\n<\/p>\n
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nBird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Southards Pond Park, Suffolk, New York, United States. \u201cThree song bouts. Singing from the roof of a house adjacent to the park. Mimicry includes Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, and Carolina Wren.\u201d \u201cBouts!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#warren\">Warren v. Musk<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#gerontocracy\">Democrat gerontocrats<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#mangione\">Mangione charged with terrorism<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#flu\">Bird flu<\/a>, the first severe case.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\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>Trump Transition<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"60.511148812409\">\n<p><a name=\"warren\"\/>Warren asks for conflict-of-interest rules covering Musk\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/5044099-elon-musk-elizabeth-warren-donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hill<\/a>]. \u2022 She\u2019s right on the merits, of course. How is an oligarch not conflicted, by definition, since they, by their actions or non-actions, are capable of affecting the entire economy? Elon responds:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.4152046783626\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"11.479532163743\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Elon: “My platform is a legitimate news source! It’s legitimater than all those so-called ‘legacy media’ outlets!”<\/p>\n<p>Also Elon: “Hey look at the insulting picture I made with my platform! Senator Warren is Pocahontas, har har! \ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23 Please give me attention! \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d” <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Qt0UcM642g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/Qt0UcM642g<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lee Crawford (@Vampire337) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Vampire337\/status\/1869167305302917331\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 17, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>A brutally obvious ad hom, of course. Tactically, however, it\u2019s highly unfortunate that the Democrat standard-bearer on Elon\u2019s oligarch-style conflicts is the sort of DEI-beneficiary guaranteed to get every conservative knee jerking:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.8755186721992\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.2157676348548\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Back in 1996, a spokesman for Harvard Law School rebutted claims that the school had no minority women on the faculty by noting that Elizabeth Warren was Native American <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7zGjXAlQLY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/7zGjXAlQLY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wesley Yang (@wesyang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wesyang\/status\/1869196463756177867\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>And:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2380952380952\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.9047619047619\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“The Texas bar registration card is significant, among other reasons, because it removes any doubt that Warren directly claimed the identity.”<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IHV47Q1LZY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/IHV47Q1LZY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wesley Yang (@wesyang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wesyang\/status\/1869208571201884405\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>We went over all this back in 2016, when the unimpeachably high-minded quondam Republican Warren was stabbing Sanders in the back \u2014 not that I\u2019m bitter \u2014 but <a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethwarrenwiki.org\/elizabeth-warren-native-american-cherokee-controversy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">suffice to say that<\/a> one is only a Cherokee \u2014 the tribe to which Warren claimed to belong \u2014 if the tribe admits you, and Warren was never admitted. Warren gives every appearance of having climbed to her eminence at Harvard Law School on their (non-white) backs, exactly what inflames, say, half the country and distracts from the legitimate issue Warren raises. Too bad the Democrats can\u2019t do better in their spokespersons, but here we are.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe upcoming GOP assault on Social Security\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicnotice.co\/p\/trump-cutting-social-security-medicare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Public Notice<\/a>]. \u201cDuring all three of his presidential campaigns, Trump distanced himself from efforts to gut Social Security \u2014 sort of. As with so many topics, however, he has not been particularly concerned with consistency. In March of this year, Trump let slip on CNBC that he just might be convinced to go after the social safety net, stating, \u2018There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting.\u2019 He then went on a marginally coherent \u201cweave,\u201d thereby managing to avoid addressing the implications of his statement\u2026. Soon after winning the election, Trump tasked Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and their pseudo government agency titled \u201cDOGE\u201d (after a crypto currency that had been started as a joke) with cutting as much as $2 trillion of annual spending from the federal budget. Ramaswamy initially appeared to deny that Social Security would be touched, asserting that \u201cprogram integrity\u201d would be DOGE\u2019s sole focus, and adding that changes in benefits would be a matter for Congress to decide. Yet, for two reasons, there was far less to that assurance than meets to eye. First, it has always been the case that Congress will have to vote in favor of any proposal to gut entitlement programs. That is because Social Security and Medicare comprise \u201cmandatory\u201d spending, which is compelled by statute. And secondly, as a matter of financial fact, the kind of drastic austerity measures that Trump\u2019s cronies are proposing will necessarily involve massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or both. That is because approximately 60 percent of the federal budget is composed of mandatory spending, while 10 percent is devoted to debt service. Of the remaining 30 percent, half is defense spending, leaving only 15 percent that comprises the entirety of non-defense, discretionary spending.\u201d \u2022 Left to their own devices, the Republicans, augmented by oligarchs, will do what they always do (if Trump allows it, but who knows). It is to be hoped that the centrist dipshits who were pushing a \u201cGrand Bargain\u201d in the Obama years don\u2019t decide to join with DOGE and \u201csave Social Security.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"86.328374070138\">\n<p><a name=\"gerontocracy\"\/>\u201cPelosi Won. The Democratic Party Lost\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/R8zLp#selection-689.0-689.38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Republic<\/a>]. \u201cFresh off hip replacement surgery, Nancy Pelosi, 84, secured another victory. House Democrats on Tuesday afternoon decided that 74 year old Gerry Connolly\u2014who announced his throat cancer diagnosis in November\u2014will serve as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, besting 35 year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a closed-door caucus vote. \u2018 said Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, a Connolly ally.\u201d More: \u201cIn other democracies, the leadership of parties that have endured humiliating defeats like the one Democrats saw in November\u2014or even just regular defeats\u2014resign. That kicks off a process by which members determine a new, ideally more successful direction, represented by different people. But the Democratic Party isn\u2019t really a \u2018party\u2019 of the sort that exists in other democracies, with memberships and official constituencies, like unions, who have some say over how it\u2019s governed. Members mostly make decisions based on their own interests rather than to drive some shared, democratically-decided agenda forward [\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-features\/nancy-pelosi-interview-696750\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the beautiful tent that is the Democratic Party<\/a>\u201c]. That\u2019s part of what\u2019s so depressing about the Oversight Committee ordeal for the couple dozen journalists and political junkies who pay attention to that sort of thing. Pelosi and the old guard\u2019s continued opposition to younger talent seems breathtakingly counter-productive in the face of the Democratic party\u2019s numerous challenges right now.\u201d And: \u201d If the Democrats have a future, its inspiration will come from outside the bounds of its own fiefdoms and sclerotic internal processes. It will come, for example, from unions that cultivate leaders who can genuinely speak to working class voters. It will come social movements that build momentum for populist ideas that haven\u2019t been poll tested into bland, business-friendly mush. At the very least, those things can outlive Pelosi and the old guard.\u201d \u2022 \u2018Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. But I don\u2019t agree that \u201cmembers mostly make decisions based on their own interests.\u201d If that were true, there would be no need for party whips.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Democrats\u2019 Five Strategies for Coping With Trump 2.0\u2033 [Ed Kilgore, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/democrats-five-strategies-for-coping-with-trump-20\/ar-AA1vYaYU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cSome Democrats are so thoroughly impressed by the current power of the MAGA movement they are choosing to surrender to it in significant respects. The prime example is Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, the onetime fiery populist politician who is now becoming conspicuous in his desire to admit his party\u2019s weaknesses and snuggle up to the new regime\u2026. It\u2019s probably germane to Fetterman\u2019s conduct that he will be up for reelection in 2028, a presidential-election year in a state Trump carried on November 5.\u201d And: \u201cOther Democrats are being much more selectively friendly to Trump, searching for \u2018common ground\u2019 on issues where they believe he will be cross-pressured by his wealthy backers and more conventional Republicans. Like Fetterman, these Democrats \u2014 including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren \u2014 tend to come from the progressive wing of the party and have longed chafed at the centrist economic policies advanced by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and, to some extent, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They\u2019ve talked about strategically encouraging Trump\u2019s \u2018populist\u2019 impulses on such issues as credit-card interest and big-tech regulation, partly as a matter of forcing the new president and his congressional allies to put up or shut up. So the idea is to push off a discredited Democratic Establishment, at least on economic issues, and either accomplish things for working-class voters in alliance with Trump or prove the hollowness of his \u2018populism.\u2019\u2026 At the other end of the spectrum, some centrist Democrats are pushing off what they perceive as a discredited progressive ascendancy in the party, especially on culture-war issues and immigration\u2026. From a strategic point of view, these militant centrists appear to envision a 2028 presidential campaign that will take back the voters Biden won in 2020 and that Harris lost this year.\u201d But finally: \u201cHistorical precedents indicate very high odds that <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/2024-election-5-takeaways.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Democrats can flip the House in 2026<\/a>, bringing to a relatively quick end to any Republican legislative steamroller on Trump\u2019s behalf and signaling good vibes for 2028.\u201d \u2022 So, stand pat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Happened to the Democratic Party?\u201d (review) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/opinion\/what-happened-to-the-democratic-party\/ar-AA1vWZjC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Repunblic<\/a>]. This caught my eye, on rival pollsters Stanley Greenberg and Douglas Schoen: \u201cFor [historian Timothy Shenk in <em>Left Adrift<\/em>, these two men\u2014bitter rivals for clout and clients in the retooling Democratic Party of the Clinton era\u2014understood better than many traditional New Dealers in the party\u2019s leadership caste that a massive, if slow-moving, political realignment was under way: the party\u2019s abandonment of its traditional working-class base and its embrace of a professional, highly educated elite\u2026. Greenberg, who came of political age during Eugene McCarthy\u2019s incendiary anti-war presidential campaign in 1968, accepted this political shift as it gained traction in the Reagan era. But he did so from a defensive posture, seeking to persuade candidates and clients to echo vintage Democratic populist appeals in a last-ditch bid to arrest the dealignment of working-class voters from the party. Meanwhile, Schoen, a scion of Manhattan privilege, cheerfully welcomed the shift as the new consensus delimiting future Democratic agendas, policy goals, and political campaigns\u2026. Schoen, for his part, had no misgivings about the party giving up on the working class, white or not. An early and enthusiastic adopter of Margaret Thatcher\u2019s famous pronouncement on the neoliberal dispensation\u2014\u201dThere is no alternative\u201d\u2014Schoen and his consulting partner, Mark Penn (who would later serve as chairman of Hillary Clinton\u2019s disastrous 2008 presidential campaign), built up an influential and wildly profitable Beltway franchise for political and corporate clients that also advanced their own political preferences.\u201d \u2022 There\u2019s actually some analysis in the piece that treats \u201cthe working class\u201d as dynamic\u2026. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dead Hand of the Democratic Consultant Class\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/politics\/elections\/the-dead-hand-of-the-democratic-consultant-class\/ar-AA1w1b3K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u201cDespite appearances, this at times bruising argument isn\u2019t really about the past at all. What it\u2019s really about is the future, and whether the Democratic Party needs the kind of root-and-branch reform that would allow it to ignore the siren song of the consultant class, which has now led the party to two disastrous defeats. Or whether, to borrow a term from British politics, all that is required for victory is \u2018one more heave\u2019\u2014running the same campaign, but with a bit more vigor than last time. That, in essence, was the message a shockingly unrepentant David Plouffe and his colleagues offered as guests on Pod Save America: Give us the chance to do it all over again in 2028 and we will. Anyone even tempted to credit these grifters should listen to Plouffe\u2019s October episode, \u2018Why You Shouldn\u2019t Panic About the Polls.’\u201d \u2022 I think that battle is over; \u201cone more heave\u201d it is (absent active intervention by some insurgent force, for which or whom I scan the horizon in vain. That is the message of AOC\u2019s humiliation by Pelosi; and whoever gets annointed by DNC chair will signal victory for the \u201cdead hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"136.19778277635\">\n<p>\u201cHow America Invented the Red State\u201d [Tarence Ray, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/red-states-walz-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. Of the Trillbillies. Worth reading in full (quotes Frank and Bageant). This caught my eye: \u201cThe status of white rural workers is fixed not only in terms of class but in terms of geography, their intransigence rooted in both the soil and the blood. Rather than being in need of transformative social welfare or multiracial working-class solidarity, red-staters are \u2018an anchor dragging down the rest of the country.\u2019 Whiteness becomes a kind of dematerializing solvent for all social questions, an eternal and ethereal substance moving throughout history, the persistence of which can never be defeated. It was a position very much consistent with the calcified, end-of-the-road liberalism of the Biden years. The material and social reality could not be overcome, and so the people themselves were to blame. The kernel for this thinking went back to the way the federal government, under both Trump and Biden, handled the pandemic. Responsibility for not spreading the coronavirus was placed on individuals, morally as well as logistically, rather than on the government\u2014at the exact moment that the government expanded its social safety net to adjust for the economic disruptions of lockdown. This safety net, arrived at by an obvious contradiction, was a boon to rural areas in terms of employment, municipal revenue, and administrative capacity. It was not lost on anyone when that safety net was allowed to expire under a liberal president.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"mangione\"\/>\u201cLuigi Mangione Charged With Terrorism in Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/luigi-mangione-update-indicted-for-first-degree-murder.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cLuigi Mangione was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder as an act of terrorism, among other counts, in an indictment announced by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday.\u201d Yes, <em>that<\/em> Alvin Bragg, who no doubt has the Governor\u2019s mansion in his sights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Wildest Charges in Accused UHC Shooter\u2019s Indictment\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/189512\/unitedhealthcare-shooter-luigi-mangione-charges-terrorism?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Republic<\/a>]. \u201cIt\u2019s unclear how exactly Mangione\u2019s alleged crime was intended to \u2018influence the policy of a unit of government,\u2019 which companies such as UnitedHealthcare are not, or \u2018intimidate\u2019 the civilian population. Rather, Mangione\u2019s alleged act appeared to have been planned to target a specific class of individuals who profit exorbitantly off the suffering of the civilian population. \u2018The ruling class is treating killing one of their own, with the motive being related to the evils of our health care system, as a fundamentally different act than if you or I were to be murdered,\u2019 wrote journalist J.P. Hill on X Tuesday.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mechanized hum of another world\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/abbycartus\/archive\/the-mechanized-hum-of-another-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Closed Form<\/a>]. \u201cWay back at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution that started humanity down this disastrous path, a guy by the name of Friedrich Engels (who is very familiar to anyone that has been reading this newsletter) coined a neat little term to describe a phenomenon particular to the emerging industrial-technical organization of life. The term, which will also be extremely familiar to readers of this newsletter or Nate\u2019s, is social murder. Via a long analysis of the Marxian concept of \u2018mute compulsion\u2019 elaborated recently in a book by S\u00f8ren Mau (and covered by yours truly in this post), we can show straightforwardly that social murder issues from what Ted Kaczynski might call the technological organization of society, and which I would call the \u2018rules of the game\u2019 of capitalism itself. Through working on this newsletter, I have started to theorize social murder as a subcategory of structural violence, one that can serve as a theoretical basis for many rather adrift concepts in public health such as so-called \u2018health disparities.\u2019 Social murder helps us describe actually-existing population health and ground it conceptually in a capitalist political economy, be it global or national (or local). One of these aspects of population health that social murder helps us make sense of is health insurance \u2013 in fact, I am planning a whole post about health insurance, qualitatively, as a social determinant of health, so stay tuned for that.\u201d \u2022 Important! (Two questions to interrogate \u201csocial murder\u201d with: Who and what are actually murdered? And how does this differ from the operation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2014\/03\/neo-liberalism-expressed-simple-rules.html#rule2\">Rule #2<\/a>, the default setting?)<\/p>\n<p>The zeitgeist:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.7424242424242\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.330303030303\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One thing I haven’t heard spoken about regarding Chris Rock’s recent SNL appearance: At the beginning of his monologue, Rock said “We got Luigi”. Not one person clapped. He then repeated it. Still no one clapped.<\/p>\n<p>The political and media establishment really has no idea how to\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/anthonyzenkus\/status\/1869284895769424290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Here is the indictment (PDF) \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Mangione-Indictment-FINAL-as-filed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK against LUIGI MANGIONE<\/a>\u201c. From the first paragraph:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"286\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment-300x143.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This language is taken <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycourts.gov\/judges\/cji\/2-PenalLaw\/490\/490.25.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">from New York State Penal Law<\/a> \u00a7 490.25, \u201cCRIME OF TERRORISM.\u201d but I\u2019m having a hard time understanding it. From my helpful annotations:<\/p>\n<p>[1] Is a health insurance company a \u201ccivilian population\u201d? If not, who or what is the civilian population intimidated or coerced? The class of all health insurance CEOs? The class of all CEOs? The ruling class? (NOTE: I do not know the meaning of the word \u201cpopulation\u201d in law, and suspect it\u2019s different from the concept of \u201cclass\u201d as a political economist would be it.)<\/p>\n<p>[2], [3] Or is a health insurance company a \u201cunit of government\u201d? Surely not, unless \u201cunit\u201d is a term of art. But if not, what is? Congress, in passing health insurance reform? More ingeniously, the organs of state security, who will now be \u201cintimidated\u201d into devising measures to deal with the menance?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cD.A. Bragg Announces Murder Indictment Of Luigi Mangione\u201d (Press Release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/d-a-bragg-announces-murder-indictment-of-luigi-mangione\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a>]. Here is Bragg\u2019s timeline:<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"54\">\n<p>According to court documents and statements made on the record, MANGIONE arrived at Port Authority on a bus on November 24, 2024, and checked in at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side. MANGIONE used a fake New Jersey ID under the name Mark Rosario. MANGIONE extended his stay at the Hostel multiple times.<\/p>\n<p>On the morning of December 4th, MANGIONE left the Hostel at 5:34 a.m. and travelled to Midtown using an e-bike.<\/p>\n<p>Between 5:52 a.m. and 6:45 a.m., MANGIONE walked near and around the Hilton Hotel. At approximately 6:15 a.m. he purchased a water bottle and granola bars at the Starbucks at 1290 6th Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>Between approximately 6:38 a.m. and 6:44 a.m., MANGIONE stood against a wall on the north side of West 54th Street across from the Hilton, fully masked with his hood up.<\/p>\n<p>At 6:45 a.m., MANGIONE crossed the street to the Hilton Hotel and, armed with a 9-millimeter 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a silencer, [1].<\/p>\n<p>MANGIONE then fled northeast on 54th Street and took an e-bike uptown. He eventually got into a taxi and was dropped off at West 178th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and then fled the state.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Thompson was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the discharged shell casings had the words \u201cDENY\u201d and \u201cDEPOSE\u201d written on them, and the word \u201cDELAY\u201d was written on a bullet, all found at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>On December 9th, MANGIONE was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being spotted at a local McDonalds. When he was arrested, police recovered a 9-millimeter handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, two ammunition magazines, multiple live cartridges, a homemade silencer, and the fake New Jersey ID used at the hostel.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>[1] From the video, Bragg has the order wrong. First the leg, <em>then<\/em> the knee. This would be important of Mangione\u2019s defense is that he only intended to kneecap Thompson, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/tom-neuburger-the-medias-bizarre-treatment-of-the-mangione-case.html\">as Yves urges here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: America, being a gun-<del>humping<\/del>loving country, has a rich tradition and body of law centering on self-defense via firearms. Without lining up my speculation with the facts of the case (for example, it\u2019s hard to see how shooting someone in the back fits in to \u201cstand your ground), what would self-defense against social murder look like, if it were to be reduced to legal doctrine? Let me propose a thought experiment. Case A: Suppose (legal) person HI (for health insurance) has a machine gun, and (natural person) <em>p<\/em> has a handgun. If HI fires its machine gun at <em>p<\/em>, is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back in self-defense? Surely so. (I assume the analogy between denying care and firing a machine gun is clear.) Case B: Let us suppose we interpose a sheet of paper between HI and <em>p<\/em>. HI again fires their machine gun at <em>p<\/em> but <em>through the paper<\/em>. Is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back? Surely so. Case C: Suppose that we leave the paper in place, and introduce a complex Rube Goldberg device between HI\u2019s trigger finger, and the trigger of the machine gun. HI\u2019s finger twitches, the Rube Goldberg device pulls the trigger, the machine gun fires, and again the bullets go through the paper. Again, is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back? This case seems not so clear, but why exactly? (I assume the analogy between the health insurance industry\u2019s claims denial process and a Rube Goldberg device is clear.) What is it about the level of indirection in Case C that separates it from Cases A and B? Comments from lawyers welcome!<\/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\/sars-cov-2-in-wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/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, KidDoc, 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>Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"26.713247624371\">\n<p><“Health officials say Louisiana patient is first severe bird flu case in US” [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/bird-flu-severe-louisiana-2b4a5f55a05cf8be9b169c15e8b9582d?taid=6762fc10e00a400001deb0f6&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cA person in Louisiana has the first severe illness caused by bird flu in the U.S., health officials said Wednesday. The patient had been in contact with sick and dead birds in backyard flocks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Agency officials didn\u2019t immediately detail the person\u2019s symptoms\u2026. The CDC confirmed the Louisiana infection on Friday, but did not announce it until Wednesday. It\u2019s also the first U.S. human case linked to exposure to a backyard flock, the agency said\u2026. Did the Louisiana patient have pre-existing conditions that made him or her more susceptible to illness? Is the person on a ventilator? The CDC deferred those and other questions about the patient to state health officials, who did not immediately respond.\u201d \u2022 Because of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCDC Confirms First Severe Case of H5N1 Bird Flu in the United States\u201d (press release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2024\/m1218-h5n1-flu.html#:~:text=This%20means%20that%20backyard%20flock,saliva%2C%20mucous%2C%20and%20feces.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>]. \u201cThis case underscores that, in addition to affected commercial poultry and dairy operations, wild birds and backyard flocks also can be a source of exposure\u2026.. This means that backyard flock owners, hunters and other bird enthusiasts should also take precautions. The best way to prevent H5 bird flu is to avoid exposure whenever possible. Infected birds shed avian influenza A viruses in their saliva, mucous, and feces. Other infected animals may shed avian influenza A viruses in respiratory secretions and other bodily fluids (e.g., in unpasteurized cow milk or \u2018raw milk\u2019).\u201d \u2022 Avoid contact, use PPE, don\u2019t touch contaminated surfaces or materials. NOTE I am not recalling a case of bird flu transmitted by raw milk, repellent and destructive though I find the raw milk grift.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Testing and Tracking: Wastewater<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"20.597315436242\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/daniel_e_park\/status\/1869212636531003489?s=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Some<\/a> modelers are calling a winter Covid \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/michael_hoerger\/status\/1868550160105841149\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">surge<\/a>\u201d right now. Some remarks. First, I don\u2019t use graphs like those below because I don\u2019t regard them as actionable; I use the CDC maps because they are better able to answer questions like \u201cShould I go to see Grandma in Wichita this Christmas?\u201d or \u201cShould I take that ski vacation in Colorado in January?\u201d Further, my Covid protocols are constant; I wouldn\u2019t vary them by the fluctuations in the graph in any case. Further, I object to calling a surge before it\u2019s visible:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"464\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1-300x232.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>You will notice that the \u201csurge\u201d in this chart is all projection. Well, I\u2019ve demonstrated in the past that CDC projections aren\u2019t necessarily reliable; and I don\u2019t view other models as any better; see <a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/abbycartus\/archive\/covid-grifters-are-still-wrong-the-structure-of\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Closed Form<\/a>. So I would advocate reserving the term \u201csurge\u201d for an actually oberved event of some scale, and not a projection so far scaled to a ripple based on past events, as shown in this brutally and shamefully truncated CDC chart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"358\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2-300x179.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>That Scranton Joe; he can surge with the best of \u2019em!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Walgreen\u2019s positivity hasn\u2019t gone up, but it hasn\u2019t gone down, either.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.885518590998\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6190476190476\">\n<td valign=\"top\">This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 9<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Last week[2] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> (until next week):<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2-300x186.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" style=\"align: left; margin-left: 0px !important; padding: 9px 0 9px 0;\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1-300x227.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong> Variants<\/strong> [3] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 7<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> <strong>Emergency Room Visits<\/strong>[4] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_select_7dayeddiagnosed_00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-300x255.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283866\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl-300x157.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Hospitalization<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.9102564102564\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span>New York[5] <a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.health.ny.gov\/daily-hospitalization-summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York State<\/a>, data December 16:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 12:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1-283x300.png 283w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Positivity<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6842105263158\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> National[7] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/healthcare-solutions\/covid-19-index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a> December 16:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Ohio[8] <a href=\"https:\/\/clevelandcliniclabs.com\/respiratory-virus-surveillance-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cleveland Clinic<\/a> December 14:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states-300x167.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1-300x194.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Travelers Data<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 25:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 25:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283868\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283869\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1.png 1902w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-1024x719.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-768x539.png 768w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-1536x1079.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-624x438.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1902px) 100vw, 1902px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Deaths<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.7647058823529\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] <a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronavirusdisease2019\/what-you-should-know\/current-situation-in-the-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 20:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] <a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronadisease2019\/what-you-should-know\/current-situation-in-the-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 20:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"129.12830883243\">\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) Seeing a little more red, but nothing new at major international hubs. Interestingly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calculatedriskblog.com\/2024\/12\/december-13th-covid-update-covid-in.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Calculated Risk is watching wastewater too<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[2] (CDC) Last week\u2019s wastewater map.<\/p>\n<p>[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, \u201cOmmicron,\u201d has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.<\/p>\n<p>[4] (ED) A little uptick.<\/p>\n<p>[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.<\/p>\n<p>[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward trend since, well, Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.<\/p>\n<p>[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are no official statistics of interest today.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing says it has resumed 767, 777 wide-body production\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/aerospace-defense\/boeing-says-it-has-resumed-767-777-production-2024-12-18\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]. \u201cBoeing (BA.N), opens new tab said late on Tuesday it has resumed production of all airplane programs that had been halted by a machinists\u2019 strike in the Pacific Northwest. The planemaker confirmed last week it restarted production of its best-selling 737 MAX jetliner in early December \u2013 about a month after the end of a seven-week strike by 33,000 factory workers \u2013 and said it has now resumed wide-body programs in Everett, Washington that were impacted.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope said in a social media post on Tuesday the company had now resumed production across its 737, 767, and 777\/777X airplane programs. \u2018We have taken time to ensure all manufacturing teammates are current on training and certifications, while positioning inventory at the optimal levels for smooth production,\u2019 she added.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing Starliner astronauts will return to Earth in March 2025 after new NASA, SpaceX delay\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/human-spaceflight\/boeing-starliner-astronauts-will-return-to-earth-in-march-2025-after-new-nasa-spacex-delay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Space.com<\/a>]. \u201cThe astronaut duo who flew the first-ever crewed mission of Boeing\u2019s Starliner capsule will have to wait a little longer to rejoin us on Earth\u2026. The new delay will bring Wilmore and Williams\u2019 time in space to around nine months in total \u2014 far longer than the 10 days or so their mission was originally expected to last. Though unexpectedly long, nine months is not terribly outlandish; other NASA astronauts have stayed on the ISS for far longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 50 Neutral (previous close: 51 Neutral) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 51 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 18 at 2:43:11 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mystery Drones<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Great Drone Panic of 2024\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/drone-sighting-panic.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cPublic hysterias have always surfaced from time to time, in the U.S. and everywhere else that humans happen to be. And the drones were fun, at first. On Reddit, r\/UFOs is buzzing with activity as users concoct government conspiracies and dream of alien incursions from outer space. But there\u2019s always an underbelly to contagions of this sort. Consider the great drone panic of 2024 alongside other trends, and it looks like a sign of deeper social dysfunction. America is fearful, even paranoid; it has just reelected Trump, a vengeful figure who admires dictators and strongmen and seeks retribution against liberals and the broader world order they represent. Conspiratorial thinking is not a new phenomenon in the U.S., but it is a hallmark of the MAGA movement, and Trump\u2019s rise empowers a class of grifters who prey on ignorance and fear.\u201d \u2022 NJ is, of course, a Blue state.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy do people believe true things?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conspicuouscognition.com\/p\/why-do-people-believe-true-things\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Conspicuous Cognition<\/a>]. \u201cThere never was a \u201ctruth\u201d era. The dominant world religions are vast repositories of fake news and rumours; conspiracy theories are as old as humanity; and false, cartoonish, and biased narratives and ideologies are the norm throughout human history. However, it is also because I think locating modern epistemic problems in \u2018misinformation\u2019 and related buzzwords is explanatorily shallow. Once you appreciate that <a href=\"https:\/\/iai.tv\/articles\/misinformation-is-the-symptom-not-the-disease-daniel-walliams-auid-2690#:~:text=Against%20this%20picture%2C%20philosopher%20Daniel,that%20we're%20hoping%20for.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the truth is not the default<\/a>\u2014that it is an exceptional, fragile, improbable achievement\u2014it should shift how you approach social epistemology. First, it should encourage a conscious rejection of naive realism. The truth is not self-evident\u2026. Second, it should make us understand that lies, conspiracy theories, misinformation, bias, pseudo-science, superstition and so on are not alien perversions of the public sphere. They are the epistemic state of nature that society will revert to in the absence of fragile\u2014and highly contingent\u2014cultural and institutional achievements. Given this, the real epistemic challenge for the twenty-first century is not to combat misinformation, except insofar as doing this helps us achieve a deeper, more fundamental goal: maintaining and improving our best epistemic norms and institutions, and winning trust in, and conformity to, them.\u201d \u2022 So, how are we doing on that?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-17-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From SV:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"292\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284148\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil-300x146.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SV writes: \u201cBubbler on African Basil.\u201d Not sure I understand \u201cbubbler.\u201d This is 2:00pm, not 4:20.<\/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. Material here is Lambert\u2019s, and does not express the views of the Naked Capitalism site. 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!<\/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<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<footer class=\"entry-meta\">\n\t\t\tThis entry was posted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/category\/water-cooler\" rel=\"category tag\">Water Cooler<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-18-2024-2.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2024-12-18T14:00:04-05:00\">December 18, 2024<\/time><\/a><span class=\"by-author\"> by <span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/author\/lambert-strether\" title=\"View all posts by Lambert Strether\" rel=\"author\">Lambert Strether<\/a><\/span><\/span>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-info\" wp_automatic_readability=\"20.197005056398\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .author-avatar --><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-description\" wp_automatic_readability=\"35.467911318553\">\n<h2>About Lambert Strether<\/h2>\n<p>Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (\u201cBecause markets\u201d). I don\u2019t much care about the \u201cism\u201d that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don\u2019t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. <br \/>\n <br \/>\nTo me, the key issue \u2014 and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me \u2014 is the tens of thousands of excess \u201cdeaths from despair,\u201d as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics \u2014 even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton\u2019s wars created \u2014 bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow \u2014 currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press \u2014 a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let\u2019s call such voices \u201cthe left.\u201d Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn\u2019t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I\u2019ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .author-link\t-->\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-description -->\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-info --><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- .entry-meta --><br \/>\n\t<!-- #post --><\/p>\n<nav class=\"nav-single\">\n<h3 class=\"assistive-text\">Post navigation<\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-previous list-posts-older\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/the-destructive-legacy-of-failed-aquaculture.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> The Destructive Legacy of Failed Aquaculture<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-next list-posts-newer\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/nav>\n<p><!-- .nav-single --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #comments .comments-area --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #content --><br \/>\n<!-- #primary --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #secondary --><\/p>\n<footer id=\"colophon\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- .site-info --><br \/>\n\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- #colophon --><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- #main.wrapper --><br \/>\n<!-- #page --><br \/>\n<!-- .mobile-menu-wrap --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Blog Reader Pooling - removed 09\/16\/2015 by M. 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Bird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Southards Pond Park, Suffolk, New York, United States. \u201cThree song bouts. Singing from the roof of a house adjacent to the park. Mimicry includes Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, and Carolina Wren.\u201d \u201cBouts!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#warren\">Warren v. Musk<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#gerontocracy\">Democrat gerontocrats<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#mangione\">Mangione charged with terrorism<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#flu\">Bird flu<\/a>, the first severe case.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\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>Trump Transition<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"60.511148812409\">\n<p><a name=\"warren\"\/>Warren asks for conflict-of-interest rules covering Musk\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/5044099-elon-musk-elizabeth-warren-donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hill<\/a>]. \u2022 She\u2019s right on the merits, of course. How is an oligarch not conflicted, by definition, since they, by their actions or non-actions, are capable of affecting the entire economy? Elon responds:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.4152046783626\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"11.479532163743\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Elon: “My platform is a legitimate news source! It’s legitimater than all those so-called ‘legacy media’ outlets!”<\/p>\n<p>Also Elon: “Hey look at the insulting picture I made with my platform! Senator Warren is Pocahontas, har har! \ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23 Please give me attention! \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d” <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Qt0UcM642g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/Qt0UcM642g<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lee Crawford (@Vampire337) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Vampire337\/status\/1869167305302917331\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 17, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>A brutally obvious ad hom, of course. Tactically, however, it\u2019s highly unfortunate that the Democrat standard-bearer on Elon\u2019s oligarch-style conflicts is the sort of DEI-beneficiary guaranteed to get every conservative knee jerking:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.8755186721992\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.2157676348548\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Back in 1996, a spokesman for Harvard Law School rebutted claims that the school had no minority women on the faculty by noting that Elizabeth Warren was Native American <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7zGjXAlQLY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/7zGjXAlQLY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wesley Yang (@wesyang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wesyang\/status\/1869196463756177867\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>And:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2380952380952\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.9047619047619\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“The Texas bar registration card is significant, among other reasons, because it removes any doubt that Warren directly claimed the identity.”<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IHV47Q1LZY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/IHV47Q1LZY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wesley Yang (@wesyang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wesyang\/status\/1869208571201884405\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>We went over all this back in 2016, when the unimpeachably high-minded quondam Republican Warren was stabbing Sanders in the back \u2014 not that I\u2019m bitter \u2014 but <a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethwarrenwiki.org\/elizabeth-warren-native-american-cherokee-controversy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">suffice to say that<\/a> one is only a Cherokee \u2014 the tribe to which Warren claimed to belong \u2014 if the tribe admits you, and Warren was never admitted. Warren gives every appearance of having climbed to her eminence at Harvard Law School on their (non-white) backs, exactly what inflames, say, half the country and distracts from the legitimate issue Warren raises. Too bad the Democrats can\u2019t do better in their spokespersons, but here we are.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe upcoming GOP assault on Social Security\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicnotice.co\/p\/trump-cutting-social-security-medicare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Public Notice<\/a>]. \u201cDuring all three of his presidential campaigns, Trump distanced himself from efforts to gut Social Security \u2014 sort of. As with so many topics, however, he has not been particularly concerned with consistency. In March of this year, Trump let slip on CNBC that he just might be convinced to go after the social safety net, stating, \u2018There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting.\u2019 He then went on a marginally coherent \u201cweave,\u201d thereby managing to avoid addressing the implications of his statement\u2026. Soon after winning the election, Trump tasked Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and their pseudo government agency titled \u201cDOGE\u201d (after a crypto currency that had been started as a joke) with cutting as much as $2 trillion of annual spending from the federal budget. Ramaswamy initially appeared to deny that Social Security would be touched, asserting that \u201cprogram integrity\u201d would be DOGE\u2019s sole focus, and adding that changes in benefits would be a matter for Congress to decide. Yet, for two reasons, there was far less to that assurance than meets to eye. First, it has always been the case that Congress will have to vote in favor of any proposal to gut entitlement programs. That is because Social Security and Medicare comprise \u201cmandatory\u201d spending, which is compelled by statute. And secondly, as a matter of financial fact, the kind of drastic austerity measures that Trump\u2019s cronies are proposing will necessarily involve massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or both. That is because approximately 60 percent of the federal budget is composed of mandatory spending, while 10 percent is devoted to debt service. Of the remaining 30 percent, half is defense spending, leaving only 15 percent that comprises the entirety of non-defense, discretionary spending.\u201d \u2022 Left to their own devices, the Republicans, augmented by oligarchs, will do what they always do (if Trump allows it, but who knows). It is to be hoped that the centrist dipshits who were pushing a \u201cGrand Bargain\u201d in the Obama years don\u2019t decide to join with DOGE and \u201csave Social Security.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"86.328374070138\">\n<p><a name=\"gerontocracy\"\/>\u201cPelosi Won. The Democratic Party Lost\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/R8zLp#selection-689.0-689.38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Republic<\/a>]. \u201cFresh off hip replacement surgery, Nancy Pelosi, 84, secured another victory. House Democrats on Tuesday afternoon decided that 74 year old Gerry Connolly\u2014who announced his throat cancer diagnosis in November\u2014will serve as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, besting 35 year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a closed-door caucus vote. \u2018 said Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, a Connolly ally.\u201d More: \u201cIn other democracies, the leadership of parties that have endured humiliating defeats like the one Democrats saw in November\u2014or even just regular defeats\u2014resign. That kicks off a process by which members determine a new, ideally more successful direction, represented by different people. But the Democratic Party isn\u2019t really a \u2018party\u2019 of the sort that exists in other democracies, with memberships and official constituencies, like unions, who have some say over how it\u2019s governed. Members mostly make decisions based on their own interests rather than to drive some shared, democratically-decided agenda forward [\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-features\/nancy-pelosi-interview-696750\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the beautiful tent that is the Democratic Party<\/a>\u201c]. That\u2019s part of what\u2019s so depressing about the Oversight Committee ordeal for the couple dozen journalists and political junkies who pay attention to that sort of thing. Pelosi and the old guard\u2019s continued opposition to younger talent seems breathtakingly counter-productive in the face of the Democratic party\u2019s numerous challenges right now.\u201d And: \u201d If the Democrats have a future, its inspiration will come from outside the bounds of its own fiefdoms and sclerotic internal processes. It will come, for example, from unions that cultivate leaders who can genuinely speak to working class voters. It will come social movements that build momentum for populist ideas that haven\u2019t been poll tested into bland, business-friendly mush. At the very least, those things can outlive Pelosi and the old guard.\u201d \u2022 \u2018Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. But I don\u2019t agree that \u201cmembers mostly make decisions based on their own interests.\u201d If that were true, there would be no need for party whips.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Democrats\u2019 Five Strategies for Coping With Trump 2.0\u2033 [Ed Kilgore, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/democrats-five-strategies-for-coping-with-trump-20\/ar-AA1vYaYU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cSome Democrats are so thoroughly impressed by the current power of the MAGA movement they are choosing to surrender to it in significant respects. The prime example is Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, the onetime fiery populist politician who is now becoming conspicuous in his desire to admit his party\u2019s weaknesses and snuggle up to the new regime\u2026. It\u2019s probably germane to Fetterman\u2019s conduct that he will be up for reelection in 2028, a presidential-election year in a state Trump carried on November 5.\u201d And: \u201cOther Democrats are being much more selectively friendly to Trump, searching for \u2018common ground\u2019 on issues where they believe he will be cross-pressured by his wealthy backers and more conventional Republicans. Like Fetterman, these Democrats \u2014 including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren \u2014 tend to come from the progressive wing of the party and have longed chafed at the centrist economic policies advanced by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and, to some extent, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They\u2019ve talked about strategically encouraging Trump\u2019s \u2018populist\u2019 impulses on such issues as credit-card interest and big-tech regulation, partly as a matter of forcing the new president and his congressional allies to put up or shut up. So the idea is to push off a discredited Democratic Establishment, at least on economic issues, and either accomplish things for working-class voters in alliance with Trump or prove the hollowness of his \u2018populism.\u2019\u2026 At the other end of the spectrum, some centrist Democrats are pushing off what they perceive as a discredited progressive ascendancy in the party, especially on culture-war issues and immigration\u2026. From a strategic point of view, these militant centrists appear to envision a 2028 presidential campaign that will take back the voters Biden won in 2020 and that Harris lost this year.\u201d But finally: \u201cHistorical precedents indicate very high odds that <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/2024-election-5-takeaways.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Democrats can flip the House in 2026<\/a>, bringing to a relatively quick end to any Republican legislative steamroller on Trump\u2019s behalf and signaling good vibes for 2028.\u201d \u2022 So, stand pat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Happened to the Democratic Party?\u201d (review) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/opinion\/what-happened-to-the-democratic-party\/ar-AA1vWZjC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Repunblic<\/a>]. This caught my eye, on rival pollsters Stanley Greenberg and Douglas Schoen: \u201cFor [historian Timothy Shenk in <em>Left Adrift<\/em>, these two men\u2014bitter rivals for clout and clients in the retooling Democratic Party of the Clinton era\u2014understood better than many traditional New Dealers in the party\u2019s leadership caste that a massive, if slow-moving, political realignment was under way: the party\u2019s abandonment of its traditional working-class base and its embrace of a professional, highly educated elite\u2026. Greenberg, who came of political age during Eugene McCarthy\u2019s incendiary anti-war presidential campaign in 1968, accepted this political shift as it gained traction in the Reagan era. But he did so from a defensive posture, seeking to persuade candidates and clients to echo vintage Democratic populist appeals in a last-ditch bid to arrest the dealignment of working-class voters from the party. Meanwhile, Schoen, a scion of Manhattan privilege, cheerfully welcomed the shift as the new consensus delimiting future Democratic agendas, policy goals, and political campaigns\u2026. Schoen, for his part, had no misgivings about the party giving up on the working class, white or not. An early and enthusiastic adopter of Margaret Thatcher\u2019s famous pronouncement on the neoliberal dispensation\u2014\u201dThere is no alternative\u201d\u2014Schoen and his consulting partner, Mark Penn (who would later serve as chairman of Hillary Clinton\u2019s disastrous 2008 presidential campaign), built up an influential and wildly profitable Beltway franchise for political and corporate clients that also advanced their own political preferences.\u201d \u2022 There\u2019s actually some analysis in the piece that treats \u201cthe working class\u201d as dynamic\u2026. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dead Hand of the Democratic Consultant Class\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/politics\/elections\/the-dead-hand-of-the-democratic-consultant-class\/ar-AA1w1b3K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u201cDespite appearances, this at times bruising argument isn\u2019t really about the past at all. What it\u2019s really about is the future, and whether the Democratic Party needs the kind of root-and-branch reform that would allow it to ignore the siren song of the consultant class, which has now led the party to two disastrous defeats. Or whether, to borrow a term from British politics, all that is required for victory is \u2018one more heave\u2019\u2014running the same campaign, but with a bit more vigor than last time. That, in essence, was the message a shockingly unrepentant David Plouffe and his colleagues offered as guests on Pod Save America: Give us the chance to do it all over again in 2028 and we will. Anyone even tempted to credit these grifters should listen to Plouffe\u2019s October episode, \u2018Why You Shouldn\u2019t Panic About the Polls.’\u201d \u2022 I think that battle is over; \u201cone more heave\u201d it is (absent active intervention by some insurgent force, for which or whom I scan the horizon in vain. That is the message of AOC\u2019s humiliation by Pelosi; and whoever gets annointed by DNC chair will signal victory for the \u201cdead hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"136.19778277635\">\n<p>\u201cHow America Invented the Red State\u201d [Tarence Ray, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/red-states-walz-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. Of the Trillbillies. Worth reading in full (quotes Frank and Bageant). This caught my eye: \u201cThe status of white rural workers is fixed not only in terms of class but in terms of geography, their intransigence rooted in both the soil and the blood. Rather than being in need of transformative social welfare or multiracial working-class solidarity, red-staters are \u2018an anchor dragging down the rest of the country.\u2019 Whiteness becomes a kind of dematerializing solvent for all social questions, an eternal and ethereal substance moving throughout history, the persistence of which can never be defeated. It was a position very much consistent with the calcified, end-of-the-road liberalism of the Biden years. The material and social reality could not be overcome, and so the people themselves were to blame. The kernel for this thinking went back to the way the federal government, under both Trump and Biden, handled the pandemic. Responsibility for not spreading the coronavirus was placed on individuals, morally as well as logistically, rather than on the government\u2014at the exact moment that the government expanded its social safety net to adjust for the economic disruptions of lockdown. This safety net, arrived at by an obvious contradiction, was a boon to rural areas in terms of employment, municipal revenue, and administrative capacity. It was not lost on anyone when that safety net was allowed to expire under a liberal president.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"mangione\"\/>\u201cLuigi Mangione Charged With Terrorism in Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/luigi-mangione-update-indicted-for-first-degree-murder.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cLuigi Mangione was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder as an act of terrorism, among other counts, in an indictment announced by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday.\u201d Yes, <em>that<\/em> Alvin Bragg, who no doubt has the Governor\u2019s mansion in his sights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Wildest Charges in Accused UHC Shooter\u2019s Indictment\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/189512\/unitedhealthcare-shooter-luigi-mangione-charges-terrorism?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Republic<\/a>]. \u201cIt\u2019s unclear how exactly Mangione\u2019s alleged crime was intended to \u2018influence the policy of a unit of government,\u2019 which companies such as UnitedHealthcare are not, or \u2018intimidate\u2019 the civilian population. Rather, Mangione\u2019s alleged act appeared to have been planned to target a specific class of individuals who profit exorbitantly off the suffering of the civilian population. \u2018The ruling class is treating killing one of their own, with the motive being related to the evils of our health care system, as a fundamentally different act than if you or I were to be murdered,\u2019 wrote journalist J.P. Hill on X Tuesday.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mechanized hum of another world\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/abbycartus\/archive\/the-mechanized-hum-of-another-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Closed Form<\/a>]. \u201cWay back at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution that started humanity down this disastrous path, a guy by the name of Friedrich Engels (who is very familiar to anyone that has been reading this newsletter) coined a neat little term to describe a phenomenon particular to the emerging industrial-technical organization of life. The term, which will also be extremely familiar to readers of this newsletter or Nate\u2019s, is social murder. Via a long analysis of the Marxian concept of \u2018mute compulsion\u2019 elaborated recently in a book by S\u00f8ren Mau (and covered by yours truly in this post), we can show straightforwardly that social murder issues from what Ted Kaczynski might call the technological organization of society, and which I would call the \u2018rules of the game\u2019 of capitalism itself. Through working on this newsletter, I have started to theorize social murder as a subcategory of structural violence, one that can serve as a theoretical basis for many rather adrift concepts in public health such as so-called \u2018health disparities.\u2019 Social murder helps us describe actually-existing population health and ground it conceptually in a capitalist political economy, be it global or national (or local). One of these aspects of population health that social murder helps us make sense of is health insurance \u2013 in fact, I am planning a whole post about health insurance, qualitatively, as a social determinant of health, so stay tuned for that.\u201d \u2022 Important! (Two questions to interrogate \u201csocial murder\u201d with: Who and what are actually murdered? And how does this differ from the operation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2014\/03\/neo-liberalism-expressed-simple-rules.html#rule2\">Rule #2<\/a>, the default setting?)<\/p>\n<p>The zeitgeist:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.7424242424242\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.330303030303\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One thing I haven’t heard spoken about regarding Chris Rock’s recent SNL appearance: At the beginning of his monologue, Rock said “We got Luigi”. Not one person clapped. He then repeated it. Still no one clapped.<\/p>\n<p>The political and media establishment really has no idea how to\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/anthonyzenkus\/status\/1869284895769424290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Here is the indictment (PDF) \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Mangione-Indictment-FINAL-as-filed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK against LUIGI MANGIONE<\/a>\u201c. From the first paragraph:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"286\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment-300x143.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This language is taken <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycourts.gov\/judges\/cji\/2-PenalLaw\/490\/490.25.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">from New York State Penal Law<\/a> \u00a7 490.25, \u201cCRIME OF TERRORISM.\u201d but I\u2019m having a hard time understanding it. From my helpful annotations:<\/p>\n<p>[1] Is a health insurance company a \u201ccivilian population\u201d? If not, who or what is the civilian population intimidated or coerced? The class of all health insurance CEOs? The class of all CEOs? The ruling class? (NOTE: I do not know the meaning of the word \u201cpopulation\u201d in law, and suspect it\u2019s different from the concept of \u201cclass\u201d as a political economist would be it.)<\/p>\n<p>[2], [3] Or is a health insurance company a \u201cunit of government\u201d? Surely not, unless \u201cunit\u201d is a term of art. But if not, what is? Congress, in passing health insurance reform? More ingeniously, the organs of state security, who will now be \u201cintimidated\u201d into devising measures to deal with the menance?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cD.A. Bragg Announces Murder Indictment Of Luigi Mangione\u201d (Press Release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/d-a-bragg-announces-murder-indictment-of-luigi-mangione\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a>]. Here is Bragg\u2019s timeline:<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"54\">\n<p>According to court documents and statements made on the record, MANGIONE arrived at Port Authority on a bus on November 24, 2024, and checked in at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side. MANGIONE used a fake New Jersey ID under the name Mark Rosario. MANGIONE extended his stay at the Hostel multiple times.<\/p>\n<p>On the morning of December 4th, MANGIONE left the Hostel at 5:34 a.m. and travelled to Midtown using an e-bike.<\/p>\n<p>Between 5:52 a.m. and 6:45 a.m., MANGIONE walked near and around the Hilton Hotel. At approximately 6:15 a.m. he purchased a water bottle and granola bars at the Starbucks at 1290 6th Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>Between approximately 6:38 a.m. and 6:44 a.m., MANGIONE stood against a wall on the north side of West 54th Street across from the Hilton, fully masked with his hood up.<\/p>\n<p>At 6:45 a.m., MANGIONE crossed the street to the Hilton Hotel and, armed with a 9-millimeter 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a silencer, [1].<\/p>\n<p>MANGIONE then fled northeast on 54th Street and took an e-bike uptown. He eventually got into a taxi and was dropped off at West 178th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and then fled the state.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Thompson was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the discharged shell casings had the words \u201cDENY\u201d and \u201cDEPOSE\u201d written on them, and the word \u201cDELAY\u201d was written on a bullet, all found at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>On December 9th, MANGIONE was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being spotted at a local McDonalds. When he was arrested, police recovered a 9-millimeter handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, two ammunition magazines, multiple live cartridges, a homemade silencer, and the fake New Jersey ID used at the hostel.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>[1] From the video, Bragg has the order wrong. First the leg, <em>then<\/em> the knee. This would be important of Mangione\u2019s defense is that he only intended to kneecap Thompson, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/tom-neuburger-the-medias-bizarre-treatment-of-the-mangione-case.html\">as Yves urges here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: America, being a gun-<del>humping<\/del>loving country, has a rich tradition and body of law centering on self-defense via firearms. Without lining up my speculation with the facts of the case (for example, it\u2019s hard to see how shooting someone in the back fits in to \u201cstand your ground), what would self-defense against social murder look like, if it were to be reduced to legal doctrine? Let me propose a thought experiment. Case A: Suppose (legal) person HI (for health insurance) has a machine gun, and (natural person) <em>p<\/em> has a handgun. If HI fires its machine gun at <em>p<\/em>, is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back in self-defense? Surely so. (I assume the analogy between denying care and firing a machine gun is clear.) Case B: Let us suppose we interpose a sheet of paper between HI and <em>p<\/em>. HI again fires their machine gun at <em>p<\/em> but <em>through the paper<\/em>. Is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back? Surely so. Case C: Suppose that we leave the paper in place, and introduce a complex Rube Goldberg device between HI\u2019s trigger finger, and the trigger of the machine gun. HI\u2019s finger twitches, the Rube Goldberg device pulls the trigger, the machine gun fires, and again the bullets go through the paper. Again, is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back? This case seems not so clear, but why exactly? (I assume the analogy between the health insurance industry\u2019s claims denial process and a Rube Goldberg device is clear.) What is it about the level of indirection in Case C that separates it from Cases A and B? Comments from lawyers welcome!<\/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\/sars-cov-2-in-wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/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, KidDoc, 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>Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"26.713247624371\">\n<p><“Health officials say Louisiana patient is first severe bird flu case in US” [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/bird-flu-severe-louisiana-2b4a5f55a05cf8be9b169c15e8b9582d?taid=6762fc10e00a400001deb0f6&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cA person in Louisiana has the first severe illness caused by bird flu in the U.S., health officials said Wednesday. The patient had been in contact with sick and dead birds in backyard flocks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Agency officials didn\u2019t immediately detail the person\u2019s symptoms\u2026. The CDC confirmed the Louisiana infection on Friday, but did not announce it until Wednesday. It\u2019s also the first U.S. human case linked to exposure to a backyard flock, the agency said\u2026. Did the Louisiana patient have pre-existing conditions that made him or her more susceptible to illness? Is the person on a ventilator? The CDC deferred those and other questions about the patient to state health officials, who did not immediately respond.\u201d \u2022 Because of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCDC Confirms First Severe Case of H5N1 Bird Flu in the United States\u201d (press release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2024\/m1218-h5n1-flu.html#:~:text=This%20means%20that%20backyard%20flock,saliva%2C%20mucous%2C%20and%20feces.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>]. \u201cThis case underscores that, in addition to affected commercial poultry and dairy operations, wild birds and backyard flocks also can be a source of exposure\u2026.. This means that backyard flock owners, hunters and other bird enthusiasts should also take precautions. The best way to prevent H5 bird flu is to avoid exposure whenever possible. Infected birds shed avian influenza A viruses in their saliva, mucous, and feces. Other infected animals may shed avian influenza A viruses in respiratory secretions and other bodily fluids (e.g., in unpasteurized cow milk or \u2018raw milk\u2019).\u201d \u2022 Avoid contact, use PPE, don\u2019t touch contaminated surfaces or materials. NOTE I am not recalling a case of bird flu transmitted by raw milk, repellent and destructive though I find the raw milk grift.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Testing and Tracking: Wastewater<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"20.597315436242\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/daniel_e_park\/status\/1869212636531003489?s=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Some<\/a> modelers are calling a winter Covid \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/michael_hoerger\/status\/1868550160105841149\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">surge<\/a>\u201d right now. Some remarks. First, I don\u2019t use graphs like those below because I don\u2019t regard them as actionable; I use the CDC maps because they are better able to answer questions like \u201cShould I go to see Grandma in Wichita this Christmas?\u201d or \u201cShould I take that ski vacation in Colorado in January?\u201d Further, my Covid protocols are constant; I wouldn\u2019t vary them by the fluctuations in the graph in any case. Further, I object to calling a surge before it\u2019s visible:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"464\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1-300x232.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>You will notice that the \u201csurge\u201d in this chart is all projection. Well, I\u2019ve demonstrated in the past that CDC projections aren\u2019t necessarily reliable; and I don\u2019t view other models as any better; see <a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/abbycartus\/archive\/covid-grifters-are-still-wrong-the-structure-of\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Closed Form<\/a>. So I would advocate reserving the term \u201csurge\u201d for an actually oberved event of some scale, and not a projection so far scaled to a ripple based on past events, as shown in this brutally and shamefully truncated CDC chart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"358\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2-300x179.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>That Scranton Joe; he can surge with the best of \u2019em!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Walgreen\u2019s positivity hasn\u2019t gone up, but it hasn\u2019t gone down, either.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.885518590998\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6190476190476\">\n<td valign=\"top\">This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 9<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Last week[2] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> (until next week):<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2-300x186.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" style=\"align: left; margin-left: 0px !important; padding: 9px 0 9px 0;\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1-300x227.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong> Variants<\/strong> [3] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 7<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> <strong>Emergency Room Visits<\/strong>[4] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_select_7dayeddiagnosed_00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-300x255.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283866\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl-300x157.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Hospitalization<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.9102564102564\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span>New York[5] <a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.health.ny.gov\/daily-hospitalization-summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York State<\/a>, data December 16:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 12:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1-283x300.png 283w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Positivity<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6842105263158\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> National[7] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/healthcare-solutions\/covid-19-index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a> December 16:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Ohio[8] <a href=\"https:\/\/clevelandcliniclabs.com\/respiratory-virus-surveillance-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cleveland Clinic<\/a> December 14:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states-300x167.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1-300x194.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Travelers Data<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 25:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 25:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283868\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283869\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1.png 1902w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-1024x719.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-768x539.png 768w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-1536x1079.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-624x438.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1902px) 100vw, 1902px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Deaths<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.7647058823529\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] <a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronavirusdisease2019\/what-you-should-know\/current-situation-in-the-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 20:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] <a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronadisease2019\/what-you-should-know\/current-situation-in-the-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 20:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"129.12830883243\">\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) Seeing a little more red, but nothing new at major international hubs. Interestingly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calculatedriskblog.com\/2024\/12\/december-13th-covid-update-covid-in.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Calculated Risk is watching wastewater too<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[2] (CDC) Last week\u2019s wastewater map.<\/p>\n<p>[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, \u201cOmmicron,\u201d has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.<\/p>\n<p>[4] (ED) A little uptick.<\/p>\n<p>[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.<\/p>\n<p>[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward trend since, well, Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.<\/p>\n<p>[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are no official statistics of interest today.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing says it has resumed 767, 777 wide-body production\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/aerospace-defense\/boeing-says-it-has-resumed-767-777-production-2024-12-18\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]. \u201cBoeing (BA.N), opens new tab said late on Tuesday it has resumed production of all airplane programs that had been halted by a machinists\u2019 strike in the Pacific Northwest. The planemaker confirmed last week it restarted production of its best-selling 737 MAX jetliner in early December \u2013 about a month after the end of a seven-week strike by 33,000 factory workers \u2013 and said it has now resumed wide-body programs in Everett, Washington that were impacted.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope said in a social media post on Tuesday the company had now resumed production across its 737, 767, and 777\/777X airplane programs. \u2018We have taken time to ensure all manufacturing teammates are current on training and certifications, while positioning inventory at the optimal levels for smooth production,\u2019 she added.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing Starliner astronauts will return to Earth in March 2025 after new NASA, SpaceX delay\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/human-spaceflight\/boeing-starliner-astronauts-will-return-to-earth-in-march-2025-after-new-nasa-spacex-delay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Space.com<\/a>]. \u201cThe astronaut duo who flew the first-ever crewed mission of Boeing\u2019s Starliner capsule will have to wait a little longer to rejoin us on Earth\u2026. The new delay will bring Wilmore and Williams\u2019 time in space to around nine months in total \u2014 far longer than the 10 days or so their mission was originally expected to last. Though unexpectedly long, nine months is not terribly outlandish; other NASA astronauts have stayed on the ISS for far longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 50 Neutral (previous close: 51 Neutral) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 51 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 18 at 2:43:11 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mystery Drones<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Great Drone Panic of 2024\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/drone-sighting-panic.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cPublic hysterias have always surfaced from time to time, in the U.S. and everywhere else that humans happen to be. And the drones were fun, at first. On Reddit, r\/UFOs is buzzing with activity as users concoct government conspiracies and dream of alien incursions from outer space. But there\u2019s always an underbelly to contagions of this sort. Consider the great drone panic of 2024 alongside other trends, and it looks like a sign of deeper social dysfunction. America is fearful, even paranoid; it has just reelected Trump, a vengeful figure who admires dictators and strongmen and seeks retribution against liberals and the broader world order they represent. Conspiratorial thinking is not a new phenomenon in the U.S., but it is a hallmark of the MAGA movement, and Trump\u2019s rise empowers a class of grifters who prey on ignorance and fear.\u201d \u2022 NJ is, of course, a Blue state.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy do people believe true things?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conspicuouscognition.com\/p\/why-do-people-believe-true-things\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Conspicuous Cognition<\/a>]. \u201cThere never was a \u201ctruth\u201d era. The dominant world religions are vast repositories of fake news and rumours; conspiracy theories are as old as humanity; and false, cartoonish, and biased narratives and ideologies are the norm throughout human history. However, it is also because I think locating modern epistemic problems in \u2018misinformation\u2019 and related buzzwords is explanatorily shallow. Once you appreciate that <a href=\"https:\/\/iai.tv\/articles\/misinformation-is-the-symptom-not-the-disease-daniel-walliams-auid-2690#:~:text=Against%20this%20picture%2C%20philosopher%20Daniel,that%20we're%20hoping%20for.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the truth is not the default<\/a>\u2014that it is an exceptional, fragile, improbable achievement\u2014it should shift how you approach social epistemology. First, it should encourage a conscious rejection of naive realism. The truth is not self-evident\u2026. Second, it should make us understand that lies, conspiracy theories, misinformation, bias, pseudo-science, superstition and so on are not alien perversions of the public sphere. They are the epistemic state of nature that society will revert to in the absence of fragile\u2014and highly contingent\u2014cultural and institutional achievements. Given this, the real epistemic challenge for the twenty-first century is not to combat misinformation, except insofar as doing this helps us achieve a deeper, more fundamental goal: maintaining and improving our best epistemic norms and institutions, and winning trust in, and conformity to, them.\u201d \u2022 So, how are we doing on that?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-17-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From SV:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"292\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284148\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil-300x146.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SV writes: \u201cBubbler on African Basil.\u201d Not sure I understand \u201cbubbler.\u201d This is 2:00pm, not 4:20.<\/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. Material here is Lambert\u2019s, and does not express the views of the Naked Capitalism site. 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!<\/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<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<footer class=\"entry-meta\">\n\t\t\tThis entry was posted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/category\/water-cooler\" rel=\"category tag\">Water Cooler<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-18-2024-2.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2024-12-18T14:00:04-05:00\">December 18, 2024<\/time><\/a><span class=\"by-author\"> by <span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/author\/lambert-strether\" title=\"View all posts by Lambert Strether\" rel=\"author\">Lambert Strether<\/a><\/span><\/span>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-info\" wp_automatic_readability=\"20.197005056398\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .author-avatar --><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-description\" wp_automatic_readability=\"35.467911318553\">\n<h2>About Lambert Strether<\/h2>\n<p>Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (\u201cBecause markets\u201d). I don\u2019t much care about the \u201cism\u201d that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don\u2019t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. <br \/>\n <br \/>\nTo me, the key issue \u2014 and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me \u2014 is the tens of thousands of excess \u201cdeaths from despair,\u201d as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics \u2014 even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton\u2019s wars created \u2014 bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow \u2014 currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press \u2014 a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let\u2019s call such voices \u201cthe left.\u201d Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn\u2019t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I\u2019ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .author-link\t-->\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-description -->\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-info --><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- .entry-meta --><br \/>\n\t<!-- #post --><\/p>\n<nav class=\"nav-single\">\n<h3 class=\"assistive-text\">Post navigation<\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-previous list-posts-older\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/the-destructive-legacy-of-failed-aquaculture.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> The Destructive Legacy of Failed Aquaculture<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-next list-posts-newer\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/nav>\n<p><!-- .nav-single --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #comments .comments-area --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #content --><br \/>\n<!-- #primary --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #secondary --><\/p>\n<footer id=\"colophon\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- .site-info --><br \/>\n\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- #colophon --><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- #main.wrapper --><br \/>\n<!-- #page --><br \/>\n<!-- .mobile-menu-wrap --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Blog Reader Pooling - removed 09\/16\/2015 by M. 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Singing from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88605,"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-88604","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\/88604","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=88604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Southards Pond Park, Suffolk, New York, United States. \u201cThree song bouts. Singing from the roof of a house adjacent to the park. Mimicry includes Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, and Carolina Wren.\u201d \u201cBouts!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#warren\">Warren v. Musk<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#gerontocracy\">Democrat gerontocrats<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#mangione\">Mangione charged with terrorism<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#flu\">Bird flu<\/a>, the first severe case.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\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>Trump Transition<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"60.511148812409\">\n<p><a name=\"warren\"\/>Warren asks for conflict-of-interest rules covering Musk\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/5044099-elon-musk-elizabeth-warren-donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hill<\/a>]. \u2022 She\u2019s right on the merits, of course. How is an oligarch not conflicted, by definition, since they, by their actions or non-actions, are capable of affecting the entire economy? Elon responds:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.4152046783626\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"11.479532163743\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Elon: “My platform is a legitimate news source! It’s legitimater than all those so-called ‘legacy media’ outlets!”<\/p>\n<p>Also Elon: “Hey look at the insulting picture I made with my platform! Senator Warren is Pocahontas, har har! \ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23 Please give me attention! \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d” <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Qt0UcM642g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/Qt0UcM642g<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Lee Crawford (@Vampire337) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Vampire337\/status\/1869167305302917331\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 17, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>A brutally obvious ad hom, of course. Tactically, however, it\u2019s highly unfortunate that the Democrat standard-bearer on Elon\u2019s oligarch-style conflicts is the sort of DEI-beneficiary guaranteed to get every conservative knee jerking:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.8755186721992\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.2157676348548\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Back in 1996, a spokesman for Harvard Law School rebutted claims that the school had no minority women on the faculty by noting that Elizabeth Warren was Native American <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7zGjXAlQLY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/7zGjXAlQLY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wesley Yang (@wesyang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wesyang\/status\/1869196463756177867\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>And:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2380952380952\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.9047619047619\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">“The Texas bar registration card is significant, among other reasons, because it removes any doubt that Warren directly claimed the identity.”<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IHV47Q1LZY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/IHV47Q1LZY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wesley Yang (@wesyang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wesyang\/status\/1869208571201884405\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>We went over all this back in 2016, when the unimpeachably high-minded quondam Republican Warren was stabbing Sanders in the back \u2014 not that I\u2019m bitter \u2014 but <a href=\"https:\/\/elizabethwarrenwiki.org\/elizabeth-warren-native-american-cherokee-controversy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">suffice to say that<\/a> one is only a Cherokee \u2014 the tribe to which Warren claimed to belong \u2014 if the tribe admits you, and Warren was never admitted. Warren gives every appearance of having climbed to her eminence at Harvard Law School on their (non-white) backs, exactly what inflames, say, half the country and distracts from the legitimate issue Warren raises. Too bad the Democrats can\u2019t do better in their spokespersons, but here we are.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe upcoming GOP assault on Social Security\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicnotice.co\/p\/trump-cutting-social-security-medicare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Public Notice<\/a>]. \u201cDuring all three of his presidential campaigns, Trump distanced himself from efforts to gut Social Security \u2014 sort of. As with so many topics, however, he has not been particularly concerned with consistency. In March of this year, Trump let slip on CNBC that he just might be convinced to go after the social safety net, stating, \u2018There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting.\u2019 He then went on a marginally coherent \u201cweave,\u201d thereby managing to avoid addressing the implications of his statement\u2026. Soon after winning the election, Trump tasked Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and their pseudo government agency titled \u201cDOGE\u201d (after a crypto currency that had been started as a joke) with cutting as much as $2 trillion of annual spending from the federal budget. Ramaswamy initially appeared to deny that Social Security would be touched, asserting that \u201cprogram integrity\u201d would be DOGE\u2019s sole focus, and adding that changes in benefits would be a matter for Congress to decide. Yet, for two reasons, there was far less to that assurance than meets to eye. First, it has always been the case that Congress will have to vote in favor of any proposal to gut entitlement programs. That is because Social Security and Medicare comprise \u201cmandatory\u201d spending, which is compelled by statute. And secondly, as a matter of financial fact, the kind of drastic austerity measures that Trump\u2019s cronies are proposing will necessarily involve massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or both. That is because approximately 60 percent of the federal budget is composed of mandatory spending, while 10 percent is devoted to debt service. Of the remaining 30 percent, half is defense spending, leaving only 15 percent that comprises the entirety of non-defense, discretionary spending.\u201d \u2022 Left to their own devices, the Republicans, augmented by oligarchs, will do what they always do (if Trump allows it, but who knows). It is to be hoped that the centrist dipshits who were pushing a \u201cGrand Bargain\u201d in the Obama years don\u2019t decide to join with DOGE and \u201csave Social Security.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"86.328374070138\">\n<p><a name=\"gerontocracy\"\/>\u201cPelosi Won. The Democratic Party Lost\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/R8zLp#selection-689.0-689.38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Republic<\/a>]. \u201cFresh off hip replacement surgery, Nancy Pelosi, 84, secured another victory. House Democrats on Tuesday afternoon decided that 74 year old Gerry Connolly\u2014who announced his throat cancer diagnosis in November\u2014will serve as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, besting 35 year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a closed-door caucus vote. \u2018 said Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, a Connolly ally.\u201d More: \u201cIn other democracies, the leadership of parties that have endured humiliating defeats like the one Democrats saw in November\u2014or even just regular defeats\u2014resign. That kicks off a process by which members determine a new, ideally more successful direction, represented by different people. But the Democratic Party isn\u2019t really a \u2018party\u2019 of the sort that exists in other democracies, with memberships and official constituencies, like unions, who have some say over how it\u2019s governed. Members mostly make decisions based on their own interests rather than to drive some shared, democratically-decided agenda forward [\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/politics\/politics-features\/nancy-pelosi-interview-696750\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the beautiful tent that is the Democratic Party<\/a>\u201c]. That\u2019s part of what\u2019s so depressing about the Oversight Committee ordeal for the couple dozen journalists and political junkies who pay attention to that sort of thing. Pelosi and the old guard\u2019s continued opposition to younger talent seems breathtakingly counter-productive in the face of the Democratic party\u2019s numerous challenges right now.\u201d And: \u201d If the Democrats have a future, its inspiration will come from outside the bounds of its own fiefdoms and sclerotic internal processes. It will come, for example, from unions that cultivate leaders who can genuinely speak to working class voters. It will come social movements that build momentum for populist ideas that haven\u2019t been poll tested into bland, business-friendly mush. At the very least, those things can outlive Pelosi and the old guard.\u201d \u2022 \u2018Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. But I don\u2019t agree that \u201cmembers mostly make decisions based on their own interests.\u201d If that were true, there would be no need for party whips.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Democrats\u2019 Five Strategies for Coping With Trump 2.0\u2033 [Ed Kilgore, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/democrats-five-strategies-for-coping-with-trump-20\/ar-AA1vYaYU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cSome Democrats are so thoroughly impressed by the current power of the MAGA movement they are choosing to surrender to it in significant respects. The prime example is Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, the onetime fiery populist politician who is now becoming conspicuous in his desire to admit his party\u2019s weaknesses and snuggle up to the new regime\u2026. It\u2019s probably germane to Fetterman\u2019s conduct that he will be up for reelection in 2028, a presidential-election year in a state Trump carried on November 5.\u201d And: \u201cOther Democrats are being much more selectively friendly to Trump, searching for \u2018common ground\u2019 on issues where they believe he will be cross-pressured by his wealthy backers and more conventional Republicans. Like Fetterman, these Democrats \u2014 including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren \u2014 tend to come from the progressive wing of the party and have longed chafed at the centrist economic policies advanced by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and, to some extent, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They\u2019ve talked about strategically encouraging Trump\u2019s \u2018populist\u2019 impulses on such issues as credit-card interest and big-tech regulation, partly as a matter of forcing the new president and his congressional allies to put up or shut up. So the idea is to push off a discredited Democratic Establishment, at least on economic issues, and either accomplish things for working-class voters in alliance with Trump or prove the hollowness of his \u2018populism.\u2019\u2026 At the other end of the spectrum, some centrist Democrats are pushing off what they perceive as a discredited progressive ascendancy in the party, especially on culture-war issues and immigration\u2026. From a strategic point of view, these militant centrists appear to envision a 2028 presidential campaign that will take back the voters Biden won in 2020 and that Harris lost this year.\u201d But finally: \u201cHistorical precedents indicate very high odds that <a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/2024-election-5-takeaways.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Democrats can flip the House in 2026<\/a>, bringing to a relatively quick end to any Republican legislative steamroller on Trump\u2019s behalf and signaling good vibes for 2028.\u201d \u2022 So, stand pat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Happened to the Democratic Party?\u201d (review) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/opinion\/what-happened-to-the-democratic-party\/ar-AA1vWZjC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Repunblic<\/a>]. This caught my eye, on rival pollsters Stanley Greenberg and Douglas Schoen: \u201cFor [historian Timothy Shenk in <em>Left Adrift<\/em>, these two men\u2014bitter rivals for clout and clients in the retooling Democratic Party of the Clinton era\u2014understood better than many traditional New Dealers in the party\u2019s leadership caste that a massive, if slow-moving, political realignment was under way: the party\u2019s abandonment of its traditional working-class base and its embrace of a professional, highly educated elite\u2026. Greenberg, who came of political age during Eugene McCarthy\u2019s incendiary anti-war presidential campaign in 1968, accepted this political shift as it gained traction in the Reagan era. But he did so from a defensive posture, seeking to persuade candidates and clients to echo vintage Democratic populist appeals in a last-ditch bid to arrest the dealignment of working-class voters from the party. Meanwhile, Schoen, a scion of Manhattan privilege, cheerfully welcomed the shift as the new consensus delimiting future Democratic agendas, policy goals, and political campaigns\u2026. Schoen, for his part, had no misgivings about the party giving up on the working class, white or not. An early and enthusiastic adopter of Margaret Thatcher\u2019s famous pronouncement on the neoliberal dispensation\u2014\u201dThere is no alternative\u201d\u2014Schoen and his consulting partner, Mark Penn (who would later serve as chairman of Hillary Clinton\u2019s disastrous 2008 presidential campaign), built up an influential and wildly profitable Beltway franchise for political and corporate clients that also advanced their own political preferences.\u201d \u2022 There\u2019s actually some analysis in the piece that treats \u201cthe working class\u201d as dynamic\u2026. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Dead Hand of the Democratic Consultant Class\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/politics\/elections\/the-dead-hand-of-the-democratic-consultant-class\/ar-AA1w1b3K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. \u201cDespite appearances, this at times bruising argument isn\u2019t really about the past at all. What it\u2019s really about is the future, and whether the Democratic Party needs the kind of root-and-branch reform that would allow it to ignore the siren song of the consultant class, which has now led the party to two disastrous defeats. Or whether, to borrow a term from British politics, all that is required for victory is \u2018one more heave\u2019\u2014running the same campaign, but with a bit more vigor than last time. That, in essence, was the message a shockingly unrepentant David Plouffe and his colleagues offered as guests on Pod Save America: Give us the chance to do it all over again in 2028 and we will. Anyone even tempted to credit these grifters should listen to Plouffe\u2019s October episode, \u2018Why You Shouldn\u2019t Panic About the Polls.’\u201d \u2022 I think that battle is over; \u201cone more heave\u201d it is (absent active intervention by some insurgent force, for which or whom I scan the horizon in vain. That is the message of AOC\u2019s humiliation by Pelosi; and whoever gets annointed by DNC chair will signal victory for the \u201cdead hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"136.19778277635\">\n<p>\u201cHow America Invented the Red State\u201d [Tarence Ray, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/politics\/red-states-walz-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Nation<\/a>]. Of the Trillbillies. Worth reading in full (quotes Frank and Bageant). This caught my eye: \u201cThe status of white rural workers is fixed not only in terms of class but in terms of geography, their intransigence rooted in both the soil and the blood. Rather than being in need of transformative social welfare or multiracial working-class solidarity, red-staters are \u2018an anchor dragging down the rest of the country.\u2019 Whiteness becomes a kind of dematerializing solvent for all social questions, an eternal and ethereal substance moving throughout history, the persistence of which can never be defeated. It was a position very much consistent with the calcified, end-of-the-road liberalism of the Biden years. The material and social reality could not be overcome, and so the people themselves were to blame. The kernel for this thinking went back to the way the federal government, under both Trump and Biden, handled the pandemic. Responsibility for not spreading the coronavirus was placed on individuals, morally as well as logistically, rather than on the government\u2014at the exact moment that the government expanded its social safety net to adjust for the economic disruptions of lockdown. This safety net, arrived at by an obvious contradiction, was a boon to rural areas in terms of employment, municipal revenue, and administrative capacity. It was not lost on anyone when that safety net was allowed to expire under a liberal president.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"mangione\"\/>\u201cLuigi Mangione Charged With Terrorism in Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/luigi-mangione-update-indicted-for-first-degree-murder.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cLuigi Mangione was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder as an act of terrorism, among other counts, in an indictment announced by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday.\u201d Yes, <em>that<\/em> Alvin Bragg, who no doubt has the Governor\u2019s mansion in his sights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Wildest Charges in Accused UHC Shooter\u2019s Indictment\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/189512\/unitedhealthcare-shooter-luigi-mangione-charges-terrorism?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tnr_daily\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New Republic<\/a>]. \u201cIt\u2019s unclear how exactly Mangione\u2019s alleged crime was intended to \u2018influence the policy of a unit of government,\u2019 which companies such as UnitedHealthcare are not, or \u2018intimidate\u2019 the civilian population. Rather, Mangione\u2019s alleged act appeared to have been planned to target a specific class of individuals who profit exorbitantly off the suffering of the civilian population. \u2018The ruling class is treating killing one of their own, with the motive being related to the evils of our health care system, as a fundamentally different act than if you or I were to be murdered,\u2019 wrote journalist J.P. Hill on X Tuesday.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mechanized hum of another world\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/abbycartus\/archive\/the-mechanized-hum-of-another-world\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Closed Form<\/a>]. \u201cWay back at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution that started humanity down this disastrous path, a guy by the name of Friedrich Engels (who is very familiar to anyone that has been reading this newsletter) coined a neat little term to describe a phenomenon particular to the emerging industrial-technical organization of life. The term, which will also be extremely familiar to readers of this newsletter or Nate\u2019s, is social murder. Via a long analysis of the Marxian concept of \u2018mute compulsion\u2019 elaborated recently in a book by S\u00f8ren Mau (and covered by yours truly in this post), we can show straightforwardly that social murder issues from what Ted Kaczynski might call the technological organization of society, and which I would call the \u2018rules of the game\u2019 of capitalism itself. Through working on this newsletter, I have started to theorize social murder as a subcategory of structural violence, one that can serve as a theoretical basis for many rather adrift concepts in public health such as so-called \u2018health disparities.\u2019 Social murder helps us describe actually-existing population health and ground it conceptually in a capitalist political economy, be it global or national (or local). One of these aspects of population health that social murder helps us make sense of is health insurance \u2013 in fact, I am planning a whole post about health insurance, qualitatively, as a social determinant of health, so stay tuned for that.\u201d \u2022 Important! (Two questions to interrogate \u201csocial murder\u201d with: Who and what are actually murdered? And how does this differ from the operation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2014\/03\/neo-liberalism-expressed-simple-rules.html#rule2\">Rule #2<\/a>, the default setting?)<\/p>\n<p>The zeitgeist:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.7424242424242\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.330303030303\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One thing I haven’t heard spoken about regarding Chris Rock’s recent SNL appearance: At the beginning of his monologue, Rock said “We got Luigi”. Not one person clapped. He then repeated it. Still no one clapped.<\/p>\n<p>The political and media establishment really has no idea how to\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/anthonyzenkus\/status\/1869284895769424290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Here is the indictment (PDF) \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Mangione-Indictment-FINAL-as-filed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK against LUIGI MANGIONE<\/a>\u201c. From the first paragraph:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"286\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/indictment-300x143.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>This language is taken <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycourts.gov\/judges\/cji\/2-PenalLaw\/490\/490.25.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">from New York State Penal Law<\/a> \u00a7 490.25, \u201cCRIME OF TERRORISM.\u201d but I\u2019m having a hard time understanding it. From my helpful annotations:<\/p>\n<p>[1] Is a health insurance company a \u201ccivilian population\u201d? If not, who or what is the civilian population intimidated or coerced? The class of all health insurance CEOs? The class of all CEOs? The ruling class? (NOTE: I do not know the meaning of the word \u201cpopulation\u201d in law, and suspect it\u2019s different from the concept of \u201cclass\u201d as a political economist would be it.)<\/p>\n<p>[2], [3] Or is a health insurance company a \u201cunit of government\u201d? Surely not, unless \u201cunit\u201d is a term of art. But if not, what is? Congress, in passing health insurance reform? More ingeniously, the organs of state security, who will now be \u201cintimidated\u201d into devising measures to deal with the menance?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cD.A. Bragg Announces Murder Indictment Of Luigi Mangione\u201d (Press Release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/manhattanda.org\/d-a-bragg-announces-murder-indictment-of-luigi-mangione\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Manhattan District Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a>]. Here is Bragg\u2019s timeline:<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"54\">\n<p>According to court documents and statements made on the record, MANGIONE arrived at Port Authority on a bus on November 24, 2024, and checked in at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side. MANGIONE used a fake New Jersey ID under the name Mark Rosario. MANGIONE extended his stay at the Hostel multiple times.<\/p>\n<p>On the morning of December 4th, MANGIONE left the Hostel at 5:34 a.m. and travelled to Midtown using an e-bike.<\/p>\n<p>Between 5:52 a.m. and 6:45 a.m., MANGIONE walked near and around the Hilton Hotel. At approximately 6:15 a.m. he purchased a water bottle and granola bars at the Starbucks at 1290 6th Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>Between approximately 6:38 a.m. and 6:44 a.m., MANGIONE stood against a wall on the north side of West 54th Street across from the Hilton, fully masked with his hood up.<\/p>\n<p>At 6:45 a.m., MANGIONE crossed the street to the Hilton Hotel and, armed with a 9-millimeter 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a silencer, [1].<\/p>\n<p>MANGIONE then fled northeast on 54th Street and took an e-bike uptown. He eventually got into a taxi and was dropped off at West 178th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and then fled the state.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Thompson was transported to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the discharged shell casings had the words \u201cDENY\u201d and \u201cDEPOSE\u201d written on them, and the word \u201cDELAY\u201d was written on a bullet, all found at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>On December 9th, MANGIONE was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being spotted at a local McDonalds. When he was arrested, police recovered a 9-millimeter handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, two ammunition magazines, multiple live cartridges, a homemade silencer, and the fake New Jersey ID used at the hostel.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>[1] From the video, Bragg has the order wrong. First the leg, <em>then<\/em> the knee. This would be important of Mangione\u2019s defense is that he only intended to kneecap Thompson, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/tom-neuburger-the-medias-bizarre-treatment-of-the-mangione-case.html\">as Yves urges here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: America, being a gun-<del>humping<\/del>loving country, has a rich tradition and body of law centering on self-defense via firearms. Without lining up my speculation with the facts of the case (for example, it\u2019s hard to see how shooting someone in the back fits in to \u201cstand your ground), what would self-defense against social murder look like, if it were to be reduced to legal doctrine? Let me propose a thought experiment. Case A: Suppose (legal) person HI (for health insurance) has a machine gun, and (natural person) <em>p<\/em> has a handgun. If HI fires its machine gun at <em>p<\/em>, is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back in self-defense? Surely so. (I assume the analogy between denying care and firing a machine gun is clear.) Case B: Let us suppose we interpose a sheet of paper between HI and <em>p<\/em>. HI again fires their machine gun at <em>p<\/em> but <em>through the paper<\/em>. Is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back? Surely so. Case C: Suppose that we leave the paper in place, and introduce a complex Rube Goldberg device between HI\u2019s trigger finger, and the trigger of the machine gun. HI\u2019s finger twitches, the Rube Goldberg device pulls the trigger, the machine gun fires, and again the bullets go through the paper. Again, is <em>p<\/em> justified in firing back? This case seems not so clear, but why exactly? (I assume the analogy between the health insurance industry\u2019s claims denial process and a Rube Goldberg device is clear.) What is it about the level of indirection in Case C that separates it from Cases A and B? Comments from lawyers welcome!<\/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\/sars-cov-2-in-wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wastewater<\/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, KidDoc, 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>Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"26.713247624371\">\n<p><“Health officials say Louisiana patient is first severe bird flu case in US” [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/bird-flu-severe-louisiana-2b4a5f55a05cf8be9b169c15e8b9582d?taid=6762fc10e00a400001deb0f6&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cA person in Louisiana has the first severe illness caused by bird flu in the U.S., health officials said Wednesday. The patient had been in contact with sick and dead birds in backyard flocks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Agency officials didn\u2019t immediately detail the person\u2019s symptoms\u2026. The CDC confirmed the Louisiana infection on Friday, but did not announce it until Wednesday. It\u2019s also the first U.S. human case linked to exposure to a backyard flock, the agency said\u2026. Did the Louisiana patient have pre-existing conditions that made him or her more susceptible to illness? Is the person on a ventilator? The CDC deferred those and other questions about the patient to state health officials, who did not immediately respond.\u201d \u2022 Because of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCDC Confirms First Severe Case of H5N1 Bird Flu in the United States\u201d (press release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2024\/m1218-h5n1-flu.html#:~:text=This%20means%20that%20backyard%20flock,saliva%2C%20mucous%2C%20and%20feces.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a>]. \u201cThis case underscores that, in addition to affected commercial poultry and dairy operations, wild birds and backyard flocks also can be a source of exposure\u2026.. This means that backyard flock owners, hunters and other bird enthusiasts should also take precautions. The best way to prevent H5 bird flu is to avoid exposure whenever possible. Infected birds shed avian influenza A viruses in their saliva, mucous, and feces. Other infected animals may shed avian influenza A viruses in respiratory secretions and other bodily fluids (e.g., in unpasteurized cow milk or \u2018raw milk\u2019).\u201d \u2022 Avoid contact, use PPE, don\u2019t touch contaminated surfaces or materials. NOTE I am not recalling a case of bird flu transmitted by raw milk, repellent and destructive though I find the raw milk grift.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Testing and Tracking: Wastewater<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"20.597315436242\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/daniel_e_park\/status\/1869212636531003489?s=12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Some<\/a> modelers are calling a winter Covid \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/michael_hoerger\/status\/1868550160105841149\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">surge<\/a>\u201d right now. Some remarks. First, I don\u2019t use graphs like those below because I don\u2019t regard them as actionable; I use the CDC maps because they are better able to answer questions like \u201cShould I go to see Grandma in Wichita this Christmas?\u201d or \u201cShould I take that ski vacation in Colorado in January?\u201d Further, my Covid protocols are constant; I wouldn\u2019t vary them by the fluctuations in the graph in any case. Further, I object to calling a surge before it\u2019s visible:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"464\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_1-300x232.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>You will notice that the \u201csurge\u201d in this chart is all projection. Well, I\u2019ve demonstrated in the past that CDC projections aren\u2019t necessarily reliable; and I don\u2019t view other models as any better; see <a href=\"https:\/\/buttondown.com\/abbycartus\/archive\/covid-grifters-are-still-wrong-the-structure-of\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Closed Form<\/a>. So I would advocate reserving the term \u201csurge\u201d for an actually oberved event of some scale, and not a projection so far scaled to a ripple based on past events, as shown in this brutally and shamefully truncated CDC chart:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"358\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cdc-ww-surge_2-300x179.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>That Scranton Joe; he can surge with the best of \u2019em!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Walgreen\u2019s positivity hasn\u2019t gone up, but it hasn\u2019t gone down, either.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.885518590998\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6190476190476\">\n<td valign=\"top\">This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 9<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Last week[2] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> (until next week):<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-2-300x186.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" style=\"align: left; margin-left: 0px !important; padding: 9px 0 9px 0;\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283587\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-1-300x227.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong> Variants<\/strong> [3] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 7<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> <strong>Emergency Room Visits<\/strong>[4] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_select_7dayeddiagnosed_00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-300x255.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283866\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-er-natl-300x157.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Hospitalization<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.9102564102564\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span>New York[5] <a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.health.ny.gov\/daily-hospitalization-summary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York State<\/a>, data December 16:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 12:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284151\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-10-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-1-283x300.png 283w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Positivity<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6842105263158\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> National[7] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/healthcare-solutions\/covid-19-index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a> December 16:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Ohio[8] <a href=\"https:\/\/clevelandcliniclabs.com\/respiratory-virus-surveillance-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cleveland Clinic<\/a> December 14:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-walgreens-posivity-states-300x167.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-1-300x194.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Travelers Data<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 25:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 25:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283868\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2-300x188.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283869\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1.png 1902w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-1024x719.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-768x539.png 768w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-1536x1079.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-1-624x438.png 624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1902px) 100vw, 1902px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Deaths<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.7647058823529\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] <a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronavirusdisease2019\/what-you-should-know\/current-situation-in-the-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 20:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] <a href=\"https:\/\/health.hawaii.gov\/coronadisease2019\/what-you-should-know\/current-situation-in-the-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> November 20:<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-283439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"129.12830883243\">\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) Seeing a little more red, but nothing new at major international hubs. Interestingly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calculatedriskblog.com\/2024\/12\/december-13th-covid-update-covid-in.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Calculated Risk is watching wastewater too<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[2] (CDC) Last week\u2019s wastewater map.<\/p>\n<p>[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, \u201cOmmicron,\u201d has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.<\/p>\n<p>[4] (ED) A little uptick.<\/p>\n<p>[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.<\/p>\n<p>[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward trend since, well, Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n<p>[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.<\/p>\n<p>[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.<\/p>\n<p>[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stats Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are no official statistics of interest today.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing says it has resumed 767, 777 wide-body production\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/aerospace-defense\/boeing-says-it-has-resumed-767-777-production-2024-12-18\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]. \u201cBoeing (BA.N), opens new tab said late on Tuesday it has resumed production of all airplane programs that had been halted by a machinists\u2019 strike in the Pacific Northwest. The planemaker confirmed last week it restarted production of its best-selling 737 MAX jetliner in early December \u2013 about a month after the end of a seven-week strike by 33,000 factory workers \u2013 and said it has now resumed wide-body programs in Everett, Washington that were impacted.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope said in a social media post on Tuesday the company had now resumed production across its 737, 767, and 777\/777X airplane programs. \u2018We have taken time to ensure all manufacturing teammates are current on training and certifications, while positioning inventory at the optimal levels for smooth production,\u2019 she added.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing Starliner astronauts will return to Earth in March 2025 after new NASA, SpaceX delay\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/space-exploration\/human-spaceflight\/boeing-starliner-astronauts-will-return-to-earth-in-march-2025-after-new-nasa-spacex-delay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Space.com<\/a>]. \u201cThe astronaut duo who flew the first-ever crewed mission of Boeing\u2019s Starliner capsule will have to wait a little longer to rejoin us on Earth\u2026. The new delay will bring Wilmore and Williams\u2019 time in space to around nine months in total \u2014 far longer than the 10 days or so their mission was originally expected to last. Though unexpectedly long, nine months is not terribly outlandish; other NASA astronauts have stayed on the ISS for far longer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 50 Neutral (previous close: 51 Neutral) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 51 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 18 at 2:43:11 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mystery Drones<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Great Drone Panic of 2024\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/nymag.com\/intelligencer\/article\/drone-sighting-panic.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cPublic hysterias have always surfaced from time to time, in the U.S. and everywhere else that humans happen to be. And the drones were fun, at first. On Reddit, r\/UFOs is buzzing with activity as users concoct government conspiracies and dream of alien incursions from outer space. But there\u2019s always an underbelly to contagions of this sort. Consider the great drone panic of 2024 alongside other trends, and it looks like a sign of deeper social dysfunction. America is fearful, even paranoid; it has just reelected Trump, a vengeful figure who admires dictators and strongmen and seeks retribution against liberals and the broader world order they represent. Conspiratorial thinking is not a new phenomenon in the U.S., but it is a hallmark of the MAGA movement, and Trump\u2019s rise empowers a class of grifters who prey on ignorance and fear.\u201d \u2022 NJ is, of course, a Blue state.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy do people believe true things?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conspicuouscognition.com\/p\/why-do-people-believe-true-things\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Conspicuous Cognition<\/a>]. \u201cThere never was a \u201ctruth\u201d era. The dominant world religions are vast repositories of fake news and rumours; conspiracy theories are as old as humanity; and false, cartoonish, and biased narratives and ideologies are the norm throughout human history. However, it is also because I think locating modern epistemic problems in \u2018misinformation\u2019 and related buzzwords is explanatorily shallow. Once you appreciate that <a href=\"https:\/\/iai.tv\/articles\/misinformation-is-the-symptom-not-the-disease-daniel-walliams-auid-2690#:~:text=Against%20this%20picture%2C%20philosopher%20Daniel,that%20we're%20hoping%20for.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the truth is not the default<\/a>\u2014that it is an exceptional, fragile, improbable achievement\u2014it should shift how you approach social epistemology. First, it should encourage a conscious rejection of naive realism. The truth is not self-evident\u2026. Second, it should make us understand that lies, conspiracy theories, misinformation, bias, pseudo-science, superstition and so on are not alien perversions of the public sphere. They are the epistemic state of nature that society will revert to in the absence of fragile\u2014and highly contingent\u2014cultural and institutional achievements. Given this, the real epistemic challenge for the twenty-first century is not to combat misinformation, except insofar as doing this helps us achieve a deeper, more fundamental goal: maintaining and improving our best epistemic norms and institutions, and winning trust in, and conformity to, them.\u201d \u2022 So, how are we doing on that?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact information for plants<\/strong>: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-17-2024.html\">here<\/a>. From SV:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"292\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284148\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/bubbler_basil-300x146.jpeg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SV writes: \u201cBubbler on African Basil.\u201d Not sure I understand \u201cbubbler.\u201d This is 2:00pm, not 4:20.<\/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. Material here is Lambert\u2019s, and does not express the views of the Naked Capitalism site. 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!<\/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<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<footer class=\"entry-meta\">\n\t\t\tThis entry was posted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/category\/water-cooler\" rel=\"category tag\">Water Cooler<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-18-2024-2.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2024-12-18T14:00:04-05:00\">December 18, 2024<\/time><\/a><span class=\"by-author\"> by <span class=\"author vcard\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/author\/lambert-strether\" title=\"View all posts by Lambert Strether\" rel=\"author\">Lambert Strether<\/a><\/span><\/span>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"author-info\" wp_automatic_readability=\"20.197005056398\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .author-avatar --><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-description\" wp_automatic_readability=\"35.467911318553\">\n<h2>About Lambert Strether<\/h2>\n<p>Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (\u201cBecause markets\u201d). I don\u2019t much care about the \u201cism\u201d that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don\u2019t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. <br \/>\n <br \/>\nTo me, the key issue \u2014 and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me \u2014 is the tens of thousands of excess \u201cdeaths from despair,\u201d as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics \u2014 even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton\u2019s wars created \u2014 bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow \u2014 currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press \u2014 a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let\u2019s call such voices \u201cthe left.\u201d Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn\u2019t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I\u2019ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- .author-link\t-->\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-description -->\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!-- .author-info --><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- .entry-meta --><br \/>\n\t<!-- #post --><\/p>\n<nav class=\"nav-single\">\n<h3 class=\"assistive-text\">Post navigation<\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-previous list-posts-older\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/the-destructive-legacy-of-failed-aquaculture.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> The Destructive Legacy of Failed Aquaculture<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-next list-posts-newer\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/nav>\n<p><!-- .nav-single --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #comments .comments-area --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #content --><br \/>\n<!-- #primary --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #secondary --><\/p>\n<footer id=\"colophon\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- .site-info --><br \/>\n\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- #colophon --><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- #main.wrapper --><br \/>\n<!-- #page --><br \/>\n<!-- .mobile-menu-wrap --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Blog Reader Pooling - removed 09\/16\/2015 by M. 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Singing from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88605,"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-88604","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\/88604","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=88604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}