Monday, December 27, 2021

And another day of shorter isolations, staff shortages, over a hundred cases in the NFL, the defense spending bill becomes law, sunk climate promises, cancer-causing pollution, reconsidering the 110 year sentencing, and the gospel of Trump Jr. comes to a close:

“Democrats keep thinking they can win over voters who hate them with better policies. We're dreaming. Democrats are always asking, 'Why do Republicans vote against their economic interests?' Because they hate you." — Bill Maher

“The problem isn't one rude comment or display, which hardly matters. The problem is the ongoing corrosion of our culture into one where boors and bullies are celebrated as heroes. It's cumulative, like water on stone, and the damage is real.” — Patrick Chovanec

Deaths

US: 839,429 (+1575)

World: 5,422,567 (+6152)

Cases

US: 53,737,689 (+515,265)

World: 281,823,143 (+1,488,787)

US officials recommend shorter COVID isolation, quarantine. U.S. health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.

Pfizer antiviral pills may be risky with other medications, experts caution. One of the two drugs in the antiviral cocktail could cause serious interactions with widely used prescriptions, including statins, blood thinners and some antidepressants.

Staff shortages could force schools in England to send some pupils home. Despite a pledge by Boris Johnson to avoid a repeat of January 2021, when the government insisted schools would remain open only for them to be closed after an abrupt U-turn, school leaders are warning that the rapid spread of the Omicron variant could lead to mass absences for teachers and other members of staff when schools reopen for the new year.

Nearly 100 NFL players test positive for Covid-19 on Monday. -- Stop watching the NFL.

NFL will require media to receive COVID-19 booster shot. The National Football League (NFL) on Monday said it will require members of the media to receive a COVID-19 booster shot in an effort to stem the spread of the virus within the league. The requirement will take effect on Jan. 12 and will apply to media working at team training facilities, covering the playoffs and the Feb. 13 Super Bowl in Los Angeles.

Biden signs $768.2 billion defense spending bill into law. The NDAA authorizes a 5% increase in military spending, and is the product of intense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans over issues ranging from reforms of the military justice system to COVID-19 vaccine requirements for soldiers. -- That’s $768.2 billion for one year. So for 10 years, like the BBB was presented, it equals $7.682 trillion (of course it’ll be far more than that when those 10 years are over). But we can’t fund BBB (nearly $2 trillion). That’s nuts.

'We really don't have a plan': Biden's climate promises are sunk without Build Back Better, experts say. Multiple independent analyses have found President Joe Biden simply can't hit his goal of cutting greenhouse gases by 50% by the end of the decade without the clean energy provisions in Build Back Better, the President's signature economic and climate legislation. After West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin torpedoed the bill, experts say these goals are ever more out of reach -- with devastating consequences.

The Gospel of Donald Trump Jr. Throughout his speech, Don Jr. painted a scenario in which Trump supporters—Americans living in red America—are under relentless attack from a wicked and brutal enemy. He portrayed it as an existential battle between good and evil. One side must prevail; the other must be crushed. This in turn justifies any necessary means to win. And the former president’s son has a message for the tens of millions of evangelicals who form the energized base of the GOP: the scriptures are essentially a manual for suckers. The teachings of Jesus have “gotten us nothing.” It’s worse than that, really; the ethic of Jesus has gotten in the way of successfully prosecuting the culture wars against the left. If the ethic of Jesus encourages sensibilities that might cause people in politics to act a little less brutally, a bit more civilly, with a touch more grace? Then it needs to go. Decency is for suckers...He believes, as his father does, that politics should be practiced ruthlessly, mercilessly, and vengefully. The ends justify the means. Norms and guardrails need to be smashed. Morality and lawfulness must always be subordinated to the pursuit of power and self-interest. That is the Trumpian ethic. The problem is that the Trumpian ethic hasn’t been confined to the Trump family. We saw that not just in the enthusiastic and at times impassioned response of the Turning Point USA crowd to Don Jr.’s speech but nearly every day in the words and actions of Republicans in positions of power. Donald Trump and his oldest son have become evangelists of a different kind. -- This is no joking matter. This shit should be taken seriously. The Trump family and their supporters are the greatest danger to American democracy.

A Laredo plant that sterilizes medical equipment spews cancer-causing pollution on schoolchildren. Nobody told Yaneli Ortiz’s family that the factory they lived near emitted ethylene oxide. Not when the EPA found it causes cancer. Not when she was diagnosed with leukemia. And not when Texas moved to allow polluters to emit more of the chemical…Communities such as Laredo, where the vast majority of the residents are Latino and more than a quarter live in poverty, have been left in the dark for years by regulators who had evidence of the dangers posed by ethylene oxide but never told the public about them. Out of all the pollutants that the EPA regulates, ethylene oxide is the most toxic, contributing to the majority of the excess cancer risk created by industrial air pollutants in the United States, according to an unprecedented analysis of the agency’s most recent modeling data by ProPublica, in collaboration with The Texas Tribune. That risk is in addition to those Americans already face from other factors like genetics or lifestyle.

Judge schedules January 13 hearing to consider resentencing trucker who was given 110 years in fatal crash. First Judicial District Attorney Alexis King said her office will probably recommend a sentence of 20-30 years. -- That’s still too long.

"Modern-day Darwin" Edward O. Wilson dies at 92.

Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.

Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.