Weekend Edition
BUENOS DÍAS good
Thursday morning.
We made it this far, been a tough
few days as described by our blog title this week.
Likely just a matter of days (if
that) for Democratic nominee Joe Biden to hit the 270 electoral votes he needs
to oust President Donald Trump from the White House. The former vice president
sat at 264 early on Thursday needing only Pennsylvania, Georgia or Nevada to
tip his way to become the 46th President of the United States.
The Trump campaign filed lawsuits
to fight the results in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia and is pursuing a
recount in Wisconsin. But thus far there is no indication of anything unusual
happening beyond counting all the votes. So it’s not likely the suits or
recounts will change the results. Control of the Senate remains likely to stay
with Republicans though results in Georgia could change that if Democrats can
force a pair of runoffs and win them.
Wall Street celebrated a turn
back to quasi-certainty at the presidential level on Wednesday though stocks
didn’t quite sustain some of their big jumps early in the day. It remains a
somewhat confusing time for investors given it’s now unclear how big a stimulus
deal a potential President Biden might be able to cut with Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell should the GOP hold the chamber.
Still, while Wall Street was
fairly bullish on the “blue wave” narrative, plenty of traders and executives
also like the idea of a check on Biden’s more progressive instincts. And a GOP
Senate would likely require more moderate nominees, though progressives would
like to see Biden simply use the Vacancies Act and bypass McConnell. That’s not
really Biden’s style, so market comfort with split control is not super
surprising, though it wasn’t the best case scenario.
Biden sets the record: Mr. Biden broke the record for the most number
of votes cast for any president in history … The Democratic presidential
nominee surpassed 70.33 million votes as of 2:38 p.m. … Biden's total shatters
a previous record for the most votes cast for a president set by Democrat
Barack Obama in 2008, with nearly 69.5 million votes, according to the Federal
Election Commission.
One of the big things that may
end up playing a smaller role than expected is the administration's handling of
the pandemic. In short, voters seemingly saw a dichotomy between the economy
and the public health response to the virus — and where they stood on that
divide fell along deeply partisan lines. Republican voters overwhelmingly
wanted the economy to restart — something Trump has long been advocating for —
more than they wanted to see the virus controlled. They also viewed the economy
as a key issue, more so than the pandemic, when deciding who to support. Exit
polls suggest significant polarization about the pandemic and its economic
fallout. This may be the saddest part of the election and the campaign and the
Trump era. The politicization of something we all should be working together to
solve.
The most desirable outcome (in
this writer’s opinion) looks like this: Mr. Biden is elected POTUS; the Senate
remains in GOP control, but by a narrower margin; the House maintains its
current Democratic majority. Then the Senate would be able to put the brakes of
moderation on any extreme House measures, while President Biden could
concentrate his efforts on managing the pandemic and restoring relations with
our allies. VP Harris could focus her attention on improving the ACA
(Affordable Care Act) with much needed fixes and building collegiality in
Congress.
We shall see.
NUMBERS –
$14 billion
the amount of money spent on this 2020 campaign by local, state, and national
candidates. Really?
61.9%, 50.8%, 31.3%
television
ratings decline from 2019 for NHL, NBA, MLB.
100,000 new
coronavirus cases yesterday (Wednesday) in America. 20% increase from last
week: the states with the greatest growth – Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Maine,
and Kansas.
56.9 million
people watched coverage over 21 networks during primetime hours Tuesday, down
sharply from the 71.4 million viewers on election night in 2016. Fox News led
with 13.6 million viewers, followed by CNN (9.1 million) and MSNBC (7.3
million). The broadcast networks — ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox — followed in that
order.
16 hours,
the number of hours John King of CNN was on the air the last two days updating
us on the electoral map (the “magic wall”).
16.5 my USGA
handicap index, one word: hapless.
51% to 43%, the
margin of victory for Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) (St. Lawrence ’75) the
hardest-fought race of her career, turning back a challenge by Democrat Sara
Gideon and surviving to serve a fifth term.
33 pro sports venues were open as polling locations on Election Day, offering voters a more socially-distanced option to cast their ballots.
Venues by state: California (8),
Texas (5), D.C. (3), Arizona (2), Indiana (2), New York (2), Maryland (2),
Missouri (1), Colorado (1), Washington (1), Wisconsin (1), Pennsylvania (1),
New Jersey (1), Ohio (1), Illinois (1), Utah (1).
Venues by league: NBA (14), NHL
(10), NFL (9), WNBA (5), MLB (4), MLS (2), NWSL (1).
0 number of
responses after numerous emails and telephone messages to colleagues who this
writer is supposedly working with this fall semester to help student’s value their education.
TOP FIVE SONGS THIS WEEK ON LEOFM
– Student
radio station University of La Verne
1). “Bad Guy”, Billie Eilish
2). “Watermelon Sugar”, Harry Styles
3). “Blueberry Faygo”. Lil Mosey
4). “Rockstar”, Roddy Ricch
5). “Like That”, Gucci Mane
BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK – Birthday
wishes and thoughts this week to Sally Field (74), David Kung ….famous supply
chain Professor, Linda Gordon …the voice of reason, Kris Jenner (65), Maria
Shriver (65).
COCKTAIL: APPLE CIDER –
Many of our cocktail recipes are
based on standard great cocktail recipes that have stood the test of time, like
the whiskey sour or Manhattan. But when it comes to an apple cider cocktail:
everyone has their own idea on how to make cider shine in a mixed drink! Our
goal here was simple: create a drink that’s interesting and complex, not too
sweet, that highlights apple cider and gives the drinker all the cozy feelings
of fall and winter. We think it hits the mark! (And we’d love to know if you
agree.) Here are the ingredients in an apple cider cocktail:
Apple cider
Bourbon
Sweet vermouth
Lemon juice
Orange bitters
Stir together all ingredients in
a cocktail mixing glass. This is a classic “stirred” cocktail where you stir
the ingredients together instead of shaking them. Shaking dilutes the drink
with ice, which would water it down too much.
Strain and garnish. Strain the
drink into a stemmed cocktail glass. You can also get away with this drink in a
low ball glass, if you’d like! Note that it’s meant to be served without ice.
Don’t have a mixing glass? Use
any glass or container you like to mix the drink, then strain it into the
serving glass. Or, grab yourself a cocktail mixing glass. (Plus, it just looks
cool.)
Serving this apple cider cocktail
in a casual setting? Don’t worry about a garnish! But if you’re serving it for
a festive occasion, it’s all about the presentation. Here’s what to know:
Cut apples can brown, so spritz
them with a little lemon juice. Cut apple slices can start to brown when
exposed to air. To combat this, spritz them with a little acid: lemon juice is
perfect. (Plus, you already have a lemon open.)
Fresh herbs are fun, but not
required. A sprig of thyme looks lovely: rosemary would also look nice!
I’m parched, cheers!
SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –
NFL Football Pick of the Week – Sunday
11/8, 1:00 PM (ET), Fox: Seattle Seahawks (6-1) at Buffalo Bills (6-2), two
wannabe conference powers. We shall see, Seattle does not travel well, Buffalo’s
QB Josh Allen is overrated – the pick: Bills win in the cold 24 - 20. (Season
to date 6-2)
College Football Pick of the Week – Saturday
11/7, 7:30 PM (ET), NBC: #1 Clemson Tigers (6-0) visit #4 University of Notre Dame
Fighting Irish. Tough to think this is an ACC conference game. Trevor Lawrence
will not be at QB for Clemson, no big deal, Tigers win over the Bailey Irish
Creams 30 – 20. (Season to Date 4-4).
Breeder’s Cup Classic – Saturday
11/7, 5:13 PM (ET), NBC: the $6,000,000 final big race of 2020, we like this
trifecta 1). Maximum Security (Baffert), 2). Improbable (Baffert), 3). Tom’s De’Etat
(Stall). Remember bet with your head, not over it.
Soccer (football) Pick of the Week –
Saturday 11/7, 4:30 AM (PT), NBCSN: EPL – Everton Blues (4-1-2) vs. Manchester
United Red Devils (2-1-3), time for the Red Devils to start playing quality
football. They win at Old Trafford stadium, 3 – 1. (Season to Date 3-2)
2020 Season to Date (27 – 19)
Have a safe, healthy, fun weekend!
Next Blog: Fall recipes
Until Monday November 9, 2020 Adios.
Claremont, California
November 5, 2020
#XI-15-421
1,662 words, four-minute read
CARTOON OF THE WEEKEND – My
week
RINK RATS POLL – Anyone know what these
mean?
CDPSE, PMP, CISM, CRISC, ITILv3F, MCSE, CGEIT
___ Nope
___ Secret Russian code to influence the November 3 election
___ Professional affiliations of an overpaid bureaucrat
___ Houston Astro’s sign stealing logarithms
QUOTE OF THE MONTH – "Let
us not despair but act. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic
answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let
us accept our own responsibility for the future.” ----- John F. Kennedy
Rink Rats is a blog
of weekly observations, predictions and commentary. We welcome your comments
and questions. Also participate in our monthly poll. Rink Rats is now viewed in
Europe, Canada, South America and the United States.
Posted at Rink Rats The Blog: First Published – May 3, 2010
Our Eleventh Year.
www.rhasserinkrats.blogspot.com
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