“A pandemic upside: The flu virus became less diverse, simplifying the task of making flu shots”.
“Take a closer look at Walt Disney’s 1961 animated One Hundred and One Dalmatians film, and you may notice its animation style looks a little different from its predecessors. With its dark outlines defining characters from backgrounds, its departure from the subtle and sensitive animation of Sleeping Beauty just two years prior was considered jarring to some. That’s because the film is completely Xeroxed. The technology, invented by American physicist Chester Carlson in the 1940s, completely streamlined the animation process, and ultimately saved Disney’s beloved animation department.”
“But it begs the question: why is America’s meat supply so at risk of price fluctuations and shortages in the first place? The answer is simple: the industry is too consolidated. More than 80% of the beef industry is controlled by just four companies—JBS, Tyson, Cargill and National (owned by Brazil’s Marfrig)—and two of them are foreign businesses. Brazil-based JBS is responsible for a quarter of the U.S. beef market through its JBS USA subsidiary. The company is the country’s largest beef producer and its No. 2 producer of pork and chicken. That hyper-concentration makes any shocks to the system feel seismic.”
“Political parties rarely run ads to try to win over long-term loyalists. New research suggests it’s actually possible—and worthwhile.”
RIP, Clarence Williams III, actor best known for The Mod Squad and Purple Rain.
RIP, David Dushman, the last surviving Soviet soldier involved in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
“There’s nothing wrong with taking the layup, with pandering to voters’ most basic interests. With control of the White House and Congress, and with the predictable pushback to Biden’s proposed infrastructure spending bringing his honeymoon period to an end, Democrats could make an easy play to curry favor with voters by creating new federal holidays.” Juneteenth and Election Day are given as obvious first candidates, I’m sure you can think of others. Speaking as someone with a lot of European co-workers, we sure could have more holidays.
“Two Senate committees have released their long-awaited, bipartisan report investigating the January 6 attack on Congress by Trump supporters over the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The report, as expected, includes a list of recommendations for boosting security and intelligence-sharing practices after the insurrection at the Capitol more than five months ago. It also reveals that federal agencies had intelligence about plans to attack the Capitol and their “potential for violence” well in advance of January 6.”
“The report doesn’t provide a deep look into the causes of the insurrection. As might be expected, Republicans have opposed every effort to look into how Trump’s statements and actions—not just at the rally on the morning of the insurrection, but before and after the election—encouraged his followers to conduct an assault on the Capitol that included an attempt to capture and kill lawmakers. Instead, the Senate report focuses on the structural issues in preparing for the events of that day led to inadequate actions to protect the Capitol, and how a series of structural failures led to a lengthy delay in providing National Guard support to the overwhelmed police force.”
“That is, after all, what hypocrites do. Otherwise they wouldn’t be hypocrites.”
“With a strong vaccination campaign, the United States was able to reduce the B.1.1.7 (alpha) variant’s toll to a bump in cases. What might happen with B.1.617.2 (delta) which is ~50% more transmissible, and more evasive to our immune response?”
“The first quiz show launched on radio in 1923; now, nearly 100 years later, the National Archives of Game Show History has launched at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y.”
On shooting sex scenes during COVID times.
The NFL will impose restrictions on unvaccinated assistant coaches.
“While Republicans have been doing their damnedest to stonewall an investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, new information about the event continues to emerge as congressional inquiries continue, and federal prosecutors continue to amass evidence in the hundreds of arrests already made, as well as the fresh round of indictments handed down each passing week.”
“Election officials and their families are living with threats of hanging, firing squads, torture and bomb blasts, interviews and documents reveal. The campaign of fear, sparked by Trump’s voter-fraud falsehoods, threatens the U.S. electoral system.”
“Should President Joe Biden convey legitimacy upon a man who shares blame for the death of 400,000 or so Americans? That’s one way of questioning whether Biden made the right choice in proposing the summit he is set to hold with Russian leader Vladimir Putin next week in Geneva. “
Wow, a lot of links about the fears of the election officials and the big insurrection, which was simply a bunch of old ladies and dude bros sitting at desks in the Capitol, and then, the chant of hang Mike Pence.
The Democrats should create a holiday tomorrow, which is Donald Trump’s birthday. It would be interesting to see if he would accept a holiday created by Democrats, in his honor.
Future historians will look at this period quite critically. The election may not have been decided by fraud, but there was a massive media disinformation campaign, first that the deadliest virus ever was on the loose, and second that police were out hunting down minorities to kill, with the blessing and encouragement of President Trump, who is a racist. History will show this as a time when The Science was misrepresented to a gullible electorate. Everyone knew in February that most Covid cases would be akin to a typical cold or flu type illness. Even my brother-in-law, who is not a scientist, as I am, said that he hoped he would get it and just get it over with, meaning the illness, not his life.
Now Mother Jones is claiming that Trump and Putin share blame for the deaths of 400,000 Americans. But by that standard, Biden must be blamed for killing 200,000 Americans, in less than half the time that Trump killed 400,000. Biden killed the Americans with the benefit of vaccinations already started when he took office. Trump got the vaccines out to the public in less than a year.
Biden is just maundering into his dotage. I saw him threatening to run the truck over a reporter. Had Trump said this, he would have had the 25th Amendment on him in seconds. Also, if a citizen had threatened to drive a truck over the president, any president, the Secret Service would instantly shoot the citizen to death. Meanwhile, Biden’s boss, Mrs. Harris, lied and said “we’ve been to the border.” She won’t of course go to the Border, because then she would have her photo in front of the kids in cages, taken from their parents. Mrs. Harris can’t answer any questions, she either lies or cackles. It is frightening that this duo has their fingers on the Button. Perhaps Biden would think that shooting nuclear missiles at someone was just as funny as running a truck over someone.
I’m not sure what should be done about Fauci. Tucker Carlson thinks Fauci should be in prison. But, he’s 80 years old. Maybe just make him retire. No reason for him to be a martyr to some.
Tucker Carlson is a moron, with no redeeming qualities. Why would anyone listen to a single word he speaks?
Jason, congratulations on your hindsight. How do you explain Italy’s Covid issues, where there were patients stacked up in hospital corridors? How to you explain the number of intensive care patients we had here? All from what you call a harmless virus. Why do you want people to die, Jason?
I suspect you wouldn’t know science if it bit you on the butt twice.
Another MSM lie comes to light. I’m disappointed to learn that Trump did NOT order the tear gassing of rioters to save the historic St. John’s Church, as the MSM had led us to believe. Turns out that decision was made by D.C., meaning, Mayor Bowser. All this time I have been bragging on Trump for gassing rioters, and it turns out he didn’t order it.
https://www.doioig.gov/reports/review-us-park-police-actions-lafayette-park
“We found that the USPP had the authority and discretion to clear Lafayette Park and the surrounding areas on June 1. The evidence we obtained did not support a finding that the USPP cleared the park to allow the President to survey the damage and walk to St. John’s Church. Instead, the evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow the contractor to safely install the antiscale fencing in response to destruction of property and injury to officers occurring on May 30 and 31. Further, the evidence showed that the USPP did not know about the President’s potential movement until mid- to late afternoon on June 1—hours after it had begun developing its operational plan and the fencing contractor had arrived in the park.”
Ross, TC is an entertainer, like all of the rest. His facts must be separated from his opinions, and then you can form your own opinion, just like all of the other so called news. TC is at least funny.
When you attack me, you attack The Science, and logic in general. Your ad hominem attacks with no data show that you are not a scientist.
I can explain the number of intensive care patients–for one thing, the ICU is always nearly full, and, look up the flu season of 2017/18:
https://time.com/5107984/hospitals-handling-burden-flu-patients/
I won’t go into too much detail here, because you will simply respond with more attacks, and your “science” which consists of the media fear mongering. I never said that SARS Covid 2 is a “harmless virus.” I only point out the fact that it has a survival rate over 99%, and a hospitalization rate of one or two percent. That’s facts.
Jason, the lying bot, is the god of science and logic, couldn’t stop laughing.