Contingencies

© Steve Breen Copyright 2021 Creators Syndicate

The US continues down the Kafkaesque rabbit role of impeachment. Isn’t it a foregone conclusion that Republicans will not vote to impeach? They will always come up with some twisting of reality to conclude whatever it takes to not acknowledge wrongdoing…. Sad.

News blues…

The first batch of 80,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccination doses will arrive in South Africa next week. A further 500,000 J&J vaccines arriving in the next month. In total, SA has secured 9 million doses of the J&J vaccine. (Hmmm, the total population is 58.5 million….)
President Ramaphosa said that an “unrelenting and comprehensive response” to overcome the coronavirus was fundamental to the nation’s recovery and that all provinces had rollout plans in place as the first vaccines come through.

“This year, we must do everything in our means to contain and overcome this pandemic. This means intensifying our prevention efforts and strengthening our health system. … It also means that we must undertake a huge vaccination programme to save lives and dramatically reduce infections across the population. ”

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The devil is in the details.
The US federal government this week finalized the purchase of 100 million additional doses of vaccine each from Moderna and Pfizer, whose Covid-19 vaccines are the only ones so far authorized for U.S. use.
I thought more vaccine sooner would be a no-brainer: “just do it!”
Alas, it’s not that straight forward.

Pfizer… pledged 300 million shots, discovered that its vials contained enough vaccine for six doses instead of the planned five, sought, and won, FDA authorization for health care providers to use those extra doses.
[But] Pfizer later reduced the number of vials it planned to deliver to the United States because of the FDA's ruling, contingent on the availability of the ultra-efficient syringes needed to extract a sixth dose.

“Ultra-efficient syringes”? Hmmm…

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The Lincoln Project: my favorite co-founder of The Lincoln Project and former Republican just resigned from the Project’s board.

Schmidt, a longtime Republican strategist, said he was “incandescently angry” about John Weaver [accused of sending sexually explicit messages via email or in phone calls to some 20 men, including to employees of The Lincoln Project.].
…in a rambling, startling statement Schmidt posted on Twitter in which Schmidt revealed being the victim of molestation as a boy at camp. “I detest John Weaver in a way I can’t articulate,” he said when he first learned of Weaver’s behavior last month.
Regardless of his feelings about Weaver, Schmidt also said he was “enormously proud” of what The Lincoln Project has accomplished.

Amid all the cynicism that Republican politicians have displayed over the last four Trump-addled years and continue to display during the farce of an impeachment, Steve Schmidt displays ethical and moral courage. Instead of the usual kowtowing to success and reaping benefits, he shows spine and the courage of his thought-through convictions.
If only ethical and moral courage was contagious. Imagine a pandemic of that sort….

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m eagerly anticipating a second visit from the first buyer who accepted my counteroffer on the house. He and his father – the money man – are due at 5pm today.
To present something of a decent first impression, I braved the oppressively 28C hot summer day and mowed one section of lawn.
I discovered one can mow a lawn with only three wheels on the lawn mower.
I’d discovered last year that the wheels tend to fall off the new lawn mower. Back then, I’d stopped the mower and reattached the wheel. That takes time I didn’t have yesterday, so I simply carried on mowing. I’m happy to report a three-wheel mower works fine.