foxbat

Biden commits to picking a female VP running mate tonight in the debates. My thoughts on likely Biden VP candidates, should he win the nomination, are: Abrams - Very close to winning Georgia governorship even with shenanigans present. Georgia is trending purple and will have TWO GOP Senate seats up this year due to Isakson's retirement announcement. Sabato shows both races in traditionally red Georgia as "lean Republican." Cook shows the special election for Isakson's seat as "lean Republican" with Perdue's re-election seat as "likely Republican." Could Abrams put Georgia in play as well as possibly have coattails for a Senate seat too? If so, are the tails long enough for Tillis' seat in NC too? ... Cook has that one as a toss-up as does Sabato too. Potential for stronger Black turnout in the South in particular. Harris - I would see Harris, especially given Abram's potential, as being relatively low. Being from California, she doesn't really bring any specific votes that aren't already there and doesn't necessarily have any coattail effect either. I'd see her more as a Cabinet position/AG. On the outside, a judicial appoint ... which was also promised by Biden. McCaskill - Unlikely to help shift MO although she brings a little power to the "Midwest" flavor, but I'm not sure, with Klobuchar in play, that McCaskill helps much. Warren - Biden did a little name-dropping during the debate, but Warren and Sanders with the M4A backing would likely require a "modification" of stance from Warren before being considered. The thing that she would bring to the table would be the ability to get under Trump's skin repeatedly. She'd have no problem holding her own against a Pence ... if he's even still on the ticket ... come the presidential debates, but her role would best be suited as a full-throated attack dog. Klobuchar - See previous post above. MN and WI have some reciprocity items in place. I know that they used to have a reciprocal tuition agreement between their universities, so there could certainly be some coattail impact there as well. Sabato has WI as toss-up as well as PA. MI, which Trump picked off last time around, is listed by Sabato as "leans Democratic." Cook shows all three as toss-up. Gabbard - As former-president Bush said, "Not gonna do it." She's auditioning for FoxNews anyway. Val Demings - Florida Congresswoman and former law enforcement officer ... Chief of Police for Orlando. In the vein of law enforcement like Harris and also in a swing state. Toss in that she was selected by Pelosi as an impeachment manager and you have another person who can easily get under Trump's skin AND, unlike Warren, she can basically do it without having to even get in a fight with him as you know anytime he mentions her, he's going to say "impeachment" and keep that idea in the eyes of voters without the Democrats even having to mention it.

I agree. I watched a couple of special reports last night including one with Richard Engle who usually does war/fighting reporting right in harm's way. Also saw another report earlier in the week where someone was talking about testing issues and mentioned that, at that time, South Korea was testing about 10,000 people daily whereas, at that point, the US has only tested about 10,000 total. That number now is almost up to 20,000 daily and, South Korea even has this "perfected" down to doing it as "drive through" testing. The South Korea COVID progression looks different than, for example, Spain and Italy, and unfortunately the NYC charting and some suggestion seems to be tied to the testing. In a couple of special reports that I watched, there was focus on the issue of, without the testing, it makes it harder to figure out various responses and thus, like you mentioned, there may well be an over-reaction at this point. However, in the absence of broader understanding/testing, direct options are a bit more limited. Here are a couple of articles highlighting South Korea's testing approach. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51836898' https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/13/815441078/south-koreas-drive-through-testing-for-coronavirus-is-fast-and-free https://www.propublica.org/article/how-south-korea-scaled-coronavirus-testing-while-the-us-fell-dangerously-behind

Those March 6 quotes are a dismal microcosm.

Pretty long article, but broken up into several components that can be individually digested ... https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca. Probably take with a grain of salt as the piece is not specifically a news article and the author is an engineer, not a medical professional; however, I find the non-medical aspects, tracking the numbers and the data elements, to be of interest. Fairly informative items that are typically not reported in most places as they are more of a behind-the-scenes kinds of things that planners/logicians might find of interest.

@Impartial_Observer ... the guy in the back has his priorities straight wouldn't you say?

Indiana High School Dance Team Association cancelled their state championships that were supposed to take place at Lafayette Jeff this weekend.

Here's the story that goes with the graphic. https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation

Talk about a chill going down the spine ... and as for "We haven't discussed that yet," color me skeptical. Note the lines "If somebody gets a little bit out of control ..." and "But people know they're being watched." That has Milleresque DNA all over it ... if you hear Barr utter it, be afraid. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-restricting-travel-u-s-possibility-if-coronavirus-pandemic-gets-n1156851 President Donald Trump said Thursday it's a "possibility" that the administration could impose travel restrictions within the U.S. to limit exposure to the coronavirus if certain areas get "too hot." "We haven't discussed that yet," Trump said when asked about the option at a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. "Is it a possibility? Yes. If somebody gets a little bit out of control, if an area gets too hot. "You see what they're doing in New Rochelle, which is good frankly," Trump continued, referring to the city just north of Manhattan where there is a growing cluster of coronavirus cases. "It's the right thing, but it's not enforced, it's not very strong. But people know they're being watched. New Rochelle, that's a hot spot."

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation FTA: Yet the speed at which the outbreak plays out matters hugely for its consequences. What epidemiologists fear most is the health care system becoming overwhelmed by a sudden explosion of illness that requires more people to be hospitalized than it can handle. In that scenario, more people will die because there won’t be enough hospital beds or ventilators to keep them alive. A disastrous inundation of hospitals can likely be averted with protective measures we’re now seeing more of — closing schools, canceling mass gatherings, working from home, self-quarantine, self-isolation, avoiding crowds — to keep the virus from spreading fast. Epidemiologists call this strategy of preventing a huge spike in cases “flattening the curve,” and it looks like this: “Even if you don’t reduce total cases, slowing down the rate of an epidemic can be critical,” wrote Carl Bergstrom, a biologist at the University of Washington in a Twitter thread praising the graphic, which was first created by the CDC, adapted by consultant Drew Harris, and popularized by the Economist. The chart has since gone viral with the help of the hashtag #FlattenTheCurve.

Reminded me of the scene from the Big Red One with the lady giving birth in the tank ... Warning: NSFW

One pro that most people have probably missed is that it's easier to spot the dog crap when some uncaring person walks their dog on the field and lets their dog do its business without cleaning it up. Nothing worse than that first tackle of the game, heading back to the huddle, and realizing that's not the sweet smell of success. 😃

Did you notice that even the article itself made the mistake ... the headline said censorship and inside the document it referred to censure?

More hand sanitizer or other "medicinal" alcohol with the proceeds? 😀

To be honest, this is pretty much a daily event with the President ... although, to be fair, it's not gun lingo that he butchers; just lingo in general.

My son's 14U baseball team recently held practice outside right after that bout of snow/rain that we had. Baseball field was still soft, so they used the turf football field at Harrison.

This is where it pays to have an organic expert ...

That ship may be sailing ... and in a more encompassing way at the presidential level: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/02/15/why-presidency-cant-go-back-normal-trump-115362

That's why you always ask your friend if you can fly THEIRS. 😀

Iowa?

There's a little "reliving the event" from the other side that impacts many kids that do activities like this. That juxtaposition is good for realizing that A LOT goes in to making Friday Night happen. One of the things that I remember when my boys' teams went to lay wreaths is that they just didn't lay wreaths and leave. Part of the process was to say the person's name out loud and perhaps thank them for their service. For my boys, they also kept the tags that were on the wreaths and also took a picture of each tombstone as a reminder. For my boys, the event resonated with them more so as they thought about what they were doing in more than just doing the laying of the wreaths. It also brought about dialogue about the various military conflicts and wars and where our family's members fit in to that as their grandfathers on each side both served ... my dad in the Air Force and my wife's father in the Navy.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/new-caledonian-crows-are-even-smarter-and-scarier-than-we-thought?utm_source=pocket-newtab FTA: In a 2018 paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of researchers showed evidence that New Caledonian crows, which have been observed making several types of tools out of sticks, may be able to build tools from memory — even if they have only seen the tool itself and haven’t ever seen the tool being constructed. This suggests that crows can form a “mental template” of tools based on other crows’ tools and their own past tools, which would explain why New Caledonian crows’ tools could have improved over time.

The start of the summer horror movie season is earlier than usual. https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-slams-federal-reserve-pathetic-slow-moving-tweet-rates-coronavirus-2020-3-1028981439