Covid-19: we only have a few days of data since Resident Biden started overtures for mandating vaccines, but early data suggests folks are finally getting the message. I track the vaccination numbers on a daily basis and the last seven days suggest a definite increase in the number of folks getting vaccinated.
Most of this is probably due to companies enforcing employees to get vaccinations. United Airlines was one of the first. Hospital networks seem to be the second. From here it should snowball.
Today, Los Angeles mandated vaccine "passports." At least that was the headline. I haven't read the story, but it's my understanding that to get into museums or go to the beaches in Los Angeles one will need to show proof of vaccination. Sure, there will be a lot of forgeries, but in the big scheme of things, if nothing else, the beaches and museums might be a bit less busy this summer. Whoo-hoo.
Ouch: gasoline has now risen to its highest price since October, 2014.
Head fake: on the other hand, the price of natural gas has "plummeted" on news that Putin in a white hall will come riding in on a white stallion to save Europe. We'll see. I'm not convinced Russia has the production capacity.
Debt ceiling: breaking news "now" suggests huge day on Wall Street tomorrow, especially after interesting reversal today. For those folks who say Joe Biden can't lead, he's having a pretty good year:
- Covid-19: Delta variant has been subdued; lays down the law on vaccinations, and his "threats" are apparently giving "cover" to corporations, cities, states to mandate vaccinations;
- got the US out of Afghanistan, and that story is off the front page;
- debt ceiling apparently raised;
- up next: huge infrastructure bill;
Word of the day: ojime. Related netsuke.
I've written on netsuke in several posts over at my "literature" blog.
- March 18, 2020. Essay.
- October 26, 2016. Notes on the book.
- October 26, 2016. Notes on the book.
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Shiloh
Shiloh was important to me. I am eager to return. Sooner than later.
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Music Interlude
Immigrant Song: Karen O with Trent Reznor and Atticus
You’re a big Biden guy huh?
ReplyDeleteLets go Brandon!
Agnostic.
DeleteFor the archives, twenty years from now, when this link is likely broken/missing:
ReplyDeletehttps://news.yahoo.com/hear-reporter-mistakes-crowds-f-173900959.html
At the time this was posted, Resident Biden's polling numbers were horrendous, with about 38% of respondents still supporting/favoring Biden.
In sports stadiums across the nation, spectators were chanting "F* Joe Biden."
When the chant broke out following a NASCAR race, a television reporter suggested the crowd was chanting "Let's Go Brandon."
Gasoline prices had hit a seven-year high. More and more comparisons to President Carter.
Whether I'm a Biden guy or not, just wait until I post my thoughts about the southern surge -- the 75,000+ Haitians on their way to the US southern border.
DeleteWith utmost respect I hate to say I must agree. Beginning a couple weeks ago during the Milley hearing there have been at least a half dozen statements you have made that have given me whiplash. This is highly abnormal. You are not carrying the same water you have for years. Just like that something has changed. I have been here since the Teague days, and lately there are things I can't believe I am reading. It will be interesting to see your post on the 75,000 PLUS Haitian border surge.
ReplyDeleteYour voice, your blog, right to your views, I get it.
Dismayed.
1. I always feel badly when readers come to the blog looking for news on the Bakken and then are subjected to my rants and raves, and my opinions on non-Bakken subjects. I try to warn folks ahead of time when I'm off-topic, but so often I do not do that.
Delete2. I'm always humbled to learn that folks read my blog so closely. I always recommend that folks just skip non-Bakken posts when they come to this site.
3. I am very, very impressed you caught this. My position on the vaccine, and my "understanding" of the disease has evolved over the years.
4. I don't know if I have flip-flopped; if I have that's fine. More likely, my thoughts on the disease AND the vaccine have evolved.
5. Of course, this all started with my unqualified support of President Trump and Operation Warpspeed. Trump was a huge supporter of the vaccine.
7. I have wanted the vaccine from the get-go. I thought the process to get it was "crazy," and that's when I talked negatively about the vaccine. Once the vaccine because widely available, and I could get it while grocery shopping (with no appointment), I did that immediately, and got the second of two shots on schedule. It was never an issue for me to get the vaccine, I simply hated the craziness of the process. If the disease was so "bad," the vaccine should have been released to all with no restrictions, no appointments, simply walk in and get the shot.
8. That may or may not be what I suggested / implied on the blog. If so, you can call me on it. I read a lot, think a lot, blog a lot, and forgot what I have posted and how I framed something.
9. After I got the vaccination I felt like a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders. For months, I have been unable to explain "the weight."
10. I knew what I was feeling, but I did not know the word that could describe it.
11. Then, during the ten-hour drive back to Texas from Nashville, with a stop in Shiloh, TN / Corinth, MS, I had an epiphany. I finally understood.
12. There is a word that explained the weight that was lifted off my shoulders. I won't say what that word is/was -- I will get too much push back; it may sound trite; it is definitely not "woke"; my epiphany is not "politically correct" from either side, liberal or conservative. No one will accept it.
13. But for me, wow, it's like the apocryphal story of Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus. I couldn't be happier. Maybe this was my "road to Damascus." If so, it happened on the road to Corinth.
14. And yes, I will be getting the booster even if it's every four months.
15. Hope that helps.