Saturday, February 13th, 2021
Today was a very very lazy Saturday as class got cancelled courtesy of the icy rain. I had a swim slot booked for 12:15 which likewise I cancelled as it did not feel safe to move the car and for tomorrow, when it is supposed to thaw, I was to late to secure one. I feel a bit bumped. I shall check the schedule in the morning. If anyone cancels, I will take their slot!
After five days of trial the Senate today voted to acquit the orange Cheeto of inciting a violent insurrection. I am shocked. Incredulous. The video evidence provided was more than condemning, and it appears none of the Senators disagreed. The 43 who voted to acquit did so based on their perception that the trial was unconstitutional as the Cheeto is no longer in office. This is mind boggling on several levels.
Firstly, the then Senate majority leader – slime bag Mitch McConnel - did not call senate back into session while the Cheeto was still in office, stating the impeachment trial could be had post inauguration. He is now saying it isunconstitutional to have an impeachment trail seeing 45 is no longer in office. Secondly, the Senate voted on the issue and found it was constitutional to try a president no longer holding office as the articles of impeachment had been delivered to the Senate while he still held the office of President of the USA, a position many constitution lawyers happen to agree with. Fact is, the moron has been acquitted and can run for office again. The spineless 43 of course hope they will rally his voters; well they will not. These people want the orange Cheeto, not some poor copy of him. The only hope left for this country is now the criminal justice system. Possibly it still works. If it does, it should go after the former president and all 43 of the Senators supporting the moron. I am also holding out a glimmer of hope that donors will stop funding the campaigns of any of these Senators.
I do not see a bright future for this country if not as the GoP is doing all it can to suppress voters’ rights. This democracy is not working. Me personally, I am done. I am grateful they have a sane administration for the next four years. Thereafter? Who knows what may happen? And sadly, what happens here potentially has repercussions for the world community. If this were not so, no one would care about this empire in decline.
The current administration is at least focusing on getting the virus under control and it seems to be working. Numbers continue to move into the right direction with new infections holding steady at roughly 88k a day to bring the reported total to 28.1 million today. Also vaccine roll out has significantly improved week by week over the past four weeks. If the US manages to give 5 million shots a day herd immunity could be reached by the end of May. Given mutations speed is of essence.
I found a summary of the US vaccine orders. If all the vaccines in trials now will also be licensed the US would have enough doses to inoculate the entire population twice over by July. My confidence of getting a shot by May has just increased significantly, especially with Dr Fauci going on record stating that as of April anyone who wants a shot can get one. Even though believing him is a bit hard if one reads about the current continued shortages, I am not giving up hope! I can do another eight weeks of this.
In preparation for tweaks to vaccines making them more effective against mutants the FDA is working on licensing guidelines. So nice to have a functioning and forward-looking administration in charge.
At the same time the UK government has partnered with CureVac in New York to develop vaccines for future mutations. Leveraging artificial intelligence to predict how the virus may evolve and use these to develop mRNA vaccines or modifications to address mutations before they spread. I am amazed to see what technology can achieve. It will now be critical to also have a plan for manufacturing and widely distributing these shots.
It may be time to unpack my freezer and sanitize every single item inside given WHO believes the virus may be transmitted through packaging of frozen foods. Also, no more frozen goods to be bought.