From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):            DAY    USA    WORLD      Brazil      India      South Africa June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82 July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572 Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130 Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82 Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85 Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118 Dec     30       3880    14748       1224       299      465 Jan      14        4142    15512         1151        189       712 Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398 Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194 April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37 May    4         853    13667        3025      3786      59   June   1         287    10637         2346      3205      95  July   7          251      8440        1595         817     4

 First, some latest information about COVID-19: Sweden now recommends a  second booster shot for people who are 80 and over . New York City has a vaccination mandate.  They just  fired 1430 employees  for not complying.  That turned out to be 0.4% of the 400,000 work force. About the Beijing Winter Olympics: Eileen Gu  of San Francisco, but representing China, won a silver medal in freeski slopestyle. Mikaela Schffrin  finished 18th in the women's downhill.  But she competed. Germany  won gold, silver and bronze medals in the two-man bobsled. Looks like 15-year old Russian figure skater  Kamila Valieva  ( right ) will be allowed to continue competing, and seems likely to gain a second gold on Thursday.  Something to do with being a minor and thus a "protected person."  Very troublesome decision, for Russia is already on probation for a variety of doping tests.  A little known heart medication, trimetazidine, is at the heart of the issue.  Very confusing judgement call whi

I've long debated addressing the matter of social welfare in the United States.  Well, Senator Joe Manchin's NO to the White House about the Build Back Better Act could well be a wake up call for the nation. First, Manchin left the  door wide open for some compromise next month.  He blamed the White House staff and not the President.  So something less than $2 trillion will get through by reconciliation. But the larger point that I'll address today is:  can we build a society to motivate people?  We need to get to the root cause of what ails America.  Homelessness, poverty, racial strife...things seem to be getting worse rather than better. Starting with  homelessness , here are some numbers that will surprise, if not shock, you.  In terms of homeless/100,000 population: Syria  3753 Nigeria  1658 Somalia  1867 Central African Republic  1421 South Sudan  1378 Grenada  1300 Yemen  1294 Honduras  1235 Egypt  1200 Colombia  971 Germany  82 UK  57 France  45 Sweden  36 South Afr