Week in Review, 07/15 - 07/21

A ‘pretty dark story about what’s happening in the U.S.’ Life expectancy dropped by 1.5 years in 2020 as COVID raged the country, and may continue to drop in the years ahead as the pandemic’s long-term effects become more apparent

Very discouraging, and a direct result of all the disinfo, myths, conspiracy theories, and blatant falsehoods that far too many Americans are desperately clinging to: U.S. COVID cases rise as Delta variant spreads

‘With vaccination rates still not at the threshold needed to stop the spread of Covid-19, most Americans who are unprotected will likely contract the rapidly spreading Delta variant, one expert said’

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky: ‘This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated’

Starting to feel as though all the progress we made in the last few months is about to be completely lost: Arkansas Children’s Hospital doctor warns of critically ill kids with COVID-19

From a doctor in Alabama, last in the nation in vaccination rates: ‘One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late’

'Pandemic profiteers' are using deceptive tactics to peddle products and subscriptions; ‘Federal Trade Commission is under pressure to crack down.’ If America were a sane society, spreading vaccine disinfo for profit during a deadly pandemic would be a felony and worse. We’re done for

President Biden slams Facebook, says ‘they’re killing people’ for allowing vaccine disinfo on their platform: Spreading blatant and deadly falsehoods in a time of national emergency is not ‘free speech.’  All rights and privileges can, and will, be abused. Social media companies should not be in the business of enabling such abuse; not when lives are on the line

The Los Angeles Times editorial board argues that it’s time to force the unvaccinated to get incolucated

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade compares choosing not to get vaccinated to cliff diving, saying people are making the ‘choice’ to die: The unvaccinated do make a ‘choice to die,’ so to speak, but it’s not the choice of people they may be spreading their germs to. Is that not bloody obvious by now? Oh, but it’s ‘not their job to protect anybody,’ he says. A-ha. This is what we’re up against

FAA and TSA sound alarm on sharp increase in in-flight incidents involving unruly passengers, the overwhelming majority of these being mask disputes. ‘(M)ore than 85 physical assaults on TSA officers since the beginning of the pandemic’

Unvaccinated Trump supporter on Cape Cod who spread vaccine conspiracies dies after battle with COVID: Of course, many are saying the lady got what she deserved. But it’s very sad. Just so much death that could have been prevented

India’s COVID death toll is estimated to be up to ten times higher than the 415,000 reported by the nationalist regime: By my very rough (possibly incorrect) calculations, if Indians are dying at the same rate as they have in America, then about 2.5 million would be dead. But this report says it is somewhere between 3.4 and 4.7 million, meaning they are dying at a higher rate than Americans

Coming soon to America, no doubt. Mucormycosis: India records more than 4,300 'black fungus' deaths, mostly affecting COVID-19 patients

‘Africa is now in the deadliest stage of its pandemic, and there is little prospect of relief in sight’

Trudeau: ‘Canada could open its border to fully vaccinated Americans for nonessential travel as early as mid-August’

States that ended federal unemployment benefits see no clear-cut job gains: A lot of people are getting fed-up with being taken completely for granted in return for peanuts. We’ve heard a lot of talk of that lately, and these stagnant numbers would appear to back that up

New revelations emerge in the ‘Kremlin papers,’ with intelligence agencies confirming the Russians had compromising information on Trump and he was therefore viewed as the person to ‘destabilize’ America (mission accomplished)

Another omen that institutions are failing and the constitutional republic is in worse shape than we even realize: The most powerful man in the U.S. Armed Forces feared potential ‘Reichstag moment’ aimed at keeping Trump in power

It’s as though we’re becoming some Northern Ireland, only much larger and messier: Two men charged in plot to blow up Democratic Party headquarters in California

The Arizona recount - A scam of epic proportions, but #Cult45 sheep will commit Harakiri before ever admitting how badly they are being duped. Or are they even being duped? So long as their pet hatreds are being stoked, they are forever loyal to their leader and will always play along with the lies: We now know exactly what the Trump-backed Arizona ‘audit’ is going to do

‘Support for secession is growing among every partisan group in the months following the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol but particularly among southern Republicans, a new poll found.’ America is not going to remain intact. Sometime in the next decade or two, it’s all coming apart. Simply because Americans want nothing more than to tear each others’ throats out. We really do not like one another

‘Free speech’ does not drown out bad speech. The ‘ugly truth’ of how Facebook enables political extremism may just be that Zuckerberg is a naive dope with a little too much faith in people. At least that’s what a new book essentially claims

A local judge ordered a New Jersey Trump supporter to take down anti-Biden banners over obscenity complaints: Would wager anything that if this stupid woman lived mostly among fellow Trump supporters, and an outspoken Biden supporter moved in among them, she and her fellow travelers wouldn’t be so kind to that individual. Trump supporters have proven time and again they only care about their rights, and not yours. Liberty for me, but not for thee. At the core, they are overgrown schoolyard bullies

Yeah, we’ve got a real Bolshevik in the White House alright (/s). President Biden: ‘Communism is a failed system -- a universally failed system. And I don't see socialism as a very useful substitute.’ Deems Cuba ‘a failed state’

White House to issue advisory to companies about the risks of doing business in Hong Kong; ‘The situation in Hong Kong is deteriorating. And the Chinese government is not keeping its commitment that it made how it would deal ... with Hong Kong’

Anti-Semitic activists hiding behind specious, misleading, and very selective human rights concerns to punish the Jewish State for having the gall to exist is a great evil. Thankfully, unlike Ben and Jerry’s, not that many corporations have bowed to the pressure from the likes of BDS, and are still doing business in the region

‘Several of the central figures under investigation by the Haitian authorities in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse gathered in the months before the killing to discuss rebuilding the troubled nation once the president was out of power’

The days of pretending climate change isn’t a reality are long past, as extreme weather events only continue to increase in frequency and intensity. A terrible tragedy unfolding in Central Europe as at least 120 are dead in widespread flooding, 100 of those alone in Germany

Continued prayers for all: Merkel and German lawmakers approve emergency relief aid for those affected by deadly floods; dozens still missing

At least twenty-five killed in massive flooding in Henan province, China

Mysterious illness killing songbirds in several eastern states; Massachusetts officials urge residents to remove bird feeders and bird baths

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 06/27 - 07/03

For the record, I am in favor of certain voting restrictions being put in place - just not of the racist, desperate, ulter-partisan and utter bulls**t variety that Republicans seek. Possessing full literacy, demonstrating an understanding of how government is structured, and having a minimum IQ (at least 90) rightfully ought to be bare requirements for being given license to vote. A substantial portion of Americans - the willfully and aggressively ignorant - would be dispossessed of their vote if common sense and decency were ever to be enforced. Which would be very bad news for the Republican Party, of course; in other words, Donald Trump would never have been president if we actually had any standards and didn’t allow illiterates, pop culture twits, conspiracy goofs, religious zealots, white nationalists, and other assorted malevolents and lowlifes to lord over the rest of us. No, not everybody shows themselves equal and worthy by mere virtue of being alive, and most any attempt in human history to prove otherwise have backfired. Sometimes tragically so …

‘A ransomware attack paralyzed the networks of at least 200 U.S. companies on Friday,’ Russian crime syndicate appears to be responsible

Search paused at collapsed Florida condo tower as authorities move to demolish building before storm

The American flag is supposed to represent all Americans, but has been so thoroughly hijacked as a political prop that many no longer feel it belongs to them or serves as a symbol of unity

California is forced to beg and plead with recalcitrant residents not to set off fireworks in the bone-dry, drought-plagued state; nearly 80,000 pounds of illegal fireworks seized in just May and June alone

An economy that is ‘rapidly recovering,’ they declare. But the official unemployment rate rose in June (real unemployment being far higher), wages increased by a paltry 0.3%, and how many of the 850,000 new jobs created are in low-wage industries?

Photo: CDC

A scary parasite is spreading from dogs to humans, and it’s establishing itself in North America

‘The World Health Organization declared China free of malaria on Wednesday after a seven-decade campaign against the disease, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the country’

‘Several reputed virologists and vaccinologists have resigned as editors of the journal Vaccines to protest its 24 June publication of a peer-reviewed article that misuses data to conclude that “for three deaths prevented by [COVID-19] vaccination, we have to accept two inflicted by vaccination”’

Cowardly shepherds, allowing the sheep to stray into dangerous territory: Southern faith leaders wary of advising congregants to get vaccinated

Photo: AP

House votes to create select committee for investigating Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol: No sympathy here for GOP concerns about a Democratic ‘witch-hunt,’ for they brought every bit of this upon themselves the day they embraced the charlatan as their leader

The U.S. Capitol building remains closed to the public following COVID-19 and the January 6 riot: I don’t see any compelling reason to ever reopen it. Maybe if people were still civilized or had any appreciation of our history and constitutional republic

Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg charged with fifteen counts in alleged tax fraud scheme: I’ll get excited when (if) the former president himself is directly charged and America becomes serious, in earnest, about upholding its laws. Until then, meh

Photo: Mary Schwalm/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald

Yet another cult group causing chaos: ‘Interstate 95 in Wakefield was shut down by a standoff between Massachusetts State Police and a group of heavily armed men Saturday morning. The men claim to be part of a group called “The Rise of The Moors – The Moorish American Arms”’

Who is the Rise of the Moors militia group that stopped traffic on the highway in Wakefield?

Massachusetts State Police identifies militia members arrested after standoff on I-95

Death penalty for this cretin: ‘Ways to torture a cat’: Court docs reveal Cambridge cat attack suspect’s disturbing search history

Both the youngest and oldest person to have been Secretary of Defense: Donald Rumsfeld dies at 88

Been way out of the horse racing loop of late, but good to see Essential Quality and Mandaloun looking good ahead of big stakes races

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 06/20 - 06/26

Photo: AP

Relieved this whole saga is coming to an end: ‘A judge sentenced former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin on Friday to 22-and-a-half years in prison for the murder of George Floyd’

‘4.8 undiagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections for every diagnosed case of COVID-19, and an estimated 16.8 million infections were undiagnosed by mid-July 2020 in the United States’

Delta Plus is now a COVID-19 ‘variant of concern,’ as three Indian states told to keep watch and the variant has been detected in at least nine other countries (including the USA)

99.9% of COVID hospitalizations and 99.2% of deaths in May were unvaccinated people

Scientists discovering that either COVID or COVID symptoms are causing some patients’ brains to shrink

COVID-19 took a major toll on the United Kingdom, as deaths outnumbered births for the first time in over forty years and the increase in the death rate was the highest since World War II

‘Republican states are failing to meet the basic needs of their residents. Among unvaccinated Americans, infection rates are climbing. More will get sick in those places, and some will die. Republicans are unwilling or incapable of meeting the challenge’

Graph: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Is the current rise in inflation a temporary post-COVID effect, or is it here to stay?

As a one-time retail worker, I am delighted to see this happening: ‘My life isn’t worth a dead-end job.’ Retail workers are quitting at record rates for higher-paying work

Buyers paying up to a million dollars over asking price for houses: A decaying nation, and yet more proof that it has become an evil country as well. Ordinary people are being deprived of living in actual homes, at an increasingly rapid, scary pace. For no legitimate reason other than shameless greed

Gen. Mark A. Milley. Photo: Getty Images

Top U.S. general rejected Trump suggestions military should ‘crack skulls’ during protests last year: The people crowing the most about ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ are always the ones most eager to silent dissent, and this is their hero and protector. No real mystery anymore as to why millions are loyal to Donald Trump

The GOP is not upset that young people are being indoctrinated into an ideology, only that it’s not their ideology that is being forced: Florida Gov. DeSantis signs bill requiring college students and professors to register their political beliefs with the state

DOJ sues Georgia over voting restrictions law

FBI issues warning that frustrated QAnon adherents no longer ‘trust the plan’ and may begin to resort to real-world violence: QAnon is not dead, it is evolving into something far worse

January 6 was child’s play compared to what is to come: ‘However much crazy you think is percolating in American society right now, you are very likely underestimating the situation.’ The appetite for political violence is growing on the American right

America is a nation abandoning meritocratic principles, and this will be our downfall. George Will: Attacking ‘merit’ in the name of ‘equity’ is a prescription for mediocrity

‘(A) people without a heart, unable to see half their countrymen and countrywomen as anything but the enemy.’ Timothy Egan: America is getting meaner

Take this with a grain of salt. I live in the Commonwealth, and have traveled most everywhere east of the Mississippi. There’s good and bad everywhere: Massachusetts ranked among the ‘least kind’ states in America in study

Photo: Kai Geng

The discovery of an unknown, now extinct, species of humans? Yeah, that would be a pretty big deal: Scientists hail stunning 'Dragon Man' discovery

‘Hundreds of birds are dying without explanation in parts of the South and Midwest. Wildlife experts in at least six states and Washington, D.C., have reported an increase in sick or dying birds in the past month’

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 05/15 - 05/21

Photo: Boston Globe

Leading the nation in vaccinations, all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in Massachusetts will be lifted on May 29

‘Now is not the time to relax protective measures.’ Nurses union condemns CDC decision to relax mask protocols for vaccinated people

COVID-19 variant first discovered in India now has been found in the United States, with cases reported in Nebraska, Iowa, Nevada, and Tennessee

‘The highest vaccination rates are concentrated in the Northeast, while the lowest ones are mostly in the South.’ Big gaps in vaccine rates across the U.S. worry health experts

‘(P)eople should prepare for Covid restrictions to be revisited in the fall, especially given uncertainties around how emerging variants will impact vaccines’ effectiveness in preventing disease spread.’ Mask mandates might be going away, but don’t ditch yours just yet, scientists caution

Some major retailers dropping mask requirements, ‘largely moving to an honor system in which they trust that only vaccinated people will bare their faces.’ How can an ‘honor system’ be in place in a country without honor? Anyway, the mob rules: The anti-mask zealots have complained so loudly and for so long that they finally got their way. Widespread harassment and even oppression of those who still choose to mask is coming, and probably another major wave of new COVID infections. We haven’t gotten nearly enough people vaccinated yet, but everyone is just giving up and giving in before the battle is won, because that’s just the caliber of people we are now - a people without any honor or integrity to speak of

Fact-check time: No, HIPPA federal privacy law does not prohibit businesses from asking customers about their vaccination status

Fewer children spreading germs is always a good thing. The CDC says 600,000 kids aged 12-15 have been vaccinated in the past week

CDC study suggests schools are jumping the gun by removing mask mandates for students and teachers

‘Cabin fever’ is running high and human beings are very antsy right now. Kind of pathetic, actually, especially considering the pandemic hasn’t yet ended: Walmart reports stronger sales than expected, CEO says customers ‘clearly want to get out and shop’

Having spent years in service industries, I know the low pay, the mental abuse, and the complete lack of any appreciation for one’s efforts takes a toll: Changed by the pandemic, many workers are refusing to return to their old jobs

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

‘The New York state attorney general’s office said on Tuesday it has told the Trump Organization its investigation of the company run by former President Donald Trump is now a criminal probe, not purely civil’

‘If Trump has a political philosophy, one of its main tenets is toxic masculinity — the use of menace and swagger to cover his mental and moral impotence. And the mini-Trumps have taken their master’s lead.’ Michael Gerson: The threat of violence now infuses GOP politics, and we should all be afraid

Gutless sack of excrement: House Minority Leader McCarthy announces opposition to bipartisan committee to investigate the events of January 6

Veterans call out Sen. Ted Cruz after he says U.S. Army ad shows ‘woke, emasculated military’

Shouldn’t even give this twit the attention she so craves, but this is a particularly egregious and alarming analogy to make: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene compares House mask mandate to the Holocaust

‘They see themselves as heroic. And how can you be heroic in today's world? Well, you protect the children — you protect the children against this cabal that is out to turn them into sex slaves.’ America’s ‘Satanic Panic’ returns, via QAnon

Panic buying prolongs shortages and further drives up the price of gasoline. Watch, probably every single person who engaged in said panic buying are blaming President Biden for the higher prices

‘(T)hose advocating a nation of vegetarians aren’t helping. Like snatching a rattle from an infant, it only provokes an even more extreme response. And it’s just not a plausible solution: Most people like meat.’ Brent Cunningham: Beef isn’t being banned, but it’s always a staple of the culture war diet

Boston radio host returns to air day after controversial comments on pop music star’s ‘non-binary’ announcement. The real question here is, why is a 71-year-old man hosting programming on a radio station that plays music for teenage girls?

Noise pollution is a very real crime against nature. It is crucial we start recognizing it. All of this ‘freedumb’ is killing us (Note that I did not say ‘freedom,’ I mean free-DUMB - like being loud just for the sake of being loud, or putting others in danger during a pandemic because it’s one’s ‘right’ to not have to cover their mouths, and so forth.) ‘Noise from loud parties and dirt bikes is not only disturbing residents around Boston’s Franklin Park, it is also impacting the zoo animals’

‘(A) type of digital motion they once tolerated without realizing it was actually a strain on their systems.’ Endless scrolling through social media can literally make one sick

Supreme Court unanimously rules warrant-less home gun confiscation is unconstitutional

Disgusting: ‘A 6-year-old boy was shot and killed during an apparent road rage incident on the 55 Freeway in Orange on Friday morning, and the gunman remains at large, California Highway Patrol officials said’

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Following President Biden’s call to end hostilities, Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire after eleven days of fighting

Antisemitic incidents, as well as anti-Muslim hate crimes, sharply increase across the U.S. during latest flare-up between Israel and Hamas

The U.S. and Russia hold parallel military drills in neighboring Balkan countries

China protests the latest passage of a U.S. Navy ship through the Taiwan Strait

Radical Muslim advocacy group CAIR to boycott the White House Eid celebration after President Biden refuses to cave to their demands that he condemn America’s ally Israel for the crime of protecting itself against a violent terrorist organization

Photo: AP

Was pulling for Midnight Bourbon, and he does finish second ahead of the infamous Medina Spirit, but it's 11-1 Rombauer that takes the Preakness

Trainer Bob Baffert is temporarily suspended by the NYRA from entering horses at Belmont, Saratoga, and Aqueduct

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 04/24 - 04/30

Seems to me the majority of people are no longer interested in reading news articles (or reading, period), and most especially if their narrow worldviews are in any manner challenged. Echo chambers that demand no critical thinking are so much easier and provide far more entertainment for the masses. As the old saying goes, of course, 'the masses are asses.' Always been true, and truer still today in this unprecedented technological age. All the information in the world at our fingertips, yet blissful ignorance is always going to prevail …

In defense of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Efforts by the far-right to portray Dr. Fauci as ‘some bespectacled Beelzebub’ fall flat and are ultimately self-defeating

Not yet close to America’s death toll, but at the rate they’re going it may not be long: India passes 200,000 Covid-19 deaths as new cases spike to a world-record 360,960 in one day, ‘widespread shortages of medical oxygen and beds’

‘Russia has launched a major campaign using ministries, companies and pro-Kremlin media to promote the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine and spread fake news that the West and the European Union are trying to undermine the shot, an EU agency said in a report Wednesday’

‘The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines were found to be 94% effective at preventing hospitalizations among people ages 65 and over in a real-world study published Wednesday by the CDC’

Beware of Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, another huckster having great success peddling fear and disinformation about COVID vaccines to evangelicals and others predisposed to be anti-vaccine

‘A man and his three sons are facing criminal charges after they sold more than $1 million worth of toxic industrial bleach that was fraudulently marketed as a cure for COVID-19 and other serious medical conditions, federal prosecutors said’

‘The Border Patrol says it has insufficient time and space to conduct coronavirus testing at crowded processing stations.’ This obviously needs to be rectified. At the very least, it should be ensured those coming to this country are not spreading disease

If Florida sees a surge in COVID infections soon, we’ll know where it likely started: 15,269 pack Jacksonville arena for UFC event

Massachusetts surpasses 640,000 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with a statewide death total of 17,199; an estimated 30,000 active cases

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announces the final phase of the Commonwealth’s reopening plan

Photo: AP

The United States formally recognizes the mass slaughter of Armenians by Ottman Turks as a genocide: Over a century in the making, and what leverage do Erodgan and Turkey really have to do anything but pout over it?

Turkish despot Erdogan calls on President Biden to reverse calling the mass killings of Armenians a genocide

Prayers for the innocents left behind: U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan already underway, Pentagon confirms

President Biden unveils American Families Plan, including provision for universal preschool: It is said the first three years of a child’s life are the most important in determining their life course, and I firmly believe learning should begin young. As soon as possible. Ideally, it would not be the federal government providing these services, and I’m certain the president understands this. The government should not have to cajole parents and communities into properly educating their children, but here we are. We cannot continue to allow our kids to fall behind so many other nations, especially those most hostile to us

‘No one will have to endure inane punditry that Biden has finally “grown into the presidency.” He is comfortable in his new job — and determined to do big things.’ Jennifer Rubin: Biden’s address to Congress proves we have an adult back in the presidency

Approval ratings must be always taken with a grain of salt, as data can always be twisted to suit an agenda and the opinions of most Americans are worthless to begin with. For whatever those ratings are worth, though, President Biden’s approval is considerably higher than his predecessor’s were at this time in 2017. What is most important is that this president is leading by example, conducting himself with dignity, and America is finally making a little bit of progress in the fight against COVID-19

Photo: PolitiFact

Fact check: No, President Biden is not going to prevent us from eating red meat

Fresh off election falsehoods, Republicans serve up a whopper about President Biden

‘At some point, the blame for modern Republicanism must pass from the party to an electorate that could cure it at once by levying harsher political costs.’ Janan Ganesh: Blame the U.S. electorate for the Republican Party’s success

‘The G.O.P. response to the Biden agenda has been anemic because the base doesn’t care about mere legislation, just their own cultural standing.’ David Brooks: The GOP is getting even worse, and Trumpians are having a venomous panic attack

Any wonder these people went to the desperate lengths they did to prevent a lawfully elected president from taking office? Feds execute early morning raid of Rudy Giuliani’s apartment and office in investigation of his dealings in Ukraine

Arizona Republicans choose a known conspiracy theorist to lead another futile audit of last fall’s election: Can gaslighting be any more shameless than this? Why are we still litigating an election that is over, and why are so many committed to this Big Lie when there has not been even one shred of credible evidence there was any election tampering? These f**kers lost and really should move on with their lives, but endless grievance is what the base demands and where the money is

Tucker Carlson’s anti-mask rant: A ‘useful data point for how American conservatism has transformed, especially in the Trump era, from a movement that (at least putatively) believes in limited government to one that primarily prizes marshaling the power of the state to punish those who disagree with it’

‘In a world where nothing is true, everything is permitted.’ Max Boot: The American right is becoming completely untethered from reality

‘White conservatives always assume they’re on the side of popular opinion.’ Absolutely true, and why so many of them accepted the Big Lie, even without real evidence. A well-reasoned response to an editorial writer who complained of ‘wokeness’ ruining his experience at Disney World

‘(T)his paragon of limited government is threatening to hurt companies who express opinions he disagrees with.’ Ted Cruz says the quiet part out loud

Sure, a multi-billion dollar, majority black sports league is going to expel its most marketable star to appease eternally aggrieved white people. Okay: Ohio bar owner refuses to show NBA games until LeBron James is ‘expelled’ from the league

Federal hate crimes charges filed against the Georgia men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery

Conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction charges added in 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Menthol cigarette ad, early 1960s

FDA moves to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars: A terrible decision that is going to adversely affect - or at least seriously piss off - many black Americans. This country has far more pressing issues than to engage in this anti-smoking hysteria any longer. So it’s unhealthy, who cares!? I do not care. All of you out there have made life in this country and world so god-damn stressful with all your noise and bulls**t, and I’m supposed to feel sorry for smoking a cigarette? F**k off

Good: U.S. population grew over the last decade at its slowest rate since the 1930s

If sanity prevailed, this would be hailed as an achievement and not something to hide: Chinese government censoring reports that their population fell for the first time in decades

Alexei Navalny makes court appearance via video link, calls out Putin as ‘a king with no clothes’ and says Russians are being turned into slaves

Rest in Peace, Michael Collins. Apollo 11 astronaut dies at age 90

Pioneer League to replace extra innings with a home run derby: Utterly hate this idea with a passion. Settling games with a skills contest has made a joke of hockey, and it has no place in baseball. Play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, stop fixing that which isn’t broken

Got to hand it to Bryce Harper, the guy is tough: Phillies star says he ‘feels good’ after taking a 97 MPH pitch to the face from Cardinals pitcher Genesis Cabrera on Wednesday night

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

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

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.

Week in review, 04/10 - 04/16

Photo: AP

‘The head of the World Health Organization warned Friday that the coronavirus pandemic is accelerating as infections soar around the world to nearly the highest levels so far recorded’

COVID-19 hospitalizations - especially among younger people, and in the Upper Midwest - rise even as the U.S. sets a new daily record of 4.6 million vaccinations

‘(P)eople under the age of 19 accounting for a bigger proportion of active COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts’ and nationwide, but CDC director says school reopenings may not necessarily be the biggest factor

Brazil: ‘A new variant of coronavirus that combines 18 mutations has been detected as one of the world's worst-hit countries exceeds 4,000 deaths in a single 24-hour period’

At least 300,000 more dead than Putin’s government will own up to: Russia’s hidden COVID is an open secret

Israeli study finds that the South African COVID-19 variant (B.1.351) may evade protection from the Pfizer vaccine

‘The reality is that the country is still a long way away from herd immunity -- with vaccine hesitancy now standing as a major hurdle in achieving that goal.’ Michigan's COVID-19 surge becomes a reality check for a restless nation

‘The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the agency has documented about 5,800 “breakthrough” COVID-19 cases among the millions of Americans who are fully vaccinated, totaling far less than 1 percent of fully vaccinated people’

We’re going to see most universities across the country enact the same policy: ‘Boston University is the latest local institution to announce that it will require all students to be vaccinated before the start of the fall semester’

Wantonly putting lives at risk ought to incur more than a fine: In the armpit of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a tax service owner is being fined $136,000 for refusing to allow not only employees but also customers to wear masks during the pandemic

Can people today be trusted to do their part, in an emergency, without the force of government compelling them? Am not so sure anymore: New Hampshire to lift its mask mandate

CDC: ‘More than 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to preliminary federal data, eclipsing the toll from any year since the opioid epidemic began in the 1990s’

Syphilis makes a massive comeback in the U.S. after having once been close to eradication, as cases of sexually transmitted diseases reach all-time highs for six years in row

Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Not certain I’d be as bullish about any economic recovery as much of the corporate world is at this moment, but it is a sign of confidence in the president’s leadership. Jennifer Rubin: Republicans made a foolish bet on the Biden agenda

‘(T)he price of being wrong is enormous.’ Pray the president has made the right decision on Afghanistan. One way or the other withdrawal of U.S. troops from that country was going to happen, but Afghanistan is not at all prepared to run its own affairs

U.S. imposes stiff sanctions on Russia over hacking operation: This is a fallen world, and it does need a ‘policeman’ of sorts. The United States must reassert its global leadership now, and I applaud President Biden for taking firm action against a bully

The POW/MIA flag flies atop the White House once again after the previous administration removed it from public view in 2020

Backfire: ‘As Republicans flail to find a line of attack against Biden that will stick, Hunter’s self-revelations have been met by a shrug in a nation seemingly inured to scandal by Trump himself’

A never-ending cycle of subservience and futility. Trump throws the GOP under the bus, and every single time they keep coming back for more abuse: Trump goes after Pence and McConnell in Mar-a-Lago speech to party donors

‘Pathetic’ is not a strong-enough word to describe this whole act from the MyPillow guy - and the rest of these hangers-on still riding the Trump Train: Mike Lindell claims to have hired private investigators to find out why Fox News won’t let him speak on air

‘Dude thinks he’s a martyr for paying for sex.’ Embattled congressman Gaetz mocked for calling himself a ‘canceled man’ who’s ‘wanted by the Deep State’

Anybody feel sorry for this sanctimonious fraud? Liberty University sues its former leader, Jerry Falwell Jr., seeking tens of millions in damages

DOJ sues Roger Stone and wife over nearly $2 million in unpaid income taxes

Florida woman who coughed on cancer patient during pandemic receives thirty days in jail, six months probation, and mandatory mental health evaluations and anger management courses

‘White Lives Matter’ protests flop as hardly anyone shows up: Of course this effort was doomed to failure. Scant few are going to be so proud or brazen as to say ‘the quiet part out loud,’ especially given recent events

Heavy metal guitarist becomes first U.S. Capitol rioter to agree to a plea deal, pleading guilty to two charges in domestic terrorism probe

Infowars ‘editor’ arrested by the FBI for role in the U.S. Capitol riot

Perhaps the most rank and shameless hypocrisy this country has ever seen. Lauren Lassabe: ‘Conservatives’ have long embraced ‘cancel culture’

Reuters puts its website behind a paywall: Very good, just keep driving people to garbage, partisan sites such as Breitbart and the like. And $34.99 is beyond ridiculous. Guess I’ll be relying more on the AP

Israel will never allow these murderous theocrats to possess nuclear weapons: Suspected Israeli cyber attack hits Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz, just one day after the Iranians unveiled new uranium centrifuges in televised ceremony

Nothing fishy going on here, oh no: Putin critic and Russian exile who was found dead of an apparent suicide in his London apartment in 2018 determined to have been ‘strangled in his own home by a third party’

A man who practiced what he preached: Ramsey Clark, the former Attorney General under LBJ and lawyer who ‘devoted much of the rest of his life to defending unpopular causes and infamous people’ has died at 93

‘Bernard Madoff, mastermind of the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history, ripping off tens of thousands of clients of as much as $65 billion, died Wednesday. He was 82’

Orb. Photo: Claiborne Farms

Not sure what can really be done to stop it - and these owners may give the great and noble Orb a good life in Uruguay - but I’m tired of seeing legendary horses being shipped overseas: 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb sold to South American breeders

Jockey Rachael Blackmore makes horse racing history aboard Minella Times in the Grand National

Praise God most of these horses were saved: Numerous heroes battled barn fire at Belmont Park

Major League Baseball has to address the TV blackout issue. People need to be able to see the games, otherwise they’re not going to become or remain fans. You don’t make paying customers by making your product completely inaccessible

Copyright 2021, Sunking278. Stay up-to-date: Twitter – @Sunking278 and Facebook – click here.