In Case You Missed it (v79)

We go from a flood of posts one week, to a trickle the next. Such is the ebb and flow of this craziness. Here's your recap of last week's posts.

Among the interviews I covered in Sunday School was Margaret Brennan's chat with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti on Face the Nation. They talked about COVID progress, including efforts to get vaccines into vulnerable populations. 

Garcetti's talked with Gov. Gavin Newsom about getting vaccines where the most vulnerable populations are; 40% are now targeted in those areas. They're using mobile teams, getting vaccines to people at home, and working with community organizations to get the vaccines into arms.

But I look forward to when the federal regulations release our handcuffs and allow us to target anybody in a hotspot. I think that is probably two or three weeks away... that'll allow us, if there is anything that comes up quickly, go into the geography of a neighborhood, knock it down before it spreads throughout a city. 

They also discussed Asian-American hate crimes and policing. 

Responding to Brennan's question about him having to send $150 million back to the police, money he had "reprogrammed" after Black Lives Matter protests last year, he said she was framing it wrong. 

We know that things like hate crimes need both a police response and education, a reporting mechanism, civilians and community-based groups that can help be the eyes and ears. And we have no tolerance for this hate here in Los Angeles, a great city filled with folks of Asian-American and Pacific Islander descent. 

He also said that they have "more patrols this year," and that they're "making investments in the human side of this to make sure community organizations are well-funded, too." 

Moving to mid-week, I had all kinds of Wondering on Wednesday to chat about, including books and songs. Books first.

Moving from DC to Tennessee, if everything goes as State Rep. Jerry Sexton planned, the Bible will be the official book of the Volunteer State. Sexton gave a couple reasons why the Bible should be the official book, including to "reflect family heritage and underscore the multi-million-dollar industry that is Bible printing in Tennessee." Now, obviously the Bible is not critical to many Americans, including "Buddhist, or Muhammad or any of those religions," as Sexton called them, trying to be respectful to everyone's concerns and "just put the Bible where I feel that it belongs." 

With that thought in mind, I got thinking about my state's latest 'sin and tax' plan. We're in the top two or three with our cigarette tax; we added casinos a few years ago to try and keep from hemorrhaging New Yorkers to other states to gamble, costing us tons of income, it was suggested; we then added sports betting at the casinos, and now we're looking for mobile sports betting and maybe even more casinos, because why not, right? And now?

Finally, news is breaking that New York's Senate, Assembly, and the Sonofa Gov have agreed to legalize adult recreational marijuana. I haven't seen the bill yet, but it was reported that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said getting this done is "essential" to the state's social and economic well-being - and by that, he means the 9% state sales tax is essential. Some local governments can tack on an additional 4% sales tax. There's more - a whole nother hunk of burning bureaucracy to manage the weed, and fights over what to do with the tax money, naturally. I'm not wondering about all of that - that's the New York way, adding taxes and layers of bureaucracy, and fighting about all of it. 

Wishing I still had my paraphernalia from my younger days. But, back to the wondering theme of Wednesday's post, and thinking about that whole 'putting the Bible where I think it belongs" guy down in Tennessee, let's move to songs.

Well, what am I wondering about? How do I go about getting "Don't Bogart That Joint" installed as our new state song? I respect the folks who picked "I Love New York," our current state song, but I just want to put this song where I feel it belongs. 

And, then it was time for your TGIF. One of the things that I thought needed to be placed on the bad week list? The performance of the correspondents at President Biden's press briefing. Here's an excerpt.

President Biden held a press conference yesterday, and more than one reporter asked whether he was going to run in 2024; add-ons were "will Kamala Harris be your running mate?" and "do you believe you'll be running against Donald Trump?" Because nothing's more important than talking about Former Guy to Current Guy. I did like this part of his answer, though. 

Oh, come on. I don’t even think about it. I have no idea. I have no idea whether there’ll be Republican party. Do you? I know you don’t have to answer my question, but I mean, you know, do you?

There might still be a Republican Party; Trump might even be the candidate, and Biden might even run. Or, as he said, "that's the plan" but he doesn't usually plan three or four years out. Was this the big 'gotcha' moment of the one-hour presser? Well, that would seem to be a 'yes' based on it being widely covered in print, online, and on the nightly news. Most outlets only reported the 'yes' part, not the rest of his thoughts on the subject. 

And I'll bet you one hundred pennies that he will not run again. 

There you are -- all caught up. See you later for Sunday School.