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20 Feb, 6 tweets, 2 min read
It was a hard question for Kamala Harris to answer, too:
Initially, it was not a hard answer for CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to answer. cnbc.com/2021/02/03/cdc…
But then she was given the speaking-in-her-personal-capacity treatment from White House spox Jen Psaki. mediaite.com/news/jen-psaki…
The CDC messaging now is basically--not a prerequisite, but we'd really like teachers to be vaccinated where possible. cnn.com/world/live-new…
The question of "can it be safe for teachers to return without a vaccine" is not academic. Some recalcitrant teachers unions are saying they will not return to classrooms until vaccinated. northjersey.com/story/news/ess…
"Timely, accurate, credible, and coordinated messages will be necessary during a pandemic, and…inconsistent reporting or guidance...can lead to confusion and a loss of confidence by the public" -- CDC National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, 2006.

cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-r…

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More from @MattWelch

Matt Welch Profile picture
3 Feb
Yes, that “Reality Czar” idea in the NYT was mockworthy. Still, those ideas are bouncing around among the people who have more power these days, so let’s work through them one by one. reason.com/2021/02/03/no-…
1) Truth & Reconciliation Commission? Those are found almost exclusively in countries that have suddenly transitioned from authoritarianism, with brand new laws, and an urgent need to deal with past crimes, property appropriation, & massive civil service change. This ain’t that.
2) Putting a government agency at the heart of capital-T Truth proliferation/adjudication? Politicians and agencies and governments are structurally incentivized to lie, and/or consider plenty of competing interests besides literal veracity. C’mon, man!
Read 5 tweets
Matt Welch Profile picture
2 Feb
Yes, Biden has been walking back and re-editing his open-the-schools-within-100-days vow ever since he first said it. axios.com/biden-100-day-…
I wrote a week ago about "the fundamental untenability of his—and teachers unions'—position." Namely, that they're reopeners rhetorically (in order to sound responsive to FURIOUS parents), but where it counts they're just pumping out money with no strings. reason.com/2021/01/26/sch…
Congress has already thrown $69 billion in extra Covid-relief money to K-12 schools (on top of the DOE's $40 billion outlay each year). Biden wants another $130 billion in his first relief bill. Unions want the money...and no strings attached. Parents want the nightmare to end.
Read 10 tweets
Matt Welch Profile picture
24 Jan
I grew up listening to the best radio in the world. Chick Hearn, Vin Scully, Dick Enberg, Jim Healey, Gary Owens, Jim Ladd, Machine Gun Kelly, Rodney on the ROQ, Dr. Demento. The one guy who probably broadened my horizons more than any other? Larry King.
He had this show syndicated on the Mutual Broadcasting System, came pretty late on weeknights in SoCal. I just got my brand spanking new digital clock radio--my most prized possession, by far--and this show, man, it went on for like 100 hours EVERY NIGHT.
There'd be a guest to talk for an hour or two--unless it was Danny Kaye, Sandy Koufax, or Francis Albert Sinatra; they'd get the full run. But otherwise after the guests left it was Open Phone America, where he'd do his trademark. "Dubuque! Hello!" For hours, every night.
Read 9 tweets
Matt Welch Profile picture
23 Jan
When Hank Aaron came up to the big leagues in 1954 at age 20, the stolen base was pretty dead as a weapon. A great athlete and smart ballplayer, he stole just 20 bases his first 6 seasons. Then Maury Wills came along, and he was all, "Really?" Then averaged 22 SB from 1960-68.
Hank Aaron hit 77 triples his first 10 years in the bigs (1954-63).

Since 1964, only 46 players have hit more than 77 triples in their entire careers. Not Barry Larkin, not Ryne Sandberg, not Mickey Rivers.
Kirk Gibson in 1988 won the MVP while racking up 6.5 Wins Above Replacement, 6th most in the NL. I would have given it to 1st-place WAR-haver Orel Hershiser (7.1), but it wasn't a bad pick.

Hank Aaron had more than 6.5 WAR every year from 1956-69.
Read 7 tweets
Matt Welch Profile picture
22 Jan
A point worth elaborating: "decisions about hiring and firing are rarely as simple as they appear to outside observers with an ax to grind, so there may well be more going on here—though the statement from Taylor seems to eliminate much of that ambiguity"
reason.com/2021/01/22/nis…
In my experience, outsiders (including journalists) describing personnel decisions of which I have tangible knowledge of almost always get it significantly wrong, due to the routine asymmetry of candor between parties who have a career-altering disagreement. That's important!
Even public-facing statements that seem to confirm the basic Narrative can be misleading, if the management involved is using a transgression as a convenient excuse to do something they had long wanted to do. The more a place is managed or PR'd badly, the more likely that is.
Read 6 tweets
Matt Welch Profile picture
18 Jan
Let’s put more things in the world, says I. So without further ado, here’s the best first-draft playlist I could rummage from music that was first revealed in December 1989. Two mega-hits, followed by weird instrumentals, alt-stuff, topped by epic metal.
open.spotify.com/playlist/67BIx…
Thus ends Phase 1 of this collaborative Twitter exercise, in which you, the big people, helped me go month by month through that revolutionary political and musical year, making playlists, and learning a bunch of stuff. Thank you! Raw material for great editorial content to come.
Past lists can be found working backward through the thread announcing the November 1989 list.
Read 9 tweets

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