\n<\/p>\n
By Lambert Strether.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nBird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Brown Thrasher, Hilltop Reservation, Essex, New Jersey, United States.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#doge\">DOGE: Fresh lawsuits and probes<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#democrats\">The DNC\u2026 <\/a>. Oh, Lordie\u2026 <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#bitcoin\">How one programmer\u2019s thoughts on bitcoin<\/a> changed.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#portrait\">Oldest known<\/a> portrait.<\/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>Spook Country<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"32.30846605197\">\n<p>Couldn\u2019t happen to a nicer set of goons:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.890625\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.448863636364\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It still hasn’t sunk in: the FBI took part in framing not just any random person as a Russian agent, but the President of the United States. In the process, the FBI endorsed the Clinton campaign’s condescending, elitist message that voters who didn’t push the button for Hillary\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jOatk6aRve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/jOatk6aRve<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron Mat\u00e9 (@aaronjmate) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaronjmate\/status\/1886653331956765181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Situation: What\u2019s Going on at the FBI?\u201d [Benjamin Wittes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfaremedia.org\/article\/the-situation--what-s-going-on-at-the-fbi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lawfare<\/a>]. On the January 6 investigation: \u201cThings have clarified enough today to say one thing clearly: A lot of people at the bureau\u2014leadership and street agents, analysts and staff alike\u2014are flirting with heroism right now\u2026. How widespread is the internal resistance? I don\u2019t know. But we are going to find out soon\u2026 Will the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, receive a pile of actionable material or will he receive what amounts to a large pile of spoiled questionnaires? And either way, what will he\u2014and the White House\u2014do with whatever it receives? In one situation, it will have to take on the reality that a shockingly large number of bureau personnel played a role, quite unsurprisingly, in the largest federal investigation in American history. They executed search warrants, ran down leads, interviewed people, made arrests and testified in one or more of the 1,500 plus federal prosecutions that resulted. Does Bove imagine that he will fire all of these people?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFBI agents try to block administration\u2019s effort to examine Trump, Jan. 6 cases\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/a1yXW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. \u201cA group of nine FBI agents asked a federal judge on Tuesday to block the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to collect information on thousands of case agents across the country who worked on investigations tied to the President Donald Trump or the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol\u2026. Each of the plaintiffs in the suit worked either on a Jan. 6 case or the investigation into Trump\u2019s alleged mishandling of classified documents after his first term as president, their lawsuit states. They are seeking an injunction that would bar the Justice Department from any of agents that would identify agents and other personnel.’\u201d \u2022 I like the underlined language. Maybe apply it to whatever scheme DOGE is working up to?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>DOGE<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"63.492852161785\">\n<p>\u201cElon Musk is a \u2018special government employee.\u2019 What does that mean?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/QnLo8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. \u201cWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed that Elon Musk \u2014 the tech billionaire whom President Donald Trump tapped to lead a large-scale effort to cut government spending and regulation \u2014 is a special government employee.\u2019 \u2026 A special government employee is \u2018anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period,\u2019 with or without compensation, according to the Justice Department. \u2026 Special government employees, or SGEs, \u2018are subject to most rules, although sometimes in a less restrictive way,\u2019 the Justice Department said in a summary. For example, SGEs who are paid at or below the level of federal employees with Senior Executive Service status are ; instead, they can file a report confidentially if they are expected to \u2018have a substantial role in the formulation of agency policy,\u2019 according to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. This is especially relevant in Musk\u2019s case, because critics have argued that his ownership of Tesla and SpaceX represents a conflict of interest in his review of government spending and regulation, particularly in his dealings with government agencies that have in the past decided whether to award contracts to his companies or laid out rules that influence his companies\u2019 actions and profits.\u201d \u2022 Not to mention his advocacy of the blockchain\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"doge\"\/>\u201cUnions sue to block Musk team\u2019s access to Treasury payments\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/03\/unions-sue-block-musk-treasury-payment-00202243\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277055\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277055.1.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The lawsuit<\/a>. \u201cThe Alliance for Retired Americans, along with the American Federation of Government Employees and Service Employees International Union, claim that Musk\u2019s efforts may have illegally exposed the personal data of millions of federal employees \u2014 as well as any other individual who does business with the federal government \u2014 to unauthorized Department of Government Efficiency personnel. \u2018The scale of the intrusion into individuals\u2019 privacy is massive and unprecedented,\u201d the groups said in their complaint, which was filed in federal court in the District of Columbia. The complaint accuses the Trump administration of illegally granting Musk\u2019s team access in violation of federal laws that govern the privacy of agency records and protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information.\u2019 \u2022\u00a0Access is bad enough. But according to Wired reporting, DOGE has admin privileges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWarren, Wyden call for probe of Musk aides\u2019 access to Treasury payments\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2025\/02\/04\/congress\/warren-wyden-probe-musk-treasury-00202358\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cThe top Democrats overseeing the Treasury Department are calling on a congressional watchdog to investigate the Trump administration\u2019s decision to give Elon Musk\u2019s team access to the federal system that controls trillions of dollars in payments\u2026. \u2018GAO must investigate and determine who was granted access to these systems, why and how this access was granted, and the implications for the nation\u2019s economic and national security,\u2019 Warren and Wyden wrote in a letter to the congressional watchdog that was shared with POLITICO\u2026. Bessent on Monday night assured House Republican lawmakers during a closed-door meeting that Musk and his team did not enjoy control over Treasury\u2019s payment systems and that DOGE was reviewing federal payment processes to find inefficiencies and root out waste and fraud.\u201d \u2022 You\u2019d think Bessent might have assured <em>everyone<\/em>. Again, access, access, access.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBessent tells lawmakers Musk\u2019s DOGE does not control Treasury payments system\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/03\/bessent-musk-doge-treasury-payments-00202278\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent privately reassured Republican lawmakers Monday that Elon Musk and his team do not have control over a sensitive government system that manages the flow of trillions of dollars in payments, according to five lawmakers in the room for a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill\u2026. The remarks, relayed by lawmakers in the room who were granted anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting, came during a two-hour gathering between Bessent and GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee Monday night that included a reception and dinner\u2026. Bessent declined to comment on the matter exiting the gathering.\u201d That\u2019s a confidence builder: \u201cOther Republican lawmakers on Monday also brushed aside criticism from Democrats that Musk and his team could abuse access to the system to shutter payments that Americans rely on. \u2018It\u2019s important for them to be able to know what is being spent \u2014 and make certain it\u2019s being spent A, the way Congress intended, and B, the way the President would want it to be spent,\u2019 said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). \u2018Sometimes you have to go into the actual disbursement system, because that way you don\u2019t get misinformation, which a lot of bureaucrats do.’\u201d \u2022 This is stupid. DOGE\u2019s team isn\u2019t big enough to audit a lemonade stand, let alone the entire Federal government. Whatever is going on is not an audit.<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (1):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"5.2349397590361\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"13.325301204819\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DOGE already drilled through untold layers of government bureaucracy and found the heart of the Deep State beast.<\/p>\n<p>USAID<\/p>\n<p>Amazingly, this made all the Deep State puppets in our government “prairie dog” to complain, so we can easily spot them going forward. Don’t miss that part of\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottAdamsSays\/status\/1886395052030820730\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Oh, is that where it is? USAID? Pretty pissant, if you ask me.<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (2):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.1267605633803\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6056338028169\">\n<p lang=\"art\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udfaf <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4itxXyTzOV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/4itxXyTzOV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1886281978690847071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Dudes, come on. Not even close. Then again\u2014<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (3)<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.72\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.7714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Those who know, please reply to this post listing all the evil things that NED has done. It\u2019s a long list. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8smJsP5Hji\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8smJsP5Hji<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1886089653188481504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Nominations<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"10.157009345794\">\n<p>\u201cSen. Todd Young will back Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2025\/02\/04\/congress\/todd-young-tulsi-gabbard-00202307\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cIn <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenToddYoung\/status\/1886799486640386197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a letter that Young posted online<\/a> Tuesday, Gabbard committed to \u2018holding accountable\u2019 any intelligence community employee, contractor or subcontractor who who leaks intelligence; that she would not \u2018protect\u2019 members of the intelligence community who engage in an unauthorized disclosures; and committed to not \u2018making any recommendations in a personal or profession [sic] capacity\u2019 regarding Snowden\u2019s legal standing,\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>2024 Post Mortem<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"34.761092150171\">\n<p>\u201cHow Democratic Gen Z activists lost the Gen Z vote\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2024-elections\/393531\/democrat-gen-z-republican-conservative-vote-young-loss-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Vox<\/a>]. \u201cSix months ago, young Democrats were preparing for a very different conversation. They were breathing a sigh of relief after Joe Biden formally dropped out of the 2024 presidential contest. Gen Z, some said, was ready to feel the \u201c#Kamalove\u201d and break with the past that Biden represented. The flurry of \u2018Brat summer\u2019 and coconut-tree memes that filled social media platforms was surely proof that there was a latent enthusiasm for Harris among the youth\u2026.. The work could now focus more on turning out the youth for a fresh candidate instead of persuading those who had been disillusioned by Biden to drag their way to the voting booth. This election was now more a matter of simply getting youth to show up.\u201d Whoops: \u201cSee, there\u2019s a fundamental divide between the young people who care about Democratic politics and the kind of people they were trying to persuade. Many of their turnout targets simply didn\u2019t trust institutions or the status quo like organizers and young Democrats did. They existed in different information bubbles and media ecosystems, missing persuasion efforts including memes, celebrity endorsements, or digital organizing. whether Democrats could be trusted to help them get ahead financially, and whether Harris or Trump would be a bigger disruptor of the status quo.\u201d \u2022 BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow Democrats Lost the Dissident Vote\u201d [Ross Barkan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/how-democrats-lost-the-dissident-vote\/ar-AA1yjVMc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cBut the fact that [Gabbard and RFK] are nominees for vital cabinet positions in a Trump presidency is a reflection of Democratic weakness. One, Trump won. Two, the Americans who admire Kennedy and Gabbard were overwhelmingly Democrats a mere decade ago. Just as Kennedy and Gabbard maneuvered into Trump\u2019s orbit, their supporters largely did the same \u2014 concluding that only one party could be hospitable to them. One way to think of these Americans is as dissident voters. The term itself is broad and slippery enough, and here it will refer to a people from a wide range of backgrounds. At their core, dissidents are skeptics of institutions, whether that might be the federal government, the military-industrial complex, corporate America, or the pharmaceutical industry. Some of them are anti-vaxxers and some of them are 9\/11 truthers. Some indulge in many conspiracies and some none at all. Some homeschool their children. Some care a great deal about wellness and physical fitness and have unconventional ideas for how they might achieve optimal health. Elements of the Kennedy and Gabbard worldviews speak to a wide swath of these voters, who are nowhere near a majority of Americans but make up a minority that can\u2019t be readily ignored. \u201d \u2022\u00a0Hmm.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"democrats\"\/>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"12.472749540723\">\n<p>Closing festivities at the DNC:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.4166666666667\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.25\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Meanwhile at the DNC headquarters\u2026The Democrats are no different than the band who played on as the Titanic was sinking. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CcSiJMgu4N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/CcSiJMgu4N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Power to the People \u262d\ud83d\udd4a (@ProudSocialist) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProudSocialist\/status\/1886048358629790095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Martin the new chair:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2142857142857\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.5714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Powerful<\/p>\n<p>Ken Martin won the chair seat, but just before the vote, former chair <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/donnabrazile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@donnabrazile<\/a> talks about member\u2019s freedom to vote their conscience without retaliation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XIzZhbrOXZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/XIzZhbrOXZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cwebbonline\/status\/1885751289621131290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Consultants, your contracts are safe:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.2349397590361\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.9518072289157\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cuzaXDtwKH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/cuzaXDtwKH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kenklippenstein\/status\/1885809344274383249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>The usual thuggery:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2142857142857\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.5714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Powerful<\/p>\n<p>Ken Martin won the chair seat, but just before the vote, former chair <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/donnabrazile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@donnabrazile<\/a> talks about member\u2019s freedom to vote their conscience without retaliation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XIzZhbrOXZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/XIzZhbrOXZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cwebbonline\/status\/1885751289621131290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Did I mention that \u201cbold\u201d was a word to watch out for, basically a synonym for PR-driven and ephemeral?<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.5625\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"5\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">biggest red flag yet is this post lol <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/h8pIjQnQOS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/h8pIjQnQOS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 soul khan (@soulkhan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/soulkhan\/status\/1885843631845654882\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>They will die as a party rather than change (1):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.3675675675676\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.1027027027027\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Democratic National Committee apparently thinks it is very important to elect JD Vance President in 2028. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zEYH0j8uNy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/zEYH0j8uNy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1885858887875645558\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>They will die as a party rather than change (2):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.28\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"6.84\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Outgoing DNC Chief Jaime Harrison says he thinks Kamala should run again and can win in 2028. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HNUhwSPoTV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/HNUhwSPoTV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WesternLensman\/status\/1885352920528400482\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/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>Sequelae: Covid<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"4.2151898734177\">\n<p>Funny all the airline crashes of late:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.1292134831461\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.73595505618\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pilots need to be tested for spatial problems post- Covid. There is a growing body of research showing post Covid brain damage, esp with memory and spatial skills. 46 Visuospatial Functions in Patients After COVID-19 Disease<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/p6McS5BX2m\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/p6McS5BX2m<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gOt0MaALKL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/gOt0MaALKL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Martha Young- JD, MBA, N95-clean the air:\ud83e\udd8b\ud83d\ude37 (@mryoung151) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mryoung151\/status\/1886100515760595072\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Morbidity and Mortality<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"12.510144927536\">\n<p>\u201cEarly adult death rates remain higher than expected post-pandemic\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news-medical.net\/news\/20250131\/Early-adult-death-rates-remain-higher-than-expected-post-pandemic.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">News Medical Life Sciences<\/a>]. \u201cNew research from the University of Minnesota and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) shows that death rates for early adults, or adults aged 25-44, rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and remain higher than expected post-pandemic. Heightened death rates during the COVID-19 pandemic intensified an already negative trend for early adults, which began around 2010. As a result, early adult death rates in 2023 were about 70 percent higher than they might have been if death rates had not begun to rise about a decade before the pandemic.\u201d \u2022 2010? Thanks, Obama!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Wastewater is back (and down). Good.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.866336633663\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/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> This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 27<\/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\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-300x241.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 fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"418\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2-300x209.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong> Variants<\/strong> [3] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 18<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> <strong>Emergency Room Visits<\/strong>[4] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_select_7dayeddiagnosed_00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 11<\/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\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"460\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl-300x230.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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"318\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl-300x159.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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=\"3.8961038961039\">\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 February 3:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 24:<\/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\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-300x171.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\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2-288x300.png 288w\" 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=\"2.5714285714286\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> National[7] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/healthcare-solutions\/covid-19-index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a> January 27:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Ohio[8] <a href=\"https:\/\/clevelandcliniclabs.com\/respiratory-virus-surveillance-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cleveland Clinic<\/a> January 18:<\/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\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2-300x189.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\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2-300x198.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=\"3.5932203389831\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 30:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 30<\/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\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-285676\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png 608w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2-300x161.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"419\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2-300x210.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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=\"3.76\">\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> January 11:<\/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> January 11:<\/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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"354\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity-300x177.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"348\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed-300x174.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"210.7986756185\">\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) Down, 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) Definitely jumped, but no exponential growth either, Odd.<\/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>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Job Openings\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/job-offers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cJob openings in the United States fell by 556,000 to 7.6 million in December 2024, missing the market expectation of 8.0 million and indicating a gradual cooling of the labor market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Factory Orders Ex Transportation\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/factory-orders-ex-transportation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cFactory orders excluding transportation in the United States rose by 0.3% over a month earlier in December 2024, following a 0.2% increase in the prior month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Supply Chain: \u201cUnited States LMI Logistics Managers Index\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/lmi-logistics-managers-index-current\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe Logistics Manager\u2019s Index in the US climbed to 62 in January 2025 from 57.3 in December 2024, signaling the fastest expansion in the logistics sector since June 2022. This growth reflects the sustained expansion of the US economy, alongside a sharper-than-expected rise in inventories amid uncertainty surrounding trade regulations, particularly tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing Deferred Production Costs: $39bn since 2019 MAX grounding, $22bn for 737\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/leehamnews.com\/2025\/02\/04\/boeing-deferred-production-costs-39bn-since-2019-max-grounding-22bn-for-737\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Leeham News and Analysis<\/a>]. \u201c[T]he balance sheet does indicate a figure of $87.55bn sitting in the Inventory account, but what is the detailed break-down of what is contained therein?\u2026 Each quarter, in the Boeing financial reports section titled Inventories, are the details of what makes up that account\u2026. Typically, expenses are recorded onto the Income Statement during the period for which they are incurred, matching revenues and costs. Program Accounting allows Boeing to put those amounts into Inventory and keep them there, until it decides to pull them out. Normally these accrued amounts are expensed with a delivery. Other times, they are written off. Many investors would look at the balance sheet and assume that Boeing has over $87bn in product that it is able to sell to customers.\u201d \u2022 If you play the ponies on Boeing, this post is definitely worth a read.<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing\u2019s Starliner Fiasco Has Now Burned Through $2 Billion\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/boeings-starliner-fiasco-has-now-burned-through-2-billion-2000558988\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gizmodo<\/a>]. \u201cNearly five months after an uncrewed Starliner undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), Boeing announced that it lost an additional half a billion dollars from its troubled spacecraft as the fate of its contract with NASA remains unclear. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Boeing reported a total of $523 million in losses from the Starliner Commercial Crew Program in 2024. That brings the total amount of losses from the ill-fated program to a whopping $2 billion in cost overruns. Boeing cited \u2018highly complex designs and technical challenges,\u2019 as well as \u2018schedule delays and cost impacts,\u2019 that increased the cost estimates for its programs\u2026. Boeing had forewarned that more losses were coming during the fourth quarter of 2024, and it turned out to be the heftiest bill of the entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cAirbus Vs Boeing Vs COMAC: How The Plane Makers\u2019 Market Share Compares In Asia\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/simpleflying.com\/airbus-boeing-comac-market-share-asia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Simple Flying<\/a>]. \u201cCOMAC has a long way to go to ramp up and challenge Airbus and Boeing in any meaningful way. In January 2025, Flight Plan reported that COMAC delivered 12 C919 narrowbodies in 2024 (up from just two in 2023). It added COMAC plans to establish a production system able to produce 150 aircraft annually by 2028. Simple Flying has already reported COMAC plans to deliver 50 C919s in 2025\u2026. COMAC\u2019s currently low production numbers, together with China\u2019s massive and growing aviation market, mean that Chinese airlines will have no choice but to continue ordering Airbus and Boeing aircraft for a long time to come (including all of their widebody aircraft). Time will tell how fast COMAC can ramp up production to meet more and more of its domestic requires and produce surplus for export. The COMAC faces a potentially bright future because it is a Chinese aircraft. China now boasts one of the world\u2019s largest airline markets (the United States retains the largest), meaning that there is plenty of domestic market potential even before considering exports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tech: <\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6962025316456\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.0886075949367\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If China pulls a DeepSeek on the Adobe creative suite they\u2019ll have us singing Red Sun in the Sky by Q2 2025<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Q. Anthony Ali (@NobleQAli) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NobleQAli\/status\/1883949406921318466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>I thought I ran this, but it doesn\u2019t show up in search, so\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>Tech: Of Sam Altman:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.7604790419162\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.377245508982\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I would observe that Sam \u2013 and too many others like him \u2013 have the same relationship with AGI as do teenage boys with their raging hormones and sex: <\/p>\n<p>He can\u2019t tell us exactly what it is, but he assures us he will know it when he sees it. He thinks that everyone is doing it when\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Grady_Booch\/status\/1885580092086096180\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Tech: A good question:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.6025641025641\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"5.1282051282051\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why do all the AI logos look like butt holes? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O5VC3bAgP5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/O5VC3bAgP5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 greg (@greg16676935420) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/greg16676935420\/status\/1885474156587999370\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>NOTE I only had time to verify OpenAI\u2019s logo\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"bitcoin\"\/>The Bezzle: \u201cAfter twelve years of writing about bitcoin, here\u2019s how my thinking has changed\u201d [Moneyness]. From 2024, still germane. \u201cIf you want to buy some bitcoins, go right ahead. We can even help by regulating the trading venues to make it safe. But don\u2019t force others to play. Alas, that seems to be where we are headed. There is a growing effort to arm-twist the rest of society into joining in by having governments acquire bitcoins, in the U.S.\u2019s case a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The U.S. government has never entered the World Series of Poker. Nor has it gone to Vegas to bet billions to tax payer funds on roulette or built a strategic Powerball ticket reserve, but it appears to be genuinely entertaining the idea of rolling the dice on Bitcoin.\u201d And: \u201cBitcoin is an incredibly infectious early-bird game, one that after sixteen years continues to find a constant stream of new recruits. How contagious? I originally estimated in <a href=\"https:\/\/jpkoning.blogspot.com\/2022\/02\/three-potential-paths-for-price-of.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a 2022 post<\/a>, <em>Three potential paths for the price of bitcoin<\/em>, that adoption wouldn\u2019t rise above 10%-15% of the global population, but I may have been underestimating its transmissibility\u2026. It begins with a small strategic reserve of a few billion dollars. It ends with the Department of Bitcoin Price Appreciation being allocated 50% of yearly tax revenues to make the number go up, to the detriment of infrastructure like roads, hospitals, and law enforcement. At that point we\u2019ve entered a dystopia in which society rapidly deteriorates because we\u2019ve all become obsessed on a bet.\u201d \u2022 Sadly, \u201cearly bird game\u201d is undefined. Readers?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 45 Fear (previous close: 44 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 47 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 4 at 2:10:42 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p>Rapture Index: Closes down one on Food Supply. \u201cThe lack of activity has downgraded this category\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.raptureready.com\/rapture-ready-index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rapture Ready<\/a>]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 180. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) \u2022 This is a tough crowd. Surely Trump\u2019s first month brought the Rapture closer?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"portrait\"\/>\u201cDoln\u00ed V\u0115stonice Portrait Head: The oldest known human portrait in the world\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/archaeology\/dolni-vestonice-portrait-head-the-oldest-known-human-portrait-in-the-world\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">LiveScience<\/a>]. \u201cThis sculpture, discovered at the archaeological site of Doln\u00ed V\u0115stonice in the Czech Republic in the 1920s, is considered the oldest surviving portrait of a person anywhere in the world, at 26,000 years old\u2026. Carved with stone tools out of mammoth ivory, the tiny head measures just 1.9 inches (4.8 centimeters) tall and 1 inch (2.4 cm) wide. The sculpture appears to represent a woman\u2019s face, with engraved eyes, a dimpled chin, and a raised nose and mouth. She may be wearing her hair in an updo or under a hat. Unlike other objects from the site \u2014 such as the Venus of V\u0115stonice, which lacks facial features \u2014 this face seems to be individualized, making it the earliest known depiction of a specific person.\u201d Also in the camp: \u201cIn one of these burials, covered in red ocher and arrayed with 10 drilled fox teeth, excavators discovered the skeleton of a middle-aged woman in 1949. Her skull was asymmetrical, potentially due to a traumatic childhood injury. When researchers used forensic techniques to reconstruct the woman\u2019s face from the skull in 2018, they discovered it was very similar to the tiny ivory carving, whose left eye is significantly smaller than the right\u2026. [T]his little head carved from mammoth ivory is likely the earliest personal portrait in the world.\u201d \u2022 Here she is:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"501\" height=\"673\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head.png 501w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head-223x300.png 223w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s Up With All the Sex Parties?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/dnyuz.com\/2025\/02\/04\/whats-up-with-all-the-sex-parties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Atlantic<\/a>]. \u201d learned that \u201cplay parties\u201d can take place in people\u2019s homes, but many happen under the auspices of private clubs. I reached out to a number of prominent ones, wondering if the sex-club boom was real, and what actually goes on at them. One of my major findings: People, especially rich people, come up with extremely elaborate justifications for getting laid. To be clear, these clubs are not brothels\u2014guests have sex with one another, not with the club\u2019s employees. Some say that they are putting on performances of \u2018high erotic art\u2019; others want to promote \u2018equitable pleasure.\u2019 They all try to sell erotic experimentation less as a means of gratification than as a moral virtue. They are creating, they insist, not so much a venue for sex as a gathering space of \u2018like-minded individuals.\u2019 People who are \u2018liberated\u2019 from social mores. People who think differently. People for whom the normal rules don\u2019t apply. Snctm, a members-only sex club in Beverly Hills inspired by the movie Eyes Wide Shut, opened about a decade ago, and growth \u2018was slow and steady\u2019 at first, Robert Art\u00e9s, the club\u2019s managing director, told me. \u2018But the last three to four years, there\u2019s been tremendous growth in this space. Snctm members pay $12,500 or more a year for access to masquerade parties that can cost upwards of $2,000 a ticket.\u201d \u2022 The rich are different\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat \u2018Boy-Friendly\u2019 Changes Look Like at Every Grade Level\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/leadership\/what-boy-friendly-changes-look-like-at-every-grade-level\/2025\/01\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">EducationWeek<\/a>]. \u201cn Boys\u2019 Latin\u2019s lower, or elementary, school, the most noticeable difference in scheduling was adding a second recess in the morning. Before the official start of the school day, students can now play outside with their friends from 7:30 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. Gregory Schnitzlein, the head of the lower school, said most students participate\u2014a \u2018huge win\u2019 for both the boys and their teachers, he added. A few boys, notoriously late in years past, now routinely get to school well before class starts. They don\u2019t want to miss out on playing pick-up soccer games. And the boys who take advantage of early-morning recess tend to start class calmer and more alert, Schnitzlein said. In general, boys tend to have a much harder time than girls sitting still in class, according to a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of K-12 teachers. While about 4 in 10 teachers indicated that both boys and girls \u2018sometimes\u2019 struggled with sitting still, 51 percent said boys \u2018often\u2019 or \u2018always\u2019 have a hard time sitting still\u2014compared to 18 percent who said the same about girls. That could help explain why teachers punish boys more frequently than their female classmates, beginning as early as preschool and continuing through high school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExploring the boundary of quantum correlations with a time-domain optical processor\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.abd8080\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Science<\/a>]. From the Abstract: \u201cContextuality is a hallmark feature of the quantum theory that captures its incompatibility with any noncontextual hidden-variable model. The Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ)\u2013type paradoxes are proofs of contextuality that reveal this incompatibility with deterministic logical arguments\u2026. We demonstrate [a GHZ-type paradox] with a time-domain fiber optical platform and recover the quantum prediction in a 37-dimensional setup based on high-speed modulation, convolution, and homodyne detection of time-multiplexed pulsed coherent light. By proposing and studying a strong form of contextuality in high-dimensional Hilbert space, our results pave the way for the exploration of exotic quantum correlations with time-multiplexed optical systems.\u201d \u2022 I\u2019m sure this means something. But what?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA computer can never be held accountable\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/simonwillison.net\/2025\/Feb\/3\/a-computer-can-never-be-held-accountable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Simon Willison<\/a>]. \u201d This legendary page from an internal IBM training in 1979 could not be more appropriate for our new age of AI.\u201d \u2022 And the original and its author are long gone. Presumably, their COBOL code \u201clives\u201d on\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\/2025\/01\/200pm-water-cooler-1-24-2025.html\">here<\/a>. From CM and MB:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>CM writes: \u201cPlease see attached, \u2018From somewhere near Pittsburgh.\u2019 It was in the ballpark of a hundred pounds of edible material. \u2018All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.\u2019 \u2013Terry Pratchett. Chicken of the Woods, but more like a dinosaur!<\/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\/2025\/02\/200pm-water-cooler-2-4-2025.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2025-02-04T14:00:31-05:00\">February 4, 2025<\/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\/2025\/02\/to-end-oligarchy-end-finance-capitalism.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> Rob Urie: To End Oligarchy, End Finance Capitalism<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-next list-posts-newer\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/nav>\n<p><!-- .nav-single --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #comments .comments-area --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #content --><br \/>\n<!-- #primary --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #secondary --><\/p>\n<footer id=\"colophon\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- .site-info --><br \/>\n\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- #colophon --><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- #main.wrapper --><br \/>\n<!-- #page --><br \/>\n<!-- .mobile-menu-wrap --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Blog Reader Pooling - removed 09\/16\/2015 by M. 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Bird Song of the Day Brown Thrasher, Hilltop Reservation, Essex, New Jersey, United States. * * * In Case You Might Miss\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90586,"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-90585","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\/90585","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=90585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Bird Song of the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Brown Thrasher, Hilltop Reservation, Essex, New Jersey, United States.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#doge\">DOGE: Fresh lawsuits and probes<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#democrats\">The DNC\u2026 <\/a>. Oh, Lordie\u2026 <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#bitcoin\">How one programmer\u2019s thoughts on bitcoin<\/a> changed.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#portrait\">Oldest known<\/a> portrait.<\/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>Spook Country<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"32.30846605197\">\n<p>Couldn\u2019t happen to a nicer set of goons:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.890625\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.448863636364\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It still hasn’t sunk in: the FBI took part in framing not just any random person as a Russian agent, but the President of the United States. In the process, the FBI endorsed the Clinton campaign’s condescending, elitist message that voters who didn’t push the button for Hillary\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jOatk6aRve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/jOatk6aRve<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron Mat\u00e9 (@aaronjmate) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaronjmate\/status\/1886653331956765181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Situation: What\u2019s Going on at the FBI?\u201d [Benjamin Wittes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfaremedia.org\/article\/the-situation--what-s-going-on-at-the-fbi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lawfare<\/a>]. On the January 6 investigation: \u201cThings have clarified enough today to say one thing clearly: A lot of people at the bureau\u2014leadership and street agents, analysts and staff alike\u2014are flirting with heroism right now\u2026. How widespread is the internal resistance? I don\u2019t know. But we are going to find out soon\u2026 Will the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, receive a pile of actionable material or will he receive what amounts to a large pile of spoiled questionnaires? And either way, what will he\u2014and the White House\u2014do with whatever it receives? In one situation, it will have to take on the reality that a shockingly large number of bureau personnel played a role, quite unsurprisingly, in the largest federal investigation in American history. They executed search warrants, ran down leads, interviewed people, made arrests and testified in one or more of the 1,500 plus federal prosecutions that resulted. Does Bove imagine that he will fire all of these people?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFBI agents try to block administration\u2019s effort to examine Trump, Jan. 6 cases\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/a1yXW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. \u201cA group of nine FBI agents asked a federal judge on Tuesday to block the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to collect information on thousands of case agents across the country who worked on investigations tied to the President Donald Trump or the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol\u2026. Each of the plaintiffs in the suit worked either on a Jan. 6 case or the investigation into Trump\u2019s alleged mishandling of classified documents after his first term as president, their lawsuit states. They are seeking an injunction that would bar the Justice Department from any of agents that would identify agents and other personnel.’\u201d \u2022 I like the underlined language. Maybe apply it to whatever scheme DOGE is working up to?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>DOGE<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"63.492852161785\">\n<p>\u201cElon Musk is a \u2018special government employee.\u2019 What does that mean?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/QnLo8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. \u201cWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed that Elon Musk \u2014 the tech billionaire whom President Donald Trump tapped to lead a large-scale effort to cut government spending and regulation \u2014 is a special government employee.\u2019 \u2026 A special government employee is \u2018anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period,\u2019 with or without compensation, according to the Justice Department. \u2026 Special government employees, or SGEs, \u2018are subject to most rules, although sometimes in a less restrictive way,\u2019 the Justice Department said in a summary. For example, SGEs who are paid at or below the level of federal employees with Senior Executive Service status are ; instead, they can file a report confidentially if they are expected to \u2018have a substantial role in the formulation of agency policy,\u2019 according to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. This is especially relevant in Musk\u2019s case, because critics have argued that his ownership of Tesla and SpaceX represents a conflict of interest in his review of government spending and regulation, particularly in his dealings with government agencies that have in the past decided whether to award contracts to his companies or laid out rules that influence his companies\u2019 actions and profits.\u201d \u2022 Not to mention his advocacy of the blockchain\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"doge\"\/>\u201cUnions sue to block Musk team\u2019s access to Treasury payments\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/03\/unions-sue-block-musk-treasury-payment-00202243\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277055\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277055.1.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The lawsuit<\/a>. \u201cThe Alliance for Retired Americans, along with the American Federation of Government Employees and Service Employees International Union, claim that Musk\u2019s efforts may have illegally exposed the personal data of millions of federal employees \u2014 as well as any other individual who does business with the federal government \u2014 to unauthorized Department of Government Efficiency personnel. \u2018The scale of the intrusion into individuals\u2019 privacy is massive and unprecedented,\u201d the groups said in their complaint, which was filed in federal court in the District of Columbia. The complaint accuses the Trump administration of illegally granting Musk\u2019s team access in violation of federal laws that govern the privacy of agency records and protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information.\u2019 \u2022\u00a0Access is bad enough. But according to Wired reporting, DOGE has admin privileges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWarren, Wyden call for probe of Musk aides\u2019 access to Treasury payments\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2025\/02\/04\/congress\/warren-wyden-probe-musk-treasury-00202358\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cThe top Democrats overseeing the Treasury Department are calling on a congressional watchdog to investigate the Trump administration\u2019s decision to give Elon Musk\u2019s team access to the federal system that controls trillions of dollars in payments\u2026. \u2018GAO must investigate and determine who was granted access to these systems, why and how this access was granted, and the implications for the nation\u2019s economic and national security,\u2019 Warren and Wyden wrote in a letter to the congressional watchdog that was shared with POLITICO\u2026. Bessent on Monday night assured House Republican lawmakers during a closed-door meeting that Musk and his team did not enjoy control over Treasury\u2019s payment systems and that DOGE was reviewing federal payment processes to find inefficiencies and root out waste and fraud.\u201d \u2022 You\u2019d think Bessent might have assured <em>everyone<\/em>. Again, access, access, access.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBessent tells lawmakers Musk\u2019s DOGE does not control Treasury payments system\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/03\/bessent-musk-doge-treasury-payments-00202278\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent privately reassured Republican lawmakers Monday that Elon Musk and his team do not have control over a sensitive government system that manages the flow of trillions of dollars in payments, according to five lawmakers in the room for a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill\u2026. The remarks, relayed by lawmakers in the room who were granted anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting, came during a two-hour gathering between Bessent and GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee Monday night that included a reception and dinner\u2026. Bessent declined to comment on the matter exiting the gathering.\u201d That\u2019s a confidence builder: \u201cOther Republican lawmakers on Monday also brushed aside criticism from Democrats that Musk and his team could abuse access to the system to shutter payments that Americans rely on. \u2018It\u2019s important for them to be able to know what is being spent \u2014 and make certain it\u2019s being spent A, the way Congress intended, and B, the way the President would want it to be spent,\u2019 said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). \u2018Sometimes you have to go into the actual disbursement system, because that way you don\u2019t get misinformation, which a lot of bureaucrats do.’\u201d \u2022 This is stupid. DOGE\u2019s team isn\u2019t big enough to audit a lemonade stand, let alone the entire Federal government. Whatever is going on is not an audit.<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (1):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"5.2349397590361\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"13.325301204819\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DOGE already drilled through untold layers of government bureaucracy and found the heart of the Deep State beast.<\/p>\n<p>USAID<\/p>\n<p>Amazingly, this made all the Deep State puppets in our government “prairie dog” to complain, so we can easily spot them going forward. Don’t miss that part of\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottAdamsSays\/status\/1886395052030820730\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Oh, is that where it is? USAID? Pretty pissant, if you ask me.<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (2):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.1267605633803\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6056338028169\">\n<p lang=\"art\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udfaf <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4itxXyTzOV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/4itxXyTzOV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1886281978690847071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Dudes, come on. Not even close. Then again\u2014<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (3)<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.72\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.7714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Those who know, please reply to this post listing all the evil things that NED has done. It\u2019s a long list. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8smJsP5Hji\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8smJsP5Hji<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1886089653188481504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Nominations<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"10.157009345794\">\n<p>\u201cSen. Todd Young will back Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2025\/02\/04\/congress\/todd-young-tulsi-gabbard-00202307\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cIn <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenToddYoung\/status\/1886799486640386197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a letter that Young posted online<\/a> Tuesday, Gabbard committed to \u2018holding accountable\u2019 any intelligence community employee, contractor or subcontractor who who leaks intelligence; that she would not \u2018protect\u2019 members of the intelligence community who engage in an unauthorized disclosures; and committed to not \u2018making any recommendations in a personal or profession [sic] capacity\u2019 regarding Snowden\u2019s legal standing,\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>2024 Post Mortem<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"34.761092150171\">\n<p>\u201cHow Democratic Gen Z activists lost the Gen Z vote\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2024-elections\/393531\/democrat-gen-z-republican-conservative-vote-young-loss-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Vox<\/a>]. \u201cSix months ago, young Democrats were preparing for a very different conversation. They were breathing a sigh of relief after Joe Biden formally dropped out of the 2024 presidential contest. Gen Z, some said, was ready to feel the \u201c#Kamalove\u201d and break with the past that Biden represented. The flurry of \u2018Brat summer\u2019 and coconut-tree memes that filled social media platforms was surely proof that there was a latent enthusiasm for Harris among the youth\u2026.. The work could now focus more on turning out the youth for a fresh candidate instead of persuading those who had been disillusioned by Biden to drag their way to the voting booth. This election was now more a matter of simply getting youth to show up.\u201d Whoops: \u201cSee, there\u2019s a fundamental divide between the young people who care about Democratic politics and the kind of people they were trying to persuade. Many of their turnout targets simply didn\u2019t trust institutions or the status quo like organizers and young Democrats did. They existed in different information bubbles and media ecosystems, missing persuasion efforts including memes, celebrity endorsements, or digital organizing. whether Democrats could be trusted to help them get ahead financially, and whether Harris or Trump would be a bigger disruptor of the status quo.\u201d \u2022 BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow Democrats Lost the Dissident Vote\u201d [Ross Barkan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/how-democrats-lost-the-dissident-vote\/ar-AA1yjVMc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cBut the fact that [Gabbard and RFK] are nominees for vital cabinet positions in a Trump presidency is a reflection of Democratic weakness. One, Trump won. Two, the Americans who admire Kennedy and Gabbard were overwhelmingly Democrats a mere decade ago. Just as Kennedy and Gabbard maneuvered into Trump\u2019s orbit, their supporters largely did the same \u2014 concluding that only one party could be hospitable to them. One way to think of these Americans is as dissident voters. The term itself is broad and slippery enough, and here it will refer to a people from a wide range of backgrounds. At their core, dissidents are skeptics of institutions, whether that might be the federal government, the military-industrial complex, corporate America, or the pharmaceutical industry. Some of them are anti-vaxxers and some of them are 9\/11 truthers. Some indulge in many conspiracies and some none at all. Some homeschool their children. Some care a great deal about wellness and physical fitness and have unconventional ideas for how they might achieve optimal health. Elements of the Kennedy and Gabbard worldviews speak to a wide swath of these voters, who are nowhere near a majority of Americans but make up a minority that can\u2019t be readily ignored. \u201d \u2022\u00a0Hmm.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"democrats\"\/>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"12.472749540723\">\n<p>Closing festivities at the DNC:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.4166666666667\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.25\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Meanwhile at the DNC headquarters\u2026The Democrats are no different than the band who played on as the Titanic was sinking. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CcSiJMgu4N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/CcSiJMgu4N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Power to the People \u262d\ud83d\udd4a (@ProudSocialist) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProudSocialist\/status\/1886048358629790095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Martin the new chair:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2142857142857\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.5714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Powerful<\/p>\n<p>Ken Martin won the chair seat, but just before the vote, former chair <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/donnabrazile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@donnabrazile<\/a> talks about member\u2019s freedom to vote their conscience without retaliation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XIzZhbrOXZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/XIzZhbrOXZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cwebbonline\/status\/1885751289621131290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Consultants, your contracts are safe:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.2349397590361\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.9518072289157\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cuzaXDtwKH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/cuzaXDtwKH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kenklippenstein\/status\/1885809344274383249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>The usual thuggery:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2142857142857\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.5714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Powerful<\/p>\n<p>Ken Martin won the chair seat, but just before the vote, former chair <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/donnabrazile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@donnabrazile<\/a> talks about member\u2019s freedom to vote their conscience without retaliation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XIzZhbrOXZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/XIzZhbrOXZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cwebbonline\/status\/1885751289621131290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Did I mention that \u201cbold\u201d was a word to watch out for, basically a synonym for PR-driven and ephemeral?<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.5625\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"5\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">biggest red flag yet is this post lol <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/h8pIjQnQOS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/h8pIjQnQOS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 soul khan (@soulkhan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/soulkhan\/status\/1885843631845654882\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>They will die as a party rather than change (1):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.3675675675676\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.1027027027027\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Democratic National Committee apparently thinks it is very important to elect JD Vance President in 2028. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zEYH0j8uNy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/zEYH0j8uNy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1885858887875645558\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>They will die as a party rather than change (2):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.28\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"6.84\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Outgoing DNC Chief Jaime Harrison says he thinks Kamala should run again and can win in 2028. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HNUhwSPoTV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/HNUhwSPoTV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WesternLensman\/status\/1885352920528400482\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/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>Sequelae: Covid<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"4.2151898734177\">\n<p>Funny all the airline crashes of late:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.1292134831461\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.73595505618\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pilots need to be tested for spatial problems post- Covid. There is a growing body of research showing post Covid brain damage, esp with memory and spatial skills. 46 Visuospatial Functions in Patients After COVID-19 Disease<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/p6McS5BX2m\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/p6McS5BX2m<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gOt0MaALKL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/gOt0MaALKL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Martha Young- JD, MBA, N95-clean the air:\ud83e\udd8b\ud83d\ude37 (@mryoung151) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mryoung151\/status\/1886100515760595072\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Morbidity and Mortality<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"12.510144927536\">\n<p>\u201cEarly adult death rates remain higher than expected post-pandemic\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news-medical.net\/news\/20250131\/Early-adult-death-rates-remain-higher-than-expected-post-pandemic.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">News Medical Life Sciences<\/a>]. \u201cNew research from the University of Minnesota and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) shows that death rates for early adults, or adults aged 25-44, rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and remain higher than expected post-pandemic. Heightened death rates during the COVID-19 pandemic intensified an already negative trend for early adults, which began around 2010. As a result, early adult death rates in 2023 were about 70 percent higher than they might have been if death rates had not begun to rise about a decade before the pandemic.\u201d \u2022 2010? Thanks, Obama!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Wastewater is back (and down). Good.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.866336633663\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/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> This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 27<\/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\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-300x241.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 fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"418\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2-300x209.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong> Variants<\/strong> [3] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 18<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> <strong>Emergency Room Visits<\/strong>[4] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_select_7dayeddiagnosed_00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 11<\/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\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"460\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl-300x230.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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"318\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl-300x159.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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=\"3.8961038961039\">\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 February 3:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 24:<\/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\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-300x171.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\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2-288x300.png 288w\" 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=\"2.5714285714286\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> National[7] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/healthcare-solutions\/covid-19-index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a> January 27:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Ohio[8] <a href=\"https:\/\/clevelandcliniclabs.com\/respiratory-virus-surveillance-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cleveland Clinic<\/a> January 18:<\/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\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2-300x189.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\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2-300x198.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=\"3.5932203389831\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 30:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 30<\/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\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-285676\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png 608w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2-300x161.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"419\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2-300x210.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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=\"3.76\">\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> January 11:<\/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> January 11:<\/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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"354\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity-300x177.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"348\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed-300x174.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"210.7986756185\">\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) Down, 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) Definitely jumped, but no exponential growth either, Odd.<\/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>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Job Openings\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/job-offers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cJob openings in the United States fell by 556,000 to 7.6 million in December 2024, missing the market expectation of 8.0 million and indicating a gradual cooling of the labor market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Factory Orders Ex Transportation\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/factory-orders-ex-transportation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cFactory orders excluding transportation in the United States rose by 0.3% over a month earlier in December 2024, following a 0.2% increase in the prior month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Supply Chain: \u201cUnited States LMI Logistics Managers Index\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/lmi-logistics-managers-index-current\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe Logistics Manager\u2019s Index in the US climbed to 62 in January 2025 from 57.3 in December 2024, signaling the fastest expansion in the logistics sector since June 2022. This growth reflects the sustained expansion of the US economy, alongside a sharper-than-expected rise in inventories amid uncertainty surrounding trade regulations, particularly tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing Deferred Production Costs: $39bn since 2019 MAX grounding, $22bn for 737\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/leehamnews.com\/2025\/02\/04\/boeing-deferred-production-costs-39bn-since-2019-max-grounding-22bn-for-737\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Leeham News and Analysis<\/a>]. \u201c[T]he balance sheet does indicate a figure of $87.55bn sitting in the Inventory account, but what is the detailed break-down of what is contained therein?\u2026 Each quarter, in the Boeing financial reports section titled Inventories, are the details of what makes up that account\u2026. Typically, expenses are recorded onto the Income Statement during the period for which they are incurred, matching revenues and costs. Program Accounting allows Boeing to put those amounts into Inventory and keep them there, until it decides to pull them out. Normally these accrued amounts are expensed with a delivery. Other times, they are written off. Many investors would look at the balance sheet and assume that Boeing has over $87bn in product that it is able to sell to customers.\u201d \u2022 If you play the ponies on Boeing, this post is definitely worth a read.<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing\u2019s Starliner Fiasco Has Now Burned Through $2 Billion\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/boeings-starliner-fiasco-has-now-burned-through-2-billion-2000558988\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gizmodo<\/a>]. \u201cNearly five months after an uncrewed Starliner undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), Boeing announced that it lost an additional half a billion dollars from its troubled spacecraft as the fate of its contract with NASA remains unclear. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Boeing reported a total of $523 million in losses from the Starliner Commercial Crew Program in 2024. That brings the total amount of losses from the ill-fated program to a whopping $2 billion in cost overruns. Boeing cited \u2018highly complex designs and technical challenges,\u2019 as well as \u2018schedule delays and cost impacts,\u2019 that increased the cost estimates for its programs\u2026. Boeing had forewarned that more losses were coming during the fourth quarter of 2024, and it turned out to be the heftiest bill of the entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cAirbus Vs Boeing Vs COMAC: How The Plane Makers\u2019 Market Share Compares In Asia\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/simpleflying.com\/airbus-boeing-comac-market-share-asia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Simple Flying<\/a>]. \u201cCOMAC has a long way to go to ramp up and challenge Airbus and Boeing in any meaningful way. In January 2025, Flight Plan reported that COMAC delivered 12 C919 narrowbodies in 2024 (up from just two in 2023). It added COMAC plans to establish a production system able to produce 150 aircraft annually by 2028. Simple Flying has already reported COMAC plans to deliver 50 C919s in 2025\u2026. COMAC\u2019s currently low production numbers, together with China\u2019s massive and growing aviation market, mean that Chinese airlines will have no choice but to continue ordering Airbus and Boeing aircraft for a long time to come (including all of their widebody aircraft). Time will tell how fast COMAC can ramp up production to meet more and more of its domestic requires and produce surplus for export. The COMAC faces a potentially bright future because it is a Chinese aircraft. China now boasts one of the world\u2019s largest airline markets (the United States retains the largest), meaning that there is plenty of domestic market potential even before considering exports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tech: <\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6962025316456\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.0886075949367\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If China pulls a DeepSeek on the Adobe creative suite they\u2019ll have us singing Red Sun in the Sky by Q2 2025<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Q. Anthony Ali (@NobleQAli) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NobleQAli\/status\/1883949406921318466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>I thought I ran this, but it doesn\u2019t show up in search, so\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>Tech: Of Sam Altman:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.7604790419162\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.377245508982\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I would observe that Sam \u2013 and too many others like him \u2013 have the same relationship with AGI as do teenage boys with their raging hormones and sex: <\/p>\n<p>He can\u2019t tell us exactly what it is, but he assures us he will know it when he sees it. He thinks that everyone is doing it when\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Grady_Booch\/status\/1885580092086096180\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Tech: A good question:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.6025641025641\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"5.1282051282051\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why do all the AI logos look like butt holes? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O5VC3bAgP5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/O5VC3bAgP5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 greg (@greg16676935420) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/greg16676935420\/status\/1885474156587999370\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>NOTE I only had time to verify OpenAI\u2019s logo\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"bitcoin\"\/>The Bezzle: \u201cAfter twelve years of writing about bitcoin, here\u2019s how my thinking has changed\u201d [Moneyness]. From 2024, still germane. \u201cIf you want to buy some bitcoins, go right ahead. We can even help by regulating the trading venues to make it safe. But don\u2019t force others to play. Alas, that seems to be where we are headed. There is a growing effort to arm-twist the rest of society into joining in by having governments acquire bitcoins, in the U.S.\u2019s case a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The U.S. government has never entered the World Series of Poker. Nor has it gone to Vegas to bet billions to tax payer funds on roulette or built a strategic Powerball ticket reserve, but it appears to be genuinely entertaining the idea of rolling the dice on Bitcoin.\u201d And: \u201cBitcoin is an incredibly infectious early-bird game, one that after sixteen years continues to find a constant stream of new recruits. How contagious? I originally estimated in <a href=\"https:\/\/jpkoning.blogspot.com\/2022\/02\/three-potential-paths-for-price-of.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a 2022 post<\/a>, <em>Three potential paths for the price of bitcoin<\/em>, that adoption wouldn\u2019t rise above 10%-15% of the global population, but I may have been underestimating its transmissibility\u2026. It begins with a small strategic reserve of a few billion dollars. It ends with the Department of Bitcoin Price Appreciation being allocated 50% of yearly tax revenues to make the number go up, to the detriment of infrastructure like roads, hospitals, and law enforcement. At that point we\u2019ve entered a dystopia in which society rapidly deteriorates because we\u2019ve all become obsessed on a bet.\u201d \u2022 Sadly, \u201cearly bird game\u201d is undefined. Readers?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 45 Fear (previous close: 44 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 47 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 4 at 2:10:42 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p>Rapture Index: Closes down one on Food Supply. \u201cThe lack of activity has downgraded this category\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.raptureready.com\/rapture-ready-index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rapture Ready<\/a>]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 180. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) \u2022 This is a tough crowd. Surely Trump\u2019s first month brought the Rapture closer?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"portrait\"\/>\u201cDoln\u00ed V\u0115stonice Portrait Head: The oldest known human portrait in the world\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/archaeology\/dolni-vestonice-portrait-head-the-oldest-known-human-portrait-in-the-world\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">LiveScience<\/a>]. \u201cThis sculpture, discovered at the archaeological site of Doln\u00ed V\u0115stonice in the Czech Republic in the 1920s, is considered the oldest surviving portrait of a person anywhere in the world, at 26,000 years old\u2026. Carved with stone tools out of mammoth ivory, the tiny head measures just 1.9 inches (4.8 centimeters) tall and 1 inch (2.4 cm) wide. The sculpture appears to represent a woman\u2019s face, with engraved eyes, a dimpled chin, and a raised nose and mouth. She may be wearing her hair in an updo or under a hat. Unlike other objects from the site \u2014 such as the Venus of V\u0115stonice, which lacks facial features \u2014 this face seems to be individualized, making it the earliest known depiction of a specific person.\u201d Also in the camp: \u201cIn one of these burials, covered in red ocher and arrayed with 10 drilled fox teeth, excavators discovered the skeleton of a middle-aged woman in 1949. Her skull was asymmetrical, potentially due to a traumatic childhood injury. When researchers used forensic techniques to reconstruct the woman\u2019s face from the skull in 2018, they discovered it was very similar to the tiny ivory carving, whose left eye is significantly smaller than the right\u2026. [T]his little head carved from mammoth ivory is likely the earliest personal portrait in the world.\u201d \u2022 Here she is:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"501\" height=\"673\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head.png 501w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head-223x300.png 223w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s Up With All the Sex Parties?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/dnyuz.com\/2025\/02\/04\/whats-up-with-all-the-sex-parties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Atlantic<\/a>]. \u201d learned that \u201cplay parties\u201d can take place in people\u2019s homes, but many happen under the auspices of private clubs. I reached out to a number of prominent ones, wondering if the sex-club boom was real, and what actually goes on at them. One of my major findings: People, especially rich people, come up with extremely elaborate justifications for getting laid. To be clear, these clubs are not brothels\u2014guests have sex with one another, not with the club\u2019s employees. Some say that they are putting on performances of \u2018high erotic art\u2019; others want to promote \u2018equitable pleasure.\u2019 They all try to sell erotic experimentation less as a means of gratification than as a moral virtue. They are creating, they insist, not so much a venue for sex as a gathering space of \u2018like-minded individuals.\u2019 People who are \u2018liberated\u2019 from social mores. People who think differently. People for whom the normal rules don\u2019t apply. Snctm, a members-only sex club in Beverly Hills inspired by the movie Eyes Wide Shut, opened about a decade ago, and growth \u2018was slow and steady\u2019 at first, Robert Art\u00e9s, the club\u2019s managing director, told me. \u2018But the last three to four years, there\u2019s been tremendous growth in this space. Snctm members pay $12,500 or more a year for access to masquerade parties that can cost upwards of $2,000 a ticket.\u201d \u2022 The rich are different\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat \u2018Boy-Friendly\u2019 Changes Look Like at Every Grade Level\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/leadership\/what-boy-friendly-changes-look-like-at-every-grade-level\/2025\/01\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">EducationWeek<\/a>]. \u201cn Boys\u2019 Latin\u2019s lower, or elementary, school, the most noticeable difference in scheduling was adding a second recess in the morning. Before the official start of the school day, students can now play outside with their friends from 7:30 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. Gregory Schnitzlein, the head of the lower school, said most students participate\u2014a \u2018huge win\u2019 for both the boys and their teachers, he added. A few boys, notoriously late in years past, now routinely get to school well before class starts. They don\u2019t want to miss out on playing pick-up soccer games. And the boys who take advantage of early-morning recess tend to start class calmer and more alert, Schnitzlein said. In general, boys tend to have a much harder time than girls sitting still in class, according to a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of K-12 teachers. While about 4 in 10 teachers indicated that both boys and girls \u2018sometimes\u2019 struggled with sitting still, 51 percent said boys \u2018often\u2019 or \u2018always\u2019 have a hard time sitting still\u2014compared to 18 percent who said the same about girls. That could help explain why teachers punish boys more frequently than their female classmates, beginning as early as preschool and continuing through high school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExploring the boundary of quantum correlations with a time-domain optical processor\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.abd8080\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Science<\/a>]. From the Abstract: \u201cContextuality is a hallmark feature of the quantum theory that captures its incompatibility with any noncontextual hidden-variable model. The Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ)\u2013type paradoxes are proofs of contextuality that reveal this incompatibility with deterministic logical arguments\u2026. We demonstrate [a GHZ-type paradox] with a time-domain fiber optical platform and recover the quantum prediction in a 37-dimensional setup based on high-speed modulation, convolution, and homodyne detection of time-multiplexed pulsed coherent light. By proposing and studying a strong form of contextuality in high-dimensional Hilbert space, our results pave the way for the exploration of exotic quantum correlations with time-multiplexed optical systems.\u201d \u2022 I\u2019m sure this means something. But what?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA computer can never be held accountable\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/simonwillison.net\/2025\/Feb\/3\/a-computer-can-never-be-held-accountable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Simon Willison<\/a>]. \u201d This legendary page from an internal IBM training in 1979 could not be more appropriate for our new age of AI.\u201d \u2022 And the original and its author are long gone. Presumably, their COBOL code \u201clives\u201d on\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\/2025\/01\/200pm-water-cooler-1-24-2025.html\">here<\/a>. From CM and MB:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>CM writes: \u201cPlease see attached, \u2018From somewhere near Pittsburgh.\u2019 It was in the ballpark of a hundred pounds of edible material. \u2018All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.\u2019 \u2013Terry Pratchett. Chicken of the Woods, but more like a dinosaur!<\/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\/2025\/02\/200pm-water-cooler-2-4-2025.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2025-02-04T14:00:31-05:00\">February 4, 2025<\/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\/2025\/02\/to-end-oligarchy-end-finance-capitalism.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> Rob Urie: To End Oligarchy, End Finance Capitalism<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"nav-next list-posts-newer\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/nav>\n<p><!-- .nav-single --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #comments .comments-area --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #content --><br \/>\n<!-- #primary --><\/p>\n<p>\t<!-- #secondary --><\/p>\n<footer id=\"colophon\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t\t<!-- .site-info --><br \/>\n\t\t<\/footer>\n<p><!-- #colophon --><br \/>\n\t\t<!-- #main.wrapper --><br \/>\n<!-- #page --><br \/>\n<!-- .mobile-menu-wrap --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Blog Reader Pooling - removed 09\/16\/2015 by M. 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Bird Song of the Day Brown Thrasher, Hilltop Reservation, Essex, New Jersey, United States. * * * In Case You Might Miss\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90586,"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-90585","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\/90585","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=90585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Brown Thrasher, Hilltop Reservation, Essex, New Jersey, United States.<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p><strong>In Case You Might Miss\u2026 <\/strong> <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#doge\">DOGE: Fresh lawsuits and probes<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#democrats\">The DNC\u2026 <\/a>. Oh, Lordie\u2026 <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#bitcoin\">How one programmer\u2019s thoughts on bitcoin<\/a> changed.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#portrait\">Oldest known<\/a> portrait.<\/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>Spook Country<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"32.30846605197\">\n<p>Couldn\u2019t happen to a nicer set of goons:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.890625\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.448863636364\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It still hasn’t sunk in: the FBI took part in framing not just any random person as a Russian agent, but the President of the United States. In the process, the FBI endorsed the Clinton campaign’s condescending, elitist message that voters who didn’t push the button for Hillary\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jOatk6aRve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/jOatk6aRve<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Aaron Mat\u00e9 (@aaronjmate) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aaronjmate\/status\/1886653331956765181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Situation: What\u2019s Going on at the FBI?\u201d [Benjamin Wittes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfaremedia.org\/article\/the-situation--what-s-going-on-at-the-fbi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lawfare<\/a>]. On the January 6 investigation: \u201cThings have clarified enough today to say one thing clearly: A lot of people at the bureau\u2014leadership and street agents, analysts and staff alike\u2014are flirting with heroism right now\u2026. How widespread is the internal resistance? I don\u2019t know. But we are going to find out soon\u2026 Will the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, receive a pile of actionable material or will he receive what amounts to a large pile of spoiled questionnaires? And either way, what will he\u2014and the White House\u2014do with whatever it receives? In one situation, it will have to take on the reality that a shockingly large number of bureau personnel played a role, quite unsurprisingly, in the largest federal investigation in American history. They executed search warrants, ran down leads, interviewed people, made arrests and testified in one or more of the 1,500 plus federal prosecutions that resulted. Does Bove imagine that he will fire all of these people?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFBI agents try to block administration\u2019s effort to examine Trump, Jan. 6 cases\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/a1yXW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. \u201cA group of nine FBI agents asked a federal judge on Tuesday to block the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to collect information on thousands of case agents across the country who worked on investigations tied to the President Donald Trump or the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol\u2026. Each of the plaintiffs in the suit worked either on a Jan. 6 case or the investigation into Trump\u2019s alleged mishandling of classified documents after his first term as president, their lawsuit states. They are seeking an injunction that would bar the Justice Department from any of agents that would identify agents and other personnel.’\u201d \u2022 I like the underlined language. Maybe apply it to whatever scheme DOGE is working up to?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>DOGE<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"63.492852161785\">\n<p>\u201cElon Musk is a \u2018special government employee.\u2019 What does that mean?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/QnLo8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WaPo<\/a>]. \u201cWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed that Elon Musk \u2014 the tech billionaire whom President Donald Trump tapped to lead a large-scale effort to cut government spending and regulation \u2014 is a special government employee.\u2019 \u2026 A special government employee is \u2018anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period,\u2019 with or without compensation, according to the Justice Department. \u2026 Special government employees, or SGEs, \u2018are subject to most rules, although sometimes in a less restrictive way,\u2019 the Justice Department said in a summary. For example, SGEs who are paid at or below the level of federal employees with Senior Executive Service status are ; instead, they can file a report confidentially if they are expected to \u2018have a substantial role in the formulation of agency policy,\u2019 according to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. This is especially relevant in Musk\u2019s case, because critics have argued that his ownership of Tesla and SpaceX represents a conflict of interest in his review of government spending and regulation, particularly in his dealings with government agencies that have in the past decided whether to award contracts to his companies or laid out rules that influence his companies\u2019 actions and profits.\u201d \u2022 Not to mention his advocacy of the blockchain\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"doge\"\/>\u201cUnions sue to block Musk team\u2019s access to Treasury payments\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/03\/unions-sue-block-musk-treasury-payment-00202243\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277055\/gov.uscourts.dcd.277055.1.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The lawsuit<\/a>. \u201cThe Alliance for Retired Americans, along with the American Federation of Government Employees and Service Employees International Union, claim that Musk\u2019s efforts may have illegally exposed the personal data of millions of federal employees \u2014 as well as any other individual who does business with the federal government \u2014 to unauthorized Department of Government Efficiency personnel. \u2018The scale of the intrusion into individuals\u2019 privacy is massive and unprecedented,\u201d the groups said in their complaint, which was filed in federal court in the District of Columbia. The complaint accuses the Trump administration of illegally granting Musk\u2019s team access in violation of federal laws that govern the privacy of agency records and protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information.\u2019 \u2022\u00a0Access is bad enough. But according to Wired reporting, DOGE has admin privileges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWarren, Wyden call for probe of Musk aides\u2019 access to Treasury payments\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2025\/02\/04\/congress\/warren-wyden-probe-musk-treasury-00202358\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cThe top Democrats overseeing the Treasury Department are calling on a congressional watchdog to investigate the Trump administration\u2019s decision to give Elon Musk\u2019s team access to the federal system that controls trillions of dollars in payments\u2026. \u2018GAO must investigate and determine who was granted access to these systems, why and how this access was granted, and the implications for the nation\u2019s economic and national security,\u2019 Warren and Wyden wrote in a letter to the congressional watchdog that was shared with POLITICO\u2026. Bessent on Monday night assured House Republican lawmakers during a closed-door meeting that Musk and his team did not enjoy control over Treasury\u2019s payment systems and that DOGE was reviewing federal payment processes to find inefficiencies and root out waste and fraud.\u201d \u2022 You\u2019d think Bessent might have assured <em>everyone<\/em>. Again, access, access, access.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBessent tells lawmakers Musk\u2019s DOGE does not control Treasury payments system\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/02\/03\/bessent-musk-doge-treasury-payments-00202278\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cTreasury Secretary Scott Bessent privately reassured Republican lawmakers Monday that Elon Musk and his team do not have control over a sensitive government system that manages the flow of trillions of dollars in payments, according to five lawmakers in the room for a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill\u2026. The remarks, relayed by lawmakers in the room who were granted anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting, came during a two-hour gathering between Bessent and GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee Monday night that included a reception and dinner\u2026. Bessent declined to comment on the matter exiting the gathering.\u201d That\u2019s a confidence builder: \u201cOther Republican lawmakers on Monday also brushed aside criticism from Democrats that Musk and his team could abuse access to the system to shutter payments that Americans rely on. \u2018It\u2019s important for them to be able to know what is being spent \u2014 and make certain it\u2019s being spent A, the way Congress intended, and B, the way the President would want it to be spent,\u2019 said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). \u2018Sometimes you have to go into the actual disbursement system, because that way you don\u2019t get misinformation, which a lot of bureaucrats do.’\u201d \u2022 This is stupid. DOGE\u2019s team isn\u2019t big enough to audit a lemonade stand, let alone the entire Federal government. Whatever is going on is not an audit.<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (1):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"5.2349397590361\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"13.325301204819\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DOGE already drilled through untold layers of government bureaucracy and found the heart of the Deep State beast.<\/p>\n<p>USAID<\/p>\n<p>Amazingly, this made all the Deep State puppets in our government “prairie dog” to complain, so we can easily spot them going forward. Don’t miss that part of\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottAdamsSays\/status\/1886395052030820730\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Oh, is that where it is? USAID? Pretty pissant, if you ask me.<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (2):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.1267605633803\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6056338028169\">\n<p lang=\"art\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udfaf <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4itxXyTzOV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/4itxXyTzOV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1886281978690847071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Dudes, come on. Not even close. Then again\u2014<\/p>\n<p>DOGE (3)<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.72\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.7714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Those who know, please reply to this post listing all the evil things that NED has done. It\u2019s a long list. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8smJsP5Hji\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8smJsP5Hji<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1886089653188481504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Nominations<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"10.157009345794\">\n<p>\u201cSen. Todd Young will back Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2025\/02\/04\/congress\/todd-young-tulsi-gabbard-00202307\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Politico<\/a>]. \u201cIn <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenToddYoung\/status\/1886799486640386197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a letter that Young posted online<\/a> Tuesday, Gabbard committed to \u2018holding accountable\u2019 any intelligence community employee, contractor or subcontractor who who leaks intelligence; that she would not \u2018protect\u2019 members of the intelligence community who engage in an unauthorized disclosures; and committed to not \u2018making any recommendations in a personal or profession [sic] capacity\u2019 regarding Snowden\u2019s legal standing,\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>2024 Post Mortem<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"34.761092150171\">\n<p>\u201cHow Democratic Gen Z activists lost the Gen Z vote\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2024-elections\/393531\/democrat-gen-z-republican-conservative-vote-young-loss-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Vox<\/a>]. \u201cSix months ago, young Democrats were preparing for a very different conversation. They were breathing a sigh of relief after Joe Biden formally dropped out of the 2024 presidential contest. Gen Z, some said, was ready to feel the \u201c#Kamalove\u201d and break with the past that Biden represented. The flurry of \u2018Brat summer\u2019 and coconut-tree memes that filled social media platforms was surely proof that there was a latent enthusiasm for Harris among the youth\u2026.. The work could now focus more on turning out the youth for a fresh candidate instead of persuading those who had been disillusioned by Biden to drag their way to the voting booth. This election was now more a matter of simply getting youth to show up.\u201d Whoops: \u201cSee, there\u2019s a fundamental divide between the young people who care about Democratic politics and the kind of people they were trying to persuade. Many of their turnout targets simply didn\u2019t trust institutions or the status quo like organizers and young Democrats did. They existed in different information bubbles and media ecosystems, missing persuasion efforts including memes, celebrity endorsements, or digital organizing. whether Democrats could be trusted to help them get ahead financially, and whether Harris or Trump would be a bigger disruptor of the status quo.\u201d \u2022 BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow Democrats Lost the Dissident Vote\u201d [Ross Barkan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/politics\/how-democrats-lost-the-dissident-vote\/ar-AA1yjVMc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New York Magazine<\/a>]. \u201cBut the fact that [Gabbard and RFK] are nominees for vital cabinet positions in a Trump presidency is a reflection of Democratic weakness. One, Trump won. Two, the Americans who admire Kennedy and Gabbard were overwhelmingly Democrats a mere decade ago. Just as Kennedy and Gabbard maneuvered into Trump\u2019s orbit, their supporters largely did the same \u2014 concluding that only one party could be hospitable to them. One way to think of these Americans is as dissident voters. The term itself is broad and slippery enough, and here it will refer to a people from a wide range of backgrounds. At their core, dissidents are skeptics of institutions, whether that might be the federal government, the military-industrial complex, corporate America, or the pharmaceutical industry. Some of them are anti-vaxxers and some of them are 9\/11 truthers. Some indulge in many conspiracies and some none at all. Some homeschool their children. Some care a great deal about wellness and physical fitness and have unconventional ideas for how they might achieve optimal health. Elements of the Kennedy and Gabbard worldviews speak to a wide swath of these voters, who are nowhere near a majority of Americans but make up a minority that can\u2019t be readily ignored. \u201d \u2022\u00a0Hmm.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a name=\"democrats\"\/>Democrats <em>en d\u00e9shabill\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"12.472749540723\">\n<p>Closing festivities at the DNC:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.4166666666667\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.25\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Meanwhile at the DNC headquarters\u2026The Democrats are no different than the band who played on as the Titanic was sinking. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CcSiJMgu4N\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/CcSiJMgu4N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Power to the People \u262d\ud83d\udd4a (@ProudSocialist) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProudSocialist\/status\/1886048358629790095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Martin the new chair:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2142857142857\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.5714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Powerful<\/p>\n<p>Ken Martin won the chair seat, but just before the vote, former chair <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/donnabrazile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@donnabrazile<\/a> talks about member\u2019s freedom to vote their conscience without retaliation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XIzZhbrOXZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/XIzZhbrOXZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cwebbonline\/status\/1885751289621131290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Consultants, your contracts are safe:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.2349397590361\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.9518072289157\">\n<p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cuzaXDtwKH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/cuzaXDtwKH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kenklippenstein\/status\/1885809344274383249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>The usual thuggery:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"3.2142857142857\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.5714285714286\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Powerful<\/p>\n<p>Ken Martin won the chair seat, but just before the vote, former chair <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/donnabrazile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@donnabrazile<\/a> talks about member\u2019s freedom to vote their conscience without retaliation. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/8DDmZV586w<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XIzZhbrOXZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/XIzZhbrOXZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cwebbonline\/status\/1885751289621131290\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Did I mention that \u201cbold\u201d was a word to watch out for, basically a synonym for PR-driven and ephemeral?<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.5625\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"5\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">biggest red flag yet is this post lol <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/h8pIjQnQOS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/h8pIjQnQOS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 soul khan (@soulkhan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/soulkhan\/status\/1885843631845654882\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>They will die as a party rather than change (1):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.3675675675676\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7.1027027027027\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Democratic National Committee apparently thinks it is very important to elect JD Vance President in 2028. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zEYH0j8uNy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/zEYH0j8uNy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthewstoller\/status\/1885858887875645558\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>They will die as a party rather than change (2):<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.28\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"6.84\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Outgoing DNC Chief Jaime Harrison says he thinks Kamala should run again and can win in 2028. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HNUhwSPoTV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/HNUhwSPoTV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WesternLensman\/status\/1885352920528400482\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/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>Sequelae: Covid<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"4.2151898734177\">\n<p>Funny all the airline crashes of late:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.1292134831461\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"10.73595505618\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Pilots need to be tested for spatial problems post- Covid. There is a growing body of research showing post Covid brain damage, esp with memory and spatial skills. 46 Visuospatial Functions in Patients After COVID-19 Disease<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/p6McS5BX2m\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/p6McS5BX2m<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gOt0MaALKL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/t.co\/gOt0MaALKL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Martha Young- JD, MBA, N95-clean the air:\ud83e\udd8b\ud83d\ude37 (@mryoung151) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mryoung151\/status\/1886100515760595072\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 2, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Morbidity and Mortality<\/p>\n<blockquote wp_automatic_readability=\"12.510144927536\">\n<p>\u201cEarly adult death rates remain higher than expected post-pandemic\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news-medical.net\/news\/20250131\/Early-adult-death-rates-remain-higher-than-expected-post-pandemic.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">News Medical Life Sciences<\/a>]. \u201cNew research from the University of Minnesota and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) shows that death rates for early adults, or adults aged 25-44, rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic and remain higher than expected post-pandemic. Heightened death rates during the COVID-19 pandemic intensified an already negative trend for early adults, which began around 2010. As a result, early adult death rates in 2023 were about 70 percent higher than they might have been if death rates had not begun to rise about a decade before the pandemic.\u201d \u2022 2010? Thanks, Obama!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Lambert here: Wastewater is back (and down). Good.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"table\"\/><strong>TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody wp_automatic_readability=\"10.866336633663\">\n<tr colspan=\"2\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong>Wastewater<\/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> This week[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 27<\/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\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286625\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-cdc-ww-natl-300x241.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 fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"418\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-ww-natl-2-300x209.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr colspan=\"2\" wp_automatic_readability=\"3.6417910447761\">\n<td valign=\"top\"><strong> Variants<\/strong> [3] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#variant-proportions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 18<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> <strong>Emergency Room Visits<\/strong>[4] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_select_7dayeddiagnosed_00\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 11<\/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\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"460\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-natl-300x230.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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"318\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-ccd-ed-natl-300x159.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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=\"3.8961038961039\">\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 February 3:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> National [6] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/covidnetdashboard\/de\/powerbi\/dashboard.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> January 24:<\/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\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/covid-ny-hospitalization-nyc-300x171.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\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-hospitalization-natl-2-288x300.png 288w\" 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=\"2.5714285714286\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> National[7] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walgreens.com\/healthcare-solutions\/covid-19-index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Walgreens<\/a> January 27:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Ohio[8] <a href=\"https:\/\/clevelandcliniclabs.com\/respiratory-virus-surveillance-statistics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cleveland Clinic<\/a> January 18:<\/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\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-walgreens-positivity-states-2-300x189.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\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-286162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cleveland-positivity-oh-2-300x198.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=\"3.5932203389831\">\n<td valign=\"top\"> Positivity[9] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 30:<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\"> Variants[10] <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#traveler-genomic-surveillance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC<\/a> December 30<\/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\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"310\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-285676\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2.png 608w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/covid-cdc-positivity-travelers-2-300x161.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 608px) 100vw, 608px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\">\n<p><span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<span class=\"Apple-tab-span\">\t<img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"419\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-variants-travelers-2-300x210.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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=\"3.76\">\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> January 11:<\/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> January 11:<\/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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"354\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-positivity-300x177.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (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 loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"348\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed.png 600w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/no_covid-cdc-death-ed-300x174.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<td wp_automatic_readability=\"210.7986756185\">\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) Down, 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) Definitely jumped, but no exponential growth either, Odd.<\/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>Employment Situation: \u201cUnited States Job Openings\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/job-offers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cJob openings in the United States fell by 556,000 to 7.6 million in December 2024, missing the market expectation of 8.0 million and indicating a gradual cooling of the labor market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cUnited States Factory Orders Ex Transportation\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/factory-orders-ex-transportation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cFactory orders excluding transportation in the United States rose by 0.3% over a month earlier in December 2024, following a 0.2% increase in the prior month.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Supply Chain: \u201cUnited States LMI Logistics Managers Index\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/tradingeconomics.com\/united-states\/lmi-logistics-managers-index-current\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Trading Economics<\/a>]. \u201cThe Logistics Manager\u2019s Index in the US climbed to 62 in January 2025 from 57.3 in December 2024, signaling the fastest expansion in the logistics sector since June 2022. This growth reflects the sustained expansion of the US economy, alongside a sharper-than-expected rise in inventories amid uncertainty surrounding trade regulations, particularly tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing Deferred Production Costs: $39bn since 2019 MAX grounding, $22bn for 737\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/leehamnews.com\/2025\/02\/04\/boeing-deferred-production-costs-39bn-since-2019-max-grounding-22bn-for-737\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Leeham News and Analysis<\/a>]. \u201c[T]he balance sheet does indicate a figure of $87.55bn sitting in the Inventory account, but what is the detailed break-down of what is contained therein?\u2026 Each quarter, in the Boeing financial reports section titled Inventories, are the details of what makes up that account\u2026. Typically, expenses are recorded onto the Income Statement during the period for which they are incurred, matching revenues and costs. Program Accounting allows Boeing to put those amounts into Inventory and keep them there, until it decides to pull them out. Normally these accrued amounts are expensed with a delivery. Other times, they are written off. Many investors would look at the balance sheet and assume that Boeing has over $87bn in product that it is able to sell to customers.\u201d \u2022 If you play the ponies on Boeing, this post is definitely worth a read.<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cBoeing\u2019s Starliner Fiasco Has Now Burned Through $2 Billion\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/boeings-starliner-fiasco-has-now-burned-through-2-billion-2000558988\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gizmodo<\/a>]. \u201cNearly five months after an uncrewed Starliner undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), Boeing announced that it lost an additional half a billion dollars from its troubled spacecraft as the fate of its contract with NASA remains unclear. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Boeing reported a total of $523 million in losses from the Starliner Commercial Crew Program in 2024. That brings the total amount of losses from the ill-fated program to a whopping $2 billion in cost overruns. Boeing cited \u2018highly complex designs and technical challenges,\u2019 as well as \u2018schedule delays and cost impacts,\u2019 that increased the cost estimates for its programs\u2026. Boeing had forewarned that more losses were coming during the fourth quarter of 2024, and it turned out to be the heftiest bill of the entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing: \u201cAirbus Vs Boeing Vs COMAC: How The Plane Makers\u2019 Market Share Compares In Asia\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/simpleflying.com\/airbus-boeing-comac-market-share-asia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Simple Flying<\/a>]. \u201cCOMAC has a long way to go to ramp up and challenge Airbus and Boeing in any meaningful way. In January 2025, Flight Plan reported that COMAC delivered 12 C919 narrowbodies in 2024 (up from just two in 2023). It added COMAC plans to establish a production system able to produce 150 aircraft annually by 2028. Simple Flying has already reported COMAC plans to deliver 50 C919s in 2025\u2026. COMAC\u2019s currently low production numbers, together with China\u2019s massive and growing aviation market, mean that Chinese airlines will have no choice but to continue ordering Airbus and Boeing aircraft for a long time to come (including all of their widebody aircraft). Time will tell how fast COMAC can ramp up production to meet more and more of its domestic requires and produce surplus for export. The COMAC faces a potentially bright future because it is a Chinese aircraft. China now boasts one of the world\u2019s largest airline markets (the United States retains the largest), meaning that there is plenty of domestic market potential even before considering exports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tech: <\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"2.6962025316456\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.0886075949367\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If China pulls a DeepSeek on the Adobe creative suite they\u2019ll have us singing Red Sun in the Sky by Q2 2025<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Q. Anthony Ali (@NobleQAli) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NobleQAli\/status\/1883949406921318466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>I thought I ran this, but it doesn\u2019t show up in search, so\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>Tech: Of Sam Altman:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"4.7604790419162\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"12.377245508982\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I would observe that Sam \u2013 and too many others like him \u2013 have the same relationship with AGI as do teenage boys with their raging hormones and sex: <\/p>\n<p>He can\u2019t tell us exactly what it is, but he assures us he will know it when he sees it. He thinks that everyone is doing it when\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Grady Booch (@Grady_Booch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Grady_Booch\/status\/1885580092086096180\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">February 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Tech: A good question:<\/p>\n<p><center wp_automatic_readability=\"1.6025641025641\"> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" wp_automatic_readability=\"5.1282051282051\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Why do all the AI logos look like butt holes? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O5VC3bAgP5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/O5VC3bAgP5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 greg (@greg16676935420) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/greg16676935420\/status\/1885474156587999370\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">January 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><\/center> <\/p>\n<p>NOTE I only had time to verify OpenAI\u2019s logo\u2026. <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"bitcoin\"\/>The Bezzle: \u201cAfter twelve years of writing about bitcoin, here\u2019s how my thinking has changed\u201d [Moneyness]. From 2024, still germane. \u201cIf you want to buy some bitcoins, go right ahead. We can even help by regulating the trading venues to make it safe. But don\u2019t force others to play. Alas, that seems to be where we are headed. There is a growing effort to arm-twist the rest of society into joining in by having governments acquire bitcoins, in the U.S.\u2019s case a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The U.S. government has never entered the World Series of Poker. Nor has it gone to Vegas to bet billions to tax payer funds on roulette or built a strategic Powerball ticket reserve, but it appears to be genuinely entertaining the idea of rolling the dice on Bitcoin.\u201d And: \u201cBitcoin is an incredibly infectious early-bird game, one that after sixteen years continues to find a constant stream of new recruits. How contagious? I originally estimated in <a href=\"https:\/\/jpkoning.blogspot.com\/2022\/02\/three-potential-paths-for-price-of.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a 2022 post<\/a>, <em>Three potential paths for the price of bitcoin<\/em>, that adoption wouldn\u2019t rise above 10%-15% of the global population, but I may have been underestimating its transmissibility\u2026. It begins with a small strategic reserve of a few billion dollars. It ends with the Department of Bitcoin Price Appreciation being allocated 50% of yearly tax revenues to make the number go up, to the detriment of infrastructure like roads, hospitals, and law enforcement. At that point we\u2019ve entered a dystopia in which society rapidly deteriorates because we\u2019ve all become obsessed on a bet.\u201d \u2022 Sadly, \u201cearly bird game\u201d is undefined. Readers?<\/p>\n<p><center>* * *<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s Fear & Greed Index: 45 Fear (previous close: 44 Fear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/money.cnn.com\/data\/fear-and-greed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CNN<\/a>]. One week ago: 47 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 4 at 2:10:42 PM ET.<\/p>\n<p>Rapture Index: Closes down one on Food Supply. \u201cThe lack of activity has downgraded this category\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.raptureready.com\/rapture-ready-index\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rapture Ready<\/a>]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 180. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) \u2022 This is a tough crowd. Surely Trump\u2019s first month brought the Rapture closer?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"portrait\"\/>\u201cDoln\u00ed V\u0115stonice Portrait Head: The oldest known human portrait in the world\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/archaeology\/dolni-vestonice-portrait-head-the-oldest-known-human-portrait-in-the-world\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">LiveScience<\/a>]. \u201cThis sculpture, discovered at the archaeological site of Doln\u00ed V\u0115stonice in the Czech Republic in the 1920s, is considered the oldest surviving portrait of a person anywhere in the world, at 26,000 years old\u2026. Carved with stone tools out of mammoth ivory, the tiny head measures just 1.9 inches (4.8 centimeters) tall and 1 inch (2.4 cm) wide. The sculpture appears to represent a woman\u2019s face, with engraved eyes, a dimpled chin, and a raised nose and mouth. She may be wearing her hair in an updo or under a hat. Unlike other objects from the site \u2014 such as the Venus of V\u0115stonice, which lacks facial features \u2014 this face seems to be individualized, making it the earliest known depiction of a specific person.\u201d Also in the camp: \u201cIn one of these burials, covered in red ocher and arrayed with 10 drilled fox teeth, excavators discovered the skeleton of a middle-aged woman in 1949. Her skull was asymmetrical, potentially due to a traumatic childhood injury. When researchers used forensic techniques to reconstruct the woman\u2019s face from the skull in 2018, they discovered it was very similar to the tiny ivory carving, whose left eye is significantly smaller than the right\u2026. [T]his little head carved from mammoth ivory is likely the earliest personal portrait in the world.\u201d \u2022 Here she is:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"501\" height=\"673\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head.png 501w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/ivory_head-223x300.png 223w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Zeitgeist Watch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s Up With All the Sex Parties?\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/dnyuz.com\/2025\/02\/04\/whats-up-with-all-the-sex-parties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Atlantic<\/a>]. \u201d learned that \u201cplay parties\u201d can take place in people\u2019s homes, but many happen under the auspices of private clubs. I reached out to a number of prominent ones, wondering if the sex-club boom was real, and what actually goes on at them. One of my major findings: People, especially rich people, come up with extremely elaborate justifications for getting laid. To be clear, these clubs are not brothels\u2014guests have sex with one another, not with the club\u2019s employees. Some say that they are putting on performances of \u2018high erotic art\u2019; others want to promote \u2018equitable pleasure.\u2019 They all try to sell erotic experimentation less as a means of gratification than as a moral virtue. They are creating, they insist, not so much a venue for sex as a gathering space of \u2018like-minded individuals.\u2019 People who are \u2018liberated\u2019 from social mores. People who think differently. People for whom the normal rules don\u2019t apply. Snctm, a members-only sex club in Beverly Hills inspired by the movie Eyes Wide Shut, opened about a decade ago, and growth \u2018was slow and steady\u2019 at first, Robert Art\u00e9s, the club\u2019s managing director, told me. \u2018But the last three to four years, there\u2019s been tremendous growth in this space. Snctm members pay $12,500 or more a year for access to masquerade parties that can cost upwards of $2,000 a ticket.\u201d \u2022 The rich are different\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat \u2018Boy-Friendly\u2019 Changes Look Like at Every Grade Level\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edweek.org\/leadership\/what-boy-friendly-changes-look-like-at-every-grade-level\/2025\/01\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">EducationWeek<\/a>]. \u201cn Boys\u2019 Latin\u2019s lower, or elementary, school, the most noticeable difference in scheduling was adding a second recess in the morning. Before the official start of the school day, students can now play outside with their friends from 7:30 a.m. to 7:50 a.m. Gregory Schnitzlein, the head of the lower school, said most students participate\u2014a \u2018huge win\u2019 for both the boys and their teachers, he added. A few boys, notoriously late in years past, now routinely get to school well before class starts. They don\u2019t want to miss out on playing pick-up soccer games. And the boys who take advantage of early-morning recess tend to start class calmer and more alert, Schnitzlein said. In general, boys tend to have a much harder time than girls sitting still in class, according to a nationally representative EdWeek Research Center survey of K-12 teachers. While about 4 in 10 teachers indicated that both boys and girls \u2018sometimes\u2019 struggled with sitting still, 51 percent said boys \u2018often\u2019 or \u2018always\u2019 have a hard time sitting still\u2014compared to 18 percent who said the same about girls. That could help explain why teachers punish boys more frequently than their female classmates, beginning as early as preschool and continuing through high school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"wired\"\/><strong>News of the Wired<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cExploring the boundary of quantum correlations with a time-domain optical processor\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.abd8080\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Science<\/a>]. From the Abstract: \u201cContextuality is a hallmark feature of the quantum theory that captures its incompatibility with any noncontextual hidden-variable model. The Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ)\u2013type paradoxes are proofs of contextuality that reveal this incompatibility with deterministic logical arguments\u2026. We demonstrate [a GHZ-type paradox] with a time-domain fiber optical platform and recover the quantum prediction in a 37-dimensional setup based on high-speed modulation, convolution, and homodyne detection of time-multiplexed pulsed coherent light. By proposing and studying a strong form of contextuality in high-dimensional Hilbert space, our results pave the way for the exploration of exotic quantum correlations with time-multiplexed optical systems.\u201d \u2022 I\u2019m sure this means something. But what?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA computer can never be held accountable\u201d [<a href=\"https:\/\/simonwillison.net\/2025\/Feb\/3\/a-computer-can-never-be-held-accountable\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Simon Willison<\/a>]. \u201d This legendary page from an internal IBM training in 1979 could not be more appropriate for our new age of AI.\u201d \u2022 And the original and its author are long gone. Presumably, their COBOL code \u201clives\u201d on\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\/2025\/01\/200pm-water-cooler-1-24-2025.html\">here<\/a>. From CM and MB:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-286628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.nakedcapitalism.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Chicken_of_The_Woods-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>CM writes: \u201cPlease see attached, \u2018From somewhere near Pittsburgh.\u2019 It was in the ballpark of a hundred pounds of edible material. \u2018All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.\u2019 \u2013Terry Pratchett. Chicken of the Woods, but more like a dinosaur!<\/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\/2025\/02\/200pm-water-cooler-2-4-2025.html\" title=\"2:00 pm\" rel=\"bookmark\"><time class=\"entry-date updated\" datetime=\"2025-02-04T14:00:31-05:00\">February 4, 2025<\/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\/2025\/02\/to-end-oligarchy-end-finance-capitalism.html\" rel=\"prev\"><span class=\"meta-nav\">\u2190<\/span> Rob Urie: To End Oligarchy, End Finance Capitalism<\/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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