I hate the new Blogger

The new Blogger setup is for shit. I can't add photos, I can't edit, I can't figure out line breaks, it's totally non-intuitive, and they don't give me the option to go back to the old way. I think I may be done with this platform soon after the election. For the time being, sorry about the shitty way my blog posts look. Hey, it's not like there's anything important going on right now!

The Final Hours

It's getting down to the final hours before the polls open for perhaps the most important election in our nation's history. Less than 36 hours to go. This will be the time for America to tell the world who we really are. I'll vote in person. And then probably spend the next week or month worrying about whether we'll have had a fair election. It's like the old gypsy curse is applicable here: "May you live in interesting times!"

Women win when women vote

The late, great Lesley Gore with a powerful message. Substitute "Trump" for "Romney" and "Nov. 3rd" for "Nov. 6th" and it *absolutely* applies today! Still true after all these years. Women win when women VOTE!

Amy Coney Barrett

 

COVID Invades White House

It's a weird day in America! 

Starting last night, Oct 1st, we got word that President Trump's high-ranking assistant was diagnosed with Covid-19. 

Then, around 1AM this morning on the 2nd, the White House announced that Trump and the First Lady were both diagnosed with the virus. 

Later in the morning it was reported that both POTUS and FLOTUS were suffering symptoms from Covid. 

And late this afternoon Trump had been given an experimental "cocktail" to treat his illness, and only minutes later was rushed by helicopter to Walter Reed. Supposedly for observation. 

Meanwhile, he hasn't tweeted at all today other than several neutral-toned messages that were probably authored by his advisors. 

By this time tomorrow I'm worried that President Pence will have taken the oath of office to become the 46th President of the United States of America. 

Weird days indeed. Expecting updates throughout the night.

Cameron Peak Fire

I just returned from a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. While there, we were aware of the Cameron Peak fire that had consumed roughly 25,000 acres so far. The last two days we were there, the winds came up to 20-30mph and the fire exploded to over 100,000 acres, and shut down several roads inside the park. While the fire hasn't destroyed anything in the park yet, it's very dangerous and still may spread. Here's a few photos:

Tri-state Govs Reject Trump's CDC Policy

In what continues to be a trainwreck of a pandemic response, Colonel Klink President Trump ordered the Center for Disease Control to completely change their approach to limiting their response to this national threat by lowering the testing levels among people who may have been exposed to Covid.

Posted on August 27, 2020 (HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, and Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey today released the following joint statement regarding the federal government’s decision to weaken COVID-19 testing guidelines: “The CDC has been a consistent, credible, and reliable guide for our nation for decades, providing clear and science-based guidance on everything from infectious disease to vaccines. That role is vital to our collective public health and it must continue. This 180-degree reversal of COVID-19 testing guidelines is reckless, and not based on science and has the potential to do long-term damage to the institution’s reputation. “CDC and HHS have not shared their scientific rationale for this change in policy, which substitutes sound science-based public health guidance with the President’s misinformation. This abrupt and ill-informed shift threatens the robust testing regimes our states have worked tirelessly to stand up with our federal partners. “Health experts recommend testing close contacts of individuals with COVID-19 to identify and prevent asymptomatic spread. This type of robust testing by our states has been a key factor in our success so far to flatten the curve in the tristate area. “New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will continue to follow the advice of health experts to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19, and therefore will not be changing our guidance that prioritizes testing for this population.”

Bravo to Governor Lamont and the governors of NY and NJ for rejecting this boneheaded attempt by Trump to metaphorically sweep this pandemic under the rug. To date, over 180,000 Americans have died because of Trump's denial of science and refusal to take advice from the medical experts. What a dick.

Joe Biden will be our next president

Imagine where we'd be today if we had a leader like Joe Biden, rather than the sociopathic vindictive inept criminal called Donald Trump.

President Obama at the Democratic Convention

This may be the best speech I've ever seen. Our nation is facing a crisis of leadership, and Barack Obama states the case clearly and without rancor. This is what REAL leadership looks like!

Schools reopening in Connecticut

(NOTE: THE NEW BLOGGER PROGRAM FOR SOME REASON WON'T ACCEPT LINE SPACES, SO UNTIL I CAN FIGURE IT OUT, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ONE GIANT PARAGRAPH ON THIS BLOG!) It looks like Connecticut is on track to open schools on schedule, according to Gov. Lamont's statements. More than half the school districts are planning on in-person classes, while others are using a hybrid of some number of home-schooled virtual classes. I can't say I'm entirely comfortable with this plan. Basically we're using our schools as test labs to see if it's safe to reopen or relax the rules for businesses or any other public gathering place. I would rather see the state open schools with a continuation of at-home schooling for the first month. That way we can compare how other states are dealing with the almost definite increase in new Covid cases that will result. We could have an October 1st opening day, which would still give the kids roughly nine months of in-school classes. And the benefit of learning from the mistakes of other states, if any are made. Judging from the still active nature of this pandemic, we're not going to have it under control until well after the new year at the very earliest. Trump's complete lack of leadership has a trickle-down effect, essentially giving people permission to ignore the common-sense safety rules about mask-wearing and public behavior. It's going to take either a successful vaccine (odds are this is going to take much longer than the optimistic predictions coming from the Executive Branch) or a new president to make a dent in the still skyrocketing new cases that are currently happening. Either way, the blame for the current situation we're in is almost entirely resting on the slumping shoulders of Donald Trump. This gives me no satisfaction, only sadness.