By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Bird Song of the Day
Northern Mockingbird, 138 Captains Dr, West Babylon, Suffolk, New York, United States. “This bird’s song includes mimicry of Carolina Wren, Northern Cardinal, and possibly Tree Swallow (final phrase at 0:44).”
“Wisdom.” What a lovely name (like “Sophia,” which I wonder why the Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t choose):
Like other Laysan albatross, or mōlī in Hawaiian, Wisdom returns to the same nesting site each year to reunite with her mate and if able, lay one egg.
For decades she did this with the same partner, Akeakamai, but that bird has not been seen for several years. pic.twitter.com/TnWozHdKUH
— USFWS Pacific (@USFWSPacific) December 3, 2024
In Case You Might Miss…
- UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot dead in Midtown Manhattan .
- DNC race begins .
- UAW cuts off pay from striking staffers.
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
Trump Transition
Blurting it out:
NEWS
President-elect Trump says that Peter Navarro will serve as his senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.
Navarro served four months in federal prison for contempt of Congress. pic.twitter.com/hdRLebVkcr
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 4, 2024
“… the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it…” (see from 2014 here).
Democrats en déshabillé
“Why Democrats should pick — or pass over — potential contenders for DNC chair” [Politico]. “But the race for their leader, scheduled for Feb. 1, and decided by 448 committee members, remains wide open.” • Ken Martin, Martin O’Malley, Ben Wikler, James Skoufis, Michael Blake, and [drumroll] Rahm Emmanuel (see below).
“DNC hopes to highlight success ahead of post-election meeting” [ABC]. “DNC Chair Jaime Harrison wrote in a grassroots memo obtained first by ABC News that while Democrats fell short in the presidential race, beefy and historic investments in down-ballot contests offer a roadmap to success. The party was able to salvage four Senate races in states President-elect Donald Trump won and gain House seats despite headwinds at the top of the ticket…. ‘In 2024, the DNC made strategic campaign grants in every state party for the first time in history, and delivered record-breaking investments directly to coordinated campaigns in every state — totaling over $264 million,” he added. “These investments yielded results and underscore the importance of continued state party investment…’” • Meanwhile:
Joe Biden is a good & decent man. He is a public servant who has always strived and try to do what he believes is best for all.
Joe Biden is also an amazing father.
Today, he did what was best… what was right… what was just.
— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) December 2, 2024
Dear Hunter!
“DNC chair frontrunner offers ‘uncomfortable’ advice to Democrats after crushing loss to Trump” [FOX]. “Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin, a DNC vice chair who has led the association of state Democratic Party chairs, on Tuesday unveiled a 10-point memo titled ‘A New DNC Framework.’ Martin’s memo calls on Democrats to “show up in nontraditional and uncomfortable media spaces on a regular basis, increase outreach to local messengers and trusted validators, and create our own platforms for authentic engagement.” And: “Martin appears to be the early frontrunner in the race, and his campaign says he has the backing of at least 100 DNC voting members, which is nearly half of what a candidate needs to secure the chair. Also running and considered competitive is Ben Wikler, who’s chaired the state Democratic Party in battleground Wisconsin for five years and is well known by the voting members.” And finally: “A party insider who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely told Fox News that ‘the DNC insiders/establishment have significant influence over this membership, so the race will be very close.’” • You don’t say!
“Even Centrists Agree: Ben Wikler for DNC Chair” [Politico]. The deck: “The president of Third Way endorses a MoveOn alum to lead the Democratic Party.” • Oh.
* * * Meanwhile, on Rahm Emanuel”
This clip is genuinely shocking. It’s like George W. Bush angrily demanding accountability for the Iraq War. https://t.co/uoZ2a3YiHI
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) December 4, 2024
“Can Rahm Emanuel Flip the Script Again?” [New York Times]. “There’s a buzz around Rahm Emanuel — the former Bill Clinton adviser, former Illinois congressman, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, former mayor of Chicago — possibly becoming the next head of the Democratic National Committee. The progressive left despises his pragmatism and liberal centrism…. But he also has a gift for constructing winning coalitions with difficult, unexpected partners.” And: “‘I think Democrats prefer losing and being morally right to winning,’ he says. ‘Me, I’m not into moral victory speeches. I’m into winning.’” • What exactly about Biden’s Democrat Party is “morally right”? The genocide? (Anti-trust, for sure but Kamala didn’t run on that, and Emanuel doesn’t mention it. It’s painfully clear that Emanuel as nothing new to say. But he can always punch left!
“Rahm Emanuel is ‘not interested’ in DNC chair but is far from done with politics” [Chicago Sun-Times]. “With his time as America’s ambassador to Japan ending, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he has no interest in leading a Democratic comeback as his party’s national chairman, but still loves public service and isn’t done with it. ‘I’m not interested in the party. I’m interested in what the party can do for people … My enjoyment [is] in what I’ve done in public service,’ Emanuel told the Sun-Times.” • Nobody mentions Homan Square when interviewing Rahm, oddly.
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!
“Influenza A(H5N1) shedding in air corresponds to transmissibility in mammals” [Nature]. “An increase in spillover events of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses to mammals suggests selection of viruses that transmit well in mammals.” • Oh.
Lambert here: Even though the Covid numbers seem low, please remember that the data is not nearly as good as it once was, that it lags, and that the downside risks of catching Covid are considerable. For those who have developed their own personal protocols, I wouldn’t relax them. Maybe next year.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC November 25 | Last week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC November 23 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC November 23 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data December 3: | National [6] CDC November 28: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens December 2: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic November 23: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| ★ Positivity[9] CDC November 11: | Variants[10] CDC November 4: |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 2: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 2: |
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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.* still popular. XEC has entered the chat. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.
[4] (ED) Down.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Actually improved; it’s now one of the few charts to show the entire course of the pandemic to the present day.
[7] (Walgreens) Down.
[8] (Cleveland) Down.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.
[11] Deaths low, positivity down.
[12] Deaths low, ED down.
Stats Watch
Employment Situation: “United States ADP Employment Change” [Trading Economics]. “Private businesses in the US added 146K workers to their payrolls in November 2024, the least in three months, following a downwardly revised 184K rise in October, and slightly below forecasts of 150K.”
Manufacturing: “United States Factory Orders” [Trading Economics]. “New orders for manufactured goods in the US increased by 0.2% from the previous month to $586.7 billion in October of 2024, in line with market expectations, after two consecutive monthly decreases.”
Manufacturing: “United States ISM Services PMI” [Trading Economics]. “The ISM Services PMI in the US declined to 52.1 in November 2024 from 56 in October and well below forecasts of 55.5. The reading pointed to the slowest growth in the services sector in three months…”
The Bezzle: “Godot Isn’t Making it” [Ed Zitron, Where’s Your Ed At?]. Grab a cup of coffee, but make sure you have a place to set it down becuase you’ll be laughing so hard. From the peroration: “Once the AI bubble pops, there are no other hyper-growth markets left, which will in turn lead to a bloodbath in big tech stocks as they realize that they’re out of big ideas to convince the street that they’re going to grow forever. There are some that will boast about ‘being right’ here, and yes, there is some satisfaction in being so. Nevertheless, knowing that the result of this bubble bursting will be massive layoffs, a dearth in venture capital funding, and a much more fragile tech ecosystem. Generative AI is the perfect monster of the Rot Economy — a technology that lacks any real purpose sold as if it could do literally anything, one without a real business model or killer app, proliferated because big tech no longer innovates, but rather clones and monopolizes. Yes, this much money can be this stupid….” • Hopefully some shorts make money on this thing.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 67 Greed (previous close: 66 Greed) [CNN]. One week ago: 64 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 2 at 1:53:27 PM ET.
Gallery
Not sure about this one. Cubism is about cubes, or I suppose polygons. I suppose the occasional curve (as of a guitar or the edge of a table) fits into the paradigm, but circles? Lots of them?
On Brooklyn Bridge by Albert Gleizes pic.twitter.com/R179yBYRJg
— Guggenheim Art Bot (@guggenheimbot) December 4, 2024
Then again:
Colonial Cubism https://t.co/4EMTEzqJMn pic.twitter.com/2cdQw8stgO
— Stuart Davis (@StuartDavisArt) December 3, 2024
So what do I know?
The 420
“How weed won over America” [VOX]. “In the last few decades, marijuana’s had a major glow-up. In 1992, less than 1 million people were using it daily or nearly every day — a low point, according to an analysis of data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which began surveying Americans in the 1970s. Ten times as many people, meanwhile, reported drinking alcohol daily or almost daily. In the 1990s, weed was illegal nationally and in every state. But marijuana’s since had a major rebrand: Three decades later, it’s legal for recreational adult use in nearly half of the 50 states. Now, it’s even challenging alcohol for its status as America’s favorite daily intoxicant. In 2022, for the first time, more Americans were using marijuana daily, or near daily, than consuming alcohol at the same rate, according to a study by Jonathan Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. The number of daily or near daily marijuana users has grown from less than 1 million in 1992 to 17.7 million in 2022; in terms of per capita rate, that’s a 15-fold increase.” • Hmm.
Healthcare
“UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot dead in Midtown Manhattan, masked gunman at large” [ABC]. Ski mask. “Brian Thompson, the CEO of major insurance group UnitedHealthcare, was shot to death at point-blank range in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday morning before he was set to attend an investor conference, according to police. The masked gunman, who remains on the loose, appeared to be lying in wait and shot Thompson several times from behind, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. The shooting, which was reported around 6:40 a.m., appeared to be a ‘brazen, targeted attack’ that was ‘premeditated,’ Tisch stressed. But the motive remains unknown, police said.” And: “The shooter arrived at the scene about five minutes before Thompson arrived, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at the news conference.” After the shooting: “The suspect fled on foot into an alley, where a phone was recovered, Kenny said. He then fled on an e-bike and he was last seen riding into Central Park at 6:48 a.m., police said. The bikes are equipped with GPS and police are following up, Kenny said.” • Commentary:
UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was just 50 years old at the time of his murder, which is a lot more tragic when you know that his life expectancy as a member of the Top 1% was 88, or 15 years longer than the life expectancy of the average American male https://t.co/VU5Xoi7cqD
— moe tkacik (@moetkacik) December 4, 2024
“UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot and killed outside Manhattan Hilton hotel” [Daily Mail]. “Witnesses said the suspected gunman was seen waiting outside the hotel before the shooting, and knew which door Thompson was going to emerge from before shooting him at point-blank range.” And: “United is the biggest health insurer by market share in America. The company has been the subject of frequent protests by activists for allegedly systematically denying care for patients. One such protest earlier this year led to the arrests of 11 people outside the United Healthcare headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The company made headlines in February after it was subjected to a cyber-attack which cost $872 million.” • Commentary:
CLAIM DENIED: Anything over .22 caliber does not qualify as a “preexisting condition.”
— Go/F./Yourself (@BestTexanYeah) December 4, 2024
And:
Due to lack of preauthorization and since the ambulance ride didn’t result in admission Brian Thompson’s family faces a high bill
— Watson Ladd (@WatsonLadd) December 4, 2024
“UnitedHealth uses AI model with 90% error rate to deny care, lawsuit alleges” [Ars Technica]. From 2023. “UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance company in the US, is allegedly using a deeply flawed AI algorithm to override doctors’ judgments and wrongfully deny critical health coverage to elderly patients. This has resulted in patients being kicked out of rehabilitation programs and care facilities far too early, forcing them to drain their life savings to obtain needed care that should be covered under their government-funded Medicare Advantage Plan. That’s all according to a lawsuit filed this week in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota. The lawsuit is brought by the estates of two deceased people who were denied health coverage by UnitedHealth. The suit also seeks class-action status for similarly situated people, of which there may be tens of thousands across the country. The lawsuit lands alongside an investigation by Stat News that largely backs the lawsuit’s claims. The investigation’s findings stem from internal documents and communications the outlet obtained, as well as interviews with former employees of NaviHealth, the UnitedHealth subsidiary that developed the AI algorithm called nH Predict.”
“Anthem Insurance issues new edict to cap anesthesia coverage at a time limit” [FOX]. “On Nov. 14, the American Society of Anesthesiologists put out a letter that sounded the alarm that Anthem insurance suddenly decided to cap its coverage of anesthesia at an arbitrary time limit. It’s a change that doctors say isn’t based on good medicine…. Doctors won’t be waking patients up to ask them permission to continue medically necessary anesthesia, but that means when they do wake up, they may be whacked with an unexpected out-of-pocket expense. ‘There are circumstances where they won’t pay for any of the anesthesia even up to the point of where they say it’s justified. It’s just absurd,’ said [Connecticut Anesthesiologist Dr. Kenneth Stone]. … Doctors cite real-world examples of surgeries taking longer than expected for reasons such as blood loss, difficult anatomy, a complication or comorbidity. Doctors say medicine isn’t one size fits all.” • Why not just put an automatic cutoff on the gas pumps?
I should have thought to make this joke myself, but so it goes:
Trump has suggested that Canada become the 51st state in our union.
Does that mean that we can adopt the Canadian health care system and guarantee health care to all, lower the cost of prescription drugs, and spend 50% less per capita on health care?
I’m all for it. https://t.co/Nwkk7lykXd
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 3, 2024
“UAW Staff Strike Ignored as Labor Influencers Fear Losing UAW’s Social Media Reach” [Payday Report]. “Yesterday, UAW staffers went on strike in the northeast against their international union. Workers say that the union is relying heavily on temporary employees, a practice they have criticized at the Big Three, and attempting to exclude them from the staff union. Some UAW organizers are kept on temporary status for up to three years. … Today, the UAW announced that they were cutting off pay in a hardball move designed to intimidate staffers.” Solidarity forever! More: “So, why would so many labor journalists ignore this story of hypocrisy by UAW President Shawn Fain? They need the social media engine of the UAW in order to make their work go viral.” • This is a must-read. It shows where Payday Reports donation model really shines.
“My Smartphone Was Ruining My Life. So I Quit.” [The Free Press]. “Still, I learned that my followers’ love was contingent on high engagement levels, and because the algorithm was constantly changing, I had to change with it. I was constantly adapting my visual and verbal style to keep up with trends. One consistently effective strategy was being vulnerable. Regardless of what I drew, regardless of how good it was, I would get more likes and comments on my art when I paired it with an emotional disclosure, ideally of the tragic variety. In 2018, I shared a tiny drawing of a shark: ‘Crying nonstop & blowing my nose on my shirt,’ the caption read. ‘Thank you all for being my internet family, I truly need that in my life.’ I sold more when I wrote things like this, presumably because my followers took pity on me and wanted to help. I leaned into this effect, mining my life for pain. By the beginning of 2019, I had passed the 100,000-follower mark. I still wasn’t earning above minimum wage, but I was selling enough prints through my website to call myself an artist. More accurately, though, I was an influencer.” • I don’t think it’s the phone that’s the problem.
I am not feeling wired today.
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