Struggling in Snow, More Humility

Skyfall: The air transportation network is still sorting itself out after the weekend blizzard in the Mid-Atlantic coast. Travellers are stranded all over the country. Today nearly 1,500 flights are cancelled and almost 2,000 delayed.

In Washington both the federal government and local government are closed. No school. They aren’t good at handling snow down there.

In New York, most ground transportation is restored, but the Long Island railroad is only in partial operation, leaving clogs of commuters at station houses.

Twenty-nine deaths are attributed to the storm, most of them in car accidents. One woman plunged over a 300-foot embankment in Tennessee. A truck hit a teenager who was skitching behind a car. In Pennsylvania a man succumbed to carbon monoxide after a snowplow trapped him inside his car, plugging the exhaust.

Bowl Bound: Denver’s defense stymied the New England Patriots to give the Broncos their 8th trip to the Super Bowl. New England’s Tom Brady brought the score to 20-18 with seconds left on the clock, but failed to make a 2-point conversion to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Denver’s Peyton Manning, at 39, would be oldest quarterback to play the Super Bowl.

The Broncos will meet the Carolina Panthers, who humiliated the Arizona Cardinals, 49-15. Denver has possibly the best defense in the NFL this season, but Carolina quarterback Cam Newton is a 250-pound running and throwing superman commanding an irresistible offense.

Net Loss: Unusual betting on a mixed doubles match in the Australian Open yesterday led a major sports gambling website to suspend bets. Large amounts of money had been put down with the website Pinnacle Sports for would otherwise have been an obscure match.

The pair that lost, Lara Arruabarrena and David Marrero, denied that they had taken a dive. Marrero blamed his poor performance on a knee injury.

The incident comes during rumblings about fixed matches in professional tennis. The BBC and BuzzFeed reported last week that 16 players have been repeatedly suspected of throwing matches, but no names were mentioned.

Journey’s End: British explorer Henry Worsley has died of exhaustion and dehydration 30 miles short of his goal of crossing Antarctica alone. In a final note posted before he was picked up by helicopter, Worsley said, “The 71 days alone on the Antarctic with over 900 statute miles covered and a gradual grinding down of my physical endurance finally took its toll today, and it is with sadness that I report it is journey’s end – so close to my goal.” Worsley was alive when he was rescued, but died in a hospital in Chile.

Shakin’: A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula southwest of Anchorage early yesterday. Natural gas fires destroyed four homes. Alaska tends to have more powerful quakes than the lower 48.

The Trumpeter: Donald Trump is stepping up his attacks against Fox News host Megyn Kelly in advance of the next Republican debate to air on Fox Thursday night. He tweeted, “Based on @MegynKelly’s conflict of interest and bias she should not be allowed to be a moderator of the next debate.”

Last week Trump heralded that, “They say I have the most loyal people, where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible.”

After attending a church service in Iowa yesterday, Trump told a crowd that “We talked about humility in church today.” He later told reporters, “I have more humility than people think.”

-30-

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.