Coronavirus Update From New York City: December 3, 2020

Brendan is going to be resuming his weekly Coronavirus updates from NYC. While this is unfortunate as it’s due to things trending downward there, he always provides great personal insight as to what’s happening there.

Blind Injustice

I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to resume my weekly updates on the coronavirus ever again. But alas, here I am, resuming my weekly updates on this virus.

While there are still many places in much worse shape than my city and my state, we are trending in a very bad direction. Just a few weeks ago the COVID test positivity rate in my zip code was quite low, but now we are at a positivity rate of 6.5%. Given that we are trending in a direction that could lead to many more hospitalizations and deaths (deaths being a lagging indicator but an indicator that’s also starting to go in the wrong direction in New York State), it seems like a good time to restart my weekly updates.

Another reason I’m restarting my weekly updates is that, even though we’re not quite the center of the COVID universe…

View original post 747 more words

“It has to stop”

I posted a video yesterday of Georgia election official, Gabriel Sterling’s news conference addressing the increasing danger Trump is putting honest people in who are simply doing their jobs, with his baseless accusations and inflammatory rhetoric. This is a great post from Keith with more details.

musingsofanoldfart

The outgoing president has an unhealthy influence over his more strident voter base. They actually do not fathom the obvious – Donald Trump will do anything to avoid losing, even burn everything down. Sadly, a more zealous few are threating violence to hard working folks who remember what an oath is and are trying to get the election right.

In a Boomberg article entitled “Trump Accused by GOP Official of Inspiring Threats of Violence” by Margaret Newkirk and Mark Niquette the following paragraphs speak volumes:

“Georgia’s Republican voting system manager denounced President Donald Trump and the state’s two Republican U.S. senators for not condemning, and even encouraging through silence, the threats of violence being made against election workers and the state’s top elections official.

His voice shaking with anger, the normally even-keeled Gabriel Sterling said his boss, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, had received death threats, has had…

View original post 509 more words

The Project, By Courtney Summers ~ 4.0 Stars

Tags

Adult Fiction, Cults, Mystery, Physical Abuse, Suspense

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: February 2nd, 2020

352 Pages

Synopsis: “The Unity Project saved my life.”

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo’s sister Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to it’s extensive charity work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of  most in the upstate New York region, but Lo knows there’s more to the group than meets the eye. She’s spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.

“The Unity Project murdered my son.”

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its charismatic and mysterious leader, Lev Warren, he proposes a deal: if she can prove the worst of her suspicions about The Unity Project, she may expose them. If she can’t, she must finally leave them alone.

But as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members, and spends more time with Lev, it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her—to the point she can no longer tell what’s real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren…but now she doesn’t know if she can afford not to.

Welcome to The Unity Project.

The next pulls-no-punches thriller from New York Times bestselling and Edgar award winning author Courtney Summers about an aspiring young journalist determined to save her sister from a cult.

I loved Courtney Summer’s Sadie, so I was quite excited when I saw The Project on NetGalley, especially with that gorgeous cover! I’ve read a few books centered around cults, but this is the first time I could see why one like this would attract so many people. I spent the majority of the book second guessing as to whether The Project really was dangerous, or was its charismatic leader, Lev Warren, sincerely trying to use the trauma of his abusive childhood to help others. The question of whether The Project is a cult is played out through alternating chapters between Lo and Bea. Both sisters are very strong characters, yet each have unique vulnerabilities which make them very relatable. I was kept guessing until the last few chapters, and even then there were a couple of surprising twists.

Overall, while I don’t think The Project was quite as good as Sadie, it was a thought-provoking read, and I was still musing over the characters and various aspects of it two days after I read it. For me, that makes it a resounding success.