• Osita Nwanevu has an excellent opinion essay in the New York Times discussing the unfortunate systemic representational inequities in the United States: Trump Isn’t the Only One to Blame for the Capitol Riot.  An excerpt:

“At no point in his political career — not a single day — has Mr. Trump enjoyed the support of the majority of the country he governed for four years. And whatever else Jan. 6 might have been, it should be understood first and foremost as an expression of disbelief in — or at least a rejection of — that reality. Rather than accepting, in defeat, that much more of their country lay outside their ken than they’d known, his supporters proclaimed themselves victors and threw a deadly and historic tantrum.”

The silos social media and the internet have made possible have enabled the creation and reinforcement of this alternative reality; it’s all too easy to avoid evidence to the contrary.

• Congratulations to everyone at NASA, the CSA, and the ESA on the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.  This is a remarkable achievement that will lead to a better understanding of the fundamental nature of our universe.  Lets hope for no problems on its way to L2 and with the deployment of the mirrors and solar shade.

Merry Christmas! We got you a new telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope launched today, beginning a one-million-mile journey to see 13.5 billion years into the past. Follow @NASAWebb and join the quest to #UnfoldTheUniverse: https://t.co/TlYpoUHdJu pic.twitter.com/ilwWPuIJun

— NASA (@NASA) December 25, 2021

• Tomas Puyeo does an excellent job discussing the early data on Omicron here. This is, I believe, quite a good assessment given the limited data available to date. Tomas authored the excellent “The Hammer and the Dance” substack post of March 19, 2020 talking about what might happen due to Covid.

His Omicron post is definitely worth a read.

Missing (due to lack of data, I presume) is a discussion of how antivirals like Paxlovid will influence outcomes.  Alas, a full production ramp-up of Paxlovid is unlikely to come before the second half of 2022.  See Scott Gottlieb’s take while being interviewed by Andy Slavitt on his In the Bubble podcast.

• An Associated Press review finds far too little voter fraud to have affected 2020 presidential election results.

An @AP review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by former President Donald Trump has found fewer than 475 cases of fraud — a number so small it would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election. https://t.co/45F8jcUxFB

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 14, 2021

• As if we weren’t feeling trepidatious enough already — Dave Leondardt’s December 13 The Morning column is a worrisome summary of the many efforts underway to undermine our current election process.  An excerpt:

“Barton Gellman, who wrote a recent Atlantic magazine article about the movement, told Terry Gross of NPR last week, ‘This is, I believe, a democratic emergency, and that without very strong and systematic pushback from protectors of democracy, we’re going to lose something that we can’t afford to lose about the way we run elections.’ “

• Western Michigan emergency physician Rob Davidson describes his personal work experience in his excellent NYT guest essay “I’m an E.R. Doctor in Michigan, Where Unvaccinated People Are Filling Hospital Beds.”  Well said, Rob, and as a fellow emergency physician, let me offer my thanks for the work you do not just in the hospital but also as a vocal advocate for public health measures and equity. 

I also applaud his tweet:

If #SCOTUS denies a woman the right to equal protection of bodily autonomy under the 14th Amendment, but strikes down vaccine mandates over an individual’s right to bodily autonomy under the 14th Amendment, we might as well put Rs and Ds after their names and be done with it.

— Dr. Rob Davidson (@DrRobDavidson) December 2, 2021

• When so many positive things are happening, why are Joe Biden’s approval ratings sagging? Heather Cox Richardson offers some reasons in her November 27 Letters from an American newsletter.  An excerpt:

“As Semrau puts it: ‘Democrats want to fix bridges, provide childcare and lower drug costs. Republicans don’t. These are political facts and voters should be aware of them.’

To this I would add that Republican attacks on Democrats, which are simple and emotional, get far more traction and thus far more coverage in the mainstream press than the slow and successful navigation of our complicated world.”

• This open letter appearing in both The Bulwark and the New Republic, from both Democratic and Republican writers, academics, and activists, people from both sides and the middle of the political spectrum, is must reading.  Some excerpts:

“But right now we agree on a fundamental point: We need to join together to defend liberal democracy.

Because liberal democracy itself is in serious danger. Liberal democracy depends on free and fair elections, respect for the rights of others, the rule of law, a commitment to truth and tolerance in our public discourse. All of these are now in serious danger….

And we urge all responsible citizens who care about democracy—public officials, journalists, educators, activists, ordinary citizens—to make the defense of democracy an urgent priority now.”

We can’t let the people who want to make the US an unrepresentative, undemocratic autocracy, oligarchy (or whatever other applicable pejorative but accurate adjective) win.

• A nice video tribute to Steve Jobs posted by Apple: Celebrating Steve.  It includes some heartfelt words from his family, including this wonderful paragraph:

One of our greatest sources of consolation has been our association
of Steve with beauty. The sight of something beautiful — a wooded hillside,
a well‑made object — recalls his spirit to us. Even in his years of suffering,
he never lost his faith in the beauty of existence.

• Farah Stockman, writing in her NYT opinion piece “How Much Can You Trust That Generic Drug You’re Taking?” takes a hard look at how our national drug manufacturing capability has dramatically eroded, and how dependent we now are on offshore manufacturers with sometimes dubious quality controls.  This is an important topic, and definitely worth a read.  An excerpt that should concern you:

“A recent study based on data from Clarivate, an analytics firm cited in the White House report, was even more alarming. It found that, of the top 100 generic medicines that Americans consume, 83 had no U.S. source of active pharmaceutical ingredients. No American source existed for 97 percent of the most commonly prescribed antivirals and 92 percent of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics.”