Favorites August 9 2021

Bianna Golodryga @biannagolodryga

“Baltic officials say Lukashenko’s latest tactic is to offer migrants from Iraq, Syria, African countries passage to the Lithuanian border. More than 4,000 migrants have crossed into Lithuania this year, more than 50 times the number that entered in 2020.”

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This is the strangest form of modern warfare I've ever heard of. Overwhelm the opponent’s social services with refugees/migrants.

Nate Silver @NateSilver538

A lot of experts seem to think the NYT's recent story on long COVID in children was irresponsible.

Adam W Gaffney @awgaffney

I support dramatic public health interventions in hard hit areas to slow Covid (and buy time to vaccinate everyone possible) but I strongly dislike this irresponsible mode of reporting which will scare the shit out of every parent with a kid with a cold. https://t.co/ZY3fO5MtPC

Short thread, he links to an older opinion piece he wrote back in March. Upshot is that ‘long haul covid’ isn’t a diagnosis, it’s a catch-all, making details fuzzy. Long covid in people who had a mild infection would be very very surprising considering what we know about upper respiratory infections. It's not impossible, but extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence.

Brian Beutler @brianbeutler

Congress should vote on a bill establishing stiff penalties for this. https://t.co/JVAqcB4yWf

The Associated Press @AP

With more than 600 U.S. colleges and universities now requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination, an industry has sprung up offering fake vaccine cards. Sellers on the dark web are offering vaccine cards, certificates and passports — some for as much as $400. https://t.co/EymVsM9gEG

The real vaccine is free! (along with some fringe benefits) This is so stupid.

Dr. Robert Rohde @RARohde

All of the IPCC emissions scenarios reach +1.5 °C in the next 15 years. Without strong emissions cuts, +2.0 °C will be reached in the next 25-40 years. edition.cnn.com/2021/08/09/wor…

New IPCC report is out, and any YIMBY will be happy to tell you that the #1 thing cities can do is build more homes to stop suburban sprawl.

Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH @ashishkjha

The @AmerAcadPeds, the nations pediatricians, sent a letter to FDA last week Their message? Kids are getting sick from delta Its time to authorize vaccines for 5-11 year olds The full letter lays out their case Key phrase highlighted below downloads.aap.org/DOFA/AAP%20Let…

Seems pretty clear that rolling out the vaccine to kids is a good idea. Apparently this advocacy is somewhat unusual.

Jesse Rodriguez @JesseRodriguez

Pentagon to require members of US military to get COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 15, according to memo obtained by AP.

Yes, more like this.

Alec Stapp @AlecStapp

The bipartisan infrastructure bill sounds pretty great

Yes, I know permitting is boring, but it's also a huge drag on all kinds of projects. And time is money!

Andrew Prokop @awprokop

I still hear people casually following this say Dems' next big bill is another "infrastructure bill," which is a woefully insufficient description. It'll be a "giving people money" bill, a health care bill, a child-raising bill, a climate bill, & more... vox.com/22577374/recon…

Look at all this good stuff!

Vera Bergengruen @VeraMBergen

I’m sorry, what? nytimes.com/2021/08/06/nyr…

There are multiple things wrong here. For one thing, they're vampires, not zombies.

The Verge @verge

Apple keeps shutting down employee-run surveys on pay equity — and labor lawyers say it’s illegal theverge.com/2021/8/9/22609…

Other tech companies have taken a different approach.

San Francisco, July 2021