RIDLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT December 6, 2021
CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues on an increasing basis with cases now over 266 million at 266,644,134 cases, 21,200,608 of which are active, 245,438,262 closed with 240,161,556 recoveries (97.85%), and cracking the 5,000,000 barrier 5,276,706 deaths (2.15% ))to continue the low trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages and decreased death percentages with some plateaus, dips, and rises.
CV USA Cases: Total cases now over 50 million at 50,114,486 with 9,679,189 active cases of which 13,934 are serious or critical, (8,599 on 3/25/2021) (back to steady decreases with upticks despite the Delta variable to .144% of active cases and to decrease the reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 15,337, 40,435,297 closures with 809,898 deaths (2.00%) and with 39,625,399 recoveries (98.00%). Our death rate percentage is .15% lower than the world’s death rate.
Standing: On a deaths per million population measure on a steady but slow climb to 2426 the U.S. ranks behind Peru (5988) the new number 1 which has had a quantum leap in deaths previously unmatched which was a change in the classification to give Peru the a new method of reporting; Bulgaria the new number 2 (4197), Hungary (3700), Romania (2999), Brazil (2868) which has been hit with a rapid rise in deaths now slowing down passed by Romania, Argentina (2548), and newly added to the list Columbia (2494), and slightly better than Belgium (2330), Poland (2268), Mexico (2256), Italy (2226), UK (2129), Russia newly added to list (1934), (Chile (1991), Spain (1885), Ecuador newly added to list (1858), Portugal (1827), France (1826), Bolivia (1615), Sweden (1485) that never closed its economy down like we did, and Switzerland (1330).
Tests: No need to tally tests as testing programs are functioning well.
CV Open Gate: Lost in the pronouncements by Biden and his lackeys that there is no crisis of illegals surging across the border is that fact that COVID-19 is alive and well and spreading in the Northern Triangle and Mexico which is 11th on my list of deaths from the pandemic at 22565/M with 348,385 active cases and a fatality rate of 8.31% of closed cases and the 3 countries in the Northern Triangle in terms of active cases and deaths per million are as follows even though the data may be suspect as underreported (regardless of number we need no more cases):
Guatemala: Active Cases: 1079 Deaths/M 870
Honduras: Active Cases: 245,799 Deaths/M 1028
El Salvador: Active cases: 13,035 Deaths/M 580
US Vaccinations: As of 12/06/21 462.3 million doses, .859 million per day (2 months left for 75% of population to be vaccinated) and in California 116,171 per day (which means at least 79% of the population of California has received at least one shot which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity (other than Flip Flop Fauci who may believe that 90% is required). In California 59,768,100 total doses have been given (84.2% of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.4%), California has not moved from 8th of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 63.3% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 59.4% and has moved from 12th tied with Colorado to 14th in terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other states.
Non CV News: Jussie Smollett took the stand and provided some pretty salacious testimony at odds with why his supposed attackers have testified to and will continue being cross-examined tomorrow and as the jurors were dismissed for the day a stern warning from the judge not to be viewing the internet or Google on the trial (if a case of he said they said just one juror has to believe that his “attackers” were lying and dismissed in that juror’s mind the check from Smollett to them); looks like Chris Cuomo’s pal Don Lemon is mimicking him by providing Jussie Smollett as he was devastated by Cuomo’s being fired; the Cack News Network is in damage control mode over the firing of Chris Cuomo as Brian “Helter Skelter” Stelter whitewashed the firing and failed to mention Cuomo’s first sexual harassment accuser; while the evidence coming out of South Africa is that the Omicron Variant is very mild in terms of symptoms, Fauci it appears was the driving force behind the travel ban out of Africa and his pronouncements seem to have nothing to do with the science but rather designed to put the fear of God into Americans and more power in the hand of the ruling Blues; the PC wars to make the sexes gender neutral in failing in the Latino communities as the term “Latinix” is the new Woke term pushed by Blue Progressives to the dismay of the Latino community who despise the use of the name; in Afghanistan where we cut and run and left Americans and their Afghan allies behind, famine and starvation are descending upon the land; David Wright, the former CEO of the L.A. Department of Water and Power has agreed plead guilty to fraud in pushing through a lucrative $30 million contract with a company he was going to join shortly after the contract was signed without disclosing his conflict of interest; the pro felon L.A. D.A. Gascon must have been emboldened as the recall effort against him failed due to lack of enough signatures as a second recall effort has be started as 14 thugs arrested in 11 smash and grab crimes have released to due Gascon’s low or zero bail policies; while Russia moves over 100,000 troops into its border with Ukraine and China is provoking Taiwan by sending fighter planes and bombers into Taiwan air space, the Biden Administration seems like a deer caught in headlights frozen to be able to create a proper response in both cases; China rapidly becoming our number one adversary is trying to open a military base at Equatorial Guinea’s port city of Bata on the Atlantic Ocean Coast; as Biden’s policies are looking more and more like fatal disasters, leave it to the political cartoonist to reveal what the Biden Grinch is stealing from us as Christmas time:
Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is alive and well to collect data to show that through December 5, 2021, gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 4308 persons shot of whom 755 have died.
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a recording link to “Near You” by Francis Craig and Band with Bob Lamm, the fact that you do not suffer from sitiomania, and a quote from The Labor World, January 8, 1908 on the Monongah Mine Disaster, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like Thanksgiving or Veterans 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 details on pricing.
1. National Gazpacho Day—celebrating a cold soup that originated originally in the Andalusian region of Spain originally consisting of oil, vinegar, onions, garlic and breadcrumbs with tomatoes and peppers added after Spain’s exploration of the New World and is the perfect refreshing entrée for a hot day which makes one wonder why the day is not honored in the summer here unless the creators were living in the Southern Hemisphere.
2. National Pawn Brokers Day—celebrating those lenders who often step in to provide needed cash when because of credit history or timing or amounts traditional lenders will not and a source of potentially cheap deals for shoppers when the loan is not paid off.
3. 1947 Number 1 Song USA—the number 1 song in 1947 on this day was “Near You” by Francis Craig and His Orchestra with Bob Lamm on a run of 12 wees in that position to join 10 other songs that achieved number 1 status. Here’s a recording of Francis Craig and His Orchestra with Bob Lamm performing “Near You”: https://www.youtube watch?v=angPhGHb5F4.com/ Craig was a noted Nashville honky tonk piano player with his own Nashville band and best remembered for this song being the first number one song out of Nashville as a ”B” Side to Craig’s theme song “Red Rose” and the song “Dynamite” written in 1938 which became the official fight song of Vanderbilt University. Lamm was a blind vocalist.
4. Word of the Day—the word of the day is “sitiomania” which means a morbid aversion to food which is a characteristic that gourmets and gourmands cannot relate to.
5. Alcohol May Slow Down the Backswing But Not the Car—celebrating the birth on this day in 1980 of Danielle Downey, who was the two-time New York State amateur golf champion, played golf on both the men’s and women’s high school golf team, had a stellar career at Auburn University and played in the Futures Tour and LPGA for 6 years combine before retiring to become Director of Golf at Auburn. Sadly, after a night on the town after dinner and drinking too much with friends and tired of waiting for her sister to come and pick her, against advice of friends tried to drive home and ended up crashing into a tree at a high rate of speed, not wearing a seat belt with a BAT level of .024 and thrown from her car to died on January 30, 2014 after arriving at a hospital at age 33.
On this day in:
a. 1907 in Monongah, West Virginia two coal mines had explosions that resulted in 362 miners dying and only 1 rescued and 4 escaping to become the worst mining disaster in U.S. history that prompted the creation by the U.S. of the Bureau of Mines.
b. 1957 in a disastrous way to enter the space race after the Soviets had successfully launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957 a Vanguard Satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral and on national TV exploded after rising 4 feet into the air from the launch pad.
c. 1969 at the Altamont Speedway in Livermore, California at a free concert with the Grateful Dead (backed out at last moment because of violence at the event), Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Rolling Stones as the final act, 18 year old Meredith Hunter who had been punched and thrown off the stage tried again to climb on while the Rolling Stones were performing but this time showing a gun in his hand prompting one of the Hells Angels to stab him twice and kill him.
d. 1992 Babri Masjid, a Muslim mosque in India, believed by Hindus to have been built on the birth place of the Hindu deity Rama was destroyed by a Hindu mob which prompted immediate riots across India resulting in 2,000 deaths and a further six weeks of riots in Bombay which resulted in another 900 deaths.
e. 2017 the Trump Administration formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Reflections on the impact of the Monongah Coal Mine Disaster from The Labor World, January 8, 1908: “ In the appeal issued by the Monongah Relief Committee it is stated that of the 3,000 inhabitants of Monongah the mine disaster destroyed one-half of the breadwinners. Two hundred and fifty wives, 1,000 children and many unborn children are left without means of support…..Paul Kellogg Special Representative of the Charities and Special Commons, ‘The statement of the case made in the appeal is not too strong. Putting the average wage at $50 a month (which was given me as fair), an income of $20,000 a month has been cut off from this working population— $240,000 a year. There will not be so many mouths to feed by one-fourth; but in the face of this loss, the real significance of where the burden of industrial disaster falls, stands out. And the character of the town stands out. This is not a community. It is not paying its way. It uses the well and strong. It is part of the working plant of the coal industry. Sympathetic and kindly as may be their sufferance for the weeks following the disaster, these broken families must move away, as surely as the bodies of the men who supported them had to be removed from the mine offings, so that the work could go on.’”
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© December 6, 2021 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
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