December 24, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Christmas Eve

 Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 24, 2020

        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 506,853  new cases (a .64%  increase compared to a .92% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  79 million to 79,564,075, 21,826,864 of  which  are active, 57,737,211 closed with 55,990,962 recoveries (96.98% compared to  yesterday’s 96.97%) and 1,746,249 deaths (3.02% compared to yesterday’s 3.03%) to continue the trend of increased cases with increased recovery  percentages and decreased death percentages.

        CV USA Cases: New cases of 131,951 (a .70% increase compared to yesterday’s 1.39% increase) to bring the  total over 19 million  to  189,049,103 with 7,544,784 active cases of which 28,747 (.38% of active cases and a new peak), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (28,728 yesterday), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 11,504,354 closures,  336,142 of which have been deaths (2.92% compared to yesterday’s 2.92%) and 11,168,177 of which have been recoveries (97.08% compared to yesterday’s 97.08%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .10% lower than the world rate and .30% 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 1013 ranks behind Belgium (1631), Italy (1173). Peru (1123),  Spain (1065), and UK (1023 which has now passed us despite leading world in testing), and only slightly worse than Bulgaria  (1008) and newly added to the list and just passing France (953), Argentina (932),  Mexico (928), Hungary (905 and (839) four days ago so added to the list;  Brazil (888),  Chile (849 that we recently passed), Sweden (817) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a rapid rise in deaths, Ecuador (787) and Bolivia (772) and we have now conducted 1,883,858 more tests to bring the total to 240,135,749 (now at 723,444/M compared to Russia at 596,707/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 760,346/M.

        Non CV Case News: The  American public is being crucified on Pelosi’s non CV related cross of expenditures as she refuses to lower spending to enable Americans to receive $2,000 as opposed to $600 (the blame for this mess is on her big time and she must go as she has outlived her usefulness as a Red lightning rod and clearly is not a Speaker for all the people); Reds are rightfully concerned over mail-in ballot fraud but it appears that one avenue of chicanery of counting ballots received after the deadline may have been lessened as the USPS has announced Express Mail treatment for mail in ballots; SCOTUS has once again proved what Eisenhower learned to his dismay after appointing Earl Warren, a noted conservative, as Chief Justice , that SCOTUS is an independent branch of government as it ruled that responses on Trump’s challenge to the election in Pennsylvania will not be due to after the Inauguration of Biden on the 20^th (impossible to imagine after the inauguration, SCOTUS would set aside Biden’s assumption of office); Fauci who has the facade of convincing us he listens to the science only now based on polling of people who indicated they would take the vaccine is claiming 90% will have to be vaccinated to get herd immunity for the nation; as Biden, buffeted by demands from the left of more and more diversity,  is in the process of filling his cabinet, a leading candidate, Marty Walsh, the Mayor of Boston, is facing headwinds because you guessed it, he is white ( new word for his administration pigmentocracy—rule by color of skin); D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in what looks like a typical leftist War on Christmas has pronounced Christmas Eve to be Doctor Fauci Day in honor of his 80^th birthday; Oregon Governor Kate Brown is in the running for the most pathetic clown as she extends her crippling emergency order locking businesses down into March (as more and more bankruptcies await where is the science that justifies that fate?); as NYC sees thousands of residents fleeing the high tax high crime defunded city, Miami’s Red Mayor is making the pitch to Wall Street to the tax haven of Florida and Miami (if a parent their schools have been open not closed by the De Blasio clown.

         Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 21,  2020,  the number of shootings increased to 4,121 of whom  701 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 now 371 behind Chicago at 330 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 “Daytime Dreamer” by the Monkees, the fact that we are getting a handle on our prosodemic “friend” from China and a quote from two WWI soldier present at the Christmas Truce, 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. Feast of the Seven Fishes—celebrated in Italian-American communities to observe the Catholic tradition of on Christmas Eve of avoiding meat until the Christmas Day Feast.

        2. National Egg Nog Day—celebrating the end of the Christmas shopping season on Christmas Eve with a pleasing libation consumed here since colonial times, spiced and topped with nutmeg and mixed with an appropriate spirits to prepare parents for staying up late to wrap gifts for their eager children to put under the Christmas Tree to await the early rising children.

        3. 1967 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1967 on this day on a run of  4 weeks was “Daydream Believer” by The Monkees to join 18 other number 1 songs and join 7 other acts with their first number one song.  Here is a recording of The Monkees  singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvqeSJlgaNk . The band was a band created around a TV series which when it faded the band faded.

       4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “prosodemic” which means contagious or infectious which describes our unwanted CV to a tee.

        5. A and S a Deadly Cocktail---celebrating the birth on this day in 1961 of noted English comedian and actress Carole Ahern who struggled with binge drinking, heavy smoking and finally succumbed to lung cancer when it caught up with her on July 2, 2016 at age 52.

         On this day in:

         a. 1826 following the smuggling of a large quantity of whiskey into the West Point Barracks two days earlier a drunken celebration involving some 70 cadets erupted  and ended the next day and was followed by the court martial of 20 cadets.

         b. 1914 on the Western Front German , French and English soldiers climbed out of their trenches in some case only a few yards apart to exchange small gifts, play soccer and stop shooting at each other in what became known but not repeated as the “Christmas Truce.”

       c. 1943 General Dwight D. Eisenhower was named the Supreme Commander for the invasion of Europe on D-Day.

         d. 1964 Viet Cong operatives detonated a car bomb underneath the Brink’s Hotel in Saigon which housed American military personnel, killing 2 Americans and wounding 60 others, proving their ability to attack even the most guarded installations in South Vietnam.

        e. 1973 the District of Columbia Home Rule Act was passed granted D.C. residents the power to elect their own Blue representatives.

         Reflections on the Christmas Truce 1914: “What a sight - little groups of Germans and British extending almost the length of our front! Out of the darkness we could hear laughter and see lighted matches, a German lighting a Scotchman’s cigarette and vice versa, exchanging cigarettes and souvenirs.”- Corporal John Ferguson of the Second Seaforth Highlanders

“What I had still believed to be madness several hours ago I could see now with my own eyes. Bavarians and English, until then the greatest of enemies, shook hands, talked and exchanged items. A single star stood still in the sky directly above them, and was interpreted by many as a special sign. More and more joined, and the entire line greeted each other.”- Josef Wenzl, German soldier. Sadly the generals on both sides reacted with fury to insure humanity would not be able to emerge from the killing trenches again..
        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 24, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift

December 23, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Festivus

 

Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 23, 2020
        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 719,116  new cases (a .92%  increase compared to a 1.26% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  79 million to 79,057,222, 21,671,024 of  which  are active, 57,386,198 closed with 55,648,450 recoveries (96.97% compared to  yesterday’s 96.97%) and 1,737,748 deaths (3.03% compared to yesterday’s 3.03%) to continue the trend of increased cases with increased recovery  percentages and decreased death percentages.

         CV USA Cases: New cases of 240,866 (a 1.39% increase compared to yesterday’s 1.03% increase) to bring the  total over 18 million  to  18,917,152 with 7,481,468 active cases of which 28,728 (.38% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (28,426 yesterday which means  the peak of 28,206 on December 17 has not been reached), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 11,436,084 closures,  334,218 of which have been deaths (2.92% compared to yesterday’s 2.94%) and 11,101,866 of which have been recoveries (97.08% compared to yesterday’s 97.06%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .11% lower than the world rate and .31% 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 1007 ranks behind Belgium (1631), Italy (1165). Peru (1123),  Spain (1063), and UK (1015 which has now passed us despite leading world in testing), and only slightly worse than Bulgaria  (1008) and newly added to the list and just passing France (949), Argentina (932),  Mexico (928), Hungary (893 and (839) three days ago so added to the list;  Brazil (887),  Chile (845 that we recently passed), Sweden (817) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a rapid rise in deaths, Ecuador (786) and Bolivia (772) and we have now conducted 1,883,858 more tests to bring the total to 240,135,749 (now at 723,444/M compared to Russia at 596,707/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 760,346/M.

        Non CV Case News: Biden still is unwilling to address the Hunter Biden scandal with China that is not going away as Peter Doocy of Fox asked him again to be dismissed as a “one horse pony” which once again shows his failing mental skills as the idiom is “one trick pony” (Doocy whose journalistic skills blow Acosta out of the water is becoming the thorn ala Acosta Biden cannot stand); Trump may have his faults but ignoring loyalty is not one of them as he issued today 26 pardons and 3 commutations to the likes of Kushner, Stone and Manafort; total chaos on the stimulus front with Trump demanding $2,000 as opposed to $600 and elimination of millions upon millions of dollars of goody bags that have nothing to do with CV and in many cases are going to foreign countries; the Defense Appropriations Bill which did not contain a repeal of section 230 which enables social media companies like Twitter and Facebook to stifle free speech from conservatives was vetoed by Trump; in one week 1,000,000 vaccine doses have been administered which should bring some light the darker days Biden is forecasting; another unarmed black holding a cell phone in one hand was shot and killed in a garage by Adam Coy, a 19 yr. veteran of the Columbus Police Department who did not turn on his body cam until after shooting and offered no medical attention to the victim while waiting for an ambulance (time to consider a requirement that cell phones come coated or partially coated in red to show it’s not a gun?); autonomous vehicle startup Nuro has been given California DMV approval to begin driver less delivery service and collect fees for it (another class of workers—drivers are soon to join the endangered worker category.                                                                                             
         Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 21,  2020,  the number of shootings increased to 4,114 of whom  701 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 now 373 behind Chicago at 328 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 “Winchester Cathedral” by the New Vaudeville Band, the fact that your work is viewed as prosilient and a quote from Jerry Stiller on Festivus, 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. Festivus Day—created by author Dan O’Keefe as a noncommercial Christmas parody and made popular by an episode on this day in 1995 on a Seinfeld episode “The Strike” written by O’Keefe’s son Daniel O’Keefe.

       2. National Pfeffernusse Day—celebrating a cookie whose name in German, Dutch, and Danish means “pepper nut” which contains some pepper and nuts like almonds and eaten and enjoyed during the Christmas season.

         3. 1966 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1966 on this day on a run of  2 weeks was “Winchester Cathedral”) by the New Vaudeville Band to join 26 other number 1 songs and join 15 other acts with their first number one song.  Here is a recording of the New Vaudeville Band singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT0Jh9lUhrc. The band hit the music scene in 1966 after the song “Winchester Cathedral” that was performed by sessions musicians only for one song and was active until 67-68 and continued with a few of the original band in the 70’s and 80’s.

       4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “prosilient” which means outstanding or distinguished above others which is a word that does not describe the talents of the “journalists” of the MSM.

          5. The Big H Is Too Hard--celebrating the birth on this day in 1941 of noted folk singer songwriter James Hardin, who unfortunately was introduced to heroin while serving in the Marines while posted in Southeast Asia which took over a promising career culminating in a heroin overdose death on December 29, 1980 at the age 39.

         On this day in:

         a. 1947 the transistor was demonstrated at Bell Labs.

         b. 1968 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo, captured by the North Koreans in International Waters 11 months earlier were finally released but their ship remains in North Korea as a museum.

       c. 1979 in what would become the Soviet Union’s Vietnam War, Soviet forces entered Kabul, Afghanistan.

       d. 1986 Voyager, a plane piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager touched at Edwards Air Force Base in California after flying the plane around the world without any refueling on land or in the air after taking off from Edwards 9 days 3 minutes and 44 seconds earlier on December 14, 1986.

         e. 2002 a U.S. MQ-1 Predator was shot down by an Iraqi Mig-25 in the first case of aerial combat between a drone and a conventional aircraft.
         Reflections on Festivus: “There was no Christ yet, no Yahweh, no Buddha. There were great ruins and raw nature. But there was a kindling spark of hope among men. They celebrated that great thunderous storms hadn't enveloped them in the past year, that landslides hadn't destroyed them. They made wishes that their crops would grow in the fields, that they'd have food the next year and the wild animals wouldn't attack and eat them. There's something pure about Festivus, something primal, raw in the hearts of humans.” Jerry Stiller, in his Foreword to Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us (2005) by Allen Salkin.
        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 23, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet}
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift

December 22, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Abilities Days

 Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 22, 2020

        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 996,628  new cases (a 1.26%  increase compared to a .42% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  78 million to 78,338,106, 21,515,185 of  which  are active, 56,822,921 closed with 55,100,245 recoveries (96.97% compared to  yesterday’s 96.96%) and 1,722,676 deaths (3.03% compared to yesterday’s 3.04%) to continue the trend of increased cases with increased recovery  percentages and decreased death percentages.

            CV USA Cases: New cases of 190,738 (a 1.03% increase compared to yesterday’s .40% increase) to bring the  total over 18 million  to  18,676,286 with 7,412,230 active cases of which 28,426 (.38% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (28,069 yesterday which means  the peak of 28,206 on December 17 has not been reached), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 11,264,056 closures,  327,448 of which have been deaths (2.94% compared to yesterday’s 2.97%) and 10,933,404 of which have been recoveries (97.06% compared to yesterday’s 97.03%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .09% lower than the world rate and .29% 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 996 ranks behind Belgium (1610), Italy (1156). Peru (1121),  Spain (1059), and UK (1004 which has now passed us despite leading world in testing), and only slightly worse than Bulgaria  (994) and newly added to the list and just passing France (944), Argentina (931),  Mexico (915), Hungary (888 and (839) two days ago so added to the list;  Brazil (883),  Chile (845 that we recently passed), Sweden (806) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a rapid rise in deaths, Ecuador (785) and Bolivia (770) and we have now conducted 1,631,324 more tests to bring the total to 238,251,891 (now at 717,781/M compared to Russia at 594,012/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 753,601/M.

        Non CV Case News: Biden is preaching the doom and gloom of the CV pandemic is ahead of us which must mean he knows he is incapable of managing the ongoing Warp speed efforts to develop therapeutics and a third vaccine and must shift the blame to Trump (what can we otherwise expect from a frail mentally fading basement dweller?); on the elusive stimulus front Trump has weighed that the $600 stimulus check is not enough that more is needed and that the bill includes  veritable overflowing gift bags such as funds to foreign countries for border security and cutting back on ours and voting security while doing nothing to improve ours and has threatened to veto it without the increase in stimulus check amounts to $2,000 and cuts in non related CV aid spending (what a terrible way to run a railroad); biggest problem facing Warnock is his past which is becoming more visible to voters to see as in today news surfaced of a claim by his ex-wife that he ran over her foot during an argument to be able to get passports for their two kids to go to their grandmother’s funeral in Africa; Swalwell is refusing to step down from the House Intel Committee over his scandal with Chinese spy Fang raising the question of when Blues are going to put the good of the nation over voting as a solid block on most issues; on the CV dangers front, a passenger on a United Airlines flight to LA. from Florida had a medical emergency causing the flight to divert to New Orleans and three passengers with medical training to start performing CPR which failed as he was pronounced dead in New Orleans and one of the persons providing CPR has come down with COVID-19 symptoms but who has tested negative for CV; Londin Breed, mayor of Feces City is playing the race card big time and attacks Newsom’s pick to replace Kamala Harris as a real blow to the African American community (in her racist mind only blacks can address the ”racism”  that affects blacks); Axiom Space, a privately held company that wants to build the first private station has declared Houston to be its home.                                                                                    

         Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 21,  2020,  the number of shootings increased to 4,098 of whom  698 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 now 370 behind Chicago at 328 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 “Turn, Turn, Turn (to Everything There Is a Season)” by the Byrds, the fact that you are able enjoy the good works of a prosateur and a quote on the Cultural Revolution need by Mao Zedong, 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. Abilities Day—created by Paul Benjamin-Dielman Cannady on this day in 1999 to enable persons with disabilities and their caregivers to demonstrate their athletic, entertainment and other unique abilities proving the ability of the disabled to overcome their disabilities.

        2. National Cookie Exchange Day—created by the “Queen of Holidays” Jane Shoemaker Galloway to enable neighbors to get together with social distancing of  course to exchange their baked Christmas cookies to add to the caloric celebrations.

         3. 1965 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1965 on this day on a run of  3 week was “Turn, Turn, Turn (For Everything There Is a Season”) by the Byrds to join 26 other number 1 songs and join 12 other acts with their first number one song.  Here is a recording of The Byrds singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKP4cfU28vM .

       4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “prosateur” which means a person who writes prose for a living and as such makes more money while living than a poet.

        5. Can’t Handle Fame and Easy to Be Left with Squat--celebrating the birth on this day in 1960  of noted and up and coming painter Jean-Michel Basquiat who moved from Graffiti Art to the promising salons but struggled with cocaine and heroin and died from an overdose on August 12, 1988 at age 27.

         On this day in:

         a. 1968 Chairman Mao Zedong condemned the country’s educated youth to major steps backward by demanding that intellectuals move to the rural areas to be educated ( probably the first step it is easier to steal intellectual property from the U.S. than to develop it in the countryside).

         b. 1984 Bernard Goetz shot 4 black muggers on a NYC subway and was acquitted of murder but found guilty of carrying an unlicensed firearm and sentenced to a year in prison for which he served 8 months. In a civil trial brought by one of the would be muggers, a civil verdict was entered against Goetz for $43 million which prompted his bankruptcy which unfortunately the Bankruptcy Court refused to discharge.

        c. 1989 The Brandenburg Gate effectively dividing East and West Berlin was opening heralding the coming reunification of West and East Germany.

         d. 2008 a containment dam holding some 1.2 billion gallons of coal ash slurry burst sending millions of gallon of slurry into the Emery River with projected costs of clean up to be in excess of $1.2 billion.

          e. 2016 a study of the VSV-EBOV vaccine against Ebola was found to be 70-100% effective against a virus that kills close to all who are infected by it.

        Reflections on the true nature of Chinese Communism:” Some people say that China loves peace. That’s bragging. In fact, the Chinese love struggle. I do, for one.” Mao Zedong, 1967 Has a certain déjà vu resemblance to Mein Kampf which sadly no one in the West read or paid attention to with disastrous results of WWII.

         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 22, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet}

^{Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire}

^{Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare}

^{A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift}

December 19, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Super Saturday

 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 2^nd 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}
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift

December 18, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Migrant Day

 

Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 18, 2020
        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 388,390869,402 new cases (a .52%  increase compared to a 1.17% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  75 million to 75,662,123273,733, 20,758,724 of  which  are active, 54,768,477 closed with 53,093,516 recoveries (96.94% compared to  yesterday’s 96.94%) and 1,674,961 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 257,837 (a 1.46% increase compared to yesterday’s 1.36% increase) to bring the  total over 17 million  to  17,884,607 with 7,185,226 active cases of which 28,107 (.39% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (28,206 yesterday which means  the peak may finally has been reached), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 10,699,381 closures,  320,814 of which have been deaths (3.00% compared to yesterday’s 3.00%) and 10,378,567 of which have been recoveries (97.00% compared to yesterday’s 97.01%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .06% lower than the world rate and .35% 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 967 ranks behind Belgium (1582), Italy (1124). Peru (1114),  Spain (1046), and UK (978 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 (922), Argentina (918), France (922),  Mexico (899),  Brazil (871),    Chile (836 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 1,863,196 more tests to bring the total to 230,471,516  (now at 694,385/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 728,550/M.

        Non CV Case News: In the House, Rita Hart the Blue challenger in Iowa lost to the Red incumbent by 6 votes and is petitioning to have the House determine who won (will Blues listen to the tyrant and vote strict party lines?); Newsom whose shutdown orders are looking more and more like a recall wish had his restaurant closure orders in San Diego enjoined prompting an appeal by the state (pity the poor owners in the quandary of buying food and supplies to reopen only to then have the injunction tossed out on appeal along with the food just ordered); in a reaffirmation of “don’t mess with Nancy” the House Steering Committee refused to put AOC on the Energy and Commerce Committee removing a platform for her “Green New Deal”; another massive Russian hacking into sensitive government and corporations’ internet which went on without being detected for nine months which Senator Durbin has called an act of war and promised there will be a price to pay (wonder if wire transfer to Hunter was a down payment to insure silence); Biden held a zoom press conference with no questions about Hunter and only 5 reporters called on to growing frustration of the press pool (feel sorry for Biden’s communications staff that must life in total fear every time he opens his mouth to potentially reveal senility); Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a great basketball player but as a pundit he has fouled out calling on social media to be doing more censorship to halt what he calls “misinformation” and what many of us would call conservative thought; not sure if it is a political stunt but Red Senator Hawley is in the news indicating he will not consent to a Senate recess until a COVID stimulus bill is passed (hope Nancy is listening and gets her seat at the compromise table); in a sobering news flash to Blue politicians who follow the mantra “if it is open for business shut it down to prevent spread of CV,” the CDC has reported a surge in drug overdose cases linked to the pandemic and the shutdowns, at 80,000 through May of this year on a path to set dubious new records for overdose deaths, year to year; on the vaccine availability front a Dr. Schmidt is advocating essential workers have priority over the elderly because they are whiter with less diversity.                                                                               
         Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 17,  2020,  the number of shootings increased to 4,047 of whom  688 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 319 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 “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by The Four Seasons, the fact that you are able to avoid Biden’s prolations and an off the mark quote on the governorship by Gray Davis, 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. International Migrants Day—created by the UN in 1990 to promote awareness of the issues facing migrants especially those displaced by conflict, natural disasters and poverty.

        2. International Arabic Language Day—created by UNESCO in 1990 to promote multi-lingualism and celebrated on the anniversary in 1973 when the General Assembly designated Arabic as one of the official languages of the UN.

        3. 1962 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1962 on this day on a run of  5 weeks was “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by The Four Seasons to join 20 other number 1 songs.

Here is a recording of the Four Seasons singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8yvnqHmFds

        4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “prolation” which means an utterance which describes what puts Biden staffers on pins and needles every time Biden speaks when not tethered to a teleprompter.

         5. Life Is Not a Bowl of Pitts--celebrating the birth on this day in 1963 of Brad Pitt, noted actor and former husband of Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie. 
          On this day in:

          a. 1907 Gaston de Chassel-Loup Labat set the first official land speed record for an automobile at 39.245 m.p.h. in a Jeannaud electric car.                    
         b. 1943 the Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans, the predecessor to the Detroit Lions 9-0 to win the NFL Championship in an extra game as both teams

had identical winning records.

       c. 1958 SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite was successfully launched into orbit on an Atlas Rocket where it remained functional for 12 days.

         d. 2002 Governor Gray Davis dropped a surprise on the taxpayers of California announcing that the state’s budget deficit would be $35 billion twice what he had projected when running for governor two months ago and led to the start of the recall Gray Davis efforts which were successful and gave us Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him.

         e. 2019 the House on party lines voted in favor of impeaching Donald Trump.             
         Reflections on the 2003 California Recall election: “There is only one governor and his name is Gray Davis.” Gray Davis who was right on the number but not who would be elected to the governor’s office..  
         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 18, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet}
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift

December 16. 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Boston Tea Party Day

 Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 16, 2020

        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 717,871 new cases (a .97%  increase compared to a .91% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  74 million to 74,404,331, 20,551,413 of  which  are active, 53,852,918 closed with 52,200,236 recoveries (96.93% compared to  yesterday’s 96.93%) and 1,652,592 deaths (3.07% compared to yesterday’s 3.07%) to continue the trend of increased cases with increased recovery  percentages and decreased death percentages.
        CV USA Cases: New cases of 240,304 (a 1.36% increase compared to yesterday’s 1.41% increase) to bring the  total over 17 million  to  17,314,853 with 6,887,662 active cases of which 28,310 (.41% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (27,874 yesterday which means sadly the peak has not been reached), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 10,427,231 closures,  313,665 of which have been deaths (3.01% compared to yesterday’s 3.02%) and 10,113,566 of which have been recoveries (96.99% compared to yesterday’s 96.98%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .06% lower than the world rate and .31% 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 945 ranks behind Belgium (1565), Peru (1110), Italy (1101),  Spain (1039), and UK (963 which has now passed us despite leading world in testing), and only slightly worse than Argentina (908), France (908),  Mexico (888),   Bulgaria (867 and newly added to list and just passing Brazil), Brazil (862),    Chile (832 that we recently passed), Ecuador (783), Bolivia (768) and Sweden (770) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a rapid rise in deaths and we have now conducted 1,733,489 more tests to bring the total to 226,675,901  (now at 682,971/M compared to Russia at 574.577/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 717,266/M).
       Non CV Case News: On the Hunter Biden scandal front, emails surface that he will have to amend his tax return to report an additional $400 thousand of income and his communication to Chairman Ye of the now bankrupt CEFC urging him to wire the $10 million to fund and operate the joint venture with CEFC and the Biden family; the MSM and #MeToo double standard being played out in the sexual harassment allegations leveled against Big Fredo and those hysterical charges levied against Justice Kavanaugh are sickening (Big Fredo should be on his knees thanking God that even if the accuser is a Blue as a Blue governor the charges are ignored); in an example that although the wheels of justice move slowly, they do ultimately move as reports coming out of the DOJ indicate that the DOJ is close to charging Abu Agila Mas’ud, the Libyan bomb maker and intelligence officer involved in the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing; Twitter has expanded its algorithms to ban false and misleading information about the CV vaccines (why in our right minds would we trust Twitter to determine what is misleading and false?); the stimulus relief bill may be moving closing and may now include direct checks to $600-$1200 to people earning less than $99,000; Big Fredo who has never acknowledged his culpability in the death of thousands in NY nursing homes has indicated that 80,000 of the 87,000 first doses of the vaccine will go to residents of nursing homes that have now 85,000 residents.                                Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 15,  2020,  the number of shootings increased to 4,033 of whom  686 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 now 367 behind Chicago at 319 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); in another example of do as I say not as I do, the Governor of Rhode Island 4 days after hectoring everyone to stay home, was caught on camera in a wine bar with associates (in this unlike Newsom’ French Laundry faux pas, she wore a mask save when drinking and her activity was not in violation of any existing orders but still fares poorly on the hypocrisy scales).
        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “Please Mr. Postman” by The Marvelettes, the fact that you are loathe to be profligate until more Americans are vaccinated against the CV pandemic and a quote from an unnamed SS Colonel on the effects of the loss in the Battle of the Bulge, 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 details.
        1. Boston Tea Party Day—celebrating the first major opposition to British rule in the colonies when on the night of December 16, 1773 some 100 Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the British ships Dartmouth, Beaver and Eleanor and to protest the imposition of a tax by Parliament without their consent on the Colonies’ favorite beverage, tea, proceeded to dump 342 chests of tea containing over 90,000 pounds of tea after opening them with tomahawks to expose the tea to the salt water of Boston Harbor.
       2. Reconciliation Day—celebrated in South Africa since 1995 to mark the end of apartheid and promote racial harmony between blacks and whites.                                  
         3. 1961 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1961 on this day on a run of  only 1      week was “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes to join 18 other number 1 songs and 15 other acts with their first number 1 song. Here is a recording of The Marvelettes  singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igHCZla4hps The group marveled listeners in the earlier 60’s until eclipsed by the Supremes, made a comeback in 1966 and faded away in 1970.
        4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “profligate” which means rashly extravagant which describes Blue’s spending habits to a tee, sadly followed by it seems Reds in a close second.
         5. Reaching New Highs--celebrating the birth on this day in 1928 of noted and prolific science fiction author Philip K. Dick with over 120 short stories and 44 novels but may have reached the paranormal inspirations with drug use and died of a stroke on March 2, 1982 at age 53 having survived 5 marriages and 5 divorces.
        On this day in:
      a. 1907 at the behest of President Theodore Roosevelt, the Great White Fleet of battleships began its circumnavigation show the flag of the globe, arriving back in the U.S. on February 22, 2009.                      
        b. 1944 in what proved to be Hitler’s last gamble on the Western Front, German forces launched a surprise attack of 3 armies through the Ardennes Forest, reminiscent of the same maneuver during the 1940 Battle of France, in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge and after initial successes turned into a crushing disaster for the Wehrmacht.
       c. 1968 in a what took you so look moment, the Second Vatican Council revoked the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain issued on March 31, 1492.
        d. 1978 Cleveland, Ohio, infamous for having its Cuyahoga River catch fire, became the first major city in the U.S. to default on its major financial obligations since the Great Depression.
        e. 1979 to the dismay of motorists and consumers, Libya and 4 other nations raise the price of oil.                                              
       Reflections on the cost of failure of the Ardennes Offensive: "Berlin will be the most practical as our headquarters, we'll soon be able to take the streetcar from the eastern to the western front". An unnamed SS Colonel reporting after the failure of the Ardennes Offensive on January 15 as bad news was pouring in on Russian activity on the Eastern Front, prompty provoking Hitler to laugh wanly joined by officers in the room.  
       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 16, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet}

^{Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire}

^{Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare}

^{A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift}

December 15, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Bill Of Rights Day

 Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 15, 2020

        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 667,733 new cases (a .91%  increase compared to a .75% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  73 million to 73,686,460, 20,369,060 of  which  are active, 53,317,400 closed with 51,678,833 recoveries (96.93% compared to  yesterday’s 96.92%) and 1,638,567 deaths (3.07% compared to yesterday’s 3.08%) to continue the trend of increased cases with increased recovery  percentages and decreased death percentages.
        CV USA Cases: New cases of 229,309 (a 1.36% increase compared to yesterday’s .83% increase) to bring the  total over 17 million  to  17,074,549 with 6,807,253 active cases of which 27,874 (.41% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (27,635 yesterday which means sadly the peak has not been reached), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 10,267,296 closures,  309,793 of which have been deaths (3.02% compared to yesterday’s 3.05%) and 9,957,503 of which have been recoveries (96.98% compared to yesterday’s 96.95%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .05% lower than the world rate and .32% 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 933 ranks behind Belgium (1555), Peru (1108), Italy (1090),  Spain (1035), and UK (954 which has now passed us despite leading world in testing), and only slightly worse than Argentina (904), France (904),  Mexico (882), Brazil (857),  Bulgaria (843 and newly added to list),    Chile (831 that we recently passed), Ecuador (782), Bolivia (768) and Sweden (757) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a rapid rise in deaths and we have now conducted 1,759,529 more tests to bring the total to 224,942,412  (now at 677,759/M compared to Russia at 571,647/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 712,544/M).
       Non CV Case News: Biden appeared in a lifeless rally of 200 cars in Georgia for Warnock and Ossoff and was unable to even say Ossoff correctly calling him “Orsoff” and talked about Warnock’s arm being thicker than his thigh (his handlers must have been cringing the whole time wondering what would come out of his mouth); Ossoff ranted that ICE needs to be concerned that illegals are being paid minimum wage for the jobs they are not supposed to be in, taking them from low educated minorities (if the light bulb ever goes on that illegals devastate job markets for minorities, the Blues will become a Whig like party and the Border Wall construction would immediate commence again); Kayleigh McEnany was in great form slamming the MSM for ignoring the Swalwell/Fang scandal and the expanding criminal probes on Hunter Biden and the cone of silence that has surrounded Biden and Swalwell ( the NYT has still not printed a word about Swalwell); in a Where’s Waldo in the form of Hirono, progressive feminists groups have given Big Fredo a get out condemnation pass over the claim of his sexual harassment of an aide save Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of  Ultra Voice who has demanded he apologize (can you imagine the frenzy if Governor De Santis would have been accused of Andrew Cuomo like conduct); mayors of cities run afoul of the voters if the trash is not picked up on time and potholes are not filled in and Pete Buttigieg named as Biden’s transportation secretary was an abysmal failure in the pothole arena as mayor of Notre Dame and had the chutzpah to direct the city to repave the street in front of his house when surrounding streets were going to pot; Big Fredo already being excoriated for shutting down all indoor dining at least was saved from further scorn like Newsom for shutting down outdoor dining also as a huge winter storm is heading for New York which will render outdoor dining impossible; Zuckerberg once again shows money talks and principles walk as Facebook’s ban on political ads has ended in the Georgia Senate Runoff Race (wonder if the lure of the lure of money will prevent the left leaning algorithms from blocking Red ads.
          Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 14,  2020,  the number of shootings increased to 4,029 of whom  686 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 now 369 behind Chicago at 317 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 “Are You Lonesome Tonight” by Elvis Presley, the fact that you are prodome free of CV and a quote from Christopher Hitchens on Thomas Jefferson’s contributions to our history, 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 details.
        1. Bill of Rights Day—proclaimed by President Roosevelt on December 15, 1941 to commemorate the ratification by the states of the Bill of Rights on this day in 1791.
         2. International Tea Day—created by the tea producing countries of the world and celebrated since 2005 to promote awareness of the contribution of tea to the world economy and the health and welfare of its workers and growers.                                   
        3. 1960 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1960 on this day on a run of 5      weeks was “Are You Lonesome Tonight” by Elvis Presley to join 11 other acts with number 1 songs. Here is a recording of Elvis Presley singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cS5aCozhcA                        4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “prodome” which means the initial symptom of a disease which given the introduction of the CV vaccines, many of those in high risk categories are hoping they don’t come down with any of the CV like prodomes before their name is called on the waiting list.                                             
       5. It’s in the Genes--celebrating the birth on this day in 1948 of noted Australian actress Cassandra Harris, whose third and last husband was Pierce Brosnan and who fought ovarian cancer for 4 years before dying on December 28, 1991 at age 43 from the same disease that had killed her mother and would later claim her daughter on June 28, 2013 at age 32.
       On this day in:
       a. 1939 the movie most PC Warriors would probably want to see banned, Gone With The Wind, premiered at the Lowe’s Grand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia and remains to this day on an inflation adjusted basis the highest grossing film in history.                        
       b. 1961 Adolf Eichmann was found guilty in an Israeli court of crimes against humanity for which he would receive the death penalty and be executed on June 1, 1962.
       c. 1978 President Carter in the forlorn hope and expectation that China would join the ranks of civilized nations recognized the People’s Republic of China and severed diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan.
       d. 2000 Reactor Number 3 at Chernobyl, the last of four nuclear reactors still in operation ceased operations, as the site continues to decommission the reactors and contain the radiation caused by the meltdown of Reactor Number 4 in 1986.                                    e. 2001 after 11 years of work involving the expenditure of $27 million to stabilize the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it was reopened to the public with its signature lean still there.             Reflections on the man the left wants to erase from our history, our parks, our schools and our National Mall because like many men of his time in Virginai he owned slaves: ” “Without Thomas Jefferson and his Declaration of Independence, there would have been no American revolution that announced universal principles of liberty. Without his participation by the side of the unforgettable Marquis de Lafayette, there would have been no French proclamation of The Rights of Man. Without his brilliant negotiation of the Louisiana treaty, there would be no United States of America. Without Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, there would have been no Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom, and no basis for the most precious clause of our most prized element of our imperishable Bill of Rights - the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”― Christopher Hitchens. Wise reflections on Bill of Rights Day.                 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.

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