Links 1/9/2022

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1. Thoughtful person January 9, 2022 at 7:23 am

   https://finance.yahoo.com/news/whole-foods-cites-constitution-disallowing-204631789.html

   Working link
   Thanks
2. PlutoniumKun January 9, 2022 at 7:25 am

   Too woke to travel write? The Critic

   I’ve always loved good travel writing, but its hard to think of any recent writers with much to say. I think the easy of travel has made it all somewhat irrelevant. Not to mention the tidal waves of travel media. 20 years ago it seemed that half the backpackers I met were self publishing books (I bought a few – they made me painfully aware of the importance of good writing and editing, most were excruciating to read). A few years later they all had blogs. Now they have youtube channels and instagram accounts. And very, very few are worth the time (there are some outstanding exceptions, such as they now defunct Spike Japan blog).

   Those criticisms of travel writing being a preserve of posh white folk seem to miss the mark. Part of the pleasure is in seeing the world through someone elses eyes, and so long as they are a good writer it doesn’t matter if that person is particularly nice people (many great travel writers certainly were not). One phrase I treasure from Robert Byrons ‘The Road to Oxania’, his account of a drive across Central Asia in the 1920’s is when he described the King David Hotel in Jerusalem as the ‘last half decent hotel between here and Shanghai’.
   1. DJG, Reality Czar January 9, 2022 at 9:05 am

      Plutonium Kun:

      Travel writing has been dinged by the proliferation of photos from cameras on telephones. Once, we read travel books to get pictures in words of far-off places like Galway, Istanbul, or Montréal. Now we live in a time when a word is worth a thousand, nay, ten thousand photos posted on-line. Not to mention selfies and the endless chronicling of movement (not travel).

      Similarly, competitive foodiness has ruined much travel writing. I’m not one for long articles about eating snakes in Java. Anthony Bourdain worship is the epitome of this aspect.

      And here in Italy, there is the crisis of the Anglo-American who moves to Italy to write in excruciating melodramatic style about the long-put-off nervous breakdown or the long-regretted love affair. The background for this genre is usually Tuscany, with or without Tuscans.

      There is still some good travel writing:
      –Zerocalcare’s Kobane Calling, available in Italian and English (the English translation is hard to find). It’s a graphic novel. It’s political. It’s a kind of masterpiece.
      –I chanced on Madeleine Bunting’s Love of Country, her sentimental journey to the Hebrides. Much detail about Scotland and the treatment of the Scots that raised my eyebrows. Yet it’s all carefully told and carefully observed.
      –I enjoy the web site Culinary Backstreets. The idea is tours / appreciation of “street food,” which means popular recipes and old practices. I recommend that you head over to the site and wonder around. It is particularly good on Greece (mainly Athens) and Portugal.
      1. Jerri-Lynn Scofield Post authorJanuary 9, 2022 at 9:38 am

         I second your endorsement of Culinary Backstreets. It’s also good on Istanbul.
         1. DJG, Reality Czar January 9, 2022 at 10:41 am

            JLS: That’s how I met them. I planned a trip to Istanbul for February 2012, and I ran cross their site, which mainly consisted of Istanbul Eats (the book) and their many walking tours of Istanbul. I never take tours–but I took the old city / traditional walking tour, which got us into places like Vefa Bozacısı in Fatih for a nip of boza with leblebi.

            It turns out that the founders are from Chicago–one of them grew up in Hyde Park.

            My last night in Istanbul, I was in a middle-class style of restaurant having a pide, when I looked up at the television screen to see the word Süriye and large demonstrations. For Turkey and Syria, it has now been ten years of disasters. At least there was zerde for dessert.
            1. Jerri-Lynn Scofield Post authorJanuary 9, 2022 at 10:53 am

               I’ve eaten lots of great food in Istanbul based on their recommendations, both in the book and on the site. I love lamb’s liver – sautéed, in kebabs, doesn’t really matter how it’s prepared. I was last in Istanbul in November 2020 and I’m looking forward to being able to visit again. Needless to say, it’s not looking good at the moment. So I’m contenting myself with cooking lots of Turkish-style food as I barricade myself at home against the world.
      2. Mildred Montana January 9, 2022 at 10:14 am

         Not much of a travel-writing fan, often find the “incidents” and “encounters” related therein ringing false, at best exaggerated or embellished, at worst heavily fictionalized. After all, who’s to know if the writer is telling the unvarnished truth or dramatizing it to sell books?

         That being said, I loved Christopher Hitchens’ long essay, ??? ?????? ?? ????? 66. That’s saying a lot, because I’m not much of a Hitchens fan either.

         https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2002/11/the-ballad-of-route-66

         Imho, this is well worth printing out and reading at leisure in one’s favorite armchair, in bed, or on the couch. Chicago to Santa Monica, through Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. A long, wild, informative, hilarious, and memorable ride with a great prose-stylist.
         1. Wukchumni January 9, 2022 at 12:45 pm

            I’ve re-read Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon every couple years for the past 4 decades, it’s the ultimate road trip across America circa 1979 before the corp’se took over retail duties in our country, making every town look the same.
            1. LO January 9, 2022 at 1:08 pm

               Second the recommendation! Also his PrairyErth, in many ways the antithesis of Blue Highways because it is an in-depth examination of one Kansas County instead of the entire country. Worthwhile if only for the well-chosen quotations that open each chapter.
            2. KLG January 9, 2022 at 6:22 pm

               I have all four of his major works on my shelf. Blue Highways is the best, I think, but all are good. William Least Heat-Moon passed through Athens, Georgia, on a blue highway back in my days there. And we have both eaten at Swamp Guinea, an astonishing place long gone but not forgotten as long as UGA graduates of a certain age still walk this earth!
      3. chukjones January 9, 2022 at 1:57 pm

         You should consider Andrew Zimmern, instead of Bourdain. IMOH.
         1. CitizenSissy January 10, 2022 at 6:54 am

            Completely agree about Zimmern. An old-school travel classic is Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck’s travelogue with his standard poodle.
   2. Robert Hahl January 9, 2022 at 9:50 am

      Anything by Matthew Stevenson will be good. He also publishes short travel pieces in Counterpunch, e.g.,
      https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/07/macedonian-ramble-gallipoli-as-a-colonial-subdivision/

      The Other End of the Sea, by Allison Glick, is travel writing framed as a memoir disguised as a novel, about an American woman who moved to Gaza, married a Palestinian, and ended up back in the U.S.
3. PlutoniumKun January 9, 2022 at 7:32 am

   Ventilation made easy Max Planck Institute for Chemistry

   Its sad that we are having to reinvent the wheel so often. This type of ventilation has been researched for decades as a means to decrease condensation in modern sealed buildings. Once upon a time chimney stacks acted as passive vents. In the 1990’s there was a lot of interest in the UK in incorporating passive vent stacks in into the building certification requirements – essentially just pipes with vents in the warmest part of the building – they created a positive air flow reducing excess moisture. Retrofits (as in that article) invariably need fans, which have significant energy use implications.

   A key problem though is that its very easy to design a good ventilation system for a building – but its much harder to ensure its still working adequately. People simply close or accidentally seal passive vents, and fans just get clogged up and people forget to maintain them.

   Incidentally, architect Orla Hegarty found this report of an example of where improvements in internal ventilation in a children’s hospital dramatically reduced mortality from 38% to 3.8%. In the year 1784. The hospital is still there, still treating children, and last I was there, still had pretty good ventilation.
   1. Solarjay January 9, 2022 at 9:36 am

      Air to air heat exchangers are quite efficient, pretty simple and have gotten much less expensive. They should be a requirement for well sealed homes/buildings.
      For classrooms or offices or whatever, with outside access, they would allow for good airflow exchange and keep heating/cooling costs down substantially. Also you don’t need filters as you’re bringing in hopefully clean non Covid air also reducing maintenance and expense.

      For those that don’t know, They work by passing the heat from the outgoing air to the colder incoming air but not the air itself. Or in summer with cooling same principle.

      They probably should be everywhere as they increase O2 levels in indoor spaces.
      1. steve January 9, 2022 at 11:02 am

         They do need filters, both on the intake and exhaust side, or they will clog in short order. Fouling of the surfaces is the main drawback with air/air heat exchangers and once dirty are difficult to clean and can lead to air balance issues.

         My familiarity with available units is a little dated but I remember there only being one manufacture that touted “easy to clean” and it wasn’t. If there is some new design that addresses this I would be most interested.

         There is no cake.
         1. bob January 9, 2022 at 12:32 pm

            It’s much more complicated than people appreciate. And almost always not very “green”. It take more power and more material. Labor too.
         2. MinNY January 9, 2022 at 4:05 pm

            My union’s consultant industrial hygienist (1) recommends taking heat exchangers off-line during this (and future) pandemics.

            The problem seems to be that most designs allow intake and exhaust air to mix, which results in virus-laden air being recirculated back into the building.

            —
            (1) Monona Rossol. If you get a chance to hear her speak, go for it: she’s completely no nonsense on the topic
            1. chris January 9, 2022 at 6:20 pm

               You may be explaining what you heard without explaining the context of what you heard.

               There are building systems that use what’s called an economizer. That is a plenum or exchanger option that allows conditioned air to mix with fresh air to reduce the cost to heat or cool the air before it goes into the living space. But, all systems with economizer operations have the ability to shut off the economizer because there are times when using it will cause other systems to fail. For instance, if you’ve left the dampers open so that fresh air is directly mixing in the air handler with a coil that can’t handle freezing temperatures, and it’s winter, you’ll cause a freeze and a burst in the coil tubing. So these systems have sensors which are supposed to shut off the economizer when exterior conditions require it. Such operation guidelines are defined in the sequence of operations for a building HVAC system.

               However, you can choose to alter the sequence of operations for the system so that economizer operations are always disabled regardless of exterior conditions. That may cause other issues, like a LEED certification may be challenged, and it will certainly raise operating costs for the building. But, there is no requirement for a heat exchanger of any design to mix conditioned air, possibly contaminated, with incoming fresh air. If your representatives are telling you that all heat exchangers expose you to this risk, they are mistaken.
               1. Displaced Platitudes January 10, 2022 at 1:56 pm

                  Heat wheels do certainly exchange air across them as well as condensation. Air-to-air heat exchangers likely don’t, although I am uncertain that they would adequately temper the incoming air enough in harsher climates. Given the setup in the article, it would seem that ducting to the return air vents then closing mixed-air dampers on AHUs and exhausting RA to the outside might be the best option, although in harsh climates it would be hard to heat 100% outside air. Temporary ducting to bring OA in at floor level of the rooms would also be necessary.
                  A partial mix of minimal RA with OA using MERV 16 Filters might be as good as can be accomplished in existing classrooms at the moment in lieu of no return air in harsher climates.
   2. Kris Alman January 9, 2022 at 10:38 am

      Coming from University of Oregon, this pre-print corroborates the importance of improved ventilation and humidity to mitigate transmission of Covid.

      Quantifying environmental mitigation of aerosol viral load in a controlled chamber with participants diagnosed with COVID-19

      Results
      Here we show that increased viral load, measured by lower RNA cycle threshold (CT) values, in nasal samples is associated with higher viral loads in environmental aerosols and on surfaces captured in both the near field (1.2 m) and far field (3.5 m). We also found that aerosol viral load in far field is correlated with the number of particles within the range of 1 µm -2.5 µm. Furthermore, we found that increased ventilation and filtration significantly reduced aerosol and surface viral loads, while higher relative humidity resulted in lower aerosol and higher surface viral load, consistent with an increased rate of particle deposition at higher relative humidity. Data from near field aerosol trials with high expiratory activities suggest that respiratory particles of smaller sizes (0.3 µm -1 µm) best characterize the variance of near field aerosol viral load.

      Conclusions
      Our findings indicate that building operation practices such as ventilation, filtration, and humidification substantially reduce the environmental aerosol viral load, and therefore inhalation dose, and should be prioritized to improve building health and safety.
      1. Kris Alman January 9, 2022 at 10:43 am

         This is one of the first studies that investigated the role of relative humidity on viral RNA in aerosols and surfaces in a realistic setting. Our results suggest that increased RH corresponds with decreased viral load in aerosols and increased viral load on select indoor surfaces, consistent with an increased rate of particle deposition. Since several studies have demonstrated that there is a substantially higher risk for aerosol mediated transmission than fomite mediated transmission[38], active humidity control (including humidification, or reduced dehumidification) could be implemented to reduce aerosol mediated COVID-19 transmission risk reduction in indoor spaces. Of course, humidification controls must be properly maintained and managed to avoid condensation and mold propagation.
         1. chris January 9, 2022 at 12:21 pm

            Very true. There is also the beginning of understanding how and why our environment influences our immune system too. Things like temperature and humidity seem to matter a lot but no one seems to have a found a convincing reason behind that mechanism. Odds are good that building science has a lot left to learn so that we can build houses that are environmentally and economically sound which also promote the health of the occupants.
      2. Soredemos January 9, 2022 at 2:02 pm

         Yeah, but my almost-doctor brother insists that it’s spread mostly by droplets and that he should know because he just took four years of medical school and I’m the idiot. /s
         1. Kris Alman January 9, 2022 at 4:37 pm

            I, a retired doctor, have learned this stuff through Naked Capitalism and he can learn by being open to family, friends and his patients!

            Tell your almost-doctor brother that there is a double whammy with aerosolized air pollutants.

            From Physicians for Social Responsibility:
            https://www.psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/air-pollution-and-covid-19.pdf?mc_cid=15c11a73ff

            Air pollutants harm the body via several mechanisms. Fine
            particulate matter and other air toxics are known to injure the
            hair-like cilia that line the respiratory tract and act as first-line
            defenders to remove harmful microorganisms. Inflammation
            and cellular damage from pollution hamper the immune
            system charged with protecting the body from invading
            organisms like coronavirus. When these natural defenses are
            impaired, infections from respiratory viruses like coronavirus
            are more likely to occur. Likewise, severe complications and
            higher death rates from respiratory infections are expected.

            Long-term exposure to air pollution is also associated with the development of obesity and its related health complications of hypertension, kidney disease, liver dysfunction, and type 2 diabetes. These so-called “comorbidities,” or simultaneously existing diseases or medical conditions, are known to increase the risk of poor outcomes in patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
   3. steve January 9, 2022 at 3:29 pm

      From the article:
      ” Ventilation-related energy losses are also being reduced through this, which in turn benefits the climate.”

      I fail to see how that works. Anyone have a clue how this would do anything, energy wise, that didn’t increase ventilation related loads? Perhaps the original German paper clarifies? Perhaps something lost in translation?
      1. chris January 9, 2022 at 10:03 pm

         I didn’t see any references to that topic in the article that could explain what they meant by that comment. I can imagine what could be meant by that comment though.

         It may be that because they’ve switched to a point source control approach using low energy fans to exhaust the moisture laden area and bring in make-up air from the outside that they don’t need to operate the building systems in an energy intense fashion. That kind of thing happens all the time when sizing pumps and fans. Absent any kind of information about the systems involved and the operating costs there’s no way to know for sure.
4. bassmule January 9, 2022 at 7:40 am

   working link for Whole Foods/BLM:
   https://finance.yahoo.com/news/whole-foods-cites-constitution-disallowing-204631789.html
   1. Jerri-Lynn Scofield Post authorJanuary 9, 2022 at 7:44 am

      Fixed it – thanks!
5. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 7:48 am

   “Okinawa reports 1,759 new coronavirus cases; 1,224 in Tokyo”

   Not hard to work out why the difference. Okinawa houses about three-fourths of the U.S. military facilities and two-thirds of the 45,000 American troops in Japan and the Japanese have bitterly complained how the US command there does not try to quarantine new arrivals from the US but allows them to go out into the community which as led to higher infection rates. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida claims to have come to an agreement with US about troops avoiding unnecessary outings but this may just be kabuki theater by him-

   https://www.rt.com/news/545481-tokyo-us-base-covid/
   1. Terry Flynn January 9, 2022 at 9:12 am

      My best friend (now a senior University figure in Tokyo, fluent in Japanese to professional standard – translated his own PhD for publication in Japan) keeps me up to date on stuff that doesn’t reach western media.

      Although he long since saw the initial spike around US bases as they went out drinking in local bars, he also points the finger at mask fatigue among locals over the new year period in a population who normally are a society to look up to when it comes to PPE usage. He knows the toothpaste can’t be squeezed back into the tube in Japan and the LDP has no interest in really trying.
   2. Acacia January 9, 2022 at 9:27 am

      Yep. The Japan Times article doesn’t make it clear, but these mega-cluster infections in Japan are coming via the U.S. military. The Ryukyu Shimpo reports:

      The number of newly infected people in the base in the last week is approaching 2,000 per 100,000 population, which is the worst level in the world, according to the estimation of this paper. […] In the week leading up to December 26, 2021, the United States, which has the highest number of new infections, has 358.2 per 100,000 population. The number of newly infected people in the United Kingdom is 901.3, which is the second highest after the United States.

      US soldiers leaving the base and walking around town without masks — what could go wrong?

      Apparently, the Japanese government does have the authority to restrict entry of US soldiers into Japan, but it was discussed in the Diet and the ruling LDP doesn’t want to bother the US military with such a measure.
      1. David January 9, 2022 at 3:42 pm

         Okinawa isn’t really quite Japan, as anyone there (or in Tokyo) will tell you, and it’s a relatively small island. It’s not a place that Diet politicians spend much time thinking about.
         1. Acacia January 9, 2022 at 6:57 pm

            I guess you’ve never been there. Okinawa is the fifth largest island in Japan (6,852 islands in the archipelago), it’s a prefecture, and has been under administration of the Japanese government since 1972.

            More to the point, the spread of COVID via the US military isn’t just part of the so-called “Okinawa problem” (US bases affecting local communities, civilians killed, women raped, pollution, environmental destruction, negative impact on property values, etc.), it’s happening in a number of other parts of Japan (here at some numbers from the US military), e.g., at Yokosuka, near Yokohama, at Iwakuni, in Yamaguchi, etc. Okinawa just happens to have the worst numbers, because of the number of bases there.
6. dftbs January 9, 2022 at 8:02 am

   Brandon Weichert is very unconvincing in his Asia Times article regarding Russia, China and Kazakhstan. Don’t take it from me, but the Chinese themselves have given very strong statements of support to the CSTO mission. I don’t imagine Brandon knows what’s better for Chinese geopolitical interest than China’s own foreign ministry.

   On the face of it a stable Kazakhstan seems to be more aligned with everyone’s commercial interest other than the western NGO complex. I think Brandon reveals his misunderstanding, and imperial lens, when he posits the EAEU and BRI as competing initiatives. The former is a tariff free trade zone, the latter a massive development initiative, as institutions there is nothing contradictory or conflicting about them.

   His off-target shot does make me wonder if the Chinese and Russians are right in characterizing the violence in KZ as a US driven color revolution. Obviously the social technology of these regime change attempts are out there for all to use. And the efficiency of the CSTO response as well as the outcome, which will bind KZ closer to the Russia-China Eurasian block (like in Belarus) could just as easily point to a Russian fumigation operation. After all the recent failures in Belarus, and even Western Hemisphere nations such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela should’ve demonstrated the ineffectiveness of these regime change ops.

   But perhaps the goal wasn’t regime change. The US foreign policy establishment in their coffee table book misunderstanding of history thinks that the theological disagreement between Mao and Khrushchev revealed an innate tendency for Russia and China to be antagonists. After all we believe we exploited this to our advantage (Deng and Zhou would disagree). Perhaps, as Brandon so eagerly reveals, the goal was to pry open some imaginary cleavage we think exists in Russia-China policy in Central Asia.

   If so, like most of the actions taken by the “experts” along the Potomac, the result is the opposite of the intention.
   1. Alex Morfesis January 9, 2022 at 12:28 pm

      Because only perfect freedom is acceptable…any oligarchic western imperium dominated versions must not be tolerated so back to the coal mines you foolish kazax and remember, “only good tasting freedoms get to be starfish”…as to emperor poo and czar raz-putin, the fearless leader nonsense is well past it’s sale by date, and with or without the fumbling funsters of floggy bottom doing their best clue(less) sew, we are witnessing the last emperor and the last czar…
   2. Dan Berg January 9, 2022 at 12:28 pm

      https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2022/01/what-kazakhstan-isnt/
      1. ptb January 9, 2022 at 2:54 pm

         Re: Craig Murray on events in Kazakhstan

         Useful perspective, but the description of the street action as entirely organic and devoid of agency doesn’t seem sufficient to me.

         The public-sentiment conditions to recreate a Gilets-Jaunes situation are going to be happening all over the world in the coming months though, so it’s important to think it through. Organizing a thousand protesters is easy enough for any local powers these days, with or without outside encouragement. What’s less trivial is to get the riot police to play their part in the theater. It’s they, not the “man on the street” throwing a brick, who create the potential for a coup d’etat.
         1. flora January 9, 2022 at 3:34 pm

            Devoid of agency? Whose agency? n’est-ce pas ? / ;)
7. Tom Stone January 9, 2022 at 8:12 am

   I turned on the TV yesterday afternoon and watched a few hours of Monday Night Football.
   On Saturday afternoon,BECAUSE AMERICA!
   The was some mention of Omicron,the Superbowl will still go on but spectators will not only have to be vaccinated, they will be also required to wear clear plastic bags over their heads as an extra precaution.
   1. ambrit January 9, 2022 at 8:24 am

      Hoo boy. New Orlean’s Saints fans were way ahead of the curve back in the day. During a particularly bad season, fans began to wear brown paper bags over their heads to games to hide their shame for the team they supported. No tacky and ecologically damaging plastic bags for us! Renewable and Earth friendly paper for the ‘Bag Heads!’
      See: https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/new-orleans-saints-the-aints-and-the-origin-of-the-bagheads
      1. T January 9, 2022 at 9:29 am

         Ambrit, they specifically mentioned tight fitting clear plastic bags as a means of preventing the transmission of Covid.
         They should work even better than N95 masks!
         Ten minutes wearing a tight fitting plastic bag over your head and I guarantee you won’t be transmitting Covid!
         Unfortunately it will negatively affect beer sales,but the perfect is often the enemy of the good.
         1. Wukchumni January 9, 2022 at 9:38 am

            I was under the impression that ‘the suicide squeeze play’ was more commonly associated with baseball…
      2. orlbucfan January 9, 2022 at 11:05 am

         That bag over face bit for disgusted NFL fans has been around forever. Take it from a long time Tampa Bay Bucs partisan. They were always brown paper bags so you could draw or write on them with black magic markers. Yeah, talk about lazy media. Guess they just couldn’t be bothered with deleting the MNF graphics cos it was Saturday. Greetings, ambrit.
         1. lyman alpha blob January 9, 2022 at 11:24 am

            Fans are upping their game – these days it’s clown suits. Somehow the horse faced hair model has failed to singlehandedly revive the floundering Jags, and fans are letting their feelings be known to the point where corporate sponsors want to pull out.

            I love when capitalism turns sour – https://sports.yahoo.com/jaguars-sponsor-sues-to-have-name-removed-from-game-due-to-impending-clown-invasion-231113471.html
         2. NotTimothyGeithner January 9, 2022 at 11:28 am

            I suspect it’s an effort to rebrand Monday Night Football in light of the Manningcast. ESPN is going to try it with A-Rod for Sunday Night Baseball. They had Herbstreet and Fowler instead of a Hassleback and a play by play guy.

            Prior to modern league rules and the salary cap Era, it was easier to plug in good teams people wanted to watch. They can’t reschedule Monday Night games the way they can Sunday games because the players and coaches would revolt. Teams who want to win the prize too.

            The guy who makes the NFL schedule did an interview where he described the process a few years ago. The broadcasters wanted Sunday Night. It’s the biggest game week after week, so the NFL knows to put a marquee game then. When Peyton Manning was playing, week 11 or soSunday night was scheduled for Pats/Colts as the first scheduled game. Monday Night games are often after thoughts.
         3. ambrit January 9, 2022 at 7:38 pm

            Greetings and felicitations o Central Florida denizen. I remember going to Miami Dolphins games as a kid, back in the 1960s. That was when Larry Seiple was the most dangerous punter in the league. He also could run with the ball. Whenever he got the ball, he might run for a ten yard gain and first down. I saw him do it. The crowd went really crazy, that’s why I remember it.
            Of course, back then, twenty thousand fans in the old Orange Bowl was a good crowd for the Dolphins.
            Seiple’s most famous fake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibclKwA8hb4
            Larry Seiple: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Seiple
            The old Orange Bowl was in the middle of town and parking was a mess. Later, after the move to the Mega Bowl up near the Broward County line, my sister said that parking became a racket.
            Stay safe!
   2. griffen January 9, 2022 at 8:43 am

      Yes to this. Well they can’t play on Monday night since the championship between Alabama and Georgia is on the menu. Available to all including subscribers to ESPN8. See it live on the Ocho!

      Goodell will make sure that Super Bowl LVI (?) is played. And to borrow from ambrit above, do the Jets fans sport the brown bag headgear now? Frankly a few teams need that for their poor decisions.
      1. Appleseed January 9, 2022 at 11:06 am

         Indy is hosting Monday’s college football championship game and 100,000 folks are expected to attend. Indoor and outdoor activities began yesterday and continue through Monday while COVID cases in Marion County are skyrocketing. According to the Marion County Public Health Department (MCPHD), as of 01/05/2022 the Marion County 7-day average of newly confirmed cases are very high – currently 173 cases per 100K residents per 7-day average . “The trend is increasing rapidly globally, nationally, and locally.“ This news report provides a great overview. “What frustrates me is that Indy had the national platform to lead and show the importance of public health by enacting a mask ordinance, proof of vaccination or on-site antigen testing for game admission,” tweeted Dr. Gabriel Bosslet. “Instead our leaders elected to do nothing. It makes me sad.” Worth mentioning that NCAA’s HQ is in Indy. More to the point, last year the Indiana General Assembly stripped local health officials of the authority to issue public health emergency orders. Such orders must now be approved by local legislative bodies e.g. the City-County Council. The reporter notes, “Local hotels are booked solid to host more than 100,000 expected guests, leading to a $150 million economic impact.“

         Oh.

         Also, “The Marion County Public Health Department plans to have a mobile vaccination clinic on site Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.”

         That’ll fix it!
      2. NotTimothyGeithner January 9, 2022 at 11:10 am

         Jets fans already enjoy the ignominy of being Jets fans. Why would they need paper bags at this point?
         1. lyman alpha blob January 9, 2022 at 11:29 am

            A Jets fan friend of mine told me recently that JETS stands for Just End The Suffering. In all the years of watching the Pats (and everyone one else) humiliate the Jets (butt fumble anyone?), I can’t believe I’d never heard that one before.
            1. NotTimothyGeithner January 9, 2022 at 11:56 am

               The Jets tended to beat the Pats prior to the Bledsoe injury against the Jets. My dad texts me before every Jets-Pats game to remind me if he doesn’t call. The Giants were the team broadcast in Taxachussetts prior to the Pats existing. And for whatever reason, he would get the Browns on the other channel.

               Except for Namath, the Jets are fairly woeful. No wonder you’all do such a wonderful job at the NFL draft.
   3. Mildred Montana January 9, 2022 at 10:38 am

      Since it’s America, and a buck’s gotta be made, plastic bags ???? be purchased at a stadium concession stand. No BYOB (bring your own bag).
   4. Nikkikat January 9, 2022 at 11:05 am

      Can the bags be tightened around the throat?
      1. ArtDog_CT January 9, 2022 at 11:55 am

         Oh, of course. Not only can they be, they must be. Civic duty, etc.
8. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 8:17 am

   “US hospitals struggle to match Walmart pay as staff flees omicron”

   I could be wrong but I think that this is called the “free market” at work. Wall Street says that it is really great. If they can’t afford to pay those workers a decent pay packet or even one that is the same as a Walmart worker, perhaps they can get the local judges to tell criminals being sentenced that they have a choice – to serve their sentences in prison or to serve it working in their local hospitals. Hey, where do you think that California get a chunk of their work force from, especially their firefighters. It could work.
   1. JohnnyGL January 9, 2022 at 9:11 am

      The bizarre thing about this whole situation is that it could have been eased by a federal min wage increase. Don’t get me wrong, waht was proposed in congress was too little, too late.

      However, it makes sense to think of the min wage as a kind of class-compact, a resetting of the terms, when we have a controlled ratchet up of wages on the lower end of the working class. It would have belatedly reflected the new reality of reduced immigration, baby boomber retirements, and the large scale reallocation of labor needed across sectors of the economy.

      Instead, now the turf war has to be fought out on the ground in the labor market equivalent of house-to-house street fighting.

      Recall that employers fired the first shots in this war they thought would be a walkover. They laid off something like 20m people in early 2020. As the pandemic restrictions eased, a lot of employers tried to restore the status quo ante. They actively tried to rehire with lower starting wages and refused to give standard raises and tried to finesse things with bonuses and hazard pay. But workers want the long term stability that employers are refusing to give.

      To get rewarded as a worker, you cannot stay put, you have to quit your job and find an employer who’s been mentally broken down and adjusted to the idea of paying more. If you stay put, you get left behind, financially. Punishing employees who stay put was financially rewarding for a lot of employers who could manage a reasonable level of turnover as it would mostly just manifest itself in crappier service and inconvenience for customers. With most business lines organized into cartels, crappy service didn’t result in lost customers, because…where else are customers going to go? From CVS to Walgreens? They’re all exhibiting the same behaviors. Customers have no choice in the matter.

      A world in which there was a quick min wage increase passed in early 2020 would have been a clear signal to employers to disarm and adjust your business models to the new terms of employment. Instead, workers got fired, then rehired, then quit and many dropped out of the workforce entirely as they didn’t have the will to participate in this fight. Plus, the burnout on the remaining employees caused more of them to quit, too. The workers left behind have been told, loud and clear, ‘figure this out on your own’ and they’re doing that.

      It’s just another field where the admin and congress are out of touch and unwilling to lead. Biden really wanted just to do ‘shots in arms and checks in your account’ and coast for the rest of his one term.
      1. John January 9, 2022 at 9:47 am

         Pity the poor employer simply trying to reduce costs and expand profits. The undeserving refuse to play by her/his/their rules. Quelle horreur. The ungrateful wretches seem not to understand that it is ‘because markets.’
         1. JohnnyGL January 9, 2022 at 5:27 pm

            The low-level fights being waged at the low end of the income scale are a nice, clear example of one of the major downsides of neo-liberalism in labor markets.

            The process plays out in a prolonged, chaotic, unevenly distributed fight between employers and employees. Service disruptions, supply-chain breakdowns, strikes, walk-outs, lock-outs, random store closures, large scale layoffs, and the newest addition are all part of the tactics involved in this fight.

            The case for markets is there to be made when you want firms to experiment. What we do NOT want is for those experiments to be built around lowering wages/benefits for employees. That aspect has to be taken off the table.
      2. Michaelmas January 9, 2022 at 11:43 am

         Biden really wanted just to do ‘shots in arms and checks in your account’ and coast for the rest of his one term.

         Nope. The ‘checks in your account’ came through under the Former Guy and, if you recall, Pelosi and co. labored mightily in the last three months of his administration to stop that.

         So, no, Biden didn’t even want to put checks in the proles’ accounts. And then they cut the last of those programs off on Labor Day, just so we got the message. This is the all-PMC, all-the-time Dems.

         The ‘shots in the arms’ are, conversely, grist for pumping up profits and shares in Big Pharma, which the Dems are very much into because investments and lobbyist kickbacks. So, a different story.

         “In America, you’re on your own. America’s not a country. It’s just a business. Now pay me.”
         1. wol January 9, 2022 at 1:59 pm

            …But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Pharma.
   2. Mikel January 9, 2022 at 10:50 am

      Financial parasites have attached themselves to the health care industry.
      Legislators can put whatever BS on paper and call it reform. There will be no strong enforcement of laws or forceful punishment for the parasites. So they won’t change.
   3. tegnost January 9, 2022 at 11:46 am

      The cheapest place in america is taking workers from the most expensive place in america.
      Pretty mean of walmart…they should have a more social conscience…
9. Lee January 9, 2022 at 8:22 am

   CA Healthcare Workers Raise Concerns Over New State COVID-19 Protocols NBC Bay Area

   “With the highly contagious omicron variant sending more people to California hospitals, the California Department of Public Health issued new guidelines Saturday, in an effort to make sure there is enough staff to handle the increase.

   According to new state guidelines, health care workers who test positive for COVID-19 will no longer have to isolate or test negative and can return to work immediately If they are asymptomatic.

   The new guidelines are in effect until Feb 1.”

   I guess this is a capitulation to a full on let ‘er rip policy. Welcome to the new normal.
   1. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 8:28 am

      They are doing something similar in New South Wales in Oz so that essential workers can be made to go back to work. They really are determined to spread this virus-

      https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/essential-workers-permitted-to-leave-isolation-as-nsw-records-deadliest-day-20220109-p59mwi.html
      1. Terry Meister January 9, 2022 at 9:50 am

         So we should let essential services grind to a halt? The die is cast – omicron is so widespread that containment is unobtainable. At this point ( I don’t agree with how we got here) – what else do you do? The real farce is continuing to focus on testing – I’m the Australian summer, if you have symptoms, you’re almost certainly have covid. Testing adds very little value. Easily available blood oximetry would be much more valuable.
         1. Lupana January 9, 2022 at 10:32 am

            Essential services = real people with lives and families. They should be valued as such not just a means of keeping the economy running. They should not have to pay for the poor policy decisions made by our so called leaders. I’d personally like to see our elected officials working the front lines of this mess.. Instead what I see is it being treated just like wars are treated – come up with a costly, losing policy then make other people carry the risk and bear the cost.
         2. Nothing January 10, 2022 at 7:28 pm

            Well, with your comment ‘I don’t agree with how we got here’, you and the Rev are broadly in agreement on the source problems. The current situation is really a case of the government giving us two bad options that are a direct consequence of their prior bad decisions. For a terrible analogy it’s kind of like we’re being forced to choose between amputation or death, and it’s because the government, after observing in other countries that if the wound isn’t treated it leads to amputation or death, decided to just let the wound fester.

            Because there’s a new and exciting outrageous headline every day it’s very easy to get caught on the moral question of the day (do we let covid-positive people keep working in a meatworks or do we have millions starve without meat!!), but there’s certain actions that the government wasn’t held to account on that put us in the situation we are in. Back in November, to hear the first mentions of Omicron (then the “South African variant of concern”) on Friday, to read the “this is serious pay attention” article on Saturday morning from NC/Yves, and then to have our first Omicron-postive case spreading it around in Sydney on Saturday night…. To be at a point where covid positive people were stepping off planes and something originating from South Africa is already in Sydney is government failure.

            Meanwhile we’re watching this Kabuki theatre with Djokovic. Currently have Covid but are vaccinated = welcome to Australia! Don’t have Covid but are not vaccinated = YOU’RE A MENACE TO THE BIOSECURITY ACT (2015) GET OUT
   2. ambrit January 9, 2022 at 8:30 am

      This is true insanity. The underlying assumption of this policy is that asymptomatic Covid cases do not spread the virus. An actually disprovable contention. This is official repudiation of “Follow the Science.”
      See: https://www.uchealth.org/today/the-truth-about-asymptomatic-spread-of-covid-19/
      Just as does the virus itself, watch Conspiracy Theories surge to new highs in the following weeks.
      1. Tom Stone January 9, 2022 at 8:55 am

         Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for the greater good, tough decisions that have to be lived with.
         Thank goodness we have Badass Joe Biden in charge a man who knows in his very bones that GREED IS GOOD!
         And the greater the greed the greater the good.
         We are blessed.
         1. ambrit January 9, 2022 at 10:46 am

            Hmmm…. “For the Greater Good.” It seems I’ve heard that somewhere before.
            “Hail Hydra Finance LLC!”
            1. petal January 9, 2022 at 11:22 am

               “The greater goooood”…I think I’ll pull Hot Fuzz out to watch tonight. Thanks, guys!

               My mother in Rochester, NY told me this morning she’s been seeing commercial ads recruiting for staff at MGH & BWH on her CBS tv station. They must be having real trouble with staffing.

               As one of those with multiple comorbidities inherited through garbage genetics, I feel even more worthless today than yesterday. Thanks, CDC & Walensky, for saying the quiet part out loud.
               1. Anon January 9, 2022 at 2:07 pm

                  It’s good to know out loud how our betters really see us. Finally, we have transparency in government!

                  I’m also feeling more worthless today than yesterday. Just waiting around to die. (Thank you, Townes.)
                  1. JBird4049 January 9, 2022 at 5:04 pm

                     >>>This is eugenicist. pic.twitter.com/zd3iBQTH0J

                     >>>Thanks, CDC & Walensky, for saying the quiet part out loud.

                     The last (official) eugenical sterilizations in the United States likely happened in North Carolina and California in the early 1970s. IIRC, the records are not very public for some reason. However, it was perfectly legal to sterilize those institutionalized, those at public clinics, and prisoners. Often without informed consent of either the victim or their families. Part of the reason it is not know for sure when the practice ended is because it did continue on the sly when it was outlawed. As happened in California’s women’s prisons. And recently in Immigration.

                     Adolf Hitler and Henry Ford were actual fanboys of each other. Wrote letters to each other. Both advocated for eugenics and antisemitism. Everyone knows that the Eugenics Movement was a thing in the United States by the 1890s? And before that it was a Social Darwinist stronghold? The Nazis just did us better.

                     Then there is the over two centuries of slavery and the century after reintroduced in the South as prison labor (it was worse in someways because the prisoners were of little value unlike during Antebellum South were they were often worth the equivalent to a car. So, no reason to give them adequate anything)

                     Really, this is old news especially with the rise of the alt-right and its not so hidden support of racism.

                     But all of this is unseemly, so why mention it except in passing like with Dr. Walensky? It just invisibly stains the air. Like first tendrils of the invisible smoke from a fire.
                     1. Lena January 10, 2022 at 8:58 am

                        Consider this: Aktion T4 killed 300,000 of the disabled (children and adults), the elderly and the sick. It took 6 years (1939-45) to achieve those results.
         2. megrim January 9, 2022 at 3:36 pm

            I can’t decide if TPTB actually think that our societies can somehow weather this, or if they simply want everything to go down the tubes.
      2. cnchal January 9, 2022 at 9:01 am

         Lets face reality. If they didn’t do that they would have to press people walking by the hospital into health care duty.

         Considering that most people coming to the hospital are sick with or from covid, having infected staff treat them is perfectly logical.
         1. Lee January 9, 2022 at 9:08 am

            Too bad for the sick people seeking healthcare who don’t already have Covid.
            1. John January 9, 2022 at 9:48 am

               Yup. FUBAR
   3. Tex January 9, 2022 at 9:47 am

      Signs have pointed in this direction for some time now. Its a slow walk back of “The Science”. Next up CNN tells us all its in our heads, Biden praises Fauci for his wisdom, Facebook cancels you for suggesting COVID is harmful and fact checkers ensure the newest science is accepted without question. Welcome to Utopia.
      1. Screwball January 9, 2022 at 10:21 am

         And don’t forget; as I was told to yesterday when someone offered that Biden has not handled the pandemic as promised – it’s ALL Donald Trumps fault because he didn’t push the vaccines, he told people to drink bleach, he fueled the anti-vaxxers, along with Fox News, that despicable Joe Rogan (who should be thrown off of Spotify) and all the knuckle dragging scum Trump supporters who won’t get a shot. If they would only have done that we would be done with this pandemic and it would be over.

         As long as they have someone to blame – everything is good – let’er rip.

         We are so screwed.
      2. ambrit January 9, 2022 at 10:53 am

         Maybe that should be Eutopia. Similar but more focused.
         See: https://www.definitions.net/definition/eutopia
      3. Michaelmas January 9, 2022 at 11:46 am

         Tex: Next up … Facebook cancels you for suggesting COVID is harmful and fact checkers ensure the newest science is accepted without question.

         You think you’re joking, don’t you?
   4. Howard January 9, 2022 at 10:50 am

      The article quotes a doctor: Dr. George Rutherford, Professor of Epidemiology at UCSF said the state’s move is surprising but not unprecedented.
      “This is about having infected people taking care of infected people. We did this with Ebola in South Africa. We’ve done it before. It’s not the first play option in our playbook. I think staffing issues are such that it led the state to put this guidance out,” he said.

      Ebola is a virus that is primarily transmitted through fluid exchange and is not airborne. Omicron is transmitted through the air and might be as contagious as measles. Maybe the professor of epidemiology should choose a different metaphor.
   5. Lee January 9, 2022 at 12:15 pm

      In other Covid news:

      Characteristics and Outcomes of Hospitalized Patients in South Africa During the COVID-19 Omicron Wave Compared With Previous Waves JAMA Network

      This paper is discussed in detail on This Week in Virology Clinical Update by Dr. Daniel Griffin.

      Dr. Griffin disagrees with the “Omicron is mild” narrative and he provides data as well as what he is seeing among his patients to support his rather sobering view.
      1. IM Doc January 9, 2022 at 6:30 pm

         From here on the ground –

         There are lots and lots of outpatient COVID patients – I am seeing way more than ever before. And for this entire week – all but 11 ( out of hundreds) have been vaccinated and/or boostered. That is much over par for our overall vaccination rate in the community.

         We are now routinely above 50% in our hospitalized vaccinated patients – but the really critical ones do indeed remain unvaccinated.

         Here is the problem – many of these outpatients are very very sick. Including the vaccinated and boostered. Because of the incompetence and negligence of our health apparatus, I have no idea if these really sick patients are Delta or Omicron. I suspect many if not most of the really ill are actually Delta – but there is no way of knowing at all. The majority of these patients are not even able to be COVID tested much less having variant analysis. Of course – they have pulled all the monoclonal Ab which really worked.

         I do not know what else to say. It is a war zone where I am.

         I am watching our already fragile health care system fracture in real time before my eyes. We have had 2 overwhelmed employees this weekend just get up and walk out. Not a good situation. The hospital is having to shutter entire departments. I really hope what they are saying is true – that this will be a quick-moving wave. Not really seeing that yet.
         1. flora January 9, 2022 at 7:11 pm

            Many thanks for your on the ground reports.
            1. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 7:35 pm

               Same here. I guess that at this stage of the game, it is just one day at a time. At least your patients are in good care.
      2. redleg January 10, 2022 at 9:53 am

         Thanks for the link to TWiV. Long, detailed, frank discussions about research and how that may or may not translate into the real world.
10. Samuel Conner January 9, 2022 at 8:30 am

    The thought occurs that long COVID is a comorbidity, and that it may not be that hard to accumulate 4 different kinds of long COVID over a span of years or decades of endemic CV.

    (not to mention the immune dysregulation and heightened cancer risk)

    It’s a jobs program for … medical coders? One wonders who will be acting on the diagnoses when the health system is more comprehensively hollowed out.
11. Kaligula January 9, 2022 at 8:51 am

    Ventilation made easy Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. News you can use.

    The cost of €200 is low and manageable. The Corsi Box is around $120 (if memory serves)… Clearly this means these solutions will be rejected or just ignored by school admins ? Reason: where are the opportunities for grift?
12. The Historian January 9, 2022 at 8:58 am

    Let me see if I’ve got this right. So, according to the CDC if you have ‘comorbidities’ (whatever that means) that you happen to be living with just fine but getting Covid kills you, that is OK and nothing to be concerned about? So apparently it is no great tragedy when a child with diabetes or maybe an overweight child or maybe an adult who has a weak heart dies from Covid? Not CDC’s problem any more but is rather ‘encouraging news’?

    I think this is one of the coldest things I’ve ever heard come out of the mouth of someone working for the CDC.
    1. John January 9, 2022 at 9:50 am

       You don’t suppose CDC has been compromised by politics do you?
       1. The Historian January 9, 2022 at 10:02 am

          How could that be? (BIG SNARC!)

          CDC’s mission statement proclaims:

          “As the nation’s health protection agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health threats. To accomplish our mission, CDC conducts critical science and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats, and responds when these arise.”

          I can think of many ways to rewrite that mission statement to reflect reality. Such as:

          As the nation’s health protection agency, CDC saves the lives of the wealthy and their economy and protects them from health threats. To accomplish our mission, CDC ignores critical science and provides only that information that protects our wealthy’s economy against expensive and dangerous health threats and responds when these arise.

          I am sure others here could do better!
          1. Ben S January 9, 2022 at 10:43 am

             Telling enough that ‘expensive’ precedes ‘dangerous.’
       2. Pate January 9, 2022 at 10:17 am

          If “politics” is defined as “the conflict over who gets what” then I guess the question is “who is getting … “ well, you know.
    2. Tex January 9, 2022 at 10:15 am

       Obviously, based on all the new science, the juice is no longer worth the squeeze. COVID is not as profitable as one would hope I guess. Time to cull the herd so we can get back to business as usual.
    3. Robert Hahl January 9, 2022 at 10:27 am

       Blaming the victim while minimizing the perceived risk is our typical response to any social problem. It is why the vax-only plan still makes sense to people even after they know that the vaccines don’t stop the spread of disease.
13. griffen January 9, 2022 at 9:00 am

    Good on Senator Ossoff for at least making the effort. Nancy’s husband day trading is just a very bad, no good appearance. Let alone how quite a few Republicans did their civic duty second, their personal ROI and retirement investments take priority!

    Hope the young senator doesn’t awake to a severed horse head. Some thing to look out for, as a cynical thought.
    1. JohnA January 9, 2022 at 12:40 pm

       Surely Nancy has erected a Chinese Wall between her and her husband when it comes to any investments?
14. Wukchumni January 9, 2022 at 9:15 am

    What Lies Beneath Vanity Fair

    In 1994, seeking to verify those coordinates, the Colombian government hired the American explorer and treasure hunter Tommy Thompson to investigate the spot and surrounding areas. He found nothing. “There’s not the slightest possibility the galleon is there,” Thompson said at the time.

    (Sea Search Armada argues that Thompson is far from a credible source: He has spent the last six years in a federal prison in Michigan for refusing to divulge the whereabouts of gold coins he salvaged from the SS Central America, worth an estimated $2 million to $5 million.)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Want to read a book about a tale of finders keepers, er not really?

    The SS Central America was the first really deep shipwreck that was salvaged using robootics in the late 1980’s, and there was so much gold on board, it’s sinking caused a financial panic in 1857 on Wall*Street, upon news of it’s loss off Cape Hatteras.

    When the ship was found, everybody wanted a piece of the action, insurance companies from back in the day and other assorted characters and companies, it turned into a legal shipwreck of sorts, foundering on the breach.

    The majority of all that glitters was in $20 gold coins minted in San Francisco, and as the article states, gold handles a watery grave better than anything else, looking brand new.

    Here’s an example:

    https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1857-s-20/8922

    Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, by Gary Kindler is one heck of a tale!
    1. John January 9, 2022 at 9:54 am

       The number and diversity of claimants to any significant treasure is rivaled only by the lions, jackals, vultures, and flies surrounding a dead wildebeest.
    2. Martin Oline January 9, 2022 at 10:06 am

       Thanks for the book recommendation. I did a search at the library and found his last name is Gary Kinder, or that is how they have it listed here..
    3. wilroncanada January 9, 2022 at 8:06 pm

       Wuk
       I think Tommy Thompson grabbed all the loot he could find, and then burned the ships timbers for fuel–he had converted his ship into a woodburning vessel. He got more than 15 miles to the galleon.
15. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 9:16 am

    ‘Today, @CDCDirector said: “The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least 4 comorbidities. So really these are people who were unwell to begin with and yes, really encouraging news in the context of Omicron.’

    A RAND study says that ‘nearly 150 million Americans are living with at least one chronic condition; around 100 million of them have more than one. And nearly 30 million are living, day in and day out, with five chronic conditions or more.’ I am going to guess here that if you are over 65, that that is considered a comorbidity as well. One doctor in a deleted tweet questioned ‘How many of those “co-morbidities” are in themselves markers of inequitable access to clean air, healthcare, safe working conditions, safe housing, access to safe places for physical activities, and a life free of the health impacts of racism?’ I would tack on access to healthy, cheap, nutritious foods as well.

    I think that I have a final solution for the CDC based on a Star Trek Voyager episode called “Critical Care.” So a computer called the Allocator dispenses healthcare & medicine to patients based on a Treatment Coefficient (TC) value assigned each patient. That TC is based on a complex formula that reflects the patient’s perceived value to society, rather than medical need. So for us, a Wall Street broker or a pro football player obviously has more value to society than an Amazon worker or a nurse which is already reflected in their pay. The later would receive treatment, if provided, in a facility different to those who receive a higher level of treatment. When you look around, we seem to be slowly evolving to this sort of system anyway.
    1. Pate January 9, 2022 at 10:27 am

       So, markets.
       1. Kurtismayfield January 9, 2022 at 12:12 pm

          Markets AND algorithms.. a two-fer for the PMC
          1. ChrisRUEcon January 9, 2022 at 7:27 pm

             Markets, Algorithms & Eugenics … #Trifecta
    2. BeliTsari January 9, 2022 at 11:50 am

       This: “only diseased essentials, we’ve red-lined into deaths o’ disparity will DIE now, so… Party ON” kinda sums-up CDC’s “Let ‘er RIP” protocols? Like NY’s governor & mayor pulling a Biden; speaking fundamentally, nothing will CHANGE style “truth,” we’re continually proving right in our assessment: The revolution was televised, pretty continuously. Precariate folks couldn’t afford cable, and it’s one unremitting “reality” infomercial to proles that we LOST. Watching Amy Goodman’s NWO/ Lincoln Project neocons spew RussiaRussiaChina BS as to Insurrectionists storming the Capitol, while we’re re-re-reinfected by chronically PASC kids, gets old?

       https://mobile.twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1479553355642900480
    3. Dean January 9, 2022 at 12:02 pm

       The data may have come from this MMWR publication:

       Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19 Outcomes Among Persons Aged ≥18 Years Who Completed a Primary COVID-19 Vaccination Series — 465 Health Care Facilities, United States, December 2020–October 2021

       https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7101a4.htm?s_cid=mm7101a4_e&ACSTrackingID=USCDC_921-DM72953&ACSTrackingLabel=This%2520Week%2520in%2520MMWR%2520-%2520Vol.%252071,%2520January%25207,%25202022&deliveryName=USCDC_921-DM72953#F1_down

       The comorbidites listed are: immunosuppression, chronic pulmonary disease, chronic liver disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic neurological disease, diabetes mellitis, chronic cardiac disease, and overweight in order of risk. This is shown in figure 1. Age risks are listed separately in the same figure.

       Figure 2 shows the effect of multiple comorbidities where 78% of the deaths occurred in those with 4 or more.

       From the report summary:

       Among 1,228,664 persons who completed primary vaccination during December 2020–October 2021, severe COVID-19–associated outcomes (0.015%) or death (0.0033%) were rare. Risk factors for severe outcomes included age ≥65 years, immunosuppressed, and six other underlying conditions. All persons with severe outcomes had at least one risk factor; 78% of persons who died had at least four.

       What are the implications for public health practice?

       Vaccinated persons who are older, immunosuppressed, or have other underlying conditions should receive targeted interventions including chronic disease management, precautions to reduce exposure, additional primary and booster vaccine doses, and effective pharmaceutical therapy to mitigate risk for severe outcomes. Increasing vaccination coverage is a critical public health priority.

       So the mean risk of death among the vaccinated is 0.0033% compared to an estimate 1.4% prior to vaccine availability (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-rate/?fbclid=IwAR26hCMKGKHO8_OVqgF7ySvczGxzmVlEcxLVaxwLPAdjwy6hXtRZIvjrdTw)

       Also shown in figure 1 is the relative risk for severe covid-19 at mean times after completion of vaccination. When 120 days post vaccination the risk looks to be about .5 (it is on a log scale).
16. Terry Flynn January 9, 2022 at 9:23 am

    NC IIRC drew attention early in the pandemic to spikes in autoimmune conditions. Having done my main postdoc at Bristol (where epigenetics became big – looking at issues such as how environmental factors might switch genes on or off) the following article caught my eye.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/08/global-spread-of-autoimmune-disease-blamed-on-western-diet

    I’ve had a cascade of old and new autoimmune conditions go mad following suspected covid infection in Feb 2020 when involved with producing PPE. I’m now on “final” attempt to get skin one under control using topical means….. Next step will up the game massively and immunocompromise me and…… Well in terms of lifestyle changes we’ll see….
    1. PlutoniumKun January 9, 2022 at 1:26 pm

       I think its always been reasonable to think that many auto immune issues are related to modern diet and lifestyle.

       Best of luck with your own health, I hope you make a full recovery.
       1. Terry Flynn January 10, 2022 at 1:17 am

          Thanks PK. Whilst I acknowledge that a certain proportion of the immediate covid-era papers on increased rates of auto immune or cancer will in due course be shown to be incorrect as the quantity of evidence improves (I believe the NFL in USA study has – thankfully – shown a reversal of the cardiac issues among many of the covid-positive players – another win for NC in picking this up), I suspect there will be a subset of people who, due to genetic factors, will be affected for life by covid – either directly due to the disease itself or indirectly because certain genes have suddenly been activated (which I believe has been the case with me and at least one other family member) possibly due to an interaction between infection and a reduced biome.
    2. Eclair January 9, 2022 at 1:30 pm

       Have friend whose girl friend works in major NE research hospital. This summer she was writing up grant proposals for long term studies on CoVid survivors. Researchers suspect that these patients might be more susceptible to other conditions in the future, such as Parkinson’s, ALS, Lupus. Friend, who works in IT in same hospital system, double masks at all times, avoids gatherings. We talked, outside, at distance of 6 feet. And, he was, in the before times, a very sociable guy.
       1. Irrational January 9, 2022 at 3:22 pm

          And what intrigues me: if you already have an autoimmune condition now, should you be more worried about long COVID? After all, if your immune system has gone nuts once attacking your own body, it does not sounds good to me if COVID exacerbates this.
       2. Terry Flynn January 10, 2022 at 1:00 am

          Yes this is exactly what keeps me awake, given my “first career” in academic health research and ability to quickly get up to speed on a clinical issue, even though I am the “other” kind of doctor.

          I am forbidden from looking myself up on the system but I generally can guess what is there and the clinicians’ failure to join the dots or just keep up with the literature in even a superficial way annoys me.

          Thanks for the input.
17. Wukchumni January 9, 2022 at 9:35 am

    Gooooooood Moooooorning Fiatnam!

    ‘Hey-Hey JRB, are you really going to set us free?’

    Was the chant that young adults weren’t saying, the fact is they were more interested in adding to their assorted student debt scenarios than hoping there’d be a cherished jubilee of sorts.

    A free ride would set a horrible example was the consensus of those Major Major Major Majordomos who of course benefited from gratis-faction themselves without having to do any homework thanks to the mouse clique which disgorged lucre but only to the lucky.
18. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 9:41 am

    “How Putin’s Russia could help China and India get along”

    Makes sense this as Russia is already friends with both countries and in fact supplies military equipment to both. From 2015 to 2019, Russia exported about $8 billion worth of military gear to India while at the same time, exported $5 billion worth of military gear to China. Also, Russia has an excellent, professional diplomatic service and is experienced in negotiations. Even the Jihadists in Syria came to learn that although they might disagree with the Russian negotiators, that they could be trusted to keep their word and would not double-cross them for a momentary military success for example. If they could put a lid on Indian-Chinese border tension then I would call that a win for everybody and who knows? Maybe they could help ease Indian-Pakistan relations as well. One can hope.
19. Henry Moon Pie January 9, 2022 at 9:49 am

    Carbon footprint–

    It seems to me that the primary goal of this article is to leave the reader confused, even despairing. I suppose Kaufman’s beef with the concept is that he believes it’s an attempt to shift responsibility for our ecological catastrophe from governments and industries to individuals. The problem is that when it comes to energy policy, governments and industries are primarily responding to the demands of citizens and consumers who tend to have a fit any time the price of gasoline increases. No doubt Kaufman is too young to remember when Jimmy Carter attempted to get Americans to reduce their fossil fuel consumption–back then for the sacred goal of National Security. Mr. Carter was returning back to Georgia to grow peanuts at the next election. Unless and until people’s attitudes change about their “right” to consume vast amounts of fossil fuels, no new government policies with real impact are possible.

    Kaufman pitches electric cars as the magic bullet, but here a carbon footprint analysis would demonstrate that constructing all the required infrastructure, changing over manufacturing plants, mining the materials necessary for batteries, etc. will emit enough carbon to put us over 1.5 degrees C (and probably 2.0 as well).

    The dumbest part of the article is this:

    The evidence, unfortunately, comes in the form of the worst pandemic to hit humanity in a century. We were confined. We were quarantined, and in many places still are. Forced by an insidious parasite, many of us dramatically slashed our individual carbon footprints by not driving to work and flying on planes. Yet, critically, the true number global warming cares about — the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide saturating the atmosphere — won’t be impacted much by an unprecedented drop in carbon emissions in 2020 (a drop the International Energy Agency estimates at nearly eight percent compared to 2019). This means bounties of carbon from civilization’s cars, power plants, and industries will still be added (like a bank deposit) to a swelling atmospheric bank account of carbon dioxide. But 2020’s deposit will just be slightly less than last year’s. In fact, the levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere peaked at an all-time high in May — because we’re still making big carbon deposits.

    The UN Environment Programme told us in 2019 that we needed to reduce carbon emissions by 7.6% per year every year from 2020 to 2030. As Kaufman points out, we actually met that goal in 2020 because of Covid’s effects on the economy, government shutdown policies and changes in individual behavior. There was no replacement of fossil fuel energy sources with renewable ones. Instead, we lived differently because of the virus. What happened in 2020 is, in fact, a powerful demonstration that changing individual behavior is the most powerful and quickest way to reduce carbon emissions.

    Looking at Kaufman’s other articles, it appears that he’s a gung-ho “science writer.” That’s why the bolded section above is so amazing. Has Kaufman never heard of “stocks and flows?” Our atmosphere and ocean are like bathtubs already full and about to overflow (overflowing is breaching 1.5-2.0 degrees C). The first thing that must be done to prevent even worse climate effects is at least reduce the flow from the faucet. That’s what happened in 2020. Now we need to do it again, and again, and again.

    I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to see the concept of the carbon footprint attacked. After all, whether it came from BP or not (an ad hominem argument applied to a corporation), the carbon footprint analysis shows a couple of uncomfortable things:

    1) the WEIRD countries, especially the U. S., are far bigger contributors to global warming than China or India; and

    2) the rich are far more responsible than the poor (the world’s richest 10% are responsible to 50% of carbon emissions).

    What we need is not to abandon the attempt to measure individual carbon footprints but instead a concentrated effort to come up with a methodology that people can agree on.
20. Wukchumni January 9, 2022 at 9:54 am

    The oft dreaded last run…

    Yesterday was about perfect for a Saturday on the slopes-manageable lift lines and not a cloud in sight as the bluebird was calling and I answered and the snow couldn’t be better for it was smiles all around, and about 3:30 I cruise a blue down to the lodge and a few hundred yards before leaving playdirt, some yahoo skier* runs into me and down in a tumble I go, legs akimbo in a sprawl on the snow.

    I landed on my right hand-the index finger and flip off finger in particular, which have about doubled in size compared to other digits and can’t be bent back, and also on my left shoulder which is screaming at me in pidgin english or maybe Croatian, but something was definitely lost in translation.

    * while it is customary for skiers to blame snowboarders for run-ins on the slope, my assailant was definitely walking the planks, so I can’t go there, as much as i’d like to.
    1. katiebird January 9, 2022 at 1:03 pm

       That sounds horrible, Wukchumni! I’m so sorry. What can you do for a hand injury? Tape it? I hope it feels better soon.
    2. Yves Smith January 9, 2022 at 3:15 pm

       OOH, awful!

       You may need to see an ortho if you think the finger was dislocated. You need it popped back in sooner rather than later even if painful. Worse done later.

       Also online you can find braces for various finger joints. Might help with recovery
       1. Wukchumni January 10, 2022 at 9:04 am

          I think i’m on the mend, took the day off yesterday and almost feel human again, feels more like a straining now and pain is manageable to the point where i’ll once again give it a go, and if I can’t persevere, well, i’ve got a few books to read in our rental condo here in Mammoth.
    3. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 6:33 pm

       Jeez. One of the first times that you get to go skiing again and some nit-wit clobbers you. Hope you heal up again pretty quick.
    4. InThePines January 9, 2022 at 7:20 pm

       I hope your swelling declines, your ligamendons heal nicely, and your fluency in sign language returns. In the meantime you might adopt an XXL sweatshirt over the icepacks, some 150 cm twin-tips, and discover life after poles as the steeziest kid in the park. Painkillers are mandatory there, anyways.
    5. jr January 9, 2022 at 10:49 pm

       Sorry to hear this, get better soon!
    6. urblintz January 10, 2022 at 12:03 am

       ouch! :(
21. Solarjay January 9, 2022 at 9:55 am

    I wanted to comment about LEDS/windows and carbon footprint.

    It was not unusual that the LED article didn’t actually provide an answer. But it did a great job of ignoring what windows do. They open, providing fresh air, keeping your house cool in the summer for basically free, no AC or reduced ac anyway, or maybe bringing in some warmer air. Personally having a view is important as I look out across the desert landscape as I write this. Windows provide full spectrum light not false light like all bulbs, but good LEDS are pretty good. They provide free heat if designed right. Yes they require good coverings for cold nights to reduce heat leakage. Sun tubes are great but not a substitute for windows.

    As to carbon footprint, it is actually a real thing. I think people just don’t want to be reminded or it pointed out to them that going on that plane flight or lots of driving or etc has a huge footprint. Or the big house or whatever. It’s undeniable that using less fossil fuels does have an impact. And yes there is a base load of our society that operates on carbon that we can’t get around easily. And just because we have a base load we have a personal choice to use/consume less but that means we have to make some lifestyle changes and that doesn’t go over well. Articles like this are designed to make you feel OK about going on with your life because your carbon footprint doesn’t matter, says so right there.
22. katiebird January 9, 2022 at 10:00 am

    Re: Matthew Cortlands tweet of the CDC bragging about the deaths of people with co-morbidities.

    Can we just shut that agency down? (CDC huh!! What is it good for?)
    1. The Historian January 9, 2022 at 10:04 am

       I think it is slowly drowning itself in its own bathtub.
       1. the last D January 9, 2022 at 8:50 pm

          Let’s just throw out the baby and the bath water.
    2. Dr. John Carpenter January 9, 2022 at 10:49 am

       I imagine in a year the official line will be that there never was a COVID-19. It was all “comorbities.”
       1. Nikkikat January 9, 2022 at 10:57 am

          Oh yes it will most certainly be our own fault. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of articles lately about how we all just need to learn to live with covid. You know business needs people to get on with it. Keep making sure we are at our stations and taking care of the needs of rich people and the work from home crowd.
    3. Laughingsong January 9, 2022 at 3:01 pm

       Absolutely Nothing! (Say it again y’all)
       1. katiebird January 10, 2022 at 4:23 am

          (Grin)
23. Wukchumni January 9, 2022 at 10:12 am

    If we’re gonna do a ‘let r’ rip’ thing with Covid, we really need to change the names of the strains to something Americans can understand and relate to, for instance in lieu of Omicron, why not call it the ‘F-150 mutation’?
    1. ex-PFC Chuck January 9, 2022 at 5:41 pm

       Good idea. How about B-1 and an F-35 mutations, both of which are mutations of highly functional aircraft?
24. Jake January 9, 2022 at 10:29 am

    On the humorous side of this links entry, I can’t hear the phrase bird law without thinking about the only bird law expert I know, Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
25. Michael Ismoe January 9, 2022 at 11:16 am

    “Many state and local governments are passing out free at-home tests that you can pick up. Just find out where they are.”

    I want to be a liberal Democrat when i grow up. They always are the adults in the. room and such brilliant advice. The best part is you can use what they taught you in every-day life to make America a better place:

    “Many people are broke and hopeless. Most state and local governments run lotteries every week that include millions of dollars in prizes. Just buy a winning ticket.”

    “Lots of Americans don’t have health insurance but they do get cancer. Most central governments have nationalized health- care but you screwed the pooch. Unless you can find a long-lost Canadian ancestor, you’re probably gonna die – but not from Covid. Love the White House.”

    Even if the Democrats lose every seat they currently hold in Congress, it’s not enough payback for their incompetence and hubris.
    1. CitizenSissy January 9, 2022 at 11:21 am

       Remind me again what the current iteration of the Republican party offers?
       1. tegnost January 9, 2022 at 11:27 am

          When you jump off the democrat cliff, the ground is 1000′ down, when you jump off the republican cliff it’s 1050′ feet down. The best choice is obvious to the nuanced observer…
          1. Tom Doak January 9, 2022 at 12:51 pm

             So you’re saying I would live longer if I switched to being a Republican?
             1. tegnost January 9, 2022 at 1:31 pm

                even if you include all the comorbidities and live on big mac’s! (/s)

                Truly, however, I wished I’d said 1500′ for the dems, and 1000′ for the gop, but thought of it too late…
       2. chris January 9, 2022 at 11:44 am

          If Democrats are the party of betrayal, I think that makes the Republicans the party of abuse.

          In the current context, the Republicans appear to be offering the electorate the freedom to suffer on their own. Meanwhile, the Democrats appear to be telling people they should be grateful for the suffering they’re currently experiencing, because they would suffer more if anyone else was in office.

          I really don’t know who is going to be running for office in the next several years that anyone can get excited about in either party. It’s a strange time where it feels like we’re living with Romanov level incompetence at all levels of government everywhere in the county, and nothing is changing. But at the same time, we keep getting these random pronouncements that make it feel like everything is changing quickly.
          1. ChrisRUEcon January 9, 2022 at 2:03 pm

             GOP Bad Cop vs Dem Good Cop

             They’re both cops! And neither of them are interested in delivering tangible material benefits to the masses.
       3. Kurtismayfield January 9, 2022 at 12:14 pm

          Honesty about their agenda and the class warfare.
       4. Eclair January 9, 2022 at 1:54 pm

          I think he is offering advice to the Establishment Dems: when you lose the mid-terms (because you reneged on: forgiving (at least a part of) stupefying student debt; offering Medicare for All, or at the very least, adding Dental and Eye Care for Seniors; rolling back tuition at public colleges and universities, and decreeing a federal minimum wage of $15, then don’t spend the next two years whining about Russian plots, the crudity of Republican leaders, and searching for the perfect Black-bi-trans Latinx person descended from a Cherokee princess to run on a empty platform of ‘We Can Do Worse Better.’

          Pull up your pants and put forth a slate of candidates who will get the above done, or die trying.
          1. marym January 9, 2022 at 2:28 pm

             After the 2016 election some Dems formed a group called Run for Something to encourage young people to run for all kinds of offices to “ build a bench.” After the 2020 election I happened to see a twitter thread listing all the races their candidates had won. It was a long list, so good for them, but at least at the time I looked the tweets were in the form of “X” was the first “identity” to be elected to “office” in “town, county, etc.”


             Probably a disservice to the candidates, who may have had something going for them: experience outside of politics, particular policies they support, previous commitment to their local community, etc.
    2. NotTimothyGeithner January 9, 2022 at 11:34 am

       Kaine defended the McAuliffe campaign by saying it wasn’t fair to say they didn’t run on policy because they had a website.
26. Maddie January 9, 2022 at 11:17 am

    ” Kamala Harris admits there is a ‘level of malaise’ ”

    To a nation facing Covid, massive inflation and the destruction of institutions, her possible ascension to the West Wing brings a lessening of respect for the office of Vice President and President.

    She got, something less than 3% of the votes in the primary?
27. CitizenSissy January 9, 2022 at 11:19 am

    Thanks for the gloriously cynical McSweeney’s link – for a nanosecond in the 2020 COVID depths, the US seemed to have a moment of appreciation for those who really keep society moving – frontline healthcare workers, grocery store personnel, and truckers, but that was a moment, and very much long ago. I note that the healthcare systems who made the biggest “Heroes Work Here” splash now fight like cornered wolverines to avoid paying said heroes money reflecting their sacrifices the last two years.

    Off Topic, am I picking up a Swiftian (as in “A Modest Proposal”) vibe in recent comments?
28. Michael Ismoe January 9, 2022 at 11:29 am

    Someone is dipping their toe in the water. A War of the First Ladies coming up in 2024? Obama vs Clinton
    The loser gets Mayo Pete.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10384013/Michelle-Obama-calls-Dems-vote-like-future-democracy-depends-midterms-loom.html
    1. tegnost January 9, 2022 at 11:40 am

       We did that for someone she knows…the hopey changey guy.
       Can’t remember his name…
       1. cnchal January 9, 2022 at 12:22 pm

          Formerly, President Pitchfork Absorber
29. NotTimothyGeithner January 9, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    Re: Blinken

    The lack of education among our elites is growing more troublesome. To say something so ignorant and be Secretary of State. It’s frightening.
    1. Tom Doak January 9, 2022 at 12:55 pm

       He’s not being ignorant, he is straight up lying.

       Although I think technically, the first part is true, that NATO didn’t promise it wouldn’t expand. James Baker, representing the USA, made the promise.
30. chris January 9, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    My friend just told me his computer was turned into an Etherium crypto mining bot after installing the latest version of Norton. I thought he was joking but he sent me screen shots and then this article.

    JFC

    I update my computer’s security and now I’m a bot?
    1. Mel January 9, 2022 at 1:05 pm

       Apparently. Brian Krebs is onto this too:
       Norton
       and Avira .
       1. Sawdust January 9, 2022 at 5:50 pm

          I think we’ve just heard the keynote to 2022.
    2. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 6:41 pm

       I heard that too. Next thing up is for Norton to scan the images on your computer to upload them as an NFT – after taking a commission of course. And people wonder why I recommend Kaspersky.
31. dcblogger January 9, 2022 at 12:17 pm

    @PoPville

    @theHillisHome
    CVS reveals the extent of covid in DC. This is the cold/flu/cough drop isle in Capitol Hill.
    https://twitter.com/TheLindsayM/status/1479965136802791433

    covid is hitting the elite
    1. YankeeFrank January 9, 2022 at 4:00 pm

       Too bad they don’t think ivermectin* helps. So sad.

       *or any of the other proven early treatments, like pepcid.
32. Steve H. January 9, 2022 at 12:54 pm

    Back in September, Urblintz posted “British Heart Foundation: Covid-19 spike protein binds to and changes cells in the heart” in the comments section. I went looking again, and have two points to note:

    My recollection is that there was a link to the presentation, and that I read not only “This happened even when the protein was no longer attached to the virus.” There was a specific mention of spikes from vaccines having effect as well. The page now says

    “What does this study not show?

    This research only looked at the spike protein found on virus cells. There is no evidence to suggest that spike proteins generated by the vaccine behave in a similar way.”

    I also can’t find the presentation listed at the conference, and other links are redirected. Has this been scrubbed? There are several similar papers by Avolio et al since then, without noting vaccines as a potential source.

    On the plus side, if I’m reading correctly, it’s the S-protein that interacted with pericytes to produce the inflammation/clotting issues. Omicron is S-dropout. Could this be why Omicron is seems to be showing ‘milder’ effects?
    1. José January 9, 2022 at 3:08 pm

       Meanwhile in Brazil Flamengo has just announced that it will test all its football (soccer) players – who have all been infected at least once – for possible heart sequels from Covid.

       https://www.uol.com.br/esporte/futebol/ultimas-noticias/2022/01/09/flamengo-triplica-testagem-e-amplia-rastreio-contra-covid-em-reapresentacao.htm
    2. marku52 January 9, 2022 at 3:39 pm

       Good question. Doesn’t the S dropout just mean that the primer for the previous versions won’t mate with it, not that the S gene is absent?

       Certainly beyond my pay grade. About the paper, tho, I’d be sure that information got disappeared.

       Can’t have any data sullying the sacred vaccines. I mean, spike protein is cytotoxic to the endothelium. Vaccines make–wait for it–spike proteins. What could go wrong?
33. Kouros January 9, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    An interesting take on Kazakhstan from the indianpunchline:
    https://www.indianpunchline.com/kazakhstan-turns-into-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/
    1. A. User January 9, 2022 at 7:10 pm

       You’re kidding me:

       The unassumingly-named Central Reference Laboratory (CRL) in Almaty figuring in the Tass report was originally planned in 2013 with the US investing $102 million in a biosecurity lab to study some of the most deadly pathogens that could potentially be used in bioterrorism attacks.

       Rather than locating the new facility in some obsecure tract of land in Nevada, the Pentagon deliberately chose a site near Almaty to securely store and study the highest-risk diseases such as plague, anthrax and cholera.

       Combine this with the careless oversight of “gain of function” research in labs across the world and you have a decent argument that bioscience is the Great Filter. I’m not opposed to this kind of research in theory, but there’s only a handful of governments that I’d trust to carry it out safely. (The US does not fit the bill, nor does Kazakhstan.)
34. jr January 9, 2022 at 5:00 pm

    John Stewart responds to Newsweek’s charges that he had publicly comdemned JK Rowling for anti-Semitism. This, of course, was a lie:

    https://youtu.be/JxeGvLWtdpQ
35. Michael January 9, 2022 at 5:00 pm

    “The betting market has become a bigger part of the economic system. We’re not a manufacturing economy anymore, the US is a casino.”

    Did we already know this?

    Place your bets!
36. drumlin woodchuckles January 9, 2022 at 5:25 pm

    If Ossoff can make it about hurting Pelosi, perhaps Ossoff can get some Republican Senate support for his suggested bill.

    If it gets to the point of an actual vote in the Senate, it will be very clarifying to see which Democratic Senators vote against it to make it fail.
    1. Michael Ismoe January 9, 2022 at 6:36 pm

       After Ossoff gets this passed (LOL), perhaps he can take on something controversial like motherhood or apple pie. What an empty suit this guy is. I am positive he’s headed for a national ticket in the next few years.
       1. marym January 10, 2022 at 3:24 am

          What should he be doing instead – a first term Senator in a corrupt institution whose party has a small majority, many of whom are probably hiding behind manchinsinema as their excuse for doing nothing for the people?
37. drumlin woodchuckles January 9, 2022 at 5:31 pm

    My computer closes out in a few minutes.

    About . . . ” Whole Foods Claims Constitutional Right to Disallow ‘Black Lives Matter’ Masks ” . . . I hope this turns out in whatever way will destroy the most business for Amazon for the longest time. If Whole Amazon Foods winning its case leads to deeper hatred for Amazon among the Black Community and deeper Allyship among the Woke Community around launching a long-term lethal extermicott against Amazon’s existence as a functioning business, that would be the most ideal outcome this could lead to.
    1. Maggie January 9, 2022 at 5:41 pm

       How do I link to something to share? Here is my copy of the link … MD Father sharing his thoughts treating his son… Twitter feed….

       https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/the-pandemic-discussion-forum/934566-us-medical-expert-s-thread-on-family-member-s-covid-19-experience-probably-omicron-variant-january-8-2022
    2. JBird4049 January 9, 2022 at 5:54 pm

       That takes… big, brass ones, it does.

       A corporation is not a person and it certainly not a citizen. What about the workers’ rights to their free speech?
       1. Carla January 9, 2022 at 6:37 pm

          Worker people have no rights within the private property of corporate people. Neither do customer people.

          In effect, because only corporate people (and the wealthy individuals who own the corporate people) can hire the major law firms to defend their personhood “rights” under the constitution.

          This is why I keep working for HJR-8:

          https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-joint-resolution/48/all-info

          Please read it and join me in supporting.
38. Tom Collins' Moscow mule January 9, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    “Long COVID could become Finland’s largest chronic disease, warns minister”

    “Around 20% see long-term cognitive impairment,” Roine added, warning that the incidence of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s could increase sharply following a COVID-19 infection.”

    Where perception is the intersection between an observer and the reality being observed, latency and the specter of long term complications from even a ‘mild’ Omicron infection is a reminder that even ‘mild’ infections have significant risks that cannot be either overlooked, or minimized because even the CDC acknowledges that, “Long COVID can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19, even if their illness was mild, or if they had no symptoms.”

    “Similarities and Differences between Flu and COVID-19​”

    https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm#:~:text=Long%20COVID%20is%20a%20range,they%20had%20no%20symptoms.

    Further realizing that, “Clinically, SARS-CoV-2 combines some of the properties of the seasonal flu plus HIV.” Because, “Similar to HIV, the virus can also enter a stealth mode, silently spreading throughout the host’s body and attacking almost every organ, especially those with a high ACE2 receptor concentration.”

    And where, “HIV is initially asymptomatic, and the initial stages of disease can easily be classified as “mild”, a disease which, if left untreated, almost uniformly turns aggressive and fatal over the course of 8 to 10 years.”

    “Viewpoint: Here’s Why COVID-19 Is Much Worse Than Flu”

    https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/viewpoint-here-s-why-covid-19-is-much-worse-than-flu
    1. Jason Boxman January 9, 2022 at 9:04 pm

       So long-COVID is the largest public health catastrophe in the marking, and one of Biden and the CDC’s own making at this late a date. At this point, the CDC is operating entirely orthogonally to its stated purpose, and ought to be shut down. Biden must resign. This is a disgrace.
39. salty dawg January 9, 2022 at 6:42 pm

    Re: Florida’s COVID cases and hospitalisations are surging but the state has the second-lowest death rates in the country

    The article mentioned that Florida had successfully used Early Treatment which was sort of defined as monoclonal antibodies.

    The article did not mention Zinc, Vitamins C&D, Quercetin, Fluvoxamine or Budesonide, all of which the Florida Department of Health encourages considering the use of, according to https://healthieryoufl.com/response.html.

    I live in totalitarian Canada, and don’t know how much use is made of Zinc, Vitamins C&D, Quercetin, Fluvoxamine and Budesonide in Florida, but I find it encouraging to see at least some states encouraging off-patent treatments and prevention.
    1. juanholio January 10, 2022 at 12:36 am

       The biggest secret to Florida’s success is they release the full date death numbers several days after everyone else, so when you look on Worldometers, it always looks like deaths are low during the last few days. It’s always 0 or 1 on the day, then gets ret-conned up to 40-50 a few days later.
       1. salty dawg January 10, 2022 at 7:16 am

          That’s interesting. I have not been looking at the numbers on worldometer.com.

          So, the prominently-shown daily numbers undercount deaths.
          The less-prominent graphs should show the accurate numbers of deaths because they are over a longer period, or do the revised death numbers never appear in the graphed data?
40. A. User January 9, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    This seems to be flying under the radar everywhere, so please excuse this if it seems out of left field. The US Copyright Office has been soliciting comments on “ancillary copyright”, AKA the “link tax” that’s been so contentious in the EU. This could force so-called news aggregators (which would surely include NC link posts based on their definitions) to pay for referencing content from other publishers, potentially even for something as minor as reposting headlines or article titles.

    Copyright Office page tracking this: https://copyright.gov/policy/publishersprotections/

    Transcript from the Dec 9th round table: https://www.copyright.gov/policy/publishersprotections/211209%20Publishers%20Protections%20Transcript.pdf

    A select quote from one of the pro-industry attendees (emphasis added):

    Is it true that the content that is being aggregated, consisting of headlines, ledes, and photographs, is not protected? And I think that’s actually incorrect. Photographs, quite clearly, are protected. The headlines and ledes certainly can be highly original in their presentation of unprotected facts . . . what we don’t have, notwithstanding the words and short phrases bar, is a true prohibition on the copying of original, albeit succinct, phrases, and I think it’s very important to take a closer look at the words and short phrases doctrine.

    Finally, I will point out that there is a difference between lack of protection and inability to register, because we’re not talking about registering a headline. We’re talking about the systematic copying of headlines, ledes, and photographs. And even if a headline standing alone may not be registerable, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a substantial part for purposes of the analysis of substantial similarity.

    Coupled with the appointment of ex-Disney attorney Suzanne Wilson as Copyright Office GC, this is concerning. We could seeing a resurgence of the sort of copyright maximization policies that dominated the late 90s and early 2000s. This still seems to be in the early stages, but I think it’s important to keep an eye on it just in case.
41. The Rev Kev January 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has now tested positive for Coronavirus but is advising “everyone to get their booster and follow all CDC guidance.” How about that. I hope that it wasn’t because she was partying maskless down in Florida-

    https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-caught-maskless-again-in-miami-drag-bar/
    1. LawnDart January 9, 2022 at 8:58 pm

       The hypocrasy of that sheepdog is… …par for the course. Hopefully Nancy swings by her apartment and gives AOC a great big hug to make Nancy’s little puppy feel awwwll better.
42. Tom Stone January 9, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    I’m sure AOC will stay out the full five days the CDC recommends and only come back when her symptoms are resolving…
    I just hope she doesn’t use any of that horribly dangerous dewormer the FDA warned us all about and sticks to Molnupiravar which has an official blessing.
    1. Late Introvert January 10, 2022 at 1:22 am

       If she had proper political instincts she would be on Joe Rogan’s show ASAP.
43. Jason Boxman January 9, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at the Baylor College of Medicine, said the jump in booster shots reflected the reality that many people who had received two doses of vaccine were still suffering breakthrough infections.

    “One shift you’re seeing now,” he said, “is that people are finally understanding that full vaccination really does mean three doses.”

    Must be from another planet. A third dose doesn’t eliminate breakthroughs, either.

    And when does it start to mean 4 doses? 5? When does it end, exactly?
44. lance ringquist January 10, 2022 at 2:09 am

    its spoken out loud every where now. free trade is the source of inflation that’s killing off the poor, and the blame is on the lying nafta billy clinton.

    The pandemic cannot shoulder the blame for all supply chain headaches. Free trade mania that allowed China to enter the World Trade Organization without guarantees that China would play according to the rules didn’t help. Nor did President Clinton’s NAFTA promise that manufacturing would not suffer here at home. It did.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/fixing-supply-chain-improving-u-110000218.html

    Idaho Statesman
    Fixing the supply chain, improving U.S. manufacturing should be bipartisan issues
    Bob Kustra
    Sun, January 9, 2022, 5:00 AM
    1. skippy January 10, 2022 at 3:56 am

       “without guarantees that China would play according to the rules”

       What rules are these?
       1. lance ringquist January 10, 2022 at 10:34 am

          agreed. remember nafta billy clinton wiped away all of our ability to institute democratic control. we have one law left, the defense act. i wonder how that escaped nafta billys treason.

          under trumans gatt, we still had all of the tools of democratic control at out finger tips. nafta billy wiped that all away.
    2. skippy January 10, 2022 at 4:19 am

       Let me put it this way … after China went communist it had no/zero commerce laws or a legal system to enforce, even after setting up special economic zones. Hence it was a libertarian wet dream and everyone including C-Crops stampeded over there or miss out on the largest untapped market of a billion under developed people and like finding America a brand new market place.

       No one forced anyone and those that don’t do their due diligence should not finger others of wrong doing. Best bit is the suggestion that the U.S. plays by some notion of international rules … gag …
       1. lance ringquist January 10, 2022 at 10:38 am

          free markets are a race to the bottom. there is a fine line between libertarianism and fascism, the line is so fine, you can’t see it.

          nafta billy clinton is a libertarian. but he is to clever to be one outright, he hides behind technical gobbedly goop known as neo-classical economics.

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