Tuesday, November 24, 2020

On the Wing (Recovered, sort of)


17 comments:

  1. WOW! With one mislaid click I managed to delete today's ENTIRE blog!! I frantically searched for some way to undelete it, but the google search results suggested didn't match what I could find. I have send a note to Renee.

    Meanwhile, I happened to still have today's page open, so this is a cut and paste!


    27 comments:

    listener11/24/2020 02:07:00 AM
    What is the best link to use to donate to Stacey Abrams’ efforts, without a chunk going to the national party?

    Reply
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    Alan in CA11/24/2020 03:04:00 AM
    https://fairfight.com/
    or, more directly:
    https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fair-fight-1


    listener11/24/2020 09:53:00 PM
    Thanks!!


    Alan in CA11/24/2020 10:24:00 PM
    You're welcome. I too was rather put off by other Dems trying to hitch a ride on the Georgia Dems' fundraising.

    Reply

    listener11/24/2020 02:11:00 AM
    It is said of Biden’s nominees that they will be likely acceptable to the bipartisan Senate. Does anyone else feel like Charlie Brown and that the Dem Party is Lucy holding the football again? Any chance Biden would just appoint the pack as acting members and wait for Confirmation until McConnell is gone?

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    Alan in CA11/24/2020 03:07:00 AM
    Any chance he will recess Congress? Yes, but I wouldn't bet on it.


    Bill Thomasson11/24/2020 05:15:00 PM
    Not sure why you mention the Dem Party. It's a matter of McConnel's choice of actions. His previous record doesn't inspire confidence but consistency has never been his strong point. And these choices give even the most committed Republican no rational basis for objection beyond pure political power. I may be naive, but I can't help but believe that such blatant disregard for normal democratic traditions would redound against teh party.


    listener11/24/2020 10:08:00 PM
    I guess I mentioned the Dem Party because Joe Biden the head of the Dems and he's the one telling us it's going to all work out. Meanwhile reports are saying the Republicans are preparing to not allow the nominations. I'd love for that to be proven wrong, or at least for Murkowski and a few others to vote with the Dems and Indys.

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  2. Alan in CA11/24/2020 03:01:00 AM
    Quite some Covid stories coming out of South Dakota. [Click]

    Reply

    Alan in CA11/24/2020 09:55:00 AM
    My great grandfather had a disabling stroke, and they made an adult cradle for him. My mother told of hearing the floor above creaking as her grandmother continued to rock him. That has always struck me as a very humane way of dealing with such a problem. Of course it would not be without its problems, too.

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    listener11/24/2020 01:18:00 PM
    ��

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    listener11/24/2020 01:21:00 PM
    VT cases: 3762-3714=48
    1362 active cases
    64deaths(+1) Mary Pat Brown, mother of 6
    Recovered 2339(+39)
    Hospital 22(+4) ICU 5(+2)
    Tests 216,701 (+1268)

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  3. Catreona11/24/2020 01:28:00 PM
    MOM UPDATE:
    Things are finally (knock on wood!) beginning to look up. The hospital bed was delivered this morning soon after 9:00. Jessalee was here and she got Mom organized, Sis having fallen asleep.*

    The EMTs got Mom downstairs with a minimum of fuss and she seems much more comfortable now. Though Dad is generally a wreck, understandably! he's managing remarkably well, running errands, dealing with people on the phone, and being upbeat around Mom. Now that she's downstairs, she'll be using his television. He's a devoted viewer of Fox News while she is equally devoted to MSNBC. She said something about not wanting to watch Fox News, to which Dad sighed melodramatically and said in a long suffering tone, "I'll watch MSNBC and get radicalized." That made everyone laugh, including Mom. Fingers crossed that today marks the beginning of a better phase.

    *Worryingly, Sis tried to wake me at 2:00 A.M. and again at 2:30, but I was too deeply asleep. On finally waking up at 5:00, I was distressed at having slept through the night. By that point, Sis told me to go back to bed, since she had to get up at 7:00. Guess I needed the sleep. Could go right back to bed this moment. Maybe I will for a while.

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    Alan in CA11/24/2020 02:03:00 PM
    All in all, sounds pretty good. Remember to keep those side rails up!


    Bill Thomasson11/24/2020 04:53:00 PM
    Fingers crossed. Having the hospital bed is good news.


    listener11/24/2020 09:56:00 PM
    Much better all around! And MSNBC instead of Faux News is a huge plus.

    Reply

    Alan in CA11/24/2020 02:04:00 PM
    A historian on the perils of chaotic White House transitions; key lessons from Herbert Hoover’s disastrous transfer of power to FDR in 1933. [Click] This seems like a better analogy for the current situation than yesterday’s analogy with the election of 1864, [Click] particularly because Hoover had dramatically modernized the the Administration of the US. [Coolidge isn’t called the last 19th Century President for nothing.]

    Reply

    Alan in CA11/24/2020 03:11:00 PM
    Via politicalwire.com:

    President Trump gave a brief statement to reporters marking the Dow Jones hitting the “sacred number” of 30,000.

    Trump spoke for just 64 seconds and quickly fled as the White House press corps bombarded him with questions on whether he’d eventually concede the election.

    As the president exited the briefing room, one reporter was overheard saying: “Well, that was weird as shit.”

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    Catreona11/24/2020 08:51:00 PM
    Indeed. However, I heard the statement, or part of it, and he did not sound like himself at all. Not exactly subdued, but, I donno, defeated or something. No one on CNN remarked that he wasn't looking well, but he definitely didn't sound well. I do think the press corps is hounding him. Mind you, my sympathies lie largely with the press corps. Still, there was a time when the ladies and gentlemen of the press were in fact ladies and gentlemen. I continue to maintain that Mr. Trump's next residence should be either Leavenworth or perhaps St. Elizabeth's but, really. the White House press corps has become vicious.


    listener11/24/2020 09:58:00 PM
    To be fair, the WH Press Corps has been treated with even less honour than DT's Secret Service.

    Reply

    Alan in CA11/24/2020 04:41:00 PM
    Nearly a sixth of the Senate Republican caucus has tested positive for coronavirus [Click] That seems to mean PCR-positive. Two Dems have demonstrated antibodies. Currently about one out of 48 people who contract the disease has died of it, but the elderly are several times as likely to do so. Then there are the “long-covid” cases. So taking reasonable precautions against infection could be one of the most effective ways for Democrats to gain control of the Senate in the near term. That would be good fun, but winning two seats in Georgia would be even better.

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  4. Alan in CA11/24/2020 04:46:00 PM
    'A cabinet that looks like America'

    The presentation of the new cabinet members chosen for the incoming Joe Biden presidency, in Wilmington, Delaware, has wrapped up, with the team taking no questions from the assembled press.

    Vice president-elect Kamala Harris was the last speaker and praised the choices and the team just presented to the public: Antony Blinken for secretary of state, John Kerry as climate envoy (a brand new cabinet post), Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, Avril Haines to be director of national intelligence, Alejandro Mayorkas as incoming secretary of homeland security and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser.

    “They are, to a person, the right women and men for these crucial positions,” Harris said, adding they are expected “to be focused on one thing, and one thing alone, doing what is best for the people of the United States of America.”

    There are a number of firsts among the group, with Mayorkas being the first American who came to the country as a migrant to head up the Department of Homeland Security, and Haines as the first female director of national intelligence.

    Thomas-Greenfield’s extraordinary global experience in diplomacy and background as a Black woman from the south who experienced segregation in earlier years will cut a striking figure representing the US at the UN.

    And Kerry’s elevated post emphasizes what Harris called the existential threat of the climate crisis.

    Harris said Biden told her it was one of his top priorities to “select a cabinet that looks like America and reflects the best of our nation. And that is what we have done,” she said.

    And crucially, she noted that they all shared an unshakable commitment “to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”

    The whole event was short but could not have been more stark in its contrast to Donald Trump, his cabinet and the isolationist strategy of Trumpism and the president’s disregard for the rule of law in so many of his actions.

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    Catreona11/24/2020 09:00:00 PM
    It's an impressive cabinet so far. One jarring note, the Republican congresscritter CNN had on to discuss the presentation complained that if Biden really wanted to be serious about climate he would have selected a Republican for the climate post, not Kerry. His choice of Kerry showed, she indicated, that climate is a political if not a made up problem. For the rest, she agreed with her Dem. opposite number that the choices were good. Not quite sure what to make of that.


    listener11/24/2020 10:02:00 PM
    Yeah, did she offer any names? Like *is* there even one climate savvy Republican? And, hey, didn't they lose?

    Reply

    Susan Davidson11/24/2020 05:07:00 PM
    OHIO; COVID cases, 371,908 and 6,118. Data is incomplete because of technical issues and a surge in testing.

    Reply
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    listener11/24/2020 10:04:00 PM
    Possibly 1.65%

    Reply

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  5. I am especially devastated to have ruined all of Alan's wonderful links!

    With one mislaid click I managed to delete today's ENTIRE blog!! I frantically searched for some way to undelete it, but the google search results suggested didn't match what I could find. I have send a note to Renee.

    Meanwhile, I happened to still have today's page open, so above is a series of cut and pastes. At least we didn't lose the conversation altogether. I was attempting to delete a draft, on my iPhone, just as the page moved, such that I hit today's thread instead. SHEESH! They truly ought to have a "Did you really want to take this action?" popup!!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. These are the lost links, Alan. SOOOO sorry!


      Alan in CA11/24/2020 02:04:00 PM
      A historian on the perils of chaotic White House transitions; key lessons from Herbert Hoover’s disastrous transfer of power to FDR in 1933. [Click] This seems like a better analogy for the current situation than yesterday’s analogy with the election of 1864, [Click] particularly because Hoover had dramatically modernized the the Administration of the US. [Coolidge isn’t called the last 19th Century President for nothing.]

      Delete
  6. My thanks to Renee for trying to recover our thread! ❤️

    ReplyDelete
  7. No problem about the accidentally deleted links, listener. I think I haven't deleted any from my text editor yet, so will repost them. (Probably from two different computers.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Quite some Covid stories coming out of South Dakota. [Click]

    A historian on the perils of chaotic White House transitions; key lessons from Herbert Hoover’s disastrous transfer of power to FDR in 1933. [Click] This seems like a better analogy for the current situation than yesterday’s analogy with the election of 1864, [Click] particularly because Hoover had dramatically modernized the the Administration of the US. [Coolidge isn’t called the last 19th Century President for nothing.]

    Nearly a sixth of the Senate Republican caucus has tested positive for coronavirus [Click] That seems to mean PCR-positive. Two Dems have demonstrated antibodies. Currently about one out of 48 people who contract the disease has died of it, but the elderly are several times as likely to do so. Then there are the “long-covid” cases. So taking reasonable precautions against infection could be one of the most effective ways for Democrats to gain control of the Senate in the near term. That would be good fun, but winning two seats in Georgia would be even better.\

    =======================
    'A cabinet that looks like America'

    The presentation of the new cabinet members chosen for the incoming Joe Biden presidency, in Wilmington, Delaware, has wrapped up, with the team taking no questions from the assembled press.

    Vice president-elect Kamala Harris was the last speaker and praised the choices and the team just presented to the public: Antony Blinken for secretary of state, John Kerry as climate envoy (a brand new cabinet post), Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, Avril Haines to be director of national intelligence, Alejandro Mayorkas as incoming secretary of homeland security and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser.

    “They are, to a person, the right women and men for these crucial positions,” Harris said, adding they are expected “to be focused on one thing, and one thing alone, doing what is best for the people of the United States of America.”

    There are a number of firsts among the group, with Mayorkas being the first American who came to the country as a migrant to head up the Department of Homeland Security, and Haines as the first female director of national intelligence.

    Thomas-Greenfield’s extraordinary global experience in diplomacy and background as a Black woman from the south who experienced segregation in earlier years will cut a striking figure representing the US at the UN.

    And Kerry’s elevated post emphasizes what Harris called the existential threat of the climate crisis.

    Harris said Biden told her it was one of his top priorities to “select a cabinet that looks like America and reflects the best of our nation. And that is what we have done,” she said.

    And crucially, she noted that they all shared an unshakable commitment “to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”

    The whole event was short but could not have been more stark in its contrast to Donald Trump, his cabinet and the isolationist strategy of Trumpism and the president’s disregard for the rule of law in so many of his actions.
    =======================

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  9. Headline from The Guardian:

    "Lame duck pardons turkey: Trump confronts reality at muted Thanksgiving event"

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  10. Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to criminal charges related to US opioid crisis [Click] “OxyContin maker admits to actions aimed at boosting opioid prescriptions, including conspiring to defraud officials and offering illegal kickbacks.”

    ReplyDelete
  11. From The Atlantic: The Weekly Planet: A Start-Up’s Unusual Plan to Suck Carbon Out of the Sky [Click] A private capital version of a government procurement strategy to fund technological and industrial development.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yayyy! I'm so glad you could repost those, Alan!!

    I *love* the title "Lame duck pardons turkey"! 😄

    ReplyDelete