Wednesday, May 5, 2021

May 4, 2021 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Anti-Bullying Day

 

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not May 4, 2021
         CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues the new year with cases now nearing 155 million at 154,973,948 cases (154,024,171 yesterday), 19,304,738 of which are active, 135,668,310 closed with 132,427,286 recoveries (97.61% and 97.61% yesterday ,and 3,241,024 deaths (2.39% and 2.39 % 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 33,274,659 (33,210,536 yesterday) with 6,715,861 active cases of which 9,451 (9,416) yesterday and 8,599 on 3/25/2021) (now still at .14% of active cases and now a blip up to increase the number of serious or critical cases to decrease the reduction from the  29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 19,820),  26,558,798 closed, with 592,409 deaths (2.23% and 2.23% yesterday) and with 25,966,389 recoveries (97.77% and 97.77% 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 .14% 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 1781 the U.S. ranks behind Hungary the new number 1 which has had a huge surge in deaths (2909), aping Hungary in terms of increase in deaths Bulgaria (2406), Belgium (2091), Italy (2016), Brazil (1926) which has been hit with a rapid rise in deaths and cases and passed us, Peru 1872, and the UK (1871) which had passed us despite leading world in testing),  and Poland (1802)  and slightly better than Spain (1676), Mexico (1674), Portugal (1669), France (1612), Argentina (1432),  Sweden (1388) that never closed its economy down like we did but has recently been experiencing a steady rise in  deaths,  Chile (1387), Switzerland (1225) and Bolivia (1104).

       Tests: We have now conducted 451,246,395 tests (now at 1,356,591/M) compared to number 2 now France at 1,181,187/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 2,341,512/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 1674/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:     14,627     418Deaths/M
                   Honduras:     Activecases:   131,097     537Deaths/M
                   El Salvador:   Active cases:     2,326     328 Deaths/M   

         US Vaccinations: As of 5/4/2021 247.8 million falling to 2.19 million per day in the last week sounds impressive but if the rate does not increase it will take us now reduced to some 3 months to have 75% of the population vaccinated which many believe is necessary to develop herd immunity. In California 31,468,937 total doses have been given (77.6% of doses received slightly less than the U.S. average of 77.8%), but even with the pressure of a recall to be scheduled this fall which hopefully end Newsom’s term, California has not moved from 28th out of the 50 states in terms of the percentage of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 32.1% of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 32.0% has risen from 29th to 28th tied with Oregon.  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: As Facebook Algorithm Censors meet to determine whether to ban Trump from Facebook, Trump has created his own site to communicate with his followers— https://www.donaldjtrump.com/desk; Facebook is shedding users like a man with bad dandruff as www.parler.com is back so banned Twitter users can tell the Rasputin like Dorsey to pound internet sand; the super-rich do things differently than we mortals, as it has been revealed that when Bill Gates married Melinda he required a long weekend each year with his former ex-girlfriend Ann Winblad which evidently he enjoyed during his marriage now headed for divorce (sounds so very French like her maiden name, as the Gates’ marriage therapist talked about their desire to have a cordial divorce); in yet another example of how close to total fraying our social fabric is facing BLM protesters, including some who were armed, stormed the outdoor dining area of La Chasse restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky prompting one white patron to produce a pistol and point at the protesters (fortunately several of the demonstrators pushed the protesters back and no one was shot but 5 protesters were arrested including a felon illegally possessing a firearm); the Chinese rocket used to launch the core part of its planned space station will reenter the Earth on May 6th but the military will only have a few hours to calculate where any pieces not burned up will fall;

         Joyless Reid, the perfect example of the left’s mantra if you do not agree with us completely blasted a parent objecting to “critical race theory” being taught to her elementary school child angrily claiming she is not a racist to which Reid piously claimed “of course she is”; in another example of the corruption of the MSM, PolitiFact in the first 100 days of Biden’s presidency has done 13 fact checks on him and 100 posts defending him (a free press no more only, other than Fox and a few other outlets, mere lackeys for the DNC); Chauvin’s lawyers have filed a motion for a new trial citing numerous errors that deprived their client of a fair trial but did not assert  the fact that he lied on his questionnaire whether he had attended a BLM/Floyd protest where a surfaced photo shows him in a t-shirt “off the neck” nor the obvious intimidation of Maxine Waters if the jurors did not convict; Boeing’s 737 MAX fleet is facing new issues and ¼ of the planes have been grounded with no projected date when the grounding will be lifted; Where’s Waldo has spent 41 days without a press conference and has not come within over a hundred miles of the border as the tidal wave of illegals continues unabated but she has talked to the leaders of Japan and Finland seeking their advice (what a complete crock).

           While critical race theory is being shoved down our throats against our will and what many believe is not in the best interests of our kids’ education or this nation, leave it to the political cartoonist to reveal the danger of teaching it in our schools:                                         

        Chicago Gun Violence: Hey Jackass.com is back to show that through May 2, 2021,  gun violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in Chicago is alive and well with 1085 persons shot of whom 192 have died.
         As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “Beat It” by Michael Jackson, that you enjoy being a relict in your career and a quote by Gerald Casale on the Kent State Shootings,  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. Star Wars Daycelebrated for the first time on this day in 2011 at the Toronto Underground Cinema as a pun on the Jedi wish “May the Force be with you. The number of Star Wars fanatics continue to increase each year as the films keep rolling out.

      2. International Anti-Bullying Day—started in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2011 and recognized by Canada on February 27, 2008 and now on the last Wednesday in February. The UN General Assembly adopted International Bullying Day to be celebrated on this day starting in 2012. Celebrants are urged to wear pink and promote the end of bullying physically, by phones and on the internet.

        3.  1983 Number 1 Song USA—the number 1 song in 1983 was “Beat It” by Michael Jackson on a run of 7 weeks in that position to join 16 other songs reaching number 1 and while 9 acts achieved their first number 1 status. Here is a recording by Michael Jackson “Beat It”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdxUFDoQe0 Sadly Jackson couldn’t follow the lyrics of his song and beat it from an inept doctor Conrad Murray who injected him with propofol that caused him to go into cardiac arrest and die on June 25, 2009. Murray was arrested, tried, convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and sentenced to 4 years, serving 2 and being paroled.

         4.  Word of the Day—the word of the day is “relict” which means left behind which was the feeling many Trump supporters were feeling which propelled him to victory in 2016.

         5.  36 Year Marriage Up In Smoke—celebrating the birth on this day in 1941 of noted singer and songwriter Nickolas Ashford who teamed up with Valerie Simpson, his wife of almost 37 years as a dynamic songwriter duo creating a plethora of hits and their song “Solid for Barack” was played at Barack Obama’s Inauguration, Sadly Ashford was a smoker and was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2009 and died on August 22, 2011, 4 days before his wife’s 65th birthday.

          On this day in

          a. 1904 the U.S. acquired control over the Panama Canal Zone to begin construction of the Panama Canal after a French attempt had failed miserably, hobbled by malaria and Yellow Fever which the Americans were ultimately able to keep under some semblance of control, which was not opened to traffic until August 15, 2014 at the cost of some 5300 lives due to accidents and deadly tropical diseases.

         b. 1946 on May 2 Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Clarence Carnes, Marvin Hubbard and Miran Thompson, prisoners at Alcatraz overpowered two guards and held them hostage, broke into the guards’ weapons room and tried to open a locked outer door to be able to seize a boat but the guard with the keys turned them all over but the key to outer door was hidden by him. Both guards were killed by Cretzer with a Thompson Submachine Gun and Shockley, Carnes, and Thompson returned to their cells but the other 3 elected to fight it out until a troop of Marines from Treasure Island arrived on May 4 to quickly quell the riot and kill the 3 prisoners but not before 17 guards and 1 prisoner were injured. Carnes, Shockley and Thompson were tried and convicted for the murder of the 2 guards with Carnes because of his age of 19 receiving another life sentence and Shockley and Thompson received a death sentence and were both executed at San Quentin on December 3, 1948.

           c. 1979 Ohio National Guardsmen sent to Kent State University Campus opened fired on students protesting the Vietnam War and our expansion of it into Cambodia, killing 4 unarmed students some in the back and some merely walking to class and wounding 9 others. A Kent State Student, John Filo with the last shot on his role of film in the camera took a photo that would become the iconic photo of the anti-Vietnam War movement, capturing 14 year old Mary Ann Vecchio screaming over the dead body of Kent State Student Jeffrey Miller whom she had just met:                                                         

          d. 1982 20 British sailors were killed during the Faklands War when the HMS Sheffield was hit by an air borne Exocet missile.

          e. 1998 after receiving his guilty plea to escape the death sentence, a federal judge sentenced the “Una Bomber” Theodore Kaczynski to 8 life sentences without possibility of parole for his bombings over a period of 17 years that killed 3 and injured 23 and he is now rotting at age 78 in ADX Florence, a Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

           Reflections on the shootings at Kent State from a student there on that day: “It completely and utterly changed my life. I was a white hippie boy and then I saw exit wounds from M1 rifles out of the backs of people I knew...”Gerald Casale, who went on from the experience to co-found the punk rock band Devo and is still performing today.

            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.

© May 4, 2021 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients a Lasting Gift

 

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