Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
“We’re fortunate that Joe’s got what it takes to be President and already carries himself that way,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement congratulating Joe Biden. https://t.co/u1ubqVPaDT pic.twitter.com/eKNGqFTds4
— CNN (@CNN) November 7, 2020
Monday Morning Open Thread: Readership Capture, AgainPost + Comments (218)
Some actual initial good news:
BREAKING: Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is strongly effective, early data from large trial indicate https://t.co/mPdGZj8OpE
— STAT (@statnews) November 9, 2020
We are waiting on safety data. But this is unalloyedly good news. A vaccine candidate is showing significant and meaningful efficacy in an interim analysis.
There are a lot of steps still to take from promising Phase 3 results to jabs in the arm that result in herd immunity. The biggest challenge will be logistics and ethical distribution of the vaccine which will be limited in availability for the next couple of months. Which countries get how many doses, how are they prioritized within a country and then the actual challenge of maintaining a dedicated logistics system for distribution still need to be solved.
Vaccination as a route to herd immunity requires time. We are facing an absolutely hideous winter.
This morning, COVIDExitStrategy.Org had no Green states on the map for the first time since May 15th.
The Dakotas are experiencing over 1,300 new cases per million residents per day. Wisconsin is just under 1,000 new cases per million residents per day. Months of this type of unconstrained spread will eventually lead to herd immunity. Months of unconstrained outbreaks will lead to hospitals overflowing and significant increases in mortality.
This morning’s announcement should increase our confidence that a vaccine or a set of vaccines will be arriving soon enough. And once those vaccines arrive in large enough numbers, the combination of vaccinated individuals and recovered individuals will also create some degree of common, shared protection.
The major question then is what happens in between the now and the likely future?
Do we still let everything rip? Or do we still engage in mass public health measures to suppress viral spread in order to see our hospitals still mostly functioning and a lot more people alive in six months to get vaccinated?
That is going to be the big choice this winter.
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 10 million, according to a @Reuters tally, as the country reported over 100,000 infections five times in the past seven days https://t.co/YN0sIVrPkf pic.twitter.com/a2RcR2PlMS
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 9, 2020
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday/Monday, Nov. 8-9Post + Comments (38)
Like spring, fall is a great season for bird photography in the middle of the country, with the added bonus that there are lots more young birds who hatched out in the summer and are now heading south for the first time. And fall landscapes can be gorgeous as well. So here are some images (more to come next week) from my time in the world during this pandemic fall season in flyover country.
There is very little public land in Kansas, so I have to travel a bit to find birdy places where I can photograph birds. Fortunately one of those places is Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, which is, in my opinion, one of the best federal refuges in the country for photographers. It is, however, about three hours away from my home, so if I want to be there for the sunrise (and I do), I need to leave the house around 4:30 AM or so. I managed to do that several times this season, and it was well worth it. Many of these images are from those day trips, with a few other more local images mixed in.
On The Road – Albatrossity – Fall in Flyover Country #1Post + Comments (24)
American Avocets in their stark black and white winter plumage are great subjects, particularly when they are standing in a very calm pool early in the morning (before the Kansas winds start up).
The story of Trump's loss is both familiar in its pattern of self-destructive decisions and altogether surprising in how little the President appeared to prepare himself emotionally for defeat https://t.co/7RxkgXWzs0
— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) November 8, 2020
There will be a mort of these stories over the next few weeks, and you all know I am not too nice to share the wealth:
When the White House essentially relocated to Air Force One over the final weeks of the campaign, President Donald Trump had a common reaction whenever he saw his rival Joe Biden appear on one of the airplane’s many televisions.
“Imagine losing to him?” he would ask no one in particular as he hurtled toward another regional airport in another battleground state, according to sources onboard.
When his large-screen television flashed poll numbers showing an unmoving deficit to Biden, Trump sometimes brought his fist down on his wooden desk, jolting the glass of Diet Coke that always seemed to be nearby…
Trump so far has refused to accept the election results, waging a legal strategy to contest them in courts and issuing false allegations of fraud. There are currently no plans to invite Biden to the Oval Office for the traditional meeting between the incoming and outgoing presidents, a historic sign of the peaceful transfer of power. Aides instead are working to craft ways for the President to feel validated even in loss, including through more rallies…
There will be rallies, as long as they can find venues to book. Even if the venue turns out to be an unpaved parking lot between an adult book stare and a crematorium…
It really is quite remarkable how much spontaneous celebration there was yesterday when the election was finally called, both here and overseas. I don’t recall anything quite like it. It doesn’t remind me of any election I have observed, but more like the celebration after a war has ended.
And in fairness, that does sort of describe how I have felt the last few years- under siege and at war. I am so damned glad he is going to be gone soon.
The Sun Went Down in Honey and the Moon Came Up in WinePost + Comments (135)
German Der Spiegel’s take on outcome of #USElection2020 on right below.
Trump cover from 2017. pic.twitter.com/qTkCXVx7CK— Theresa Fallon (@TheresaAFallon) November 7, 2020
Global Open Thread: And There Was Much RejoicingPost + Comments (103)
