The pandemic that started out as a sprint has long since turned into a marathon, and -- as one of the articles from the Huffington Post listed below indicates -- most of us are feeling like we may start to wander a bit off the course.
Around here most people are wearing masks and avoiding close contact still, but many are also easing up a bit on the restrictions constricting their social lives.
This situation is particularly difficult for parents of young children, who desperately need to play with friends and gain social skills. But teenagers and 20-somethings can't be expected to isolate themselves indefinitely, either.
It's one thing for people my age to tell them they should but we had our chance to be young and crazy decades ago when there was no pandemic.
Honestly, all age groups are suffering. Singles of any age who would like to date and meet new partners are feeling the restrictions intensely. Middle-aged people who are divorced or widowed feel trapped as well. And too many of our elders are shut away from the world, unable to pursue even the small joys of bingo games or walks with friends.
If Joe Biden is good at one thing, it is his empathy for everyone who is suffering, and that makes him the right person for the job right now. I hope he also knows how to be a very aggressive hunter, bringing the full force of our species to the war against SARS-CoV-2. Although we have the virus in our gun sights, it's a pesky devil, mutating constantly while trying to elude destruction.
But it can't thrive without a host, so if we can rapidly inoculate everybody, it will ultimately fade away like all the other virus invaders from our recent past.
The point is we are at war -- it's humans vs. virus.
***
One of the weirder jobs in America has to be White House press secretary. The current occupant, Jen Psaki, is a welcome change from her predecessor, the serial prevaricator Kayleigh McEnany.
Then again, McEnany was accurately reflecting the values and beliefs of her boss, much as Psaki is reflecting hers. It's just that watching someone who spins facts as opposed to conspiracy theories is refreshing.
I do have one small bit of advice for Jen, I hope you don't mind me calling you that, Jen. And that is to consider laying off just one of those cups of coffee before the daily press briefing.
Of course you've only been on the job for 17 days or should I say two-and-a-half weeks. I know you know I know that you know that I know how government works but for the people who don't necessarily know, or should I say, really would like to know, or should I say probably should know, or...where was I again?
Maybe just one less, Jen...
***
Big news later today: We are expecting the birth of a grandson!
The (other) news:
* House passes budget plan, bringing Biden’s covid relief package a step closer (WashPo)
* Toll Worker Job Losses Highlight Long-Term Fallout of Pandemic -- The Pennsylvania Turnpike laid off workers to switch to labor-saving technology, in what might be a broader trend. (NYT)
* Republicans worry their big tent will mean big problems in 2022 elections (WashPo)
* Democratic lawmakers delivered emotional testimonies of their experiences on Jan. 6, the day that armed, pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who earlier this week gave a play-by-play of the moments she thought she was going to die during the attack, organized a “special order” hour on the House floor for nearly a dozen lawmakers to speak to their own trauma after the riots. [HuffPost]
* After Capitol riot, desperate families turn to groups that ‘deprogram’ extremists (WashPo)
* A dozen state police officers were being questioned following their arrests in connection with the killings of 19 people, including Guatemalan migrants, whose bodies were found shot and burned near the U.S. border late in January. Tamaulipas state Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said all 12 officers were in custody and face charges of homicide, abuse of authority and making false statements. [AP]
* ‘I Am Not Afraid’: With Her Husband in Prison, Eyes Turn to Yulia Navalnaya -- After Aleksei Navalny’s sentencing, his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, has been reluctantly thrust into a public spotlight, winning admirers but making her a target of Kremlin propaganda. (NYT)
* Amazon warehouses are quietly transitioning workers to a 10-hour graveyard shift, from 1:20 a.m. to 11:50 a.m., known as “the megacycle.” [Vice]
* Amazon is set to pay $61.7 million to Flex drivers to settle a Federal Trade Commission investigation into its withholding of driver tips. [The Los Angeles Times]
* Afghanistan is Biden’s first big foreign policy headache (WashPo)
*Within the past couple of weeks, many of us have been slammed with major pandemic fatigue. We’re burnt out. We’re expected to be productive at work or to parent (or often both) as though we haven’t been living in hell for the last year. The winter has been bleak and could potentially get bleaker. And even though the vaccines are bringing us some much-needed hope, our feelings of exhaustion and hopelessness are swallowing any positive emotions whole. (HuffPost)
* A member of the World Health Organization expert team investigating the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan says the Chinese side granted full access to all sites and personnel they requested — a level of openness that even he hadn’t expected.Peter Daszak told The Associated Press on Friday that team members had submitted a deeply considered list of places and people to include in their investigation and that no objections were raised. (AP)
*
U.S. senators propose limiting liability shield for social media platforms
(Reuters)
* California's employment agency and Bank of America made millions on unemployment debit card fees — while workers still missing money struggled to survive. [CalMatters]
* A Parallel Pandemic Hits Health Care Workers: Trauma and Exhaustion -- Vaccines may be on the way, but many on the front-lines are burned out. Has the government done enough to help alleviate their stress? (NYT)
* Volunteer army helps Florida elders book coveted COVID shots (AP)
* Complications are plaguing the aftermath of Pacific Gas & Electric’s bankruptcy. Survivors of the fires that the utility caused are racing against time to be compensated. [The San Francisco Chronicle]
* Trump created a toxic environment for immigrants. Biden must remedy that. (WashPo)
* Biden’s administration is “reviewing” what executive actions he could take to cancel some student loan debt, his press secretary said, the first time the White House has indicated that the president could move unilaterally on the issue. “The President continues to support the canceling of student debt to bring relief to students and families,” press secretary Jen Psaki wrote on Twitter. [HuffPost]
* The Second COVID-19 Shot Is a Rude Reawakening for Immune Cells -- Side effects are just a sign that protection is kicking in as it should. (Atlantic)
* Senate and House Democrats renewed their effort to enact sweeping reform to U.S. labor laws, reintroducing a broad bill that would expand collective bargaining rights and help rejuvenate labor unions. The package of measures, known as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act would, if it becomes law, be the most significant labor legislation enacted in the post-war period, and the most beneficial to unions in nearly 90 years. [HuffPost]
* Be careful not to confuse percent with percentage point. A change from 10% to 13% is a rise of 3 percentage points. This is not equal to a 3% change; rather, it’s a 30% increase. (AP Stylebook) You don't say. (DW)
* Americans Scrambling For Covid Vaccine After CDC Director Announces Thousands Of Doses Buried Somewhere In California (The Onion)
***
His age is twenty-one
Comes from down
In southern Colorado
And he's looking for his fun
Someday soon, going with him
Someday soon
Cause he rides the rodeo
My father says that
He will leave me crying
The toughest road I know
Someday soon, going with him
Someday soon
My pa ain't got a good word to say
Guess it's cause he's just
As wild in the younger days
Blow my love to me
He's driving in tonight
From California
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