2:00PM Water Cooler 5/17/2023 | bare capitalism

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Chook Track of the Day

Lark-like Bunting, Akkerendam Nature Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa.

* * *

Politics

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

Biden Administration

“Debt-ceiling standoff: With key assembly Tuesday, right here’s what might go right into a bipartisan deal” [MarketWatch]. “Biden, in the meantime, sounded open to clawing again some unspent COVID-relief funds as he took questions from reporters following his assembly on Might 9 with the highest 4 lawmakers. ‘We don’t want all of it,’ Biden stated. ‘I’ve to take a tough have a look at it. It’s on the desk.””• Anyone bear in mind Venture NextGen, that was going to develop some new vaccines, particularly nasal vaccines, and PPE? The budgeting for it was all the time sus:

The $5 billion for the trouble got here after HHS was directed by the White Home to shift funds for coronavirus testing, private protecting gear and different priorities, The Submit studies.

How a lot you wish to wager that $5 billion will get thrown into the deficit discount pot, as a substitute of saving lives?

2024

I assume it’s time for the Countdown Clock!

* * *

“Biden calls white supremacy ‘most harmful terrorist menace’ in speech at Howard” [Politico]. • Yeah, sheesh, the RussiaGate perps who organized to overturn 2016’s election outcome. Not a Black face amongst them. Wypipo, completely. String ’em up!

“The Kamala Harris query” [Financial Times]. “Pretty or not, few assume Harris might beat Donald Trump. In consequence, Democrats and far of the ‘mainstream’ media are working off an invisible memo that tells them to keep away from speaking about Biden’s age. This can’t final. Overlook Republicans and independents: a majority of Democratic voters assume Biden, who will flip 81 in November, mustn’t run for a second time period. Meaning the vice-president can be an unusually huge issue subsequent yr. To those that say a working mate’s recognition by no means alters US election outcomes, there are two responses. First, historical past is a ineffective information. It has twice instructed us that Trump couldn’t be the Republican nominee. That appears on the right track to being twice disproved. The second consists of two phrases: Sarah Palin. I defy any US political scientist to place their hand on coronary heart and say Palin’s presence on the ageing John McCain’s ticket didn’t hurt his probabilities in opposition to Barack Obama in 2008 — particularly after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Both manner, Republicans, corresponding to Nikki Haley, one in all subsequent yr’s presidential contenders, have made it clear Harris would be the goal. ‘If you happen to vote for Joe Biden you actually are relying on a President Harris,” Haley stated not too long ago.” And: “The extra publicity she is given now the higher. Harris must be ready to be president. Biden picked her in 2020. Now he should put money into her.” • Can’t we regard Harris as a sunk value, in put money into methods of getting her off the ticket?

“Trump is attacking DeSantis exhausting on coverage, amid the flurry of insults” [Reuters]. “Amid the headline-grabbing insults and name-calling, Donald Trump is pursuing a surprisingly policy-heavy technique to break his closest Republican rival Ron DeSantis earlier than he enters the presidential race, based on a Reuters evaluation of the previous president’s statements since he introduced his White Home bid. Forty % of Trump’s assaults on the Florida governor have focused points corresponding to Social Safety, the government-run Medicare well being program for older People, international coverage and DeSantis’ report in workplace. 5 political analysts who reviewed Reuters’ findings stated the technique marks a pointy distinction with Trump’s first run for president in 2016, when he gained the Republican nomination with chaotic techniques primarily based largely on private insults leveled at his opponents. ‘This time it’s clear that Trump is altering the best way he does this by hitting more durable on the coverage stuff,’ stated David Gergen, a non-partisan analyst who has suggested one Democratic and three Republican presidents.”

“9 Methods Vivek Ramaswamy Can Beat Donald Trump, In accordance with Andrew Yang” [Politico]. 9! Fancy that! However that is really good recommendation: “Early in my marketing campaign, somebody stated to me, “Folks can inform for those who’re having a very good time.” And for those who’re having a very good time, it rubs off on these round you. Quite a lot of the opposite Republican candidates appear depressing. Their messages are of anger, grievance and despair. You’ll be able to categorical emotion and urgency with out being a drag to hearken to or be round. You’ll be able to out-positive different candidates, and that may appeal to voters who’re bored with politicians’ fire-and-brimstone speeches.” • I don’t know if I’d name Trump a “pleased” candidate. Gleeful, maybe. After all, happiness isn’t the emotion one most associates with skilled wrestling. Or The Apprentice, for that matter.

Democrats en Déshabillé

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

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

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

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

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Realignment and Legitimacy

“Durham proves that Hillary and the FBI tried to rig the 2016 election” [New York Post]. Fairly proper. Although I’ve to say that the FBI didn’t provide the one personnel from the organs of state safety concerned on this little venture. I ponder what a cautious reader of the Durham report would discover suggesting CIA and NSA involvement. I imply, was signing a letter the solely factor putatively retired spooks like Clapper and Morrell did? I’m guessing no. And can the FBI be sad about being the whipping boy? Extra importantly, will they share their unhappiness with others? Not that I’m foily! Extra: “CIA chief John Brennan briefed President Barack Obama and different prime officers on ‘alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016, of a proposal . . . to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian safety providers.’” • It could be irresponsible to not speculate….

“Eight Takeaways From the Durham Report” [Susan Schmidt, Racket News]. “A fast learn revealed the next key takeaways: 1 There was no legitimate predicate for the investigation, and the FBI knew it. 2. ‘There’s nothing to this, however we now have to run it to floor.’ 3. ‘It’s skinny’; ‘There’s nothing to this.’ 4. The Trump marketing campaign investigation was premised on ‘uncooked, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence,’ and U.S. intel businesses possessed no ‘precise proof of collusion’ when the probe started. 5. Sensational tales revealed within the New York Instances in February and March 2017 claiming Trump associates had been in touch with Russian intelligence brokers had been false. 6. FBI Director James Comey pushed closely for an investigation of Carter Web page, beginning in April 2016 when Web page was a authorities witness in an espionage investigation of Russian diplomats in New York. 7. On the course of the FBI, confidential human supply Stefan Halper recorded prolonged conversations with Carter Web page and George Papadopoulos, by which every denied the marketing campaign had any involvement with Russian officers. 8. Durham was extremely essential of the FBI’s ‘startling and inexplicable failure’ to research the so-called ‘Clinton Intelligence Plan.’”

#COVID19

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

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

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. We at the moment are as much as 50/50 states (100%). That is actually nice! (It happens to me that there are makes use of to which this information may be put, past serving to folks with “private danger assessments” acceptable to their state. For instance, considering pessimistically, we’d keep the record and see which states go darkish and when. We’d additionally tabulate the properties of every website and search for variations and commonalities, for instance using GIS (an train in Federalism). I don’t that CA stays a bit sketchy; it feels a bit odd that there’s no statewide website, however I’ve by no means been capable of finding one. Additionally, my working assumption was that every state would have one website. That’s turned out to not be true; see e.g. ID. Trivially, it means I must punctuate this record correctly. Much less trivially, there could also be extra native websites that must be added. NY metropolis in NY state springs to thoughts, however I’m positive there are others. FL additionally springs to thoughts as a particular case, as a result of DeSantis will most likely be a Presidental candidate, and IIRC there was some foofra about their state dashboard. Thanks once more!

Assets, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater 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 (dashboard); 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, Vancouver (wastewater).

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

Keep secure on the market!

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Search for the Helpers

“Household sues manufacturing corporations after man dies from COVID whereas engaged on American Horror Story” [CBS]. A bit too on-the-nose. Extra: “The household of an East Bridgewater man who died from COVID-19 after working within the filming venture of the American Horror Story collection, filed a federal wrongful loss of life lawsuit in opposition to three Hollywood manufacturing corporations. Paul Woodward drove a passenger van, transporting solid and crew to and from the set of the present filmed in Provincetown in February and March of 2021, earlier than vaccines had been extensively obtainable to the general public. His household alleges that Twentieth Century Fox, Ryan Murphy Productions, and the Walt Disney Firm didn’t observe their very own COVID security protocols. ‘He was given a van that didn’t have a spit protect. There was no plexi-glass barrier separating him from all of the passengers. One was requested. The request was denied,’ stated Legal professional Jonathan Candy of Keches Legislation Group who’s representing the household. Candy says masking and social distancing protocols within the van had been additionally not adhered to.” • Some type Rhode Islander wants to present Keches Legislation Group a name and clarify that plastic shields don’t work in opposition to an airborne virus (and we don’t wish to enshrine the thought in precedent, both, or droplet dogma). Masking, nonetheless, works. Extra lawsuits, please!

Sanity in Washington, DC:

Covid Is Airborne

And so is wildfire smoke:

SK = Saskatchewan.

“New CDC Requirements of Air Hygiene” [John Snow Project]. “Along with advising individuals who have “signs of respiratory or gastrointestinal infections, corresponding to cough, fever, sore throat, vomiting, or diarrhea” to remain home1, the CDC additionally really helpful that kids over the age of two put on masks each time doable. This isn’t shocking as a result of because the CDC notes, “COVID-19 could cause severe well being issues, so it’s extra essential than ever to guard your baby’s well being.’” • CDC additionally recommends “5 or extra air modifications per hour (ACH) of unpolluted air to rooms in your constructing.” • The draft ASHRAE commonplace is restricted to constructing sort and sometimes larger:

Maskstravaganza

I don’t learn about this specific tech, however I share Wu’s view:

The quantity of citizen engineering happening with masks is astounding. Solely good can come of this.

Transmission

On the debacle of youngsters’s Covid, a wonderful thread:

Non-pharmaceutical interventions labored. So, naturally, policy-makers stated “We’re performed,” and turned them off (assuming good religion, in fact):

Sequelae

“Melancholy hits new excessive amongst People, per survey” [STAT]. “The Gallup survey of greater than 5,000 adults in late February signifies that despair, already labeled a disaster amongst kids amid Covid-19 shutdowns and social media use, is far more widespread. Melancholy charges have sharply risen amongst girls and Black and Hispanic folks particularly. Greater than 36% of ladies report that a health care provider has recognized them with despair of their lives, in comparison with 20.4% of males, with despair charges amongst youthful folks outpacing that of older respondents. Whereas white folks traditionally have reported the best despair charges, Black and Hispanic adults at the moment are reporting comparable figures. Gallup researchers stated that whereas girls sometimes report larger despair charges than males, a lot of the current surge might be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic. Girls disproportionately misplaced their jobs or exited the workforce to deal with household. Girls additionally account for two-thirds of the well being care workforce, which has struggled with staffing shortages and the psychological toll of the Covid-19 emergency. The survey didn’t break respondents out by occupation. ‘The folks that had been hoping that the psychological well being disaster attributable to Covid would cease when Covid stops can be disenchanted,’ stated Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer of the Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness. Nonetheless, Duckworth additionally advised a possible constructive from the survey outcomes: maybe extra individuals are reporting despair as a result of cultural stigma across the analysis has declined.” •

Science Is Popping

“SARS-CoV-2 evolution within the absence of selective immune pressures, ends in antibody resistance, interferon suppression and phenotypic variations by lineage” (preprint) [medRxiv]. Mouse examine. “The persistence of COVID-19 is partly on account of viral evolution lowering vaccine and remedy efficacy. Serial infections of Wuhan-like SARS-CoV-2 in Balb/c mice yielded mouse-adapted sstrains with larger infectivity and mortality. We investigated if passaging unmodified B.1.351 (Beta) and B.1.617.2 (Delta) 20 instances in K18-ACE2 mice, expressing human ACE2 receptor, in a BSL-3 laboratory with out selective pressures, would drive human health-relevant evolution and if evolution was lineage-dependent. Late-passage virus induced extra extreme illness, at organism and lung tissue scales, with late-passage Delta demonstrating antibody resistance and interferon suppression.” • If I’m deciphering this examine appropriately, it reveals that SARS-CoV-2 does not essentially evolve to be milder (opposite to a type of speaking factors that out of the blue and mysteriously seems within the zeitgeist).

“Reinfections and Cross-Safety within the 1918/19 Influenza Pandemic: Revisiting a Survey Amongst Male and Feminine Manufacturing unit Employees” [International Journal of Public Health]. “Among the many complete of n = 820 manufacturing facility staff, 50.2% reported influenza-related sickness through the pandemic, nearly all of whom reported extreme sickness. Amongst male staff 47.4% reported an sickness vs. 58.5% of feminine staff, though this may be defined by various age distribution for every intercourse (median age was 31 years outdated for males, vs. 22 years outdated for females). Amongst those that reported sickness, 15.3% reported reinfections. Reinfection charges elevated throughout the three pandemic waves. The vast majority of subsequent infections had been reported to be as extreme as the primary an infection, if no more. Sickness through the first wave, in the summertime of 1918, was related to a 35.9% (95percentCI, 15.7–51.1) protecting impact in opposition to reinfections throughout later waves.” • One other delusion: Reinfection is milder.

Coverage

Ought to any person verify in on Canada, and see how they’re doing?

“Docs, lecturers, activists name for elimination of prime Vancouver physician from her function over COVID-19 claims” [CTV News]. “[Protect Our Province BC] is blasting [Vancouver Coastal Health’s chief medical officer Dr. Patricia Daly for encouraging listeners to think of COVID-19 ‘like other respiratory viruses, especially the coronaviruses that cause common colds.’ In its open letter, the group points out that there have been at least 12 studies to date that link COVID-19 infections to later diabetes diagnoses. PoP BC also linked to a CTV News Vancouver article that covers the latest study, in which the provincial health officer acknowledged the long-term impacts COVID can have on different body organs. ‘It’s not just affecting the lungs,’ said Dr. Bonnie Henry. ‘We know it can lead to heart disease, we know that people who have post-COVID symptoms have things like neurological issues, they have fatigue and brain fog and some of the other things that we have seen are related to things like diabetes.’ The group is also pushing back against Daly’s claim that, between high rates of vaccination and infections, B.C. has a strong hybrid immunity, meaning the population is protected against severe COVID-related illness and death. PoP BC describes this claim as ‘unsubstantiated.’ During her May 5 interview, Daly also made comments about young people being at low risk from COVID-19, and said the risk of experiencing severe illness and death from that virus versus the common cold is about the same for people living in long-term care homes. PoP BC’s letter disputes both of those claims, as well as ones Daly made about long COVID, post-COVID conditions, the efficacy of face masks and the availability of antiviral agents being available to the public. ‘Dr. Daly’s public statements are not based in science and they minimize the real risks of COVID-19 infections,’ the letter reads. ‘We expect public health leaders not to negligently misrepresent the accumulating scientific evidence related to SARS-CoV-2. We expect these authorities to protect all British Columbians who still put their trust in provincial public health leaders, not put them at risk of harm.’” • Too much even for Bonnie Henry!!!!!

“Third COVID-19 outbreak in three weeks declared at Burnaby Hospital” [BurnabyNow]. “Upon declaring the outbreak, Fraser Well being instantly carried out precautions on the website, together with enhanced cleansing to guard the well being of all employees, medical employees, and sufferers,” an announcement learn.” • Enhanced cleansing. I actually deprecate that “Please kill me” trope, as a result of that’s one thing I don’t wish to counsel, even in jest, however there are occasions…

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“College students are more and more refusing to go to high school. It’s changing into a psychological well being disaster” [USA Today]. “[Jayne] Demsky sought assist from educators, docs and counselors, making an attempt to know what was stopping her son from going to high school for almost a yr. Lastly, a psychiatrist instructed Demsky a couple of situation that impacts a rising variety of college students with extreme nervousness: faculty avoidance. ‘It was nearly like a revelation,’ she instructed USA TODAY. , additionally referred to as faculty refusal, is when a school-age baby refuses to attend faculty or has problem being at school for the complete day. A number of psychological well being specialists instructed USA TODAY it has turn out to be a disaster that has gotten worse because the COVID-19 pandemic.” • Look, simply because colleges are loss of life traps stuffed with an airborne Degree 3 pathogen is not any cause to keep away from them! (And depart it to the PMC to invent a medicalizing time period for it. I ponder if there’s a drug for SAB. Soma, possibly?)

Elite Maleficence

“Macroeconomic penalties of the COVID-19 pandemic” [Economic Modelling]. “The evaluation of the decomposition revealed that the most important losses from COVID had been related to the necessary closure of companies and the sluggish reopening course of, adopted by the avoidance of office and different actions by households. …” lol … “primarily because of the decline in demand attributable to the declining inhabitants, the rise in demand for well being care led to an increase in actual GDP. Pent-up demand is a major issue within the restoration course of, elevating progress ever nearer to the unique baseline progress. Early rounds (1–4) of fiscal coverage had been additionally very useful in assuaging among the losses in financial progress on account of necessary enterprise closures, avoidance, and different causal components. The advantages of the final spherical of fiscal coverage are significantly decrease, and even unfavorable, in comparison with earlier rounds on account of crowding out of personal funding and the necessity for companies to repay loans. A number of areas of future analysis current themselves. A major instance can be creating future situations involving new variants, more practical vaccines, and more practical anti-viral remedies.” • Be aware, as standard, the whole suppression of non-pharmaceutical interventions (and the concomitant sucking as much as Huge Pharma).

“Hospitals create police forces to stem rising violence in opposition to employees” [NPR]. • Simply in time for the pro-mask protests? (It’s been my view for a while that direct motion at Hospital An infection Management places of work is the one manner ahead.)

“Why UCSF’s Bob Wachter and different COVID specialists say we’re at a pandemic ‘tipping level’” [San Francisco Chronicle]. “Given the politicization of public well being insurance policies, a sudden resurgence of virus-related hospitalizations and fatalities can be unlikely to result in extra sweeping authorities restrictions corresponding to lockdowns and masks mandates. The U.S. dropped a lot of its pandemic-era restrictions lengthy earlier than the general public well being emergency got here to an finish. And society has moved on too. It’s unlikely that individuals would rally collectively in opposition to a typical enemy as they did in March 2020.” Rule #2. Extra: “‘For lots of people, it truly is type of like a tipping level the place it’s like, ‘I’ve performed that for 2 or three years and I simply can’t do it anymore,” stated Wachter, who added that he nonetheless places on a masks in crowded settings. ‘Until you begin seeing an enormous variety of deaths* — you realize, 2020 stage of deaths — I believe lots of people actually are previous it they usually’re not going again.’” • This from the dude who chivvied his personal spouse to a superspreading occasion, the place she bought Covid, after which Lengthy Covid, which she nonetheless has. Keep in mind how all of the individuals who had been fallacious about Iraq cashed in, and all those that had been proper had been ostracized? Like that, besides orders of magnitude worse. NOTE * The variety of deaths “underneath the curve” remains to be large — extra large than the deaths throughout Biden’s Omicron jouissance, as I present right here. However you’ll by no means hear that from PMC sociopaths like Wachter.

Thanks, Rochelle:

I might file this underneath Class Warfare, too. Since that’s what it’s:

The whinging as a result of for 2 months folks couldn’t go to Applebee’s except they determined infecting others was price it!

This too:

* * *

Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” may be a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. A lot of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most certainly deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson).

Case Information

NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater information from Might 15:

Lambert right here: Until america is totally, er, distinctive, we must be seeing a rise right here quickly. UPDATE Nonetheless on the excessive plateau. Are we’re the purpose within the world pandemic the place nationwide experiences actually diverge?

For now, I’m going to make use of this nationwide wastewater information as the most effective proxy for case information (ignoring the scientific case information portion of this chart, which for my part “goes dangerous” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). At the very least we are able to spot traits, and examine present ranges to equal previous ranges.

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, Might 13, 2023:

Lambert right here: Appears like XBB.1.16 is rolling proper alongside. Although XBB 1.9.1 is within the race as nicely.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, from Might 13:

NOTE “Charts and information supplied by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous yr, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not the complete pandemic, FFS (the implicit message right here being that Covid is “similar to the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week interval” is acceptable for eachMR SUBLIMINAL I hate these folks a lot. Discover additionally that this chart reveals, not less than for its time interval, that Covid is not seasonal, though CDC is making an attempt to get us to imagine that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the prevailing institutional equipment for injections.

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, Might 15:

Up 1%. Frequency all the way down to as soon as per week?

Deaths

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

Lambert right here: So this information feed, er, got here alive once more.

Whole: 1,163,294 – 1,163,026 = 268 (268 * 365 = 97,820 deaths per yr, immediately’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “dwelling with” Covid (fairly a bit larger than the minimizers would really like, although they will speak themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could must resolve that is what the powers-that-be think about “mission completed” for this specific tranche of loss of life and illness).

Lambert right here: Nonetheless low.

Extra Deaths

NOT UPDATED Extra deaths (The Economist), revealed Might 9:

Lambert right here: Primarily based on a machine-learning mannequin. (The CDC has an extra estimate too, however because it ran without end with an enormous typo within the Legend, I figured no one was actually it, so I bought rid it. )

Stats Watch

Housing: “United States Housing Begins” [Trading Economics]. “Housing begins within the US unexpectedly elevated 2.2% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annualized price of 1.401 million in April of 2023, in comparison with market forecasts of 1.4 million. Information for March was revised sharply decrease to 1.37 million from 1.42 million, as excessive costs, rates of interest, and tighter lending requirements proceed to weigh.”

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* * *

At present’s Concern & Greed Index: 57 Greed (earlier shut: 55 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 58 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Might 16 at 1:36 PM ET.

The 420

“A Retrospective Research to Decide the Impression of Psychedelic Remedy for Dimensional Measures of Wellness: A Quantitative Evaluation” (preprint) [medRxiv]. n = 65. “The World Well being Group (WHO) defines wellness because the optimum state of well being of people and teams. No examine so far has recognized the affect of psychedelic medicines on optimizing wellness utilizing a dimensional method. Utilizing this method, remedy results will be measured extra broadly utilizing a composite rating of individuals’ world perceptions of change for ache, perform, and temper scores. Given the priority in earlier work for retrospective research of individuals’ self-medicating with these substances, the character of this examine design permits for a secure technique to develop additional proof on this space of care, with wellness because the broad indication…. The usage of varied psychedelic medicines could also be related to a broad vary of modifications that might assist make clear the mechanism of how they affect wellness sooner or later. Ache, psychological well being, perform, and general high quality of life accordingly improved after using these medicines. Minor variations between the medication weren’t discovered as important, indicating that the perceived advantages gave the impression to be particular to the psychedelic class. Quite a few limitations exist to this kind of examine which was comparatively small in dimension, retrospective and nameless in nature.” • I detest the very idea of wellness, not least as a result of Obama made positive ObamaCare funded it. However…. Paris is price a mass…..

Class Warfare

“Elon Musk: Working from house is ‘morally fallacious’ when service staff nonetheless have to point out up” [CNBC]. “‘I believe that the entire notion of do business from home is a bit just like the pretend Marie Antoinette quote, ‘Allow them to eat cake,” Musk stated. ‘It’s not only a productiveness factor,’ Musk stated. ‘I believe it’s morally fallacious.’ Musk referred to tech staff because the ‘laptop computer courses dwelling in la-la-land,’ telling [CNBC’s David Faber] it was hypocritical to do business from home whereas anticipating service staff to proceed to point out up in individual. ‘Folks ought to get off the goddamn ethical excessive horse with the work-from-home bulls***,’ Musk continued.’” • Musk is right, however the one options are society extensive: Air high quality mixed with common masking.

Stochastic eugenics. You’ll be able to wager 40-year-olds from wealthy households are doing high quality, simply high quality:

The whole lot’s going based on plan!

Information of the Wired

“Hardcover Chapbook 1.0” [DIY Bookbinding]. “General I used to be very happy with the best way this primary version turned out. However, I’ll be making a couple of modifications for the subsequent model. The most important change can be my inside paper. I used the closest paper at hand to print the inside pages and it was too skinny. Run of the mill copy paper is pretty skinny and light-weight weight. This induced a couple of points. First, the printing on the again sides of the paper reveals by means of. It additionally absorbed moisture from the glue when the duvet was utilized and warped the pages a bit. Lastly, it simply feels flimsy. The paper I used shouldn’t be terrible, however my purpose is to present this little ebook a top quality really feel. So, I’ll be upgrading to a 32lb (120 gsm) paper for the inside on the subsequent version.” • Very nerdy! Additionally Jackpot-ready, on the idea that this e-book factor is only a fad.

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Contact data 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 high quality! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! If you’d 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 AM:

AM writes: “A scrawny azalea that I by no means observed in prior years within the yard, including a bit spring coloration. Grass getting inexperienced however rain wanted!”

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If you happen to hate PayPal, you’ll be able to e-mail me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will provide you with instructions on tips on how to ship a verify. Thanks!

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