Are We There Yet?

In my last post of 2024, I expressed hope that 2025 would, on the whole, be better than 2024 had been. So far, so good at least on the personal level. Spouse had a double cardiac bypass on January 2, and his recovery is proceeding as it should. He is more of a Type A person than he would like to admit, so I occasionally have to remind him that there are things he should not do yet or that it's okay to want to take a nap. The literature he was given about the bypass says that the need for napping or extra rest may last for six to eight weeks. I tell Spouse that he's livin' the dream, napping with impunity.  

My medical travails continue. I will spare you the photo of the top of my head nine days out from removal of a basal cell carcinoma. It looks a lot better now than it did last weekend. In fact, I'm out in public right now without a head or incision covering for the first time. It's not really that noticeable unless someone is taller than I am or standing behind me while I'm sitting.The past week belonged to the dentist, while the coming week belongs to the orthopedic surgeon. I still struggle with the idea of surgery, but am willing to hear what it might entail. 

I'm sitting in the lobby of one of the local libraries. One of Spouse's retired colleagues died recently, and the memorial service is this afternoon. Since Spouse won't be cleared to drive for at least two more weeks, I'm his designated driver. The physicist who passed was 83. One of my friends who will turn 89 in March just transferred from a hospital to a rehab center. She texted the usual "growing old is not for sissies" when she let friends know that she was in the hospital. When do you decide you are old or growing in that direction? While aging was part of the cause of Spouse's cardiac difficulties, it's not really behind any of my medical maladies. I feel the passage of time when for example, I think of something in the past and realize how many years ago it happened.  Do I need a medical condition that resulted from my age to make me feel as if I were growing old? I am certainly in worse physical shape and more fatigued than I was even ten years ago, much of that can be attributed to the long COVID.

I end now before my fingers start typing something about our current political situation here in the US. It's not good, and it will take years, or even decades, to recover if in fact we ever do. And on that cheery note, 2025 probably will be worse than 2024 after all.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 329 (829)

It seems that the administration of the previous or expired POTUS was trying to obtain herd immunity via mass infection. Needless to say, this likely contributed to oh so very many preventable deaths in the fall and winter of 2020-21. Wacko (in my humble opinion) doctor Scott Atlas pushed the White House to change CDC guidance and limit the amount of covid testing. He also disparaged and politicized mask-wearing as a mitigation measure without proposing alternatives. The purpose of limiting testing was that it would hurt the now-out-of-office POTUS in the election. Deborah Birx, one of the legitimate doctors advising the White House, described White House efforts to suppress information as cases surged in late 2020. She said that documents held back included data on viral spread and recommendations for containing it. Birx sent regular updates to each state and said she was told to change those reports about 25 percent of the time. If she did not make the requested changes, the reports were not sent. It makes me wonder even more than I already have how things would be today if the US had taken the pandemic seriously from the day it was declared or even before. 

Back in the present day, New York City will no longer enforce the mask mandate for businesses. It is not clear how much it was still being enforced in the first place. An epidemiologist at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health says vaccination mandates would help in light of masks no longer being required but only if there is some incentive or disincentive offered or imposed. 

It did not surprise me to read that Americans in lower socioeconomic communities are about half as likely as those in wealthier communities to get antivirals such as Paxlovid. One contributing factor is that the antivirals require a prescription and must be started in the early days of infection. People in the lower SES communities may not have easy access to a Primary Care Physician, which makes getting a prescription within the prescribed time limit difficult. 

A couple of quickies: Florida-based Publix grocery stores will not offer covid vaccinations to children under the age of five. You've seen this here before, but Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 can escape antibody responses in people who have been fully vaccinated and boosted and previously infected. It's not monkeypox, but sewage samples in London have shown evidence of a rare polio virus. Right now, they're saying it's no biggie because children are vaccinated against polio. At the same time, though, they're encouraging people who may have missed one or more of their child's routine vaccinations to catch up. Britain was declared polio-free in 2003 and, I'm sure, would like to stay that way.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 187 (687)

Leading up to the Olympics, over 8,000 people had arrived in Beijing as of Saturday, 211 of whom tested positive for covid. Some experts say in a negative tone that China's "closed loop" and strict covid rules may be better at keeping covid from escaping to the outside rather than protecting the people inside the loop from becoming infected. I thought that was the whole point of the bubble or closed loop. It fits with China's zero covid policy; the counts inside can go as high possible as long as the count outside stays as low as possible. Locals volunteering or otherwise being inside the closed look won't be able to return to their homes until they've quarantined. Quarantine for someone testing positive inside the bubble could be for as long as five weeks. Even the trash will be isolated in keeping with China's opinion that some cases have come from virus on an object or surface.

Austria is ending the lockdown of all unvaccinated people even as it prepares to approve a vaccine mandate for all adults. As of Monday, unvaccinated people can leave their homes. They still won't be allowed to enter nonessential shops, restaurants, or cultural institutions for two weeks. Once the vaccine mandate is in place, failure to provide proof of vaccination could mean a fine of $4,000.

It did not surprise me to see stats counting US adults by their political party and vaccination status. Of Democrats, only nine percent are unvaccinated, 29 percent have had shots but no booster, and 62 percent have had a full set of shots including a booster. For Republicans, the percentages in those same three categories would be 36 percent, 30 percent, and 32 percent. For independents, 22 percent, 39 percent, and 37 percent. In other words, more Republican adults are unvaccinated than have gotten the full shots plus booster. Vaccination makes a huge difference, and so does a booster. The weekly average numbers of deaths per 100,000 people in October and November 2021 (in other words, pre-Omicron) were 7.8 for unvaccinated, 0.6 for vaccinated but no booster, and 0.1 for those with vaccinations including a booster. 

I have learned a bit more about the Omicron family. There are actually four members discovered so far. BA.1 is what we know as "Omicron." BA.2 is the "stealth" variant. There is also a BA.3 that appears to be the product of viral sex, with BA.1 and BA.2 simultaneously infecting the same person with their combination making a new viral hybrid. Finally, there is something called BA.1.1.529 about which I could find nothing but a mention. Right now, BA.2 makes up 82 percent of cases in Denmark, nine percent of cases in the UK, and eight percent of cases here in the US. While Omicron numbers are dropping in most states, the emergence of BA.2 could slow those downward trends.

Of the pandemic, he governor of New Jersey says, "We're not going to manage this to zero. We have to learn how to live with this." He is not the only governor feeling this way. It may take a while, though. Hospitals are still full; some are getting fuller. Deaths are still rising. Once the Omicrons have had their way with us, that endemic philosophy might be the way to go as long, that is, as no other, more serious variant has emerged. And more variants will emerge as long as so much of the world remains unvaccinated. 

My free covid tests courtesy of the federal government are supposed to arrive in today's mail. Here's hoping we have no reason to use them any time soon. 

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 98 (598)

I've been using coronavirus news to try to block out the results of yesteday's state election contests. It hasn't really helped. Even foreign countries were viewing the Virginia gubernatorial race as a portent of what the 2022 and 2024 national elections might hold. I have informed The Professor that he should retire as soon as possible so that we can start looking at property in the Canadian Maritimes. The undercurrents of our state results and what may well happen in 2022 and 2024 are not the country in which I want to live. I was hoping that the 2020 elections would help improve things, but they have not. I would say that today's Republican Party is not my father's, but had my father still been alive, we would have become estranged about the time XPot threw his hat into the 2016 campaign. He would be part of the right-wing extremes of the Republican Party, and I would not have wanted to acknowledge being related to him. 

The election was brutal in terms of turnout. For the first time ever, our precinct was not given enough ballots and had to request more. The 730 they thought we needed (30 were for a machine designed to assist voters with visual or manual difficulties) turned into 900, of which we used over 800. I managed to keep my mouth shut (people who have known me a long time know how difficult this would have been for me) when the one election official who identifies as Republican (we do not register by party in Virginia, but election officials have to designate with which party they identify) wore a mask proclaiming "Let's pretend this is useful." When our former precinct chair came to vote, he told the current precinct chair (his wife) to tell her to remove it and wear a plain mask. I left as it became clear the current chief did not agree with the former. 

So now I look at 2022 and see the Republicans regaining control of the House of Representatives (they regained control of our state analog yesterday) and Senate and clearing the way for an even more conservative Supreme Court than we now have. As for 2024, I don't even want to go there, so I won't.

One the coronavirus front, the CDC yesterday approved the Pfizer vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11, and those vaccinations began this morning in some places. This was most welcome news for the under 30 percent of parents who had said they would get their children vaccinated as soon as approval had been granted. I know several parents who have been home-schooling their children while awaiting vaccine approval. POTUS calls the approval of the pediatric vaccine "a turning point in our battle against Covid-29."

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has tested positive for covid, meaning he will miss this weekend's game against his State-Farm-ad best buddy Patrick Mahomes. I was really looking forward to watching that. The earliest Rodgers could be back would be November 13, the day before the game against the Seattle Seahawks if he remains asymptomatic. According to NFL protocol, he must sit out for 10 days and test negative twice with 24 hours between tests. His vaccination status is unclear. He has said he was "immunized," but the NFL Network reports he has not gotten the covid vaccine. 

The Netherlands is expanding some mitigation measures including requiring more mask wearing. Masks have been required on public transport; they will now be required in stores, university libraries, and hallways. Museums, gyms, and some other places will not require masks but will require proof of vaccination, recovery from covid, or a negative test result. Residents are being urged to keep socially distant, work from home, and limit domestic travel. According to the Prime Minister, "In this phase, everything depends on our own behavior." Last week, there were 54,000 new cases, a 39 percent increase from the previous week. The number of patients hospitalized showed a 31 percent increase over the same period. In regard to hospitalizations, the Dutch health minister says, "The inconvenient truth is that most of these patients would not have needed to be there if they had been vaccinated." 

Vaccination status and Thanksgiving could be a bad mixture. The dinner conversation adage of avoiding sex, death, and politics may best be amended to include vaccination status. A professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in health behaviors describes the situation as "People who get vaccinated can also be self-righteous, and some people who haven't been vaccinated can be belligerent. That could really be a combustible mix." The CDC's holiday guidance is that people should protect others ineligible for vaccines such as young children (this may not really apply any longer), by getting vaccinated and urging others to do the same. They might also encourage guests to be vaccinated. Multiple households gathering from different parts of the country might want to consider covid tests beforehand. 

Given that this is a somewhat longer post, I should issue a warning that I see my hand doctor Friday. The cortisone injection in my right thumb three weeks ago didn't offer any lasting relief, so I need to see what else might help. I do know that surgery is one option, but that sounds even more onerous than a knee replacement was--four weeks in a spline, four weeks in a cast, four to six months of rehab. I'm hoping there's an in-between option up for grabs. After my right rotator cuff repair, I spent some weeks able to type with only my left hand. The results were not pretty when I re-read emails from that period.  Stay tuned for details.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 333

I did turn on the impeachment trial coverage today. It's disheartening to hear the announcers talking about Republican Senators who are not paying attention. They said that one was looking at a map of Asia and writing in the country names. Really?!? I had teachers who would have thrown an eraser (remember the days of chalkboards?) at that guy and hit him in the head. I did learn a new word, though: prebut. It's rebutting before what you want to rebut is introduced. Prebut. I like that. 

It is probably not surprising, but Americans' perception of the risk of contracting covid-19 is the lowest it has been since October. When asked how they would view the risk of returning to pre-pandemic behavior right now, 9 percent said there would be no risk while 25 percent said the risk would be small. The people least likely to see covid-19 as a risk were (no surprise here) ages 18-29 (58 percent) and (again no surprise) Republicans (49 percent). On the flip side, though, 76 percent of those who had been vaccinated still saw covid-19 as a risk. 

Speaking of vaccinations, Dr. Fauci says that by April we could be at "open season" for vaccinations. Anyone who wants to be vaccinated can then be vaccinated. I hope he's correct, but I'm not that optimistic. I did see "fully vaccinated" defined as having had both shots with at least two weeks having passed since the second shot. At the same time, I saw guidance that one should assume protection may start to wear off after three months. 

Covid case numbers are declining or holding steady in all 50 states but the national numbers are not what could be considered "good." More states are loosening restrictions, something that may not be a good idea. Germany is extending its lockdown despite a drop in the number of cases. The British government is said to have plans to introduce mandatory quarantine and prison sentences for travelers who lie on entry forms. I have to say that this sounds pretty drastic and I'll believe it when I see or hear more details about it.

Psychiatrists are warning of a "tsunami" of eating disorders. The isolation of lockdown has people feeling out of control. Food becomes something that can be controlled, something that can compensate for the lack of control felt in other life things. Since reading this, I've been trying to figure out whether I'm just repressing a sense of no control or if I'm just coping with it really well. Does it matter that I've said not entirely jokingly that my 2020 began in May 2019 when my mom started having health problems? Only about a month after we got her squared away in assisted living in January 2020 the pandemic reared its ugly head. I did stick to my guns about leaving my job, but still it took over a year to actually end being on call. Have I just accepted that there's not as much control in my life given everything that's happened in the last almost-two years? I'll have to give that some thought.

It's snowing again, leading off what could be five days of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and wintry mix. I didn't realize how last year's non-winter (we had less than two inches of snow spread out over the whole season) bummed me out. It does help that I have no reason or desire to drive anywhere. I love watching the snow fall, and I love walking in it. The snow is slowly building up on the branches of the dogwood tree outside the dining room window, and I love watching the change from brown to white branches. It's calming. 

As I've been typing, the House impeachment managers have rested their case, opening the door for Xpot's attorneys to being their defense tomorrow. The CNN talking heads said the final vote might even be taken on Saturday. I don't think he'll be convicted, but I might consider it a win if more than six Republicans vote for conviction. I do have champagne ready should that  happen. 

 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 314

It's been a slow news day. In fact, the days since the inauguration all seem to have been slow news days compared to the days, weeks, and months before. Even the tenor of coronavirus reports seems muted. Is the world taking a collective deep breath in relief that the past has passed? Do we now suffer from politics fatigue as well as pandemic fatigue? Maybe it's just a slow weekend.

Xpot's impeachment trial will begin on February 9. What did you do after your term, Mr. President? Jimmy Carter embraced human rights. George W. Bush (Bush 43) took up painting and is actually quite good. Xpot will go on trial in the Senate accused of inciting insurrection. He's also the subject of four different investigations ... for now. There may be more yet to drop. Daughter Ivanka is supposedly a major figure in two of the investigations; it's a family affair!

Continuing with politics, The New York Times reports that Xpot plotted with a Department of Justice official to fire the acting Attorney General to clear the way to forcing Georgia Republicans to overturn Xpot's election defeat. Former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller said that  when he took the job in November he set three goals: no military coup, no major war, and no troops in the street. To quote a Meat Loaf song, two out of three ain't bad.

Finally, in a combination of medical news and News of the Weird, an Icelandic man has received the world's first double-arm-and-shoulder transplant. He lost his arms some time ago after being struck by lightning. It is not known if the arms will actually be useful. It will take time and a lot of therapy to find out.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 313

The local health district says that The Professor and I will get vaccinated "hopefully sometime in the next two months." I can live with that. It's not as if I have places to go, things to do, and people to see. Yes, the list of appointments to make once I feel safe going out (which will be at least a month after my second vaccination) is growing, and the lag times will be long with many other people who have delayed visits to the same places I have. As before, I can live with that.

I watched clips of Dr. Fauci's press briefing yesterday. My god, but he looked relaxed at last. At least 10 years younger as well. He's too professional to dish on Xpot, but I'm sure there are stories he could tell. I especially liked his comment about now being able to admit you did not know something whereas before the encouragement was to make something up. And the health professionals may now follow the science not the science fiction. Dr. Fauci called it "a liberated feeling." We're in much better hands today than we were a week ago.

The Times of London reports that the Tokyo Olympics will soon be canceled. The games cannot again be postponed since 2022 is a Winter Olympics year. 2032 would be the next year Tokyo could get the summer games. Paris and Los Angeles are set for 2024 and 2028. The Japanese government is, as might be expected, denying the cancellation report. March 25 has been mentioned as the drop dead date for a final decision. 

The House of Representatives has announced that it will deliver a single article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday, Senate rules say that once the article arrives, the Senate becomes a court of impeachment and must stop all other business until the case has been decided. As we all know, however, rules can be stretched, and the Senate may want to finish more of Mr. Biden's Cabinet appointments before hearing the case. Rudy Giuliani has withdrawn as attorney for Xpot given that he might well be a witness or unindicted co-conspirator. I of course want a verdict that ensures that Xpot cannot run again for any federal office. If only 17 Republican Senators feel the same way.

Mr. Biden may have to relinquish the Peloton bicycle he rides every morning because the interactive tablet could be hacked. Michelle Obama's Peloton was disconnected for the same reason. I would assume that they could connect a system of canned rides that offer the encouragement and competition without the live connection. No instructor to encourage the rider, but no prying eyes either. 

Barron was nowhere to be seen when Xpot and the Missus got on Air Force One on Wednesday. He had apparently been taken there earlier in the morning and was waiting for them aboard the plane. Xpot's having made a cameo in Home Alone 2, Son #1 imagined that the parents had left Barron behind so that when Mr. and Dr. Biden entered the family quarters, Barron wandered out of a bedroom clad in boxer shorts and asking what was going on. Funny as that is to imagine, I am very glad it did not happen that way. Barron, 10 years old when the Xpot regime began, has endured enough. 

On a non-pandemic, apolitical note, there's research showing that electric eels hunt in packs. Not too many fish do, so this is potentially a big thing. The eels herd groups of tetra fish into tightly packed balls and then synchronize their electric attacks before dining. There are three species of electric eels; the largest can grow to eight feet and produce an 860-volt shock. For comparison, electric chairs use in the neighborhood of 3,000 volts. 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 310

The end may be in sight. This evening will be Inauguration Eve. Uncle Joe has bid farewell to Delaware; he and Dr, Biden will spend tonight in Blair House. There will be no morning meeting with The Lame Duck (I shall have to come up with a new name for him once noon tomorrow passes), nor will Dr. Biden meet with Mrs. Duck. I still remember when The Ducks arrived at the White House for tea with the Obamas. The Lame Duck stepped out of the car to ascend the porch steps, leaving Mrs. Duck to exit the car, walk around the tail end of it alone, to arrive a small bit late for the greetings. I cannot imagine The Ducks greeting Uncle Joe and Dr. Biden. I can't even imaging The Ducks greeting them rudely, turning their backs, and walking hack indoors without have said anything. 

The Lame Duck should be releasing his list of pardons and clemency actions later today. The latest word on the street is that he will not be preemptively pardoning family members and friends, nor will he pardon himself. He did note a while back that he did not need to pardon himself because he had done nothing wrong. He may be using similar logic in terms of his family. It will be interesting to see who besides Lil Wayne is on the list. 

Twelve National Guard members have been relieved of duty at the Inauguration because of their possible ties to far-right groups. Two were removed due to "inappropriate comments." One was outed by fellow troops; an anonymous tip identified the other. The ten others were removed for a variety of reasons. Considering 12 out of 25,000, yeah, they missed some. It may not be an issue if the Guard members are at the perimeter fence around the Capitol grounds. They'd be pretty far from the inauguration action. 

There were armed protestors at the Virginia state capitol yesterday. There always are on Martin Luther King Day. If they're there tomorrow, there may be something afoot. Virginia is an open-carry state, so showing up somewhere with a gun is legal except in specific types of buildings or when "no firearms" is prominently posted. 

The Professor normally refuses to watch any political event such as State of the Union addresses, campaign debates, and so on. He has, however, agreed to watch the Inauguration with me tomorrow. Champagne is cooling in the refrigerator, to be opened once Uncle Joe becomes President Uncle Joe. (I should probably come up with a better name than "President Uncle Joe.") I do not plan to watch any of the Duck's military ceremony. It will likely be replayed many times, perhaps even as part of the inauguration coverage. 

And may the gods and goddesses have mercy on all of us tomorrow.

We have passed 400,000 cases of covid here in the US, with 100,000 of those being in just the last month. More than 60 percent of covid case sin the US have been reported since Election Day, November 3. Los Angeles County has lifted air-quality limits for cremations; covid has doubled the death rate. Covid has now killed nearly 1 percent of all Americans older than 75. News coverage has been noticeably light lately, but I can understand the emphasis on the Inauguration. Still, there is a definite sense of out-of-sight, out-of-mind when it comes to covid.

A friend posted on Facebook that her husband had received an email telling him how to make an appointment for his first shot. He's getting it Friday. It was good to hear that the registration systems do work. I may be checking my email with new fervor for a while. The Virginia numbers were down to numbers similar to a week or so ago. The governor has said nothing about the weekend spikes; he may figure that inaugural news trumps (ouch!) covid news. I hope he has something to say later in the week. I don't want to think he's ignoring just how prevalent covid is right now. 

Again, may the deities have mercy on us.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 306

We appear to be fucked in both a pandemic and a politics way. Federal prosecutors have said that the people storming the Capitol wanted "to capture and assassinate elected officials." Really? some of the Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted to impeach The Lame Duck are hiring armed escorts and buying body armor. Peter Meijer, from Michigan, explained, "Our expectation is that somebody may try to kill us."

If that's not enough, this afternoon I read an article in The New Yorker that flat-out scared me, "Among the Insurrectionists." (The link should work if you haven't read your limit of free articles for the month.) After reading the article, I wondered what the death total might have been had the insurrectionists been more organized with plans for who was going where when, in other words that I hate to say about my home country, death squads. Would someone have yelled, "Stop!"? And if so, would they have stopped? I hope we never find out the answer to those questions. 

As the weekend begins, I worry about Son #2 and DiL= who live in our state capitol, Richmond. I am not sure how close they are to the capitol building, but I know they aren't far from the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue. I hope the weekend turns out to be, as some say, a big nothing-burger. I don't want to get my hopes up that nothing will happen, nor do I want to assume the worst. We are floating on an ocean of unknown and will be, I fear, for quite some time. 

To take my mind off things political and pandemical, today and tomorrow are for my New Years' resolutions to make a monthly pie and to use my Instant Pot monthly. I plan to make sweet potato soup in the Instant Pot, based on a recipe in Wednesday's Washington Post Food section. In the case of the pie, I amended the resolution to hold that I do not use a recipe I have used before. In that vein, January's pit will be lemon meringue. Not typically a winter pie, but The Professor loves it. Besides that, there is the meringue on the top that will require attention with a small blow-torch. I'm not sure it gets any better than that without thermite.

A short post, I know, but I do not want to dwell too long on things about which I am worrying. Sometimes a hole in the sand is the best place to lay one's head.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 305

It appears that Virginia is following the national guidance to move people 65-74 or with risk factors up in terms of when they might get vaccinated against covid-19. This puts me in Virginia Group 1B rather than 1C. Given that the local county is still handling Group 1A, it will likely be a while. Still, it's nice to know I might get vaccinated sooner than expected.

In my skimming of news sites this morning, I actually had to scroll way further down to get to any coronavirus news. Between impeachment and inauguration, there wasn't much room for covid. For some impeachment humor, The Lame Duck has now been impeached more times than he has been elected to office, and the same number of times as he has lost the popular vote in a presidential election. I gather he is not laughing about any of this, which is as it should be. It had been announced that Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz would defend him in any impeachment trial, but it appears that Rudy is not in The Duck's good graces at the moment. The Duck has stopped repayment of the expenses Rudy incurred traveling around the country challenging election results. Ouch!

It appears that a couple of House of Representatives Republicans may have taken organizers of the Capitol demonstration/protest/insurrection on private tours of the Capitol the day before the shit went down. If that can be proven, it's a big thing, a very big thing. I would hope that the House would at least censure them if not impeach them. Or perhaps Justice can lay some federal charges on them.

The fact that 10 House Republicans voted for impeachment is seen positively by a lot of people. However, 93 percent of the House Republicans voted against impeachment. And two-thirds of  House Republicans voted against certifying Uncle Joe's election even after the Capitol insurrection. (I think I like the sound of that better than "riot.") And in other, wider polling, 64 percent of Republicans say that they support The Lame Duck's recent behavior. Did I put enough stress on "recent"? And 57 percent think he should be the Republican candidate for President in 2024. Only 17 percent think that he should be removed from office.

As long as we're on polling results, people were asked if they would agree that America is falling apart. I was actually a bit surprised that more Republicans agreed than Democrats, 83 percent to 78 percent. Seventy-nine percent of Independents agreed. 

Info is coming out about the events of Inauguration Day. I was particularly interested in Lady Gaga's singing the National Anthem. I really hope she doesn't glam it up as some artists do. I think it's safe to say that she won't do the Roseanne crotch grab.

As I said, it was actually difficult to wade through the politics to get to the pandemic. As evidence that it takes a while for a vaccine to be effective and/or two doses might be critical, the Representatives who got covid from hiding with unmasked colleagues had gotten their first of two vaccine doses in the two days before the insurrection. With needing a second dose comes remembering which vaccine you got. The second dose of the Pfizer vaccine should be given 21 days after the first, while for the Moderna vaccine, it's 28 days from first to second. 

In general coronavirus news, we're still fucked, possibly more than ever. There may be a variant strain of covid in the US, slightly different from the one in England. Pandemic fatigue appears to be growing. People are tired of masks and social distancing. Some will still keep practicing those, but more will toss the mask and get shoulder-to-shoulder or, worse, face-to-face with each other. That there is now a vaccine may be a factor as well. It may not matter to some that a vaccine only works after it's given (in the right dose, on the right schedule), and there's no real treatment other than treating whatever symptoms with which someone presents. 

And to take your mind off politics and pandemics, the CIA says that it has opened all its UFO documents on theblackvault.com. I'm not sure I need to clear my mind that badly ... yet.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 303

There seems to be more political than coronavirus news right now, but the two can and do overlap. Three Congresspeople have now tested positive for covid-19 in the wake of the Capitol riot. One was quite up front about blaming Republican colleagues who, when offered masks, declined and expressed scorn toward those wearing them. I'm not sure what number or percent of cases is needed for super-spreader status, but it sounds as if the Capitol riot is on the way.

In other coronavirus news, three gorillas at the San Diego Zoo have tested positive for covid-19. They are believed to have caught it from an asymptomatic zookeeper. Both gorillas and zookeeper are expected to survive. These are the first covid cases reported among great apes. 

Random other news before digging in to the political pile: I never thought I'd be saying positive things about Bill Belichick, the coach of the NFL's New England Patriots, but that was before he declined to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom from The Lame Duck, saying that he had to stay "true for the people, team, and country I love." He cited the summer's racial equity protests as opening the door to new and needed dialog for his team.

On the political front, only the gods and goddesses know what the next eight days hold. The state capitols are on high alert after calls for actions in all 50 capitols on Sunday, January 17. The attorney general of Michigan has already declared the state capitol to be unsafe and advised the public to stay away from it. The FBI has distributed a bulletin warning of armed protests at all capitols. January 17 also opens several days of protests, culminating in the Million Militia March in Washington, DC on Inauguration Day. Heide Bierich, co-founder of the Global Project against Hate and Extremism said, "I don't want to be an alarmist, but I worry about a mass casualty event at the Inauguration."  She's not the only one. I think the chosen inaugural theme of "America United" may be very wishful thinking. 

The responsible powers that be are considering various scenarios for the days around the inauguration. One of the more troubling ones being considered is insurrectionists forming perimeters around the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court, blocking Democrats from entering. I can see how this could quickly evolve or devolve into the mass casualty event mentioned above. 

Further complicating planning for the unknown is that several Capitol Police officers have been suspended, and more than a dozen others are under eight separate investigations for things such as social media messages of support for the rally turned riot. One officer allegedly posted "inappropriate" images of Uncle Joe that have now been deleted. Rumor has it that some military personnel are also being investigated. In other words, there may be foxes guarding the chicken coop. 

I spent the summer of 1975 on a study-abroad program in Madrid, Spain. Taking a walk on my first night there, I was taken aback by the sight of soldiers or police patrolling the streets carrying uzis. This was when Basque terrorism was a very real concern. In Vietnam, there were soldiers in guard kiosks outside government buildings with rifle barrels visible sticking out of the windows. Taking photographs, even of something across the street from a government building, will get you up close and personal with one of the soldiers (don't ask me how I know this). I am not ready for those sights here. The Capitol surrounded by a chain link fence--or a functional rather than decorative fence of any kind--makes me wonder if we will ever recover from these past four years. What happens in the next eight days will tell us a lot.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 301

I meant to start writing this over an hour ago, but my Apple watch decided to play mind games in terms of storage space and software updates. Then The Family Dog requested an outdoor walk. Then the watch needed more attention. Life can certainly get in the way of life at times. But I apparently have my watch under control now, and The Family Dog has been walked and fed. The Family Cat does not go outside, but she too has been fed.

On the home covid front, The Professor heard today that he'll get more and official chances to be exposed. All people who conduct a certain type of research that The Professor happens to do have to be tested twice weekly for the next three weeks. Once the semester starts on February 1, the required frequency drops to once weekly. The Professor has been limiting his trips to his lab to once weekly at most. Now he gets to go to the university twice and, in the process, be around a lot more people than he otherwise would be. Even more frustrating to The Professor is that one of his collaborators is a retired professor in his 80s who only darkens the door of the lab every so many weeks when his presence is required in person. That no longer matters; he, too, must go in twice weekly for the next three weeks and once weekly after that.

On the home quilt front, I am making progress on the sample for my pandemic quilt. I am learning something new with each session. The amount of top stitching required is incredible, as is the attention required to keep the lines for each day straight. I'll try to remember to take a photo of it tomorrow to put up here, along with a screen shot of the inspiration. 

No news is good news on the national political front. All that means is that I have not read or listened to news since first thing this morning. The Lame Duck may well have done something newsworthy, but if he has, I haven't learned about it. Ignorance really can be bliss. Unless The Professor wants to watch the evening news, I can stay in blissful ignorance even longer. My morning read of select news outlets did tell me that The Lame Duck has yet to call the family of the police officer killed in the Capitol riot. VP Pence has called, though. I've never really liked VP Pence, but he's been redeeming himself lately. He has not spoken with The Duck since Wednesday morning, before the Capitol riot. Finally, a second Republican Senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsykvania, has joined Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in calling for The Lame Duck's resignation.

On the national coronavirus front, the concern remains about front line workers choosing not to get vaccinated. Up to 40 percent of frontline workers in hard-hit Los Angeles County are refusing the vaccine as are 60 percent of the care home workers in Ohio. In December, 55 percent of New York City firefighters surveyed said they would not consent to be vaccinated. The president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association (the union) collected questions from 8,200 members and had a virologist friend answer the questions in a 50-minute video. That video has now been viewed some 2,000 times, and the union has received several dozen phone calls and messages from members that say the video has changed their minds about the vaccine. It seems that ometimes ignorance is not bliss. Pope Francis has called covid vaccinations an ethical obligation and said that refusal to be vaccinated is suicidal. Given that the Catholic Church views suicide as a major sin, the Pope's statements are noteworthy. 

I expect to pay more attention to news local and beyond tomorrow. Even though I'm retired, there's something about the weekend that makes me want to ignore things. Ignore as in ignorance as in staying in bliss a wee while longer.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 300

In news we should have heard or read long, long ago, Twitter has banned The Lame Duck permanently. His followers and/or minions will no longer be able to hang on his every word, capitalized or not. He will have to find new means of venting, which I guess might not be a good thing. Can he be encouraged just to play golf for the next 12 days? Golf may be why he is now supposedly heading to Mar-a-Lago rather than Scotland on January 19. January is not golf season in Scotland even if you own the course. 

The Democrats in the House of Representatives are still talking about impeaching The Lame Duck on Monday. I assume that they would dispense with hearings such as they heard the first time The Duck was impeached and forward articles of impeachment to the Senate as quickly as they can. Moscow Mitch McConnell has said, however, that the Senate's schedule would not allow for a trial before the Inauguration. Could they even hold a trial once The Lame Duck is no longer President?The Lame Duck's remaining as President until Inauguration Day frightens me, as do thoughts of what havoc his minions might try to wreak in conjunction with the Inauguration. I seriously hope someone, anyone can keep him from pushing the wrong buttons.

One priority for the Senate before the Inauguration should be confirming some of Uncle Joe's Cabinet picks. I'd never really thought about it, but most Presidents have several Cabinet members confirmed and ready to go on Inauguration Day. I think Uncle Joe has now named all of his choices. I would say that State, Defense, and Justice would be the most important to have confirmed as early as possible, with Health and Human Services following closely given the pandemic.

Moving away from politics for now, 2020 was not a good year in terms of climate-driven catastrophe in the US. There were 22 major disasters, a major disaster being defined as one causing $1 billion or more in damages. Those 22 major disasters caused at least 262 deaths and more than $95 billion in damages. The previous record was 16 major disasters. 

Lots of numbers in that last paragraph. I like numbers, and have been called a data nerd. Speaking of data, The Professor and I cheered out loud last night seeing a clip in which Dr. Fauci said, "The data indicate ..." It probably dates me, but I grew up with "data" as the plural of "datum" and still cringe when I hear "data" used as a singular noun. 

I'm not sure I'd want to own stock in Boeing right now. A Boeing 737--not a 737-Max--went down in the sea off Jakarta, Indonesia only minutes after takeoff. Debris has been spotted though it has not been confirmed as having come from the plane. There were also reports of an explosion heard about the time to plan went down. As The Professor just noted, Boeing has its fingers crossed that terrorism rather than mechanics was the cause of the accident. 

Probably because I ordered bulbs this fall, I received the Prairie Moon Nursery catalog yesterday. Prairie Moon specializes in "native seeds and plants--wildflowers and grasses for restoration and gardening." Perusing the contents of said catalog, I discovered a plant named Hairy Beardtongue. Its Latin name is penstemon hirsutus. Hairy Beardtongue sounds like a Tolkien character or someone in a Dungeons and Dragons game. If I could draw decently, I'd see what I could make Hairy Beardtongue look like. 

No unpacking and putting away today, but I did make bread and work on a small prototype of my pandemic quilt. It's going to be sufficiently detailed that I want to make mistakes now so that I will know how to avoid them when I start on the real thing. I made several of them today and hope to make more when next I work on it. Much as I prefer somewhat "liberated" designs in which the goal can be less than perfect, this is going to require more attention to detail than I am used to paying.

I do like Hairy Beardtongue as a character name.