51 thoughts on “Wednesday’s Papers

  1. Johnny

    NYT-Sweden pop 10 million deaths to date 5,420.
    -deaths per million:
    Twelve (12) times more than Norway.
    Seven (7) times more than Finland.
    Six (6) times more than Denmark.

    40% more per million than US which is at 130,000 today and projected hit 200-250,000 by Election Day (Nov).

    -economic contraction and unemployment rate staying ‘open’ estimated now on par with Denmark which closed.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/business/sweden-economy-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

    1. dav

      blood sacrifices for the “economy” which people believe to be more important than people

    2. f_lawless

      ‘Wake up and smell the coffee!’ as they might say in NY. Recognise propaganda for what it is.

      If Sweden’s moderate approach becomes perceived as having been reasonably successful, it would indicate that the governments which imposed strict lockdowns made mistakes of historic proportions. Those governments definitely don’t want this to happen. Neither do those corporate media outlets which urged them on. Perhaps the exception is Norway whose chief medical officer, Camille Stoltenberg, recently admitted publicly in an interview that she now believes Norway ‘could have controlled infection without lockdown’. But in Demark, we know that the Danish government imposed lockdown measures against the advice from the Danish Health Authority.according to leaked emails.

      You have to remember that back in March, these governments were spooked by Imperial College London’s modelling projections. The blanket lockdown measures seemed to be justified, because if they weren’t implemented, an extreme number of deaths would occur according to ICL. The WHO also endorsed the lockdown measures.

      But ICL’s modelling later proved to be deeply flawed and wildly inaccurate. According to their projections, by June, Sweden would have had 70-80,000 deaths with no measures, 30-40,000 deaths with moderate measures. The reality was that they had about 5,000.

      For the last few weeks, Sweden has seen little to none excess mortality, just as has been seen in other countries that are easing lockdown measures.

      A much better metric for judging the impact of Covid-19 on Sweden is to examine Sweden’s own official historical data. When you look at the total number of deaths for the years 1990-2020 (during the period January – June), and rank them according to the number of deaths, the year 2020 ranks at 24th place.

      Just to underline that:

      23 of the last 30 years (during Jan-June) have seen a higher number of deaths in Sweden than the current year 2020.

      How’s that for perspective?
      https://softwaredevelopmentperestroika.wordpress.com/2020/07/06/sweden-is-back-to-normal/

      1. Formerly known as @ireland.com

        How is Sweden’s herd immunity looking? How is the economy? Give it up.

        1. Denny

          It’s all changed now

          Covid according to the WHO is now airborne and this means social distancing is not going to work
          Mask
          Wash hands
          Be alert
          Either that or a hamza suit and stay at home

          New measures are not going to work and think twice going anywhere on a plane with sealed air system or air conditioned places

          Best way is accept and enjoy life

      2. Johnny

        Good morning f-lawless I’m neutral, just a guy who studies data and keeps an open mind, the data is now starting to come in less cloudy, but still a awful lot projections and flawed modeling.
        I’m actually making some coffee now, get back you a little later.

      3. SOQ

        I am pretty certain there is face saving going on, especially as the economic consequences have yet to be felt. When one looks at the likes of the UK with it’s Nightingale hospitals, it is fairly obvious that a lot of governments got spooked and over reacted. So there are vested interests determined to prove Sweden wrong- careers on the line even.

        And yet, not a word about Japan. What did Japan get so right as to have so few deaths? And then there is the preceding flu in December- a bad one by all accounts- which just disappeared in a week.

        Something just doesn’t add up.

      4. Johnny

        f_lawless-i’m quite selfish and self centered and have a very high tolerance for old people who are non productive burdens on society dying off,i think we waste way too many resources and bandwidth keeping almost dead people with no quality life alive here in states.

        However,it deeply affects the global and local economy if we don’t get control here in states,there is a push for another lockdown and its a election year,they want schools colleges open,but i hear you and always welcome your comments.

        You may haver read Noam yesterday ..if not …

        “The pandemic is a vivid illustration of the great damage that the neoliberal era has done to the large majority of the population. We should, however, have no illusions about belief in markets or homo economicus. The core principle of neoliberalism is to shift decisions from governments, which are to some extent subject to public influence, to private tyrannies that are completely unaccountable to the public – and according to neoliberal doctrine, must be devoted solely to self-enrichment. As soon as they gained greater power under Reagan, Thatcher, and the like, they rapidly reshaped markets to their own advantage. And of course they depend very heavily on public subsidies and bailouts when they cause crises, once again today.”

        https://www.ekathimerini.com/254221/article/ekathimerini/comment/noam-chomsky-we-are-paying-for-the-logic-of-capitalism

    3. Denny

      And we fare no better with more cases than USA
      Anyway the bastard(and I do not use that word easily that tied up his Labrador in front of a kennels because he was not a good boy needs to be horse whipped

      Poor little man who like all dogs would give their life to their owners

  2. Formerly known as @ireland.com

    Most of the papers have a celebrity court case on the cover, during a pandemic. There is a lot of actual news that should be reported.I have lost a lot of respect for the newspapers that should know better.

  3. Steph Pinker

    Washing one’s dirty linen in public isn’t recommended – are there exemptions for famous people’s bed linen or is the linen sold on eBay?

  4. George

    You’d wonder if the Daily Mail imagine it would be better for older people if nobody had access to an app?

    I’m sceptical about whether or not the app will be effective but I hope it will work by improving contact tracing and helping to identify some of the new cases as quickly as possible. That would enable action to be taken to prevent the virus from spreading. You don’t have to be a user of the app to benefit from better control of the virus which hopefully will be enabled by a large number of people using it.

    1. SOQ

      If I test positive today and enter it in the app- does it count down the fourteen days after which I will not be infectious? Or, is it unnecessarily going to alert others for an indefinite period? And, if I test positive and am doing my civic duty, I won’t be in contact with other people for two weeks anyways so- what is the point?

      There is so much about this whole thing which does not make sense.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpGeRFK0tao

      1. Harry

        It’s a help, not the entire solution

        If you don’t want to help then don’t, you probably won’t anyway, but why try to talk others out of it?

      2. Cian

        My understanding is that if you test positive and enter it in the app, it will look back over the last few days at who you were in close contact with (i.e. the app will a list of all the other phones you were nearby) and send that list back to the HSE. The HSE will then push notifications to each of those phones telling them that someone they were in contact with has tested positive and they should self-quarantine and get tested.

        When I say phones, I mean any phone that is running the app.
        When you install the app, the app gets a unique id that is only relevant to that app… so the list of ids that is sent to the HSE is only relevant to that app (it’s not your phone number)

        1. SOQ

          Thanks Cian- so this works off the IMEI number rather than the SIM. From what I read, the app records 14 days of records- are they all contacted?

          1. Cian

            I don’t think it uses the IMEI number. Each phone’s app would get a app-specific unique number that isn’t in any way related to the handset.

            From the Irish Times:
            “If you test positive for Covid-19 and are using the app, the HSE will ask you to upload that previously mentioned list of random IDs stored on your phone. To do that, you will need a six-digit code supplied by the HSE via text message, an attempt to stop people falsely claiming to have a positive diagnosis. It also means you retain full control over the data on your phone, and it is not automatically uploaded without your knowledge.

            Once you upload that data, the IDs are then added to a list that is downloaded daily to the phones of those using the app, and potential matches are processed on an individual’s phone. If there is a match found, users are alerted through the app that they may have been in contact with a confirmed case, and can then arrange a test.”

            it seems to be a good anonymous way of controlling data.

      3. George

        Just do some reading about how the app works instead of asking ill informed questions here. It deals with the time period leading up to diagnosis.

  5. Jason

    Barry Cowen’s first time drink driving….hahahahahahahahahahaha. He is from Offaly yeah!

      1. Rob_G

        His apology would certainly ring a lot truer if he (i) had apologised at the time, (ii) had not continued to drive around unaccompanied for the next four years, or (iii) tried to regularise his situation by getting the licence within the next 4 years

      2. goldenbrown

        apparently Labour ably assisted FFG+G yesterday in shutting down the conversation:

        “an opposition attempt to force Mr Cowen to answer questions after his Dáil statement about his drink driving ban was defeated. Mr Cowen made his statement at 9pm on Tuesday. Labour and a number of Independent TDs supported Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party in the 30 to 14 vote which prevented a change to the order of business.”

        https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/barry-cowen-tells-d%C3%A1il-he-is-profoundly-sorry-for-stupid-drink-driving-offence-1.4298348?mode=amp

        ?

        1. GiggidyGoo

          Long-standing party relationships. Or maybe other TDs have similar to hide that FFG’rs know about?

          1. ReproBertie

            Well Alan Kelly has admitted to drink driving in the past, I don’t know if he has any convictions for it though. Also there’s a sitting SF TD who served a 3 year disqualification for drink driving back in 2014.

  6. SOQ

    Dr. John Campbell is a General Practitioner whom I have been following.

    Here he is explaining how the amount of transmitted CoVid-19 virus is a factor in why people respond so differently. This may address the question raised some time ago as to why so many medical staff were getting really sick.

    Small amounts will reside in the nose throat etc where the immune system mounts a response but larger amounts will travel down into the lungs and a pneumonia type illness may occur .

    He also somewhat answers the immunology question by breaking it down into the different types, each of which has its own duration. 38 minutes long and for us non medics, very informative.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apsBgAI0qc4

    1. MaryLou's ArmaLite

      Ahh buy they have a lot of catching up to do on your SF/IRA, who have actual thugs, murderers and racketeers as their more celebrated members.

      Remember a vote for SF/IRA is a vote for murder.

    2. Cian

      The whole “character reference” by TDs should be stopped. It is ridiculous that any TD would be asked and that they would feel “obliged” to provide it. for a constituent.

      This isn’t just about FF – but should apply to all parties.

      1. ReproBertie

        Who would consider a TD a decent source for a character reference? That sort of thing belongs in the dark ages, like having a priest or bank manager to witness a passport application.

  7. Johnny

    In the states less than half of the students can read or do math at grade-level,The 74 attempts to represent the 74 million kids currently in this failed education “system” and to be a voice and advocate for change.

    The 74 has done a widely read/followed series called:

    Making It Work: A Day in the Life of Families Living Through a Summer Like No Other.

    You can spend a day with families in DC,San Antonia and Cleveland here.

    https://www.the74million.org/article/making-it-work-a-day-in-the-life-of-families-living-through-a-summer-like-no-other/

    1. Cian

      “less than half of the students can read or do math at grade-level”
      – what is “grade-level”? is that the level of reading/math you would expect a child to be doing in a particular class? And when? in June the class will have more knowledge than they had in the previous September.
      – if so, then I would expect in an “average class” that half of them can achieve that level (or better) and half don’t achieve it. So it really depends on how much “less than half” aren’t achieving the level.

      In Ireland there are STen tests done throughout primary in both English and Maths. These give the child a score of 1…10; half the kids in the country get five or lower and half get six or higher. I assume that the class-level here is between 5 and 6.

      1. Johnny

        (are you mad I smoke weed all day wtf do I know about kids, but they are great stories)

        I think ‘grade’ equals class as in yeah little Johnny is in Grade 7,he have pass a standardized national test to advance next grade or if available get extra help-(I think).

        Its just a educational thing/blog I follow, like STAT for covid-there’s lots noise here about schools and colleges, the decision to force overseas students to transfer to a college holding in person v online only class,or have leave states is political.

        This is from Science it’s all about schools, it affects many on my team so i read about it but not that much, any questions on weed/shrooms)

        “When Science looked at reopening strategies from South Africa to Finland to Israel, some encouraging patterns emerged. Together, they suggest a combination of keeping student groups small and requiring masks and some social distancing helps keep schools and communities safe, and that younger children rarely spread the virus to one another or bring it home.”

        https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/school-openings-across-globe-suggest-ways-keep-coronavirus-bay-despite-outbreaks

  8. Johnny

    The New Yorker has a review of a book/study that has created considerable ‘buzz’ here.

    The book/report here is now available-
    The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having—or Being Denied—an Abortion.

    The review is here-

    -The Study That Debunks Most Anti-Abortion Arguments

    -For five years, a team of researchers asked women about their experience after having—or not having—an abortion. What do their answers tell us?

    “Over three years, a team of researchers, led by a demographer named Diana Greene Foster, at the University of California, San Francisco, recruited 1,132 women from the waiting rooms of thirty abortion clinics in twenty-one states. Some of the women would go on to have abortions, but others would be turned away, because they had missed the fetal gestational limit set by the clinic. Foster and her colleagues decided to compare the women in the two groups—those who received the abortion they sought and those who were compelled to carry their unwanted pregnancy to term—on a variety of measures over time, interviewing them twice a year for up to five years.”

    https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-study-that-debunks-most-anti-abortion-arguments?utm_social-type=owned&mbid=social_twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_brand=tny

    (I have not read the book ordered it, just the review so far)

  9. Gabby

    The Daily Star bombards us with the saddest of sad dog stories – it makes me, and it’s supposed to make me, mighty angry at the emotional suffering of dogs. A smaller headline, however, makes me want to know a little about Johnny Depp’s sliced finger. There are relativities of importance in news coverage.

    1. Junkface

      Me too, he’s completely innocent and should have his name cleared. Amber Heard has been caught lying about this kind of thing before, and multiple witnesses in Australia at the time back up everything Depp has said. She is a liar.

      Why was my post about this from earlier removed? I don’t remember using swear words at all!

    2. Denny

      Good man Jonny depp
      A knife a fork a bottle and a coke
      That’s the way you spell new york

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie