By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day
I thought I would try some nightingales….
Common Nightingale, Azenhas do Ervedal, Avis, Portalegre, Portugal.
In Case You Might Miss…
- Trump and the Blob.
- Kamala’s beliefs, if any, yet to be determined.
- Wall Street iffy on contract agreement; restructing begins?
Politics
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
2024
Less than three weeks to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
Big Mo shifts toward Trump, this week, even in WI (that is, if you ignore the entire concept of margin of error). Of course, we on the outside might as well be examining the entrails of birds when we try to predict what will happen to the subset of voters (undecided; irregular) in a subset of states (swing), and the irregulars, especially, who will determine the outcome of the election but might as well be quantum foam, but presumably the campaign professionals have better data, and have the situation as under control as it can be MR SUBLIMINAL Fooled ya. Kidding!.
* * * Kamala (D): “Kamala Harris’s Hundred-Day Campaign” [The New Yorker]. “A former Obama Administration official, now in finance, told me that his firm spends tens of thousands of dollars a month on lobbyists and consultants, and yet with ‘all these fancy-pants people, former members of Congress, nobody can tell me conclusively what she believes about anything.’” • As I keep saying: She doesn’t know who she is. And this is the ultra-blue New Yorker; they’re supposed to be on Kamala’s side!
* * * Just to underscore the point about Trump being the sole national politician aggressively questioning the core tenets of disastrous DC bipartisan foreign policy over decades, here’s the progressive foreign policy expert @stephenwertheim in the NYT today making a similar point: pic.twitter.com/qTKdtkWIgE
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 21, 2024
With one exception, of course:
Just to underscore the point about Trump being the sole national politician aggressively questioning the core tenets of disastrous DC bipartisan foreign policy over decades, here’s the progressive foreign policy expert @stephenwertheim in the NYT today making a similar point: pic.twitter.com/qTKdtkWIgE
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 21, 2024
* * * Trump (R): “Trump’s genius McDonald’s stunt will fry Kamala at the ballot box” [Piers Morgan, New York Post]. “As political stunts go, this might have been the best I’ve ever seen, because it served two very powerful purposes in the presidential race. First, it reminded voters that his rival, Kamala Harris, has repeatedly boasted about having a summer job at McDonald’s to make her sound more relatable to her fellow Americans, but to date, not a single person has been able to verify this…. The second reason why Trump’s stunt worked so effectively is because McDonald’s is about the purest personification imaginable of the American free market dream — a place where everyone can afford to eat, and equally, where everyone has a shot at potentially running a McDonald’s franchise one day.” • “Potentially” is doing a lot work, there.
Trump (R): “McDonald’s workers roast Trump over ‘insulting cosplay’ stunt at restaurant that failed health inspection” [Independent]. “[Trump] worked the fry cooker at a Pennsylvania branch — without a hairnet or gloves… [S}ome have pointed out that he wasn’t taking proper precautions — at a location that has previously been cited for health code violations.” • Fair enough! Staff failure.
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Syndemics
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
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 “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
| Wastewater | |
| ★This week[1] CDC October 14 | Last Week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC October 12 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC October 12 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data October 21: | National [6] CDC September 28: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens October 21: | ★ Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic October 19: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| Positivity[9] CDC September 30: | Variants[10] CDC September 30: |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC October 12: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC October 12: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) Good news!
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular. XEC has entered the chat.
[4] (ED) Down.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Steadily down.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). I see the “everything in greenish pastels” crowd has gotten to this chart.
[7] (Walgreens) A pause.
[8] (Cleveland) Dropping.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Down.
[10] (Travelers: Variants). No XEC.
[11] Deaths low, positivity down.
[12] Deaths low, ED down.
Stats Watch
Manufacturing: “United States Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The composite manufacturing index in the US Fifth District was at -14 in October of 2024, pointing to less pessimism than the -21 in the previous month, but completing twelve consecutive negative figures to mark a whole year of declining activity.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing shares rise after labor offer but analysts wary of worker pushback” [Reuters]. “Boeing shares rose 3% on Monday on hopes of an end to a crippling strike, although some analysts questioned whether a proposed labor contract unveiled over the weekend would muster enough support from the U.S. planemaker’s workers…. Wells Fargo analyst Matthew Akers, who has a bearish view on Boeing stock, said the offer may not be ratified, citing activity online that leaned negative, though not as strongly as after the first contract agreement that employees rejected. ‘Our analysis of over 1,000 online comments implies a more constructive view but still not enough to pass,’ Akers said in a note.”
Manufacturing: “Striking Boeing Workers to Vote on New Offer” [American Machinist]. “According to the IAM, the new proposal was negotiated with Boeing with assistance by acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su.:
Mnaufacturing: “New Boeing CEO to give clues on company’s future, while striking workers vote on new contract” [CNBC]. “When Ortberg speaks at 10:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, investors will be on the lookout for clues about what a smaller Boeing could look like, and which programs or assets could be on the chopping block. ‘We believe [Boeing] is poised for further restructuring as the company looks to potentially divest parts of the portfolio and continues to focus on strengthening its supply chain,’ said RBC analyst Ken Herbert in a note Sunday.”
Manufacturing: “Boeing sells small defense surveillance unit to Thales” [Reuters]. “Boeing closed a deal this month to sell a small defense subsidiary that makes surveillance equipment for the U.S. military, the company said on Sunday, as the planemaker looks to shore up its struggling finances.” • Let the dismemberment begin!
Tech: “Streaming’s Slow Enshittification Continues As Netflix Kicks Users Off Cheapest Ad-Free Tiers” [TechDirt]. From July: “Streaming giants want to drive users to advertising because there’s greater profit potential in charging more for ad placement and collecting user behavioral ad data than there is in subscriptions. So that’s the direction the industry is headed, whether consumers like it or not. Some people don’t mind the ads; personally they just remind me that I’m living in a shallow dystopia.” • Enshittification:
We’ve been staying in a lot of places with Netflix lately, and I am struggling to conceive of how they stay in business.
Any well-known or classic film title: they don’t have it. Oodles of obscure, no-name shows, and the search function is basically “spray and pray” — search…
— 𝙷𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@shagbark_hick) October 22, 2024
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 73 Greed (previous close: 75 Extreme Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 63 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Oct 21 at 12:54:43 PM ET.
Gallery
“In ‘Hidden Portraits,’ Volker Hermes Reimagines Historical Figures in Overwhelming Frippery” [This Is Colossal]. “Engulfed in their own finery, the subjects of Volker Hermes’ portraits epitomize a bygone era. From the Italian High Renaissance to French Rococo, his digital reinterpretations playfully hide the faces of wealthy and aristocratic sitters… Hermes expands upon the ornate silk gowns, brocade, and lace ruffs that characterized elite fashion through the centuries.” • For example, “‘Hidden van Mierevelt IV’ (2022), from ‘Portrait of a Man in a White Frill’ (1620s) by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt”:
“The Right Believes It Has the Supreme Court Votes to Overturn Labor Law” [In These Times]. “The foundational 1935 labor law protecting workers is unconstitutional, according to major corporations and right-wing zealots who believe they have enough votes on the Supreme Court to overturn it. In the latest sign that anti-union forces will doggedly press the matter, a federal judge for the Northern District of Texas enjoined the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from processing any allegations of employer violations of workers’ rights. The National Review hailed the decision as ’A Welcome Blow to the NLRB.’ This is after Elon Musk’s SpaceX won a similar injunction against the NLRB before the Western District of Texas in July. Both cases will work their way up to the Fifth Circuit Court, which has served as an expressway to steer anti-regulatory legal appeals to the Supreme Court ever since Trump packed it with right-wing ideologues. ‘I don’t think a lot of labor folks are focused on this right now,’ says Stephen Lerner, a fellow at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. … ‘This is the culmination of a 50-year anti-union agenda.’… But, in trying to repeal all the rights and protections workers gained during the New Deal, including the limited protections that workers currently enjoy for organizing and engaging in collective bargaining, killing the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (also known as the Wagner Act) would also mean the lifting of a host of restrictions on unions’ ability to carry out solidarity activism and effective economic sanctions. Are unions prepared for a return to ’the law of the jungle?’” • Not under current leadership, no.
“New campus protest rules spur an outcry from college faculty” [Boston Globe]. “Professors also drew a connection to the growing percentage of lecturers, adjuncts and professors who do not have tenure protections. Professors increasingly see the issue of speech and academic freedom as a labor issue as a result of the crackdowns, said Risa Lieberwitz, AAUP’s general counsel. ‘We’re seeing unionization growing and increasing,’ she said. ‘I think to some extent it’s because it’s so important to organize, to claim democratic rights.’ [Todd Wolfson, a journalism and media studies professor at Rutgers University and the president of the American Association of University Professors] said professors must stand up for students’ rights to demonstrate and speak freely. ‘Their freedom of speech rights are the lifeblood of the university,’ Wolfson said. ‘We cannot have a university based on critical thinking and exploring questions if we’re going to clamp down on students’ rights to protest something they think is a massive problem, and if they see a way for the university to actually engage in it productively.’”
“The Thought Experiments That Fray the Fabric of Space-Time” [Quanta]. Mobile-friendly but for once an accessible Quanta article. Three takeaways: 1) “If no measurements can be made below the Planck scale, perhaps space-time as we know it doesn’t exist there.” 2) “It might be impossible to define physical properties of objects in space-time, so perhaps there’s some other level of organization that is exact and true.” 3) “Perhaps black holes — and by extension all regions of space-time — are holograms of data living on a two-dimensional surface of an unknown nature.” • I thought the headline meant actually fray: “Maybe if we all think real hard, we can stop this rain” –Woodstock (from memory). Oh well. Worth a read!
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