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Michael McLeod

That's a lovely remembrance, MM.

And it's never too late to say how sorry I am for your loss.

David Mitchell

Mike,

per your 9528 post;

I am pretty familiar with the history behind Juneteenth, (I'm getting quite an education from my new friend, Rev. Jon Black - pastor of my local all Black, Campbell A.M.E. Church) but what I was questioning was the official name of this new federal holiday, "Juneteenth National Independence Day", instead of one of the many traditional names it has had over the years - Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Emancipation Day, or Liberation Day. It seems confusing to apply the word Independence Day instead of one of those names. 

Mark Schweickart

MM – I don't recall having seen your YouTube video before, even though you said you had shared this previously. Thank you for posting it again, since I imagine I am not the only one who may have missed this. It was terrifically moving, especially with your choice of photos of Crick and all of those little kids. Great moments captured. But I have to ask, "Do you really have that many grandchldren?" I guess you must. And speaking as one who is not likely to have any grandchildren, I have to say that the playful shots of him interacting with them really put a lump in my throat. It was fantastic that he got to experience that.

Say, let me change the subject and ask one thing I've often wondered about. How did "Crick" come by his nickname? I doubt it was from the expression "having a crick in one's neck," since I can't see him being labeled as one who was considered to be someone who was such a pain. Was it from the accented pronuciation of "creek" that maybe he used at a young age that somehow got tacked on to him? I suppose I should already know thiss, but I don't.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your memory of him with us. I am sure you miss him mightily. How could you not?

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Mark, according to the Schultheis sibling folklore LOL, Crick got his nickname from his Aunt who used to call him Jiminy Cricket when he was a little kid, which then got shortened to simply "Crick" as he got older.  Outside of his family and childhood friends, he was known only as Jim, and it was up to me to keep it straight.  His older brother, John, had a family nickname as well..."Feller" which came about because his grandmother used to call him "little fella".  

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

On a more serious note, I happened upon this video interview with Eric Clapton.

https://youtu.be/4OHmMKrVbNk 

Mark Schweickart

MM - Jumping Jimminy, he was little Jimmy Cricket. I would have never thought of that. Kudos to his grandmother for coming up with such a cute name. Thanks for sharing that. 

Michael McLeod

If you get a chance to see this recent documentary about Rita Moreno - best known for her fabulous sauciness in West Side Story - I think you'll enjoy it.

She is 90 now and still fabulous and has such a story to tell about dealing with Hollywood and sexism and racism and being Puerto Rican and having a love affair with Marlon Brando and the years of psychotherapy she went through to contend with all that. She's funny and insightful and courageous as hell in the midst of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t84GEdvTLVQ

Michael McLeod

As for my boy Eric:

56 million brits have had the covid vaccine. We'll never know how many of them are still alive or avoided the virus as a result. You don't have to be a statistician or a doctor to weigh the experience of one rock star vs. 56 million presumably grateful people. 

On the other hand, when it comes to J&J there are apparently better options:

"The accumulated evidence has led many people to wonder whether the mRNA vaccines, from Moderna and Pfizer, are preferable to the one offered by Johnson & Johnson, and whether the Delta variant makes them even more so."

David Mitchell

In the news........

Interesting report last week about Texas Representative Ronnie Jackson among 14 Texas Republicans calling for Biden to take a "mental cognitive" exam.

This man was the former White House physician who a Department of Defensse investigation reported that he himself was frequently drunk on the job, and took Ambien on the job on numerous occaisions, including some important White House public ceremonies. And furthermore was frequently accused of sexual harrassment on the job with White House subordinates.

But then, the Departmet of Defense could only come up with 78 witnesses and dozens of instances. 

David Mitchell

Meanwhile, another recount in Michigan overseen by a GOP lawmaker and a majority of GOP members, has concluded (again) that the Michigan count was not inaccurate and therefore was not "stolen".

But "Chumpy" has still threatened those Michigan Republicans who did not side with him on this.

I personally believe anybody who thinks we have seen the last of the right-wing violence is fooling themselves. Members of the crazy "Qnon" cult are running for school boards and town councils in greater and greater numbers all over the country.

This is reminiscent of the history of the post Civil War South, where the number of members of the "Daughters of the Confederacy" swelled from a few hundred, to tens of thousands during Reconstruction. They took over almost every school board throughout the South, and forced a complete re-write of the shool history books to align with the theory of "The Lost Cause" (1866) - a book by Edward Pollard, which made the South out to be the "Victim", and that slavery was a benign institution that was good for both Southern Whites, as well as Blacks. This one book, and the widespread adhearance to this philosophy is considered one of the main causes for America's sympathy with White Supremcacy, and has been planted in the minds of America's Southern (and beyond) White school children for generations.

David Mitchell

Mike,

I agree with your side of the arguement, but I think Eric took the AstraZeneca, which has had a few severe reaction problems. In fact, didn't I read somewhre it has been suspended? What I think people have to realize is that each of us have different bodies with different reactions. But in times of massive epidmemic outbreaks, you simply have to play the odds. And the testing was pretty damned rigorous. Which makes your point - that millions were like saved by taking the vaccine.

On the negative side, what does one say to those with negative reactions? My young assistent Pastor (and good buddy - he speaks fluent "NFL football") has a son in a special Marine ROTC program up at Virginia Tech. He's one of only 8 kids left out of a starting class of over 40. Top grades and succeeding above all expectation in the porgram. He got the shots and started having more severe alleric reaction to dust mites.

(How many times did I hear my dad talk about the problems with dust mites - in every other pillow, mattress, and couch cushion on earth?) 

Anyway, the allergic reactions are giving him severe migraines. So much so that he may have to drop out of the porgram. And if he does, he will owe the University over $130,000 in back sholarship money.

David Mitchell

Then again, Mike...............

I believe Eric Clapton spends part of his time at their other home north of Columbus, and you know those people are known to be a bit strange.

Michael McLeod

and then there is this

It’s the Beatles as none would ever see or hear them again—their last live performance as a group, January 30, 1969. It’s also the Beatles as none of us, 52 years on, has ever seen them. The approximately 43-minute sequence from director Peter Jackson’s forthcoming documentary, The Beatles: Get Back—screened exclusively for Vanity Fair—shows the full, uninterrupted concert on the roof of 3 Savile Row, the band’s headquarters, including iconic performances that would appear on their last album, Let It Be. The original footage, taken from at least nine different cameras, has been scrubbed to astonishing clarity, detail, and color, a rapturous window in time. The six-hour doc will run on Disney+ over three nights on November 25, 26, and 27.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Folks,

Since we have gotten back a little on the COVID-19 pandemic I would like to bring up a few things that I have been pondering now for some time. And I do not write this with any political bias.

On several prior posts and personal e-mails I have mentioned that this virus, SARS-CoV-2, is the most unusual one that I have seen in my lifetime. It is very easily transmittable from human to human yet certain populations are more and others much less, susceptible to its severe disease states. It seeks out cells of almost every organ in the body to which it attaches. That fact seems a bit obvious to me since ACE-2 receptors - to which the virus spike protein attaches allowing it to enter cells - are widespread throughout many organs in the body plus being on the lining of arteries and arterioles. Some of the mutations of the virus ("variants") are even more contagious than the original and some of those may also be more fatal. The current vaccines differ in their ability to handle the different variants and more research needs to be done on that topic. 

As more cases accumulate among those who survived the initial infection, researchers are finding that lots of organ systems have long term effects (?damage?). Whether these are permanent is as yet unknown.

It has long been known that some diseases are capable of being transferred to humans from animals. Coronaviruses seem to fit that category. Originally the prevailing thoughts were that this virus was transmitted from bats and pangolins to man via inhalation or ingestion, through a wet market in Wuhan, China. There seems to be ever increasing evidence now that the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), just a short distance from that wet market. Was this virus accidentally released or was it intentionally released? Was the wet market actually a source, a bystander or not involved at all? These are just some of the questions being considered.

The WIV was doing "gain of function" research on viruses. That type of research is very dangerous and questionable in the minds of many. In the best of hands the idea is to engineer a virus that is more virulent and study how to prevent/treat it. Is SARS-CoV-2 such a virus? Some scientists believe it is or, at least, could be. 

Back to what I said before: this is the most unusual virus that I have ever seen in my lifetime. Could such a virus have occurred naturally and could it have transitioned from bats to man so quickly, or was it an engineered virus?  This lab is said to have the highest of security available. Yet some of their workers had reportedly become sick. There are also many cages of bats being kept inside that lab.

Granted, I am no virology expert. But there are others who are and are thinking along these lines.

If a foreign power wanted to develop a bioweapon to use - not acutely, but rather over a period of time - against its rivals, this would be an effective one.

The world needs answers.

Jim

Michael McLeod

Thanks Jim.

It's a fascinating story as science and humbling one in terms of journalism.

I count myself among those who dismissed the notion that it could have been the result of a proceedural breakdown in a lab as being farfetched. I dearly hope we get definitive proof one way or the other. China being the kind of country it is makes that a lot less likely - although as you know, in fairness, it was a Chinese scientist's decision early on to share the virus's genome that accellerated research and helped save millions of lives.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

I am very concerned about my grandchildren being pressured into getting an experimental emergency use only vaccine with no long term data acquired, for a virus for which there are effective itreatments and from which they have an extremely low risk of becoming seriously ill and virtually no risk of dying.  

https://www.journal-news.com/news/mother-of-mason-graduate-looking-for-answers-after-her-daughters-illness-and-death/7LMKVUXFPRARVJ5I5IV6MLKMHM/

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/13-year-old-jacob-clynick-dies-pfizer-vaccine-myocarditis/

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/greyson-follmer-pfizer-vaccine-myocarditis/

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/david-mallozzi-myocarditis-pfizer-vaccine-hospital-not-reporting-vaers/?utm_source=salsa&eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=18d376a3-74a3-4bb1-8b58-1590fe919e48

James Hamilton, M. D.

MM, 

As a very pro-vaccine for the adult and high risk population advocate I do agree that the pediatric age group is a much different case. We are learning a lot about the immune system from this virus and pandemic but we still have a long way to go especially in children.

I will admit that my knowledge of the pediatric age group is extremely limited, and so I will yield to the expertise of those who deal with them as patients. I do not know if their ACE-2 receptors are different from the adults thus making the virus less likely to be able to attach to them or some other mechanism is in play that makes the kids be more resistant to severe disease. Of course the somewhat rare incidence of Multi-Inflammatory Syndrome of Children (MIS-C) is a scary complication of the infection but that seems to be rare. (There has now been an adult form of that described in adults, MIS-A.)

So, I do think it should be a joint decision between parents and pediatricians as to whether to inoculate each individual child based on risks, benefits and any underlying co-morbidities of the patient. My opinion is the government and teacher unions should not be in on that decision.

This is, obviously, a controversial issue, but then, what isn't these days?

Jim 

Michael McLeod

Interesting that justice catches up to Giuliani and Derek Chauvin in the same news cycle. Both wound up on the national stage by horrendously disgracing their professions. Both are examples of the corrective systems of democracy at  work. And boy am I ever a fan of the corrective systems of democracy these days, given the attack that's under way.

David Mitchell

Mike,

I think it will get even more interesting as we wait on upcoming matters from the "Southern District of New York". 

Meanwhile, somewhere beneath the Miami condo catastrophe and the utterly amazing Brittany Spears story lies an approaching horror story, as we prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan. We need to get somewhre around 70,000 Afghans who assisted our troops, out of the country before the Taliban takes over and slaughters all of them and all of their families.

It currently takes our State Department approximately 1,000 days to process one case, (why so long, I have no idea?) so the current system offers no hope of getting this done. They are discussing flying them all to Guam and setting up temporary safe camps to house them. Whatever happens it will be a nighmare, and, I expect it will all be blamed on Biden - who did not bring about this mess, nor this last minute crisis.

I am sill kind of flaberghasted at the lack of outrage in this country, that Trump would actually be so devious and cowardly as to negotiate, not with the Afghan Government, but instead go behind their backs and negotiate directly with the Taliban - who would never be trusted to honnor anthing they ever "committed" to. It looks like the kiling will be massive - much bigger than when Chump betrayed our brave (and loyal) allies, the Kurds.

After our turning our backs on hundreds of thousands of loyal Vietnamese, one wonders why there are still any people left on earth who value us at our word.

(sickest of all; listeneing to Chump - not two full weeks after his cowardly betrayal of the Kurds - listening to him call his (then) White House guest, Turkey's Erdogan - his "dear friend". Is there no limit to his shame? 

Michael McLeod

birds of a feather, Dave. 

Mark Schweickart

Say gang,  I just had a weird thought. Of the many things that are so different from our childhoods to today's, it occurs to me that perhaps today's generation is missing out on having their senses-of-humor defined ( or warped) because of the current  lack of novelty songs that permeated the airwaves and jukeboxes of our grade school days. I mean, what compares today to classics like: "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight," or "My Boomerang Won't Come Back," or "Yakety-Yak," or "Purple People Eater," or "Ahab the Arab," or "Alley-Oop," or, "Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-WeenieYellow Polka-dot Bikini," or "Beep Beep," or "Who put the Bomp," or ... or ... I'm sure you could add many of your own favorites to the list.

They also don't make songs any longer that celebrate historical moments like: "The Battle of New Orleans," or "North To Alaska," or Sam Cooke's "Working On the Chain Gang," or quasi-historical songs like "Running Bear," or "Big John," or Walter Brennan's "Old Rivers," or .... or... I mean how are kids today going to get their own distorted  sense of history?

But the song that prepeared us most for what to expect once we moved from the shelter of grade school to the tough-teen halls of WHS was this favorite of mine from 1959 (although we had no video to go with the songs in those days of course):

Timothy Lavelle

James Hamilton, M. D.

Now that is hot for even the desert Southwest, let alone the Pacific Northwest!

Jim 

David Mitchell

Mark,

I share your thoughts about our generation's great music. I still think "Alley Opp" and  "Running Bear" rank up there with the all-time greats.

But speaking of history, I don't think our grandkids are getting much real history. I think it's mostly Cyber - Warriors" and the new modern day Disney channel that looks like sheer "fluff" to me. As I mentioned before, none of my three grandkids has any clue what a Cowboy or an Indian is - or Robin Hood, or Davey Crockett, or Daniel Boone, or a Pirate ship.

--------

HOT!

My son and daughter in law live in Portland and it is headed for 111 degrees there and possibly 116 tomorrow. Ironically, if they could get away from work for two days and drive just 2 hours southwest to Newport, OR, it is only in the mid 70's. 

Michael McLeod

Mark: I think Charlie Brown was my role model.

Not to nag but I think I undersold Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It when I recommended that documentary about Rita Moreno in a recent post.

I saw it again yesterday at a lovely, lovely cinema house we have down here call The Enzian (it's an alpine flower; the family that owns the art house is German). The place could pass for a little farm with a produce stand - its under a bower of live oak trees next to a rolling field and a lake - and the seating is cabaret style. Just a treasure.

Anyway Moreno, who is now 90, had one of those forrest gump lives, spanning the incredibly sexist Hollywood studio system....and as a puerto rican she was typecast as every minority under the book and came up with an accent that passed for chinese/japanese/hispanic/biblical....and was raped by her press agent....and abused by her longtime lover/marlon brando....and won an emmy, grammy, oscar ad tony.....

Just an insprirational portrait of a woman who had a 70 year career and survived.  Say "West Side Story" to a young person these days and they won't know what the hell you are talking about. But that role for her was one of those art imitates life moments.

Anyway just had to loop back because I know a lot of you would be as moved by it as I was.