The pandemic of the unboosted: https://news.yahoo.com/covid-boosters-are-the-secret-to-getting-back-to-normal-why-are-americans-so-resistant-to-them-213829920.html . Boosters offer 4 times more protection from hospitalization than vaccination alone. For the natural selection advocates out there, perhaps the ultimate natural selection reduces Americans in relation to all other nationalities. That’s the way it’s going so far.
US passes 900,000 COVID deaths: https://news.yahoo.com/us-covid-death-toll-900000-coronavirus-pandemic-205438544.html . As readers know, the overwhelming evidence is that reported COVID deaths are an undercount. Even so, the reported deaths make this by far the deadliest event for Americans in history.
Once again, hospitals flooded by COVID patients turn away those needing other procedures: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/02/04/1078029696/americans-get-sicker-as-omicron-stalls-everything-from-heart-surgeries-to-cancer .
WSJ: US COVID deaths may be peaking: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-covid-19-deaths-fall-tracking-lower-hospitalizations-11643968767 .
New evidence links Wuhan lab to COVID’s “furin cleavage” site: https://theintercept.com/2021/09/23/coronavirus-research-grant-darpa/ . Briefly, COVID-19 has an unusual genetic feature. It turns out the Wuhan lab had proposed inserting this type of feature into bat coronaviruses in 2018. So a lot more dots now connect between the lab and COVID-19.
Believing in Orange Julius’ lies will kill you: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-02-03/counties-that-voted-for-trump-have-higher-covid-death-rates. Note that counties that voted for Biden all have similar death rates, while places that voted for OJ by 25 or more points are relative death traps. This reflects the high correlation between OJ voters and the unvaccinated.
Why Omicron is going to screw China: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/trying-to-stop-the-omicron-variant-is-like-trying-to-stop-the-wind-says-epidemiologist/vi-AATseMh?ocid=hponeservicefeed . I agree that COVID Zero makes no sense except to try to buy time to properly vaccinate everyone.
WSJ: US economy adds 467,000 jobs in January: https://www.wsj.com/articles/january-jobs-report-unemployment-rate-2022-11643924453 . And job growth would have been even stronger except for absences from work due to Omicron: https://www.wsj.com/articles/omicron-absences-fail-to-dent-job-growth-11643991329 . However, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.0% as more people looked for work. Still, historically this is a very low unemployment rate. The overall indication is that the US economy is strong. Since the Fed appears behind the curve on inflation, the probability of rate hikes beyond 3 this year grows. I’m still at 4, however. More: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/u-s-jobs-surge-defies-omicron-puts-more-pressure-on-fed/ar-AATtgkw?ocid=hponeservicefeed . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/strong-job-gains-keeps-fed-on-track-for-rate-increase-in-march-11643984461 .
Powell becomes Fed chairman pro tempore as he awaits Senate confirmation: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/fed-chair-powell-to-become-pro-tempore-as-he-awaits-senate-action/ar-AATtWNq?ocid=hponeservicefeed . “Pro tempore” means “for the time being”.
WSJ: Amazon stock has record gain the day after Facebook/Meta’s record loss: https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-share-price-surges-premarket-following-bumper-earnings-11643975567 .
Pence strikes out for Oz in search of a spine: https://news.yahoo.com/pence-president-trump-wrong-had-212144259.html . This sideshow only receives media coverage because the GOP, while completely off-track, still may gain control of one or both houses of Congress in November. Meanwhile, the Journal’s coverage is embarrassingly biased: https://www.wsj.com/articles/cheney-kinzinger-face-rnc-censure-vote-as-trump-rift-widens-11643993140 . If you are going to quote Ronna McDaniel’s idiotic lie supporting the January 6 insurrectionists, you fail as journalists to not add Liz Cheney’s response, which was to tweet videos of the January 6 violence and say, “This is not legitimate political discourse”. Facts win, you dimwits.
And in Ring Number 2: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rnc-votes-censure-cheney-kinzinger-investigating-capitol-riot-rcna14943 . Apparently, censure was seen as a moderate approach against those who wanted to expel Cheney and Kinzinger. This is the smallest Big Tent in the history of tents.
And in Ring Number 3: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-trump-wanted-to-appoint-sidney-powell-special-council-20220204-omeohesp65cwrguxd3zpaapg2y-story.html . OJ’s reported behavior here is straight-out dictator.
Meanwhile, in Ring Number 4: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/north-carolina-supreme-court-strikes-down-new-congressional-maps/ar-AATutiM?ocid=hponeservicefeed . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-carolinas-supreme-court-blocks-gop-redistricting-maps-11644023181 . As previously discussed, North Carolina gerrymandering has made it to the US Supreme Court multiple times over the past three decades. The GOP in this state has only one goal, which is to draw unconstitutional maps. Over and over again. However, on the national scoreboard, Democrats have been more successful than expected in this round of redistricting fights.
What do Biden’s poll numbers mean?: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/are-the-democrats-in-trouble-gallup-editor-on-what-those-bad-news-polls-really-mean/ar-AATsK6n?ocid=hponeservicefeed . This article rather boldly uses the term “Republican-fascist” movement. Looking at the preceding articles, the author has a valid point. Congratulations for speaking up!
In Virginia, Black Republican excluded from Black Caucus: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/va-general-assembly-wrestles-with-race-ideology-after-republican-is-rejected-from-black-caucus/ar-AATu77T?ocid=hponeservicefeed . So the Democrats made clear that caucus membership is based on commonly held values, not skin color. What’s wrong with that? Orange Julius is effectively excluded from the Former Presidents Club for the same reason, and that’s a bipartisan conclusion.
Does Dutch press know yacht they are talking about?: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/jeff-bezos-yacht-rotterdam-koninginnebrug-bridge-netherlands-dismantle/ .
WSJ: Trying to synthesize science and mathematics in one brief article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/were-all-still-living-in-euclids-world-11644014149 . This is interesting, and it represents a Nobel Prize winner’s overview of how the pieces fit together. But it’s not right. Einstein’s view is radically different from Euclid’s. Einstein is “relative” while Euclid is “absolute”, and I intend a deep meaning here, not a play on words. Surely understanding the absolute view in detail creates a basis for understanding the relative view, but that does not make “relativity” a refinement of “absolute” – it is in many senses an opposing viewpoint.