Moderna cuts COVID vaccine production: https://themessenger.com/health/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-pfizer-cambridge-massachusetts . Politics is squeezing out medical science here. Still, in the US, this will kill more Republicans than Democrats, so natural selection continues. Personally, I’d rather see the uneducated live on with proper care, but that’s just me.
COVID hospitalizations, deaths continue rise: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-09-19/covid-19-deaths-hospitalizations-increase-as-u-s-heads-into-fall .
WSJ: Fall shot strategy: https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/covid-flu-rsv-shots-timing-a2359d8c . More: https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/covid-vaccine-shot-booster-fall-86549e1b . However, note that shot strategy is different in the two articles. The Journal’s quality remains sad.
FDA rejects epinephrine nasal spray: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-nasal-spray-epinephrine-neffy-rcna105078 . So, I’m not a doctor, but the logic of the doctor voting against this approval escapes me. The tests which were submitted indicated similar action of the spray and an EpiPen in animals and in people not suffering from anaphylaxis. As it’s the same drug, I don’t see any reason for suspecting it would work differently on a person suffering anaphylaxis.
Furthermore, if there is a doubt, then doing a trial on a person suffering anaphylaxis is medically unethical. Suppose you administer this nasal treatment and it doesn’t work. How do you know the proper dose from an EpiPen in this situation? I don’t think you even have independent control of the dose administered by an EpiPen. And too much is dangerous: https://www.epipen.ca/how-to-use-epipen . Given that many people are squeamish about giving injections, the denial of the nasal spray could cost lives.
WSJ: Pregnancy blood pressure screenings: https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/pregnant-women-blood-pressure-disorder-screening-914d5833 .
WSJ: The Wednesday Fed meeting: https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/fed-meeting-september-what-to-watch-6cb831cc . I agree that this month’s action will be to pause (a mistake in my view), with an increase still on the table for the next meeting. However, as we see regularly and again today, significant inflationary pressures remain in the economy. So, barring a shift in data over the next month, the Fed should increase at the next meeting. The more they dawdle, the more likely unemployment is to rise, and increases become more difficult.
Ford reaches tentative deal with Canadian autoworkers: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/ford-reaches-tentative-deal-with-canadian-auto-union-279a3260 . This deal will likely allow GM and Stellantis to settle in Canada as well. Benefits laws are different in Canada, so this deal does not create a comparable settlement model for the US. But it is a start.
WSJ: We pontificate on the UAW strike: https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/uaw-strike-biden-manufacturing-agenda-dc6e90f5 . This article completely misses the point, disgracefully so. EV’s require less parts and therefore less assembly than gas-powered vehicles. The Japanese have recently displayed their approach for highly automated EV factories. That’s where the industry is going. So the critical strike question is, what job security will the union achieve? Because jobs in the auto industry will continue to go away, and the Big Three cannot fight that trend and survive.
WSJ: Audit watchdog wants to increase financial consequences for poor audits: https://www.wsj.com/articles/pcaob-proposes-expanded-liability-for-individual-auditors-involved-in-firm-violations-a940f300 . Audits and malpractice insurance are about to get noticeably more expensive.
McConnell tries to prod House to avoid shutdown: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-warns-government-shutdowns-republicans-lose-rcna105885 . The problem is, the House conservatives are just too stupid. I saw Congressman Ralph Norman (R-SC) on PBS this evening. Questioned by Amna Nawaz about what spending cuts he wanted, Norman complained about the $6 trillion President Biden had caused US taxpayers to spend on Iran to release the 5 American prisoners. The $6 billion involved was a release of Iranian funds for their use on humanitarian expenditures. No US taxpayer money was involved.
When Nawaz corrected him, Norman grew indignant and cut her off, saying, I understand all that. This loser has been a US Congressman since 2017. I really do have sharper tools in the tool shed – all of them. After all, none of them have made absolute fools of themselves on national TV. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/politics/kevin-mccarthy-government-shutdown-republicans-8d93faeb . The conservatives want to cut spending. But they cannot agree on how – again.
WSJ: China’s property oversupply problem extends to commercial office space: https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/thought-the-u-s-office-market-was-bad-try-china-89d10ac7 .
WSJ: Ukraine reclaims initiative in Black Sea: https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/ukrainian-tactics-put-russia-on-the-defensive-in-the-black-sea-4d3f492d . As we have noted previously, Ukraine’s homegrown drone technology is turning the tide against the Russian Black Sea fleet. US works allies for Ukraine support: https://www.wsj.com/world/u-s-urges-allies-to-help-ukraine-endure-another-winter-of-war-7226655b .
Bipartisan ethics experts defend Judge Chutkan against OJ recusal motion: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/09/trump-legal-argument-judge-chutkan-recusal.html . Ridiculous, yes, but also completely desperate.
Microsoft AI geniuses accidentally leak 38TB of confidential company data: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-ai-researchers-accidentally-leak-163850050.html . Wow. You work at Microsoft, decide to use a massive company database of confidential data, and then leak it. Apparently the data security class did not go well. Presumably a number of these people will be out of a job soon.
Vanna White gets 2 year contract extension: https://www.tmz.com/2023/09/19/vanna-white-extends-wheel-of-fortune-contract-2-years-pat-sajak/ . No terms were released, but we can guess the annual pay is more than her prior $3 million but substantially less than the $15 million paid Pat Sajak. I’ll further guess $5 to $6 million.
Media football math: https://www.aol.com/college-football-set-historic-week-104533710.html . Sigh. The article tells us this weekend’s 7 matchups of Top 25 is the highest number since there were 6 on November 11, 2017. Interestingly, outside of football 7 is pretty much greater than 6 all of the time. The article tells us there have been only 6 such weekends since the ratings debuted in 1936. We’d assume the last of those was before 2017, but who knows.
These rankings are typically done with the highest ranked team first, which holds for No. 3 Florida State, but No. 4 Ohio State is second from the bottom. It turns out games are listed in order of start times, and the away team is always listed first. To correct other odd comments, Notre Dame does not look the part of a championship team. They’ve only played one Power Five school so far (NC State) and are ranked No. 9. We’ll see what happens against No. 4 Ohio State.
Why does the article badmouth Washington State for being ranked seventh in the preseason Pac-12 poll? The Pac-12 currently has 8 ranked teams. But that will end this weekend as the Pac-12 openers pit 6 of those ranked teams against each other. The East will be happy – however, the survivors deserve to move up in the polls.