Monday Musings - October 19, 2020

 

1. It is the third Monday of October and the month is quickly slipping into November. Daylight Saving Time ends in less than two weeks on November 1st, marking the official beginning of the dark season.

Maple Tree on Karas Walk
Elkridge, MD
October 17, 2020

2. Autumn is on full display. Colorful trees and  blue, clear skies adorn the roadways and paths we travel. Enjoy the scenery, it is days like these that take the sting out of the coming season.

3. There are 15 days until Election Day. If you have not yet, Vote! 

4. From United Steel Workers tweet as reported on Fox News:

Sing along:

Take me out to the ballot box, Take me out to the polls. Get me my sticker so I can ‘gram, I won’t stand for their suppression scams. For it’s root, root, root for @JoeBiden, If we don’t win we‘re all doomed. ‘Cause in 1-2...17 more days, We can save the USA!

5. Did you see on the news that Armenia and Azerbaijan are at war? No, probably not. A violent conflict which has drawn the attention of much of the world is not getting much press here in America. See some headlines below.

6. An editorial in the New York Times, written by the Editorial Board of the New York Times, makes the following assertion about the president: Mr. Trump is a man of no integrity. He has repeatedly violated his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Now, in this moment of peril, it falls to the American people — even those who would prefer a Republican president — to preserve, protect and defend the United States by voting.

7. Family NFL results:

     Ravens (5-1) defeat Eagles (1-4-1) 30-28
     Football Team (1-5) loses to Giants (1-5) 29-30
     Steelers (5-0) destroy Browns (4-2) 38-7
     Cowboys (2-3) play Cardinals (3-2) tonight

8. History Today. October 19, 1781, Hopelessly trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a larger Franco-American force, effectively bringing an end to the American Revolution.

Lord Cornwallis was one of the most capable British generals of the American Revolution. In 1776, he drove General George Washington’s Patriots forces out of New Jersey, and in 1780 he won a stunning victory over General Horatio Gates’ Patriot army at Camden, South Carolina. Cornwallis’ subsequent invasion of North Carolina was less successful, however, and in April 1781 he led his weary and battered troops toward the Virginia coast, where he could maintain seaborne lines of communication with the large British army of General Henry Clinton in New York City. After conducting a series of raids against towns and plantations in Virginia, Cornwallis settled in the tidewater town of Yorktown in August. The British immediately began fortifying the town and the adjacent promontory of Gloucester Point across the York River.

Trump Runs the Kind of Campaign He Likes, but Not the One He Might Need - The New York Times

On the Front Lines of a Brutal War: Death and Despair in Nagorno-Karabakh - The New York Times

Remdesivir Fails to Prevent Covid-19 Deaths in Huge Trial - The New York Times

Ending the filibuster is about to be more important than ever - The Washington Post

ISIS attacks surge in Africa even as Trump boasts of a ‘100-percent’-defeated caliphate - The Washington Post

United Steelworkers shine 'bat signal' on Trump Tower in Chicago - Fox News

Only 2 states trending in the right direction - CNN

Italy unveils new COVID-19 restrictions as daily infections climb - Reuters

Armenia and Azerbaijan truce breaks down within hours - Reuters

Ronald Reagan Quote for the Week

“If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.” 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD