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2:00PM Water Cooler 2/24/2025

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By Lambert Strether.

Bird Song of the Day

American Robin, Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge; Deadman Lake. Alaska, United States.

Readers, I’m going to close out with the American Robin, because it’s always such a lift to the spirits to hear them burbling after a rainstorm. So, robins until Friday. –lambert

* * *

In Case You Might Miss…

  1. Trump and patrimonialism.
  2. Elon’s “five bullets” email debacle.
  3. Spooks stirring from slumber?
  4. HP performs minor act of de-enshittification.

Politics

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

* * *

Trump Administration

“One Word Describes Trump” [The Atlantic]. “Weber wondered how the leaders of states derive legitimacy, the claim to rule rightfully. He thought it boiled down to two choices. One is rational legal bureaucracy (or “bureaucratic proceduralism”), a system in which legitimacy is bestowed by institutions following certain rules and norms. That is the American system we all took for granted until January 20. Presidents, federal officials, and military inductees swear an oath to the Constitution, not to a person. The other source of legitimacy is more ancient, more common, and more intuitive—’the default form of rule in the premodern world’ [Stephen E. Hanson, a government professor at the College of William & Mary, and Jeffrey S. Kopstein, a political scientist at UC Irvine] write. ‘The state was little more than the extended ‘household’ of the ruler; it did not exist as a separate entity.’ Weber called this system ‘patrimonialism’ because rulers claimed to be the symbolic father of the people—the state’s personification and protector…. In his day, Weber thought that patrimonialism was on its way to history’s scrap heap. Its personalized style of rule was too inexpert and capricious to manage the complex economies and military machines that, after Bismarck, became the hallmarks of modern statehood. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Patrimonialism is less a form of government than a style of governing. It is not defined by institutions or rules; rather, it can infect all forms of government by replacing impersonal, formal lines of authority with personalized, informal ones. Based on individual loyalty and connections, and on rewarding friends and punishing enemies (real or perceived), it can be found not just in states but also among tribes, street gangs, and criminal organizations. In its governmental guise, patrimonialism is distinguished by running the state as if it were the leader’s personal property or family business.” • Hmm. Patrimonialism seems akin to the Schmittian friend/enemy distinction.

DOGE

Elon out over his skis:

“Email starts power clash between Musk and agency leaders — even the Trump loyalists” [Politico]. “Elon Musk’s weekend threat to federal workers triggered panic and confusion Sunday as administration officials rushed to issue sometimes conflicting guidance, setting in motion a power struggle between Musk and agency heads appointed by President Donald Trump to lead the federal government. The guidance varied by agency…. It’s the latest episode of Musk’s ‘move fast and break things’ philosophy clashing with the layers of rules and laws that fortify the bureaucracy he hopes to hobble. And it’s the first sign that even staunch Trump loyalists are beginning to flex their political muscle against Musk, an unelected ‘special government employee,’ whose power stems primarily from his proximity to the president.” • Hmm. Here is the letter:

I have seen three explanations for this letter, besides sheer harassment (most employees I know of work in a chain of command; they certainly don’t need to report to Elon). (1) The letters will be fed into an AI, and keywords found will be used for firing; (2) the letters are a sorting device for stupid or loyal people, a la the Nigerian 419 fraud; (3) based on the request for that the worker’s managed be cc’ed, results would enable a more accurate, granular org chart of the Federal government to be constructed.

“OPM’s Own Guidance Says Fed Employees Never Have to Respond to the Elon Emails” [Talking Points Memo]. “Notwithstanding that what amounts to a prank email has had the entire federal government debating with itself over the last 48 hours, Musk’s own Office of Personnel Management says that federal employees never have to respond to any of these emails. After landing at the Office of Personnel Management in January, DOGE operatives first order of business was to set up a new email system through which all federal employees could be emailed through a single distribution list. They built it on a new server system outside of the established government email system. But emails it sends come to civil servants from the email address HR at OPM dot gov. This new system was given the name Government-Wide Email System (GWES). On February 5th, 2025 — in other words, well after the Trump and more specifically Musk was in charge of OPM — OPM published this document, Privacy Impact Assessement for GWES. As you can see here, most specifically in sections 4.2 and 4.3, federal government employees are never obligated to respond to any GWES emails and are under no obligation to share any information. Indeed, section 4.3 says that to mitigate the risk that the federal employees may not realize this, every GWES email should ‘explicitly stat[e] that the response is voluntary.'” • BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!

Here are a few of the better “five bullets” letters, culled from the Intertubes:

And:

And (NSFW):

* * *

“How Trump’s government-cutting moves risk exposing the CIA’s secrets” [CNN]. “The CIA is conducting a formal review to assess any potential damage from an unclassified email sent to the White House in early February that identified for possible layoffs some officers by first name and last initial and could’ve exposed the roles of people working undercover, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. That’s just one of multiple aftershocks from President Donald Trump’s push to take a jackhammer to the federal government – including the CIA. The administration’s efforts to cut the workforce and audit spending at the CIA and elsewhere threaten to jeopardize some of the government’s most sensitive work, current and former US officials familiar with internal deliberations say. And on the CIA’s 7th floor — home to top leadership — some officers are also quietly discussing how mass firings and the buyouts already offered to staff risk creating a group of disgruntled former employees who might be motivated to take what they know to a foreign intelligence service. Taken together, those actions highlight the depth of unease among career officials that Trump’s efforts to speedily slim down the US government may be putting American secrets within the grasp of foreign spies and hackers.” • So far, Trump — except for slapping those “50 intelligence officials” around for election interference — has left the spooks alone (presumably the generation of spook-related cover stories formerly undertaken by USAID will be moved to State). So is this story a message? A warning shot? What?

“Despite the hype, DOGE hasn’t found a shred of fraud” [Public Notice]. “DOGE has claimed it’s rooted out $55 billion worth of spending, a dollar amount that appears to be wildly inaccurate: As of Sunday, DOGE’s website claims it has saved or cancelled $55 billion worth of government contracts. But that same website only accounts for $16 billion in contracts. Half of that comes from an $8 million government contract that DOGE incorrectly identified as being worth $8 billion. Additionally, DOGE has been in some cases simply cancelling contracts that the government has already paid for. Some $325 million in supposed savings are simply contracts that have been repeated in DOGE’s reporting, Politico found. But actual fraud? DOGE has found nothing. None of this has stopped Trump, Musk, congressional Republicans, and their allies in rightwing media from breathlessly highlighting millions of dollars’ worth of spending as examples of fraudulent government programs. Nowhere in those lists of programs — like the USAID initiatives that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has been lambasting for weeks, including the tortured and incorrect claim that US taxpayers funded ‘condoms for Gaza’ — is anything that even Musk or Trump themselves have identified as ‘fraud.’ Instead, the goalposts for DOGE have silently moved from finding fraud and corruption to simply pointing out and cancelling government programs that Trump and Republicans simply don’t support.” • I kinda turned off following the detail on this story after Musk went all “Ghost of COBOL” on Social Security….

Democrats en déshabillé

“AI video of Trump kissing Musk’s feet plays on TVs in HUD building” [The Register]. “A video produced using artificial intelligence (AI) showing President Trump rubbing and kissing Elon Musk’s feet played on television screens in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) building Monday in an apparent mocking of the relationship between the two men. The words ‘Long live the real king’ were displayed over the top of the computer-generated video, a reference to Trump’s Truth Social post last week in which he wrote, ‘Long Live the King!’ The Hill obtained a photo of the screens in the HUD building as the video was playing.” • Here’s the video:

I fail to understand the extraordinary hold this trope has on the liberal Democrat mind; it began, or at least was normalized, in a series in The New York Times back in 2018. Liberals seem to believe that the trope is an enormous “own” of conservatives. In fact, it shows that for liberalism — hold onto your hats, here, folks — tribalism trumps principle. In what other context would the “In this house….” rainbow-flag crowd treat gay lovers as anything other than worthy of praise, indeed emulation? But bring in a demon figure, and the deep triggers go off….

“Angry Democratic donors turn off the flow of money” [The Hill]. “Democratic donors — from bundlers to small dollar donors — say they are still angry about the election results and uninspired by anything their side has put forward since then. ‘I’ll be blunt here: The Democratic Party is f‑‑‑ing terrible. Plain and simple,’ one major Democratic donor said. ‘In fact, it doesn’t get much worse.’ A second donor was equally as pointed. ‘They want us to spend money, and for what? For no message, no organization, no forward thinking. … The thing that’s clear to a lot of us is that the party never really learned its lesson in 2016. They worked off the same playbook and the same ineffective strategies and to what end?'” • The party did great in 2016 and 2020. They crippled the left, and that’s their main goal as a party, right? Stop whining, donors! You never had it so good!

“Carville suggests Trump admin will ‘collapse’ within 30 days” [The Hill]. “Democratic strategist James Carville suggested the Trump administration will ‘collapse’ within 30 days as the public reacts to the sweeping actions from the executive branch. ‘I believe that this administration, in less than 30 days, is in the midst of a massive collapse and particularly a collapse in public opinion,’ Carville said during a conversation with Mediaite’s Dan Abrams about the Trump administration’s unprecedented recent actions. Abrams asked Carville to clarify what he meant, to confirm that Carville believes the administration will crumble shortly. ‘It’s collapsing right now. We’re in the midst of a collapse,’ Carville replied. ‘This is the lowest approval, not even close, that any president has ever had at a comparable time.'” • This is cope. Not buying it. And if I did, it would be bad: The Democrats must suffer much, much more before there is any change, inside or outside the party.

Republican Funhouse

Maybe:

I’d certainly give the Trump administration more than Carville’s thirty days, though.

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Monopoly Round-Up: The Populist Revolt Against Oligarchy Begins” [Matt Stoller, BIG]. why choose to focus on Bernie Sanders giving speeches on how he doesn’t like the superrich? I mean, yawn. Right? But something about this campaign is different. It’s not so much what Bernie is saying, it’s that he is doing it to overflow crowds in Nebraska and Iowa. And it’s not just event crowds, his videos are getting tens of millions of views, and his online campaign metrics are performing remarkably well. I got a note from a contact in Bernie-world, who told me that ‘The level of engagement is higher than the last presidential.’ Democratic operatives who have traditionally disliked Bernie are noting what he’s doing, approvingly. Even billionaire Mark Cuban, who hates populism, is calling Bernie’s approach ‘really smart.’ …. This anti-big business vibe isn’t necessarily channeling itself through the Democrats, who are deeply loathed and distrusted…. What’s important about what Bernie is doing, and these other signals, is he might be showing that fear of oligarchy is the dominant view of a large swath of the public. If that’s the case, a lot of things could change, and quicker than we might imagine.” • (Readers; Please keep the Bernie grousing to a minimum. We know all those points by heart.) What I want to know is why Sanders is the only one at the podium. Let’s get some new faces up there!

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, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Stay safe out there!

Measles

“Former FDA chief ‘very concerned’ about Texas measles outbreak spreading” [The Hill]. “Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he is ‘very concerned’ about the measles outbreak in Texas spreading…. He noted that he believes it ‘will spread.’ ‘There’s been 100 cases that have been identified so far,’ Gottlieb said. ‘There’s probably many more than that. ‘So, I think that this is going to get into the hundreds of cases and could take many months to try to fully snuff out,’ he added. The Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed at least 90 cases of measles and said 16 patients were hospitalized. Just five of the patients were vaccinated…. Gottleib also noted that there could be economic impacts from the spread of measles, as other countries could place the U.S. under a travel advisory. ‘The risk to the United States right now is that a virus that has been largely extinguished from circulation in the U.S. could return and just continue to spread, even at a low level,’ Gottlieb said.”

Treatment: Covid

“Demographic Variation In US Outpatient Hydroxychloroquine And Ivermectin Use During The COVID-19 Pandemic” [RAND]. “Using insurance claims from the MedInsight Emerging Experience Research Database for 8.1 million patients from all fifty US states, we evaluated COVID-19-associated outpatient hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin use and spending throughout the public health emergency (January 30, 2020-May 11, 2023) versus pre-public health emergency rates. …. The combined overall hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin utilization rate was threefold higher in older versus younger adults. Ivermectin use was greater among patients with the highest versus the lowest degree of social vulnerability and in the southern US versus other regions.”

Origins Debate

“What sparked the COVID pandemic? Mounting evidence points to raccoon dogs” [Nature]. • Readers know I take the strong form position that any argument from the structure of SARS-CoV-2 to a claim of human-made creation is the Watchmaker Analogy, beloved of creationists, and to be rejected by Darwinians. That said, for Nature to be recycling the “authorities” who have been on this topic since before the beginning (e.g. Andersen, Pekar, Rasmussen, Worobey) just isn’t a good look. If indeed Nature wishes to “depoliticize” this issue, they should broaden their sourcing.

Celebrity Watch

Hilarity ensues:

There’s probably something similar in Bocaccio (though not in The Masque of the Red Death).

* * *

TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC February 17 Last week[2] CDC (until next week):

Variants [3] CDC February 15 Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC February 15

Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, data February 21: National [6] CDC February 20:

Positivity
★ National[7] Walgreens February 24: Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic February 15:

Travelers Data
★ Positivity[9] CDC February 3: ★ Variants[10] CDC February 3

Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 25: Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 25:

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) Down, nothing new at major hubs.

[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) Weird plateau without exponential growrht

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland)

[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Uptick.

[10] (Travelers: Variants). Don’t know what the dominance of XEC is all about,

[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.

[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.

Stats Watch

There are no official statistics of interest today.

* * *

Manufacturing: “FAA calls for testing on Boeing 757 freighter cargo doors after incidents” [Aerotime]. “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recommended that all worldwide operators of certain Boeing 757-200 converted freighters carry out a series of safety checks on the main deck cargo doors of these aircraft. The calls come after an incident in 2021 where the main cargo door of a DHL-operated Boeing 757 converted freighter opened mid-flight. In the incident in question, the aircraft failed to pressurize following a routine departure from DHL’s European hub located at Leipzig-Halle Airport (LEI) in Germany. Although the crew onboard was aware of the pressurization issue, it was only later discovered that the main deck cargo door had failed to latch correctly, leading to its uncommanded opening in flight.” • Since 2021…. Nevertheless, one door closes, another opens!

Tech: “AI-designed chips are so weird that ‘humans cannot really understand them’ — but they perform better than anything we’ve created” [LiveScience]. “Although the findings suggest that the design of such complex chips could be handed over to AI, Sengputa was keen to point out that pitfalls remain ‘that still require human designers to correct.’ In particular, many of the designs produced by the algorithm did not work– equivalent to the ‘hallucinations’ produced by current generative AI tools. ‘The point is not to replace human designers with tools,’ said Sengputa. ‘The point is to enhance productivity with new tools.'” • That’s what management always says. At first.

Tech: A classic “Smiley’s People” scene, but with a AI slop added:

Always worth watching. But take a look:

Every day, in every way, AI makes us more stupid. (Sure, there are use cases. But civilizationally, the trend is down.)

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 31 Fear (previous close: 35 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 44 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 24 at 2:04:38 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 180. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • This is a tough crowd. Surely Trump’s first month brought the Rapture closer?

Gallery

Seems on-point:

Class Warfare

“Measuring the Income Gap from 1975 to 2023” [RAND]. • Handy chart:

I realize the data stops 2019-2020, when Trump’s CARES Act lifted millions out of poverty, at least temporaily.

News of the Wired

“We bullied HP into a minor act of disenshittification” [Cory Doctorow]. Well worth reading in full, but here is the heart of the matter: “HP’s enshittificatory impulses run wild. They hunt relentlessly for ways to make things worse for their customers in order to make things better for themselves. Last week, they came up with a humdinger, even by their own standards. They announced that people who called their customer service line would be subject to mandatory 15-minute waits, even if there was a rep who was free to talk with them…. During this mandatory 15-minute wait, customers would be bombarded with a recorded voice demanding that they solve their problems by consulting HP’s website and its awful chatbots. In a competitive market, businesses can contain their customer service costs by making better products. In a monopolistic market like the printer racket, companies can deliberately introduce maddening antifeatures to their products, and then fob off the customers who reach such a peak of frustrated rage that they resort to calling a customer support number on chatbot that will use its spicy autocomplete to hallucinate nonexistent drivers and imaginary troubleshooting steps…. Within a day of Paul Kunert breaking the story in The Register, HP had reversed its policy, citing ‘feedback’ (a corporate euphemism that means ‘fury’). This is a rare win for the forces of disenhittification and it deserves recognition. It turns out that in these Mangionean times, companies can actually be bullied into comporting themselves with marginally less sleaze and cruelty. It’s especially noteworthy that this took place in the UK, where Prime Minister Kier Starmer has invited tech companies to pick Britons’ pockets without fear of consequence, by firing the top competition regulator and replacing him with the former head of Amazon UK.” • Yay! (And just think how much better call centers will be when everything is AI!

* * *

Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From JH:

JH writes: “In the hope you may need a couple more photos prior to your departure from NC, I have attached several photos of plants in my yard. If you can’t use them, I hope at least you can enjoy!” And:

The red flower is Maltese Cross (Lychnis Chalcedonica). I have spent an inordinate amount time and money trying to get these established. Supposedly easy to grow – but not for me in Northeast Ohio. I am fascinated by the plant’s history: First noted as planted in cottage gardens in England circa 1500, but believed to have been brought back from the Middle East in the 1100’s during or after a Crusade. It has a lovely, long-lasting flower and is best situated among other plants in an “informal” setting – that informality, which, much to my own self-chagrin, is usually “created” by me as I always procrastinate on the weeding…

I am in good shape, readers, and in fact have almost emptied the queue, which is good for all of us!

* * *

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

Subscribe to Post Comments
125 comments

      1. Emma

        Oh bummer, it’s your last day of regular posting duty! Thank you for doing so much over the years to keep us informed, entertained, and in line! Best wishes to a glorious and well deserved retirement!

        1. JBird4049

          Yes to this, but I hope to still see you however occasionally. Thank you for your work. It’s kept me sane.

      5. amfortas the hippie

        man.
        “do not go gently..”, and all.
        i dont remember when i first started coming around here…nor when i thereafter started yammering on…
        but , damn…this is an ending that has some heft to it.
        good fortune on yer roamin.
        and you have my number, if youre ever near the big middle of texas.
        (may is the best time to be here,lol)

      6. MooCowsRule

        Thank you for your hard work, Lambert! Your relentless pursuit of all things COVID has been amazing.

        You will be missed.

      8. ambrit

        In some hope of surcease of our withdrawal pains, will the hamsters be returning to turning the wheels that power a certain edifice?
        No matter what next, be the best Lambert possible.

      9. FlyoverBoy

        Lambert, thank you so much for all your good work, especially around Covid. May karma let you live long and happy for all of us whose chance of doing so has been improved because of you.

      10. Glen

        Thanks Lambert! The 2PM Water Cooler has been a big part of my mental health program.

        Fair winds and following seas.

      11. Bazarov

        Goodbye, Lambert. I’ve been reading Water Cooler for at least a decade. I’ll miss it. Enjoy the exciting new endeavors open to you!

      12. Jonathan Holland Becnel

        Lambert, please join us at Classunity.org!

        Would love to work with you organizing a third party!

        Your scope of Local Knowledge is unparalleled!

        OMINA FAUSTA CANO

        LONG LIVE THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD

      13. jonboinAR

        Is this it, Lambert? Is this it?! Farewell, bon ami, and many thanks! You made it a good Internet. It will be poorer without. “Y’all come back now! Y’ heah?” (Ellie Mae Clampett voice)

    2. Offtrail

      Live all you can. It’s a mistake not to.

      Lambert Strether
      The Ambassadors by Henry James

      Per: the Internet

      PS – best wishes

    3. cinta

      thank you so much, Lambert, for all your stellar work. your knowledge, wit, and curiosity helped build a thoughtful and critical community. best of luck with your next adventure!

  2. Michael Hudson

    The Atlantic article and Weber’s patrimonialism is utterly anti-historic.
    In Mesopotamia, the ruler’s household — the palace economy — was corporately distinct, as were the temples (usually close to the ruler).
    The economy at large was governed by common law on the land. So it was a bifurcated (or better, trifurcated) economy.
    The state emerged only in classical antiquity. Not in anthropological societies, where the chieftain’s household also was distinct.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      Awesome, thanks! It was the Schmittian aspect that appealed to me. Did the friend/enemy distinction appear as the key aspect of politics back in Mesopotamia? I have no notion of how that discourse would have appeared, or even if States in those days conceived of “politics” as we do, so perhaps that is a very stupid question.

      1. Gulag

        Schmitt’s theorizing on the friend/enemy distinction appears based on his philosophical decision about human nature not the historical development and evolution of the State.

        “Because the sphere of the political is in the final analysis determined by the real possibility of enmity, political conceptions and ideas cannot very well start with an anthropological optimism. This would dissolve the possibility of enmity, and thereby, every specific political consequence.” See Carl Schmitt, (The Concept of the Political), pg. 64

  3. t

    That HUD video seems especially stupid, aside from just being dumb – unless all those people were just fired and not worried about use of resources, connecting to 3rd parry tools, if HQ means an area where the public could walk in then public presentation without authorization, etc etc that would get me fired from my private sector job.

    1. Bugs

      Who the heck knows why the libs think that deploying gay fetishist images are the way to troll the quote unquote fascists into submission. It’s projection. And infuriating.

        1. amfortas the hippie

          ive never understood the foot fetish thing,lol.
          i mean, to each his own…and Tam’s pinky toes were tiny and bent and cute and all…but man!
          to reify feet thataway…
          i wonder at the psychology of it.

    2. matt

      democratic culture seems to consist entirely of ad hominem “owns” of republicans. i find it to be deeply frustrating, and exacerbated by the internet. (it’s a lot easier to make fun of people who you don’t actually know, and there are no repercussions, only ingroup praise.) they think it’s funny to “turn the republicans own weapons against them,” when really it’s just one giant bullyish name calling match.
      a lot of the people i hung out with this weekend spoke of trump and republicans in a really mocking sense. mostly online young women in their 20s. one of them told me about a tiktok trend called “republican makeup” (link for reference) where people put on “foundation that is the wrong color and overlined lips”, while democrat makeup was “like actually good makeup.” which reminded me of the “our blessed nyc clean girl aesthetic vs their barbarous southern beauty queen aesthetic” meme.
      i am reaching the point where i am just going to ignore everyone who acts like that if i can. because me going “erm thats dumb actually” feels like it’s contributing to the cycle.

      1. IM Doc

        What is a bit disturbing today is two or three of the screen grabs I have seen from the NSA and what the employees were discussing online in an open forum at the agency. Very inappropriate for work. It is also a bit disgusting to me – not everyone who has had the work they described is happy with the results – there are those in my practice who are in constant misery all day. I am no prude. In my life and my line of work, I have heard it all. But that does not mean this is appropriate to be placed on an open forum at work. Had I done anything like that all the way through my career up into the present day – I would have been terminated immediately. I know that because it has happened several times to others in my life – for far far less than what was done at HUD and what was released from NSA today. The HUD tape and now the NSA forum – the kid last year doing the OnlyFans on Amy Klobuchar’s desk in the Senate committee room…..I can go on and on…… What is wrong with these people? Why do they think this kind of behavior is OK?

        1. aleph_0

          Here, read some history: Triggering the Libs.

          I never know if people who only quote one side of the food fight were particularly online in the last yen years, where a lot of this originated.

          Anyway, I always think about Thomas Frank’s masterpiece, Make Them Cry. Now that people believe that the state is mostly unable to deliver positive outcomes for people, they’ve decided to use virality and state power, if possible, to punish and upset their enemies.

          1. IM Doc

            I think there may be one big difference – this Dem was so “triggered” by much of what was done in the past 4 years not by random online people but by actual employees and staffers of Dem congresspeople and agencies that it really turned me off to the whole Dem architecture in DC. As in really making me believe they need a break from power.

            Random online people are not the same as employees and staffers.

            1. aleph_0

              No, no difference. Why? Those people who started it online on the right are now in power so I think the point stands. The Thiel network is staffed through with groypers and Very Online People, including our VP Vance and most of the DOGE main characters. Elon’s Hitler salute was a classic lib-owning 4-chan bit, even saying that “he is become meme.” Life is now a crummy mirror of the posting wars of the last decade where the group in power gets to punish the others.

              I don’t think we could honestly look at 2021 and say that Trump world handles COVID substantially better than Biden world, and the fact that we get to live through this farce is heartbreaking.

            2. aleph_0

              Those online people (groypers and alt right) are now the ones in power, punishing their enemies and privatizing the government so the cycle of Making Them Cry continues.

              1. steppenwolf fetchit

                The current application of Making Them Cry is a bright shiny squirrel object to divert attention from the deeper longer-range agenda of bankrupting and largely destroying the US government and selling off every publicly owned asset ( all the National Parks, all the National Wildlife Refuges, all the National Forests, all the BLM lands, all the Taylor Act Grazing lands, all the TVA/BPA/CVA/VA/Social Security/USPS etc. assets), and everything else of monetizable value to the Republicans’ social class allies, social class and personal cronies and masters.

                And the purpose of terminating government functionality is also to make every upper class crime functionally legal in practice. MAPLA! ( Make All Pollution Legal Again) and so forth.

                Their eyes are on the prize and Making Us Cry is a ploy on their part to keep us busy and distracted.

    3. steppenwolf fetchit

      I read somewhere that that video was not an HUD video . . . . not authored and placed by HUD people . . . but was placed there by an outside hacker. Has anyone else read different?

      How long did the HUD computer people leave it up there before taking it down? And if Musk’s little dogees locked the HUD people out of their own computers and then an outside hacker got in and put it there, but the HUD people were still locked out, what exactly would the HUD people have been supposed to have been able to do about it?

      1. Randall Flagg

        >How long did the HUD computer people leave it up there before taking it down? And if Musk’s little dogees locked the HUD people out of their own computers and then an outside hacker got in and put it there, but the HUD people were still locked out, what exactly would the HUD people have been supposed to have been able to do about it?

        Another question then is,” what else did an outside hacker do while in the system?”

    1. steppenwolf fetchit

      It sounds like this particular Democrat is not just rolling over. This particular Democrat is a secret Republican agent and probably a secret Trump and Musk asset of influence.

      Any individual Democratic officeholder who is an effective and functional part of an actual successful effort to derail and delay and hopefully destroy some part of the TrumpenMusk program would be worth retaining in office. Any individual Democratic officeholder who is not successful ( even if they try or pretend to try) is best quietly and unemotionally abandoned to whatever fate awaits it. Time and attention are scarce and precious, and any time and attention . . . even negative time and attention . . . given to such people is diverted away from achieving something real.

      Individual Democratic Senators would be easy enough to assess for effectiveness. At the very least, a DemSen could put a Tuberville hold on Bongino for Assistant FBI Director. And keep that Hold locked in place as long as Senate Rules allow. That is just an example of the Obstructionary tools which individual Senators do have at their disposal, without regard to what their ” Minority Leader” might think or want.

      And if the Republican TrumpenMusk plan is to run the government to fast-forward destruction, then Democratic officeholders could be the ones to shut the government all the way down in March and keep it shut down as long as the TrumpenMusk Republicans want a 4 trillion dollar debt increase to match a 4 trillion dollar tax cut in order to liquidate the Government sooner so as to sell off every public asset of every kind to private buyers. If the Democratic Officeholders do not shut the government down and keep it shut down to the end this Congress if necessary in order to slow the Trump Train down, then they would be best not thought about any more.

      People would have to try learning to live in a “no-more-National Democrats” world.

  5. ChrisFromGA

    Re: HP and De-enshittification

    I love the term “enshittificatory” – ha!

    I suggest another term – “enshittifigenic” … as in, thanks to private equity and greased AI we live in an enshittifigenic environment.

    1. Glen

      I have to admit in my line of work we spent a lot on HP Test and Measurement equipment. We worked closely with them my whole career (later on it was Agilent Technologies, and then Keysight.) Their people were top notch. The equipment was the gold standard for test, data acquisition, and control. They were a big part of what I consider the old Silicon Valley to be all about – technical competence, world class support, and a minimum of BS.

      This thing they call HP today – I don’t see any of that anymore.

      Sad.

  6. Waking Up

    The American Robin was the first bird I identified as a child. It may be common but is still special.

    Lambert: Thank you for all your contributions over the years. From articles to links to Water Cooler, I feel so much better informed about what is going on in the world thanks in part to you. Your links and information on Covid was so important at a time of chaos. Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing for Naked Capitalism. You will be missed!

  7. griffen

    Of all places to locate words of wisdom, in an early movie scene of Scarface you have Frank the cocaine boss providing advice to the young new hire, Tony Montana…” Don’t get high on your supply…”. The more this cost cutting effort goes ahead in an increasingly wild pattern, it looks like Musk is possibly violating this rule and being a bit too high and strong on his very own power sources whatever form they might be…

    Eventually some department heads just needed to push back, even moderately so. You can’t lead a department amid a mass exodus and mass personnel changes….well you can I suppose; people who somehow stay or stick it out really should maintain some outside recruiting contacts. As I recall there was a data science / IT technical leader who commented on being let go during a previous round of cost cutting, hope they’re finding some green pasture afterwards.

    Cost cutting…does sound better than wielding the proverbial axe through bureaucracy, but only a moderate improvement. This all looks like mere chaos from the cheap seats.

    1. Michael Fiorillo

      At some point, possibly far sooner than our Boer settler colonialist friend suspects, Trump is going to have to weigh whether the money he’s making thanks to Musk compensates for lost attention and, eventually, pushback from his base and the broader public. Musk has his incel s^*+heel legion, but they could be put down if so desired.

      Hard to imagine Musk’s competing megalomania and antics not annoying Trump before long.

  8. IM Doc

    A couple of things about the above articles – the measles article – and the ivermectin/HCQ article.

    First of all – there are some very interesting standouts as far as deviations from norms in the measles outbreak. The rate of hospitalization is extremely higher than what would be expected – and that is giving me some real concerns. My guess is that this is being spread among people who are not the healthiest to begin with- and that may be driving this. Even more interesting is the constant use of the word “unknown” when referring to the “unvaccinated”. Just so everyone will know, the use of the word “unknown” especially in the numbers it seems to be being used in this issue – is a kind of medical code word that is often specifically used for immigrants. Their vaccination status for pretty much anything is truly unknown and this is especially true after the past 4 years of no-screening wide open borders. All immigrants during the past 4 years were forced to be COVID vaccinated – despite the fact that it is a non-sterilizing vaccine incapable of preventing transmission – all the while their measles status, among others, was never checked nor were they forced to be vaccinated for it. I have had my share of unscreened immigrants in the past 2 years with all kinds of medical infectious disease issues. I have screened every last one of them for many infectious issues including measles. Every last one had negative measles antibodies – meaning they had never been vaccinated. I have vaccinated them all. BUT THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE AT THE BORDER. Just think how much more common sense would have been had – if instead of mandating COVID vaccines which do nothing for transmission – vaccines for measles and other things THAT DO MAKE A DIFERENCE would have been mandated. It is called public health 101. My understanding of this, although all rumor and hearsay, is that immigrants were the nidus of this – but then it spread into some kind of non-vaccinating religious community, I think Mennonite – but not sure – and then exploded.

    Regardless – do yourselves a favor and have your kids and grandkids make sure they had MMR. Furthermore – as an adult – if you were immunized decades ago, you may be surprised that your immunity has worn off. GET CHECKED. I did – and I was found to be “inderminate” for measles immunity – so I was vaccinated again.

    I immediately turned off the IVM/HCQ article when they said right off the bat it was for insurance claims only….Huh? – They must have slept through the entire pandemic, especially the part where pharmacy chains et al were blacklisting docs and reporting them to boards etc. An overwhelming predominance of my patients that were using it were getting it from veterinary sources and other under the table methods. Insurance claims? Really? If that is the method they were using – it has WAY WAY undercounted the usage. And I can assure you in my world – there was no lower class predominance.

    1. Lee

      The border vaccination policy you describe is shocking. I was recently surprised to learn that a measles infection comes with a bonus: it compromises immunological memory so that one is rendered vulnerable to reinfection by diseases that one would otherwise have protected from by the adaptive immune system.

      From Wikipedia:

      The measles virus can deplete previously acquired immune memory by killing cells that make antibodies, and thus weakens the immune system, which can cause deaths from other diseases.[42][43][44] Suppression of the immune system by measles lasts about two years and has been epidemiologically implicated in up to 90% of childhood deaths in third world countries, and historically may have caused rather more deaths in the United States, the UK and Denmark than were directly caused by measles.[94] Although the measles vaccine contains an attenuated strain, it does not deplete immune memory.[43]

      1. IM Doc

        I made a misstatement in my above discussion – It should say “All LEGAL immigrants were forced to have the COVID vaccine” – it is very clear that in the chaos at the border where the illegal immigrants were concerned – there was no effort to worry about any vaccination.

      1. IM Doc

        Sorry for the jargon – I try my best but it sometimes escapes. And just FYI, medical jargon terms are often not really associated with their underlying meaning. I have been fascinated by the attempts of AI to reproduce this as if it was a real clinician. This is often hilarious to read.

        A nidus is the source of infection in a body – in epidemiological terms – a nidus is often ironically used to refer to the patient zero type individuals – the source of the epidemic.

        1. CA

          “Sorry for the jargon ”

          I think you are beyond splendid, and was only setting down a dictionary meaning.

        2. CA

          “FYI, medical jargon terms are often not really associated with their underlying meaning. I have been fascinated by the attempts of AI to reproduce this as if it was a real clinician…”

          https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202502/1328947.shtml

          February 23, 2025

          Local governments, hospitals in China embrace DeepSeek
          AI helps assisting public service hotline, medical record management
          By Li Yawei and Liang Rui

          A growing number of cities in China are embracing the innovative applications of DeepSeek, with some integrating it into government services to streamline repetitive tasks and hospitals leveraging it for preliminary patient diagnostics. A Chinese AI expert noted that DeepSeek serves as an assistant to enhance productivity, yet humans’ comprehensive practical abilities remain beyond DeepSeek’s reach…

        4. debug

          Joining in the etymology-fest:
          The term “nidicolous” is also used to refer to birds who stay in the nest until grown, and also used to describe other species that mainly occupy nests of other animals, as in “nidicolous mites” or other “nidicoles” that specialize in parasitizing nesting birds and mammals.

    4. Carolinian

      Thanks Doc. We movie fans know that one of the functions of Ellis Island was to check the health status of immigrants and possibly reject them on that basis. Hence the “island.”

      Disease management going backwards?

      And of course during Covid port of entry NYC was one of the origin regions for the USA. Whatever one thinks of Musk our government managers seem to have lots of competence gaps. Shouldn’t they be hiring while they are firing?

      1. steppenwolf fetchit

        ” Shouldn’t they be hiring while they are firing”? Only if maintainance of government function while improving it is Musk’s goal. But if Musk’s goal is to destroy these government departments and agencies, then firing should outrun hiring. And Ideally hiring would be zero while doing the firing so as to destroy the targeted departments and agencies soonest.

        Since that is what Musk is doing, it would appear that ‘ closing competence gaps’ is not the goal here.

    5. Yves Smith

      The NIH says measles immunity from vaccines starts falling after 10-15 years! https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8189124/

      Plus the MMR vaccine is a live (attenuated virus) vaccine and those generally strengthen the immune system (I have become a live vaccine fetishist).

      Where I am, getting a measles titer test costs more than the vaccine (and my insurance does not cover either). I could almost certainly talk my regular MD into Rxing an MMR vaccine again. Is there any reason not to do that (as long as you space it out in relation to other vaccines or interventions)?

      To put it another way, shouldn’t everyone over 50 assume they need an MMR vaccine again?

  9. t

    The word disenshittification is the main thing that’s always irked me about his attempt to enhance his brand with a new word, when crapification has been a perfectly complete, and more sensible, word since the last century.

    Petty? Perhaps. (Probably.)

  10. johnnyme

    The backpedalling has begun, but with hints of more mayhem to come:

    Elon Musk makes an admission about the productivity email his group sent to federal workers

    Elon Musk said that blanket emails sent to federal employees asking for a response about their weekly accomplishments or risk termination was a test to see if they “had a pulse.”

    Less than 24 hours before the deadline, Musk hinted that the emails were simply a ruse to ensure federal employees were “capable of responding” to his correspondence.

    “This was basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email,” Musk said. “This mess will get sorted out this week. Lot of people in for a rude awakening and strong dose of reality. They don’t get it yet, but they will.”

    On Sunday afternoon, Musk also referred to the emails as a “very basic pulse check.” That evening, Musk added that a response was indicative that employees have “two working neurons.”

    1. urdsama

      I think the degree of future mayhem depends on who/what was behind the backtracking.

      Musk hates to look a fool, and right now he does in spades. You can tell by his childish response.

    2. steppenwolf fetchit

      Since Musk is a significant driver of this stuff, and it is moving faster than any legacy systems or people can keep up, then it becomes up to individuals, along and/or in groups, to figure out how to cause Musk maximal pain so fast as to divert his energy from the great work of dismantling governance.

      How can millions of people destroy Tesla and force it into quick liquidation all over the world? How many people would have to leave twitterX and/or boycott all its advertisers until they leave it, in order to steer twitterX into a shrinkage spiral and then a death spiral?

    3. Carolinian

      Thanks. He also sent an email saying the month is up and those not back in offices from work at home would be fired. Presumably another “just kidding” missive?

      Musk needs a muzzle.

      1. steppenwolf fetchit

        Why does Musk need a muzzle? Let Musk be Musk. Let it all hang out. Let people get a good strong whiff of the Musk-man’s true smell.

    4. Mikel

      From “a critical care physician and medical director of intensive care units in federal, local and rural hospitals, I am in part a government employee”:

      https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-02-24/doge-office-of-personnel-management-uc-san-diego-veterans-affairs/

      The man-children in charge still won’t respect what this doctor does or feel happiness at care brought to patients. They still think AI will do it better. Dealing with certified empathy challenged people who were selected for those traits.

      1. IM Doc

        It is not just the federal government. This doctor is having many of the same complaints that any doctor in America working for private equity has.

  11. Emma

    Here’s the latest outburst from DOGElon with commentary.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/1102/comments/1ix0sif/another_tweet_by_musk_about_rto/

    Due to office space constraints, many federal agencies have not been able to find space for all of their teleworking and remote work employees, some of whom live thousands of miles from their head quarters. According to Musk, it appears that these individuals will be put on administrative leave and presumably laid off in 60 days.

      1. Emma

        I wonder what Elon will do when he realizes that the US Patent and Trademark Office is about 90 percent remote, including almost all patent examiners.

        1. Bugs

          Would be tragic if all Tesla (car company) and SpaceX patents were permanently deleted. Irrecoverably lost. Just gone. Not on Google, not anywhere. It could be an organized hack, who knows?

        2. Carolinian

          Many government workers don’t have offices to go back to because it was management that sent them home.

        3. ChrisFromGA

          I’ve already read stories about mass layoffs in the US PTO on LinkedIn. Looks like there won’t be as many of them to rubber stamp tech bros patents …

  12. gkarlson

    Lambert –

    I don’t know if you realize how your postings and curations over these many years have been what seems now as an irreplaceable window into the realities of the world. It’s been really fabulous. If this is actually the last day, it is then a very sad day. May you flourish wherever you are destined!

    1. Randall Flagg

      >If this is actually the last day, it is then a very sad day. May you flourish wherever you are destined!

      Indeed, as grey a day as can be in the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire if it is a last day.

      And yes, may you flourish wherever you are destined.
      Thank you!

      1. Bsn

        I hope you include Christmas wrapping paper as you are (soon to be were) a wonderful gift. AKA you dah mahn!

  13. mrsyk

    The Conjurer, A reminder to us not to get caught up focusing on the pledge, the turn, and the prestige.
    Lambert, I am going to miss your ability to see beyond the mirrors, and your dry wit flogging of our betters.
    Whatever your plans may be, I’m confident they will be executed in style with deserving beneficiaries.
    Fare you well.
    ps, robins were my mom’s favorite.

      1. mrsyk

        Friday. In a different timeline I would insist on standing you a pint or five.
        Thanks for everything. It’s been a good run.

      3. thousand points of green

        After you have had a good long well-earned rest, I hope you decide to figure out how to overcome your dislike of work when it comes to gardening. If we are approaching a future where ” the food you cannot grow is the food you will not have” . . . then you may well want to protect your future survivability against that future.

        That’s not an assignment, just a hope and a wish.

  15. JBird4049

    >>>What I want to know is why Sanders is the only one at the podium. Let’s get some new faces up there

    Perhaps he is the designated Judas goat? And despite being almost as supine as most other politicians, he still has more of a spine than most of them?

    1. Big River Bandido

      Maybe the “party” feels that Sanders actually had an email list of people who supported him, and thus he should get out there; no one else can even claim to have a popular following. I note that I received not one but two different spam text this past weeks: “Bernie here”. Yeah, sure. I now live in Iowa so maybe it was a way of hyping the rallies in PMC Fooballville (aka Iowa City).

      I was angry at Sanders after he dropped out in 2020. Now I just feel sorry for him having to carry water for such horrible people, to no apparent purpose, and with no possible benefits.

  17. Pat Morrison

    Along with all of the substantive things Lambert has shared, and all of the substantive comments people will make in farewell, I have been grateful for all of the Clash references.

    ‘Ignore Alien Orders!’

    And Woody Guthrie’s guitar isn’t the only machine capable of killing fascists. Thanks to the team here at NC.

  18. Mauirice Fitzgerald

    It is ok to hear that Sanders has followers. I guess he most people only realistic option to completely selling out. I haven’t seen any positive talk about him anywhere else or encountered any of his supporters on any of the mastodon social media i usually inhabit. I have seen things for Jill Stein, De LA Cruz etc.

  19. You're soaking in it!

    Lambert, thank you again for all the hard work, sophisticated explanations, and sacrifice you have given to helping knit together this wonderful website! We will miss your daily presence, and hopefully will still enjoy guest returns from time to time.

    1. IM Doc

      Lambert – thank you for all that you have done.

      You have not only enlightened people – I think you have done much to save their sanity.

  20. lyman alpha blob

    RE: why Sanders is the only one at the podium

    Because if actual members of the Democrat party were there too, the “good billionaires” like Pritzker and Soros might have a sad. And we can’t have that lest donations be cut. The spice must flow!

    Lambert, not sure what you’re remaining schedule is, but thanks for everything over the years!

    1. lyman alpha blob

      “Your” – it wouldn’t do to allow the typo in my potentially final comment to you in WC to go unremarked. I’ve admired your meticulous grammar over many years!

  21. Steve H.

    Lambert: masc. proper name, from French, from German Lambert, from Old High German Lambreht, from lant “land” (see land (n.)) + beraht “bright” (from PIE root *bhereg- “to shine; bright, white.”).

  22. flora

    Your last day? Say it ain’t so!

    You are the very model of a Moderator General,
    You’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
    You know the chiefs in Congress, and you quote the fights historical,
    From Medicare to Labor laws, in order categorical;

  25. Wukchumni

    Elon’s “five bullets” email debacle.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Yeah, one bullet is all you need when playing Russian Roulette~

    Lambert,

    It’s been fun having you around with your keen sense of chiaroscuro, and a celebration is in order!

    Happy trails…

  26. petal

    Thank you for everything, Lambert, and do take care. Happy trails! If you’re ever near Hanover I’d be honored to buy you lunch and a beverage of your choice.

  29. Mikel

    https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/02/covid-virus-evolution/681798/
    COVID Broke the Rules of Virus Evolution

    “But scientists were not aware of a second, accelerated evolutionary track: When SARS-CoV-2 infects a single immunocompromised patient, it can persist for months, accumulating countless mutations in that time.”

    I vaguely recall this being discussed on NC early in the outbreak. No? It may have been during those conversations where there seemed to be much amazement at how much previous science about viruses seemed to have went out the window. Maybe a post or two.

    “And if we are unlucky, that highly mutated virus might spread to others. This is the likely origin of Omicron, which appeared in fall 2021 with more than 50 mutations—an astounding evolutionary leap. ”
    And the timing of that…brings something else to mind.

    1. CA

      “COVID Broke the Rules of Virus Evolution”

      Please set down the science reference, if possible. I can find no journal publication reference.

      1. Mikel

        I didn’t write the article. Just looked like they were talking about something scientists weren’t aware of and I’m trying to remember where it seems like I heard that discussed before.

        1. CA

          “I didn’t write the article.”

          I am grateful for the mention of the article, but an article about scientific findings should immediately reference those findings. I am in no way challenging the post, but absent journal-published scientific findings I have no way of judging the article.

          Thank you so much.

          1. Steve H.

            (Remember…)

            > That same month, a preprint from a group led by Ravindra Gupta

            The link at preprint leads to:

            : Neutralising antibodies in Spike mediated SARS-CoV-2 adaptation

  30. dogwood

    Lambert, I will really miss you, a lot lot!
    May you find new adventure on the high seas,
    but always remember to return home… hope we will hear from you around here once in awhile, but if this is really your quiet grand finale, then thank you ever so much

  31. ambrit

    Tossing this out there. Acknowledging the questionable nature of the analogy, but Musk’s Legions of Decency and Economy could be equated with Ernst Roem’s Brownshirts of the early days of the NASDAP in interwar Germany.
    Will Trump have to stage his own version of the ‘Night of the Long Knives?’ (After the Muskshirts have done their wrecking chores. What would Kristallnacht look like on the Internet?)
    In this case, Trump, or his successor, already has an Enabling Act in place, thanks to the spineless Politicos of Washington.
    The above is not strictly snark

  33. upstater

    Labor activism. When the enforcers strike, what does that mean?

    More than 6,500 National Guard personnel on duty as wildcat NY prison strike continues syracuse.com

    More than 6,500 National Guard personnel were on duty Monday to help run the New York state prison system as an illegal strike by corrections officers entered its second week.
    …
    Strikes by government employees are illegal under a section of state Civil Service Law commonly known as the Taylor Law.

    The current contract with the corrections officers union took effect in 2023 and lasts through next year.

    The involvement of the National Guard is similar to a two-week strike in 1979 when guard personnel ran prisons with the State Police.

  34. none

    “We bullied HP into a minor act of disenshittification”

    There must be a movement against that kind of thing. It could be called antidisenshittificationism, a new spelling bee word.

    Anyway wouldn’t the HP action be deshittification?

    Other: I hadn’t heard about raccoon dogs before. I only knew about wiener dogs.

  35. none

    Lambert, OMG just catching up with earlier comments. I’m going to miss you. Make sure to check in with your NC homies here now and then.

  36. JB

    Bizarre – I’m just noticing now after years, that Gonzalo Lira (the US journalist passed/killed by Ukraine) had a pretty bad dust-up with Steve Keen a decade ago – I had even contacted Steve at the time to let him know of a ‘website malfunction’ caused by the aftermath of this, and learned of Lira’s involvement then (without knowing anything about him then).

    Weird how short the degrees of separation are – I see he has had stuff cross-posted here at NC at times, as well, ‘back in the day’.

  37. Ben Panga

    Moving to USA as a Brit is bewildering in many ways. Finding out that the American robin is a completely different bird was one.

    Beautiful :)

  39. chris

    Best wishes Lambert! Thanks for all the conversation and links over the years. I hope your next endeavor is everything you want it to be.

  40. hk

    Re the “patrimonialism” piece, the thing to note is that the Weberian state was always an ideal, not ever a real thing, even if we came closer to it every now and then. As an academic acquaintance put it, “meritocracy” simply meant people who have “merit” (whatever that is) get the right to give stuff to their friends via government.

    The real question, as I see it, is whether people who don’t have this “merit” can recognize this as something worth yielding to? Are the “meritorious” so powerful that they can’t be challenged? (This would be the unstable path) Or, do they produce such public benefit, even if it’s not their primary goal, that the masses are willing to tolerate them? (This is actually Mancur Olson’s argument–more important insight than the collective action stuff, I think.) This runs counter to what “meritocrats” today think “merit” means–just credentials, whether they actually produce anything useful, or not–actual raw power through which they can assert their rule or something useful for enough others so that they would tolerate your rule.). So today’s meritocrats are just bandits, not the bandits with some “redeeming” values that Olson saw. This cannot be a stable thing….

  41. Matthew G. Saroff

    In regard to Musk’s 5 points email, they are explicitly stating that they will use LLM Artificial Intelligence to review the responses.

    This almost certainly means Musk’s Grok.

    It seems to me that one could explicitly poison the AI with responses.

    BUT THAT WOULD BE WRONG, THAT’S FOR SURE!!!!

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