Catholic Church bishops in some places have come out against the use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. “The Archdiocese of New Orleans last week released a statement advising Catholics that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is “morally compromised as it uses the abortion-derived cell line in development and production of the vaccine as well as the testing””

Then it was noted: That sentiment was echoed by the Bismarck, N.D., diocese, which wrote Tuesday of Johnson & Johnson, “there is no justification for any Catholic” to use the vaccine when “two morally acceptable vaccines are available and may be used.” Allentown, Pa., Bishop Alfred Schlert wrote in a Wednesday newsletter that Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine “should not be accepted by Catholics if other choices are available.” 

The Archdiocese of St. Louis on Tuesday encouraged Catholics to seek out the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and avoid the Johnson & Johnson version if possible. Like the New Orleans archdiocese statement, the St. Louis statement called the Johnson & Johnson vaccine “morally compromised.” However, the St. Louis statement stressed that Catholics can get that vaccine “in good conscience if no other alternative is available.”

Thinking of Trump I realize that despite what he thinks otherwise he will soon become yesterday’s newspapers good for nothing much more than wrapping the awful offal that is left after he engorges himself. I suggest this because Trump has made news in the past with his outlandish statements because they were in some way or another connected with his ability to act on them. Now he can only make statements but pretty much like one of those old 33 rpm records that gets caught in a grove he is just going to repeat the same stuff over and over again ad nauseum.

He has no power to make any of them into something. He’s like the poor guy who lost his mind from imbibing too much who used to stand across the street yelling imbecilities at my house because of some grudge he had against my father who was a probation officer and shaking his fist in the air until he realized he was thirsty and dragged himself off down the street toward the closest watering hole. He bloviates – the same old, same old – but no one really pays attention because he is incapable of acting on his bitterness.

I heard a comment the other day that struck me as quite true. I suggest it pertained to that Doctor Atlas who used to preach the benefits of dying from Covid-19. He was not the only doctor who stuck his head in the sand but he stood out from the others because he had the ear of Trump.  The comment was to the effect that Trump hired people to deal with Covid-19 and other issues in his office by going onto the internet and finding the worst people in the world. Or as another person noted: “The administration’s now hired this Stanford guy who has no background at all just because he agrees with their crackpot theories,” 

Here’s an April Atlas quote: “We can allow a lot of people to get infected. Those who are not at risk to die or have a serious hospital-requiring illness, we should be fine with letting them get infected, generating immunity on their own, and the more immunity in the community, the better we can eradicate the threat of the virus. “ Great idea doctor but those who got infected who would not die did interact or live with those that did. Too bad you did not consider that little tidbit.

I am really at a loss at those folk who supported Trump and his idea of what America should be like. His America first slogan – one that takes us back to the isolationist America of pre-WWII where many urged us to stay out of the European War despite what we know now would have ended in a great tragedy for our country.  Many seem to forget that Nazi Germany was far advanced in the development of the Atom Bomb and Jet planes. Who knows what would have happened had it had some more time to conquer Europe?

When I grew up in America the idea of America first was not in most people’s thoughts. We had abandoned that idea knowing that what happened outside America had a profound effect on our country. We only had to look at WWI and WWII to recognize a hands off policy to the rest of the world brought about tragic consequences.

Trump has settled into his new home in Florida pretending to believe he was wrongly  evicted from his former place in Washington. It is said that he had asked his lawyers prior to January 20th if the ban on evictions applied to him. He intended to assert that he could not be put out during the pandemic. Fortunately he was convinced that since he did not pay rent he was not covered.

Trump has had several visitors to his newly established abode in his old club where he now lives. Word from them is Melania is not too happy being there in the confined quarters which she considers to be like a fish bowl. She is hoping to find another place that has much more space and privacy as befits a former first lady.  She told Trump he cannot expect her to be happy in a club house after four years in the White House. (It was actually 3 1/2 years. She stayed in NYC for the first six months.)

As I noted earlier this week my ability to guess what the future will hold is practically non existent. I say that so that folk will not put too much faith into my predictions although strange enough when it came to Trump, I was never far from the mark. But then again if you thought American was working reasonably well as a democracy and slowly improving to include all our folks in an equal manner predicting what would happen under Trump was not too hard.

Trump’s slogan making the US great again meant that it had diminished itself from some point in the past. He never specified when that occurred so his followers could decide at what point they would like to return to. From what appeared many believed it was during or even before the ante-bellum days.

I clearly knew that going back was not the way forward. Even my pre-teen grand kids knew that. But a good number of Americans climbed on board the train as it threw itself into reverse and gave Trump the engineer’s job sitting in the caboose.

I was visiting Jimmy Niosian a few months ago. We were just having light cocktails – he likes martinis and had two while I nursed one highball with a tiny bit of Canadian Club because I was driving – and a light chat.

Jimmy has done well for himself in his professional life. He’s a generation down from me but despite that we have become good friends. He has four children. I drop by every so often when I know he’ll be around.

While sitting there chatting his son Tony came in to join us. We got on to discussing the college where he was in his second year. Tony said: “Dad, I don’t want you to pay my tuition anymore. I’m going to take out loans.” Jimmy objected but Tony insisted. He pointed out that his father should not waste his money because he would not have to pay his loans off. They were going to be forgiven once the Democrats got into office.

After Tony left he asked me what I suggested he do. I was conflicted. I knew Jimmy could easily afford to pay but if someone was going to pay it for him why not take advantage of it. It would be like turning down a scholarship because you did not need to rely.on it.

Those who follow me closely know I have an uncanny ability to inaccurately see into the future although at times I sometimes come close to being near the mark. This inability is inherited. I recognized my abilities to predict events were going to be somewhat faulty when as a young child I was at  a county fair with my dad who never had gambled.

Why he didn’t was most likely because his father, who by coincidence also was my grandfather, Jim Connolly. He came to Boston from Connemara, Ireland as a young man. Shortly afterward began playing his one lucky number on a daily basis. He stuck to it year after year into his eighties but never won once. It was a good family lesson on the advisability of gambling.

At the county fair shortly after arriving my dad and I left my mom and my siblings to go our separate way. They were mostly interested in the arts and crafts; I could not wait to see the animals (quite a treat for a city kid), and the crops. We were to meet later at the exhibits, games, rides, and food stalls. It was to be a brilliant and grand day.