By Lambert Strether.
Readers, the fundraiser for my very nearly gold retirement watch + all my Water Cooler work done in 2024 is complete!
The goal was 400 donors; we now have 132 232 324, 402 or 33% 58% 81% 101% of goal. Thank you all so much. It means a lot, and it’s very, very helpful. –lambert
Bird Song of the Day
Lambert here: Readers, I really enjoyed starting each Water Cooler by finding a bird song. I enjoyed it even more when some readers suggested mimidae like catbirds, thrashers, and mockingbirds!
American Robin, Hammond Hill SF, Tompkins, New York, United States. “Mobbing a Barred Owl.” From 1992!
In Case You Might Miss…
- Goddamned Democrats.
- Big Z at the White House (transcript).
- Economy already worrisome.
- Epigenetics: Violence alters human genes for generations.
Politics
“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Trump Administration
Wowsers:
Democrats en déshabillé
Readers, I’ve been compiling a solid list of Democrat maleficence for my last Water Cooler. Please check back in an hour or so, when I’ve worked up a good head of spleen.
(1) Generally I avoid this trope, because who wants copycats, but please kill me now:
Democrats pick Elissa Slotkin to represent the party & respond to Trump’s speech.
She was the first Democrat ever endorsed by Liz Cheney; voted for the Laken Riley Act, empowering Trump to detain people without due process; and is a top Democratic voter of Trump’s cabinet.More: https://t.co/72t23ghZo7 pic.twitter.com/fMXs9kSQ3v
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) February 27, 2025
Slotkin is, of course, a “CIA Democrat” (first listed by WSWS in 2018). I don’t know whether this is the intelligence community, given Tulsi, yanking Schumer’s chokechain, or Schumer signaling fealty, or both. “They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.” –Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, of the Bourbons.
(2) You will only pry “fighting for” from their cold, dead hands:
So wait a minute. The health care “our 9/11 heroes deserve” but not the rest of us?
(3) True leadership:
(4) “God is still on the throne.” –Hakeem Jeffries
If you’re wondering why Hakeem Jeffries isn’t putting up a battle as America falls to full-fledged tech bro fascism, here’s your answer: AIPAC, BlackRock, Lockheed. pic.twitter.com/sUaNgLVwGV
— Fucking Exhausted (@Playerinthgame) February 25, 2025
(5) James Carville is still alive:
Carville literally wrote: “Instead of gearing up to fight them — as we love to do — the most radical thing we can do is nothing at all…..t’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead” Just an amazing… https://t.co/J8A5GhTySk
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 26, 2025
What I want to know about Democrats playing dead: How can we tell? For example–
(6) A centrist snoozefest:
“The memo, exclusively obtained by NOTUS ahead of its release, lays out the three pillars: economic growth and opportunity, healthy and safe communities and strong national security and defense.”
Sounds like a good memo. https://t.co/OqMTww7vgg
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 27, 2025
(7) A hoodie too far:
(8) If you hold a primary, you don’t have to improvise a firing squad:
Former Biden press secretary Karine Jean Pierre on the post-debate fall-out.
“It was a firing squad…I had never seen anything like that before…that was shocking, shocking…It was truly, truly unfortunate. And I think it hurt us more than folks realized.” pic.twitter.com/GrFwP7muRo
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) February 27, 2025
(9) Learn to code:
former DNC Chair responds to someone pointing out he was a registered lobbyist for Boeing and Lockheed by telling him to get a job pic.twitter.com/Prs3NhwzZN
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) February 27, 2025
(10) Every so often I have hope for the labor movement but not now:
(11) Bernie, Bernie….
Trump berates Zelensky, the leader of a democratic country courageously fighting Russian imperialism, while he allies himself with Putin, a dictator who started the bloodiest European war in 80 years.
Sorry, President Trump. We believe in democracy, not authoritarianism.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 28, 2025
(12) No:
And there’s more, so much more….
Syndemics
Lambert here: Many readers have commented on how helpful they found the Covid section. Let my repeat my belief: Assume for now that airborne disease will be a constant going forward, by Rule #2. (Covid, measles, maybe bird flu, the usual suspects like TB, RSV, etc.) Devise your airborne protection protocol according to the Swiss Cheese Model and stick to it. Don’t be thinking all the time and adjusting your behavior, not least because there will be at least a two week lag time between the next pandemic getting rolling and you hearing about it in the news. The K.I.S.S. principle applies.
Covid coverage at Naked Capitalism will continue, but neither the list of Covid resources nor the Daily Covid charts will continue; they are too complex to maintain. (For a good weekly Covid wrapup, check out the Threat Model blog with Violet Blue.) I was especially pleased and proud of the collective responsibility readers took on for each other by aggregating and then maintaining the Covid Resources listings, immediately below. If some kind reader with a blog wants me to send them the HTML code, so they can carry on the work, send me mail.
Finally, I was not “HEARD” as Garrison was, very sadly. I feel that I did help out readers, and I did inspire part of a lawsuit against HICPAC’s Inspector General. Five years of charts, and the only conclusion is that anybody who tells you that Covid has gone away is deluded or shamelessly lying….
“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison
Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).
Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!
Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).
Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).
Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).
Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).
Stay safe out there!
TABLE 1: Daily Covid Charts
| Wastewater | |
| ★ This week[1] CDC February 17 | Last week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| ★ Variants [3] CDC March 1 | ★ Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC February 22 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data February 27: | ★ National [6] CDC February 27: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens February 24: | ★ Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic February 22: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| ★ Positivity[9] CDC February 10: | ★ Variants[10] CDC February 10 |
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| Deaths | |
| Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 25: | Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 25: |
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LEGEND
1) ★ for charts new today; all others are not updated.
2) For a full-size/full-resolution image, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open image in new tab.”
NOTES
[1] (CDC) Down, nothing new at major hubs.
[2] (CDC) Last week’s wastewater map.
[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has done a great job normalizing successive waves of infection.
[4] (ED) A little uptick.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Weird plateau without exponential growrht
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.
[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.
[8] (Cleveland)
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Uptick.
[10] (Travelers: Variants). Don’t know what the dominance of XEC is all about,
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
Manufacturing: “United States Chicago PMI” [Trading Economics]. “The Chicago Business Barometer, or Chicago PMI, surged 6.0 points to 45.5 in February 2025, up from 39.5 in January and exceeding market expectations of 40.6.”
Manufacturing: “FAA Proposes Airworthiness Directive for Boeing 787 Due to VHF Frequency Anomalies” [Aviacionline]. ‘The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for a new Airworthiness Directive (AD) affecting specific Boeing 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10 models. This action follows reports of uncommanded changes in VHF frequencies on the Tuning Control Panel (TCP), which could lead to communication failures with Air Traffic Control (ATC) and pose an operational safety risk….
The Economy: Git along little DOGEbags:
Federal workers have a multiplier of two or three contractors, so DOGE is well on its way to a million unemployed in a very short time. That’s a lot.
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 16 Extreme Fear (previous close: 18 Extreme Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 36 (Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 28 at 1:31:01 PM ET.
Rapture Index: Closes unchanged [Rapture Ready]. Record High, October 10, 2016: 189. Current: 181. (Remember that bringing on the Rapture is good.) • This is a tough crowd. Surely Trump’s second month brought the Rapture closer?
Zeitgeist Watch
“What conservative women know − and liberals don’t − about happiness” [USA Today]. “One of the weirdest reactions I saw after President Donald Trump was reelected in November involved videos on social media of young liberal women in hysterics over the results of our democratic process. Some even vowed to shave their heads and swear off having sex with men. I don’t remember losing my mind when Joe Biden was elected president in 2020. I was disappointed, but angry and depressed? No. Turns out, there’s data behind this phenomenon. New research shows that young conservative women are much happier than liberal women. The findings are about far more than political ideology. They demonstrate fundamental differences between Republicans and Democrats. According to the 2024 American Family Survey, liberal women ages 18-40 are far less likely than conservative women to say they are happy. Only 12% of liberal women said they are “completely satisfied” with life compared with 37% of conservative women. Self-described moderates also are happier than liberals, with 28% agreeing that they are fully satisfied with life. Grant Bailey, a research associate of the Institute for Family Studies, and Brad Wilcox, a senior fellow at the institute, investigated “how marriage, churchgoing, and loneliness help to account for the happiness gap between liberal and conservative women.” Bailey and Wilcox make a strong case that conservative women are happier because they make different life choices. They are more likely to get married, have babies and embrace a strong faith − all things that make them feel less lonely. And people who don’t feel lonely are more likely to be happy.” • Hmm.
“A History of Violence” [BookForum]. The deck: “On Gisèle Pelicot, Virginie Despentes, and post-#MeToo narratives” And: “It goes without saying that victims of sexual violence experience victimization individually. But the abiding cultural formulations of rape as unspeakable—a private and singular tragedy for which words will not suffice—serve mainly to shore up stigma and secrecy surrounding these violations, leaving rape a kind of insoluble fog saturating life under patriarchy. As a physical trauma, at least, rape is a delineable event: it happens in a particular time and place; specific, divisible bodies are involved; and presumably, at some point, the incident concludes. Either you live or you die. Your rapists are held to account or they are not. (Mostly they are not.) While the psychic aftershocks of rape are murkier, it’s nonetheless experientially intelligible; trauma does not categorically defy utterance, as is frequently insinuated or proclaimed. If narrative is at times an ill-fitting container for grief, the alternative—silence—is unthinkable.”
The Screening Room
Clip suggested by a reader (take a bow in comments):
[embedded content]
“Good. Great!”
Political Ecomedy
Clarke and Dawe, suggested by a reader:
[embedded content]
Musical Interlude
Heavy beats–
Apparently the first reggae song, c. 1965 (though perhaps not the first version):
[embedded content]
And another bassline. I can take or leave the whoever the front man is, prancing about, but the under-rated Bill Wyman is my favorite bassist after Phil Lesh:
[embedded content]
(This one is good too, and for once Wyman is in the shot most of the time, but I feel his playing is even better in the clip above.)
News of the Wired
“Violence alters human genes for generations, researchers discover” (press release) [University of Florida]. “In 1982, the Syrian government besieged the city of Hama, killing tens of thousands of its own citizens in sectarian violence. Four decades later, rebels used the memory of the massacre to help inspire the toppling of the Assad family that had overseen the operation. But there is another lasting effect of the attack, hidden deep in the genes of Syrian families. The grandchildren of women who were pregnant during the siege — grandchildren who never experienced such violence themselves — nonetheless bear marks of it in their genomes. Passed down through their mothers, this genetic imprint offers the first human evidence of a phenomenon previously documented only in animals: The genetic transmission of stress across multiple generations. ‘The idea that trauma and violence can have repercussions into future generations should help people be more empathetic, help policymakers pay more attention to the problem of violence,’ said Connie Mulligan, Ph.D., a professor of Anthropology and the Genetics Institute at the University of Florida and senior author of the new study. ‘It could even help explain some of the seemingly unbreakable intergenerational cycles of abuse and poverty and trauma that we see around the world, including in the U.S.’ While our genes are not changed by life experiences, they can be tuned through a system known as epigenetics. In response to stress or other events, our cells can add small chemical flags to genes that may quiet them down or alter their behavior. These changes may help us adapt to stressful environments, although the effects aren’t well understood. It is these tell-tale chemical flags that Mulligan and her team were looking for in the genes of Syrian families. While lab experiments have shown that animals can pass along epigenetic signatures of stress to future generations, proving the same in people has been nearly impossible.” • Will Jean-Baptiste Lamarck please pick up the white courtesy phone? (I should really file this under class warfare….)
Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From Desert Dog:
Desert Dog writes: “I found a photo of the frost on the tree.” Desert Dog periodically sent in photos of the same tree as the seasons changed. Here’s another:
And: “Some days are much better for my tree…”
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