Everyone is doing everything in their power to avoid contracting COVID-19.  That will be a real dilemma for those who refuse to be vaccinated.

The University of California and California State University has announced that they will require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff on campus properties this fall once the Food and Drug Administration gives formal approval to the vaccines and supplies are sufficiently available.

Some of the smaller airlines are starting to require proof of vaccination. As most of the population becomes vaccinated the larger carriers are likely to require that proof too. That same proof may be required to enter concerts, and sports venues. Los Angeles Dodgers have instituted sections for fully vaccinated fans.

Royal Caribbean cruise line has posted this: “At this time, we are requiring guests 18 years and older to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, along with all crew members onboard. Each guest must submit proof of vaccination no later than boarding day. They are not alone. Norwegian Cruise Lines and Oceania Cruise line are also requiring all guests and crews be fully vaccinated.

Those that are not vaccinated may claim their civil rights have been violated if they are denied entry to theme parks and sports venues.

Given that there are vaccination requirements for diseases like yellow fever by many countries around the world and businesses can require drug testing for employment the vaccination passport seems inevitable.

The Washington Post reports “The Biden administration and private companies are working to develop a standard way of handling credentials — often referred to as “vaccine passports” — that would allow Americans to prove they have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as businesses try to reopen.”

As the number of vaccinated people grows those opposing the vaccination will have to obtain the shots or be blocked from both social activities as well as places to work.

It’s going to happen.

The most distant object that most folks can see with the unaided eye is also the closest major galaxy to our own Milky Way. Although the Andromeda Galaxy lies a mind-bending 2.5 million light-years from Earth, its trillion stars are enough to emit a strong glow across the vast reaches of space. Despite the wide gap, the Milky Way and Andromeda are on a collision course and predicted to begin merging in roughly 4.5 billion years. (You’ve been warned.) The Andromeda Galaxy was once thought to be a nebula. Early in the development of modern astronomy, any diffuse, undefined celestial body was called a ‘nebula,’ including what we now know to be a neighboring galaxy. Our modern definition of nebula refers to galaxies-in-training that will coalesce over cosmic time into something less…nebulous.

WASP means White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Hard-right House Republicans on Friday were discussing forming an America First Caucus, which one document described as championing “Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and warning that mass immigration was putting the “unique identity” of the U.S. at risk. Marjorie Taylor Greene scrapped a planned launch of controversial ‘America First’ caucus amid blowback from GOP.

Fear of people who don’t look like us is the real issue for many Americans.  They don’t look like us and they aren’t part of my religion seems to be the two driving forces that are driving the hate that is tearing the United States apart.   

Based on their appearance they must have a difference culture and really aren’t part of American culture seems to be the thought process of many White Americans.  People with those thoughts are a shrinking population and they know it.  Those people are scared that they may soon be a minority

 The United States Census have enumerated Whites and Blacks since 1790.  By that time 19.3% of all Americans were identified as Black/Negro. Asians and Native Americans were not counted until the late 1800s. Mexicans were counted as White from 1790 to 1930. 

Today, based upon the 2010 census, 72.4% of the population is White. That is a dramatic drop from 1960, 50 years ago, when the White population was 88.6% of the population.

Immigration from Latin American countries continues to be the number nations of origin.  The evidence is obvious.  When you telephone most  businesses their answering system offers two primary languages.  English or Spanish.  Those WASPS want to stop the changing demographics by limiting immigration from all countries that are not basically inhabited by White people.  You know. They want to welcome people from Europe.

The answer. WASPS will have to accept a new reality in the 21^st century. Like it or not.

In the weeks leading to Nov. 3, 2020, U.S. presidential election, incumbent Donald Trump had wrongly predicted the stock market would crash if Joe Biden won the election.

Last week, fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits than at any time since March 2020. Last month, retail sales in the U.S. rose by 9.8 percent, the largest increase in nearly a year. Factory activity in the state of New York just hit its highest level since 2017; in Philadelphia, manufacturers are now more confident about business conditions than they have been since 1973.

Oh yes the stock market has boomed.  Both the DOW Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 have gained over 9% since January 20.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had projected a 5.8 percent jump in retail sales in March, but the combined effect of the American Rescue Plan’s $1,400 stimulus checks, strong job growth, and rising vaccination rates provided a more potent boost to commerce than experts had foreseen. The rebound was especially strong at restaurants and apparel retailers, which saw 13.4 percent and 18.3 percent increases in overall sales values, respectively. But the surge wasn’t limited to sectors hampered by the pandemic; furniture outlets, e-commerce shops, and other businesses that thrived throughout the COVID crisis still enjoyed an uptick in revenues last month.

What is next? President Biden this week unveiled a massive infrastructure proposal that he says would deliver a “once-in-a-generation investment” in the United States at a cost of $2 trillion will be another stimulus that will employ tens of thousands of working class and middle class workers in decent jobs.

This article appeared on the Washington Post web site this morning.

It starts by asking “Why are so many Christians in this South American country converting to Orthodox Judaism?”

The answer is “Even though none of them were born Jewish, many had been exposed to Judaism as part of their Christian faith, through the life of Jesus, who was Jewish. They came to see Judaism as the one true religion.

Here is a link to the article that includes photos.

Twins Shmuel and Yehuda Fuentas during morning prayers.

41 gun salute at the Tower of London pays tribute to the late Prince Philip

You read it correctly. Queen Elizabeth ll’s husband walked behind her and did little else all the years (more than 70) he was married to her. You would have thought Philip would have done something more than supporting charities but that was his life.

Philip, for his part, always seemed a bit mystified about what he was actually supposed to do as the husband of Elizabeth II.

“There was no precedent. If I asked somebody, ‘What do you expect me to do?,’ they all looked blank. They had no idea,” he told the BBC when he turned 90.

Somehow, he managed. When he retired from public life, he told the interviewer, it was high time. “It’s better to get out before you reach the sell-by date.”

His chief contribution in the end was simply to have been there for the queen: a man of keen rationality and wide reading who in some ways intimidated her, who was not legally answerable to anyone and who was available as a voice of reason and dissent when all around had a habit of agreeing with her.

Interestingly, taxpayers in the United Kingdom are paying more money than ever for the Royal Family. The latest Sovereign Grant accounts show that the monarchy cost £69.4 million in 2020. As the British Royal Family continue to receive worldwide media attention, tourism associated with the Royals continues to grow. Income from ticket admissions to the Royal Estate exceeded 48 million British pounds in 2018/19, in addition to over 21 million British pounds in retail sales.