Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 19, 2020
CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 507,381 new cases (a .67% increase compared to a .52% increase yesterday) to bring the total over 76 million to 76,500,150, 21,212,910 of which are active, 55,287,240 closed with 53,597,854 recoveries (96.94% compared to yesterday’s 96.94%) and 1,689,386 deaths (3.06% compared to yesterday’s 3.06%) to continue the trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentages.
CV USA Cases: New cases of 133,892 (a .75% increase compared to yesterday’s 1.46% increase) to bring the total over 18 million to 18,018,499 with 7,241,714 active cases of which 27,961 (.39% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23 (28,107 yesterday which means the peak of 28,206 on December 17 may finally has been reached), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 10,776,785 closures, 322,440 of which have been deaths (2.99% compared to yesterday’s 3.00%) and 10,454,345 of which have been recoveries (97.01% compared to yesterday’s 97.00%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .07% lower than the world rate and .34% lower than Canada which has the socialized type medicine Biden may well want to implement here and on a deaths per million population measurement on a steady climb to 971 ranks behind Belgium (1589), Italy (1133). Peru (1114), Spain (1046), and UK (986 which has now passed us despite leading world in testing), and only slightly worse than Bulgaria (938) and newly added to the list and just passing France (925), Argentina (918), Mexico (905), Brazil (873), Chile (839 that we recently passed), Sweden (789) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a rapid rise in deaths, Ecuador (785) and Bolivia (769) and we have now conducted 2,125,437 more tests to bring the total to 232,596,953 (now at 700,777/M compared to Russia at 581,679/M so Trump was telling truth that we conduct more tests in number and on a per capital basis for nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark, Israel, Singapore and UAE) but for the U.K. which remains off the testing charts with tests at 728,540/M.
Non CV Case News: On the elusive stimulus front Reds and Blues are arguing over whether Fed credit programs that were supposed to expire on 12/31 and if extended as demanded by Blue politicians who will propose barrier busting policies to combat climate changes and destroy the Fed’s independence; Biden continues to fill out his cabinet and top official posts in his administration (look for a resurrection of the Obama War on Fossil Fuels, a massive roll back of fracking, and a loss of energy independence now enjoyed); the Guided Missile Destroyer USS Mustin transited the Taiwan Strait tailed by Chinese forces accompanied by rants accusing the U.S. of escalating tensions (hope this was normal rants and an not an omen of Chinese perceptions of a compromised weak president compared to Trump); Louisiana House-Elect Cori Bush, the first BLM member elected to the House and another addition to the Squad, has been appointed by Pelosi to a seat on the House Judiciary Committee; Pfizer has shipped out 2.9 million doses of the vaccine this week and next week with Moderna being approved on Friday the two companies should ship 7.9 million dosed next week; in another example of the generosity of Americans, in South Daytona Beach, Joe DeCicco, age 70, who has been working at Taco Bell for 20 years and known as “Taco Bell Joe” to locals received a $6,095 tip from a local group; in a don’t pop the corks yet moment, in the U.K., researchers have identified a new strain of the CV virus which appears to spread far easier as cases have soared in the country; De Blasio is in the news again vowing to fight “systematic racism” in NYC schools by reallocation of funds; a stand your ground law passed by the Red controlled Ohio’s legislature awaiting Governor De Wine’s signature which he has not indicated he will sign.
Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 18, 2020, the number of shootings increased to 4,069 of whom 691 have died (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 still 369 behind Chicago at 321 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 which occur far fewer times);
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “Dominque” by The Singing Nun, the fact that you are able to tune out people with prolix characteristics and a quote on the impact of British rule up to 1997 on the people of Hong Kong’s attitudes by Steve Tsang, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send 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. Please contact me for the details on the pricing.
1. National Wreaths Across America Day—created by Morril Worcester in 1992, a wreath maker who started laying his 5,000 surplus wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery and other cemeteries to honor the veterans resting there on the second Saturday in December from 1992 to 2015 and then moved to the third Saturday in December starting in 2016.
2. Super Saturday—celebrated on the last Saturday before Christmas and created by retailers looking for a catchy slogan to drive last minute procrastinating shoppers to open up their wallets to charge their credit cards.
3. 1963 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1963 on this day on a run of 4 weeks was “Dominque” by The Singing Nun to join 20 other number 1 songs and 18 other acts with their first number 1 song. Although the record was a great success, she received only a fraction of the royalties due her and left her Dominican Order and lived in poverty with her female partner with whom she committed suicide on March 29, 1985 at the age of suicide by overdosing with barbiturates and alcohol. Here is a recording of The Singing Nun singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO7cD6qmydo .
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “prolix” which means long winded which describes far too many politicians to a tee.
5. Stopped Marching Way Too Early--celebrating the birth on this day in 1940 of noted protest singer and songwriter Phil Ochs, whose songs excoriated the military industrial complex and the War in Vietnam but who struggled with being bipolar and alcohol and committed suicide at age 35 on April 9, 1976. Here is a recording of one of his best known songs “I Ain’t Marching Anymore.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv1KEF8Uw2k
On this day in:
a. 1912 William Van Schaik, the captain of the PS General Slocum which caught fire on June 15, 1904 on the East River, killing over 1,000 people, was pardoned by President William Taft after being convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years and having served 3 ½ years of that sentence in Sing Sing.
b. 1946 hostilities commenced between France and the Viet Minh in the First Indochina War which ended on August 1, 1954 in a Viet Minh victory and planted the seeds for the Vietnam War that would follow after several years.
c. 1984 China and The United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Declaration providing that China would take over Hong Kong and The United Kingdom would relinquish sovereignty on July 1, 1997 subject to requirements of China to maintain certain freedoms enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong.
d. 1998 President Bill Clinton became the 2nd president to be impeached by the House, only to be acquitted on strict party lines by the Senate.
e. 2016 jihadist Anis Amri, a Tunisian who had been denied asylum, car jacked a truck in Berlin, killing the driver and drove it into a Christmas Market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Cathedral in Berlin, killing 11 shoppers and injuring 56 others before fleeing on foot to be cornered by Italian police in Milan 4 days later and killed in a shootout with police. Reflections on the protests in Hong Kong over the repressive hand of the Chinese Communist Party: “British rule also left its mark on Hong Kong in a more important and sustainable way. It led to the rise of a people that remains quintessentially Chinese and yet share a way of life, core values and an outlook that resemble at least as much, if not more, that of the average New Yorker or Londoner, rather than that of their compatriots in China.”
― Steve Tsang,Modern History of Hong Kong: 1841-1997. Probably explains the anger felt by the residents of Hong Kong.
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.
© December 19, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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