A quick thought: The US Navy will discharge a lot of sailors who refuse to get vaccinated. Police departments around the country, notably in some cities like Chicago and Seattle with significant crime issues, will also lose many cops for the same reason. I completely understand the idea of an adult having the right to make medical choices for himself or herself. But that doesn't mean the person has a right to keep a job if he/she makes a choice that violates the rules of the employer, especially if the rule-maker is the US military (needing to protect operations which sometimes involve large numbers of people living in close quarters) or if the civilian employee comes in frequent contact with members of the public as the police and other first responders do. I can't stand Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot; she's a petty tyrant like almost all Democratic big-city mayors. But what real choice does she have here? I realize this is a very bad situation for her, but her options seem to be to allow law enforcement officers to possibly infect citizens, some of whom could be at high risk of serious illness or death, or to do her best to try to prevent that regardless of the other consequences. I suspect the other consequences will be dire for Chicago. At this point, and I don't like saying this because I mostly like and respect law enforcement, the fault belongs to the refusing cops and members of the military not to the mandating mayors and service chiefs.
Note: I understand the conversation about natural immunity. It's not unreasonable to work that into these requirements, but bottom line is that the military and first responders must act to protect others from them while their job is to protect those same others from "enemies foreign and domestic."
Note 2: It is NOT OK for the Chicago Police Department to threaten to take already-earned retirement benefits from officers who lose their jobs or leave their jobs due to refusing to abide by the mandate.
Today's Fabulous Guests!
When the blurb on the front of your book is by Daniel Kahneman, I MUST read your book. So it is with Columbia University Business School Professor Eric J. Johnson's remarkable new book "The Elements of Choice." If you are a decision-maker, and especially if you are a decision-maker at a business whose success requires other people to make decisions, this book is a must-read. You'll learn remarkable insights about how the way questions are posed in surveys or on shopping websites or even in wine tasting competitions can massively (and usually predictably) impact the results of those questions, shopping decisions, etc.
When I read Bret Baier's new book, "To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876", I emailed Bret, who is the chief political anchor for Fox News, and said "I get the sense that you liked Grant more than you expected to." In my conversation today we'll see if he agreed with my hunch. It's a very interesting and easily readable book that will give you what I suspect is a very surprising glimpse into our 18th president and then man on our best-looking (current) piece of paper money in America.
Let's get nerdy! I so enjoyed my conversation with Garrett Kenyon of Los Alamos National Laboratory that I asked their media folks what other fascinating people work for them who would make excellent radio guests. One of the first names mentioned was Bette Korber. Bette (pronounced like Betty) is a Laboratory Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group. She’s has been Los Alamos for 30 years as one of the world’s true experts on virus evolution and vaccine design. My understanding is that Bette discovered the "Delta variant" of COVID...and people didn't believe her at first. More on that here: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 Spike mutations (lanl.gov) Are you ready for THIS conversation?
I actually don't hate this
"Someone to listen": Behavioral health professionals, not deputies, will soon respond to mental health crises in Denver's jails (denverpost.com)
What this former employee did doesn't just cost money; it ruins lives
Judge orders ex-state employee to pay nearly $300,000 | Courts | coloradopolitics.com
How about a 14-acre estate in the heart of the south metro Denver area that's for sale for $20 million that almost nobody knew was there?
Denver-area estates listed for $21 million in Greenwood Village | 9news.com
This won't solve the problem entirely but I like the market-oriented solution
Summit County homeowners could make $24,000 for housing local workers instead of renting on Airbnb
I'm socially tolerant, even socially liberal, but just stop already
Superman Drops 'American Way': 'Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow' - Variety
I hope he's fine, but damn that's stupid
Dennis Prager Announces He Has COVID After Hugging ‘Thousands’ to Get It (thedailybeast.com)