\n<\/p>\n
By Lambert Strether of Corrente<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nBird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Blue Mockingbird, Zona Arqueol\u00f3gica Monte Alb\u00e1n\u2013Camino Ecol\u00f3gico, Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#vp\">Kamala\u2019s VP search<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#race\">Democrats on race<\/a> (or rather, racial classification)<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#greenhalgh\">Trish Greenhalgh<\/a> on Long Covid.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#class\">Covid and class<\/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><a name=\"assassination \"\/>Trump Assassination Attempt<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cVideo from Trump assassination attempt victim\u2019s POV shows figure moving on roof moments before gunfire\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/video-from-trump-assassination-attempt-victims-pov-shows-figure-moving-roof-moments-before-gunfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FOX<\/a>]. \u201cA video from James Copenhaver, one of the victims critically wounded in the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Trump, shows a figure moving across the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump\u2019s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the video taken at 6:08 p.m. on July 13, the person appears on the roof of the building adjacent to where Trump is speaking and can be seen walking from the 1:00 second mark to about the 2:50 second mark.\u201d \u2022 Oh. This entire story makes less and less sense as it goes on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPennsylvania county law enforcement officials say Secret Service is presenting a \u2018misleading\u2019 picture of Trump shooting scene\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/07\/31\/politics\/beaver-county-secret-service-trump-shooting-interview\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"race\"\/>Democrats on race:<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Back in the day, when I was involved in efforts to standardize classification schemes, one of my colleagues produced (I paraphrase) the following <em>bon mot<\/em>: \u201cFor all sentences, the word <em>is<\/em> can be replaced by <em>has been classified as<\/em> without loss of meaning.\u201d So, \u201cthose ideas are green\u201d could be reworded as \u201cthose ideas have been classified as green,\u201d and so on. There\u2019s something to be said for that thesis (\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grubstlodger.uk\/2023\/06\/i-refute-it-thus-in-which-johnson-kicks.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">I refute it thus<\/a>\u201c), but Democrats can\u2019t seem to make up their minds about whether it\u2019s true or not. Indeed, they want to have it both ways; \u201cis\u201d would be essentialist; \u201chas been classified\u201d social constructionist (caveat that this is binary, therefore at best an approximation; I\u2019m sure scholarly work has been done on this, and readers should feel free to introduce it). Does anybody remember the enormous liberal dogpile on Rachel Dolezal\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Jenner to Dolezal: One Trans Good, the Other Not So Much\u201d [Adolph Reed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2015\/06\/15\/jenner-dolezal-one-trans-good-other-not-so-much\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Common Dreams<\/a>]. \u201cThis brings me to the most important point that this affair throws into relief. It has outed the essentialism on which those identitarian discourses rest. [Alicia] Garcia asks \u2018So why don\u2019t we just accept Dolezal as black? Because she\u2019s not.\u2019 But why is she not black in Garcia\u2019s view? Well, \u2018Her parents say she\u2019s not even close to being black.\u2019 But what would that mean \u2014 that she has no known black ancestry? Is blackness, then, a matter of hypodescent after all? But, if that\u2019s what it is, then what politically significant meaning does the category have? Dolezal no doubt has her issues and idiosyncrasies, but, especially if the judgment of the NAACP counts for anything in the matter, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019d take her in a trade for Clarence Thomas, Cory Booker, Condi Rice, and five TFA pimps to be named later. Or would Dolezal\u2019s \u2018not even close to being black\u2019 mean that she was raised outside of \u2018authentic\u2019 black idiom or cultural experience? But whose black idiom or cultural experience would that be? Is there really an irreducible, definitive one? If so, on which Racial Voice blog or Ivy League campus might we find it?\u201d \u2022 Note that Kamala\u2019s rollout of identitarian verticals: First, Black Women. Second, White Women. Third, White Men. Fourth, Latino Men.\u201d Fifth, AAHNPI. This rollout strongly suggests an essentialist perspective. I mean, where\u2019s the \u201cMixed Race\u201d vertical? Could we have separate verticals for 1\/2 White, 1\/4 White, etc.? I would guess the Democrat base is essentialist (race is, after all, a box to be checked, or not checked, on an HR form). The following Mother Jones headline is on point\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhite Man Tells Black Journalists His Black Opponent Is Not Black\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2024\/07\/trump-nabj-racist-harris-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mother Jones<\/a>]. \u2022 Clearly essentialist. Not Black\/Indian; Black. Not \u201cidentifying as Black.\u201d Black. OTOH, we have Axios\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-black-journalists-convention-nabj-1e96aa530e88013ed6f577feaf89ccb6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cCHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Donald Trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race as the former president appeared Wednesday before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago in an interview that quickly turned hostile. The Republican former president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage. \u2018I didn\u2019t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don\u2019t know, is she Indian or is she Black?\u2019 Trump said while addressing the group\u2019s annual convention. Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation\u2019s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supporting legislation to strengthen voting rights and to reform policing.\u201d \u2022 AP is, I would say, social constructivist, although Trump <em>also<\/em> wants it both ways (\u201chappened to turn\u201d is social constructivist, but \u201cis she Indian or is she Black\u201d is essentialist).<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Kamala\u2019s views count, too (at least from a socially constructivist standpoint). Here\u2019s a cooking video from 2019:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Kamala Harris & Mindy Kaling Cook Masala Dosa\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xz7rNOAFkgE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The relevant frame:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"356\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276046\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian-300x178.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Personally, I don\u2019t care one way or the other; I\u2019m a social constructivist. That said, what\u2019s the theory of the case here? The Democrats \u2014 and Harris \u2014 need to make up their minds whether they\u2019re social constructivists or, like Mother Jones, Trump, and whichever staffer named and organized the identity rollouts, essentialists. They need to pick one or the other, and stop tying to have it both ways.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>2024<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Less than one hundred days to go!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" 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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" 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=\"auto, (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><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll see what the averages say Friday, but:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Harris has wiped out Trump’s lead across seven swing states in the latest round of the Bloomberg News \/ Morning Consult poll. The poll found a big Dem lead in Michigan, a more modest Trump lead in Pennsylvania and close contests everywhere else. Dead heat.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UzzZaknhD2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/UzzZaknhD2<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xxJN94TFec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/xxJN94TFec<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/josh_wingrove\/status\/1818387625264238627\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 30, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Lots of Brownian motion here, still. More noteworthy is that Trump got no visible bounce from the assassination.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"defenestration\"\/>Biden Defenestration: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiden privately weighs how to use the time left in his presidency\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2024\/08\/01\/biden-reflects-time-left-presidency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. On Air Force One: \u201cAbout an hour into the flight, [BIden] glanced at the television playing in the background, where guests on MSNBC were speculating over who Vice President Harris would pick as her running mate. \u2018Kamala and I talked,\u2019 Biden remarked. \u2018I said she could pick me.\u2019 He waited a beat, then said he was joking, prompting laughter\u2026. The anger and bitterness from the lead-up to his decision to withdraw \u2014 when he felt cornered by members of his own party \u2014 seem to have given way to an attitude that is more accepting of the current moment. Biden is occasionally wistful, and he has engaged in lighter and even playful moments after a weeks-long period of intense stress, for example peeking through American flags and around columns near the Rose Garden to make faces at aides who had gathered to applaud him after his Oval Office address last week.\u201d \u2022 Then again, he could kick some of the backstabbers in the stones on his way out the door\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trail\"\/><em><strong>The Campaign Trail<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"vp\">The VP search: <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cHarris\u2019 high-stakes veepstakes: Fundraising powerhouses vie for VP slot\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2024\/08\/vp-kamala-harris-high-stakes-veepstakes-fundraising-powerhouses-vice-president-pick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Open Secrets<\/a>]. Handy chart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve highlighted the conventional wisdom of those in the running.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cPennsylvania Gov. Shapiro cancels Hamptons trip, days before expected Harris VP reveal\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/08\/01\/shapiro-harris-vp-reveal-plans.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNBC<\/a>]. \u201c\u201dThe Governor\u2019s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee,\u201d Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder confirmed to NBC News. \u2018His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend.’\u201d \u2022 So, announcement next week, apparently. And I was so excited.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cThe DNC virtual roll call to nominate Kamala Harris is underway. This is how it will work\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/whyy.org\/articles\/dnc-virtual-roll-call-kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WHYY<\/a>]. \u201cDelegates to the Democratic National Convention began officially selecting their nominee for president in a process that kicked off Thursday. But unlike in past years, they are not doing so in the raucous party atmosphere of the convention floor or even during the convention itself. Instead, they are filling out electronic ballots at their homes, offices or vacation spots more than two weeks before the first delegate steps foot inside Chicago\u2019s United Center. Vice President Kamala Harris is the only candidate eligible to receive votes after no other candidate qualified by a Tuesday night deadline. The \u2018virtual roll call,\u2019 the term used by Democratic National Committee officials, will allow Harris to claim the nomination by Monday evening. That\u2019s just 15 days after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term following widespread concerns within the party over his ability to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.\u201d \u2022 The byte-filled room\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cDemocrats Think Their Candidate is Running for President of Online, Again\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/democrats-think-their-candidate-is\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Freddie DeBoer<\/a>]. \u201cAnd many seem intent on remaking a core 2016 mistake: acting as though the Democratic candidate\u2019s job is to become the President of Online rather than the President of the United States, begging Harris to devote her campaign to memes and social media, playing to people like them instead of the middle class white retirees in Wisconsin and Arizona who will actually determine this election. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/beyonce-kamala-harris-campaign-video.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> [New York Magazines\u2019] Jason P. Frank says that the key to victory for Harris is mobilizing \u2018stans.\u2019 Jason, what Kamala Harris needs is white independents without college degrees in swing states. Are a lot of those in very-online fan armies? I have my doubts. In fact I suspect most of the people Harris needs the most don\u2019t know what the fuck a stan is and don\u2019t spend any time in the spaces where stans congregate! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/white-women-kamala-harris-zoom-call.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> Angelina Chapin credulously covers a pro-Harris Zoom call for white women, which I\u2019m sure is a great way to reach women married to laid-off-ironworkers-turned-Uber-Eats-drivers in the Rust Belt. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/kamala-harris-alpha-kappa-alpha-sorority.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> Camille Squires talks about all the enthusiasm for Harris that\u2019s bubbling up in Harris\u2019s old sorority. Squires writes that \u2018there\u2019s little doubt that she can count on the support of the more than 360,000 women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.\u2019 Well, yes, that\u2019s true. As would Biden. I don\u2019t think the Democrats were going to struggle to reach the Black sorority sister demographic. The weird way that a given party\u2019s most loyal voters are often rendered the least important is another dumb element of democracy, and another fact of life. This all reflects a pitfall that pretty much everyone falls into, but which is particularly hard to avoid when your side of the partisan divide controls most of the media: playing to those within your coalition rather than those who you might be able to drag into it. All of the winking, self-impressed meme politics going on right now are useful if you want to win the day on Bluesky but profoundly useless if you want to herd many of our dumbest voters onto the Democratic party\u2019s pasture. If Harris is going to win, the absolute last thing she should do is to run a meme candidacy like that presided over by Robbie Mook in 2016, where Hillary\u2019s agenda took a back seat to a never-ending procession of glamorous celebrity photo ops and a wince-inducing attempt to make the candidate into America\u2019s cool grandma.\u201d \u2022 Clinton 2.0. <\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cWe Get to Decide What Is Possible Under a Future Harris Administration\u201d [Ilhan Omar, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/we-get-to-decide-what-is-possible-under-a-future-harris-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u2022 Not if the way Kamala made it to the top of the ticket is any indication, no.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cDonald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-black-journalists-convention-nabj-1e96aa530e88013ed6f577feaf89ccb6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. I run this again to make a specific comment on the campaign: \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know, is she Indian or is she Black?\u201d \u2022 Again, I\u2019m banging my head on my desk because I didn\u2019t save the very early Kamala Harris campaign brochure where she ran as Indian. <\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cJD Vance Says Trump\u2019s Comments About Kamala Harris\u2019 Racial Identity Were \u2018Hysterical’\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.notus.org\/trump-2024\/jd-vance-kamala-harris-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NOTUS<\/a>]. The headline is the reverse of what Vance said: \u201d Sen. JD Vance told reporters it\u2019s \u2018hysterical how much the media is overreacting\u2019 to his running mate Donald Trump\u2019s comments questioning whether Vice President Kamala Harris is Black.\u201d Not \u201cTrump\u2019s comments\u201d; the media. More: \u201c\u2018I think he pointed out the fundamental chameleon-like nature of Kamala Harris. And you guys saw yesterday, she was in Georgia, and she put on a southern accent for a Georgia audience. She grew up in Vancouver. What the hell is going on here? She is not who she pretends to be.\u2019 When asked by a reporter explicitly if he questions whether Harris is Black, Vance said, \u2018What I question is why she presents a different posture depending on which audience that she\u2019s in front of.’\u201d \u2022 Fair. See <a href=\"#race\">\u201cDemocrats on race\u201d<\/a> above. I did say I was out of the snark business, but Trump is said to be adept with nicknames. Couldn\u2019t something be done with \u201cKamala\u201d and \u201cChameleon\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cThe farmers who love JD Vance\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/M8SzD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cRepublican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has had a rough week. But you wouldn\u2019t know it from today\u2019s fundraiser in Coalinga, Calif., where he got a warm reception from California\u2019s farming community. California Republicans were quick to brush off his positions on \u2018childless cat ladies\u2019 \u2014 and eager to turn Democratic messaging on its head by rallying behind the embattled Ohio senator. \u2018,\u2019 said Barbara Hallmeyer, a retired high school drama teacher and a California Republican Party delegate attending the fundraiser. Vance\u2019s greeting is a measure of Trump\u2019s continuing grip on the farm vote and among rural voters, whom he won by a large margin in 2020, according to exit polls. But it\u2019s also a sign that, despite worries in some quarters of the party that Vance is a liability to the ticket, key elements of the GOP base remain supportive even after a wave of negative press coverage surrounding his provocative statements.\u201d \u2022 I don\u2019t think \u201cweird\u201d resonates outside <em>already<\/em> deeply committed Democrats (and the ads in opposition write themselves).<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cTrump Forces Out Project 2025 Mastermind\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/trump-campaign-puts-the-screws-to-project-2025-mastermind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Daily Beast<\/a>]. \u201cHis departure hinted that Heritage was shutting down its work on the initiative more than a year after Project 2025 produced its cornerstone 900-page policy mandate that came to define the MAGA movement. The manifesto attracted widespread criticism in recent weeks over its extremist proposals that would demand fealty from federal workers, promote Christian nationalism and overhaul policies from abortion to civil liberties and climate and restructure the departments of Justice and Defense, among other agencies. As the project backfired politically, Trump sought to distance himself from the group despite its naked ties to his first administration, with Project leadership boasting a number of senior Trump aides and close advisers. The source told the Beast that the rift between the Trump campaign and the Heritage Foundation was not ideological, but rather was about power and who will ultimately control Trump World and make staffing decisions in a possible second Trump administration.\u201d \u2022 \u201cCame to define the MAGA movement\u2019 in whose eyes?<\/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>Airborne Transmission<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Corsi-Rosenthal Box still going strong:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Corsi-Rosenthal box is the best air purifier we’ve tested out of 26 \u2014and it’s one we built ourselves! How can it the BEST air purifier when we’ve got sleek Dysons, portable Levoits, and much cooler boxes of filters? Our newest R&D Video answers that! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EwcN8B1jXL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/EwcN8B1jXL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aAyUALqVpH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/aAyUALqVpH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RTINGS.com (@rtingsdotcom) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rtingsdotcom\/status\/1806319331233382670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">June 27, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>NOTE More modern designs use big honkin\u2019 computer fans suitable for gaming machines. These are quieter, and also can be assembled in areas that don\u2019t use box fans (Southeast Asia). However, the same engineering principles apply.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Maskstravaganza<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMasking Policies at National Cancer Institute\u2013Designated Cancer Centers During Winter 2023 to 2024 COVID-19 Surge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/article-abstract\/2821699\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">JAMA<\/a>]. \u201cCancer centers were more likely to require universal masking in at least some areas if they were located in the Northeast (11 [78.6%]), had longer NCI designation duration (first quintile: 10 [83.3%]), had more program funding (first quintile: 11 [84.6%]), or (first quintile: 11 [84.6%])\u201d \u2022 And no wonder!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Vaccines: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cReassortment\u201d:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">CDC: Seasonal flu jabs offered to farmworkers to prevent H5N1 reassortment<\/p>\n<p>“Reassortment could lead to a new influenza virus \u2026 a virus that has the transmissibility of seasonal influenza and the severity of H5N1.”<\/p>\n<p>Alexander Tin\u2019s notes<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TD6B6gTUgj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/TD6B6gTUgj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ooDVsW01Oq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/ooDVsW01Oq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CoronaHeadsUp\/status\/1818913957354053788\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">August 1, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>On reassortment, from <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25007845\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology<\/a> (2014):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Reassortment is the process by which influenza viruses swap gene segments. This genetic exchange is possible due to the segmented nature of the viral genome and occurs when two differing influenza viruses co-infect a cell. The viral diversity generated through reassortment is vast and plays an important role in the evolution of influenza viruses. Herein we review recent insights into the contribution of reassortment to the natural history and epidemiology of influenza A viruses, gained through population scale phylogenic analyses. We describe methods currently used to study reassortment in the laboratory, and we summarize recent progress made using these experimental approaches to further our understanding of influenza virus reassortment and the contexts in which it occurs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Reassortment, then, does not happen with corona viruses (mavens, correct me). So if human-to-human H5N1 transmission really gets rolling, it could be bad for humanity in a way that Covid is not.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Sequelae: Covid<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"greenhalgh\"\/>Long COVID: a clinical update\u201d (preview) [Trish Greenhalgh et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(24)01136-X\/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Lancet<\/a>]. \u201cLong COVID currently has no definitive cure, so prevention is of the utmost importance. The best way to prevent long COVID is to prevent COVID-19 through well established public health measures such as paying attention to indoor air quality (eg, ventilation or filtration); wearing well fitting, high-filtration masks or respirators when appropriate; and supporting infectious individuals to quarantine. People with acute COVID-19 should ensure they rest.\u201d \u2022 Handy chart of the multiple pathways to Long Covid (the \u201cpinball machine\u201d below):<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"591\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball-300x296.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/>r<\/p>\n<p>The following is Greenhalgh\u2019s \u201clay summary\u201d of the Lancet piece:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong COVID \u2013 a dystopian game of pinball\u201d [Trish Greenhalgh, <a href=\"https:\/\/independentsage.substack.com\/p\/long-covid-a-dystopian-game-of-pinball\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Independent Sage<\/a>]. The deck: \u201cProf Trish Greenhalgh explains the findings of her recent comprehensive Lancet review of Long Covid.\u201d Brilliant extended metaphor: \u201cLong COVID is a real condition whose complex biological basis is beginning to be understood. The sequence of events that makes COVID-19 into a protracted (and quite possibly, lifelong) illness in some but not all people is a bit like a dystopian game of pinball. An unlucky ball hits a series of key buffers, buzzers and bells, triggering a cascade of further events\u2026 [T[hese changes flip off additional cascades of biochemical messengers (\u2018supplementary pathological mechanisms\u2019), which, in health, contribute to keeping the body in balance\u2026. [T[hese microscopic changes in genes, molecules, proteins, cells and micro-organisms produce various kinds of organ damage\u2026. [T]hese organ-level changes lead to the well-known symptoms of Long COVID described in the second paragraph above. . But . You didn\u2019t get that when you had COVID-19? Lucky you. The ball of your initial infection missed a few vital targets. But that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re immune from Long COVID for life. Your next infection could light up the whole machine.\u201d \u2022 Yep. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong Covid Defined\u201d (\u201cSounding Board\u201d) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMsb2408466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NEJM<\/a>]. Interesting to read on conjunction with Greenhalgh. Here is their definition, which does come in the form of a Figure:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cUpcoming Meeting\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/upcoming-meeting\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HICPAC<\/a>]. \u201cThe next HICPAC meeting is scheduled for August 22-23, 2024. This will be a virtual meeting.\u201d I wonder why? More: \u201c. See agenda for time dedicated to public comments\u2026. Public engagement and input are vital to HICPAC\u2019s work.\u201d \u2022 No agenda is posted. Of course. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/roster\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here is the roster<\/a>, which lists seven members. That\u2019s odd: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/about\/charter.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HICPAC\u2019s charter<\/a>: \u201cThe Committee shall consist of 14 non-Federal members, including the Chair or Co-Chairs.\u201d Does the current make-up even have a quorum?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: New York hospitalization leveling out, and now WalGreens positivity down for two weeks, are the first positive signs I\u2019ve seen in a long time. Wastewater still going strong, though!<\/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) Leveling off. Doesn\u2019t need to be a permanent thing, of course. (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. Comment on the Cleveland Clinic:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why is the Cleveland Clinic building a new facility for a professional basketball team? These hospitals are not ‘nonprofits’ they are ridiculously profitable monopolies with an endless cash gusher to point at whatever they want. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1REM2LMLjd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/1REM2LMLjd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1817948450908258696\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Ka-ching.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn\u2019t even run back to 1\/21\/23, as it used to, but now starts 1\/1\/24. There\u2019s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn\u2019t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that\u2019s why the shape of the curve has changed.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads. <\/p>\n<p>[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.<\/p>\n<p>[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Initial Jobless Claims\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/jobless-claims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US rose by 14,000 to 249,000 on the period ending July 27th, reaching an almost new yearly high, surpassing market expectations of 236,000. This increase, along with other key indicators, indicates that the US labor market continued to weaken during this period, bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve may lower benchmark borrowing costs by September.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Challenger Job Cuts\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/challenger-job-cuts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cUS employers announced 25,855 job cuts in July 2024, the lowest level in a year, and down 46.9% from June\u2019s 48,786. Still, it is the highest total for the month since 2020, above July 2023\u2019s 23,697.:<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States ISM Manufacturing PMI\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/business-confidence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 46.6 in July of 2024 from 48.5 in the previous month, firmly below market expectations of 48.8, reflecting the sharpest contraction in US factory activity since November 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>The Economy:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“We have a 30 year old family member who works on the assembly line building Peterbuilt trucks in Denton, Texas. (a PACCAR company) He has seniority and works the #1 shift. He was told not to come to work next week. Shutting down the assembly line for a week due to lack of\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave Collum (@DavidBCollum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DavidBCollum\/status\/1818654086230622340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Apparel:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This video comparing the same dress across different price points is also very good.<\/p>\n<p>My point is not to tell you how much to spend on something (buy what suits your budget). Only saying that two things that look alike online are not necessarily the same<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UzcnW0vh1V\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/UzcnW0vh1V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 derek guy (@dieworkwear) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dieworkwear\/status\/1818735741137998315\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The video on Tik Tok scammers and fast fashion is well worth a watch.<\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cHacker Shows How to Get Free Laundry For Life\u201d [404 Media]. \u201cOrlitzky then tried a bunch of stuff that did not work for unlocking free laundry\u2026 What did work was short circuiting the red and black wires on the coin-drop mechanism. He found this out after discovering a photo of the same coin-drop part on Amazon, he said. With the dryers, Orlitzky writes he had to use a voltage tester to make sure he didn\u2019t get electrocuted, and then expose the wires with a pocket knife. That\u2019s it. \u2018The main hurdle is that you have to be pissed off enough to try,\u2019 Orlitzky said. \u2018But armed with enough outrage, the actual bypass is fairly accessible.\u2019 Once the prep work is done, shorting both the dryers and washers can be done in seconds or a minute. \u2018I do it in the middle of the day. The bypasses don\u2019t harm the machines, and the machines don\u2019t belong to the people who own the buildings\/cameras. Your neighbors (who are most likely to catch you in the act) aren\u2019t invested either way. What are they gonna do?\u2019 he added.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 55 Neutral (previous close: 42 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 40 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 31 at 2:15:54 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The world might be a different place if we taught grade school kids about power curves instead of averages:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The top 10% of alcohol drinkers in the US consume 74 drinks per week. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/18QUFhyLuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/18QUFhyLuk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Beckham (@mikebeckhamsm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikebeckhamsm\/status\/1818798532544917824\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Class Warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"class\"\/> Yes, of course Long Covid hits the working class disprotionately. From <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/trishgreenhalgh\/status\/1818898075689046143?s=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Greenhalgh\u2019s Lancet paper<\/a> (above):<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"438\" height=\"397\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276039\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class.png 438w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class-300x272.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cParasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study Them?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/science-nature\/parasites-are-everywhere-so-why-do-so-few-researchers-study-them-180984753\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Smithsonian<\/a>]. \u201cBut parasites are also diverse and understudied creatures that have evolved to flourish in nearly every animal and ecosystem on Earth. They <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0169534706001522\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">keep ecosystems in balance<\/a>, providing a natural control on host species while stimulating their co-evolution over many generations. \u2026. Parasites also change host species\u2019 behavior, leading to oddities like the pop-culture-worthy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/the-real-zombie-fungus-that-inspired-hbos-the-last-of-us-180981514\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">zombie ants that mysteriously climb ten inches up plants<\/a>, permanently lock their jaws into the plant, and allow their parasitic fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) to grow out of their body and rain spores onto unsuspecting ants below. And parasites keep food webs miraculously complex, forming hundreds of connections among themselves, other parasites and host species. Often, in an effort to travel between host animals, parasites will expose their hosts to new predators, like the tapeworm <em>Ligula intestinalis<\/em>, which grows so large it changes the buoyancy of the fish it inhabits, causing the fish to swim closer to the surface and get eaten by birds. Parasitism, a relationship between two species where one benefits at the other\u2019s expense, has <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27436119\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">evolved independently over 220 times in animals<\/a>\u2014more than any other animal lifestyle. Nearly half of all animals are parasites, with conservative estimates at 3.5 million species. Like the mammals, birds, insects and fish all around us, each parasite serves important functions in its environment\u2014ones that, without the parasite, could spell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5222570\/#:~:text=While%20many%20uncertainties%20exist%2C%20the,%2C%20communities%2C%20and%20even%20ecosystems.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">widespread ecological change<\/a>, if not disaster. For example, a widely supported idea called the \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sbs.utexas.edu\/levin\/bio213\/articles\/nature.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">enemy release hypothesis<\/a>\u2018 suggests that as parasites of invasive plants and animals decrease, the spread and abundance of the invasive species increase.\u201d \u2022 Maybe I should have filed this under The Bezzle. Or Class Warfare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Sensational breakthrough\u2019 marks step toward revealing hidden structure of prime numbers\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/sensational-breakthrough-marks-step-toward-revealing-hidden-structure-prime-numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Science<\/a>]. \u201cLooking back, Guth recalls a quote from the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who instructs an aspiring poet to \u201clive the questions\u201d rather than seeking answers. For Guth, this strategy of being comfortably uncomfortable with intractable problems resonates with his experience as a mathematician.\u201d \u2022 One of my intractable problems is reading this thing, which I\u2019m sure is dumbed down for a lay audience. Perhaps a reader will help.<\/p>\n<p>Look at all those <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2022\/03\/19\/reliving-second-hand-nostalgia-with-the-pdp-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PDP-11s<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The top 10% of alcohol drinkers in the US consume 74 drinks per week. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/18QUFhyLuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/18QUFhyLuk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Beckham (@mikebeckhamsm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikebeckhamsm\/status\/1818798532544917824\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-31-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From LawnDart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"455\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade-300x228.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>LawnDart writes: \u201cRed Raspberry and Climbing Nightshade: one will brighten your day, and the other can end it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"donate\"\/><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Water Cooler is a standalone entity <em>not<\/em> covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! <em>Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage<\/em>. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:<\/p>\n<p>Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226891\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png 606w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF & 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\/08\/200pm-water-cooler-8-1-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente Bird Song of the Day Blue Mockingbird, Zona Arqueol\u00f3gica Monte Alb\u00e1n\u2013Camino Ecol\u00f3gico, Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico. * * * In Case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82722,"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-82721","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\/82721","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=82721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Blue Mockingbird, Zona Arqueol\u00f3gica Monte Alb\u00e1n\u2013Camino Ecol\u00f3gico, Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#vp\">Kamala\u2019s VP search<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#race\">Democrats on race<\/a> (or rather, racial classification)<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#greenhalgh\">Trish Greenhalgh<\/a> on Long Covid.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#class\">Covid and class<\/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><a name=\"assassination \"\/>Trump Assassination Attempt<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cVideo from Trump assassination attempt victim\u2019s POV shows figure moving on roof moments before gunfire\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/video-from-trump-assassination-attempt-victims-pov-shows-figure-moving-roof-moments-before-gunfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FOX<\/a>]. \u201cA video from James Copenhaver, one of the victims critically wounded in the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Trump, shows a figure moving across the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump\u2019s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the video taken at 6:08 p.m. on July 13, the person appears on the roof of the building adjacent to where Trump is speaking and can be seen walking from the 1:00 second mark to about the 2:50 second mark.\u201d \u2022 Oh. This entire story makes less and less sense as it goes on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPennsylvania county law enforcement officials say Secret Service is presenting a \u2018misleading\u2019 picture of Trump shooting scene\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/07\/31\/politics\/beaver-county-secret-service-trump-shooting-interview\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"race\"\/>Democrats on race:<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Back in the day, when I was involved in efforts to standardize classification schemes, one of my colleagues produced (I paraphrase) the following <em>bon mot<\/em>: \u201cFor all sentences, the word <em>is<\/em> can be replaced by <em>has been classified as<\/em> without loss of meaning.\u201d So, \u201cthose ideas are green\u201d could be reworded as \u201cthose ideas have been classified as green,\u201d and so on. There\u2019s something to be said for that thesis (\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grubstlodger.uk\/2023\/06\/i-refute-it-thus-in-which-johnson-kicks.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">I refute it thus<\/a>\u201c), but Democrats can\u2019t seem to make up their minds about whether it\u2019s true or not. Indeed, they want to have it both ways; \u201cis\u201d would be essentialist; \u201chas been classified\u201d social constructionist (caveat that this is binary, therefore at best an approximation; I\u2019m sure scholarly work has been done on this, and readers should feel free to introduce it). Does anybody remember the enormous liberal dogpile on Rachel Dolezal\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Jenner to Dolezal: One Trans Good, the Other Not So Much\u201d [Adolph Reed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2015\/06\/15\/jenner-dolezal-one-trans-good-other-not-so-much\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Common Dreams<\/a>]. \u201cThis brings me to the most important point that this affair throws into relief. It has outed the essentialism on which those identitarian discourses rest. [Alicia] Garcia asks \u2018So why don\u2019t we just accept Dolezal as black? Because she\u2019s not.\u2019 But why is she not black in Garcia\u2019s view? Well, \u2018Her parents say she\u2019s not even close to being black.\u2019 But what would that mean \u2014 that she has no known black ancestry? Is blackness, then, a matter of hypodescent after all? But, if that\u2019s what it is, then what politically significant meaning does the category have? Dolezal no doubt has her issues and idiosyncrasies, but, especially if the judgment of the NAACP counts for anything in the matter, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019d take her in a trade for Clarence Thomas, Cory Booker, Condi Rice, and five TFA pimps to be named later. Or would Dolezal\u2019s \u2018not even close to being black\u2019 mean that she was raised outside of \u2018authentic\u2019 black idiom or cultural experience? But whose black idiom or cultural experience would that be? Is there really an irreducible, definitive one? If so, on which Racial Voice blog or Ivy League campus might we find it?\u201d \u2022 Note that Kamala\u2019s rollout of identitarian verticals: First, Black Women. Second, White Women. Third, White Men. Fourth, Latino Men.\u201d Fifth, AAHNPI. This rollout strongly suggests an essentialist perspective. I mean, where\u2019s the \u201cMixed Race\u201d vertical? Could we have separate verticals for 1\/2 White, 1\/4 White, etc.? I would guess the Democrat base is essentialist (race is, after all, a box to be checked, or not checked, on an HR form). The following Mother Jones headline is on point\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhite Man Tells Black Journalists His Black Opponent Is Not Black\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2024\/07\/trump-nabj-racist-harris-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mother Jones<\/a>]. \u2022 Clearly essentialist. Not Black\/Indian; Black. Not \u201cidentifying as Black.\u201d Black. OTOH, we have Axios\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-black-journalists-convention-nabj-1e96aa530e88013ed6f577feaf89ccb6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cCHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Donald Trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race as the former president appeared Wednesday before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago in an interview that quickly turned hostile. The Republican former president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage. \u2018I didn\u2019t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don\u2019t know, is she Indian or is she Black?\u2019 Trump said while addressing the group\u2019s annual convention. Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation\u2019s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supporting legislation to strengthen voting rights and to reform policing.\u201d \u2022 AP is, I would say, social constructivist, although Trump <em>also<\/em> wants it both ways (\u201chappened to turn\u201d is social constructivist, but \u201cis she Indian or is she Black\u201d is essentialist).<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Kamala\u2019s views count, too (at least from a socially constructivist standpoint). Here\u2019s a cooking video from 2019:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Kamala Harris & Mindy Kaling Cook Masala Dosa\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xz7rNOAFkgE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The relevant frame:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"356\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276046\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian-300x178.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Personally, I don\u2019t care one way or the other; I\u2019m a social constructivist. That said, what\u2019s the theory of the case here? The Democrats \u2014 and Harris \u2014 need to make up their minds whether they\u2019re social constructivists or, like Mother Jones, Trump, and whichever staffer named and organized the identity rollouts, essentialists. They need to pick one or the other, and stop tying to have it both ways.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>2024<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Less than one hundred days to go!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" 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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" 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=\"auto, (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><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll see what the averages say Friday, but:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Harris has wiped out Trump’s lead across seven swing states in the latest round of the Bloomberg News \/ Morning Consult poll. The poll found a big Dem lead in Michigan, a more modest Trump lead in Pennsylvania and close contests everywhere else. Dead heat.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UzzZaknhD2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/UzzZaknhD2<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xxJN94TFec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/xxJN94TFec<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/josh_wingrove\/status\/1818387625264238627\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 30, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Lots of Brownian motion here, still. More noteworthy is that Trump got no visible bounce from the assassination.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"defenestration\"\/>Biden Defenestration: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiden privately weighs how to use the time left in his presidency\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2024\/08\/01\/biden-reflects-time-left-presidency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. On Air Force One: \u201cAbout an hour into the flight, [BIden] glanced at the television playing in the background, where guests on MSNBC were speculating over who Vice President Harris would pick as her running mate. \u2018Kamala and I talked,\u2019 Biden remarked. \u2018I said she could pick me.\u2019 He waited a beat, then said he was joking, prompting laughter\u2026. The anger and bitterness from the lead-up to his decision to withdraw \u2014 when he felt cornered by members of his own party \u2014 seem to have given way to an attitude that is more accepting of the current moment. Biden is occasionally wistful, and he has engaged in lighter and even playful moments after a weeks-long period of intense stress, for example peeking through American flags and around columns near the Rose Garden to make faces at aides who had gathered to applaud him after his Oval Office address last week.\u201d \u2022 Then again, he could kick some of the backstabbers in the stones on his way out the door\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trail\"\/><em><strong>The Campaign Trail<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"vp\">The VP search: <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cHarris\u2019 high-stakes veepstakes: Fundraising powerhouses vie for VP slot\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2024\/08\/vp-kamala-harris-high-stakes-veepstakes-fundraising-powerhouses-vice-president-pick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Open Secrets<\/a>]. Handy chart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve highlighted the conventional wisdom of those in the running.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cPennsylvania Gov. Shapiro cancels Hamptons trip, days before expected Harris VP reveal\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/08\/01\/shapiro-harris-vp-reveal-plans.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNBC<\/a>]. \u201c\u201dThe Governor\u2019s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee,\u201d Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder confirmed to NBC News. \u2018His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend.’\u201d \u2022 So, announcement next week, apparently. And I was so excited.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cThe DNC virtual roll call to nominate Kamala Harris is underway. This is how it will work\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/whyy.org\/articles\/dnc-virtual-roll-call-kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WHYY<\/a>]. \u201cDelegates to the Democratic National Convention began officially selecting their nominee for president in a process that kicked off Thursday. But unlike in past years, they are not doing so in the raucous party atmosphere of the convention floor or even during the convention itself. Instead, they are filling out electronic ballots at their homes, offices or vacation spots more than two weeks before the first delegate steps foot inside Chicago\u2019s United Center. Vice President Kamala Harris is the only candidate eligible to receive votes after no other candidate qualified by a Tuesday night deadline. The \u2018virtual roll call,\u2019 the term used by Democratic National Committee officials, will allow Harris to claim the nomination by Monday evening. That\u2019s just 15 days after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term following widespread concerns within the party over his ability to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.\u201d \u2022 The byte-filled room\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cDemocrats Think Their Candidate is Running for President of Online, Again\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/democrats-think-their-candidate-is\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Freddie DeBoer<\/a>]. \u201cAnd many seem intent on remaking a core 2016 mistake: acting as though the Democratic candidate\u2019s job is to become the President of Online rather than the President of the United States, begging Harris to devote her campaign to memes and social media, playing to people like them instead of the middle class white retirees in Wisconsin and Arizona who will actually determine this election. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/beyonce-kamala-harris-campaign-video.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> [New York Magazines\u2019] Jason P. Frank says that the key to victory for Harris is mobilizing \u2018stans.\u2019 Jason, what Kamala Harris needs is white independents without college degrees in swing states. Are a lot of those in very-online fan armies? I have my doubts. In fact I suspect most of the people Harris needs the most don\u2019t know what the fuck a stan is and don\u2019t spend any time in the spaces where stans congregate! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/white-women-kamala-harris-zoom-call.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> Angelina Chapin credulously covers a pro-Harris Zoom call for white women, which I\u2019m sure is a great way to reach women married to laid-off-ironworkers-turned-Uber-Eats-drivers in the Rust Belt. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/kamala-harris-alpha-kappa-alpha-sorority.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> Camille Squires talks about all the enthusiasm for Harris that\u2019s bubbling up in Harris\u2019s old sorority. Squires writes that \u2018there\u2019s little doubt that she can count on the support of the more than 360,000 women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.\u2019 Well, yes, that\u2019s true. As would Biden. I don\u2019t think the Democrats were going to struggle to reach the Black sorority sister demographic. The weird way that a given party\u2019s most loyal voters are often rendered the least important is another dumb element of democracy, and another fact of life. This all reflects a pitfall that pretty much everyone falls into, but which is particularly hard to avoid when your side of the partisan divide controls most of the media: playing to those within your coalition rather than those who you might be able to drag into it. All of the winking, self-impressed meme politics going on right now are useful if you want to win the day on Bluesky but profoundly useless if you want to herd many of our dumbest voters onto the Democratic party\u2019s pasture. If Harris is going to win, the absolute last thing she should do is to run a meme candidacy like that presided over by Robbie Mook in 2016, where Hillary\u2019s agenda took a back seat to a never-ending procession of glamorous celebrity photo ops and a wince-inducing attempt to make the candidate into America\u2019s cool grandma.\u201d \u2022 Clinton 2.0. <\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cWe Get to Decide What Is Possible Under a Future Harris Administration\u201d [Ilhan Omar, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/we-get-to-decide-what-is-possible-under-a-future-harris-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u2022 Not if the way Kamala made it to the top of the ticket is any indication, no.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cDonald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-black-journalists-convention-nabj-1e96aa530e88013ed6f577feaf89ccb6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. I run this again to make a specific comment on the campaign: \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know, is she Indian or is she Black?\u201d \u2022 Again, I\u2019m banging my head on my desk because I didn\u2019t save the very early Kamala Harris campaign brochure where she ran as Indian. <\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cJD Vance Says Trump\u2019s Comments About Kamala Harris\u2019 Racial Identity Were \u2018Hysterical’\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.notus.org\/trump-2024\/jd-vance-kamala-harris-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NOTUS<\/a>]. The headline is the reverse of what Vance said: \u201d Sen. JD Vance told reporters it\u2019s \u2018hysterical how much the media is overreacting\u2019 to his running mate Donald Trump\u2019s comments questioning whether Vice President Kamala Harris is Black.\u201d Not \u201cTrump\u2019s comments\u201d; the media. More: \u201c\u2018I think he pointed out the fundamental chameleon-like nature of Kamala Harris. And you guys saw yesterday, she was in Georgia, and she put on a southern accent for a Georgia audience. She grew up in Vancouver. What the hell is going on here? She is not who she pretends to be.\u2019 When asked by a reporter explicitly if he questions whether Harris is Black, Vance said, \u2018What I question is why she presents a different posture depending on which audience that she\u2019s in front of.’\u201d \u2022 Fair. See <a href=\"#race\">\u201cDemocrats on race\u201d<\/a> above. I did say I was out of the snark business, but Trump is said to be adept with nicknames. Couldn\u2019t something be done with \u201cKamala\u201d and \u201cChameleon\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cThe farmers who love JD Vance\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/M8SzD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cRepublican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has had a rough week. But you wouldn\u2019t know it from today\u2019s fundraiser in Coalinga, Calif., where he got a warm reception from California\u2019s farming community. California Republicans were quick to brush off his positions on \u2018childless cat ladies\u2019 \u2014 and eager to turn Democratic messaging on its head by rallying behind the embattled Ohio senator. \u2018,\u2019 said Barbara Hallmeyer, a retired high school drama teacher and a California Republican Party delegate attending the fundraiser. Vance\u2019s greeting is a measure of Trump\u2019s continuing grip on the farm vote and among rural voters, whom he won by a large margin in 2020, according to exit polls. But it\u2019s also a sign that, despite worries in some quarters of the party that Vance is a liability to the ticket, key elements of the GOP base remain supportive even after a wave of negative press coverage surrounding his provocative statements.\u201d \u2022 I don\u2019t think \u201cweird\u201d resonates outside <em>already<\/em> deeply committed Democrats (and the ads in opposition write themselves).<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cTrump Forces Out Project 2025 Mastermind\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/trump-campaign-puts-the-screws-to-project-2025-mastermind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Daily Beast<\/a>]. \u201cHis departure hinted that Heritage was shutting down its work on the initiative more than a year after Project 2025 produced its cornerstone 900-page policy mandate that came to define the MAGA movement. The manifesto attracted widespread criticism in recent weeks over its extremist proposals that would demand fealty from federal workers, promote Christian nationalism and overhaul policies from abortion to civil liberties and climate and restructure the departments of Justice and Defense, among other agencies. As the project backfired politically, Trump sought to distance himself from the group despite its naked ties to his first administration, with Project leadership boasting a number of senior Trump aides and close advisers. The source told the Beast that the rift between the Trump campaign and the Heritage Foundation was not ideological, but rather was about power and who will ultimately control Trump World and make staffing decisions in a possible second Trump administration.\u201d \u2022 \u201cCame to define the MAGA movement\u2019 in whose eyes?<\/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>Airborne Transmission<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Corsi-Rosenthal Box still going strong:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Corsi-Rosenthal box is the best air purifier we’ve tested out of 26 \u2014and it’s one we built ourselves! How can it the BEST air purifier when we’ve got sleek Dysons, portable Levoits, and much cooler boxes of filters? Our newest R&D Video answers that! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EwcN8B1jXL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/EwcN8B1jXL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aAyUALqVpH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/aAyUALqVpH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RTINGS.com (@rtingsdotcom) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rtingsdotcom\/status\/1806319331233382670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">June 27, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>NOTE More modern designs use big honkin\u2019 computer fans suitable for gaming machines. These are quieter, and also can be assembled in areas that don\u2019t use box fans (Southeast Asia). However, the same engineering principles apply.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Maskstravaganza<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMasking Policies at National Cancer Institute\u2013Designated Cancer Centers During Winter 2023 to 2024 COVID-19 Surge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/article-abstract\/2821699\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">JAMA<\/a>]. \u201cCancer centers were more likely to require universal masking in at least some areas if they were located in the Northeast (11 [78.6%]), had longer NCI designation duration (first quintile: 10 [83.3%]), had more program funding (first quintile: 11 [84.6%]), or (first quintile: 11 [84.6%])\u201d \u2022 And no wonder!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Vaccines: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cReassortment\u201d:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">CDC: Seasonal flu jabs offered to farmworkers to prevent H5N1 reassortment<\/p>\n<p>“Reassortment could lead to a new influenza virus \u2026 a virus that has the transmissibility of seasonal influenza and the severity of H5N1.”<\/p>\n<p>Alexander Tin\u2019s notes<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TD6B6gTUgj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/TD6B6gTUgj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ooDVsW01Oq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/ooDVsW01Oq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CoronaHeadsUp\/status\/1818913957354053788\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">August 1, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>On reassortment, from <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25007845\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology<\/a> (2014):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Reassortment is the process by which influenza viruses swap gene segments. This genetic exchange is possible due to the segmented nature of the viral genome and occurs when two differing influenza viruses co-infect a cell. The viral diversity generated through reassortment is vast and plays an important role in the evolution of influenza viruses. Herein we review recent insights into the contribution of reassortment to the natural history and epidemiology of influenza A viruses, gained through population scale phylogenic analyses. We describe methods currently used to study reassortment in the laboratory, and we summarize recent progress made using these experimental approaches to further our understanding of influenza virus reassortment and the contexts in which it occurs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Reassortment, then, does not happen with corona viruses (mavens, correct me). So if human-to-human H5N1 transmission really gets rolling, it could be bad for humanity in a way that Covid is not.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Sequelae: Covid<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"greenhalgh\"\/>Long COVID: a clinical update\u201d (preview) [Trish Greenhalgh et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(24)01136-X\/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Lancet<\/a>]. \u201cLong COVID currently has no definitive cure, so prevention is of the utmost importance. The best way to prevent long COVID is to prevent COVID-19 through well established public health measures such as paying attention to indoor air quality (eg, ventilation or filtration); wearing well fitting, high-filtration masks or respirators when appropriate; and supporting infectious individuals to quarantine. People with acute COVID-19 should ensure they rest.\u201d \u2022 Handy chart of the multiple pathways to Long Covid (the \u201cpinball machine\u201d below):<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"591\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball-300x296.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/>r<\/p>\n<p>The following is Greenhalgh\u2019s \u201clay summary\u201d of the Lancet piece:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong COVID \u2013 a dystopian game of pinball\u201d [Trish Greenhalgh, <a href=\"https:\/\/independentsage.substack.com\/p\/long-covid-a-dystopian-game-of-pinball\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Independent Sage<\/a>]. The deck: \u201cProf Trish Greenhalgh explains the findings of her recent comprehensive Lancet review of Long Covid.\u201d Brilliant extended metaphor: \u201cLong COVID is a real condition whose complex biological basis is beginning to be understood. The sequence of events that makes COVID-19 into a protracted (and quite possibly, lifelong) illness in some but not all people is a bit like a dystopian game of pinball. An unlucky ball hits a series of key buffers, buzzers and bells, triggering a cascade of further events\u2026 [T[hese changes flip off additional cascades of biochemical messengers (\u2018supplementary pathological mechanisms\u2019), which, in health, contribute to keeping the body in balance\u2026. [T[hese microscopic changes in genes, molecules, proteins, cells and micro-organisms produce various kinds of organ damage\u2026. [T]hese organ-level changes lead to the well-known symptoms of Long COVID described in the second paragraph above. . But . You didn\u2019t get that when you had COVID-19? Lucky you. The ball of your initial infection missed a few vital targets. But that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re immune from Long COVID for life. Your next infection could light up the whole machine.\u201d \u2022 Yep. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong Covid Defined\u201d (\u201cSounding Board\u201d) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMsb2408466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NEJM<\/a>]. Interesting to read on conjunction with Greenhalgh. Here is their definition, which does come in the form of a Figure:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cUpcoming Meeting\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/upcoming-meeting\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HICPAC<\/a>]. \u201cThe next HICPAC meeting is scheduled for August 22-23, 2024. This will be a virtual meeting.\u201d I wonder why? More: \u201c. See agenda for time dedicated to public comments\u2026. Public engagement and input are vital to HICPAC\u2019s work.\u201d \u2022 No agenda is posted. Of course. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/roster\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here is the roster<\/a>, which lists seven members. That\u2019s odd: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/about\/charter.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HICPAC\u2019s charter<\/a>: \u201cThe Committee shall consist of 14 non-Federal members, including the Chair or Co-Chairs.\u201d Does the current make-up even have a quorum?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: New York hospitalization leveling out, and now WalGreens positivity down for two weeks, are the first positive signs I\u2019ve seen in a long time. Wastewater still going strong, though!<\/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) Leveling off. Doesn\u2019t need to be a permanent thing, of course. (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. Comment on the Cleveland Clinic:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why is the Cleveland Clinic building a new facility for a professional basketball team? These hospitals are not ‘nonprofits’ they are ridiculously profitable monopolies with an endless cash gusher to point at whatever they want. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1REM2LMLjd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/1REM2LMLjd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1817948450908258696\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Ka-ching.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn\u2019t even run back to 1\/21\/23, as it used to, but now starts 1\/1\/24. There\u2019s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn\u2019t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that\u2019s why the shape of the curve has changed.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads. <\/p>\n<p>[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.<\/p>\n<p>[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Initial Jobless Claims\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/jobless-claims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US rose by 14,000 to 249,000 on the period ending July 27th, reaching an almost new yearly high, surpassing market expectations of 236,000. This increase, along with other key indicators, indicates that the US labor market continued to weaken during this period, bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve may lower benchmark borrowing costs by September.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Challenger Job Cuts\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/challenger-job-cuts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cUS employers announced 25,855 job cuts in July 2024, the lowest level in a year, and down 46.9% from June\u2019s 48,786. Still, it is the highest total for the month since 2020, above July 2023\u2019s 23,697.:<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States ISM Manufacturing PMI\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/business-confidence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 46.6 in July of 2024 from 48.5 in the previous month, firmly below market expectations of 48.8, reflecting the sharpest contraction in US factory activity since November 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>The Economy:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“We have a 30 year old family member who works on the assembly line building Peterbuilt trucks in Denton, Texas. (a PACCAR company) He has seniority and works the #1 shift. He was told not to come to work next week. Shutting down the assembly line for a week due to lack of\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave Collum (@DavidBCollum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DavidBCollum\/status\/1818654086230622340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Apparel:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This video comparing the same dress across different price points is also very good.<\/p>\n<p>My point is not to tell you how much to spend on something (buy what suits your budget). Only saying that two things that look alike online are not necessarily the same<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UzcnW0vh1V\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/UzcnW0vh1V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 derek guy (@dieworkwear) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dieworkwear\/status\/1818735741137998315\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The video on Tik Tok scammers and fast fashion is well worth a watch.<\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cHacker Shows How to Get Free Laundry For Life\u201d [404 Media]. \u201cOrlitzky then tried a bunch of stuff that did not work for unlocking free laundry\u2026 What did work was short circuiting the red and black wires on the coin-drop mechanism. He found this out after discovering a photo of the same coin-drop part on Amazon, he said. With the dryers, Orlitzky writes he had to use a voltage tester to make sure he didn\u2019t get electrocuted, and then expose the wires with a pocket knife. That\u2019s it. \u2018The main hurdle is that you have to be pissed off enough to try,\u2019 Orlitzky said. \u2018But armed with enough outrage, the actual bypass is fairly accessible.\u2019 Once the prep work is done, shorting both the dryers and washers can be done in seconds or a minute. \u2018I do it in the middle of the day. The bypasses don\u2019t harm the machines, and the machines don\u2019t belong to the people who own the buildings\/cameras. Your neighbors (who are most likely to catch you in the act) aren\u2019t invested either way. What are they gonna do?\u2019 he added.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 55 Neutral (previous close: 42 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 40 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 31 at 2:15:54 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The world might be a different place if we taught grade school kids about power curves instead of averages:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The top 10% of alcohol drinkers in the US consume 74 drinks per week. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/18QUFhyLuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/18QUFhyLuk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Beckham (@mikebeckhamsm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikebeckhamsm\/status\/1818798532544917824\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Class Warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"class\"\/> Yes, of course Long Covid hits the working class disprotionately. From <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/trishgreenhalgh\/status\/1818898075689046143?s=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Greenhalgh\u2019s Lancet paper<\/a> (above):<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"438\" height=\"397\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276039\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class.png 438w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class-300x272.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cParasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study Them?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/science-nature\/parasites-are-everywhere-so-why-do-so-few-researchers-study-them-180984753\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Smithsonian<\/a>]. \u201cBut parasites are also diverse and understudied creatures that have evolved to flourish in nearly every animal and ecosystem on Earth. They <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0169534706001522\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">keep ecosystems in balance<\/a>, providing a natural control on host species while stimulating their co-evolution over many generations. \u2026. Parasites also change host species\u2019 behavior, leading to oddities like the pop-culture-worthy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/the-real-zombie-fungus-that-inspired-hbos-the-last-of-us-180981514\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">zombie ants that mysteriously climb ten inches up plants<\/a>, permanently lock their jaws into the plant, and allow their parasitic fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) to grow out of their body and rain spores onto unsuspecting ants below. And parasites keep food webs miraculously complex, forming hundreds of connections among themselves, other parasites and host species. Often, in an effort to travel between host animals, parasites will expose their hosts to new predators, like the tapeworm <em>Ligula intestinalis<\/em>, which grows so large it changes the buoyancy of the fish it inhabits, causing the fish to swim closer to the surface and get eaten by birds. Parasitism, a relationship between two species where one benefits at the other\u2019s expense, has <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27436119\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">evolved independently over 220 times in animals<\/a>\u2014more than any other animal lifestyle. Nearly half of all animals are parasites, with conservative estimates at 3.5 million species. Like the mammals, birds, insects and fish all around us, each parasite serves important functions in its environment\u2014ones that, without the parasite, could spell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5222570\/#:~:text=While%20many%20uncertainties%20exist%2C%20the,%2C%20communities%2C%20and%20even%20ecosystems.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">widespread ecological change<\/a>, if not disaster. For example, a widely supported idea called the \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sbs.utexas.edu\/levin\/bio213\/articles\/nature.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">enemy release hypothesis<\/a>\u2018 suggests that as parasites of invasive plants and animals decrease, the spread and abundance of the invasive species increase.\u201d \u2022 Maybe I should have filed this under The Bezzle. Or Class Warfare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Sensational breakthrough\u2019 marks step toward revealing hidden structure of prime numbers\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/sensational-breakthrough-marks-step-toward-revealing-hidden-structure-prime-numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Science<\/a>]. \u201cLooking back, Guth recalls a quote from the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who instructs an aspiring poet to \u201clive the questions\u201d rather than seeking answers. For Guth, this strategy of being comfortably uncomfortable with intractable problems resonates with his experience as a mathematician.\u201d \u2022 One of my intractable problems is reading this thing, which I\u2019m sure is dumbed down for a lay audience. Perhaps a reader will help.<\/p>\n<p>Look at all those <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2022\/03\/19\/reliving-second-hand-nostalgia-with-the-pdp-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PDP-11s<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The top 10% of alcohol drinkers in the US consume 74 drinks per week. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/18QUFhyLuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/18QUFhyLuk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Beckham (@mikebeckhamsm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikebeckhamsm\/status\/1818798532544917824\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-31-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From LawnDart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"455\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade-300x228.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>LawnDart writes: \u201cRed Raspberry and Climbing Nightshade: one will brighten your day, and the other can end it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"donate\"\/><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Water Cooler is a standalone entity <em>not<\/em> covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! <em>Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage<\/em>. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:<\/p>\n<p>Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226891\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png 606w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF & 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\/08\/200pm-water-cooler-8-1-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente Bird Song of the Day Blue Mockingbird, Zona Arqueol\u00f3gica Monte Alb\u00e1n\u2013Camino Ecol\u00f3gico, Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico. * * * In Case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82722,"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-82721","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\/82721","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=82721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Blue Mockingbird, Zona Arqueol\u00f3gica Monte Alb\u00e1n\u2013Camino Ecol\u00f3gico, Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>(1) <a href=\"#vp\">Kamala\u2019s VP search<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#race\">Democrats on race<\/a> (or rather, racial classification)<\/p>\n<p>(2) <a href=\"#greenhalgh\">Trish Greenhalgh<\/a> on Long Covid.<\/p>\n<p>(3) <a href=\"#class\">Covid and class<\/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><a name=\"assassination \"\/>Trump Assassination Attempt<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cVideo from Trump assassination attempt victim\u2019s POV shows figure moving on roof moments before gunfire\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/us\/video-from-trump-assassination-attempt-victims-pov-shows-figure-moving-roof-moments-before-gunfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FOX<\/a>]. \u201cA video from James Copenhaver, one of the victims critically wounded in the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Trump, shows a figure moving across the roof of the American Glass Research (AGR) building just minutes before gunfire rang out at Trump\u2019s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the video taken at 6:08 p.m. on July 13, the person appears on the roof of the building adjacent to where Trump is speaking and can be seen walking from the 1:00 second mark to about the 2:50 second mark.\u201d \u2022 Oh. This entire story makes less and less sense as it goes on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPennsylvania county law enforcement officials say Secret Service is presenting a \u2018misleading\u2019 picture of Trump shooting scene\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/07\/31\/politics\/beaver-county-secret-service-trump-shooting-interview\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en D\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"race\"\/>Democrats on race:<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Back in the day, when I was involved in efforts to standardize classification schemes, one of my colleagues produced (I paraphrase) the following <em>bon mot<\/em>: \u201cFor all sentences, the word <em>is<\/em> can be replaced by <em>has been classified as<\/em> without loss of meaning.\u201d So, \u201cthose ideas are green\u201d could be reworded as \u201cthose ideas have been classified as green,\u201d and so on. There\u2019s something to be said for that thesis (\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grubstlodger.uk\/2023\/06\/i-refute-it-thus-in-which-johnson-kicks.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">I refute it thus<\/a>\u201c), but Democrats can\u2019t seem to make up their minds about whether it\u2019s true or not. Indeed, they want to have it both ways; \u201cis\u201d would be essentialist; \u201chas been classified\u201d social constructionist (caveat that this is binary, therefore at best an approximation; I\u2019m sure scholarly work has been done on this, and readers should feel free to introduce it). Does anybody remember the enormous liberal dogpile on Rachel Dolezal\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Jenner to Dolezal: One Trans Good, the Other Not So Much\u201d [Adolph Reed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/views\/2015\/06\/15\/jenner-dolezal-one-trans-good-other-not-so-much\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Common Dreams<\/a>]. \u201cThis brings me to the most important point that this affair throws into relief. It has outed the essentialism on which those identitarian discourses rest. [Alicia] Garcia asks \u2018So why don\u2019t we just accept Dolezal as black? Because she\u2019s not.\u2019 But why is she not black in Garcia\u2019s view? Well, \u2018Her parents say she\u2019s not even close to being black.\u2019 But what would that mean \u2014 that she has no known black ancestry? Is blackness, then, a matter of hypodescent after all? But, if that\u2019s what it is, then what politically significant meaning does the category have? Dolezal no doubt has her issues and idiosyncrasies, but, especially if the judgment of the NAACP counts for anything in the matter, I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019d take her in a trade for Clarence Thomas, Cory Booker, Condi Rice, and five TFA pimps to be named later. Or would Dolezal\u2019s \u2018not even close to being black\u2019 mean that she was raised outside of \u2018authentic\u2019 black idiom or cultural experience? But whose black idiom or cultural experience would that be? Is there really an irreducible, definitive one? If so, on which Racial Voice blog or Ivy League campus might we find it?\u201d \u2022 Note that Kamala\u2019s rollout of identitarian verticals: First, Black Women. Second, White Women. Third, White Men. Fourth, Latino Men.\u201d Fifth, AAHNPI. This rollout strongly suggests an essentialist perspective. I mean, where\u2019s the \u201cMixed Race\u201d vertical? Could we have separate verticals for 1\/2 White, 1\/4 White, etc.? I would guess the Democrat base is essentialist (race is, after all, a box to be checked, or not checked, on an HR form). The following Mother Jones headline is on point\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhite Man Tells Black Journalists His Black Opponent Is Not Black\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2024\/07\/trump-nabj-racist-harris-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mother Jones<\/a>]. \u2022 Clearly essentialist. Not Black\/Indian; Black. Not \u201cidentifying as Black.\u201d Black. OTOH, we have Axios\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-black-journalists-convention-nabj-1e96aa530e88013ed6f577feaf89ccb6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cCHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Donald Trump falsely suggested Kamala Harris had misled voters about her race as the former president appeared Wednesday before the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago in an interview that quickly turned hostile. The Republican former president wrongly claimed that Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past only promoted her Indian heritage. \u2018I didn\u2019t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don\u2019t know, is she Indian or is she Black?\u2019 Trump said while addressing the group\u2019s annual convention. Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, both immigrants to the U.S. As an undergraduate, Harris attended Howard University, one of the nation\u2019s most prominent historically Black colleges and universities, where she also pledged the historically Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, supporting legislation to strengthen voting rights and to reform policing.\u201d \u2022 AP is, I would say, social constructivist, although Trump <em>also<\/em> wants it both ways (\u201chappened to turn\u201d is social constructivist, but \u201cis she Indian or is she Black\u201d is essentialist).<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Kamala\u2019s views count, too (at least from a socially constructivist standpoint). Here\u2019s a cooking video from 2019:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Kamala Harris & Mindy Kaling Cook Masala Dosa\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xz7rNOAFkgE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The relevant frame:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"356\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276046\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/harris_indian-300x178.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Personally, I don\u2019t care one way or the other; I\u2019m a social constructivist. That said, what\u2019s the theory of the case here? The Democrats \u2014 and Harris \u2014 need to make up their minds whether they\u2019re social constructivists or, like Mother Jones, Trump, and whichever staffer named and organized the identity rollouts, essentialists. They need to pick one or the other, and stop tying to have it both ways.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>2024<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Less than one hundred days to go!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" 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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" 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=\"auto, (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><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll see what the averages say Friday, but:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Harris has wiped out Trump’s lead across seven swing states in the latest round of the Bloomberg News \/ Morning Consult poll. The poll found a big Dem lead in Michigan, a more modest Trump lead in Pennsylvania and close contests everywhere else. Dead heat.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UzzZaknhD2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/UzzZaknhD2<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xxJN94TFec\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/xxJN94TFec<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/josh_wingrove\/status\/1818387625264238627\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 30, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Lots of Brownian motion here, still. More noteworthy is that Trump got no visible bounce from the assassination.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"defenestration\"\/>Biden Defenestration: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiden privately weighs how to use the time left in his presidency\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2024\/08\/01\/biden-reflects-time-left-presidency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. On Air Force One: \u201cAbout an hour into the flight, [BIden] glanced at the television playing in the background, where guests on MSNBC were speculating over who Vice President Harris would pick as her running mate. \u2018Kamala and I talked,\u2019 Biden remarked. \u2018I said she could pick me.\u2019 He waited a beat, then said he was joking, prompting laughter\u2026. The anger and bitterness from the lead-up to his decision to withdraw \u2014 when he felt cornered by members of his own party \u2014 seem to have given way to an attitude that is more accepting of the current moment. Biden is occasionally wistful, and he has engaged in lighter and even playful moments after a weeks-long period of intense stress, for example peeking through American flags and around columns near the Rose Garden to make faces at aides who had gathered to applaud him after his Oval Office address last week.\u201d \u2022 Then again, he could kick some of the backstabbers in the stones on his way out the door\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"trail\"\/><em><strong>The Campaign Trail<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"vp\">The VP search: <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cHarris\u2019 high-stakes veepstakes: Fundraising powerhouses vie for VP slot\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/news\/2024\/08\/vp-kamala-harris-high-stakes-veepstakes-fundraising-powerhouses-vice-president-pick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Open Secrets<\/a>]. Handy chart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve highlighted the conventional wisdom of those in the running.<\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cPennsylvania Gov. Shapiro cancels Hamptons trip, days before expected Harris VP reveal\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2024\/08\/01\/shapiro-harris-vp-reveal-plans.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNBC<\/a>]. \u201c\u201dThe Governor\u2019s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee,\u201d Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder confirmed to NBC News. \u2018His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend.’\u201d \u2022 So, announcement next week, apparently. And I was so excited.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cThe DNC virtual roll call to nominate Kamala Harris is underway. This is how it will work\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/whyy.org\/articles\/dnc-virtual-roll-call-kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WHYY<\/a>]. \u201cDelegates to the Democratic National Convention began officially selecting their nominee for president in a process that kicked off Thursday. But unlike in past years, they are not doing so in the raucous party atmosphere of the convention floor or even during the convention itself. Instead, they are filling out electronic ballots at their homes, offices or vacation spots more than two weeks before the first delegate steps foot inside Chicago\u2019s United Center. Vice President Kamala Harris is the only candidate eligible to receive votes after no other candidate qualified by a Tuesday night deadline. The \u2018virtual roll call,\u2019 the term used by Democratic National Committee officials, will allow Harris to claim the nomination by Monday evening. That\u2019s just 15 days after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek a second term following widespread concerns within the party over his ability to defeat Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.\u201d \u2022 The byte-filled room\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cDemocrats Think Their Candidate is Running for President of Online, Again\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/freddiedeboer.substack.com\/p\/democrats-think-their-candidate-is\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Freddie DeBoer<\/a>]. \u201cAnd many seem intent on remaking a core 2016 mistake: acting as though the Democratic candidate\u2019s job is to become the President of Online rather than the President of the United States, begging Harris to devote her campaign to memes and social media, playing to people like them instead of the middle class white retirees in Wisconsin and Arizona who will actually determine this election. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/beyonce-kamala-harris-campaign-video.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> [New York Magazines\u2019] Jason P. Frank says that the key to victory for Harris is mobilizing \u2018stans.\u2019 Jason, what Kamala Harris needs is white independents without college degrees in swing states. Are a lot of those in very-online fan armies? I have my doubts. In fact I suspect most of the people Harris needs the most don\u2019t know what the fuck a stan is and don\u2019t spend any time in the spaces where stans congregate! <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/white-women-kamala-harris-zoom-call.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> Angelina Chapin credulously covers a pro-Harris Zoom call for white women, which I\u2019m sure is a great way to reach women married to laid-off-ironworkers-turned-Uber-Eats-drivers in the Rust Belt. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecut.com\/article\/kamala-harris-alpha-kappa-alpha-sorority.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here<\/a> Camille Squires talks about all the enthusiasm for Harris that\u2019s bubbling up in Harris\u2019s old sorority. Squires writes that \u2018there\u2019s little doubt that she can count on the support of the more than 360,000 women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.\u2019 Well, yes, that\u2019s true. As would Biden. I don\u2019t think the Democrats were going to struggle to reach the Black sorority sister demographic. The weird way that a given party\u2019s most loyal voters are often rendered the least important is another dumb element of democracy, and another fact of life. This all reflects a pitfall that pretty much everyone falls into, but which is particularly hard to avoid when your side of the partisan divide controls most of the media: playing to those within your coalition rather than those who you might be able to drag into it. All of the winking, self-impressed meme politics going on right now are useful if you want to win the day on Bluesky but profoundly useless if you want to herd many of our dumbest voters onto the Democratic party\u2019s pasture. If Harris is going to win, the absolute last thing she should do is to run a meme candidacy like that presided over by Robbie Mook in 2016, where Hillary\u2019s agenda took a back seat to a never-ending procession of glamorous celebrity photo ops and a wince-inducing attempt to make the candidate into America\u2019s cool grandma.\u201d \u2022 Clinton 2.0. <\/p>\n<p>Kamala (D): \u201cWe Get to Decide What Is Possible Under a Future Harris Administration\u201d [Ilhan Omar, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/we-get-to-decide-what-is-possible-under-a-future-harris-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u2022 Not if the way Kamala made it to the top of the ticket is any indication, no.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cDonald Trump falsely suggests Kamala Harris misled voters about her race\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-black-journalists-convention-nabj-1e96aa530e88013ed6f577feaf89ccb6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. I run this again to make a specific comment on the campaign: \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know, is she Indian or is she Black?\u201d \u2022 Again, I\u2019m banging my head on my desk because I didn\u2019t save the very early Kamala Harris campaign brochure where she ran as Indian. <\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cJD Vance Says Trump\u2019s Comments About Kamala Harris\u2019 Racial Identity Were \u2018Hysterical’\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.notus.org\/trump-2024\/jd-vance-kamala-harris-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NOTUS<\/a>]. The headline is the reverse of what Vance said: \u201d Sen. JD Vance told reporters it\u2019s \u2018hysterical how much the media is overreacting\u2019 to his running mate Donald Trump\u2019s comments questioning whether Vice President Kamala Harris is Black.\u201d Not \u201cTrump\u2019s comments\u201d; the media. More: \u201c\u2018I think he pointed out the fundamental chameleon-like nature of Kamala Harris. And you guys saw yesterday, she was in Georgia, and she put on a southern accent for a Georgia audience. She grew up in Vancouver. What the hell is going on here? She is not who she pretends to be.\u2019 When asked by a reporter explicitly if he questions whether Harris is Black, Vance said, \u2018What I question is why she presents a different posture depending on which audience that she\u2019s in front of.’\u201d \u2022 Fair. See <a href=\"#race\">\u201cDemocrats on race\u201d<\/a> above. I did say I was out of the snark business, but Trump is said to be adept with nicknames. Couldn\u2019t something be done with \u201cKamala\u201d and \u201cChameleon\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cThe farmers who love JD Vance\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/M8SzD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cRepublican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has had a rough week. But you wouldn\u2019t know it from today\u2019s fundraiser in Coalinga, Calif., where he got a warm reception from California\u2019s farming community. California Republicans were quick to brush off his positions on \u2018childless cat ladies\u2019 \u2014 and eager to turn Democratic messaging on its head by rallying behind the embattled Ohio senator. \u2018,\u2019 said Barbara Hallmeyer, a retired high school drama teacher and a California Republican Party delegate attending the fundraiser. Vance\u2019s greeting is a measure of Trump\u2019s continuing grip on the farm vote and among rural voters, whom he won by a large margin in 2020, according to exit polls. But it\u2019s also a sign that, despite worries in some quarters of the party that Vance is a liability to the ticket, key elements of the GOP base remain supportive even after a wave of negative press coverage surrounding his provocative statements.\u201d \u2022 I don\u2019t think \u201cweird\u201d resonates outside <em>already<\/em> deeply committed Democrats (and the ads in opposition write themselves).<\/p>\n<p>Trump (R): \u201cTrump Forces Out Project 2025 Mastermind\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/trump-campaign-puts-the-screws-to-project-2025-mastermind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Daily Beast<\/a>]. \u201cHis departure hinted that Heritage was shutting down its work on the initiative more than a year after Project 2025 produced its cornerstone 900-page policy mandate that came to define the MAGA movement. The manifesto attracted widespread criticism in recent weeks over its extremist proposals that would demand fealty from federal workers, promote Christian nationalism and overhaul policies from abortion to civil liberties and climate and restructure the departments of Justice and Defense, among other agencies. As the project backfired politically, Trump sought to distance himself from the group despite its naked ties to his first administration, with Project leadership boasting a number of senior Trump aides and close advisers. The source told the Beast that the rift between the Trump campaign and the Heritage Foundation was not ideological, but rather was about power and who will ultimately control Trump World and make staffing decisions in a possible second Trump administration.\u201d \u2022 \u201cCame to define the MAGA movement\u2019 in whose eyes?<\/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>Airborne Transmission<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Corsi-Rosenthal Box still going strong:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Corsi-Rosenthal box is the best air purifier we’ve tested out of 26 \u2014and it’s one we built ourselves! How can it the BEST air purifier when we’ve got sleek Dysons, portable Levoits, and much cooler boxes of filters? Our newest R&D Video answers that! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EwcN8B1jXL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/EwcN8B1jXL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/aAyUALqVpH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/aAyUALqVpH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RTINGS.com (@rtingsdotcom) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rtingsdotcom\/status\/1806319331233382670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">June 27, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>NOTE More modern designs use big honkin\u2019 computer fans suitable for gaming machines. These are quieter, and also can be assembled in areas that don\u2019t use box fans (Southeast Asia). However, the same engineering principles apply.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Maskstravaganza<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cMasking Policies at National Cancer Institute\u2013Designated Cancer Centers During Winter 2023 to 2024 COVID-19 Surge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/article-abstract\/2821699\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">JAMA<\/a>]. \u201cCancer centers were more likely to require universal masking in at least some areas if they were located in the Northeast (11 [78.6%]), had longer NCI designation duration (first quintile: 10 [83.3%]), had more program funding (first quintile: 11 [84.6%]), or (first quintile: 11 [84.6%])\u201d \u2022 And no wonder!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Vaccines: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cReassortment\u201d:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">CDC: Seasonal flu jabs offered to farmworkers to prevent H5N1 reassortment<\/p>\n<p>“Reassortment could lead to a new influenza virus \u2026 a virus that has the transmissibility of seasonal influenza and the severity of H5N1.”<\/p>\n<p>Alexander Tin\u2019s notes<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TD6B6gTUgj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/TD6B6gTUgj<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ooDVsW01Oq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/ooDVsW01Oq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CoronaHeadsUp\/status\/1818913957354053788\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">August 1, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>On reassortment, from <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25007845\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology<\/a> (2014):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Reassortment is the process by which influenza viruses swap gene segments. This genetic exchange is possible due to the segmented nature of the viral genome and occurs when two differing influenza viruses co-infect a cell. The viral diversity generated through reassortment is vast and plays an important role in the evolution of influenza viruses. Herein we review recent insights into the contribution of reassortment to the natural history and epidemiology of influenza A viruses, gained through population scale phylogenic analyses. We describe methods currently used to study reassortment in the laboratory, and we summarize recent progress made using these experimental approaches to further our understanding of influenza virus reassortment and the contexts in which it occurs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Reassortment, then, does not happen with corona viruses (mavens, correct me). So if human-to-human H5N1 transmission really gets rolling, it could be bad for humanity in a way that Covid is not.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Sequelae: Covid<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"greenhalgh\"\/>Long COVID: a clinical update\u201d (preview) [Trish Greenhalgh et al., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(24)01136-X\/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Lancet<\/a>]. \u201cLong COVID currently has no definitive cure, so prevention is of the utmost importance. The best way to prevent long COVID is to prevent COVID-19 through well established public health measures such as paying attention to indoor air quality (eg, ventilation or filtration); wearing well fitting, high-filtration masks or respirators when appropriate; and supporting infectious individuals to quarantine. People with acute COVID-19 should ensure they rest.\u201d \u2022 Handy chart of the multiple pathways to Long Covid (the \u201cpinball machine\u201d below):<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"591\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276038\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/greenhalgh_pinball-300x296.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/>r<\/p>\n<p>The following is Greenhalgh\u2019s \u201clay summary\u201d of the Lancet piece:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong COVID \u2013 a dystopian game of pinball\u201d [Trish Greenhalgh, <a href=\"https:\/\/independentsage.substack.com\/p\/long-covid-a-dystopian-game-of-pinball\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Independent Sage<\/a>]. The deck: \u201cProf Trish Greenhalgh explains the findings of her recent comprehensive Lancet review of Long Covid.\u201d Brilliant extended metaphor: \u201cLong COVID is a real condition whose complex biological basis is beginning to be understood. The sequence of events that makes COVID-19 into a protracted (and quite possibly, lifelong) illness in some but not all people is a bit like a dystopian game of pinball. An unlucky ball hits a series of key buffers, buzzers and bells, triggering a cascade of further events\u2026 [T[hese changes flip off additional cascades of biochemical messengers (\u2018supplementary pathological mechanisms\u2019), which, in health, contribute to keeping the body in balance\u2026. [T[hese microscopic changes in genes, molecules, proteins, cells and micro-organisms produce various kinds of organ damage\u2026. [T]hese organ-level changes lead to the well-known symptoms of Long COVID described in the second paragraph above. . But . You didn\u2019t get that when you had COVID-19? Lucky you. The ball of your initial infection missed a few vital targets. But that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re immune from Long COVID for life. Your next infection could light up the whole machine.\u201d \u2022 Yep. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLong Covid Defined\u201d (\u201cSounding Board\u201d) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMsb2408466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NEJM<\/a>]. Interesting to read on conjunction with Greenhalgh. Here is their definition, which does come in the form of a Figure:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"468\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276040\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/nejmsb2408466_f1-300x234.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Elite Maleficence<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cUpcoming Meeting\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/upcoming-meeting\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HICPAC<\/a>]. \u201cThe next HICPAC meeting is scheduled for August 22-23, 2024. This will be a virtual meeting.\u201d I wonder why? More: \u201c. See agenda for time dedicated to public comments\u2026. Public engagement and input are vital to HICPAC\u2019s work.\u201d \u2022 No agenda is posted. Of course. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/roster\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Here is the roster<\/a>, which lists seven members. That\u2019s odd: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/hicpac\/php\/about\/charter.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">HICPAC\u2019s charter<\/a>: \u201cThe Committee shall consist of 14 non-Federal members, including the Chair or Co-Chairs.\u201d Does the current make-up even have a quorum?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: New York hospitalization leveling out, and now WalGreens positivity down for two weeks, are the first positive signs I\u2019ve seen in a long time. Wastewater still going strong, though!<\/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) Leveling off. Doesn\u2019t need to be a permanent thing, of course. (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. Comment on the Cleveland Clinic:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why is the Cleveland Clinic building a new facility for a professional basketball team? These hospitals are not ‘nonprofits’ they are ridiculously profitable monopolies with an endless cash gusher to point at whatever they want. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1REM2LMLjd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/1REM2LMLjd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1817948450908258696\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 29, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Ka-ching.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Up. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn\u2019t even run back to 1\/21\/23, as it used to, but now starts 1\/1\/24. There\u2019s also no way to adjust the time rasnge. CDC really doesn\u2019t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that\u2019s why the shape of the curve has changed.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants) Same deal. Those sh*theads. <\/p>\n<p>[11] Deaths low, but positivity up.<\/p>\n<p>[12] Deaths low, ED up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Initial Jobless Claims\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/jobless-claims\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the US rose by 14,000 to 249,000 on the period ending July 27th, reaching an almost new yearly high, surpassing market expectations of 236,000. This increase, along with other key indicators, indicates that the US labor market continued to weaken during this period, bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve may lower benchmark borrowing costs by September.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Challenger Job Cuts\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/challenger-job-cuts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cUS employers announced 25,855 job cuts in July 2024, the lowest level in a year, and down 46.9% from June\u2019s 48,786. Still, it is the highest total for the month since 2020, above July 2023\u2019s 23,697.:<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States ISM Manufacturing PMI\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/business-confidence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 46.6 in July of 2024 from 48.5 in the previous month, firmly below market expectations of 48.8, reflecting the sharpest contraction in US factory activity since November 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>The Economy:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“We have a 30 year old family member who works on the assembly line building Peterbuilt trucks in Denton, Texas. (a PACCAR company) He has seniority and works the #1 shift. He was told not to come to work next week. Shutting down the assembly line for a week due to lack of\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave Collum (@DavidBCollum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DavidBCollum\/status\/1818654086230622340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Apparel:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This video comparing the same dress across different price points is also very good.<\/p>\n<p>My point is not to tell you how much to spend on something (buy what suits your budget). Only saying that two things that look alike online are not necessarily the same<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UzcnW0vh1V\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/UzcnW0vh1V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 derek guy (@dieworkwear) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dieworkwear\/status\/1818735741137998315\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>The video on Tik Tok scammers and fast fashion is well worth a watch.<\/p>\n<p>Tech: \u201cHacker Shows How to Get Free Laundry For Life\u201d [404 Media]. \u201cOrlitzky then tried a bunch of stuff that did not work for unlocking free laundry\u2026 What did work was short circuiting the red and black wires on the coin-drop mechanism. He found this out after discovering a photo of the same coin-drop part on Amazon, he said. With the dryers, Orlitzky writes he had to use a voltage tester to make sure he didn\u2019t get electrocuted, and then expose the wires with a pocket knife. That\u2019s it. \u2018The main hurdle is that you have to be pissed off enough to try,\u2019 Orlitzky said. \u2018But armed with enough outrage, the actual bypass is fairly accessible.\u2019 Once the prep work is done, shorting both the dryers and washers can be done in seconds or a minute. \u2018I do it in the middle of the day. The bypasses don\u2019t harm the machines, and the machines don\u2019t belong to the people who own the buildings\/cameras. Your neighbors (who are most likely to catch you in the act) aren\u2019t invested either way. What are they gonna do?\u2019 he added.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 55 Neutral (previous close: 42 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 40 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 31 at 2:15:54 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The world might be a different place if we taught grade school kids about power curves instead of averages:<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The top 10% of alcohol drinkers in the US consume 74 drinks per week. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/18QUFhyLuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/18QUFhyLuk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Beckham (@mikebeckhamsm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikebeckhamsm\/status\/1818798532544917824\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Class Warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"class\"\/> Yes, of course Long Covid hits the working class disprotionately. From <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/trishgreenhalgh\/status\/1818898075689046143?s=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Greenhalgh\u2019s Lancet paper<\/a> (above):<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"438\" height=\"397\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276039\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class.png 438w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/lc_class-300x272.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cParasites Are Everywhere. Why Do So Few Researchers Study Them?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/science-nature\/parasites-are-everywhere-so-why-do-so-few-researchers-study-them-180984753\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Smithsonian<\/a>]. \u201cBut parasites are also diverse and understudied creatures that have evolved to flourish in nearly every animal and ecosystem on Earth. They <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0169534706001522\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">keep ecosystems in balance<\/a>, providing a natural control on host species while stimulating their co-evolution over many generations. \u2026. Parasites also change host species\u2019 behavior, leading to oddities like the pop-culture-worthy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/the-real-zombie-fungus-that-inspired-hbos-the-last-of-us-180981514\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">zombie ants that mysteriously climb ten inches up plants<\/a>, permanently lock their jaws into the plant, and allow their parasitic fungus (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis) to grow out of their body and rain spores onto unsuspecting ants below. And parasites keep food webs miraculously complex, forming hundreds of connections among themselves, other parasites and host species. Often, in an effort to travel between host animals, parasites will expose their hosts to new predators, like the tapeworm <em>Ligula intestinalis<\/em>, which grows so large it changes the buoyancy of the fish it inhabits, causing the fish to swim closer to the surface and get eaten by birds. Parasitism, a relationship between two species where one benefits at the other\u2019s expense, has <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/27436119\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">evolved independently over 220 times in animals<\/a>\u2014more than any other animal lifestyle. Nearly half of all animals are parasites, with conservative estimates at 3.5 million species. Like the mammals, birds, insects and fish all around us, each parasite serves important functions in its environment\u2014ones that, without the parasite, could spell <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5222570\/#:~:text=While%20many%20uncertainties%20exist%2C%20the,%2C%20communities%2C%20and%20even%20ecosystems.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">widespread ecological change<\/a>, if not disaster. For example, a widely supported idea called the \u2018<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sbs.utexas.edu\/levin\/bio213\/articles\/nature.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">enemy release hypothesis<\/a>\u2018 suggests that as parasites of invasive plants and animals decrease, the spread and abundance of the invasive species increase.\u201d \u2022 Maybe I should have filed this under The Bezzle. Or Class Warfare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Sensational breakthrough\u2019 marks step toward revealing hidden structure of prime numbers\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/content\/article\/sensational-breakthrough-marks-step-toward-revealing-hidden-structure-prime-numbers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Science<\/a>]. \u201cLooking back, Guth recalls a quote from the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who instructs an aspiring poet to \u201clive the questions\u201d rather than seeking answers. For Guth, this strategy of being comfortably uncomfortable with intractable problems resonates with his experience as a mathematician.\u201d \u2022 One of my intractable problems is reading this thing, which I\u2019m sure is dumbed down for a lay audience. Perhaps a reader will help.<\/p>\n<p>Look at all those <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2022\/03\/19\/reliving-second-hand-nostalgia-with-the-pdp-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">PDP-11s<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><center><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The top 10% of alcohol drinkers in the US consume 74 drinks per week. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/18QUFhyLuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/18QUFhyLuk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Mike Beckham (@mikebeckhamsm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikebeckhamsm\/status\/1818798532544917824\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center><br \/>\n<center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/200pm-water-cooler-7-31-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From LawnDart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"455\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-276036\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/raspberry_nightshade-300x228.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>LawnDart writes: \u201cRed Raspberry and Climbing Nightshade: one will brighten your day, and the other can end it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"donate\"\/><strong>Readers<\/strong>: Water Cooler is a standalone entity <em>not<\/em> covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn\u2019t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! <em>Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I\u2019m on the right track with coverage<\/em>. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:<\/p>\n<p>Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226891\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution.png 606w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/contribution-300x190.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 606px) 100vw, 606px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF & 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\/08\/200pm-water-cooler-8-1-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente Bird Song of the Day Blue Mockingbird, Zona Arqueol\u00f3gica Monte Alb\u00e1n\u2013Camino Ecol\u00f3gico, Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico. * * * In Case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82722,"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-82721","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\/82721","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=82721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}