Day: March 8, 2020💾

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Donald Trump will Probably be Re-elected

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While I think it makes sense for the Democratic Party to field a candidate against President Trump, all the evidence points to him being re-elected with a larger margin.

  1. President Trump’s approval ratings while low, are fairly consistent with his ratings when he ran last time. He’s not lost much public support in the past four years.
  2. The candidate the Democratic Party has fielded against him is essentially the same as the candidate that ran against him in 2016. There is little difference between Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, they’re both centrist, career politicians who are of advanced age.
  3. The economy is strong and inflation is low. While there are pockets of poverty and chances for things to go badly between now and November, the truth is for many Americans this is pretty good times, the best since the late 1960s.
  4. Incumbents usually win re-election. The last president not re-elected was George HW Bush, he lost during a deep recession in 1992 to young, colorful governor of Arkansas. Bill Clinton was colorful and new at the time, something you can’t say about Biden.

That said, I think it’s worthwhile for the Democrats to put a opponent up against President Trump.

  1. We have no idea what will happen between now and November. President Trump could do something that is incredibly unpopular or illegal and he could lose support of his base. He could have a heart attack and pass away. There is no guarantee that Trump will be a viable candidate come November, and the democratic nominee could be a fall back for the voters. You got to play to have a chance to win.
  2. Running a candidate against President Trump gives the Democratic Party a chance to fundraiser and expand public knowledge of their policy proposals. It will allow them to show the public that they have good ideas too and to consider voting for democrats down ballot.
  3. Running a candidate against Trump means the Republican Party will have to spend resources defending the president. This will divert attention of the GOP, allowing Democrats to focus on winning races down ballot, especially in the US Senate where combined control of the House and Senate could give the Democratic Party significant control of national policy with President Trump acting as a check with his veto pen. In exchange, Congress could investigate the president to ensure he’s remaining ethical.

March 8, 2020 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Daylight Savings Time 🌆! I hope you remembered to set your clock ahead one hour last night but not on Microsoft Windows which reminds you with a big note. 📝 Linux does it too but doesn’t make a big deal about it. Next Sunday is Ides of March ✝. We will already be halfway through March at that point. Partly cloudy and 24 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ Calm wind. Cold start to the morning but it’s expected to warm up quickly.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 57 degrees at 4pm. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 12th. I like it when April weather comes a month early. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 2012. 6.5 inches of snow fell back in 2013.❄

This morning I am meeting some people and going for a walk at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. 🌲🌲🌲It should be a really nice day. Later on I’ll probably go for a hike somewhere to be decided then out to the folks house for Sunday dinner. 🍲 Maybe Thacher Park?💭 I haven’t been up way that in a while but some of trails might be really muddy. Tomorrow is going to be even nicer but alas me gotta work 👷 and make money 💵 so I can enjoy the real nice weather when it happens. ☀

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 42.7° from the due south horizon (-28.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:17 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (258°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (265°) starting at 6:51 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:22 pm, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Worm Full 🌝 Moon in the east (88°) at an altitude of 17° from the horizon, 227,384 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:55 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 52 degrees. There will be a west-southwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 36 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 34 degrees at 6am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 6th. South wind 3 to 7 mph. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1943.

In 1965, Thirty-five hundred United States Marines are the first American land combat forces committed during the Vietnam War. 💣 The escalation of the war was well underway at that point. It would last for another decade and was pretty tragic for all parties involved.

🌹🌻🌼Only 11 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

As previously noted, next Sunday is Ides of March ✝ when the sun will be setting at 7:02 pm with dusk at 7:30 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny, but quite warm with rain showers and temperatures between 72 and 44 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 44 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 2019.

Typical winter 2016 afternoon

Terrain Map: Proposed Exit 25 Interchange with Interstate 88
Thematic Map: Madison County 2020 Presidential Election