GOP candidates follow Trump and won’t accept losses

As a result of the former President lying about election results because his ego couldn’t handle that he lost, other @GOP candidates now routinely lie anytime they lose an election.

The GOP is rapidly becoming an undemocratic cult of personality with no respect for elections. https://t.co/lzeRy04o6t
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 13, 2022

“This episode shows the Republican Party could be drifting toward a new norm of refusing to concede — even in landslides.”

Once truth vanishes, all bets are off. https://t.co/qSZxbRdSCK
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) January 14, 2022

Coronavirus stats tweets update 1/11/22

America generates a quarter of world's daily Omicron infections and a quarter of global deaths – and both are rising. This really shouldn't be happening. pic.twitter.com/48yND5Prqe
— Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) January 11, 2022

What happens when one of the best vaccinated (90% total population) countries in the world gets Omicron?
🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/GzI8jgfO7J
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 10, 2022

A problem with analysis like this: It's likely there's FAR more underreporting of cases than last winter. Why?

* At home tests now likely >=50% of overall volume
* Huge demand overwhelming in-person test facilities
* Omicron milder = cases easier to misshttps://t.co/a2M6ldWY6A pic.twitter.com/bIxOSSXIF7
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) January 10, 2022

OmIcRoN pRoVeS vAcCiNeS dOn'T wOrK pic.twitter.com/eDjSk9A5Eb
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 9, 2022

Pay attention to *who* is having the highest incidence of #COVID19 cases at the beginning of this first #Omicron wave. They are mostly Black (NH) and Hispanic, in urban areas, similar to our 1st wave. Think about who our essential and service workers are.https://t.co/5yr5peajsy pic.twitter.com/7CR1IrK2s5
— uché blackstock, md (@uche_blackstock) January 9, 2022

Revealing chart about Omicron hospitalizations in NYC: barely changed for the vaccinated.
But big spike ⬆️ for unvaccinated. https://t.co/tbjifc8cMT pic.twitter.com/ScL8eZcAzJ
— Cliff Levy (@cliffordlevy) January 9, 2022

The U.S. makes up 4% of the world’s population, but yesterday we made up 32% of its #COVID cases (probably an undercount). The current pandemic strategy is not working. This is more than about just getting people vaccinated. We need to control the spread now. https://t.co/kkb9Ly0hmJ
— uché blackstock, md (@uche_blackstock) January 8, 2022

An unvaccinated 30-49 year-old is more likely to die from COVID than a vaccinated 65-79 year-old.

But the GOP-stacked Supreme Court doesn't care, they're going to use antivax propaganda to rewrite national policy and we're supposed to pretend it's a principled legal decision. https://t.co/jTEalwq8Z7 pic.twitter.com/HXKCKU5pbf
— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) January 7, 2022

Since last May, people living in counties that voted heavily for Trump have been nearly three times as likely to die from covid as those who live in areas that went for Biden. ⁦@DanielPWWood⁩ ⁦@gbrumfiel⁩ https://t.co/cMladyXlVA
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) January 13, 2022

Update on North Carolina gerrymandering

Must-Read Michael Wines NYT Story on North Carolina Redistricting Battle Suggests Republican Legislature Could Try to Impeach Democratic State Supreme Court Justices to Stop Effort to Thwart Gerrymandering https://t.co/9uspSuInEi
— Ion V. Sancho (@Ionsancho1) January 30, 2022

Judging by the NC Supreme Court's 4D-3R majority and willingness to overrule a lower court on the election timeline, I wouldn't be surprised to see the GOP-drawn maps struck down on appeal. https://t.co/3f7IpM6QQ3
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) January 11, 2022

We will appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court. The fight for fair districts continues. https://t.co/YT6hPXN1r7
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) January 11, 2022

Breaking: As Biden speaks NC state court upholds extreme gerrymandered maps, including US House map giving GOP 71-78% of seats in state Trump won with 49.9% of vote. This is exactly the kind of partisan & racial gerrymandering Freedom to Vote Act would block
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) January 11, 2022

Here is ruling by panel of majority GOP judges upholding gerrymandered legislative maps in NC. It will be appealed to NC Supreme Court, but underscores need for urgent federal action on voting rights https://t.co/4ZFUaJ9gOx
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) January 11, 2022

True and true. https://t.co/eqsrWyVQua
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) January 11, 2022

🚨👀https://t.co/RFfyFsg9Vo
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) January 6, 2022

🚨BREAKING: Supreme Court of North Carolina GRANTS a preliminary injunction in ongoing redistricting cases. The order halts candidate filing and prohibits the use of the maps in elections as litigation challenging the maps as Republican gerrymanders continues. More info to come.
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) December 8, 2021

"It would take an absolute blowout, over 7 percentage points in the statewide popular vote, for Democrats to even get half of the state’s congressional delegation." https://t.co/RRb2F4CZUK pic.twitter.com/eJdxJbr2gT
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) November 10, 2021

"The Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave North Carolina’s maps failing grades for fairness."https://t.co/8Xi5YdIWan
— Princeton Gerrymandering Project (@princetongerry) January 24, 2022

Time to get better masks – tweets and articles

The CDC & White House have often used the rhetoric that N95 masks are uncomfortable & hard to breath through. Many who are now trying certain models are finding that to be false. We tackle this issue in @washingtonpost ⬇️

Cc @sri_srikrishna @RanuDhillon https://t.co/UUnFAdShW0 pic.twitter.com/xNaEAClQiK
— Abraar Karan (@AbraarKaran) January 11, 2022

CDC weighs recommending N95 or KN95 masks against omicron https://t.co/iMDifJP5An
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 11, 2022

What’s the Difference Between KN95 and KF94 Masks?

12 Good N95, KN95, and Surgical Face Masks to Buy Right Now

Why Cloth Masks Just Won’t Cut It Against the Omicron Variant, and 4 Masks That Do

COVID mask guide for omicron surge: Why N95, KN95 masks are so much more effective than cloth

Axios PM

“Unmodified medical masks blocked ≥56% of cough aerosols and ≥42% of exhaled aerosols.”

H/t @KatherinePasem1 @FixTheMask https://t.co/7gxnqcwy3q
— Abraar Karan (@AbraarKaran) January 13, 2022

Time to get better masks – sources

There are three types of masks that are considered to be better than the disposable 3 and 4 ply masks:

N95

KN95

KF94
The 3 and 4 ply masks are supposed to be better than cloth masks. I have seen articles recommending not to wear cloth masks before.
N95 is considered to be the best. I only tried one once. It was not easy to breathe and I didn’t like the straps that went around my head. KN95s look similar but have ear straps. I wore a KF94 yesterday and it was comfortable.

This is a good source of all kinds of PPE. I haven’t ordered from them but they get praise in the articles.

Project N95 – The National Clearinghouse for personal protective equipment and COVID-19 tests.

Two US companies I have ordered from with high quality and higher prices are:

Art-Inspired Clothes, Accessories, Face Masks & Decor | VIDA (shopvida.com)

Private Stock Labs – Privatestocklabs

Private Stock has faster shipping. Amazon has fast shipping and lower prices but I have read they have fakes as well as real stuff.

It may be too late for election reform

Better late than never. Biden, Harris and DOJ should have said something before states passed bad election laws. It’s late now, hopefully not too late.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) January 11, 2022

Celebrate birthdays on the real date

It’s very disrespectful that we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. on a Monday regardless of whether or not it’s his birthday. The holiday should be on the actual date which is the 15th. How would you like it if I said to you “I know your birthday is on Thursday but I’m going to celebrate it on Monday because that’s more convenient for me”?

I’m just teasing about the stuff below. I don’t mean it.

We could move July 4th to Mondays if we renamed the holiday to “Independence Day”.

Why don’t we celebrate Christmas on a Monday? We don’t even know if the 25th was his birthday so why not move it?

New Year’s Day presents a real problem. We’re stuck with that one.

Quai des Orfèvres

I just watched the Blu-ray version of the French film Quai des Orfèvres (1947) and was very impressed. I knew nothing about it before I saw it but it’s an excellent crime film. The main characters are a cynical police detective and three potential murder suspects who are all liars. It is genuinely suspenseful and we don’t know who the murderer was until the end. It was shot in beautiful dark and shadowy black and white and is well-preserved on the disc.

It was directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot who is better remembered for Diabolique and The Wages of Fear. I haven’t seen them yet but I will watch them now.

Actress Suzy Delair had real charisma in this film both in the musical number and dramatic scenes.

Tweets on climate change 1/10/22

What was the costliest disaster of 2021?

You guessed it: Hurricane #Ida. The Category 4 storm caused $75 billion in destruction, all the way from Louisiana to the Northeast. #BillionDollarDisasters pic.twitter.com/Xi4k3X2bdV
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) January 10, 2022

Among childless adults in the United States surveyed by Morning Consult last year, one in four cited climate change as a factor in why they do not currently have children.
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 3, 2022

40 percent of Americans live in places that experienced a climate-related disaster in 2021 https://t.co/LL02b8wwbN
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 5, 2022

This year, in too many places, climate change made the weather not just too dry, but too wet—and no one had a plan for dealing with that, reports @KendraWrites: https://t.co/YclO3j3ECE
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) December 28, 2021

we can't take on climate change without addressing the US Pentagon, which is the *number one* institutional emitter of planet-heating pollution. me for @BostonGlobe.

w/ @patrickmbigger @MejiaSouth @PPUtoday @lindsaykosh https://t.co/GMoC3BMQGo
— 𝕯𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖆 𝕹𝖔𝖔𝖗 (@dharnanoor) December 23, 2021

What losing Build Back Better means for climate change (and why Joe Manchin’s ego and penchant for selling out—along with the disease of Republican science denial—jeopardizes our future) https://t.co/wrPz2WleF4
— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) December 21, 2021

Climate change has destabilized the Earth’s poles, putting the rest of the planet in peril https://t.co/exxfsahjDY
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) December 14, 2021

Arctic soared to an unprecedented 100 degrees in 2020, scientists confirm https://t.co/GhyAHsQ1Yw
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 14, 2021

“For a lot of our questions about climate change and tornadoes, the answer is we don’t know,” said Harold Brooks of NOAA. https://t.co/xkHJxFWF58
— NYT Climate (@nytclimate) December 14, 2021

No, its not too soon to point this out: "FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said it is preparing for severe weather events of similar magnitude.“ This is going to be our new normal & the effects that we’re seeing from #climatechange are the crisis of our generation,” she said
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) December 13, 2021

Climate misinformation online is mostly delivered through attacks on climate scientists and solutions, a study finds. https://t.co/COzAM6budo
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 13, 2021

First on CNN: New FEMA plan puts the climate crisis front and center after the Trump administration erased it https://t.co/RdRuugRdsE
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 9, 2021