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steve2470

steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
May 1, 2020

Turning 62, applying for Social Security later this month, need advice please

Hello everyone,

I turn 62 later this year, and I can apply 90 days in advance for SS benefits. On May 25th, I plan on
applying. Yes, I am fully aware that my monthly benefits are significantly less than if I wait til age 65 or age 70.
I do not wish to discuss that, thanks.

From what I can tell, you cannot apply for retirement benefits online, only disability benefits. So, it seems you
must go in person to the SS office to apply.

I need advice. Do I take my social security card with me ? Of course, I will have my driver's license on me.
Do I need any further identifying information ? Do I need to do anything else to prepare ?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Steve

April 28, 2020

Charles Blow, NYT: Trump will fight with everything he has to the bitter end to stay in power

I agree with him 100%. An excerpt below:

I say all this to say: Don’t fall prey to false hope that defeating Trump will be easy, that his horrifically incompetent response to the coronavirus has doomed him. It hasn’t. Trump will fight with everything he has to the bitter end to stay in power. He will never admit any fault. He will lie and lie and lie and lie some more. And the people who support him will stick with him every step of the way.

Joe Biden even believes Trump will try to alter the election calendar, saying, “Mark my words: I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held.”

I put nothing past Trump, absolutely nothing! And neither should you. Be prepared for Trump to do anything and everything to win re-election in November. A man who can dismiss a recording of his own voice bragging about assaulting women is capable of anything.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/opinion/trump-coronavirus.html
April 25, 2020

DOJ will appeal ruling over sealed Mueller materials to Supreme Court

Source: The Hill

The Department of Justice will appeal to the Supreme Court after it was ordered to hand over sealed documents from former special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation to Congress.

The department on Friday asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay its ruling while it petitions the high court.

"Whether and under what circumstances Congress may resort to the courts to seek grand jury materials generated in a criminal investigation in aid of an impeachment inquiry is plainly a question of great significance to all three branches of government, as well as to the functioning of the grand jury system in high-profile, politically-charged matters," the Justice Department wrote.

The move comes after a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel ruled 2-1 that the Trump administration would have to hand over to Congress grand jury materials from Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/494583-doj-will-appeal-ruling-over-sealed-mueller-materials-to-supreme-court



BY HARPER NEIDIG - 04/24/20 05:09 PM EDT

also here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/24/politics/mueller-grand-jury-supreme-court/index.html


Justice Department MOTION TO STAY MANDATE PENDING PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
April 22, 2020

Coronavirus has mutated into at least 30 different strains new study finds

Source: Jerusalem Post

A new study in China has found that the novel coronavirus has mutated into at least 30 different variations.

The results showed that medical officials have vastly underestimated the overall ability of the virus to mutate, in findings that different strains have affected different parts of the world, leading to potential difficulties in finding an overall cure.

The study was carried out by Professor Li Lanjuan and colleagues from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China and published in a non-peer reviewed paper released on website medRxiv.org on Sunday.

Li's team analyzed the strains from 11 randomly chosen coronavirus patients from Hangzhou, where there have been 1,264 reported cases, and then tested how efficiently they could infect and kill cells.

Read more: https://www.jpost.com/health-science/coronavirus-has-mutated-into-at-least-30-different-strains-new-study-finds-625333

April 22, 2020

COVID-19 epidemiology/medical dictionary

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-jargon-buster-134845

(some of this will be known to informed DU'ers already)

ACE2: A protein on the cells in your airways that coronavirus attaches to.

Antibody: Large Y-shaped proteins that stick to the surface of bacteria and viruses.

Antigen: A foreign substance that induces an immune response in the body – especially the production of antibodies.

Case fatality rate: The percentage of confirmed cases that resulted in death is the case fatality rate, or CFR. The World Health Organization estimates the CFR for COVID-19 to be about 3.4%. But this number is likely to come down as more tests are performed and we identify more of the large number of cases with no symptoms. In South Korea, where lots of testing was performed, the CFR is about 1.5%.


Much more at link

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