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2:00PM Water Cooler 7/2/2024

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Readers, I keep needing to leave notes like this, which is embarrassing. I promised a long Water Cooler today, but I misunderestimated the time it would take to finish a post on the splendors and miseries of Biden’s debate performance and the subsequent reactions to it. So today will be almost entirely politics, and maybe a little Covid (except for the nine charts, none of which are good news), and tomorrow’s best laid plan is for mostly Covid, which I can finish up before I hit the road. –lambert

Bird Song of the Day

Common Loon, Brown Bear Lake-middle, Kitimat-Stikine, British Columbia, Canada. “2 loons that I paddled right by. They were just swimming around in the middle of the lake. No sign of a nest, but I didn’t look. After I passed they started calling.”

Bonus birds:

* * *

In Case You Might Miss…

(1) New Covid charts. Readers, I’m not happy about any of this, especially before the holiday weekend. Stay safe out there!

(2) New swing state chart.

(3) Thoughts on immunity after Trump v. United States.

* * *

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)

Larry Tribe seems not to grasp the concept of context. He writes:

Here is the full quote from Federalist 69:

The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and, upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.

It’s the “afterwards” part that’s key. At least for official functions, you can’t get at the “ordinary course of law” (i.e., criminal charges) without going through impeachment first.

Lambert here: I don’t think much of the Court’s latest in Trump v. United States: “Absolute immunity” means absolute; to that extent liberals yammering about Kings are correct (although I suppose one could argue that we now have an elective monarch, rather than a heriditary one). But you can’t have “absolute” anything in a system of checks and balances; as Madison wrote in Federalist 51: “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.” But if the constitional rights of the “place” (i.e., official position) are “absolute,” then there is nothing to counteract the ambitions of the man, and so the majority in Trump v. United States has produced an absurd, system-destroying result. OTOH, it’s hard to see how lawfare, systematically pursued, could produce any other result, given that any Grand Jury will indict a ham sandwich, and anybody can be found guilt of violating some law, given a level of effort. So if you want “energy in the executive,” you can’t sap that branch with contrived and tendentious lawsuits, and so there has to be a rule to sort them. Now there is a rule (“be careful what you wish for”). Once again Trump, as is his little way, has found a limit case in the system, and broken through it by pursuing the case to its logical conclusion. I would speculate the remedy for the butchery in Trump v. United States is Constitutional: If a President wants to break a law as part of a core executive function, Congress can over-ride by a majority vote, which the President could veto, and the veto could be over-ridden by a two-thirds majority. Perhaps readers can provide a better fix. Commentary:

That bad government is the result of “the bad people” in office is absolutely Third World thinking. I don’t recall ever listening to Maddow; but whoever is, should stop.

FAFO:

Why not (1):

* * *

Here is one handy diagram about how Trump v. United States could affect Trump’s current cases:

The effect of Trump v. United States on Smith’s prosecution in Chutkan’s court:

Trump v. United States should not affect the Georgia case:

If in fact a President’s running for President is a core official function, than indeed l’etat c’est moi. So, something to watch.

2024

Less than a half a year to go!

Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:

RCP takes North Carolina off the table as a Swing State, and replaces it with Virginia. Trump is still holding his own, and this is before 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!

* * *

Biden (D): Desperation sets in:

Biden (D): Oh good:

Back in the day, David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, was running for Governor of Lousiana against the famously corrupt Edwin Edwards (“The only way I can lose this election is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.”) The Democrats won, with an equally famous bumper sticker that read: “Vote for the crook. It’s important!” So, “Vote for the corpse. It’s important!” (and [family blog it] the [family blogging] National Review got there first. Why oh why do Democrats suck so much?!

* * *

[Whoops, forget to delete the squillion links I’d collected and can’t get to. Maybe later! –lambert]

* * *

Republican Funhouse

https://x.com/galvinalmanza/status/1807195762192724403?s=12

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!

* * *

Vaccines

“NIH-sponsored trial of nasal COVID-19 vaccine opens” (press release) [NIH]. N = 60. “A Phase 1 trial testing the safety of an experimental nasal vaccine that may provide enhanced breadth of protection against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is now enrolling healthy adults at three sites in the United States. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is sponsoring the first-in-human trial of the investigational vaccine, which was designed and tested in pre-clinical studies by scientists from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Laboratory of Infectious Diseases.” • Late is better than never, I suppose. I just hope they don’t butcher this like they butchered the RECOVER (Long Covid) project. Perhaps one of our medical mavens can comment on the study methodology; the arms, and so forth.

Variants: Covid

* * *

TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts

Wastewater
★CDC June 24: Last Week[2] CDC June 17 (until next week):

Variants [3] CDC June 22 ★ Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC June 22
Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, data July 1: ★ National [6] CDC June 8:

Positivity
★ National[7] Walgreens July 1: Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic June 22:

Travelers Data
★ Positivity[9] CDC June 10: ★ Variants[10] CDC June 10:

Deaths
★ Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC June 22: ★ Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC June 22:

” alt=”” width=”310″ class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-273838″ />

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!

[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 Job Openings” [Trading Economics]. “The number of job openings rose by 221,000 from the previous month to 8.140 million in May 2024, beating the market consensus of 7.91 million. It follows a downwardly revised 7.919 million in April which was the lowest in three years. ”

Supply Chain: “United States LMI Logistics Managers Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Logistics Manager’s Index in the US edged lower to 55.3 in June 2024 from 55.6 in May, but pointed to a seventh consecutive month of expansion in the logistics sector.”

* * *

The Bezzle: Direct action brings satisfaction:

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 49 Neutral (previous close: 47 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 39 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 2 at 12:42:35 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes down one on Oil Supply/Price. “Oil demand is stable” [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 186. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Not what the climate coverage implies.

Class Warfare

“The Shareholder Supremacy” [Ed Zitron, Where’s Your Ed At?]. “[I]t was the Shareholder Supremacy movement that created the nebulous creature known as ‘management’ — a figurehead that exists to increase company value and make speeches rather than have any kind of domain expertise or bonafides, someone with just the ability to move numbers around and point at people to ‘get things done,’ even if ‘things’ might mean ‘make something worse as a means of cutting costs.’ In the eyes of the Shareholder Supremacist, the CEO of a tech company isn’t someone that builds, invests in, or proliferates technologies, but a stage-magician-accountant hybrid that uses a combination of sleight of hand and vague promises to convince those around them that a company is ‘the future,’ with the occasional result being that the company might develop technology at some point. Yet it took decades for the damage to really set in, when, in 1960, a horrible little man called Jack Welch would join General Electric….” • “A stage-magician-accountant hybrid….” Dave Calhoun, is that you?

News of the Wired

“The Mysterious, Deep-Dwelling Microbes That Sculpt Our Planet” [New York Times]. “We stepped out and walked a short distance to a large plastic spigot protruding from the rock. A pearly stream of water trickled from the wall near the faucet’s base, forming rivulets and pools. Wafting from the water was hydrogen sulfide — the source of the chamber’s odor. Kneeling, I realized that the water was teeming with a stringy white material similar to the skin of a poached egg. Caitlin Casar, a geobiologist, explained that the white fibers were microbes in the genus Thiothrix, which join together in long filaments and store sulfur in their cells, giving them a ghostly hue. Here we were, deep within Earth’s crust — a place where, without human intervention, there would be no light and little oxygen — yet life was literally gush­ing from rock.” • Perspective!

* * *

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 TH:

TH writes: “This is at the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona Del Mar – a favorite haunt. I liked the spotlight effect of the sun on the rich orange/red blossoms. The fly was a bonus…or not, depending on how one feels about flies.” I guess at thsi point I’m for any insects at all, until the soil microbes figure out what to do next!

* * *

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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97 comments

  1. Carla

    Lambert, I don’t know how you keep up with it all. That said, you might want to check this WC. There are no politics and no covid charts.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      I was late. Everything is there now, at least everything that can be for now. Adding, I’m not keeping up with it all, which frustrates me. Hopefully I’ve sorted for what’s important.

      1. Terry Flynn

        I am SO glad you meant it. I couldn’t bring myself to believe that you made such a mistake, hence my assumption that you were messing with us :-)

        1. John

          The bird was important. Politics etc and et al can wait until tomorrow or the tomorrow after that.

      4. Roland

        “Misunderestimate,” “Edumacation,” and “Journamalism” have all become part of my regular vocabulary. I think they have become useful words.

        When I look at most of the MSM nowadays, what better thing thing to say, than “Journamalism” ?

        Besides, now that Biden has beaten Medicare, why mock Dubya? The state of the art has progressed.

      5. Pat

        I fully admit to loving misunderestimate. I love its origin and even though it is totally wrong, I think it does give the sense I want to express often. Other Bushisms not so much. There is just something about misunderestimate!

      1. Tom Pfotzer

        She’s hot, Amfortas, in addition to being a great musician, with a great wit to boot. And speaking of boots, did you see them? Definitely Texas.

        Separately, and I even hesitate to remark this in the same post as imagery of Carolyn…

        === this is a subject demarcation wide as the sea ===

        Vermifuge. Yet another vocabulary contribution from the literates here @ NC.

        Say, Amfortas, I’m making no headway getting in touch with you. Pls swing by my website, and make contact.

        1. Amfortas the Hippie

          website?

          and we did actual vemifuge with the sheep and goats last saturday morning….the soreness compounds!
          drenched them with ivermectin(have tool to inject it down their throats)
          bc we had one young goat die from white stomach worms, of all things.
          putting wetted diotomaceous earth in their nightly feed…dont seem to mind it…to cut up and kill the rest of the worms, if any.
          re-drench in a month.
          monitoring their poop for worm parts.

          im much better with fruits and veggies and fowl.

          1. Tom Pfotzer

            http://www.realeconomy.org

            hit the Contact tab. Make up a false email addr if not comfortable providing it.
            Def give phone number. I’ll call later this week. Email would be useful; lot of stuff incl pix to exchange.

            For any others on NC that might want to converse with me, please feel free to contact me as well.

          2. Tom Pfotzer

            Ya, we have goats. They do get worms, and ivermectin seems effective. And it causes no end of issues if it’s not treated timely. Anemia. gastro-intestinal issues (diarrhea), etc.

            Our herd is “closed” – no new animals from outside, so it’s easier to control – less new introduction of contamination.

            Ours get mites (ears and skin) and lice (endemic almost everywhere) and that’s controlled with flea powder.

            No end to farm work, esp. if you actually pay attention to it.

            Spent the day (and many more besides) re-org all the supplies and equipment I have. Greenhouse doubles as R&D facility and fabrication facility; I’m doing a lot of not-elsewhere-available machine/system fabrication, and many a tool and material is required.

            One thing I’ll early provide is my pet “Here’s how to do product devel” paper, and one of the key inputs to prod devel – and you’ll appreciate this, no doubt – is a broad lexicon of tools, technique, materials, and 2nd most important – imagination, and 1st most important is effort and focus. Channeling Edison here.

  3. lyman alpha blob

    Here’s another ‘fix ‘ – abolish the presidency. No president, no presidential immunity!

    Seems at least as plausible as anything else on offer from these clowns, and judging by the last several we’ve had, it would be a great improvement.

    1. flora

      Sorry, no can do. Now if the Dem party actually listened to its base voters and didn’t foist ultra-insiders on us, especially mentally handicapped insiders, we’d be good to go. (See Thomas Frank’s “Listen, Liberal!”) , / ;)

      Hilarious the Dem estab now brings out Bernie to co-write (wink, wink) an article with B. So now they like Bernie? After kneecapping him twice. right.

      1. Terry Flynn

        The ultra-insiders thing holds true in UK midlands too. For the record I’m a Gen X gay male who never engaged with “alphabet politics” but just wanted, you know, candidates who were vaguely normal, understood how money worked, didn’t victimize groups etc.

        I live in probably the 2nd/3rd top target seat for Labour to win back on Thursday. They’ll win it. Massively. Call me Mr suspicious but why did the gay Labour candidate only post on social media about his husband THIS WEEK? The constituency is “conservative social values but solid Labour normally”.

        It makes me think you think alphabetti spagetti matters. Which worries me. Everyone round here just wants the govt to use printed money to activate unused resources a la MMT. They’ll only allow bigotry to surface if you have no answer to the real economic questions. Mum says “awwww lovely” & votes for him. I’m following Jonathan Pie and drawing a big spaffing cock across my ballot paper.

        1. chris

          No, that doesn’t make sense. I have it on good authority from ALL THE GOOD people and NYT (praise be the scribes) that gay people are magical and subsist on pronouns and flags alone. Hence, they are immune to material concerns and should be counted to vote for the CORRECT people in perpetuity. AMEN.
          ——
          I agree with you.

          I take it that you’d like to get on with your life and would appreciate nit living under the threat of economic and political war for some portion of your existence on this planet?

          1. Terry Flynn

            Thanks. Appreciate where you’re coming from immensely.

            Yeah, I’m still expected to vote for the guy “COZ HE’S A GAY”! No, he won’t get my vote because either he is thick as pigshite with not understanding money or he DOES understand money and is a major liar.

            Nope. He’s a perfectly good local Councillor and should stay in his lane.

            1. Revenant

              LOL at the big spaffing cock. I never watched Jonathan Pie (parental TV, I drew the line at Morse) but perhaps I should have. I would vote for Reform but I deregistered for reasons of personal bureaucratic pettiness.

              As for the gay-marriage-of-convenience local councillor, local councils are of course not sovereign in their own currency so his economics may be a bit provincial. Not so much saltwater or freshwater as bathwater macro, if you’ve been to flicks lately. He should spend less time in Heaven and more time in the reading room of the British Museum….

                1. lyman alpha blob

                  “a woman so stupid she thinks Channel 4 is a brand of perfume”

                  Made my day!

                  1. Terry Flynn

                    Thanks to all in this thread! Indeed people like me fully agree with the NC maxim that we live in the stupidest timeline.

      2. Dr. John Carpenter

        Oh rest assured, they still don’t like Bernie. But he’s more than willing to help out his “good friend Joe” in his hour of need. Heck, it was probably Bernie’s idea because he honestly believes Joe is all that stands between Trump and the end of “our democracy ™”. But the idea that in the year 2024 Sanders still has enough pull to sway anyone to Genocide Joe is laughable.

    2. griffen

      The above suggestion that a Democrat ” would not go there ” is kinda laughable to be honest, just my two cents. I’ll have to throw in the towel at some point and catch up on this latest entry into American Lawfare 2024, Welcome to Thunderdome.

      Not go there, I mean firing or fully dismiss a coterie of Supreme Justices who rule against what is believed to be Democrats moral compass*. Sure they might just as much as Trump might. Less evil or not they are collectively, indeed still evil.

      *a compass indicates interest of the citizens they deem to rule and such. Not an organizing PAC or deep money donor class

  4. antidlc

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lloyd-doggett-becomes-first-sitting-democratic-member-of-congress-to-call-on-biden-to-withdraw/ar-BB1phWFM
    Lloyd Doggett becomes first sitting Democratic member of Congress to call on Biden to withdraw

    …
    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/us/politics/dnc-process-to-replace-biden.html

    D.N.C. Member Pitches Process to Replace Biden as Nominee in Memo to Party Chair

    The process, outlined by James Zogby, starts with an unlikely prospect: President Biden announcing that he would drop out of the race.

    1. Samuel Conner

      I continue to wonder whether there might be a coming “LBJ in 1968” kind of moment, though time is definitely running short. If “Project Ukraine” suddenly goes up in smoke, which it might do this Summer (not that it hasn’t plainly been failing for a long time, but so badly that it can’t be polished or spun), things could look so bleak for JRB that his handlers decide the coming humiliation isn’t worth the trouble and persuade him to withdraw.

  5. antidlc

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-disastrous-debate-democrats-worry-call-step-down-rcna159841

    Four days since his disastrous debate, Biden hasn’t called top Democrats in Congress
    The president hasn’t spoken with the Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate as a number of lawmakers grow increasingly frustrated at the response from his team.

    Four days after his disastrous debate performance, President Joe Biden still hadn’t personally called top Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to shore up support, five sources told NBC News, though White House chief of staff Jeff Zients was making calls.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      > President Joe Biden still hadn’t personally called top Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill to shore up support

      One argument is that Biden isn’t making the calls because he can’t. He might consider it beneath his dignity, of course.

      1. Amfortas the Hippie

        sundowning while on adderall(and who knows what else) has consequences.
        he’s asleep/comatose.
        wont be long, now…if my experience with people like that is any indicator at all.
        they’d prolly like to keep him alive until the virtual convention, at least…but they aint really in charge of such things…pretense be damned.

        anybody seen Herself?
        Hilldog?
        do brooms show up on radar?

          1. Samuel Conner

            Thank you. One kind of hopes that that salt is rubbed on the open sores of the D party for years to come. They deserve it.

        3. The Rev Kev

          ‘do brooms show up on radar?’

          If one does show up on radar, it should be reported as a Chinese spy balloon and let the Air Force do the rest.

      2. Mark Gisleson

        “can’t” is exactly the right word. Twisting arms sounds simple but the process by which you find your arm pinned behind your back is almost impossible to explain. Like most effective strategies, arm twisting relies on intimidation, bribery and/or extortion. Whipping the vote would be less cruel if actual whips were used.

        Joe is past his expiration date and frankly, he didn’t smell all that good before. Given how much power Biden has in reality, his inability to pick up the phone is yet another 800 lb gorilla milling about in the political commons amidst all the invisible elephants.

    2. Carolinian

      There’s now speculation that he may have Parkinson’s Disease and Parkinson’s dementia. Biden doesn’t own the presidency, so if he has a major physical problem he is not allowed morally and perhaps legally to make staying in office “his decision.” We the people own the government, not him.

      In other words by exposing himself to the camera’s glare he may have made continuation of the cover up–if such it is–impossible. I don’t think they can spin this (if the above is true). Even non medical common sense says that someone his age should let it go. If they really think Trump is so scary then there is still time to find someone to oppose DJT.

      1. Lena

        I speculated about Biden having PDD (Parkinson’s Disease with Dementia) in a comment a few days ago. It would explain the physical symptoms along with the cognitive symptoms that Biden displays. It’s a *very* serious disease that would indeed render him incapable of making decisions. Therefore having any meaningful “conversations” with him to get him to resign, which he needs to do now as well as drop out of the 2024 race, are impossible.

        1. Carolinian

          I remember your comment–thanks. And I just saw this today.

          https://alexberenson.substack.com/p/a-neurosurgeon-diagnoses-joe-biden

          (apologies if too much of the original but important–a neurosurgeon writes Berenson)

          I simply wanted to give you a thumbs up on your diagnosis of POTUS.

          He undoubtedly has Parkinson’s disease, and is increasingly suffering from Parkinson’s dementia. The signs are unmistakable:

          -his shuffling gait
          -the absence of associated movements (facial expression, arm swinging). When he does swing his arms, it appears stilted – probably because his handlers have told him to swing his arms when he walks. It’s something we all do naturally, but it goes away in Parkinson’s disease
          -gait instability
          -soft voice
          -ON and OFF periods – times when the medication seems to be working well, and when it isn’t (also explains how a good dose of Sinemet times right could get him more animated
          -resting tremor is not prominent in Biden’s case, but this is true of many cases of Parkinsonism

          Do you agree?

          1. Lena

            Yes, I agree. I’m not a doctor but I do (unfortunately) have some knowledge about complex brain disorders. The signs point to Biden having PDD.

    3. GF

      Biden isn’t missing from action, he is working on an Executive Order to ban convicted felons from running for or being elected US President effective immediately. (Hat Tip Larry Johnson)/s

  6. Expat2uruguay

    Very interesting video of the bird creating the next generation. So apparently it takes a whole week to lay eggs???!!

    Too bad that this wasn’t posted back when the name of the media company was Twitter!!

  7. DJG, Reality Czar

    Laurence Tribe, supposedly writing (and twiXting) about constitutional law: “He was just a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean. . .”

    Quoting an aria by “Aaron Burr” (now that’s ironic) from Hamilton:
    How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a
    Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten
    Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor
    Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

    Next up: Laurence Tribe discusses the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during WWII by quoting from The King and I.

    It is good to know that although the U S of A may be in a continuing constitutional crisis and collapse of legitimacy, the supply of vulgar thinking is never-ending.

    Too clever by half, that law perfesser.

    1. lyman alpha blob

      Here’s wishing Burr were still around to challenge Laurence Tribe to a duel. I would be happy not to listen to his wrongheaded legalistic savagery any longer.

      1. Carolinian

        Apparently Tribe and Turley have an ongoing feud which favors Turley. Turley is a conservative and when he gets out of his lane, to use the cliche, can be dubious. Even his “absolute free speech” is poorly defended when he goes on about those poor Israel supporters vs the insensitive Gaza protestors. But his new book isn’t bad.

        Tribe sounds like little more than a Dem party tool. That’s his privilege but then there are so many of them in academe.

    2. griffen

      I’d call this satire of a sort, and of course please consider the source. That said, it is funny to entertain this notion. Navarro is sporting an orange track suit, just to name one example. I’d have to search whether Steve Bannon is wearing that color yet, maybe he’s on the way to doing so.

      And as to the vulgar thought processes, well ancient Rome shows the map. Bread, circuses, and who gets fed to the lions today ?

      https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-will-imprison-his-political-opponents-says-guy-imprisoning-his-political-opponents

    3. pjay

      This example is just too perfect. The Liberal Bubble is self-referential and self-sustaining. Its denizens in academia, the media, entertainment, and politics simply feed each other with almost no meaningful interaction with the rest of the country any more. The notables in these shrinking blue islands of a handful of metropolitan areas and college towns are oblivious to what is going on in the vast red sea in which they are floating.

    4. Jason Boxman

      I forget where now, but years ago there was an excellent post about legitimacy crisis in regards to the United States; Maybe at Interfluidity, maybe elsewhere? I can’t find it. It was a deep dive.

      This country has had a legitimacy crisis since Bush v. Gore for real, and certainly since Obama gave a pass to Bush’s criminality, doubled down, and let the bankers and Wall Street off with barely a warning, and smashed Occupy.

    1. wendigo

      Turley seems to not understand that the official functions will be determined by future courts.

      Although hopefully unlikely, they could determine anything is an official function.

      As far as his preoccupation with free speech, once it applied to corporations it diminished its value for the average person.

      Although you have to like that it is now legal to tip public officials if you are happy with their decisions.

  9. Cervantes

    The tweet about the president firing six Supreme Court justices as an official act is a good example of the deep confusion over immunity. Immunity does not mean the president can do anything and not be sued; it just means the president cannot be charged or sued personally. So, the president can try to fire a Supreme Court justice, but a lawsuit could be filed for declaratory and injunctive relief against the president in his official capacity, and an order could be obtained finding the presidential firing unlawful. Immunity means that the unfired justice could not then sue the president personally for
    money (nor could DOJ charge). See?

    1. John

      Since all Article III federal judges of all ranks are appointed for life and can only be removed by impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate, the idea of the President ordering the removal of the Justices of the Supreme Court is, to put it politely, a non-starter.

  10. ambrit

    Son of North American Deep South Zeitgeist Report Jr.
    I just ran across this item while scrolling through my local television station’s weather pages. (Predicted for today 99F. Heat index 110+ Now, at 2PM, 98F, heat index 105.)
    Local newspapers close. Read all the way to the bottom. It’s short, like the target demographic’s attention span?
    Read: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2024/07/01/mississippi-newspapers-close-jasper-county-news-and-smith-county-reformer/74270137007/
    An idea for the masthead motto of the CIA Times: “Freedom Dies in Finance.”
    Stay safe. (But then you knew I was going to say that.)

      1. Amfortas the Hippie

        im running the distributed big sprinklers, one after the other…and starting with the one at the bar.
        humidity currently low enough for it to have an effect…but im in and out of the cowboypool anyways.
        geese are following me around to see which big sprinkler i turn on next.
        muttering the whole time, the ingrates.

        1. ambrit

          Yep. We’re up to 100F and the Heat Index at 110 at 4.30PM. The sprinkler idea was a standby heat coping mechanism back when I was a kid. Remember the Slip N Slide?
          Stay safe. Get wet!

    2. griffen

      Deep South Zeitgeist…I had a thought about this topic. Over the past weekend, I made a small visit to what I can describe is a close out grocer or a warehouse ( almost expired ) of sundry and varied grocery items for consideration or purchase. I confess one, not going with an actual plan for purchasing but primarily went to browse for the cheaper coffee available.

      A busy place, this location here, nearest to Spartanburg SC. Honestly I can see an appeal to such a location given the cheapest goods on offer. I left without making any decisions in my American consumer brain, but I only shop for one. So purchases in bulk of purchases needing an immediate use are rarely a fit. I do consider the purchasing value goes quite far there, all else equal.

      1. ambrit

        As usual, the Deep South leads the way for the rest of the nation. Whether up or down really doesn’t matter.

      2. Carolinian

        You are a bit vague sir. I shop at Aldi and Lidl and Walmart (a bit) and Ingles, which is a local chain out of Asheville. I rarely go to our Publix although I used to shop there all the time when I lived in Atlanta.

        The three first mentioned are discount groceries that closely track each other’s prices. Aldi and Lidl are super convenient because the stores are so small. Ingles is a conventional grocery that carries national brands and competes with weekly sales. All of them seem to have shown the same percent of inflation but from a lower base for the discounts. But I think the takeaway is that here in flyover–my version at least–there’s still a lot of retail grocery competition. Seems it may be the wholesalers who are colluding.

        That said, a few years ago this discount pressure gave grocery prices that seemed amazingly inexpensive. So for the discount shoppers things may not be quite so bad just yet.

        1. ambrit

          I think he might be mentioning those independent retail outlets that deal in salvage goods, including dry goods and canned items. Believe me, they are out there just a step below Aldi, Lidl, etc. I have patronized such establishments before, out of financial necessity. Now the the USDA no longer distributes the ‘excess’ dry milk, cheese, beans and rice like they used to, it is even tougher being poor than back then.
          The criminalization of poverty is a corollary to Neo-liberal Rule #2. “Go, die.”

        2. griffen

          Was not a retail chain, to the best of my knowledge. A close out or last stop before the dump or the feedlot would be the most appropriate description. Good buys or some such name for a store. I posted that thought on the very idea of trading down in an increasingly difficult economy.

          Don’t visit either of Aldi or Lidl to be fair. The local chain for Ingles has the best combination of locations and availability, pricing not always optimal on a few items but it’s very hard competing with the Wal Mart.

  12. ambrit

    ” Why oh why do Democrats suck so much?!”
    That’s a question for poor Monica, who inadvertently saved the republic for a generation.

    1. Terry Flynn

      I LOLLED.

      I’m really hoping for similarly close to the bone (no pun intended) humour from the Larry the Cat Twitter account when Sir Keir enters No. 10.

      1. ambrit

        Here’s something from the Old Guard Boys Own generation.
        “#10 Downing Street: From Inky to Stinky.” {Such plainly racist “humour” is allowed since Sunak looks to be contemplating taking “A Runner.”}
        “Sir Kier Enters #10 Downing Street the Back Way.”
        “Shocker! Starmer Starkers in Party Pix!” Subheading: “Theresa May on Page Three!” Sub-subheading: “UK Officially Goes Tits Up!” Associated article: “Labour Minister for Sport Suggests National Anthem Changed to “Knees Up Mother Brown.”” (After all, lots of ‘things’ go on “under the table” in Whitehall.)
        Does Larry the Cat have a ‘Worst Of’ column? Say, from the Downing Street litter box?
        Stay safe over there. And do tell us how many votes “Spaffing cock” gets. (That would be considered a write in candidate, would it not?)
        It’s a shame we don’t have a “None of the Above” box to tick on the ballot. I believe that the Russians, just after the collapse of the Old Soviet Union, had that for their first few elections.

        1. Terry Flynn

          Re “none of the above”: as I’ve said elsewhere I’m spoiling my ballot again. Though this time (thanks to Jonathan Pie) with drawing a spaffing cock (won’t be listed).

          The Greens have MMTish stuff…. but their policy agenda reads like they grabbed 30 vaguely pro green people for a focus group then copied and pasted every person’s agenda into theirs. Thus having MMT & LVT along with policies that are obviously incompatible and/or shite.

          Screw them all. Gen X is finally speaking.

          1. ambrit

            Roar me maties! Loud and proud! Why should the skinheads and the cryptos have all the fun?

            1. Terry Flynn

              Thanks. Gen X says “plague on all your houses” but we’re civic minded enough to actually turn up to vote (rather than just stay home) and we will write rude stuff across our ballot paper.

              I’m half Aussie and firmly believe that here in UK voting should be mandatory like in Aus. You need to know why the 40+% of people who don’t typically vote didn’t vote. Contented with the status quo? Highly unlikely. Wanting “none of the above”? I’ll bet on that.

        2. Daniil Adamov

          ” It’s a shame we don’t have a “None of the Above” box to tick on the ballot. I believe that the Russians, just after the collapse of the Old Soviet Union, had that for their first few elections.”

          We did! I really miss it, and I know I’m not alone. Although the actual phrasing was even better: not “None of the Above” but “Against Everyone”, which I think is a more accurate representation of the attitude of those inclined to vote this way. If it ever won, the results of the election were to be nullified. Looking it up now, that actually happened in some legislative elections in the late 90s. Sadly, it has been removed from federal elections by our cowardly and vain legislators, under the pretense of concern over expenses; apparently a few federal subjects still have it for municipal elections, though. Now and then some politicians propose to get it back on the federal level, but nothing has come of it so far.

          1. Terry Flynn

            This will probably sink to netherworld but the “none of the above is acceptable” option was the crucial unresolved issue in Best-Worst Scaling.

            Declaration of interest – I’m the sole still living person of the 3 world experts in this method of eliciting human preferences and trade-offs. We never properly solved the “none of the above” issue.

            The Wikipedia article acknowledges that we didn’t solve that. If we had done so I wouldn’t be intending to scrawl a rude picture across my ballot in tomorrow’s UK general election if I’m in a bad mood ;-)

  13. Lou Anton

    Pelosi (politico link):
    Pelosi calls Biden concerns ‘legitimate question’ in debate aftermath

    Though I guess it’s possible she did this on her own, I’m inclined to think she ran it by a few of the others before calling for a mental acuity test. She also says that Biden needs to give 1-2 “unscripted interviews”, which implies they’re never unscripted in the first place. Guess we all figured that, but good to have it confirmed!

    2. lyman alpha blob

      She better be careful what she wishes for, because I’d say it’s also a legitimate question for Pelosi herself.

    3. Jen

      She has a house majority to think about. The dems will stay loyal as long as JB’s destruction is limited to himself. If the debris field starts going down ballot, it’s every congress critter and governor for themselves.

      1. Terry Flynn

        Very true. I’ll bet there are loads of dem congress critters who are wondering if they should stick their heads above the parapet and tell Biden to go.

        It’s one thing to get lots of cash to stay on the gravy train but another if you suspect that the train is about to stop permanently. If there’s a paradigm shift coming and you are no longer insulated from life via your Congress membership then you might, just might, be willing to do the unthinkable.

        Stranger things have happened.

    4. Daryl

      Lots of very tepid steps from Dem leadership, such as it is. As someone on Twitter pointed out — they’re only ruthless when dealing with anyone resembling a leftist. They could have all done this before forcing him through as the nominee. As is, I don’t think regular voters are going to think much of a replacement hand-picked by Biden’s regency council, even if they manage to pull it off.

  14. kareninca

    The covid wastewater levels in San Jose, CA are very near their all time high. For some reason the Palo Alto area numbers, while not good, are not as terrible as that. Yesterday I posted a list of the surprisingly large number of local people I know who have covid; I also sent the list to a friend who lives nearby. She wrote back:

    “Three neighbors in our pod at (condo complex) have it (out of 22 people), my close friend just back from England has it, another lady from my college who lives in old Palo Alto has it. Never before have I known that many people who have it, and those are just the ones I know.”

    This seems to be a substantial wave.

    1. ambrit

      Now to ask the hard questions. Such as, is this the result of the latest variant being 20% more infectious? Is it the result of Long Covid immune dysregulation? Is it the result of the wholesale dismantling of the Public Health system? And, finally, who benefits?
      Be extra safe over there.

      1. kareninca

        Those are good questions. I don’t think we’ll ever know the answers.

        It occurs to me that the more elderly people die, the more doctors there are for the ones who survive, even though doctors are quitting in hordes. My mom isn’t having any problem booking appointments these days. When I look at the local obits I can see why. And people don’t seem to be taking long to die; it is mostly short illnesses.

        I went to the endodontist last week and got tons of attention, which I found weird, but then I realized that there were only a few other patients there and they were elderly. It is a popular practice in a rich area, but they can’t print affluent old people. I’m probably a good prospect for income for them for at least a few more years (yes, they know I take ivermectin and haven’t been vaxxed; they ask re meds and vaccinations on the intake form and I answered honestly of course). The same thing with our dentist; for a while there he was booked solid but now they have openings at a day’s notice. Bad economy and dead people.

  15. Jason Boxman

    Biden’s Lapses Are Increasingly Common, According to Some of Those in the Room

    If this wasn’t so consequential it would be really funny.

    People who have spent time with President Biden over the last few months or so said the lapses appear to have grown more frequent, more pronounced and, after Thursday’s debate, more worrisome.

    In the weeks and months before President Biden’s politically devastating performance on the debate stage in Atlanta, several current and former officials and others who encountered him behind closed doors noticed that he increasingly appeared confused or listless, or would lose the thread of conversations.

    …

    Mr. Biden was drained enough from the back-to-back trips to Europe that his team cut his planned debate preparation by two days so he could rest at his house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., before joining advisers at Camp David for rehearsals. The preparations, which took place over six days, never started before 11 a.m. and Mr. Biden was given time for an afternoon nap each day, according to a person familiar with the process.

    Well, I take an afternoon nap!

    White House officials have said the president is in excellent shape and that his debate performance, while disappointing, was an aberration. Kevin C. O’Connor, the White House physician, said as recently as February that despite minor ailments like sleep apnea and peripheral neuropathy in his feet, the president was “fit for duty.” He said tests had turned up “no findings which would be consistent with” Parkinson’s disease. The White House has declined to make Dr. O’Connor available for questions and did not respond to detailed health questions from The New York Times earlier this year.

    (bold mine)

    Oops.

    But by many accounts, as evidenced by video footage, observation and interviews, Mr. Biden is not the same today as he was even when he took office 3½ years ago. The White House regularly releases corrected transcripts of his remarks, in which he frequently mixes up places, people or dates. The administration did so in the days after the debate, when Mr. Biden mixed up the countries of France and Italy when talking about war veterans at an East Hampton fund-raiser.

    Last week’s debate prompted some around him to express concern that the decline had accelerated lately. Several advisers and current and former administration officials who see Mr. Biden regularly but not every day or week said they were stunned by his debate performance because it was the worst they had ever seen him.

    It’s hard not to wonder if repeat COVID infections haven’t played a role; We’ll never know. But we do know it absolutely puts one a higher risk for dementia, and the risk is higher the older that you are.

    This really is a year of volatility. We’ve got our first early season cat 5 hurricane, hooray! Israel is chomping at the bit to get kicked around in Lebanon. We’re in the midst of yet another summer COVID surge.

    Fun times await!

    1. Dr. John Carpenter

      Interesting that the doc mentioned Parkinson’s…just kind of came out of nowhere. Hmm. Wonder why…

      And yeah I believe he’s fit to serve just like I believe that phone call with Nethenatu described by the “people in the room” happened.

  16. Lambert Strether Post author

    A straw in the wind:

    I don’t think Biden goes* unless the electeds want him to go (and the current tsunami of advertising, fundraising, and punditry is meant to shore them up). But Doggett is safe; he doesn’t need to do anything. So he’s the closest thing the Democrats have to the “Wise Men” of old (the Washington players who could take Nixon aside and tell him it was time to go).

    I don’t think that setting odds as Tracey does makes a whole lot of sense; I think the thing to do is watch the polls and see if the dam breaks among the electeds. My guess is that they will want to talk to their districts, and the time to do that would be this Fourth of July week; what Doggett has done is give them permission to have a different kind of conversation than they might otherwise have. It might take another week for those talks and more polls to have an effect, though. (It’s also possible that the polls — the average of all polls, which I watch — will stay steady, and Biden’s cog slippage will have exactly the same effect that Trump’s squillion convictions did, i.e. none at all, because party loyalty is that strong.)

    * Caveat: I haven’t done the math on how long Biden’s war chest will last without new infusions; if somebody has seen this, please leave a comment.

    1. lyman alpha blob

      I may be misunderremebering here, but haven’t polls shown that 70% or so of Democrats already didn’t want Biden as a candidate? And that was well before SlowJoe’s grammmatical gallimaufry at the debate.

      So what, really, is there for them to discuss, given the yuge threat Trump supposedly presents to “our democracy”?

      1. ambrit

        Concerning the “yuuge threat” to “our” Democracy; isn’t it obvious? We need better “Narrative Control.” Hire some twistier Media Consultants.
        What if, seriously, the Democrat Party fielded no candidates for President or Vice President this year? Once “Creepy” Joe goes off the rails, the Democrat Party has little but non-entities in reserve. I expect the rest of the debates to be cancelled. A fully virtual Democrat Party Convention and scads of placeholder speakers pretending to be “Creepy” Joe in front of the Public.
        I’m still considering that “Creepy” Joe blows a gasket soon and Kamala Harris becomes President for the few months left in “Creepy” Joe’s term. Thus, she can rightfully claim to be the first woman, of colour no less, President of the United States.
        Hillary could then finally land Air Broom One on the White House lawn and celebrate with “that woman from California.”

    3. Glen

      I just saw a tweet from Biden’s COS stating that they were not going to let the billionaire donors select the Presidential candidate implying that that is the normal method used to select the candidate.

      Good to know, but it used to be a cigar smoke filled back room. Now it’s full of tech billionaires hooked up to their blood boys:

      Silicon Valley: Season 4 Episode 5 – The Blood Boy / The Dark Side Awakens
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO-VIAEyljc

    4. griffen

      Past two days the election coverage from CNBC has been referring to grassroots small donor fundraising of perhaps $25 to $30 million for the Biden campaign, post debate results mind you. Stated as fact so no further detail than this. It’s proof of raising funds but the notion of regular people adding to the war chest of the Democratic doddering old man, well that deserves a shred of doubt.

      As to when or if ( and yes may not even ) Joe Biden goes. A long ago former bond market contact had a turn of phrase, when it came to the realities of what 2007 and 2008 were indicating to the holders of garbage subprime MBS and the like. He called those moments a ” come to Jesus” moment* if you will, where ignoring the cold truth was just no longer possible and facts in the ground had to be confronted.

      *hilariously there was a skit posted this past weekend that adeptly illustrated this point via British humor, Monty Python styled. Dead Blue Parrot skit.

  17. Tom Stone

    It’s hotter than heck here and everything is tinder dry, but at least it’s windy…
    That brings to mind some of the most memorable conversation stoppers I have heard over the years, # 1 is still “Just because you are right is NO REASON for me to agree with you”.
    #2 is “So far… that’s a pretty definite maybe, but I’m not entirely sure”
    #3 is “If you can’t trust Bill Collector WHO CAN you trust?”.
    Stay safe out there!

  18. The Rev Kev

    ‘Maddow Blog
    @MaddowBlog
    Maddow: “The only fix to this is to put someone in the White House, from here on out, who will not abuse the absolutely tyrannical power they have just been legally granted in perpetuity.”‘

    Maddow modestly volunteers herself to be President.

    1. Mikel

      That means knowing who is in charge and thus accountable.
      Otherwise, tyrannical power is granted to some grifting cabal acting as a puppet master to a brain dead symbol.

    2. griffen

      I’m sure her former colleague and always outspoken Keith Olbermann is having a meltdown and a grown man hissy fit over the situation.

      Tyrannical power. Like say those mandates to take in the COVID-19 vaccine in fall of 2021? Yeah nothing tyrannical about that action. Or say the EV mandates, and newly installed POTUS proclamation that he alone will end the oil and energy industries. So long to your employer and insurance, millions of workers. Tyranny looks oddly unique when considering these very recent precedent setting actions.

      “Biden Always Good. Our Great Leader.”
      “Trump Always Bad. Our Own Orange Haired Dictator.”

      Many of the media but especially at MSNBC just make me wanna upchuck and projectile vomit.

  19. Louiedog14

    Vote for the Corpse, It’s Important

    I was in New Orleans during the Edwards/Duke campaign. I was a poor and often drunk musician who didn’t have two nickels to rub together, much less a bumper to put a witty sticker on, but Fast Eddie was a big enough part of the zeitgeist to invade even my little bubble. If I recall correctly, one of the first things Governor Eddie did was install his brother-in law as head of the newly formed gambling commission. (casinos were newly legal then). Said brother-in-law was a hairdresser. Much funnier than a corpse carrying a nuclear football.

  21. Ben Panga

    Not sure how I feel about prediction markets, but I check them often enough. I guess they are at least another data point.

    The dem nomination market has been active today. Kamala has jumped to 35% chance with Biden dropping to 48%. A few hours ago, Biden was at 66%. That really is quite the jump.

    Non Kamala/Biden dems still at under 10%. I guess this fits with stories floating around today about pushing Kamala as she would most easily get access to donation money.

    Also the trickle of concerned Dem pol statements is increasing https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13594931/Biden-faces-mutiny-25-Democrats-prepare-call-ailing-president-step-aside.html?ico=topics_pagination_mobile

  22. AG

    re: Nordstream 2

    The investigative committee into the activities of the regional foundation of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern responsible for NS2 has reported that 2 witnesses had encounters with US officials, one possibly CIA, – I think in 2020 – who inquired about NS2, also asking about ways to prevent the project.

    NORDKURIER
    “US intelligence services in MV: Agents wanted to prevent Nord Stream 2”
    https://archive.is/fqunP

    BERLINER ZEITUNG
    “Nord Stream 2: Witnesses report on American intelligence activity in Germany
    Committee of inquiry into the Climate Protection Foundation: This is how the USA opposed the construction of the gas pipeline in Germany. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is to testify.”
    https://archive.is/3u0as

    Already on June 20th HANDELSBLATT had reported that Scholz then as minister of finance tried everything to save NS2 offering Trump an LNG billion Euro deal in return. The response was that was “crap”.

    BERLINER ZEITUNG, sry only German
    “Nord Stream 2: Bericht soll Scholz’ geheimen Deal mit LNG-Terminals entlarven
    Interne Akten sollen zeigen, wie Scholz vor dem Ukrainekrieg die Gaspipeline Nord Stream 2 vor US-Sanktionen retten wollte. Demnach habe er Donald Trump eine Milliarde Euro angeboten.”
    https://archive.is/IweHC

    Gerhard Schröder and Manuela Schwesig are expected to make statements too, some time in the future.

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