WOW!
It rocks my world, to think of that great, famous star in Orion going to supernova and then we won't see it anymore. But it's a done deal. Actually, it happened long ago and the results are just catching up with us; soon anyway. So I'm going to pay attention and really enjoy this stellar event. Good ol' Betelgeuse...and maybe in my lifetime. Wow.
I looked into it, listener, and it seems premature to set up a supernova watching party. It is expected within the next 10,000 years, though. Betelgeuse is extremely variable in brightness--we don't know why. But that sure would be something to see (and later NOT see). Sorry to be a wet blanket.
ReplyDeletePhooey!
DeleteI’m still rooting for sometime in the next 20 years!
I s'pose it's possible, but seems unlikely. Sorry to throw cold water on the idear.
DeleteHope springs eternal. Yep, that would be neat.
DeleteAs of January 1 Mayor Pete is no longer a Mayor. His time as Mayor is over, a new Mayor has been sworn in and now Mayor Pete can spend more time in Wine Caves.
ReplyDeleteLOL Not snarky much, are we, Susan? Mind you, I am thoroughly disillusioned with him. It pissed me off royally when Mum told me this afternoon that he came in right after Bernie in fundraising in the last quarter of 2019.
DeleteIt also drives me stark raving mad that MSNBC talk in one breath about the loyalty of Sanders supporters and dismiss him as a sideshow in the next!
From various sites:
ReplyDeleteAndrew Yang raised $16.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, his best total for a three-month period to date.
Sen. Bernie Sanders raised more than $34.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019.
His fourth-quarter total is larger than any candidate has raised in a single quarter so far in the primary race.
Castro Drops Presidential Bid
Gabbard raises $3.4 million in 4th quarter
Buttigieg $24.7 million
Trump is bragging about $46 million, but that is probablly less than half what the Democratic presidential candidates have raised--just like the previous quarter (further back I don't recall).
DeleteJoe Biden’s posted his best fundraising quarter — $22.7 million — since entering the presidential race in April.
DeleteGO BERNIE GO!!!
DeleteAnd all from small donations!
Biden raised $22.7 million. Warren hasn't announced her figures, but had $17 million a few days before the deadline.
DeleteMum told me Bernie raised 24 million. I don't know if that's because she got confused or because 24 million is what MSNBC told her. Can you tell I don't trust MSNBC?
DeleteCentrist Democrats need a 2020 reality check before it's too late [Click] Cas Mudde: “In obsessively pursuing white, middle-class midwestern voters, Democratic leaders are setting their party up for disaster”
ReplyDeleteWell, the leaders aren't the party. The leaders haven't been the party for a long time. In short, screw the leaders!
DeleteAmen, Cat! I get tired of people saying "the Democratic Party" as though it sat in one DC building.
DeleteHear, hear! And the so-called "centrists" are *at best* center-right.
DeleteWhat the Death of iTunes Says About Our Digital Habits [Click] And I never even knew it was dead! Cultural deprivation strikes again.
ReplyDeleteHUH? That might explain my screen reader no longer working with it. Well, damn! Once I got used to it, I found it quite useful. Why do technologies go kaput just as I get used to them?
DeleteSheer cussedness, I figure. [grin]
DeleteProbably. *sigh*
DeleteSwine fever devastated China’s stock because with unsound governance, even sound regulations have perverse effects. [Click]
ReplyDeleteDems rocket into 2020 with huge donor windfall [Click] This is from politico.com, so that explains the breathless language. Still, I’ll take it…
ReplyDeleteSanders Sharpens Attacks on Biden [Click]
ReplyDeleteFundraising Hauls Solidify Democratic Top Tier [Click]
A Very Grave Situation
ReplyDeleteBy Josh Marshall
|
January 2, 2020 8:30 p.m.
JOIN TPM FOR JUST $1
We now have apparent confirmation that the US mounted a retaliatory raid on a convoy in Iraq (unclear whether it’s a drone attack or missiles) that killed a leader of the Iraqi militia that menaced the US Embassy and critically also killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. There is apparent confirmation of Soleimani’s death on Iraqi TV. I don’t believe we have clear confirmation that this was a US strike. But it’s hard to know who else would be in any position to have done it. It’s chaotic and developing story. Perhaps we’ll new reports will change the picture. But it seems pretty clear that Soleimani is dead.
I hesitate to comment more than simply to say that this is a massive, massive escalation of the confrontation between the US and Iran. Soleimani is a very important figure in Iran. People will disagree about the wisdom of this action or its eventual consequences. But this is a big, big deal – a pandora’s box type escalation with consequences that are hard to predict.
I wonder if US forces will be expelled from Iraq. US diplomatic personnel could also be reduced by the Iraqi government.
DeleteBREAKING NEWS: CNN reports the Pentagon is going to make a statement momentarily.
ReplyDelete"With the assassination of Qassim Soleimani, the US has just essentially declared war on Iran."
Delete~ Liane
The Pentagon has just confirmed that it was us. We are officially thugs.
This won't be just another war in the Middle East. We just started a war with a power that has nuclear possibility.
DeleteHad DT been in power instead of Kennedy, we'd all have died long ago during the Cuban missile crisis.
DeleteGreat. < heavy irony >
DeleteBut at least he dissed all our allies first, and killed our treaties.
DeleteBTW the new decade does indeed begin with the year 2021. The decade, the century and the millennium always begins with year 1 and ends with year 0. Thus, this year is the last year of the 2010s.
ReplyDeleteWhen you count objects, do you begin counting with 0 or with 1? 0 pennies, 1 penny, 2 pennies or 1 penny, 2 pennies, 3 pennies? Years are just like pennies. You count them 1 through 10, 11 through 20, 21 through 30, etc.
Ironically enough, though, it's still already the Roaring 2020s!
DeleteSorry to be grumpy. For some reason I don't know, I got very little sleep last night, besides which I have to go to the doctor tomorrow afternoon, breaking in a new GP. So, I'm not in a very good mood.
DeleteNo, it isn't the Twenties till next year. This year is the last year of the tens, or teens, however it's supposed to be written.
DeleteYou can be grumpy. I don't mind!
DeleteA new doc is hardly ever a pleasant event. But I hope this time you get a really good one.
Well, the year is 2020, so I'm accepting it as the start of the "2020s." Remember that time is arbitrary and the calendar itself has been shifted numerous times. If I have to put up with the gov't changing the time of day twice a year, I can allow myself to enjoy the number 2020. ;-)
It would please me immensely if the military would give trump a personal escort to the front lines so he could check things out himself.
ReplyDelete*sardonic laugh* Yeah, I can picture that. He wouldn't recognize a front line if it bit him in the arss. Lead from the rear, that's his motto, preferably from the depths of a nice, safe closet. Poltroon!
DeletePoltroon indeed! Exactly the right word.
DeleteIran general Qassem Suleimani killed in Baghdad drone strike ordered by Trump [Click] “White House says ‘decisive defensive action’ taken by president to kill Quds force leader in Baghdad airport attack”
ReplyDeleteTrump ordered the strike at a time when the US Congress was in recess... Democrats and some Republicans in Congress will see it as an usurpation of the legislature’s authority to decide matters of war and peace.
Delete“One reason we don’t generally assassinate foreign political officials is the belief that such action will get more, not less [sic], Americans killed,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on Twitter. “That should be our real, pressing and grave worry tonight.”
It should have been clear to anyone with eyes to see that the US invasion of Iraq and its aftermath greatly increased the influence of Iran there. US meddling in Iran has been counterproductive from the beginning in 1953. [Click]
VERY good point about it taking place while Congress was in recess...by ONE day. Wow. He really does believe himself a dictator. (Bush only needed to be the Decider.) EVERYONE is saying this is a really big deal, an escalation that "cannot be overestimated." So much for him allegedly wanting to get out of involvement in the Middle East, eh?
DeleteBut what if the Iraqi government were to tell the Americans to get out within, say, thirty days? Then Trump withdraws all our troops and brags about it.
Delete