1. The Devil’s Advocate
Time Stamp: 10:03
- Fallen Familiars
- Are you taking seriously the cycle of life when you choose your familiar?
- Average lifespans of animals
- Dogs – 6 to 15 year average lifespan
- Cats – 10 to 15 years
- Fish – 1 to 10 years
- Gerbils – 2 to 4 years
- Snakes – 10 to 15 years
- Research your breed/type of animal to learn the common issues and requirements.
- Because we always expect our parents to die, we are a little more prepared for the grieving process.
- Anecdotally, most people to think about their pets leaving them till they fall ill
- How do you honor/remember your familiars?
- As pragmatists do we make too much ado about loss?
- Is it healthy to dwell too long on past connections?
2. Infernal Informant
Time Stamp: 34:05
- Trump, caught off guard by news of Ginsburg’s death, says he was ‘saddened’
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/09/19/trump-news-of-ginsburgs-death/24624439/- In an extraordinary moment following his rally in Minnesota on Friday night, President Trump appeared to be caught off guard when a reporter informed him of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
- “She just died? Wow, I didn’t know that — I just, uh, you’re telling me now for the first time,” Trump said on the tarmac as Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” a staple of the house music at the president’s rallies, could be heard in the background.
- “She led an amazing life,” Trump continued. “What else can you say? She was an amazing woman, whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. Um, actually saddened to hear. I am saddened to hear that.”
- Ginsburg, the iconic liberal justice and champion for women’s rights, died Friday at her Washington home of complications from pancreatic cancer, the court said. She was 87.
- In a lengthy statement reacting to Ginsburg’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed that “Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
- Following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, McConnell refused to allow the Senate to vote on President Obama’s nominee to fill Scalia’s seat, Merrick Garland, saying the choice should be left to the next president. Obama’s presidency at that point had 11 months to run, almost a quarter of a full presidential term. Trump’s first term will be over on Jan. 20, 2021.
- Biden, who was also campaigning in Minnesota Friday, reacted to Ginsburg’s death in a televised statement upon his return to New Castle Airport in Delaware.
- “Ruth Bader Ginsburg stood for all of us,” Biden said. “She was fierce, unflinching in the civil rights of everyone.”
- “Tonight and in the coming days, we should focus on the loss of the justice and her enduring legacy,” he continued: “There is no doubt, let me be clear, that the voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice for the Senate to consider.”
- “That is my hope and expectation of what will happen,” Biden added.
- In a statement relayed by her granddaughter, Clara Spera, Ginsburg said, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
- Officials identify a woman suspect after letter laced with deadly ricin poison sent to President Trump
https://www.businessinsider.com/ricin-poison-letter-sent-to-trump-woman-is-the-suspect-2020-9- An envelope posted to the White House containing the lethal substance ricin was intercepted by US authorities on Saturday.
- The letter addressed to President Donald Trump appears to have been sent from Canada, and officials have identified a woman as a suspect, according to a report by the New York Times.
- It was stopped at the final off-site government mail center before it arrived at the White House.
- “The FBI and our US Secret Service and US Postal Inspection Service partners are investigating a suspicious letter received at a US government mail facility,” the FBI said in a statement, according to Times. “At this time, there is no known threat to public safety.”
- Similar envelopes were sent to law enforcement agencies in Texas, including a detention facility and a sheriff’s office.
- The Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington is taking charge of the investigation with help from New York and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
- Ricin is a powerful toxin produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant. The seed is so potent that a dose of purified ricin powder the size of a few grains of table salt can kill a human within three to five days.
- This is not the first time there have been such attacks.
- A Navy veteran was charged for attempting to send envelopes with ricin to multiple US officials in 2018. William Clyde Allen’s case is still pending because officials found he had sent castor beans instead of ricin powder.
- Former President Barack Obama was also the target of a ricin attack.
3. Creature Feature
Time Stamp: 1:03:06
- Long Way Up
https://tv.apple.com/us/show/long-way-up/umc.cmc.1nv0tluok21c2f8549mdjqdnh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Way_Up- debuted September 18, 2020 documenting a motorcycle journey undertaken in 2019 by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, from Ushuaia in Argentina through South and Central America to Los Angeles
- The first three episodes of Long Way Up premiered globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, September 18, and new episodes will roll out weekly.
- The journey covered 13,000 miles, through 13 countries over 100 days starting in September 2019 and finishing on 14 December of the same year.
- They rode Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycles manufactured by Harley-Davidson that had been converted into adventure bikes.
- including director/producers David Alexanian and Russ Malkin and directors of photography Jimmy Simak and Claudio Von Planta. Also joining is associate producer Taylor Estevez and cinematographer Anthony Von Seck.
- During Long Way Round, Ewan and Charley visited three UNICEF programmes in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Mongolia and then after they were made UK ambassadors
- on their second adventure Long Way Down and saw UNICEF’s work with child soldiers in Uganda and land-mine awareness programmes in Ethiopia.
- The Long Way Up series will see them visit three further UNICEF programmes in South and Central America.