By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
Fowl Tune of the Day
Northern Mockingbird, Ensenachos, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. “One singing in timber out again of 3400 constructing.”
In Case You May Miss…
- Krugman hangs up his keyboard.
- UnitedHealthcare capturing: Particulars proceed to emerge.
- Inequity aversion solely in people?
Politics
“So lots of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in truth a rational administration of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles
Biden Administration
“Biden is contemplating preemptive pardons for officers and allies earlier than Trump takes workplace” [Associated Press]. “President Joe Biden is weighing whether or not to concern sweeping pardons for officers and allies who the White Home fears might be unjustly focused by President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, a preemptive transfer that may be a novel and dangerous use of the president’s extraordinary constitutional energy. The deliberations to date are largely on the stage of White Home legal professionals. However Biden himself has mentioned the subject with some senior aides, based on two individuals conversant in the matter who spoke on situation of anonymity Thursday to debate the delicate topic…. Whereas the president’s pardon energy is absolute, Biden’s use on this trend would mark a major growth of how they’re deployed, and a few Biden aides concern it may lay the groundwork for an much more drastic utilization by Trump. Additionally they fear that issuing pardons would feed into claims by Trump and his allies that the people dedicated acts that necessitated immunity.”
Trump Transition
“Hegseth says he gained’t withdraw as he struggles as Trump’s Protection decide” [Politico]. “Pete Hegseth spent this week trying to woo senators — and others — as he fought to stay Donald Trump’s decide for secretary of Protection. He met with cautious and supportive lawmakers, his lawyer tried to shoot down misconduct allegations and even his mom went on Fox to defend her son…. However with out [Jodi] Ernst, who serves on the Armed Providers Committee and is a veteran and sexual assault survivor, together with different skeptical Republicans like Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, Hegseth’s affirmation seems in jeopardy.” And: “‘I’m a distinct man than I used to be years in the past, and that’s a redemption story that I feel quite a lot of Individuals admire, and I do know from fellow vets that I’ve frolicked with, they resonate with that as properly,’ Hegseth stated in response to the allegations. ‘You combat, you go do robust issues in robust locations on behalf of your nation, and typically that adjustments you somewhat bit.’” • Honey, I’ve modified!
“Trump aides say Pete Hegseth nonetheless has an opportunity to be confirmed as protection head” [Guardian]. “Trump himself has not expended any actual political capital by calling holdouts on Hegseth’s behalf, the Trump aides engaged on his nomination have, each with senators and inside Trumpworld to make sure he has the president-elect’s backing. Hegseth’s crew, which incorporates aides who’re near the vice-president-elect JD Vance and Trump’s eldest son Don Jr, characterize a very highly effective group that has the power to achieve Republican senators and the Trump inside circle. The trickiest hurdle for Hegseth, the individuals stated, seems for now at the least to be convincing Republican senator Joni Ernst to again his nomination or guaranteeing her resistance doesn’t embolden her shut colleagues within the Senate to vote in opposition to him. Ernst, an Iowa Republican and fight veteran who has spoken about being sexually assaulted herself, had a closed-door assembly with Hegseth on Wednesday however didn’t provide her endorsement when she emerged, in addition to in an interview on Fox Information the next morning. For various our senators, they wish to be sure that any allegations are cleared, and that’s why we’ve to have a really thorough vetting course of,” Ernst instructed Fox Information, agreeing with the host Invoice Hemmer that she had not reached a ‘sure’ on Hegseth. The continued resistance from Ernst sparked complaints from Trump’s crew at Mar-a-Lago, the place the transition operation is headquartered, that Ernst was content material to sink Hegseth’s nomination as a result of she was within the job herself.”
“Mission 2025 pressuring US Republican senators to verify Pete Hegseth as defence chief” [Associated Press]. “The think-tank behind Mission 2025, the conservative blueprint linked to US president-elect Donald Trump, is launching an effort to again Trump’s imperilled choice for secretary of defence in its newest try to wield affect within the incoming Republican administration. Heritage Basis President Kevin Roberts stated on Thursday that his group will spend US$1 million to stress senators unwilling to again Pete Hegseth, whose nomination to steer the Pentagon has come into query over his views on girls serving in fight and reviews about his private behaviour.” • South China Morning Publish rips an AP story from the wire….
* * * “Trump Names David Sacks as White Home AI and Crypto Czar” [Bloomberg]. “Donald Trump says he’s deciding on enterprise capitalist David Sacks of Craft Ventures LLC to function his synthetic intelligence and crypto czar, a newly created place that underscores the president-elect’s intent to spice up two quickly creating industries. ‘David will information coverage for the Administration in Synthetic Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas crucial to the way forward for American competitiveness. David will deal with making America the clear world chief in each areas,’ Trump stated Thursday in a submit on his Reality Social community. Trump stated that Sacks would additionally lead the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Know-how.” • America is already a world chief in fraud, so what precisely is Sacks going to do this’s completely different?
“Trump names ICE chief and makes one other spherical of immigration bulletins” [Politico]. “Trump stated he was nominating Rodney Scott as commissioner of Customs and Border Safety. Scott served for nearly three many years within the Border Patrol, and because the chief of the company over the last yr of the Trump administration and starting of the Biden administration. He helped implement Trump’s Stay in Mexico Coverage, Title 42 and Protected Third Nation agreements. Trump additionally introduced he was tapping Caleb Vitello, who’s at the moment the assistant director of the Workplace of Firearms and Tactical Applications in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to function appearing director of ICE.”
2024 Publish Mortem
“5 Takeaways From the 2024 Elections Now That They’re Lastly Over” [Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine]. “[T]otal GOP management of the federal authorities in all probability gained’t final greater than two years, and there aren’t any explicit indicators of an electoral realignment down poll. Republican triumphalism and Democratic despair are equally unmerited from the attitude of the election itself.” And concluding: “So the sensible expectation going ahead is sustained partisan polarization and extremely contested elections, not some crimson apocalypse.” The ever-level-headed Kilgore is all the time value a learn. This, nonetheless, caught my eye: ” The GOP positive factors amongst Democratic “base” constituencies (particularly Latinos and younger voters) that obtained a lot consideration this yr are most simply defined by short-term response to deeply destructive financial perceptions quite than some basic alienation from the Democratic Get together that we will take with no consideration going ahead.” • I’m not so certain. I hold going again to that extraordinary map of counties displaying shifts to blue, or crimson. And virtually all the nation was crimson. That universality argues to me that there’s one thing deeper happening than “quick time period response,” and I’d speculate it’s a response to PMC governance as such. This codes as wokeness, in fact, however the PMC is greater than our nationwide HR division. The additionally extraordinary outpouring of reactions to the Thompson capturing match into this hypothesis (which in all probability gained’t be leveraged by Republicans, and can’t be by Democrats (“I can’t lower my throat two methods,” as Toby Esterhase remarks someplace in Tinker, Tailor)). However by anyone?
Marketing campaign Finance
“Elon Musk donated greater than $250mn to Donald Trump’s marketing campaign, electoral filings present” [Financial Times]. “Elon Musk donated greater than $250mn to Donald Trump’s election marketing campaign, together with at the least $75mn within the closing weeks earlier than the vote, US electoral filings have revealed.” • Sooner or later, Musk’s gonna neglect that Trump is the President, not him…
Our Famously Free Press
“Putin’s Pals Say Tucker Carlson Is Acting as a Secret Back-Channel to Trump” [The Daily Beast]. • And this is bad why? Who do we want for the job? Vicky Nuland?
The Wizard of Kalorama™
“Obama calls political ‘divisiveness’ one of the ‘greatest challenges of our time’” [Politico]. “Former President Barack Obama called out divisiveness and polarization as ‘one of the greatest challenges of our time,’ as he avoided any specific political references in his first public remarks since the election….. ‘It’s about recognizing that in a democracy, power comes from forging alliances and building coalitions… not only for the woke, but also for the waking,’ Obama told the crowd of about 650 participants at the Obama Foundation event on Chicago’s South Side, just a few miles from where Obama’s presidential center is under construction.” • I wonder how many of the 650 “participants” were from the neighborhood. Anyhow, as far as “divisiveness and polarization” and polarization, I have not forgotten or forgiven how, 2024 – 2008 = 16 years ago, at Daily Kos, “You’re a racist” was literally the second move in the Obot script. Like calling somebody a fascist, calling somebody a racist is a bell you can’t unring. They didn’t learn a thing, did they?
Realignment and Legitimacy
Like baseball card collection, but of oligarchs:
Besides Donald Trump, Elon Musk and his fellow DOGE head Vivek Ramaswamy, at least 11 billionaires will be serving key roles in the administration.
Whether it acts as a government for billionaires could test and potentially tarnish his populist legacy. https://t.co/29dm9mSJ3s pic.twitter.com/x4pm6Dc0Sn
— Axios (@axios) December 6, 2024
Combine ’em! Match ’em! Share ’em with your mates! There are, says UBS, about 2700 billionaires on this planet, and we’ve 11 of them within the Trump administration, a not negligible absolute numbers. It’s fascinating to have oligarchs working straight in authorities, quite just like the boss firing the managers and coming onto the store flooring due to course they will do it higher. The press protection will naturally be sycophantic….
“A Bipartisan Slippage in Requirements” [Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal]. “It’s embarrassing as a citizen to see the president of america pardon his son, and in such an all-encompassing method, for any authorized transgression going again almost 11 years, which appears like a concession to the idea that his extra fascinating law-stretching or -breaking could also be but unknown. The president had promised continuously and explicitly that he wouldn’t pardon his son, that he’d play it straight and let the course of justice play out. Which suggests he knew it was vital to individuals, to how they considered him, and so he lied to reassure them. All this did what others have stated: lowered belief in political leaders, made the cynical extra cynical…. The pardon struck me as a bitter motion, too. A president who cared about public opinion, and even that of his personal get together, wouldn’t have accomplished it, or fairly this manner. It’s the president flipping the chook to an ungrateful (and in addition quite decadent!) nation that coldly turned on him after a single debate, after which elected that tramp Donald Trump—they deserve what they get… As to the Politico report that the White Home is contemplating pre-emptive pardons for officers not but even accused or convicted of breaking the regulation, wow. If that’s true it makes you surprise. What have our leaders been as much as the previous 4 years that they require such unprecedented forgiveness? Even with fears of a vengeful Trump Justice Division, pre-emptive pardons are an extreme transfer. Now to the incoming administration’s slippage of requirements, the unique cupboard picks that veer from ‘that’s a stretch’ to ‘that’s insane.’ The extra unique nominees—Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Well being and Human Providers, Pete Hegseth at Protection, Kash Patel on the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mehmet Oz at Medicare and Medicaid Providers—don’t have backgrounds that match the roles. Taken collectively they appear like individuals who wish to blow issues up.” You say “blow issues up” like that’s a foul factor. And eventually: “Too lots of the Trump nominees have stated, a method or one other, that they intend to take out the deep state, however they need to begin explaining precisely what they imply. The deep state isn’t actually a conservative perception, and it isn’t a brand new one.” • It’s an earworm, to not be defined.
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; consists of many counties; Wastewater Scan, consists of drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, however nationwide information). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Basic Ideas” (particularly on hospitalization by metropolis).
Lambert right here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To replace any entry, do be at liberty 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 reviews); 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).
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, KidDoc, 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!
Origins Debate
“Wuhan lab samples maintain no shut kin to virus behind COVID” [Nature]. “After years of rumours that the virus that causes COVID-19 escaped from a laboratory in China, the virologist on the centre of the claims has offered information on dozens of recent coronaviruses collected from bats in southern China. At a convention in Japan this week, Shi Zhengli, a specialist on bat coronaviruses, reported that not one of the viruses saved in her freezers are the latest ancestors of the virus SARS-CoV-2. Shi was main coronavirus analysis on the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a high-level biosafety laboratory, when the primary circumstances of COVID-19 have been reported in that metropolis. Quickly afterwards, theories emerged that the virus had leaked — both by chance or intentionally — from the WIV. Shi has constantly stated that SARS-CoV-2 was by no means seen or studied in her lab. However some commentators have continued to ask whether or not one of many many bat coronaviruses her crew collected in southern China over many years was intently associated to it. Shi promised to sequence the genomes of the coronaviruses and launch the info. The most recent evaluation, which has not been peer reviewed, consists of information from the entire genomes of 56 new betacoronaviruses, the broad group to which SARS-CoV-2 belongs, in addition to some partial sequences. All of the viruses have been collected between 2004 and 2021.” • Huge if true. Appears somewhat late.
TABLE 1: Every day Covid Charts
Lambert: Sadly, I can not get CDC’s wastewater web page to load. Hopefully Monday.
| Wastewater | |
| This week[1] CDC November 25 | Last week[2] CDC (until next week): |
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| ★ Variants [3] CDC December 7 | ★Emergency Room Visits[4] CDC November 30 |
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| Hospitalization | |
| ★ New York[5] New York State, data December 5: | ★ National [6] CDC December 5: |
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| Positivity | |
| National[7] Walgreens December 2: | Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic November 23: |
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| Travelers Data | |
| ★ Positivity[9] CDC November 19: | ★ Variants[10] CDC November 4: |
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| Deaths | |
| ★ Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC November 20: | ★ Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC November 20: |
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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) Good news!
[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) Down.
[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Leveled out.
[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Actually improved; it’s now one of the few charts to show the entire course of the pandemic to the present day.
[7] (Walgreens) Down.
[8] (Cleveland) Down.
[9] (Travelers: Positivity) Leveling out.
[10] (Travelers: Variants). Positivity is new, but variants have not yet been released.
[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.
[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.
Stats Watch
Employment Situation: “United States Unemployment Rate” [Trading Economics]. “The unemployment rate in the United States went up to 4.2% in November of 2024 from 4.1% in the prior month, in line with market expectations.”
Manufacturing: “FAA administrator says Boeing still not producing MAX planes after strike” [Reuters]. [FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker] said Boeing’s plan is to slowly restart production later this month and he plans another meeting in January as the company ramps up…. He declined to say when he thought the FAA would restore Boeing’s ability to produce more than 38 planes per month, but said he would be surprised if it was less than multiple months before they get close to the 38 maximum…. Whitaker, who announced another audit of Boeing in October, has said it could take five years for Boeing to reform its safety culture, but noted the planemaker has deployed a new parts management system and improved training, adding, ‘What I saw this week was really what I expected to see.’ He wants Boeing to adopt an effective Safety Management System, which are a set of policies and procedures to proactively identify and address potential operational hazards. ‘We haven’t seen evidence of it working the way it’s supposed to work, where your risk assessment is driving your behavior,’ Whitaker said. The National Transportation Safety Board has also said Boeing’s SMS failed to catch problems years earlier.” And: “Whitaker said he has had some preliminary conversations with the Trump transition team and plans more, adding it was too early in the conversation to say if he expects to remain in the job.” • Nice little litmus test.
Manufacturing: “Boeing pauses surveillance plan to track employees at the office” [Seattle Times (PI)]. “Hours after The Seattle Times asked Boeing about a program to install digital surveillance sensors in its Everett offices, the company said it has ‘paused our pilot program at all locations and will keep employees updated.’ Boeing began Monday installing ‘workplace occupancy sensors’ in the main Everett office towers that use motion detectors and cameras mounted in ceiling tiles above workstations, conference rooms and common areas. The sensors are intended to gather information that’s then analyzed using artificial intelligence to feed data to Boeing real estate and facilities managers about how many people are coming to the office and using specific spaces, and for how long. For people already concerned about how their internet and cellphone use can be tracked outside work, this new form of workplace surveillance proved unwelcome, despite Boeing’s insistence that it doesn’t invade anyone’s personal privacy. The plan was outlined to employees last week and one was creeped out enough at the prospect to share the PowerPoint presentation with The Seattle Times. ‘It scared me to my core,’ said the employee, who declined to provide their name. ‘What you can see is, to say the least, evil.’ Whether from such reactions or from the press inquiry on Thursday, Boeing has backed off for now.’ And: “Boeing’s presentation gave employees fulsome assurances that the ‘sensors do not capture any identifiable information.’” • Of course, of course. Is it possibly that Ortberg is evem worse than Calhoun?
Tech: “Why is printer ink so expensive?” [Digital Rights Bytes]. “Printer companies have several methods to make it hard for you, and for competitors, to replace their expensive first-party cartridges… Competition: The printer companies have a very concentrated market—an oligopoly. After gobbling one another up, only five major companies are left standing. Legal: Printer companies rely on a mix of “intellectual property” (IP) laws to block third parties from reverse engineering their printers …. Technical: Ink cartridges from the big companies often now include microchips designed to stop you from using third-party ink. It’s possible to make a program that lies to your printer on your behalf, so that a $5 third-party ink cartridge tells your printer, “Yup, I’m an HP ink cartridge.” But printer companies also exploit their devices’ always-on network connections to push “updates” to your printer that cause them to reject third-party ink cartridges from companies that have braved the legal risks to provide you with cheaper ink.” And; “So why do printer companies charge so much for ink? .”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 54 Greed (previous close: 55 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 67 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Dec 6 at 1:41:43 PM ET.
Healthcare
More on the UnitedHealth shooting. I tried to cut out as much duplication as possible:
“Hunt for the gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare’s CEO reveals new clues about movements in New York” [Associated Press]. “Investigators believe the suspect may have traveled to New York last month on a bus that originated in Atlanta, one of the law enforcement officials said…. Investigators have learned the man lowered his mask at the front desk of the hostel because he was flirting with the woman who checked him in, one of the law enforcement officials told the AP, leading to a photo of his face. The woman told investigators that during that encounter she asked to see his smile and he pulled down his mask [amateur], the official said. Investigators believe the suspect used a fake New Jersey identification card when he checked in at the hostel, the official said.” • I would like to know what kind of mask; I’ve seen “ski mask” specified, but it’s hard for me to imagine checking in wearing a ski mask, even in a very rough hostel.
“Search continues for gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York” [WaPo]. “Police reiterated on Thursday that they believe the attack was premeditated, which raised questions about how and why the shooter was able to locate Thompson — who was staying in a different hotel — at that specific time and place. While Wednesday’s investor conference had been announced last month, the location was not specifically included in that information.” Oh. Oligarchs settling their differences, then? But: “New York is teeming with surveillance cameras, and footage from one obtained by The Washington Post appeared to show that about a half-hour before the shooting, the individual later identified as a person of interest exited the 57th Street station for the F Train and headed down Sixth Avenue toward the Hilton. Images released by police also seemed to show that person had used cash to buy something at a Starbucks before the shooting.” And: “Investigators are waiting for DNA test results on items they think may have belonged to the shooter — a water bottle and a cellphone abandoned near the crime scene, according to the official.” So, amateur?
“Was Brian Thompson’s Killer a Hit Man? Unlikely, Experts Say” [New York Times]. “[David Shapiro, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, and a former F.B.I. special agent] added: ‘In terms of a professional hit man, that seems unlikely. It would be very hard to get somebody to do something like this. It’s very high risk.’” And: “the shooter left a trail of clues.” Besides the Starbucks and the hostel: “After the shooting, the police found not only the shell casings but also a cellphone that they are examining. None of this looks like the work of a professional, the experts said.” And: “‘I think he planned this as meticulously as his abilities allow,’ said [Michael C. Farkas, a defense attorney who has worked as a New York City homicide prosecutor]. ‘And he’s probably intelligent enough to know the odds of evading capture indefinitely are not in his favor,’ he said. ‘He clearly wanted to send a message, and he is trying to get away.’” •
“Hit Men Aren’t What You Think” [Slate]. “The thing that struck me was the fact that he knew where [Thompson] was going to be and when he was going to be there. Generally, you get that information by observing the individual. You find their schedule and their routine, and then you intercept them somewhere along the line on their routine. This was obviously not a routine setting. So he had to have some reason to believe that Thompson was going to be coming out of that door at an approximate time to be able to lay in wait. Because it’s Manhattan, standing around waiting risks the likelihood of being challenged by a cop or security guard coming by, which suggests that he had reason to know when the guy was going to be coming out. It suggests some sort of inside information.”
“Online sleuths are racing to catch the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer” [WaPo]. “The early evidence shared by police has largely been composed of images from New York’s vast infrastructure of surveillance cameras, a mix of public and private recording devices that investigators routinely access to identify and track criminal suspects throughout the city. In 2021, as part of a crowdsourcing project, volunteers with the human-rights group Amnesty International counted more than 25,000 cameras on buildings, poles and streetlights across New York City. Stanford University researchers that year estimated that New York’s camera density was nearly four times higher than Los Angeles. The murder scene’s location in one of Manhattan’s busiest districts probably ensured the man was recorded from many angles, said Ralph Cilento, a former commander of detectives with the New York police who retired in 2021 and now teaches police science at John Jay College. ‘Midtown is like the Iron Dome of cameras,’ Cilento said, referencing the rocket-repelling air-defense system that blankets the Israeli skies. ‘You cannot get into Manhattan at all now without being caught on camera.’ But finding and gathering all that visual evidence can require considerable effort — and take more time than some sleuths on social media are prepared to give. ‘They will track the guy all the way through the city,’ he said, but “it’s extraordinarily tedious work.’”
“The spotlight is on health insurance companies. Patients are telling their stories of denied claims, bankruptcy and delayed care” [Yahoo News]. “For many, the cost of life-saving care is too high, and medical debt is the No. 1 cause of bankruptcy in America. That is to say nothing of the emotional labor of navigating the complex system. With Thompson’s killing and the Anthem policy, there’s been widespread response with a similar through line: a pervasive contempt for the state of health insurance in the United States. The most illustrative reactions, though are the personal ones, the tales of denied claims, battles with insurance agents, delayed care, filing for bankruptcy and more.” • Interesting to see “emotional labor” sneak in there; I would say it’s labor, first and foremost.
News of the Wired
“No evidence for inequity aversion in non-human animals: a meta-analysis of accept/reject paradigms” [Proceedings B]. The Abstract: “Disadvantageous inequity aversion (IA), a negative response to receiving less than others, is a key building block of the human sense of fairness. While some theorize that IA is shared by species across the animal kingdom, others argue that it is an exclusively human evolutionary adaptation to the selective pressures of cooperation among non-kin. Essential to this debate is the empirical question of whether non-human animals are averse towards unequal resource distributions. Over the past two decades, researchers have reported that individuals from a wide range of taxa exhibit IA; tasks where participants can reject or accept a given distribution of rewards delivered the bulk of this evidence. Yet these results have been questioned on both conceptual and empirical grounds. In the largest empirical investigation of non-human IA to date, we synthesize the primary data from 23 studies using accept/reject tasks, covering 60 430 observations of 18 species. We find no evidence for IA in non-human animals in these tasks. This finding held across all species in the dataset and pre-registered subsets (all species reported to exhibit IA, primates reported to exhibit IA, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys). Alternative interpretations of the data and implications for the evolution of fairness are discussed.” • Hmm. People with pets, do you agree?
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