In Case You Missed it (v48)

Gather around, friends - it's time for your recap of last week's posts.

Sunday School brought us classrooms full of experts, including Dr. Deborah Birx and Admiral Giroir on the pandemic, and Neel Kashkari on the economy.

While Birx tried to convince us she's not just a stooge for the president (that's getting harder for her to do, although he did turn on her last week, so maybe there's still hope), Giroir invited the president's wrath himself, with comments about the Trump's favorite prescription.

...hydroxychloroquine needs to be prescribed by a physician. There may be circumstances, I don't know what they are, where a physician may prescribe it for an individual. But I think most physicians and prescribers are evidence-based and they're not influenced by whatever is on Twitter or anything else. And the evidence just doesn't show that hydroxychloroquine is effective right now. I think we need to move on from that and talk about what is effective.

That would be hand-washing, mask-wearing, social distancing, and the like. And some better treatment protocols, too. But not hydroxychloroquine.

My favorite prescription, other than a well-timed glass of wine?  More cowbell.

For your Sunday School Extra Credit, we checked in with three women on the Biden veepstakes short list - Stacey Abrams, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and Rep. Karen Bass.  The latter is getting a huge push from a lot of Dems and Sanders fans alike, saying she's the one who can unify the party.

She's also the one who, just four short years ago, said that the death of Fidel Castro was a "great loss to the Cuban people." Four years ago, not forty years ago when she was a teenager and first started traveling to Cuba.  She's smarter now, smart enough to recognize that her comments were not consistent with what America stands for.

Do I know an awful lot more now? Do I understand that the Castro regime did not have the same freedoms as we do in the United States, was a brutal regime? They don't have freedom of press, freedom of protest -- which was kind of ironic because when I went in my youth, the majority of us that were there were antiwar activists. We were protesting against police abuse and understood then and now that the Cuban people did not have the same freedoms.

...So my perspective has definitely developed over time. 

One can only hope. But one can also see the Trump/Pence ads writing themselves if Rep. Bass is Biden's choice.

When it was time for Wondering on Wednesday, there was more than enough head-scratching to go around. We had some nonsense from Mike Pompeo, who really could be the poster child for my Irony Board posts, and we had an interesting story about Mark Meadows, the current chief of staff for the president, and what he'd rather do than negotiate with Congressional leaders. We are seeing the fruits of that right now, of course, because #winning, or something.

And, we had this.

Republican operatives in several states are working to get Kanye West on the ballot... anyone else wondering why they're wasting their time? And do they really think that any significant number of people are going to throw their vote away and color in the little circle by his name?  And aren't the Rs the people trying to convince us they're concerned about the dreadful state of mental health care in the US? 

I'll let you wonder on that one all the way to the ballot box.

In a time when practically every day brings a reason to rant and rave about one thing or another, Thursday had me shouting into the wind about what I consider to be a ridiculous and self-serving move by my Attorney General, NY's Tish James, to sue to dissolve the NRA.

Because nobody, other than a Democrat, would attack a GOP-favorite organization, less than three months before a massively consequential election, surely setting off a backlash against Dems up and down the ballot, across the country? Who, other than a Democrat, can be so tone-deaf?

It's worse because it's New York against the country. It's the most hated blue state attacking gun owners, for Pete's sake. Even if that's not her intention, it's like attacking Santa Claus AND not saying Merry Christmas anymore AND stealing Easter eggs and Halloween candy from little children in red states, all rolled into one, and streaming it live on Disney+.

This is the stupidest thing to come out of New York since Donald Trump.

NY Strong? Uh no. NY stupid? NY Selfish? NY epitome of why people hate the Dems? Um, yep.

And finally, last week's TGIF was a really good one. No, not because I'm biased - because all of the stories were good stories. Among the examples? How people responded to the horrific explosion in Beirut, including the nurse who grabbed three newborns - after being knocked unconscious herself. The photographer who got the image we've all seen talked about his shot.

"I noticed the nurse's calm, which contrasted the surrounding atmosphere just one meter away, he explained. “However, the nurse looked like she possessed a hidden force that gave her self-control and the ability to save those children. People stand out amidst these violent and dark and evil circumstances and this nurse was up to the task," he added. 

That's all we had last week; you are now officially caught up on the full and veritable pastiche.

I'll be back later with Sunday School.

TGIF 8/7/20

How about we have an all 'good week list' post to close out the week - sound good?

First up, the devastating explosion in Beirut, which caused so much pain and heartbreak, but there was also much kindness and love at the same time.  There have been many compelling images in the aftermath, one of which was of the nurse holding three newborns.

According to the story relayed by the photographer and published on Nurse.org, the nurse had been knocked unconscious by the blast and when she came to, her first thought was of the patients. She grabbed the three babies and carried them around with her, keeping them safe.

"I noticed the nurse's calm, which contrasted the surrounding atmosphere just one meter away, he explained. “However, the nurse looked like she possessed a hidden force that gave her self-control and the ability to save those children. People stand out amidst these violent and dark and evil circumstances and this nurse was up to the task," he added. 

Also related to Beirut, I saw an image of Rio de Janeiro's famous Christ the Redeemer statue overlaid with a projection of the Lebanese flag; there's also one of French president Emmanuel Macron hugging a Beirut resident.

What else was on the good news list this week? Well, did you hear about the two little girls - sisters aged 9 and 11 - who started a business after coming up with a sweet treat?

In June, using a special recipe they developed for cheesecake-filled ice cream cones, Zyaire and Char’Les launched their dessert business, Little Sistas Treats.

Their mom mentioned what the girls were doing to the owners of Sugar Sisters Bakery and asked if maybe her daughters could come in and see what their future could be like. It took a while, but the Little Sistas eventually met the Sugar Sisters. You can be sure this story has a sweet ending!

There's so much more good week list stuff out there; here's a sampling:

• Buck the dog, lost and then rescued by firefighters battling the Apple fire;
• the nearly 50-year effort to return an escaped convict to jail; 
• educators like this one, doing everything possible to make kids comfortable returning to school during a pandemic.

And finally, because I can, I leave you with this touching moment, when a groom turns to see his bride, in her gown, for the first time. It's a good one, I promise!

TGIF, everyone - hope you had a good week, and a great weekend!