By Lambert Strether of Corrente
Chook Music of the Day
Blue Mockingbird, Presa Gutiérrez, Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. Numerous summery bugs, too.
In Case You May Miss…
(1) Kamala’s idpol retains rolling.
(3) Covid and sophistication.
(2) Name any vegetable….
Politics
“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in truth a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
2024
Lower than 100 days to go!
Friday’s RCP Poll Averages:
First poll with Harris at the top of the Democrat ticket; Trump’s position deteriorates (and any advantage he gained from the assassination attempt has been wiped away. Nevertheless, he still leads, albeit within the margin of error. NOTE RCP used to have two pages of swing states; I always used the first one. Now there is only one, which I take as an indicator that Harris v. Trump polling is not all that widespread.
Vibe shift:
Unbelievable vibe shift in the US with Kamala Harris https://t.co/LAZoglUMHW pic.twitter.com/rrMisGHLbu
— Albert Pinto (@70sBachchan) July 26, 2024
We’ll see what the averages say Friday, however:
Harris has worn out Trump’s lead throughout seven swing states within the newest spherical of the Bloomberg Information / Morning Seek the advice of ballot. The ballot discovered a giant Dem lead in Michigan, a extra modest Trump lead in Pennsylvania and shut contests in every single place else. Lifeless warmth.https://t.co/UzzZaknhD2 pic.twitter.com/xxJN94TFec
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) July 30, 2024
Numerous Brownian movement right here, nonetheless. Extra noteworthy is that Trump acquired no seen bounce from the assassination.
* * * The Marketing campaign Path:
Kamala (D): “Kamala Harris Is Bringing Blue-State Politics to the Marketing campaign Path” [The Nation]. “[T]he central virtue of the newly launched Harris campaign [is] its straightforward, combative approach to defeating Trump and his decade-long takeover of right-wing politics. Harris’s brash (if not, strictly speaking, brat) offensive against the GOP is rooted in something broader and deeper than her own character, or her popcult appeal; It is, in large part, traceable to the California political scene that launched her career.” • California is, however, a one-party state; that’s not transferable to the country as a whole (and were the parties reversed, Kamala’s “dominance politics” would be instantly characterized by a million liberal pundits as “bullying” (or, for those who want the seventy-five cent word, “microaggression”).
Kamala (D): “Why Harris and Democrats keep calling Trump and Vance ‘weird’” [Associated Press]. “Democrats are applying the label with gusto in interviews and online, notably to Vance’s comments on abortion and his previous suggestion that political leaders who didn’t have biological children “don’t really have a direct stake” in the country. The ‘weird’ message appears to have given Democrats a narrative advantage that they rarely had when President Joe Biden was still running for reelection. Trump’s campaign, which so often shapes political discussions with the former president’s pronouncements, has spent days trying to flip the script by highlighting things about Democrats it says are weird. ‘I don’t know who came up with the message, but I salute them,’ said David Karpf, a strategic communication professor at George Washington University. Karpf said labeling Republican comments as ‘weird’ is the sort of concise take that resonates quickly with Harris supporters. Plus, Karpf noted, ‘it frustrates opponents, leading them to further amplify it through off-balance responses.’” • Yes, “weird” take me back to High School bullying, so maybe the Harris campaign has perfect pitch, I don’t know. Clinton 2.0’s “weird” is certainly an upgrade over Clinton 1.0’s “deplorable.” And Professor Karpf is correct that Democrats love it — being, in so many, many ways, totally not weird themselves — but that’s irrelevant; they’d be falling over themselves for “peculiar.” Or “eldritch.” As for Democrat “opponents” being thrown “off-balance,” I haven’t seen any examples, and I do try to keep track. Finally, if Karpf is correctly summarized as saying that “weird” is directed at “Republican comments,” he’s wrong. It’s directed at Republicans, personally. Are ad hominem attacks not part of strategic communications. Perhaps “weird” will persuade those not yet persuaded, or those especially impressionable (TikTok youth?). We shall see.
Kamala (D): “Harris was expected to have fundraising trouble. Here’s why big donors are actually lining up in droves” [Politico]. “‘I’ve talked to more people who have been just in a general sense more reserved about President Biden, who are now very enthusiastic,’ said Mozelle Thompson, a former Federal Trade Commission commissioner and Democratic donor. ‘The enthusiasm gap, the excitement gap, has been erased. It’s still early days, but so far the stream of money has been so strong that one donor adviser has even cautioned some donors to slow down until the dynamics of the race make it clearer where money is most needed.” • This is all vibes. I wouldn’t, after the Scranton Joe’s Brain Reveal, trust the Democrats not to lie about whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted (they are, after all, fighting for “our democracy”). So on dollar figures, I’ll wait for reports. That said, I’m sure the Democrats got a cash injection of some sort. It will be interesting to see what Democrats buy, instead of speculating on how much they have. Same with volunteers. Are they opening new offices? And so forth.
Kamala (D): Yesterday, I noted the pecking order for Kamala’s idpol rollouts, which was: “First, Black Women. Second, White Women. Third, White Men. Fourth, Latino Men” and remarked ” I suppose the Asian verticals are yet come.” Here they are:
AAHNPI Men Assemble pic.twitter.com/UO8L38uPaL
— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) July 31, 2024
Subsequent, LGBTQIA+? (I like AAHNPI meals. Don’t you?)
Syndemics
“I’m in earnest — I can’t equivocate — I can’t excuse — I can’t retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Common Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be at liberty to contact me on the handle given with the crops. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!
Sources, United States (Native): 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 stories); 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).
Sources, Canada (Nationwide): Wastewater (Authorities of Canada).
Sources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tricks to useful 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, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Keep secure on the market!
Transmission: H5N1
USDA assertion:
So, Eric Deeble, who’s out of the Congressional Liaison Workplace of the USDA, completed his “reassuring” #H5N1 assertion in the latest assembly by saying this,
“You realize, we’re not seeing reservoir populations of wildlife that will contribute to harbor for this illness.”
— Lazarus Lengthy (@LazarusLong13) July 31, 2024
“Not seeing.” Are you trying?
Skunks, racoons, foxes, cats, home mice… I am unable to even keep in mind all of them, everywhere in the nation?
Wild birds? How this all began?
It will get worse. Proper earlier than that, he desires us to disbelieve our eyes, what we now have witnessed.
That there is no such thing as a respiratory transmission. pic.twitter.com/IPJ95VEkoB
— Lazarus Lengthy (@LazarusLong13) July 31, 2024
It tires you out, the mendacity and the ignorance. As it’s designed to do, I suppose.
Vaccines
“Lengthy Island hospital 1 of three in U.S. operating nasal COVID vaccine trials” [Newsday]. “‘We get contaminated with COVID via our respiratory system,’ mentioned Dr. Martín Bäcker, affiliate director of the vaccine middle at NYU Langone Hospital-Lengthy Island. ‘Having our immune system activated on the web site of an infection would possibly result in extra sterilizing immunity, which could assist forestall milder infections or [prevent] transmissions higher than the at present obtainable vaccines.’” In the meantime, NIH rushes to guard Pfizer’s present market: “‘Whereas first-generation COVID-19 vaccines proceed to be efficient at stopping extreme sickness, hospitalizations, and demise, they’re much less profitable at stopping an infection and milder types of illness,’ Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the NIH’s Nationwide Institute of Allergy and Infectious Ailments, mentioned in an announcement. ‘With the continuous emergence of recent virus variants, there’s a important must develop next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, together with nasal vaccines that would scale back SARS-CoV-2 infections and transmission.’” And: “About 60 individuals throughout all three websites will likely be enrolled within the examine. The opposite places are Baylor Faculty of Medication in Houston and The Hope Clinic of Emory College in Georgia. As a way to be eligible, individuals must have acquired at the least three prior doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.” • Hmm.
Sequelae: Covid
Mind fog is mind injury, an anecdote:
High quality of Life Analysis]. “Larger symptom burden was related to reporting extra comorbidities; being single, issue paying payments, being disabled from work, not having a university diploma, youthful age, greater physique mass index, having had COVID a number of occasions, worse reported QOL, better reported monetary hardship and fear; maladaptive coping, and worse healthcare disruption, well being/healthcare stress, racial-inequity stress, family-relationship issues, and social assist…. Lengthy-COVID symptom burden is related to substantial, modifiable social and behavioral elements. Most notably, monetary hardship was related to greater than thrice the chance of excessive versus low Lengthy-COVID symptom burden.” • A inhabitants cull of the working class, then?
Social Norming
“Grandiose narcissism, unfounded beliefs, and behavioral reactions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic” [Nature]. From the Summary: “A theoretical perspective on grandiose narcissism suggests 4 types of it (sanctity, admiration, heroism, rivalry) and states that these kinds conduce to other ways of pondering and performing. Guided by this angle, we examined in a multinational and multicultural examine (61 nations; N = 15,039) how narcissism kinds are linked to cognitions and behaviors prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.” From the Dialogue: “[N]arcissists is not going to all the time act and assume in an delinquent method. As an alternative, narcissism generally is a double-edged sword: generally it’s linked to anti-social ideas and actions, whereas different occasions it’s linked to prosocial ideas and actions. Whether or not the consequence is anti-social or pro-social is dependent upon the joint motion of the area wherein the narcissism exists (agentic vs. communal), the motives that underlie it (self-enhancement vs. self-protection), and the criterion variable that’s being predicted by any of the 4 grandiose narcissism kinds.” • Hmm.
Lambert right here: New York hospitalization leveling out, and now WalGreens positivity down for 2 weeks, are the primary constructive indicators I’ve seen in a very long time. Wastewater nonetheless going sturdy, although!
TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts
LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new as we speak; all others will not be up to date.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) This week’s wastewater map, with sizzling spots annotated. Retains spreading.
[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) KP.* very talked-about.
[4] (ER) Value noting Emergency Division use is now on a par with the primary wave, in 2020.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveling off. Doesn’t have to be a everlasting factor, after all. (The NY city space has kind; in 2020, as the house of two worldwide airports (JFK and EWR) it was an essential entry level for the virus into the nation (and from thence up the Hudson River valley, because the wealthy sought to flee, after which across the nation via air journey.)
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). The visualization suppresses what’s, in proportion phrases, a big enhance.
[7] (Walgreens) An optimist would see a peak.
[8] (Cleveland) Slowing. Touch upon the Cleveland Clinic:
Why is the Cleveland Clinic constructing a brand new facility for an expert basketball staff? These hospitals will not be ‘nonprofits’ they’re ridiculously worthwhile monopolies with an limitless money gusher to level at no matter they need. https://t.co/1REM2LMLjd
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 29, 2024
Ka-ching.
[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Up. These sh*theads at CDC have modified the chart in order that it doesn’t even run again to 1/21/23, because it used to, however now begins 1/1/24. There’s additionally no approach to modify the time rasnge. CDC actually doesn’t need you to have the ability to take a historic view of the pandemic, or examine one surge to a different. In an any case, that’s why the form of the curve has modified.
[10] (Vacationers: Variants) Similar deal. These sh*theads.
[11] Deaths low, however positivity up.
[12] Deaths low, ED up.
Stats Watch
Employment State of affairs: “United States ADP Employment Change” [Trading Economics]. “Non-public companies within the US added 122K staff to their payrolls in July 2024, the least in six months, following an upwardly revised 155K in June and in comparison with forecasts of 150K. The figures confirmed job creation edged down as pay positive factors continued to gradual.”
Manufacturing: “United States Chicago PMI” [Trading Economics]. “The Chicago Enterprise Barometer, also referred to as the Chicago PMI, fell to 45.3 in July 2024 from a seven-month excessive of 47.4 in June, although barely above market forecasts of 45. The most recent studying nonetheless indicated a considerable contraction in Chicago’s financial exercise for the eighth consecutive month.”
Antitrust: “CrowdSuck” [Maureen Tkacik, The American Prospect]. The primary two paragraphs present plenty of meals for thought, earlier than we even get to antitrust: “On the ‘good telephone name,’ then-President Donald Trump famously requested newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look right into a Republican conspiracy concept in regards to the California cybersecurity agency CrowdStrike. The Democratic Nationwide Committee had employed CrowdStrike to answer a safety breach on its servers, however in accordance with Trump, the corporate was secretly owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had instructed his workers to manufacture proof that the intrusion was carried out by Russian authorities–linked hackers, to hide the truth that the emails had been leaked by a low-level DNC voter outreach knowledge supervisor named Seth Wealthy, who’d been mysteriously murdered two months after the breach. There was, as is usually the case, a kernel of plausibility to at least one a part of the speculation. Whereas no proof surfaced to hyperlink Wealthy to the leaked emails, and Fox Information needed to pay a seven-figure settlement to Wealthy’s household for spreading the inaccurate declare, CrowdStrike co-founder Dimitri Alperovitch would quickly retire from the software program business to change into a full-time skilled neo–Chilly Warrior, founding a assume tank that predicted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and writing a guide in regards to the coming world conflict over Taiwan. However cybersecurity tends to draw the geopolitically paranoid, and CrowdStrike, whose seed funding had come from non-public fairness agency Warburg Pincus and Google, had simply gone public on the NASDAQ inventory change and its possession was public: Its largest single shareholder was the cash administration empire BlackRock.” • In order that’s alright then. Anyhow, Tkacik is all the time value a learn.
At the moment’s Concern & Greed Index: 41 Concern (earlier shut: 45 Concern) [CNN]. One week in the past: 54 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jul 30 at 12:48:21 PM ET
Permaculture
The Gallery
“Dutch Chemists Finally Work Out How Rembrandt Achieved the Golden Lustre in His ‘The Night Watch’ Painting” [ARTnews]. “Chemists from Holland’s University of Amsterdam (UvA) have finally worked out how Rembrandt managed to embellish his The Night Watch (1642) painting with striking golden detail. They used high-tech spectroscopic techniques to identify the presence of pararealgar [yellow] and semi-amorphous pararealgar [orange/red] pigments in minute detail in the famous artwork. The research team concluded that the Dutch artist intentionally mixed these particular arsenic sulfide pigments with other pigments to create the golden sheen.” • Arsenic!
Zeitgeist Watch
“It’s not just us: Other animals change their social habits in old age” [Knowable]. “A recent study by Albery and colleagues in Nature Ecology & Evolution found that older deer reduce their contacts more than you’d expect if their shrinking range was the only cause. That suggests the behavior may have evolved for a reason — one that Albery prosaically summarizes as, ‘Deer shit where they eat.’ Gastrointestinal worms are rampant on the island. And though the deer do not get infected through direct contact with others, being at the same place at the same time probably does increase their risk of ingesting eggs or larvae in the still-warm droppings of one of their associates. ‘Younger animals need to put themselves out there to make friends, but perhaps when you’re older and you already have some, the risk of disease just isn’t worth it,’ says study coauthor Josh Firth, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Oxford.” • And so with Covid?
News of the Wired
“Creativity Fundamentally Comes From Memorization” [Ashwin Mathews]. “By definition, you can’t even be certain of novelty without familiarity of existing works. Creativity comes to those who have internalized the patterns of their art — they can see the connection or novelty because it’s all in their head. Therefore autonomy enables creativity, and a system helps achieve autonomy quicker.” • Hmm.
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