Columnists

While the corona virus has focused much of the world on Europe and the United States, India promises to be the greatest victim of the disease. But other than a slick public relations campaign, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done little to confront the crisis. Indeed, a number of policy moves by Delhi have likely fed the spread of the dangerous virus.

When Modi announced a 21-day nationwide shutdown on March 24, he did so without any warning. Almost before the Prime Minister had finished talking, panicked city residents—mostly middle class—poured into the streets to stock up on food and medicines, almost certainly accelerating the spread of COVID-19.

The shutdown instantly made tens of millions of people jobless, setting many of them in motion toward their home villages. Since public transportation has been shut down, that involved journeys of over 300 miles. And because many villages are blocking outsiders, where migrants will get food and water is anyone’s guess.

Except for a few independent news sources, much of the chaos set off by the March 24 orders has gone unreported. Using a combination of financial pressure and outright censorship, Modi and his rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have silenced much of the media. Newspapers and broadcast outlets are finding that criticism of Modi or the BJP results in the loss of government advertising, a major source of revenue. Modi has also filed expensive and difficult to fight tax cases against opposition media outlets. -more-

On April 14, California Governor Gavin Newsom detailed what will be required before the Golden State can begin to open up, shake off the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsom's grim assessment stands in marked contrast to the position of Donald Trump.

While acknowledging that California has made significant progress "flattening the curve" of the pandemic, Newsom cautioned that it was premature to declare victory: "As we contemplate reopening parts of our state, we must be guided by science and data, and we must understand that things will look different than before.” (https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/04/14/governor-newsom-outlines-six-critical-indicators-the-state-will-consider-before-modifying-the-stay-at-home-order-and-other-covid-19-interventions/ ) California currently has 28,156 Coronavirus cases and a mortality rate of 3.4 percent -- compared with 5.1 percent for the U.S.

Newsom presented a six-part plan that will enable California's leaders to determine when to begin to "dial back" the current stay-at-home order: -more-

April Fool's Day of 2020 marked 24 years since my most recent inpatient psychiatric hospital admission. The release was about two weeks after. When I got out, I had the nerve to solicit a marriage proposal from my girlfriend, Joanna Freeman. We moved in together, and I needed to have someone (my fiancé) help me, because I was not yet normal upon release. It was to take several months for me to find my way back to reality--following being reinstated on antipsychotics. -more-

Trump claims that he, not the state governors, have the ultimate authority to reopen the American economy. Actually, he is wrong. The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” -more-

Getting to Know God's Bisexual Critters

One wonders how a Bible-thumping, Hetero-Christian evangelist would react to this news: Scientists have discovered that the Creator has created a thriving community of animals that are bilateral gynandromorphs. Or, in layman's terms: bisexual!

From Texas to Pennsylvania, birdwatchers have been bewitched by sightings of Northern Cardinals whose feathered forms are, as LiveScience describes them, "divided down the middle like a winged black-and-white-cookie"—but, in this case, a manly scarlet on one side and a lady-like taupe on the other.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology researchers assured the National Geographic that these "half-siders" are not just a cardinal rule: they exist in many species of birds, crustaceans and butterflies. (Yes, there are bisexual crabs in Chesapeake Bay.)

Gynandromophism is not just a superficial divide. As Virginia Institute of Marine Science geneticist Kimberly Reese explained to the New York Times, the bird's brain would also be "half male" and "half female." These birds have been seen to court but, with only a half-brain, the birds lack the male's ability to sing. On the other hand, the bisexual budgies could still produce an egg, as long as the bird's "left ovary" remains functional.

More Weird Bird News -more-