By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Patient readers, this willl be a short Water Cooler, partly because this is supposed to be a holiday, but also because I am having a power failure. Here’s hoping the battery holds out! –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Common Loon, Algonquin Park; Lake Sasajewan, Ontario, Canada.
In Case You Might Miss…
(1) First post debate RCP average.
(2) Biden interview; our famously free press.
(3) CDC flipflops on vax only (over the Fourth of July weekend).
(4) Consciousness: we know nothing.
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
2024
Less than a half a year to go!
First post-debate polling: Trump jumps a full point in the 5-way national race, which a Biden supporter might find concerning. OTOH, the Swing States seem relatively unaffected. 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. 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.
* * * Biden (D): “Biden set for rally and high-stakes TV interview as he seeks to recover from debate” [NBC]. ” President Joe Biden will hold a rally Friday in Wisconsin and then sit for his first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, events could be crucial in determining whether he can salvage his embattled candidacy. The interview with anchor George Stephanopoulos of ABC News is shaping up to be one of the most high-stakes moments for a president or a candidate in many years. Democratic elected officials, donors and voters will be closely watching to see whether he can still deliver in an adversarial setting and turn in a performance worthy of being the party’s nominee to defeat Donald Trump this fall. The interview will ‘air in its entirety as a primetime special’ at 8 p.m. ET Friday, ABC said, adding that a ‘transcript of the unedited interview will be made available the same day.'” • NOTE “Biden lacked oomph, but the transcript tells a different tale” [The Hill]. That doesn’t negate what we all saw, but it does add nuance.
Biden (D): “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden” [Olivia Nuzzi, New York Magazine]. And the deck: “The president’s mental decline was like a dark family secret for many elite supporters.” • Not to NC readers; I remember vividly — and cannot find the link; power failure is imminent and because search — posting on Biden being guided down and away from an extremely unchallenging flight of steps by a staffer in Iowa 2020; and it would be fun to make a chart of “juiced up.” In no sense was Biden’s decrepitude “hidden,” at least from an alert reader or a careful watcher, any more than Covid is “hidden.” As with Covid, Biden’s condition was not discussable (at least among People Who Matter; opinion-haves like Nuzzi).
Lambert: We tend to think of the Democrat Party as something you can draw a boundary around, like a corporate org chart, and in consequence tend to think of the Biden succession crisis os taking place within those bounds; hence the division of the Party into categories or fractions, and assessments of Biden’s support, or lack thereof, in those fractions. But in fact there are several very large, powerful, and above all extra-Constitutional* entities that both overlap and are separate from the Party, and have both incentives of their own — beyond, of course, the good of the country — and enormous influence: (1) closest to the party, but not of it: Consultants and strategists. Whichever way the battle goes, they will be enormous winners, financially, no matter the outcome, whether dragging Biden over the finish line, turning Kamala into something other than what she is, or bootstrapping Newsom, Whitmer, Pritzker, or someone as yet unknown (2) The national press. With individual exceptions, we should not regard the national press as reporters, but as information brokers who prefer and promote conflict, hoard access until its impact its greatest (see Nuzzi, supra), (self-)censor some stories and promote others, and so on, and make a good deal of money at it, invidually and corporately. That goes double for editors (“Leslie Moonves on Donald Trump: “It May Not Be Good for America, but It’s Damn Good for CBS.” And so with the Biden succession crisis). (3) The spooks (overlaps with the press, of course). I find it excruciatingly interesting that Kamala currently serves on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence (“[T]hey have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you“), and that’s not part of the story. I suppose that means the spooks are happy with her performance. A good thing, no? All this to say that the electeds have a lot to consider while they’re talking to their constituents over the break. It will be interesting to see who says what on the Sunday talkshows!
Biden (D) “Pool Reports of June 29, 2024” [The Presidency Project]. A Biden fundraiser in the Hamptons: “Pool is holding in a living room connected to the main house and has been given shoe covers and instructed to wear them.” • “Foot covers”? Why? Somebody worried about tracking in H5N1? (Yes, there are dairy farms in the Hamptons.)
BIden (D): The man with the best track record speaks:
BREAKING: Allan Lichtman, who has correctly predicted every election, gives the strongest reasons why Democrats must stand with Biden. Lichtman also demolished Donald Trump for lying on every question in the debate. Retweet to make sure all Americans see.pic.twitter.com/OdMDckBCJD
— Biden’s Wins (@BidensWins) June 30, 2024
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!
Censorship and Propaganda
Elite Maleficence
“COVID-19 can surge throughout the year” [National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC]. July 3 (!). Cutting some key points out of the turgid flow: (1) “There is no distinct COVID-19 season like there is for influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).” (2) “During the summer and throughout the year, you can use many effective tools to prevent spreading COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill.” • In other words, in point (1) CDC admits that its entire effort to throw RSV, the flu, and Covid into the same bucket (and presumably inject everyone for all three at the same time), is a failure. In point (2), CDC admits that the “vax-only” strategy is dead, and that layered protection is the way to go (as many of us have been arguing for [family blogging] years. Here is the image that accompanies this article (annotated in an earlier Water Cooler):
Now, it is true that CDC butchered the layers by putting masking under “Additional” rather than “Core” strategies (I would like to have been a fly on the wall for that meeting!) But at least the “facing covering” is white and not (baggy) blue, at least leaving open the possibility of recommending respirators.
“The US Primary-Care System Can’t Withstand the Next Pandemic” [Bloomberg]. You mean the one after H5N1? [hollow laughter]. Seriously, if there were a human-to-human breakout last week, with aerosol transmission, when would we know? How would we know? Bloomberg: “A stronger primary-care system won’t prevent the next pandemic. But strengthening the nation’s frontline defenses will save money and lives — and help keep strange outbreaks at bay.” • Hey, how about a solution that scales? Telehealth with AI-driven avatars! NOTE Meanwhile, I keep nudging people to straighten out their passports. Even leaving collapse scenarios aside, having a passport means “access” to health care from a human, and you won’t have to sell a kidney or go in debt for the rest of your life. Takes a little research, but it’s very do-able. Arbitrage for the rest of us!
| Wastewater | ||
| ★CDC June 24: | Last Week[2] CDC June 17 (until next week): | |
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| Variants [3] CDC June 22 | ★ Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC June 22 | |
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| Hospitalization | ||
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data July 1: | ★ National [6] CDC June 8: | |
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| Positivity | ||
| ★ National[7] Walgreens July 1: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic June 22: | |
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| Travelers Data | ||
| ★ Positivity[9] CDC June 10: | ★ Variants[10] CDC June 10: | |
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| Deaths | ||
| ★ Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC June 22: | ★ Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC June 22: | |
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” 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. On that Bay area hotspot:
Examples —
Marin: https://t.co/pMS1d89ZQ2
Santa Clara County: https://t.co/m1Sjbfmork
— Violet Blue® (@violetblue) June 27, 2024
[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. 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 Unemployment Rate” [Trading Economics]. “The unemployment rate in the United States rose to 4.1% in June 2024, the highest since November 2021, up from 4% in the previous month and surprising market expectations, which had forecasted the rate to remain unchanged.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 53 Neutral (previous close: 44 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 48 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 5 at 1:04:34 PM ET.
Zeitgeist Watch
“You’re Winning and Losing ‘Aura Points,’ Whether You Know It or Not” [Wall Street Journal]. “Getting someone’s phone number isn’t just a confidence boost—it can also net you 100 aura points. Tripping when you walk into a room, however, will cost you anywhere from one to 1,000 aura points. Aura—a lighthearted quantification of a person’s cool factor—has quickly become the slang of the moment among tweens, teens and 20-somethings. What started with students in classrooms and commenters online has grown big enough that shoe brands and political parties are now adopting the term, giving and taking away points at whim. Aura, or positive aura points, are a compliment. ‘When you have a really, really, really good aura, I feel like that really translates from online to the other side of the phone,’ said Hina Sabatine, a 27-year-old influencer based in Los Angeles. ‘Some people just have it.'” • I wonder if money helps. (One of the nicer things to contemplate about a post-Jackpot world is that there won’t be any more influencers. No more [glass bowls] doing multiple takes on the gym equipment you want to use.
News of the Wired
“A landscape of consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications” [Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology]. “I turn again to Jerry Fodor and his pithy appraisal of consciousness theories: ‘Nobody has the slightest idea how anything material could be conscious. Nobody even knows what it would be like to have the slightest idea about how anything material could be conscious’ (Fodor, 1992). Scanning the Landscape, I’d like to say we have progressed. I’m not sure I can. Those who write about consciousness like to quote, with bemused irony, psychologist Stuart Sutherland’s cautionary words: ‘Consciousness is a fascinating but elusive phenomenon; it is impossible to specify what it is, what it does, or why it evolved. Nothing worth reading has been written on it’ (Sutherland, 1989).”
“Should this be a map or 500 maps?” [escape the map]. “At the end of the 18th century, Spain’s official geographer, Tomás Lopez, was asked by the King to create an accurate map of the kingdom. In an attempt to delegate the herculean labour required, Tomás drew a series of circles, picked the town in the center of each circle, and asked the local priest to answer a questionnaire and draw up a map of their province. The goal was to amalgamate the responses into a single map. But none of these priests were trained in cartography, and many of them would have had limited access to maps at all.2 Nonetheless, 500 of them tried. In one map, the entire region is represented simply by a series of letters (“A” for church, “B” for hermitage, “C” for house, “D” for tree, and so on). Another represents the surrounding villages as if they are orbiting planets. In some, the handwriting forms the topographies. In others, descriptive columns of text take center stage, as if the language itself is a landmark. Each priest implicitly reveals how they see the world around them, and the relative importance of its constituent parts: nature or people, religion or trade, architecture or landscape, precision or vibes…. Tomás tried for years to reconcile these mosaic shards with each other…. omás’ experiment failed. It failed because each amateur cartographer injected their own methodology and process, resulting in incompatible maps. But in another sense, Tomás succeeded. Sure, maybe this collection of artifacts would be useless for military strategy or commerce, but on the other hand… LOOK AT THESE MAPS, THESE MAPS RULE.” • For example:
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 Carla:
Carla writes: “Recently, there was mention on NC of the value of feverfew as an herbal pain-killer, with the claim that a strong tea made from the leaves is as effective as extra-strength excedrin. I love the plant as it makes a pretty show, & a lovely filler for bouquets. It also has an astringent scent I find quite appealing. Warning: it’s invasive as heck, and pops up everywhere. But I just pull it up where I don’t want it. Here it is backing up thyme & oregano, plus a close-up of the cheerful blooms.”
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Bernie in the wilderness, no one in DC cares to listen….(I can’t find the original livestream link)
“It’s not because everybody who votes for Trump is a racist or a sexist or a homophobe. That is not the case. I think what you’re seeing is that millions of people are hurting. They’re suffering.
– They’re working for inadequate wages in America
– Our health care system is a disaster
– Can’t afford to send their kids to college
– Housing costs are off the chart.
And they’re looking at the government. They’re looking at what, you know, Democrats have done for years, and not much has happened to improve their lives.
They are hurting, and they’re wondering whether anybody hears them. And not only in the United States, but all over the world.
— In America and around the world, that type of appeal is having success among working people. And the antidote to that is actually have a government that protects the interests of working families and is prepared to take on powerful special interests.”
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1809246182075662393
Devastating. And Sanders himself is aligned with Democrats.
Here is the original source….as one of my internet pet peeves in stuff without cites, lol
Bernie interviewed by an ABC (Australia) morning show, January 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gklz1U39UlY
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-29/bernie-sanders-on-why-trump-isnt-answer-to-inequality-crisis/103402638
> my internet pet peeves in stuff without cites
Don’t apologize for that!
We’re all Palestinians now…
No sh*t, Bernie.
Why did none of us hold Bernie’s feet to the fire?
I’m afraid that, love them or loath them, the “Feet to the Fire” crew had the right of it.
How would “we” have done that?
A strong, very public donations boycott, centered in his home state. Dial the “Sheepdog” meme to 11. Heckle him relentlessly at public events. “Senator Sanders. Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Democrat Party?”
The anti-abortion groups used public shaming, with quite a bit of obstructionism, to publicize their movement. As in the “entertainment” industry, there is no such of a thing as ‘bad’ publicity.
Next, you plan longer term and “primary” your political target.
Then, as I have suggested before, you put the head of a Red Heifer in his bed one night.
Politics ain’t beanbag. Bernie should know that by now. Considering how he has caved completely to the Democrat Party demands of him, I wonder if he is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
RE: Sharp increase in wastewater level
Today’s LINKS:
https://www.sciencealert.com/covids-hidden-toll-full-body-scans-reveal-long-term-immune-effects
COVID’s Hidden Toll: Full-Body Scans Reveal Long-Term Immune Effects
Does this virus persistence show up in wastewater?
I am not an epidemiologist, but I have the impression that the wastewater signal is dominated by virus shed from the GI tracts of people with acute infection. Virus disseminated in other tissues would not as easily “get out” and into wastewater, I would think, and would make a comparatively small contribution to the total signal in wastewatersheds in which there is significant incidence of acute infection.
Re tonight–‘fraid I won’t be watching unless he is going to announce an end to the war in Ukraine and the Gaza genocide. It’s not about the dementia.
And re maps–I mentioned a recent book about Captain Cook who was convinced to make a third, fatal voyage because he was such a good cartographer. The existing Spanish maps of the Pacific were said to be terrible. Whereas Cook’s maps of say the Oregon coast are so good they can still be used. A lot of it had to do with solving the longitude problem.
I’ll wait for the replay – the one with Mystery Science Theater 3000-like characters adding comments in between what George and Joe say.
> “You’re Winning and Losing ‘Aura Points,’
Unfortunately, this is not a customer loyalty program for purchasers of 3M trifold N95 respirators. But frequent users of those devices can console themselves that their habit reduces the likelihood that they will lose ‘IQ Points.’
On a lighter note; on getting older and maybe not much wiser.
A month or so ago some honey bees built a nest in a bird house on the front porch that I was too lazy to put out this spring. We would sit out on the porch watching them go back and forth to pollinate nature. Awww.
A couple of weeks ago, in the process of filling bird feeders, I accidentally jostled their nest and a bunch came out to investigate. They chased me down the path, but, OK. Maybe they are just Africanized honey bees. But they didn’t look all that fuzzy to me anymore.
So the other day I was out on the porch and they just weren’t going to have it. And I am peering at them over my glasses and thinking: “Hmmm. They look a lot bigger than they used to, they don’t have any fuzz at all anymore and the stripes appear to be going the wrong way.”
So, I hated to do it but I had to blast my honeybees. Poor creatures, but they were getting really mean and not letting us out the door. I only got stung once, but I could swear that those are not the usual kind of honeybees. The one that stung me looked a lot more like a yellow jacket.
Maybe next time I will need to call in the bee keepers to move the nest earlier.
It’s possible your ladies lost their Queen (or you had a queen and some of her ladies vacate the hive (bird house)…and what you were experiencing with the porch incident was a “queen-less hive”… Those gals get mighty aggressive when the Queen’s pheromones go away..
Exactly. Another possibility: as novice beekeepers who live in an oak grove chock full o’ wild bees, something similar happened when our Italian queen decamped and an Africanized one moved in. Re queening will do the trick. Those weekly frame checks are more important than they seemed. Most wild colonies in SoCal are Africanized.
i still want to do bees…maybe next year.
anyhoo…local bee-guru told me to just accept that all the bees around here will eventually(or already are) “africanised”.
just deal with it…which includes not buying bees, but capturing a local hive.
so im on the bee-list for the local pestinator guy.
got the gear…and a kenyan topbar ready to go.
and i keep a big cardboard box dry and ready for transport.
theres 2 wild hive in hollow oaks on our place…and 2 more nearby that i know of.
i check their environs often for swarms….as well as to get friendly with bees.
It could be that wasps took over the bees’ nest after they swarmed and followed a queen. Happened to me once.
Are you sure that they weren’t hornets. Paper wasps and bees are fairly easy to co-exist with. Hornets will attack if you look at them cross-eyed. They are very aggressive.
No, just a couple of people who need new glasses looking for a pony. :)
But for a few weeks, there, they were really fun to watch!
We started bee keeping after a hurricane took out the “bee tree” in our area… Do enjoy observing the hive dynamics…
They are fun to watch! In summer you will get long lines of them zooming back and forth from the bird bath.
I planted a holly hedge, years ago, and when they are in bloom we will get tens of thousands of them from seemingly nowhere. As soon as those hollies stop blooming they tend to mostly just disappear. I have several friends from the Master Gardeners who sometimes put up bee boxes around here in the spring to start new hives, and my first thought when I saw this group was to call them out to get them.
When I eventually noticed that these were actually little yellowjackets it was hard not to laugh. I would have never lived it down were I have called them to come and get a yellow jacket nest. It is just funny that it took me so long to figure it out.
yellow jackets are the only local critter (aside from rattlesnakes) that i just wont tolerate, unless theyre way, way out there in the woods and fields.
they are way too aggressive.
all the other wasps around here…no biggie.
i save old boots from the dump, and eldest…and invert them on fence posts hither and yon to provide housing for wasps.
havent had a webworm outbreak in my fruit and nuts in forever.
I found out, truly by accident that upside down yoghurt containers on top of fence posts does the same trick. They are also more visible. You don’t want to jostle one of those during the summer, unless you want a sudden cardio workout. (I speak from experience.)
Daily Horrorscope:
No one is going to be catering to your needs today, Kamala, so get up and do things on your own. You’ll find that there is little sympathy from others, and strong opinions are a dime a dozen. There’s a great deal of gossip buzzing around that you may be tempted to join in on. Don’t be an enabler of this sort of behavior. It’s only going to alienate you from others in the long run.
That video was quite revealing. Neoliberal feminist culture has ritualized mutual praise and deference with this being is typical of that culture but bizarre to non-initiates.
Also a tell in that the strongest use of a candidate in an ad is to have them look into the camera. For some reason, Harris’ media minders think she looks stronger not making eye contact with the voters instead preferring to make eye contact with a Hollywood entertainer. Rather than introduce us to the candidate who’s sitting right there on camera, they construct a narrative around her with a call and response suckup videoconference.
The more you deconstruct what you are allowed to see of Harris, the more manufactured she comes across. And, as with Joe, it takes a village to keep her foot out of her mouth.
Re: no Influencers post-Jackpot
Why do you think the Internet won’t survive the Jackpot? It would seem to be pretty anti-fragile. The more authority falls into disrepute and the less people can physically go anywhere or do anything, the more they’ll fight to keep some kind of online going. Especially for those born in the 21st century form the Internet is a fundamental of life. In Cuba there was (still is?) an informal internet of passing around USB drives.
Presumably somebody turned the internet on initially, and couldn’t somebody turn it off, or we talking act of god stuff in doing so?
Large-scale connectivity requires a large-scale stable electrical supply. In my experience, modern electronics are finicky about voltages and the shape of the current they are fed.
It seems likely that once the jackpot really gets rolling, power supply will be unreliable and such as there is will be most useful in providing potable water and food. Assuming an EMP doesn’t render the question moot.
Why would the Internet be any different from radio? If you can get electricity to a server node and a DNS is still there, I think it’s actually less complicated than shortwave (willing to be proved wrong).
It would probably degrade into a text-based medium without the bandwidth to support images much less videos. Something like it was at the very beginning of the history of the internet.
> It would probably degrade into a text-based medium without the bandwidth to support images much less videos. Something like it was at the very beginning of the history of the internet.
“Degrade” like a drunk that gets achieves sobriety “degrades.”
Not disagreeing.
> Why do you think the Internet won’t survive the Jackpot?
No data centers (though, see above, I should have written “the Internet as we know it today”).
* The man with the best track record speaks:
I’m in. The man is somewhat unpleasant and I like him. This is because Biden is the best politician the Democratic Party has.* Since they’ve drowned all the others straight out the egg except the summa cum laude cia chick who’s still fledging, and Duke Jeffries, who may have found his happy place already.
* Who said that?
By the way the maps are amazing, this and Kowloon Walled City this morning. And the analysis on the CDC chart qualifies, noting location and color of the icons (the white does pop, doesn’t it?)
I thought Lichtman’s comments, like so many others, are flat out ridiculous. The issue is not whether Biden can survive the campaign, or whether he can beat Donald Trump. The issue is whether an obvious dementia patient should have access to the nuclear launch codes. His claim that people commenting are “not doctors” is silly on two fronts: (1) people have experience with friends/relatives with dementia and it is not difficult to identify when it reaches the level that Biden’s has; and (2) many of the people commenting are f[amily blogging] doctors.
This continues to be the stupidest timeline.
I optimistically agree with your conclusion.
And with Lichtman speaking on dementia. Ne supra crepidam. But wow his priors are good within his bailiwick. His conclusion that the Dems can’t win without Biden should be taken as probable. It will be tested.
But as Janet said: Maybe they don’t want to win.
In answer to your real existential concern, it seems clear he does not have access to the codes, without at least a nearby confirmer. The empire functions fine with a wooden figurehead. One answer to the question, Who is making the decisions?, is, It’s on a need-to-know basis. Apparently many people are comfortable with that.
That the empire is currently or will continue to function “fine” assumes facts not in evidence. I expect that whichever rough beast slouches into the white house that glorious detonations will ensue.
Thought for the morrow, that I have, but power upon the hour, that have I not.
> it seems clear he does not have access to the codes, without at least a nearby confirmer.
I haven’t seen evidence to that effect.
If I were cutting a deal to allow Biden to remain in office, I would want some assurance that the nuclear chain of command were more robust than Biden giving a thumb’s up.
Those are the essential “car keys to take away,” as it were.
yeabut c’mon… Until I think of a month ago, when other Shakespearians came to us concerned about a fellow player who was showing decline, wandering and leaving the stage without singing her song. I had to let them know I’d tried a chat a year ago that went nowhere. Her kids were out of state and not much involved. Her church has changed in its character since the Before Times. We had no legal standing, so we had to wait, until there was an accident, hope it wasn’t bad and try again.
At least she didn’t drive fast, even tho she had a spiffy new car since her last accident.
I concede to you, Morpheus, and Lee, that evidence is needed.
I am commenting.
He is a dementia patient.
And I am a doctor. And not only a doctor, a doctor with many years of experience in seeing dementia patients every day of my life.
He is a dementia patient. The fact that this is an issue not only that many Dems are in complete denial and will vote for him but also the politicos and media have gaslit for years is making me debate which is more scary.
I’m trying to square what you said with White House Physician Kevin O’Connor’s summary dated February 28, 2024, delivered to the White House Press Secretary.
Also concerned that you are diagnosing from a distance unless the truth is that you can accumulate enough clinical expertise such that making this call is like making the call if someone were to walk in with a high temperature, dry cough, facial seborrhea, and a purple lesion under their armpit—before the HIV test comes back.
But that said, I also note Sanjay Gupta just dropped an article which mentions dementia in four different paragraphs and Parkinsonism in one while calling for a detailed work up by appropriate specialists with publication of results.
He never goes so far to say I think Joe Biden has _________. But the subtlety is not lost.
White House Physician as in hired by White House controlled by the Chief of Staff loyal to and by all accounts inside the circle of Joe Biden. Yeah, I’m going to take what he says especially as interpreted by the White House press secretary as not worth the paper it is written on.
My version of trustworthy is a full work up by a team of the top physicians once every year at a different hospital, none of whom can have any relationship with the President or his top advisors. The full report, including actual copies of all tests will be provided by them in a live press conference. This will be required biannually of every President under sixty years of age and annually after that. All medical privacy removed by law. The public gets to know everything from an allergy to cilantro to early Alzheimer’s.
Get back to me when we get that kind of medical work up of Joe Biden. I will particularly await his blood work up listing all the drugs.
Nice try.
I am pretty sick of this line of reasoning.
Dementia is a behavioral/clinical diagnosis – there is only the need to watch carefully as someone is behaving in front of you. There are any number of signs, behaviors, speech patterns, walking patterns, facial movements, and cognitive signs that one can easily pick up on when looking at a person and their behavior in real life or on TV. Indeed, there are all kinds of things that a trained internist can assess instantly just by looking at someone. I have had a few colleagues over the years working for intelligence agencies that do this kind of diagnosis from video tape all the time.
The exact kind of dementia – now that is a different story altogether. You need to be right there and examine the patient carefully to really pick up on clinical exam findings. But the fact that he is showing all kinds of dementia just in his behavior is not even a question.
The Parkinson’s concern is very interesting. He is indeed exhibiting several of these symptoms as well – that can be easily picked up on by looking at his behavior on video tapes. The “masked facies” – although that could be Botox, the characteristic way he holds his arms and hands, his gait is classic for this, the really quiet speaking. All are very common in Parkinson’s.
However, if it was indeed Parkinson’s at this level, any patient I have ever seen with that is on meds for this condition. His vaunted White House Physician Kevin O’Connor listed off his meds in a report or two I have seen – and there were no such meds on the list. That makes me believe, therefore, that is not the diagnosis. However, he could just as easily be lying about the meds as well. Lying seems to be the original sin of everyone in this White House.
The facts are that he is in obvious decline. If I saw this 4 years ago – which I did – you can bet members of the press corps and the admin did too. They are now admitting in articles that yes – they did see it. The grave error here is that no one bothered to address this. What little credibility our media had is now completely gone.
> there were no such meds on the list. That makes me believe, therefore, that is not the diagnosis.
Excellent argument.
> What little credibility our media had is now completely gone
The savage irony here, of course, is that those dragging Biden toward the open window now should also be defenestrated themselves, en masse. Instead, in victory, they will end up with more power than ever.
IM Doc,
These comments were remarkably helpful.
Thank you so very much.
‘His claim that people commenting are “not doctors” is silly’
I’m sure that Dr. Jill would state that he is fit for office and good for the next four years.
> should
Lichtman is making a prediction; your comment is making a value judgment. So, cross-purposes.
On the more fun side – I loved the ‘escape the map’ article, and it has an interesting footer section:
Escape attempts
Acts of algorithmic resistance
&udm=14 is a tool for searching Google without generative AI answers
Simplicius is all Biden and makes much of the NY magazine revelations above
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/regime-media-utters-the-un-utterable
and Taibbi/Kirn are in a merry mood due to the press corps “school of fish” turn away from Joe.
https://www.racket.news/p/america-this-week-july-4-2024-incident
Wuk’s Joe departure countdown clock may be a good addition to Water Cooler
Or, of course, the President could officially abolish the Supreme Court should it get in his way.
We have had a couple of Presidents whose fitness for office was questioned. Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan are two who I have read about. In both cases their wife’s had a significant role in the government. Maybe we should ask Jill Biden a few questions?
You mean about things like this tweet, lol….(tweeted with a pic of her on Air Force 1 at a desk, reading a stack of briefing binders)
—–
Jill Biden
@FLOTUS
Prepping for the G7.
12:10 PM · Jun 9, 2021
3,616
Reposts
3,662
Quotes
48.4K
Likes
359
Bookmarks
http://x.com/FLOTUS/status/1402674407324229637
Remember the running joke on “Pinky and the Brain” where Brain calls the White House up to pitch some new scheme and Hillary, at a desk, answers the phone with, “Office of the President!”
Ah, such innocent times, when the Presidential Family was something to make fun of, rather than a fell Name to conjure with.
> ask Jill Biden
This post contains an extensive discussion of exactlt that issue.
The betting odds: Kamala’s odds of success have surpassed B’s odds as likely next pres per the betting odds. I did not see that coming. ha.
https://www.realclearpolling.com/betting-odds/2024/president
Anybody could drop dead, but odds of trump living to Nov should be pretty good, so imo his odds should be much higher and Kamala’s much lower. Hard to believe she wouldn’t be crushed in a general.
If you look at the graphs in the links you’ll see T is the far and away favorite to win. I just found it interesting Kamala is ahead of B and the rest of the pack in the betting pools, not that she stands much change against T.
“You’re Winning and Losing ‘Aura Points,’ Whether You Know It or Not”
This sounds like a re-hash of people saying they felt good or bad vibes from a person during the 60s. Of course it has the capability of being weaponized so if you were going to attack somebody that you disagreed with, you could claim that they had a bad aura. There would be no evidence needed, no way to counter it and there are more than enough muppets that can be found to echo it in social media and say that yeah, that person has a bad aura and is not to be listened to.
There was a period that the term passive-aggressive was in vogue. Haven’t heard from it for awhile. Maybe I’m behaving more and enjoying it less.
It all goes back to Magic and Mysticism. Remember Kirlian Photography? There is something in that insofar as the Terran human body is host to a bio-magnetic field.
This falls squarely into the category of ‘interesting’ ideas that have been demonized by mainstream science so that no rigorous studies are undertaken to either prove or disprove them.
Read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirlian_photography
Also, from Adobe!: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/kirlian-photography.html?msockid=3a330be985c4603d0f811f7f84576150
If I were going to pick the major network anchor most likely to fake an interview as in severely edit, including yes inserting fake audio, in order to cover for Joe Biden it would be Stephanopoulos. I mean if you can’t trust former Democratic consultant operative George, who can you trust?
That this adversarial interview is NOT airing live should discount it. Note that completely unedited tapes aren’t even on the table (sure it is an unedited transcript…)
Yeah, I think they are that desperate, lots of protection reasons for the Bidens and the Democrats, but never forget that the media has been deeply complicit in this cover up as well.
I am sure people here will give it a hard look, but I don’t trust any one involved to give it even a chance and will not waste my time on it.
Just a perverse thought, but nothing the Supreme Court did on immunity, good or bad, will extend to First Ladies. Nothing Jill Biden, or the staff, has done covering up Biden’s condition is immune from prosecution. And if hush money was intended to subvert an election there is no doubt hiding that the candidate is in the late stages of dementia certainly is.
Remember: Stephanopoulos was part of the inner circle of the Clinton WH…
IM Doc: Thank you for responding. I’m not trying to do anything. As a lay person I’m trying to make sense of the information and representations that are out there. And as a lay person I don’t know when a healthcare provider can make a general diagnosis based solely on observation.
Had I not questioned you, you would not have elucidated what you can and cannot deduce based upon observation and I would not be the wiser for it.
That’s why I qualified my concerns about you diagnosing from a distance, using a hypothetical case of a PWA, because I am a lay person.
(Subtract the purple lesion for what was the actual case involving a relative who presented at an emergency room. It was an intern who picked up but it was HIV after spotting the facial seborrhea. In other words, a correct diagnosis strictly from observation).
That Gupta mentioned dementia four times in his article is not lost upon me. Clearly he has drawn the same conclusion as you, once one opens his diplomatic packaging.
Paul Campos at the Lawyers Guns and Money blog claims to have spoken to multiple neurologists and pursues the Parkinsonism angle. Claims that O’Connor is an osteopath with a background in combat medicine.
> Just a perverse thought, but nothing the Supreme Court did on immunity, good or bad, will extend to First Ladies
Shades of Philip K. Dick’s The Simulacra. Let me dump a great slab of exposition from Wikipedia:
Your comment also perceptively points out the vulnerability of the (real, persistent, powerful) extra-constitutional entity that is the circle surrounding President Biden. Perhaps they really could be arrested for elder abuse (though it’s not clear DC or Delaware would do that). That would be a really beautiful outcome, however!
Dear Lambert, you wrote:
“I keep nudging people to straighten out their passports. Even leaving collapse scenarios aside, having a passport means “access” to health care from a human, and you won’t have to sell a kidney or go in debt for the rest of your life”
Are you proposing that Americans get passports so they can go to some other country, which has better healthcare (Cuba perhaps?) and burden the health system there?
Or, we could consider it as a reverse brain drain.
> Are you proposing that Americans get passports so they can go to some other country, which has better healthcare (Cuba perhaps?) and burden the health system there?
They don’t have to “go”; they can visit. If the care-providing country has the capacity, I don’t see an issue. Many countries* have health care sectors dedicated to foreigners that are not only humane, but net out affordable even when travel costs are included. And then of course there are sane systems in the West as well; I posted a video on the cost of a complete German checkup the other day; I’m sure that system wasn’t giving money away, but the cost was in the high three figures, USD.
Are you proposing that those who are a “burden” — i.e., those targeted for extermination by our profit-mad, rentier-driven, HAI-infested, smile Nazi-managed, eugenicist “health” “care” “system” — not seek out competition, but instead wait passively for illness or death to overtake them?
NOTE * “Cuba.” What’s up with that? Do some research ffs.
Travel tourism for dental work is well organized. In fact there are whole practices in various countries that are clearly designed to cater to dental tourism. In Mexico, for instance, you can pretty much find a dental office, look up their price schedule and even make an appointment online before booking your air ticket and hotel. Just pick a major tourist destination to start finding the multiple practices available.
I am not going to weigh in on whether dental services for Mexicans or Thais or Brazilians or ….are lessened by this, but I will point out that if western countries most particularly America had addressed the availability of affordable dental care there would be less of a market for those services.
“Are you proposing that Americans get passports so they can go to some other country, which has better healthcare…and burden the health system there?”
Importantly, there is no reason I know of to think this burdening is a meaningful possibility. The burdening possibility has never been shown correct.
Biden ABC interview transcript fwiw
Loman on the totem pole refuses to step down, consults Biff.
Also known as “Knight of the Hunter.”
Tattooed on his fists are the words; CASH ONLY.
That’s an excellent suggestion. We could actually run a contest for the words tattooed on Dear Hunter’s fists!
Because I have compassion for Hunter, whose family situation — the sniffing, the biting, the mordida, the “empathy” — was and is truly, truly horrible, I propose LOVE and HATE. It can’t be easy to run bag for your Dad.
(The HATE part massively repressed, of course.)
Agree about empathy for Hunter. As Phyllis remarks, most drugs use is triggered by the need to escape. Hunter was cursed by affluence. He could afford “the best;” the best schools, the best ‘friends,’ the best drugs. When that turned out to be a dead end, the drugs use escalated, being both physically and psychologically addicting.
My suggestion for Hunters fist signage would be: SAVE DAMN.
For NC aficionados, may I suggest: STAY SAFE?
‘HUNTER’S 10%’
Genre violation. Needs to be 4 + 4.
NEED EMDR
(EMDR being one of our best tools to treat family trauma)
Above, I wrote that there are:
Among them. of course, the spooks. And:
Well, here it is: Sen. Mark Warner works to gather Senate Democrats to ask Biden to exit race WaPo (whose Editorial Board in essence gave Biden guidance on on exit strategy the other day; guidance Biden did not take).
Warner is, of course, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. You gotta wonder how much all this was gamed out, exactly as with 2020’s “Election Integrity” effort.
Let’s remember that it’s always possible to make things worse….
Kaine backed Biden. And he doesn’t use the bathroom without running it by Warner, so I think this is more deep rooted panic.
The Northern Virginia set is largely terrified government spending and their jobs will be moved, leaving them with mortgages in NoVa. Now, they see Biden can’t be controlled.
“Now, they see Biden can’t be controlled.”
The panic is caused by their discovering that ‘they’ aren’t the ones controlling “Creepy” Joe.
Of interest here would be, exactly who are Dr. Jill’s “advisors?”
“Creepy” Joe is seriously just a figurehead at this point. We are seeing a major battle between factions in the ruling elite. As ‘they’ say at the ballpark: “Get yer scorecard here! Cain’t tell da payers without a scorecard!”
Blast! What I thought was my scorecard turns out to be an advertisement for a FEMA timeshare mini-condo!
Yes, I agree NOVA is part of the mix for Warner (the article says as much). But who said people were always motivated by single causes?
The attempts at discussing consciousness without a definition grounded in objective reality are destined to fail. I tend towards Arthur Reber’s Cellular Basis of Consciousness , though with a lot of caveats.
“The problem we’ve been struggling with ─ without much success ─ is the result of a category error. In contemporary philosophy and the cognitive sciences, what is traditionally denoted by the term “mind” is a recently evolved, multi-functional cluster of operations that occurs in humans and perhaps in some other species. All other forms of subjectivity are excluded. This stance has spawned a very difficult ─ perhaps unsolvable ─ problem: to ascertain where along the species continuum this mind-thing appears and what are the neural organizational properties that allow it. The CBC framework cuts the conceptual Gordian knot. All experience is mental. All organisms that experience have minds, all have consciousness.” (Reber, Arthur S. (2016) Caterpillars, consciousness and the origins of mind. Animal Sentience 11(1))
I define consciousness as sensing mechanisms combined with the capacity to respond to stimulus in a way that improves reproductive potential, longevity, or reduces signals of stress. This allows consciousness to be a continuum, from flagellate bacteria through to humans. Perhaps your ability to consider your own consciousness is an emergent phenomenon built on the evolutionary advantage of mentally planning out future strategies.