The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced recently, and gee,
DumFux News managed not to be on the list - again -
for the 25th year out of the last 25 years of their 25-year history.
None
Zero
Zip
Zilch
Bupkis
Jun 15, 2021
Today's Quote
- Aldous Huxley
COVID-19 Update
World
USA
Pfizer to study vaccinated people who get infected for guidance on booster shots
A top Pfizer researcher said the U.S. company is looking at “breakthrough cases” of fully vaccinated people who later got infected by the coronavirus in an attempt to understand if, and when, booster shots need to be administered.
“We’re going to be monitoring this closely and using immunological data, clinical data and real world data to help us think about when a booster might be needed,” David Swerdlow, Pfizer’s clinical epidemiology lead, told a conference Monday, according to Bloomberg Law.
Reports of people inoculated with U.S.-authorized shots dying or requiring hospitalization due to covid are extremely rare, although exactly how long protection lasts isn’t yet clear. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases specialist, has said that booster shots will probably be necessary, although the timing of such “third doses” has not been determined.
New Cases: 301,704 (⬆︎ .17%)
New Deaths: 6,748 (⬆︎ .18%)
USA
New Cases: 10,010 (⬆︎ .03%)
New Deaths: 205 (⬆︎ .03%)
Yesterday, June 14, 2021
0 Vaccinated people
and
6,748 Un-Vaccinated people
were killed by COVID-19
174.2 million vaccinated (⬆︎ .23%)
This includes more than 144.9 million people who have been fully vaccinated in the United States.
In the last week, an average of 1.11 million doses per day were administered,
a 4% increase over the week before.
At the grocery store yesterday, Most people were still in the masks, but I counted 2 shoppers and 2 employees who were unmasked, out of a total of maybe 20 people.
I get that we need to feel normal again, but we ain't won nuthin' yet - don't let your guard down.
Pfizer to study vaccinated people who get infected for guidance on booster shots
A top Pfizer researcher said the U.S. company is looking at “breakthrough cases” of fully vaccinated people who later got infected by the coronavirus in an attempt to understand if, and when, booster shots need to be administered.
“We’re going to be monitoring this closely and using immunological data, clinical data and real world data to help us think about when a booster might be needed,” David Swerdlow, Pfizer’s clinical epidemiology lead, told a conference Monday, according to Bloomberg Law.
Reports of people inoculated with U.S.-authorized shots dying or requiring hospitalization due to covid are extremely rare, although exactly how long protection lasts isn’t yet clear. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases specialist, has said that booster shots will probably be necessary, although the timing of such “third doses” has not been determined.
Human Infestation
Opinion: A declining world population isn’t a looming catastrophe. It could actually bring some good.
Thanks to scientific advances in medicine and public health, humanity’s population shot from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 7.7 billion today. People on average are staying healthier and living longer. Over the past six months, the United States has seen the inauguration of the oldest president ever, a Super Bowl victory by the oldest quarterback ever and a major golf title captured by the oldest winner ever.
I myself am like a lot of older people: I would have died some years back without modern medicine, but thanks to medical interventions I’m currently in good health.
Now, though, this steep population increase is not only slowing, demographers say, it may well start reversing over the coming decades as fertility rates around the world decline. On Monday, news came that China — apparently frightened by the portents — is raising its family-size limit, allowing women to bear three children instead of two.
President Xi Jinping isn’t the only one fretting. The vision of a dwindling global population is widely depicted as a looming catastrophe.
“The world is ill-prepared for the global crash in children being born which is set to have a ‘jaw-dropping’ impact on societies,” the BBC reported last summer. This media staple got a boost a couple of weeks ago from a New York Times article headlined “Long Slide Looms for World Population, With Sweeping Ramifications.” While trying to find some bright spots (lower demand on resources!), the article mostly focused on the “hard to fathom” negative implications.
I’d prefer to fathom the good stuff. And that goes well beyond a reduction in the demand on resources — welcome as that would be. No matter how clean our technological systems and lifeways, fewer humans would mean fewer demands on the biosphere.
As for the alarm about too many old people and not enough young, that reads like a weird science-fiction story — the old need caring for, and young people can’t take care of them while doing all the other jobs that need doing. Crisis!
It sounds like full employment to me.
Note that full employment as a concept carries political weight, because economists tend to say there is a “natural” unemployment rate of around 5 percent, and if this rate goes lower, it’s bad for … profits, basically. If unemployment dips below 5 percent, the thinking goes, the labor market tightens and the stock market gets depressed, because there is more competition for workers, and higher wages need to be offered to grab available workers, so profits drop, and inflation might occur, etc.
In other words, the precarity and immiseration of the unemployed would disappear as everyone had access to work that gave them an income and dignity and meaning (one new career category: restoring and repairing wildlands and habitat corridors for our cousin species), but this would still be a bad thing for the economy. The economy, measured by profit, being the most important thing. More important than people.
Consider this rise in individual health, and drop in population growth, from the utopian angle, which is my usual take. A hundred years ago there were only about 2 billion people, and civilization was troubled but lively; there could be fewer of us in the future, and civilization would still be troubled but lively.
How many humans would be right? This is not a question that can be answered. As I recall, estimates of Earth’s “carrying capacity” for humans range from 100 million (deep ecologists) to 12 trillion (techno-optimists), which is a sign the question itself is wrong. Right now, we need to make a just and sustainable world for about 8 billion people. Start there, and let the question about the “right” number rest perpetually unanswered.
As for declining birthrates, why has that happened? No doubt there are negative reasons — despair, inequality and, in the past year, the pandemic. But one positive reason outweighs all the rest: women’s empowerment. The more power women have, the lower the birthrate.
Many developed nations have birthrates well below the replacement rate of about 2.1 children per woman. The highest birthrates are in countries where women’s lives are made difficult in multiple ways, mostly by stupid patriarchy. So here we see a twinned good: The moral imperative of women’s empowerment yields a practical benefit of reduced demands on the biosphere.
The 20th century’s immense surge in human population would age out and die off (sob), and a smaller population would then find its way in a healthier world. To make this work, their economic system might have to change — oh my God! But they will probably be up to that mind-boggling task.
I am declaring this a non-problem. The world is faced with too many real problems that need addressing. The generations to come will cope just fine.
I’d prefer to fathom the good stuff. And that goes well beyond a reduction in the demand on resources — welcome as that would be. No matter how clean our technological systems and lifeways, fewer humans would mean fewer demands on the biosphere.
As for the alarm about too many old people and not enough young, that reads like a weird science-fiction story — the old need caring for, and young people can’t take care of them while doing all the other jobs that need doing. Crisis!
It sounds like full employment to me.
Note that full employment as a concept carries political weight, because economists tend to say there is a “natural” unemployment rate of around 5 percent, and if this rate goes lower, it’s bad for … profits, basically. If unemployment dips below 5 percent, the thinking goes, the labor market tightens and the stock market gets depressed, because there is more competition for workers, and higher wages need to be offered to grab available workers, so profits drop, and inflation might occur, etc.
In other words, the precarity and immiseration of the unemployed would disappear as everyone had access to work that gave them an income and dignity and meaning (one new career category: restoring and repairing wildlands and habitat corridors for our cousin species), but this would still be a bad thing for the economy. The economy, measured by profit, being the most important thing. More important than people.
Consider this rise in individual health, and drop in population growth, from the utopian angle, which is my usual take. A hundred years ago there were only about 2 billion people, and civilization was troubled but lively; there could be fewer of us in the future, and civilization would still be troubled but lively.
How many humans would be right? This is not a question that can be answered. As I recall, estimates of Earth’s “carrying capacity” for humans range from 100 million (deep ecologists) to 12 trillion (techno-optimists), which is a sign the question itself is wrong. Right now, we need to make a just and sustainable world for about 8 billion people. Start there, and let the question about the “right” number rest perpetually unanswered.
As for declining birthrates, why has that happened? No doubt there are negative reasons — despair, inequality and, in the past year, the pandemic. But one positive reason outweighs all the rest: women’s empowerment. The more power women have, the lower the birthrate.
Many developed nations have birthrates well below the replacement rate of about 2.1 children per woman. The highest birthrates are in countries where women’s lives are made difficult in multiple ways, mostly by stupid patriarchy. So here we see a twinned good: The moral imperative of women’s empowerment yields a practical benefit of reduced demands on the biosphere.
The 20th century’s immense surge in human population would age out and die off (sob), and a smaller population would then find its way in a healthier world. To make this work, their economic system might have to change — oh my God! But they will probably be up to that mind-boggling task.
I am declaring this a non-problem. The world is faced with too many real problems that need addressing. The generations to come will cope just fine.
Jun 14, 2021
Today's Tweet
One of the great highlights of 2020
For the rest of my life, I will remember that Joe Biden told Trump to shut up on live TV, and then took his job. 😂
— Jeras Ikehorn (@JerasIkehorn) June 13, 2021
COVID-19 Update
World
USA
Vaccination Scorecard
* At this rate, we don't hit the goal of 70% total vaccinated for at least 4 or 5 months.
Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Houston hospital system employees who refused coronavirus vaccine
A federal judge on Saturday dismissed a lawsuit filed by 117 staffers at Houston Methodist over the hospital system’s coronavirus vaccine requirement for employees, a decision that could have implications in other battles over such mandates.
The hospital system was among the first in the country to require all workers to be inoculated against the virus, which has killed about 600,000 people in the United States. More than 99 percent of its 26,000-strong workforce complied. But a small fraction refused, and chief executive Marc Boom said Tuesday that more than 170 employees had been suspended as a result.
Among them was Jennifer Bridges, a nurse who became the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit over the vaccine requirement after months of publicly opposing it. The complaint, filed last month, argued that the mandate is unlawful and forces “employees to be human ‘guinea pigs’ as a condition for continued employment.”
But U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes rejected that argument. In his ruling, he said the lawsuit’s claim that the vaccines are experimental and dangerous “is false, and it is also irrelevant.” The hospital system’s requirement does not violate state or federal law or public policy, he wrote.
The judge took particular issue with the complaint equating the mandate to medical experimentation during the Holocaust, calling the comparison “reprehensible.”
“Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giving them the covid-19 virus,” Hughes wrote. “It is a choice made to keep staff, patients and their families safer. Bridges can freely choose to accept or refuse a covid-19 vaccine; however, if she refuses, she will simply need to work somewhere else.”
The lawsuit’s dismissal appears to be one of the first rulings over an issue that has sparked contentious debate across the country as the economy opens up and more people return to school and work. Legal experts expect further litigation as some business, hospitals and universities begin requiring vaccination.
Valerie Gutmann Koch, co-director of the University of Houston’s Health Law & Policy Institute, called the decision “another step in demonstrating the legality of these mandates, particularly in a health crisis like this.”
“There isn’t much there to rely on to argue these mandates should be illegal,” she said.
The three coronavirus vaccines used in the United States have not received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, but they have been authorized for emergency use following rigorous clinical trials. As of Sunday, more than 173 million people had received at least one dose of the vaccine in the United States, representing just over 52 percent of the nation’s population.
Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, characterized the lawsuit’s claims as “absurd” in recent remarks to The Washington Post, noting that tens of thousands of people participated in the vaccine trials. The suit also repeats misinformation circulated widely online about the shots altering DNA.
The inoculations are seen as key to a return to normalcy, yet most employers have shied away from mandating them, concerned about the thorny politics and previously untested legal issues. Colleges and universities, along with Houston Methodist and a handful of other health-care institutions, are the exception.
Koch said the ruling shows “employer mandates of the covid-19 vaccine, particularly in the health care arena, are absolutely legal.” She said she expects to see more legal battles around vaccination mandates but noted she has “always predicted that they have very thin legal legs to stand on.”
There is precedent for vaccine requirements, she said, such as when health-care institutions require vaccinations during particularly bad flu seasons. Koch said she was “encouraged by the fact that this was dismissed as quickly and expeditiously as it was.”
Veronica Vargas Stidvent, executive director at the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas School of Law, said the ruling is based on employment law in Texas, so the extent to which it sets a precedent for other jurisdictions is not clear.
“At least here in Texas, under this ruling, it’s pretty clear employers can require employees to get vaccinated,” she said.
Bridges, who previously worked in Houston Methodist’s covid unit, told The Post last month that she has willingly submitted to “every vaccine known to man.” But she insists the coronavirus vaccines need further study.
In an interview with USA Today following her lawsuit’s dismissal, Bridges said she was not surprised by the judge’s decision. The nurse, who has raised more than $100,000 for her legal battle on GoFundMe, said she would not give up despite the case being thrown out.
“We knew this was going to be a huge fight,” she said, “and we are prepared to fight it.”
Jared Woodfill, the Houston-area attorney and conservative activist who filed the suit, said he plans to appeal the ruling, repeating the complaint’s claim that the vaccine requirement forces employees to serve as guinea pigs. He said in written comments that he believes the hospital system will ultimately “be held accountable for their conduct.”
In a statement released by the hospital system, Boom said the judge’s decision meant Houston Methodist “can now put this behind us and continue our focus on unparalleled safety, quality, service and innovation.”
New Cases: 300,307 (⬆︎ .17%)
New Deaths: 6,798 (⬆︎ .18%)
USA
New Cases: 5,285 (⬆︎ .02%)
New Deaths: 100 (⬆︎ .02%)
Vaccination Scorecard
Total Vaccinations: 173.8 million (⬆︎ .23%)*
Total Eligible Population: 62.0%
Total Population: 52.4%
Yesterday, June 14th, 2021
0 Vaccinated people
and
6,748 Un-Vaccinated people
were killed by COVID-19
This should be - and certainly won't be - a death blow to the Anti-Vax idiots' little movement.
And I'll go ahead and say it - I understand why we keep having to accommodate these dolts, but c'mon. 100 knuckleheads, out of a work force of 26,000, think they should bring the whole project to a screeching halt because they have a hard-on for "nobody's gonna tell me what to do"?
I'll say this too - fuck 'em. We've been though the process and we're as sure as anybody gets about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. And nurses are supposed to fucking know that.
I'll say it again - fuck 'em.
Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Houston hospital system employees who refused coronavirus vaccine
A federal judge on Saturday dismissed a lawsuit filed by 117 staffers at Houston Methodist over the hospital system’s coronavirus vaccine requirement for employees, a decision that could have implications in other battles over such mandates.
The hospital system was among the first in the country to require all workers to be inoculated against the virus, which has killed about 600,000 people in the United States. More than 99 percent of its 26,000-strong workforce complied. But a small fraction refused, and chief executive Marc Boom said Tuesday that more than 170 employees had been suspended as a result.
Among them was Jennifer Bridges, a nurse who became the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit over the vaccine requirement after months of publicly opposing it. The complaint, filed last month, argued that the mandate is unlawful and forces “employees to be human ‘guinea pigs’ as a condition for continued employment.”
But U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes rejected that argument. In his ruling, he said the lawsuit’s claim that the vaccines are experimental and dangerous “is false, and it is also irrelevant.” The hospital system’s requirement does not violate state or federal law or public policy, he wrote.
The judge took particular issue with the complaint equating the mandate to medical experimentation during the Holocaust, calling the comparison “reprehensible.”
“Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giving them the covid-19 virus,” Hughes wrote. “It is a choice made to keep staff, patients and their families safer. Bridges can freely choose to accept or refuse a covid-19 vaccine; however, if she refuses, she will simply need to work somewhere else.”
The lawsuit’s dismissal appears to be one of the first rulings over an issue that has sparked contentious debate across the country as the economy opens up and more people return to school and work. Legal experts expect further litigation as some business, hospitals and universities begin requiring vaccination.
Valerie Gutmann Koch, co-director of the University of Houston’s Health Law & Policy Institute, called the decision “another step in demonstrating the legality of these mandates, particularly in a health crisis like this.”
“There isn’t much there to rely on to argue these mandates should be illegal,” she said.
The three coronavirus vaccines used in the United States have not received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, but they have been authorized for emergency use following rigorous clinical trials. As of Sunday, more than 173 million people had received at least one dose of the vaccine in the United States, representing just over 52 percent of the nation’s population.
Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, characterized the lawsuit’s claims as “absurd” in recent remarks to The Washington Post, noting that tens of thousands of people participated in the vaccine trials. The suit also repeats misinformation circulated widely online about the shots altering DNA.
The inoculations are seen as key to a return to normalcy, yet most employers have shied away from mandating them, concerned about the thorny politics and previously untested legal issues. Colleges and universities, along with Houston Methodist and a handful of other health-care institutions, are the exception.
Koch said the ruling shows “employer mandates of the covid-19 vaccine, particularly in the health care arena, are absolutely legal.” She said she expects to see more legal battles around vaccination mandates but noted she has “always predicted that they have very thin legal legs to stand on.”
There is precedent for vaccine requirements, she said, such as when health-care institutions require vaccinations during particularly bad flu seasons. Koch said she was “encouraged by the fact that this was dismissed as quickly and expeditiously as it was.”
Veronica Vargas Stidvent, executive director at the Center for Women in Law at the University of Texas School of Law, said the ruling is based on employment law in Texas, so the extent to which it sets a precedent for other jurisdictions is not clear.
“At least here in Texas, under this ruling, it’s pretty clear employers can require employees to get vaccinated,” she said.
Bridges, who previously worked in Houston Methodist’s covid unit, told The Post last month that she has willingly submitted to “every vaccine known to man.” But she insists the coronavirus vaccines need further study.
In an interview with USA Today following her lawsuit’s dismissal, Bridges said she was not surprised by the judge’s decision. The nurse, who has raised more than $100,000 for her legal battle on GoFundMe, said she would not give up despite the case being thrown out.
“We knew this was going to be a huge fight,” she said, “and we are prepared to fight it.”
Jared Woodfill, the Houston-area attorney and conservative activist who filed the suit, said he plans to appeal the ruling, repeating the complaint’s claim that the vaccine requirement forces employees to serve as guinea pigs. He said in written comments that he believes the hospital system will ultimately “be held accountable for their conduct.”
In a statement released by the hospital system, Boom said the judge’s decision meant Houston Methodist “can now put this behind us and continue our focus on unparalleled safety, quality, service and innovation.”
Jun 13, 2021
RIP Ned Beatty
Ned Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) delivered what is possibly the greatest movie soliloquy ever.
Network - 1976
Today's Tweet
I often have problems with the godly folk, but it's my experience that the Episcopalians are generally more reasonable than most.
Follow the thread.
I’m one of the people who went to Lafayette Square last June in support of #BLM, & was driven away by riot police with teargas, & flash grenades. I saw the report finding no link between the clearing of the park & the photo op. Initially I was not going to respond...
— The Rev. Gini Gerbasi (@GiniGerbasi) June 11, 2021
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