Saturday, August 1, 2020

An OK Recovery

"Forecasters aren’t quite sure what comes next. The economy could start shrinking again, especially if there is a second big second wave of coronavirus infections, or the recovery could continue, but with a frustratingly slow climb back to pre-pandemic levels. Here’s another possibility: The recovery doesn’t treat everyone equally. For people with secure jobs, whose companies are positioned to do OK despite the pandemic, things get better. For people who work in industries that have been battered by the pandemic — restaurants and bars, travel and tourism, gyms, entertainment venues, etc. — things get worse. Call it a K recovery....."

Well, we are sure what is coming next out of this planned $camdemic, and that is the Great Reset and the entire restructuring of our way of life. 

What Edelman is alluding to there with his "K recovery" is the DESTRUCTION of the MIDDLE CLASS! We will be left with an oligarchic ruling cla$$ and peasantry. That's the plan of these sick f**kers as they whine in the pre$$ about wealth inequity and social inequality

What a f**king COVID $hell game they have going on you, 'eh?

"Most of Wall Street stumbled Thursday, but yet another rise for big technology stocks helped keep the market’s losses in check. Among the hardest-hit were oil producers, banks and other companies that most need the economy to pull out of its recession. Treasury yields also sank in a sign of increased pessimism about the economy. Stronger-than-expected profit reports from UPS and other companies helped the market trim its losses through the day. So did steadying prices for Amazon and other big tech-oriented stocks, which reported their own results after the day’s trading ended. The jumbled trading came after a report showed that layoffs are continuing at their stubborn pace across the country, denting hopes that the economy can recover nearly as quickly as it plummeted into recession. A separate report on Thursday showed that the US economy contracted at a nearly 33 percent annual rate in the spring, the worst quarter on record. Investors had already been expecting the reports on the economy to be weak, “so the real story today for traders is earnings,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investment product at E-Trade Financial. Earnings reports have mostly been better than Wall Street’s expectations so far, but they’ve been far below year-ago levels....."

Yeah, big Tech is worth even more the day after the Congressional show hearing as the clock ticks away on Trump and his legacy.

Worst president ever!

Better take a picture before its gone:

"Kodak pivots to drugs after abandoning photography, crypto" by Eric Newcomer and Michael Tobin Bloomberg News, July 30, 2020

Eastman Kodak Co. is getting another shot at redemption.

The 131-year-old company that once dominated the market for photographic film and made an ill-fated foray into cryptocurrencies is pivoting again. This time, Kodak plans to make ingredients for generic drugs, aided by a $765 million US government loan, the first fruits of a Trump administration program aimed at bolstering American drug-making capabilities in the age of COVID-19.

In the "age of COVID-19, " who cares if he is president or not, and the above shows you the vise-grip that the pharmaceutical companies and global elite have on this government. 

Trumps takes the money away from the WHO and gives it to GAVI instead.

Also see: 

"The U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed effort will provide up to $2.1 billion to Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline to fund development and manufacturing of the companies’ experimental Covid-19 vaccine, the companies announced Friday. As part of the agreement, the companies will provide the U.S. with 100 million doses of the vaccine, which will begin human trials in September. As with other vaccines in development, the Sanofi-GSK vaccine, if effective, may require two doses. The U.S. will have the option to procure up to 500 million doses; the companies say they are gearing up to be able to make 1 billion doses annually....."

What a fraud!

News of the arrangement fueled a rally of as much as 2,760 percent for Kodak stock this week, with legions of day traders snapping up shares through the Robinhood Markets Inc.’s trading app. On Thursday, the stock was down 10.15 percent.

But remember, we are ALL IN THI$ TOGETHER!

Some financial analysts and economic development experts have greeted the proposal with skepticism. Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012 after getting lapped by rivals in digital photography and failing to make good on an earlier multibillion-dollar acquisition of a pharmaceutical company. It also has little to show for the planned introduction of a cryptocurrency two years ago. Why, then, would the government pick Kodak to spearhead efforts to reinvigorate a pharmaceutical production supply chain in the US?

What well-connected interest and concern is being $erviced?

‘‘We are puzzled by the Trump Administration’s decision,’’ analysts at SVB Leerink wrote in a research note. ‘‘In particular, we find it puzzling why generic pharmaceutical companies who have the capabilities and know-how for this have not yet been awarded such contracts.’’

Production of active pharmaceutical ingredients for generics is a ‘‘Herculean task,’’ they wrote. Ami Fadia, a senior analyst at SVB Leerink, said Kodak is ‘‘not even on the list’’ of companies she would have envisioned for such a loan.

Trump administration officials and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo lauded the planned loan, administered by the US International Development Finance Corporation under the auspices of the Defense Production Act.

‘‘It’s going to be the renaissance of the great state of New York as an industrial power,’’ Peter Navarro, President Trump’s trade adviser, said in a Tuesday interview with Fox Business, ‘‘and it’s going to give the people of our country some assurance that when push comes to shove in pandemics like this we won’t see what we’re seeing right now is over 75 countries restricting the sale of pharmaceuticals, or something, to us like face masks.’’

F**k you, f**k your drugs, and f**k your slave masks.

Cuomo said the arrangement would result in the creation of 300 jobs. ‘‘Kodak has a long storied history in New York State, and we’ve been working with them to develop an even brighter future,’’ he said in a video presentation.

Kodak’s executive chairman James Continenza said in an interview with CNBC he’s confident the loan will go through. ‘‘One of our core competencies has always been chemistry, for over 100 years we’ve been doing chemistry,’’ Continenza said. ‘‘We realized we could do more. The government realized they could do more. They kind of reached out, and we found a path that makes a lot of sense for the American public to help bring the pharmaceutical protections back to America.’’

Continenza and board member Philippe Katz bought Kodak shares in June. Continenza bought almost 47,000 shares, while Katz bought 10,000 shares in two separate transactions. David Bullwinkle, the company’s CFO, purchased almost 2,900 shares in May. Kodak said Continenza’s purchases are a continuation of ‘‘ongoing, regular investments in Kodak and are in full compliance with regulatory guidelines for investment activity.’’

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Also see:

"Dunkin’ Brands Inc. expects to close up to 800 underperforming US stores this year as it tries to shore up its portfolio in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The company had previously announced the closure of 450 stores within Speedway gas stations. But the company said Thursday it’s targeting an additional 350 stores, most of which are unprofitable. Closing the restaurants would allow their franchisees to reinvest in newer stores in higher-traffic areas, Dunkin’ chief financial officer Katherine Jaspon said during a conference call with investors. Jaspon said the 800 stores represent 8 percent of Dunkin’s US footprint but just 2 percent of its sales. International franchisees are also assessing their stores and could close 350 low-volume stores abroad by the end of this year, Jaspon added. Canton-based Dunkin’ said Thursday its sales dropped 20 percent in the second quarter to $287 million. Sales at US stores open at least a year dropped 19 percent from the April-June period a year ago. Dunkin’ isn’t the only chain targeting low-performing restaurants. McDonald’s said earlier this week that it will close 200 US restaurants this year, about half of which are locations inside Walmart stores."

Their coffee sucks, so good riddance.

You can have a beer instead:

"Anheuser-Busch InBev returned to growth early in the summer as lockdowns that shut bars and restaurants eased, showing that the worst effects of the pandemic may be over for Big Beer. The Budweiser brewer’s volumes advanced 0.7 percent in June after crashing by about a third in April, a sign that demand for beer is slowly picking up again. Overall sales in the latest quarter totaled $10.3 billion, above analysts’ estimate of $9.5 billion."

Cheers, and what is a beer without a smoke?

"More than half of the business closures that were temporary when the COVID-19 outbreak began are now considered permanent, according to Yelp Inc. Of the 132,580 closures listed on its website as of July 10, 55 percent are permanent, up 14 percentage points from the end of June, according to the Yelp’s Economic Average Report released Wednesday. More than 72,000 businesses have permanently shut down, with California, Texas, and Florida accounting for the largest share. Restaurants accounted for the largest number of permanent closures in Yelp’s report, followed by the retail and beauty industries, bars and fitness centers."

Doesn't look OK to me, and not even the water is free anymore.

You will have to order out and have it delivered, I gue$$:

"UPS surges most since 1999 on delivery boom spurred by virus" by Thomas Black Bloomberg News, July 30, 2020

United Parcel Service Inc. climbed the most in more than 20 years as the courier’s results easily topped Wall Street’s expectations on pandemic-induced demand for e-commerce deliveries, health care equipment, and goods from Asia.

Revenue jumped 13 percent to $20.5 billion in the second quarter, exceeding the highest analyst prediction. Adjusted earnings were double the average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg, and new chief executive Carol Tomé signaled her focus on profitability with a vow to make UPS “better, not bigger” as a shift toward home deliveries threatens to squeeze margins.

The Atlanta-based courier and rival FedEx Corp. have been in overdrive since the novel coronavirus swept the world this year, handling soaring residential deliveries while rushing personal protective equipment to hospitals. Both companies applied peak-season-style surcharges on large customers as demand jumped and new expenses arose that were needed to protect employees and keep sorting hubs free of the virus.

“Due to ongoing COVID-related sheltering in place, retail store closures, and changes in US consumer spending fueled by the economic stimulus, we experienced unprecedented demand and record-high volume levels,” she said during a conference call with analysts.

Still, the increase in home deliveries weighed on the adjusted domestic profit margin, which fell to 9.3 percent from 11 percent a year earlier. That’s because residential service has fewer packages per stop than commercial and requires drivers to travel more between locations, but Newman warned that revenue growth would slow in the second half. US domestic profit margins will likely be lower than in the first half because of increased worker pay and benefit expenses and one-time gains a year earlier, he said. UPS hired 39,000 workers in the second quarter to deal with the demand surge.

Who Newman?

FedEx has also gotten a boost from the pandemic-related demand and saw revenue soar 20 percent at its US ground delivery unit during the fiscal quarter ending May 31. FedEx rose 1.9 percent to $172.71.....

They must be on the upper-branch of the K.

--more--"

So where will you be when the lights go out?

"Hackers are targeting the remote workers who keep your lights on" by Christopher Martin Bloomberg News, July 30, 2020

In July alone, hackers took over the Twitter accounts of US politicians, stole terrabytes of coronavirus research, and even infiltrated the UK’s Premier League soccer clubs. Can they cut off your electricity, too?

This is what is called predictive programming, with the added benefit of fingering enemies of the state.

They’re trying. With millions of Americans now working from home — including the people who help keep the grid running — cyberattacks targeting the power sector have surged. In many cases, hackers use phishing e-mails to gain access to the computers of remote workers, looking to disable company systems for a ransom, but security experts warn that about dozen state-sponsored actors are also trying to infiltrate these networks.

The pandemic has created ‘‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get access during a time of heightened remote access usage,’’ said Rob Lee, CEO at industrial security firm Dragos. ‘‘The bulk electric system is absolutely too important to allow adversaries access. It’s a matter of public safety as well as national security.’’

Yeah, the whole agenda is being pushed through under the COVID cover.

Cyberattacks of all kinds have intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, with hackers targeting public figures, banks, healthc are providers, and others as the rise in remote work creates new access points. An assault on the power grid could have wide-ranging implications across sectors. While no outages have so far been attributed to hackers, grid companies are beefing up security amid an unprecedented onslaught that, in a worst-case scenario, could trigger blackouts or damage vital equipment.

You can count on it.

Related: 

"A British man, a Florida man and a Florida teen hacked the Twitter accounts of prominent politicians, celebrities and technology moguls to scam people around globe out of more than $100,000 in Bitcoin, authorities said Friday. Graham Ivan Clark, 17, was arrested Friday in Tampa, where the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office will prosecute him as adult. He faces 30 felony charges, according to a news release. Meanwhile, Mason Sheppard, 19, of Bognor Regis, UK, and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando, were charged in California federal court. In one of the most high-profile security breaches in recent years, hackers sent out bogus tweets on July 15 from the accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg and a number of tech billionaires including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Celebrities Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian West, were also hacked. The tweets offered to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to an anonymous Bitcoin address. “There is a false belief within the criminal hacker community that attacks like the Twitter hack can be perpetrated anonymously and without consequence,” said US Attorney David L. Anderson for the Northern District of California in a news release. “Today’s charging announcement demonstrates that the elation of nefarious hacking into a secure environment for fun or profit will be short-lived.’’ Twitter previously said hackers used the phone to fool the social media company’s employees into giving them access."

Is there no level of absurdity they will not shovel and expect us to believe?

Even before the pandemic, hackers succeeded in infiltrating some energy infrastructure. In 2016, an Iran-based hacker gained remote access to an electric dam in New York for weeks. Earlier this year, ransomware shut down a natural gas facility for two days.

The largest US grid operator, PJM Interconnection, recently told regulators it’s facing increasing attacks. In May, the UK’s grid data system was hacked, although electricity supplies weren’t affected, and in March, an attack against Europe’s association of grid operators, ENTSO-E, affected its internal office systems.

‘‘If you notice an attack going on, it’s already too late,’’ said Andrea Carcano, co-founder of Nozomi Networks, which provides Web security services for utilities and other industries.....

--more--"

What the above article is setting the stage for is this:

--source--

That's the plan, folks, and you will not find it on the front page:

"Office workers are increasingly being told to wait until January before they return; Office towers in Boston remain largely empty this summer, with occupancy rates around 5 percent" by Jon Chesto Globe Staff, July 30, 2020

The Work From Home experiment is going to last a lot longer than expected for thousands of Boston-area office workers.

It will be until 2022, and isn't it nice to know your livelihood has been ruined and stolen by an experiment

When workers fled their offices in March as part of the pandemic shutdown, for many the general thinking was they would be back by early summer. Then, that shifted to the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Now, with the Financial District in Boston still largely a ghost town, an increasing number of companies are telling employees to continue working from home until January, at the earliest. MassMutual, Tufts Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and Wayfair are among the major employers that have pushed back their return dates within the past few weeks. Just those four companies alone represent more than 15,000 workers in the state.

The Globe totally ignored the pedophilia going on over at Wayfair.

Blue Cross told employees on Thursday to plan for at least another four months of remote work beyond Labor Day.

Business leaders such as JD Chesloff, head of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, cite multiple factors for the delays in returning to the office: While the threat of COVID-19 has dissipated in Massachusetts from the spring, it certainly has not gone away; many people also remain reluctant to ride public transit or hop in an elevator.

It never will because we will need to be forever vexed, according to BG.

Then there’s the continuing question about the reopening of school: Families still don’t know what will happen in the fall, but are bracing for at least some amount of remote learning that will force many parents to continue working from home.

“If the child’s at home, all bets are off,” said Jim Rooney, chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. “Employers I’m talking to recognize that.”

Like I said, the schools will not be reopening -- not until Trump is gone, anyway.

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If you are going to work in a 21st-century office, you may want to unionize:

"College Bound Dorchester has a progressive mission: paying gang members a weekly stipend to get off the streets, go to college, and turn their negative influence into a positive one. But now the groundbreaking nonprofit is caught up in an old-fashioned union battle as a workforce emboldened by nationwide demands for equity confronts a management team grappling with structural reorganization and financial woes exacerbated by the pandemic. With the resurgent Black Lives Matter movement pushing racial injustice to the forefront of America’s consciousness, the group of largely Black employees serving a mostly Black clientele is demanding more rights, and encountering resistance from their white CEO. Some workers have called management’s actions racist, while others in the community question the union’s tactics, saying it is fanning the flames of inequality to attract new members. Over Memorial Day weekend, George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, sparking a wave of protests and a groundswell of awareness about racial inequities. Suddenly, the union organizing effort took on an even deeper meaning. Employees wanted a greater voice in the organization, as well as higher pay and more transparency and accountability from leadership. A number of them had been involved in gangs, like the people they serve, and the nonprofit relies heavily on them. Being part of a union could empower staff, at a time when real change seemed possible....."

Unfortunately, I despise communi$t unions now and this one is the worst:

"State’s largest teachers union pushing for all classes to start at home in the fall" by James Vaznis Globe Staff, July 30, 2020

The state’s largest teachers union is pushing to continue with only remote learning this fall, contending that many older school buildings have aging ventilation systems that are inadequate to protect students and staff from the coronavirus.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association urged its more than 350 local affiliates to refuse to return to school buildings until state and local officials can prove the ventilation and other operating systems are working efficiently and communities have met unspecified public health benchmarks. MTA leaders noted that many of the worst buildings are in chronically underfunded urban districts hard hit by the pandemic.

“Sending people back into the buildings only increases the risks of our most vulnerable students contracting the virus, and it puts staff members at risk, too,” Merrie Najimy, the association’s president, told the Globe Thursday.

The push puts the Massachusetts Teachers Association squarely at odds with Governor Charlie Baker, who has directed local districts to bring back as many students as possible this fall, arguing the risk of COVID infection among children is low while the academic, social, and emotional harm of remote learning for many students is far more severe. Baker closed schools in March due to the pandemic.

F**k them all, and Baker, too.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association made its pitch at a virtual meeting Wednesday night that drew about 7,500 members and other observers. The association is asking its affiliates to vote over the next week on a resolution supporting a remote-only approach to learning — at least for the first few weeks of school.

Never mind the damage being done to the kids in isolation.

Then again, I would rather the kids never come near these indoctrinating, inculcating brainwashers, either.

More than three dozen of its local affiliates had already voted on such a resolution prior to Wednesday’s meeting, although the MTA did not name them. The locals will use the resolutions as a basis for negotiating working conditions this fall.

The MTA represents tens of thousands of teachers in almost every school district statewide, including Cambridge, Lexington, Milton, Newton, Springfield, Somerville, and Worcester. Teachers in Boston belong to a different union, the American Federation of Teachers. Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union, said the group is surveying members and plans to take a position soon on school reopening.

The MTA’s push comes as the political atmosphere around school reopening has been intensifying around the nation, fueled by President Trump’s call for a full return to classrooms. The national AFT has directed its local affiliates to engage in safety strikes if necessary — an action prohibited under Massachusetts law, forcing local teacher unions to find other avenues to ensure their members’ safety.

I raise my hand in disagreement, and remember, whatever the pre$$ claims, the OPPOSITE is the TRUTH!

The MTA’s reopening stance immediately drew a range of reactions from parents around the region.

“It’s devastating news,” said Natallia Hunik, a Lexington mother whose son will be entering kindergarten. “We shouldn’t be making decisions based on fear. It should be driven by science.”

Learn that lesson well, children.

"Scientists in a Nordic study have found that keeping primary schools open during the pandemic may not have had much bearing on contagion rates. There was no measurable difference in the number of coronavirus cases among children in Sweden, where schools were left open, compared with neighboring Finland, where schools were shut, according to the findings. The study compares two countries that share similar societal models, including access to universal health care, but that adopted very different strategies to tackle COVID-19. Sweden avoided a proper lockdown, while Finland imposed tougher social distancing. Indicative data show there is no difference in the overall incidence of the laboratory-confirmed cases in children aged 1 to 19 years in the two countries; contact tracings in primary schools in Finland found hardly any evidence of children infecting others, according to the working paper by the Public Health Agency of Sweden and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. What’s more, there’s no increased risk for teachers, according to a Swedish comparison of cases among day care and primary school staff, compared with risk levels in other professions. It’s not the first time researchers have raised questions about the merits of shutting schools during the pandemic. A French study last month found that schoolchildren don’t appear to transmit COVID-19 to peers or teachers. That investigation established that children seemed to show fewer symptoms than adults, and to be less contagious, but the authors also said more research was needed."

I guess Scandinavian science is no good, huh?

Hunik was among a small group of Lexington parents who rallied last Friday night for a full return to school. Some Winchester parents planned a similar rally Thursday night.

Often a critic of teacher unions, Keri Rodrigues founder of Massachusetts Parents United, an advocacy organization, said her organization partially agrees with the MTA this time: The conditions are not right for children and adults to return to classrooms, adding that local school officials lack the expertise to develop appropriate safety measures.

Do you kids know what waving a white flag means?

“Too much precious time has already been wasted attempting to turn education officials into infectious disease experts,” said Rodrigues, whose children attend Somerville public schools, in a statement. “Our focus needs to be on making remote learning worth doing,” but she added the unions shouldn’t use the pandemic as an excuse to advance longstanding political agendas, such as abolishing MCAS testing, which the unions have incorporated into their school reopening platform.

EVERYTHING is POLITICAL NOW because of TRUMP!

Why do you think the teachers are doing this?

Dr. Lloyd Fisher, president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which endorsed the state’s school reopening guidelines, said he was disappointed the MTA wants to keep students at home this fall, noting many are suffering immense and potentially permanent harm.

“There have been significant increases in depression, anxiety, and undiagnosed child abuse and neglect, and social isolation in children,” said Fisher, a pediatrician in Worcester. “We have also seen a dramatic regression in educational progress — in typical children and especially those with developmental delays and disabilities.”

The $elf-$erving teachers don't care about that!

--more--"

Please see:

Robot as a Teacher

Unfortunately, it would be an improvement if the teacher's unions are any example of ejewkhaters these days.

Related:

"It has been a comforting refrain in the national conversation about reopening schools: Young children are mostly spared by the coronavirus and don’t seem to spread it to others, at least not very often, but on Thursday, a study introduced an unwelcome wrinkle into this smooth narrative. Infected children have at least as much of the coronavirus in their noses and throats as infected adults, according to the research. Indeed, children younger than age 5 may host up to 100 times as much of the virus in the upper respiratory tract as adults, the authors found. That measurement does not necessarily prove children are passing the virus to others. Still, the findings should influence the debate over reopening schools, several experts said. “The school situation is so complicated — there are many nuances beyond just the scientific one,” said Dr. Taylor Heald-Sargent, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, who led the study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, “but one takeaway from this is that we can’t assume that just because kids aren’t getting sick, or very sick, that they don’t have the virus.” The study is not without caveats: It was small, and did not specify the participants’ race or sex, or whether they had underlying conditions. The tests looked for viral RNA, genetic pieces of the coronavirus, rather than the live virus itself. (Its genetic material is RNA, not DNA.) Still, experts were alarmed to learn that young children may carry significant amounts of the coronavirus. “I’ve heard lots of people saying, ‘Well, kids aren’t susceptible, kids don’t get infected,’ and this clearly shows that’s not true,” said Stacey Schultz-Cherry, a virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “I think this is an important, really important, first step in understanding the role that kids are playing in transmission.” Jason Kindrachuk, a virologist at the University of Manitoba, said: “Now that we’re rolling into the end of July and looking at trying to open up schools the next month, this really needs to be considered.”

Oh, what a TIMELY LIE to REPORT -- and WITH CAVEATS EVEN!

Readers, are you SICK of being LIED TO like I am?

The tests register a positive COVID result if you HAD A COLD!

With all due respect, the pre$$ and out leaders are unconscionable and evil, agenda-pushing liars.

"A new report suggests children of all ages are susceptible to coronavirus infections and may also spread it to others — a finding likely to intensify an already fraught discussion about the risks of sending children back to school this fall. The report, released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, details an outbreak at a sleep-away camp in Georgia last month in which 260 children and staff — more than three-quarters of those tested — contracted the virus less than a week after spending time together in close quarters. The children had a median age of 12. The camp had required all 597 campers and staff to provide documentation they had tested negative for the virus before coming. Staff were required to wear masks, but children were not. While similar clusters have occurred around funerals, weddings, teenage parties, and adult gatherings throughout the pandemic, few super-spreading events have been documented among children. The report will likely add fuel to an already polarizing nationwide discussion about whether sending children back to crowded school buildings is worth the risk, in large part because so little data has been available about children’s vulnerability to the infection and ability to transmit the virus. ‘‘To me, this is a significant weight added to the side of the scale that says close the schools,’’ said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at the University of California-Irvine. ‘‘At some places, that might tip the balance. You’re not adding one of those 1,000-ton anvils in the cartoons, but it’s solid evidence to suggest we should be extremely cautious about opening schools.’’

Like in New York City, and not one word regarding the riotous protests!!

At the other end of the spectrum is this:

"Six employees at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home retested positive for COVID-19 this week, prompting the state-run facility, which cares for aged and infirm veterans, to close its doors to visitors, possibly until Aug. 11, officials said. The six employees were not showing COVID-19 symptoms but the workers had tested positive or shown COVID-19 symptoms months before the latest test, state officials said. They all had been considered clinically recovered, according to federal guidance on the virus. The latest testing for staff and residents at the home — two rounds are planned — was prompted by a resident’s positive reading this week. COVID reinfection is a subject of debate among scientists. Medical experts told the Globe this week that it is possible, but uncommon, for people to get infected with the coronavirus more than once. Reinfection is “not the rule, it’s the exception,” said Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health....."

If you can catch COVID again, it's either JUST A COLD or it DOESN'T EXIST!

"Caregivers at five nursing homes suspended their plan to strike next Wednesday after Governor Gina M. Raimondo intervened, promising to work with union leaders and legislators to resolve staffing issues and develop a minimum staffing standard. Raimondo wrote to the workers’ union, Service Employees International, on Thursday after some state lawmakers and organizers announced their support for the strike over what the workers say are low wages and dangerous working conditions. The union leadership announced Friday morning that workers were suspending the strike because of the governor’s promise....."

She then proceeded to break it!


Also see:

"Prime Minister Boris Johnson told England on Friday that it must ‘‘squeeze the brake pedal’’ and postpone easing some coronavirus restrictions for at least two weeks, amid a worrying uptick in infections. The British are moving two steps forward, one step back, essentially, like other countries in Europe now. All are trying to revive their economies and give citizens back their freedoms, while defending themselves against a full-blown resurgence of the virus. In response to outbreaks, the British government on Thursday night announced new restrictions affecting 4 million people in north England. A ban on gatherings of any size at private homes applies to greater Manchester and parts of Lancashire and West Yorkshire. That means people can’t visit friends’ houses — or have a one-on-one chat in a friend’s backyard. They can go to pubs and restaurants, but only with members of their own households. The slowdown announced Friday applies across all of England. The main thrust is that casinos and bowling alleys, shuttered since late March, will have to wait longer before customers are allowed back in. Wedding receptions of up to 30 people and indoor performances will remain banned, despite earlier plans for them to restart on Aug. 1. Face masks will also now be mandatory in more indoor settings, such as movie theaters, museums, and places of worship beginning Aug. 8. Masks are already mandatory in shops and on public transportation."

Yeah, the British government is really trying to revive the economy and GIVE CITIZENS BACK their FREEDOM -- something they took illegally and unconstitutionally, something they had no right to do.

The TYRANTS who took your freedom for this planned $camdemic and FRAUD are trying to give it back to you as they make the oxygen-depriving, health-damaging slave masks mandatory.

By this time, I hope the reader can understand why I can no longer countenance this propaganda and garbage!

"England has had the greatest rate of excess deaths of any country in Europe during the coronavirus pandemic, with a surge that lasted longer and spread to more places than those in hard-hit nations like Italy and Spain, according to a government report released Thursday. The findings, in a report by Britain’s Office of National Statistics, painted a bleak picture of how Britain — and England in particular — weathered the first wave of the pandemic. They came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson spotlighted the struggles of other countries in controlling new infections by moving to put more of them under a travel quarantine. When Britain’s death toll from the virus first surpassed those of other European countries in May, Johnson argued that country-to-country comparisons were invidious because governments collect and analyze data differently, but the statistics office said it avoided those pitfalls by examining mortality rates across Europe from all causes — not just those attributed to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus — from January to June, and then comparing them to average figures from 2015 to 2019. That takes into account COVID-19 deaths that were not labeled as such, and deaths indirectly related to the pandemic. Demographers believe tracking excess mortality is the most accurate gauge of deaths during the pandemic. There are some major holes in the data, not least a lack of statistics from Germany, Western Europe’s most populous country and one that has performed better than most in keeping down infections and fatalities. The report also does not provide raw numbers of excess deaths for each country, but rather a relative measure of the rate of deaths above the historical average, adjusted for factors like age differences. The statistics office has separately estimated that the United Kingdom suffered 55,763 excess deaths from March 14, when the virus began circulating in the country, through July 17."

There they go again!

They destroyed your livelihoods and killed an economy over modeled data, folks, but you are re$ilient, right?

"Resiliency Fund donor list a who’s who of big hitters in Boston business" by Danny McDonald Globe Staff, July 30, 2020

A City Hall-run fund set up to help those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic has tapped a veritable who’s who of Boston business movers and shakers in raising at least $33 million, and distributed much of that private money to groups big and small that help the poor, the hungry, and students, a Globe review has found.

I'm so glad our overlords are looking after us serfs, aren't you?

It's chump change to them as they rake in the loot, but that's okay!

Who cares if they destroyed your life?

Those steering the fund are three of the bigger power brokers in Boston, and some of the major recipients of the money are well-known human service organizations that have provided a public health safety net amid the coronavirus. They include Boston Medical Center, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Health Care for the Homeless, and the Greater Boston Food Bank.

The Resiliency Fund has its critics. One city councilor, Michelle Wu, has expressed concerns with the fund’s setup, saying that an organization aligned with Mayor Martin J. Walsh soliciting private donations and then deciding where the funding goes distorts the political process and creates “a very disruptive and dangerous dynamic.”

In calling for structural change, Wu said, “using the platform of city government to direct private fund-raising in this way creates conflicts of interest under a troubling lack of oversight.”

She doesn't trust the altrui$tic movers and shakers of Bo$ton or the mayor?

Walsh has strongly defended both the idea and the execution of the fund. Lou DiNatale, a veteran Massachusetts pollster and longtime political analyst, said Walsh is solving a problem by “doing it the way it’s always been done,” which involves the city’s political power brokers reaching out to business power brokers.

“It does feed a narrative,” said DiNatale. “The narrative is that he does it the same old way and the old way doesn’t work for us.”

He added, “Even when the insiders are doing a good job, the process leaves those most affected out. It comes across as charity as opposed to a living wage or health care for everybody.”

I'm sick of f**king pre$$ narratives, and look at them bite the hand that feeds them!

Walsh would be up for reelection next year but has yet to formally announce his plans. Wu, who is thought to be seriously considering a mayoral run, has also criticized Walsh over the Boston Racial Equity Fund, which is intended to raise tens of millions of dollars to address structural racism.

VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS REGARDLESS OF PARTY!

In terms of whether the Resiliency Fund creates conflicts of interest, some local observers and experts shrugged.

“It’s certainly within the realm of the norm in city politics to have these kinds of things,” said John Infranca, a professor at Suffolk University Law School whose areas of expertise include urban law and policy.

“I don’t see the political benefit as being all that significant,” he said. “It’s a city initiative and to the extent that when the city does anything good and beneficial, it’s beneficial to the mayor.”

I'm sorry, WHO is BENEFITTING?

At least SOME THINGS are STLL NORMAL and not part of the NEW NORMAL, huh?

Others, like Roxbury resident and political consultant Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, had nothing but praise for the Resiliency Fund. She said that she was “a little surprised” by Wu’s accusations and added that the criticism would be more relevant if there was a specific example where “strings were attached to accessing money.”

“The Resiliency Fund has been a lifeline to so many people that I know personally,” she said in an e-mail. “I mean I kinda feel that it is your duty as Mayor to use your skills and connections to help people who are hurting. If you have the ability to raise funds to help others, isn’t that what a mayor or governor, who with his wife has also created a fund, does at a time like this?”

Wilnelia Rivera, a Boston-based political consultant, said she recognized the fund was created to help the city deal with the immediacy of the coronavirus crisis, but she also said it “feels like an old playbook.” Rivera said she hoped the mayor would use his “executive capacity to pivot . . . to a larger conversation.”

“It’s time for big, structural change,” she said.

I'm so glad I live nowhere near that stinking city.

City Council President Kim Janey also wants to see a long-term strategy to reduce economic and health disparities that exist along racial lines and close opportunity and achievement gaps.

“The deeper issue for me is about structural change and why so many people are vulnerable in the first place,” she said.

This is all crap given the K recovery coming!

The Boston Resiliency Fund has received donations from more than 6,000 people and groups. Among the collection of heavy hitters from the local business community to make substantial donations was the Vertex Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, one of the business pioneers of the Seaport District. That foundation gave $1 million. So did John Hancock, the insurance and financial services company that sponsors the Boston Marathon, and Liberty Mutual, a Boston stalwart for more than a century that employs about 4,600 in the city.

Yeah, remember the Marathon?

General Electric, the industrial giant that has scrapped its ambitious development plans in Fort Point, gave $500,000. So did Walsh’s own election committee.

Did you see the latest financial report from them?

Suffolk Cares Charitable Foundation, the charity of construction behemoth Suffolk, also gave $500,000. The John W. Henry Foundation gave $250,000. Henry owns The Boston Globe and the Red Sox.

Boston.com, which is part of Boston Globe Media Partners, is also donating recent profits from its “Boston Helps” product line to the fund.

That right there explains all the Globe coverage!

They are WILLING COLLABORATORS in ADVANCING THIS RESET AGENDA!

Infranca, of Suffolk Law, said that if the mayor had a fund like this at all times, “it would be likely to be problematic,” but given the pandemic, the Resiliency Fund offers a way to“ efficiently target areas of need.”

In response to a Globe request, the city last week released a detailed list of contributors and recipients. A list of grant recipients is also available on the city’s website.

The three-member steering committee for the fund is mega fund-raiser Jack Connors Jr., Dr. Anne Klibanski, chief executive of Partners HealthCare, and Dr. Jeffrey Leiden, chief executive of Vertex.

Walsh’s office has said there are three separate reviews of funding applications before a recommendation is presented to the committee. The fund had completed 15 cycles of grant-making as of last week.

Groups such as Brighton Marine, which provides military and veterans services, received $25,000. The Greater Boston Food Bank, the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, received $2 million.

The Black Economic Justice Institute received $20,000.

Priscilla Flint Banks, a cofounder and program director of that group, said the money was used on masks and gift cards for supermarkets and laundromats that were given to those who needed them.

”It did help,” she said.

Still, Flint Banks thinks more could be done to help the underserved, noting there are persistent concerns about seniors and housing amid the pandemic.

“It’s a lot to think about,” she said. “You try to do the best you can.”

I am.

--more--"

Related:

Boston City Council backs ZBA changes

It is a  “huge win for them in terms of transparency.”

"State commits to hold local aid amounts level in pandemic" by Michael P. Norton, State House News Service July 31, 2020

BOSTON - The Baker administration and the Legislature are committing to maintain fiscal 2021 local aid and school aid at last year's levels, and to provide an additional $107 million in school aid to cover inflation and enrollment factors.

Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan notified local officials of the commitment in an email Thursday from the Department of Revenue, and emphasized that the money is separate from $450 million in new federal supports for K-12 schools to assist with educating students during the pandemic.

The commitment mirrors the aid levels that the News Service reported on Tuesday, when Revenue Committee Co-chairman Sen. Adams Hinds posted the pledge on Twitter and then deleted it, asserting afterwards that the agreement had not been finalized.

In his announcement, Heffernan said the commitment was being made even though "critical information from the federal government is still needed in order to finalize a full fiscal year budget."

"The FY21 funding commitment also includes Chapter 70 increases for inflation and enrollment that will keep all school districts at foundation, under the law as it existed for FY20, providing an additional $107 million in aid over FY20," Heffernan wrote.

That fat f**k acts more like a mafia don, and the Globe doesn't dare mention it.

The promise is being made without the benefit of the usual, annual debate within the Legislature about taxes, the use of reserves, budget cuts or reform plans, and comes as state officials face an unprecedented decline in state tax collections associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This is very welcome news for cities and towns in every corner of Massachusetts," said Massachusetts Municipal Association Executive Director Geoff Beckwith. "By protecting local aid during this crisis, the state will maintain vital financial support for cities and towns. With this key financial guidance, communities can finalize their fiscal 2021 budgets."

Lawmakers and Gov. Charlie Baker have started fiscal 2021 with interim budgets and lawmakers plan to debate a budget to cover the rest of fiscal 2021 at some point later this year. Lawmakers hope more finality about federal aid, the path of the virus, and the state's recovery will enable them to craft a more dependable budget than they would be capable of assembling under the current circumstances, which are marked by high uncertainty and volatility.

What recovery?

The aid commitment locks in a substantial portion of the state budget and raises questions about the potential for steep cuts in other service areas unless the Legislature is able to cover budget gaps with reserves, new revenues and other savings.

"Despite the almost unprecedented fiscal challenges we all face, the amount of state and federal support announced thus far ensures the Administration and the Legislature can continue supporting record investments in Massachusetts students," an administration spokesman said in a statement.....

--more--"

I'll believe it when I $ee it, readers.

"Lawmaker’s amendment would have mandated training for his colleagues on muting their phones; The tongue-in-cheek proposal, now withdrawn, grew out of months on Zoom and conference calls" by Steve Annear Globe Staff, July 30, 2020

Elected officials — they’re just like us!

(Blog editor shakes head at this inane and insulting $hit)

State Representative Smitty Pignatelli, a Lenox Democrat, has been working from home for months during the pandemic, conducting business with colleagues through conference calls and on Zoom, and during these meetings he’s heard it all — mostly unintentionally, because people have failed to mute their phones when they’re not actually talking.

“Babies crying, people eating, people ordering from restaurants for delivery,“ he said.

The House passed rules in early May to allow for remote voting by legislators, and they had their first formal session with remote voting on May 6. As he spoke to a reporter, Pignatelli could hear the beep of a fire alarm that was in need of a new battery coming through someone’s phone.

To bring some lightheartedness to the unprecedented legislative session, Pignatelli tacked an amendment onto a $459 million economic development bill last week that seemed to resonate with others who’ve been trapped in their homes.

The House and Senate passed separate versions of the bill this week, but Pignatelli, chairman of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture, said he withdrew his amendment near the end of debate.

So why file it in the first place? A dose of humor felt appropriate, he said.

“I was trying to add a little levity to an already stressful and tense time,” said Pignatelli, who has been working from the Berkshires, some 150 miles from the State House, where he’d usually be at this time of year. “It wasn’t meant to be taken that seriously, but just to have fun and show our colleagues that your House of Representatives are human beings.”

Whatever they are, they are not human. They are evil.

So he was WASTING TIME with this JOKE during a LIFE-DESTROYING CRISIS, huh?

WHAT an MA$$HOLE!!

Pignatelli thinks it served its purpose.

“Everyone who is working from home during #covid19 can sympathize,” Act on Mass, a grass-roots organization that keeps track of what’s happening on Beacon Hill, tweeted last week.

I would now refer you to the top of this post.

The people who are going to benefit from the "new normal" and the "K recovery" can sympathize. 

What about the rest of us whose jobs have been eliminated because we are "non-e$$ential?"

Speaking on non-essential people: 

A State House News reporter asked Pignatelli on Twitter if he would give a proper demonstration of his proposal when calling in to debate it. (He didn’t, but he did reply with a GIF of someone muting a phone, writing “tutorial to come”).

Representative Susannah Whipps said it was “an amendment we can all get behind” and shared pictures of how to mute and unmute an iPhone, an apparent attempt to help Pignatelli push his agenda.

You know whom I would like to mute?

Representative Mindy Domb called it her “favorite amendment to the economic development bond bill.” Others tried to get the hashtag “I Stand With Smitty” going to show their support.

Although it wasn’t adopted, he still received texts this week from people telling him the amendment should have been pushed through.

Whether his colleagues will learn to mute themselves remains to be seen.

“I have been jealous of some of the meals my friends have ordered,” Pignatelli quipped.....

--more--"

I'm glad they don't have anything to do, aren't you?

"In unprecedented session, Mass. Legislature dives into August without deal on policing bill" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, July 31, 2020

The Massachusetts Legislature sped through bills both big and small into early Saturday morning, adding to a slate of proposals that will now be decided in closed-door negotiations amid an extended, and unprecedented legislative session, but the flurry of activity came with one notable omission: Lawmakers did not reach a deal on a closely watched policing bill, despite hopes and public prodding from legislative leaders to reach an agreement before August dawned.

That's your transparent democracy in action, Ma$$achu$etts citizen.

This state is such an infuriating joke, and it is not at all funny.

The busy stretch on Beacon Hill came a day after lawmakers formally approved an order wiping away a decades-old rule and a Friday deadline to complete most of its work.

Although offering more time, the decision also dramatically reshaped the legislative calendar, leaving little clarity on when a host of major proposals could begin streaming to Governor Charlie Baker’s desk before the two-year legislative session ends in January.

Who knows WTF kind of tyranny will be in those bills.

It also did little to diffuse the frenetic pace of legislating that usually dominates the end of July in an election year. Friday sessions in the House and Senate each bled past midnight, even as final agreements on several major pieces of legislation remained locked in secretive, six-member conference committees.

And they called it democracy!

The chambers did reach and send to Baker an agreement authorizing roughly $1.8 billion in borrowing for information technology projects, including $50 million for a school grant program to help expand remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

You kids are NEVER GOING BACK to SCHOOL, and look at the political puppets ADVANCE the AGENDA!

WAKE the FUCK UP, Massachusetts!

The House also passed a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on natural hairstyles, including in schools where officials would be barred from creating any policy that “impairs or prohibits” them.

Sigh. 

With the unprecedented situation before us, THAT is what they are f**king working on and worried about!

The original bill was filed by Representative Steven Ultrino, a Democrat from Malden, where a charter school was admonished in 2017 over its hair and makeup policy that authorities say violated state and federal law and unfairly subjected students of color to “differential treatment,” but by early Saturday morning, a police accountability bill was among those still unresolved. The legislation promises for the first time to create a licensing process for officers and install other changes that officials say will tighten accountability of law enforcement statewide.

They don't want to lose the police union campaign loot -- at least not until after the election!

The bill has been at the center of an intensifying debate for weeks. Police unions have derided it as a “knee-jerk reaction” to the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer, while criminal justice advocates, buoyed by hundreds of demonstrations against police brutality that have sprung up in Massachusetts alone, have pushed policy-makers to embrace stricter controls on officer conduct.

Thousands weighed in, including unions, advocacy groups, and private citizens. Lawmakers were pressing to finalize an agreement and get it to Baker before August dawned.

A deal between the two chambers would cap weeks of rapid movement. Senators and representatives each passed expansive bills in the last three weeks, and a committee of six lawmakers tasked with brokering a final version only met for the first time Tuesday.

House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said in a statement Saturday that negotiators “are working productively to come to agreement.”

“We are committed to reaching resolution, and the conferees will take the time to get it right,” the Winthrop Democrat said.

Even with the extra time that lawmakers have afforded themselves, the to-do list remains long. Lawmakers are trying to complete, and pass, closed-door negotiations on any number of bills that passed ahead of Friday, including a jobs bill, health care legislation, and a multi-billion-dollar transportation borrowing proposal. They also need to hammer out an annual budget, with Baker saying Friday he intended to sign an interim, three-month spending plan that lawmakers passed to keep state government funded through October.

This is in$anity, folks.

Borrow, borrow, borrow. 

Going to put themselves out of business, and that's the point. Global government will be needed.

Legislators have also left open the possibility of tackling coronavirus-related legislation this fall, should a new surge in cases, or economic fallout, demand action, yet, without their normal deadline, Friday, like the rest of the week, was still marked by extended, parallel sessions in the House and Senate, where lawmakers worked through a cache of unfinished work.

What are they waiting for?

The surge is here, and everything is cancelled for months out.

WTF?

Time to tar, feather, harbor these $cumbags!

Just planting a seed, readers, regarding “an invasive species that could be very harmful to our environment.”

Amid land takings and other smaller bills, the House late Friday overwhelmingly passed climate change legislation that would create a “road map” for achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Senate had passed its own, more far-reaching package of bills earlier this year.

Yup, ALL AGENDAS are to be ADVANCED under the COVER of COVID!

The Senate, meanwhile, passed a version of House-approved legislation that would, among many things, create a “bill of rights” for foster parents and require the Department of Children and Families to produce certain data.

I'm not even going to go into the mess that is that state-run child trafficking agency.

That’s only the beginning of the raft of major bills left to be reconciled.

The two chambers have to hash out differences in a pair of $450 million-plus jobs bills, both of which include different iterations of a Baker-backed housing proposal that would lower the threshold of votes needed at the local level for a variety of residential proposals.

The House also passed language legalizing sports betting as part of the bill, but the Senate, where several members of leadership had opposed legalized casino gambling nearly a decade ago, did not.

That is state bu$ine$$.

A bond bill authorizing billions in borrowing for transportation needs also remained in a closed-door conference committee as of early Saturday. Lawmakers also need to meld together different health care bills that, among other things, would require insurers to cover tele-health visits, albeit on different timetables, but it’s the policing bill that has drawn the most attention.....

The police are taking a beating these days, and why is everything being done behind closed doors?

So we don't see their hypocrisy regarding distancing and masks?

--more--"

Speaking of hypocrites, here is the chief hypocrite:

Fauci confident virus vaccine will get to Americans in 2021

He remains confident that a coronavirus vaccine will be ready by early next year, but "if the future looks encouraging, public health alarms are still going off in the present as he pleaded with Americans to comply with basic precautions such as wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and washing their hands frequently. Those simple steps can deliver “the same bang for the buck as if we just shut the entire economy down,” said a frustrated Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adding that he has studies to back that up and he has already threatened us with a relapse.

So why were we shut down at all?

Also see:

NIH funding new virus test development

Like we will trust it.

Massachusetts immigrants hit hard by COVID-19 economic losses

The Globe cares more about them than citizens.

May God help them all.

This post ends like a rainbow -- with a pot of gold at the bottom.