January Exitum

That was fast…the first month of the year so many were waiting for has just about come and gone. Although millions of people have been vaccinated and the number of new cases of COVID-19 seems to be declining, the number had reached such high levels that the damn virus is still wreaking havoc. The most recent US 7-day average of new cases declined by 31 percent from 14 days earlier. Still, so many people have become infected–all over the world–that the virus is mutating.

Plenty of blame to go around…the Drump Administration, blind adherents to “libertarianism,” etc., but let’s not forget the Chinese government. They did not publicly report the Wuhan outbreak for at least a month–it is highly likely they knew much earlier, it is a communist country that keeps close tabs on its citizenry after all–and they ignored an offer by the US CDC to send a team to China to help contain the outbreak.

Speaking of the damn virus…this article from Israel reports that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is showing 92 percent effectiveness there, according to the world’s first big controlled investigation on how it works outside of clinical tests. To quote Israeli statistical analyst Anat Ekka Zohar, “This is very, very good news.”

Hang on because help is on the way? I am not a doctor or an epidemiologist and hope I have not written anything to imply otherwise. All I can write is that this is yet another example of how ignorant, blind adherence to any ideology can be very dangerous.

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On this day in 1942, Chrysler, Lincoln and Studebaker stopped production of passenger cars. Earlier in January the federal government had set February 10 as the date for final production although only Pontiac actually manufactured cars until then. Manufacturers began “dropping out” on January 24th when Willys-Overland became the first company to stop production.

I was not alive during World War II and even those who were and are still alive today might have difficulty comparing the situation then to the one today. The impression I have is that the country was united in its efforts during the war, orders of magnitude more than it is today about the damn virus.

For eons, people rebelled against the yoke of tyranny as applied by kings and lords. Of course, people should have freedom to make decisions about their lives. However, the pendulum has swung too far from its “original” position in much of the so-called developed world or, more accurately I think, in the minds of millions in the “first world,” in my opinion.

As I have written before, in a country or society absolute freedom cannot exist because in such a context that state of affairs is anarchy. Finding the balance, though, between individual rights and the “good” of society is a most tricky endeavor. I believe that balance is and should be different in different countries, that no “world” standard can be applied to all.

From Pinterest, a picture of one of my favorite “pre-war” cars, the 1942 DeSoto with hidden headlights. Print ads for the car included the line, “Out of sight, except at night.”

By the way, DeSoto produced cars all the way until February 9, 1942. Total model year output was 24,771 although, not surprisingly, only 4,186 cars were actually built during calendar year 1942.

I will almost certainly never have the resources to indulge every automotive fantasy of mine, but I would love to acquire one of these as the basis for a restomod. That “face” of the car with that grill and the hidden headlights is just awesome to me. What is life without dreams?

#JanuaryExitum

#SayNoToIdeology

#1942DeSoto

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

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