Favorites August 8 2021

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

The people who tell you America loses all its wars are pulling your leg. America usually wins. But in the modern world, winning wars is pointless; wars of conquest and occupation are all Pyrrhic now.

noahpinion.substack.comDoes America really lose all its wars?No. It usually wins. But wars are rarely worth fighting, even when you win.

I like this article, a foreign policy professor added on: '..."winning" is VERY hard to define. Because war is an "instrument" not an objective of politics, winning on the battlefield may not actually be the point.'

I must admit though, I haven’t actually run into that many people who really espouse the “America can’t win wars” viewpoint.

Eric Topol @EricTopol

There are 2 levels to flying blind in the Delta wave. One is the CDC's void of data 👇 The other is our testing, << 1/2 of 3rd wave, w/ very poor availability A no show: home rapid antigen tests, which should be freely provided to every household to help safely open schools

Eric Topol @EricTopol

Just think we live in a country which is incapable of telling us the per cent vaccinated or unvaccinated who require hospitalization for covid. No less any more data about them. Or track breakthrough infections. Thanks @CDCgov. Where is @COVID19Tracking when we need them?

I know home antigen tests are available. I've purchased some recently, the newest ones are compact, cheap and fast.

Colin McMillen @mcmillen

"80 percent of U.S. workers now earn at least $15 an hour, up from 60 percent in 2014. Job sites and recruiting firms say many job seekers won’t even consider jobs that pay less than $15 anymore. (...) It has effectively become the new baseline."

washingtonpost.comFor first time, average pay for supermarket and restaurant workers tops $15 an hour$15 an hour is suddenly the rule, not the exception, for U.S. workers. It’s a major shift from pre-pandemic.

This is good. Full employment solves problems.

Luis Hamstine @LuisHamstine

Where’s My Lyme Vaccine? - Slate

news.google.comWhatever Happened to the Lyme Disease Vaccine?The complex downfall of LYMErix—and what’s coming next.

Another story about an excellent drug that we can't have, and this time it's simply that demand dried up because of misinformation.

Michael Grunwald @MikeGrunwald

Obama tried to fund “comparative effectiveness research” in the 2009 stimulus, so doctors & Medicare would know which drugs and devices actually work. But the drug & device guys defanged it, thus the insanity ⁦⁦@mattyglesias⁩ describes today.

slowboring.comThe FDA vs. cost-benefit analysisCritics on the left and right are pointing to the same problem

Cost benefit analysis is the key thing.

Jack Tindale @JackTindale

I keep finding new things to love about this.

It took me way too long to latch on to something that I was certain was incorrect, but once you start seeing them, everything is messed up.

2019, Istanbul (not Constantinople)