It only takes 2 weeks to kill the virus. China did it, and they’re open for business. Disney in China is about to open again.[/quote]
if one honestly looks at the federal leadership along with trying to be scientifically objective looking at various trends,… things in the next four year time frame (i.e. the OP) don’t appear promising even w/ Disney in China about to open again
starting w/ the fact that trump’s a monitary narcissist
…who lacks empathy, thinks of himself as a stable genius, isn’t concerned w/ consequences of his impulsive actions, AND given his personality he and others w/ economic and political means are going to enrich themselves at the expense of those not well connected, etc., etc., etc.
[quote] Why Trump is back to normal, and you’re not
…Trump and his aides, and anybody they come in contact with, have a special privilege: They can get a rapid test for the coronavirus that yields results in about 15 minutes. That means Trump can safely mingle with anybody, as long as they’ve been tested, with a negative result. Honeywell requires everyone in the Arizona plant to wear a mask and maintain safe distancing, but even the Honeywell execs accompanying Trump violated that rule. Honeywell confirmed those employees got a test, per “White House recommended protocol.” So Trump, his aides and a few chosen Honeywellers were all confirmed healthy, and freed of coronavirus restrictions.
When will you and I get this privilege? Not any time soon, and maybe never. The White House seems to have ready access to a rapid coronavirus test Abbott Labs began producing in March. The company has scaled up production to about 5 million test kits per month, or 167,000 per day, which might sound like a lot. But it’s barely a beginning. Sending people back to work safely could require millions of tests per day.
…Trump has offered the House and Senate as many of the rapid tests as needed to test members frequently, but both the House and Senate have declined. No doubt, they’d love the special privilege—especially since many members of Congress are over 60 and more vulnerable to the virus. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell probably realize it’d be bad form to cut the line for a key protective measure that’s not readily available to their constituents.
Trump’s own rallies are at stake. Trump and his aides might be able to travel safely around the country, as long as everybody they come in contact with tests negative, per White House protocol. But Trump can’t pack 20,000 people into an arena unless they can all get tested, too. Some Trumpers might think testing is unnecessary, but even governors allowing some businesses to reopen still prohibit large gatherings.
as I’ve tried to point out before, things are fractal in nature meaning political and economic elites at the federal as well as at local level are mis-managing financial as well as natural resources AND this is going to cause “us” to be us $hit creek w/ out a paddle,… given trends pointing towards a dramatic climate change (i.e. a mega drought in the south western part of the USA decades ahead)
said another way, if one connects the dots of various news reports and honestly looks at political leadership we see pretty much everywhere that no talent ass clowns are going to enrich themselves at the expense of those not well connected, etc., etc., etc.
in one of my PoliSci classes @UCSD had a professor point out that in general the main concern of politicians is being elected AND all too often politicians have very little actual knowledge outside their field of expertise (if they even have one), but in order to show “political leadership” a candidate for office or politician in office will more often than not, try and fake having knowledge on various topics (AND hope they don’t get caught because politicians are more interested in dealing with appearances than the harsh reality),… so over the years have looked at a candidate for office or a politician in office thru this insight
ANOTHER EXAMPLE,… when todd gloria was a council member he and the rest of the city council members had an opportunity to correct the very same pension portfolio fiscal mismanagement issue that caused Detroit to go bankrupt,… likewise gloria like the rest of the council members (i.e. chris ward, etc.) have a historical pattern of paying lip service to the homeless issue, etc., etc., etc. but not taking various problems head on (then leave to seek other political offices)
[quote] San Diego plans to spend $80M in reserves during pandemic, which could hurt credit rating
City was on track for reserve goals; now it will drop from 15 percent of operating budget to 10 percent
Plummeting tax revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic will force San Diego to make deep budget cuts and burn through more than $80 million in emergency reserves, a move that could damage the city’s credit rating.
…City Council members, including Chris Ward and Chris Cate, have expressed concerns about how the depletion of reserves could negatively affect the city’s credit rating, which could increase the interest rate on city bonds.
Jeff Kawar, a deputy director in the city’s Independent Budget Analyst’s office, said he doesn’t expect San Diego to lose its relatively high double-A rating immediately.
“My understanding is that there might be a small change to a ‘negative outlook,’ but no significant downgrade is expected just yet,” Kawar told the council during a Monday public hearing.
[quote] Food Banks Can’t Go On Like This
Demand is spiking. And meeting it is costlier than ever. Without more changes to federal and state food assistance, the status quo is unsustainable.
…In San Diego County, the fifth most populous in the country, the nonprofit Feeding San Diego reports that demand at its 300 distribution sites is up at least 40 to 50 percent. “People who four weeks ago were living middle-class lives now find themselves in debt, without cash, unable to pay for their most essential needs,” Vince Hall, the group’s CEO, told me. The organization’s online “food finder” tool experienced such a big surge in traffic that its web-hosting provider levied a bandwidth penalty.
Meeting San Diego’s rise in demand has required adaptability. Normally, “rescued” food—items that would otherwise be thrown out as their sell-by date approaches—accounts for 97 percent of Feeding San Diego’s distributions. Until the pandemic, the group was receiving unpurchased food from 204 Starbucks locations every night of the year. Most of those stores are now closed. The organization normally gets excess food from 260 grocery stores too, but consumers have been stocking up enough lately that many shelves are picked clean.
In the first weeks of this crisis, the lack of food from these sources was offset by restaurants, hotels, and catering firms that donated their inventories as the shutdown began. But that was a onetime windfall—and some of it was food packaged in industrial sizes that work well in large commercial kitchens but poorly for parceling out to families. To compensate for the dearth of rescued food, Feeding San Diego is now purchasing wholesale in the same system where grocery stores themselves are accelerating orders. Food banks are also having to pay premium prices. The day we spoke, Hall authorized a $97,000 purchase of chicken and pork.
bottom line, until all the problems are acknowledged and addressed head on (by various candidates and/or political leadership), we’ll collectively continue riding on the various downward trends,…or said another way, because of the collective actions of various no talent ass clowns,… this pandemic (which is part of a much bigger problem) is essentially a no-win situation
[quote] In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions of N95 masks in America
It was Jan. 22, a day after the first case of covid-19 was detected in the United States, and orders were pouring into Michael Bowen’s company outside Fort Worth, some from as far away as Hong Kong.
Bowen’s medical supply company, Prestige Ameritech, could ramp up production to make an additional 1.7 million N95 masks a week. He viewed the shrinking domestic production of medical masks as a national security issue, though, and he wanted to give the federal government first dibs.
“We still have four like-new N95 manufacturing lines,” Bowen wrote that day in an email to top administrators in the Department of Health and Human Services. “Reactivating these machines would be very difficult and very expensive but could be achieved in a dire situation.”
But communications over several days with senior agency officials — including Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and emergency response — left Bowen with the clear impression that there was little immediate interest in his offer.
…In the end, the government did not take Bowen up on his offer. Even today [May 9, 2020], production lines that could be making more than 7 million masks a month sit dormant.
