Loss of a Legend

https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/535420-baseball-legend-hank-aaron-dies-at-86

I know it is a bit of a diversion from our usual back and forth. But I consider myself well rounded in my past times. Sports, politics, the arts are all important parts of who I am. If anyone thinks this post is irrelevant to the board, I really don’t care.

But Hank Aaron was a sports legend who was more than just a talented athlete. He used his status as a Hall of Famer to do good work in the business community and philanthropically. His receiving the COVID vaccine and feeling great about it is a good message for those in the Black and Brown communities to trust it and not be trepidatious about it.

I recall when he broke Babe Ruth’s HR record. I was 9 and playing little league myself. It was very exciting to watch. I only hit two dingers in my career (3 years).

Farewell, Hammerin’ Hank. And thanks for the memories.

Field Trip

This morning I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine at a drive through clinic in Chowan, North Carolina.

So, now when I call Northam a corrupt monster for the way the vaccine is being handled in Virginia, you can know it’s a matter of principle, not personal.

OK, Let’s make Biden a hero

OK, let’s make Biden a hero. He has the power to end the COVID Emergency in a month. There will still be a COVID Problem, but deaths will decline dramatically and hospitals will be unburdened.

But that requires having enough vaccine and using it efficiently.

The Astra Zenica Vaccine was ready to deploy 6 weeks ago but researchers accidentally discovered that it was even more effective with an adjustment in the dose. Instead of going with that, the FDA sent it back to do Phase 3 testing all over again. Meanwhile. the vaccine is saving lives around the world. Similarly, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is known to exceed the requirements for efficacy and safety, we don’t need to wait another 2 months to find out by how much. Get them both into the game.

Next, the Phase 1b deployment by occupation is incredibly complex and subject to cronyism. It is the reason vaccines sit unused in freezers. Follow the rest of the civilized world and vaccinate oldest first, which is simple, and fast.

Even without the AZ and J&J vaccines, vaccinating everyone over 65 could be accomplished in 6 weeks, with them in less than a month. So, Biden can be a hero by February, but if he allows himself to be hampered by the FDA’s over caution and the CDC’s wokeness, he will fail spectacularly as the more contagious mutations spread through the Spring and hospitals are crushed.

Was it worth it?

No, Trump’s Presidency Wasn’t Worth It

Brent Orrell from American Enterprise Institute provides a lucid answer to the question. “Was the 4 years of T**** worth what little was gained.” (My question, not a quote from anyone else.)

“Points for effort but the books don’t balance. The price tag of the Trump presidency exceeds its value exponentially. The tax cuts, deregulation, judicial appointments, executive orders, and cultural counter-offensives (“he fights”) are trinkets compared to the way he has undermined the values and norms required to sustain the rule of law and the constitutional order. These shiny objects were used to distract, mollify, and provide justification for America’s closest brush with authoritarian government since 1789.”

I have posed this question here previously and the platitudes directed toward T**** wrt this have been weak, at best.

Look, SQUIRRELL!

We Should Be Very Worried About Joe Biden’s “Domestic Terrorism” Bill

Source: Jacobin.

Media hysteria over the non-events* of Jan. 6 is clearly a pretext for new expansions of federal power at the expense of civil liberties. Even the socialist magazine Jacobin recognizes the danger.

*The Capitol incursion was not an insurrection, it was not sedition; the protesters were not a murderous mob seeking to overthrow the U.S. government, etc.

The real threat to democracy – Lies and the Lying Liars who spread them.

https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-dc-riot-is-the-sandy-hook-of-the-disinformation-crisis/?bxid=5de90878bf008116477d0432&bxid=5de90878bf008116477d0432&cndid=59322070&cndid=59322070&esrc=bounceXmulti&esrc=bounceXmulti&hasha=209a3e0177a0584b4ae86551fbe06c84&hasha=209a3e0177a0584b4ae86551fbe06c84&hashb=1954f7fb37d54725c277318f26e67c7375b3a3ae&hashb=1954f7fb37d54725c277318f26e67c7375b3a3ae&hashc=46e7f319d41cf4a988600383b51f0ba0cdfb6df7705b142a7773907df075d658&hashc=46e7f319d41cf4a988600383b51f0ba0cdfb6df7705b142a7773907df075d658&mbid=mbid%3DCRMWIR012019&mbid=mbid%3DCRMWIR012019&source=EDT_WIR_NEWSLETTER_0_TRANSPORTATION_ZZ&source=EDT_WIR_NEWSLETTER_0_TRANSPORTATION_ZZ&utm_brand=wired&utm_brand=wired&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=WIR_FastForward_011821&utm_mailing=WIR_FastForward_011821&utm_medium=email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl&utm_source=nl&utm_term=WIR_Transportation&utm_term=WIR_Transportation

“Alternative facts” is a cute name for a very ugly thing – the technologically enhanced and systematic spreading of lies and disinformation. Voltaire’s famous aphorism is spot on – “If you can make someone believe absurdities you can make them commit atrocities.”

There is no better recent example than the absurdity that Donald Trump won the recent election in a landslide but victory was stolen from him. Millions of people have been made to believe absurdity this and the atrocity of an assault on Congress followed from it.

The problem is clear. The solutions are not easy or obvious but we must find them. On social media, various studies have found that the overwhelming bulk of disinformation originates in relatively few but very popular sources. Trump’s feed is an obvious example, but there are others. Begin there with stricter control over lies and incitements.

Beyond that I would suggest a return of the “Fairness Doctrine” in any media outlet that in any way relies on public resources. If the purveyors of lies knew that every lie would have to be matched with the opposite, there would be less incentive for those who finance these disinformation efforts to do so. Imagine the difference in our body politic if Fox News and Talk Radio actually were “fair and balanced” instead of being the mother lode of lies.

Halloween in January…Richmond lobby day and gangs.

http://digitaledition.pilotonline.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=910e2389-5269-48de-a6d6-4300fd9394ba

Thank you Trump and your fans for turning DC into and armed camp. Some of those same jokers dressed up in full military gear smeared with gang colors to parade around the Richmond Capitol. These are terrorist organizations as listed by the FBI. ISIS wannabes without the courage.


Continue reading “Halloween in January…Richmond lobby day and gangs.” →