Trumplandia

Ben Hovland was nominated by President Donald Trump last year and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to run the US Election Assistance Commission. This includes testing and certifying US voting machines and working closely with other federal agencies that oversee elections, like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Today, Ben Hovland says that Trump’s false post-election claims are, "baffling", "laughable" and "insulting"  …. "At a minimum, it's insulting to the professionals that run our elections and hopefully that's the worst that comes of it…. “Our people [are] doing their jobs but they don't feel safe doing it. That is a tragedy. That is awful. These are public servants. This isn't a job you do for glory or to get rich."
In other words, its business as usual in Trumplandia…

News blues…

Catching up and catching on? Are governors of US states beginning to get a clue about coronavirus?

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge nationwide, several states announced new restrictions on Friday in an effort to stymie the spread of the virus.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) announced a two-week “shelter in place” order which will go into effect on Nov. 16. All nonessential businesses will need to cease in-person activities and on-site dining will be prohibited, among other restrictions, Grisham said.
Oregon too announced a similar two-week “freeze,” which will take effect on Nov. 18.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Friday that his state would also be tightening its coronavirus restrictions, including reducing the number of people allowed at gatherings — both outdoors and indoors — from 250 to 25 and lowering the age at which children need to wear masks from 10 to 5.
In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice (R) announced a new “ultra mandatory” mask policy, which would require people over the age of 9 to wear face coverings in public buildings at all times.

Catching on and catching up? Not so fast… the whackadoodles continue the whackadoodleitude:

President-elect Joe Biden says he'll personally call red state governors and persuade them to impose mask mandates to slow down the coronavirus pandemic. Their early response: Don’t waste your time. 
Almost all of the 16 Republican governors who oppose statewide mask mandates are ready to reject Biden’s plea… and declared [this] in public statements — even as they impose new restrictions on businesses and limit the size of public gatherings to keep their health systems from getting swamped.

Remember when Trump introduced the term “sh**hole countries”? We the People need a fitting term for asinine and dangerous-to-public-health governors.
It’s not only the economy, stupids! 

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The Lincoln Project is back!
1962  (0:25 mins)
Democracy  (1:00 mins)

Healthy futures, anyone?

“…Solely cutting emissions is not enough.”

The former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the leading climate scientist Michael Mann are among a group of prominent environmentalists calling for the “restoration of the climate” by removing “huge amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere”.
Net zero targets have been a focus of governments, local authorities and campaigners in their attempts to address global heating. The authors of Friday’s letter, however, say that although stopping emissions is “a necessary prerequisite”, governments and businesses must be more ambitious and work to “restore the climate” to as safe a level as possible.
The letter states, “The climate crisis is here now. ”

Editorial comment: Actually, the climate crisis is here now, but it was raised as a news items decades ago:

THIRTY YEARS AGO, the potentially disruptive impact of heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels and rain forests became front-page news. 
It had taken a century of accumulating science, and a big shift in perceptions, for that to happen. Indeed, Svante Arrhenius, the pioneering Swedish scientist who in 1896 first estimated the scope of warming from widespread coal burning, mainly foresaw this as a boon, both in agricultural bounty and “more equable and better climates, especially as regards the colder regions of the Earth.”
There were scattered news reports through the decades, including a remarkably clear 1956 article in the New York Times that conveyed how accumulating greenhouse gas emissions from energy production would lead to long-lasting environmental changes. In its closing the article foresaw what’s become the main impediment to tackling harmful emissions: the abundance of fossil fuels. “Coal and oil are still plentiful and cheap in many parts of the world, and there is every reason to believe that both will be consumed by industry so long as it pays to do so.”

The deadly combo: human nature and inertia.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

After a couple of days bobbing in the morose waters of Pandemic Fatigue, I turned to my mental-health restorative: the garden and the stream. Despite giving succor to my nemesis – mosquitos – the garden pond revives me. (I try to balance my antipathy for mosquitos with facts. It helps – sort of…. https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-mosquitoes-1968303 ) Pond pleasures include noticing how healthy and bountiful are the various plants I added to the pond garden last fall (“autumn”). And noticing the seasonal rhythms of plant life: dragonflies, tadpoles and frogs, birds. Alas, no sign of the goldfish I added in April: happy kingfishers, no doubt.

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My mother becomes more confident steering her auto-wheelchair. Alas, she only uses it when I’m there; she does not practice driving it when I’m not there.
Yesterday, we broke out of the confines of the Care Center and into the surrounding parking lots. I’m glad she’s becoming more adept at the single hand control although she still hangs her arms over the armrests and still loses control at inopportune times, particularly negotiating doors and gates. While she frets at my insistence she cover her arms and elbows with towels as padding against injury, so far she’s not refused to do so.
Two days ago, another elderly woman using a walker outside the Care Center fell on concrete and tore a large L-shape flap of skin off her arm. Luckily, I was about to use the same back entrance to the Care Center and was able to help her within seconds of her fall. I did not witness the fall, but I suspect it came about through some mix up with her small dog on its leash as she negotiated the concrete slope through the gate. This highlights my concern with my mother who purchased the auto-wheelchair so she can “take Jessica – The Dog – out to walk.”
First, Jessica is not particularly interested in walks on a leash. I attest to this as I take her out each time I visit. She’s interested in being outside, sniffing, peeing, and then returning inside.
Then, Jessica is undisciplined. My mother believes dogs should be “happy” and discipline makes them unhappy.
Additionally, Jessica is a big dog and not leash trained. I shudder to think of the combination of my mother, the auto-wheelchair, the leash, and The Dog outside the Care Center.
What can go wrong, will go wrong.
My role? Air my concerns. Then shut up.