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Thursday’s Forum
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13 responses to “Thursday’s Forum”
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So, despite Jr. Half-Brain’s best 8worst) efforts, the FDA has approved Moderna’s flu vaccines.
The piece indicates the supply will be short, and restricted to those over 50. I’d recommend taking any available flu shot instead of waiting for this one to be available. You can always get it afterwards.
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The FDA has approved it, but I think it still has additional approvals to go, including ACIP. That’s the one to watch as I believe it’s what insurers say they will pay for.
I’m excited about this new option (well, as excited as one can get about a flu shot). It’s going to be easier to stay on top of the active strains, with less guessing.
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Withdrawals from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) continued at the rate of about 3 to 5 million barrels per week in July, leaving the SPR with 305 million barrels on July 31. This is a decrease of 110 million barrels since late March, and is just 53 million barrels above the statutory non-emergency minimum level of 252 million.
There appears to be disagreement on the practical minimum level of the SPR based on technical considerations, from industry estimates of 250 million barrels to, according to a recent statement from a Department of Energy spokesperson, 10 percent of the SPR capacity or 70 million barrels.
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Remember the emptying of reservoirs in California for no purpose at all? If supply doesn’t recover, the so-called administration will drain the oil reserves past the danger point.
Even if the supply recovers, they may still drain the reserves in an attempt to lower gas prices.
Whenever you see problem which may involve El Taco, the question to ask is : how will he manage to make it worse?
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Speaking of similar reserves worldwide, China’s petroleum reserve was several times larger than the US’s SPR before the war. And China has somehow cut their crude oil imports 40 percent versus pre-war levels (Reuters), which could be the result of stopping purchases that had been going into the reserve, drawing oil from the reserve, and simply using less oil. This has meant less demand worldwide along with the resulting effects on crude oil prices. So oil price complainers might want to thank China…for now.
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NYT this morning reports that Moderate Democrats Prepare for ‘War’ Against an Ascendant Left.
“We are preparing for the next war that is coming,” said Jonathan Cowan, the president of Third Way, a leading centrist Democratic group, revealing to The New York Times a new $15 million effort between now and 2028 to discredit democratic socialism.
WIKI notes of Third Way,
The majority of the think tank’s funding comes from individuals with close ties to the banking industry and its board of trustees consists mostly of investment bankers.
Over the last several decades the Republican Party has gone from center right to blatantly evil and insane. And the D Party has done nothing effective to counter the GOPs. Maybe it’s time for the D establishment to do a little soul searching. GOPs have done pretty well (electoral, not governance) by adopting a policy of no enemies to their right. Perhaps this 15 milllllion dollars (pinky on teeth) could be better spent defining policies centrists can push to aggressively fight the GOPs and address the real concerns of the people who voted for El-Sayed. Would it kill third way to be pro-union, pro universal health care, pro eliminating the cap on the SS deduction? (I checked their website, they support “”unorthodox thinking and creative problem-solving”, i.e. no real world solutions. Just pablum.)
15 mil ain’t much, but spending it on oppo research on fellow Dems is about the worst possible way to spend it.
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“…revealing to The New York Times a new $15 million effort between now and 2028 to discredit democratic socialism.”
Stuff like this makes me long for the consistent focus I witnessed when I worked for Republicans. It’s just so disheartening to see this type of stupidity.
I understand what they are thinking (basically, they want to rein in an ideological faction before it splits the party and alienates the unaffiliated left–voters who lean D but it makes them feel better to say they are independents), but you don’t do that by going to war with them, especially when younger voters are increasingly identifying with aspects of that ideology.
It’s very frustrating to witness.
This isn’t really opposition research, which is an essential component of effective campaigning. It’s an attempt to lop off a limb.
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Would it kill third way to be pro-union, pro universal health care, pro eliminating the cap on the SS deduction?
If the main power comes from owners of capital
The majority of the think tank’s funding comes from individuals with close ties to the banking industry and its board of trustees consists mostly of investment bankers
then I have to suppose that it just might. I propose a new slogan:
Vote Blue when we tell you to.
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Sigh, there it goes again:
New executive orders to sidestep the constitution.
TL;DR: latest attempt to nullify part of the XIV amendment.
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