By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Readers, I needed to research each on marketing campaign finance legislation and the Twenty Fifth Modification so some particulars are lacking. Extra quickly! –lambert

Chook Track of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, 138 Captains Dr, West Babylon, Suffolk, New York, United States. “Singing from a rooftop. Mimicry contains Black-capped Chickadee, Killdeer, Carolina Wren, Northern Flicker, American Robin (name), Blue Jay, and probably a couple of others of lesser constancy.”

In Case You Would possibly Miss…

(1) Impeachment articles towards Harris (frivolous).

(2) How Harris grabbed Biden’s warfare chest.

(3) Solely Google can search Reddit.

(4) The wheel of feelings.

Politics

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

The Constitutional Order (Twenty-Fifth Modification)

“Tennessee Republican information articles of impeachment towards Harris” [The Hill]. “Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) filed articles of impeachment towards Vice President Harris on Tuesday, as Republicans ramp up assaults whereas she launches a presidential marketing campaign…. The submitting expands on beforehand launched articles that focus on Harris’s file on immigration… He added a second article within the new submitting, which claims Harris coated up President Biden’s psychological well-being, constituting a ‘breach of public belief.’” • I don’t the immigration stuff is impeachable, so I’ll skip that half. However listed below are Ogle’ articles of impeachment, and right here is the Twenty-Fifth Modification part, which I’ve helpfully annotated:

[1] I don’t assume failing to behave upon a putative “ethical obligation” is an impeachable offense “Treason, Bribery, or different excessive Crimes and Misdemeanors”).Right here as soon as once more is the related a part of the Twenty Fifth Modification:

Each time the Vice President and a majority of both the principal officers of the manager departments or of such different physique as Congress could by legislation present, transmit to the President professional tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the Home of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his workplace, the Vice President shall instantly assume the powers and duties of the workplace as Performing President.

The Twenty Fifth Modification offers the Vice President (Kamala) the energy to “declare” “that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his workplace,” nevertheless it imposes no obligation to take action. “Ethical obligation” or no, there’s no Constitutional obligation.

[2] So what?

[3] “Breaches of public belief”, “failing primary expectations,” and “lack of integrity” should not excessive crimes and misdeameanors both. Nor are they uncommon in Our Nation’s Capital. “Use each man after his desert, and who shall ‘scape whipping?” –William Shakespeare, Hamlet.

That is frivolous, and it’s no surprise the management doesn’t assist it.

2024

Lower than 4 months to go!

Friday’s RCP Ballot Averages:

Virginia and North Carolina added to the record. NC was by no means going for Biden Harris, however Virginia? Yikes!

* * *

Biden Defenestration:

“Biden was deathly pale… Air Drive One was flying so quick I felt sick: Each day Mail’s reporter on board reveals the unimaginable inside story of the mad rush to get Joe to Covid isolation – and why she feared for him” [Daily Mail]. “When [Biden] lastly stepped by means of the door, his look was stunning. He regarded pale, weak, exhausted and shuffled slowly throughout the room. ‘He seems unhealthy,’ one reporter muttered. All of us agreed. [Unmasked,] Biden greeted [and potentially infected] the patrons, shaking palms with households at three totally different tables and posing for selfies. Lastly, a colleague acquired wind of a tip. The president’s subsequent scheduled occasion at UnidosUS had been canceled. ‘Biden has COVID,’ my colleague shouted. Moments later, we may see Karine Jean-Pierre and different senior Biden workers piling into their vans. As soon as he was on board, we reporters rushed to seek out our seats behind the aircraft. And practically from the second we lifted off the runway, the fuselage started to shake. It’s not completely unusual for Air Drive One pilots to drop the hammer. President Trump routinely requested his crew to chop down flight occasions by going sooner. However this break-neck velocity was uncommon for President Biden…. The traditional flight time from Vegas to Delaware is round 4 and a half hours. We made the journey in three hours and 48 minutes.” • Hmm. Makes you surprise if there have been any sequelae from his earlier two infections (that we all know of).

“Joe Biden’s COVID Hubris is the Nail in His Re-Elect Coffin” [Julia Doubleday, The Gauntlet (PI)]. “The reality is that to the DC machine, Joe was, similar to the remainder of us, finally disposable. He served his function by serving capital; his maskless face as an aged man in public was the final word propaganda for the disappearance of the virus that ended his profession as certainly as he claimed to have ended it. He gave his profession, his physique and his thoughts to advance the pursuits of the ruling class, to the detriment of us all. They are saying life’s a seashore, Joe. I suppose it’s for you, now.” • He claimed to have ended Covid. Then Covid ended him.

The Marketing campaign Path:

Harris (D): “Biden dropped his reelection plans. What occurs to his marketing campaign warfare chest?” (interview) [Sean Cooksey, NPR]. Cooksey is the Republican Chair of the Federal Election Fee (FEC). “Properly, I believe it’s actually difficult, is the brief reply. I imply, we take a step again to think about the state of affairs – that is actually unprecedented when it comes to trendy political historical past, and positively when it comes to marketing campaign finance legislation. We now have a presidential nominee or a presumptive nominee dropping out simply weeks earlier than his celebration conference. And he’s – what he’s making an attempt to do is to offer his complete committee, the money and all of the property…. [o]ver to a different individual.” Q: We get that. So can she use that cash? Properly, once more, I believe it’s going to should undergo a course of by means of the FEC. I believe I count on there’s going to be in all probability challenges to that on the company and doubtless within the courts, as effectively… Yeah. I believe there’s numerous totally different avenues that I may count on totally different events to problem this tried switch, this tried change to the presidential committees. There’s a course of wherein personal events can file complaints with the Federal Election Fee. There’s additionally a course of wherein they prospectively ask for advisory opinions. One of many issues with these processes is they’ll take quite a lot of time, and we don’t have quite a lot of time till the election, I believe we’re at 106 days out. And so I believe there’s going to be quite a lot of challenges within the courts as effectively.” • Whether or not or not there are grounds for injunction, I don’t know. (Although now I ponder if redirecting Biden’s website to ActBlue instantly upon his defenestration is without doubt one of the shifting components right here.) Cooksey tweeted the related marketing campaign finance legislation:

11 C.F.R. § 110.1(b)(3):

“If the candidate shouldn’t be a candidate within the common election, all contributions made for the final election shall be both returned or refunded to the contributors or redesignated …, or reattributed …, as acceptable.”

— Sean Cooksey (@SeanJCooksey) July 21, 2024

And acquired a nastygram in return:

Home Democrats at the moment are making an attempt to silence me as @FEC Chairman for elevating questions on President Biden giving VP Harris all of his marketing campaign money. All I did was quote federal laws.

Why are Democrats afraid of the legislation? pic.twitter.com/pYPJOSkPbh

— Sean Cooksey (@SeanJCooksey) July 23, 2024

We don’t even have even the sketchiest kind of proof of Biden “giving” Harris “all his marketing campaign money.” It appears that evidently Harris simply took it; the method did appear a bit brusque. I believe the matter activates the 2 phrases “redesignated” or “reattributed” in 11 C.F.R. § 110.1. I’m not a marketing campaign finance legislation maven, but when both implies a course of on the FEC, potential litigants might need some extent (primarily based on strict textual studying):

The Biden-Harris campaigns may have requested for an expedited authorized advisory opinion from the FEC earlier than appearing. Given the unprecedented nature of the state of affairs, that might have been the moral factor to do. As a substitute, they took benefit of the gradual timeline to resolve complaints…

— Laura Powell (@LauraPowellEsq) July 24, 2024

* * *

Syndemics

“I’m in earnest — I cannot equivocate — I cannot excuse — I cannot retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

Covid Sources, United States (Nationwide): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; contains many counties; Wastewater Scan, contains drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Normal Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).

Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be happy to contact me on the handle given with the crops. Please put “COVID” within the topic line. Thanks!

Sources, United States (Native): 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 stories); 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 (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tricks to useful 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, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, sq. coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep secure on the market!

Transmission: Covid

“Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in saliva, stool, and urine samples of COVID-19 sufferers in Bihar, India Open Entry” [Microbiology Research]. From the Summary: “In addition to inhalation as a route for transmission, feco-oral has additionally been proposed. Its transmission to sewage methods is a rising public well being concern…. This cross-sectional observational research was carried out from January 2021 to March 2022 on human non-respiratory samples. A complete of 345samples together with saliva (116), stool (97), and urine (132) had been collected from 143 COVID-19 circumstances. Samples had been analysed for SARS-CoV-2 by multiplex RT-PCR focused towards E, ORF 1ab, and RdRp genes. On this research, out of 143cases, a complete of 107 (74.8%) had been optimistic for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in a minimum of one of many nonrespiratory samples. There’s a excessive prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 virus in non-respiratory samples.” And: “The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA within the faeces of COVID-19 sufferers signifies potential feco-oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Along with this, the excretion of SARS-CoV-2 in human stool and saliva is a priority of public well being significance, particularly in growing nations like India the place open defecation and spitting in public is a rampant observe. Additionally, stray animals could get contaminated and may function a supply of an infection for people. The sewage system may additionally be a possible supply of viral outbreaks, group unfold, and a future surveillance technique. Nevertheless, these potential routes of transmission want additional investigation.”

Maskstravaganza

Masks whereas swimming (!), a thread:

It’s pool and seashore season! Will a respirator work for swimming and water parks (or bathe sans hair washing)?

Utilizing my PortaCount 8020A, I examined essentially the most accessible & inexpensive water resistant respirator, 3M Aura 1870+, after 6 and eight hours of wear and tear on the pool (1.5hrs whole of… pic.twitter.com/xwx00hGI8V

— Stealthy Jess 🇨🇦 💜 (@AdvancedTweaker) July 24, 2024

Celeb Watch

Profitable gold within the FAFO Olympics:

Yesterday: Australia’s Olympic staff chief stated one water polo participant had covid however they had been ‘treating covid no in another way to different bugs….this is not Tokyo.”

Immediately: pic.twitter.com/4uHwfWHG34

— Nate Bear (@NateB_Panic) July 24, 2024

Elite Maleficence

One other sure-to-be maskless convention, arising:

Please inform me the pandemic preparation group has learnt one thing from the disastrous WHO AIRBORNE disinformation response to SARS-CoV-2??

Is the main target nonetheless simply on vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, and surveillance?

Is nobody discussing the lesson concerning the very important… https://t.co/jnjR8KgarD pic.twitter.com/AgkRAAPJgw

— John Johnston (@JOHNJOHNSTONED) July 24, 2024

“Is nobody discussing the lesson concerning the very important position of transmission mitigation methods and the elemental significance of getting the mode of transmission proper?” Till the powers-that-be can work out learn how to cost hire for the air, the “mode of transmission” will not be of “basic significance,” no.

Lambert right here: Appears like the vacation journey dumped accelerant on the pre-existing surge; see particularly the expansion in wastewater “scorching spots.” Keep secure on the market!

Tech: “CrowdStrike gives a $10 apology reward card to apologize for outage” [TechCrunch]. “CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity agency that crashed hundreds of thousands of computer systems with a botched replace all around the world final week, is providing its companions a $10 Uber Eats reward card as an apology, in line with a number of individuals who say they obtained the reward card, in addition to a supply who additionally obtained one…. ‘To specific our gratitude, your subsequent cup of espresso or late night time snack is on us!’”

Tech: “Google Is the Solely Search Engine That Works on Reddit Now Due to AI Deal” [404 Media]. “Google is now the one search engine that may floor outcomes from Reddit, making one of many net’s most respected repositories of consumer generated content material unique to the web’s already dominant search engine. If you happen to use Bing, DuckDuckGo, Mojeek, Qwant or another different search engine that doesn’t depend on Google’s indexing and search Reddit by utilizing “website:reddit.com,” you’ll not see any outcomes from the final week. DuckDuckGo is at present turning up seven hyperlinks when looking Reddit, however offers no knowledge on the place the hyperlinks go or why, as a substitute solely saying that ‘We wish to present you an outline right here however the website gained’t enable us.’ Older outcomes will nonetheless present up, however these search engines like google and yahoo are now not capable of crawl’ Reddit, which means that Google is the one search engine that may flip up outcomes from Reddit going ahead. Trying to find Reddit nonetheless works on Kagi, an unbiased, paid search engine that buys a part of its search index from Google. The information reveals how Google’s close to monopoly on search is now actively hindering different corporations’ capacity to compete at a time when Google is dealing with growing criticism over the standard of its search outcomes. And whereas neither Reddit or Google responded to a request for remark, it seems that the exclusion of different search engines like google and yahoo is the results of a multi-million greenback deal that offers Google the appropriate to scrape Reddit for knowledge to coach its AI merchandise. They’re [Reddit] killing the whole lot for search however Google,’ Colin Hayhurst, CEO of the search engine Mojeek informed me on a name.” • And naturally, as typical, Google “scraping” Reddit means stealing the labor of lots of of 1000’s of customers. “Unique accumulation,” because the Bearded One calls it. All for a power-hungry bullshit generator no person ever requested for, however the Bros thought could be an amazing thought!

Tech: Hat tip, Silicon Valley:

Immediately’s Worry & Greed Index: 43 Worry (earlier shut: 55 Impartial) [CNN]. One week in the past: 58 (Greed). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jul 24 at 12:37:17 PM ET.

Zeitgeist Watch

Attention-grabbing graphic:

Attention-grabbing thought however I’m unsure I settle for the classes or the strategy (Spinoza distinguishes between feelings and emotions, although with out the textual content handy I can’t say why. However I’m unsure this wheel does). In the meantime, a fraction throughout the Democrat Occasion is clearly feeling sturdy feelings, collectively, after Kamala’s annunciation. I don’t know the place to position them on this wheel (nor do I perceive them within the first place).

Class Warfare

“Excessive wealth has a deadening impact on the super-rich – and that threatens us all” [George Monbiot, Guardian]. “Excessive wealth can severely hamper enjoyment. As Michael Mechanic paperwork in his guide, Jackpot, there are two teams of people that have to consider cash on a regular basis: the very poor and the very wealthy. Immense wealth possesses you simply as a lot as you possess it: managing it turns into a full-time job. You don’t know whom to belief; you can begin to think about your pals aren’t buddies in any respect; it will possibly dominate and poison your loved ones relationships. It will possibly hole you out, socially, intellectually and morally. However I believe there is perhaps an extra corroding side of wealth that hasn’t been broadly mentioned. Nice wealth flattens the world. If you happen to can go anyplace and do something, the whole lot is over the horizon. You velocity previous the native and the actual, in the direction of an endlessly escalating very best of luxurious: the higher marina, the larger yacht, the personal jet, the super-home. The satisfaction horizon can retreat earlier than you. Place has no which means, apart from as a setting which may impress the buddies you now not belief. However anybody who’s impressed by cash shouldn’t be price impressing.”

Information of the Wired

“Relationships are coevolutionary loops” [Escaping Flatland]. “That is what I infer after I see somebody who’s comfy of their distinctive strangeness, too. There in all probability exists somebody who enabled that evolution of persona. A father or mother, a pal group, a partner. It’s uncommon for folks to come back into themselves if nobody is worked up and interested by their core, their potential. We want somebody who offers us area to unfold…. For me, that is Johanna. We first met when she was 21 and I used to be 22 and later grew to become a pair. What’s me in me has unfolded primarily in her firm. This has been a mutual unfolding; we spoke one another into being. This essay is about how we made our first house collectively. By house I don’t imply simply the bodily construction, however the emotional area wherein the coevolutionary loop performs out.” • Hmm.

However, progress nonetheless does happen:

Contact data for crops: Readers, be happy to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) learn the way to ship me a test in case you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to learn the way to ship me photographs of crops. Greens are wonderful! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary crops! If you would like 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 timotheus:

Timotheus writes: “Tobacco as ornament.”

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