Chook Music of the Day
Brown Thrasher, Might 2024 Rondeau PP–South Level Path East, Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. Identical location as yesterday, however completely different birds and much more energetic.
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In Case You Would possibly Miss…
January 6 pardons.
DOGE Government orders.
Bettering surgical masks (many strategies).
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In Case You Would possibly Miss…
January 6 pardons.
DOGE Government orders.
Bettering surgical masks (many strategies).
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Politics
“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are actually a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
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Capitol Seizure
“Trump pardons roughly 1,500 prison defendants charged within the Jan. 6 Capitol assault” [NBC News]. “President Donald Trump on Monday issued roughly 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 of his supporters in reference to the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of them stormed the constructing amid his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in opposition to him. Trump commuted the sentences of people related to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy [despite being riddled with informers]. He then issued ‘a full, full and unconditional pardon to all different people convicted of offenses associated to occasions that occurred at or close to the USA Capitol on January 6, 2021,’ a class that included individuals who assaulted legislation enforcement officers.” • This from Julie Kelly was one thing I didn’t know:
Right here is the raindrop concept–
“UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JOHN DOUGLAS WRIGHT” (PDF) [Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, Criminal Action No. 21-341, United States District Court for the District of Columbia]. Kollar-Kotelly was “beforehand presiding choose of the International Intelligence Surveillance Courtroom.” From web page 24:
It could have been fascinating to use the “raindrop” concept of the case to the banksters who “collectively” prompted the Nice Monetary Crash, inflicting “the pointless expenditure of considerable authorities assets.”
Trump Transition
Lambert right here: Affected person readers, Trump simply signed 100 exective orders (EOs) [apparently only 26? Yes] and held a presser. I don’t have the capability to synthesize all that materials, which is likely creating “Shock and Awe” within the political class. The hyperlinks that observe appear probably the most salient now, however which will change within the coming weeks. What I’ll say is that I’ve skimmed a number of of the orders, and this newest rollout is an incredible feat of staffwork (hat tip Susie Wiles) that the earlier Trump administration couldn’t even have thought of. (Some intelligent folks may also have to put the Government Orders in opposition to Challenge 2025 and search for overlaps. My guess is that the Trump administration could have put its personal distinction twists on a variety of it. Additionally, I’ll typically scatter the EOs below the standard class headings (“DOGE” below “DOGE”) as a result of consolidating 100 EOs in a single place can be unwieldy.
Affected person readers, I’ll return with an inventory of the manager orders — I’m annoyed as a result of I don’t know what number of have actually been signed — after I deal with some administrativia. –lambert
UPDATE Right here is the record. I took it from the Whitehouse.gov web page on “Presidential Actions.” There are 4 buckets: Government Orders, Proclamations, Memoranda, and Bulletins. (I did this as a result of all of the sources I might discover have been explainers, a stage of abstraction away from a easy record of the paperwork Trump signed, which appears to me to be the plain base for any additional evaluation.)
Government Orders:
Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness (order)
Designating Cartels And Different Organizations As International Terrorist Organizations And Specifically Designated International Terrorists (order)
Reforming The Federal Hiring Course of And Restoring Benefit To Authorities Service (order)
Ending Radical And Wasteful Authorities DEI Packages And Preferencing (order)
Defending Ladies From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Organic Fact To The Federal Authorities (order)
Establishing And Implementing The President’s “Division Of Authorities Effectivity” (order)
America First Coverage Directive To The Secretary Of State (order)
Defending America From International Terrorists And Different Nationwide Safety And Public Security Threats (order)
Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Useful resource Potential (order)
Defending The American Individuals Towards Invasion (order)
Reevaluating And Realigning United States International Help (order)
Declaring a Nationwide Vitality Emergency (order)
Restoring The Demise Penalty And Defending Public Security (order)
Securing Our Borders (order)
Defending The That means And Worth Of American Citizenship (order)
Realigning the USA Refugee Admissions Program (order)
Unleashing American Vitality (order)
Clarifying The Army’s Position In Defending The Territorial Integrity Of America (order)
Holding Former Authorities Officers Accountable For Election Interference And Improper Disclosure Of Delicate Governmental Info (order)
Restoring Accountability To Coverage-Influencing Positions Throughout the Federal Workforce (order)
Withdrawing America From The World Well being Group (order)
Utility Of Defending Individuals From International Adversary Managed Functions Act To TikTok (order)
Placing America First In Worldwide Environmental Agreements (order)
Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Authorities (order)
Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship (order)
Preliminary Rescissions Of Dangerous Government Orders And Actions (order)Proclamations:
Guaranteeing The States Safety Towards Invasion (proclamation)
Declaring A Nationwide Emergency At The Southern Border Of America (proclamation)
Granting Pardons And Commutation Of Sentences For Sure Offenses Relating To The Occasions At Or Close to America Capitol On January 6, 2021 (proclamation)
Flying The Flag Of America At Full-Workers On Inauguration Day (proclamation)Memoranda:
The Group for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD) International Tax Deal (International Tax Deal) (memorandum)
Group of the Nationwide Safety Council and Subcommittees (memorandum)
Short-term Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Overview of the Federal Authorities’s Leasing and Allowing Practices for Wind Initiatives (memorandum)
Restoring Accountability for Profession Senior Executives (memorandum)
Selling Stunning Federal Civic Structure (memorandum)
Placing Individuals Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Present Water to Southern California (memorandum)
America First Commerce Coverage (memorandum)
Memorandum to Resolve the Backlog of Safety Clearances for Government Workplace of the President Personnel (memorandum)
Delivering Emergency Worth Reduction for American Households and Defeating the Price-of-Residing Disaster (memorandum)
Hiring Freeze (memorandum)
Regulatory Freeze Pending Overview (memorandum)
Return to In-Particular person Work (memorandum)Bulletins:
President Trump Designates Chairmen and Appearing Chairmen (announcement)
President Trump Broadcasts Appearing Cupboard and Cupboard-Degree Positions (announcement)
President Trump Broadcasts Sub-Cupboard Appointments (announcement)
President Trump Broadcasts Cupboard and Cupboard Degree Appointments (announcement)So that is the scope of the work for right this moment; Trump was busy. Maybe a connoisseuer of Federal doc sorts can clarify why an Government Order in a single case and a Memorandum in one other. I did skim a number of the EOs; they appear to be of various high quality, some fairly particular as to statute and regulation, others extra like “good issues are good” handwaving. For instance, in “Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship”, this:
Sec. 2. Coverage. It’s the coverage of the USA to: (a) safe the correct of the American folks to have interaction in constitutionally protected speech;
and:
Sec. 3. Ending Censorship of Protected Speech. (a) No Federal division, company, entity, officer, worker, or agent could act or use any Federal assets in a fashion opposite to part 2 of this order.
Constitutional attorneys within the readership please right me, however am I proper that this can be a little skinny? Not even a quotation to a court docket case? And “constitutionally” is doing a variety of work. Is there speech that’s not constitutionally protected?
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“Trump indicators order to finish ‘authorities censorship’ of social media” [WaPo]. “President Donald Trump on Monday signed an government order supposed to ‘instantly cease all authorities censorship,’ a sweeping motion that might chill years of efforts to fight the proliferation of false info on-line. The order bans federal officers from any conduct that ‘would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.’ It additionally prohibits taxpayer assets from getting used to ‘unconstitutionally abridge the free speech’ of Individuals…. Trump’s order might have an instantaneous impression on years of efforts to bolster coordination between Silicon Valley and the federal government to fight misinformation about elections, pure disasters and public well being.” • However:
TikTok is lifeless, free Palestine pic.twitter.com/hQKK0trAlW
— Ozymandias (@martianmarxist) January 21, 2025
Nonetheless:
so my tiktok didn’t appear the identical when i acquired again on, so i went and muted all advertisements and turned off customized advertisements, and now i can really see issues about Palestine and fascism pic.twitter.com/mwLLfs7shl
— jess (@jesstechnician) January 21, 2025
Eight hours down not lengthy sufficient to implement the algo adjustments correctly?
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“Neo-Nazis Love the Nazi-Like Salutes Elon Musk Made at Trump’s Inauguration” [Wired]. “At this level, Musk put his proper hand on his chest earlier than extending it straight out along with his palm dealing with down and his fingers touching, a gesture well known because the ‘Roman salute.’ Adopted by the fascist motion a century in the past, it was most famously utilized by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Get together in Germany, and is to today related to the fascist proper, particularly in Italy. After he first made the gesture, Musk then circled to members of the group who have been seated behind him and, along with his again to the digital camera, repeated the gesture. ‘My coronary heart goes out to you,’ Musk added… Certainly one of many examples: “”WE ARE FUCKING BACK” the administrator of a Nazi meme channel on Telegram wrote below a clip of Musk giving the salute.’” • I have to confess that once I first noticed this take I filed below image manipulators searching for symbols after which making leaps in reasoning primarily based on the symbols (which is a really unhealthy behavior within the idpol house). I additionally felt that Musk has been awfully herky jerky currently (and there’s the preliminary hand-on-heart gesture, which types no a part of the Nazi salute. However now, apparently, it does:
“It was an accident!! He’s autistic!!” pic.twitter.com/eOCgJ4cPBr
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) January 21, 2025
File this, on the very minimal, below “Any person must get this dude below management.”
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DOGE
“ESTABLISHING AND IMPLEMENTING THE PRESIDENT’S ‘DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT’” [Whitehouse.gov]. I normalize all-caps to title caps however on this case I’m not, as a result of all of the EOs have this formatting. I hope readers can provide this an in depth studying, however whereas the pre-inaugural DOGE set a horrid precedent, this model appears not so unhealthy. The EO hijacks the USA Digital Service (USDS), which Obama put in place after Silicon Valley techies saved his bacon my making the ObamaCare web site work. That’s a intelligent concept! ” America Digital Service is hereby publicly renamed as the USA DOGE Service (USDS) and shall be established within the Government Workplace of the President.” And: “In session with USDS, every Company Head shall set up inside their respective Companies a DOGE Crew of not less than 4 workers, which can embrace Particular Authorities Staff, employed or assigned inside thirty days of the date of this Order. Company Heads shall choose the DOGE Crew members in session with the USDS Administrator. Every DOGE Crew will usually embrace one DOGE Crew Lead, one engineer, one human assets specialist, and one legal professional. Company Heads shall be sure that DOGE Crew Leads coordinate their work with USDS and advise their respective Company Heads on implementing the President ‘s DOGE Agenda.” • This reveals, not less than, any person was fascinated with course of. (“Particular Authorities Staff” have been what the the pre-inaugural DOGE operatives — the dudes going round interviewing civil servants — ought to have been.
“‘Everybody needs him out’: How Musk helped boot Ramaswamy from DOGE” [Politico]. “Musk, the tech tycoon and Donald Trump confidant, made it identified that he needed Ramaswamy out of DOGE in latest days, in accordance with three folks aware of Musk’s preferences who, like others for this text, have been granted anonymity to debate them. An ill-received vacation rant on X by Ramaswamy about H-1B visas apparently hastened his demise…. Ramaswamy maintained to confidants as late as Saturday night that he was actively concerned in DOGE, saying he was at work writing government orders, in accordance with six individuals who had spoken with him. However an individual aware of the association stated he had finished virtually no DOGE-related work since early December. As not too long ago as final week, Ramaswamy hoped to realize some early wins at DOGE earlier than leaving to pursue a gubernatorial bid. Now Ramaswamy and his allies are laboring to place a constructive spin on his departure, coming simply as Trump takes workplace.” •
2024 Put up Mortem
“The Unhappy Story of Average Joe Biden” [Ruy Teixeira, The Liberal Patriot]. The fascinating a part of this text is on the finish: “Editor’s notice: It is a barely longer model of an essay that initially appeared in The Free Press, the place Ruy is now a contributing author.” • This dude is nimble!
“Biden Was Simply That Unhealthy” [Caitlyn Johnstone, Consortium News]. “From what we’re seeing to this point, Trump is simply returning issues to their horrible normal baseline. Trump will go on to do many evil issues as president, simply as he did throughout his first time period, however none of it will reverse the truth that Biden simply spent 4 years advancing genocide, nuclear brinkmanship and authoritarianism. The Democratic Get together performs simply as essential a task in selling the tyranny and abuses of the U.S. empire because the Republican Get together does, and it’s nonsensical to consider both of them as a lesser evil. The empire itself should finish. It’s doable that Trump’s time period will represent one other swing from Bush-level depravity to Obama-level depravity. It isn’t regular for the U.S. empire to be as brazenly wicked because it has been in Gaza. Usually its evils are way more well-disguised, as a result of it’s within the empire’s pursuits to protect its picture within the eyes of the western public. You solely see the actually in-your-face acts of monstrosity when a coalition of forces throughout the swamp are capable of seize on a uncommon alternative to shove them by means of, as we noticed within the wake of 9/11 and once more within the wake of Oct. 7. The remainder of the time, the empire likes to be loads subtler about its abuses, prefer it was throughout the Obama administration and the primary Trump administration.” • One might, I suppose, contemplate engulfing Greenland as “delicate” in comparison with a full-blown struggle with China. And it’s actually delicate for Trump!
Realignment and Legitimacy
“Trump rescinds Biden’s census order, clearing a path for reshaping election maps” [NPR]. “Among the many dozens of Biden-era government orders that President Trump revoked on Monday was one which had reversed the primary Trump administration’s unprecedented coverage of altering a key set of census outcomes. Because the first U.S. census in 1790, no resident has ever been omitted from these numbers due to immigration standing. And after the Civil Struggle, the 14th Modification has known as for the inhabitants counts that decide every state’s share of U.S. Home seats and Electoral School votes to incorporate the ‘complete variety of individuals in every state.’ Biden’s now-revoked 2021 order affirmed the longstanding apply of together with the overall variety of individuals residing in every state in these census outcomes. It was issued in response to Trump’s try throughout the nationwide tally in 2020 to exclude hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents with out authorized standing…. Although it had a possibility throughout the first Trump administration, the Supreme Courtroom has but to rule on whether or not the president can exclude people who find themselves within the nation with out authorized standing from the tally that determines political energy in the USA.” • Properly, once you body it that approach…
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
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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 deal with 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 studies); 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 protected on the market!
Transmission: Nasal Sprays
“Towards a Radically Easy Multi-Modal Nasal Spray for Stopping Respiratory Infections” [Advanced Materials (DougieD). September 2024. “This report introduces the Pathogen Capture and Neutralizing Spray (PCANS), which utilizes a multi-modal approach to enhance efficacy. PCANS coats the nasal cavity, capturing large respiratory droplets from the air, and serving as a physical barrier against a broad spectrum of viruses and bacteria, while rapidly neutralizing them with over 99.99% effectiveness. The formulation consists of excipients identified from the FDA’s Inactive Ingredient Database and Generally Recognized as Safe list to maximize efficacy for each step in the multi-modal approach. PCANS demonstrates nasal retention for up to 8 hours in mice. In a severe Influenza A mouse model, a single pre-exposure dose of PCANS leads to a >99.99% reduction in lung viral titer and ensures 100% survival, compared to 0% in the control group. PCANS suppresses pathological manifestations and offers protection for at least 4 hours. This data suggest PCANS as a promising daily-use prophylactic against respiratory infections.” • Maybe one day it will be on sale…
Maskstravaganza
If you are only permitted a surgical mask:
here is a non-exhaustive thread on the various modifications you can apply to surgical masks to increase their efficacy at preventing airborne illness (95% effective like N95 masks). combining these modifications will increase your mask’s efficacy 🧵
— a southern souliloquoy (@niggasippian) January 18, 2025
Here is one modification:
here is a non-exhaustive thread on the various modifications you can apply to surgical masks to increase their efficacy at preventing airborne illness (95% effective like N95 masks). combining these modifications will increase your mask’s efficacy 🧵
— a southern souliloquoy (@niggasippian) January 18, 2025
Here is another:
here is a non-exhaustive thread on the various modifications you can apply to surgical masks to increase their efficacy at preventing airborne illness (95% effective like N95 masks). combining these modifications will increase your mask’s efficacy 🧵
— a southern souliloquoy (@niggasippian) January 18, 2025
There are a lot more techniques; the thread is worth reading in full.
Vaccines
“Former surgeon general: Vaccine-preventable diseases are still a major threat” [Jerome Adams, STAT]. The Biden Administration vaccine rollout was fantastically harmful, as we see right here. “Whereas there’s a lot to rejoice in regards to the present concentrate on bettering general well being — significantly the incoming administration’s emphasis on the MAHA agenda, which promotes higher meals security, vitamin, and bodily exercise — it’s essential that we bear in mind these should be priorities along with addressing vaccine-preventable ailments, not instead of them. As I’ve stated earlier than, you possibly can’t die of early coronary heart illness at 50 in case you already died from polio at 5. The fact is that vaccine-preventable ailments are nonetheless a serious menace, even within the twenty first century, and we ignore that at our peril. I hear from pediatricians and well being officers throughout the nation on a near-daily foundation about their rising issues over declining vaccination charges. Mother and father who would have as soon as trusted their well being care suppliers’ suggestions are actually questioning vaccines that ought to be routine, like MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella). What’s much more troubling is that even the dad and mom of long-term sufferers — youngsters who’ve obtained all their vaccines up to now — are more and more opting to delay or forgo these important pictures because of new doubts, typically fueled by misinformation. What’s worse is that the default response to well being supplier suggestions has shifted. For a lot of dad and mom, the concept of questioning, deferring, or outright rejecting vaccines has change into the norm, reasonably the exception. This undermines the belief that has been constructed over generations between well being care suppliers and households, and presents a critical problem for these of us attempting to guard the well being of all Individuals, particularly our youngsters. The impression of this rising vaccine hesitancy will, in fact, be felt most acutely by youngsters whose dad and mom try, in deeply misguided methods, to guard them. Whereas we’re unlikely to see a dramatic rise in deaths from vaccine-preventable ailments within the U.S. within the close to time period, the non-public prices are immense. A single case of measles can result in weeks of missed college, sporting occasions, household gatherings, and different milestones. These are prices many Individuals felt have been insufferable and inexcusable throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but we’re now placing our youngsters vulnerable to struggling the identical disruptions — disruptions which can be each preventable and pointless.” • As I stated, it’s MMR that’s under-assault. In fact, we’ve got already been induced to desert our youngsters to Covid — thanks, Nice Barrington dudes — so all the pieces’s going in accordance with plan.
Elite Maleficence
Maybe the CDC’s normalization of wasterwater information isn’t as unhealthy as I believed:
Violet Blue’s correction right here:
New info that OP is misunderstanding the change. Additional information is right here: That CDC has eroded public belief on C19 hasn’t helped in any respect.
— Violet Blue® (@violetblue) January 19, 2025
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TABLE 1: Each day Covid Charts
Lambert right here: I don’t like a variety of this week’s charts. In wastewater, too many purple dots concentrated within the Midwest and the Atlantic coast, so I began circling areas in purple, once more. New York’s weirdly persistent greater hospitalization price continues. Traveler positivity is up, and worse, the dominant traveler variants are JN* and KP*, which, whereas current within the nationwide variants, are very low. And within the two dying charts, the projected deaths appear to have leveled out, when up to now they decreased. Nothing earth-shattering, nevertheless it does make me queasy, and it’s nicely after the vacation bump.
Wastewater
This week[1] CDC January 10
Final week[2] CDC (till subsequent week):
Variants [3] CDC January 18
Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC January 11
Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, information January 16:
Nationwide [6] CDC Janurary 16:
Positivity
Nationwide[7] Walgreens January 13:
Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic January 4:
Vacationers Knowledge
Positivity[9] CDC December 30:
Variants[10] CDC December 30
Deaths
Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 11:
Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 11:
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new right this moment; all others usually are 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) Seeing extra purple and extra orange, however nothing new at main hubs.
[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has finished an awesome job normalizing successive waves of an infection.
[4] (ED) A bit uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Positively jumped.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward pattern since, nicely, 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 aren’t any official statistics of curiosity right this moment.
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Right now’s Worry & Greed Index: 41 Worry (earlier shut: 37 Worry) [CNN]. One week in the past: 27 (Worry). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jan 21 at 2:00:37 PM ET.
Structure
“The Misplaced Towers of the Guelph-Ghibelline Wars” [Ex Urbe]. “Seems to be pretend, doesn’t it? This implausible Medieval forest of towers, as dense as Manhattan skyscrapers, is our greatest reconstruction of the city of Bologna at its top, towards the tip of the Medieval Guelph-Ghibelline wars. Rich households constructed these as mini-fortresses throughout the metropolis, the place they might defend in opposition to riots, enemy households (suppose Montagues and Capulets) and invasion. Indicators of wealth and status, these all-stone buildings have been additionally fireproof, resulting in a horrible however efficient tactic: take your loved ones, treasures & items up into your tower then set fireplace to enemies’ properties and let town burn round you whilst you sit protected above. This was VERY BAD for cities.” Like this:
Caption: “Seems to be pretend, doesn’t it? This implausible Medieval forest of towers, as dense as Manhattan skyscrapers, is our greatest reconstruction of the city of Bologna at its top, towards the tip of the Medieval Guelph-Ghibelline wars. We don’t see many such towers right this moment… or suppose we don’t, however really their remnants are throughout Italy.” • Neat weblog.
Zeitgeist Watch
“On what girls need” [Kat Rosenfeld, The Usual Palm Tree]. Reflections prompted by the Neil Gaiman case. “There’s a second within the Gaiman exposé the place the primary accuser, Scarlett Pavlovich, sends him a textual content message asking him how he’s doing. Gaiman says he’s struggling: he’s heard from folks near him that Pavlovich plans to accuse him of rape. ‘I believed that we have been a great factor and a really consensual factor certainly,’ he writes. ‘It was consensual (and fantastic)!” she replies. Besides: she doesn’t imply it.” However: “[I]n the article we’ve been instructed, explicitly and repeatedly, you could’t assume a relationship was consensual simply because all events concerned gave consent.” And: “The factor is, if girls can’t be trusted to claim their needs or boundaries as a result of they’ll invariably lie about what they need in an effort to please different folks, it’s not simply intercourse they’ll’t moderately consent to. It’s medical therapies. Automobile loans. Nuclear non-proliferation agreements. Our complete social contract operates on the premise that adults are sturdy sufficient to decide on their selections, regardless of the ambient strain from attractive males or sleazy used automotive salesmen or power-hungry ayatollahs. If half the world’s grownup inhabitants are literally simply smol beans — hapless, helpless, fickle, fragile, and far too tender to carry out even probably the most primary self-advocacy — all the pieces begins to disintegrate, together with your complete feminist challenge. You may’t have real equality for ladies whereas additionally letting them duck by means of the lure door of however I didn’t imply it, like youngsters, when their selections have sad outcomes.”
Class Warfare
“New ‘oligarchy’ below fireplace as elites descend on Davos” [Agence France Presse]. In fact, the elite of the elite are on the Inaugural. “The World Financial Discussion board kicks off within the Swiss Alpine resort on the identical day because the presidential inauguration of Trump, who is not going to be in Davos however will make a web based look later within the week…. Some 3,000 individuals are anticipated on the Swiss ski village for the discussion board ending Friday — together with 60 heads of state or authorities and greater than 900 CEOs — for days of schmoozing and behind-the-scenes dealmaking.” A dissenting voice: “‘I don’t wish to stay in a rustic with a couple of wealthy folks and plenty of poor folks,’ stated Morris Pearl, a former managing director at funding big BlackRock. He’s now a member of Patriotic Millionaires, a bunch that backs elevating taxes on the wealthy. ‘I’m afraid that we’re going to have civil unrest if we don’t change issues,’ Pearl informed AFP.” • So are they, Morris. So are they.
Information of the Wired
Yikes:
Take a second to take a look at this picture.
For the primary time in recorded historical past, the rapid GULF COAST is below a blizzard warning.
That is doubtless a once-in-a-lifetime occasion—a generational storm we could by no means witness once more.#WinterStorm pic.twitter.com/Qu1as9i2DH
— Andrew Austin-Adler (@weatherman_aaa) January 21, 2025
These states aren’t precisely arrange for blizzard circumstances.
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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 if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn how to ship me pictures of vegetation. Greens are wonderful! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you’d like your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it initially 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 MV:
MV writes: “Final spring I visited the Fort Price Botanic Backyard. Hooked up you’ll discover some pictures. I can solely ship 2 pictures at a time.” And that is the one I’m utilizing. What an inviting prospect!
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Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not coated by the annual NC fundraiser. Materials right here is Lambert’s, and doesn’t specific the views of the Bare Capitalism website. Should you 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. Bear in mind, a tip jar is for tipping! Common constructive suggestions each makes me really feel good and lets me know I’m heading in the right direction with protection. After I get no donations for 3 or 4 days I get fearful. Extra tangibly, a relentless trickle of donations helps me with bills, and I think about that trickle when setting fundraising targets:
Right here is the display screen that may seem, which I’ve helpfully annotated:
Should you hate PayPal, you possibly can electronic mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I offers you instructions on easy methods to ship a verify. Thanks!
This entry was posted in Visitor Put up, Water Cooler on January 21, 2025.
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