US adult flu hospitalizations surge: https://apnews.com/article/science-health-covid-flu-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-4bb3180fce1ca15bb7bf4244d5c4085e . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/flu-rsv-and-covid-19-add-to-crunch-on-pediatric-hospitals-11668803178 .
US COVID fraud ringleaders extradited to US: https://apnews.com/article/health-business-los-angeles-united-states-covid-55f9c09b8d0ba212fdea4afc5c2842ee .
Zero COVID fails yet again in Beijing: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-11-18/beijing-records-232-covid-cases-by-friday-afternoon-as-community-cases-rise-consistently . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-new-daily-covid-cases-jump-above-24-000-11668762243 . Stupid, stupid, stupid …
Diabetes drug delays disease onset: https://www.aol.com/fda-approves-first-treatment-delays-125516321.html . By the way, if you replace “onset” with “development”, you get a decent tongue-twister. Seriously, this advance could significantly alter testing and treatment protocols.
FDA clears lab-grown chicken: https://news.yahoo.com/fda-clears-lab-grown-meat-for-human-consumption-181158042.html . This feels like a cross between Frankenstein and Soylent Green, which by the way was set in 2022: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green .
Paul Krugman warns crypto institutions “headed for oblivion”: https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/economist-paul-krugman-fears-that-the-cryptocurrency-industry-could-be-headed-for-oblivion/ .
Disabled employee files class action against Twitter for laying him off over remote work: https://fortune.com/2022/11/18/disabled-twitter-employees-forced-resign-musk-hardcore-demands-discrimination-lawsuit/ . Musk faces some very basic legal problems here. The company has proven its ability to operate remotely, as has this employee. The layoff based on this reason is therefore a failure to accommodate, and actionable. Also, with their recent problems, Musk has locked employees out of the office and forced them to work from home. A laid off employee who had been in charge of pass security reports he was personally called by Elon after layoff and asked to come by the office. In locking everyone out, Musk had failed to preserve the codes for his team. They couldn’t get in.
The latest (unverified) report is that more than half of Twitter’s employees took Musk’s severance offer. This would leave the company with well under 1,900 employees. It is hard to see how the company can operate at this level, let alone appropriately monitor content. The train wreck claims more victims every day. WSJ: Not more, but less: https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-workers-brace-for-another-round-of-departures-as-musk-ultimatum-looms-11668716881 . Still less: https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-mass-resignations-test-elon-musks-management-playbook-11668803573 (“Test”? Is WSJ paying any attention?). So we really need a headcount to understand the severity of the problem. Maybe WSJ will update this area with useful information at some point.
OJ vs. DeMentis: the GOP mud-fight: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3740984-trump-vs-desantis-how-the-two-gop-heavyweights-match-up/ . I agree with much of the analysis in this article. However, DeMentis was the clear 2022 winner and OJ the clear loser. DeMentis now leads in the polls, and the party establishment wants to leave OJ behind. He is clearly costing them seats, as detailed yesterday. DeMentis believes his time has come, and as far as the GOP nomination goes, he is likely correct.
The real problem for the GOP is that OJ will not back down. He thinks (wrongly) that this will assist him in his (near 20) criminal and civil actions. And OJ knows that when he steps away, he will never return. Some predictions: many of these legal actions will reach conclusion by July, 2023, and some will conclude by the end of 2022. OJ will suffer serious losses. Also, Walker will lose in Georgia. DeMentis will stay away from most policy, because that’s the only thing that will potentially hurt hum in the polls.
OJ will ramp up the mud-fight against “DeSanctimonius”. DeMentis will try to turn the other cheek publicly, because he wants the MAGA voters as his base. But he will press the OJ critics to publicly disown OJ. The open question is how much damage OJ will do to DeMentis before the walls close in. There will soon be a GOP chorus telling OJ to leave the stage. But OJ is unlikely to listen, because he knows he will never return.
AG Garland appoints special Mar-a-Lago and January prosecutor for OJ: https://abcnews.go.com/US/attorney-general-names-special-counsel-oversee-dojs-mar/story?id=93568451 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/jack-smith-brings-broad-resume-low-political-profile-to-high-visibility-post-11668810884 . Once the elections were essentially complete, action by Garland was expected. There will no doubt be a prosecution here. Smith is a non-nonsense guy, and the evidence of a crime in both situations is overwhelming. The House GOP runs great risk by doing BS investigations, which is apparently their plan.
WSJ: Hakeem Jeffries moves toward House minority leadership: https://www.wsj.com/articles/hakeem-jeffries-forged-ties-across-spectrum-on-path-to-house-democratic-leadership-11668776414 .
WSJ: FTX bankruptcy: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ftxs-sam-bankman-fried-cashed-out-300-million-during-funding-spree-11668799774 . More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/bankrupt-ftx-fires-three-of-sam-bankman-frieds-top-deputies-11668825607 .
Theranos founder gets over 11 years in prison for fraud: https://news.yahoo.com/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-founder-sentenced-to-1125-years-in-prison-222816236.html . WSJ: Our role in bringing her down: https://www.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-holmes-sentencing-a-history-of-the-wsj-theranos-investigation-11668741222 . More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-is-ramesh-sunny-balwani-theranos-what-to-know-11647291759 . Still more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-holmes-is-sentenced-to-11-25-years-in-prison-for-defrauding-theranos-investors-11668809805 .
WSJ: More law school rankings departures: https://www.wsj.com/articles/georgetown-law-joins-roster-of-schools-withdrawing-from-u-s-news-world-report-law-school-rankings-11668795306 .
“Extinct” clam alive and well in California: https://www.sciencealert.com/extinct-clam-from-30000-years-ago-turns-up-just-fine-in-california .
More controversy for World Cup 2022 in Qatar: https://sports.yahoo.com/qatar-bans-alcohol-soccer-world-194650590.html . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/qatar-reverses-plans-to-sell-beer-near-world-cup-stadiums-11668771426 . So, after 12 years of construction and preparation for the World Cup, 2 days before matches commence, Qatar bans beer sales in and around the stadiums. This is shocking news for Budweiser, which coughed up $75 million as a major sponsor of this World Cup. Budweiser’s response was tweeted out: “Well, this is awkward …”. So one assumes Bud had (literally) tons of beer to stock its kiosks around the stadium. Where are all those kegs going?