News Of The Week Roundup: Week 14, 2021

Another week, another news roundup. Two big celebrity deaths topped the news over the past week. Prince Philip died at 99 and rapper DMX died at age 50. DMX leaves behind 15 children - yes, 15! - which is just amazing to me.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, dies at 99 https://t.co/4RQKP1yHy8

— Columbus Dispatch (@DispatchAlerts) April 9, 2021

DMX, the chart-topping rapper who blended aggressive menace with emotional sincerity, has died at age 50 following a heart attack https://t.co/4ntm2nbEss

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 9, 2021

Today in horrible people news...

A Florida woman who—without wearing a mask—purposefully coughed on another customer in a Pier 1 store was sentenced to 30 days in jail

The judge said that action could have had “deadly consequences” for the victim, who recently had a brain tumor removed.https://t.co/kphtv6rRx7

— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) April 11, 2021

In more positive-related COVID-19 news, America continues to crush it on the vaccine front, setting new records nearly daily! I got my second vaccine on Thursday and I am very pumped.

In the past week, the U.S. administered a record *21.8 million COVID shots*.

For context: That’s almost as many as shots given in the first six weeks combined (22.4 million).

— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) April 11, 2021

A freak volcano eruption in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has residents evacuating the toxic smoke clouds. The volcano last erupted in 1979.

Power cuts after another "explosive event" at volcano in St Vincent https://t.co/1H3RvwvtvW

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 11, 2021

And I leave you with this anniversary:

38 YEARS AGO: Dave Mustaine fired from Metallica: https://t.co/Uza17c7sQm

— Loudwire (@Loudwire) April 11, 2021

Comments

[covid conspiracy]

so many brainwashed idiots. coughing gets you 30 days. ignorance is at an all-time high in the "united" states of america. land of the free my ass.

[Him]

I always thought that Mustaine should do a commercial for Greyhound! Use the song "Mechanix" in the background and then when the slogan is said ("Leaving the driving to us!") have some sort of sad clown-horn sound effect.

Howdy, covid conspiracy. I can't recall you posting before (or, perhaps, doing so under that on-point nom de plume). Either way, welcome.

There is a certain elegance in your succinct exposition. So let me just make sure I understand you correctly. In this land of the free of which you speak, it is normal cause to cough on people? Of course, she wouldn't have known that the person she was coughing on had just had a fairly major health issue. But is that on the person who coughs or on the person who is being coughed on? You also scare quote the word united, which seems to suggest that we are, in fact, not united. So what is it that you wish us to unite around, or under, or for? And, just a bit of advice, if you are trying to rally people to unite, you usually don't call any of them brainwashed, or idiots (the term ignorance just seems redundant, if you ask me) for that matter. All of which suggests that the united things was a ruse, as I can't see you wanting to unite with idiots (brainwashed or otherwise). Finally, the issue of the penalty looms somewhat large here. If you are violating a local law (not likely in Florida) or a rule laid down by a business owner, surely there would be some sort of penalty for doing so, right? And it is likely that those thirty days will be reduced, beyond the one day of time served, though the additional sanctions seem to be in keeping with the woman's attitude on the day of the event and even in the court (where she complained that her actions had hurt her family, but paid little attention to any impact it had on the victim).

But I would like to end by circling back a bit and asking: given that you believe that Covid-19 is a conspiracy, is this the sort of person you should be defending (at least by implication) in your quest to set the record straight? I only ask that because I personally know a few people who differ with me on the impact of the virus. And, almost to the one, they explain their position while also understanding that others are going to do what they are going to do (in this case, wear masks, socially distance, etc.). I guess I am lucky insofar as I know reasonable people on both ends of this discussion. Do I disagree with them? Sure do. Do they disagree with me? You bet. But we can be civil, which is one of those bedrock notions that is (or once was) at the heart of deliberative democracy and the theory of a United States of America.

But a lower-case blast of anonymous bravado probably only does you any good. Which is fine, of course. We all like to goose our own chickens on occasion. Respectfully, though, it is hard to rally around a call for action when all you are doing is talking to yourself (and me, in this case, because I like to discuss differing viewpoints).

Hope you have a good week, covid conspiracy. Keep on rocking in the free world.

[stu]

first off, it’s florida, does anything that happens there shock us any more?
second, pier 1 is still around?

[GNR]

Nope Pier 1 just went out in our town last year. Not sure where I'll purchase a papasan chair in the near future.

And 15 kids for DMX is the real story. 9 different ladies letting nature take it's course. Gone too soon at 50.

[Him]

I guess Florida and Pier One take the win. Kudos to the other entrants.

I wish Cavalera Conspiracy (oops, I mean Covid) had time in their busy schedule to reply.

That's the problem with me. I reply with kindness. I get silence. But I am cool with that. It makes me think that, at least, I got something right in posting initially. And I hope that the blast of saying 'stuff'' made you feel good for a few days at least.