2:00PM Water Cooler 1/29/2025 | bare capitalism

Chicken Tune of the Day

Brown Thrasher, Newnans Lake SF–East Path (Pithlachocco Path), Alachua, Florida, United States. Virtuosic!

In Case You Would possibly Miss…

1. Anti-Trump lawfare begins… however with far, way more strong circumstances.
2. OMB memo RESCINDED. That was quick!
3. A protection of slowness.

Politics

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

Trump Assassination Makes an attempt (Plural)

They disappeared The Claims Adjuster too:

It’s been six months because the Butler assassination try and we nonetheless know nothing concerning the man who shot Donald Trump, a lot much less why he was allowed to do it. That ought to make you nervous. Sean Davis explains.

(0:00) The Three Massive Questions of the Trump Assassination Try… pic.twitter.com/Y6ZHachAut

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 17, 2025

Trump Administration

Lambert right here:

From my armchair at 60,0000 toes, right here is how I see Trump’s government orders and yesterday and right this moment’s barrage of communiqués from the OMB. A primary approximation, issues can change!

First, the Democrat Get together is sort of a rotten plank, and the Republicans had been going to punch by it ultimately. I really feel sooner is best than later, as a result of I’ve some optimism about a greater consequence later if “we” take the punch now, what with the assorted approaching and inter-related crises that shall be worse and worse later.

As a result of–

Second, the important thing level shouldn’t be what the Republicans do (“You may belief the Republicans… To be Republicans”) however how Democrats react. In spite of everything, Trump shouldn’t be that in style; his victory in 2024 was strong, however not spectacular; and “pausing” packages upon which the working class relies upon won’t be the easiest way for Trump to pivot his get together to make that very same working class his base. This means an unlimited energy vacuum within the Democrat Get together management, and politics abhors a vacuum. Any individual will step up, nearly by definition not from the drained, flaccid, corrupt, and dull-witted get together management, however “out of nowhere.” My thought was a metropolis councillor from, say, Minnesota (plain-spoken and media savvy are musts); Yves questioned the place our Huey Lengthy is. Maybe the Skunk Get together!

Third, the Medicaid shutdown fiasco (particulars to return beneath) reveals some weaknesses within the Trump operation. Stoller is appropriate to say that Republicans wish to govern, and Democrats shrink from it, however all of the Republicans needed to do to stop the Medicaid shutdown after they wrote the OMB “pause” memo was to explicitly exempt Medicaid by identify, as they did with Medicare and Social Safety, in footnote 2. Everybody is aware of to learn the footnotes, proper? Properly, apparently no one in Stephen Miller’s OMB did. I don’t understand how the screw-up occurred — some reactionary dweeb thought Medicaid was a part of Medicare? They hate poor individuals? Their AI had a hallucination? — however the identical form of factor occurred with the Bush Administration, which found that you simply simply can’t swap in Liberty College attorneys for Harvard attorneys (Christianists although they might be). Or after they tried to reconstruct Iraq with twenty-something Younger Republicans. In different phrases, simply because Republicans need to manipulate doesn’t imply they do it nicely.

P.S. I don’t wish to suggest that I’m wedded to the Democrat Get together; in any case, the Republican Get together was within the White Home after solely two election cycles. I don’t take any of the prevailing different events severely; however that doesn’t imply a brand new second get together couldn’t be created. My thought — blue sky although it’s — is that Democrats 2.0 could be a dues paying get together, an concept that labored so efficiently for Labour within the UK that the spooks, the press, the Israeli Embassy, and the electeds all needed to work onerous to cripple it. So perhaps Corbyn was onto one thing. Any individual extra intelligent than I’m must pencil it out, however dues would possibly take the get together out of the palms of the squillionaires. Sufficient dues, and also you begin providing member advantages, too. Why not? Blue skying wildly, the opposite main dues-paying establishment in politics is… unions. Why not a Labor Get together? Sounds loopy, however if you think about the leverage that the Longshoreman, the railway employees, the truckers, and the airline stewardesses may exert if directed towards a single program at a single time… Properly, “The ability to destroy a factor is absolutely the management over it.”

P.P.S. On the rescission of OMB memo M-25-13 (belowP: I don’t assume the impulses behind the memo have modified. There appear to have been three drivers: (1) animus in opposition to “massive gummint” typically; (2) animus in opposition to NGOs; (3) animus in opposition to DEI, but in addition different numerous “irritable psychological gestures.” Taking these out of order: Massive Gummint points are additionally being dealt with on the personnel stage (see the OPM materials). Psychological Gestures will not be particularly related — does anyone actually imagine that “Marxist fairness” and “Inexperienced New Deal Social Engineering” are sufficiently conceptualized to be “recognized” not to mention “reviewed”? DEI is the exception because it has an institutional equipment to assist it, however frankly, if the Republicans handle to kill it off, they’ll be doing Democrats a favor. As for NGOs, I feel they’re the true goal of the memo, which could rationally have been pared down to handle them alone (and maybe shall be). Do recall, for instance, that on the important thing Republican challenge of immigration, the allocation of immigrants to cities and cities throughout the US was dealt with, not by authorities, however by an invisible albeit well-funded community of NGOs, a coverage that must be introduced into the sunshine of day and examined. So whereas the memo was poorly drafted, its rescission is a minor tactical victory.

* * *

OMB memo M-25-13 -> Medicaid freeze-up -> response -> rescission. This hyperlink provides the very best timeline and element–

“As some Medicaid websites freeze up, White Home acts to make clear pause on grants and packages” [Stat]. • Summarizing the discourse because it flowed throughout my feed: M-25-13 explicitly exempted Medicare and Social Safety from the freeze (or “pause”) in footnote 2. Medicaid was not exempted. And from footnote 1, “help acquired instantly by people” was exempted, however that doesn’t exempt Medicaid, which reimburses suppliers. Given the tenor of the memo (“profession and political appointees within the Government Department have an obligation to align Federal spending and motion with the desire of the American individuals as expressed by Presidential priorities”) it was rational for presidency officers to comply with the letter of the memo as greatest they may and freeze the websites. Administration advocates framed this as “malicious compliance,” however placing attributed motives apart, I don’t assume compliance was irrational. The textual content is the textual content, in any case. Unintentionally or not, “it’s fairly apparent they simply threw a giant breaker change on the federal authorities” (although it could be good to have reporting on the small print of how the breaker change was thrown). At this level, the memo was rescinded. I ponder if any heads will roll? For instance, Stephen Miller’s:

Positive there are dumb media hoaxes however if you happen to unintentionally flip off Medicaid individuals discover. https://t.co/TbnipAgkBx

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) January 29, 2025

“[E]xplicitly excluded all assist and profit packages” is fallacious; Miller seems to not have learn his personal memo (see dialogue of footnotes 1 and a pair of above.)

“White Home response provides to confusion on federal funding freeze” [PBS]. “The Workplace of Administration and Finances has rescinded its name for a pause on federal help, in accordance with the company’s memo shared by Democracy Ahead, which led a authorized problem over the hassle. However the White Home stated that solely the unique memo calling for the freeze had been rescinded. The brand new memo says the heads of government departments and companies ought to contact their normal counsels ‘when you have questions on implementing the President’s Government Orders.’ However Karoline Leavitt, the White Home spokeswoman, instructed reporters that the transfer merely meant a recession of the memo. She stated efforts to ‘finish the egregious waste of federal funding’ will proceed. She stated the OMB memo has been rescinded ‘to finish any confusion on federal coverage created by the court docket ruling and the dishonest media protection.’ The administration expects that rescinding the memo will finish the court docket case in opposition to it. After widespread confusion from the initially very broad memo calling for a halt in federal help, pending assessment, the White Home tried Tuesday to additional make clear which packages wouldn’t be affected, later specifying that it could not influence Medicaid and SNAP packages, for instance. This newest assertion from the White Home is probably going so as to add to the confusion moderately than make clear it.” As for the facility of the purse: “The order offered an early litmus check for simply how keen Congressional Republicans could be to cede their energy of the purse in deference to the chief of their get together – even briefly…. Home Speaker Mike Johnson known as it ‘an software of widespread sense,’ and stated it could ‘be innocent ultimately.’” • Is it doable to be a constitutionalist and a consequentialist on the identical time? Johnson appears to assume so, however I’m not so certain….

* * *

Lawfare, however with way more strong circumstances:

“Lawsuit claims programs behind OPM governmentwide e-mail blast are unlawful, insecure” [FedScoop]. “A lawsuit filed in federal court docket Monday alleges that the Workplace of Personnel Administration arrange an on-premise server to conduct final week’s mass e-mail blast to federal workers and retailer data it acquired in response with out doing a privateness influence evaluation on the system as required by regulation. Filed by two nameless federal workers within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia, the class-action lawsuit requires OPM to cease using the system till the company can present that it’s lawfully carried out a privateness evaluation. The 2 workers accuse OPM officers of deploying the brand new server — which is alleged to be ‘retaining details about each worker of the U.S. Government Department’ or probably doing so by programs linked to it — in a ‘fast’ method with out constructing correct safety measures into it or assessing the privateness impacts as required by the E-Authorities Act of 2002. On Friday, OPM despatched a mass e-mail to workers throughout the federal authorities — although not each federal worker acquired it, together with one of many plaintiffs within the lawsuit — to check ‘a brand new distribution and response listing,’ asking recipients to answer ‘sure.’ Over the weekend, federal workers acquired one other check ‘to substantiate that an e-mail may be despatched and replied to by all authorities workers.’ Some company and division heads gave steerage to their workers that the emails from OPM may very well be trusted. The grievance goes on to say: ‘OPM has not carried out a PIA for this unknown e-mail server or any system which collects or maintains Personally Identifiable Data (‘PII’) obtained from its use,’ nor has a chief data officer or equal company official signed off on an evaluation. Lastly, such an evaluation would should be made publicly out there for assessment. ‘,’ the lawsuit states. ‘Plaintiffs are being materially harmed by this inaction as a result of they’re being denied details about how these programs — which shall be wealthy in PII about each worker of the U.S. Government Department — are being designed and used.’ As a measure of reduction, the plaintiffs name for an injunction of the programs concerned within the matter till OPM conducts the required privateness evaluation.” • Alternatively, Trump may have arrange the servers in a rest room at Mar-a-Lago…..

* * *

“Trump Hit With New Lawsuit for Funneling Delicate Information to Elon Musk” [The New Republic]. “Donald Trump’s administration has been hit with a lawsuit over allegedly amassing federal worker data and directing it to an worker of Elon Musk. The lawsuit, filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia Monday, alleges that worker knowledge goes to Amanda Scales, who, in accordance with LinkedIn, works for xAI, a personal company of which Musk is the CEO. This may violate federal legal guidelines on transparency and put the delicate data of federal workers into the palms of a personal company.” • Right here is the submitting.

“Elon Musk Lackeys Have Taken Over the Workplace of Personnel Administration” [Wired]. “Sources inside the federal authorities inform WIRED that the very best ranks of the Workplace of Personnel Administration (OPM)—basically the human sources operate for the whole federal authorities—at the moment are managed by individuals with connections to Musk and to the tech business. Amongst them is an individual who, in accordance with a web-based résumé, was set to start out school final fall. Scott Kupor, a managing associate on the highly effective funding agency Andreessen Horowitz, stands as Trump’s nominee to run the OPM. …. Amanda Scales is, as has been reported, the brand new chief of workers on the OPM. She previously labored in expertise for xAI, Musk’s synthetic intelligence firm, in accordance with her LinkedIn. Earlier than that, she was a part of the expertise and operations staff at Human Capital, a enterprise agency with investments within the protection tech startup Anduril and the political betting platform Kalshi; earlier than that, she labored for years at Uber. Her placement on this key position, consultants imagine, appears a part of a broader sample of the historically apolitical OPM being transformed to make use of as a political instrument.” And: “In accordance with the identical sources, different individuals on the prime of the brand new OPM meals chain embody two individuals with obvious software program engineering backgrounds, whom WIRED shouldn’t be naming due to their ages. One, a senior adviser to the director, is a 21-year-old whose on-line résumé touts his work for Palantir, the federal government contractor and analytics agency cofounded by billionaire Peter Thiel, who’s its chair. (The previous CEO of PayPal and a longtime Musk affiliate, Thiel is a Trump supporter who helped bankroll the 2022 Senate marketing campaign of his protégé, Vice President JD Vance.) The opposite, who experiences on to Scales, graduated from highschool in 2024, in accordance with a mirrored copy of a web-based résumé and his highschool’s scholar journal; he lists jobs as a camp counselor and a bicycle mechanic amongst his skilled experiences, in addition to a summer season position at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface firm.” • Analytically, I don’t assume “Musk’s lackeys” is appropriate framing. This can be a Flex-Internet centered on Silicon Valley. As for the 21-year-old…. One in every of Thiel’s blood luggage?

* * *

“Federal decide briefly blocks Trump administration freeze on federal grants and loans” [Associated Press]. “A federal decide on Tuesday briefly blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding whereas his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological assessment to uproot progressive initiatives…. U.S. District Choose Loren L. AliKhan blocked the funding freeze solely minutes earlier than it was scheduled to take impact. The executive keep, prompted by a lawsuit introduced by nonprofit teams that obtain federal cash, lasts till Monday afternoon. One other court docket listening to is scheduled that morning to think about the problem.” • Right here is the docket. Right here is the submitting. NOTE This submitting considerations the OMB memo now rescinded. BWA-HA-HA-HA! I picked the very best posssible day to get a late begin!

* * *

OMB memo M-25-13 rescinded:

🚨 Trump’s White Home OMB rescinds federal assist freeze. pic.twitter.com/u6lyLSQQhu

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) January 29, 2025

At the very least any person within the White Home has the strength of will to chop their losses, even at the price of permitting the Democrats a minor tactical victory!

“Trump’s Try to Usurp Congress’s Spending Energy” [Reason]. The rescission of OMB memo M-25-13 apart: “As in his first time period, Trump is once more planning to disclaim federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions until they settle for his dictates on immigration coverage. Earlier, he suspended practically all international assist packages, besides these for Israel and Egypt. Trump additionally just lately threatened to withhold catastrophe reduction funds from California, until they undertake his most well-liked adjustments to state election regulation. Extra typically, he and his underlings have far-reaching plans to ‘impound’ federal spending they disapprove of. Together, it is a large assault on Congress’ energy over federal spending. The Spending Clause of the Structure is obvious in giving Congress, not the president, the facility to allocate federal spending. Relating to situations imposed on grants to state and native governments, the Supreme Court docket has lengthy made clear that they too have to be imposed by Congress, and meet plenty of different necessities, as nicely. Such situations should, amongst different issues, 1) be enacted and clearly indicated by Congress (the chief can not make up its personal grant situations), 2) be associated to the needs of the grant in query (e.g. – grants for well being care or training can’t be conditioned on immigration enforcement), and three) not be ‘coercive.’ Thus, for instance, even Congress couldn’t situation catastrophe assist on adjustments in state election regulation, as a result of the 2 points will not be associated. Some would possibly argue that lots of the Administration’s actions on spending are not any massive deal as a result of they’re solely “short-term.” But when the White Home can ‘briefly’ withhold congressionally allotted funds for a month, why not for 2 months, or for 2 years? There isn’t any logical stopping level right here.” • Huge triers, these guys. And plenty of parallel traces of assault. I’m a little bit amazed that the Home — which I’d assume values having the facility of the purse — is rolling over for this. What do these guys have on Mike Johnson, anyhow?

Nomination

RFK (1):

I completely agree with RFK Jr’s critique of America’s meals provide. It urgently wants an overhaul

However he is nominated for HHS

NOT the U.S. Division of Agriculture

And his ideas on well being points like HIV and vaccines are categorically undefendable and intensely harmful

— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) January 29, 2025

RFK (2):

RFK Jr says we have to extra ‘worth based mostly care’ and extra privatized insurance coverage, claims Medicaid is not ‘working for anybody.’ It is mainly Cato model libertarianism. pic.twitter.com/Bt5zTpdOyq

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) January 29, 2025

RFK (3):

That is what oligarchy appears to be like like. They’re not hiding it. https://t.co/vf149XiepE

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) January 29, 2025

2024 Submit Mortem

I’m stealin’ again to my usual was once:

Kamala Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff simply determined he’d wish to symbolize big non-public fairness companies for the company regulation agency Willkie Farr & Gallagher that when employed Robert Bork. Hooray! pic.twitter.com/GfQflAgG6r

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) January 27, 2025

Democrats en déshabillé

“‘A 5 Alarm F-ing Hearth’: Trump’s Federal Funding Freeze Is Jolting Some Dems Into Struggle Mode” [HuffPo]. “Democrats on Capitol Hill are fuming about President Donald Trump’s Monday night time announcement that he’s freezing all federal grants and loans, a surprising motion that seems as unconstitutional as it’s dangerous to thousands and thousands of People…. Practically two dozen Democrats on Tuesday opposed affirmation of Trump’s transportation secretary nominee, Sean Duffy, who is comparatively noncontroversial. Some explicitly stated their purpose was due to the president’s freeze on federal cash.” • I suppose it’s a step up from a sternly worded letter.

Please kill me now:

That is nice. This crew has a fairly spectacular monitor document of profitable powerful races with the type of artistic, working-class messaging that Dems want now https://t.co/722plAOx0r

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) January 27, 2025

We’re gonna pry that “battle” meme from their chilly, useless palms….

Not such a nasty thought:

I agree with Tim Snyder: it’s time for Democrats to type a Shadow Cupboard identical to they do in the UK

— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) January 29, 2025

The bottom shouldn’t be joyful (however can be fully addled by RussiaGate, Trump Derangement Syndrome, and an excessive amount of brunch, so what do you do):

We’re listening to this actual sentiment from so a lot of our members proper now. https://t.co/oENCBAPvq0

— Leah Greenberg (@Leahgreenb) January 27, 2025

Syndemics

“I’m in earnest — I can’t equivocate — I can’t excuse — I can’t 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 knowledge). “An infection Management, Emergency Administration, Security, and Common 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 vegetation. 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 experiences); 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, thump, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Keep protected on the market!

Lambert right here: All the pieces’s gone darkish aside from trusty New York State hospitalization (day by day), Walgreen’s positivity (weekly), and the Cleveland Clinic? Readers, do you will have any options about options at state stage? Thanks! How I want we had Biobot again….

TABLE 1: Day by day Covid Charts

LEGEND

1) ★ for charts new right this moment; all others will not be up to date.

2) For a full-size/full-resolution picture, Command-click (MacOS) or right-click (Home windows) on the chart thumbnail and “open picture in new tab.”

NOTES

[1] (CDC) Seeing extra crimson and extra orange, however nothing new at main hubs.

[2] (CDC) Final week’s wastewater map.

[3] (CDC Variants) XEC takes over. That WHO label, “Ommicron,” has accomplished an awesome job normalizing successive waves of an infection.

[4] (ED) Somewhat uptick.

[5] (Hospitalization: NY) Undoubtedly jumped.

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

[7] (Walgreens) Leveling out.

[8] (Cleveland) Continued upward pattern since, nicely, Thanksgiving.

[9] (Vacationers: Positivity) Leveling out.

[10] (Vacationers: Variants). Positivity is new, however variants haven’t but been launched.

[11] Deaths low, positivity leveling out.

[12] Deaths low, ED leveling out.

Stats Watch

There are not any official statistics of curiosity right this moment.

Manufacturing: “Boeing plans to wrap up rework in ‘shadow factories’ this 12 months” [FlightGlobal]. “Boeing has made progress winnowing its once-massive stock of undelivered 737 Max and 787s and is now getting ready to shutter so-called “shadow factories” during which it has been finishing rework on the plane.” Shadow factories. First I’ve head. Extra: “A lot of Boeing’s saved 737s and 787s have required rework resulting from manufacturing points. At one level, Boeing was sitting on some 450 undelivered 737 Max and 120 undelivered 787s. Thus far this 12 months, Boeing has already delivered round 10 of the 55 737 Max 8s in its stock at end-2024, says West. ‘We now count on to close down the shadow manufacturing facility mid-year, and to ship all of the remaining [Max 8s] to clients inside the 12 months.’ Boeing intends to finish rework on the 25 undelivered 787s in ‘early 2025’, although deliveries of these jets will run into subsequent 12 months, West provides. A number of manufacturing high quality points, together with these affecting 737 Max aft-pressure bulkheads and 787 fuselages, have pressured Boeing to remodel already produced plane. Boeing has been conducting the time-intensive and costly work on 787s at its manufacturing web site in Everett and on 737 Max plane at a web site in Moses Lake, Washington.” • Oh. I feel Deming would have had one thing to say about all this.

Tech: “OpenAI says it has proof China’s DeepSeek used its mannequin to coach competitor” [Financial Times]. • Any individual name a w-h-a-a-a-mbulance! OpenAI ripped off the whole web — the Bearded One calls this “unique accumulation” — and know they’re whinging about theft?

Tech: If you happen to assume it’s price it:

Immediately’s Worry & Greed Index: 46 Impartial (earlier shut: 44 Worry) [CNN]. One week in the past: 42 (Worry). (0 is Excessive Worry; 100 is Excessive Greed). Final up to date Jan 29 at 1:05:03 PM ET.

Musical Interlude

The one band the mattered:

“#1 You may have the correct to not be killed.” That track is a propos, however I unintentionally had autoplay on, and so this got here up, truly my favourite:

One of many higher anti-war songs….

Zeitgeist Watch

“A defence of slowness on the finish of the world” [Sarah’s Substack]. Contradicts the above a bit, I suppose. Ah nicely, however. “Spencer Greenberg of Clearer Considering just lately wrote that believing you solely have one choice is harmful. Greedy to protect what you imagine is your sole selection can result in poor decision-making, like tolerating abuse in a relationship or staying within the fallacious job. I feel this argument extends to believing you will have little or no time. To stay within the shadow of an impending singularity could make each alternative seem as considered one of an ever-dwindling quantity. It may well finish in cash you want you hadn’t spent, intercourse you want you hadn’t had, or nights you want you hadn’t drunk a lot. It may well obscure alternatives whose advantages would possibly take longer to manifest. Staying within the Sluggish World can guard in opposition to impulsivity. It may well broaden your menu of choices, and make you extra prone to take bets that can repay in longer timelines (which we could be fortunate sufficient to get!). It’s alright to consolation your self with age-old adages meant to stave off myopicism – that you simply’re nonetheless younger, that you simply’ve acquired your entire life forward of you and that there’s all the time subsequent 12 months. It’s okay to actually imagine these adages and to stay as if they’re true.” • I feel the “singularity” is Foolish Valley foofrah bred from an excessive amount of silly cash sloshing about. However gradual (as in Sluggish Meals) remains to be good.

All bets are off” [Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic]. “When unions are outlawed, solely outlaws can have unions. Unions don’t owe their existence to labor legal guidelines that defend organizing actions. Fairly, labor legal guidelines exist as a result of once-illegal unions had been shaped within the tooth of violent suppression, and people unions demanded – and acquired – labor regulation. Bosses have hated unions because the begin, they usually’ve actually hated legal guidelines defending employees. Gown this up in no matter self-serving rationale you need – ‘the liberty to contract,’ or ‘meritocracy’ – all of it cashes out to this: when employees cut price collectively, worth that may in any other case go to buyers and executives goes to the employees. I’m not simply speaking about wages right here, both. If an employer is pressured – by a union, or by a labor regulation that solely exists due to union militancy – to function a protected office, they need to spend cash on issues like hearth suppression, PPE, and paid breaks to keep away from repetitive pressure accidents. Within the absence of some pressure that corrals bosses into offering these security measures, they will use that cash to pay themselves, and externalize the price of on-the-job accidents to their employees.” • Price studying in full.

Information of the Wired

The video reveals that Italy places up glass anti-noise boundaries, so you’ll be able to nonetheless see the view. Not concrete blocks!

“Watch the trail of a raindrop from anyplace on the earth” [River Runner Global].• Enjoyable!

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