School mask mandate defiance encouraged by GOP congressman: https://www.yahoo.com/now/t-stop-everyone-gop-congressman-002434046.html . Among his lies were “they can’t close school”. Um, if there’s a COVID outbreak, they’ll close the school. What rock are you living under?
Judge limits unpaid leave for workers at Oak Ridge National Lab: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-limits-unpaid-leave-unvaccinated-workers-us-lab-80631579 .
AARP’s comparison of original Medicare and Medicare Advantage: https://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-2021/medicare-faceoff.html . While this presents an alternate view of this comparison, my view is that it is not competently done. First, you can have a primary care physician under original Medicare. But more importantly, while AARP mentions a Medigap supplement to Medicare in passing, these policies often eliminate many of the cons described in this article. For example, Medigap policies often offer Silver Sneakers or Silver & Fit gym memberships.
The fundamental issue is whether you want freedom of choice in choosing your doctors and specialists, or whether you want to be limited to a network. As noted in my prior comments on this choice, at some point a senior will typically face a serious illness. Since you don’t know in advance what that illness or illnesses will be, how can you know whether a specific network has access to the top specialists you need? You don’t.
One would hope AARP’s income from UnitedHealthcare Medicare plans did not affect this content.
Japan’s sudden COVID success: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2021-10-17/vaccines-masks-japan-puzzling-over-sudden-virus-success . Japan’s vaccination campaign before the Olympics was after the US and European efforts. Beyond that, there is no obvious hypothesis for the sudden case decline.
WSJ: War stories on how to change jobs: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-quit-your-job-and-get-a-better-one-from-those-who-have-been-there-11634529662 .
China’s growth slowed by construction decline: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2021-10-17/chinas-economic-growth-weakens-amid-construction-slowdown . Note that Evergrande leads the major problems mentioned in this article. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/economy-week-ahead-china-gdp-u-s-industry-and-housing-11634497200 . Somehow WSJ managed to report its estimate of 5.1% 15 hours after publication of the actual figure of 4.9% by AP. Then, after 8 more hours passed, WSJ published the 4.9% figure: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-third-quarter-economic-growth-slows-sharply-to-4-9-11634522925 .
WSJ: British police question suspect in stabbing death of Member of Parliament: https://www.wsj.com/articles/british-police-question-alleged-attacker-in-killing-of-conservative-lawmaker-david-amess-11634484017 . This article confirms earlier reporting that the suspect is a 25-year-old British citizen of Somali descent.