FDA wants fall monovalent vaccine: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2023-06-16/us-fda-advises-covid-vaccine-makers-to-develop-shots-aimed-at-xbb-1-5-variant . The idea is that XBB.1.5 or a close relative will be the dominant COVID infection in the fall, which seems like a reasonable bet. One hopes work continues on a universal COVID vaccine.
Federal judge saves gender-affirming care in Indiana for now: https://apnews.com/article/transgender-care-ban-indiana-lawsuit-3d9a3a456d7c0a06941f02e8998a6f56 . This is an important precedent for all those red states denying people control over their own bodies.
Making water drinkable: https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/clean-drinking-water-powder-filter/ . As the article notes, 2 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water. This method is safe, effective, quick and reusable. Winner, winner, chicken dinner …
MDMA makes white supremacist question his beliefs: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/white-supremacist-took-mdma-study-123510490.html . In Oregon, we recently approved psilocybin (magic mushrooms) for use in treatment settings after testimonials that it helped patients step beyond their self-imposed limits. This story seems connected to the same process.
UN Secretary General steps up criticism of current international financial order: https://apnews.com/article/un-imf-world-bank-covid-15baf3a9e4d939dd2e085ff0aa18087a . This is worth discussion and deeper consideration. However, in my view the goal should be to finance projects in the developing world which rapidly pay for themselves. This approach will build the assets needed for the next round of projects. I suspect this suggestion will be difficult to plan out in practice. I also think recovery of valuable resources will be an important source of viable projects, at least initially. Our financial system is essentially “work to pay for your dinner”. If Mr. Guterres or anyone else has a better idea, I’d like to hear it.
House GOP aims for government shutdown October 1: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-republicans-target-deeper-spending-cuts-raising-shutdown-threat-2023-06-15/ . This is not negotiation. It’s hostage-taking. Everyone knows the largest deficits were run during the Orange Julius reign. The central problem was absurd tax cuts for the rich, which the American public does not support. The programs the House proposes to cut are popular with the American people, who want to pay for them by taxing the rich. The only way to stop this is to vote them out next November.
Special prosecutor turns to January 6: https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-probe-advances-into-trumps-effort-to-reverse-2020-election-a2c1dd63 .
GOP operative realizes the truth: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ran-for-office-because-he-thought-it-would-save-him-from-a-prosecution-like-this-former-wh-official/ . How does anyone not know this? That is precisely why he declared so early. I am shocked that this is news.
A Trusty run for the exits: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/16/politics/trump-lawyer-withdraw-jim-trusty/index.html . You and I, and everyone even vaguely familiar with the First Amendment, knows Orange Julius has not even a whiff of a case against CNN. This is just clean-up after bailing on the criminal case, where the piercing of the attorney client privilege puts lawyers on notice that danger lies ahead.
Is this why Trusty bailed?: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/ex-trump-adviser-asks-why-anyone-would-work-for-him-when-hes-viciously-attacked-nearly-all-his-former-staffers/ . No. Trusty left because he knows these were uphill cases made tougher by an irrational client, and he’d prefer to keep his law license. More importantly, this article is not about its easy-to-answer question. GOP operatives realize that the party has to get beyond OJ to have a future. So they’re planting stories designed to start peeling away the edges of his base.
Schwarzenegger says he could win presidency if he could run: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/arnold-schwarzenegger-politics-president-donald-trump-163606956.html . I mostly agree with him. Schwarzenegger was elected governor of blue California, so he could certainly beat Joe Biden in a general election. I also agree that Orange Julius is in deep trouble with the Feds, and Jack Smith has more cards to deal OJ (see January 6 note above). If and when OJ is convicted, many Republicans would be ready to turn to this (75-year-old) fresh face.
Did Clinton turn California blue?: https://www.aol.com/news/california-land-nixon-reagan-turned-140045295.html . It’s an interesting read, but it’s just not true. Demographics turned California blue. The North was always blue; they’re tree-huggers like Oregonians. But LA’s demographics changed as “liberals” came to control Hollywood and its influence, and the Hispanic population soared. Soon LA and San Francisco were both blue, and that determines California’s vote.
Pittsburgh synagogue shooter found guilty on all counts: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-trial-verdict-06-16-23/index.html . I am not a fan of the government executing people. However, if that law is on the books, it is difficult to think of a more deserving case for its application than this mass murder hate crime.
Michael Jordan looks to sell his majority stake in Charlotte Hornets: https://sports.yahoo.com/michael-jordan-sell-majority-stake-160242332.html . I really don’t see how anyone could turn this club into a winner. It takes a ton of money to do that, however Charlotte is not a valuable enough market to justify that kind of investment. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/michael-jordan-charlotte-hornets-sale-gabe-plotkin-rick-schnall-8c9fd02b .
Ja Morant suspended 25 games: https://sports.yahoo.com/ja-morant-nba-suspended-25-games-latest-gun-incident-190447191.html . However, the Players’ Association objections of severity ring hollow to me. I had previously suggested Morant was looking at at least a 20-game suspension after the previous conduct earned him an 8-game suspension which clearly did not convey the league’s message. I’m fine with 25. The nicest interpretation you can put on this is “guns as props”. There had been multiple violations before the 8-game suspension, which makes this violation more serious. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/sports/basketball/ja-morant-suspension-nba-gun-adam-silver-fcb77832 .
The league wants no association with stunts making gun-related behavior cool. This penalty strikes me as “This is your last chance to listen”. Ja Morant needs to take this to heart.
WSJ: Pope Francis released from hospital: https://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-francis-released-from-hospital-after-operation-for-hernia-6f264c94 .
Daniel Ellsberg passes at 92: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/16/1162158609/daniel-ellsberg-obituary-pentagon-papers . For the whippersnappers out there, Ellsberg made this leak after trying to get a variety of senators to hold hearings. He made the leak with the certainty that he would spend the rest of his life in prison. Why didn’t that happen? Because Richard Nixon tried to use the machinery of government to grind him up. So the judge overseeing his case dismissed the charges, and the government never refiled them. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/daniel-ellsberg-pentagon-papers-whistleblower-dies-at-92-489cb711 .
Nixon was a crook when he was elected to the White House, and he proceeded to damage the presidency in a way from which it has never recovered. That’s no excuse for Orange Julius, but it is a partial explanation.
Autism Case #1, Donald Triplett, passes at 89: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/donald-triplett-the-1st-person-diagnosed-with-autism-dies-at-89 .