May the Sun Shine on Your Four-Leafed Clover!
Primaries today in: ARIZONA (67) FLORIDA (219) ILLINOIS (155) OHIO (136) or 6/2?
And may the coming year bring the best sort of luck!
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listener
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1:00:00 AM
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White House Pivots After Dire Report on Death Toll [Click]
ReplyDeleteVA Deletes Mission Statement About Serving Civilian Patients [Click] “The Department of Veterans Affairs serves as a backup health system in times of crisis, but its mission statement for this crucial role was deleted from the agency’s website Friday as many in the country grew concerned that the coronavirus could overload civilian hospitals,” the Washington Post reports.
Restaurants Have Never Seen a Crisis on This Scale [Click]
Bear in mind this is from Politico.com: How ugly could it get? Trump faces echoes of 1929 in coronavirus crisis. [Click] “Forecasters see historic job losses and deep economic pain on the horizon — but with a sharp rebound, if Congress steps up.”
Justice Department Drops Case Against Russian Firm [Click] This couldn’t be the result of Vlad leaning on Trump, now, could it?
In Italy and beyond, churches grapple with coronavirus [Click] “Italian priests are discovering social media as ‘an instrument of prayer,’ but not all countries are following their lead.”
Panic buying in the grocery stores here. I laid in some powdered milk in case of need.
I shouldn’t be surprised if Dear Leader takes the GOP Senate down with him.
Oh, and we have been having some rain. Some a couple of days ago, some yesterday, some more on the way next weekend. It is most welcome after the dryest February in (our relatively short) history.
ReplyDeletePhysicians in China and Korea are reported to have had fairly good results treating the novel coronavirus with an inexpensive, generally safe and readily available medicine. Further information off list if desired, but I don’t want to start a stampede of people pestering their doctors for prophylactic prescriptions.
ReplyDeleteMany of Bernie’s aides and allies expect him to press onward — regardless of Tuesday’s election results. [Click] Works for me.
A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll finds just 37% of Americans now say they had a good amount or a great deal of trust in what they’re hearing from President Trump, while 60% say they had not very much or no trust at all in what he’s saying.
Video of Trump bragging about eliminating US pandemic response team in 2018. [Click]
GOP Impeachment Votes Were Shortsighted [Click] You don’t say. By Michael Gerson [Click]
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio polls remain closed following overnight ruling from Ohio Supreme Court [Click]
Spreading COVID-19 To Own The Libs! Some Rebel Against ‘GOVERNMENT CONTROL’ Of Public Spaces [Click] If the gullible wingers bump themselves off, at least politically, I won’t mind. Which reminds me of this:
ReplyDeleteNunes Lashes Out At ‘Media Freaks’ After Criticism Over Him Saying People Should ‘Go To Local Pubs’ [Click]
After a lot of back and forth, it turns out that there is no voting in Ohio today. Postponed until June 2, but you can also request an absentee ballot. Wonder if today's primaries will skew towards Bernie due to the younger demographic he appeals to.
ReplyDeleteWe were wondering the same thing. It seems likely that folks over 65 would be more reluctant to leave quarantine and vote today than millennials.
DeleteAFAIK, California's governor is the only one to try to force quarantine on people my age simply because we aren't entitled to a normal life. Not that anybody can have a normal life in these days of cancellations and closings.
Deletethey did move the polling places for my precinct and two others from the retirement hotel where they are normally located to a site two blocks away. No real problem for me (I'm just back from voting) but I wonder if some of the hotel's residents may have mobility problems that would discourage the trip.
We had a fair amount of rain here yesterday; this morning is beautiful. Clear sky, good view of snow-covered mountains, a bit of fog in the river bottom, no wind.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds lovely!!
DeleteIn local news:
ReplyDelete‘Everybody has to eat.’ Fresno schools aim to keep students, families fed during crisis [Click]
Third resident of Tulare County (2 counties south of us) positive for coronavirus—hospitalized in serious condition. [Click]
British Museum says metal detectorists found 1,311 treasures last year [Click] Scroll down and look at the brooch!
Unbelievable that it is so ancient!
DeleteStop Blaming Young Voters for Not Turning Out for Sanders [Click] “Sanders is losing to Biden because America is excluding young voters, persistently and systemically.” I don’t know that I agree with everything the writer says, but certainly he does make some good points. I was not aware that Civics classes had been eliminated in many or most US high schools—if true, that is obviously bad. Maybe California is different, but my experience is that voter registration here is easy as pie.
ReplyDeleteActually, if I remember correctly (it HAS been a long time) our civics classes were in grades 7, 8, and 9. What are other people's recollections? Shakespeare started in 10th grade, algebra in 9th grade. Science classes (biology) started in 9th grade, followed by chemistry and physics.
DeleteSame. There are still civics classes here in Vermont. My granddaughter in 6th grade knows a lot.
DeleteIt is very easy to register to vote I n Vermont. It’s a box you check when you get your driver’s license, or you can go into any town clerk’s office.
DeleteHere in Massachusetts it is also possible to register to vote when you get or renew your driver's license or non-driver's state ID.
DeleteIn Illinois it has just this year become automatic that getting a driver's license or ID automatically registers you to vote if you are at least 18 and don't opt out. But there have been several glitches, mostly related to registering people who shouldn't have been.
DeleteMuseum of the Bible in DC bought fraudulent Dead Sea Scroll fragments. [Click] Faith-based purchases, no authentication in advance. Not surprising that they should be gullible.
ReplyDeleteClimate change: The rich are to blame, international study finds [Click]
ReplyDelete“As the coronavirus has worsened, members of the task force President Trump has assigned to combat the pandemic have reached out to prominent conservative social-media ‘influencers’ and right-wing TV and radio stars to offer them private briefings and information sessions with Vice President Mike Pence and other top administration officials,” the Daily Beast reports.
ReplyDeletePolitico.com: “Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will meet with Senate Republicans behind closed doors on Tuesday to present lawmakers with options for aid to airlines, hotels, casinos and small-to-medium-sized businesses.”
If they are going to bail out casinos, they ought [IMO] bail out whorehouses and opium dens as well.
Opium dens are probably few and far between nowadays but, yeah, brothels need help. That is assuming the owners would pass any of it along to the actual sex workers, who must surely be among the most vulnerable of all vulnerable populations in an epidemic. But I can't really see that happening, or the bosses telling the girls to stay home. :(
DeleteFrom what little I know, most of the counties with legal brothels are not heavily dependent of tourism. The may not be greatly impacted.
DeleteI find myself wondering how the federal relief for casinos will be reflected in the state taxes they owe.
Vermont is now up to 14 cases of COVID-19. But Maine...! Maine has gone from 3 cases to 32 cases in just a few days. Wow. We are staying home. Each day I leave my elderly neighbor's mail at her door. Today I learned that she was running low on TP and fruit. So we gave her 6 rolls of TP, 4 apples, a clementine, some homemade soup, saltine crackers, and 3 of our Tulips. And we got a proper blessing in return. She was so pleased and relieved!!
ReplyDeleteI just went out and picked up the mail. Among other things there was a card from
ReplyDeleteAmerican Cruise Lines
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We think not...
Fewer than 200 GUESTS ON Each Ship...
DeleteI just bet fewer than two hundred guests on each ship.
DeleteSeriously though, all those workers' jobs are imperiled. Has the Senate taken up that bill to guarantee paid sick leave and so forth? I know the House passed it with some dispatch but, last I heard, the Senate was sitting on it..
The purpose of the private briefings will most likely be on instructing them how to lie to us.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. Not that they need any training on that. :P
DeleteJust heard on CBS that the Military is donating 5 million surgical masks and 2000 ventilators and are opening some of their labs for testing. Wil and I were like: "They have WHAT!?! What the he!! took them so long?!!!"
ReplyDeleteHere’s what happened the Junior College I attend. [Click] There is no way I could have had any exposure to the presumed coronavirus patient. Feeling a little achey and slighty dizzy, could be a touch of flu (I was vaccinated), which is waning but still here. No fever, blood pressure OK.
ReplyDelete*hug* Alan. You take good care of yourself.
DeleteThings aren't looking good in Illinois. With a bit over a third of the precincts reporting, Biden has a lead of more than 3:2. In my congressional district (IL-7) the lackluster incumbent has 60% of the vote against 3 challengers. The one bright spot is that in IL-3, challenger Marie Newman has a modest lead over conservative incumbent Dan Lipinski.
ReplyDeleteHere's the IL-3 story from Vox:
DeleteMarie Newman unseats one of the last anti-abortion Democrats in Illinois’s 3rd District [Click]
Yes, with just over 90% of precincts reporting, Newman leads 49%-45%.
DeleteBiden's lead is steady at 59$-36%. A definite disappointment.
At least Newman's win is some good news.
DeleteHeadline: Biden calls for Americans to “put politics aside” after winning Florida and Illinois primaries. Oh, of course; let’s get the politics out of politics. What maudlin rubbish. [IMO]
ReplyDelete...because the idiot thinks he can get enough Republicans to vote for him to make up for the Democrats he loses. Biden is not a sports car, he is a horse and buggy. If he is given the nomination I'm leaving the Democratic Party. I cannot support a party that does not support me.
DeleteI’m feeling ill, how do I know if I have coronavirus? [Click] Excellent explanation and illustration of the symptoms!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alan. This is just the sort of thing I've been looking for to post in the new Coronavirus section of my FB group.
DeleteBTW you mentioned on a previous thread that common household bleach in the right concentration kills the Coronavirus. Sorry, but I don't understand. Isn't bleach bleach? I mean, you can dilute it, but how do you make it stronger? Is this something you can explain in simple terms so I can post it to my FB group? It is an international group, so the explanation has to be simple enough for the FB translator function to handle if need be... If you're feeling up to it, of course.
I had been looking for something like Autie Beeb's explanation for my own information, and figured others would find it as helpful as I did.
DeleteAs for the bleach, normal household bleach is 5% [5.25% if you really want to be picky] sodium hypochlorite. [Some is 6%--a trivial difference for our purposes.] Dilute it 50-fold and you get 0.1% sodium hypochlorite, or 2% bleach. That's a low enough concentration to not be particularly harmful, but enough to kill coronaviruses as well as many other pathogens. I think probably 1% bleach would be OK. but the folks writing the scientific paper tested 2% bleach. Hey, why not live it up? I'd be happy to send you a copy of the paper if you would like it.
Cat, my bleach bottle says it’s 6% Sodium Hypochlorite and 94% Other Ingredients (ha! doesn’t say what!). For disinfecting it instructs 1/2 C bleach per gallon of water.
DeleteJust to cap the day...
ReplyDelete☘️ IRISH BLESSING FOR THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
May the road rise up to meet you,
But please do not meet up with anyone else.
May the winds be at your back,
And your coughs be in your elbow.
May the sun shine upon your face,
The rain fall upon your fields,
And until we meet again, in no less than fourteen days,
Though potentially up to four months,
May God hold you in the palm of God’s thoroughly washed hand.☘️
Hang in there everyone! 🍀
Three from The Atlantic:
ReplyDeleteTrump Leaves States to Fend for Themselves [Click] “The coronavirus is America’s first 50-state disaster, and each governor is dependent on outside help that may never come.”
What It Really Means to Cancel Elective Surgeries [Click] “To make room for coronavirus patients, hospitals are delaying procedures that would make major differences in people’s lives.”
The Next, Terrible Phase of This Crisis [Click] “After cancellation [lockdown] comes triage.”
US-Canada Border Will Mostly Close [Click] Should mean higher profits for smugglers.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad we visited our good (and elderly) friend in Quebec in February!!
DeleteShould anyone be interested, or not, the Grand Princess seems to be anchored off Hunters Point (the former Naval Shipyard at the south end of San Francisco), about a third of the way across the bay.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone still on it?
DeleteThe crewmembers and a few foreigners for whom it hasn't been possible to arrange repatriation.
Delete