Saturday, January 09, 2021

Sunrise over Mount Mansfield

 

28 comments:

  1. What is that building in the photograph, listener?

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    1. It is a former logging company building, which has been renovated and is likely to be used for retail at some point. It is just behind our 3 year old supermarket that looks like a large red sugarhouse.

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    2. An office/headquarters building, from the looks of it.

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  2. The 432-year-old manual on social distancing [Click] In this spookily prescient booklet, people are advised to keep six feet apart, avoid shaking hands and only send one person per household out to do the shopping.

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    1. Gee, look how far we've come.

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    2. Evidently that city suffered about as badly as average from the plague--lost about half their residents to it. But they kept it from spreading to others. Like the famous town in southern England that isolated itself to protect its neighbors from the plague.

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  3. OHIO; COVID cases 770,977 and 9,599 deaths

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  4. NYT: Far-Right Protesters Stormed Germany’s Parliament. What Can America Learn? [Click] “It might be time to crack down, rather than reach out.” I don’t think there is any “might be” about it.

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    1. The time for appeasement is past; but the infiltration of the police by White nationalists and other right wing radicals poses a problem.

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  5. “House Democrats plan to move on a second impeachment of Donald J. Trump as early as Monday — and on Wednesday at the latest, depending on member travel,” Axios reports.

    There’s just one article in the four-page draft: “Incitement of Insurrection.”
    ====================
    West Virginia Delegate Derrick Evans (R), who was seen on video with rioters going inside of the Capitol Wednesday, has announced his resignation from the West Virginia House of Delegates, WSAZ reports.

    Just yesterday, Evans’ lawyer told WVNS-TV that he would not step down and he “committed no criminal act that day.”
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    U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra suggested on Dutch television that the pillaging of the U.S. Capitol is something that happens every four years.
    Then when called out on it, Hoekstra made himself the victim by claiming the interviewer was “rude” to him.
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    WaPo: How one of America’s ugliest days unraveled inside and outside the Capitol [Click] Excerpts:

    Noon: Trump begins his more than one-hour speech, repeating false claims about a stolen election and telling the crowd to “never give up” and “never concede.”

    1:10 p.m. Trump ends his speech by urging his followers to march down Pennsylvania Avenue. “We’re going to the Capitol,” he said. “We’re going to try and give them [Republicans] the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”

    3-4PM: Protesters gather at the Louisiana Capitol, Florida Capitol and Ohio Statehouse. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) . . .evacuates his office, along with his staff. The Utah and New Mexico capitols are also evacuated.

    Police declare a Los Angeles gathering unlawful as conflict breaks out between Trump supporters, counterprotesters and police. Similar clashes happen in Sacramento near the Capitol.

    Trump supporters gather in Austin, Denver and Minneapolis. Denver city offices and the Texas Capitol building close early.

    5PM: Protesters in Arizona shout for Gov. Doug Ducey (R). . .to come outside, pounding on Capitol doors and cracking a window. A makeshift guillotine is set up near the Arizona Capitol as Trump supporters gather in Phoenix.

    A demonstration at the Oregon Capitol in Salem turns violent, prompting police to declare an unlawful assembly. An hour later, protesters breach the gates of Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee’s (D) mansion in Olympia, chanting “stop the steal” near his front door.

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  6. Replies
    1. That was obvious to me almost from the start, listening to the riot become an insurrection on CNN over Sirius XM. Nor is Rep. Clyburn the first to make the assertion publically. Speculation ranges from members of the Capitol Police (my own belief) to unnamed reps and sens. CNN has been playing a report on warning signs that violence was coming, including audio of a right wing extremist telling his followers that he and "two congressmen" were planning something big, or words to that effect. It's the "two congressmen" that I find interesting.

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  7. The 70-Year-Old Mystery of Two Galactic Mushroom Clouds [Click] Giant bubbles expanding above and below the Milky Way seem to be remnants of an ancient explosion.

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  8. From a discussion thread:

    growe • an hour ago

    We don’t know all Trump crimes or the details yet. He does and he is boiling in enraged terror. It’s worse than rape or Russian payola (those, we know). And clearly Donald knows prosecutors have the goods, had them long ago.

    Enjoy the show, it’s not ending, it’s just getting started. Within months or likely not more than a year no one in his party will risk being seen with him.

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    Jorge Velasquez 30 minutes ago

    "Donald Trump? I don't know him. I think he was the guy who got coffee."

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    1. growe says, "Enjoy the show." Personally I am very, very tired of the show featuring Donald Trump. Let him fade into the obscurity he so richly deserved.

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  9. “Days after a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, dozens of heavily armed people gathered outside the Kentucky Capitol building Saturday to rail against socialism, communism, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Gov. Andy Beshear,” the Lexington Herald Leader reports. [Click]
    Good Heavens! Is that all they can think of to rail against? Sounds like a pretty laid-back crowd. Either that or they aren’t even trying.

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  10. Trump Media Empire? Don’t Bet on It. [Click] “He may desperately need his own platform now that he’s been exiled from Twitter, but it’s going to cost him more than he’s got.”

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  11. From Quartz Daily Brief:

    Good morning, Quartz readers!
    Like many of the markers of Donald Trump’s four years in office, this week’s insurrection at the US Capitol was high on symbolism, theatrics, and nastiness—and much lower on substance.
    The images of rioters climbing walls and breaking windows at one of the cornerstones of American democracy have been taken by many as an ominous sign of its demise. The mob literally trashed the place. But if there was a concerted plan to seize power, many plotters got sidetracked with looting congressional offices and taking selfies.
    Trump’s seemingly irrepressible desire to put on a show has dominated his time in the White House, and this was his season finale. That is not to say the Capitol mayhem—and other Trumpian attempts to hijack the national narrative, from his border wall to his trade war with China—are mere spectacle. The president and his supporters have inflicted deep and lasting damage, and the five riot-related deaths are just the latest tragic example.
    But as we watch the last days of the Trump show, it’s worth remembering the real story is often not where he chooses to put the spotlight. As we obsess over the Trump-provoked storming of the Capitol, will we miss more dangerous actions behind closed doors? Some reports suggest the president orchestrated law enforcement’s tepid response at the Capitol, though details are so far scant. That would add an alarming element of conspiracy to his seditious pre-riot pep speech.
    Wednesday’s insurrection also quickly drowned out news that might inspire a very different assessment about the state of US democracy: the victory of Georgia’s two Democratic US Senate candidates, who beat the Republican incumbents and the state’s long history of voter suppression.
    In the end, Trump’s outrageous attempts to remain the center of attention may be what ultimately gets him canceled. After years of enabling his egregious behavior, top Republicans are finally drawing a line at his open incitement of a violent mob. Whether their party’s Trumpian, radical wing goes from sullying to derailing democracy will depend on how serious—and how effective—they are at holding that line. —Ana Campoy

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  12. Our 25-year-old microwave oven wasn't working quite right--the fan came on whenever the door was open, although it still heated OK. I lost two to one on the question of whether to replace it. Interestingly, although the wattage of the new one (1250) is less than the old one (1500), it heats more efficiently. I heated a cup of instant coffee for 99 seconds (same length of time that warmed it well before) and it boiled over.

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    1. Whether the new one will last for 25 years is another question.

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    2. The kind of waves the old ones gave off were worrisome. The new ones are far safer!

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    3. I don't think ours was THAT old.

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  13. VT cases: 8790-8619=171
    2732 active
    156 deaths(NO DEATHS for only the 2nd time since November!)
    Recovered 5902(67.1%)
    Hospital: 33(+4) ICU:7(-1)
    Tests 277,260 (+2245)

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