The Only Shot for Gitmo Terrorists Should Be a Lethal One

The headline reads "Vaccine Plan For Gitmo Paused After Outrage From Republicans".

"Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Saturday afternoon no detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison had received a Covid vaccine, and the Pentagon was 'pausing' a plan to give accused terrorists, some involved in 9/11, shots as early as next week that led to outrage among Republicans."

One of the "some involved" is the mastermind himself, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; plus it shouldn't be only Republicans who are outraged at the thought of these terrorists getting the vaccine! I wonder how many September 11 survivors haven't received it yet?

Holocaust Survivors in the News

Among all the pandemic reading I've done this week was this touching article, with photographs, "Children of Holocaust survivors in Jacksonville tell parents' stories":

"The children of some of the more than 100 Holocaust survivors still living in Northeast Florida are now telling the stories of their parents — European Jews who somehow survived the Nazi concentration and labor camps, set about building families of their own, came to America and dealt with memories of an unspeakable horror that lingered throughout their lives.

It’s painful and exhausting for them to talk about it, but they want you to know of their parents as the people they were: tough, scarred, generous. Survivors."

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Also, here's this account of Holocaust survivors receiving the COVID vaccine on Holocaust Remembrance Day:

'We owe this to them’: Shoah survivors in vaccine spotlight

 Hundreds of Holocaust survivors in Austria and Slovakia got their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine Wednesday, an acknowledgement of past suffering and a tribute to resilience 76 years after Soviet troops liberated the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. 

"'Throughout their lives, they have shown mighty strength of spirit, but in the current crisis, many have sadly died alone and in pain, or are now fighting for their lives, and many others are suffering from extreme isolation,' European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor said. 'We have a duty to survivors, to ensure that they are able to live their last years in dignity, without fear, and in the company of their loved ones.'"

Larry King

Here's an appreciation of Larry King from the New York Times.  

"A son of European immigrants who grew up in Brooklyn and never went to college, Mr. King began as a local radio interviewer and sportscaster in Florida in the 1950s and ’60s, rose to prominence with an all-night coast-to-coast radio call-in show starting in 1978, and from 1985 to 2010 anchored CNN’s highest-rated, longest-running program, reaching millions across America and around the world.

With the folksy personality of a Bensonhurst schmoozer, Mr. King interviewed an estimated 50,000 people of every imaginable persuasion and claim to fame — every president since Richard M. Nixon, world leaders, royalty, religious and business figures, crime and disaster victims, pundits, swindlers, 'experts' on U.F.O.s and paranormal phenomena, and untold hosts of idiosyncratic and insomniac telephone callers."

I used to listen to his radio show overnight and can remember how entertaining and informative it was, and I particularly remember his enjoyable interviews with Danny Kaye. His newspaper column full of his two cents' worth was always fun to read. 

There won't be another one like Larry King any time soon.

Typhoid Marys in the Nursing Homes

An outrageous statistic from the New York Times that should anger everyone:  "Many nursing home workers in New York State — about 32 percent — have declined to be vaccinated."

"The number of nursing home workers in New York State who have declined the coronavirus vaccine rivals the number who have been inoculated, raising concerns about vaccine hesitancy among those who are in contact with some of the individuals at highest risk of a severe infection"

This is unbelievable, after all the horrific nursing home deaths that have transpired. It's not "vaccine hesitancy", it's vaccine selfishness!  If these ignorant workers continue to decline, they should be fired! Why should these patients continue to be forced to live in a death trap because of these people?

All He Had To Do Was Concede!

All this tsouris could have been avoided if Trump had only acted like a man and conceded the election gracefully.  If he had done that, there wouldn't have been that disgraceful, violent mob takeover at the Capitol, and there wouldn't be 25,000 National Guard members in DC tonight. It's embarrassing and indecent.

(Nancy Pelosi said that lawmakers who aided the attack of the Capitol may be prosecuted. "May"? They must be prosecuted, and charged with treason.)

I recently read the Paul Begala column about George H.W.Bush and how he graciously handled his loss to Bill Clinton, despite his heartbreak. And you remember how the Obamas welcomed the Trumps to the White House. That Trump will not be participating in this tradition is just so petty and spiteful, as is his refusal to attended the swearing-in.

Also, I doubt Trump will be leaving a good-luck letter for Biden the way previous presidents have (unless he leaves a note that says "Stop the steal".)  Read this article about the history of those letters to remind yourself about decency and decorum while you wait for Wednesday to be over.

"Taking The Virus Less Seriously"

This headline from Axios should infuriate all Americans who are making sacrifices every day and doing their best to defeat COVID-19:  

America is tuning out the coronavirus at the peak of its destruction.

Here's an excerpt from the story by  Sam Baker & Andrew Witherspoon:

"Everywhere you look, day-to-day vigilance is fading.
    You see it up close, as social distancing falls by the wayside, masks dangle on people’s chins, and friends and family let their guard down to socialize indoors.
    Americans are traveling, restaurants are at max capacity, some sports teams have fans in the stands, and some colleges are bringing students back to campus. People were ignoring news coverage of the virus even before new crises pushed it off the front page.
But at the same time Americans are taking the virus less seriously, it is becoming more serious."

How do you possibly take the virus less seriously with all the dangerous new variants, the ambulances circling hospitals for hours in futile searches for beds for their patients, the nearly 400,000 deaths, and this horrendous report from England:

"A large proportion of doctors and nurses have been traumatized by working in intensive care during the coronavirus pandemic in the UK, a new study reveals, with almost half reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or depression, and some feeling they would be better off dead."

The only ones that would be better off dead are these stupid Americans!

Pandemic Yiddish

Doesn't it figure there'd be a Yiddish expression related to Zoom?  In his Yiddish Vinkl column, Harold Ticktin discusses the word oysgezoomt, defined here: “Oysgezoomt, a new Yiddish word which sounds similar to oysgemutshet but has a rather different meaning: Overexposed to, fatigued by, exhausted from, bored by, had it with … Zoom; ‘Ich bin azoy oysgezoomt’ /I’m so done with Zoom.” (Gamzumped, Gezoomt and Gezunt | Ralph Genende | The Blogs, Times of Israel.) 

Zoom has been a lifesaver during the pandemic, so I doubt I'll be oysgezoomt until after COVID-19 is finally conquered -- keinehora!

Very Bad Comparison

While I was glad that Arnold Schwarzeneggar acknowledged the evils of the Holocaust, I thought his comparison of the violent U.S. Capitol riots to Kristallnacht was really bad. There were  plenty of Jew-haters in the frenzied mob, and the desecration of the landmark was appalling; but I haven't seen a Final Solution here in America, and as  Ben Shapiro tweeted: "No, Wednesday was not like Kristallnacht, which involved the burning of nearly 300 synagogues, destruction of 7,000 Jewish businesses, deportation of 30,000 Jews to concentration camps, and hundreds of murders, all promoted and participated in by the unified German dictatorship."

When "Worse Than Watergate" Actually IS "Worse Than Watergate"

I think this has been the first time in nearly 50 years that I heard the words "President", "Constitution", and "impeachment" used in reference to someone other than Richard Nixon.  Compared to the shock and upheaval we've endured over the past year, he may start to get his reputation back

Just Wondering

Twitter has suspended Trump from using its platform, to stop him from spreading lies and encouraging violent protests by ignorant people.  Will Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites now also ban anti-vaxxers from spreading their lies and deliberate misinformation, encouraging stupid people to refuse the vaccines that can save lives? 

Just curious.

Headlines We Never Thought We'd See

If you have the stomach for it after yesterday, check out some of the world headlines at The Guardian, and hope that heads will roll.

PUT DOWN THIS DC COUP NOW!

I hadn't heard about the rioting and destruction in Washington until 5 minutes before work ended, and when I saw what was happening on CNN, I could hardly believe my eyes. What a disgrace!

How were these people who call themselves Americans take over our beautiful national landmarks? How did they get into the Capitol? Where has a strong, immediate military presence been? CNN just said the police  were "gently leading" the mob down the Capitol steps. They should have been kicked down the steps!

You expect something like this from foreign terrorists, but you don't expect it from Americans.

If all this isn't bad enough, think of the spread of COVID at this takeover! The whole area will have to be fumigated, both from the coronavirus and from these anarchist animals!

Vaccination Headlines That Don't Exactly Inspire Confidence

I saw this cheerful Yale University headline today at Instapundit: "Single dose of the vaccine may be better than nothing at all."

Another sure morale boost is this headline:  "Health care workers refuse COVID vaccine."  I would take the vaccine without hesitation, but how can you trust medical staff who won't even set an example for others? 

All we need now are more anti-vaxxer propaganda and acts of sabotage, like those of that "pharmacist", and the whole innoculation effort will be derailed.