It's January 6th so I think I'll just phone it in today

 

Omicron has completely overrun Pfizer in Israel

Daily new cases per million since Nov 24: up >2,300% !

Percent received at least one dose of vaccine by Nov 24: 67.8%

Percent fully vaxxed as of Nov 24: 62.2%

Number dosed at least once by Nov 24: 6.3 million 

Number fully vaxxed by Nov 24: 5.78 million

Number boostered by Nov 24: 4.07 million

Total doses administered by Nov 24: 16.14 million

Omicron cases soar globally, but daily deaths per million from COVID globally are down ~17% since Nov 24 when Omicron was first identified

Omicron is running over everyone like a runaway train, vaccinated or not, but 6 weeks after its identification it is contributing no added lethality to the pandemic curve. 

Global daily new deaths per million are still as low now as they were 14 months ago and appear to be headed even lower.

Re-upping this from last July, when the CDC still said vaccines prevent disease, for all the fully vaxxed now coming down with Omicron

 

Not an auspicious start: Hope she knows how to drive that thing

In a historic first, aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln deploys under command of female captain

Five sailors were killed during those work-ups in September when their helicopter crashed into the carrier’s flight deck and tumbled into the sea. Bauernschmidt, who came up through the ranks flying helicopters, had only been in command for 12 days when the crash occurred. She offered condolences to the families of those killed and talked about the effect the crash had on the crew.

Can't wait until Emperor Pooh Bear gives Elon Musk The Grand Cross of the Chinese Eagle

 

Oh, I hate Elon Musk now

 Activists accuse Tesla of "economic support for genocide" with new showroom in China's Xinjiang region

For your listening pleasure this evening, one year after the end of WWIII

 

Or is it two?

So it goes.

And to think World War III was only a year ago

 Seems longer ago than that.

See what I mean?

At least Billy Pilgrim knows what I mean.

Oh Soleimani

 

Alex Berenson still thinks The Atlantic was wrong about Georgia's Experiment in Human Sacrifice

You can still read Alex Berenson, at Substack, as I do. He continues to be an important source for stories our media continues to ignore (censor) because they don't fit the narrative. But sometimes the takes can be odd.

Alex today still thinks the Georgia story way back when was a bad covid take, and that Germany's troubles presently somehow invalidate The Atlantic's positive opinion on the record of Europe's biggest country outside of Russia.

Neither point is defensible.

The US State of Georgia today ranks 10th worst in the US for deaths per million of its population, at 2961/m. Mississippi is our very worst, at 3511/m. In between there, there are red and blue states, including New Jersey and New York.

But Germany today is at 1361/m. Worst place in the world Peru by contrast is at 6336/m.

Germany's done pretty damn well considering it has a population of 83 million compared with Georgia's paltry <10 million.

The situation in Georgia to date, in fact, is 118% worse than in Germany. And if Georgia were a country, it would be ranked in the top 15 worst performers in the world today for deaths per million.

I think Alex is letting animus cloud his judgment. Animus certainly for The Atlantic, but perhaps also for Germany.

Gee, why would that be?

Georgia's done a very poor job. Not as poor as New Jersey and New York, and not poor enough by comparison with them to be singled out the way they were. "Stupid hicks" elitism, right? On that we agree. But Germany's done remarkably well, and we should care enough to understand why.

But Alex is too busy to go into that right now. The drive-by-shooting of the "little homily on the brilliance of Germany’s Covid response" will have to do for now.

COVID-19 in the USA by the numbers: About as infectious as the flu, but 10-13 times more deadly in the first two years of the pandemic

Deaths 2020:  346,050

Deaths 2021:  477,867

 

Cases 2020: 20.0m

Cases 2021: 34.7m

 

Case fatality rate 2020: 1.73%

Case fatality rate 2021: 1.38%

 

Case prevalence 2020:   6.1% of 328m population

Case prevalence 2021: 10.4% of 332m population

 

Typical annual prevalence of influenza: 8% of population (9.2% in the previous decade)

Typical annual deaths from influenza: 36,000

Alpha and Delta have produced 22% more cases in 2021 in the USA but 20% fewer deaths

Alpha dominated in the US during April, May, and June. Delta has dominated since July 1.

 

Alpha and Delta cases in the US, April through December 2021: 24.2 million

US COVID-19 cases April through December 2020: 19.8 million

 

Alpha and Delta deaths in the US, April through December 2021: 272,259

US COVID-19 deaths April through December 2020: 341,746

The data is consistent with the theory that viruses mutate to become more infectious at the expense of lethality.

All indications so far indicate that this will also continue to be the case with Omicron.

 

Axios finally updated its Variant Tracker: So far "Delta" still dominates in the US, with Omicron most prevalent in Louisiana at just shy of 27%

Check it out here.

Politico reported last week that the CDC had to climb down about its estimate of the prevalence of Omicron in the US.

 

It had originally estimated prevalence of 73.2% in the US on Dec 18, but revised that down to just 22.5%.

 

Quite the doozy, that.

 

This was very amusing coming as it did with all the other messaging shifts last week:

Ditch the cloth masks for N95s;

Walensky at CDC claiming suddenly that PCR tests are unreliable;

You need only 5 days of quarantine, not ten, because, you know, Omicron is different;

Mr. I'm Going to Shut Down the Virus blurting out that there's no federal solution;

And Fauci suddenly admitting the distinction between being admitted to hospital for Covid as opposed to just with it.

Happy New Year

 

During the final week of 2021 every day is the Friday afternoon news dump for the Biden administration

 

Tennessee is reporting breakthrough deaths from COVID in August, September, and October in a range of 15-17%

 

Daily deaths per million from COVID globally haven't been this low since late October 2020, fourteen months ago, but there's a frenzy to get tested for some reason

 

Biden CDC: 10 days quarantine for Republicans, 5 days for Democrats

 

I laid in enough supplies to get me through January just in case and it now looks like We Ain't Comin' Out until spring

 

Omicron may be spreading like wildfire, but deaths per million globally are lower now, a month after its discovery, than they were in mid-October

 

Sociologist writing for TIME Magazine caricatures First Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas, but doesn't interview a single actual member of the church

 Attending the event in person allowed me to appreciate how central Trump remains to white evangelicalism. ...

Standing in line 2.5 hours before the event, I chatted with a group of five elderly women who all came together. All were committed churchgoers in the Dallas area, but none were members at First Baptist. ...

There was Bill, a repairman who had taken public transportation to get to First Baptist. He was not a member either, but had always been a huge fan of Trump and was eager to see him in person. ...

And there was Carlos. Like Bill, Carlos was visiting First Baptist from elsewhere in the city along with a friend. ...

Trump’s appeal Sunday morning extends far beyond the First Baptist faithful. Evangelical visitors from around the city had come to cheer for their President. They were convinced he’d been treated unfairly. And they pined to see him back in office. ...

For the vast majority of white evangelicals in the U.S., like those visiting First Baptist Dallas on Sunday, Trump is still their warrior. ... over two-thirds of white evangelicals felt the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump.

More.

This guy should get out more and document the adulation directed at Democrats visiting America's black churches and insinuate in a column about how 92% of the nation's blacks voted for Joe Biden in 2020 because they're duped by religion or something.

Christmas cheer is being able to regift the bad thing the Easter bunny left you

 

Biden promised to shut down the virus, now says there's no federal solution

 Which is even more odd since he has mandated vaccines for the employees of large companies.

The guy is obviously too old upstairs for the job.

Story.

"There is no federal solution. This gets solved at the state level," Biden responded, before mentioning another Republican governor.

 

John Tamny remains as confused as a thinker and as obtuse as a writer as he has ever been

John Tamny has made some progress, however.

He now admits that some of his views are "fringe".

Which is amusing, since we've known that since Russell Kirk demonstrated long ago how the libertarians have always been "chirping sectarians".

A case in point of the continuing confusion:

Tamny expresses fawning admiration for George Will's latest collection of his columns, which opens asserting the priority of the study of history.

But Tamny later avers without the slightest awareness of self-contradiction that "The talented people, the unequal people, have a tendency to run from the present and past."

Nostalgia is "dangerous".

Do make up your mind for once, John.

The seemingly interminable review is here.

Tennessee is the latest state to report a massive backlog of COVID-19 deaths, over 2,000 yesterday, badly skewing the curve

 Tennessee joins Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas in the last three months making big backfills, distorting the graphs we try to make.

Because our better selves are optimists, we're musing today that COVID-19 will soon be a thing of the past, along with Donald Trump, his warp speed vaccines, and that clown Joe Biden

Christmas wishes do come true. You only have to believe.

US Army's Walter Reed Army Institute of Research near Silver Spring, MD, announces single shot Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine

 Phase 1 human trials have been completed on non-vaccinated, never infected individuals, with Phases 2 and 3 forthcoming on vaccinated or previously sick people. 

From the story:

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide. 

Merry Christmas.

FDA finally grants emergency use authorization to Pfizer's Paxlovid, a protease inhibitor which may dramatically reduce hospitalizations for people diagnosed with COVID-19

 From the story:

The U.S. has purchased 10 million courses of Pfizer’s treatment, Paxlovid, in a $5 billion deal. President Joe Biden said in November that his administration is working to ensure that the treatments are free and accessible. Biden said last month that delivery would start by the New Year and continue through 2022.  

Merry Christmas.

Another woke general crawls out from under his retirement rock, wants FOX News banned from all US military bases

 Paul D. Eaton, here.

Hillary supporter, critic of Bush 43's Iraq War.

Michael Anton doesn't have a clue about the immense value of the periphery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taiwan is "peripheral" to our interests, Michael Anton says over and over again, here.

Well then, so is Hawaii.

Keep thinking like that and eventually Catalina Island becomes peripheral, too.

If you want to legitimize China's nine-dash line, something he never mentions, giving up Taiwan is the fastest way to do it. 

There is MUCH more at stake than Taiwan's relative freedom and independence. All of southeast Asia is at risk if China retakes Taiwan.

The answer isn't to accept the fact, as Anton does, that our Navy is rotten to the core and unable to defend Taiwan. The answer is to reform the Navy before it's too late.

If the Chicoms kill all our woke Navy in a battle over Taiwan, that wouldn't be the start we want, but it would be a start to the reform we most need.

CEO of Pfizer partner BioNTech says the boostered "are likely to transmit" COVID-19

 "We must be aware that even triple-vaccinated are likely to transmit the disease…It is obvious we are far from 95 per cent effectiveness that we obtained against the initial virus," Ugur Sahin told the French daily Le Monde in an interview published on Monday.

More.

Out: pandemic transmission from breakthrough cases . . . In: pandemic transmission from booster breakthrough cases

 

BREAKING: FLOOR TRADER WEARS MASK TO PREVENT INFECTION FROM COMPUTER VIRUS

 

LOL government lapdog AXIOS, where the Omicron variant is so grave the variant page hasn't been updated IN TWELVE DAYS

 Will must be on vacation.

So far in 26% fully-vaccinated South Africa, Omicron is turning out to be a giant nothing burger

 The seven day average of daily new deaths was 20 on Nov 24th when Omicron was first identified.

As of Dec 19th, it's 30.

Big whoop.

No supply chain issues observed this morning at Sam's Club

 The place was brimming with everything I usually buy and need.

LOL Trump brags about the same vaccines which are failing spectacularly in Canada in Dallas, gets unenthusiastic response

A good sign.

Mediaite LOVES Trump now!

... kudos to the former president for not pussy-footing around in answering, and receiving the smattering of boos with some grace and laughter.

LOL Ontario, Canada, where breakthrough cases outnumber un-vaccinated cases by 3.7 to 1: Maybe now you understand why the US CDC decided in May not to count breakthroughs

Amazing candor from The Great White North.

Climate update for KGRR: November 2021

 Climate Update for KGRR: November 2021

Max T 65, Mean 66 since 1892

Min T 18, Mean 17

Avg T 38.5, Mean 39.1

Rain 2.22, Mean 2.83

Snow 9.7, Mean 6.3

HDD 789, Mean 771

CDD 0, Mean 0

Boringly normal.

Your US Navy's idea of the crack team needed for the next Hunt For The Red October

 

Egads, you knew it was coming: 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel rules 2-1 that Biden's employer vaccine mandate, previously paused, can take effect

  Earlier this week, the circuit’s active judges rejected a move to have the entire panel consider the case, on an 8-8 vote.

More. 

Supreme Court next, which will allow the mandate.

They can make you buy Obamacare, right?

Hysteria check, first 16 days of December 2021 vs. 2020: US COVID-19 deaths are 46% fewer per day in 2021 than in 2020

First 16 days of December:

21,346 deaths in 2021 vs. 39,621 deaths in 2020

1334/day in 2021 vs. 2476/day in 2020.

 

I'll take 2021.

LOL COVID vaccine maker Moderna won't send its own employees to a conference out of fear of COVID

 

LOL, Anthony Fauci's name now appears third on a paper at the New England Journal of Medicine which says 'Vaccination has also been unable to prevent “breakthrough” infections, allowing subsequent transmission to other people'

 Here.

 

Sleepy Joe Biden played chicken with the debt ceiling legislation, waited until today to sign the bill hastily passed in the middle of the night yesterday

 Story.

Nancy Pelosi, who has to pass bills to find out what's in them, wonders where the attitude of lawlessness in America comes from

 Story.

Maybe from being "not a serious country"?

LOL, Michigan is Numero Uno again today for power outages

 

The US House passed the $2.5 trillion increase to the debt ceiling in the dead of night with just one, unneeded, Republican vote

The bill, which lawmakers passed 221-209, with one Republican voting yes, raises the federal debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion to increase the limit to close to $31 trillion.

More. 

Adam Kinzinger was the lone Republican vote in the House:

Representative Adam Kinzinger was the only Republican lawmaker who voted with Democrats in the House to raise the debt ceiling, staving off a potentially disastrous federal default.

Last week, Kinzinger was also the only Republican to back the Democrats over the plan struck by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) allowing Senate Democrats to lift the ceiling through a simple majority vote.

The Illinois congressman, one of 10 Republicans to vote for the second impeachment of ex-President Donald Trump after the Capitol insurrection and one of only two GOP lawmakers on the January 6 committee investigating the riots that day, will not be standing for re-election in the 2022 midterms.

LOL lunatic New York City to ban natural gas connections after 2027 to reduce CO2 emissions by 0.036% by 2040

 The commie Mayor Bill de BlowMyNoseio calls this a critical step to fight back against climate change on the local level and guarantee a green city for generations to come.

North America emitted 5.78 BILLION tons in 2020. The NYC reduction over 12 years will come to just 2.1 MILLION tons.

No projection was given for the reduction in population this will produce in NYC.

However, states like Texas and Arizona have barred cities from implementing such changes, citing that consumers have the right to pick their energy sources.

 

Story.

 

US Senate Democrats passed a $2.5 trillion increase to the debt ceiling 50-49 this afternoon without a single Republican vote after 14 Republicans voted to allow a one time simple majority arrangement

Seems like there's not much wiggle room between a $2.5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling and a proposed Democrat reconciliation spending bill now coming in at $1.75 trillion.

 Story.

 

 

What a bunch of effing phonies

 

This headline from The New York Daily News about South Korea is just shameless exaggeration, pure COVID porn

South Korea

South Korea sees deadliest day of pandemic after attempt to return to normalcy

 

BREAKING: NEW STUDY SAYS BLOOD FROM SEDENTARY PEOPLE MAY CALM THE BRAINS OF THE HYSTERICAL

First 12 days of December: 15,074 US COVID deaths in 2021 vs. 29,950 in 2020

 The down trend for deaths, 13% down Apr-Nov year over year, continues down very strongly in December.

Michigan's Governor Whitmer is hard at work making sure there's a network of electric vehicle charging stations which won't work during the next massive power outage for which Michigan will doubtlessly rank Numero Uno

 

Booster protection against Omicron is four times lower than against Delta, and basically non-existent if you've had only two shots

Those who received the second dose did not have any neutralization ability against the variant, while they continued to have some ability against Delta and even the original Wuhan strain.

“There was no neutralization ability whatsoever, and that is very worrisome,” said Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at the hospital, in a briefing on Saturday night, adding that these people might also be exposed to serious disease. ...

On the other hand, the Sheba study found that the booster dose does increase the ability of the vaccine to work against Omicron by about 100-fold, meaning that there is “significant protection,” Regev Yochay said. “It is lower than the neutralizing ability against the Delta – about four times lower. But it is very optimistic.”

Story.