Various topics: Zeta, corona, the election…
I’m still working on that project that I had hoped to post over the weekend but it is taking me longer than expected. Late last night I decided I did not like what I had produced and so proceeded to work some more on it, which meant I was up late last night. And I’m still re-doing some stuff today.
So a quickie post on various topics.
1. Election is next week!
For starters, I can’t believe that we have one more week left before it’s Election Day. We’re almost done with this election cycle. It seems to get worse and worse by the day with news of people intimidating others, some with the inclusion of quietly holding guns. I’m concerned about Election Day and the days afterward. Of course, I have read a couple of interesting articles, two of which I will note.
One is about a black guy who is said to be a “GOP insider” and is “Trump’s friend”. He has an interesting take on the types of Trump voters:
“If Trump loses re-election, and particularly if he loses decisively, will there be any conservative soul-searching about the best way to move forward? Here is my answer: There are two types of Trump supporters. One is a cult following; they support him no matter what. Then there are the other ones. Much more intelligent. Much more sophisticated. They may not like his character, but they think, I’m going to hold my nose because it suits my agenda. That’s the calculation they make. As a Christian, I have a lot to pray about, because there are things about the president that I turn a blind eye to. I realize that I’m dumbing down my values in the process. So we make this calculation: It’s about the economy. It’s about deregulation. It’s about creating an environment where entrepreneurship and business can thrive. But when I go to bed at night and I get on my knees and pray, I never lie to myself. Because I know exactly what he is.”
“He’s a GOP Insider and Trump’s Friend. He Says to Vote Your Conscience.”, New York Times Magazine, David Marchese, October 25, 2020.
The link to the article, if you can get in there:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/26/magazine/armstrong-williams-interview.html
Okay, he knows what he is voting for and I believe there are other “intelligent, sophisticated” types who know exactly what he is. In my eyes, that is pretty damning because he has to pray every night for possibly supporting him. That’s so damning; they know what they are choosing.
The person in the article says there are two types of Trump voters; I have come up with a third type. We need to add the grifter, the conman type that the sophisticated types don’t really fall into, although, they may come close to it. So, there are the cult types – some call them the idiots, some call them the uneducated, but whatever, they are not leaders and probably not too intelligent – they are just trained followers. Some evangelicals would fall in here because they are trained to follow their religious leaders. Then there are the grifters, the con men, the scammers, the criminals, the white supremacists, the opportunists (but not in a good way). I think these could be the deplorables. They recognize someone of their ilk and thus gather around him because they understand how he ticks – they are just like him. Birds of feathers flocking together. Jerry Falwell Jr and possibly Robert Jeffries fall into this scammer category. And lastly, there are the intelligent sophisticated types holding their noses to choose him, but they are really being amoral and might eventually come to be regarded as worse than the grifters. I’m not sure at this point. These are people who will not act in a corrupt manner or commit crimes but they knowingly support such a person in return for something in return.
There is actually a fourth category which would be those gullible and in dire economic straits but at this point, we all know who he is, so those who were in the fourth category have now transitioned in the other categories or have moved on to other candidates.
The other article pertains to the polls or “I live in Pennsylvania and it feels like I’m surrounded by Trump supporters. Can the polls be trusted?” Yes, I’m wondering if a replay of 2016 is happening; actually, I have a slight variation of the 2016 scenario but I won’t spell it out here. Maybe after the election or next year. Needless to say, I worry the polls are again incorrect because it feels different on the ground. I just fervently hope I’m wrong.
2. Yep, Saturday had the highest daily case infection count.
In my last post, I mentioned that I had read that the daily case count had reached its apogee for the year and that I was going to check that out after posting my writing, and yep, it turned out that my data pull showed that new peak count. We are definitely in the third surge and doctors everywhere are anxious. It’s all over the US now – cases and hospitalizations are rising everywhere, with the rural areas being severely impacted. We have four months of this dread – November through at least February. We have to figure out how to drum up the discipline to maintain our social distancing, limit our social gatherings, and continue to wear the masks. But doctors are dreading and for good cause: the hospitals are starting to run out of capacity (Wisconsin has already built out a field hospital) and people only learn the hard way.
“”It’s devastating to see someone struggling to breathe,” Gavinski said. “You can see the fear in their eyes. You can see how scared they are.””
“Wisconsin breaks Covid-19 records as hospitals brace for flu season”, NBC News, Gabe Gutierrez and Samira Puskar, October 23, 2020.
3. Zeta churning in the Gulf
OMG, another one to worry about. I hope this is the last hurricane for this year. I can’t do anything as long as I know that there is a hurricane churning in the Gulf with the slightest possibility of heading my way. By Wednesday evening, I’ll know if I can relax.
Also, this is a strange time. We still have fires raging in the West, but snowstorms have now trekked into the North (may be two months early?) and seeped deep into Colorado. Colorado had both fires and snowstorms: some towns got hit with fires and then snowstorms came in and blanked out the fires. And now we have a hurricane heading toward the Gulf coast. Now, fires, snowstorms and hurricanes, all at the same time.
What a weird weather system we have this year.
4. My productivity has cratered
Because of numbers 1, 2 and 3, my productivity is nearly zilch, even my exercise regime has been impacted. It’s a struggle not to do “doom scrolling” and focus on what needs to be done. I’m hoping once the hurricane is out of the way, and then next week the election is done, I’ll only have to fight one thing: the coronavirus. Actually, I’ll still stress over the election outcome or whatever the outcome of the election. The election stress will probably extend into 2021, if it goes badly.
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