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Top Three Takeaways – September 20th, 2021
- None more liberal in the country than Florida’s Democrats. As part of today’s Q&A I’ve addressed ways to identify locally elected officials who’ve sided with the hardest left elements of the Democrat party nationally – with examples of local Democrats who don’t fit the bill as well. As part of the illustration, I referenced Florida’s Democrat Congressional delegation which I haven’t done in the current Congress and under the leadership of President Biden until now and guess, what? You might be able to infer based upon where I started, they all have the most liberal voting records in Congress – voting 100% of the time with President Biden’s position. This places every Florida elected Democrat in Congress to the left of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s voting record in the current Congress. Some might like to continue to talk a populist game or attempt to strike a moderating tone rhetorically, as always though, there remain two sides to stories and one side to facts. The voting records are the facts. This means wannabee governor again Charlie Crist is as liberal as any Democrat in the country. Ditto Val Demmings and Stepanie Murphy in addition to SFL reps Deutch, Frankel and Wasserman-Shultz.
- Science denier? You probably won’t hear President Biden referred to as this in news media, they ironically reserved that for President Trump who is the one who facilitated the record fast COVID-19 vaccine programs for all three vaccines administered in the United States. Anyway, on Friday the FDA’s panel overwhelmingly rejected his claim that boosters need to begin to be administered for all previously vaccinated after eight months, opting instead for a recommendation for only those 65 and older. The panel’s recommendation is non-binding and already there are signs the FDA might attempt to ignore their own expert panel’s recommendation on this, in addition to the WHO’s similar findings. Would this not make President Biden and like-minded administration officials science deniers? A more honest news media would ask these questions of all related officials. Starting with the president. Speaking of vaccines...
- Another boost for Moderna. Part of the reason the booster consideration has squarely centered around the Pfizer vaccine to-date, is that the Moderna vaccine has proven to be the most effective. That was evidenced again on Friday by the CDC’s latest study. In the study, Moderna’s vaccine was shown to continue to prevent hospitalization for COVID-19 at a 93% clip for those vaccinated compared to 88% with Pfizer and 71% with the J&J. All related studies in recent months, from the Mayo Clinic’s to Moderna’s own and now the CDC’s have shown a clear pecking order of efficacy. Moderna’s best, Pfizer’s second and J&J trails considerably. That’s instructive for those still considering whether to get vaccinated but is also worth considering for those choosing to get boosters, whenever that might be. It’s also a reminder for the vaccinated, that while prevention of hospitalization remains strong, breakthrough cases are happening, and some do lead to harsh symptoms. In better news, Florida’s weekly trend for new cases is the lowest since July 23rd, or nearly two months ago and cases are half of what they were just a month ago. There’s a lot less of the virus flying around in our state generally these days.