Among many, the fear of COVID-19 is great and the solution – universal vaccinations to achieve herd immunity – is incontestable. Some are calling for vaccination IDs, and even mandatory vaccinations.
Would that be constitutional?
In 1901, a smallpox epidemic prompted the Boston and Cambridge boards of health to order vaccinations of all its residents.
One of them, a Swedish-born pastor named Henning Jacobson, refused and was fined. He then took his case all the way to the US Supreme Court.
I wondered: How did the nation’s top justices rule? This is what I found.
In introducing Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan, some pundits explained that the actual cost would be nothing because of the “multiplying effect” on such programs – i.e., the programs would result in increasing the GDP by a factor of 4 to 5. That apparently has happened in the past. But will it happen again this time? Bill Bonner doubts it and, in this article, provides data that indicate it might have exactly the opposite effect.
Ram Jam, Thank You Ma’am: The Story of “Black Betty”
I’m thinking of producing a documentary about “Black Betty,” a song that is often attributed to Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter.
Lead Belly’s 1939 version is short – just one stanza – and simple. He sang it adagio and a capella – almost mournfully. Earlier versions, also sung a capella by chain gangs, suggest that it might have been a song from slavery days that he had adapted.
In 1977, the rock band Ram Jam recorded their own version, with two additional stanzas. It was fast-paced, with a strong bass and amazing guitar licks. It was, really, an entirely different song.
Ram Jam’s version was an instant hit, reaching number 18 on the singles charts in the US, and in the top 10 in the UK and Australia.
Then all kinds of hell broke out. Ram Jam was sued by the NAACP for copyright violation, and there was some objection to it in the media. (Expropriation and all that.) The net result was that the band was denied any royalties for their rendition. (Highly unusual.)
And then… what may be the most interesting part of the story. Ram Jam’s lead singer sort of disappeared, ala Searching for Sugar Man.
There is a YouTube rabbit hole you can go down that roughly documents some of this story. I’ve provided some of the videos below. (If you don’t have time to watch them all, just check out the 1939 Lead Belly performance and Ram Jam’s take on it 38 years later.)
Okay, here are the videos…
Lead Belly’s 1939 performance:
An earlier (1933) version:
The 1977 Ram Jam version:
For some of the story behind the song:
And here are people reacting to the Ram Jam version:
MarkFord
