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Bird Song of the Day
Gray Catbird, Visitor’s Center, Becker, Minnesota, United States. “Perhaps a different male Gray Catbird singing at dawn along Bruce Blvd.”
In Case You Might Miss…
- Trump the heel, full of grievances.
- Counting electoral votes now a National Special Security Event.
- Boeing strike — today?
The John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge used to be a railroad bridge. It’s iconic in Nashville, and so often appears in music videos:
NEW: Singer Jon Bon Jovi saves a woman from jumping off a bridge in Nashville, Tennessee while filming a music video.
Good man.
Bon Jovi was seen approaching a 62-year-old woman on the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge.
The musician leaned over the railing before… pic.twitter.com/msyGSU3hQW
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 11, 2024
Also, history rhymes.
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
2024
Less than one hundred days to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
I would say the bloom is off the rose for Harris, except for an upward blip in Georgia. Looks like the enormous liberalgasm afte the Convention was confined to party loyalists. The Kamala campaign must be sore as boils Trump is within striking distance, let alone tied with them. What could account for it? Perhaps that’s why the pivot to RussiaGate. Remember, however, that all the fluctuations — in fact, all the leads, top to bottom — are within the margin of error.
* * * The debates:
Patient readers, I must hustle along and write a post, so I will not be able to aggregate nearly as many of the hot takes on the Kamala vs. Trump debate as I would like. However, I have not seen official opinion, across the spectrum, as loudly united on one view (“Harris won, it’s over for Trump”) since, well, Iraqi WMDs, or that Clinton would win in 2016, or RussiaGate.
“Harris, Trump target swing states after fierce debate” [Agence France Presse]. “[I]t remains unclear whether Harris’s punchy performance, seen by 67 million viewers across the United States, will move the dial in a race that is still neck-and-neck with less than two months to go… ‘Ultimately this debate probably strengthened each candidate with their base voters,’ said Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University. ‘But I give the edge to Harris in taking the opportunity to appeal to independent voters and also showcase Trump’s vulnerabilities.'”
Kamala (D): There is this:
This is one of the greatest corrections in history, from @TIME magazine:https://t.co/LV2won82DI pic.twitter.com/bl8mUKXgHC
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) September 11, 2024
I’d need to check the transcript to see how many times Kamala denied it; three?
* * * Kamala (D): “Taylor Swift Endorses Kamala Harris” [New York Times]. “In a brief post on her Instagram account in 2023, Ms. Swift encouraged her 272 million supporters at the time to vote and included a link to the website Vote.org. The site later reported 35,252 new registrations that day, a significant jump compared with the previous year, and an especially significant spike in a nonelection year…. Polls show that Ms. Harris is doing much better with younger voters than Mr. Biden was, a crucial part of a resurgence in her polls that has allowed her to draw even with Mr. Trump. Ms. Swift’s backing of her campaign is a reflection of that appeal.”
Kamala (D): “Harris trolls Trump by posting most of debate as ‘new ad'” [The Hill]. “Vice President Harris’s campaign posted most of Tuesday’s debate on the social platform X, referring to it as a new ad. ‘Our newest ad just dropped,’ the campaign captioned its Wednesday video post. After Harris’s closing statement in the debate hosted by ABC News, the video is cut off to omit Trump’s closing statement, and a photo of the vice president pops up featuring a voiceover in which she says, ‘I approve this message.'” • I would need to check that only the closing statement was cut. And now I have to read the closing statement again [sigh].
Trump (R): “Behind the Curtain: Trump’s big, unfixable, glaring glitch” [Axios]. “Here’s what troubles former President Trump’s advisers most: He knew that with precision and preparation, Vice President Harris would bait him on things like crowd size, and buck discussion about her power today and liberalism in the past. He knew exactly how to try to turn each moment against her. But he blew it badly … repeatedly … predictably. He simply cannot help himself, Trump insiders begrudgingly admit. No practice, pleas or sage advice keep Trump from being Trump. It’s a feature — not a correctable bug. There is a straight, illuminating through-line from Trump’s post-assassination-attempt convention speech and his debate performance Tuesday night. Go back in time. Go back to the seconds after he was shot at in Pennsylvania. The moment Trump rose, ear bloodied, fist held high, American flag flying behind, and mouthed: ‘Fight!’ It was an iconic moment, an unforgettable image, a political memory money can’t buy. And, Trump’s team believed, a sure-bet ticket to winning in November.” • That’s what I thought; an opportutniy for Trump to turn into a Face after being a Heel. More: “All he had to do, they told him, was use the moment to say he took a bullet for America, and felt like a changed man ready to pull the nation together. For a few days, he did … until 28 minutes into his prime-time convention speech on July 18. Trump knew — and was told — he could walk off the convention stage up double digits in the polls if he exploited the assassination attempt and cut the grievance crap. But just like Tuesday’s debate, he simply couldn’t help himself. He went on for 60 more rambling minutes in that convention speech, rehashing his greatest grievance hits.” • I think this is psychologically acute. At the 30,000-foot level, the tendency of our ruling class to psychologize everything drives me nuts; they do that with everything (like Zelensky’s chillingly stupid invasion of Kursk, justified because it humiliated Putin). It’s as vicious and petty as a battle of high school cliques. Pragmatically, does this matter? Trump is, after all, a known quantity. His voters, for example, might have grievances too; like their personal economies being better off under Trump than Biden. So perhaps they identify with him. So does this matter? We’ll get at least an inkling soon…
Trump (R): “Jack Smith Should Move Now to Make Trump Give Up Passport: Ex-Prosecutor” [Newsweek]. “Former President Donald Trump should be forced to give up his passport to stop him from fleeing the country and avoiding prosecution if he loses the presidential election, according to ex-federal prosecutor Randall Eliason….. ‘If something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we’ll meet the next time in Venezuela, because it’ll be a far safer place to meet than our country,” Trump told Musk. ‘OK, so we’ll go. You and I will go, and we’ll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela.'” • Ha ha! Time for muuy favorite clip of all time!
* * * Stein (G):
UPDATE ON NV: Our lawyers have said that we have a case that the US Supreme Court may take which will make ripples nationwide.
In case you missed it, the @NVSOS gave the campaign the wrong forms to use to get on the ballot. Then the dirty Dems used that technicality to sue us… https://t.co/1gbldg35Km pic.twitter.com/IlUgejcesb
— Dr. Jill Stein🌻 (@DrJillStein) September 11, 2024
Of course, the Greens were stupid to trust the Democrats to give them the right forms, but really: Proper election materials shouldn’t be a matter of caveat emptor. “Dirty Dems” is exactly right.
Our Famously Free Press
“The night Donald Trump choked like a dog (Kamala’s version)” [Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer]. • Holy moley, what happened to this dude? No hate there!
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Election officials warn that widespread problems with the US mail system could disrupt voting” [Associated Press]. “In an alarming letter, the officials said that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically send voters to inactive status through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when those voters show up to cast a ballot. The officials also said that repeated outreach to the Postal Service to resolve the issues had failed and that the widespread nature of the problems made it clear these were ‘not one-off mistakes or a problem with specific facilities. Instead, it demonstrates a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees.’ The letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy came from two groups that represent top election administrators in all 50 states. They told DeJoy, “We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns.'” • [sigh].
“2025 Counting and Certification of Electoral Votes Designated a National Special Security Event” [United States Secret Service]. “The 2025 Counting and Certification of Electoral Votes in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, 2025, has been designated a National Special Security Event by the Secretary of Homeland Security. This marks the first time a National Special Security Event designation has been granted for a Certification of Electoral Votes and follows a request made by the DC Mayor to designate this event a National Special Security Event. Various reports including from the House Select January 6 Committee and the Government Accountability Office also called for the DHS Secretary to consider a National Special Security Event designation for future Certification of Electoral Votes. ‘National Special Security Events are events of the highest national significance,’ said Eric Ranaghan, the Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Dignitary Protective Division. ‘The U.S. Secret Service, in collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners are committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive and integrated security plan to ensure the safety and security of this event and its participants.’ The formal planning process is underway with the formation of an Executive Steering Committee. The Executive Steering Committee is made up of senior representatives from federal, state and local law enforcement and public safety partners and will begin convening in the coming weeks.” • And—
“DHS designates Electoral College vote count as special national security event” [Washington Times]. “The vote counting joins other major events such as the national nominating conventions, presidential inaugurations and the president’s annual State of the Union address. But this is the first time the Electoral College counting and certification has been designated. The move is largely of bureaucratic significance, putting one federal agency in charge of forging and carrying out a security plan that’s followed by other federal, state and local agencies.” • I’ve been muttering about the spooks taking on the task of legitimating — or delegitimating — Presidential elections since 2016, and that’s the context I put this in. Project the trend out a bit: What happens when anonymous “intelligence officials” leak that the electors in a swing district in a swing state are suspect because that district was the target of a disinformation campaign by “malevolent actors”?
Syndemics
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
Airborne Transmission
Immune Dysregulation
“Analysis reveals global post-covid surge in infectious diseases” [BMJ]. “A large post-covid global surge in common communicable diseases including influenza, measles, tuberculosis, and whooping cough has been identified in a new analysis of data from 60 organisations and public health agencies. Since the beginning of 2022, 44 countries have experienced a 10-fold increase in the incidence of at least one of 13 infectious diseases compared with a pre-pandemic baseline, according to the analysis1 by the UK based disease forecasting firm Airfinity and the US news website Bloomberg. Experts said that with no historical precedent, they can’t fully explain the resurgence in infectious diseases.” • ‘Tis a mystery!
Sequelae: Covid
“Many kids are still missing class after COVID reshaped how parents view school” [Colorado Sun]. And the deck: “With school attendance rates still lower than before the pandemic, state and district officials say it’s taking time for families to “renorm” their attendance track record.” • The UK is having the same panic, but worse. But just maybe — follow me closely, here, school adminsitrators — poor attendance is happening, for the great majority, because kids are constantly getting infected, and for the minority, because they know poorly ventilated schools are death traps.
“Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the murine central nervous system drives viral diversification” (excerpt) [Nature]. “Higher levels of viral divergence were observed in the [Central Nervous System (CNS)] than the lung after intranasal challenge with a high frequency of mutations in the spike furin cleavage site (FCS).”
“COVID-19 lockdown effects on adolescent brain structure suggest accelerated maturation that is more pronounced in females than in males” [PNAS]. • Lots of well-deserved derision for this Bezos-funded dreck:
“This work was funded by a grant from the Bezos Family Foundation.” Not publicly funded.
Perhaps has something to do with why major newspapers are picking this up by the dozen despite it making completely invalid claims that should have never been published. No other funders. https://t.co/tTOChulIQZ
— Blake Murdoch (@BlakeMMurdoch) September 10, 2024
Elite Maleficence
It’s as if the world world is one giant challenge experiment:
And, if not required to protect participants and selves from a severe, life-altering, possibly disabling or deadly illness, should they not have to provide a legal disclaimer of some sort. Like "participate in this research at your own risk and some of you might die"
2/ pic.twitter.com/HZrN41uE1y— Jackie Seidel, PhD (@JackieSeidel1) September 10, 2024
Social Norming
“Be a Thermostat, Not a Thermometer” “[Lara Hogan]. “As I’ve learned more about how humans interact with one another at work, I’ve been repeatedly reminded that we are very easily influenced by the mood of those around us…. Humans, like most other mammals, mirror each other. When I change my tone or my body language, there’s some likelihood that your tone and body language will change in response. So now we’ve got a compounding situation—I’m having a bad day, so I’m giving off strange vibes, then you’re giving off strange vibes because you’re picking up on my bad day. We leave the one-on-one and go meet with other people, and now they’re picking up on our strange vibes…. I like to use the metaphor of a thermometer and a thermostat for this idea. If you’re looking for signals about how someone is feeling, it’s kind of like you’re trying to take their emotional temperature. You’re being a thermometer…. Rather than let that cycle play out subconsciously, you have an opportunity to become the thermostat as soon as you notice that another person’s temperature has changed. You get to set the new temperature of the room, in a positive and healthy way…. Since humans tend to mirror each other, you can intentionally change the energy in the room, setting the thermostat to a more comfortable temperature.” • Hmm.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC August 27 | Last Week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC August 31 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC August 31 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data September 10: | National [6] CDC August 17: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens September 9: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic August 24: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| Positivity[9] CDC August 19: | Variants[10] CDC August 19: |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11]CDC August 31: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12]CDC August 31: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) This week’s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated. Keeps spreading. NOTE The date seems to be wrong, but the number of sites has changed so this is new.
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular. XDV.1 flat.
[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). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.
[7] (Walgreens) Big drop continues!
[8] (Cleveland) Dropping.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Down. 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 range. 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) What the heck is LB.1?
[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.
[12] Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
Employment Situation: “United States Initial Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US rose by 2,000 from the previous week to 230,000 on the period ending September 7th, in line with market expectations. The figure remained well above the averages seen earlier this year, reflecting the continued trend of a softening labor market, further emphasized by the weak August payrolls data.”
“United States Producer Price Inflation MoM” [Trading Economics]. “Factory gate prices in the US increased 0.2% mom in August 2024, following a downwardly revised flat reading in July and above forecasts of 0.1%. Prices of services increased 0.4%, after a 0.3% drop in July, led by a 4.8% rise in guestroom rental.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing’s CEO is begging his machinists not to strike” [Quartz]. “‘I know the reaction to our tentative agreement with the IAM has been passionate,’ he reportedly told the workers. ‘I understand and respect that passion, but I ask you not to sacrifice the opportunity to secure our future together, because of the frustrations of the past.'” IOW, “What can be, unburdened by what has been.” More: “Should they do a work stoppage, there would be precedent: That last contract was not ratified before the union walked off the job. In July, the union said they’d be willing to do it again, with 99.9% voting in favor of the tactic. Boeing needs these workers to put together its key 737 Max jetliners, which IAM [local] 751 manufactures in Washington. Though the Federal Aviation Administration has capped the number of the planes that Boeing can build after a door plug blowout earlier this year exposed quality control problems, the planemaker still needs to crank out every unit that it can.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing 737 deliveries to China reach highest monthly rate since 2019” [Flight Global]. “Boeing in August delivered its highest monthly total of 737 Max jets to China since the Covid-19 pandemic overturned the airline industry. The airframer said on 10 September that it handed over nine 737s to Chinese customers last month, the most since December 2019, when Boeing delivered 15 737s to China. The ramp-up follows a two-month delivery pause earlier this summer, prompted by Chinese aviation regulators’ concerns about the use of lithium batteries in cockpit-voice recorders. In total, Boeing shipped 40 aircraft in August, compared with figures of 43 in July and 44 in June. The relatively steady period follows a first half of 2024 marred by a nearly catastrophic incident involving a 737 Max 9 operated by Alaska Airlines, a dramatic production slowdown and turnover among the company’s senior leadership. ”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 43 Fear (previous close: 43 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 47 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Sep 12 at 1:20:16 PM ET.
Health
“Metformin decelerates aging clock in male monkeys” (excerpt) [Cell]. “Metformin prevents brain atrophy, elevating cognitive function in aged male primates. Metformin slows the pace of aging across diverse male primate tissues. Metformin counterparts neuronal aging, delivering geroprotection via Nrf2 in male primates. Our research pioneers the systemic reduction of multi-dimensional biological age in primates through metformin, paving the way for advancing pharmaceutical strategies against human aging.” • Why, I’m a male primate! Since this is only an excerpt, I can’t say why female primates were not included.
Book Nook
Little Women is indeed great:
Today at my library job:
*5th grade girl*: “I just finished reading Little Women and I loved it! Do you have any other books like it?!?”
*Me*: “have you read *Anne of Green Gables*?”
*Her*: “no”
*Me*: “girl, I am about to change your life”— Grace the vagabond (@14karatGEM) September 11, 2024
Gallery
And now for something completely different:
Ask Me No More, 1906
Lawrence Alma-Tadema (British, 1836 – 1912) pic.twitter.com/X7CFDNgg9h— Brindille (@Brindille_) September 12, 2024
Public Health
“Embodiment: reading Krieger through Merleau-Ponty” [Closed Form]. “Though this isn’t its most vernacular meaning, ‘embodiment‘ has a second life as a term of art in a marginal subdiscipline of epidemiology, so-called ‘social’ epidemiology. Depending on the day and my mood, I could articulate social epidemiology as the heir to some kind of real public health, before molecular medicine got in the way, or as the part of epidemiology that traffics the most cynically and shamefully in trauma questionnaires and DEI ambulance-chasing.” And after prolonged albeit entertaining meandering: “[One of] my objections to social epidemiology as such right now [is] that there’s not really much ‘there’ there. True that everything is connected to everything else. True that we are not isolated laboratory subjects. So what? What are we supposed to do with this information?” And: “Put another way, you literally are your body. I’m most interested in the crude distinction between the ‘objective’ and ‘lived’ body. The lived body is the body of experience (how I experience a piece of art or music) or the body of habit (the body that knows how to do all the operations to make a cup of coffee without thinking too much about it). The objective body is the biometric body of statistics and public health: my height, weight, blood pressure, eye color, and so on.” • It seems to me that Bourdieu is laboring in the same vineyard with “habitus” and “field,” and with the same amount of satisfaction, at least to his readers.
From the Tufte franchise:
You are a legend now. This is like an Oscar of graph-making.
— Sarah Cone (@sarah_cone) September 11, 2024
“Tech billionaire pulls off first private spacewalk high above Earth” [Associated Press]. • Bringing to mind:
“The Cell Phone and Its Double” [The Anarchist Library]. “The idea is to have two phones, a civilian phone or “civ phone”, that uses only Wi-Fi, and is limited in use to specific times and places away from the individual’s place where they typically sleep (their dwelling) and any other digital signatures, including their other burner phone and phones of friends.” • Hmm.
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 MB:
MB writes: “Christmas fern, maple, and moss. Piedmont, North Carolina.”
117 comments
Comments are closed.
The time has really flown-by quickly today…
Yes. We must be on Iceland Time now.
Watch out! There goes another volcano!
They did warn us that time would seem to pass more quickly as we age…
How old IS Lambert?
I am a little boy of five!
When someone says to me, ” Act your age.”
I have to reply: ” I don’t know how, I’ve never been this old before.”
Time.
As my boss once said, and I’m sure by many others, “Life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.”
10 minute clip from a Joe Rogan episode interviewing Dr. Robert Epstein, author, researcher, and former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today.
He started researching Google.
https://vigilantfox.news/p/big-tech-researcher-exposes-how-the
And about Alphabet, parent company of the Goog:
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, owns several other companies in addition to the search engine giant. Seven major companies owned by Alphabet are YouTube, Waze, DoubleClick, Nest, Looker, Fitbit, and Mandiant.
Waze, the traffic app? I didn’t know that. Now I don’t trust Waze either.
> Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, owns several other companies in addition to the search engine giant. Seven major companies owned by Alphabet are YouTube, Waze, DoubleClick, Nest, Looker, Fitbit, and Mandiant
This is not new at all. What did Epstein bring to the table that is new?
NOTE Verily, the firm CDC used to hose biobot and make wastewater data inaccessible and bad, is also an Alphabet Company, whomp whomp.
Thanks flora! Glimpsed this yesterday and meant to dive in. More what I call “terrible knowledge. ” Long suspected and now…dang.
thanks flora. reminiscent of snowden’s revelations.
Here’s the complete interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azu8XnZdxeA
Robert Epstein is amazing! He confirms why not only do I avoid Gaggle but don’t have a cell phone and never will. The less you plug in, the better.
I apologize for publishing the skeleton at 12:30, as opposed to The Full Cleveland circa 2:00pm. I have a lot on my plate just now.
Kamala happily accepting and promoting her Republican endorsements is perfect. It’s not just Dick, she’s highlighting her endorsements from Bush and McCain staffers. I love this timeline. Let them bathe in the insanity and not hide it. It will just speed up the disillusion and collapse.
The naught-ies evil is todays righteousness.
> Kamala happily accepting and promoting her Republican endorsements is perfect
This never would have happened without throwing Sanders under the bus (2016; 2020) and then driving the bus over the body a few times.
Maybe this was the plan all along.
Here’s some digital evidence which is rather hilarious if accurate, from a 1995 piece on Willie Brown – https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1833539331505770508
It’s an old video, but something does look a little off when Kamalorama makes her appearance at the 9 sec mark, but I’m definitely no expert.
That is she. Asked “are you his daughter”, she says no. And she also shows up at end.
Re Kamala hosannas–if Will Bunch says it it must be true. Since I didn’t watch I can’t speak to her awesomeness but proving that an intensively rehearsed candidate can talk in coherent sentences only solves the PR problem, not the is she qualified to be leader of the free world problem. Not that Trump is particularly qualified but at least he has some on the job experience. Meanwhile what has KH been doing for the past four years other than plotting for this very moment?
You could say it doesn’t matter which figurehead sits in the oval but the Ukraine mess and threat to world peace say that it does. The only real issue in this election is can we get rid of the war mongering Dems or not? On the domestic front nothing will fundamentally change unless the stock market takes a huge dive. That’s all the plutocrats care about.
Thanks for today’s gallery artwork – I love that style. I thought I’d never heard of Alma-Tadema before, but it turns out he also painted one of my favorites, The Roses of Heliogabalus.
Not that the classification matters much, but when I just checked him out, he doesn’t seem to be considered one of the pre-Raphaelites although his style and subject matter are very similar. I wonder why?
I think Alma-Tadema was clearly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites. I find his work more strongly influenced by the late 19th century Romanticist/Neo-classical grouping. Lots of overlap of schools, movements, and individuals.
This is an interesting overview: https://www.wikiart.org/en/sir-lawrence-alma-tadema
Thanks for the link, and the overlap makes sense now that you mention the other schools.
Why was Ambrit’s article taken down?
I’m not sure, but I would imagine the reason is the same reason I published Water Cooler early today: Yves has a lot on her plate (and we don’t generally publish two fundraising posts so close to each other in time, lending credence to my theory).
K, thanks! Sorry you all are so busy!
It’s visible to me, as of 15:03 h,12 Sept 2024
Probably because someone had to placate the Internet Dragons when they came hungrily calling around lunchtime. I’m certain that it will reappear in the near future. One of the pitfalls of a site like Naked Capitalism is an excess of riches. (Do note the passive aggressive self-back-patting exercise. I can do it because my rotator cuffs are still pliable. My conscience, not so much.) Two funds appeal articles so close together is ‘overkill.’ ‘Albrt’ makes quite a cogent argument for contributing. Why confuse the issue?
Stay safe!
Well it was a good ‘un, and I posted a heartfelt comment because Naked Capitalism and a handful of other blogs in the mid-noughties had a huge (and I mean HUGE) affect on the trajectory of my life and future.
Right after I posted the whole article disappeared. I’m in tech so I didn’t really think it likely after a moment, but at first I thought I’d killed it!
Ah. I think I vaguely remember responding to your comment. I’m fairly sure that the demented ramblings of this North American Deep South geezer, and the shocked responses elicited thereby will return in all their refulgent glory. “The memes are so bright, I gotta wear shades!”
Sometimes I get so mad at the sheer idiocy I often see online that I secretly wish I could “kill” some of it myself. Fight “Delusional Thinking” with “Magical Thinking.” Hey. If the F-35 can fly, so can pigs!
Stay safe.
An eye opener for those who trust VPNs.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/exposed-how-israeli-spies-control-your-vpn/288259/
Clearly true privacy these days demands use of the telephone, er, burner phones? Carrier pigeon?
Justine Haupt’s 4G dumbphone to the rescue! I had ordered one but I need a bloody smartphone for rideshare cars. Not enough street cabs :-(
https://www.digitec.ch/en/page/justine-her-rotary-dial-mobile-phone-and-the-pitfalls-of-mass-production-30371
You night like to try a Fairphone. The Eos operating system is an independent European project to deGoogle the Android OS for mobile. The app store does not require login or credit card etc. You can turn every mobile feature off. Etc.
Allegedly.
It’s quite solidly built, I’ve had two in six or seven years.
Mozilla offers a VPN; the open source community’s suspicious eyes should keep them a little less compromised. (not that they should be spending their focus on that instead of keeping Firefox viable…. but that’s a rant for another day…)
If that’s not clean enough, $10/mo gets you a micro EC2 instance on AWS and OpenVPN is free.
I see a business opportunity for a certain putative Oriental Despot. Said Despot can launch a truly “outside the box” phone service. Introducing the VVPN: the Vladimir Vladimirovitch Private Network. You can find it wherever better BRICS are baked. Imagine. When the TSA agents ask you why they cannot gain access to your phone, you can tell them with a straight face that it is BRICed!
> VPNs
I use Proton. Not perfect, but not on this list.
Eating cats and dogs…………
I just think it is important to elucidate the other side of this issue.
Since we have now heard even from the debate stage that this is a total fabrication and then the past few days from all kinds of media that this is a cuckoo conspiracy. As an aside, unfortunately, I have now come to gauge the media input in these kind of stories in almost a stepwise fashion. We are now in the “That never happened and anyone who says so is a wackjob conspiracy theorist” – We will soon enter the “It happened, but it is not that common and you are a racist for bringing it up.” — Soon to be followed by “It happens all the time everywhere – just get over it, maybe you should try some fried cat thighs, they are actually quite tasty.” That final stage is often arrived at after an election or some other important event.
Think back on the Hunter Laptop story ( as one of dozens of examples) – First – Russia, Russia Russia, Then next was “Right wing conspiracy wack job stuff” Then Rudy is just an old drunk then after the Hunter porn parade started – “Well parts of it are probably real”, Then just in the past month – “Yeah – Hunter pled guilty to taking bribes from foreign officials that may involve his Dad – the Big Guy – POTUS or VPOTUS at the time – and the evidence in the laptop was critical.”
You get the point. I can do a half dozen COVID related sequences right now.
The problem is one of cognitive dissonance for me and indeed my entire community that has everything to do with the current events in hand. I have discussed in some previous comments the unevaluated immigrants bringing in TB and others. Absolutely no evaluation at the border at all.
Well, it turns out, there have been 2 cases that I know of – that means there may be more – in our very small town of immigrants killing wildlife for animal sacrifices, etc. I know of no one eating dogs or cats – but still – it has been very concerning for the citizens around here. And we certainly do not have 20000 immigrants from a part of the world where this is accepted culture.
So, excuse us all, if there is not an immediate recognition of the possibility that our fellow Americans in Ohio, who have a much larger population of immigrants, may be dealing with a problem in this area – since it has happened among our own as well. The fact that this has been instantly not only dismissed but laughed at by the media has caused some head scratching in my community – even among the bluest of the blue, especially the environment types.
The trust in the media is at rock bottom for a reason. How I wish we had real reporters with no agenda but the truth – but we can no longer have nice things in this country. Until that is the case, we will just have to meddle along with entire communities being called names on national TV and people in places like where I live really doubting what the media are saying when we all know it is absolutely happening among us. “If it is here – it is very likely there as well.”
Having your entire media based on lies and misrepresentations is a source of much angst and uneasiness. I am experiencing things I never thought I would see and feelings I never thought I would have.
What’s stopping the putative right (like Fox News) from going to Springfield, OH, and doing some reporting? Or, a guy like Taibbi? Maybe he will!
Here’s some reporting:
The “police call report/recording the Federalist published to claim evidence of Haitian migrants hunting geese in Springfield, OH” by a reporter spoke to the caller:
https://x.com/stevanzetti/status/1834241621916819853
Sources of the “eating pets in Ohio” story:
https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/origins-haitians-eating-pets-claim
(I wasn’t familiar with NewsGuard, but you can check their Wikipedia to assess their credibility)
Thanks! From the second link:
I’m starting to think the normally mealy-mouthed “baseless claims” being repeated in the media just means “we can’t definitively prove a cat wasn’t eaten.” Just like how can’t prove “there ain’t no Sanity Claus.”
The visual side of the internet (TikTok, Instagram) has exploded with that section of the debate, making songs out of his statement.
E.g. this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cqgy-p1Wng
this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c3KuyzgjAU
> “I’m not sure I’m the most credible source because I don’t actually know the person who lost the cat,” Newton said about the rumor she had passed on to her neighbor, Lee, the Facebook poster.
Good for Newton.
I will mention again that missionaries/”pastors” who have been to Haiti find the rumor credible, and I would imagine they carry greater weight in Springfield than the national news sources understand (or can accept).
That said, I agree with people like Michael Tracey, who takes the strong form position that if you can’t find a real world example of a cat being eaten in Springfield, then there’s no story.
And that said, there are adjacent stories that are not covered by the press or either party. Start with yesterday’s Water Cooler: “[Springfield’s] 27% decrease in median income between 1999 and 2014 was the largest of any metropolitan area in the country.” Then go on to 20,000 immigrants in a town of 60,000. No wonder there’s friction. And we only know this because Trump, bless his heart, made cat-eating Haitians a talking point….
“Well, it turns out, there have been 2 cases that I know of – that means there may be more – in our very small town of immigrants killing wildlife for animal sacrifices, etc. I know of no one eating dogs or cats – but still – it has been very concerning ”
Help me out here. Shooting animals and feasting on their flesh is the most American thing ever. If animal sacrifice is worse that that, well, how much worse? What’s at stake here? That it is happening inside city limits? That they don’t have hunting licenses? That they are STARVING?
Years ago (inside city limits, where it was thoroughly illegal) my neighbor caught a raccoon in his yard and blew its brains out, using a muffler for the sound. This sort of thing happens all the time and nobody makes a wedge issue out of it.
I wouldn’t mind being proved wrong but my impression is, all the dimensions this particular issue is expanding into seem trivial. Except for the possibility of hunger, of course.
Again – you are now filling out the next phase of the media response. “People blow animals’ brains out all the time – why is this a big deal now?”
I am already hearing signs of this in the media as well. It was on my TV this AM – “Anyone who dares to eat chicken meat can say nothing if their neighbors pet cat is slaughtered by an immigrant for food or sacrifice”. Spare me.
And notice – you have conflated what I said – we are not talking about eating anything in my community – the two incidents I know of have been ritual sacrifice – organs laid out around the bodies, blood sprinkled everywhere. Accoutrement all around. This has nothing to do with people STARVING as you say.
It may be one thing to do this with livestock or chickens. It may be another thing to do it with wild game. It is a whole new world if this is happening to people’s pets or animals like ducks and swans in the local ponds.
And again – if we had any semblance of a functional media that actually got to the bottom of things, I would feel much better about not just this situation but many others. Instead, we have a media that is actively engaging in denegration of people’s real concerns this may be happening.
The thing I object to is Trump taking the seems-like-didn’t-happen-but-is-so-overly-mocked-that-maybe-something-did-who-knows-anything incident and projecting it on to an entire population of people who are “killing our country.” There are 300 million of us here, and weird stuff happens in the distribution tails (ha, tails!) all the time. To take what at best can be called a rumor and make it a key component of your neo-Know-Nothings party campaign? That’s pure desperation (and very insulting to a lot of people).
You mean like when Democrat politicians (almost to a man/woman) do the same thing when it comes to Russians or Palestinians regarding their respective conflicts?
I agree with your concerns regarding Trump, but why do we not see the same concerns discussed when it comes to Harris regarding her statements on Russia and Gaza?
I actually find this to be a bigger issue. Who decides the targets of the Two Minutes Hate?
Yes this also sucks!
> To take what at best can be called a rumor and make it a key component of your neo-Know-Nothings party campaign?
Lots of hidden assumptions. Who said “key component”? And in what sense besides vague anti-populist handwaving is the modern Republican party comparable to the Know Nothings?” It’s an interesing hypothesis, unless “Know Nothing” is just a fancy way to say “deplorable.”
I’m not the only one conflating and that’s the problem with the issue, isn’t it? It isn’t just one thing happening, it’s a big bucket that we throw everything we imagine any person might do to any animal. (hunger, sacrifice, livestock, chickens, wild game, pets, ducks, swans) A big morass that seems to boil down to unassimilated people that have not yet learned the Real American Way to slaughter animals. Whether there is anything that would justify throwing millions of people out of the country, I struggle to see how this particular issue would.
And I’m sure it doesn’t play well in gated communities, but ritual sacrifice is legal, 1st amendment bona fide.
If you’re not out of patience with me, I’m asking in good faith: Suppose we did have a functioning media who got to the bottom of this. Then what? I like your own question: “People blow animals’ brains out all the time – why is this a big deal now?”
(If you could wave a wand and have the media “get to the bottom” of an issue, would it really be this one?)
If I could wave a wand – I would have real journalists converging on this little town. I would have those journalists going to each and every one of these citizen reports to their council – to see if there was any truth to any of it. To see if this was real. What extent it actually was going on……Remember – those citizens were talking about the animals – but the majority of the time was spent talking about all kinds of other issues – the impacts on the schools, the police, the fire department, the hospitals, the public health, etc.
I would want the journalists to go into deep detail about how those immigrants were actually affecting that small town. I would want them to go into with the officials of the city and the state why 20K were sent to inhabit a town of 60K. I would want to be informed of how this was affecting the schools, the real estate valuations, the hospital and ER system. I would want the journalists to talk to local working MDs and nurses – not the public health megaphones – about what they were seeing and experiencing.
And I would want them to put this on national TV for all to see. It would also be interesting to compare this to Martha’s Vineyard and what happened to that town when the 70 or so immigrants were dropped in.
There was a day and time in the USA when journalists like Mike Wallace or Morley Safer would have been all over a story like this – indeed – it would have been the lead story on this coming Sunday. It is important to present facts – and to ask hard questions of all involved – from the politicians all the way down to the citizens – to reveal who was telling the truth and who was not. To reveal as best as possible what impact this was having on the town.
The fact that no one from the big media organizations is doing none of this is very telling.
> It would also be interesting to compare this to Martha’s Vineyard and what happened to that town when the 70 or so immigrants were dropped in.
Ding ding ding ding ding!
In that case, we’d have…. a functional media. Not just for this case, but for many others, too.
I.e., in principle less gaslighting and enabling of denial — that would be something.
It’s a cultural difference that some people may not be aware of or misunderstand. I find it very easy that people might view animal sacrifices in a bad light, while not even giving a second thought to the meat they consume or the act of hunting. Out of sight, out of mind; and I eat what I kill. Why do you think animal campaigns that show the conditions most food animals live in are shut down so quickly or called out for being “too extreme”?
And yes, I think animal sacrifices are bad, just like I think modem food production is bad. I feel like you are opening up a lessor of two evils debate.
As for the racoon issue, no one makes an issue about it that you know of. Additionally, different places would get different reactions, which only strengthens the point IM Doc was making.
Trivial for whom?
> And yes, I think animal sacrifices are bad, just like I think modem food production is bad. I feel like you are opening up a lessor of two evils debate.
There is something strange going on here culturally. We have a social media environment where cat videos are a dominant genre. Then we have Vance’s “childless cat ladies,” and the ripostes to that by people like Taylor Swift.
I think what gets people about this particular cat is that this cat is a pet. Pets are not typically sacrificed. Bringing to mind this famous Norm MacDonald joke:
There was a very real story where immigrant youths killed and ate a swan at the municipal park in upstate NY (i linked to the local news coverage in yesterday’s Water Cooler). I’m curious what the local reaction there was/is, to the crime, tbe aftermath (the mayor interviewed in the news coverage of the sentencing was unhappy that the youths were not required to pay for restitution, since the extra security measures at the city park were costly), and most of all, what they thought of the OH story–since upstate NY is closer to Midwest than tp East Coast (Rust Belt and all).
I remember reading about that at the time, and the community was outraged. There was a petition campaign to make sure the perpetrators were prosecuted.
Yeah, it was a pretty big news at the time nationwide. When the story about OH broke, that’s what I wondered about immediately.
The question for me is not whether the particulars about the OH story specifically are factually true (there have been similar stories elsewhere and that’s enough, for now), but the kind of sentiments that they represent. Specifically, I wonder how the locals in that upstate NY city reacted to this incident knowing in that case that a similar incident did take place there, and further, if similar sentiments can be found in communities that are similar but did not necessarily experience an analogous incident.
The real question is not about people eating swans, dogs, or whatever. It’s about societal tension giving rise to stories like this. I think there’s more there than meets the eye. (Stories that are false, but not implausible, are the most dangerous things in this dimension–and the OH cat story probably qualifies, as I am fairly positive that the specific incident Trump described probably did not happen, but enough people undoubtedly talked about it and that there were in fact similar real incidents probably gives them more credence than they should have.) One thing that I am pretty sure about Trump is htat he knows who his audience and what they respond to. I suppose I can say the same about Harris, to her credit–she did pull off a good job doing just that the other day. Unlike Harris’ audience, though, Trump’s aren’t on TV, but they number millions. I have a hunch that they reacted rather differently to the Springfield, OH, story.
“One thing that I am pretty sure about Trump is htat he knows who his audience and what they respond to.”
That’s both a reason he shouldn’t propagate unsubstantiated stories and arguably a reason he continues to do so.
“Springfield City Hall, school, county hit by threats tied to Haitian immigration concerns
City Hall evacuated, county offices closed, parents at one Springfield school asked to pick up children early”
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-city-hall-evacuated-due-to-unspecified-threat/LEJGCXXHZRHT3HH3HYHABRZGT4/
There are genuine social problems behind these incidents (and while the specific incident in Ohio is likely to be false, similar incidents that are unquestionably true have been reported.) The problematic reaction too many people have is to find enemies to blame and act rashly, and that’s not a good thing (and this applies to both Dems and Reps, as well as those who are neither–how quick are the Dems nowadays to blame Russia for anyhthing that goes wrong, or any loud enough criticism, nowadays?). But so is pretending that nothing is wrong and that the people who are complaining are the villains who need to be silenced while those not bothered go on as if nothing’s wrong.
Ya just don’t get it do you? “That’s both a reason he shouldn’t propagate unsubstantiated stories and arguably a reason he continues to do so.” These stories are substantiated. Haven’t you been reading this comment thread or doing any of your own research?
This boils down to unregulated immigration. If there were any controls at the border, which the dems have tossed in the bin, these incidents would not be happening to the extent they are (yes, they are happening). A regulated border would allow time for an immigrant, who is perhaps used to “unique” cultural practices that don’t go over well in the USA, to learn our language, culture and generally accepted behavior. They would have time to learn to temper some of their actions and in general learn about the US and how not to offend your neighbors.
With immigrants just being “released” it is a recipe for them to get into trouble and for American citizens to build up animosity towards them.
At 8:14 pm above I gave links to “research” on the 2 incidents currently being propagated. Here’s another:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-fringe-online-claim-immigrants-eating-pets-debate-trump-rcna170759
The problems with immigration are not that some immigrants (like some citizens) do reprehensible things. The solution is not demonization, harassment, property damage, or violence toward the majority of immigrants who aren’t doing reprehensible things, and who are just as much victims of many policies that exploit and deprive those “Real Americans” who sometimes also need to “to learn to temper some of their actions” and consider the real sources of their grievances.
> These stories are substantiated.
No, they’re really not. We have people making videos on TikTok and FaceBook. What would be nice is some actual local news coverage, as for example in Butler or East Palestine, where local reporting really moved the story forward.
It was in Manlius, NY, a suburb of Syracuse. I was thinking of that case these past few days.
The outrage of the swan killing was huge. Manlius is 3 miles up the road. The Swan Pond is the village symbol and in the center. It has been there for over a century. Not only did the delinquents kill the mama, they grabbed the cygnets and sold them to a local immigrant shop (wet market?) and the owner pleaded ignorance.
Having said that, maybe 10 years ago a drunken twenty something white rich kid grabbed the eggs in a barroom dare. IIRC he got a bit of jail time.
The community rage is colorblind.
The latest position:
“Yeah, OK, he did it. All of it. So what? It’s no big deal. Maybe we should make him Secretary of State and see how you like that, huh? Keep going and we’ll f—ing do it, I swear to God.”
I have the impression that ritual animal sacrifice is a thing, still, in certain religions. Perhaps the one in view here is Santeria.
If that is what is happening, I suspect that it might be difficult to suppress it, if the practitioners can get decent legal representation. “No laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, …”
Any idea how that might interact with animal cruelty laws? Especially since there has been a push to use such laws to stop food industry abuses.
Local ordinance banning religious sacrifice of animals have been found unconstitutional (by a unanimous SCOTUS, no less) back in 1990s, in context of Santeria. Not sure if anything new came up on this dimension since then.
There was another case where SCOTUS struck down another clash between animal cruelty and first amendment (free speech): apparently, there was a thing about people posting videos of themselves crushing small animals on social media back in late 90s/early oughts. This too was found unconstitutional, but the judges left the door for a more specific law (one that specifically bans crushing videos), which was duly done after the decision (this back in the Obama years, I believe)
I had the same thought, that it might be regulatable in terms of “humane treatment of animals.” People with actual knowledge of the law could shed light on this; I’m quite clueless.
I think there are some flawless red heifers waiting to be ritually sacrificed in Israel.
https://freepresskashmir.news/2024/08/08/israelis-perform-red-heifer-ritual-near-al-aqsa-mosque/
If Jesus is an animal, He gets sacrificed and eaten, body and blood, at every “celebration of the Eucharist.” And in among all the other common horrors, anthropophagy is maybe not quite as common as slavery in the “modern world,” https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-that-still-have-slavery, but it very much is and has been a “thing:” https://people.howstuffworks.com/cannibalism.htm Note that cannibalism is not even illegal in many “enlightened” jurisdictions. Jeffrey Dahmer was convicted of murder, not for the cannibal gustatory experiences.
Seems to me the whole Trump/dead cat thing is simply, in best hypocritical American style, about the “others” who now, thanks to open borders, live among us, and are going to pollute our precious bodily fluids.
> Seems to me the whole Trump/dead cat thing is simply, in best hypocritical American style, about the “others” who now, thanks to open borders, live among us, and are going to pollute our precious bodily fluids.
The rancid exudate of a rotting social structure (I would like very much to know the family situation of the patient zero of the rumor.)
This immigrants eating thing pets is a misdirection. The problem is not eating pets but the wide open borders the Biden administration has enabled for the last three years. The population of Springfield, where the supposed incident took place, is currently about 60,000. Over the last four years the population of Haitian immigrants has been from 12 to 15,000. One quarter of the city is now from Haiti, many with the temporary protected status of persons waiting to have their asylum claims settled. The source is Dayton Daily News. According to the New York Post, New York City, with a population of over eight million, took in 95,000 immigrants in 2023. Mayor Eric Adams was quite upset about that number saying they were unable to cope with it. If they took in the same proportion as Springfield, Ohio they would have taken in 2,000,000 this year. If it happens in fly over country, it doesn’t happen.
Yup. It’s not about people eating cats or swans or whatever, whether the stories are true or not. But what’s under the surface giving rise to stories like this. I’ll bet that there are plenty of people who reacted differently to the story than the talking heads on TV.
All you have to do is listen to the videos of the Springfield citizens talking to their city councils the past week. When I first heard about this earlier last week – I did watch the video testimony of 5 of that city’s citizens before their council. They were not raving and were certainly not loons. The animal issues certainly come up – but more common are all kinds of issues about their schools, their local businesses etc. And I can say that after the past 2 years of one TB patient after the other – I get it. The immigrants are not being processed in any way at the border – and these TB patients are walking all around the community sharing the wealth. And no one cares. And I have not even talked about the chlamydia and gonorrhea HIV and syphilis issues. This past year has seen the first time in my life I have seen a multi drug resistant GC – completely resistant to everything we use in the outpatient world. And again – no one in charge cares.
But again – all these people get is sneering and derision. There will be blowback one day.
The average working citizen knows there are deep and abiding problems. Trump is latching onto this concern whether right or wrong in details – while the news media and PMC sneer at the deplorables.
I do not know when they will ever learn.
> I do not know when they will ever learn.
Oh, they have and will. The only question is what.
> The source is Dayton Daily News. A
Thank you
> If it happens in fly over country, it doesn’t happen.
IM Doc mentions Martha’s Vineyard, where the reaction to immigrants was just like Springfield’s, except much more genteel. And effective, since MV is a playground for the rich (including [genuflects] The Wizard of Kalorama™).
Here’s a question: Who thought placing 20,000 Haitian immigrants in a city of 58,000 was going to work out well? Strained to the breaking point social service, health services, cultural adjustments – or not, you get the idea.
I notice Martha’s Vinyard wasn’t particulary welcoming. / ;)
Exactly, flora. These are the real issues. Springfield is a smallish Ohio city that was already experiencing typical Rust Belt problems. It was struggling. Bringing in 20,000 Haitian immigrants has put an incredible strain on already tight resources. The city can’t handle it. Long time residents are understandably upset. Outsiders want to paint them as racist but this is unfair.
During the debate, Trump made a mistake talking about rumors of Haitian immigrants in Springfield eating pets. He should have focused on the economic aspects of Springfield’s problems which are very real. He was at his best during the debate when he talked economics and immigration in a way people in Rust Belt cities can relate to, something he did well in 2016. Instead he ventured into ‘weird’ territory.
It does raise one important question: how do you rebuild those communities? It is, in a sense, the same problem as gentrification in cities: outsiders cone in, change the character of the neighborhood, and mame it difficult for the locals to stay (rising rent etc). Promisibg locals don’t want to stay there and help rebuild–that’s JD Vance story, and very typical everywhere in the world…
“how do you rebuild those communities?”
Simple, you stop sending money to (deep breath) Ukraine, Israel, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Armenia, Myanmar, Taiwan, Venezuela ….. OK, I’ll stop. We have over 9oo military bases around the world. Here’s why we can’t afford many things: A List of All 900 U.S. Foreign Military Bases
> placing 20,000 Haitian immigrants
I am unclear on how they actually arrived; that doesn’t seem to be part of the story.
🎵 They’re eating the dogs 🎵
Speaking of Tufte, reddit has a good dataisbeautiful neighborhood.
Who got the last words Tuesday
Not that Harris was complaining, I think her team was happy with the dynamic.
I saw this and noted that it didn’t account for a single one of Harris’s interruptions. Reddit feels like the Dead Internet theory come to life ever since it went public.
I had not seen the Dead Internet Theory before.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Internet_theory
This is obviously overdone, but “Gangrenous Internet Theory” or “Leprous Internet Theory” with various body parts past their shelf life and falling off is quite appropriate.
Interesting perspectives from a couple of pretty competent pundits:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/09/12/did_harris_really_get_the_debate_she_needed_151608.html
https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/harris-working-class-problem
The takeaways are not really different from Lambert’s (or the consensus among the locals here): the debate excited the Dem base who hated Trump and were worried about Harris being stupid. BUT it failed to address 1) the information problem about Harris–that most people don’t know her and that, for the people who don’t already hate Trump, this lack of information matters. The debate revealed very little (or nothing at all) about her stances on broad issues beyond some political touchstones; 2) The economy, in particular, didn’t get addressed at all, yet that’s the single most important issue for the people who are not already decided, especially among the working class (of all races!) among whom Dems have been at a big disadvantage. If anything, Harris’ lackluster performance on the topic might have worsened things for her.
There has been a lot of contrary news about NATO, specifically Britain and the US, allowing Ukraine to use the long range missiles provided to strike targets deep inside Russia. They have to be targeted by intelligence from NATO satellites. I think it would be bad to be in Stevenage, the town in England where they are assembled. A visit from Mr. Kinzhal might not be much fun. Now it seems I am not alone in thinking this. From the RT this afternoon I learned that President Putin has said targeting can
Is Israel the only country with the right to self defense? Perhaps this is what Kamala means when she says she wants us to have the most lethal military in the world.
Except we don’t use that military when it is Israel attacking us, apparently….
If there is one thing about the British Empire at its height that’s worth admiring, it is that they didn’t let foreign countries mistreat its citizens and get away with it. Don Pacifico Affair is something that I always think of when US citizens are mistreated or even murdered by America’s alleged allies.
I really don’t think…..that there’s anything worth admiring about the late british empire. Hey, how about Irish corpses being found during the great famine with green stains on the teeth from eating grass? While captive Ireland was exporting food to satisfy the solid, stubborn british principal of free trade? No, the Brit’s didn’t want any other country to “mistreat” the empire’s own; they wanted that special privilege reserved to the tender mercies of the british crown.
The British did not take insults from foreign powers lying down. That’s worth admiring. Yes, that’s because they were full of themselves, but they didn’t at least gyrate in front of a foreiign head of state coming to goad them into an unnecessary genocidal war. They didn’t take it lying down when a foreign power would attack and mistreat their citizens–even one of rather dubious connection to Britain, e.g. Mr. Pacifico of the Don Pacifico affair and the mistreatment came from one of Britain’s potential allies (Greece). Here, we have supposed allies murdering American citizens in cold blood and we are pretending that nothing has happened, among other things done by that alleged ally.
The actual quotes from Putin is very alarming. He looks very grim and is saying that it will mean the west is engaging in war with Russia. Daniel David has a video clip of him saying this on his show Deep Dive that was posted this afternoon. I think the most likely response will be to take out satellites with a neutron bomb as that would afford a solution to the targeting and may not lead to all out war.
Link to the spurious PNAS article suggesting Covid lockdowns caused abnormal brain shrinkage in adolescents.
From Paragraph 8 of the Dicussion section of the paper —
OpenAI releases o1, its first model with ‘reasoning’ abilities
fwiw
Here is an amusing little amuse’ bouche of an op-ed from….
“The American presidency is the most powerful position in the world. Of course, our constitution and laws, as well as institutions such as Congress and our courts, act as guardrails to that power. The law provides the certainty of accountability and fundamental fairness. Yet it is the president’s integrity, honesty and respect for our institutions that may be the most important and reliable check on abuses of power.”
…Alberto Gonzales! There are just all kinds of critters popping up out of the sewers these days to opine on the Harris campaign. She should have the war criminal vote locked down by now, but one has to wonder what this does for those who remember who these people are.
> It’s as if the world is one giant challenge experiment:
I’ve thought of it as a giant human/virus co-evolution experiment.
Perhaps the surviving humans will be better adapted to life in “collapse of public health” settings. It’s all about shrinking government. The population shrinkage is just an incidental consequence which, depending on your views about the discounted value of future human life, may or may not be regrettable. /s
Well, if the human population of earth gets (at least) halved pretty soon, which I think is increasingly likely, a lot of these problems may not be relevant for a while….
“Be a Thermostat, Not a Thermometer”: Anyone have practical knowledge of mirroring? I wonder if it matters whether the subject models himself on the other as if looking in a mirror, or as if in the place of the other. In other words, does the subject’s own left side assume the position of the object’s own right side or left side? Might the latter generate a sense of empathy, the former a sense of the uncanny?
“Tech billionaire pulls off first private spacewalk high above Earth”
Guy does something that they have been doing for the past sixty years. Sixty! What is the take way from this article then. It’s impressive when a billionaire does it? The guy who did the first space walk – Alexei Leonov – was a much more impressive person who only died a few years ago-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Leonov
Ageing male primate here.
The report about Metformin brought to mind the item (linked last week, I think) about DIY pharma synthesis.
Metformin has, I think, more side effects than the antihelminthic agent that must not be named. I wonder whether, if reports like this start to accumulate, there will be strong arguments from the Medical Establishment against off label uses. It would be nice to have some tools that might help with a possible coming epidemic of cognitive decline (thinking CV-induced, and recognizing that CV-related decline was not in view in the study).
Two main issues with metformin, although there are many minor ones…….
1). In a not insignificant number of patients, after several months or years of use, it will cause severe abdominal cramping and diarrhea that are often constant. This can happen sooner but usually not. It is overwhelming but will stop immediately upon cessation of the drug.
2). There are some issues with IV contrast dye. You must inform radiology departments that you are taking it. You must stop taking it for several days after your study. Kidney damage can result.
It does have the advantage of not permanently altering the metabolic architecture in the body so people can take it for awhile then stop without issues if goals are met. The same cannot be said for many other diabetic drugs, especially insulin. After long therapy windows, it is virtually impossible to stop, especially if patients have bad eating habits.
Overall, metformin is a very safe drug with little problems. And the problems are reversible or easily avoidable.
I think the most common minor problem is depletion of vitamin B12? Easily addressed, everyone should take a little B12 anyway, as a smart drug.
I admire what the Nevada SoS did to the Greens, letting them know how things really work in an unforgettable way.
Alex Padilla did an even slicker job in the 2016 Primary by deciding not to count the 3,000,000 votes of those who had “No party preference”, thus handing California to .HRC.
“If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying” and “Anything Goes” In our current Political culture.
Another anti-genocide voice is silenced….
The YouTube content streaming platform has placed a sudden ban on the Electronic Intifada channel, just as it was preparing to stream a Gaza update looking at the role of Britain in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Bidenomics is working: One of the Nation’s Largest Auto Lenders Told Customers, “We’re Here to Help.” Then It Took Their Money and Their Cars.
Chicanery.
While it seems obvious to me that this would be anything but free, there’s no reason the typical American should have to understand the intricacies of how lenders f**k you to survive in America.
To be fair, this started before Biden, and this borrower loan is from 2018. Nonetheless, inflation hasn’t been kind to working Americans, so this is only likely getting much worse, and we have higher borrowing costs as well!
Jimmy Dore and Mike Benz. utube, ~21+ minutes. More interesting and wider ranging han the title
January 6th Convictions THROWN OUT By Judge! w/ Mike Benz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ejb4birHSM
Thank you Flora. This is the first I have heard of ‘transitional justice.’ Some would call it Lawfare.
More Dore and Benz, utube, starting 6+ minutes after the RFK video and Dore’s lead in. Mostly about the Goog and fellow big Techs and the intels.
RFK Says He’ll Show Trump How To Drain Swamp! w/ Mike Benz
https://youtu.be/ACZHgDpjk8c?t=397
Wow! Dejoy is still postmaster General. I say vote for Oz!
“I’d need to check the transcript to see how many times Kamala denied it; three?”
Transgender treatment ≠ transgender operations
I.e., people getting prescribed meds vs surgery.
Not defending Harris for being a twit, but if accuracy doesn’t matter, then real comprehension can never happen, fervent delusion is the only possible outcome. And that’s not sustainable.
Thank you for splitting the hair
If
1) you’re in jail, and
2) medical treatments are supplied in your jail, and
3) society considers treatment X as legitimate, then…
4) yeah, you get treatment X in jail.
?
Can some kind soul send me a copy of this from Taibbi?
https://www.racket.news/p/boom-dnc-talking-points-become-instant
I can answer his question
I sent on the full link to you.
Whenever I see Jill Stein strike back I am getting all angry and proud and full of lust for revenge.
p.s wouldn´t it be time to discuss this NATO-RU-at-war thingy?
Not that I believe WH will go through with it – meaning nuclear war – besides they have taken too many NATO bunker hits in Ukraine and seen too many Zircons flying – but it would be still interesting to discuss at what point they will stop? And how that might come around.
Or may be that´s just me.
It is a bit odd that the RU president is speaking about war with NATO – even if that´s mainly intended for the likes of Sullivan – but Western MSM prefer talking about animals in an election debate.
Almost as if trying everything to push aside that nasty little war that might get us all killed.