Post by mhbruin on Jan 6, 2022 9:39:53 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 514 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesdays)
Reservoirs are still low, but they take time to refill and it may take the spring snow melt.
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What Is Today's Date? I Wish the News Media Would Remind Me.
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COVID Hospitalizations Have Surpassed the August 2021 Peak
Only the January 2021 Peak is Higher
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Jon Stewart Realizes He Created a Bunch of Mishegas and Sees People Plotz. Oy Vey!
US chat-show host Jon Stewart has denied accusing Harry Potter author JK Rowling of anti-Semitism in comments he made on a podcast last month.
The satirist compared goblins who run Gringotts bank in the series of fantasy novels and films to characters in a 1903 anti-Semitic publication.
He has now said the conversation played on the podcast was meant to be "light hearted" and he "does not think the Harry Potter movies are anti-Semitic".
Rowling has not responded.
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Yesterday I Posted About the Safest Airlines
A total of 125 passengers who arrived in the northern Indian city of Amritsar on a chartered flight from Italy have tested positive for Covid-19.
They will be placed in isolation, health officials said.
They were among 179 passengers on the flight from Milan which landed in Amritsar on Wednesday afternoon.
Those Stats May Ignore Another Risk
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Kazakhstan and Crypto - A Match Made in Hell
The global computing power of the bitcoin network has dropped sharply as the shutdown this week of Kazakhstan's internet during a deadly uprising hit the country's fast-growing cryptocurrency mining industry.
Kazakhstan became last year the world's second-largest centre for bitcoin mining after the United States, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, after major hub China clamped down on crypto mining activity.
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14 Billion More Reason to Stay Away From Crypto
Scammers took home a record $14 billion in cryptocurrency in 2021, thanks in large part to the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Losses from crypto-related crime rose 79 percent from a year earlier, driven by a spike in theft and scams.
Scamming was the greatest form of cryptocurrency-based crime in 2021, followed by theft — most of which occurred through hacking of cryptocurrency businesses. The firm says that DeFi is a big part of the story for both, in yet another warning for those dabbling in this emerging segment of the crypto industry.
“DeFi is one of the most exciting areas of the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem, presenting huge opportunities to entrepreneurs and cryptocurrency users alike,” Chainalysis wrote in its annual Crypto Crime report.
“But DeFi is unlikely to realize its full potential if the same decentralization that makes it so dynamic also allows for widespread scamming and theft.”
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In More Kazakhstan News ...
Dozens of protesters were killed in Kazakhstan in attacks on government buildings and at least a dozen police officers died, including one who was found beheaded, authorities said Thursday.
There were attempts to storm buildings overnight in the country’s largest city, Almaty, and “dozens of attackers were liquidated,” police spokeswoman Saltanat Azirbek said. She spoke on state news channel Khabar-24. The reported attempts to storm the buildings came after widespread unrest in the city on Wednesday, including seizure of the mayor’s building, which was set on fire.
..................
Russia sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan on Thursday to help put down the countrywide uprising after violence spread across the tightly controlled former Soviet state. Police said they had killed dozens of rioters in the main city Almaty, while state television said 13 members of the security forces had died.
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Kazakhstan's government is restoring vehicle fuel price caps for six months, after days of deadly unrest.
Petrol and diesel prices will also be capped for the same period.
I'll Bet You Woke Up This Morning Wondering What Was Going On in Kazakhstan. Aren't You Glad You Came Here?
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Come On Folks! Let's Protect Hospital Corporation of America and Anthem!
In the U.K., for example, which began seeing the effects of Omicron ahead of the U.S., officials from England’s prime minister to managers of top soccer clubs have called on the public to “protect the NHS.” The NHS, or National Health Service, is the U.K’s taxpayer-funded, government-run health system. Although it is impossible to attribute success to a single message, England has been vaccinating people at a rate three to four times greater than the U.S since mid-December.
That loyalty is what makes a message like “protect the NHS” ring true. The system is nearly universally seen as a public good, and in need of protecting. Most people in the U.K. understand that getting vaccinated benefits the NHS precisely because the public has an equal stake in its success. An unvaccinated person who ends up in the hospital takes resources such as beds, doctors, and nurses away from others. [...]
In the U.S., we like our doctors but are not loyal to the health care system. Many Americans valorize the doctors and nurses working on the frontlines of Covid-19, but you would be hard pressed to find someone who wants to protect the medical groups, HMOs, and other complex insurance convolutions undergirding our system. In fact, just 19% of the public believes the health care system works at least “pretty well,” less than in every other country studied.
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WTF Is "Cultural Marxism"? The OED Has Just Added It.
The OED’s primary definition is worth reading in full: “Used depreciatively, chiefly among right-wing commentators: a political agenda advocating radical social reform, said to be promoted within western cultural institutions by liberal or left-wing ideologues intent on eroding traditional social values and imposing a dogmatic form of progressivism on society. Later also more generally: a perceived left-wing bias in social or cultural institutions, characterized as doctrinaire and pernicious.”
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Why Was Governor Death Sentence Missing?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—has come out of hiding, but he’s not looking too great. The governor was caught sounding not only wheezy but clearly holding back sneezes while speaking to the press Wednesday. He obviously is sick, it’s evident in his voice, and if you listen closely it kind of even sounds like he’s suppressing some tears. Uh oh, I wonder what it could be?
It would be no surprise if he were hiding that he’s sick. His vaccination status is still unknown.
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This Guy is a Major QOP Donor
The founder and chair of Entrata, a Silicon Slopes tech firm, has resigned his position after sending an email to a number of tech CEOs and Utah business and political leaders, claiming the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a plot by "the Jews" to exterminate people.
The remarks triggered condemnation throughout Utah's tech community, and led to David Bateman's resignation from the company's board of directors after FOX 13 first reported on the email.
The email by Bateman, shared with FOX 13 by numerous sources Tuesday morning, begins with the subject line "Genocide." Bateman confirmed to FOX 13 in text messages that he sent the email.
“I write this email knowing that many of you will think I'm crazy after reading it. I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people. It's obvious now.
"It's undeniable, yet no one is doing anything. Everyone is discounting their own judgment, and dismissing their intuition. I believe the Jews are behind this. For 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top. It happened in 2013 with Pope Francis.
"I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule. I know, it sounds bonkers. No one is reporting on it, but the Hasidic Jews in the US instituted a law for their people that they are not to be vaccinated for any reason.”
“I pray that I'm wrong on this. Utah has got to stop the vaccination drive. Warn your employees. Warn your friends. Prepare. Stay safe.”
J. K Rowling Has Not Commented.
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One Case of Voter Fraud. Two Cases of Voter Fraud....
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OneAmerica Insurance is Not OAN and This is Not Fake News
Scott Davison is the CEO of OneAmerica, an Indianapolis-based life insurance company founded in the 19th century. To start the new year, Davison told the audience of an online news conference that “We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business—not just at OneAmerica. The data is consistent across every player in that business.”
According to Davidson, the third and fourth quarters of this past year saw death rates “up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic.” Even more distressing, explains Davison, is that this is not some demographic anomaly with the eldest members of our society passing on. The 40% rise in death rates is consistent for working-class folks 18 to 64-years-old. “Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or 200-year catastrophe would be a 10% increase over pre-pandemic levels.”
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The Unhappiest Place on Earth
Metro Orlando is one of the most-visited places in the entire world, where tourists like to see the so-called "happiest place on Earth." For those of us who live here, however, it’s not the vacation paradise it’s made out to be. There’s a well-known caste system that locals have understood for decades, yet only recently has it been getting some attention from the outside world. There have been exposés in The Washington Post and Time magazine, along with a major Hollywood picture called The Florida Project. Although our local problem has gotten a national spotlight, things haven’t gotten any better for our shadow working class. In fact, since the pandemic began, it’s gotten way worse.
Many families in this area are trapped in a cycle of poverty that lasts for generations. The sick thing is that these families are indeed working—very hard. Yet because Orlando has the lowest paid labor force of any metro area in the United States and is ranked the worst in the nation for access to low-income housing, there is an epidemic of local workers and their families being forced to live in hotels. Some of these hotels aren’t even that cheap, but it is often the only option available besides the streets—or the swamp. The entire county of Osceola, which includes Kissimmee, has no homeless shelters. Meanwhile, as tourism has recovered from the pandemic, and theme parks are again posting record attendance, it’s unforgivable to hear horrifying stories of families without basic amenities, or even sanitation. Parts of Central Florida resemble a nation in the global south instead of a tourist mecca.
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I Am Sure We All Wanted To Pants a Basketball Referee More Than Once. But We Didn't
A top Republican state lawmaker in Tennessee has apologized after attempting to pull down the pants of a referee at his son’s high school basketball game.
Rep. Jeremy Faison, the state House Republican Caucus chair, said in a statement Tuesday that he had “acted the fool tonight and lost my temper at a ref.”
“For years I thought how wrong it is when a parent looses [sic] their temper at a sporting event,” he wrote in a note posted on Twitter. “It’s not Christian and it’s not mature and it’s embarrassing to the child have always been my thoughts.”
Video of the incident shows Faison appearing to shout and point his finger at the game official before yanking on his pants and walking away.
What Kind of Republican Is He? Where Was His Gun? I Guess the Referee Wasn't Black
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About the Life of a Referee
I used to be a basketball referee. As I walked on to the court for my first high school game, the students started chanting, "Hey, Hey, Hee, Hee, Let's All Kill the Referee." The game hadn't begun yet.
I broke into a smile. Somehow it felt right.
BTW, my philosophy was always to blow just enough whistles to keep the game under control. The fewer the better.
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Americans May Not Be Healthy, But the Job Market Is
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remained at historically low levels, suggesting that the job market remains strong.
U.S. jobless claims rose by 7,000 last week to 207,000. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week gyrations, rose by nearly 4,800 to just below 205,000. Despite the increases, the numbers show that weekly claims are below the 220,000 typical before the pandemic struck the U.S. economy in March 2020.
The highly transmissible omicron variant so far does not appear to have triggered significant layoffs.
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First a Terrorist and a Murder. Now a Deadbeat. What's Next? A Republican?
Convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hasn't been paying fines or victims with the tens of thousands of dollars deposited into his trust fund, including a Covid-19 relief payment he received in June, federal prosecutors said in a filing Wednesday.
In the filing, prosecutors asked that the approximately $20,000 deposited into Tsarnaev's trust fund be used to pay his outstanding fines.
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If You Don't Look Up, the Comet Won't Kill You When It Hits Earth
While Florida has experienced a record number of Covid-19 cases and sharp increase in hospitalizations in recent weeks, there is disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over whether the Omicron surge has actually overwhelmed the state’s healthcare system.
For example, Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio posted on Twitter that there “is no Omicron hospital ‘surge’ in Florida. People admitted for non-Covid reasons get tested. If they test positive they get counted as a ‘Covid patient.’”
If We Just Stop Testing, There Won't Be Any Confirmed Cases
It took six months for the United States to report its first 4 million cases of COVID-19. It took just seven days to report its last 4 million, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.
The country reported 4.02 million cases in the seven-day period ending Wednesday, up 89% from the previous week. Twenty-nine states set weekly records. The U.S. is now averaging about 575,000 cases reported per day, or 400 every minute. With limited access to testing, asymptomatic cases and people home testing, the real number would be far higher.
If We Never Give Tests in School, No One Will Ever Fail
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Australia Says No Novak. The Australian Open Is Closed (to Him).
Novak Djokovic's Australian visa was canceled Wednesday after he "failed to provide appropriate evidence to meet the entry requirements to Australia," the country's border force announced. The tennis star had been stuck in an Australian airport as officials tried to work through issues related to his COVID-19 vaccine exemption for the upcoming Australian Open, Reuters reported.
"Non-citizens who do not hold a valid visa on entry or who have had their visa cancelled will be detained and removed from Australia," the border force said.
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CarMommy? Really?
A gig driver badly mauled by a police dog is suing a San Francisco area suburb, alleging use of excessive force and violation of civil rights when police stopped him in December 2020 after he had missed car rental payments.
Dashboard and body-camera videos obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle show an unresisting Ali Badr wailing in pain, his arm in the teeth of an aggressive San Ramon police dog for more than a minute as officers tried to cuff him.
“I never do nothing,” Badr yelled to officers, the videos show. “I never in my life do anything.”
Badr, a 42-year-old resident of Oakland, has driven for Uber and Lyft and started delivering food for DoorDash when the pandemic hit, the news outlet reported. Forced to give up his own car due to declining income, he agreed to rent a Toyota Camry owned by startup CarMommy, which caters to gig workers, according to the lawsuit.
He told The Chronicle that he fell behind on payments, but told the company he would pay them shortly. It was something he had done before, he said. But CarMommy CEO and cofounder John Blomeke had reported the car stolen, said Matthew Haley, Badr’s attorney, resulting in the car’s license plate number being listed in a state Department of Justice database shared among agencies.
Badr was driving to work at a gas station when the plate triggered one of the city's license plate readers, alerting police of a vehicle reported as stolen. Officers in a half-dozen cars pulled him over, guns drawn and dog barking. He ended up being rushed to the hospital for surgery.
Since He's a Gig Worker He Probably Doesn't Have Health Insurance.
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You Have to Admire Stock Market Analysts. They Have All These Ways of Trying to Describe People Losing Money
"U.S. stocks consolidate after rising rates spark tech selloff"
As a General Might Say, "We Aren't Retreating. I Never Retreat. It's a Strategic Withdrawal."
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CDC doesn't do a good job of reporting around holidays.
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People 2 or More Doses | New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Jan 6 | |||||
| Jan 5 | 1,117,999 | 245,278,020 | 206,797,799 | ||
| Jan 4 | 1,093,005 | 244,947,293 | 206,581,659 | 554,328 | 1,238 |
| Jan 3 | No Data | 491,652 | 1,165 | ||
| Jan 2 | No Data | 438,082 | 1,174 | ||
| Jan 1 | No Data | 411,871 | 1,151 | ||
| Dec 31 | No Data | 391,098 | 1,135 | ||
| Dec 30 | 1,234,917 | 243,527,564 | 205,811,394 | 360,276 | 1,144 |
| Dec 29 | 1,042,911 | 243,182,423 | 205,638,307 | 316,277 | 1,100 |
| Dec 28 | 1,091,279 | 242,813,374 | 205,420,745 | 277,241 | 1,085 |
| Dec 27 | 1,034,442 | 242,433,620 | 205,196,973 | 240,408 | 1,096 |
| Dec 26 | No Data | 206,577 | 1,041 | ||
| Dec 25 | No Data | 196,511 | 1,053 | ||
| Dec 24 | No Data | 195,713 | 1,108 | ||
| Dec 23 | 1,189,954 | 241,520,561 | 204,740,321 | 192,453 | 1,199 |
| Dec 22 | 1,283,244 | 241,583,543 | 204,818,717 | 176,097 | 1,213 |
| Dec 21 | 1,542,936 | 241,132,288 | 204,578,725 | 161,261 | 1,223 |
| Dec 20 | 1,554,261 | 241,881,712 | 204,098,982 | 149,331 | 1,188 |
| Dec 19 | 1,558,720 | 241,571,084 | 203,926,479 | 132,659 | 1,169 |
| Dec 18 | 1,562,366 | 241,205,528 | 203,727,446 | 127,445 | 1,182 |
| Dec 17 | 2,065,555 | 240,775,382 | 203,479,206 | 125,775 | 1,182 |
| Dec 16 | 2,043,207 | 240,321,022 | 203,159,327 | 122,296 | 1,179 |
| Dec 15 | 1,795,384 | 239,975,167 | 202,748,005 | 119,546 | 1,187 |
| Dec 14 | 1,904,464 | 239,553,956 | 202,504,037 | 117,950 | 1,143 |
| Dec 13 | 1,951,329 | 239,274,656 | 202,246,698 | 117,890 | 1,147 |
| Dec 12 | 1,984,721 | 239,008,166 | 201,975,235 | 116,742 | 1,131 |
| Dec 11 | 2,020,853 | 238,679,707 | 201,688,550 | 116,893 | 1,131 |
| Dec 10 | 1,721,570 | 238,143,066 | 201,279,582 | 118,575 | 1,146 |
| Dec 9 | 1,583,662 | 237,468,725 | 200,717,387 | 118,052 | 1,089 |
| Dec 8 | 1,611,831 | 237,087,380 | 200,400,533 | 118,515 | 1,092 |
| Dec 7 | 1,781,389 | 236,363,835 | 199,687,439 | 117,488 | 1,097 |
| Dec 6 | 1,780,807 | 236,018,871 | 199,313,022 | 117,179 | 1,117 |
| Dec 5 | 2,264,301 | 235,698,738 | 198,962,520 | 103,823 | 1,154 |
| Dec 4 | 2,009,864 | 235,297,964 | 198,592,167 | 105,554 | 1,150 |
| Dec 3 | 1,700,056 | 234,743,864 | 198,211,641 | 106,132 | 1,110 |
| Dec 2 | 1,428,263 | 234,269,053 | 197,838,728 | 96,425 | 975 |
| Dec 1 | 1,116,587 | 233,590,555 | 197,363,116 | 86,412 | 859 |
| Nov 30 | 1,152,647 | 233,207,582 | 197,058,988 | 82,846 | 816 |
| Nov 29 | 937,113 | 232,792,508 | 196,806,194 | 80,178 | 804 |
| Feb 16 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | % of Vaccinated W/ Boosters | |
| % of Total Population | 73.9% | 62.3% | 34.9% |
| % of Population 5+ | 78.5% | 66.2% | |
| % of Population 12+ | 84.0% | 71.3% | 38.0% |
| % of Population 18+ | 85.9% | 73.0% | 49.8% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 87.7% | 59.4% |
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California Precipitation (Updated Tuesdays)
| Percent of Average for this Date | Last Week | |
| Northern Sierra Precipitation | 158% | 170% |
| San Joaquin Precipitation | 156% | 170% |
| Tulare Basin Precipitation | 145% | 151% |
| Snow Water Content - North | 135% | 134% |
| Snow Water Content - Central | 148% | 148% |
| Snow Water Content - South | 160% | 158% |
Reservoirs are still low, but they take time to refill and it may take the spring snow melt.
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What Is Today's Date? I Wish the News Media Would Remind Me.
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COVID Hospitalizations Have Surpassed the August 2021 Peak
Only the January 2021 Peak is Higher
Avg. daily hospitalizations 110,302As is frequently pointed out, ICU usage and ventilator usage isn't up as much. That could be good news or just a trailing indicator. I suspect it is at least partly because we have better treatments than we did a year ago.
Two-week trend +58%
Avg. daily child hospitalizations 3,778
Two-week trend +106.1%
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Jon Stewart Realizes He Created a Bunch of Mishegas and Sees People Plotz. Oy Vey!
US chat-show host Jon Stewart has denied accusing Harry Potter author JK Rowling of anti-Semitism in comments he made on a podcast last month.
The satirist compared goblins who run Gringotts bank in the series of fantasy novels and films to characters in a 1903 anti-Semitic publication.
He has now said the conversation played on the podcast was meant to be "light hearted" and he "does not think the Harry Potter movies are anti-Semitic".
Rowling has not responded.
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Yesterday I Posted About the Safest Airlines
A total of 125 passengers who arrived in the northern Indian city of Amritsar on a chartered flight from Italy have tested positive for Covid-19.
They will be placed in isolation, health officials said.
They were among 179 passengers on the flight from Milan which landed in Amritsar on Wednesday afternoon.
Those Stats May Ignore Another Risk
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Kazakhstan and Crypto - A Match Made in Hell
The global computing power of the bitcoin network has dropped sharply as the shutdown this week of Kazakhstan's internet during a deadly uprising hit the country's fast-growing cryptocurrency mining industry.
Kazakhstan became last year the world's second-largest centre for bitcoin mining after the United States, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, after major hub China clamped down on crypto mining activity.
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14 Billion More Reason to Stay Away From Crypto
Scammers took home a record $14 billion in cryptocurrency in 2021, thanks in large part to the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Losses from crypto-related crime rose 79 percent from a year earlier, driven by a spike in theft and scams.
Scamming was the greatest form of cryptocurrency-based crime in 2021, followed by theft — most of which occurred through hacking of cryptocurrency businesses. The firm says that DeFi is a big part of the story for both, in yet another warning for those dabbling in this emerging segment of the crypto industry.
“DeFi is one of the most exciting areas of the wider cryptocurrency ecosystem, presenting huge opportunities to entrepreneurs and cryptocurrency users alike,” Chainalysis wrote in its annual Crypto Crime report.
“But DeFi is unlikely to realize its full potential if the same decentralization that makes it so dynamic also allows for widespread scamming and theft.”
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In More Kazakhstan News ...
Dozens of protesters were killed in Kazakhstan in attacks on government buildings and at least a dozen police officers died, including one who was found beheaded, authorities said Thursday.
There were attempts to storm buildings overnight in the country’s largest city, Almaty, and “dozens of attackers were liquidated,” police spokeswoman Saltanat Azirbek said. She spoke on state news channel Khabar-24. The reported attempts to storm the buildings came after widespread unrest in the city on Wednesday, including seizure of the mayor’s building, which was set on fire.
..................
Russia sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan on Thursday to help put down the countrywide uprising after violence spread across the tightly controlled former Soviet state. Police said they had killed dozens of rioters in the main city Almaty, while state television said 13 members of the security forces had died.
..................
Kazakhstan's government is restoring vehicle fuel price caps for six months, after days of deadly unrest.
Petrol and diesel prices will also be capped for the same period.
I'll Bet You Woke Up This Morning Wondering What Was Going On in Kazakhstan. Aren't You Glad You Came Here?
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Come On Folks! Let's Protect Hospital Corporation of America and Anthem!
In the U.K., for example, which began seeing the effects of Omicron ahead of the U.S., officials from England’s prime minister to managers of top soccer clubs have called on the public to “protect the NHS.” The NHS, or National Health Service, is the U.K’s taxpayer-funded, government-run health system. Although it is impossible to attribute success to a single message, England has been vaccinating people at a rate three to four times greater than the U.S since mid-December.
That loyalty is what makes a message like “protect the NHS” ring true. The system is nearly universally seen as a public good, and in need of protecting. Most people in the U.K. understand that getting vaccinated benefits the NHS precisely because the public has an equal stake in its success. An unvaccinated person who ends up in the hospital takes resources such as beds, doctors, and nurses away from others. [...]
In the U.S., we like our doctors but are not loyal to the health care system. Many Americans valorize the doctors and nurses working on the frontlines of Covid-19, but you would be hard pressed to find someone who wants to protect the medical groups, HMOs, and other complex insurance convolutions undergirding our system. In fact, just 19% of the public believes the health care system works at least “pretty well,” less than in every other country studied.
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WTF Is "Cultural Marxism"? The OED Has Just Added It.
The OED’s primary definition is worth reading in full: “Used depreciatively, chiefly among right-wing commentators: a political agenda advocating radical social reform, said to be promoted within western cultural institutions by liberal or left-wing ideologues intent on eroding traditional social values and imposing a dogmatic form of progressivism on society. Later also more generally: a perceived left-wing bias in social or cultural institutions, characterized as doctrinaire and pernicious.”
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Why Was Governor Death Sentence Missing?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—has come out of hiding, but he’s not looking too great. The governor was caught sounding not only wheezy but clearly holding back sneezes while speaking to the press Wednesday. He obviously is sick, it’s evident in his voice, and if you listen closely it kind of even sounds like he’s suppressing some tears. Uh oh, I wonder what it could be?
It would be no surprise if he were hiding that he’s sick. His vaccination status is still unknown.
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This Guy is a Major QOP Donor
The founder and chair of Entrata, a Silicon Slopes tech firm, has resigned his position after sending an email to a number of tech CEOs and Utah business and political leaders, claiming the COVID-19 vaccine is part of a plot by "the Jews" to exterminate people.
The remarks triggered condemnation throughout Utah's tech community, and led to David Bateman's resignation from the company's board of directors after FOX 13 first reported on the email.
The email by Bateman, shared with FOX 13 by numerous sources Tuesday morning, begins with the subject line "Genocide." Bateman confirmed to FOX 13 in text messages that he sent the email.
“I write this email knowing that many of you will think I'm crazy after reading it. I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people. It's obvious now.
"It's undeniable, yet no one is doing anything. Everyone is discounting their own judgment, and dismissing their intuition. I believe the Jews are behind this. For 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top. It happened in 2013 with Pope Francis.
"I believe the pandemic and systematic extermination of billions of people will lead to an effort to consolidate all the countries in the world under a single flag with totalitarian rule. I know, it sounds bonkers. No one is reporting on it, but the Hasidic Jews in the US instituted a law for their people that they are not to be vaccinated for any reason.”
“I pray that I'm wrong on this. Utah has got to stop the vaccination drive. Warn your employees. Warn your friends. Prepare. Stay safe.”
J. K Rowling Has Not Commented.
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One Case of Voter Fraud. Two Cases of Voter Fraud....
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OneAmerica Insurance is Not OAN and This is Not Fake News
Scott Davison is the CEO of OneAmerica, an Indianapolis-based life insurance company founded in the 19th century. To start the new year, Davison told the audience of an online news conference that “We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business—not just at OneAmerica. The data is consistent across every player in that business.”
According to Davidson, the third and fourth quarters of this past year saw death rates “up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic.” Even more distressing, explains Davison, is that this is not some demographic anomaly with the eldest members of our society passing on. The 40% rise in death rates is consistent for working-class folks 18 to 64-years-old. “Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or 200-year catastrophe would be a 10% increase over pre-pandemic levels.”
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The Unhappiest Place on Earth
Metro Orlando is one of the most-visited places in the entire world, where tourists like to see the so-called "happiest place on Earth." For those of us who live here, however, it’s not the vacation paradise it’s made out to be. There’s a well-known caste system that locals have understood for decades, yet only recently has it been getting some attention from the outside world. There have been exposés in The Washington Post and Time magazine, along with a major Hollywood picture called The Florida Project. Although our local problem has gotten a national spotlight, things haven’t gotten any better for our shadow working class. In fact, since the pandemic began, it’s gotten way worse.
Many families in this area are trapped in a cycle of poverty that lasts for generations. The sick thing is that these families are indeed working—very hard. Yet because Orlando has the lowest paid labor force of any metro area in the United States and is ranked the worst in the nation for access to low-income housing, there is an epidemic of local workers and their families being forced to live in hotels. Some of these hotels aren’t even that cheap, but it is often the only option available besides the streets—or the swamp. The entire county of Osceola, which includes Kissimmee, has no homeless shelters. Meanwhile, as tourism has recovered from the pandemic, and theme parks are again posting record attendance, it’s unforgivable to hear horrifying stories of families without basic amenities, or even sanitation. Parts of Central Florida resemble a nation in the global south instead of a tourist mecca.
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I Am Sure We All Wanted To Pants a Basketball Referee More Than Once. But We Didn't
A top Republican state lawmaker in Tennessee has apologized after attempting to pull down the pants of a referee at his son’s high school basketball game.
Rep. Jeremy Faison, the state House Republican Caucus chair, said in a statement Tuesday that he had “acted the fool tonight and lost my temper at a ref.”
“For years I thought how wrong it is when a parent looses [sic] their temper at a sporting event,” he wrote in a note posted on Twitter. “It’s not Christian and it’s not mature and it’s embarrassing to the child have always been my thoughts.”
Video of the incident shows Faison appearing to shout and point his finger at the game official before yanking on his pants and walking away.
What Kind of Republican Is He? Where Was His Gun? I Guess the Referee Wasn't Black
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About the Life of a Referee
I used to be a basketball referee. As I walked on to the court for my first high school game, the students started chanting, "Hey, Hey, Hee, Hee, Let's All Kill the Referee." The game hadn't begun yet.
I broke into a smile. Somehow it felt right.
BTW, my philosophy was always to blow just enough whistles to keep the game under control. The fewer the better.
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Americans May Not Be Healthy, But the Job Market Is
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remained at historically low levels, suggesting that the job market remains strong.
U.S. jobless claims rose by 7,000 last week to 207,000. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week gyrations, rose by nearly 4,800 to just below 205,000. Despite the increases, the numbers show that weekly claims are below the 220,000 typical before the pandemic struck the U.S. economy in March 2020.
The highly transmissible omicron variant so far does not appear to have triggered significant layoffs.
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First a Terrorist and a Murder. Now a Deadbeat. What's Next? A Republican?
Convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hasn't been paying fines or victims with the tens of thousands of dollars deposited into his trust fund, including a Covid-19 relief payment he received in June, federal prosecutors said in a filing Wednesday.
In the filing, prosecutors asked that the approximately $20,000 deposited into Tsarnaev's trust fund be used to pay his outstanding fines.
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If You Don't Look Up, the Comet Won't Kill You When It Hits Earth
While Florida has experienced a record number of Covid-19 cases and sharp increase in hospitalizations in recent weeks, there is disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over whether the Omicron surge has actually overwhelmed the state’s healthcare system.
For example, Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio posted on Twitter that there “is no Omicron hospital ‘surge’ in Florida. People admitted for non-Covid reasons get tested. If they test positive they get counted as a ‘Covid patient.’”
If We Just Stop Testing, There Won't Be Any Confirmed Cases
It took six months for the United States to report its first 4 million cases of COVID-19. It took just seven days to report its last 4 million, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.
The country reported 4.02 million cases in the seven-day period ending Wednesday, up 89% from the previous week. Twenty-nine states set weekly records. The U.S. is now averaging about 575,000 cases reported per day, or 400 every minute. With limited access to testing, asymptomatic cases and people home testing, the real number would be far higher.
If We Never Give Tests in School, No One Will Ever Fail
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Australia Says No Novak. The Australian Open Is Closed (to Him).
Novak Djokovic's Australian visa was canceled Wednesday after he "failed to provide appropriate evidence to meet the entry requirements to Australia," the country's border force announced. The tennis star had been stuck in an Australian airport as officials tried to work through issues related to his COVID-19 vaccine exemption for the upcoming Australian Open, Reuters reported.
"Non-citizens who do not hold a valid visa on entry or who have had their visa cancelled will be detained and removed from Australia," the border force said.
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CarMommy? Really?
A gig driver badly mauled by a police dog is suing a San Francisco area suburb, alleging use of excessive force and violation of civil rights when police stopped him in December 2020 after he had missed car rental payments.
Dashboard and body-camera videos obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle show an unresisting Ali Badr wailing in pain, his arm in the teeth of an aggressive San Ramon police dog for more than a minute as officers tried to cuff him.
“I never do nothing,” Badr yelled to officers, the videos show. “I never in my life do anything.”
Badr, a 42-year-old resident of Oakland, has driven for Uber and Lyft and started delivering food for DoorDash when the pandemic hit, the news outlet reported. Forced to give up his own car due to declining income, he agreed to rent a Toyota Camry owned by startup CarMommy, which caters to gig workers, according to the lawsuit.
He told The Chronicle that he fell behind on payments, but told the company he would pay them shortly. It was something he had done before, he said. But CarMommy CEO and cofounder John Blomeke had reported the car stolen, said Matthew Haley, Badr’s attorney, resulting in the car’s license plate number being listed in a state Department of Justice database shared among agencies.
Badr was driving to work at a gas station when the plate triggered one of the city's license plate readers, alerting police of a vehicle reported as stolen. Officers in a half-dozen cars pulled him over, guns drawn and dog barking. He ended up being rushed to the hospital for surgery.
Since He's a Gig Worker He Probably Doesn't Have Health Insurance.
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You Have to Admire Stock Market Analysts. They Have All These Ways of Trying to Describe People Losing Money
"U.S. stocks consolidate after rising rates spark tech selloff"
As a General Might Say, "We Aren't Retreating. I Never Retreat. It's a Strategic Withdrawal."
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