Myocarditis suspected in vaccination death: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc-investigating-death-of-michigan-boy-who-died-days-after-getting-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine/ar-AALLfmC?li=BBnb7Kz . It doesn’t matter how rare this is when it’s your 13-year-old.
Woman fears vaccine side effects, dies from Delta: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/a-missouri-woman-didnt-want-a-covid-19-vaccine-for-fear-of-side-effects-she-caught-the-delta-variant-and-died/ar-AALLjAZ?li=BBnb7Kz . This is one of many tragedies to follow among the unvaccinated. West Virginia’s governor continues to speak out to these people about their “death lottery”: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/vaccine-hesitant-are-in-death-lottery-wva-governor-justice/ar-AALLyzl?li=BBnb7Kz .
What changed these people’s minds about vaccinations: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/they-didn-t-want-get-covid-19-shots-what-convinced-n1272740 . But a one-at-a-time process will take years. Unfortunately, it may take a major surge to change minds en masse. Also note that some of these people were afraid of side effects because it might cause them to miss work. WSJ: The barbershop vaccination initiative: https://www.wsj.com/articles/barbershops-and-hair-salons-are-enlisted-in-covid-19-vaccine-push-11625410802 .
WHO: Variants outracing vaccines: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/who-warns-that-coronavirus-variants-are-spreading-faster-than-vaccines-can-stop-them/ar-AALLaKA?li=BBnb7Kz . It takes time to vaccinate the global population. The focus should be on reducing the global viral load.
COVID: Out of sight, out of mind: https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2021/07/letter-from-the-editor-were-changing-the-cadence-of-our-coronavirus-coverage.html . So, The Oregonian is assuming that current trends will continue, and that reaching 70% vaccination of adults guarantees future outbreaks will not be as severe. However, vaccination percentages are lower in rural Oregon. We will see what Delta has in store.
South Africa sees record surge: https://time.com/6077974/south-africa-coronavirus/ . If true, the domination of the Delta variant in South Africa means it is outcompeting the South African variant.
More on the Russian ransomware attack: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/04/massive-ransomware-attack-498089 . Like COVID, this looks like a permanent feature of the human condition going forward.
Miami condo demolition races ahead of storm: https://apnews.com/article/fl-state-wire-surfside-building-collapse-storms-business-96030f2bf7cedd81ee5043e4568971b3 . More: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/04/surfside-condo-demolish-498073 . Update: Demolition completed: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/surside-condo-demolition/ . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/miami-area-officials-prepare-to-demolish-building-as-tropical-storm-approaches-11625422941 .
Pop analysis takes on racism: https://news.yahoo.com/poll-the-real-reason-republicans-are-so-riled-up-about-critical-race-theory-090015052.html . This article argues that a majority of all groups understand racism to be systemic, except the GOP, where a strong majority considers racism to be personal.
Here’s a deeper dive: (1) Of course there’s long-term systemic racism in the US; if you don’t see that, you are simply refusing to pay attention; (2) There is plenty of personal racism, too. While it’s most dramatic and concentrated in the GOP right now, there’s some in every group of any size – including minority communities; (3) racism is not just black/white; it is multicultural, as we have seen in the rise of violence against Asian Americans.
Humans have a natural bias toward tribalism (although studies have shown that bias to be much higher in the GOP than in Democrats). The most obvious difference between humans at a distance is skin color. I wonder if we could make any progress by relabeling “racism” as “skin color bias”. This eliminates the ugly concept of “race” (we are all homo sapiens) and also shows the superficial nature of this bias.
The status of US territories: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/02/opinions/july-4th-a-time-for-independence-for-us-territories-chervinsky/index.html . There is useful information in this article, but any discussion of this topic requires an understanding of the mechanics. Full citizenship is granted with statehood, period. The most obvious first candidate is Washington, D.C. Washington was carved out of the state of Maryland, so the people who live there lost voting rights in the creation of our capital city. They pay US taxes. They are now able to vote for President but have no representation in Congress.
The next logical candidate for statehood is Puerto Rico, which has a population of 3.2 million. Puerto Rico’s population has been shrinking after our failure to provide timely assistance after Hurricane Maria. Still, it would be the 31st largest state by population, and would likely become larger with the return of some of those that have relocated to the US (around 500,000 since 2010). Other US citizens would also migrate or retire there.
Making DC and Puerto Rico states resolves almost the entire problem, as the remaining territories are island groups with populations of less than 200,000. They are not large enough to become states, and would have disproportionately large representation in the Senate. If full resolution is desired, the Virgin Islands could become part of the state of Puerto Rico and the Pacific Islands could become part of the state of Hawaii. However, there are meaningful cultural differences which would be ignored in this solution.
More on the Vatican court proceeding: https://apnews.com/article/religion-business-d1215641cc06925199504bcd6c0cd4f7 . Note that as a result of the financial losses, contributions from the faithful have sharply declined. Does this mean the Catholic faithful are more in touch with reality than the GOP base? In other news, the Pope will have surgery today: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-hospital-scheduled-surgery-colon-2021-07-04/ . This is a reasonably common and routine procedure, except that surgery is never routine on an 84-year-old.
The EIGHT Statues of Liberty in Paris: https://theearfultower.com/2018/07/04/did-you-know-there-are-five-statue-of-liberty-replicas-in-paris/ . I was aware of #1, which a French friend showed me on my first trip abroad, in January, 1974. The rest are all news to me.
A new Statue of Liberty just arrived in the US from France: https://www.voanews.com/usa/france-us-celebrate-new-statue-liberty . Yes, really.
Um, how is gross-out a sport?: https://news.yahoo.com/nathans-contest-joey-chestnut-sets-new-record-eats-76-hot-dogs-in-10-minutes-180521072.html . Whether or not extreme overeating is a fun event (or completely disgusting, which is my view), comparing this to Tom Brady is just embarrassing.
Happy Independence Day, even if it’s not yet independence from COVID …