The Doomscroll breathes deep of he TL and serves up a steaming pile of zeitgeist. If that’s your sort of thing
The Pandemic
If you want to eliminate transmission, you need to greatly reduce the kinds of interactions that foster the virus’ spread. Lockdowns work.
Prof Pillay reminds us that the more we allow transmission to occur, the greater our risk of serious trouble with variants.
And this new study gives us more to possibly worry about.
Fox is a fountain of chaos
Tucker Carlson has been spewing a lot of nonsense about vaccines.
A lot of folks are asking the following in response. Guessing we know the answers.
Waive the IP
Angela Merkel often seems to be one of the more reasonable Western leaders, so this was disappointing to see.
Prof Kavanaugh outlines the ins and outs around the proposed TRIPS waiver.
And Walker Bragman calls out the Biden admin for a possible bait and switch on the IP waiver.
The Pandemic Capitalism
There’s been a lot of chatter about the ‘devastating effects’ of expanded unemployment on minimum wage employers and related topics of late. With that in mind, choose your fighter.
The US Chamber wants to yank the expanded benefits to help ‘encourage’ people to accept whatever’s on offer.
Jason Furman, Harvard prof and former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under the Obama administration, wants to know if unemployed people have considered accepting lower wages.
Betsey Stevenson, another Obama alum, wants people to recognize that the economy she helped shape will no longer offer them the sort of wages they used to make. Such a hopeful message.
Prof Dube wants to ask whether they’re paying too little.
Add Rep. Omar cuts to the chase.
Just cancel the Olympics
The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics are set to start July 23. Meanwhile, Japan is riding its second wave of COVID-19 cases. The state of emergency is being expanded and extended in Tokyo and other parts of the country. How are they possibly going to pull this off in a way that doesn’t endanger people?
When nurses are angered by the call to volunteer for something that’s usually a source of pride, it’s time to let it go.
What the hell, Wyoming?
I’m not gonna read this, but thought it should be called out.
That’s it for today. There’s be plenty more cringeworthy posts soon. See you then.