2:00PM Water Cooler 2/22/2023 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Fowl Tune of the Day

I considered jackdaws due to Konrad Lorenz’s fantastic King Solomon’s Ring, which I learn once I was fairly younger (and unaware of Lorenz’s views on “social decline”).

EUrasian Jackdaw, Nord-Pas-de-Calais (retired), France. “Name, flight name.” And breaking waves?

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 lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in reality a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

Biden Administration

“Jill Biden says the US and Namibia ‘face lots of the identical challenges’” [The Hill]. “After the go to, the primary girl and granddaughter Naomi Biden handed out containers of White Home M&Ms to a bunch of about 40 youngsters standing outdoors in Katutura. ‘Howdy, how are you? Sweet from the White Home!’ the primary girl mentioned. When she ran out of sweet and somewhat boy got here as much as her, she gave him the tote bag the sweet got here in.”

“The Yalies take the wheel” [Politico]. “When President JOE BIDEN took workplace, he vowed to do away with the buttoned-up, elitist tradition that always defines Washington and, extra particularly, White Home hiring — the ‘pale, male and Yale’ taste, because the previous saying goes. Biden has made progress on the ‘pale’ and ‘male’ fronts, naming an all-female communications workforce when he first took workplace and elevating Black and Latino staffers to key decision-making roles. However he can’t appear to shake the Yale half. Or, extra particularly, Yale Regulation College.” Goodness, it virtually makes you suppose class > identification, the place outcomes are involved. Extra; “Out of roughly 140 attorneys within the White Home, roughly 36 maintain levels from Yale Regulation College, greater than some other legislation faculty, in line with a West Wing Playbook evaluation. That determine doesn’t embody the handfuls of Yale Regulation graduates who’ve been appointed to company positions all through the Biden administration. The density of Yale attorneys on the White Home campus has grow to be a little bit of a joke amongst some staffers who say it’s exhausting to enter a room with out bumping into at the least one alumni.” • George W. Bush, DeSantis, the Biden Administration…. I don’t suppose it’s truthful, although, to comment on the “density” of Yale attorneys. A few of them are fairly shiny, at the least of their narrowly specialised fields.

2024

“Watch: Trump stops at McDonald’s throughout East Palestine go to” [Fox8]. “Whereas visiting the location of the horrific practice derailment in East Palestine Wednesday, former President Donald Trump stopped in at a neighborhood restaurant — McDonald’s. ‘Is everybody keen to just accept free meals from Trump?’ he requested as he walked into the quick meals spot, saying he deliberate to additionally buy meals for the native hearth and police departments. He instructed the staff he knew the menu higher than them and requested for a ‘good array of issues,’ whereas refraining to make an order for himself. Fielding questions from reporters, whereas getting his picture taken by close by clients and staff alike, the President mentioned he didn’t consider deregulation had something to do with the practice incident and that he had traveled to the world to verify residents have been taken care of.” • On “regulation,” see underneath Class Warfare; word that not one of the reporters requested him about Precision Scheduled Railroading (and Trump, not being a element particular person to say the least, most likely doesn’t even know). Two Democrats react:

Mixed IQ roughly 50 in all the city. Trump trashed practice security guidelines. Now their water and land, to not point out themselves, are poisoned. I dwell 50 miles away from East Palestine, OH. I am sorry for the folks, however they made their very own beds. https://t.co/KJE0L761AS

— Lincoln Belongs To The Ages (@Mr_Lincoln) February 22, 2023

At all times good to see liberal Democrats calling for the deaths of their political opponents; it’s an ever-green trope! Word additionally the concentrate on being good (vs. IQ of fifty), the deregulation speaking level (it’s Trump’s fault the brake techniques are dangerous, not Precision Scheduled Railroading and the “sizzling field”). Then there’s the same old refusal to just accept reponsibility (Trump and Biden killed one million folks between them, Biden killed extra, and for my part has the better culpabiliity, as a result of he ought to have identified higher than to undertake a coverage of mass an infection with out mitigation).

Personally, I feel this can be a good search for Trump, and never simply because Biden was off swanning about in Kiev; Trump seems good striding round on the February grass within the black coat and crimson hat, no tie; it’s a a lot better look than the pomp of Air Power One. Nonetheless ready for quondam Presidential hopeful and Democrat, Sherrod Brown, to point out up. Then once more, why could be? They’re solely residents.

“DeSantis wades into international coverage, Ukraine” [The Hill]. “Throughout an look on ‘Fox & Mates’ on Monday, the Florida governor and potential White Home contender blasted the Biden administration’s support to Ukraine as a ‘blank-check coverage’ and performed down the risk that Moscow poses to NATO member international locations in Europe. ‘They’ve successfully a blank-check coverage with no clear strategic goal recognized,’ DeSantis mentioned. ‘This stuff can escalate. And I don’t suppose it’s in our curiosity to be getting right into a proxy conflict with China getting concerned over issues just like the borderlands or over Crimea.’” • Not probably the most coherent sentence. And never appropriate, both. There’s a clear strategic goal in Ukraine: Regime change and the breakup of Russia. Not that we’re wherever close to reaching both of these issues.

“The Forgotten Ron DeSantis Ebook” [The Atlantic]. Goals From Our Founding Fathers (2011), a transparent reference and distinction to Obama’s Goals From My Father (the dude wrote two autobiographies; that ought to have instructed us one thing, looking back). It’s paywalled, however there’s this nugget: “Two of his youngsters are named Madison and Mason presumably after James Madison and George Mason, probably the most intellectually attention-grabbing of the Virginians who helped style the Structure.” I suppose I can’t make jokes about how the PMC fights the battle in opposition to intergenerational precarity by sending “little Madison” to violin classes. Oh properly.

Republican Funhouse

“Why Are Republicans Going After ‘Wokeness’ As a substitute of Going After Biden?” [Amy Walter, Cook Political Report]. “For the final couple of years, however particularly so this yr, Republicans have used a conflict on ‘woke’ to rally their voters. It feels as if there’s extra vitality on the fitting for defeating the ideology of ‘wokeness’ than in defeating President Biden. Discuss to a bunch of GOP voters and plenty of, if not most, describe the president as mentally compromised. Many suppose the 80-year-old president is solely a puppet who’s being manipulated by liberal leaders to do their bidding. This isn’t to say that Republicans don’t need to see Biden defeated. They do. However, Biden himself doesn’t garner the identical kind of intense seething and gnashing of enamel from Republicans that the prospect of one other Trump time period brings out in Democrats. One of many greatest targets for ‘anti-woke’ laws is transgender points and children. In line with the web site Observe Trans Laws, 38 states have seen anti-trans payments proposed in 2023, together with 107 payments that concentrate on well being care restriction for youth and 75 payments that tackle faculty/curriculum points. On its face, this is a matter that not solely will get help from conservatives, but in addition finds acceptance throughout a extra broad cross-section of the general public. Washington Post columnist David Byler wrote that the general public ‘has not too long ago grow to be much less open to transgender rights’ quoting surveys exhibiting that “sixty % of American adults reported final summer season that they oppose together with choices apart from ‘male’ and ‘feminine’ on authorities paperwork. Fifty-eight % favor requiring transgender athletes to compete on groups that match their intercourse at beginning. Forty-one % say transgender people ought to be required to make use of the toilet equivalent to their intercourse at beginning (31 % disagree and 28 % don’t have a place). And Individuals are roughly evenly break up on whether or not public elementary faculties ought to train about gender identification.’ One of many causes to speak this up, after all, will not be merely to encourage the bottom, however to lure Democrats right into a struggle on terrain that is more difficult for them. Democrats would relatively struggle Republicans on points the place they’ve a famous benefit, like defending Social Safety and Medicare, than on issues like gender identification the place their coalition is split.” • It has been my view for a while that intercourse and gender could be a problem in 2024; and that it could be ugly. Republican governors — Youngkin, DeSantis — are well-positioned to take advantage of this situation, because it’s largely being fought out on the faculty board stage. I additionally don’t know if the Democrats are that divided. The NGOs usually are not; the elected management will not be.

Democrats en Déshabillé

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

I’ve moved my standing remarks on the Democrat Social gathering (“the Democrat Social gathering 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 Social gathering is, in reality, a tough downside. I do suppose the paragraph that follows is on level all the way in which again to 2016, if not earlier than:

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

Word, after all, that the category energy of the PMC each expresses and is restricted 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.

* * *

What a fantastic quote from SBF:

SBF’s straw donations concerned
“woke shit for transactional functions” (per one political guide) and “darkish” Republican spending, per new indictment pic.twitter.com/hZhuIHCcLs

— Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) February 23, 2023

“[W]oke shit for transactional functions.” Absolutely not? Atrios is 100% appropriate:

each bizarre heel flip, each seemingly first rate one that abruptly was an enormous asshole, SBF BUCKS!

— Atrios (@Atrios) February 23, 2023

Nonetheless ready for the blockbuster tales!

“‘Reasonable PAC’ is newest big-money push to maintain Democrats in line on Israel” [MondoWeiss]. “A brand new Democratic political motion committee (PAC) has arisen, devoted to cultivating what it refers to as ‘reasonable insurance policies.’ It stands in opposition to Republicans, because it helps solely Democrats, however primarily, it goals to maneuver the Democratic occasion to the fitting. It’s the most recent iteration of conservative efforts to revive the classical conservatism that has been drowned by right-wing fanaticism, creating the so-called “By no means-Trump Republicans” who don’t have a political house for the second…. The brand new PAC, which intends to boost at the least $20 million to focus on progressive candidates within the 2024 election, at the moment has just one main donor: billionaire Jeffrey Yass. That identify will not be acquainted to most Individuals, nevertheless it’s one we have to get to know higher. Yass, sometimes called the richest particular person in Pennsylvania, is the driving drive behind funding for the Kohelet Discussion board, a company that bears quite a lot of duty for pushing Israeli coverage to the far proper, and whose community expands not solely all through Israel but in addition deep into america…. Within the U.S., Yass is a significant determine within the background of Republican donations. He’s a number one funder of Membership for Progress, which helps the Trump base of the Republican occasion, together with many who sought to overturn the 2020 election.” • Oh good. More on Yass from (sigh) WikiPedia: “He’s the co-founder and managing director of the Philadelphia-based Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and an early investor in TikTok. In 2001, he joined the manager advisory council of the Cato Institute.”

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Will the Left Stand As much as the Deep State?” [Compact]. “In 2020, Mickey Windecker confirmed up in Denver smoking cigars, driving a hearse loaded with weapons, and speaking ultra-radical claptrap about having served with Marxist Kurdish guerrillas in Syria. Regardless of his preposterous persona, Windecker managed to entrap one BLM activist into pleading responsible on weapons expenses. He additionally labored to inflame peaceable demonstrations by ‘encouraging folks to interrupt home windows and main marches straight into police traps.’ Windecker and his FBI handlers even tried to recruit BLM activists into an assassination plot in opposition to Colorado Lawyer Common Phil Weiser. In the end unsuccessful, this scheme reveals the outrageous lengths to which the bureau will go to fabricate threats. It’s cheap to imagine this was not the one latest FBI infiltration of a left political motion.” • So, the Democrats have a really clear alternative right here: Supporting BLM, or the organs of state safety. I ponder why their alternative shall be?

#COVID19

Seems like “leveling off to a excessive plateau” throughout the board. (I nonetheless suppose “One thing Terrible” is coming, nevertheless. I imply, moreover what we already learn about.) Keep protected on the market!

• Readers, because the nationwide knowledge techniques in america are being vandalized, let’s begin accumulating hyperlinks to state knowledge, too. If readers would ship me hyperlinks (see Plant beneath) to their favourite State and native dashboards/wastewater websites, that may be nice. Canadians, too! Or depart a hyperlink in Feedback.

Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide knowledge).

Sources, United States (Native): CA (dashboard), Marin; CO (wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NM (dashboard); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); VA (dashboard); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater). Now not purposeful: UT (dashboard).

Sources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Festoonic, Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JF, Joe, John, JM (2), JW, Michael King, LaRuse, mrsyk, otisyves, Petal (5), RK, nRL, RM, Rod, tennesseewaltzer, Utah, Bob White. (Readers, I’m not placing your deal with subsequent to your contribution as a result of I hope and count on the listing shall be lengthy, and I would like it to be simple to scan. (For those who depart your hyperlink in feedback, I exploit your deal with. For those who ship it to me through electronic mail, I exploit your initials (within the absence of a deal with.)

• Extra like this, please! Whole: 1 6 11 18 20 22 26/50 (52% of US states). We should always listing states that wouldn’t have Covid sources, or have stopped updating their websites, so others don’t look fruitlessly. Thanks!

Search for the Helpers

“Inside these mother and father’ lengthy, nerdy wrestle over learn how to enhance air high quality in Calgary faculties” [CBC]. “[T]his stuff issues, particularly for Canadians, who spend a lot time indoors throughout the winter months. These techniques ship the vast majority of the air we breathe…. College directors say they’ve upgraded the filters in these techniques “wherever potential” to a better customary, referred to as MERV-13. These filters are a lot better at trapping tiny particles, comparable to viruses, within the air…. Each the Calgary Board of Schooling (CBE) and the Calgary Catholic College District (CCSD) say they’ve put air flow upgrades on the core of their technique to enhance air high quality in faculties. Along with MERV-13 filters, they are saying they’ve taken further protecting steps, comparable to setting the techniques to maximise fresh-air consumption and working them in ‘occupied mode’ earlier than and after faculty every day to additional flush out stale air and change it with clear air. In Edmonton, nevertheless, the general public faculty board has gone a step additional. It made related upgrades to its air flow techniques, nevertheless it didn’t cease there. It additionally bought practically 6,000 transportable HEPA filter models — sufficient for each classroom and workplace — as an extra layer of safety from viruses, allergens and different airborne particles that may make folks sick. ‘We invested in these measures in an effort to offer the most secure potential studying and dealing environments for our workers and college students,’ mentioned Veronica Jubinville, a spokesperson with Edmonton Public Colleges. These transportable HEPA filters have been put in in Edmonton final spring. Ever since, the group of involved mother and father right here in Calgary have been questioning why the identical can’t occur of their children’ school rooms. ‘I can’t perceive why anybody would block these measures,’ mentioned Lacey Elliot, who has one youngster in kindergarten and one other in Grade 2. ‘All of us breathe air. We all know how viruses are transmitted. We’ve the sources to maintain our youngsters wholesome and additional assist alleviate this public well being situation. Why would we not do that?’” • Value studying in full. The mother and father smuggled in CO2 meters!

Maskstravaganza

“Greater than $200 Million in Metropolis-Bought COVID Gear Auctioned Off For Simply $500,000” [The City]. “An investigation by THE CITY has decided that since final summer season, the Division of Citywide Administrative Companies (DCAS) has systematically tried to public sale off thousands and thousands of {dollars} price of COVID-related private protecting gear (PPE) and medical provides — robes, face shields, hand sanitizer, KN95 masks, N95 masks — that the division determined are not wanted. Many of those provides stay of their unique packaging and are brand-new. The Metropolis was capable of join particular auctions to twenty COVID-related medical provide contracts and confirmed the gross sales with a supply accustomed to the company’s public sale efforts who spoke to THE CITY on the situation of anonymity. About 9.5 million gadgets bought by the town authorities from $224 million in COVID-related contracts on the pandemic’s 2020 peak have been auctioned up to now, garnering about $500,000.” • Why on earth didn’t the Metropolis simply give all of it away, to guard its personal residents?

One other flawless victory for scientific communication from the general public well being institution:

This fall we had just a few days of very poor air high quality from smoke. I went to a parent-teacher council assembly the place ppl waited outdoors masked, then ripped their masks off as soon as let in, despite the fact that it was nonetheless visibly smoky inside and neighborhood COVID ranges have been excessive. 🤦‍♀️

— Dr. Rachel Rochester (@RaRaRhapsody) February 23, 2023

Elite Malfeasance

“The COVID-19 Pandemic Will Be Over When Individuals Suppose It Is” [Steven Phillips, Time]. “[T]he nation is not going to absolutely emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic till most individuals in our numerous nation settle for the chance and penalties of publicity to a ubiquitous SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.” • Rule #2. Hilarity ensues: As soon as once more, “private threat evaluation” is a gigantic tax on time. Additional, the powers-that-be are systematically eradicating all the information sources most people would use to carry out threat assessments; Johns Hopkins shutting down its laudable efforts being solely the latest. Lastly, elites haven’t any inclination no matter to just accept the “dangers and penalties of publicity”; therefore Davos Man ventilating and filtering his air; Biden ventilating and filtering his gymnasium look; and Jha and Walensky’s rich neighborhood spending thousands and thousands to ventilate its faculty system. Extra: “A latest national poll demonstrates a strikingly divided public, not able to make peace with the virus: whereas practically half say that they’ve returned to their pre-COVID life, one-third nonetheless consider that is greater than a yr away or by no means.” “Make peace” with the virus? Did this dude actually write that? “Make peace” with the vascular and neurological harm? “Make peace” with Lengthy Covid? Additionally, one-third is a remarkably excessive quantity, given the big wave of eugenicist propaganda that each day engulfs us. Lastly: “As a substitute a sharper understanding may be gained by way of an agnostic analysis of the proof and science. Right this moment, this strongly helps a brand new paradigm of ‘residing with the virus’ by way of accepting publicity for many Individuals.” • What a vile screed. Phillips is a member of the American School of Epidemiology. I ponder in the event that they help his view? Or have they joined what can solely be characterised as a dying cult? (Not for elites, after all; only for the remainder of us.) Phillips is sort of a personality:

The creator of this piece, Steven Phillips, has written quite a few different items selling unmitigated an infection is an operative for Chatham Home,a British led org., which dictates orders by way of the CFR to the US. He is additionally linked to ExxonMobil.https://t.co/5z53lrusRq pic.twitter.com/VkoreWpKeM

— Brewster (@Brewsterlala) February 23, 2023

I don’t settle for “dictates”; that’s not how Flex Nets work. Nonetheless, it’s good to know that Phillips is Blob-adjacent.

“The Flu-ification of COVID Coverage Is Nearly Full” [The Atlantic]. The deck: “The federal government is pushing tougher than ever to make ‘yearly COVID pictures’ a factor.” Fortuitously, the Covid variant practice solely leaves yearly. “A seasonal technique works finest for a seasonal virus—and SARS-CoV-2 simply isn’t there but, says Hana El Sahly, an infectious-disease doctor at Baylor School of Medication. Although flu viruses are likely to hop between the globe’s hemispheres, alternately troubling the north and the south throughout their respective chilly months, this new coronavirus has but to restrict its unfold to 1 a part of the calendar. (Marks, of the FDA, tried to deal with this concern at as we speak’s assembly, asserting that “we’re beginning to see some seasonality” and that fall was certainly very wise for an annual rollout.) SARS-CoV-2 has additionally been spitting out regarding variants and subvariants at a sooner price than the flu (and flu pictures have already got a tough time maintaining with evolution). The FDA’s new proposal suggests choosing SARS-CoV-2 variants in June to have a vaccine prepared by September, a shorter timeline than is used for flu. That also won’t be quick sufficient: “By the point we detect a variant, it would have ripped by way of the worldwide inhabitants and, in just a few extra weeks, died down,” El Sahly instructed me. The world received a preview of this downside with final yr’s bivalent shot, which overlapped with the dominance of its goal subvariants for under a few months. A flu mannequin for COVID would make extra sense “if we had steady, predictable dynamics,” says Avnika Amin, a vaccine epidemiologist at Emory College. “I don’t suppose we’re at that time.”

The Jackpot

Case Knowledge

NOT UPDATED BioBot wastewater data from February 21:

For now, I’m going to make use of this nationwide 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 dangerous” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). At the least we are able to spot tendencies, and examine present ranges to equal previous ranges.

Lambert right here: As soon as once more, what occurred on or earlier than March 16? I’ve marked the date on the chart, as a result of at the least one different particular person has a solution:

I don’t suppose there’s only one issue, although. Walensky’s scarlet letter remark was February 24, 2022 (which speaks to retaining the case price excessive, irrespective of that the case rely is low).

Positivity

From the Walgreen’s test positivity tracker, printed February 23:

-1.8%. Nonetheless excessive, however finally a definite downturn

Deaths

Loss of life price (Our World in Data):

Total: 1,143,760 – 1,142,981 – 1,142,704 = 779 (779 * 365 = 284,335 deaths per yr, as we speak’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “residing with” Covid (fairly a bit greater than the minimizers would love, although they will discuss themselves into something. If the YouGenicist™ metric retains chugging alongside like this, I could must determine that is what the powers-that-be think about “mission completed” for this explicit tranche of dying and illness). Properly, the whole wasn’t 192 once more. Not that I really feel higher about it.

It’s good that for deaths I’ve a easy, each day chart that simply retains chugging alongside, in contrast to all the pieces 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.)

• “Why the Covid-19 Loss of life Toll within the U.S. Is Nonetheless Rising” [Wall Street Journal]. “The U.S. averaged about 400 deaths a day in a three-month span masking November by way of January, based mostly on weekly Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention counts of dying certificates itemizing Covid-19 because the underlying or contributing trigger. Knowledge from the latest weeks are incomplete. There was important enchancment: The nation averaged roughly 1,700 deaths a day in the identical interval a yr earlier than. The identical wintertime interval two years in the past was even worse: about 2,800 each day deaths. The present tempo, nevertheless, remains to be sufficient to maintain Covid-19 among the many main causes of dying within the U.S. The illness ranked at No. 3 in 2020 and 2021, behind coronary heart illness and most cancers, and may rank there once more in 2022 Deaths attributable to Covid are closely concentrated among the many aged, an evaluation of CDC knowledge reveals. In latest weeks folks 75 years and older have represented about seven of each 10 Covid-19 deaths. This age group peaked at 64% of the whole throughout the extreme winter surge two years in the past and tumbled as little as a one-third of deaths when the Delta variant struck in 2021.” • Properly, at the least we’re serving to to maintain the Social Safety belief fund solvent. Everybody should do their half!

Stats Watch

There aren’t any official statistics of curiosity as we speak.

The Bezzle: “Science Fiction Magazines Battle a Flood of Chatbot-Generated Tales” [New York Times]. “The editors of three science fiction magazines — Clarkesworld, The Journal of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Asimov’s Science Fiction — mentioned this week that that they had been flooded by submissions of works of fiction generated by A.I. chatbots…. [Neil Clarke, the editor of Clarkesworld] declined to be extra particular, saying he didn’t need to give these submitting the tales any benefits. The writing can also be ‘dangerous in spectacular methods,’ Mr. Clarke mentioned. ‘They’re simply prompting, dumping, pasting and submitting to {a magazine}.’ He wrote on Twitter that the submissions have been largely ‘pushed by ‘facet hustle’ consultants making claims of simple cash with ChatGPT.’ ‘It’s not simply going to go away by itself, and I don’t have an answer,’ Mr. Clarke wrote on his weblog. ‘I’m tinkering with some, however this isn’t a recreation of whack-a-mole that anybody can ‘win.’ The perfect we are able to hope for is to bail sufficient water to remain afloat. (Like we wanted another factor to bail.)’” • So OpenAI has enabled bottom-feeder tech hustlers to cream off the margin of small literary magazines. Swell. Good job. Progress.

Right this moment’s Concern & Greed Index: 64 Greed (earlier shut: 63 Greed) [CNN]. One week in the past: 72 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Feb 22 at 1:58 PM ET.

Photograph Ebook

Healthcare

“Defending the Legitimacy of Medical Experience” [New England Journal of Medicine]. “Medical licensing offers docs one thing unusual in america: monopoly safety precluding unlicensed folks from competing to offer companies. In upholding the legality of state licensing of docs in 1889, the Supreme Courtroom noticed that as a result of ‘comparatively few can choose of the {qualifications} of [a physician’s] studying and talent,’ the general public should depend on ‘the peace of mind given by his license, issued by an authority competent to guage in that respect, that he possesses the requisite {qualifications}.’ Licensing boards — composed largely of physicians, with some illustration from the lay public — due to this fact have an obligation to make sure that the practitioners they license meet sure minimal requirements. Further privileges are conferred by certifying boards, which offer assurance that the specialised physicians they certify have met professionally decided requirements on the finish of coaching and over the course of their profession; board certification is often relied on as a part of hiring and privileging selections in well being care settings…. [E]xpertise and authority are more and more seen as means for elites to determine and help current hierarchies…. Maybe probably the most substantial risk to experience is that members of the general public are coming to consider that info don’t exist — that each one info are political and due to this fact a matter of opinion.” • The rapid stimulus for this text is state laws prohibiting docs from perscribing Ivermectin. That controversy apart, a outstanding variety of M.D.s are swerving out of their lanes (see here) and leveraging their credentials to take eugenicist views on masking, epidemiology, public well being, and so forth. If ever there’s an instance of “establishing” and “supporting” “current hierarchies,” that is it. Ditto “info don’t exist,” of which anti-masker docs present many wonderful examples. And talking of IVM:

Word as soon as once more the hospital-centric viewpoint: Prophylaxis isn’t thought of in Swaminathan’s little joke. And I like Greenhalgh; she’s executed some nice work!

Groves of Academe

Our Famously Free Press

Class Warfare

East Palestine:

“Railroaded Half 4 – NTSB report day in East Palestine and my interview about it with The Lever” (interview) [The Holler]. John Russell of The Holler is interviewed by Frank Capallo of The Stage: “[CAPALLO]: “You’ve additionally been talking to the rail staff about this particular derailment, which they’re saying was attributable to a wheel bearing situation relatively than the brake system. So are you able to go into somewhat little bit of element about that? As a result of I don’t suppose that is one thing that our viewers has actually heard about but. [RUSSELL:] However there’s video of this wheel bearing glowing white sizzling for as a lot as 20 miles earlier than the derailment. And this was caught by ring doorbell cameras, safety footage, and many others…. As a result of had these braking system has been up to date and the chemical substances categorized precisely this catastrophe and the response possible would have been a lot much less horrible. Rail staff have been telling me about this wheel bearing since I arrived right here. And so they’ve additionally instructed me that PSR, precision scheduled railroad, has put stress on each facet of how the railroads are run, together with inspection and upkeep on issues like wheel bearings.” • Properly, I’m glad that lastly any individual at The Stage is aware of concerning the bearing (“the hot box“). (It has occurred to me that the rapid concentrate on regulating braking techniques + regulation vs. bearings + Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR) has enchantment for liberal Democrats, (a) as a result of they might concentrate on blaming Trump (accurately) for deregulation, whereas (b) not speaking to precise rail staff, who they only screwed over with their anti-strike laws, and (c) positively prevented speaking about employee empowerment, not to mention nationalization, which speaking about PSR would have entailed. I used to be stunned to see Lever Information erasing the views of rail staff, however these are unusual instances). Nonetheless, I don’t see a cause to separate the distinction on braking techniques. Once more, if you happen to examine what rail workers have to say, you’ll find that the East Palestine practice was improperly “blocked,” with the heavy automobiles on the entrance. I would wish to know that new braking techniques would deliver an improperly blocked practice to a protected cease. That is naturally not addressed

Extra on Norfolk Southern:

The thread additionally particulars one other Norfolk Southern “sizzling field” incident, this time on an engine, which led to a derailment wherein “dumped 1000’s of gallons of molten paraffin wax within the metropolis of Sandusky, additionally in Ohio.”

“Norfolk Southern CEO to East Palestine residents: ‘I perceive the anger’” [The Hill]. No, you don’t. You actually don’t. “Jim Stewart, who mentioned he has lived in East Palestine for 65 years, mentioned that he not feels protected within the city, and is nervous concerning the worth of his house. He mentioned he has had a lingering cough because the derailment and has developed a rash on his cheek. ‘Did you shorten my life, now? I need to retire and luxuriate in it. How are we gonna get pleasure from it? You burned me,’ he mentioned. ‘We have been going to promote our home. Our worth went poof. Do I mow the grass? Do I — can I plant tomatoes subsequent summer season? What can I do? I’m afraid to.’” •

“Ohio practice derailment: Residents confront officers as Norfolk Southern broadcasts new cleanup plan” [ABC]. [Norfolk Southern Railway President and CEO Alan Shaw.] instructed East Palestine residents that Norfolk Southern is ‘completely targeted on security’ and the corporate invests greater than $1 billion annually towards upkeep and gear. However he admitted that ‘clearly this can be a scenario the place our security tradition and our investments didn’t forestall this accident.’” • Nor did your bonuses, inventory buybacks, or Precision Scheduled Railroading. “Security tradition” my Candy Aunt Fanny. So guys like Shaw, meaning having one man drive a two-mile lengthy practice. That’s what they’re aiming for, and it’s ridiculous.

“Norfolk Southern, in wake of poisonous derailment, offers in on sick days for one in all its unions” [CNN]. “Norfolk Southern has agreed to provide one in all its unions the paid sick days it demanded for members in negotiations final yr, and is in talks to grant sick days to its different unions as properly. The announcement comes hours after the corporate’s chief monetary officer, Mark George, instructed buyers that it’s nonetheless struggling to fill the open positions it has at virtually all 95 places the place workers relies. George additionally mentioned the corporate might have lower workers too deep throughout the early days of the pandemic, and that it has had bother bringing again laid-off workers members. ‘Norfolk Southern’s success is constructed upon , and we’re dedicated to bettering their high quality of life in partnership with our union leaders,’ mentioned Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw in an announcement saying the deal.” • Feels like Shaw doesn’t need the railroads to be nationalized. We should always do this whether or not he needs it or not.

Information of the Wired

“‘He created one thing magical’: Calvin and Hobbes followers rejoice as creator plans first work in many years” [Guardian]. ” Final week’s announcement of Watterson’s first main work in practically 30 years – The Mysteries, a vibrantly illustrated “fable for grown-ups” – shocked followers and referred to as for celebration. ‘That is fairly thrilling and monumental that he’s releasing an entire e-book,’ says Nevin Martell of Washington DC, a lifelong reader and the creator of On the lookout for Calvin and Hobbes, a narrative of the strip and Watterson that’s additionally half memoir. ‘I’m stunned and but not stunned – stunned within the sense that he’s placing one thing out, not stunned that since he’s placing one thing out, it’s so wildly totally different from what he did on Calvin and Hobbes.’… The e-book is a collaboration between Watterson and the celebrated caricaturist John Kascht, and it seems far bleaker than both illustrator’s earlier work. The few printed panels are sombre and foreboding, offered in shades of grey. ‘The type of the writing, the type of the artwork is very totally different from Calvin and Hobbes. And I feel that’s a really aware resolution on [Watterson’s] half. He wouldn’t ever need to be pigeonholed as simply the Calvin and Hobbes man,’ Martell says.”

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