Circumnavigating the Globe: COVID in Deer, Lockdowns in Germany, a Trump Rioter in Belarus & the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

In this episode, Alex circumnavigates the globe talking about a plethora of problematic trends related to the pandemic, January 6th, political tensions, and Kyle Rittenhouse. He discusses:

• An NPR article highlights a report that 80% of White-Tail Deer in the United States have either tested positive for COVID or have antibodies in their systems. Virologists at Penn State believe that the virus was passed to deer from humans and worry that deer could be a new reservoir for the virus. This means that even if the Hyman population reaches herd immunity, the virus could still mutate and jump back to humans from the deer population. This has also been seen in mink populations and describes a trend that worries virologists around the globe.

 

• Germany and Austria have seen a large spike in COVID hospitalizations that are putting ICU beds in a dire situation. This is a disturbing trend because cases were lower a year ago when the vaccine wasn’t being rolled out. Both Germany and Austria are installing a policy known as G2. G2 stands for the German words for vaccination and recovery, meaning that if citizens in certain regions aren’t either vaccinated or recovering from the virus, they must isolate themselves at home. 

 

• Vaccination rates in Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, and the majority of the Balkan states are lagging WAY behind the rest of Europe. This isn’t due to a lack of vaccine accessibility, it seems like institution distrust in these countries is quite high. 

 

• Evan Neumann, an American who is wanted by the FBI on charges that he assaulted police officers on January 6th, has fled America based on advice from his attorney. After traveling and evading arrest in Europe, he has landed in Belarus and is trying to claim political asylum in maybe one of the worst places for political asylum seekers. He claims to be persecuted for his political beliefs and is ironically in a country where the government isn’t friendly towards political dissent. 

 

• The jury is now deliberating the case of Kyle Rittenhouse in Wisconsin. The left has called Rittenhouse a vigilante, who caused more violence than he prevented. Conversely, the right sees him as a folk hero that stood up against the civil unrest caused by the progressive agitators. Alex feels that Kyle will be acquitted but it tells us more than we need to know about the current political energy in the United States.