Sunday, September 13, 2020

The Sunday Globe's La$t $upper

I gave it the old college try, readers, but the Globe's fare now makes me ill:

"Yippee, my kid “goes” back to “school” this week! This is always such a hopeful time of year, don’t you think? A chance to start fresh, with clean notebooks, nice sharp pencils, unstained hoodies, and lots of absolutely achievable resolutions sure to make the academic year slide by like some gorgeous, color-coded dream, even though that has happened exactly never before, and he’s headed to seventh grade, but I’m not going to let reality pop my optimistic little bubble this year. No siree!"

The back-to-school shopping must have been fun, and even though half the reason for college is missing now professors have adjusted their classrooms for two pandemics for a school year unlike any other:

"University of Connecticut and local health officials have ordered about 700 students living in an off-campus apartment complex to quarantine for two weeks after tracing several COVID-19 cases to homes there. Students living in The Oaks on the Square, which is located just off campus in Storrs, are being asked to remain inside their apartments except for “solitary activity” or to pick up food, according to the letter sent to Oaks residents. Non-students living in the complex are not subject to the quarantine, which was agreed to Friday by officials from UConn, the Eastern Highlands Health District, and the town of Mansfield. The quarantined students will be required to switch any in-person classes to online for an indefinite period of time. As of Saturday, the school has reported 121 positive tests for the new coronavirus on campus since about 5,000 students returned in August and 92 cases among those living off-campus (AP)."

You kids need to skip on out of there and head home now!

"Health officials are strongly recommending that Michigan State University students living on or near the school’s East Lansing campus self-quarantine immediately because of an outbreak of COVID-19. At least a third of the 342 people affiliated with the university who have tested positive for the virus since Aug. 24 attended parties or social gatherings, the Ingham County Health Department said Saturday. At least a third of those gatherings were associated with fraternities or sororities. In the three weeks prior to the surge in cases, only 23 people affiliated with the university had tested positive....."

If they had spilled out into the streets in protest of $o¢ial ju$tu$ it would have been okay, and this was all predicted!

It's been two weeks since the New York Times report that admitted 90% of ‘positive’ COVID test results are really negative and that the PCR tests show positive because they respond to genetic material present in all humans, and since the CDC revised the death totals drastically -- yet the pre$$ propaganda organs act as if that was never reported at all.


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Now say Grace before digging in:

""When Maine pastor Todd Bell used a recent Sunday sermon to decry COVID-19 restrictions and dismiss the virus’s threat, just weeks after he officiated at a Millinocket wedding that led to a deadly coronavirus outbreak, he joined a handful of evangelical preachers drawing notice — and notoriety — for their views on the pandemic, but even as such episodes of defiance and denial of COVID-19 make the rounds online, pastors and theologians in New England say such stances represent a fringe view within evangelical Christianity, one that serves to heighten the distance many faithful already feel from the politically fraught term “evangelical.” There is political diversity among evangelicals. Though the majority are conservative, with white evangelicals in particular showing strong support for President Trump and Republicans overall, a significant number feel their faith directs them to support liberal causes....."

That's when I got up and walked out on the Globe ceremony as the Vatican urges return to in-person Mass as soon as possible (other with other things you need to know).


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I'll let the Globe be the First to dig in:

"So many Boston restaurants have closed. It’s just the tip of the iceberg; With PPP money running dry and the outdoor dining season coming to a close, the industry is on a precipice" by Devra First Globe Staff, September 12, 2020

According to Bob Luz, president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, 3,600 of the 16,000 restaurants that existed in the state on March 1 — or about 23 percent — have not reopened. This is just the tip of the iceberg, say many who work in the industry. The number is only going to grow in the coming months, affecting not just business owners but employment levels. In July, Massachusetts had the highest unemployment rate of any state at 16.1 percent. “Ten percent of jobs in Massachusetts sit inside the four walls of a restaurant,” Luz says, “and that does not include everybody that provides us with goods and services.”

“I fear we’ll see a lot of closures,” says Bessie King. She owns Villa México Café with her mother, Julie King, who founded the business 20 years ago, relocating it from Woburn to Beacon Hill to the current Financial District location. “Once snow comes, other than people making deliveries and third-party delivery services, who is going to go get takeout, sit outside, eat at restaurants?” Julie is keeping the restaurant running while Bessie works an office job to bring in additional income. “Right now we’re just trying to keep the restaurant open and going, for almost a moral duty to our community and our industry,” Bessie says. “If the haters didn’t close us down, if the debts didn’t close us down, if the relocations didn’t close us down, if crooked landlords didn’t close us down, we don’t want to let COVID do that.”

There will also be other problems then, ones building which the Globe is ignoring.

“There are a lot of really good restaurants that are not going to make it,” says Chris Coombs of Boston Chops in the South End and Downtown Crossing, dbar in Dorchester, and Deuxave in Back Bay. “I’ve been talking to a lot of friends who are done with the industry altogether or taking a couple of years off. Really, really talented chefs and restaurateurs are getting completely gutted. The wave of places hasn’t even started yet. October through March is going to be so bad.”

If you are hungry for the New World Order, this plate they served up is for you. Won't be a need for restaurants with the genocide being lined up in so many ways. Many will no longer be alive come April.

Rokeya Chowdhury — co-owner of Shanti Restaurant in Dorchester, Roslindale, and Cambridge, and Dudley Cafe in Roxbury — sees something different with each business. Dudley Cafe is a popular gathering spot in Nubian Square, but currently no one can gather; previously dependent on office traffic, it has added delivery to the mix. At Shanti, which serves Indian cuisine, they are focusing on takeout and delivery in their Boston locations. The Kendall Square branch remains closed: “Kendall is very dead,” Chowdhury says. Much of Shanti’s business is tied to local universities such as UMass-Boston, MIT, Harvard, and Northeastern. Back-to-school events and catering sales are largely on hold. They are waiting to see what October and November bring. “We have a better plan than what we had in March, so I think that’s one positive,” she says.

Like a corn kernel in a turd that won't flush, and the only negative is the caterer is a non-union $hop.

Restaurateur Tam Le’s Dorchester businesses, Pho Hoa (started by his father in 1992) and Reign Drink Lab, are both open for business, he says. He tried to do takeout at Pho Linh in Quincy, but it wasn’t worth it; that restaurant is closed for now, but on Thursday, he and a partner opened a new restaurant, Chashu Ramen + Izakaya in Worcester. He’s an optimist, he says.

“I hate to say it, but it’s going to come down to a survival of the fittest. Those that are able to adapt, find innovative ways to make money, get their product to people, and have customers feel safe with coming in, I think those are the businesses that are going to survive,” he says. “My neighbors in Quincy, Balducci’s pizza, they’re [extremely busy]. They were primarily takeout and delivery to begin with. For finer, full-service dining establishments, it’s going to be really difficult.”

That's when I had to spit this crap out, and if only I could have come up with a wealth-tran$ferring, central banking $cheme!

$urvival of the Fitte$t, huh?

Luz of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association is an optimist, too. “I think part of the real story here is everybody’s choosing to eat outdoors, and I think everybody assumes they’re afraid to go indoors,” he says. “I don’t think that’s it at all. I think it’s because we never had the opportunity to eat outdoors before. Over 80 percent of the restaurants in Massachusetts had zero ability to have outdoor dining before COVID.” He is confident in restaurants' ability to keep diners safe indoors.

That's a job qualification as smoke comes from the kitchen and he sauces a piece of $**t.

We’ll know soon enough whether diners agree. It’s just one of the many unknowns that make it difficult for restaurateurs to plan ahead right now. Will schools be able to remain open? Will there be a spike in coronavirus infections, or even another shutdown? Will there be more government aid?

No, yes, yes, no.

On Thursday, a scaled-back coronavirus relief bill failed in the Senate, but industry groups like the Independent Restaurant Coalition and Mass Restaurants United still have hopes for assistance, including a $120 billion RESTAURANTS Act, which is before Congress. On the state level, a Distressed Restaurant Fund, included in an economic development bill, could bring relief to some, along with proposed measures like capping third-party delivery fees.

Luz says he hopes no more than 33 percent of the state’s restaurants close over the course of the pandemic, but without another round of PPP, many restaurateurs say businesses will not survive in the short term. As for the long-term picture, many agree, there is only one solution.

“To be honest, if we don’t figure out rapid testing or a highly effective vaccine, I think every restaurant is at risk of failure,” Coombs says.....

It was at that point that I vomited up the entire meal and couldn't eat anymore.

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What the Globe continues to downplay and ignore are the building food shortages that continue all across the world in one form or another (fires, floods, and the like), as well as production slow downs and stoppages because of the agenda-pushing COVID fraud that can only lead to one thing.

Related:

"More restaurants close" by Laura Crimaldi and Caroline Enos Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, September 12, 2020

In the restaurant industry, which is fighting to outlast the pandemic, some dining spots have closed in recent days after workers fell ill with COVID-19.

On Thursday, Lulu’s in Allston announced on its Facebook page that it was closing until further notice after two employees tested positive for COVID-19. Lulu’s said it planned to test all employees for the virus and thoroughly clean the restaurant before reopening. The restaurant didn’t return a call seeking comment Saturday.

No one will ever go there again, and all over a fraud and fear-driven, agenda-pushing propaganda from tyrannical authority and their mouthpiece pre$$ that is advancing the Great Re$et.

On Revere Beach, the landmark Kelly’s Roast Beef closed Thursday and Friday after a worker tested positive for COVID-19, said Dan Flatley, the manager. The restaurant tested its more than 30 employees for the virus and hired a company to clean and sanitize. The location has takeout and delivery, but no space for indoor dining.

On Saturday, the restaurant reopened, staffed by workers who tested negative for COVID-19, Flatley said. The restaurant doesn’t know of any other infections among its workforce, Flatley said, but some employees are still awaiting test results.

At least they were able to re$et, but who would ever want to order food from them again?

In Scituate, the economic fallout from pandemic has led owner Kara Tondorf to close Riva Restaurant. A new landlord bought the property in January and likely won’t renew the lease when it expires in the next two years, Tondorf said. She said it was best to shut down now instead of trying to stay afloat while COVID-19 keeps restaurant patrons at home. The restaurant will close its doors next Saturday. “We’ve had people in the community that are so, so upset about us closing,” Tondorf. “Some of our regular customers were sitting on the patio just crying to me after we announced it. … but the numbers just didn’t work.”

Riva has been a dining spot on Scituate’s harbor for 22 years, and relies on summer business to get through the winter. During the pandemic, Tondorf said she has struggled to find staff and has fewer seats available due to social distancing guidelines.

“We’ve had some people get really nasty about not getting a table or having to deal with long waits,” Tondorf said, “but the community has been incredibly supportive and wonderful.”

One employee has been working at Riva Restaurant since its opening, she said.

“She’s heartbroken,” Tondorf said. “She’s like a family member to me, and we’re going to have one last family dinner together there on our last day.”

The Globe and that cla$$ of people don't care since it is all for the greater good, even if that greater good is based on a colossal lie.

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They are literally milking it for all it is worth:

"A 99-year-old Vermont dairy is shutting down at the end of September, and the coronavirus pandemic played a major role in the decision. “With gratitude, pride and heavy hearts, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close Thomas Dairy at the end of the month,” the Rutland farm wrote in a Facebook post. “The decrease in business from colleges, restaurants and tourism during the COVID shutdown has hit us hard, and the future remains uncertain.” When the University of Vermont shut down for the semester, the dairy lost its biggest customer overnight, fifth-generation co-owner Abby Thomas said, but there are other reasons, she said. There is increasing competition from organic and nut milks, the facilities are in need of expensive upgrades, and the majority of the owners are nearing retirement age. The company tried to find a buyer, but no viable candidate came forward, she said. Thomas Dairy employs 30 people and produces about 10,000 gallons of milk per week (AP)."

Are you prepared for rising milk prices and shortages with the jobless aid running out even as the IRS is trying to reach 9 million people who haven’t collected their stimulus payments (forget the checks ending up in Vienna) and Sweden becomes the model for a cashless world?


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"Why Massachusetts has the highest unemployment rate in the country" by Shirley Leung and Larry Edelman Globe Staff, September 13, 2020

COVID-19, which hit here early and hard, has disrupted the state’s economic equilibrium in ways other recessions didn’t. Governor Charlie Baker’s decision to shut down earlier than most states — and reopen more cautiously — slowed the virus’s spread but at a high cost: a nation-leading jobless rate of 16.1 percent in July.

He has destroyed our livelihoods, and is most responsible for our misery, not Trump.

The pandemic has hurt the state’s previously recession-resistant health care and education sectors, and has driven a broader change in habits, beyond ditching suits and ties, that has made it harder for businesses to bounce back and hire again. People are buying less and saving more, especially affluent households, and low-wage service workers whose jobs depend on consumer spending are getting hurt more than they usually do when the economy weakens.

Restaurant tabs in Massachusetts have tumbled 25 percent since January, according to data tracked by Opportunity Insights, a research project at Harvard University. Spending on recreation and entertainment is off a staggering 55 percent. Ridership at Uber and Lyft has plummeted.

“Low-income workers are being hit very hard in part because their jobs, their livelihoods, have become increasingly dependent on higher-income households and their spending,” said David Williams, director of policy outreach at Opportunity Insights. “Until people have confidence on the public health side of the crisis, it will be really hard to build back our economy in a way that will be uplifting everyone.”

That's some Harvard outfit as the guy argues trickle-down economics was our $y$tem, and that now the divide will be even worse with a lot of useless eaters out there.

Of course, the alternative to trickle-down looting and corruption at this stage is full-blown communi$m and that is where we are headed. It will be of the corporate variety, a true fa$ci$m not the misnamed nationalism with which it is usually associated; however, this model will be more communi$t with the large corporate conglomerates that survive will be the nrillionaire oligarchs of the future. Bezos will control commerce, Zuck communications, Gates health care, and so one.

Massachusetts is a high-income state with an above-average concentration of knowledge-based jobs, blessings that have accelerated growth in good economic times and tempered past downturns such as the Great Recession and the dot-com bust.

The last recession was sparked by a crisis on Wall Street, but its face was traditional blue-collar workers in solidly middle-class jobs. Manufacturing accounted for 26 percent of all job losses in the state. Another 20 percent came from construction.

When it comes to the number of people thrown out of work, however, the Great Recession pales in comparison with the ferocious two-month collapse that followed the coronavirus outbreak. Another significant difference today: The state’s core health care and social services providers reduced their ranks in March and April; in the Great Recession, they boosted employment. The pivotal education industry, which held its own during the previous recession, has also cut jobs this time around.

I need to comment on the Mullarkey for a moment because it was not long ago that I was told given the employment mix in Massachusetts, the state’s economy will be less hard hit than many other states, although a factor in the state’s big loss of jobs is its reliance on industries especially hard-hit by the shutdown, including health care, education, and travel-related business such as restaurants and hotels.

Beyond that, education jobs just started being cut couple of weeks ago and what in the world were they doing cutting health jobs in the middle of the worst of the pandemic when hospitals were supposedly overwhelmed?

HELLO?!!

Meanwhile, employers in Massachusetts have been among the most reluctant in the country to hire amid depressed revenue and rising concern about the virus surging again in the colder months. Job postings in the state fell 29 percent in September compared with a year ago, according to job site Indeed.com.

Then why are they begging for foreign worker visas?

“Urban states tend to have more jobs in arts, entertainment, and hospitality, all of which have been hit hard in the pandemic,” said Jed Kolko, Indeed.com’s chief economist. “Tech and finance job postings are down, too. Even though those higher-wage sectors haven’t shut down or had severe layoffs, they have slowed hiring.”

How can tech be down when it is a stay-at-home economy and their stocks are holding up the markets?

By July, as more of the economy reopened, Massachusetts had recouped about one-third of the pandemic-induced job losses, but that lagged behind national payrolls, Labor Department data show.

It wasn't the panic that induced it, it was our criminal governor.

Massachusetts residents are spending 10 percent less time outside their homes than in January, according to Opportunity Insights data. That’s up nearly 20 percentage points since the start of April.

Still, people are driving less, and that’s hurting Direct Tire & Auto Service, where revenue is off by one-third compared to a year ago, according to chief executive Barry Steinberg.

Steinberg furloughed 20 workers during the height of the pandemic but has since brought back all but seven of them. For remote workers and others, he said: “The car is their secondary thought right now. They are just not using it.”

That's when the wheels started coming off for me, sorry.

Christa Hagearty, owner of Dependable Cleaners, once considered laundering men’s and women’s work shirts as “recession proof,” said in other recessions her business dropped 15 percent at the most; this time revenue is off over 50 percent. She expected to clean fewer party dresses and other formalwear but not dress shirts, which make up half of her business. “We’ve never seen a decrease like this in dress shirts,” said Hagearty, whose family has owned the business for three generations.

Dependable, which has 16 locations in Greater Boston, was able to secure a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan, but Hagearty said she used up that money two weeks ago. While business has picked up, she is worried that people will hunker down again in the winter when COVID-19 cases are expected to rise.

That is what Fauci said we need to do, so say goodbye to your bu$ine$$.

To survive, Hagearty urges Washington to pass another rescue package for small businesses like hers. “We are losing money every week right now,” she said. “The uncertainty of political games is not helping anyone.”

She doesn't understand that the first one didn't help small businesses, it was swallowed up by banks and going concerns connected to the Great Re$et, and that these aid programs are basically unemployment programs.

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I really don't like their work, but at least you will have two teams to follow each week as the NFL season opens!

Related:

As pandemic wears on, despair at epicenter of addiction crisis deepens

David Abel of the Globe Staff literally helped clean up the $hit on the streets as some man was fatally stabbed in a parking lot.


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Time to hop a train and get the hell out of there:

"The MBTA is exploring service cuts ahead of a budget crisis" by Adam Vaccaro Globe Staff, September 12, 2020

MBTA officials have begun planning for possible service cuts as they stare down a mammoth budget gap in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

That's strange because Baker just christened a Green Line extension and says he will be riding soon, but now we are told everything is own the table.

With ridership still well below pre-pandemic levels, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority forecasts that it could be short by $300 million to nearly $600 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2021 — depending on how quickly riders return. Federal funds from the CARES Act are covering hundreds of millions of dollars in lost fare revenue for now, but those reserves will likely expire by next summer, and the T has already acknowledged it may be forced to reduce service as a possible next step.

The CARES Act turns out to be BRIBE MONEY to go along with the COVID cover to advance the Great Re$et!

Officials will raise the topic Monday at a meeting of the MBTA’s governing board, according to draft presentation slides obtained by the Globe. The slides suggest the T will prioritize service, perhaps even expanding it, on those routes that have had higher ridership during the pandemic or are expected to rebound more quickly. The slides also indicate the T would give priority to routes and services with higher numbers of low-income riders and people of color, and those with lower rates of car ownership, as these passengers tend to rely most on transit.

That means someone leaked to the Globe, but obtaining it sounds like they worked for it like a gumshoe journalist. The deception rises to even that level, and will whites be discriminated against because that is sure what it looks like?

Meanwhile, the agency would be “most likely to reduce service levels” on routes and services with lower ridership and where passengers tend to have higher incomes or own cars, according to the presentation.

How about gutting the massive patronage $y$tem and all the fat-cat retiree deals first before you start rationing out service to taxpayers?

WTF are you even paying for anymore, citizen? 

Pensions and health perks for government bureaucrats?

That sure carries with it the $tench of Communi$m!

The prospect of service cuts is another reminder of just how intensely the coronavirus has changed the debate around the transportation system, which just six months ago was largely focused on increasing transit service to reduce the region’s stifling congestion, but there has also been a premium on higher-frequency service throughout the pandemic, to ensure vehicles don’t get too crowded and riders have enough social distance onboard.

Hmmmmmmmm!

Yeah, the "VIRUS" is redefining our very way of life.

The changes forced by the budget crunch would be permanent, but may create a “simpler, less redundant, and more equitable system," according to the presentation.

“If and when additional resources [are] available, we will not recreate the pre-COVID system,” one slide reads.....

What utter fart spew as developers are already zeroing in on West Station as part of the WEF's Great Re$et!

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Can't even escape to the islands anymore:

"Nantucket finds ‘community spread’ of COVID-19 among tradespeople" by Jeremy C. Fox Globe Correspondent, September 11, 2020

Nantucket has experienced a spike in COVID-19 cases and is seeing “community spread” among tradespeople working in construction, landscaping, and cleaning who are sharing transportation to workplaces, according to officials from the town and Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

No doubt undocumenteds!

Seven new cases of the coronavirus were reported Wednesday, and another seven were reported Thursday, for a total of 77 cases in the town, according to a statement Friday from Select Board Chairwoman Dawn Hill Holdgate.

“These are the highest number of cases in a short period of time that we have so far seen in Nantucket,” Holdgate said. “While this is not an unanticipated situation, due to the nature of the coronavirus, we can expect episodic growth in the number of cases over the next 10 to 14 days.”

Of those 14 new cases, a dozen were among Nantucket residents, and most of those residents worked in construction, carpentry, landscaping, painting, or cleaning, according to a separate statement Friday from Roberto Santamaria, the town’s health and human services director, and Gary Shaw, the president of Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

The town’s Select Board and Board of Health will hold an emergency meeting at 10 a.m. Monday to consider placing restrictions on some of those trades, Holdgate said. The town will also increase visits and health inspections at construction and landscaping sites, she said.....

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There is one place you can wash ashore and be safe:

"At this very moment a vast world exists that’s free of the coronavirus, where people can mingle without masks and watch the pandemic unfold from thousands of miles away. That world is Antarctica, the only continent without COVID-19. In pre-coronavirus days, long-term isolation, self-reliance and psychological strain were the norm for Antarctic teams while the rest of the world saw their life as fascinatingly extreme. How times have changed. “In general, the freedoms afforded to us are more extensive than those in the U.K. at the height of lockdown,” said Taylor, who arrived in October and has missed the pandemic entirely. “We can ski, socialize normally, run, use the gym, all within reason.” Good internet connections mean they’ve watched closely as the pandemic circled the rest of the planet. Until this year, conversations with incoming colleagues focused on preparing the newcomers. Now the advice goes both ways. At New Zealand’s Scott Base, rounds of mini-golf and a filmmaking competition with other Antarctic bases have been highlights of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. Rory O’Connor, a doctor and the team’s winter leader, said his family in the U.K. still wouldn’t trade places with him. While COVID-19 has rattled some diplomatic ties, the 30 countries that make up the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs teamed up early to keep the virus out. Officials cited unique teamwork among the United States, China, Russia and others....."

We all know they are all in on this $camdemic fraud, as the melt continues:

These Changes Are Needed Amid Worsening Wildfires, Experts Say

The New York Times not only ignores the use of slave labor in California, it continues to blame "climate change" in the face of antifa arsonists that are working the trenches in Oregon.

The Washington Compo$t does take on the subject of arson by basically verifying and confirming it:

In Oregon, deadly wildfires leave behind devastation and agonizing uncertainty

Authorities confronting the fires have also had to contend with misinformation spreading online, seeking to link the fires to extremists and other groupsOn Saturday, Facebook announced that it was taking down “false claims that the wildfires in Oregon were started by certain groups” after law enforcement officials said “these rumors are forcing local fire and police agencies to divert resources from fighting the fires and protecting the public.” The FBI’s field office in Portland a day earlier had released a statement saying that authorities investigated the reports, found them to be untrue and warned that “conspiracy theories and misinformation take valuable resources away [from] local fire and police agencies” responding to the fires. In at least one case, one of these theories was seemingly shared by a member of law enforcement. In a video posted on Friday, a person in a sheriff’s office uniform is heard referring to supporters of the loose, far-left “antifa” movement and said they were causing issues, adding that there were “a lot of lives at stake . . . ’cause these guys got some vendetta.” Lori Fowler, who helps manage an RV campsite near Mill City, banged on the doors of 21 campers to tell people to evacuate. They all got out, but it was too late for her to get her RV, said Fowler, 59. So she left her belongings and fled in her car, still wearing flip-flops and pajamas. She can’t go back, but videos from the campground show it was burned to the ground“There’s nothing but rubble and twisted metal,” she said. “I’d like to know when I can go back and go through the rubble of my life.”

What does that imagery remind you of, and the Bo$ton Globe should know better!

Time to migrate for safety's sake and leave the nest for warmer waters.


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"Coronavirus infections in the Dakotas are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic. The argument over masks raged this week in Brookings, South Dakota, as the city council considered requiring face coverings in businesses. The city was forced to move its meeting to a local arena to accommodate intense interest, with many citizens speaking against it, before the mask requirement ultimately passedAmid the brute force of the pandemic, health experts warn that the infections must be contained before care systems are overwhelmed. North Dakota and South Dakota lead the country in new cases per capita over the last two weeks, ranking first and second respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers. 

That is the SAME DAMN LIE they told us back in the spring, meaning the drill isn't over!

South Dakota has also posted some of the country’s highest positivity rates for COVID-19 tests in the last week — over 17 percent — an indication that there are more infections than tests are catching. Infections have been spurred by schools and universities reopening and mass gatherings like the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which drew hundreds of thousands of people from across the country.

We all knew they would be a hotspot after defying the ma$ters on this. 

If the bikers had protested for $ocial ju$tu$ it wouldn't be a problem.

The Republican governors of both states have eschewed mask requirements, tapping into a spirit of independence hewn from enduring the winters and storms of the Great Plains, but requiring masks has been controversial. In Brookings, opponents said they believed the virus threat was not as serious as portrayed and that a mandate was a violation of civil liberties. “There are a lot of things we have in life that we have to deal with that cause death,” business owner Teresa Holloman told the council. “We live in America, and we have certain inalienable rights.” Though Brookings passed its ban, another hot spot — North Dakota’s Morton County, just west of the capital city of Bismarck — soundly rejected a mask requirement after citizens spoke against it. 

It looks like the Dakotas are the place to be!

Brookings may be the lone municipality with such an order in the Dakotas outside of Native American reservations, which have generally been more vigilant in adopting coronavirus precautions. Native Americans have disproportionately died from COVID-19, accounting for 24% of deaths statewide. 

Strange how you never here about the COVID damage to the Red man in the pre$$. It's always about the Black man with them.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem have resisted mask requirements. Burgum promotes personal choice but tried to encourage masks with a social media campaign. Noem has discouraged mask requirements, saying she doubts a broad consensus in the medical community that they help prevent infections. Noem, who has yet to appear at a public event with a mask, carved out a reputation as a staunch conservative when she defied calls early in the pandemic for lockdown orders, but both governors face increasing pressure to step up their approach. 

Noem for President!

Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, told MSNBC that the states’ virus levels were “disturbing,” especially as fall weather arrives and Americans begin spending more time indoors. 

That $cum can go $crew himself!

Neither governor appears ready to yield any ground. Doctors in both states warn that their health care systems remain vulnerable. Small hospitals in rural areas depend on just a handful of large hospitals to handle large inflows of patients or complex procedures, said Dr. Misty Anderson, president of the North Dakota Medical Association. Dr. Benjamin Aaker, president of the South Dakota State Medical Association, said medical practices have seen patients delaying routine care during the pandemic, meaning that doctors could soon see an uptick in patients needing more serious attention. “Now we are adding a surge in coronavirus cases potentially,” he said. “They are worried about being overwhelmed.”

Fortunately, a vaccine is on the way:

"Oxford and AstraZeneca resume coronavirus vaccine trial" by Pan Pylas, Associated Press  |  September 12, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Oxford University announced Saturday it was resuming a trial for a coronavirus vaccine it is developing with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, a move that comes days after the study was suspended following a reported side-effect in a U.K. patient.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock welcomed the restart, saying in a tweet that it was “good news for everyone” that the trial is “back up and running.”

Yeah, gotta get the timeline back on track in the race for a vaccine.

Although Oxford would not disclose information about the patient’s illness due to participant confidentiality, an AstraZeneca spokesman said earlier this week that a woman had developed severe neurological symptoms that prompted the pause. Specifically, the woman is said to have developed symptoms consistent with transverse myelitis, a rare inflammation of the spinal cord.

It's a permanent condition that leads to paralysis.

The university insisted that it is “committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our studies and will continue to monitor safety closely.”

Pauses in drug trials are commonplace and the temporary hold led to a sharp fall in AstraZeneca’s share price following the announcement Tuesday.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca study had been previously stopped in July for several days after a participant developed neurological symptoms that turned out to be an undiagnosed case of multiple sclerosis that researchers said was unrelated to the vaccine.

Dr. Charlotte Summers, a lecturer in intensive care medicine at the University of Cambridge, said the pause was a sign that the Oxford team was putting safety issues first, but that it led to “much unhelpful speculation.”

This public relations push isn't going to make us want their toxic tube of poison, sorry.

Nothing will, not even a state mandate.

“To tackle the global COVID-19 pandemic, we need to develop vaccines and therapies that people feel comfortable using, therefore it is vital to maintaining public trust that we stick to the evidence and do not draw conclusions before information is available,” she said.

You have already lost the trust, and once it is gone there will always be doubts no matter how hard to try to restore it (credit to Jerry's final thought for that wisdom).

Scientists and others around the world, including experts at the World Health Organization, have sought to keep a lid on expectations of an imminent breakthrough for coronavirus vaccines, stressing that vaccine trials are rarely straightforward.....

That's only because Trump raised them

Now they are allegedly worried about an unvetted vaccine pressed into deployment by politics!

--more--"

Also see:

Expect U.S. election to have consequences for troops overseas

I doubt foreign policy will play much of a role at all, especially now that Israel is a hedge against the declining role of the United States in the Middle East, as well as a rich trading partner with a high-tech economy.

The endgame over here is mail-in fraud followed by a resignation that really doesn't matter.

I'm told Trump's onslaught against Biden is falling short of a breakthrough even though he is gaining in Wisconsin, which brings up the other plague Trump has downplayed: white supremacist violence that is pushing out Black police chiefs.

The Globe is of the opinion that the President of the United States is a depraved heart trying to deceive us, but there is a light at the end of the political tunnel in the ‘battle for the soul of the nation’ that Benjamin Franklin once mentioned even as the coronavirus might be fatal for some democracies (but only in Africa?).