By Lambert Strether.
Readers, I awoke with an particularly nasty head chilly yesterday, which I’m nonetheless combating at present, so this Water Cooler will finish once I creep again to mattress, there to drink loads of fluids. –lambert
Chicken Tune of the Day
Brown Thrasher, BHI–Thompson Island (restricted entry), Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States. Features a far-off airplane.
* * *
In Case You May Miss…
DOGE: New lawsuit from Public Citizen on DOGE information “entry.”
DOGE goons have write entry to Treasury’s funds system (Tankus, Wired, Marshall, however not Taibbi).
* * *
Search for the Helpers
Saving datasets (1):
All the archive of all CDC datasets uploaded earlier than January twenty eighth, 2025 has been backed up on Web Archive.
Unimaginable work everybody. Science won’t ever be silenced! pic.twitter.com/DWJXkzg8E3
— Dr. Fortunate Tran (@luckytran) February 3, 2025
Saving datasets (2):
The @uscensusbureau has taken down American Group Survey microdata.
Fortunately @nikhil_woodruff had a neighborhood copy, so we now retailer it on @ThePolicyEngine servers. pic.twitter.com/6LaKntuw0h
— Max Ghenis (@MaxGhenis) February 4, 2025
* * *
My electronic mail tackle is down by the plant; please ship examples of there (“Helpers” within the topic line). In our more and more determined and fragile neoliberal society, on a regular basis regular incidents and tales of “the communism of on a regular basis life” are what I’m in search of (and never, say, the Pink Cross in Hawaii, and even the UNWRA in Gaza).
Politics
“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in reality a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
* * *
DOGE
Alliance for Retired Individuals, American Federation of Authorities Staff, AFL-CIO, and Service Staff Worldwide Union, AFL-CIO v. Scott Bessent, in his official capability as Secretary of the Treasury, Division of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (PDF) [UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA]. I’m inspired by Public Citizen’s involvement. Readers will recall that in combating TPP — a combat they received! — Public Citizen was an absolute honey badger. Right here is the Plea for Reduction, the place (a), (b), and (c) repeat in simplified phrases the Counts:
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs pray that this Court docket:
a. Declare that Defendants’ choice to implement a system by which Elon Musk or different DOGE-affiliated people might entry the Bureau’s information and acquire private details about people and taxpayers contained there’s illegal.
b. Enjoin Defendants from persevering with to allow such entry or receive such private info.
c. Enjoin Defendants to make sure that future disclosure of particular person information will happen solely in accordance with the Privateness Act, the Inner Income Code, and the SORNs [System of Records Notice, placed in the Federal Register] relevant to the system of information at difficulty.
d. Grant any non permanent, preliminary, or everlasting injunctive reduction mandatory to guard the privateness of people whose info is contained inside the system of information.
I’ve two quibbles. First:
This Court docket has statutory jurisdiction over this motion pursuant to twenty-eight U.S.C. § 1331, as a result of this motion arises underneath the legal guidelines of america, particularly, the Administrative Process Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 702, 706.
Readers will recall from my earlier DOGE put up that Lexology took a unique view. Recall the DOGE is a brief group underneath the rechristened United States Digital DOGE Service, which is within the White Home:
The APA governs federal companies’ rulemaking and adjudication processes. Entities inside the Government Workplace of the President that solely advise and help the President are exempt from the APA. DOGE’s advisory function seemingly locations it outdoors the scope of the APA
That is the one justification given for the Court docket having jurisdiction. Do any actual legal professionals on the market have ideas?
Second, the case pertains solely to entry, not giving DOGE goons admin privileges for the whole system. It does appear to me that if certainly DOGE’s raison d’etre is certainly “recommendation” — laborious to imagine, with Elon’s fixed drumbeating, however assume so — then there isn’t a motive in any respect for DOGE to have admin privilges, which exist to vary issues, to not undestand and proffer recommendation about them. Readesr?
* * *
“Afternoon of Day Six of the Trump-Musk Treasury Funds Disaster of 2025: Altering the Treasury Funds Supply Code & the Treasury’s ‘DOGE’ gag order” [Nathan Tankus, Notes on the Crises]. Tankus on Odd Tons; first breakthrough to the mainstream. “A supply aware of the scenario reviews to me that: ‘They’re additionally doing much more to guard [Marko Elez, the dude with admin privileges]. For example: there’s a gag order on BFS IT personnel proper now. They aren’t permitted to debate “DOGE”, even in discussions inside to the Bureau. I’ve by no means seen something like this earlier than. Marko Elez’s unchecked conduct all through essentially the most delicate funds infrastructure in america is one thing they’re working very laborious to guard.” • I hate to cite Speaking Factors Memo, however we should all pull collectively on this–
“Musk Cronies Dive Into Treasury Dept Funds Code Base” [Talking Points Memo]. “In a single day, Wired reported that, opposite to revealed reviews that DOGE operatives on the Treasury Division are restricted to “learn solely” entry to division cost techniques, this isn’t true. A 25-year-old DOGE operative named Marko Elez in reality has admin privileges on these important techniques, which immediately management and pay out roughly 95% of funds made by the U.S. authorities, together with Social Safety checks, tax refunds and just about all contract funds. I can independently affirm these particulars primarily based on conversations going again to the weekend. I can additional report that Elez not solely has full entry to those techniques, he has already made intensive adjustments to the code base for these important cost system.” Presumably there’s a supply code management system such that Elez’s adjustments might be rolled again? Anyone ought to discover out….
“Day Six of the Trump-Musk Treasury Funds Disaster of 2025: “Treasury has been denying that they gave Marko write entry, however I’m taking a look at his entry request proper now” [Nathan Tankus, Notes on the Crises]. “One supply is conscious of this letter and explicitly denied it late yesterday: ‘Treasury has been denying that they gave Marko write entry, however I’m taking a look at his entry request proper now and it has the Deputy Assistant Commissioner for IT Operations instructing the workforce to ignore all earlier directions and assign Marko learn/write privileges for the database. Thus, a technique that this letter could possibly be technically true in a weird and wildly dishonest sense is that by first having ‘read-only’ entry after which having ‘learn and write’ entry, they could possibly be mentioned to have ‘read-only’ and ‘learn and write’ entry concurrently. However most likely america Treasury is simply mendacity… [T]his supply says, concerning the truth that the letter doesn’t point out Marko Elez, states ‘That’s undoubtedly a purposeful evasion.’ In any , the scenario stays terribly, incomprehensibly dire as they proceed to have ‘learn and write; entry. Based on a supply aware of the scenario a senior IT worker shared a schedule of blackouts (system outages, sometimes for upkeep which may embody system code adjustments) for the Cost Automation Supervisor (PAM), Worldwide Treasury Companies (ITS) & the Customary Utility for Funds (ASAP) to Marko Elez. Recall that PAM is the first approach for the Treasury to ship funds, having despatched 4.7 trillion {dollars} final 12 months.” • Public Citizen ought to clearly amend their instances instantly to stop this. (I’m beginning to suppose at “entry” is a kind of phrases; it prevented the story from advancing for 3 days. I also needs to observe that lots of Tankus’ stuff is single sourced, so he and we want extra greybeards to step ahead. Right here from Workplace Area is the least unhealthy situation (since there are not any coverage or Constitutional implications):
And one of many worst:
Britain: we’ve got to grasp wtf we’ve accomplished. We’ve allowed one in every of Trump’s closest allies have entry to our total NHS information techniques. That is the CEO of Palantir telling shareholders that ‘when it’s essential to scare enemies & from time to time kill them’
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) February 5, 2025
“Scare enemies & from time to time kill them”? Smile while you say that, son. Although Karp doesn’t smile MR SUBLIMINAL Boeing; OpenAI.
“Treasury Division Letter to Members of Congress Relating to Cost Methods” [U.S. Department of the Treasury]. “Treasury has no greater obligation than managing the federal government’s funds on behalf of the American folks, and its funds system is important to that course of. Consistent with that mission, Treasury is dedicated to safeguarding the integrity and safety of the system, given the implications of any compromise or disruption to the U.S. financial system. The Fiscal Service is assured these protections are strong and efficient. Subsequently, increasing on efforts that started underneath the prior Administration, Treasury has been present process a evaluate of those techniques to maximise cost integrity for companies and the general public.” • Which might be why David Lebryk resigned.
“Nation Shrugs as Godzilla Eats Washington” [Matt Taibbi, Racket News]. USAID triumphalism: “On NBC, former U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID) official Michael Schiffer wailed that the beheading of his former group would trigger nationwide safety to ‘erode.’ His quote got here as USAID’s price range has been cracked open and Individuals are leafing, transfixed, by means of its colossal library of crazy-ass contracts. From $39 million for ‘Gender Equality in Water, Energy, and Transportation’ to ‘Recognizing the Third Gender in Bangladesh to “Ukrainian Resilience Via Vogue’ to a ‘TransFormation Salon’ to a pre-Taliban plan to assist ‘Afghan Ladies Enter the Monetary Sector,’ it’s a bottomless pit of ‘I don’t need to pay for that.’ A visit by means of USASpending.gov led me to an “artwork remedy” contract whose deliverables embody issues that seem like (however can’t be, after all) suggestive pics of queer youngsters… If we shut the door on such work, the previous USAID official Schiffer mentioned, ‘America’s Enemies Will Rejoice.’ Joe Scarborough known as USAID ‘the final word gentle energy.’ Look, , however I’m undecided it’s a nationwide safety line merchandise” That is very humorous, however on the similar time I do know precisely what it’s, as a result of I did it 2003 – 2006: It’s singing in refrain (as I known as it then) or dogpiling (as we name it at present). The prurient ingredient provides a type of locker-room frenzy to the entire mishegoss. Extra: “MSNBC was one in every of many shops to explain USAID as a ‘humanitarian‘ group at present — the Morning Joe graphic is a frowning waif-child — despite the fact that the world is aware of it to be a clear CIA proxy used as cowl for intel shenanigans. How can they suppose that is the sensible play?” • Lastly Taibbi says one thing vital. Look, I like a snarky takedown as a lot as the following particular person — they’re enjoyable and simple to jot down — however how come Nathan Tankus, Wired, and (gawd assist us) Josh Marshall are consuming Taibbi’s lunch on the ginormous story of DOGE’s learn/write (admin privileged) entry to our trillion-dollar funds system?
* * *
“Trump and Musk demand termination of federal workplace leases by means of Common Companies Administration” [Associated Press]. “One of many subsequent strikes in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping effort to fireside authorities staff and curtail operations is utilizing the company that manages 1000’s of federal worker worksites across the nation to chop down on workplace area. Final week, regional managers for the Common Companies Administration, or GSA, acquired a message from the company’s Washington headquarters to start terminating leases on all the roughly 7,500 federal places of work nationwide, in response to an electronic mail shared with The Related Press by a GSA worker. The order appears to contradict Trump’s personal return-to-office mandate for federal staff, including confusion to what was already a scramble by the GSA to search out workspace, web connections and workplace constructing safety credentials for workers who had been working remotely for years. However it could replicate the Trump administration’s perception that it received’t want as many places of work as a result of its efforts to fireside staff or encourage them to resign.”
Syndemics
“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
* * *
Covid Assets, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Common Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be at liberty to contact me on the tackle given with the vegetation. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!
Assets, United States (Native): 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 reviews); 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).
Assets, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).
Assets, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tricks to useful 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, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Keep secure on the market!
Vaccines: MMR
Babe get up:
I as soon as did surgical procedure on a man who had mumps 50 years prior. His testicles regarded like somebody had microwaved them, chewed them, spit them out, after which shoved them again in his scrotum. That’s what mumps does to testicles. Vaccines forestall this from taking place.
— Ashley Winter MD || Urologist (@AshleyGWinter) February 5, 2025
Can a health care provider within the readership affirm?
* * *
Lambert right here: A lot is now again.
TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts
Wastewater
This week[1] CDC January 27
Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week):
Variants [3] CDC January 18
Emergency Room Visits★[4] CDC January 25
Hospitalization
New York[5] New York State, information February 3:
★ Nationwide [6] CDC January 31:
Positivity
★ Nationwide[7] Walgreens February 3:
★ Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic February 1:
Vacationers Information
★Positivity[9] CDC January 13:
★ Variants[10] CDC January 13
Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 11:
Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 11:
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new at present; all others should not up to date.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) Down, nothing new at main hubs.
[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has accomplished an important job normalizing successive waves of an infection.
[4] (ED) A bit of uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Undoubtedly jumped, however no exponential development both, Odd.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward development since, effectively, Thanksgiving.
[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants). Positivity is new, however variants haven’t but been launched.
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
There are not any statistics of curiosity at present.
* * *
The Bezzle: “Arkham Intelligence Information Unmasks Satoshi’s $108 Billion Bitcoin Vault” [Bitcoin.com News]. “On Tuesday, blockchain analytics entity Arkham Intelligence unveiled its discovery of $108 billion in BTC held inside the acknowledged bitcoin wallets linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. By leveraging superior forensic instruments and the famend Patoshi Sample, the platform traced these holdings to the pseudonymous creator’s earliest digital vaults, casting contemporary mild on the dormant fortune’s staggering scale.” • Hmm. I’ve all the time puzzled at Satoshi’s uncanny potential to stay unfound. Maybe he’s a spook? Or a entrance for a committee of spooks?
The Bezzle: “After twelve years of writing about bitcoin, right here’s how my considering has modified” [Moneyness]. From 2024, nonetheless germane. “If you wish to purchase some bitcoins, go proper forward. We are able to even assist by regulating the buying and selling venues to make it secure. However don’t pressure others to play. Alas, that appears to be the place we’re headed. There’s a rising effort to arm-twist the remainder of society into becoming a member of in by having governments purchase bitcoins, within the U.S.’s case a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The U.S. authorities has by no means entered the World Collection of Poker. Nor has it gone to Vegas to wager billions to tax payer funds on roulette or constructed a strategic Powerball ticket reserve, but it surely seems to be genuinely entertaining the concept of rolling the cube on Bitcoin.” And: “Bitcoin is an extremely infectious early-bird sport, one which after sixteen years continues to discover a fixed stream of latest recruits. How contagious? I initially estimated in a 2022 put up, Three potential paths for the value of bitcoin, that adoption wouldn’t rise above 10%-15% of the worldwide inhabitants, however I could have been underestimating its transmissibility…. It begins with a small strategic reserve of some billion {dollars}. It ends with the Division of Bitcoin Value Appreciation being allotted 50% of yearly tax revenues to make the quantity go up, to the detriment of infrastructure like roads, hospitals, and regulation enforcement. At that time we’ve entered a dystopia wherein society quickly deteriorates as a result of we’ve all change into passionate about a wager.” • Sadly, “early chook sport” is undefined. Readers? NOTE This is a vital take, so I’m leaving it up, this time with the URL.
* * *
Immediately’s Concern & Greed Index: 39 Concern (earlier shut: 38 Concern) [CNN]. One week in the past: 46 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed).Final up to date Feb 5 at 3:15:48 PM ET.
Groves of Academe
Since we received’t hold our kids secure from airborne illnesses, it solely is sensible we’d feed their minds with AI slop:
The Cal State system, the place I train, simply introduced a murky however far-ranging & evidently unprecedented public-private initiative to, per the Chancellor, “set up the CSU because the nation’s first and largest AI-powered public college system[.]” That is very regarding imo, pic.twitter.com/8UJ2nTP8GJ
— Martha Lincoln (@heavyredaction) February 5, 2025
Zeitgeist Watch
“What’s a Pig Butchering Rip-off? Right here’s Keep away from Falling Sufferer to One” [ProPublica]. “For those who’re like most individuals, you’ve acquired a textual content or chat message in current months from a stranger with a gorgeous profile {photograph}. It would open with a easy ‘Hello’ or what looks like good-natured confusion about why your cellphone quantity appears to be within the particular person’s tackle guide. However these messages are sometimes removed from unintentional: They’re step one in a course of supposed to steer you from a pleasant chat to a web-based funding to, finally, watching your cash disappear into the account of a fraudster. ‘Pig butchering,’ because the approach is understood — the phrase alludes to the follow of fattening a hog earlier than slaughter — originated in China, then went international throughout the pandemic. Immediately prison syndicates goal folks around the globe, usually by forcing human trafficking victims in Southeast Asia to perpetrate the schemes in opposition to their will.” • I don’t see why we’d must have human trafficking after we can simply use AI.
Class Warfare
Talking of NGOs:
Information of the Wired
“Why being a ‘bingo evening’ common might purchase your mind an additional 5 years” [StudyFinds]. “Older adults who maintained energetic social lives developed dementia roughly 5 years later than their much less social friends (age 92 versus 87), in response to a examine of 1,923 seniors
Easy actions like eating out, taking part in bingo, taking day journeys, or attending spiritual companies had been related to a 38% decrease danger of creating dementia.” • And for very on-line introverts?
* * *
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 verify in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are nice! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you would like your deal with to look as a credit score, please place it at first of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From IM:
IM writes: Grass fringing the Pacific Rim terrane mélange. An genuine black and white movie picture from the westy west coast. The composition is extra in regards to the textures than any central characteristic– chill out and let the eyes transfer!”
* * *
Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not lined by the annual NC fundraiser. Materials right here is Lambert’s, and doesn’t specific the views of the Bare Capitalism web site. For those who 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 kind. Keep 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 3 or 4 days I get anxious. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising objectives:
Right here is the display that can seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
For those who hate PayPal, you may electronic mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will provide you with instructions on how you can ship a verify. Thanks!
This entry was posted in Visitor Put up, Water Cooler on February 5, 2025.
Put up navigation
