October 20, 2020
Hello Everyone,
I'm still here in DC. It's my birthday today. How old am I? 71. It is also Kamala Harris' birthday. How about that!
To celebrate my birthday I rented a bicycle and rode around Takoma Park, MD. I found a place I used to live when I was in graduate school in 1972. That was great fun.
Over the weekend I moved to a different hostel and I now have a private room. It's safer (COVID-wise) and simply better.
I plan to stay here through the election. I'm not exactly sure why but for some reason it makes sense to me.
I continue my daily circumnavigations of the White House and the Capitol and climbing the steps of the Supreme Court. For whatever those actions are worth ... I continue them. My toes are getting sore (no blisters yet) and small bandages do help.
Last Saturday I attended the DC Women's March (there were such marches in many cities). Lots of people and a big production with loud music and speakers; so much so that I sort of freaked out and had to move away from the crowd. Everyone was masked and conscious of COVID but I just couldn't deal with it.
People made some very creative signs. Here are a few pictures:
Here are two others I saw today:
I continue to rely on the wise counsel of the professional journalists and historians to keep me informed on what is really happening. Each of you have your own sources of information. Here are a few links to things that I have found particularly potent:
Listen to Rachel Maddow lay out all the lies and evasions in the Trump Town Hall.
Listen to the Lincoln Project podcast on the Trump Town Hall and the Barrett hearings and the future of the Republican party. Very eloquent and articulate:
Heather Cox Richardson (professor of U.S. History) on the Trump Town Hall and other current events.
In the New York Times there was an op-ed entitled "Why There Will Be No Trump Coup".
I copied it to my website so you don't need a subscription to read it.
Finally, I have a perspective on the COVID pandemic that you probably have not seen anywhere else because I made it up myself. :) Since it is my birthday I ask your indulgence ...
CORONA VIRUS GAMBLING
Becoming infected with the COVID virus is a probabilistic thing. What's the chance that you would catch the corona virus by walking down the street without a mask? I liken it to throwing a pair of dice. The chance of throwing double ones (snake eyes) is 1 out of 36 or .0277. The chance of throwing double ones TWICE IN A ROW is 1 out of 1296 or .00077. You have to admit it is very unlikely. YET ... if each person in the U.S. (331,000,000 people) threw a pair of dice twice there would be ~255,000 people who threw double ones twice in a row!! And we are rapidly approaching that number as the number of people who have died from corona virus - it is currently 221,000!!
If you wear a mask whenever you go out in public and if everyone else nearby is wearing a mask as well then you don't have to roll the dice.
If you don't wear a mask let's say that you have to roll the dice every minute. This increases the likelihood that eventually you'll roll double ones. And if you are in a large close crowd of maskless people EVERYONE will be rolling the dice all the time.
It's much better to not roll the dice at all.
Wear the Damn Mask.
Be well. Stay safe.
Jon
P.S.
I forgot one thing.
Here is Newt Gingrich on how he saw the Trump Town Hall. I copied it from the Fox News website.
Very bizarre.