Patterico's Pontifications

7/24/2020

Friday Night Fun

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:14 pm



[guet post by Dana]

I’m a sucker for charming dog videos:

P.S. They look like Borzois (Russian Wolfhounds), a large breed of dog. And there appears to be four of them in one house. Yikes.

P.P.S. In light of this video, I have been informed that my home is seriously lacking enough dog noses because the single nose of the 115-pound beast that lives here just isn’t enough…

–Dana

Jeepers, Joe!

Filed under: General — Dana @ 2:56 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Along with his recent foot-in-mouth racial pandering, Joe Biden just keeps on stepping in it. This time it was Asians caught in his racist projection as he attempted to say that he didn’t believe that Trump should try to hold China responsible for the coronavirus:

The average American doesn’t distinguish between Chinese people and other Asians, Joe Biden claimed, in an attempt to criticize President Trump for blaming China for the coronavirus outbreak.

“Look what he’s doing now. He’s blaming everything on China. He’s blaming everything on the Chinese,” the former vice president said during a virtual campaign event Wednesday with the Service Employees International Union.

“People don’t make a distinction, as you well know, from a South Korean and someone from Beijing,” he added. “They make no distinction, it’s Asian. And he’s using it as a wedge.”

Clearly, Joe Biden has a very low opinion of Americans, including Democrats and Republicans. He projects his own racism by stereotyping a group of people with a flippant they all look alike insult. And while I believe that in some way, Biden was also trying to tie this in with Trump’s asinine use of the inflammatory “Wuhan flu,” his insult was loud and clear. I’m long over giving any politician the benefit of the doubt-especially those who want to become the next President of the United States. He doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt because we’ve already seen too much of this from him. (I’m not going to blather on about Trump and his “Wuhan flu” bullshit. This post is about Biden.)

Meanwhile, following Biden’s inaccurate claim and racial pandering that Trump was America’s “first” racist president, radio host Charlamagne tha God has had enough. (If you recall, Biden was on-air with CTG when he made his now-infamous, cringe-worthy “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,” comment. He later offered a weaselly non-apology as he ultimately blamed CTG for baiting him.) Now the radio host is slamming Biden for claiming that Trump is the first racist president, and suggesting that maybe Biden should just shut his mouth:

“I really wish Joe Biden would shut the eff up forever and continue to act like he’s starring in the movie ‘A Quiet Place’ because as soon as he opens his mouth and makes noise, he gets us all killed, OK?” the radio host said. “There’s already so many people who are reluctantly only voting for Joe Biden because he’s the only option and because Donald J. Trump is that trash.”

Charlamagne…suggested Biden’s latest remarks will further contribute to the “lack of enthusiasm.”

“Old white male leadership has failed America and there is nothing worse than an old white male [who] can’t recognize the faults and flaws of other old white males,” Charlamagne told listeners. “Racism is the American way. Donald Trump is not the first. And sadly, he won’t be the last, right? He’s just more overt with his racism than most presidents in recent times.”

The “Breakfast Club” co-host accused Biden of “revisionist history,” calling his claim about Trump “a lie” that “relinquishes America of all responsibility of its bigotry.”

“How are we ever going to atone for America’s original sins if we don’t acknowledge them?” Charlamagne asked in reaction to Biden’s remarks. “How the hell can Donald Trump be the first racist president in a country where 12 presidents before him owned slaves?”

Finally, CTG addressed Biden directly:

“Joe, you got to hurry up and announce your Black woman VP [vice president] so I can be enthused about voting for her because I will never be enthused about voting for you, and you know America is a terrible place when Kanye West seems like a viable option,”

Neither of these half-lit, rich old white dimwits deserves to become our next president. God, we are just so screwed.

–Dana

On Deciding Who Gets The Coronavirus Vaccine First

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:59 am



[guest post by Dana]

When a coronavirus vaccine becomes available, there will be a limited supply at first, so who should go to the front of the line?

A preliminary plan devised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this spring gives priority to health care workers, then to people with underlying medical conditions and older people. The C.D.C. has not yet decided whether the next in line should be Blacks and Latinos, groups disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.

But let’s suppose that health care workers and people with underlying medical conditions use up the first doses of the available vaccine. Should some be held in reserve for Black and Latino people? What about bus drivers and train conductors? Perhaps teachers or schoolchildren should get it so they can return to classrooms with peace of mind.

If shortages happen, most of the nation will have no chance to get the initial lots of a vaccine under the C.D.C.’s plan. And as the United States combats a soaring number of coronavirus cases, rising demand for drugs and maybe ventilators is expected. They, too, will need a fair system of distribution.

One option that is gaining traction is a “weighted lottery”:

One solution that is starting to attract the attention of public health experts is a so-called weighted lottery, which gives everyone a chance at access, although some get a better shot than others.

Doctors and ethicists rank patients, deciding which groups should be given preference and how much. First-responders, for example, may be weighted more heavily than, say, very sick patients who are unlikely to recover.

The goal is to prevent haphazard or inequitable distribution of a treatment or vaccine when there isn’t enough to go around. Such a system has already been used in allocations of remdesivir, the first drug shown to be effective against the coronavirus…

They also noted another advantage: Weighted lotteries can allow researchers to find out, in a rigorous way, which subgroups of patients do best with a new drug or vaccine.

That is because allocation within a group is random. The distribution is, in effect, a randomized, controlled clinical trial. The only difference between, say, people over age 60 who got the drug and those who did not is the toss of a coin in the lottery.

While it’s certain that every American is not going to want a new vaccine, hard decisions will nonetheless have to be made about prioritizing those who do. As one doctor put it:

We would like to get people to think ahead about how vaccines are allocated. There is no way we can vaccinate everybody, so we have to think about what’s fair and what’s just.

–Dana


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