By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Happy Friday the Thirteenth to those who celebrate! –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Northern Mockingbird, Siboney; BIOECO Estacion Ecologica Siboney-Jutici, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. “This is all one continuous cut even through my announcement.” Grab a cup of coffee. Eighteen minutes (though the last two minutes or so are the “announcement.”
In Case You Might Miss…
- RFK, Trump, and vax.
- Covid “viral reservoir” theory recieves support.
- Where oil profits went.
- New Covid charts: Good news, but positivity uptick.
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
Capitol Seizure
“Watchdog finds FBI intelligence missteps before Jan. 6 riot, but no undercover agents were present” [Associated Press]. “The report from the Justice Department inspector general’s office knocks down a fringe conspiracy theory advanced by some Republicans in Congress that the FBI played a role in instigating the events that day, when rioters determined to overturn Republican Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden stormed the building in a violent clash with police. The review, released nearly four years after a dark chapter in history that shook the bedrock of American democracy, was narrow in scope, but aimed to shed light on gnawing questions that have dominated public discourse, including whether major intelligence failures preceded the riot and whether the FBI in some way provoked the violence.” • I’d be a lot happier if I could cross two oddities off my list for the day: Nobody knows who built the gallows or took them away; and nobody knows who left the pipe bombs at the DNC (when Kamala was there). For these two stories, take the Justice Department story as read: It wasn’t the FBI. So, who was it?
“DOJ IG reveals 26 FBI informants were present on Jan. 6” [FOX]. “Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there were more than two dozen confidential human sources (CHSs) in the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but only three were assigned by the FBI to be present for the event, while stressing that none of the sources was authorized or directed by the bureau to ‘break the law’ or ‘encourage others to commit illegal acts,’ Fox News has learned.” • “We were just informanting. We weren’t agent provocateuring at all, totally.” OK, fine.
Trump Transition
“RFK Jr key adviser petitioned regulators to revoke approval of polio vaccine” [Ed Pilkington, Guardian]. “A key legal adviser to Robert Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump’s pick for health secretary, is at the center of efforts to push federal drug regulators to revoke approval for the polio and hepatitis B vaccines and block distribution of 13 other critical vaccines. Aaron Siri, a lawyer who has been helping Kennedy select top health administrators as part of the Trump transition process, is deeply embedded in longstanding efforts to force the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to withdraw a raft of vaccines that have saved the lives and health of millions of Americans.” • I don’t mind having a good faith discussion about rolling back the childhood vaccination schedule; heck, it looks like a spreadsheet. But my concern has always been that the anti-vaxxers want to roll back all vaccines, including the original Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR), i.e., the ones I was given as a child, and a good thing, too. And now a RFK’s legal running buddy wants to roll back polio vaccines, so my “lack of good faith” priors are heavily reinforced. A bridge too far, for me. Maybe focus on MAHA? Unless getting rid of polio vaccines is MAHA, of course.
“Trump to discuss ending childhood vaccination programs with RFK Jr.” [Reuters]. “He (Kennedy) does not disagree with vaccinations, all vaccinations. He disagrees probably with some,” Trump said.” • “Probably” is doing a lot of work there. And if Kennedy wanted to preseve polio vaccines, then his mimion wouldn’t be trying to revoke their approval. And if you want to get rid of the polio vaccines, then you might as well “disagree” with “all vaccinations.” Trump should put RFK back in his box on this one.
* * * “Trump Transition Team Wants To End Crash Report Requirement Opposed By Tesla, Report Says” [Forbes]. “President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team wants to scrap a regulatory order requiring automakers to report crashes involving vehicles with automated driving systems, Reuters reported Friday, aligning with opposition to the rule by Elon Musk’s Tesla, which accounts for most crashes reported under the requirement so far.” • Oh.
* * * “SEC charges Cantor Fitzgerald, led by Trump’s Commerce pick, with breaking securities laws” [CNBC]. • If we hadn’t just had four years of Democrat lawfare, I’d be aghast.
“Democratic governors quietly prep extensive plans to counter Trump” [CNN]. “Diplomatic and depressed as they have been in public, a small group of Democratic governors are deep into behind-the-scenes preparations and deliberations over how to balance the politics of pushing back on what they are expecting from President-elect Donald Trump’s next turn in the White House. Since long before the election, they’ve been poring through Project 2025 — it’s helpful, several Democratic governors told CNN, to have a blueprint in public. They’ve been studying their own executive powers and state laws…. They’ve been stockpiling the abortion medication mifepristone [(!!)] in secret warehouses and rehearsing their answers for if and when the incoming White House tries to nationalize their state police or National Guard units for use in deportation raids; some are planning to flat out refuse, while others intend to argue that the officers are busy with other work keeping the people in their states safe. (None have fully wrapped their heads around how it would work if units from other states are sent in and set themselves up for showdowns on the state borders.)” And: “Several have been running tabletop exercises behind closed doors for months, often with state attorneys general and other relevant officials involved. Officials in multiple governors’ offices told CNN the circles have been tight to keep the incoming White House from being able to prepare for their own responses, or for the proactive innovations they’re looking into.” • Worth reading in full for the detail. And what is it with Democrats and these “tabletop exercises”? They keep running them, and they don’t seem to be doing much good.
Democrats en déshabillé
“Democrats’ problem with working-class voters is bigger than free trade” [Eric Levitz, Vox]. “In light of deindustrialization’s most pernicious effects, Democrats should make American workers’ access to remunerative employment and collective bargaining rights less contingent on the market’s whims, while rebuilding the party’s reputation for sound economic management.” • Daring! The problem is simple, from a 30,000-foot level (where indeed most things are simple). The Democrats are the party of the PMC. As the governing class, they are in the business of operating the many and varied rental extraction schemes that dominate our financialized economy, and which enrich the (propertied) ruling class at the expense of the (enwaged) working class (health insurance being one such). Therefore, the class interests of the Democrats and the working class are diametrically opposed. The Democrat Party founders on this contradiction. “A house divided against itself cannot stand…. I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.” –Abraham Lincoln.
Republican Funhouse
“House Republicans launch investigation into CVS Caremark for potential antitrust violations” [The Hill]. “House Republicans want to know whether pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) CVS Caremark violated federal antitrust laws by threatening independent pharmacies to keep them from using money-saving tools outside the PBM’s network. In a letter to CVS obtained by The Hill, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked the company for documents and communications about pharmaceutical hubs, a type of digital pharmacy service that can streamline the process of accessing and managing complex, high-cost specialty medications for patients. Jordan expressed concern that CVS prevents independent pharmacies from participating in hub arrangements, because the company wants to head off potential competition. If an independent pharmacy works with a hub outside the PBM, it could be excluded from the PBMs network.” • Good.
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!
Airborne Transmission
Word of the day (or the decade):
WORD OF THE WEEK:
Ca•cough•ony
A portmanteau of the words 'cacophony' + 'cough'.
An unpleasant chorus of loud of coughing.
Often experienced during carol concerts, nativities, pantomimes, school assemblies & other indoor mass gatherings just before Xmas.@susie_dent pic.twitter.com/nDyRqpBfQB
— Cat in the Hat 🐈⬛ 🎩 🇬🇧 (@_CatintheHat) December 13, 2024
“Days after Era Tour ends, Taylor Swift spreads holiday cheer at Children’s Mercy Hospital in KC” [Knox News]. • And that’s not all she’s spreading, is it?
Vaccines: Covid
“COVID-19 vaccination and short-term mortality risk: a nationwide self-controlled case series study in The Netherlands” (preprint) [medRxiv]. From the Abstract: “We conducted a retrospective data-linkage study including all Dutch inhabitants to investigate the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on excess mortality using a modified self-controlled case series method. We found a 44% lower relative incidence of all-cause deaths in the first three weeks after the primary vaccination compared to more than three weeks after vaccination (IRR 0.56, 95%CI 0.54-0.57). This lower incidence was consistent across vaccine types, doses, genders, age groups, and individuals with or without prior SARS-CoV-2 infection or comorbidities, and for non-COVID-19 related deaths. For booster vaccinations, the relative incidence was similar (IRR 0.49, 95%CI 0.49-0.50). In comparison, we observed a 16-fold higher incidence of all-cause deaths in the three weeks following a registered positive SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to more than three weeks after infection (IRR 16.19, 95%CI 15.78-16.60). A lower relative incidence of short-term deaths following COVID-19 vaccination support that COVID-19 vaccination is not associated with the observed excess mortality.” • “Not associated” for that (relatively short) time-frame, as they indeed say.
Variants: H5N1
“Novel human-type receptor-binding H5N1 virus in live poultry markets, China” [The Lancet]. “In January, 2024, findings from a surveillance study near Poyang Lake in southern China revealed a high prevalence of novel H5N1 viruses that showed enhanced binding affinity for human-type sialic acid receptors…. Given the established role of [Live poultry markets (LPMs)] as a major source of human H5N1 infections, we highlight the urgent need for enhanced surveillance and public health interventions to mitigate the widespread transmission potential of these novel human-type receptor-binding H5N1 viruses in these markets.” • “Novel” in the headline and repeated in the text doesn’t sound good. Perhaps a kind reader can translate the entire abstract.
Sequelae: Covid
“Multi-Organ Spread and Intra-Host Diversity of SARS-CoV-2 Support Viral Persistence, Adaptation, and a Mechanism That Increases Evolvability” [Journal of Medical Virology (Jason Boxman). The Abstract:
Intra-host diversity is an intricate phenomenon related to immune evasion, antiviral resistance, and evolutionary leaps along transmission chains. SARS-CoV-2 intra-host variation has been well-evidenced from respiratory samples. However, data on systemic dissemination and diversification are relatively scarce and come from immunologically impaired patients. Here, the presence and variability of SARS-CoV-2 were assessed among 71 tissue samples obtained from multiple organs including lung, intestine, heart, kidney, and liver from 15 autopsies with positive swabs and no records of immunocompromise. The virus was detected in most organs in the majority of autopsies. All organs presented intra-host single nucleotide variants (iSNVs) with low, moderate, and high abundances. The iSNV abundances observed within different organs indicate that the virus can mutate at one host site and subsequently spread to other parts of the body. In agreement with previous data from respiratory samples, our lung samples presented no more than 10 iSNVs each. But interestingly, when analyzing different organs we were able to detect between 11 and 45 iSNVs per case. Our results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 can replicate, and evolve in a compartmentalized manner, in different body sites, which agrees with the “viral reservoir” theory. We elaborate on how compartmentalized evolution in multiple organs may contribute to SARS-CoV-2 evolving so rapidly despite the virus having a proofreading mechanism.
Yikes.
Lambert: After repeated attempts, this is what I get for CDC’s wastewater page:
I conclude that CDC doesn’t know how to run a server, along with everything else they don’t know how to do.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC December 2 | Last week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC December 7 | ★Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC December 7 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★New York[5] New York State, data December 12: | ★ National [6] CDC December 12: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens December 9: | ★ Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic December 7: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| ★Positivity[9] CDC November 25: | ★Variants[10] CDC November 25: |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20: |
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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) Good news!
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.
[4] (ED) A little uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Up!
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
There are no official statistics of interest today.
Manufacturing: “Boeing Plans $1 Billion Expansion in South Carolina” [Industrial Equipment News]. “Boeing yesterday announced plans to invest $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades at its Charleston County, South Carolina site. The expansion will create 500 new jobs over the next five years. The announcement was made by the South Carolina Department of Commerce (SCDC). Boeing South Carolina is home to the entire 787 Dreamliner production cycle and fabricates, assembles, and delivers the 787-8, 787-9 and 787-10. The factory has been in operation for more than ten years.” • That’s non-unionized South Carolina.
Manufacturing: “Boeing, Airbus still struggle with supply chains and personnel shortages” [Leeham News & Analysis]. “Michael Haidinger, president of Boeing’s European and Middle Eastern regions, and Juergen Westermeier, chief procurement officer for Airbus, agree challenges remain in the near future. ‘There is always a shortage of skilled aerospace talent intensified by the pandemic,’ Haidinger said this month at the annual Aviation Forum (2024) in Munich, Germany. ‘As all the professionals retired, fewer new employees entered the field. Our industry needs more people who not only bring expertise but also embrace the mission of advancing aerospace.’ Haidinger added, ‘The deficit of skilled engineers, technicians, and other aerospace workers has made ramping up production more challenging. Attracting and retaining talent has become a top priority for us. [We are] with many companies investing in workforce development, partnerships with universities, training programs, and apprenticeship programs.'”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 50 Neutral (previous close: 48 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 52 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 13 at 2:43:33 PM ET.
Musical Interlude
Toe-tapping goodness:
Groves of Academe
“Comparative lit class will be first in Humanities Division to use UCLA-developed AI system” (press release) [Newsroom, UCLA]. “The textbook: AI-generated. Class assignments: AI-generated. Teaching assistants’ resources: AI-generated.” When I ran a Literary Hub post on this story, alert reader and critical thinker PJay asked a great question: “Are we sure this isn’t a Sokal-type hoax?” So I went and dug up this press release; the odds of hoaxdom are vanishingly small. Here again, for your reference. is the AI art for the textbook. Put down your coffee:
The course is Comp Lit 2BW in the UCLA College Division of Humanities [sic]. Would some kind soul with a UCLA connection be able to throw copies of the teaching material over the transom? I’m sure the readership would enjoy them. My email address is down by the plants.
Annals of Religion
“How a Tale of Demonic Possession Predicted the Decline of an Early Medieval Empire” [Smithsonian]. “Historians can look back and see the tensions that resulted in the coup of 830, and how its lack of resolution led to another coup attempt in 833 and ultimately to a brutal civil war in the 840s. But throughout all the murder, treason and plotting, most historical sources, from the Annals of Fulda to the Annals of St. Bertin, remain committed to the myth of stability, inevitability and God’s blessing.” • Plus ça change….
Healthcare
“UnitedHealth Group C.E.O.: The Health Care System Is Flawed. Let’s Fix It.” [Andrew Witty, New York Times]. Witty is the chief executive officer of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. “He believed decisions about health care should start with the individual and championed plans in which consumers could see costs and coverage options upfront, so they could decide what’s best for themselves and their families.” • Oh.
“Brian Thompson, Not Luigi Mangione, Is the Real Working-Class Hero” [Bret Stephens, New York Times]. “Thompson’s life may have been cut brutally short, but it will remain a model for how a talented and determined man from humble roots can still rise to the top of corporate life without the benefit of rich parents and an Ivy League degree.”
“The Crisis of Elite Indifference to Corporate Mass Murder” [Nathan Newman, Left Future]. The deck: “And a Modest Proposal to License No More than 10 CEO Murders Each Year to Improve Corporate Accountability” NOTE: Satire. Sort of like Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery. As the author mentions!
UPDATE A typically brilliant thread by Moe Tkacik:
The murder of the UnitedHealth CEO by a guy who underwent spinal fusion surgery for debilitating pain has unleashed a furious debate about US health care, most of it dumb
Thankfully I found a whistleblower suit filed by a surgeon UHC hired to deny spinal fusion surgery coverage.. pic.twitter.com/Ekivc1k75l— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) December 13, 2024
It’s really trying to be a blog post, and it’s too long to screen capture, but here is the whistleblower (“expert witness”) part:
The expert witness surgeon was aghast, but when he took his evidence to his overlords at UnitedHealth, they…. made him take de-escalation training.
Meanwhile, Durrani fled to Lahore, where he is…currently performing unnecessary surgeries. pic.twitter.com/oi9zN3kJvV— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) December 13, 2024
Worth a clickthrough, though I assume the full article will appear shortly.
“Luigi Mangione’s Mother Spent Months Searching for a Son Who Didn’t Want to Be Found” [Wall Street Journal]. “Over the past year, the family was at a loss for where Luigi was or what he was doing, according to the people close to the Mangiones. In the fall, his relatives emailed many of his friends to seek their help. One friend posted to Luigi on X, ‘Hey, are you ok? Nobody has heard from you in months, and apparently your family is looking for you.’ In November, his mother reportedly called the San Francisco Police Department to report her son missing. ‘She would have done everything to find her son and couldn’t,’ said one of those close to the Mangiones.” • Hmm.
“Lakeland woman threatens insurance company, says ‘Delay, Deny, Depose’: police” [WFLA]. “A Lakeland woman was charged Tuesday after police said she ended a call to an insurance company with the words, ‘Delay, Deny, Depose.’ In an arrest affidavit, the Lakeland Police Department said officers were contacted by the FBI on Tuesday, Dec. 10 regarding an alleged threat made over the phone. Briana Boston, 42, had reportedly placed a call to BlueCross BlueShield regarding recent medical insurance claims she was denied. The entire phone call was recorded, according to the affidavit…. Police made contact with Boston at her home in Lakeland, where she reportedly admitted to using those words during the call, telling detectives that ‘healthcare companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil.’ ‘My client is 42, married mother of three. Never had any criminal charges or convictions. May you release her on her own recognizance,’ her attorney Jim Headley said to a judge during her first appearance in court. However, the judge set her bond at $100,000, stating, ‘I do find that the bond of $100,000 is appropriate considering the status of our country at this point.’ Boston was charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, according to the affidavit.” • Hoo boy.
“Woman threatens BlueCross BlueShield, saying ‘delay, deny, depose’, then gets arrested” [WHAM]. “Boston is charged with one count “Written Threat to Kill or Injure- Conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.” • This looks like the relevant Florida statute;
But phone calls are exempt, and Boston made the alleged threat over the phone. Perhaps a legal expert from Florida can weigh in?
“BioLab sets deadline for claims over Conyers chemical plant fire” [FOX5]. “Time is running out to file reimbursement claims in connection to the BioLab chemical plant fire in Conyers. The fires in September sent chemical-filled smoke into the air for days, leading to complaints about a strong chemical smell and haze and forcing thousands to shelter in place. The company is already facing multiple lawsuits, including one filed by Rockdale County commissioners. The commission chair says that the lawsuit is currently in process. As cleanup began, BioLab opened a website for residents to file a claim for expenses incurred as a result of the fire. The company says it has responded to more than 29,000 calls and 9,000 emails, and helped 4,000 people through its Community Assistance Center since Oct. 8. With the high volume of claims steadily decreasing, BioLab has set a deadline for New Year’s Eve for any new submissions. After that, the company will no longer accept new claims.”• The post gives directions on filing a claim, which is useful. Still, what about long term effects?
“Musk’s Charitable Foundation Sent Most of Its Millions to His Own Entities” [Bloomberg]. “Elon Musk’s charitable foundation ballooned to $9.5 billion in assets last year while handing out $237 million in gifts, most of which went to other entities controlled by the world’s richest person. The figures are part of the Musk Foundation’s latest tax filing, obtained Thursday by Bloomberg News…. The nonprofits Musk controls are part of his vast and growing empire, which counts a carmaker, rocket company, social media platform and, now, a major political apparatus…. Though Musk has widened his lead as the richest person ever, his philanthropy remains muted…. The IRS mandates that foundations deploy, on average, 5% of assets a year. Musk has repeatedly missed that bar. Over the years, even as the foundation has grown in wealth, he has kept the team small. Its latest filing lists the same handful of people, including himself and his fixer, Jared Birchall.” • Lol, “muted.” “Fixer” is also quite a strong word to use, especially for Bloomberg. I mean, “fixer” is a Third World concept, no?
“Distributional implications and share ownership of record oil and gas profits” (PDF) [University of Massachusetts, Amherst]. “We estimate that globally, net income in publicly listed oil and gas companies reached US$916 billion in 2022. The United States was the biggest beneficiary receiving US$301 billion in fossil fuel profits both from domestic extraction and through global shareholding, more than U.S. investments of US$267 billion in the low carbon economy that year. Analyzing the U.S. distribution including privately held US companies, 51% of profits went to the wealthiest 1%, predominantly through direct shareholdings and private company ownership. In contrast the bottom 50% only received 1%. The incremental fossil-fuel profits in 2022 over those in 2021 were enough to increase the disposable income of the wealthiest Americans several percent and compensate a substantial part of their purchasing power loss from inflation that year, thereby exacerbating inflation inequality. Record fossil-fuel profits also reinforce existing racial and ethnic inequalities and inequalities between groups with different educational attainments. Our results also show that only a small share of overall profits benefits institutions that serve the wider public such as pension funds.” • Handy chart:
NEW PAPER: The 2022 fossil fuel price jumps caused an oil and gas profit explosion. We show the US reaped the largest profit increase (USD 275bn) of any country. Big Oil claims this benefits the American people. In fact, 51% went to the richest 1%, only 1% to the bottom 50%. A 🧵 pic.twitter.com/2p1SVQqImO
— Isabella M. Weber (@IsabellaMWeber) December 12, 2024
“Man alleges Sean Combs drugged and raped him during a meeting at a New York hotel” [NBC]. • Been awhile since we heard from Diddy!
“People who are good at reading have different brains” [The Conversation]. “Clearly, brain structure can tell us a lot about reading skills. Importantly, though, the brain is malleable — it changes when we learn a new skill or practice an already acquired one. For instance, young adults who studied language intensively increased their cortical thickness in language areas. Similarly, reading is likely to shape the structure of the left Heschl’s gyrus and temporal pole. So, if you want to keep your Heschl’s thick and thriving, pick up a good book and start reading. Finally, it’s worth considering what might happen to us as a species if skills like reading become less prioritised. Our capacity to interpret the world around us and understand the minds of others would surely diminish. In other words, that cosy moment with a book in your armchair isn’t just personal – it’s a service to humanity.”
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“The public reaction to Luigi Mangione’s murder of United Health’s CEO clearly tapped that simmering rage. The media, business and government elites outraged at that public reaction – rather than at the corporate murderers perpetuating those mass deaths – just compound that anger with their refusal to recognize this broader context of corporate murder that Mangione’s act is embedded within.
Many think that a little fear among CEOs might restrain the worst excesses of corporate greed that drive overreaching corporate murder beyond the bounds needed for the utilitarian goals of maintaining our modern economy.”
Not a bad idea, even if satire. Of course, Bret Stephens might disagree
yeah.
may they look over their shoulders forever.
https://knarf.english.upenn.edu/PShelley/anarchy.html
as i said the other day, i’m sorta sad that i am too old and decrepit for what might be just down the road.
its been a long time coming.
(and any old pork recipe will do)
An apropos musical interlude from Street Sweeper Social Club (they aren’t talking about brooms) – 100 Little Curses
Lyrics
I like what you did there
It’s nice that Forbes annually creates a nice list of the top 500 parasites. It almost goads, those so inclined, to go out and exact justice.
“Many think that a little fear among CEOs might restrain the worst excesses of corporate greed…”
I doubt it. CEOs probably are more afraid of getting fired for failure to maximize profits. Not that I’m opposed to…..I’ll just leave that thought unfinished.
Have these “outraged” people failed to recognize the popularity of, say the Batman movies to name one out of many examples of pop vigilanteism over the years (comic books were popular, as their re-iterations on the screen). Within this genre, you will consistently find the theme of the public at the mercy of some malicious actor. Sound familiar?
edit, forgot to mention “helpless authorities”.
or V for Vendetta, the Joker movie(which upended the comic book idea of the Joker), or even that bit towards the beginning of the first Matrix film where Morpheus explains it all to Neo…
for that matter, Robin Hood.
there’s a whole lot of cultural grist to grind.
and i just came across this:
https://unherd.com/2024/12/is-bernie-sanders-going-maga/
we’re in the beginnings of a phase-change in political philosophy.
of course, as i expect to hear below, Bernie(and AOC) may well be sheepdogging again…but still…the idea of a Red/Brown Alliance is not new, it just hasn’t had the conditions to get past minor flourishes, here and there(like that redneck marxist group from a few years ago…buried in my chaotic bookmarks)…it amounts to a rediscovery of class analysis, by those somewhere below the comfortable, on the income distribution spectrum.
the blue no matter who or what people will soon be accusing Bernie of nazi sympathies, of course…if it hasnt already begun…
Lol, I once brought up the potential of a circular nature to political self identity in the presence of a cadre of investment bankers, tbf, mainly just to entertain myself. Metaphorically, I was laughed out of the room. This was in the very early teens, not terribly long ago.
my brother is the same way…sales at some global megatech firm.
he gets visibly uncomfortable when i start talking about how i cant get medicaid(mostly because i cant divest my share of the “investment” salt marsh we inherited from dad=too many assets)
such tales of not making it in our perfect world rub him wrong.
Isn’t this a good article to read… acknowledgement of common points.
For example isn’t it nice to read “While I disagree with RFK Jr on vaccines, his policies on food and health make sense”, rather than “RFK Jr is an antivaxxer, disregard everything he’s ever said”.
Long discussion here, a Breaking Points host with Ken Klippenstein about the Florida mom, and how our elites deal with the reality of American healthcare insurance as expressed by everyday Americans:
‘Delay, Deny’: FL Mom ARRESTED For Alleged Healthcare Threat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwgOACKfSAI
Ken mentions that there is a effort underway to call this terrorism, and alter those laws to make it easier to arrest Americans using these laws.
Here’s to a tiny bit of hope that an “American First” agenda might want to do something about fixing health care rather than calling Americans terrorists?
then i am a terrorist.
i wont stop talking about how frelled the system is, and how those responsible must be held to account.
“i am spartacus”
Noticed judge’s name was omitted…
I was looking for that too. What an incompetent asshat, validating a foolish arrest, and setting high bond, for a Mom using a catchphrase in a phone call to a company known for treating customers like dirt. Name, shame and retire him or her.
What if people start shortening ‘Delay, Deny, Depose’ to their first letters of the alphabet to ‘444’. Will you be able to get arrested then for saying 444 to a healthcare corporation? I’m sure the laws would be changed so that you could.
4 in Chinese numerology means death, so very appropriate, no?
I think her attorneys will make pretty short work of this. There’s a large body of case law as to what constitutes a true threat, and this doesn’t come close to qualifying. Could just as easily be her saying she understands what they’re up to.
But the point isn’t to secure a conviction, but to inflict the expense and uneasiness of having to defend such a charge, no matter how baseless. They probably expect this to have a deterrent effect.
Propaganda of the deed… Bakunin would have approved.
It brings to mind similar public outrage over Cyntoia Brown killing a sex trafficker or Gary Plauche killling his son’s kidnapper/rapist. Law enforcement and media condemned both but actual humans were more celebratory. Only differences are Thompson used cut-outs to insulate himself from his acts and he was fabulously wealthy.
The point of AI seems now clear. Wall Street wants digital workers, an army of unpaid, zombie agents that they can spin up and down. No more pesky labor laws.
https://archive.ph/GJtua
Beware the buzzwords:
“Strategic agents”
“Agentic AI”
“Hey you, over there, Mr. Newhire. We need you to train your replacement AI agent. Get to work! And, oh by the way, yeah, if you could work Saturday, that would be great.”
SF tech CEO’s billboards are ‘dystopian.’ That’s how he wants it.
Thursday afternoon in San Francisco: On one side of Mission Street, hotel workers chanted and banged on a drum outside the Marriott Marquis, part of a monthslong strike for higher wages and more jobs. On the other, a tech company’s billboard proclaimed, “Stop hiring humans.”
So why did the company hire a CEO? That’s a question SFGate should have thrown to the CEO but of course they didn’t.
The Bill Lumberghs of the world will always be with us.
Umm, yeah….
And can you get those TPS reports to me by noon?
Uhhh, yeah. I won’t forget the cover sheets for that TPS report. Did you get the memo? We’re putting cover sheets on all TPS reports so I’ll send another copy of that memo to you. That would be great.
On the RFK Polio vaccine issue. From what I can see they are giving evidence that RFK wishes to remove “A” polio vaccine. Which isn’t the same as all vaccines for polio.
The petition which they are talking about is here.
It appears to be against a 1995 vaccine called IPOL.
https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/e68bd8b142eb7bf0/914e0b90-full.pdf
To be clear I don’t really trust RFK. I don’t really no the merits of the petition. But saying he wants to revoke a 1995 Polio Vaccine is not the same as saying kids won’t be able to be vaccinated against Polio. There are other vaccines.
Actually the petition calls for IPOL to be withdrawn until it is properly tested for safety. Specifically, it requests the FDA:
The petition goes on to claim that the FDA has not fulfilled its mission regarding IPOL because:
I believe Siri’s petition for the FDA to properly test childhood vaccines for safety is consistent with RFK Jr’s stance on the subject.
A high school teacher in Oakland was recently fired for wearing a button saying “Free Palestine” and now a Florida Mom is jailed for quoting the title of a book on the phone, with bail set at $100K.
This may not be the most subtle way of keeping the rabble in line, but it is certainly an effective way to communicate that there are consequences for challenging our reptilian overlords.
Just wondering if the ACLU is still at all useful, or whether like many other once independent organizations, they’ve been co-opted by neoliberalism.
These seem like clear violations of the First Amendment, at least the first one does (government cannot abridge the right to free speech, and I’m assuming the teacher was in a public school.)
We need to start building legal defense funds and such.
The teacher was at a private school with rules about political clothing but it was complaints from some parents and no doubt money sources as always that led to the departure.
But here in SC horrible Haley signed a law telling public university professors what they could say about Israel in particular and other states have these lobbyist sponsored laws. Some have been struck down by the courts.
Links, please?
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/oakland-teacher-fired-wearing-free-palestine-pin/3711160/
it occurs to me, a la david icke(!), that if they’re really reptilian aliens in human suits, it would perfectly explain their apparent hell-bent drive to heat up the planet.
just sayin…
and, to remain ecumenical and fair…the lizards and frogs and even texas ratsnakes i have spoken to so often are really rather nice.
the rattlesnakes, on the other hand, are kinda assholeish.
Woman charged with threatening healthcare firm by using CEO killer’s words, BBC.
“”Delay, deny, depose, you people are next” at somebody on the phone at Blue Cross Blue Shield. For those of you waiting for the “t”ism word to enter the lexicon, here you go;
Ms Boston, who is from Florida, was charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism. A judge set her bond at $100,000 (£78,900).
Being an X-school teacher, it’s very normal to limit teacher’s political views in the classroom – and for good reason. A teacher can “open” a discussion on politics and encourage debate, but to explicitly state “I’m with Palestine” or “I’m with Israel” is very unprofessional. Kids look up to and are heavily influenced by their teachers.
as the househusband of a teacher, i agree…theres a very fine line…but the First Amendment applies to the teacher, as well.
it should be stated clearly that “this is my opinion on the matter, and yall are free to form your own”.
A lot of discussion of health care reform today including Stoller this morning. Stoller slides past the “doctor shortage” as part of the supply and demand inbalance but economist Dean Baker has been banging this drum for years and claims licensing requirements and the AMA have worked to limit physician competition. And of course the AMA had more than a little to do with our non socialized system back mid 20th.
Baker also makes a big deal about the patent system and how it keeps prices of drugs and much else high without adequate justification for this government engineered “property right.”
So perhaps indeed it isn’t just the insurers or even all those uselessly eating hospital administrators. It’s the system itself that is flawed at the root in medicine as in our politics. We’ll have to fix the latter before the former.
Stoller has a BIG task in trying to get any of us past the brainworm of the supply and demand model of market monopoly, but he took a big step this morning by highlighting the role of finance and the economic model of “the platform”. Really good stuff. The bureaucracy and self-dealing generate the profit growth and crapification. It is a reality many pundits and commenters are slow to catch up to, including me.
Heard the other day on cnbc’s “halftime report,” from some pea-brained stock picker as a reason to buy some pharma stock or other: “They own the ‘cystic fibrosis franchise‘.”
Yep. Diseases are now pharma company owned “franchises.”
Let’s talk about polio vaccines. It is essential that people understand the issues and problems. The polio vaccines are one of the innovations of the 20th century that are just amazing. But they, like many other pharma products, can have big problems too. Please realize the initial intro in the 1950s did not occur without major problems. But we finally got it right – and the lesson to be learned here is that before changing things that have been going well for decades, great care must be undertaken to get the change right.
Please note – just a mere 10-12 years ago – we were basically polio free in the world with the exception of some very remote parts of the world. At that point, a mop-up operation was underway largely with the help of the Rotary Foundation and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A very fateful decision was made to change the vaccine ( I am not going to get into the voluminous details here – it would take hours to read) – and the vaccine was changed in many parts of the world. I will never forget the screaming at the top of the lungs I witnessed in multiple meetings about this issue. People who knew the potential consequences were doing all they could to warn the immense problems this would cause especially if the logistics were screwed up. And now 10 years later, we have polio cropping up all over the place in multiple areas where it had been completely eradicated. Not just polio – but “vaccine-induced polio”…….In theory the plan would have possibly worked – but as is so often the case in our PMC controlled world and all the righteous arrogance, the introduction into the wild was an epic disaster for the ages. These logistic problems did not occur because of science – from what I can tell, it largely happened because of greed.
There are now between 15-20 countries where Vaccine-induced polio has been found, 8-10 at any one time where it is currently active all the way up to epidemic, and even a few of the patients in the USA have been vaccine-induced – probably brought by immigrants or travelers.
The degree of the problem has even prompted stories in The New York Times or here –
And please note – the vaccine induced polio is just as likely to cause paralysis, if not more so, than the wild type. When stories started spreading of large numbers of kids with polio paralysis in places like Gaza and Pakistan first emerged, the same screaming colleagues I mentioned above were just crestfallen – that level of paralysis is an automatic indication of widespread epidemic infection in what were supposedly “vaccinated” populations.
This must be dealt with – it is a disaster – and the way this new vaccine approach was handled was just negligence. We have already had cases of vaccine-induced polio on our shores – a very small number – although I am not aware of any paralysis victims ( an indication that it did not take hold to any degree) – we also are a much less stressed and healthier population than the places where it has taken hold. And our population is largely vaccinated with the vaccines that do not have these issues.
So yes – because of just absolute bumbling incompetence demonstrated in the past 10 years, we have a whole new problem. Somehow the level of incompetence never ranks to get placed into these stories like you have highlighted – but if they had done this rollout well over the last decade or so, we would possibly not be in this position. And like so many other things – the PMC and their media friends never ever admit to any disasters. But they so easily blame others. The world polio vaccine campaign in our very interconnected world is going to have to be thought through carefully and started over from the foundations and that includes even in the USA on our own shores – AND MORE IMPORTANTLY acted on by adults rather than greedy morons. And the profiteers are just going to need to stand in the corner – or better yet go sit on a tack. And in my humble opinion – that fact is a large part of all the screaming about the current admin coming in – the money train may be stopping – and more importantly – IT NEEDS TO. The profiteers are realizing that greed and their own cash flow may no longer be the top priority in the enterprise – so they are lashing out. Those with their heads on straight predicted many of these issues, much of the arrogance, and the absolute neglect of the desperate populations in the world – “The Constant Gardener” film or book by Le Carre comes to mind instantly.
But as has been so often the case the past few years – the moneyed interests just begin screaming ANTI VAXXER – and they get their way. I do not know that is going to work well anymore. They have truly shot their wad with their incompetence and lying.
Wasn’t Gates the one pushing this? He’s big on philanthropy that just happens to revolve around intellectual property. Back in his computer days it was him versus open source.
We need a new word for a new form of philanthropy. Perhaps something like “PhilanthoMe.” / heh
Thank you very much, IM Doc. I read the Guardian article and nowhere did it mention the difference between the live-but-attenuated polio vaccine and the killed polio virus vaccine. It is the live-but attenuated vaccine that has cause the problems, according to all I’ve read. And the live-but-attenuated vaccines are what the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation pushed on third world countries, though that form of vaccine is no longer used in the West due to its failure rates. (But, of course, they’re cheaper to buy and distribute, etc.)
I’m sure when you write “greedy morons” you are not talking about the B&M Foundation. Of course you’re not.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
adding:
https://www.science.org/content/article/unqualified-failure-polio-vaccine-policy-left-thousands-kids-paralyzed
‘Unqualified failure’ in polio vaccine policy left thousands of kids paralyzed
Well-intentioned decision to switch oral polio vaccines in 2016 backfired, new draft report says
From the Science article:
“Type 2 virus had been eradicated by then, and the only remaining type 2 polio cases were touched off by the live virus in the vaccine itself. ”
That is, the live-but-attenuated virus.
> Well-intentioned decision
The road to hell…. (Something about PMC certitude at work, here. Gad, I’m turning into a G.K. Chesterton-style conservative.)
I read the Science article, which is from May 2024; the report that’s driving the story is “still not finalized.” A very hasty reading of the site gives no hint of where the report is to be found, and the Science article gives no title.
I should read the report, does anyone know where to find it? At a glance, a lot of the players in the Covid debacle are there….
” (But, of course, they’re cheaper to buy and distribute, etc.)”
it couldnt be a herd thinning, i’m sure.
that would be silly.
> it couldnt be a herd thinning, i’m sure.
No, that’s Covid’s job. Aerosols are better for that.
polio “vaccines” that spread polio fits, as well, i would think.
we’re getting into Aeon Flux territory, here.
or even Oryx and Crake.
dystopian sci-fi as a manual, instead of a warning.
perhaps we’ll eventually get around to the various and sundry Jihads(waves to nsa) in Herbert’s work.
just remember, that the “Greater Jihad” is within oneself.(ie: two wolves)
It is my understanding that vaccine induced polio infection is caused only by the oral version, which while protecting the one who takes it at the same time allows disease transmission from that individual to others for a period of time. Not so with the injectable version. It’s for this reason that the U.S. uses only the injectable version, while the oral version is still used in mostly poorer countries.
> It’s for this reason that the U.S. uses only the injectable version, while the oral version is still used in mostly poorer countries.
That makes sense., thanks
“Please realize the initial intro in the 1950s did not occur without major problems.”
For further reading on this: The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to a Growing Vaccine Crisis Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
thanks, IMDoc.
i remember reading about the “new improved” polio vax disaster, likely in one of the science magazines.
and this:”So yes – because of just absolute bumbling incompetence demonstrated in the past 10 years, we have a whole new problem. Somehow the level of incompetence never ranks to get placed into these stories like you have highlighted – but if they had done this rollout well over the last decade or so, we would possibly not be in this position”.
and youre right, it IS the attitude of the PMC, the unexamined assumptions, specifically…that is mostly at fault….i mean aside from the greed baked into that whole layer of civilisation.
hard accountability is in order.
“Let’s talk about polio vaccines…”
What a treasure you are.
For my grandparents, Jonas Salk was a saint. Salk, by the way, was married to a former wife of Picasso, who was also a terrific artist (Françoise Gilot)
Then one would think Gates would be the logical — and the politically easy — target. I would have no problems with that!
https://tenor.com/view/oh-they-look-tasty-orc-orcs-lord-of-the-rings-tasty-gif-26529692
all this luigimadness has me feeling murderous, of late.
good thing im way out here, with only enough gas for one more trip to town this month.
now that one of the godemperors has been dispatched…and so brazenly and visibly…they’re gonna bring all their tools to bear.
they’re watching us, right now.
i might consider going into hunker down mode for a while, since i cannot seem to hold my tongue in regards to my utter and total contempt for those who presume to be my betters.
Still a low frequency alert, but stay tuned. Unlikely you should become a leading indicator unless there’s local reason. I figure your wife carried enough water to grant you semi-permanent immunity
yeah, but i’m on the radar, as it were.
theres a file,lol.
most of my life, in fact.
i embrace being on a list.
its part of who i am, by now.
ive never harmed a soul, and have never welched on a debt, nor srewed anybody over in business dealings…ive upheld a moral code,and been punished for it(that girl i rescued)…and yet i persist in my highminded stubbornness.
anyone who is after me(again, waves at nsa) should keep all that in mind, and consult their still small voice.
i have never been a threat, save in defense..of myself, or others.
chivalry used to be a thing we alluded that we wanted as a civilisation, no?
all the pols say so…especially the goptea…that we need moral people…
well?
yer gonna come after me?
lol.
frelling hypocrites.
and shameless, at that.
Wouldn’t worry about being on a file. Probably by now everybody has a file as a matter of course from birth. But each file will have different markers on them to be sure.
Wow, that explains it. Apparently RFK, up on this issue, was simply taking action as soon as he had some clout, to get something done about this serious problem. And as usual, our soundbite media turns the effort on its head.
he said a thing, 20 years ago, that we’re gonna misrepresent and take totally out of context, so we can diss him, and thereby maintain the status quo…since thats our ricebowl, and all.
hypercynicism is the only rational stance, at this juncture.
they’re ALL full of shit.
As usual, thank you for this.
It sounds like a thing we used to say in the engineering world; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
“Yard sale at Monticello” aka “Garden of Regrettable Decisions”, I’m waiting for the poster.
Yesterday’s interview of Richard Wolf and Michael Hudson on Nima’s channel was very good. They touch on the United Health incident and the resulting popular response, and how troubling that should be to whoever is in charge of this country. Somehow I don’t expect more than narrative as a response.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke9UvCezqIo
I haven’t really expected this country to fall into chaos anytime soon, but I’m starting to wonder.
RE: Trump should put RFK back in his box this one.
If you believe what he said on Meet the Press last weekend, that’s what he will do. Mentioned on Greenwald’s show last night, he starts talking about vaccines at about the 45:00 mark – https://rumble.com/v5yp425-system-update-show-379.html
He says specifically about polio vaccines “The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me ‘Get rid of the polio vaccine’, they’re going to have to work real hard to convince me.”
Side note: I don’t watch MTP. Is Kristen Welker always that wide-eyed, or does she save that effect for when she’s looking to catch Trump in a ‘gotcha’?
We’re talkin’ the guardian and reuters here. Not exactly bastions of veracity and “integrity” in “reporting.”
As HHS secretary, RFKJ will be in a position to smash an awful lot of sacred, golden, easy money rice bowls. He’ll not get there without a fight. I’d say this inference that he wants all children to get polio because he’s a crazy anti-vaxxer is just the opening salvo.
More likely we’ll see “news” in the next couple of weeks that he sent the fleet of “small car sized drones” to the northeast to spray polio virus on all the babies to whom he will deny the lifesaving vaccine in a couple of weeks, or that there is a video of him in Moscow peeing on prostitutes crippled by polio as children.
Everyone just needs to settle down. MAHA is real. It’s the propaganda that’s not.
> crazy anti-vaxxer
I read as much of his book as I could stand, including and especially the footnotes. It was appalling. I don’t know if RFK is crazier than many other politicians I could name, but he’s always been a mixed bag. But considering, from a purely technical point of view, I think choosing vax as the hill to die on ensures that is the hill he will die on. I can’t say the same for diet, I think fixing America’s diet would have been great (and would have netted out positive with regard to lives saved).
I added orts and scraps (and the Maureen Tkacik tweet storm is important).
Link to full story.
just diggin in to that, and tagented to an embedded link at the beginning:
https://prospect.org/justice/2024-12-10-luigi-mangione-disappeared-family-and-friends-say/
someone here asked me the other day about how chronic pain(specifically dead hip) feels.(for them: it totally screwed my sex life)
well…self-isolation is a big part of the experience.
7 years, almost, i waited for the gov insurance i paid into my whole working life to kick in…and for them to stop automatically assuming i was trying to defraud the gov.
after i had to quit cooking, i tried to remain useful to my family…but at the end, i was doing good to do laundry and dishes and dinner and watch the boys before they went to kinder…and when i had a good day and was able to go out(with the boys, when they were little…my plight was hard on them, too)…all and sundry felt compelled to opine about how i was prolly faking it.
after i finally got the hip replaced, i lay around for 9 months…nothing to do, still shaky in my walking, etc…didnt know what to do with myself…and we needed to get out of that old house in town…snakes and possums were getting in, and it wasnt ours, so major restoration on limited means was stupid.
so i built our house over 4 years, 80% me alone, as …among other reasons…physical therapy.
and hardly went to town, at all, save to hardware store, feedstore, and beer and cig store.
ended up, that when i would go to one of the boys’ basketball games, or whatever…rare, due to what time of day those things happen…people would marvel…because they thought i was dead.
so yeah…there are many facets of chronic pain…which i will suffer for as long as i live…that most people do not consider.
in spite of all the churches and crosses on hilltops and myriad professions of christian piety, we are not a very compassionate people.
so, remember, “there, but for the grace of god, go i”.
“In spite of all the churches and crosses…”
I do admire you.
just finished the TAP art Jokerstein linked…and man!…if that doesnt enrage you….
i admit that this mess is a rather sore spot for me(lol), but damn!
and remember that my almost 7 years as an invalid gave me ample time(right around the time obamacare was being debated, etc) to yell at my employees in congress(and many of yalls employees, too)…which…got me on a no fly list!(per the chick i always talked to at my Us Rep’s office)
and that was what? almost 12 years since i got me hip?
i told them i’d be robbing a bank, stealing a boat and going to Cuba to get a hip if they didnt make shit happen(well before Michael Moore’s film about that).
so i am, and i guess always will be, a threat to my country, because i demanded, loudly, what was owed to me for what was taken out of my paycheck my entire working life.
(and yeah…that whole experience radicalised me…no doubt)
Thank you!
And the tweetstorm as a Threadreader thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1867627601419813257.html
We’re gonna need a lot more adjusters.
This is consistent with my experience of property insurance adjusters. Many of them take the job wanting to help people. They see some cases of fraud and become hypersensitive to it (which tends to be supported by company incentives), until they are much more sensitive to the possibility of fraud than the needs of insured customers. Fraud certainly does exist, but not nearly enough to justify the tactics the claim reps end up adopting.
Pelosi’s injury is now being reported as a fractured hip. Not to be morbid, but the prognosis for someone over 80 isn’t good, is it?
(Asking for a friend.)
The answer to your friend depends on their definition of “good”.
nancy will NOT hafta wait for 6 1/2 years for SSI to catch her…nor will there be any insinuations of fraud or fakery.
and i’ll bet a dollar i dont have that we, the people, will pay for whatever medical treatment she gets…it wont be out of her deep ass pockets.
That’s what I thought as soon as I saw the coy press release and her still working but not completing the trip: she has had a mobility limiting accident, rather than anything cardiovascular etc.
Old people can mend, it just takes longer. If she does her rehab, she will be OK. It is the comorbidities that kill you.
If she has any CV disease or mild dementia, the anaesthesia may leave her impaired (anaesthesia is always more or less hypoxic and elderly brain cells are only just hanging on). If she has preexisting joint issues, a new hip may throw her whole gait / posture out of whack and the rehab may be difficult. If she has osteoporosis, she may be in a world of trouble. And of course hospitalisation and being out of daily routine and unable to care for yourself can knock an old person back, let alone hospital acquired diseases….
I wonder how it happened? Swivelling too sharply as she passed a gelateria?
Little Bones, by The Tragically Hip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPJ2rcYQC88
Canadian Grunge! I really like their lp “Trouble in the Henhouse”, the guitar sound is quite something, and the poetry’s got texture. Mastered at recently shuttered Gateway Studios in Portland, Maine.
Here’s a cut titled Let’s Stay Engaged
This should improve your mood. An Amur Tiger love story.
120 miles of Russian forest couldn’t keep these two tigers apart, Seattle Times.
The cubs were released back to the wild at 18 months old.
The scientists tracked the cubs until, more than a year after their release, something strange happened: Boris walked more than 120 miles, almost in a straight line, to where Svetlaya had made a home.
How he knew where she was is worth pondering.
Go on, take a runner for love, ooh ooh ooh.
Bret Stephens’ selective use of the Kaiser Family Foundation survey’s findings is instructive.
Boom. End of story. It’s all good. Health insurers nobly fill an essential market niche, so quit yer bitchin’.
Another way of reporting this finding is that the more people try to use their insurance the less satisfied they are, a fact that is reinforced by the study’s next three findings:
And Stephens conveniently omits other findings like the satisfaction rate of people on Medicare is even higher at 91% and around 90% of insured adults support “public policies to make insurance simpler to understand and to help them avoid or resolve insurance problems.”
I find it interesting that commentators like Stephens haven’t seemed to grok yet that should the shite really hit the fan, apologists for corporate murder are likely to be among the low hanging fruit.
Just a friendly edit for the Bret Stephens piece: “Thompson’s life… will remain a model for how a talented and determined man can still rise to the top of corporate life without the benefit of rich parents and an Ivy League degree, as long as he can countenance allowing sick people to die in exchange for increasing corporate profits.”
Many times when I made calls to various offices, clinics, etc. within the past year, I was greeted with the almost boilerplate statement: “All calls are recorded for safety and training purposes.” Several times, when I responded: “I too record all calls for safety purposes,” I was hung up on immediately.
Where I am, recording calls and conversations is legal. So, what is their issue with my recording calls, Institutional Ego Problems?
Stay safe.
Los Angeles County SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations.
I would have thought that the numbers would be higher. It feels to me like the numbers out there are higher.
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/data/index.htm
SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentration as a percentage of the Winter 2023-2024 peak concentration value
11/06/2024 9%
11/13/2024 10%
11/20/2024 10%
11/27/2024 14%
Only one day after we hear of the closing of legendary Absolute Bagels, today we learn of the terminal state of things on sixth street. As East Village’s Little India Fades, One Place Keeps Its Lights On, NYT, archived here
A sad development. Sixth street was a gas. It was byob. We would grab cans of stout and a bottle of Riesling out on the avenue. Omnipresent sitar player. But the most compellingly enjoyable part was the great swarm of “Christmas” lights. And the food, dear god the curries, plates of steaming nan, to quote Teri Garr, “Oof”. There’s some good history in the article.
same thing happened to Sixth Street in Austin, long ago, when the techlords started movin in out 183 north(“Arboretum”, they called it).
suddenly, one couldnt walk down the sidewalk with a beer…like you were Manson, or something.
Austin is a (very crowded and trafficklocked) shadow of the cool place it once was.
The article I put up has a tone of “that was fun but nothing lasts forever” which I should probably warned of above. The idea that we don’t have to live with gentrification, well aw shucks.
ive recently rediscovered the Eagles…and their song, from the hotel album, last resort, speaks to this pretty severely:
“call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye…”
see: Greenland
The joke was there was one kitchen behind all the storefronts.
I’ve been spreading completely false rumors for near on a decade of a Thai restaurant opening in Tiny Town soon, if you build it up they’ll come, being my reasoning.
What looks to be finally open in 2025 after 6 or 7 years of construction, is our big fat Greek restaurant: Tony’s Taverna, with seating for 240 and parking for 20 cars.
We have maybe 1,500 full time residents, if Tony counts on us to come through, 1 out of 6 of us needs to eat there on a daily basis, Opa!
Wow-o.
Biden just pardoned one of the ‘kids for cash’ judges. Hunter was bad enough, but this is close to max detestable, imo.
That’s disgusting that. Those judges should have been welded into their prison cells. So who got old Joe to spring that judge and what favours were given. Cash for pardons? Maybe those kids who had their lives wrecked can launch a civil suit against him now that he is back on the streets on the grounds of the delay in true justice and the effort to deny that anything bad happened but now they can make sure to depose him from any future positions that this guy might try for.
Victims ‘shocked’ after Biden grants clemency to ‘kids-for-cash’ judge and $54 million embezzler
CNN
Tragic, it appears he choked on his whistle…
~~~~~~~~~~~~
SAN FRANCISCO — A former OpenAI researcher known for whistleblowing the blockbuster artificial intelligence company facing a swell of lawsuits over its business model has died, authorities confirmed this week.
Suchir Balaji, 26, was found dead inside his Buchanan Street apartment on Nov. 26, San Francisco police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said. Police had been called to the Lower Haight residence at about 1 p.m. that day, after receiving a call asking officers to check on his well-being, a police spokesperson said.
The medical examiner’s office has not released his cause of death, but police officials this week said there is “currently, no evidence of foul play.”
Balaji’s death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law while developing ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence program that has become a moneymaking sensation used by hundreds of millions of people across the world.
Its public release in late 2022 spurred a torrent of lawsuits against OpenAI from authors, computer programmers and journalists, who say the company illegally stole their copyrighted material to train its program and elevate its value past $150 billion.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/12/13/openai-whistleblower-found-dead-in-san-francisco-apartment/
Lambert slings off about that AI art for the textbook cover and rightly so. if you look at the illustration at the top of the article “How a Tale of Demonic Possession Predicted the Decline of an Early Medieval Empire” in today’s Water Cooler at-
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-a-tale-of-demonic-possession-predicted-the-decline-of-an-early-medieval-empire-180985596/
You can see some of the material that that AI used as a training set – and which it then proceeded to butcher. The AI image does not feel organic and the elements in that image look like they were just copy-and-pasted there with no thought to the actual overall composition.
JACOBIN
Studs Terkel’s Classic Working Turns 50
By Joel Suarez
Fifty years ago, Studs Terkel documented American workers’ complex inner lives at a pivotal moment of social transformation. His interviews in Working revealed both the dignity and degradation of work, capturing a world on the cusp of profound change.
https://jacobin.com/2024/12/studs-terkel-working-50-anniversary