\n<\/p>\n
By Lambert Strether of Corrente<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nBird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Charleston, South Carolina, United States. \u201cSong from telephone wire in residential area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#defenestration\">Who engineered the bait and switch?<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#harris\">Kamala and Lina Khan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#lawn\">Abolish your lawn<\/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_2024-07-26.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"638\" height=\"1082\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26.png 638w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-177x300.png 177w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-604x1024.png 604w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-624x1058.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>First poll with Harris at the top of the Democrat ticket; Trump\u2019s position deteriorates (and any advantage he gained from the assassination attempt has been wiped away. Nevertheless, he still leads, albeit within the margin of error. NOTE RCP used to have two pages of swing states; I always used the first one. Now there is only one, which I take as an indicator that Harris v. Trump polling is not all that widespread.<\/p>\n<p>Vibe shift:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Unbelievable vibe shift in the US with Kamala Harris <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LAZoglUMHW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/LAZoglUMHW<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rrMisGHLbu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/rrMisGHLbu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Albert Pinto (@70sBachchan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/70sBachchan\/status\/1816818691431878958\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"defenestration\"\/>Biden Defenestration:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho Engineered the Political Coup Against Biden?\u201d [Frank Miehle, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2024\/07\/26\/who_engineered_the_political_coup_against_biden___151336.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RealClearPolitics<\/a>]. \u201cRemarkably, despite the horrific debate performance and the non-stop media narrative that said he was the political equivalent of a dead man walking, Biden remained within the margin of error in national polls. He had barely dropped at all since \u2018The Debate.\u2019 He had the delegates, and he had the nomination unless he willingly surrendered it. But something happened. About the same time Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt and raised his fist in defiance, Democrats seemed to have concluded that Biden could not win in November. The four days of what is widely believed to be a successful Republican convention only hardened that belief. And whether it is Sy Hersh or some young gun of journalism ready to make his or her name, someone needs to tell the truth about the 10 days that shook the nation, from the moment Trump took a would-be assassin\u2019s bullet on July 13 to the afternoon Biden inexplicably dropped his reelection bid and Kamala Harris was coronated. And the first question that needs to be answered, and which no one in the mainstream media is asking, is \u2018Who convinced Joe Biden that debating Trump on June 27, nearly two months before the Democratic convention, was a good idea?\u2019 This was unprecedented.\u201d Good question (personally, I think Biden was arrogant enough to think he could beat Trump. That was one reason he was so angry throughout the debate; he had this stunned look in his eyes, like he couldn\u2019t believe what was happening to him. And the date for the beginning of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024.html#bait\">the bait and switch operation<\/a>: \u201cI would not be surprised if the scheme to unseat Biden was hatched in February when Hur declined to prosecute the president for classified documents violations on the grounds that a jury would clear Biden because they would see him as a \u2018sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.\u2019 With that declaration, the cat was out of the bag. Maybe Biden\u2019s handlers initially thought he could survive that humiliation, but when the president gave a press conference to declare himself vindicated, he mistakenly identified Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the president of Mexico. The wheels may have started turning to jettison Biden in order to preserve the Democratic Party.\u201d \u2022 Good argument.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"rollout\"\/>Kamala\u2019s Rollout:<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Normally, I use last (family) names. Clinton (not \u201cHillary\u201d); Sanders (not \u201cBernie\u201d); Carlson (not \u201cTucker\u201d). After all, I\u2019m not good buddies with any of these people. However, with Kamala (not \u201cHarris\u201d) I have shifted to what Frank Herbert\u2019s Fremen call \u201cthe insultingly familiar form,\u201d for reasons I assume will become increasingly obvious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI Do Not Need to Defend Myself for Believing That Political Candidates Should Be Chosen Democratically\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/i-do-not-need-to-defend-myself-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Freddie deBoer<\/a>]. \u201cI remain disgusted but not surprised by the Democratic party and its machinations, where not even the smallest fig leaf of democratic process survived Harris\u2019s blitzkrieg approach to the nomination. (That is, having it handed to her by her friends in elite Democratic circles.) And I think Democrats are essentially rerunning 2016, where their loyalty to the Clintonite center-right political machine compelled them to nominate an incredibly flawed candidate in a race in which any generic Democratic governor or senator almost certainly would have won. The party never learns. And so we have the confluence of strategic idiocy and rank elitist control. Well: I decline to obediently get onboard the way that (for example) the entire New York Times Opinion section has.\u201d \u2022 Fun stuff, well worth a read.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trail\"\/><em><strong>The Campaign Trail<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cThe Kamala Harris Surprise\u201d [Peggy Noonan, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/hwMcd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. Now to the hundred-day race. I had long thought Kamala Harris couldn\u2019t beat Donald Trump. That\u2019s wrong. She can. We\u2019re a 50\/50 country, each side gets 40 going in, you fight for the rest but it can always go either way. As people who speak the technical language of politics say, Mr. Trump has a high floor but a low ceiling. But beyond that, something\u2019s happening.\u201d I\u2019m not sure how I feel to be singing from the same page of the hymnal as Nooners, but it\u2019s been a strange year. More: \u201cMs. Harris has not, in five years on the national stage, shown competence. She is showing it now, and that is big news. Her rollout this week demonstrated talent and hinted she may be a real political athlete. Her past and famous verbal embarrassments, which shaped her public reputation, almost all took place in interviews and ad libbed arias. They obscured a real proficiency. ?She was striking and strong in this week\u2019s speeches in Milwaukee and Houston. She knows how to act a speech. When she is scripted she is good. That isn\u2019t all put-down. She knows what a good speech is. She can judge it, recognize good material. Not all candidates can. Most can\u2019t. It is its own talent. Milwaukee especially had power. Its theme: \u2018We\u2019re not going back.’\u201d Certainly not to FDR. And this very, very curious warning: \u201d On an average day key figures in our government\u2014the secretaries of state and defense, heads of intelligence and domestic agencies\u2014are on the road, in the conference in Prague and the meeting in Seoul. Right now, with the aged president and the volatile politics, they should stop, stay close to home, be in their offices in Washington. Be there, not on planes and in hotel rooms. The look of solidity is almost as good as the real thing.\u201d \u2022 Volatility!<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cCan Harris Pull Off a Victory in Three Months? Three Top Strategists Lay Out How\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/4pBPL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. Patti Solis Doyle: \u201cThe last 72 hours have been unbelievable in terms of rollout. She locked up the nomination. Within 36 hours, she got the delegates. She got the endorsements from Congress. She got the money. And her first events have been through the roof.<\/p>\n<p>I think she\u2019s doing it.\u201d Robby Mook: \u201cOne advantage she really has that we didn\u2019t have on the Clinton campaign, and I don\u2019t think Joe Biden really had, is the internet is a really safe space for her right now. It\u2019s a great safe space for people to express support for her. So that\u2019s great.\u201d Stuart Stevens: \u201cI think the model for this in a lot of ways is the Obama campaign in \u201908. They did a magnificent job in setting it up so that when you voted for Barack Obama, it said something about who you were and what you wanted the country to be, not just who you wanted to be president. And I think that\u2019s the challenge that Harris should run right into.\u201d \u2022 And we all know how Obama turned out!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"harris\"\/>Kamala (D): Tech Lords share views on regulation:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Most Democrats think that we need to save the republic and then we can advocate against bad policy. It doesn\u2019t work that way. An oligarch just told our candidate what to do. That\u2019s the republic ending right there. Silence is complicity. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D1TGn8QDxB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/D1TGn8QDxB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1816490364477313315\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): Tech Lords share views on Lina Khan:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrewrsorkin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@andrewrsorkin<\/a> asks IAC Chairman Barry Diller if he would lobby Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KamalaHarris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@KamalaHarris<\/a> to drop <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/linakhanFTC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@LinaKhanFTC<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>“Yeah, I would. I think she’s a dope,” said Diller. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JFWrsurhhh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/JFWrsurhhh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SquawkCNBC\/status\/1816826072236982681\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cSilicon Valley Steps Up for Native Kamala Harris in Trump Showdown\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/olXKR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201cKamala Harris\u2019s strong ties to her native Silicon Valley, dating back to the start of her political career, give her a solid base of financial support that she is tapping for her battle with Donald Trump\u2026. Tech executives are hopeful that Harris\u2019s Silicon Valley ties, combined with her grasp of the impacts of legal regulation\u2014owing to her law-enforcement background\u2014will position her to be open-minded about emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, which the Biden administration has at times been hard on. The industry is also hoping it might get an ally in the White House after years of criticism and mounting antitrust enforcement. While Biden has taken an aggressive stance toward antitrust enforcement, selecting Amazon critic Lina Khan to chair the Federal Trade Commission, Harris hasn\u2019t been focused on technology for much of her time as vice president. The Biden campaign had earlier invited donors to a July fundraiser in Piedmont, Calif., hosted by a longtime supporter of Harris. The event is being rescheduled, a campaign spokesman said. \u201d \u2022 That event would be a wonderful opportunity for Kamala to invite Lina Khan and give her a bear-hug (as Zephyr Teachout suggested). But maybe not\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cHarris Works to Build Bridges to the Business World\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/lZ6vG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201c[Kamala] has expressed skepticism of Ms. Khan\u2019s expansive view of antitrust powers, according to a donor who has spoken privately with the vice president.\u201d \u2022 Oh well. More optimistic commentary:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On the other hand\u2026 That’s one donor is telling that to NYT. Warren, who is pretty much responsible for Khan’s appointment, has been making the rounds to pump up Kamala on cable news all week. Perhaps that’s her end game, we will see<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EmmaVigeland\/status\/1816319871807816185\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cBehind the Democrats\u2019 Fight Over Lina Khan\u2019s Future\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/ecWRf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cOne wrinkle: Donald Trump\u2019s own running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/ecWRf\/https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/24199314\/jd-vance-donald-trump-vp-antitrust-big-tech-ftc-lina-khan-elizabeth-warren-google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">has praised Khan<\/a> as part of his anti-Big Tech stance\u2026. Khan has given no indication that she plans to step down. She has shown a desire to permanently reshape U.S. antitrust law, dating to her law school days. When DealBook asked an F.T.C. spokesman if Khan would consider serving as chair in a Harris administration, he said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 The debate underscores Democrats\u2019 anxiety over how Harris would govern. Khan\u2019s appointment arose in part out of Biden\u2019s effort to shore up progressive support in 2020 by giving Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts significant sway over economic regulatory agencies. \u201cWarren, to an extraordinary degree, was the gatekeeper for the administration about appointments,\u201d William Kovacic, a former F.T.C. chair, told DealBook.\u201d \u2022 Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than 160,000 people join white women for Kamala Harris Zoom call\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/zwvN8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]. \u201cMore than 160,000 people joined a Zoom call on Thursday night to build support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris among white women, a voter demographic that has supported Republican nominee Donald Trump in the past two elections. Organized by Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun-safety group with about 10 million members, the video call included activists, podcasters, the singer Pink and regular voters, several who said they regretted not doing enough before the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.\u201d \u2022 One alert NC reader attended, and threw this over the transom. Lightly edited:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The White Women webinar format zoom call last night? Oiy!<\/p>\n<p>Tapped out after 30 minutes. Not verbatim, but essentially, too much along the lines of \u2018We KNOW we\u2019re white women of privilege and comfort and satisfaction while our black sisters are left hurting. Suburban white women handed the WH to tRUMP and now it\u2019s time for us to step up.\u2019 Heavy group identity guilt politics statements by every white woman speaker that I hear, that said, Shannon Watts was pretty good as a speaker. More women kept coming on, technical glitches, knocked off the call several times due the massive audience. Not sure about total listeners and total raised. FFS, Glennon Doyle? Pink. So, for a younger audience. Ok, sigh. You need Taylor Swift for that. <\/p>\n<p>Look, I don\u2019t have life units to waste. Maybe there was some hard data and charts later, but they lost me fast\u2026.. <\/p>\n<p>You know who did this stuff well? Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and the PAC they joined to get it done. I Zoomed into their effort to get abortion in the Ohio constitution. Every meeting was tight, solid, lots of information, charts, activity reporting-out on overall state stats, counties to focus on. Charts galore, bullet points about next steps. etc. Done in exactly an hour. Screens and screens of women watching. Tossed in bigly to a super focused razor sharp effort. Why? They showed me very clearly they were a wise investment in a larger team. <\/p>\n<p>Anyway, one has a short window to get donors engaged on a Zoom. All the identity politics centered remarks were just tiresome and I clicked off. Billionaires and identity politics fans can fund it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a fair reaction:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I could be wrong or just ignorant because white women have never been my focus. <\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t remember a \u201cwhite women: answer the call\u201d equivalent for Hillary. And there definitely wasn\u2019t one with over 100K participants that raised over a million dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Things are different. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0necTpgjlN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/0necTpgjlN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 April (@ReignOfApril) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReignOfApril\/status\/1816642298018693357\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>OTOH, if this is all #ImWithHer\/#Resistance types\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Another reaction:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It’s all fun and games now, but a lot of the rhetoric on that call was about how white women needed to support Kamala as an act of self-actualisation for\u2026.white women. If she veers from their expectations for even one second, they will call her “ungrateful.” (Just like RBG said\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tJa1cgw7xc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/tJa1cgw7xc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moorehn\/status\/1816801268741882119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cProject Coconut is a go\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwiw.news\/p\/project-coconut-is-a-go?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=15w&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FWIW<\/a>]. \u201cAnd as of yesterday, the Vice President now has a personal account on TikTok, @KamalaHarris, which has already gained 1.4+ million followers and 2.1+ million likes at the time of writing. The DNC is also getting in on the online momentum and doing some brat-branding on new fundraising ads as well. Overall, the Harris campaign\u2019s social accounts have gained a huge influx of followers \u2013 for example, data from InsTrack shows the Instagram account @KamalaHQ gaining 48,000+ since President Biden stepped aside last Sunday. Pro-Harris content also flooded TikTok. Politically attuned users across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok began using the coconut emoji en masse, a reference to the most viral meme about the VP. \u201cPROJECT COCONUT IS A GO,\u201d commented one excited TikTok user. \u201cWE RIDE AT DAWN, COCONUTS!\u201d remarked another.\u201d \u2022 Of course, social media numbers are never gamed. \u201cWE RIDE AT DAWN, COCONUTS\u201d is <em>so<\/em> Obama 2008 (\u201cFired up! Ready to go!\u201d). But this is not 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cWhat\u2019s fueling Kamala Harris\u2019 TikTok surge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/ZYRkw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cThere\u2019s a vibe shift brewing on TikTok: The platform, which had been dominated by pro-Trump content, has been exploding with Kamala Harris memes, many of which favorably highlight her quirky demeanor and tie her to the trendiest cool girl anthems. Even before President Joe Biden\u2019s withdrawal from the race on Sunday, Harris memes created by TikTokers had dominated social media, flooding mostly young people\u2019s feeds with video edits of her viral phrases, quirky tangents and \u201cgirl boss\u201d moments \u2014 like this video of Harris laughing away, with a hint of the signature Gen-Z irony in the caption, which reads \u201cWhy did I make this.\u201d These memes paint Harris, who has rarely been in the spotlight during the Biden administration, as a chill auntie \u2014 someone who could dish out advice that is both a little silly yet serious at the same time\u2026. Harris\u2019 campaign hasn\u2019t wasted a moment in jumping on the meme momentum, and their efforts have paid off.\u201d \u2022 Then of course\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cTikTok\u2019s Survival Is at Stake in All-Out Fight Against US Ban\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/OoZTu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a>]. \u201cThe Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok is battling a potential US ban with the signature tools of American democracy \u2014 lawyers, lobbyists and money. TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance Ltd., divests. With a $4.8 million ad campaign, a full-court press on Capitol Hill and the US Constitution, TikTok is in a multifront fight for its survival.\u201d \u2022 So TikTok has every reason to be nice to the current administration, and Kamala. Not that I\u2019m suggesting that the Tiktok recommendation algorithm is a black box that can be gamed, of course.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cFamily, Friends and Longtime Aides Dominate Harris\u2019s Inner Circle\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/Family,%20Friends%20and%20Longtime%20Aides%20Dominate%20Harris%E2%80%99s%20Inner%20Circle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201c[T]he expected Democratic presidential nominee has kept her inner circle tight. She has relied on her family members, close friends and longest serving aides to help navigate her career and policy decisions. Unlike President Biden, Harris, who was elected to the Senate from California in 2016, remains relatively new to Washington and is still building her political brain trust\u2026. Harris\u2019s family members have been her closest advisers. All of them, like her, have a legal background. Harris\u2019s only sibling\u2014her younger sister, Maya Harris\u2014was chairwoman of her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, which was seen as dysfunctional and with some blaming her. Maya Harris didn\u2019t have a formal role at the White House and previously served as policy adviser to Hillary Clinton during her 2016 White House bid. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, was previously an associate attorney general during the Obama administration. West has traveled in recent days with the vice president to events, including a fundraiser on Saturday. West is chief legal officer for Uber. Harris also has a close relationship with her niece, Meena Harris, a lawyer and an author. Two days before Biden dropped out of the race, Harris visited the model Tyra Banks\u2019s new ice cream shop in D.C. with Meena\u2019s two daughters. Since their marriage in 2014, Doug Emhoff, Harris\u2019s husband, an entertainment lawyer, has been her biggest public supporter.\u201d \u2022 Other names: Rohini Kosoglu, Josh Hsu, Kristine Lucius, Ike Irby, Lorraine Volz, and Julie Chavez Rodriguez.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cTeam Kamala: the people behind Harris\u2019s White House run\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/aP7eR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FInancial Times<\/a>]. Wall Street: \u201cWall Street funds are pouring into Harris\u2019s campaign. Jon Henes, a top corporate bankruptcy adviser, formerly of Kirkland & Ellis, and longtime Harris ally in finance, has been co-ordinating fundraising. Other leading Wall Street figures rushing to help include Ray McGuire, the Lazard banker and former Citigroup executive, and Brad Karp*, chair of corporate law firm Paul Weiss. Blair Effron, the veteran dealmaker at Centerview Partners and a fixture of Democratic fundraising, is also on board. So are Blackstone president Jonathan Gray, Evercore co-founder Roger Altman, and Marc Lasry, the hedge fund investor and former co-owner of NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Many in Wall Street have been extremely supportive of Kamala for years,\u2019 said a Democratic fundraiser. \u2018Blair and Brad backed her hugely in the 2020 presidential primaries\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009they aren\u2019t last minute supporters.’\u201d Tech: \u201cReed Hastings, the chair of Netflix, had been among the Democratic donors openly pushing Biden to quit the race. He immediately pumped $7mn into Harris\u2019s campaign after the president dropped out. Reid Hoffman, the venture capitalist who co-founded LinkedIn, also swiftly backed her bid for the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have made inroads among Silicon Valley donors in recent years \u2014 but Harris has kept her allies. They include Brad Smith of Microsoft, who hosted a fundraiser for the Biden campaign at his Seattle home last year. Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer at Meta, is another prominent supporter.\u201d NOTE * <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/big-law-leaders-back-alvin-bragg-manhattan-da-race-2021-06-21\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brad Karp gave Alvin Bragg $1000<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cTrump campaign plays defense amid Harris honeymoon\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/07\/26\/kamala-harris-honeymoon-fundraising-ads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Axios<\/a>]. \u201cVice President Kamala Harris is reveling in record fundraising, an early bump in the polls, and a growing grassroots army. It\u2019s a \u201choneymoon\u201d of epic proportions \u2014 but one the Trump campaign is betting won\u2019t last.\u201d Because -gasms don\u2019t last, by definition. Here\u2019s a great example: \u201c\u2018It was the first time we\u2019ve had an Obama-like moment, a feeling where it was pure and it was good, and people were doing things bigger than themselves,\u2019 Silicon Valley fundraiser Steve Spinner told the New York Times.\u201d \u2022 I would like to see more defense of Vance, who after giving an economic populist speech at the Republican National Convention, has been drowning in a wave of snark (at least on my Twitter feed). Commentary:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump is so lost and weakened right now. He sounds like Bob Dole in 1996, except mean. Very normie GOP. Really missing Steve Bannon’s populist strategies.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1816845062799532264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Does Trump in fact look \u201clost and weakened\u201d? Can readers comment? <\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cUnpacking JD Vance\u2019s Labor Record\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/onlabor.org\/unpacking-jd-vances-labor-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">On Labor<\/a>]. \u201cDespite his claimed support for workers\u2019 right to organize, Vance\u2019s voting record on labor issues has rarely been supportive of worker power or voice. Instead of backing popular pro-worker bills and nominees, Vance has advanced watered-down legislation that could weaken labor protections. Vance told Politico that he is not in favor of the PRO Act, which would outlaw the right-to-work laws Vance claims to oppose. His opposition to this legislation is rooted in his belief that it would serve only to empower \u2018current union leadership\u2026 that\u2019s completely in bed with the Democratic Party.\u2019 Vance has instead supported other labor law reforms that are decidedly less popular within the labor movement. Vance partnered with Republican senator Marco Rubio on the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2024 (TEAM Act), which claims to improve worker voice by relaxing the NLRA\u2019s ban on company unions and promoting \u2019employee involvement organizations.\u2019 Unlike unions, these organizations may be funded and dissolved unilaterally by employers. The TEAM Act draws heavily on recommendations by American Compass, run by former Mitt Romney advisor Oren Cass. American Compass advocates for the TEAM Act and worker-management councils, which Cass claims could strengthen \u2018worker-management trust,\u2019 while unions like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have decried the bill as promoting \u2018company unions\u2019 and allowing new avenues for employers to hold off unionization.<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cSpeculation Swirls About What Hit Trump. An Analysis Suggests It was a Bullet\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/KH6uY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times].<\/a> \u201c[A] detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, footage, photos and audio by The New York Times strongly suggests Mr. Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by the gunman\u2026 A key piece of evidence in The Times\u2019s analysis is a live video feed that captures Mr. Trump\u2019s reaction as the first three gunshots are fired. The crack of the bullets are heard as they pass the microphone that Mr. Trump speaks into. Almost a second elapses between the first and second shots. During this brief interim, Mr. Trump starts reaching toward his ear, according to footage and audio of the event analyzed by The Times and Rob Maher, an audio forensics expert at Montana State University. \u2018He flinches, and his right hand already starts reaching for his right ear during that time between the first audible shot and the second audible shot,\u2019 Mr. Maher said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Trump\u2019s fingers are bloodied as soon as he touches his ear, as seen in a picture taken by Doug Mills, a veteran Times photographer.\u201d \u2022\u00a0Notice the lack of agency in \u201cspeculation swirls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cForget the Hype: It\u2019s Still a Working-Class Election\u201d [Ruy Teixiera, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liberalpatriot.com\/p\/forget-the-hype-its-still-a-working\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Liberal Patriot<\/a>]. \u201cWho can blame Democrats for being a bit slap happy? They were staring into the abyss and now have a reprieve. They have a younger candidate and a more enthusiastic, unified party. Those are important and positive differences. But there are also similarities to their previous situation that are highly negative and can\u2019t be wished away\u2026. These double digit Democratic deficits among the working class have been a regular feature of this election cycle. These deficits have been driven by worsening performance among the white working class\u2026. Can she do it? Sure, anything\u2019s possible. But Democrats would be well-advised to be clear-eyed about the challenge. What Harris has to overcome is illustrated by an early July Pew poll that had a large enough sample size (N=over 9,400) to allow blacks and Hispanics to be broken down by working-class vs. college-educated. Both racial groups show strong educational polarization that is much larger than what was observed in 2020. Hispanic working-class voters in this poll preferred Trump by 3 points over Biden, compared to a 22 point margin for Biden over Trump in 2020. Among black working-class voters, Biden was leading by 47 points over Trump, compared to an 82 point lead for Biden in 2020. A working class-oriented campaign would appear to be in order. But so far there is little indication that is what the Harris campaign has in mind. A widely-circulated memo from the campaign sees Harris\u2019 candidacy as building on the \u201cBiden-Harris coalition of voters\u201d and mentions black voters, Latino voters, AANHPI voters, women voters and young voters. Working-class voters are conspicuous by their absence.\u201d \u2022 If this is a working class election, then the Democrats cannot win \u2014 unless (I hope this is clear) the Republicans lose if for them. Hence the online assault on Vance.<\/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&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>, <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&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:\/\/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>Social Norming<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cPandemic disbelief identified as key factor in vaccine hesitancy\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/covid-19\/pandemic-disbelief-identified-key-factor-vaccine-hesitancy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy<\/a>]. N = 290. \u201cA <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0307479\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new study<\/a> among Hispanic people in the United States suggests that an initial disbelief in the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to vaccine hesitancy among that population, especially among parents making vaccine decisions for their children. The study is published in PLOS One. \u2026 Overall, there was high vaccine uptake in the sample, with 88% of parents and 80% of youth receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Most notable, however, was the role of youth pandemic disbelief (belief the pandemic was a conspiracy or not real) in vaccine hesitancy: In addition to youths\u2019 pandemic disbelief predicting their own vaccine hesitancy, the authors wrote, it also predicted their parents\u2019 vaccine hesitancy. \u2018Parents are often thought of as the key decision maker for children under the age of 18, and although the final decision may rest with them, our findings suggest that their child\u2019s perspective, particularly around disbelief, may be part of this decision-making process,\u2019 the authors concluded.\u201d \u2022 Perhaps the children read English-language media? <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"covid\"\/>Lambert here: New York Hospitalization leveling out for two days, and Cleveland Clinic positivity slowing is the first good news I\u2019ve seen in some time.<\/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) Slowing<\/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>Inflation: \u201cUnited States PCE Price Index Annual Change\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/pce-price-index-annual-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe annual PCE inflation rate in the US decreased to 2.5% in June 2024 from 2.6% in May, in line with market forecasts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cThere is no fix for Intel\u2019s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs \u2014 any damage is permanent\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/7\/26\/24206529\/intel-13th-14th-gen-crashing-instability-cpu-voltage-q-a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Verge<\/a>]. \u201cOn Monday, it initially seemed like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/7\/22\/24203959\/intel-core-13th-14th-gen-cpu-crash-update-patch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">beginning of the end for Intel\u2019s desktop CPU instability woes<\/a> \u2014 the company confirmed a patch is coming in mid-August that should address the \u2018root cause\u2019 of exposure to elevated voltage. But if your 13th or 14th Gen Intel Core processor is already crashing, that patch apparently won\u2019t fix it. Citing unnamed sources, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomshardware.com\/pc-components\/cpus\/intel-finally-announces-a-solution-for-cpu-crashing-errors-claims-elevated-voltages-are-the-root-cause-fix-coming-by-mid-august\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tom\u2019s Hardware reports<\/a> that any degradation of the processor is irreversible, and an Intel spokesperson did not deny that when we asked. Intel is \u2018confident\u2019 the patch will keep it from happening in the first place. (As another preventative measure, you should update your motherboard BIOS ASAP.) But instead of tweaking BIOS settings to try and alleviate the problems\u2026. This raises lots of questions. Will Intel recall these chips? Extend their warranty? Replace them no questions asked? Pause sales like AMD just did with its Ryzen 9000? Identify faulty batches with the manufacturing defect? We asked Intel these questions, and I\u2019m not sure you\u2019re going to like the answers. Why are these still on sale without so much as an extended warranty? . The company is not currently commenting on whether or how it might extend its warranty. It would not share estimates with The Verge of how many chips are likely to be irreversibly impacted, and it did not explain why it\u2019s continuing to sell these chips ahead of any fix.\u201d \u2022 First Boeing, now Intel. <\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cOopsGPT\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/mC8kA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Atlantic<\/a>]. \u201c[AI <del>scammers<\/del> companies] tend not to point out that generative-AI models are prone to providing incorrect, and at times fully made-up, information\u2014and yet it keeps happening. Early this afternoon, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced a prototype AI tool that can search the web and answer questions, fittingly called SearchGPT\u2026 In a prerecorded demonstration video accompanying the announcement, a mock user types music festivals in boone north carolina in august into the SearchGPT interface. The tool then pulls up a list of festivals that it states are taking place in Boone this August, the first being An Appalachian Summer Festival, which according to the tool is hosting a series of arts events from July 29 to August 16 of this year. Someone in Boone hoping to buy tickets to one of those concerts, however, would run into trouble. In fact, the festival started on June 29 and will have its final concert on July 27. Instead, July 29\u2013August 16 are the dates for which the festival\u2019s box office will be officially closed. (I confirmed these dates with the festival\u2019s box office.)\u201d \u2022 <em>in the demo<\/em>. Are these people high?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 46 Neutral (previous close: 39 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 49 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 26 at 1:51:49 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Permaculture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"lawn\"\/>This doesn\u2019t solve the world\u2019s problems. But solves problems <em>for these insects<\/em>, and for you:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dig up your lawns! I removed 25 sq m of lawn two months ago. Dug out 10cm of topsoil, replaced with low nutrient soil (90% sand) to prevent weed growth and laid wildflower turf. This is the result with an explosion of butterflies, bees, moths and tiny wasps. Amazing. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pCCsyAIjCa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/pCCsyAIjCa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/globalhlthtwit\/status\/1816774233462133076\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Health<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAge and familiarity effects on musical memory\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0305969\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PLOS One<\/a>]. \u201cThis study explored the effects of age, familiarity on a recognition memory task for new music in a live concert and lab setting. Overall, we find no main effect of age when tasked with recognizing a theme in a piece of music, nor any significant interaction of age with familiarity, setting or musical training\u2026. This study further supports the use of music in particular as a medium for cognitive maintenance and training in older adults by offering evidence that recognition memory is not affected by age in a realistic listening situation. Accordingly, music recognition could be considered a strength, onto which other aspects of memory could be scaffolded in a rehabilitation setting. For example, it may be easier to remember something if you pair a melody with it. In fact, this idea is not new. Throughout history songs have been used to transmit information orally between generations.\u201d \u2022 Hmmm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Arrangement in pink, gold, and black:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Woman with a Cat <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uMdBjQjmDj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/uMdBjQjmDj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z6gDREpFCu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/z6gDREpFCu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Edouard Manet (@artistmanet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/artistmanet\/status\/1815048347922595980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 21, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Origin & Evolution of Italian Stuffed Pasta Shapes\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/24\/07\/the-origin-evolution-of-italian-stuffed-pasta-shapes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kottke.org<\/a>]. \u201cOur results showed that, with the exception of the Sardinian Culurgiones, all the other pasta ripiena from Italy likely had a single origin in the northern parts of the country. Based on the proposed evolutionary hypothesis, the Italian pasta are divided into two main clades: a ravioli clade mainly characterized by a more or less flat shape, and a tortellini clade mainly characterized by a three-dimensional shape.\u201d \u2022 Handy diagram of the pasta clades:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1190\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-300x298.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-1024x1015.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-768x762.png 768w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-624x619.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cLewis H. Lapham\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/harpers.org\/2024\/07\/remembering-lewis-lapham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Harper\u2019s<\/a>]. \u201cIn 1984, Lapham introduced the iconic Harper\u2019s Index, Readings, and the Annotation, journalistic forms that recognized the time constraints modern readers faced amid the flood of information in the electronic age. This redesign remains the foundation of the magazine to this day, and Lapham\u2019s editorial sensibility continues to guide our work.\u201d \u2022 Even though Lapham\u2019s name isn\u2019t on any of these forms, nonetheless they will live on. Editors forever!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBible Study And The Oxford Comma\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/futurelawyer.typepad.com\/futurelawyer\/2024\/07\/bible-study-and-the-oxford-comma.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Future Lawyer<\/a>]. \u201cAnother Oxford Comma fail. Educate your children about the Bible; but do it properly.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"391\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275753\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma.png 450w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma-300x261.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dad.<\/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\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From TH:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275751\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan-300x199.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TH writes: \u201cI struggle with telling the difference between a wild sunflower and a black-eyed susan, so I looked it up. I\u2019m sure you already know, so feel free to call this whatever you like, but I\u2019m pretty sure, based on the leaves, mostly, that this is a black-eyed susan.\u201d Readers? I think it is too, but are there signs to look for?<\/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 & 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><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-7-26-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente Bird Song of the Day Northern Mockingbird, Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Charleston, South Carolina, United States. \u201cSong from telephone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82470,"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-82469","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\/82469","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=82469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Charleston, South Carolina, United States. \u201cSong from telephone wire in residential area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#defenestration\">Who engineered the bait and switch?<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#harris\">Kamala and Lina Khan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#lawn\">Abolish your lawn<\/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_2024-07-26.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"638\" height=\"1082\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26.png 638w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-177x300.png 177w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-604x1024.png 604w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-624x1058.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>First poll with Harris at the top of the Democrat ticket; Trump\u2019s position deteriorates (and any advantage he gained from the assassination attempt has been wiped away. Nevertheless, he still leads, albeit within the margin of error. NOTE RCP used to have two pages of swing states; I always used the first one. Now there is only one, which I take as an indicator that Harris v. Trump polling is not all that widespread.<\/p>\n<p>Vibe shift:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Unbelievable vibe shift in the US with Kamala Harris <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LAZoglUMHW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/LAZoglUMHW<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rrMisGHLbu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/rrMisGHLbu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Albert Pinto (@70sBachchan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/70sBachchan\/status\/1816818691431878958\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"defenestration\"\/>Biden Defenestration:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho Engineered the Political Coup Against Biden?\u201d [Frank Miehle, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2024\/07\/26\/who_engineered_the_political_coup_against_biden___151336.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RealClearPolitics<\/a>]. \u201cRemarkably, despite the horrific debate performance and the non-stop media narrative that said he was the political equivalent of a dead man walking, Biden remained within the margin of error in national polls. He had barely dropped at all since \u2018The Debate.\u2019 He had the delegates, and he had the nomination unless he willingly surrendered it. But something happened. About the same time Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt and raised his fist in defiance, Democrats seemed to have concluded that Biden could not win in November. The four days of what is widely believed to be a successful Republican convention only hardened that belief. And whether it is Sy Hersh or some young gun of journalism ready to make his or her name, someone needs to tell the truth about the 10 days that shook the nation, from the moment Trump took a would-be assassin\u2019s bullet on July 13 to the afternoon Biden inexplicably dropped his reelection bid and Kamala Harris was coronated. And the first question that needs to be answered, and which no one in the mainstream media is asking, is \u2018Who convinced Joe Biden that debating Trump on June 27, nearly two months before the Democratic convention, was a good idea?\u2019 This was unprecedented.\u201d Good question (personally, I think Biden was arrogant enough to think he could beat Trump. That was one reason he was so angry throughout the debate; he had this stunned look in his eyes, like he couldn\u2019t believe what was happening to him. And the date for the beginning of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024.html#bait\">the bait and switch operation<\/a>: \u201cI would not be surprised if the scheme to unseat Biden was hatched in February when Hur declined to prosecute the president for classified documents violations on the grounds that a jury would clear Biden because they would see him as a \u2018sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.\u2019 With that declaration, the cat was out of the bag. Maybe Biden\u2019s handlers initially thought he could survive that humiliation, but when the president gave a press conference to declare himself vindicated, he mistakenly identified Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the president of Mexico. The wheels may have started turning to jettison Biden in order to preserve the Democratic Party.\u201d \u2022 Good argument.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"rollout\"\/>Kamala\u2019s Rollout:<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Normally, I use last (family) names. Clinton (not \u201cHillary\u201d); Sanders (not \u201cBernie\u201d); Carlson (not \u201cTucker\u201d). After all, I\u2019m not good buddies with any of these people. However, with Kamala (not \u201cHarris\u201d) I have shifted to what Frank Herbert\u2019s Fremen call \u201cthe insultingly familiar form,\u201d for reasons I assume will become increasingly obvious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI Do Not Need to Defend Myself for Believing That Political Candidates Should Be Chosen Democratically\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/i-do-not-need-to-defend-myself-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Freddie deBoer<\/a>]. \u201cI remain disgusted but not surprised by the Democratic party and its machinations, where not even the smallest fig leaf of democratic process survived Harris\u2019s blitzkrieg approach to the nomination. (That is, having it handed to her by her friends in elite Democratic circles.) And I think Democrats are essentially rerunning 2016, where their loyalty to the Clintonite center-right political machine compelled them to nominate an incredibly flawed candidate in a race in which any generic Democratic governor or senator almost certainly would have won. The party never learns. And so we have the confluence of strategic idiocy and rank elitist control. Well: I decline to obediently get onboard the way that (for example) the entire New York Times Opinion section has.\u201d \u2022 Fun stuff, well worth a read.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trail\"\/><em><strong>The Campaign Trail<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cThe Kamala Harris Surprise\u201d [Peggy Noonan, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/hwMcd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. Now to the hundred-day race. I had long thought Kamala Harris couldn\u2019t beat Donald Trump. That\u2019s wrong. She can. We\u2019re a 50\/50 country, each side gets 40 going in, you fight for the rest but it can always go either way. As people who speak the technical language of politics say, Mr. Trump has a high floor but a low ceiling. But beyond that, something\u2019s happening.\u201d I\u2019m not sure how I feel to be singing from the same page of the hymnal as Nooners, but it\u2019s been a strange year. More: \u201cMs. Harris has not, in five years on the national stage, shown competence. She is showing it now, and that is big news. Her rollout this week demonstrated talent and hinted she may be a real political athlete. Her past and famous verbal embarrassments, which shaped her public reputation, almost all took place in interviews and ad libbed arias. They obscured a real proficiency. ?She was striking and strong in this week\u2019s speeches in Milwaukee and Houston. She knows how to act a speech. When she is scripted she is good. That isn\u2019t all put-down. She knows what a good speech is. She can judge it, recognize good material. Not all candidates can. Most can\u2019t. It is its own talent. Milwaukee especially had power. Its theme: \u2018We\u2019re not going back.’\u201d Certainly not to FDR. And this very, very curious warning: \u201d On an average day key figures in our government\u2014the secretaries of state and defense, heads of intelligence and domestic agencies\u2014are on the road, in the conference in Prague and the meeting in Seoul. Right now, with the aged president and the volatile politics, they should stop, stay close to home, be in their offices in Washington. Be there, not on planes and in hotel rooms. The look of solidity is almost as good as the real thing.\u201d \u2022 Volatility!<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cCan Harris Pull Off a Victory in Three Months? Three Top Strategists Lay Out How\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/4pBPL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. Patti Solis Doyle: \u201cThe last 72 hours have been unbelievable in terms of rollout. She locked up the nomination. Within 36 hours, she got the delegates. She got the endorsements from Congress. She got the money. And her first events have been through the roof.<\/p>\n<p>I think she\u2019s doing it.\u201d Robby Mook: \u201cOne advantage she really has that we didn\u2019t have on the Clinton campaign, and I don\u2019t think Joe Biden really had, is the internet is a really safe space for her right now. It\u2019s a great safe space for people to express support for her. So that\u2019s great.\u201d Stuart Stevens: \u201cI think the model for this in a lot of ways is the Obama campaign in \u201908. They did a magnificent job in setting it up so that when you voted for Barack Obama, it said something about who you were and what you wanted the country to be, not just who you wanted to be president. And I think that\u2019s the challenge that Harris should run right into.\u201d \u2022 And we all know how Obama turned out!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"harris\"\/>Kamala (D): Tech Lords share views on regulation:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Most Democrats think that we need to save the republic and then we can advocate against bad policy. It doesn\u2019t work that way. An oligarch just told our candidate what to do. That\u2019s the republic ending right there. Silence is complicity. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D1TGn8QDxB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/D1TGn8QDxB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1816490364477313315\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): Tech Lords share views on Lina Khan:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrewrsorkin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@andrewrsorkin<\/a> asks IAC Chairman Barry Diller if he would lobby Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KamalaHarris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@KamalaHarris<\/a> to drop <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/linakhanFTC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@LinaKhanFTC<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>“Yeah, I would. I think she’s a dope,” said Diller. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JFWrsurhhh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/JFWrsurhhh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SquawkCNBC\/status\/1816826072236982681\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cSilicon Valley Steps Up for Native Kamala Harris in Trump Showdown\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/olXKR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201cKamala Harris\u2019s strong ties to her native Silicon Valley, dating back to the start of her political career, give her a solid base of financial support that she is tapping for her battle with Donald Trump\u2026. Tech executives are hopeful that Harris\u2019s Silicon Valley ties, combined with her grasp of the impacts of legal regulation\u2014owing to her law-enforcement background\u2014will position her to be open-minded about emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, which the Biden administration has at times been hard on. The industry is also hoping it might get an ally in the White House after years of criticism and mounting antitrust enforcement. While Biden has taken an aggressive stance toward antitrust enforcement, selecting Amazon critic Lina Khan to chair the Federal Trade Commission, Harris hasn\u2019t been focused on technology for much of her time as vice president. The Biden campaign had earlier invited donors to a July fundraiser in Piedmont, Calif., hosted by a longtime supporter of Harris. The event is being rescheduled, a campaign spokesman said. \u201d \u2022 That event would be a wonderful opportunity for Kamala to invite Lina Khan and give her a bear-hug (as Zephyr Teachout suggested). But maybe not\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cHarris Works to Build Bridges to the Business World\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/lZ6vG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201c[Kamala] has expressed skepticism of Ms. Khan\u2019s expansive view of antitrust powers, according to a donor who has spoken privately with the vice president.\u201d \u2022 Oh well. More optimistic commentary:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On the other hand\u2026 That’s one donor is telling that to NYT. Warren, who is pretty much responsible for Khan’s appointment, has been making the rounds to pump up Kamala on cable news all week. Perhaps that’s her end game, we will see<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EmmaVigeland\/status\/1816319871807816185\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cBehind the Democrats\u2019 Fight Over Lina Khan\u2019s Future\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/ecWRf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cOne wrinkle: Donald Trump\u2019s own running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/ecWRf\/https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/24199314\/jd-vance-donald-trump-vp-antitrust-big-tech-ftc-lina-khan-elizabeth-warren-google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">has praised Khan<\/a> as part of his anti-Big Tech stance\u2026. Khan has given no indication that she plans to step down. She has shown a desire to permanently reshape U.S. antitrust law, dating to her law school days. When DealBook asked an F.T.C. spokesman if Khan would consider serving as chair in a Harris administration, he said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 The debate underscores Democrats\u2019 anxiety over how Harris would govern. Khan\u2019s appointment arose in part out of Biden\u2019s effort to shore up progressive support in 2020 by giving Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts significant sway over economic regulatory agencies. \u201cWarren, to an extraordinary degree, was the gatekeeper for the administration about appointments,\u201d William Kovacic, a former F.T.C. chair, told DealBook.\u201d \u2022 Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than 160,000 people join white women for Kamala Harris Zoom call\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/zwvN8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]. \u201cMore than 160,000 people joined a Zoom call on Thursday night to build support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris among white women, a voter demographic that has supported Republican nominee Donald Trump in the past two elections. Organized by Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun-safety group with about 10 million members, the video call included activists, podcasters, the singer Pink and regular voters, several who said they regretted not doing enough before the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.\u201d \u2022 One alert NC reader attended, and threw this over the transom. Lightly edited:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The White Women webinar format zoom call last night? Oiy!<\/p>\n<p>Tapped out after 30 minutes. Not verbatim, but essentially, too much along the lines of \u2018We KNOW we\u2019re white women of privilege and comfort and satisfaction while our black sisters are left hurting. Suburban white women handed the WH to tRUMP and now it\u2019s time for us to step up.\u2019 Heavy group identity guilt politics statements by every white woman speaker that I hear, that said, Shannon Watts was pretty good as a speaker. More women kept coming on, technical glitches, knocked off the call several times due the massive audience. Not sure about total listeners and total raised. FFS, Glennon Doyle? Pink. So, for a younger audience. Ok, sigh. You need Taylor Swift for that. <\/p>\n<p>Look, I don\u2019t have life units to waste. Maybe there was some hard data and charts later, but they lost me fast\u2026.. <\/p>\n<p>You know who did this stuff well? Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and the PAC they joined to get it done. I Zoomed into their effort to get abortion in the Ohio constitution. Every meeting was tight, solid, lots of information, charts, activity reporting-out on overall state stats, counties to focus on. Charts galore, bullet points about next steps. etc. Done in exactly an hour. Screens and screens of women watching. Tossed in bigly to a super focused razor sharp effort. Why? They showed me very clearly they were a wise investment in a larger team. <\/p>\n<p>Anyway, one has a short window to get donors engaged on a Zoom. All the identity politics centered remarks were just tiresome and I clicked off. Billionaires and identity politics fans can fund it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a fair reaction:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I could be wrong or just ignorant because white women have never been my focus. <\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t remember a \u201cwhite women: answer the call\u201d equivalent for Hillary. And there definitely wasn\u2019t one with over 100K participants that raised over a million dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Things are different. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0necTpgjlN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/0necTpgjlN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 April (@ReignOfApril) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReignOfApril\/status\/1816642298018693357\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>OTOH, if this is all #ImWithHer\/#Resistance types\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Another reaction:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It’s all fun and games now, but a lot of the rhetoric on that call was about how white women needed to support Kamala as an act of self-actualisation for\u2026.white women. If she veers from their expectations for even one second, they will call her “ungrateful.” (Just like RBG said\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tJa1cgw7xc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/tJa1cgw7xc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moorehn\/status\/1816801268741882119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cProject Coconut is a go\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwiw.news\/p\/project-coconut-is-a-go?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=15w&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FWIW<\/a>]. \u201cAnd as of yesterday, the Vice President now has a personal account on TikTok, @KamalaHarris, which has already gained 1.4+ million followers and 2.1+ million likes at the time of writing. The DNC is also getting in on the online momentum and doing some brat-branding on new fundraising ads as well. Overall, the Harris campaign\u2019s social accounts have gained a huge influx of followers \u2013 for example, data from InsTrack shows the Instagram account @KamalaHQ gaining 48,000+ since President Biden stepped aside last Sunday. Pro-Harris content also flooded TikTok. Politically attuned users across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok began using the coconut emoji en masse, a reference to the most viral meme about the VP. \u201cPROJECT COCONUT IS A GO,\u201d commented one excited TikTok user. \u201cWE RIDE AT DAWN, COCONUTS!\u201d remarked another.\u201d \u2022 Of course, social media numbers are never gamed. \u201cWE RIDE AT DAWN, COCONUTS\u201d is <em>so<\/em> Obama 2008 (\u201cFired up! Ready to go!\u201d). But this is not 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cWhat\u2019s fueling Kamala Harris\u2019 TikTok surge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/ZYRkw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cThere\u2019s a vibe shift brewing on TikTok: The platform, which had been dominated by pro-Trump content, has been exploding with Kamala Harris memes, many of which favorably highlight her quirky demeanor and tie her to the trendiest cool girl anthems. Even before President Joe Biden\u2019s withdrawal from the race on Sunday, Harris memes created by TikTokers had dominated social media, flooding mostly young people\u2019s feeds with video edits of her viral phrases, quirky tangents and \u201cgirl boss\u201d moments \u2014 like this video of Harris laughing away, with a hint of the signature Gen-Z irony in the caption, which reads \u201cWhy did I make this.\u201d These memes paint Harris, who has rarely been in the spotlight during the Biden administration, as a chill auntie \u2014 someone who could dish out advice that is both a little silly yet serious at the same time\u2026. Harris\u2019 campaign hasn\u2019t wasted a moment in jumping on the meme momentum, and their efforts have paid off.\u201d \u2022 Then of course\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cTikTok\u2019s Survival Is at Stake in All-Out Fight Against US Ban\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/OoZTu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a>]. \u201cThe Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok is battling a potential US ban with the signature tools of American democracy \u2014 lawyers, lobbyists and money. TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance Ltd., divests. With a $4.8 million ad campaign, a full-court press on Capitol Hill and the US Constitution, TikTok is in a multifront fight for its survival.\u201d \u2022 So TikTok has every reason to be nice to the current administration, and Kamala. Not that I\u2019m suggesting that the Tiktok recommendation algorithm is a black box that can be gamed, of course.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cFamily, Friends and Longtime Aides Dominate Harris\u2019s Inner Circle\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/Family,%20Friends%20and%20Longtime%20Aides%20Dominate%20Harris%E2%80%99s%20Inner%20Circle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201c[T]he expected Democratic presidential nominee has kept her inner circle tight. She has relied on her family members, close friends and longest serving aides to help navigate her career and policy decisions. Unlike President Biden, Harris, who was elected to the Senate from California in 2016, remains relatively new to Washington and is still building her political brain trust\u2026. Harris\u2019s family members have been her closest advisers. All of them, like her, have a legal background. Harris\u2019s only sibling\u2014her younger sister, Maya Harris\u2014was chairwoman of her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, which was seen as dysfunctional and with some blaming her. Maya Harris didn\u2019t have a formal role at the White House and previously served as policy adviser to Hillary Clinton during her 2016 White House bid. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, was previously an associate attorney general during the Obama administration. West has traveled in recent days with the vice president to events, including a fundraiser on Saturday. West is chief legal officer for Uber. Harris also has a close relationship with her niece, Meena Harris, a lawyer and an author. Two days before Biden dropped out of the race, Harris visited the model Tyra Banks\u2019s new ice cream shop in D.C. with Meena\u2019s two daughters. Since their marriage in 2014, Doug Emhoff, Harris\u2019s husband, an entertainment lawyer, has been her biggest public supporter.\u201d \u2022 Other names: Rohini Kosoglu, Josh Hsu, Kristine Lucius, Ike Irby, Lorraine Volz, and Julie Chavez Rodriguez.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cTeam Kamala: the people behind Harris\u2019s White House run\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/aP7eR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FInancial Times<\/a>]. Wall Street: \u201cWall Street funds are pouring into Harris\u2019s campaign. Jon Henes, a top corporate bankruptcy adviser, formerly of Kirkland & Ellis, and longtime Harris ally in finance, has been co-ordinating fundraising. Other leading Wall Street figures rushing to help include Ray McGuire, the Lazard banker and former Citigroup executive, and Brad Karp*, chair of corporate law firm Paul Weiss. Blair Effron, the veteran dealmaker at Centerview Partners and a fixture of Democratic fundraising, is also on board. So are Blackstone president Jonathan Gray, Evercore co-founder Roger Altman, and Marc Lasry, the hedge fund investor and former co-owner of NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Many in Wall Street have been extremely supportive of Kamala for years,\u2019 said a Democratic fundraiser. \u2018Blair and Brad backed her hugely in the 2020 presidential primaries\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009they aren\u2019t last minute supporters.’\u201d Tech: \u201cReed Hastings, the chair of Netflix, had been among the Democratic donors openly pushing Biden to quit the race. He immediately pumped $7mn into Harris\u2019s campaign after the president dropped out. Reid Hoffman, the venture capitalist who co-founded LinkedIn, also swiftly backed her bid for the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have made inroads among Silicon Valley donors in recent years \u2014 but Harris has kept her allies. They include Brad Smith of Microsoft, who hosted a fundraiser for the Biden campaign at his Seattle home last year. Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer at Meta, is another prominent supporter.\u201d NOTE * <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/big-law-leaders-back-alvin-bragg-manhattan-da-race-2021-06-21\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brad Karp gave Alvin Bragg $1000<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cTrump campaign plays defense amid Harris honeymoon\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/07\/26\/kamala-harris-honeymoon-fundraising-ads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Axios<\/a>]. \u201cVice President Kamala Harris is reveling in record fundraising, an early bump in the polls, and a growing grassroots army. It\u2019s a \u201choneymoon\u201d of epic proportions \u2014 but one the Trump campaign is betting won\u2019t last.\u201d Because -gasms don\u2019t last, by definition. Here\u2019s a great example: \u201c\u2018It was the first time we\u2019ve had an Obama-like moment, a feeling where it was pure and it was good, and people were doing things bigger than themselves,\u2019 Silicon Valley fundraiser Steve Spinner told the New York Times.\u201d \u2022 I would like to see more defense of Vance, who after giving an economic populist speech at the Republican National Convention, has been drowning in a wave of snark (at least on my Twitter feed). Commentary:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump is so lost and weakened right now. He sounds like Bob Dole in 1996, except mean. Very normie GOP. Really missing Steve Bannon’s populist strategies.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1816845062799532264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Does Trump in fact look \u201clost and weakened\u201d? Can readers comment? <\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cUnpacking JD Vance\u2019s Labor Record\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/onlabor.org\/unpacking-jd-vances-labor-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">On Labor<\/a>]. \u201cDespite his claimed support for workers\u2019 right to organize, Vance\u2019s voting record on labor issues has rarely been supportive of worker power or voice. Instead of backing popular pro-worker bills and nominees, Vance has advanced watered-down legislation that could weaken labor protections. Vance told Politico that he is not in favor of the PRO Act, which would outlaw the right-to-work laws Vance claims to oppose. His opposition to this legislation is rooted in his belief that it would serve only to empower \u2018current union leadership\u2026 that\u2019s completely in bed with the Democratic Party.\u2019 Vance has instead supported other labor law reforms that are decidedly less popular within the labor movement. Vance partnered with Republican senator Marco Rubio on the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2024 (TEAM Act), which claims to improve worker voice by relaxing the NLRA\u2019s ban on company unions and promoting \u2019employee involvement organizations.\u2019 Unlike unions, these organizations may be funded and dissolved unilaterally by employers. The TEAM Act draws heavily on recommendations by American Compass, run by former Mitt Romney advisor Oren Cass. American Compass advocates for the TEAM Act and worker-management councils, which Cass claims could strengthen \u2018worker-management trust,\u2019 while unions like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have decried the bill as promoting \u2018company unions\u2019 and allowing new avenues for employers to hold off unionization.<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cSpeculation Swirls About What Hit Trump. An Analysis Suggests It was a Bullet\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/KH6uY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times].<\/a> \u201c[A] detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, footage, photos and audio by The New York Times strongly suggests Mr. Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by the gunman\u2026 A key piece of evidence in The Times\u2019s analysis is a live video feed that captures Mr. Trump\u2019s reaction as the first three gunshots are fired. The crack of the bullets are heard as they pass the microphone that Mr. Trump speaks into. Almost a second elapses between the first and second shots. During this brief interim, Mr. Trump starts reaching toward his ear, according to footage and audio of the event analyzed by The Times and Rob Maher, an audio forensics expert at Montana State University. \u2018He flinches, and his right hand already starts reaching for his right ear during that time between the first audible shot and the second audible shot,\u2019 Mr. Maher said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Trump\u2019s fingers are bloodied as soon as he touches his ear, as seen in a picture taken by Doug Mills, a veteran Times photographer.\u201d \u2022\u00a0Notice the lack of agency in \u201cspeculation swirls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cForget the Hype: It\u2019s Still a Working-Class Election\u201d [Ruy Teixiera, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liberalpatriot.com\/p\/forget-the-hype-its-still-a-working\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Liberal Patriot<\/a>]. \u201cWho can blame Democrats for being a bit slap happy? They were staring into the abyss and now have a reprieve. They have a younger candidate and a more enthusiastic, unified party. Those are important and positive differences. But there are also similarities to their previous situation that are highly negative and can\u2019t be wished away\u2026. These double digit Democratic deficits among the working class have been a regular feature of this election cycle. These deficits have been driven by worsening performance among the white working class\u2026. Can she do it? Sure, anything\u2019s possible. But Democrats would be well-advised to be clear-eyed about the challenge. What Harris has to overcome is illustrated by an early July Pew poll that had a large enough sample size (N=over 9,400) to allow blacks and Hispanics to be broken down by working-class vs. college-educated. Both racial groups show strong educational polarization that is much larger than what was observed in 2020. Hispanic working-class voters in this poll preferred Trump by 3 points over Biden, compared to a 22 point margin for Biden over Trump in 2020. Among black working-class voters, Biden was leading by 47 points over Trump, compared to an 82 point lead for Biden in 2020. A working class-oriented campaign would appear to be in order. But so far there is little indication that is what the Harris campaign has in mind. A widely-circulated memo from the campaign sees Harris\u2019 candidacy as building on the \u201cBiden-Harris coalition of voters\u201d and mentions black voters, Latino voters, AANHPI voters, women voters and young voters. Working-class voters are conspicuous by their absence.\u201d \u2022 If this is a working class election, then the Democrats cannot win \u2014 unless (I hope this is clear) the Republicans lose if for them. Hence the online assault on Vance.<\/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&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>, <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&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:\/\/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>Social Norming<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cPandemic disbelief identified as key factor in vaccine hesitancy\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/covid-19\/pandemic-disbelief-identified-key-factor-vaccine-hesitancy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy<\/a>]. N = 290. \u201cA <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0307479\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new study<\/a> among Hispanic people in the United States suggests that an initial disbelief in the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to vaccine hesitancy among that population, especially among parents making vaccine decisions for their children. The study is published in PLOS One. \u2026 Overall, there was high vaccine uptake in the sample, with 88% of parents and 80% of youth receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Most notable, however, was the role of youth pandemic disbelief (belief the pandemic was a conspiracy or not real) in vaccine hesitancy: In addition to youths\u2019 pandemic disbelief predicting their own vaccine hesitancy, the authors wrote, it also predicted their parents\u2019 vaccine hesitancy. \u2018Parents are often thought of as the key decision maker for children under the age of 18, and although the final decision may rest with them, our findings suggest that their child\u2019s perspective, particularly around disbelief, may be part of this decision-making process,\u2019 the authors concluded.\u201d \u2022 Perhaps the children read English-language media? <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"covid\"\/>Lambert here: New York Hospitalization leveling out for two days, and Cleveland Clinic positivity slowing is the first good news I\u2019ve seen in some time.<\/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) Slowing<\/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>Inflation: \u201cUnited States PCE Price Index Annual Change\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/pce-price-index-annual-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe annual PCE inflation rate in the US decreased to 2.5% in June 2024 from 2.6% in May, in line with market forecasts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cThere is no fix for Intel\u2019s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs \u2014 any damage is permanent\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/7\/26\/24206529\/intel-13th-14th-gen-crashing-instability-cpu-voltage-q-a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Verge<\/a>]. \u201cOn Monday, it initially seemed like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/7\/22\/24203959\/intel-core-13th-14th-gen-cpu-crash-update-patch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">beginning of the end for Intel\u2019s desktop CPU instability woes<\/a> \u2014 the company confirmed a patch is coming in mid-August that should address the \u2018root cause\u2019 of exposure to elevated voltage. But if your 13th or 14th Gen Intel Core processor is already crashing, that patch apparently won\u2019t fix it. Citing unnamed sources, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomshardware.com\/pc-components\/cpus\/intel-finally-announces-a-solution-for-cpu-crashing-errors-claims-elevated-voltages-are-the-root-cause-fix-coming-by-mid-august\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tom\u2019s Hardware reports<\/a> that any degradation of the processor is irreversible, and an Intel spokesperson did not deny that when we asked. Intel is \u2018confident\u2019 the patch will keep it from happening in the first place. (As another preventative measure, you should update your motherboard BIOS ASAP.) But instead of tweaking BIOS settings to try and alleviate the problems\u2026. This raises lots of questions. Will Intel recall these chips? Extend their warranty? Replace them no questions asked? Pause sales like AMD just did with its Ryzen 9000? Identify faulty batches with the manufacturing defect? We asked Intel these questions, and I\u2019m not sure you\u2019re going to like the answers. Why are these still on sale without so much as an extended warranty? . The company is not currently commenting on whether or how it might extend its warranty. It would not share estimates with The Verge of how many chips are likely to be irreversibly impacted, and it did not explain why it\u2019s continuing to sell these chips ahead of any fix.\u201d \u2022 First Boeing, now Intel. <\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cOopsGPT\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/mC8kA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Atlantic<\/a>]. \u201c[AI <del>scammers<\/del> companies] tend not to point out that generative-AI models are prone to providing incorrect, and at times fully made-up, information\u2014and yet it keeps happening. Early this afternoon, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced a prototype AI tool that can search the web and answer questions, fittingly called SearchGPT\u2026 In a prerecorded demonstration video accompanying the announcement, a mock user types music festivals in boone north carolina in august into the SearchGPT interface. The tool then pulls up a list of festivals that it states are taking place in Boone this August, the first being An Appalachian Summer Festival, which according to the tool is hosting a series of arts events from July 29 to August 16 of this year. Someone in Boone hoping to buy tickets to one of those concerts, however, would run into trouble. In fact, the festival started on June 29 and will have its final concert on July 27. Instead, July 29\u2013August 16 are the dates for which the festival\u2019s box office will be officially closed. (I confirmed these dates with the festival\u2019s box office.)\u201d \u2022 <em>in the demo<\/em>. Are these people high?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 46 Neutral (previous close: 39 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 49 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 26 at 1:51:49 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Permaculture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"lawn\"\/>This doesn\u2019t solve the world\u2019s problems. But solves problems <em>for these insects<\/em>, and for you:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dig up your lawns! I removed 25 sq m of lawn two months ago. Dug out 10cm of topsoil, replaced with low nutrient soil (90% sand) to prevent weed growth and laid wildflower turf. This is the result with an explosion of butterflies, bees, moths and tiny wasps. Amazing. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pCCsyAIjCa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/pCCsyAIjCa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/globalhlthtwit\/status\/1816774233462133076\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Health<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAge and familiarity effects on musical memory\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0305969\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PLOS One<\/a>]. \u201cThis study explored the effects of age, familiarity on a recognition memory task for new music in a live concert and lab setting. Overall, we find no main effect of age when tasked with recognizing a theme in a piece of music, nor any significant interaction of age with familiarity, setting or musical training\u2026. This study further supports the use of music in particular as a medium for cognitive maintenance and training in older adults by offering evidence that recognition memory is not affected by age in a realistic listening situation. Accordingly, music recognition could be considered a strength, onto which other aspects of memory could be scaffolded in a rehabilitation setting. For example, it may be easier to remember something if you pair a melody with it. In fact, this idea is not new. Throughout history songs have been used to transmit information orally between generations.\u201d \u2022 Hmmm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Arrangement in pink, gold, and black:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Woman with a Cat <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uMdBjQjmDj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/uMdBjQjmDj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z6gDREpFCu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/z6gDREpFCu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Edouard Manet (@artistmanet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/artistmanet\/status\/1815048347922595980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 21, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Origin & Evolution of Italian Stuffed Pasta Shapes\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/24\/07\/the-origin-evolution-of-italian-stuffed-pasta-shapes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kottke.org<\/a>]. \u201cOur results showed that, with the exception of the Sardinian Culurgiones, all the other pasta ripiena from Italy likely had a single origin in the northern parts of the country. Based on the proposed evolutionary hypothesis, the Italian pasta are divided into two main clades: a ravioli clade mainly characterized by a more or less flat shape, and a tortellini clade mainly characterized by a three-dimensional shape.\u201d \u2022 Handy diagram of the pasta clades:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1190\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-300x298.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-1024x1015.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-768x762.png 768w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-624x619.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cLewis H. Lapham\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/harpers.org\/2024\/07\/remembering-lewis-lapham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Harper\u2019s<\/a>]. \u201cIn 1984, Lapham introduced the iconic Harper\u2019s Index, Readings, and the Annotation, journalistic forms that recognized the time constraints modern readers faced amid the flood of information in the electronic age. This redesign remains the foundation of the magazine to this day, and Lapham\u2019s editorial sensibility continues to guide our work.\u201d \u2022 Even though Lapham\u2019s name isn\u2019t on any of these forms, nonetheless they will live on. Editors forever!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBible Study And The Oxford Comma\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/futurelawyer.typepad.com\/futurelawyer\/2024\/07\/bible-study-and-the-oxford-comma.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Future Lawyer<\/a>]. \u201cAnother Oxford Comma fail. Educate your children about the Bible; but do it properly.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"391\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275753\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma.png 450w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma-300x261.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dad.<\/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\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From TH:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275751\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan-300x199.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TH writes: \u201cI struggle with telling the difference between a wild sunflower and a black-eyed susan, so I looked it up. I\u2019m sure you already know, so feel free to call this whatever you like, but I\u2019m pretty sure, based on the leaves, mostly, that this is a black-eyed susan.\u201d Readers? I think it is too, but are there signs to look for?<\/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 & 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><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-7-26-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente Bird Song of the Day Northern Mockingbird, Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Charleston, South Carolina, United States. \u201cSong from telephone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82470,"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-82469","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\/82469","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=82469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Charleston, South Carolina, United States. \u201cSong from telephone wire in residential area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#defenestration\">Who engineered the bait and switch?<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#harris\">Kamala and Lina Khan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#lawn\">Abolish your lawn<\/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_2024-07-26.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"638\" height=\"1082\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26.png 638w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-177x300.png 177w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-604x1024.png 604w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rcp_2024-07-26-624x1058.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 638px) 100vw, 638px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>First poll with Harris at the top of the Democrat ticket; Trump\u2019s position deteriorates (and any advantage he gained from the assassination attempt has been wiped away. Nevertheless, he still leads, albeit within the margin of error. NOTE RCP used to have two pages of swing states; I always used the first one. Now there is only one, which I take as an indicator that Harris v. Trump polling is not all that widespread.<\/p>\n<p>Vibe shift:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Unbelievable vibe shift in the US with Kamala Harris <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LAZoglUMHW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/LAZoglUMHW<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rrMisGHLbu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/rrMisGHLbu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Albert Pinto (@70sBachchan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/70sBachchan\/status\/1816818691431878958\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"defenestration\"\/>Biden Defenestration:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho Engineered the Political Coup Against Biden?\u201d [Frank Miehle, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/articles\/2024\/07\/26\/who_engineered_the_political_coup_against_biden___151336.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">RealClearPolitics<\/a>]. \u201cRemarkably, despite the horrific debate performance and the non-stop media narrative that said he was the political equivalent of a dead man walking, Biden remained within the margin of error in national polls. He had barely dropped at all since \u2018The Debate.\u2019 He had the delegates, and he had the nomination unless he willingly surrendered it. But something happened. About the same time Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt and raised his fist in defiance, Democrats seemed to have concluded that Biden could not win in November. The four days of what is widely believed to be a successful Republican convention only hardened that belief. And whether it is Sy Hersh or some young gun of journalism ready to make his or her name, someone needs to tell the truth about the 10 days that shook the nation, from the moment Trump took a would-be assassin\u2019s bullet on July 13 to the afternoon Biden inexplicably dropped his reelection bid and Kamala Harris was coronated. And the first question that needs to be answered, and which no one in the mainstream media is asking, is \u2018Who convinced Joe Biden that debating Trump on June 27, nearly two months before the Democratic convention, was a good idea?\u2019 This was unprecedented.\u201d Good question (personally, I think Biden was arrogant enough to think he could beat Trump. That was one reason he was so angry throughout the debate; he had this stunned look in his eyes, like he couldn\u2019t believe what was happening to him. And the date for the beginning of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024.html#bait\">the bait and switch operation<\/a>: \u201cI would not be surprised if the scheme to unseat Biden was hatched in February when Hur declined to prosecute the president for classified documents violations on the grounds that a jury would clear Biden because they would see him as a \u2018sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.\u2019 With that declaration, the cat was out of the bag. Maybe Biden\u2019s handlers initially thought he could survive that humiliation, but when the president gave a press conference to declare himself vindicated, he mistakenly identified Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the president of Mexico. The wheels may have started turning to jettison Biden in order to preserve the Democratic Party.\u201d \u2022 Good argument.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"rollout\"\/>Kamala\u2019s Rollout:<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Normally, I use last (family) names. Clinton (not \u201cHillary\u201d); Sanders (not \u201cBernie\u201d); Carlson (not \u201cTucker\u201d). After all, I\u2019m not good buddies with any of these people. However, with Kamala (not \u201cHarris\u201d) I have shifted to what Frank Herbert\u2019s Fremen call \u201cthe insultingly familiar form,\u201d for reasons I assume will become increasingly obvious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI Do Not Need to Defend Myself for Believing That Political Candidates Should Be Chosen Democratically\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/i-do-not-need-to-defend-myself-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Freddie deBoer<\/a>]. \u201cI remain disgusted but not surprised by the Democratic party and its machinations, where not even the smallest fig leaf of democratic process survived Harris\u2019s blitzkrieg approach to the nomination. (That is, having it handed to her by her friends in elite Democratic circles.) And I think Democrats are essentially rerunning 2016, where their loyalty to the Clintonite center-right political machine compelled them to nominate an incredibly flawed candidate in a race in which any generic Democratic governor or senator almost certainly would have won. The party never learns. And so we have the confluence of strategic idiocy and rank elitist control. Well: I decline to obediently get onboard the way that (for example) the entire New York Times Opinion section has.\u201d \u2022 Fun stuff, well worth a read.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trail\"\/><em><strong>The Campaign Trail<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cThe Kamala Harris Surprise\u201d [Peggy Noonan, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/hwMcd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. Now to the hundred-day race. I had long thought Kamala Harris couldn\u2019t beat Donald Trump. That\u2019s wrong. She can. We\u2019re a 50\/50 country, each side gets 40 going in, you fight for the rest but it can always go either way. As people who speak the technical language of politics say, Mr. Trump has a high floor but a low ceiling. But beyond that, something\u2019s happening.\u201d I\u2019m not sure how I feel to be singing from the same page of the hymnal as Nooners, but it\u2019s been a strange year. More: \u201cMs. Harris has not, in five years on the national stage, shown competence. She is showing it now, and that is big news. Her rollout this week demonstrated talent and hinted she may be a real political athlete. Her past and famous verbal embarrassments, which shaped her public reputation, almost all took place in interviews and ad libbed arias. They obscured a real proficiency. ?She was striking and strong in this week\u2019s speeches in Milwaukee and Houston. She knows how to act a speech. When she is scripted she is good. That isn\u2019t all put-down. She knows what a good speech is. She can judge it, recognize good material. Not all candidates can. Most can\u2019t. It is its own talent. Milwaukee especially had power. Its theme: \u2018We\u2019re not going back.’\u201d Certainly not to FDR. And this very, very curious warning: \u201d On an average day key figures in our government\u2014the secretaries of state and defense, heads of intelligence and domestic agencies\u2014are on the road, in the conference in Prague and the meeting in Seoul. Right now, with the aged president and the volatile politics, they should stop, stay close to home, be in their offices in Washington. Be there, not on planes and in hotel rooms. The look of solidity is almost as good as the real thing.\u201d \u2022 Volatility!<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cCan Harris Pull Off a Victory in Three Months? Three Top Strategists Lay Out How\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/4pBPL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. Patti Solis Doyle: \u201cThe last 72 hours have been unbelievable in terms of rollout. She locked up the nomination. Within 36 hours, she got the delegates. She got the endorsements from Congress. She got the money. And her first events have been through the roof.<\/p>\n<p>I think she\u2019s doing it.\u201d Robby Mook: \u201cOne advantage she really has that we didn\u2019t have on the Clinton campaign, and I don\u2019t think Joe Biden really had, is the internet is a really safe space for her right now. It\u2019s a great safe space for people to express support for her. So that\u2019s great.\u201d Stuart Stevens: \u201cI think the model for this in a lot of ways is the Obama campaign in \u201908. They did a magnificent job in setting it up so that when you voted for Barack Obama, it said something about who you were and what you wanted the country to be, not just who you wanted to be president. And I think that\u2019s the challenge that Harris should run right into.\u201d \u2022 And we all know how Obama turned out!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"harris\"\/>Kamala (D): Tech Lords share views on regulation:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Most Democrats think that we need to save the republic and then we can advocate against bad policy. It doesn\u2019t work that way. An oligarch just told our candidate what to do. That\u2019s the republic ending right there. Silence is complicity. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D1TGn8QDxB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/D1TGn8QDxB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1816490364477313315\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): Tech Lords share views on Lina Khan:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrewrsorkin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@andrewrsorkin<\/a> asks IAC Chairman Barry Diller if he would lobby Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KamalaHarris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@KamalaHarris<\/a> to drop <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/linakhanFTC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@LinaKhanFTC<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>“Yeah, I would. I think she’s a dope,” said Diller. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JFWrsurhhh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/JFWrsurhhh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SquawkCNBC\/status\/1816826072236982681\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cSilicon Valley Steps Up for Native Kamala Harris in Trump Showdown\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/olXKR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201cKamala Harris\u2019s strong ties to her native Silicon Valley, dating back to the start of her political career, give her a solid base of financial support that she is tapping for her battle with Donald Trump\u2026. Tech executives are hopeful that Harris\u2019s Silicon Valley ties, combined with her grasp of the impacts of legal regulation\u2014owing to her law-enforcement background\u2014will position her to be open-minded about emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, which the Biden administration has at times been hard on. The industry is also hoping it might get an ally in the White House after years of criticism and mounting antitrust enforcement. While Biden has taken an aggressive stance toward antitrust enforcement, selecting Amazon critic Lina Khan to chair the Federal Trade Commission, Harris hasn\u2019t been focused on technology for much of her time as vice president. The Biden campaign had earlier invited donors to a July fundraiser in Piedmont, Calif., hosted by a longtime supporter of Harris. The event is being rescheduled, a campaign spokesman said. \u201d \u2022 That event would be a wonderful opportunity for Kamala to invite Lina Khan and give her a bear-hug (as Zephyr Teachout suggested). But maybe not\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cHarris Works to Build Bridges to the Business World\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/lZ6vG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201c[Kamala] has expressed skepticism of Ms. Khan\u2019s expansive view of antitrust powers, according to a donor who has spoken privately with the vice president.\u201d \u2022 Oh well. More optimistic commentary:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On the other hand\u2026 That’s one donor is telling that to NYT. Warren, who is pretty much responsible for Khan’s appointment, has been making the rounds to pump up Kamala on cable news all week. Perhaps that’s her end game, we will see<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EmmaVigeland\/status\/1816319871807816185\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 25, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cBehind the Democrats\u2019 Fight Over Lina Khan\u2019s Future\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/ecWRf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times<\/a>]. \u201cOne wrinkle: Donald Trump\u2019s own running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/ecWRf\/https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/24199314\/jd-vance-donald-trump-vp-antitrust-big-tech-ftc-lina-khan-elizabeth-warren-google\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">has praised Khan<\/a> as part of his anti-Big Tech stance\u2026. Khan has given no indication that she plans to step down. She has shown a desire to permanently reshape U.S. antitrust law, dating to her law school days. When DealBook asked an F.T.C. spokesman if Khan would consider serving as chair in a Harris administration, he said, \u2018Yes.\u2019 The debate underscores Democrats\u2019 anxiety over how Harris would govern. Khan\u2019s appointment arose in part out of Biden\u2019s effort to shore up progressive support in 2020 by giving Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts significant sway over economic regulatory agencies. \u201cWarren, to an extraordinary degree, was the gatekeeper for the administration about appointments,\u201d William Kovacic, a former F.T.C. chair, told DealBook.\u201d \u2022 Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than 160,000 people join white women for Kamala Harris Zoom call\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/zwvN8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]. \u201cMore than 160,000 people joined a Zoom call on Thursday night to build support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris among white women, a voter demographic that has supported Republican nominee Donald Trump in the past two elections. Organized by Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, a gun-safety group with about 10 million members, the video call included activists, podcasters, the singer Pink and regular voters, several who said they regretted not doing enough before the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.\u201d \u2022 One alert NC reader attended, and threw this over the transom. Lightly edited:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The White Women webinar format zoom call last night? Oiy!<\/p>\n<p>Tapped out after 30 minutes. Not verbatim, but essentially, too much along the lines of \u2018We KNOW we\u2019re white women of privilege and comfort and satisfaction while our black sisters are left hurting. Suburban white women handed the WH to tRUMP and now it\u2019s time for us to step up.\u2019 Heavy group identity guilt politics statements by every white woman speaker that I hear, that said, Shannon Watts was pretty good as a speaker. More women kept coming on, technical glitches, knocked off the call several times due the massive audience. Not sure about total listeners and total raised. FFS, Glennon Doyle? Pink. So, for a younger audience. Ok, sigh. You need Taylor Swift for that. <\/p>\n<p>Look, I don\u2019t have life units to waste. Maybe there was some hard data and charts later, but they lost me fast\u2026.. <\/p>\n<p>You know who did this stuff well? Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and the PAC they joined to get it done. I Zoomed into their effort to get abortion in the Ohio constitution. Every meeting was tight, solid, lots of information, charts, activity reporting-out on overall state stats, counties to focus on. Charts galore, bullet points about next steps. etc. Done in exactly an hour. Screens and screens of women watching. Tossed in bigly to a super focused razor sharp effort. Why? They showed me very clearly they were a wise investment in a larger team. <\/p>\n<p>Anyway, one has a short window to get donors engaged on a Zoom. All the identity politics centered remarks were just tiresome and I clicked off. Billionaires and identity politics fans can fund it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a fair reaction:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I could be wrong or just ignorant because white women have never been my focus. <\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t remember a \u201cwhite women: answer the call\u201d equivalent for Hillary. And there definitely wasn\u2019t one with over 100K participants that raised over a million dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Things are different. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0necTpgjlN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/0necTpgjlN<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 April (@ReignOfApril) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReignOfApril\/status\/1816642298018693357\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>OTOH, if this is all #ImWithHer\/#Resistance types\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Another reaction:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It’s all fun and games now, but a lot of the rhetoric on that call was about how white women needed to support Kamala as an act of self-actualisation for\u2026.white women. If she veers from their expectations for even one second, they will call her “ungrateful.” (Just like RBG said\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tJa1cgw7xc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/tJa1cgw7xc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Heidi N. Moore (@moorehn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moorehn\/status\/1816801268741882119\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cProject Coconut is a go\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fwiw.news\/p\/project-coconut-is-a-go?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=15w&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FWIW<\/a>]. \u201cAnd as of yesterday, the Vice President now has a personal account on TikTok, @KamalaHarris, which has already gained 1.4+ million followers and 2.1+ million likes at the time of writing. The DNC is also getting in on the online momentum and doing some brat-branding on new fundraising ads as well. Overall, the Harris campaign\u2019s social accounts have gained a huge influx of followers \u2013 for example, data from InsTrack shows the Instagram account @KamalaHQ gaining 48,000+ since President Biden stepped aside last Sunday. Pro-Harris content also flooded TikTok. Politically attuned users across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok began using the coconut emoji en masse, a reference to the most viral meme about the VP. \u201cPROJECT COCONUT IS A GO,\u201d commented one excited TikTok user. \u201cWE RIDE AT DAWN, COCONUTS!\u201d remarked another.\u201d \u2022 Of course, social media numbers are never gamed. \u201cWE RIDE AT DAWN, COCONUTS\u201d is <em>so<\/em> Obama 2008 (\u201cFired up! Ready to go!\u201d). But this is not 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cWhat\u2019s fueling Kamala Harris\u2019 TikTok surge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/ZYRkw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cThere\u2019s a vibe shift brewing on TikTok: The platform, which had been dominated by pro-Trump content, has been exploding with Kamala Harris memes, many of which favorably highlight her quirky demeanor and tie her to the trendiest cool girl anthems. Even before President Joe Biden\u2019s withdrawal from the race on Sunday, Harris memes created by TikTokers had dominated social media, flooding mostly young people\u2019s feeds with video edits of her viral phrases, quirky tangents and \u201cgirl boss\u201d moments \u2014 like this video of Harris laughing away, with a hint of the signature Gen-Z irony in the caption, which reads \u201cWhy did I make this.\u201d These memes paint Harris, who has rarely been in the spotlight during the Biden administration, as a chill auntie \u2014 someone who could dish out advice that is both a little silly yet serious at the same time\u2026. Harris\u2019 campaign hasn\u2019t wasted a moment in jumping on the meme momentum, and their efforts have paid off.\u201d \u2022 Then of course\u2013<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cTikTok\u2019s Survival Is at Stake in All-Out Fight Against US Ban\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/OoZTu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a>]. \u201cThe Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok is battling a potential US ban with the signature tools of American democracy \u2014 lawyers, lobbyists and money. TikTok has deployed Washington power brokers and $1,500-an-hour attorneys to fend off a new law barring the app unless its Beijing-based parent, ByteDance Ltd., divests. With a $4.8 million ad campaign, a full-court press on Capitol Hill and the US Constitution, TikTok is in a multifront fight for its survival.\u201d \u2022 So TikTok has every reason to be nice to the current administration, and Kamala. Not that I\u2019m suggesting that the Tiktok recommendation algorithm is a black box that can be gamed, of course.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cFamily, Friends and Longtime Aides Dominate Harris\u2019s Inner Circle\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/Family,%20Friends%20and%20Longtime%20Aides%20Dominate%20Harris%E2%80%99s%20Inner%20Circle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201c[T]he expected Democratic presidential nominee has kept her inner circle tight. She has relied on her family members, close friends and longest serving aides to help navigate her career and policy decisions. Unlike President Biden, Harris, who was elected to the Senate from California in 2016, remains relatively new to Washington and is still building her political brain trust\u2026. Harris\u2019s family members have been her closest advisers. All of them, like her, have a legal background. Harris\u2019s only sibling\u2014her younger sister, Maya Harris\u2014was chairwoman of her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, which was seen as dysfunctional and with some blaming her. Maya Harris didn\u2019t have a formal role at the White House and previously served as policy adviser to Hillary Clinton during her 2016 White House bid. Her brother-in-law, Tony West, was previously an associate attorney general during the Obama administration. West has traveled in recent days with the vice president to events, including a fundraiser on Saturday. West is chief legal officer for Uber. Harris also has a close relationship with her niece, Meena Harris, a lawyer and an author. Two days before Biden dropped out of the race, Harris visited the model Tyra Banks\u2019s new ice cream shop in D.C. with Meena\u2019s two daughters. Since their marriage in 2014, Doug Emhoff, Harris\u2019s husband, an entertainment lawyer, has been her biggest public supporter.\u201d \u2022 Other names: Rohini Kosoglu, Josh Hsu, Kristine Lucius, Ike Irby, Lorraine Volz, and Julie Chavez Rodriguez.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cTeam Kamala: the people behind Harris\u2019s White House run\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/aP7eR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FInancial Times<\/a>]. Wall Street: \u201cWall Street funds are pouring into Harris\u2019s campaign. Jon Henes, a top corporate bankruptcy adviser, formerly of Kirkland & Ellis, and longtime Harris ally in finance, has been co-ordinating fundraising. Other leading Wall Street figures rushing to help include Ray McGuire, the Lazard banker and former Citigroup executive, and Brad Karp*, chair of corporate law firm Paul Weiss. Blair Effron, the veteran dealmaker at Centerview Partners and a fixture of Democratic fundraising, is also on board. So are Blackstone president Jonathan Gray, Evercore co-founder Roger Altman, and Marc Lasry, the hedge fund investor and former co-owner of NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Many in Wall Street have been extremely supportive of Kamala for years,\u2019 said a Democratic fundraiser. \u2018Blair and Brad backed her hugely in the 2020 presidential primaries\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009they aren\u2019t last minute supporters.’\u201d Tech: \u201cReed Hastings, the chair of Netflix, had been among the Democratic donors openly pushing Biden to quit the race. He immediately pumped $7mn into Harris\u2019s campaign after the president dropped out. Reid Hoffman, the venture capitalist who co-founded LinkedIn, also swiftly backed her bid for the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have made inroads among Silicon Valley donors in recent years \u2014 but Harris has kept her allies. They include Brad Smith of Microsoft, who hosted a fundraiser for the Biden campaign at his Seattle home last year. Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer at Meta, is another prominent supporter.\u201d NOTE * <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/big-law-leaders-back-alvin-bragg-manhattan-da-race-2021-06-21\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brad Karp gave Alvin Bragg $1000<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cTrump campaign plays defense amid Harris honeymoon\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/07\/26\/kamala-harris-honeymoon-fundraising-ads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Axios<\/a>]. \u201cVice President Kamala Harris is reveling in record fundraising, an early bump in the polls, and a growing grassroots army. It\u2019s a \u201choneymoon\u201d of epic proportions \u2014 but one the Trump campaign is betting won\u2019t last.\u201d Because -gasms don\u2019t last, by definition. Here\u2019s a great example: \u201c\u2018It was the first time we\u2019ve had an Obama-like moment, a feeling where it was pure and it was good, and people were doing things bigger than themselves,\u2019 Silicon Valley fundraiser Steve Spinner told the New York Times.\u201d \u2022 I would like to see more defense of Vance, who after giving an economic populist speech at the Republican National Convention, has been drowning in a wave of snark (at least on my Twitter feed). Commentary:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump is so lost and weakened right now. He sounds like Bob Dole in 1996, except mean. Very normie GOP. Really missing Steve Bannon’s populist strategies.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1816845062799532264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Does Trump in fact look \u201clost and weakened\u201d? Can readers comment? <\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cUnpacking JD Vance\u2019s Labor Record\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/onlabor.org\/unpacking-jd-vances-labor-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">On Labor<\/a>]. \u201cDespite his claimed support for workers\u2019 right to organize, Vance\u2019s voting record on labor issues has rarely been supportive of worker power or voice. Instead of backing popular pro-worker bills and nominees, Vance has advanced watered-down legislation that could weaken labor protections. Vance told Politico that he is not in favor of the PRO Act, which would outlaw the right-to-work laws Vance claims to oppose. His opposition to this legislation is rooted in his belief that it would serve only to empower \u2018current union leadership\u2026 that\u2019s completely in bed with the Democratic Party.\u2019 Vance has instead supported other labor law reforms that are decidedly less popular within the labor movement. Vance partnered with Republican senator Marco Rubio on the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act of 2024 (TEAM Act), which claims to improve worker voice by relaxing the NLRA\u2019s ban on company unions and promoting \u2019employee involvement organizations.\u2019 Unlike unions, these organizations may be funded and dissolved unilaterally by employers. The TEAM Act draws heavily on recommendations by American Compass, run by former Mitt Romney advisor Oren Cass. American Compass advocates for the TEAM Act and worker-management councils, which Cass claims could strengthen \u2018worker-management trust,\u2019 while unions like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have decried the bill as promoting \u2018company unions\u2019 and allowing new avenues for employers to hold off unionization.<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cSpeculation Swirls About What Hit Trump. An Analysis Suggests It was a Bullet\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/KH6uY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Times].<\/a> \u201c[A] detailed analysis of bullet trajectories, footage, photos and audio by The New York Times strongly suggests Mr. Trump was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by the gunman\u2026 A key piece of evidence in The Times\u2019s analysis is a live video feed that captures Mr. Trump\u2019s reaction as the first three gunshots are fired. The crack of the bullets are heard as they pass the microphone that Mr. Trump speaks into. Almost a second elapses between the first and second shots. During this brief interim, Mr. Trump starts reaching toward his ear, according to footage and audio of the event analyzed by The Times and Rob Maher, an audio forensics expert at Montana State University. \u2018He flinches, and his right hand already starts reaching for his right ear during that time between the first audible shot and the second audible shot,\u2019 Mr. Maher said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Trump\u2019s fingers are bloodied as soon as he touches his ear, as seen in a picture taken by Doug Mills, a veteran Times photographer.\u201d \u2022\u00a0Notice the lack of agency in \u201cspeculation swirls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>\u201cForget the Hype: It\u2019s Still a Working-Class Election\u201d [Ruy Teixiera, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liberalpatriot.com\/p\/forget-the-hype-its-still-a-working\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Liberal Patriot<\/a>]. \u201cWho can blame Democrats for being a bit slap happy? They were staring into the abyss and now have a reprieve. They have a younger candidate and a more enthusiastic, unified party. Those are important and positive differences. But there are also similarities to their previous situation that are highly negative and can\u2019t be wished away\u2026. These double digit Democratic deficits among the working class have been a regular feature of this election cycle. These deficits have been driven by worsening performance among the white working class\u2026. Can she do it? Sure, anything\u2019s possible. But Democrats would be well-advised to be clear-eyed about the challenge. What Harris has to overcome is illustrated by an early July Pew poll that had a large enough sample size (N=over 9,400) to allow blacks and Hispanics to be broken down by working-class vs. college-educated. Both racial groups show strong educational polarization that is much larger than what was observed in 2020. Hispanic working-class voters in this poll preferred Trump by 3 points over Biden, compared to a 22 point margin for Biden over Trump in 2020. Among black working-class voters, Biden was leading by 47 points over Trump, compared to an 82 point lead for Biden in 2020. A working class-oriented campaign would appear to be in order. But so far there is little indication that is what the Harris campaign has in mind. A widely-circulated memo from the campaign sees Harris\u2019 candidacy as building on the \u201cBiden-Harris coalition of voters\u201d and mentions black voters, Latino voters, AANHPI voters, women voters and young voters. Working-class voters are conspicuous by their absence.\u201d \u2022 If this is a working class election, then the Democrats cannot win \u2014 unless (I hope this is clear) the Republicans lose if for them. Hence the online assault on Vance.<\/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&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>, <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&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:\/\/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>Social Norming<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cPandemic disbelief identified as key factor in vaccine hesitancy\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cidrap.umn.edu\/covid-19\/pandemic-disbelief-identified-key-factor-vaccine-hesitancy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy<\/a>]. N = 290. \u201cA <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0307479\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new study<\/a> among Hispanic people in the United States suggests that an initial disbelief in the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to vaccine hesitancy among that population, especially among parents making vaccine decisions for their children. The study is published in PLOS One. \u2026 Overall, there was high vaccine uptake in the sample, with 88% of parents and 80% of youth receiving at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Most notable, however, was the role of youth pandemic disbelief (belief the pandemic was a conspiracy or not real) in vaccine hesitancy: In addition to youths\u2019 pandemic disbelief predicting their own vaccine hesitancy, the authors wrote, it also predicted their parents\u2019 vaccine hesitancy. \u2018Parents are often thought of as the key decision maker for children under the age of 18, and although the final decision may rest with them, our findings suggest that their child\u2019s perspective, particularly around disbelief, may be part of this decision-making process,\u2019 the authors concluded.\u201d \u2022 Perhaps the children read English-language media? <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"covid\"\/>Lambert here: New York Hospitalization leveling out for two days, and Cleveland Clinic positivity slowing is the first good news I\u2019ve seen in some time.<\/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) Slowing<\/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>Inflation: \u201cUnited States PCE Price Index Annual Change\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/pce-price-index-annual-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe annual PCE inflation rate in the US decreased to 2.5% in June 2024 from 2.6% in May, in line with market forecasts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cThere is no fix for Intel\u2019s crashing 13th and 14th Gen CPUs \u2014 any damage is permanent\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/7\/26\/24206529\/intel-13th-14th-gen-crashing-instability-cpu-voltage-q-a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Verge<\/a>]. \u201cOn Monday, it initially seemed like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/7\/22\/24203959\/intel-core-13th-14th-gen-cpu-crash-update-patch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">beginning of the end for Intel\u2019s desktop CPU instability woes<\/a> \u2014 the company confirmed a patch is coming in mid-August that should address the \u2018root cause\u2019 of exposure to elevated voltage. But if your 13th or 14th Gen Intel Core processor is already crashing, that patch apparently won\u2019t fix it. Citing unnamed sources, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomshardware.com\/pc-components\/cpus\/intel-finally-announces-a-solution-for-cpu-crashing-errors-claims-elevated-voltages-are-the-root-cause-fix-coming-by-mid-august\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tom\u2019s Hardware reports<\/a> that any degradation of the processor is irreversible, and an Intel spokesperson did not deny that when we asked. Intel is \u2018confident\u2019 the patch will keep it from happening in the first place. (As another preventative measure, you should update your motherboard BIOS ASAP.) But instead of tweaking BIOS settings to try and alleviate the problems\u2026. This raises lots of questions. Will Intel recall these chips? Extend their warranty? Replace them no questions asked? Pause sales like AMD just did with its Ryzen 9000? Identify faulty batches with the manufacturing defect? We asked Intel these questions, and I\u2019m not sure you\u2019re going to like the answers. Why are these still on sale without so much as an extended warranty? . The company is not currently commenting on whether or how it might extend its warranty. It would not share estimates with The Verge of how many chips are likely to be irreversibly impacted, and it did not explain why it\u2019s continuing to sell these chips ahead of any fix.\u201d \u2022 First Boeing, now Intel. <\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cOopsGPT\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/mC8kA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Atlantic<\/a>]. \u201c[AI <del>scammers<\/del> companies] tend not to point out that generative-AI models are prone to providing incorrect, and at times fully made-up, information\u2014and yet it keeps happening. Early this afternoon, OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced a prototype AI tool that can search the web and answer questions, fittingly called SearchGPT\u2026 In a prerecorded demonstration video accompanying the announcement, a mock user types music festivals in boone north carolina in august into the SearchGPT interface. The tool then pulls up a list of festivals that it states are taking place in Boone this August, the first being An Appalachian Summer Festival, which according to the tool is hosting a series of arts events from July 29 to August 16 of this year. Someone in Boone hoping to buy tickets to one of those concerts, however, would run into trouble. In fact, the festival started on June 29 and will have its final concert on July 27. Instead, July 29\u2013August 16 are the dates for which the festival\u2019s box office will be officially closed. (I confirmed these dates with the festival\u2019s box office.)\u201d \u2022 <em>in the demo<\/em>. Are these people high?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 46 Neutral (previous close: 39 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 49 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 26 at 1:51:49 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Permaculture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"lawn\"\/>This doesn\u2019t solve the world\u2019s problems. But solves problems <em>for these insects<\/em>, and for you:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dig up your lawns! I removed 25 sq m of lawn two months ago. Dug out 10cm of topsoil, replaced with low nutrient soil (90% sand) to prevent weed growth and laid wildflower turf. This is the result with an explosion of butterflies, bees, moths and tiny wasps. Amazing. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pCCsyAIjCa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/pCCsyAIjCa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Anthony Costello (@globalhlthtwit) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/globalhlthtwit\/status\/1816774233462133076\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 26, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Health<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAge and familiarity effects on musical memory\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0305969\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PLOS One<\/a>]. \u201cThis study explored the effects of age, familiarity on a recognition memory task for new music in a live concert and lab setting. Overall, we find no main effect of age when tasked with recognizing a theme in a piece of music, nor any significant interaction of age with familiarity, setting or musical training\u2026. This study further supports the use of music in particular as a medium for cognitive maintenance and training in older adults by offering evidence that recognition memory is not affected by age in a realistic listening situation. Accordingly, music recognition could be considered a strength, onto which other aspects of memory could be scaffolded in a rehabilitation setting. For example, it may be easier to remember something if you pair a melody with it. In fact, this idea is not new. Throughout history songs have been used to transmit information orally between generations.\u201d \u2022 Hmmm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Arrangement in pink, gold, and black:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Woman with a Cat <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uMdBjQjmDj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/uMdBjQjmDj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z6gDREpFCu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/z6gDREpFCu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Edouard Manet (@artistmanet) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/artistmanet\/status\/1815048347922595980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 21, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Origin & Evolution of Italian Stuffed Pasta Shapes\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/24\/07\/the-origin-evolution-of-italian-stuffed-pasta-shapes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kottke.org<\/a>]. \u201cOur results showed that, with the exception of the Sardinian Culurgiones, all the other pasta ripiena from Italy likely had a single origin in the northern parts of the country. Based on the proposed evolutionary hypothesis, the Italian pasta are divided into two main clades: a ravioli clade mainly characterized by a more or less flat shape, and a tortellini clade mainly characterized by a three-dimensional shape.\u201d \u2022 Handy diagram of the pasta clades:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1190\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275754\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-300x298.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-1024x1015.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-768x762.png 768w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/pasta-shapes-evolution-624x619.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cLewis H. Lapham\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/harpers.org\/2024\/07\/remembering-lewis-lapham\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Harper\u2019s<\/a>]. \u201cIn 1984, Lapham introduced the iconic Harper\u2019s Index, Readings, and the Annotation, journalistic forms that recognized the time constraints modern readers faced amid the flood of information in the electronic age. This redesign remains the foundation of the magazine to this day, and Lapham\u2019s editorial sensibility continues to guide our work.\u201d \u2022 Even though Lapham\u2019s name isn\u2019t on any of these forms, nonetheless they will live on. Editors forever!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBible Study And The Oxford Comma\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/futurelawyer.typepad.com\/futurelawyer\/2024\/07\/bible-study-and-the-oxford-comma.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Future Lawyer<\/a>]. \u201cAnother Oxford Comma fail. Educate your children about the Bible; but do it properly.\u201d <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"391\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275753\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma.png 450w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/bible_oxford_comma-300x261.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dad.<\/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\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-25-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From TH:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-275751\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black_eyed_susan-300x199.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>TH writes: \u201cI struggle with telling the difference between a wild sunflower and a black-eyed susan, so I looked it up. I\u2019m sure you already know, so feel free to call this whatever you like, but I\u2019m pretty sure, based on the leaves, mostly, that this is a black-eyed susan.\u201d Readers? I think it is too, but are there signs to look for?<\/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 & 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><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-7-26-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente Bird Song of the Day Northern Mockingbird, Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, Charleston, South Carolina, United States. \u201cSong from telephone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82470,"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-82469","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\/82469","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=82469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}