The View from the Hermitage, Day 324

My normal early morning read-through of news sources got sidelined when I came across an article in The Guardian about Virginia's being on the brink of becoming the first southern, formerly Confederate state to abolish the death penalty and the 23rd state nationwide. I learned more about the history and practice of capital punishment in Virginia from an English newspaper as opposed to a home-grown one. Or perhaps it's easier for a foreign source to lay bare the bad side of the death penalty Virginia style. As might be expected given historic settlement patterns, the first execution in what is now the United States occurred in Jamestown in 1608. Again perhaps because of history, Virginia has carried out more executions than any other state, 1,390. There is a definite racial bias in Virginia's capital punishment history. Between 1800 and 1920, Virginia executed 625 black people and only 58 white people. Again looking historically, formerly Confederate states account for 80 percent of all executions. 

Besides all the above issues, what other evidence is there in favor of abolishing the death penalty? Try that 4 percent of all capital prosecutions are estimated to end in wrongful convictions. A sentence of life with no chance of parole can, if found to be mistaken, be reversed. The wrongfully convicted person can at least get some of their life back. The wrongfully executed person has no life to reclaim. 

Some bad news on the coronavirus front is that the monoclonal antibodies that have been used to treat the original covid-19 appear not to work against the variants. The study has yet to be peer-reviewed, so we can hope the researchers got it wrong, but I'm betting they didn't. If I were into writing science fiction, I could imagine an intelligent virus that consciously mutates to block treatments and/or vaccines. The US, while leading the world in many of the bad aspects of the virus, is woefully behind in terms of tracking viral mutations. We have shared the genetic sequence of only 0.3 percent of our covid-19 cases, not 3 percent, but 0.3 percent. That puts us 30th in the world behind such countries as Portugal, Latvia, and Sierra Leone. I wonder if Sierra Leone was one of the blank-hole countries Xpot was ranting about in a past life. 

Speaking of Xpot, the outline of his defense was provided to the Senate today. The principal argument is that he cannot be tried because he is no longer in office despite the fact that some other people have been. A secondary argument is that because he firmly believed he lost the election due to electoral fraud, his comments at the pre-riot rally were merely expressions of that belief and perfectly okay under the first amendment. I know what the outcome of the trial will be, but it will be interesting to see how those arguments fly and if Xpot has the nerve to appear as a witness.

The Super Bowl is this weekend. Back when The Sons lived in, the traditional Super Bowl dinner was chili or nachos. The Sons won't be here this year, but I can still make chili, this time using my Instant Pot. I also discovered a type of pie named after The Professor's favorite cookie, oatmeal raisin. The recommended crust is flaky cream cheese pie dough. This will be very interesting. I shall report the outcome of both resolutions on Monday.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 258

I am hoping that the number of newCOVID-19 cases Virginia posted yesterday involves another computer downtime meaning some cases got counted on the wrong day. If that is not the case, then yesterday marked the highest number of new covid-19 cases in Virginia since when? Since ever! And it would not just be the highest number yet, but the highest by almost 500 cases. Our 3,183 new cases yesterday were but a ripple in the pond of the national total of 205,460, just as our 10 deaths contributed little to the nation's 1,412 deaths. The hot spots continue to be concentrated in the Midwest (Kansas, the Dakotas) or West (Idaho, Montana), though no state has been without a recent or current surge. 

In about a week we should seeing what effect, if any, Thanksgiving travel has on the pandemic. I day "if any" while rolling my eyes. I know there will be an effect and not in a good direction. Anyone who takes the pandemic seriously knows there will be an effect, an effect that will be compounded by the Christmas and New Year's holiday.If we could be seeing 3,000 deaths per day in mid-December, what will we be seeing at the end of January, keeping in mind that deaths lag cases sometimes by a nontrivial length of time.

The Lame Duck seems to have dropped off the radar after this Thanksgiving address given at a desk way too tiny for his large body. He looked like an adult sitting at the kids' table. Or perhaps I have done a more thorough job than usual of avoiding news. There have certainly been some newsworthy items coming out of The Duck's administration. They'd evidently like to execute five more federal prisoners before The Lame Duck is no longer Lame. To help speed things up, they're proposing to use new alternatives to lethal injection, including electrocution, nitrogen gas, and firing squad. They can only use a method that is in use in the same state for state capital offenses. For example, Utah allows firing squad as an option, so the feds could use it there as well.

Interestingly, The Professor and Son #1 informed me that of all the methods of execution, nitrogen gas is the most humane. Evidently, there is no sense of asphyxiation or not being able to breathe. Someone who inhales nitrogen immediately goes unconscious after which lack of oxygen kills. Death does not happen immediately, but there is no pain or discomfort. This is why cryogenics labs have oxygen meters all over the place with alerts if the oxygen level in the air drops too far relative to the nitrogen level. Too much nitrogen and, bam!, you drop to the ground unconscious, and that is all she wrote. Nitrogen gas is an acceptable form of capital punishment in Oklahoma and about three other states, though it has yet to be used in an execution. 

Amy Coney Barrett, the newbie on the Supreme Court, this week voted in the majority to overturn the size limits New York had imposed on religious gatherings. Much was made during her confirmation hearings of her Catholic faith. Interestingly, Pope Francis disagrees with her on this one. He has noted that while religion is important, keeping people alive is also important, so if limiting the gathering of religious services helps in that regard, limits are good. I'm not Catholic, but I'm with Francis on this one. 

My back is slowly getting better. I am my own worst enemy. By late afternoon Thursday, after spending the day on my feet, I was in tears and ready to seek medical attention. Yesterday, I did move around some, going on two walks with Son #1 and The Family Dog, but skipped any prolonged standing. I also made liberal use of the heating pad when sitting. Last night, my back felt just fine, no twinges at all. I'm hoping that little by little it's getting there. Most of the websites I looked at said that back pain is considered chronic after 12 weeks, and I'm just now at four weeks. 

I survived the morning's Homeowners Association meeting conducted via Zoom. I would not be averse to having all our future meetings via Zoom.We have meetings once a year because our status as an official HOA requires at least one meeting per year. Last year's was the only one that I would say was more friendly than whiney; we met outside and one neighbor brought home-churned peach ice cream. This morning we were back to whiney. I tried not to make too many facial expressions that conveyed my distaste for certain people. As one of the few residents who has actually read the covenants of the subdivision, I was left to remind people that certain things could not be done or how certain things had been amended. At least reading sections of the covenants kept me from mouthing off as I might otherwise have done.

I go now to the kitchen to turn the heavy cream and condensed milk I did not end up using on Thursday into ice cream. It's a rough job, but someone has to do it.