Memory and Interruptions

(Illustration:  Chaos Theory, or a butterfly -- wiki commons)

Have you ever had the feeling your life has been placed into a holding pattern, like you are vectoring round and round over a distant city, waiting for a chance to land?

That is what the pandemic has felt like for me and (I bet) millions of other people. It all depends on your circumstances, of course. For those with steady jobs, stable places to live, and good health the Covid period perhaps has been a minor deviation in the course of life.

For the rest of us, all assumptions were off and a new path had to be found. Of those in this category I recognize that I am one of the lucky ones. As my possessions were reduced to a couple boxes of files and bags of clothes, and my apartments vacated, I started feeling hopeless but I had family that (literally) rescued me from myself.

Over a year later, my files and I remain separated (see below), so I've been writing this faux memoir strictly from memory, corrected from time to time by some old document or photo that turns up courtesy of readers, friends, or Google.

In the process, this daily ritual of sorting through the news has become sort of like a comfort blanket for me. No one asks me to do it and I'm not quite sure how it got started, but rifling through 20-25 news sources each morning is definitely a habit I can't break.

Maybe I'm like a character in Charlie Chaplain's great 1936 film, "Modern Times," where the workers can't help performing every task away from the assembly line with the same repetitive motions they use at work.

Having been paid to gather and interpret the news for years, I felt responsible for telling people what was going on, what mattered. We took that responsibility seriously; trying to limit our mistakes and to uncover the difficult stories too often hidden from view.

Well, the kicker is you can take the boy out of journalism but you can't take the journalism out of the boy. 

***

Here is an excerpt from the essay I published here on Facebook a year ago. Little has changed.

"Life Happens to You"

Today is when my boxes of papers and files are to be moved from the assisted living facility in Millbrae to a storage locker closer by. My son is driving down there from the city to claim the stuff.

Work on my memoir has been effectively stalled since March 20 when I left that facility, my journals strewn on the floor next to the chair where I wrote, watched the news, ate meals, and admired the view, which stretched northward.

My whole life hinged then on that one chair. Now I sit in a different chair.

It's confusing to think back to what I imagined being retired and writing that book would be like, because all assumptions basically ended with the arrival of the pandemic. But I know the prospect held a dream-like appeal for me in the years I was wrapping up my career.

One of life's illusions that some of us hold onto longer than others is that we control our own destiny; that we make life happen, when in reality, the opposite is true. Life happens on us.

We are in control of so little it would be comical if the cost weren't so high. One of life's impossible lessons for those of us with a certain kind of nature is that while we can control many little things in this world, we really don't control anything big.

It is one thing for me to write about that lesson but quite another to have learned it for myself. When it comes to my report card on that subject it's at best a D- at this point.

My daughter was telling her kids recently 'You don't learn things the first time you hear them. You have to hear them over and over."

That goes for all of us. I'm still learning the lesson about control.

***

The news:

* Cyber attack shuts down top U.S. fuel pipeline network (Reuters)

* U.S. pipeline company halts operations after cyberattack (AP)

* GOP governors slash jobless aid to try to force more Americans to return to work -- The new Republican cuts target the extra $300 in weekly payments that millions of Americans have received in addition to their unemployment checks. The White House has said it does not believe the federal benefits have created a significant crunch in the labor market. (WP)

* Biden and Republicans Spar Over Unemployment as Job Gains Disappoint -- The president said he saw no measurable evidence that a $300 federal boost in unemployment benefits was hurting the labor market, amid criticism from conservatives and business groups. (NYT)

* Trump Justice Dept. secretly obtained Washington Post reporters’ phone records (WP)

* Chinese rocket expected to crash into Earth this weekend (CNN)

* Multiple blasts at a school in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens more, mostly female students, officials said, in an attack Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed on the insurgent Taliban. (Reuters)

* Federal documents indicate that while the Biden administration has cleared migrant children from border detention centers, now shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services are strained. (NYT)

* It’s not a ‘labor shortage.’ It’s a great reassessment of work in America (WP)

* How to Protect Kids’ Ears From Headphone-Related Hearing Loss -- Hearing health and ‘hidden hearing loss’ are growing concerns as more children listen to devices all day. There are simple ways for parents to lower the volume and safeguard young ears from noise-induced damage. (WSJ)

* French court to decide landmark case against the U.S. makers of Agent Orange (WP)

* Palestinians protested ahead of a decision that will come from the Israeli Supreme Court on whether to uphold the eviction of six families from a neighborhood in East Jerusalem in favor of Jewish settlers. (Reuters)

* Scientists may have found a new coronavirus rapid-testing method: Bees (WP)

* 4 Years After an Execution, a Different Man’s DNA Is Found on the Murder Weapon -- Lawyers’ request to conduct additional DNA testing before Ledell Lee was executed had been denied. (NYT)

* Trump and his perpetrators and bystanders own a Republican Party incompatible with democracy (WP)

* U.S. stops Trump-era effort to loosen safety rules for Arctic drilling (Reuters)

* In the South China Sea, Beijing’s claims to power signal danger ahead (WP)

* After five weeks of baseball, the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants lead their divisions. (mlb.com)

* New Evidence Reveals Ancient Greeks Immediately Regretted Inventing Theater (The Onion)

***

"Control" (chorus)

By Zoe Wees

Songwriters: Zoe Wees / Nils Bodenstedt / René Miller / Emma Sophia Rosen / Ricardo Muñoz / Patrick Salmy

I don't wanna lose control
Nothing I can do anymore
Tryin' every day when I hold my breath
Spinnin' out in space pressing on my chest
I don't wanna lose control

-30-

Where Are the Jobs?

So the economy is bouncing back but the jobs are not. Companies that rely on low-wage workers report a labor shortage, which many Republicans blame on the extended unemployment benefits that are part of pandemic relief measures.

Therefore, in Montana and other red areas, those benefits are being cut on the theory that people will then be forced to go back to work.

Think about it -- this is a few hundred dollars a week that we are talking about. And the workforce is composed of those deemed "essential workers" in the heat of the crisis. When nobody else would venture out, these are the people who made home deliveries, drove ambulances as EMTs, and performed other necessary functions for a world in lockdown.

I'm sure there are people who are not going back to work yet because of the unemployment benefits. But some of them also have young children but no childcare, or are fearful of Covid. And some of them may just be worn out, tired of long hours for low pay, which is the reality of the jobs we are talking about.

Meanwhile, mechanization is replacing some of their jobs as well, with robots and drones moving into the workforce.

And here is the main point: The U.S. is increasingly dependent on immigrants to take these jobs, but the anti-immigrant policies loudly pursued by Trump had a major chilling effect on the flow of new workers into our economy.

Hopes that the Biden administration would be more successful have not come to fruition yet, and authorities are now struggling to resolve the contradictions of low-wage jobs with the lack of people willing to take them, balanced against the surge of immigrants entering parts of the country where anti-immigrant emotions run high.

"Immigration reform" has been a political buzzword for decades, but it never seems to happen. With the native population's birthrate at record lows, there is no alternative in sight. Not enough Americans are having babies, and as those kids grow up they will certainly aspire to better jobs than those that offer the minimum wage.

Something has to give, my friends. 

***

The news:

* Weak U.S. jobs report raises questions about economic recovery (WP)

* The Lithium Gold Rush: Inside the Race to Power Electric Vehicles (NYT)

* Biden’s patent waiver unlikely to boost vaccine supply quickly, experts say -- It could be months before the World Trade Organization agrees to temporarily waive patent protections and years before countries can produce the vaccines, experts say. (WP)

* Republicans’ latest attack on voting rights comes in Ohio, where state lawmakers introduced their first major voter suppression legislation on Thursday. Like the bills signed into law in Georgia and Florida, Ohio's HB 294 targets absentee voting and ballot drop boxes. The bill does not come as a surprise to many Ohioans, whose state has a reputation for extreme gerrymandering. [HuffPost]

* Twitter Thwarts Trump’s Latest Attempt To Get Back On Platform, Bans New Account (U.S. News)

* The vast majority of the 67,000 PG&E fire victims who were awarded money in a settlement in 2019 have yet to receive a payment. (KQED)

* U.S. hiring takes big step back; shortages of workers, raw materials blamed (Reuters)

* Doctors in Nepal warn of major crisis as virus cases surge (AP)

* Amazon and Apple Built Vast Wireless Networks Using Your Devices. (WSJ)

* How Using Videos At Chauvin Trial And Others Impacts Criminal Justice (NPR)

* Health Advocate or Big Brother? Companies Weigh Requiring Vaccines. -- It is a delicate decision balancing employee health and personal privacy. Some companies are sidestepping the issue by offering incentives to those who get shots. (NYT)

* We could see a winter comeback of covid-19 if we don’t get more Americans vaccinated now (Dr. Leana Wen/WP)

* Capitol riot defendant Anthony Antonio, who bought into Trump’s lies about a stolen election, came down with “Foxitus” and “Foxmania” after watching too much Fox News, his attorney told a court. The lawyer told the judge that Antonio believed he was following Trump's orders to march on Washington and that it was patriotic. [HuffPost]

* Top U.S. fund leader wants voluntary climate disclosure rules (Reuters)

* ‘It’s His Own Damn Fault,’ Top G.O.P. Pollster Says of Trump and Facebook -- Frank Luntz has never felt so gloomy. (NYT)

* California reports first ever yearly population decline. Officials say the state's population dipped 0.46% to just under 39.5 million people from January 2020 to January 2021.​ (KTVU)

* Trump’s out-of-power agenda: Retribution and GOP domination (WP)

* Red meat politics: GOP turns culture war into a food fight (AP)

* Afghans Fleeing Home Are Filling the Lowliest Jobs in Istanbul -- After years working on American bases in Afghanistan and fearful of the Taliban, Afghans are heading to Turkey and Europe. (NYT)

* Red Flag Warnings (fire) have been issued for the North and East Bay hills as well as East Bay Interior Valleys. 11 pm Friday night through 6 am Monday. (NWS)

* ‘Care To Explain?’ Ask Conservative Parents After Finding Vaccine Card In Son’s Underwear Drawer (The Onion)

***

"Workin' Man Blues"

By Merle Haggard

It's a big job just gettin' by with nine kids and a wife
But I've been workin' man, dang near all my life but I'll keep workin'
Long as my two hands are fit to use 
I'll drink my beer in a tavern
Sing a little bit of these working man blues

I keep my nose on the grindstone, I work hard every day
I might get a little tired on the weekend, after I draw my pay
Then I'll go back workin', come Monday morning I'm right back with the crew
I'll drink a little beer that evening
Sing a little bit of these working man blues

Sometimes I think about leaving, do a little bummin' around
I want to throw my bills out the window catch a train to another town
I'll go back working, I gotta buy my kids a brand new pair of shoes
I drink a little beer in a tavern
Cry a little bit of these working man blues, here comes that workin' man

Well, hey, hey, the working man, the working man like me
I ain't never been on welfare, 'n that's one place I won't be
I'll be working long as my two hands are fit to use
I'll drink my little beer in a tavern
Sing a little bit of these working man blues, this song for the workin' man

-30-

Give Capitalism This One

It's a relief for me when an issue emerges where black-or-white thinking doesn't work because I don't have to get angry about it.

Such an issue is whether the U.S. should waive patent protections on the Covid vaccines in order to facilitate greater access for poor countries.

The answer is yes, of course, that is the right thing to do. But we also need to protect the companies involved as well as the system that encourages the type of innovation that led to the creation of the vaccines in the first place.

Since I bash capitalism on a regular basis, and that is richly deserved, I need to be the first to say it is nonetheless the best system yet devised to stimulate the development of new products. And the profit motive is the basis of that system.

Plus all of the philanthropy that fuels our non-profits and worthy causes comes from families that have benefited from capitalism -- directly or indirectly. First you need wealth before you can become a philanthropist.

But behind every great fortune is a crime -- Balzac said that.

In this context, the U.S. as a society is so much wealthier than any other nation in the world, it only makes sense to at east temporally suspend the patent protection on the Covid vaccines our corporations have developed. Most countries cannot afford to pay for them anyway, let alone develop effective vaccines on their own. 

This calculation is further enhanced by self-interest -- it is demonstrably in the self-interest of richer societies to help the rest of the global population get vaccinated because our health is inter-connected.

So the Biden administration seems to be on track to confirming an optimal policy by temporarily allowing Third World countries to get access to the vaccines without damaging the long-term incentives of the corporations who created them to continue their innovative efforts.

Also, we are likely in the early stages of a cycle where the virus will continue to mutate, requiring new vaccines for a long time forward. The polio vaccine was created in the 50s and is still needed almost 70 years later.

No vaccine is yet available for HIV/AIDs, though treatments to limit the disease's impacts were developed under the same system of patent protection and market incentives.

The complexity of all of this is why it is usually not a good idea to give too much credence to those who are flatly ideological -- i.e., anti-capitalist or unapologetically pro-market. As is almost always the case, the extremes are wrong and reasonable regulation is the answer.

But when it comes to the long term, we still are going to need a better system than capitalism to survive climate change.

***

BELOW THE FOLD: For the first time in a long time, I watched Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" Thursday. Lots of familiar moments -- the address of the Rolling Stone office on This Street, the actors playing Cameron, Ben Fong-Torres, and Jann Wenner. Everyone looked right; there's even a guy in one shot looking a lot like I did back then.

Most accurate of all was the long editorial table -- so long, in fact, that when Mother Jones inherited it after RS moved to New York, it had to be cut in half in order to be transported from Third Street to its new office on Market Street.

When I finally saw it again, a couple years later, the Mother Jones staffers asked did I know why there were gouges in the table's surface. How did they get there?

The answer was yes, I knew. Hunter Thompson made them by stabbing the table with his knife.

***

 Headlines:

* Why patents on COVID vaccines are so contentious -- The Biden administration’s call to lift patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines to help poor parts of the world get more doses has drawn praise from some countries and health advocates. But it has run into resistance from the pharmaceutical industry and others, who say it won’t help curb the outbreak any time soon and will hurt innovation. (AP)

* The administration of Joe Biden plans to support a temporary waiver on intellectual property rules preventing developing countries from mass-producing generic COVID-19 vaccines, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said, allowing a vast increase in global vaccine production. While the U.S. doesn't have the power to unilaterally enact the patent waiver, the support is a relief for global public health advocates. [HuffPost]

* U.S. Vaccinations Are Slowing. What’s to Blame? -- Use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has taken a hit after it was paused by the federal government, but the rate of Moderna and Pfizer vaccinations has been falling as well. (NYT)

*  Several world leaders on Thursday praised the U.S. move to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations by suspending patent protections on the shots. But it wasn't clear if that would actually lead to the measures being lifted — and what it would mean if they were. (AP)

* Biden commits to waiving vaccine patents in bid for speed -- Liberals hailed the president’s decision as a necessary step for saving lives while restoring America’s position on the global stage. But the drug industry said the move would spark new competition for limited ingredients. (WP)

* Taking ‘Extraordinary Measures,’ Biden Backs Suspending Patents on Vaccines (NYT)

* CDC: Virus could be under control in U.S. by this summer (WP)

* U.S. Unemployment Claims Reach New Covid-19 Pandemic Low (WSJ)

* U.S. vaccination effort’s new phase includes PSAs from Sesame Street, free beer for each shot (WP)

* U.S. schools turn focus to mental health of students reeling from pandemic. (Reuters)

* The South Carolina House voted to add a firing squad to the state’s execution methods amid a lack of lethal-injection drugs — a measure meant to jump-start executions in a state that once had one of the busiest death chambers in the nation. Condemned inmates will have to choose either being shot or electrocuted if lethal injection drugs aren't available. [AP]

* President Biden gave an impassioned defense of his plans to increase taxes on high earners, saying “this is about making the average multimillionaire pay just a fair share.” (NYT)

* More than half of California’s public school students are still in distance learning. (Edsource)

* Chicken Shortage Sends Prices Soaring; Restaurants Can’t Keep Up -- Spicy chicken sandwiches, hot wings and a labor crunch push poultry prices to records. Some restaurants are running out of or limiting sales of tenders, filets and wings, cutting into some of their most reliable sales. (WSJ)

* One key to getting women back to work post-pandemic: Childcare (Reuters)

* Facebook’s battle with errant world leaders has only just begun (WP)

* Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a major rewrite of Florida’s elections law on Thursday, tightening rules around drop boxes and mail-in voting in the presidential battleground. Critics say the changes will make it harder for voters, particularly the elderly and people of color, to cast ballots. (AP)

* Federal Judge Strikes Down Moratorium on Evicting Renters (NYT)

* Biden officials make recommendations for protecting 30% of U.S. land, water (Reuters)

* Covid-19 Retreats in the West, but the Pandemic Fight Is Far From Over -- The center of the global pandemic has shifted decisively to low- and middle-income countries, fueling sickness and death on a scale that trends suggest could quickly exceed 2020’s world-wide toll. (WSJ)

* Liz Cheney told the truth. Republicans must decide whether they value Trump over it. (Editorial Board/WP)

* Deepening Drought Holds 'Ominous' Signs For Wildfire Threat In The West (NPR)

* Faced with climate challenges, Vietnamese rice farmers switch to shrimp (Reuters)

* “I operate with a European mind, and I also operate with an American mind. That’s why no one can figure me out. It has nothing to do with ‘Republican versus Democrat.’ I never paid attention to any of this political stuff, period, because I think that both are full of crap.” -- Arnold Schwarzenegger (California Today)

* Google Adapts To Long-Term Telework, Offers Employees Hybrid Workweek (NPR)

* Study finds around 15% of Ivory Coast's cocoa farms are in protected forest (Reuters)

* The herd of sheep on the U-C Davis campus are part of an experiment to see if they are more effective at maintaining the landscape than their machine counterparts. (Instagram/ @UCDavis_sheepmowers)

* U.N. methane report ups pressure on EU to tackle the planet-warming gas (Reuters)

* Want To Send A Mean Tweet? Twitter's New Feature Wants You To Think Again -- Twitter released a new feature that detects potentially offensive replies on its service and asks users to review a message before sending. (NPR)

* Mark Zuckerberg Asks Facebook Oversight Board To Rule On Whether Argument Wife’s Fault (The Onion)

***

"Give a Little" (excerpt)

Song by Ash and Naila

So give a little piece of your love
Give a little piece of your heartache
Give a little piece of your touch
Give a little piece of your heartbreak

-30-

Into the Mirror

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us what we look like, which is not not as we may have wished ourselves to be. Although life-saving vaccines are free and easily available everywhere now, less than a third of Americans are fully vaccinated; around 45 percent have had one shot to date.

That leaves a huge swath of the population unvaccinated, and many of them have no intention to fix that.

Therefore, more people will get sick, more people will die, and the mutated virus will almost certainly make a comeback by fall and winter.

That means we are in but a brief window of time when we can feel free to resume life as we lived it pre-pandemic. As I move around the Bay Area, signs of renewal are everywhere. The cafes and bars are crowded; the freeways bustle with traffic.

There are far fewer masks on people in the streets and parks. Fans are returning to the baseball and basketball games; concerts are next. The kids are returnzing to school.

When friends show up, they're not masked, and we might even meet inside the house. 

Perhaps the most important change of all -- we can hug each other for the first time in 15 months.

But in the back of the mirror, dark shadows lurk. Elsewhere in the world, the virus is striking down people at lethal rates. It's mutating and spreading like wildfire. Instead of the so-called "vaccine hesitancy" in the U.S., much of the world yet has little or no access to vaccines.

BTW, I hate that term, vaccine hesitancy. The right words would be idiocy, ignorance, selfishness. Seeing this in the mirror tempers any sense of relief or joy.

Another dark wave is coming.

***

So nothing is resolved yet in the monumental case of Facebook v. Trump. One of the world's biggest companies is censoring the former president, and it is exceedingly difficult to criticize that decision.

The problem here is that something much bigger than free speech is at stake, but our path forward is being obscured by those who believe in the Big (election) Lie.

Those blocking our view of reality include David Horowitz, the former leftist turned right-wing extremist. An insightful new analysis of his sad and dangerous decline into an apologist for Trump is authored by Ronald Radosh and Sol Stern in the current New Republic.

I urge you to read it.

*** 

The headlines:

* As the Virus Ravages Poorer Countries, Rich Nations Are Springing Back to Life (NYT)

* Our Friend, the Trump Propagandist: David Horowitz (New Republic)

* Instagram fuels rise in black-market sales of maids into Persian Gulf servitude (WP)

* A federal judge has ordered the release of a legal memorandum the Trump-era Justice Department prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr before he announced his conclusion that President Donald Trump had not obstructed justice during the Russia investigation. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the Justice Department had obscured “the true purpose of the memorandum” when it withheld the document. [AP]

* Scotland's electoral bid for independence vote too close to call - poll (Reuters)

* CDC: Only 32% of Americans Fully Vaccinated (CNN)

* Teenagers Are Struggling, and It’s Not Just Lockdown (NYT)

* While Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up about 6% of the U.S. population, they represented a meager 0.9% of federal, state and local elected leaders in 2020. “Our nation is made stronger when its government looks more like the people it represents,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) in a news release. [HuffPost]

* Everything Screams Inflation (WSJ)

* Entire U.S. West Coast Now Covered By Earthquake Early Warning System (NPR)

* Officials work to counter vaccine hesitancy among Latino evangelicals (WP)

* As COVID-19 rages in India, scientist warns further waves 'inevitable' (Reuters)

* U.S. birth rate falls to lowest point since 1979 (WSJ)

* Limiting police officers’ qualified immunity isn’t the only change needed to achieve real police reform (WP)

* How scientists are using a 'romantic solution' to save endangered white abalone (Reuters)

* Drone footage shows that great white sharks are more common on California beaches than you might think. (LAT)

* Nature at its craziest: Trillions of cicadas about to emerge (AP)

* Scientists struggle to understand sea-level risks posed by Antarctica (WP)

* Michigan Wants to Close Oil Pipeline Under the Great Lakes. Canada Says No. (WSJ)

* White House eyes subsidies for nuclear plants to help meet climate targets (Reuters)

* Netanyahu fails to form a governing coalition (WP)

* Man Has Never Given Single Definitive Yes To Any Invitation He's Ever Received (The Onion)

***

"Mirror Mirror"

Sung by Blind Guardian

Written by Hans Juergen Kuersch / Andre Olbrich

Far, far beyond the island
We dwelt in shades of twilight
Through dread and weary days
Through grief and endless pain

It lies unknown
The land of mine
A hidden gate
To save us from the shadow fall

The lord of water spoke
In the silence words of wisdom
I've seen the end of all
Be aware the storm gets closer

Mirror, mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You're a damned kind can't you see
That the winds will change

Mirror, mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You're a damned kind can't you see
That tomorrows bears insanity

-30-

Things Happen That Way

We are deep into an era where every news site is local and global at the same time. There's no mystery about that, it's simply the nature of the web. Thus information can, unless blocked by authorities, travel across borders as freely as a virus does.

Plenty of governments are threatened by this, so they set up the equivalent of quarantines to block information from reaching their citizens.

China is a leading practitioner of this model of online censorship.

But as tech companies like Facebook have grown bigger and more powerful than most governments, they too have taken on the role of censors, determining which information should or should not reach their users.

The ultimate test of this development is the social network's confrontation with Trump -- whether to suspend his account permanently or let him back in to continue spreading lies and propaganda.

For the rest of us, it can be difficult to hold to a definite position in this debate. The stakes are so high; the implications hard to process. None of us want a dictator to arise from our polarized political landscape; but many of us dread allowing a private company like Facebook control what we say or think.

***

Another consequence of the web is that media companies that considered themselves local or regional suddenly find themselves attracting an audience composed of people from all over the world. This did not appeal to the CEO of one company I worked for, as he complained he couldn't "monetize" consumers located overseas.

He wanted our company to focus on domestic consumers only so he could attract advertising dollars to support the news content.

Unfortunately, the metrics department reported to me. Actually, the metrics department was one guy, a brilliant fellow with a wonderful smile and an honest streak sure to get him (and me) in trouble. 

He ran and reran the numbers only to confirm that despite what our boss wanted our audience was irreparably globalized.

Needless to say, the report I filed based on his research was not met kindly by our CEO and before long, under other pretenses, my metrics guy and I were sent packing.

Not to worry. We both soon found other gigs. And the company folded not long after we left.

***

I do love baseball, but the game is changing, not always for the better. The so-called "shift" defense has taken much of the joy out of the game. In its most radical form, all four infielders can be located on one side of the field.

As a fan, to me this sucks. The rule should be that players play their position -- the game intends for hitters to be rewarded for beating the defense, but that's hard to do when the odds are stacked against you.

Hey, it's baseball, not Vegas.

The headlines:

* E.P.A. to Sharply Limit Powerful Greenhouse Gases -- The Biden administration is moving quickly to limit hydrofluorocarbons, the Earth-warming chemicals used in air-conditioning and refrigeration. (NYT)

* America’s new normal: A degree hotter than two decades ago (AP)

* U.S. trustee opposes NRA bankruptcy petition, dealing blow to group (WP)

* Fake Covid-19 Certificates Hit Airlines, Which Now Have to Police Them -- Test results, often required to fly across borders, can be easily manipulated (WSJ)

* The GOP is Set to Dump Liz Cheney from Leadership for Refusing to Lie About the 2020 Election and the Capitol Riot -- This comes in the wake of Trump's campaign against her. (CNN)

* Widespread Commodity Shortages Raise Inflation Fears -- For products as diverse as lumber and microchips, price increases are filtering through the economy. (NYT)

* During a visit to a community college in Norfolk, Va., President Biden outlined his tax plan, which emphasizes child care benefits as well as an increase in taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations in order to benefit community colleges. (AP)

* An investigation by Reveal and The Los Angeles Times found stark racial disparities in the Paycheck Protection Program. In Los Angeles, businesses in white neighborhoods received loans at a much higher rate than in Latino, Black or Asian neighborhoods. (Reveal/LAT)

* Firefighters in New Mexico, Arizona and California are battling springtime blazes that have been fueled by a severe drought and boosted by climate change. (California Today)

* Facebook and Trump are at a turning point in their long, tortured relationship (WP)

* Far-right crime hits record high in Germany (Reuters)

* German Authorities Break Up International Child Sex Abuse Site (NYT)

* Four families that were separated at the Mexico border during Trump's presidency will be reunited in the U.S. this week as "just the beginning" of a broader effort, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said. More than 5,500 children were separated from their parents during the Trump administration going back to July 1, 2017. [AP]

* National Guard soldier is fourth service member charged in Capitol riot (WP)

* From the Freedom Angels to “Mamalitia,” The Sacramento Bee explored the links between the anti-vaccine movement and extremism in California. (SacBee)

* FDA appears poised to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children as young as 12 by next week (WP)

* Australia Tells Its Citizens in India Amid Covid Crisis: Don’t Come Home (NYT)

* Women journalists face escalating violence online. (WP)

* He saved her from drowning and they fell in love (CNN Travel)

* Private Equity Firm Heartbroken After Realizing There No AOL Employees Left To Fire (The Onion)

***

"Guess Things Happen That Way"

Song by Johnny Cash and The Tennessee Three

Written by Jack Clement

Well, you asked me if I'll forget my baby
I guess I will, someday
I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way
You asked me if I'll get along
I guess I will, some way
I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way

God gave me that girl to lean on
Then He put me on my own
Heaven, help me be a man and
Have the strength to stand alone
I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way

You asked me if I'll miss her kisses
I guess I will, everyday
I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way
You asked me if I'll find another
I don't know, I can't say
I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way

God gave me that girl to lean on
Then He put me on my own
Heaven, help me be a man and
Have the strength to stand alone
I don't like it, but I guess things happen that way

-30-

"The Only Thing That's Real"

It's at times like these we could really use Johnny Cash. YouTube served up a video of a memorial concert held after his death and maybe my favorite moment was Trent Reznor talking about what a thrill it was for him when Cash recorded his song "Hurt" near the end of his life.

When you think of the deep-voiced man in black, the first image that comes to mind probably isn't that of Reznor's industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, although they *did* often wear black clothes.

The afternoon before seeing that tribute video I had a long talk with a close friend; we were commiserating about the huge number of our fellow citizens who refuse to get a Covid vaccination.

My friend is very social and she had just returned from a gathering of 7-8 people, all vaccinated and getting together for the first time since the pandemic condemned us all to a year of isolation. She knows I am a news junkie and she was worried about the vaccine hesitancy issue: "What do you think it means?"

These words tumbled out of me. "I'm afraid we won't reach herd immunity, so Covid will be back next fall and winter. I think it will mutate faster than we can vaccinate, given how reluctant so many people are to getting the shot. So this disease is going to be with us for a long time."

I felt bad saying that, raining on her coming out parade, and I actually surprised myself with my pessimism, since I normally run on fumes of hope.

Anyway by few hours later, I was deep into the Johnny Cash story; then it was midnight and time to go to bed.

An hour or so later I woke up suddenly and felt I had to boot up my computer; somehow this seems to happen to me when there's a news story waiting to be discovered. And indeed there it was -- the lede item in the Times that reaching herd immunity is now considered "unlikely."

Conflating conversations and inputs, I immediately wanted Johnny Cash to come back. Who better to speak to the anti-vaxxers than the man who was against the Vietnam War and yet determined to go to there and sing to the troops?

And the guy who when President Nixon invited him to sing at the White House, expecting some patriotic country songs, showed up instead singing "The Ballad of Ira Hayes," which tells the tale of a heroic Native American World War Two veteran who returned home to a population that treated him as a worthless drunk.

So the reason I feel Cash could help us all now is he was always on the side of the little guy doing the right thing. He had that rare credibility with all sides we need so desperately  now to convince people to get vaccinated. 

He could speak to Trump's supporters.

After all, look what's happening in New Delhi.

Covid knows no borders.

***

Exactly a year ago, I first published the following segment here on Facebook:

"The Wisdom of Herds" [5.3.20]

"One of today's news articles speculates about what will happen if there never is a vaccine for Covid-19. In that event, we'll keep getting sick and dying at the present rates until we achieve herd immunity.

"We are used to the notion that we live our lives as individuals or couples, or as groups, communities, political parties, sports fans, beer drinkers, sushi lovers and the people who love bacon.

"I believe that covers just about everyone.

"But the idea that we are part of a herd? That conjures wildebeests, swatting away insects with our tails or running in panic from predators. Herd is an unpleasant, smelly kind word and we work pretty hard at not being overly smelly.

"All right, I get it. So we can be classified as herd animals, but only in the most charming of ways. There are many herds of our species and we'd prefer to think we run with the better ones.

"As this year dawned, I found myself housed in a skilled nursing facility, rehabilitating my body after many months of various illnesses. There was a lot of PT (physical therapy) involved and it would have been easy tp fall in love with one of my PTs, as they were quite fetching.

"Blessedly, they worked hard with my broken down wreck of a frame and I gradually improved my basic skill levels, which had atrophied during months in hospital beds.

"'You know why they like you?'" one of my nurses observed one day, referring to the PTs. "'Because you try.'"

"It was pretty easy to see her point. At the gym where we did our PT routines, there were many kinds of patients, including some in far worse shape than I was, and who seemed to be just going through the motions.

"By contrast, despite my growing affection, I wanted to get the hell out of that place. So I practiced the exercises they taught me all through the day and often at night too, since I could scarcely sleep amidst the nightly screams of the dementia patients.

"One day the head nurse came to explain to me that I had accomplished my goals and I would have to leave that place as soon as I could find somewhere to go. What I remember best about leaving the following day is that the sun blinded my eyes when I tried to look up at it."

***

[Check out the Politico feature below on the recollections of decision-makers involved with President Obama's decision to conduct the dramatic raid that killed Osama bin Laden. This is a must read for those interested in how the drama unfolded.]

The news:

* Reaching ‘Herd Immunity’ Is Unlikely in the U.S., Experts Now Believe  -- Widely circulating coronavirus variants and persistent hesitancy about vaccines will keep the goal out of reach. The virus is here to stay, but vaccinating the most vulnerable may be enough to restore normalcy. (NYT)

* Not reaching herd immunity by the fall could have dire consequences, medical expert says (CNN)

* Hospital staffs in India stretched thin to breaking point (CNN)

* Fresno County Is Diverting COVID Vaccine Due to Low Demand. Why Don’t People Want It? (KQED)

* Police officers’ hesitancy to get coronavirus vaccine poses safety risks -- Low immunization levels among police officers threatens not just their own health, but also the safety of people they’re responsible for guarding, monitoring and patrolling, experts say. (WP)

* On the morning of May 1, 2011, most Americans had never heard of Abbottabad. By that night, the dusty midsize city near the mountains of northwest Pakistan was the center of the biggest story in the world. A team of U.S. Navy SEALs had just descended by helicopter on a high-walled mansion there in the dark of night, located the globe’s most hunted man, Osama bin Laden, and killed him. (Politico)

* Sen. Ted Cruz, who declared he'll stop taking money from companies he deems too "woke," may have made the most openly corrupt confession in Senate history, former government ethics chief Walter Shaub said. Cruz warned CEOs that "when the time comes that you need help with a tax break or a regulatory change, I hope the Democrats take your calls, because we may not." Shaub said the statement proves "crooks sell access." [HuffPost] 

* Verizon to offload Yahoo, AOL for $5 billion (Reuters)

* A majority of Americans agree that government should help people fulfill a widely held aspiration to age in their own homes, not institutional settings, a new poll finds. There’s a surprising level of bipartisan agreement on some proposals that could help make that happen, according to the late March survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Still, Republicans lag Democrats in support of some policies, including the most far-reaching idea: Only 42% of Republicans favor a government long-term care insurance program for all Americans, compared with 78% of Democrats. Overall, 60% of the public supports that approach. (AP)

* In L.A. and San Francisco, Schools Are Open but Classrooms Are Near-Empty (WSJ)

* Fla. Republicans rushed to curb mail voting. Now some fear it may hurt GOP. (WP)

* ‘We’re Suffering’: How Remote Work Is Killing Manhattan’s Storefronts -- Landlords cut small retailers a break on rent during the pandemic, but stores are still struggling because too few office workers and tourists have returned. (NYT)

* Michael Lewis' 'The Premonition' Is A Sweeping Indictment Of The CDC -- In a new book, author Michael Lewis writes about public health officers who tried to get others to look at the data on COVID-19 and act to make sure the virus didn't spread. 

* The U.S. is on its way to using less than at any point since the 19th century. (Bloomberg)

* New militant checkpoints on key roadways choke off parts of Afghanistan (WP)

* GOP fury is growing against Biden's expansive and expensive agenda, but so far Republicans haven't been able to mobilize a mass opposition movement. That's a lot different from Barack Obama's presidency, which was already reeling during its first 100 days from rising tea party protests against spending Great Recession recovery programs. HuffPost's Igor Bobic explains what's different. [HuffPost]

* Jet suit innovation tested on Royal Marines in UK (Reuters)

* Every minute Jeff Bezos makes more than 3 times what the typical US worker makes in a year. We need a living wage and a tax on huge wealth. (Robert Reich/Twitter)

* Area Man's Opinion Hasn't Been Taken Seriously By Anyone In Over A Decade (The Onion)

***

"Hurt"

(Singer: Johnny Cash)

(Writer: Michael Trent Reznor)

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real

The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end

And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair

Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I'm still right here

What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end

And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

-30-