2:00PM Water Cooler 9/30/2024

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Patient readers, this will be a little shorter than usual, because I must hustle along and finish up a post on Katrina Helene. –lambert

Bird Song of the Day

Now with the actual birdsong, dang. John was a great proofreader, wish he was still here. –lambert

Mourning Warbler, Shannondale Springs Wildlife Managment Area, Jefferson, West Virginia, United States. “As per Wil Hershberger, this recording is of an adult male Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia) that was visually identified and in sight throughout the recording. This recording was originally archived as Mourning Warbler, but the identification was later mistakenly changed by an ML archivist due to the similarity of this bird’s song to the song of Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica). The subject has been changed back to Mourning Warbler as per the recordist.” Category errors abound.

* * *

In Case You Might Miss…

1. Routh pleads innocent.
2. Party control of the ballot.
3. IAM/Boeing talks halt on defined-benefit pensions.

* * *

Look for the Helpers

I’m not sure if this is actually helping, but it’s certainly helping-adjacent:

My cousin found this and I think it’s the most delightful thing I’ve seen all week. pic.twitter.com/Mcv94vGkgw

— Kate Rietema (@KateRietema) September 29, 2024

* * *

My email address is down by the plant; please send examples of there (“Helpers” in the subject line). In our increasingly desperate and fragile neoliberal society, everyday normal incidents and stories of “the communism of everyday life” are what I am looking for (and not, say, the Red Cross in Hawaii, or even the UNWRA in Gaza).

Politics

“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

* * *

Trump Assassination Attempts (Plural)

“Man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump pleads not guilty to federal charges” [Seattle Times]. Routh did not fire any rounds and did not have Trump in his line of sight, officials have said. He left behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food. Prosecutors have said that he had written of his plans to kill Trump in a handwritten note months before his Sept. 15 arrest in which he referred to his actions as a failed ‘assassination attempt on Donald Trump’ and offered $150,000 for anyone who could ‘finish the job.’ That note was in a box that Routh had apparently dropped off at the home of an unidentified witness months before his arrest. Monday’s hearing was held before a magistrate judge. But further proceedings will be overseen by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and was also assigned to the criminal case accusing the former president of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.”

Biden Administration

“Top Democrat Backs Lina Khan As Donors Seek Her Ouster” [HuffPo]. “South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, one of the most influential Democrats in the country, on Thursday praised Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s work, endorsing her continued tenure as the United States’ top antitrust regulator. Clyburn spoke to HuffPost in a joint interview with Khan to tout the FTC’s $48 million settlement this week with Invitation Homes, a corporate landlord that the FTC accused of bilking renters for millions of dollars in junk fees, and hiding those fees through false advertising. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Clyburn had investigated allegedly illegal evictions conducted by Invitation Homes in his capacity as chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Invitation Homes is also a major landlord in Clyburn’s home state. Asked about the Democratic megadonors from the business world who have been pushing Vice President Kamala Harris to drop Khan if Harris wins the 2024 White House race, Clyburn described the public pressure as ‘foolishness.’ ‘Should be fired for what? For doing your job? I think she’s doing a good job. I think this is an indication of doing that job,’ he said, referring to the Invitation Homes settlement. ‘I suspect that people who represent Invitation Homes may want her to be replaced by somebody who would not do their jobs.'” • Canny move by Khan. That said, Kamala has yet to give her a hug.

2024

Less than forty days to go!

Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:

This week’s crop of flag-of-convenience Democrat celebrities and generals didn’t turn the tide either. Despite the micturition and lamentation (very much including my own) about the Trump campaign dogging it when the election is theirs to win (see Gallup, “2024 Election Environment Favorable to GOP” on the issues) do note the steady deterioration in Kamala’s position in the (aggregated) top battlegrounds. (Of course, we on the outside might as well be examining the entrails of birds when we try to predict what will happen to a subset of voters (undecided; irregular) in a subset of states (swing), and the irregulars especially might as well be quantum foam, but presumably the campaign professionals have better data, and have the situation as under control as it can be _{MR SUBLIMINAL Fooled ya. Kidding!}.

* * *

Vance-Walz debate:

“Why the Vance-Walz Debate Is Primed To Be Messy” [Time]. “With voting already underway in some states—including Minnesota—and no more made-for-television events on the books before Nov. 5’s Election Day, this undercard debate takes on an importance unseen in the modern era. Both Vance and Walz remain blank slates to much of America; as much as a quarter of the electorate recently told pollsters they have literally heard of Trump’s and Harris’ running mates, according to surveys from the Pew Research Center. Vance was slightly better known than Walz, although Vance carried higher unfavorable numbers among those with an opinion.”

* * *

“She’s always looking up.” Somehow they all think alike; it’s almost like Gleichschaltung:

Kamala (D): Tomorrow belongs to me (1):

Kamala (D): Tomorrow belongs to me (2):

To be clear, I believe the fascist smorgasbord is a groaning buffet, and both parties partake from it freely, one reason this election is a Sophie’s Choice.

* * *

Trump (R): “Why has Melania Trump returned to public life now?” [The New Statesman]. “She does what she likes, and what she likes is to shy from attention and not tell anyone what she is thinking. But her virtual absence from the campaign and the centre of American political life is unsustainable. Her recent catapult into the news cycle is her recognition of that. The memoir, the videos, the Christmas baubles: this is how she is rectifying her multi-year-long retreat. What this suggests is that she, like her husband, is willing to switch up strategies when she has something to sell. If she gets it right, Melania could be exactly what Trump’s campaign needs.” • Well… And selling books.

* * *

Trump (R) (James/Erdogan): “Appellate judges skeptical of New York civil fraud case against Trump” [Reuters]. “Members of the five-judge panel on the Appellate Division – the mid-level state appellate court hearing arguments in Trump’s appeal – appeared concerned about possible overreach by James. Two of the judges interrupted Judith Vale, the lawyer arguing for New York, during her opening statement to ask if there were any other examples of the state suing over private business transactions between sophisticated parties under a law aimed at protecting market integrity. Every case that you cite involves damage to consumers, damage to the marketplace,’ Justice David Friedman told Vale. ‘We don’t have anything like that here,’ Friedman added, saying that nobody ‘lost any money.’ The judges also wondered about what constraints applied to the law James cited in bringing the case – one that is typically used to go after fraudsters who target vulnerable consumers. ‘How do we draw a line or at least put up guardrails? Justice Peter Moulton asked. Vale, the state’s deputy solicitor general, said the statute – known as Executive Law 63(12) – is broadly aimed at stopping fraud and illegality, and was therefore appropriate in Trump’s case. ‘When risk is injected into the market, that does hurt the counterparties and it does hurt the market as a whole,’ Vale said.”

Trump (R) (James/Erdogan): “Massive civil fraud verdict against Trump gets frosty reception at New York appeals court” [Politico]. “During oral arguments on Thursday, some members of the five-judge appeals court panel suggested that New York Attorney General Tish James had overstepped by using the particular New York fraud statute she used to bring the case against Trump. As soon as Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale, arguing for James, began her opening remarks, she was cut off by Associate Justice David Friedman, who questioned whether her office had ever before used the statute ‘to upset a private business transaction that was between equally sophisticated partners.’ The justices’ questions echoed one of Trump’s central lines of defense: He has argued that no one was harmed by the inflated valuations.”

* * *

MI: “Scoop: Rep. Elissa Slotkin warns Harris is “underwater” in Michigan” [Axios]. “‘I’m not feeling my best right now about where we are on Kamala Harris in a place like Michigan,’ Slotkin said during a virtual fundraiser on Wednesday with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), according to a recording. ‘We have her underwater in our polling,’ Slotkin added. Spokespeople for Slotkin’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment. It’s not unusual for campaigns to paint themselves as the polling underdog as a fundraising tactic.” • No, and Slotkin is a CIA Democrat; two reasons she’d by lying.

* * *

Democrats en Déshabillé

“The Mississippi elites who broke democracy” [Unherd]. “A 21-year military career gave [Ty Pinkins] a passport full of stamps, three combat tours, a Bronze Star, and a job in the White House. After retirement, Pinkins earned not one but two law degrees from Georgetown University. He turned down the big money of a Washington law firm for the Delta. Back in his hometown, Rolling Fork, Mississippi, [Ty] Pinkins published a memoir, 23 Miles and Running, and litigated hundreds of civil cases for the underprivileged. In 2021, he made national news by filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of fired black farm labourers, who had been replaced by white South Africans. Filing suit and testifying before Congress on the issue, he forced a settlement. Taking note was Mississippi’s lone Democratic Congressman, Bennie Thompson. The chair of the January 6 Select Committee tapped Pinkins to run for the local school board. By the time Pinkins learned of Thompson’s desire, he had already publicly declared his candidacy for [a] Senate seat.” You’ll never guess what happened next: “In theory, Thompson and state Democratic chair Cheikh Taylor promised Pinkins, the only Democrat to announce for the race, their party’s full support. But though he knew the contest would be an uphill struggle, Pinkins never expected a major hurdle would be Bennie Thompson — his own Congressman and the very politician to first have noticed his talents. At first, his phone calls asking for endorsements went unanswered. Then, when his phone did ring, respondents attacked, apparently upset that Pinkins’ hadn’t followed Thompson’s advice and run for his local school board. As Will Colom, a prominent black Mississippi attorney and party donor allegedly told him: ‘You will lose. You are a loser. And you will always be a loser.’ A young Mississippi state representative also phoned. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, getting your name on the ballot?’ they yelled. ‘You need to go through us gatekeepers.’ Gatekeeper. The term shocked Pinkins. Party insiders refused to support him simply because, as he tells me, ‘I didn’t ask anyone, ‘can I please run?” The candidate’s astonishment went beyond personal ambition. With its pungent whiff of machine politics, what Pinkins calls Mississippi’s ‘Gatekeeper Syndrome’ is the very problem ‘preventing our democracy at the state level from blossoming.'” • As I have often said, control over the ballot is the distinctive competence of the modern political party (though Democrats clearly do it better than Republicans, for reasons I do not understand).

Realignment and Legitimacy

“The Mississippi elites who broke democracy” [Unherd]. “A 21-year military career gave [Ty Pinkins] a passport full of stamps, three combat tours, a Bronze Star, and a job in the White House. After retirement, Pinkins earned not one but two law degrees from Georgetown University. He turned down the big money of a Washington law firm for the Delta. Back in his hometown, Rolling Fork, Mississippi, [Ty] Pinkins published a memoir, 23 Miles and Running, and litigated hundreds of civil cases for the underprivileged. In 2021, he made national news by filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of fired black farm labourers, who had been replaced by white South Africans. Filing suit and testifying before Congress on the issue, he forced a settlement. Taking note was Mississippi’s lone Democratic Congressman, Bennie Thompson. The chair of the January 6 Select Committee tapped Pinkins to run for the local school board. By the time Pinkins learned of Thompson’s desire, he had already publicly declared his candidacy for [a] Senate seat.” You’ll never guess what happened next: “In theory, Thompson and state Democratic chair Cheikh Taylor promised Pinkins, the only Democrat to announce for the race, their party’s full support. But though he knew the contest would be an uphill struggle, Pinkins never expected a major hurdle would be Bennie Thompson — his own Congressman and the very politician to first have noticed his talents. At first, his phone calls asking for endorsements went unanswered. Then, when his phone did ring, respondents attacked, apparently upset that Pinkins’ hadn’t followed Thompson’s advice and run for his local school board. As Will Colom, a prominent black Mississippi attorney and party donor allegedly told him: ‘You will lose. You are a loser. And you will always be a loser.’ A young Mississippi state representative also phoned. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, getting your name on the ballot?’ they yelled. ‘You need to go through us gatekeepers.’ Gatekeeper. The term shocked Pinkins. Party insiders refused to support him simply because, as he tells me, ‘I didn’t ask anyone, ‘can I please run?” The candidate’s astonishment went beyond personal ambition. With its pungent whiff of machine politics, what Pinkins calls Mississippi’s ‘Gatekeeper Syndrome’ is the very problem ‘preventing our democracy at the state level from blossoming.'”

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 (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).

Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, KidDoc, 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!

* * *

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC September 23	Last Week[2] CDC (until next week):
Variants [3] CDC September 28	Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC September 21
Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, data September 27:	National [6] CDC September 7:
Positivity
★ National[7] Walgreens September 30:	Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic September 21:
Travelers Data
Positivity[9] CDC September 9:	Variants[10] CDC September 9:
Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC September 21:	Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC September 21:

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. Much less intense!

[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.

[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular. XEC has entered the chat.

[4] (ED) Down, but worth noting that Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Definitely down.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC).

[7] (Walgreens) Big drop continues!

[8] (Cleveland) Dropping.

[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up, though lagged.

[10] (Travelers: Variants).

[11] Deaths low, positivity down.

[12] Deaths low, ED down.

Stats Watch

Manufacturing: “United States Chicago PMI|” [Trading Economics]. “The Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago PMI, edged up to 46.6 in September 2024 from 46.1 in August and compared to forecasts of 46.2. Still, the Barometer has remained in contractionary territory for 24 of the past 25 months.”

Manufacturing: “United States Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ general business activity index for manufacturing in Texas edged higher to -9 in September of 2024 from -9.7 in the previous month, indicating the softest pessimism in the sector since January 2023.”

* * *

Finance: “A ton of people are now underwater on their car loans” [Jalopnik]. A new survey shows that 31 percent of American drivers who financed their car are underwater on their loans. The problem is even worse for EV owners – 46 percent of those folks have negative equity in their electric cars. Furthering the issue is the fact that over half of the drivers surveyed overestimated their vehicle’s value.” • Best economy ever!

Tech: Because there are no hurricanes in Silicon Valley (1):

Electric Vehicles that have been flooded in saltwater can catch fire. If you evacuated and left an electric vehicle or golf cart in your garage or under a building and you are not able to get to it or move it, we want you to let us know. /1 pic.twitter.com/dpfiXRAGuR

— Pinellas County (@PinellasGov) September 28, 2024

Tech: Because there are no hurricanes in Silicon Valley (2):

Your regular reminder to make sure that nothing in your house is "smart" if you ever plan to be able to use your house in an emergency https://t.co/XGmiWlqzHj

— Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) September 29, 2024

Tech: “Major outage: Verizon confirms it’s working to restore service after widespread complaints” [CNN]. “Complaints to Verizon’s verified account on X show that customers have been frustrated by a lack of cell service and an inability to connect to the network. Many Verizon iPhone customers complained that their phones had been stuck in “SOS” mode Monday morning, allowing only emergency calls via satellite.” • Hmm.

Manufacturing: “Latest talks between Boeing and its striking machinists break off without progress, union says” [Associated Press]. “No further negotiation dates were scheduled after Friday’s session led by federal mediators, IAM District 751 said. The union added that it remained ‘open to talks with the company, either direct or mediated’…. The strike will not disrupt airline flights anytime soon, but has put more pressure on a company that has already faced a series of financial, legal and mechanical challenges this year.”

Mnaufacturing: “Boeing’s long-lost pension is at the center of broken-down strike talks” [Quartz]. “‘While conversations were direct, we did not make progress on the pension issue,’ the union said in an update to membership on Friday. ‘The company remains adamant that it will not unfreeze the defined benefit plan.’ After the 30,000-plus workers represented by the IAM went on strike earlier this month following the rejection of a contract that would have given them 25% raises. The union was seeking a 40% increase, and a since-rejected ‘best and final offer’ of a 30% bump was deemed ‘a blatant show of disrespect’ because the company didn’t seek to negotiate it first. Meanwhile, beneath the surface of wage negotiations, a push to revive defined-benefit pensions has emerged. These retirement plans, which provide guaranteed payouts to long-serving employees after retirement, were part of Boeing’s benefits package until 2014. That year, a contract extension shifted workers to defined-contribution plans like 401(k)s. Major corporations like Boeing started shifting away from pensions because making sure all those workers got their promised retirement pay was a significant liability. Defined-contribution plans put that risk on the workers themselves instead because they’re the ones primarily responsible for building their nest eggs.” “Has emerged”? Note lack of agency; not the union leadership, apparently….

Manufacturing: “Boeing suppliers fear long-term jobs hit from strike” [Reuters]. “Until recently, Boeing had pledged to take as much inventory from suppliers as possible to keep supply lines “hot” or active. But Boeing’s ability to support suppliers is fading. The company’s credit rating is hovering at close to junk status, and its defense arm has been losing as much as it used to make.” • Cash not forthcoming?

Manufacturing: “For This Boeing Family, the Job Is the Same. The Payoff Isn’t” [Wall Sreet Journal]. “Some 33,000 members of Boeing’s largest union have been on strike since Sept. 13, costing the jet maker hundreds of millions of dollars a week and imperiling its turnaround effort. Members overwhelmingly rejected a contract that would have raised pay by 25% over four years. Boeing sweetened its offer to a 30% increase, which the union said still falls short. The union says Boeing, in the past decade, has raised wages by 8%—not enough when inflation has increased nationally by more than 46% in the same period. Workers are seeing real declines in their standard of living, and that is driving a harder line on union contracts at Boeing and elsewhere, said Rep. Adam Smith, (D., Wash.) who has represented the region since 1997. ‘Your wages simply didn’t keep up with the cost of housing, education, energy, everything,’ he said. “It’s not just the wages they [not “we”] are making, but the expense of the world around them.'”

Manufacturing: “Federal Judge in Texas Will Hear Arguments Over Boeing’s Plea Deal in 737 Max Case” [Manufacturing.net]. “A federal judge on Friday ordered a hearing next month over Boeing’s agreement to plead guilty to conspiracy in connection with the 737 Max jetliner, two of which crashed, killing 346 people. Families of some of the passengers killed in the crashes object to the agreement. They want to put Boeing on trial, where it could face tougher punishment. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor set a hearing for Oct. 11 in Fort Worth, Texas. Boeing is accused of misleading regulators who approved minimal, computer-based training for Boeing 737 pilots before they could fly the Max. Boeing wanted to prevent regulators from requiring training in flight simulators, which would have raised the cost for airlines to operate the plane. The Justice Department argued in court filings that conspiracy to defraud the government is the most serious charge it can prove. Prosecutors said they lack evidence to show that Boeing’s actions caused the crashes in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia.”

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 73 Greed (previous close: 67 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 63 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Sep 30 at 1:21:16 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 180. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Hard to believe the Rapture Index is going down. Do these people know something we don’t?

Games

“What Fiction Writers Can Learn from Dungeons & Dragons” [Literary Hub]. “In the late 1980s, my friends and I knew something called Dungeons & Dragons existed—and we knew that it was for us. But no shop in our little upstate New York hometown carried the books, and the World Wide Web was still a few years off. We did have a set of the dice, so we worked with the scraps we’d gleaned from related books and video games, crafting rules and settings to help us tell the stories we wanted to tell. It was a messy process, but it worked. Over countless weekends and summer nights, we conducted our imaginary characters through marvelous journeys, high-stakes intrigues, and absurd escapades. Tabletop roleplaying games had been around for some fifteen years at this point, but we felt we were tapping into something both mythic and new. Which is exactly what we were doing. D&D owes its existence to a peculiar mix of ancient legend and folklore, fantasy literature, tactical wargames, and improvisational theater. Now fifty years old, the game is more popular than ever, but what keeps it new is the players who gather with friends to make it their own.” • I was born much too early for D&D. Too bad!

“Steam Removes Forced Arbitration Clause, Gamers Can Now Sue Valve” [404 Media]. “In a pretty notable terms of service update, Valve has removed the forced arbitration clause from Steam’s subscriber agreement, meaning users will now have the ability to sue Valve over disputes, and will also have greater ability to file class-action lawsuits against the company…. Valve did not say exactly why it got rid of its forced arbitration clause. But the company is currently being sued in a class action lawsuit in Washington state over the dominance of the Steam platform and over claims that it has overcharged for some games. The plaintiffs in that case actually went to arbitration and convinced an arbitrator that the forced arbitration clause should not apply to them, and were allowed to sue.” • Good!

Gallery

I wonder if Van Gogh ever painted a dog in a manger:

Many Van Gogh works are in private collections.

Some are impossible to visit.

10 VG masterpieces you haven't seen in person 👇

(No.10 was sold for 82.5M, the buyer wanted to be cremated with it)

1. Landscape Under a Stormy Sky pic.twitter.com/xLxZgK6DRN

— Impressions (@impression_ists) September 29, 2024

And:

10. Portrait of Dr. Gachet

In 1990, Ryoei Sato bought one of the two Portrait of Dr.Gachet for $82.5M and sparked controversy by saying he would have it cremated with him.

He died. It hasn't been seen in any public exhibition since. pic.twitter.com/aJwuVYdsdV

— Impressions (@impression_ists) September 29, 2024

Zeitgeist Watch

Terror on the New York Subway system:

It’s hilarious how conservatives are terrified of crime on the NYC subway when this is a much more accurate depiction of what it’s like pic.twitter.com/eIHD1jAdlL

— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) September 29, 2024

I could file this under “Look for the helpers,” too, though it takes some time to turn out that way.

Tradcath seeks Hobbiton:

Class Warfare

“US East and Gulf Coast Ports Face Imminent Shutdown as Union Announces Intent to Strike” [gCaptain]. “The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) on Sunday announced plans for a widespread strike at all Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports, scheduled to begin at 12:01 am on Tuesday, October 1, 2024…. The strike would involve 85,000 ILA members and impact ports from Maine to Texas, the ILA said in a Sunday update posted to Facebook. ‘United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) refuses to address a half-century of wage subjugation where Ocean Carriers profits skyrocketed from millions to mega-billion dollars, while ILA longshore wages remained flat,’ the update said. The potential work stoppage will affect 45,000 port workers at 36 ports responsible for handling more than 40% of total containerized goods entering the United States. The strike also comes at a particularly challenging time for ocean supply chains, which have already faced significant disruptions in 2024 due to conflicts in the Red Sea, drought in the Panama Canal, and the Baltimore bridge collapse. The disruptions, combined with strong U.S. demand, have already caused average spot freight rates from the Far East to the U.S. East Coast to increase by over 300% between December 2023 and early July 2024, according to Xeneta. Despite the high stakes, the Biden administration has indicated that the president does not plan to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, a federal law that allows presidential intervention in labor disputes that create a national emergency.”

News of the Wired

“Alien ‘Cryptoterrestrials’ Could Be Secretly Hiding Deep Underground, Harvard Scientists Claim” [Popular Mechanics]. “The authors openly wonder if [unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs)] hold humans from the future, looking to study their own history and avoiding identification for fear of damaging timelines. Finally, and perhaps most daringly, their writing takes time to incorporate the theological, wondering if our proposed ‘aliens’ are really a breed of ‘earthbound angels.'” • Our timeline is pretty damaged already…

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ST writers: “The rose bush in front of my house blooms at the oddest times. Here’s a current example.”

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