It’s a tired day here in the CatBox, combined with a severe case of Republicitis.  I’m late, because I just spent an hour on the throne.  It’s a Holy Day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and it will be tomorrow too.  My Broncos are playing the Bills, and it will be televised here, because it’s a Saturday game, so I shall be meditating this afternoon.  May the blessed Orb shine its holy light on your team, unless they dump Buffalo dung on the prairie.  Tomorrow is a WWWendy Day, so please expect no more than a Personal Update.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:39 (average 5:12).  To do it, click here.  How did you do?

Cartoon:

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Calling the prospect a “nightmare scenario,” Betsy DeVos warned that President-elect Joe Biden will pick an Education Secretary with a background in education.

The outgoing Education Secretary warned that putting someone with a “pro-education bias” in her job would be like “naming a fox to be Secretary of Hens.”

“For the past four years, I have worked tirelessly to keep our schools free from education,” she said. “It deeply saddens me to think that all of my hard work will go to waste.”

Even more alarming, she said, Biden may name a “knowledgeable person” to replace her, a decision she called “disastrous.”

“In order to be impartial toward education, an Education Secretary must be as ignorant as possible,” she said. “I don’t mean to boast, but I am going to be a tough act to follow in that respect.”

Dang Andy! Is it true that Betsy Blackwater took this to Trump* with the recommendation that he appoint Colonel Sanders as his Secretary of Hens!  RESIST!!

From Daily Kos: On Thursday, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel of outside experts voted to approve providing an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. The agency is expected to complete the creation of the EUA on Friday, which would free up shipments of the vaccine to get on their way across the country this weekend. But they may have to get in line, because the first vaccine that was approved is already failing to reach states in the quantities expected. 

Despite months of listening to Donald Trump brag about the incredible military operation he had put together to distribute a vaccine that did not then exist, states are suddenly discovering that the shipments they were expecting have been drastically reduced without explanation. Meanwhile Pfizer seems just as confused—it says there are millions of doses sitting in its warehouse ready to go, but Trump’s team is allowing them to gather dust.

As Bloomberg reports, some states were informed on Wednesday that their supply of Pfizer’s vaccine would be cut drastically. For Oregon, that means a 40% drop in the 74,000 doses they had been expecting. Gov. Kate Brown tweeted that this was a federal decision made through “Operation Warp Speed.” Oregon is not alone. As The Washington Post reports, officials in multiple states were alerted that their shipments of the mRNA vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech would be “drastically cut” for next week.

Notices that they would not be getting what they were earlier told was on the way went out to at least six states. That list includes Illinois, Washington, and Maine, in addition to Oregon. Meanwhile, Florida officials seem to have lost their shipments of vaccine altogether, saying they disappeared from the online shipping system.

I trust that nobody is surprised that Oregon leads the shortage list, since the Republican Reich was unsuccessful attacking us with their Gestapo. I heard nurses in the hospital angrily speculating among themselves that it was intentional sabotage. As for Florida’s shipments, you will find the vaccine at Mar-A-Lago clinic. It may be obtained for $500,000 – $1,000,000 Bankster Bucks per dose.  RESIST!!

From YouTube (a blast of Christmas): Low – Some Hearts (at Christmas Time)

I have never heard this tune before, but I consider it particularly appropriate, since this Christmas is such a lonely time for those who have lost loved ones and those separated from loved ones due to Trump* virus. May God grant them peace and relief, and may those of us who can comfort them do so. HUGS!!

31 Days Until the Big FLUSH!!