Aaron Rodgers, Astroworld & Building Back Enough?

In this episode, Alex decides to focus on three topics - Aaron Rodgers, the Astroworld tragedy, and the passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. He discusses - 

•  Last week, Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback for the Packers, tested positive for COVID-19. Then it came out the same day that he hadn’t been vaccinated. This stirred up a lot of controversies because Rodgers had said he was “immunized” back in August and there are videos of him not following the NFL protocol for unvaccinated players. Since Rodgers has doubled down, he has called out the woke mob, has done his own research, and seems to have become a vaccine contrarian. Alex worries that this has been an unseen side effect of the pandemic - intellectuals who have become contrarians. 

•  A $1.2 billion infrastructure bill has finally passed. The bill saw support from 13 Republicans in the house but also 6 Democrats voted against the bill. Alex mentions that the bill is a good start in focusing on “hard infrastructure” like repairing roads, bridges, the electrical grid, railway systems, and more. However, he feels that it may only be a short victory for Biden and is only the beginning. Of course, the 13 Republicans that voted for the bill have received death threats, calls to oust them from house leadership positions, and even Marjorie Taylor Greene has put out their personal information. 

•  A tragedy at the Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas left 8 dead and many injured. Travis Scott, who headlined the festival, has received several lawsuits. He is getting backlash from some because he apparently didn’t do enough to tell the crowd to calm down. Alex feels that just blaming one party would be too simple, he thinks it was the perfect storm between poor crowd control, too many people, Scott pumping up the crowd, and post-pandemic craziness.