is a piece of work. I even get why he makes so many people crazy. But, and I sincerely believe this, bit by bit people wake up. There are more people in America that know he is not the new Hitler than those that think he is. Biden is also a psychotic piece of work. Neither of these men or most of the top political options after them in their party should be elected sanitation officer much less anything more powerful. The major parties are not offering us options. And the uncertainty principle rears it ugly head. I guess my problem is I am back to doing that weird imitation of Munch’s The Scream and pointing at them both as evil representatives of the whole and that whole is deeply antiDemocratic and a problem. Killing each other isn’t going to help correct that. Sometimes knowing the problem is not the first step to a solution
> unless it was coordinated
It’s like Boeing. To clean up Boeing you’d have to fire everyone right down to the shop floor (though maybe not some of the engineers, if there are any honest ones left).
The Dems have been having an identity crisis since Carter at least–perhaps since the later Vietnam war days.Then Trump started triangulating them and the stuck in the mud Repubs too. If it’s all a show then why not somebody from show biz?
Naturally the Sorkin West Wing lovers found this deeply outrageous since their heel/face scorecard was based on prestige education and knowing what Arugula is. The very fiber of their being was threatened.
Or something. George Carlin likely got it right–it’s all a giant pile of….
If only they’d leave the rest of the world alone. And maybe fix global warming.
almost 24 hours after mom’s outburst, don’s cousin’s hubby took me aside as i was over there doing sheep things that came up.
said:”yer momma’s really upset that all this means that trump is gonna win in a landslide”.
me:”no sh&t…ya think!?”
so used to being able to bend reality to her denials and assumptions of being right,lol…then here comes some undeniable event that shatters the bubble…shards of concave mirror strewn about….it would be sad if she hadnt been so nasty in her triumphant stomping around.
and again…this is why she’s my representative sample…a specimen in a glass cage…that gives me insight into that broader class of people she has so long aspired to belong to…and even convinced herself that she does, indeed, belong to.
for these folks, this last week or 3 have been truly earth shattering….gathered on their hilltop…and yet the world is still here…quick, somebody amend the sacred texts!
except for the pain it will cause me, i almost look forward to me and my youngest’s trip to Lubbock for orientation at Texas Tech…allow me to get out from under her withering glare…and forgo the usual tiptoeing around i hafta do when she’s on a tear.
I was deeply unpleasant when Obama and company ripped the last illusion I had about the Democratic Party actually caring about their constituency from my desperate fingers. I sometimes feel the need to apologize. I feel sorry for your mother. I at least traveled away from denial on my own. She is being bombarded with inconvenient facts she never asked for or wanted. That doesn’t excuse her nastiness though.
I hope the trip is not as painful as you expect and offers ten times more relief from the emotional pressure than you might think. And good luck and enjoyable higher education to the youngest!
When Napoleon Obamaparte hit me up with the $5 Fealty Deal, I just about gave back my value meal combo.
> shards of concave mirror strewn about
See Versailles Hall of Mirrors, John Robb’s mirrored silos… A well-turned phrase, Amfortas.
Christakis:
>> We show that having negative ties is associated with people being more peripheral within their subgroups, but closer to other groups within a population (at “bridge” locations). This can have the effect of bringing the whole population closer together. Furthermore, at the collective level, information diffusion is facilitated, and polarization and echo chambers are reduced, by the presence of negative ties.
“Granted, the Hampton’s aren’t the country, but “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.””
That “the Hampton’s aren’t the country” is the central problem for the elite Establishment. It’s the reason why they are so oblivious to the perspective and experience of most of the country, and why their “ruling ideas” are not working anymore. As the Democrats became more exclusively the party of cosmopolitan neoliberals, the political space they vacated was filled by the fake populism of the Republicans. Trump is the culmination of this process — the “blowback,” if you will.
Trump picksVance
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-07-15/trump-jd-vance-vp-vice-president
Ugh. Fealty to Peter Thiel. We can only hope Thiel hasn’t used Vance as a blood bag.
Adding, to be fair, Trump and his staff may be relyint on Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy for working class appeal. I doubt that will work. See the Trillbillies, here and here, for some splendid eviscerations.
The article says Thiel says he won’t contribute to either candidate.
Wasn’t Vance one of the ones opposed to Ukraine funding?
I think so. However bad Vance is, in my opinion he is nowhere near the despicable “Little Marco” Rubio. So there’s that, anyway. Trump is going heavy to the “populist” side (fake as it might be). Waiting to see hints at his foreign policy leanings.
Yes, but beware of a Milquetoast Mike Johnson-style immaculate conversion.
You know the drill, he just needs to be “educated”, and he’ll “evolve.” With any inauguration still 6 months away, there is time for the blob to get to him. Bus station hookers may find mysterious deposits into their checking accounts if they’re willing to make some extra cash and invent a story to impeach his character.
Dunno. The Trillbillies notwithstanding, his personal history is pretty compelling, especially for a population that’s desperate to believe in the promise of america again, aka MAGA.
He’s sure no bite-the-hand-that-feeds-you milquetoast like mike pence, and, at 39, he’s got plenty of time for a stint as vp and two more terms as prez. Plus he wrote his own book.
I’m thinkin’ kamala ought to be looking for ways to “unburden” herself of a debate with this guy.
He is a Yale Law grad, too-so he has credibility with the elites, up to a point. He was a USMC enlisted who went to college after service, which is as close as anyone nowadays to having brought himself up by bootstraps. Plus, there’s his early life which is well documented (although often criticized–see above). I believe his wife is an Indian-American, which adds a bit of multiethnic appeal. There is his venture capital ties (I guess that’s where Thiel connection comes in?) which is a bit dodgy, obviously….
THe VP nominee is probably a big deal for Trump: we’ve seen how 81 year olds look in the WH and that’s where Trump will be, I think, by the end of his term, too. I honestly don’t expect Trump will last his entire term–I think I can imagine Trump, even if he doesn’t resign or such, becoming a more European type president (who “presides” but doesn’t really govern much.) If I’m choosing between Vance and Harris as the president (I’m assuming that is basically the choice), I’m for Vance.
Agree with everything you say.
Vance is the closest thing to a non-swamp creature on offer this election cycle with a possibility of taking office, and I’m choosing to go with it.
Vance has been speaking to working class issues for a while now. He speaks favorably of Khan’s antitrust work. I think he may help Trump solidify some swing states. And at 40, he is young. Of course he’s no Kamala.
In regards to antitrust, this would be a loss in the Senate. But perhaps he can do more on the policy front as VP? Historically, VPs are kind of placeholders.
If Trump wins, Vance will be the frontrunner for the republican nomination in four years.
Maybe they thought harder about it then liberal Democrats did with Harris? Heh.
aye, re antitrust.
im wandering in the righty fever swamps:
“Vance even praised President Joe Biden’s Federal Trade Commission chairwoman, Lina Khan, the leader of what is known as the “hipster antitrust” movement, a school of thought that ditches the consumer welfare standard that guided U.S. antitrust policy for decades in favor of a much more adversarial approach to corporations that also considers other factors, such as corporate concentration and income inequality.
“A lot of my Republican colleagues look at [Khan] … and they say, ‘[Khan] is engaged in some sort of fundamentally evil thing,’” Vance said at a Bloomberg and Y Combinator event earlier this year. “I guess I look at Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration who I think is doing a pretty good job.””
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3083739/jd-vance-vp-economically-unorthodox-republican-ticket/
raygun and wf buckley roll in their graves.
remember Khan is as near to an actual commie in a high gov position as we’ve likely ever had…i remember following her stuff in Monthly Review.
I have added orts and scraps, a bit late. There’s so much happening on the syndemic front I felt I had to catch up before I became completely overwhelmed and never caught up.
The US has been averaging more than a mass shooting a day for a while; why is it so strange and out of bounds that one eventually targets the powerful? It’s been their relative safety while they kill remotely through policy that’s been odd to me.
The whole Trump thing falls closer to Mark Blyth’s comments that the Hamptons are not a defensible position than anything.
Or maybe consider Schumer’s comments about the advisability of taking on intelligence services, or Speaker Johnson’s recent 180.
I mean, whether the implication of your comment is correct or not, it doesn’t change the point.
Elsewhere in the LAT an analysis of the Florida ruling.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-07-15/justice-clarence-thomas-called-for-throwing-out-special-prosecutor-in-trumps-case
Back in 1999, when Congress didn’t reauthorize the Independent Counsel Act, it seemed like that would pay plenty in evil dividends in the years to come, and here we are again.
If you think Smith is “independent” then Brooklyn might want to sell their bridge. Both cases are bs although Turley said the Florida was the more legally dangerous to Trump. All over now.
Read earlier today (Simplicius?) that Biden whisperer Donilon has brother who is senior at blackRock, who is married to head of Secret service. #BlueAnon
>>>>The Newest Must-Have Home Amenity for the Rich: Purified Air
If you want clean air at home, get a machine or Corsi box.
Don’t install a HEPA filter into your furnace filter slot, unless you absolutely know that your furnace/blower motor is designed to handle the restriction caused by a HEPA filter (probably not).
A furnace filter is only meant to keep dust out of the furnace equipment, anytime beyond that is marketing. (especially if your ducts are not squeaky clean)
I think RussiaGate was devastating for liberals. Not just because of how crazy it was, but because everyone who didn’t go along with it became a grifter in there minds. After RussiaGate anyone who wasn’t in the echo chamber became either a purveyor of, or simp of misinformarion, all of which needed to be censored. No reflection is allowed, the steering wheel is out the window. Now there embroiled in Ukraine, Palestine, saber rattling China. They’ve got a senile president. And the presidential candidate they’ve been demonising nearly got his head blown off.
Does MAGA have its problems. Sure. But in the end I’m an Elitist. There animals, I don’t expect much from them.
A bit surprised no comment on the Tour de France, where they reinstitute mask mandates as COVID is throughout th peloton. No one complaining I’m aware of.
I’m recalling a fictional iconic, failed assassination photo that had a different outcome for a candidate (played by Martin Sheen).
https://youtu.be/Aa-3up4-xNk?si=dKHDGSB22yQGsODs
40% of permanent NPS jobs in Sequoia NP are unfilled because there is no longer term rentals available in Tiny Town-as they are all AirBnB’s and the like, while the scant NPS housing within the park is ancient and closer to decrepit than you’d like…and unless we get a GoFundMe gig or Daddy Warbucks going on it, the Federal Government isn’t gonna come through with new digs for the fern-feelers of the crown jewels.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With housing woes for National Park Service employees not expected to be resolved in the near term, Friends of Acadia continues its work to find, or create, housing for Acadia National Park employees.
While in the past the nonprofit has purchased housing or land for housing, it now is pushing a campaign to raise $10 million to build housing for seasonal workers at two campuses in the park. So far $7.5 million has been raised towards the goal.
The Raise the Roof fundraising campaign is part of Friends of Acadia’s commitment to help solve the severe housing shortage on Mount Desert Island that’s impacting Acadia’s ability to hire enough seasonal workers.
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/07/friends-acadia-raising-roof-create-housing-acadia-national-park-seasonals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yellowstone National Park, which launched a project four years ago to improve employee housing, is receiving a $40 million gift to provide more employee housing.
The money, announced Thursday by the National Park Foundation and the National Park Service, was provided by donors who asked to remain anonymous. It’s expected to pay for more than 70 modular units to address the shortage of employee housing in the park.
A lack of employee housing is a critical issue across the National Park System. The problem has been exasperated by rundown NPS housing and the advent of home vacation rentals surrounding parks that have drawn down the number of existing rentals while, at the same time, driving up pricing for other rental properties.
https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2024/03/yellowstone-national-park-lands-40-million-gift-more-employee-housing
If nothing else I suspect that the “volatile” vs “not volatile” debate about this election cycle is resolved. Bookies can to pay off on volatile. And we’re not done.
The thought occurs that the first major issue President DJT may need to deal with after his inauguration, 6 months from now, is an avian ‘flu pandemic.
The man can’t catch a break.
I wonder whether respirators will be on the “protective interventions” menu this time. SOTU address might be a major spreading event.
Some of us, in podunk, e.g., suffer under our er, rules-based order:
Paragraph One– CBD products containing less than 0.3% [THC] are legal in Arkansas, legalized specifically by the Arkansas Agriculture Act of 2017¹
Sigh.
https://www.gvbbiopharma.com/how-to-start-a-hemp-business-in-arkansas/
“The summer surge of COVID in the US and the implications of the anti-public health policy” [WSWS].
I agree with most of this article, but the writers at WSWS need to educate themselves more about the lab leak theory. It’s not about blaming China. The more you know about it, the more you realize the blame rests once again primarily with the good ol’ USA.
Why should whose fault it was have anything to do with the veracity of the lab leak theory?
Exactly. The WSWS is very concerned the lab leak theory is a fabrication to vilify China. They can’t seem to get past that. The lab leak was a China/US collaboration initiated by the US. You are right the evidence points to lab leak. It does not matter who is at fault with regards to evidence. It does matter for accountability.
The Supreme Court presidential immunity ruling is not, in fact, more limited than it appears to be, but it is most definitely more limited than it was misrepresented to be by a host of mendacious screeching media entities.