"The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s. At that time, following the devastation of two world wars, political leaders came together to forge the multilateral system. The aims were clear: to bring countries together, to dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism, and to address the challenges that could only be achieved together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, namely peace, prosperity, health and security.

"Today, we hold the same hope that as we fight to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic together, we can build a more robust international health architecture that will protect future generations. There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone. The question is not if, but when. Together, we must be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.

"We are, therefore, committed to ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for this and future pandemics. Immunization is a global public good and we will need to be able to develop, manufacture and deploy vaccines as quickly as possible.

"This is why the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) was set up in order to promote equal access to tests, treatments and vaccines and support health systems across the globe. ACT-A has delivered on many aspects but equitable access is not achieved yet. There is more we can do to promote global access.

"To that end, we believe that nations should work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response.

"Such a renewed collective commitment would be a milestone in stepping up pandemic preparedness at the highest political level. It would be rooted in the constitution of the World Health Organization, drawing in other relevant organizations key to this endeavour, in support of the principle of health for all. Existing global health instruments, especially the International Health Regulations, would underpin such a treaty, ensuring a firm and tested foundation on which we can build and improve.

"The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This includes greatly enhancing international cooperation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research, and local, regional and global production and distribution of medical and public health counter measures, such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment.

"It would also include recognition of a “One Health” approach that connects the health of humans, animals and our planet. And such a treaty should lead to more mutual accountability and shared responsibility, transparency and cooperation within the international system and with its rules and norms.

"To achieve this, we will work with Heads of State and governments globally and all stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector. We are convinced that it is our responsibility, as leaders of nations and international institutions, to ensure that the world learns the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"At a time when COVID-19 has exploited our weaknesses and divisions, we must seize this opportunity and come together as a global community for peaceful cooperation that extends beyond this crisis. Building our capacities and systems to do this will take time and require a sustained political, financial and societal commitment over many years.

"Our solidarity in ensuring that the world is better prepared will be our legacy that protects our children and grandchildren and minimizes the impact of future pandemics on our economies and our societies.

"Pandemic preparedness needs global leadership for a global health system fit for this millennium. To make this commitment a reality, we must be guided by solidarity, fairness, transparency, inclusiveness and equity."

I have long observed that it seems hard for Americans to think of themselves as anything beyond Americans and to understand the larger world and their place in it.

This health crisis has exposed that kind of inward thinking as a great obstacle to overcoming a global health crisis and to resolving the other existential challenges of our time.

I can only hope that critical lessons have been learned and are being learned and that all countries will be strong partners in the new treaty for pandemic preparedness announced today at the WHO virtual press conference ...

Is this so hard to understand?

To repeat, there are 20 countries who have not had access to any vaccines yet. The more opportunity this virus has to transmit and mutate, the more likely that very dangerous variants and strains will develop that will render the vaccines we have less effective or not effective at all.

I don't about y'all but I want to shut this virus down and get back to doing the things I love to do.

So, of course, everyone, I will take the vaccine when my country and province tells me it's my turn. But, I will keep donating to the WHO Foundation and talking about COVAX and equitable vaccine distribution because we won't, as a world, win this fight against this virus without it.

As for excess vaccines ... it's all in the way you define excess and, of course, context. Let me try to further explain. For now, when vaccines remain a rare resource where demand far outweighs supply, it is good enough for wealthy countries to ensure that all of their health workers and most vulnerable populations have access to the vaccine and to share the vaccines they have acquired for citizens beyond those groups with low and middle income countries who don't have any vaccines.

And, yes, I know that is a tough political sell, especially for countries like the US. But, an effort must be made to inform citizens that vaccine equity is the only way to shut down this virus and that no country will be safe until all countries are safe. Most importantly, we are in a race against time - time that we give the virus to mutate into dangerous variants.

And, more work needs to be done to increase manufacturing capacity, including the need for sharing of information and technology to save lives.

Hope, that's clear as mud, everyone! :)

Please try to stop missing the point.

This crap again? You don't seriously believe the utter nonsensical proposition that your point is complicated!? *laughs* It isn't. *still laughing*

Neither was mine so I repeat and reiterate: Your refusal to take a vaccine on moral or ethical grounds, no matter how virtuous, makes you no different than a gullible Trumpanzee, MAGA moron, or QAnon nutcase who refuses to take a vaccine because they are misinformed or willfully ignorant.

The simple point is that most rich countries have enough vaccine right now to vaccinate their healthworkers and their most vulnerable populations.

Incorrect... but at least you do admit your point is simple. We all get it, EM.

The excess vaccines should be shared so that all countries can do the same.

There aren't any excess vaccines, right now, EM; just excess idiots and people dragging their asses refusing to take the vaccines available to them for a myriad of reasons ranging from moral/ethical to conspiracy theory nonsensical bullshit. Those refusing to take the available vaccines for whatever reason are the ones slowing things down by their refusal.

Rich countries won't be safe until all countries are safe. If we want to bring an end to this pandemic, we can't do it without equitable distribution of vaccines, now!

Question: What part of "there are thousands of health workers in America and millions of 'most vulnerable' Americans who are refusing to take the vaccine" is confusing to you? There is no excess, EM. Thousands of health workers in America and millions of others are refusing to take the vaccine.

https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/dealing-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-among-health-care-workers

They have all kinds of dumb ass excuses, and any excuse for waiting like they are makes you part of the delay of which you're whining. There are no excess vaccines in America at the present time... there are a shit-ton of people refusing to take the vaccine that are delaying progress. Anyone telling you there are excess vaccines in America at the present time is full of BS.

I get it... but your actions seem like someone saying that they want to do something about the starving children in Africa, but that something ends up being them not eating the veggies their Mom made for dinner.

Much more is needed if we want to end this pandemic in months instead of years.

There are 20 countries that have yet to receive ANY vaccines!!! If this doesn't change very soon, then we will ALL be in big trouble.

I was an adult education teacher, most of my students had young children, and we saw again and again how quickly viruses could spread through a group, adults as well as children. I spent a few years with compromised immunity as a result of chemotherapy--there are plenty of people around whose immunity has been compromised for one reason or another.

One thing we can all do, besides lobbying our political representatives, is to donate to reliable health charities who will help with the world-wide effort. And help break the chain of infection in our own areas.

In the words of Dr. Tedros and his wonderful team of colleagues at the WHO, I "do it all" to protect myself and others.

If everybody did that we wouldn't be living in a COVID-19 pandemic right now, vaccination or no vaccination!

"At the beginning of the year, I issued a call for countries to work together to ensure vaccination begins in all countries within the first 100 days of the year.

"177 countries and economies have started vaccination. In just one month, COVAX has distributed more than 32 million vaccines to 61 countries. COVAX works.

"There are now just 15 days left before the 100th day of the year, and 36 countries that are still waiting for vaccines so they can start vaccinating health workers and older people.

"Of those, 16 are scheduled to receive their first doses from COVAX within the next 15 days. That leaves 20 countries who are ready to go and waiting for vaccines.

"COVAX is ready to deliver, but we can’t deliver vaccines we don’t have.

"As you know, bilateral deals, export bans, vaccine nationalism and vaccine diplomacy have caused distortions in the market, with gross inequities in supply and demand.

"Increased demand for vaccines has led to delays in securing tens of millions of doses that COVAX was counting on.

"But getting all countries started by day 100 is a solvable problem. COVAX needs 10 million doses immediately as an urgent stop-gap measure so these 20 countries can start vaccinating their health workers and older people within the next two weeks.

"So today I’m asking countries with doses of vaccines that have WHO Emergency Use Listing to donate as many doses as they can to help us meet that target.

"And I’m asking manufacturers to help ensure these countries can rapidly donate those doses.

"There are plenty of countries who can afford to donate doses with little disruption to their own vaccination plans.

"The more countries that donate A.S.A.P., the more doses we will have to share with countries who need them desperately.

"Sharing doses is a tough political choice, and governments need the support of their people. I’m encouraged by surveys in high-income countries showing widespread support for vaccine equity.

"10 million doses is not much, and it’s not nearly enough, but it’s a start.

"We will need hundreds of millions more doses in the coming months.

"There are many countries who invested in COVAX in good faith, but have been left frustrated because of the bilateral deals that have left COVAX short.

"WHO and our partners are continuing to work around the clock to find ways to increase production and secure doses.

There are four more vaccines at different stages in the process of being assessed for WHO Emergency Use Listing, and we hope to approve at least one of them by the end of April."

I will.

But, for now, I am protecting myself and other by following all of the health protocols while working in retail, no less!

My point is that I want this pandemic to end by the end of this year, not three years from now.

What rich countries are doing now is only prolonging the pandemic and all of the suffering that goes along with it. Hope they wake up and smell the coffee, and soon!

Liz, get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect yourself and others. I admire your wanting to give those at greater risk the chance to go ahead of you, but we are well past the day that essential workers are unable to find vaccines.

What country are you talking about?

Here's another excerpt from Michael Osterhoms great piece in Foreign Affairs this month, The Pandemic That Won't End,

"Beyond supplying funds, governments and international aid institutions must figure out how to boost the supply of vaccines. Countries in Africa, Central and South America, and much of Asia have limited pharmaceutical manufacturing capability. To compensate for that lack, countries and corporations already making vaccines must coordinate in helping accelerate the production and distribution of the vaccines.

"This endeavor should include China, India, and Russia, as well as other Western countries, all of whom should work to develop capacity in allied or client countries. Member states of the World Trade Organization should consider its rules on intellectual property to see if special adjustments or waivers could be used to help increase supply. Private pharmaceutical companies must be willing to share knowledge and technology that in normal circumstances they might have kept to themselves. In an encouraging start, U.S. President Joe Biden announced in March that the pharmaceutical giant Merck has agreed to partner with traditional rival Johnson & Johnson to boost the supply of the latter’s newly authorized single-dose vaccine."

Liz, get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect yourself and others. I admire your wanting to give those at greater risk the chance to go ahead of you, but we are well past the day that essential workers are unable to find vaccines.

The concerning aspect of the inequitous distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally is that we are all in a race against time. The more opportunity the viruses have to transmit, the more likely they will mutate into something that will render the vaccines we currently have ineffective.

Wealthy countries who put all of their citizens first before low and some middle income countries will reap the whirlwind of the deadly variants that develop in countries where there is no vaccine.

The simple point is that most rich countries have enough vaccine right now to vaccinate their healthworkers and their most vulnerable populations. The excess vaccines should be shared so that all countries can do the same.

Rich countries won't be safe until all countries are safe. If we want to bring an end to this pandemic, we can't do it without equitable distribution of vaccines, now!

"Please try to stop missing the point."

Elizabeth, if I am not mistaken, the Biden Administration has already announced a plan to offer to share surplus Covid vaccine with both Canada and Mexico (AstraZeneca I believe) as a first step, though with no timetable concerning the rest of the world yet outside North America.

not bad at all! when i say [Don's] talents are wasted on politics, it's not just because you suck at activism, it's also because you're a damn solid musician.

Couldn't agree more! Love, love, love his music videos!

There is a pandemic happening

Kind of obvious...

and it is in the clear self-interest of the high income countries to ensure the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

... but I'm sorry (not sorry) that Joe Biden isn't living up to your global and moral expectations of/for him.

I'll get my vaccine after all of the healthworkers and most vulnerable on the planet get theirs!

~ Elizabeth Miller

*
While I obviously won't/cannot monitor "the planet," I promise you that there are already thousands of "health workers" and millions of "most vulnerable" in America that have refused to take the vaccine. On following up with them, many have subsequently been convinced to change their mind and get vaccinated, and some haven't ruled it out entirely and say they "might" eventually take it.

Please don't be obtuse and allow your feelings regarding moral superiority and "equitable distribution" to health workers and the most vulnerable preclude you from taking a vaccine when it becomes available and when you become eligible. The "on the fence," mind changers, maybes, ask me laters, misinformed, scared, misinformed/ignorant, and/or obstinate persons in America (or anywhere else on the entirety of the planet) shouldn't be a factor in whether or not you participate.

The wisest thing you can do is to take the vaccine when it is offered to you in Canada since (quite honestly) the alternative is to remain one of the people who are refusing to take the vaccine... it matters not whether the reasoning behind your refusal is moral, ethical, misinformed/willful ignorance, or obstinance.

That is the only way to end this pandemic. Dr. Fauci knows that but won't say it.

Not indicative of the ridiculous idea that I presume to read the minds of others or purport to know what someone will or will not say, but I promise you that Dr. Fauci knows there are multiple ways that a pandemic can end and multiple reasons it won't. If everybody refused to take the vaccine -- whether for virtuous/moral reasons or willful refusal -- the pandemic would nevertheless eventually end... just a heck of a lot slower.

So to recap: Take the vaccine when it's offered, and if you're able and can help the cause, volunteer to vaccinate others and to help convince those who're refusing (for whatever reason) into getting it done. There's more than one way to skin a cat. :)

not bad at all! when i say your talents are wasted on politics, it's not just because you suck at activism, it's also because you're a damn solid musician.

JL

I'm about done for tonight but it has been fun having you along for the ride.

And you, too, Don!

I'll leave you with one more song - it's about that lovely Pacific resort town, Vladivostok ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87g5Rckyruk

Good night everyone and, until next time, take good care!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUwg-mbhPts

Well, no one thought I wasn't gonna sneak in a PRiSM tune somewhere, right? :-)

It's been a while - and your songs are always welcome around here, absolutely, postively, unequivocally ... as my favourite pol used to say all the time. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6omUxqhG78

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQumEDeu3jI

Gaby Moreno and Van Dyke Parks with Jackson Browne

"Sí: the incident that inspired this Woody Guthrie poem (he never recorded it) didn't specifically deal with illegal immigrants but rather braceros who died in a tragic plane crash in 1948, whose Mexican victims were never even identified until very recently–because, as Guthrie erroneously wrote–they were “deportees.” Doesn't matter: no song gets at the human tragedy that is Mexican immigration to the United States better than this song, from farmers letting the orange crop rot in creosote dumps while their pickers starve to said pickers being tossed when no longer needed to Americans not even bothering to learn the names of those at the bottom of our food chain. Many versions of the song exist, but none are better than this version by the Byrds in their alt-country phase. One of the few songs that brings tears to my eyes, and I'm not ashamed to say it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa3sJTX-W_4

Me necesitas tú a mi más y más que yo a ti

I guess we should say a few words about the theme for this evening ...

It's about songs with an immigration/emigration theme and let's just leave it at that.

Welcome, everybody and please join in on all the fun!

"superman es ilegal"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgmbJKWrrJg

He doesn't have a green card nor a license to fly,
and I bet he doesn't even have a social security card.

We have to deport Superman from this region
and if possible return him to Krypton.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WI3Ptu5tQc&t=158s

I knew we'd be coming at this theme from different directions - that is a great emotional tune from RC. You've highlighted him before here and I really love his music!

I've got some favourites from bands not from North America that I'd like to play tonight but, first ...

... here is a tune by KASHTIN, an Innu First Nation band from Quebec. Most of the land in Canada is unceded First Nations land and lately, when government officials are holding a news conference or other appearance they preface the event by saying that they are speaking from "the unceded land of the ______ First Nation."!

In North America, we're all immigrants and we could learn a few important lessons on how to treat people from the first inhabitants of Turtle Island ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiIPoy5VJwM

The CW Sunday Night Music Festival and Dance Party has begun!

Joshua, hope you can stick around for the duration or, at the very least, pop in and out, as I will need some help with this one ...

Maybe FTP columns should always be posted on Saturdays?! :)

Biden has a mild stutter. It slows his delivery and makes him effective at conveying ideas.

Trump has aphasia. It allows him to deliver word salad that effectively conveys emotions and beliefs that can seem like ideas.

I rank this FTP in the top ten...and I’ve been following your column for a long while.

The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University has calculated that about 5.5 million children will be lifted out of poverty – more than half those currently plagued by it. The injection of cash support will have a stunning effect especially in communities of color.

One in five Black children are currently locked into poverty in America; they are projected to see a 55% drop in poverty rates. Hispanic children too are expected to see a boost, with 53% lifted out of poverty.'
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/27/us-child-poverty-biden-stimulus-package

This week was further proof that Biden's foreign policy is NOT "transactional" and his administration will NOT push aside human rights concerns to mollify autocrats.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/03/23/myanmar-European-Union-United-States-impose-sanctions-Myanmar-military-coup/7441616475078/

A more sensible and effective strategy would be to allow House-approved bills to stack up, as they are now. Persuasive rhetoric, such as the several articles highlighting how the filibuster became the segregationists' most effective tool to block Civil Rights legislation, will apply more pressure on both President Biden and the reluctant Senators.

Once the American people see that the GOP intends to continue its decade-long 'do nothing' campaign, Senators Manchin and Sinema will have clear evidence to support changing their position.

Outside money and friendly fire will instead force them to dig in their heels, resisting "Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer" to THEIR constituents.

"The confirmation of Rachel Levine represents another important milestone for the American LGBTQ community," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "As transgender Americans suffer higher rates of abuse, homelessness and depression than almost every other group, it's important to have national figures like Dr. Levine who by virtue of being in the public spotlight will help break down barriers of ignorance and fear."
...
"Transgender medicine is a very complex and nuanced field with robust research and standards of care that have been developed," Levine responded to the senator's question. "If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed as the assistant secretary of health, I will look forward to working with you and your office and coming to your office and discussing the particulars of the standards of care for transgender medicine."'
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/24/politics/rachel-levine-first-transgender-senate-confirmed-federal-official/index.html

It comes at a time of renewed national debate on the topic of executions.

Virginia has executed more people than any other state except Texas since capital punishment was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1976.
...
At the bill signing, Mr Northam noted 296 of the 377 people executed by the state in the 20th century were black.

The last two men on death row in the state, both black, will now see their sentences converted to life in prison without parole.'
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56512691

As the first Black woman to serve as staff director for the House Appropriations Committee, Ms. Young played critical roles on Capitol Hill in negotiating not only the dozen annual spending bills, but also a series of five pandemic relief packages that together totaled $3 trillion and represented the leading edge of a sweeping federal response to the crisis.

Now she is headed to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue to become the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/politics/shalanda-young-omb-deputy-director.html

“If you are a Democrat charged with that, you’d better prove yourself guilty,” said Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/us/politics/stimulus-bill-republicans-democrats.html

IMO, *every* FTP until November 2022 should include a talking point about a single benefit - you'd never run out of the progressive-dream measures that the Democrats - er, excuse me - that this historic legislation included in itself. (VA funding, Native American funds, schools, local government, etc.)
'Already, there’s talk about midterm attack ads portraying Republicans as willing to slash taxes for the wealthy but too stingy to cut checks for people struggling during the deadly pandemic. And President Joe Biden’s aides and allies are vowing not to make the same mistakes as previous administrations going into the midterms elections. They are pulling together plans to ensure Americans know about every dollar delivered and job kept because of the bill they’re crafting. And there is confidence that the Covid-19 relief package will ultimately emerge not as a liability for Democrats, but as an election year battering ram.'
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/08/biden-gop-covid-relief-punish-466995

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kBDTXWBqtBEtPHWuFAHXQD-CmAqbzlBwZKtqoKhFsew/edit?usp=sharing

(my sadly deficient design skills notwithstanding)

jim-Q-row
2.0
must go

That was a good one!

Heh.

Wish I could take credit for it, but I saw it in the comments section of WAPO and loved it!

Of course, some critics of Jim Crow (and its predecessor that dislikes being named) prefer not to call such places plantations, a word which graciously evokes the Lost Cause with its genteel lifestyle. Their term of choice for Tara, and Monticello, and Mount Vernon, etc., is "slave-labor camp". I'm still waiting to see if that proposed terminology will eventually replace its time-honored but euphemistic cousin.

I took the 'Jim Eagle' to be a well-meaning but clumsy attempt to say this attack on voting rights, and primarily black voting rights in states like Georgia with large black minorities, is so bad that even the old system of Jim Crow looks good next to it.

It's not even close to true, of course. Under the real Jim Crow, voting wasn't an option for almost all southern blacks, even before 5 PM or at inconveniently located polling stations. But Biden's point is good all the same, just as Michelle Alexander's is in her book about black incarceration: Jim Crow, or systematic state discrimination against and/or oppression of America's black population, is not dead yet. To have a president who admits and condemns that is a key part of moving forward to, somehow, finally really and truly kill Jim Crow.

Thanks for the note explaining the lock-out. I was sure I'd been banned, and spent the day trying remember what the heck I'd recently posted here that was sufficiently trollish to incur the wrath of the famously indulgent and open-minded Chris W.!

So far, Biden seems to be putting pragmatism in service of good governance. Let's hope this continues, successfully.

-CW