I don't usually wander into the thicket of coronavirus data, because most people who do end up regretting it. But I was trying to find the answer to a question about minorities and vaccination (after President Biden called unvaccinated people "not smart," which is the opposite of my experience -- people who resist vaccines tend to have "too much" information, some of it less than credible).
The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has great data on the topic. The trouble is, different data sets seem to tell a very different story. On the one hand, data on reported "intentions" shows that rural whites, evangelical Christians, and Republicans are far more likely to resist the vaccine.
https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/poll-finding/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-june-2021/
On the other hand, data from state reports on actual vaccinations shows that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to have received at least one shot thus far.
What's the story here? Is it just response bias? Are some people lying to pollsters because they fear being pressured if they give the "wrong" answer?
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
Topics:
- The state of the economy
- The fight against crime
- The midterm election fight
- The struggle for peace between Russia and Ukraine
- The airstrike on the Venezuelan drug cartel
- The attempt to sink Kennedy
- The war in Gaza
- The case against Harvard
- The Trump presidency
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...
