HAVE A WONDERFUL LABOR DAY

The history of Labor Day is too, too boring to detail, but:

President Grover Cleveland in 1894 signed the bill recognizing the first Monday of September as Labor Day, providing a new holiday for federal workers. If he looks a bit rotund to you, he had a Body-Mass Index of 34.6, #2 to Howard Taft at 42.3. Want to know your BMI? Look to the right, scroll to near the bottom, stop at Calculate Your Body-Mass Index, insert those details, and the odds are high you will be a lot lower than Cleveland.

The NFL always kicks off their season the Thursday after Labor Day, which this year features the Ravens visiting Chiefs in Kansas City on September 5.
While there will be picnics, a few parades and the like, this three-day weekend is the official end of the summer, where consumers spend a lot of money, only next to the Christmas season, and travel.
10,000 workers in 24 cities are striking this weekend against Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt hotels.

President Joe Biden today joined Kamala Harris at a Labor Day rally in Pittsburgh. First time publicly together since Biden decided not to run six weeks ago. Trump and Vance? Nothing planned. That decision made the difference for Democracy. When I see Joe, I view old age. Kamala makes me a little happier and more confident. Trump/Vance? Some fear, slight depression. 8 days until the Trump-Harris debate on ABC at 9PM EDT on September 10, moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis. 90 minutes, two commercial breaks and same terms as the Trump-Biden disaster. The Veep debate between JD Vance and Tom Walz will occur on October 1.

Top Ten Labor Day Songs by Nation? Click on that link so you can view each song.

#1 Pete Seeger, Solidarity Forever.
#2 More Than a Paycheck, Sweet Honey in the Rock.
#3 The Clash, Career Opportunities.
#4 Tennessee Ernie Ford, Sixteen Tons.
#5 Judy Collins, Bread and Roses.
#6 Dolly Parton, 9 to 5.
#7 Woody Guthrie, Union Burying Ground.
#8 Phil Ochs, The Ballad of Joe Hill.
#9 Hazel Dickens, Fire in the Hole.
#10 Gil Scott-Heron, Three Miles Down.

The other day, I shared Barack Obama's summer playlist. Today, here is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' favorite labor songs. Click on that for 21 minutes with the Senator and his songs.

Woody Guthrie, This Land is Your Land.
Pete Seeger, Solidarity Forever,
Almanac Singers', Talking Union and Which Side Are You On.
Bobbie McGee, Union Maid.
Paul Robeson, Joe Hill.
Judy Collins, Bread and Roses.

FX channel 1554 in Honolulu begins a new series today, starting with the pilot, plus episode 1. English Teacher in 8 chapters is another highly rated (Rotten Tomatoes 94) FX production that should be as enjoyable as The Bear (RT 96/79, but Season 1 was rated 100/92, into third season) and Shogun (RT 99/92, with Seasons 2 and 3 coming).

Don't confuse this series with the 2013 film, The English Teacher with Julianne Moore. RT score of 44/31. However, if you want to watch this R-rated flick, which also has Greg Kinnear and Nathan Lane, click on The English Teacher for the entire film.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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