All posts in April 2021

How long you’ll be immune to COVID-19 could be written in your blood On Thursday, NPR reported a new kind of COVID-19 test being created at the University of Oxford. The university—which was also key to developing the AstraZeneca vaccine widely used outside the United States—is engaged in an experiment that involves deliberately exposing volunteers to the…

“It was just a big ordeal that he wanted me out of the store, basically that’s what he wanted from the jump,” Townsend told WTAE. “He didn’t want to argue. He already had what he wanted to do in the first place so I was just sitting there taking the rap for the whole mess.”…

In an interview with LGBTQ+ publication them. on Tuesday, Attig said they were shocked “sitting there in jail thinking that this is what happens when you speak to people about how their proposed laws are affecting your children.” Attig stressed that they “don’t want to hear it. They put you in jail.” While making their…

With 40.9% of Americans now having received at least one dose, that effect could be preventing a surge in the United States right now. We’re only now reaching the levels where that effect is significant, but as the vaccine numbers go up, the possibility of a return to normal draws ever nearer. The math and science…

You might remember that in the Trump-era proposal, shelters would be able to deny transgender folks on the basis of religious beliefs. You might also remember Carson lamenting about the possibility of “big, hairy men” trying to sneak into women’s shelters while speaking at an internal HUD meeting. Along the same lines, the Trump guidance on…

Another victim of Trump’s charade—support for automatically registering people to vote—slumped 11 points among Republicans since 2018 to 38%, but it still enjoys strong 61% majority support. One practice favored overwhelming by members of both parties was requiring voting machines to print paper backups of ballots to produce a paper trail—86% of Republicans favored it…

Schaffer’s guilty plea to two charges—obstructing an official proceeding and illegally entering the Capitol grounds—makes him the first participant in the insurrection to agree to provide evidence against his fellow rioters. Schaffer, who originally faced six felony charges, will enter the government’s witness protection program as part of the deal. According to an earlier filing, which…

Campaign Action An estimated $41.8 billion is needed to repair structurally deficient bridges alone—never mind getting ahead of the bridges that will become structurally deficient in the coming years. Or talking about roads, rail, broadband, schools, veterans’ hospitals, ports, airports, replacing lead pipes for drinking water, caring for our elders while boosting some of the fastest-growing…

Campaign Action While that was happening, McConnell was telling Republicans to make nice to Manchin and Sinema to co-opt them to his agenda by boosting their already healthy egos. In an interview with Politico, McConnell demonstrated the tactic. “What they’ve been very forthright about is protecting the institution against pressures from their own party. I…

In particular, the emails between former Health and Human Services (HHS) Public Affairs Chief Michael Caputo and former Science Adviser Paul Alexander show these officials working to force the CDC to make changes in reports on how COVID-19 spread. Then they celebrated their victory with a “yippee.” Alexander also managed to make changes in the “sacrosanct” Morbidity and Mortality…