Category: News

  • Texas! Please Put a Mask On!

    I grew up in Texas, and I really don’t understand that state anymore. I think about how it was a good place to grow up, and I would describe the Texas of those years as a place that was common sense Democrat. Now, I can’t recognize any of that in Texas anymore.

    For me, it all started with the election of Ann Richards in 1990, what the Republicans did, and who they ran against her. First of all, if you want to know what Texas was like, study Ann Richards. She could take care of herself, and wasn’t afraid of a fight.

    In 1990, Richards won the Democrat nomination for Governor, and was running on a Texas moderate platform. The Republicans ran a campaign against her, stating a Richards win would be “Death to Families.” But the worst was that the Republicans ran an almost stereotype of a Texan named Clayton Williams who was a millionaire oil businessman who inherited much of it from his father. His campaign was basically that a businessman with no political experience was better for Texas, a platform with nothing other than cut taxes, and he was winning with that schtick. He would have won if he hadn’t made several huge gaffs. The big two were that he refused to shake hands with Richards, because she was a former alcoholic, and the second was he made a rape joke. Well, those were still the days of decency, and Williams dropped in the polls and Richards won. She had a successful term, but ended up losing reelection to George W. Bush in 1994.

    When I look back on the 1990 Texas election, it was the precursor, the warning, of what platformless conservatism will do to the state and the nation. Clayton Williams was the Pre-Trump; rich with no ideas, shooting from the hip, and remorseless for being offensive. Policy was only important if it conformed to this toxic-masculine ideal; logic and science be damned!

    That is what happened in Texas yesterday, with Abbott’s order to get back to normal. There is no science out there that supports his decision, but he keeps saying that he is “following the science.” People will die from this decision, ad for what? To keep the market open? To stop people from asking for help from the government?

    To my friends and family in Texas, please get your vaccine. Ware a mask. Stay socially distant. Listen to science.

  • Where’s My Covid Vaccine?

    Now, I know that you should never use social media to compare yourself, let alone use it as a gage of current news.

    But…

    It sure as hell seems that just about everyone I know is getting vaccinated. It stated to make me wonder if I am doing something wrong.

    Now, the truth of the matter is that a great number of my friends are in the teaching profession, so clearly, I’m seeing them, as a priority group, all getting their shot.

    So, I just went on the New York State Covid Vaccine page and tried to see if I am eligible. After answering a bunch of questions about what I do for a living, and asking if I face the public, I was informed that I am not eligible. Looking a little deeper, I see that healthy people in their early forties will be up for a vaccine around Summer.

    Five months. Me and the wife could have about five months to go. Wow, that’s, just a bit more time than I thought…

    Again, the logical part of me knows that NY state is only getting so much vaccine a week, and we are a big state, and I live in the biggest city, so it will take some time. I also know that the more people in front of me in line who get vaccinated, actually will help make everyone safer through herd immunity. I know all of that.

    But I am getting anxious, and that is based in fear of getting sick, and also I am getting worn down with being restricted at home. The fatigue is getting to me, and I feel like we are starting to see the beginning of the end of this thing.

    I just gotta stay patient.

  • Same Old Super Bowl, and the Next Normal

    Well, there was a Super Bowl yesterday. In my home, we were more excited about the Buffalo Wing Nachos my wife created last night. We are more of a snacking family, than watching the game family. (Unless the Cowboys are in it, then that’s a different story… but it doesn’t look like that will be happening anytime soon.) We recently introduced the kid to nachos, and she has become a big fan.

    As for the game; for a few minutes, things felt a little bit normal. Brady and Gronk in a Super Bowl, and wishing that they would lose. But they didn’t. Brady got another ring, and was the MVP. Just like bunch of times before. Just like normal.

    And with that having been said, I just thought about a post a friend of mine made recently, about using the phrase, “Back to Normal.” She made the argument that even when the pandemic is under control, when we all have gotten the vaccine, when we have reach herd immunity, and when we can go out in public again without fear of getting sick, things/life will not be like it was before. Everything has changed. Work is different, school is different, health is now viewed differently. As she sees it, we can’t return to normal, but what we will get is the “Next Normal.” And in her optimistic way of seeing things, the “Next Normal” is an opportunity for things to be better. We all now see the need for human in person interaction. We see who is truly essential in our communities, and who we have taken for granted.

    And maybe the Next Normal includes a Cowboy Super Bowl. Anything is possible.

  • Wall Street Chaos

    Has anyone been following the short sale chaos happening on Wall Street with GameStop, and AMC theaters? Thanks to Twitter, I have known about all of this craziness since Monday, but it only seems like today that it hit the news. The NYTimes did a little story on it yesterday, but outside of that, no major news media was reporting it.

    If you don’t know what is happening, it sort of breaks down like this; a few hedge funds had decided that GameStop’s stock price was going to fall, and had set up a “short sale” of the stock, which means if the stock price continues to fall, then the hedge funds make huge amounts of money. But, if the GameStop stock price were to go up, then the hedge funds would lose money. Once word got out that this is what these hedge funds were doing, individual investors, normal people who use a Reddit group, started buying GameStop stock, which caused the price to go up, like 200% at one point yesterday, and that caused the hedge funds to lose BILLIONS of dollars. Now, the Reddit people are buying up AMC stock, doing the same thing to the hedge funds today, and looks like the funds will lose billions more today.

    Here is the NYTimes story on it.

    There are lots of interpretations of this story flying around the news and internet right now, from this is a David versus Goliath story, to the free markets at work, to how the stock market doesn’t reflect the real economy, as to why Wall Street needs to be regulated.

    The way I see it; this just proves that economics is not a science, but a man-made machine; a device that can be manipulated to create whatever outcome you want. It’s just the Wizard of Oz. The con is believing that the system is fair, when in reality, you can game it.

    I don’t know how this will end, but it is very interesting to watch.

  • Covid-ness is Everywhere

    The world is getting sicker, but a vaccine is on the way. There is a light at the end of this tunnel, but this tunnel has a long way to go. The infection rate is slowing going up in the City, but the bars/restaurants will remain open, and the schools will be back starting on December 7th. If we can make it through the winter and the spring, then we just might have a summer to look forward to.

    And this is the conversation that is happening in my home. Things are awful, BUT they will get better. We have been saying that for nine months. Yesterday, I ended with how we are getting tired of living in a lockdown. Not that I am going to break it, or stop wearing a mask… I’m just tired.

    The kid just this morning said that she was ok with remote learning if it needs to happen. I know she was giving a mature answer, which was she understood that this was the sacrifice she needs to make to keep other people safe, but it did feel just a little like she had given up.

    My wife’s boss told her that she should plan on working remote for at least the first two quarters of 2021, and most likely the 3rd as well. This news felt like a punch in the gut.

    Even if the kid goes back to class “like normal” in September 2021, I don’t know if there will be any work in the arts.

    Covid has stained so much in our lives, and looks like it will for almost another year.

    Trying to stay upbeat here.