Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
phaster
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]Plaster, no win? Why not?
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
Victor Davis Hanson on “The Case For Trump”
(HooverInstitution)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEXL5USuDGI…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.
https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-trump-is-back-to-normal-and-youre-not-164928804.html
[/quote]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)

http://www.TinyURL.com/ToddGloria

http://www.TinyURL.com/13thcheck
[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 percentPlummeting 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.
http://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/food-banks-cant-go-like/611206/
[/quote]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 AmericaIt 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.
phaster
Participantanyone else come to the the conclusion this pandemic is essentially a no-win situation???
basically there are choices BUT no choice leads to an obvious net gain, so the best approach is to look for ways to mimimize losses and/or look for unconventional alternatives?!
IOW collectively we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, so because we’re all interdependent meaning all the money in the world is useless if ya can’t buy anything (for example if food production labor gets sick and supply chains completely break, basically having more money is useful up until the point there is no more food, don’t think it will ever get to this point but hopefully ya get the idea)
thought I’d point this out because locally we see,…
[quote]
County Unemployment Numbers Pass Great Depression LevelsThe San Diego region’s estimated unemployment rate has risen to 26.8% amid the coronavirus pandemic, a high not seen since the Great Depression, according to a report released Wednesday by the San Diego Association of Governments.
The report was prepared with data from April 18-25, before Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an order to open some retail, manufacturing and logistics businesses this Friday.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/may/06/coronavirus-san-diego-live-updates-covid-19/
[/quote]BTW w/ cushing OK, along w/ other oil storage tanks almost full, and w/ the USO “etf” restructured w/ four month contracts to try and keep the shale producer wells open (because if those wells are capped its going to be really hard to restart production), have ya ever thought about the global equity and capital market implications???
IOW the USO “etf” might go to zero because it acts like a stock, but the future contracts act like a credit default swap (w/ in the “etf” ) so have have to wonder who is going to eat the financial losses??? AND another big unanswered question is are there credit default swap derivatives on the future contracts (which would only magnify the problems)
[quote]
Buyer Beware: Retail Investors Buying USO’s Oil ETFThe United States Oil Fund, or USO, is an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, that is designed to track the daily price movements of West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, light, sweet crude oil. The firm’s website describes the investment objective as, “daily changes in percentage terms of its shares’ NAV to reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the spot price of light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma, as measured by the daily changes in price of USO’s Benchmark Oil Futures Contract, less USO’s expenses.”
The ETF was doing a very good job of that until April when the oil market became very oversupplied due to much lower demand and the supply spigot not reacting fast enough. Due to the rapid fall in oil prices the fund has fallen substantially and underperformed its objective. Last Tuesday it affected a reverse 1 for 8 split, which is never a good sign for an investment.
[quote]
Credit Suisse Lures Traders to an Oil Bet Linked to USOCredit Suisse Group AG is doubling down on an oil trade linked to a fund at the epicenter of the historic price crash.
The Swiss bank is cashing in on the infamy of the U.S. Oil Fund LP, known as USO. It’s issuing fresh shares in a note that lets clients bet the $4 billion product will see calmer days after its 80% plunge this year.
Using what’s known as a covered-call strategy, the X-Links Crude Oil Shares Covered Call exchange-traded note, ticker USOI, is structured to outperform if USO stays locked in sideways trading. A prospectus published last week showed the bank is adding 2.2 million shares, worth $54 million at their stated principal amount. The note’s indicative value on that date was around $4 a share, which would make the offering worth around $9 million.
The world’s largest oil ETF captured headlines last month after retail investors got burned with ill-timed bets on a crude rebound. Amid negative prices, USO was forced to re-tool its methodology and took other extraordinary steps to prevent shuttering.
phaster
Participant[quote=outtamojo]Trump’s army
All youse better fill out your “do not resuscitate” papers to make things easier on all of us.[/quote]
seems the american bar association agrees that STATES DO HAVE THE RIGHT TO QUARANTINE POPULATIONS
sigh,… the idea of lawsuits over covid-19 social distancing, is dumb IMHO!!!
as I see things its akin to a lawsuit that says firefighters have no business telling people to get out of an area where there are conflagrations
[quote]
California’s governor declares statewide emergency over wildfires as mass evacuation continuesSANTA ROSA, Calif. — California’s governor declared a statewide emergency Sunday as hurricane-force wind fueled wildfires across Sonoma County and prompted mass evacuations in communities to the Pacific Ocean.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) pledged to deploy “every resource available” as authorities fought blazes on both ends of the state and weather increased the danger. Despite the efforts of several thousand firefighters and volunteers, and millions of people enduring forced blackouts to minimize the risk of new blazes,…
…The mandatory evacuations affected nearly 180,000 people. About 54,000 acres already have been torched, 94 structures destroyed and State Route 128 turned into a hellish gantlet. And 80,000 structures remain under threat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_GRAl7ga7c
just as firefighters tell people an area is unsafe where an inferno is raging, people should listen to medical experts who have years of experience fighting off infections,… the idea in both cases to to save lives
bottom line,… its best to ignore quack advice from a TV reality celebrity who found a political following

phaster
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=scaredyclassic]Simplify
Lower expectations.
Figure out how to do with much less.
Read about frugality, saving money.
Learn to do some things to save $
Focus on health.
Prepare to change.
Learn to eat much less.
Marry hardy spouse.
Buy nothing.
Take good care of teeth.
Maintain large credit line.
Give up meat.
Walk or bike as much as possible.
Never eat or drink out.
Bake own muffins.
Give up booze.
No debt.
Meditate.
Get a library card.[/quote]
All good advice.[/quote]
only things I’d add to this list is try and get a good nights rest and eat a healthy diet (i.e. stay away from processed foods)
phaster
Participant[quote]
Southern California Rental Housing Association Addresses AB-828The Southern California Rental Housing Association is providing a streamline page in order to take action and respond to AB-828, an assembly bill amended recently that would purportedly force property owners to reduce rents on tenants by 25% for 12 months.
https://app.muster.com/take-action/Z5NPogzvv7/?t=32524ecffec862a98b50d047a67bc5db
[/quote]
in general I’m not a big fan of the republican party because I see them be fiscal hypocrites,… but sadly it seems that too many no talent ass clown politicians in both parties have fallen into the trap of buying things on credit that otherwise they could not afford
April 21, 2020 at 9:35 AM in reply to: Are you f-ing kidding me ? Cali paying cash to illegal immigrants. #816747phaster
Participant[quote=sdduuuude]
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/apr/15/coronavirus-san-diego-live-updates-covid-19/[quote=article]California will give cash payments to immigrants living in the country illegally, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, using a mix of taxpayer money and charitable contributions to give 150,000 adults $500 each during the coronavirus outbreak.[/quote]
I just can’t even imagine why. This is just wrong. Taking from taxpayers in one country to give to people who aren’t taxpayers from another country. It just is ethically wrong.[/quote]
the simple truth is, politicians are giving money away is because its a way for them to think of themselves as doing something good,… BUT sadly if ever do they think of the long term finances or the knock on effects!!!
a systemic case in point,…
[quote]
AUDIT: SAN DIEGO’S FISCAL HEALTHSan Diego is the most fiscally troubled city in San Diego County, according to the California State Auditor.
…That poor ranking appears to be driven by the city’s large amount of long term debt, more than $3.3 billion, and its failure to set aside adequate funding to meet the demands of its pension and other post-employment benefit obligations, according to the dashboard.
San Diego also received the worst rating when came to the amount it has set aside in its financial reserves, an issue the auditor specifically highlighted during her press conference.
“The city of San Diego really only has a couple of months of reserves set aside,” said Howle. “This should be a warning flag for city officials and the city of San Diego, that this is an area officials need to focus on.”
this issue is directly related to a front page story that appeared in the UT (where I noticed the UT watchdog missed a few key facts)
http://www.TinyURL.com/13thCheck
basically looking at the issue as an investor
http://www.TinyURL.com/InvestorWarning
we are facing the perfect $hit $torm,… with political leadership consisting of showboating idiots who pander to their own constituencies BUT basically have a history of having NO balls to deal w/ big problems AND shit for brains
for example Todd Gloria who looks to become the next mayor of this city and the irony is if the idiot gets elected he is going to have to fix problem he basically created in the first place?!
http://www.TinyURL.com/ToddGloria
basically seems politicians like giving away stuff that isn’t theirs (for votes)
[quote]
Southern California Rental Housing Association Addresses AB-828The Southern California Rental Housing Association is providing a streamline page in order to take action and respond to AB-828, an assembly bill amended recently that would purportedly force property owners to reduce rents on tenants by 25% for 12 months.
https://app.muster.com/take-action/Z5NPogzvv7/?t=32524ecffec862a98b50d047a67bc5db
[/quote]bottom line,… too many no talent ass clown politicians in both parties have fallen into the trap of buying things on credit that otherwise they could not afford
April 18, 2020 at 10:16 AM in reply to: Radical change or rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. #816612phaster
Participantwhen I read your post about walking, the stories McIntosh would tell came to mind
I actually have signed copies of his books, just don’t know where they are at the moment
there are a few bars down in Baja where McIntosh would show up w/ his entourage and he had some great stories to tell
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Burro-Sunbelt-Cultural-Heritage/dp/0932653413
[quote]
…The trio of travelers would often run into human companions. One of those was San Diego author Graham McIntosh.“Graham is the whole inspiration behind my wanting to do this Baja trip,” Younghusband explained. “He wrote four books about his adventure in walking, including a three-year trip that involved going down to San Felipe and back up to San Diego.”
https://patch.com/california/lamesa/a-man-his-dog-and-a-burro
[/quote]phaster
Participant[quote=sdduuuude][quote=sdduuuude][quote=phaster]upon reading (what caught my eye) what came to mind was an editorial cartoon
[/quote]The depression doesn’t come from what they have to do, it comes from what was taken from them – the collective graduation that they have been working for and looking forward to their whole lives. In a sense, it is their life. I think this cartoon doesn’t apply to those HS seniors at all. Maybe to young adults who complaining about how awful their situation is, but not to a depressed HS Senior. That is not fair by any means. [/quote]
P.S. Two teen suicides this weekend in San Diego county. They weren’t reported but we got emails that two teens died but details were being being withheld to protect the families. That usually means suicide. For teens in San Diego, the death rate from the cure is higher than the death rate from the virus.[/quote]
the idea I was trying to point out requires acceptance AND understanding of the BIG PICTURE which is very difficult given human nature
[quote]
The Ostrich Effect (HIDDEN BRAIN podcast)…Information aversion is one of many, many domains where human behavior seems to deviate from the models of economists. Instead of doing the rational thing, learning as much as possible about something, many of us do the opposite. We stick our heads in the sand. And this is true for more than just financial information.
…The bigger the potential good news, the more likely volunteers were to pay. The studies show that people are hungry for information when information is pleasant.
…just as the researchers had expected, volunteers were more likely to pay money to avoid getting highly unpleasant information
…Another thing the researchers found – students who were in a good mood were more likely to avoid information than those in a bad mood. This may seem surprising, but it actually makes complete sense. When you’re in a good mood, do you really want to ruin how you feel
http://www.npr.org/2018/08/06/636133086/you-2-0-the-ostrich-effect
[/quote][quote]
Virus Shows Why There Won’t Be Global Action on Climate ChangeCOVID-19 reveals three reasons why fighting climate change is so hard.
First, stopping the spread of this highly contagious disease requires that we all upend our daily lives in dramatic ways—and often do so for the benefit of others.
The second sobering lesson from COVID-19 for climate change efforts is the importance of public buy-in and education. The problems of collective action described above are less acute when the public broadly understands the gravity of the threat.
The third reason COVID-19 should give pause to expectations about climate change action is because of what it reveals about the strong link between carbon emissions and economic activity.
…the pandemic is a reminder of just how wicked a problem climate change is because it requires collective action, public understanding and buy-in, and decarbonizing the energy mix while supporting economic growth and energy use around the world.
Sorry, but the Virus Shows Why There Won’t Be Global Action on Climate Change
[/quote][quote]
Pollution declines from pandemic shutdowns may aid in answering long-standing questions about how aerosols influence climatehttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-19-could-help-solve-climate-riddles/
[/quote]the pandemic is a wakeup call for people to accept the scientific fact(s) that climate change is a big problem that needs to be addressed head on!!!
basically when times are good people don’t want to hear bad news because they don’t want anything to kill their happy mood BUT when people are in a bad mood they might be more willing to listen and have an open mind about unsettling news (and take action to avoid the fermi-paradox)
[quote]
There’s a compelling reason scientists think we’ve never found aliens, and it suggests humans are already going extinctUnchecked climate change would eventually lead to widespread devastation on Earth.
Rising seas would inundate coastal cities like Miami, searing heat would increase human mortality, and acidic oceans would become inhospitable to fish and coral, leaving behind little but rubbery masses of jellyfish.
These consequences of human activity could be the thing that prevents our civilization from advancing much further. In a particularly extreme scenario, it could even wind up wiping us from the face of the Earth.
http://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-great-filter-fermi-paradox-aliens-2017-7
[/quote]WRT the local existential threat (that is going to really impact quality of life in the san diego area)
[quote]
Climate change: US megadrought ‘already under way’
16 April 2020A drought, equal to the worst to have hit the western US in recorded history, is already under way, say scientists.
Researchers say the megadrought is a naturally occurring event that started in the year 2000 and is still ongoing.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52312260
[/quote]https://www.piggington.com/so_much_rain#comment-288116
[quote]
Air Pollution Can Prevent Rainfall
March 14, 2000Urban and industrial air pollution can stifle rain and snowfall, a new study shows, because the pollution particles prevent cloud water from condensing into raindrops and snowflakes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/03/000314065455.htm
[/quote][quote]
More pollution, less rain
DECEMBER 4, 2019Emissions from Asian slums could be a contributory factor in changing weather patterns, according to work published in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution, perhaps leading to worsening windspeeds, but less rainfall.
https://phys.org/news/2019-12-pollution.html
[/quote]PS FWIW given earth day is next wed (april 22, 2020)
[quote]
Why Doesn’t Everyone Believe Humans Are Causing Climate Change?…Climate illiteracy isn’t just limited to the general public, either. Ranney recalls a scientist’s presentation at a recent conference which said that many university professors teaching global warming barely had a better understanding of its mechanism than the undergraduates they were teaching. “Even one of the most highly-cited climate change communicators in the world didn’t know the mechanism over dinner,” he says.
…When Ranney surveyed 270 visitors to a San Diego park on how global warming works, he found that exactly zero could provide the proper mechanism.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/climate-change-acceptance/ http://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/tops.12187
[/quote][quote]
Most Teachers Don’t Teach Climate Change; 4 In 5 Parents Wish They DidMore than 80% of parents in the U.S. support the teaching of climate change. And that support crosses political divides, according to the results of an exclusive new NPR/Ipsos poll: Whether they have children or not, two-thirds of Republicans and 9 in 10 Democrats agree that the subject needs to be taught in school.
A separate poll of teachers found that they are even more supportive, in theory — 86% agree that climate change should be taught.
These polls are among the first to gauge public and teacher opinion on how climate change should be taught to the generation that in the coming years will face its intensifying consequences: children.
April 17, 2020 at 9:05 AM in reply to: Radical change or rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. #816560phaster
Participantphaster
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=outtamojo]Sounds like there will be civil unrest soon.[/quote]
Yeah. The protests are starting already.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/us/protests-coronavirus-stay-home-orders/index.html%5B/quote%5Dperhaps a “yuge” wall on the southern border to prevent the civil unrest/panic spreading north???
[quote]
Tijuana Doctors ‘Dropping Like Flies’ and Free Trade Gets Blame
April 16, 2020, 12:18 PM PDTMexico is major medical supply maker, yet still faces shortage
Much of nation’s output is shipped abroad under trade rules
In the border town of Tijuana, factories are working full tilt to pump out masks, protective gear and ventilator parts as global demand surges because of the coronavirus. And yet, locals say hospitals are desperately short of it all.
Mexico is the eighth-largest supplier of medical devices in the world, but much of it is shipped abroad. International trade rules, an aggressive scramble by wealthier nations to stock up and what critics call a lack of planning on Mexico’s part have drained the nation’s health system of supplies it will need to fight the pandemic.
It’s proving a deadly mix as cases start climbing in Tijuana, a medical-device making hub in Latin America.
Baja California state Governor Jaime Bonilla warned that doctors there are “dropping like flies” and threatened to shut down a ventilator-parts factory if it couldn’t find a way to bypass trade rules and supply nearby clinics. Videos on Twitter show health care workers lining up around town as they hunt for their own protective gear.
“The medical equipment producers don’t have anything for us,” said Faustino Ruvalcaba, a doctor in Tijuana who spent three decades working for the national health system known as IMSS before retiring. “All the output that occurs here isn’t for here — it’s for everywhere else.”
Asking Trump for Help
Ruvalcaba has taken it upon himself to hunt for supplies in San Diego and said he’s close to reaching a deal with a distributor for 1,000 medical-grade masks to help former colleagues. It’s not so different from what President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is doing. After repeatedly downplaying the seriousness of the disease up until late last month, Lopez Obrador personally asked Donald Trump for ventilators in a call.
…Most of the companies manufacturing medical supplies in Tijuana fall under Mexico’s maquiladora program, which means they benefit from tax breaks in exchange for assembling goods that must be exported.
Mexico has acknowledged that it continued sending supplies like face masks to China in February, only to have to buy some back at a higher cost. Government officials argue that they couldn’t stop companies from selling abroad without declaring a national emergency, which it couldn’t do because it didn’t yet have any cases. Diplomatically, not filling those orders would have hurt the nation’s ties abroad.
“The irony is a reflection of Mexico’s uneven position in the current global order,” said Carlos Bravo, a political scientist at Mexico City’s Center for Economic Research & Teaching.
[quote]
Tijuana doctors plead for help as hospitals overflow and residents refuse to social distancephaster
Participant^^^
perhaps this clusterfuck is necessary for people to wake up to the fact that climate change is a big problem that needs to be addressed head on!!!
seems when times are good people don’t want to hear bad news because they don’t want anything to kill the happy mood BUT according to research when people are in a bad mood they might be more willing to listen and have an open mind about bad news???
[quote]
The Ostrich Effect…Information aversion is one of many, many domains where human behavior seems to deviate from the models of economists. Instead of doing the rational thing, learning as much as possible about something, many of us do the opposite. We stick our heads in the sand. And this is true for more than just financial information.
…The bigger the potential good news, the more likely volunteers were to pay. The studies show that people are hungry for information when information is pleasant.
…just as the researchers had expected, volunteers were more likely to pay money to avoid getting highly unpleasant information
…Another thing the researchers found – students who were in a good mood were more likely to avoid information than those in a bad mood. This may seem surprising, but it actually makes complete sense. When you’re in a good mood, do you really want to ruin how you feel
http://www.npr.org/2018/08/06/636133086/you-2-0-the-ostrich-effect
[/quote]phaster
Participant[quote=sdduuuude][quote=scaredyclassic]It is kind of a tough call. How much is a human life worth? Are the elderly Nonworking worth less?
How much suffering will society tolerate if the hospitals get overwhelmed.
A life really isnt worth much, dollar wise. In litigation, you get more for suffering, ongoing care than a nice quick death.
People are really kinda cheap. You cant buy em but if you kill one and it didn’t earn much, it’s not all that expensive. A nice house in SD is worth more[/quote]
I’m not suggesting we kill all the old people. Just keep them in isolation so the whole county doesn’t get put out, economically, to protect them.
San Diego has a total of about 2100 cases.
That many died in NY in the last three days.There are seniors in high school who are deeply depressed. For them, a worse medical condition that if they contracted the virus.[/quote]
upon reading (what caught my eye) what came to mind was an editorial cartoon
AND thought that far too many don’t seem to have a grasp of the big picture
[quote]
Coronavirus: The Jewish Perspectivewe live in a time of great technological advances
we live in a time where we believe almost blindly,…
in the powers of science and scientists (expert doctors)and yet we are suddenly finding ourselves without a solution,… without a clue
…why would God allow such a virus, why would God allow such a pandemic
…we actually started to believe that life is about life is about going to school, going to work, going to parties, going to a theatre (for some entertainment), going shopping
…this virus is bringing, a fantastic opportunity to change the habits we’ve been trying or hoping to change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRyqQYQ8F4
[/quote]basically seems the way most people are dealing with this cluster fuck is lots of depression AND/OR finger pointing
or if one is uncomfortable w/ a religious framework, found a pop-psychology outline (that kinda sends the same message)
[quote]
What Can Children Learn From COVID-19…this is the first national adversity they’ve ever experienced so they’re in unchartered waters. They’re disappointed with proms and school productions thwarted as well as field trips canceled. But from an educational perspective—all is not lost. This time is ripe to help students learn a few emotionally intelligent concepts from the COVID-19 crisis such as:
1) INNER IS ALWAYS GREATER THAN OUTER (At some point, a child gets the opportunity to “see” that within them is the power to overcome any obstacle, which normally would be a bully on the bus or broken leg, but today – it includes the COVID-19 epidemic.)
2) THIS IS TEMPORARY (Helping a child see the “bigger picture” and that today’s inconvenience and discomfort is temporary is going to help them move through this time. It doesn’t mean it’s easy, but helping your son or daughter recognize that in life—there are challenges, but they come and go is important.)
3) KINDNESS IS A PRACTICE (to self, and others)
4) HELP OTHERS (Every student that turns from “me, me, me” to “we, we, we” will have learned an invaluable lesson from this pandemic.)
5) EMOTIONAL TOOLBOX (everyone needs one!)
http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creative-development/202004/what-can-children-learn-covid-19
[/quote]basically as I read the tea leaves what we’re collectively experencing should be a sign that business/politics as usual was not sustainable,… AND we are where we are because of too much consumption and being enticed by slick marketing to believe that consumer goods are the answer to happiness
bottom line given that people have not learned or prepared to face head on various unpleasant topics, it really isn’t too big a surprise the global economy/society ended up in shit creek
phaster
Participantbeen thinking about the endgame,… and doubt we’ll ever get back to what was considered the go-go normal for the USA which I consider from reagan’s 1980s election to the start of trumps 2016 election
think most everyone whether they love or hate trump,… would agree its been an odd period since the 2016 election
AND because of covid-19, think going forward there will be lots more sophisticated surveillance technology like in china
[quote]
A special undercover report from China’s secretive Xinjiang region. FRONTLINE investigates the Communist regime’s mass imprisonment of Muslims, and its use and testing of sophisticated surveillance technology against the Uyghur community.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/china-undercover/
[/quote]and given many were not prepared emotionally, economically or actually (in terms of medical science w/ tests and a vaccine),… sadly pretty sure the waves of infections are going to have many more victims than people want to think about
for example just a few miles south of downtown SD we see,…
[quote]
‘A war zone’: Tijuana hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus patientsPatients are being treated in receiving areas and lobbies while doctors and nurses say they lack the staffing, ventilators and testing to properly care for them
…At least 14 health care professionals have tested positive for COVID-19 and two are in intensive care across the state, Baja California officials confirmed Thursday.
…President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has conceded that the system does not have the number of doctors and nurses that it needs as the epidemic begins to ramp up in Mexico.
then there is the sad fact about long food bank lines all over the SoCal region,…
[quote]
Thousands Line Up For Food, As More San Diegans Lose Their Paychecks Due To CoronavirusWith the rain pounding down, thousands of people lined up in their cars Friday morning at a San Diego Food Bank food distribution pop-up in Chula Vista. Food Bank officials say demand has gone up tremendously as an unprecedented number of people have lost their jobs amid the shutdowns brought on by the pandemic.
“We were feeding about 350,000 people a month before the crisis, we’re projecting we’re gonna start feeding 600,000 people this month,” said Jim Floros, the Food Bank’s CEO.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/apr/10/thousands-line-food-more-san-diegans-lose-their-pa/
[/quote][quote]
Sign of the times: Mile-long line of cars outside California grocery giveawayVAN NUYS, Calif. (Reuters) – A pop-up food pantry in Southern California on Thursday drew so many people that the line of cars waiting for free groceries stretched about a mile (1.6 km), a haunting sign of how the coronavirus pandemic has hurt the working poor.
…“I have six kids and it’s difficult to eat. My husband was working in construction but now we can’t pay the rent,” said Juana Gomez, 50, of North Hollywood, as she waited for her turn.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down nonessential businesses across the United States, with more than 90% of Americans under some kind of stay-at-home order, depriving millions of a paycheck.
The northeast part of Los Angeles, home to many working poor Latino families, has been especially hard hit.
then looking at the “medical” trends
Hypertension and Diabetes Prevalence Among U.S. Hispanics by Country of Origin: The National Health Interview Survey 2000-2005
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2896588/[quote]
How Mexico got so fat and is now more obese than AmericaAlmost 33 percent of Mexicans are now obese and 70 percent overweight
The poor and young are worst affected, often both malnourished and fat
Mexican food is traditionally high in calories, fatty and fried
U.S. restaurant chains opening up in the country aren’t helping the problem
Growth in waistlines is due to increases in income and urban lifestyles
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2358472/How-Mexico-got-fat-obese-America.html
[/quote]so looking at the trends, sadly pretty certain Hispanics are more likely to fall victim to the covid-19 virus than other ethnic groups,…
comedic prophecy???
day without a mexican (trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfid48rlQocphaster
Participantthe weather w/ so much rain has been rather weird,… or perhaps its normal for where we are?!
[quote]
The eco-extremists who have found something to like in the coronavirus
April 4, 2020Just as some hard-core partisans apparently view the coronavirus pandemic as just one more excuse to attack their political opponents, some fringe members of the environmental movement are also eyeing the public health emergency as an opportunity. They see the shuttering of modern industry, the grounding of airplanes, the mothballing of cruise ships and the faltering demand for gasoline as positives, which, if they persist, promise a more “sustainable” economy and society. Some enviro-geniuses have even created a label for the great socioeconomic unraveling that they seek: they call it “degrowth.”
…others, like Bloomberg columnist James Gibney, see the coronavirus as a form of divine intervention in favor of Mother Earth; he tweeted: “Coronavirus is God’s way of getting us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
[quote]
L.A.’s Air Quality Is Better Than It’s Been in Decades…Last month, Los Angeles experienced the longest stretch of days of “good” air since at least 1980. The federal agency’s online data goes back no further, but one expert suspects that L.A.’s air hasn’t been this clean since around the time the United States entered the Second World War.
http://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/air-quality-covid/
[/quote][quote]
The Pandemic Is Turning the Natural World Upside Down…In a bittersweet twist, the surreal slowdown of life as we know it has presented researchers with a rare opportunity to study the modern world under some truly bizarre conditions, and they’re scrambling to collect as much data as they can. Here are four ways the pandemic is being felt across land, air, and sea.
THERE’S LESS RUMBLING ON THE SURFACE
THERE’S LESS AIR POLLUTION
CITY SOUNDSCAPES ARE CHANGING
THE OCEANS ARE PROBABLY QUIETER, TOOWRT LESS AIR POLLUTION,… I am pretty sure covid-19 weather data will confirm without a shadow of a doubt that GLOBAL DIMMING is a man made phenomenon
https://www.piggington.com/climate_change_one_biggest_crises_facing_humanity?page=1#comment-287756
BUT physics gut tells me the “delta” between day and nighttime temperatures will not be as great as the 2001 period because the northern hemisphere has less heat soaking (i.e. summer time in the northern hemisphere when days have long exposure to sunlight) and most likely there will be more precipitation
bottom line
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2008JD011470
-
AuthorPosts








