The gop doesn’t have any plans for any of the issues they bring up. The gop wants people that vote on the basis of grievance only. They can get people spun up and angry about a variety of topis without providing anything. It is disturbing how well the technique works. They blame Biden for inflation, … More Vote Blue
BLUF: No, it isn’t. President Biden recently stated that the pandemic is over. Whatever he might have meant, at face value it is simply a false statement. The lowest the daily new case rate has been in the US was a little over 12k cases per day, and that was in late June 2021. During … More Is the COVID Pandemic Over?
The current SCOTUS term ended 30 June, and they will be on break until 3 October. Thank goodness; we could use some mental rest before they finally fully destroy our representative democracy. And yes, the complete destruction is coming if we don’t take action to stop it. This term culminated in nearly two full weeks … More Quick Thoughts: Thank Goodness SCOTUS is Taking a Break
Most of the masking requirements are being reduced or dropped across the US now. It seems appropriate given that we are lower than when we began our most recent omicron/delta surge, but the current low is still higher than most of the first year of COVID in terms of new cases. Deaths remain fairly well … More Dropping the Masks
Spotify’s CEO recently gave a speech to employees regarding Spotify’s position on hosting the Joe Rogan Experience, especially given that many employees feel personally offended by Joe Rogan’s comments in his podcasts. Here is a link to the full text. I feel like covering a couple of elements. Selected quotes and my thoughts follow: “It … More Spotify’s Values?
There are some loud voices crying out against remote schooling again, now that many K-12 schools and universities are moving back that direction in the face of Omicron. I am moved to write a little bit after reading Universities Need to Catch Up to the Post-vaccine Reality (Remote learning hurts students) by Emily Oster, published … More COVID and College
I saw this story yesterday: Judge blocks Navy vaccine policy for legal challengers citing religious objections The gist is that a federal judge (in Texas, of course) is keeping the Navy from enforcing its vaccination policy with a group of service members (all SEALs), citing the fact that the Navy hasn’t approved any religious exemptions. … More Military Religious Exemptions to COVID Vaccine
The Omicron variant is highly transmissible, even among the vaccinated. Vaccinated folks are far less likely to experience serious illness. Unvaccinated folks are not going to fare as well. As we approach 850k deaths in the US, it’s a good idea to get vaccinated if you aren’t already. Between Delta and Omicron, new case rates … More COVID Metrics
Congrats to Omicron for very quickly becoming the dominant strain of SARS-COV-2 in the US. Of course, Omicron has to thank all the people in the US who insist on behaving as if there is no pandemic during the pandemic for making it all possible. COVID in all its forms has a high mortality rate … More COVID: Omicron
I’m behind, as usual. On 1 DEC, the SCOTUS signaled that it may uphold a Mississippi law than bans abortions after 15 weeks, which is before viability of the fetus. This would have the effect of overturning Roe v. Wade without directly overturning Roe v. Wade, allowing conservative states to ban abortions. The most notably … More Bye-Bye Roe
The View from the Armchair 