DNA vaccine approved in India: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02385-x . The DNA vaccine is a new class of vaccines. As the article indicates, these vaccines are relatively easy to produce and have greater stability, making them easier to store and ship. The pandemic is beginning to look like the World War II of viruses. That is, many different areas of vaccine production are being employed to fight the COVID virus. Many of the vaccine technologies are proving out.
In addition, significant advances are being made in anti-inflammatory therapeutics. These developments suggest that these new lines of research will generate significant additional medical benefits once the pandemic is held at bay.
WSJ: How the French overcame vaccine hesitancy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-france-overcame-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-11632735002 . Um, we’re not France. People did not want to give up sitting in a French café or bistro. What is it we have here that’s a cultural match? Going to McDonald’s?
Second Circuit reinstates NYC teacher vaccine mandate: https://www.thecity.nyc/health/2021/9/27/22697483/vaccine-mandate-for-nyc-school-employees-can-move-forward-judges-rule . The result is not a surprise; the timing is. The panel apparently decided the lower court judge was sufficiently off-base that they essentially reversed the ruling out-of-hand. Meanwhile, the vaccination deadline has arrived for hospital workers in the state: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-new-york-nursing-homes-69026094392ca8fbf5f86653d59e9f53 .
Arizona judge rules mask mandate ban and a whole bunch of other policy in budget bill violate state constitution: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2021/09/27/arizona-judge-mask-mandate-ban-other-policy-bills-budget-unconstitutional/5836462001/ . This will undoubtedly end up in the Arizona Supreme Court. If the judge’s ruling stands, it means state lawmakers do not understand basic legislative procedure. It is the GOP, who authorized the Cyber Ninja “audit”, so we know they’re incapable. Still, the court’s holding is remarkable and an embarrassment to their state government.
WSJ: The US problem with paid leave: https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-expand-paid-sick-time-leave-11632413861 . This makes it abundantly clear why the Democrats want to expand paid leave for American workers.
WSJ: Women rethink their career paths: https://www.wsj.com/articles/womens-careers-covid-19-toll-11632506362. News flash: Men are doing the same thing, you dimwits. Your numbers show that. That’s why you had to say “as well as many men”, although you buried it a third of the way into the article. More (sort of): https://www.wsj.com/articles/womens-careers-pandemic-toll-11632520837 . The slant of this article doesn’t match the first one. But notice that their “target” is talking about women. So they’ve bent the story to fit the target. Poor journalism, for sure.
Missouri plans to test deer population for COVID: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-wildlife-missouri-columbia-3a19eb5e422247335242d2f1e756e98f . Since the GOP-led state government is opposed to mandates, they plan to ask the deer to wear masks.
WSJ: Dentists oppose plan to add dental to Medicare: https://www.wsj.com/articles/dentists-group-fights-plan-to-cover-dental-benefits-under-medicare-11632735002 . We know that dental is an essential part of effective health care for seniors. The dentists’ argument is, restrict this to lower-income seniors so we can charge higher prices to seniors able to afford it. This is just unbelievably offensive. Since when is there a means test within Medicare? And we’d do it to protect dentists’ income stream? The ADA can stuff it.
CIA pitched assassinating Julian Assange to Orange Julius White House: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cia-pitched-trump-officials-plans-130727657.html . Something is terribly wrong here. Why is Yahoo reporting on Business Insider reporting on Yahoo? Just to be clear: assassinating Julian Assange would involve either assassinating him inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London or kidnapping him out of the embassy. Either action would be a fundamental violation of international law. So either the CIA under OJ and Pompeo was completely unhinged, or this is a “Trumped-up” fiction in a last-ditch attempt by Assange to avoid extradition to the US. None of this makes any sense whatsoever.
WSJ: Evergrande dominos abound: https://www.wsj.com/articles/evergrande-worries-help-fuel-selloff-at-another-chinese-developer-11632744765 .
Once again, Kevin McCarthy demonstrates his utter moral bankruptcy: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kevin-mccarthy-tweet-on-avoiding-us-default-resurfaces-as-gop-plays-debt-ceiling-hardball/ar-AAOSNCD?li=BBnb7Kz . The bottom line is, Kevin knows what the right thing to do is, and he’s not doing it.
Amtrak derailment: https://apnews.com/article/business-montana-amtrak-d33d78d5aa0da2abf8124162ed6b678f . I’m including this just because the proposed explanation seems odd. “High 80’s” is not at all a high temperature for Montana. Given that a train passed over the tracks without incident an hour earlier, a more logical explanation is that the prior train somehow damaged the track in a way that caused the later derailment. The recent inspection also suggests the track was not heat-damaged. We’ll see – presumably they can examine the track for metal failure.