The View from the Hermitage, Day 275

On the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell today extolled the many accomplishments of The Lame Duck and then, gasp, acknowledged Uncle Joe as President-Elect and Kamala Harris as Vice-President Elect. There may have been a bit of a volcanic eruption at the White House, but the world as we know it did not end. And The Lame Duck's good friend Vladimir from Moscow, phoned Uncle Joe to congratulate him. I don't expect that gesture was well-received at the White House either. As for why it took a long while for Vlad to call, I'm going to go with that he was waiting for the Electoral College to make things official. 

A new strain of covid-19 has been found in the South of England. It is not uncommon for viruses to mutate, and this is not the first covid-19 one found. This new strain apparently spreads more quickly than the "original" one but it does not appear to be more dangerous. Investigations of whether it might be drug-resistant are ongoing. 

As far as the House of Representative in the US Congress goes, I live in the 5th Congressional District of Virginia. Our November election featured a doctor at the local university's health center who also had a law degree and had served on health care task forces in the administrations of both Obama and The Lame Duck (the Democrat) running against a former administrator at a very Christian college who stands slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. The 5th district having been gerrymandered to favor the Republican in any race did, as expected, elect the Republican. From this morning's Washington Post: "Future Va. Lawmaker doubts the pandemic: Bob Good calls it 'phony' despite 300 covid deaths in congressional district." Of course, in searching for that link, I also found this little gem. Discussing this article would not be good for my blood pressure issues, so I'll let readers find out or not just how disheartening it can be to live in Virginia. 

To make me, and possibly you, feel better, today's Washington Post also contained a Health and Science article on "pandemic frustration." It included this little gem that I shall not forget:

In Iceland the government launched a campaign, called Let It Out, to improve people’s moods during the pandemic. People worldwide were invited to record their screams online “to release their bottled-up frustrations,” which were then played via gigantic speakers in some of Iceland’s most remote locations. According to the project’s website, “screaming is a therapeutic tool and can be effective to release pent-up emotion.” I can’t cite a study for that but I can tell you it worked for me.

I especially love the part about the government playing the screams in some remote locations. There are a lot of remote locations in Iceland, so they probably won't run out.My scream (yes, you can still do this via lookslikeyouneediceland.com) plays in the northern part of Iceland. And, yes, I did feel better after screaming.

I was going to end on a non-coronavirus note, but I feel so good right now that I'll save that note for tomorrow. If you send a scream, I hope it works as well for you as it did for me.