Category Archives: General

General

Amy Coney Barrett

Yep, politics.

Beware…!

So yesterday the Republican Senate, in an obvious attempt to strong arm the judicial system -which, by the way, they’ve been doing for the past few years- replaced the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg with Amy Coney Barrett.

The speed by which they did this was incredible, as was the rank display of hypocrisy.

Having said that…

It’s looking more and more likely -though we certainly won’t know until November the 3rd in the evening- that Biden will win the presidency and quite possibly the Democratic Party will win the Senate.

This is not a certainty, though if you are to go by the polls -a dangerous proposition, of course!- it sure looks likely.

There are those who will say this was the case in 2016 and you’d not be completely wrong. However, there were differences between the election back then and now.

For one, back then Trump had no record to run against. Secondly, the Republicans very successfully demonized Hillary Clinton for years leading up the election, and voters on that side weren’t quite as motivated to go out and vote versus those who voted Republican.

Further to all that, there were many who decided to give Trump a shot, that maybe he would do something good, which leads us back to his record.

Biden is not Clinton.

He has a record, certainly, but its a lot harder to go against him than it was for Clinton. With one week left to go, I’d say that the Trump campaign hasn’t really laid much of a glove on Biden at all.

Early on there were the “Sleepy Joe” lines, but given the fact that Biden is only three years older than Trump and given the way the debates went, if anything it proved that Biden, despite his advanced age, is very sharp and, dare I say it, appeared a lot sharper than Trump.

They tried to go after Hunter Biden and supposed dealings he had, but these have proven complicated and -let’s be clear- bogus. When peddled by someone like Rudy Guliani, they also invite considerable scrutiny.

They’ve tried to go after VP candidate Kamala Harris, saying she’s some kind of socialist/leftist, but I get the feeling that’s not really done them much good, either.

Maybe its me, but that whole socialist/leftist bit seems to have played itself out at this point and people -not all, of course- maybe realize nowadays that its not such a scary concept, especially since so many European countries have a socialist type system and they seem to be doing more than fine with it.

We’ve got one week to go and, happily, our family has early voted. I double checked and my vote was indeed counted (if you’re worried about this, you can check your votes. Google it!)

I’m hoping for good news next week even though I’m of course worried about the worst.

IF the elections go the way I think they will, I suspect the Republican victories in the judiciary are going to be very short lived.

We’ll see.

General

Only In L.A…

Those three words above are a quote at the very end of this article by Lauren M. Johnson and presented on CNN.com:

A man flying a jetpack has been spotted again in the skies over L.A.

We got ourselves quite the daredevil out there!

Seems that an individual with a jet pack has been spotted -with this latest stunt!- at least twice, the first time in September 1, by pilots coming into L.A.

The individual’s altitude was first reported at 3000 feet. This time around?

6000 feet!

Whoa.

Don’t know who this person is but I have to give them credit: They do seem to have developed an interesting device, if it is capable of such altitude.

I know it may sound silly, but I wonder: Can they land with the thing or does it simply go up, run out of gas or whatever power it has, then the dude parachutes back to earth?

I suspect we’ll find out soon enough…!

So Florida has Florida Man. I suppose L.A. now has Jet Pack Man or Woman!

POSTSCRIPT:

So I did a little looking around, specifically on Reddit, regarding this story and a couple of people pointed out something which may be true: This could be either a) a drone with a human looking mannequin on it or b) a man/woman on a wingsuit who jumped out of an airplane and is flying around this way. In other words, if it is a person, they might not have “lifted off” from the ground but were already airborne when they started their flight.

Regarding the later theory, a person with a wingsuit who jumped out of an aircraft, that’s something others would notice, even at the airport they departed from, as its tough to enter an aircraft with such equipment and not be seen.

As for the former, some goofball using a drone with a human shaped mannequin on it, that seems like it could also be a legitimate possibility. But to get to 6000 feet, the drone would have to be a pretty sophisticated one, I would think, and not the type you’d find in Best Buy, no?

Regardless, whoever is doing this, whether indeed we have someone with an almost science fictional jet pack or a was dropped from an aircraft with a wingsuit or a drone with a mannequin… its all incredibly dangerous.

I hope whoever is doing this is found and stopped before they smash into an actual aircraft.

General

Vacation Anyone?

One of the hardest hit industries during the COVID-19 crisis has to be the tourism industry.

By that I mean airlines, cruise ships, railway, hotels, etc. etc.

Is anyone out there taking any major vacations?

Over on CNN.com I found this article, by Simret Aklilu, concerning the famous Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, which is about to shut down…

New York’s Roosevelt Hotel to close after nearly 100 years due to the coronavirus pandemic

The Hotel first opened in 1924 and is a famous New York landmark but, because of such low demand for rooms -and if you don’t rent rooms, you don’t make money- it will “permanently close its doors this year,” according to a spokesman for the Hotel.

At the risk of completely spoiling the article, they further state that beyond shutting down, they have no other plans for what to do with the Hotel.

I assume -a dangerous thing to do!- that maybe they just want to cut down on all expenses to keep the property operating at a loss and hope that in the new year and when a vaccine for COVID-19 is developed they will be able to re-open. Then again, I’ve read elsewhere for many years this Hotel has been viewed as low quality with small rooms (makes sense, given the original building was made so long ago).

It is located in a prime spot, however, and one wonders if the owners will ultimately sell.

It also makes me wonder, though, how things are going for Disney and Universal and their parks.

Disney World and Universal in Florida, I understand, are open but have very minimal crowds, while the parks in California are closed. I believe some of the parks in other countries are open as well, but I suspect they too are facing pretty anemic crowds.

After some seven months since COVID-19 became a big issue here in the United States, we continue to do… not much of anything, it seems.

At first there was a shut down, but because the administration was never clear as to what to do to prevent transmission, it was up to the states to determine their own paths.

That has proven to be insanity.

We are north of 200,000 people dead, with the possibility of another 20,000 dead by the end of this year, and whole industries -and all the employees desperate to keep their jobs- are hurting.

The upcoming closure of the Roosevelt Hotel is but one symptom of the much larger problem.

A problem whose solution doesn’t seem to be coming very soon.

General

News of the Macabre…

Over at CNN.com comes this report by Amanda Jackson:

A man fell to his death while taking pictures on a cliff in Arizona. Authorities discovered other remains while recovering his body

Don’t want to give away the story but, essentially, most of it is indeed given away with the headline.

A 25 year old man, taking pictures off a cliff in Arizona, fell to his death. Upon recovering the man’s body, officials found other human remains…!

The story is developing. According to the article, what was found near this man’s body were human bones. I don’t know if they are remains of one person or more (I suspect -perhaps hope!- that its only one person’s lost remains) but clearly whoever it was died a while back, considering all that’s left now are bones.

Chilling story, both regarding the gentleman who died and whoever the bones found belong to.

I suppose the only positive about a story like this is that hopefully the bones found will be identified and someone will have closure on the loss of a loved one.

Hopefully.

General

A Subtle Shift…?

Seems all I can do is politics nowadays.

I’ve noticed that the common opinion has shifted from a “this race will tighten down the line” to “this might be a Democratic blowout election.”

While by now it should be clear to those who come ’round these parts that I have no love for Trump, looking at his last couple of weeks as neutrally as one can, it has been nothing short of a series of disasters.

It all seemed to begin with the passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

The loss of the beloved liberal icon in the Supreme Court brought out the absolute worst/hypocritical in the Republican party (Merrick Garland, anyone?) and culminated with the infamous Rose Garden gathering to introduce Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court… which resulted in what appears to be a super-spreader event. In the end, we have many top officials within the government -Trump included- catching this virus, though given the evasiveness of the Trump administration, one wonders if Trump himself might have been infected already when that meeting occurred.

Mind you, I have no desire to see anyone ill.

Having said that, Trump and many of those people who were there, flouting a sense of invincibility, getting COVID-19 seems almost poetic justice or karma.

How do you keep downplaying/minimizing something that has, to date, claimed 211,000 lives?

The Vice Presidential debate, held last night, appears to have done little to move the general narrative. According to subsequent polls, Pence “lost” the debate. Even if the debate was a “tie”, the Trump campaign needed a sterling performance to try to break things toward them and this debate did not do that.

This morning, it was announced the next Presidential debate, set for October 15th, would be conducted virtually and Trump, calling into shows, stated he would not participate in any such debate.

Huh.

In late September of 2016, there were only some 10,000 votes cast in advance versus 1.3 million in late September of 2020.

Today, not quite two weeks later and according to CNN, more than 5.4 million ballots have been cast.

Obviously there is a tremendous amount of interest in voting this year versus 2016 and in the coming days other states, such as Texas, will start early voting above and beyond mail in ballots.

Here’s the thing, though: We still have close to four weeks to go and any number of things can happen still.

I’ve already voted by mail and, out of an abundance of caution, delivered the ballot directly to the election office.

I’ve made my voice heard.

I hope everyone else out there does so, too.

General

Has Driving Peaked…?

Over at bloomberg.com, Justin Fox wrote a fascinating article that examined the amount of driving done within the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and wonders if these numbers might indicate we’ve peaked in terms of driving out:

Americans are driving less than before the pandemic, and it might be permanent

Now, before you ask: There is no implication that driving is done.

But there are indicators that maybe we’ve (as I said above) peaked in terms of driving and that even when we get over the COVID-19 situation things might remains roughly as they are, with driving patterns dropping some 10% or so versus what they were before the pandemic.

Why?

For one, it appears many jobs may move from offices to employees’ homes.

This is logical: Many things can be accomplished on a computer and if there’s one thing the pandemic has revealed is that you don’t have to go to the office to do certain work. It is possible there will be many jobs which will require an employee show up to the office perhaps once a week or so versus 5 days a week. Hence, less driving.

The second big takeaway is that online services such as restaurants or Amazon or grocery stores, etc. etc. are delivering more and more products directly to people’s homes.

When people do this, while there are trucks and cars on the roads doing the delivery, it winds up being many less cars on the road as one delivery truck might mean the elimination of several individuals and their cars on the road. One UPS truck, for example, filled with product might well eliminate the need for dozens of households to go out and look for any particular product!

Again, no one is claiming the days of the automobile are done, only that because of work at home and delivery of product, it may be curtailed for the long run.

Fascinating stuff!

General

The Next Week…

Last week was a heck of a week, eh?

The first Presidential debate followed by the revelation that President Trump and his wife -and several other Republican Senators and Presidential Staff- testing positive for COVID-19.

Over on TV, Saturday Night Live had a pretty funny take on the debate, and what happened later…

Funny -and simultaneously sad- stuff.

The concluding bits, with “Biden” pausing “Trump” and noting how nice it was not to hear “Trump’s” ramblings…

Beautiful stuff.

General

President Trump… Reap What You Sow…?

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

So last night we found out that Hope Hicks, confidant to President Trump, had Covid-19.

Right away, speculation ran rampant that President Trump, who hangs around with her perhaps more than any of his other staff, could have it as well.

Last night, a little past midnight, the AP verified what many speculated: The President, as well as his wife Melania, tested positive for Covid-19.

It’s so very tempting, as someone who has absolutely no love for Trump the man and certainly Trump the President, to revel in this moment.

I certainly could, and I even found a posting over at avclub.com that made me laugh out loud:

But eventually the reality of the situation provokes, once the laughter dies, a feeling of… anger.

Here we have the most powerful man in the world, the President of the freaking United States of America, who for months and months and months refused to take Covid-19 seriously. A man who mocked people who wear masks and steadfastly refused to do so, in a country where over 200,000 people have now died from this disease and, to my great shame, there still exist a bunch of people who do not take this disease seriously… mostly because of the actions of President Trump.

President Trump, a man who just three days ago had the first Presidential debate, where everyone on the Joe Biden side wore masks while at least half of those on the Trump side, including his idiot kids and wife, did not wear their masks while in the audience, even though they -and everyone who witnessed the debate- were told they needed to wear them at the indoor event.

(To read more about that, check out this article by Shannon Palus and presented on Slate.com)

Ivanka Trump turns around in attendance at the presidential debate.
The above picture, from the debate, shows Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump sitting next to each other (one in black, one in white, natch).

At this moment in time -again, only three days ago– it was possible both President Trump and Melania were already infected and, because they so steadfastly refuse to wear any protection, were putting people around them at risk.

Including, of course, Joe Biden.

The First Presidential Debate Was 'Unproductive,' Teens Say | Teen Vogue

For ninety minutes Mr. Biden, though a fair distance from President Trump, nonetheless was close enough to be in danger of catching the disease. It was reported this morning he will get himself and those around him tested. I’m sure they hope neither he nor anyone who was at the debate on his behalf, even though they wore masks, was infected by this careless bunch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTknVUIdhQ
Yet another case of Trump saying something that’s come back to bite him right in the ass.

We’re only a month from the actual election and we face yet another couple of weeks of grave uncertainty.

Will Trump recover fairly quickly? What if he doesn’t? What if the infection hits him hard? What if it hits him… really hard?

The big question: What if it kills him?

Grim stuff to contemplate, for sure, but the reality is he’s an elderly man who isn’t -despite his medic’s say so- in terribly good shape. As such, he’s in the population most at risk for developing more serious problems because of the virus.

Though, of course, that’s not to say he will.

Whew.

Once again, its time to buckle up. Hell of a bumpy ride ahead of us.

General

Coming In Late To This Party…

So two nights ago we had the first of three Presidential debates and… well… it sure was something.

Interestingly, the first impressions seemed to be: “Well, that was a shitshow” with the implication being both candidates, Trump and Biden, didn’t do much for themselves…

But, as is usually the case, after some reflection, the immediate reactions went away and a consensus built that Trump was the deranged one, especially toward the very end of the debate when he couldn’t get himself to speak ill of the far right-wing Proud Boys.

Further to that, though, was a feeling that Trump was flailing and interrupting, perhaps desperately so, because either a) he realizes he’s losing and wanted to claim every moment of the debate or b) he’s just that desperate for attention.

Regardless, the next day evaluation seems to be that Trump was the one that looked terrible in the debate. Polls bore this out, with most feeling that Biden “won” simply by not taking the bait, even though he did lose his patience at a couple of points and not only told Trump to “shut up” but also called him a “bozo”.

Certainly never saw anything like that in a Presidential debate before!

If we were to look past the highlights, however, there was plenty of other strange stuff Trump said during the debates. While they may not be quite as startling as being unable to say anything negative about the Proud Boys, it was nonetheless startling.

Ben Mattis-Lilley over at Slate.com offers this list of…

Eight things that were somehow not takeaways from the debate because everything else was so deranged

My favorite bit was this, presented at the very end of the article:

This was, according to Trump, one of the reasons he should be reelected:

“The greatest, before COVID came in, the greatest economy in history, lowest unemployment numbers, everything was good. Everything was going—and by the way, there was unity going to happen. People were calling me, for the first time in years, they were calling and they were saying, ‘It’s time, maybe.’ And then what happened? We got hit.“

Time for what? And who was calling? Unfortunately, we will never know, because we got hit.

General

September 11, 2001 and Today

A solemn day, today, given the 9/11 anniversary.

I vividly recall being at home that morning, turning on the TV, and seeing the flaming tower, singular. I witnessed live the second plane hit, then watched in horror as the first building fell, then the second.

Horrible, horrible stuff, and sadly what followed wasn’t all that much better. We invaded Afghanistan, which made sense as Osama Bin Ladin was, the intelligence said, there. But it was also used, sadly, as an excuse to stage the Iraq invasion. Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s leader, had nothing to do with 9/11 but President George W. Bush and, I suspect especially, Vice President Cheney were eager to go after him. Hussein had, after all, tried to assassinate his father.

The world we live in today, sadly, still carries echoes of 9/11. We still have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq -and much of the Middle East- remains a mess. The current President doesn’t inspire much hope for any sort of resolution.

Incredibly, 19 years have passed since that attack.

One hopes we’re in a far better place 19 years from now.