In Case You Missed It (v37)

Gather around, children and adults - it's snippets and links time!

The week started with a couple of interviews with administration folks - Peter Navarro and Alex Azar, the HHS secretary who I was pretty sure would have been removed long before now, since everything that's been bad about the federal government's response to the virus is Azar's fault. 

But, here's still around, and I recapped his conversation with Margaret Brennan in this week's Sunday School post. Much of their conversation was about coronavirus vaccines and the administration's efforts to get one or more of them before the end of the year, come hell or high water, and whether we would have enough for all 328 million of us.

Brennan honed in on Azar's 'hundreds of millions of doses" and said that's not the same as saying hundreds of millions of vaccines ready to be administered, and reminded him he had sad "the entire American population could receive vaccines by January" and asked him to clarify. 

...We have hundreds of millions of people. So three hundred million is the goal, and by January that we would set, whether by one or multiple vaccine candidates to be able to have. Let's - let's focus our energies on actually getting those vaccines developed at this point.

How are we going to get there?  Well,

Azar said that there were 100 vaccine candidates to start with, and now that's down to 14, and 

...we're going to keep narrowing that down to maybe four or five, six, that we really place the big financial bets behind and drive on. And we might actually have multiple vaccines, some appropriate for different populations and different settings as we see the data get generated here. 

In our Sunday School Extra Credit entry,  Jake Tapper interviews California's Gov. Gavin Newsom, They covered a lot of ground, including a discussion about the state's $54B deficit and whether that stems from the pandemic, or from other issues. Newsome was clear: it's pandemic related. 

The gov talked about the $25B surplus they had a year ago, and that they've been "managing our budget effectively, efficiently, paying down our long-term obligations" and other good news, and then the virus hit.

It's not about bailing out blue states, as some have suggested.

It's social responsibility, at a time when states - not just California - large and small, across this country, cities and counties, large and small, all across the country are facing unprecedented budgetary stress. It is incumbent upon the federal government to help these states through this difficult time.

Another salient point he made came about when they were talking about the Multiple Inflammatory Syndrome that's striking children, but actually applies across the board. 

Those that claim we know what we know about this pandemic, it was 90 days ago no one even knew the word COVID, let alone what corona actually meant... we have to be humbled by what we don't know, and we have to be open to argument, interested in evidence. You cannot be ideological about this disease, and nor -- forgive me for belaboring -- can we be naive.

Honestly, it was refreshing to hear him, after what we put up with in the other classrooms. 

This week's Wondering on Wednesday had some really nice stories of amazing generosity, that show us at our best, and a couple of stories that show us at our worst - with our racism and bigotry on display both in the Ahmaud Arbery case, and in how Asian-Americans are being treated in the age of COVID-19.  

We are, of course, all too familiar with how poorly African-Americans are treated. On the latter issue of our bad behavior, I highlighted a WaPo article on how there's been an increase in racist behavior and attitudes towards Asian-Americans, including front-line healthcare workers who are fighting to save lives every day.  

In case you're wondering where this might be coming from, here are some possibilities:

• the president's rhetoric, including his insistence on referring to the Chinese virus;

• a White House official referring to "the Kung Flu" when talking with a Chinese-American reporter;

• Peter Navarro saying that China 'seeded' the virus around the world, even as he pretended he wasn't saying they did anything deliberate, and

• Senator Ben Sasse, (R-KS) referring to thugs in China in a bizarre on-line commencement address.

Yep. That's us - Making America Great Again, right?

On Thursday, I did another Email of the Week entry, even though the emails from the Dems have slowed down considerably, other than from the plethora of different Papa Joe Biden accounts. Really, only one of his weekly emails - his newsletter - includes much of anything other than an ask for money. This week (although it wasn't the winner), I included an answer to a question looking for "any words for those of us grieving" the loss of a neighbor from COVID-19. The question, from a woman in Iowa, noted that they're "certainly aren't hearing any empathy from the current president."

In part, here's what he said.

To those who have lost someone to COVID-19, I know you feel like there’s a black hole in your chest, and you’re being sucked into it. I know you’re frightened and you’re scared, and you don’t know what to do. All I can tell you is that it will take time. But in time, you will find, it will happen that you will think of that son, daughter, husband, wife, mother, father, grandparent, friend, neighbor, that you lost, and you’re gonna get a smile on your lips before you get a tear in your eye. And that’s when you know you’re gonna make it. And I’ve found, in my experience, the way to get there is finding a purpose. Purpose will drive you. Purpose will help you feel like you can control your life again.

Last night, I was not feeling 'new words' all that much, and went looking through the archives to see what was on my mind in past years on May 23rd. I found a Wondering on Wednesday post from two years ago that prompted me to sit down at the Update Desk,

This one's relevant as we watch the Ahmaud Arbery story continue to unfold, even though the updated involved the police, not vigilantes. From the original 2018 post:

How, I wonder - how can it be possible that a person who is parked across two handicapped spaces in an empty drug store parking lot at 2AM ends up Tased, screamed at, put on the ground, arrested for being physically aggressive, scratched and bruised by four police officers and two police sergeants? In 2018? In an American city?

Well, it happens, you and I both know, because the guy who chose to park badly is black. He's black, he's young, he's wearing a chain, and did I mention he's black? It's ridiculous. It's embarrassing. It's shameful.

And from the update,

I didn't mention in that post that the gentleman who was Tased, screamed at, put on the ground, arrested for being physically aggressive, scratched and bruised by four police officers and two police sergeants was Sterling Brown, at the time a rookie for the Milwaukee Bucks NBA franchise.

I didn't mention it because it doesn't matter whether it's a famous young black man, an infamous young black man, or just a plain old ordinary young black man, does it?

It shouldn't happen, and it keeps happening. And it happens to others - Latinos, and Asian-Americans, and gays, and trans people, and Muslims and anyone else who doesn't look 'like us' or love 'like us' or pray 'like us' or think 'like us.'  We need more 'thinking' and less 'like us-ing' it would seem.

So, there you have it -- your veritable pastiche for the week that was.  I'll be back later with today's Sunday School, after what I hope will be a productive day in the garden.