\n<\/p>\n
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nBird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>House Wren, Coronado National Forest, Pearce, Ash Springs Trail, Cochise, Arizona, United States.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#trump\">Trump posts bond<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#kennedy\">Kennedy makes the ballot in NC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#shanahan\">Shanahan: More detail<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Politics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.\u201d \u2013Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>2024<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Less than a year to go!<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/free.timeanddate.com\/countdown\/i8ubjj5e\/n179\/cf100\/cm0\/cu1\/ct0\/cs1\/ca0\/cr0\/ss0\/cac000\/cpc000\/pcfff\/tcfff\/fs100\/szw320\/szh135\/tatTime%20left%20to%20Election%20Day%2C%202024\/tac000\/tptTime%20since%20Event%20started%20in\/tpc000\/mac000\/mpc000\/iso2024-11-05T00:00:00\/bo2\/pd2\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"322\" height=\"137\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>RCP Poll Averages, March 29<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"544\" height=\"973\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls.png 544w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls-168x300.png 168w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I think I\u2019ll leave this up until this coming Friday, so I can at least mumble something about trends. Nationally, Trump is up 2.4% in the Five-Way, same as last week, give or take. Trump is still up in all the Swing States (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/03\/introduction-to-swing-states-in-the-presidential-election-of-2024-general-survey.html\">more here<\/a>). I\u2019ve highlighted PA, (1) because Trump is actually down there, and (2) it\u2019s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn\u2019t Trump doing well there?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trump\">\u201cTrump posts $175 million bond in New York civil fraud case\u201d [<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-posts-175-million-bond-civil-fraud-case-rcna145960\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NBC<\/a>]. \u201cFormer President Donald Trump has posted a $175 million bond in the New York civil fraud case, preventing seizure of his assets while the case is under appeal\u2026 Knight Specialty Insurance Co., the entity that underwrote Trump\u2019s bond, is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knightinsurancegroup.com\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a group of companies<\/a> run by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/profile\/don-hankey\/?sh=274262bf1783\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Los Angeles-based billionaire Don Hankey<\/a>, who is No. 128 on the 2023 Forbes 400 list and No. 317 on the 2023 Forbes billionaires list. Hankey has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zacheverson\/2023\/08\/12\/ceo-of-trumps-new-lender-sells-11-million-of-his-banks-stock\/?sh=7b590bba29e4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">an investor in Axos Bank<\/a>, the financial institution that refinanced Trump\u2019s loans on Trump Tower and Trump National Doral Miami in 2022. Axos has lent Trump $100 million in his refinancing of Trump Tower and $125 million more for Doral. Neither loan is due until 2032, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/OGE-Certified-Part-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to the Office of Government Ethics disclosure Trump submitted in August<\/a>.\u201d \u2022 File that name away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEx-Trump aide Hope Hicks expected to testify in former president\u2019s New York criminal trial\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/hope-hicks-expected-testify-donald-trumps-hush-money-trial-rcna145895\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NBC<\/a>]. I\u2019ve always had a soft spot for Hicks, because one of the earliest stories I read on Trump was from a Bloomberg reporter; Hicks told him she couldn\u2019t take his call just then because she was going to take a nap. A little taste of what was coming, I suppose. More: \u201c\u2018I have learned that in the days following the Access Hollywood video [\u2018grab \u2019em by the pussy\u2019], [then-Trump lawyer Michael] Cohen exchanged a series of calls, text messages and emails with Keith Davidson, who was then [Stephanie Clifford [a.k.a. Stormy Daniel]\u2019s attorney, David Pecker and Dylan Howard of American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, Trump, and Hope Hicks, who was then press secretary for Trump\u2019s presidential campaign,\u201d the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. \u2018Based on the timing of these calls, and the content of the text messages and emails, I believe that at least some of these communications concerned the need to prevent Clifford from going public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story,\u2019 the affidavit said.\u201d \u2022 Hicks will testify for the prosecution. We\u2019ll see what she has to say.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump Media Shares Slump as Early Fervor Fades\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/dnyuz.com\/2024\/04\/01\/trump-media-shares-slump-as-early-fervor-fades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cShares of former President Donald J. Trump\u2019s social media company slumped more than 20 percent on Monday, as the fervor around the company\u2019s debut on public markets last week appeared to subside. The sell-off cut the market value of Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker \u2018DJT,\u2019 by some $2 billion, to about $6.5 billion. The value of Mr. Trump\u2019s majority stake in the company fell to about $3.7 billion, from over $6 billion at its peak last week. Still, shares of Trump Media were higher than they were immediately before the firm merged with a public shell company on Tuesday and began trading on the Nasdaq. Strong support for the merged company after it began trading pushed its market value as high as $10 billion at one point last week. That raised eyebrows across Wall Street, given the relatively small size of Trump Media\u2019s business. A filing on Monday showed that the company generated just $750,000 in revenue in the fourth quarter last year, bringing its full-year total to $4.1 million. Trump Media recorded a $58 million loss in 2023. It got more than $300 million in cash as part of its merger with the shell company. All the company\u2019s revenues come from advertising on Truth Social, the digital platform that has become Mr. Trump\u2019s main outlet for reaching his supporters and blasting his critics, political opponents and other perceived enemies, including the prosecutors and judges involved in his criminal and civil cases.\u201d \u2022 I don\u2019t play the ponies, so I don\u2019t know if Trump has been able to convert any of this paper to cash, or how he would do so, absent simply sellling it, which he seems not to have done. Readers?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump\u2019s VP search is starting to get serious\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/03\/31\/inside-donald-trumps-apprentice-style-search-for-a-running-mate-00149827\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cSusie Wiles, a top adviser to Trump, is leading a close-to-the-vest process of narrowing a list of around a dozen lawmakers and other Republican personalities under consideration, according to multiple people familiar with the process. The campaign has already hired an outside firm to vet candidates and prepare research documents. Former first lady Melania Trump, who influenced Trump\u2019s decision to select Mike Pence in 2016, has been kept apprised. And Trump\u2019s son Donald Trump Jr. said he speaks with his father frequently about who is in contention. While who is up or down seemingly changes by the minute, the list has included everyone from Tim Scott and Kristi Noem to Byron Donalds, Elise Stefanik, Tulsi Gabbard and J.D. Vance, whom Trump has called a \u2018fighter.\u2019 Trump, despite saying he doesn\u2019t think the vice president matters all that much, regularly asks guests at his Mar-a-Lago club for their opinion on different options and, with a flair for suspense, teases his choices in private meetings and media interviews. The process is expected to take months. \u2018He\u2019s going to draw this out \u2018Apprentice\u2019-style,\u2019 said one person close to the Trump campaign who was granted anonymity to speak freely.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"kennedy\" a=\"\">Kennedy (I): \u201cRFK Jr. has qualified for ballot in North Carolina, campaign says\u201d [The Hill]. Swing state. \u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s campaign has added North Carolina to the expanding list of battleground states in which it has qualified for the ballot in November. The independent candidate\u2019s campaign says it now has enough signatures to list Kennedy as a White House contender through the \u2018We The People\u2019 party, gathering 23,000 pledges of support in the purple state. \u2018We have the field teams, volunteers, legal teams, paid circulators, supporters, and strategists ready to get the job done,\u2019 Kennedy\u2019s campaign press secretary Stefanie Spear said Monday in a statement announcing the news. North Carolina is considered an important swing state for all parties in 2024, including a potential third-party ticket. Former President Trump won the state by just more than 1 percentage point in 2020, giving Republicans a slight edge and inspiring Democrats to try to win it this cycle. The addition of the Tar Heel state brings Kennedy\u2019s ballot qualified total to five states so far, including , and . In [second swing state], he cleared the signature threshold prior to meeting the requirement of having a declared vice president alongside his name, raising questions about whether he will have to regather signatures of support.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kennedy (I): \u201cColumn: Voters wishing for an alternative to Trump and Biden got one. Unfortunately, it\u2019s RFK Jr.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/story\/2024-04-02\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-rfkjr-nicole-shanahan-trump-biden-election-2024-third-party-jonah-goldberg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Los Angeles Times<\/a>]. \u201cLong before Trump, RFK Jr. was the original election denier, insisting that Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/people.csail.mit.edu\/rivest\/voting\/press\/WasThe2004ElectionStolen.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stole the 2004 election<\/a>. Before COVID, Kennedy was already famous for falsely claiming that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/cnn-robert-f-kennedy-rfk-jr-anti-vax-kasie-hunt-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">all vaccines are dangerous<\/a> and that some cause autism. He also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/cell-phones-brain-cancer-rfk-jr_l_649adeb0e4b0a279a2307db1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stands<\/a> by his claim that cellphones and Wi-Fi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z-YQ1Y7c_Pk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cause cancer<\/a> despite the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/about-cancer\/causes-prevention\/risk\/radiation\/cell-phones-fact-sheet#has-the-incidence-of-brain-and-central-nervous-system-cancers-changed-during-the-time-cell-phone-use-increased\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lack of evidence<\/a> of an increase in cancer rates amid exploding use of those technologies. Kennedy\u2019s default position is that official explanations are suspect, which is another way of saying that all conspiracy theories \u2014 from 9\/11 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/sep\/26\/robert-kennedy-jr-september-11-podcast-peter-bergen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">trutherism<\/a> to fringe theories about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/retropolis\/wp\/2018\/05\/26\/who-killed-bobby-kennedy-his-son-rfk-jr-doesnt-believe-it-was-sirhan-sirhan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">assassination of his own father <\/a>to the idea that the COVID virus was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/15\/us\/politics\/rfk-jr-remarks-covid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">engineered<\/a> to spare Jewish and Chinese people \u2014 deserve the benefit of the doubt. It\u2019s as if his entire political persona were designed to monetize what the political historian Richard Hofstadter called \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/harpers.org\/archive\/1964\/11\/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the paranoid style in American politics<\/a>.\u2019 It\u2019s a testament to the pervasiveness of the paranoid style that it\u2019s difficult to figure out which party Kennedy will take more votes from. \u2018Our campaign is a spoiler all right,\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/27\/us\/politics\/trump-rfk-jr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kennedy said last week<\/a> while announcing his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, in Oakland. \u2018It is a spoiler for President Biden and for President Trump.\u2019 But there\u2019s the rub: The same duopoly that Kennedy is running against ensures that he can be a spoiler for only one candidate. Hofstadter also said, \u2018Third parties are like bees: once they have stung, they die.’\u201d \u2022 On election 2004, it\u2019s a judgement call. Kennedy\u2019s post is, IIRC, on Ohio. I live-blogged that election all the way \u2019til coverage ended (from a caf\u00e9 in Philly; yes, I\u2019m that old). There was <em>plenty<\/em> suspect shenanigaos in Ohio; I\u2019m too lazy to dig out the links \u2014 though I will at reader request \u2014 but there were plenty of sober-minded, non-conspiratorial observers who thought the results stank. On Covid: The Times link on SARS-CoV-2 being engineered to \u201cspare Jewish and Chinese\u201d people links <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/fz3Le\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">to the New York Post<\/a>, which cites to a video, providing a partial transcript. So I don\u2019t <em>think<\/em> we\u2019re dealing with the press simply making up quotes, as they often have done with Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy (I): \u201cWhy Silicon Valley Reactionaries Love RFK Jr.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/silicon-valley-shanahan-rfk-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u201cSilicon Valley money, often tied to people in the circle of Peter Thiel, has fueled Kennedy\u2019s presidential run. As Axios <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2023\/06\/08\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-tech-2024-campaign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reported<\/a> last June, \u2018Several of Silicon Valley\u2019s noisiest tech moguls have begun to support the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vocal anti-vax activist who\u2019s xcvkl;\u2019 for the Democratic Party nomination.\u201d These early backers included Elon Musk as well as venture capitalists Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sacks (a longtime business and ideological ally of Peter Thiel, a Paypal and Facebook tycoon who backed Donald Trump in 2016). Writing about this cohort in The New Republic in 2022, Jacob Silverman <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/168125\/david-sacks-elon-musk-peter-thiel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">noted<\/a> that a pivotal movement that helped coalesce the group was the successful campaign to recall Chesa Boudin as district attorney of California because of his support for criminal justice reform. Both Shanahan and Sacks contributed heavily to the Boudin recall campaign, which demonstrated that Silicon Valley money could roll back left-wing social movements. Prior to 2022, Shanahan was a typical wealthy Democratic Party donor, giving to figures such as Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden. But in 2022 she joined the anti-Boudin campaign, which connected her with a wider cohort of reactionary tech figures. As Shanahan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2024\/03\/27\/mage-m27.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">explained<\/a>, she didn\u2019t think that criminal justice reform was necessary and \u2018Chesa came into a situation that needed to be maintained, in my opinion, not necessarily reformed.\u2019 There\u2019s a pipeline that runs from anti-Boudin sentiment to supporting Robert Kennedy, but law-and-order politics is just one component of Shanahan\u2019s journey. Another key factor was openness to alternative medicine and quack science, defended with the familiar contrarian defense that we need to ask questions. \u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"shanahan\" a=\"\">Kennedy (I): \u201c55 Things You Need to Know About Nicole Shanahan\u201d [<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/03\/26\/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-2024-bio-00149015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cIn divorce proceedings, which were finalized in 2023, Shanahan sought over $1 billion from Brin. The final division of assets was settled in confidential arbitration.\u201d \u2022 Hmm. Either Brin wants it confidential because she got a billion, or she does, because she didn\u2019t. Regardless, she has enough to help Kennedy right now. Whether she can harvest from Silicon Valley \u2014 and, if so, from whom? \u2014 remains an open question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTech leaders have all the skills for politics. Still, most don\u2019t want to run\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/04\/02\/tech-leaders-not-interested-politics\/72958933007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">USA Today<\/a>]. \u201cShanahan, a self-proclaimed \u201ctechnologist,\u201d is also a research fellow at <a href=\"https:\/\/conferences.law.stanford.edu\/futurelaw2021\/speakers\/nicole-shanahan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics<\/a>, which focuses on \u2018humanistic coding.’\u201d From the her Stanford bio: \u201cApart from the practical applications of legal technology, her academic research centers around Ronald Coase\u2019s work on transaction cost theory. Entitled, \u2018Coasean Mapping,\u2019 she theorizes on the pace and nature of society\u2019s adoption of artificial intelligence for law and government.\u201d \u2022 Any readers have views on Ronald Coase and his work? <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhy are Americans so unhappy?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/4568301-why-are-americans-so-unhappy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hill<\/a>]. \u201cOverall, Americans feel broke and brokenhearted even with overall <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/business\/economy\/inflation-january-2024-how-the-economy-is-doing-now-rcna138402\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">good national news on inflation<\/a>.\u201d Lol. More: \u201cAmerica is in a period of internal dissonance \u2014 not quite decay but something akin to it. We don\u2019t feel like a happy country. Financial stress is one reason so many Americans want to move to another country. In a recent poll by Monmouth University, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/reports\/monmouthpoll_us_032624\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">one-third of respondents<\/a> said they would like to live in a different nation \u2014 a figure that stood at 10 percent 50 years ago. (Not many people had an exact destination in mind.) Other factors contribute to unhappiness, but the common issue is <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/610916\/americans-offer-anemic-state-nation-report.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">generalized worry<\/a> about where America is going on almost every issue from education to politics, according to the most recent Gallup polling data. And the discontentment leads to a belief that America is not well respected overseas. Americans\u2019 satisfaction with <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/611858\/third-americans-satisfied-global-position.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">our global position<\/a> is at its lowest since 2017 \u2014 also according to Gallup. Unhappiness is both a political state and a mental health crisis, although we rarely see them as interrelated. Anxiety <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/money\/blueprint\/health-insurance\/mental-health-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">affects 1 in 5 adults<\/a>. More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apa.org\/monitor\/2023\/07\/psychologists-preventing-teen-suicide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">20 percent of teens<\/a> have seriously considered suicide. Experts on mental health point to social media as one reason for social disconnectedness.\u201d \u2022 A continuing pandemic would, of course, have <em>nothing<\/em> to do with \u201csocial disconnectedness.\u201d Nor the million deaths and counting, which \u201cdisconnected\u201d families, friends, co-workers, neighbors. Anyhow, if you\u2019re one of that one-third considering expatriation, it might be wise to purchase a Canadian lapel pin\u2026. (The Monmouth poll that figure is based in doesn\u2019t take either income or location into account, ffs.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>#COVID19<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am in earnest \u2014 I will not equivocate \u2014 I will not excuse \u2014 I will not retreat a single inch \u2014 AND I WILL BE HEARD.\u201d \u2013William Lloyd Garrison<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Resources, United States (National): Transmission (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=all_counties&data-type=Risk&null=Risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>); Wastewater (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/biobot.io\/data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Biobot<\/a>; includes many counties; <a href=\"https:\/\/data.wastewaterscan.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wastewater Scan<\/a>, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/businesssolutions\/covid-19-index.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a>); \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iowacovid19tracker.org\/hospitals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Iowa COVID-19 Tracker<\/a>\u201d (in IA, but national data). \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/icemsg.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts<\/a>\u201d (especially on hospitalization by city).<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201cCOVID\u201d in the subject line. Thank you!<\/p>\n<p>ake effect by summer. The move by the Democratic administration angered board members, who called it a \u2018last-minute stunt\u2019 that undermines their regulatory process. It also sparked a protest by warehouse workers, who temporarily shut down the meeting as they waved signs declaring that \u2018Heat Kills!\u2019 and loudly chanted, \u2018What do we want? Heat protection! When do we want it? Now!’\u201d \u2022 Gavin Newsom, the worker\u2019s friend.<\/p>\n<p>Resources, United States (Local): AK (<a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/af2efc8bffbf4cdc83c2d1a134354074\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AL (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/6d2771faa9da4a2786a509d82c8cf0f7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AR (<a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/633006d0782b4544bd5113a314f6268a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AZ (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azdhs.gov\/covid19\/data\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); CA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/Programs\/CID\/DCDC\/Pages\/COVID-19\/CalSuWers-Dashboard.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.marinhhs.org\/surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Marin, dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/healthalerts.stanford.edu\/covid-19\/wastewater-dashboard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stanford, wastewater<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.verily.com\/?v=SC2_N&l=Oakland%2C+CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Oakland, wastewater<\/a>); CO (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.colorado.gov\/data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/cdphe.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/d79cf93c3938470ca4bcc4823328946b#utility=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); CT (<a href=\"https:\/\/data.ct.gov\/stories\/s\/COVID-19-data\/wa3g-tfvc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); DE (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.delaware.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); FL (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/5b9d75ba683849928dc1a49c39ab0b1c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); GA (<a href=\"https:\/\/dph.georgia.gov\/ga-nwss-wastewater-surveillance-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); HI (<a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronavirusdisease2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); IA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmmwra.org\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=57\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater reports<\/a>); ID (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahopublichealth.com\/district-2\/novel-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, Boise; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahopublichealth.com\/district-2\/novel-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/data.wastewaterscan.org\/?plantId=1056f05c-0e46-4e3d-b007-c0453ba7dc0d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Central Idaho; <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.verily.com\/#:SARS-CoV-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Coeur d\u2019Alene; dashboard, <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.srhd.org\/topics\/spokane-county-case-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spokane County<\/a>); IL (<a href=\"https:\/\/iwss.uillinois.edu\/wastewater-treatment-plants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); IN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coronavirus.in.gov\/indiana-covid-19-dashboard-and-map\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); KS (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov\/160\/COVID-19-in-Kansas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/4456bae8a38f4b6180e008477382fff9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Lawrence); KY (<a href=\"https:\/\/louisville.edu\/envirome\/thecoimmunityproject\/dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, Louisville); LA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ldh.la.gov\/coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/info-details\/covid-19-wastewater-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MD (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.maryland.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); ME (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maine.gov\/dhhs\/mecdc\/infectious-disease\/epi\/airborne\/coronavirus\/data.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MI (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/coronavirus\/stats\/wastewater-surveillance\/dashboard\/sentinel-wastewater-epidemiology-evaluation-project-sweep\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/gisportal.state.mi.us\/portal\/apps\/insights\/index.html#\/view\/52bbb104ed574887918f990af9f3debe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.state.mn.us\/diseases\/coronavirus\/stats\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MO (<a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/f7f5492486114da6b5d6fdc07f81aacf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MS (<a href=\"https:\/\/msdh.ms.gov\/page\/14,0,420.html#Mississippi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); <del>MT (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/MapSeries\/index.html?appid=7c34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>)<\/del>; NC (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.ncdhhs.gov\/dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard)<\/a>; ND (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.nd.gov\/health\/coronavirus\/cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.nd.gov\/health\/coronavirus\/cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); NE (<a href=\"https:\/\/atlas-dhhs.ne.gov\/Atlas\/Respiratory_Illness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NH (<a href=\"https:\/\/wisdom.dhhs.nh.gov\/wisdom\/dashboard.html?topic=covid-19&subtopic=recurring-updates&indicator=covid-19-wastewater#tabnavbarid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); NJ (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.nj.gov\/forms\/datadashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NM (<a href=\"https:\/\/cvprovider.nmhealth.org\/public-dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NV (<a href=\"https:\/\/nvhealthresponse.nv.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/empower.unlv.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Southern NV); NY (<a href=\"https:\/\/mbcolli.shinyapps.io\/SARS2EWSP\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); OH (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.ohio.gov\/dashboards\/other-resources\/wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); OK (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/51657c21386d4f1a962b1853c76ec589\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); <del>OR (<a href=\"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/app\/profile\/oregon.health.authority.covid.19\/viz\/OregonsCOVID-19DataDashboards-TableofContents\/TableofContentsStatewide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>)<\/del>; PA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.pa.gov\/topics\/disease\/coronavirus\/pages\/Cases.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); RI (<a href=\"https:\/\/ri-department-of-health-covid-19-data-rihealth.hub.arcgis.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); SC (<a href=\"https:\/\/scdhec.gov\/index.php\/covid19\/covid-19-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); SD (<a href=\"https:\/\/doh.sd.gov\/COVID\/Dashboard.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); TN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/health\/cedep\/ncov\/data.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); TX (<a href=\"https:\/\/txdshsea.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/4ae43eefd0f641d59d35c3df82ee59cc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); UT (<a href=\"https:\/\/udwq.shinyapps.io\/sarscov2_surv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); VA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/see-the-numbers\/covid-19-in-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); VT (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/disease-control\/covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); WA (<a href=\"https:\/\/doh.wa.gov\/emergencies\/covid-19\/data-dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.bfhd.wa.gov\/cases-and-roadmap-to-recovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); WI (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.wisconsin.gov\/covid-19\/wastewater.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); WV (<del><a href=\"https:\/\/oehs.wvdhhr.org\/news\/oehs-coivd-19-information\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a><\/del>); WY (<del><a href=\"https:\/\/covidwastewatermonitor.wyo.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a><\/del>).<\/p>\n<p>Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (<a href=\"https:\/\/health-infobase.canada.ca\/covid-19\/wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Government of Canada<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/en\/Data-and-Analysis\/Infectious-Disease\/COVID-19-Data-Surveillance\/Wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); QC (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.inspq.qc.ca\/covid-19\/donnees\/eaux-usees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><em>les eaux us\u00e9es<\/em><\/a>); BC (<a href=\"https:\/\/bccdc.shinyapps.io\/respiratory_wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); BC, Vancouver (<a href=\"https:\/\/metrovancouver.org\/services\/liquid-waste\/testing-for-the-covid-19-virus-in-wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>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, 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). <\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>LEGEND<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1) <span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> for charts new today; all others are not updated.<\/p>\n<p>2) For a full-size\/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and \u201copen image in new tab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out at the level of previous Trump peaks. Not a great victory. Note also the area \u201cunder the curve,\u201d besides looking at peaks. That area is larger under Biden than under Trump, and it seems to be rising steadily if unevenly.<\/p>\n<p>[2] (Biobot) Backward revisions, I hate them.<\/p>\n<p>[3] (CDC Variants) As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.\u201d \u201cBiweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.\u201d Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they\u2019re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.<\/p>\n<p>[4] (ER) CDC seems to have killed this off, since the link is broken, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/surveillance\/resp-lens\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">I think in favor of this <em>thing<\/em><\/a>. I will try to confirm.<\/p>\n<p>[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Looks like a very gradual leveling off to a non-zero baseline, to me.<\/p>\n<p>[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Still down. \u201cMaps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET\u2020\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit in the rear view mirror.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants) JN.1 dominates utterly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Job Openings\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/job-offers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe number of job openings went up by 8,000 from the previous month to 8.756 million in February 2024, above market expectations of 8.75 million.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Factory Orders\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/factory-orders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cNew orders for US manufactured goods rose by 1.4% from the previous month to $576.8 billion in February of 2024, trimming the upwardly revised 3.8% drop in January, and above market expectations of a 1% increase to point to further resilience of the US economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cNew XZ backdoor scanner detects implant in any Linux binary\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/new-xz-backdoor-scanner-detects-implant-in-any-linux-binary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bleeping Computer<\/a>]. \u201cFirmware security firm Binarly has released a free online scanner to detect Linux executables impacted by the XZ Utils supply chain attack, tracked as CVE-2024-3094. CVE-2024-3094 is a supply chain compromise in XZ Utils, a set of data compression tools and libraries used in many major Linux distributions. Late last month, Microsoft engineer Andres Freud <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/red-hat-warns-of-backdoor-in-xz-tools-used-by-most-linux-distros\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">discovered the backdoor<\/a> in the latest version of the XZ Utils package while investigating unusually slow SSH logins on Debian Sid, a rolling release of the Linux distribution.\u201d \u2022 The XZ backdoor is actually post-worthy, given its social engineering aspects.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 62 Greed (previous close: 72 Greed) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 67 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Apr 2 at 1:49:21 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p>Rapture Index: Closes down one on Plagues. \u201cThe lack of activity has downgraded this category\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.raptureready.com\/rapture-ready-index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rapture Ready<\/a>]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 187. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is <em>good<\/em>.) \u2022 Bird flu not a concern? <\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Human Hemisphere\u201d [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.radicalcartography.net\/index.html?human-hemisphere\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Radical Cartography<\/a>]. \u201cJust under 88 percent of humanity lives in the Northern Hemisphere; 82 percent lives in the Eastern Hemisphere\u2026. So it looks like there might be some justification for Eurocentrism after all, at least geographically. Ah well.\u201d \u2022 Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"1316\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere.png 598w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere-136x300.png 136w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere-465x1024.png 465w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: 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) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/04\/200pm-water-cooler-4-1-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From TH:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TH writes: \u201cClose-up of one of Sherman Library and Garden\u2019s lovely cyclamen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"donate\"\/><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Water Cooler is a standalone entity <em>not<\/em> covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! <em>Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage<\/em>. When I get no donations for five or ten 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<\/p>\n<p>Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226891\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png 606w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF & Email\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none; -moz-box-shadow: none; box-shadow:none; padding:0; margin:0\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/print-button-gray.png\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF & Email\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/04\/200pm-water-cooler-4-2-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Bird Song of the Day House Wren, Coronado National Forest, Pearce, Ash Springs Trail, Cochise, Arizona, United States. * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-spotlight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>House Wren, Coronado National Forest, Pearce, Ash Springs Trail, Cochise, Arizona, United States.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#trump\">Trump posts bond<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#kennedy\">Kennedy makes the ballot in NC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#shanahan\">Shanahan: More detail<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Politics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.\u201d \u2013Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>2024<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Less than a year to go!<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/free.timeanddate.com\/countdown\/i8ubjj5e\/n179\/cf100\/cm0\/cu1\/ct0\/cs1\/ca0\/cr0\/ss0\/cac000\/cpc000\/pcfff\/tcfff\/fs100\/szw320\/szh135\/tatTime%20left%20to%20Election%20Day%2C%202024\/tac000\/tptTime%20since%20Event%20started%20in\/tpc000\/mac000\/mpc000\/iso2024-11-05T00:00:00\/bo2\/pd2\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"322\" height=\"137\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>RCP Poll Averages, March 29<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"544\" height=\"973\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls.png 544w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls-168x300.png 168w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I think I\u2019ll leave this up until this coming Friday, so I can at least mumble something about trends. Nationally, Trump is up 2.4% in the Five-Way, same as last week, give or take. Trump is still up in all the Swing States (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/03\/introduction-to-swing-states-in-the-presidential-election-of-2024-general-survey.html\">more here<\/a>). I\u2019ve highlighted PA, (1) because Trump is actually down there, and (2) it\u2019s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn\u2019t Trump doing well there?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trump\">\u201cTrump posts $175 million bond in New York civil fraud case\u201d [<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-posts-175-million-bond-civil-fraud-case-rcna145960\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NBC<\/a>]. \u201cFormer President Donald Trump has posted a $175 million bond in the New York civil fraud case, preventing seizure of his assets while the case is under appeal\u2026 Knight Specialty Insurance Co., the entity that underwrote Trump\u2019s bond, is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knightinsurancegroup.com\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a group of companies<\/a> run by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/profile\/don-hankey\/?sh=274262bf1783\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Los Angeles-based billionaire Don Hankey<\/a>, who is No. 128 on the 2023 Forbes 400 list and No. 317 on the 2023 Forbes billionaires list. Hankey has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zacheverson\/2023\/08\/12\/ceo-of-trumps-new-lender-sells-11-million-of-his-banks-stock\/?sh=7b590bba29e4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">an investor in Axos Bank<\/a>, the financial institution that refinanced Trump\u2019s loans on Trump Tower and Trump National Doral Miami in 2022. Axos has lent Trump $100 million in his refinancing of Trump Tower and $125 million more for Doral. Neither loan is due until 2032, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/OGE-Certified-Part-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to the Office of Government Ethics disclosure Trump submitted in August<\/a>.\u201d \u2022 File that name away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEx-Trump aide Hope Hicks expected to testify in former president\u2019s New York criminal trial\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/hope-hicks-expected-testify-donald-trumps-hush-money-trial-rcna145895\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NBC<\/a>]. I\u2019ve always had a soft spot for Hicks, because one of the earliest stories I read on Trump was from a Bloomberg reporter; Hicks told him she couldn\u2019t take his call just then because she was going to take a nap. A little taste of what was coming, I suppose. More: \u201c\u2018I have learned that in the days following the Access Hollywood video [\u2018grab \u2019em by the pussy\u2019], [then-Trump lawyer Michael] Cohen exchanged a series of calls, text messages and emails with Keith Davidson, who was then [Stephanie Clifford [a.k.a. Stormy Daniel]\u2019s attorney, David Pecker and Dylan Howard of American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, Trump, and Hope Hicks, who was then press secretary for Trump\u2019s presidential campaign,\u201d the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. \u2018Based on the timing of these calls, and the content of the text messages and emails, I believe that at least some of these communications concerned the need to prevent Clifford from going public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story,\u2019 the affidavit said.\u201d \u2022 Hicks will testify for the prosecution. We\u2019ll see what she has to say.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump Media Shares Slump as Early Fervor Fades\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/dnyuz.com\/2024\/04\/01\/trump-media-shares-slump-as-early-fervor-fades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cShares of former President Donald J. Trump\u2019s social media company slumped more than 20 percent on Monday, as the fervor around the company\u2019s debut on public markets last week appeared to subside. The sell-off cut the market value of Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker \u2018DJT,\u2019 by some $2 billion, to about $6.5 billion. The value of Mr. Trump\u2019s majority stake in the company fell to about $3.7 billion, from over $6 billion at its peak last week. Still, shares of Trump Media were higher than they were immediately before the firm merged with a public shell company on Tuesday and began trading on the Nasdaq. Strong support for the merged company after it began trading pushed its market value as high as $10 billion at one point last week. That raised eyebrows across Wall Street, given the relatively small size of Trump Media\u2019s business. A filing on Monday showed that the company generated just $750,000 in revenue in the fourth quarter last year, bringing its full-year total to $4.1 million. Trump Media recorded a $58 million loss in 2023. It got more than $300 million in cash as part of its merger with the shell company. All the company\u2019s revenues come from advertising on Truth Social, the digital platform that has become Mr. Trump\u2019s main outlet for reaching his supporters and blasting his critics, political opponents and other perceived enemies, including the prosecutors and judges involved in his criminal and civil cases.\u201d \u2022 I don\u2019t play the ponies, so I don\u2019t know if Trump has been able to convert any of this paper to cash, or how he would do so, absent simply sellling it, which he seems not to have done. Readers?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump\u2019s VP search is starting to get serious\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/03\/31\/inside-donald-trumps-apprentice-style-search-for-a-running-mate-00149827\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cSusie Wiles, a top adviser to Trump, is leading a close-to-the-vest process of narrowing a list of around a dozen lawmakers and other Republican personalities under consideration, according to multiple people familiar with the process. The campaign has already hired an outside firm to vet candidates and prepare research documents. Former first lady Melania Trump, who influenced Trump\u2019s decision to select Mike Pence in 2016, has been kept apprised. And Trump\u2019s son Donald Trump Jr. said he speaks with his father frequently about who is in contention. While who is up or down seemingly changes by the minute, the list has included everyone from Tim Scott and Kristi Noem to Byron Donalds, Elise Stefanik, Tulsi Gabbard and J.D. Vance, whom Trump has called a \u2018fighter.\u2019 Trump, despite saying he doesn\u2019t think the vice president matters all that much, regularly asks guests at his Mar-a-Lago club for their opinion on different options and, with a flair for suspense, teases his choices in private meetings and media interviews. The process is expected to take months. \u2018He\u2019s going to draw this out \u2018Apprentice\u2019-style,\u2019 said one person close to the Trump campaign who was granted anonymity to speak freely.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"kennedy\" a=\"\">Kennedy (I): \u201cRFK Jr. has qualified for ballot in North Carolina, campaign says\u201d [The Hill]. Swing state. \u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s campaign has added North Carolina to the expanding list of battleground states in which it has qualified for the ballot in November. The independent candidate\u2019s campaign says it now has enough signatures to list Kennedy as a White House contender through the \u2018We The People\u2019 party, gathering 23,000 pledges of support in the purple state. \u2018We have the field teams, volunteers, legal teams, paid circulators, supporters, and strategists ready to get the job done,\u2019 Kennedy\u2019s campaign press secretary Stefanie Spear said Monday in a statement announcing the news. North Carolina is considered an important swing state for all parties in 2024, including a potential third-party ticket. Former President Trump won the state by just more than 1 percentage point in 2020, giving Republicans a slight edge and inspiring Democrats to try to win it this cycle. The addition of the Tar Heel state brings Kennedy\u2019s ballot qualified total to five states so far, including , and . In [second swing state], he cleared the signature threshold prior to meeting the requirement of having a declared vice president alongside his name, raising questions about whether he will have to regather signatures of support.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kennedy (I): \u201cColumn: Voters wishing for an alternative to Trump and Biden got one. Unfortunately, it\u2019s RFK Jr.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/story\/2024-04-02\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-rfkjr-nicole-shanahan-trump-biden-election-2024-third-party-jonah-goldberg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Los Angeles Times<\/a>]. \u201cLong before Trump, RFK Jr. was the original election denier, insisting that Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/people.csail.mit.edu\/rivest\/voting\/press\/WasThe2004ElectionStolen.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stole the 2004 election<\/a>. Before COVID, Kennedy was already famous for falsely claiming that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/cnn-robert-f-kennedy-rfk-jr-anti-vax-kasie-hunt-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">all vaccines are dangerous<\/a> and that some cause autism. He also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/cell-phones-brain-cancer-rfk-jr_l_649adeb0e4b0a279a2307db1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stands<\/a> by his claim that cellphones and Wi-Fi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z-YQ1Y7c_Pk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cause cancer<\/a> despite the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/about-cancer\/causes-prevention\/risk\/radiation\/cell-phones-fact-sheet#has-the-incidence-of-brain-and-central-nervous-system-cancers-changed-during-the-time-cell-phone-use-increased\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lack of evidence<\/a> of an increase in cancer rates amid exploding use of those technologies. Kennedy\u2019s default position is that official explanations are suspect, which is another way of saying that all conspiracy theories \u2014 from 9\/11 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/sep\/26\/robert-kennedy-jr-september-11-podcast-peter-bergen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">trutherism<\/a> to fringe theories about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/retropolis\/wp\/2018\/05\/26\/who-killed-bobby-kennedy-his-son-rfk-jr-doesnt-believe-it-was-sirhan-sirhan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">assassination of his own father <\/a>to the idea that the COVID virus was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/15\/us\/politics\/rfk-jr-remarks-covid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">engineered<\/a> to spare Jewish and Chinese people \u2014 deserve the benefit of the doubt. It\u2019s as if his entire political persona were designed to monetize what the political historian Richard Hofstadter called \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/harpers.org\/archive\/1964\/11\/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the paranoid style in American politics<\/a>.\u2019 It\u2019s a testament to the pervasiveness of the paranoid style that it\u2019s difficult to figure out which party Kennedy will take more votes from. \u2018Our campaign is a spoiler all right,\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/27\/us\/politics\/trump-rfk-jr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kennedy said last week<\/a> while announcing his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, in Oakland. \u2018It is a spoiler for President Biden and for President Trump.\u2019 But there\u2019s the rub: The same duopoly that Kennedy is running against ensures that he can be a spoiler for only one candidate. Hofstadter also said, \u2018Third parties are like bees: once they have stung, they die.’\u201d \u2022 On election 2004, it\u2019s a judgement call. Kennedy\u2019s post is, IIRC, on Ohio. I live-blogged that election all the way \u2019til coverage ended (from a caf\u00e9 in Philly; yes, I\u2019m that old). There was <em>plenty<\/em> suspect shenanigaos in Ohio; I\u2019m too lazy to dig out the links \u2014 though I will at reader request \u2014 but there were plenty of sober-minded, non-conspiratorial observers who thought the results stank. On Covid: The Times link on SARS-CoV-2 being engineered to \u201cspare Jewish and Chinese\u201d people links <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/fz3Le\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">to the New York Post<\/a>, which cites to a video, providing a partial transcript. So I don\u2019t <em>think<\/em> we\u2019re dealing with the press simply making up quotes, as they often have done with Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy (I): \u201cWhy Silicon Valley Reactionaries Love RFK Jr.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/silicon-valley-shanahan-rfk-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u201cSilicon Valley money, often tied to people in the circle of Peter Thiel, has fueled Kennedy\u2019s presidential run. As Axios <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2023\/06\/08\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-tech-2024-campaign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reported<\/a> last June, \u2018Several of Silicon Valley\u2019s noisiest tech moguls have begun to support the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vocal anti-vax activist who\u2019s xcvkl;\u2019 for the Democratic Party nomination.\u201d These early backers included Elon Musk as well as venture capitalists Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sacks (a longtime business and ideological ally of Peter Thiel, a Paypal and Facebook tycoon who backed Donald Trump in 2016). Writing about this cohort in The New Republic in 2022, Jacob Silverman <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/168125\/david-sacks-elon-musk-peter-thiel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">noted<\/a> that a pivotal movement that helped coalesce the group was the successful campaign to recall Chesa Boudin as district attorney of California because of his support for criminal justice reform. Both Shanahan and Sacks contributed heavily to the Boudin recall campaign, which demonstrated that Silicon Valley money could roll back left-wing social movements. Prior to 2022, Shanahan was a typical wealthy Democratic Party donor, giving to figures such as Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden. But in 2022 she joined the anti-Boudin campaign, which connected her with a wider cohort of reactionary tech figures. As Shanahan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2024\/03\/27\/mage-m27.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">explained<\/a>, she didn\u2019t think that criminal justice reform was necessary and \u2018Chesa came into a situation that needed to be maintained, in my opinion, not necessarily reformed.\u2019 There\u2019s a pipeline that runs from anti-Boudin sentiment to supporting Robert Kennedy, but law-and-order politics is just one component of Shanahan\u2019s journey. Another key factor was openness to alternative medicine and quack science, defended with the familiar contrarian defense that we need to ask questions. \u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"shanahan\" a=\"\">Kennedy (I): \u201c55 Things You Need to Know About Nicole Shanahan\u201d [<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/03\/26\/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-2024-bio-00149015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cIn divorce proceedings, which were finalized in 2023, Shanahan sought over $1 billion from Brin. The final division of assets was settled in confidential arbitration.\u201d \u2022 Hmm. Either Brin wants it confidential because she got a billion, or she does, because she didn\u2019t. Regardless, she has enough to help Kennedy right now. Whether she can harvest from Silicon Valley \u2014 and, if so, from whom? \u2014 remains an open question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTech leaders have all the skills for politics. Still, most don\u2019t want to run\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/04\/02\/tech-leaders-not-interested-politics\/72958933007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">USA Today<\/a>]. \u201cShanahan, a self-proclaimed \u201ctechnologist,\u201d is also a research fellow at <a href=\"https:\/\/conferences.law.stanford.edu\/futurelaw2021\/speakers\/nicole-shanahan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics<\/a>, which focuses on \u2018humanistic coding.’\u201d From the her Stanford bio: \u201cApart from the practical applications of legal technology, her academic research centers around Ronald Coase\u2019s work on transaction cost theory. Entitled, \u2018Coasean Mapping,\u2019 she theorizes on the pace and nature of society\u2019s adoption of artificial intelligence for law and government.\u201d \u2022 Any readers have views on Ronald Coase and his work? <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhy are Americans so unhappy?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/4568301-why-are-americans-so-unhappy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hill<\/a>]. \u201cOverall, Americans feel broke and brokenhearted even with overall <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/business\/economy\/inflation-january-2024-how-the-economy-is-doing-now-rcna138402\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">good national news on inflation<\/a>.\u201d Lol. More: \u201cAmerica is in a period of internal dissonance \u2014 not quite decay but something akin to it. We don\u2019t feel like a happy country. Financial stress is one reason so many Americans want to move to another country. In a recent poll by Monmouth University, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/reports\/monmouthpoll_us_032624\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">one-third of respondents<\/a> said they would like to live in a different nation \u2014 a figure that stood at 10 percent 50 years ago. (Not many people had an exact destination in mind.) Other factors contribute to unhappiness, but the common issue is <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/610916\/americans-offer-anemic-state-nation-report.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">generalized worry<\/a> about where America is going on almost every issue from education to politics, according to the most recent Gallup polling data. And the discontentment leads to a belief that America is not well respected overseas. Americans\u2019 satisfaction with <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/611858\/third-americans-satisfied-global-position.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">our global position<\/a> is at its lowest since 2017 \u2014 also according to Gallup. Unhappiness is both a political state and a mental health crisis, although we rarely see them as interrelated. Anxiety <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/money\/blueprint\/health-insurance\/mental-health-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">affects 1 in 5 adults<\/a>. More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apa.org\/monitor\/2023\/07\/psychologists-preventing-teen-suicide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">20 percent of teens<\/a> have seriously considered suicide. Experts on mental health point to social media as one reason for social disconnectedness.\u201d \u2022 A continuing pandemic would, of course, have <em>nothing<\/em> to do with \u201csocial disconnectedness.\u201d Nor the million deaths and counting, which \u201cdisconnected\u201d families, friends, co-workers, neighbors. Anyhow, if you\u2019re one of that one-third considering expatriation, it might be wise to purchase a Canadian lapel pin\u2026. (The Monmouth poll that figure is based in doesn\u2019t take either income or location into account, ffs.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>#COVID19<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am in earnest \u2014 I will not equivocate \u2014 I will not excuse \u2014 I will not retreat a single inch \u2014 AND I WILL BE HEARD.\u201d \u2013William Lloyd Garrison<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Resources, United States (National): Transmission (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=all_counties&data-type=Risk&null=Risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>); Wastewater (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/biobot.io\/data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Biobot<\/a>; includes many counties; <a href=\"https:\/\/data.wastewaterscan.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wastewater Scan<\/a>, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/businesssolutions\/covid-19-index.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a>); \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iowacovid19tracker.org\/hospitals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Iowa COVID-19 Tracker<\/a>\u201d (in IA, but national data). \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/icemsg.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts<\/a>\u201d (especially on hospitalization by city).<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201cCOVID\u201d in the subject line. Thank you!<\/p>\n<p>ake effect by summer. The move by the Democratic administration angered board members, who called it a \u2018last-minute stunt\u2019 that undermines their regulatory process. It also sparked a protest by warehouse workers, who temporarily shut down the meeting as they waved signs declaring that \u2018Heat Kills!\u2019 and loudly chanted, \u2018What do we want? Heat protection! When do we want it? Now!’\u201d \u2022 Gavin Newsom, the worker\u2019s friend.<\/p>\n<p>Resources, United States (Local): AK (<a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/af2efc8bffbf4cdc83c2d1a134354074\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AL (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/6d2771faa9da4a2786a509d82c8cf0f7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AR (<a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/633006d0782b4544bd5113a314f6268a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AZ (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azdhs.gov\/covid19\/data\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); CA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/Programs\/CID\/DCDC\/Pages\/COVID-19\/CalSuWers-Dashboard.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.marinhhs.org\/surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Marin, dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/healthalerts.stanford.edu\/covid-19\/wastewater-dashboard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stanford, wastewater<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.verily.com\/?v=SC2_N&l=Oakland%2C+CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Oakland, wastewater<\/a>); CO (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.colorado.gov\/data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/cdphe.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/d79cf93c3938470ca4bcc4823328946b#utility=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); CT (<a href=\"https:\/\/data.ct.gov\/stories\/s\/COVID-19-data\/wa3g-tfvc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); DE (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.delaware.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); FL (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/5b9d75ba683849928dc1a49c39ab0b1c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); GA (<a href=\"https:\/\/dph.georgia.gov\/ga-nwss-wastewater-surveillance-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); HI (<a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronavirusdisease2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); IA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmmwra.org\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=57\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater reports<\/a>); ID (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahopublichealth.com\/district-2\/novel-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, Boise; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahopublichealth.com\/district-2\/novel-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/data.wastewaterscan.org\/?plantId=1056f05c-0e46-4e3d-b007-c0453ba7dc0d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Central Idaho; <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.verily.com\/#:SARS-CoV-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Coeur d\u2019Alene; dashboard, <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.srhd.org\/topics\/spokane-county-case-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spokane County<\/a>); IL (<a href=\"https:\/\/iwss.uillinois.edu\/wastewater-treatment-plants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); IN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coronavirus.in.gov\/indiana-covid-19-dashboard-and-map\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); KS (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov\/160\/COVID-19-in-Kansas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/4456bae8a38f4b6180e008477382fff9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Lawrence); KY (<a href=\"https:\/\/louisville.edu\/envirome\/thecoimmunityproject\/dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, Louisville); LA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ldh.la.gov\/coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/info-details\/covid-19-wastewater-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MD (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.maryland.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); ME (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maine.gov\/dhhs\/mecdc\/infectious-disease\/epi\/airborne\/coronavirus\/data.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MI (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/coronavirus\/stats\/wastewater-surveillance\/dashboard\/sentinel-wastewater-epidemiology-evaluation-project-sweep\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/gisportal.state.mi.us\/portal\/apps\/insights\/index.html#\/view\/52bbb104ed574887918f990af9f3debe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.state.mn.us\/diseases\/coronavirus\/stats\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MO (<a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/f7f5492486114da6b5d6fdc07f81aacf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MS (<a href=\"https:\/\/msdh.ms.gov\/page\/14,0,420.html#Mississippi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); <del>MT (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/MapSeries\/index.html?appid=7c34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>)<\/del>; NC (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.ncdhhs.gov\/dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard)<\/a>; ND (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.nd.gov\/health\/coronavirus\/cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.nd.gov\/health\/coronavirus\/cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); NE (<a href=\"https:\/\/atlas-dhhs.ne.gov\/Atlas\/Respiratory_Illness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NH (<a href=\"https:\/\/wisdom.dhhs.nh.gov\/wisdom\/dashboard.html?topic=covid-19&subtopic=recurring-updates&indicator=covid-19-wastewater#tabnavbarid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); NJ (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.nj.gov\/forms\/datadashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NM (<a href=\"https:\/\/cvprovider.nmhealth.org\/public-dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NV (<a href=\"https:\/\/nvhealthresponse.nv.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/empower.unlv.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Southern NV); NY (<a href=\"https:\/\/mbcolli.shinyapps.io\/SARS2EWSP\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); OH (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.ohio.gov\/dashboards\/other-resources\/wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); OK (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/51657c21386d4f1a962b1853c76ec589\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); <del>OR (<a href=\"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/app\/profile\/oregon.health.authority.covid.19\/viz\/OregonsCOVID-19DataDashboards-TableofContents\/TableofContentsStatewide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>)<\/del>; PA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.pa.gov\/topics\/disease\/coronavirus\/pages\/Cases.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); RI (<a href=\"https:\/\/ri-department-of-health-covid-19-data-rihealth.hub.arcgis.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); SC (<a href=\"https:\/\/scdhec.gov\/index.php\/covid19\/covid-19-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); SD (<a href=\"https:\/\/doh.sd.gov\/COVID\/Dashboard.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); TN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/health\/cedep\/ncov\/data.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); TX (<a href=\"https:\/\/txdshsea.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/4ae43eefd0f641d59d35c3df82ee59cc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); UT (<a href=\"https:\/\/udwq.shinyapps.io\/sarscov2_surv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); VA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/see-the-numbers\/covid-19-in-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); VT (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/disease-control\/covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); WA (<a href=\"https:\/\/doh.wa.gov\/emergencies\/covid-19\/data-dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.bfhd.wa.gov\/cases-and-roadmap-to-recovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); WI (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.wisconsin.gov\/covid-19\/wastewater.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); WV (<del><a href=\"https:\/\/oehs.wvdhhr.org\/news\/oehs-coivd-19-information\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a><\/del>); WY (<del><a href=\"https:\/\/covidwastewatermonitor.wyo.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a><\/del>).<\/p>\n<p>Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (<a href=\"https:\/\/health-infobase.canada.ca\/covid-19\/wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Government of Canada<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/en\/Data-and-Analysis\/Infectious-Disease\/COVID-19-Data-Surveillance\/Wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); QC (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.inspq.qc.ca\/covid-19\/donnees\/eaux-usees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><em>les eaux us\u00e9es<\/em><\/a>); BC (<a href=\"https:\/\/bccdc.shinyapps.io\/respiratory_wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); BC, Vancouver (<a href=\"https:\/\/metrovancouver.org\/services\/liquid-waste\/testing-for-the-covid-19-virus-in-wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>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, 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). <\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>LEGEND<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1) <span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> for charts new today; all others are not updated.<\/p>\n<p>2) For a full-size\/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and \u201copen image in new tab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out at the level of previous Trump peaks. Not a great victory. Note also the area \u201cunder the curve,\u201d besides looking at peaks. That area is larger under Biden than under Trump, and it seems to be rising steadily if unevenly.<\/p>\n<p>[2] (Biobot) Backward revisions, I hate them.<\/p>\n<p>[3] (CDC Variants) As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.\u201d \u201cBiweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.\u201d Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they\u2019re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.<\/p>\n<p>[4] (ER) CDC seems to have killed this off, since the link is broken, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/surveillance\/resp-lens\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">I think in favor of this <em>thing<\/em><\/a>. I will try to confirm.<\/p>\n<p>[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Looks like a very gradual leveling off to a non-zero baseline, to me.<\/p>\n<p>[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Still down. \u201cMaps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET\u2020\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit in the rear view mirror.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants) JN.1 dominates utterly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Job Openings\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/job-offers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe number of job openings went up by 8,000 from the previous month to 8.756 million in February 2024, above market expectations of 8.75 million.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Factory Orders\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/factory-orders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cNew orders for US manufactured goods rose by 1.4% from the previous month to $576.8 billion in February of 2024, trimming the upwardly revised 3.8% drop in January, and above market expectations of a 1% increase to point to further resilience of the US economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cNew XZ backdoor scanner detects implant in any Linux binary\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/new-xz-backdoor-scanner-detects-implant-in-any-linux-binary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bleeping Computer<\/a>]. \u201cFirmware security firm Binarly has released a free online scanner to detect Linux executables impacted by the XZ Utils supply chain attack, tracked as CVE-2024-3094. CVE-2024-3094 is a supply chain compromise in XZ Utils, a set of data compression tools and libraries used in many major Linux distributions. Late last month, Microsoft engineer Andres Freud <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/red-hat-warns-of-backdoor-in-xz-tools-used-by-most-linux-distros\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">discovered the backdoor<\/a> in the latest version of the XZ Utils package while investigating unusually slow SSH logins on Debian Sid, a rolling release of the Linux distribution.\u201d \u2022 The XZ backdoor is actually post-worthy, given its social engineering aspects.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 62 Greed (previous close: 72 Greed) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 67 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Apr 2 at 1:49:21 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p>Rapture Index: Closes down one on Plagues. \u201cThe lack of activity has downgraded this category\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.raptureready.com\/rapture-ready-index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rapture Ready<\/a>]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 187. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is <em>good<\/em>.) \u2022 Bird flu not a concern? <\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Human Hemisphere\u201d [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.radicalcartography.net\/index.html?human-hemisphere\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Radical Cartography<\/a>]. \u201cJust under 88 percent of humanity lives in the Northern Hemisphere; 82 percent lives in the Eastern Hemisphere\u2026. So it looks like there might be some justification for Eurocentrism after all, at least geographically. Ah well.\u201d \u2022 Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"1316\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere.png 598w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere-136x300.png 136w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere-465x1024.png 465w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: 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) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/04\/200pm-water-cooler-4-1-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From TH:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TH writes: \u201cClose-up of one of Sherman Library and Garden\u2019s lovely cyclamen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"donate\"\/><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Water Cooler is a standalone entity <em>not<\/em> covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! <em>Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage<\/em>. When I get no donations for five or ten 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<\/p>\n<p>Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226891\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png 606w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF & Email\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none; -moz-box-shadow: none; box-shadow:none; padding:0; margin:0\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/print-button-gray.png\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF & Email\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/04\/200pm-water-cooler-4-2-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Bird Song of the Day House Wren, Coronado National Forest, Pearce, Ash Springs Trail, Cochise, Arizona, United States. * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-spotlight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>House Wren, Coronado National Forest, Pearce, Ash Springs Trail, Cochise, Arizona, United States.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#trump\">Trump posts bond<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#kennedy\">Kennedy makes the ballot in NC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#shanahan\">Shanahan: More detail<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Politics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.\u201d \u2013Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>2024<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Less than a year to go!<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/free.timeanddate.com\/countdown\/i8ubjj5e\/n179\/cf100\/cm0\/cu1\/ct0\/cs1\/ca0\/cr0\/ss0\/cac000\/cpc000\/pcfff\/tcfff\/fs100\/szw320\/szh135\/tatTime%20left%20to%20Election%20Day%2C%202024\/tac000\/tptTime%20since%20Event%20started%20in\/tpc000\/mac000\/mpc000\/iso2024-11-05T00:00:00\/bo2\/pd2\" allowtransparency=\"true\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"322\" height=\"137\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>RCP Poll Averages, March 29<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"544\" height=\"973\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls.png 544w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/rcp_polls-168x300.png 168w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I think I\u2019ll leave this up until this coming Friday, so I can at least mumble something about trends. Nationally, Trump is up 2.4% in the Five-Way, same as last week, give or take. Trump is still up in all the Swing States (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/03\/introduction-to-swing-states-in-the-presidential-election-of-2024-general-survey.html\">more here<\/a>). I\u2019ve highlighted PA, (1) because Trump is actually down there, and (2) it\u2019s an outlier, has been for weeks. Why isn\u2019t Trump doing well there?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trump\">\u201cTrump posts $175 million bond in New York civil fraud case\u201d [<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-posts-175-million-bond-civil-fraud-case-rcna145960\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NBC<\/a>]. \u201cFormer President Donald Trump has posted a $175 million bond in the New York civil fraud case, preventing seizure of his assets while the case is under appeal\u2026 Knight Specialty Insurance Co., the entity that underwrote Trump\u2019s bond, is part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.knightinsurancegroup.com\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a group of companies<\/a> run by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/profile\/don-hankey\/?sh=274262bf1783\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Los Angeles-based billionaire Don Hankey<\/a>, who is No. 128 on the 2023 Forbes 400 list and No. 317 on the 2023 Forbes billionaires list. Hankey has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/zacheverson\/2023\/08\/12\/ceo-of-trumps-new-lender-sells-11-million-of-his-banks-stock\/?sh=7b590bba29e4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">an investor in Axos Bank<\/a>, the financial institution that refinanced Trump\u2019s loans on Trump Tower and Trump National Doral Miami in 2022. Axos has lent Trump $100 million in his refinancing of Trump Tower and $125 million more for Doral. Neither loan is due until 2032, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/OGE-Certified-Part-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">according to the Office of Government Ethics disclosure Trump submitted in August<\/a>.\u201d \u2022 File that name away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEx-Trump aide Hope Hicks expected to testify in former president\u2019s New York criminal trial\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/hope-hicks-expected-testify-donald-trumps-hush-money-trial-rcna145895\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NBC<\/a>]. I\u2019ve always had a soft spot for Hicks, because one of the earliest stories I read on Trump was from a Bloomberg reporter; Hicks told him she couldn\u2019t take his call just then because she was going to take a nap. A little taste of what was coming, I suppose. More: \u201c\u2018I have learned that in the days following the Access Hollywood video [\u2018grab \u2019em by the pussy\u2019], [then-Trump lawyer Michael] Cohen exchanged a series of calls, text messages and emails with Keith Davidson, who was then [Stephanie Clifford [a.k.a. Stormy Daniel]\u2019s attorney, David Pecker and Dylan Howard of American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, Trump, and Hope Hicks, who was then press secretary for Trump\u2019s presidential campaign,\u201d the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. \u2018Based on the timing of these calls, and the content of the text messages and emails, I believe that at least some of these communications concerned the need to prevent Clifford from going public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story,\u2019 the affidavit said.\u201d \u2022 Hicks will testify for the prosecution. We\u2019ll see what she has to say.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump Media Shares Slump as Early Fervor Fades\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/dnyuz.com\/2024\/04\/01\/trump-media-shares-slump-as-early-fervor-fades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cShares of former President Donald J. Trump\u2019s social media company slumped more than 20 percent on Monday, as the fervor around the company\u2019s debut on public markets last week appeared to subside. The sell-off cut the market value of Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker \u2018DJT,\u2019 by some $2 billion, to about $6.5 billion. The value of Mr. Trump\u2019s majority stake in the company fell to about $3.7 billion, from over $6 billion at its peak last week. Still, shares of Trump Media were higher than they were immediately before the firm merged with a public shell company on Tuesday and began trading on the Nasdaq. Strong support for the merged company after it began trading pushed its market value as high as $10 billion at one point last week. That raised eyebrows across Wall Street, given the relatively small size of Trump Media\u2019s business. A filing on Monday showed that the company generated just $750,000 in revenue in the fourth quarter last year, bringing its full-year total to $4.1 million. Trump Media recorded a $58 million loss in 2023. It got more than $300 million in cash as part of its merger with the shell company. All the company\u2019s revenues come from advertising on Truth Social, the digital platform that has become Mr. Trump\u2019s main outlet for reaching his supporters and blasting his critics, political opponents and other perceived enemies, including the prosecutors and judges involved in his criminal and civil cases.\u201d \u2022 I don\u2019t play the ponies, so I don\u2019t know if Trump has been able to convert any of this paper to cash, or how he would do so, absent simply sellling it, which he seems not to have done. Readers?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump\u2019s VP search is starting to get serious\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/03\/31\/inside-donald-trumps-apprentice-style-search-for-a-running-mate-00149827\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cSusie Wiles, a top adviser to Trump, is leading a close-to-the-vest process of narrowing a list of around a dozen lawmakers and other Republican personalities under consideration, according to multiple people familiar with the process. The campaign has already hired an outside firm to vet candidates and prepare research documents. Former first lady Melania Trump, who influenced Trump\u2019s decision to select Mike Pence in 2016, has been kept apprised. And Trump\u2019s son Donald Trump Jr. said he speaks with his father frequently about who is in contention. While who is up or down seemingly changes by the minute, the list has included everyone from Tim Scott and Kristi Noem to Byron Donalds, Elise Stefanik, Tulsi Gabbard and J.D. Vance, whom Trump has called a \u2018fighter.\u2019 Trump, despite saying he doesn\u2019t think the vice president matters all that much, regularly asks guests at his Mar-a-Lago club for their opinion on different options and, with a flair for suspense, teases his choices in private meetings and media interviews. The process is expected to take months. \u2018He\u2019s going to draw this out \u2018Apprentice\u2019-style,\u2019 said one person close to the Trump campaign who was granted anonymity to speak freely.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"kennedy\" a=\"\">Kennedy (I): \u201cRFK Jr. has qualified for ballot in North Carolina, campaign says\u201d [The Hill]. Swing state. \u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s campaign has added North Carolina to the expanding list of battleground states in which it has qualified for the ballot in November. The independent candidate\u2019s campaign says it now has enough signatures to list Kennedy as a White House contender through the \u2018We The People\u2019 party, gathering 23,000 pledges of support in the purple state. \u2018We have the field teams, volunteers, legal teams, paid circulators, supporters, and strategists ready to get the job done,\u2019 Kennedy\u2019s campaign press secretary Stefanie Spear said Monday in a statement announcing the news. North Carolina is considered an important swing state for all parties in 2024, including a potential third-party ticket. Former President Trump won the state by just more than 1 percentage point in 2020, giving Republicans a slight edge and inspiring Democrats to try to win it this cycle. The addition of the Tar Heel state brings Kennedy\u2019s ballot qualified total to five states so far, including , and . In [second swing state], he cleared the signature threshold prior to meeting the requirement of having a declared vice president alongside his name, raising questions about whether he will have to regather signatures of support.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kennedy (I): \u201cColumn: Voters wishing for an alternative to Trump and Biden got one. Unfortunately, it\u2019s RFK Jr.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/story\/2024-04-02\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-rfkjr-nicole-shanahan-trump-biden-election-2024-third-party-jonah-goldberg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Los Angeles Times<\/a>]. \u201cLong before Trump, RFK Jr. was the original election denier, insisting that Republicans <a href=\"https:\/\/people.csail.mit.edu\/rivest\/voting\/press\/WasThe2004ElectionStolen.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stole the 2004 election<\/a>. Before COVID, Kennedy was already famous for falsely claiming that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/cnn-robert-f-kennedy-rfk-jr-anti-vax-kasie-hunt-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">all vaccines are dangerous<\/a> and that some cause autism. He also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/cell-phones-brain-cancer-rfk-jr_l_649adeb0e4b0a279a2307db1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stands<\/a> by his claim that cellphones and Wi-Fi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z-YQ1Y7c_Pk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cause cancer<\/a> despite the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/about-cancer\/causes-prevention\/risk\/radiation\/cell-phones-fact-sheet#has-the-incidence-of-brain-and-central-nervous-system-cancers-changed-during-the-time-cell-phone-use-increased\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lack of evidence<\/a> of an increase in cancer rates amid exploding use of those technologies. Kennedy\u2019s default position is that official explanations are suspect, which is another way of saying that all conspiracy theories \u2014 from 9\/11 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2023\/sep\/26\/robert-kennedy-jr-september-11-podcast-peter-bergen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">trutherism<\/a> to fringe theories about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/retropolis\/wp\/2018\/05\/26\/who-killed-bobby-kennedy-his-son-rfk-jr-doesnt-believe-it-was-sirhan-sirhan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">assassination of his own father <\/a>to the idea that the COVID virus was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/15\/us\/politics\/rfk-jr-remarks-covid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">engineered<\/a> to spare Jewish and Chinese people \u2014 deserve the benefit of the doubt. It\u2019s as if his entire political persona were designed to monetize what the political historian Richard Hofstadter called \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/harpers.org\/archive\/1964\/11\/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the paranoid style in American politics<\/a>.\u2019 It\u2019s a testament to the pervasiveness of the paranoid style that it\u2019s difficult to figure out which party Kennedy will take more votes from. \u2018Our campaign is a spoiler all right,\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/27\/us\/politics\/trump-rfk-jr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kennedy said last week<\/a> while announcing his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, in Oakland. \u2018It is a spoiler for President Biden and for President Trump.\u2019 But there\u2019s the rub: The same duopoly that Kennedy is running against ensures that he can be a spoiler for only one candidate. Hofstadter also said, \u2018Third parties are like bees: once they have stung, they die.’\u201d \u2022 On election 2004, it\u2019s a judgement call. Kennedy\u2019s post is, IIRC, on Ohio. I live-blogged that election all the way \u2019til coverage ended (from a caf\u00e9 in Philly; yes, I\u2019m that old). There was <em>plenty<\/em> suspect shenanigaos in Ohio; I\u2019m too lazy to dig out the links \u2014 though I will at reader request \u2014 but there were plenty of sober-minded, non-conspiratorial observers who thought the results stank. On Covid: The Times link on SARS-CoV-2 being engineered to \u201cspare Jewish and Chinese\u201d people links <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/fz3Le\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">to the New York Post<\/a>, which cites to a video, providing a partial transcript. So I don\u2019t <em>think<\/em> we\u2019re dealing with the press simply making up quotes, as they often have done with Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy (I): \u201cWhy Silicon Valley Reactionaries Love RFK Jr.\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/silicon-valley-shanahan-rfk-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u201cSilicon Valley money, often tied to people in the circle of Peter Thiel, has fueled Kennedy\u2019s presidential run. As Axios <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2023\/06\/08\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-tech-2024-campaign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reported<\/a> last June, \u2018Several of Silicon Valley\u2019s noisiest tech moguls have begun to support the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vocal anti-vax activist who\u2019s xcvkl;\u2019 for the Democratic Party nomination.\u201d These early backers included Elon Musk as well as venture capitalists Chamath Palihapitiya and David Sacks (a longtime business and ideological ally of Peter Thiel, a Paypal and Facebook tycoon who backed Donald Trump in 2016). Writing about this cohort in The New Republic in 2022, Jacob Silverman <a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/article\/168125\/david-sacks-elon-musk-peter-thiel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">noted<\/a> that a pivotal movement that helped coalesce the group was the successful campaign to recall Chesa Boudin as district attorney of California because of his support for criminal justice reform. Both Shanahan and Sacks contributed heavily to the Boudin recall campaign, which demonstrated that Silicon Valley money could roll back left-wing social movements. Prior to 2022, Shanahan was a typical wealthy Democratic Party donor, giving to figures such as Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden. But in 2022 she joined the anti-Boudin campaign, which connected her with a wider cohort of reactionary tech figures. As Shanahan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsws.org\/en\/articles\/2024\/03\/27\/mage-m27.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">explained<\/a>, she didn\u2019t think that criminal justice reform was necessary and \u2018Chesa came into a situation that needed to be maintained, in my opinion, not necessarily reformed.\u2019 There\u2019s a pipeline that runs from anti-Boudin sentiment to supporting Robert Kennedy, but law-and-order politics is just one component of Shanahan\u2019s journey. Another key factor was openness to alternative medicine and quack science, defended with the familiar contrarian defense that we need to ask questions. \u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"shanahan\" a=\"\">Kennedy (I): \u201c55 Things You Need to Know About Nicole Shanahan\u201d [<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/03\/26\/nicole-shanahan-rfk-jr-2024-bio-00149015\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cIn divorce proceedings, which were finalized in 2023, Shanahan sought over $1 billion from Brin. The final division of assets was settled in confidential arbitration.\u201d \u2022 Hmm. Either Brin wants it confidential because she got a billion, or she does, because she didn\u2019t. Regardless, she has enough to help Kennedy right now. Whether she can harvest from Silicon Valley \u2014 and, if so, from whom? \u2014 remains an open question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTech leaders have all the skills for politics. Still, most don\u2019t want to run\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/04\/02\/tech-leaders-not-interested-politics\/72958933007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">USA Today<\/a>]. \u201cShanahan, a self-proclaimed \u201ctechnologist,\u201d is also a research fellow at <a href=\"https:\/\/conferences.law.stanford.edu\/futurelaw2021\/speakers\/nicole-shanahan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CodeX, the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics<\/a>, which focuses on \u2018humanistic coding.’\u201d From the her Stanford bio: \u201cApart from the practical applications of legal technology, her academic research centers around Ronald Coase\u2019s work on transaction cost theory. Entitled, \u2018Coasean Mapping,\u2019 she theorizes on the pace and nature of society\u2019s adoption of artificial intelligence for law and government.\u201d \u2022 Any readers have views on Ronald Coase and his work? <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWhy are Americans so unhappy?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/opinion\/4568301-why-are-americans-so-unhappy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hill<\/a>]. \u201cOverall, Americans feel broke and brokenhearted even with overall <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/business\/economy\/inflation-january-2024-how-the-economy-is-doing-now-rcna138402\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">good national news on inflation<\/a>.\u201d Lol. More: \u201cAmerica is in a period of internal dissonance \u2014 not quite decay but something akin to it. We don\u2019t feel like a happy country. Financial stress is one reason so many Americans want to move to another country. In a recent poll by Monmouth University, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/polling-institute\/reports\/monmouthpoll_us_032624\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">one-third of respondents<\/a> said they would like to live in a different nation \u2014 a figure that stood at 10 percent 50 years ago. (Not many people had an exact destination in mind.) Other factors contribute to unhappiness, but the common issue is <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/610916\/americans-offer-anemic-state-nation-report.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">generalized worry<\/a> about where America is going on almost every issue from education to politics, according to the most recent Gallup polling data. And the discontentment leads to a belief that America is not well respected overseas. Americans\u2019 satisfaction with <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/611858\/third-americans-satisfied-global-position.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">our global position<\/a> is at its lowest since 2017 \u2014 also according to Gallup. Unhappiness is both a political state and a mental health crisis, although we rarely see them as interrelated. Anxiety <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/money\/blueprint\/health-insurance\/mental-health-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">affects 1 in 5 adults<\/a>. More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apa.org\/monitor\/2023\/07\/psychologists-preventing-teen-suicide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">20 percent of teens<\/a> have seriously considered suicide. Experts on mental health point to social media as one reason for social disconnectedness.\u201d \u2022 A continuing pandemic would, of course, have <em>nothing<\/em> to do with \u201csocial disconnectedness.\u201d Nor the million deaths and counting, which \u201cdisconnected\u201d families, friends, co-workers, neighbors. Anyhow, if you\u2019re one of that one-third considering expatriation, it might be wise to purchase a Canadian lapel pin\u2026. (The Monmouth poll that figure is based in doesn\u2019t take either income or location into account, ffs.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>#COVID19<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am in earnest \u2014 I will not equivocate \u2014 I will not excuse \u2014 I will not retreat a single inch \u2014 AND I WILL BE HEARD.\u201d \u2013William Lloyd Garrison<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Resources, United States (National): Transmission (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=all_counties&data-type=Risk&null=Risk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>); Wastewater (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/biobot.io\/data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Biobot<\/a>; includes many counties; <a href=\"https:\/\/data.wastewaterscan.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wastewater Scan<\/a>, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/businesssolutions\/covid-19-index.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a>); \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iowacovid19tracker.org\/hospitals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Iowa COVID-19 Tracker<\/a>\u201d (in IA, but national data). \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/icemsg.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts<\/a>\u201d (especially on hospitalization by city).<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201cCOVID\u201d in the subject line. Thank you!<\/p>\n<p>ake effect by summer. The move by the Democratic administration angered board members, who called it a \u2018last-minute stunt\u2019 that undermines their regulatory process. It also sparked a protest by warehouse workers, who temporarily shut down the meeting as they waved signs declaring that \u2018Heat Kills!\u2019 and loudly chanted, \u2018What do we want? Heat protection! When do we want it? Now!’\u201d \u2022 Gavin Newsom, the worker\u2019s friend.<\/p>\n<p>Resources, United States (Local): AK (<a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/af2efc8bffbf4cdc83c2d1a134354074\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AL (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/6d2771faa9da4a2786a509d82c8cf0f7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AR (<a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/633006d0782b4544bd5113a314f6268a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); AZ (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azdhs.gov\/covid19\/data\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); CA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/Programs\/CID\/DCDC\/Pages\/COVID-19\/CalSuWers-Dashboard.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.marinhhs.org\/surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Marin, dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/healthalerts.stanford.edu\/covid-19\/wastewater-dashboard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stanford, wastewater<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.verily.com\/?v=SC2_N&l=Oakland%2C+CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Oakland, wastewater<\/a>); CO (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.colorado.gov\/data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/cdphe.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/d79cf93c3938470ca4bcc4823328946b#utility=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); CT (<a href=\"https:\/\/data.ct.gov\/stories\/s\/COVID-19-data\/wa3g-tfvc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); DE (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.delaware.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); FL (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/5b9d75ba683849928dc1a49c39ab0b1c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); GA (<a href=\"https:\/\/dph.georgia.gov\/ga-nwss-wastewater-surveillance-reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); HI (<a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronavirusdisease2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); IA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmmwra.org\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=57\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater reports<\/a>); ID (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahopublichealth.com\/district-2\/novel-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, Boise; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idahopublichealth.com\/district-2\/novel-coronavirus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/data.wastewaterscan.org\/?plantId=1056f05c-0e46-4e3d-b007-c0453ba7dc0d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Central Idaho; <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.verily.com\/#:SARS-CoV-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Coeur d\u2019Alene; dashboard, <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.srhd.org\/topics\/spokane-county-case-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spokane County<\/a>); IL (<a href=\"https:\/\/iwss.uillinois.edu\/wastewater-treatment-plants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); IN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coronavirus.in.gov\/indiana-covid-19-dashboard-and-map\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); KS (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov\/160\/COVID-19-in-Kansas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/4456bae8a38f4b6180e008477382fff9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Lawrence); KY (<a href=\"https:\/\/louisville.edu\/envirome\/thecoimmunityproject\/dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>, Louisville); LA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ldh.la.gov\/coronavirus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/info-details\/covid-19-wastewater-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MD (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.maryland.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); ME (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.maine.gov\/dhhs\/mecdc\/infectious-disease\/epi\/airborne\/coronavirus\/data.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MI (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/coronavirus\/stats\/wastewater-surveillance\/dashboard\/sentinel-wastewater-epidemiology-evaluation-project-sweep\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/gisportal.state.mi.us\/portal\/apps\/insights\/index.html#\/view\/52bbb104ed574887918f990af9f3debe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.state.mn.us\/diseases\/coronavirus\/stats\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); MO (<a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/f7f5492486114da6b5d6fdc07f81aacf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); MS (<a href=\"https:\/\/msdh.ms.gov\/page\/14,0,420.html#Mississippi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); <del>MT (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/MapSeries\/index.html?appid=7c34f3412536439491adcc2103421d4b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>)<\/del>; NC (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.ncdhhs.gov\/dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard)<\/a>; ND (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.nd.gov\/health\/coronavirus\/cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.nd.gov\/health\/coronavirus\/cases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); NE (<a href=\"https:\/\/atlas-dhhs.ne.gov\/Atlas\/Respiratory_Illness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NH (<a href=\"https:\/\/wisdom.dhhs.nh.gov\/wisdom\/dashboard.html?topic=covid-19&subtopic=recurring-updates&indicator=covid-19-wastewater#tabnavbarid\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); NJ (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.nj.gov\/forms\/datadashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NM (<a href=\"https:\/\/cvprovider.nmhealth.org\/public-dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); NV (<a href=\"https:\/\/nvhealthresponse.nv.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/empower.unlv.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>, Southern NV); NY (<a href=\"https:\/\/mbcolli.shinyapps.io\/SARS2EWSP\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); OH (<a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.ohio.gov\/dashboards\/other-resources\/wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); OK (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/51657c21386d4f1a962b1853c76ec589\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); <del>OR (<a href=\"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/app\/profile\/oregon.health.authority.covid.19\/viz\/OregonsCOVID-19DataDashboards-TableofContents\/TableofContentsStatewide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>)<\/del>; PA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.pa.gov\/topics\/disease\/coronavirus\/pages\/Cases.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); RI (<a href=\"https:\/\/ri-department-of-health-covid-19-data-rihealth.hub.arcgis.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); SC (<a href=\"https:\/\/scdhec.gov\/index.php\/covid19\/covid-19-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); SD (<a href=\"https:\/\/doh.sd.gov\/COVID\/Dashboard.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); TN (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/health\/cedep\/ncov\/data.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); TX (<a href=\"https:\/\/txdshsea.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/4ae43eefd0f641d59d35c3df82ee59cc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); UT (<a href=\"https:\/\/udwq.shinyapps.io\/sarscov2_surv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); VA (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/coronavirus\/see-the-numbers\/covid-19-in-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); VT (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthvermont.gov\/disease-control\/covid-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); WA (<a href=\"https:\/\/doh.wa.gov\/emergencies\/covid-19\/data-dashboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.bfhd.wa.gov\/cases-and-roadmap-to-recovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dashboard<\/a>); WI (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.wisconsin.gov\/covid-19\/wastewater.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); WV (<del><a href=\"https:\/\/oehs.wvdhhr.org\/news\/oehs-coivd-19-information\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a><\/del>); WY (<del><a href=\"https:\/\/covidwastewatermonitor.wyo.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a><\/del>).<\/p>\n<p>Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (<a href=\"https:\/\/health-infobase.canada.ca\/covid-19\/wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Government of Canada<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publichealthontario.ca\/en\/Data-and-Analysis\/Infectious-Disease\/COVID-19-Data-Surveillance\/Wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); QC (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.inspq.qc.ca\/covid-19\/donnees\/eaux-usees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><em>les eaux us\u00e9es<\/em><\/a>); BC (<a href=\"https:\/\/bccdc.shinyapps.io\/respiratory_wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>); BC, Vancouver (<a href=\"https:\/\/metrovancouver.org\/services\/liquid-waste\/testing-for-the-covid-19-virus-in-wastewater\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>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, 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). <\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>LEGEND<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1) <span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> for charts new today; all others are not updated.<\/p>\n<p>2) For a full-size\/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and \u201copen image in new tab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] (Biobot) Our curve has now flattened out at the level of previous Trump peaks. Not a great victory. Note also the area \u201cunder the curve,\u201d besides looking at peaks. That area is larger under Biden than under Trump, and it seems to be rising steadily if unevenly.<\/p>\n<p>[2] (Biobot) Backward revisions, I hate them.<\/p>\n<p>[3] (CDC Variants) As of May 11, genomic surveillance data will be reported biweekly, based on the availability of positive test specimens.\u201d \u201cBiweeekly: 1. occurring every two weeks. 2. occurring twice a week; semiweekly.\u201d Looks like CDC has chosen sense #1. In essence, they\u2019re telling us variants are nothing to worry about. Time will tell.<\/p>\n<p>[4] (ER) CDC seems to have killed this off, since the link is broken, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/surveillance\/resp-lens\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">I think in favor of this <em>thing<\/em><\/a>. I will try to confirm.<\/p>\n<p>[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Looks like a very gradual leveling off to a non-zero baseline, to me.<\/p>\n<p>[6] (Hospitalization: CDC) Still down. \u201cMaps, charts, and data provided by CDC, updates weekly for the previous MMWR week (Sunday-Saturday) on Thursdays (Deaths, Emergency Department Visits, Test Positivity) and weekly the following Mondays (Hospitalizations) by 8 pm ET\u2020\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[8] (Cleveland) Flattening.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Posivitity) Now up, albeit in the rear view mirror.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants) JN.1 dominates utterly.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Job Openings\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/job-offers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe number of job openings went up by 8,000 from the previous month to 8.756 million in February 2024, above market expectations of 8.75 million.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Factory Orders\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/factory-orders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cNew orders for US manufactured goods rose by 1.4% from the previous month to $576.8 billion in February of 2024, trimming the upwardly revised 3.8% drop in January, and above market expectations of a 1% increase to point to further resilience of the US economy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cNew XZ backdoor scanner detects implant in any Linux binary\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/new-xz-backdoor-scanner-detects-implant-in-any-linux-binary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bleeping Computer<\/a>]. \u201cFirmware security firm Binarly has released a free online scanner to detect Linux executables impacted by the XZ Utils supply chain attack, tracked as CVE-2024-3094. CVE-2024-3094 is a supply chain compromise in XZ Utils, a set of data compression tools and libraries used in many major Linux distributions. Late last month, Microsoft engineer Andres Freud <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/news\/security\/red-hat-warns-of-backdoor-in-xz-tools-used-by-most-linux-distros\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">discovered the backdoor<\/a> in the latest version of the XZ Utils package while investigating unusually slow SSH logins on Debian Sid, a rolling release of the Linux distribution.\u201d \u2022 The XZ backdoor is actually post-worthy, given its social engineering aspects.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 62 Greed (previous close: 72 Greed) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 67 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Apr 2 at 1:49:21 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p>Rapture Index: Closes down one on Plagues. \u201cThe lack of activity has downgraded this category\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.raptureready.com\/rapture-ready-index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rapture Ready<\/a>]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 187. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is <em>good<\/em>.) \u2022 Bird flu not a concern? <\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Human Hemisphere\u201d [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.radicalcartography.net\/index.html?human-hemisphere\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Radical Cartography<\/a>]. \u201cJust under 88 percent of humanity lives in the Northern Hemisphere; 82 percent lives in the Eastern Hemisphere\u2026. So it looks like there might be some justification for Eurocentrism after all, at least geographically. Ah well.\u201d \u2022 Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"1316\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere.png 598w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere-136x300.png 136w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/hemisphere-465x1024.png 465w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: 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) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/04\/200pm-water-cooler-4-1-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From TH:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-269393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/cyclamen-300x200.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TH writes: \u201cClose-up of one of Sherman Library and Garden\u2019s lovely cyclamen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"donate\"\/><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Water Cooler is a standalone entity <em>not<\/em> covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! <em>Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage<\/em>. When I get no donations for five or ten 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<\/p>\n<p>Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226891\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png 606w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF & Email\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border:none;-webkit-box-shadow:none; -moz-box-shadow: none; box-shadow:none; padding:0; margin:0\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/print-button-gray.png\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF & Email\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/04\/200pm-water-cooler-4-2-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Bird Song of the Day House Wren, Coronado National Forest, Pearce, Ash Springs Trail, Cochise, Arizona, United States. * *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-spotlight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}