The Schloss-Blog has so much to talk about this week that we don't know where to start.
How about we start with the chilling news? Right now, as you read this, 10 percent of all coronavirus cases in the United States are the new 'Delta' variant, a serious, more lethal and faster-spreading version of the virus that has killed 600,000 of your fellow Americans.
And it stands a chance to cause mayhem in the United States, just when we thought we were returning to normal. How come?
Well, consider that as many as one-third of all Americans are not yet vaccinated, a scary (see second sentence, above) proposition. How come? A variety of reasons, that's why. They're skeptical about the virus, about its efficacy and that it's been developed as quickly as it was, leaving room for them to doubt its long-term effectiveness and any aftereffects, long term or short. Or, like a certain past president, they're just COVIDiots who deny the viability of the virus and perhaps think not eating Chinese food nor consuming Corona beer will keep them healthy, or, in other words, who needs a vaccine?
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Where are these COVIDiots? They are predominantly in Southern and Red states, you know, the ones where Republican governors and legislators are trying as hard to deny minorities their voting rights as they are trying to not care if they're catching the virus. While states like New York and Vermont have achieved a reported 70 percent and 80 percent vaccination rates in their populations, respectively, Alabama and Louisiana are well below 50 percent.
Just 'wonnerful,' them southerners, ain't they? What are they trying to prove? Don't they know that their hero, Donald Trump, got vaccinated on his way out the door at the White House? But he's probably happy to see that these Red states could prevent the United States from achieving total herd immunity while the people preventing it are risking death.
Because they are.
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To get off that track for a second, surveys show that the world likes us again.
A Pew Research survey shows that 75 percent of people in 12 countries say they like the image and message coming from President Biden, contrasted to the 17 percent who thought the same about us under Trump. In Britain alone, 64 percent of those surveyed said they now have a favorable view of us, contrasted to 41 percent during the Trump administration.
In France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, our favorably-viewed rating went up 25 percentage points, Trump to Biden.
Of more than 16,000 people surveyed again between March and May, around the world, the U.S. was favorably viewed by more than 60 percent of them, who said that they have confidence that Biden will do the right thing in the world community.
In other words, Trump sucked.
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Just to put an exclamation point on the COVIDiot stuff, 20 percent of the world is fully vaccinated, contrasted to 44 percent of the American population.
More starkly, according to The Economist, between 7 million and 13 million people have died around the world from the virus, by their estimate, taking into account that so many governments likely under-report their death statistics.
Even more chilling, as we "round that corner" in the battle against the coronavirus in 2021, more people have died from the virus this year than when it peaked in 2020 and so many of us were on lockdown, according to the World Health Organization.
Pleasant, huh?
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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.
More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.
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