The Weird Times
Inner Monologues and Desultory Reporting from Outer Spaces
The Weird Times
Issue 15: August 23, 2020
Following the amazingly successful DNC unconvention, it’s all about voting now. Getting out the vote, protecting the vote, saving democracy from itself. It is a sure sign of the danger we are facing that the United States Postal Service, a bedrock of democracy, is under attack by Trump and his allies.
Among the literal ocean of brilliant video ads showing voters who Trump truly is, this one may be the best. #TheyKnew who Trump Really Was All Along. Conservatives in their own words. All These Conservatives Knew Who Trump Really Was All Along: Lindsey Graham Ted Cruz Rand Paul Marco Rubio Nikki Haley Kellyanne Conway Mike Pompeo Glenn Beck Rick Perry Susan Collins THEY CALLED HIM THESE THINGS... liar, narcissist, race baiting, xenophobic,r eligious bigot, mean spiritedness, con artist, orange faced windbag, kook, unfit for office, AND MORE...
Must watch TV, as they say. Thank you ACT.TV.
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Popular pesticides are causing bird species to decline at an alarming rate in the US, adding fuel to a 50-year downward trend in bird biodiversity, a new report has found. In addition to spray-on pesticides, farmers are widely using chemicals that coat seeds. These pesticides, called neonicotinoids or neonics, deter insects as the seeds sprout and as they grow into plants. According to a study published in Nature Sustainability, the increased use of neonicotinoids is putting bird species at risk across the US as the chemicals manifest in the stalk, nectar and pollen of plants. A 100kg increase in the use of this seed-coating pesticide in one US county was linked with a 2.2% decrease in grassland birds. (via The Guardian)
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Biden May not be Woke but he is not Sleepy, Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, August 21, 2020
For all the various shortcomings in Biden’s programs, they remain the most progressive any Democratic presidential nominee has embraced in half a century. Moreover, Biden has one clear political advantage over his colleagues on the left when he promotes them. As Andrew Yang said during last night’s discussion among this year’s other Democratic presidential hopefuls, "the magic of Joe Biden is that everything he does becomes the new reasonable." There are clear differences between AOC’s Green New Deal and Biden’s pledge to invest $2 trillion to arrest climate change, but when he and AOC support the same particular plank of climate policy, it sounds a lot less radical coming from Biden because he’s Biden. That won’t stop Republicans from attacking that plank, but it could swing enough centrist Democrats to turn it into law.
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VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE
Everything you need to know at Vote.org
Arts Action Fund has compiled state by state voting information, a valuable resource.
You can file a complaint on the USPS website about an employee here, including that shining star, Postmaster DeJoy.
The US Postmaster’s email address is louis.dejoy@usps.gov
USPS Board of Governors
mduncan@inezdepositbank.com, barger.jm@gmail.com, ron.bloom@brookfield.com, roman@rmiv.com, lee.moak@moakgroup.com, DirectorAccessMailbox@cigna.com
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Honestly, Just Vote In Person—It’s Safer Than You Think
Gilad Edelman, Wired, 8.17.20
As I observed in May, there was no noticeable rise in coronavirus cases thanks to the Wisconsin primary. A follow-up study by researchers at the City of Milwaukee Health Department and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded, “No clear increase in cases, hospitalizations, or deaths was observed after the election.” In fact, case numbers in Milwaukee were lower in the weeks after the election than in the weeks before it. There are caveats: In-person turnout was low overall thanks to broad use of mail-in ballots, and we don’t know how coronavirus prevalence in March will compare with November. Still, it’s telling that there have been no credible reports of virus spikes attributable to any other election this year, even though ill-considered polling place closures have led to further instances of Milwaukee-style overcrowding.
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“Emulating his fellow Midwesterner Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley in 1896 campaigned from his home in Canton, Ohio, because he feared the comparison between his stolid oratory and that of his opponent, William Jennings Bryan, one of the best public speakers in American history.” – Presidential historian Michael Beschloss, quoted in the Washington Post, 8/17/20
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This song is fitting for Joe Biden, as we see him now, isn’t it?
“if you don’t know me by now,
you will never never never know me”
-Kenneth Gamble/Leon Huff
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75 Years After Japanese Surrender, Survivor Calls for Return to Democracy
"The trouble is not the military but the civilian leadership in the White House who, because of the hubris about our power, misuse it and abuse it and take us into unjust wars like the Iraq War and Vietnam," Robert Pennoyer
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Getting a flu shot this year is more important than ever because of COVID-19,
Libby Richards, The Conversation, August 19, 2020
With the coronavirus still spreading widely, it’s time to start thinking seriously about influenza, which typically spreads in fall and winter. A major flu outbreak would not only overwhelm hospitals this fall and winter, but also likely overwhelm a person who might contract both at once.
Doctors have no way of knowing yet what the effect of a dual diagnosis might be on a person’s body, but they do know the havoc that the flu alone can do to a person’s body. And, we know the U.S. death toll of COVID-19 as of Aug. 17, 2020 was 170,000, and doctors are learning more each day about the effects of the disease on the body. Public health officials in the U.S. are therefore urging people to get the flu vaccine, which is already being shipped in many areas to be ready for September vaccinations.
Flu cases are expected to start increasing early in October and could last late into May. This makes September and early October the ideal time to get your flu shot.
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Evidence Grows that Children May Play a Larger Role in Transmission Than Previously Believed, Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, 8/20/20.
As schools reopen in parts of the United States, a study published Thursday found that some children have high levels of virus in their airways during the first three days of infection despite having mild symptoms or none at all — suggesting their role in community spread may be larger than previously believed.
One of the study’s authors, Alessio Fasano, a physician at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, said that because children tend to exhibit few if any symptoms, they were largely ignored in the early part of the outbreak and not tested. But they may have been acting as silent spreaders all along.
“Some people thought that children might be protected,” Fasano said. “This is incorrect. They may be as susceptible as adults — but just not visible.”
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NYC Releases Largest and Most Detailed Coronavirus Antibody Testing Data to Date, Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist, 8/20/20
New York City has published the results of more than 1.8 million coronavirus antibody tests, along with a trove of demographic data that confirms prior testing and hospital data showing that poorer neighborhoods in the Bronx and Queens have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
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David Wilk
Love Song for a Wild and Strong Democracy
"Wild thing, you make my heart sing
You make everything groovy, wild thing
Wild thing, I think I love you
But I wanna know for sure
Come on and hold me tight
I love you”
Democracy, you make my heart sing
You make everything move
Democracy you are a wild thing
I think I love you
You move me
But I want to know for sure:
do we love you enough to keep you?
Democracy, you make my heart sing
You make possible everything we are
and everything we love about being alive
Democracy you are a wild thing
You need us to care and feed you
else like a bad lover, you will leave us for another
Democracy I know I love you
But we want to know for sure
Come on we’ll hold you tight
and never let you go
Wild thing, democracy, I love you!
Now go out and vote to keep democracy strong
Wild Thing, sung by the Troggs. Lyrics (c) Chip Taylor
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Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don’t need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows
Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues,
© 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1993 by Special Rider Music
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