It has continued to rain here for most of the week, so much so that the large trees are beginning to come down for lack of support. The soil can only stand so much water before things start letting go. A big tree fell across the highway down by my front gate and was cut up by some passers-by in order to get through. Right now it is as dark outside as a polar night. While my impatiens love the rain, the geraniums are drowning, an apt metaphor for how I feel given the weather and the continuing craziness in politics.
The vaccine debate has become downright nutty. As I’ve recently mentioned, Tennessee has stopped all outreach to children about vaccines. Recently, on Fox news a commentator talking about the vaccines said that the government has no role in protecting people. The governor of Florida, where the Covid virus appears to be surging, enjoys pointing out that he is not going to let the state be “Faucied up.” Poor old Dr. Fauci has become a punching bag for right wing clowns for simply doing his job.
Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece that debunked the CDC and the efforts by medical authorities in reporting and dealing with the Covid pandemic. It was written by Dr. Marty Makary criticizing what he sees as failures in the CDC’s methodology. It reminded me of Dr. Scott Atlas, the special coronavirus advisor to the former president, who was paraded about as an expert even though he was a radiologist by training. Dr. Makary is a surgeon specializing in oncology and gastroenterology. It seems we can all find critics with impressive academic credentials from top schools to support our views.
There’s no dearth of weak and incendiary comments and actions that could be cited here, but suffice to say that this will not go away or subside until after the 2022 midterm elections if then. Let’s hope that it does not take Republicans until after the next presidential election to come to their senses. The good news here is that the rain and miserable weather will go away and the sun will come out again.