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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
December 22, 2021
Israel says it plans to become the first country to roll out a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as the country prepares for a wave of infections driven by the new Omicron variant. Israel's pandemic experts have recommended a fourth booster for the over-60s and health workers.
PM Naftali Bennett welcomed the plan and told officials to start preparing. It comes as Israel confirmed the first known death of a patient with the Omicron strain on Tuesday. The health ministry said there were at least 340 known cases of the variant in Israel.
The decision to roll out a fourth booster is still pending approval by senior health officials, however Mr Bennett's office told the BBC that it was hoping to administer the dose to people at least four months after their third dose. "This is wonderful news that will assist us in getting through the Omicron wave that is engulfing the world," Mr Bennett said, as he urged people to take up the offer as soon as possible.
When Covid-19 vaccination programmes were first launched, Israel's jabs were rolled out quickly and there was a relatively high take-up. However despite this, only about 63% of its population of 9.3 million has had two doses. This is partly to do with Israel being a relatively young country - about a third of its population is under the age of 14.
snip
Covid-19: Israel could become the first country to give four vaccine doses
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-59749967Israel says it plans to become the first country to roll out a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as the country prepares for a wave of infections driven by the new Omicron variant. Israel's pandemic experts have recommended a fourth booster for the over-60s and health workers.
PM Naftali Bennett welcomed the plan and told officials to start preparing. It comes as Israel confirmed the first known death of a patient with the Omicron strain on Tuesday. The health ministry said there were at least 340 known cases of the variant in Israel.
The decision to roll out a fourth booster is still pending approval by senior health officials, however Mr Bennett's office told the BBC that it was hoping to administer the dose to people at least four months after their third dose. "This is wonderful news that will assist us in getting through the Omicron wave that is engulfing the world," Mr Bennett said, as he urged people to take up the offer as soon as possible.
When Covid-19 vaccination programmes were first launched, Israel's jabs were rolled out quickly and there was a relatively high take-up. However despite this, only about 63% of its population of 9.3 million has had two doses. This is partly to do with Israel being a relatively young country - about a third of its population is under the age of 14.
snip
December 21, 2021
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/firstenergy-marion-county-coal-plant-admit-bad-deal-for-ratepayers-already-facing-high-energy-burden/article_c5fb7abf-d56a-529e-8fd4-3aff76189b5b.html
The witness was stumped. Raymond E. Valdes, director of rates and regulatory affairs for FirstEnergy Service Company, couldn’t give definitive answers to key questions during a recent West Virginia Public Service Commission evidentiary hearing.
FirstEnergy subsidiaries Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison asked the commission to approve a $19.5 million annual increase in cost recovery for fuel, purchased power and transmission expenses, representing a 1.5% hike in total rates.
Asked under cross-examination whether a $55.6 million under-recovery of fuel costs from July to October threatening a greater burden for ratepayers would get worse, Valdes wouldn’t make a prediction. “I am concerned about it,” Valdes said. “I don’t have anticipation one way or the other.”
Pressed by consumer advocate groups about the companies’ lack of energy efficiency programs in West Virginia, Valdes had replied in written testimony last month the companies would “respond accordingly if such conditions warrant an EE [energy efficiency] plan proposal.”
snip
A coal plant fights to stay open. It could enrich Manchin
https://www.eenews.net/articles/a-coal-plant-fights-to-stay-open-it-could-enrich-manchin/
The power plant that buys coal from Sen. Joe Manchin’s company is fighting to stay open by generating electricity for cryptocurrency mining after being on the brink of economic collapse for years. The plan would ensure that the plant keeps burning some of the dirtiest coal on the market, and continue a lucrative business for Manchin’s family company that sells waste fuel collected at shuttered mines.
The Grant Town power plant is named after a former coal baron, Robert Grant, who opened a mine in the early 1900s along Paw Paw Creek in northeast West Virginia. At 80 megawatts, it’s one of the smallest plants in the state — and it’s the only one that still burns waste coal. And it plans to stay that way.
The plant’s owner revealed in state documents last Friday a proposal to continue burning gob to power superfast computers for cryptocurrency mining online. That could preserve a large portion of Manchin’s personal income. His company, Enersystems, supplies the plant with nearly all of the gob, or waste coal, it uses for electricity generation from large piles of discarded shale, clay and slurry dug out from two nearby coal mines that closed years ago.
Manchin has collected more than $5 million from Enersystems since he was elected to the Senate in 2010, according to financial disclosure documents. His stock in the company is worth up to another $5 million. The plant’s plan to continue burning gob comes as Manchin could determine the outcome of historic climate legislation as he’s profiting from his company’s sale of coal. Manchin threatened to vote against the $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill if one of its strongest climate provisions wasn’t removed. The Clean Electricity Performance Program would have rewarded utilities for selling more clean energy, putting pressure on coal plants to close.
snip
As Manchin profits, WV coal plant admits bad deal for ratepayers already facing high energy burden
FirstEnergy, Marion County coal plant admit bad deal for ratepayers already facing high energy burden as Manchin profitshttps://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/firstenergy-marion-county-coal-plant-admit-bad-deal-for-ratepayers-already-facing-high-energy-burden/article_c5fb7abf-d56a-529e-8fd4-3aff76189b5b.html
The witness was stumped. Raymond E. Valdes, director of rates and regulatory affairs for FirstEnergy Service Company, couldn’t give definitive answers to key questions during a recent West Virginia Public Service Commission evidentiary hearing.
FirstEnergy subsidiaries Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison asked the commission to approve a $19.5 million annual increase in cost recovery for fuel, purchased power and transmission expenses, representing a 1.5% hike in total rates.
Asked under cross-examination whether a $55.6 million under-recovery of fuel costs from July to October threatening a greater burden for ratepayers would get worse, Valdes wouldn’t make a prediction. “I am concerned about it,” Valdes said. “I don’t have anticipation one way or the other.”
Pressed by consumer advocate groups about the companies’ lack of energy efficiency programs in West Virginia, Valdes had replied in written testimony last month the companies would “respond accordingly if such conditions warrant an EE [energy efficiency] plan proposal.”
snip
A coal plant fights to stay open. It could enrich Manchin
https://www.eenews.net/articles/a-coal-plant-fights-to-stay-open-it-could-enrich-manchin/
The power plant that buys coal from Sen. Joe Manchin’s company is fighting to stay open by generating electricity for cryptocurrency mining after being on the brink of economic collapse for years. The plan would ensure that the plant keeps burning some of the dirtiest coal on the market, and continue a lucrative business for Manchin’s family company that sells waste fuel collected at shuttered mines.
The Grant Town power plant is named after a former coal baron, Robert Grant, who opened a mine in the early 1900s along Paw Paw Creek in northeast West Virginia. At 80 megawatts, it’s one of the smallest plants in the state — and it’s the only one that still burns waste coal. And it plans to stay that way.
The plant’s owner revealed in state documents last Friday a proposal to continue burning gob to power superfast computers for cryptocurrency mining online. That could preserve a large portion of Manchin’s personal income. His company, Enersystems, supplies the plant with nearly all of the gob, or waste coal, it uses for electricity generation from large piles of discarded shale, clay and slurry dug out from two nearby coal mines that closed years ago.
Manchin has collected more than $5 million from Enersystems since he was elected to the Senate in 2010, according to financial disclosure documents. His stock in the company is worth up to another $5 million. The plant’s plan to continue burning gob comes as Manchin could determine the outcome of historic climate legislation as he’s profiting from his company’s sale of coal. Manchin threatened to vote against the $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill if one of its strongest climate provisions wasn’t removed. The Clean Electricity Performance Program would have rewarded utilities for selling more clean energy, putting pressure on coal plants to close.
snip
December 21, 2021
https://artilleriet-journal.se/Artilleriet-Christmas-2021
Artilleriet Swedish Christmas
https://artilleriet-journal.se/Artilleriet-Christmas-2021
December 21, 2021
Sarah Palin, rocket scientist, offered her thoughts on the coronavirus vaccine at a far-right conference in Arizona over the weekend. “It will be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot,” she proclaimed. Unlikely, governor. Phase III trials have shown that the vaccines fail to generate a robust immune response when administered to dead people. But Palin’s talk of dead bodies is on point. By discouraging vaccination, she and Tucker Carlson and the rest of the anti-science right are quite literally getting people killed. Studies show that those living in the most pro-Trump counties in the United States are dying from covid-19 at a rate more than five times higher than in the most anti-Trump counties.
Palin’s pronouncements should come with a surgeon-general-style caution: “WARNING: SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASES YOUR RISK OF DYING FROM COVID.” The Fox News crowd bristles at the notion that the Trumpified Republican Party has taken on aspects of a cult. But it’s looking more and more like a death cult, as my friend Sidney Blumenthal puts it. Nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple died at Jonestown. Thirty-nine died in the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide. But tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Republicans are dying unnecessarily from covid-19 because they refuse to get vaccinated.
Blogger Charles Gaba, who has been tracking coronavirus death rates by county, reported Monday that since June 30, there have been about 117 deaths per 100,000 people in the reddest 10 percent of the United States (as measured by counties’ vote share for Donald Trump in 2020) — nearly six times the death rate of about 21 per 100,000 in the bluest decile. Likewise, the 100 million people who live in the most pro-Trump 30 percent of the United States had a death rate of about 98 per 100,000 since June 30 — more than triple the 30 per 100,000 among the people who live in the least pro-Trump 30 percent.
In the early days of the pandemic, those in urban areas — Democratic strongholds — were disproportionately likely to die from covid-19. That leveled out in January of this year. Then, the vaccines became available, and the delta variant struck. In August, there were more than 7 deaths per 100,000 in the reddest counties for every 1 death per 100,000 in the bluest. This month, Gaba projects there will be 5.62 deaths per 100,000 in the Trumpiest 10 percent for every 1 death per 100,000 in the least-Trumpy decile of America. (Gaba’s data is consistent with other recent studies.)
snip
Sarah Palin's anti-vax talk shows Republicans have become a death cult
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/20/sarah-palin-anti-vax-tpusa-tconference/Sarah Palin, rocket scientist, offered her thoughts on the coronavirus vaccine at a far-right conference in Arizona over the weekend. “It will be over my dead body that I’ll have to get a shot,” she proclaimed. Unlikely, governor. Phase III trials have shown that the vaccines fail to generate a robust immune response when administered to dead people. But Palin’s talk of dead bodies is on point. By discouraging vaccination, she and Tucker Carlson and the rest of the anti-science right are quite literally getting people killed. Studies show that those living in the most pro-Trump counties in the United States are dying from covid-19 at a rate more than five times higher than in the most anti-Trump counties.
Palin’s pronouncements should come with a surgeon-general-style caution: “WARNING: SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASES YOUR RISK OF DYING FROM COVID.” The Fox News crowd bristles at the notion that the Trumpified Republican Party has taken on aspects of a cult. But it’s looking more and more like a death cult, as my friend Sidney Blumenthal puts it. Nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple died at Jonestown. Thirty-nine died in the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide. But tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Republicans are dying unnecessarily from covid-19 because they refuse to get vaccinated.
Blogger Charles Gaba, who has been tracking coronavirus death rates by county, reported Monday that since June 30, there have been about 117 deaths per 100,000 people in the reddest 10 percent of the United States (as measured by counties’ vote share for Donald Trump in 2020) — nearly six times the death rate of about 21 per 100,000 in the bluest decile. Likewise, the 100 million people who live in the most pro-Trump 30 percent of the United States had a death rate of about 98 per 100,000 since June 30 — more than triple the 30 per 100,000 among the people who live in the least pro-Trump 30 percent.
In the early days of the pandemic, those in urban areas — Democratic strongholds — were disproportionately likely to die from covid-19. That leveled out in January of this year. Then, the vaccines became available, and the delta variant struck. In August, there were more than 7 deaths per 100,000 in the reddest counties for every 1 death per 100,000 in the bluest. This month, Gaba projects there will be 5.62 deaths per 100,000 in the Trumpiest 10 percent for every 1 death per 100,000 in the least-Trumpy decile of America. (Gaba’s data is consistent with other recent studies.)
snip
December 20, 2021
What did Sen. Joe Manchin III expect? After hanging the White House out to dry with his repudiation of Build Back Better (announced on Fox News, no less), the West Virginia Democrat surely could not have expected cheers from his party. It is quite possible, however, that he did not anticipate the instantaneous, united and furious reaction from the White House, Democratic congressional leaders, and the progressive and moderate wings of both chambers.
Virtually no Democrat came to Manchin’s defense on Sunday after the White House accused him of double-crossing President Biden. (As White House press secretary Jen Psaki put it, Manchin’s announcement was “a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”) Maybe Manchin, who has been treated with kid gloves by his former Senate colleague in the Oval Office, did not imagine the White House would release a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations, going so far as to mention Manchin had put his recent proposal in writing.
And perhaps Manchin expected moderates in the House and Senate to ride to his defense. Instead, prominent moderates, including Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), expressed shock and dismay. After all, Democratic moderates had gone out on a limb to accommodate Manchin’s demands, allowing him to practically write the energy provisions of the bill. He then made them look like fools, offering up Republican talking points to criticize them as fiscally irresponsible.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released a frosty statement on Sunday, not even deigning to mention Manchin by name. “For weeks, we have had House-Senate-White House agreement on the fundamental framework of Build Back Better,” she declared, essentially backing up the White House’s account of Manchin’s betrayal.
snip
Jennifer Rubin: No Christmas cheer for Joe Manchin. What did he expect?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/20/manchin-bashed-after-bbb-announcement/What did Sen. Joe Manchin III expect? After hanging the White House out to dry with his repudiation of Build Back Better (announced on Fox News, no less), the West Virginia Democrat surely could not have expected cheers from his party. It is quite possible, however, that he did not anticipate the instantaneous, united and furious reaction from the White House, Democratic congressional leaders, and the progressive and moderate wings of both chambers.
Virtually no Democrat came to Manchin’s defense on Sunday after the White House accused him of double-crossing President Biden. (As White House press secretary Jen Psaki put it, Manchin’s announcement was “a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate.”) Maybe Manchin, who has been treated with kid gloves by his former Senate colleague in the Oval Office, did not imagine the White House would release a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations, going so far as to mention Manchin had put his recent proposal in writing.
And perhaps Manchin expected moderates in the House and Senate to ride to his defense. Instead, prominent moderates, including Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), expressed shock and dismay. After all, Democratic moderates had gone out on a limb to accommodate Manchin’s demands, allowing him to practically write the energy provisions of the bill. He then made them look like fools, offering up Republican talking points to criticize them as fiscally irresponsible.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released a frosty statement on Sunday, not even deigning to mention Manchin by name. “For weeks, we have had House-Senate-White House agreement on the fundamental framework of Build Back Better,” she declared, essentially backing up the White House’s account of Manchin’s betrayal.
snip
December 20, 2021
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/19/why-elizabeth-warrens-endorsement-court-enlargement-matters/
What the right wing understands that liberals have mostly forgotten is that reshaping rules and institutions can determine outcomes in advance, undermining democratic decision-making. The trappings of democracy remain, but real power is vested in the hands of those who bent the rules to predetermine the results.
Liberals are at a special disadvantage when it comes to confronting a radically conservative Supreme Court because most of them are, by nature, institutionalists. They are wary of upsetting long-standing arrangements for fear of mimicking the destructive behavior of the other side and, in the process, legitimizing it. But the aggressiveness of the right has turned this procedural delicacy into a rationalization for surrender.
Conservatives have abused the process of seating (and blocking) judges again and again. The current 6-3 right-leaning conservative Republican majority on the Supreme Court — let’s call the partisanship by its name — would be a 5-4 moderately liberal Democratic majority if Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had observed the long-standing norms surrounding appointments.
Without fear or shame, McConnell (1) blocked consideration of then-President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, to replace Antonin Scalia for 10 months until Donald Trump took the oath of office in 2017 and could name Neil M. Gorsuch; and (2) McConnell rushed through Trump’s final appointee, Amy Coney Barrett, holding a confirmation vote just eight days before Election Day 2020 — even as millions had already cast their ballots.
snip
The alternative to Supreme Court enlargement is surrender
Liberals, progressives and moderates who value the rule of law can wring their hands and sit back while this court carries us all back to the 19th century. Or they can say: Enough.https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/19/why-elizabeth-warrens-endorsement-court-enlargement-matters/
What the right wing understands that liberals have mostly forgotten is that reshaping rules and institutions can determine outcomes in advance, undermining democratic decision-making. The trappings of democracy remain, but real power is vested in the hands of those who bent the rules to predetermine the results.
Liberals are at a special disadvantage when it comes to confronting a radically conservative Supreme Court because most of them are, by nature, institutionalists. They are wary of upsetting long-standing arrangements for fear of mimicking the destructive behavior of the other side and, in the process, legitimizing it. But the aggressiveness of the right has turned this procedural delicacy into a rationalization for surrender.
Conservatives have abused the process of seating (and blocking) judges again and again. The current 6-3 right-leaning conservative Republican majority on the Supreme Court — let’s call the partisanship by its name — would be a 5-4 moderately liberal Democratic majority if Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had observed the long-standing norms surrounding appointments.
Without fear or shame, McConnell (1) blocked consideration of then-President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, to replace Antonin Scalia for 10 months until Donald Trump took the oath of office in 2017 and could name Neil M. Gorsuch; and (2) McConnell rushed through Trump’s final appointee, Amy Coney Barrett, holding a confirmation vote just eight days before Election Day 2020 — even as millions had already cast their ballots.
snip
December 20, 2021
Label: Slash – SR-104
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: Apr 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk, Rock & Roll
X - Los Angeles + X - Sex And Dying In High Society
Label: Slash – SR-104
Format:
Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: Apr 1980
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk, Rock & Roll
December 20, 2021
Label: 415 Records – 415A-0007
Format:
Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1981
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave
Romeo Void - Never Say Never
Label: 415 Records – 415A-0007
Format:
Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1981
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave
December 20, 2021
Label: Beggars Banquet – BEG 263 T, Beggars Banquet – BEG 263T
Format:
Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: UK
Released: 18 Jan 1993
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Techno, Industrial, Alternative Rock
The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary (Butch Vig Sundance Mix)
Label: Beggars Banquet – BEG 263 T, Beggars Banquet – BEG 263T
Format:
Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: UK
Released: 18 Jan 1993
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Techno, Industrial, Alternative Rock
December 20, 2021
THAT is the part I most detest out of all the bollocks Manchin spewed yesterday. It is a deep cutting attack on the very core of our party. It hands the Rethugs a huge warhammer to pound us over the head with for the next 3 years. It is a dire betrayal by Manchin, especially as he did it on FOX NEWS.
No wonder Biden is enraged, especially after Manchin just days before went to the White House in person, shook Biden's hand, and gave Biden a written framework that was very close, minus a few key things, to Biden's own, and was a clear pathway to a final bill.
'My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way
that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face' - Joe Manchin yesterday.THAT is the part I most detest out of all the bollocks Manchin spewed yesterday. It is a deep cutting attack on the very core of our party. It hands the Rethugs a huge warhammer to pound us over the head with for the next 3 years. It is a dire betrayal by Manchin, especially as he did it on FOX NEWS.
No wonder Biden is enraged, especially after Manchin just days before went to the White House in person, shook Biden's hand, and gave Biden a written framework that was very close, minus a few key things, to Biden's own, and was a clear pathway to a final bill.
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