Favorites November 15th 2021

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

How much of this is because our public health authorities downplayed the need for boosters because they thought doing so would somehow increase the supply of vaccines to poor countries?

Eric Topol @EricTopol

4. The US is doing a poor job of rolling out boosters relative to many other countries. Only 1 in 3 people of the highest risk group, age 65+, have received one. Only 1 in 7 overall who are eligible. https://t.co/LXhxelVyrP

I hate the bank shot policy stuff so much

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Covid polarization has spilled over to flu shots where uptake now shows a large partisan gap

cnn.comAnalysis: Flu shots uptake is now partisan. It didn’t use to beIs it safe to get a coronavirus vaccine or <a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2020/09/11/health/covid-flu-together-health-impact/index.html” target=“_blank”>vaccine booster shot at the same time as the flu shot</a>? Dr. Anthony Fauci weighs in on the timing.

Uhh, how permanent is this going to be??

Eric Topol @EricTopol

Countering waning immunity The new data from England today shows a booster (3rd) shot increased vaccine effectiveness from 44% to 93% for Astra Zeneca and from 62.5 to 94% for Pfizer, vs symptomatic infection, age 50+ khub.net/documents/1359…

I just don't understand people who look at this and say that 60% effectiveness vs symptomatic infection is good enough because it still protects far over 90% against death. For me, the goal is to not spread it to other people, which requires that I avoid infection.

Ramez Naam @ramez

I'd replace "only" with "primary" here. Yet overall, I agree with Noah. Global miles in "cars" is likely to be much higher in 2050 than it is today. Making them electric and making the electricity that powers them clean is our primary tool for decarbonizing ground transport.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

Remember, we will NOT ban cars (except in a few small areas of downtowns). Electric cars are our only hope for decarbonization of transportation, and that is just a fact. https://t.co/0jyBnLVftG

Look if you're not hearing people declare that we should "ban cars", then ignore this. But I am in circles where people say this often, and I've read books by people who now say it, so this counter-argument matters to me.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Some subtle indications here that BLM-themed messaging from Democrats backfired with Hispanics.

Gonna go ahead and say this isn't particularly subtle

JokerMakeupJacobite🐋🐢🌹 @ClwnPrncCharlie

As a reminder, coal power plants don't just emit CO2, they also emit a bunch of radiation! And other particulates, which you probably shouldn't be breathing.

Buddy Wright @aggiebud

Listening to @mikeduncan's Revolutions podcast on the Russian Revolution - this seems to track.

Big fan of the Revolutions podcast, and we're quickly getting to the part where it "gets difficult"

Jim O’Neill @regardthefrost

Republicans introduce a bill to decriminalize and deschedule marijuana.

axios.comRepublicans introduce bill to decriminalize marijuanaThe bill would defer to states on matters of regulation.

I'm here for the Republicans and Democrats competing for who can legalize marijuana at the federal level better.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

This is great. We should actually have a video version of the Red Phone -- a room where a video link between the U.S. and China is always open.

Bloomberg Next China @next_china

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have started their first face-to-face virtual summit https://t.co/Cyt9Fi7UmH

Better to have it and not use it...

One of my better sunset drone shots so far.