Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

MAY 18,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

AH YES, DIVERSITY – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   A review by Young America’s Foundation of this year’s commencement speakers at the top 100 universities as ranked by U.S. News & World Report identified only one conservative.  “With 37 liberal speakers imparting progressive ideas and just one conservative addressing graduates, the bias in this year’s commencement season is undeniable,” YAF stated in reporting its findings.  The spreadsheet of the 100 graduation speakers put together by YAF gives each speaker on the list a ranking of either liberal, conservative, unclear or N/A.  Nearly 40 were marked liberal. The rest were marked “N/A” with just a few slated as “unclear.”  The only speaker given a “conservative” listing is Tom Jorden, the president of Cimarex Energy, who is giving the address at his alma mater, Colorado School of Mines.  In contrast, the “Class of 2021 will hear divisive speeches from many left-wing speakers with a history in social justice and ‘anti-racism,’ including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John Legend, David Brooks and André De Shields,” the foundation states.  What a wonderful education our children are getting.

VACCINE UPDATE – FROM FOX:   A study in the United Kingdom led by the University of Birmingham in collaboration with Public Health England reported that waiting months between doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine produces much stronger protection against COVID-19.  Dr. Helen Parry, a senior author on the study at Birmingham, said: "We’ve shown that peak antibody responses after the second Pfizer vaccination are really strongly boosted in older people when this is delayed to 11 to 12 weeks. There is a marked difference between these two schedules in terms of antibody responses we see."  Britain has a policy of delaying the second dose by up to 12 weeks to free up vaccines for more people. Britain announced Sunday that more than 20 million people have now received both doses. The two shots of the Pfizer vaccines were intended to be given three to four weeks apart.  The study found that antibodies were three-and-a-half times higher when given after 12 weeks.  "This study further supports the growing body of evidence that the approach taken in the U.K. of delaying that second dose has really paid off," said Dr. Gayatri Amirthalingam, consultant epidemiologist at Public Health England. "Individuals need to really complete their second dose when it’s offered to them because it not only provides additional protection but potentially longer lasting protection against COVID-19."  Apparently, Americans will soon be alerted to the availability of booster shots for those already vaccinated.

May 18, 2021       Permalink

AND SO THE BACKLASH – OVERNIGHT:  Our side is stirring more and more.  Key to our victory in 2022 is neutralizing some of the "woke" corporations that, probably out of fear, are supporting some of the most extreme elements in American politics.  From Fox Business: 

Consumers' Research, an educational nonprofit dedicated to consumer information, on Tuesday launched an ad campaign targeting corporations over "woke" political narratives.

The campaign calls out American Airlines, Nike and Coca-Cola, specifically, saying they have put politicians before their customers, according to Consumers' Research.

"America Airlines shrunk legroom for passengers and laid off thousands of employees during the COVID pandemic while receiving billions in taxpayer bailouts," Consumers' Research Executive Director Will Hild said in a Tuesday statement. "Coca-Cola and Nike have both been exploiting foreign, potentially forced, labor in China while American workers suffer."

He continued: "It is time these corporate giants were called to task. We are giving consumers a voice. These companies should be putting their energy and focus on serving their customers, not woke politicians."

The three billion-dollar companies have recently issued statements against Republican-led legislation in several states. Coca-Cola and American Airlines have expressed concern with new GOP voting legislation in Georgia and Texas, respectively. 

"We respect everyone’s right to raise their concerns and express their views, but we also believe the best way to make progress now is for us all to come together to listen, respectfully share concerns and collaborate on a path forward," Coca-Cola told FOX Business in a statement. "We remain open to productive conversations with groups who may have differing views."

The company also noted Consumers' Research's specific criticism on sugary drinks leading to obesity saying the company has "taken steps to help people reduce the amount of sugar they consume" in the U.S. and around the world. 

On the ad campaign's claims that Coca-Cola uses forced labor in China, the company said it respects "human rights everywhere" it operates and has "strict policies prohibiting forced labor" in its business and with its suppliers.

American Airlines did not respond to the ad but directed Fox Business toward its original statement regarding Texas' S.B. 7 and H.B. 6 voter bills, which extend early voting hours, require specific voter ID, prohibit voting clerks from sending absentee ballot applications to voters who did not request them and ban drive-thru voting – a popular alternative voting method during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COMMENT:  The best way for Americans to fight the WOKE culture that has infected some corporations is to take your business elsewhere.  The objections raised to the various voting bills that the wokesters oppose are often absurd.  The bills I've seen actually strengthen integrity in elections.  And they guarantee the use of the most effective weapon in keeping elections clean – Voter I.D.

May 18, 2021       Permalink

MAY 17,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

A SAD SIGN OF THE TIMES – FROM HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:  NBC is loading up its fall 2021 schedule with so much drama, it’s not funny.  Literally: For the first time in at least 50 years, the network will start a season with no half-hour comedies on its schedule. NBC is instead saving returning shows Kenan, Mr. Mayor and Young Rock and first-year series American Auto and Grand Crew for early 2022.  The final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, however, will debut on NBC in August following the close of the Summer Olympics. The 10-episode run will conclude before the official start of the 2021-22 season in late September.  Susan Rovner, chairman entertainment content for NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, told reporters Friday that the lack of comedies in the fall lineup doesn’t reflect a lack of commitment to the genre. “In recent years our comedies haven’t performed as well in the fall, so we’re doubling down in midseason with two big nights of comedy,” she said.  Or maybe the industry has just gotten too serious and too political.  It should lighten up.  America could use some good laughs, aside from the ones we get from Washington.

SOMETHING TO CHEER – FROM FOX:   A new right-leaning group plans to fight against cancel culture by giving the "woke left" a "dose of their own medicine," its founder told Fox News.  The group, called Unsilenced Majority, was founded by Mike Davis, a former staffer for the Senate Judiciary Committee under Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.  Davis also runs a different group called the Article III Project, which "punches back on radical assaults on judicial independence" and began with the mission of supporting Trump-appointed judges. Davis told Fox News that Unsilenced Majority will use a similar approach in fighting against cancel culture.  "These corporations go woke because they have pressure from shareholders, they have pressure from the liberal media, they have pressure internally from within," Davis said. "What we want to do at Unsilenced Majority is to provide a counterbalance. And so these corporations understand that if they go woke there's gonna be consequences from everyday Americans."  We need more efforts like this, and we need them everywhere, especially among parents of school-age children.  The radical left only represents a small percentage of the country, and it can be beaten.  We are the unsilenced majority.

May 17, 2021       Permalink

AH, VINDICATION – OVERNIGHT:  Texas was right.  The president was wrong.  Don't mess with Texas.  From Fox:  

Texas reported zero deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, just two months after Gov. Greg Abbott drew heat from the White House for rolling back business restrictions and lifting the state's mask mandate.

It marked the first time the Lone Star State reported no coronavirus deaths in about 14 months, according to state health data. Abbott said the case numbers reported on Sunday – 388 – were the lowest in more than 13 months, while the number of hospitalizations was the lowest in 11 months.

President Biden skewered Texas, as well as Mississippi, at the beginning of March for relaxing lockdown measures, accusing state officials of "Neanderthal thinking." At the time, Abbott had announced that businesses would be allowed to operate at full capacity – even though some health experts cautioned at the time that dropping preventative measures could lead to a spike in cases.

"I think it's a big mistake," Biden told reporters, following the announcement from Texas. "Look, I hope everybody's realized by now, these masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we're able to get vaccines in people's arms."

Since then, however, caseloads nationwide have dropped as more Americans are vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also updated its guidance last Thursday, saying that it's safe for fully vaccinated Americans to forgo social distancing and go most places – indoor or outdoor – without a mask, bringing to end more than a year of mandatory face coverings in most parts of the country. But some states, including Hawaii and Massachusetts, have insisted they will keep their mask mandates in place.

COMMENT:  The red states seem to be doing pretty well in bringing their people back from the pandemic.  The blue states, like my train wreck of a state, New York, are not doing as well.  Burdened by socialist thinking, and looking for more statues to tear down and more police forces to defund, they just don't seem very eager to put Covid 19 behind them.

Within months we should be getting alerts for the booster shots that will be necessary, especially for those who've been vaccinated early.  There could of course be local outbreaks of Covid 19, bringing back the dream of eternal masking for the woke left.

May 17, 2021       Permalink