RIDLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT March 26, 2022
CV World
Cases: The planet continues with cases still increasing but the increase
slowing down with cases now passing 473 million at 478,924,735 cases,
59,196,689 of which are active, 419,728,046 closed with 413,591,449
recoveries (98.54%), and crossing the 6,000,000 barrier 6,136,597 deaths (1.46%
)to continue the low trend of increased cases with increased recovery
percentages and decreased death percentages with some plateaus, dips, and
rises.
CV USA Cases: Total
cases now passing 81 million at 81,574,881 with 16,686,949 active cases
of which 2632 are serious or critical, (15,517 on 12/12) (back to steady
decreases despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of
the Omicron variant) to .0158% of active cases (back to back steady decreases
despite the increase in active cases due to the relative mildness of the
Omicron variant and to increase the reduction from the
29,271 peak on 12/31/2020 to 26,639 with 64,887,932 closures with 1,002,647 deaths
(1.55%) and with 63,885,285 recoveries
(98.45%). Our death rate percentage is .09% higher than the world’s death rate.
Standing: On a deaths
per million population measure on a steady but slowing climb to 2999 the
U.S. ranks behind Peru (6280) the new number 1 which has had a quantum leap in
deaths previously unmatched which was a change in the classification to give
Peru the a new method of reporting; Bulgaria (5307), Hungary (4706), Romania (3411), Brazil
(3060), and Poland (3037) and slightly higher than Chile (2898), Argentina (2783),
Columbia (2693), Italy (2630), Belgium (2626), Russia (2510), Mexico (2456), UK
(2401), Spain (2189), France (2159),
Portugal (2110), Ecuador (1956), Bolivia (1798), Sweden (1765)
that never closed its economy down like we did, and Switzerland (1557).
US Vaccinations:
As of 03/26/22 559.5 million doses, 256,316 per day last
week (76.1%) of population now vaccinated with at least one shot)
and in California 35,165 per day (which means at least 82.3% of the population
of California has received at least one shot) which many believe is necessary
to develop herd immunity (other than Flip Flop Fauci who may believe that 90%
is required). In California 72,488,689 total doses have been given
(83.3% of doses received to exceed the U.S. average of 80.0%), California
has not moved from 12th of the 50 states in terms of the percentage
of doses administered as a percentage of doses delivered to the states and at 71.0%
of its population fully vaccinated compared to the U.S. average of 64.8% and
has not moved from 12th in
terms of the percentage of the population fully vaccinated compared to other
states (nothing like a recall election to get Newsom’s attention and
performance).
Non CV
News: Day 32 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which around Kiviv seems
stalled and likewise along the Black Sea and Aral; Sea coast as Ukraine without
enough missiles and planes stop or at least the decrease the quantity of
missiles, bombs and shells being rained on its civilian is pleading with Biden
and NATO for more than just supportive words; Biden seems terrified of a Putin
response and quickly walked back his comments that Russian use of chemical
weapons would mean our chemical weapon response and bent over backwards that
U.S. forces now in Poland would not be heading into Ukraine; all the social
media and tech billionaires must be ruing their backing of Biden and censoring
of Trump as it looks like the Biden administration wants to levy on taxpayers
worth more than $100 million a 20 % tax rate on income and unrealized
appreciation; Elon Musk is openly musing what many conservatives believe that
another social media platform is need to compete with Twitter (many of his
followers are urging him to buy Twitter and line the pockets of Jack Dempsey
with even more millions instead of starting another social media platform); the
toxicology report on the urine found in Taylor Hawkins body who died in Bogota this
weekend revealed 10 psychoactive substances but no cause of death for the
drummer of Foo Fighters has as of yet been released; Americans love underdogs
and are enthralled with 15th seeded St. Peters and its guard Doug
Edart and his “stache” who are now in the Elite 8 to play UNC Sunday afternoon
(wonder if the tournament committee is able to look itself in the face and
justify its 15th seed?); the Oscars which an increasing number of
people refuse to watch because of its growing PC wokeness and leftist
acceptance award slants has dropped 8 categories from the awards with ratings
falling like a rock and program looking more and more like it’s on life support
(with inflation killing American families and the Biden Administration’s let
them eat cake response somewhat tone deaf nominees who are not hurting
financially at all are looking at goody bags worth $130,000 this year); Blue
Senator Warnock who is in a tight race with former Georgia football star Walker
is having a fund raiser hosted by a leftist activist who has labelled Reds
terrorists; as gas prices soar and the Biden Administration seems fully
committed tgo not increasing domestic production of oil, leave to the political
cartoonist to reveal what the average Biden voter is probably feeling:
Chicago Gun
Violence: Hey Jackass.com is alive and well to collect data to show that
through March 25, 2022, gun
violence involving mostly persons of color shooting mostly persons of color in
Chicago is alive and well with 591 shot of whom 111 have died.
As always,
I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest
for this day in history, a video recording of “Man in the Mirror” by Michael
Jackson; the fact that you are not surrounded by splenetic individuals; and a
quote by Jeffrey Toobin on gerrymandering, secure in the knowledge that if
you want to send a gift for any memorable events like St. Patrick’s Day,
Mothers’ 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 pricing.
1. Purple Day—created by a Nova
Scotia 8 year old Cassidy Megan to promote awareness of epilepsy by revealing
her struggles and successes in coping with epilepsy; on the 26th if
you see people wearing purple in the U.S. and Canada great chance that they are
not calling for Reds and Blues to cross the aisle and go into bipartisan mode
to solve our issues facing us but rather they support the fight against epilepsy.
2. Celebrate Exchange
Day—celebrating exchange clubs, the first of which was created on
this day in 1911 in Detroit, Michigan by local businessmen to meet and promote
solutions to issues facing their community which led to the formation of 3 more
in Michigan and Ohio in 1917 which resulted in the formation of the National
Exchange Club which now has 600 local clubs and fortunately in a better late
than never moment opened its membership to women in 1987. The Club focuses on
Americanism, Youth Programs and Community Service and their national program to
prevent child abuse.
3. 1988 Number 1 Song—the number 1 song
in 1988 on this day was “Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson
as his second number 1 song of the year and in that position for 2 weeks to join 31 other number 1 songs while
17 acts hit the charts at Number 1 for
the first time. Here is a video recording of Michael Jackson performing “Man in
the Mirror”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps
Jackson was on his musical success role with 3 number 1 hits surpassed only my
George Michael with 4.
4. Word of the Day—the word of the day is “splenetic” which
means marked by bad temper or spite which describes to a tee the person that
most people do not want to spend time with.
5. Classless New Strength Exercise—celebrating or bemoaning depending on your political affiliation
the birth on this day in 1940 of Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the
House, third in line to the Presidency, and the only Speaker to be reelected to
be Speaker of the House but will be best remember for her observation that “we
had to pass the ACA to find out what’s in it;” and her truly disrespectful and
classless act of ripping up Trump’s SOTUS in sections as not strong enough to
rip up the speech in 1 rip. Not sure if she has ever held a private sector job
but she and her husband have taken advantage of her political position to make
millions in the stock market.
On this day
in:
a. 1812
The Boston Gazette on this day
published a cartoon portraying a mythical salamander like beast with a body looking
like an election district the Governor of Massachusetts Eldridge Gerry had
created on a partisan basis and used the term “gerrymander” to describe the
process.
b.
1939 the Nationalists under General Franco began their final offensive against
Republican forces and quickly advanced as Republican forces either fled or surrendered
in mass and by the 31st all of Spain was in Franco’s hands.
c. 1975 the Biological Weapons Convention which was signed on April 10,
1972 became effective on this day as 22 nations including the 3 depositories
for the treaty had ratified it and which now bans the manufacture, storing,
selling or using biological and toxin weapons.
d. 1982 a
groundbreaking ceremony was held in Washington, D.C. the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
e. 2017 anti-corruption protests were
held in 99 cities in Russia which according to the Levada Association, a non-governmental
polling and data analytical group which had in 2016 by classified by the
Russian Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent, were approved by 38% of
Russians and 67% held Putin personally responsible for such corruption (wonder
what if any polling Levada has been able to do when calling Russia’s invasion
anything other than a “special military operation” merits 15 years in prison).
Reflections on the pervasive urge to gerrymander: Even in Madison’s day, the practice
of gerrymandering for partisan advantage was familiar. In the late
seventeen-eighties, there were claims that Patrick Henry had tried to
gerrymander Madison himself out of the First Congress. The term was coined
during Madison’s Presidency, to mock Elbridge Gerry, the governor of
Massachusetts, who in 1811 approved an election district that was said to look
like a salamander.” Jeffrey Toobin, head legal analyst at CNN who was suspended
for masturbating on an online Zoom call to be reinstated after 8 months.
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.
© March 26, 2022, Michael P.
Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
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