2:00PM Water Cooler 1/26/2023 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Affected person readers, I apologize that this Water Cooler is so gentle; I’ve had a tiring couple of days. However you may discuss amongst yourselves! –lambert

Fowl Track of the Day

Alpine Thrush, Dhap Kharka, Nepal.

Politics

“However what’s authorities itself, however the best of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51

“Right here’s meals for thought, had Ahab time to suppose; however Ahab by no means thinks; he solely feels, feels, feels” –Herman Melville, Moby Dick

“So most of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are actually a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

Abortion

“Anti-Abortion ‘Abolitionists’ Wish to Cost Abortion Sufferers Like Murderers Now” [Vice]. “Mainstream anti-abortion activists have lengthy insisted they don’t wish to punish individuals who get abortions. Now, that declare is being put to the check. Though many states are only some weeks into their first state legislative classes since Roe v. Wade was overturned, legislators in Arkansas and Oklahoma have already launched payments that may punish abortion sufferers. In Alabama, the state’s attorney general initially said he may use a state legislation to punish individuals for ending their pregnancies, then tried to walk it back. These sorts of ways are forcing anti-abortion activists to confront a long-simmering rigidity inside their motion: What are they purported to do with individuals who get abortions? Usually, abortion restrictions goal suppliers, not sufferers. Inside the anti-abortion motion, sufferers are handled like victims who’ve been bamboozled into ending their pregnancies by the predatory ‘abortion trade.’ However now that Roe is gone and states are proposing insurance policies to legally deal with fetuses like individuals, that won’t maintain water for for much longer. ‘I believe there are some individuals, and doubtless a pretty big group of individuals, for whom ladies’s innocence is conditional they usually could possibly be persuaded that it’s not actual,’ stated Mary Ziegler, a professor on the College of California, Davis, legislation college who research the authorized historical past of replica.”

Biden Administration

“Veterans of the Obama-era debt ceiling standoff on the present one: We could also be doomed” [Politico]. “[An economic adviser in the Obama White House, David] Kamin isn’t the one one struck by a foreboding sense of déjà vu. From the White Home to Wall Road, a rising variety of veterans of the 2011 debt ceiling disaster are once more watching a narrative of bluster and brinkmanship play out — and are terrified this would be the time it ends with the nation in monetary smash…. The parallels to the Obama-era stalemate are clear, as Home Republican leaders vow to position restraints on a Democratic administration, whereas additionally making an attempt to handle their troublesome conservative wing. However in contrast to in 2011, Republicans are making ready to stare down the White Home with no clear consensus on what they need in trade for preserving the U.S. monetary system afloat. The prevailing precept, as an alternative, seems to be extracting a level of political ache for President Joe Biden. And maybe most worryingly — Democrats, economists and even some Republicans say — there’s little confidence that Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy has the affect to efficiently steer his convention away from the brink.” • Hmm. The entire article is bizarre, since though there’s rather a lot fear emanating from Obama veterans, the scenario can be being gamed out, however the video games usually are not described. In the event you imagine that Obama’s handheld the dagger on the Biden doc flap, you may properly imagine that Obama’s pulling the strings of those “veterans.” Maybe to weaken Biden? To result in, in the end, the “Grand Discount”?

Preventing like hell (1):

President Biden introduced in October that he was pardoning all individuals convicted of easy hashish possession on the federal stage.

111 days later, the Justice Division nonetheless hasn’t posted the applying to acquire a pardon.

— Extra Excellent Union (@MorePerfectUS) January 26, 2023

Preventing like hell (2):

Right this moment, fewer households are dealing with foreclosures and eviction than earlier than the pandemic.

Persons are beginning to breathe just a bit bit simpler.

— President Biden (@POTUS) January 25, 2023

“Fewer.” “A bit of bit simpler.” It’s just like the Biden White Home has settled on the “minimal viable bullet level” for all its communications to voters…

2024

“OMG. Trump Has Began Texting.” [New York Times]. “The previous president has lengthy been continually on his cellphone, however solely to speak into it — or, earlier than he was kicked off Twitter, to ship streams of tweets. (The previous aide who helped arrange his Twitter account as soon as advised Politico that when Trump, who initially relied on aides to jot down his posts, started to tweet on his personal, it was akin to the scene within the movie “Jurassic Park” when the velociraptors realized to open doorways.) For years, individuals corresponding with him despatched him textual content messages, which at all times went unanswered. He was unreachable by e-mail. He generally requested aides to ship digital messages to reporters, referring to the missives as ‘wires,’ like a telegram. Now his delayed embrace of what has lengthy been a default mode of communication spanning generations alerts not solely a willingness to affix on this planet of LOLs and BRBs but in addition a small shift from his aversion to leaving paper or digital trails. Individuals who have labored for Trump within the White Home and in his personal enterprise say he has prided himself on being “sensible” for leaving virtually no documentation of his communications and discussions in conferences. That included snatching notes being taken in actual time by a junior authorized affiliate in his workplaces within the Nineties, when Trump noticed the person scribbling, in line with a advisor working for him then. Those that have witnessed firsthand his visceral aversion to document preserving stated they have been shocked to study his new digital behavior…. The truth that Trump is now sending texts has triggered alarm amongst a few of his associates, who’re involved about what he may say. Nonetheless, they’ve been relieved about one other shift: His cellphone now sends calls that aren’t from numbers in his contacts to voicemail, in line with two individuals aware of the change. That shift occurred this month after an NBC reporter known as Trump instantly throughout Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s determined struggle to be elected speaker of the Home. Trump picked up, giving a short interview that created some political heartburn for Republicans. Nonetheless unclear is Trump’s place on emoji.” • I believe Trump will likely be right here for emoji, as he needs to be.

Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, plainly persons are truly studying the back-dated put up! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are a lot of updates. So I must try this. –lambert

I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Celebration (“the Democrat Celebration is a rotting corpse that may’t bury itself”) to a separate, back-dated post, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “dwell” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Celebration is, actually, a tough downside. I do suppose the paragraph that follows is on level all the best way again to 2016, if not earlier than:

The Democrat Celebration is the political expression of the category energy of PMC, their base (lucidly defined by Thomas Frank in Pay attention, Liberal!). ; if the Democrat Celebration didn’t exist, the PMC must invent it. . (“PMC” modulo “class expatriates,” in fact.) Second, all of the working components of the Celebration reinforce one another. Depart apart characterizing the relationships between components of the Celebration (ka-ching, however not solely) these components comprise a community — a Flex Internet? An iron octagon? — of funders, distributors, apparatchiks, electeds, NGOs, and miscellaneous mercenaries, with property within the press and the intelligence neighborhood.

Notice, in fact, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is proscribed by different courses; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.

* * *

Realignment and Legitimacy

“To reclaim Ohioans’ historic energy, First Power’s company constitution needs to be revoked” [Ohio Capital Journal (Carla)]. “The illegalities related to FirstEnergy Company in its bribery scheme to move Home Invoice 6 (HB 6) proceed to floor, most just lately its improper use of ratepayer cash to fund darkish cash efforts totaling $70.9 million. A number of people have already pleaded responsible for his or her function within the largest bribery scandal in Ohio historical past…. ndependent of additional federal motion and court docket circumstances in opposition to accountable people, Ohio Lawyer Normal David Yost can and will begin constitution revocation (known as “quo warranto”) proceedings in opposition to FirstEnergy, a authorized creation licensed within the state of Ohio as offered by Ohio Revised Code § 2733.02 to § 2733.39. A number of Ohio teams are calling for this motion, a course of that may dissolve the corporate. Quo warranto is a authorized continuing difficult the continued proper of a person or company to own governmental privilege, be it an workplace within the case of a person or constitution within the case of an organization. Companies ought to serve the general public good. They obtain their constitution from the federal government, which grants them sure privileges and powers. Companies discovered to interrupt the legislation and accomplish that with intent mustn’t merely be fined, as FirstEnergy Company has been, however have their charters revoked or terminated. Day-after-day we see that financial fines don’t change legal company habits. Revocation of company constitution was as soon as frequent in Ohio in response to companies performing past their authority as outlined of their company charters. Quo warranto proceedings have been as soon as used routinely as a democratic software by Ohio legislatures and courts to affirm the sovereign energy of We the Folks over companies, that are, in spite of everything, creations of presidency. Probably the most well-known quo warranto case in Ohio historical past concerned the efforts to revoke the constitution of the Commonplace Oil Firm, essentially the most highly effective U.S. company of the time, for forming a belief… Constitution revocation is seen by some as a ‘radical’ act when in actuality it solely follows a powerful historic precedent already set in our state. The actually ‘radical’ act is a rogue company blatantly trampling on our democratic course of.” • Very fascinating!

#COVID19

Lambert right here: I’m however a humble tapewatcher, however in contrast to Eric Topol, I’m not calling a surge, as a result of the final peak was Biden’s Omicron debacle, and after an Everest like that, what’s left? Topol’s view is the institution view: Hospital-centric. Mine is infection-centric. I don’t see the common acceleration or doubling in circumstances that I might count on to see primarily based on previous surges.

I’m calling a “One thing Terrible.” It’s gonna be unhealthy, in some new manner, and we don’t understand how, but (however see right here for immune system dysregulation, which is wanting fairly terrible).

Keep protected on the market!

“WHO Director-Normal’s opening remarks on the media briefing – 24 January 2023” [WHO]. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s “Technical Lead” on Covid Response: “Too few individuals – particularly older individuals and well being employees – are adequately vaccinated. Too many individuals are behind on their boosters. For too many individuals, antivirals stay costly and out of attain. And too many individuals don’t obtain the proper care.” • Superb how Vax-only (plus, to be clear, therapy plus a handwave to healthcare right here) has labored like an odd attractor for international elite opinion. All of them converge on it. Even Xi. Learn Van Kerkhove in full: There’s not a touch of (1) stopping transmission, nothing about (2) airborne, nothing about (3) air flow, nothing about (4) a layered “Swiss Cheese” technique. In different phrases, despite the fact that Van Kerkhove should know completely properly that Davos attendees understood and acted upon (1)-(4), she has nothing to say about that in public. Don’t wish to give the boring normals concepts, I suppose.

“Tonsils Are Main Websites Of Extended Sars-Cov-2 An infection in Kids” [medRxiv]. n = 48. From the Summary: “Within the current research, we present that SARS-CoV-2 can infect palatine tonsils and adenoids in kids with out signs of COVID-19, with no historical past of current higher airway an infection. …. SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection was not restricted to tonsils, however was additionally detected in nasal cells from the olfactory area. In conclusion, palatine tonsils and adenoids are websites of extended an infection by SARS-CoV-2 in kids, .” • I’m wondering if this “extended an infection” entails transmission….

Case Knowledge

NOT UPDATED BioBot wastewater data from January 23:

Lambert right here: For now, I’m going to make use of this wastewater knowledge as one of the best proxy for case knowledge (ignoring the medical case knowledge portion of this chart, which for my part “goes unhealthy” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). Not less than we are able to spot developments, and evaluate present ranges to equal previous ranges.

Transmission

Right here is CDC’s interactive map by county set to neighborhood transmission (the “pink map,” which is the map CDC wants only hospitals to look at, not you.) The map is claimed to replace Monday-Friday by 8 pm:

The earlier map:

NOTE: I shall most definitely not be utilizing the CDC’s new “Community Level” metric. As a result of CDC has mixed a number one indicator (circumstances) with a lagging one (hospitalization) their new metric is a poor warning signal of a surge, and a poor option to assess private threat. As well as, Covid is a illness you don’t wish to get. Even in case you are not hospitalized, you may endure from Lengthy Covid, vascular points, and neurological points. That the “inexperienced map” (which Topol calls a “capitulation” and a “deception”) continues to be up and being taken critically verges on the legal.

Positivity

From the Walgreen’s test positivity tracker, printed January 26:

-1.3.%.

Wastewater

Wastewater knowledge (CDC), January 21:

Easing off, although you do need to marvel what’s the purpose of a nationwide system the place half the nation has gone darkish.

January 21:

And MWRA knowledge, January 24:

Lambert right here: Nonetheless uptick within the north. Nonetheless, just some the scholars are again; BU classes begin January 19; Harvard’s January 22.

Variants

Lambert right here: It’s past irritating how gradual the variant knowledge is. Does no one within the public well being institution get a promotion for monitoring variants? Are there no grants? Is there a single lab that does this work, and everyone will get the outcomes from them? [grinds teeth, bangs head on desk]. UPDATE Sure. See NC here on Pango. Each Friday, a stately, tutorial tempo completely incompatible with defending your self in opposition to a variant exhibiting doubling habits.

Variant knowledge, nationwide (Walgreens), January 16:

Lambert right here: XBB overtakes BQ, however CH is arising on the surface. That’s a bit unsettling, as a result of a Tweet in Links, January 11 from GM drew consideration to it (“shows such a excessive relative development benefit”) and in Water Cooler, January 18, from Nature: “CH.1.1 and CA.3.1 variants have been extremely immune to each monovalent and bivalent mRNA vaccinations.” Now right here is CH.1.1 within the Walgreens variant knowledge. Let’s see what CDC does with it tomorrow, if something. The Covid variant prepare at all times leaves on time, and there’s at all times one other prepare coming!

Lambert right here: Wierdly, the display screen shot about has been changed as we speak by knowledge from “10/7/2022.” (It’s clearly not present knowledge; BQ.1* and XBB don’t dominate.

NOT UPDATED Variant knowledge, nationwide (CDC), December 31 (Nowcast off):

BQ.1* takes first place. XBB arising quick. CH.1, in contrast to the Walgreens chart, doesn’t seem. (For BQ.1/XBB and vaccine escape, see here.) Right here is Area 2, the Northeast, the place each BQ.1* and XBB are stated to be larger, and are:

Makes clear that Area 2 (New England) varies tremendously from the nationwide common. Wouldn’t it’s fascinating if we ended up with totally different variants dominating totally different components of the nation.

• As a verify, since New York is a BQ.1* hotbed, New York hospitalization, up to date January 26:

• Hospitalization knowledge for Queens, up to date January 23:

Deaths

Dying fee (Our World in Data):

Total: 1,130,962 – 1,129,618 = 472 * 1344 (1344 * 365 = 490,560 deaths per yr, as we speak’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “residing with” Covid (fairly a bit larger than the minimizers would love, although they’ll discuss themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I may need to resolve that is what the powers-that-be contemplate “mission completed” for this explicit tranche of loss of life and illness).

Lambert right here: Deaths lag, and now now we have some affirmation that no matter we simply went by is lowering.

It’s good that for deaths I’ve a easy, day by day chart that simply retains chugging alongside, in contrast to every thing else CDC and the White Home are screwing up or letting go darkish, good job. (Although CDC could also be jiggering the numbers quickly. Decrease, naturally.)

Stats Watch

Employment Scenario: “United States Preliminary Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “The variety of People submitting new claims for unemployment advantages fell by 6,000 from the earlier week’s downwardly revised worth to 186,000 on the week ending January twenty first, the bottom since April, and properly under expectations of 205,000. The outcome additional consolidated proof of a good labor market regardless of elevated tech layoffs and the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening path final yr.”

Manufacturing: “United States Sturdy Items Orders” [Trading Economics]. “Sturdy items orders within the US, which measure the price of orders acquired by producers of products meant to final a minimum of three years, soared 5.6 p.c month-over-month in December of 2022. It was the sharpest acquire since July 2020 and properly above market forecasts of a 2.5 p.c improve. Transportation tools, up 4 of the final 5 months, drove the rise.”

Manufacturing: “United States Kansas Fed Manufacturing Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Kansas Metropolis Fed’s Manufacturing Manufacturing index rose to -4 in January of 2023 from an upwardly revised -6 within the earlier month, pointing to the bottom lower in manufacturing output in 4 months. Enhancements have been famous largely in sturdy items vegetation, primarily for wooden merchandise, equipment, and the manufacturing of transportation tools.”

Manufacturing: “Boeing to seem in federal court docket for crime associated to 737-Max aircraft crashes” [WJLA (ChrisFromGA)]. “Airline big, Boeing, will seem in federal legal court docket in Texas on Thursday…. [V]ictims’ households are planning to testify in Texas this week on the arraignment. And in doing so, they hope to encourage the choose to rescind the immunity settlement between Boeing and the Division of Justice as a result of, beneath the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act, households have been purported to be consulted in that settlement and weren’t…. If the choose throws out the immunity provision, the legal professional for victims’ households, Paul Cassell advised 7News that it could be attainable for added fees to be filed in opposition to Boeing’s management on the time of the crashes. This might make the corporate criminally accountable for the deaths of 346 individuals. Cassell stated it’s time for Boeing to be handled like another legal defendant beneath United States legislation.” • Huge time!

“The Financial system”: “United States Chicago Fed Nationwide Exercise Index” [Trading Economics]. “The Chicago Fed Nationwide Exercise Index edged as much as -0.49 in December of 2022 from -0.51 in November, indicating a softer financial contraction within the US financial exercise.”

Retail: “Into the Sparkly Coronary heart of Zazzle’s Font Struggle” [Slate]. “Many people primarily affiliate Zazzle with the vacation playing cards on our fridge. However over the previous 17 years, the corporate has grown right into a market providing clothes, mugs, clocks disguised as bagels, and hundreds of different customizable merchandise. Zazzle isn’t any Amazon, however final February Bloomberg reported that it was anticipated to quickly go public at a valuation of $1 to $2 billion. That is but to occur. And a few Zazzle sellers concern that the location’s greatest days are actually behind it on account of a slowly advancing lawsuit, filed final summer time, involving “Blooming Elegant,” some of the widespread fonts on Zazzle. Nicky Laatz, who created the crazy, handwriting-style font, says that the corporate overtly stole it from her, copying her typeface software program onto its servers and making it obtainable to thousands and thousands of shoppers with no correct license. Due to this fact the corporate owes her a reduce of thousands and thousands in earnings, her attorneys argue. Zazzle has pushed to dismiss the go well with, arguing, partly, that she’s misinterpreting copyright legislation. • I’m submitting this beneath Retail in case anyone is lengthy (or quick) Zazzle, however learn on for the problems of what’s and isn’t licensable on the Intertubes.

The Bezzle: “One in all Wall Road’s most feared short-selling analysis corporations simply accused Asia’s richest man of a multibillion-dollar fraud” [Fortune]. “In a report printed on Tuesday, Hindenburg Analysis stated Adani Group and its founder, Gautam Adani—one of many richest individuals on this planet—had engaged in ‘a brazen inventory manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of many years.’… Hindenburg Analysis has a history of shining a light on corporate malpractice, efficiently predicting the demise or exposing the shortcomings of a number of firms, together with Nikola, Riot Blockchain, and China Metallic Sources Utilization…. By means of its wide-reaching investigations, Hindenburg stated it had uncovered a “huge labyrinth of offshore shell entities” being managed by Adani’s older brother, Vinod. Thirty-eight of these shell firms have been in Mauritius, the report claimed, with others found in Cyprus, the UAE, Singapore, and the Caribbean. ‘The shells appear to serve a number of features, together with inventory parking/inventory manipulation and laundering cash by Adani’s personal firms onto the listed firms’ stability sheets as a way to preserve the looks of monetary well being and solvency,’ Hindenburg’s report stated. ‘This offshore shell community additionally appears to be used for earnings manipulation.’ One offshore fund had allotted round $3 billion virtually solely to shares of Adani Group firms, Hindenburg’s report additionally claimed. A former dealer on the fund reportedly stated it was apparent the Adanis managed these shares, however that the fund had been ‘deliberately structured to hide their final useful possession.’”

Labor Market: “What Is “Core PCE Companies Ex-Housing” Anyway?” [Employ America]. “The Fed is apprehensive that inflation will proceed till wage development comes down or unemployment ticks up. As proof for this proposition, the Fed has been pointing to the continued energy in “Core PCE Companies ex-Housing” as an important metric for the financial coverage outlook. … By utilizing “Core PCE Companies ex-Housing”, the Fed is acknowledging that pandemic disruptions have led to inflation in a variety of sectors, and that inflation in core items and housing is analytically distinct from wage-driven cost-push inflation. However does this metric truly seize cyclical inflation pushed by the labor market? And the way a lot of the inflation that it does seize is definitely proof of wage-driven cost-push inflation? … As we are going to see, there are ample side-channels by which the very dynamics the Fed is trying to display screen out can present up on this mixture. Even worse, roughly 1 / 4 of this newly most well-liked worth mixture is instantly primarily based on opaque indices of compensation and never market-determined client costs, making a mechanical relationship between compensation knowledge and the Fed’s gauge of inflation. A wage goal is just not a priori unsuitable – our flagship Flooring Gross Labor Revenue proposal sits comfortably throughout the concept of wage targets – however presenting a wage goal as if it have been a worth goal is analytically unacceptable.” • Into the weeds… However in the event you’re a Fed watcher, that is for you.

Right this moment’s Worry & Greed Index: 69 Greed (earlier shut: 64 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 54 (Impartial). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jan 26 at 12:51 PM EST.

Healthcare

“Warning: Industrial Dishwashers Can Injury the Intestine and Result in Power Illness” [SciTech Daily]. “A typical cycle in a industrial dishwasher entails circulating scorching water and detergent for round 60 seconds at excessive stress. Afterward, there’s a second 60-second washing and drying cycle by which water and a rinse agent are utilized. ‘What’s particularly alarming is that in lots of home equipment, there’s no extra wash cycle to take away the remaining rinse assist,’ says Cezmi Akdis, UZH professor of experimental allergology and immunology and director of the SIAF, who led the research. ‘Which means probably poisonous substances stay on the dishes, the place they then dry in place.’ When the dishes are used the following time, this dried chemical residue can simply find yourself within the gastrointestinal tract. This impressed the analysis group beneath Akdis to analyze what impact the elements of commercial-grade detergents and rinse brokers have on the barrier within the intestine – the layer of cells that strains the intestinal tract and controls what enters the physique. A defect on this barrier is related to situations corresponding to meals allergic reactions, gastritis, diabetes, weight problems, cirrhosis of the liver, rheumatoid arthritis, a number of sclerosis, autism spectrum problems, power melancholy, and Alzheimer’s illness… The group used numerous biomolecular strategies to investigate the impact that industrial detergents and rinse aids have on these cells. They diluted these substances to mirror the quantities that may be current on dry dishes (1:10,000 to 1:40,000). The outcome was that top doses of rinse brokers killed the intestinal epithelial cells and decrease doses made it extra permeable. Researchers additionally noticed the activation of a number of genes and cell signaling proteins that would set off inflammatory responses. A extra detailed evaluation confirmed that one element of the rinse agent – alcohol ethoxylates – was accountable for this response. In line with Akdis, these findings have vital implications for public well being.” • “Epithelial.” There’s that phrase once more.

Zeitgeist Watch

“I used ‘fortunate woman syndrome’ to make greater than £1 million from my jewelry model – and it will possibly assist YOU get something you need too!” [Daily Mail]. “After utilizing the Fortunate Woman Syndrome method ‘for years’, Stephanie admits her largest ‘gripe’ with the strategy is its identify. ‘It has NOTHING to do with luck,’ she insisted. ‘It’s the legislation of assumption – while you count on it to occur, it certainly will.’” • Dogmatic doxastic voluntarism (DDV). It’s all over the place!

Information of the Wired

“Why Company America Nonetheless Runs on Historic Software program That Breaks” (podcast) [Odd Lots]. “Southwest Airways had a disastrous vacation season, thanks partly to a software program bug that left crews misplaced and grounded hundreds of flights. However Southwest isn’t alone in having software program within the headlines recently. The New York Inventory Change just lately had a software program error that triggered bizarre pricing on shares and the FAA had its personal laptop situation that grounded planes earlier this month. So what’s the take care of company software program?”

“New Starbucks coming to space of Fresno that’s by no means had one, plans to open subsequent yr” [Fresno Bee].
Really feel Good Fresno Week at Bare Capitalism continues: “The nation’s hottest espresso store will likely be going up at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Church Avenue. That’s near the place the brand new Fresno Metropolis School West Fresno campus is being constructed at Church and Walnut avenues.” • I used to be residing in Palmdale, CA when the primary Starbucks got here in, a part of a ginormous Barnes & Noble dropped by helicopter onto a concrete slab subsequent to a car parking zone. I used to be truly inspired, not a lot on the quantity of horrid sticky drinks bought by the Starbucks, however by how a lot individuals wished to learn. So I’m happy that Fresno is getting a brand new faculty campus. (And I hope the Fresno Starbucks promptly unionizes.)

Contact info for vegetation: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a verify in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of vegetation. Greens are wonderful! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary vegetation! In order for you your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it initially of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize through the use of your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) here. From IM, who writes: “Some BC rainforest in moody, mossy, black and white…”

“…and shade!”

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