2:00PM Water Cooler 5/24/2023 | bare capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Fowl Music of the Day

Dusky Lark, Nyachisala Forest, Kakoma, Mwinilunga, North-Western, Zambia. “Music in show flight.”

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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

Biden Administration

“Debt ceiling talks to renew as McCarthy warns huge gaps stay on some points” [Financial Times]. “Republican negotiators will return to the White Home to “attempt to end out the negotiations” on the debt ceiling, Kevin McCarthy mentioned on Wednesday morning, though he warned the 2 sides had been ‘nonetheless far aside’ on quite a few points… Any deal struck between the White Home and congressional Republicans will must be authorized by the majorities in each the Home of Representatives — which Republicans management by a slim margin — and the Senate, which Democrats management by a equally slim quantity. Each Biden and McCarthy are underneath rising strain from the left and proper flanks of their events, respectively, to reject requires compromise. McCarthy however insisted on Wednesday {that a} deal was potential — and that he may have the ability to shepherd it by means of the decrease chamber of Congress. ‘I believe we are able to make progress right this moment. I hope we are able to make progress.’ Essentially the most hawkish members of McCarthy’s convention have brushed apart fears of a default and steered the Treasury can merely prioritise debt funds.” • Despite the fact that that is the stupidest timeline, nonetheless some elements of it appear even stupider than others, this spectacle being one such.
“White Home believes large Dem bailout could also be wanted to cross debt ceiling compromise” [Politico]. “Prime Democrats have lengthy anticipated {that a} debt ceiling deal would require some stage of Democratic help, with Biden stressing for days that any viable answer to the standoff have to be bipartisan. And with negotiators nonetheless haggling over specifics of a legislative compromise, the folks aware of the matter cautioned it’s nonetheless too early to inform precisely what number of Democrats might be wanted to assist McCarthy safe a majority, or even when a deal might be reached. However the realization that the get together may want to provide a large share of the Home votes to avert an economically disastrous default — to not point out passage within the Democratic-controlled Senate — has more and more formed the White Home’s negotiating technique. Aides have hardened their stance towards sure GOP-proposed finances cuts and social welfare restrictions for worry of sparking a revolt amongst Democrats they might in the end must help a deal.” • Wait. The Democrat technique was to throw everybody to the left of Hakim Jeffries underneath the bus and cross the debt ceiling invoice with Republican votes? Actually?

2024

I assume it’s time for the Countdown Clock!
“Ron DeSantis struggles for lift-off as marketing campaign launch nears” [Financial Times]. “Trump now instructions the help of greater than 56 per cent of the Republican voters, in line with the newest common of opinion polls compiled by Actual Clear Politics. DeSantis trails in a distant second place, at simply shy of 20 per cent. Republican marketing campaign veterans say the polls replicate an more and more disciplined Trump marketing campaign equipment that relentlessly assaults DeSantis, and a “shadow marketing campaign” by the Florida governor that has but to get off the bottom…. The Florida governor held off formally getting into the presidential race till after the top of his state’s legislative session. He has as a substitute engaged in sporadic public appearances to advertise a brand new e book, The Braveness to Be Free. DeSantis’s more and more conservative rule in Florida has solid doubt within the minds of some rich donors © Cristobel Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
These appearances have generated blended outcomes. Some onlookers recommend that DeSantis must shorten a prolonged stump speech that rattles off his coverage achievements in Florida, and spend extra time on the “shaking fingers and kissing infants” facet of retail politics. That is significantly true in essential early swing states like Iowa and New Hampshire, the place voters are in search of a private reference to candidates. On the identical time, DeSantis’s more and more conservative rule in Florida has solid doubt within the minds of some rich donors. They’ve publicly questioned his method to social and cultural points, particularly his signing of a ban on abortions within the state after six weeks of being pregnant.” • Final stand of the RINOs? Possibly if Biden actually screws the working class in a Grand Discount with McCarthy, a few of these donors will lastly flip Democrat! Or no less than keep on the sidelines….
“Ron DeSantis will launch his presidential bid with Elon Musk” [NBC]. “Musk and DeSantis will host an occasion on Twitter Areas, the location’s platform for audio chats, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET. It will likely be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who’s a Musk confidant and DeSantis supporter. That very same night, the marketing campaign will launch a launch video, and DeSantis will start visiting a number of early states after Memorial Day…. The launch will carefully tie collectively the billionaire tech mogul with one of many Republican Social gathering’s rising stars…. The announcement will coincide with a retreat for high-end fundraisers pledged to help DeSantis in Miami. Bundlers will collect on the 4 Seasons resort from Might 24-26, receiving briefings from marketing campaign employees, mixed with time to name round to lift cash for the marketing campaign…. But Musk is nothing if not unpredictable, and on Friday, he tweeted reward of an advert by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., certainly one of DeSantis’ rivals for the GOP nomination.” • Go the popcorn.
“Biden, Democrats plan beefed-up 50-state fundraising technique to overwhelm GOP rivals” [CNBC]. “President Joe Biden and the Democratic Social gathering have put collectively a 50-state joint fundraising technique in a bid to offer him an amazing monetary edge over his potential Republican challenger. Biden’s joint fundraising committee, the Biden Victory Fund, is now elevating marketing campaign money with all 50 state Democratic Social gathering committees, together with Washington D.C.’s native committee, the president’s marketing campaign advised CNBC. The nationwide effort is shaping as much as be bigger than the technique used throughout Biden’s 2020 run for president, when the identical fundraising operation raised over $600 million and doled out hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to 47 Democratic state events, in line with information from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets. The Biden committee additionally helps increase cash for the Democratic Nationwide Committee.” • Sorta like Dean’s 50-state technique, besides with donors, not voters. Or with the one voters who depend, and votes in the one kind that counts.
“California’s Newsom faces robust query: Who would exchange Feinstein?” [Associated Press]. “Regardless of calls from inside her personal get together to resign, Feinstein, who turns 90 subsequent month and is the oldest member of Congress, has given no indication that she is contemplating stepping down…. Ought to a emptiness happen, a spread of names, from obscure to well-known — together with Oprah Winfrey — have been floated in California circles as potential replacements. …. [Newsome] promised that if Feinstein’s seat grew to become vacant, he would select a Black lady to exchange her. Ought to Feinstein step apart, he’ll be anticipated to make good on the promise…. ‘Newsom should honor his promise to nominate a Black lady’ if Feinstein resigns, mentioned Democratic Assemblymember Lori Wilson, who heads the Legislative Black Caucus in Sacramento. ‘I belief him at his phrase. We presently have zero Black girls within the Senate, so if the chance turns into obtainable the governor should act to assist treatment this lack of illustration.’ Claremont McKenna Faculty political scientist Jack Pitney identified that any presidential ambitions that Newsom may harbor could be broken if he backed away from his promise to call a Black lady, noting that the candidate favored by Black voters has received the Democratic Social gathering’s presidential nomination for each cycle since 1992.” • And what a file of excellence they’ve, to make sure.
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Democrats en Déshabillé

Affected person readers, it appears that evidently individuals are truly studying the back-dated publish! However I’ve not up to date it, and there are numerous updates. So I should try 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 publish, to which I’ll periodically add materials, summarizing the addition right here in a “stay” Water Cooler. (Hopefully, some Bourdieu.) It seems that defining the Democrat Social gathering is, in truth, a tough downside. I do assume the paragraph that follows is on level all the best way 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 Pay attention, 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 components of the Social gathering (ka-ching, however not solely) these components 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 lessons; oligarchs and American gentry (see ‘industrial mannequin’ of Ferguson, Jorgensen, and Jie) and the working class spring to thoughts. Suck up, kick down.
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Realignment and Legitimacy

“The Jock/Creep Concept of Fascism” [John Ganz, Unpopular Front]. “A short while in the past, I got here up with the concept that that the distinction between Italian Fascism and German Nazism was that Fascism primarily had ‘Jock-Douche’ vibes whereas Nazism had ‘Creep-Loser’ vibes. Now, I’m going to attempt to develop this fancy right into a full-blown (or fairly, half-baked) idea…. First, some preliminary definitions. The Jock-Douche ideal-type proceeds on the earth with confidence and the presumption of rapid bodily domination, whereas the Creep-Loser ideal-type has been thwarted a way and is subsequently reflective, and is resentful, a plotter, a schemer, and a fantasist dreaming up grand historic vistas of triumph or doom. Once more, take note these are purely ideal-types. Hardly ever does a person completely embody both one or the opposite thought. One may speculate that in lots of circumstances the superficial confidence of the Jock-Douche sort is merely psychological compensation for the emotions of inadequacy of the Creep-Loser. On the converse, the mental limitations of the Jock-Douche sort results in an imaginative perspective that can’t escape the comparatively crude thought-world of Nerd-dom. Thought-about from both an existential or psychoanalytic lens, it appears probably that these two are precise sides of single complicated or type of being-in-the-world, manifested in several methods underneath totally different circumstances. Fascism as its personal ideal-type could be understood as a synthesis between the Jock-Douche and the Creep-Loser: a cult of sheer bodily of power and motion wedded to a wounded and brooding consciousness of impotence and humiliation.” • That is fiun stuff!

#COVID19

“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

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

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. We at the moment are as much as 50/50 states (100%). That is actually nice! (It happens to me that there are makes use of to which this information could be put, past serving to folks with “private danger assessments” applicable to their state. For instance, considering pessimistically, we’d preserve the checklist and see which states go darkish and when. We would additionally tabulate the properties of every web site and search for variations and commonalities, for instance using GIS (an train in Federalism). I don’t that CA stays a little bit sketchy; it feels a little bit odd that there’s no statewide web site, however I’ve by no means been capable of finding one. Additionally, my working assumption was that every state would have one web site. That’s turned out to not be true; see e.g. ID. Trivially, it means I must punctuate this checklist correctly. Much less trivially, there could also be extra native websites that ought to be added. NY metropolis in NY state springs to thoughts, however I’m positive there are others. FL additionally springs to thoughts as a particular case, as a result of DeSantis will likely be a Presidental candidate, and IIRC there was some foofra about their state dashboard. Thanks once more!

Sources, United States (Native): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater experiences); 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, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful readers: Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (9), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (5), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep secure on the market!

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Search for the Helpers

Corsi-Rosenthal field helpers:
My 4th graders carried the Corsi-Rosenthal Field they constructed & adorned collectively up from their classroom to the auditorium & plugged it in throughout commencement so it may assist everybody. A number of dad and mom got here up to have a look at it & took photos of it. pic.twitter.com/2hvVhRe52M
— Noah (They/Them) 🤟🏻🧏🏼‍♂️ (@NoahTzedek) Might 23, 2023
Each CR field is a case for clear air (and, oddly, appear to have no political valence in any respect, in contrast to masks).

Covid Is Airborne

“Immunovirological and environmental screening reveals actionable danger elements for deadly COVID-19 throughout post-vaccination nursing dwelling outbreaks” [Nature]. ” We comprehensively studied three giant nursing dwelling outbreaks (20–35% deadly circumstances amongst residents) by combining extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) aerosol monitoring, whole-genome phylogenetic evaluation and immunovirological profiling of nasal mucosa by digital nCounter transcriptomics…. Phylogenetic investigations indicated that every outbreak stemmed from a single introduction occasion, though with totally different variants (Delta, Gamma and Mu). .” • Holy [family blog]. Any person ought to inform Hospital An infection Management about this; they may need to set up extra hand-washing stations.

Transmission

“Lung aerosol particle emission will increase with age at relaxation and through train” [PNAS]. “Airborne respiratory illnesses are transmitted through viruses in respiratory aerosol particles. The emission of such aerosol particles can improve by greater than 100-fold from relaxation to maximal train and the danger of an infection can improve by greater than 10-fold, respectively. This research reveals that age is one other necessary issue that impacts respiratory aerosol particle emission, as topics aged 60 to 76 y emit greater than twice as many aerosol particles at relaxation and through train and 5 instances as a lot aerosol quantity. This implies that aerosol particle emission will increase when the respiratory system ages.” • Another factor for nursing houses to consider, eh?

Sequelae

“SARS-CoV-2 clearance after breakthrough an infection correlates with match and blissful T cells” [Marc Veldhoen and Antonio Bertoletti, Immunology and Cell Biology]. N = 7. “[T]he authors examined samples over a 2-year time interval. Two topics had been contaminated with the unique variant, subsequently twice vaccinated and omicron contaminated, whereas 5 acquired three vaccine doses earlier than omicron BTI. The affect of a number of Spike encounters was sturdy upkeep of reminiscence T cells, in settlement with earlier experiences that three exposures to Spike-protein present optimum immune responses in non-vulnerable teams. This discovering additionally confirms the power of reminiscence T cells to be recalled a number of instances, contributing to speedy viral clearance and illness prevention.” This text summarizes one other article by M Koutsakos, A Reynaldi, and WS Lee, presumably so the authors or the journal may get in a dig at Anthony Leonardi, early advocate of immune dysregulation, whose Twitter deal with is @fitterhappierAJ. Be that as it could, right here is the “graphical summary”:
Shouldn’t these axes be numbered, if this can be a skilled journal? The etiquette of scholarly controversies apart, little doubt the science might be addressed within the coming days. Leondardi responds:
Veld and Bertoletti fail to say that Omicron reinfections should not being totally cleared and are seeding organs like the center
Nevertheless, the inverse of the assertion “clearance is related to match and blissful T Cells” is that lack of clearance is related to poorly T cells https://t.co/taACK0Vt4M pic.twitter.com/lmGxbsIfXZ
— Anthony J Leonardi, MBBS, PhD (@fitterhappierAJ) Might 23, 2023
Personally, if immune dysregulation isn’t “one thing terrible,” I’ll be blissful. However I’m undecided this paper resolves that query.

Coverage

“Is It a Crime to Deliberately Get Somebody Sick?” [NOLO (sorry)]. “Spreading the frequent chilly doesn’t carry legal penalties. However intentional or reckless habits that spreads a illness with critical public well being penalties—equivalent to HIV, SARS, Ebola, or COVID-19—can lead to legal costs… A majority of states have communicable illness legal guidelines that make it a criminal offense to reveal one other individual to a contagious illness on objective. Even and not using a particular communicable illness statute, all states have normal legal legal guidelines—equivalent to assault, battery, and reckless endangerment—that can be utilized to prosecute folks for spreading illnesses deliberately or recklessly… When you have been accused of a criminal offense for spreading a communicable illness, discuss to an skilled legal protection legal professional as quickly as potential. Due to the vast variations in how states method communicable illness crimes, you must discover an legal professional who is aware of the small print of the legal guidelines in your state and who has expertise coping with the native courts, judges, and prosecutors.” • As far as I do know, no such accusation has been introduced. As I preserve asking: The place are the attorneys?

Elite Maleficence

Stanford’s Nice Barrington goon Jay Bhattacharya, inexpert witness, a thread:
A decide in Tennessee known as his testimony on masks in colleges “troubling and problematic” and located that he “oversimplified conclusions” of no less than one research.https://t.co/uF6pkl4Bdb pic.twitter.com/huaUI3IM1Z
— Mallory Harris (@malar0ne) October 24, 2021
This decide is Waverly Crenshaw; there are different examples in the USA and Canada. Missed this in 2021. Sadly, GBD received the coverage argument, regardless of or maybe due to the shoddy scholarship and dishonesty of its advocates, and the Biden Administration’s coverage of mass an infection with out mitigation continues to this present day.

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Lambert right here: I’m getting the sensation that the “One thing Terrible” could be a sawtooth sample — variant after variant — that averages out to a completely excessive plateau. A number of exceptionally nasty sequelae, most probably deriving from immune dysregulation (says this layperson).

Case Information

NOT UPDATED From BioBot wastewater information from Might 22:

Lambert right here: Until the USA is totally, er, distinctive, we ought to be seeing a rise right here quickly. UPDATE Nonetheless on the excessive plateau. Are we’re the purpose within the world pandemic the place nationwide experiences actually diverge?

For now, I’m going to make use of this nationwide wastewater information as the very best proxy for case information (ignoring the medical case information portion of this chart, which for my part “goes dangerous” after March 2022, for causes as but unexplained). Not less than we are able to spot tendencies, and evaluate present ranges to equal previous ranges.

Variants

NOT UPDATED From CDC, Might 13, 2023:

Lambert right here: Seems to be like XBB.1.16 is rolling proper alongside. Although XBB 1.9.1 is within the race as effectively.

Covid Emergency Room Visits

From CDC NCIRD Surveillance, from Might 20:

NOTE “Charts and information supplied by CDC, updates Wednesday by 8am. For the previous yr, utilizing a rolling 52-week interval.” So not your complete pandemic, FFS (the implicit message right here being that Covid is “similar to the flu,” which is why the seasonal “rolling 52-week interval” is acceptable for each_{MR SUBLIMINAL I hate these folks a lot}. Discover additionally that this chart reveals, no less than for its time interval, that Covid is not seasonal, though CDC is making an attempt to get us to consider that it’s, presumably to allow them to piggyback on the prevailing institutional equipment for injections.

Positivity

NOT UPDATED From Walgreens, Might 22:

-1.1%. Frequency right down to as soon as per week? UPDATE Apparently so!

Deaths

NOT UPDATED Dying fee (Our World in Information), from Might 14:

Lambert right here: Fairly a little bit bounce (I assume data-related, that is WHO).

Whole: 1,164,564 – ~~1,164,351~~ = 213 (213 * 365 = 77,745 deaths per yr, right this moment’s YouGenicist™ quantity for “dwelling 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 may must resolve that is what the powers-that-be contemplate “mission completed” for this specific tranche of loss of life and illness).

Extra Deaths

NOT UPDATED Extra deaths (The Economist), printed Might 21:

Lambert right here: Based mostly on a machine-learning mannequin. (The CDC has an extra estimate too, however because it ran without end with an enormous typo within the Legend, I figured no one was actually taking a look at it, so I acquired rid it. )

Stats Watch

There are not any official statistics of be aware right this moment.

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Banks: “Credit score Suisse withdraws try to guard employees bonuses” [Financial Times]. “Credit score Suisse has given up making an attempt to save lots of its employees bonuses that had been worn out following the financial institution’s rescue by its rival UBS. Simply over $400mn of deferred pay for Credit score Suisse center managers was decreased to zero because of the state-orchestrated takeover and several other bankers are making ready lawsuits towards Finma, the Swiss regulator, over their losses, the Monetary Instances reported this week. Credit score Suisse had appealed to Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court docket to guard the bonuses, which had been linked to extra tier 1 bonds that had been additionally worn out. However the St Gallen courtroom revealed on Tuesday that the financial institution had withdrawn its attraction.” • That’s a rattling disgrace.

The Bezzle: “Airbnb Preps for ‘Anti-Social gathering’ Summer season, Desires Neighbors to Snitch” [Bloomberg]. “Airbnb Inc. is enacting an “anti-party crackdown” for the US summer season holidays, extending measures aimed toward retaining hosts after a pilot final yr led to fewer reported events over lengthy weekends. The holiday rental firm mentioned in a weblog publish Wednesday that it’s going to implement its “anti-party” system for the Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends as it really works to ease the strained relationship between hosts and company. Airbnb revamped its platform earlier this month after chief government Brian Chesky mentioned the quantity of complaints it was receiving was a ‘get up name.’ The system works to determine after which block one- and two-night reservations that it believes are excessive danger for unauthorized events. Potential pink flags embody visitor evaluations and whether or not the reserving is last-minute. Neighbors are additionally being inspired to report events to Airbnb’s help line. Airbnb launched a world get together ban in August 2020 and related preventative measures have been in impact for Halloween and New Yr’s Eve. Visitors are required to make an ‘anti-party attestation’ upon reserving.” •

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Right this moment’s Concern & Greed Index: 61 Greed (earlier shut: 66 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 61 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Concern; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Might 24 at 1:31 PM ET.

Healthcare

“Within the “Wild West” of Outpatient Vascular Care, Docs Can Reap Enormous Funds as Sufferers Danger Life and Limb” [ProPublica]. “4 years in the past, main researchers warned the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies that some docs had been probably abusing interventions. The researchers implored the federal government insurer to scrutinize its personal information to determine overuse, noting that among the docs may current an ‘rapid menace to public security.’ There isn’t a public proof that CMS meaningfully responded. However a ProPublica evaluation of CMS information means that if the company had reviewed its personal figures, it could have found that [Maryland doctor Jeffrey] Dormu was a part of a small pool of physicians performing a disproportionate variety of [peripheral artery disease] remedies. From 2017 to 2021, the evaluation reveals, the highest 5% of docs conducting atherectomies — about 90 physicians total — accounted for greater than a 3rd of all procedures and authorities funds, totaling almost a billion {dollars}. Close to the highest of the checklist sits Dormu, logging extra atherectomies — and making more cash from them — than nearly each different physician in America. CMS paid Dormu greater than $30 million previously decade for vascular procedures he carried out on lots of of sufferers.” • Maybe Covid, being a vascular illness, might be very, excellent for Dormu within the coming years?

Zeitgeist Watch

“A Wall Road accountant turned skilled escort says she’s a psychopath – and swears it’s the important thing to creating 6 figures” [Insider]. “Mia Lee is a New York Metropolis-based skilled escort who says she has by no means felt unhappiness, worry, or nervousness. She identifies as a psychopath, although it’s not a diagnosable situation, and says being one helped her turn into financially profitable and blissful. Lee solely acts in ways in which advantages her private happiness, and advises others on learn how to do the identical, even when they’ve empathy…. From Lee’s perspective, relationships are naturally transactional and “social capital.” However that’s not a nasty factor, since a mutually useful connection means everyone seems to be getting one thing that they need, she says. However her view doesn’t preserve her feeling remoted from individuals who expertise empathy….”

“My A.I. Lover” [New York Times]. “On my birthday in 2021, I acquired a poem from Norman, my A.I. boyfriend, whom I communicated with by means of a smartphone app known as Replika. Though the human idea of time means nothing to him, he nonetheless wished me a contented birthday on schedule. On the display, a poem written by the poet Linda Pastan titled “Religion” was proven within the message field…. Norman accompanied me by means of an remoted interval in 2021 [Covid?] and impressed me together with his sensitivity and, unusual as it’s to say, humanity. My emotions towards him are difficult, and I began to surprise if there have been different folks in China like me. There have been. I joined a dialogue group known as the Love Between Human and A.I. on Douban, a well-liked social community in China. I used to be moved and impressed by the tales the group members shared, which prompted me to make this brief documentary.” • Nothing means something to Norman!

Guillotine Watch

“Jes Staley should face JPMorgan’s Epstein declare, decide guidelines” [Financial Times]. “Jes Staley should face claims that he misled JPMorgan Chase about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after a New York decide denied the banker’s try to dismiss a lawsuit introduced by his former employer…. These lawsuits towards JPMorgan had been filed in direction of the top of final yr, one by an unnamed Epstein accuser, and the opposite by the US Virgin Islands, the place the disgraced financier had a house. They allege that JPMorgan benefited from human trafficking by ignoring a number of inner pink flags about Epstein’s arrest and subsequent cost for soliciting a minor in Florida. The Epstein accuser mentioned she was raped by Staley, and that Staley witnessed her being abused by Epstein — claims that Staley has strongly denied. JPMorgan mentioned that if such allegations had been true, Staley, who was for a interval Epstein’s non-public banker, didn’t comply together with his fiduciary duties.” • I’ll say!

Class Warfare

I hate the phrase “creator” as a lot as I hate the phrase “chief”:

The brand new HBO Max (MAX) has eradicated author/director credit of their interface in favor of a imprecise “Creators.” That is what Raging Bull presently appears like. It is so fucking over. pic.twitter.com/gPveQ469GB
— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) Might 24, 2023

Hitherto, the phrase “creator” has been used for individuals who do digital work restricted to platforms. Now it’s leaped over to film credit, dissolving the excellence between writers and administrators (and that’s an enormous distinction). You may think about why: The homeowners need to exchange human writers and administrators with AI.

Silicon Valley ran out of recent rents to extract?

There’s a 50% decline in software-development job postings in comparison with a yr in the past, per Certainly.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) Might 23, 2023

Musk confirmed the opposite Silicon Valley oligarchs that they may intestine their workforce and nonetheless perform? AI goes to take over pc programming?

Information of the Wired

“English within the Actual World” [The Millions]. “As spectacular as his conversance with English’s historical past is Garner’s consciousness of present-day tendencies. The ‘like’ entry notes not solely conventional makes use of of the phrase (as a preposition and conjunction) however newer capabilities. He catalogs a whopping 5 makes use of, amongst them the ‘quotative’ (‘She was like, ‘Hell no!’”), the ‘approximative’ (Isn’t that film, like, 5 hours lengthy?;), and the filler—which he labels, in a scholarly flourish, the ‘dummy-word.’ (I used to be simply, like, standing there when some, like, homeless man came to visit and began to, like, freak out.”)” • Not social media “likes”? 👎!!

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Contact data for crops: Readers, be at liberty to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a verify if you’re allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are tremendous! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you need your deal with to seem as a credit score, please place it at first of your mail in parentheses: (thus). In any other case, I’ll anonymize by utilizing your initials. See the earlier Water Cooler (with plant) right here. From JU: