I'd answer "yes", if you're smart enough to get yourself vaccinated, you're smarter than your unvaccinated friend or relative. And I'd point to this CDC study (via Lawyers, Guns and Money--Paul Campos) which shows a big difference in death rates between the two groups: vaccinated and unvaccinated.
The big thing about the study is the difference is based on death rates excluding Covid.
Homicides are up, fatal car accidents are up. I suggest it's a combination of factors (that's always a safe suggestion):
AOC links Gosar's video to a "nihilism" among Republicans holding that nothing Congress does really matters or is meaningful pic.twitter.com/zFYlFwI3f9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 17, 2021)
Sen. Leahy has announced he won't run for reelection next year. On the Newshour Lisa Lerer commented on the number of old farts who are in the Dem leadership of Congress, and their impending retirements.
There's likely a transition coming for Dems, certainly in the House, more probable in the Senate if the next two elections turn out awful for the Dems.
Currently it seems as if the Reps are on a firm course: Trump the likely nominee in 2024, McCarthy as Speaker, but McConnell won't last past 2024 if Trump is elected. The Dems are less clear: will Biden run for election, if not can Harris get the nomination or will it be someone else. If there's primary fight for 2024 will the nominee be defeated by Trump, as Carter was defeated by having a divided party behind him.
My guess would be that Pelosi leaves if Dems lose the House in 2022.
I've written before about my Harshaw rule--we never get it right the first time.
I just realized this morning that there's a logical corollary: we always fight the last war. Why? It's what we know, and when we're in a crisis, a new situation with high stakes, we revert to what we know. The Harshaw rule says we don't get it right the first time because we lack the understanding and the habits needed to deal with newness.
(This was spurred by an article in the papers saying that we responded to the pandemic recession by doing what we did for the Great Recession.)
[Updated with link]
An article in the Post yesterday on the arrival of Afghan refugees in in American society, particularly in the DC area. Some children are already enrolled in local schools. There's a NOVA RAFT (Resettling Afghan Families Together) helping--they've a Facebook page and an Amazon wish list.
My sister was active for many years in the interfaith group which worked settling refugees in the Syracuse area.
Over the years this blog has changed some. Without going back and reading early posts, I think I wrote extensively on FSA/USDA, a focus which has declined over the years. I think I've always been cautious about offering opinions, but I've become more political over the last 5 years or so. I've rarely discussed personal matters.
I'm changing a bit--having started to review some of the photographs I accumulated over the years I think some might find them interesting, particularly those from Nam.
I may have mentioned I spent 11 months 11 days in Vietnam during 1966-67 as a generator operator assigned to the 69th Signal Battalion. Shortly after I arrived I bought a SLR Pentax and started taking some picture. My company HQ was at Tan son nhut (airport) in Saigon, but by this time I was stationed at Long Binh, a logistics base some 12 miles northeast of Saigon. My group ran generators for a communications center, which was located a bit outside the base's perimeter (I think; ignorance of the bigger picture was standard in the Army then).
This was late in my tour, as the communication center has now been enclosed in a building. I'm reading (not sure who snapped the photo) by one of the two generators.
I noted the use of COBOL in state unemployment insurance systems.
This GovExec article describes what the Biden administration is doing. I wish them luck, and persistence.
The Extended Mind is an ambitious book, one which tries to link together a lot of science and social science research into many subjects. Part of the discussion is the way in which our body affects our mind and brain; if we sense, gesture, or move it impacts the working of our brains in specific areas and ways. Space also impacts: are we in natural surroundings or built ones, can we use space to extend our memory (the "memory palace" method). Finally how do groups (experts, peers, diverse groups) affect us. The thrust of the discussion is how we can use the information/research to improve our thinking and effectiveness.
I found myself skimming. One of the Amazon reviews complains about the author's narration in the audible book being monotonal; there's something of a monotone about her writing as well (it would have been improved by following her own advice--adding graphics to the book, particularly for the "conclusions"). It would have been more useful if I were younger. I did skim all the way through, and actually I found the last chapter ("thinking with groups") the most interesting, likely not in the way she intended.
As I read, two phenomena came to mind: the death of the concertgoers in Houston and Trump's rallies. She writes about how groups, particularly students or coworkers, can be more effective, but some factors are common: a common focus (speaker, performer) and common engagement. Both were likely present in Houston and in Trump's rallies. I suspect I'm not too different from many liberals in dismissing the rallies in the past. But after reading the chapter I'm reconsidering, particularly in the light of Houston. Just because I'm proudly individualistic (I write with tongue in cheek) doesn't mean that others are.
Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Congressional Democrats to the climate change conference in the UK.
I'm old enough to remember when we used to have bipartisan representation during many major international efforts. I don't know when that stopped.
Recent articles on how industrial areas, particularly those with undesirable side effects such as air or water pollution from chemicals or what we used to call "junkyards", are located in or near black areas. The usual theory is the choice of the site was racist in a sort of generic way.
I used to try to slow my employees down when they tried to explain something to me--usually I wanted a step by step approach to get things clear in my mind. That temperament is perhaps one reason I resist the implied explanation.
I can imagine a cascade of NIMBYism that produces the end result without anyone involved in the decision making process being consciously racist. Both a reaction against a proposed siting decision by rich and powerful neighbors, or the anticipation of trouble by those making the decision could play a part, as could a higher cost of land. That's even assuming there was a decision point, rather than a more unplanned evolution of land use.
