Thank you US Senator Mitch McConnell.

It isn't easy being on the right side of the US Constitution these days, but, Senator McConnell did exactly that and he has my thanks. What was astounding was the backlash he received from "toe the line" Trump loyalists. The Trump loyalists are simply wrong. They are on the wrong side of history and outside the parameters of the USA Constitution.

I not only appreciate the words Senator McConnell spoke, I appreciate the way he said it. His voice was strong and unequivocal. 

February 9, 2022
By David Morgan

Washington, DC - Top U.S. Senate Republican Mitch McConnell (click here) on Tuesday criticized his party's censure of two prominent Republican critics of Donald Trump, joining an intra-party battle that could upend his efforts to project an image of party moderation in this year's midterm elections.

Last week, the Republican National Committee censured Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, the only two Republicans serving on the House of Representatives select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Trump stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory....

There should be fines to countries that do not stop these cyberattacks.

There are countries that do not have internet laws and if they do sometimes choose to ignore them. If I recall correctly it was not difficult for the Pakistani police to follow the cyber trail of the murderers of Daniel Pearl. If Pakistan can do this any country can do this.

The cyber arena is thought of as the Wild West, I don't believe that is necessarily the case.

There is no excuse for cyber attacks or ransomwear attacks. They can be traced and people held responsible. I would think if the attacks are from within the USA it should be even easier. But, I remind that while we are waiting for Russian hackers to decend on the USA to cause problems, fining Russia through the banks might work to begin enforcement of hackers and stop them from causing problems.

I would think if ransomwear were traced to Russia it would be the government consenting to the attacks and reaping the ransom.

January 5, 2022
By Alexander Panetta

The director of the FBI (click here) compares this moment to 9/11: A time of reckoning about a threat that's increasingly proven its ability to destabilize society.

He's referring to cyberattacks.

Recent digital ransom attacks have accelerated an acknowledgment in Washington that the current trajectory is untenable.

That's after meat plants were shuttered temporarily including in Canada this week; after cars lined up at empty U.S. gas stations when a major pipeline was hacked.

A hacker recently tampered with chemical levels at a water-treatment plant in Florida. Nuclear and other power facilities, voting systems, political parties, hospitals and governments have all been compromised.

"This is our new normal," said Nicole Perlroth, a cybersecurity reporter at The New York Times and author of a new book on the history of cyberattacks....

Stand up mirror

Not everyone doing the at home COVID test will have one, but, for those with a stand up mirror, I found it helpful in conducting the nose swab. 

Set the mirror up before hand washing to start the test to remove any surface germs that may have been on the mirror.

The package has a tracking number.

I have one spot where I open all the packages after spraying them with disinfectant and allowing that to dry for awhile.

This is the government test kits as they arrived from the USPS facility. They were in a plastic white bag, basically.

Below is the four tests out of the bubble wrap and rubber band.

The distribution system seems to working well. 

Let me put it plainly. Texas is a scheme, not a state.

If Texas is allowed to continue to enforce it's unique laws through a "marshall" service of the public, it will no longer be a state, but, an authonomous governing authority without any influence of federal law. It is legislated secession. The Republicans in the US Senate are enforcing that directive. They are turning State's Rights on it's head to satisfy Evangelicals that want to disconnect from any brush with abortion. They don't have a problem with poverty and the death penalty at all.

The USA should have maintained it's boycott of the Chinese Olympics.

The athletes can't compete anyway because as soon as they qualify they get sick with the virus and then bring it home.

International agreements mean nothing to politics.

All that motivates Putin is his propaganda politics. NATO has done nothing to insight any war. It has been acting defensively since Russia first invaded Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Putin will cry about "a threat to the Russian people" and build permission by Russians to go into war. Half of Russia will not support him in his decisions about violence, but, it doesn't matter because the government is so corrupt. 

Putin started is "Russian people" campaign some time ago and has taken steps all along the way with the Russian Duma cranking out legislation to back every violent decision Putin makes. What the Russian Duma doesn't do is uphold international agreements and treaties to stop the violent regime of Vladimir Putin. The Duma and Putin acting together is a strong basis for extremely tough sanctions.

Putin treats his "Russian people" campaign and politics as if the world wants to commit genocide against them and Russia is the only safe haven for Russian people. That is the entirty of his actions in promoting violence against The West.

The United Nations and NGOs need to conduct investigations into his charges and debunk his rantings. It would provide a basis of opposing Putin's actions and begin to end his hostility by The West. The World Court could hear such a case.

Putin, today, is warning The West and Ukraine (click here) as France's President Macron is in Moscow. This is the Putin progaganda machine at work. The civilized world must confront his accusations with more than peace talks. His allogations must be investigated.

Febuary 2, 2022

By Natalia Zinets and Vladimir Soldatkin

Kyiv/Moscow - Russian President Vladimir Putin (click here) accused the West on Tuesday of deliberately creating a scenario designed to lure it into war and ignoring Russia's security concerns over Ukraine.

In his first direct public comments on the crisis for nearly six weeks, a defiant Putin showed no sign of backing down from security demands that the West has called non-starters and a possible excuse to launch an invasion, which Moscow denies.

"It's already clear now ... that fundamental Russian concerns were ignored," Putin said at a news conference with the visiting prime minister of Hungary, one of several NATO leaders trying to intercede with him as the crisis has intensified....

The Carillo Case is about interstate traffiking of firearm modifications.

These cases are about a few things, like an adverse element in the USA military, but, also in gun sales and gun sale parts across state lines. Both these men killed police officers with modified weapons facilitated by a West Virginia gun dealer. How does a state stop this malicious activity from other states? Basically, by using Texas vigilante laws. 

The federal government should be ending this type of interstate commerce and certainly should end the sale of these modifications and illegal guns internationally. However, the Republicans in the federal authority refuse to do their job and end the conflict of laws between states, in this case, to protect police officers. The Republicans do nothing but obstruct what is the diligent work of other legislators to end such laws that are advantageous to violence.

The Political Right Wing in this country is fomenting hate and providing gaps in interstate laws that faciliate interstate sales of weapons and their modifications.

The politics of violence and anti-government directed sentiment is now pervasive with Republicans and it is disrupting our governance. McConnell likes to brag he can stop Democrats and that is his strength as a majority or minority leader and the basis of his fund raising. That is highly irresponsible and abuse of power. Why isn't he censured for his abuses?

It doesn't matter if Republicans beat back a censure, it matters that the investigation of ethics violations exist and the charges are brought forward. Abuse of power is written all over the US Senate including Rand Paul that insights killers to act. This is ridiculous. Words matter. Votes matter at least for Republicans.

February 7, 2022

San Francisco - A former Air Force sergeant (click here) plans to change his not guilty plea in the fatal shooting of a federal security officer in Northern California during 2020 protests against police brutality, court records filed Monday showed.

Steven Carrillo, 33, pleaded not guilty in July 2020 in the killing of David Patrick Underwood, who was shot on May 29, 2020, while he stood in a guard shack in front of a federal building in Oakland....

...Prosecutors say Carrillo had ties to the “boogaloo” movement, a concept embraced by a loose network of gun enthusiasts and militia-style extremists. The group started in alt-right culture on the internet with the belief that there is an impending civil war, according to experts.

Authorities accused Carrillo of fatally shooting Underwood from a white van after developing a plot with Robert Alvin Justus Jr., of Millbrae. The pair is accused of driving to Oakland and taking advantage of the distraction afforded by protesters marching through the city’s downtown. Justus drove the van, authorities said....

The Kangaroo Courts

That is the way the Supreme Court is treating the state courts. There was a decision in North Carolina by its Supreme Court (click here) that the redistricting by the legislature is gerrymandered and unconstitutional. It will be appealed and the state decision overturned. The Robert's Court is leaning into the legislature as the quintessential answer to more and more of it's rulings. We are seeing it with abortion and now redistricting. The North Carolina decison, if overturned, will begin to scream of politics rather than the USA Constitution.

If there is a leaning to the political right, it will be all that more obvious that a conservative Supreme Court with it's current members compromises the country, in that, States Rights will overturn many decisions and cause disharmony in enforcing laws. The Texas vigilante law will begin to show up more and more and in more areas of law. The Texas vigilante law prevents a citizen from MIGRATING to other states to receive services illegl in Texas. That is not a United States of America and criminalizes citizens living productive lives that otherwise would never have legal problems.

The Robert's Court is becoming a governing problem.

February 8, 2022
By Adam Liptak

Washington - The Supreme Court on Monday (click here) reinstated an Alabama congressional map that a lower court had said diluted the power of Black voters, suggesting that the court was poised to become more skeptical of challenges to voting maps based on claims of race discrimination.

The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s three liberal members in dissent.

The Supreme Court’s brief order, which included no reasoning, was provisional, staying a lower court’s decision while the case moves forward. The justices said they would hear Alabama’s appeal of the lower court’s ruling, but they did not say when....

16 January 2022

The volcano erupted for several days. This photo was taken a day before the eruption that caused the tsunami

New Zealand (click here) has sent a plane to Tonga to assess the damage after a huge volcanic eruption triggered a tsunami.

The eruption has covered the Pacific islands in ash, cut power and severed communications.

Up to 80,000 people there could be affected, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) told the BBC.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the tsunami had wreaked "significant damage".

No deaths have been reported so far.

Information remains scarce, however, and New Zealand and Australia are sending surveillance flights to assess the extent of the damage....

January 26, 2022

Western Union Waives Transfer Fees for Money Transfers into Tonga Through February, 28, 2022; Western Union Foundation Pledges a Donation and Kicks Off a Fundraising Appeal with Agents and Employees

Singapore - The Western Union Company, (click here) a global leader in cros-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, today announced business and foundation support for communities impacted by the devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga....

I remind, the Hawaiian hotspot shifted. The plate has been moving a lot in recent years.

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

View (click here) of the Three Sisters from nearby Mount Scott

February 1, 2022
By Ally Osborne

If you’ve been around Central Oregon for a while(click here), you’ll probably recall the magma bulge found near South Sister in the 1990s.

Now, the United States Geological Survey discovered another 12-mile bulge in the same area after reviewing data from June 2020 until August 2021.

“Data from satellite radar images show an uplift of about 0.9 inches or 2.2 cm (about the width of an adult’s thumb) occurred between the summer of 2020 and August 2021 across an area 12-mile (20-km) in diameter,” according to the Cascades Volcano Observatory.

The volcano is still in the green zone, meaning an eruption is very unlikely, but the event is still leaving scientists fascinated.

“And why is it so exciting?” I asked Hal Wershow, an Assistant Professor of Geology at Central Oregon Community College.

“Oh man,” said Wershow, after bursting into laughter.

He said he didn’t know where to start.

“The Earth is inflating upwards,” Wershow said, “It’s a very small amount, we’re talking an order of inches. There’s no way a human being would be able to detect it.”

The lift suggests that magma around 4 miles deep is shifting, causing the ground to rise and fall over the years....

February 2, 2022

By Joelle Jones

Portland, Oregon - The Pacific Northwest (click here) is well known for its stunning summits and plentiful peaks, but are the mountains moving?

In a USGS Hazard Notification statement Monday, Cascades Volcano Observatory announced their scientists have tracked an increased rate of ground uplift in the Three Sisters volcanic region.

Using satellite radar images and GPS units, USGS scientists have tracked an increased rate of uplift for a 12-mile diameter region, 3 miles west of the South Sister volcano. According to USGS, the data suggests the ground rose 0.9 inches (2.2 cm) from June 2020 to August 2021....

February 7, 2022

By Cascades Valcano Observatory

Data from satellite radar images (click here) show an uplift of about 0.9 inches or 2.2 cm (about the width of an adult’s thumb) occurred between the summer of 2020 and August 2021 across an area 12-mile (20-km) in diameter. GPS data from a volcano monitoring station near the center of uplift measured at least 0.2 inches (0.5 cm) of uplift since August 2021.

Additionally, seismologists observed brief bursts of small earthquakes in October 2021, December 2021, and January 2022. Most of these shallow earthquakes are too small to locate precisely; those located are inside the uplifted area....

"Good Night, Moon"

The waxing crescent

6.0 day old moon

35.7 percent lit

February 6, 2022
By Tara Holley

For any fellow sky gazers like me, (click here) make a note somewhere or ask Siri to remind you. You don't want to miss beholding the February "Snow Moon" this year. It's set to be at peak illumination in our night skies on February 16 this year....

Sir Edmund Hillary didn't climb Everest for the sake of tourism to the summit.

...Since Edmund Hillary (click here) and the Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the summit, in 1953, more than 6,000 people have been recognized for reaching the top...

Climbing today is far less a challenge than it was in 1953. Sir Edmund Hillary didn't climb for the reason of creating a pastime, he climbed because no one before him had made it to the summit and returned alive. There is always this "thing" about dominating Earth's and nature's toughest challenges. Human beings always feel so small in comparison to Earth's natural powers of volcanoes and high mountain peaks. It seems the belief by humans is that staying alive means there is reassurance in conquering all that can be conquered. Sort of like war with Russia, too.

But, Mount Everest has been a bit of unique Earth history. Now, due to human pollution it is losing it's glaciers and the mystery that once existed is melting away. Literally. Humans on Earth are not so small after all.

When does it become appalling? When do people in power finally admit we have pushed Earth too far and it is time for radical changes? Never? Would those that see COVID-19 and it's variants as meer problems that sometimes kill people cast aside the reality of the climate crisis and the unfortunate future for human beings?

My answer to all those questions is, yes. I believe there are powers at work that care little about the future and only seek to profit from the present. There is no reverence for life in that paradigm. The truly unique aspect of an American democracy that links itself to allies that see democracy as an important human event, is the capacity of being very flexible in times of great change. 

We are within one of those times. From Putin's longing for the return of Nikita Khrushchev to the warming of Earth and a pandemic that would see us all dead, we are facing critical turning points now. Right now. The USA is capable of bringing peace in assertion of power that demands respect from a wayward Russian war effort. It looks by every estimation Europe and NATO are taking a united stand (click here). Certainly, the people of Russia don't want this war with their own former brothers and sisters.

Now is the time for China to end it's ideas of war that can destroy civilization as we know it and end the conflict of major powers before it starts. The Olympics were created to end differences and unite over sport and achievment.

Now is the time to turn the corner on the climate crisis and bring on strong aspirations to "Zero Carbon Emissions." The generations working jobs in the USA are ready for a brave new world without fossil fuels. It is possible and it is needed now and not postponed into the future where disaster currently resides.

The people of Earth in the year 2022 are great at bringing change to the forefront of life as it occurs today, with hope to end a global pandemic, return Earth's atmospheres to benevolence and find peace in the hope of new methods of economic interests that bring about a better quality of life. Certainly, Russia can appreciate the opportunity for better quality of life, rather than the suffering of war.

Now is the time for great change. It is possible. It is a matter of accepting the pinnacle we face that is somewhat different than that of Sir Edmund Hillary. It is the pinnacle of the inevitible that ensures the future and makes proud the peacemakers.

9 January 2022
By Kim Moodie

The son of mountaineering icon Sir Edmund Hillary (click here) hopes a classic train expedition along the length of the South Island will help local businesses survive the wait for international tourists to return....

Through the horros of zoos killing giraffes and feeding them to lions, wild Africa's protections have worked.

January 12, 2022
By Douglas Main

Giraffe numbers have increased across Africa, (click here) new research shows, a rare spot of good news in the conservation world.

According to a recent analysis of survey data from across the African continent, the total giraffe population is now around 117,000, approximately 20 percent higher than it was thought to be in 2015, when the last major survey was published.

This rise is a result of genuine growth in some areas, but also stems from more accurate census data, says Julian Fennessy, executive director of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, based in Namibia. “It’s great to see these numbers increasing,” says Fennessy, a co-author of the new research.

Giraffes were once considered a single species. But recent genetic evidence shows there are likely four species of giraffe, three of which have increased considerably in number: northern, reticulated, and Masai giraffes. The fourth, southern giraffes, have remained relatively stable....

Loss of ice in glaciers and ice formations date back to 1890s and the industrial revolution.

This is just the recent past. The losses to Earth's ice has been more than gradual and the most dramatic was the loss of the Larsen B Iceshelf that was the size of Rhode Island. 

This study investigates the reason glaciers have been retreating. Besides the climate there were unique characteristics that were included in the retreat. But, the unique characteristics alone did not cause glacier retreat.

Better said, the glaciers retreated in mass and terminus location due to the warming which exposed unique characteristics that allowed more rapid retreat.

Ice loss is significant to Earth's climate, primarily the mitigation of Earth's temperature. 

North of the equator, 1,704 glaciers touched the ocean in 2000. (click here) Here, we present the first analysis to document the frontal position of every one of these glaciers in 2000, 2010, and 2020. We found that 85.3% retreated and are now reduced in area. Only 2.5% of glaciers advanced or increased in area. The remaining 12.3% did not change within uncertainty limits. Total area losses were 389.7 ± 1.6 km2 per year (more than 150 square miles) (total 7,527 ± 31 km2) over the 20-year period. Glaciers flowing from the  Greenland Ice Sheet accounted for over 60% of total area losses. (click here) We found wide variations in the response of glaciers to similar changes in air and ocean temperature and sea ice concentrations, showing that environmental conditions alone cannot explain why some glaciers retreated more than others. Instead, unique glacier characteristics are the most important factor in controlling the variability of terminus retreat. Glaciers with floating ice at their front (ice shelves or ice tongues), those that undergo periodic changes in their flow velocity (surges), those which have a weak connection to their beds, and glaciers that are unusually wide, experienced the largest area loss from 2000 to 2020.

The icefields, glaciers, sea ice, ice shelves, ice terraces and ice caps were there for a reason.

4 February 2022

A closeup view of the top of Everest, with South Col, south summit and Hillary Step

Climate change (click here) is causing the highest glacier on Mount Everest to melt at a rapid pace, a new study has found.

Researchers led by the University of Maine found that the South Col Glacier has lost more than 180ft (54m) of thickness in the last 25 years.

The glacier, which sits around 7,906m (25,938 ft) above sea-level, is thinning 80 times faster than it first took the ice to form on the surface.

The rate of decline has been blamed on warming temperatures and strong winds.

Scientists leading the study found that since the 1990s, ice that took around 2,000 years to form has melted away.

They also noted that the glacier's thick snowpack has been eroded, exposing the underlying black ice to the sun and accelerating the melting process.

Dr Mariusz Potocki, one of the study's lead researchers, said that the findings suggested "that the South Col Glacier may be on the way out - it may already be a 'relic' from an older, colder, time".

Another author of the report, Dr Tom Matthews, a climate scientist from Kings College London, observed to the BBC that there had been no single change in the region's climate to cause the surge in melting.

"Instead, the steady uptick in temperatures eventually pushes the glacier across a threshold, and suddenly everything changes," he said....

Ice (click here) that took around 2,000 years to form on the South Col Glacier has melted in around 25 years, which means it has thinned out around 80 times faster than it formed.

Tornadoes are now accompanying major storms.

Official tornado season begins in April at the earliest. The March equinox occurs every year on the 20th or 21st day of the month. That is when the direct solar rays cross over the Equator and concentrate heat on the northern hemisphere.

When Earth's troposphere was normal the heat would be the beginning of tornado season about a month later. But, this is the first days of February and we are seeing tornadoes brought with major storms that kill and destroy property. This is a new paradigm for the USA and it needs to be taken seriously. Basements to homes are no longer an option if tornado sirens are muted by chronic low pressure systems in the way of a storm.

This occurrence reminds me of the tornadoes that accompany hurricanes. This is real trouble for average Americans. They will be unaware that the railroad they are hearing is the one with the train or the impending tornado.

February 5, 2022
By Leigh Morgan

The tornado count from Thursday’s round of severe weather now stands at five. (click here)

The National Weather Service in Birmingham confirmed two additional tornadoes after doing storm surveys on Saturday. Both tornadoes were EF-0s and both were in Elmore County.

The weather service had previously confirmed three EF-2 tornadoes in parts of Sumter, Bibb, Greene, Hale and Tuscaloosa counties.

One of those tornadoes, in Hale County near Sawyerville, killed one person and injured eight others, according to weather service reports....

This FEMA announcement is for the December tornadoes in Kentucky.

February 5, 2022

A public notice is now available (click here) that addresses FEMA’s intention to reimburse eligible applicants in 23 counties in Kentucky for costs to repair and/or replace facilities damaged by the Dec. 10-11, 2021, tornadoes.

The notice is now posted on FEMA’s Kentucky disaster website at https://www.fema.gov/disaster-federal-register-notice/dr-4630-ky-public-notice-001; it will also be posted to the Kentucky Emergency Management website.

The public notice describes proposed activities that may affect historic properties and activities and critical actions that may affect wetlands and floodplains.

The president approved a disaster declaration Dec. 12 for the tornadoes....

February 1, 2022

By Erich Fisher

Alissa Wolfgram, left, and Isaac Wolfgram, right survey their backyard Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021. Most of the remains of the roof of their rural Racine home was thrown in the backyard when it was struck by a tornado Dec. 15, 2021. This portion of the roof heavily gouged the ground of the yard.

Rochester - A storm so great it has its own Wikipedia page. (click here)

That was one of many details the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wis., presented during a webinar Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, about the storm system that tore through the Midwest, including southeastern Minnesota, on Dec. 15, 2021.

“It’s turning out to be one of the biggest tornado outbreaks in US history,” said meteorologist Todd Shea.

When the dust finally settled, 118 tornadoes were counted in the Midwest, the fourth-largest outbreak in U.S. history. In the area covered by the La Crosse weather station, there were 27 tornadoes — 22 in southern Minnesota and five in Wisconsin.

For Minnesota, it was the first time tornadoes had touched down in December....

Considering the tragedy of nursing homes during the pandemic, it is wise to advocate for home care and not institutionalization.

It is easy to find Americans in instiutionalized care without a family advocate or the knowledge of an ombudsman to call to be rescued. This is not unique to California. There are programs in other states already engaged that maintain the elderly and disabled at home for less cost than if they were in a nursing home.

Rehabilitation facilities should not turn into permanent housing.

February 6, 2022
By Jesse Bedayn

Bradley Fisher, a 62-year-old retired mechanic, (click here) lived in a Bay Area nursing home for 14 years.

Entering at age 39, Fisher had been partially paralyzed when bone spurs severed tendons in his spine. After a few years of rehabilitation, Fisher said, he could have lived at home with proper care.

“You don’t need to be here,” Fisher remembers a certified nursing assistant telling him around 2005, seven years in, as he sat in his wheelchair in the facility’s cafeteria. “You got all your faculties.”

“Yeah,” Fisher replied, “but I don’t know how to get out.”...

The Barrington Declaration is pure malpractice.

This is what happens when a country has no profound leadership. This occurred before the elections of 2020.

The Great Barrington Declaration (click here) – As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection. Coming from both the left and right, and around the world, we have devoted our careers to protecting people. Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health. The results (to name a few) include lower childhood vaccination rates, worsening cardiovascular disease outcomes, fewer cancer screenings and deteriorating mental health – leading to greater excess mortality in years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice. 

Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed.

Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young. Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza....

...Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, should be resumed. Young low-risk adults should work normally, rather than from home. Restaurants and other businesses should open. Arts, music, sport and other cultural activities should resume. People who are more at risk may participate if they wish, while society as a whole enjoys the protection conferred upon the vulnerable by those who have built up herd immunity.

The US Congress (click here) had already solved the greater problem of loss of income during the time of COVID-19. There was no reason for this panic to exist. Americans were hunkered down in their homes and receiving unemployment and/or other government programs.

...Since Dec. 11, 2020, (click here) the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine has been available under EUA in individuals 16 years of age and older, and the authorization was expanded to include those 12 through 15 years of age on May 10, 2021. EUAs can be used by the FDA during public health emergencies to provide access to medical products that may be effective in preventing, diagnosing, or treating a disease, provided that the FDA determines that the known and potential benefits of a product, when used to prevent, diagnose, or treat the disease, outweigh the known and potential risks of the product....

There was no reason to institute an idea/ideology when there was a vaccine on the way that would definitely stem the spread of the virus.

The duality of omincron.

COVID-19 and it's variants have resulted in cabin fever on steriods. That is not a reason to relent on prevention. The duality of the American society regarding the viruses is grossly misguided and very dangerous.

This is not over. The current duality in priorities by the American public can easily result in another variant that is spread as easily as omicron and more deadly than COVID-19.

February 5, 2022
By Brian MacQuarrie

That hint of optimism (click here) is seen in record advance bookings at some New England inns, a stream of tourists to Boston and beyond, and restaurants and clubs where tables are hard to reserve.

“I think that Omicron is signaling a change toward more normalcy. The time for cowering in fear is really over,” said Jacquelyn Wehtje, a 57-year-old Fitchburg woman who is yearning to visit the library without being required to wear a mask.

“I didn’t get vaccinated to wear a mask forever to protect people who can protect themselves by getting vaccinated,” Wehtje said.

But is it over? The curve of the pandemic has been frustrating: a surge of COVID cases, followed by a sharp drop in infections, followed by a new round of sickness. From COVID’s arrival in spring 2020, to its Delta variant last year, to the spread of Omicron in December, the virus has shown that it does not disappear....