Theatrics

Republicans Behaving Badly: Here we are, another week and a lot of really stupid things being said by Republican officials.  During a hearing on the increase in anti-Asian discrimination that had been scheduled even before this week’s Atlanta area spa shootings, Texas Congressman Chip Roy glorified lynching by stating “There’s old sayings in Texas about find all the ropes  and get a tall oak tree. You know we take justice very seriously, and we ought to do that. Round up the bad guys.” Who doesn’t think that pushing lynching during a discussion of ethnic discrimination is a good thing? While he had the microphone, Roy also bashed “Communist China” because why not bash China at a hearing on discrimination against Asian Americans? In response to criticism about his remarks, Roy doubled down, saying that he meant them. His remarks came just one day after Captain Jay Baker, the officer serving as the communications spokesperson for the investigation into the spa shootings dismissed the likelihood that the killings had anything to do with most of the victims being Asian by saying that the shooter was just a sexually frustrated guy “fed up” and having a “really bad day.” Proving a hate crime is difficult as figuring out a killer’s motive is tough but suggesting that the shooter was just having a bad day, as compared to what, his dead victims and their families?  By yesterday, Baker had been replaced as the spokesperson, maybe something to do with those pictures he had earlier posted on social media, the ones of him encouraging his friends to order the t-shirt he was wearing before it sold out,  that shirt called COVID an “imported virus from CHY-NA.”  To be fair, there’s no evidence that Roy is a registered Republican but given that he appeared to be echoing the Former Guy, that’s a fair assumption. Then there’s Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who vowed to follow a scorched earth policy if the Democrats get rid of or further dilute the filibuster.  That’s McConnell who promised to do everything he could to ruin President Obama’s presidency and then used his leadership powers to block the confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland when he was nominated by Obama for the Supreme Court, who tried but fell one McCain thumb short of getting rid of Obamacare, who eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court Justice confirmations so he could get three of his on the Court, who passed $1.9 trillion of corporate tax cuts circumventing the filibuster through the use of reconciliation and who bragged about being the grim reaper barring votes for almost anything other than conservative judge confirmations. McConnell seems really concerned that in addition to passing the types of socially progressive legislation that he abhors, the Democrats will get voting rights protections enacted into law, those are the rights that would make all those laws that red states are trying to get on their books to suppress voting by Democratic leaning minorities illegal, or would try to make them illegal until the Supreme Court that he stacked finds reasons to say that they aren’t. Of course, McConnell isn’t the only GQP leader up to no good, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy spent the week trying to get Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell thrown off the House Intelligence Committee. McCarthy who has no problem with Devin Nunes who served as a conduit for Russian propaganda serving as the committee’s ranking member is trying to paint Swalwell as a traitor because early in his career he had been befriended by a woman who turned out to be a Chinese operative.  Of course, unlike Nunes and quite a few others like Republican Senator Ron Johnson, when Swalwell was told by the FBI about his “friend’s” nefarious motives he did what he was supposed to do, he cooperated with intelligence officials and cut off his ties with the “spy” who tried to become his bestie.  Nothing like trying to punish someone for doing the right thing.  On the international front, Putin and Biden aren’t getting along, something about Biden saying Vlad who’s been known to poison and defenestrate his enemies a murderer and Putin responding by calling his US Ambassador home for a visit while snidely wishing Biden the best of health.  Likewise Chinese officials aren’t all that happy with Biden’s team, apparently frank talks don’t go over well with adversaries.        

Viral Musings:  When Biden took over he promised to get 100 million COVID vaccines into arms during the first 100 days of his administration.  At some point today, 58 days into his administration, that goal will be achieved, not remarkable since it was a fairly modest goal to begin with. What’s more impressive is the large supply of vaccines his team has secured, his promise that every adult who wants a shot slot will be able to get one in May and that we’re averaging 2.9 million shots today, a number that continues to grow, and will need to in order to meet that May promise.  Confident that the incoming supply of Moderna, Pfizer and J & J shots will be sufficient, Biden plans to send some abroad, starting with 4 million of the Astra Zeneca doses that we have in reserve but haven’t yet been granted US approval for emergency use.  He’ll be sending them to Canada and Mexico. Though not directly tied to getting help with the migrant surge, the not so subtle expectation is that Mexico will respond to Biden’s “vaccine diplomacy” by helping with the border problem, the “invasion” that Republicans are teeing up as the issue of issues for the midterms.  As to the AZ shot, yesterday the European Medicines Agency said that the “benefits of the vaccine in combating the widespread threat of COVID-19, which itself results in clotting problems and may be fatal continue to outweigh the risk of side effects.” They also said that the vaccine is not associated with an overall increase in the risk of blood clots in those who get it though it may be associated with a very, very rare risk of thrombocytopenia as in a low level of platelets that could result in clotting.  The bottom line is that though the risk to life from getting the AZ vaccine is infinitesimal, the clot occurrence as rare as it is, feeds into the fears of those looking for excuses to avoid getting their jabs, a problem that exists not just here in the US but in Europe and one that the Russians and their bots have been amplifying because that’s what they do. And, sadly they’re not the only ones putting stupid ideas into people’s heads.  Yesterday, during a Senate hearing, Senator Rand Paul, the eye doctor who should really know better but clearly doesn’t told virus guru Fauci that there was 0% that anyone who’d already had COVID or who has been vaccinated runs the risk of getting COVID and that Fauci wearing two masks is “just theater.”  Guru Fauci, who looked like he wanted to do to Paul what his neighbor already did, i.e. slam his head with something big and lethal, made it clear that masks are not theater, that until we stop giving the virus and its nefarious variants people to infect the danger will continue. By the way, Paul who went swimming in the Capitol pool back when he had COVID because he didn’t care about spreading the disease to his Senate colleagues or anyone else in the Capitol environs, refuses to wear a mask and is one of those people who has opted against getting vaccinated.  Paul isn’t the only one pushing stupidity, yesterday at a virus roundtable hosted by Florida Governor DeSantis, Scott Atlas, the Former Guy’s virus advisor/radiologist was back, claiming fear pushed by the media and misinformed experts was responsible for COVID trauma while suggesting that things like lockdowns, contact tracing, and masks, rather than the disease were the real concerns. One other piece of news on the health front, we now have a Health and Human Services Secretary, with the help of only one Republican, Maine’s Susan Collins, Xavier Bercerra was confirmed yesterday.           

539,698

115,730,008 shots in arms