"Judge upholds Block Island ban on outdoor entertainment as town delays action on mopeds" by Amanda Milkovits Globe Staff, August 17, 2020
NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. — Earlier this year, as states went into lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Block Islanders worried whether their summer tourism season could be saved.
Now they are scrambling to get a handle on a season that seems to be spiraling out of their control.
“Back in March, we didn’t know what to expect. We thought we wouldn’t have a season, then we thought maybe we could salvage the season,” said Ken Lacoste, first warden of the Town Council of New Shoreham, the town on the island. “Then word got out it was a safe place to be.” Block Island has had just eight cases of COVID-19.
In any other time, a summer of flawless hot weather and the resulting boom in tourism would be welcomed; however, as restrictions have made life tense on the mainland, the strain is magnified on Block Island, as thousands of tourists have descended here, and the islanders say they are seeing a much different crowd than usual.
As I turn the page I don't like where this is going.
First, the recent on-again, off-again quarantine restrictions that Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey imposed on Rhode Islanders caused a flurry of cancellations from out-of-staters who would have had to quarantine when they returned home. Older people didn’t want to travel, and state officials throughout the Northeast encouraged residents to stay local.
That left young people: fearless, restless from lockdowns, and restricted by coronavirus rules at the mainland’s public beaches. They began discovering Block Island, which has no density limits at its beaches or beach parking lots.
The crowded beach at Ballard's Restaurant on Block Island (Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff)
The sad part of that is they are trying to say the seagull was spreading COVID.
See:
"Officials on Monday confirmed the first US cases of mink infected with the coronavirus following outbreaks in Europe. Five infected mink have been identified at two large farms in Utah, the Department of Agriculture announced. Testing began after the farms reported unusually high mortality rates among the small animals raised for their fur prized in coats and other clothing."
Well, the stores that sell those are all out of business, although I'm sure the BG cla$$ will have ample acce$$ to all of life's nece$$ities while exi$ting out of $ight, the same as whatever it is they are dumping on us for whatever alleged official purpose, but don't worry, the utilities pay customers for outages (whadda you mean, what outages?).
There was also “the dynamics of what’s going on nationally,” said Lacoste. “There seems to be a lack of respect for authority. We haven’t had it to this degree. This is over the top.”
Oh-ho!
How totalitarian of him!
He's the kind of guy who back in the day was scolding kids for rock & roll.
Public drinking and partying on the beaches, vandalism and disrespect of others, and a free-for-all of cars, mopeds, bicycles, and pedestrians in the small commercial area has stressed the island’s easygoing nature, locals say.
People on mopeds zip along dirt roads, where they’re banned; ride on sidewalks, where they dodge walkers; and blare their horns in a way that’s “like nails on a chalkboard for islanders,” Lacoste said.
Their selfies and videos of wild times on Block Island are posted on social media, drawing more young crowds and the kind of publicity islanders want to avoid.
Last week, two young tourists were killed in separate crashes on the island. A 16-year-old boy from Connecticut died last Monday when the vehicle in which he was a passenger struck a utility pole; the teenage girl who was behind the wheel was charged with drunken driving. On Saturday, a 22-year-old Cranston man died and his passenger was injured after their rental moped struck an SUV head-on.
That is tragic and sad in the coronavirus era.
See: R.I. man killed when moped collides with SUV on Block Island
The SUV ended up in the river, and the odd accident has not been designated as a COVID death.
This is a lot for a small town with a just handful of police officers. Its volunteer fire and rescue squad has one-third fewer members this summer because so many declined to serve because of the pandemic.
On Sunday night, town councilors held an emergency meeting to address the spate of crashes and numerous complaints about mopeds. When they continued the meeting Monday, they announced that the State Police had agreed to send more troopers for weekend patrols to crack down on all traffic violations, and Superintendent Colonel James Manni said he will go to the island as well.
The hard police $tate begins to emerge, and winter will only make it worse.
Meanwhile, a petition is circulating online asking state legislators to enact tougher licensing standards for mopeds. This is an old story here: Over the past four decades, the battle to control moped rentals has gone to the courthouse and the State House — and even led to talk of seceding from Rhode Island. This was the third time the council tried to tackle the problems this summer has brought. On Wednesday, members voted 3 to 1 to suspend outdoor entertainment licenses. That affected 25 hotels and restaurants, whether they host rock bands or two sisters with a ukulele.
How little things have changed in 150+ years.
Furious over the abrupt action, five of those businesses filed a complaint Friday at Washington County Superior Court, saying the vote happened without notice and without the opportunity for them to be heard. They asked for a temporary restraining order to stop the ban.
Get used to it.
The Town Council objected to the complaint on Monday, arguing to the court that they were acting in the interest of public health and welfare because “the situation is out of hand. The island is being flooded by tourists with vacation mentality who congregate, drink, and appear to forget that we are in the middle of [a] pandemic,” the councilors said. “Block Island, its residents, and town government are overwhelmed right now -- visitors are not doing what they are supposed to be doing in terms of following the governor’s orders, wearing masks and social distancing. The medical center is overtaxed; the Town does not have enough ambulances. . . . Officials on the island are trying to enforce the governor’s orders, but the Town does not have the resources do so.”
Better hurry and catch the next ferry out of there!
The 6:45 p.m. ferry leaving Block Island on Friday was crowded (Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff)
Travelers leaving and arriving on the Block Island ferry Friday(Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff).
Haven't you heard, you are NOT WELCOME!
It was the mask muzzling the government edict, wasn't it?
On Monday, Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini sided with town officials and kept the ban on outdoor entertainment in place. So business owners are scrambling to adjust their entertainment plans with just three weeks left in the season. They believe they’re being used as a scapegoat for a problem they say is more complex.
It is and it isn't, and the web Globe kept you on the island a lot longer:
With its 17 miles of beautiful beaches and designation by The Nature Conservancy as one of 12 “Last Great Places” in the western hemisphere, Block Island would appear to be the perfect getaway during a pandemic. Just about a thousand people live here full-time, but summers swell the town’s population by 15,000 to 20,000 people a day.
This is a town laid out during horse-and-buggy days, as the police chief points out, with narrow, winding streets and a tiny commercial district by the ferry docks. In summer, thousands arrive on the ferries each day, crowding the tiny downtown. Many rent bicycles and mopeds to buzz around the narrow streets and over to the beaches, or stroll to check out the tiny boutiques and souvenir shops.
For a town that’s managed to keep its positive coronavirus cases in single digits, the usual bustle of summer tourism has made locals worried about an outbreak. “The town just isn’t set up for this kind of pandemic response,” said Jessica Willi, executive director of the Block Island Tourism Council.
The ferries and the town are blanketed with signs appealing to people to respect social distances and wear masks. Compliance seems to wane as the day wears on and visitors start drinking. The early ferries limit capacity to 50 percent to cut down on the number of day trippers, but the afternoon and evening ferries back to the mainland are crowded, and people often remove their masks when they take in the salt-air breezes above deck.
“Boats aren’t made for social distancing,” said Bill McCombe, the town emergency management co-director and chief of security for the Interstate Navigation Company, which runs the Block Island Ferry. “What people need to do is be respectful of each other. It’s simple to wear a mask, it’s an easy thing to do, but in general, we all need to be respectful of each other during the pandemic.”
A spokeswoman for the governor said Friday that the state would increase inspectors on the ferries. State police officials have sent troopers to help the small police force on weekends. The state Department of Business Regulation has regularly inspected local businesses and, for the most part, found them in compliance, yet Governor Gina M. Raimondo acknowledged Wednesday that “Block Island isn’t doing well.”
I hope they aren't like ours.
Hours after her comments, councilors wrestled with what to do. Residents were complaining about the crowds. The volunteer rescue squad was stressed from responding to medical calls and crashes.
Council member Martha Ball proposed pulling all of the outdoor entertainment licenses, making an exception for weddings. “The state is not helping us,” Ball said to the other council members. “I understand what the governor is trying to do, but it’s not working out here. We’ve had a summer where it’s gone wild, probably because people have been cooped up for a long time.”
Second Warden André Boudreau agreed. ”It’s crowds and bars that are the most dangerous things, the biggest spreaders of this disease,” he said. “The governor has allowed this [outdoor entertainment] because she’s pro-business, but we’ve seen what happens. What happens on Block Island doesn’t happen in Providence, Cranston, Johnston, and other places.”
At least they still have a sense of humor, since none of these tyrants are pro-bu$ine$$.
Council member Sven Risom wondered about the impact on businesses that were following the rules, before ultimately siding with the majority. Council member Chris Willi abstained; he owns Captain Nick’s, which has an outdoor entertainment license. (He is married to Jessica Willi of the tourism council.) Boudreau also said he would welcome the governor’s help in ridding the island of mopeds.
Goose-stepping right along in Rhode Island.
Maybe you should keep the schools closed.
John Leone, owner of the Old Harbor Bike Shop, has heard that before. “Every year it’s the same story --July and August gets very busy out here,” Leone said. “This year, it’s the COVID, the pandemic, people are uptight about everything. They thought it was going to be a quiet year, and it’s been a great year.”
Still, after talking with the police, Leone and the other moped operator on the island hired two security officers to be out and about in the island’s commercial district, focusing on moped drivers who weren’t following the rules. Leone said the security officers turn away about 180 mopeds a day from attempting to drive up High Street to the Mohegan Bluffs. Leone also bought a breathalyzer to check customers suspected of drinking and has already had to use it.
Go blow!
Many tourists rent mopeds on the island. The moped rental businesses hired security officers to help curb traffic infractions by riders (Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff)
He’s seeing many young customers, especially Rhode Islanders, discovering Block Island for the first time. “Now they have a taste of it, and they’ll keep coming back,” Leone said. “They’re nice people. They just need to be put under control.”
That is what the viru$ is fore!
Lacoste, the first warden on the council, voted against pulling the licenses. Most of the venues weren’t causing problems, he said, and the issue of unruly crowds needs a more comprehensive solution.
Like total lockdown?
Summer is waning, but with the school year delayed in Rhode Island, it’s possible that the crowds will continue to visit Block Island, and everyone from town officials to the local tourism industry are feeling the pressure to do something. “We should sit down as friends and neighbors and work it out,” said Steve Filippi, the owner of the popular Ballard’s Inn, who joined the lawsuit along with the Spring House Hotel, Mahogany Shoals, the National Hotel, and Aldo’s Restaurant and Pizza.
On Saturday afternoon, Jessica Willi was on the phone with a Globe reporter when a wailing ambulance rushed by her to the island’s only medical center. She found out later it was coming from the fatal moped crash.
“Something’s got to give. This is about more than the outdoor licenses,” Willi said Sunday. “Everybody wants to blame somebody, and it’s a really sad time.”
For us all.
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As for your weekend at the beach, Hull has moved in to a Red Zone parking capacity will be cut at Nantasket amid coronavirus pandemic because the state reported 213 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 4 new deaths, and the numbers were reported as Boston-area colleges ramp up for the fall semester while coronavirus clusters have broken out at other college and universities throughout the United States, but in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that indoor gyms could reopen as soon as next week (you look at their damn graphs and wonder why are we going backwards into lockdown).
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"Universities scramble to deal with virus outbreaks" by Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press, August 17, 2020
North Carolina’s flagship university canceled in-person classes for undergraduates just a week into the fall semester Monday as college campuses around the United States scramble to deal with coronavirus clusters linked in some cases to student housing, off-campus parties, and packed bars.
As a famous dean once said, no more fun of any kind!
The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill said it will switch to remote learning on Wednesday and make arrangements for students who want to leave campus housing. UNC said the clusters were discovered in dorms, a fraternity house, and other student housing. Before the decision came down, the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, ran an editorial headlined, “UNC has a clusterf--k on its hands,’’ though without the dashes. The paper said that the parties that took place over the weekend were no surprise and that administrators should have begun the semester with online-only instruction at the university, which has 19,000 undergraduates. “We all saw this coming,” the editorial said.
The kids are for their own enslavement, and I weep for them and their future in this diminished experience -- especially now that they are caught in the kidnapping abduction network known as contact tracing.
Outbreaks earlier this summer at fraternities in Washington state, California, and Mississippi provided a glimpse of the challenges school officials face in keeping the virus from spreading on campuses where young people eat, live, study — and party — in close quarters.
The virus has been blamed for more than 170,000 deaths and 5.4 million confirmed infections in the United States.
Many schools already have flipped from in-person classes to mainly online in recent weeks, and more are expected to do so, said David Long of Tuscany Strategy Consulting, which teamed up with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation to develop reopening recommendations for colleges and universities. “It’s because it’s so difficult to create these systems where everybody is essentially behaving appropriately, meaning social distancing, wearing PPE, and not gathering in groups,” he said, referring to personal protective equipment. “It’s challenging when you’re trying to control behavior in young adults, particularly in areas that are outside the classroom and off campus.’’ Some schools are opting for social contracts and strict codes of conduct as a way for students to keep pressure on their classmates, he said.
This is the Great Reset, Billy G wet dream with a major player in the simulation helping to devise it, with the lockstep stench of coercion.
At Oklahoma State in Stillwater, where a widely circulated video over the weekend showed maskless students packed into a nightclub, officials confirmed 23 coronavirus cases at an off-campus sorority house. The university placed the students living there in isolation and prohibited them from leaving.
The KIDS are being HELD HOSTAGE based on their bogus tests?
WAKE UP PARENTS!
“As a student, I’m frustrated as hell,” said Ryan Novozinsky, a junior from Allentown, N.J., and editor of the student newspaper. “These are people I have to interact with,’’ and, he added, ‘‘there will be professors they interact with, starting today, that won’t be able to fight this off.”
He's not worried about his freedom or being in total lockdown at prison, 'er, school?
OSU has a combination of in-person and online courses. Students, staff, and faculty are required to wear masks indoors and outdoors where social distancing isn’t possible.
The University of Notre Dame reported 58 confirmed cases since students returned to the South Bend, Ind., campus in early August. At least two off-campus parties over a week ago have been identified as sources, school officials said.
Paul J. Browne, vice president for public affairs at Notre Dame, said the university is prepared to suspend or otherwise discipline the hosts of such parties. “We believe we have a very strong chain of health protection, but these parties represent the weak link in that chain, and they can be responsible for a disproportionate spread,” he said.
University officials in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama were likewise frustrated by the lack of social distancing and scenes of crowded bars and other nightspot areas on the first weekend many students returned to school.
In Tuscaloosa, the home of the football-mad University of Alabama, Mayor Walt Maddox appealed to students’ love of the game in urging them to take precautions.
“If you don’t want to protect yourself and you don’t want to protect your family and you don’t want to protect your friends and thousands of jobs, maybe, just maybe, you would want to protect football season so we can have it this fall,” Maddox said.
HOW SHAMELESS!
Are there NO DEPTHS to which they will not sink to promote this abominable, life-killing agenda?
F**k the $port$ for now. You set things right, let the kids play and go to an OUTDOOR GAME where they are not trashing the stadium, and then we'll talk; otherwise, shut your tyrannical yapper!
Related:
"The governor of New Jersey gave a strong endorsement of having high school sports Monday while saying such activities need to be limited to outdoor only and with precautions. Governor Phil Murphy said Monday he was “hugely of the opinion we need sports,” citing beneficial mental and physical health, teamwork, and camaraderie effects....."
Also see:
"Texas surpassed 10,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths Monday as the toll of a massive summer outbreak continues, and health specialists expressed concerns that recent encouraging trends could be fragile as schools begin reopening for 5 million students across the state....."
Texas is big football country, and they are running the wrong way:
"In a U-turn after days of criticism, the British government on Monday scrapped an exam-grading policy that was set to deprive thousands of graduating high school students — especially more disadvantaged ones — of places at universities. Roger Taylor, chairman of UK exam regulator Ofqual, said the use of an algorithm to predict the results of exams that were canceled by the coronavirus pandemic had caused “real anguish and damaged public confidence.” Universities in the UK offer final-year high school students places based on grades predicted by their teachers. Admission is contingent on the results of final exams, known as A Levels. This year, with schools largely shut since March and no exams, education authorities in England ran the predicted grades through an algorithm, intended to standardize results, that compared them with schools’ past performance. Hundreds of students have held protests, calling the results an injustice, and lawmakers were inundated with complaints from angry parents."
The play has been diagnosed and is now losing ground, and what would you expect from a nation that drives on the other side of the road and calls soccer football?
Just ribbing you, Englanders.
I love your soccer leagues and a lot of other things about you!
Some universities are still moving ahead with fall classes. At Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., where a dozen students tested positive last month after an off-campus gathering, classes start Aug. 26 and students are moving into dorms this weekend.
“We have tweaked the move-in process this year and are requiring students to sign up for a time slot so we can keep things spaced out and distanced,” university spokeswoman Renee Charles said.
Balancing the health risks with educating students has been keeping university presidents up at night, said Mildred García, head of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. She said many are reconsider their plans as things change rapidly.
“They are doing the best they can with their staff and trying to educate the students about masks and social distancing and the effects of this virus,” she said.
“They’re doing all they can — and yet these are young people. When we think back about when we were young, sometimes you think you’re invincible.”
Well, they are in terms of the minuscule death rate in their demographic, so... why are the kids being punished?
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Of course, of more importance is the Operation Var$ity Blues $candal with the prosecutors saying Lori Loughlin was ‘fully complicit’ in college admissions plot, and that she deserves two months in prison!
Far be it from me to defend Hollywood $cum; however, I just got a whiff of $exi$m there.
Related:
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Of course, of more importance is the Operation Var$ity Blues $candal with the prosecutors saying Lori Loughlin was ‘fully complicit’ in college admissions plot, and that she deserves two months in prison!
Far be it from me to defend Hollywood $cum; however, I just got a whiff of $exi$m there.
Related:
"Amid public alarm over the inadequacy of coronavirus testing across the nation, Los Angeles schools on Monday will begin a sweeping program to test hundreds of thousands of students and teachers as the nation’s second-largest school district goes back to school — online. The program, which will be rolled out over the next few months by the Los Angeles Unified School District, will administer tests to nearly 700,000 students and 75,000 employees as the district awaits permission from public health authorities to resume in-person instruction, said Austin Beutner, the district’s superintendent. It appears to be the most ambitious testing initiative so far among major public school districts, most of which are also starting school remotely but have yet to announce detailed testing plans. New York City, where the virus has been under control, is the only major school district in the country planning to welcome students back into classrooms part time this fall. The city is asking all staff members to be tested before school starts Sept 10 and has said it will provide expedited results."
If it is all online, why do the kids need to be tested at all?
What evil purpose is back$topping this, and to who$e damn gain, and what if HERD IMMUNITY has ALREADY BEEN ACHIEVED?
Time to get back to the mainland and home:
"With low ridership, MBTA is staring at $400 million budget shortfall next year, study says" by Adam Vaccaro Globe Staff, August 17, 2020
With mostly empty trains still rumbling through Boston, an emergency influx of federal funding is helping the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority paper over massive declines in fares and other revenue, but without that aid, the agency is heading toward a severe budget crisis next summer, raising concerns that officials will be forced to reduce service to bridge a gap that could surpass $400 million.
That's odd because it was of no concern on the red line the other day as things were perfectly normal.
Like transit agencies across the country, the MBTA faces looming financial woes that are largely due to the pandemic-era plummet in ridership and the economic contraction that could threaten other revenue sources. The virus hit as the MBTA was gearing up for a series of costly new programs, including addressing safety concerns laid out in a 2019 report that slammed the agency for cutting corners due to financial considerations. Taken together, the MBTA is staring down a staggering budget deficit in the fiscal year that starts next July, according to an analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
The place has been a political patronage agency for decades. That is what is behind the neglect and disrepair.
That’s assuming fare revenue rebounds to 75 percent of its previous levels. While some bus routes have recovered more than half their ridership, others aren’t close to that level. Most subway lines are closer to 20 percent of their previous ridership, and commuter rail trains are especially empty.
It’s a grim forecast that seems to put service cuts on the table, said Andrew Bagley, the watchdog group’s senior vice president of policy and research.
I told you COVID is the end of public transit as the WEF and Schwab redesign and reset your life.
The MBTA’s annual budget for daily operations is about $2.3 billion this year and is projected to grow to more than $2.4 billion next year, when the agency may barely top $2 billion in revenue, according to the Taxpayers Foundation.
Projected to grow, HA!
Service cuts aren’t the only option for savings. Brian Shortsleeve, a former member of the T’s governing board, said in a parting message in June that the agency should rein in fast-growing pension costs, but Stacy Thompson, director of the pro-transit Livable Streets Alliance, worried the MBTA may seek to cut costs from programs that are less noticeable to riders but will be important in the future, such as overhauling the bus system. “What happens to all these things that were really necessary that we fought for?” she asked.
I'm opposed to the featherbed pen$ions the state wrote into law and for which the unions bargained, but it was a promi$e in contract.
The MBTA is staving off its losses this year with a big influx of federal funds from the CARES Act.
About a billion it wa$, and I apologize to the rest of America.
For transit agencies, the pandemic is not a normal recession. While ridership may tail off slightly during a slow economic cycle, the lost commuters are mitigated by those who begin taking buses and trains to save money. Since the coronavirus downturn was caused by a movement to keep people at home, ridership losses are far steeper.
Even so, it would be unacceptable for agencies to reduce service because they need to run enough vehicles to help riders keep social distance, said Beth Osborne, director of Transportation for America, a national advocacy organization that is not affiliated with Chris Dempsey’s Transportation for Massachusetts group.
“If you cut it down to a point where it’s getting its value, it’s getting its value because people are standing face to face,” she said. “Add that to the pandemic, and that’s not good,” but there are also outstanding questions about whether transit ridership will return, even if a coronavirus vaccine becomes widely available. Many commuters who are able to work from home say they would like to continue to do so, if only for a couple days a week. That could have a major impact on both ridership and the traffic congestion that transit officials have worked to ease in recent years.
Overseeing these difficult decisions will be the MBTA’s Fiscal and Management Control Board, which was created in 2015 by Baker and the state Legislature with the goal of putting the budget-strapped agency into better financial shape. Its term was slated to expire this summer but was extended one year by lawmakers this summer.....
Baker had the misnomer of Mr. Fix-It, but this state has turned to total $hit since COVID came.
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{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Look who they intend to exile to Block Island (the top concern in the World of the Globe):
"Belarus factory workers to Lukashenko: ‘Go away!’" by Ivan Nechepurenko and Anton Troianovski New York Times, August 17, 2020
MINSK, Belarus — President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, long known as “Europe’s last dictator,” tried on Monday to deflate nine days of widespread protests by rallying what was supposed to be his blue-collar base: the workers of the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant.
They responded, video footage from the scene showed, with chants of “Go away!”
It was the latest dismal turn for Lukashenko in his increasingly desperate effort to hold on to power. Lukashenko, an authoritarian who has ruled since 1994, faces an uprising from all corners of Belarusian society in the wake of fraud-ridden presidential elections early this month that, he claimed, he had won in a landslide.
OMG!
Foretelling Trump's future as he is under the same sort of color coup destabilization!
On Monday, a day after more than 100,000 people demanded new elections in a huge protest in Minsk, Lukashenko remained defiant. He signaled he would cling to power.
Looks like the Biden people.
“You will never get me to do anything under pressure,” Lukashenko told the tractor plant workers in Minsk, many of whom jeered. “We had elections. Until you kill me, there will not be any more elections,” but strikes at some of the institutions considered closest to Lukashenko — at state-owned factories and even at state television broadcasters — underscored the tenuousness of his position.
Don't tempt them, but thank you for being aa brave leader who is literally putting his life on the line with the rest of us. Profile in courage.
Seeking to seize the momentum, Svetlana G. Tikhanovskaya, Lukashenko’s main challenger in the Aug. 9 election, released a video from exile in Lithuania saying she was prepared to serve as a transitional leader to prepare the country for new elections.
Now it smells like the Ukraine in 2014!
Over the weekend, Lukashenko called on President Vladimir Putin of Russia for help, insisting the protests were being engineered from the West, but the reception appeared lukewarm. The Kremlin issued a vague statement Sunday that Russia was prepared to support Belarus in accordance with its treaty obligations, but no fresh details about any potential Russian help emerged on Monday.
You think they would tell you?
As Lukashenko reached out to Russia, his public standing continued to weaken at home. Dozens of media workers protested Monday in front of the state television offices in central Minsk, demanding the right to cover the protests fairly. So many workers went on strike from the state television networks, normally steadfast in their pro-Lukashenko messaging, that the channels’ morning shows went off the air.
So self-important!
Across Minsk, many Belarusians said that scenes of widespread police violence against protesters last week had jolted them out of a silent acceptance of Lukashenko’s rule. The intensity of the new antigovernment mood, previously unseen in Lukashenko’s Belarus, was on display when the president addressed the factory workers.
Ah, the silent majority!
State-owned factories have long represented a key pillar of Lukashenko’s support and a crown jewel of his system of governance. He largely kept the Soviet-era industrial behemoths under state control, rather than allowing them to be sold off to business tycoons as happened in neighboring Russia and Ukraine, but that support was nowhere to be seen on Monday at the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant.....
They are gone now because that $y$tem failed, and now the same $y$tem is being brought to the U.S.
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Also see:
"A terrorist attack on a popular hotel in the Somali capital that left at least 16 people dead, including five assailants, ended with the dramatic rescue of more than 200 people Sunday. The attack was the latest in a series of deadly onslaughts carried out across the Horn of Africa by Al Shabab, a militant group linked to Al Qaeda, as the group seeks to stoke chaos and undermine Somalia’s government. Al Shabab attacks have increased in recent months even as Somalia has struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic, experienced flash floods that have displaced tens of thousands of people, and been swarmed by desert locusts that threaten the food supply. The attack on the Elite Hotel in Mogadishu began Sunday afternoon after a car bomb exploded at the gates of the hotel, which is on Lido Beach, a popular destination on the Indian Ocean. Al Shabab militants then ran into the hotel’s compound, engaging in a four-hour gunbattle with security officials. Somali special forces stormed the grounds and rescued more than 200 people from inside the hotel, according to a spokesman for the Somali Information Ministry. Among those saved were senior government officials and the owner of the hotel, Abdullahi Mohamed Nor, a former finance minister who is also a member of Parliament."
Stinks of BS so close to that fateful September morning.
Al-CIA-Duh indeed!
Beyond that, why were the floods and locust infestation basically ignored?
"Spain’s royal household said Monday that the former king, Juan Carlos, was in the United Arab Emirates, two weeks after he left Spain for an unknown destination amid investigations relating to his personal wealth. The announcement follows a frantic media search for Juan Carlos, whose decision to abandon Spain had shocked many of his compatriots. In a brief statement, the royal household said that the former king traveled to the United Arab Emirates on Aug. 3. ABC, a Spanish newspaper, published an unconfirmed report this month that Juan Carlos had flown by private jet from the Spanish city of Vigo to the emirate of Abu Dhabi and was staying in a government-owned hotel. Amid health problems and scandals, Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014 in favor of his son, who became King Felipe VI, but recently, prosecutors in Spain and in Switzerland have opened investigations into a web of offshore foundations, secret bank accounts, and business transactions involving people closely connected to the former monarch. One of the foundations investigated in Switzerland received $100 million from Saudi Arabia, which was placed in a secret Swiss bank account. Prosecutors are now looking into whether the deposit was linked to a Saudi high-speed train contract that was awarded to Spanish companies."
Looks like another sanctuary for crooks and thieves.
"Lebanon is facing a surge in coronavirus cases after a devastating blast at the Beirut port earlier this month killed scores and wounded thousands, prompting medical officials on Monday to call for a two-week lockdown to try to contain the pandemic. Virus numbers were expected to rise following the Aug. 4 explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate stored at the port. Around 180 people were killed, more than 6,000 wounded, and a quarter of a million left with homes unfit to live in. The blast overwhelmed the city’s hospitals and also badly damaged two that had a key role in handling virus cases. Medical officials had warned of the dangers of crowding at hospitals in the aftermath of the explosion, at funerals, or as people searched through the rubble. Protests and demonstrations also broke out after the blast as Lebanese vented their anger at authorities. On Monday, the Health Ministry registered 456 new cases and two deaths, a new daily record after Sunday’s 439 virus cases and six fatalities. The new infections bring to 9,337 the total number of cases in the small country of just over 5 million. Lebanon has reported a total of 105 fatalities. The UN force deployed in Southern Lebanon along the border with Israel reported 22 of its peacekeepers have tested positive. Separately, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said four Palestinians died of the virus over the weekend — doubling to eight the number of fatalities in Palestinian refugee camps."
All of a sudden, my jew$paper cares about Palestinians, and those U.N. forces will have to be removed (remember when they brought cholera to Haiti?) seeing as they were an impediment to Israeli invasion.
Hard to believe that there are some lockdowns that are even tighter:
"New Zealand on Monday said it would postpone its national election by four weeks as a cluster of new coronavirus cases continued to spread through the city of Auckland despite a lockdown. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has the sole authority to determine when people cast ballots, said she had consulted with all the major parties before delaying the vote, originally scheduled for Sept. 19, to Oct. 17. Ardern called the decision a compromise. She also ruled out further change. Even if the outbreak worsens, she said, “we will be sticking with the date we have.” The shift keeps Election Day within the time frame allowed under the law — the latest possible date is Nov. 21 — but it also highlights the national concern as a cluster of at least 58 new cases frustrates investigators, clears the streets of Auckland and suspends scheduled campaign events."
May god help them:
"A conservative South Korean pastor who has been a bitter critic of the country’s president has tested positive for the coronavirus, health authorities said Monday, two days after he participated in an antigovernment protest in Seoul that drew thousands. More than 300 virus cases have been linked to the Rev. Jun Kwang-hun’s huge church in northern Seoul, which has emerged as a major cluster of infections amid growing fears of a massive outbreak in the greater capital region. Officials are concerned that the virus’s spread could worsen after thousands of demonstrators, including Jun and members of his Sarang Jeil Church, marched in downtown Seoul on Saturday despite pleas from officials to stay home."
Of course they are infected; everyone who stands against this is suddenly infected, save for $ocial ju$tu$ prote$ts, and speaking of those guys:
"South Africa, which imposed one of the world’s strictest anticoronavirus lockdowns five months ago, will significantly relax its restrictions Tuesday, including allowing the sales of liquor and cigarettes, as it appears the country has weathered its first peak of COVID-19 cases. With numbers of cases and hospitalizations declining, the country will further loosen its regulations to permit the opening of bars, restaurants, gyms, places of worship, and entertainment, all with distancing restrictions. Schools will reopen gradually from Aug. 24, starting with grades 12 and 7 and a phased opening of other grades. With more than 580,000 confirmed cases, South Africa has more than half of all reported cases in Africa. The 54 countries of the continent reported a total of more than 1.1 million cases on Monday, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. South Africa has recorded more than 11,800 deaths from COVID-19, while overall the continent has reported just over 25,600 deaths."
So you can't drink at college but South Africans can buy booze.
Of course, they are not guinea pigs like in Brazil:
"Dozens of Indigenous people, many daubed in black paint representing their grief and fighting spirit, blocked a major highway in Brazil’s Amazon on Monday to pressure the government for help in protecting them from COVID-19. The Kayapo Mekragnotire people blame authorities for the deaths of four of their elders and infections of dozens more on their land in southern Para state, near the city of Novo Progresso. Leaders said people from outside their territory spread the new coronavirus among them because there were no restrictions on entry to their land. About 400 Kayapos Mekragnotire people live in 15 separate groups in the region."
The protests are the pandemic!
"With daily coronavirus case numbers rising, Italy on Monday imposed its first new restrictions on daily life since coming out of lockdown nearly four months ago, ordering the closure of nightclubs and mandating mask-wearing, even outdoors, in areas with nightlife. The new measures come as Italy faces its most precarious moment of the summer. School is due to start in less than a month, Italians are moving en masse for their August holidays, and tourists are coming in from other European countries that have seen even greater increases. Although the Italian restrictions are modest, they amount to a test of whether a country can keep the virus at bay without resorting to the blunt-force lockdown strategy used earlier in the pandemic."
This time it will be a real lockdown.
Will need to mask up if you flee to France:
"The French government is sending riot police to the Marseille region to help enforce mask requirements, as more and more towns and neighborhoods are imposing mask rules starting Monday to slow rising infections. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced Monday that 130 police officers are being sent to the Marseille region, which expanded its outdoor mask requirements to all farmers’ markets and more neighborhoods Friday. France has seen scattered incidents of violence by people refusing to wear masks. Paris expanded its mask requirements Saturday, and other towns around France started requiring masks outdoors on Monday. Infections have been speeding up around France in recent days, with 3,015 new cases Sunday. More than 30,400 people have died with the virus in France, one of the highest death tolls in the world."
More like they are being persecuted than reacting, and I'm sure glad France has no real crime.
If only they could kiss and make up:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, hugs Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi at Facebook offices in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook India is under fire. (Files/AP)
Awww, isn't that nice, and what is going on over at Aljazeera?
