The Evening Blues - 5-26-20
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features blues guitarist, harmonica player and singer Louisiana Red. Enjoy!
Louisiana Red - Who 'Dat'? (Tell Me Mama)
"It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners."
-- Albert Camus
News and Opinion
Media Take a Pass on Pentagon’s Systematic Undercount of Civilian Deaths
The Pentagon released in early May its congressionally mandated annual report on the number of civilians the US military has killed. The report concluded that the military was responsible for 132 civilian deaths in all theaters of war, including Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Somalia.
Multiple NGOs have published evidence indicating that the real numbers are several times what the Pentagon admitted to. In Afghanistan, for instance, the Pentagon report found that the US was responsible for 108 civilian deaths; a United Nations report (2/22/20) on civilian casualties in Afghanistan found 559 deaths had been caused by “international forces” in the country. As the New York Times (5/7/20) pointed out, the United States is the only foreign country in Afghanistan with soldiers and aircraft that actually conduct offensive operations. This means the Pentagon could be undercounting civilian deaths in Afghanistan by a factor of five.
In Syria and Iraq, the US military said it had killed 22 civilians during its operations against ISIS. Airwars, an organization that tracks civilian harm from military air power, found the US responsible for up to 72 deaths in Iraq and Syria. Here, the Pentagon’s numbers could be off by more than a factor of three.
As Murtaza Hussain, writing for the Intercept (5/8/20)—the only outlet that covered this story with any seriousness—points out, “All this raises the question of who exactly the military has been killing over nearly two decades of war.”
In the days following the release of the report—when the story would be most newsworthy—US media were largely silent on the matter. The Washington Post, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, LA Times and Boston Globe all neglected to report on or publish editorials regarding the report, according to searches on these papers’ websites. A review of three days’ worth of transcripts from CNN and MSNBC, and searching the sites of ABC, NBC and CBS, shows that none of these TV outlets thought that US responsibility for civilian deaths was worth a brief pause in Covid-19 coverage.
Among major US print and TV outlets, the New York Times (5/7/20) published the only story we could find on the subject, consisting of just 538 words. Though the headline, “US Military Killed 132 Civilians in Wars Last Year, Pentagon Says,” took the military’s numbers at face value, the piece largely consists of dissenting opinions, including the United Nations, Amnesty International and Airwars. For example, Daphne Eviatar, head of the Security With Human Rights program at Amnesty International, told the New York Times that the Pentagon needed to develop “reliable means for investigating and reporting on who it has killed and injured” during lethal operations.
Unfortunately, the paper failed to treat the serious discrepancies in the numbers as anything important. Why, for example, does the headline feature the Pentagon’s dubious line, rather than call attention to the stark differences from independent numbers? And why did no opinion columnists have anything to say about it?
Yahoo! News (5/7/20) also reported on the story, carrying an AFP story that cited NGO dissenters, but decided it was best consigned to the Sports section.
Perhaps the constant stream of death from our military has made media figures and politicians jaded; the subhead of the New York Times piece noted that “the tally has changed little since the previous year’s report.” As the country approaches two decades of endless war, however, it is more necessary than ever for the public to have a full accounting of the human costs. The media institutions set the agenda for the national conversation, but none of them seem to think that the number of civilian lives claimed in America’s forever wars is a priority, or that the public should give those deaths much thought.
Anti-War Veterans Speak Against Memorial Day Hypocrisy. w/Major Danny Sjursen
US Military Holds Live-Fire Drills in Persian Gulf
Following recent US warnings of confrontation in the Persian Gulf, the US is now holding live-fire training operations in the area, involving helicopter gunships and amphibious groups. Officials touted it as a chance to demonstrate the “awesome firepower” of US weapons. ...
The big result of such exercises is often the deployment of more US ships and arms into a region for such exercises, and in the Persian Gulf, such deployments have a nasty way of becoming permanent.
Palestine cuts off all ties with Israel and US: is it a bluff?
It was a speech intended to define a new era. In a final, do-or-die attempt to block what appeared to be Israeli plans for a permanent land grab, the Palestinian president announced he would renege on decades of diplomacy. From the 1990s-era Oslo accords – the first steps of a peace process – to deep security coordination between the Palestinian leadership, Israel and US intelligence agencies, all were now void, Mahmoud Abbas said in a late-night speech last week. He said the Palestinian leadership was “absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments”.
Almost a week later, it appears Abbas may have been bluffing. He has made similar threats multiple times before and, apart from sightings of Palestinian security forces retreating from some areas they patrol in coordination with Israeli forces, there was little sign on the ground that life had changed. ... If Abbas had been serious, the ramifications would have been enormous and, probably, immediate. By nullifying those agreements, Abbas would destroy the structures that have held him in power for years, including his ruling Palestinian Authority (PA), itself a product of the Oslo accords. ...
The secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Saeb Erekat, however, suggested that security and intelligence sharing was ending. Despite public antagonism, Israel, the US and the PA have long maintained security coordination against their mutual enemy, Hamas. Although he would not divulge specific details of Abbas’s plan, Erekat said the leadership had already suspended contacts with the CIA and Israeli intelligence agencies. ...
Abbas’s speech was a response to Israel’s government officially contemplating annexing large areas of the West Bank, apparently with US backing. Palestinians claim that land for a future state. Although Israel already maintains a half-century-old occupation in the territories, annexation is seen as a deathblow to any Palestinian state.
Stay Home, Stay Safe, Be Kind: What New Zealand Can Teach the World About Eliminating COVID-19
Birx says 'it's difficult to tell' if country will close again
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, said Sunday that it is difficult to tell if the country will close again because of the pandemic.
Birx told ABC’s “This Week” that officials will learn in the coming months how to “maintain openness and safety” while reopening.
“I want to be very clear to the American people – we are preparing for that potential fall issue,” she said, adding that officials are focused on gathering personal protective equipment and ventilators and advancing therapeutics and vaccine development. ...
Anthony Fauci, a top infectious disease expert and another member of the White House task force, has said a second wave of the coronavirus is “inevitable.” But President Trump said the country will not close again if a second wave of the coronavirus strikes.
'Here We Go Again': Richest Hospitals Sitting on Billions in Cash Got Golden Bailouts Compared to Those Serving Poorest
While critics have noted in recent weeks the ways in which the Covid-19 pandemic has "laid bare some of the dysfunctions and inequalities in the American healthcare system," new reporting Monday reveals how some of the wealthiest hospital groups in the United States have received huge infusions of federal rescue funds even as they sat on billions of dollars in cash reserves and poorer hospitals and clinics struggle to maintain bare-minimum levels of service.
According to the New York Times, a disproportionate amount of the $72 billion approved by Congress to bolster hospitals amid the coronavirus outbreak is flowing "to hospitals that had already built up deep financial reserves to help them withstand an economic storm. Smaller, poorer hospitals are receiving tiny amounts of federal aid by comparison."
The reporting, some of it based on an analysis by the watchdog group Good Jobs First, notes that many of the wealthy hospital groups that received an outsize share of the funds—including well-healed outfits like Cleveland Clinic, Ascension Health, and the Providence Health System—"are set up as nonprofits, which generally don't have to pay federal taxes on their billions of dollars of income. By contrast, hospitals that serve low-income patients often have only enough cash on hand to finance a few weeks of their operations."
The large tax reserves of these wealthy hospital groups "come from a mix of sources," the Times reports: "no-strings-attached private donations, income from investments with hedge funds and private equity firms, and any profits from treating patients. Some chains, like Providence, also run their own venture-capital firms to invest their cash in cutting-edge start-ups. The investment portfolios often generate billions of dollars in annual profits, dwarfing what the hospitals earn from serving patients." ...
The Financial Times last month detailed how Covid-19 was both exposing and exacerbating pre-existing inequities and inefficiencies that are fundamental to the for-profit healthcare system in the U.S.:
Even though the US spends trillions of dollars on healthcare, much of that is wasted. The funding gets used up by bureaucrats that have to code and bill every action a doctor takes, by doctors and hospital administrators paid far more than their European counterparts and by the soaring cost of drugs. A study last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association found at least $760bn was wasted in unnecessary health spending — more than the US spends on primary and secondary education.
Poorer hospitals that cater to low-income urban communities, or rural areas where population is declining, are dependent on government insurance. They say the payments from Medicaid do not cover their costs as the price of staff, equipment and drugs rises.
The new reporting on the distribution of funds suggests concerns over poorer hospitals succumbing to the financial pressures of the pandemic were justified—a concern that also shines a spotlight on the manner in which the Trump administration managed the funds. From the Times:
After the CARES Act was passed in March, hospital industry lobbyists reached out to senior Health and Human Services officials to discuss how the money would be distributed.
Representatives of the American Hospital Association (AHA), a lobbying group for the country’s largest hospitals, communicated with Alex M. Azar II, the department secretary, and Eric Hargan, the deputy secretary overseeing the funds, said Tom Nickels, a lobbyist for the group. Chip Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals, which lobbies on behalf of for-profit hospitals, said he, too, had frequent discussions with the agency.
The department then devised formulas to quickly dispense tens of billions of dollars to thousands of hospitals—and those formulas favored large, wealthy institutions.
While some Democrats on Capitol Hill have raised issued about the funding disparities, it's not clear if the Trump administration will pay any political cost.
Senators Offer Lame “Job Training” Bill Instead Of JOBS!
COVID-19 spreads, deaths rise in US following return to work
The coronavirus continues to run rampant throughout factories and workplaces in the US, even as federal, state and local governments are dispensing with any efforts to contain the pandemic, allowing businesses and economic activity to recommence.
All 50 states have begun lifting shutdowns, with more restrictions set to expire at the end of May, in one week. Deaths could double or triple in the next two months as a result, reaching 200,000 to 300,000 by the end of July, according to the latest models by researchers at the Imperial College London. “We find no evidence that any state is approaching herd immunity or that its epidemic is close to over,” the report warned.
Millions are increasingly confronting workplaces that have been transformed into death traps. Tens of thousands of workers have already been infected with the coronavirus at grocery stores, meatpacking plants, Amazon warehouses and other industries that have continued to operate during the pandemic. Public health experts have warned that large enterprises where workers labor in close quarters are more vulnerable to becoming “super-spreading” vectors for the disease, a risk which vastly increased with the restart of the auto industry last week.
Latino workers face discrimination over spread of coronavirus in meat plants
Ethnic minorities have been the hardest-hit by the coronavirus in the US, and now Latino workers are facing fresh difficulty, as they and their communities suffer discrimination after contracting coronavirus in meat processing plants and warehouses. More than 10,000 meatpacking workers, many of them Latino, have contracted coronavirus in the US, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and dozens have died.
Latino advocates say workers are also now experiencing racism due to fears they have contracted the virus in the workplace.
“We’ve received reports that some workers at a plant were turned away from grocery stores and not allowed in, because they were presumed to have the coronavirus because they worked at the local meatpacking plant,” said Domingo Garcia, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac).
“We’ve also heard in Marshalltown [Iowa] people were being refused service because they thought they were positive for Covid-19 – just because they were Latino,” Garcia added. ...
“Four out of every five Latinos are considered essential workers,” Garcia said. “They’re in construction, food processing, grocery stores, they’re farm workers. So they don’t have the luxury of being able to work from home, and therefore they’re being exposed to Covid-19 in ways that many American workers are not. Compounding that, Garcia said, is the lack of health insurance among some Latino workers. Garcia said Lulac is investigating “multiple cases” of Latino employees complaining about workplace conditions “and then being fired”.
'We're expendable': black Americans pay the price as states lift lockdowns
African Americans in Texas are dying of Covid-19 at a rate more than one-third higher than their share of the population. Yet across the country, the protesters who became the faces of the race to reopen have been mostly white. In Michigan, for example, a mostly white militia stormed the state’s capitol dressed in tactical gear, armed with guns. Confederate symbols and swastikas were mixed in with the American flags and signs. Mostly absent were the black Americans who make up just 14% of the state’s population, but are up 32% of coronavirus cases. ...
Experts have warned lifting stay-at-home orders could have dire consequences on public health, with social advocates warning that it could result in the sacrifice of many for the benefit of few. Many critics argue that’s the point: the meaning behind the message. As it has been the case throughout much of American history, those most likely to be negatively impacted are African American.
According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, even if US states reopen with social distancing rules in place, an additional 233,000 deaths could result from the outbreak. Black Americans face greater risk. Across the country African American populations are concentrated in major cities, where coronavirus cases have so far been highest.
Majority black counties already account for more than half of all coronavirus cases in the US and nearly 60% of deaths. African Americans are also disproportionately on the frontlines of life during the pandemic. An Associated Press analysis of the country’s 100 largest cities found more than 60% of warehouse and delivery workers are people of color. ...
As the Trump administration escalates reopening efforts, workers have organized walkouts and strikes. The social justice organizations Black Lives Matter and Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign are leading digital movements of their own. ... “Too many folk seem to see this pandemic as other people’s problem. Those people are the issue,” he said.
How ICE Is Spreading Coronavirus Across the Country
After Stephane Etienne was ordered deported to Haiti in February, ICE began to repeatedly transfer him from one detention center to another. Over the course of six weeks, he was transferred eight times between five different facilities in three states — even as President Trump and governors all over the country discouraged unnecessary travel.
Every time Etienne was moved, he was packed into a bus or plane with other detainees.
“Social distancing goes out the window,” Etienne said.
Eventually, his movements began to intersect with outbreaks of COVID-19, and after he arrived at the Pine Prairie detention center in Louisiana in April, he tested positive for the disease.
Etienne has no way of knowing where he contracted the virus. “The way ICE transfers you so many times, it’s almost impossible,” he said. He’s also been forced to interact with older detainees and some with underlying conditions that make them vulnerable to the disease.
Krystal Ball: Trump bets on coronavirus culture war AND it could work
Trump threatens to move Republican convention if North Carolina won't allow packed arena
Donald Trump has threatened to move the Republican party’s national convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, if the state is unable to commit to “full attendance” at the gathering due to Covid-19 restrictions.
In a series of tweets on Monday morning. Trump said the state’s Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, was “still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee” that the party would be able to fill the arena with supporters. ...
Trump’s tweets came just two days after North Carolina recorded its largest daily increase in positive cases of the coronavirus so far.
On Friday, Cooper permitted some further loosening of restrictions on hair salons, barbers and restaurants. But he said the state must continue to closely watch virus trends and has ordered entertainment venues, gyms and bars to remain closed.
Marianne Williamson endorses against Dem leadership, warns of 'end to Democratic party'
CDC warns of aggressive cannibal rats facing shortage of garbage to eat
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned of “unusual or aggressive” behavior in American rats as a consequence of more than two months of human lockdown for city-dwelling rodents who now find themselves unable to dine out on restaurant waste, street garbage and other food sources.
Last month, according to the national health body, dumpster-diving rats were observed resorting to eating their young in the wake of urban shutdowns. “Community-wide closures have led to a decrease in food available to rodents, especially in dense commercial areas,” the CDC said in recently updated rodent-control guidelines. ...
Elevated levels of rat aggression has been observed in New York, where there are increased reports of cannibalism and infanticide, and New Orleans, where unusual rat behavior was caught on CCTV. ...
Complaints in Chicago have included reports of infestations in housing blocks as rodents seek new sources of food.
Some rodent experts predicted increased urban rat aggression.
Photojournalist Sebastião Salgado: Brazil’s Reckless COVID Response Threatens Indigenous Survival
Coronavirus Is Killing Brazil's Isolated Indigenous Peoples at a Staggering Rate
COVID-19 is hitting Brazil’s indigenous population twice as hard as the rest of the population, with a mortality rate of over 12 percent.
The startling statistic comes from the advocacy group Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) which is tracking the number of cases and deaths among the country's 900,000 indigenous people.
According to APIB’s latest figures, 125 indigenous people have died from coronavirus, out of 980 confirmed cases. The mortality rate of 12.4 percent is almost double the national mortality rate of 6.4 percent.
"The virus is reaching indigenous territories across Brazil with frightening speed," APIB said in a statement on Friday, pointing out that 40 of the country’s 300 separate indigenous groups are thought to have been infected already.
Doctors have been trying to reach communities living in isolated parts of the Brazilian rainforests, using medevac planes.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Britain: Johnson's Pandemic Management Is Trashing His Authority
Collusion Is in the Eye of the Beholder
If the Federal Government Won’t Fund the States’ Emergency Needs, There Is Another Solution
The Fed’s Top Wall Street Cop Was Bilked in a Brazen Stock Fraud – Here’s Why It Matters to You
Keiser Report | The Herbert Report
Krystal and Saagar: FALLOUT GROWS from Biden's 'you ain't black' moment, Diddy, Charlamagne weigh in
Krystal and Saagar: Goldman Sachs profits off foreclosures, Klobuchar's laughable bailout plan
Warren to hold big money fundraisers for Joe Biden
Krystal and Saagar: Kyle Kulinski and Cenk Uygur fight over 'moral superiority' of Biden choice
CN LIVE! New Episode—‘Russiagate: Who Was Guccifer 2.0’–Watch the Replay
Telling An Adventure Story With Your Life
A Little Night Music
Louisiana Red & Lefty Dizz - Going Train Blues
Louisiana Red - This Little Letter
Louisiana Red - Bad Case Of The Blues
Louisiana Red - Red's New Dream
Louisiana Red - I Done Woke Up
Louisiana Red - Sugar Hips
Louisiana Red - You Got To Move
Louisiana Red - Thirty Dirty Women
Louisiana Red - Valerie!
Comments
And in "who could have possibly seen this coming?"
https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1264656496119480331
(Sorry, can't figure out the embed, but worth a click, if you want to get an "I told you so" moment for today.)
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
that'll move nobody
Kanye West? No thanks. The ad proves people who like Trump will continue to like Trump. Until I see evidence that potential Biden supporters are going to switch to Trump I'll call this a non-issue.
They don’t need to switch
they just need to convince people not to show up. I agree, this isn’t going to convince anyone to vote for Trump but I am not sure that’s 100% the intent.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Agree, Dr JC - his campaign strategy is
to depress the vote. (and, it worked, last time) Having said that, according to most Cable AA talking heads that we hear (on XM)--the AA Community is, generally, absolutely terrified of DT, so, this cycle they will turn out. Supposedly, come hell, or high water. Guess time, will tell.
IMO, what could really hurt 'Uncle Joe' would be the clips that emphasize his dementia. MSDNC and CNN, of course, avoid the issue entirely. (mostly, they say that DT is going after Joe, because of 'his age')
IOW, they deny--by omission or avoidance--that Biden even has diminished mental capacity.
With the MSM shielding Biden, he may squeak by--if he avoids having a live convention.
Which, I fully expect, will happen.
(IMO, it'd be the next thing to committing suicide, for his handlers to allow him to appear in that public venue.)
Mollie
“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive.”
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
They will use COVID-19 as an excuse
to not hold the convention or to hold a "Virtual convention" where the DNC can vet every word uttered. They can try for weeks to train Joe to say a lucid speech (dog biscuits? kiddie porn?) then present it as "live".
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Give it time.
the dementia ad will be coming soon enough. One thing I’m convinced of is it’s going to get nasty, especially if Trump’s numbers keep slipping.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
I agree with Shahryar and Krystal and Saagar
This isn't going to change anyone's vote. It might, however, make Charlamagne tha God look smart, and a fair number of people will know more about what they're getting with Biden.
As I implied in my recent diary, the Presidential election is a big distraction. There are plenty of things to do that the Democrats are too distracted to do, and its result is out of our control.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
how to embed tweet
In upper right of the tweet there is a down arrow \/. Click on that and text comes up that says "embedd tweek". Click and will copy to paste buffer the code to needed to show the live action tweet. Then do a copy into the response here..and do a Preview to see the result.
but of course now for me get an error message about the media player...
Thank ya.
I probably didn’t see it because I’m on my phone. Heh
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
All I get is
"The media cannot be played."
Scary good ad.
The way they use Joe's phony smile at the end ... ouch.
I will take no pleasure in seeing either of these assclowns win, but I do confess that I am greatly looking forward to watching Joe Biden get his ass kicked over and over again these next six months.
Is that wrong?
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
two rights no longer make a wrong
like back in the bad old days
I find it humanely imperative
to make this liar class answer
to their mishandling of our
well being
question everything
evening nhk...
if watching the repeated drubbings of the assclown that the democrat elites rigged an election for in order to suppress the left and deny us a share of power commensurate with our numbers and the popularity of our policies is wrong, then i don't want to be right.
If it’s wrong, we’re wrong together.
I agree, I don’t want Biden or Trump. I’m taking more of an amused bystander approach to this election and hoping for a little mutually assured destruction between the two. Of course I know better, but I can dream.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
evening dr jc...
i don't think much of trump, but i will give him this, he has hired some talented ad creators.
in the current environment i don't know if that ad will move any votes, given that most people have a strong sense of which evil of two lessers they prefer.
Agreed.
For someone who most people would categorize as a bumbling idiot who didn’t want the job if the first place, all the ads I’ve seen are pretty dang devastating. I agree, I doubt they’re going to sway anyone. Negative ads never do anyway and I can’t believe anyone hasn’t made up their mind on Trump by now. But if they can convince Biden’s soft support to stay home...
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Good evening Joe. Thanks for the evening blues. I love
the stupidity and malfeasance of the skills retraining tax credit. I know that the Dems have a propensity for using tax credits instead of money and or anything else that might be useful today, but for skills training under these circumstances is imply beyond idiocy. No wonder Jimmy left comedy.
be well and have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Skills training for non-existent jobs.
It is a total scam. Yah, rural Nebraska is a hotbed of people working online doing code.
Some research I have seen (not sponsored by high tech) indicates that there is NO shortage of STEM graduates. Instead there is a shortage of jobs for them. One study stated that nearly 50% of STEM grads had to find jobs in areas outside their training.
Even for the most highly educated at least in high tech, no jobs were to be found because companies instead were using H1b visas to bring in entry to mid level engineers. The H1b program was meant to bring in high powered talent which could not be found in America--not bottom rung positions. Hell, there is video of consultants teaching HR people what tricks to use to get around H1b regulations.
Bingo! H1B visa holders get those jobs
The ads/job postings are misleading or outright untruthful too. They will "require" an impossible amount of experience, for instance, for software that hasn't been around as long as required experience that's listed. The wages are regularly below market, and the postings are purposely posted that way so the employer, who already has a broker of H1B visa-holding humans waiting in the wings, can say (if ever asked), "See? We tried to find qualified US residents, but found none." Then, they import a bunch of foreign workers, often housing them either as part of their pay, or charging rent, and sometimes working them 60+ hrs per week for a below-market salary. It can work out to below minimum wage if broken down hourly. They're essentially slaves.
There was one company that was busted importing workers for pulling cable and moving computers for a building move (computers had to be removed/moved/installed at new location and new network cable installed). Teenagers can pull cable. They can certainly disconnect and reconnect computers. No degree required.
H1B visas are easier now than back in the 80s, maybe 70s. The restrictions are now so lax that they allow for abuse of the workers who use them, and leave qualified US workers waiting tables or driving for Uber.
I remember looking for a job post-911
One place said that I didn't put my visa type on the application. I told them "I don't have a visa, I'm a natural born citizen". They didn't know how to handle an application without a visa.
At another interview a bank was looking for someone with both C and FORTRAN experience, an unusual combination because those are languages from different human generations. At the HR desk, one of the clerks was from my old company. She was glad to see me and said, "don't worry Tony, I know you were a top performer at and I'll let them know." After a few weeks, I called to ask about status. The same clerk told me, "We are all mad as Hell here in HR. After all our work, the manager decided to bring over a relative from India."
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Internal outsourcing ...
I'm pretty sure H1B was always about lower labor costs.
OTOH, I've heard that H1B engineers aren't very good.
You get what you pay for.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening el...
yeah, you gotta wonder if cory booker and amy klobuchar are genuine clueless stumblebutts or if they are just pretending in order to render comedians redundant and put them out of work.
African Americans were set up for virus before it arrived.
Read a list of symptoms which predict higher rates of hospitalization for those having the virus and hypertension was at the time first on the list. I imagine the list will change as we know more and more testing occurs. But levels of hypertension were already higher among African Americans than whites before the pandemic. So were all the other problems associated with high risks of hospitalization such as diabetes, obesity, and renal problems. Just in general I have seen figures that show in all 50 states black men have 2x the rates of getting complications from diabetes compared to white males.
It may be the case that providing the best testing may not stop African Americans from being ravaged by the virus as they were setup beforehand to be the most vulnerable population by prior health conditions. Not having the resources of other communities of course does not help either in terms of the current pandemic or beforehand with early treament of diabetes, hypertension, etc.
It is a foregone conclusion on which groups will get the first wave of vaccines. It won't be the most vunerable groups.
evening mr w...
yep, it didn't have to be this particular virus, even. poor people generally as well as african and native americans are have less access to proper healthcare and hence, more underlying (and often untreated) conditions than the general population as a whole. as a result, it is predictable that their communities will be devastated by any pandemic.
One person should not have the authority to do this
.
Especially not when they have taken money from their lobby. And when they did not do everything in their power to keep people safe. I’m betting that the families of those that died in nursing homes might have a good chance of a lawsuit for negligence. 4,300 nursing home patient died in NYC and the owners didn’t provide PPE or did much to keep people from getting sick. Plus Cuomo should also have to answer for allowing people who were recovering from COVID to be released to nursing homes. Newsom is also giving them immunity.
Congress has already relaxed regulations for them to the point that they can do whatever they want. This is criminal.
my next door neighbor died of covid
worked in a nursing home
it is criminal when the govt.
decides what is the value in human lives lost
as the pentagon says
collateral damage
doesn't count
question everything
I’m sorry to hear that
I’ve read numerous horror stories about what people who worked in them were treated. How in the blue blazes can anyone make a decision to not provide PPE and do everything they can to keep people safe and especially the most vulnerable? And if they didn’t do anything wrong then why do they need immunity? This is what McConnell wants to do for large companies across the country. The meat packing plants didn’t do anything for their workers either and now Trump has told them to get back to work they still aren’t.
Guess we shouldn’t be surprised that they find so many of us just cannon fodder for the PTB. Or cattle for big business as one Trumper put it.
The PTB see us as cattle
You thought I was kidding didn’t you?
I think Twitter is going to be reaching its saturation point pretty damn quick soon because every day it’s just one more horrible thing being done to us. I’m waiting to see what happens when hundreds of thousands of people in one city gets kicked out of their homes. Or apartments. Or people can’t afford to buy food or...
evening snoopy...
by immunizing the institutions, cuomo is just trying to cover his own sorry ass, making it harder for aggrieved people to obtain restitution for the wrongs done to them by institutions and the state which licenses them.
Another 'magical' job training scheme
I'm sure they'll get it right this time....
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
evening bollox...
it's always worked before, right? by golly, all that skill improvement, job training and higher education subsidization has made america the most equal goddamn country on earth, hasn't it?
One week, it would be '100,000' new police officers
The next, a new training scheme, under the Clintons.
I would love to read about the experiences of all those that participated.
(Edit)
Perhaps the training schemes were for all the hundreds of thousands of new police officers. Who knows?
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Nah....
Cops are being sent to Israel to be trained by its military. Gee no wonder they can get away with murdering us. 1,000 plus every year.
Minneapolis police essentially squashed a bloke to death
Today. The MPD is a rogue force at this point. Fortunately, we don't live in Mpls.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
They can learn to code! Teach ’em COBOL!
http://cobolcowboys.com
Come to where the fervor is — come to COBOL country . . .
hola, joe - hope
you and yours had a lovely long weekend. We did.
(no body snatchers--forgot when posted earlier, but, going to try your style--using mostly lower case, since I don't get to post as often as I once did. iow, going to maximize my time, as much as possible. made deal with Mr M to post on sundays, and, a day or two during week, so long as I get enough done on our projects. will see how long that lasts.
of course, lower case typing will take some getting use to!)
i'm increasingly in favor of somewhat targeted quarantines. gotta run, for now, but, will come back and edit this comment, to add some very much needed 'context' to the so-called crisis in AL. hint--it's occurring in the urban areas. duh! (aside from a county or two, with either a prison, or nursing home outbreak) as I recall, the msm did the same thing, when talking about TN. of course, think it's wise for seniors, medically comprised of all ages, etc., to avoid outings/exposure. Mr M and I are probably on the extreme side of that (physical isolating) equation, if anything. btw, finally, was able to get rubbing alcohol. quite a feat, since it was almost impossible (for me) to find hand sanitizer, either. also, couldn't find anti-bacterial dish washing liquid. finally able to get those items. phew!
also, later, want to acknowledge 'good deeds' by a couple AL businesses. when we couldn't find facemasks, anywhere, they were making them to send to folks who needed them--elderly, medically comprised, and/or first liners--just for the asking. sending a donation to the lady who started the project (a wedding dress designer, of all things) ironically, by time we received them, face masks had become readily available (again) online. cloth ones, anyway.
thanks for tonight's EB, Joe. hope you and yours are all feeling well.
everyone have a nice evening.
Mollie
“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive.”
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
evening mollie...
good to see you! we had a good weekend here. the weather was quite nice, the birds were chirping, the garden was growing, etc. i had my first really good pizza in months saturday night when my favorite pizza joint opened up for take out service.
targeted quarantines are probably a good way to go, though given the economic incentives for lifting quarantines too early, i'd like to see somebody come up with a good way of managing these sorts of things.
have a great evening!
Evening all ...
That Dore/Sjursen discussion was pretty good, no ?
Here's more on Biden & Ukraine, from The Saker:
The colonial status of “The Independent Ukraine” publicly confirmed
It cracks me up that Biden is guilty of the exact thing that Trump was impeached for, i.e. quid pro quo with the Ukrainian government.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
evening azazello...
i'm glad that jimmy is broadening out the scope of his guests, sjursen was a good interview.
heh, it will be interesting to see if this information comes out and survives vetting:
"Why do they kneel?"
.
Article
The cops have been fired....but this is what happens when cops aren’t held accountable.
yep...
i have been reading the reports about this and the protests in minnesota for the last couple of hours and i still can't understand the callous disregard for human life exhibited by the bastard that has his knee in that poor man's neck. firing the murderer is not enough.
Manslaughter in the least.
Even the bystanders knew the guy could not breath.
Yes and not just for the one kneeling on the neck
with his effing hand in his pocket, but for the others who just stood there and didn’t intervene. We know that if I had been the one kneeling like that and you just stood there and watched both of us would be charged. We keep hearing that there are good cops out there, but if you don’t step up and stop the bad cops then you are not a good one.
I see people saying that if blacks just did what they are told this wouldn’t happen to them. We have seen so many videos showing that they were doing it and yet they got killed anyway. This is Now has a video up now with numerous examples of people not doing anything, but got killed anyway. It’s excellent if you can find it. Rania also talks about how cops have gotten more dangerous through the decades starting with the drug war, getting military equipment and how the elites have found a way around posse comitatus. Cops even dress in military clothes just to get people conditioned to seeing them like that.
Here's the entire video of a man being killed
by Minneapolis police officer. The bystanders knew what was happening but the pigs persisted. These cops deserve jail time.
WARNING. You will watch a man die.
https://www.nsfwyoutube.com/watch?time_continue=608&v=g8hGKB5QDhw&featur...
Minneapolis, Minnesota, Police Officer Derek Chauvin Causes Outrage in Viral Video of Man’s Death
"I can’t breathe!"
Bystanders..."He can’t breathe!"
Cops.."He’s still talking so he can breathe."
He went unconscious for 4 minutes and the bastard still kept kneeling for more minutes and then finally they called for an ambulance. The article talks about that. Callous disregard for life..who can do that?!
A protest has followed but the police likely will never learn.
A
Excellent, but....
Once again people have a reason to protest and once again they are met with overwhelming force from the same damn people they are protesting against! We have seen this over and over every time people come out and said that is ENOUGH! Maybe if they came with their gawd given right of carrying their guns then....nah.We know what would happen if they did. Dammit! Why in hell don’t people see how people from the right can get away with their second amendment rights, but many others can’t? It’d sure be nice if the second amendment folks would join the ones who don’t get to use theirs.
Another reason that he should replace Nancy Pelosi.