Biden and his administration plan to put pressure on private business, federal agencies, and schools to enact stricter vaccination mandates and testing policies. “We know that increasing vaccinations will stop the spread of the pandemic, will get the pandemic under control, will return people to normal life,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters yesterday. 

  About 27 percent of the eligible US population age 12 and older have not received any Covid vaccinations, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

  Biden and his administration are fighting not only a disease, but political resistance, the notion among millions of Americans that not getting vaccinated is a matter of personal freedom. As a result some of the hardest-hit states, like Florida and Texas, are the states in which the unvaccinated percentage of population is higher.

Here Comes the Sun: The Biden administration released an ambitious plan to have half the country’s electricity produced from sunlight by the year 2050.

  That represents an enormous shift, like taking a left turn at 100 mph. Right now about 4 percent of electricity in this country is solar derived.

  An Energy Department report says the country needs to double the amount of solar energy  every year over the next four years compared with last year, and double annual installations again by 2030. One division of the department says it’s possible at current rates of solar development to hit 42 percent by the year 2050.

  On the upside, the price of solar panels is falling, making solar power cheaper than other sources in some parts of the country.

Blood Pressure: Opening arguments began yesterday in the long-awaited trial of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the blood testing start-up Theranos, who is accused of committing massive fraud.

  Holmes and Ramesh Balwani, her former business and romantic partner, face 12 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Assistant US Attorney, Robert Leach argued that Holmes had lied and cheated to get investors. “That’s a crime on Main Street and it’s a crime in Silicon Valley,” he said.

  The 37-year-old Holmes dropped out of Stanford University at 19 to create the company that grew to have a market  value of $9 billion. She promised a revolution in blood testing technology, but is accused of following the Silicon Valley credo of “fake it until you make it.” It all blew up after the revelation that her technology had major shortcomings.

  Prosecutors say she lied and deceived in order to get investors to sink money into her company. Leach told the jury, “Out of time and out of money, Elizabeth Holmes decided to lie.”

  Defense lawyer Lance Wade said, “Trying your hardest and coming up short is not a crime.”

  The trial continues tomorrow.

Boarding Pass: The Taliban say they will allow Americans stuck in Afghanistan to fly out of the country.

  Several planes have arrived at the airport in Kabul carrying humanitarian aid and airport operations might be resuming. How or when the Americans might leave, the Taliban didn’t say. So far they have blocked charter flights from leaving the country.

The Spin Rack: After years of wrangling and debate, a 21-foot statute of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the hero of the Confederacy, was taken down from its pedestal on a Richmond, Virginia traffic circle. It was the last of six statues of Confederate heroes that once stood along a Richmond boulevard. It turns out that the Confederates were wrong about slavery and also lost the Civil War. — The White House has asked all 18 of former President Donald Trump’s appointees to the boards of the nation’s military academies, including former adviser Kellyanne Conway, press secretary Sean Spicer and national security adviser HR McMaster, to resign or be dismissed. The Republicans are outraged but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “The president’s qualification requirements are not your party registration. They are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you are aligned with the values of this administration.” — The National Football League has relaxed its numbering rules, now allowing players other that quarterbacks to wear single-digit numbers. 

The Obit Page: Michael Constantine, the actor who played the Windex wielding father in the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” died on August 31st at his home in Reading, Pa. He was 94.

  He had also played the school principal on the popular TV series “Room 222.” 

Conversion Therapy: Spanish Catholic bishop Xavier Novell resigned last month for what were vaguely describe as “personal” reasons.

  He had been considered a rising star in Spain’s Catholic Church. In 2010 at the age of 41, he became Spain’s youngest bishop. Novell has endorsed conversion therapy to turn gay people straight and carried out exorcisms. 

  It has now emerged in Spanish media that Novell fell in love with a divorcee who writes Satanic-tinged erotic fiction. Silvia Caballol’s books include such titles as “The Hell of Gabriel’s Lust.” The blurb for one of her books promises a journey into sadism, madness, lust, and a struggle between good and evil, God and Satan with a plot to shake one’s values and religious beliefs.”

  Evidently it worked.

-30-