Well it's not over. Not covid19, not Trumpism, not climate change, not the conspiracy theories, not racism, income inequality, not the detachment and loss of connection to each other, with our families, friends, neighbors, communities, countrymen, world and planet. I hate to be so pessimistic.
I read more history and books about our national conditions in the last year than ever. It's important to do so. But it reminds us how insensitive and unrealistic humans can be. And h oh w many generations it can take to come to our senses and fix something long after severe damage has been done. Yet the pressure is building and time is running faster and shorter.
NPR, particularly Maine Public, has been a great source of information, good and bad news. Yesterday a hospital CEO in Missouri reported that the Delta variant of covid19 is beginning to overwhelm his hospital with unvaccinated patients who are either regretting they refused vaccinations or refuse to believe they hsve covid19. And they are dying from the most deadly strain yet, created by the unvaccinated giving covid19 time to mutate to more nifectiiys more deadly strains. 10% of American covid19 cases are the Delta variant. This is increasing and expected to be dominant bt fall. Young children are still not getting vaccinated. Health issues with covid19 survivors are showing up. Vaccinated Americans are giving up on those who won't get vaccinated and a large number of Americans have bought into a FOX and America One reality, an infection more deadly than covid19 because it makes us all vulnerable to every illness of the body, mind and soul possible in the 21st Century, regardless of our vaccinations, NPR, history lessons and clear understandings of our national and human conditions.
One last observation. Coming up with words and names like "CRT" as in "Critical Race Theory" and holiday names like "Juneteenth" doesn't help. We need words and names that are immediately understandable to all of us which convey the value and impact intended. "Indian Wars", "Tulsa Race Riots" or "Wilmington Race Riots" in their day were more understandable than CRT or Juneteenth are today. But "massacres" are what really happened. Words and language matter. If FOX spreads disinformation by abusing words and language, that should be a lesson that we cannot afford to be careless.
David, I’m right there with you. We’ve just had a major blow up in our family about the vaccine. My nephew, a father of 4, all under 6, refuses to be vaccinated and convinced his wife, an RN, not to get vaccinated also. He won’t even talk about it or his reason. All he says is it’s his choice. And he’s also convinced his mother, my sister, not to be vaccinated. She would follow him over a cliff.
FOX is the source of all of this. Tucker Carlson is reporting 30 deaths daily from vaccines, a claim that’s been thoroughly disproven.
There must be a law that Fox is breaking by its dissemination of disinformation that is leading to the death of the unvaccinated. I'm sure there are families of victims who would be willing to testify that their loved ones were ill advised by Fox. Class action suits? Somewhat relevant, I wonder how Dominion's suit is progressing...
Yep. But if I put on my business professor hat for a moment I note that they are 'selling' a product that kills their customers. So, over time, smaller audience less revenue. Brilliant business model. Exit strategy? Let me guess. Sell it to a SPAC founded by My Pillow Guy, Lin Wood, and Sidney what's her name.
Then they bring in the crack management team of Boebert, Green, Gaetz, and Gohmert.
What would it take for a crack team of lawyers to bring a class action suit against these sappers of our society? How liable is Fox for false stories that kill people?
Yes it has Kimberly. A daily dose of poison in our public discourse. I’m so tired of hearing about freedom from people who confuse it with selfishness. UGH.
I hear you. My dear niece has a 12 year old son whose right wing father refuses to allow him to be vaccinated. It might be okay if they just hunkered down in their hometown for the summer and waited for most of his peers to be vaccinated and give some protection indirectly, but his father has him flying to and from FL to visit a grandmother there and not wearing masks anymore of course except on the plane. Very worrisome.
I didn't know about Juneteenth until a couple of years ago. However, I did learn, about 6 years ago that many African Americans didn't celebrate the 4th of July aka Independence Day as they weren't *really* free people. The 4th is a slap in the face to many POC.
I actually really like Juneteenth, it sounds celebratory, and connotes a week long celebration of sorts. It begs the question, what, so one may want to learn more. We need to be inquisitive, and how much we learn when we delve into why.
Totally agree that words matter. Tulsa Race Riots could convey a race revolt and Tulsa Massacre is preferable as a title as it is more accurate.
Disinformation and misinformation is dangerous, so dangerous. There are too many who still do not understand mask wearing really saved lives. We may need the masks again if the strain spreads, even if we *are* vaccinated...will people put masks back on if they never clearly understood transmission, contagion, etc.?
How can we be such a woefully undereducated mass of people incapable of critical thinking?
Is it any wonder many resist the title Critical Race Theory (CRT) when first heard? What are they criticizing, which race are they talking about?
How many people are aware of the multiple meanings of critical? Or just know of the *first* definition of words...
I realize I've gone off on many tangents and barely cohesive in my expression this morning. Your post sparked a lot of thoughts for me, and I appreciate the opportunity to consider your words.
Every day I am in pain by the uneducated Americans. I watched it happen as 36 children with different learning styles were crammed into classrooms with one teacher with one teaching style. Teaching to standardized texts. Middle management mucking up creativity. Attitudes by those with no children refusing to increase school taxes so teachers could have decent salaries. I tutored for an afterschool program owned by South Koreans. South Korean mothers brought their children and lived here so their kids could get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford. These kids had so much pressure from the ages of 10 through high school. There is a middle. I believe so strongly - and have for 20 years - that the American public school system is a dinosaur and needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. Like Germany did 10 or 15 years ago, the U.S. needs trade schools which take the place of high school so that students can begin building their careers as home buildres, carpenters, plumbers, tech specialists, bakers, candy makers, artisans in fields that need to be brought back. College in no longer the be all and end all, but those who go need to have real language skills and be well rounded. Not just for science and maths. The loss of a second newspaper in large cities also began the decline of critical thinking and opportunities to read two sides of an arguement. Oops! Soory! Tangent🤣😂
Clarity in words and names is extremely important. I don't live in the US anymore but had no idea what Juneteenth was about until someone here explained. Why is it not "Freedom from Slavery Day" or some such which says it in ways nobody can misunderstand or misrepresent.
To tell you the truth, I loved what people who truly celebrated the meaning of the day called it. And some still do. “Jubilee” for jubilation of their freedom.
Juneteenth is the name of the holiday because it's a word chosen by much of the African-American community going back 150 years. It would be remarkably insensitive to call it anything else. Instead, we all need to learn about and understand the importance and value of that term in the African-American population, and not tell them it should be renamed so white Americans would better understand it.
Juneteenth is what black folks call it. They have been celebrating Juneteenth for as long as I can remember--often to the derision of the openly racist Deep South whites, amidst whom I had the bad fortune to grow up.
That's all we really need to know--that and it is easy to look up "Juneteenth" and see where the name and the tradition came from. The Federal government has decided to recognize a holiday that already existed. A white power structure giving it a new name would have been yet another colonial erasure of other people's history: one of the grossest forms of misrepresentation we currently live with.
It’s curious that we would make a national holiday commemorating the day a handful of slaves in Galveston found out they were free rather than the day that millions were actually proclaimed free. But apparently it has taken on a wider significance. Whatever, it’s a good thing.
“Fourth of July” is not very descriptive either, but if you refer to it in conversation as “Independence Day”, many people will have to think twice to realize what you are talking about.
Or perhaps we can dispense with all nomenclature and just assign a sequential numerical ID. This could simply be Federal Holiday #5. The government is supposed to be impartial, after all.
Regardless, we should strive to increase recognized holidays to at least two per month.
I attended a public health conference this week, virtually. I've heard two renowned epidemiologists say this week that the Delta variant will be our dominant strain within a month. The good news is that the US vaccines protect against it, thank heavens! The less good news is that whereas after one shot of Pfizer or Moderna we are about 80% protected against the initial strain and variants, we are only 30% protected against Delta. Those who are completely unvaccinated are at very high risk as this variant is up to 60% more transmissible and seems to cause even more severe disease. Not necessarily in children, though. So far, it seems children have no more illness from Delta than the others. And it's a shame that even if the unvaccinated won't protect themselves, they refuse to understand that the more susceptible hosts there are, the more the virus will continue to mutate, potentially until it gets to a variant that the vaccines can't protect against and we'll be back at square one.
In other words, in the time between your first and second shot you are only 30% protected from the Delta variant. Once two weeks past your second shot, it sounds like you are as fully protected against Delta as the previous strains. This is in contrast to being 80% protected against the previous strains after one shot.
Brilliant post. Thank you. I so agree. Even "Critical Race Theory" is misunderstood and misrepresented. I would love to share your post with others because it os so important.
Indeed, Gailee: most "normal" people don't understand how we academics use the word "Critical" in this context. They assume it means we are criticizing white people. We are not. Critical means engaging in a serious reassessment of the social, cultural, legal, and historical reasons behind certain phenomena. It is usually connected to literature--literary criticism--but also to issues having to do with theories of cultural and social change in history, anthropology, and sociology.
Too many big words conveying complex thinking for the base. They've lost all their critical thinking skills (if they had any to begin with) and now just go along with the sound bites that tickle their amygdalae and let them feel their version of good.
Too be fair, academia is pretty isolated from all other communities. It is not fair to expect the public to understand our (former University of Michigan instructor here) language.
I'm sure I'm "average" but honestly have no problem understanding the meaning of critical! Have to agree, tho, that there are far too many who only hear sound bites & only on faux sites!
But academia must be responsible for translating academese into everyday English, especially as we hear "critical" in other (e.g. COVID) contexts, if we intend to teach and enlighten the public.
To the extent that CRT makesa general claim that the American legal system and American culture is intentionally rigged to keep law-abiding black people oppressed, people are probably right to resist incorporating it in school curricula as “knowledge” rather than a topic up for discussion.
Words absolutely matter. The Rs weaponized CRT--it's a legal theory that nobody on the left actually uses (listen to Heather and Joanne's podcast for this!). I've founded a grassroots organization to create content and amplify messaging with the goal of saving democracy and winning the midterms. Check us out www.moreperfectdemocracy.org. Looking for people who care and want to be part of a community working on this. Sign up and message me if you're interested in joining.
I agree with you completely about phrases like Critical Race Theory and Defund the Police but your inclusion of Juneteenth among them is remarkably, sadly insensitive and tone deaf. Juneteenth has been celebrated, using that term, for more than 150 years within the African-American community; it's not our place (yes, I'm a white American) to tell others what to call a celebration of the final, legal release of enslaved people in the United States - even if it arrived two years late.
Totally agree, Judith. I’m really surprised that people are suggesting “better accepted or understood” words so irrational opposition is curbed. Last time I checked, no Republican is opposing Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development or Kolb’s Experential Learning Styles Theory.
Critical Race Theory is aptly named and it’s ideas have informed other fields such as the humanities, social sciences, and teacher education.
It’s been around for 40 yrs. It’s now a supercharged topic that is being used by the political spectrum not to argue the presence of racism but to whitewash the effects.
The words do not matter. People are buying what governors like DeSantis are selling. Very few investigate what anything is about anymore. They read a blip in a tweet because Fox News, Trump or someone like him, told them to hate it. There you go.
Well I don't follow Trump or Desantis, have been reading current black writers and black history. My wife is searching terms on line every day. There are a lot out there coming to our attention. We support Howard University. And had not read anything on CRT. So it's not like everyone has been finding it in the Black Lives Matters, James Baldwin or other well known black writing. I wonder how many blacks know this term? "Redlining" yes. "White privilege" yes. "Incarceration rates" by race yes. Traffic stops and police killings heavily impacting blacks, yes. These forms of institutional racism are not theories. The evidence is all around us. CRT sounds like an academic term to avoid mentioning the actual activity of racism and white privilege that many Americans prefer not to address.
Thank you. White people are tone deaf. I have been reading about black history, but have not seen this term before. I have seen other terms like "Jubilee". So we need more education. Thanks.
Jubilee is an another term that has been used in celebration of the 'final' emancipation but Juneteenth, in my opinion, is more explicit and certainly unique so far more memorable for those of us less or even not familiar with the history.
Investigating "Juneteenth", we have learned that it started out as a Texas celebration established quite early about the 1930s. Maybe earlier. It did not become nationally known or adopted by a number of states until about 2015 and later 2020 in New York and about a dozen states.
Black Americans in Texas and those studying black history would know about the notification by a US military officer of emancipation given in Galveston, Texas two years after emancipation to Galveston black slaves. This precipitated a celebration.
It's misleading to say "Juneteenth" the term has been around for 150 years, or that Americans outside of Texas not having black American history should know the term, the event and the holiday. Most Americans don't know the history, evolution, changing names, songs, symbols, etc of today's other holidays which is why Heather Cox Richardson's posts with historical context is so helpful.
There's a lot more than traffic to "get the better" of us and they are not going away so fast. The 2022 elections may prolong the pain longer if the Democrats across the country don't get their act together.
Especially the border and crime. These are the Achilles’ heel of the party now, and they don’t seem to want to look at the issues, just hoping they will disappear. They won’t.
Did T.Snyder coin the term “memory laws” for the new legislation attacking CRT or is that a widely used term? Does not clarify the intent to erase history and people.
A sense of historical perspective and general idea of 'memory law' would be sufficient, so would rereading of 'Juneteenth, censored'. Please share this note with Christine if she didn't receive it.
1. expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments.
2. expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of literature, music, or art.
Race:
1. (old Norse ras) a contest of speed
2. (Italian razza) a group of people of common ancestry
3. (Latin radix) a ginger root (obsolete)
Theory:
1. a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something (hypothesis).
2. a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based (guiding structure).
3. an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action (rationalization).
An incredibly imprecise term. Maybe worse that 'The dynamics of interbeing and monological imperatives in “Dick and Jane”' (Calvin and Hobbes, by Jim Watterson).
The declaration of a Juneteenth holiday is an appropriate symbolic gesture, but it’s hard to get very excited about a symbolic achievement when efforts to make substantive changes in the economic structure of our country are being played out by congressional democrats and a president who are well practiced at putting on a face of justice and equality while remaining highly invested in perpetuating a payoff system that maintains their own wealth and power. It has to be noted that the provisions of the For the People Act that Manchin was eager to ditch were those that were directed at dismantling the payoff system that rewards him so generously for taking the positions that ultra-wealthy donors favor. In the recording of the No Labels Zoom conference, Manchin’s plea for that group to influence a few more “good republicans” like Roy Blunt (do they get any gooder?) by dangling a lucrative future bribe in front of him, is masked as a well-intentioned effort to establish an investigatory commission into January 6th. The more urgent purpose for Manchin and his ilk is using some no-brainer issue like the commission to demonstrate that “bipartisanship” is possible (couldn’t even pull that one off, could you, Joe?), thereby dismissing calls for elimination of the Jim Crow-based filibuster, which Manchin has been openly opposed to eliminating.
And so, yeah, while some things on the surface have at least stalled the race to our societal demise that Trump had set into high gear with both feet ankle-weighted and pressed to the floor, it’s hard to be terribly inspired or encouraged by a symbolic gesture like a Juneteenth holiday when so many corrupt actors, no matter what letter their names are followed by, are still running the show. Not as bad as 2020 or not as bad as Trump are but a slight and momentary space to breathe, they are by no means a complete turn in the direction toward real justice and equality. Thank you, David, for your sober assessment.
I’m very excited about the symbolic achievement and look forward to continue celebrating this holiday with people that have had a jubilee for its reason for the past 150 years. If my ancestors had been so enslaved in this country, the meaning of it would be even more “”critical” to me.
Living a century in a year is the perfect description. It seems another lifetime ago, doesn’t it? And yet, we continue to learn how fragile the state of our democracy remains - much of it triggered or brought to light by someone I consider to be one of the (if not THE) most dangerous leader(s) this country has experienced. Then, today, I read that the majority of GOP leaders and rank-and-file Republicans find Vladimir Putin to be a more desirable leader than our current president. Former president Trump was not an aberration, I fear. I suspect he was a mirror of what and who many of us are or want our country to be. The GOP for years has been treading an authoritarian leaning and divisive political direction to hold onto power. We someday may be grateful - despite the traumatizing experience we endured that century ago last year - that the person who became the personalization of this perspective proved to be - in many ways - so inept.
Years ago I took a Windjammer cruise aboard the Yankee Clipper, a 197 foot long 3-masted sailing ship. I'll never forget one passenger telling the rest of us that he was born for this life of the sea. I chuckled at the sight of him sitting cross-legged on the deck puffing on his pipe as I watched a hard-working crew seamlessly keeping that ship afloat as they went about their duties to keep the passengers in comfort. A "more desirable leader"? Think again, GOP, about the realities of what life really would be like aboard a Putin ship.
I thought about my choice of words and whether it might "colour" peoples thoughts as I really had in mind the facilty with which even a child would appreciate the vacuity of their pretensions...and their joy with the big bang it would make, shocking everybody, when it exploded.
What an amazing snippet of a story from your Windjammer adventure. I find it such a notable reflection, Lynell, and I will remember it vividly. It’s much the same as looking at the photo that HCR paired with her Letter today. The power of narrative! Thank you, friend!
The prestige that goes with fame attracts some people. A year ago today I noted that tRumps Nazi father bought an English coat of arms in 1939 and made it a trademark to sell Trump underwear, Trump urine tests, and Trump steaks.
And therein lies the rot. Scared old white guys with fragile self esteem. Driven by greed, anger, and delusion. The three poisons which create suffering - Buddhist wisdom on Saturday morning. I'm not sure there is a solution until a greater sense of awakening occurs in the rest of the population.
Marna, your words are exactly what I was trying to convey to my niece, who is doing a fabulous job raising her 3 children ( with her husband) and keeping their business afloat throughout the pandemic. She blames her Governor ( Cuomo) for the economic impact and has supported trump in the past. I’m reluctant to ask her how she feels since January 6th... we shy away from politics and see each other rarely as we live 10 hours apart. I have attempted conversation regarding our differing views but am given the “hand”. “Aunt Sharon, I’m too busy to know or care about issues. All I care about is my kids and my business. My kids schooling, their sports and putting dinner on the table and running our business . I don’t have time to read about the issues!” I understand where she is... I was there and I was complacent about our democracy. I assumed it would always be there. I hope I can eventually have dialogue with her but for now I simply let her know I respect her opinion and love her but we disagree on politics. 🤷♀️
The remaining men in my immediately family, step-father and brothers, are Trump/Limbaugh/GOP supporters. They can no longer, if they ever, claim to be too busy raising kids etc. I just can't see or talk to them. I wish I could be as graceful as you are, but I just am not willing. I feel that they are supporting a criminal, a man who degrades women and others, who condones violence, who is a bully and has no conscience or empathy. Policy is one thing. These things are another. Maybe my anger will die down some day.
We are in an existential battle for the soul of our nation, that’s really what it boils down to, there is no comfortable middle ground in this struggle. I remember reading that Benjamin Franklin never again spoke with his son after he sided with the crown 👑 during our revolution. I have a cousin who I love, that I was very close to, but we haven’t spoken in over a year. I told him that you were on one side or the other in this, it is black and white, I fought for this nation as did his father and mine, I have no room, no matter how close, for anyone that wants to destroy it and remake it into something that Putin would find attractive. We’ll meet up again in the next life.
This may seem a strange reply, but my sister’s name was Marna and I. have never known another person with that name. It made me smile to see your response. As to your comment, yes - he was and is inept - but it is terrifying to see how much power he still has. It feels as though we are living in an alternate universe. Scary!
I hear it is difficult to get a job in Russia. Maybe some of the GOP you mentioned could move to Russia and show them how Americans run a business, create jobs and wealth for their more desirable leader, the new Tzar of Russia.
The GOP started floating anti-democracy messages last year. The junior senator from Utah (Lee) among others. Another set of GOP senators spent July 4th a few years ago in Moscow being entertained by Putin’s oligarchs. The audacity of these traitors is breathtaking! It is clear that the MAGA base would rather have a puppet owned by Putin than a multi-racial democracy. We are teetering on the brink. The NYT this morning reports on the grim reality on the ground in states passing GOP election laws - all democrats and even Republicans who stood up for fair elections are being purged or neutered from the Secretary of State down to the voting ward volunteers. Meanwhile the senate Democrats can’t seem to figure out how to beg Joe Manchin let alone twist his arm. They seem overall much too relaxed about it all. It seems to me that our current progress under Biden will be reversed by the midterms.
Republican sentiment there is probably an indication of a growing wider backlash against toxic identity politics, cancel culture, etc. It seems that nuance and perspective has gone out the window on some of this stuff.
By your reliably clear, steady, trustworthy reporting and historical contextualizing you dared the rest of us to hope, so it's hard to believe that you yourself would not have dared. The hope you gave us is what allowed me, for one among many, to emerge from the long darkness without experiencing the breakdown that often follows a time of stress. What I'm now hearing in your post is that what the people were told that day in Galveston was not actually the truth. They were, in fact, still not free. That was the first big lie in the long chain of lies that has kept us all enslaved since then. Nevertheless, it gave us the feeling of freedom, if not freedom itself then the knowledge of it, and that's what we celebrate today and what we strive for, now that we know what it is and how it feels.
Black people always were free. In bondage by law, not because anything inherent justified enslaving them. Unjust, immoral laws devised, passed, and upheld in the land of "all men are created equal." Perhaps this new holiday will lead to much needed introspection, reflections, and correction of the lies disguised as history, that prevent this country from becoming what it purports to be, and has yet to achieve.
Renee, I’m puzzled by “Black people were always free”. It has long been my understanding slaves were definitely not free. And many people of color still are not free of fear on a daily basis, as friends have expressed their fears and concerns to me.
Yes we must, because it was. We have to name and define a problem before we can fix it. Juneteenth was and still is a point of beginning in the long march toward racial equality.
Boston traffic is back with a VENGEANCE. On the bright side, I have been elected as a delegate to the Mass Democratic convention. Perhaps as part of my environmental concerns I can advocate for rail and transit to be prioritized on the platform? I’m new to this, though, so…
Agreed on the vengeance! Perhaps advocate that corporations tip the balance toward the now familiar remote working to decrease commuting traffic/environmental impact.
Congratulations! Yes, traffic is worse than ever (even after commencements, which is weird). Stephanie, check out www.moreperfectdemocracy.org. We're trying to amplify voices of democracy...if you're interested, message me on the site, and we can chat about how to partner.
It does feel like the last year was 100 . 🙏 so much fir these letters.
Maybe because It doesn’t feel like 600,000 deaths. It feels more like 900,000 to a million.
It takes more than 18-24 months to tally and then catch up with each county coroner’s data. 2.8 million Americans died in 2018. We can look at this average and adjust for population changes. We don’t yet have 2019 data, so there’s no way we would have the exact 2020 data to claim 600,000 more in 2020. There are many reasons why.
( I just want folks to monitor this metric and link. I believe it will become more important as the weeks and months go by).
Eventually we will all know the truth. Watch this link and how surplus deaths will spike greater than 600k for 2020. The difference between about 2.8m will tell us how much former guy and firmer administration lied).
I predict the red counties and ref states tally’s will be the biggest correction. And I do hope we get this info before the 2022 midterms. And former guy and Republicans will pay an electoral price for the damage they have caused this country of ours.
Read the Vanity Fair article your link leads to, Ted, and had a flashback of how excruciatingly fruitless it was to try to decipher the former president's ramblings. That excerpt of his interview with Hannity... WOW! So glad that such dribble is no longer broadcast 24/7!
We have had plenty of American Demagogue’s throughout our history. Yet, none of them even remotely come close to being responsible for the deaths and suffering of so many fellow Americans as DJT.
Yes, we do. And Plenty. Vaccinate kids 12 and up. apprehensive? Go talk to your family doctor. Still curious? Why does the richest county in the country have a vax rate of 80%? Teton County Wyoming has an average annual income of 22 million. So who has access to the best health care AND information, with the ability to synthesize both?
Don’t know. But the probability is high that there will be a lot of sick and dying people in those areas. Give it a month or to for Delta strain to become dominate.
The vaccine is fully approved by the FDA for emergency use, which is what we're experiencing, an emergency. Please stop saying it's not fully approved.
That is the sort of false language that confuses people into thinking it's not safe.
Because we're only about a year in to the vaccines, we can't have longer term risk/benefit info than that (and so far, safety and efficacy is excellent), but we are beginning to understand long term effects of Covid-19 on many people, even those who had asymptomatic or mild infection, and it's not good news.
The information we’re learning about COVID infections though is pretty concerning. “In 2021, they asked hundreds of those people to come back for more brain scans. Almost 800 responded. Of those patients, 404 had tested positive for COVID-19, and 394 had usable brain scans that were taken before and after the pandemic.
Comparison of the before-and-after brain scans found "significant effects of COVID-19 in the brain with a loss of grey matter" in parts of the brain connected to smell and taste.” Could be a good way for the overweight to lose weight I suppose.
I feel compelled to share a real person real story. A very good friend, another musician, continued to play (bass) with a band throughout the pandemic, before the vaccines were created and approved until a few months ago. She never got her vaccine, although she herself is a nurse and works with a young child with serious health issues. Because of her constant exposure to crowds of people - most of whom were among those who continue to spread misinformation and who wear the ugly red cap - her failure to wear a mask and maintain social distancing, she got Covid. She was one very, very sick woman, but she did recover. And she got smart - she got her two doses of Moderna. But here's the kicker - she has absolutely NO sense of smell and her sense of taste has changed so much that every single thing she eats tastes like dirt or excrement. For over five months now, she has seen no change in this disgusting effect of Covid. No one can explain what happened. She is now exploring research on the brain to learn what her life will be like in the years ahead.
So when I see posts like the one above casting shade on vaccines (not you, Christy), I'm of the mind that people like that should have to spend the rest of their lives eating their own plates of dirt and excrement. Just don't foist it on anyone else, please.
My county’s commission in FL caved and gleefully removed mask mandates and Covid precautions a month or so ago. Business is back! They are lockstep with Desantis. This past week, a department of 6 IT specialists in the county admin bldg got hit by Covid—new strain. All had worn masks and had followed protocols for months. 5 of them got sick. Started with sore throat. Within 2 wks, 2 have died and other 3 struggling to recover. The 6th specialist on their team? Only one vaccinated.
The commission is back peddling as hard as possible. And what was reported is that one of the commisioners, very vocal against masks and “personal liberties” being infringed by vaccine readiness, immediately went and got her first dose and asked that it not be “put out there” that she did so.
What an absolute travesty of behavior by public servants.
I find it ironic that, frequently, the same people who spread disinformation about Covid and the vaccines go on spreading the virus itself. Those who get sick should be required to give testimonials of the effects of the disease. Can't believe nobody has used this as a pro-vaccine advertising campaign. It has worked for the anti-tobacco advocacy...
Long-term risks of *not* being vaccinated is increasing death rates in areas where there's a substantial unvaccinated population, and increasing numbers of variants of the virus which have been shown to be far more easily transmitted to the unvaccinated.
Benefits - THE benefit - is substantial reduction in illness and deaths as well as reduction in development of variants due to lack of vaccinations in many regions. Would you argue that, instead, no one be vaccinated because the FDA approved the vaccines for "emergency use"? Would you argue 600,000 deaths from Covid is not an emergency?
Both the FDA and the CDC are studying long term effects of the vaccinations; so far, a relative handful of the millions of those vaccinated have experienced negative effects. Such studies will continue far into the future.
I didn’t even come close to arguing no one be vaccinated. I’m just pointing out that there are enough unknowns that running around calling people who don’t want their kids vaccinated “evil” is not warranted.
“If the stock market was going up, even as people were dying, it would be good for re election”- Andy Slavit on the former dueche bag’s Covid national strategy.
The "former dueche [sic] bag"? Are you intimating that the current POTUS is the current douchebag? I believe T**** still fits that description; whereas the Biden doesn't. Uh oh, beware, folx - my syntax switch is turned on this morning!
No, “former” as in “the former guy, “the traffic come of treason”, that one. Andy Slavit gave UCSF medical school interview. Check it out. It is in this thread. It’s a good interview, critical of former guys penchant for populism instead of public health.
Ted, this is playing out in MO, where apparently we are experiencing the Delta variant at a higher rate than the rest of the country and counties that didn't mask up and won't vaccinate--such as in Branson--are experiencing the same rate of infection and death they did in January.
Over here we'll probably do the reverse as the deaths actually attributed to Covid have tended to be a little exaggerated. Tallies of local hospitals "real" figures, or "live figures" so to speak, tended to be considerably less than the governments published figures. Sadly, of course, the people died but what of is the question as often they were not necessarily tested in the hospitals as testing programs were particularly disorganized and the country is not well equiped in laboritaries specialized in identifying the particular bug. It was just assumed that it was covid. The excess death figure in France is probably going to be a little less than the published Covid figures, particularly in the second and third waves of the bug. The really difficult period in that way was springtime 2020 and since then there was a significant level of governmental and government induced panic and overreaction. Thankfully we are opening up now and so far without medical consequences......as the election season starts tomorrow! What a surprise!
Unfortunately we are going to have very high abstensions. They will be the absolute winners as they believe that it is a waste of time. Governments have alternated left right and center for the last 40 years and it makes no difference. They are not listening to the people's concerns, only the Parisian version of what the people should think. Tomorrow those voting will express their distrust for all the "standard" parties and will vote against them...not necessarily for Mme Le Pen. She is just as mediocre as the others. She has no sensible solutions but hits the nail on the head in her portrayal of what the people see as their problems.
The same errors and uncertainties about the “true” cause of death exist in the US also. Even the final, official numbers will be a rough estimate. But I doubt the adjustments will be enough to affect people’s judgments of the pandemic.
Not to mention the news from Florida where a local judge has just agreed to invalidate CDC rules about the start-up of the Miami cruise business. De Santos figures that a "few" covid deaths on a floating "concentration camp" should not be allowed to get in the way of good business and massive $ influxes into the State's coffers
A very apt and symbolic photo. The timing of HCR’s Letters was perfect. There is no doubt they kept so many of us from completely falling off the edge. Four years of the horror that was trump (and still is) topped off with a deadly virus that shut everything down for a year+ was simply unimaginable. No one could have ever anticipated a daily Letter (along with 2 videos/week) from a history professor would have such a positive impact on the minds of so many thirsty for knowledge and context. The Letters have become a healthy, brain calming addiction (although there is an impact on sleep!) just like my instant addiction to pickleball a few years ago!! Grateful for finding both :)
As far as the greater Boston traffic goes, it is a nightmare and it is everywhere. All the major highways are total gridlock and secondary roads are constant streams of traffic. Every hour is “rush hour” - going nowhere fast. Don’t even think about traveling in a timely fashion on the weekends. Everything one tries to do is like a giant swarm! I’m thankful to get on the water in a kayak (although getting in and out could be a routine from “I Love Lucy”) 🤣
There are things that I won't even try. Access and egress (especially egress) from a kayak is one of them. I don't bend, and have gawdawful balance. I would go swimming. Every. Time.
Early last summer, a friend let me borrow her son's stand up paddle-board and we ventured out on the lake where I live. My balance has never been stellar, so I fell off so many times (fortunately, my glasses stayed on) that I finally gave up trying to stay on the board and just swam behind it pushing it back to shore. It was fun and I laughed myself silly, but I'm sticking to my kayak or on-purpose swimming in future.
The evil of many Republicans is still strong. McConnell promising (again) to block a Democratic president, the Catholic Church endeavoring to keep Biden from receiving communion (seems his stance on abortion rights is far worse than priests being pedophiles!), lawmakers lying and cheating to make voter repression a reality, denials of insurrection on January 6th, and the list goes on. And whatever happened to the Trump-Kushner Far East fiasco??? It’s as if the media totally missed it, except for the Washington Post!
I have been questioning the Kentucky Democratic party on why we do not highlight conditions like this in the campaigns against McConnell, Paul and my representative, Andy Barr. It seems instead of being on the offense, we are always on the defense.
American hero BarbiAnn Maynord working for the past 20 (!) years for fixing infrastructure and getting clean water in Martin County, Kentucky! And she gets it that it's not just about individuals, but it's about having a physical location with roads and bridges that support business to come in and to be able to get their product out--thereby providing jobs for the local community.
Thank you for sharing this. Years ago, I was a Republican living in Louisville. I voted for this scumbag and honestly believed his platform. Why didn’t the Democrats challenge last year’s election results?
Yes, I do follow WH Twitter, Lanita, though I do it through my laptop not mobile so I don't get notifications. I have to go to Twitter to see what's happening. Their emails are more timely for me.
Thank you for all you’ve done to help steer us through this unprecedented upheaval with perspective and knowledge and calm. I’d be worse off without your words.
I have to say, the last 15 months have been the most productive period of my writing career ever. But then, writing is best done at home, alone. When they said "don't go out!" I replied, "What is this 'go out' you speak of?"
Hahahahahahahahaha. My BabyGrand girl has this little lantern toy she carries or turns it on during her nap. It’s pretty cool. Looks like fireflies inside a jar. I swear, TC, you remind me of that lantern for some reason. Go figure. Hahahahaha
We are all (or, at least, many or some of us are) transitioning "back," with a certain amount of disbelief at what we used to do with much more ease. Have a good weekend... and thank you again for continuing to write and post beautiful photos EVERY DAY (how do you do it??).
It also feels to me like we have lived a century in a year. The immense responsibility we healthcare providers have felt, and dealt with caring for COVID patients. It has taken a toll on many. That being said I feel a weight lifted off that is tremendous. Although we still have to keep vigilant to keep COVID at bay, we also have an immense threat to our democracy that requires our participation. Like you Heather, I am so honored and happy to have Juneteenth recognized. And I would never have dreamed of it a year ago. And yes the traffic is very bad again here too.
Your profession was on the front lines, and should be honored for all you did. May I convey just a little snippet: My former agency has, as its second in command, a man from a small town (Creswell, OR) that I have known since he was 16 as an Explorer Scout. He was hired at age 21 (I did his background investigation) and has moved through the ranks. He and his wife raised 3 kids (all of whom I got to know while I was the daytime deputy; his oldest son was on safety patrol, his middle son is now a cadet with the Sheriff's Office, and his daughter has embarked upon a nursing career. When I asked, she said "I know all about the sacrifices that cops make; I lived it growing up. What I saw during the pandemic was the real heroes going to work every day. That is what I want to do."
Even before Covid 19 America was imploding under the former President. People and institutions were collapsing into their own bubbles in a effort to distance themselves from the nightmare in Washington D.C.
But yet again America chose light over darkness by the biggest and thinest of margins. A 7 million vote spread between the winner and loser hinged on a mere 70,000 votes in a handful of states. It was, thankfully, all that was needed to turn the prior implosion into today's expansion of ideas and solutions, and the return of hope in the American psyche.
The right is floundering like a catch of fish on the deck of a boat. Critical Race Theory! Biden is mentally incompetent! The election was rigged! Missing in all their flipping and flopping is one iota of positive or constructive information, only stories of fear and hatred. Their biggest militia at the Jan 6 Capitol storming has burned up in a heap of corruption opening the door for an even more unreal contingent built on a foundation of conspiracy theories.
The question in my mind is not will the President and Congress rise to the occasion but rather will the people push them into action? It's been a long while but as I recall in our democratic republic power rises from the people to their elected officials. Democrats need to communicate their demands to all their elected officials in both parties in equal numbers. This is how we leverage the 7 million vote advantage, the real elephant in the room.
A group of HCR Substackers has formed to turn good discussion into effective action. Join your fellow Floridians with questions, inspiration, and support! For more info, email:
Your second sentence: “People and institutions were collapsing into their own bubbles in an effort to distance themselves from the nightmare in Washington DC.” Priceless.
Well it's not over. Not covid19, not Trumpism, not climate change, not the conspiracy theories, not racism, income inequality, not the detachment and loss of connection to each other, with our families, friends, neighbors, communities, countrymen, world and planet. I hate to be so pessimistic.
I read more history and books about our national conditions in the last year than ever. It's important to do so. But it reminds us how insensitive and unrealistic humans can be. And h oh w many generations it can take to come to our senses and fix something long after severe damage has been done. Yet the pressure is building and time is running faster and shorter.
NPR, particularly Maine Public, has been a great source of information, good and bad news. Yesterday a hospital CEO in Missouri reported that the Delta variant of covid19 is beginning to overwhelm his hospital with unvaccinated patients who are either regretting they refused vaccinations or refuse to believe they hsve covid19. And they are dying from the most deadly strain yet, created by the unvaccinated giving covid19 time to mutate to more nifectiiys more deadly strains. 10% of American covid19 cases are the Delta variant. This is increasing and expected to be dominant bt fall. Young children are still not getting vaccinated. Health issues with covid19 survivors are showing up. Vaccinated Americans are giving up on those who won't get vaccinated and a large number of Americans have bought into a FOX and America One reality, an infection more deadly than covid19 because it makes us all vulnerable to every illness of the body, mind and soul possible in the 21st Century, regardless of our vaccinations, NPR, history lessons and clear understandings of our national and human conditions.
One last observation. Coming up with words and names like "CRT" as in "Critical Race Theory" and holiday names like "Juneteenth" doesn't help. We need words and names that are immediately understandable to all of us which convey the value and impact intended. "Indian Wars", "Tulsa Race Riots" or "Wilmington Race Riots" in their day were more understandable than CRT or Juneteenth are today. But "massacres" are what really happened. Words and language matter. If FOX spreads disinformation by abusing words and language, that should be a lesson that we cannot afford to be careless.
David, I’m right there with you. We’ve just had a major blow up in our family about the vaccine. My nephew, a father of 4, all under 6, refuses to be vaccinated and convinced his wife, an RN, not to get vaccinated also. He won’t even talk about it or his reason. All he says is it’s his choice. And he’s also convinced his mother, my sister, not to be vaccinated. She would follow him over a cliff.
FOX is the source of all of this. Tucker Carlson is reporting 30 deaths daily from vaccines, a claim that’s been thoroughly disproven.
And then there’s all the rest.
There must be a law that Fox is breaking by its dissemination of disinformation that is leading to the death of the unvaccinated. I'm sure there are families of victims who would be willing to testify that their loved ones were ill advised by Fox. Class action suits? Somewhat relevant, I wonder how Dominion's suit is progressing...
Fox: “we decide, so you don’t have to think”
Yep. But if I put on my business professor hat for a moment I note that they are 'selling' a product that kills their customers. So, over time, smaller audience less revenue. Brilliant business model. Exit strategy? Let me guess. Sell it to a SPAC founded by My Pillow Guy, Lin Wood, and Sidney what's her name.
Then they bring in the crack management team of Boebert, Green, Gaetz, and Gohmert.
My snark cup runneth over today.
What would it take for a crack team of lawyers to bring a class action suit against these sappers of our society? How liable is Fox for false stories that kill people?
So fun though!
: )
Keep it up!
Reading about the influences of non-news media, I’ m so glad I don’t have a television!
😔
Carlson has been sued before. Their defense? They are an “entertainment” channel, despite the name.
First Amendment, First Amendment, First Amendment. Unless Fox's positions can be likened to shouting out "Fire" in a theatre.
Perhaps we could, as a group, explore this?
Sounds like a great idea, Gailee.
He sounds like a bully. His wife is an RN and she goes along with him??
She has 4 kids all under 6 with him, so, yes, she sure goes along with him.
Sure enough - yet another way to keep her under his thumb!
Like Sidney Powell, The Tuck says anyone who believes him on an idiot.
Wow, that's hard. I'm sorry. Trump/Fox/Limbaugh et al have been tough on families, in more ways than one.
Yes it has Kimberly. A daily dose of poison in our public discourse. I’m so tired of hearing about freedom from people who confuse it with selfishness. UGH.
I hear you. My dear niece has a 12 year old son whose right wing father refuses to allow him to be vaccinated. It might be okay if they just hunkered down in their hometown for the summer and waited for most of his peers to be vaccinated and give some protection indirectly, but his father has him flying to and from FL to visit a grandmother there and not wearing masks anymore of course except on the plane. Very worrisome.
It’s insane. Other countries would give anything for our vaccine access.
🥺
Are they requiring both parents to give consent?
Not the vaccine providers, but the custody arrangement requires it.
Ugh!!! 😣
I didn't know about Juneteenth until a couple of years ago. However, I did learn, about 6 years ago that many African Americans didn't celebrate the 4th of July aka Independence Day as they weren't *really* free people. The 4th is a slap in the face to many POC.
I actually really like Juneteenth, it sounds celebratory, and connotes a week long celebration of sorts. It begs the question, what, so one may want to learn more. We need to be inquisitive, and how much we learn when we delve into why.
Totally agree that words matter. Tulsa Race Riots could convey a race revolt and Tulsa Massacre is preferable as a title as it is more accurate.
Disinformation and misinformation is dangerous, so dangerous. There are too many who still do not understand mask wearing really saved lives. We may need the masks again if the strain spreads, even if we *are* vaccinated...will people put masks back on if they never clearly understood transmission, contagion, etc.?
How can we be such a woefully undereducated mass of people incapable of critical thinking?
Is it any wonder many resist the title Critical Race Theory (CRT) when first heard? What are they criticizing, which race are they talking about?
How many people are aware of the multiple meanings of critical? Or just know of the *first* definition of words...
I realize I've gone off on many tangents and barely cohesive in my expression this morning. Your post sparked a lot of thoughts for me, and I appreciate the opportunity to consider your words.
Every day I am in pain by the uneducated Americans. I watched it happen as 36 children with different learning styles were crammed into classrooms with one teacher with one teaching style. Teaching to standardized texts. Middle management mucking up creativity. Attitudes by those with no children refusing to increase school taxes so teachers could have decent salaries. I tutored for an afterschool program owned by South Koreans. South Korean mothers brought their children and lived here so their kids could get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford. These kids had so much pressure from the ages of 10 through high school. There is a middle. I believe so strongly - and have for 20 years - that the American public school system is a dinosaur and needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. Like Germany did 10 or 15 years ago, the U.S. needs trade schools which take the place of high school so that students can begin building their careers as home buildres, carpenters, plumbers, tech specialists, bakers, candy makers, artisans in fields that need to be brought back. College in no longer the be all and end all, but those who go need to have real language skills and be well rounded. Not just for science and maths. The loss of a second newspaper in large cities also began the decline of critical thinking and opportunities to read two sides of an arguement. Oops! Soory! Tangent🤣😂
I’m so glad to hear from teachers!
Here’s another one — retired teacher from IVY TECH, Indiana
No. More emphasis on vo tech has been a passion of mine. Starting in middle school!
You go girl! Absolutely. I'm going to look into how Germany made that transition.
I'll see if I can find it. I watched it a few years ago.
Read David Goodhart's "Head, Hands, Heart." A travesty what our meriticracy has done.
I will. Thank you.
Thanks.
Yes, you are exactly right Gaylee.
Thank you.
Right On, Trisha!
Clarity in words and names is extremely important. I don't live in the US anymore but had no idea what Juneteenth was about until someone here explained. Why is it not "Freedom from Slavery Day" or some such which says it in ways nobody can misunderstand or misrepresent.
To tell you the truth, I loved what people who truly celebrated the meaning of the day called it. And some still do. “Jubilee” for jubilation of their freedom.
And perhaps best of all “Freedom Day”
Juneteenth is the name of the holiday because it's a word chosen by much of the African-American community going back 150 years. It would be remarkably insensitive to call it anything else. Instead, we all need to learn about and understand the importance and value of that term in the African-American population, and not tell them it should be renamed so white Americans would better understand it.
Juneteenth is what black folks call it. They have been celebrating Juneteenth for as long as I can remember--often to the derision of the openly racist Deep South whites, amidst whom I had the bad fortune to grow up.
That's all we really need to know--that and it is easy to look up "Juneteenth" and see where the name and the tradition came from. The Federal government has decided to recognize a holiday that already existed. A white power structure giving it a new name would have been yet another colonial erasure of other people's history: one of the grossest forms of misrepresentation we currently live with.
Well said.
It’s curious that we would make a national holiday commemorating the day a handful of slaves in Galveston found out they were free rather than the day that millions were actually proclaimed free. But apparently it has taken on a wider significance. Whatever, it’s a good thing.
Took two years at least in many places for President Lincoln’s executive order to be enforced.
Duh
“Fourth of July” is not very descriptive either, but if you refer to it in conversation as “Independence Day”, many people will have to think twice to realize what you are talking about.
Wordspeak rides again
Stuart, I did know what Juneteenth was but always wondered why it had such a veiled name.
Summer Festivus has a cheerful ring to it.
Or perhaps we can dispense with all nomenclature and just assign a sequential numerical ID. This could simply be Federal Holiday #5. The government is supposed to be impartial, after all.
Regardless, we should strive to increase recognized holidays to at least two per month.
I attended a public health conference this week, virtually. I've heard two renowned epidemiologists say this week that the Delta variant will be our dominant strain within a month. The good news is that the US vaccines protect against it, thank heavens! The less good news is that whereas after one shot of Pfizer or Moderna we are about 80% protected against the initial strain and variants, we are only 30% protected against Delta. Those who are completely unvaccinated are at very high risk as this variant is up to 60% more transmissible and seems to cause even more severe disease. Not necessarily in children, though. So far, it seems children have no more illness from Delta than the others. And it's a shame that even if the unvaccinated won't protect themselves, they refuse to understand that the more susceptible hosts there are, the more the virus will continue to mutate, potentially until it gets to a variant that the vaccines can't protect against and we'll be back at square one.
Whence come that 30% number. Ask I have heard is that the vaccines are effective against Delta. I wouldn’t call 30% effective.
She clearly said 30% effective if only choosing to get one dose of Pfizerbor Moderna and not the second dose.
I missed that. Almost all the benefit does seem to derive from the first dose, though, at least up to now.
In other words, in the time between your first and second shot you are only 30% protected from the Delta variant. Once two weeks past your second shot, it sounds like you are as fully protected against Delta as the previous strains. This is in contrast to being 80% protected against the previous strains after one shot.
Did you just learn this?
Yes, this week on the PBS Newshour.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/coronavirus-delta-variant-may-hit-us-pretty-hard-this-fall-heres-what-you-need-to-know
And confirmed at the NE Public Health Conference by Dr. Elizabeth Talbot, professor at Dartmouth Medical School and NH deputy state epidemiologist.
So why did you give us the impression the vaccine was poorly effective against Delta?
Brilliant post. Thank you. I so agree. Even "Critical Race Theory" is misunderstood and misrepresented. I would love to share your post with others because it os so important.
Indeed, Gailee: most "normal" people don't understand how we academics use the word "Critical" in this context. They assume it means we are criticizing white people. We are not. Critical means engaging in a serious reassessment of the social, cultural, legal, and historical reasons behind certain phenomena. It is usually connected to literature--literary criticism--but also to issues having to do with theories of cultural and social change in history, anthropology, and sociology.
Too many big words conveying complex thinking for the base. They've lost all their critical thinking skills (if they had any to begin with) and now just go along with the sound bites that tickle their amygdalae and let them feel their version of good.
“False protection from real pain”
Too be fair, academia is pretty isolated from all other communities. It is not fair to expect the public to understand our (former University of Michigan instructor here) language.
And it is our responsibility to translate it onto common language. We are educators afterall.
I'm sure I'm "average" but honestly have no problem understanding the meaning of critical! Have to agree, tho, that there are far too many who only hear sound bites & only on faux sites!
But academia must be responsible for translating academese into everyday English, especially as we hear "critical" in other (e.g. COVID) contexts, if we intend to teach and enlighten the public.
To the extent that CRT makesa general claim that the American legal system and American culture is intentionally rigged to keep law-abiding black people oppressed, people are probably right to resist incorporating it in school curricula as “knowledge” rather than a topic up for discussion.
And it’s made illegal to teach in 15 states. These are the néw “memory laws”.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/juneteenth-censored
Words absolutely matter. The Rs weaponized CRT--it's a legal theory that nobody on the left actually uses (listen to Heather and Joanne's podcast for this!). I've founded a grassroots organization to create content and amplify messaging with the goal of saving democracy and winning the midterms. Check us out www.moreperfectdemocracy.org. Looking for people who care and want to be part of a community working on this. Sign up and message me if you're interested in joining.
Thanks Stephanie!! Just did😊
This looks awesome Stephanie! Will check it out! Thanks!
Nobody on the left actually used CRT? Not rigorously, no, but as religious dogma, yes they do.
Religious dogma? You are making statements to incite disagreement so you best attach explanation to your “critical criticism.
John McWhorter does a much better job of laying out much of it than I could (or that I could get away with).
https://youtu.be/mT2rlJe9cuU
I agree with you completely about phrases like Critical Race Theory and Defund the Police but your inclusion of Juneteenth among them is remarkably, sadly insensitive and tone deaf. Juneteenth has been celebrated, using that term, for more than 150 years within the African-American community; it's not our place (yes, I'm a white American) to tell others what to call a celebration of the final, legal release of enslaved people in the United States - even if it arrived two years late.
"The United States government is catching up with Black people who have been commemorating the end of slavery in the United States for generations with a day called “Juneteenth.” https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/explainer-story-juneteenth-federal-holiday-78338317
Totally agree, Judith. I’m really surprised that people are suggesting “better accepted or understood” words so irrational opposition is curbed. Last time I checked, no Republican is opposing Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development or Kolb’s Experential Learning Styles Theory.
Critical Race Theory is aptly named and it’s ideas have informed other fields such as the humanities, social sciences, and teacher education.
It’s been around for 40 yrs. It’s now a supercharged topic that is being used by the political spectrum not to argue the presence of racism but to whitewash the effects.
The words do not matter. People are buying what governors like DeSantis are selling. Very few investigate what anything is about anymore. They read a blip in a tweet because Fox News, Trump or someone like him, told them to hate it. There you go.
It’s all trumpery.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Nailed it! 🙏
Well I don't follow Trump or Desantis, have been reading current black writers and black history. My wife is searching terms on line every day. There are a lot out there coming to our attention. We support Howard University. And had not read anything on CRT. So it's not like everyone has been finding it in the Black Lives Matters, James Baldwin or other well known black writing. I wonder how many blacks know this term? "Redlining" yes. "White privilege" yes. "Incarceration rates" by race yes. Traffic stops and police killings heavily impacting blacks, yes. These forms of institutional racism are not theories. The evidence is all around us. CRT sounds like an academic term to avoid mentioning the actual activity of racism and white privilege that many Americans prefer not to address.
Yes, David. Like I said. Trumpery.
Thank you. White people are tone deaf. I have been reading about black history, but have not seen this term before. I have seen other terms like "Jubilee". So we need more education. Thanks.
Jubilee is an another term that has been used in celebration of the 'final' emancipation but Juneteenth, in my opinion, is more explicit and certainly unique so far more memorable for those of us less or even not familiar with the history.
Investigating "Juneteenth", we have learned that it started out as a Texas celebration established quite early about the 1930s. Maybe earlier. It did not become nationally known or adopted by a number of states until about 2015 and later 2020 in New York and about a dozen states.
Black Americans in Texas and those studying black history would know about the notification by a US military officer of emancipation given in Galveston, Texas two years after emancipation to Galveston black slaves. This precipitated a celebration.
It's misleading to say "Juneteenth" the term has been around for 150 years, or that Americans outside of Texas not having black American history should know the term, the event and the holiday. Most Americans don't know the history, evolution, changing names, songs, symbols, etc of today's other holidays which is why Heather Cox Richardson's posts with historical context is so helpful.
There's a lot more than traffic to "get the better" of us and they are not going away so fast. The 2022 elections may prolong the pain longer if the Democrats across the country don't get their act together.
Especially the border and crime. These are the Achilles’ heel of the party now, and they don’t seem to want to look at the issues, just hoping they will disappear. They won’t.
100%. Words form the future.
Did T.Snyder coin the term “memory laws” for the new legislation attacking CRT or is that a widely used term? Does not clarify the intent to erase history and people.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/juneteenth-censored?r=2xpfg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy
https://rm.coe.int/factsheet-on-memory-laws-july2018-docx/16808c1690
https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/e-journal/historians-memory-laws-and-politics-of-the-past
https://legal-dialogue.org/memory-laws-in-russia-and-other-restrictions-on-freedom-of-expression
Wow Fern. I am not familiar with this.
Thank you very much!!! So much to learn. So little time! 🙏🙏
A sense of historical perspective and general idea of 'memory law' would be sufficient, so would rereading of 'Juneteenth, censored'. Please share this note with Christine if she didn't receive it.
Very well said David
David, thanks...echo you...
Critical:
1. expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments.
2. expressing or involving an analysis of the merits and faults of a work of literature, music, or art.
Race:
1. (old Norse ras) a contest of speed
2. (Italian razza) a group of people of common ancestry
3. (Latin radix) a ginger root (obsolete)
Theory:
1. a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something (hypothesis).
2. a set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based (guiding structure).
3. an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action (rationalization).
An incredibly imprecise term. Maybe worse that 'The dynamics of interbeing and monological imperatives in “Dick and Jane”' (Calvin and Hobbes, by Jim Watterson).
You missed the most important definitions of critical:
Definition of critical
1a : inclined to criticize severely and unfavorably
His critical temperament cost him several friends.
b : consisting of or involving criticism
critical writings
also : of or relating to the judgment of critics
The play was a critical success.
c : exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation
critical thinking
a critical commentary on the mayor's proposal
d : including variant readings and scholarly emendations
a critical edition
2a
: of, relating to, or being a turning point or specially important juncture
a critical phase
: such as
(1) : relating to or being the stage of a disease at which an abrupt change for better or worse may be expected
also : being or relating to an illness or condition involving danger of death
critical care
a patient listed in critical condition
(2) : relating to or being a state in which or a measurement or point at which some quality, property, or phenomenon suffers a definite change
critical temperature
b : INDISPENSABLE, VITAL
a critical waterfowl habitat
a component critical to the operation of a machine
c : being in or approaching a state of crisis
a critical shortage
a critical situation
d : CRUCIAL, DECISIVE
a critical test
3a : of sufficient size to sustain a chain reaction —used of a mass of fissionable material
a critical mass
b : sustaining a nuclear chain reaction
The reactor went critical
From Merriam Webster
David, thanks...echo you...
The declaration of a Juneteenth holiday is an appropriate symbolic gesture, but it’s hard to get very excited about a symbolic achievement when efforts to make substantive changes in the economic structure of our country are being played out by congressional democrats and a president who are well practiced at putting on a face of justice and equality while remaining highly invested in perpetuating a payoff system that maintains their own wealth and power. It has to be noted that the provisions of the For the People Act that Manchin was eager to ditch were those that were directed at dismantling the payoff system that rewards him so generously for taking the positions that ultra-wealthy donors favor. In the recording of the No Labels Zoom conference, Manchin’s plea for that group to influence a few more “good republicans” like Roy Blunt (do they get any gooder?) by dangling a lucrative future bribe in front of him, is masked as a well-intentioned effort to establish an investigatory commission into January 6th. The more urgent purpose for Manchin and his ilk is using some no-brainer issue like the commission to demonstrate that “bipartisanship” is possible (couldn’t even pull that one off, could you, Joe?), thereby dismissing calls for elimination of the Jim Crow-based filibuster, which Manchin has been openly opposed to eliminating.
And so, yeah, while some things on the surface have at least stalled the race to our societal demise that Trump had set into high gear with both feet ankle-weighted and pressed to the floor, it’s hard to be terribly inspired or encouraged by a symbolic gesture like a Juneteenth holiday when so many corrupt actors, no matter what letter their names are followed by, are still running the show. Not as bad as 2020 or not as bad as Trump are but a slight and momentary space to breathe, they are by no means a complete turn in the direction toward real justice and equality. Thank you, David, for your sober assessment.
I’m very excited about the symbolic achievement and look forward to continue celebrating this holiday with people that have had a jubilee for its reason for the past 150 years. If my ancestors had been so enslaved in this country, the meaning of it would be even more “”critical” to me.
Living a century in a year is the perfect description. It seems another lifetime ago, doesn’t it? And yet, we continue to learn how fragile the state of our democracy remains - much of it triggered or brought to light by someone I consider to be one of the (if not THE) most dangerous leader(s) this country has experienced. Then, today, I read that the majority of GOP leaders and rank-and-file Republicans find Vladimir Putin to be a more desirable leader than our current president. Former president Trump was not an aberration, I fear. I suspect he was a mirror of what and who many of us are or want our country to be. The GOP for years has been treading an authoritarian leaning and divisive political direction to hold onto power. We someday may be grateful - despite the traumatizing experience we endured that century ago last year - that the person who became the personalization of this perspective proved to be - in many ways - so inept.
Years ago I took a Windjammer cruise aboard the Yankee Clipper, a 197 foot long 3-masted sailing ship. I'll never forget one passenger telling the rest of us that he was born for this life of the sea. I chuckled at the sight of him sitting cross-legged on the deck puffing on his pipe as I watched a hard-working crew seamlessly keeping that ship afloat as they went about their duties to keep the passengers in comfort. A "more desirable leader"? Think again, GOP, about the realities of what life really would be like aboard a Putin ship.
Mornin' Lynell. They think that they can live in their bubble and the rest of the crowds will not be able to "prick" it.
I sense a subtle double entendre there Stuart.
I thought about my choice of words and whether it might "colour" peoples thoughts as I really had in mind the facilty with which even a child would appreciate the vacuity of their pretensions...and their joy with the big bang it would make, shocking everybody, when it exploded.
What an amazing snippet of a story from your Windjammer adventure. I find it such a notable reflection, Lynell, and I will remember it vividly. It’s much the same as looking at the photo that HCR paired with her Letter today. The power of narrative! Thank you, friend!
Love your comments
So kind of you to say so, Mary Ann! Thank you.
I was on that ship!! @1980ish.... (tripping on memory lane!)
What a coincidence
Was there a hurricane (David?) that year? We got stuck in port for a few days due to it!
No hurricane when I was there.
Yes, 1980ish is when I was there, too! Actually went a couple of times.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Yes.
Just think how bad it might have been if he had had a brain, it was terrifying as it was, but it could have been so much worse.
Yep. Stranger still is the help former guy got and still gets from so, so many.
The prestige that goes with fame attracts some people. A year ago today I noted that tRumps Nazi father bought an English coat of arms in 1939 and made it a trademark to sell Trump underwear, Trump urine tests, and Trump steaks.
Creepy. I think that was in Mary Trump's book. Many thanks to Mary for exposing the family's creepy underwear.
Much love to Mary!!!
And therein lies the rot. Scared old white guys with fragile self esteem. Driven by greed, anger, and delusion. The three poisons which create suffering - Buddhist wisdom on Saturday morning. I'm not sure there is a solution until a greater sense of awakening occurs in the rest of the population.
Charlie, PLOOP patrol on the hunt today?
Nah, took the day off to party on Dad's Day.
The next one will. And he will benefit from the mistakes TFG made.
So true!
Marna, your words are exactly what I was trying to convey to my niece, who is doing a fabulous job raising her 3 children ( with her husband) and keeping their business afloat throughout the pandemic. She blames her Governor ( Cuomo) for the economic impact and has supported trump in the past. I’m reluctant to ask her how she feels since January 6th... we shy away from politics and see each other rarely as we live 10 hours apart. I have attempted conversation regarding our differing views but am given the “hand”. “Aunt Sharon, I’m too busy to know or care about issues. All I care about is my kids and my business. My kids schooling, their sports and putting dinner on the table and running our business . I don’t have time to read about the issues!” I understand where she is... I was there and I was complacent about our democracy. I assumed it would always be there. I hope I can eventually have dialogue with her but for now I simply let her know I respect her opinion and love her but we disagree on politics. 🤷♀️
The remaining men in my immediately family, step-father and brothers, are Trump/Limbaugh/GOP supporters. They can no longer, if they ever, claim to be too busy raising kids etc. I just can't see or talk to them. I wish I could be as graceful as you are, but I just am not willing. I feel that they are supporting a criminal, a man who degrades women and others, who condones violence, who is a bully and has no conscience or empathy. Policy is one thing. These things are another. Maybe my anger will die down some day.
We are in an existential battle for the soul of our nation, that’s really what it boils down to, there is no comfortable middle ground in this struggle. I remember reading that Benjamin Franklin never again spoke with his son after he sided with the crown 👑 during our revolution. I have a cousin who I love, that I was very close to, but we haven’t spoken in over a year. I told him that you were on one side or the other in this, it is black and white, I fought for this nation as did his father and mine, I have no room, no matter how close, for anyone that wants to destroy it and remake it into something that Putin would find attractive. We’ll meet up again in the next life.
That is really intense, Dick Montagne. Wow. Total respect for your certitude. That is hard fought.
A brother …. :-(
I can empathize with you. I have a similar situation in my family. It’s very difficult.
Our anger is justified and a good thing. The question is How can we turn that energy to something positive?
It seems this is the America Ronald Reagan planted 40 years ago. We have much weeding to do.
This may seem a strange reply, but my sister’s name was Marna and I. have never known another person with that name. It made me smile to see your response. As to your comment, yes - he was and is inept - but it is terrifying to see how much power he still has. It feels as though we are living in an alternate universe. Scary!
I hear it is difficult to get a job in Russia. Maybe some of the GOP you mentioned could move to Russia and show them how Americans run a business, create jobs and wealth for their more desirable leader, the new Tzar of Russia.
"Living a century in a year is the perfect description." And I've got the grey hairs to prove it!
The GOP started floating anti-democracy messages last year. The junior senator from Utah (Lee) among others. Another set of GOP senators spent July 4th a few years ago in Moscow being entertained by Putin’s oligarchs. The audacity of these traitors is breathtaking! It is clear that the MAGA base would rather have a puppet owned by Putin than a multi-racial democracy. We are teetering on the brink. The NYT this morning reports on the grim reality on the ground in states passing GOP election laws - all democrats and even Republicans who stood up for fair elections are being purged or neutered from the Secretary of State down to the voting ward volunteers. Meanwhile the senate Democrats can’t seem to figure out how to beg Joe Manchin let alone twist his arm. They seem overall much too relaxed about it all. It seems to me that our current progress under Biden will be reversed by the midterms.
Republican sentiment there is probably an indication of a growing wider backlash against toxic identity politics, cancel culture, etc. It seems that nuance and perspective has gone out the window on some of this stuff.
By your reliably clear, steady, trustworthy reporting and historical contextualizing you dared the rest of us to hope, so it's hard to believe that you yourself would not have dared. The hope you gave us is what allowed me, for one among many, to emerge from the long darkness without experiencing the breakdown that often follows a time of stress. What I'm now hearing in your post is that what the people were told that day in Galveston was not actually the truth. They were, in fact, still not free. That was the first big lie in the long chain of lies that has kept us all enslaved since then. Nevertheless, it gave us the feeling of freedom, if not freedom itself then the knowledge of it, and that's what we celebrate today and what we strive for, now that we know what it is and how it feels.
Black people always were free. In bondage by law, not because anything inherent justified enslaving them. Unjust, immoral laws devised, passed, and upheld in the land of "all men are created equal." Perhaps this new holiday will lead to much needed introspection, reflections, and correction of the lies disguised as history, that prevent this country from becoming what it purports to be, and has yet to achieve.
Profound stroke of reality there, Renee. Thank you.
Renee, I’m puzzled by “Black people were always free”. It has long been my understanding slaves were definitely not free. And many people of color still are not free of fear on a daily basis, as friends have expressed their fears and concerns to me.
I wonder if “autonomy” might have fit into the title ? ( Self possession )
I will be so glad when all Americans understand that superficial details like skin color are nothing compared to character and personality!
Must we call it a lie? Wasn’t it at least an important beginning? Surely there’s a more nuanced framing possible that isn’t so hatefully dismissive.
Yes we must, because it was. We have to name and define a problem before we can fix it. Juneteenth was and still is a point of beginning in the long march toward racial equality.
…a step in the right direction…
Jane thank you for this eloquence!
Boston traffic is back with a VENGEANCE. On the bright side, I have been elected as a delegate to the Mass Democratic convention. Perhaps as part of my environmental concerns I can advocate for rail and transit to be prioritized on the platform? I’m new to this, though, so…
Stephanie. Nothing wrong with your voice and it’s got a platform! Agree on the rail and transit. Infrastructure! Congrats.
Good for you, Stephanie! Best of luck.
Agreed on the vengeance! Perhaps advocate that corporations tip the balance toward the now familiar remote working to decrease commuting traffic/environmental impact.
Congrats!!!
What a great opportunity! Wishing you success!
Congratulations! Yes, traffic is worse than ever (even after commencements, which is weird). Stephanie, check out www.moreperfectdemocracy.org. We're trying to amplify voices of democracy...if you're interested, message me on the site, and we can chat about how to partner.
Please do! Go for it!
Excellent!!! Congrats to all Bostonians!!
Congratulations, Stephanie! Yours is a great voice to represent Democrats!
Thank you, Stephanie, for advocating for the environment!
Your willingness to share your perception of this past year has been a godsend!! It has been a lighthouse for so many of us! Thank you again.
The “Lighthouse”. Yep! 100%
It does feel like the last year was 100 . 🙏 so much fir these letters.
Maybe because It doesn’t feel like 600,000 deaths. It feels more like 900,000 to a million.
It takes more than 18-24 months to tally and then catch up with each county coroner’s data. 2.8 million Americans died in 2018. We can look at this average and adjust for population changes. We don’t yet have 2019 data, so there’s no way we would have the exact 2020 data to claim 600,000 more in 2020. There are many reasons why.
( I just want folks to monitor this metric and link. I believe it will become more important as the weeks and months go by).
Eventually we will all know the truth. Watch this link and how surplus deaths will spike greater than 600k for 2020. The difference between about 2.8m will tell us how much former guy and firmer administration lied).
I predict the red counties and ref states tally’s will be the biggest correction. And I do hope we get this info before the 2022 midterms. And former guy and Republicans will pay an electoral price for the damage they have caused this country of ours.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/deaths.htm
How could a former President of the United States of America tell parents not to vaccinate their children?
Such counsel will cost many their health, their lives, the lives and health of their children.
Truly, if this is not demagoguery, I do not know what is. This is evil.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/donald-trump-covid-19-vaccines-children#intcid=recommendations_vf-trending-legacy_94dbb841-4cfa-4d43-bb63-7b53c0334c00_popular4-1
Read the Vanity Fair article your link leads to, Ted, and had a flashback of how excruciatingly fruitless it was to try to decipher the former president's ramblings. That excerpt of his interview with Hannity... WOW! So glad that such dribble is no longer broadcast 24/7!
Oops! I meant to say DRIVEL!
Actually, dribble works better!
LOL!
"Human Parasite."
Amen.
Demagoguery and murderous!
We have had plenty of American Demagogue’s throughout our history. Yet, none of them even remotely come close to being responsible for the deaths and suffering of so many fellow Americans as DJT.
Do we really know the long term risks and benefits? Apparently the FDA doesn’t. They haven’t even fully approved a vaccine for adults.
Yes, we do. And Plenty. Vaccinate kids 12 and up. apprehensive? Go talk to your family doctor. Still curious? Why does the richest county in the country have a vax rate of 80%? Teton County Wyoming has an average annual income of 22 million. So who has access to the best health care AND information, with the ability to synthesize both?
Could there be a genetic disposition to anti-social behaviors in folks who prefer to live in the most isolated areas?
Don’t know. But the probability is high that there will be a lot of sick and dying people in those areas. Give it a month or to for Delta strain to become dominate.
The vaccine is fully approved by the FDA for emergency use, which is what we're experiencing, an emergency. Please stop saying it's not fully approved.
That is the sort of false language that confuses people into thinking it's not safe.
Because we're only about a year in to the vaccines, we can't have longer term risk/benefit info than that (and so far, safety and efficacy is excellent), but we are beginning to understand long term effects of Covid-19 on many people, even those who had asymptomatic or mild infection, and it's not good news.
PLOOP from him all day.
The information we’re learning about COVID infections though is pretty concerning. “In 2021, they asked hundreds of those people to come back for more brain scans. Almost 800 responded. Of those patients, 404 had tested positive for COVID-19, and 394 had usable brain scans that were taken before and after the pandemic.
Comparison of the before-and-after brain scans found "significant effects of COVID-19 in the brain with a loss of grey matter" in parts of the brain connected to smell and taste.” Could be a good way for the overweight to lose weight I suppose.
I feel compelled to share a real person real story. A very good friend, another musician, continued to play (bass) with a band throughout the pandemic, before the vaccines were created and approved until a few months ago. She never got her vaccine, although she herself is a nurse and works with a young child with serious health issues. Because of her constant exposure to crowds of people - most of whom were among those who continue to spread misinformation and who wear the ugly red cap - her failure to wear a mask and maintain social distancing, she got Covid. She was one very, very sick woman, but she did recover. And she got smart - she got her two doses of Moderna. But here's the kicker - she has absolutely NO sense of smell and her sense of taste has changed so much that every single thing she eats tastes like dirt or excrement. For over five months now, she has seen no change in this disgusting effect of Covid. No one can explain what happened. She is now exploring research on the brain to learn what her life will be like in the years ahead.
So when I see posts like the one above casting shade on vaccines (not you, Christy), I'm of the mind that people like that should have to spend the rest of their lives eating their own plates of dirt and excrement. Just don't foist it on anyone else, please.
My county’s commission in FL caved and gleefully removed mask mandates and Covid precautions a month or so ago. Business is back! They are lockstep with Desantis. This past week, a department of 6 IT specialists in the county admin bldg got hit by Covid—new strain. All had worn masks and had followed protocols for months. 5 of them got sick. Started with sore throat. Within 2 wks, 2 have died and other 3 struggling to recover. The 6th specialist on their team? Only one vaccinated.
The commission is back peddling as hard as possible. And what was reported is that one of the commisioners, very vocal against masks and “personal liberties” being infringed by vaccine readiness, immediately went and got her first dose and asked that it not be “put out there” that she did so.
What an absolute travesty of behavior by public servants.
I find it ironic that, frequently, the same people who spread disinformation about Covid and the vaccines go on spreading the virus itself. Those who get sick should be required to give testimonials of the effects of the disease. Can't believe nobody has used this as a pro-vaccine advertising campaign. It has worked for the anti-tobacco advocacy...
From Medscape: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/953410?src=mkm_covid_update_210618_MSCPEDIT&uac=122620HN&impID=3451993&faf=1
Sorry, I just get annoyed at people who are certain about things that are not amenable to certainty.
I’m sorry. Moms a nurse. Dads a doc. I’m Bachleors of Science, Microbiology. So my patience with anti vaxers runs thin.
Mine, too.
Other than death and taxes (okay, only death for the upper economic echelon), what is?
You tell me.
PLOOP.
I acknowledge your vendetta against me. I hope you’re having fun!
🙏
PLOOP
Long-term risks of *not* being vaccinated is increasing death rates in areas where there's a substantial unvaccinated population, and increasing numbers of variants of the virus which have been shown to be far more easily transmitted to the unvaccinated.
Benefits - THE benefit - is substantial reduction in illness and deaths as well as reduction in development of variants due to lack of vaccinations in many regions. Would you argue that, instead, no one be vaccinated because the FDA approved the vaccines for "emergency use"? Would you argue 600,000 deaths from Covid is not an emergency?
Both the FDA and the CDC are studying long term effects of the vaccinations; so far, a relative handful of the millions of those vaccinated have experienced negative effects. Such studies will continue far into the future.
I didn’t even come close to arguing no one be vaccinated. I’m just pointing out that there are enough unknowns that running around calling people who don’t want their kids vaccinated “evil” is not warranted.
“If the stock market was going up, even as people were dying, it would be good for re election”- Andy Slavit on the former dueche bag’s Covid national strategy.
https://youtu.be/xR-LbraMlgs
The "former dueche [sic] bag"? Are you intimating that the current POTUS is the current douchebag? I believe T**** still fits that description; whereas the Biden doesn't. Uh oh, beware, folx - my syntax switch is turned on this morning!
No, “former” as in “the former guy, “the traffic come of treason”, that one. Andy Slavit gave UCSF medical school interview. Check it out. It is in this thread. It’s a good interview, critical of former guys penchant for populism instead of public health.
Ted, this is playing out in MO, where apparently we are experiencing the Delta variant at a higher rate than the rest of the country and counties that didn't mask up and won't vaccinate--such as in Branson--are experiencing the same rate of infection and death they did in January.
Oh no. It’s going to accelerate and doubling rate will decrease as clusters develop.
I'm so sorry.
😔
Definitely 😞! Pathetic even.
Over here we'll probably do the reverse as the deaths actually attributed to Covid have tended to be a little exaggerated. Tallies of local hospitals "real" figures, or "live figures" so to speak, tended to be considerably less than the governments published figures. Sadly, of course, the people died but what of is the question as often they were not necessarily tested in the hospitals as testing programs were particularly disorganized and the country is not well equiped in laboritaries specialized in identifying the particular bug. It was just assumed that it was covid. The excess death figure in France is probably going to be a little less than the published Covid figures, particularly in the second and third waves of the bug. The really difficult period in that way was springtime 2020 and since then there was a significant level of governmental and government induced panic and overreaction. Thankfully we are opening up now and so far without medical consequences......as the election season starts tomorrow! What a surprise!
Stuart, I hope you folks in France get your act together! I am actually heading to Paris in January for a conference. In person!
Oh dear, and you have some far right election worries, too...
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-far-right-chases-disillusioned-mainstream-voters-regional-election-2021-06-17/
Unfortunately we are going to have very high abstensions. They will be the absolute winners as they believe that it is a waste of time. Governments have alternated left right and center for the last 40 years and it makes no difference. They are not listening to the people's concerns, only the Parisian version of what the people should think. Tomorrow those voting will express their distrust for all the "standard" parties and will vote against them...not necessarily for Mme Le Pen. She is just as mediocre as the others. She has no sensible solutions but hits the nail on the head in her portrayal of what the people see as their problems.
If climate change isn’t the most important issue now, it will be soon.
Where does Le Pen get her campaign finances from?
Source: BBC news
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39478066
🙁
The same errors and uncertainties about the “true” cause of death exist in the US also. Even the final, official numbers will be a rough estimate. But I doubt the adjustments will be enough to affect people’s judgments of the pandemic.
Ayyyyy CDC Mortality Statistics. Where the cheery news is:
"Declines in Infant Mortality in Appalachia and the Delta: 1995–1996 Through 2017–2018"
Not to mention the news from Florida where a local judge has just agreed to invalidate CDC rules about the start-up of the Miami cruise business. De Santos figures that a "few" covid deaths on a floating "concentration camp" should not be allowed to get in the way of good business and massive $ influxes into the State's coffers
Cruises have always sounded like slow death to me anyway.
I keep hoping the cruise lines would choose to not stop in Florida. Other states have seaports.
DeSantos is deranged.
Cruise industry+ India strain= less people walking off those boats
😡
You would think the “greatest” country would have the lowest infant mortality rate.
😔
Yes!
IHME projects actual US COVID deaths are at 950,000+ right now.
http://www.healthdata.org/covid/video/insights-ihmes-latest-covid-19-model-run
😔
Thanks Ted. Just Shared This on Facebook🤔😊💖
Oh my gosh!
Yes, thank you. There were many days when your words felt like a lifeline. I still look forward to hearing from you every day.
I truly think we are all suffering from some degree of PTSD. I know I am. Thank you for helping me sort this all out.
The Professor's analogy to the former administrations actions as being similar to an abusive relationship is really spot on.
Yup.
A very apt and symbolic photo. The timing of HCR’s Letters was perfect. There is no doubt they kept so many of us from completely falling off the edge. Four years of the horror that was trump (and still is) topped off with a deadly virus that shut everything down for a year+ was simply unimaginable. No one could have ever anticipated a daily Letter (along with 2 videos/week) from a history professor would have such a positive impact on the minds of so many thirsty for knowledge and context. The Letters have become a healthy, brain calming addiction (although there is an impact on sleep!) just like my instant addiction to pickleball a few years ago!! Grateful for finding both :)
As far as the greater Boston traffic goes, it is a nightmare and it is everywhere. All the major highways are total gridlock and secondary roads are constant streams of traffic. Every hour is “rush hour” - going nowhere fast. Don’t even think about traveling in a timely fashion on the weekends. Everything one tries to do is like a giant swarm! I’m thankful to get on the water in a kayak (although getting in and out could be a routine from “I Love Lucy”) 🤣
Thanks, Janet, for that "I Love Lucy" visual...my first belly laugh of the day!
There are things that I won't even try. Access and egress (especially egress) from a kayak is one of them. I don't bend, and have gawdawful balance. I would go swimming. Every. Time.
Early last summer, a friend let me borrow her son's stand up paddle-board and we ventured out on the lake where I live. My balance has never been stellar, so I fell off so many times (fortunately, my glasses stayed on) that I finally gave up trying to stay on the board and just swam behind it pushing it back to shore. It was fun and I laughed myself silly, but I'm sticking to my kayak or on-purpose swimming in future.
Try prescription goggles, like for snorkeling?
Hahahahahaha! Are you Lucy or Ethel?
On some attempts, both! 🤣🤣
The evil of many Republicans is still strong. McConnell promising (again) to block a Democratic president, the Catholic Church endeavoring to keep Biden from receiving communion (seems his stance on abortion rights is far worse than priests being pedophiles!), lawmakers lying and cheating to make voter repression a reality, denials of insurrection on January 6th, and the list goes on. And whatever happened to the Trump-Kushner Far East fiasco??? It’s as if the media totally missed it, except for the Washington Post!
I received this email from the White House.
The video shows what's going on in Eastern Kentucky.
McConnell should see it before he denies his constituents infrastructure!
https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1404878924128178184?s=20
I have been questioning the Kentucky Democratic party on why we do not highlight conditions like this in the campaigns against McConnell, Paul and my representative, Andy Barr. It seems instead of being on the offense, we are always on the defense.
Makes me wonder, too, Rebecca. Share the link if you can.
American hero BarbiAnn Maynord working for the past 20 (!) years for fixing infrastructure and getting clean water in Martin County, Kentucky! And she gets it that it's not just about individuals, but it's about having a physical location with roads and bridges that support business to come in and to be able to get their product out--thereby providing jobs for the local community.
Thank you, Lynell!
Good share, Lynell. I watched this a few nights ago. It is starting to get legs on it. Share everyone. BarbiAnn is an effective voice for progress.
I am so behind on my emails. It's good to be connected, though. Happy Sunday, Christine!
Thank You for this Lynnel. The coal companies raped and polluted, then moved on, but pay McConnell to this day.
Morning, MaryPat!! Share this if you can, thanks!
I did! Same deal in West Virginia.
Oh, yes, West Virginia, too. Hope it gets some traction.
Thank you for sharing this. Years ago, I was a Republican living in Louisville. I voted for this scumbag and honestly believed his platform. Why didn’t the Democrats challenge last year’s election results?
I've been duped before as well, Dula. Yes, it's a head-scratcher that Democrats don't do the same.
This is great, Lynell. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks to you, Pam, especially if you share it, too!
Brilliant; a powerful statement. Thanks for this, Lynell!
Share away, Jeff!
I got the same email from the White House. Do you follow the WH Twitter feed? Just wondering why more people haven't reported getting the email.
Yes, I do follow WH Twitter, Lanita, though I do it through my laptop not mobile so I don't get notifications. I have to go to Twitter to see what's happening. Their emails are more timely for me.
Thank you for this link!
Good one!
Thank you for all you’ve done to help steer us through this unprecedented upheaval with perspective and knowledge and calm. I’d be worse off without your words.
I have to say, the last 15 months have been the most productive period of my writing career ever. But then, writing is best done at home, alone. When they said "don't go out!" I replied, "What is this 'go out' you speak of?"
Hahahahahahahahaha. My BabyGrand girl has this little lantern toy she carries or turns it on during her nap. It’s pretty cool. Looks like fireflies inside a jar. I swear, TC, you remind me of that lantern for some reason. Go figure. Hahahahaha
Happy Juneteenth!
We are all (or, at least, many or some of us are) transitioning "back," with a certain amount of disbelief at what we used to do with much more ease. Have a good weekend... and thank you again for continuing to write and post beautiful photos EVERY DAY (how do you do it??).
Happy Juneteenth. What a long & strange trip the last 15 months have been. You, Dr. R, have been a beacon of light through it all. Thank you.
It also feels to me like we have lived a century in a year. The immense responsibility we healthcare providers have felt, and dealt with caring for COVID patients. It has taken a toll on many. That being said I feel a weight lifted off that is tremendous. Although we still have to keep vigilant to keep COVID at bay, we also have an immense threat to our democracy that requires our participation. Like you Heather, I am so honored and happy to have Juneteenth recognized. And I would never have dreamed of it a year ago. And yes the traffic is very bad again here too.
Good to see you here again, Karen! Best wishes.
Thank you Lynell, and my best to you.
And profound thanks to you and your profession for sticking with us the last century.
You’re welcome and honored to help.
Your profession was on the front lines, and should be honored for all you did. May I convey just a little snippet: My former agency has, as its second in command, a man from a small town (Creswell, OR) that I have known since he was 16 as an Explorer Scout. He was hired at age 21 (I did his background investigation) and has moved through the ranks. He and his wife raised 3 kids (all of whom I got to know while I was the daytime deputy; his oldest son was on safety patrol, his middle son is now a cadet with the Sheriff's Office, and his daughter has embarked upon a nursing career. When I asked, she said "I know all about the sacrifices that cops make; I lived it growing up. What I saw during the pandemic was the real heroes going to work every day. That is what I want to do."
You are a hero to many. Thank you.
Thank you so much Ally! And I’m always happy to hear someone has chosen nursing as a career.
We must also be aware of the Delta variant of COVID, which is not only in India and England, but also here in the good old USA. Stay safe.
Even before Covid 19 America was imploding under the former President. People and institutions were collapsing into their own bubbles in a effort to distance themselves from the nightmare in Washington D.C.
But yet again America chose light over darkness by the biggest and thinest of margins. A 7 million vote spread between the winner and loser hinged on a mere 70,000 votes in a handful of states. It was, thankfully, all that was needed to turn the prior implosion into today's expansion of ideas and solutions, and the return of hope in the American psyche.
The right is floundering like a catch of fish on the deck of a boat. Critical Race Theory! Biden is mentally incompetent! The election was rigged! Missing in all their flipping and flopping is one iota of positive or constructive information, only stories of fear and hatred. Their biggest militia at the Jan 6 Capitol storming has burned up in a heap of corruption opening the door for an even more unreal contingent built on a foundation of conspiracy theories.
The question in my mind is not will the President and Congress rise to the occasion but rather will the people push them into action? It's been a long while but as I recall in our democratic republic power rises from the people to their elected officials. Democrats need to communicate their demands to all their elected officials in both parties in equal numbers. This is how we leverage the 7 million vote advantage, the real elephant in the room.
Agree. There are several things posted in our forum today that give our voice an opportunity. Just do it!
It all has an effect, even if it’s not evident at first.
I have written my senators (FL) on various issues. No effect, sadly, None at all.
Perhaps more than you know. E wry voice, every vote counts when a swell of a wave is created.
Before they are waves, they are just ripples.
*every
Keep calling. Most of them count up calls/emails on certain subject.
A group of HCR Substackers has formed to turn good discussion into effective action. Join your fellow Floridians with questions, inspiration, and support! For more info, email:
heathersherd@gmail.com
Your second sentence: “People and institutions were collapsing into their own bubbles in an effort to distance themselves from the nightmare in Washington DC.” Priceless.