While Growth Rates aren't increasing generally, they're holding pretty steady overall. As they level off or drop in one place, they rise in another - just as the epidemiologists have always told us they would. The only good news is that here in USAmerica Inc, the date on which we hit 100,000 dead has receded again - to about mid-May.
Ali ibn Abi Talib was an in-law of the "prophet" Muhammad. Which means to me, he was a huckstering preacher - a guy who knew he could hold on to power only as long as he could keep the sheep in line, so... First, you're not a fuckin' flower. Second, even if you are a fuckin' flower, you still have a brain and you're expected to use it for something other than storing recipes and birthdays and the firing order of a Dodge Hemi. Third - YOU'RE NOT A FUCKIN' FLOWER.