Australia COVID wave may have peaked: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-08-03/new-covid-case-numbers-in-new-zealand-trending-lower-signs-wave-peaked .
More evidence New Zealand COVID wave has peaked: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-08-03/new-covid-case-numbers-in-new-zealand-trending-lower-signs-wave-peaked .
China’s Zero COVID failure of the day: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-08-03/southern-chinese-tourism-city-sanya-imposes-lockdown-measures-restricts-businesses .
CDC expected to relax COVID guidelines for schools: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/03/health/cdc-covid-guidance/index.html .
WSJ: Lilly’s COVID monoclonal antibody drug to move to commercial market: https://www.wsj.com/articles/eli-lillys-covid-19-antibody-treatment-to-be-sold-commercially-11659553892 .
Moderna stock surges on strong vaccine sales, share buyback plan: https://apnews.com/article/monkeypox-covid-health-united-states-d7eb0bb9e9127f9a497f6379e13d4280 . Notice also that COVAX did not take its expected volume of vaccine. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/moderna-revenue-rises-on-strong-demand-for-covid-19-vaccine-11659527439 .
WSJ: Generic prostate cancer drug comes to market: https://www.wsj.com/articles/civica-begins-selling-low-priced-prostate-cancer-drug-11659538213 .
A cure for baldness?: https://www.today.com/health/new-study-points-possible-cure-baldness-rcna40980 .
WSJ: Gas prices move down for 50th straight day: https://www.wsj.com/articles/gas-prices-u-s-decline-oil-demand-11659474346 . This of course is not the only element of inflation. And gas prices are down because of reduced demand, suggesting the global recession nears.
Senate votes 95-1 to support Sweden and Norway joining NATO: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-nato-biden-congress-ee1c295fc0e33c832b764a04570fb460 . We should all be pissed at “You must be Joshing” Hawley. The article notes that, under Senate rules, Mitch McConnell did take a piss on this fool (really – read McConnell’s comment). WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-senate-set-to-approve-adding-finland-and-sweden-to-nato-11659549803 .
Getting something done may help Democrats: https://news.yahoo.com/poll-americans-favor-manchin-schumer-climate-deal-by-wide-margins-183249029.html . Gee, actually governing might be a positive way to get re-elected. What a novel idea! However, in our negative society, the GOP Senate’s obstructionism on veterans fire pit health benefits and the Supreme Court’s march toward 1650 may be as or more helpful.
Some Democrats are now refusing to say they’d support Biden for a second term: https://apnews.com/article/biden-new-york-manhattan-elections-carolyn-maloney-b1869cf148f5af5690f3d3e03099451f . It would be much more helpful to say the President receives great credit for his legislative record in the first 18 months. If McCarthy is the new Speaker, nothing will get done in the next two years anyway. Everyone should wait until after the November election to bring out the knives for 2024. Personally, I doubt Biden will run again unless Orange Julius is the opponent. As awful (DeMented, really) as some of the choices are, it’s time for younger people in both parties to step up. With Biden and OJ, that’s anyone under 75.
Meanwhile, Arizona becomes the center of the MAGA test in November: https://news.yahoo.com/blake-masters-ultra-maga-republican-who-blamed-gun-violence-on-black-people-wins-arizona-gop-senate-primary-075426682.html . This article makes a meaningful case that these unqualified nutcakes are simply power-hungry outsiders who will parrot the OJ drivel in order to ride this craziness into office. My expectation/prediction is that a few MAGA-maniacs will win election nationwide, but a strong majority – upwards of 70% – will lose. These are the people Democrats want to run against. Let’s see if the Democrats can deliver.
However, there is a special problem in Arizona. By having 3 of these nuts at the top of the ticket, GOP turnout will be very high. The Dems will have to match it to win.
Three GOP House members who voted to impeach Orange Julius faced primaries yesterday. One (Peter Meijer) was defeated (Michigan) while two others (Washington state) advanced to the general election in their open primary: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/02/2022-primary-results-arizona-missouri-washington-00049385 . In Washington, Jaime Herrera-Beutler came in second in a 9 person race (3rd), while Dan Newhouse came in first in an 8 person race (4th): https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/20220802/federal.html . Each advances to the general against their main Democratic opponent. Both will likely retain their seats.
While these races do not appear as close as the Politico article suggests, it is possible (but not likely) that Herrera-Beutler benefitted from some crossover Democrats in Washington’s open primary. If Herrera-Beutler or Newhouse had faced only one GOP opponent rather than several, the outcome could have been different.
UPDATE: Here’s a different view from AP: https://news.yahoo.com/trumps-efforts-to-punish-his-republican-critics-yield-mixed-results-215602448.html . The AP article makes the well-known but important point that Democrats also targeted Meijer. They believe his opponent will be easier to defeat in the general election. Also, in other analysis, the media is making statements like Michigan is a purple state, or Washington is very blue. That is not the relevant measure for House seats, as different seats in the same state will have different percentages of registered Democrats and Republicans.
GOP congresswoman from Indiana killed in crash: https://news.yahoo.com/jackie-walorski-indiana-congresswoman-killed-car-crash-201126441.html . Jackie Walorski was first elected to Congress in 2012.