Monday Musings - August 16, 2021

 

1. We are past the midpoint of August and this is the third Monday of the Month. There are just 15 days remaining in the eighth month of the year. 

2. Creative and insightful is becoming too hard to find.

3. In a show of unprecedented bipartisanship last week the Senate passed the infrastructure bill. Perhaps, just perhaps, there is yet hope for the Republic.

4. My optimism for the Orioles season has evaporated this past week. The Orioles are on an 11 game losing streak and with just 46 games remaining in the season will have a hard time winning 12 to achieve 50 wins. Why would I pay money to watch this team lose baseball games? It is very possible the team could finish with a worse record than the 2018 Orioles who managed only 47 wins. I thought we were rebuilding.

5. Afghanistan is a mess--which is what was predicted. Actually it was a mess before the withdrawal began. The U.S. is abysmal at building nation-states that can survive adversity.

6. For those who doubt the infectiousness of the COVID-19 Delta Variant, check out the last headline from Reuters below. Children hospitalized with COVID-19 hosts record numbers in the U.S.

7. There are 137 days remaining in 2021.

8. Since the solstice, we have lost 1 hour 14 minutes and 32 seconds of daylight per day, already!

9. Today in History. While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on August 16, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West.

Hoping to cash in on reported gold strikes in Alaska, Carmack had traveled there from California in 1881. After running into a dead end, he headed north into the isolated Yukon Territory, just across the Canadian border. In 1896, another prospector, Robert Henderson, told Carmack of finding gold in a tributary of the Klondike River. Carmack headed to the region with two Native American companions, known as Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie. On August 16, while camping near Rabbit Creek, Carmack reportedly spotted a nugget of gold jutting out from the creek bank. His two companions later agreed that Skookum Jim–Carmack’s brother-in-law—actually made the discovery.

TALIBAN SEIZE AFGHANISTAN; U.S. SCRAMBLES TO EVACUATE AMERICANSTALIBAN SEIZE AFGHANISTAN; U.S. SCRAMBLES TO EVACUATE AMERICANS - The New York Times

You’ve Never Heard of the Biggest Digital Media Company in AmericaYou’ve Never Heard of the Biggest Digital Media Company in America - The New York Times

Pentagon to deploy another 1,000 troops to help with chaotic withdrawal - The Washington Post

As DeSantis consolidates power in Fla., local officials rebuke his leadership style - The Washington Post

Haiti Earthquake Death Toll Rises to Over 1,200 - The Wall Street Journal

The Delta Variant Is Already Leaving Its Mark on Business - The Wall Street Journal

Roadblocks erected in Sydney as Australia battles Delta outbreak - Reuters

U.S.Children hospitalized with COVID-19 in U.S. hits record number - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

The true test of civilization, it's been said, is not the census or the size of cities or the crops, but the kind of people the country turns out. And ours is a country that was born of heroes. And now in the first decade of our third century, tried by all the challenges those years could hold, our moral fiber is stronger still.

Remarks on Presenting the Young American Medals for Bravery and Service - September 11, 1981

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD