The Delta variant

 It sounds like a Robert Ludlum book but it's worse, the latest strain of covid.  The novel coronavirus is no longer novel but wants us to know it's not finished yet and continues to evolve and spread.  Spread faster, because B.1.617.2, first identified in India, is described as more transmissible than the rest as people throw away their masks and crowd into public places.  The good news:  the symptoms are probably no worse than those of Original or New Improved Covid.  But the UK reports a spike of over nine thousand new cases yesterday.  

The world got a lesson in power yesterday; I wonder if America was watching.  Back in March James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola, criticized Georgia's new anti-voting laws and was met with a tsunami of rage from the Rightzis.  Trump ordered his disciples to boycott Coke, an action in which he did not participate.  The boycott soon fizzled, even in Surry County, North Carolina, which attempted to ban Coke machines from county buildings.  Yesterday at a press conference during the European Championship in Budapest, Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo spurned the Coke bottles on the table in front of him and held up a bottle of water, exclaiming, "Agua!"  Today Coca-Cola's market price dropped by $4 billion, 1.6 percent.  (Portugal beat Hungary 3-0.)  Ronaldo has almost 300 million followers on Instagram.  Cry more, Donnie.

No, really.  According to Bloomberg Businessweek, before the court moved to summer quarters in New Jersey Trump liked to drop in on private gatherings at Mar a Lago, including memorial services.  No details are offered in the article, so you can use your imagination.  I think if you're holding a memorial at a golf club you deserve to have it hijacked by a delusional egomaniac who almost certainly never met the deceased.  But maybe mourners can use the pool.  I keep thinking of Joe Louis, long past his "Brown Bomber" prime and neck-deep in debt to the IRS, employed as a "greeter" by some Vegas casino.  At least he got to wear a suit and eat well.  Trump evidently wanders around in golf clothes and red cap (carrying a putter like Bob Hope?).  

Speaking of wandering around in the heat in yesterday's clothes, in the brilliantly governed state of Texas temperatures are already well into triple digits.  The Electrical Reliability Council of Texas -- you remember ERCOT from last February's cold snap -- is urging people to avoid using washers, dryers, ovens and other big appliances to reduce demand.  What with making sure everyone can carry a gun with no permit or training, preventing voter "fraud," walling out the illegals and saving civilization from critical race theory, the legislators haven't had a minute to spare for a power grid that ranks with Uganda's.  But corporate taxes are so much lower than California's, and regulations are practically non-existent. Y'all come relocate!  (Summer starts next Monday.)

I can't decide whether it's evidence of media expertise or troubling naivete, but the Biden administration has produced videos calling attention to the dangerous tap water and crumbling roads of eastern Kentucky, the poor part of Moscow Mitch's state.  He doesn't give a crap, so let's see what the residents do.  If the infrastructure bill fails, east Kentuckians can always get in touch with the Huinchiri people of Peru, who are repairing a 500-year-old Incan bridge made of woven string.  It may not support a sixteen-wheeler, but it certainly is beautiful.

If someone applies for a job with your shop and says they worked for "a congressman," it's probably code for Matt Gaetz.  His former helpers, including chief of staff Dan McFaul, are suddenly bashful about their time on The Hill.  And Gaetz hasn't even been indicted yet.

Today we introduce a new feature, Putsch Comes To Shove.  First up, meet 1/6 tourist Jason Riddle, who bragged of drinking wine he looted from an office in the Capitol.  Jason told an interviewer he's running against state representative Ann Kuster.  No, said the interviewer, Kuster actually represents New Hampshire in the US Congress.  "I guess I gotta run against that then," replied Riddle.  He seems bright for a Republican.

Dangerous Dana Rohrabacher was among the throng who broke through police lines that day, but apparently lost his nerve before entering the Capitol -- or possibly Putin's pet couldn't make it up the steps.  He blames "leftist provocateurs" for the riot.  He should listen to Tucker Carlson, who has figured out that "FBI operatives" did it.  Anyway, Antifa appears to be off the hook.  Or did Dana get the name of the leftist who provoked him?

The Capitol Police will finally receive the Congressional Gold Medal for defending the Capitol and all the politicians hiding inside it, despite twenty-one Republicans who voted against it.  One of them, the loathsome dentist Gosar, is still ranting that insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt was "executed" and demanding the name of the shooter.  Remember how Gosar, Gohmert, Boebert, Gaetz, Clyde, Taylor Greene and the rest greeted the patriotic tourists with flowers and Zagnuts?  Yeah, me neither.