Hard Working Man June 29, 2020
Posted by Retired Geezer in Heroes, Man Laws, News.comments closed
Pretty Amazing.
Red crossbills June 28, 2020
Posted by Sobek in News.comments closed
These weirdos are in the finch family. It’s pretty cool to watch them use their strange beaks to get inside of pinecones.
Resolving the Mail-In Voting Situation June 28, 2020
Posted by geoff in News.comments closed
It amazes me (not really) that the self-proclaimed empaths of the liberal set don’t seem to be able to use their powers of superior sympathy to resolve the mail-in voting controversy. It seems pretty straightforward for them to acknowledge concerns about the potential for fraud, and to propose safeguards that will reassure their ideological foes.
But rather than trying to resolve the issue to both sides’ satisfactions, they simply browbeat and make wild accusations of racism.
This is why the right thinks that mail-in voting is just another opportunity for Democratic dirty tricks (see this old 2017 post “Closing in on the Cheaters“).
So Dems, here’s your compromise. Fix the mail-in system so it guarantees that each citizen gets one and only one vote, and so it prevents collection and manipulation of ballots by canvassers, and we have a deal.
Otherwise, we’ll know you’re just effing cheaters.
Living in the Past Don’t Sound So Bad June 27, 2020
Posted by geoff in News.comments closed
Kind of liked this “kids in the car” thread from an ancient post (Does Game Violence Make Teens Aggressive? December 10, 2006). It didn’t make the “Classic IB Comment Threads” list, so I thought it was worth resurrecting to provide a bit of relief in these dark times.
COVID-19 Update: Through 6/26/2020 June 27, 2020
Posted by geoff in COVID-19, News.comments closed
The descent has resumed, albeit slowly:
A couple of days ago New Jersey added nearly 2000 “probable” COVID-19 deaths, which were spread among the past 3 months. So I had to go back and revise all the numbers in the graph.
Thanks, New Jersey.
But New Jersey has now vaulted into the lead as the state with the most COVID-19 deaths per million residents.
It Always Comes Around Again on the Guitar June 25, 2020
Posted by geoff in News.comments closed
A recent Pew poll notes that the Floyd/BLM protests are dominated by white people (1 in 6 protestors is actually black). More disturbing, many videos have popped up showing white people berating black police officers about their blackness. Nice of them to take on that mantle what with all their qualifications.
But white people trying to inject themselves into the black experience is nothing new. This is from Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat (1972), released nearly 50 years ago but eerily evocative of today’s protestors.
Warning: n-word at the end of the clip.
Chop CHOP June 25, 2020
Posted by geoff in News.comments closed
I was wondering when the businesses and residents of the CHOP-zone in Seattle would get more vocal on how they’d been abandoned by the city. It took them two and a half weeks, but they finally sued the city:
…this lawsuit is about the constitutional and other legal rights of Plaintiffs—businesses, employees, and residents in and around CHOP—which have been overrun by the City of Seattle’s unprecedented decision to abandon and close off an entire city neighborhood, leaving it unchecked by the police, unserved by fire and emergency health services, and inaccessible to the public at large.
That useless Mayor Durkan kept blathering on about the concerns of the protestors, all the while ignoring the fact that her constituents were being denied their rights to vote to choose their government.
I would think the federal government would have a Civil Rights case against the city and the mayor in particular.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit may be moot because CHOP is starting to dissolve:
The de facto leader of the autonomous protest zone in Seattle said Wednesday “a lot of people have already” left the area, days after the mayor said she was going to persuade people to leave.
A statement from a Twitter account that claims to be associated with the protest zone — known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), or Capitol Hill Organized Protest — said that “few people remain in our beloved CHOP.”
The statement, signed by “The Capitol Hill Occupied Protest Solidarity Committee,” added that “the CHOP project is now concluded.”
Congrats to the residents and businesses of Capitol Hill for finally being restored as citizens of the United States.
COVID-19 Update: Through 6/24/2020 June 25, 2020
Posted by geoff in COVID-19, News.comments closed
7-day averaged casualties have stalled out at 620/day over the past 3 days. If it persists a few days more, it’ll be time to look at protest/casualty correlations.
South Dakota Sails Through the COVID-19 Crisis June 22, 2020
Posted by geoff in COVID-19, News.comments closed
I’m sure you all remember the media pillorying of South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem, when she decided not to lock down South Dakota when COVID-19 hit:
- US News & World Report: Noem Urges South Dakotans to ‘Hang in There’ During Pandemic (3/22/2020)
- Forbes: South Dakota Refused To Shut Down, Now Faces One Of The Largest Coronavirus Outbreaks In The Country (4/14/2020)
- Washington Post: South Dakota’s governor resisted ordering people to stay home. Now it has one of the nation’s largest coronavirus hot spots. (4/14/2020)
- Politico: Hot spots erupt in farm belt states where governors insist lockdowns aren’t needed (4/15/2020)
- Daily Beast: Hannity Lauds South Dakota, Home of Worst U.S. Virus Cluster, for Never Having to Shut Down (4/16/2020)
- Washington Post: There’s no coronavirus lockdown in South Dakota – We never closed down. Doctors like me wish we would. (4/27/2020)
She had to go on the news to defend her decision, much to the mockery of her critics. So how did it all play out (data from here)?
Pretty much like you’d think. The naysayers got themselves in a lather over nothing. South Dakota has had a trivial number of deaths due to COVID-19; on average no more than 2 a day.
This Kristi Noem, though – she needs to play on a larger stage. She didn’t hesitate to call out the National Guard to suppress violence in Sioux Falls (June 1, 2020), and the violence disappeared immediately.
COVID-19 Update: Through 6-21-20 June 22, 2020
Posted by geoff in COVID-19, News.comments closed
Nice to start the week off like this:
Summer Solstice Blues June 20, 2020
Posted by geoff in News.comments closed
Today was the solstice, which caught me by surprise because I’m used to it being on the 21st. Now it’s all downhill, with shorter and shorter days.
Sigh.
I should become the ultimate snowbird, moving between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at every equinox.
Of course, given the way this year has gone, maybe I should just move to Mars.
Innocent Bystanders 