Quarantine Day #167.
Last night I went to bed at 10:45, got up twice during
the night, woke up at 7:15am and got up at 7:20.
Last night I played 4 games
on Chess.com, winning 1 and losing 3. My rating has now dropped to 1222.
Teresa got up early in
order to take her mother to a 7am doctor’s appointment.
I watched the first 20
minutes of the Today show then walked to Avenida Poblado where I caught my
first bus in over 5 months. (I notieced a short line of people waiting to enter
the gym.) The buses haven’t gotten in any better condition as I bounced around
in the back. I saw that Office Depot has closed for good. I got off at
Parque Poblado and walked to the little mall with Envios Market. The
corner copy center is obviously out of business. The stairway I usually used
was taped off so I went around to the side entrance. I was greeted by a young
man who informed that the office is closed and they are now working from home.
So I guess I won’t be able to pay my monthly rent. I walked to Clinica Medellin
and used my old ATM but unfortunately it didn’t give me all 20s but all 50s. I walked
down the hill and soon was on a bus back to Envigado. I got off at San Marcos church
and walked to the side of Aymara where I had my voting pages scanned to
my flash drive. I stopped at Parva and learned that they should be open
for inside seating later in the week.
I was back at the apt
by 10:45.
Teresa called me at 11:30
and informed me that she is waiting for her mother to drink enough water for
her test.
Teresa returned at 1pm.
She cooked turkey breast with a deliciouis salad for lunch. After lunch she left
to meet her friend at 3pm to go to a beauty shop appointment.
Jose called me at 3:30
and informed me that my carrot cake was on its way. The doorman called me at
4pm and I went down and picked it up. It was a nice presentation. At 5:30 I moved
our pint of ice cream from the freezer to the fridge. At 6pm I took it out of
the fridge and put it on the table. Teresa returned at 6:30 just as I was about
to cut the first slice. We both agreed it wasn’t as good as the slices Maria used
to give us.
If there was one clear theme to emerge from the Republican National
Convention, it was President Donald Trump's firmly held belief that whatever
ails American cities is the fault of Democratic control. In some ways, his
attack last year on Baltimore as "disgusting, rat and rodent infested"
were just a warmup. Now, he's calling himself the "law and order"
candidate and in his acceptance speech vowed to crack down on "rioting,
looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities."
In other words, he is pursuing just another variation on his
long-running, pre-COVID-19 narrative that none of the problems facing cities
stems from systemic racism or police misconduct or concentrated poverty or the
war on drugs or the neglect of cities by the federal government, it's all
because the various mayors and council members have a "D" after their
names. To put it even more simply, one-party rule is the cause of bad outcomes,
not extenuating circumstances or even gun-toting counterprotesting teens
itching for a fight.
That's a convenient point
of view for a Republican president seeking re-election at a time of national
calamity and personal failure. If President Trump has a skill, it's distracting
his followers and shifting blame away from himself. The convenience of this
viewpoint is clear: It allows him not to talk against racism but to spout it
and even encourages his core supporters, the white working class, to see
themselves as victims. But there's also one serious flaw in his strategy.
Somebody is bound to notice at some point that if party affiliation is the sole
or even primary cause of bad outcomes, the Grand Old Party has some serious
explaining to do of its own.
What states have produced
the least educated populace? That would be Mississippi and West Virginia. They
are governed by Republicans. Which has the greatest percentage of people living
below the poverty line? There is Mississippi again. Mississippi hasn't had a
Democratic governor in two decades. Alabama, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma,
that's not just a list of states where the GOP has a lock on statewide elected
office, it also happens to be a partial list of states with the highest infant
mortality rates. You name the measure of prosperity, education, health and
well-being and chances are a state with a Republican governor and usually a
Republican-controlled legislature have the worst outcomes.
And here's what really
ought to get those conservative wags fuming. It's not just that these
"red" states are failing, it's that they are taking in federal tax
dollars much faster than their "blue" counterparts. Earlier this
summer, the website WalletHub did a study of states based on how much they
collectively pay in federal taxes vs. how much they receive in return in the
form of federal aid.
What states are running
the biggest deficits (getting far more out of Uncle Sam then they give)? The
top 10 include Mississippi (of course), West Virginia, Alaska, South Carolina,
Indiana, Arizona and Wyoming. All have Republican governors and
Republican-controlled state legislatures. Just three on that list, New Mexico,
Montana and Kentucky, have a Democratic governor (with Montana and Kentucky
having GOP-controlled legislative branches).
The
US has 6,006,177 ð 6,041,885 ð 6,087,779 coronavirus cases
with 182,900+ ð 183,400 ð 184,500+ deaths.
Per
Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 607,938 ð 615,168 ð 624,069 cases with 20,052 deaths. Medellin has 46,361 ð 47,284 ð 47,937 cases, an increase of 596 from August 31st
to September 1st. Envigado has a total of 2,463 cases, an increase of
31 from August 31st to September 1st.
Joke of
the day
The inventor
of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Arthur Davidson, died and went to heaven.
At the
pearly gates, St. Peter told Arthur, "Since you've been such a good man
and your motorcycles have changed the world, your reward is, you can hang out
with anyone you want in Heaven."
Arthur
thought about this for a minute and then said, "I want to hang out with
God."
St. Peter took
Arthur to the Throne Room and introduced him to God.
God
recognized Arthur and commented, "Okay, so you were the one who invented
the Harley Davidson motorcycle?"
Arthur said,
"Yep, that's me."
God said,
"Well, what's the big deal in inventing something that's pretty unstable,
makes noise and pollution, and can't run without a road?"
Arthur was
apparently embarrassed, but finally he said, "Excuse me, but aren't you
the inventor of woman?"
God said,
"Yes."
"Well,"
said Arthur, "professional to professional, you have some major design
flaws in your invention too:
1. There's
too much inconsistency in the front-end protrusions;
2. It chatters constantly at high speeds;
3. Most of the rear ends are too soft, and wobble too much;
4. The intake is placed way too close to the exhaust;
5. And the maintenance costs are enormous!"
"Hmmmmm,
you have some good points there," replied God, "hold on."
God went to
His Celestial supercomputer, typed in some keywords and waited for the results.
The computer printed out a slip of paper and God read it.
"Well, it may be true that
my invention is flawed," God said to Arthur, "but according to these
statistics, more men are riding my invention than yours."
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