Saturday, December 26, 2020

December 26, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not First Day of Kwanzaa

 

Ridley's Believe It Or Not December 26, 2020
        CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 439,687  new cases (a .55%  increase compared to a .79% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  80 million to 80,1631.317, 22,031,361 of  which  are active, 58,599,956 closed with 56,836,211 recoveries (96.99% compared to  yesterday’s 96.98%) and 1,763,745 deaths (3.01% compared to yesterday’s 3.02%) to continue the trend of increased cases with increased recovery  percentages and decreased death percentages.

        CV USA Cases: New cases of 314,186 (a 1.65% increase compared to yesterday’s .84% increase) to bring the  total over 19 million  to  19,363,289 with 7,664,409 active cases of which 28,579 (.37% of active cases and a fall from a 28,747 new peak), recently on a disturbing upward trend with no dips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (28,659 yesterday), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and is still continuing to go up, and 11,698,880 closures,  339,564 of which have been deaths (2.90% compared to yesterday’s 2.92%) and 11,359,316 of which have been recoveries (97.10% compared to yesterday’s 97.08%). Our death rate percentage continues to improve and after many months is now .11% 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 1023 ranks behind Belgium (1644), Italy (1185). Peru (1126),  Spain (1065), UK (1034 which has now passed us despite leading world in testing), and Bulgaria (1022) and only slightly worse than France (958), Mexico (940), Argentina (936), Hungary (928 and (839) four days ago so added to the list;  Brazil (895),  Chile (855 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 (773) and we have now conducted 2,077,885 more tests to bring the total to 245,241,506 (now at 739,393/M compared to Russia at 606,994/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 767,815/M.

        Non CV Case News: In what looks like lightning speed the FBI has already executed search warrants on the residence of an as of yet unidentified person of interest in Antioch, 10 miles from the site of the explosion that damaged 41 businesses but thanks to the bravery of 6 Nashville officers evacuating the area before the explosion wounded only 3 people with no fatalities; in what could be the opening shots of the battle over how or if the Republican Party is going be structured in the post Trump presidency, Rep Kissinger is blasting his fellow Reds’ refusal to accept the election results and fund raising efforts to contest the election when a majority of the funds raised are not going for that purpose; we can point fingers of blame until the cows come home but Pelosi’s refusal to come to the table before the election on stimulus relief to help Biden win means she is target number one as millions of Americans are losing unemployment benefits (to paraphrase Robert Harper, “Millions for CV related aid to Americans not one cent for non CV related pork or illegals”); Kamara with his one cleat of red and the other green in tying Nevers’ 1929 6 rushing TD record may be fined for illegal colored footwear but he does not care and Nevers should be resting peacefully as earlier in the 4th with Minnesota on the one yard line Kamara  was on the sideline with 5 TD’s and had he been in more likely than not he would have ended the day with 7; we have known for years that to be a Blue in the House means to check your independence at Pelosi’s office door and now AOC is being warned by a top Blue for the N.Y. Democratic Party not to run in the 2022 primary against Chuck Schumer; as 89,000 New Yorkers have been now vaccinated, an example of the worst of human nature has come to light as a Parcare Community Health Services is being investigated for fraudulently distributing the vaccine to people not yet in line to receive it; Tulsi Gabbard, Blue Rep from Hawaii, is demanding a temporary halt to flights from the U.K. due to the new CV strain infecting people there.

         Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of December 24,  2020,  the number of shootings increased to 4,136 of whom  706 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 332 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 “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by Peter, Paul and Mary, the fact that do not prefer long winded prosy utterances and a quote from Bill Clinton on Kwanzaa, 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. Boxing Day—celebrating the day the British upper class rewards servants with gifts and now better known in the U.S. as Return Day and the Day After Christmas Sales Day.

        2. First Day of Kwanzaa—created in 1966 after the Watts Riots the previous year by Maulena Karenga as a unique holiday for African Americans to celebrate their culture in a week long celebration that ends on January 1.

        3. 1969 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1969 on this day on a run of 1 week was “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by Peter, Paul and Mary to join 16 other number 1 songs and join 7 other acts with their first number one song.  Here is a recording of Peter, Paul and Mary singing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVQAhhlq798 This folk pop trio was active 1961-1970, and went separate ways for 11 years during which Peter Yarrow was convicted of improper sexual advances to a 14 year old girl in 1970 and ultimately pardoned by Jimmy Carter in 1981 after serving 3 months of a 1-3 year sentence. The trio reunited in 1981 and performed and recorded until Mary Travers died on September 13, 2009 from chemotherapy complications from treating her leukemia.

         4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “prosy” which means prosaic or tedious which describes too often the speeches and writing of too many politicians and bureaucrats

         5. No Chance to Grow Old with Graying Hair---celebrating or bemoaning depending on your political affiliations the birth on this day in 1942 of Gray Davis who after his second term reelection as Governor of California faced an early recall petition which resulted in his being the first Governor of California recalled and the second in the nation with that dubious distinction.

         On this day in:

         a. 1776 after a night time crossing of the ice clogged Delaware River on Christmas, Washington attacked the Hessian forces in a surprise attack that routed those who were not killed or captured in a much needed morale and enlistment boost to the Continental Army.

         b. 1862 the USS Red Rover, the Navy’s first hospital ship, welcomed aboard 4 nuns to serve as volunteer nurses, the first case of females serving aboard U.S. Navy ships.

       c. 1948 the last Soviet troops left Korea, leaving their American foes to remain there to this day.

         d. 1963 the Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There” were released in the U.S., marking the beginning of Beatlemania and the decline of crew cuts among high school and college students.

        e. 1972 in a not so subtle attempt to bring North Vietnam to the negotiating table 120 B-52’s each carrying up to 26 tons of bombs attacked Hanoi, the largest attack in Strategic Air Command history.

        Reflections on Kwanzaa: "The seven principles of Kwanzaa—unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith—teach us that when we come together to strengthen our families and communities and honor the lesson of the past, we can face the future with joy and optimism.” President Bill Clinton

        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 26, 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

No comments:

Post a Comment