2:00PM Water Cooler 7/15/2024 | naked capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Bird Song of the Day

Common Nightingale, Taliouline, Morocco. 28 minutes of nightingale, so grab a cup of coffee.

In Case You Might Miss…

(1) Cannon throws out Smith’s case.

(2) Trump’s would-be assassin appeared in a Blackrock ad.

(3) Unelecting Biden: How’s that going?

(4) Responses to bird flu still absurdly slow….

Politics

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

The Constitutional Order (Immunity)

“Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity is more limited than it appears” [The Hill]. “The new rule of ‘absolute immunity’ states that when the Constitution grants the president ‘conclusive and preclusive’ power — meaning that the Constitution delegates a specific government function to the executive branch alone — the legislative branch cannot make any laws, including criminal laws, to restrict him. So the president cannot be prosecuted for a veto or an appointment, for example. The president is also ‘presumptively immune’ for ‘official acts’ if a prosecution would intrude on executive branch power. To demonstrate that this rule is narrow, evaluate the argument proposed by the dissenting justices that a president who stages a coup, assassinates a rival, or takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon would now be immune from prosecution. None of these hypothetical fact patterns would qualify for ‘absolute immunity,’ because each involves competing Constitutional powers. In such cases, the president’s acts would not be ‘conclusive and preclusive.’ Each would also involve unofficial conduct, which remains fully prosecutable. Presumptive immunity would be overcome for the same reasons. The specific holdings in the Trump ruling underscore this view. For example, the court held Trump immune for threatening to remove his attorney general if he did not comply with unlawful acts. Although this sounds disconcerting at first blush, the court decided only whether Trump is immune for alleged discussions with his own attorney general. The court did not hold, however, that a president would be immune for exercising the fearsome powers of the Department of Justice to extort state officials into corruptly overturning an election (the equivalent of a coup).”

Trump Assassination Attempt

“BlackRock Says Gunman From Trump Rally Appeared in Firm’s Ad” [Bloomberg]. “Crooks was one of several students who appeared in the background of the 2022 ad and was unpaid, BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, said in a statement. The ad was filmed at Bethel Park High School, where Crooks graduated in 2022, and featured a teacher, the company said.” • If Crooks was indeed a “troubled loner,” he seems to be a socially competent one. Odd:

BlackRock pulls ad that featured Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks https://t.co/24ViyLsLGj pic.twitter.com/y6xCpp2wGk

— New York Post (@nypost) July 15, 2024

Blackrock certainly wasn’t on my Bingo card!

“Grateful, defiant Trump recounts surviving ‘surreal’ assassination attempt at rally: ‘I’m supposed to be dead’” [New York Post]. “‘A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,’ Trump said. ‘They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.’ He added, ‘I just wanted to keep speaking, but I just got shot.’” • “Iconic.” Called it 🙂

“The Gunman and the Would-Be Dictator” [David Frum, The Atlantic]. “Fascism feasts on violence… Now the bloodshed that Trump has done so much to incite against others has touched him as well.” • I admire war criminal David Frum‘s commitment to the bit. Never mind that we don’t even know the assassin’s motive; Carl Schmitt is the chef who served up the fascist smorgasbord from which both parties are feasting. If, as Schmitt has it, the central theme of politics is the friend/enemy distinction, Democrats, by loudly declaring Trump to be the next Hitler, have provided anyone sufficiently gullible with a motive for assassination. After all, if you can’t go back in time and kill baby Hitler, why not kill the real one in the here and now? The tendency of liberals to wish death on their enemies is well known (see Stoller, “On Mocking Dying Working Class White People“). As for example:

Granted, the Hampton’s aren’t the country, but “The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.” Or:

Sitting at outdoor restaurant in Hamptons as waitress told us what happened , lots of comments from other tables from very well off people about ” What did Trump think would happen behaving like he does ? “

— GardinerIslandCapital (@GardinerIsland) July 14, 2024

“Both sides are right / But both sides murder / I give up / Why can’t they?” –X, I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts

“‘BlueAnon’ conspiracy theories flood social media after Trump rally shooting” [WaPo]. The deck: “Researchers who track online conspiracies say liberals are increasingly vulnerable to — and generating — QAnon-like bursts of misinformation.” After RussiaGate? You don’t say. More: “Minutes after Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., liberals began flooding social media platforms with conspiracy theories. They claimed the blood on former president Donald Trump’s ear was from a theatrical gel pack; that the shooting was a ‘false flag,’ perhaps coordinated by the Secret Service in collaboration with the Trump campaign; that the scene of a bloodied Trump raising his fist under an American flag was ‘#staged.’ ‘When did the Secret Service start allowing the President under duress to tell them ‘to wait’, then stand up to be seen by the crowd fist-pumping?” one user posted on X. “Can you blame me for thinking this is fake?’ The shooting threw into overdrive a phenomenon dubbed ‘BlueAnon’ — a play on the right-wing conspiracy theory QAnon — that refers to liberal conspiracy theories online. As more Americans lose trust in mainstream institutions and turn to partisan commentators and influencers for information, experts say they are seeing a big uptick in the manufacture and spread of BlueAnon conspiracy theories, a sign that the communal warping of reality is spreading well beyond the right. ‘The [Schmittian] good-versus-evil paradigm of QAnon has really taken hold of the anti-Trump movement and you’re seeing two sides that feel like they are fighting a battle between good and evil,’ said Mike Rothschild, author of “The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult and Conspiracy Theory of Everything.’” • Musical interlude.

2024

Less than a half a year to go!

Friday’s RCP Poll Averages: CTUTP

Second post-debate polling: No massive swing to Trump that I can see. It would be hilarious if the Biden Debate debacle had exactly the same effect as Trump’s 34 bazillion felony convictions, i.e., none, both parties are so dug in. Of course, the Biden “buzz” (yesterday) is bad, and may yet have an effect. And who, may I ask, is making the buzz? Swing States (more here) still Brownian-motioning around. Of course, it goes without saying that these are all state polls, therefore bad, and most of the results are within the margin of error.

* * *

Unelecting Biden:

The Calendar

“Trump rally shooting upends Democrats’ Biden crisis” [Axios]. “Congressional Democrats’ all-consuming angst over President Biden’s candidacy has taken an abrupt backseat in lawmakers’ minds in the wake of an assassination attempt against former President Trump. Democratic lawmakers say their immediate focus is on their personal security and that of their staffs, not on their party’s political woes, helping to allow a crucial cooldown period for the embattled president. A second senior House Democrat told Axios that the Trump shooting has taken some of the heat off because it would ‘be bad form to make any statements against President Biden.’ Another Biden-skeptical Democrat, asked about lingering questions around the president’s candidacy, told Axios: ‘I don’t think that’s the focus right now.’…Most lawmakers who spoke to Axios said it is too early to say whether the cessation in tensions will last until the Democratic National Convention next month. But the second senior House Democrat offered one reason for why it might: ‘We’ve all resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency.’” • Not with a bang but a whimper? Because the stakes, objectively, are exactly the same after Trump’s assassination as before.

The DNC

“Democrats’ Foremost Expert on Party Rules Explains How Biden Could Be Replaced” [Politico]. Elaine Kamarck is a longtime member of the DNC’s rules committee and a scholar at the centrist Brookings Institution. “‘The reason people tear their hair out is that people don’t realize that the business of nominating a presidential candidate is ultimately party business,’ Kamarck said. And .” From July 13, though it seems like a week ago: “I think if [Biden] was inclined to get out, he should do it as soon as possible before the convention so that the party can sort out who wants to run. And at this point, I don’t think there’s a lot of people who want to run. I think that if he wants to get out, he should do it soon and let the party come together around Vice President Harris or perhaps somebody else, and do it in time for there to be a good convention. Remember that the convention planning is going on. They’re writing a platform, they’re already choosing speakers.” • If replacing Biden with Harris were easy, it would have already have happened. So, who else? When? How?

Electeds

“Playbook: Can Trump pivot — and can Biden run out the clock?” [Politico]. “Not a single Democrat has joined the effort calling for Biden to step aside since Saturday’s horrific events. And given the hard sharp turn toward unity and security, few expect those numbers to grow in the coming days — especially with the press focused on the shooting and the Republican convention, rather than Biden. It’s positive news for the embattled president, who — with five weeks until the Democratic convention — seems intent on running out the clock. Even Democrats who want Biden to step aside are now resigned to the notion that he’s here to stay. ‘I think this is over,’ one Democratic aide told us, arguing that the news cycle was what was crushing Biden — and the story has now moved on…. many continue to watch former Speaker NANCY PELOSI, the one person many think could shift the tide. ‘At some point, Pelosi has to fish or cut bait here,’ one Democratic aide.” • What fish? What bait?

* * *

Trump (R) (Smith/Cannon): “Judge dismisses Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified docs criminal case” [Politico]. “Under Cannon’s view, the Justice Department lacks a legal basis to bring private lawyers into the department to head up special counsel investigations. Her conclusion would have nixed the appointment of Robert Mueller, named in 2017 to examine allegations of ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, as well as that of Robert Hur, selected last year to investigate President Joe Biden’s handling of classified records. Some other special counsels named from the department’s existing ranks of prosecutors, though, would not have been impacted. Smith’s team argued that the history of such appointments over the past quarter century meant Congress had blessed such arrangements, but Cannon disagreed.” • No great loss. Was it Mueller liberal Democrats were naming their dogs after? Here is Cannon’s opinion (PDF):

Here is the Appointments Clause, Article II, Section 2, Clause 2:

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and , shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

The Legal Information Institute’s interpretation:

By default, the Appointments Clause requires that all “Officers of the United States” be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.1 However, the Clause authorizes Congress to vest the appointment of “inferior Officers,” at its discretion, “in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.” 2 Because of this language, the Supreme Court has recognized two classes of officers: (1) principal officers, who must be appointed by the President with the Senate’s advice and consent; and (2) inferior officers, whose appointment Congress may assign to the President alone, the courts, or a department head. This dichotomy has led to questions about whether there are constitutionally significant differences between principal and inferior officers.

I don’t understand why Smith isn’t an “inferior officer,” but apparently that’s not Cannon’s view. Perhaps legal mavens in the commentariat can comment.

Trump (R) (Smith/Cannon): “Judge dismisses classified documents case against Donald Trump” [Financial Times]. “Cannon’s ruling echoed misgivings about the DoJ special counsel expressed by Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, who wrote in a concurring opinion in the presidential immunity case that he had ‘serious questions’ about the constitutionality of the appointment. Smith is one of several special counsels appointed in recent years to manage politically sensitive investigations. A special counsel oversaw the probe into Biden’s handling of classified documents, while another was named to investigate the conduct of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, who was later charged with gun and tax offences. The ruling from Cannon could jeopardise both federal criminal cases. Meanwhile, two other criminal cases pending against Trump in state courts are also hitting hurdles.” • Cannon’s ruling can be appealed.

Trump (R) (Smith/Cannon): “Judge dismisses Trump’s federal classified docs case” [Axios]. “Trump, who at one point was staring down four criminal cases, is now unlikely to face another trial before Election Day.” • So the lawfare strategy crashed, and now the Democrats don’t seem to have another. And yet the race, as of last Friday, was still 50/50, according to RCP averages. Wouldn’t it be amazing if that was true next Friday?

* * *

Trump (R): “”Playbook: Can Trump pivot — and can Biden run out the clock?” [Politico]. “1. Trump rewrote his convention speech to focus on unity, he told Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito, a Pittsburgh native who was at the rally and scheduled to interview the former president afterward but instead found herself shielding her daughter from flying bullets. Pre-shooting, the address he was planning to give ‘was going to be a humdinger,’ he told Zito, whom he called up yesterday because he felt bad about missing her interview, we hear. ‘Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now,’ he continued. ‘It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance.’ 2. Trump’s team also spent much of yesterday reaching out to convention speakers and asking them to avoid focusing on the shooting or blaming the left for it — and instead center their attention on the fundamentals of the campaign. 3. The pivot was the brainchild of an early Sunday morning call with Susie Wiles, Chris LcvCivita, Jason Miller and pollster Tony Fabrizio. After hours of relentless and incendiary Republican attacks blaming Democrats for inciting the violence, the team agreed the party would need a reset: The convention shouldn’t be about the shooting but about drawing a contrast with President Joe Biden on the issues Americans care about most. Alittle later, just before 8 a.m., we’re told Trump personally drafted his own Truth Social post adopting the ‘unify’ messaging and clicked send. To understand the difficulty of this pivot is to understand just how badly Trump’s team wants to win. Yes, they’re upset about the shooting — more than upset: shaken, angry, worried. But . Using the convention to mount an all-out assault on Democrats or entertain conspiracy theories could cause that goodwill to evaporate as quickly as it appeared.” • Amazing to think that Trump might take the high road (as Vance did not). As I asked once: Can Trump become a Face, after being a Heel for so long? (Kayfabe: “A wrestler may change from face to heel (or vice versa) in an event known as a turn, or gradually transition from one to the other over the course of a long storyline.”)

Trump (R): “The low road, the high road, and the way the wind blows” [Nate Silver, Silver Bulletin]. “In the present moment, [the assassination attempt] at the very least makes Trump much more sympathetic and undermines the implicit premise of the Biden campaign to restore order and stability to America It perhaps also unlocks a permission structure to vote for Trump among a certain type of voter. Elon Musk and Bill Ackman officially endorsed Trump in the wake of the shooting, for instance. I don’t think this is a particularly important development on its own, not least because Musk and Ackman were pretty obviously in the Trump camp to begin with (even if they hadn’t admitted it publicly, or even to themselves). But those Americans in the pox-in-all-houses mindset — and there are a lot of them — might find it easier now to pull the lever for Trump. And Trump fans will now walk over glass for their martyr.”

* * *

Kennedy (I): “Calls grow for RFK Jr. to get Secret Service protection” [The Hill]. “Shortly after the shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., where the former president was injured and one attendee was killed, political figures from both sides of the aisle emphasized the need for Kennedy to receive Secret Service protection.” • This would not be hard to do, and even the molasses-brained Biden administration should have done it by now.

Kennedy (I): “Ballot Access HQ” [Kennedy Shanahan]. An impressive effort with some weaknesses. Petitioning is complet in purple states. But that doesn’t mean the ballots are approved and Kenney is on the ballot. Handy map:

To find out where Kennedy is actually on the ballot, you have to click on the individual state (poor UI/UX). I clicked the swing states, and put a “☑️” on the states where Kennedy has a ballot line. Kennedy is not on the ballot in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Virginia. He is on the ballot in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

* * *

“Only an ‘October Surprise’ can swing the presidential election” [The Hill]. “What, then, could cause a decisive shift in Biden or Trump’s favor? Quite simply, the answer is an outside event. Or, as it’s otherwise known, an October Surprise. To that end, given that Biden’s and Trump’s strengths and weaknesses are familiar to voters, it is more likely that a truly pivotal October Surprise comes in the form of a foreign policy development that either drastically helps or harms Biden…. All of this is to say that if there is a major geopolitical crisis, Biden will play an outsized role. If he rises to the occasion, it will do more to address concerns over his fitness than virtually any press conference or campaign rally ever could.” • Given early voting, “October” may be too late. With a little more time, I’d research the earliest early voting in the Swing States….

Our Famously Free Press

“‘Morning Joe’ pulled from air Monday because of Trump shooting” [CNN]. “The decision by MSNBC to leave one of its most recognizable programs on the sidelines amid a seismic politics-driven news cycle, with the Republican National Convention getting underway in the wake of the Saturday shooting at Trump’s campaign rally, is certain to raise eyebrows. A person familiar with the matter told CNN that the decision was made to avoid a scenario in which one of the show’s stable of two dozen-plus guests might make an inappropriate comment on live television that could be used to assail the program and network as a whole. Given the breaking news nature of the story, the person said, it made more sense to continue airing rolling breaking news coverage in the fraught political moment.” • Anyone on Morning Joe from the Hamptons?

Syndemics

“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).

Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!

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

Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).

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

Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Stay safe out there!

Transmission: Covid

Personal risk assessment:

If the odds were like this 👇🏼
For winning the lottery
Everyone
Would buy a ticket https://t.co/gEhkG9asAq

— oeuf 👋🏻O (@mairE_keyL) July 13, 2024

Regional breakdown:

Ratio of people currently infected by region:

Midwest: 1 in 79 ⬆️
South: 1 in 43 ⬆️
Northest: 1 in 79 ⬆️
West: 1 in 37 ➡️ pic.twitter.com/505zi2PaBt

— JWeiland (@JPWeiland) July 12, 2024

Transmission: H5N1

“Bird flu outbreak at Colorado farm as 5 workers reported positive: Experts warn of ‘turning point,’ call for urgent action” [Fortune]. “‘I am extremely concerned that we are on the brink of this being really already in humans—and once it’s in humans, it is going to be a real problem to control,’ says Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist and immunologist at Emory University who specializes in influenza. ‘I will tell you that what has been driving me the past few months is trying to prevent H5 from becoming a pandemic…I have never felt that we were as close as we are now.’ In its own way [lol], the CDC echoes that concern, referencing in general terms the ‘pandemic potential’ of H5N1 and other novel flu viruses once humans are in the mix. But the agency added that it hasn’t yet seen genetic changes in the virus that would make human transmission more likely, and it continues to judge the risk to the general public as low…. “There’s no such thing as just a little conjunctivitis. or just a little respiratory (issue) when you’re dealing with a deadly virus,” [immunologist Rick Bright, a former federal health official] says. The virus, he adds, has already demonstrated the ability to mutate ‘very easily, very quickly, and it can cause severe illness and death. So let’s stop it in its tracks, not wait and see and let it get worse.’ Whether the CDC will follow the experts’ suggestions remains an open question. The agency’s response so far has been muted, with no change in official recommendation. For those who’ve been closely tracking this bird flu, though, the signs are ominous, and they warrant a proactive response-including vaccination of frontline farmworkers. ‘That’s why we have these stockpiles,’ Seema Lackdawala says. ‘It’s surprising to me that they haven’t been leveraged…We always expected this at some point in time.’” • Second verse, same as the first:

Rick is not wrong here. This is unfolding more slowly than Covid did, but in the exact same manor. Lack of testing and visibility into the depth of spread, media and Congress focused on other issues so no coverage, and a feeling that we’re waiting for a dam to break…🤦🏽‍♂️ https://t.co/8J73AsyKW9

— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) July 15, 2024

“Manner,” but never mind!

Airborne Transmission: H5N1

“Experimental reproduction of viral replication and disease in dairy calves and lactating cows inoculated with highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b” (preprint) [bioRxiv]. “We sought to experimentally reproduce infection with genotype B3.13 in Holstein yearling heifers and lactating cows. The heifers were inoculated by an aerosol respiratory route and the cows by an intramammary route. Clinical disease was mild in the heifers, but infection was confirmed by virus detection, lesions, and seroconversion. Clinical disease in lactating cows included decreased rumen motility, changes to milk appearance, and production losses consistent with field reports of viral mastitis. Infection was confirmed by high levels of viral RNA detected in milk, virus isolation, lesions in mammary tissue, and seroconversion. This study provides the foundation to investigate additional routes of infection, transmission, and intervention strategies.” • Oh good.

Maskstravaganza

“An invisible mask? Wearable air curtain, treated to kill viruses, blocks 99.8% of aerosols” (press release) [University of Michigan]. “An air curtain shooting down from the brim of a hard hat can prevent 99.8% of aerosols from reaching a worker’s face. The technology, created by University of Michigan startup Taza Aya, potentially offers a new protection option for workers in industries where respiratory disease transmission is a concern. Independent, third-party testing of Taza Aya‘s device showed the effectiveness of the air curtain, curved to encircle the face, coming from nozzles at the hat’s brim. But for the air curtain to effectively protect against pathogens in the room, it must first be cleansed of pathogens itself. Previous research by the group of Taza Aya co-founder Herek Clack, U-M associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, showed that their method can remove and kill 99% of airborne viruses in farm and laboratory settings. ” And: “Taza Aya’s prototype features a backpack, weighing roughly 10 pounds, that houses the nonthermal plasma module, air handler, electronics and the unit’s battery pack. The handler draws air into the module, where it’s treated before flowing to the air curtain’s nozzle array.” And: “In October of that year, Taza Aya was named an awardee in the Invisible Shield QuickFire Challenge—a competition created by Johnson & Johnson Innovation in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program sought to encourage the development of technologies that could protect people from airborne viruses while having a minimal impact on daily life.” • This is pretty neat. I’d like to see some Chinese manufacturers take the ball and run with it, and reduce the weight of the backpack and start selling them for like a hundred bucks.

5.3 million followers:

Plane be like…

Me be like…

We really need to clean up our indoor air, but until then thank you @zhouliang_mask! pic.twitter.com/LYXLvAscXh

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) July 13, 2024

Crypto bros not all bad?

Crypto bro boarding a plane with a CO2 monitor and a respirator and schooling his 5M+ followers on indoor air quality and why catching airborne diseases is bad, actually, was not on my cc bingo card, but apparently the co-founder of Ethereum is one of us. #YallMasking

— A. 🇵🇭🇪🇸🏳️‍🌈😷🍉💜 (@coffeeteanxiety) July 13, 2024

Celebrity Watch

Masked Olympians:

William Turner pic.twitter.com/TMJXk9ref2

— Impressions (@impression_ists) July 14, 2024

Violet Affleck before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors:

Violet Affleck: “To confront the Long COVID crisis I demand mask availability, air filtration and far-UVC light in government facilities, including jails and detention centers and mask mandates in county medical facilities. We must expand availability of tests and treatment.… pic.twitter.com/zg4b7Z9vxy

— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) July 10, 2024

Her parents of course do not mask….

Selma Hayek:

Actress Salma Hayek revealed she had a life threatening case of COVID-19 (5/2020) & suffered from #LongCOVID.

“My doctor begged me to go to the hospital because it was so bad,” Hayek said. “I said, ‘No, thank you. I’d rather die at home.’”#pwLC #LC

🧵🧵🧵 pic.twitter.com/Uc0hWs6pbP

— Long COVID Foundation (@LongCFoundation) July 12, 2024

Elite Maleficence

The Newest Must-Have Home Amenity for the Rich: Purified Air [Kanebridge News]. “Luxury homeowners are known to splurge on sleek kitchens, custom decor and art, but they are increasingly turning their attention to something less visible. Forest-fire smoke, the pandemic and increased awareness of sensitivities to mould and other irritants are making their interior environment a priority. Many are investing in complex systems and flexible designs that promise healthier indoor air but still include spaces, such as glass-enclosed rooms, that make being indoors feel natural. Listings are increasingly touting pollution-fighting amenities to lure home buyers. In Santa Rosa, Calif., a 13-acre estate for sale at $15 million has a whole-home air purifier. This spring, the Dovecote building, under construction in Manhattan’s Harlem neighbourhood, will offer six, three-bedroom condos built to strict green and clean-air standards, starting at $1.5 million. Malin, founder of Troon Pacific, a San Francisco-based developer of $15 million to $45 million properties that he calls healthy homes, said he focuses on the smallest details that can affect air quality. New tools allow for more-precise measurement of various particulate matter and carbon dioxide levels, he added. ‘Covid changed people’s perspective on connecting air quality to health, and the [wildfires] only enhanced that.’” • “People’s perspective.” Not all of them, and one can only wonder why. Commentary:

i come into casual contact w rich ppl due to my job

when i tell you they never stopped covid precautions lol. everything they implemented is now permanent

all their home air filters got swapped out, personalized medicine, staff wearing masks 24/7, etc

— 🌸 (@livelaughlmao) July 14, 2024

Can readers confirm?

“The summer surge of COVID in the US and the implications of the anti-public health policy” [WSWS]. “The US is in the midst of an accelerating summer COVID wave, the ninth such wave since March 2020. The current epicenters are located in the West (one in 37 infected) and the South (one in 43) of the country. Given the complete abandonment of all public health measures, including vaccination, this development is being driven more by waning population immunity coming off the winter peak and less by any unusual ‘seasonality’ patterns to SARS-CoV-2…. No principled public health figure has ever defined an endemic state as a perpetual saturation of the population with a viral pathogen as is the current situation.” • Nope. Though I don’t know why WSWS doesn’t go ahead and say “eugenicist” rather than “anti-public health.”

Lambert here: CDC claims (albeit with an exculpatory footnote) to update its vaunted National Wastewater Surveillance System data every Friday by 8pm. It has not updated the data since June 24. If it’s not updated by Monday, I can only conclude that the data is really, really ugly. Stay safe out there!

Manufacturing: “United States NY Empire State Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The NY Empire State Manufacturing Index declined to -6.6 in July 2024, slightly below market expectations of -6. New orders remained stable, while shipments saw a slight increase. Delivery times improved and supply availability stayed the same. Inventories decreased, reflecting ongoing challenges.”

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 57 Greed (previous close: 51 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 52 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 12 at 12:26:44 PM ET.

Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 186. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • Not what the climate coverage implies.

Permaculture

Restoring a landscape dominated by bracken, a thread:

I wonder if there’s an equivalent approach for kudzu…

Photo Book

“Relax to Mesmerizing Aerial Views of Iceland’s ‘Glacial Flour’ Pulsing Through Waterways” [This is Colossal]. “As glaciers expand and recede, they have the capacity to grind rock so fine that geologists refer to the pulverized material as glacial flour. It slips down rivers and into lakes, carrying the otherworldly turquoise hue through a unique and resilient ecosystem. In Iceland, the blue-green color is complemented by rivers that flow yellow, thanks to sulfur from nearby volcanoes, or red from dissolved ferrous iron—also known as bog iron. Coursing over rock and black sand, the streams take on dazzling, rhythmic patterns.” • For example:

Looks like the surface of Jupiter!

The Gallery

Sailors’ delight?

Zeitgeist Watch

“A Deal With the Devil: What the Age-Old Faustian Bargain Reveals About the Modern World” [Literary Hub]. “The legend of the Devil’s contract is the most alluring, the most provocative, the most insightful, the most important story ever told. It concerns a humanity strung between Heaven and Hell, the saintly and the satanic; how a man could trade his soul for powers omnipotent, signing a covenant with the Devil so that he could briefly live as a god before being pulled down to Hell…. [T]he Devil’s hoof-prints can be found across the wide swatch of history, in our willingness to embrace power and engage in exploitation, to summon self-interestedness and to conjure cruelty…. Marlowe staged [Doctor Faustus] at the very beginning of what is increasingly being called the Anthropocene, the geological epoch in which humanity was finally able to impose its will (in an almost occult manner) upon the earth. There are costs to any such contract, as the wisdom of the legend has it… It may be appropriate to rechristen this age the Faustocene. Because whether or not the Devil is real, his effects in the world are.” • Hmm.

The 420

“Congress Accidentally Legalized Weed Six Years Ago” [The Atlantic]. “rive through durham, north carolina, where I live, and you might get the impression that marijuana is legal here. Retail windows advertise thc in glittery letters and neon glass, and seven-pointed leaves adorn storefronts and roadside sandwich boards. The newest business near my house is the Stay Lit Smoke Shop, where an alien ripping a bong invites you to use the drive-through. In fact, neither medical nor recreational marijuana is legal in North Carolina. Technically, we’re getting high on hemp. This is probably not what Congress had in mind when it passed the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, commonly called the 2018 Farm Bill, which made the production of hemp—cannabis’s traditionally nonpsychoactive cousin—legal for the first time in nearly a century. Lawmakers who backed hemp legalization expected the plant to be used for textiles and nonintoxicating supplements, such as CBD oil and shelled hemp seeds (great on an acai bowl). They didn’t realize that, with some chemistry and creativity, hemp can get you just as high as the dankest marijuana plant. The upshot is that although recreational marijuana use is allowed in only 24 states and Washington, D.C., people anywhere in the U.S. can get intoxicated on hemp-derived THC without breaking federal law. These hemp-based highs are every bit as potent as those derived from the marijuana available in legalization states.’ • Finally some good news….

News of the Wired

“How Virginia Woolf’s list-making paved the way for her literary experiments” [Financial Times]. “Each day followed a pattern. Woolf noted the weather; any insects or birds seen on her walk (“3 perfect peacock butterflies”); her daily tally of mushrooms or blackberries (“A record find”, “Enough for a dish”); gardening or domestic activities (“Made chair cover after tea”); what was happening in the fields (“German prisoners cutting wheat with hooks”); what she had for supper (“Eating our own broad beans — delicious”); and the price of rationed goods (“Eggs 2/9 doz. from Mrs Attfield”). Adhering to a structure in her diary gave shape to her convalescence. Woolf rarely used “I” and yet we catch sight of her out walking, or sewing on the terrace in a straw hat. It’s not by chance that she wrote the laundry list on the inside cover of this notebook. During this period, listmaking and diary-keeping became part of the same practice of paying attention to small things and of setting down her experience, sparely and without flourish, on the page. To biographers, this slender diary has appeared inconsequential compared with the weightier stuff of her later longhand diaries and letters.” • Well worth a read, especiallly if you write. I love lists!

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

CH writes: “Fritillary on milkweed, Asheville, NC.” At least I think it’s a fritillary (from my high school butterfly collecting days). Readers?

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn’t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals: