Friday, October 16, 2020

18: Vote like your country's life depends on it



I posted this title before Michelle Obama gave her speech last Tues.
Clearly I agree with her! Ha!




49 comments:

  1. Hallo good buddies! I'm back from retreat and very glad I went. You will be treated to photos at some point.

    Just had to pop by with this link, though!

    White House was warned that Giuliani was being used by Russians to 'feed misinformation' to Trump
    https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/politics/rudy-giuliani-russian-intelligence-misinformation-operation-trump/index.html

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  2. Retreat was very high quality with salt-of-the earth people who all are hoping for change. There were 95 participants, so when we were sent to break-out rooms of 5 people each, and it worked seamlessly, I was blown away!! The Shalem Institute in Maryland is where I did my spiritual guidance studies. They have always had quality retreats, but with the COVID mess they had to completely regroup. The result is that with so many excellent retreats AND study programs online now via Zoom, they have double snd tripled enrollment! Hurrah for the new tech savvy staff member (a young guy who is really sweet and sports a pony tail), and hurrah for a Board with imagination and willingness to try new things. I really love these people.

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  3. So the retreat speaker was the last remaining founder of Shalem (I think he's in his 90s now). He's an author and Episcopal priest with a PhD. When I took the guidance program in the late 90's his were quite the scholarly presentations. He would go on and on about some theological concept until all our eyes were glazed over. LOL! So when he hesitantly told us he was going to share a dream he had, my ears pricked up. In a nutshell: he had a dream that Biden won the election and now it was Inauguration Day. For some reason, he was a speaker at the Inauguration and his talk was about the Cabinet that Biden had carefully chosen, which included many intelligent and compassionate people.

    All I can say is: from his dream to God's ears!

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  4. THURSDAY:
    VT: 1903 (+14)
    58 deaths (78 days)
    170 active cases
    Recovered: 1685 (+7)
    In Hospital 0 ( 0)
    Tests 175,726 (+470)

    WEDNESDAY:
    VT: 1,889 (+3)
    Deaths: 58 (77 days)
    Active Cases: 153
    Recovered: 1,678 (+5)
    In Hospital: 0
    Tests: 175,256 (+696)

    TUESDAY:
    VT: 1,886 (+10)
    Deaths: 58 (76 days)
    Active Cases: 155
    Recovered: 1,673 (+9)
    In Hospital: 0
    Tests: 174,560 (+845)

    MONDAY:
    VT: 1,876 (+8)
    Deaths: 58 (75 days)
    Recovered: 1,664
    In Hospital: 0
    Tests: 173,715 (+889)

    SUNDAY:
    VT: 1,868 (+11)
    Deaths: 58 (74 days)
    Active Cases: 154
    Recovered: 1,656 (+5)
    In Hospital: 0
    Tests: 172,826 (+1647)

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  5. Trump administration rejects California's disaster assistance request for wildfires
    https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/politics/trump-california-fire-disaster-assistance/index.html

    Grrrrr.

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    Replies
    1. Can they do that? I mean, is it legal?

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    2. A phone call from the Governor and Trump backed down.

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  6. Alan -- re your comments and question on the last thread: I don't quite understand your comments about not voting for or against people running unopposed in the context of a judicial retention ballot where there is by definition only one name to be voted yea or nay. Are you saying that as a matter of principle you will let other people make the decision?

    Yes, this year is unusual: There is a constitutional amendment on the ballot. It would allow Illinois to impose a graduated income tax rather than imposing the same rate on everyone. There are also a couple of non-binding referenda for OK Park that are essentially intended to limit the spending power of local governments.

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    Replies
    1. For instance, there is only one candidate for our state Assembly member, and there is no way to vote against him. So I don't vote for him either. Do you have an opportunity to vote either for or against the judges running for their present jobs?

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    2. Yes. That is precisely what "judicial retention" means.

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    3. I don't think we have that sort of arrangement in California.

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    4. It preserves a degree of judicial independence while keeping judges accountable to the voters. No system is perfect but, aside from the inordinate length of the Cook County ballot, this looks like a good compromise.

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    5. I can certainly see the argument for it.

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  7. Replies
    1. Sounds like Trump met his match--and sexist fellow that I am, I consider it frosting on the cake that his interviewer was a woman.

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    2. Yeah, that was my reaction too. Glad someone finally stood up to him, and doubly glad it was a female someone.

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    3. She did great. We found it highly entertaining. DT's usual "I don't know those people" crap didn't fly. For heavens sake, it's his JOB to know about these things! I loved the "You're not somebody's crazy uncle." But my favourite part was when DT tried to say he has to go out in public sans masks, etc., because he can't just stay in a room all day. Wil started up the "Lock him up!" chant! LOL!

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  8. Pennsylvania has rejected 372,000 mail ballot applications [mostly replicates], bewildering voters and straining elections staff [Click]

    The administrative nightmare highlights the difficulty of ramping up vote-by-mail on the fly without enough voter education. . . States that have large numbers of successful mail voters, pre-pandemic, have educated their voters about this process over decades, and Pennsylvania is trying to do this in a matter of months. . .”

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  9. OHIO: COVID cases, 177,991 and 5,054 deaths.

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  10. The only news today that is not bad for Our Glorious Leader seems to be that which is worse. Here are headlines from politicalwire.com [Click], in chronological order of posting:

    Hospitals Search for Beds as Virus Rebounds
    Trump and Pelosi Haven’t Spoken In a Year
    Susan Collins Still Trails In Maine
    White House Puts ‘Politicals’ at CDC to Control Info
    Florida GOP Cuts Democrats’ Registration Edge OK, not bad, but:
    Bloomberg Teams with Latino Group for [Florida] Ad Buy
    The GOP Ponders Life After Trump
    Trump Fooled by Satirical Website
    Trump Gets Grilled as Biden Coasts
    Trump Hits Susan Collins
    Worries About Postal Service Boost In-Person Early Vote
    More Exposure Not Helping Trump
    Avalanche of Early Votes Transforms 2020 Election
    Hyde-Smith Won’t Debate In Mississippi Senate Race
    New Battleground State Polls
    Joni Ernst Flubs Question on Price of Soybeans
    Biden Heads Into Final Stretch with Huge Cash Advantage
    Utah Attorney General Lies About Funeral to Delay Debate
    Trump Figures Out a Way to Further Alienate Women
    Election Forecasts Converge
    Trump Advisers Brace for Loss
    Early Ratings Show Biden’s Town Hall Beating Trump’s
    Pfizer Says Vaccine Not Ready Before Election
    Trump [further] Slashes Ad Spend In Minnesota
    George Bush Stays Silent
    More Watched Biden Than Trump, Including Cable
    Budget Deficit Surpassed $3.1 Trillion

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  11. Pritzker says ‘we are in a new wave here’ as Illinois reports 4,554 new COVID-19 cases, the second record high in as many days. But hospitalizations so far only up slightly and the Chicago area is not doing as badly as the rest of the state, which is not doing as badly as surrounding states.

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    Replies
    1. Good luck and best wishes to all. The way the virus spreads is very insidious.

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  12. Replies
    1. Not only that - he's stealing the money from the Medicare Fund and trying to pretend he is Mr. Beneficent.

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    2. Yep. And Social Security too.

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  13. Joe Biden Has Changed; He’s preparing for a transformative presidency.
    [Click] I can’t agree with the author’s contention that the New Democrats were center-left rather than center-right (at best), but putting that hackneyed assumption aside, he may be right. I hope so. But I remember thinking of Nixon that perhaps the leopard could change its spots. There is nothing I could do to change the outcome of this election, and I don’t regret for a moment voting for Howie Hawkins. I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen, but if what the author foresees should come to pass, I will be mightily pleased.

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  14. Trump Is Scared [Click] “People who have speculated that Trump’s COVID-19 treatment altered his judgment misunderstand the president.”

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    Replies
    1. Dammit! It's very frustrating that the things I want to read are all on sites with Paywalls. I DO NOT LIKE being held hostage and denied the news unless I pay up.

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    2. Try with a different browser.

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    3. In the case of The Atlantic, even just turning the same browser off and then back on seems to work for me.

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    4. Susan, check your FB Messenger messages.

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  15. VT: 1915 (+12)
    58 deaths (None in 79 days)
    180 active cases
    Recovered 1687 (+2)
    In Hospital 0 ( 0)
    Tests 176,605 (+879)

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  16. US passes 8m coronavirus cases as death toll approaches 220,000 [Click] “Trump claims virus will ‘peter out’ in country with most cases and highest death toll.” This seems like a pretty clear summary of what is going on. And remember that the 220,000 figure is just verified cases—the excess deaths toll is about half again as much.

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