#coldest april chicago | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

flyustravels · 4 years ago

Text

BUSINESS CLASS FLIGHTS TO ABU DHABI

It has never been such a feeling of accomplishment even for frequent flyers, who have been travelling internationally for work on Business Class Flights to Abu Dhabi. After the restrictions were lifted, the travel to UAE has become better amidst some precautionary measures by the UAE authorities, but they are in place to benefit everyone. The flights that operate from the USA to UAE, many catch them from New York to Abu Dhabi because it works well in the favour of the business class travellers from America.

Significantly, the business people who want to have a good time balancing work and pleasure in an American Metropolitan city that offers almost everything; New York is the place to start with. Furthermore, landing in Abu Dhabi is better than landing anywhere else in the UAE because of the cultural comfort and work convenience. Other than New York, there are other international airports in the USA, from where direct flights to Abu Dhabi flies.

Seattle:The major commercial airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the United States is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which is also known as Sea-Tac Airport or Sea-Tac. It is situated 14 miles south of Downtown Seattle and 18 miles north-northeast of downtown Tacoma in the city of SeaTac. Many direct flights and connecting flights fly from here to UAE and specifically to Abu Dhabi.

Chicago:O'Hare International Airport, which is also known as the O'Hare Airport, is located in Chicago, Illinois. O'Hare International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major international airport in Chicago, Illinois, located 14 miles (23 kilometres) northwest of the Loop business district. O'Hare International Airport, which is operated by the Chicago Department of Aviation and spans 7,627 acres (3,087 ha), offers nonstop flights to 228 destinations throughout North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. O'Hare started as an airfield serving a Douglas manufacturing plant for C-54 military transports during World War II, and was intended to be the successor to Chicago's Midway International Airport, dubbed the "busiest square mile in the world." E was the inspiration for the moniker. It was popularly named after Edward "Butch" O'Hare, the first Medal of Honor recipient for the United States Navy during the war. Out here, concourses, direct highway access to the terminal, jet bridges, and underground refuelling systems were all pioneered by O'Hare's innovative design as the first major airport scheduled after WWII.

San Francisco: San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport located 13 miles (21 kilometres) south of San Francisco, California. It serves destinations across North America and serves as a major gateway to Europe and Asia. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is the largest airport in the San Francisco Bay Area and the second busiest in California after Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). If passenger traffic is accounted for, it was the seventh busiest United States airport and the 24th busiest in the world in 2017. It is United Airlines' fifth-largest hub, with operations in Terminal 3 and the International Terminal. United's main transpacific gateway is San Francisco International Airport.

Los Angeles: Los Angeles International Airport, abbreviated as LAX (pronounced with each letter separately), happens to be the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and the surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is in the Los Angeles suburb of Westchester, 18 miles (30 kilometres) southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, with Westchester's commercial and residential areas to the north, El Segundo's to the south, and Inglewood's to the east. Los Angeles International Airport is indeed the nearest airport to the Westside and the South Bay.

Why Business Class?

There are many categories a businessman may choose from when flying to a destination, such as the UAE. But preferring luxury is a good thing, primarily because of the distance that is covered in terms of time. The flight can take anywhere from 17 hours to 25 hours, with one or two stops in the middle for refuelling, changing crew and mechanical checking.

Facilities:Usually, all the business class flights from New York to Abu Dhabi get some really nice benefits. Such as chauffer driven pick-up and drop by the airlines, to th3e airport. Access to the luxury airport lounge, quick check-in and check-out with the assistance of a team of an entourage, luxurious separate cabin area while travelling, inflight entertainment, exclusive beverages of choice from the in-flight menu and variety of cuisine. And above everything else, being connected to the business over the internet while flying across the continents.

Comfort: Indeed, with the above facilities, the comfort of travelling in Business Class Flights to Abu Dhabi is excellent as expected. Also, it gives the true value for the money, and that is unbeatable because not every airline give a complete package to its luxury travellers. Only a few airlines who have A380 or Boeing 777 planes in their hanger can deliver it all. Flying to the other side of the globe without losing sleep is one of the major concerns of many business class travellers. With such cabin space and a reclining chair that could quickly turn into a flat-bed, sleep is part of the comfort delivered to business class travellers.

Indeed, the cost of booking a business class for travelling a long distance is a matter of the expense. But the facilities and comfort that one receives from spending money is worth the free time one gets to do multiple things for compensating the expenditure on the business class travel.

Flight From the USA To Abu Dabi

The prominent airlines that are based out of the UAE and operate across the globe are mentioned below. They have the reputation of catering to the business class travellers and giving more value of money spent on the tickets, in comparison to other airlines.

Egypt Air

Etihad

Emirates

Qatar Airways

Turkish Airlines

Flight From United States to Abu Dhabi FAQ

What is the cost of airline tickets to Delhi from the United States?

Every month, the cost of airline tickets on Business Class Flights to Abu Dhabi from the USA changes. Hence, one has to be attentive to the upcoming flight deals and book your tickets accordingly.

How many direct flights from the United States to Abu Dhabi are available per day?

Visit the BookOTrip website to learn about direct flights from the United States to Abu Dhabi and make easy flight reservations.

Where can I catch a flight from the United States to Abu Dhabi?

The major airports in the United States for boarding the USA to Abu Dhabi flight are JFK Airport, Chicago Airport, Washington Airport, New York Airport, and San Francisco Airport.

How long does it take direct flights from the United States to Abu Dhabi to arrive at their destination?

The time it takes direct flights from the United States to Delhi to arrive at their destination is determined by the flights with which the passengers have made their reservations.

What is the business flight rate from the United States to Abu Dhabi?

Check the BookOtrip website for the best deals on flights to Abu Dhabi from the United States.

When is the right time to book a flight from the United States to Abu Dhabi?

The best months to book a flight from the United States to Abu Dhabi are November, December, February, and March.

What are the most popular airlines for business class flights from the United States to Abu Dhabi?

Egypt Air, Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines are the most popular airlines that fly to Abu Dhabi from the United States.

How is the weather in Abu Dhabi these days?

January, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December are all dry months in Abu Dhabi. August is the hottest month, with average maximum temperatures of 43°C (109°F). With an average maximum temperature of 24°C (75°F), January is the coldest month.

How large has Abu Dhabi's population grown in recent years?

According to a recent census, the urban area of Abu Dhabi had a population of 1.48 million people, out of a total population of 2.9 million in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Could you tell me about the different modes of local transportation available in Abu Dhabi?

In the UAE, taxis and buses aren't the only modes of transportation. In Abu Dhabi, commuting by Abras or ferries is also very common. The Abu Dhabi ferry service caters to both pedestrians and cars.

It is always recommended to have the Business Class Flights to Abu Dhabi booked through a travel agency rather than doing it independently. It saves much of a hassle if there is a change in plan or the flight get cancelled or delayed. An agent would promptly take care of the needful, and the traveller has to carry on with their business as usual.

#abu dhabi #united airlines flights #business class flights #business class flights to abu dhabi

1 note · View note

emilierunsamarathon · 5 years ago

Text

My People

I did a 15K last Saturday and am not happy with how it went. My left hip started giving me trouble just a few miles in, I felt short of breath, and my left Achilles tendon felt like it was on fire about a mile from the finish line. I have been training at a pace of 11 – 11.20 and my overall pace for this race was 12.07. I am embarrassed and I am frustrated. After I kicked and screamed and cried a little, I got over myself and was like hey, I finished. I finished and I am taking so much away from this. I am working on tweaking my runs, incorporating more glute, hip, and ab workouts, foam rolling more – even though I despise that thing, and just pushing myself more because I know I can do it. My next race is a half-marathon at the end of April and I want to crush that thing – so the training continues!

But really, the real reason I wanted to update was to give a shout out to my support system.

For everyone who reads this, thank you. I know I don’t update often and I feel like I tend to ramble, but I really truly appreciate that you are along for this journey. I read all of your comments and they all mean SO much to me.

To my family, friends, and coworkers - thank you for checking in with me to see how training is going. I know you probably don’t know what I’m talking about half the time but thank you for listening and thank you for asking.

To my BFF, Wesley, thank you for making me ugly cry when I opened the very unexpected Amazon package from you. You know my true worries about this race ;) I hope I get to see you on the sidelines in Chicago.

To my sister who has been at every single race I have done, in some of the coldest weather, thank you. You are the best friend and best sister I could have ever asked for and your support means the world to me. PS – Chicago is also going to be cold.

To Chad, the most supportive husband ever. Thank you for supporting my crazy ideas and believing in me more than I believe in myself. You listen to my frustrations, you cheer me on with the smallest of victories, you leave random encouraging notes/messages throughout the house, and you listen to my alarm go off at 3:20am Monday – Friday. Thank you for being you.

“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.” – Oprah Winfrey

240 Days.

5 notes · View notes

thebigreylotheory · 6 years ago

Text

Star Wars Celebration 2019 Chicago Thoughts & Review

Annnd, we’re back. More or less. I think we left our good health in Chicago. I have a fever, so I apologize if none of this makes sense (but arguably it should make just as much sense as I normally do.)

So, Celebration 2019. It was the best of times, it was the coldest of Hoth times.

Twas’ a far cry from SW Celebration Orlando 2017, where I remember the humidity being awfully thick as we lined up for the Episode 8 panel at 3am.

I obsessively check my weather app regardless. Therefore I happened to see the snowflake symbol predicted for Friday, April 12th. Thankfully, it didn’t snow Friday for the Episode 9 panel, but believing it was going to snow prepared me for the real snow on Sunday. I packed coats, snow boots, hats, and gloves.

I know the snow was mostly a fluke thing. That Chicagoans had previously packed away their coats for 60-degree weather. Just saying, next time Celebration is in a northern city, I really hope the date is moved to May or June, where there’s no chance of snow AT ALL. I was prepared, but I witnessed several small children, no jacket, absolutely shaking from the cold. It upset me. Babies shouldn’t have to suffer for their love of Star Wars.

Right, so with the weather being the major con, here are my Celebration 2019 pros:

The Thursday Celebration Store and Exhibit Hall (no pun intended) warm-up day. This year it really felt like a perk of having a 5-day badge. I was glad, instead of the event fully launching into panels, we had a day to explore the venue and become familiar with the area. I’m a planner, so I like knowing exactly where I’m at and where I need to be ahead of time.

Kudos for actually being able to get into the Celebration store this year! I don’t know what the problem was in 2017, but that line, seemingly, never moved. This year, we were in line for a little over an hour and got everything we wanted.

Additionally, the employees of McCormick Place were well-prepared and very helpful compared to some of the people we interacted with in Orlando. In 2017, some employees kinda had the unfortunate attitude of you-bunch-of-Star-Wars-dorks…we didn’t experience any of that at McCormick Place. In our experience, everyone at McCormick place was very kind and eager to assist.I would definitely go back given the right weather. I would go so far to say that they were happy to be hosting Star Wars Celebration.

I know some people will disagree, but I’m a fan of the lotteries. In Orlando, it was frustrating, if not a little risky/unhealthy, to wait in line in the dark, not get in, and then walk around sleep deprived all day. With the lottery, I liked knowing and being able to have a relaxing Celebration and maximize the other panels we attended.

Day-by-Day breakdown:

Thursday:

Got some goodies. Caps has had his eye on this ROTJ poster for a while.

Found Indiana Jones for my brother Revan/Devan.

Went to the Chicago Art Museum, it was entirely awesome.

How ‘bout those helmets and crossguards, boi?

Friday:

I was so stoked that I naturally woke up at 5am. Just kept thinking to myself, wow, I’ve been a fan of the sequel trilogy since 2015 and this is the last few hours where I don’t know the title or have a feel for what could happen. *commits to memory*

We were thrilled to be chosen for the Galaxy Stage live stream. For TLJ, we ended up watching the trailer on the phone, cause we didn’t know that The Star Wars show also streamed it in the Exhibit Hall.

Too many words for my reaction, I’ll have to make a separate post.

Afterwards, we went to 20 years of Lego, Star Wars Hasbro, The Music of Star Wars, Predicting the Future with Star Wars, and ILM Making Solo.

Also tried out pinball which was super fun.

Saturday:

Bringing Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge to Life panel! Aka Josh Gad trying to break in.

We’ve been planning to take a family trip to Disney World this fall, so this pumped us up even more.

Then we tried to get into the Del Rey Books and Marvel Comics panels, but they were already full. At the time, the reservations on the app were not working for me. I had to update the app twice.

Ultimately, we went to the Sisters of the Force panel. Stories about kids fighting cancer and bullying really touched my heart. I was trying not to cry.

We missed out on the Funko panel in 2017, but thankfully this year we got in. They tortured us with designs that were never released.

Also, Reylo art always sells out...always...

Sunday:

The Mandalorian panel was fired up. I don’t typically watch a lot of tv, I’m a movie person, but I will be getting Disney+. The Mandalorian trailer was phenomenal. Looks like they put a lot of thought and care into creating a live-action series that feels Star Wars-y.

Then my introvert self was overcome by having our photo taken with Ian McDiarmid, especially after his laughter and surprise appearance in the Episode 9 panel. I was scared to death of him (hello! HE’S THE EMPEROR, people!) (and I’m afraid of everyone anyways, I’m high anxiety) but he was so nice and such a gentleman and if you have the opportunity I recommend a photo-op with him. This will be on our Christmas card this year.

After that, we when to the ILM Model Shop panel. AND, even though we left 30mins early, we didn’t get into the Romance Those Ships Also Belong in Star Wars panel. Which I thought was wonderful from a certain point of view. I had actually told Caps, 3-4 days before, that the best thing that could happen was: the panel would be so packed, and the line would be out the door, that we wouldn’t even get in and then EVERYONE would see how many people like BOTH Star Wars and Romance. And my wish came true! Probably the first time I ever grinned ear to ear for not getting into something. Caps was more upset about not getting in than I was. He kept apologizing that we didn’t get to be with “my people.” But thankfully the panel is up on Youtube now and, perhaps, there will be more panels like it in the future due to popularity.

So, our last panel of Celebration ended up being Anthony Daniels Droidography. Which was great, because we had missed out on seeing Anthony in 2017, too. Anthony has such a positive energy. He and Warwick were hilarious together.

I can’t believe it’s been a week ago now. What a whirlwind. It was a long drive between Georgia and Chicago, so I need a few more days to recover.

#star wars celebration #star wars celebration chicago #star wars celebration 2019 #reylo #fangirling #my star wars diary

17 notes · View notes

partwayhappy · 7 years ago

Text

Life in 1985

A few people seemed to like my Movies of ‘85 post. So, in the spirit of helping out (and procrastinating from stuff I should be working on) I’ve assembled the following lists (shamelessly mined from Google and linked to YouTube) of things that I thought were interesting for any of ya’ll looking for inspiration to write a fic taking place in ‘85 (and for you old school cats who want to take a trip down memory lane). Enjoy!

EVENTS

• January - National Geographic published pictures and the story of Koko the gorilla and her kitten, 1st: VH-1 debut (fyi MTV came out in 1981), 20th-22nd: Eastern USA and Canada experiences some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded in the 20th century, 20th: Ronald Reagan sworn in for his second term as president

• February - 9th: Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” album goes #1 for 3 weeks, 14th: Whitney Houston debut album released, 19th: Mickey Mouse welcomed in China, Cherry Coke introduced,

• March - 2nd: FDA approves ELISA screening for AIDS antibody for all blood banks, 3rd: “Moonlighting” with Bruce Willis premieres on television, 6th: Mike Tyson makes his professional debut by 1st round knockout, 7th: “We Are the World” single released, 10th: Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader, 25th: 57th Annual Academy Awards (Amadeus wins Best Picture), 31st: Wrestlemania debuts in Madison Square Garden

• April - 23rd: New Coke introduced (and pulled within 3 months due to public backlash),

• May - 15th: An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley, 17th: Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of the Year, 31st: MDMA became a schedule 1 drug in the US,

• June - CD-ROM introduced by Sony/Philips as media for data storage (CD’s were already introduced in 1983 for music), 27th; US Route 66 (Chicago to Santa Monica) is officially decommissioned

• July - 13th Live Aid Concert held dually in Wembley Stadium London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia,

• August - 1st: 18th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hotel San Diego, 10th: Michael Jackson buys ATV Music (and as a result the entire Beatles music catalog) for $47 million

• September - 1st: RMS Titanic found off the coast of Newfoundland, 13th: 2nd MTV Video Music Awards, 17th: Steve Jobs resigns from Apple and leave to found NeXT,

• October - 18th: Nintendo Entertainment System released in USA

• November - 18th: Calvin and Hobbes debuts in newspapers, Sesame Street cast finally meet Mr. Snuffleupagus and realize he’s not Big Bird’s imaginary friend, Elmo introduced on Sesame Street, 20th: Microsoft Windows 1.0 introduced, 24th: Burger King launched a viral ad campaign featuring 'Herb the Nerd', a mysterious man who had never eaten a Whopper in his life. People could get a 99 cent Whopper by saying "I'm Not Herb"

• December - 24th: Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith (the last descendant of Abraham Lincoln) dies

LIFE

• Average temperature for Summer of ‘85 was 85°Fahrenheit/29°Celsius

• World Population: 4,813,000,000

• US Population: 237,923,795

• Prices: Gas $1.19/gallon, Postage Stamp $0.22, Milk $1.98, Bread $0.74, Comic Book $0.75, McDonald’s Big Mac Meal $2.59

• Average US yearly income: $12,747.00

• Average US home price: $100,800.00

• Minimum wage: $3.35/hour

• Commercials

TOYS

Transformers, Cabbage Patch Kids, G.I.JOE, Teddy Ruxpin, Rainbow Brite, Care Bears, Barbie, DC Super Powers Action Figures, My Buddy, Construx, Voltron

CARTOONS & KID’S SHOWS

Thundercats, Robotech, Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears, G.I.Joe, Transformers, Jem, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra: Princess of Power, M.A.S.K., Alvin and the Chipmunks, Voltron, Captain Harlock, Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Reading Rainbow, The Super Powers Team, Small Wonder, Punky Brewster, The Care Bears, Star Wars: Droids, Star Wars: Ewoks, Spider-man and his Amazing Friends, Incredible Hulk, The Littles

TELEVISION

Family Ties, Cheers, Murder She Wrote, 227, Dallas, Dynasty, The Golden Girls, Miami Vice, Who’s the Boss?, Night Court, CBS Sunday Night Movie, Highway to Heaven, Kate and Allie, Monday Night Football, Newhart, Knots Landing, Growing Pains, Hill Street Blues, NBC Sunday Night Movie, Hotel, NBC Monday Night Movie, Moonlighting, Falcon Crest, Valerie, The Facts of Life, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Simon & Simon, The A-Team, The Equalizer, Spenser: For Hire, Amazing Stories, Macgyver, The Twilight Zone, Mr. Belvedere, Street Hawk, Knight Rider, Magnum P.I., The Dukes of Hazard, Diff’rent Strokes, Cagney and Lacey, The Love Boat, Bossom Buddies, CHiPs, The Jeffersons, St. Elsewhere, Three’s Company, Webster, WKRP in Cincinnati, Remington Steele, Mama’s Family, The Greatest American Hero, The Fall Guy, T.J. Hooker, Fame

Tagging the SFS writing crew:

@freshxbloom @strange-thangs @maplestreet83 @martiegalwrites @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold @janeswheeler @cstlebyrs @formerlyjannafaye @michael-hearteyes-wheeler @jane-el-hopper @themikewheelers @elizabthturner @the-proud-princess @itcouldbendoritcouldbreak @scottsclarke @the-most-beautiful-broom @hannahberrie @dancingskygreen @mileven-and-contemplation @mikeswheeler @moodyandmoonyeyed @jopper-chopper @earlgreyteagirl @janehopperseggos @stevemossington @thezoomermax @bubblynancy @writer-lia

99 notes · View notes

theorgonedonor · 6 years ago

Photo

I Have Been A Very Busy Boy

Friday, June 22, 2018

This flooding would never happen if the parasites did not geoengineer this planet to hell and back. EMF/DOR/chemtrails and the haarp network of cell towers, etc. suppress rain everywhere, causing drought, so the government and whatever parasitic entity is above them can usher-in nonsense like Californistan’s water restriction laws (there is no drought in CA, it’s all about control). Now that we’ve gifted thousands of towerbusters and countless Orgone toys (like chembusters and earth pipes) around Chicago and throughout Illinois and the Midwest, their attempts are failing. This heavy rain would balance and spread and never be “heavy” in the first place if they weren’t trying to move it away from dense populations, farmland, and anywhere that it is needed by humanity.

When you use orgonite, the planet will recalibrate, and in the case of this rain, Mother Nature is showing exactly how much rain has been suppressed and trapped in the atmosphere unnaturally. If everyone gifted every last tower on earth, rain would happen everywhere it is needed, only when it is needed, because their building/moving/suppressing efforts wouldn’t work.

Oh, we’re also 20 degrees below average for temp. Why? Because those damn HAARP tower are used to manufacture the fake global warming agenda (FYI, 4th coldest April on record, and the wettest may on record, with June making records now too). I saw a new weather actor today try and push global warming as the reason for this rain. Nope. It’s just water being released from Geoengineering attempts. And you’re going to see more and more and more from now on.

The earth is healing itself. It is not the apocalypse.

Lastly, think of how much water millions of humans are saving by not watering lawns, gardens, etc. Some parasites out there controlling the water utilities are no doubt very pissed today. Makes me smile. Enjoy the rain, because once it’s done, you can expect beautiful sunny skies. If they stopped spraying, you could enjoy it much sooner, but for now, we gift orgonite and do our best to speed it up. Happy Friday!

8 notes · View notes

rjzimmerman · 6 years ago

Link

Excerpt:

The heat has been particularly noteworthy in the central U.S., including the upper Midwest and northern Plains, where temperatures have run some 5-8 degrees above average, according to weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue.

On Monday, the temperature in Minneapolis soared to a record 100 degrees, the city's earliest 100-degree reading on record, buckling roads, straining air conditioners and triggering air quality alerts.

Other cities seeing record-breaking heat over the past few days include Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay and Des Moines, Radiant Solutions reported.

Overall, in just the past few days more than 1,900 heat records have been broken or tied, weather.com said.

For folks in the Midwest, the crazy heat of May follows what had been an unusually cold April. In fact, for two states in the Upper Midwest — Iowa and Wisconsin — it was the coldest April since records began in 1895, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The Twin Cities saw their fourth-coldest April on record. Meteorologist Peter Mullinax of Planalytics said that Minneapolis' weather whiplash from April to May was the biggest on record, a rebound of almost 30 degrees.

Nationally, April 2018 was the USA's coldest April in 21 years.Record-breaking snow also accompanied the cold in many areas, wreaking havoc with baseball schedules and seriously delaying the onset of spring. During April, the average U.S. temperature was 48.9 degrees, which was 2.2 degrees below average, "making it the 13th-coldest April on record and the coldest since 1997," NOAA said.

#global warming #climate change

3 notes · View notes

twins2994 · 7 years ago

Text

Sunday’s White Sox-Twins PPD.

For the third consecutive day the Minnesota Twins announced the White Sox-Twins series finale would be postponed due to snow. The state of Minnesota got blitzed by a blizzard this weekend and the final three games of this series were all postponed. On Saturday games in Cleveland, Detroit, and Minneapolis were all botched. I was shocked when the Tigers scheduled a doubleheader today, but postponed that already. On Sunday, those three markets already postponed games and maybe the Chicago Cubs will be next with rain and cold weather in the forecast. The Twins next game will be on Tuesday in Puerto Rico against the Indians. The team will have four days off and had four postponements on their first homestand, which was ten games. Let’s take a look at postponements throughout the years at Target Field.

I started following the Twins on a daily basis in 2009, which was the last at the Metrodome. The word postponement had gone away for nearly 30 years before the team headed back outside.

2010: (One Postponement) In 2010, the Twins had excellent weather for their first year outside in a long time. They had one postponement all year and it was at home on May 7th against the Baltimore Orioles. They made it up as a doubleheader the next day and that’s all she wrote for mother nature. Even the ALDS was hot in October for the series with the Yankees.

2011: (Three Postponements) The second year of the ballpark didn’t have a whole lot of postponements either. On April 22nd, the Twins and Indians were postponed and later made up on a sweltering day in July for a doubleheader. Four days later, the Rays-Twins game was postponed and made up just a couple days later in cold weather. On June 14th, the White Sox were in town when rain postponed another game.

2012: (One Postponements) Fans can look back at the past and see that not too many rainouts have occurred at Target Field. In 2012, we just had one when the Royals were in town on April 28th. The two teams played a doubleheader on June 30th and the second game was a fun turn back the clock night.

2013: (Three Postponements) April of 2013 was maybe the last snowiest April we’ve had outside of this year. There were three rainouts that month including April 14th against the Mets that got rescheduled for August, April 17th against the Angels was rescheduled for September, and who could forget that Marlins-Twins game postponed due to snow? That was made up the next day in a frigid doubleheader.

2014: (Three Postponements) April of 2014 was very rainy and wet. The Twins had three games botched due to the heavy rains. The Blue Jays-Twins game was postponed and made up as a chilly doubleheader that next day. One of those games was the coldest Twins games ever until last Saturday against the Mariners. Then in late-April a Tigers-Twins game was postponed on Sunday and then two days later the Dodgers-Twins were botched. A May Day doubleheader made up the Dodgers series in a fun day where I went to the ballpark. I was at the Tigers-Twins make up doubleheader in August later in the year as well.

2015: (One Postponements) 2015 featured just one home postponements and it was in September of all places. On a Friday night, the Angels-Twins were postponed due to rain and they played a doubleheader the next day with expanded rosters.

2016: (Three Postponements) 2016 had a few spread out postponements at home. The May 9th Orioles-Twins game was postponed after fans were let in the ballpark. My sister went to that game and obviously was very unhappy that the team didn’t call the game early. It was made up in June. On August 10th, the Astros-Twins game was postponed after playing two innings. I was at that game and the Twins were beating up on Dallas Keuchel then the dark skies came and the game never happened. We would get our ass kicked the next day in the doubleheader. In September, a Tigers-Twins game was botched. The next day they played a doubleheader and nobody showed up given the team not doing well, short notice on the reschedule, and it was a weekday.

2017: (Four Postponements) 2017 was very rainy at times and in the spring the rain never stopped. April 19, the Indians-Twins were postponed and had a doubleheader in June. The Twins had two postponements on a homestand in May. A Rockies game was botched and a doubleheader played the next day, and a Royals game was rained out and we played two the next day. On August 16, the Indians-Twins game was rained out and another doubleheader ensued. The four rainouts were the most in Target Field history until this year when four games have already been called.

So that’s a short history on the rain out history at Target Field as you dig yourself out of the snow today.

-Chris Kreibich-

#Twins #MnTwins

4 notes · View notes

techcrunchappcom · 4 years ago

Photo

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/covid-19-news-latest-updates-the-new-york-times/

Covid-19 News: Latest Updates - The New York Times

Here’s what you need to know:

Members of the Wisconsin National Guard test residents for the coronavirus at a temporary test facility.Credit…Scott Olson/Getty Images

As coronavirus cases across the United States climb toward a third peak, the country surpassed a total of eight million total known cases on Thursday afternoon, according to a New York Times database.

Epidemiologists warned of a new, worrisome phase as 17 states are seeing surges unlike anything they experienced earlier in the pandemic. States including Alaska, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin reported more new cases during the seven-day stretch that ended on Wednesday than in any other week since the virus arrived in the country.

Reports of new cases are trending upward in 41 states over the last two weeks, while nine states are holding case numbers roughly steady. No state in the country is seeing a sustained decline.

Many of the 17 states seeing more new cases than ever — located mostly in the Midwest or in the Mountain West — had relatively few cases until recently. But cases are now steadily climbing. Intensive care unit beds in hospitals are few and far between in some rural communities, experts said, raising concerns about crowded facilities.

“What’s happening in the Upper Midwest is just a harbinger of things to come in the rest of the country,” said Michael Osterholm, an infectious-diseases expert at the University of Minnesota.

April 10

31,709

new cases

(7-day avg.)

New cases per day in the United States

April 10

31,709

new cases

(7-day avg.)

New cases per day in the United States

April 10

31,709

new cases

(7-day avg.)

New cases per day in the U.S.

April 10

31,709

new cases

(7-day avg.)

New cases per day

in the United States

Already, signs of the uptick are appearing beyond the nation’s middle. In the Northeast, where cases have been relatively low since a spring surge, reports of new infections have started ticking upward again. In the South, where infections spiked this summer, the picture varies from state to state, with sustained progress in Florida and Georgia but worrisome trends in Arkansas and Kentucky.

The number of cases alone is not a full measure of the nation’s outbreak — it is difficult to compare the current numbers with earlier points in the U.S. outbreak when testing was less widespread — and deaths from the virus have been relatively flat in recent weeks, with an average of about 700 per day. But “we are headed in the wrong direction,” said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University.

“That’s reflected not only in the number of new cases but also in test positivity and the number of hospitalizations,” said Dr. Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. “Together, I think these three indicators give a very clear picture that we are seeing increased transmission in communities across the country.”

High levels of infection in colleges and universities, Dr. Osterholm said, are serving as one source of the spread. Transmission also has been prevalent at events such as funerals, family barbecues and birthday parties, he said, adding that the comeback of sporting events and dining has also added to the spread this fall.

“Pandemic fatigue has clearly set in for large segments of the population,” he said. “This is not even an uptick, this is a major surge of cases that is happening.”

He added, “It’s only going to get worse, we have to be prepared for that.”

Even as cases increased, President Trump continued to downplay the resurgence of this virus this fall during an appearance on Fox Business on Thursday morning. He added he did not support strictest restrictions by local officials to limit its spread. “We’re not doing any more lockdowns, we’re doing fine,” he said.

But Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also warned on Thursday morning that the increase in cases across multiple regions of the country could have dire consequences over the coming months.

“The issue is that as we enter, as we are now, the cooler season of the fall, and ultimately the coldest season of the winter, you don’t want to be in that compromised position where your baseline daily infection is high, and you’re increasing as opposed to going in the other direction,” he said on “Good Morning America.” “So we’ve really got to double down on the fundamental public health measures that we talk about every single day, because they can make a difference.”

France’s health minister, Olivier Véran, this month. He was one of several officials whose home and office were searched by the authorities.Credit…Ludovic Marin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Prime Minister Jean Castex of France on Thursday extended to the entire country health restrictions that had so far been imposed only in areas hard-hit by the virus. The new rules were announced shortly after the French police searched the homes and offices of several current and former officials as part of an inquiry into the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Starting Saturday, all restaurants will have to follow a strict health protocol that includes keeping registers of customers for contact-tracing and keeping seating to no more than six per table. Private parties will be forbidden in public spaces, and rules to encourage social distancing, such as limiting the number of spectators or visitors in cultural venues or customers in shopping centers, will be enforced throughout the country.

The rules are part of the renewed state of emergency announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. Other measures include a nightly curfew around Paris and eight other major cities, for at least four weeks.

Residents of affected areas will be barred from leaving their homes between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. and will have to carry a form explaining the reasons for travel during that time slot, Mr. Castex said. Permitted outings include work, dog-walking, trips for health reasons, and travel to and from train stations and airports.

Some 12,000 police officers will be deployed throughout the country to enforce the curfew, said Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.

The move is expected to deal a fresh blow to France’s restaurant and tourism industries, which make up nearly 10 percent of economic activity. The government said it would grant up to 1 billion euros in financial aid to businesses and extend an offer of cheap, state-backed loans. Officials will also direct money to theaters and other culture operations that can’t function under the new measures, and are encouraging people to continue taking vacations and patronizing hotels.

Mr. Macron highlighted the tension between economic and health concerns as he announced the curfew. A new lockdown for an already reeling economy would have been “disproportionate,” he said, yet the pressure on hospitals was intolerable. “Our caregivers are exhausted,” he said.

The seven-day average of new cases over the past week was 17,936 on Wednesday, and intensive care units were rapidly filling with virus patients. Mr. Castex said that slowing down the spread of the virus with targeted curfews was the “only real possible strategy.”

The police searches on Thursday included the homes and offices of France’s health minister, Olivier Véran, and Jérome Salomon, a top official at the health ministry, as well as the homes of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, the former health minister Agnès Buzyn and a former government spokeswoman, Sibeth Ndiaye.

The inquiry was launched in July by the French Court of Justice, a special court that hears accusations of government mismanagement. Over the past few months, more than 90 complaints had been filed, accusing several government officials of willfully failing to take appropriate action to combat the virus, endangering people’s lives.

The French Court of Justice examined all of the complaints but finally decided to accept only nine of them, with the charge of failing from fighting a disaster. This offense is punishable by two years of imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.

The French government has been harshly criticized for its handling of the first wave of the virus, from March to May, which resulted in about 30,000 deaths. A critical shortage of masks and testing kits led to the virus’s rapid spread and prompted France to impose one of the world’s strictest nationwide lockdowns.

Workers preparing boxes of free food for distribution in Chelsea, Mass.Credit…Brian Snyder/Reuters

After an ambitious expansion of the safety net in the spring saved millions of people in the United States from poverty, the aid is now largely exhausted and poverty has returned to levels higher than before the coronavirus crisis, two new studies have found.

The number of poor people has grown by eight million since May, according to researchers at Columbia University, after falling by four million at the pandemic’s start as a result of a $2 trillion emergency package known as the Cares Act.

Using a different definition of poverty, researchers from the University of Chicago and Notre Dame found that poverty has grown by six million people in the past three months, with circumstances worsening most for Black people and children.

“These numbers are very concerning,” said Bruce D. Meyer, an economist at the University of Chicago and an author of the study. “They tell us people are having a lot more trouble paying their bills, paying their rent, putting food on the table.”

Significantly, the studies differ on the most recent month: While the Columbia model shows an improvement in September, the Chicago and Notre Dame analysts found poverty continued to grow.

The recent rise in poverty has occurred despite an improving job market, an indiction that the economy has been rebounding too slowly to offset the lost benefits.

The Democratic-controlled House has twice passed multitrillion-dollar packages to provide more help and to stimulate the economy, but members of a divided Republican-led Senate, questioning the cost and necessity, have proposed smaller plans. President Trump has demanded that Congress “go big” before the elections and canceled negotiations.

While the job market may have gotten better since hitting bottom in April, it recently flattened and is now declining again. American employers continue to shed workers at a staggering rate as a resurgent virus and the absence of new federal aid take their tolls.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that 885,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, an increase from the previous week. That figure is not adjusted for seasonal variations.

Over the past month, large employers including United Airlines, Disney and Allstate announced tens of thousands of layoffs, and more are expected as sectors like leisure and hospitality struggle. In some states, restaurants have salvaged some business by serving diners outside, but many will lose that option as temperatures fall.

The Soho area of London on Thursday. Matt Hancock, the British health secretary, announced tightened virus restrictions for the city and other areas of England.Credit…John Sibley/Reuters

London will join other big cities in Europe, including Paris and Berlin, in tightening restrictions to stem a rapidly rising second wave of coronavirus cases in the region.

Within London, the average number of cases now stands at 97 per 100,000 people, near the threshold for negotiating a move from medium to high risk alert level. Virus-related hospital admissions and deaths are on the rise.

People from different households will be barred from meeting indoors starting Saturday as the city shifts into England’s second-highest alert level, health secretary Matt Hancock announced in Parliament on Thursday. People will also be discouraged from using public transportation.

The increased measures will also apply to the city of York in northern England, as well as the Essex region and parts of central England.

The weekly number of new coronavirus cases in Europe is now at its highest point since the start of the pandemic, a top World Health Organization official said on Thursday, urging governments to impose tighter, targeted controls on social gatherings.

“We’re at a critical moment in our fight against Covid-19,” London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said during a meeting at City Hall on Thursday.

He sharply criticized the government’s virus testing program in a statement a short while later.

“I know these further restrictions will require Londoners to make yet more sacrifices, but the disastrous failure of the test, trace and isolate system leaves us with little choice,” he said in the statement.

While Mr. Hancock on Thursday said that testing capacity was up, the government’s test and trace system has been plagued with issues. In Birmingham, a local council was found to have distributed about 25 used swab-test kits to households by mistake.

Jonathan Ashworth, the opposition Labour Party’s lead lawmaker on health issues, also criticized the testing program, arguing that the measures announced Thursday would be insufficient to halt the spread of the virus. He reiterated his call for the government to impose a national lockdown — and to provide more financial support to mitigate the impact of virus restrictions.

Hospitality and travel industries were hit particularly hard by the impact of the new rules. Shares in Marston’s, a large chain of bars and pubs in Britain, fell as much as 8 percent and the company said it was looking to cut 2,150 jobs that are currently furloughed.

The announcement came after the government published data that showed the country’s jobless rate had already climbed to a three-year high and there were a record number of layoffs in August, adding to concerns that Britain will experience a sharp rise in unemployment this winter.

The head of the World Health Organization’s Europe office, Hans Kluge, said Thursday that restrictions on social gatherings were “absolutely necessary” and that more drastic action might be needed. The number of confirmed cases in Europe rose by a million to seven million in just 10 days, Dr. Kluge warned, and the number of daily deaths has passed 1,000.

British scientists have proposed that the government schedule a temporary “circuit breaker” lockdown for the last week of October and first week of November, when schools are closed for midterm break, to make it less disruptive. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resisted the idea, maintaining his position that targeted measures are best.

Senator Kamala Harris was scheduled to hold three events in North Carolina on Thursday but has canceled them.Credit…Hilary Swift for The New York Times

The Biden campaign announced Thursday that it was suspending Senator Kamala Harris’s campaign travel through Sunday after two people who had traveled with her tested positive for the coronavirus. Hours later, the campaign said a person who had been aboard Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s plane had also tested positive.

The announcements were the Biden campaign’s closest known brush with the virus. The two people who had traveled with Ms. Harris — her campaign communications director, Liz Allen, and a flight crew member — flew with her last Thursday, when Ms. Harris campaigned with Mr. Biden in Arizona.

The person on Mr. Biden’s flights who tested positive, an employee of the company that charters the plane, was aboard for trips to Ohio on Monday and to Florida on Tuesday, but was a great distance from Mr. Biden, the campaign said.

“Our campaign’s contact tracing remains ongoing, and my team will continue to share any significant developments with the American people,” Mr. Biden wrote on Twitter. “If anything, let this serve as an example of the importance of wearing masks and keeping a safe, social distance.”

Ms. Harris had been scheduled to campaign in North Carolina on Thursday and in Ohio on Friday. She will now return to the campaign trail on Monday. The campaign said she had tested negative for the virus on Wednesday and again on Thursday.

Mr. Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, said in a statement that Ms. Harris “was not in close contact, as defined by the C.D.C., with either of these individuals during the two days prior to their positive tests; as such, there is no requirement for quarantine.”

But Ms. O’Malley Dillon said Ms. Harris’s travel through Sunday was being canceled “out of an abundance of caution and in line with our campaign’s commitment to the highest levels of precaution.”

During a virtual fund-raiser on Thursday, Ms. Harris addressed the positive tests and the campaign’s response, and drew a comparison with President Trump. “We wanted to make sure that we were adhering to what has been, I think, a very appropriate and strict level of seriousness around the caution that we are exercising to make sure everyone is safe,” she said. “Obviously, it’s been in stark contrast to you-know-who.”

On Thursday afternoon, the campaign said that the person aboard Mr. Biden’s plane, an administrative employee with the charter company who had been contacted during contact tracing for the crew member who traveled with Ms. Harris, had also tested positive.

The employee was seated in the last row of Mr. Biden’s plane, a Boeing 737, on Monday and Tuesday, and was more than 50 feet away from Mr. Biden at all times, Ms. O’Malley Dillon said. “We have been advised by the vice president’s doctor and the campaign’s medical advisers that there is no need for the vice president to quarantine,” she said.

Mr. Biden will appear at an ABC News town hall event in Philadelphia on Thursday night. The campaign said that Mr. Biden had tested negative for the virus on Wednesday night.

On Monday, the Vatican said four guards were infected with the virus and showing symptoms. Now, seven more have tested positive, according to The A.P.Credit…Andrew Medichini/Associated Press

Eleven members of the Swiss Guard have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a report in The Associated Press, prompting fears of an outbreak within the small corps charged with protecting the pope.

On Monday, the Vatican said four guards were infected with the virus and showing symptoms. Now, seven more have tested positive, according to The A.P.

The brightly clad Swiss Guards provide ceremonial guard duty during papal Masses and stand at the Vatican gates. They also serve as personal guards for the pope. Established in the early 16th century by Pope Julius II, the guard is considered the world’s oldest standing army.

Pope Francis, who is 83, is known for his relatively informal, friendly relationship with the guards. He has made a custom of shaking hands with them as he leaves his suite in the morning.

The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Oct. 12 that Matteo Bruni, a spokesman for the Holy See, said “all the guards, on duty and not, wear masks — outdoors and indoors — and observe prescribed health measures.”

The pope has criticized priests who resist pandemic protection measures as “adolescent.” But Vatican observers have expressed concerns about his own habit of forgoing a mask in public settings.

Last week, Francis was photographed maskless at a large indoor gathering at the Vatican, speaking closely with attendees and kissing the hands of newly ordained priests.

Surgery in his early 20s left Francis missing part of one lung, a “pulmonary deficiency,” as one biographer put it, that might make it difficult to breath through a mask.

An early center of the pandemic, Italy kept the virus mostly under control through the summer. But the country has seen a sharp rise in new cases lately, with recent daily infection rates matching the country’s peak in April, according to a Times database.

Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, boasted in February that the coronavirus was contained in the United States and that “it’s pretty close to airtight.” His private message was more ambiguous.Credit…Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

On the afternoon of Feb. 24, President Trump declared on Twitter that the coronavirus was “very much under control” in the United States, but hours earlier, senior members of the president’s economic team, privately addressing board members of the conservative Hoover Institution, were less confident.

Tomas J. Philipson, a senior economic adviser to the president, told the group he could not yet estimate the effects of the virus on the American economy. To some in the group, the implication was that an outbreak could prove worse than Mr. Philipson and other Trump administration advisers were signaling in public at the time.

The next day, board members — many of them Republican donors — got another taste of government uncertainty from Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council. Hours after he had boasted on CNBC that the virus was contained in the United States and “it’s pretty close to airtight,” Mr. Kudlow delivered a more ambiguous private message. He asserted that the virus was “contained in the U.S., to date, but now we just don’t know,” according to a document describing the sessions obtained by The New York Times.

The document, written by a hedge fund consultant who attended the three-day gathering of Hoover’s board, was stark. “What struck me,” the consultant wrote, was that nearly every official he heard from raised the virus “as a point of concern, totally unprovoked.”

The consultant’s assessment quickly spread through parts of the investment world. U.S. stocks were already spiraling because of a warning from a federal public health official that the virus was likely to spread, but traders spotted the immediate significance: The president’s aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning of a potentially impactful contagion at a time when Mr. Trump was publicly insisting that the threat was nonexistent.

Interviews with eight people who either received copies of the memo or were briefed on aspects of it as it spread among investors in New York and elsewhere provide a glimpse of how elite traders had access to information from the administration that helped them gain financial advantage during a chaotic three days when global markets were teetering.

To many of the investors who received or heard about the memo, it was the first significant sign of skepticism among Trump administration officials about their ability to contain the virus. It also provided a hint of the fallout that was to come, said one major investor who was briefed on it: the upending of daily life for the entire country.

“Short everything,” was the reaction of the investor, using the Wall Street term for betting on the idea that the stock prices of companies would soon fall.

A coronavirus testing site in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park.Credit…Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A week after New York officials debated and then imposed new restrictions on areas with rising coronavirus positivity rates, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo again seemed a bit at odds over whether the strategy to contain the virus had yet proven effective.

On Thursday morning, Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference that the efforts to contain the virus in hot-spot neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn seemed to be working, without providing specific information about positivity rates in those areas.

“We are seeing a plateauing now of the test results, and that is a very, very good sign,” Mr. de Blasio said, though he also acknowledged that “we’ve got more to do.”

Not long afterward, Mr. Cuomo said it was “too early to tell” whether enough progress had been made containing the virus in the so-called red zones — the parts of the state with the highest positivity rates and the most severe restrictions on gatherings and businesses.

The governor also emphasized that any decision to lift virus-related restrictions in New York City would fall to him, not the mayor.

Mr. Cuomo said that the daily rate of positive test results in the state’s red zones was 4.84 percent; statewide, the rate was 1.09 percent. Hospitalizations also fell in the state to 897, a decrease of 41 that followed several days of increases.

In New York City, Mr. de Blasio said that the city’s seven-day average positive test rate was 1.49 percent and noted that the city had conducted 17,000 tests in hot-spot neighborhoods since Sept. 30.

Restrictions: Major Minor

But the mayor said it was difficult for him to present accurate information about positivity rates in the hot spots in part because of discrepancies between the way the state and city measure data. (State data showed that the positivity rate was 4.75 percent across the red zones in Brooklyn and 2.15 percent in those in Queens.)

Mr. de Blasio also said that it was a bad time to grow complacent about the virus.

“There is the possibility that maybe people are discounting the second wave, and what it could mean,” Mr. de Blasio said. “Look no further than some states in this country, or to countries in Europe. You do not want to experience a second wave.”

Mr. de Blasio said that the city and state would continue working together despite their perceived differences.

“In a crisis, you try and obviously minimize differences, get on the same page, but you’re still going to have some inherent differences of views,” Mr. de Blasio said. “It’s just, the state does a different thing than the city does, but we ultimately get to a lot of agreement, move forward together.”

Restrictions: Major Minor

The $1.8 trillion package that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has proposed has proven to be a non-starter with Senate Republicans, making President Trump’s call for a bigger bill a complication.Credit…Pool photo by Chris Kleponis/EPA, via Shutterstock

President Trump, struggling to gain traction among voters just weeks before the election, called on Thursday for a bigger stimulus package than he had previously offered, and the White House signaled it was willing to make concessions to Democrats. But the proposals were unlikely to win the necessary backing from Senate Republicans who are preparing a far smaller bill of their own.

White House negotiators have proposed a $1.8 trillion relief package. Mr. Trump said that he wanted one that was even bigger and suggested, without explanation, that China would pay for it.

“I would go higher,” Mr. Trump said during an interview with the Fox Business Network. “Go big or go home.”

The comments came after Mr. Mnuchin said that the White House was willing to make additional concessions to Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California in hopes of rekindling a stimulus deal before the election. But the $1.8 trillion package that he has proposed has already proven to be a non-starter with Senate Republicans who have panned it as too costly, making Mr. Trump’s call for a more expensive bill another complication in the already fraught negotiations.

Investors, who have been following the stimulus talks closely, seemed unmoved by statements from Mr. Trump and Mr. Mnuchin on Thursday, with stocks on Wall Street dropping for a third consecutive day.

The president suggested that Ms. Pelosi’s $2.2 trillion proposal was littered with Democratic priorities that his “pride” would not allow him to accept. However, he also undercut his own Treasury secretary for not being able to secure a larger agreement.

“So far he hasn’t come home with the bacon,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Mnuchin.

The negotiations between the White House and Congress are expected to continue on Thursday, when Mr. Mnuchin and Ms. Pelosi are scheduled to speak.

Speaking on CNBC, the Treasury secretary said that he would agree to the language that Democrats had insisted on when it came to a coronavirus testing program and noted that the two sides had already agreed to spend an additional $75 billion on testing and contact tracing. The specifics of such a program have been an obstacle in the talks.

“We’ll fundamentally agree with their testing language, subject to some minor issues,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “We need to get money to the American public now.”

Mr. Mnuchin’s remarks came after the Labor Department reported that the number of new claims for unemployment benefits jumped to 886,000 last week.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Mnuchin acknowledged it would be difficult to pass and enact a deal in the next three weeks.

In the interview on CNBC, Mr. Mnuchin did not directly address the lack of support for a bill by Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, suggesting that he has been briefed on negotiations between the White House and House Democrats while acknowledging that Senate Republicans prefer a more “targeted” relief bill.

But Mr. McConnell downplayed the prospects of a larger bill on Thursday.

“He’s talking about a much larger amount than I can sell to my members,” Mr. McConnell said about the president’s comments.

Negotiators have been locked in fruitless talks for months. On Thursday, Mr. Mnuchin assailed Democrats for letting politics get in the way of reaching agreement before the election, though Mr. Trump scuttled the talks himself when he said in a tweet last week that he had called off stimulus negotiations until after the election.

Mr. Mnuchin also called on Congress to give him the authority to repurpose approximately $300 billion in unused relief money from the legislation that was passed in March. He said he could begin getting that money into the economy this week.

Tel Aviv on Wednesday.Credit…Oded Balilty/Associated Press

The Israeli government voted Thursday to lift some elements of its lockdown as the number of new coronavirus cases continued to decline.

The decision, which will go into effect on Sunday, will permit Israelis to go more than 1,000 meters beyond their homes without the need for a special reason, order takeout from restaurants, visit beaches, send their children to day care centers and kindergartens, and reopen some businesses.

But other restrictions will remain in place, including bans on the opening of bars, restaurants, malls, and event halls. Elementary, middle and high schools will also remain closed.

At a news conference, Yuli Edelstein, the health minister, pointed to “encouraging data” on the spread of the virus, but he said Israelis still had “a long road” ahead of them

When the lockdown began on Sept. 18 at the beginning of Rosh Hashana, the country’s seven-day rolling average was about 4,300 new cases, according to Our World in Data. As of Thursday, the number had fallen to about 2,500 cases.

Israel moved quickly to reopen the country in May after an earlier lockdown, throwing open the doors of schools, restaurants, bars and other gathering places. But experts say the government moved too hastily, allowing the virus to spread out of control.

On Thursday, Mr. Edelstein stressed that Israel would be reopened with “careful and calculated steps” in the hopes of avoiding a third lockdown.

While the latest closings appear to have helped stem the spread of the virus, they have taken a major toll on the economy. The central bank has estimated that it has cost the economy more than $2 billion per week.

Many business owners have also said that the government has failed to provide them with sufficient financial support as their companies teeter on the brink of bankruptcy.

Many first-time gun buyers say they are looking to arm themselves in anticipation of unrest.Credit…Mario Tama/Getty Images

Fears of instability in the United States, stoked by street-level clashes over public health measures and the upcoming election, are fueling apparently record gun sales.

According to the F.B.I, the nearly 29 million background checks conducted through September of this year have already surpassed the total conducted in 2019, which was, at the time, higher than in any previous year.

Still, Precisely measuring the extent of the surge is difficult, as neither gun companies nor the government provide comprehensive national data on gun sales. However, anecdotal reports of gun and ammo shortages have been widespread for months.

Many first-time buyers say they are looking to arm themselves in anticipation of unrest. They cite heated rhetoric surrounding the election, as supporters of both President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. have said they expect a protracted fight over the election results.

But other first-time buyers and some of those buying again have said that their decision reflects general unease about growing discontent in the United States — where millions of people face permanent job losses because of the pandemic — as well as anger about public health restrictions, which has inspired armed protests in several states with open-carry laws.

Angst about the national mood has been exacerbated by several instances of actual violence during recent months, as several people have been shot and killed by fellow demonstrators during protests over policing and police violence.

Members of the intelligence community have warned of a growing threat of far-right extremism, which they said could become a greater problem closer to the election. On Tuesday, the F.B.I. revealed that a ring of 13 men had plotted to kidnap the Democratic governors of Michigan and Virginia over stay-at-home measures to control coronavirus outbreaks in those states, and that two of them were among a crowd of armed protesters who had effectively occupied the Michigan statehouse in April while the Legislature was in session.

Global Roundup

In Hong Kong on Thursday.Credit…Kin Cheung/Associated Press

Officials in Singapore and Hong Kong said Thursday that they had reached a preliminary agreement to establish a travel bubble between the two Asian financial centers, allowing travelers of all kinds to bypass quarantine.

Under the agreement, travelers must test negative for the virus and fly only on designated flights. Officials did not say when the bubble, which was first reported by The South China Morning Post, would begin.

Travelers from Singapore would be the first allowed to enter Hong Kong since the semiautonomous Chinese territory barred all nonresidents in March; residents returning to Hong Kong are required to quarantine for 14 days. Singapore currently requires travelers from Hong Kong to quarantine for seven days after arrival.

“Both our cities have low incidence of Covid-19 cases and have put in place robust mechanisms to manage and control Covid-19,” Singapore’s travel minister, Ong Ye Kung, said in a statement.

Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development, Edward Yau, called the agreement “a milestone in our efforts to resume normalcy while fighting against the long-drawn battle of Covid-19.”

Singapore and Hong Kong have both been reporting daily new cases in the single or double digits since late August.

Efforts to establish reciprocal travel bubbles in Asia and other parts of the world have been halting as case numbers fluctuate and new outbreaks emerge. Starting Friday, Australia will waive quarantine requirements for travelers from New Zealand, which recently stamped out the virus for a second time, though New Zealand will still require quarantine for travelers arriving from Australia.

Singapore has also lifted restrictions on general visitors from Brunei, Vietnam, New Zealand and Australia except for the state of Victoria, the center of the outbreak there. But all four of those countries are still closed to almost all foreigners, and in the case of Brunei and Australia residents must apply for permission to leave the country as well.

In other global developments:

The European Parliament announced on Thursday that it would cancel a meeting scheduled to be held next week in Strasbourg, in northern France, as the outbreak widens. The meeting would have been its first in-person session in Strasbourg since the start of the pandemic. Belgium, where most parliamentary staff and members are based, is also seeing a sharp rise in cases.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, went into quarantine for a second time in two weeks after being exposed to the virus. She tweeted on Thursday that she had tested negative, but a member of her office had tested positive. She wrote that she was leaving a European Council meeting in Brussels that was being held with strict social-distancing measures.

Portugal announced new virus restrictions on Thursday, including a five-person limit on public gatherings, after a rise in new cases. In Spain, which is seeing an even sharper increase, the city of Salamanca, famous for its 12th-century university, became the latest area to be cut off from the rest of the country, under new lockdown restrictions imposed by the regional government. The restrictions take effect on Saturday.

Two officials in Qingdao, China, have been fired amid a new virus outbreak there, the city government said on Thursday. The director of the health commission and the president of the Qingdao Chest Hospital are under investigation after six confirmed infections and six asymptomatic cases were linked to the hospital. The new cases are the first local transmissions China had reported in almost two months.

The weekly number of new cases in Europe is now at its highest point since the start of the pandemic, Hans Kluge, the W.H.O.’s director for Europe, said on Thursday. The number of confirmed cases rose by one million to seven million in just 10 days, and the number of daily deaths passed 1,000 for the first time in months. Many European countries are adopting stricter controls, which Dr. Kluge called “absolutely necessary,” as increased caseloads are raising fears of another surge as winter approaches.

India is now struggling with two major health challenges that are both assaulting the respiratory system and peaking at the same time. Coronavirus cases are spreading, putting the country on track to have the largest reported caseload in the world in the coming weeks. It’s also the start of the fall pollution season, and doctors say that if the ambient air suddenly becomes more toxic, as it does every year around this time in northern India, then more people who become infected by the virus might end up in the hospital or die.

After recovering from Covid-19, President Trump said he was now immune to the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump might want to wait a bit before he puts on a Superman T-shirt.

After recovering from Covid-19, Mr. Trump declared that he was now immune to the disease caused by the coronavirus and was said to have talked about wearing a superhero shirt under his dress shirt.

But if Mr. Trump is in fact now immune to the virus, he may not remain so, scientists warn. While reinfection is generally rare, the treatment Mr. Trump received may have prevented his body from making the antibodies necessary for long-term protection. The experimental monoclonal antibodies from the biotech firm Regeneron that Mr. Trump was given are synthetic, and they will most likely wane in a matter of weeks. Unless they are replenished, Mr. Trump may be left more susceptible to the virus than most patients who had Covid-19 and recovered, several experts warned.

There is another wrinkle for the president.

In addition to the monoclonal antibodies he was given, Mr. Trump also received the steroid dexamethasone. That suppresses the body’s natural immune response — including the production of antibodies of its own. (He was also given the antiviral remdesivir.)

“He may be not protected the second time around, especially because he didn’t develop his own antibodies,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University.

During an appearance on Fox Business on Thursday morning, Mr. Trump sounded hoarse and could be heard drinking a beverage between questions.

Asked if he was tested every day, he replied, “I’m not tested, not every day, but I’m tested a lot,” he said.

Given the results of the tests the White House has made available, Mr. Trump, who is appearing — probably maskless — at a town-hall-style event Thursday night, is not likely to transmit the virus to others, experts have said.

Mr. Trump praised the antibody therapy he received, falsely, as being “a cure” — then mused that maybe he would have been better “without taking anything.”

It is impossible to know whether the antibody cocktail or another treatment improved his condition. Although trials for Regeneron’s cocktail are still underway, its early data suggest the treatment can lower hospitalization rates in people who are in the early stages of the disease.

#covid #World

0 notes

djseaward · 7 years ago

Text

a year of life & travels: 2017

today is new year’s day and it’s time for a recap of last year! it was another great year of being based in southwestern czech republic, feeling like home both here and back in my home country (and realizing that “home” is just a construct), and going to some magical places.

let’s revisit them, shall we? i changed the title of this year’s post to “life & travel” because, as i learned last year, travel isn’t everything and it is also important to capture what else was going on in one’s life. although for this post, it still remains the focal point. (don’t worry) so without further ado....

in january, we had the coldest and snowiest month that i have ever experienced with low low temps that froze over all of the ponds in south bohemia. you know what that meant? checking off my life-long dream to ice skate on a frozen pond! i ended up getting a cold promptly after that day, but it was so worth it. now i am too much of an ice skating elitist to ever skate on anything man-made ever again! (kind of joking, but...)

i also cooked a several course vegetarian dinner for burn's night! (why? we are hopeless "scot-ophiles” who love any good excuse to drink an islay malt and celebrate the the works of burns on a cold, dark winter’s night) that veggie haggis was definitely worth coming back to this month... ooh, i hope i can remember the recipe. it was actually make-again delicious.

in early february we took the first of what would be many many days in the big city (prague). we brought ferdie for his first ever trip on a train, he stayed with a dog-sitter while we saw the vaclav havel exhibit at dox, and generally had ourselves a perfect holešovice day, trudging through slush to get to our favorite cafes and enjoying brunch near the marina. (did you know holešovice had a marina?) i feel like i know the district quite better now!

we also had a very memorable valentine's day tea at born in london and i introduced my favorite students to the british tradition of pancake day -- what better than a lesson where you're making pancakes?!

in early march, my mother-in-law came for her first ever trip to europe and we were so excited to travel with her and take her to all the best spots in prague, český krumlov, and crossing the border into germany to visit bamberg! i had been in bamberg ten years ago during my studies in germany and it just does not disappoint for a low-key trip with excellent food and beer and historical sights. we may have brought two kegs and a few bottles of rauchbier home with us....

april first is always a strange day as the weather is usually quite wacky -- sure enough this year it brought our first forays into summer temperatures, if you can believe it. we marked that day by visiting the beautiful terčino údolí right here in south bohemia - a valley full of blooms, trails, a waterfall, and loads of other cool things to explore. we ate schnitzels while sitting on the terrace of a chateau, because we are in europe. and it was grand.

in mid-april for our long easter weekend, we rode the train into the šumava mountains to the train station with the highest elevation in the country! there we spent our time in a cozy mountain-style house, hiking and relaxing. we couldn't believe our little ferdinand walked 22km in one day! i think this trip is when we realized hiking with him (off-leash) is one of our favorite things to do.

glorious may brought beautiful cherry blossoms, garden parties, and outdoor festivals. i spent my birthday in český krumlov, staying the night there for the first time in over ten years and realizing how magical the town is by night... and how we miss out when we go back home to budejovice before dusk falls! it was brilliant to do all those tourist things like take a coffee in the square, walking around with an ice cream, and doing a bit of shopping in shops i don't usually even bother to set foot in. with our sweet accommodation south of the center right on the river (above), i truly never wanted to leave.

we spent a nice day in june in prague's vinohrady and vršovice districts to celebrate our wedding anniversary with the best mexican food in the country and doing all those big city things. sometimes it's just nicer to avoid old town altogether! (although sometimes i do quite the opposite - there's a time for everything)

at the very end of the month, we shrugged off the long spring and school year with a night in mariánské lázně - a beautiful town in the hills of northwest czech republic that is well-known for its spas and hosting many a famous guest over the past hundreds of years. we danced to jazz in the colonnade and took a hike the next day in the rain... because when you only have a limited time in a new place, you're not going to let a little rain dampen your plans!

at the beginning of july, we woke up and found ourselves in karlovy vary again for our fourth film festival. this time we took it way easier than in past years by staying directly in the center of town and felt so extremely spoiled! it was a great festival, albeit a bit cooler in temperature than every other year. when we got back, we stayed for a weekend with friends at a cottage deep in the wilds of sobo (erm, south bohemia) to have a nice rest before summer camp ramped up.

at the end of the month, we bid czechland goodbye and said hello to chicago! what a city -- i planned to do so much and ended up doing none of the things i thought i would, but instead discovered a whole new side which ended up being one of our favorite parts of our united states trip.

we were in michigan at the beginning of august visiting family and attending a wedding before flying to portland and staying with my dear friend, megs. i can't tell you how good it felt to have landed in the northwest after so long! i felt so at home immediately in that airport terminal. we rented a car and took off for central oregon to be based out of bend for the wedding of another dear friend, julie. we floated the deschutes river, visited many local breweries, and just generally enjoyed that central oregon high desert vibe.

the second half of the month was spent back home in washington -- i was so pleased to make it to my brother's birthday party at his new house as well as a family camping trip near mt. baker, much-needed karaoke nights, hikes, and of course, visiting all the beaches and eating seafood whenever possible... i even learned how to shuck an oyster! we enjoyed our time so thoroughly that it was almost as though i forgot i had to leave again...

(but i missed this little guy quite a lot)

the beginning of september was a bit rough going, but there are so many fun things happening right in budejovice that it is hard not to enjoy being in south bohemia. we spent some lovely, lazy afternoons in český krumlov, our first czech wedding, and then at the end of the month took a "wine vacation" to south moravia -- znojmo, to be exact! staying right on the square in a spacious apartment and hiking through podyji national park to a winery was a highlight, as well as checking off another thing on my "life to-do list": drinking wine in a vineyard.

we even moseyed on down into austria for a morning (as it was just across the border from znojmo) and hiked up to a famous windmill as well as toured a huge underground wine cellar. it was a beautiful weekend!

the weather was absolutely gorgeous here in october. we popped off to prague to spend time immersed in the beautiful old town as well as stop at some farmer's markets and get the obligatory annual pumpkin spice latte. we walked to the very end of the street we used to live in (in malá strana) which leads directly up petřín hill -- a fine time of year for a walk amongst the changing colors of the leaves, clear views, and good weather.

november was about "home" in south bohemia if i had to give it a theme -- we focused on home improvement -- we got a new couch, as well as other appreciated upgrades and went to two big dinners: our first st. martin's dinner as well as hosting thanksgiving for the second time.

on the first of december, we found ourselves in prague yet again for a farewell party of the last of our fellow TEFLers still left in the country -- i can't quite believe that we are the last ones still here of our group from five years ago! it was an emotional time but it's was so good to reconnect with our prague buds. i visited some of the christmas markets there including an attempt to visit old town square, but y'all -- the tourist situation is out of control compared to five years ago (when it was still quite heavy). although there is something special about the market there during advent time... i will probably continue to return despite the crowds!

for christmas, as you may have read, we were in southeastern bavaria (near the austrian border) in the heart of the bavarian alps -- a fantastic and memorable time.

the top five most popular posts on adventurings this year...

-- what i've learned about language learning after +4 years-- best tips & tricks!

-- slow pace or rat race? -- reconciling the relaxed south bohemian lifestyle with what i think i “should” be doing

-- back from the usa + 10 things i love about home -- i was a bit homesick, could you tell?

-- the expat's guide to christmas away from home -- so many tried & true tips and ideas here

-- musings on identity and being an american -- what i've made of my national identity after five years away

these happened to also be my favorite posts i have personally written this year. funny, that.

i also posted two delicious recipes: a deliciously autumnal pumpkin miso soup, the perfect springy weekday cake, & i shared my fool-proof meal planning strategy.

so, where will we go in 2018?

i am so excited that we are planning a real, actual vacation this year! not a trip. just a lay by the pool somewhere beautiful, visit wineries, eat bread and cheese from a local market, hike and bike ride through the beautiful countryside... this is likely going to take us to provence, france. i think a week or so of living the provençal life will be just the thing, and perfect timing after the school year finishes. (time to brush up on my non-existent french!)

i am also pleased to say we’re planning to head to berlin for a month this next summer! it will be the longest consecutive time i’ve spent there for ten years, and i’m looking forward to greatly improving my language study (actually being in the country should sure help!) and finally doing some berlin things i haven’t yet managed in the past decade. ‘tis time.

everything else is up in the air, so we’ll see where the year takes us! i feel oddly optimistic and ready for this new year. how are you feeling about it? where are you headed this year? if you have any provence tips, i am really all ears.

thanks for being around this year! i have loved & appreciated your comments, shares, connecting with you elsewhere, and the fact that you are here reading this right now. happy new year!

keep up with me in 2018 on bloglovin, twitter, instagram, or facebook.

this post is part of the january travel link-up.

ps, you might like ‘year of travels’ recaps of past years: 2016, 2015, & 2014.

#yearinreview #travel #newyear #yearoftravel #expatlife #recap #endofyear #czech republic

2 notes · View notes

airlinesreservationsflights-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Things to hold When Heading Towards Houston

In case you're wanting to visit Houston soon, by then make Delta Airlines reservations and visit your favored city. Delta Airlines offers many surprising courses of action to tug in explorers from each fringe of the planet .

While visiting Houston, confirm to see the atmosphere of the town because it changes drastically. As a general rule, it remains sodden. Houston has colossal assortments concerning atmosphere. there'll be the place the sun might be shimmering midtown, and every one the while, the side of the town gets streak flood alerts. Pull out your pieces of clothing and pack as indicated by the atmosphere. Delta Flight Reservations

You can visit the official site of the airplane and book your tickets for Houston. Explorers can in like manner provides a methodology the helpline number of the bearer and complete their booking during a matter of minutes.

What's arising while you're in Houston?

The temperature of Houston reaches out between 60 to 80 degrees for all intents and purposes all year. Whether or not you're wanting to visit beaches in Houston or getting to climb, do little research on the atmosphere and pack cleverly to stay up an important good ways from any issue. Little research would assist you with comprehending what you'll expect in Houston.

Spring in Houston

It is immaculate to go to Houston during spring if you're keen on to try to to outside activities, as an example , climbing, outside, or anything strong. within the significant lot of March, the temperature of the town is neither too hot nor unreasonably cold. there's a night call at temperature. Delta Air Reservations

The temperature fires warming up, and precipitation starts occurring during April and should . Aiding and powerful whirlwinds are properties of the pre-summer months.

If you're wanting to visit Houston in spring, by then pick unobtrusive plans from Delta Airlines. Approach the Delta Airlines reservations telephone number +1 800-874-5921 and choose a fitting game plan that suits your budgetary utmost.

What to pack – Pack any nice, pleasing articles of clothing because the temperature won't be unnecessarily hot and cold. you'll expire dresses, pants, pullovers, shirts, tops, or anything comfortable with you without fear over the temperature. Bring a couple of shoes for more comfort.

Summer in Houston

Endeavor to stay faraway from visiting Houston in summer because the atmosphere are going to be rankling and clammy during this point . July is that the most sultry month of the year. there'll be phenomenal and snappy moving rainstorms, which can add more prominent tenacity to the atmosphere.

What to pack – Bring all lightweight and breathable dress for your comfort. confirm to expire shades, sunscreen, and a few other summer nuts and bolts.

Fall in Houston

The temperature eventually starts to ease off by September. It gets cooler by October. you'll foresee ocean whirlwinds, longer days, storms, and overpowering flooding during this point .

Make Delta Airlines reservations and snatch some tempting plans. Do whatever it takes to not ruin the chance and explore your worth other options.

What to pack – If you're visiting Houston in September or October, pack some agreeable articles of clothing. confirm to select a long-sleeved shirt, sweaters in light of the very fact that the temperature gets colder around already dark .

Winter in Houston

Significant many winters are cold and dry, and therefore the temperature doesn't go down freezing. Foresee ice or snowstorm. February is that the driest, and January is that the coldest month. A journey would be an uncommon idea during these months.

What to pack – Carry your agreeable articles of clothing, as an example , a scarf, pea coat, coat, cardigan, etc for the coldest days to stay you warm.

Fly with the foremost affordable game plans and have a monetary utmost kind outing. Do whatever it takes to not leave behind these courses of action to possess an incomprehensible outing. Make Delta Airlines reservations and fly to your dream objective.

https://airlinesreservationsflights.travel.blog/2020/02/11/about-chicago-the-chicago/

0 notes

go-redgirl · 5 years ago

Photo

2019 Was the Year That Democrats Went Off the RailsCOMMENTARY.

By Frank MieleDecember 30, 2019

Every year at this time, it is incumbent upon us columnists to gird ourselves with chest-high waders and a deluxe trash grabber as we venture back through the muddy waters of another annum in search of significance.

Sometimes, it’s as clear as the pimple on a teenager’s nose. Other times it’s as obscure as the reason why anyone would invest their life savings in blockchain — whatever that is. Usually, it’s a mixed bag. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

For me, I’m going to remember 2019 as the Democrats’ last stand. The party of Thomas Jefferson was given the keys to the nation’s future and told, simply, don’t drive it off the road. Instead, the Democrats honored their Southern roots and decided to go mud bogging! Might have been fun if they had four-wheel drive, but they were stuck with the antique transmission of the Constitution. Voters were sure to notice when the yee-haw Democrats covered them with dirt, ground the gears to dust, and spun the engine into oblivion.

How we got here:

Jan. 3: Democrats took over the Animal House of Representatives and immediately pledged to take down President Trump in the mistaken belief that he is really Dean Vernon Wormer. Nancy Pelosi auditioned for the role of chapter president, but was told she was born to play the John Belushi part of “Bluto,” the pathological sergeant-at-arms. That big nasty gavel sure does make power go to one’s head — and you don’t have to be a good ol’ boy to understand that!

Jan. 15: An apparent messiah complex leads Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to join dozens (hundreds?) of other Democrats offering themselves as the Chosen One to defeat DJT. Political spin doctors warn that the delusion could spread rapidly and, indeed, before the year is half over, it has infected Jay Inslee, Marianne Williamson, John Hickenlooper, Beto O’Rourke, Bill de Blasio, Julian Castro, Steve Bullock and other non-entities. It appears, however, that although non-politicians were for the most part immune, a related condition resulted in uncontrollable laughter whenever two or three people gathered to discuss the state of the Democratic primary.

Jan. 29: Democrats encountered a detour on their road to ruin when “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett claimed to be the victim of a hate crime on the streets of Chicago in the middle of the coldest night of the year. The noose still hanging around his neck when police came to his door later may have seemed like the perfect prop to TV star Smollett, but to everyone else it seemed like a giant neon light shouting, “Give me attention!” Did I say everyone? Oops. Not Democrats, who have mastered the marriage of victimhood and hagiography. To them, St. Jussie was the second coming of Tawana Brawley. Oh, wait. This is getting way too uncomfortable! It’s almost like Democrats specialize in phony attacks and disingenuous outrage. Hmmm. On Feb. 21, Smollett was arrested for filing a false police report, but thanks to a corrupt system in Chicago, he walked away without even a slap on the wrist for his staged hate crime. Did I mention Chicago?

March 22: I know Democrats thought that Robert Mueller was the Easter Bunny, but when he delivered his report on Trump and Russia, it turned out to be a big goose egg. Attorney General Bill Barr tried to warn the nation that there was “no there there,” but we didn’t know he was talking about the space between Mueller’s ears until July 24 when the special counsel testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Turned out that Mueller doesn’t even recognize the name of Fusion GPS, the company that hired Christopher Steele to write the dossier that was behind the entire phony Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy sham. Case closed. But the Democrat conspiracy elves cobbled together a new hoax that was ready to go 24 hours later — the Ukrainian extortion quid pro quo bribery scandal. This time, surely it would be the beginning of the end for that impostor president!

March 25: CNN’s preferred candidate for president, porn-star lawyer Michael Avenatti, is arrested for a real extortion scheme he allegedly plotted against Nike. Over the next month, Avenatti, the darling of the Never Trumpers, would be indicted and charged with north of 40 federal crimes. The presidency would have to wait for a better con man.

April 25: Enter Joe Biden. Ignoring former boss Barack Obama’s wise counsel that “You don’t have to do this, Joe,” Biden commits professional suicide by announcing his candidacy for president, thus ensuring he will leap from comfortable irrelevancy to irrelevant corrupt con-man politician who will eventually have to answer for his bragging about a quid pro quo in Ukraine. Talk about poetic justice!

May 3: Unemployment falls to 3.6% in the United States, the lowest in 49 years. By October, it is down to 3.5%, setting the 50-year record, and jobless numbers for blacks, Latinos and other minorities are at all-time lows. Nor surprisingly, the Democrats blame Trump for the horrible economy because — well — there was nothing else they could do.

June 27: Wait, there actually was something else the Democrats could do. All 10 Democrat candidates in the first presidential primary debate on NBC raised their hands when asked if they would guarantee health-care coverage for illegal aliens. Democrats swooned, but the rest of us just felt sick.

Aug. 24: At their summer convention in San Francisco, the Democrats voted against holding a climate-change presidential debate. Three days later, 16-year-old climate phenom Greta Thunberg arrived in New York City propelled only by her own hot air across the Atlantic from her native Sweden. Told she is too early to appear as a teenage blimp in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, she decides instead to testify at the U.N. on gaseous emissions, of which she has become an expert. Somehow she never gets around to telling the Democrats what she thinks about their decision to sidetrack the climate debate. How dare they!

Aug. 28: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand withdraws from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. LOL.

Sept. 3: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passes a resolution calling the National Rifle Association a “domestic terrorist organization.” In response, the NRA passes its own resolution calling the San Francisco Board of Supervisors “a lime Jell-O salad with marshmallows.” At least that’s what I think they did. Reporting on this is somewhat vague.

Sept. 8: Disgraced former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford announces his primary challenge to President Trump. As part of his doomed bid for attention, Sanford simultaneously announces he will be departing the race on Nov. 12, but because he is not wearing a noose around his neck, the media misses the story altogether.

Sept. 9: The inspector general of the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, draws the short straw and is forced to launch a third unsuccessful coup attempt against President Trump by the CIA involving the “urgent” and “credible” whistleblower complaint that turned out to be “irrelevant” and “partisan” a few days later when President Trump released the consensus transcript of his call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. When will they ever learn? Oh, well, after Trump is reelected, they will have four more years to get their impeachment-coup machine in working order. If at first you fail to smear, try, try again.

Sept. 20: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announces his withdrawal from the presidential race. New Yorkers tremble in fear at the prospect of his return to work.

Sept. 24: In a legacy-building move, Nancy Pelosi announces she will go after the Guinness Book of World Records title for shortest successful impeachment proceeding in history. In a surprise, she also added a last-minute bid to win the title for the impeachment with the least evidence, and Guinness decided to award her that one summarily. As one Guinness judge was overheard to remark about Trump’s call with President Zelensky, “That was a perfect call. How the hell does she impeach with that call? Damn, she’s good.”

Then, in a shocking turn of events, the entire fourth quarter of 2019 was canceled on account of impeachment. Speaker Pelosi, who had been holding the nation hostage since September, is expected to free the impeachment sometime early in 2020, but the nation itself will remain a prisoner throughout most of the year as Pelosi and her henchmen in the media continue to pretend that the other shoe is about to drop, leading to a bombshell revelation that this is the beginning of the end of President Trump, who will nonetheless breeze to reelection on his pledge to Keep America Great and to keep the socialist Democrats at bay.

I, for one, can’t wait for 2020, but it will be hard to top 2019 if you enjoy a good laugh at the expense of liberals.

0 notes

animelow7-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Should you move to Chicago?

Thinking about moving to the Windy City? First off, don’t call it that. Only tourists do. But for background, the nickname refers to our weather and our windbag politicians, although people more often think about the weather when they think of Chicago. Here’s what it’s really like: The winter is brutal and long. The windchill is sometimes as low as minus 40 degrees, but the summers are glorious—that same wind makes it less humid.

Chicago is the third-largest city in the country (behind New York City and Los Angeles), but it’s simple to navigate. Our skyscrapers are concentrated in the downtown area called the Loop, while more residential neighborhoods fan out to the north, south, and west, with Lake Michigan to the east. If you’re coming from a smaller area, Chicago might feel like an easy place to learn the ropes of city living. Plus, affordable living costs and comprehensive, reliable public transit give Chicago a leg up on most other major cities.

We are the birthplace of the skyscraper and have influenced architecture on a global scale. But we also have plenty of nature: The lakefront trail is 18.5 miles long, and we have 600 parks. There are some cons of city living here, though. We have one of the highest tax rates in the country, crippling state debt, significant segregation, and concentrated areas of deadly gun violence.

To help you make your decision about whether to move to Chicago, below are 18 things you should know about living here.

1. We’re not second rate.

In addition to being known as the Windy City, Chicago is also called the Second City, but that doesn’t mean we’re not as good as other metropolitans. Some say the moniker refers to our population size, which was growing rapidly in the late 19th century and, at one point, came close to New York City’s. It could have also been made up by malicious New Yorkers when the two cities were competing against each other to host a World’s Fair. Regardless, the name stuck after a writer for the New Yorker, who hated the city, published, in 1952, a book about Chicago called The Second City. Chicagoans hated the book, and a few years after it came out, Second City improv reclaimed the nickname by using it for its nationally renowned comedy spot.

Don’t let a misguided stereotype color your perception of the city—Chicago is a leading city in so many ways. We are the birthplace of gospel music, improv comedy, and the skyscraper. Our city was the first to honor and recognize the LGBTQ community in its streetscape, doing so with rainbow pylons in Boystown. And we rank nationally as one of the best sports cities, restaurant destinations, and places to bike.

2. You can get anywhere in the city–on time–for $3.

No nightmare commutes here. Unlike in NYC and LA, you can easily get across town on time on a train or bus. Our subway is called the L, which comes from train cars running on elevated tracks. All L trains stop downtown in the Loop, where many people work.

Beyond that, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has eight train lines and 140 bus routes that run often and on schedule. It’s cheap, too. A single pass costs $2.50, and a transfer to another train line or bus is just a quarter more. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel boasted about our transit frequently, citing near-perfect stats for on-schedule trains and buses. His administration invested more than $8 billion into transit and upgraded older stations, like the Red Line’s 95th Street terminal and the Blue Line’s Belmont Gateway.

You might even find yourself wishing for a delay, since about 70 percent of transit stations have significant architecture or art installations. But the ride’s nice too: Being above-ground lets you peer down at backyard chicken coops or watch the busy LaSalle Street bridge as you cross the Chicago River.

Our transit is reliable, but that doesn’t mean we’d advise a daily commute from one end of the city to the other. There aren’t many east-west train lines, and Chicagoans often complain about long trips if they have to transfer to trains or buses. Another grievance is that the Red Line, which ends at 95th Street, doesn’t reach neighborhoods on the Far South Side.

3. Midwestern niceness is real.

Moving to the Midwest is like joining a club that wants you as a member. No one will shove you out of the way when they are in a rush. You can ask for directions, get a thorough answer, and not feel like you’ve annoyed the person you asked. If you take the L long enough, chances are you’ll run into that happy morning conductor who announces the day’s forecast, graciously explains delays, and sings “good morning” as you step off the car. All of the niceness adds up to a kind of camaraderie that makes it easier to get through the day together.

4. Discover a world in a city

You might be surprised to learn that Chicago is incredibly global and diverse. We have 28 sister cities, an initiative that was launched by former Mayor Richard M. Daley, to grow global business relationships and exchange cultures through educational programs. And the neighborhoods reflect the communities that built them: Pilsen’s Mexican food and murals, arts programming at the American Indian Center, stunning Northwest Side Polish-style cathedrals, the Stony Island Arts Bank’s archive of black culture and records in South Shore, Vietnamese noodle shops on Argyle Street, and Indian and Pakistani restaurants on Devon Avenue. If you want to learn more, we have 40 cultural heritage museums, and there are plenty of city organizations that regularly have film screenings, art shows, and history exhibits about various cultures.

5. Chicago is extremely walkable, and it’s hard to get lost.

We are a walker’s paradise! The terrain is flat and sidewalks are pristine. Plus, our easy-to-follow street grid makes navigation straightforward. The intersection of State Street and Madison Street is known as “zero, zero”—everything is calculated based on that. All addresses to the east or west of State are labeled according to if they fall east or west, and all addresses to the north or south of Madison are labeled if they fall north or south. The address numbers increase depending on their distance in miles from “zero, zero,” and there are about eight blocks to a mile, so something in the 800 block is about a mile away.

There are also plenty of places to walk other than the sidewalk. The 606, a former elevated rail line and now linear park, begins in Bucktown. Downtown, there’s the vibrant Riverwalk. The Lakeview Low-Line turned space underneath the L tracks into an artwalk, and the Burnham Wildlife Corridor in Oakland has miles of trails and art installations. And more is coming: A planned trail along the North Branch of the river near Irving Park, 312RiverRun, will have the longest pedestrian bridge in the city, and Pilsen’s Paseo Trail will transform four miles of an old railroad corridor into a linear park.

6. Biking is part of the culture.

Chicago is a great city for biking—there are over 248 miles of protected and conventional bike lanes, such as the one on Milwaukee Avenue, which gets flooded with cyclists during rush hours (and is called the “hipster highway” because of this). Even if you don’t have a bike, Divvy bike share provides 6,000 bikes at 570 docking stations. A single, 30-minute bike-share ride is just $3.

When it snows, major streets are cleared, but bike lanes often aren’t. But, while it’s not the easiest winter ride, bikers are still out pedaling. In 2018, on the coldest day in 34 years, when the temperature was minus 23, 191 people traveled on Divvy bikes. There’s just something about riding in subzero degree weather and seeing a fellow biker. It’s an instant connection, even just in passing.

7. Chicago’s violence isn’t always conveyed accurately in media.

Crime and violence in Chicago is a very complicated—and for many Chicagoans, very personal—issue that goes well beyond often misguided and overhyped stories in the media and national news. In 2016, there was a concerning spike in the city’s homicide rate. However, the following two years saw double-digit declines in homicides and shootings. Like every major city, Chicago has a difficult and painful history of redlining, segregation, disinvestment, and police brutality and abuse. It also has neighborhoods, especially on the city’s South and West sides, such as West Garfield Park and Englewood, that have been disproportionately impacted by the legacy of those problems. Racial oppression and concentrated poverty are more important factors to address than gangs, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study on the city’s crime patterns and violence prevention. It found nearly 40 percent of Chicago residents live in areas with chronic and concentrated joblessness and poverty, a figure higher here than it is in NYC or LA. Historically, Chicago has prioritized policing over neighborhood investment. However, that strategy is starting to shift as organizations like Mothers Against Senseless Killings, Kids Off the Block, and Chicago CRED create neighborhood watches, start sports leagues, and find kids summer jobs.

8. Winter is long and brutal, but it brings Chicagoans together.

Winter doesn’t mean months spent indoors as long as you get a good coat: Most Chicagoans wear a style that looks like a sleeping bag with a hood. The weather is unpredictable, and winter is rarely over when you think it is, so it’s better to just prepare and accept it. Subzero temperatures for 52 straight hours? Fine! A snowstorm immediately followed by a sunny, warm day in April? Sure. Fifty degrees in February? We’ll take it.

No matter how cold it is, our city has tons to do. Wintertime events include Pitchfork’s Midwinter music festival, beer fests in heated tents, Lincoln Park Zoo’s festive light display, the wooden German market stalls of Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza, and even a polar plunge into Lake Michigan. One long-held tradition sure to entertain is Dibs season. After a big snow, Chicagoans populate their shoveled-out street-parking spots with foldable lawn chairs, inflatable pools, vacuums, traffic cones and even the occasional recliner and end table.

9. And actually, the winter is beautiful.

On average, the city sees about 36 inches of snow a year. Our first snowfall usually happens in November, and then, there’s silence. In the stillness, all you can hear is the squeak of your boots on the snow. When there’s freezing rain, it coats everything in a layer of ice, which makes the trees look white instead of dark and dormant. The ice sticks like powdered sugar to even the tiniest branches. As winter progresses, the wind, waves, and low temperatures create eerie ice art on lakefront. All along the shoreline, tree branches turn into “crystal” chandeliers and bushes become globs of ice. Benches, light poles, and piers look like they’ve been carved out of ice too.

10. The city bursts with energy during the summer.

No one takes a summer day for granted. If the weather is warm (Chicagoans think 50 degrees is shorts weather), people will be at a park, a beach, or a neighborhood festival.

The Park District goes all out—it hosts hundreds of outdoor movies, concerts, yoga classes, volleyball leagues, stargazing walks, summer camps, fishing at Northerly Island, migratory bird watching, and plant sales. Tour de Fat celebrates bikes and beer, opening day for the Cubs and Sox is like a holiday, and there are endless music festivals (Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, Chicago Jazz Festival, and Riot Fest, to name a few). The beaches and outdoor public pools are packed, and the Lakefront Trail is a constant stream of runners and cyclists.

11. Our city lives for its sports teams and players.

Chicago has eight major league sports teams: the Cubs and White Sox (baseball), the Bulls and Chicago Sky (basketball), the Blackhawks (hockey), the Bears (football), and the Chicago Fire and Chicago Red Stars (soccer). If you’re into college sports, there’s Northwestern University, DePaul, Loyola, Chicago State, and UIC. Plus, the Chicago Marathon happens every fall.

It’s exciting to follow sports in a city with diehard fans, even if you’re not one. When the Bulls were on a hot streak in the ’90s, everyone talked about Michael Jordan and wanted to “be like Mike.” The Blackhawks won Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013, and 2015—the victories brought millions to the celebration rallies, where fans danced to the team’s “Chelsea Dagger” song. When the Cubs won the World Series in 2016, thousands of fans swarmed the streets around Wrigley Field to celebrate the end of the longest championship drought in professional sports. And for weeks afterwards, fans lined up for merchandise at Wrigleyville stores (a record $70 million in retail was sold in the first 24 hours after the win), and the championship parade was the seventh-largest gathering in human history.

But if you’re not enthusiastic about gamedays, don’t live in Wrigleyville, which is home to Wrigley Field and, really, the center of the city’s sports culture. Thousands come to the neighborhood to watch the Cubs and revel at the local bars and restaurants. Avoid the areas around Soldier Field, the United Center, Guaranteed Rate Field, and Wintrust Arena, too.

12. There’s always something free to do.

The city has thousands of events, activities, and places you can go to for free. If you’re an Illinois resident, there are designated days when museums, including the Art Institute and Shedd Aquarium, waive admission costs. The Lincoln Park Zoo, National Museum of Mexican Art, Garfield Park Conservatory, and Cultural Center are free every day. The iO Theater, known for improv, has free weekly performances. The Park District started a series of programming called Night Out in the Parks with thousands of free events in every neighborhood, like movie screenings, theater and dance performances, circuses, yoga classes, and nature walks.

13. We love pizza and hot dogs, but our restaurants have Michelin Stars too.

Outsiders believe our contribution to the dining scene begins and ends with the Chicago-style hot dog and deep-dish pizza. And we do love those staples. Go ahead and try an all-beef dog in a poppyseed bun topped with diced onions, sweet relish, tomato wedges, a pickle spear, spicy sport peppers, celery salt, and mustard. Or get down with a thick slice of cheesy deep dish with a buttery crust. But know that our food scene doesn’t end there.

We have famous tavern-style thin-crust pizza, chicken-fried steak, jibaritos, and Italian beef sandwiches. Chicago is a beer city, but we have a decent reputation when it comes to cocktails too. We’re a city of immigrants, so our global food is also worth checking out—go to Pilsen for Mexican cuisine, Devon Avenue for Indian and Pakastani, and Argyle Street for Vietnamese. To get started, take a look at Eater’s guide to Chicago food.

You should also know we’re home to the James Beard Awards—the Oscars of food. It’ll be held at the Lyric Opera through 2027 and has helped distinguish Chicago as a dining city. Bon Appetit voted Chicago the best restaurant city of the year in 2017, and our restaurants have earned 22 Michelin stars.

14. You can find a home for cheaper than you can in other major cities.

Compared to major coastal cities, you can generally get more space for less money. The median rent for a one-bedroom is $1,821, and a two-bedroom is $2,189. Rent might drop even further as more people buy homes (data suggests homeownership is increasing), a good thing, since rent is currently at a historic high. However, affordable housing for low-income renters is shrinking, and research shows that might be causing people to leave the city, according to a recent report.

If you’re looking to buy a home, the median sale price for a house is $260,000 and properties are spending less time on the market compared to last year. Millennials are the least likely to buy, but in Chicago, 31 percent of millennials own their homes, and the median age for first time homebuyers is 34.

15. It’s easy to find nature in the city.

Chicago’s lakefront is beautiful, but you don’t need to live near it to experience the city’s greenery. There are 600 parks, 70 nature and bird sanctuaries, and a total of 8,800 acres of green space. Chicago has a long history of making the city greener, and even committed to making sure every child was within a 10-minute walk of a park or playground. In the last eight years, the Park District has built or improved more than 1,000 acres of parkland and 377 playgrounds.

Some areas along the Chicago River have been transformed from industrial to recreational with projects like Wild Mile, 312 RiverRun, and Ping Tom Memorial Park. Plus, all around the city, old rail tracks are being turned into vibrant linear parks, like the 606 and the forthcoming Paseo Trail. Our parks have bird sanctuaries, nature preserves, walking paths, art installations, historic fieldhouses, conservatories, and even outdoor pools.

16. Living here will give you an education in architecture.

Chicago embraces its architectural history and is home to major players that shape design conversations. In 2015, the city launched a massive, three-month Chicago Architecture Biennial. The global architecture festival, soon beginning a third edition, invites practitioners and the public to engage in the field’s future through citywide exhibitions and programming. Another architecture festival unlocks the city’s sacred spaces, private mansions, and grand halls: For a weekend, the Chicago Architecture Center’s Open House gives visitors access to hundreds of sites rarely open to the public.

Getting to know Chicago through its buildings is like taking a course in architecture. The skyline is iconic, and is not only home to the first skyscraper, but also the country’s tallest skyscraper (if we’re ignoring One World Trade Center’s controversial symbolic spire). In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire burned down the city and turned it into a blank canvas for ambitious architects, including those who developed the first steel-framed high-rise, which led to the construction of skyscrapers today. Witness the works of Daniel Burnham, Holabird & Roche, Louis Sullivan, Dankmar Adler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, as well as new visionaries like Jeanne Gang, who just landed on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people.

Our residential architecture throughout the city is fascinating too—check out the beautiful, castle-like greystones, the modest workers’ cottages, Chicago-style bungalows, the Bohemian Baroque craftsmanship in Pilsen, the Prairie School-style homes in Oak Park, and Victorian-era mansions on Beer Baron Row in Wicker Park. Each building reflects a part of Chicago history.

17. Travel to either coast is quick.

It’s easy to fly to anywhere in the contiguous U.S. when your homebase is Chicago. There are two major airports: Midway International and O’Hare International, which is the busiest airport in the country when ranked by the number of planes flying in and out each day. And more than 105 million passengers passed through both our airports last year. So if you need to get somewhere, there’s definitely a flight. Or a train! Amtrak runs out of Union Station and is the busiest hub in the Midwest.

18. It can be easy to find your place in Chicago.

Like so many other major cities, Chicago has its challenges. But spend time here and you’ll start to see why Chicagoans love their city: the clear and open lakefront, affordability, and abundant transportation options. Each neighborhood has something to love, from historic theaters to community gardens to baseball stadiums. There are secrets to discover that make living here fun—like where the chocolate-scented air comes from in River North, how to find the tamale man in Logan Square, and what part of Jackson Park has a cherry blossom grove. Chicagoans have a kinship that makes winter survivable and summer incredible, and that you’re welcome to be part of too. If you embrace Chicago, it will love you back.

Source: https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/6/5/18644825/move-to-chicago-guide-advice

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

0 notes