Horn Comms & Research Svcs. Former investigative/climate/local journo helping clients tell/find stories. Moderator: COVID Email List. @uwalumni. My tweets only.
May 15, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Okay, so, I got it wrong. 😬 Here’s a mathematical explainer. I calculated a baseline of 7974 US deaths/day. That’s from a data source I found online. Multiple by .04, the low end of “moderate,” and you get 318.96. Multiple by 7 and that’s 2232 deaths a week.
The high end you replace it w/ a .059 and the number is 470 using the same formula. Next, to get to the orange level, replace the .059 in the formula with .08 and you get 4465 deaths per week or 637 deaths per day per US capita in any given state that’s color graded at the upper
May 15, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
We need to start repeating the message plain and clear: you’re only an infection away from disability and/or long-term serous health consequences from this disease. We can’t just make this a thing about “the vulnerable” because it otherizes and we are ultimately all vulnerable.
It’s also been, very sorry to say, a completely ineffective message. It makes the “strong and able-bodied” types feel bulletproof. There’s a reason universal message like “Smoking Kills” resonated for a whole generation of people & created breakthroughs in public health policy.
May 15, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Just did the math. For the new CDC map to even get to the yellow color on the map for deaths per day, 2,982 per US capita would have to be dying per day, 1 less than died on 9/11 not including 19 hijackers. 1.08M per year equivalent. That’s how to get to “moderate” on the map.
To get to “moderate” on the map you need nearly the official weekly per capita equivalent of deaths for the whole ongoing pandemic to take place. So, yeah, this is nothing less than science denial of the most obscene denial out of the Biden Administration. It’s an outrage.
May 14, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Personally was planning on trying to make virtual low key time trials and even training groups more of a thing if anyone wants in. Road races are kind of a scam industry that turns running into a racket instead of something done for pure individual joy + self-challenge.
There’s the added element of it seeming incredibly stupid to risk getting COVID in the midst of a healthy activity. Another reason I won’t be doing road races for the foreseeable future besides costs, tied to doing it at the time organizers pick, etc.
May 12, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Imagine working on a science agency and being like: “Yeah, I think we should collect less data + present it deceptively.” The banality of evil on full display, killing people quietly by concealing numbers and manipulating data. Seriously insidious stuff. Can’t sugarcoat it.
Okay, so why is this maybe worse then banally evil? Because it’s willfully misleading to assess risk. Without any explanation I’ve seen, CDC switched to completely arbitrary metric around percentage of deaths compared to everything else one could possibly die of is useless.
May 10, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Are there actual volunteers who show up in any meaningful number at these YIMBY rallies? I'm not a NIMBY at all (people in my neighborhood are and I refused to join the group over their parochialism and BS about "changing community character"), but at least NIMBYs are volunteers
Might be wrong, but at least locally (never heard of "YIMBY" in the midwest) everyone I've seen identify as a YIMBY here is somehow on the payroll of developers who are gentrifying communities and making them unaffordable. Or, it's politicians seeking developer money lol.
Apr 2, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
So, Nathan Fletcher rose to the upper echelon of San Diego and California Democratic politics alongside Lorena Gonzalez without even basic things about his past being verified. Like, where he got a college degree or even if he has one. Same for his time in the GOP.
Apparently he also had a kid he hadn't disclosed from an out of marriage relationship who just "showed up" several years ago. It should go without saying, but basic facts about someone's background who oversees millions in budget money should be asked about incessantly.
Apr 1, 2023 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
For those unfamiliar with how Nathan Fletcher got elected to begin with in 2018, about 1.5 years after marrying Lorena Gonzalez, a key component was her facilitation of dark $$ into his campaign coffers via steering it into @sandiegodemsocregister.com/what-unlimited…
The fact it happened was covered well by local press. This piece by @inewsource explained that, essentially, the Power Couple found a legal loophole and exploited it. It’s nearly impossible to understand the dynamic duo today without knowing this part. inewsource.org/2018/07/24/dem…
Mar 31, 2023 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
So, the blue check becomes 100% obvious tomorrow between those who paid for it and those who didn't. But I've always promoted that the quest to get a blue check, even before paying for it, was a bit of a grift anyway. Elevating "thought leaders" & demoting many with great ideas.
The whole thing was so subjective and promoted behaving on this platform in a way so as to get the blue check that I found it destructive overall. At least now it will be 100% clear those who have a blue check are grifters/Elon Musk toadies, rather than leaving it up to question
Mar 31, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Damn, this editorial is scathing, made more so by the cartoon accompanying it. And I’d just argue this conduct makes him unfit for any job, not just those funded by taxpayers.
It’s frustrating because most local journalists enabled this locally. There have always been skeletons in the closet. But media fawned over the Power Couple and their rise to prominence instead of viewing them — like any elected official — through an critical lens.
