Two Americas, stupefyingly different.

I'm with the deplorables.   Economy is tops, climate change isn't, racism is way down the list and Covid politicans are worse than the infection.   The differences noted below are statistically like night and day. Quoted from Spiked:

"Indeed, the split of Biden and Trump voters on issues is striking, too. Of the voters who think the economy and jobs is the most important issue, the vast majority are Trump supporters: 81 per cent compared with just 16 per cent of Biden supporters. Of the voters who think racism is the most important issue, 78 per cent were Biden supporters and just 19 per cent were Trump supporters. And of the voters who think climate change is the most important issue, 86 per cent were Biden supporters and just 11 per cent were Trump supporters. On Covid, 83 per cent of Biden supporters said it is ‘not under control at all’, while just 15 per cent of Trump voters said the same thing."

"New York, totally Democratic, had no problem counting its votes. Texas, totally Republican, had no problem counting its votes." Vodkapundit

From Vodkapundit:

"New York, totally Democratic, had no problem counting its votes.Texas, totally Republican, had no problem counting its votes. It was the same story in every deep Red or Deep Blue state, regardless of size.

The only states that couldn’t seem to count their ballots on time, the only states where the allegedly dead rise to vote, the only states where turnout in places apparently exceeded the number of registered voters, the only states reported by whistleblowers for ignoring their own laws on accepting mail-in ballots, the only states that keep finding substantial numbers of new ballots, the only states with reports of substantial numbers of destroyed or lost ballots, the only states where we see reports of thousands upon thousands of ballots that are marked only for Joe Biden and no other candidates in any other race…  …all of these things are happening only in states where the outcome was ever in doubt.   And — oh, yeah, this last bit seems germane — all these antics seem to be happening only in Democrat-run cities in these swing states."

Stephen Green at Vodkapundit also comments: "What does it take to get the press to notice an election being stolen in broad daylight?    Answer: A new press."

It's not that the presidential race wasn't close.  It was.  The vote counters in those unnamed cities include a criminal class.

Masks are used to identify your tribe.

 

There are places you must wear masks to receive service or avoid punishment.  However, when you see masked people driving and cycling about and walking by themselves because they want to, you are being told what tribe they belong to and probably who they will vote for too.

You know who these people identify with.

Simple math puts TRUMP first for Nov 3 2020

 In 2016 Trump won.
What changed since then?
The Never-Trumpers left at the time but I haven't heard of new leavers since 2016.
I have heard of no Trump voters who are turning their backs on him.

The people who voted Trump last time are out in boat and car parades, ready to vote for Trump again.
I read stories about people who held their nose and voted Trump in 2016 but will crawl over broken glass to vote for him this time.
There's a small movement of people out of the Democrat fold under the flag "Walk Away".
A few more states have purged voter rolls of dead or merely departed voters, a few whom were somehow voting, and largely voting Democrat.
There's a definite increase in support from Black Americans.
There seem to be longer lines to vote this time and the enthusiasm factor seems to be mostly Republican, or more correctly, "Trump".

Whatever the final tally for the 2020 election, there will be more Trump voters this time than 2016.
Last time the polls were out a lot but at the last minute got better for Trump.
This time the polls are out even more and at the last minute are getting better for Trump.
For the run-up, pollsters have their elbow on the scales for their preferred party, Democrat.
For the showdown, pollsters protect their reputation by being more truthy at the last minute.
The numbers have been TRUMP for some time, despite the Covid shock.

And wins the popular vote.

 

COVID Cases vs Deaths, 6 million database

From issuesinsights.com, two of the charts.  You already knew deaths are almost all old people and sick ones at that.  What you haven't seen is that almost all "cases" are young and middle-aged .  Those anxious old folks are the least likely to catch COVID.

Gettysburg address: 266 words Price of Cabbage: 26,911 words

 Words cloak and reveal.  "To the point" is usually short and easy to understand.

New food and habitat in our oceans: Plastic.

 Plastic garbage accumulating in our oceans, much of it sourced from Asian rivers, is food and shelter for microbes.   From Hansen's article:  "Pelagic plastic (plastic floating in the oceans), exposed to the sun and the waves, breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces which in turn are literally eaten by microbes – such as bacteria....  “The natural system finds a way to use most everything – in the case of oceanic plastics, as homes and food.”

An alarmist researcher wrote this:“Trillions of plastic debris fragments are afloat at sea, creating the “perfect storm” for microbial colonization. Introduced more than 50 years ago, plastic substrates are a novel microbial habitat in the world’s oceans. This “plastisphere” consists of a complex community comprised of bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic microorganisms and microscopic animals.”

Hansen observes mildly:  "What does that mean when we get up in the morning? It means that sea creatures of all types – tiny, mostly microscopic, little plants and animals – start living on the surface of these bits of plastic that are floating around in the ocean. The bits become floating homes for these creatures and plants."  And this:  "The plastic bits, found in the top layers of the oceans, supply a happy home for lots of microscopic “bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic microorganisms and microscopic animals” – a home that didn’t exist (as far as the researchers know) before".
      He's not loving him some garbage, however.  "Remember, just because Nature will clean up our messes, given enough time, we should keep all of our trash, including plastics, contained and disposed of properly. None of it should end up in the sea. "

Truth needs someone to love it.

Truth has no arms and legs.  Truth changes nothing until someone loves it.
Think:  Epstein revelations, Hillary's hard drive, Biden junior's laptop, The Panama Papers.
Some thought "Bombshells", "This will change everything!".
Mostly that was wishful thinking, naivete.
Sadly the American FBI figures in this story.  Delivering information to the FBI that leaders don't want means that information is suppressed, not elevated.  

Truth needs someone to love it.

A quote from Marshall McLuhan:

“Only the small secrets need to be protected. The big ones are kept secret by public incredulity.” - Marshall McLuhan

Does this amuse you?

 This pronunciation salad reached us the same way as common law arrived.  It's a survival grab-bag of what has worked over the years.  It's not a result of putting a meritocracy in charge of running language, schools and public spaces.     

The credentialed like to harmonize everything with one or two of their own ideas.  The other viewpoint is pragmatic and accepts what has worked in the past and has room for what may work better in the future..   One will probably vote for Biden.  The other will probably vote for Trump.

You don't think the power grid can be wrecked by hackers for years? Watch the video.

 The power grid can be destroyed for years.  Take it seriously.  A 2007 US Government test saw a generator go up in smoke when attacked by a data clip no bigger than a .gif      It happened in seconds.  The poison data attacked a relay and told it to do the opposite of what it should do.    There's even a sobering video.  The same technique was used by Russian state hackers a few years later to damage the Ukraine's electricity supply.

As the source story at WIRED says,
How 30 Lines of Code Blew Up a 27-Ton Generator

I do a couple cryptics every day.

 How did I go so wrong.

Update: Some problems can be solved by ignoring rules:

Another famous example:  Legend says whoever could untangle the Gordian knot that anchored a cart ....  would become ruler of all Asia.  Alexander "The Great" used a sword.

 

Surviving but not fit

 While the social contract holds, we are fitter than ever before.  Individually we are not.  Most of us have fewer survival and handyman skills, are overweight and understrength, and are nudged into safer paths where we can't accidentally be hurt or forced to exert all our strength or to react swiftly.  Think of bicycle helmets on quiet paths,  automatic braking on new cars,  warnings about playing with plastic bags, four-way stop signs and roundabouts,  masks and isolation when hazards are absent,  clothes that don't catch fire,  sidewalks dished for wheelchairs at intersections, pill lids that don't come off easily, road warnings about construction 2 km ahead when I only need five or ten seconds to get a message and respond.   The average grip of an adult is weaker than it used to be.  Most of us weigh more than our parents at the same age.  Probably a majority of us have worked at jobs that didn't require heavy breathing and hard muscle work and even those of us who do have better tools and pallet jacks and electric drills.   I don't want to be rid of most of this stuff.  But I see I'm less fit to survive as an individual when my entire work and play environment has been made safer.   No problem if we all agree to get along and work together.  "Trump Derangement Syndrome" has replaced the milder form known as "Bush Derangement Syndrome" and is pointing to a breakdown of the social contract.

 

 

Vegan Burritos

 

Barrett without notes, Hirono deep in workbook notes.

Sax duet with his own echo in a pipe, nice beat.