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Patient readers, happy Friday the Thirteenth! I got caught up in a little administrativia, so what follows is a bit light. Stay tuned. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Gray Catbird, Carman Valley, Sierra, California, United States. A symphony! And 28 minutes long! The whirring percussion in the background is especially nice.
In Case You Might Miss…
- New polling averages (it’s a tie) and new Covid tables (some encouragement).
- Taibbi on debate coverage.
- Boeing strikes, could lead to ratings downgrade
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 sixty days to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
A few polls post-debate, but as of this reading little change. To be fair, it might take some time for sentiment to settle; and the winning margins may at this point be so minute as to be undetectable. Still, the Democrats must be very puzzled to have virtual unanimity across the political spectrum that “Harris is the one” — it was a tidal wave, after the debate — and yet the election is a virtual tie. How can this be? Perhaps a few more Republicans, generals, or celebrities will turn the tide.
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Our Famously Free Press
“DNC Talking Points Become Instant Post-Debate Headlines” (Matt Taibbi, Racket News (Thanks to alert readers WZAPanga, tennesseewaltzer, and sporble)). As Taibbi shows, the headline is nothing more nor less than the truth. The deck: “In the Trump-Harris debate, reality proved easy to manufacture. Was it always like this?” I can answer that:
‘Twas ever thus. In the year of our Lord 2000, Bob Somerby (“The Daily Howler” was perhaps America’s first political blog) followed coverage of a Bush v. Gore debate, and showed how the press converted public perception of a Gore win to a Bush win in about two days, by focusing on Gore “sighing,” as opposed to the content of the debate. (Back then, the metric for candidates was “Would you want to have a beer with them?”, and the press famously did not want to have a beer with Gore. Gore was the brain genius who gave Joe Lieberman his spot on the national stage as VP; Lieberman then went on to get the DHS set up after 9/11, and did a lot of other damage, oh well.) Oh, and back then we in the blogosphere used to joke about the “blast fax” when suspiciously similar talking points spontaneously, yet simultaneously, appeared. And to Taibbi, who is in top form–
Last night, Vice President Harris commanded the stage,” began mailing list entry this morning.
“Kamala Harris commanded the debate,” analyst John Heileman said on Morning Joe. “Kamala Harris commanded the first debate against Donald J. Trump,” read the opening line of the New York Times top debate story. “Harris commanded the room from the moment she walked on stage,” California governor Gavin Newsom told the Los Angeles Times. The pattern continued:
Americans saw that Harris “will turn the page once and for all on the darkness and division of Donald Trump,” the DNC “Talkers” continued.
“Trump brought darkness; Harris brought light,” wrote Charles Blow at the New York Times. “Trump paints dark picture at debate,” read this morning’s Maggie Haberman, decrying a “dark portrait of an America ravaged by crime.” The Washington Post house editorial added, “No more wallowing in doubt and division.”
“Donald Trump was totally incoherent,” the DNC wrote, adding that he was “angry and rattled.” The Guardian pronounced: “Rambling, incoherent.” MSNBC declared: “Clashes, conspiracies, and a rattled Trump.” The Sacramento Bee summed up: “Old, angry, incoherent, and crazy.”
The “Talkers’ Toplines” mailers feature a section called CONTENT TO AMPLIFY.
And “AMPLIFY” they do! Taibbi writes:
But the DNC or RNC just backing up to the commentariat, dumping loads of phrases, and seeing them instantly converted to conventional wisdom, that’s new. Isn’t it? I feel reduced to writing these things down in an effort to keep from going crazy.
Yes, “I feel like I’m takin’ crazy pills!” Nevertheless, “‘Twas ever thus!” What is new, I think, is the rapidity and volume of the amplication has increased, as has the stupidity of the talking points, and the servility of the press (though to be fair, the press has been much damaged by the assault from Silicon Valley). Taibbi concludes:
We just lived through a remarkable succession of memory-holed events, from lockdowns to Nord Stream to the stunning developments surrounding the end of the Biden campaign, in which reality was briefly allowed to surface before quickly being wallpapered over with a new face. Earlier manipulations already taxed the brain, but memory-holing a presidency?… They surrounded Trump with rigid consensus framing and watched him flail against it, which did make him look frustrated, old, and at times like a candidate for the political glue factory. But crazy? Not sure about that. If conventional wisdom says you’re crazy, that doesn’t make it true. What if it’s the other way around?
Lambert here: I may have more to say about this later today. But I think Taibbi’s perception here is correct, and reinforces something I wrote yesterday: Trump may (in an act of political self-harm) focus too much on his grievances. But then Trump has a lot to be aggrieved about; almost getting whacked while the Biden Administration’s Secret Service failed in their duty to protect him, for example. Or RussiaGate (remember the Steele Dossier). More importantly, so do his voters (and the anodyne polling questions about the “direction of the country” are a proxy for grievance). The median income in Springfield, OH, for example, dropped 20% in ten years, and then there was Big Pharma’s Oxycontin democide. According to PMC social norms, that’s not a reason to show show anger. Or be aggrieved. Because that would be crazy. But memory-holing a pandemic? Genocide? Threatening nuclear war? Totally sane!
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 (dashboard); 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, 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!
Airborne Transmission
Lambert here: First time in a long time I’ve seen national trends downward for both positivity and hospitalization. Even if wastewater still looks pretty ugly, that’s very good news. I assume that what’s going on is the end of the Summer Vacation cycle of infection, and there will be a short lull until the beginning of the Back to School cycle. If not, that will be a very good sign.
| Wastewater | |
| ★ This week(1) CDC September 9 | Last Week(2) CDC (until next week): |
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| Variants★ (3) CDC August 31 | Emergency Room Visits(4) CDC September 7 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York(5) New York State, data September 12: | ★ National (6) CDC August 24: |
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| Positivity | |
| National(7) Walgreens September 9: | ★ Ohio(8) Cleveland Clinic September 7: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| ★ Positivity(9) CDC August 26: | ★ Variants(10) CDC August 26: |
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| Deaths | |
| ★ Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity (11)CDC September 7: | ★ Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits (12)CDC September 9: |
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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) This week’s wastewater map, with hot spots annotated. Keeps spreading. NOTE The date seems to be wrong, but the number of sites has changed so this is new.
(2) (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
(3) (CDC Variants) KP.* very popular. XDV.1 flat.
(4) (ED) Down, but worth noting that Emergency Department use is now on a par with the first wave, in 2020.
(5) (Hospitalization: NY) Definitely down.
(6) (Hospitalization: CDC). The visualization suppresses what is, in percentage terms, a significant increase.
(7) (Walgreens) Big drop continues!
(8) (Cleveland) Dropping.
(9) (Travelers: Positivity) Down. Those sh*theads at CDC have changed the chart so that it doesn’t even run back to 1/21/23, as it used to, but now starts 1/1/24. There’s also no way to adjust the time range. CDC really doesn’t want you to be able to take a historical view of the pandemic, or compare one surge to another. In an any case, that’s why the shape of the curve has changed.
(10) (Travelers: Variants) What the heck is LB.1?
(11) Deaths low, but positivity up.
(12) Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
There are no official statistics of interest today.
Manufacturing: “Boeing workers overwhelmingly vote to strike, reject contract” (Channel News Asia). “A strike will shutter two major plane assembly plants in the Puget Sound region and sideline some 33,000 workers. Thursday’s vote marks a decisive rejection of a deal that line workers said was far less generous than depicted by Boeing executives, marking the latest show of defiance by unions following earlier strikes in the auto, entertainment and other industries…. Workers had sought a 40 per cent wage hike and critics have said the 25 per cent figure is inflated because the new deal also eliminates an annual company bonus. Other points of contention include the deal’s failure to restore a pension, as well as a Boeing pledge to build its next plane in the Seattle region, which critics view as a ‘hollow’ commitment because it offers no promises beyond the four-year contract. ‘They’re talking about a 25 per cent increase and it’s not,” said Paul Janousek, an electrician in Everett who voted to strike after concluding Boeing’s spin was ‘misleading.’ Janousek, 55, who has worked at Boeing for 13 years, figures his raise is only about nine per cent after Boeing dropped the annual bonus. Some workers also expressed anger about Dennis Muilenburg and Dave Calhoun, two former CEOs who received multi-million dollar compensation even as the company faced turmoil upon their departure. ‘,’ said Joe Philbin, a structural mechanic who has been at Boeing for six months.’” • Workers thinking beyond the quarterly results. Crazy pants!
Manufacturing: “Ratings agencies warn of downgrade if Boeing strike prolongs” (Reuters). “Fitch and Moody’s on Friday joined S&P Global Ratings in warning that a prolonged strike at Boeing’s (BA.N), opens new tab factories in U.S. West Coast may lead to a ratings downgrade, a headache for the planemaker that is saddled with massive debt. ‘If the current strike lasts a week or two, it is unlikely to pressure the rating. However, an extended strike could have a meaningful operational and financial impact, increasing the risk of a downgrade,’ Fitch Ratings said.” • So give the workers what they want.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 49 Neutral (previous close: 43 Fear) (CNN). One week ago: 39 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Sep 13 at 1:58:23 PM ET.
Gallery
Speaking of ducks:
The Poultry Yard https://t.co/RQ0qwLFXmd pic.twitter.com/aP0FjeJEPD
— Henri Rousseau (@artrousseau) September 13, 2024
I am not yet 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 AG:
AG writes: “To escape the heat here in Grass Valley, CA, we sometimes go ‘up the hill’. At 6,000 ft elevation on the way to Lake Tahoe, we find the amazingly fragrant Washington lilies.”
