And then what?
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Pitt Football MMXXII
The recruiting class stunk. New O-coordinator TBD, 11 super seniors depart, it was looking like a Chernobyl fall. But the radioactive cloud has dissipated. USC quarterback Kedon Slovis, the PAC-12 freshman of the year in 2019 announced yesterday that he was transferring to L.A.-upon-Monongahela and will have two years of eligibility remaining. Right after Slovis' announcement Pitt's entire starting O-line tweeted as a group that they are coming back as super seniors in 2022. Kedon will be well-protected and have newly-minted first team All-American Jordan Addison to play catch with. That O-line prolly make some holes for 
Narduzzi doesn't get the elite prospects we Pitt fans want him to get but I'll give Pat this: his players don't walk off the reservation on him. Coach Partridge, how do you like it at Pitt?
The
A new College Football Playoff policy written this week in response to the surging omicron variant allows for a team to advance to the national championship -- and ultimately win it -- by its opponents having to forfeit, according to an updated set of COVID-19 policies the CFP released Wednesday.
"Omicron Cases Appear Less Severe, 2 U.K. Studies Say"
...Omicron infections are associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of hospitalization compared to the Delta variant.
...
“What you’ve heard is a qualified good-news story,” Dr. Jim McMenamin, incident director for Covid-19 at Public Health Scotland, said at a news briefing at which he and colleagues presented data gleaned from Scottish hospitals.I'm going to take the liberty to qualify that story even more. Advanced countries like the U.K., the E.U., and the U.S. should be ordering new vaccines NOW. We do not learn, maybe someday we will get it through our heads: This thing is better than us; it is faster, it mutates quicker than other viruses and eludes our first generation vaccines, first with Delta--both more transmissible and deadlier than the original--then with this, much more transmissible than Delta.
Four Waves, Three Waves
Three waves of death. Or am I being too optimistic? The seismograph of current may be the first gentle shocks before a fourth Big One. It looks very similar to the graph in September-October 2020, a prelude to the Monster.
We want ZERO waves.
Omicron looks to be a comparative dud in the virus' mission to wipe out humanity, but unlike us, the virus is a quick study. It will graft transmissibility onto vaccine elusiveness and deadliness. A Doomsday Virus will be born. Unless. We. Act. Now. Humanity needs vaccines that prevent infection. Until we get that this thing will keep dancing away from us, taunting and killing.
Dateline Miami
MIAMI — The Omicron variant has turned a season of joy into one of weariness and resentment amid a new coronavirus surge.
With days to go before Christmas, Americans are sick and tired of being sick and tired. Of reworking plans to adapt to the latest virus risks…Of wondering whether, after two years of avoiding Covid-19, or surviving it, or getting vaccinated and maybe even boosted, Omicron is the variant they inevitably catch.
…
“I’m mad,” said Mabel De Beunza, a publicist in her early 40s who spent 90 minutes at a drive-through testing line in downtown Miami on Monday after experiencing cold symptoms. No matter what her test result, she has decided against seeing her mother, who is immunocompromised, on Christmas.
“We’ve done so much, and still have this,” said Ms. De Beunza, whose family is vaccinated and boosted. “It’s been such a rough year.”
...
“They still have to get tested if they get exposed. So what’s the point of this?”—Alyssa Dipirro, 30, was waiting in line for a Covid test in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday.
“They still have to get tested if they get exposed. So what’s the point of this?”—Alyssa Dipirro, 30, was waiting in line for a Covid test in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday.
Exactly right, Alyssa, "What is the point of this?"
…
Florida, which long ago did away with almost all virus restrictions, is recording an average of 7,068 daily coronavirus cases, a 294 percent increase over the past two weeks…
...winter is Florida’s high season, drawing part-time residents and throngs of visitors. Some attendees reported testing positive for Covid this month after going to events related to the Art Basel Miami Beach fair.
…
“All my friends in Miami have Covid right now,” Fabiana Vegas, 21, said on Tuesday as she waited in line to get tested in Orlando. “I wanted to go to Miami this Christmas, and I can’t.”
…
Florida, which long ago did away with almost all virus restrictions, is recording an average of 7,068 daily coronavirus cases, a 294 percent increase over the past two weeks…
...winter is Florida’s high season, drawing part-time residents and throngs of visitors. Some attendees reported testing positive for Covid this month after going to events related to the Art Basel Miami Beach fair.
…
“All my friends in Miami have Covid right now,” Fabiana Vegas, 21, said on Tuesday as she waited in line to get tested in Orlando. “I wanted to go to Miami this Christmas, and I can’t.”
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
"Heat" BLOW OUT "Pacers" at Bang Bus
And, this qualifies as successful escapism. I saw the score, 125-96, and thought, "Indy's prolly missing like 13 players." AP's write-up says the coach was back after sitting out three games in the protocol but didn't mention any "Pacer" being out for this game. One of their guys, sounds like he's one of their main guys, Malcolm Brogdon, cane out after five mins in the first half with "soreness in his right Achilles" but sorry Mal-Bro, we didn't have Jimmy, Bam and PJ so we win you lose now you get a big bruise on your Achilles.
Hold onto your hats cuz the gang that can't shoot straight (consistently) " tied a franchise record with 22 made 3-pointers" :o. And you know who got the record-tying trey? U.D. God damn the pusher.
Miami shot 49.5% (44.9%). D-Ro was 10/16 (6/10) for a tie-season-high 26. Tyler tied D-Ro with 26 (although that wasn't a tie-season-high for him) on 8/17 (5/8).
Man K-Lo. Damn that little guy has come around! He has been playing soo much better the last several games now. He only had 8 points tonight but if the "Heat" played positions basketball which of course they do not you don't need pernts outta your point guard, what you want are assists and K-Lo dished 12 of those buggers tonight agin' only 3 turnovers. Sublime-reading game for Kyle. Oh! He just missed a 3W by those two little peepy points!. Mo-fo K-Lo had ELEVEN rebounds! I'm as tall as Kyle, okay? I don't think I've ever had 11 rebounds in an NBA game.
Indy coach Rick Carlisle has the definitive word on the game: "Miami was tremendous. They played a phenomenal game."
HEAT!!!!
Shouldn't he...I thought he did actually, at least his staff contacted Big Pharma to start working on new vaccines. As I recall the response was "As soon as we get the order!" Isn't it new vaccines we need, this time to prevent infection, DIPSHITS!?
I'm not going to get tested. I've had two shots and the booster. I don't have any symptoms, haven't had so much as the sniffles in two years. Why would I get tested? What am I supposed to do if I test positive, get another vaccine?? Not go to work? I'm 90% retired! Not be around people? I'm antisocial! Okay, let's say you're working and you like people, you're fully vaxed and boosted, and have no symptoms, what are you supposed to do if you test positive, quarantine? So, not go to work, like the professional sports players? Biden wants you to keep working, keep the ol' economy hummin'! Not travel, socialize? Biden says no prob with traveling and snuggling up with the fam. Mask up? Okay, we can do that, at least I can and still do, and I see increasing numbers of people on Miami Beach wearing masks. But he has not said "mask up if you test+" That ain't it, bees and gees. But he has not said. He's ordering 500M tests with distribution and venue TBA and...what does he want us to do if we test positive?
You know what, Biden ought to make Ron Klain COVID czar and get out of the fucking way. He's the worst president since 46-1.
This blog is titled "Public Occurrences", so I have to do this.
... Mr. Biden said the government will buy a half-billion rapid coronavirus tests and distribute them free to Americans; create new vaccination and testing sites; and send 1,000 military medical professionals to help hospitals nationwide.
...Mr. Biden said...that vaccinated Americans should feel comfortable celebrating with their friends and family for the upcoming holidays.
The president said military troops will begin arriving in Wisconsin and Indiana this week to aid health care workers at hospitals. He said the first of the new testing sites will open in New York within days. And he promised to use the Defense Production Act to help manufacturers better meet the demand for testing.
...
Some of Mr. Biden’s announcements — including the distribution of new at-home tests — are not intended to be implemented for weeks, if not longer, raising doubts about how much they will help in the short term. And most are incremental steps that many public health experts say fall far short of the kind of aggressive actions required.
The president is not moving to mandate testing or vaccination for travelers on domestic flights, and he flatly ruled out on Tuesday returning to the kinds of restrictions that some European nations have once again imposed...
“That’s what I keep getting asked,” Mr. Biden said. “The answer is absolutely no. No.”
...
... In Massachusetts, state officials called out the National Guard to help staff hospitals with crushing caseloads.
...
Omicron erupted at a precarious moment for the president, who ran on a promise to curb the pandemic, only to be confronted with a shape-shifting virus that is now claiming more than 1,000 American lives every day. It is also a divisive political climate in which many Americans, particularly supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, have refused to get vaccinated.
Delta too! And both eminently predictable. He wasn't prepared.
In his remarks, Mr. Biden acknowledged the former president, noting that Mr. Trump recently said he had received a booster shot, and that “thanks to the prior administration and the scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine.”
... But Mr. Biden grew defensive in the face of questions about whether he had not moved quickly enough, especially in ensuring that free tests were widely available.
In his remarks, Mr. Biden acknowledged the former president, noting that Mr. Trump recently said he had received a booster shot, and that “thanks to the prior administration and the scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine.”
... But Mr. Biden grew defensive in the face of questions about whether he had not moved quickly enough, especially in ensuring that free tests were widely available.
That's his default, defensive. He's always late, everything's a surprise, it's never his fault. The only thing true in that repetitive litany is "He's always late."
“I don’t think anybody anticipated this was going to spread as rapidly,” Mr. Biden said...
“I don’t think anybody anticipated this was going to spread as rapidly,” Mr. Biden said...
See? There he goes. EVERYBODY anticipated O was going to spread this rapidly.
...rejecting the characterization of his testing response as a failure. He said that over the last few days, “all of a sudden it was like everybody rushed to the counter.”
Right! Just like "all of a sudden" thousands of people rushed to the airport in Afghanistan to get out! Who could have foreseen that? Absolute bullshit.
“It was a big, big rush,” he said.
“It was a big, big rush,” he said.
Which, Mr. President, in Afghanistan or here?
Just two weeks ago, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, mocked the idea of sending a test to every American.
Just two weeks ago, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, mocked the idea of sending a test to every American.
Oh really?! G-o-o-d job Jen!
“Should we just send one to every American?” she asked a reporter on Dec. 6. ...How much does that cost?”
At least three experts who have been calling for months for the administration to ramp up testing said that the shortfall was entirely predictable, and that the administration’s new testing policy, while a promising first step, was belated.
See! Predictable and late.
...
Some infectious disease experts say it is simply not possible now to stop the virus from spreading, and that the administration must focus on slowing the spread, protecting the most vulnerable and preventing already strained hospital systems from being overwhelmed.
...
Preventing infection completely...is “not a winnable battle.”-Dr. Luciana Borio, a former acting chief scientist for the Food and Drug Administration.
“Should we just send one to every American?” she asked a reporter on Dec. 6. ...How much does that cost?”
At least three experts who have been calling for months for the administration to ramp up testing said that the shortfall was entirely predictable, and that the administration’s new testing policy, while a promising first step, was belated.
See! Predictable and late.
...
Some infectious disease experts say it is simply not possible now to stop the virus from spreading, and that the administration must focus on slowing the spread, protecting the most vulnerable and preventing already strained hospital systems from being overwhelmed.
...
Preventing infection completely...is “not a winnable battle.”-Dr. Luciana Borio, a former acting chief scientist for the Food and Drug Administration.
And if there is fault there (and I think there is (but what do I know)) it's on Big Pharma. I remember when Delta dawned one scientist, a woman, was quoted in the Times as wearily asking rhetorically "Do we want vaccines to prevent infection or do we want vaccines to prevent hospitalization and death?" I remember reacting angrily that WE WANTED BOTH and probably called her a bad name, like "dipshit."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday that Omicron, which was causing less than 1 percent of new Covid-19 cases in the United States as December began, now accounts for nearly three-quarters of new cases.
... Matching testing supply with demand has been a challenge for both the Trump and the Biden administrations, and the United States has lagged behind Europe in making at-home tests cheap and readily available.
Okay, well now, it's Biden's problem exclusively. He took over with testing backed up and scarce. He hasn't done shit about it until now.
The 500 million tests that the administration intends to purchase, and the website where Americans will be able to request them, will not be available until sometime in January. Much will depend on precisely when that will be.
...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday that Omicron, which was causing less than 1 percent of new Covid-19 cases in the United States as December began, now accounts for nearly three-quarters of new cases.
... Matching testing supply with demand has been a challenge for both the Trump and the Biden administrations, and the United States has lagged behind Europe in making at-home tests cheap and readily available.
Okay, well now, it's Biden's problem exclusively. He took over with testing backed up and scarce. He hasn't done shit about it until now.
The 500 million tests that the administration intends to purchase, and the website where Americans will be able to request them, will not be available until sometime in January. Much will depend on precisely when that will be.
...
Too late, Joey! Too late again! O is going to account for 95%+ of U.S. cases by "sometime in January."
Some said the testing plan was too little, too late. ...
Some said the testing plan was too little, too late. ...
Here!
...“A start (finally), but billions are needed to help prevent spread,” Dr. Eric Topol, the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, wrote on Twitter. Dr. Topol suggested in a separate essay that the president could have moved more aggressively on other fronts, by distributing KN95 masks to all households, for example.
It was not immediately clear where the tests would come from, how they would be shipped or whether there would be limits on the number an individual could order.
It was not immediately clear where the tests would come from, how they would be shipped or whether there would be limits on the number an individual could order.
Other than those details, I'm on this! Just like in Afghanistan! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to Camp David.
...
Hospital executives said the plan to provide military medical personnel and other workers to beleaguered hospitals should help address some of the severe staffing shortages affecting many facilities.
“It’s a good immediate move,” said Dr. Thomas McGinn, an executive vice president at CommonSpirit, a large Catholic group with 140 hospitals in 21 states.
...
Hospital executives said the plan to provide military medical personnel and other workers to beleaguered hospitals should help address some of the severe staffing shortages affecting many facilities.
“It’s a good immediate move,” said Dr. Thomas McGinn, an executive vice president at CommonSpirit, a large Catholic group with 140 hospitals in 21 states.
Maybe I ought to change the name of this blog to "Fun Public Occurrences."
“We’re in deep trouble.”
“We’re in deep trouble,” said William Haseltine, a virologist and former Harvard Medical School professor who is president of Access Health International, a nonprofit global health think tank. He urged Americans to cancel holiday party and travel plans, work from home and avoid public transportation if possible, and go out only when absolutely necessary — and then wear a mask.
“We should have learned our lesson, but we grossly underestimated this virus and were unprepared for Covid coming back in a newly transmissible and virulent form,” he said. “And we’re going to pay the price.”
…
On Sunday, Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and William Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard, sent a memo to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the C.D.C. director, outlining a plan to keep Omicron from breaking the hospital system.
“It is possible that uncontrolled spread of Omicron could quickly overwhelm hospital capacity, despite the existing immunity of the population,” they warned, proposing a plan that would automatically impose restrictions on indoor activities if hospital capacity in a state or city reached a certain threshold.
Monday, December 20, 2021
Joy to the World
This morning my girl-child sent me the youtube video of Heaven on Earth by Belinda Carlisle with a note “great song.” It is, it was, and it always will be. I had turned my daughter on to Heaven years ago and have posted about it a few times.
The video:
Well, that text got me started. I sent Dion the youtube Our Lips Are Sealed by the Go-Go’s with Belinda as lead singer. The Go-Go’s are the most successful all-girl band of all time. Briefly in the 1980’s they were the IT group and Belinda Carlisle the IT girl. I mean, are you kidding me, look at them? Sexy and flirty and free, driving (soo American) and singing and goofing, frolicking in a fountain, Belinda, American white perfect teeth, beautiful as a flower, still with her baby fat, as much youthful energy as an atomic bomb. This is the forever-young SoCal Belinda Carlisle, America’s darling.
Merry Sickmas Ho Ho Ho
With the eradication of Covid-19 off the table, …
…
In the United States, so-called breakthrough cases — infections among the vaccinated —…are fast becoming the status quo.
The highly contagious Omicron stands to make the notion of a surprise breakthrough infection “completely irrelevant”. …
…
Every wave of the pandemic has posed its challenges, but Omicron offers the vaccinated a preview of one of the more frustrating aspects of endemicity: regular breakthroughs.
…
In the United States, so-called breakthrough cases — infections among the vaccinated —…are fast becoming the status quo.
The highly contagious Omicron stands to make the notion of a surprise breakthrough infection “completely irrelevant”. …
…
Every wave of the pandemic has posed its challenges, but Omicron offers the vaccinated a preview of one of the more frustrating aspects of endemicity: regular breakthroughs.
(NYT)
Sunday, December 19, 2021
"Pistons", Losers of 14 Straight, Beat "Heat" 100-90
A day after beating a G-league roster with a 5-24 record the "Heat" lost to a G-league roster now sporting a 5-24 record.
Detroit won for just the third time in fifteen games at home. Aside from the great Austrian Max Strus the "Heat's" shooting was kafkaesque: 1/4, 3/12, 2/11; a team 37.8%, 30,2% from distance. Miami is 18-13, fifth in the Eastern Conference.
Manchin Double-Crosses Democrats
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,” the centrist West Virginia senator said on “Fox News Sunday,” citing concerns about adding to the national debt.
Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, said on Sunday that he could not support President Biden’s signature $2.2 trillion social safety net, climate and tax bill, dooming his party’s drive to pass its marquee domestic policy legislation as written.The comments from Mr. Manchin, a longtime centrist holdout, dealt the latest and perhaps a fatal blow to the centerpiece of Mr. Biden’s domestic agenda, barely a day after senators left Washington for the remainder of the year after Democrats conceded they could not yet push through any of their top legislative priorities, from the social policy bill to a voting rights overhaul.
...
“I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation,” Mr. Manchin said on “Fox News Sunday,” citing concerns about adding to the national debt, rising inflation and the spread of the latest coronavirus variant. “I’ve tried everything humanly possible. I can’t get there. This is a no.”
In a statement released shortly afterward, he was even more scathing toward his own party, declaring that “my Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face.”
“I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful,” he said.
...
His comments provoked an unusually blistering broadside from Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, who accused Mr. Manchin in a lengthy statement of reneging on his promises. As recently as Tuesday, Ms. Psaki said, Mr. Manchin had pledged to work with administration officials to finalize a compromise agreement and had even shared his own outline for legislation that mirrored the size of Mr. Biden’s initial $1.85 trillion framework.
“If his comments on Fox and written statement indicate an end to that effort,” she said, “they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the president and the senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”
... The legislation, originally sketched out as a $3.5 trillion blueprint, had already been curtailed substantially to satisfy Mr. Manchin and a few other centrists, through months of laborious negotiations.
...
...Mr. Manchin’s blunt condemnation of the measure on Sunday confirmed what many Democrats had feared: that after months of exhausting work, the legislation will have to largely be rewritten if there is any remaining chance of securing Mr. Manchin’s vote...
It also upended the precarious détente within the party on Capitol Hill, as House moderates fumed that they had voted for a measure that would not become law and liberals accused Mr. Manchin of single-handedly torpedoing their ability to deliver on the campaign promises that had delivered them control of both Congress and the White House.
“We knew that Manchin and the Senate could not be trusted to pass Build Back Better when the time came to pass it,” Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, a progressive Democrat, said in an interview. “And that is where we stand now.”
For months, Mr. Manchin had huddled privately with Mr. Biden and his top officials in an attempt to secure a compromise. His objections had already forced the White House to substantially curtail the scope of the package and remove certain pieces, including the creation of a clean electricity program and a plan to ban new oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
...Mr. Manchin on Sunday appeared to close the door on further substantive talks, complaining that his colleagues had been spending months employing tricks to make the legislation appear less costly rather than truly paring it down.
“The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined the cost is upward of $4.5 trillion, which is more than double what the bill’s ardent supporters have claimed,” Mr. Manchin said. “They continue to camouflage the real cost of the intent behind this bill.”
In that statement, Mr. Manchin expressed concern that Mr. Biden’s marquee bill would move the nation’s economy away from fossil fuels too rapidly, “at a rate that is faster than technology or the markets allow,” and warned of “catastrophic consequences.”
...
“We’ve been dealing with Mr. Manchin for month after month after month,” [Senator Bernie Sanders said] on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But if he doesn’t have the courage to do the right thing for the working families of West Virginia and America, let him vote no in front of the whole world.”
In his appearance on Fox News, Mr. Manchin expressed willingness to hold a vote on the measure.
“Just vote,” he said. “I’ve been saying that. Just vote. If that’s what people need to show where they are, then vote.”
You don't know the man, Bernie. He's in the pocket of Big Coal. He'll vote "No" with alacrity.
HT Fins 10 Fast Planes 17
My new NFL crush the Deetroit "Lions" (1-11-1) are leading the Arizona "Cardinals" (10-3) 17-0 at the half. 17-0! :o
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