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Researchers have been using the genome sequenced in China to develop vaccines for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the "coronavirus" that causes the disease COVID-19 that has created a global pandemic. It turns out that the version that infected the New York City metropolitan area came from Europe. That strain of the virus is different from the one that originated in China, and is even more contagious than the Chinese virus.
Worse, mutations make the virus a moving target for vaccine developers.
Every year, researchers try to guess which mutations of the virus that caused the flu will be most prevalent, and make vaccines in advance that are intended to immunize people against perhaps 3 of the most worrisome strains. But the effectiveness of flu vaccines in providing immunity varies greatly from year to year. The best years provide 60% effectiveness: the worst, only 10%. Either way, the vaccines are no panacea for the flu.
It looks like the same situation will obtain with this particular coronavirus. And it is more contagious than the flu viruses, and apparently more deadly. Already it has killed over 70,000 people in America, more than die from the flu in a typical flu season. And there is no end in sight.
But stock markets love it. They have been rallying in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Since stocks bottomed in the U.S. around March 21, stock averages have shot up like rockets. The Nasdaq has recouped all its year to date losses and is back at even. The Dow Jones Industrial average, which at the nadir was down around 30%, is now only 17% below its all time high. This when U.S. unemployment is now at Great Depression levels, and most companies' profits have been wiped out. Irrational exuberance, anyone?
People's misery is celebrated by the stock speculators.
There are articles on the bioRxiv website documenting mutations in the virus dated March 16 and later. See https://www.biorxiv.org/search/sars-cov-2%252Bmutations
This video is ranted by self-described "dumb jag-off nightclub comedian" Jimmy Dore. I have mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, he is intemperate and intolerant of different viewpoints from his own, and heaps vituperation at people at the drop of a hat. On the other hand, we need rabble-rousers. He helps direct outrage and hatred at the Democratic Party and its cynical, dishonest politicians.
But he also thinks, correctly, that Trump is awful. So he does a useful service there.
But what is possibly a deal killer is the fact that he acts as a propagandist for the Assad regime of Syria. This is really despicable.
In case you didn't know, "jagging off" is slang for masturbation. Other slang terms for that activity are jerking off, beating off, beating one's meat, spanking the money, and hundreds or maybe thousands of expressions in other languages. I wonder if anyone ever published a compendium of such expressions?
