By Lambert Strether.
Patient readers, I got a very late start today, so this Water Cooler will be quite light. Sorry! –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Brown Thrasher, Bindloss Campground, Hanna, Alberta, Canada.
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
Spook Country
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DOGE
“Trump and Musk can’t seem to locate much evidence of fraud” [WaPo]. The deck: “They keep justifying their bold moves as combating fraud, but they have been unable so far to point to much of anything specific that’s actually fraudulent.” For example:
By Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed on the supposed evidence of fraud — and seemingly came prepared.
“As for the actual receipts, we are happy to provide them, and I actually brought some today,” Leavitt said, as she waved around printouts.
She proceeded to mention four things:
A $36,000 contract for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
A $3.4 million contract for “inclusive innovation” at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
$57,000 for climate change programs in Sri Lanka.
A limestone mine in Pennsylvania where federal employee retirements are processed on paper.
I know pennies add up, but is this worth putting DOGEbags in the operations chair of every executive agency? Lots of tweets though!
NOTE Looks like Elon read my post yesterday, and built out the website. I took a cursory look. The org chart of the Federal Government is kind of neat, rather like those wind-blown whirligigs you see in people’s front yards, but it’s hardly complete. For example, it leaves out the Executive Office of the President of the United States entirely, hence DOGE, hence the entire parallel structure DOGE is attempting to introduce. Also, there’s still no US flag. Maybe they decided a South African flag would be too much?
“Judge Temporarily Reinstalls Special Counsel Dellinger After Trump Firing” [Whistleblower Network News]. “Late on February 10, a federal judge issued an administrative stay allowing Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger to remain in his post through Thursday as he challenges his termination by President Trump. Dellinger oversees the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an independent agency that protects federal employees from whistleblower retaliation and investigates whistleblower disclosures about wrongdoing in federal agencies. Dellinger was notified of his termination late on February 7 and sued the White House, claiming that his firing was illegal. Under federal statute, the Special Counsel can be removed by the President ‘only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.’ The White House has not pointed to any of these issues in removing Dellinger. Under the stay granted by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, ‘Hampton Dellinger shall continue to serve as the Special Counsel of the Office of Special Counsel… and the defendants may not deny him access to the resources or materials of that office or recognize the authority of any other person as Special Counsel.’… National Whistleblower Center has launched an emergency campaign in response to the wrongful termination of Special Counsel Dellinger. They are urging supporters to join them and to contact their Representatives and Senators immediately and express their concern on the issue.”
2024 Post Mortem
“Pay Less Attention to That Man in Front of the Curtain” [Zephyr Teachout, The Nation]. Much better than the usual Nation fare. “Yet initially the two current leaders of the Democratic Party seemed determined to broadcast their own weakness. Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries spent last week at a donor retreat with billionaire tech leaders, only to emerge whining, ‘What leverage do we have? They control the House, the Senate, and the presidency.’… Jeffries’s conflation of “leverage” with “holding a majority in a chamber” is jaw-dropping. Power—the ability to change the behavior of another—comes from information, charisma, law, attention, procedure, expertise, and the ability to convene and organize. … What could they have done? Here are four suggestions: First, vigorous procedural delay….. Second, convene and spotlight. They should not see their power just through the lens of how it has traditionally been used. Congressional Democratic leadership should also make full use of their own convening power, holding hearings taking testimony from fired and pressured employees…. Congressional Democrats can also do more on basic legal protection of the institution. The people’s house is under attack, and they should be wielding law like swords to defend it. While Democratic state attorneys general have been filing lawsuit after lawsuit, congressional leadership—whose own power as the lawmaking arm of the American public is being decimated—should understand they also need to play a key role in making sure lawsuits are brought to block the destruction. Whatever their legal abilities, they are all astute fundraisers, and can play matchmaker between constituents, possible plaintiffs, lawyers, and donors to make sure that effective and well-resourced lawsuits are brought to stop the illegal power plays….. Finally, they can go on offense, forcing Trump and Republicans to either help Americans, or clearly demonstrate that they don’t want to. That means being willing to work with Republicans—if they can get laws passed that make people’s lives better, and not focus on Democratic Party branding.” • And from Teachout’s thread on this article:
My first day of class in Market Structure and Democracy we talk about power, what is it, where it comes from, all the varieties, I can’t believe that members of Congress can’t see beyond their little routines in terms of power.
— Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) February 13, 2025
I can believe it….
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, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
Transmission: H5N1
Oh well, India is far away:
Nine wards of the city have been declared H5N1-infected zones, with shop closures, food restrictions.
Officials confirmed the virus in multiple feline samples, prompting an and a total ban on chicken and mutton sales.
2/2
— Outbreak Updates (@outbreakupdates) February 12, 2025
Airborne Transmission: H5N1
“Genetic data and meteorological conditions: unravelling the windborne transmission of H5N1 high-pathogenicity avian influenza between commercial poultry outbreaks” [bioRxiv]. “During the 2023-24 HPAI season, molecular surveillance identified identical H5N1 strains among a cluster of unrelated commercial farms about 8 km apart in the Czech Republic. The episode started with the abrupt mortality of fattening ducks on one farm and was followed by disease outbreaks at two nearby high-biosecurity chicken farms. Using genetic, epizootiological, meteorological and geographical data, we reconstructed a mosaic of events strongly suggesting wind was the mechanism of infection transmission between poultry in at least two independent cases. By aligning the genetic and meteorological data with critical outbreak events, we determined the most likely time window during which the transmission occurred and inferred the sequence of infected houses at the recipient sites. Our results suggest that the contaminated plume emitted from the infected fattening duck farm was the critical medium of HPAI transmission, rather than the dust generated during depopulation. Furthermore, they also strongly implicate the role of confined mechanically-ventilated buildings with high population densities in facilitating windborne transmission and propagating virus concentrations below the minimum infectious dose at the recipient sites.” • We’ve had anecdotal evidence of long-distance airborne transmission via dust from Texas, and a modeling study, but this study seems to have all the links in the chain. Look out, Big Ag.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC February 3 | Last week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants [3] CDC February 1 | Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC February 1 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data February 11: | National [6] CDC February 7: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens February 10: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic February 8: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| Positivity[9] CDC January 20: | Variants[10] CDC January 20 |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 25: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 25: |
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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) Down, nothing new at major hubs.
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.
[4] (ED) A little uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Definitely jumped, but no exponential growth either, Odd.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward trend since, well, Thanksgiving.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
Inflation: “United States Producer Prices” [Trading Economics]. “Producer Prices in the United States increased to 147.72 points in January from 147.13 points in December of 2024.”
Employment Situation: “United States Initial Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “Initial jobless claims in the US fell by 7,000 from the previous week to 213,000 on the first week of February, below market expectations of 215,000. In the meantime, recurring claims fell by 36,000 to 1,850,000 in the last week of January, firmly below market expectations of 1,880,000, to extend the drop from the over three-year high touched earlier in the month. The data continued to show robustness in the US labor market, in line with the Federal Reserve’s rhetoric that there is no rush to continue cutting interest rates.”
Retail: “Farm Action Calls for an Investigation into Skyrocketing Egg Prices and Restricted Supply” [Farm Action]. “While avian flu has been cited as the primary driver of skyrocketing egg prices, its actual impact on production has been minimal. Instead, dominant egg producers—particularly Cal-Maine Foods—have leveraged the crisis to raise prices, amass record profits, and consolidate market power. The slow recovery in flock size, despite historically high prices, further suggests coordinated efforts to restrict supply and sustain inflated prices.” • Interesting…
Manufacturing: “Air India rules out more Boeing jet orders for now, CEO says” [Reuters]. “Air India is holding off on exercising its outstanding options to buy additional Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab jets until the planemaker has cleared its backlog, CEO Campbell Wilson told Reuters on Wednesday. ‘We don’t want to commit to anything until we have confidence of when it’s going to come. And likewise, they (Boeing) don’t want to offer something until they have confidence of when it’s going to come,’ Wilson said in an interview in London. The former state carrier is in the midst of a multi-billion-dollar revamp in the face of established competition, after Tata Group took it over more than two years ago.”
The Bezzle: “Trump and His Family Earned Millions From Trump Coin While 810,000 Others Lost Money: Report” [Binance]. “The early rise in value of Donald Trump’s memecoin, $TRUMP , helped some investors to earn significant profit while its crash caused more than 810,000 crypto wallets to lose $2 billion combined, according to an analysis reviewed by The New York Times. Meanwhile, Trump and his family have brought in approximately $100 million in trading fees alone.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 44 Fear (previous close: 44 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 44 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 13 at 1:22:35 PM ET
Gallery
1916…
Horticultural landscape with a hilltop, 1916 #artbots #klimt pic.twitter.com/Tuj2xMbYq3
— Gustav Klimt (@artistgklimt) February 13, 2025
I am not feeling wired today.
Contact information for plants: 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) here. From SK:
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SK writes: “Here’s our Satsuma mandarin, planted 33 years ago, loaded, and ripening a bit early. It tends to have a two year heavy/light fruit cycle, the “hole” is where an overloaded branch broke a few years ago. To the left is a scrawny blood orange, and a Bearss (pr. Bierce) lime. What we don’t eat and share, we squeeze and freeze. My wife has been making sorbet from both, served with vanilla ice cream, so refreshing in the summer heat, like a Creamsicle.”
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