By Lambert Strether.

Readers, my head chilly continues, as does my stuffed-up stupidity and whinging. Ugh. –lambert

Chicken Music of the Day

Brown Thrasher, Davidson Faculty–Most important Campus, Mecklenburg, North Carolina, United States.

“Nation diary: A hen that had existed solely in my creativeness turns into vividly actual” [Guardian]. “We’ve come to church this morning in quest of a fictional hen… To this point my solely sighting of the UK’s largest finch has been in my Collins Information to British Birds…. One thing strikes close to the highest of an ash by the church tower. There, on a leafless department, sits my first ever hawfinch. A hunk with buff breast, barely darker crown and a heat cinnamon again with the slate-grey wing patches that inform me it’s a feminine.

She’s consuming one thing – probably a yew berry. Unaffected by the toxicity, she’ll make mild work of the seed contained in the pink fleshy aril along with her specifically modified invoice, able to exerting a pressure in extra of 450N. For a hen with a fame for being elusive, her Latin title, Coccothraustes coccothraustes (the kernel-crushing kernel crusher), has the all subtlety of a sledgehammer. Taking a look at her hefty invoice and thick-set physique, I can’t deny that she is manifestly – and magnificently – actual.” • They discovered the hen!

* * *

In Case You May Miss…

  1. DOGE as a revolutionary NRx (neo-reactionary) mission.
  2. DOGE seeks to keep away from FOIA.
  3. DOGE given sysadmin privileges at Workplace of Personnel Administration with days of the Inaugural.
  4. An atmospheric Turner.

* * *

Search for the Helpers

“Canine’s sudden sickness reveals area’s generosity” [Ashland Daily Press (SD)]. • Dog gets a wheelchair…

* * *

My email address is down by the plant; please send examples of there (“Helpers” in the subject line). In our increasingly desperate and fragile neoliberal society, everyday normal incidents and stories of “the communism of everyday life” are what I am looking for (and not, say, the Red Cross in Hawaii, or even the UNWRA in Gaza).

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

“DOJ sues Illinois, Chicago over ‘sanctuary city’ laws” [The Hill]. “‘The challenged provisions of Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County law reflect their intentional effort to obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe,’ the lawsuit states.” • Unsurprising, since sanctuary cities are a form of “nullification” of which John C. Calhoun would be proud.

DOGE

“Software, Sovereignty and the Post-Neoliberal Politics of Exit” [SAGE Journals (BP)]. Fight through the academic prose on this one: “This paper examines the impact of thinking – that of Curtis Yarvin, Nick Land, Peter Thiel and Patri Friedman in particular – on contemporary political debates manifest in ‘architectures of exit’… Approaching NRx thinking just a few years ago might have been a mildly diverting exercise; a chance to ‘connect some philosophical ideas … using some very silly right-wing nutjobs who were nevertheless … interesting’ (Sandifer, 2017: 1). As MacDougald (2015) describes, NRx writing often appears as ‘little more than a fever swamp of feudal misogynists, racist programmers and “fascist teenage dungeon masters,” gathering on subreddits to await the collapse of Western civilization’. As such, it reads like ‘all the awful things you always suspected about libertarianism with odds and ends from PUA culture, Victorian Social Darwinism, and an only semi-ironic attachment to absolutism’. However, post-2016, as Sandifer (2017: 1) expresses it in her own inimitable style, ‘everything went to shit’ and suddenly these otherwise ‘batshit crazy’ ideas, associated software projects and social prototyping experiments began to manifest across a whole range of global cultural, political and technological imaginaries. As hard as it is to fathom, NRx thinking now forms a significant part of the theoretical universe that contemporary political figures and ‘proto-theorists’ such as Dominic Cummings (in the UK) (Cummings, 2020; Lewis et al., 2002; Mulhall, 2020; Volpicelli, 2020; Wolf, 2020) and Steve Bannon (in the US) (Goldhill, 2017; Gray, 2017) draw upon and are attempting to promulgate into mainstream political discourse. As Nagle (2017: 53) explains it, supporters of NRx ideas seem to have been more adept at ‘heeding the ideas … of … Gramsci’s theory of hegemony’, especially via social media (Daniels, 2018), than have those on the left more usually associated with them (Mouffe, 2019).” • This was thrown over my transom a few days ago; and today, this–

“Subject: Capture of U.S. Critical Infrastructure by Neoreactionaries” (PDF) [anonymous]. Interesting memo, embedded for distribution at the end of today’s Water Cooler. “Rather than operating as an ally of the Trump administration, Musk has hijacked its ambitions for his own purposes. His rapid takeover of federal infrastructure mirrors the broader ambitions of the neoreactionary (NRx) movement—a small group of Silicon Valley elites who reject democracy and seek to install a “CEO Monarch” to rule by technological and financial dominance. This network includes Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, David Sacks, and Curtis Yarvin, among others. Once considered fringe, purveyors of this ideology have now been embedded into the core of government operations. Musk’s maneuvering demonstrates a long-standing strategy of this elite class: not dismantling government, but replacing its power structures with ones they control. DOGE has not reduced bureaucracy—it has privatized it. Treasury has not been made more efficient—it has been placed under a billionaire’s influence. TikTok has not been secured from foreign threats—it has been delayed so Musk can position himself as its gatekeeper. President Trump, far from asserting dominance over the administrative state, may now find himself hostage to Musk.” • Normally, I don’t care what confirmed enshittifiers like Thiel, Andreessen, Srinivasan, Sacks, Yarvin et al. think, as long as they stay in their cuddle puddles; none of these rich dudes are as insightful as they think they are (and all are subject to “Big Man” syndrome, where nobody says “No” to them, which gradually poisons their worldview of that is actually feasible). And normally Lambert the Cautious wouild prefer to connect many more dots before any pronouncement. I remain cautious because I don’t know the provenance of the piece, although it doesn’t read like it was produced by the DNC. The remedies — “Launch Immediate Congressional Investigations; II. Strengthened Conflict of Interest and Ethics Recommendations” — are very weak — What, no General Strike? — suggesting to me it comes from the NGO ambit, from a shop like Indivisible. I will say it’s the first piece I’ve seen that gives an account of DOGE’s extreme speed and secrecy. Know your enemy (and that goes for MAGA, too. Which side do you thing Thiel and Andreessen were on in the H1B fight?) Oh, and before anybody screams CT, what this looks like to me: “The first FlexNet I’ve seen that attempted to seize state power.” NOTE Adding, it’s nice to have another explanation for Mush’s frenetic behavior than Special K: By this account, he must see himself as point man for an actual revolution; I would imagine Lenin has a lot of short nights in 1917, too.

* * *

“‘What Musk is doing is illegal’: Bernie Sanders slams DOGE gutting agencies” [CNN]. • Yes, that’s the point. See above.

“Musk’s Brazen Cost-Cutting Campaign Is Annoying GOP Senators, Treasury Staff” [Bloomberg]. Exremely deceptive headline, because way too bland: “. As Bessent was building out his team in December, he interviewed Tom Krause, who is now a member of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to a person familiar with the matter. Krause is now digging into Treasury’s systems and data. Among the topics they discussed during the interview was the very mission in which DOGE is now engaged, the person said. A group of roughly half a dozen GOP senators reached out privately to the White House to object to Musk’s accessing of Treasury systems, according to people familiar with the conversations. The senators indicated that the moves went beyond DOGE’s stated mission to save the government money. Yet , even recommending Krause for the special government employee status he now is using to plumb Treasury’s servers.” • Lends some credence to the idea broached by alert reader hamstak that DOGE started work early, and somebody badged one or more of the “programmers” in before official project launch.

“Musk’s DOGE agents access sensitive personnel data, alarming security officials” [WaPo]. Another blandly deceptive headline: “Agents of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have gained access to highly restricted government records on millions of federal employees — including Treasury and State Department officials in sensitive security positions — as part of a broader effort to wrest control over the government’s main personnel agency, according to four U.S. officials with knowledge of the developments…. Records obtained by The Post show that several members of Musk’s DOGE team — some of whom are in their early 20s and come from positions at his private companies — were last month. That gives them sweeping authority to install and modify software on government-supplied equipment and, according to two OPM officials, to alter internal documentation of their own activities.” Yikes. More: “Meanwhile, morale has plummeted, said three OPM officials, as DOGE agents have clashed with senior career personnel. One official recalled a recent meeting in which a young DOGE team member began screaming at senior developers and calling them ‘idiots.’” Seems to be going well. More: “. Three more gained access about a week later, they said.” And: “A former U.S. security official said DOGE’s access to Treasury’s payment system is alarming, describing it as a comprehensive map to U.S. expenditures encompassing highly classified programs and purposes. The agency said this week Musk’s agents have “read-only access.’”

“Day Seven of the Trump-Musk Treasury Payments Crisis of 2025: “Yours and WIRED’s Reporting is Actually Doing Something”” [Nathan Tankus, Notes on the Crises]. Does DOGE operative Marko Elez have read access (the press), or read-write (the blogs): “A source familiar with the situation who I asked about the current circumstances and the latest state of play of ‘read only’ versus ‘read and write’ had this to say: “Again, it’s a distinction that doesn’t matter too much to me. He shouldn’t have access to this almost 5 trillion dollar payment flow, even if it’s ‘read-only.’ He shouldn’t even be at Fiscal Service. None of this should be happening and it’s only going to get worse the longer ‘DOGE’ is here and the more they learn about what they can do and get away with.” In other words, while it’s good news that they are reacting to our reporting, the situation still remains catastrophic at best and we can’t relent until this has been resolved.”

* * *

“The blatant lie behind Elon Musk’s power grab” [Vox]. “‘We have $36 trillion of national debt growing at a rapid rate,’ the billionaire investor Bill Ackman posted on X Tuesday. ‘All Americans must therefore make their voices heard loud and clear about how much they support DOGE, Elon and our president’s efforts to help our country. We cannot let DOGE fail as our country is rapidly on the path to insolvency.’ There are many reasons to reject this argument. The United States is not going to become ‘insolvent’ any time soon. And preserving the rule of law is likely more important to our nation’s long-term well-being than slashing federal spending…. DOGE, meanwhile, is ostensibly focused on rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending. But it is not mathematically possible to offset entitlement spending or tax cuts by eliminating such waste (and identifying fraudulent or wasteful disbursements in advance is easier said than done). Musk has claimed, without evidence, that there is $1.7 trillion in annual waste and fraud — a figure that nearly matches the size of the federal deficit. Yet when DOGE has actually tried to name specific examples of ‘wasteful’ spending, it has offered up programs that have negligible budgetary costs.” • And not, say, the Pentagon. Or the CIA’s black budget. And I long for the day when Stephanie Kelton is Treasury Secretary.

* * *

“DOGE Employees Ordered to Stop Using Slack While Agency Transitions to a Records System Not Subject to FOIA” [404 Media]. “The messages indicate that, under Elon Musk’s leadership, DOGE is actively taking steps to make sure its communications and records are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, a records transparency law commonly used by journalists and lawyers to hold government accountable. Instead, DOGE is asserting that rather than reporting up through the Office of Management and Budget as the United States Digital Service did for years, it is reporting through the Executive Office of the President and to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Under OMB, it was generally subject to FOIA. Under the White House Chief of Staff, records it creates are generally not subject to FOIA.” • Hi, Susie [waves].

* * *

Oh for a moment of blessed silence without Elon’s yammering:

In order that’s alright, then:


* * *

“DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.Attractive LLC’ and Labored at Startup That Has Employed Convicted Hackers” [Wired]. And the deck: “Specialists query whether or not Edward Coristine, a DOGE staffer who has passed by ‘Large Balls’ on-line, would move the background verify usually required for entry to delicate US authorities techniques…. Davi Ottenheimer, a longtime safety operations and compliance supervisor, says many components about Coristine’s employment historical past and on-line footprint might elevate questions on his means to acquire safety clearance. ‘Restricted actual work expertise is a threat,’ says Ottenheimer, for instance. ‘Plus his deal with is actually Large Balls.’” • I’m positive Coristine will do very properly. It’s curious we don’t know what number of hires DOGE has. They’re introduced as a small, elite crew, however “Large Balls” argues in opposition to that. 100? 1000?

“The Younger, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Authorities Takeover” [Wired]. “[Luke Farritor] is a former intern at SpaceX, Musk’s area firm, and at present a Thiel Fellow after, based on his LinkedIn, dropping out of the College of Nebraska—Lincoln. Whereas in class, he was a part of an award-winning staff that deciphered parts of an historical Greek scroll.” • An enchanting mission, and one might want that Farritor had continued as a scholar, as an alternative of becoming a member of an neo-reactionary FlexNet.

2024 Publish Mortem

“‘Uncommitted’ leaders stand by 2024 technique after Trump floats Gaza takeover” [NBC]. “Even contained in the Harris marketing campaign, there was dissent about whether or not she wanted to take a extra aggressive stance for Gaza. A Harris organizer who labored on youth turnout mentioned that senior marketing campaign officers gave them an order: Once they despatched out mass volunteer or fundraising emails and other people replied by asking about Gaza, they have been instructed to mark it as ‘no response.’ The end result? They seldom ended up participating with voters on that situation. ‘We additionally didn’t create a brand new class for Gaza responses out of worry that class could be leaked. As a substitute we have been instructed to mark them as ‘no response,” the organizer mentioned, faulting high Harris marketing campaign leaders for failing to deal with the problem. ‘The one ‘clowns’ on the market are those that have been in senior management and determined to abdicate on this situation, who silenced a Palestinian speaker on the DNC, and who instructed us to disregard it each time a voter requested us about Gaza.’” • So the Democrat regulars organized to misinform themselves in their very own polls. Jogs my memory of a unbroken character in Nicole Hollander’s basic collection Sylvia, “The Lady Who Lies in Her Journal”:

“Oh, proper. Such as you by no means considered it.”

Democrats en déshabillé

“Democratic polling finds Elon Musk is unpopular” [Politico]. “New internal polling, conducted on behalf of House Majority Forward, a nonprofit aligned with House Democratic leadership, found Musk is viewed negatively among 1,000 registered voters in battleground districts. His approval rating is upside down (43 percent approve to 51 disapprove) and his favorability is even worse (42 percent favorable to 51 percent unfavorable). And the survey was completed between Jan. 19-25 — before some of Musk’s more extreme moves as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency. Pollsters asked respondents for their thoughts on ‘the creation of a government of the rich for the rich by appointing up to nine different billionaires to the administration,’ and found 70 percent opposed with only 19 percent in support — a stat that suggests Democrats have landed on a message that could gain traction with swing voters.” • But what about the good billionaires? Anyhow, I say “ride it out and wait for the midterms.”

“Democrats’ phones bombarded with calls to ‘fight harder’” [Axios]. “Congressional Democrats’ offices are being inundated by phone calls from angry constituents who feel the party should be doing more to combat President Trump and his administration.” But: “‘There has definitely been some tension the last few days where people felt like: you are calling the wrong people. You are literally calling the wrong people,’ said one House Democrat.” • But that’s a familiar tension, isn’t it?

Realignment and Legitimacy

“DEI Is a Failure Because the Civil Rights Movement Wasn’t About Elite Diversity” [Zaid Jilani, The American Saga]. “Not every critic of DEI is motivated by white resentment. Many people criticize these programs because they have little positive impact on diversity, anyway, and there’s a bunch of evidence that diversity trainings can actually make people more prejudiced.” Turning DEI into a self-licking ice-cream cone, since more prejudice requires more training. More: “The reality is that DEI is only tangentially related to the rights and opportunities of minorities. The civil rights movement was not about diversifying corporate or government offices with a few black or brown faces in places of power. It wasn’t about diversity trainings where employees roll their eyes as someone hired by HR lectures them for three hours about their privilege. It was about redistributing power to the masses of people who don’t have it, including white people.” • So it would be nice if we didn’t roll back civil rights too.

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 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!

Transmission: Covid

“Nearly 30% of cats, dogs owned by COVID patients had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies by 2021” [Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy]. “Nearly 30% of cats and dogs belonging to COVID-infected patients in central Texas tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, signaling previous infection, from 2020 to 2021, according to a study published yesterday on the preprint server bioRxiv.”

Variants: H5N1

Oh good:

* * *

TABLE 1: Each day Covid Charts

Wastewater
This week[1] CDC January 27 Last week[2] CDC (until next week):

Variants [3] CDC January 18 Emergency Room Visits★[4] CDC January 25

Hospitalization
★ New York[5] New York State, data February 3: National [6] CDC January 31:

Positivity
National[7] Walgreens February 3: Ohio[8] Cleveland Clinic February 1:

Travelers Data
Positivity[9] CDC January 13: Variants[10] CDC January 13

Deaths
★ Weekly Deaths vs. % Positivity [11] CDC January 25: ★ Weekly Deaths vs. ED Visits [12] CDC January 25:

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) Definitely jumped, but no exponential growth either, Odd.

[6] (Hospitalization: CDC). Leveling out.

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward trend since, well, Thanksgiving.

[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 Challenger Job Cuts” [Trading Economics]. US employers announced 49,795 job cuts in January 2025, above 38,792 in December 2024 but down 40% from 82,307 a year earlier. It is also the lowest January job cut total since 2022. ‘January was relatively quiet in terms of job cut announcements. However, we’ve already seen major announcements in the early days of February, so it seems this quiet is unlikely to last,’ said Andrew Challenger, Senior VP of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Technology led all sectors in job-cutting activity in January with 7,488.”

Employment Situation: “United States Initial Jobless Claims” [Trading Economics]. “Initial jobless claims in the US rose by 11,000 from the previous week to 219,000 in the last week of January 2025, above market expectations of 213,000. In the meantime, recurring claims rose by 26,000 to 1,886,000 in the previous week, ahead of market expectations of 1,870,000. Despite remaining robust against a historical perspective, the data was in line with the view that the US labor market is due for a slight degree of softening in 2025.”

* * *

Manufacturing: “The same Boeing passenger plane keeps being diverted after take-off… what’s going on?” [Independent]. • Registration code N819AN.

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 40 Fear (previous close: 39 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 49 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Feb 4 at 2:10:42 PM ET.

Guillotine Watch

Pretty!

Public Well being

“RealClearFoundation Launches the Journal of the Academy of Public Well being” [RealClearScience]. “5 February 2025 (Washington, DC) The RealClearFoundation proclaims right this moment the launch of the Journal of the Academy of Public Well being, a revolutionary new scientific journal publishing cutting-edge, peer-reviewed and open entry analysis from the world’s main students of epidemiology, vaccinology, international public well being, well being coverage and associated disciplines.  The Journal was co-founded by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford College and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, previously of Harvard College. Their shared imaginative and prescient is introduced in Dr. Kulldorff’s inaugural paper, “The Rise and Fall of Scientific Journals and a Approach Ahead.” • Splendid to see one of many service suppliers from Stanford’s home of ailing fame make good. (Up till this level, I’ve at all times thought of RealClear* to be conservative, however strong. No extra, sadly.

Information of the Wired

I’m not wired right this moment.

APPENDIX

Musk-NRx-Memo-February-5-2025

* * *

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 TW:

TW writes: “Hoarfrost, Christmas Day, at Patrick Marsh, Sun Prairie, WI.” Wow!

* * *

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered.

To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.













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