Secretary Sony Purdue is exporting garbage to China.

If a product cannot be consumed in the USA, then it isn't fit to export. This level of disrespect for any other country is only going to cause a loss of business to the exporting companies.

China needs to up it's game and outlaw pet food that does not meet minimal nutrition standards and includes ingredients that are undesirable.

We have enough trouble with people eating wildlife in China that then becomes a nightmare virus. The world does not need similar dynamics with pets or other animals. I would think the USA would put pressure on China regarding animal feed and export better quality animal feed than poor quality.

Washington, D.C., June 12, 2020 – The United States (click here) Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing a protocol that will allow the use of U.S.-origin bovine ingredients and most imported ingredients in pet food being exported to China. The U.S. and China signed the pet food protocol on April 13, and the certification requirements were finalized May 21, with an implementation date set for June 15, 2020. There will be a two-month transition period to ensure companies currently exporting pet foods can comply with the new requirements.

APHIS will post the requirements on the APHIS International Regulations webpage to ensure manufacturers understand the conditions they need to meet in order to ship using the new ingredients (imported ingredients and/or ruminant ingredients). Facilities will have to meet China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs requirements for product registration, and companies will be able to export only after all of these details are complete.

This action is part of the continuing progress to implement the U.S.-China Phase One Economic and Trade Agreement.  The agreement entered into force on February 14, 2020, and this action builds upon measures that were previously announced on February 25, March 10, March 24, and May 21.

The PPE emergency is not resolved.

June 11, 2020
By Joe Carroll

Houston-area officials are “getting close” (click here) to reimposing stay-at-home orders and are prepared to reopen a Covid-19 hospital established but never used at a football stadium as virus cases expand in the fourth-largest U.S. city.

The announcement by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday came a day after the Lone Star state recorded its highest one-day tally of new cases since the pandemic emerged....

Now is not the time for "letting up." Letting up means letting go. Now, is the time to dig in and win a safer and sane America.

"The Virus Will Win" (click here)
By Yascha Mounk

A Second Wave of the coronavirus is on the way. When it arrives, we will lack the will to deal with it. Despite all the sacrifices of the past months, the virus is likely to win—or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it already has.

In absolute terms, the United States has been hit harder than any other country. About a quarter of worldwide deaths have been recorded on these shores. And while the virus is no longer growing at an exponential rate, the threat it poses remains significant: According to a forecasting model by Morgan Stanley, the number of American cases will, if current trends hold, roughly double over the next two months.

But neither the impact of mass protests over police brutality nor the effect of the recent reopening of much of the country—including the casinos in Las Vegas—is reflected in the latest numbers. It can take at least 10 days for people to develop symptoms and seek out a test, and for the results to be aggregated and disseminated by public-health authorities....

An increasing number of cases in the USA means increasing numbers of deaths, maiming and disabilities. This is not the flu. A full six percent of all Americans that contract the virus will die. These include mothers and fathers that will leave children scarred with the loss of a parent and forbid both parents.

"Sheltering at Home" is the best form of prevention and ending this virus in the USA. Competent leadership requires strong measures. Would everyone in the USA consent to a three week sheltering in place if it meant the end of SARS-CoV-2 completely? That is a real option that should not be ignored, but, there needs to be an apolitical approach that doesn't dismantle such a measure for the second time. Why expect a third escalation?

There are states like Maine that have mostly tackled the virus, but, they still have hotspots that could use a reset.

June 12, 2020
By Colin Woodard

Hospitalizations (click here) for COVID-19 continued to fall across the state over the past week, even in the parts of southern Maine that have continued to see significant numbers of people testing positive for the disease.

At Maine Medical Center, which has had nearly half of the state’s confirmed coronavirus inpatients through most of the crisis, the number of confirmed COVID-19 inpatients hovered at between 8 and 11 over the week ending Thursday, down from a peak level of 35 hit on both April 7 and May 25. The inpatient count Tuesday and Wednesday was the lowest daily number there since March 22, at the beginning of the crisis.

At Portland’s other major hospital, Mercy, the number of inpatients fell from five to zero during the period, down from five to eight the previous week and eight to ten the week before that, which had been the busiest that hospital had experienced during the pandemic.

In Androscoggin County, hospitalizations have fortunately not been paralleling discouraging trends in new cases. The county saw a dramatic spike in new COVID-19 cases in mid-May – going from a seven-day average of one case at the end of April to more than 15 on May 23 – and over the past seven days has averaged a still-high nine cases a day, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention....

While the USA needs a police reformation act, it needs a Race Reformation Act that includes a Supreme Court proof voter rights act.

Currently, the Republican governors have oppressed minority voters. They have placed voters in danger by refusing mail-in ballots. An extremely sad example of the attempts to eliminate voters from balloting was seen in Georgia when the Secretary of State's plans to suppress traditionally Democratic voters caused problems across the entire state.

A Vote and Voter Security Act needs to be passed to end the corruption of partisan Secretaries of State.

Everything is a photo op." Even Melania is a prop.

In Oregon, reports of counter protesters sent police sharp shooters to the roof.

No surprise here. Oregon has a population of White Supremacists (click here).

Canty-Jones: It was very much in the milieu, it was very much in the politics, and it’s very clear as you can see from George Williamson’s letter laying out the argument right before the 1857 Oregon Constitutional Convention, that Oregon would be a place that neither had slavery nor free black people. And those were laws that were already in the books from the territorial government....

It is a known fact that governments, be they local, state or federal, have extraneous laws and/or regulations that do not apply to current standards of living. As a matter of fact, there are some laws/regulations that are counter to modern standards. In the case of Oregon, these laws/regs can go back into the 1800s which is nearly the beginning of the country. I have no doubt there will be an ongoing project to examine such annoyance and possibly dangerous domestic governing and policing laws/regs.

The discovery of actionable intelligence regarding the infiltration of White Supremacists into protest marches is no surprise. I am sure the police officials in Oregon were waiting for it to surface. Something needs to be done with HATE groups such as the KKK. The Southern Poverty Law Center (click here) has a vast collection of knowledge regarding these groups. Hate cannot be a reason for organizing. It has to stop.

My mistake this is actually Portland, Maine. It doesn't matter the same applies to the idea of eliminating draconian laws that support racism. Holy smokes, Portland, Maine. We have a problem.

Some Portland, Maine council members want an independent review of the police actions regarding the protests in that city. It sounds like a great idea for all major cities and even those with known racist problems.

Alert: US Senate Republicans (click here) have their own police reform bill. It needs to be scoured for corruption and racism, bigoted, and discriminatory content. I haven't read any of the content, but, a Republican President just assaulted protesters in Lafayette Park and erected a fence around the park nearly overnight.

Racist "Moscow Mitch" tapped an African American Senator to sponsor the legislation that no doubt McConnell wrote. Everything is a photo op.

There is also such a fence around the White House. Trump is scared of his "photo op" becoming a place where counter-photo ops would take place. The fences are to preserve Trump's definition of USA land that belongs to the people.

RETURN LAFAYETTE PARK TO THE PEOPLE!

June 12, 2020
By Randy Billings

Portland police say (click here) they stationed officers on top of downtown buildings at last week’s anti-racism protests after learning that armed counter-protesters planned to be there.

The disclosure — which differs from an earlier explanation that police were likely just observing the protests — comes a week after questions were raised, some in a flurry of social media activity, about police officers positioned on top of buildings, seemingly with rifles, scopes and other equipment.

Commander James Sweatt made the disclosure about the armed counter-protesters Wednesday night during a virtual meeting of the Police Citizen Review Subcommittee. He said police had received “actionable intelligence” that armed counter-protesters planned to demonstrate near the Black Live Matter protesters. He said the officers were deployed on buildings to protect the protesters, not to intimidate them.

“They actually did show up. They were actually armed. We intercepted them before they made it there,” Sweatt said at the meeting. “We also discovered other individuals in the crowd that were legally possessing firearms, but their intent was not known. I think that’s an important note to make.”...

LOL

Did I hear Treasury Secretary Munchkin say there will be no closing the country again for other medical reasons like returning to having surgeries again.

That would carry more brevity if it came from the AMA. 

That is such a joke. It is okay surgeons the national emergency is over because we said so.

"It is just law and that is the way it is."

Those words have been haunting me that last two days, so it's time to put this ALL into perspective. The looting, the whole picture. If I can. At least I can try.

The statement is grossly incorrect. The law is not supreme in the USA in a way that every American can pass judgment on one another. The USA's strength is in due process and a fair trial. People have to get to that trial to receive justice, not receive it at the end of a barrel of a gun or the knee of a police officer.

"When the looting starts, the shooting starts," is supposed to be an act of law enforcement. "That is the law and the way it is." That is incorrect. That is not the law. Police are not allowed to enforce the law at the end of the barrel of a gun. All too often it happens though.

In recent months and years, we are seeing asphyxiation as a method of police resulting in the death of the suspect. None of these techniques should be allowed to continue to be used by law enforcement. But, as to the idea that looting should be resolved by more violence and by gunfire needs to be addressed. The dialogue is so far out of line with the civilization of our country it has to be addressed to bring everyone together to understand why something like looting occurs.

March 7, 1991, I was working the evening shift and television was on. It was the first time I had ever witnessed police officers beating anyone and this was a black man. It scared me. I never put a police officer in that content before and my worry was about the man being beaten. In my understanding of law enforcement, this sort of treatment of another human being was absolutely wrong and I believed it to be illegal.

One of the police officers involved stated that "people like King" were unpredictable to allow taking them without first subduing them. The officer went on to say that "people like Rodney King" do drugs and when they are on drugs like PCP they become super-strong and it takes measures such as this to subdue them.

I am sure the defense of many officers has been that they were just trying to subdue the subject to bring them into jail for processing. But, that isn't the point here. The point is that for the first time for many people officers were beating a man that was an African-American. It was scary to me and I can only begin to understand how scary it was to others that knew Rodney King and the communities of Los Angeles.

Nearly immediately the black communities of Los Angeles broke into violence. There was looting and there were fires set. The violence that consumed the city over this beating was the only way people had to make the law enforcement system take notice of the crimes of beating an unarmed human being. I was scared for Mr. King, the city of Los Angeles, and the people rioting in the streets. I feared for their lives and worried about retaliation. The beating of Rodney King was wrong and the violence was a way of stopping it from occurring again.

The violence in LA at that time was RATIONAL to me. I did not feel bad for anyone who was having their life changed because of that violence in looting and fire setting, that broke out over the beating by police officers of an unarmed black man. Like I said, if he runs, then chase him and if he gets away then file a summons for arrest with the prosecutor, but, DON'T EVER TAKE THE LAW INTO THEIR OWN HANDS AND BEAT A HUMAN BEING OR PUT A KNEE ON THE NECK OF A HUMAN BEING. The law in the USA does not demand that level of absolute resolve.

I was on the other side of the country in New Hampshire at that time. It is where I lived. It wasn't as though I lived in LA and sympathized with the communities so upset over this beating. I was completely removed from this reality except for a video that scared me. When the violence broke out I completely understood it. I think the mayor of LA at the time understood it as well and was appalled by the violence against Mr. King. He is a citizen. He has rights. 

The day after the violence stopped, including pulling a white man by the name of Reginald Denny out of his semi-truck as an exhibit as to how black men can also beat white men, the city called the crimes of looting and fire setting as mayhem. There were cameras that helped authorities identify people participating in the riots. They were not charged with arson. They were not charged with stealing. They were not charged with assault. They were charged with mayhem. Some may have received fines, but, in all that I remember is that the people in the riots now had a criminal record without serving any time in jail or prison.

So, for all the people that cannot relate to the violence following the UNLAWFUL and WRONGFUL death of a black man, that doesn't give anyone the right to pass judgment on those that are scared, upset and worried about their own lives and the fact they might be next. Those that seem to think they are allowed to judge the actions of others are arrogant and quite frankly lack the ability to empathize with minority people that do experience injustice in their lives. That is the real shame in those statements that "When the looting starts, the shooting starts," "That is the law and just the way it is." Those are wrongful statements. They are ignorant statements and do not take into context the reason the violence erupted in the first place. The people that stood up to law enforcement, set fires and looted saved everyone's life. They made a statement of the fear and injustice they feel.

The reason the uprising ended is because of people like Reverend Al Sharpton that brings an understanding of that pain to the form of organized marches. It is people like the Reverend Jessie Jackson that leads the minority communities to pursue justice. It is all those people involved in speaking against the injustice that stops the mayhem. They bring meaning to that pain and no American should take that reality for granted. The leaders of the minority community have a very important and valuable place in this country and it is up to us to accept and respect every word they say.

I don't ever want to hear criticism of the expression of fear shown when there is a wrongful death of anyone. We all have rights in this country and we will all understand when those rights are violated and pose a threat to every life in the USA. There better not be any more inflammatory statements about the expression of fear that results in violence. It is the wrongful deaths, the beatings and the injustice that is on trial in those moments and not the people fearful for their own lives.

The KKK is not freedom of speech. Stop allowing their rallies. None of their message should be tolerated.

The KKK is anti-American. Their only message is about hate and it cannot be tolerated. They propagate violence among their own members at these marches and rallies. They are increasingly a problem.

June 11, 2020
By Lee Brown

This is the way they used to show up at rallies.

Two men wearing Ku Klux Klan-style hoods (click here) tried to interrupt a George Floyd rally in Nevada — with even a group who’d shouted abuse at Black Lives Matter protesters switching to help kick them out.

The pair — with another man walking beside them — were filmed in distinctive white hoods as they tried to gatecrash a rally Monday in Fallon, leading to angry chants of, “No KKK, no racist, fascist USA.”

They were almost immediately stopped by a cop who ordered them to turn around, with two other officers arriving on bikes as backup.

The crowd also made sure they marched away, with a group of “All Lives Matter” supporters who had been shouting abuse at the race-rights protesters now joining them against the KKK men, KTVN said....

China's aggression throughout the region leaves suspicion to it's late report of SARS-Cov-2.

Trump has no right to demand CNN to remove its election statistics. If he is so self-righteous then the Trump Campaign can publish their results.
.........................................................

Dr. Fauci is not to blame himself for the mess the USA finds itself. It is due to the inept president in the White House and nothing short of it. Dr. Fauci now understands the selective priorities of Trump. If anything interferes with his re-election is to be blamed on anyone in the area, including Dr. Fauci.
........................................................

Now is not the time for military aggression by China!

June 8, 2020
By Sutirtho Patranobis

China on Monday (click here) said the militaries of the two countries had reached a consensus during the weekend talks not to allow differences to escalate into disputes.

In brief comments on the meeting between senior military officers on Saturday to resolve the standoff in Ladakh, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that the two sides had agreed to implement the consensus reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping not to allow differences to become disputes.

Modi and Xi have reiterated several times including during their second informal summit in Chennai last October that New Delhi and Beijing should not allow differences to escalate into disputes; differences can be managed, they reiterated....

The incidents that are causing problems between India and China (click here):

...There hasn’t been any activity (click here) at the four standoff points along the Line of Actual Control after Indian and Chinese military commanders held a 7-hour-long ice-breaking meeting over the weekend, people familiar with the developments told Hindustan Times on Monday.

India, which was the first to speak about the meeting at the Moldo-Chushul border meeting point some 14,000 feet above sea level, had underlined on Sunday that the two sides had agreed to peacefully resolve the situation. On Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry statement about the discussions over the weekend made the same point.

To be sure, the two sides are not anywhere close to a resolution of the standoff at three points in the Galwan valley and the fourth, near Pangong Lake.

Saturday’s meeting between Lt Gen Harinder Singh, commander of Leh-based 14 Corps, and a Chinese delegation headed by Maj Gen Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military region, agreed to keep talking at the brigade and battalion commander level....

What the heck does China think it is doing? It has an all-out assault on Hong Kong, it is artificial islands to expand its borders into the sea, Vietnam has settled it's a dispute about oil rights that China impinged upon. And let's not forget the new mischief of the USA in the South China Sea.

June 9, 2020

Some Western media outlets (click here) have launched a new wave of public opinion offensive against China.

A CNN report on Monday hyped up a standoff between China and Malaysia in the South China Sea that has lasted more than a month. Even though this was old news that took place earlier this year, CNN criticized China for its "growing aggression" and "forcefulness," which are "partly driven by the global coronavirus pandemic."

Malaysia is one of the South China Sea claimants. Compared with countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines, Malaysia has been regarded as a low-profile pragmatist when it comes to the South China Sea issue. The country has played it safe....

China should know the governance of one billion people is delicate. So the attitudes toward India by China have to be that of peace. India does not need any sparks flying to it's potential of a powder keg.

It is difficult finding common ground when the differences are based in faith. Faith can create rigidity to the resolve of civilized society.

The Muslims in India have a right to be heard. They are not leaving India and is the largest Muslim population in the world. The Muslim population of India need to be recognized, but, becoming a "Muslim Lives Matter" group may create greater differences rather than common ground.

...But India (click here) also is expected have 311 million Muslims in 2050 (11% of the global total), making it the country with the largest population of Muslims in the world. Currently, Indonesia has the world’s largest number of Muslims....

This is PEW Research. It would seem as though the current status of the Muslims among the Hindus is equal when it comes to numbers but not when it comes to governance. This must change because their sheer numbers alone must be engaged to find a peaceful governing structure that will provide freedom to all religions. Without peaceful governance, through mutual respect, there will be decent and challenges to India's internal stability.

June 2, 2020
By Saroj Chadha

The death of a black man in Minneapolis, USA (click here) who died in police custody because of suffocation as a white policeman continually pressed on his neck with his knee has reignited anger across USA over racist approach of police. There have been violent protests, by blacks and whites alike, in many parts of the country against this killing. Even the White House had to be placed under a lockdown as protests raged outside. This incident is a manifestation of the racial abuse that continues to plague USA even in the 21st century.  While some accept it’s existence, there are many who follow an ostrich like approach and pretend that it does not exist. Governments over the years have done little to address this serious problem.

This incident in USA has given rise to a movement that has been christened as ‘Black Lives Matter’. There can be no two opinions that Black Lives do matter as does any other human life irrespective of one’s colour, creed, faith, shape or belief. Some overzealous Indian liberals, media persons and others have been quick to equate the plight of black men in USA with that of Muslims in India. They want a similar movement in India and are calling it ‘Muslim Lives Matter’. Is it a right analogy? Can Indian Muslims be compared to Black Americans? Is the communal divide between Hindus and Muslims in India same as racism between Whites and Blacks in USA? It may be prudent to understand a few basic facts before any comparisons can be made....

The best example of failed peace attempts is Kashmir. It would be tragic if that occurred in India and religious divisions served as a method to terrorize the public and end effective governance.

...Since the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of autonomy (click here) and split the former state into two Union Territories on August 5, “public order” has become a powerful reason to block the flow of public discourse in Kashmir. It has been used to paralyse the local press and intimidate reporters in the Valley. Last week, the Jammu and Kashmir government issued a vaguely worded statement about a new “media policy” that will “raise alarm against any attempt to use media to vitiate public peace, sovereignty and integrity of the country”....

Honestly, how many people defending the police are paying attention. They are quoting gun deaths by police year after year. Heck, they got smart to that. They just decided to use strangulation and masqueraded as home invaders.

Honestly. 

There is one young black girl on Tic-Tic saying she lives in Texas and the statement by Trump that when the looting starts the shooting states is just the law and the way it is. No one stops to think about that one. Anyone ever stop to realize what a mass shooting would look like if the cops did that. Looting is wrong and people can be arrested for it, but, death during protesters for civil rights would be a mass shooting event the cops would be held for trial. Trump is not a smart man and it would seem those that follow him regardless of age aren’t either.

The attorney for Derek Chauvin is stating the film was edited multiple times. The bottom line are the live witnesses. The lies about this case started with the government and the first coroner that falsely reported and the changed his cause of death to homicide. The corruption of the Minneapolis government runs deep. It is worse then Ferguson. The attorneys for the Floyd family will carry the truth forward.

The federal budget needs to cut funding PROPORTIONALLY in all areas. Ending programs such food stamps and Medicaid will cause more crime than reducing it. Reducing social programs while the USA economy is struggling with change is a really bad idea beside being cruel and victimizing. The social problems and unrest must be prioritized with increased benevolence by the federal government. States must receive enough funding to address the needs of their citizens to work toward stability and not greater hardship. The defeat of COVID-19’s effect must take priority through education, testing and sufficient medical response. We cannot allow illness and death to be successful. Cultural issues in the USA must be addressed to end foolishness and increase danger. Attitudes have to be put in check in the face prolonging the virus danger.

Even ONE additional case of the virus leads to exponential growth.

There can be no special interests such as police and the military protected from budget cuts. Entitlements are fixed and cannot be used to balance the federal budget. The poor handling of the COVID-19 outbreak by Trump and an effective national strategy cannot be an excuse to assault Medicare and Social Security. The national debt must be addressed and the deficit reduced.

End of communication between North and South Korea.

9 June 2020

Activists have been releasing the balloons for years, such as here at Paju, north of Seoul, in 2012

North Korea has said it is cutting all communication with South Korea because Seoul has not stopped leaflet-filled balloons being floated over the border.

Severing communication between the countries was the first step to "completely shut down all contact means with South Korea", said state news agency KCNA.

So much for a velvet glove.

It said the decision had come from Kim Jong Un's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, and Kim Yong Chol, a former military intelligence chief....

Have the relationships between the USA and the rest of the world has never been worse.

China wants the communications to continue, but, North Korea won't have it. It may be SARS-CoV-2 is the reason to end communications between the Koreas. China was rather successful in stemming the spread of the virus. I would think advisors may be helping North Korea. The release of flyers to the people from South Korea may be one of the problems North Korea has identified as a high-risk activity.

The region is having problems with the virus. Russia is the third-highest number of cases in the world behind the USA and Brazil. It is difficult to say if the communication breakdown is only due to the release of flyer balloons. To say the relationship with the West and North Korea is a minor problem is a huge understatement. The West didn't even know if the Korean president Kim Jong Un was even alive a few weeks ago.

There is a huge loss of any relationship with the North with the South or West for such information to be lost. The president wasn't interested in the West's knowledge of his well being. It is safe to say if there was a change in authority in North Korea because of illness or loss of the President the government will remain with same with Kim Yo Jong appearing to be more of a radical than the current Korean President Kim Jong Un.

June 8, 2020
By Min Chao Choy

The China-North Korean border city of Mudanjiang (click here) has detected 19 additional asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, Mayor Wang Wenli said Monday, raising fears of a potential surge just over 170 kilometers from the DPRK.

The results came as China reckons with “imported cases” from Russia that first centered on the small border city of Suifenhe in April, which quickly spread to other cities in Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces, which border North Korea.

The outbreak represents a higher risk to the DPRK than previous outbreaks reported as taking place along the Sino-DPRK frontier: Mudanjiang is the next stop inside China from Russian gateway cities such as Suifenhe, and serves as a major travel and services hub for the Chinese-North Korean-Russian corridor....


Students took part in a rally in Pyongyang last week to denounce defectors who flee to the South


There has been no improvement in relations with North Korea and the West. If anything it is worse.

The states experiencing problems of increasing number of cases of COVID-19 after opening their economies much close it again. That is what New Zealand did and it worked beautifully.

Those without sufficient hospital facilities need to appeal to the Governor to bring in the Army Corp. build temporary facilities unless there are buildings standing empty that can be used temporarily as hospitals.

This is not going to resolve itself. Exponential growth has started. People have to stop and go home again until the numbers come down. Exponential growth doesn’t stop on it’s own. The states have wildfires called COVID-19. 

STOP THE SPREAD!

The people have to understand this is not a light switch, but, glowing embers waiting to spark again. The people are the key to ending this virus. They have to practice BEST PRACTICES as the economy opens. 

I congratulate all those that marched to defeat racism, bigotry, and discrimination. 

Hate is not okay.

Oppression is not okay. 

GET OFF THEIR NECKS!

Police endangering the life of another MUST be reported and removed from the ranks. Any resistance to that resolve is CORRUPTION.

There is no discussion. There is no dangerous restraint allowed. Period. If a suspect runs away - run after them. If they get away, swear out an arrest warrant at the prosecutor's office and actively seek to resolve the warrant WITHOUT danger to the police or the suspect and innocent bystanders.

There are too many guns on the street. That is part of the reason for these problems. Every police officer is a swat member in order to be safe on the street. This is ridiculous. Our streets aren't safe and our officers feel they need to have privileges to carry out an assault against citizens.

If a police officer needs special privileges to do their jobs, it is called corruption. Hate is corruption. Arrogance is corruption. Special privileges is corruption. This is the USA. This is not Russia. Some people may be confused about that. 

Deadly force is allowed when people are a deadly danger in violation of the law. Stopping a murder or a mass shooting means officers are allowed NOW to end the danger, but, not carry out the justice that is supposed to be rendered by the people and their judges. Honest judges. Honest prosecutors. It is called due process and it is dearly different than Russia's idea of justice. 

The USA states, "innocent until proven guilty." It was the basis of our Founders and our Constitution. No police officer is judge and jury. NONE. 

This is employee harassment and exploitation. HCA Healthcare needs to give the money back.

Federal monies are not Christmas presents for CEOs. Enough of this. The monies come back into the US Treasury and the American people so they can decide how best to address this level of greed.

June 8, 2020
By Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Jesse Drucker and David Enrich

HCA Healthcare (click here) is one of the world’s wealthiest hospital chains. It earned more than $7 billion in profits over the past two years. It is worth $36 billion. It paid its chief executive $26 million in 2019.

But as the coronavirus swept the country, employees at HCA repeatedly complained that the company was not providing adequate protective gear to nurses, medical technicians and cleaning staff. Last month, HCA executives warned that they would lay off thousands of nurses if they didn’t agree to wage freezes and other concessions.

A few weeks earlier, HCA had received about $1 billion in bailout funds from the federal government, part of an effort to stabilize hospitals during the pandemic....

This is a cover-up for greed. If a CEO's hospital is not doing well financially, they need to make real cuts to CEO's and middle management salaries. I don't want to hear how they will leave and the hospital will lose their best management. Hello? Financial failure is not good management and the professionals in the hospital don't need management. They can get along very well without their CEOs and Middle Management. All the professionals need is a purchasing clerk and stockpile management. The CEO needs to go if a hospital can't "make it" without federal money.

Federal monies are to stabilize the hospital and not indulge management and purchase another home for the CEO.

...Industry officials argue that furloughs and pay reductions allow hospitals to keep providing essential services at a time when the pandemic has gutted their revenue....

I understand the US House has passed police reform bill. Some police forces will find it easier to come on board than others.

...The legislation (click here) would make it easier for victims of abuses to recover damages, create a national registry of police misconduct and ban chokeholds, among other provisions....

June 8, 2020
By Matt Byrne

The Portland Police Department (click here) bars the use of chokeholds, neck restraints and other tactics that might cut off someone’s ability to breathe and classifies such techniques as deadly force, according to the department’s use-of-force policy.

The department released a copy of the policy last week as millions of anti-racism protesters flooded city streets across the country and around the world, demanding that police agencies be defunded and reformed, and that police stop killing people, especially people of color....

...Police departments across the country are re-evaluating their use-of-force policies after Floyd’s death, and some departments have since banned maneuvers designed to cut off oxygen to someone’s brain and render them unconscious. Minneapolis allowed the use of the neck restraints by police until it also banned them on Friday.

Police officers in Minneapolis had used the technique 237 times, and rendered 44 people unconscious with the neck restraint since the beginning of 2015, according to NBC News....

The southern USA is always on vacation from the reality of the global pandemic.

The understanding of SARS-CoV-2 in the northern part of the country east of the Mississippi and the south is night and day. Either they don't understand it or they don't want to understand it. There must be a profound idea in the south that being slap-happy every day is the culture they desire because they completely reject the idea they are in danger.

The people in the south watched New York go through hell and they were simply watching during that time and never made the connection this could happen to every one of them.

While I was traveling I witnessed complete ignorance of the danger of the virus. Complete ignorance. People weren't even entertaining the idea they have to take the virus seriously. It wasn't until I got to mid-Virginia did I see people wearing masks in a profound understanding it was best to protect others while others protecting you.

It just doesn't matter to them. 

You know, when people are oppressed, their lives are so weary that understanding and protecting from ONE MORE THING is just too much and it seems like a bad joke to an already sorrowful life. I think that exists in the south. The white people/Caucasians were the worst. Walking into fast-food restaurants without masks and laughing and talking to others while the staff was wearing their gear.

It was bizarre to watch people carry on like nothing was wrong. Florida on Spring Break. Nothing is wrong because nothing will get in the way of their relief from their day to day lives. Relieving their burden was far more important than the damage any virus could cause. I mean they are unconscious when they die, right?

Central Virginia and north is what I call normal. They wore masks, practiced social distancing, and don't' lean into a conversation because they will move back from closer contact. They get it. They love their lives so much they don't dare put themselves in jeopardy. 

It was completely two opposite ends of the American culture. I found I pitied the right extremists and their hubris. Their ego structure was completely absent. To quote Freud, they were primarily ID with no Superego and no governing ego.

I was viewed as stupid and silly to be wearing a mask at all. No lie. In some ways it is true. The idea a mask protects others and others wearing masks protect you is meaningless if everyone isn't wearing them.

The word self-righteousness describes much of what I observed. They don't accept leadership unless it indulges their hubris and outlandish behavior in the face of danger.

The infection rates in these states are not falling at all. They are still increasing. 

When I reached far north, they probably have the least worry of all Americans and they are vigilant to the danger of SARS-CoV-2. It was the first time I saw a McDonald's restaurant dining section open. I peeked in to see how it was going. People were primarily wearing masks except to eat. That was interesting. They order the food and wait for it with masks on but then sit down and eat without it, but, by that time the people are dining they know the others and their health that are sharing their same space.

I strongly believe there is a profound difference in the way people in different areas of the USA value life. The south is more juvenile and hates the idea of imposition of rules that take away their happiness from day to day. It is worrisome. We are not all valuing our lives in the same way and are passing that difference onto our children. It is unfortunate. I am not imagining it. I was astounded at the difference. I am speaking in generalities of the majority of my observations. 

The traffic patterns are still different. The north had sparser passenger cars on the road, but, more than my initial trip south. The south never changed. There were many passenger cars on the road.

Interestingly, where the government was involved, the rules were sane. The high schoolers were carrying out their graduation in lines of cars to receive their diplomas. Post Offices demanded patrons to wear their masks and observe social distancing to the point of plastic sheets at the desk and marks on the floor to maintain the distance. People didn't have to guess where to stand when they were in line.

I found I was disappointed. I thought for sure as time went on people would modify their behaviors. That is only happening where people value information and respect it as the truth. It happens when social venues are closed. If the social venues are open it can mean to indulgence in all the feel-good feelings they can muster. There is the idea of "light switch" within that. In other words, if social venues were open it all must be okay, but, mostly because that is the way they wanted to understand the openings of society. It is unfortunate because I know there are dangers waiting for the opportunity and according to increasing number of cases the virus is finding that opportunity.

It is cultural. It is about permissiveness.
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Sorry, I am traveling tonight. There is a large storm coming into the country and I want stay ahead of it. Please be happy for me that I take my safety seriously and I thank you.

Next Sunday is flag day.

Until then...

In discussing the serious effects of COVID-19 with someone...

...I began to wonder about therapeutics. What is the chance of administering Coumadin/ warfarin as a prophylactic to prevent complications. Now, the reason for Coumadin is because it is easily reversed as a prophylactic should. But, we know when some cancer patients are placed on Coumadin that they still form clots and other therapeutics such as heparin shots help. Sometimes if the cancer is end stage it still might not be an answer. 

I thought blood thinners for the course of the virus until a patient tests negative would be prudent. I am sure there are physicians that have ordered this, ie: heart attacks. What is their experience? Which brings me to me last question. 

For patients that were already on blood thinners of one kind or another for a variety of reasons, did they have better outcomes with the viral infection? I am sure there are enough records to read to find these trends if they exist. It is just that so many of the adverse effects are from blood cloths, with the exception of the brain.

Just a thought.