Top Three Takeaways – March 9th, 2021
- How far we’ve come in a year. Here are headlines from a year ago today: Coronavirus hits Capitol Hill as 2 GOP lawmakers “self-quarantine”. Those two were Florida’s Matt Gaetz and Senator Ted Cruz after CPAC. A top U.S. Health official says Americans might have to avoid crowds. That top health official was indeed Anthony Fauci – which this is a reminder that even on March 9th a year ago – he still wasn’t decisive with his advice. Dow sinks 2,000 pointsin Worst day since 2008. That was far from the end of the selloff as it accelerated through March 15th. A year later Ted Cruz made more news for traveling to Cancun than quarantining after CPAC. Fauci’s often still confounding with his guidance which might be the most consistent theme of the past year and the stock market recovered to hit new highs with the DOW 8,500+ points higher than a year ago today. A year ago, today Donald Trump was also president and Republicans controlled the Senate. There’s a reminder about how remarkable the change has been and how quickly it can happen. It's also a reminder that we should mind the store starting with the local elections many of us have today. If you have elections today, make the time to vote. The decisions of local governments have been as tangible as we’ve ever seen over the past year. Never forget that every election has consequences and it’s often those closest to you which have the biggest impact on your daily life.
- Don’t feed the beast. I’ve realized Floridia’s Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried was wise to enter politics. Based on the way she aggregates and presents “evidence” in her baseless claims against Governor DeSantis, she'd be a terrible attorney. The now regular pressers throwing claims against a wall hoping something sticks isn’t without implications to our state. She was elected to be Floridia’s Agriculture Commissioner, which in addition to certifying gas pumps for accuracy and safety, involves oversight over gun permits and Florida’s second biggest industry. How big? There are 47,400 companies operating in Florida’s ag industry, over 300 products produced and it’s responsible for $7.6 billion in annual economic activity for our state. In other words, it a big job, in a big state with great significance for all of us. Would it be too much to ask that Nikki dedicate at least as much time to it as she does attempting to smear DeSantis? Likewise, is it really too much to ask news media to hold her accountable to her claims or to review the impact of her taking away time from the day job to smear the governor?
- There are now two classes of Americans. The vaccinated and the unvaccinated and rather than class warfare, you might call this mask warfare. The CDC issued interesting new guidance yesterday which makes me wonder about the motivation behind it. At the time of the initial rollout of the vaccines the CDC’s guidance was still to mask up and socially distance. That’s now entirely changed. According to the CDC fully vaccinated people can feel comfortable gathering with other fully vaccinated people without masks or socially distancing indoors. Quoting director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love. While the guidance remains the same for public gatherings, where interactions with potentially unvaccinated people applies, if you’ve been vaccinated, you’re now welcome to congregate with your other vaccinated friends. Where does that leave you in your circle of friends if you’re one of those people? If you get what I’m saying. I’m not sure that’s specifically the motivation behind this, but I’m just as sure it’s possible. The latest research demonstrates a near static 32% of Americans who just won’t get the vaccine. But would you change your mind if it meant no masks and good times? And how about being uninvited by your friends? And you thought peer pressure ended with adolescents.
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