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Covid-19 and the Delta variant
by Dave August 1, 2021
On July 31, 2021 there were 78,433 new Covid-19 cases based on the 7-day average. I use the 7 day average because it tends to smooth out the data. Presumably, for some states, when the daily data hasn't been completely tallied, the state simply doesn't report the daily data until the next day. On June 24, 2021, things look good with 11,662 new cases using 7 day averaging. A six fold increase in about 40 days. What happened? The delta variant for one. A slowing vaccination rate for another.
More opening up, relaxed masking regulations, and just people getting out and around for another. I was in a very crowded Miami airport. Although I was wearing a mask. I took it off to get a snack. Masks don't really offer much protection to oneself as much as to cut down the chance of transmission to others. This is the logic of requiring everyone to wear a mask indoors.
As a country, I don't think our goal should be some arbitrary value of % vaccinated, like 70 to 80%. It should be zero new cases, and we will see zero hospitalizations and zero deaths. That's the long term goal, because the rest of the world is far behind in getting vaccinated.
It is well documented that the Delta variant is much more contagious. Fully vaccinated people can be infected with this variant, but getting vaccinated is still incredibly important, as it reduces the chance of hospitalization and improves the chance of recovery.
Nobody ever claimed that vaccines were perfect. The take away message from the surge in new cases is everyone should get vaccinate. There is a small group of people who have allergic reactions to vaccines. They need to consult their doctors prior to being vaccinated.
I live in Florida, and the trend on new cases is definitely bad. The more reliable values are the 7 day average which show 15,818 new cases. I suspect the daily number is really two days of data. The lowest was June 18 with 1499 new cases (7-day avg), so an astounding 10 times increase in around 43 days.
I've seen similar increases in many other states including Missouri, Louisiana and Arkansas. I have not seen dramatic increases in Covid deaths, but usually these increases show up weeks after the new cases spike.
What to do? Get vaccinated for one. Accept for now tighter regulations regarding masking. Avoid large indoor gatherings where some may be unvaccinated.
Gore and Obama: Amazing insights on Global Warming
by Dave July 30, 2021
May 24, 2006 marks the release of the documentary film, Inconvenient Truth. The film documented Al Gore's decades long campaign to increase awareness on global warming. It was appropriately titled. Climate change or global warming wasn't the headline news at least in 2006. See link below on the film.
Al Gore is an unabashed environmental activist since he was elected to Congress at the age of 28. At age 73, Gore is still hard at work raising awareness and pro-actively supporting cooperation. Being pro-active, meaning heeding clear warning signs of impending disasters and taking appropriate actions. Some should take note of the recent Surfside condominium collapse of a good example of the cost of inaction until disaster comes.
"No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change" is from Obama's State of the Union address in 2015. The statement was immediately ridiculed on Fox News. CNN reported, "His statement was met with scattered, muted applause." President Barack Obama described as the greatest threat to future generations was neither terrorism nor ISIS. It wasn't nuclear weapons in rogue states either.
Nobody needs to convince the residents of California or Oregon that climate change effects can be life threatening as temperatures soared above 100 degrees. Bloomberg reports: "In the past week alone, 380,000 people have been evacuated due to floods in China's Henan province, 30 villages in Uganda were affected as rivers overflowed and 25 people died in landslides after Mumbai was hit by big storms that also inundated regions surrounding the megacity. Temperatures in Turkey and North Africa approached 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), while South Africa and Brazil froze. Siberia is battling wildfires again."
"The global climate is out of balance" as stated in the Bloomberg link below. It will take enormous international cooperation to bring down global carbon emissions. We have finally a president who will work with world leaders on cutting emissions. But unfortunately, Congress is less committed, and they hold the purse strings.
Even worse, is the defiant President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who seems in locked in the mentality of last century, where there was zero appreciation of the impact of carbon emissions our climate, and complete deference to industrial development. See the last link of this blog, where the federal government is accelerating the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, for profit.
Yes, Gore got it right from the get go, so did Obama. Biden is on the right track. China. India and the EU will work with the international groups. Brazil? Some really get it.
See links below.
Wikipedia: Al Gore
Environmental Activism of Al Gore
Obama: No greater threat to future than climate change
Why the weather is so weird (Bloomberg Green)
(Note the events cited are just in the last week)
The Amazon Is Fast Approaching a Point of No Return
Brazil's rainforest is being stolen and cleared at an accelerating pace, and the Bolsonaro government is fanning the flames.
Bloomberg Green
Brazil global warming
No 6-3 decisions – Update
by Dave July 6, 2021 July 6, 2021
Perhaps I spoke to soon. Two important cases were just decided with all six conservatives in the majority as follows:
Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta
The Court struck down California's requirement that charities and nonprofits operating in the state provide the state attorney general's office with the names and addresses of their largest donors. (From Scotusblog.com)
Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee
By a vote of 6-3, the justices upheld two Arizona voting provisions that Democrats and civil rights groups challenged as disproportionately burdening minority voters. In an opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, the majority outlined what it described as "guideposts" for future challenges to voting laws under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bans racial discrimination in election practices. The court's three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Elena Kagan complaining that Thursday's decision "undermines Section 2 and the right it provides." (From Scotusblog.com)
Scotusblog.com
No 6-3 Supreme Court Decisions?
by Dave June 28, 2021 June 28, 2021
Justices Thomas and Breyer
"When you live in a polarized political environment, people tend to see everything in those terms. That's not how we at the court function and the results in our cases do not suggest otherwise," said Roberts before hundreds in attendance at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in Manhattan.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Sept 2019.
There are 3 liberal Supreme Court justices: Sotomayor, Kagan and Breyer. As shown above, Justice Breyer is seated to the right of Justice Thomas. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a long standing conservative justice. Other conservatives on the bench are: Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Roberts. So, the balance of the court is 6-3, in favor of conservatives.
However, the idea that conservatives now control the court has no legs to stand on in the 2020 term. As the Economist article states, as of June 23, of the 50 cases decided in the current term, there have been only four cases of a 6-3 decisions split over ideological lines. There were 24 unanimous decisions.
The 2020 term is coming to an end. I believe there are just 5 more decisions before the court takes their summer break. The more contentious case often come at the end of the term. The HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining case was decided on June 26, and it clearly supports what Roberts said, that the justices will decide based on the law and precedent, and not which political party supported their nomination. The case was decided 6-3 but the majority opinion was written by Justice Gorsuch, a conservative, and the dissent was written by Justice Barrett, another conservative. Joining Justice Gorsuch was Justice Breyer, a rock solid liberal on the court. Joining Justice Barrett, were liberal judges, Sotomayor and Kagan.
A New Yorker article entitled, "The Supreme Court surprising term" as published yesterday, states, "the Justices repeatedly defied expectations, with conservatives and liberals together forming majorities in high-profile cases in order to avoid or defer the fighting of deeper wars." I'm not so sure that was the motivation. They recognize the immediate impact their decisions have on every court in the country and this supersedes politics.
The conservatives and liberals have different philosophies on interpreting the law. I don't think any of the justices has really altered their general philosophy. Conservatives adhere more to the Constitution as written, and are less willing to take an expansive interpretation of the constitution. They can still arrive at the outcome, but with different reasoning. Judgement and and dissents of the court are much more powerful, when supported by both conservatives and liberals.
So, ironically, as our political parties seem to become more polarized, with opposing views on just about every issue, the Supreme Court is finding common ground and this is good. Yes, Republicans nominate conservatives and Democrats nominate liberals. The very good aspect of the approval process, is that we have a Supreme Court, with some of the top legal minds in the country, through their education and experience.
Conservatives and liberal justices joined in the denial of the challenge to Obamacare, probably the case with the greatest immediate impact and highly controversial between Republicans and Democrats. The majority ruled the merits of the case should not be considered, because there was lack of standing, based on no showing of real harm to the States. Justice Alito wrote a strong dissent to the majority.
What keeps the Court out of politics? The Court has nine independent justices, and each gets one vote, including the Chief Justice. In the case of eight justices, the Chief Justice does not break the tie. A tie means the lower court decision holds. So, I believe giving the Chief Justice no special privileges has been one way the court has kept out of partisan politics. The President might call up the Speaker of the House, when the Republicans were in the majority and say he wants certain legislation passed. Doesn't work at the Supreme Court. Our founding fathers wrote in the Constitution that the Supreme Court judges would have lifetime appointments, so this keeps them out of the political fray.
I think it is also a tribute to John Roberts and other members that has resulted in conservatives agreeing with liberals and vice-versa. Yes, conservatives tend to agree more often with each other than with liberal members. But, this agreement isn't consistent enough to predict cases.
Which justices cross over and join with the other side? I think this term, the answer is pretty clear. Every single one of them! Breyer joining with Barrett on one case, Sotomayor and Kagan joining with a dissent written by Thomas in another case (TransUnion Credit Case). How nice!
Economist: The 3-3-3 court: America's Supreme Court is less one-sided than liberals feared
The Supreme Court's Surprising Term
supreme court2020 term Hollyfrontier case John Roberts
Brazil firm to produce Covid-19 vaccine for export
by Dave May 13, 2021 May 13, 2021
Hospitals in Brazil and India are filled to capacity. In Brazil, the number of new cases is about 61,000 (7-day rolling average). It is the last place you would expect vaccines to be produced for export to other countries. So, I would say the Covid-19 crisis in Brazil is terrible and a bit bizarre.
Brazil's Anvisa agency rejected the Sputnik V vaccine developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute. Anvisa in Brazil is like the FDA in the US, as it must approve all vaccines. Brazil was expected to receive 30 million doses.
Yahoo news reports, "União Quimica's facility in São Paulo has been certified by Anvisa for good production practices and the Gamaleya vaccine will be made for export to countries that have approved it, said CEO and founder Fernando Marques." I suspect the vaccine will be shipped to Mexico and Argentina. It is approved in India, and I'm sure they can't wait to receive additional shipments.
The vaccine is claimed to be 91% effective. The Russian vaccine has been approved in 62 countries. The vaccine was really the first one to be approved, in August 2020, beating out Moderna and Pfizer. Russia was criticized for giving approval without sufficient Phase III trials, where the effectiveness could be reviewed by scientists around the world.
The European Medicines Agency is currently inspecting the manufacture of the Russian vaccine in Europe. I believe the Agency will give approval shortly, and this will make it easy for all European countries to approve.
The Russian vaccine is an Adenovirus vector vaccine, as are other approved vaccines: J&J, Oxford/AstraZeneca and Cansino. In the manufacture of the vaccine, the DNA of another virus (not Covid) so it can not replicate, but is capable of eliciting an immune response. The link below describes the vaccine as containing viral particles, which invades the cells and passes on specific instructions to the cells to build spike proteins. So these cells have enough in common with Covid, to get the immune system to defend against Covid. Very clever these scientists.
Anvisa rejection seems based more on the manufacturing of the vaccine, rather the science behind it. They claim that the batches of vaccine they examined contained replication-competent adenovirus. I'm stopping right here, because the scientists can battle this one out. It may be that some people getting the vaccine will have a mild cold, but they will nevertheless be protected from Covid.
The proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes. In Latin America, Mexico and Argentina have administered about 7 million doses, while over 12 million people in Russia have received the shot (see link from Wall Street Journal).
Anvisa was forced by a Supreme Court decision to rule on the requests of 10 states in Brazil for the vaccine. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the right wing politics of President Bolsonaro is a real element with this regulatory agency. They have no problem with approving toxic agricultural chemicals, which are banned in Europe.
Bolsonaro claims to be doing everything in his power to combat Covid-19. The solution is not with hydroxychloroquine or even worse ivermectin, but effective vaccines.
It is an appalling contradiction when millions of doses of Gameleya's vaccine are made in the populous city of São Paulo (11 million residents) and shipped to other countries, when there is a dire need for more vaccines at home. The question remains- has Anvisa dug themselves a hole too deep for themselves get out of? I hope not.
This is a continuing story and I'll update it as information is available.
Yahoo News: European Medicines Agency experts beginning Sputnik V manufacturing inspections: Official
Science Magazine Blog: Brazil Rejects the Gamaleya Vaccine
Wall Street Journal: Brazil Defends Decision to Reject Russia's Covid-19 Vaccine, Citing Safety and Efficacy
Brasilwire: With 400,000 Dead, Brazil Regulator Slammed For "Political" Veto Of Russian Vaccine
Bolsonaro advocates freedom (forget lockdowns and social distancing- and still promotes hydroxychloroquine!)
Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19 from US FDA.
Coronavirus covid-19 Uncategorized
Tucker Suckers
by Dave May 9, 2021 May 9, 2021
Tucker Carlson, Fox News Commentator
We are in a global war against the Covid-19 Pandemic. The safety and effectiveness of the vaccines at this point has been clearly been proven. It is a fact that those countries who have be able to acquire and distribute the vaccines to a high percentage of their populations are seeing the new incidences go dramatically down. It is also a fact that there have been extremely few severe reactions, on the order of one in a million. Over a billion vaccines have been administered worldwide. Medical workers and doctors got first in line with when the shots were available. Every living current and past president have been vaccinated.
Tucker Carlson. with Fox News, is not a journalist. He is a showman. Tucker Carlson promotes doubt rather than fact. This lets Fox News make more money. When he raises a long series of questions, it's like a cliff hanger- tune in tomorrow as only Tucker can dig down and finally uncover the truth. It's show biz!
He went way too far with several broadcasts on the vaccines in support those hesitant to be vaccinate. He claimed many more people are have severe reactions or die after taking the vaccine than reported in the mainstream media. Actually, as pointed out by the excellent reporting in the Washington Post, his statistics are just plain wrong because he is using a database, where anyone can report adverse reactions, and the connection to the vaccine is not verified.
This should not be political. Operation Warp Speed was responsible for the rapid development and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines under the Trump administration. Two Covid-19 vaccines were approved for Emergency Use by the FDA under the Trump administration. Trump and his family were vaccinated in January 2021, soon after the vaccines were approved.
Carlson speaks with great conviction. His facts are wrong. And those who watch and believe him, and don't get vaccinated, may help in the continued spread of the disease. This followers should know better. I call them Tucker suckers, but perhaps Tucker victims is a better term, as some will get Covid-19, end up in the hospital, with very dire consequences, including death.
I know commentators want to impress their audience with "Breaking News," not heard on other cable news stations. Well there is a reason in this case. Tucker facts are misleading or wrong. Others including commentators on Fox News, have recognized how extreme and reckless his broadcasts have become.
See further support in the links below. I know links from Washington Post may require a subscription, but they frequently allow some free views. CNN response is excellent.
Washington Post More than 3,283,000 people have died from the coronavirus worldwide
Washington Post, Tucker Carlson's worst vaccine segment yet
CNN, Tucker Carlson's Fox News colleagues call out his dangerous anti-vaccination rhetoric
John Oliver on HBO, Humorous as always, but I think he's right on the mark May 3, 2021, but didn't stop Tucker Carlson, with more broadcasts.
May 3 broadcast
covid-19 UncategorizedFox News Tucker Carlson
Why You Should Get Vaccinated
Covid-19 is a worldwide killer and vaccines are the answer, if everyone does their part. Let me tell you why.
The Covid-19 vaccination program began in December 2020 with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The supply was very scarce and the demand was very great. There are a lot of people in great health who have died of Covid-19. They ate well, took care of themselves and have no idea where they got the virus. Frontline medical professionals have died from Covid-19. In some cases, their immune system went into overdrive, and they didn't pull through.
I've heard plenty of people feeling the after effects of Covid-19, including weeks without being able to taste food and respiratory problems.
Worldwide we just past the 1 billion doses of vaccines being administered. We still have a long ways to go. In the US and other countries, health professionals are monitoring the effectiveness of the vaccine. They don't work for the drug companies. They have found that the vaccines are working, even against the various new strains. However, for the 2 shot vaccines, the second shot is really necessary to get the full benefit of the vaccine.
I've heard now, a few reasons why not to get vaccinated. The first is that it might actually cause you to get coronavirus, as they are injecting a weaken virus into your system. This is totally false. They are injecting strands of DNA which generate anti-body cells to defend the body against Covid. Second, the vaccines are not 100% effective. This one is true, but I'd say, 95% effective is pretty good to me. There will never be a perfect vaccine.
I heard a commentator state that the elderly are dying from Covid and the youth are spreading it. Well, yes and no. A third of the elderly population is unvaccinated, and they certainly can be spreading it. And within the US, there are 2,300 young adults (under age of 30) who died of Covid-19. It is sad, but now it is also preventable.
Covid-19 is a worldwide killer and vaccines are the answer, if everyone does their part. End of sermon.
Press Briefing with Dr. Fauci
covid-19 Covid-19 vaccinesModerna Pfizer
I'll see you in court
by Dave April 25, 2021 April 25, 2021
Trump didn't like the election results. After 62 lawsuits, not one single vote changed. But, this was pure Trump. A barrage of lawsuits. Now the tables have turned, and he's the one in the firing range, without much to fire back.
Welcome to New York City, Mr. Trump. There is no hometown advantage here. This is where he was sued for fraud in the Trump University ($25 million) and Trump charities ($3 million).
There are a lot of cases chasing Donald Trump, but I'm keeping my eye on the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance case, because it is a criminal case, and has a good chance of finally going forward after 3 years. It began in 2018, when Trump could claim protection to his records as president. And yes, it is all about defrauding the government on taxes.
Vance has the treasure trove of the Trump's organization tax records, courtesy of a Supreme Court ruling. Michael Cohen, Trump's all important fixer, is helping him. Be careful of the enemies you make when you are going up, they may be the same ones you see going down. The focus with the Vance case is the legitimacy of a 46 million dollar tax break in real estate transactions. See Washington Post article for details.
A second case is spearheaded by New York Attorney General Letitia James, and yes, more real estate transaction. But this one is a civil suit, so I think it could be settled out of court. Again, the Washington Post has the details.
Now, in reference to these cases, remember those that know, don't talk, and those that talk don't know. Or they speculate. Vance and James can't share tax information.
Trump can pay some of the legal fees from his PAC money, reported as "over 31 million dollars." Sorry, these are unbelievable suckers to think "Saving America" and bailing out a billionaire with tax fraud problems are some how compatible.
If successful, Michael Cohen will likely be pleased. Likely he learned from his former boss – Revenge is sweet.
Washington Post, Lawsuits against Trump
Trump's legal problemsConservation easements Cyrus Vance Letitia James Michael Cohen New York Manhattan District
Human health v Politics
Trump's EPA was frighteningly bad from top to bottom. EPA Administrators Scott Pruitt and Andrew Wheeler sought to weaken the agency, as they had done their entire careers in support of the fossil fuels industries. As administrators, they put lawyers who had battled against regulations in charge of departments.
The really bad chemicals sometimes avoid scrutiny because their presence are found in very select locations, and the affect on human life is subtle at first, and takes years to cause harm. Perfect case is the burial of chemicals containing highly volatile chemicals including benzene and dioxin in Love Canal, New York, by Occidental Petroleum in the 1950's did not become recognized as an enormous health hazard, until 1977.
Ethylene oxide (EtO) is a chemical used to sterilize equipment in the health and agricultural industries. In medical applications, it is used in place of steam for instruments sensitive to moisture. In the agricultural industry, it can be used as a fumigant.
The EPA website states the following:
"Studies show that breathing air containing elevated ethylene oxide levels over many years increases the risk of some types of cancers, including cancers of the white blood cells (such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma and lymphocytic leukemia); and breast cancer in females."
If you think this is bad, it gets worse. From the EPA website, on the effects on children, "EtO is mutagenic (i.e., it can change the DNA in a cell). Children may be more susceptible to the harmful effects of mutagenic substances." Translation, children may be more at risk of the various types of cancer. There is nothing more sad than this.
Deputy director Andrew Wheeler ran the EPA beginning in July 2018 after Scott Pruitt quit amid 14 investigations of misconduct in 2018. It was Scott Pruitt who appointed Bill Wehrum, to be in charge of air quality. Like Pruitt, he was forced to resign after 19 months for ethic violations. There was nothing in Wehrum's history, to indicate he would defend and enforce air quality regulations. Prior to his role at the EPA, he was a partner and the head of the administrative law group at Hunton & Williams, where he lobbied on behalf on major industrial companies and advocated for looser environmental regulations. See his bio from Wikipedia.
Willowbrook near Lake Michigan, Illinois is a nice sounding name. One can picture weeping willows along side of a brook, perfect for family outings. But this is the location of one of the Sterigenics facilities, and over time, their emissions of ethylene oxides and other chemicals were polluting the air, and increasing the risk of cancer and lymphomas.
Health issues are personal, as reported by CBS news in February 2019 (see link below):
"Matt Haller, 45, lived about a mile from the Sterigenics facility in Willowbrook and now has stage-four stomach cancer. The married father of a four-year old has lost 75 pounds, as the cancer ravaged his body. He was healthy and active, and enjoyed playing hockey. He loved his career at ESPN in sales. "I had a future that had success written on it, and now I have no future," he told CBS 2.
All this sounds familiar and very sad. For decades, the residents of Love Canal were in the dark about the toxic gases seeping from their backyards. The land on which an elementary school was built, also had the slow release of toxic gases. A snow blizzard hit in Buffalo, New York and Grand Island, NY in the winter of 1977. I know, I was working on Grand Island at the time. As the snow melted, the groundwater levels rose, and residents could smell the gases. This was the formative period of the EPA. Just six years earlier, EPA administrator, William Ruckelshaus announced national standards for six common pollutants, as mandated by the Clean Air Act, signed into law by President Nixon.
Back to ethylene oxide. The Inspector General's report issued last week states the following:
"Region 5 personnel orally communicated to one state agency and one local agency that OAR headquarters directed Region 5 to not inspect ethylene oxide facilities unless invited by a state."
OAR headquarters is the Office of Air and Radiation, which was the responsibility of Bill Wehrum. He is not specifically named in the report.
So, the IG report makes it clear that the EPA is not carrying out its mission, at least in terms of protecting the health of residents in Michigan.
It is politics. The EPA ordered a webpage removed, which identified the elevated cancer risks in the Lake Michigan area. Bad news could hurt the incumbent president re-election campaign.
Wikipedia: William Wehrum
Chicago CBS Local News, February 2019, Sterigenics Allegedly Covered Up Toxic Emissions, Operated Secret Plants, Former Workers Say
Chicago Tribune report, April 16, 2021: Trump appointees blocked EPA from investigating ethylene oxide polluters and prevented staff from warning Americans about the cancer-causing gas, [Inspector General] report says
Inspector General's ReportDownload
Top EPA official resigns amid scrutiny over possible ethics violations
Environment EPABill Wehrum
Covid-19, Brazil and the World
by Dave March 12, 2021
In Brazil, the daily deaths due to Covid-19 made an all time record, of 2,286 on March 10, 2021. These are people who did not make it out of the hospital. This is four times as many people as four month ago. This is real and it is scary. Brazilian hospitals are overrun with new cases. When hospitals run short of equipment such as ventilators, more people die.
Deaths from Covid-19 in the world are trending down. Only about 1% of the world is fully vaccinated. The US is far head with 10% fully vaccinated. Brazil has fully vaccinated only 1.4%. of its 211 million residents. Note that reports of a 4% level of vaccination for Brazil is based on "one or more" vaccinations rather than the required two shots.
The progress in the world is likely a combination of vaccines plus stricter restrictions on travel and social gatherings in clubs, bars, restaurants, weddings, church sermons and family re-unions. Enforcement of mask wearing rules and social distancing I am certain helped reduce Covid-19 worldwide.
Brazil is going the wrong way in general, with the new record high. I predict by May, they will be averaging 2500 daily deaths, with fewer than 5% of the population fully vaccinated. Brazil accounts for 18% of all deaths from Covid-19 worldwide and may climb to 40% by May, 2021 (2500 in Brazil verses 6000 worldwide).
There is competition in the purchase of vaccines. Brazil is now looking at ways to increase the supply of vaccines from China (see links below), while three months ago, it was hostile to the idea of testing of Chinese vaccines in Brazil in return for additional supplies. The efficacy of Sinovac vaccine (Coronavac) was reported to be only 50%, but it was 70% in preventing moderate to severe cases, which is very good. The severe cases can result in death, particularly among my group (older males). From everything I've read, Brazilians are ready to take the vaccine, but the supply is extremely limited.
Because vaccines are never 100% effective, the wearing of masks and social distancing are still required. As long as there is a high rate of new infections, restrictions must stay in effect. Biden last night delivered a powerful speech, in asking the American public to take precautionary measures to prevent a new surge in new infections. Brazil needs to look on how it can best reverse course.
We will get rid of Covid-19 only by everyone's action in every country in the world. There is no magic pill.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-vaccine-idUSKBN2B21Y8
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/biweekly-covid-deaths
(The bi-weekly data chart helps smooth out the data noise).
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56342303
Brazil covid-19 Covid-19 vaccines Sinovac Uncategorizedcoronavac Sinovac
Trump's Pardons – A gift to organized crime and a kick in the teeth for prosecutors
by Dave January 28, 2021
On Friday, January 22, 2021 New York Times headline, "In the End, Trump Undid Years of Prosecutions." Prosecuting people for fraud is tough, because the criminals are often millionaires, and can hire the best defense lawyers in the country. In a similar story, they called it a kick in the teeth for prosecutors.
One pardon went to Philip Esformes, a former nursing home executive who orchestrated one of the biggest Medicare frauds in the United States. He served four years of a 20 year sentence and was commuted by Trump. Esformes criminal activities were summarized by Wikipedia:
In April 2019, Federal officials charged Philip Esformes of paying and receiving kickbacks and bribes in the largest Medicare fraud case in U.S. history. The largest case of fraud brought to the Department of Justice took place between 2007 until 2016. Philip Esformes, 48, owner of more than 20 assisted living facilities and skilled nursing homes was the leader of the ring. Former Director of the Outreach Program at Larkin Hospital in South Miami, Odette Barcha, 50, was Esformes' accomplice along with Arnaldo Carmouze, 57, a physical assistant in the Palmetto Bay Area.
These three constructed a team of corrupt physicians, hospitals, and private practices in South Florida. The scheme worked as follows: bribes and kickbacks where paid to physicians, hospitals, and practices to refer patients to the facilities owned and controlled by Esformes. The assisted living and skilled nursing facilities would admit the patients and bill Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary, fabricated and sometimes harmful procedures. In addition to that, some of the charges to Medicare and Medicaid include prescription narcotics prescribed to patients addicted to opioids to entice the patients to stay at the facility in order for the bill to increase. Another technique used by the dream team was to move patients in and out of facilities when the patients have reached the maximum number of days allowed by Medicare and Medicaid. This was accomplished by using one of the corrupt physicians to see the patients and coordinate for readmission in the same or a different facility owned by Esformes. Per Medicare and Medicaid guidelines, a patient is allowed 100 days at a skilled nursing facility after a hospital stay. The patient is given an additional 100 days if the he/she spends 6 days outside of a facility or is readmitted to a hospital for 3 additional days.
The facilities not only fabricated medical documents to show treatment was done to a patient, they also hiked up the prices to equipment and medications that were never consumed or used. The role of Barcha as the Director of the Outreach program was to expand the group of corrupt physicians and practices. She would advise the community physicians and hospitals to refer patients to the facilities owned by Esformes and they will receive monetary gifts. The group would refer patient to the facilities and receive kickbacks. The law against kickbacks is called the Anti-Kickback Statute or Stark Law. This law makes it illegal for medical providers to refer patient to a facility owned by the physician or a family member for services billable to Medicare and Medicaid. It also prohibits providers to receive bribes for patient referrals. The involvement of Carmouze in the grand scheme was to prescribe unnecessary prescription drug to patients who may or may not have needed the medications. He also facilitated community physicians to visit the patient in the assisted living facilities owned by Esformes in order for the physician to bill Medicare and Medicaid and Esformes received kickbacks. Carmouze also assisted in falsifying medical documentation to represent proof of medical necessity for many of the medications, procedures, visits, and equipment charged to the government.
Esformes has been detained since 2016. In 2019, he was convicted for charges that add up to 20 years in prison. His sentence was commuted by Donald Trump on December 22, 2020.
As reported, "Just days after being granted clemency by President Donald J. Trump and released after serving four years of his 20-year sentence, Mr. Esformes was under a disco ball celebrating his daughter's wedding." Oddete Barcha pleaded guilty, and got only 15 months. Kind of makes you sick, to think of the nursing home patients being used as pons, and getting them addicted to opioids so they would stay longer at the facility.
Why in the world would Philip Esformes qualify for a Trump pardon? Donald Trump pardon his friends, like Manafort, Gates and Flynn, convicted of lying to the FBI, tax fraud, money laundering (Manafort and Gates), and bank fraud (Manafort). Esformes crimes had real victims, elderly people in nursing homes in South Florida. Philip Esformes was in the process of challenging his conviction through the appellate court. A friends of the court brief (Amicus curiae) was filed, arguing that the charges should be dismissed because prosecutors unjustifiably seized hundreds of privileged materials, allowed prosecutors and case agents to review and use privileged materials for months. Those supporting the brief included heavy hitters such as Ken Starr, and former Attorney Generals Alberto Gonzales and John Ashcroft.
But what I believe won the Trump's heart was that Esformes cohorts in the Medicare rip off business , Gabriel and Guillermo Delgado turned on Philip Esformes and for the brothers' help with authorities, got lighter sentences. You can see the parallels between Michael Cohen helping prosecutors in New York and the Delgado brothers helping South Florida prosecutors. I liked this comment in the Miami-Herald:
"Bruce Udolf, a former federal corruption prosecutor and prominent defense attorney in South Florida, said that Trump's rationale for his clemency decisions may be based on "criminal justice reform." But Udolf said the president's pardons and commutations were really about taking care of "moneyed and privileged" political cronies and white-collar criminals — including Trump's former advisers Stephen Bannon, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone — rather than "more deserving people languishing in prison" with draconian sentences for drug offenses."
Prosecutors may decide to try Esformes again, on charges that the jury in the first trial could not decide on. (See Miami-Herald story)
Another pardon went to Judith Negron who stole hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent Medicare payments. She was sentenced to 35 years, but her sentence was commuted after serving 8 years. She was relieved of any remaining obligation to pay her share of the 87 million in restitution.
I'll stop here. There is still a lot to unpack in all these pardons.
For Prosecutors, Trump's Clemency Decisions Were a 'Kick in the Teeth'
Miami Herald: Trump's clemency freed Esformes, but he still faces pending Medicare fraud charges
Amicus curiae on the Esformes appeal
Impeachment II
There is no lack of opinions on this topic. I'll be brief. I am against the second impeachment. The Senate will not get the 66 votes needed, so acquittal is inevitable. Can they strip Donald Trump of his right to run again? A number of constitutional scholars have said no.
So, the "can" part is shaky. The question of whether Trump's actions merit impeachment, I contend, is also very weak. To encourage people to fight for what they believe in, is not the same as to incite a riot. Trump did not tell the people to go to the Capital and break in. He said to his followers that he knew they had plans to march on the Capital. He said a lot of things in support of their protest of the election results. It makes no difference if it was the truth or lies. You can not convict an elected official because they lie, particularly in off-hand comments to a group of protesters. And absolutely you can not convict an elected official for supporting a protest rally, which is exactly how this began.
Further, more evidence is coming to light that the break-in of Congress was in many ways planned in advanced. The organizers brought rope, and ladders to break-in. No one will be able to show Trump caused the attack on the Capital to occur. His defenders will point clearly to two sentences in his tirade in front of protesters on January 6:
"I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country. "
Trump message was very simple – that he won the election honestly, and the Democrats rigged the election to show that he lost it. That was his narrative. The villains of the day included Mike Pence who he wanted to act in an illegal manner to refuse certification. Rudy Giuliani probably was more guilty than Trump of inciting violence, but I think he's got a number of legal problems going forward.
I felt the House should have passed a motion of censure, which they could have gained the support of many Republicans. Trump's speech on January 6 did encourage violence, and censure would have been appropriate.
It is what it is, my good friend says. Get ready for a lot of speeches in February, calling the impeachment unconstitutional and defending Trump and his right to free speech. Legal experts will testify that Trump can't be impeached, and this whole Senate trial is a sham. And they will focus on one word he said on January 6 "peacefully" as proof that the impeachment is without merit.
There are so many links on the internet, including the transcript of Trump's Jan 6 speech to the protesters. I use the word protesters or Trump's supporters so I don't characterize everyone assembled in front of the White House as participating in the attack on the Capital.
Covid-19 Vaccinations in Florida – January 16
by Dave January 16, 2021 January 18, 2021
I got my first dose of the vaccination on January 14, 2021. I live in Miami, Florida. The big challenge was getting an appointment. It means one has to type very fast the moment appointments open up. Every second counts. I used the portal set up by Miami-Dade County. I knew when the appointment portal was going to be open based on my online subscription to the Miami Herald.
The appointment went very well. There were just 10 people waiting in front of the clinic when it open. I was asked if I had any allergies. I filled out the consent sheet, and soon after, a nurse gave me the Moderna vaccine. Very importantly, I was told to wait at least 15 minutes after the injection, before leaving the clinic in case there were any side effects. I felt some slight side effects including dryness in my mouth. This is standard operating procedure at all vaccination sites based on CDC guidelines.
Now, I am concerned about my second dose. I was given a card that stated I needed to take the second dose on February 11, exactly 28 days after this first dose. They said they will contact me by email and tell me at what time to return.
Although they already had my email address through the first reservation, they asked me to write it down again. This isn't good because transcription errors (from handwriting to the computer) can result. When I I made the first appointment, the email address is typed in and then repeated back in the confirmation notice. Most likely, the first appointment scheduling system makes some quick checks on the address validity. It appears that the scheduling system for the first and second appointments are not well linked together.
The Washington Post reported last night there was no reserved stockpiles for second doses. It looks bad. Data from the Florida Department of Health, based on the entire state are not encouraging:
So, right now 66% of all first dose people made it back to their second dose on time and 34% so far have not. The 61,151 vacinees (those who got vaccinated) who were on time for their final shot on Jan 12, would have been injected on December 22, 2020, with the Pfizer vaccine with a 3 week interval. Unlikely, it was Moderna, because the EUA approval for this vaccine came on December 18.
I believe the overdue percent is rising, because people aren't receiving timely appointments to return to the clinics. If the supply isn't enough to cover both new and returning residents, who do you chose to vaccinate? It looks right now, it's about 9:1 on the new rather than returning, in rough numbers. so, around 50,000 to 70,00 new doses, and to the 7,000 to 9,000 second doses. In terms of who is getting the second doses right now, it's mostly in the age group between 16 to 64 years old (around 25% complete), rather than the 64 years old plus group (1 to 2% complete). I think this is due to the fact that when the Pfizer vaccine first came out, it went to many medical professionals and first responders.
Supply is the problem, and deciding who to give priority to is a very vexing question. Our governor pitched a "Seniors First" program, and the Food and Drug Administration decided not to stockpile additional vaccines for the second doses. There are approximately 500,000 people over 65 years of age, who in the next four weeks or less, will need their second shot, based on the latest DOH statistics. Adding a lot of locations where one can be receive injections, doesn't help when the supply is the limiting factor. We need to add new refrain to the old song, "Yes, we have no bananas, we have no bananas today" which goes, "Yes, we have no bananas, and yes, we have many more fruit stands today."
How much risk is there if they don't get the second shot? Without a second dose, people do not have maximum protection from the vaccine. The second shot is added insurance that there is s sufficient immune response. I suspect there is a tendency for people to engage in more risky activities – like travel, get social events and go out to eat once they have the first shot. And that can worsen the spread.
Vaccine reserve was exhausted when Trump administration vowed to release it, dashing hopes of expanded access
Washington Post article of January 15 – I hope non-subscribers can open it although the title pretty much summaries the article.
FL DOH Covid-19 Vaccine Report
This link will only provide the most recent link. Everyday, the DOH overwrites the prior report with a new one. We will maintain copies of all reports. I will be adding a new page with all Florida reports.
covid-19Moderna Pfizer
by Dave January 8, 2021
Thirteen days to go. Time to fix windows and doors and get the Capital ready for January 20, 2021 inauguration day. I want no impeachment inquiry or silly talk of removing Trump by the 25th Amendment. The future of our country is with good leaders from both the Republican and Democrat parties, and this kind of talk is divisive and unproductive.
Some fine Republicans made excellent speeches of how it was high time to acknowledge the winner of the 2020 election because the people had chosen. Mitt Romney rose to the occasion with the simple words of "Let's tell the people the truth."
The first three priorities of 2021 must be Covid vaccine, Covid vaccine and Covid vaccine – in that order. Vaccines are the only way out of the health crisis. I live in Florida, and a new virulent strain of Covid-19 is gaining strength. I've spend every day searching a place I can make an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccine.
In Florida, I should have priority as I am over 70 years old. But I'm finding it impossible to make an appointment for a vaccination.
Miami-Dade County: Registration is currently closed. Please check back periodically as additional vaccines become available.
Jackson Hospital: We have booked more than 12,000 vaccine appointments. Currently all of our COVID-19 vaccination appointment slots have been filled, and we are not taking any new appointments at this time. Please return to this page routinely for ongoing updates as we receive additional vaccines.
I've read the same message for over a week. No Appointments!
Remember how we were promised that 20 million doses by the end of December would be administered in the US. The latest numbers from CDC are that of the 17.3 million doses shipped, only 5.3 million doses have received their first shot. I'm really afraid it is about to get worse, as availability of appointments could drop in half as the returnees for the second shots are given priority.
This should be treated as a national emergency. Donald Trump leaves in 13 days, with a disastrous vaccine rollout program. I am glad that Operation Warp Speed contributed 1.3 billion dollars to AstraZeneca, to produce the best vaccine available. We should be moving heaven and earth to get at least some of their vaccine in the US.
covid-19 Uncategorized
Truth matters
by Dave December 22, 2020
Each year, Politifact singles out a lie or false narrative as its lie of the year. The "award" goes to a statement, or a collection of claims, that prove to be of substantive consequence in undermining reality. Truth does matter.
"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassinations from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment." Robert Maynard
I think this country, the undernourishment is closer to ignorance. Real news and facts are out there in abundance. Nobody has to look far to get the facts. Democracy depends on an informed population.
Donald Trump record of lies far exceeds any past president. In the last 4 years, our president has averaged approximately 50 lies per day. By July 2020, the Washington Post had counted over 20,000 lies from Trump. It was like he was incapable of stating known facts. I am very glad our Liar in Chief will be gone on January 20, 2021.
The 2020 Lie of the Year, as awarded by Politifact, is really a long series of false narratives which Trump has promoted from the January 2020 until today. Trump has downplayed, denied and deceive the public on basic facts of Covid-19. The world has suffered 1.6 million deaths and the US has the highest death toll of 330,000.
Fox News commentary and Facebook posting are part of the problem. Facebook bloggers can target their audience. Trump tried to politicize the epidemic as much as possible, calling it the "China virus" and pulling out of the World Health Organization because he considered this organization to be pro-China.
Hopefully we have elected a new president which will see the real issue is world health. I am so hoping that 2021 is the year the world gets vaccinated.
Truth matters. There is outstanding solid reporting of real problems from the New York Times, Washington Post and others. Politifact and other fact checking websites provide a very valuable service in validating statements of officials.
Lie of the Year 2020: Coronavirus downplay and denial
People can suggest their favorite lie of 2020 to Politifact
Lie of the Year 2019: Donald Trump's claim whistleblower got Ukraine call 'almost completely wrong'
Readers' poll #1 in 2019: There has never been, ever before, an administration that's been so open and transparent." Donald Trump
Coronavirus covid-19 Fact checking organizations Trump liesTruth matters


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Breaking Down The 2018 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot
By Jarch January 12, 2018
This is coming kinda late, because the ballot was dropped a while back and all the debate has pretty much gone quiet at this point. The announcement of who gets in (and who falls off the ballot) will be coming soon and I figured I wanted to just give a take because I do probably care about this more than most.
All I'm going to do is quickly go through EVERY name on the ballot and give you a yes or no on whether they should get in at all, not just this year, with an explanation. I don't want to do the whole thing where I just pick a few guys to get in this year so I'll just get it all out of the way. Here we go.
Barry Bonds- YES
I'm totally in on steroids guys getting in the HOF, IF you can confidently say they were a great player without the juice. Just throw an asterisk on there and have a paragraph about what he did on his plaque.
Roger Clemens- YES
The same rule applies.
Edgar Martinez- YES
This one is one I hate to admit, but the question is about whether he should ever get in. He's NOT the best DH of all time, that'd be Mr. David Ortiz, but he's worthy of the call to Cooperstown at some point.
Vlad Guerrero- YES
No real steroid suspicion, despite being an amazing slugger in that era. I honestly just think this guy was a freak. From hitting balls in the dirt for a double or a dinger to just HOSING dudes with his cannon of an arm, Vlad was one of the most entertaining players of my lifetime. He's in, no doubt.
Trevor Hoffman- YES
I don't totally understand why there is a debate about this. I'm in on Hoffman being one of the best closers of all time. That means you are in.
Brad Lidge- NO
Good closer, not much more.
Jason Isringhausen- NO
He's got less of a case than Lidge.
Chipper Jones- YES
Throw out the fact that he was the first baseball player I ever knew of, he's still an absolute lock. Love Chipper.
Hideki Matsui- NO
I somewhat subscribe to the rule that if you have to convince yourself or think to hard about a guy, they aren't worthy. I thought Matsui was great, even as a Red Sox fan. But he's not there based on his numbers in the United States (if you wanna add in Japan and make it a world thing, he's in).
Johnny Damon- NO
Haha, sorry Johnny.
Mike Mussina- YES
I always thought he was awesome, but his numbers are actually even better than I thought. He'll make the cut.
Curt Schilling- YES
This one, is a doozy. People get very hot and bothered about Curt but I know that there is no doubt he deserves enshrinement. Just because he's a kook and gives a lotta hot takes does not mean he's a bad guy. Even if he was a bad guy, that has nothing to do with whether he should be in. There are a lot of worse people in the Hall right now and Curt not getting in is bullshit.
Scott Rolen- NO
I hate this because Scotty Rolen was one of my favorites growing up. He's a guy on the fence which means he does not make it.
Fred McGriff- NO
I'm gonna be honest, I don't know much about Fred because I never saw him play. All I can go on is his numbers and what I have heard. Therefore, I'm not letting him in.
Jim Thome- YES
I find it funny that so many people say Thome was definitely not on steroids. He seems to be the exact type of guy that would be filled with the juice. But, there really aren't any allegations and he was a beast so I think I'm giving him the pass. But I got my eye on you, Thome.
Manny Ramirez- YES I know he was linked to steroids and caught multiple times. But one thing about Manny is that he could roll outta bed and hit. The 'roids didn't help him make contact, and I stand firm that he's the best right handed hitter I've ever watched. (Also very biased as a huge Red Sox and Manny fan).
Kevin Millwood- NO, WTF?
Orlando Hudson- NO
Love the O-Dawg. Don't love him enough to say he's even close to a Hall of Famer.
Jamie Moyer- NO
Just because you played forever doesn't mean you get to be considered one of the greats.
Jeff Kent- NO
Alotttttta people would put Jeff in, but he just doesn't have the type of impact on me to swing me in his favor.
Aubrey Huff- NO
Any Hall of Fame with Aubrey Huff in it would need to be torn down immediately.
Carlos Lee- NO
El Caballo. Awesome nickname, not an awesome HOF case.
Kerry Wood- NO
Oh, what could have been.
Livan Hernandez- NO
C'mon.
Chris Carpenter- NO
I was a big Chris Carpenter guy for literally no reason that I can think of. But no.
Omar Vizquel- NO
For fielding? Yes. His bat takes him out.
Carlos Zambrano- NO
Big Z was entertaining as hell. I'll always miss his tirades. He can go in the HOF of throwing Gatorade coolers.
Larry Walker- NO
This one is a bit controversial because I think a lot of people want him in. I'm out on him.
Johan Santana- NO
It feels weird to say no to a guy who dominated for a good part of my childhood, but injuries took his career so far down that it's impossible to say he's in.
Sammy Sosa- NO
Sammy is where the steroids rule backfires. There is no evidence of him being good without cheating, so he therefore does not get the benefit of the doubt.
Gary Sheffield- YES
Sheff cracked 500 homers and almost hit .300 for his career. This means he shall pass.
Andruw Jones- NO
The Jones brothers of the Braves were a dynamic duo there for a while but Andruw's career couldn't keep going and sustain it.
Billy Wagner- YES
I'm down with Billy Wagner getting in, by a hair.
Categories: MLBTags: Barry Bonds, Curt Schilling, Hall of Fame, MLB, Roger Clemens
On The Night The Angels Honor Their Teammate Tyler Skaggs, They Throw A No-No
By Troy Muller 5 days ago
Sox In Review: Momentum Gained, Heading Into The All Star Break
By Troy Muller 1 week ago

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Tony Thomas: A saying from the early days of the Soviets was 'When the forest is cut the chips fly'. It corresponds to our own saying, 'You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.' In the Soviet context, it referred to people destroyed for doctrinal reasons.
In our 'Stolen Generations' controversy, the historians have come across many individuals – including Aborigines like tenor Harold Blair – who devoted much of their lives to caring for, as they saw it, child Aborigines and half-castes and children of half-castes. Since the historians want to make the case that these people operated within a genocidal-type agenda, these people are required to be viewed as racist villains.
In Perth, Sister Kate Clutterbuck is one such villain.
So let Windschuttle now defend Sister Kate, an Anglican nun.
Sister Kate in 1934 then established a home at Queens Park in Perth explicitly for quarter-caste children in need of care. Bringing Them Home identified Sister Kate's' as a place established to house Stolen Generations. p318 It was government-subsidised and initially housed about 20 children. p408 (A later chairman of Sister Kate's was none other than Sir Ronald Wilson, chair of the Human Rights Commission and its Bringing Them Home Report. p267).
Poor Sister Kate. She worked 40 years in WA housing, feeding, clothing and educating orphans, abandoned babies, destitute and disabled children – only a minority of whom were Aboriginal. She created, instead of impersonal institutions, a new model of cottage homes where staff sought to give individual love and attention to each child.
In her youth she took a vow of poverty and thereafter lived and worked in the same premises as the children. In WA, with few funds from church or state, she labored to raise funds herself through fetes, concerts and (probably) cake stalls.
Kate was born in 1861 in England. At 22 she joined the C of E Sisterhood in London, and trained in nursing and dispensary before becoming a nun with Sister of St Michael's Convent, Kilburn. For 15 years she did welfare work in the slums and dockside of London and in the orphanage at Kilburn.
In 1901 she and four other nuns sailed for Perth with 22 child migrants from Kilburn orphanage. By end 1903, they had found the money for and built the Parkerville home for babies and orphans in the Darling Ranges near Perth, initially known as 'The League of Charity Home for Waifs and Stray Babies'. It soon included a government-funded public school.
Her 'clients' included (virtually all white) orphans, illegitimate children of poor or alcoholic single parents, disabled and mentally retarded children, children exposed to domestic violence, and children of prostitutes found living in brothels. But by 1932 she had 28 Aboriginals aged three to 19, out of a total of 143 charges. There were also children of Afghans, Japanese, Maoris, Chinese etc. Neither Kate nor the children, it appears, gave a stuff about anyone's race.
By 1932, at the age of 71, she fell foul of Perth's Anglican Archbishop Henry Le Fanu, who wanted to kick her out and replace her with young nuns from his former Brisbane diocese. Unwilling to retire, she got advice from Paul Hasluck (later our Governor-General, then a sub-editor on The West whose roles included correcting the spelling and grammar of my father Pete Thomas, a first-year cadet).
Hasluck drew her attention to plight of light-skinned part-Aboriginal children who were classed as neither black nor white for welfare purposes and hence missed out on care. She was enthused and offered to run such a home on behalf of Protector A.O. Neville but without cash from him. Being cash-strapped, Neville was overjoyed at her offer of something for nothing. He would choose the kids and remain their legal guardian.
What a horrible hypocritical sinister person was Sister Kate! Well may she be damned by historian Anna Haebich, who quoted that italicized statement but dismissed it as part of the public 'fiction' maintained about Kate's motives over the years.
Historian Haebich somehow conflates this into the onset of large-scale racial engineering by Neville of Aboriginals into whites. Haebich claimed, correctly, that some of Neville's teenaged Aboriginal women sent to domestic service, got pregnant to whites, and Neville removed their children from them. This was bad but the same thing routinely happened to white teenaged mothers as well – their child was removed.
Haebich refers to 'scores of practically white children' that Neville removed into Sister Kate's hands, an even greater beat-up, Windschuttle says. Over ten years, Sister Kate's' home took in an average 15 children a year. Not much hope of 'biological engineering' there to end the Aboriginal race.
Paul Hasluck was a patron of Sister Kate's' for many years, continuing to describe it, as Neville did, as a safe haven for kids who couldn't access care designed for either whites nor blacks.
I wonder how it would go if Sister Kate tomorrow climbed out of her grave and sat academic historian Anna Haebich down for a little chat. I'd love to be a fly on the wall. I bet the chips would fly.


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Luke - Founder | Editor
All Around Georgia
Previews & Reviews
August 2013 "Band of the Month" – CAROLINE ROSE
Posted by Sean Pritchard on Tuesday, July 30, 2013
When I started the "Band of the Month" feature last year, I had no idea we would be introduced to all the amazing artists that we wound up working with. From a feature with now-indie-giants, Of Monsters and Men, to the beautiful bedroom tunes of Faye Webster, the site found community and excitement in this feature. As we move forward into 2013, we plan to continue to share with you music that we've grown to love.
Courtesy of Artist Website
Caroline Rose played her first show in Macon on a warm, overcast evening in mid-July. Summer can be slow in Macon, but the modest crowd that gathered for her & partner Jer Coons' debut at the Rookery was quickly attentive and responsive to their performance. Telling stories between songs and harnessing the casual vibe of the evening, the two steadily went through songs from Rose's new record, 'American Religious'.
In the weeks since it's release, the album has received acclaim from American Songwriter, Paste, Sirius Radio, and the founding editor of Rolling Stone Magazine. The duo are on the tail end of US tour that's taken them from Chicago to their home state of Vermont, down through the South and over to California, before trekking up the West Coast and back across middle America. I can't wait to see what's on the horizon for them.
Website – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter
Sean: Looking back, where does your story with writing and performing begin? I'm sure you were raised listening to music with your parents, and then your friends as you got older, but at what point did you first pick up an instrument with the hope or determination to write a song?
Caroline Rose: Oh I don't know, it's hard to say. I wanted to be a blues musician, which is kind of laughable from the perspective of a young, middle class white girl, but I heard Buddy Guy pretty early on, saw him with his polka dotted Fender Strat and that was kind of it. The songs at first were total shit, but who cares. When all the kids my age were having sweet sixteens, I saw Buddy live at a local theatre. It was amazing. He didn't encore, which I now realize was because he was really old and probably seriously tired, but it was still amazing. I could care less about a sweet sixteen. I also got to meet Les Paul at the Iridium once. All my heroes were old guys with guitars and that sort of transferred to old guys with acoustic guitars later on. All my heroes are classic storytellers.
America Religious, your "official" debut album, was released earlier this year to acclaim from a number of publications and your fans. Are the songs on the record products of the past year or two, or have you essentially been writing this record for years now?
C: Well, a lot of the tunes were written after recent travels, but to say I just started thinking about all these things in the past year or so would not be true at all really. The truth is that I write all the time, and have been writing for most of my life, but what's probably more important is I've been thinking and living and experiencing things my entire life, so America Religious is just one tiny little expression of that. I'm really just skimming the surface with this stuff.
When you played in Macon recently, you mentioned certain songs were influenced by time spent living in New York, Paris, and beyond. I know that Vermont is home when you and Jer aren't on the road, but was all the moving around from school or simply to have a change of scenery?
C: Ah! Yeah, I've got the wanderlust, got it from my parents. I'm pretty much just like them when they were my age. They were both artists and would save up to be able to travel. My mom used to backpack with her friends and they'd travel through Europe, sleep under bridges, hide in the bathrooms of train cars so that they could save on a ticket…And I am kind of a pro at all that now. I sleep out of my car a LOT to save money, to be able to go anyplace I feel like going. I've got my regimen down. I actually think I'm better at road-tripping than I am at playing music. Anyhoo, it's not that I necessary enjoy the change of scenery, it's just that I need it. I can't be in one place for too long, I don't think it's good for me.
Also during your show in Macon, you talked a lot about the things that make the South so.. "Southern" – the juke joints in Mississippi, long drives through the country, and the people you've met. There's something almost intrinsically Southern about your work, though the lyrical content and playing style are by no means reserved for people from this part of the States. Still, how would you describe your connection with the region?
C: Well most of my family is from the South actually. My mom's from South Carolina and that whole side of my family still lives around there, aside from her sisters. And my grandma on my dad's side is from Columbus, Mississippi, so it's kind of in my blood. Two totally different types of Southern too, between the Carolinas and Mississippi. I've spent a lot of time in Mississippi exploring, meeting people there, spending time with my family. I spent some time with a teacher who let me sit in on some classes in a mostly black day school, which was real interesting, slept in a lot of parking lots, sought out some old haunts of some of my favorite writers and musicians. The South is full of great stories and storytellers, there are stories everywhere. There is a reason why Southern Gothic is my favorite type of novel.
Jer, unless there's some other look-alike version of you with the same name who's been playing shows around the North East the past few years, you've had an extensive journey with music yourself. How did you come to meet Caroline and begin working with her as a full-time project? (I'll be honest, it took a few minutes to figure out it was the same person..)
Jer: You found me! I did the solo thing for awhile and toured around a bunch, when I happened to play a show at Caroline's college, and she was the student opener. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much, and within seconds of hearing her first song, I was pacing around the back of the room with my hand on my head, wondering how I could follow her. That was November 2008, and I had just really started getting serious about recording. She reached out via e-mail a couple weeks later, and said "I wasn't expecting much, but you were great!" and sent a demo she had made of a song. I loved it immediately and wrote back, "If you ever make it up to Vermont, I'll record you for free," not expecting her to actually take me up on the offer. The next day she wrote back and said "I'm coming to Vermont for the summer, let's make a record!". So we made a couple CDs, and this past year made America Religious together and we both played so many of the parts it only made sense to tour together.
You cover a lot of topics with this new album, whether social matters and personal observations. A lot of the things seem to be subjects that the "average American" overlooks, ignores, or doesn't seem to be bothered by. If there's one thing in particular that's going on that you feel more people should be aware of, what would it be?
C: Hmmmm. I don't think I can say whether one thing's more important than another. I'm not trying to move mountains with any of this stuff, I just want to get people to think, maybe notice a few more things than they used to.
You & Jer have been on the road in support of the record since the end of June, quite literally going coast-to-coast-to-coast before you're done. What's been the most exhilarating experience so far?
J: For me, seeing the Grand Canyon. it's such a humbling experience, and I'd recommend it to anyone. But truthfully, this whole tour has been great. We've seen the country coast to coast, met some amazing people and played a ton of ridiculously fun shows so the entire time has been pretty glorious.
When we filmed the Acoustic Alley session with you in Macon, you all played a song that's not on the new record called "Hey Miss America" that left me intrigued. I assume it's something that was written since, but what can you tell me about the song and what you're conveying?
C: So that song's actually pretty old, I wrote it maybe three years ago? My grandma, we call her Mee Maw, used to love watching pageants and would video tape them. When I was little our house burned down and we lived with my grandparents down the street for about a year, so I became real interested with beauty pageants watching those tapes. Now that I'm older, I'm real fascinated by them and America's obsession with beauty. "Hey, Miss America" tells the story of our country personified as an aging woman who has lost her beauty, who has the eyes of a dead person's eyes. In other words, she has lost her spirit, as does the mortician's son. She's also controlled by a pimp-like character, an idea I probably took from watching too many movies about drug trafficking, who dolls her up so she can make them more money. Don't forget, I'm talking about America here. It's a song about freedom. There are many references about being free in the things I write, and they are chock-full that song in particular.
Going back to the record, you chose to work through a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for the record and ultimately raised more than the initial goal. To have nearly 200 of your friends, family members, and supporters contribute a total of more than $10,000.00 must be incredibly humbling. Most artists are lucky if they reach their goal at all. What was your reaction when you found out how successful the project had been?
J: It was incredible, to say the least. It's such an interesting, democratizing time now with crowd funding and how the public can directly allow artists of all varieties pursue their craft, we're just so grateful that so many people helped support this. It truly jumpstarted this entire process.
Photo by Yossy Arefi – Courtesy of Paste Magazine
I noticed the gift for a sole pledgee of $10,000.00 or more would include your fully restored 1975 MGB convertible! I'm going to assume you're still lucky enough to have the car, but how in the world did you come to own such a great car?
C: It was sort of an accidental eBay purchase. I'd been toying with the idea of getting a little British sports car for a while and had test-driven a couple of them. A guy I worked with at the time, we worked on a little farm together, was a mechanic and said he'd help me fix it up so I could get one cheap. So a couple weeks later I was at home visiting my parents and was dangerously perusing eBay listings, and found this really cheap partially-restored MGB convertible, vermilion red. In typical Caroline fashion I said what the hell and bid on it, thinking there was no way I'd ever win the auction bidding so low. Just a few days after that I was down in South Carolina for a friend's wedding and checked my email. There was one from a name I didn't recognize that just said, "So when would you like to pick up the car?"…I'd won the damn thing. But this is the amazing part that convinced me it was fate. I had to go back north for work the next day, but my mom and aunt had been planning to drive back and go through Kentucky to visit my cousin and it juuuust so happened that the car was in Northeast Kentucky, RIGHT on their way back home. I talked them into driving it all the way back, which is amazing because the car was a total piece of junk. It's a miracle they made it back alive. It didn't break down until it was on its way to the DMV––it knew how long it was going to wait in line. But I shadowed a guy who helped me fix it up and the thing still breaks down all the time. I named him Tom Collins after my favorite mixed drink. He kind of stumbles down the road so it's a fitting name.
Tour has you busy until around the first week of August…then what? Eat, drink, sleep, repeat?
C: Also in typical Caroline fashion, I'm spending my time off adventuring! I bought a one-way ticket out West and plan on snagging a ride up to the Pacific Northwest, maybe out to the San Juans. My dad and I went together to the mountains out there, but I haven't explored much of the coast. Would love to clear my mind and get some time to myself.
J: I'm back to Vermont to shoot a few music videos for a new Pop/Hip-Hop project I co-produced with a couple friends called "The Precepts" and finish a couple other artist's albums at my studio, Parkhill in Burlington. When I'm home, I try and stay busy, it keeps me collaborating and learning and creating in a variety of ways. Caroline perpetually travels to stay sane, and I pretty much just try and juggle as many seemingly disparate projects as possible to do the same.
I'm sure you're aware of CarolineRose.com, but have you actually looked at the people on that site? There's one lady who looks incredibly devious, almost slightly creepy, however it seems like somewhere you have a fairly good marketing pitch to get a ton of free "designer sportswear"…
C: Hahaha! Yes! I have. I think it's for plus-size women too. If I ever go Vegas-era Elvis maybe I can get some sort of endorsement deal? There are a lot of Caroline Roses out there, a lot of musicians too, but very few of them really carry that name. Most of the time Rose is the person's middle name. There's also a gal in France who has been making my life harder by having been on the French version of the Voice recently. I think those fans will be sorely disappointed after having accidentally downloaded my record.
"Eight for the Home State"
There's a chance we'll have a crew covering Grand Points North this year, which seems like a lot of fun. If we make it to Burlington, who serves the best tacos and who serves the best soul food?
C: El Cortijo
J: This is neither, but I'd have to wholeheartedly suggest The Farmhouse, it's amazing. They're great folks and it's all farm to table fare. They also own El Cortijo, so they pretty much can do no wrong.
What's the strangest fact you know about Vermont? (and is someone from Vermont really called a Vermonter?!)
J: As a Vermonter, I think the strangest fact probably is the fact that we as a state, didn't have electricity until 2005. We just got 56k internet, and have recently only heard of this new thing called "the why-fi"
Name one historical site that anyone passing through the state should take the time to visit:
C: There are some cool historic places, Calvin Coolidge's house is pretty cool, but there are way better things to do in my opinion. The best is Bread and Puppet, up in Glover. It's far but totally worth it. It's a total hippy haven. In the summer they put on very politically themed, circus-y type shows with these ginormous crafted puppets. They are basically giant sculptures and very beautiful. Also climb Camel's Hump, you'll get the best view of Vermont.
J: Anywhere along Lake Champlain is worth checking out a sunset from. Though you're technically looking at the Adirondack Mountains, it's one of my favorite VT views.
What is the most "Vermontian" thing you can think of?
C: Oh I don't know, wear Berkenstocks while tapping a maple tree?
J: Playing in a drum circle. Clothes optional.
Who/What are some other newer artists from the state that we should listen to?
J: There are almost too many to name. The Dupont Brothers are good friends, and killer. Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band are a local staple, they're incredible. The guys from Lendway have an amazing surf rock side-project in addition to their regular stuff. I'm biased, obviously, but I'm almost done producing a record for this honky tonk band called Reverend Ben Donovan & The Congregation and they're a riot. Ben writes these amazing songs, with a voice like gravel that you accidentally spilled a handle of cheap whiskey on.
When you're not on the road, where is your favorite place to spend time?
C: My car.
J: The studio. I'm there literally every day I'm home. I can't get enough of it.
What's your favorite small town in Vermont?
C: They're all small! But I'm quite partial to Peacham. I used to work up in that area and it's completely wild and untouched aside from a little collection of old clapboard houses. Nice place to visit when the leaves change.
J: A lot of them kinda blur into one for me, I guess I just enjoy perusing different parts of the state. Each town has its' own unique charm. People around here seem to have their priorities in line, which is nice.
Our staff loves craft beer. What's your favorite from "The Great Mountain State"? Yes, I did my research…
C: Heady Topper by the Alchemist and basically anything by Hill Farmstead. A friend of mine makes artisan sausages and puts Hill Farmstead in one of the recipes, so he took me up there to the brewery. The brewmaster, Sean Hill, runs it out of his garage on his family's farm. Their best recipes are named after family members and the logo was taken from the old hanging tavern sign that belonged to great-great grandfather or something. They really care about what they do and it shows.
J: Definitely what she said. Those are a bit harder to track down, so I'd also recommend Switchback and Otter Creek, from my hometown of Middlebury, VT.
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Caroline Rose – America Religious
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Acoustic Alley: CAROLINE ROSE
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February 2016 – "Band of the Month" – MICROWAVE
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