Omicron subvariants cause increased reinfections: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/covid-19-reinfection-common-with-ba-4-ba-5-subvariants-health-expert-warns/ar-AAYg2zN?cvid=5c9a87e8a44248178c383378709b8307 . Once again: The pandemic is not over!
Omicron infection timeline: https://www.health.com/news/omicron-timeline . This is a comprehensive summary, although some of the information feels anecdotal rather than the result of controlled study.
Is “milder” COVID the result of Paxlovid utilization?: https://bestlifeonline.com/paxlovid-severe-covid-jha-news/ . I’m skeptical of the claims being made here. Paxlovid has been primarily distributed to “high risk” patients, meaning older or immunocompromised patients. However, this does not effectively address the issues associated with long COVID. Also, while reduced mortality is certainly a positive, it is not yet clear that Paxlovid has caused this. And lastly, the risks of future variants are of course currently unknown.
African mRNA vaccine plant coming: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-06-09/biontech-to-soon-start-mrna-vaccine-factory-construction-in-rwanda .
COVID surge in India: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-06-09/india-reports-highest-coronavirus-daily-cases-since-march-2 .
WSJ: More on new cancer treatments: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cancer-doctors-seek-the-right-patients-for-promising-immunotherapy-treatments-11654792284 .
Weekly jobless claims rise to 229,000: https://apnews.com/article/covid-politics-health-economy-business-4969b51766915235f197018879adbe80 .
Fed rate hikes to continue: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-06-09/no-respite-from-fed-rate-hikes-this-year-chances-rising-of-four-50-bps-in-a-row-reuters-poll . Remember, interest rate hikes are ineffective against supply chain disruption.
WSJ: Russia sentences 3 captured Ukrainian soldiers to death: https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-attacks-on-kharkiv-shatter-recent-calm-pose-dilemma-for-ukraine-11654770530 . This sham trial, in failing to treat these soldiers as combatants, appears to be another war crime. However, the convictions may represent propaganda designed to pressure a prisoner swap.
Orange Julius says Pence deserved hanging: https://news.yahoo.com/liz-cheney-trump-unconcerned-by-threats-to-hang-pence-said-he-deserves-it-005252594.html . My review of reader comments on several hearings articles indicates all of the readers who comment made up their minds before the hearings commenced. Some are completely horrified by OJ (presumably Democrats), while others wonder why we need hearings (presumably Republicans).
The carefully staged hearings provided much new information. It is completely appropriate, and indeed civically required, to understand how and why the Capitol insurrection occurred, in order to prevent a repeat occurrence. So the Republican comments represent a proxy for, “We’re tired of hearing OJ is a crook, and we refuse to believe it, so let’s all move on.” You really can’t have civic discourse when one side refuses consideration of any evidence, let alone new evidence.
Meanwhile, the Journal’s mindless coverage reflects its ownership by Rupert Murdock and no analysis whatsoever: https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-committee-hearing-takeaways-from-the-first-day-11654833543 . More (or less): https://www.wsj.com/articles/jan-6-committee-hearing-on-capitol-riot-set-to-feature-video-interviews-and-live-testimony-11654765200 .
OJ’s 7-part plan to overturn the election: https://news.yahoo.com/liz-cheney-says-trump-oversaw-004058566.html . This was the central claim of tonight’s hearing. It shows their overall theme is to show OJ was hellbent on remaining in power, despite almost everyone telling him he lost. Their objective is to show every voter that OJ does not care about your vote. Again, those who refuse to face facts are the perfect target for a congenital liar like OJ. Personally, I find the committee’s take on those 7 parts very interesting.
GOP gubernatorial candidate has a really bad day: https://news.yahoo.com/michigan-gop-governor-candidate-ryan-kelley-arrested-by-fbi-for-jan-6-role-155442007.html . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/michigan-gop-gubernatorial-candidate-arrested-by-fbi-11654794077 .
Supreme Court unable to deal with Roe leak: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/08/1103476028/after-the-leak-the-supreme-court-seethes-with-resentment-and-fear-behind-the-sce . This was the general expectation at the time of the leak. However, asking everyone to sign an affidavit has the appearance of guilty until proven innocent. It’s an abysmally stupid look for the Supreme Court.
The “Great Resignation” comes to the White House: https://apnews.com/article/biden-covid-health-business-government-and-politics-aa1854fc9a35f9afa7478ade92fabf40 . This article, in my view, completely misses the obvious. Jen Psaki was great but has left. The Democrats are unlikely to control the House for the next 2 years, so the administration won’t be able to get anything done. It’s no surprise that multiple people are leaving the press staff.