{"id":82420,"date":"2024-07-25T20:59:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-25T20:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/25\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024-naked-capitalism\/"},"modified":"2024-07-25T20:59:03","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T20:59:03","slug":"200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024-naked-capitalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/25\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024-naked-capitalism\/","title":{"rendered":"2:00PM Water Cooler 7\/25\/2024 | naked capitalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong>By Lambert Strether of Corrente<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Patient readers, there is a lot of political material to process today, some of which* I still need to sit and think about, so please check back. \u2013lambert <\/p>\n<p><strong>Bird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/621156890\/embed\" height=\"300\" width=\"640\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Santa Fe Dam Rec. Area, Los Angeles, California, United States. Only forty seconds but there\u2019s a lot going on!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#defenestration\">Biden\u2019s post-defenestration speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#harris\">Litmus tests for Kamala<\/a> (Palestine, anti-trust).<\/p>\n<p>(3) Kamala\u2019s campaign, including the <a href=\"#donor\">donor-gasm<\/a>, the <a href=\"#hundred\">100 days<\/a>, and the <a href=\"#bait\">bait and switch<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(4) <a href=\"#trad\">Trad wives<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(5) <a href=\"#class\">Employee ownership<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/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 four months 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> <a name=\"swing\"\/>Friday\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RCP<\/a> Poll Averages:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-19.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"618\" height=\"1172\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-19.png 618w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-19-158x300.png 158w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-19-540x1024.png 540w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Virginia and North Carolina added to the list. NC was never going for <del>Biden<\/del> Harris, but Virginia? Yikes! <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"defenestration\"\/>Biden Defenestration:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTranscript: Biden\u2019s speech explaining why he withdrew from the 2024 presidential race\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/biden-speech-transcript-campaign-withdrawal-432dc25a5af4ddebf75d73bfcc0fa72a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. Biden: \u201cYou know, in recent weeks it\u2019s become clear to me that I needed to unite my party in this critical endeavor. I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America\u2019s future all merited a second term, but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, and that includes personal ambition. So I\u2019ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That\u2019s the best way to unite our nation. I know there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life, but there\u2019s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices, and that time and place is now.\u201d \u2022 So this is all the explanation we\u2019re going to get. \u201cRecent weeks\u201d contradicts the narrative that Biden\u2019s decision was made quickly over the weekend when aides Ricchetti and Donilon showed him polling data. Given that Biden\u2019s defenestration was carried out by Tweet without informing staff, I\u2019m not buying \u201cin recent weeks.\u201d I think Biden\u2019s decision was made quickly under pressure. Oh, and Kamala is younger only notionally; she doesn\u2019t code as 59, surely. And she\u2019s neither a new nor fresh voice. Assuming one leaves the sound up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJuly 24, 2024\u201d [Heather Cox Richardson, <a href=\"https:\/\/heathercoxrichardson.substack.com\/p\/july-24-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Letters from an American<\/a>]. I\u2019ve never been able to bring myself to read Richardson, and now I see why. Endless exposition of Biden\u2019s words without value add, but concluding piously but \u201cwithout evidence,\u201d as we say: \u201cLike [Washington and Adams], Biden gave up the pursuit of power for himself in order to demonstrate the importance of democracy.\u201d And a teensy bit if reporting, albeit unsourced: \u201cAfter the speech, the White House served ice cream to the Bidens and hundreds of White House staffers in the Rose Garden.\u201d \u2022 I wonder if the ice cream came from Pelosi\u2019s fridge.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"rollout\"\/>Kamala\u2019s Rollout:<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"donor\"\/>The Donor-Gasm:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow Kamala Harris Took Command of the Democratic Party in 48 Hours\u201d [Shane Goldmacher, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/hehIq#selection-819.0-819.16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cThe story of how Ms. Harris so efficiently and effectively locked down the nomination \u2014 \u2018a perfect 48 hours,\u2019 Robby Mook, who managed Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 campaign, has called it \u2014 was told through interviews with more than two dozen people who are supporting Ms. Harris, involved with her campaign or who interacted with it. Many of those people requested anonymity to speak candidly about matters they were not authorized to discuss.\u201d Shorter: \u201cThe Inner Party: This is their story.\u201d This caught my eye: \u201cWithin 48 hours, Ms. Harris had functionally cleared the Democratic field of every serious rival, clinched the support of more delegates than needed to secure the party nomination, raised more than $100 million and delivered a crisper message against former President Donald J. Trump than Mr. Biden had mustered in months. It amounted to a remarkable display of early dominance for Ms. Harris and <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/hehIq\/https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/07\/22\/us\/politics\/harris-fundraising-biden-actblue.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">an organic outpouring<\/a> of enthusiasm.\u201d \u2022 Using the experience-based heuristic \u2014 expanded on below \u2014 that anything a public-facing Democrat says is a lie until proven otherwise, we naturally ask what was \u201corganic\u201d about the \u201coutpouring.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/nAp0E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Clicking through to the link<\/a>, we find the answer: fundraising (as one might expect). \u201cMore than $100 million\u201d is vague \u2014 and if we were scholars, we\u2019d wait for the reports to the FEC \u2014 but Harris campaign claims (\u201cwithout evidence,\u201d as we say) \u201c888,000 donors had contributed in her first day,\u201d and ActBlue says they took in $90 million in the same 24-hour period. <\/p>\n<p>Call me cynical, but I find it very hard to believe that there was a pent-up demand amounting to 880,000 people, randomly distributed across the Democrat electorate, just <em>waiting<\/em> to donate to Kamala; the polls certainly haven\u2019t shown that, for example; nor have any anecdotes I have seen. Nor has Kamala\u2019s performance in any other campaign. So how \u201corganic\u201d was the donor-gasm, really? Speculating <em>very<\/em> freely, I can think of two reasons it might not be, one more or less legitimate, the other not legitimate at all.<\/p>\n<p>Taking the legitimate explanation first: Kamala is a valued member of AKA (Alpha Kappa Alpha), \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alpha_Kappa_Alpha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority<\/a>.\u201d \u201cThe <a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/politics\/2024\/07\/23\/kamala-harris-joe-biden-aka-sorority-alpha-kappa-alpha-sisters-pride-weeks-before-dnc?utm_campaign=socialflow-cst&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">AKAs will not officially endorse<\/a> any political candidate, but along with fellow Black Greek-letter organizations \u2014 known as the \u2018Divine Nine\u2019 \u2014 they have launched a massive voter mobilization campaign.\u201d An actual political advocacy group, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/politics\/2024\/07\/23\/kamala-harris-joe-biden-aka-sorority-alpha-kappa-alpha-sisters-pride-weeks-before-dnc?utm_campaign=socialflow-cst&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Win With Black Women<\/a>,\u201d organized a 40,000 member virtual call that raised $1.5 million, so these institutions have form. (Note that I am not entirely in sympathy with this important identity vertical in the Democrat Party, since they gave us Obama, Clinton, and Biden, and nobbled Sanders. Obama was a disaster for the working class, and Biden even worse, since he slaughtered around 700,000 people, disproportionately working class, through his policy of Covid infection without mitigation. The destruction and erasure of the possibilities that Sanders opened was another disaster for the working class. The AKAs are also about as PMC as you can get.) AKA has <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alpha_Kappa_Alpha\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">360,000<\/a> members. So you can see how a <em>totally<\/em> unofficial and <em>entirely<\/em> spontaneous outpouring of support from AKA would go a long way towards 880,000. But not entirely. Leading us to\u2013<\/p>\n<p>The illegitimate explanation: A squillionaire \u201csmurf.\u201d From Investopedia, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/s\/smurf.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">What Is a Smurf and How Does Smurfing Work<\/a>\u201c: \u201cA smurf is a colloquial term for a money launderer who seeks to evade scrutiny from government agencies by  that are each below the reporting threshold.\u201d In this case, the squillionaire would take a very large sum and distribute it through a large number of small donor accounts through, say, ActBlue, conveniently online. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rubio.senate.gov\/rubio-demands-answers-from-fec-on-potential-actblue-fraudulent-donations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">As of 2023<\/a>: \u201cUnlike nearly every other individual political campaign and political action committee, ActBlue does not require a card verification value (CVV) number as a requirement for donating.\u201d) <a href=\"https:\/\/goodauthority.org\/news\/the-big-campaign-story-for-the-next-few-days\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">A discussion of the 2012 election<\/a>, when Obama was on the ballot, contains the following intriguing passage: \u201cThe major sources of data on political money are the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. . . . both agencies routinely accept seriously incomplete reports and obviously inaccurate or misleading reports. . . . As a result, the true influence that large donors wield in American elections is chronically underestimated. . . . Existing data management tools that try to match these up commonly fail to recognize  [i.e., smurfing] In turn that nourishes illusions that small donors play bigger roles in campaigns than they really do. Especially where Democrats are concerned, the myth of small donors is a powerful instrument of miseducation.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2017\/03\/potential-phishing-equilibria-neoliberalism-u-s-medical-coding-system.html\">Akerlof and Shiller\u2019s notion of phishing equilibria<\/a> lends credence to this speculation. In my paraphrase: \u201cIf a system enables fraud, fraud will already have happened,\u201d the fraud in this case being smurfing. (I ran into the smurfing concept in right-wing Twitter, but the whole discussion was a rats\u2019 nest of self-reference and didn\u2019t seem well-evidenced, so I never included any of it.)<\/p>\n<p>888,000 = legitimate (AKA) + illegitimate (smurfing) is perfectly possible, too.<\/p>\n<p>As I note, patient readers, these are both speculations, albeit intriguing and plausble ones. If you have evidence to confirm or disconfirm either explanation, please leave your thoughts (and links) in comments.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"bait\"\/>The \u201cBait and Switch\u201d:<\/p>\n<p>I think \u201ccoup\u201d isn\u2019t the proper descriptive, so I\u2019ll use \u201cbait and switch\u201d until we can come up with a better term.<\/p>\n<p>The timeline that led to Kamala\u2019s coronation is interesting in that it\u2019s not really clear when it could be said to have begun (alert reader Rolf began an interesting discussion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-23-2024.html#comment-4075924\">here<\/a>, with contributions from readers Acacia, Sam, and Tom). To a Martian looking down on the whole process over time and from 30,000 feet, Kamala\u2019s coronation looks like an enormous bait and switch operation. After all, the Inner Party cleared the primary ballots for Biden, Biden himself declared many times that he was \u201call in,\u201d as we say, hundreds of millions were raised in Biden\u2019s name (and it\u2019s no good saying that it was the Biden\/Harris ticket, everybody knows the Vice Presidency is <a href=\"https:\/\/briscoecenter.org\/about\/news\/john-nance-garner-on-the-vice-presidency-in-search-of-the-proverbial-bucket\/#genesis-nav-primary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the proverbial container of warm [subtance]<\/a>.) And suddenly, after about three weeks of Inner Party leaks and pressure, Biden was off the ticket, Kamala was in, and all the money was hers (and yes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/bidens-slips-cog-second-time-as-tragedy-second-time-as-farce-or-both.html\">Biden\u2019s debate performance <em>was<\/em> horrid<\/a>, but are we really to believe that Inner Party propaganda could not have minimized it, when it has minimized so much else? Or, more precisely, that they thought \u201c<em>This<\/em> time, we can\u2019t get away with it\u201d?). <\/p>\n<p>But if Kamala\u2019s coronation was in fact a \u201cbait and switch\u201d operation \u2014 I\u2019ve looked at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wikipedia\u2019s \u201cscam\u201d entry,<\/a> and can\u2019t find anything else that matches the pattern; readers? \u2014 then when did it begin? In 2020, when she was put on the ballot for no apparent reason, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2019\/12\/11\/biden-single-term-082129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">when Biden promised to serve a single term<\/a>? In (say) 2022, when the \u201cRed Wave\u201d did not materialize, and many electeds beat Biden\u2019s 2020 numbers? As late as George Clooney\u2019s enormously successful fundraiser, the one where Obama led him gently off the stage? Or a little under a month later, after the debate? Did the Inner Party always have Biden\u2019s defenestration in mind? Or did they defenestrate him only at the last possible minute, making as certain as they could that no alternative to Kamala would materialize?<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think we know; and I don\u2019t think we <em>can<\/em> know. That says something about how Democrats define \u201cour democracy\u201d operationally. Because we now have a candidate at the top of the ticket who never faced the voters and won a single primary, neither in 2020 nor in 2024; a candidate who took power only through a campaign of leaks orchestrated by a small group of Inner Party figures, in which neither voters nor Democrats at the precinct or even the State Party level had any say; a candidate installed on the ticket by a single person, her superior in the Executive branch, without discussion or advance notice of any kind; a candidate who swapped in her ActBlue donation\u2019s page before she even had a campaign site of her own for the office she seeks; and a candidate who, in 48 hours of phone work, became the de facto nominee of the entire Party; and whose candidacy will shortly be ratified by Zoom call, rendering the actual, physical Convention mere window-dressing (\u201cDemocratic leaders say they\u2019ll still have a ceremonial roll call at the Chicago convention the week of Aug. 19, and <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/lNr9N#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the delegates will vote in person on the party platform<\/a>,\u201d lol). Clearly, this is not a small-d democratic process, and it\u2019s impossible to rid oneself of the suspicion that this is the Inner Party\u2019s model for selecting candiates, going forward. Pesky voters!<\/p>\n<p>Where the timeline begins matters, because it matters how long the Inner Party and its assets in the press have been lying to donors (and, to be fair, themselves) about Biden\u2019s deteriorating cognitive abilities. Since 2020 is a long time (although issues were clearly visible at that time, as NC readers \u2014 and most dull normals \u2014 know). However, the universal and vehement dogpiling that occured when anyone suggested Biden might slip a cog easily predated George Clooney fundraiser and the debate. So it\u2019s fair to say that the lying continued for a minimum of months, and a week is a long time in politics. That suggests the heuristic that, going forward, any public-facing Democrat should be assumed to be lying until proven otherwise. It was possbible, for awhile, to imagine that public-facing Democrats would lie for given operations or campaigns (RussiaGate; Ukraine). But now we need to regard lying as their default setting. <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/lNr9N#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">It\u2019s the only way to be sure<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trail\"\/><em><strong>The Campaign Trail<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"hundred\"\/>The Hundred Days. As you can see, Kamala has 100 days (well, 103) to win the Presidency (note again the dominance of the calendar). Does this help her, or hurt her?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould a short campaign be exactly what Kamala Harris needs?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/362890\/harris-biden-democrats-election-europe-france-uk-president-parliament-parties-republican\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Vox<\/a>]. \u201cVice President Kamala Harris has 103 days to convince the American public to vote for her for president. It\u2019s not a lot of time \u2014 especially considering former President Donald Trump launched his campaign in November 2022 \u2014 but it\u2019s a timeline not too different from that of other countries, many of which have short campaign cycles\u2026. Harris may, to an extent, have the best of both worlds: She already has the benefit of being in national leadership positions. She has the Democratic machinery behind her, including Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and she will have access to Biden\u2019s fundraising dollars. But voters haven\u2019t been seeing her campaigning everywhere for months now, which means she\u2019ll seem new\u2026. However, the shorter campaign cycle may mean less opportunity for errors like the debate performance that ultimately caused Biden to step down. And there will be less time for Trump and the Republican Party to create damaging narratives about Harris that overshadow her policy and performance \u2014 provided she creates a narrative about herself first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJames Carville Warns of \u2018Realism\u2019 Facing Kamala Harris Campaign: \u2018Tough Sledding Ahead&#8217;\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tv\/james-carville-warns-of-realism-facing-kamala-harris-campaign-tough-sledding-ahead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mediaite<\/a>]. Carville: \u201c[T]hey\u2019re having to put a campaign together right away. They were obviously thinking about this ahead of time, but they got they got to accomplish between now and the convention, they got accomplish what most campaigns have eight months to do.\u201d And: \u201d It\u2019s going to be very close, and I understand that people are feeling a lot better and excited. But that excitement has got to be tempered with realism, and the realism is she has a tough campaign on, and as you say, she\u2019s got several things she\u2019s got to accomplish at the same time. But having said that, there\u2019s been real growth in Vice President Harris. I mean, you can just see the difference. And she just looked so confident to me yesterday. I didn\u2019t put the sound on. I just left the video, and I liked what I saw, I\u2019ll be honest with you.\u201d \u2022\u00a0I personally also recommend watching Kamala with the sound off, but not, I think, for the same reasons Carville does.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKamala Harris\u2019s Michael Dukakis moment\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/newcriterion.com\/2024\/07\/kamala-harriss-michael-dukakis-moment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Criterion<\/a>]. \u201cAmericans over the age of fifty may remember the 1988 presidential election campaign, when Governor Michael Dukakis surged to a seventeen-point lead over Vice President George H. W. Bush following the Democratic National Convention in mid-July. \u2026 Kamala Harris is now enjoying this kind of moment as she racks up endorsements in anticipation of the Democratic National Convention in August. Democrats and media allies are busy portraying her as a fresh face (she is not) and a youthful candidate (also doubtful) who will electrify the nation, galvanize women and minority voters, and trounce Donald Trump in the fall campaign. Some polls show her running more or less even with Trump, though, in truth, Biden was not doing all that badly in the same polls when he decided to drop out. Harris\u2019s honeymoon will continue until and through the Democratic convention, at which time delegates will put on a show of unity and strength, thereby covering up the large cracks in their coalition that Trump will soon exploit. She and her running mate may come out of the convention even with, or perhaps even slightly ahead of, the Trump-Vance ticket. The honeymoon will not last very long.\u201d \u2022 The honeymoon will, however, consume an appreciably larger percentage of the campaign than it usually does.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"harris\"\/>Harris (D), litmus test: Palestine:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Read my full statement on the protests in Washington, D.C. yesterday. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zJpZvdQDt9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/zJpZvdQDt9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP\/status\/1816490945501708660\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Harris (D), litmus test: Anti-trust:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Donor or owner? LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman thinks he owns Kamala Harris. Imagine giving $7 million and then publicly demanding a total reversal of tough on corporate crime policies. Harris took the money, she needs to repudiate this. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dqPldxMH4R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/dqPldxMH4R<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1816441930684788989\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t say Harris can\u2019t be bought, but I don\u2019t think Hoffman quite understands where the decimal point would need to be.<\/p>\n<p>More:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One hopes, anyhow!<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Basel Musharbash (@musharbash_b) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/musharbash_b\/status\/1816495757756690553\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Indeed one does.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Our Famously Free Press<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAP Declares That \u2018JD Vance Did Not Have Sex With A Couch\u2019 In Fact Check\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/ap-declares-jd-vance-did-120739531.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HuffPost<\/a>]. \u201cAt one point, the AP appeared to have another headline \u2015 \u2018Posts spread baseless rumors about GOP vice presidential pick JD Vance having sex with a couch\u2019 \u2015 but all versions of the article were scrubbed from the internet less than 24 hours after publication. Why waste all that journalistic effort? According to Mediate, the AP did a PDF search of the book that yielded 10 mentions of \u2018couch\u2019 or \u2018couches,\u2019 but none of them described Vance performing the act in question. The words \u2018sofa\u2019 and \u2018glove\u2019 did not appear anywhere in the memoir, AP wrote. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/jd-vance-couch-sex-rumor.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Cut did its own investigation<\/a> and reported that the pages supposedly recounting Vance\u2019s alleged furniture tryst actually mention no such thing.\u201d \u2022 Same heuristic: Assume any public-facing Democrat is lying until proven otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Associated Press removes a fact-check claiming JD Vance has not had sex with a couch\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/7\/25\/24206088\/jd-vance-fact-check-sex-couch-rumor-associated-press-retraction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Verge<\/a>]. The Associated Press has apparently retracted a fact-check published yesterday with the headline, \u2018No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch.\u2019 As of Thursday morning, the article page displayed a \u2018page unavailable\u2019 error message. The fact-check references a few joke social media posts that have been circulating that claim the Republican vice presidential nominee wrote in his book Hillbilly Elegy about having sex with a couch\u2026. \u2018The story, which did not go out on the wire to our customers, didn\u2019t go through our standard editing process. We are looking into how that happened,\u2019 AP spokesperson Nicole Meir told The Verge in an email. News reports (and fact-checks specifically) are often worded in a way that carefully threads a needle \u2014 there\u2019s a difference between saying something definitively didn\u2019t happen versus saying there\u2019s no evidence of it. My guess is that the AP headline was the problem here because it claims to debunk something that is unknowable. A headline like, \u2018No, JD Vance didn\u2019t write about fucking a couch\u2019 perhaps would have been more accurate.\u201d \u2022 That\u2019s a silly argument; you fix the headline, you don\u2019t take the page down. Sounds to me like AP got whipped into line. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/fact-check\/jd-vance-couch-cushions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Snopes debunking is still online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cNewsom To Order Dismantling Of CA Homeless Encampments\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/patch.com\/california\/banning-beaumont\/s\/iy43q\/newsom-to-order-dismantling-of-ca-homeless-encampments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Banning-Beaumont Patch<\/a>]. \u201cGov. Gavin Newsom will order state officials on Thursday to dismantle homeless encampments with a sweeping executive order, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, the New York Times reported. The order comes in response to the June Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces\u2026. According to the Times, the executive order represents the nation\u2019s most sweeping response to the ruling. Roughly 180,000 people are unhoused in California\u2026. LA County is the nation\u2019s most populous, with about 10 million people. More than 1 in 5 of all homeless people in the U.S. live in the county, according to The Associated Press.\u201d \u2022 You can bet Newsom checked with Kamala first, too. Cleaning up California\u2019s image, and all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Syndemics<\/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>Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&amp;list_select_county=all_counties&amp;data-type=Risk&amp;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>, <del><a href=\"https:\/\/biobot.io\/data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Biobot<\/a><\/del>; 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>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&amp;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&amp;subtopic=recurring-updates&amp;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:\/\/avrpublic.dhhs.utah.gov\/uwss\/\" 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, KF, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3). <\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Celebrity Watch<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Tedros sends Olympians to illness and death:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">No, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrTedros\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@DrTedros<\/a>, these <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WHO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@WHO<\/a> recommendations will NOT \u201cmake sure these Games are healthy and safe for everyone involved\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>They will not prevent superspreading events, as measures against airborne transmission (ventilation, respirators) are only recommended for people with symptoms. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OOaWPhtQMm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/OOaWPhtQMm<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eMyCeHHdjs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/eMyCeHHdjs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Maarten De Cock (@mdc_martinus) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mdc_martinus\/status\/1816492084603285888\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Masking and ventilation recommended only <em>after<\/em> symptoms appear. But handwashing is always appropriate!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"covid\"\/>Lambert here: Looks like the holiday travel dumped accelerant on the pre-existing surge; see especially the growth in wastewater \u201chot spots.\u201d Stay safe out there!<\/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] (CDC) This week\u2019s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated. Keeps spreading.<\/p>\n<p>[2] (CDC) Last week\u2019s wastewater map.<\/p>\n<p>[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular.<\/p>\n<p>[4] (ER) Worth noting Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>[5] (Hospitalization: NY) <em>Could<\/em> by leveling off. (The New York city area has form; in 2020, as the home of two international airports (JFK and EWR) it was an important entry point for the virus into the country (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, as the rich sought to escape, and then around the country through air travel.)<\/p>\n<p>[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.<\/p>\n<p>[7] (Walgreens) An optimist would see a peak.<\/p>\n<p>[8] (Cleveland) Still going up!<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn\u2019t even run back to 1\/21\/23, as it used to, but now starts 1\/1\/24. There\u2019s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn\u2019t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that\u2019s why the shape of the curve has changed.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads. <\/p>\n<p>[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.<\/p>\n<p>[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Initial Jobless Claims\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/jobless-claims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US fell by 10,000 to 235,000 on the period ending July 20th, below market expectations of 238,000. Despite this decline, the claim count remained significantly above this year\u2019s average, indicating that although the US labor market is still historically tight, it has softened since its post-pandemic [sic] peak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>GDP: \u201cUnited States GDP Growth Rate\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/gdp-growth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe US economy expanded an annualized 2.8% in Q2, up from 1.4% in Q1, and above forecasts of 2%, the advance estimate showed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Durable Goods Orders\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/durable-goods-orders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cNew orders for manufactured durable goods in the US slumped 6.6% month-over-month in June 2024, after four consecutive monthly increases and missing market expectations of a 0.3% increase.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cAlexa Is in Millions of Households\u2014and Amazon Is Losing Billions\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/rOowJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201cAmazon.com\u2019s Echo speakers are the type of business success companies don\u2019t want: a widely purchased product that is also a giant money loser. Chief Executive Andy Jassy is trying to plug that hole\u2014and move away from the Amazon accounting tactic that helped create it. When Amazon launched the Echo smart home devices with its Alexa voice assistant in 2014, it pulled a page from shaving giant Gillette\u2019s classic playbook: sell the razors for a pittance in the hope of making heaps of money on purchases of the refill blades. A decade later, the payoff for Echo hasn\u2019t arrived. While hundreds of millions of customers have Alexa-enabled devices, the idea that people would spend meaningful amounts of money to buy goods on Amazon by talking to the iconic voice assistant on the underpriced speakers didn\u2019t take off. Customers actually used Echo mostly for free apps such as setting alarms and checking the weather. \u2018We worried we\u2019ve hired 10,000 people and we\u2019ve built a smart timer,\u2019 said a former senior employee. As a result, Amazon has lost tens of billions of dollars on its devices business, which includes Echos and other products such as Kindles, Fire TV Sticks and video doorbells, according to internal documents and people familiar with the business. Between 2017 and 2021, Amazon had more than $25 billion in losses from its devices business, according to the documents. The losses for the years before and after that period couldn\u2019t be determined.\u201d \u2022 That\u2019s a damn shame.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear &amp; Greed Index: 45 Neutral (previous close: 41 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 53 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 24 at 12:37:17 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trad\"\/>\u201cMeet the queen of the \u2018trad wives\u2019 (and her eight children)\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/keNQC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Times<\/a>]. \u201cTrad wives are an internet phenomenon; women who have rejected modern gender roles for the more traditional existence of wife, mother and homemaker \u2014 and who then promote that life online, some to millions of followers. Their lifestyle is often, though not always, bound to Christianity. They film themselves cooking mad things from scratch (chewing gum from corn syrup, waffles from a sourdough starter), their faces glowing in beams of sunlight, their voices soft and breathy, their children free range.\u201d \u2022 Worth reading in full.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFossil Hints That Jurassic Mammals Lived Slow and Died Old\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/7qqH9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cThe extended time frame for tooth replacement, along with the older Krusatodon\u2019s age, led the team to conclude that these ancient mammals enjoyed surprisingly long life spans. This most likely extended their growth period. Most modern mammals experience rapid growth early in life before plateauing as they approach adult size. Krusatodon and other early Mesozoic mammals may have slowly grown throughout their long lives\u2026. Determining when the mammalian growth process sped up is difficult. Dr. Panciroli thinks development was most likely turbocharged as mammals\u2019 metabolism increased, and as they became warm-blooded. These traits would emerge later in the Mesozoic Era and help early mammals adopt more energetically demanding lifestyles that included swimming and gliding.\u201d \u2022 Sounds like I\u2019d prefer to be a Jurassic Mammal; I don\u2019t glide, and the closest I\u2019ve gotten to swimming is buying a bathing suit (and maybe I should reconsider).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Class Warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"class'&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;\u201cEvery company should be owned by its employees\u201d [&lt;a href=\" https:=\"\" www.elysian.press=\"\" p=\"\" employee-ownership=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Elysian<\/a>]. \u201cThere are 47 millionaires working for Central States Manufacturing, and they\u2019re not all in the C-Suite. Many of them are drivers or machinists\u2014blue-collar workers for the company. How? The company is owned by its employees. Every worker gets a salary but also a percentage of their salary in stock ownership. When the company does well, so do the employees\u2014all of them, not just the ones at the top. And the company is doing well. \u2018When we sat down eight years ago, we said we want to be a billion-dollar company and have 1,500 people, we are on track to be both of those this year,\u2019 Tim Ruger, president of Central States, tells me. That\u2019s right, this manufacturing company will become a unicorn this year\u2014one of only 6,000 companies in the world earning more than $1 billion in revenue. But unlike Walmart, Amazon, and Apple, it\u2019s not just the executives getting paid out. \u2018It\u2019s not like 80 percent of the company is owned by management and the rest is owned by employees, it\u2019s really well spread across all functions,\u2019 Ruger tells me. \u2018We\u2019ve got a number of people that have been here 15, 20 years and they have $1 million plus balances, which is really cool for a person that came out of high school and runs our rollformer. You can\u2019t do that everywhere.&#8217;\u201d \u2022 Do we have any readers who are familiar with Central States Manufacturing? The name sounds so generic, like \u201cThe Great Lakes Paperclip Company\u201d:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Bob and Ray &quot;The Great Lakes Paperclip Company&quot;  Radio Comedy\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QQna34cbPpg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMicrosoft\u2019s \u2018World of Warcraft\u2019 Gaming Staff Votes to Unionize\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/pi67F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt turns out a lot of return-to-office mandates were meant to make workers quit\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/return-to-work-rto-mandates-forced-quitting-1851603413\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Quartz<\/a>]. \u201cA quarter of bosses admitted that they hoped return-to-office (RTO) mandates would lead to employees quitting, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bamboohr.com\/resources\/guides\/return-to-office#executives-and-hr-admit-rto-is-meant-to-make-people-quit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a new survey<\/a>\u2026. That expectation isn\u2019t totally unfounded. Twenty-eight percent of remote employees said they\u2019d consider <a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/what-to-do-when-your-company-reverses-on-remote-work-1850140896\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">quitting their jobs<\/a> if RTO policies occurred at their companies. But it appears fewer quit than the bosses wanted. Some executives even blamed layoffs on employees who didn\u2019t quit after RTO policies were put in place, Bamboo said. Almost two in five (37%) of managers, directors, and executives said their companies had layoffs in the last 12 months because they anticipated that more employees would quit after enacting RTO policies.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cScientists Recreate Neanderthal Cooking Methods and the Results Are Eye-Opening\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zmescience.com\/science\/archaeology\/scientists-recreate-neanderthal-cooking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ZME Science<\/a>]. \u201cTo learn more about how our extinct relatives prepared bird-based meals, researchers in Spain tried cooking like Neanderthals using only tools and methods that would have been available in prehistoric times\u2026. \u2018Using a flint flake for butchering required significant precision and effort, which we had not fully valued before this experiment,\u2019 said Mariana Nabais of the Institut Catal\u00e0 de Paleoecologia Humana i Evoluci\u00f3 Social in Spain, lead author of the new study. \u2018The flakes were sharper than we initially thought, requiring careful handling to make precise cuts without injuring our own fingers. These hands-on experiments emphasized the practical challenges involved in Neanderthal food processing and cooking, providing a tangible connection to their daily life and survival strategies.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yum:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Chicago sushi <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GOmMU5CWBh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/GOmMU5CWBh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ms. Dive Diva \ud83d\udda4 (@chicagodivediva) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chicagodivediva\/status\/1804958281796039050\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">June 23, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<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\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-24-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From Desert Dog:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cactus_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cactus_2.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cactus_2-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Desert Dog writes: \u201cAlways wonderful to come across these hiding out on the range and welcoming spring weather.\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 three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:<\/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!\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; 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 &amp; Email\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente Patient readers, there is a lot of political material to process today, some of which* I still need to sit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82421,"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-82420","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\/82420","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=82420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}