Take into account that black is white when it comes to the Globe, and the event that signifies what is essentially a surprise that totally changes the parameters of life:
"In 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded after claiming victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; assassin Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was arrested at the scene."
It's difficult for me to type about the event because it often makes me tear up, and will do so now. I'm not going into the lone nut who couldn't have shot him from the front or the likely culprit being a private security guard who was not properly vetted and had connections back to the government that killed his brother -- another Black Swan event, along with 9/11 -- whose reputation is now being soiled.
It is the fact that, looking back now, as that brave and valiant man lay splayed on the kitchen floor, blood and life leaking from his head, really went the last best hope for a decent and sane world. It's been a long descent ever since, although he did leave us his offspring who may have surpassed him in the fight for humanity.
Another Black Swan event came in 1981, and that was the shooting of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, who died in Los Angeles in 2004 at age 93 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. May God rest his soul because he would be appalled at the encroachment of full-blown communi$m on our great nation. The sad fact is, after the shooting, the White House was being run through Bush's office. That's where the former CIA man got the Ollie North notes, etc, and all the other evil shit was done while the old man was doddering around. May we all be lucky enough to have a Nancy to look out after us.
I guess a "preemptive" Israeli attack on Iran this summer would be a surprise despite the last 54 years of history, and let's all pray they see the folly of such a thing.
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The Globe put the swan up front with rest of A1 items, and tomorrow is the sixth day of the six month of the sixth year since they bought the paper, and I'm starting to feel like somebody's watching me:
"Earlier this spring, the City of Boston quietly sought bids for a company to help assemble a vast surveillance network across the region, linking more than 1,000 cameras in a network that officials in any one of nine Greater Boston municipalities would be able to access, but this week, Acting Mayor Kim Janey hit pause on the plan, and a chorus of advocates are calling on her to drop it altogether, citing privacy and civil liberties concerns. “Going forward with this project despite community opposition would establish a supercharged surveillance network that would endanger privacy, civil liberties, public safety, and racial justice in the City of Boston and surrounding cities and towns,” Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement to the Globe....."
Better late than never, I guess, but the ACLU has really been AWOL when it comes to the unconstitutional lockdowns, sorry.
That is absolutely tragic, and as I flip below the fold I found a tragedy waiting to happen.
Even before COVID-19 struck, overdose deaths were on the rise among Black people nationwide and then came the loneliness and anxiety of living in a pandemic, and as opioid deaths surge, hundreds of children under the state’s watch witnessed an overdose last year.
I can not fathom the horror of finding such a thing, but at least the Globe will get it fixed. Either that, or the state AG will get after them before she loses the energy and lets them go and as usual its a race issue.
"Job growth rebounds, but President Biden warns of ‘ups and downs’ as economy recovers" by Jim Puzzanghera and Larry Edelman Globe Staff and Globe Columnist, June 4, 2021
WASHINGTON — The labor market got its mojo back last month, doubling the number of new jobs from a disappointing April as the economy continued its solid but bumpy recovery from the pandemic.
The Labor Department reported Friday the nation added 559,000 jobs in May, a bit short of analyst expectations but a strong gain nonetheless that eased fears of a broad hiring slowdown even though many employers say they are still having trouble finding workers.
The unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent, a pandemic-era low, and wages continued to rise as businesses compete for workers. Hiring was robust again by restaurants and bars, and school reopenings led to a jump of 103,000 in public education jobs.
“The important thing to keep in mind is things are going well — very well,” said economist Brian Bethune, a professor of practice at Boston College.
President Biden was quick to tout the new data, which came as a relief to White House officials after lackluster job growth in April led to criticism that pandemic-related enhanced unemployment benefits were stalling the nation’s reopening, but nonetheless.....
A stock market crash would undoubtedly be a Black Swan Event because it would likely be used to usher in the long sought after digital currency, and economists cautioned not to read too much into one report and said the economic recovery remained on track, with the the narrative convenient for Democrats even as the market’s pullback this month reflects heightened unease among traders that rising inflation may prompt central banks to pull back on their efforts to support job growth before the economic recovery is fully realized (meaning workers get the $hort end of the $tick again), but “when you see employment numbers like we saw today, which were slightly disappointing, that would give market participants confidence that the Fed will stay on track and keep rates lower for a longer period of time,” said Clinton Warren, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, but still...."
Related:
"Prices were up by 3.6 percent in April compared to a year ago, continuing a trend of rising inflation, although economic policymakers say the increases aren’t here to stay. The latest inflation data is unlikely to rattle the Federal Reserve, which is charged with keeping prices stable and unemployment low. Fed leaders have argued for months that a rise in inflation will be temporary, and that prices will simmer down as the economy reemerges from the pandemic. Rather than rush to raise interest rates and slow down the recovery, the Fed is urging patience so that the labor market has time to recover. In April Americans’ after-tax income slid 15.1 percent from the record level it hit in March, when hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus payments goosed US bank accounts, after adjusting for inflation. In March, income had jumped an eye-popping 22.7 percent compared to February. So while after-tax income slipped in April, it has trended upward in the longer run, as stimulus checks and unemployment benefits continued to arrive. Powered in part by this government-assisted income surge, consumer spending recovered completely from the COVID crisis in March, after adjusting for inflation. Consumers account for almost 70 percent of the US economy and their spending whims have long powered US economic growth, but while consumers are finally shelling out just as much per month as they did before the recession, spending in April 2021 looks very different than it did just 14 months earlier, before the crisis. Spending on goods — everything from private planes to window panes — recovered within a month or two and has been in record territory ever since. Spending on services, such as parking fees and surgeries, rose 0.6 percent in April from the previous month but remained 4.7 percent below its prepandemic level as fears of the virus remain widespread and some high-traffic brick-and-mortar firms struggle to regain their footing."
What is with the curve balls, and don't let him sniff your hair.
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In retrospect, Trump's election is looking like a Black Swan event if one faces up to what is happening now. Had he persisted he very well may have met JFK-type treatment, although he shall never be forgiven for Warp Speed. Heck, he wants credit for it as he sucks up to his masters.
Republicans are obstructionist, but when Democrats do it they are defenders who will go it alone if necessary -- and now his plan is threatened by manufactured shortages!
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Or will the Black Swan event be war with China after the WHO authorized their vaccine for emergency use when they make you sick and kill you?
So when do the tribunals start, before or after the summit, and on to which island will he be exiled?
Why would one even do that in the age of rising seas and exi$tential climate change, 'eh?
"Biden administration moves to bring back endangered species protections undone under Trump" by Dino Grandoni and Darryl Fears Washington Post, June 4, 2021
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced plans on Friday to reverse policies implemented under former president Donald Trump that weakened the Endangered Species Act, a half-century-old law credited with the recovery of the bald eagle, humpback whale, grizzly bear, and dozens of other species.
Finally doing the right thing, right?
The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service are both moving to undo much of the Trump administration’s work altering the ways habitats of plants and animals on the verge of extinction are kept from total collapse.
The decision to bolster the federal government’s power to protect vanishing plants and animals comes as the world finds itself in the midst of what United Nations scientists say is a worldwide decline in biodiversity that threatens to erode food systems and other key parts of the global economy.
Martha Williams, principal deputy director at the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement her agency will work with both industry and Native American tribes “to not only protect and recover America’s imperiled wildlife but to ensure cornerstone laws like the Endangered Species Act are helping us meet 21st century challenges.”
Like the Tea Party patriots, they are using Native American garb to cover their Great Re$et destruction.
Led by former Interior secretary David Bernhardt, an expert on the Endangered Species Act, the Trump administration whittled down several long-standing protections for imperiled plants and animals that the Biden administration now intends to revise or outright rescind.
Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, called the announcement “a good start,” urging the Biden administration to update the regulation in a way that safeguards species threatened by rising temperatures. “With climate change bearing down on us and no serious doubt remaining about the consequences of inaction, we should take this opportunity to update all federal standards as thoroughly as possible to prevent habitat destruction and biodiversity loss before it’s too late,” he said in a statement.
I probably would have agreed had he not used the climate change agenda to argue for it.
Historically hailed as a success by the World Wildlife Fund and other conservation groups, the Endangered Species Act has helped keep the vast majority — 99 percent — of protected wildlife from extinction, yet many supposedly protected species are still far from thriving. A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution this week, for instance, finds that something isn’t right with the North Atlantic right whale, although the animal is listed as endangered and protected from harvest, it’s still impacted by deadly contact with humans through boat strikes and becoming entangled in fishing nets. Not all those incidents are lethal, but, according to research published in Current Biology, it has led to a startling finding. Right whales are getting smaller.....
That's when I finally untangled myself from that article and surfaced.
Related:
"Scientists Wednesday reported another reason the world should sharply rein in global warming: Doing so would likely cut in half the current projected amount of sea level rise from the melting of ice this century, in a study that averaged results of hundreds of computer simulations from research teams around the world. The studies are also the latest to starkly illustrate both the benefits to be gained from reducing warming by drastically cutting emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, and the perils of failing to do so....."
They had no sooner had they put out the well-timed agenda-pushing study when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed so forget about buying Greenland -- or invading it for that matter.
"The Biden administration on Thursday moved to repeal a Trump-era regulation that it said weakened the government’s ability to curb air pollution that threatens public health and is driving climate change. Critics said the regulation distorted the costs of reducing air pollution while diminishing the associated benefits. It is one of several Trump administration policies that have been reversed by Michael S. Regan since he became the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in March....."
They want us tilting at windmills as they shit on us, so take shelter instead as it is time to stoke the racial fires (they just opened the square).
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The greatest Black Swan of all:
"Citing increased hospitalization rates of teenagers with COVID-19 in March and April, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky urged parents to vaccinate their teens to protect them from an illness that can be severe even among young people. “I am deeply concerned by the numbers of hospitalized adolescents and saddened to see the numbers of adolescents who required treatment in intensive care units or mechanical ventilation,” Walensky said in a statement that was released Friday alongside a new study looking at trends in hospitalization among adolescents with the disease. “Much of this suffering can be prevented,” Walensky added, urging “parents, relatives, and close friends to join me and talk with teens” about the importance of prevention strategies and to encourage vaccination. The study showed that nearly one-third of those teenagers hospitalized with COVID-19 during a surge of cases early this year required intensive care, and 5 percent required mechanical ventilation. While most COVID-19 hospitalizations occur in older adults, severe disease that requires hospitalization has been shown to occur in all age groups. COVID-19 hospitalization rates among adolescents declined in January and February 2021, the report said, but increased during March and April, even as hospitalization rates stabilized for those 65 and older, likely because of their higher rates of vaccination. On May 10, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds."
So that is what RAW EVIL looks like!
I would normally post the photo; however, I am so repulsed and revolted by that abomination I can not subject the wider world to it. It's there if you want to see it.
It must be palpable in the department as the rats desert a sinking ship while criminals like Fauci remain aboard.
"Federal health officials on Friday updated public guidance about how the coronavirus spreads, emphasizing that transmission occurs by inhaling very fine respiratory droplets and aerosolized particles, as well as through contact with sprayed droplets or touching contaminated hands to one’s mouth, nose, or eyes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now states explicitly — in large, bold lettering — that airborne virus can be inhaled even when one is more than six feet away from an infected individual. The new language, posted online, is a change from the agency’s previous position that most infections were acquired through “close contact, not airborne transmission.” As the pandemic unfolded last year, infectious disease experts warned for months that both the CDC and the World Health Organization were overlooking research that strongly suggested the coronavirus traveled aloft in small, airborne particles. Several scientists on Friday welcomed the agency’s scrapping of the term “close contact,” which they criticized as vague and said did not necessarily capture the nuances of aerosol transmission....."
I guess they didn't see the Defense Department study of the risk of catching the coronavirus on a packed commercial flight that concluded that a person would have to be sitting next to an infectious passenger for at least 54 hours to receive a dangerous dose of the virus through the air, and they should be embarrassed for doubling down on the BS.
Meanwhile, Pfizer wants approval of vaccine to be permanent, what with $26 billion at stake in 2021 alone, a milestone that would make it the biggest-selling pharmaceutical product in the world and helps illustrate why Pfizer is planning to expand use of mRNA technology for other vaccines and therapies as its parter BioNTech says it will sell more than $15 billion in vaccines this year and after the federal government has now invested about $6 billion in the COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, the Cambridge biotech that few outside the scientific and investment worlds had heard of a couple of years ago, but don't worry Moderna spokesman Ray Jordan said taxpayers got a good deal.
"Federal health officials’ decision Thursday to rescind almost all masking and distancing recommendations for fully vaccinated Americans created as much confusion as it did celebration, sending states, businesses, and individuals scrambling to figure out what rules, if any, are still appropriate and when. Many, including President Biden, hailed the relaxation of restrictions by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a milestone that signaled a return to normal, but with a majority of Americans unvaccinated, others questioned the sudden and blanket recommendation, worrying the onus is now heavier on state and local governments, businesses and individuals to determine whether precautions are necessary. They feared the guidelines could undercut two of the simplest and most effective tools— masks and physical distancing — for stopping the spread of a virus still infecting about 35,000 people in the United States every day. Two of the nation’s medical societies — the American Society of Transplantation and the American Academy of Pediatrics — and more than a dozen physicians interviewed Friday also expressed concern the decision was premature, coming only days after regulators cleared a vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds and when so many are still unprotected. ’'The guidance shifts all the burden onto individuals to be ‘on their honor’ and choose the appropriate actions when deciding whether to wear a mask,’' said Lisa Maragakis, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. ’'There is no way to know who is vaccinated and who is not in most scenarios. The likely result is that almost no one will wear a mask.’' Some said the instructions might be more effective if paired with a way to verify people’s vaccination status since that would give peace of mind to those gathering indoors and provide a real incentive to those yet to get the shots. Biden administration officials have said so-called vaccine passports would be left to the private sector, and numerous Republican-controlled states have moved to ban such tools. Besides children, those potentially at greater risk include essential workers who interact with the public, and millions of immunocompromised people who may be vaccinated but whose bodies might not mount a full immune response, say doctors and labor groups. ’'It came much faster than we expected,’' said Emily Blumberg, director of transplant infectious diseases at Penn Medicine. ’'We are not ready for them to be as free as the CDC guidance allows.’' The CDC defended the guidance, which allows vaccinated people to go without masks or physical distancing in many cases, even when they are indoors or in large groups. Officials pointed to a study released Friday of nearly 2,000 health care workers across 25 states that showed the two mRNA vaccines reduced the risk of illness from covid-19 by 94 percent. ’'This report provided the most compelling information to date that coronavirus vaccines were performing as expected in the real world,’' CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a news release. Meanwhile, some of the lowest immunization rates in the country are in communities without mask mandates, calling into question the effectiveness of the federal about-face as an incentive for the unvaccinated. It was mostly in Democratic-led states where mask mandates remained in effect when the CDC shifted its stance. A handful of states, from Virginia to Oregon moved immediately to make their policies mirror the federal recommendations, while others, such as Massachusetts and California, held off and vowed to review the updated guidance. Many large businesses, including Target, Home Depot, and CVS said they would continue to require employees and customers to wear masks. while others, like Trader Joe’s and Walmart, will no longer require fully vaccinated shoppers to wear mask. It was unclear, though, how retailers would determine which shoppers have been inoculated."
They don't want to be the “vaccine police,” so is it a set up or have they called it off because we know?
Turns out you already have natural herd immunity:
"Previous coronavirus infection reduces the risk of catching it again for up to 10 months, according to a new study by researchers at University College London. The study tracked the status of more than 2,000 care-home residents and staff in Britain, who were tested on a monthly and weekly basis. It found that a prior bout of COVID-19 reduced the risk of reinfection by 85 percent in residents and 60 percent in staff members. The findings were published Thursday in the Lancet Healthy Longevity journal. The authors said the results suggest that previous infection “provides a high degree of protection” against second infection. Among those who contracted the virus again, none required hospital treatment."
It actually gives you LIFETIME IMMUNITY, so NO NEED to gamble on a $hot and why would anyone want to visit France?
"Deaths from COVID-19 and COVID-related causes are likely to be two to three times the number that countries have recorded in their official data, the World Health Organization said on Friday. Some six to eight million people may have now died from COVID-19 or its effects since the start of the pandemic, compared with 3.4 million deaths recorded in countries’ official reporting, Dr. Samira Asma, assistant director of the WHO’s data division, told reporters. The WHO also estimates that at least three million people may have died from COVID-19 in 2020, compared with 1.8 million recorded in official data. The WHO based its assessment on a statistical model that estimates the excess deaths attributable to COVID-19. The technique involves taking the total number of officially recorded deaths and then subtracting the number of deaths that would have been expected on the basis of previous mortality trends if the pandemic had not occurred. On that basis, the WHO said it estimated that 1.1 million to 1.3 million people in 53 European countries died from COVID-19 in 2020, roughly double the number recorded in official data. The organization also calculates that, over the same period, 1.3 million to 1.5 million people died in 35 countries in the Americas, compared with the 900,000 deaths officially recorded."
The models have been wrong from the start but were/are a useful tool to push the agenda.
"Singapore did almost everything right. The island nation imposed some of the strictest controls to ward off the coronavirus. It tightened borders, quarantined travelers, implemented a Bluetooth contact tracing system, and deployed an army of social distance enforcers. Robots roamed the streets ensuring that people remained six feet apart and masks became mandatory, inside and outside. For a while, it worked. After weathering a surge last spring, Singapore was virtually virus-free for much of the past year. COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed 32 people in this country of 6 million. As hospitals in Brazil, Britain, and the United States ran out of beds and oxygen, Singaporeans were free to visit movie theaters, food courts, and malls. Last month, Bloomberg News crowned the city-state the best place to be during the pandemic, but Singapore’s rules have proved to be no match for a new variant of the virus rippling through Southeast Asia. Scientists say the variant, known as B 1.617, which arose in pandemic-ravaged India, is 50 percent more contagious than the original strain."
Of course, one guy has his hand on the Pulse of his state as he tries to clean up things and keep the schools safe while time is running out for teachers.
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The Globe is reporting gunfire on the Cape:
"General in charge of Joint Base Cape Cod threatens businesses who won’t publicly support a proposed machine gun range" by David Abel Globe Staff, June 4, 2021
In retaliation for the lack of vocal community support for a controversial machine gun range proposed for Joint Base Cape Cod, the commanding general has threatened to order the thousands of soldiers scheduled to visit the base every weekend this summer not to patronize local restaurants or other businesses.
In an e-mail this week to the deputy director of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Brigadier General Christopher M. Faux complained that the “only folks that speak up are naysayers, activists, and anti-military groups.”
“They are the only ones contacting the [Congressional] delegation and swaying opinions against our project,” wrote Faux, executive director of Joint Base Cape Cod, who has proposed clearing 170 acres of woods to make way for a sprawling range that would support the use of heavy weapons. “With our impact on local business, it is hard to believe we have heard nothing in support.”
You gotta support the troops!
He added: “For that reason, I will be recommending a conditional confinement for the thousands of soldiers that train here each weekend over the summer to The Adjutant General [of the Massachusetts National Guard]. What that means is anyone training here will be directed to stay and eat on base.”
So it is the soldiers who actually have to suffer?
Faux’s e-mail was taken as a threat by officials at the Chamber of Commerce.
“I think the word I heard most from board members is that the communication we received was shocking,” said Wendy Northcross, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, which represents nearly 1,300 businesses across Cape Cod. “It seemed to be a clear quid pro quo: If you don’t do this, we’ll do that.”
What made it worse, she said, was that his threats came after more than a year of the pandemic.
“He was threatening local businesses who have just come through 15 months of pure hell,” she said. “We try to work with people, and we feel in this case, this was the exact opposite of that. The whole thing does not sit well with us.”
In his e-mail, Faux also said he intended to send a letter to the base’s full-time employees that would suggest that the community’s lack of support for the proposed gun range could hurt their jobs.
“The letter will also recommend to all that can, to take an extra few minutes to shop and spend money on the other side of the bridge,” he wrote in the e-mail, “showing the community the direct impact of the loss of their employment.”
Faux added: “It truly saddens me to even consider taking these steps, but I am more saddened by the lack of support from the businesses on Cape.”
BLM they ain't!
Faux and other military officials have proposed clearing thousands of pitch pine and scrub oak trees to make way for a new range for heavier weapons on the 15,000-acre base on the Upper Cape, one of only a few in Massachusetts where soldiers can drill with assault rifles and heavier weapons.
Last month, the National Guard Bureau, a federal agency overseeing state militias, determined that the proposed range would have “no significant impact” on the area’s ecology.
The finding angered local environmental advocates who oppose the proposed range. They have cited an estimate by the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Woods Hole that clear-cutting the trees would release about 17,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and eliminate the capacity to absorb some 300 additional metric tons a year.
They also worry about munitions and ordnance contaminating a fragile aquifer, the primary source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents in surrounding towns, including Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich.
The water is bad enough and now this!
“Throughout the environmental assessment process the Guard Bureau has resisted meaningful public engagement, ignored and dismissed legitimate public concerns and has self-certified their own analysis without substantiation,” said Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, who urged the Baker administration to stop the project.
Before the range can be built, it must be certified under the National Environmental Policy Act and receive approval from the Massachusetts Environmental Management Commission.
Before receiving Faux’s e-mail, the Chamber of Commerce hadn’t taken a public position on the range.
“We feel as an organization that our hand is being forced to make a statement in support of something in which we don’t feel there has been a sufficient policy process,” Northcross said. “At this point, we feel that there should be a science-based independent review of the environmental impacts.”
Reached on his cell phone while on vacation in Nebraska, Faux said he understood why Chamber of Commerce officials viewed his e-mail as a threat.
“That’s not how it was meant,” he said. “I was just saying that we need support, but don’t remain silent. I wanted to demonstrate the impact we have on our community.”
He added: “I hear people say they support us, but I don’t have any letters of support.”
After sending the e-mail, he said he heard from the adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, whom he said rejected his proposal to confine soldiers to the base.
“He chewed me out,” Faux said.
After hanging up with a Globe reporter, Faux called back and acknowledged the inartful language of his e-mail.
“I probably should have read it more closely before sending it,” he said.
Dis-missed!
A couple of cops along with a suspect were collateral damage after an exchange of gunfire early Friday afternoon in woods near an apartment complex where police had responded to a call for a domestic disturbance, according to officials, and I hate to say I told you so, but.... I told you so.
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Look what popped up out of the Basket:
"Some Market Basket customers embrace chance to get COVID vaccines at pop-up site" by Camille Caldera Globe Correspondent, June 4, 2021
REVERE — Ursula Barone hadn’t planned on receiving her COVID-19 vaccine Friday, but when she arrived at Market Basket in Revere Friday morning to shop for food and saw a small outdoor clinic in the parking lot, she made a “spur of the moment” choice to end her monthslong debate over the inoculation.
Her husband had received his shot a few months ago at their home in ReverE, but Barone, 62, was too nervous to get one. “I chickened out,” she said. She recently had been diagnosed with blood clots, and was wary of any potential risks of Johnson & Johnson, which have since been refuted by federal officials.
It has not, and people are still dying from them!
“I’ve been just debating, every day for the past month, do I go to the doctor’s office? Do I go to Walgreens? Do I go to CVS?” Barone said. “Every day, I would take a step forward, and two steps back.”
Well, CVS Health hiked its 2021 forecast and beat Wall Street’s first quarter as a growing insurance business countered hits the health care giant took from a weak cold and flu season, but sales in both the company’s drugstores and from its pharmacy benefits management business were trimmed by the weak cough, cold, and flu season, which was brought on in part by mask wearing and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic (it's not stopping COVID, though).
Outside of Market Basket on Friday, Barone apprehensively approached the vaccination tents and spoke with a staffer, who, she said, convinced her to get the shot.
“I want to be safe. I’m 62 years old, I have three beautiful grandchildren, and I want to be around for my grandchildren,” she said. “Maybe God — it was just meant for me to get it today.”
Little does she know that she signed her own death warrant, and God had nothing to do with it.
A partnership between Massachusetts and Market Basket is offering free, walk-up vaccination clinics in the parking lots of stores in Chelsea, Fall River, Lawrence, Lynn and Revere on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week and next. The clinics are run by CIC Health.
In Revere, the clinic’s four white tents and four rows of chairs — cordoned off by caution tape attached to upside-down shopping carts — took up fewer than three dozen parking spaces, and was demarcated by several signs.
How long until someone drives through one?
Residents who got their first shot at Market Basket will receive a $25 gift certificate to the store, funded by the state.
Bought off so cheaply.
For some, it was that incentive that drew them to the pop-up clinic Friday.
Joseph Polonski, 65 — who lived in Malden before he became homeless and moved into his car — said the gift card was “frosting on the cake.”
“When you’re homeless, you’ve got to maneuver to survive,” Polonski explained. “When they said $25, when this came up, I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll grab that.’”
“That’ll feed me for three days if I’m frugal about it,” he added.
The Globe is citing that as a success?
So WHY is he HOMELESS?
For others, it was convenience.
Jeffrey Nolan, 56, and his brother, Scott Rossetti, 54, were grocery shopping at Market Basket when they decided to stop by the vaccination tents.
“I got my pay today, so I decided to go shopping, so I went over there and spent a good amount of money and I heard somebody say there’s shots over here, so I came over and got my shot,” Nolan said.
I'm going to other way!
Nolan was also motivated by the recent rollback of the state’s mask mandate, he said. As of May 29, Massachusetts only requires face coverings on public and private transportation, in health care facilities or congregate care settings, and in schools.
“If I’m taking my mask off, I want to make sure I’m vaccinated,” he said.
Nolan said he chose to receive Johnson & Johnson, because he didn’t want to worry about receiving a second dose elsewhere. At the clinics, residents who choose Pfizer or Moderna are able to schedule second appointments for late June or early July.
For part of the morning, a man stood nearby, trying to discourage shoppers from patronizing the vaccination site, shouting debunked claims about vaccines, autism, masks, and even sorcery, into a megaphone. After a brief conversation with Revere police officers, he left.
Yeah, make the "conspiracy people" into kooks, you liars.
That's why no one likes you anymore.
The Market Basket clinics are the latest effort by Massachusetts to expand vaccine access and encourage widespread inoculation. Though the state has the second-highest vaccination rate in the nation, some communities lag behind others.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Charlie Baker said the initiative is about offering the shot “anywhere and everywhere we can.”
“As we get close to that goal of vaccinating over 4 million residents with two shots, we’ve been ramping up targeted community outreach efforts to reach the remaining residents who still remain unvaccinated,” Baker said.
Approximately 3.7 million residents, or 54 percent of the population, were fully vaccinated — with one dose of Johnson & Johnson or both doses of Pfizer or Moderna — as of June 2.
They are treading into the realm of mass-murdering criminality when the stuff should be pulled!
Their silence truly is unfathomable, and amid a squabble with state lawmakers, Governor Charlie Baker said Friday he is unilaterally releasing $109 million in federal stimulus funds to four communities that received far less than neighboring towns and cities under the federal COVID-19 relief law. Baker’s decision to seed the money to Chelsea, Everett, Methuen, and Randolph came days after he publicly sparred with legislative leaders, who said they intend to seek control over how the state spends nearly $5.3 billion in federal American Rescue Plan funds currently sitting in an account under Baker’s budget office.
Also see:
"The University of Connecticut on Friday became the latest school to require that students be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to classes in the fall. The school’s board of trustees approved the policy on a unanimous voice vote during a special meeting on Friday. UConn joins seven private state colleges and universities, including Yale, and 11 of the nation’s top 25 public universities in instituting a mandatory vaccination policy, school officials said. Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, the school’s interim president, said UConn decided to institute the policy to guard against any fall resurgence of the virus or its variants. “There’s a lot of ambiguity. There’s a lot we don’t know,” said Agunobi, who is a pediatrician by training. “One thing we do know is that vaccines work and vaccines make us safer.” Students will be required to receive a full course of vaccination before attending classes, with some medical and other exemptions on a case-by-case basis, he said. Those receiving exemptions would be subject to other protocols, which could include a requirement to wear masks, undergo periodic surveillance testing, participate in close contact quarantining and abide by housing restrictions (AP)."
They plan to make life impossible if you don't comply, kids, and let the lawsuits begin.
You better head north instead;
"Vermont has launched an economic recovery program for businesses that have not received prior state and federal pandemic-related funding and for others that continue to suffer pandemic-related losses. The program is expected to deliver $30 million in federal financial relief to businesses that were ineligible for state and federal funding and to businesses that can show a continued loss of revenues, Governor Phil Scott said. “As we move out of the pandemic emergency and into our long-term recovery, it’s so important that we support Vermont’s small businesses and employers, who are the backbone of our economy,” Scott said Thursday. “These grants will provide critical relief in the short term, allowing them to rebuild a stable foundation for their economic futures.” The state will start taking applications for the Economic Recovery Bridge Program on Monday. Grants will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis. In the first 30 days, priority will be given to businesses that have not received or do not have a pending application for any state or federal financial assistance in 2020 or 2021, officials said (AP)."
It's going to be a hot weekend in the Green Mountain state:
"With summer temperatures forecast for the weekend and early into next week, the Vermont Health Department and National Weather Service are warning about heat illnesses and cold temperatures of lakes and streams. Temperatures are expected to be in the 80s and 90s. It takes time for people’s bodies to adjust to being active in warmer conditions and heat illnesses can be dangerous, the Health Department said. “During hot weather, your body’s temperature control systems can have a hard time keeping up, and your temperature can get dangerously high,” the department said in a written statement. “Whether you are putting in your garden, taking your canoe out for a paddle, heading up the Green Mountains or Adirondacks for panoramic views, or just out for a walk, it’s important to start slowly, drink more fluids than usual and take extra breaks in the shade or cool indoor locations.” Officials also warned that the water temperature of lakes and rivers remains dangerously cold this early in the season (AP)."
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"The family of a sex offender named as a person of interest in the 2000 murder of Molly Bish demanded Friday that the Worcester district attorney immediately detail evidence linking him to the slaying — or stop mentioning his name and end the emotional harm felt by surviving relatives. The half-sister of suspect Francis P. Sumner Sr., who asked to be identified only as Jackie, said she and the extended Sumner family provided DNA samples to the office of District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. 2½ years ago. Sumner, who died in 2016, provided a sample about four years after Bish, 16, was kidnapped and murdered in Warren in 2000. “I am not trying to defend what he has done, and what he has done is wicked,” Jackie said of her half-brother, who was a Level 2 convicted sex offender. “What I’m interested in is DNA. Can Mr. Early produce a positive match between the DNA from Molly Bish and Mr. Sumner? That’s what we’re asking for. I think we’re owed that information.” She added: “Sumner was out of jail, and they never came after him. Please show us once and for all the evidence that this is the man who killed Molly Bish ... now he is being the victim because he can’t speak for himself.” The relative said Sumner’s surviving extended family — one record suggested he had eight children and two grandchildren at the time of his death — now have to face being publicly linked to a horrific crime allegedly committed by someone they had limited contact with when he was alive....."
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Meanwhile, back at the office:
"Nearly 60 percent of Boston workers want their employer to require COVID-19 vaccinations, survey shows" by Anissa Gardizy Globe Staff, June 4, 2021
Nearly 60 percent of workers in Greater Boston want their employer to require vaccinations in the workplace, according to a survey by Eagle Hill Consulting.
You want to be a good worker, right?
The survey, conducted from May 12 to May 17 and published Thursday, asked more than 530 workers across various industries about their sentiment toward COVID-19 vaccines, returning to work, and safety protocols. The results show that many remain hesitant about being around co-workers after more than a year of working from home or following strict safety protocols in the workplace. Of the respondents that said they want their employer to require vaccinations, most said employees should be asked to provide proof.
Most pandemic-era restrictions were lifted in Massachusetts on May 29, meaning stores, restaurants, gyms, and other businesses could operate at full capacity without being required to enforce masking or social-distancing rules. Office-based employers, however, are still debating how, whether, and when their workers will return in person. Some large companies expect employees will return to the office on a voluntary basis this summer, but most foresee the bulk of their workforce coming back on a “hybrid” schedule after Labor Day.
Jonathan Gove, who manages Eagle Hill’s Boston office, said the survey results show that even though vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear masks or social distance in most settings, “Bostonians still want employers involved in encouraging these safety precautions.” More than 80 percent of survey respondents said they want their employer to require or encourage those protocols in the workplace.
They want to be happy in their slavery built on irrational fear.
Some large employers have indicated they will keep tabs on employee vaccinations through an “honor system,” instead of asking for proof. MassMutual and HubSpot, which have nearly 6,000 employees in Massachusetts combined, told the Globe that they would not require employees to get a COVID-19 shot. Starting June 15, vaccinated employees at HubSpot will be able to go to the office without social distancing or wearing a mask.
But people lie!
The Newton-Needham Regional Chamber found in a recent survey of about 450 members that nearly one out of four businesses would require employees to be vaccinated. These businesses tended to be smaller employers, including a number of restaurants.
About 45 percent of Eagle Hill survey respondents said nonvaccinated employees should stay clear of the workplace, but at the same time, 56 percent of workers said those employees should not get special treatment to work from home. How to manage this situation is a “sticky issue” for employers, Gove said.
“One solution may be for more employers to offer vaccine incentives to help drive up vaccination rates and lessen employee anxiety about potential COVID-19 exposure at work,” he said.
"Potential" exposure?
That's the standard now?
Do you ever get the feeling we are being programmed for hell here on Earth?
I would have skipped this next article but I was left standing in line:
"Logan Airport is running a pilot program to let travelers skip security lines" by Samantha Subin Globe Correspondent, June 4, 2021
Logan International Airport is trying to take the stress out of long security lines, giving eager travelers one less thing to worry about when they hit the skies this summer.
Beginning in April, the airport launched an eight-week pilot program that offers virtual queueing and allows busy travelers to nix overcrowded TSA security lines at one of the nation’s busiest airports.
The program, which is currently being offered in Terminal B through a UK-based technology company known as accesso, allows travelers to virtually “check-in” to security through a mobile device. Customers can then follow a virtual countdown to the front of the line and scan a QR code to redeem their space.
Like a vaccine passport?
While virtual spot-saving technology is not new — it’s been used in amusement parks and entertainment venues for years — it does signify a shift in how airport security could operate in a post-pandemic world. Many airports have already begun investing in new hygiene technology, while Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has implemented its own spot saver pilot program.
Take a look at the airport of the future in Singapore?
Representatives at accesso Technology Group, which works with 1,000 venues in 30 countries worldwide, are currently in talks with Massport to continue the program and expand to other airports, said George Hambleton, the company’s vice president of sales.
“We always knew that there were other markets out there for this type of product but COVID-19 was really the catalyst that started it,” Hambleton said. “We really weren’t that aggressive in going after other markets in the past.”
Yeah, that was the "cataly$t" for a lot of things.
The Globe then makes a pitch for Showtime’s ‘The Kings’ documentary that revisits a golden age of boxing that featured Marvelous Marvin Hagler, who had a day named after him after died suddenly in March after taking the jab.
Btw, did you know that Mark Wahlberg just turned 50, and that the birthday party is to be held on Tom Brady's new 77-foot yacht with an estimated price tag of $6 million?
