Saturday, May 16, 2020

Self-isolation Day 60.


Last night I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep quickly, got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.


I left the apt at 9:30 and walked to the mall. I first asked security at the mall entrance if Home Center was open and was told ‘yes’. 

(Yesterday someone on Facebook mentioned that exactly this Home Center location was open.) I recycled a plastic bottle outside Exito then went inside (after waiting in a short line, having my temperature taken and getting hand sanitizer) and withdrew 180mil from Laura’s Bancolombia account. (Yesterday someone from Smartfit called Teresa and said we should deposit 29mil (each) into their account to pay for April. We aren’t sure when we will be returning and Teresa was afraid they would withdraw the cash without our permission.)


I walked to the main entrance of Home Center and it appeared it was closed. A young lady inside told me I have to go down to the basement level and use that entrance. There I waited in a short line, had my temperature taken, got the hand sanitizer and was asked how I’m feeling – in English. (Hot but healthy.)


Inside I picked up a couple chip clips and a Remington shaver, hoping it’s more comfortable than my old one. I waited in a short line for a cashier and charged my purchases. Back upstairs I made a trip to the restroom where I noticed every other urinal was closed off to enforce social distancing.


I waited in a short line to get into Exito where I picked up a few groceries then took a taxi back to the apt.



Sergio Marchi, who was Canada’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization and U.N. agencies in Geneva, believes the U.S. is “now looking tired and uncertain,” arguing: “Their politics is a mess, and their global leadership is in serious jeopardy. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic. If Trump is reelected, there’s little room for renewal, which has been a long-standing hallmark of Americans society.... Conversely, with a Democrat in the White House, can the situation be salvaged?”



Pisses me off when I see on the news people partying, completely ignoring the social distancing rules. They just selfishly make it harder for everyone else to return to their normal lives.



On March 26, 2019 Trump declared “The Republican party will soon be known as the party of health care. You watch." Hmm, how did that work out?



Donald Trump was fuming on Saturday morning not because a deadly virus has taken nearly 90,000 American lives, but because governors are getting better approval ratings than he is for their response.



Two Washington State residents who were sick with coronavirus-like symptoms in December tested positive for antibodies. The serology tests cannot date the time of the virus so officials caution it is possible they were sick with another ailment in December and the contracted the coronavirus without symptoms later.



Writing for USA TODAY, Women’s March official and manufacturing expert Bob Bland accused the Trump administration of diverting medical supplies her Masks for America organization had intended for medical workers.

 

Hackers released dozens of law firm’s emails citing Trump, but there’s no ‘dirty laundry’.

Appearing on MSNBC with guest host Joy Reid, former GOP campaign consultant Steve Schmidt: “Donald Trump has been the worst president this country has ever had,” he stated. “I don’t say that hyperbolically — he is. But he is a consequential president. He has brought this country, in three short years, to a place of weakness that is simply unimaginable if you are pondering where we are today from the day where Barack Obama left office.”

“This is a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness when you listen to the president,” he continued. “There are the musings of an imbecile, an idiot. And I don’t use those words to name-call, I use them because they are the precise words in the English language to describe his behavior, his comportment, his actions. We’ve never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis from anybody on the history of the country.”



Italians are now confronting a worrying reality: long after the body has gotten rid of the virus, debilitating symptoms can remain.



I finished season 2 and started season 3 of Designated Survivor.



On the evening news: 17 members of the same family in Periera have the coronavirus.


Uh-oh. I went to Swanson Vitamins to order my Calendula Flower (marigold) and they are out of stock. I have enough for the next 30 days but soon after that I’m going to start feeling the osteoarthritis in my back again.



"Don't forget, we have more cases than anybody in the world. But why? Because we do more testing," Trump told workers at a medical supply plant in Pennsylvania yesterday. "When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn't do any testing we would have very few cases. They don't want to write that. It's just common sense." Hard to believe I agree with Trump on something – if you increase testing you will find more cases. But he’s still an Idiot!

North Carolina reported 17,982 positive cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, an increase of 853 cases from Friday’s total, as they continue to ramp up coronavirus testing.



Republicans say they're moving ahead with plans to expect 50,000  at their presidential nomination convention in Charlotte, North Carolina the week of August 24^th.



Donald Trump Jr. on Saturday posted a social media message suggesting Joseph R. Biden Jr. was a pedophile. Talk about classless!



More than 500 additional Wisconsinites have tested positive for coronavirus, the largest single-day increase in cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic.



The Florida Department of Health reported today that as of 11:00 am, there were 673 new positive COVID-19 cases (667 Florida residents and six non-Florida residents) and 47 deaths related to the coronavirus. Florida now has a total of 44,811 cases with 1,964 deaths related to COVID-19.



The president notified State Department Inspector General Steve Linick he would be removed from his post in 30 days - a timeline required by law to allow Congress time to look into the administration’s justification for the move - and would appoint Vice President Mike Pence ally Stephen Akard to the position. Linick’s dismissal came shortly after reports surfaced that Linick was looking into possible misuse of political appointees for personal gain by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The firing marks the third inspector general Trump has removed from office in the past two months. Trump’s flouting of convention and norms, said the New Yorker‘s John Cassidy, is revealing the flaws in the American government’s system of checks and balances.

“What’s the point of an inspector general if the folks being inspected can fire him/her at will?” tweeted Cassidy. “Another weakness in the system that Trump has exploited.”



The rhetoric against coronavirus lockdowns ramped up on Fox News on Saturday. “Governors better start lifting these lockdowns. People aren’t going to take it anymore. There’s a rebellion brewing,”



And a Trump replay from January 24^th: “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus.  The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.  It will all work out well.  In particular, on behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi!”



The US has 1,417,674 ð 1,446,012 ð 1,474,321 coronavirus cases with 85,438  ð 87,181 ð 88,658 deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 13,610 ð 14,216 ð 14,939 cases with 562 deaths.  Medellin has 312 ð 329 ð 342 cases, an increase of 13 from May 14^th to 16^th. 


Joke of the day

A man walked into the bar and saw an old friend of his, drinking by himself.  Approaching his friend, he commented, "You look awful. What's wrong?"

"My mother died in May and left me $15,000," the friend answered.

"Boy, that's tough," the man replied.

Continuing, the friend said, "Then in June, my dad died leaving me $50,000.

"Gosh, both parents gone in such a short period of time? No wonder you're depressed," said the man.

"Last month my aunt died and left me $10,000," the friend added.

"That's a lot to deal with. Losing three close family members in three months, is terrible!" replied the man.

"Then this month," continued the friend, "nothing! Not even a single dime!"