THE COMING WEEK
I didn’t expect to write a letter this Sunday morning but the first weekend of the New Year is frantic in terms of news stories driven namely by Covid and by political developments in The U.S.
I will keep this short.
COVID 19
There is new data showing the new Covid variant is substantially more infectious in children. Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding who was featured in my latest Back Story podcast on Covid https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/7078915 posted this:
In The UK The National Teachers Union has called for a delay in school openings next week and has told it’s members not to show up for work in classrooms! Schools are in disarray and The Gov must vaccinate teachers as a priority. Exams scheduled for this year could be cancelled or delayed. Not a great beginning to 2021.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/02/teachers-take-legal-action-as-chaos-grips-englands-schools-plan
SEDITION?
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Republican, told reporters the challenge to the election results would fail in the Senate “like a shot dog”.
Here’s what’s happening in America - 11 Senators and Senators elect say they will vote to reject Joe Biden’s election victory this coming week. And…and V.P. Mike Pence says he will support them!
The scene is set for a dramatic Wednesday on The Senate. Jan 6.
The New York Times write “The senators’ opposition to certifying Mr. Biden’s election will not change the outcome. But it guarantees that what would normally be a perfunctory session on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to ratify the results of the presidential election will instead become a partisan brawl, in which Republicans amplify specious claims of widespread election rigging that have been debunked and dismissed for weeks even as Mr. Trump has stoked them”.
These Senators, supported by Pence who doesn’t want to be seen to be undermining Trumps electoral base, will again float the idea the election was stolen by fraudulent voting. Trump has even cut short his Palm beach New Years vacation to drive the wobbly bus towards election result denial.
60 cases have gone to U.S. Courts and been tossed out. No evidence of wide spread fraud. But Trump lies. And uses these campaigns against the truth for his own means.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas who once said Trump is a pathological liar, leads the rebel group. And it includes Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana, and Senators-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
You have to listen to political commentator Keith Olbermann:
This week my podcast is interviewing experts on computer hacking. The Back Story on a massive computer hack in The U.S. that threatens The Government! It was that wide spread and that successful.
Have a good Sunday !