A new feature at a food store – Christmas lights – North Korea – Trump’s flailing attempts to hold onto power – Evening statistics
When shopping today at H-Mart I came across a machine that took one’s temperature at the store’s entrance. There was a sign stating that getting a temperature scan was mandatory for entering the store’s aisles, but the scanner itself was easy to overlook and no one was monitoring the area to ascertain whether shoppers entering the store were actually using it. I certainly have no objection to getting a scan; the scanners are less troublesome than mouth-thermometers and using them is a convenient way of being reassured that one’s internal temperature is normal (or alternatively, of getting notified that it is awry before symptoms start to declare themselves). This is the first time that I’ve seen one installed at any store. How common this practice is I do not know. In all probability it will become more widespread during the winter, since the number of COVID cases is bound to surge as a result of the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year celebrations.
One (literally) bright side about the days becoming shorter is that Christmas lights have already started to go up. Normally people wait at least a few days after Thanksgiving, but it may be that this year people have more time on their hands. At all events, several houses on my block are displaying colorful lights from 5:00 onwards.
The numerous colors certainly provide variety, but I cannot help recalling the Christmas I spent long ago in Denmark (in 1966, to be exact), where all of the Christmas lights were uniformly white, and the effect was simply dazzling. I do not know whether that is still the case today or whether the Danes are now using colored lights just as we are. I suspect that they have succumbed to the use of multi-colored lights, but if so I think it rather a pity. Sometimes the more limited palette makes the better effect artistically.
Although North Korea has yet to disclose the extent to which the virus is prevalent within its borders, it is tacitly admitting that COVID is a genuine threat. Pyongyang has been locked down and Kim Jong Un has ordered overseas diplomats to not engage in any actions that could provoke the United States amid the transition to the Biden administration. The border with China has already been closed, with significant effect on the North Korean economy (and not for the better, needless to say), and now Kim has also, rather curiously, imposed a restriction on fishing at sea, on the grounds of preventing seawater from being infected with the virus. There have also been at least two executions, one of an official who violated the border lockdown and engaged in smuggling Chinese goods, and the other of a well-known money-changer, who was charged with contributing to North Korea’s plummeting exchange rate.
Trump has now publicly stated that he will concede if the Electoral College results confirm Biden’s victory. His attempts to upset the election results have had remarkably little effect. For instance, the U. S. Third Circuit’s judge panel has unanimously rejected the appeal for lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania that challenged the state’s outcome, and in satisfying blunt terms: “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.” It concluded with the inspiriting words, “Voters, not lawyers, choose the President. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections.”
Trump continues to threaten yet more lawsuits. It is unclear what he expects to gain from such maneuvers. Not a single lawsuit filed by Trump to date has had a successful outcome. So far over 40 lawsuits in all have been filed, of which at least 23 have been dismissed, denied, or withdrawn. The others are still active, but the amount of votes each one of these challenges is relatively small and cannot affect the overall results of any of the states in which they are filed. In any case, they may get tossed out as well.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 61,956,870; # of deaths worldwide: 1,448,183; # of cases U.S.: 13,450,712; # of deaths; U.S.: 271,025. Our death toll from the COVID virus to date is now 817 per million of our population. The overall global average is 186 per million. An inhabitant of our happy land is thus more than four times as likely to die from the virus than the average overall.