Last week, AT&T announced it was spinning off its Warner Media division into a company that will merge with Discovery. At about the same time, Amazon spent more than $8 billion to acquire MGM. Disney acquired Lucasfilms and Marvel for $4 billion a piece over 10 years ago and has
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Hospitalization and deaths are down dramatically due to aggressive vaccination efforts. Rules about mask wearing and restrictions on public gatherings, businesses, and schools are relaxing. Friends and families are gathering in larger and larger groups.
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I write this sitting near a pool at a hotel in Palm Springs, CA. Except for the social distancing, extra sanitation, and some limits on amenities, things seem almost normal.
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Except it s not. It s not just COVID that is different. Here s what s gone on in just the last couple of weeks:
The hack of a major pipeline on the East Coast has caused major panic and created unnecessary gasoline shortages (and we thought hoarding toilet paper was bad!).
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The COVID pandemic is now wreaking havoc on countries like India, where the infection spread and ensuing illness and death are out of control.
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Here in the US, we appear to be moving in the other direction. Infection and hospitalization rates are dropping due to mask wearing, social distancing, and most importantly, vaccination.
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Nearly 40% of American adults have received at least one vaccination and 25% are fully vaccinated. Yet we are still averaging over 60,000 new infections and 700+ deaths per day which translates to close to another 150,000 deaths within a year.
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That means we re not out of the woods. Some people look at these numbers and feel they don t need to follow through with their second shot. It s estimated that 5 million people have missed their second vaccination. Some of those may have had valid reasons and will likely reschedule. But the fact that so many people are shrugging off the second half of the vaccination is disturbing.
Since 1970, April 22nd has been Earth Day a day to focus on improving the environment for us and the generations that will come afterward. This year, while there is still much need to address topics like climate change and pollution, we have other toxic environmental issues with which to contend. There's a
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On Sunday, an unarmed 20-year-old Black man was shot and killed by a local police officer during a traffic stop outside Minneapolis.
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The officer and police chief both called this an error: The officer meant to reach for her taser, but pulled out the gun and fired a single bullet instead. They called this an accidental discharge.
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After the fact, it s easy to say, we shouldn t have done something that it was a mistake. The problem is some mistakes are minor, and some are life-changing, or in this case, life-extinguishing.
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The officer involved resigned from the force and has been charged with manslaughter. The fact that she made a mistake doesn t change the outcome. Why was she even reaching for a taser anyway? Was that necessary?