Tuesday, September 29, 2020

 

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, took a while to fall asleep, got up once at 4:15, took a while to fall back asleep, finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

I left the apt at 8am and walked to the mall. First I printed a medical document for Teresa at Auros. I went to Habia Una Vez and Jose arrived a few minutes later. We both had their breakfast of scrambled eggs, croissant with a slice of cheese, small coffee, and large orange juice for 10 mil ($3).

We went upstairs to the food court and set up for chess. I had the white pieces first and played The English Opening but I didn’t play well and I resigned on the 33^rd move. For lunch I had chicken and pasta with a mango juice from Montovido (sp?).

I had the black pieces in the 2^nd game and I played the Dutch Defense but again didn’t play well and I resigned on the 43^rd move.

He left and I went down to Todo Fresa for a café con leche. From there I went into Exito where I picked up a few things and took a taxi back to the apt.

 

As you may recall, Ocasio-Cortez was lambasted last year for spending around $300 (including tip) on a haircut and lowlights — FOR HER BIRTHDAY. And, as anyone who has gotten their hair done in a major metropolitan area can attest, that's the rates.

Anyway, now that information from Donald Trump’s tax returns has come to light (a whopping “$70,000 in hairstyling for television” among his deductions), Ocasio-Cortez is pointing out the hypocrisy in the overwhelmingly right-wing response to her 2019 salon visit.

“Last year Republicans blasted a firehose of hatred + vitriol my way because I treated myself to a $250 cut & lowlights on my birthday,” the congresswoman tweeted on Sunday evening. “Where’s the criticism of their idol spending $70k on hairstyling? Oh, it’s nowhere because they’re spineless, misogynistic hypocrites? Got it.”

 

The bombshell report that President Donald Trump paid $750 in federal income tax in both 2016 and 2017, the first years of his presidency, set social media ablaze. 

The president refused to comment on the New York Times story, calling it “fake news” and adding that he pays “a lot.” 

However, the Biden campaign has seized on the report by selling stickers that read “I paid more in taxes than Donald Trump.” 

 

An old Donald Trump tweet criticizing Americans who "don't pay income tax" resurfaced late on Sunday after The New York Times published a report that revealed he did not pay federal income taxes in about half of the 18 years the newspaper looked at.

"HALF of Americans don't pay income tax despite crippling govt debt," Trump wrote on Twitter in February 2012, four years before he was elected president. His tweet's caption mirrors the headline of a Daily Mail article published one day before, which appears as a link in the social media post. The U.K.-based newspaper's report relies on a graphic originally created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.

The graphic suggested that 49.5 percent of the U.S. population was not represented on federal tax returns in 2009. Analysis of IRS data by the Tax Foundation, an independent nonprofit that focuses on tax policy, showed a record number of people had no income tax liability in 2009, during the Great Recession.

 

Andrew Weissman, a prosecutor who served as one of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's top lieutenants during the investigation into 2016 Russian election interference, on Monday connected revelations about President Trump's tax information to Moscow.

The tax information, obtained by The New York Times, has sparked speculation that Trump may owe hundreds of millions of dollars to an unknown funding source that kept his businesses alive over the years. Weissman suggested that Trump's son, Eric Trump, may have provided the geographic location of the money, if not the exact source, all the way back in 2014, before the elder Trump had announced his 2016 presidential campaign. "We have all the funding we need out of Russia," Eric Trump said in 2014.

 

Australian biotech company Ena Respiratory announced its new nasal spray on Monday, saying that a “gold-standard” randomized trial on ferrets has shown that the INNA-051 substance lowered the level of the virus by 96%. A trial on humans is set to begin in less than four months, pending toxicity studies and regulatory approval.

 

At 8pm I turned on the Presidential Debate on CNN. Was that embarrassing. Trump didn’t just continuely interrupt and argue with Biden but also with Chris Wallace, the moderator. And he often mixed up his facts and told outright lies. That ended at 9:30 and then I listened to the commentary for another 90 minutes.

 

The US has 7,138,040 ð 7,164,954 ð 7,217,798 coronavirus cases with 204,500+ ð 204,700+ ð 205,800+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 813,056 ð 818,203 ð 824,042 cases with 25,828 deaths.  Medellin has 65,209 ð 65,394 ð 66,128 cases, an increase of 736 from September 28^th to 29^th. Envigado has a total of 3,853 cases, an increase of 45 from September 28^th to 29^th.

 

Joke of the day

Jack wakes up with a huge hangover after attending his company's Christmas Party. Jack is not normally a drinker, but the drinks didn't taste like alcohol at all. He had vague memories of being very loud and screaming at his wife. This did NOT promise to be a good morning for Jack. 

Jack had to force himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to them, a single red rose! Jack sits up and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed. He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotlessly clean.  

He takes the aspirins and cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at him in the bathroom mirror.

Then he notices a note hanging on the corner of the mirror written in red with little hearts on it and a kiss mark from his wife in lipstick: "Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to get groceries to make your favorite dinner tonight. I love you darling! Love, Jillian" 

He stumbles into the kitchen and sure enough, there is a hot breakfast, steaming hot coffee, and the morning newspaper all waiting for him. His son is also at the table, eating. Jack asks, "Son... what happened last night?" 

"Well," said the son, thoughtfully, "you came home after 3 in the morning, drunk and out of your mind. You fell over the coffee table and broke it, and then you puked in the hallway, and got that black eye when you ran into the door." 

Confused, he asked his son, "So, why is everything in such perfect order and so clean? I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me?" 

His son replies, "I don't know. The only other thing I remember is mom dragging you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, 'Leave me alone, I'm married!'"

Monday, September 28, 2020

 

Today is my brother Jim’s 68^th birthday, Happy Birthday Jim!

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 4:45am, took a while to fall back asleep, finally waking/getting up at 8am.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show then went for my walk. I stopped in Mercado Madrid but they didn’t have pickle relish. At one point I saw a young man with a white dog. I asked him if it was a Samoyed and he said it was a husky. He said it cost him 600mil 7 years ago. I stopped nextdoor in Exito on my way back but they didn’t have pickle relish either. I returned to the apt at 10:30.

After lunch I had an hour nap.

Seems Teresa is always heading to the beauty shop but for some reason never seems to get there.

I left the apt at 3:45 and walked to the Sao Paolo mall by Glenn’s apt. I looked in Carulla for relish but no luck. I had a café con leche in one of their cafés called Honesto. I texted Glenn and he said he was on his way back from a visit to a pet shelter in Belen. His 25-minute Waze estimate turned out to be an hour. He arrived at 5pm. He was not impressed with the pet shelter. He was also interested in a King Charles Spaniel but they apparently are imported from England and they were priced at 2,000 - 3,000 dollars.

He left about 6pm and I walked across the street to Euro where I found a Heinz picnic pack that included ketchup, mustard and relish.

I walked back to the apt arriving at 6:45. Teresa still didn’t make it to the beauty shop – she was told to call tomorrow.

I watched some Monday Night Football on my laptop using NFL Game Pass.

I finished James Patterson’s Lost on my Nook.

Tonight I learned that when I paid off Teresa’s Exito credit card years ago it was for a new, modern, television that Laura begged her mother to buy.

The US has 7,100,379 ð 7,138,040 ð 7,164,954 coronavirus cases with 204,300+ ð 204,500+ ð 204,700+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 806,038 ð 813,056 ð 818,203 cases with 25,641 deaths.  Medellin has 64,192 ð 65,209 ð 65,394 cases, an increase of 185 from September 27^th to 28^th. Envigado has a total of 3,803 cases, an increase of 12 from September 27^th to 28^th.

 

Joke of the day

A guy heard about this amazing new weight loss company; all his friends tell him there's nothing like it for losing a quick 5 pounds. He calls the company and orders their 5-day, 5lb weight loss program.

The next day there's a knock on the door and there stands before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19 year old woman dressed in nothing but a pair of running shoes and a sign around her neck. She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company. The sign reads, "If you can catch me, you can have me."

Without a second thought, he takes off after her. A few miles later huffing and puffing, he finally gives up. The same girl shows up for the next four days and the same thing happens. On the fifth day he weighs himself and is delighted to find he has lost 5lbs as promised.

He calls the company and orders their 5-day/10-pound program. The next day there's a knock at the door and there stands the most stunning, beautiful, sexy woman he has ever seen in his life. She is wearing nothing but running shoes and a sign around her neck that reads, "If you catch me you can have me".

Well, he's out the door after her like a shot. This girl is in excellent shape and he does his best, but no such luck. So for the next four days, the same routine happens with him gradually getting in better and better shape.

Much to his delight on the fifth day when he weighs himself, he discovers that he has lost another 10 lbs as promised. He decides to go for broke and calls the company to order the 7-day/25 lb-program." Are you sure?" asks the representative on the phone. "This is our most rigorous program."

"Absolutely," he replies, "I haven't felt this good in years."

The next day there's a knock at the door; and when he opens it he finds a huge muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes and a sign around his neck that reads: "If I catch you, you’re mine."

Sunday, September 27, 2020

 

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up twice during the night, (noticed it was raining about 2/3am) finally waking/getting up at 7am.

Last night I played 4 games on Chess.com, winning 1, drawing 1, and losing 2. My rating is now down to 1461.

I left the apt at 8am and arrived at the agreed bus stop by 8:15. Glenn arrived a minute later. We soon were on a Sabaneta bus and we arrived at Ganso y Castor exactly at 8:30. James was almost 30 minutes late. I had the Greek yogurt with granola and fruit again. There was an unorganized exercise class going on in the area next to us. Soon it became organized, led by a young man, along with loud music provided by a boom box. Luckily, it only lasted about an hour and it was soon replaced by a cricket match. Most of the players appeared to be Indian. I saw a family with a dog that looked like a border collie but the black & white, instead of being separate and distinct, were mixed together. I talked to the owner and he said it cost 2,500,000 pesos in Bogota. He said it was a blue border collie. Later I made a trip to the restroom and I talked briefly with a cricket player who spoke good English. They are from India and I mentioned how nice it was that they could all get together to play. He invited me to join them but of course I politely declined.

We left about 11:30 and I took a taxi to Parque Lleras. The driver asked me a lot of questions which I didn’t mind answering. I arrived at Patrick’s 10 minutes before kickoff. I met a gringo named Michael from Chicago and we discussed living in the suburb and the Bear. He told me he, his girlfriend and her family had the coronavirus. He said is was like have the flu for 2-3 days. The Bears didn’t look good and were down 26-10 early in the 3^rd quarter. Nagy, the coach, switched in Nick Foles at quarterback for Mitch Trubisky and they soon scored a touchdown but on review it was declared an interception. Anyway, Foles led them to an incredible comeback scoring 3 touchdowns and the Bears won 30-26. Next week it’s the 2-1 Indianapolis Colts in Chicago.

I took a taxi to Viva Envigado where I found a line to enter Exito. I went into Todo Fresa for a café con leche. I left about 45 minutes later and there was still a line outside Exito but it moved quickly. I found a package of hotdog buns but I couldn’t find relish. Sigh! I picked up a couple bags of milk and took a taxi back to the apt.

 

Tom Ridge, who was a cabinet secretary under former Republican president George W. Bush, endorsed the Democratic nominee on Sunday.

“I will cast my vote for Joe Biden on Nov. 3. It will be my first vote for a Democratic candidate for president of the United States,” Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania, wrote in an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. "But it is not the first time I have said ‘no’ to Donald Trump. I urge my fellow Pennsylvanians to join me.

“[Trump] lacks the empathy, integrity, intellect and maturity to lead,” Ridge continued. “He sows division along political, racial and religious lines. And he routinely dismisses the opinions of experts who know far more about the subject at hand than he does.”

 

Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed billionaire, paid only $750 in federal income taxes in the year he was elected US president, according to a stunning New York Times investigation that could shake up the presidential election.

“Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance,” was the banner headline on the paper’s website on Sunday. The president’s tax returns have long been the holy grail of American political reporting.

The president “paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency”, the paper reported, adding that “in his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.

“He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years – largely because he reported losing much more money than he made.”

In all, the paper said, Trump paid no federal income taxes in 11 of 18 years its reporters examined. Many of his businesses, including his golf courses, report significant financial losses – which have helped him to lower his taxes.

The Times also said the documents it had obtained “comprise information that Mr Trump has disclosed to the IRS, not the findings of an independent financial examination. They report that Mr Trump owns hundreds of millions of dollars in valuable assets, but they do not reveal his true wealth.”

 

The predicted effects of a warming climate are increasingly visible in California: Five of the six largest wildfires in state history ignited in recent weeks, and the state clocked its hottest August on record.

In an effort to combat climate change, California Gov. Gavin Newsom already has set the goal of 100% zero-emission energy sources for the state's electricity by 2045.

The latest step in the state's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions came Wednesday, when Newsom pledged to ban all sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. The executive order wouldn't prevent Californians from owning or selling gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles on the used-vehicle market.

California would be the first state in the country with such a ban, joining at least 15 countries, including France and Germany, that have made similar pledges to phase out gas-powered cars.

 

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and major automakers on Monday confirmed they had finalized binding agreements to cut vehicle emissions in the state, defying the Trump administration’s push for weaker curbs on tailpipe pollution.

The agreements with carmakers, including Ford Motor Co, Volkswagen AG VOWG_p.DE, Honda Motor Co and BMW AG, were first announced in July 2019 as voluntary measures, prompting anger from U.S. President Donald Trump.

A month later, the Justice Department opened an antitrust probe of the agreements, only to end it without action.

The administration in March finalized a rollback of U.S. vehicle emissions standards to require 1.5% annual increases in efficiency through 2026, well below the 5% annual increases in discarded rules under President Barack Obama.

The Center for Biological Diversity estimates the deal will improve fuel economy 3.7% year over year between 2022-2026.

 

MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A novel nasal treatment developed to boost the natural human immune system to fight common colds and flu, has proved remarkably successful in reducing COVID-19 viral replication test results, released today, reveal.

The novel product, INNA-051, being developed by Australian biotech company, Ena Respiratory, reduced viral replication by up to 96 percent in a gold-standard animal study led by Public Health England's (PHE) Deputy Director, Professor Miles Carroll and published today on biomedical pre-publication research site, medRxiv.

The INNA-051 compound works by stimulating the innate immune system, the first line of defence against the invasion of pathogens into the body. By boosting the immune response in this way with INNA-051 prior to infection, the ability of the COVID-19 virus to infect the animals and replicate was dramatically reduced the PHE study showed. The study provides evidence that INNA-051 can be used as a stand-alone method of antiviral preventative therapy, complementary to vaccine programs.

 

I stayed up late watching the Packers Saints game.

 

The US has 7,050,317 ð 7,100,379 ð 7,138,040 coronavirus cases with 203,400+ ð 204,300+ ð 204,500+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 798,317 ð 806,038 ð 813,056 cases with 25,488 deaths.  Medellin has 63,562 ð 64,192 ð 65,209 cases, an increase of 1,014 from September 26^th to 27^th. Envigado has a total of 3,793 cases, an increase of 84 from September 26^th to 27^th.

 

Joke of the day

A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job. 

The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks: "What does two plus two equal?" 

The mathematician replies: "Four." 

The interviewer asks: "Four, exactly?" 

The mathematician looks at the interviewer incredulously and says: "Yes, four, exactly." 

Then the interviewer calls in the accountant and asks the same question. 

"What does two plus two equal?" 

The accountant says: "On average, four - give or take ten percent, but on average, four."

Then the interviewer calls in the economist and poses the same question. 

"What does two plus two equal?" 

The economist gets up, locks the door, closes the shade, leans close to the interviewer and whispers: "What do you want it to equal?"

Saturday, September 26, 2020

 Just before 10pm last night I took my melatonin tablet as usual but immediately realized it was my Zopiclona sleeping table instead. I managed to stay up until 10:15. I fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, woke/got up at 7am.

Last night I played 2 games on Chess.com, losing both.

Marcos is supposed to arrive back in Medellin today. I wonder if he will have to self-quarantine for 14 days after he arrives.

I left the apt at met Glenn outside Otra Parte at noon. We went next door for lunch but we learned they don’t open until 12:30. I took him to Chiclayo, the Peruvian restaurant, instead. I had their bowl with chicken, onions, tomatoes and rice. I asked for it without the French fries but I think the waiter forgot to write it down. I think the fried inside definitely changes the flavor of the mix. My share of the total came to 38,000 pesos which is about $11. From there we went to Parva for coffee where we got a table outside.

Glenn had to leave just after 2pm because he was meeting someone at his apt at 2:30.

Teresa beat me in parcheesi today 4 games to 3.

 

Donald Trump actually said this? “Right now, in a number of states, the laws allow a baby to be born from his or her mother’s womb in the 9^th month. It is wrong, it has to change.”

https://twitter.com/ToddDracula/status/954410865993879558

 

The US could see an explosion of Covid-19 cases as fall and winter set in, one expert says, joining a chorus of health officials who have warned about the challenges of the coming months.

Two things will likely help drive that expected winter surge, according to Dr. Chris Murray, director of the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

"First, as case counts have come down in some states, we tend to see that people become less careful, they tend to have more contact," he said. "But then the most important effect is the seasonality of the virus, that people go indoors, transmission happens more."

The IHME model indicates that the country is currently seeing about 765 daily deaths from Covid-19, but that number could jump to 3,000 daily deaths by late December.

More than 204,000 Americans have already died from the virus since the start of the pandemic and more than 7 million have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins University. At least 24 states are now reporting a rise in new cases compared to the previous week, mostly across the US heartland and Midwest, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

Murray's warning is one that's been repeated from several other health officials in recent months. Over the summer, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director warned the fall and winter could be "one of the most difficult times that we experienced in American public health." And this week, leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci urged American cities and counties to prepare for "the challenge" of fall and winter.

 

An order by the chief judge of the Montana federal court on Friday not only ousted William Perry Pendley as the top official at the Bureau of Land Management but might also invalidate a wide range of decisions he took to open up vast parts of the American west to oil and gas drilling.

 

The Trump campaign planned to make Hunter Biden a major issue in the 2020 campaign, hoping revelations about former vice president Joe Biden’s son would weaken the Democratic presidential candidate. Yet despite the fact that Congressional Republicans have spent over a year accusing Biden of a range of improprieties, a recent report from Senate Republican-led investigations into Hunter Biden’s activities failed to gain substantial media reaction. Which begs the question:

Why are the attacks on Hunter Biden amounting to, in President Trump’s words, a big “nothingburger?”

This past week Senate Republicans issued an 87-page interim report into the activities of Hunter Biden. The report, which was issued by Republican members of the Senate Finance and Homeland Security Committees, came after the review of over 45,000 pages of records and interviews with eight witness who purportedly had knowledge related to Biden’s activities. Focusing on purported business dealings Hunter Biden had with foreign nationals during the Obama administration, much of the report addresses Biden’s well-known service on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company. It it also explores Biden’s contacts with other wealthy and politically connected foreign nationals.

The biggest revelation of the report? That it doesn’t make any credible, evidence backed accusations that Hunter Biden undertook any illegal activities.  At all.

 

The US has 7,002,564 ð 7,050,317 ð 7,100,379 coronavirus cases with 202,600+ ð 203,400+ ð 204,300+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 790,823 ð 798,317 ð 806,038 cases with 25,296 deaths.  Medellin has 62,853 ð 63,562 ð 64,192 cases, an increase of 629 from September 25^th to 26^th. Envigado has a total of 3,709 cases, an increase of 56 from 25^th to 26^th.

 

Joke of the day

After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target. Unfortunately, like most men; I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse. Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target.

 

Dear Mrs. Harris:

Over the past six months your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store.
We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store.

Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Harris, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras:

1. June 15: He took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people's carts when they weren't looking.

2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away'. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her Supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money. We don't have a Code 3.

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

6. August 14: Moved a, 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.

8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?' EMTs were called.

9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.

12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his, 'Madonna Look' using different sizes of funnels.

13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'

14. October 22: When an announcement came over the loudspeaker he assumed a fetal position and screamed;
'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'

15. Took a box of condoms to the checkout clerk and asked ‘where is the fitting room’?

And last, but not least:

16. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile; then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here.'

Friday, September 25, 2020

 

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once about 1:30, woke up at 5am (it was raining) and got up at 5:15. Well, that is about 6 ½ hours so that’s not too bad. Strange thing, when I sat up at 5am a 500-peso coin fell to the floor. It must have been tucked in my sheet somewhere.

Last night I played 4 games on Chess.com, winning 2, drawing 1, and losing 1. I had the black pieces in 3 of my games. The game I was winning but lost on time. My rating inched up to 1488.

I completed my one hour walk from 8am to 9am.

Teresa left to take her mother for a walk.

I watched the first 45 minutes of the Today show and left the apt and walked to the mall. I recycled a plastic bottle then had a café con leche in Todo Fresa. I withdrew 80mil from the Davivienda ATM hoping to get 4 20s but it gave me 1 50, 1 20, and 1 10. Sigh!

I picked up 3 bags of milk and 2 bananas from Exito and took a taxi back to the apt.

Teresa returned a few minutes later. She informed me that 3 of her cousins have the coronavirus and are recuperating at home.

 

About 7:15 Teresa asked if we could go for patacones tonight. Teresa called the lady who makes them to make sure she’s open and placed our order. She called her mother (MT) and invited her to join us. We went down to the porteria and she asked the porter to call us a taxi. About 10 minutes later this nice SUV pulls up and Teresa gets up and starts leaving the porteria. I slowly walked behind her as I didn’t know what was happening. I started getting in back when Teresa asked me to sit in front. I got in next to this masked young lady with 2 cellphones balanced on her lap. We drive towards downtown then head downhill and pick up MT across the street from the library. Then we finally head to La Mesa barrio. It cost 9,500 pesos for the trip but we arrived at least 30 minutes after Teresa placed the order. Which is probably why the patacones with avocado and shredded beef weren’t hot as usual. I ate most of mine and drank most of my Coca Cola. We walked a block away were we quickly caught a taxi. Drops started hitting the windshield on our way. We dropped MT off near her apt and she almost fell after getting out of the car. We returned to the apt by 9:30.

 

 

The Metropolitan Opera will skip an entire season for the first time in its nearly 140-year history and intends to return from the pandemic layoff next September.

 

President Trump on Wednesday suggested he may not approve more stringent standards for issuing an emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"We're looking at that and that has to be approved by the White House," Mr. Trump told reporters during a press briefing at the White House. "We may or may not approve it."

The Washington Post reported this week the FDA is issuing new, more rigorous guidance for an emergency use authorization of a coronavirus vaccine, which would make it more difficult for a vaccine to be ready by Election Day.

The president has repeatedly suggested a vaccine would arrive before November 3, though top public health officials have thrown cold water on Mr. Trump's speedy timeline, warning a coronavirus vaccine likely will not be ready for distribution to the general population until well into 2021.

Mr. Trump told reporters the tightened standards from the FDA "sounds like a political move," and cited the pharmaceutical companies — Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna — that are developing coronavirus vaccines and have begun final-stage testing.

The president said delaying a vaccine by "two or three weeks" would cost lives.

 

CALIFORNIA AND MICHIGAN on Wednesday announced new steps to combat climate change, as wildfires continue to tear across the West Coast and hurricane season stretches into the Greek alphabet for named storms.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, issued an executive order on Wednesday that will require sales of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035 – essentially putting a deadline on a ban of the sale of new gasoline-powered cars and trucks in the Golden State. This measure would yield a 35% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions statewide, according to a news release from Newsom's office. Californians will still be allowed to own and sell used gasoline-powered cars.

 

In the space of a single sentence uttered Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray unwound months of wild conspiracy theories pushed by President Donald Trump and his allies about mail-in ballots in the 2020 election.

"Now, we have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise," Wray said in response to a question about the safety of voting by mail, which millions of Americans are expected to do amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Wray was testifying in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Under oath. Meaning that if he didn't tell the truth about his knowledge in regard to what he knew about the record of fraudulent voting by mail, he would be committing a crime.

House Democrats are set to introduce a bill next week that would impose 18-year term limits on future Supreme Court justices, allowing a president to nominate two justices during each term in office.

The big picture: The bill, sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.), seeks to depoliticize the process of placing new justices on the court — a fight that has taken on new light after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last week.

• Americans across the political spectrum support the idea of Supreme Court term limits, per SCOTUS Blog.

Worth noting: Under the bill, the term limits would not apply to justices who are already seated on the Supreme Court.

 

Fox News got to claim victory on Thursday after a new ruling in a lawsuit brought against the company came out in its favor, but the win arrived at a steep cost. To deflect an allegation of defamation, the network was forced to claim that one of its highest-profile personalities [Tucker Carlson] can't reasonably be expected to consistently provide accurate information to viewers.

 

The number of novel coronavirus cases in the United States topped 7 million - more than 20% of the world's total - as Midwest states reported spikes in COVID-19 infections in September.

 

The only presidential election Donald Trump will accept as legitimate is the one he wins, he told a crowd of supporters Friday night at a rally in Virginia. If he loses in November, Trump declared,” We’re not going to stand for it.” 

Trump’s speech in Newport News was the latest ominous sign that he may refuse to leave office if he’s voted out. Asked at a press conference Wednesday if he would “commit to a peaceful transferal of power” if he lost the November election, Trump said ominously: “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens.”

Trump declared Friday that the only way he’ll lose the election is if the Democrats cheat.

“We’re not going to lose this except if they cheat,” Trump told the crowd. “Our country is at stake.” 

To me that’s treasonous talk! Imagine that coming from the president of the United States.

 

The US has 6,948,359 ð 7,002,564 ð 7,050,317 coronavirus cases with 201,500+ ð 202,600+ ð 203,400+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 784,268 ð 790,823 ð 798,317 cases with 25,103 deaths.  Medellin has 62,217 ð 62,853 ð 63,562 cases, an increase of 707 from September 24^th to 25^th. Envigado has a total of 3,653 cases, an increase of 84 from September 24^th to 25^th

 

Joke of the day

What’s the difference between a jellyfish and a lawyer? One is a spineless, poisonous blob. The other is a form of marine life.