Friday, October 16, 2020

Last night I took half a Zopiclona and went to bed at 10:30pm, got up at midnight and took the other half, got up again about 5am, finally waking at 6am and getting up at 6:45.

Last night I didn’t play chess on Chess.com.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show then headed out for my walk. I completed my old route first then headed past Aymará to a bookstore whose location I had recently found on google maps. Unfortunately, all their English books were either for children or those learning English. I stopped at the copy center on my way back to the apt and printed my ballot.

Juan texted me and cancelled our lesson for today, we’ll try tomorrow.

Nobraskja from Envios Market texted me that the muchacho was coming with my packages. I paid him and gave him my ballot and the “envelope” page with the address.

My package included the Joint Support tablets I had ordered (I had just ran out), the Calendula (marigold) flower capsules (I was down to my last 3), 2 Reader’s Digests, 2 Chess Life magazines, a chess book, and some junk mail. Almost like Christmas.

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., torpedoed a possible compromise deal on the stimulus between House Democrats and the White House on Thursday.

Millions of people have fallen into poverty since aid dried up months ago, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has pleaded for Congress to provide more relief, because there is little risk of "overdoing" it. But McConnell on Wednesday said a deal worth between $1.8 trillion and $2.2 trillion was about four times more than Republicans would agree to — even though it is a far cry from the $3.4 trillion bill passed by House Democrats in May.

 

Former White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, has told friends that President Donald Trump "is the most flawed person" he's ever known.

"The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life," the retired Marine general has told friends, CNN has learned.

 

The New York Times editorial board on Friday dropped a massive essay that outlines the case against re-electing President Donald Trump to a second term.

The essay does not hold back in describing Trump's presidency in apocalyptic terms, and it begins by saying he "poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II."

The editors then cycle through a list of grievances against the president, whom they accuse of having "gravely damaged the United States at home and around the world," as well as having "abused the power of his office and denied the legitimacy of his political opponents, shattering the norms that have bound the nation together for generations."

The editors also eviscerate Trump for drawing no lines between the public office he holds and his private business interests, as well as his "breathtaking disregard for the lives and liberties of Americans."

The essay then takes stock of Trump's place in American history — and finds that he will rank very poorly.

"Mr. Trump stands without any real rivals as the worst American president in modern history," the editors write. "In 2016, his bitter account of the nation's ailments struck a chord with many voters. But the lesson of the last four years is that he cannot solve the nation's pressing problems, because he is the nation's most pressing problem."

 

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said in a call with constituents this week that President Trump mishandled the pandemic, "kisses dictator's butts," "sells out allies," "mocks evangelicals," and has "flirted with white supremacists," according to audio obtained by the Washington Examiner.

 

Rudy Giuliani's daughter, endorsing Biden, says corruption 'starts with yes men' and calls her dad the president's personal bulldog.

 

At 5:30 I had just finished the last bit of the slice of carrot cake with the vanilla ice cream from a Klondike bar when Esmeralda called and invited us out for empanadas. I wasn’t hungry but I decided I would go just to get out of the apt for a bit.

The corner lady wasn’t making empanadas tonight so we went across the street where we had pizza slices at Antica Pizza. My cellphone was down to the 15% warning so I plugged in my external battery and it charged it from there. By the time I returned to the apt it was up to 60%. The directions say that the battery can recharge a cellphone twice before it needs to be recharged.

We started watching Ava (5.3) at Laura’s recommendation but that only lasted about 10 minutes. I put on one of my favorites from when I was a kid – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (8.2). We watched the first hour and so far Teresa is enjoying it. So far the Amazon Firestick and this new service – Medellin TV he calls it – seem to have every movie and TV show.

I turned off my notebook at 9:30 as usual and plugged in the external battery and it was obvious it was charging which was nice to know can be done with my computer turned off.

 

The US has 7,948,603 ð 8,004,070 ð 8,036,176 coronavirus cases with 216,600+ ð 217,300+ ð 217,800+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 930,159 ð 936,982 ð 945,354 cases with 28,616 deaths. Medellin has 78,940 ð 79,831 ð 8,967 cases, an increase of 1,136 from October 15^th to 16^th. Envigado has a total of 5,326 cases, an increase of 96 from October 15^th to 16^th. It appears new infections are on a bit of a roller coaster.

 

Joke of the day

A farmer named Rick had a car accident.

In court, the trucking company's lawyer was questioning Rick. "Didn't you say, at the moment of the accident, 'I'm fine.'" asked the lawyer?

Rick responded, "Well, I'll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule, Bessie, into the..."

"I did not ask you for any details", the lawyer interrupted. "Just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine?'"

Rick said, "Well, I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road."

The lawyer interrupted again and said "Judge, I'm trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the highway patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."

By this time the judge was fairly interested in Rick's answer and said to the lawyer "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule, Bessie."

Rick thanked the judge and proceeded.

"Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn't want to move. However, I could hear old Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans.

When the highway patrolman came on the scene he could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her and saw her near fatal condition, he took out his rifle and shot her between the eyes.

Then the patrolman came across the road, rifle still in hand, looked at me and said, 'how are you feeling?'

Now, what the heck would YOU say?"