Sunday, August 02, 2020

ENGLISH IVY


43 comments:

  1. Hurricane Isaias slowed to Tropical Storm Isaias and is expected to become Hurricane Isaias again before slowing again to Tropical Storm Isaias. All day Saturday the track kept weaving back and forth slightly, such that my house was "in the cone" of possibility then not, then in, then out, currently back in. LOL!

    Up here we'll be lucky to get an inch of rain from it. I would be grateful for a good soaking.

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    1. Isaias never regained hurricane status, but has a low barometric pressure anyway. Must not underestimate this storm.

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  2. Hey Alan, I got into the WP article after all. It worked on Chrome on computer, but not in Safari and not in Chrome on my iPhone.

    I laughed out loud when I read this:

    “We are doing a new ad campaign on Sleepy Joe Biden that will be out on Monday,” Trump wrote Friday on Twitter. “He has been brought even further LEFT than Crazy Bernie Sanders ever thought possible.”

    "Stepien has told allies he wants attacks going forward to focus on the liberal figures trying to influence Biden. Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont and self-described democratic socialist, has featured heavily in Trump’s messaging against Biden."

    Progressives and other left-leaning citizens will just laugh and roll their eyes, because we see Biden as too status quo. The more DT tries to claim Biden is left, the more ridiculous he will look! Moreover, he may make his base happy, but his base has lost ground. And if he fools anyone it might be to make a few lefties feel MORE comfy with Biden. LOL!

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  3. Media to be barred from DT Election Nomination
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53626546

    Any other candidate would consider it free advertising. Maybe there’s concern about likely gaffes.

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    1. I hadn't thought explicitly about the free advertising angle, listener, but you are certainly right. Now the speculation will begin--what are they trying to hide? More likely they just can't plan well. The Dems started contingency planning pretty early, and seem to have done a workmanlike job.

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    2. Hmmmm..... residual sexism. Workpersonlike job, maybe? Or competent job?

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    3. Headline:

      Republican National Committee disputes GOP convention spokesperson’s claim that Trump’s renomination will be closed to media. [Says they haven't decided yet.] Can't get their act together? Sure looks like it. Pathetic.

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    4. It seems to me they don’t want the media commenting about DT and others in the GOP, and showing clips, and fact-checking real-time.

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  4. Biden Leads In Battlegrounds

    August 2, 2020 at 10:56 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 4 Comments

    New CBS News/YouGov polls:

    North Carolina: Biden 48%, Trump 44%
    Georgia: BIDEN 46%, Trump 45%

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  5. Paul Begala on Trump: 'Nothing unites the people of Earth like a threat from Mars' [Click] The photo of Our Dear Leader is triply remarkable! I most strongly suggest taking a look at it! Note: it doesn’t look martian, but rather something more classical. . .

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  6. What happens when flu meets Covid-19? [Click] “How seasonal viruses interact with the coronavirus is unknown – it may lessen or sharpen the pandemic – so flu vaccinations are vital” And a universal flu vaccine is in clinical trials.

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  7. Maureen Dowd: Double, double, Trump’s toil, our trouble [Click] A pretty good bit of writing; I only regret that after all these years I don’t recall in which grade we studied Macbeth. This from the Salt Lake Tribune, so the NYT paywall won’t trouble you.

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  8. VT: 1426 cases (+5)
    57 deaths x 4 days
    136 active cases
    Recovered 1238 (+7)
    In Hospital = 2 ( 0)
    Tests 96,681 (+1289)

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  9. OHIO; As of Sunday afternoon, there have been at least 93,031 confirmed or probable cases in the state, 3,529 deaths, and 10,900 hospitalizations, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

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    1. Susan, is that number total hospitalisations, not current? Hope so!

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    2. I'm pretty sure it's current hospitalizations.

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  10. Really getting concerned about Catreona. She has not responded to email or Messenger, and puddle tells me that Cat’s Dad recently gave a ride to someone who was not wearing a mask.

    Has anyone heard from Cat?

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    1. I haven't heard anything from her, but we rarely communicate outside the blog.

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  11. ‘This Push to Open Schools Is Guaranteed to Fail’ [Click] Adrienne LaFrance: “It is time to stop pretending. Our children are staying home.”

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    1. Very well written and, I’m sad to say, accurate.

      Someone posted some numbers, and our Eldest checked the math and said it’s right. Ready?

      The death count from COVID-19 for the past 4 months is like 50 airliners crashing every week for four months, and every one on board every plane: dead.

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  12. No posts on Facebook since 7/24. That's all I know.

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    1. Worrisome.

      I’m going to send her a SnailMail card. 🌀

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  13. Why do some people get very sick and even die from Covid-19, while similar people show no symptoms?
    Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains:
    https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/02/health/gupta-coronavirus-t-cell-cross-reactivity-immunity-wellness/index.html

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  14. Seems strange to have blue sky, some clouds (not thunderheads), and sunshine, yet I'm under a Tornado Watch until 10:00pm.

    Isn’t this unusual?

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    1. Tornadoes are very localized and can form and dissipate quickly. There would certainly be some indication of severe weather before one actually hit, but I think it's only mildly surprising to have fair weather in an area where there is a possibility of a tornado later. (I note that this is a watch, not a warning.)

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    2. Yeah. It was kind of surreal, though.

      Fortunately, the danger has passed. The wind picked up, the light blinked, but the storm went to our north.

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  15. 🌪 Tornado on the ground in Hampden County in Western Massachusetts, headed toward Amherst. ⚡️

    Seems to be moving NE only a town or two from Cat's town.

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  16. 🌪🌪 Two tornadoes in upstate NY, headed toward the Ferrisburgh to Burlington areas. ALL FOUR of our family households in Vermont are in the line of storms. Most likely we'll just get severe thunderstorms. Not afraid. But not complacent. We have supplies set aside to take to the basement if needed. ⚡️⚡️

    ⚡️

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    1. Gee. Well, I guess that's equivalent to knowing where the gas shutoff valve is out here. I have never bothered to get the specialized wrench and stow it near the valve, but figure either a monkey wrench or a pipe wrench would do the job.

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  17. Trump to Portray Biden as ‘Puppet of the Left’ [Click] The response writes itself. I envision a cartoon of Ming The Merciless controlling a Trump marionette.

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    1. But maybe not enough people remember Ming The Merciless. . .

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    2. And maybe old Ming would be considered racist. But of course he was.

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  18. Replies
    1. "a sense, even among Biden’s closest advisers, that Biden is entering the final phase of the search without a clear favorite. Rather than a traditional ‘shortlist’ of three candidates, people close to the process expect him to interview five or six finalists for the position.”"

      Well, if anyone has read his book (I have), they know that Biden can't make a quick decision to save his life. I just hope that if he's President he can make a quick decision to save our lives.

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    2. Yes, it seems consistent. If I may be pardoned a gratuitous analogy, I see Bernie as a compass, and Joe as a weather vane. If the wind is strong and steady one can navigate as well with the latter as with the former, and in the current situation perhaps that will do. And I am reminded of how he gave Obama a strong push beyond his comfort zone on gay rights; that counts for something, and betrays a decisiveness that may not always be evident. My tuppence worth.

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