Week in review, 04/17 - 04/23

A man who - agree or disagree - showed great candor, didn’t put on airs, and didn’t just always tell the lemmings what they wanted to hear (as opposed to what needed to be said.) Rest in Peace, Vice President Walter Mondale

Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges. The right verdict, of course, but I just can't help but be sad and angry that all of this ever happened. It's the 21st Century, time to move on from Jim Crow. Rest in Peace, George Floyd

Photo: AP

‘The global death toll from the coronavirus topped a staggering 3 million people Saturday amid repeated setbacks in the worldwide vaccination campaign and a deepening crisis in places such as Brazil, India and France’

A disaster of potentially epic proportions. 1.3 billion living in one landmass: India reports over 200,000 daily new COVID-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day

Great Britain adds India to COVID-19 ‘red list,’ temporarily banning travelers from the country of 1.366 billion as new variant spreads

‘If you’re pregnant and infected with Covid-19, there is an increased risk of negative outcomes for both you and your baby, according to a new study published Thursday in JAMA Pediatrics’

‘The coronavirus has killed an estimated 1,300 babies in Brazil since the beginning of the pandemic, even though there's overwhelming evidence that Covid-19 rarely kills young children’

‘Germany — ostensibly a nation of efficient, reliable and punctual people — is succumbing to chaos. How is this possible?’ A very German way of handling the COVID-19 pandemic

The United States reaches President Biden’s goal of 200 million COVID-19 shots in the first 100 days of his presidency, as small businesses are offered tax credit as reimbursement for giving employees time off to get vaccinated

FDA finds unsanitary conditions at Baltimore plant contracted to make the Johnson & Johnson vaccine; none of the vaccines produced had been distributed

‘A year after a Connecticut company was awarded almost $1.3 billion in federal loans and contracts to supply an essential syringe for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, no syringes have been made. The syringe hasn't received even the first of a series of approvals it needs from the federal government before it can be manufactured, and a factory promising 650 jobs remains unbuilt’

States are relaxing mask mandates, but many major retailers are not ready to follow suit: At this point, I’d be fine if wearing masks in public became permanent, standard practice. I’ve enjoyed not having people spreading their germs all around us, no spittle and other nasty stuff emanating from their big mouths. Colds, the standard flu, etc. are virtually non-existent, and that’s because masks work. It’s also been nice having an excuse not to shake anybody’s grimy hands, or not to feel compelled to accept a hug, and just having the freedom of not being obligated to even see people most of the time. Social distancing should also stay, but most people are basically herd animals and can’t help but always be in the space of others

‘Last month, even as the unemployment rate fell and more states relaxed restrictions on business operations, the poverty rate hit a pandemic high of 11.7 percent — a full percentage point greater than it was in early 2020’

Photo: Reuters

GOP eyes new strategy to derail Biden infrastructure plan: We believe ourselves to still be the most advanced nation on earth, but our infrastructure is crumbling and these Republican idiots think it is smart politics to stand against the president’s efforts to enable necessary upgrades? Whatever procedural problems there are, work them out like grown-ups, but do not allow our nation to literally crumble to the ground just for the sake of harming Mr. Biden politically

‘A group of Senate Republicans outlined their infrastructure plan Thursday, unveiling a much narrower vision for how to revamp U.S. transportation and broadband than the sweeping approach backed by President Joe Biden’

A lot of good all that sloganeering, caterwauling and fear mongering did: $5.00 ladders ‘defeating a wall that cost $12 million a mile’ at the U.S.-Mexico border

Former President George W. Bush slams the modern GOP, saying ‘it’s not exactly my vision,’ and ‘I’m just an old guy they put out to pasture.’ Also expresses concern over President Biden’s decision to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan

Medical examiners confirm Officer Brian Sicknick died of a stroke following the U.S. Capitol riot

Florida woman charged with threatening to kill the Vice President

Only in the GOP would royally screwing up a state’s response to the pandemic be seen as a positive: Florida Gov. DeSantis emerges as a presidential favorite for 2024

Research determines about one-fifth of QAnon posts between January 2020 and February 2021 came from foreign sources, mostly in China and Russia

Red alert: ‘Sophisticated Chinese government hackers are believed to have compromised dozens of U.S. government agencies, defense contractors, financial institutions and other critical sectors’

Mass demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg calling for Alexei Navalny’s release

Score one for the good guys: Herd of elephants trample suspected poacher to death in South Africa

Colorado prosecutors file more than forty felony charges against suspected supermarket shooter Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa

About time somebody took noise pollution seriously: Burlington, VT, bans the use of gas-powered leaf blowers, requiring citizens and businesses to use quieter electric-powered blowers

Los Angeles set to limit the use of disposable napkins and utensils at restaurants: The sort of Nanny State b.s. that has driven otherwise reasonable people into the arms of demagogues like Trump. Not to mention, just plain gross. I’ll use as many napkins as necessary when eating, thank you

Expectant parents in NH town get a bit too full of themselves, set off explosives at gender reveal party that could be felt for miles around and may have damaged some homes. An awful lot of hype for a kid who may very well turn out to be a loser in life

Rest in Peace, Tempest Storm: The great burlesque star, ‘who disrobed to enduring acclaim,’ dies at 93

Rest in Peace, Jim Steinman. Creator of melodramatic and theatrical balladry for the likes of Celine Dion, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, and many other artists. The man definitely had a signature style all his own, as much an artist as he was a producer and composer

Big upset in the world of horse racing: Letruska outduels heavy favorite Monomoy Girl in the Apple Blossom Handicap

Wishing Alex Smith a very happy retirement from football. It was awesome to see what this QB did this past season in Washington, earning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award

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