This is enough

 

This article about Grant Wahl, the unfortunately recently deceased sportswriter, has a priceless quote about vaccine denialism -- and denialism of all kinds, for that matter.

Even though I'm featuring the quote, I recommend reading the entire article.

Grant Wahl Was a Loving Husband. I Will Always Protect His Legacy.

His wife is "an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist."

Here's the quote:

"The vaccine disinformation playbook includes the use of fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry-picked data and conspiracy theories."

I know several people that I would like to lock in a room and play this quote repeatedly from the sound system, once a minute, until it drove them crazy. 

The problem with that idea is, most of them already act pretty crazy, and I'm fairly certain some of them are.

This could be bad, eventually

 

Astronomers recently described the discovery of two supermassive black holes that are located in the remarkably close proximity of 750 light years.

They are fated to eventually collide, which would cause an unimaginably catastrophic gravitic explosion which could swallow up light years of empty space around them.

In a few hundred million years or so.

Whew ... I was getting worried.

Supermassive Black Holes en Route to Cataclysmic Collision: Doomed Pair Closer Than Ever Observed

How an unhinged conservative pundit views Mitch McConnell

 

Republican (maybe) conservative (certainly) nutcase (definitely) pundit writer Kurt Schlichter is about as far out there as Steve Bannon and Alex Jones.  He writes for the far right-wing media dump called TownHall, which is an window into unhingedom.

But when you see what he says about Mitch McConnell, it gladdens the heart.

The Republicans’ Mitch McConnell Problem

"It’s time to face facts. The Mitch McConnell of today is not the savvy and savage killer of yesteryear. The Mitch McConnell of today is hapless and hated, weak and tone deaf, barely competition for the second-rate hack who is Chuck Schumer. He is perhaps the most unpopular major politician in America, a group that includes Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. It’s sad, but at 80 years old, Mitch McConnell is fading, and he is not going quietly. Instead, he is raging at the GOP base for daring to object to his increasingly opaque and bumbling schemes."

Lovely.

"Then there is Ukraine. Younger Mitch would never have been so insane as to announce that giving money to Ukraine to secure its border when ours is wide open is the Republican Party’s Number One priority. It is not our Number One priority. It is not even in the Top Ten. The base was disgusted and appalled. We just lost the midterms, and then this – anyone shocked that so many Republicans stayed home? But Mitch did not care – that turtle toughness again, yet where it is helpful when aimed at our opponents, it is self-destructive when aimed at our people."

Sublime.

"His decline can no longer be denied. Mitch is staggering. He’s past his prime and making rookie mistakes. Schumer and the Dems are laughing at him. His respect among his peers on both sides of the aisle and the base is circling the drain, and it’s sad – he deserves credit for the past, but in politics, the question is always, “What have you done for me lately?” Sadly, the answer today is “Nothing except fail.”

Transcendent. Like ayahuasca, but just for liberals.

 

Talented and ...

 

Over the Christmas holidays, I gained new respect for Katherine McPhee's high level of artistic talent as a singer.

And other things.

Katharine McPhee looks incredible as she flashes her cleavage in a chic little black dress

And here's a different holiday look:

We should pay attention

 

Gun violence recently surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for American children.

Childhood’s Greatest Danger:The Data on Kids and Gun Violence

"What is clear is that the United States is an extreme outlier when it comes to gun fatalities among children. When researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation recently compared a set of similarly large and wealthy nations, they found that among this group, the United States accounted for 46 percent of the child population but 97 percent of all child gun deaths."

Gosh, I wonder why that is.

 

Australian Open Women's Single Tennis 2023

 

I don't think I've had a tennis post here for awhile, so here's a quick one.  I didn't know how the interesting Australian Open would go on the women's side (it got interesting after Swiatek lost, because if she's winning, it's peak-Federer level boring, she's so good), but there's the prospect for a classic final.  I expect Sabalenka to blow right past Linette, who's having a career tournament but I think this is as far as she gets.  And I hope the lower-ranked than she should be Rybakina beats Azarenka.

Because that would set up a Rybakina - Sabalenka final, and that would be power vs. power.  Which could be a lot of fun to watch.

Rybakina slugging one back:

Is gun control (aka "gun safety") possible in the USA?

 

As I am writing this, there have been mass shootings and mass deaths from shootings twice in California in the past couple of days, and a school shooting in Des Moines, Iowa that killed two.  And there's still lots of talk about the six-year-old kid who brought a gun to school and shot his teacher, who fortunately survived.

America has a culture and love of guns.  Can that be broken?  

Maybe, according to this New York Times article, it already is breaking.  Slowly.  

Republicans Are Breaking With the N.R.A., and It’s Because of Us

There's this:

"The N.R.A. is not vanquished, but it is walking wounded. The primary battleground over gun legislation has been the statehouses, where Parkland set off a startling reversal. After decades of getting trounced by the N.R.A., activists saw 67 gun safety laws passed at the state level in 2019, compared with nine pro-gun laws. This year, 45 new gun safety laws have been adopted in states, while 95 percent of gun-lobby-linked bills have been blocked, according to an Everytown report."

And also this:

 "It’s why Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa — an N.R.A. darling who ran for office by firing a handgun in a major ad campaign — broke with the organization leading up to the June vote. She said her phone lines were swamped, with callers six to one in favor of the gun safety bill, urgently repeating: “Please do something.”

Senator Todd Young, Republican of Indiana, reported calls 10 to one in favor. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia did not endorse the initial compromise, but then she met with Republican constituents. “Do something,” they also demanded. She voted yes."

So maybe there's a chance. Today I had an unthinkable thought about what would really change minds.  But I can't say it.

Unfortunately, I can't unthink it, either.