2:00PM Water Cooler 12/16/2024

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Bird Song of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, Quitman Farm, Brooks, Georgia, United States.

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In Case You Might Miss…

1. DOGE.
2. Kamala’s future. If any.
3. The state of tech: like industrial chemical accident.
4. Covid wastewater: Good news.

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Look for the Helpers

I think this is helping:

Man warms up bird's feet to unfreeze! pic.twitter.com/ngz9uposfi

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) December 16, 2024

Will the other birds reject this bird, since it’s been held by a human?

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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

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Biden Administration

Good ol’ Scranton Joe:

Michael Conahan took $2,800,000 in bribes from a private prison in exchange for locking up 2300 kids, one of whom committed suicide.

Biden commuted his sentence.

Steven Donziger won a $9 bn lawsuit against Chevron & got locked up for 3.5 in retaliation.

He was not pardoned. pic.twitter.com/jR1G9Br0gx

— Climate Defiance (@ClimateDefiance) December 16, 2024

Trump Transition

“Bernie Sanders Warns U.S. Is Becoming an Oligarchy” [Rolling Stone]. “Becoming?” “‘We are moving rapidly into an oligarchic form of society. Never before in American history have so few billionaires, so few people, have so much wealth and so much power,’ the senator said. ‘Never before has there been so much concentration of ownership, sector after sector, power of Wall Street,’ he continued. ‘And never before in American history — and we better talk about this — have the people on top had so much political power. We can’t go around the world saying, ‘Oh, well, you know, in Russia Putin has an oligarchy.’ Well, we got our oligarchy here too.’ … In a video released Friday, Sanders said, ‘In 2024, just 150 billionaire families spent nearly $2 billion to purchase candidates.'” • If only Sanders weren’t the loine voice saying this. If only he had conducted himself such that he wasn’t the one voice saying this. It’s tragic.

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“Dr. Oz Exposed for Colossal, Multimillion-Dollar Conflict of Interest” [The New Republic]. “Dr. Mehmet Oz, the daytime television host Donald Trump has picked to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, may have a direct financial stake in three companies that would do business with the agency he intends to run. A review of Oz’s 2022 tax disclosure by Accountable.US revealed that the Trump ally owned up to $26 million stake in Sharecare, a digital health company co-founded by Oz that operates CareLinx, the “exclusive in-home care supplemental benefit program” used by 1.5 million Medicare Advantage enrollees. The company went private in 2024, so it’s unknown whether Oz still owns a stake in the company. Novo Nordisk, which produces Ozempic and Wegovy among other drugs, is also a client of Sharecare. As head of CMS, Oz has considerable impact on the pharmaceutical industry—but with business ties like these, it’s equally likely that these drug companies could have a profound impact on him.” • $26 million? Oz is a patzer. Surely the same logic applies to every single billionaire in Trump’s cabinet? After all, what is an oligarchy but conflict of interest on the grand scale?

“Trump’s CDC pick wouldn’t let go of false theory vaccines cause autism” [WaPo]. “A Washington Post review of Weldon’s public comments, media appearances and congressional letters along with accounts of those who worked with him reveal a portrait of a politician and physician who emphasized the experiences of individuals while dismissing dozens of studies based on data from hundreds of thousands of patients that showed no link between vaccines and autism…. And yet, Weldon has also expressed support for coronavirus and flu vaccines in media interviews and private conversations — offering both shots to patients who want them. His mixed stances on vaccines indicate a willingness to agree with some mainstream public health guidance, some political opponents say…. ‘I give shots, I believe in vaccination,’ Weldon told the New York Times in a recent interview. He said both his adult children are fully immunized but declined to say whether he still believes a link exists between autism and vaccines.” • Hmm. Headline a bit deceptive then.

* * *

“How Fast Can Trump Enact His 2025 Agenda?” [Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine]. “The key to implementing Trump’s legislative agenda will be the budget-reconciliation process that enables Congress to bypass the Senate filibuster and enact a big package of new laws on an up-or-down party-line vote. This is how Trump got his tax cuts in 2017 and how he tried to repeal Obamacare. Items in a budget-reconciliation bill must be focused on fiscal matters, but it’s still a huge asset to a party that controls the White House and both chambers of Congress. It’s beginning to look like Team Trump wants two budget-reconciliation bills, one focused on authorizing the huge buildup in border-security resources necessary for Trump’s mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and another aimed at extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts. There’s increasing talk of a very quick start on the first bill. Since the 119th Congress will be sworn in on January 3, Congress could get moving on a budget resolution setting up this bill even before Trump takes office.” • This post provides a useful timeline for Trump’s first year.

“Behind the Curtain: Creators & destroyers” [Axios]. “Think of President-elect Trump’s top Cabinet and West Wing officials in two big buckets: The Creators are charged with stoking a booming, AI-enabled economy, including a low jobless rate — the ‘golden age of America’ that Trump promised after he won. The Destroyers are the more controversial picks — wired to disrupt existing institutions, and acting on smoldering grievances against the organizations they’ve been picked to lead. This creators-plus-destroyers dynamic dominates the behind-the-scenes jockeying for jobs and influence. Expect jarring swings between popular, pro-growth moves and ruthless government gutting and payback. It’s the Trump Way.” Interesting binary. More: “The Creators are concentrated on Trump’s economic team, including Treasury nominee Scott Bessent, a hedge-fund veteran with Wall Street cred.” And: “The Destroyers are out for revenge — sometimes for Trump, sometimes for themselves, sometimes born of ideology. Then they’ll rebuild in MAGA’s image. These are picks where Trump has gone with this gut. Trump is hellbent on retribution against the FBI for investigating him. Thus the aggressive pick of hardliner Kash Patel for FBI director. Trump would be happy to return the Pentagon, the biggest bureaucracy of them all, to its roots — center it around the needs of warfighters, and tear down and rebuild a broken procurement system. A transition source says Trump told Pete Hegseth, his choice for SecDef: ‘I expect you to do more with less. They’re spending too much money, and we’re not getting anything for all that money.'” Where’s the lie? More: “So Trump fought back when Hegseth’s confirmation chances looked shaky after a series of damaging articles last month. But a ferocious operation by Trump’s inner circle now has Hegseth on track for confirmation, barring damaging new information. You can see Trump’s deep mistrust of the intelligence community in his selection of former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would bring radically new instincts and priorities to HHS — and, some public-health critics contend, undermine the mission.” • Well worth a read.

* * *

“Bringing Elon to a knife fight” [Jennifer Pahlka, Eating Policy]. “A lot of the government tech community is skipping the hand wringing; they’ve basically just grabbed a bag of popcorn and are watching in real time as Elon and Vivek learn all the things they’ve known, lived, and absolutely hated for their entire time in public service. They don’t see DOGE as their savior, but they are feeling vindicated after years of shouting into the void. I am struck by how different the tone of the DOGE conversation is between political leaders on the left and the people who’ve been fighting in the implementation trenches. One group is terrified they’ll succeed. The other is starting to ask a surprising question (or at least I am): What if even billionaires can’t disrupt the system we have built?” • So far, DOGE is a just a volunteer organization. I could volunteer to reform government too, and even get friends to join the “effort.” So what? But DOGE is a lot like what Hyman Minksy said about money: “Everyone can create money; the problem is to get it accepted.” How does DOGE get “accepted?” How, exactly, is DOGE going to transition from handwaving potential to kinetic force within (or at least affecting government? Nobody seems to ask. Jawboning? Executive orders?

“Industrial and business groups send Trump a deregulatory wish list” [Los Angeles Times]. “More than a hundred industrial trade groups and chambers of commerce are urging President-elect Donald Trump to weaken or eliminate numerous Biden administration regulations on energy, air pollution, recycling, worker heat protections, consumer safeguards and corporate financing, claiming that the rules are ‘strangling’ the nation’s economy. In a 21-page letter addressed to Trump and his presumptive Cabinet, the groups requested changes to dozens of ‘burdensome regulations that are stifling investment, making us less competitive in the world, limiting innovation and threatening the very jobs we are all working to create right here in America.’ Among other actions, the Dec. 5 letter urges Trump to resume exports of liquefied natural gas, support legislation boosting the use of nuclear energy, repeal new emission standards for coal- and gas-fired power plants, relax newly proposed standards for soot and PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals, pause implementation of worker heat standards, limit the Food and Drug Administration’s food traceability requirements and fight efforts to impose ‘right-to-repair’ rules, which provide consumers with tools and instructions to fix their damaged electronics instead of throwing them away.” • What a weird picture of themselves these people must have. Does any CEO sit down and ask themselves, first thing, “How many jobs can I create?”

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“Clashes Are Coming for Trump Officials Dining Out in DC” [Washingtonian]. “This time around, with a full Republican sweep of government, an even larger cast of divisive characters, and no Trump Hotel in which to congregate, the MAGA crowd is likely to feel even more omnipresent [(?)] when they swagger into DC. Inevitably, that will lead to clashes in a fiercely blue, politically engaged city where Home Rule is under threat, countless jobs are at risk, and less than 7 percent of voters picked Trump in the first place. ‘The shift in politics will be visceral across several aspects of daily life. You expect the masses to just ignore RFK eating at Le Diplomate on a Sunday morning after a few mimosas and not to throw a drink in his face?,’ says Zac Hoffman, a DC restaurant veteran who is now a manager at the National Democratic Club (but has never worked at Le Diplomate). Hoffman is concerned that it won’t just be a safety risk or disruption for the officials targeted, but also for restaurant staff and fellow diners. ‘If you’re just going out for a nice dinner or it’s your anniversary or birthday and, God forbid, RFK Jr. is sitting next to you, now you’re going to be dealing with whatever repercussions happen from that.’ Dining decorum and ‘civility’ were already hot button issues during the last Trump administration. In 2018, when news about family separations at the border had reached a fever pitch, Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters called on the public to ‘push back’ on Trump Cabinet members they encountered in restaurants, department stores, or gas stations and tell them ‘they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.’ More recently, liberal activists tried to enlist hospitality workers in aiding with public disruptions. In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, a liberal advocacy group called ShutDownDC—which interrupted Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s dinner at Morton’s steakhouse—offered $250 to DC service workers who shared real-time sightings of other justices involved in the abortion decision.” • Democrats can’t organize DC into today’s equivalent of Parisian sans culottes, oh no no. But they can get some poor waitstaff in trouble so that they can harass some demon figure or other. Pathetic.

2024 Post Mortem

“Kamala Harris grapples with her future in a wounded Democratic Party” [WaPo]. “In the wake of her own 2024 loss, Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies are grappling with what her political future holds and debating whether the unofficial rule still applies — specifically, whether her first shot at the White House as the Democratic nominee should also be her only one, given the extraordinary circumstances of Harris’s 107-day sprint to Election Day.” And: “Some of her donors and supporters, particularly those in her home state, hope she will run for governor of California in 2026. But in 2015, when she was state attorney general and a rising star deciding on her next move, Harris decided not to seek that job after extensive discussions with advisers. She listed the pros and cons of running for governor versus senator on a legal pad, aides said, concluding that the Senate was a better fit for her interests and her strengths as a former prosecutor. But as soon as she lost to Trump on Nov. 5, some Harris supporters seized on the idea of a gubernatorial run, including wealthy donors eager to see her take a leadership role in such a powerful post. ‘The people that drove that conversation — within 18 minutes of the election being called — was the finance team,’ one Harris confidante said.”• Lol. Musical interlude.

Democrats en déshabillé

“Progressives should defend Biden’s legacy to protect their future” [E.J. Dionne, WaPo]. “He changed the paradigm of economic policy from a view that prosperity stems from rewarding ‘job creators’ at the top to what he called a ‘middle-out’ and ‘bottom-up’ strategy. It wasn’t just a slogan. In recent years, wage growth among low- and middle-income workers has outpaced that of higher-income groups.” But: “[T]he administration’s [failed] to promote the president’s achievements while responding effectively to discontent.” • Seems to be a full court press:

We think that this detailed look at what the president did and why will be of interest as we head into the future. We are pleased to bring it to you.https://t.co/ZAr6IdDPT7

— David Dayen (@ddayen) December 16, 2024

I’d certainly rather see Biden at The Prospect than with those weasels over at the Center for American Progress. That said, I’m with James Galbraith:

At the same time, jobs were beginning to come back—but what jobs? In economic mythology, American life centers on work—on character-building, strength-testing, skill-demanding engagement with the physical world, on the farm, the range, the factory, the construction site or the open road. But most jobs today aren’t like that; practically all new jobs in America for the past 60 years have been in services—in shops, offices, restaurants; in accounting, bookkeeping, maintenance, and other minor professions. Most such jobs are neither secure nor well-paid, and it often takes two or more to sustain a middle-class household. Costs of commuting and child care make many secondary jobs barely profitable to hold. Covid relief and enforced unemployment gave many Americans a break, which they used to reassess their relationship to work. Many decided not to return, which is why the jobless rate fell and remained low, even though the employment-to-population ratio never fully recovered.

As the economy began to open up again, employers needed workers. Vacancies rose. What to do? The option of raising wages (and improving working conditions) is never attractive, since the gains must be given to all workers, not merely those newly hired or rehired. The alternative is to put a squeeze on those who have left the labor force until they feel the pinch and come back, hat in hand, seeking a job. And this could be done, with the complicity of the Biden team, by letting Covid benefits expire, and by hiking interest rates. Price increases, directly boosting profits, also added to the pressure on the not-employed. Is it a surprise that people do not like being pressured to take “bullshit jobs”?

Or as Quartz summarizes:

Galbraith comes from the left to suggest the problem with Bidenomics is not what it accomplished, but what it didn’t do: It didn’t generate much better pay for low-wage service jobs, it didn’t put to rest the fear many Americans have that their jobs are not secure, and it didn’t reverse the decline in real purchasing power.

Despite all the stimulus money, despite all the investment in infrastructure and construction jobs, and all the support — now ended — to give people healthcare and housing assistance — the rich were simply getting richer while the average Joe or Jane was still just one paycheck away from disaster.

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

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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!

Maskstravaganza

Symbols aren’t tools?

Masks / Respirators are *tools* to drastically reduce the risk of infection from airborne pathogens. Their transformation into political and sociological *symbols* has been a huge hindrance to addressing risk. Demonising *individuals* who do or do not mask just makes this worse.

— Conor Browne (@brownecfm) December 13, 2024

Symbol manipulators surely believe symbols are tools.

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TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts

Wastewater
★This week[1] CDC December 9	Last week[2] CDC (until next week):
Variants [3] CDC December 7	Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC December 7
Hospitalization
★New York[5] New York State, data December 13:	National [6] CDC December 12:
Positivity
National[7] Walgreens December 9:	Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic December 7:
Travelers Data
Positivity[9] CDC November 25:	Variants[10] CDC November 25:
Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20:	Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20:

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) Up generally, seeing a little more red, but nothing new at the major international hubs. Interestingly, Calculated Risk is watching wastewater too.

[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

Manufacturing: “United States NY Empire State Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to 0.20 in December 2024 from 31.2 in November which was the highest reading since December 2021, and well below forecasts of 12. The reading showed business activity in the NY state held steady, following a big rise in the previous month.”

* * *

Manufacturing: “Boeing’s Year of Crisis Leaves Investors Wary of Beaten-Up Stock” [Bloomberg]. ” What was supposed to be a comeback year for Boeing Co. has turned into its worst stock-market plunge since 2008, and if Wall Street is right, the plane-maker’s shares may have only a modest recovery in store in 2025…. The stock is down 35% this year, placing it among the 20 biggest decliners in the S&P 500 Index. The shares have stabilized over the past month, but investors remain wary. They point to the string of crises in 2024 that shook their confidence in Boeing’s prospects and the risk that it will suffer should trade friction build anew under President-elect Donald Trump. ‘Just staying out of the news would be a win for Boeing at this point,’ said Eric Clark, portfolio manager of the Rational Dynamic Brands Fund.” • And speaking of public relations–

Manufacturing: “Pig Stench Causes KLM Boeing 787-9 To Divert To Bermuda” [Simple Flying]. “KLM Flight 685 was diverted to Bermuda after the smell of a herd of swine from below decks wafted through the cabin…. The crew reported an “obnoxious smell from cargo coming from pigs probably, which may have something to do with the oxygen environment in the cockpit.’…. The diversion was not an emergency. There was no Mayday call, no PAN call, and no emergency services were required. The pigs were unloaded and taken to a “secure location at the island during their impromptu holiday stayover.” • Obviously not Boeing’s fault, but they can’t catch a break, can they?

Manufacturing: “Boeing Delays Mean Trump Won’t Fly on a New Air Force One” [Wall Street Journal]. “President-elect Donald Trump didn’t get to fly on a new Air Force One during his first term. He likely won’t get to fly on a new presidential plane in his second term, either. The long-delayed project has fallen so far behind schedule that Boeing has told the Air Force that it expects to deliver the new jets after Trump leaves the White House, according to people familiar with the matter. That means the airplanes wouldn’t be ready until 2029 or later. Frustrated with the delays, Trump raised the project with Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg when the two men had a phone conversation in November. As he prepares to return to the White House, Trump has repeatedly asked advisers about the status of Boeing’s work.Boeing used to be a great American company, he has told aides, according to people briefed on the discussions. What happened to them? Trump has asked.”

The Bezzle: Why don’t we have a Strategic Baseball Card Reserve?

Charles Schwab says Bitcoin could hit $500,000 – $1 million if Trump establishes a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. pic.twitter.com/BLKN2STIqb

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) December 15, 2024

Can anybody explain to me what is “Strategic” about a “Strategic Bitcorn Reserve,” and why it’s not simply an outright subsidy to these crooks and fraudsters?

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 56 Greed (previous close: 50 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 48 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 16 at 1:19:55 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes down one on Plagues. “The lack of activity has downgraded this category” [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 182. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Hard to believe the Rapture Index is going down. Doesn’t the collapse of Syria bring the Third Temple closer? Do these people know something we don’t?

Gallery

David with the head of Goliath:

Caravaggio pic.twitter.com/vA3No66R05

— Art Gallery (@X_ArtGallery) December 15, 2024

Chairoscuro!

Healthcare

“The right believes the healthcare CEO shooting suspect is a ‘liberal wacko’. The truth is complicated” [Guardian]. “Trump, with his undeniable knack for tapping into the anger and concerns of his supporters, has noticeably been silent on Thompson’s killing…. It is revealing that Trump, the arch-populist, has stayed silent. The incoming president, so good at riding the waves of public opinion, has at times been a fierce critic of healthcare companies himself…. ‘For years, patients have been shocked to receive unexpected bills for thousands of dollars in medical services they never agreed to. The first America First Healthcare Plan bans this deeply unfair practice. We will end surprise medical billing. The days of ripping off American patients are over,’ Trump said in North Carolina in 2020, announcing an ultimately doomed effort to rein in the likes of UnitedHealthcare…. ‘President Donald J Trump is very shrewd, and he understands what is happening here. He understands that it’s his base too. So he’s going to be very calculated,’ [Nina] Turner said.”

Class Warfare

“Never Forgive Them” [Ed Zitron, Where’s Your Ed At?] An impressive rant, worth reading in full. This caught my eye: “I’m not writing this to complain, but because I believe — as I hinted at a few weeks ago — that we are in the midst of the largest-scale ecological disaster of our time, because almost every single interaction with technology, which is required to live in modern society, has become actively adversarial to the user. These issues hit everything we do, all the time, a constant onslaught of interference, and I believe it’s so much bigger than just social media and algorithms — though they’re a big part of it, of course. In plain terms, everybody is being fucked with constantly in tiny little ways by most apps and services, and I believe that billions of people being fucked with at once in all of these ways has profound psychological and social consequences that we’re not meaningfully discussing. The average person’s experience with technology is one so aggressive and violative that I believe it leaves billions of people with a consistent low-grade trauma. We seem, as a society, capable of understanding that social media can hurt us, unsettle us, or make us feel crazed and angry, but I think it’s time to accept that the rest of the tech ecosystem undermines our wellbeing in an equally-insidious way. And most people don’t know it’s happening, because everybody has accepted deeply shitty conditions for the last ten years.” And: “Why wouldn’t people feel insane? Why wouldn’t the internet, where we’re mostly forced to live, drive most people crazy? How are we not discussing the fact that so much of the internet is riddled with poison? How are we not treating the current state of the tech industry like an industrial chemical accident? Is it because there are too many people at fault? Is it because fixing it would require us to truly interrogate the fabric of a capitalist death cult?”• He’s not wrong, is he?

“How Silicon Valley is disrupting democracy” [MIT Technology Review]. “One thing [Rob Lalka’s The Venture Alchemists] is particularly effective at is deflating the myth that these entrepreneurs were somehow gifted seers of (and investors in) a future the rest of us simply couldn’t comprehend or predict. Sure, someone like Thiel made what turned out to be a savvy investment in Facebook early on, but he also made some very costly mistakes with that stake. As Lalka points out, Thiel’s Founders Fund dumped tens of millions of shares shortly after Facebook went public, and Thiel himself went from owning 2.5% of the company in 2012 to 0.000004% less than a decade later (around the same time Facebook hit its trillion-dollar valuation). Throw in his objectively terrible wagers in 2008, 2009, and beyond, when he effectively shorted what turned out to be one of the longest bull markets in world history, and you get the impression he’s less oracle and more ideologue who happened to take some big risks that paid off.” • And that’s before we get to Marc Andreessen.

News of the Wired

“A Blind Beetle Named Hitler?” [JSTOR]. “Naming species is no simple task: a scientist doesn’t just assign a name and call it a day. Taxonomy is a carefully structured process governed by strict international rules such as the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants.” Dang. Algae should be honorary plants, too. More: “One example is Anophthalmus hitleri, a blind beetle. The species was named by amateur Austrian entomologist Oskar Scheibel as a tribute to Adolf Hitler… Today the beetle is critically endangered, partly because of its appeal to those who collect Nazi memorabilia. The enduring legacy of racist, offensive terms in scientific nomenclature raises important questions about ethics in naming and the power of language in maintaining or dismantling colonial legacies.” • Leave the name. It’s karma.

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WB writes: “Our garlic chives are getting ready for winter.”

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