Ridley’s
Believe It Or Not May 8, 2021
CV World Cases: The
CV pandemic across the planet continues the new year with cases now over
158 million at 158,286,150 cases (157,445,828 yesterday), 19,285,478 of
which are active, 139,000,672 closed with 135,705,102 recoveries (97.63%
and 97.62% yesterday ,and 3,295,570 deaths (2.37% and 2.38 % yesterday) to
continue the slow trend of increased cases with increased recovery percentages
and decreased death percentage with some plateaus, dips, and rises (have no
idea why the comparatively large improvement in deaths and recoveries
yesterday).
CV USA Cases: Total cases now over 33 million at 33,451,356
(33,411,491 yesterday) with 6,495,054 active cases of which 9,099 (9,162) yesterday
and 8,599 on 3/25/2021) (now still at .14% of active cases and now another blip
down to decrease the number of serious or critical cases to increase the
reduction from the 29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 20,172), 26,956,302 closed, with 595,557 deaths (2.21%
and 2.22% yesterday) and with 26,360,745 recoveries (97.79% and 97.78%
yesterday). Our death rate percentage continues to slowly improve and after
many months is now .16% lower than the world rate after the world’s spike in
improvement and now .17% higher than Canada which has the socialized type of
medicine Biden may well want to implement here but has approved 4 vaccines as
opposed to our 3, one of which J&J is now no longer on hold.
Standing: On a deaths per million population measurement
on a steady climb to 1790 the U.S. ranks behind Hungary the new number 1 which
has had a huge surge in deaths (2957), aping Hungary in terms of increase in
deaths Bulgaria (2448), Belgium (2101), Italy (2032), Brazil (1970) which has
been hit with a rapid rise in deaths and cases and passed us, Peru 1904, and
the UK (1871) which had passed us despite leading world in testing), and
Poland (1848) and slightly better than
Spain (1685), Mexico (1681), Portugal (1670), France (1625), Romania new entry
(1511), Argentina (1472), Sweden (1396) that never closed its
economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a steady rise
in deaths, Chile (1411),
Switzerland (1229) and Bolivia (1116).
Tests: We have now
conducted 457,290,093 tests (now at 1,374,433/M) compared to number 2 now
France at 1,201,439/M) as we are conducting more tests in number and on a
per capital basis for all nations (other than those nations that contain small
populations like Bahrain, Denmark, Israel, Malta, Singapore and UAE) other
than the U.K. which remains as king of the mountain with respect to tests at 2,392,953/M.
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 has moved up to 11th on my list
of deaths from the pandemic at 1681/M 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:
Guatemala: Activecases: 14,429 423Deaths/M
Honduras: Activecases: 131,585 556Deaths/M
El
Salvador: Active cases: 2,331 329
Deaths/M
US Vaccinations: As of 5/8/2021
257.3 million falling again to 1.98 million per day in the last week sounds
impressive but if the rate does not increase it will take us now increased to
some 4 months to have 75% of the population vaccinated which many believe is
necessary to develop herd immunity. In California 32,759,885 total doses have
been given (78.0% of doses received slightly more than the U.S. average of 78.0%),
but even with the pressure of a recall to be scheduled this fall which
hopefully end Newsom’s term, California has finally moved up from 30th
to 26th out of the 50 states
in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses
delivered to the states and at 34.3% of its population fully vaccinated
compared to the U.S. average of 33.9% has moved up from 28th to 23rd
tied with Oregon and Montana among the 50 states. A long way to go to get herd immunity in
terms of getting vaccines received into arms and the percentage of the
population fully vaccinated compared to other states which means a great reason
to recall this inept and hypocritical governor.
Non CV News: In what if the
cyberattack had happened in the winter would be chilling news. The 5500 miles
of the Colonial Pipeline bring fuel from refineries in the Gulf Coast to the
Eastern Seaboard has been shut down temporarily due to a cyberattack (wonder
what our weak president is doing to discover the culprits and retaliate); the
100 foot long Chinese rocket used to launch its space station core is scheduled
to reenter the atmosphere today in an uncontrolled descent but we still do not
know where pieces will land (typical of the Chinese disregard for the rest of
the world as most rockets launching objects into Earth orbits make controlled
reentry back to Earth to land in the oceans but not this one); as shootings in
NYC continue to soar, a 4 year old and 2 women were shot in Times Square with
police looking for this person of interest caught on cameras:
CV cases in the U.S. may be dropping but colleges and universities are ramping up anti-CV restrictions and imposing sanctions on those students who are not following them; on the vaccine front there is growing concern that large numbers of the population will choose not to get vaccinated which means we may never achieve herd immunity and be exposed to continuing infections by mutations of the virus; in addition to the border crisis and unaccompanied minors on our southern border California is reeling under a growing homelessness crisis has residents up in arms over shootings, fires, drugs and filth in homeless encampment that defies our efforts to address it as a photo of a section of Venice Beach shows:
a federal judge has ordered L.A. to within 180 days find housing for all homeless on Skid Row as Garcetti has pledged $1 billion to address the problem and will be placing such funds in escrow shortly; in bad news for people with living mothers, florists have been increasing prices as the nation is suffering a shortage of flowers often given on Mothers’ Day; it appears that some of the leftist cast on SNL are having a woke fit protesting the appearance of Elon Musk as a host on SNL this Saturday (just another example of humor and comedy evaporating and being replaced by politicization; the Biden Administration has sent DHS head Mayorkas to the border while Where’s Waldo remains MIA touting the need to send dollars we need here in the U.S. to the Northern Triangle and while it plays the shell game of moving minors from crammed Border Patrol facilities to holding centers across the nation as Mayorkas indicates what border state residents know that hundreds of unaccompanied minors are crossing daily; Teddy Roosevelt must be rolling in his grave as a political cartoonist spoofs his ”speak softly but carry a big stick” on Biden:
Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com
is back to show that through May 7, 2021, gun violence involving mostly
persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well
with 1124 persons shot of whom 196 have died.
As always, I hope you enjoy
today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in
history, a video musical link to “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” by Cutting Crew,
a rencounter and a poem from Denise Newman on VE-Day, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift
for any memorable events like Mother’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 on the pricing.
1. Victory
in Europe Day—celebrating
the unconditional surrender by Germany to Allied forces in a surrender document
signed by Field Marshal William Keitel, who would later be hanged as a war
criminal, at Karlhorst, Berlin at 21:20 local time calling on all German forces
to cease all hostilities at 23:01 Central European time (the surrender would
be replicated the next day in Moscow).
2. World
Red Cross and Red Crescent Day—first celebrated as International Red
Cross Day on this day in 1948, the anniversary of the birth of Jean-Henri
Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross and the first winner of the Nobel Peace
and then changed to its present designation in 1984.
3. 1987 Number 1
Song USA—the number 1 song in 1987 was “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” by
Cutting Crew on a run of 2 weeks in that position to join 28 other songs
reaching number 1 and 15 other acts who achieved their first number 1 status. Here
is a video recording by Cutting Crew of “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrJky8YuTr4Palmer
Cutting Crew was an English band that was form by Nick Van Eede and Kevin MacMichaels
that recorded and performed until 1993 when MacMichaels died from lung cancer
and later reformed in 2005 and is still performing today.
4.
Word of the Day—the word of the day
is “rencounter” which means a chance meeting which often describes how married
couples have met their mate.
5.
Back to L.A. to Die—celebrating the
birth on this day in 1943 of Danny Rae Whitten, a musician and songwriter best
known for his time with Neil Young’s backup band Crazy Horse and his song “ I
Don’t Want to Talk About It” which was a big Rod Stewart hit but sadly who used
heroin to ameliorate the pain of rheumatoid arthritis and became addicted, was
fired from Crazy Horse and later given a chance to rejoin but heroin had
severely lessened his skills so Neil Young fired him on November 18, 1972,
giving him $50 and a plane ticket back to L.A. where he went to die of an
overdose that night at age 29. On this day in
a. 1902 Mont Pelée in Martinique erupted killing
some 30,000 inhabitants and leaving very few survivors on the island.
b. 1946 Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blew up blow up
the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn which Estonia
was finally able to relocate due to its Soviet repression connotations in 2007.
c. 1972 in a what took us so long
moment, President Nixon confirmed the intent of planting mines in the harbors
of North Vietnam to prevent the delivery of weapons to North Vietnam.
d. 1980 the World Health Organization
confirmed the eradication of smallpox. e. 2019 17 year old patient Isabelle
Holdaway became the first patient to be treated with a genetically altered
phage therapy treat a drug-resistant infection.
Reflection
on V-E Day from appropriately the eyes of a poet
It's over, it's finished, the
war has now been won,
Thank God it's finally ended; finished; over; done!
we'll no longer hear the sirens as the bombs come falling down,
no longer hear the aircraft as they fly above the town,
no longer see the searchlights lighting up the darkened sky,
or see the burning buildings of the terraces nearby.
We can hear the people cheering as the bells peal out the news,
and we gather, dancing in the road, dispelling wartime blues.
It's victory in Europe - oh such a lovely sound,
no bombs, no incendiary fires, no more sleeping underground!
The roads are filled with happy people, celebrating victory,
the lights are on in every town, such a brilliant sight to see,
there's bonfires and fireworks, a colourful display,
we'll sing and dance and drink with cheer until night turns to
day.
We'll not forget the sacrifices made by others in our name,
they gave their lives so we
might live in freedom's sweet domain.
Their fighting now is ended,
rejoice in victory,
England and her allies will
remain forever free.”
Patricia Denise Newman, noted American poet and translator
living in San Francisco
© May 8, 2021 Michael P. Ridley
aka The Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
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