We may be reaching the stage where we can draw a few tentative conclusions about the major news stories of this year, and some of those conclusions are comforting.
First, on Covid-19, while the virus keeps mutating, as viruses are wont to do, increasingly we can take comfort that those mutations do not appear to cause more suffering and death among unvaccinated people than the original version did.
In addition, they appear to have little measurable impact on vaccinated people.
Furthermore, the vaccines, including boosters, work just fine alone or in combination to extend immunity, minimize illness, guard against mutations and allow for a return to normal life for most people.
There always are exceptions, of course, but one major problem with mass media is all too often the exceptions become headlines, which generate fear and controversy where neither is justified.
So-called "breakthrough cases" can and do occur. This does not change the overall situation. Bad reactions to the shots do occur, this is always the case. This too does not change the overall situation.
There are precious people among us -- the immunocompromised, the very aged and the frail -- who remain uniquely vulnerable and we should always keep them in mind. This probably also inclines infants.
While on the subject of the very young, the regulatory agencies are gradually working through their processes to reach the point of approving and recommending vaccines for children.
This is another positive development. What it should not mean, IMHO, is that the kind of mandates requiring school kids to be vaccinated in order to attend public school are justified.
On the contrary, at present this is a terrible idea, the type that merges in a society when it is flirting with extremism and over-reaction.
Anyone who believes otherwise needs to review the studies of which children have been left behind intellectually during the pandemic. They will quickly realize that it is not the wealthy, privileged children, but the poorest, minority, marginalized members of society who always get left behind.
You can conclude that this is just how the world works, that inevitably the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, or you can decide tolerating the status quo is intolerable, that those who do so are indeed part of the problem.
For all of the rest of us, the greater issue that confronted us long before Covid-19 was even a gleam in the devil's blood-shot eye is isolation, mistrust, fear, and withdrawal from one another.
***
Similar conclusions can be drawn about the annual trends in climate change, Afghanistan, the Biden administration, the global economy, and more -- and I may wade into those topics in the coming days.
More vexing is the controversy over whether Corvey the bunny is better off inside in the bathtub during the rainy season or outside in the chicken coop.
Since I try to avoid taking firm positions on such matters, all I can say is that wherever Corvey may spend his time, he sure seems to like cilantro.
And so do I.
***
THE HEADLINES:
* Analysis: Putin and Xi look set to disengage as world leaders meet on climate (WP)
* How Chemical Companies Avoid Paying for Pollution -- DuPont factories pumped dangerous substances into the environment. The company and its offspring have gone to great lengths to dodge responsibility. (NYT)
* California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials are completing an unprecedented effort to save more than 1 million Chinook salmon, a campaign that also may help preserve a way of life for a Native American tribe. (Reuters)
* The Environmental Protection Agency has identified 13,000 sites in California where people may be exposed to toxic “forever chemicals” that are associated with cancer and other health problems. (The Guardian)
* Worsening climate change requires that the United States do much more to track, ease and manage flows of refugees fleeing natural disasters, the Biden administration said Thursday in what it billed as the federal government's first deep look at the problem. (AP)
* A hike through ice caves under Austria’s melting glaciers shows ‘decays’ from climate change (WP)
* Fossil Fuel Drilling Plans Undermine Climate Pledges, U.N. Report Warns -- Countries are planning to produce more than twice as much oil, gas and coal through 2030 as would be needed if governments want to limit global warming to Paris Agreement goals. (NYT)
* Climate change makes drought recovery tougher in U.S. West (AP)
* Some scientists fear the Amazon — which exerts power over the carbon cycle like no other terrestrial ecosystem — is nearing a point of no return. (Reuters)
* Turning whiskey into fuel: Scotland's green plan (Reuters)
* For Afghan Hazaras, where to pray can be life and death choice (Reuters)
* Female Judges in Afghanistan, Now Jobless and in Hiding -- They fear that they or their loved ones could be tracked down and killed because of their work delivering justice to women. “We have lost everything — our jobs, our homes, the way we lived.” (NYT)
* Afghanistan needs aid, but that won’t fix our broken nation. Uplifting girls will. (Opinion by Shabana Basij-Rasikh/WP)
* Pfizer-BioNTech Booster 95.6% Effective in Trial, Companies Say --The study was carried out while the highly contagious Delta variant was prevalent, the companies said, suggesting the booster helps protect against the contagious strain. (WSJ)
* F.D.A. Authorizes Moderna and Johnson & Johnson Booster Shots -- The agency will also allow vaccine recipients to pick which vaccine they want as a booster, endorsing a mix-and-match approach. (NYT)
* Can new variants of the coronavirus keep emerging?
* Forty officers in the San Francisco Police Department have been put on leave for not having their Covid-19 shots. (NBC Bay Area)
* For central bankers wrestling with the question of whether inflationary pressures are transitory, industry chiefs around the world have a clear message: prices are only going higher. (Reuters)
* Biden abruptly accelerates his involvement in agenda talks -- From universal pre-K to dental benefits to college aid, President Biden is laying down specifics as tight deadlines converge and time grows short. (WP)
* Long before Havana Syndrome, the U.S. reported microwaves beamed at an embassy (NPR)
* Democrats' grand plans for an ambitious legislative package came to a crashing halt this week after President Joe Biden made it clear to lawmakers they would need to accept significant cuts to many of their priorities. Now the party must deal among themselves, as they just couldn't get the whole bill past conservative Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin. [HuffPost]
* Senate Republicans filibustered voting rights legislation meant to override new voting restrictions in Republican-run states that affirm former President Donald Trump's lies about election fraud. "Senate Republicans blocking debate today is an implicit endorsement of the horrid new voter suppression and election subversion laws pushed in Republican states across the country,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the floor after the vote. [HuffPost]
* Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Has Parents Asking: Should You Let Your Kids Watch? (WSJ)
* In the first nine months of 2021, Latino startups from Brazil's online lender Nubank to Colombian delivery firm Rappi raised $14.8 billion in new money, a jump of 174% since last year, data by CBInsights showed. The Latino boom has caught the eye of some of the biggest names in private equity. Now Wall Street's banks are looking to tap into the gold rush by taking more Latino "unicorns" public in the United States. (Reuters)
* HuffPost exclusively obtained hundreds of requests for armored vehicles that local police agencies wrote to the Defense Department in 2017 and 2018. And increasingly, police and sheriffs' departments are citing extreme weather to justify why they should receive an armored vehicle. Find out more in our investigation. [HuffPost]
* Researchers pinpoint when the Vikings came to Canada. It was exactly 1,000 years ago (NPR)
* In a First, Surgeons Attached a Pig Kidney to a Human, and It Worked -- A kidney grown in a genetically altered pig functions normally, scientists reported. The procedure may open the door to a renewable source of desperately needed organs. (NYT)
| * Fanbo Zeng, the next Chinese NBA star may be training in an elite practice gym in Walnut Creek. (SFC) |
| * A bestselling female author was revealed to be three men. The episode tells a deeper story. (WP) * A storm expected to arrive in the Central Valley by Sunday or Monday could bring up to two inches of rain to Fresno. It may be the strongest storm to hit the area in two years. (GV Wire) * Biden Scales Down $2 Trillion Climate Plan To Single Reusable Grocery Bag (The Onion) |
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