Nov 8 2020 - To Offer Congratulations

 

What happened last time when Trump became President?  Did everyone offer their congratulations?  Of course - it is a formalism.  My guess, though, is that they were not prepared for the onslaught of personal insults combined with the mess that he was about to unleash.  There is an entry in Wikipedia for his congratulations:  International reactions to the 2016 United States presidential election HERE.  What Trudeau offered in 2016, below, is very similar to what he offered Biden this weekend. "I congratulate President-elect Donald Trump on his election victory in the United States. Our shared values are strong. Our common purpose is to build countries where everyone has a fair chance to succeed, and where the government works first, foremost and always for the people it governs. The Canadian government will continue its hard work toward these ends, and we offer our hand in partnership with our neighbours as friends and allies as they move forward." This time he added: "We will further build on this foundation as we continue to keep our people safe and healthy from the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and work to advance peace and inclusion, economic prosperity, and climate action around the world." Others showed relief: "Welcome back America !" tweeted Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris. A city official in Berlin said, "After the birth of my son, the election of Joe Biden is by far the best news of this year." I am sure there are some very funny comments and congratulations to come our way over this next week.  This will be part of the having fun again social movement. Our picture is yesterday's view of our beautiful weeping willow tree on the lagoon at Charles Daley Park.

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SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS

I thought that acronyms took over in my lifetime.  Is that true?  Or is it just a feeling?  I saw a post on the U.S. President and didn't know about POTUS - acronym for President of the United States. OTUS is the shortened version the phrase 'of the United States".  OTUS began life in the late 19th century. It began as an abbreviation used by telegraphic doe operators in the 1890s.  The earliest recorded use was in 1879. But shortened words, abbreviations and acronyms didn't start in our time at all. On the first page of the Anglo-Saxon manuscript of Beowulf is something similar. "The symbol in the middle of the lower red square is an abbreviated form of ‘þæt’, pronounced ‘that’ (the first letter, ‘þ’ is a rune called thorn, pronounced ‘th’), meaning ‘that’ (see how little our language has changed in over a thousand years!). This little symbol is seen everywhere, all over Old English manuscripts, and is no different from the modern texting conventions of @ for ‘at’, or U for you, or 2 for to/too, or 4 for… well". Here are the top 10 text-speak spellings from Britain: After – Rfd Tonight – 2nite Great – Gr8 Before – B4 Tomorrow – 2moro Cool – kwl Mate – M8 Pizza – Peetsa True – Churoo That – Dat I was able to find a Christmas text greeting:   We complete with our photo of the day - variations on a theme of Christmas red.

Betting on a President

I noticed the spring Iris, Danfordiae is blooming in my garden.  Today our pictures are the Primulas in the Cole's Garden Centre.  They have a polyhouse packed with pansies and primulas, so the scent is divine. And of course, the colour is intensely splendid. A similar intensity surrounds the topic that continues in the news and conversations.  I decided to check out the speculation that Trump will not last out his first term. How would one do this?  By looking at betting sites. Gambling is a topic I have never investigated, so find it interesting. In January 2018, the odds of him being impeached were 4 - 7. The Newsweek article says that oddsmakers at Paddy Power thought in January that it's nearly twice as likely Trump will be impeached as it is that he will serve four hears in office.  The Newsweek article said: "Paddy Power has additional ominous betting odds for the White House. Of the three years Trump has remaining in his presidency, the betting site has impeachment most likely in 2018. The odds that Trump is impeached in 2018 are nearly even at 5-4. For a sitting president, that doesn't paint a particularly rosy picture. The odds get exponentially better for Trump if he emerges from 2018 unscathed, as the site puts the odds at 7-1 that Trump is impeached in 2019 and 50-1 in 2020. " We're not allowed to access the Paddy Power website.  So I found a betting site that covers this in the U.S. It is oddsshark.com. There are odds on the following: exit date complete a full term as POTUS convicted by the senate in his 1st term impeached by the house in hist 1st term resign the presidency in his 1st term There were odds on the duration of Donald Trup's handshake with Vladimir Putin, on whether Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would hug, on whether Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would kiss, and then all manner of things that he'll say:  best friends, comey, golden, great job, etc.   For Obama, there were bets in bad taste - assassination was one of these in the headlines.  There are current bets on nuclear war due to North Korea, on the world ending, the next pope, and on and on.   These are at bestcasinosites.net. Betting turns out to be a vastly popular activity and there are many stories of famous, bizarre, and stupid/dumb bets.  So back to our pictures - the Primula Festival in the garden is around the corner.  I hope you enjoy these spring beauties.