I would have hung up

Sometimes when I’m putting groceries away or cooking supper or doing other housework I listen to an episode of Radiolab. I’m now only five months behind. The one I listened to today was from last July and is under 45 minutes. The topic was two ways to combat the coronavirus. Early in the pandemic a homeless shelter for a few hundred people was bracing for the worst, but it didn’t happen. When they were able to test everyone they found about a third infected, but none showing symptoms. What was different about this group? After a while they figured it was because they had to be outside every day and in the sunlight. We’re now used to sunlight on skin being a bad thing (and it is), but it also triggers the body to make vitamin D. And that is very useful for the immune system. Here we are as a nation where a great percentage of people have a vitamin D deficiency. The percentage in communities of color is even higher. The other thing that is beneficial is copper. This was the first metal worked by humans and we’ve known for millennia that water stored in copper containers stays fresh a lot longer than water stored in other containers. A hospital invested to have door handles and toilet handles made of copper because the virus dies on it so quickly. Alas, there are two problems with copper. It tarnishes. It is about 20 times more expensive than steel, which makes it a lot more expensive than glass and plastic. So why aren’t our news reports full of the benefits of vitamin D and copper door handles? I downloaded Michigan’s coronavirus data today. It is accurate as of 2:20 this afternoon. There is a strong downward trend in new cases per day since early December until about Christmas. The data since then is not yet reliable. The peak of 10,200 cases per day was hit in early November. It is now ranging from about 1,100 a day to 4,200 a day. Deaths per day hit 150 in early December and is now about 75 a day. But keep the mask on. We last heard from Gabriel Sterling a month ago. He’s an election official in the Georgia Secretary of State office and a month ago he held a press conference where he debunked all the claims the nasty guy was making about Georgia’s elections. Alas, he had to do it again. In response to the nasty guy’s call to Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger a couple days ago where he tried to cajole another 11,000 votes, Sterling was back before the press. He thoroughly refuted and debunked every claim against Georgia’s elections made during that call. His irritation was visible and a few times he paused to find a diplomatic way of saying what he was thinking. I have been admiring Raffensperger’s patience. He was on the phone with the nasty guy for an hour, refuting the nasty guy’s claims whenever there was a pause in the tirade. After about one round of debunked claims I would have hung up. I’m sure it is considered quite rude to hang up on the president – but he has never been my president. And my president would never do such a tirade. Angela Couloumbis and Cynthia Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on the opening day of the Pennsylvania Senate:

The new session of the Pennsylvania Senate got off to a chaotic start Tuesday, with Republicans refusing to seat a Democratic senator whose election victory has been certified by state officials. Amid high emotions and partisan finger-pointing, Republicans also took the rare step of removing the Democratic lieutenant governor, John Fetterman, from presiding over the session. They apparently did so because they did not believe Fetterman was following the rules and recognizing their legislative motions. Democrats, in turn, responded by refusing to back Sen. Jake Corman (R., Centre) from assuming the chamber’s top leadership position — an unusual maneuver on what is most often a largely ceremonial and bipartisan vote.

That Democratic senator is Jim Brewster. His win is being litigated in federal court and GOP senators refused to seat him until the case is resolved.

Brewster narrowly won reelection over Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli, who is asking a federal judge to throw out the election results. At the center of that legal dispute are several hundred mail ballots that lacked a handwritten date on an outer envelope, as required by state law. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed those ballots to be counted, which gave Brewster the edge in the race.

As for Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman:

Within an hour, Republicans had voted to remove Fetterman from his spot at the rostrum at the front of the chamber after he failed to recognize a GOP motion to prevent Brewster from being seated. For several chaotic minutes, there appeared to be two people presiding over parallel sessions, as Fetterman refused to leave the chamber.

Is this a glimpse of what will happen in Washington tomorrow as the Electoral College votes are presented?