Pediatricians tout toddler COVID vaccines: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/covid-vaccine-kids-under-5-pediatricians-125550730.html . This is useful information to have if you know parents who are fearful or anti-vaccination.
Pfizer tweaks vaccine for Omicron: https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-government-and-politics-12bd2b46042fa91afad3201ebf5b834a . Once again, the pandemic is an arms race between the viruses and the vaccines. This tweaking is not only appropriate but necessary. The mRNA technology gives the manufacturers the ability to rapidly adjust vaccines. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/pfizers-omicron-targeting-covid-19-vaccines-generate-stronger-immune-response-11656166058 .
Sputnik V vaccine efficacy questioned: https://www.science.org/content/article/russia-s-claim-successful-covid-19-vaccine-doesn-t-pass-smell-test-critics-say . The results provided by the Russians so far do not prove the vaccine is effective.
WHO says monkeypox not yet a global health emergency: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2022-06-25/who-says-monkeypox-is-not-yet-a-health-emergency .
Abortion access as public health emergency: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sens-warren-smith-urge-biden-declare-public-health-emergency-abortion-rcna35338 . This is a tricky issue for the White House. To do nothing will reinforce the idea that Biden is slow to act. However, stepping in the way of red state governors and legislatures will turn this into a states’ rights issue, which will be used to inflame the GOP base. Pursuing the interstate commerce aspects of medication abortion strikes me as more defensible legally and politically. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-courts-roe-v-wade-ruling-sets-off-protests-as-states-plan-next-moves-11656149401 . Still more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-does-overturning-roe-v-wade-mean-explained-11656081705 . The Journal repeats Alito’s arrogant stupidity that Roe was “egregiously wrong”. Badmouthing the Court’s prior rulings, particularly one regarded as a super-precedent, devalues the Court, the rule of law, and stare decisis.
Life as defined by religion: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-christian-abortion-crusade-is-as-hypocritical-as-it-is-arrogant-just-ask-a-rabbi/ar-AAYQLYA?cvid=3c4c6fa38b674659a3c2affdc92d9584 . I have always regarded the idea that life begins at conception as a religious belief. This article details the view of the Jewish faith, which is that life does not begin at conception. Interestingly, the source is the Torah’s Book of Exodus.
The Old Testament was created by rearranging the books of the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), so that the two religions’ Books of Exodus are quite similar. As I don’t recall the Torah’s text cited here as part of the Old Testament, I wonder when the text alterations occurred (Bible rewrites occurred repeatedly over the centuries: https://www.businessinsider.com/bible-changes-altered-jesus-testament-dead-sea-scrolls-gospel-2015-11 ).
Large corporations providing travel for abortion benefits: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/corporate-america-responding-roe-v-wade-being-overturned-162515288.html . This article includes detail from 9 large companies providing this benefit, with the promise to update the article as information develops.
WSJ: Abortion rules by state, in a map: https://www.wsj.com/articles/where-abortion-is-legal-and-where-it-loses-protections-without-roe-v-wade-11656080346 .
Causal link between low Vitamin D levels and dementia: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/low-vitamin-d-levels-could-154027380.html . Were people indoors more during the pandemic? That could be true of the elderly, in which case it is important to have their vitamin D levels checked.
Another way Russian artillery could be halted: the Russians could run out of shells: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-will-soon-exhaust-its-combat-capabilities-western-assessments-predict/ar-AAYQXFi?cvid=efb9dc0878054535998e2781828eebf3 . Given the amount of shelling they have conducted, this scenario is certainly a possibility, one I missed yesterday.
A new issue with the Oath Keepers trial: https://www.businessinsider.com/j6-committee-leaves-doj-in-dark-about-1000-witness-interviews-2022-6 . The January 6 committee is withholding about 1,000 witness interviews from DOJ. This is understandable, but it does place a different light on Judge Mehta’s comment about “all deliberate speed”. Completing the Oath Keepers trial before the November elections would seem to be in the Democrats’ (and the country’s) interest. The committee has indicated the transcripts would be available in early September. Unless the committee speeds up availability, the trial faces delay, because the defense has the right to review all of the interviews.
Expectations for the coming recession: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/morning-brief-june-25-2022-110003339.html . The analysis in this article supports the viewpoint expressed here over recent weeks.
Representative Mary Miller makes the wrong kind of press at her Orange Julius rally: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/rep-miller-thanks-trump-victory-white-life-campaign-says-misread-remar-rcna35359 . How can anyone possibly call the Roe reversal “a victory for WHITE life”? Is her brain disconnected during public speaking? You know she is in trouble where her defense claims she misread prepared remarks saying “RIGHT TO LIFE”. But she did not correct herself after this atrocious comment. Did she not read and practice her remarks before the rally? At best, she did not write her remarks and has no intellectual control over her mouth. At worst, her racist slip is showing.
New GOP line of attack: Mitt Romney Republican: https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-campaigns-utah-salt-lake-city-mitt-romney-655f5f880b6980ea7f03083330aa188f . Romney was the GOP Presidential nominee in 2012, and is currently a Senator from Utah. Yet this attack appears in GOP primaries around the country, and especially in Utah. Orange Julius’ revenge politics now dominate the GOP, primarily because the GOP has absolutely no coherent policy for governance. When you have nothing to offer, start a culture war.
A truly giant bacterium: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/world/worlds-largest-bacteria-magnifica-intl-scli-scn/index.html . This bacterium has been unknown until now partly because you can see it with the naked eye. Since no one thought a bacterium could be this large, no one looked for it.