Wondering on Wednesday (v218)

Ready... Set... Wonder!

Let's dive into wonder-land, shall we?

First off, I have to admit to a certain bit of confusion on the whole back-to-school thing.  I mean, on the one hand we've got the president and the Secretary of Private Education telling us that we need to have kids in school, five days a week. And, we also have the president telling us that if we can't have the kids in school five days a week, we should give "the money" to the parents. Which they can spend on the "public private charter religious or home school of their choice." So, I wonder: does the president thing that there's a 'home school' out there that kids go to, take a bus to, like a public private charter religious school?  Or, is having kids in school five days a week not really important after all?

How, I wonder, is putting up a new FBI headquarters, across the street from the president's emoluments hotel, a component of the HEALS Act, the latest stimulus package from the White House and Senate Republicans? I know that many of the senators are against that $1.75B provision, and that the president insisted it get added to the bill, but really? How does that help with testing, or PPE, or contact tracing, or people making their rent, or getting schools open, or anything else?  And don't start with me -- I know the HEROES Act, passed months ago by the House, has more than enough porky stuff too, but this is just one more example of the president attempting to feather his own nest, or at least make his nest attractive for feathering.  I'm getting tired of it - really tired. 

I'm not even going to mention the president's latest obsession or said obsession's obsessions. I'll let you wonder about that yourself.

Joe Biden's talking points for Sen. Kamala Harris have made big news, but for totally the wrong reason. Everyone's all gaga wondering if it means that he's going to pick her as his veep - but what they should be paying attention to are the comments made by Biden ally  Sen. Chris Dodd, who is grumbling about the "lack of remorse" Harris has shown for taking on Papa Joe over his positions on busing back in an early debate. The only thing to wonder here is, when will we no longer have to deal with men like Dodd?

One thing I'm not wondering about tonight? The announcement that President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy at the funeral of John Lewis; that was my guess and I'm sure it will be a moving, honorable and fitting tribute. I'm also not wondering at all whether Presidents Bush and Clinton will attend - of course they will. And I'm glad the current president will not be there. I wonder not at all about that, too.

And, from the good news pages, we learn that folks have been able to train dogs to sniff out the coronavirus.  A study in Germany found that, with only a week of training, eight dogs were able to smell the coronavirus in saliva samples with a 94% success rate. That's pretty cool, and very exciting given the issues that people are experiencing getting test results back. This could be a game-changer, assuming that additional testing goes well. And while I don't wonder that dogs can do this - we know they're able to sniff out other diseases, including cancer - I do wonder when someone will have success doing something like this with cats.  You know - a new kind of cat scan...

What are you wondering about tonight?