Shamrocks and Guinness

Russia, Russia, Russia: Yesterday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence now headed by Avril Haines released the declassified version of its report on foreign influence in the November election.  The report, which was completed while the Former Guy was still in office and had earlier been presented to the Congressional intelligence committees, details all the things that Putin did to try to insure that his buddy/useful fool the Former Guy would be reelected concluding that “Russian state and proxy actors who all serve the Kremlin’s interests worked to affect US public perceptions.”  Despite assertions by former Director of National Intelligence/Former Guy toady John Ratcliffe, including a December WSJ op-ed that hasn’t aged well and looks even more deceptive now than it did when it was published, that China had weighed in on behalf of Joe Biden, the report says that the Chinese thought about it but didn’t, that the player that was most active was most definitely Putin who did all the things we knew he was doing.  Those things included employing the nefarious skills of such familiar characters as Paul Manafort’s one time and maybe current associate/Russian agent Konstantin Kilimnik and Andrii Derkach, the not so charming Ukrainian who provided schemer Rudy Giuliani with all his falsely implicating Biden family garbage, including the nonsense that was used for right wing/conspiracy channel OANN’s expose on Biden “crimes.” Rudy’s not mentioned by name but is referred to in the report as one of those proxy actors used by the Kremlin to propagate their damaging lies. By the way, don’t feel bad if you missed the OANN program, most did.         

Viral Musings: A number of European countries including Italy the continent’s first coronavirus hotspot, are closing down again, facing another coronavirus wave thought to be caused by the onslaught of more contagious COVID variants, the slow acquisition and delivery of vaccines, and concerns that the vaccine that many of them have been dispensing, the one from Astra Zeneca, might be causing unusual blood clots in a very small number of people. The UK is still using the Astra Zeneca vaccine but as a result of those concerns thirteen members of the EU have suspended administering the AZ shots pending review.  Here in the US, where AZ has not yet been approved, our vaccine rollout is moving along at an impressive pace with a number of states announcing that they’re opening availability to all adults, a good thing because declines in both positive test results and hospitalizations have plateaued and are even rising in some parts of the country, likely due to the proliferation of more aggressive variants but also the result of far too many Governors dropping virus mitigation restrictions.  US medical experts remain hopeful, though far from certain, that given the pace of our vaccine rollout we’ll manage to avoid a Europe like wave something we should know soon, since our waves lag theirs by just a few weeks. If we do manage to avoid replicating the European experience, it won’t be with the help of Fox’s Tucker Carlson.  Even though he ran to the Former Guy early on to try to push him to take the virus more seriously, instead of encouraging vaccinations he continues to cast shade on the safety of all the vaccines particularly those using mRNA, a message that resonates with somewhere around 49% of Republicans, primarily white males, who say that they have no interest in getting vaccinated.  Of course Fox honcho Rupert Murdoch who limousined in early for his shot doesn’t mind that Tucker is pushing fake news, because ratings and revenues trump survival, right? As to the Former Guy, last night while once again blaming his election loss on rampant fraud and cheating Democrats, he told Fox views that he recommends getting vaccinated to “people that don’t want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me.”  Of course he couldn’t stop there so with a nod to Tucker he added “but again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also.” In separate news Biden’s CDC has taken down some of the guidance posted during the FG’s administration, the ones that were edited by political hacks over the objections of the experts, saying that they were intentionally misleading.  Getting back to Astra Zeneca, the European Medical Commission which continues to say that the benefits of the AZ vaccine outweighs its risk is scheduled to meet on Thursday to review additional information, most notably whether the incidence of those blood clots which to date has been somewhere around 37 cases of the 17 million shot administered is any different than what would have occurred in a similar unvaccinated population.  

Redux:  Because some things never change and pent up demand almost always explodes, migrants, mostly children and teens are crossing the border in record numbers.  Biden’s crew hasn’t put any kids in cages but do appear to be overwhelmed by the numbers showing up and are having trouble moving children into appropriate settings quickly enough while also discouraging more from coming.  To “highlight” the problem, and by highlight think make a political statement about dangerous infected invading hordes, GQP Leader Kevin McCarthy went to the Texas border to call for a return to the FG’s policies and more wall while asserting that the children weren’t children but terrorists from such places as Sri Lanka, an assertion that might have been more credible if he’d been able to pronounce Sri Lanka and if the border patrol guys standing behind him didn’t look like they were stifling laughs behind their masks. And, to no one’s surprise the North Korean’s are threatening to do something evil too, like shoot off a new ballistic missile or explode something worse. Not good but it is what they do whenever a new president takes office.  Sadly, last night we learned once again that targeting minorities has lethal consequences after a shooter in Atlanta killed a number of Asians spa workers. On the hate front, we also keep learning about the anti-Semitic leanings of some members of the forces that were supposed to be protecting the Capitol on January 6^th.  Sporting a Hitler moustache, leaving your copy of the hate filled Protocols of the Elders of Zion, not good looks. That’s not to imply that all Capitol policemen are bad players, most aren’t, so the arrest of two who used bear spray on a few of them including Brian Sicknick whose death was likely caused by a reaction to that noxious substance, provides an indication of what the FBI’s been doing to track down the violent insurgents. It’s fair to assume that their efforts regarding January 6^th are genuine, not so much with regard to their investigation into Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  At least that’s what Senator Sheldon Whitehouse believes, he’s asked newly confirmed Attorney General Garland to look into whether anyone really did that background check on Kavanaugh.  Whitehouse who has been trying to get dark money out of politics, also wants to know who paid off Kavanaugh’s debts.  He’s not the only one who wants to know.  On a brighter note, New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior with the help of a few Republican Senators including Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.  There’s something very right about a Native American running the department responsible for the nation’s natural resources.  

536,922

110,737,856 shots in arms

11.8% fully vaccinated

Happy St Patrick’s Day