COVID-19 Has Now Claimed 300,000 Americans Amid Pfizer Vaccine Launch in U.S.

Today has been both a blessing and a curse when it comes to COVID-19.

The blessing has come in the form of the Pfizer vaccine which began being disseminated to Americans starting with health care workers this morning exactly one week after its launch in the U.K.

The curse is that COVID-19 has now claimed the lives of more than 300,000 Americans this year. According to Johns Hopkins University, 300,456 Americans have died of COVID-19 as the number of cases nears 16.5 million (16,420,309). This represents a mortality rate of 1.8%.

The put this number into perspective, there have been 100,000 COVID-19 deaths in this country since September 22nd. Put another way, 1 out of every 3 Americans who have died of COVID-19 have passed away in just 82 days. 

Here's more sobering news. The U.S. has added 50,000 COVID-19 deaths in the last 26 days. I shudder to think how many days it will be before we reach 350,000 COVID-19 deaths - vaccine or no vaccine.  

There's little doubt the Pfizer vaccine (and others like it) will bring long term relief to this country and all over the world. But we've only just started giving first shots. Let's not forget this is a two shot deal. If you're not a health care worker, live in a long term care facility or are a member of the Trump White House (at least until a few hours ago) who knows when you will actually be inoculated. 

Until we know the answer to that question and until Americans get two sets of injections more Americans are going to be infected, more Americans will be hospitalized and more Americans are going to continue to die. That is the awful truth.

Why It Doesn't Matter What Cleveland Calls Its Baseball Team

The Cleveland Indians are no more. The team is expected to announce sometime this week that it will drop the Indians name, a moniker it has had since 1915. 

The Tribe was widely expected to make this move after the Washington Redskins announced it would be known as the Washington Football Club back in July. 

In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter what Cleveland calls its baseball team or what Washington, D.C. calls its football team. As I argued at the time:

I'm sure that by this time a year from now Washington's NFL club and Cleveland's MLB club will have different names. Activists, the media, politicians and corporations will pat themselves on the back in the name of progress.

But how is changing the name of a football team in Washington, D.C. is going to address poverty of Native Americans living on reservations? And how does changing the name of the baseball team in Cleveland alleviate violence against Native American women?

I can answer both these questions. It won't.

Then there is the fact that Native Americans are actually killed by police at a higher than African Americans. Changing the names of professional sports teams won't change this fact nor will it draw further attention to this injustice.

Honestly, nearly five and a half months after writing the above, there is really nothing I can add to it. So I won't. 

COVID-19 Claims Country Music Legend Charley Pride, R.I.P.

Country music legend Charley Pride has passed away of complications of COVID-19. He was 86.

Born in Mississippi, Pride originally aspired to be a baseball player and would pitch in the Negro Leagues primarily with the Memphis Red Sox as well as stints in the minor leagues with both the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds. 

But Pride would be a pioneer in music instead of baseball. Guitar legend Chet Atkins heard a demo of Pride singing and signed him to RCA Records in 1965. Within a few years, Pride had become country's music first African-American superstar and he would have a string of hits from the late 1960's through the mid 1980's including "All I Have To Offer You (Is Me)", "I'm So Afraid Of Losing You Again" and "Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'". Pride would eventually become only the second African-American inducted into the Grand Ole Opry after founding member DeFord Bailey. Darius Rucker has also since earned this rare distinction. The fortune Pride made in country music allowed him to renew his love of baseball by becoming a minority owner of the Texas Rangers in 2010.

Pride's final public appearance was last month when he accepted the CMA's Lifetime Achievement Award. The event drew controversy as it was held indoors with little evidence of masks or social distancing. In light of Pride's presence at the event and his death, country music star Maren Morris expressed outrage stating, "I don’t want to jump to conclusions because no family statement has been made, but if this was a result of the CMAs being indoors, we should all be outraged. Rest in power, Charley."

All things considered, the recognition was overdue but he at least got it. But a Lifetime Achievement Award isn't worth losing one's life a month later. Despite his advanced age, Pride still had more to give. But we have paid dearly with COVID-19. Nearly 300,000 Americans have died of this virus, but Pride's passing hurts more than most.

All I can do now is leave you with Pride performing "Able Bodied Man" on The Johnny Cash Show. R.I.P.

Vaccine or No Vaccine It Took Only 4 Days For The U.S. To Go From 15M to 16M COVID-19 Cases

The United States has now past 16 million COVID-19 cases. According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has recorded 16,014,839 cases of COVID-19 along with 297,501 deaths for a mortality rate of 1.9%. This country will likely top the 300,000 mark by tomorrow.

I understand there is some measure of excitement with the FDA giving emergency approval last night to the Pfizer vaccine with inoculations likely starting in a matter of days. But this does not change the fact that COVID infections have been spreading rapidly. In recent weeks, there have been a million cases every six days. Most recently we went from 14 million to 15 million cases in the space of only five days. This time it only took four days to go from 15 million to 16 million cases. At this pace, we will break 20 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States before the end of 2020. In which cases, it will only have taken 7 weeks for the number of COVID-19 cases to double from 10 million to 20 million. As it stands, we've added 6 million new COVID-19 cases in only 33 days.

It is well worth mentioning that we reached the 10 million mark on November 9th. That was the day Pfizer announced it had a vaccine which was 90% effective. The Pfizer vaccine may save lives over time, but it won't be able to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the short term. Indeed, the presence of the vaccine might make some more disinclined to wear masks and practice social distancing thereby accelerating the spread of the virus at an even greater rate than we are experiencing now. All of which will put our health care system at the brink of collapse. 

So long as this country adds 1 million new cases every four, five or even six days we will not be turning the corner on COVID-19 anytime soon - vaccine or no vaccine.

Biden Should Not Re-Enter Iran Nuclear Deal So Long As It Kidnaps & Executes Journalists

Today, Iran executed dissident and journalist Rouhollah Zam for his role in encouraging anti-government protests in 2017 and 2018.

Zam had been living in exile in France but was captured by Iran's Revolutionary Guard in October 2019 - possibly in Iraq. Indeed, Iran has engaged in extrajudicial kidnappings. This past July, Iran detained dissident and journalist Jamshid Sharmahd while he was in Dubai. It should be noted that Sharmahd is a permanent resident of the United States. Just like Jamal Khashoggi. 

Granted Sharmahd hasn't been executed like the Saudis executed Khashoggi. But if Iran is prepared to execute Zam then why would it have any qualms about executing Sharmahd? 

While I saw fit to vote for Joe Biden I did so with the reservation that he would very likely re-enter the Iran nuclear agreement. If Biden intends to re-enter the JCPOA then why reward Iran for executing journalists? Why reward Iran for holding a permanent resident of the United States in captivity? Yet I suspect it is only a matter of time before the incoming Biden Administration makes this a top foreign policy priority.

What bothers me more than anything else is how The Left treats Iran's regime as though it were benevolent and benign. Code Pink is outraged at the recent killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the architect of Iran's nuclear program but is perfectly fine with Iran executing Zam and holding Sharmahd in captivity. 

Biden himself probably doesn't share Code Pink's views on the subject but numerous House Democrats are demanding Biden re-enter the Iran nuclear deal without precondition. All of which means that Jamshid Sharmahd gets to remain in Evin prison and the Iranian regime is free to execute him as they develop a nuclear bomb. 

Under the circumstances, I hope Biden ignores their demands. If Biden does intend to follow through with this then I also hope he will impose conditions upon Iran - namely the release of Jamshid Sharmahd and all other journalists currently held in captivity.

Warnock in 2016: Israel is An Apartheid State

Georgia Senate Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock has been distancing himself from past statements hostile to Israel. Earlier this week, Warnock said he did not believe Israel to be "an apartheid state" stating, “I do not believe Israel is an ‘apartheid state’ as some have suggested."

Well, Warnock himself made such a suggestion during a 2016 sermon in which he said, “If you do not have a Palestinian state, you will have to have apartheid in Israel that denies other citizens, sisters and brothers, citizenship.”

Of course, this is rubbish. Most Palestinians, by establishing a state, seek Israel's destruction. 

I hope Warnock has genuinely evolved in his views. But he is running for office. Should he be elected to office who can say he won't revert to his old form?

Notwithstanding this I will still be voting for him albeit even more reluctantly now than before. 

While Kelly Loeffler has raised Warnock's views on Israel as an issue she has not been able to make a good case for it as was so readily apparent during their debate last weekend when Loeffler came off as an automaton incapable of putting together a coherent sentence. And, of course, there's not the so small matter of her stock portfolio and unwillingness to help others in far greater need than herself. 

So, yes, I will vote for Raphael Warnock even if there's a very good chance I will come to regret it.

More Than 3,000 Americans Died of COVID-19 Today; How Many Will Die Tomorrow?

Today, COVID-19 claimed the lives of more than 3,000 Americans today. 

Not only did more Americans die of COVID-19 today than any other day during this pandemic, but more Americans died today than died during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the bombing of Pearl Harbor (the 79th anniversary of which took place only 48 hours ago) and during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Worst of all is there's a good chance that another 3,000 Americans will die of COVID-19 tomorrow. And the day after that.

Keep in mind that prior to today, 10,000 Americans had died of COVID-19 over the past five days.

We might have a vaccine very soon, possibly next week. But a vaccine, not matter how effective, won't stop the spread of COVID-19, hospitalizations and death.