Thursday Thirteen

I am out of ideas today, so I'm going to grab the paper and discuss headlines.

1. Biden to unveil actions on guns. Well, that one will make the strange people rush to the gun store for more ammo and rifles, I suspect. If one reads the story, this has to do with "ghost" guns, or homemade weaponry. It requires buyers of homemade guns to undergo a background check. Apparently there's a black market for homemade weapons. I don't see this as effective legislation, to be honest.

2. Pot laws to change. Virginia is going to legalize simple possession of marijuana on July 1. No retail sales, though, until 2024. Households can grow four plants. I don't even know where one purchases the seeds for that. People cannot sell an ounce of MJ, but they can make a gift of it. Seems like a weird law. I have no opinion on whether or not pot should be legal.

3. Va. reports 1,550 new cases. We're talking coronavirus here, of course. The paper's been running little updates everyday on new cases. My county has had 2,438 cases out of about 32,000. That's 7.619% of the county's population that has had the virus. I think we've had about 60 deaths (not noted in today's story). The virus is real and scary, and I'm not sure why people believe we are incapable of having a pandemic without it being some kind of government plot or cover-up. Nature is going to do what nature wants.

4. Game of Thrones celebrates Iron Anniversary. The show launched 10 years ago on HBO. I watched it and enjoyed it, although I thought the last season drifted a bit from the original premise. Of course it would, as George R.R. Martin has not yet written his ending to the series and HBO had to wrap it up. Every episode is currently available on HBO Max and there are going to be GOT marathons on Saturdays.

5. Fed signals no soon moves. This means the Federal Reserve is not going to raise interest rates or make any changes. Personally, I think the lower interest rates are detrimental. When I first had a mortgage, the interest rate was 13% and everyone swore they would never be lower. Let that be a lesson to everyone to show that economists and forecasters have no clue what they are talking about, really. I remember when saving accounts paid 5% interest to people with the foresight to chuck something away, and Christmas Clubs were a thing, and they paid interest, too. The Fed is also purchasing Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. They shouldn't be doing this, either.

6. Prisoners fall behind in race for vaccinations. This story cites Florida (imagine that) as not vaccinating its prison population. Nationwide, fewer than 20% of state and federal prisoners have been vaccinated. They're a trapped population, and once someone brings the virus in there, it will spread just as it does in nursing homes. This needs to be fixed so that this population receives the vaccine.

7. Over 500,000 gain coverage under Biden. A special sign-up window for health insurance has helped more than 1/2 million people get coverage. Millions of people became eligible on April 1 due to pumped-up subsidies toward their premiums under the coronavirus relief legislation. The sign-up period closes August 15.

8. Natural Bridge park gains designation. The Natural Bridge, which is a large rock formation that is actually used as part of a highway in a neighboring county, has been designated a Dark Sky Park. That means this is a good place to go see the stars and the Milky Way.

9. Botetourt County hire assistant administrator. This is my county. I have no idea why we are hiring yet another assistant administrator. Apparently he is needed to help run the government during the pandemic, although we did just fine without him last year. I think it is to help use up the coronavirus funding.

10. Job search rules to be reinstated. Drawing unemployment once again will mean one must be actively searching for work. That rule was suspended during the pandemic, but now folks must show that they are applying for jobs each week. This rule has been around a long time - back in the 1980s I drew unemployment for a short time and I had to show that I had visited two potential employers every week. Finding a job today is not an easy task. In the old days (yes, I am ancient), I opened the newspaper, circled a bunch of help wanted ads, sent in resumes to blind boxes or made calls to the companies wanting people, went on interviews, found a job. Now there are no ads for jobs in the newspaper. Everything is online but unless it's a company with a physical presence in my area, I have no idea how a person determines if a job offering is legitimate or a scam. I like the old way better. Put that stuff back in the newspaper.

11.  Land added to Jefferson National Forest. I live near the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. Nearly half of my county is forest land. Most of nearby Craig County is forest land. This adds 237 acres near McAfee Knob, which is a popular location on the Appalachian Trail, and will help preserve scenic beauty. The property was private, but a conservation group purchased it and gave it to the government. Since under the former guy (and G.W. Bush, too) there was a push to sell government lands, I'm not sure that was the best move, but time will tell.

12. Old-fashioned sitcom still going strong. Apparently we still like to laugh. This is a story about new sitcoms that start soon.

13. And I'm out of headlines in the local paper. It's a much trimmer paper than it used to be and costs a lot more, too. I think they are trying to put themselves out of business with their high prices. The news media is not evil nor is it the enemy of the people, but I think it needs to take a long hard look at itself and go back to the division between news and entertainment. People used to know the difference; now opinion is tossed out as fact, especially on TV. Even in the print media, opinions are not fact checked. Long ago I remember editor's notes at the bottom of ridiculous accusations in letters. That doesn't happen anymore. Perhaps it should.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 702nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.