I'm here; I did not wake up dead due to Covid-19. I slept in late. I will get to blogging shortly.
It will take a while for the trained finger muscles to adapt to "2021" after a year of typing "2020." Seems to happen every year about this time.
First things first: top stories for the week, posted.
Let's see, what's in the news?
College football. Wow, the college football games yesterday, the road to the championship. I expected the outcome of the first game, the Rose Bowl, played in Texas, just down the road from us. Alabama easily handled whomever they played. I saw the score but already forgot who they played. Oh, that's right, Notre Dame. Roll Tide.
But wow, that second game, who would have ever guessed? [Do rhetorical questions need question marks?] I forget who was ranked #2, #3 but I certainly thought Clemson would win or at least make it a close game. I think at one time Ohio was up three touchdowns. Truly a blowout. I can't imagine how Clemson players must be feeling this morning. A real embarrassment on national television. I have no dog in this fight. I have little interest in college sports any more.
Covid-19: the vaccination rollout appears to be rolling out very, very slowly; one wonders if Elon Musk was in charge of the rollout plan? As an example, look at one of the smaller states, in terms of population, and a state known for getting things done: Oregon.
Link here. Data points:
- Oregon hoped to get 150,000 doses by December 22, 2020;
- 1A: the first group to get vaccinated
- 400,000 Oregonians in the 1A group
- do the math
- that won't even be enough to handle hospital workers: hospitals will be required to triage/prioritize;
- apparently "they're" still arguing over whether hospital administrators need to be at the top of the list;
- residents and staff of skilled nursing homes: 11,000 doses of that initial 150,000 quota
- 1B: vaccinations begin after 1A completed.
- 400,000 in 1A group; 130,000 doses available; we're not told when additional doses will arrive
- population, Oregon: 4 million
EVs, an op-ed; link here; for the archives;
- a great article; nothing new,
- this article will eventually be moved to a stand-alone post for the archives. It's that good.
Dam removal update:
- previously posted but this op-ed provides more background; appears to be a fairly well-balanced op-ed;
- the environmentalists won't agree;
- four dams on the Klamath River in southern Oregon to be removed;
- decades of negotiations
- debate began over issue of salmon; salmon may have been an issue two decades ago, but no longer;
- a close reading of the article suggests the salmon controversy may be a red herring (LOL, pun intended)
- a close reading of the article suggests the risks of even one dam failing far outweighs the benefits
- the liability to the owner of these dams if one fails is inestimable;
- the amount of energy provided is paltry:
- the owner of the dams agrees that the dams must come down;
- the federal government still needs to approve the plan; I can't imagine the first-ever Native American Secretary of the Interior would block this plan;
And so we move on.
Antifa: speaking of Portland, Oregon. Breitbart has a headline story suggesting that the Portland, Oregon, mayor is
asking for federal help in dealing with Antifa after the most recent New
Year's Eve riots.
However, a close reading of the story from other mainstream media reports suggests that Mayor Wheeler is moving very, very slowly, and for now, is simply asking for federal, state, county, and local law enforcement agencies to convene as quickly as possible. Wheeler's biggest worry: if he moves to quickly, Antifa moves to his neighborhood.
Link here for video. Seems pretty mild to me. A few broken windows. Even in the deep south they have sense enough to board up their windows prior to a hurricane. The reporter says, at most, 50 - 70 individuals, involved. It's hard to believe the city couldn't manage to handle a group so small firing off bottle rockets. Look at Paris -- the poster child for New York Eve's celebrations.
