A conscientious attempt to avoid misleading the pollsters – The leader of the Oath Keepers charged with sedition – Signs that the decline in the omicron variant is beginning – Evening statistics
Late last night I saw a poll circulating on the internet – on Facebook, to be particular – that read like this:
YOU’VE BEEN SELECTED
ARE YOU ABANDONING TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICANS?
And this raises a rather interesting question of semantics.
Strictly speaking, of course, the answer is “No.” You cannot abandon anyone you’ve never supported in the first place. Before Trump assumed office I had merely written him off – on the rare occasions that I bothered about him at all – as an ignorant, obnoxious dullard. This distaste intensified to loathing shortly after his inauguration, with the seemingly endless bacchanalian chaos that he and his revolving-door staff conducted for the duration of his regime. I honestly did not think that my opinion of him could sink to an even lower level than it has been since January 20, 2017; but it did, thanks to his utter irresponsibility during the onset of the pandemic and his shameless attempts to invalidate a national election, culminating in an armed insurrection in our own capital. If I had been a judge in an earlier era and his case had come before me, I would have had no hesitation in sentencing him to the rope.
Thus if I were to say “No,” I would certainly be truthful but I would be giving a misleading impression of being a Trump supporter; whereas if I responded “Yes” it might give the – equally misleading – impression that I have been a Trump supporter up to this point. Under the circumstances I thought it best to take a third option by ignoring the poll entirely. Most internet users, I suspect, will look upon this choice as the wisest alternative.
With regard to the aforesaid insurrection, incidentally, I feel a distinct sense of relief to hear that Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, has been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy. I have frequently lamented in previous entries that none of the participants up to this point have been charged with treason and sedition. Perhaps, however, it is best that such changes be reserved for the leaders of the riot, instead of for their witless pawns. The indictment against Rhodes alleges Oath Keepers formed two teams, or “stacks,” that entered the Capitol. The first stack split up inside the building to separately go after the House and Senate. The second stack confronted officers inside the Capitol Rotunda. Outside Washington, the Oath Keepers had stationed two “quick reaction forces” that had guns “in support of their plot to stop the lawful transfer of power.” All of which charges, if they can be proven, will confirm that the riot was not, as various people trying to minimize it have claimed, simply a political demonstration that got out of hand but an event that was pre-meditated and carefully planned in advance.
Charges of similar gravity are said to be in motion for other leaders of the riot. One can only hope that they will target as many of the movers and shakers as possible, not excluding, of course, our former President.
The omicron variant appears to be peaking in various localities already. In the U.K., the seven-day average of new COVID cases declined to 138,268 Monday (the most recent day data was available) from a high of 183,084 on January 2nd. Researchers from the company Biobot tracking the viral load in wastewater in Boston, reported that the city “has passed its Omicron peak,” roughly one month after the variant was first detected in waste from the area. The seven-day average of new cases in Texas declined to 49,830 Tuesday, down slightly from a high of 53,116 on Saturday. The numbers in New York City and the state of New Jersey have plateaued. In the U.S. as a whole, the total number of new cases on Monday was 1.35 million, a number that has not been exceeded since that day. Today the number of new cases, as of 8:00, was 788,464.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 320,655,117; # of deaths worldwide: 5,538,414; # of cases U.S.: 65,218,446; # of deaths; U.S.: 869,124.