Thoughts for the Day, February 23, 2021: Jack Nicklaus’s record is safe.

Tiger Woods was seriously injured early this morning in a single car crash in California. He was alert and able to talk as they removed him from his car using the Jaws of life. He underwent surgery for two broken legs. At the time of the crash Tiger was recovering from another back surgery. At age 45 It is hard to imagine how Tiger can recover from these injuries and go on to win one more PGA event to break the tie he has with Sam Snead for most wins. It is even harder to imagine he can win three more majors to tie with Jack Nicklaus for the all time major wins. It has been a great 28 year run. Unforturnately with this accident, it has most likely come to an end.

With the Senate holding hearings on the attack on the Capitol on January 6, you can expect the “blame game” to be in play. My reading on what happened is that there is no clear cut point of responsibility when it comes to law enforcement in our nation’s capital and on the grounds of the Capitol Building. As a result no agency knew who was responsible for what. It is important that this get resolved in the very near future so something like this never happens again.

The New York Times is reporting tonight that five officials will resign from the board overseeing the Texas power grid after it was pushed to the brink of collapse by the recent winter storm, leaving millions without electricity during some of the coldest temperatures the state has experienced in a generation. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the board that governs the flow of power for more than 26 million people in the state, has been blamed for the widespread outages, prompting the governor, lawmakers and federal officials to begin inquiries into the system’s failures, particularly in preparation for cold weather. The five board members, who intend to resign at the conclusion of a meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning, were all from outside of Texas, a point of contention for critics who questioned the wisdom of outsiders playing such an influential role in the state’s infrastructure.

The Michigan State Spartans’ mens basketball team did a great big favor for the Michigan Wolverines tonight. Sparty beat number 5 ranked Illinois tonight. The loss gives the second place Illini 4 losses as compared to only one loss by the first place Wolverines. Michigan has a three game cushion in the loss column, which will be critical as it is most likely that this year’s regular season champion will be decided by win/loss percentage.

Illinois has become the first state to completely eliminate cash bail, a result of a push by state legislators to end a practice they say keeps poor people in jail for months awaiting trial and disproportionately affects Black and Latino defendants. The change is part of a sweeping law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, on Monday. In Washtenaw County, Prosecuting Attorney Eli Savit has been making headlines as a result of his announcing that the prosecutor’s office will no longer be requesting cash bail for those accused of a non-violent crime. More to come on this issue as there has been lots of pushback from many constituents.

Quote of the Day: “The magnitude of it is just horrifying,” said Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, after the U.S. broke the half million mark yesterday for Covid-19 deaths.

Orchid of the Day: To Senators Stabenow and Peters who plan to reintroduce bipartisan legislation that would close loopholes in a law that requires the government to buy American-made products when possible. 

Onion of the Day: The U.S.A for reaching 500,000 covid-19 deaths. We have 4% of the worlds population and 20% of the world’s covid-19 deaths. It is embarrassing.