Notices by Minoru Saba (minorusaba@toad.social)

Infection status
Released Nov 8, 2024.
- As of period from Oct 28 - Nov 3, 2024 -

No. of patients per medical facility (nationwide) 1.57
Change from prev. week -0.12
[Source: Health-Labor-Welfare Ministry weekly report]
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001327920.pdf
🔸Probably reaching end of 11th wave.
Saga at 0.44, Tokyo at 1.09, Akita at 3.61, Hokkaido at 3.34, Okinawa at 1.16.

#Influenza (nationwide) at 1.04. MHLW declares start of flu season.
#Okinawa at 10.64!!
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/001328397.pdf
#CovidIsNotOver #Japan

@Npars01 and I'm saying they are too stupid to make any of it work. When they deport everyone that does the manual labor in this country, then what? You don't think MAGA is going to pick fruit or work at McDonald's do you?

Watch and see. They "want" to do a lot, but per usual do not have the critical thinking skills to see beyond their hate. They think they will just bus everyone they hate to the border and kick them out, turn and drive away, and be done with it.

I am betting on many mistakes happening and when they meet resistance even more mistakes will happen. We can take this country back.

It seems to me that MAGA depends on having an establishment “enemy.” So now that they ARE the establishment, I kind of feel like letting them be: not protesting, just letting them lead, and letting them live with the distastrous consequences of their policies. If it wasn’t so inhuman—even deadly for some—it would be a great idea. So the challenge is how to protect the vulnerable while making the perpetrators live with the horrendous effects of their actions in their faces.
#maga #trump

Impossible to overstate the gravity of the situation. We are not going back--to anything normal.

A big part of me wanted to just stay in bed this morning. I forced myself to get up, get dressed, and go out and run errands and be around other people for a bit. It wasn't a magical fix, but it did help. It reminded me that as horribly flawed as things are, there's also a community out there.

"Ishiba, who became prime minister on Oct. 1, told reporters at his office, ”I got the impression” that Trump is ”friendly” and a person who ”I can speak honestly with.” "
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20241107/p2g/00m/0na/016000c

🔸Was reminded that Margaret Thatcher hailed the talks with Mikhail Gorbachev as "deep" and "very friendly" in April 1989, but can't help feeling that in Ishiba's case it was more of a forelock-tugging exercise & many a hairball was coughed up after the event
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62729200
#Japan #geopolitics

I keep hearing Right commentators trying to downplay some of Trump's rhetoric by saying we should ignore what he said during the campaign & see how he actually governs....

Well, I think that's an interesting point & certainly I'm waiting to see how it all plays out... but equally for those who are diminishing the risks of a Trump term by implying he'll be more moderate in power.... this is a position that will likely collapse on contact with January's reality.

But, time will tell.....

#trump

Vergeet inflatie en Biden had eerder moeten opstappen. De kern is, een ezel stoot zich geen twee keer aan dezelfde steen. Wie deze polariserende, intentioneel disruptieve politiek een tweede keer het Witte Huis instemt is dom, onverschillig of kwaadaardig. Mensen willen Trump. Ze geven alleen om democratie in zoverre ze anderen er met hun stemrecht mee kunnen beschadigen. Het is angstaanjagend.

I do have one request.

After this election is over, if you are still on X, please get off it.

As an account holder on that platform, you are materially supporting a man who took a SM platform and turned it into the world's largest propaganda machine for fascism.

I've been really understanding until now, but I think it is impossible to claim you can stay on it ethically.

It's like belonging to the Nazi party because it's fun. #GetOffX

I stupidly made a hair appointment this morning with a hairdresser I don't know well, and I find myself worrying about whether she's a safe person to talk to.

And I'm so sorry for all the people today for whom that is a much more real and serious problem.

#uspol

Visited USA just after graduation so many decades ago.
Was astounded to see potholed roads in DC, the contrast between Bowery & 5th Ave in New York, Philly slums & the Liberty Bell.
Didn't understand the ragged state of the wealthiest nation on the planet then.
Loathing of long-haul flights has meant overseas travel hasn't featured on the bucket list, but a return visit to USA has now definitely kicked the bucket for the foreseeable future.
Hoping #Japan doesn't doggedly follow USA's lead.😓

I am not hopeful. I am quite sad.

Elon Musk essentially bought the election when he bought Twitter.

Journalists could have left Twitter, and had it go the way of MySpace. Instead, they continued to legitimize it, thereby giving it life.

For the next four years, decentralized social media will be needed – if only as an alternative to the faux-progressive media that seek to control the public square.

The world is becoming more and more authoritarian, and we need an antidote.

@Ruth_Mottram

Personally I have no contingency plan in front of me, because this is not a deviation from the trajectory I expected.

Democracy only flourished X the costs of broad increases in standard of living could be externalized (ie: conquests, colonies, slaves, overfishing, pollution etc).

(I'm not sure if 'X' is "because" or "while" and that is only of academic interest anyway.)

In other words: Democracy seems to be a luxury item.

1/2

@KimPerales And he ain’t deporting anyone, as most of his base can’t work in temperatures over 70 degrees Fahrenheit… So they have no one to do those jobs. Unless his boy toy, nerd friend Musk, was able to use AI to do something other than to operate vehicles…

"Trump will begin operations to deport millions of undocumented immigrants when he starts his term, campaign press sec Karoline Leavitt said Wed morning.

He'll launch the "largest mass deportation operation" of undocumented immigrants on Day 1."

Who will build homes, work in the fields, in home HC...? Will relatives leave with their deported loved ones, or will they stay? How will they survive financially, cope emotionally...?

#Austerity #Deportation #Immigrants #USPol https://www.axios.com/2024/11/06/trump-harris-election-2024-house-senate-race

"Yes, this is America. It always has been."

~ Sherilynn Ifill

#fascism #future #cruelty
/10

https://sherrilyn.substack.com/p/why-are-we-here

First came across the Demons Chorus from Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius" in the college choral society. Found mastering the rhythm & sneering tone fiendishly difficult.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRFTOCy6kJU
#Elgar #DemonChorus #Gerontius

#Musk lobbied Trump to put Vance on the ticket. He was the one funding the get-out-the-vote effort -turned X into a black hole of anti-immigrant agitprop -going to be given the keys to the dom. discretionary budget, fed budget, to find $2T in cuts from just $1.7T in discretionary spending.

Vance was the headliner at a rally over the weekend, but Musk was a star in absentia -organizers swarmed the line outside to collect data for Musk's PAC.
#USPol #Billionaires #Oligachy https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/the-2024-election-was-defined-by-oligarchs-musk-mellon-bezos-zuckerberg/

Remember that elections are extremely complex events, and each jurisdiction - over 5000 in the US! - does things a little differently, governed by state law and local practice. When someone shows you video or other "proof" of some supposed nefarious activity in a place you aren't specifically familiar with, be skeptical. If there's wrongdoing, there are avenues for them to come forward and prove it.

Putin, Xi and a growing list of autocratic allies are joining forces to render democracy extinct. They believe it doesn’t work, they believe our populations are too infantile to make decisions, and furthermore they insist not only that our democracies don’t work, but that they will demonstrate it by capturing them and disabling them.