Politics

December 8, 2020

In an effort to find a silver lining to talk about, there’s always the environment… which has been greatly benefiting from this pandemic. Cleaner air, cleaner water and all that. When the world slows down, so does the man-made environmental damage that typically goes along with it. Some lessons have been learned… which can hopefully carry on when this is all over.

But here’s a very different environmental message… you know David Suzuki… the environmental activist, academic, recipient of Canada’s highest honour… the Companion Order of Canada… the guy whose show “The Nature of Things” just celebrated its 60th(!) anniversary, making it the longest-running science show ever, anywhere… that guy. Three times in my life, I almost killed him.

This isn’t hyperbole… it’s not an exaggeration. It’s not “just an expression”. And certainly, it wouldn’t have been on purpose. But three times in my life, I came this close to accidentally taking out one of Canada’s most recognizable icons. All three times, it would’ve been his fault. And all three times, it was because he jumped out into traffic… right in front of me.

The first time was in 1993… I was driving north on the Granville Street Bridge, headed downtown. I took the Seymour offramp… and fortunately, I was going slowly… I was preparing to turn left at the first opportunity, on Drake, and as I slowed down, I guess he wasn’t paying attention and thought I was slowing down to stop because the light had changed. The light hadn’t changed; not even close… I still had a full-on green light, and as I approached the intersection, ready to turn, he casually stepped off the curb, right in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and came to a screeching halt. He looked up with an expression of great surprise and jumped back onto the curb. I rolled down the window and was about to unleash a serious torrent of profanity, but then realized who it was, so all I could come up with was, “Are you ok, Mr. Suzuki?” He was fine; just shaken up… as was I.

About 5 years later, I was emerging from an underground parking lot… the one that comes up on Smithe, between Granville and Howe… it’s a steep ramp, and the vision isn’t great. I wasn’t going very fast, but again, there wasn’t much time. As I approached the top of the ramp, well-beyond the point where most pedestrians would’ve stopped, he went sprinting by. Right in front of the car. I slammed on the brakes. It was close enough that he turned and actually touched the hood of the car. And once again, I found myself staring at the face of a surprised and frightened David Suzuki. That glance lasted just a brief moment… he quickly took off running… and I was left muttering to myself… “Next time, Suzuki, you might not be so lucky…”

Third time’s a charm. Third time lucky. I really didn’t want to test this particular third time, but of course, it wasn’t up to me. Several years later, I was headed down Thurlow, in the far left lane… and just as I approached Robson, guess who went sprinting through the intersection… with just enough time for me to slam on the brakes, see him look up with surprise, and watch him keep going. Apparently, he’s often in a hurry. Apparently, his mind is often elsewhere. Apparently, they don’t teach you how to cross the street in environmental school.

David Suzuki is now 84 years old. I would sincerely hope his days of carelessly jumping out into traffic are behind him… but, if you’re driving downtown, be warned… he may be out there.

I’m putting all of this out there for a few reasons. Number one, if I ever run over David Suzuki, it’s because the universe intends it to be so, period. Don’t even try to convince me otherwise. Number two, if someone else runs over David Suzuki, I’m telling you right now; it won’t be the driver’s fault.

And number three… well, speaking of three, there are three things that are coming to an end soon. The year 2020, the Trump presidency, the pandemic. In that order. Good riddance.

Once this pandemic is over, we can once again focus on things that have taken a back-seat, but have never stopped being important. From the biggest-picture point of view, the environment. It’s still in crisis, but as we’ve learned, we can make a big difference with minimal effort. Imagine what a real, long-lasting concerted effort might achieve.

From a smallest-picture point of view, ourselves. We’ve all been navigating this unknown journey through our own, personal lens. The end is in sight, and as it approaches, it’ll be time to realize what positives have come out of all of this… and hold on to them. It’s something to keep in mind, especially on days like this, when the gray, miserable rain isn’t exactly helping the positive thoughts. The tolls have been heavy, both from the financial and mental-health points-of-view. But there will be sunnier days ahead, in every sense of the expression.

Try to keep that in mind… except when you’re driving downtown. Then, just concentrate… and focus on pedestrians…

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By |2020-12-08T17:03:05-08:00December 8th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Science of COVID-19|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |20 Comments
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December 6, 2020

A brief footnote about yesterday and former Canucks-anthem-singer Mark Donnelly; the video of him on the steps of the Art Gallery is online. He makes a 10-minute rambling speech before singing, and to be honest, it’s kind of sad. He makes some good points, he makes some bad points, he makes some confused points, he spews some well-debunked conspiracy nonsense… like jeez, man… use that nice voice for something useful; this is pretty bad. At one point he criticizes the Canucks for their decision, at another he hopes he’ll get a call from them so they can talk about it. Near the end he yells, “Go Canucks Go!”; the crowd is so confused, they’re not sure whether to cheer or jeer. Fortunately, he eventually just shuts up and sings.

On a much larger scale of confused messaging, the president of the United States is in Georgia, speaking out of both sides of his mouth simultaneously. One side is encouraging Republicans to get out there and vote in what’s looking like a very tight senate runoff election. The other side is still screaming about how the federal election was a fraud and can’t be trusted and was rigged. If you’re a Georgian Republican, I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do. Or even think. The president called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger an “enemy of the people” and called Governor Brian Kemp a “moron” and a “nut job”. Very presidential. Only 44 more days.

Setting aside the wise words offered to us by a former anthem-singer, and a former reality star/soon-to-be-former president, let’s reflect on the reality of the day… record numbers everywhere, in hospitalizations, ICU admissions and, unfortunately, deaths. The U.S. has over 100,000 patients hospitalized and is seeing around 2,700 deaths daily. Canada’s numbers are much lower… we’re approaching 2,000 hospitalizations, and the daily national death toll is averaging around 90… but what they have in common is that those numbers are all rising consistently.

Tomorrow we’ll get B.C. numbers and have a better idea where we’re at… but here are some good guesses: Canada will be up 1.7%, B.C. will be up 2.0%, Alberta will be up 2.9%… this isn’t rocket science; going across the table of numbers, you can see where I’m getting this from. It’s very consistent. It’s almost impressive how consistent Ontario has been; eight straight days of exactly 1.5% growth. There’s a finish line, but we have a long way to go. Where we’re at, and these numbers… they’re nothing to sing about.

December 6, 2020

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By |2020-12-06T21:29:45-08:00December 6th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Science of COVID-19, Sports & Gaming|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |2 Comments
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December 5, 2020

Coincidentally, I wrote yesterday about the great leadership in the Vancouver Canucks’ past. Today, I’ll briefly write about the great leadership of the present. And I’m not (just) talking about present captain Bo Horvat.

In the last 24 hours, here’s what’s happened: Today, there will be an anti-mask rally. This one is being called the “B.C. Christmas Freedom Rally 2020”, and will take place, as usual, in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery… the usual anti-mask, anti-vaxx, covid-is-a-hoax crowd. The guy who has been singing the national anthems at Canucks games for 20 years, Mark Donnelly, announced that he’s not only going to attend the event, but also perform there as well… and not just the national anthem.

The Canucks didn’t like that at all, and issued a statement distancing themselves from the event, from Donnelly, from the whole sordid mess. Shortly after that, they officially announced that Donnelly is no longer affiliated with the team. And shortly after that, Francesco Aquilini, the managing partner of the Canucks ownership group, confirmed it… and Tweeted out a message to the Vancouver Sun, asking them to modify their headline, and to now refer to the anthem singer as “former”.

This isn’t the first time Mark Donnelly has tripped up. First of all, there was that time, back in 2014, where he literally tripped up; trying to sing the anthem while skating, he tripped over the red carpet and went flying. You can find it on YouTube, with millions of views. It’s worth seeing. But… more to the point… Donnelly showed up on the Art Gallery steps in 2012, singing the anthem at an anti-abortion rally.

If you’re wondering why that’s any different, and why that didn’t cost him his job, it’s very simple… and goes to the heart of this misunderstood thing called “freedom”. That poor word has been badly mangled, especially due to the American takeover of it and what it’s supposed to mean.

To be clear, being asked to wear a mask is not an infringement on your human rights. And facing consequences for you what you do and/or say is not a violation of your rights with respect to freedom of speech. You won’t get thrown in jail for criticizing the government, but actions have consequences, and if your actions affect other people, you can expect to be held responsible. Donnelly showing up at an anti-abortion rally? It tells you something about the man, but freedom of religion is a right, and if that’s how you think, as vehemently as anyone may disagree with you (including your employer), there’s nothing offside about it. But… aligning yourself with people promoting behaviour that puts everyone at risk?

As you can imagine, the reply thread to Aquilini’s Tweet is a complete shitshow… ranging from strong support to total outrage. “I’ve been a Canucks fan for 30 years, but now I’m cancelling my season tickets and will never watch another game!!1!!!!1!!!”… LOL.

It’s a smart move by Aquilini… there is no doubt this is the first time the vast majority of Canucks fans have agreed with him. But beyond that, the messaging. If you’re a public figure and/or your reach is into the hundreds of thousands, you actually have a responsibility… because the message you put out there gets listened to by a lot of people. It applies to the Canucks and it applies to Mark Donnelly. Because, for the 10 millionth time, this is a pandemic, and people spread it from one to another, and masks prevent that from happening.

Donnelly canceled himself. The Canucks… yes, I understand the business aspect of it… the Canucks want to be able to fill that building as soon as possible. They want to sell you tickets. They want to sell you beer and hotdogs and nachos and bottled water and 50/50 tickets and parking and swag. They want to sell you the whole live experience, because that’s how they make money. They also want things back to normal. And, the Canucks understand that when those seats get filled, they don’t want to see 18,910 people booing the anthem singer. Time to move on, and there’s already a strong movement to hand the role to Marie Hui, a very logical and deserving successor.

Or… this will sound a little self-serving, but I have a bit of a connection to the anthem singing at Rogers Arena… because over the last 20 years, I’ve made many efforts to get local talent onto the ice to do it. It’s worked out a few times, but it’s an uphill process, if for no other reason than the countless number of people who’d love the opportunity. There’s a lot of talent in this town… why not have 45 different anthem singers every season? Let’s mix it up a bit. Maybe it’s one more tiny little positive change that can emerge from this pandemic… sounds good to me.

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By |2020-12-05T21:02:22-08:00December 5th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Sports & Gaming|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |6 Comments
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December 4, 2020

On level 200 at Rogers Arena, here in Vancouver where the Canucks play hockey, you will find a restaurant called the “Captains Room” which accordingly pays homage to the great captains of the team over the years. There, you’ll find names and pictures of Canucks legends like Kurtenbach, Smyl, Linden & Naslund. Canucks fans are nodding.

One Canucks captain who you won’t find up there, nor any trace of his existence anywhere in the building… is arguably one of the greatest players to ever play the game. It certainly helped Mark Messier that he played in Edmonton alongside Gretzky, Kurri, Coffey and other legends, but you have to hand it to the guy… numerous records, and 6 Stanley Cups… and the only player to ever captain two different teams to Stanley Cup victories.

Unfortunately, neither one of those were the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, here in Vancouver, where Messier spent a few years near the twilight of his career, the name Messier is on the same level as a certain Dark Lord from the Harry Potter series; his name should never be mentioned. Canucks fans are still nodding.

It’s a long story why… but the gist of it is that there exist certain ultra-exclusive clubs, and even those who are entitled to be members aren’t always welcomed with open arms.

One very exclusive club that’s about to get a new member in 46 days is perhaps the most exclusive one in existence. It only has 4 members at present, soon to be 5.

Its newest member will be Donald J. Trump, who was born in June of 1946. You know who else was born in 1946, less than a month later? George W. Bush. That’s quite a coincidence. And you know who was born a month after that? William J. Clinton.

That’s a remarkable coincidence… and those three 74-year-olds make up three fifths of still-living (soon-to-be) former presidents. The other two are Jimmy Carter (96) and Barack Obama (59). The fireside chats that would accompany the Scotch and cigars in that club’s reading room… just imagine. Three of those guys could just as easily be high-school buddies.

While the members of that club get together occasionally — for very special events – like, you know, presidential inaugurations, it’s likely that its newest member won’t make many appearances. And that’s probably just fine with the rest of them. The present members set aside politics ages ago. They all get along famously, as do their spouses. A legendary friendship is that of Michelle Obama and George W. Bush…. said to have begun the first time those two met. Michelle approached George with an apology… saying sorry for something that her husband, then president, had said about him. “Oh, shush”, replied Bush.

But Donald and Melania… yeah, I don’t see it. In fact, as we speak, those former presidents have banded together, in essence, against Trump. They’re taking over the reigns of what a president should be messaging during a pandemic. They’re urging people to wear masks, and leading by example. They’re urging everyone to get vaccinated. They’ve offered to do so in front of a camera.

And Biden has already signaled that in his first 100 days, masks will be federally mandated. That’s unlikely to change the minds of the hardened anti-maskers, but at least it’s the right message, one with which four fifths of that club agree.

Once he’s out of office, and before he probably goes to prison, Trump will have plenty of free time to do what he does when he’s not Tweeting nonsense: Golf. Not sure with whom he’ll be golfing, but it won’t be those former presidents.

But here’s an idea… I understand Mark Messier is a really good golfer. Those two should go out for a round or two… they’d have plenty to discuss, not the least of which is how easy it can be to be disliked by so many people.

By |2020-12-05T21:17:53-08:00December 5th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Humour, Sports & Gaming|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |7 Comments
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December 3, 2020

A bit of a follow-up to my post a couple of days ago… with respect to Trump’s misinformation campaign… a good question to always ask is “to what end?” – like, why is this happening? What’s the point? Who’s benefitting?

A common answer, the usual lowest-common denominator, especially when dealing with the Trumps of the world, is… follow the money.

So… what was the point of that “interview” a few days ago, where Maria Bartiromo just sat there feeding Trump’s tiring election-fraud delusions? Depends who you ask.

Fox News has gotten into a bit of trouble recently with respect to its audience. The audience doesn’t really care about truth; they just want to hear their version of “facts” regurgitated back to them. So, when Fox started actually questioning the facts being put out there by Trump and his team, things didn’t go well. The most horrible thing that could possibly happen to them (according to Trump), did: Their ratings fell. Accordingly, they needed to do something for their core group… lest they see that entire demographic flee to the further-right-wing media, who are happily waiting for them. They chose to pander a bit of conspiracy bullshit… thrown in with the real news. Instead of discussing important, relevant topics like the pandemic or the impending transfer of power, it was just useless, irrelevant, made-up garbage… ostensibly being broadcast as “news”. Indeed, Fox News is as two-faced as the King of Clubs… but what do they care. Their integrity vanished ages ago.

From Trump’s point of view, it’s pretty simple. Why is he carrying on with this narrative? It’s nonsense. It’s tiring. It’s done. It’s been thrown out of every court. Even his trusty lapdog William Barr is admitting there was no election fraud, much to the dismay of the Trump loyalists who are now calling for his head. There’s an old saying… if you’re flogging a dead horse, dismount.

The answer is that by continuing to preach this crap, he can keep going back to his crowd of 70 million people… asking them to help correct this nefarious misjustice. I actually thought it was a joke that he’d be going out fundraising, to raise money to pay for these lawyers. But that’s what he did. “I need you now more than ever!” said one email. “The Recount Results were BOGUS!” said another.

While the claims of election fraud started well-before the election, his push to fight the results started shortly after November 3rd. It’s not like he could’ve started asking for money to contest a fraudulent election before actually losing it, but the pieces were clearly in place… and launched a few days later. So, in less than a month, he’s raised… more than $170,000,000. That’s one hundred and seventy million dollars.

Astonishing. Where’s all that money going to go? Far less than 1% to the lawyers actually fighting this particular cause. The other 99.7%..? Trump owes lots of money, and much of it starts coming due in 2021… and the money has to come from somewhere.

Ah. That clarifies things significantly. Now we know what Fox gets out of it. Now we know what Trump gets out of it.

The unfortunate victims are the ones who believe what those two unscrupulous sources of information continue to jam down their throats… and that’s the saddest part of it.

Trump, the populist, plays it off like he’s fighting for what’s right, just like you or I would do, and how we’re all victims of some corrupt system… and fighting that system is something we should all do, and he’s the one to lead the charge. What’s ironic is that his brainwashed followers don’t see the irony in it… that the man who swore four years ago that he was going to “drain the swamp” has been filling it with his own collection of swamp monsters, and he himself is the scummiest of the beasts.

Trump is trying to play the victim card, and it’s staggering that it’s working… successfully convincing people how he has his own set of problems, just like you and me. I mean, sure… he got Covid-19, he got laid off, he’s going to have to move, he’s got money problems. A typical 2020 experience like so many others, ha ha.

The real Americans, the real ones suffering… are the ones who are reaching deep into their not-so-deep-pockets, to send Trump money so he can fight an invented fight, while really… he’s just lining his own grimy pockets. The whole follow-the-money thing is, in this case, beyond disgusting.

December 3, 2020

By |2020-12-03T20:40:43-08:00December 3rd, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Business & Economics|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |8 Comments
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December 2, 2020

One million, divided by 365, equals 2,740… and, for the first time, that number was exceeded in the U.S. with respect to daily deaths… which simply means that at the present rate, C19 would claim more than a million American lives annually.

Fortunately, that’s not going to happen. Notwithstanding the present president’s disregard and complete lack of giving a shit with respect to doing anything to mitigate those deaths, vaccines are coming. Yeah, for all of you who want to heap praise on Trump for getting it done… how about you heap that praise on the tens of thousands of researchers whose hard work over many decades is what actually led to these vaccines. What Trump could’ve done, and hasn’t, is help keep things together before the vaccines arrive. It wouldn’t have taken much… a well-placed Tweet here or there, some sanity with respect to federal policy regarding masks and social distancing.

Whatever, the damage is done, and will be felt for decades and, for the moment, continues to rage with numbers that are scary. They’d be a hell of a lot more scary were it not for the vaccines, but even that is tempered by the brainwashed tens of millions who’ll refuse to get vaccinated, thanks to said soon-to-be-former-president’s nonsensical mixed messages.

Today, the U.K. became the first country outside of China and Russia to approve a vaccine. They’re planning the roll-out of the Pfizer vaccine as soon as next week. This is the one that needs to be kept super-cold, so there are logistical challenges to overcome. For what it’s worth, the Pfizer vaccine is one of seven that Canada has pre-ordered. Moderna and AstraZeneca, the two others with recently published excellent results, are also on that list.

When will Canada get a vaccine? That’s a good question, and the answer depends on who you ask. I’ve asked that question from many people who might have better than random guesses, and I’m feeling more optimistic than others. There’s a rumour that Trudeau screwed it all up and we’ll be waiting for months; that doesn’t seem to be the case. I know, this person said this and this person said that. I wish I could detail a bit what I’ve heard, but… for the moment… was told not to say more. And, for what it’s worth, this is friend of a friend of a friend sort of knowledge… but… it if it’s accurate, it’s promising. Stay tuned…

December 2, 2020

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By |2020-12-02T20:16:48-08:00December 2nd, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Business & Economics, Science of COVID-19|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |7 Comments
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December 1, 2020

How exactly does one go from a normal, rational, thinking and functioning human being… to a brainwashed zombie? There are a couple of recent examples that make it pretty clear. One is a slow descent, taking you from thinking critically to believing nonsense… and the other is more a perpetual, blunt instrument that just seeks to reinforce your embedded beliefs.

The first example is an email that’s been floating around for a while. It was sent to me, for the first time, over the summer. It’s landed in my inbox a few times since, the most recent being last week. And every time I’ve seen it, it’s a little bit different.

The email is titled something like “The Wisdom of Dr. Bonnie Henry”, and begins with a brief biography of who she is and her qualifications. That’s all good. Then it has a long list of her “wisdom”, some of which are certainly things Dr. Henry might say…  but also, there are things which she certainly hasn’t said, even though they may be sensible.  And then… there are other things that she hasn’t said at all, and which are complete nonsense, and then, finally, outright mis-informational lies.

If you’re a little challenged in the critical-thinking department and/or read things a little too quickly, you might just fall for the whole thing… it’s very-well crafted. Like if numbers 11, 12 & 17 on the list all make perfect sense, certainly number 15 must as well.

The first time I quickly skimmed it, I didn’t actually catch on to the bullshit until I hit this gem: “Wearing a mask for long periods interferes with your breathing and oxygen levels. Wear it only in crowds.” I can assure you; that is not true. I can also assure you that Dr. Henry would never say that.

As is the case with these sorts of emails, some people like to add their own wisdom. Top 10 lists become top 12, then top 15. Someone else throws in some crap without noticing they’re using a different font. Yet another person decides to merge the email with paragraphs from another, which already has been hacked and butchered into a mess that looks more like a dog’s breakfast than a coherent, useful document.

In fact, the last version of this Dr. Henry email had attached to it an entirely new email, one that had originated in the U.K. This one had its own version of good ideas (good handwashing, social distancing) and then, tucked nicely into the middle of it, this:

“The pH for corona virus varies from 5.5 to 8.5. All we need to do, to beat corona virus, we need to take more of an alkaline foods that are above the above pH level of the Virus.

Some of which are:

*Lemon – 9.9pH* *Lime – 8.2pH* *Avocado – 15.6pH* *Garlic – 13.2pH* *Mango – 8.7pH* *Tangerine – 8.5pH* *Pineapple – 12.7pH* *Dandelion – 22.7pH* *Orange – 9.2pH*”

I’ve reproduced that paragraph of colossal horseshit exactly as it appeared.

The issue is that it appeared in the middle of a bunch of very reasonable things… and this is how it happens; someone you trust innocently forwards you an email without quite realizing it’s not a simple, trustable email from a simple, trustable source. It’s a Frankenstein of words, sentences and paragraphs… and the whole thing comes alive to destroy susceptible minds. And this is what many people are calling “research”.

The second example… well, I can’t talk about spewing colossal amounts of horseshit without mentioning Donald Trump… who was interviewed a few days ago on Fox News by Maria Bartiromo. I’m not entirely sure what’s happened to Maria… perhaps Fox News is the end-of-the-journey cesspool for all journalists who’ve run out of integrity. I recall watching her 25 years ago on CNBC, where her success allowed her to be the first reporter ever allowed onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during trading hours. She also did tough, well-prepared interviews with the leading CEOs of the day.

But her “interview” with Trump was ridiculous. She fed into his delusions, his lies, his nonsense… right from the opening bell. Her very first question was this:

“Mr. President, you have said many times that this election was rigged, that there was much fraud, and the facts are on your side. Let’s start there. Please go through the facts. Characterize what took place.”

That’s all Trump needed to launch into his usual election-fraud tirade. Like his usual Twitter storm of falsehoods, but live. And Maria’s response was, “This is disgusting. And we cannot allow America’s election to be corrupted. We cannot.”

This is not news, of course. It’s propaganda, and it’s pandering to the crowd. But Maria Bartiromo used to be a trusted journalist. She’s interviewing the president. She’s doing so on a network that’s ostensibly news. And if someone 10 years ago had shown me that interview, I’d probably have believed every word. It has all the pieces necessary for crafting a convincing “truth”. And Fox News, of course, does come up with real news once in a while… reports that are undeniably true. When you mix all that together… yeah, if this is what’s been feeding your “facts” for four years, it’s probably a lost cause trying to convince you otherwise.

The echo chambers of the media… whether print, broadcast or social… are vast, with plenty of room… and they will welcome you with open arms… as they’ve done with tens of millions of people.

December 1, 2020

 

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By |2020-12-01T21:59:05-08:00December 1st, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Science of COVID-19, Humour|Tags: , , , , , |5 Comments
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November 29, 2020

As the Trump presidency slowly comes to a sputtering halt, one lingering question in the “Now what?” department has to do with the forthcoming legal entanglements in which the soon-to-be-former-president will find himself.

To begin with, there is the idea that he’d pardon himself, but that’s far from trivial.

First of all, there’s the question of whether he can actually do that. There isn’t agreement on that point, but it doesn’t matter. That pesky issue can be easily sidestepped… just resign a few hours before noon on January 20th, swear-in Mike Pence for what would be the shortest presidency in history, and have him do it.

But that doesn’t really address the salient issue of pardoning him… which is, of what? Both Trump and his diehard minions have been telling us for years… it’s all smoke… no fire here… move along. That being the case, there’d be nothing to pardon. To some extent, they’re right. You can’t preemptively pardon someone for crimes they haven’t committed, nor admitted to, nor been charged with. There’s no blanket pardon he can grant for the future… “Just in case…” – it doesn’t work that way. So… for any of this to work, Trump would have to admit to the crimes for which he’s seeking a pardon. It’s a magnificent Catch-22.

A lingering question over the last several years has been about just how feasible it actually is to indict a sitting president, and where might those cases go. It seems nobody wanted to test those waters, so it’s been a holding pattern for four years. There were rumours before the 2016 election of what was coming down the line… that, had Trump lost the election, new charges and allegations would’ve been forthcoming. All of that was put on hold.. except there has been an additional four years of opportunity to investigate.

For decades, Donald Trump was synonymous with New York. His real-estate projects, his towers, his skating rink, his reality show, his presence… everywhere. You may have noticed Trump has significantly soured on New York, and the same can be said vice-versa. Trump has made it clear he’ll be moving to Florida and that he’s done with New York. Donald Trump may be done with New York, but New York certainly isn’t done with him. Waiting in the wings, there may be both civil and criminal charges. Trump has been under investigation by both the Manhattan District Attorney and the New York State Attorney General. There are also the numerous allegations of sexual assault. There are lingering tax questions. From civic to state to federal… and from civil to criminal, Trump may be facing a wall of legal problems.

And, with all of that in mind, it’s important to note… presidents can only pardon federal crimes. Nothing at the state level and nothing at the civic level.
A lot of people want their day in court, and many of them will get their wish… in what order, who knows… but I suspect the afternoon of January 20th, 2021 will be a busy one for the filing clerks.

Traditionally, after the new president is sworn in, the former president gets a helicopter ride from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base, and from there, one final ride in Air Force One… to wherever he wants to go. Right around the time a flurry of lawsuits are being filed, Trump will be boarding that plane. The flight plan will already have been filed, but you can always file more than one, just in case… and perhaps, right at that point, he’ll have a difficult decision to make. I wonder if he’ll have on him a little list of alternates… some welcoming places around the world that don’t have extradition treaties… maybe China? No. Russia? Nah. Qatar and the UAE are not unreasonable choices… you can live very well there if you have money.

Or, Georgia. The country… not the state.

By |2020-11-29T23:07:10-08:00November 29th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Humour|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |11 Comments
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November 28, 2020

No local numbers plus sunshine equals a short update today… but on the topic of numbers, Dr. Henry has been taking a bit of flak recently.

For whatever reason, B.C. continues to be the only province or territory that doesn’t release numbers over the weekend… and, as transparent as they claim to be with their reporting, it’s not so easy to get all of the numbers in an easily readable format. On top of that, the worst thing that can happen is to lose trust in those numbers, and a few days ago we learned that a week’s data from Fraser Health was wrong due to technical problems.

Eight months into this, and all other provinces and territories are reporting 7 days a week. I think we could be doing better here, and I’m not going to blame Dr. Henry – she’s not the computer tech in charge of things. But… she is the top of the pyramid for many decisions, and I’m sure she could talk to the right people to do something about it. We’re not talking about needing a press conference seven days a week; everyone is entitled to a couple of days off, especially Dr. Henry… but, by this point, all of this data consolidation and reporting should be on automatic pilot. It’s not like there are 200 counties reporting; it’s a handful of health regions. Those key numbers could quietly appear on the website and/or a press release could go out, and that’s all that would be needed.

On the topic of numbers, I’ve made a guess at what today’s B.C. number will be, and plugged it in so we can see what it’d look like and how it’d affect things nationally. Left of The Rockies, take it with a grain of salt. Alberta and eastward is all accurate and up-to-date… and not pretty, especially Alberta. Some of these Time To Double graphs are getting steeper, though it’s all very inconsistent from a day-to-day basis. Nevertheless, I’ve taken a crack at trying to “bound” the increasing growth with appropriate TTD lines. If you look at the bottom row of graphs, you’ll see what I mean… the TTDs all vary, but give a more accurate view of where things are at.

A summary of what they imply is this: Things are bad in the east because the numbers grew quickly, and now have reached plateaus where things are not manageable. The drastic measures that have been imposed are an attempt to not just stop the rate of growth of cases entirely, but to dramatically decrease them.

And things are bad in the west because these graphs are consistently steep and not relenting. At this pace, B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan will all have doubled their cases by the third week of December. It changes daily who’s accelerating a bit, and who’s slowing down a bit.

It’s like trying to call a horse race where you’re hoping to finish last, but unfortunately, these three horses, at present, seem to be battling it out toward the finish line.

November 28, 2020

 

By |2020-11-28T19:46:43-08:00November 28th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics|Tags: , , , , , |2 Comments
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November 27, 2020

If you haven’t already seen “The Queen’s Gambit”, you probably have a lot of people telling you that you should… and they’re right. It’s really, really good. You probably know that it’s about chess, but, like chess itself, it’s about a lot more.

The basics of chess are easy to learn; anyone can learn how the pieces move in less than 10 minutes. But then you spend a lifetime trying to move them well. I’m happy that series came into this household… I only wish it’d been at the start of this pandemic. There would’ve been a lot more quality screen time in those early days.

It was funny… a few nights ago, to hear my son yell for me… “Dad! Help!” – I ran over there… what, is the room on fire? No… he was on chess.com, playing against some guy in Russia, and found himself in a precarious position, not quite sure what to do because he thought he was about to lose his queen. That’s quality father/son time right there, ganging up to beat some Russian in chess. Right on.

I get the impression that Donald Trump wouldn’t be a very good chess player, and here’s why I think that: Chess requires you to think a few moves ahead, and if you can’t do that, you have zero chance of success. Just like in life, if you lead it in such a way that’s entirely reactionary – stimulus/response, stimulus/response… you’re going to have a tough go of it. That lifestyle works well for single-celled organisms, but our real world is a lot more complicated than a paramecium needing to navigate a petri dish. And in chess, if every time you move a piece it gets taken… and then you stare at the board wondering how that could’ve happened… well, you’re doing it wrong.

The stimulus/response pattern of the soon-to-be-former-president is something I guess we’ve gotten used to over the last four years, but now that he’s on his way out, it’s a little more pathetic than it used to be.

Actually, at the start, it was far from pathetic; it was frightening, with real-world consequences.

Early in the presidency, Trump was watching TV and saw something… and then Tweeted about how the new Air Force One is too expensive, and “Cancel Order!” There’s a lot of misinformation in that Tweet to begin with, but the immediate response was a sharp drop in Boeing’s stock price. It recovered quickly when people realized the president didn’t know what he was talking about, but the damage was done, and it was a good indication that this guy shoots from the hip and doesn’t really consider the implications. Much bigger and broader shooting from the hip was his unilateral and unexpected Muslim travel ban. Never mind that it violated the first amendment, the fifth amendment, the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act… who cares. You can see Trump, with his infallible logic… Muslim = Terrorist, Terrorist = Bad, Banning Bad is good… what’s the problem? No need to consider the consequences. We all remember the chaos that resulted, and how much effort it took to resolve it.

But these days, with only 53 days, 15 hours and 57 minutes (but who’s counting) left in his presidency, his shooting from the hip holds little clout. Now, it’s the same old baseless nonsense, and none of it is surprising to hear. I honestly thought he might have some surprises waiting in the wings, but… nothing. Like an awful chess player, he telegraphed ahead everything he had planned. He called the election a fraud before it even took place, threatened he had lawyers in place ready to challenge it, and, as a result, everyone was ready for it. He served up exactly what was expected.

Of course, there was no wide-spread fraud, and the “superstar” team of lawyers who were happy to say “Yes! Yes! Yes!” to him in person, and who were happy to take his money… most of them bailed before making complete fools of themselves. Those that stuck it out longer faced serious admonition from judges who were not happy to see their court’s time wasted with this nonsense, especially when the stakes were so high. Vague handwaving and unfounded, grandiose statements don’t work well in a court of law. Case after case was thrown out, some of them angrily.

At a recent press conference, Donald Trump was repeatedly asked if he was going to concede. His long-winded answers of irrelevant bullshit and false claims were exactly what we’ve grown accustomed to. He never answered the question, which of course, in itself, is the answer.

If this were a chess match, he’d be the king, pretty much left all alone. All that’s left of his colour is the king itself… and a few pawns. The other side has more than it needs… the queen, a rook or two, a knight or two. A bishop. Perhaps a few pawns. Perhaps 80 million pawns. Whatever.

In 53 days, 15 hours and 57 minutes, his Tweets will go from presidential and influential… to those from just another right-wing conspiracy-theory-believing nut-job. Right now, he could be Tweeting about how maybe masks aren’t such a bad idea. How maybe a little social distancing wouldn’t hurt. Will he do that? Of course not.

And during that time, more than 5 million Americans will become infected with C19, and more than 100,000 will die. And, after all of that, Donald Trump, the former president, will have the rest of his life to think about what he did, what he didn’t do, and what a mess he left behind. Maybe he can think about it while he’s sitting in prison, where he belongs… and where there isn’t much else to do.

Well, I guess he could always take up chess.

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By |2020-11-27T19:45:06-08:00November 27th, 2020|Categories: COVID-19 Daily Report, Politics, Humour, Movies, Music & Entertainment|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |12 Comments
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