by John Walters
Big Bang Query
More than 100 are dead in Beirut and for once it had nothing to do with terrorism. Apparently storing nearly 3,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate in a warehouse close to a fireworks facility at the nation’s largest port is not a good idea. Who knew?
Photos here show the before and after.
The deadly material arrived years ago via a Russian cargo ship because, of course.
Of Moose And Masks
MH’s Canadian correspondent, Moose, has become a mask fiend during the pandemic. She owns close to a dozen. Moose wants to remind everyone 1) to wear a mask and 2) that Canadia is better than the U.S.A. in every way except baseball.
The Big Game Comes Early!
Good news, Michigan fans: You won’t have to wait 12 months to lose to Ohio State this year. The Big Ten just released its revised, coronavirus-adaptive schedule and the Wolverines will visit Columbus on October 24. Before Halloween, even.
We, for reasons of weather, would welcome this date change becoming permanent. The post-Thanksgiving weekend is of course a bonanza of post-secondary education gridiron, so why not remove one contest and put it somewhere else?
Not All ’70s Family Pop Groups Were Talented
It’s a long way down from the magic of the Jackson 5 to the milk-fed stylings of the Osmonds, but it may be an even further plummet from the Osmonds to the DeFrancos. Here they are on the Jack Benny Show singing their big hit, “Heartbeat, It’s a Love Beat.” The year was 1973 and another Italian-American musician, Bruce Springsteen, could barely afford change for the toll at the Lincoln Tunnel.
The DeFrancos are Canadian, Moose.
They Have A Dream
The WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, a franchise that is literally named after a Martin Luther King, Jr., speech, is practicing peaceful protest in the most dynamic way. When one of the team’s owner, billionaire Georgia Republican senator Kelly Loeffller, basically told the ladies to shut up and dribble, they countered with the above T-shirts.
Loeffler, 49, was not elected but appointed to the U.S. Senate by Georgia’s GOP governor after an incumbent announced his intention to resign for health reasons. She’s loaded and her husband is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and I can’t see why you’d think there’s a conflict of interest there.
When the WNBA announced they’d be putting “Black Lives Matter” on their courts, Loeffler wrote a note to the league complaining and asking that players have flags put on their uniforms instead. Loeffler is on record as adamantly opposing Black Lives Matter and is still more than a little upset that Ashley married that plain-jane Melanie instead of her.
Warnock, by the way, is Raphael Warnock, a Morehouse alum and doctor of theology, who is also a senior pastor in Atlanta’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Just a few clarifications.
1. I do not bash Americans. I love Americans. I lived there for 13 years. Americans are great!!
2. In all fairness, from a neighbour and an ally, I have to say that most of the world finds the US Covid situation tragic and baffling. When our government mandated that we all wear face masks, we all wore face masks, except for some boneheads who I’m sure are having their passports revoked as I type. I understand your constitutional rights. We have similar constitutional rights in Canada. However we also recognize that there is a balance. When asserting my constitutional rights over having to wear a face mask knowing I could be killing people in doing so, I’m going to wear the face mask every time. If not wearing a face mask was just going to affect you, then knock yourself out. But when it could kill your neighbours, wear the damn face mask!
3. You can get some really great face masks and most of the vendors I’ve used give back to the community with every sale. Plus it helps keep more people employed.
4. My dirty little secret is that I have more than a dozen!! I found so many great ones that I got a little carried away. But all for a good cause. And again, doing my bit to not create garbage and to help the community and keep people employed.
5. We are not going to open the US/Canada border until you guys clean up your act. All Canadians worked hard and made sacrifices to flatten the curve. We are not risking having to go backwards. P.S. Canadians can fly to the US no problem. You do have to quarantine upon your return for 14 days. But there is no way, short of sneaking across the border that Americans can get into Canada.
6. And if you still have questions about our Universal Healthcare, no hospital got overrun, we did not run out of PPE or ventilators. Everyone got great care. And no patient left the hospital or doctor’s office with a bill. No one. Maybe that’s why we wear the masks – since we all contribute a modest amount to the healthcare system, we’re vested in keeping everyone healthy.
7. Babe Ruth hit his first home run in Toronto. We have won the World Series a couple of times. And we have a great young baseball team. In a year we are going to be a threat. But even the Blue Jays are not allowed in Canada at the moment. They play at our triple A ballpark in Buffalo. Interesting that JW didn’t mention basketball.
On No. 7: His first (and only) minor league home run. Which does not count as one of his 714 career home runs. Nice try, Moose.