The age of limited expectations

“Follow the science” has become the clarion call of the “know-nothing.” Which science is never quite clear. And when it is, it’s ever-changing.

The parents see this too and have a right to be furious, especially because it is now being brought down to their children, both in the form of masks and vaccinations with unknown consequences.

‘It’s About the Kids’—Mask Rebellion Breaks Out in Tennessee
Commentary “All politics is local,” then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill told us back in 1982 but contemporary events remind …
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Whatever your politics, nature rules

“We need a lot of humility.” — Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, of University of California San Francisco, discussing the many unknowns surrounding whether one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine provides sufficient protection for the previously infected.

“You either choose to live with it, or avoid anything that makes life meaningful.” — Alex Myers, DO, a doctor for the U.S. rugby team at the Olympics, describing the pandemic precautions being taken in Tokyo.

‘We Need a Lot of Humility’: What We Heard This Week
Quotable quotes heard by MedPage Today reporters
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Suddenly the scales fell from their eyes

[J]ust a year ago, much of blue-state America was lusting after Governor Andrew Cuomo… The erotic interest was documented in a Jezebel article—“Help, I Think I’m in Love with Andrew Cuomo???”… The term “Cuomosexual” was popularized in a song called “Andy,” by the comedian Randy Rainbow, set to the tune of “Sandy,” from the musical “Grease”….Celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and Trevor Noah announced their Cuomosexuality…..

“Diving Into the Subconscious of the ‘Cuomosexual’/How could we have witnessed the Governor’s narcissism, bullying, and hackneyed paternalism, and found these qualities attractive? A psychoanalyst gives her take.”
Ah! Perfect! This is exactly the article I’d have requested if The New Yorker had asked me What can we write for you? I could go looking fo…
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A month later nobody knows who killed Haitian president

Haitian officials crucial to the investigation are now in hiding. Callers to Mr. Destin, the crime-scene officer, from blocked numbers have threatened his life and family, he said. Three other clerks and judicial officers on the case said they received the same calls. One colleague, tasked with interviewing suspects, left his lights on one Sunday night, then casually strolled away from his home with his wife, slipping into hiding with pages of handwritten notes from interviews with suspects, which haven’t yet been typed up.

Who Assassinated Haiti’s President? The Mystery Gets Murkier
Nearly a month after President Jovenel Moïse was killed, the circumstances are just as hard to parse, with no shortage of suspects and speculation—and more new questions than answers.

US intel digging through genetic data to uncover virus origins

It’s unclear exactly how or when US intelligence agencies gained access to the information, but the machines involved in creating and processing this kind of genetic data from viruses are typically connected to external cloud-based servers — leaving open the possibility they were hacked, sources said.

Exclusive: Intel agencies scour reams of genetic data from Wuhan lab in Covid origins hunt
US intelligence agencies are digging through a treasure trove of genetic data that could be key to uncovering the origins of the coronavirus — as soon as they can decipher it.
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Editorial denounces the De Blasio vaccine passport

It is common to hear that the ‘selfish’ are inflicting negative externalities on the ‘selfless’ during the pandemic. But the ‘selfless’ also impose negative externalities on everyone else. This happens because nothing is free. Striking the right balance is a matter of cost-benefit estimates and calculated risk. Anyone who promises ‘free’ and totally safe is less than truthful.

Resist De Blasio’s Vaccine Passport
De Blasio’s dataless call to create a class of citizens barred from civic life is an intolerable imposition on New Yorkers’ liberties.

Lockdowns create vision problems for kids

An analysis of eye test data from nearly 2,000 Hong Kong school-age children revealed that the rate of nearsightedness that developed during the pandemic more than doubled what was found in a pre-pandemic study of children the same age, according to the report in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. …

The researchers also found “significant changes” in the children’s lifestyles during Covid restrictions; outdoor time decreased by 68 percent, and screen time increased 2.8-fold.

An unexpected side effect of the pandemic — nearsightedness in kids
Hong Kong researchers analyzed eye test data from nearly 2,000 children, ages 6 to 8.

Seniors wasting away under pandemic curbs

More than a third of the 2,074 U.S. adults aged 50 to 80 who took part in the online survey in January reported a decline in physical activity in the first 10 months of the pandemic, and 27% said their physical conditioning — flexibility, muscle strength and endurance — had worsened.

Seniors at risk for more falls due to less physical activity during pandemic
Older Americans already face a higher risk of falls, but the decline in physical activity during the pandemic may have made matters worse, a new survey suggests.

Does new delta plus variant mean life imprisonment?

South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Tuesday that it had recorded at least two cases of the new coronavirus delta-plus variant, which some experts believe to be more transmissible than the original delta variant that was first detected in India and has since thwarted plans for returning to life before the pandemic.

But what do we know about “delta plus,” yet another new variant causing alarm among governments and health officials? First identified in Europe in March, the variant is also known as B. 1.617.2.1 or AY.1.

It has been detected in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and India.

Here’s what we know about the delta-plus variant
South Korea has detected its first two cases of a virus variant known as “delta plus.” Health officials are on alert.

North Korea Is Willing to Talk, but First It Wants Fuel, Suits and Liquor

SEOUL—North Korea has a few demands to restart nuclear talks with the U.S., according to South Korea’s spy agency. Kim Jong Un’s regime wants sanctions restrictions relaxed to allow exporting minerals and importing more refined fuel.

Also on the must-have list: fine suits and premium liquor.

North Korea Is Willing to Talk, but First It Wants Fuel, Suits and Liquor
North Korea wants sanctions restrictions relaxed to allow exporting minerals and importing more refined fuel, South Korea’s spy agency said, before it would consider restarting nuclear talks with the U.S.