…the fading art of leadership…[is] not a failure of one party or another; it’s more of a generational decline of good judgment.
“The elites think it’s all about expertise… It’s important to have experts, but they aren’t always right. They can be “hampered by their own orthodoxies, their own egos, their own narrow approach to the world.”
[Conclusion]: “You need broad-minded leaders who know how to hold people accountable, who know how to delegate, who know a good chain of command, and know how to make hard judgements.
— The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid B
by Lawrence Wright
Talking about leadership, or lack thereof, remember this "Failure" of leadership? >> (2:10 mins)
October 14, 2021 – 239,341,600 confirmed infections; 4,877,540 deaths
July 22, 2021: 191,945,000 confirmed infections; 4,126,300 deaths
Track worldwide vaccination rate >>
US (Map)
October 14, 2021 – 44,694,200 confirmed infections; 719,760 deaths
July 22, 2021: 34,226,300 confirmed infections; 609,900 deaths
SA (Tracker)
October 14, 2021 – 2,914,000 confirmed infections; 88,500 deaths
July 22, 2021: 2,327,475 confirmed infections; 68,200 deaths
News blues
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| Read “Lives lost to under-vaccination“ >> |
Quote:
By the end of 2020, the death rate per 100,000 for the United States as a whole was 134.89; in other words, more than one American died for every thousand people in the country. That was nearly two and a half times the rate in Canada, at 53.98. Only Italy and the U.K. had higher rates than the U.S. among countries most affected by Covid. In the first half of 2020, life expectancy in the U.S. fell by a full year, from 78.8 years to 77.8, the largest drop since the Second World War. By the end of the year, the United States had more cases and more deaths than any other country. The actual tally will never be known, but a retrospective serological study estimated that 35 percent of Covid deaths went unreported. Total deaths increased by 15 percent, making 2020 the deadliest year in recorded U.S. history. The figure that will haunt America is that the U.S. accounts for about 20 percent of all the Covid fatalities in the world, despite having only 4 percent of the population. At the beginning of the pandemic, China’s unprecedented lockdown, compared to the initial halting reaction in Italy, suggested that autocratic systems had an unbeatable advantage in dealing with a contagion like that of SARS-CoV-2. Over time, however, democratic regimes found their footing and did marginally better than authoritarian ones. Advanced countries performed better than developing ones, but not by as much as might have been expected. Due to the high volume of air travel, richer countries were quickly overwhelmed, while poorer countries had more time to prepare for the onslaught. High-tech medical advantages footing and did marginally better than authoritarian ones. Advanced countries performed better than developing ones, but not by as much as might have been expected. Due to the high volume of air travel, richer countries were quickly overwhelmed, while poorer countries had more time to prepare for the onslaught. High-tech medical advantages proved of little use when the main tools for countering the spread of the disease were social distancing, hand washing, and masks. This can be seen in the rankings by the Lowy Institute of the performance of countries managing the pandemic. The top ten countries are:
New Zealand
Taiwan
Thailand
Cyprus
Rwanda
Iceland
Australia
Latvia
Sri Lanka
The United States ranked number 94 out of 98, between Bolivia and Iran. China was not included in the rankings because of the lack of transparency in its testing.
The Pew Research Center surveyed fourteen advanced countries to see how they viewed the world during the pandemic. In Denmark, 95 percent of the respondents agreed that their country had handled the crisis capably. In Australia, the figure was 94 percent; Germany was 88 percent. The United Kingdom and the U.S. were the only countries where a majority disagreed. In Denmark, 72 percent said that the country had become more unified since the contagion emerged. Only 18 percent of Americans agreed with the statement. In every country surveyed, people ranked the U.S. response lowest. And respondents in most countries said that China was now the leading economic power, not the U.S. Each of these categories is a measure of leadership.
— The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid
by Lawrence Wright
Also known as, “another wake up call”?
Read more >>
Healthy planet, anyone?
… the climate crisis is often discussed alongside what can seem like surprisingly small temperature increases – 1.5C or 2C hotter than it was in the era just before the car replaced the horse and cart.
… But the single digit numbers obscure huge ramifications at stake. “We have built a civilization based on a world that doesn’t exist anymore,” as Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University, puts it.
The world has already heated up by around 1.2C, on average, since the preindustrial era, pushing humanity beyond almost all historical boundaries. Cranking up the temperature of the entire globe this much within little more than a century is, in fact, extraordinary, with the oceans alone absorbing the heat equivalent of five Hiroshima atomic bombs dropping into the water every second … the climate crisis is often discussed alongside what can seem like surprisingly small temperature increases – 1.5C or 2C hotter than it was in the era just before the car replaced the horse and cart.
… But the single digit numbers obscure huge ramifications at stake. “We have built a civilization based on a world that doesn’t exist anymore,” as Katherine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University, puts it.
The world has already heated up by around 1.2C, on average, since the preindustrial era, pushing humanity beyond almost all historical boundaries. Cranking up the temperature of the entire globe this much within little more than a century is, in fact, extraordinary, with the oceans alone absorbing the heat equivalent of five Hiroshima atomic bombs dropping into the water every second.
Read “Climate disaster is here” >>
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Weather people continue to predict rain. Rain doesn’t seem to have heard the predictions. We’re still waiting….I miss my houseboat.
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