Jura Koncius, Home and Design Writer - The Washington Post
Stephan: it is going to be very interesting to see how our culture is changed as we come out of the pandemic year. Here is one early take on this.
Last March, Americans were told to close schools and avoid bars, restaurants and travel. The guidelines to basically stay home ground much of the economy to a halt, and we had no idea when normal life would resume. We still don’t. As days with nowhere to go stretched into weeks and months — and now a year — our attention increasingly turned to our homes.
Families used every inch of space, carving out places to work and study. We cooked three meals a day, did armloads of laundry and finally had the time to address home to-do lists. Comfort and coziness became priorities, as did styling Zoom backdrops that wouldn’t embarrass us in front of teachers and co-workers. We searched for antibacterial wipes and stocked up on bleach. Paint and new furniture replaced travel and eating out in family budgets.
Many home-related industries pivoted to meet shifting priorities. Service industries had to find ways to keep employees and customers safe, including requiring masks and sanitizing procedures. Many people who had never bought anything larger than a box of candy online […]
Stephan: I just don't know how the Republican position about democracy could be made any clearer. If you know a Republican ask them if they believe all citizens should be able to vote. If they say, no, ask them why not, and who should be able to vote? If they say yes, ask them how it is possible they can be a Republican?
Arizona Republican State RepresentativeJohn Kavanagh
State Rep. John Kavanagh, who chairs the the Government and Elections Committee in the Arizona House, says not everyone should be voting, and the “quality of votes” matters. One of the nation’s top voting rights experts is blasting that rhetoric, suggesting it’s racist, “straight out of Jim Crow.”
“There’s a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans,” Kavanagh, a Republican, said, as CNN reports. “Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud,” he claimed, not only without any proof, but falsely. While there are relatively few voter fraud and election fraud cases across the country, those who have committed these crimes are almost always Republicans.
“Republicans are more concerned about fraud,” Kavanagh claimed, “so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote — but everybody shouldn’t be voting.”
“Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they’re totally uninformed on the issues,” Kavanagh added, again, without merit. “Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of […]
Stephan: As the Biden administration actually behaves professionally and realistically about the Covid-19 pandemic, it becomes very easy to see how incompetent the Trump administration was. It is also bringing into sharp focus the difference between Republican Red value state governance, and Democratic Blue value state governance. Watch what happens in the states governed by the incompetent likes of DeSantis, Abbott, Noem and others. I think this is going to get even clearer as the anti-mask, anti-science Trumpers become the problem with stopping the virus because their behavior is why Covid cases keep cropping up in certain locales.
A healthcare worker administers the second dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine during the first day of the second dose vaccinations at the Ratliff Stadium Mass Vaccination Site on March 2, 2021, in Odessa, Texas. Credit: Jacob Ford/Odessa American/AP
The Biden administration can finally ship large quantities of coronavirus shots into the American heartland, where health officials are encountering a reservoir of vaccine skepticism among rural Americans who’ve adopted former President Donald Trump’s denial of a virus battering their communities.
If a critical mass of people don’t accept Covid-19 vaccines, the country won’t achieve “herd immunity.” When there was just a trickle of vaccines, hesitancy didn’t matter as much because plenty of people were clamoring for the scarce shots. Now that the supply is ramping up, the challenge is to overcome fear, distrust and outright antagonism to the new vaccines shared by some groups in large numbers. That’s the path to save lives, slow the emergence of new virus variants, end the stress on the health care system and restore the economy.
Noah Higgins-DuanTHU, MAR 11 202111:25 AM EST, - CNBC
Stephan: Here is the data on life expectancy by state. Note that the Bluer the state governance, the longer your life is likely to be.
KEY POINTS
If you’re born in the American South, the chances of living a long life aren’t as high as the rest of the United States, according to newly released data from the CDC.
The findings published Thursday examined state-level death and population estimates from 2018.
Americans are expected to live an average of 78.7 years, though women were more likely to outlive men by five years nationwide, according to the report.
If you’re born in the South, chances are you’ll have a shorter life expectancy compared with the rest of the United States, according to newly released data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.
The findings, published in the National Vital Statistics Reports, examined state-level mortality and population estimates from 2018, as well as state-specific death and population figures for older Medicare beneficiaries that year.
The CDC found that Americans are expected to live an average of 78.7 years, though women were more likely to outlive men by five years nationwide, according to the report. States in the South fared worse when compared with their Northeastern […]
Stephan: Trump is gone, notice the absolute absence of scandals, but the Trump stink still lingers in the government. Consider this latest on Louis DeJoy.
A Democratic congressman is demanding that the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate a shady $54 million purchase of Oshkosh Corporation stock just hours before scandal-ridden Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced the decision to award that company with a lucrative 10-year contract to produce a new, largely gasoline-powered fleet of U.S. Postal Service delivery trucks.
“This contract was awarded to Oshkosh Corporation and is worth up to $6 billion,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) wrote in a letter to Acting SEC Chair Allison Herren Lee on Monday. “I write to pass along reports of what might be unusual trading of Oshkosh stock that took place less than 24 hours before Postmaster General Louis DeJoy publicly announced the contract decision in front of a House panel on February 23rd.”
“It definitely stinks and needs to be looked into at the highest levels. If that is not suspicious, I don’t know what is. Somebody clearly knew something.” —Rep. Tim Ryan
“Specifically, an over $54 million purchase of OSK, made 20 hours before Mr. DeJoy’s announcement, was brought to my attention on social media and in news reports,” Ryan continued. […]
