Sunday Morning Coming Down

Once again there are issues with boycotts, getting fired for old tweets and just the normal hyper partisanship that points out stuff that are epic failures that need to be addressed on the ground and not just commented on. Hallmark cards and the Hallmark Channel probably should have their heads examined after it was disclosed that they have made campaign contributions to the junior senator from Missouri.   Publix Supermarkets founders heiress in Florida made a contribution to the rally in Washington on January 6th, 2021.  The heiress that made the contribution should be blamed, not the people that work at Publix grocery stores.   And a newly hired executive for Teen Vogue resigned for her social media comments that are viewed as racist/homophobic that she made as a teenager and has repeatedly apologized for. Hallmark should ask for a refund? Fortunately for Publix as a grocery store they are well positioned to withstand their founding family's political screwup....

The last election in November was the most secure and had the biggest turn out since 1980 and was 7% higher than the 2016 election.  Anyway you look at it that is a big increase in turnout.  The loser in the presidential race got more votes than in 2016 and still lost.   On the ground in the fifty states CBS News is reporting: "   At least 250 new laws have been proposed across the country to limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting". Obviously, this means that the proposers of this legislation feel there is some benefit politically in shrinking the number of qualified votes cast by making it less convenient to vote and harder to vote. In Mississippi before the voting rights act was passed it was almost impossible for blacks to register and vote. In Florida it is relatively easy to register to vote online with a FL driver's license or state id.  Sadly it seems that while registering to vote is getting easier than it was in the Jim Crow day's we s...

I just read that FEMA will be helping pay for funeral expenses for COVID related deaths that occurred after January 20,  2020.  Yes, there has been a national disaster declared and there are limits on how much and what can be paid for but in my mind I think there should have been some kind of means test regarding the program and I'm not sure what that limit should be.

 Frank Artiles was arrested for putting up a third candidate to siphon off votes to elect a candidate in a state senate race. " The District 37 race was won by Republican Ileana Garcia by just 32 votes over Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez in the 2020 election out of about 215,000 votes cast. Alex Rodriguez, an auto parts dealer, ran as a non-party candidate and has the same last name as the Democrat." Maybe they thought they were voting for Alex Rodriguez of baseball fame? 

 The movies have reopened but I haven't gone since Racing Stripes .  Gulfstream Park has reopened but I completely missed the 2020 season.  It's been about a year since I attended a church service in person, youtube is better than nothing but sometimes I wander.  And the press is wondering why the President hasn't had a press conference in fifty days. My own opinion on why that is happening is pretty simple.  No pressing reason for a press conference at this time. Diplomacy takes time and the U.S. cannot declare "martial law in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti.  How much is gained by discussing sanctions against Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, China...  Maybe the confirmation process needs some review? 107,000,000 people have received at least one shot of the vaccine.  The administration of shots is almost entirely decided on a local basis and the president has little control over it.  Let the CDC do briefings as necessary....

I'm amused by a FB friend who reviews WSJ articles and HBO programs with the disclaimer that you probably can't read this or watch this.

I carry around a card that shows I have had two doses of the pfizer vaccine.  I just got it a few days ago.  It took a significant amount of time and I was fortunate enough to be over 65.  I was also fortunate enough to have a computer, good internet access a college degree and time to navigate a system that required all of the above and the ability to walk to public transportation of get to a vaccine site at the civic center. Yesterday was the anniversary of the first March for Voting Rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, that became known as "Bloody Sunday". Black Americans outnumbered white Americans among the 29,500 people who lived in Selma, Alabama, in the 1960s, but the city’s voting rolls were 99% white. So, in 1963, Black organizers in the Dallas County Voters League launched a drive to get Black voters in Selma registered. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a prominent civil rights organization, joined them. In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Ri...

As a greater part of the older population of Florida gets vaccinated and the supply has increased a lot, it makes sense to increase the populations to be served and make sure the vaccines are used in a timely manner.  A high school friend was the first person I knew that got the vaccine in Florida on January 4, 2021.  Another much older friend living in an independent living facility got his the same week and others I knew got vaccine shots at the VA early in January. These folks were not part of the 20 million people that were supposed to be vaccinated by the end of December, before the new year and the new administration.  Only about 2 million had received their first shot.  By January 10, 2021 the race to get vaccinated in Florida moved into a higher gear but computerized systems for appointments couldn't keep up with pent up demand, limited supplies of vaccine and multiple providers that were spread out and still dealing with a lot of bureaucratic supply and logi...

As a substitute teacher at a middle school in West Miami I sometimes was called to work in esol classes.  A lot of new arrivals to Miami spoke little if no English.  I spoke some Spanish so we learned from each other.   One day I had an assistant principal sit in on my class for a few minutes.  We were taking turns reading out loud a story in English, a paragraph at a time.  At the top of each row I read a paragraph normally. The fellow from the office left.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't completely following the lesson plan for the day but the kids seemed engaged in the reading and were well behaved.  It wasn't "English Immersion" it was getting through the day fifty minutes at a time. When I checked out for the day I was told by the lady who called me that morning that I was a good esol teacher.  At first I thought she was just blowing smoke because subs were in short supply but she followed it up by saying the kids really needed to hear English...