Marching music for Super Tuesday, part two

A happy a marching music Super Tuesday! As I promised my readers in yesterday's part one, "Stay tuned for part two tomorrow, when I feature the competitive drum corps and select marching bands from Super Tuesday states west of the Mississippi River." Unlike 2020, when I ended with California, I begin with California starting with Blue Devils | #DCI2022 | Tempus Blue.

Concord, CA | 1st Place | 98.750

Concord, California's Blue Devils perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "Tempus Blue," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

I always wanted a DCI corps to play "Tank!" I got my wish.

Next, Santa Clara Vanguard | #dci2022 | Finding Nirvana.

Santa Clara, CA | 5th Place | 95.000

Santa Clara, California's Santa Clara Vanguard perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "Finding Nirvana," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

SCV didn't field a corps last year, but should return this year.

Continuing with the third DCI finalist from California, Mandarins | #dci2022 | The Otherside.

Sacramento, CA | 10th Place | 90.013

Sacramento, California's Mandarins perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "The Otherside," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Yes, this is the same corps I featured in 'The Year of the Dragon' from The Cadets and Sacramento Mandarins for a drum corps Lunar New Year.

I'm starting to repeat myself with Vanguard Cadets | #dci2022 | Somewhere New.

Santa Clara, CA | 18th Place | 81.050

Santa Clara, California's Vanguard Cadets perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "Somewhere New," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

SCV Cadets didn't tour last year, either, just like their parent corps. I don't know if they'll be on the field this year yet.

Heading to Southern California, it's Pacific Crest | #dci2022 | Welcome to the Void.

Diamond Bar & City of Industry, CA | 19th Place | 80.250

Diamond Bar and City of Industry, California's Pacific Crest perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "Welcome to the Void," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Pacific Crest had a much better 2023, placing 12th at San Antonio and 14th in Indianapolis.

Returning to the Bay Area, it's Blue Devils B | #dci2022 | I Am.

Concord, CA | 22nd Place | 78.375

Concord, California's Blue Devils B perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "I Am," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Now back to Southern California for Guard Girl's reaction video, DCI Open Class : Gold 2022 - The Gift | REACTION | #IllBeTheJudge.


That's just California's competitive drum corps. Follow over the jump for California marching bands that earned finalist status in Metallica's marching band contest and drum corps, Rose Parade bands, and more drum corps and Metallica contestants from Utah, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Minnesota.

MSNBC examines disinformation and 'insider threats' to the 2022 elections

It's a mid-term election year, so today I'm pivoting away from the pandemic to elections and government with yesterday's State Election Officials Battle The Spread Of Disinformation Ahead Of Midterms from MSNBC.

Arizona Secretary of State and candidate for governor Katie Hobbs and senior opinion writer for The Boston Globe Kimberly Atkins Stohr discuss how election workers around the country are fighting against conspiracy theories and misinformation ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

For more about election misinformation and other threats to local election administration, read the Politico article Nicolle Wallace quoted, Election officials are on the frontlines of defending democracy. They didn't sign up for this.

Voting for the 2022 midterms is already underway, and the nation’s top election officials are caught fighting a two-front war: Battling disinformation stemming from the last election, while simultaneously preparing for the next one.

The officials are no longer just running elections. They’ve become full-time myth-busters, contending with information threats coming from the other side of the globe — and their own ranks.
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They’re dealing with political candidates undermining the election systems that they still run for office in, and conspiracy theories that target even the most obscure parts of America’s election infrastructure. And they say the country will face the same issues this year as it elects a new Congress and decides control of three dozen statehouses.
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The struggles stemming from misinformation vary state-to-state, from dealing with threats of violence against election workers at all levels to contending with so-called insider threats — election workers who themselves pose a security challenge to the system.

One of the insider threats the article mentions is Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters of Colorado, who was the subject of Election Denier Under Investigation Is Running To Oversee Elections In Her State on "All In" the night before last.

“There is a possibility that this lady, who is currently under investigation for allegedly tampering with election machines, who actively pushes Donald Trump's Big Lie,” says Chris Hayes, “That woman could conceivably be in charge of overseeing all of Colorado's elections in 2024.”

Time to recycle what I last repeated in Colbert and Klobuchar on the insurrection one year later.

It looks like the people who buy Trump's "Big Lie" are learning from last year's failed effort to overturn the election by not just working the refs, but replacing them. I'm going to recycle my reaction from April in response.

Personally, I'd rather call it Trump's dangerous delusion, his fixed belief that the election was stolen from him despite all evidence, which I see as related to his vulnerability to conspiracy theories, but "the Big Lie" is the established phrase used by CNBC and others, so I'm calling it that instead. It's a lie, too.

To paraphrase what I wrote last month, Benson's remarks show that Trump's delusion is not just dangerous but contagious.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold's response to Peters' behavior shows that, too.

So, what can the voters do to prevent candidates who pose an insider threat do? Run for something! Watch Alex Wagner substituting for Rachel Maddow reporting Wave Of New Candidates Eager To Counter Wave Of Right-Wing Activists In Local Elections.

Amanda Litman, co-founder and executive director or Run For Something, talks about the surge in interest in running for local office and the importance of supporting quality, non-kooky candidates in low level races to preserve the functioning and integrity of democracy in the United States.

If my readers can't or won't run for something, at least support the candidates who oppose the supporters of "The Big Lie" in this year's state and local elections. Our democracy depends on it!

2021 sixth warmest year on record globally, fourth warmest in U.S., NASA and NOAA report

I concluded 2021 in climate and weather from ABC News, NBC News, and WeatherNation by writing "That's it for last year's climate and weather until NASA and NOAA weigh in on how 2021 ranks among the hottest years on record." Both science agencies released their findings on Thursday, so it's time for this year's version of 2020 tied with 2016 for warmest year on record, NASA reports. I begin with ABC15 Arizona's The heat stays on: Earth hits 6th warmest year on record in 2021.

Two U.S. science agencies say 2021 was the sixth hottest year on record globally, part of a long-term warming trend.

ABC15 Arizona interviewed a scientist with NASA. 9News in Denver, Colorado, interviewed a NOAA scientist in 2021 was the sixth hottest year globally, said NOAA.

Scientists with NOAA say that the global temperature in 2021 was not as warm as the last two years. Still - it was one of the top 10 warmest years on record.

That was worth embedding just for the preview image from Climate Central, let alone all the other images of last year's climate and weather from NOAA. If 9News had used ABC15's video description, I'd have placed this video first.

Not only was 2021 the sixth warmest worldwide, it was the fourth warmest in U.S. history, as ABC10 in Sacramento, California, reported in 2021 was the 6th warmest year on record across the globe, added to weather extremes.

2021 was the 4th warmest year on record for the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ABC10 got very local in the second half of this video, concentrating of the effects of climate change on precipitation. That ties into one of the questions I asked my students about An Inconvenient Truth: "What is the predicted effect of global warming on floods and droughts?" The answer is that it will make both more extreme, exactly what ABC10 showed for its coverage area in its video.

ABC10 included clips of NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt in its report. Here's the source video from NASA Goddard: Temperature Record 101: How We Know What We Know about Climate Change.

2021 was tied for the sixth warmest year on NASA’s record, stretching more than a century.

But, what is a temperature record?

GISTEMP, NASA’s global temperature analysis, takes in millions of observations from instruments on weather stations, ships and ocean buoys, and Antarctic research stations, to determine how much warmer or cooler Earth is on average from year to year. Stretching back to 1880, NASA’s record shows a clear warming trend.

However, individual weather events and La Niña — a pattern of cooler waters in the Pacific that was responsible for slightly cooling 2021’s average temperature — can affect individual years. Because the record is global, not every place on Earth experienced the sixth warmest year on record. Some places had record-high temperatures, and we saw record droughts, floods and fires around the globe.

So completes 2021 in climate. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.

A drum corps Super Tuesday 2020

As I've already done for Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, it's time to share some marching music for my readers to watch and listen while they are waiting for the results.  This time, it's a drum corps Super Tuesday as nine of the fifteen states and territories holding primaries and caucuses today have competitive drum and bugle corps.  No marching bands today!

I am proceeding roughly from east to west, moving time zone to time zone as polls close across the country.  In order, the states and their drum corps I am featuring are Massachusetts, North Carolina, Minnesota, Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Colorado, Utah, and California.  I begin with the 2019 Boston Crusaders | Goliath representing Massachusetts.



Boston, MA | 6th Place | 94.488
Despite the biblical theme, this show has a patriotic element as it includes selections from "Hamilton."  May the candidates not throw away their shots, either!

Moving down the east coast, the next corps from a state voting today is Carolina Gold from North Carolina.  Watch Carolina Gold 2017.



12th place - 81.00
While Carolina Gold is the first DCA corps I am featuring this cycle, it won't be the last, as two DCA corps represent Minnesota, three if one includes the now inactive Minnesota Brass, Inc., which I am.  In fact, the Minnesota corps are next, as it's time to move to the Central Time Zone.  Follow over the jump.

Hickenlooper leaves the presidential contest, considers run for Senate

At 6:00 A.M. EDT yesterday, FiveThirtyEight published Our First 2020 Drop-Out Draft.  The very first candidate chosen was John Hickenlooper.

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): OK, so my first pick is former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. He had just 13,000 donors at the end of June and is very unlikely to make the September debate, considering he also has just one qualifying poll (he still needs three more). Plus, he has an exit ramp available to him: running for Senate in Colorado.

And it seems like Hickenlooper might be open to the idea of mounting a challenge to GOP Sen. Cory Gardner. There’s also some evidence that this might be a good move for Hickenlooper, too. A poll released Tuesday found him ahead of Gardner, 51 percent to 38 percent, and another survey this week showed Hickenlooper leading the crowded primary field by about 50 percentage points.

nrakich (Nathaniel Rakich, elections analyst): Good pick.

Yeah, Hickenlooper has resisted calls for him to run for Senate for a loooong time.

He even said back in February that “I’m not cut out to be a senator.” It seemed pretty definitive.

But then last week, he appeared to subtly change his tune when his communications director said “he hasn’t closed the door to anything.”

To me, that’s a sign that he may be preparing to jump ship.
...
sarahf: OK, Geoff … so does Hickenlooper drop out before October? Or … before Iowa?

geoffrey.skelley: I think he drops out before October after failing to qualify for the September debate.

sarahf: Alright, you heard it here first folks!

We did indeed.  It took only a day for Geoffrey Skelley to be proven right, as MSNBC's Velshi & Ruhle reported just a few hours ago Hickenlooper Drops Out Of 2020 Race, Giving Senate Run 'Serious Thought'.

John Hickenlooper, former Colorado governor, drops out of crowded 2020 Democratic presidential race. He says he intends to give "some serious thought" to the possibility of a US Senate run in Colorado.

About the only thing Skelley got wrong was Hickenlooper staying in until he found out he didn't qualify for the September debate.  Otherwise, he called Hickenlooper being the first candidate to drop out after the draft.  Congratulations.

I also thought he'd drop out soon, as I wrote in On The Issues shows most of the Democratic candidates have moved left during the campaign, too.

Despite the shift in scores, he is now the most moderate candidate remaining.  That might change, as Politico reported Hickenlooper campaign in shambles earlier this month.  That makes him my pick to drop out next, probably when he fails to qualify for the third debate or runs out of money, whichever happens first.

Mike Gravel dropping out screwed up my prediction that he'd be next, but I was only one candidate off.  Besides, I think my readers might forgive me for forgetting about Gravel.

Hickenlooper was one of the candidates Full Frontal with Samantha Bee mentioned in A Message to Democratic Presidential Candidates: Run For Senate, Goddammit!

Of the teeming herd of Democrats running for president, more than a few could direct their ambitions elsewhere...like maybe to the Senate where they could actually make a difference? Or one of those crazy mud races, if they insist on making a mess of things.

If Hickenlooper runs for Senate, I'm sure Bee will be pleased, along with many other Democrats, including me.

Follow over the jump for the drink and infographics I'm retiring now that Hickenlooper is out of the presidential contest.

A Drum corps Super Tuesday

In the spirit of Marching Music for the Iowa Caucuses: Colts and Hawkeyes, which kicked off last month and ended up being the eighth most read entry posted during February, I present a drum corps Super Tuesday featuring the top corps from the states holding primaries and caucuses today and tonight.  The first corps to play while my readers are waiting for the results to come in hails from Massachusetts, the 2015 Boston Crusaders DCI Semi-Finals FULL SHOW | "Conquest" (original video replaced).


In case anyone is wondering, she's singing Gaelic lyrics to the theme from "Game of Thrones" and "Conquest."*  Remember, Trump is coming and he's building a wall.

Follow over the jump for four more corps from the primary and caucus states of Georgia, Minnesota, Texas, and Colorado.

Obama visits Detroit plus election news from campuses on the campaign trail

This should be the next to last update of election news from campuses on the campaign trail.  Based on "if it moves, it leads," I begin with WXYZ covering President Obama visits Detroit.


Since this took place at Wayne State University, it technically counts as election news from a campus on the campaign trail.

Follow over the jump for more election news from Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Iowa originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (A bad week for private space) on Daily Kos.

Floods in Colorado, the other top post for the third year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, plus other climate news

According to the secondary counter, Floods in Colorado from ABC News and University of Colorado, posted September 15, 2013, is the third most viewed entry from the third year of this blog and the third most popular in the entire history of the blog with 1201 page views, behind both Space news for Apophis Day in second and first place Finally, a Ringworld movie!  However, according the the primary counter, it's not only the most viewed entry of last year, but the number one entry in the history of the blog with 1135 page views, an achievement I commemorated in My stats didn't fall in October.

Floods in Colorado from ABC News and University of Colorado, finished its climb from 841 page views in September through 939 page views to finish October with 1163 page views, making it the most read entry in the history of this blog, kicking The Buzz about Detroit for the week ending May 28, 2011 from Model D Media out of the top 10 on the way.  That one went to number one on its own, although I padded its lead by linking to it at Kunstler's blog.

I'm not sure what propelled that entry unless it got linked somewhere that used "no follow," but it attracted readers for weeks, pushing the blog's page views to a monthly record.

This month was the first in which the blog passed 12,000 page views.  I had an inkling it was going to happen during the week of October 15-22, when the rolling 30-day view counter passed 12,000 page views every day.  Even that is no guarantee, as readership could have still slowed down.  It did, but not enough to keep the blog from passing 10,000 page views early Saturday the 26th, 11,000 on Monday the 28th, and 12,000 on Halloween, ending up with 12,295 page views for the month.

Yes, the entry set one record and helped set another.  Too bad for it that I changed my procedure for ordering entries this year.  Still, it does deserve recognition as the other top post.

It was not the only entry about climate and weather to make this year's top twenty.  Follow over the jump for the rest.

Floods in Colorado from ABC News and University of Colorado

I wrote about my hopes for the Colorado recalls in Elections to watch today.

Unlike NYC and Toledo, where I really don't have a preferred result, I strongly hope the recalls fail.

They succeeded.  I'm disappointed enough to change the subject to another disaster afflicting Colorado, one caused by bad weather and most likely climate change, the flooding around Boulder and other towns in the north of the state.  ABC News gives the big picture in Colorado Floods: Crews Rescue Families, Animals.

Emergency responders help those trapped by the devastating flooding.

Wow.  That's a very comprehensive report for network TV news exploring not only the human rescue effort and the weather, but also the use of drones and the rescue of people's livestock an pets.  I highly recommend watching the entire 7+ minutes.

The floods were bad enough that the University of Colorado at Boulder announced Friday CU-Fresno State football game postponed.

Saturday’s football game between the University of Colorado and Fresno State has been postponed, university officials decided Friday morning.

After careful consideration, CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano has decided that the university will not hold a football game tomorrow, and that school officials will discuss a possible make-up date for the game.

“Even though the weather is improving, Boulder is still designated as a national emergency site,” the chancellor said. “Our community is hurting. Many of our students are displaced from their homes, including many of our student-athletes. This is not an appropriate time for us to hold a game that would put pressure on the community, both in terms of security/emergency personnel, but also in diverting attention from people in need.”
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This is the third game in CU history that has been postponed; in 1963, the CU-Air Force game in Colorado Springs was delayed two weeks after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; and in 2001, CU was set to travel to Pullman to play Washington State on Sept. 15 but all college games were called off after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. That game was made up in the 2004 season but was played in Seattle.

Note how rare an event cancelling a football game is.  It's an example of messing with people's entertainment, and Americans are loath to have to do that.

That's not the only closure or cancellation on campus.  The day before, the university announced Campus still closed; select family housing units remain under evacuation overnight.

The University of Colorado Boulder will remain closed through Friday as rain continues to fall and more storms are expected through tomorrow.

With the current weather conditions and the continuing possibility of flash flooding, the evacuations of the Faculty/Staff housing unit, Athens Court and the ground floor of Newton Court will remain in place. The evacuation has impacted 220 units and 355 family housing residents.
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“I want to assure parents and others that we have not had any reports of missing students or serious injuries,” said Louise Vale, Vice Chancellor for Administration. “The majority of our campus is well above the flood plain and is not at risk of flash flooding. We want to make sure the buildings are safe before we open them.”

The current assessment is that 25 percent of campus buildings have some form of water damage, including seepage in basements. Contractors have been brought in to pump out water from the basements of Fleming, Norlin and Electrical Engineering.
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All events on Thursday have been cancelled and many will be cancelled Friday as well, including the Pearl Street Stampede. Ralphie’s Corral prior to the Saturday football game has also been cancelled.

That's just Boulder.  I haven't yet checked the news from the other university towns in the state such as Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, and Golden to find out about the damage and cancelled events there.  I might do that later.  Until then, everyone out there stay safe and dry.