By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day
Common Nightingale, Rio Gilão–Ponte de São Domingues, Tavira, Faro, Portugal.
Come, hoatzin, come, the game is afoot:
A bit of a dream achieved. One day in the Lower Amazon and I have ringed a Hoatzin. These are one of the most primitive birds in the world that is considered as being a step away from the archaeopteryx. pic.twitter.com/GaXSWkhV71
— matt prior (@mattthesparrow) October 26, 2024
In Case You Might Miss…
“After the Deluge” [RealClearInvestigations]. “Because of its unexpected and painful destruction, western North Carolina has become another symbol of America’s cultural divide. One side is the politicization of everything, as human suffering was quickly transformed into a partisan cudgel swung by party operatives and media outlets who fed the public versions of events that advanced their favored narratives. On the other side was the heroic story of people and government working together as best they could in cataclysmic circumstances to aid and comfort one another. That second, hopeful story is what I found while reporting in and around Asheville last week. In a hotel with no running water, guests, some of whom had multiple trees fall on their homes, made do. While the scene could resemble a pajama party gone wrong, with people shuffling to the Porto-Sans in the driveway and choosing not to comment on the smell of body odor in the elevator, most folks showed concern for what their fellow travelers were going through. They left food and drink on a table in the lobby, next to a paper plate onto which someone had written ‘Take what you need.’ They had neither the luxury nor desire to make political hay from their brethren’s misery.” • Worth reading in full (and somehow our societal response to emergency needs to integrate “Take what you need” with FEMA (which does, after all, scale);
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
Countdown!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
Lambert here: Tiny margins, but all red. If I were running the Kamala campaign, I’d want to see some blue. Of course, we on the outside might as well be examining the entrails of birds when we try to predict what will happen to the subset of voters (undecided; irregular) in a subset of states (swing), and the irregulars, especially, who will determine the outcome of the election but 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!.
“How exit polls work and how NBC News uses them on election night” [NBC]. “An exit poll is a survey of voters taken as they leave (or exit) their voting location. It’s the only national survey of known voters in the country. It allows news organizations, researchers and voters to understand what’s happening in an election as the results flow in…. Since 2003, Edison Research, a firm that specializes in collecting election data, has conducted exit polls on behalf of the National Election Pool. The NEP is a consortium of media networks — ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC News — that pools together resources for one collective vote count and exit poll operation. NBC News independently analyzes and reports on the exit poll results… The NBC News Decision Desk uses some exit poll data to help project election results. However, the exit poll is primarily used as a reporting tool on election night.”
“What time will we get exit polls for the US election?” [The Telegraph]. “The embargo period for exit polls will end at 5pm ET on polling day, after which news organisations are allowed to begin reporting results from individual states. However, at this point they are not permitted to project a winner while voting is still taking place. Exit polls will only be announced in states where the margins are large enough and they will not be used in the battleground states to project whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump have won. Instead, statisticians will use a combination of the exit poll, actual declared votes and other data to forecast a winner. Along with establishing how respondents voted, the exit poll also questions voters on their demographics and what motivated their decision. If one candidate has a significant lead over the other, then the result may be clear within a matter of hours. However, a fine margin of victory will mean delays in how long it will take for experts to declare whether Ms Harris or Trump has come out on top. Previous contests have taken days or even weeks to be called.” • Exciting!
“US election exit polls: Process and timing for results” [RBC-Ukraine]. “On Election Day, over 3,000 Edison Research employees will be stationed at polling places across the US, sending data to the central team office. They will work alongside several hundred phone operators to promptly gather and process survey results. In the 2020 presidential election, Edison Research surveyed over 100,000 voters. The company also deployed employees to 200 early voting sites across the country. Before Election Day, approximately 30,000 people who voted by mail were interviewed by phone. In the 2024 election, a similar number of respondents is expected.” • On the phone interviews: If, as the Harris campaign suggested they do, wives lie to their husbands about how they vote, they’ll be unlikely to disclose that to Edison if they might be overheard. So the Harris campaign has managed to bias the exit polls to Trump, albeit to an unknown degree. Good job!
“Georgia’s elections are over. Opposition exit polls show 40% for the ruling party, while government polls report over 51%” [JAM News]. “According to an exit poll conducted by Gorbi for the pro-government TV channel Imedi, the results of the parliamentary elections are as follows: Georgian Dream — 56.1%…. According to an exit poll by Edison Research for the TV channel Formula, the vote distribution is as follows: Georgian Dream — 40.9%.” • Normally, I would think of Edison Research as rather like a dull and boring public utility. Here, however, we find them involved in what looks awfully like Rose Revolution 2.0, complete with heavy NGO involvement, the usual street protests, pronouncements of election theft by Ursula von der Leyen, and no doubt a heavy leavening of spooks. Of course, even if the permission structure created by “Trump is Hitler” does allow spook-adjacency to Edison Research here at home, thinking that would actually happen is tinfoil hat stuff, right? I certainly hope so!
* * * “Nostradamus pollster reveals latest 2024 prediction – and how he’s never had ‘so much hate’ in an election” [Independent]. “Historian Allan Lichtman [of “Keys to the White House” fame] has insisted that he stands by his prediction about who will win the 2024 presidential race despite recent polls – and revealed that he has ‘never experienced’ so much ‘hate’ in an election cycle…. ‘I’ve been getting feedback that is vulgar, violent, threatening, and even beyond that, the safety and security of my family has been compromised.'”
“Why the race isn’t as close as you think: With one week to go, analyst CRAIG KESHISHIAN predicts the polls are missing a hidden voter surge” [Daily Mail]. “Americans living in Nevada and Arizona have had a front-row seat to the impact of mass illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration. In both of these states, registered Republican voters have cast more early ballots than registered Democrats — reversing a historic Democratic advantage. Of course, these early ballots do not reveal actual vote numbers, as they are not opened until Election Day. But this changing dynamic can’t be ignored. As of Sunday, Republicans held a 33,500 ballot lead or 5.2 percent of the total early vote. Last week, Jon Ralston, editor of the Nevada Independent, described the result as ‘unheard of at this point in any other presidential cycle’ and said there is ‘no good news’ in the figures for Democrats.” • Nixon’s “silent majority” gets a do-over?
“Donald Trump is in a strong poll position – does it matter?” [USA Today]. “In his third race for the presidency, Republican nominee Donald Trump has never been in as good of a poll position as he is now – but he’ll have to wait at least a week to find out whether it means anything. As of Monday, Trump leads Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by as close a margin as possible – 0.1% – in the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls. He trailed in the same survey by 7.5% four years ago against Joe Biden and 4.6% in 2016, the year he won the presidency against Hillary Clinton. The way Trump and his allies see it, the closer the polls in the popular vote, the better his chances to win enough states to capture the Electoral College and the presidency – and he outperformed the polls in both of his previous races. Democrats say there is reason to doubt that will happen this time around. They said pollsters are compensating for what they call the ‘hidden Trump voters’ of the previous two elections, and, if anything, they are oversampling Republicans and inflating Trump’s numbers. Republican candidates underperformed the polls in the 2022 congressional elections, Democrats said. And Trump consistently underperformed polls in a string of Republican primaries earlier this year.” • And the polls are, after all, editorial products. So.
* * * I can see why Kamala’s campaign would want to say that Biden “misspoke,” but Biden’s “the only garbage I see floatin’ out there is his supporters” seems clear to me.
“Biden sets off election firestorm with ‘garbage’ comment” [Axios]. “President Biden handed ammo to gleeful Republicans Tuesday night when he seemed to refer to former President Trump’s supporters as “garbage.'” He didn’t “seem.” He did. More: “Biden’s comments are the latest example of why Kamala Harris’ team has been avoiding campaigning with him. Biden is both unpopular and undisciplined, Harris aides told Axios. Harris delivered her ‘closing argument’ speech Tuesday night in front of the White House but Biden did not appear alongside her despite being in Washington.” • Truly, Biden is the master of counter-programming (although I’m not clear on whether Biden delivered these remarks during Kamala’s speech).
“Trump calls for supporters to ‘forgive’ Biden in show of unity after president calls supporters ‘garbage'” [FOX]. “‘Wow. That’s terrible,’ Trump said, invoking Hillary Clinton’s infamous ‘deplorable’ remarks in the weeks before the 2016 election. ‘And then she said irredeemable. That didn’t work out.’ The Republican nominee called on his supporters to forgive him during a packed rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. ‘Garbage, I think, is worse,’ he said. ‘But he doesn’t know. You have to please forgive him.” • Cf. Luke 23:34.
“Joe Biden Walks Back Remarks About ‘Garbage’ At Madison Square Garden” [HuffPo]. The headline is deceptive. Biden was clearly tallking about Trump supporters (one of long line of similar Democrat comments, starting with Obama’s “bitter” people who “cling to guns and religion,” and moving on the Clinton’s “deplorables.” More: “Andrew Bates, a senior deputy press secretary at the White House, clarified [sic] that Biden was referring to the overarching rhetoric at the Manhattan rally as “garbage,” not the people there to support Trump. He released a transcript that included an apostrophe in the president’s remarks ― ‘his supporter’s demonization’ ― to note the president was criticizing Hinchcliffe’s words.” • Nonsense. Comedians aren’t “supporters.”
“Harris responds to Biden ‘garbage’ remark for first time” [FOX]. “Biden made his remark during a Zoom call on Tuesday with Voto Latino, one of the largest Latino voter and civic outreach organizations in the U.S. Harris, speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force Two, noted that Biden had “clarified his comments.’ ‘I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote ‘You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career. I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not.’ Harris added that Biden had called her Tuesday night after the event, but she said they did not discuss his ‘garbage’ comment.” • Oh? Why?
* * * From the Lincoln Project, another ad encouraging wives to lie to their husbands:
The more I think about this… Normally, I resist overheated conservative fulminations that Democrats are out to destroy the sanctity of marriage, etc. etc. After all, social relations change through history, fortunately, despite conservative efforts to “conserve” them. However, in this ad, “destroying the sancity of marriage” is, in fact, the object. The people who wrote the script and paid for the ad intend exactly that. What will be the next “noble lie”? I’m surprised the Trump campaign isn’t all over this, because to me it’s a genuinely extraordinary turn of events. Perhaps I’m naive. Readers?
* * * Kamala (D): “Kamala Harris Makes Her Final Pitch for Voters to ‘Turn the Page’ on Donald Trump” [Time]. “In a forceful, 30-minute speech, Harris asked voters to elect her and ‘turn the page’ on Trump. ‘We know what Donald Trump has in mind: more chaos, more division, and policies that help those at the very top and hurt everyone else. I offer a different path,’ she said. Harris compared Trump to a ‘petty tyrant’ who is ‘unstable,’ ‘obsessed with revenge,’ and wants ‘unchecked power.’ She said he wants back in the Oval Office, ;not to focus on your problems but to focus on his.’ Trump has signaled support for military tribunals for political enemies, promised to purge the federal bureaucracy of workers who don’t agree with him, and said he’d use the military against opponents he calls ‘the enemy within.’ Trump would come into the Oval Office with an ‘enemies list,’ Harris said. She’ll show up with a ‘to do list.'” • Not that dealing with deplorables and traitors won’t be things to do, of course. The list is a wonderful data structure!
* * * Kamala (D): “‘The suburbs — that’s the whole deal’: How the suburbs became Harris’ clearest path to victory” [Politico]. “Kamala Harris is counting on suburban voters to do what they’ve done since Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016: reject him. It may be the single most important piece of her electoral math. While Donald Trump has made inroads with Black and Latino men, polls in the late stage of the election show the suburbs could still power her to victory. The latest Wall Street Journal poll found Harris leading among suburban voters by 7 percentage points, while a Reuters/Ipsos analysis showed the vice president winning suburban households by 6 points. If either of those numbers hold, they would likely be enough to offset Harris’ erosion with Black, Latino and young men…. Inside the Harris campaign, aides said they believe they will improve on President Joe Biden’s performance with suburban voters in 2020, driven by college-educated voters and women who are turned off by the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. That strategy is clear in the campaign’s schedule in the closing weeks of the campaign, as Harris hosts town halls with disaffected Republicans, like former Rep. Liz Cheney, and rallies focused on abortion rights.” • So abortion + genocide looks like a winning formula?
* * * “Madison Square Garden. Just like Hitler!” That argument makes me crazy, and I’m not the only one:
Absolutely disgusting… Kamala is sending a clear message choosing that venue. https://t.co/5sReQVcSLD
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) October 29, 2024
* * * Trump (R): “Trump: ‘I’m not a Nazi. I’m the opposite of a Nazi'” [Politico]. • If you’re explaining, you’re losing.
Trump (R): “Trump 2.0: What Can We Expect from US Foreign Policy after the Elections?” [Valdai Discussion Club]. From July. “Ukraine is a large investment of American resources, attention, energy, symbolic capital, which the United States will not allow to immediately “collapse” without exchanging it for something valuable, even more valuable. Can the United States offer Russia anything in this trade? I highly doubt it. Unfortunately, Donald Trump’s first term showed that there was little platform for deep and meaningful negotiations that would produce lasting results. I am particularly convinced of this because there is no guarantee that any agreement with a possible future Trump administration will survive the end of that administration. We’ve seen this in some other major foreign policy situations in the past. … I doubt that American foreign policy interests in this crisis can imply an unconditional surrender of positions now concentrated not only in Ukraine, but throughout the entire circuit of allies that support Ukraine, supplies it with finances, weapons, intelligence data, trains Ukrainian military personnel, transfers from their own arsenals are sometimes the latest types of valuable weapons.” • Hence a “frozen conflict”?
Trump (R): “The Rumor” [Interesting Mysteries]. • The last rumor died, so a new one pops up (well-written, though). Coincidence? You be the judge.
* * * NY: Oh dear:
AOC team made a flyer in Arabic
Not only are the letters not connected (like they should be), they’re also arranged backwards https://t.co/M6kdGWOrmM pic.twitter.com/NBCtt5CzsK
— SaveGazanLives (@UdsiAsli) October 29, 2024
However, I don’t have time to verify this; “she would” is not the same as “she did.” Can readers clarify?
WI: The rules are different in every state….
Wisconsin Note: In Wisconsin, ballots must be RECEIVED by 8 pm election day, NOT postmarked. So if you have an absentee ballot sitting on your kitchen counter, it's a good idea to use a dropbox or take it to your clerk's office so you are guaranteed to have it in on time! https://t.co/m1AP0lfYgv
— Ann Jacobs (@AnnJacobsMKE) October 29, 2024
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Quiet Before the Storm” [RealClearPolitics]. “. As long as the race continues, each side’s anger is reined in by the hope of victory. Once a winner is declared, the loser’s rage will erupt. This political Vesuvius promises to inflame the land as events unfold in these final days to maximize furious disappointment… Donald Trump’s side is becoming ever more confident of victory…. Still, the polls are very close, and Harris may win. If Trump could insist that he won the 2020 race when all the polls predicted his defeat, just imagine his response if he fails when he appeared to be succeeding. He will not go quietly into the good night. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has settled on a closing argument that focuses on Trump’s alleged unsuitability for office. As the candidate herself describes her opponent as an unstable threat to the Constitution, her surrogates are once again comparing him to Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini. They honestly believe this rhetoric, which will make it impossible for them to bow to his ascension. We have seen this movie before. The Democrats refused to accept Trump’s victory in 2016; he still won’t concede that President Biden won in 2020. As before, neither side will blame themselves for defeat; they will lash out at their perceived enemies. Each will advance their favored conspiracy theory – Trump will rail against the press and deep state, Democrats against foreign influence and misinformation – but both will cast the result as illegitimate.” • “I give up. Why can’t they?”
“2024 Election Doomsday Scenario” [RealClearPolitics]. “‘There are four possible outcomes here,’ Tom Bevan explained. “One is that Trump’s ahead in the polls, and he wins — that would be, I think most people would say, okay, I get that. Another outcome would be Harris is ahead in the polls, and she wins. I think there’d be some folks in Trump world who’d say she didn’t really win, whatever. But if she’s ahead in the polls and she wins — fine. Another option is Harris is ahead in the polls, and Trump wins. Okay, polls undercounted Trump in 2016, and undercounted him again in 2020. I think a lot of people would look at that and say it happened again. If Harris was barely ahead in the polls, they undercounted Trump’s support, and he wins. Okay, I get it.'” But: “‘The last scenario is the doomsday scenario, which is Trump’s ahead in the polls, and Harris wins. I think that would induce… I think that would be a sh*t show situation where you have a lot of Republicans, a vast majority of Trump supporters, who would say there’s no way that happened. There’s no way Trump was ahead in the polls after being undercounted in 2016, and undercounted in 2020; he’s ahead in the polls this time, and she wins? I think that would be a really tough scenario where you would even have potentially, Republican states and legislatures that would just say they don’t accept the results,’ he said. ‘That could be a real constitutional crisis type moment.'”
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!
Look for the Helpers
I should carry extra masks:
Immune Dysregulation
“Tuberculosis infected 8 million people last year, the most WHO has ever tracked” [Associated Press]. I wonder why? ‘Tis a mystery! And: “Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria.” • So be sure to wash your hands!
Stats Watch
Employment Situation: “United States ADP Employment Change” [Trading Economics]. “Private businesses in the US added 233K workers to their payrolls in October 2024, the most since July 2023, following an upwardly revised 159K rise in September and much higher than forecasts of 115K.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing, Machinists union hold ‘productive’ talks in attempt to end strike” [Seattle Times]. “The latest attempt to break the stalemate comes after 64% of members of IAM District 751 voted to reject Boeing’s third contract offer, which would’ve hiked wages by 35% over four years. Pressure is mounting for the plane-maker to find a compromise as workers dig in, intent on reinstating pensions and making up for a decade of minimal pay increases. The IAM’s strike is the first major labor strife at Boeing in 16 years. Hourly workers are pushing for large pay increases and better retirement benefits, driven by resentment over receiving paltry wage increases in the past decade while senior executives were richly rewarded. The strike is taking a toll on Boeing. Instead of generating cash in the fourth quarter, the company now expects to burn through around $4 billion, which would bring total outflows for the year to $14 billion.” • “Resentment.” And the executives were not “richly rewarded.” They executed a controlled flight into terrain while looting the company.
Manufacturing: “NAM Tells Boeing Union Leadership to ‘Head Back to the Table'” [Manufacturing.net]. “National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons released the following statement: ‘The broader impact of this ongoing work stoppage is being seen across the aerospace sector as manufacturers within the supply chain are being forced to furlough employees and shutter operations. That’s why we’re urging union leadership to head back to the table and find a solution to end this prolonged strike and why we thank Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su for her continued engagement.'” • Solidarity?!
Manufacturing: “How the revolving door at FAA spins Boeing’s way” [Seattle Times]. “In 2022 alone, the 20 highest-paid defense contractors hired 672 former government officials, military officers, members of Congress and senior legislative staff, according to a report commissioned by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Boeing hired the most by far, 85. Boeing also hired more former government officials to executive positions than any other Pentagon contractor, the report showed… Political appointees at the agency pass through the revolving door to industry more frequently than civil service employees there, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. The average tenure for a political appointee at the agency is just 2 years and 2 months, while the average tenure of FAA civil servants is over 12 years. He noted that the FAA strives to abide by the restrictions on post-government employment that require cooling-off periods before representing their new employer in regulatory actions involving their former workplace. ‘We do not agree that there is a revolving door between the FAA and industry,’ Gregor said, noting that FAA follows the laws governing its employees who accept jobs in the aerospace industry. ;The FAA’s response would be laughable if it weren’t so discordant with the facts,’ said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, director of government affairs at the Project On Government Oversight, or POGO, a nonprofit government ethics watchdog. ‘For the FAA to claim that it is not a revolving door to industry is to tell us not to believe our lying eyes; truly Orwellian stuff.'”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 60 Greed (previous close: 60 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 62 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Oct 30 at 1:00:29 PM ET.
Permaculture
“Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells” [Quanta]. “Since ancient times, plants’ ability to orient their eyeless bodies toward the nearest, brightest source of light — known today as phototropism — has fascinated scholars and generated countless scientific and philosophical debates… Yet a critical mystery has endured. Animals use eyes — a complex organ of lenses and photoreceptors — to gain a detailed picture of the world around them, including the direction of light. Plants, biologists have established, possess a powerful suite of molecular tools for measuring illumination. But in the absence of obvious physical sensing organs like lenses, how do plants work out the precise direction from which light is coming? Now, a team of European researchers has hit upon an answer. In a recent paper published in Science, they report that a roadside weed — Arabidopsis, a favorite of plant geneticists — uses the air spaces between its cells to scatter light, modifying the path of light passing through its tissues. In this way, the air channels create a light gradient that helps seedlings accurately determine where light is coming from. By taking advantage of air channels to scatter light, plants sidestep the need for discrete organs like eyes in favor of a neater trick: the ability in effect to ‘see’ with their whole bodies.” • Another premise for a science fiction novel!
Permaculture-adjacent, rather than permaculture proper:
This is a hand-operated laundry machine. It resides in my sauna, next to the wood boiler. Heating the 90 liter (22gal) boiler only takes a bunch of twigs that I collect from my forest. It is insulated, so the water stays warm for two days in the summer and overnight in winter. pic.twitter.com/v9vCuzuPV6
— Self-sufficiency and degrowth. (@stop_fossil_fue) October 28, 2024
Pretty cool…
Gallery
Fauvism seems not to work in rural France, at least for Gaugin:
Kneeling cow, 1888 #artbots #gauguin pic.twitter.com/Y9pFFyPlkQ
— Paul Gauguin (@artistgauguin) October 29, 2024
“The wages of the white working class” [Kevin Drum]. Handy charts:
“What It’s Like Being a Billionaire’s Personal Assistant” [The Cut]. Worth reading in full, because the detail is great. “Another reason these people get stingy is that there’s some kind of psychological distortion that happens when everyone fawns over you all the time. The VIP’s mentality is, “Hey, this person should be paying me, because they get to be around greatness.” They’re used to having people want a piece of them. So they think that the job is such an amazing opportunity that they shouldn’t have to pay the person what they’re actually worth. They live in a bubble and their reality is warped.” And: “You have to have thick skin. You’re like a rhinoceros or an armadillo. And you have to have incredible patience. The way you word things is so important. Your intonation and speed of delivery — I mean, it’s an art. You’re working for people who are not used to hearing no.” And: “The Hollywood publicity machine creates a certain image, and it’s very rare to meet a celebrity who is genuinely an amazing, brilliant, kind, humane person to everyone all the time. Once you’ve been around it enough, those butterflies start to go away.”
“The Secret Father of Modern Computing” [Every]. “We often picture tech disruptors as brash, dynamic figures who are keen to be both seen and heard. Yet the personal computing industry was largely sparked by a straight-talking ex-Air Force officer—one more Ron Swanson than Elon Musk. He ignored claims by IBM and others that people didn’t want a computer at home, and risked his whole company on a hunch that they were wrong. His approach to business was different from the ‘move fast and break things’ model we’ve come to expect from tech entrepreneurs, yet he succeeded beyond all expectations because of it. This is the story of Ed Roberts, the man who created the personal computer, launched the careers of Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak, and decided—at the height of his success—to walk away.” • Doesn’t sound like the tech bros we’ve come to know and love.
Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From TH:
TH writes: “Plumaria-Naples Island residential garden.” A little undersized, but still pretty!
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Came across some on the ground reporting for recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene. It’s from “Quadzilla”, which is the trail name (long distance through-hiker nickname) of vlogger Jack Jones. He went down to Western North Carolina to help, as ex-army and former wildland firefighter, he had relevant skills to offer.
https://thetrek.co/appalachian-trail/jack-quadzilla-jones-on-the-ground-hurricane-helene-status-update-and-2025-predictions/
Some parts of the Appalachian Trail are still closed https://appalachiantrail.org/trail-updates/ga-va-tropical-storm-helene/.
Thanks for the encouraging news.
What’s A SoBo? Appalachian Trail History
Having never hiked anywhere east of the Great Divide, I had to look that up. I can let no mention of the Great Divide pass without linking Kate Wolf’s super fine song.
Well, at least I remembered to explain trail names. The hiking and backpacking world has its own jargon, especially once you get into the gear. As there’s SOBO, there’s also NOBO and then there’s “flip-flopper”. That hiker starts the trail in April at Harper’s Ferry, WV and heads north. Upon hitting the end in Maine, they then go back to Harper’s Ferry, and hike south to Georgia.
This avoids the “bubble”, which is the large crowd of hikers starting in Georgia. It also avoids the worst of the heat, while having nicer weather to climb Mt. Katahdin in Maine. The trade off is the cold at the end of the trail in the South.
Biden calling Trump supporters garbage? I find that deplorable. Wait, why does that word deplorable ring a bell…
Biden just alienated Oscar the Grouch fans, a little heard from but important demographic.
It’s like watching a soccer game in which both teams keep scoring own-goals.
The winner will be the team that is the least accurate at kicking the ball into their own net.
Or maybe this is the better analogy: Monty Python’s Upper Class Twit of the Year Contest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imWlSMgMFGE
> Upper Class Twit of the Year Contest
Thank you, I’d never seen this.
He’s old. He may have meant the comedian, or may have gotten lost. People do misspeak, particularly old ones. While it was certainly ill advised, it’s not at the same level as the whole “wives should lie” thing which is premeditated by many people. Creating dissent inside families is evil. There’s no excuse for that.
I meant deception not dissent, although that too.
On the other hand this is master level trolling: Trump rolls up in Garbage Truck.
The interview from the passenger seat. The man can put on a show.
OMG OMG OMG. I’m dying.
Screw policy. I want 4 years of this kind of laughter.
You should see The part of his rally on Green Bay wearing the vest, talking about having to get up into the truck, then about wearing the vest at the rally and his handlers telling him that he looks thinner in it. Hilarious.
https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1851868235337199631
If we’re going down the drain, at least I want a good laugh while I’m on the way.
Right wing conservative republican tea party maga Trump Trumpists have been using dehumanizing name calling and negative stereotyping against most of the people in this country, elite and non-elite, for a very long time, along with fantasizing about harming or eliminating them. Trump dressed up as a trash collector is cosplaying their dream, and also manages to be an insult to the real people who wear the uniform and drive the truck in performing a vital service.
The TDS is strong in this comment.
No kidding.
I would bet a lot of money that most garbage truck drivers thought this was cool, just like most McDonald’s workers thought his working there was cool. My first job was at McDonald’s and I thought it was great that he made fries. It sure beats Harris jailing the parents of truant kids and then cackling about it at the Commonwealth Club; she is a real sadist.
Have you just used a stereotype to argue against a statement that members of a political affiliation – described in terms they have used to describe themselves (ok, except maybe “Trumpist”) – has not historically used name calling and stereotyping against many individuals and groups?
On garbage and grammar – if he’d meant to call people garbage, wouldn’t it have been grammatically correct to say “the only garbage I see floatin’ out there are his supporters,”? Reverse it, and if you wanted to call them garbage, you’d say “His supporters are garbage,” not “His supporters is garbage.”
I’ll be charitable and say he meant this possessive – “the only garbage I see floatin’ out there is his supporters’ [garbage].”
Or he was calling the comedian garbage, and mistakenly stuck a plural “s” onto “supporter” – “The only garbage I see floatin’ out there is his supporter.”
But in any case, we’re looking for a neat linguistic interpretation of what might be a very complicated and disorganized network of thoughts floating around in the president’s brain.
If he meant the comedian was garbage, he probably should have said “the only garbage I see floatin’ out there is that comedian.”
He could have emphasized the point by making the air quotes motion with his hands when he said the word comedian.
That’s pretty much how it’s “usually” done.
You can split hairs over grammar, but Biden has form. Hell, the Dems have form. Neither are worth a charitable interpretation of the comment. He meant what he said and said what he meant.
Same goes for the comedian’s “garbage” comment that started this whole kerfuffle. I’ve seen some laughable attempts at explaining that away too.
I can’t be charitable. Biden’s gaze is vacant, his diction is clumsy and gummed-up, his syntax is garbled, his demeanor that of an angry old man. His attempt to compare the people of Puerto Rico to the people of Delaware was a mess of scrambled eggs. This is the guy who’s been leading the “free world” the last 4 years.
Even amongst all that hot mess of a video clip, it wasn’t hard to find the soft bacon of Biden’s comment, and naturally the Republicans hear their cue and jump in. Just like the Clarence Thomas hearings. If all this “acting out” is truly a form of revenge the old man is taking against his coup plotters — he’s serving it hot, not chilled. Pass the popcorn, please?
I think I’d have put the word “leading” in quotes instead of “free world.”
Nah, his grammar was perfect – he was just fake-speaking Ebonics.
No, “garbage” is not plural. “Garbage” is the subject, not “his supporters”. The statement is grammatically correct, although the content is reprehensible.
What’s the big deal about this? Trump and his supporters were calling Kamala SHIT. People who do that are GARBAGE, sorry.
You’re not sorry.
Lot’s of good links this afternoon. Thanks.
adding re: “Plants Find Light Using Gaps Between Their Cells” [Quanta]
is very interesting. I wonder how or if I can use that idea in my gardening efforts, and if it would make any difference.
Just anecdotal, but I have multiple suburban acquaintances who were either planning to sit out this vote or vote for Stein, and have just said they are voting for Trump. These people are voting against Harris not for Trump. This is a deep blue state so even if there are lots more of these, won’t have any impact. But if it is happening in one or more swing states it might.
Separately, Rogan uploaded his Trump interview to X to work around the youtube shadow ban. I watched the first 30 minutes (it’s 3 hours). Highly recommend it for entertainment value alone. One memorable exchange: Trump was mentioning that he didn’t know why he got so much media attention during his early primaries, and Rogan cut in and said it was cuz he was saying some crazy sh*t.
And even when people disagreed with him it was refreshing not to get the usual prepared comments politicians use.
The entire interview can also be seen on rumble.com.
Joe Rogan Experience #2219.
I’m not a fan of Donald Trump, but I have to say that he came across as a “regular guy” in this interview and would probably convince at least some people still on the fence to vote for him.
Biden really seems to want Harris to lose.
Loss of impulse control is one of the signs of dementia, isn’t it?
My first thought was it was 100% intentional and he knows what he’s doing. He has hated her since she called him a racist on the debate stage.
To be fair, he is one.
didn’t see it but that’s audacious of her….prosecutorial garrulity…more please
Well, she stole his second term from him–what would you expect?
The switch from “these Jews” to “Jews” in the remainder of the comment is what triggered my concern about ascribing Israeli actions to Jews more generally. The Jewish members of my family who are active in JVP are not “mowing the lawn” – quite the contrary, they are opposing it.
Thank you.
Yes, it’s frightening what this means to being a normal Jew who hates the Likud, the settler nutjobs and what Israel has become. I’m catching myself thinking that the country needs to be forcibly occupied and disarmed. It’s become a cause of general hatred that goes beyond what they’re doing to the Arabs. The scales have fallen.
“What time will we get exit polls for the US election?”
Besides the cheapening and potential for fraud in elections, exit polls are meaningless with mail in ballots.
A feature, not a bug.
Thousands of illegal registrations in Lancaster County, PA. D.A.’s filing charges.
The fraud is already in action.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14002851/pennsylvania-voter-registration-fraud-2024-election-lancaster-county.html
Lambert, IM Doc, and many others have commented in recent days about the ad campaign “your man doesn’t have to know how you vote”.
At first I thought it was just another childish meme from a cheerleading campaign, but the more I reflect on it, I find it highly irresponsible and even dangerous. Encouraging deceit and dishonesty between spouses, fomenting division among families, and severing longtime friendships. This is, what, feminism? To me, it almost looks like a conscious effort to undermine and destabilize our entire structure of social relations, at the most intimate level.
Playing with fire, these Democrats.
>>>Perhaps I’m naive. Readers?
Someone in the commentariat alluded it before (they mentioned a worldview in which “sex is transactional”)—in some people’s worldview (though they won’t say it out loud), marriage is transactional and the only winner that counts is yourself.
And when life is viewed through that lens: the ends justify the means; ask for forgiveness, not permission.
Correct me if I’m wrong here, I am a man after all and therefore prone to always being wrong even if speaking alone in the woods, but isn’t an aim of feminism for women being able to speak their minds to men without fear of sanction or reproach?
Perhaps because it is? Looking at the Nazis, the various fascists, communist regimes, as well as the CIA/FBI/state, and municipal police agencies in the United States particularly in the 1920s-30s, 50s-60s, 2000s-onward. I am not very familiar with them, but the Okhrana was also good at this as I recall.
It is the constant repetition by the various regimes’ security agencies of the same tactics to stay in power.
When watching the film The Lives of Others, a critical depiction of the invasive surveillance by the East German Stasi with friends and family ratting out on each other, I was struck by the similarities with our own evolving security state apparatus and its practices.
> The Lives of Others,
All done on paper, too.
Those ads are insulting on a number of fronts. They encourage deception within your most important and intimate relationship, they imply men are control freaks who tell their wives what they are allowed to think (looks like projection on the part of the Dems to me) and imply that women need Democrats’ permission to vote their own minds. If this is what Democratic strategists’ marriages are like– immature and/or irrational people incapable of discussing serious topics, even if they sometimes disagree– that says more about them than it does about the allegedly “oppressed” voters they purport to be reaching out to.
In my experience canvassing, registering voters, and poll working, this is extremely common. I have only heard it from non-republicans during primaries. People step out and slam the door to say my husband doesn’t know, but I’m voting for your candidate. People pull over and say you won’t hear this at my house, but me and my daughter are voting for your candidate.
Women see no point in registering because they aren’t going to vote the way their husband does, their daughter will register when she moves away.
People say the lines is terrible at this time of day but my husband votes in the morning and I’d rather stand in line than vote for that evil guy.
There’s also tons of data suggesting that the women voters I’m red strongholds have a faction of blues.
Is this something to harp on as strategy? No. Wouldn’t it be more useful to sell women on the benefits for them? Yes.
But the DNC hasn’t come up with a wild fantasy. Perhaps they’re still chuffedabout the boyfriends of Hillarystans who voted for Bernie in the primaries. (I wouldn’t be surprised if Harris didn’t go on Rogan because of his thoughts on Hillary.)
> People step out and slam the door to say my husband doesn’t know, but I’m voting for your candidate. People pull over and say you won’t hear this at my house, but me and my daughter are voting for your candidate.
The world is fallen and people are sinful, therefore let’s capitalize on that in a political campaign by making them more sinful.
Then it’s a good thing for our politics, for the health of our society, and for the social compact…to elevate those dysfunctional relationships, hold them up as a political ideal, and sow dissent and mistrust within families that still have healthy relationship dynamics?
Instead they’re holding up the most dysfunctional relationships as models of healthy behavior and how to defend the democratic ideal.
True story. Many years ago ( 40?) my mother had a friend who always voted Democratic, and her husband always voted Republican. One Election Day, long before early voting, husband says that since they just cancel out each others votes, they should just save time and effort and not vote. Wife agreed. Later that day, as the wife was grocery shopping, she ran into a friend who mentioned that she had met husband at the polls that morning. Wife finished shopping and went to the polls to cast her vote. Husband never mentioned that he had voted, and she never told him she knew what he had done. Plus ca change…..
Having grown up in a household that wasn’t safe for kids, in a conservative patriarchal culture (bedrock Trump country), I’m more sympathetic to the women in the ad. The whole “seen and not heard” thing can offer women and kids like me, who aren’t well served by familial structures, a bit of agency and autonomy in an otherwise untenable surround. The knowing glance they exchange at the balance box took me back to church, and the eye contact I made with siblings and other self-aware victims of abuse when preach would spout on about honoring mom and pop. Those dudes in the ad absolutely trigger my PTSD — untrustworthy to the core, but know how to look you in the eye and deliver a handshake.
Many familial relationships require deceit to keep one’s skin intact. Whether or not this ad targets people in those situations, it hits home with me in a way I didn’t expect. It feels way more legit IMHO than the “black women, deny sex to guys who don’t vote how you tell them” pitch (full disclosure I ain’t a black guy so grain of salt).
(Un)fortunately, if the ad is really aiming at survivors of domestic violence they need a more trustworthy candidate. We know the wolf in sheep’s clothing, and Kamala clearly aligns with the men in this spot. You just know she watched every episode of the Apprentice, thinks Trump is sexy (in a dangerous way) and would secretly vote for the guy if she weren’t running against him.
Since the Emhoff stories started coming out, as a physician, I do get very concerned about Kamala’s well-being.
There is an interview with Tucker Carlson and some lady from SF and apparently knew and worked with Harris. I watched most of it. Part of the conversation was about Doug, and what he is. Not pretty. But then again, what do you believe. I think you are justified in the concern if any of that fits, and it might.
I don’t understand why they went this route. I think it would have been much smarter, and more subtle, to just say something like “What happens in the voting booth is between you and the ballot.” I think the message would be clear.
Or do they think their supporters are stupid? Oh wait…
“Or do they think their supporters are stupid? Oh wait…”
Truly, as if people don’t already know how to lie and aren’t well aware that ballots are secret.
As bdy noted above, deceit is a survival technique learned by all in violently imposed subordinated positions from an early age. They don’t need mama Kamala to teach them from on high what they already know all too well. Having to protect oneself by lying, while necessary for survival, is not liberation.
Maybe I had a “weird: marriage, but if my wife told me she was voting for a different candidate than I was, I would question my vote before hers. I married a pretty smart woman who was an excellent judge of character. If she saw something in a candidate, I would believe her.
I’d be the one more likely to switch sides.
In a society organized by “markets”, all relationships are transactional and people are commodities.
I’d say it’s the reverse – people are transactional, hence markets were created.
Not so sure here. For a few decades I have notice contracts being imposed left and right in fields where they were never considered necessary. Every relationship in society had to have an attached contract. That is a society being organized on market lines because the previous trust relationships were considerd obsolete.
> people are transactional, hence markets were created
Evidence of paleolithic and neolithic markets, please.
It’s interesting that liberal Democrats must believe a notable number of women are trapped in abusive marriages. Or maybe it’s just self-reflection?
Attention: Lambert. Incoming email headed your way on Boeing and the civil lawsuit from the pension funds.
It’s popcorn time!
Thank you!
I dunno what kind of facial/botox procedures Biden is receiving, but he got another one. I guess it’s addictive once you start. Cause it’s not like he needs to look “good” for another election, or for much of anything else really. It’s not an imposter, I’m sure it’s him, because of what he said, kind of like the “my butt’s been wiped” moment.
RE: exit polls and Edison Research
Rather interesting that both the UK (Telegraph) and Ukraine are so concerned with US exit polling.
I’m not sure that Edison Research has ever been a dull and boring public utility – they are extremely spook adjacent and have been for a long time. Ben Norton, who I believe is considered a reliable source at NC, has done some digging –
“Although Edison Research’s exit poll has been widely cited by the US media to cast doubt upon Venezuela’s electoral results, it is by no means an impartial observer. In fact, Edison’s top clients include CIA-linked US government propaganda outlets Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, all of which are operated by the US Agency for Global Media, a Washington-based organ that is used to spread disinformation against US adversaries.
Edison Research has likewise worked with UK state media outlet the BBC.
In addition to Venezuela, Edison has previously conducted suspicious polling in Ukraine, Georgia, and Iraq – areas of the world that have been deemed highly strategic by the US State Department and targeted by Washington’s relentless meddling.
Edison’s international research is managed by the company’s Executive Vice President Rob Farbman. He was also cited in the press release on the Venezuela exit poll, and was listed as the contact for the study.
The US firm’s website notes that “Farbman manages Edison’s international research with a specialization in the Middle East and Africa for clients including BBC, the Voice of America, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty”.”
Worth reading the link in full. Edison Research’s website does match what Norton claims – https://www.edisonresearch.com/our-team/rob-farbman/
Quiet before the Storm by Peder Zane. Not much to the article over all.
This, though, is worth quoting and remembering: “The Democrats refused to accept Trump’s victory in 2016; he still won’t concede that President Biden won in 2020. As before, neither side will blame themselves for defeat; they will lash out at their perceived enemies.”
Instead of talking about fascist revolutions and who are the fascists, we should remind ourselves of all of the bad faith. We should recall all of the name calling.
Somehow, I doubt that Bob and Bobbi Maria and Jedediah and Sage are going to head out into the countryside to organize guerrilla armies to free the U S of A from the scourge of [fill in the blank].
Not when there’s brunch. Not when there are Cool Ranch Doritos. Not when there’s guacamole. Who wants to have to live in a tent in western Nebraska, eat kidney beans out of a can, and dream of overthrowing the government?
But then I write from the Undisclosed Region, currently an Oasis of Tranquillity, and home of bonet.
> Somehow, I doubt that Bob and Bobbi Maria and Jedediah and Sage are going to head out into the countryside to organize guerrilla armies to free the U S of A from the scourge of [fill in the blank].
No, but I can see a lot of suburban women from Northern Virginia doing some organizing, just like the Women’s March, but this time with some clout behind them.
My family members in the state I grew up in – very red – are reporting to me that plans are already underway – if there is any “cheating” in this election, there will be an immediate boycott of sending any of their meat or grain to any blue state or area.
On the other side of the family, living in a very red area of a very blue state, similar tales are being told.
My own multiple neighbors all around me did this same exact thing several years ago and are no worse off for wear at all – indeed – being freed from the hundreds of pages of paperwork to send food to some of these states has been good for them in all kinds of ways.
I do not know what is going to happen – but it seems to me that some of these elite coastal folks have forgotten who butters the bread.
This is unsurprising. The individual farmer doesn’t matter when the grains are managed by the likes of Cargill et al.
They may not market their grain to blue states, but I can guarantee it finds its way there regardless, whether that’s via livestock fed with their grain or processed food made with their grain.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/kaboom-elon-musk-predicts-hardship-economic-turmoil-and-a-stock-market-crash-if-trump-wins-20483008?mod=home-page/
“…Speaking Tuesday on a “telephone town hall” with supporters, Musk promised deep federal budget cuts, austerity and economic pain ahead in a new Trump administration…”
“…Musk did not address the issue of Trump’s proposed tax cuts, which the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says would add about twice as much to the national debt as the proposals of Democratic rival Kamala Harris. Musk’s concern with the ballooning national debt was focused entirely on cutting spending…”
Another billionaire prognosticates to the contrary:
If one accepts Eric Posner’s rather sanguine recent observation, in his recent interview on Freakonomics radio, citing ancient Rome as an example, that it takes more than a bad president to bring down an empire such as the U.S., I would lean ever so slightly in favor of Griffin’s view over Musk’s. As for “bad presidents”, we currently have, as is the norm, two likely winners to choose from.
I don’t think it was meant to be thought of as “end of empire” machinations.
It’s probably mainly being mentioned because the writers think Musk has inside info:
“Trump has already said he wants Musk to head up a commission on government efficiency. Trump says the billionaire tech entrepreneur would be his “Secretary of Budget-Cutting,” implying a possible cabinet position. Musk himself has described his prospective role as running a “Department of Government Efficiency,” though he admits the title is an inside joke — the acronym spells DOGE, the name of a cryptocurrency he has referenced often over the years.”
Here’s where Musk should start: Elon Musk is speaking out against government subsidies. Here’s a list of the billions of dollars his businesses have received. Business Insider by way of archive.ph.
Agreed.
> inside info
We should never discount the possibility that insiders — if indeed there is an inside* — are just as crazed and beset by bad information and the slaves of defunct economists as the rest of us (see the story on being a billionaire’s personal assistant).
NOTE * Here I’m thinking of a long ago article by Felix Salmon about Davos; people were never satisfied with the “room” they were in; they always wanted a better room, the room where the real decisions makers were).
The “He’ll Never Know” ad reminds me of an episode of “Black Mirror” where everybody had a memory device planted in their brains that recorded their lives. These devices could be accessed by authorities on demand. In this episode a husband confronted his wife about being unfaithful which she denied. He requested access to her memories and she had indeed had an affair. Her response was “just because I didn’t tell you the truth doesn’t mean I lied”. I can see these women using this distinction without a difference defense if the truth ever comes out about how they really voted.
Garbage!!!
Holy Crap! Biden just cost Harris the election!
Allentown is just “downhill” from working guy Joe Biden’s infamous Scranton, PA. There must have been a ton of media oriented folks from working class, rural, northeaster PA in Allentown to witness this and rebroadcast it.
PA is TOO close for a gaff or Shit Show of this kind for the Dems!
1) This assumes that Hillary–I mean, Harris–was going to win anyway
2) It also assumes that would-be Harris voters are turned off by what her predecessor says or thinks, and care so much that they will vote for the Orange Man who they hate (otherwise they wouldn’t have been leaning to Harris to begin with)
This is about as important as the WaPo’s non-endorsement
You obviously know little about Joe Biden or the geography of PA.
Biden grew up in Scranton, PA and has cultivated his background there politically over the years to grow Dem votes. Lackawana County went for Biden by 53.7% while all other neighboring counties north, east and west went for Trump and most by 60+%.
Scranton / Lackawana County if only about an hours drive to Allentown, PA which mean local Scranton recognized journalists and residents were likely at this event – and they get to hear first hand Biden refer to their neighbors whom they might disagree with as garbage.
How does this not get hotly reported in the Scranton area? There are likely some voters in Scranton who would have gone to the polls and voted Democratically because they liked Joe Biden but now will choose to stay home.
If PA, with it’s NINETEEN electoral votes, is razor close as expected then a few 1,000 lost Scranton Democratic votes is a real thing.
Re: ‘Your vote is your secret’
If I’m not mistaken, The Lincoln Project is a Republican anti-Trump organization, and is presumably endorsing Kamala as a lesser evil. So pinning it on the Democrats might be a bit of a reach, unless they have some kind of approval over it.
I do agree with the sentiment though. Aside from the problematic framing, it’s also quite insulting to women: viz., if you’re supporting Trump, you must be under the thumb of a controlling husband (blink twice if you need help). And of course, the portrayal of male Trump voters as good ol’ boys who’ve got the womenfolk firmly in line. Great, let’s appeal to our target voters using negative stereotypes of themselves, that surely won’t backfire and play into Trump’s hands.
> So pinning it on the Democrats
I assume the various elements of the campaign work closely together, certainly on broad themes at the very least. And if not, let the DNC or the Kamala campaign disavow it.
Just had a very negative interaction with Harris-Walz and Team D sign holders standing on the corners outside my house. People beep going by, and this lasts for like 2 hours after I get home from an exhausting day at work. First they were blocking the sidewalk and I asked them to please stop blocking the sidewalk as I needed to hit the crossing button and cross, then when I got across I said “Please keep in mind the beeping is disruptive to the neighbourhood and upsets my elderly dog.” There are dorms and apartments on 3 of the corners with people trying to sleep, rest, study, etc. The abuse I got back was awful. She wouldn’t quit. Nasty, nasty, mean people.
Hey, they’re fighting fascism so you and your human needs are forfeit. And that goes for your dog too.
Yessiree Bob! Petal ain’t in Kansas any more!
Auntie Kam: “petal, petal dear. It’s Aunt Kam darling.”
petal: “Oh Aunty Kam. It’s you!”
Professor, through the window: “Hello there. Anybody home? I just dropped by cause I heard the girl got caught in the big … well, she seems alright now!”
Uncle Doug: “Yeah, she got quite a ration of s–t, we kind of thought there for a minute she was going to vote for Orange Satan!”
petal: “But I would never vote for Orange Satan Uncle Doug! And I tried to get home for hours and hours!”
Auntie Kam: “There, there. Lie quiet now. You’ve just had a bad dream.”
Timmy, enters stage right: “Remember me, your old pal Tim?”
Behind Timmy, the Apparatchik: “And me, Blinkey?”
Behind all to right, Jean Pierre: “You couldn’t forget my Narrative, could you?”
petal: “No, but it wasn’t a dream. It was a place, and you, and you, and you, and you were there!”
“Adults” in Room: General indulgent laughter.
petal: “But you couldn’t have been, could you?”
Aunt Kam: “We dream lots of silly things…”
petal: “But no Aunt Kam! This is a real, truly live place! And I remember that some of it wasn’t very nice. But most of it was beautiful! But just the same, all I kept saying to everybody was I want to go home! And they sent me home!”
Again, general indulgent laughter.
petal: “Doesn’t anybody believe me? But Aunty Kam ! I really was in a place called America. Honest! And I was tormented by the Wicked Witch of the Mid-West, and her army of Flying Flunkies! Honest! I wasn’t dreaming!”
Uncle Doug: “Of course we believe you.”
petal: “But anyway, Doggie, were home, home. And this is my room, and … why are you all here? And I’m not going to feel safe here ever, ever again. Because I can’t trust any of you at all! Oh Aunty Kam, there’s no place left that’s home!”
Cue main theme. Pan out as Aunt Kam turns and looks up to the sky. Fade to black.
Stay safe up there petal. And your little dog too!
I can confirm that the Arabic on that flyer is nonsense. That word in the red box at top right is supposed to be “altaswit” (“voting”) which should be written التصويت
It’s been written left-to-right instead of right-to-left, and the letters aren’t joined up, as stated.
The flyer still uses the orignal trade dress, which is sad. What a degeneration.
“I can confirm that the Arabic on that flyer is nonsense…”
The superficial transformation and cruelty shown by Ocasio-Cortez is remarkable and frightening.
CA: “The superficial transformation and cruelty shown by Ocasio-Cortez is remarkable and frightening.”
At least she can run a mean pick 6
Kirn and Taibbi’s takedown of AOC & Walz playing Madden was good (from 1:14:50)
It could be worse. If that was written in Hebrew written left-to-right instead of right-to-left, then there would be accusations of cultural insensitivity and maybe even antisemitism in play. :)
Did AOC’s team use an AI to write this hence the errors?
Probably. I run into examples of clearly AI-driven translations all the time, including in official forms (and countless ads.). The funny thing is that there are millions of people who can speak and write pretty good Arabic, Korean, Chinese, and, God forbid, Spanish! This is America, after all. Yet, they are using AI to generate nonsense translations?
Can’t you just look at it in a mirror?
1. Trump’s genius shows in “‘Garbage, I think, is worse,’ he said. ‘But he doesn’t know. You have to please forgive him.”
2. JD Vance recorded with Rogan Wednesday. Said to be released in next day or so. This might contain more substance than the Trump interview. I’ve been impressed by Vance so far, and he’s come across as far from ‘weird’. See eg. Vance v Tapper
3. I’ve been pondering the idea that elections are decided on who seems best able to meet the (self-perceived) needs of voters. [Note, I mean ‘needs’ in a broad sense, not just material]. Only one candidate is offering much of this at all (no matter if his solutions are good or bad). Abortion and genocide are not a winning pitch IMO. Centrism is bankrupt.
While I was clicking through to Lambert’s YouTube link (I give up, why can’t they?) YouTube put this in the quick links for me.
Forgive me if everyone has seen this before, or if it is irrelevant. It gave me a good laugh and I thought it might be appreciated here:
https://youtube.com/shorts/f_sPTuInY4M?si=j7p64Yz-XbeROHoJ
I had no idea that Trump was capable of such self deprecating humor. He should be featuring it as a campaign ad. Based on that clip alone I’d be willing to consider voting for him except that I already cast my ballot for Stein.
That’s and interesting site. I scrolled down and saw Ronald Reagan telling a joke about Russia that was pretty good and learned that cats are quicker than deadly snakes, beat them in fights, and even actively prey upon them.
https://x.com/asadabukhalil/status/1851651423743954953
asad abukhalil أسعد أبو خليل @asadabukhalil *
Biden and Harris are full partners in this Israeli genocide and aggression, hence their defeat is a political priority.
* Professor at California State University
11:44 AM · Oct 30, 2024
Biden and Harris are full partners with Israel in the immiseration of the Cuban people:
https://x.com/ggreenwald/status/1851723833692328097
Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald
The US has been suffocating Cuba for decades with an embargo — never harming its leaders, only immiserating the population.
At the UN today, every nation voted to end the embargo — except 2. The vote was 187-2.
The only 2 NO votes: US and Israel.
https://msn.com/en-gb/news/world/un-general-assembly-condemns-the-us-economic-embargo-of-cuba-for-a-32nd-year/ar-AA1tdDH8
4:32 PM · Oct 30, 2024
That can change. A few years ago the Russians would put an anti-Nazi law at the United Nations to stop their glorification and to condemn them. You only had a very, very tiny handful of countries voting against this and the US was one of them. But since the war in the Ukraine, you have over fifty countries trying to stop this coming about-
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2022/11/09/why-france-and-51-other-countries-voted-against-the-un-resolution-condemning-nazism_6003471_8.html
So are Nazis a persecuted minority now? Or are they now out friends? As for Cuba, I hope that BRICS offers them a lifeline and next meeting make them a partner which puts them on track to be a member.
“As for Cuba, I hope that BRICS offers them a lifeline and next meeting makes them a partner which puts them on track to be a member.”
Cuba applied for and was accepted to BRICS associate status as a member of the New Development Bank along with Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam:
https://www.cubatrade.org/blog/2024/10/26/csq9dgoz0q04nt2mmey17sktcmk36o
Thanks for that. That is good news.
The beginning of a signal change in developing world banking:
The BRICS Bank or New Development Bank has a core of Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa.
BRICS+ has added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and United Arab Emirates.
Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam will now become members.
The New Development Bank is not all it is touted to be. Lends only to members. Max to a member state limited by contributed capital. I found an article by a former staffer who was very critical of the NDB as also being conservative and slow to approve projects. But I can’t find details readily, thanks to the state of search.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1758-5899.13399
June 11, 2024
Introduction – The evolution of New Development Bank (NDB): A decade plus in the making
By Gregory T. Chin
Abstract
This article serves as the Introduction for the collection of nine articles on New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS. In addition to highlighting the key contributions of each article in this Special Section, this Introduction briefly discusses the achievements of NDB during its first decade, the evolving research agendas and scholarly debates on NDB, and the subtle shifts in the focus, goals, and agenda of the Bank from its initial establishment to the current period as NDB enters its second decade.
Gregory T. Chin is Associate Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Politics at York University, Canada.
Commenting solely because of a nod to a great X song.
Saw them last week in Nashville and they are damn strong!
Good to hear. I saw them three times back in the day. I worked at one of the venues. I believe it was in 82. And I have suggested John Doe’s book here before, “Under the Big Black Sun”.
Always very pleased when readers find my Easter eggs :-)
Re: the manual washing machine.
Am I the only person here who instantly wondered how long you have to manually spin that machine to wash your clothes?
The quickest washes in our front loader take about an hour.
Not sure I’d have time to do that manually every other day.
Or, if you could manage to only do 1 wash a week, whether I’d have the strength to do it with all those clothes in there.
1. i suppose you sorta grow into it, as it were.l
2. when one of our generally second hand washers bit it, years ago before Tam finally got a teachers gig…and a replacement cast-off wasnt forthcoming, i set out to build one based on a convex seesaw with a pole up through the barrel to grasp.2 people, rocking back nd forth.
but by the time i asssembled sufficient junk to begin, a replacement became available.
Re:sustainable laundry
In the future, people will not be able to put on clean clothes every morning, so the volume of laundry will be less. That will be OK because they will not have been able to luxuriate in a hot shower with lovely smelling bodywashes and hair products, followed by an invigorating rub with a clean, fluffy towel.
I should note that my new HighEfficiency washer takes about an hour per load and the clothes do not come out particularly clean, but at least they don’t usually smell. So manual laundry might not be a lot worse in terms of quality, just more labor intensive.
I’m so glad I’m old.
Beside the washing part, it increases muscle strenght and helps with the sweating in sauna.
a bit of food for thought:
storyville, new orleans, 1900 (in a book i came across):
the only paying work obtainable for negro women was doing laundry, housecleaning, and prostitution.
there is a reason for that.
we would (almost) all vastly prefer to have someone other than ourselves wash our clothes and bedding, swab our floors, empty our chamberpots/clean the outhouse.
not to mention nannying our children.
speculation: since the dawn of “civilization”, this has been a major motivation for finding a way to keep some portion of people enslaved or dependent on meager pay or (for wives) material support.
much of “civilization” “depends” on a society finding a way to do this.
Helpers?
OK, maybe not, but certainly news you can use:
Professor calculates optimal glass shape for preserving chill in beer glasses
Claudio Pellegrini, a professor of thermal and fluid sciences at the Federal University of São João del-Rei in Brazil, has calculated the optimal shape for a beer glass to keep the beer cold for as long as possible. He has written a paper describing his analysis of beer glass shapes and posted it on the arXiv preprint server.
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-professor-optimal-glass-chill-beer.html
Thank you for that. Nice to see that some people are still concentrating on the important stuff!
A couple of years ago a team had figured out the perfect way to brew an espresso. Time, pressure, water, coffee. The ideal grade of coffee beans grinded is a major problem.
There was a paper in Nature or Science containing the golden formula.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590238519304102
2020
Systematically Improving Espresso
yep!
That´s it…
” Of all of the coffee formats, espresso is by far the most complicated and susceptible to fluctuations in beverage quality. As historically defined by the Specialty Coffee Association, an espresso is a 25–35 mL (ca. 20–30 g) beverage prepared from 7–9 g of ground coffee made with water heated to 92°C–95°C, forced through the granular bed under 9–10 bar of static water pressure and a total flow time of 20–30 s. These metrics have been grandfathered into the industry and are significantly detached from the recipes used in most cafes today. Coffee shops routinely favor higher dry coffee mass (15–22 g), resulting in larger volume beverages (30–60 g beverage mass), produced on machines that dynamically control both water pressure and temperature. The variables of tamp force, flow rate or time, dry mass of coffee, and beverage volume are all determined by the machine’s operator. ”
This is funny as Andrei Martyanov referred to baristas recently as a better line of work for I think Jake Sullivan. I ´d argue better bad coffee (Sullivan a good Barista?) than blowing up the world.
I choose to see it as a reminder that survival alone is not enough… for what do we live?
“The Secret Father of Modern Computing”: wonderful link! Thanks!
Paul Allen and Bill Gates: shysters from the beginning, though of course that comes as no surprise.
Indeed, a great story! The world needs more Ed Roberts.
👍
re: election
from German: interview with Eric Loomis
“We know that Trump is very anti-union”
On the influence of unions in the USA, their attitude to wars and Trump’s appeal to workers. A conversation with Eric Loomis
By Alex Favalli
https://archive.is/OtAa9
all the railroad workers really wanted was 6 sick rather than one…in a pandemic.
So we know joe don’t like unions neither.
And he blew up nordstream (imo) effing the germans as well.
The railroad workers also wanted a second crew member to manage two-mile-long trains, and the flexibility to stop the train to deal with a hotbox.
Biden has never been a man of the people. Just GO, already, Brandon.
Edison Research has a long history of producing shoddy exit polls, almost invariably biased in favor of the “Dems” (actual Dems in US, alleged pro-dems abroad.). I am pretty sure they were respondible for the exit polls that led to Florida being called for Dems by the media mistakenly early in the evening (PST) in 2000, among other things.
Hard to say these were intentional, per se, but critiques of their methodology noted that their exit poll workers tended to be quite biased in choosing which voters to talk to for exit polling: they tended to talk to people who were more like them–ie people who were younger and looked more “urbane.” One could imagine, even if they were not doctoring the polls by design, they’d run into issues, especially in foreign elections. (US based organizations tend to work with local partners who are invariably western-oriented. Doubtful they’d wind up polling many people who look Western-skeptic.)
“What It’s Like Being a Billionaire’s Personal Assistant”
There is a political aspect to this because of course there is. There would be a lot of these billionaires behind and investing in Project Ukraine because of all the lucrative money opportunities to be had. Think the people behind Blackrock. Remember these people are not used to being told ‘No!’ and always, always get their way. So with Project Ukraine failing badly, how will these people react? Certainly they will want to be paid back the money that they invested but do they want to be paid the money that they would have been making if Project Ukraine had succeeded?
I have my early/absentee ballot and thought I’d share a few things: there are only three contested elections for me in Massachusetts: President and Senator, and Register of Deeds. All of the other 17 positions have none (too be fair, most of the elections are for school board for a regional vocational school). There are also 5 ballot initiatives, which are more competitive.
I thought I’d take a moment to determine how long it would take to calculate the vote if done by hand. Let’s say that it takes 5 seconds per ballot line to confirm who I voted for and another 5 to enter the data. That’s 10 seconds per line, and with 25 ballot lines, that’s 250 minutes, so let’s say 4 minutes. That’s for one ballot and multiple people need to be involved in counting and recording a single ballot.
Massachusetts had more than 3.6 million voters four years ago. If there are three people involved in counting each ballot, that’s three-quarters of a million person-hours to document all votes and that’s before all of the additional time investment to report the results and tabulate across precincts.
I’m not sure that I have much of a point beyond this: if you believe that all ballots should be counted by hand, then it is unreasonable to expect results immediately. If you want to be able to report on winners on Election Night, then some computerized tabulation is likely necessary.
Germany, Norway, Holland, France, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, and most other countries that call themselves democracies hand count ballots.
But we USians are superior to all of them, so obviously we can’t do it they way they handle it, amirite?
many hands makes light work
> many hands makes light work
And create a community effort in whose success all are invested. Beyond price, really.
So Trump was on stage in an orange “garbage guy” top. And he did a very funny routine about it, poking fun at himself.
I think a lot of detractors miss the importance of this kind of self-deprecation.
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1851772801377800502
I don’t offer people masks except in extreme situations because when you take them out of the wrapper they smell gross; like chemicals. You have to let them air out for 4+ hours for them to be tolerable. I think a horrid smelling mask might put people off masks. And yes, these are real 3M Aura N95s.
Something is going around the SF Bay area. I have a 76 y.o. friend who has a sore throat, a slight fever, exhaustion, and also his doctor heard something in his lungs so he just had a lung X-ray (awaiting results). This is someone who has every vaccine available and also masks properly. I also have an 83 y.o. friend who is in a rehab facility who just today came down with cold symptoms; I hope nothing worse.
> ou have to let them air out for 4+ hours for them to be tolerable.
Good point. Funny how different people are; I notice a slight medicinl/dry wall (!) smell that quickly dissipates (can’t put a name to it, though it’s familiar; English odor vocabulary is poor.
You are right, though; don’t want to turn people off!