2:00PM Water Cooler 12/23/2024 | naked capitalism

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Patient readers: Yes, as we enter the holiday season, I’m going to lighten up on Water Cooler (which is hard, because the world doesn’t stop being interesting, or volatile, simply because the West has a religious holiday, and in any case I don’t really focus on holidays all that much).

Today’s Water Cooler would be a full complement, except that I am having my main laptop’s keyboard repaired, and I foolishly did not put a copy of my Water Cooler template on this backup machine. So the structure will be a bit off, and the Covid tables won’t appear. Oops! –lambert

Bird Song of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Washington, Maryland, United States. “Adult male Northern Mockingbird singing from power lines and deciduous trees at intersection.” Seventeen minutes of mimicry, plus a cow, so enjoy your coffee.

In Case You Might Miss…

1. Trump to pull out of WHO.
2. Boeing 737 crashes not due to MCAS?!
3. Covid and the brain.
4. Quantum consciousness.

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 Transition

“6 key lines from Trump’s Sunday speech to conservative activists in Phoenix” [CNN]. “Here are six key lines from Trump’s speech on Sunday.” (1) Trump said he would consider retaking control of the Panama Canal, which he referred to as a ‘vital national asset,’ doubling down on social media posts he’d made on the topic Saturday.” (2) “Trump said bringing the [Ukraine] war to an end is ‘one of the things I want to do quickly,’ and said Putin wants to meet with him ‘as soon as possible.’ (3) “No, [Musk’s] not taking the presidency. I like having smart people,’ he said. ‘They’re on a new kick. ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ ‘Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine,’ all the different hoaxes. The new one is ‘President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.’ No, no, that’s not happening.” (4) “‘Woke has to stop. Because along with everything else, it’s destroying our country. We’re going to stop woke,’ Trump said. ‘Woke is bullsh*t.’” (5) “Trump pointed to rises in diagnoses of autism, childhood cancer and chronic diseases, and said that ‘something’s wrong.’ ‘Together, we’re going to make America healthy again,’ Trump said. ‘Something bad is happening.’” (6) “Trump said he was shown a chart highlighting the views his campaign had received [on TikTok]. ‘As I looked at it I said, ‘Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while,’ he said.” • Here is the complete speech from C-SPAN.

“Elon Musk Is Donald Trump’s Wrecking Ball” [Bloomberg]. “The US government has just narrowly avoided a shutdown — and the speculation, confusion and concern around tech titan Elon Musk’s power in Washington is rampant. So rampant that President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming press secretary was forced to clarify. ‘As soon as President Trump released his official stance on the CR, Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed his point of view,’ Karoline Leavitt explained about the plan to keep the government funded, known as a continuing resolution.’President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party. Full stop.’” • When you’re explaining, you’re losing. And so it begins:

Trump: [Elon Musk] is not going to be president. That I can tell you. I’m safe. You know why? He can’t be. He wasn’t born in this country pic.twitter.com/YpgcGZ0jF4

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 22, 2024

* * *

“GOP congressman says it feels like Elon Musk is ‘our prime minister’” [NBC]. “‘It’s kind of interesting,”” [Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas,] said during an interview on CBS News’ ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a speaker. It feels like as if Elon Musk is our prime minister.’” • Swell, another extra-constitutional entity. And one based on feelings! Why oh why is the only revolutionary energy out there — “Let’s have a Prime Minister!’ — on the conservative side? (Or am I missing it….)

“Donald Trump’s transition team seeks to pull US out of WHO ‘on day one’” [Financial Times].”Members of Trump’s team told the experts of their intention to announce a withdrawal from the global health body on the president-elect’s January 20 inauguration. The departure would remove the WHO’s biggest source of funds, damaging its ability to respond to public health crises such as the coronavirus pandemic. ‘America is going to leave a huge vacuum in global health financing and leadership. I see no one that is going to fill the breach,’ said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown Law, adding that the plan to withdraw ‘on day one’ would be ‘catastrophic’ for global health.” • WHO’s performance on Covid was also catastrophic, so it’s Sophie’s choices all the way down. I did just check to see if this infamous tweet has finally been taken down:

It seems to have been (unless search has been gamed). So I suppose a tiny amount of progress has been made.

* * *

“” Paid for Sex, Used Drugs While in Congress, Panel Finds” [Bloomberg]. “House investigators found “”substantial evidence”” former Representative Matt Gaetz paid several women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex and bought and used illegal drugs while in Congress, according to a bipartisan committee report released Monday. Gaetz, who President-elect Donald Trump initially nominated to be his attorney general, had asked a court to prevent the report’s release, but his paperwork was filed incorrectly. The committee wrote there was ample evidence “”that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”” In addition to the sexual misconduct, the committee found evidence that Gaetz used illicit drugs and created a fake email from his Capitol Hill official congressional office “”for the purpose of purchasing marijuana.”” The report also accuses Gaetz of accepting excessive undisclosed gifts, including a 2018 Bahamas vacation. Gaetz, a Florida Republican who has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing, in November resigned his congressional seat and bowed out of consideration to be Trump’s attorney general amid opposition to his confirmation from GOP senators. But the details in the report still raise questions about his political future, including a possible run for governor of Florida.” • If only Gaetz were a genocidaire… Then his nomination would have been met with universal applause! (Note that the Justice Department, in a separate investigation, filed no charges.) 

“Gaetz floats possible bid for Rubio’s Senate seat” [The Hill]. “;Many have asked which perch I will be fighting from next, and some of you throughout this conference have even given me a few suggestions,’ Gaetz said at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest. ‘My fellow Floridians have asked me to eye the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in Congress.’ ‘It seems I may not have had enough support in the United States Senate. Maybe I’ll just run for Marco Rubio’s vacant seat in the United States Senate and join some of those folks,’ Gaetz continued, nodding to the fact he struggled to win enough support among senators to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general.” • 

* * *

“Sriram Krishnan named Trump’s senior policy advisor for AI” [TechCrunch]. “President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed reports that Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), will serve as senior policy advisor for AI at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Trump said in a statement that Krishnan will ‘help shape and coordinate AI policy across government, working with the president’s council of advisors on science and technology.’ And in a post on X, Krishnan said that he’ll be working closely with ex-PayPal COO David Sacks, who was recently named Trump’s crypto and AI ‘czar.’” • I’ve just been blocked on X by Andreessen, who is, after all, just another bullet-headed tech bro weasel, although said to be freer with his blocks than others. A badge of honor, so far as I’m concerned. Let the enshittification begin!

“Trump picks billionaire financier for deputy defense secretary” [WaPo]. “President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday night announced that he will nominate Stephen Feinberg, a billionaire political supporter who has been involved in the defense contracting business, to the job of deputy defense secretary…. Feinberg is the co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, which has invested in hypersonic missiles and previously owned the private military contractor DynCorp, a company that was acquired by another defense firm, Amentum, in 2020…. During the first Trump administration, Feinberg led the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which provides the U.S. leader advice on intelligence assessments and estimates and counterintelligence matters.” • Cerberus is, of course, the multi-headed watchdog for the gates of Hell in Greek mythology. One can only wonder why the name was chosen.

* * *

“Trump’s lawyers are the unsung heroes of his electoral victory” [The Hill]. • Correct. Though — take a bow, Fani! — Trump’s lawyers had help.

Republican Funhouse

“EXCLUSIVE: Where is Congresswoman Kay Granger?” [The Dallas Express]. “According to Ms. Granger’s roll call vote page, Grangers last vote was on July 24th, 2024… The Dallas Express attempted to reach her district and D.C. offices but calls went directly to voicemail where a recorded message from Congresswoman Granger plays…. We then visited her office in person hoping to understand how Congresswoman Granger planned to vote on the continuing resolution this afternoon. Upon arrival, we found the door locked, front door glass window covered, no one inside, and no sign of the office continuing to be occupied…. We then received a tip from a Granger constituent who shared that the Congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood. The Dallas Express team visited the facility to confirm whether Granger was residing there and to inquire about how she planned to vote on the spending bill. Upon arrival, two employees confirmed that Granger is indeed living at the facility. However, we were not permitted to conduct an interview regarding the current spending debate in the House of Representatives and how or if Ms. Granger planned to vote.” • Good for a scrappy local paper. Sounds like another one of the many, many Washingtont stories everybody knows about, but nobody talks about.

“Rep. Kay Granger says she’s had ‘unforeseen health challenges,’ but not in memory care” [The Hill]. “Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) says she’s had ‘unforeseen health challenges,’ with her office denying that she’s in memory care…. On Sunday, the 81-year-old congresswoman’s son, Brandon Granger, told The Dallas Morning News that she has been ‘having some dementia issues late in the year.’ Brandon Granger said his mother is living at Tradition Senior Living in Fort Worth and also confirmed that she is not in a memory care facility.” • Oh.

Democrats en déshabillé

“Not A Democrat” [Joe Klein, Sanity Clause]. “The Party Left Me.” So, our long national nightmare is over? In any case: ” First thing in politics, you need a candidate. And if you want to accomplish something more than business as usual, especially within the party, you need a great candidate. You need a candidate who accurately describes the state of the union and more, is willing to say ‘unpopular’ things—it’s the surest path to credibility, just ask Donald Trump. You need a politician who sounds like he or she is speaking English that hasn’t been strained through the consultant-pollster Cuisinart. You need a candidate who answers questions directly, as Kamala Harris never seemed to do…. Now, such a candidate might be available to the Democrats in 2028. But I don’t see any obvious choices right now.” • One can only wonder if there was a Democrat candidate like that. One who ran twice, say.

“Ocasio-Cortez faces uncertain political future” [The Hill]. “Her centrist colleagues’ promotion of Connolly sent a clear message that Democrats want to suppress left-wing ideology as they look to rebrand their image, challenging Ocasio-Cortez’s place in the party, which has lost considerable power in Washington.” • All that opportunism, and yet opportunity never knocked. Sad.

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Luigi Mangione pleads not guilty to N.Y. state charges in killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO” [NBC]. “Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty Monday to New York state charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. And “[Defense lawyer Karen Agnifilo] placed the blame for these ‘perp walks’ on Mayor Eric Adams, calling these public parades of Mangione ‘absolutely unnecessary’ and ‘perfectly choreographed, utterly political.’” The tenor of the defense? And in  response: “‘Mayor Adams’ priority is — and always has been — public safety, and he has repeatedly spoken about how social media is fueling the radicalization of our youth. Critics can say all they want, but showing up to support our law enforcement and sending the message to New Yorkers that violence and vitriol have no place in our city is who Mayor Eric Adams is to his core.’” • Adams stepped right into it, since alll that “showing up to support” pollutes the jury pool.

“Luigi Mangione Judge Married to Former Healthcare Executive” [Ken Klipperstein]. “Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker, who is overseeing pre-trial hearings for Luigi Mangione, is married to a former Pfizer executive and holds hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock, including in healthcare companies and pharmaceutical companies, according to her 2023 financial disclosures. The judge’s ties to the healthcare business are a stark reminder of how pervasive the for-profit industry is in American life — a point made by Mangione himself.”

“Luigi Mangione Pleads Not Guilty to State Murder Charges” [Wall Street Journal]. “Agnifilo had previously said she was surprised by the federal charges. The state and federal prosecutions were in conflict with one another, she said. The state case is based on his allegedly terrorizing and intimidating a group of people, she said, while the federal case accuses him of stalking an individual.”

Syndemics

“”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 Sequelae

“COVID-19 may Enduringly Impact cognitive performance and brain haemodynamics in undergraduate students” [Brain, Behavior, and Immunity]. From the Conclusion: “The present study found evidence suggesting that COVID-19 infection is associated not only with subjective cognitive impairment but also with prolonged objective cognitive impairment, especially in executive functioning, in some but not all undergraduate students. Moreover, we found novel evidence of distinct task-related anterior prefrontal haemodynamic responses in students reporting a past COVID-19 infection relative to those reporting no past infection, and exploratory analyses suggested this may be particularly true for those who reported experiencing brain fog due to COVID-19. This new information may prove important as we move forward towards developing interventions in response to the mounting evidence that COVID-19 has prolonged influences on brain health. In closing, we call for scientists to respond urgently to the rapidly increasing prevalence of long covid symptoms pertaining to the brain.”

“Persistence of spike protein at the skull-meninges-brain axis may contribute to the neurological sequelae of COVID-19” [Cell]. The Highlights: “SARS-CoV-2 spike protein persists in the skull-meninges-brain axis in COVID-19 patients. Spike protein is sufficient to induce brain pathological and behavioral changes in mice. Spike protein enhances brain vulnerability and exacerbates neurological damage in mice. mRNA vaccines reduce, but do not eliminate, the spike burden.”

Stats Watch

Manufacturing: “United States Durable Goods Orders” [Trading Economics]. “New orders for manufactured durable goods in the US decreased 1.1% month-over-month to $285.1 billion in November 2024, following an upwardly revised 0.8% rise in October and much worse than market forecasts of a 0.4% decline.”

“Airline Watchdog Raises New Questions On NTSB Handling Of Boeing 737 MAX Electrical Faults” [Simple Flying]. “The Foundation for Aviation Safety, founded by Ed Pierson, a former Boeing 737 factory manager turned whistleblower, has renewed its calls for investigators to review production processes at Boeing’s Renton facilities in the context of the two fatal 737 MAX crashes…. According to the foundation, the documents prove that Boeing and the FAA were aware of quality control and installation issues of the Electrical Wiring Interconnect System (EWIS) while the 737 MAX aircraft were being built at the factory in Renton, Washington, the United States. ‘MCAS software and the lack of pilot training did not trigger these two fatal crashes. Shockingly, the [official] documents show that Boeing suspected the new ET302 airplane had intermittent electrical faults in the airplane’s wiring before it crashed.’” More: “[A]fter the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (EAAIB) published its final report of the Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash that happened in March 2019, NTSB pushed back against claims made by the Ethiopian investigators. The latter party concluded that electrical problems that existed since the time of the accident aircraft’s production date resulted in the left angle of attack (AoA) sensor heater failing, resulting in the AoA sensor providing erroneous values to the 737 MAX’s flight computer,” • Hoo boy. Not the MCAS?

Manufacturing: “American Airlines is cutting international flights next year — and blaming Boeing” [Quartz]. “American Airlines (AAL) will be doing a little less international travel next year, apparently because it won’t have the planes it needs to do so. The airline said it will be putting off a number of new routes thanks to Boeing (BA) fulfilling jetliner orders more slowly than expected.”

Manufacturing: “COMAC courts airlines in Cambodia, Kazakhstan, and Indonesia for C919 orders” [Aerotime]. “COMAC (the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China) has been making moves to attract airlines based in Indonesia, Cambodia, and Kazakhstan, to place orders for its C919 narrowbody 158-192 seat aircraft. The move comes as the Chinese planemaker seeks its first orders for the jet outside of mainland China, say sources close to the Shanghai-based company…. COMAC’s opportunity to attract more airlines to its C919 jet (which competes in the market with the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX) has improved throughout 2024 as quality issues at Boeing plus supply chain bottlenecks and delayed deliveries have plagued the other two manufacturers. Notwithstanding these issues and compounding the situation for airlines is that both Airbus and Boeing narrowbody production lines are sold out until beyond 2030.”

Tech: “Bluesky finds with growth comes growing pains — and bots” [Associated Press]. “But with growth comes growing pains. It’s not just human users who’ve been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites…. Little data has emerged to help quantify the rise in impersonator accounts, artificial intelligence-fueled networks and other potentially harmful content on Bluesky. But in recent weeks, users have begun reporting large numbers of apparent AI bots following them, posting plagiarized articles or making seemingly automated divisive comments in replies.” 

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 29 Neutral (previous close: 28 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 54 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 23 at 1:15:00 PM ET.

Xmas Pre-Game Festivities

“Santa Confirms Everyone Getting Bag Of Glitter Labeled ‘Fairy Dust’ His Sister-In-Law Sells On Etsy” [The Onion]. • But as so often with this decade’s Onion, the headline is all you really need to read… 

Mystery Drones

“Why drone hysteria has taken off” [CBS]. “George Mason University engineering professor Missy Cummings, who has been doing drone research for 25 years, says what most people are actually seeing are likely aircraft, stars, or reflections off of objects, like towers. ‘Of all of those options, drone is the least likely, because it’s actually pretty hard to pick these out of the sky,’ she said. ‘If you’re actually looking at lights from a drone, it means that you’re definitely not looking at a foreign adversary, because they’re sophisticated enough to turn the lights off.’” • Fair enough. I reiterate that the initial NY sightings were SUV-sized, and while I cannot say that none of them had lights on, what I can say is that report that I read that they did. So I am a hard-core laggard on this; I don’t think any official figure has given a public account of the initial large drones, and the media coverage, which conflated all drones with bright lights in the sky, has successfully obscured the initial sitings, whether through sheer laziness or intent, who knows. File under “I guess we’ll never know.”

Gallery

Pissaro:

Zeitgeist Watch

Paganism makes a rebound:

News of the Wired

Science is popping:

“Dark energy mystery is finally SOLVED – as scientists come up with a radical new theory to explain the mysterious force” [Daily Mail]. “[N]ew evidence supports the ‘timescape’ model of cosmic expansion, which doesn’t have a need for dark energy. This ‘timescape model’ takes into account the fact that time itself moves much slower in the presence of a gravitational field, such as the one around Earth. … This theory does away with the need for dark matter by challenging one of the basic assumptions of traditional cosmology…. It may be mind-blowing to us human beings, but variations in gravitational forces change the way that time progresses in the universe. The timescape model suggests that a clock placed on Earth would move 35 per cent slower than one tossed into cosmic voids between superclusters of galaxies. By the time the clock here on Earth has completed one 24-hour round from midnight to midnight, the clock in space would already show 08:00 am the next day. On the time scale of the universe, this means billions of more years have already passed in the voids between galaxies than at the heart of the Milky Way. So, even if the universe is expanding at the same rate it was after the Big Bang, the spaces between galaxies would have grown much more than we would expect – creating the illusion of acceleration.” • For the physicists in the readership, the original paper–

“Supernovae evidence for foundational change to cosmological models” [Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]. From the Abstract: “We compare the standard homogeneous cosmological model, i.e. spatially flat cold dark matter (⁠CDM), and the timescape cosmology which invokes backreaction of inhomogeneities. Timescape, while statistically homogeneous and isotropic, departs from average Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker evolution, and replaces dark energy by kinetic gravitational energy and its gradients, in explaining independent cosmological observations.” Well, er, but concluding: “These results provide evidence for a need to revisit the foundations of theoretical and observational cosmology.” • More research needed!

“Your Consciousness Can Connect With the Whole Universe” [Popular Mechanics]. “A recent groundbreaking experiment in which anesthesia was administered to rats has convinced some scientists that tiny structures in the rodents’ brains are responsible for the experience of consciousness. To pull it off, microscopic hollow tube structures called “”microtubules”” perform some advanced physics; the experts believe microtubules perform incredible operations in the quantum realm. Citing the work of earlier researchers, the study infers that the same kinds of quantum operations are likely happening in the human brain.” And: “The Wellesley study is significant because the physical source of consciousness has been a mystery for decades. It’s a major step toward verifying a theory that our brains perform quantum operations, and that this ability generates our consciousness—an idea that’s been gaining traction over the past three decades.” And: “If this quantum theory of consciousness tied to microtubules turns out to be correct, it could revolutionize our understanding of consciousness and even strengthen the trailblazing theory that consciousness, on a quantum level, is capable of being in all places at the same time. In other words, it can exist everywhere simultaneously, suggesting that your own consciousness can hypothetically connect with quantum particles beyond your brain, maybe entangling with consciousness all across the universe.” • Just don’t tell the marketing department.

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 CK:

CK writes: “An autumnal plantitude from long ago and far away.”

And: “A bonus. These three (yes, there is a cat in that tree) lovelies have recently passed on. For me, this photo captures the absolute magic of our shared years.”

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