Liz Cheney Speech in the Congress of the United States

Sadly few people were there to hear Liz Cheney’s speech. Her well written and spoken speech should be a model for others who cherish this democratic republic.

As the story was told and retold on the House floor, Ben Franklin was walking out of Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when someone shouted out, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”

To which Franklin supposedly responded, with a rejoinder at once witty and ominous: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Vaccine Passports are Coming Very Soon

The Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, may be trying to prevent vaccination proof to board cruise ships emanating from Miami and other Florida ports but he can’t prevent the public from demanding vaccination proof for those wanting to book a cruise.

Now reported in the Los Angeles Times is reporting the Hollywood Bowl’s plan to require 85% of all attendees to provide proof of vaccination. The remaining seats will be reserved for those arriving to provide a negative test result.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are providing sections of the stadium for fully vaccinated guests. The San Francisco Giants have a check in verification booth.

The San Francisco Giants have a check in verification booth. “Of course, it is a form of a vaccine passport,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley infectious-disease expert. “What is happening to vaccine passports is the same thing that happened with masks,” Swartzberg said. “It has become politicized, and that is really just unfortunate.”

In real life, the United States has had vaccine verification campaigns to curb smallpox outbreaks. At the turn of the 20th century, proof of vaccinations was required in some places to go to work and school, ride trains and even attend theaters. Health officials often demanded to see a vaccination scar rather than rely on certifications that could be forged.

President Biden does have the rule of law if he should decide to implement vaccination passports. In 1905, the Supreme Court upheld state laws that require vaccination for communicable diseases. In a 7-2 decision, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “the rights of the individual … may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand.”

It’s OK with me if you the government gives the passports another name.

150.4 million vaccinated

The number of people who have received at least one dose of the vaccine, covering 56.3% of the eligible population, 16 and older and 45.3% of the total population of the United States

Now come the hard part. convincing the remaining. The job of convincing the remining unvaccinated to get the shot.

Cult National Leaders

Donald Trump is not the first cult leader and he won’t be the last.

Juan Perón was a populist and authoritarian president of Argentina and founder of the Peronist movement. He set the country on a course of industrialization and state intervention in the economy in order to bring greater economic and social benefits to the growing working class, but he also suppressed opposition.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazilian politician who served as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2011. In 2006, as the end of his first term approached, the economy was growing, and Brazil’s poverty rate had fallen significantly. In July 2017, Lula was convicted on charges of money laundering and corruption in a controversial trial, and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison.

“Long live our teacher, our father, our leader, Comrade Stalin!” (1946 poster, Soviet Union). Stalin was the leader about whom the expression “cult of personality” was devised in 1956 by Nikita Khrushchev.

The People’s Republic of China under Chairman Mao Zedong also developed a cult of personality, the most obvious symbol of which is his massive portrait situated on the north end of Tiananmen Square. The culture of the People’s Republic of China before 1978 was highly influenced by the personality cult of Mao Zedong^[] which reached its peak during the Cultural Revolution.

A cult of personality devoted to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi existed in Libya during his rule. His face appeared on a wide variety of items, including postage stamps, watches, and school satchels. Quotations from The Green Book appeared on a wide variety of places, from street walls to airports and even on pens, and they were also put to pop music for public release.

Donald Trump, past president of the United States, denies he lost the election in November 2020 and claims that thousands of ballots will be found in the states he lost will be found proving that he won the election. “The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” Trump said on Monday May 3, 2021. If anything the former President wields even more control of his party now as Republicans gather at rallies supporting his views.

Republican officials who once had the courage to condemn Trump’s insurrectionist rhetoric are now seeking to ingratiate themselves with his supporters — especially those who may run for President in future, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Kevin GOP House leader, who at first said Trump bore responsibility for the January 6 riot, quickly visited the former President at his Mar-a-Lago resort and is anchoring his effort to win back the House for Republicans next year on the former President and his movement.

Some say Trump is destroying the American democracy as they pledge their support but in their hearts they know he has nothing to offer regarding the future.

The United States will survive the cult. As Ronald Reagan said in his farewell address, “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.”

Minnesota’s weirdly shaped northern border

This strange border error resulted in a very small piece of land in the United States that can only be reached by land in Canada. The odd situation was brought to my attention by an article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Reported in the MinnPost. “Minnesota’s Northwest Angle in Lake of the Woods is farther north than any other part of the contiguous United States. Logically, it would seem that this area of about 123 square miles should be in Canada. But this oddest feature of the entire U.S.–Canada boundary was the proper result of American treaties negotiated with Great Britain.”

Today the only way to reach the area without driving through Canada is by a boat traveling across Lake of the Woods. 119 Americans live in this area. Its economic survival is based on sports fisherman traveling there in both winter and summer because of the fish living in the lake.

Winter fisherman travel across the frozen lake and stay at an inn in the Angle. Why couldn’t they simply drive through Canada, not permitted now due to COVID-19, is not clear to me. In the summer the Angle could also be reached by boat from the town of Warroad, Minnesota.

Slow Population Growth in California is a Good Thing

With immigration leveling off and a declining birthrate, the United States may be entering an era of substantially lower population growth, demographers said. The 2020 census brought good new to California and other high population centers.

The new decennial census counted 331,449,281 Americans as of April 1, 2020. The total was up by just 7.4 percent over the previous decade.

New York, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia each lost a seat, in addition to California. Texas gained two seats, and Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each gained one.

The importance of counting as many people as possible was highlighted by New York, which would have avoided losing the one seat if 89 more residents had participated in the census.

Vaccination Passports

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.

Andromeda Galaxy

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.