Ridley’s Believe It Or Not August 22, 2020
CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 254,945 new cases (a 1.11% increase compared to a 1.41% increase yesterday) to bring the total over 23 million to 23,272,466 cases, 6,648,304 of which are active, 16,624,152 of which have been closed with 15,818,261 recoveries (95.15% compared to yesterday’s 95.13%) and 805,901 deaths (4.85% compared to yesterday’s 4.87%) to continue the trend of increased recovery percentages and decreased mortality percentages.
CV USA Cases: New cases of 51,927 with total cases nearing 6 million at 5,768,900 (a .9% increase compared to yesterday’s .98% increase) with 2,507,173 active cases of which 16,785, on a downward trend with slight blips from over 19,000 in the last 3 weeks (16,823 yesterday), are in serious or critical condition as trend continues to go down, and 3,313,654 closures, 179,640 of which have been deaths (5.42% compared to yesterday’s 5.42%) and 3,134,014 of which have been recoveries (94.58% compared to yesterday’s 94.58%) (our death rate percentages continue to improve and are finally in single digits since Cuomo repealed on May 10 his order sending CV positive patients to nursing homes and ADL facilities and on a deaths per million population measurement at 542 ranks behind Belgium (860), Peru (825), Spain (617), UK (610), Italy (586), Sweden (575), and Chile (564) and only slightly worse than Brazil (534) and Mexico (464). We have now conducted 75,475,175 tests ( 800,000 more tests than those done yesterday).
Non CV Case News: Brace yourself as another black was killed by police in Lafayette, Louisiana after wielding a knife and tasing was not successful which was the 10th person shot and killed in the state and prompted outrage by the ACLU; the PC Warriors are out in full force and effect howling for a Cleveland radio announcer who had the gall to refer to Harris as the nation’s first “colored woman” nominated as vice president (the term colored is supposed be offensive leading one to ask when will the NAACP change its name?); the House met historically to vote not on a stimulus Americans are crying for but a $25 billion down the rat hole funding which also included a goody bag for trial lawyers the right to sue the Post Office for misfeasance in its mail duties (Costa Mesa must live a charmed life as the mail is delivered on time like clockwork); our Blue run cities like Portland are in the darkness of night after night of riots and in those like Chicago are in a daily and nightly wave of color on color shootings and killings where Mayor Lightfoot justifies police protection for her while the rest of her citizens cower praying a stray bullet will not end or maim their life while from the Blues total silence; students at dozens of universities and colleges are demanding tuition cuts as they embrace more and more on line classes (a sliver lining of this pandemic might be the need to review the exorbitant salaries being paid to administrators and faculty members on campus especially when far too many students leave with massive debt and sheepskins that are useless in the job market); California has been hit by thousands of lightning strikes resulting in some 560 fires burning across the state and we are not in the really worst part of our annual wildfire season.
Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of August 21, 2020, the number of shootings increased by 31 poorly aimed shootings to 2,637, of whom 3 died to raise the total at 448 (total travesty of BLM when blacks are shot and killed by blacks in droves and only sounds of silence and complete absence of any protests in front of City Hall demanding action to curb the killings and shootings); Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths but now seems to be shooting less and killing less and is now 237 behind Chicago at 211 murders (when will Chicago and Baltimore get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of people of color by people of color and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which have been way more deadly and way more numerous than shootings by police or by random mass shootings?).
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “When I Am with You” by Hal Kemp and His Orchestra, the fact that you rarely use persiflage, and a quote by Colin Higgins on Devil’s Island, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, college graduations, birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. You need only contact me for details.
1. Earth Overshoot Day—created by Andrew Simms to mark the day on which we have consumed more of the planets resources than we can regenerate in a year which because of conservation has been extended from July 28, 2018 to today.
2. Southern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day—created by holiday creators Ruth and Thomas Roy of Wellcat Holidays to chase away the winter and welcome the spring in the Southern Hemisphere on September 22 or 23 with cries of “Hoodie Hoo” outdoors but probably without the aid of a groundhog and the presences or absence of his shadow.
3. 1936 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1936 on a run of 2 weeks was “When I Am with You” by the Hal Kemp and His Orchestra. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teWT_Jo5tpQ Sadly, this promising band leader was hit by a truck near Madera, California on December 19, 1940 and died from pneumonia in the hospital on December 22 at the age of 36.
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “persiflage” which means banter or idle chatter which drives many of us up a wall when trying to get things done.
5. Cleveland Rocks—celebrating the birth on this day in 1952 of noted guitarist, singer and songwriter Peter Laughner who was a catalyst for Cleveland’s alternative rock scene but how struggled with alcohol and drug abuse and died from acute pancreatitis on June 24, 1977 at age 24.
On this day in:
a. 1953 to the joy of present and future French felons, the penal colony at Devil’s Island was permanently closed.
b. 1978 the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was passed by Congress but to the joy of Reds was never ratified by the states.
c. 1989 the Ryan Express with his 100 m.p.h. fastballs struck out Ricky Henderson
to become the first pitcher to strike out more than 5,000 batters but he was not done and would end his career with 5,714.
d. 1991 Iceland was the first country in the world to recognize the independence of the Baltic Republics.
e. 2003 Alabama Associate Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for failing to remove a rock from the courthouse inscribed with the Ten Commandments and later resurfaced to become the Republican nominee to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate and lose in the general election.
Reflections on Devil’s Island: “Dreyfus once wrote from Devil's Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been seagulls... For me they will always be glorious birds.” Colin Higgins noted director and screenplay writer who died from AIDS on August 5, 1988
Please enjoy the poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs—click on the links below. Go to www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—This Day in History, poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy and poems on breaking news items of importance or go to Ridley's Believe It Or Not for just This Day in History.
© August 22, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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