Pandemic Planning: Omicron

 As usual I am interested in planning for the Omicron variant. I was interested in how long it takes for a new variant to take over. The NYT has some interesting graphs for the USA 

Coronavirus Variants and Mutations

Looks life for both Alpha and Delta that it took about two months for the new variant becoming present in our population to becoming the majority variant and then another two months before it dominated all other variants.

It is a little more difficult to estimate how long it will take for the new variant to become present in our populations. 

Currently it looks like the Delta variant is going to have another surge, probably through Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It the Omicron variant gets here during that time, the present Delta surge could develop into a very nasty Omicron surge that could linger from January through April.

On the other hand, if Omicron takes several months to get here we could have a short pause as the Delta Holiday surge declines in January through March. So there might be a break during April and May, and then an Omicron surge starting in the Summer like Delta gave us this past year.  The Omicron surge whenever it comes could be very bad if it is a vaccine resistant variant. 

For those who like colored graphs the following website gives the details about all the variants. It is interesting that both the variants and the waves play out differently in different countries.

Overview of Variants in Countries

Why We Can't Have Quality News Journalism

 The Omaha World Herald, a regional daily newspaper, is owned by Lee Enterprises.  A number of other Nebraska-based daily newspapers are also owned by Lee.

On November 24, the following article came out: Lee Enterprises approves 'poison pill' in face of buyout offer | Omaha State and Regional News | omaha.com:  

Lee Enterprises said Wednesday that it had approved what’s known as a “poison pill” to guard against a hostile takeover as it considers New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital’s unsolicited purchase offer....The plan approved by Lee Enterprises’ board would kick in if Alden gets control of 10% or more of Lee’s stock in the next year. At that point, other shareholders could buy shares at a 50% discount or get free shares for every share they already own. Flooding the market with additional shares would dilute the stock, making it more expensive for Alden to acquire a controlling stake. Alden said in a filing Tuesday that it owns 6.1% of Lee."

"...Lee Chairman Mary Junck said the plan would give the board and shareholders time to consider Alden’s proposal “without undue pressure while also safeguarding shareholders’ opportunity to realize the long-term value of their investment.... Alden, which has become one of the country’s largest newspaper publishers through a series of acquisitions in recent years, offered Monday to buy Lee for $141 million, or $24 per share. That was 30% higher than its value at market close Friday.""...Alden’s titles include the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun, which it acquired this summer in its takeover of Tribune Publishing." (maybe Jim P. has heard more about the acquisition of the Chicago Tribune?)

Read on for more information on the secretive, pervasive hedge fund, Alden Global Capital:

Happy Thanksgiving !

 

Headlands Beach November 8, 2011 5:57pm

On my computer at least if you click on the image, you get a big image.

Archbishop Gomez's Madrid speech

Earlier this month, Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), gave a controversial speech to a conference in Madrid.  Let's take a look at what he said and what it may indicate about our church leaders.

Francis's beatitudes for bishops

 At America, Gerard O'Connell reports that Francis has given the Italian bishops cards with eight beatitudes for bishops.  O'Connell reports that Francis has "borrowed" them from Domenico Battaglia, the archbishop of Naples. In the same spirit, I hope O'Connell and America don't mind if I paste them here, after the break.

Weaponizing Virus Mandates

Republicans fighting President Joe Biden's coronavirus vaccine mandates are wielding a new weapon against the White House rules: natural immunity.

GOP embraces natural immunity as substitute for vaccines

Florida wrote natural immunity into state law this week as GOP lawmakers elsewhere are pushing similar measures to sidestep vaccine mandates. Lawsuits over the mandates have also begun leaning on the idea. Conservative federal lawmakers have implored regulators to consider it when formulating mandates.

The Great Resignation?

The Great Resignation is being driven entirely by this one demographic 

Golden oldie

Looking for a little mid-workday decompression yesterday, I flipped on the television during my lunch break.  I scrolled through the channel guide and noticed that the 1943 film The Song of Bernadette was being telecast on one of the classic-movie networks.  So I turned it on.

Speaking of Journalism

Pope Francis had a few words to say about journalism as he gave out papal honors to senior Vatican journalists.

Conferral of Honors on Senior Vatican Journalists

We are travelling companions! And today we are celebrating two experienced journalists, who have always followed the Popes, the information on the Holy See and the Catholic Church in general. One is your “doyenne”, Valentina Alazraki: for 47 years she has been on the Papal flights, as a journalist here – she came straight after her First Communion! When she was very young boarded the plane that took Saint John Paul II to Puebla, in 1979, the first time, and gave the Pope a sombrero, one of those Mexican hats. 

Your mission is to explain the world, to make it less obscure, to make those who live in it less afraid of it and look at others with greater awareness, and also with more confidence. It is not an easy mission. It is complicated to think, to meditate, to study more deeply, to stop and collect ideas and to study the contexts and precedents of a piece of news. The risk, as you well know, is to be overwhelmed by the news instead of being able to make sense of it

Things end

This is my homily for today, the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B.  The readings for today are here.

The Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

I am not going to say too much about the trial, since it is being discussed in the media ad infinitum.  This is a good short article in The Week.  It had this to say:  

"My side or demographic group innocent, yours guilty" is a tempting conclusion to draw in a period of intense political division and disagreement over who is the reliable narrator of basic facts. But it is not an approach likely to lead to justice." 

Homecoming

Earlier this week, I visited my hometown to attend a funeral at the parish church where I was baptized, confirmed and served as an altar boy.  The brief episode stirred some thoughts and emotions.  

Honor among rascals

Offhand, I can't think of anything that better encapsulates today's Republican Party: this is from a new book by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, as reported by Axios:

On his last day in office, after boarding Air Force One, "Trump took a call from Republican party chair Ronna McDaniel. ... He told McDaniel he was done with the Republican party. This is according to multiple sources familiar with the conversation," Karl said.

• "'I'm done,' Trump told McDaniel from his office on board Air Force One. 'I'm starting my own party.'"
• "'You cannot do that,' McDaniel told Trump. 'If you do, we will lose forever,'" Karl said, quoting the conversation.
• Republican leaders told the former president that if he left, they would stop paying his legal fees and give out for free Trump's email list, "an asset Trump makes millions on renting out to candidates," per Karl.
• By the following week, Trump decided against leaving the GOP.

So to recap: Trump was perfectly willing to personally bring about the destruction of one of the country's two major political parties.  For their part, the party elders, all of whom presumably loathe Trump, decided that continuing to dance with the devil was preferable to losing a few elections while trying to rebuild the party on the basis of principle and policy.  And what stayed Trump's hand: devotion to conservative principle?  Reluctance to dismantle a 160 year old party?  Reverence for the heritage of the Party of Lincoln?  No, it was the possibility of losing mailing-list rental income, and having to pay his own lawyers.  

Pardon me while I go retch.

Creative Solutions to the Housing Crunch

 The costs of either renting or home ownership have skyrocketted lately, due to a lot of factors. Housing costs have outstripped incomes, and many families are hard put to keep a roof over their heads.  Read on for some innovative approaches by government and businesses:

Great Video on Climate Change

 

Don't Choose Extinction

Where Justice and Charity Meet

 After a dozen years away from Catholic pews, I doubt that I will ever return. But there are two things that I think are the biggest pluses of Catholicism in our current world - Pope Francis (may he live to be 100) and the church's Social Justice Teachings. Sadly,  it seems that most Catholics ignore both the Pope (even if they "like" him) and few even know much about the church's Social Justice Teachings. In fact, it seems that the majority of Catholics have little interest in justice - they give money, and used clothing, and food to the food pantries, but they vote for those who don't work for justice - at least not for "justice for all", as it says in the Pledge of Allegiance.  The trumpian faction create hate storms aimed at those whose communities don't experience "justice for all" and try to raise awareness by the symbolic gesture of "taking a knee". The right wing has made this into a gesture of hate for America and lack of respect for the soldiers who have died in our many wars. Another right wing lie. It is a symbolic way to raise awareness of the reality that America has a long way to go before it offers "justice for all". A majority of white Catholics support trump and the GOP politicians in that wing of the party (the whole party at this point for all practical purposes)

I subscribe to Richard Rohr's daily emails, and also follow the RR group on FB .  Here is yesterday's post