2:00PM Water Cooler 6/14/2023 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chook Music of the Day

Cozumel Thrasher, San Miguel; Isla Cozumel, Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico “Breeding standing: Territorial. Different Behaviors: Promote. Habitat: Forest, Evergreen Forest, Deciduous Forest, Second-growth, Scrub.” That is nice!

(I had initially thought to pair this species with skateboarding thrashers, however I can’t discover any movies that aren’t both company or influencer-ish. Oh properly.)

Politics

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

Biden Administration

2024

I assume it’s time for the Countdown Clock!

* * *

Holy moley, that is epic. A must-listen:

Ep. 3 America’s ideas are at stake pic.twitter.com/eJNSUVvvqY

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 13, 2023

The important thing passage:

We are able to level to the exact second that everlasting Washington determined to ship Donald Trump to jail. right here it’s it’s from the Republican candidates debate in Greenville South Carolina:

[TRUMP:] “We should always have by no means been in Iraq; now we have destabilized the Center East. They lied, okay. They stated there have been weapons of mass destruction there have been none and so they knew there have been none there have been no weapons of mass destruction.”

We should always by no means have been in Iraq, Trump stated. We destabilized the Center East. Now by the point Trump stated that plenty of Republican major voters had been beginning to attain the identical conclusion; how may they not. But it surely was the following line that doomed Trump to as we speak’s arrest. “They lied” he stated, “there have been no weapons of mass destruction” and so they knew there have been none.

Now when he stated that a number of within the crowd booed, most simply sat there in silenced surprised. Can he say that? Nicely he stated it anyway and by saying that he sealed his destiny. That was the one factor you weren’t allowed to say as a result of it implicated too many individuals on each side, which on this matter is basically only one facet.

Hillary Clinton was responsible of it, however so was Paul Ryan. All of them had been responsible; all of them knew, all of them lied, and to an individual they hated Donald Trump for exposing them.

After that it was fairly clear that even when he did get elected president Trump was going to have a really laborious time controlling the federal authorities he was imagined to be in command of. Most of everlasting Washington determined that thwarting Trump was the only most necessary mission of their lives.

So Trump is that this man:

The man who threw sneakers at Bush. Besides Trump threw his sneakers at everybody who works “for presidency” in uber-Blue Fairfax, Virginia, plus each spook and eight-star basic that makes financial institution on the teebee, plus each “entry” journalist on the nationwide safety beat, and let’s not neglect the army industrial complicated and its Mighty Rice Bowl. Or the squillionaires with arms sellers of their portfolios, who probably phoned the household workplace from poolside once they noticed the clip and stated “take care of the matter” adopted by “No, I don’t care how.”

“Trump raised $2 million hours after arraignment” [Politico]. “The marketing campaign raised $2.04 million throughout a “candlelight dinner” with prime donors and marketing campaign bundlers, in response to an individual accustomed to the marketing campaign. Trump gave transient remarks to his supporters and was seated at a desk with donors and supporters that included Sen. Tommy Tuberville, (R-Ala.), in response to an attendee. Whereas Trump’s marketing campaign has largely relied on small greenback, grassroots donors, the fundraiser — which had a aim of elevating round $2 million — demonstrates how Trump has nonetheless been capable of depend on deep pocketed supporters to fill his marketing campaign coffers even amid his authorized troubles. The marketing campaign has not but launched info on how a lot cash Trump raised within the aftermath of his indictment, but it surely deliberate to make these numbers public following consideration for his arraignment and a wave of fundraising pleas from his marketing campaign.” • Single-sourced, however… “They” by no means needed to arrest Sanders, did they….

“The Trump Prosecution by the Numbers: 90, 70, 12, 1” [Jonathan Turley]. On “1”: “For Trump, his group should run the desk on the entire 37 counts. As a person who will flip 77 years outdated on Wednesday, Trump can’t enable for a single rely to outlive as a result of the costs include a possible of 10-12 years in jail. … The number one is also looming for Jack Smith. Simply as Donald Trump can’t lose a single rely, Smith can’t lose a single juror with out going through a hung jury.” • Nicely price a learn.

“CBS Information ballot evaluation: GOP major voters nonetheless see Trump as finest shot in opposition to Biden” [CBS]. “Former President Donald Trump is Republicans’ best choice for a presidential nominee, not solely as a result of they like what he did as president, but additionally as a result of they assume he can win. Regardless of questions on his electability, they nonetheless see him as their finest shot to defeat President Joe Biden. And views of electability rely on what voters desire in a nominee: interesting to Individuals within the center or turning out the bottom. Regardless of Trump’s a number of indictments, six in 10 Republican major voters say he would ‘undoubtedly’ beat Mr. Biden in a 2024 general-election rematch. And evaluating information collected earlier than and after federal costs had been unsealed, the brand new indictment has not put a dent into this quantity — not less than not but.” • Nicely, I’ve gotta say: I doubt very a lot that my views of Trump map properly to the views of the common Republican voters. However Trump: (1) Removed TPP in his first days in workplace, and (2) his administration put an infinite dent in poverty with the CARES Act, (3) carried out Operation Warp Velocity, and (4) didn’t get us concerned in a serious floor struggle (Ukraine) and tried to get us out of 1 (Syria). Additionally (5) Trump saved me $600 by abolishing the tax penalty that was the ObamaCare mandate. In the meantime, Biden owes me $600. All in all, Trump’s document stacks up in opposition to Biden’s, Obama’s, Bush’s, and is arguably higher than Clinton’s, just because Clinton did a lot uncooked evil. Do I need to have a beer with Trump? No. Do I like strong gold Louis Quinze rest room faucets? No. Is Trump careless, mouthy, undisciplined, and crooked? Sure. And?

“No Labels prone to again off third celebration bid if DeSantis emerges as GOP nominee” [Politico]. • Grifters gotta grift.

* * *

RFK on Snowden and Assange:

RFK JR:

“I’d put a statue of Snowden in Washington… Assange I’m going to pardon on Day 1.” pic.twitter.com/7wLiRGDSfK

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 13, 2023

Good! Let’s see if RFK’s polling numbers maintain up.

RFK on RussiaGate:

.@RobertKennedyJr explains why he modified his thoughts on Russiagate—and the way that hoax was essential to the breakdown of US-Russia relations:

“Now I see that because the runway to the Ukraine Warfare… that we had been being propagandized to see the Russians as an existential enemy.” pic.twitter.com/7br6za9t0c

— System Replace (@SystemUpdate_) June 12, 2023

Good!

I’m so outdated I keep in mind when liberal Democrat comedy was truly humorous:

Once I turn out to be president, I vow to ARREST Invoice Gates, Anthony Fauci, and Klaus Schwab for crimes in opposition to humanity!

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Parody) (@basedRFKJr) June 7, 2023

No, however severely, Invoice Gates? Home windows ME was dangerous, however was it “crimes in opposition to humanity” dangerous?

Good platform, however what (see above) about Ukraine?

Sure, I assist Marianne Williamson ⁦@marwilliamson⁩ for President
— and right here’s why 👇🏼👇🏽👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/K7AVNhS4a7

— Harvey J Kaye (@harveyjkaye) June 14, 2023

Cornel West goes Inexperienced:

The Inexperienced Get together welcomes Dr. Cornel West as a candidate looking for the celebration’s nomination for president. Dr. West is a vital voice for social and financial justice in step with our celebration’s platform. We stay up for him taking part within the nomination course of. @CornelWest

— Inexperienced Get together US 🌻 (@GreenPartyUS) June 14, 2023

I’m unsure whether or not it is a Individuals’s Get together/Inexperienced Get together unity ticket, or West fixing his Nick Brana downside by throwing the Individuals’s Get together beneath the very small bus that’s all it will take, or whether or not he’s attempting to resolve his poll entry downside, assuming the GP nominates him. (Lengthy-time readers will recall that my expertise with the Maine Inexperienced Get together was excruciating; the brand we see within the GP tweet, professionally designed for good or sick, and delivered with an entire graphic, er, identification, was the supply of long-running controversy, with some native groupuscules refusing to undertake it, and so forth., and so forth. Possibly issues have improved now.)

* * *

Republican Funhouse

“Trump Allies Take Out Anger on FBI Headquarters Undertaking” [Wall Street Journal]. “In current days, some Home Republicans have begun coalescing round a plan to get rid of funding for a brand new FBI headquarters in response to the bureau’s function within the indictment, probably the most clearly outlined piece of a multipronged assault on the Justice Division. Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has expressed assist for the concept of scuttling the venture. ‘It sends a message to the FBI that they need to act extra responsibly if they need us to spend over a billion {dollars}, manner over a billion {dollars},’ stated Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.), a member of the Home Appropriations Committee. Democrats condemned Republicans for threatening to derail the long-awaited venture. Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated it will be ‘an infinite slap within the face of the actually hundreds of FBI staff who work to guard the nation.’” • That’s a rattling disgrace, though it restores my religion in humanity to come across an elected who thinks a billion {dollars} continues to be actual cash.

Our Famously Free Press

“Was Tucker Carlson’s New Twitter Present Truly Watched By 114 Million Individuals?” [Mediaite]. “[T]right here is little comparability between tweet views and cable information scores. First, let’s begin with Carlson’s new Twitter present. Did one third of america watch Carlson’s first episode? Not precisely. Musk has made a giant push to point out off the ‘tweet view’ metric of posts on his platform, including it to the interface. Now you’ll be able to see how many individuals have considered every tweet on the location. Final month, he hid the ‘video view’ metric, which confirmed how many individuals watched a video on Twitter. Even the video view metric was fairly flimsy: in response to Twitter, if you happen to watch a video for 2 seconds, with solely half the video participant in-view, you rely as one video view. The tweet view metric is even much less beneficial. It merely counts how many individuals considered the tweet, so if you happen to scrolled previous Carlson’s video on Twitter, you counted as one of many 114 million…. As Steve Hasker, the previous president of Nielsen who now serves as CEO of Thomson Reuters, defined in 2015: ‘In TV, the usual measurement unit for viewership is the average-minute viewers — what number of viewers there are in a median minute of content material. Within the digital house, alternatively, video measurement is often expressed because the gross variety of instances the video is considered, even when just for one minute or one second. These two metrics are fairly totally different, and evaluating one to the opposite unfairly tilts the comparability in opposition to TV.’” • So, apples and oranges. However suppose Carlson’s numbers are off, relative to TV, by an order of magnitude. That’s 10 million. Nonetheless spectacular!

“Fox Information sends Tucker Carlson cease-and-desist letter over Twitter sequence, stories say” [Associated Press]. “Fox has demanded Carlson cease posting movies to Twitter, The New York Occasions additionally reported Monday — because the community’s legal professionals accuse Carlson of violating his contract, which runs till early 2025 and restricts his means to seem on different media shops. In the meantime, Carlson’s legal professionals have stated the community breached the contract first. A spokesperson for Fox Information Media and attorneys representing Carlson, Bryan Freedman and Harmeet Dhillon, didn’t instantly return The Related Press’ requests for feedback on Tuesday. ‘Doubling down on probably the most catastrophic programming determination within the historical past of the cable information business, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent till after the 2024 election,’ Dhillon stated in an announcement despatched to Axios and the Occasions. ‘Tucker won’t be silenced by anybody.’” •

Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, it appears that evidently persons are truly studying the back-dated submit! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are various updates. So I should do this. –lambert

I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Get together (“the Democrat Get together is a rotting corpse that may’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated submit, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “dwell” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Get together is, in actual fact, a tough downside. I do assume the paragraph that follows is on level all the way in which again to 2016, if not earlier than:

The Democrat Get together is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Pay attention, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Get together didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” after all.) Second, all of the working components of the Get together reinforce one another. Go away apart characterizing the relationships between parts of the Get together (ka-ching, however not completely) these parts comprise a community — a Flex Internet? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with belongings within the press and the intelligence group.

Word, after all, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is restricted by different courses; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.

* * *

“AOC on local weather voters: ‘I’m trying ahead to pushing for extra’ [Axios]. • So, “pushing for” is the brand new strategy to say “preventing for”? As a result of preventing is just too aggressive, possibly? (Axios’s advertising division solely lets me see the headline, sadly.)

“George Soros-linked PAC, further races give Virginia Democrats fundraising edge in essential major election” [FOX]. “Democratic legislative candidates in Virginia have a fundraising edge due partially to donations from a George Soros-linked political motion committee and having extra nomination contests than their Republican counterparts, a nonprofit discovered.” See, Republicans have NGOs too! Extra: “The fundraising haul will not be completely excellent news for the state’s Democrats because it exhibits some political in-fighting as profitable candidates try to oust seasoned incumbents.”

Realignment and Legitimacy

Covid and “Lefty” organizations. I believe that is very perceptive, and I haven’t heard it stated earlier than:

Granted, this comes out of convention organizing, so are we coping with NGOs, or a real left? Unknown. Then again, for a real left, there’s alternative right here. And the left wants to fulfill in #DavosSafe rooms too, as DSA’s absurdly imprecise* annual convention insurance policies — nothing digital, although, that’s clear — couldn’t present extra clearly. NOTE * “The Conference will comply with a sturdy protocol in step with different in-person DSA occasions (e.g. NPC conferences, committee conferences). This coverage shall be put collectively by the Conference Committee and voted on by the NPC. As soon as it’s finalized, will probably be linked right here.” “Sturdy” is a type of phrases you by no means need to hear. Operationally, it means a giant honkin’ three-ring binder, and no follow-through. And three years right into a pandemic pushed by an airborne pathogen, with the function of air flow and masking well-known, why on earth does the protocol should be “put collectively by the Conference Committee and voted on by the NPC”? Can’t these individuals truly arrange something? Do they need their convention to be a superspreader occasion? And in the event that they’re so all-fired “democratic,” why is there no hyperlink for feedback or proposals? Concern of the disabled group?

“Amber waves of ache” [Lyz Lenz, Fingers]. “Farmers account for lower than 1 p.c of the inhabitants in America. However the American farm occupies an outsized function within the company creativeness…. Manufacturers like Busch and Miller Excessive Life need to align themselves with the essence of being American. Or, not less than, the imagined concept of what’s American. On this narrative, America is open areas — inexperienced fields, blue skies, a lone farmer in a discipline with nothing however a tractor and nature to maintain him firm…. However this picture of America is extra fiction than actuality…. Pictures of American farmland swathed in rows of soy and corn are additionally photographs of poison. Yearly, hundreds of kilos of hog shit are sprayed on fields and run off into streams and rivers, making their manner into the Missouri and Mississippi river basins. Iowa’s agricultural waste has performed an enormous function in making a lifeless zone within the Gulf of Mexico, which is an oxygen depleted space of the ocean…. There is no such thing as a place in America that’s higher than some other. Laughter in America’s heartland isn’t extra real than in New York Metropolis. The heartland will not be outdoors of or above America’s political divisions, it’s not a impartial house; it’s not nicer, or extra real than some other a part of America. And when companies fetishize farmers and fields, they work to disregard the violent realities which can be roiling beneath the bottom.”

#COVID19

“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort.

Sources, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater stories); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Sources, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).

Sources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (9), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (5), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Maskstravaganza

Have been they smiling with their eyes? Or solely with their lips?

my 89 y/o stepdad had minor surgical procedure as we speak in NYC and the HCWs made him REMOVE HIS 3M Aura N95 and PUT ON A SURGICAL MASK. my mother stated the HCWs had been tremendous smiley and pleased. not masked ofc. they’re GLEEFULLY endangering my aged dad and mom. i’m so freaking offended.

— Ever (@genderlessflesh) June 14, 2023

The so-called HCWs mustn’t have been allowed to “make him.” They need to have given him an lodging. Battle for one, if you’re ever on this state of affairs.

Censorship and Propaganda

“Silvio Berlusconi, scandal-ridden former Italian prime minister, dies aged 86” [Guardian]. • Not one point out of Covid. However in 2020: Italy’s Berlusconi leaves hospital after ‘harmful’ COVID-19 battle and in 2021 Silvio Berlusconi leaves hospital after 24 days medical supervision “as a result of alleged long-term results of Covid-19.” Alleged? By whom? Is there some crime concerned?

“One thing Terrible”

Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” could be a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. A lot of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most definitely deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson). To which we’d add mind harm, together with persona modifications therefrom.

* * *

“A methylation clock mannequin of gentle SARS-CoV-2 an infection offers perception into immune dysregulation” [Molecular Systems Biology]. From the Summary: “DNA methylation contains a cumulative document of lifetime exposures superimposed on genetically decided markers…. We characterised the temporal trajectory of blood epigenetic reworking in 133 members in a potential research of younger adults earlier than, throughout, and after asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 an infection. The differential methylation attributable to asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infections was indistinguishable….The medical trajectory within the younger adults and in a various cohort with extra extreme outcomes was predicted by the similarity of methylation earlier than or early after SARS-CoV-2 an infection to the model-defined postinfection state. .” • I don’t like that final sentence in any respect. However the entire piece is up to now over my head I can’t even inform it’s woo woo. Maybe a member of the Mind Belief will remark.

“Pfizer sees antibiotic provide working out as scarcity worsens” [Bloomberg]. “Pfizer will run out of a number of doses of penicillin, which deal with syphilis, strep throat, and different infections, later this 12 months as shortages ripple throughout the US provide chain. The corporate anticipates working out of the youngsters’s dose of the syphilis drug Bicillin L-A by the tip of June, in response to a letter Pfizer posted Tuesday on the Meals and Drug Administration’s web site. The corporate says it’s prioritizing manufacturing of bigger doses of Bicillin L-A, which is really helpful for pregnant individuals with syphilis as a result of it’s the solely drug that may cross via the placenta and likewise deal with the fetus. A special Pfizer penicillin, Bicillin C-R that treats different bacterial infections however not syphilis, is anticipated to expire within the third quarter, which ends Sept. 30. Pfizer’s penicillin has been in scarcity since April. ‘The provision interruption is the results of a fancy mixture of things together with important will increase in demand, as a result of a rise in syphilis an infection charges in addition to aggressive shortages,’ Pfizer stated within the letter, which is dated June 12. . Shortages of the youngsters’s type of this drug led to extra want for antibiotics like penicillin, which treats comparable infections.” • “rising charges of respiratory infections.” Huh! Whaddaya know. Commentary:

We Don’t But Know Whether or not To Minimise The Drug Scarcity Or To Blame One thing Else, However Please Be Fully Reassured That We Gained’t Blame Widespread Repeat Covid Infections. pic.twitter.com/STgnWV3vWL

— The Vertlartnic (@TheVertlartnic) June 14, 2023

Coverage

The spectacle of the GBDers screaming “Assist! Assist! I’m being oppressed!” whereas they efficiently gave the political class cowl to undertake stochastic eugenism as the popular coverage choice…. Nicely, let’s simply go forward and say it’s not edifying:

I do not recall a single credible voice wherever explaining intimately the harm of lockdowns in 2020. All i keep in mind is a bunch of fringe loonies shouting “let it rip” whereas 1000’s of individuals a day had been dying from it. Then promising us there’d be no second wave, then ALPHA hit us. https://t.co/edZo5DvhHu

— Ted Brautigan (@T_Brautigan) June 14, 2023

Elite Maleficence

Case Information

From BioBot wastewater information from June 13:

For now, I’m going to make use of this nationwide wastewater information as one of the best proxy for case information (ignoring the medical case information portion of this chart, which for my part “goes dangerous” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). No less than we are able to spot tendencies, and examine present ranges to equal previous ranges.

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, June 10:

Lambert right here: Appears to love XBB.1.16 and now XBB.1.16 are outcompeting XBB.1.9, however XBB.1.5 has actually endurance. I certain hope the volunteers doing Pangolin, on which this chart relies upon, don’t all transfer on the inexperienced fields and pastures new (or have their entry to amenities minimize by directors of sick intent).

CDC: “As of Might 11, genomic surveillance information shall be reported biweekly, primarily based on the provision of optimistic take a look at specimens.” “Biweeekly: 1. occurring each two weeks. 2. occurring twice per week; semiweekly.” Appears like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they’re telling us variants are nothing to fret about. Time will inform. Appears like the Walgreens variants web page isn’t updating.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, from June 10:

NOTE “Charts and information offered by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous 12 months, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not your entire pandemic, FFS (the implicit message right here being that Covid is “identical to the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week interval” is suitable for each_{MR SUBLIMINAL I hate these individuals a lot}. Discover additionally that this chart exhibits, not less than for its time interval, that Covid is not seasonal, although CDC is attempting to get us to consider that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the prevailing institutional equipment for injections.

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, June 12:

0.1%.

Deaths

NOT UPDATED Loss of life price (Our World in Information), from June 7:

Lambert right here: Theatre of the absurd. I can consider that deaths are low; I can’t consider they’re zero, and I can’t even consider that each one medical doctors signing dying certificates have agreed to make it so. Appears to me like some administrative minimizer at WHO put the worst intern in command of the venture. And thanks, Johns Hopkins of the $9.32 billion endowment, for abandoning this information feed and passing accountability on to the clown automotive at WHO.

Complete: 1,166,818 – 1,166,713 = 105 (105 * 365 = 18,250 deaths per 12 months, as we speak’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “dwelling with” Covid (fairly a bit greater than the minimizers would really like, although they will discuss themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could need to determine that is what the powers-that-be contemplate “mission achieved” for this specific tranche of dying and illness).

Extra Deaths

NOT UPDATED Extra deaths (The Economist), printed June 13:

Lambert right here: Nonetheless some encouragement!

Lambert right here: Based mostly on a machine-learning mannequin. (The CDC has an extra estimate too, however because it ran eternally with a large typo within the Legend, I figured no one was actually it, so I received rid it. )

Stats Watch

Inflation: “United States Producer Costs Change” [Trading Economics]. “The annual producer inflation in america eased for an eleventh straight month to 1.1 p.c in Might 2023, the bottom since December 2020 and under forecasts of 1.5 p.c.”

Retail: “Amazon Calls On Governments To Assist Crack Down On Pretend Evaluations” [Forbes]. “Nevertheless, the corporate is asking for extra assist from governments by way of laws and enforcement. ‘The precise state of affairs varies by nation. In some international locations, governments ought to set up enforcement authority or stronger enforcement instruments to penalize faux evaluate brokers,’ it says. ‘In international locations that have already got laws or rules in opposition to soliciting faux evaluations, we consider regulators needs to be doing extra to make use of their current enforcement authority to take motion in opposition to faux evaluate brokers.’” • Amazon evaluations are, in actual fact, a feedback part and important to Amazon’s continued success as a model. However Amazon isn’t treating them that manner. They’re attempting to do content material moderation on a budget with algos, and since that doesn’t work, they need, in essence, to present their algos powers of arrest. Why not rent a content material moderation group?

Retail: “Bud Mild Loses Title as High-Promoting U.S. Beer” [Wall Street Journal]. • Possibly Pritzker can purchase them on a budget?

The Bezzle: “South Korean Crypto Lending Big Suspends Withdrawals Amidst Hovering Market Volatility” [BSC News]. “South Korean cryptocurrency lending firm Delio has introduced the suspension of withdrawals, citing elevated market volatility, in response to the native media outlet, Decenter. Delio, which operates as a Digital Asset Service Supplier (VASP) and stories to monetary authorities, holds important quantities of BTC, ETH, and different alt-coins totaling $9.3 billion. Delio didn’t reveal when withdrawals will resume. The choice to halt withdrawals comes as a response to the current suspension of deposits and withdrawals by Haru Make investments, a transfer made to guard traders following a enterprise error. Delio CEO Jung Sang-ho said that the suspension was a vital measure to deal with the surge in withdrawal requests and preserve asset safety. The precise particulars of Delio’s transactional relationship with Haru Make investments weren’t disclosed. Delio’s suspension led Upbit, one in every of Korea’s largest crypto-asset exchanges, to cut back digital asset withdrawals from Delio as a part of its investor safety measures. ”

Right this moment’s Concern & Greed Index: 81 Excessive Greed (earlier shut: 80 Excessive Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 76 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jun 14 at 1:30 PM ET.

Class Warfare

“Madison Avenue Takes On Capitalism” [Forbes]. “If you happen to take a look at the model throughout the American financial system most brand- challenged proper now – one which each dominates virtually and but struggles attitudinally— it would properly be capitalism itself. Regardless of its historic function as the best prosperity engine ever created, and regardless of the resilience of U.S. productiveness and employment figures even throughout this rocky time, capitalism, has turn out to be more and more unpopular throughout the nation synonymous with it. Simply 57 p.c of Individuals have a optimistic view, in accordance to an enormous Pew Analysis survey final summer season, versus 65 p.c in 2019, numbers that comport with quite a few different polls, together with ours, performed with The Harris Ballot. Drill down by age cohort, and people outcomes turn out to be positively alarming: amongst adults beneath 30, solely 40 p.c have optimistic emotions (in contrast with 44 p.c who stated the identical about socialism). America’s subsequent technology of leaders appears extra eager to create the following AOC than the following AOL. And oblivious to what socialism means when utilized dogmatically throughout a rustic, whether or not Venezuela as we speak or East Germany a technology in the past.” If “the following AOC” is the end result, then capitalism can relaxation straightforward.” • Fascinating article. I’ll simply pull out one deliverable:

Neither has anybody else. There’s no such factor.

I’ve linked to and quoted Insider these days. Sorry, guys:

Information of the Wired

“Amtrak St. Louis-Chicago journey getting upgraded from present 90 mph to 110 mph” [ABC7]. • That’s virtually supersonic! What’s it, maglev?

A variant of the drunk searching for his keys beneath the lamp submit:

Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn how to ship me a test if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are wonderful! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you’d like your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it firstly of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize by utilizing your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From WB:

WB writes: “First MN wildflowers of the Spring — Siberian Squill — apparently an invasive however fairly nonetheless.” Nicely seen!

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not coated by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you happen to see a hyperlink you particularly like, or an merchandise you wouldn’t see wherever else, please don’t hesitate to precise your appreciation in tangible type. Bear in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common optimistic suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. Once I get no donations for 5 or ten days I get fearful. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising objectives: