The news gods don't want us to relax our guard about Covid-19. At least that is one possible interpretation. Another is that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is too damn smart for us at this stage of its (and our) development.
In any event, the alarming news from those most carefully tracking the most virulent variants of the virus Thursday is we may have a bigger problem even after being vaccinated that we'd hoped would be the case.
I mentioned the news gods because it is hard not to take it personally that on the very day I received my second dose of the Moderna vaccine this new information emerged.
That's enough for even an optimist to wonder, "Is this ever going to end?"
Of course, according to the governors of Texas and Mississippi, the pandemic crisis is already over. They've re-opened their states, removing all restrictions. Listening to scientists is in their view not indicated.
They will try to censor science, but science will find a way.
***
Well before I knew her name, Emily Mortimer became a favorite actor of mine for her wildly disparate roles as Inspector Clouseau's assistant in "The Pink Panther," and as the caring sister-in-law in "Lars and the Real Girl." She easily shifted between playing a French woman and an American woman as only the British can do.
But I never knew anything about her as a person until I read an article yesterday in The New York Times Review of Books about her decision to reread Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" as part of her research for her role as the lead in a film called "The Bookshop," in which she plays an Englishwoman, again superbly.
This coincidence brought together several intellectual strands dear to me, because "Speak, Memory," Nabokov's memoir, has always been a favorite of mine when teaching memoir courses at Stanford and U-C Berkeley.
Mortimer has written an essay on why a book as theoretically scandalous as "Lolita" escaped censorship in an age when lesser volumes did not. It is to appear in an upcoming anthology by Vintage that I must remember to obtain. Because once again, thanks to cancel culture, we are mired in an age of censorship, where the self-righteous claim the right to determine what gets censored and why.
It is in the nature of censors to be afraid of ideas and depictions, as it is in the nature of artists to push boundaries and force us to confront our fears and our demons and the darkness of our desires.
They can try to censor history; history will find a way.
They can try to censor art; art will find a way.
***
The news:
* How a Changing Virus is Reshaping Scientists’ Views on COVID-19 -- A new consensus is emerging among scientists, according to Reuters interviews with 18 specialists who closely track the pandemic or are working to curb its impact. Many described how the breakthrough late last year of two vaccines with around 95% efficacy against COVID-19 had initially sparked hope that the virus could be largely contained, similar to the way measles has been. But, they say, data in recent weeks on new variants from South Africa and Brazil has undercut that optimism. They now believe that SARS-CoV-2 will not only remain with us as an endemic virus, continuing to circulate in communities, but will likely cause a significant burden of illness and death for years to come. (Reuters)
* Brazil’s Covid Crisis Is a Warning to the Whole World, Scientists Say -- Brazil is seeing a record number of deaths, and the spread of a more contagious coronavirus variant that may cause reinfection. (NYT)
* U.S.-China tensions threaten global climate change efforts (AP)
* OSHA Often Fell Short on Worker Safety in Pandemic -- Federal and state agencies conducted fewer inspections than in the past and often handled coronavirus complaints through no more than an exchange of letters, a Wall Street Journal investigation shows. Hundreds of workers’ deaths have gone uninvestigated, sometimes because employers didn’t report them. (WSJ)
* In Trump probe, Manhattan district attorney puts pressure on longtime chief financial officer (WashPo)
* The first lady, Jill Biden, and the education secretary, Miguel Cardona, advocated a return to in-person learning during the first of two visits they made on Wednesday to reopened schools. (NYT)
* The House of Representatives passed a landmark bill on voting rights, elections, campaign finance and ethics reform by a vote of 220-210. The For the People Act, congressional Democrats’ top legislative priority, would counter Republican voter suppression efforts in states. House passage sets up a possible showdown over the filibuster in the Senate. [HuffPost]
* Police request 60-day extension of Guard at U.S. Capitol (AP)
* WHO Investigators to Scrap Plans for Interim Report on Probe of Covid-19 Origins -- A World Health Organization team investigating how the coronavirus first spread is scrapping plans for an interim report on its recent mission to China as tensions mount between Beijing and Washington over the investigation and one international group of scientists appeals for a new probe. (WSJ)
* The Senate Finance Committee deadlocked 14-14 on Wednesday on whether to confirm Xavier Becerra as President Biden’s secretary of health and human services. The nomination of Mr. Becerra, California’s attorney general, now goes to Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, either of whom can bring the nomination to the Senate floor. [Reuters]
* Biden Secretly Limits Counterterrorism Drone Strikes Away From War Zones (NYT)
* 17% of food production globally wasted, UN report estimates (AP)
* The House passed a bill aimed at helping prevent police misconduct, naming the legislation after a Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police in May in a violent arrest. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed 220-212 in the Democratic-controlled House. The legislation bans police from using chokeholds and no-knock warrants, requires data collection on police encounters and ends qualified immunity. [HuffPost]
* California Governor Gavin Newsom said he expected stadiums to be open by the time Major League Baseball begins its season on April 1. “We’re working on the final details,” Mr. Newsom said on Wednesday in Long Beach. [The Los Angeles Times]
* Despite all the talk of Bay Area residents fleeing to places like Texas and Florida, Postal Service data suggests that very few people actually moved out of state last year. Most of the people filing address changes stayed within the Bay Area or moved to another part of the state. [The San Francisco Chronicle]
* Butterflies are vanishing out West. Scientists say climate change is to blame. (WashPo)
* Michigan won the Big Ten basketball championship by defeating arch-rival Michigan State 69-50. (Mgoblog)
* Scientists are trying to build a tiny drone with the agility of a mosquito. These light but strong flying robots could be used in critical situations, such as finding people in a collapsed building. (NPR)
* How ‘Lolita’ Escaped Obscenity Laws and Cancel Culture -- "My father, John Mortimer, brought me up to believe that you can be a good person and kill someone and a perfectly awful person who never gets so much as a parking ticket your whole life. It’s an education I’m proud of. He was an author and a criminal defense barrister ... and his prowess in both professions rode on his ability to see past easy morality and to respect the fact that the truth is never one-sided and therefore art should not be, either." (Emily Mortimer/NYT Books)
* Covid Announces Plan To Move Operations To Texas Full-Time To Escape Burdensome Regulations (The Onion)
***
That never learns to dance
It's the dream, afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying
No comments:
Post a Comment