Oct 29, 2020
COVID-19 Update
World
Fauci expresses support for national mask mandate for the first time amid record-setting coronavirus infections
Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said for the first time Wednesday that the United States needs a nationwide mask mandate to combat the rising tide of coronavirus infections. In interviews with CNBC and the Journal of the American Medical Association, Fauci expressed regret that masks haven’t been adopted more widely and suggested that doing so would be key to avoiding another round of shutdowns.
Other Stuff:
- New Cases: 504,412 (⬆︎ 1.14%)
- New Deaths: 7,122 (⬆︎ .61%)
USA
- New Cases: 81,581 (⬆︎ .90%) 🎉 NEW RECORD! 🥳
- New Deaths: 1,030 (⬆︎ .44%)
Fauci expresses support for national mask mandate for the first time amid record-setting coronavirus infections
Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said for the first time Wednesday that the United States needs a nationwide mask mandate to combat the rising tide of coronavirus infections. In interviews with CNBC and the Journal of the American Medical Association, Fauci expressed regret that masks haven’t been adopted more widely and suggested that doing so would be key to avoiding another round of shutdowns.
Other Stuff:
- With five days to go before Election Day on Nov. 3, President Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden have crystallized opposing messages on a pandemic that has affected most aspects of American life, including voting.
- Germany and France announced month-long lockdowns on Wednesday, saying that the resurgence of infections had spiraled out of control.
- Taiwan celebrated its 200th day with no locally transmitted coronavirus infections, a milestone no other nation has reached. The country never went into lockdown, which experts say was due to its swift response, widespread mask use and close tracking of cases.
- Health officials say the White House called off an investigation into its coronavirus outbreak, while failing to notify people who may have been exposed.
- The United States has seen a steady increase in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations for almost the entire month of October, with record-high numbers of cases reported in the past week, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. More than 80,000 new cases were recorded on Wednesday, pushing the total number of infections past 8.8 million. At least 227,000 fatalities have been linked to the virus since February.
- A federal government briefing document obtained by The Washington Post suggests that a traveler could theoretically drive all the way from the Canadian border to northern Mississippi without ever leaving a “hot-spot” county.
Oct 28, 2020
Today's Tweet
In the Age Of Poe - some brilliant satire.
Woman stranded at MAGA rally in Omaha says Trump wanted to teach them a lesson pic.twitter.com/SvqYw5MnOZ
— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) October 28, 2020
Sportsball
Don't get me wrong, I love those silly games. There's greatness in sport that's important as a way to learn and reinforce life-lessons for us.
But when it becomes an obsession, or we substitute a game for our actual lived experience, then we lose perspective and it becomes a real problem. Bread-n-circus and all that.
So anyway, we've crowned an NBA champion, and a hockey champion, and now a baseball champion - all of which has gone almost unnoticed, and the unnoticing of which I think is an OK thing.
It's still there. The scribes have written it all down. It's just that there's no great chunk of intellectual or spiritual real estate being occupied as team owners and TV executives demand we pay billions of dollars just to watch grown men chasing small inanimate objects around.
I'm just sayin' - anyway:
ARLINGTON, Tex. — Validation came at 10:37 p.m. Central time, wearing the classic home whites of the Los Angeles Dodgers and streaming out of the first base dugout for a dogpile near the pitcher’s mound of Globe Life Field. The World Series was over. The Dodgers’ tortuous, 32-year wait for another championship was over. The 2020 baseball season, bent and misshapen by a global pandemic, was over. And validation had arrived to drape itself on each and every one of them.
“This is our year!” Manager Dave Roberts roared at the trophy presentation.
The line for validation was long and illustrious in the wake of the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 of the 116th World Series, and all of them — the players, the manager, the brain trust, the franchise and the sport itself — would get their turn.
But before that could happen, there were other matters to deal with — this being a baseball season being played in a pandemic. As the Dodgers celebrated their championship on the field, many of them wearing masks, one key figure was missing: Third baseman Justin Turner, the longest-tenured Dodgers position player, had been pulled before the seventh inning after his latest coronavirus test came back positive, a result that arrived midgame. He was immediately put in isolation but was later spotted on the field celebrating with his teammates.
“It’s a bittersweet night for us,” Commissioner Rob Manfred told Fox Sports on the field. “ … We learned during the game that Justin was a positive. He was immediately isolated to prevent spread.”
It was the first positive test for a player in more than six weeks, and coming in the middle of the final game of the World Series — it was perhaps a fitting conclusion to a season that at times seemed endangered by the spread of the virus. It also appears baseball barely avoided a messy outcome had the series been extended to a seventh game.
And for a while Tuesday night, Game 7 seemed to be a strong possibility. The fact the series never got there was due in large part to the stunning and highly questionable pitching move the Rays made in the bottom of the sixth inning, when they pulled ace Blake Snell from a magnificent performance — a move that backfired immediately when the next two Dodgers hitters, Mookie Betts and Corey Seager, gave Los Angeles the lead.
“I’m not going to ask any questions,” Betts said of the Rays’ pitching change. “[Snell] was pitching a great game … They made a pitching change. It seems like that’s all we needed.”
Maybe the Dodgers would have won anyway if the Rays — who make no apologies for their analytic bent and data-driven decision-making — had left Snell alone. But no one will ever know.
“Analytics is a huge part of our success,” Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier said. “And sometimes it can bite you in the butt.”
In any case, few who watched this series could walk away with any other conclusion than the better team prevailed in the end — an outcome that itself provided a measure of validation for the legitimacy of the 60-game regular season and 16-team postseason, both of which were dominated by the Dodgers.
“This team has been incredible all throughout the season. … We never stopped,” said shortstop Corey Seager, who was named World Series MVP, adding that trophy to the one he earned as MVP of the National League Championship Series. “You can’t say enough about what we did this year.”
COVID-19 Update
World
Senior Trump official tests positive for coronavirus after trip to Europe
A senior Trump administration official tested positive for the coronavirus after a recent trip to Britain, Hungary and France, raising concerns about the spread of the virus to high-level officials across the Atlantic, according to four U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the situation.
Peter Berkowitz, the director of policy planning at the State Department, met with senior officials at 10 Downing Street and the Foreign Office in London, and with officials in Budapest and Paris earlier this month. One official said that Berkowitz’s mask-wearing and social distancing practices were lax during the trip and that U.S. embassy staff in Europe expressed some concerns before the trip about him traveling during the pandemic.
A State Department spokeswoman denied that Berkowitz’s mask usage was insufficient and said precautions were taken. She, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss individual coronavirus infections.
- New Cases: 459,003 (⬆︎ 1.05%)
- New Deaths: 7,032 (⬆︎ .60%)
USA
- New Cases: 75,072 (⬆︎ .84%)
- New Deaths: 1,093 (⬆︎ .60%)
And now we're over the 9 million mark here in USAmerica Inc.
And gosh - looks like the virus travels. It's almost like Robert Bakker was right 30 years ago when he postulated his theory of extinction by migration. Those wacky scientists, right? Whaddaya gonna do?
Senior Trump official tests positive for coronavirus after trip to Europe
A senior Trump administration official tested positive for the coronavirus after a recent trip to Britain, Hungary and France, raising concerns about the spread of the virus to high-level officials across the Atlantic, according to four U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the situation.
Peter Berkowitz, the director of policy planning at the State Department, met with senior officials at 10 Downing Street and the Foreign Office in London, and with officials in Budapest and Paris earlier this month. One official said that Berkowitz’s mask-wearing and social distancing practices were lax during the trip and that U.S. embassy staff in Europe expressed some concerns before the trip about him traveling during the pandemic.
A State Department spokeswoman denied that Berkowitz’s mask usage was insufficient and said precautions were taken. She, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss individual coronavirus infections.
wear your mask
keep your distance
wash your hands
what's so fuckin' hard about this?
Oct 27, 2020
Today's Tweet
Wow
I am just going to leave this here pic.twitter.com/geqm5n5A2p
— ALT-immigration 🛂 (@ALT_uscis) October 27, 2020
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