April 24, 2020: South Korea Handled the COVID Crisis Different

 

4/24/20: A quick check shows that the U.S. has 887,622 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 50,283 Americans are dead. 

We have four times as many cases as Spain, the next country on the list, and twice as many dead as Italy, the next worst, and 32.2% of all cases worldwide.

 

  

Russia, where Putin has spent weeks denying his country has a problem (does that sound familiar?) reported 5,849 new cases in just one day. Putin is Putin. That means if Russia has nearly 69,000 confirmed cases …

Sure…only 615 people have died. Because in Russia, the “Enemies of the People” say what Putin wants. 

 

Leaders listened to scientists, not cable news talk show hosts. 

Finally, if you scrolled down to 32^nd place, sandwiched in between Poland and Romania, you had:

  

We keep citing this example. South Korea (which has a population one-sixth the size of the United States) discovered it had its first case of COVID-19 on the same day authorities in this country discovered ours, a man who showed up at an urgent care facility in Snohomish County, Washington. 

And here we have the fatal difference. In South Korea, leaders listened to scientists, not cable news talk show hosts. They took the threat seriously and ramped up testing and quarantining at once. 

President Trump and the loudest voices in the Windmill Party (see: April 23, 2020) down-played the danger and let the virus explode.

June 29, 2021: Northwest Broils Under Record-Shattering Heat

 

6/29/21: This past weekend, and to start the week, Trump’s oft-repeated insistence that climate change is a “hoax” has looked incredibly stupid.

  

____________________ 

“Climate change is making the impossible not only possible, but probable.” 

Jeff Berardelli, CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist

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After the Southwest broiled in record heat earlier this month, the Pacific Northwest and western Canada are now cooking under a “once-in-a-millennium” heat dome. Typical of weather conditions blanketing the region, Portland, Oregon blistered Saturday in all-time record-high 108° heat, then blistered again on Sunday at 112°, and melted Monday, with temperatures hitting 116°. 

The previous record was 107°, set in 1965. 

According to Reuters, “Bars and restaurants,” in Portland, “closed because kitchen vents could not keep up with the rising temperatures, creating dangerous conditions for cooks.” 

Farmers watched crops wilt in the fields.

 

Jeff Berardelli, CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist, explained the map above on Monday: 

To put climate extremes into perspective we measure against the average. The sigma is the standard deviation of a normal distribution of expected values. In this case the heat dome sigma max is 4.4 - that means it’s outside of 99.99% of expected values or a 1/10,000+ chance (1/2).

 

Berardelli also tweeted, “Climate change is making the impossible not only possible, but probable.” 

Loser Don will never get it right. So I start checking to see if Berardelli’s claim holds up. It turns out records have been shattered in all directions (Tuesday is not expected to be much better.) Meteorologists have described the current situation as “bonkers,” “insane” and “disconcerting.” 

“F***ing hot!” might suffice.

 

Salem, Ore., reached 113 degrees on Sunday, topping a record 108, tied three times in 1927, 1941, and 1981. That new record for the state capital lasted until Monday, when the thermometer topped out at 117. 

The Dalles, Ore., reached 114 degrees on Sunday, topping the 111° mark set in 1992 and tied in 1998. Monday the city hit 118. 

Roseburg, Ore., reached 113 degrees Sunday, topping 109 in 1946 and 2020. 

Troutdale, Ore., set an all-time record on Saturday at 109, topped it Sunday at 112, and topped it again Monday at 115. (The previous record was 108 in 1977).

 

McMinnville, Ore., reached 114 degrees, topping 111 Sunday. (Before this stretch, the max was 110 in 1925 and 1926.) 

Eugene, Ore., reached 111 degrees, topping 108 from 1981. 

Hillsboro, Ore., reached 109, topping 108 in 2006. 

Shelton, Wash., reached 107, topping 104 from 2009.

 

Olympia, Wash., reached 105 degrees on Sunday, tying the mark from 1981 and 2009. On Monday the mercury touched 110. 

Fort Lewis, Wash. saw a new record Sunday (104), breaking the old record (103) from 2009. The new all-time high Monday: 110. 

Renton, Wash. hit 109 degrees on Monday, breaking the previous record set two years ago, by four. 

Shelton, Wash. also hit 109, topping 107 Sunday. (Before this stretch, the record was 104 from 2009.) 

Thermometers at the Seattle-Tacoma airport hit 108 on Monday, breaking the “old” record set Sunday.

 

Quillayute, Washington hit 110, breaking the previous all-time high, set in 1981, by eleven degrees. 

Olympia, Washington hit 105 on Monday, breaking the old record set in 2009 by one degree. 

Lytton, Canada, a town of only 300 people, broke an 84-year-old record – by three degrees – for the entire country at 46.6 Celsius (or 115.9° F) 

Vancouver hit 112 on Sunday, setting an all-time, any-day-of-the year record. The previous record, 108, was set in 2009, and tied on Saturday. “This is a complete shock to a Canadian — this feels like Las Vegas or India — not Vancouver,” said Chris Johnson, a suffering city resident.

 

Even pets were miserable, as a Vancouver newspaper noted: “Sign of heatstroke in animals include heavy panting, glossy eyes, lack of coordination, vomiting and collapse,” they reported. “If your pet is overheating, the Humane Society says to get them in the shade or air conditioning and to put cool — but not ice-cold — water-soaked towels on the pet’s head, neck or chest.” 

All but six of the forty-eight record temperatures, above, were set during this blogger’s 72 years on earth. Of those other six, five were set in the lifetime of his father, born in 1915. One was set during the blogger’s grandfather’s time. 

More ominously, 31 records were set in the last eight years, within the lifetime of this blogger’s oldest granddaughter. 

 

FUN FACT: Now that it looks like President Biden and Republicans in the Senate have agreed on a bipartisan infrastructure deal, Loser Don wants everyone to know he doesn’t like it. As opposed to the deal he could never work out during four years in office, including two when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate. 

Jealousy, no doubt. 

In a statement released today, The Loser grumbled, 

So sad to see certain RINO Republican Senators go back and forth to the White House and continually get nothing for infrastructure or anything else. When will they learn that they are being played with, and used by, the Radical Left — and only bad things can happen. Should have never lost the Senate in the first place, thanks Mitch! New leadership is needed, and fast!