Treating long COVID in kids and teens: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-04-11/hospitals-intensify-efforts-to-treat-long-covid-in-kids-and-teens .
Biden ends COVID national emergency: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/10/politics/covid-19-national-emergency-end-biden/index.html . This is different from the COVID public health emergency, still scheduled to end May 11.
Biopharma execs’ letter supporting FDA on abortion drug: https://docsend.com/view/2ahvmwy8djzxax3g?utm_campaign=wp_the_health_202&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_health202 . Here is the industry executives’ letter criticizing the Amarillo ruling on mifepristone. The execs point out that 23 years of data prove that this abortion drug is safer than Tylenol, most antibiotics and insulin.
Amarillo judge does not understand legal writing: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/abortion-pill-ruling-analysis-anti-abortion-terms-ideology-rcna78937 . The experts quoted in this article are correct that the ruling is politically charged and counterfactual. However, in my view there is a greater problem here. The entire point of judicial writing is to convince. Mr. Kacsmaryk either does not know how to convince, or does not care. Those are fatal disabilities not only as a judge, but in the legal profession generally. Further, he chose his personal beliefs over facts and analysis. Society would be better served if Mr. Kacsmaryk exited the legal profession and entered barber college. At the least, that should improve his haircuts.
WSJ: China’s low retirement age creates strain on economy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-is-facing-a-moment-of-truth-about-its-low-retirement-age-5ed9b57f .
WSJ: We don’t even understand the statistics we highlight: https://www.wsj.com/articles/government-posing-greater-risk-to-corporate-profits-chamber-study-finds-c6699168 . Here, the Journal highlights statistics which completely undercut their point. The headline writer states (falsely) that government poses a “greater risk” to corporate profits. The writer of the article settled on the contention that US corporate annual reports have more references to government regulations than they did 10 years ago. That’s true, but it’s not the key thing the chart shows. These references hit their maximum of 359,520 in 2017, noticeably declined in each of the next 3 years to 317,440 in 2020, and then increased to 327,357 in 2021.
In other words, the peak hit in 2017 (the first year of Orange Julius’ reign of incompetence). The bias and weakness in the Journal’s reporting becomes plainer and more disappointing every day.
WSJ: Global growth projections decrease: https://www.wsj.com/articles/imf-says-banking-troubles-create-headwinds-for-global-economy-f6fef59e . We still face the question of global recession. In this regard, IMF’s projections, although reduced, still look too optimistic. Note, for example, that almost everyone except IMF believes Russia’s economy is shrinking: https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-russias-economy-growing-or-shrinking-it-depends-on-the-forecaster-41e7af0c . Apparently it is too much to ask that the Journal staff read the other articles in the Journal. More (of the same): https://www.wsj.com/articles/bank-volatility-to-cut-u-s-gdp-imf-expects-6c043526 .
Fed officials’ chatter on potential Fed rate increase provides little guidance: WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-official-we-need-to-be-cautious-on-raising-rates-after-bank-failures-f04b23ed .
WSJ: Outcome Health now another convicted start-up fraud: https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-outcome-health-executives-found-guilty-of-fraud-912f9bb0 .
Feds propose Colorado River water allocation: https://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-government-proposes-water-cuts-lower-colorado-river/story?id=98509127 . The states are dragging their feet on reaching an agreement, and something must be done.
WSJ: South Korea will investigate US documents leak: https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-to-probe-circumstances-around-reported-leak-of-classified-u-s-documents-281aa7c8 .
WSJ: Ukraine holds off Russia, fights US intelligence leaks: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-repels-russian-attacks-in-east-as-kyiv-plays-down-u-s-leaks-7c36acef . More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-confident-in-spring-counteroffensive-despite-leaks-pentagon-chief-says-c24c700d .
Fox Not-the-News problems in the Dominion lawsuit just got worse: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/judge-says-fox-news-has-credibility-problem-after-murdoch-disclosure-2023-04-11/ . As indicated here previously, the overwhelming evidence Dominion has uncovered against Fox of “actual malice” could lead to major punitive damages here. On top of all this, Fox lawyers admit to the judge that Murdoch is in fact an officer of Fox News, having represented the opposite to the judge previously. So Rule No. 1 (Don’t piss off the judge) has just been trashed in this case. Wow. I can hardly wait to see the verdict.
Manhattan DA Bragg sues Jim Jordan: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/manhattan-da-sues-rep-jim-jordan-block-gop-inquiry-trump-case-rcna79193 . To be clear, to my knowledge there has never been a demand by Congress for evidence in an ongoing lawsuit. This certainly violates separation of powers on its face. Although Jordan does have a legal degree (from a poorly rated Columbus law school), we have a House Judiciary Committee chairman who does not understand basic legal concepts. Also note that Jordan’s response is a political comment to the GOP MAGA base, but does not respond to the legal issues Bragg raises. Bragg is likely to succeed in most of his lawsuit against Jordan. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-sues-jim-jordan-over-trump-case-db603838 .
Senator Tim Scott to announce presidential exploratory committee: https://apnews.com/article/tim-scott-republican-president-2024-c0a791719fe735b09ec76f7801e74217 . To repeat, this is going nowhere and is an absolute waste of time and money. Neither Nikki Haley nor Tim Scott can win South Carolina against Orange Julius. At best, they’ll split the small anti-OJ vote there. So they can’t win any other state either. Done.
January 6 insurrectionist gets 4 years for throwing fire extinguisher at Capitol police: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-rioter-gets-four-years-hitting-officers-fire-extinguisher-rcna7914 . What is NBC thinking – “[OJ] fan”? Sanford is an insurrectionist – get it straight. Possibly the cult deprogrammer helped him, but undoubtedly Sanford went there in part to try to reduce his punishment. I agree with the injured policeman who feels the sentences have been too short. The sentence is 52 months. Sanford will likely serve half that sentence before release. So, with 8 months of time served, he will be out in about 18 months.
The “Scary Hour” productivity hack: https://metro.co.uk/2022/02/02/this-womans-scary-hour-productivity-hack-could-change-your-life-16034172/ . At first blush, you may think “scary hour” is a rather primitive concept for those of us “forced” to be productive in a business environment. However, some (many?) people I know use their heavy work demands to avoid addressing other issues, whether at work (I have to finish Project X first before tackling Y – which I’m really not that excited about starting) or in life outside of work. You might give “Scary Hour” 5 minutes of thought as to how this could help you address any task or situation you have been putting off.
Massive ocean beneath Earth’s crust: https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/ocean-beneath-earth-crust-ringwoodite-2659760189 . This knowledge has actually been out there for almost 10 years, but this is the first I’ve heard of it: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25723-massive-ocean-discovered-towards-earths-core/ .