Today is Super Tuesday. By the end of the day, a boatload of delegates will be assigned, but there is a lot of voting yet to happen.
Today’s best news, I think, is how classy Democrats are, even in sadness and disappointment. Mayor Pete didn’t complain. He wasn’t bitter. He didn’t even say something like “Well, I wish it were me, but if it can’t be me, then ….” He just came out and said — Biden is the man, and he will be a great president, and I’m fully in support of him. Same thing with Amy. With grace and candor, she ended her campaign and came out in full support of Joe.
It’s times like these that make me proud to be a Democrat.
To all Democrats in Super Tuesday states, and Democrats everywhere — I hope your candidate wins! And if he or she doesn’t, I’ll see you on the campaign working hard for the one who did. Democrats stick together.
But does your vote even matter?
Think your vote doesn't matter? Remember the blood spilled in Selma by Al Sharpton
The United States is at a monumental crossroads in the year 2020. As a presidential election awaits in the very near future, so many of the civil rights that countless Americans fought for – and were beaten, imprisoned and even killed for – are on the line. This weekend, we remember one of those pivotal moments in history that helped shape the course of the civil rights movement and the trajectory of our nation.
It was 55 years ago when nonviolent demonstrators in Selma, Alabama attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on their way to the state capital of Montgomery in their push for voting rights for African Americans. At the foot of the bridge, they were met by Alabama state troopers on horseback armed with billy clubs and pepper spray. “Bloody Sunday” as it would come to be known left dozens hospitalized, hundreds (including children) traumatized and the country disgusted. But what it also did was galvanize even more solidarity as many other protests, sit-ins and marches took place everywhere comprised of a cross-section of Americans.
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I’d just like to remind those who may be misguided into believing that their vote doesn’t matter or take it for granted, that many sacrificed greatly so that we could have this fundamental right to vote.
And if it wasn’t so important, why would people be working around the clock to come up with new schemes to take away your chance to participate in our democracy?
Nightmare for Lindsey Graham
Gnusies, any article that starts with “Nightmare for Lindsey Graham” is going to be good news indeed. The fact that his nightmare is the surge in Dem/AA voting in South Carolina is delicious.
Lindsey Graham opponent drops bombshell about surprise voter turnout in South Carolina’s GOP counties
Speaking with MSNBC host Joy Reid, former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison said the huge turnout should be a red flag for the Trump-supporting Republican who holds a slim lead in the polls.
“The person who should be — probably had nightmares last night — is Lindsey Graham because the turnout, particularly in some of these traditionally Republican counties was unbelievable,” he added. “It says to me that this new south is emerging and as I’ve been saying so much, South Carolina is going to be the tip of the spear.”
Here is the clip:
Possible Good Coronavirus News from China
From Science Magazine, China’s aggressive measures have slowed the coronavirus. They may not work in other countries
Chinese hospitals overflowing with COVID-19 patients a few weeks ago now have empty beds. Trials of experimental drugs are having difficulty enrolling enough eligible patients. And the number of new cases reported each day has plummeted the past few weeks.
These are some of the startling observations in a report released on 28 February from a mission organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese government that allowed 13 foreigners to join 12 Chinese scientists on a tour of five cities in China to study the state of the COVID-19 epidemic and the effectiveness of the country’s response. The findings surprised several of the visiting scientists. “I thought there was no way those numbers could be real,” says epidemiologist Tim Eckmanns of the Robert Koch Institute, who was part of the mission.
Now, there is no way that China’s shutting down of cities would work in many places. They literally nailed apartments shut with the residents inside to keep the spread of the disease down. But it worked.
On 10 February, when the advance team of the WHO-China Joint Mission began its work, China reported 2478 new cases. Two weeks later, when the foreign exerts packed their bags, that number had dropped to 409 cases. (Yesterday, China reported only 206 new cases, and the rest of the world combined had almost nine times that number.) The epidemic in China appears to have peaked in late January, according to the report.
And now for some lighter news
The Smithsonian says Good Doggie!
The Smithsonian is spotlighting art about dogs. Yes, I said “spot” lighting.
They have examples of dogs in paintings, sculpture, jewelry, lamps and appliances, toys and whatever. Here is one example of what’s on display at the website Dog: Museum’s Best Friend
Luce Center Label
Ossie Lee "Geech" Samuels believes that the shape of the wood determines what he carves. His surreal sculptures show a wide variety of subjects, including unicorns, real and fantastical animals, family members, black heroes, and futuristic automobiles. Although he is color-blind, Samuels paints his sculptures with an array of colors and a "secret mixture" of sawdust, glitter, and glue. (Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Contemporary American Folk Art: A Collector's Guide, 1996, and Betty-Carol Sellen, Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art, 2000)
Good dog.
Fabulous Amphibians
Glow-in-the-Dark Amphibians Are Way More Common Than Scientists Thought
Scientists have known that some amphibians
biofluoresce, which means having the ability to absorb light and reemit it. Well, it seems one morning, some scientists wondered if frogs and amphibians they deal with regularly do that, too. Well, whattaya know. As it turned out, 31 of the varieties they had around the room fluoresced.
“I’ll be careful going forward not to put my own biases of perception on the organisms I study,” [herpetologist Jennifer Lamb of St. Cloud State University] says. “We forget to ask if other species might perceive the world in different ways.”
Kirk Douglas continues to do good, even after death
Always a philanthropist, Kirk Douglas continues to be a friend to charity.
Passing at Age 103, Actor Kirk Douglas Gives Away Entire $61 Million Dollar Fortune to Charities
In the picture below, he is pictured with the Kirk Douglas Care Pavilion, which he started with a $15 million donation in 2015, on his 99th birthday. The Pavilion is to help care for up to 80 Alzheimer’s patients from the entertainment industry.
According to reports, charitable recipients included St. Lawrence University to help fund the Kirk Douglas Scholarship for underprivileged students, primarily those who grew up in poverty, like Kirk did himself back during the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s.
Contributions also went to Westwood’s Sinai Temple, Culver City’s Kirk Douglas Theater, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which had also previously received large donations from the Oscar-winning actor including $2.3 million to purchase new equipment for the pediatrics division.
Now that you have gone electric, what is going to happen to your electric battery when you are finished with the car?
Old Electric Vehicle Batteries Can Be Recycled into New Sources of Energy –Even Used to Power 7-11 Stores
It turns out, old batteries can still hold enough power to run lots of applications when they are no longer useful to power an automobile. Toyota and 7-11 of Japan are partnering in a project to find useful repurposing of old batteries.
Their project, in line with the latest recommendations from the Birmingham researchers, aims to utilize banks of expended EV batteries from Toyota cars in conjunction with solar panels to power 7-11 stores, while new fuel-cell EVs powered by hydrogen will be serving as the distribution fleet for the legendary convenience store chain.
And don’t forget the rare-earth minerals that went into creating the battery. Old batteries are a source for lithium which can be recovered without the high-water use that is required by mining it out of the ground.