\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, Tulare Ave., Contra Costa, California, United States. \u201cIn magnolia tree at approx. 8 feet off the ground, directly above microphone.\u201d Barking dog, but energetic bird!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#table\">New Covid data<\/a>, with wastewater increase.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#mangione\">Mangione hit with Federal charges,<\/a> death penalty possible.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#biden\">Biden<\/a> wasn\u2019t been governing the country, an extra-constitutional entity was.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#doge\">DOGE<\/a> is another extra-constitutional entity.<\/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>Biden Administration<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"77.382256297919\">\n<p><a name=\"biden\"\/>\u201cHow the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/myRcU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. It took me awhile to get past the paywall. As of the 2020 campaign: \u201cBiden, now 82, has long operated with . The protective culture inside the White House was intensified because Biden started his presidency at the height of the Covid pandemic. His staff took great care to prevent him from catching the virus by limiting in-person interactions with him. But the shell constructed for the pandemic was never fully taken down, and his advanced age hardened it. The structure was also designed to prevent Biden, an undisciplined public speaker throughout his half-century political career, from making gaffes or missteps that could damage his image, create political headaches or upset the world order. The system put Biden at an unusual remove from cabinet secretaries, the chairs of congressional committees and other high-ranking officials. It also insulated him from the scrutiny of the American public.\u201d And: \u201cInteractions between Biden and many of his cabinet members were relatively infrequent and often tightly scripted. At least one cabinet member stopped requesting calls with the president, because it was clear that such requests wouldn\u2019t be welcome, a former senior cabinet aide said.\u201d And: \u201cFormer administration officials said it often didn\u2019t seem like Biden had his finger on the pulse.\u201d \u2022 \u201cCircle\u201d is an interesting word. Right after Biden slipped a cog in debate,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/bidens-slips-cog-second-time-as-tragedy-second-time-as-farce-or-both.html\"> I chose that word<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"30\">\n<p>I\u2019ve been trying to think of a word for this extra-constitutional entity, this small group that would play \u2014 or perhaps is already playing the same role in the Biden Presidency that the group around Edith Wilson played in Wilsons. The Axios URL shows the original headline was something like biden-debate-replace-advisers, but the editors jacked it up to read \u201cBiden oligarchy.\u201d But that\u2019s wrong; oligarchy is an entire political system. (\u201cBiden oligarchs\u201d might have been OK, but to me, an oligarch is a member of the only small group that really matters: The squillioniares, and although Biden et al. may service the squillioniares, they are not, themselves, squillionaires.) I thought of cabal, milieu, gang, clique, crew, faction, team, troop, club, coterie, posse, and finally settled on the term \u201ccircle,\u201d since a circle has a center (Biden), connotes repetitiveness and stability, and has allied terms \u201csocial circle\u201d and \u201cinner circle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So it\u2019s clear that the United States has been governed by an extra-constitutional entity (Biden\u2019s \u201ccircle\u201d) for quite some time, possibly since Biden\u2019s inaugural. Yikes! (\u201cPresidenting is hard work\u201d \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/storyonly\/2006\/1\/31\/233638\/761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">George W. Bush<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe terrifying scandal is that Biden was NEVER president. The full truth about the cover-up, Bad Doctor Jill and all the enemies within must be exposed\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14211289\/Joe-Biden-health-Jill-exposed-MAUREEN-CALLAHAN.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cHaving been lied to for years by the Democratic Party machine and most of the mainstream media \u2014 who insisted Joe Biden was not diminished by his age but energized by it \u2014 well, it turns out we skeptics were right all along.\u201d The Daily Mail is not wrong here. More: \u201cAnd what we\u2019re learning is terrifying. Infuriating. An unacceptable abuse of power, a usurpation of the presidency itself by a nameless, faceless cohort.\u201d Or here. More: \u201cSubpoena [Karine Jean-Pierre]. For real. Subpoena her \u2013 and all of Biden\u2019s top inner circle, the ones who kept him \u2018bodied\u2019, as one source said, to a degree unprecedented for any sitting US president: Ron Klain (former White House chief of staff), Mike Donilon (senior advisor) and Jennifer O\u2019Malley Dillon (campaign manager) to name a few.\u201d Not a bad idea. Why not? And: \u201cIf there\u2019s any justice, the post-White House book deals and board seats will vaporize as quickly as the Biden legacy.\u201d \u2022 \u2018Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. And deliciously\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow vengeful Jill Biden is urging \u2018depressed\u2019 Joe to \u2018burn the whole thing down\u2019 in their final days\u2026 with Obama, Kamala and Pelosi at the top of her \u2018naughty list\u2019 [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14207889\/vengeful-Jill-Biden-depressed-Joe-Obama-Kamala-Pelosi.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cBetween organizing this year\u2019s White House Christmas decorations, staff holiday parties and a string of final goodbyes, the president and First Lady Jill Biden have been quietly sharpening the metaphorical carving knives, with their sights set firmly on the one-time allies they perceive as having wronged them\u2026.. \u2018Jill views Democrats on Capitol Hill, the [wider] party, the Obamas, staff inside and outside the White House, the media, and all of Washington DC with such misguided resentment that I can\u2019t imagine she [isn\u2019t] encouraging [Joe] to burn the whole thing down, despite his better judgment,\u2019 an insider said.\u201d And: \u201cOne Democratic mega-donor, Floridian attorney John Morgan, is now wondering aloud whether Biden deliberately forced Kamala Harris onto the ticket \u2013 throwing his endorsement behind her within minutes of pulling out \u2013 to spite Pelosi and Barack Obama, who had also worked behind the scenes to push Biden out, and who both held serious reservations about Harris\u2019s capabilities.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoe Biden is going out quietly but with trademark decency\u201d [Margaret Sullivan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2024\/dec\/20\/joe-biden-presidency-trademark-decency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Guardian<\/a>]. \u201cBiden remains himself to a large extent: decent, optimistic, patriotic and empathetic.\u201d \u2022 Well, except for the genocide. I used to respect Sullivan until she started writing about politics.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump Transition<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"59.624428643982\">\n<p>I haven\u2019t followed all the twist and turns of the latest government shutdown saga because its just too stupid:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClosures, Social Security checks, furloughs: What a government shutdown might mean\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-shutdown-trump-elon-musk-johnson-schumer-jeffries-cf75ae3c5f04207980cb96b286e70c09\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cCongress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government or federal agencies will shut down, meaning hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be sent home \u2014 or stay on the job without pay \u2014 just ahead of the holidays. Republicans abandoned <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/budget-government-shutdown-congress-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a bipartisan plan<\/a> Wednesday to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-shutdown-congress-trump-elon-budget-house-republican-05481374b154949c3fe1270141a02918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">prevent a shutdown<\/a> after President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk came out against it. Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson to essentially renegotiate the deal days before a deadline when <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/budget-government-shutdown-congress-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">federal funding runs out<\/a>.\u201d Importantly to some: \u201cRecipients of both Social Security and Medicare would continue to receive their benefits, which are part of mandatory spending that\u2019s not subject to annual appropriations measures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elon\u2019s happy dance on Wednesday:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.5401785714286\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"4.9285714285714\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yesterday\u2019s bill vs today\u2019s bill \ud83d\ude02 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/L3Omn964mw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/L3Omn964mw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1869865296376303763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>This is amazingly stupid, even for a billionaire. The measure of a bill is not its page count, but how successfully it provisions the citizenry (\u201cuniversal concrete material benefits\u201d), just as the measure for software is note lines of code, but functionality for the user.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJohnson moves forward on spending Plan C: Breaking up the bills\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2024\/12\/20\/congress\/third-spending-plan-attempt-00195611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cSpeaker Mike Johnson has moved on to a Plan C to avert a government shutdown: Breaking up each piece to pass them separately. Under the House GOP\u2019s latest plan, Republicans will try to pass three separate bills: stopgap funding legislation with a one-year farm bill extension, money for recent natural disasters and aid for farmers, according to two people with direct knowledge of negotiations. A shutdown deadline is now about 12 hours away \u2014 the plan would punt that deadline to March 14. ;We\u2019re going to talk to the conference and I\u2019ll give you the final decision when this is over,\u201d Johnson said as he walked into a private House GOP meeting Friday morning.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>A nation that is sovereign in its own currency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dissentmagazine.org\/online_articles\/monetary-mythbusting-an-interview-with-stephanie-kelton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cannot go bankrupt<\/a>. But here we are:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6463414634146\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.5609756097561\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Either there is massive change or America goes bankrupt, therefore there must be massive change! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JLDBbvt41w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/JLDBbvt41w<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1869512926018834781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>How true it is: \u201cPractical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.\u201d \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/ejbarnesauthor.com\/quotes-of-john-maynard-keynes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">John Maynard Keynes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"doge\"\/>\u201cDOGE Can\u2019t Do It All. Here\u2019s What It Can Do\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/12\/19\/doge-cant-do-it-all-heres-what-it-can-do-00195190\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cBut given the practical limits of DOGE\u2019s power (it is not actually a government agency, despite its name), it will need to have buy-in \u2014 from lawmakers, from the incoming Cabinet as well and, of course, from Trump. \u2018They don\u2019t have any authorities,\u2019 Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former head of the Congressional Budget Office who\u2019s president of the American Action Forum, said to me about DOGE. \u2018On my most cynical days, I think they\u2019re just a think tank, and I run a think tank. I know how little power I have.\u2019 Just look at a past, DOGE-like effort: the Grace Commission in the 1980s. It was the same basic idea \u2014 a private-sector advisory group designed to look at ways to make government work better. Almost none of that body\u2019s suggestions were actually adopted, despite a mandate from then-President Ronald Reagan.\u201d \u2022 DOGE certainly isn\u2019t a thinktank, because a think tank has some corporate form, like a 501(c)(3). DOGE is certainly not a govenrment agency. Not is it advisory body, because it doens\u2019t meet the requirements of FACA (as HICPAC must do, for example). DOGE is just two guys stirring up froth on social media. To the extent it has any real power, it is as an extra-constitutional entity. Didn\u2019t we just go through that with Biden?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"7.2128146453089\">\n<p>I keep getting ads like this from Kamala:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.8327586206897\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.220689655172\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">President Biden and I are committed to building an economy that works for every American. We have taken historic action to create jobs, invest in small businesses, and forgive student loan and medical debt. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/crBAUFiXP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/crBAUFiXP8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP\/status\/1869518259260649835\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like she thinks she\u2019s still running. Or is this the best the DNC can do on messaging right now?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"72.131711026616\">\n<p><a name=\"mangione\"\/>\u201cLuigi Mangione Charged With The Stalking And Murder Of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson And Use Of A Silencer In A Crime Of Violence\u201d (press release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/luigi-mangione-charged-stalking-and-murder-unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-and-use\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York<\/a>]. But not terrorism, interestingly. \u201cFBI Assistant Director James E. Dennehy said: \u201cLuigi Mangione allegedly conducted the carefully premeditated and targeted execution of Brian Thompson to incite national debates. This alleged plot demonstrates a cavalier attitude towards humanity \u2013 deeming murder an appropriate recourse to satiate personal grievances. Through continued close partnership with the NYPD, the FBI maintains our steadfast commitment to fervently pursue any individual who promotes a personal agenda through violence.\u201d \u2022\u00a0As opposed to a corporate agenda?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFederal murder charge against Mangione could mean death penalty in CEO killing\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/12\/19\/nx-s1-5234272\/mangione-ceo-killing-charges-notebooks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR<\/a>]. \u201cThe federal charges against him include: one count of using a firearm to commit murder, which carries a maximum sentence of death or life in prison; one count of interstate stalking resulting in death; and one count of stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death (each carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison); and one count of discharging a firearm equipped with a silencer to commit a violent crime (which carries a sentence of 30 years to life in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow Luigi Mangione\u2019s notebook helped federal prosecutors build their case and what\u2019s next as he faces mounting charges\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/20\/us\/luigi-mangione-notebook-trial-whats-next\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. \u201cThe push for federal charges came from the US Attorney\u2019s office, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN. Because the FBI was already involved in the investigation assisting the NYPD with out-of-town leads, FBI agents were asked to draw up the federal complaint based on evidence collected by NYPD detectives working on the state charges and police in Pennsylvania who arrested Mangione. Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction in the case because Mangione\u2019s \u2018travel in interstate commerce\u2019 \u2013 taking a bus from Atlanta to New York prior to the killing \u2013 as well as \u2018use of interstate facilities\u2019 by allegedly utilizing a cell phone and the internet \u2018to plan and carry out the stalking, shooting, and killing\u2019 of Thompson in broad daylight on a Manhattan sidewalk.\u201d \u2022 Oh. Any crime involving a cell phone or the Internet is potentially a Federal case? Is that what I\u2019m reading?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA whirlwind day for Luigi Mangione ends with new charges, revelations from a notebook and transfer to a federal prison\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/19\/us\/luigi-mangione-healthcare-murder-charges\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. \u201cThe 26-year-old murder suspect began his day at a jail in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, his home for the last 10 days, and ended it in a notorious federal prison in New York\u2026. Mangione has been indicted on 11 charges in New York, including first-degree murder as an act of terrorism. He has not yet pleaded to the charges. He also faces charges in Pennsylvania in connection to the 3D-printed firearm and false ID allegedly in his possession when he was arrested. Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said he would not push to have those charges heard ahead of Mangione\u2019s much more serious charges in New York. And a federal complaint against him was unsealed midday Thursday adding four new charges and providing new details on a notebook authorities say was in his possession.\u201d \u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenklippenstein.com\/p\/luigis-manifesto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mangione\u2019s manifesto<\/a> mentions the notebook (\u201cThe spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it\u201d). Now here it is. Why wasn\u2019t it in the Central Park backpack with the monopoly money? And all the other paraphernalia, if it comes to that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead the Luigi Mangione federal criminal complaint\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/luigi-mangione-federal-criminal-complaint\/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=693362443\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CBS<\/a>]. From the Notebook as excerpted in the complaint:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"284\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook-300x142.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>(\u201cChecks every box\u201d sounds like some species of class analysis, although box-checking per se isn\u2019t dialectical, as Bourdieu shows.) I don\u2019t suppose we\u2019ll be seeing the complete notebook anytime soon\u2026. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeet the Legal Insider Defending Luigi Mangione\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/gbPgm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201cJust a few years ago, Karen Friedman Agnifilo managed the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office and its fleet of more than 500 attorneys\u2026. While Friedman Agnifilo has minimal courtroom experience as a criminal-defense attorney, her personal and professional interest in mental health, empathetic approach to clients and intimate knowledge of her former office will be key, colleagues said. \u2018She\u2019ll be able to predict what the prosecutors will do before they do it,\u2019 said lawyer Danya Perry, who has worked with her in private practice\u2026 Her husband, the defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo, is expected to play a supporting role in the case. He is also representing Sean \u2018Diddy\u2019 Combs [(!!!)] at his federal sex-trafficking trial this spring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLuigi Mangione canonized as a \u2018saint\u2019 by crazed online fans after death penalty bombshell\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14213815\/luigi-mangione-fans-executed-sparking-fears-martyr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cMany online are claiming Mangione is facing worse punishment that hardened criminals and school shooters, speculating that the government wants to make an example out of him and prevent some sort of revolt against corporate America. One X post read: \u2018They wanna give Luigi Mangione the death penalty. That\u2019s the only reason they making him face federal charges. \u2018They literally wanna kill him for daring to threaten capitalism and corporate greed. They don\u2019t even do this to school shooters.\u2019 Another X user added: \u2018Very few school shooters have gotten the death penalty. Yet the U.S. is trying to charge Luigi Mangione so he gets the death penalty for killing one man. You can kill dozens of kids and get a lesser sentence because their lives don\u2019t matter as much as a CEO\u2019s. That\u2019s America.\u2019 Some are pointing out that the government\u2019s handling of Mangione, which included a perp walk straight out of a Hollywood film, is only increasing the public\u2019s fixation on him. One X user said: \u2018luigi stepping out with a fresh cut\/shave, possible death penalty charges, and an nypd photoshoot is the craziest thing in the world. are they actively trying to make him a martyr? whether you\u2019re for or against him, they\u2019re making it SO easy for everyone to lionize him.’\u201d \u2022 The perp walk:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.4980544747082\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.4941634241245\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NYPD apparently sat around asking themselves “how can we arrange to transport Mangione in a way that makes him look to his supporters like Christ being taken to the cross” <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/psP9W7PDlx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/psP9W7PDlx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NathanJRobinson\/status\/1869866452054093986\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Of course Mayor Adams (center left, ha ha) has to get into the act\u2026 <\/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:\/\/skylab.cdph.ca.gov\/calwws\/\" 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, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3). <\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n<p>Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Long-lasting fomites:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.1788321167883\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.86496350365\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wow look how long <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/H5N1?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#H5N1<\/a> can stay infectious on \ud83e\udeb6 feathers, soil & feces !!! <br \/>It’s winter & colder temperatures keep the virus alive longer. <\/p>\n<p>At 4 C<br \/>Feathers 5 months<br \/>Soil,mud. 4 months<br \/>Feces 2 months <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fsoQhCcCVZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/fsoQhCcCVZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sphagnum Moss (@moss_sphagnum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moss_sphagnum\/status\/1869936862615232642\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 20, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.952157598499\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6470588235294\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 16<\/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-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-3.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-3-300x182.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-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><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6883116883117\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> 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 21<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> <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 14<\/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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-1-300x177.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=\"3.9634146341463\">\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 19:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 19:<\/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-positivity-nyc.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-positivity-nyc.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-positivity-nyc-300x189.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-hospitalizaiton-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalizaiton-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalizaiton-natl-300x283.png 300w\" 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=\"2.6111111111111\">\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\"> 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=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 2:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 2::<\/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-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-3.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-3-300x164.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-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2-300x211.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-1-300x161.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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-1-300x183.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"164.63619562939\">\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 more red and more orange, but nothing new at major hubs. <\/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>Inflation: \u201cUnited States PCE Price Index Annual Change\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/pce-price-index-annual-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cAnnual PCE inflation in the US accelerated for a second month to 2.4% in November 2024 from 2.3% in October, but below expectations of 2.5%.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing charts \u2018aggressive\u2019 737 Max production ramp-up in 2025\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/theaircurrent.com\/aircraft-production\/boeing-charts-aggressive-737-max-production-ramp-up-in-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Air Current<\/a>]. \u201cBoeing\u2019s supply chain wants the plane maker to be boring in 2025. Boeing has other ideas\u2026 Now, the company is progressing with a steep production acceleration on its single-aisle 737 Max that will test its younger workforce, fragile supply base and its chief regulator in the year to come. Currently, Boeing aims to have its production lines building 737 Max jets fully transitioned to a rate of 38 per month in May 2025, according to multiple people familiar with Boeing\u2019s planning inside the company and the supply chain. While Boeing said it is approaching its restart and ramp up \u201cmethodically\u201d, one senior official at a major Boeing supplier told <i>The Air Current <\/i>that the plane maker is at risk of repeating past mistakes \u2014 accelerating its factory tempo too quickly and pushing the deliveries from its supply chain beyond what the suppliers and their production lines can accommodate. \u201cThat is incredibly aggressive, probably unrealistic,\u201d said the supplier official. Underscoring the fragility of the trust between Boeing and its massive network of suppliers, the official said: \u201cAll I want is a year where they\u2019ll do what they say they\u2019ll do,\u201d noting that the company\u2019s production guidance for the supply chain has repeatedly failed to materialize since <a href=\"https:\/\/theaircurrent.com\/aircraft-production\/echoes-of-1997-production-meltdown-in-737-pileup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">even before the 737 Max was grounded<\/a> for 20 months starting in March 2019.\u201d \u2022 Well, Ortberg is only betting the company. So what\u2019s the issue?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 28 Neutral (previous close: 22 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 49 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 20 at 1:31:53 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Permaculture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnalyzing our 2024 Garden: peas, beans, carrots and greens\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/refarmer.ca\/2024\/12\/19\/analyzing-our-2024-garden-peas-beans-carrots-and-greens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Re-Farmer<\/a>]. Sometimes everything doesn\u2019t go according to plan. On the beans: \u201cWith the bush beans, the first sowing didn\u2019t succeed at all \u2013 and these were new seeds! I was able to buy more and tried again. This time, we had a nice, short row of bush beans emerge. They did quite well\u2026 Until they got eaten by deer. They recovered and started going well again. Then got eaten by deer again. Amazingly, they recovered again!\u201d \u2022 Lessons learned, an interesting genre.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The 420<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCannabis pollen dispersal across the United States\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-024-70633-x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Nature<\/a>]. \u201cFor the recently legalized US hemp industry (Cannabis sativa), cross-pollination between neighboring fields has become a significant challenge, leading to contaminated seeds, reduced oil yields, and in some cases, mandated crop destruction\u2026. Our findings reveal that pollen deposition rates escalate from summer to autumn due to the reduction in convective activity during daytime and the increase in wind shear at night as the season progresses. We find diurnal variations in pollen dispersion: nighttime conditions favor deposition in proximity to the source, while daytime conditions facilitate broader dispersal albeit with reduced deposition rates. These shifting weather patterns give rise to specific regions of CONUS more vulnerable to hemp cross-pollination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Missing van Gogh Masterpiece\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/24\/12\/the-missing-van-gogh-masterpiece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">kottke.org<\/a>]. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that the whereabouts of one of Vincent van Gogh\u2019s most important works, a 1890 painting called \u201cPortrait of Dr. Gachet\u201d, is unknown and that the painting had not been seen publicly since the 1990s.\u201d And quoting the New York Times; \u201cFour art world insiders said they suspect the painting is held by a private, very rich European family\u2026. The question has grown more relevant as it becomes clearer that most museums can no longer outbid billionaire collectors for the greatest works of art\u2026. \u2018People are allowed to own things privately,\u2019 said Michael Findlay, who was involved as a specialist for Christie\u2019s in the 1990 auction sale of the Gachet. \u2018Does it belong to everybody? No, it does not.’\u201d \u2022 Says the auctioneeer.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s not butter:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.8448753462604\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.332409972299\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">‘Mound of Butter.’ (1875\/1885) \u00c9mile Zola hailed Antoine Vollon as the first ‘worker’ painter to come along since Gustave Courbet. A star in his day. A specialist in still he was, ‘perhaps, the greatest painter living,’ according to one contemporary critic. ‘He can paint with\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xGWGdfaLji\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/xGWGdfaLji<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Richard Morris (@ahistoryinart) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ahistoryinart\/status\/1869664635038654467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"zeitgeist\"\/><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolyamory doesn\u2019t Liberate; Monogamy doesn\u2019t Protect\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/carsonogenic.substack.com\/p\/polyamory-doesnt-liberate-monogamy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Carsonogenic<\/a>]. \u201cThe classic poly delusion, is to think that via poly, you can get all of your needs met. Polyamory literature says <em>you can\u2019t expect one person to fulfill all of your emotional needs<\/em>. This is true. The shadow implication of this statement is that you can expect a <em>handful<\/em> of people to fulfill all of your emotional needs. This is not true. Other people do not exist to fill our emotional voids. To quote Bo Burnham \u2018<em>If you want love, the love has gotta come from you\u2026..<\/em>.\u201d So and but: \u201cThe major monogamy delusion is obvious. It is simple: the idea that you possess your partner, or that you even can \u2013 the idea that by irrevocably binding yourself to someone, you can avoid any possibility of abandonment or heartbreak.\u201d \u2022 Kids these days. San Francisco-based kids\u2026.. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor airports, background music no longer is an afterthought\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/airport-music-muzak-musicians-063a3ea6fdd5ea1ca9ef401fb52c56f6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cBackground music is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/travel-stress-holiday-tips-db5e5d819b6251bd415a9ad204baa03a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lighten travelers\u2019 moods<\/a>\u2026 Tiffany Idiart and her two nieces were delighted to hear musicians during a recent layover at <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/seattle-airport-cyberattack-ransomware-rhysida-95cd980a9f45112f0fdce488233eec9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Seattle-Tacoma International Airport<\/a>. \u2018I like it. There\u2019s a lot of people here and they can all hear it,\u2019 said Grace Idiart, 9. \u2018If their flight got delayed or something like that, they could have had a hard day. And so the music could have made them feel better.\u2019 Airports are also carefully curating their recorded playlists.\u201d \u2022 This does sound like a good idea. OTOH, my shadow side brings <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grandin.com\/meat\/meat.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Temple Grandin<\/a> to the surface\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cTen Thousand Years\u201d (podcast) [<a href=\"https:\/\/99percentinvisible.org\/episode\/ten-thousand-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">99% Invisible<\/a>]. \u201cThe Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the nation\u2019s only permanent underground repository for nuclear waste\u2026. Eventually, WIPP will be sealed up and left alone. Years will pass and those years will become decades. Those decades will become centuries and those centuries will roll into millennia. People above ground will come and go. Cultures will rise and fall. And all the while, below the surface, that cave full of waste will get smaller and smaller, until the salt swallows up all those oil drums and entombs them. Then, all the old radioactive gloves and tools and little bits from bombs \u2013all still radioactive\u2013 will be solidified in the earth\u2019s crust for more than 200,000 years. Basically forever. Storing something safely forever is a huge design problem.\u201d I\u2019m not sure what the solution was, but this one was proposed: \u201c[Philosophers] Bastide and Fabbri came to the conclusion that the most durable thing that humanity has ever made is culture: religion, folklore, belief systems. They may morph over time, but an essential message can get pulled through over millennia. They proposed that we genetically engineer a species of cat that changes color in the presence of radiation, which would be released into the wild to serve as living Geiger counters. Then, we would create folklore and write songs and tell stories about these \u2018ray cats,\u2019 the moral being that when you see these cats change colors, run far, far away.\u201d \u2022 Filing that solution away\u2026. <\/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-12-19-2024-2.html\">here<\/a>. From SV:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo-225x300.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SV writes: \u201cEmmi does Van Gogh. Cheers!\u201d I try never post images of animals, because those are for antidote and Links. But today I\u2019m breaking that rule \u2014 rules are, after all, made to be broken \u2014 because Emmi is pretty cute, and we\u2019ve been talking about Van Gogh recently, and today. Also, a jailhouse lawyer would point out there are plants in the Van Gogh puzzle that Emmi is helping to assemble.<\/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-12-20-2024.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2024-12-20T14:00:34-05:00\">December 20, 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\/post-cold-war-geopolitics-worse-for-global-south.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> Post Cold War Geopolitics Worse for Global South<\/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. Lacourse --><br \/>\n<!-- <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"nc-hide\" src=\"http:\/\/t.blogreaderproject.com\/t.gif?c9a0f3c0f2425bc76f3b4c3baf750ea8\" alt=\"\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\"> --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp footer --><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-20-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Bird Song of the Day Northern Mockingbird, Tulare Ave., Contra Costa, California, United States. \u201cIn magnolia tree at approx. 8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88687,"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-88686","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\/88686","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=88686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Tulare Ave., Contra Costa, California, United States. \u201cIn magnolia tree at approx. 8 feet off the ground, directly above microphone.\u201d Barking dog, but energetic bird!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#table\">New Covid data<\/a>, with wastewater increase.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#mangione\">Mangione hit with Federal charges,<\/a> death penalty possible.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#biden\">Biden<\/a> wasn\u2019t been governing the country, an extra-constitutional entity was.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#doge\">DOGE<\/a> is another extra-constitutional entity.<\/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>Biden Administration<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"77.382256297919\">\n<p><a name=\"biden\"\/>\u201cHow the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/myRcU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. It took me awhile to get past the paywall. As of the 2020 campaign: \u201cBiden, now 82, has long operated with . The protective culture inside the White House was intensified because Biden started his presidency at the height of the Covid pandemic. His staff took great care to prevent him from catching the virus by limiting in-person interactions with him. But the shell constructed for the pandemic was never fully taken down, and his advanced age hardened it. The structure was also designed to prevent Biden, an undisciplined public speaker throughout his half-century political career, from making gaffes or missteps that could damage his image, create political headaches or upset the world order. The system put Biden at an unusual remove from cabinet secretaries, the chairs of congressional committees and other high-ranking officials. It also insulated him from the scrutiny of the American public.\u201d And: \u201cInteractions between Biden and many of his cabinet members were relatively infrequent and often tightly scripted. At least one cabinet member stopped requesting calls with the president, because it was clear that such requests wouldn\u2019t be welcome, a former senior cabinet aide said.\u201d And: \u201cFormer administration officials said it often didn\u2019t seem like Biden had his finger on the pulse.\u201d \u2022 \u201cCircle\u201d is an interesting word. Right after Biden slipped a cog in debate,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/bidens-slips-cog-second-time-as-tragedy-second-time-as-farce-or-both.html\"> I chose that word<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"30\">\n<p>I\u2019ve been trying to think of a word for this extra-constitutional entity, this small group that would play \u2014 or perhaps is already playing the same role in the Biden Presidency that the group around Edith Wilson played in Wilsons. The Axios URL shows the original headline was something like biden-debate-replace-advisers, but the editors jacked it up to read \u201cBiden oligarchy.\u201d But that\u2019s wrong; oligarchy is an entire political system. (\u201cBiden oligarchs\u201d might have been OK, but to me, an oligarch is a member of the only small group that really matters: The squillioniares, and although Biden et al. may service the squillioniares, they are not, themselves, squillionaires.) I thought of cabal, milieu, gang, clique, crew, faction, team, troop, club, coterie, posse, and finally settled on the term \u201ccircle,\u201d since a circle has a center (Biden), connotes repetitiveness and stability, and has allied terms \u201csocial circle\u201d and \u201cinner circle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So it\u2019s clear that the United States has been governed by an extra-constitutional entity (Biden\u2019s \u201ccircle\u201d) for quite some time, possibly since Biden\u2019s inaugural. Yikes! (\u201cPresidenting is hard work\u201d \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/storyonly\/2006\/1\/31\/233638\/761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">George W. Bush<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe terrifying scandal is that Biden was NEVER president. The full truth about the cover-up, Bad Doctor Jill and all the enemies within must be exposed\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14211289\/Joe-Biden-health-Jill-exposed-MAUREEN-CALLAHAN.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cHaving been lied to for years by the Democratic Party machine and most of the mainstream media \u2014 who insisted Joe Biden was not diminished by his age but energized by it \u2014 well, it turns out we skeptics were right all along.\u201d The Daily Mail is not wrong here. More: \u201cAnd what we\u2019re learning is terrifying. Infuriating. An unacceptable abuse of power, a usurpation of the presidency itself by a nameless, faceless cohort.\u201d Or here. More: \u201cSubpoena [Karine Jean-Pierre]. For real. Subpoena her \u2013 and all of Biden\u2019s top inner circle, the ones who kept him \u2018bodied\u2019, as one source said, to a degree unprecedented for any sitting US president: Ron Klain (former White House chief of staff), Mike Donilon (senior advisor) and Jennifer O\u2019Malley Dillon (campaign manager) to name a few.\u201d Not a bad idea. Why not? And: \u201cIf there\u2019s any justice, the post-White House book deals and board seats will vaporize as quickly as the Biden legacy.\u201d \u2022 \u2018Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. And deliciously\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow vengeful Jill Biden is urging \u2018depressed\u2019 Joe to \u2018burn the whole thing down\u2019 in their final days\u2026 with Obama, Kamala and Pelosi at the top of her \u2018naughty list\u2019 [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14207889\/vengeful-Jill-Biden-depressed-Joe-Obama-Kamala-Pelosi.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cBetween organizing this year\u2019s White House Christmas decorations, staff holiday parties and a string of final goodbyes, the president and First Lady Jill Biden have been quietly sharpening the metaphorical carving knives, with their sights set firmly on the one-time allies they perceive as having wronged them\u2026.. \u2018Jill views Democrats on Capitol Hill, the [wider] party, the Obamas, staff inside and outside the White House, the media, and all of Washington DC with such misguided resentment that I can\u2019t imagine she [isn\u2019t] encouraging [Joe] to burn the whole thing down, despite his better judgment,\u2019 an insider said.\u201d And: \u201cOne Democratic mega-donor, Floridian attorney John Morgan, is now wondering aloud whether Biden deliberately forced Kamala Harris onto the ticket \u2013 throwing his endorsement behind her within minutes of pulling out \u2013 to spite Pelosi and Barack Obama, who had also worked behind the scenes to push Biden out, and who both held serious reservations about Harris\u2019s capabilities.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoe Biden is going out quietly but with trademark decency\u201d [Margaret Sullivan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2024\/dec\/20\/joe-biden-presidency-trademark-decency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Guardian<\/a>]. \u201cBiden remains himself to a large extent: decent, optimistic, patriotic and empathetic.\u201d \u2022 Well, except for the genocide. I used to respect Sullivan until she started writing about politics.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump Transition<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"59.624428643982\">\n<p>I haven\u2019t followed all the twist and turns of the latest government shutdown saga because its just too stupid:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClosures, Social Security checks, furloughs: What a government shutdown might mean\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-shutdown-trump-elon-musk-johnson-schumer-jeffries-cf75ae3c5f04207980cb96b286e70c09\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cCongress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government or federal agencies will shut down, meaning hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be sent home \u2014 or stay on the job without pay \u2014 just ahead of the holidays. Republicans abandoned <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/budget-government-shutdown-congress-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a bipartisan plan<\/a> Wednesday to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-shutdown-congress-trump-elon-budget-house-republican-05481374b154949c3fe1270141a02918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">prevent a shutdown<\/a> after President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk came out against it. Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson to essentially renegotiate the deal days before a deadline when <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/budget-government-shutdown-congress-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">federal funding runs out<\/a>.\u201d Importantly to some: \u201cRecipients of both Social Security and Medicare would continue to receive their benefits, which are part of mandatory spending that\u2019s not subject to annual appropriations measures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elon\u2019s happy dance on Wednesday:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.5401785714286\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"4.9285714285714\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yesterday\u2019s bill vs today\u2019s bill \ud83d\ude02 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/L3Omn964mw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/L3Omn964mw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1869865296376303763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>This is amazingly stupid, even for a billionaire. The measure of a bill is not its page count, but how successfully it provisions the citizenry (\u201cuniversal concrete material benefits\u201d), just as the measure for software is note lines of code, but functionality for the user.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJohnson moves forward on spending Plan C: Breaking up the bills\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2024\/12\/20\/congress\/third-spending-plan-attempt-00195611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cSpeaker Mike Johnson has moved on to a Plan C to avert a government shutdown: Breaking up each piece to pass them separately. Under the House GOP\u2019s latest plan, Republicans will try to pass three separate bills: stopgap funding legislation with a one-year farm bill extension, money for recent natural disasters and aid for farmers, according to two people with direct knowledge of negotiations. A shutdown deadline is now about 12 hours away \u2014 the plan would punt that deadline to March 14. ;We\u2019re going to talk to the conference and I\u2019ll give you the final decision when this is over,\u201d Johnson said as he walked into a private House GOP meeting Friday morning.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>A nation that is sovereign in its own currency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dissentmagazine.org\/online_articles\/monetary-mythbusting-an-interview-with-stephanie-kelton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cannot go bankrupt<\/a>. But here we are:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6463414634146\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.5609756097561\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Either there is massive change or America goes bankrupt, therefore there must be massive change! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JLDBbvt41w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/JLDBbvt41w<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1869512926018834781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>How true it is: \u201cPractical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.\u201d \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/ejbarnesauthor.com\/quotes-of-john-maynard-keynes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">John Maynard Keynes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"doge\"\/>\u201cDOGE Can\u2019t Do It All. Here\u2019s What It Can Do\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/12\/19\/doge-cant-do-it-all-heres-what-it-can-do-00195190\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cBut given the practical limits of DOGE\u2019s power (it is not actually a government agency, despite its name), it will need to have buy-in \u2014 from lawmakers, from the incoming Cabinet as well and, of course, from Trump. \u2018They don\u2019t have any authorities,\u2019 Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former head of the Congressional Budget Office who\u2019s president of the American Action Forum, said to me about DOGE. \u2018On my most cynical days, I think they\u2019re just a think tank, and I run a think tank. I know how little power I have.\u2019 Just look at a past, DOGE-like effort: the Grace Commission in the 1980s. It was the same basic idea \u2014 a private-sector advisory group designed to look at ways to make government work better. Almost none of that body\u2019s suggestions were actually adopted, despite a mandate from then-President Ronald Reagan.\u201d \u2022 DOGE certainly isn\u2019t a thinktank, because a think tank has some corporate form, like a 501(c)(3). DOGE is certainly not a govenrment agency. Not is it advisory body, because it doens\u2019t meet the requirements of FACA (as HICPAC must do, for example). DOGE is just two guys stirring up froth on social media. To the extent it has any real power, it is as an extra-constitutional entity. Didn\u2019t we just go through that with Biden?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"7.2128146453089\">\n<p>I keep getting ads like this from Kamala:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.8327586206897\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.220689655172\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">President Biden and I are committed to building an economy that works for every American. We have taken historic action to create jobs, invest in small businesses, and forgive student loan and medical debt. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/crBAUFiXP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/crBAUFiXP8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP\/status\/1869518259260649835\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like she thinks she\u2019s still running. Or is this the best the DNC can do on messaging right now?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"72.131711026616\">\n<p><a name=\"mangione\"\/>\u201cLuigi Mangione Charged With The Stalking And Murder Of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson And Use Of A Silencer In A Crime Of Violence\u201d (press release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/luigi-mangione-charged-stalking-and-murder-unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-and-use\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York<\/a>]. But not terrorism, interestingly. \u201cFBI Assistant Director James E. Dennehy said: \u201cLuigi Mangione allegedly conducted the carefully premeditated and targeted execution of Brian Thompson to incite national debates. This alleged plot demonstrates a cavalier attitude towards humanity \u2013 deeming murder an appropriate recourse to satiate personal grievances. Through continued close partnership with the NYPD, the FBI maintains our steadfast commitment to fervently pursue any individual who promotes a personal agenda through violence.\u201d \u2022\u00a0As opposed to a corporate agenda?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFederal murder charge against Mangione could mean death penalty in CEO killing\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/12\/19\/nx-s1-5234272\/mangione-ceo-killing-charges-notebooks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR<\/a>]. \u201cThe federal charges against him include: one count of using a firearm to commit murder, which carries a maximum sentence of death or life in prison; one count of interstate stalking resulting in death; and one count of stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death (each carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison); and one count of discharging a firearm equipped with a silencer to commit a violent crime (which carries a sentence of 30 years to life in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow Luigi Mangione\u2019s notebook helped federal prosecutors build their case and what\u2019s next as he faces mounting charges\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/20\/us\/luigi-mangione-notebook-trial-whats-next\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. \u201cThe push for federal charges came from the US Attorney\u2019s office, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN. Because the FBI was already involved in the investigation assisting the NYPD with out-of-town leads, FBI agents were asked to draw up the federal complaint based on evidence collected by NYPD detectives working on the state charges and police in Pennsylvania who arrested Mangione. Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction in the case because Mangione\u2019s \u2018travel in interstate commerce\u2019 \u2013 taking a bus from Atlanta to New York prior to the killing \u2013 as well as \u2018use of interstate facilities\u2019 by allegedly utilizing a cell phone and the internet \u2018to plan and carry out the stalking, shooting, and killing\u2019 of Thompson in broad daylight on a Manhattan sidewalk.\u201d \u2022 Oh. Any crime involving a cell phone or the Internet is potentially a Federal case? Is that what I\u2019m reading?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA whirlwind day for Luigi Mangione ends with new charges, revelations from a notebook and transfer to a federal prison\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/19\/us\/luigi-mangione-healthcare-murder-charges\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. \u201cThe 26-year-old murder suspect began his day at a jail in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, his home for the last 10 days, and ended it in a notorious federal prison in New York\u2026. Mangione has been indicted on 11 charges in New York, including first-degree murder as an act of terrorism. He has not yet pleaded to the charges. He also faces charges in Pennsylvania in connection to the 3D-printed firearm and false ID allegedly in his possession when he was arrested. Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said he would not push to have those charges heard ahead of Mangione\u2019s much more serious charges in New York. And a federal complaint against him was unsealed midday Thursday adding four new charges and providing new details on a notebook authorities say was in his possession.\u201d \u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenklippenstein.com\/p\/luigis-manifesto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mangione\u2019s manifesto<\/a> mentions the notebook (\u201cThe spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it\u201d). Now here it is. Why wasn\u2019t it in the Central Park backpack with the monopoly money? And all the other paraphernalia, if it comes to that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead the Luigi Mangione federal criminal complaint\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/luigi-mangione-federal-criminal-complaint\/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=693362443\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CBS<\/a>]. From the Notebook as excerpted in the complaint:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"284\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook-300x142.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>(\u201cChecks every box\u201d sounds like some species of class analysis, although box-checking per se isn\u2019t dialectical, as Bourdieu shows.) I don\u2019t suppose we\u2019ll be seeing the complete notebook anytime soon\u2026. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeet the Legal Insider Defending Luigi Mangione\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/gbPgm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201cJust a few years ago, Karen Friedman Agnifilo managed the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office and its fleet of more than 500 attorneys\u2026. While Friedman Agnifilo has minimal courtroom experience as a criminal-defense attorney, her personal and professional interest in mental health, empathetic approach to clients and intimate knowledge of her former office will be key, colleagues said. \u2018She\u2019ll be able to predict what the prosecutors will do before they do it,\u2019 said lawyer Danya Perry, who has worked with her in private practice\u2026 Her husband, the defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo, is expected to play a supporting role in the case. He is also representing Sean \u2018Diddy\u2019 Combs [(!!!)] at his federal sex-trafficking trial this spring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLuigi Mangione canonized as a \u2018saint\u2019 by crazed online fans after death penalty bombshell\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14213815\/luigi-mangione-fans-executed-sparking-fears-martyr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cMany online are claiming Mangione is facing worse punishment that hardened criminals and school shooters, speculating that the government wants to make an example out of him and prevent some sort of revolt against corporate America. One X post read: \u2018They wanna give Luigi Mangione the death penalty. That\u2019s the only reason they making him face federal charges. \u2018They literally wanna kill him for daring to threaten capitalism and corporate greed. They don\u2019t even do this to school shooters.\u2019 Another X user added: \u2018Very few school shooters have gotten the death penalty. Yet the U.S. is trying to charge Luigi Mangione so he gets the death penalty for killing one man. You can kill dozens of kids and get a lesser sentence because their lives don\u2019t matter as much as a CEO\u2019s. That\u2019s America.\u2019 Some are pointing out that the government\u2019s handling of Mangione, which included a perp walk straight out of a Hollywood film, is only increasing the public\u2019s fixation on him. One X user said: \u2018luigi stepping out with a fresh cut\/shave, possible death penalty charges, and an nypd photoshoot is the craziest thing in the world. are they actively trying to make him a martyr? whether you\u2019re for or against him, they\u2019re making it SO easy for everyone to lionize him.’\u201d \u2022 The perp walk:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.4980544747082\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.4941634241245\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NYPD apparently sat around asking themselves “how can we arrange to transport Mangione in a way that makes him look to his supporters like Christ being taken to the cross” <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/psP9W7PDlx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/psP9W7PDlx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NathanJRobinson\/status\/1869866452054093986\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Of course Mayor Adams (center left, ha ha) has to get into the act\u2026 <\/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:\/\/skylab.cdph.ca.gov\/calwws\/\" 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, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3). <\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n<p>Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Long-lasting fomites:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.1788321167883\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.86496350365\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wow look how long <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/H5N1?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#H5N1<\/a> can stay infectious on \ud83e\udeb6 feathers, soil & feces !!! <br \/>It’s winter & colder temperatures keep the virus alive longer. <\/p>\n<p>At 4 C<br \/>Feathers 5 months<br \/>Soil,mud. 4 months<br \/>Feces 2 months <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fsoQhCcCVZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/fsoQhCcCVZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sphagnum Moss (@moss_sphagnum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moss_sphagnum\/status\/1869936862615232642\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 20, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.952157598499\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6470588235294\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 16<\/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-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-3.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-3-300x182.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-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><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6883116883117\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> 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 21<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> <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 14<\/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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-1-300x177.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=\"3.9634146341463\">\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 19:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 19:<\/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-positivity-nyc.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-positivity-nyc.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-positivity-nyc-300x189.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-hospitalizaiton-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalizaiton-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalizaiton-natl-300x283.png 300w\" 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=\"2.6111111111111\">\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\"> 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=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 2:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 2::<\/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-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-3.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-3-300x164.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-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2-300x211.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-1-300x161.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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-1-300x183.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"164.63619562939\">\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 more red and more orange, but nothing new at major hubs. <\/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>Inflation: \u201cUnited States PCE Price Index Annual Change\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/pce-price-index-annual-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cAnnual PCE inflation in the US accelerated for a second month to 2.4% in November 2024 from 2.3% in October, but below expectations of 2.5%.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing charts \u2018aggressive\u2019 737 Max production ramp-up in 2025\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/theaircurrent.com\/aircraft-production\/boeing-charts-aggressive-737-max-production-ramp-up-in-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Air Current<\/a>]. \u201cBoeing\u2019s supply chain wants the plane maker to be boring in 2025. Boeing has other ideas\u2026 Now, the company is progressing with a steep production acceleration on its single-aisle 737 Max that will test its younger workforce, fragile supply base and its chief regulator in the year to come. Currently, Boeing aims to have its production lines building 737 Max jets fully transitioned to a rate of 38 per month in May 2025, according to multiple people familiar with Boeing\u2019s planning inside the company and the supply chain. While Boeing said it is approaching its restart and ramp up \u201cmethodically\u201d, one senior official at a major Boeing supplier told <i>The Air Current <\/i>that the plane maker is at risk of repeating past mistakes \u2014 accelerating its factory tempo too quickly and pushing the deliveries from its supply chain beyond what the suppliers and their production lines can accommodate. \u201cThat is incredibly aggressive, probably unrealistic,\u201d said the supplier official. Underscoring the fragility of the trust between Boeing and its massive network of suppliers, the official said: \u201cAll I want is a year where they\u2019ll do what they say they\u2019ll do,\u201d noting that the company\u2019s production guidance for the supply chain has repeatedly failed to materialize since <a href=\"https:\/\/theaircurrent.com\/aircraft-production\/echoes-of-1997-production-meltdown-in-737-pileup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">even before the 737 Max was grounded<\/a> for 20 months starting in March 2019.\u201d \u2022 Well, Ortberg is only betting the company. So what\u2019s the issue?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 28 Neutral (previous close: 22 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 49 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 20 at 1:31:53 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Permaculture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnalyzing our 2024 Garden: peas, beans, carrots and greens\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/refarmer.ca\/2024\/12\/19\/analyzing-our-2024-garden-peas-beans-carrots-and-greens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Re-Farmer<\/a>]. Sometimes everything doesn\u2019t go according to plan. On the beans: \u201cWith the bush beans, the first sowing didn\u2019t succeed at all \u2013 and these were new seeds! I was able to buy more and tried again. This time, we had a nice, short row of bush beans emerge. They did quite well\u2026 Until they got eaten by deer. They recovered and started going well again. Then got eaten by deer again. Amazingly, they recovered again!\u201d \u2022 Lessons learned, an interesting genre.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The 420<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCannabis pollen dispersal across the United States\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-024-70633-x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Nature<\/a>]. \u201cFor the recently legalized US hemp industry (Cannabis sativa), cross-pollination between neighboring fields has become a significant challenge, leading to contaminated seeds, reduced oil yields, and in some cases, mandated crop destruction\u2026. Our findings reveal that pollen deposition rates escalate from summer to autumn due to the reduction in convective activity during daytime and the increase in wind shear at night as the season progresses. We find diurnal variations in pollen dispersion: nighttime conditions favor deposition in proximity to the source, while daytime conditions facilitate broader dispersal albeit with reduced deposition rates. These shifting weather patterns give rise to specific regions of CONUS more vulnerable to hemp cross-pollination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Missing van Gogh Masterpiece\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/24\/12\/the-missing-van-gogh-masterpiece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">kottke.org<\/a>]. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that the whereabouts of one of Vincent van Gogh\u2019s most important works, a 1890 painting called \u201cPortrait of Dr. Gachet\u201d, is unknown and that the painting had not been seen publicly since the 1990s.\u201d And quoting the New York Times; \u201cFour art world insiders said they suspect the painting is held by a private, very rich European family\u2026. The question has grown more relevant as it becomes clearer that most museums can no longer outbid billionaire collectors for the greatest works of art\u2026. \u2018People are allowed to own things privately,\u2019 said Michael Findlay, who was involved as a specialist for Christie\u2019s in the 1990 auction sale of the Gachet. \u2018Does it belong to everybody? No, it does not.’\u201d \u2022 Says the auctioneeer.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s not butter:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.8448753462604\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.332409972299\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">‘Mound of Butter.’ (1875\/1885) \u00c9mile Zola hailed Antoine Vollon as the first ‘worker’ painter to come along since Gustave Courbet. A star in his day. A specialist in still he was, ‘perhaps, the greatest painter living,’ according to one contemporary critic. ‘He can paint with\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xGWGdfaLji\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/xGWGdfaLji<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Richard Morris (@ahistoryinart) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ahistoryinart\/status\/1869664635038654467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"zeitgeist\"\/><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolyamory doesn\u2019t Liberate; Monogamy doesn\u2019t Protect\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/carsonogenic.substack.com\/p\/polyamory-doesnt-liberate-monogamy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Carsonogenic<\/a>]. \u201cThe classic poly delusion, is to think that via poly, you can get all of your needs met. Polyamory literature says <em>you can\u2019t expect one person to fulfill all of your emotional needs<\/em>. This is true. The shadow implication of this statement is that you can expect a <em>handful<\/em> of people to fulfill all of your emotional needs. This is not true. Other people do not exist to fill our emotional voids. To quote Bo Burnham \u2018<em>If you want love, the love has gotta come from you\u2026..<\/em>.\u201d So and but: \u201cThe major monogamy delusion is obvious. It is simple: the idea that you possess your partner, or that you even can \u2013 the idea that by irrevocably binding yourself to someone, you can avoid any possibility of abandonment or heartbreak.\u201d \u2022 Kids these days. San Francisco-based kids\u2026.. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor airports, background music no longer is an afterthought\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/airport-music-muzak-musicians-063a3ea6fdd5ea1ca9ef401fb52c56f6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cBackground music is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/travel-stress-holiday-tips-db5e5d819b6251bd415a9ad204baa03a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lighten travelers\u2019 moods<\/a>\u2026 Tiffany Idiart and her two nieces were delighted to hear musicians during a recent layover at <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/seattle-airport-cyberattack-ransomware-rhysida-95cd980a9f45112f0fdce488233eec9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Seattle-Tacoma International Airport<\/a>. \u2018I like it. There\u2019s a lot of people here and they can all hear it,\u2019 said Grace Idiart, 9. \u2018If their flight got delayed or something like that, they could have had a hard day. And so the music could have made them feel better.\u2019 Airports are also carefully curating their recorded playlists.\u201d \u2022 This does sound like a good idea. OTOH, my shadow side brings <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grandin.com\/meat\/meat.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Temple Grandin<\/a> to the surface\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cTen Thousand Years\u201d (podcast) [<a href=\"https:\/\/99percentinvisible.org\/episode\/ten-thousand-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">99% Invisible<\/a>]. \u201cThe Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the nation\u2019s only permanent underground repository for nuclear waste\u2026. Eventually, WIPP will be sealed up and left alone. Years will pass and those years will become decades. Those decades will become centuries and those centuries will roll into millennia. People above ground will come and go. Cultures will rise and fall. And all the while, below the surface, that cave full of waste will get smaller and smaller, until the salt swallows up all those oil drums and entombs them. Then, all the old radioactive gloves and tools and little bits from bombs \u2013all still radioactive\u2013 will be solidified in the earth\u2019s crust for more than 200,000 years. Basically forever. Storing something safely forever is a huge design problem.\u201d I\u2019m not sure what the solution was, but this one was proposed: \u201c[Philosophers] Bastide and Fabbri came to the conclusion that the most durable thing that humanity has ever made is culture: religion, folklore, belief systems. They may morph over time, but an essential message can get pulled through over millennia. They proposed that we genetically engineer a species of cat that changes color in the presence of radiation, which would be released into the wild to serve as living Geiger counters. Then, we would create folklore and write songs and tell stories about these \u2018ray cats,\u2019 the moral being that when you see these cats change colors, run far, far away.\u201d \u2022 Filing that solution away\u2026. <\/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-12-19-2024-2.html\">here<\/a>. From SV:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo-225x300.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SV writes: \u201cEmmi does Van Gogh. Cheers!\u201d I try never post images of animals, because those are for antidote and Links. But today I\u2019m breaking that rule \u2014 rules are, after all, made to be broken \u2014 because Emmi is pretty cute, and we\u2019ve been talking about Van Gogh recently, and today. Also, a jailhouse lawyer would point out there are plants in the Van Gogh puzzle that Emmi is helping to assemble.<\/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-12-20-2024.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2024-12-20T14:00:34-05:00\">December 20, 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\/post-cold-war-geopolitics-worse-for-global-south.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> Post Cold War Geopolitics Worse for Global South<\/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. Lacourse --><br \/>\n<!-- <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"nc-hide\" src=\"http:\/\/t.blogreaderproject.com\/t.gif?c9a0f3c0f2425bc76f3b4c3baf750ea8\" alt=\"\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\"> --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp footer --><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/12\/200pm-water-cooler-12-20-2024.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Bird Song of the Day Northern Mockingbird, Tulare Ave., Contra Costa, California, United States. \u201cIn magnolia tree at approx. 8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88687,"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-88686","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\/88686","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=88686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northern Mockingbird, Tulare Ave., Contra Costa, California, United States. \u201cIn magnolia tree at approx. 8 feet off the ground, directly above microphone.\u201d Barking dog, but energetic bird!<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#table\">New Covid data<\/a>, with wastewater increase.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#mangione\">Mangione hit with Federal charges,<\/a> death penalty possible.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#biden\">Biden<\/a> wasn\u2019t been governing the country, an extra-constitutional entity was.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#doge\">DOGE<\/a> is another extra-constitutional entity.<\/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>Biden Administration<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"77.382256297919\">\n<p><a name=\"biden\"\/>\u201cHow the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/myRcU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. It took me awhile to get past the paywall. As of the 2020 campaign: \u201cBiden, now 82, has long operated with . The protective culture inside the White House was intensified because Biden started his presidency at the height of the Covid pandemic. His staff took great care to prevent him from catching the virus by limiting in-person interactions with him. But the shell constructed for the pandemic was never fully taken down, and his advanced age hardened it. The structure was also designed to prevent Biden, an undisciplined public speaker throughout his half-century political career, from making gaffes or missteps that could damage his image, create political headaches or upset the world order. The system put Biden at an unusual remove from cabinet secretaries, the chairs of congressional committees and other high-ranking officials. It also insulated him from the scrutiny of the American public.\u201d And: \u201cInteractions between Biden and many of his cabinet members were relatively infrequent and often tightly scripted. At least one cabinet member stopped requesting calls with the president, because it was clear that such requests wouldn\u2019t be welcome, a former senior cabinet aide said.\u201d And: \u201cFormer administration officials said it often didn\u2019t seem like Biden had his finger on the pulse.\u201d \u2022 \u201cCircle\u201d is an interesting word. Right after Biden slipped a cog in debate,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/2024\/07\/bidens-slips-cog-second-time-as-tragedy-second-time-as-farce-or-both.html\"> I chose that word<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"30\">\n<p>I\u2019ve been trying to think of a word for this extra-constitutional entity, this small group that would play \u2014 or perhaps is already playing the same role in the Biden Presidency that the group around Edith Wilson played in Wilsons. The Axios URL shows the original headline was something like biden-debate-replace-advisers, but the editors jacked it up to read \u201cBiden oligarchy.\u201d But that\u2019s wrong; oligarchy is an entire political system. (\u201cBiden oligarchs\u201d might have been OK, but to me, an oligarch is a member of the only small group that really matters: The squillioniares, and although Biden et al. may service the squillioniares, they are not, themselves, squillionaires.) I thought of cabal, milieu, gang, clique, crew, faction, team, troop, club, coterie, posse, and finally settled on the term \u201ccircle,\u201d since a circle has a center (Biden), connotes repetitiveness and stability, and has allied terms \u201csocial circle\u201d and \u201cinner circle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So it\u2019s clear that the United States has been governed by an extra-constitutional entity (Biden\u2019s \u201ccircle\u201d) for quite some time, possibly since Biden\u2019s inaugural. Yikes! (\u201cPresidenting is hard work\u201d \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/storyonly\/2006\/1\/31\/233638\/761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">George W. Bush<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe terrifying scandal is that Biden was NEVER president. The full truth about the cover-up, Bad Doctor Jill and all the enemies within must be exposed\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14211289\/Joe-Biden-health-Jill-exposed-MAUREEN-CALLAHAN.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cHaving been lied to for years by the Democratic Party machine and most of the mainstream media \u2014 who insisted Joe Biden was not diminished by his age but energized by it \u2014 well, it turns out we skeptics were right all along.\u201d The Daily Mail is not wrong here. More: \u201cAnd what we\u2019re learning is terrifying. Infuriating. An unacceptable abuse of power, a usurpation of the presidency itself by a nameless, faceless cohort.\u201d Or here. More: \u201cSubpoena [Karine Jean-Pierre]. For real. Subpoena her \u2013 and all of Biden\u2019s top inner circle, the ones who kept him \u2018bodied\u2019, as one source said, to a degree unprecedented for any sitting US president: Ron Klain (former White House chief of staff), Mike Donilon (senior advisor) and Jennifer O\u2019Malley Dillon (campaign manager) to name a few.\u201d Not a bad idea. Why not? And: \u201cIf there\u2019s any justice, the post-White House book deals and board seats will vaporize as quickly as the Biden legacy.\u201d \u2022 \u2018Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. And deliciously\u2013<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow vengeful Jill Biden is urging \u2018depressed\u2019 Joe to \u2018burn the whole thing down\u2019 in their final days\u2026 with Obama, Kamala and Pelosi at the top of her \u2018naughty list\u2019 [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14207889\/vengeful-Jill-Biden-depressed-Joe-Obama-Kamala-Pelosi.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cBetween organizing this year\u2019s White House Christmas decorations, staff holiday parties and a string of final goodbyes, the president and First Lady Jill Biden have been quietly sharpening the metaphorical carving knives, with their sights set firmly on the one-time allies they perceive as having wronged them\u2026.. \u2018Jill views Democrats on Capitol Hill, the [wider] party, the Obamas, staff inside and outside the White House, the media, and all of Washington DC with such misguided resentment that I can\u2019t imagine she [isn\u2019t] encouraging [Joe] to burn the whole thing down, despite his better judgment,\u2019 an insider said.\u201d And: \u201cOne Democratic mega-donor, Floridian attorney John Morgan, is now wondering aloud whether Biden deliberately forced Kamala Harris onto the ticket \u2013 throwing his endorsement behind her within minutes of pulling out \u2013 to spite Pelosi and Barack Obama, who had also worked behind the scenes to push Biden out, and who both held serious reservations about Harris\u2019s capabilities.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoe Biden is going out quietly but with trademark decency\u201d [Margaret Sullivan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2024\/dec\/20\/joe-biden-presidency-trademark-decency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Guardian<\/a>]. \u201cBiden remains himself to a large extent: decent, optimistic, patriotic and empathetic.\u201d \u2022 Well, except for the genocide. I used to respect Sullivan until she started writing about politics.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Trump Transition<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"59.624428643982\">\n<p>I haven\u2019t followed all the twist and turns of the latest government shutdown saga because its just too stupid:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClosures, Social Security checks, furloughs: What a government shutdown might mean\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-shutdown-trump-elon-musk-johnson-schumer-jeffries-cf75ae3c5f04207980cb96b286e70c09\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cCongress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government or federal agencies will shut down, meaning hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be sent home \u2014 or stay on the job without pay \u2014 just ahead of the holidays. Republicans abandoned <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/budget-government-shutdown-congress-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a bipartisan plan<\/a> Wednesday to <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/government-shutdown-congress-trump-elon-budget-house-republican-05481374b154949c3fe1270141a02918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">prevent a shutdown<\/a> after President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk came out against it. Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson to essentially renegotiate the deal days before a deadline when <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/live\/budget-government-shutdown-congress-updates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">federal funding runs out<\/a>.\u201d Importantly to some: \u201cRecipients of both Social Security and Medicare would continue to receive their benefits, which are part of mandatory spending that\u2019s not subject to annual appropriations measures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elon\u2019s happy dance on Wednesday:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.5401785714286\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"4.9285714285714\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Yesterday\u2019s bill vs today\u2019s bill \ud83d\ude02 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/L3Omn964mw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/L3Omn964mw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1869865296376303763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>This is amazingly stupid, even for a billionaire. The measure of a bill is not its page count, but how successfully it provisions the citizenry (\u201cuniversal concrete material benefits\u201d), just as the measure for software is note lines of code, but functionality for the user.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJohnson moves forward on spending Plan C: Breaking up the bills\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2024\/12\/20\/congress\/third-spending-plan-attempt-00195611\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cSpeaker Mike Johnson has moved on to a Plan C to avert a government shutdown: Breaking up each piece to pass them separately. Under the House GOP\u2019s latest plan, Republicans will try to pass three separate bills: stopgap funding legislation with a one-year farm bill extension, money for recent natural disasters and aid for farmers, according to two people with direct knowledge of negotiations. A shutdown deadline is now about 12 hours away \u2014 the plan would punt that deadline to March 14. ;We\u2019re going to talk to the conference and I\u2019ll give you the final decision when this is over,\u201d Johnson said as he walked into a private House GOP meeting Friday morning.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>A nation that is sovereign in its own currency <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dissentmagazine.org\/online_articles\/monetary-mythbusting-an-interview-with-stephanie-kelton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cannot go bankrupt<\/a>. But here we are:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6463414634146\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.5609756097561\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Either there is massive change or America goes bankrupt, therefore there must be massive change! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JLDBbvt41w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/JLDBbvt41w<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1869512926018834781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>How true it is: \u201cPractical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.\u201d \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/ejbarnesauthor.com\/quotes-of-john-maynard-keynes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">John Maynard Keynes<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"doge\"\/>\u201cDOGE Can\u2019t Do It All. Here\u2019s What It Can Do\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/12\/19\/doge-cant-do-it-all-heres-what-it-can-do-00195190\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cBut given the practical limits of DOGE\u2019s power (it is not actually a government agency, despite its name), it will need to have buy-in \u2014 from lawmakers, from the incoming Cabinet as well and, of course, from Trump. \u2018They don\u2019t have any authorities,\u2019 Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former head of the Congressional Budget Office who\u2019s president of the American Action Forum, said to me about DOGE. \u2018On my most cynical days, I think they\u2019re just a think tank, and I run a think tank. I know how little power I have.\u2019 Just look at a past, DOGE-like effort: the Grace Commission in the 1980s. It was the same basic idea \u2014 a private-sector advisory group designed to look at ways to make government work better. Almost none of that body\u2019s suggestions were actually adopted, despite a mandate from then-President Ronald Reagan.\u201d \u2022 DOGE certainly isn\u2019t a thinktank, because a think tank has some corporate form, like a 501(c)(3). DOGE is certainly not a govenrment agency. Not is it advisory body, because it doens\u2019t meet the requirements of FACA (as HICPAC must do, for example). DOGE is just two guys stirring up froth on social media. To the extent it has any real power, it is as an extra-constitutional entity. Didn\u2019t we just go through that with Biden?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"7.2128146453089\">\n<p>I keep getting ads like this from Kamala:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.8327586206897\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.220689655172\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">President Biden and I are committed to building an economy that works for every American. We have taken historic action to create jobs, invest in small businesses, and forgive student loan and medical debt. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/crBAUFiXP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/crBAUFiXP8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP\/status\/1869518259260649835\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like she thinks she\u2019s still running. Or is this the best the DNC can do on messaging right now?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Realignment and Legitimacy<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"72.131711026616\">\n<p><a name=\"mangione\"\/>\u201cLuigi Mangione Charged With The Stalking And Murder Of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson And Use Of A Silencer In A Crime Of Violence\u201d (press release) [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdny\/pr\/luigi-mangione-charged-stalking-and-murder-unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-and-use\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York<\/a>]. But not terrorism, interestingly. \u201cFBI Assistant Director James E. Dennehy said: \u201cLuigi Mangione allegedly conducted the carefully premeditated and targeted execution of Brian Thompson to incite national debates. This alleged plot demonstrates a cavalier attitude towards humanity \u2013 deeming murder an appropriate recourse to satiate personal grievances. Through continued close partnership with the NYPD, the FBI maintains our steadfast commitment to fervently pursue any individual who promotes a personal agenda through violence.\u201d \u2022\u00a0As opposed to a corporate agenda?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFederal murder charge against Mangione could mean death penalty in CEO killing\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2024\/12\/19\/nx-s1-5234272\/mangione-ceo-killing-charges-notebooks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">NPR<\/a>]. \u201cThe federal charges against him include: one count of using a firearm to commit murder, which carries a maximum sentence of death or life in prison; one count of interstate stalking resulting in death; and one count of stalking through use of interstate facilities resulting in death (each carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison); and one count of discharging a firearm equipped with a silencer to commit a violent crime (which carries a sentence of 30 years to life in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow Luigi Mangione\u2019s notebook helped federal prosecutors build their case and what\u2019s next as he faces mounting charges\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/20\/us\/luigi-mangione-notebook-trial-whats-next\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. \u201cThe push for federal charges came from the US Attorney\u2019s office, multiple law enforcement sources told CNN. Because the FBI was already involved in the investigation assisting the NYPD with out-of-town leads, FBI agents were asked to draw up the federal complaint based on evidence collected by NYPD detectives working on the state charges and police in Pennsylvania who arrested Mangione. Federal prosecutors say they have jurisdiction in the case because Mangione\u2019s \u2018travel in interstate commerce\u2019 \u2013 taking a bus from Atlanta to New York prior to the killing \u2013 as well as \u2018use of interstate facilities\u2019 by allegedly utilizing a cell phone and the internet \u2018to plan and carry out the stalking, shooting, and killing\u2019 of Thompson in broad daylight on a Manhattan sidewalk.\u201d \u2022 Oh. Any crime involving a cell phone or the Internet is potentially a Federal case? Is that what I\u2019m reading?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA whirlwind day for Luigi Mangione ends with new charges, revelations from a notebook and transfer to a federal prison\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2024\/12\/19\/us\/luigi-mangione-healthcare-murder-charges\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. \u201cThe 26-year-old murder suspect began his day at a jail in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, his home for the last 10 days, and ended it in a notorious federal prison in New York\u2026. Mangione has been indicted on 11 charges in New York, including first-degree murder as an act of terrorism. He has not yet pleaded to the charges. He also faces charges in Pennsylvania in connection to the 3D-printed firearm and false ID allegedly in his possession when he was arrested. Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said he would not push to have those charges heard ahead of Mangione\u2019s much more serious charges in New York. And a federal complaint against him was unsealed midday Thursday adding four new charges and providing new details on a notebook authorities say was in his possession.\u201d \u2022 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kenklippenstein.com\/p\/luigis-manifesto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mangione\u2019s manifesto<\/a> mentions the notebook (\u201cThe spiral notebook, if present, has some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it\u201d). Now here it is. Why wasn\u2019t it in the Central Park backpack with the monopoly money? And all the other paraphernalia, if it comes to that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead the Luigi Mangione federal criminal complaint\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/luigi-mangione-federal-criminal-complaint\/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=693362443\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CBS<\/a>]. From the Notebook as excerpted in the complaint:<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"284\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284312\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/mangione_notebook-300x142.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>(\u201cChecks every box\u201d sounds like some species of class analysis, although box-checking per se isn\u2019t dialectical, as Bourdieu shows.) I don\u2019t suppose we\u2019ll be seeing the complete notebook anytime soon\u2026. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeet the Legal Insider Defending Luigi Mangione\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/gbPgm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Wall Street Journal<\/a>]. \u201cJust a few years ago, Karen Friedman Agnifilo managed the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office and its fleet of more than 500 attorneys\u2026. While Friedman Agnifilo has minimal courtroom experience as a criminal-defense attorney, her personal and professional interest in mental health, empathetic approach to clients and intimate knowledge of her former office will be key, colleagues said. \u2018She\u2019ll be able to predict what the prosecutors will do before they do it,\u2019 said lawyer Danya Perry, who has worked with her in private practice\u2026 Her husband, the defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo, is expected to play a supporting role in the case. He is also representing Sean \u2018Diddy\u2019 Combs [(!!!)] at his federal sex-trafficking trial this spring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLuigi Mangione canonized as a \u2018saint\u2019 by crazed online fans after death penalty bombshell\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-14213815\/luigi-mangione-fans-executed-sparking-fears-martyr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mail<\/a>]. \u201cMany online are claiming Mangione is facing worse punishment that hardened criminals and school shooters, speculating that the government wants to make an example out of him and prevent some sort of revolt against corporate America. One X post read: \u2018They wanna give Luigi Mangione the death penalty. That\u2019s the only reason they making him face federal charges. \u2018They literally wanna kill him for daring to threaten capitalism and corporate greed. They don\u2019t even do this to school shooters.\u2019 Another X user added: \u2018Very few school shooters have gotten the death penalty. Yet the U.S. is trying to charge Luigi Mangione so he gets the death penalty for killing one man. You can kill dozens of kids and get a lesser sentence because their lives don\u2019t matter as much as a CEO\u2019s. That\u2019s America.\u2019 Some are pointing out that the government\u2019s handling of Mangione, which included a perp walk straight out of a Hollywood film, is only increasing the public\u2019s fixation on him. One X user said: \u2018luigi stepping out with a fresh cut\/shave, possible death penalty charges, and an nypd photoshoot is the craziest thing in the world. are they actively trying to make him a martyr? whether you\u2019re for or against him, they\u2019re making it SO easy for everyone to lionize him.’\u201d \u2022 The perp walk:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.4980544747082\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.4941634241245\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NYPD apparently sat around asking themselves “how can we arrange to transport Mangione in a way that makes him look to his supporters like Christ being taken to the cross” <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/psP9W7PDlx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/psP9W7PDlx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nathan J Robinson (@NathanJRobinson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NathanJRobinson\/status\/1869866452054093986\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Of course Mayor Adams (center left, ha ha) has to get into the act\u2026 <\/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:\/\/skylab.cdph.ca.gov\/calwws\/\" 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, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3). <\/p>\n<p>Stay safe out there!<\/p>\n<p>Transmission: H5N1<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Long-lasting fomites:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.1788321167883\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.86496350365\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Wow look how long <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/H5N1?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">#H5N1<\/a> can stay infectious on \ud83e\udeb6 feathers, soil & feces !!! <br \/>It’s winter & colder temperatures keep the virus alive longer. <\/p>\n<p>At 4 C<br \/>Feathers 5 months<br \/>Soil,mud. 4 months<br \/>Feces 2 months <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fsoQhCcCVZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/fsoQhCcCVZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sphagnum Moss (@moss_sphagnum) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/moss_sphagnum\/status\/1869936862615232642\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 20, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.952157598499\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/strong><\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign=\"top\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6470588235294\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 16<\/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-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-3.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-3-300x182.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-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><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6883116883117\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> 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 21<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> <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 14<\/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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-natl-1-300x177.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=\"3.9634146341463\">\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 19:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 19:<\/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-positivity-nyc.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-positivity-nyc.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-ny-positivity-nyc-300x189.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-hospitalizaiton-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalizaiton-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-hospitalizaiton-natl-300x283.png 300w\" 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=\"2.6111111111111\">\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\"> 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=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 2:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; color: gold;\">\u2605<\/span> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 2::<\/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-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-3.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-3-300x164.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-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2-300x211.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-positivity-natl-1-300x161.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-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-284303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-1.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/covid-cdc-deaths-ed-natl-1-300x183.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"164.63619562939\">\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 more red and more orange, but nothing new at major hubs. <\/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>Inflation: \u201cUnited States PCE Price Index Annual Change\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/pce-price-index-annual-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cAnnual PCE inflation in the US accelerated for a second month to 2.4% in November 2024 from 2.3% in October, but below expectations of 2.5%.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing charts \u2018aggressive\u2019 737 Max production ramp-up in 2025\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/theaircurrent.com\/aircraft-production\/boeing-charts-aggressive-737-max-production-ramp-up-in-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Air Current<\/a>]. \u201cBoeing\u2019s supply chain wants the plane maker to be boring in 2025. Boeing has other ideas\u2026 Now, the company is progressing with a steep production acceleration on its single-aisle 737 Max that will test its younger workforce, fragile supply base and its chief regulator in the year to come. Currently, Boeing aims to have its production lines building 737 Max jets fully transitioned to a rate of 38 per month in May 2025, according to multiple people familiar with Boeing\u2019s planning inside the company and the supply chain. While Boeing said it is approaching its restart and ramp up \u201cmethodically\u201d, one senior official at a major Boeing supplier told <i>The Air Current <\/i>that the plane maker is at risk of repeating past mistakes \u2014 accelerating its factory tempo too quickly and pushing the deliveries from its supply chain beyond what the suppliers and their production lines can accommodate. \u201cThat is incredibly aggressive, probably unrealistic,\u201d said the supplier official. Underscoring the fragility of the trust between Boeing and its massive network of suppliers, the official said: \u201cAll I want is a year where they\u2019ll do what they say they\u2019ll do,\u201d noting that the company\u2019s production guidance for the supply chain has repeatedly failed to materialize since <a href=\"https:\/\/theaircurrent.com\/aircraft-production\/echoes-of-1997-production-meltdown-in-737-pileup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">even before the 737 Max was grounded<\/a> for 20 months starting in March 2019.\u201d \u2022 Well, Ortberg is only betting the company. So what\u2019s the issue?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 28 Neutral (previous close: 22 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 49 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 20 at 1:31:53 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Permaculture<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnalyzing our 2024 Garden: peas, beans, carrots and greens\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/refarmer.ca\/2024\/12\/19\/analyzing-our-2024-garden-peas-beans-carrots-and-greens\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Re-Farmer<\/a>]. Sometimes everything doesn\u2019t go according to plan. On the beans: \u201cWith the bush beans, the first sowing didn\u2019t succeed at all \u2013 and these were new seeds! I was able to buy more and tried again. This time, we had a nice, short row of bush beans emerge. They did quite well\u2026 Until they got eaten by deer. They recovered and started going well again. Then got eaten by deer again. Amazingly, they recovered again!\u201d \u2022 Lessons learned, an interesting genre.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The 420<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCannabis pollen dispersal across the United States\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-024-70633-x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Nature<\/a>]. \u201cFor the recently legalized US hemp industry (Cannabis sativa), cross-pollination between neighboring fields has become a significant challenge, leading to contaminated seeds, reduced oil yields, and in some cases, mandated crop destruction\u2026. Our findings reveal that pollen deposition rates escalate from summer to autumn due to the reduction in convective activity during daytime and the increase in wind shear at night as the season progresses. We find diurnal variations in pollen dispersion: nighttime conditions favor deposition in proximity to the source, while daytime conditions facilitate broader dispersal albeit with reduced deposition rates. These shifting weather patterns give rise to specific regions of CONUS more vulnerable to hemp cross-pollination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Missing van Gogh Masterpiece\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/kottke.org\/24\/12\/the-missing-van-gogh-masterpiece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">kottke.org<\/a>]. \u201cI didn\u2019t know that the whereabouts of one of Vincent van Gogh\u2019s most important works, a 1890 painting called \u201cPortrait of Dr. Gachet\u201d, is unknown and that the painting had not been seen publicly since the 1990s.\u201d And quoting the New York Times; \u201cFour art world insiders said they suspect the painting is held by a private, very rich European family\u2026. The question has grown more relevant as it becomes clearer that most museums can no longer outbid billionaire collectors for the greatest works of art\u2026. \u2018People are allowed to own things privately,\u2019 said Michael Findlay, who was involved as a specialist for Christie\u2019s in the 1990 auction sale of the Gachet. \u2018Does it belong to everybody? No, it does not.’\u201d \u2022 Says the auctioneeer.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s not butter:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.8448753462604\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.332409972299\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">‘Mound of Butter.’ (1875\/1885) \u00c9mile Zola hailed Antoine Vollon as the first ‘worker’ painter to come along since Gustave Courbet. A star in his day. A specialist in still he was, ‘perhaps, the greatest painter living,’ according to one contemporary critic. ‘He can paint with\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xGWGdfaLji\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/xGWGdfaLji<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Richard Morris (@ahistoryinart) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ahistoryinart\/status\/1869664635038654467\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">December 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"zeitgeist\"\/><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolyamory doesn\u2019t Liberate; Monogamy doesn\u2019t Protect\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/carsonogenic.substack.com\/p\/polyamory-doesnt-liberate-monogamy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Carsonogenic<\/a>]. \u201cThe classic poly delusion, is to think that via poly, you can get all of your needs met. Polyamory literature says <em>you can\u2019t expect one person to fulfill all of your emotional needs<\/em>. This is true. The shadow implication of this statement is that you can expect a <em>handful<\/em> of people to fulfill all of your emotional needs. This is not true. Other people do not exist to fill our emotional voids. To quote Bo Burnham \u2018<em>If you want love, the love has gotta come from you\u2026..<\/em>.\u201d So and but: \u201cThe major monogamy delusion is obvious. It is simple: the idea that you possess your partner, or that you even can \u2013 the idea that by irrevocably binding yourself to someone, you can avoid any possibility of abandonment or heartbreak.\u201d \u2022 Kids these days. San Francisco-based kids\u2026.. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor airports, background music no longer is an afterthought\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/airport-music-muzak-musicians-063a3ea6fdd5ea1ca9ef401fb52c56f6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Associated Press<\/a>]. \u201cBackground music is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/travel-stress-holiday-tips-db5e5d819b6251bd415a9ad204baa03a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">lighten travelers\u2019 moods<\/a>\u2026 Tiffany Idiart and her two nieces were delighted to hear musicians during a recent layover at <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/seattle-airport-cyberattack-ransomware-rhysida-95cd980a9f45112f0fdce488233eec9c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Seattle-Tacoma International Airport<\/a>. \u2018I like it. There\u2019s a lot of people here and they can all hear it,\u2019 said Grace Idiart, 9. \u2018If their flight got delayed or something like that, they could have had a hard day. And so the music could have made them feel better.\u2019 Airports are also carefully curating their recorded playlists.\u201d \u2022 This does sound like a good idea. OTOH, my shadow side brings <a href=\"http:\/\/www.grandin.com\/meat\/meat.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Temple Grandin<\/a> to the surface\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cTen Thousand Years\u201d (podcast) [<a href=\"https:\/\/99percentinvisible.org\/episode\/ten-thousand-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">99% Invisible<\/a>]. \u201cThe Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is the nation\u2019s only permanent underground repository for nuclear waste\u2026. Eventually, WIPP will be sealed up and left alone. Years will pass and those years will become decades. Those decades will become centuries and those centuries will roll into millennia. People above ground will come and go. Cultures will rise and fall. And all the while, below the surface, that cave full of waste will get smaller and smaller, until the salt swallows up all those oil drums and entombs them. Then, all the old radioactive gloves and tools and little bits from bombs \u2013all still radioactive\u2013 will be solidified in the earth\u2019s crust for more than 200,000 years. Basically forever. Storing something safely forever is a huge design problem.\u201d I\u2019m not sure what the solution was, but this one was proposed: \u201c[Philosophers] Bastide and Fabbri came to the conclusion that the most durable thing that humanity has ever made is culture: religion, folklore, belief systems. They may morph over time, but an essential message can get pulled through over millennia. They proposed that we genetically engineer a species of cat that changes color in the presence of radiation, which would be released into the wild to serve as living Geiger counters. Then, we would create folklore and write songs and tell stories about these \u2018ray cats,\u2019 the moral being that when you see these cats change colors, run far, far away.\u201d \u2022 Filing that solution away\u2026. <\/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-12-19-2024-2.html\">here<\/a>. From SV:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-284322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo.jpeg 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/cat_photo-225x300.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>SV writes: \u201cEmmi does Van Gogh. Cheers!\u201d I try never post images of animals, because those are for antidote and Links. But today I\u2019m breaking that rule \u2014 rules are, after all, made to be broken \u2014 because Emmi is pretty cute, and we\u2019ve been talking about Van Gogh recently, and today. Also, a jailhouse lawyer would point out there are plants in the Van Gogh puzzle that Emmi is helping to assemble.<\/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-12-20-2024.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2024-12-20T14:00:34-05:00\">December 20, 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\/post-cold-war-geopolitics-worse-for-global-south.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> Post Cold War Geopolitics Worse for Global South<\/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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