Many blessings

I watched the inauguration today. Yay! We as individuals and the nation together survived the nasty guy years! He’s outta there! I’d be happy to never write about him again (beyond noting his funeral). Alas, there’s still an impeachment trial to get through and write about. I am very aware that 400,000 of us didn’t survive. I’m also aware the danger is not over and we should not be complacent. I appreciated the message Joe Biden gave today. He did a fine mix of remembering those who did not survive, stressing what needs to be done, the importance of doing this together, and trying to urge us to do so. I was quite impressed with poet laureate Amanda Gorman, who presented a wonderful poem for the occasion with an amazing amount of poise for someone so young. A video of her recitation and a few more details about her are here. And Lady Gaga had quite the gown. Others mentioned she turned and gestured to the dome at the words “and the flag was still there” as a reminder that the attack two weeks ago did not succeed. I watched the livestream through NPR (no commercials! though the commentary could be a bit lame). After a break for lunch and at the start of the parade (“President Biden heads to the White House”) I turned NPR back on. They had no commentary and seemed to have found the worst possible camera angles. For a long time they looked up the street to the bands waiting there with a fat traffic pole in the middle of the shot with the pedestrian walk/wait signal. They still looked up the street as the band passed by. So I tried C-SPAN. After the commercial they showed the vehicles of the parade and their stopped position in some drive and not only no commentary, but no sound. Back to NPR. As before bad camera angles (what should I expect from a radio network?), though we could see Biden was walking down the street and not in any of the cars stopped in whatever drive C-SPAN was showing. They got to the White House and repeatedly passed behind big shrubs (from the camera’s view). When the Bidens got to the front door of the White House and turned to the crowd Joe was hidden behind some other network’s cameraman. I wanted the NPR camera person to take a few steps to the right. NPR paused for a while so I went back to C-SPAN. They were showing the nationwide virtual Parade Across America. But again, no sound (yes, I checked my browser settings, and the sound was plenty loud during the commercials). So on to CNN. The bottom quarter of the screen is filled with their banner. Then nattering commentary as I watched Harris walk down the street in front of the White House to her office in the neighboring building. Back to NPR. I think they’re showing the common feed from the virtual parade. The camera work is much better. I enjoyed this Parade Across America, little moments with groups across the country doing their thing. I enjoyed the diversity of people and the diversity of talents they offer. And I enjoyed the hope and enthusiasm they shared. The Parade did a few highlights of heroes. My favorite is the history teacher in Austin. Back in July, when she knew the fall semester would be online, she hit the road. She conducted class from historic sites, explaining why the site was important. For example, she talked about the end of the Revolutionary war by saying it was in the bay right behind her where the French landed to cut off the British. I was back on NPR for most of the evening celebration. Again, this was the common feed. The advantage of NPR was during the commercials the show went to another act, so I saw more of the program than those who watched NBC. Though I usually don’t care for popular music I enjoyed (most) of this one. Most of the songs were about togetherness and hope. I especially liked the lyrics to the song Tug McGraw and friends sang from Nashville. The image of Joe holding (who I’m assuming is) his great grandson was nice to see, as were the fireworks at the end. Though I’m quite aware this evening’s show (and much of the day) was designed to evoke particular feelings, I feel a lot more hopeful tonight than I did in the last four years. Many blessings on Joe and Kamala. I have hope you’ll be able to meet our dire needs. News of the day (and from those still open browser tabs)… Dr. Rachel Levine has been named to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services. Her list of accomplishments make her sound like a wonderful choice. There another big plus: She’s transgender. She’ll bring an important LGBTQ voice to discussions on health. But will that cause confirmation problems? A GOP controlled Senate has already confirmed her for three previous jobs. Two years ago the House quickly passed HR 1, a comprehensive package to protect voting rights, shed some light on dark money, and add a few ethics reforms for public servants. When it went to the Senate Moscow Mitch made sure it only gathered dust. Joan McCarter of Daily Kos reported HR 1 is back and with it is S 1. The top name on the bill is Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. It will get a vote. It will also force GOP senators to vote for or against democracy. And if too many of those senators still want to vote against it, this could be the issue that ends the filibuster. Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported a likely reason why Moscow Mitch is no longer defending the nasty guy and has been saying his vote for conviction is undecided. The reason is big donors are demanding a break with the nasty guy. Eleveld wrote:

McConnell, who has never really liked Trump, may be legitimately angry over the violent mob Trump sicced on congressional lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike. But he's also sure gotten some monetary help in getting there. And given the choice between continuing to endear himself to Trump and securing the cash to help him win back the Senate majority? Sorry Trump, you lose.

While I’m pleased with this extra pressure for the nasty guy’s accountability, it was this donor cash that got the nasty guy installed. Mark Sumner of Kos discussed virus mutations and does a pretty good job of explaining how they happen. I’ve already heard of a new strain from Britain that is more infectious, though maybe not more deadly. I’ve already heard that strain has shown up in Michigan, one county to the west of me. There is yet another variant ravaging Manaus, Brazil, already a COVID hotspot. And this one is a bigger concern. That’s because the variation is a difference in the spike protein. This protein is what allows the virus to enter a cell and subvert it to making more copies of it. This is also the protein the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines mimic to prompt the body to produce antibodies that can disable the real virus if it ever shows up. But if this variant is different enough that antibodies don’t fit the new spike protein, the vaccine no longer works. A virus that has time to mutate is a consequence of not getting it under control. If America, Brazil, and a few other countries had taken care that their citizens didn’t spread the virus it wouldn’t have time to mutate and perhaps make the vaccine useless in the time it took to develop and test it.