April 1, 2020
By Leo Shane III

A man walks past Low Library on the Columbia University campus on March 9, 2020, in New York.

Attorneys behind a lawsuit (click here) which could open up an extra year of GI Bill education benefits to hundreds of thousands of veterans this week asked an appeals court to fast-track their case because of the potential windfall it could bring to families facing financial problems related to the coronavirus outbreak.

“(This appeal) will dictate whether at least one million post-9/11 veterans have access to billions of dollars in additional critical subsistence and educational benefits during these uncertain times and beyond,” attorneys wrote in the legal filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Last fall, a lower appeals court ruled that the Department of Veterans Affairs’ practice of requiring veterans to give up their Montgomery GI Bill eligibility to receive Post-9/11 GI Bill payouts was improper....

Statistically, there is going to be less general hospital patients. People are hunkered down at home without running to work and taking the kids to caregivers, so the likelihood of accidents and contagious illnesses won't be passed along. I have no doubt every General Practitioner is treating as many people as possible as outpatients for those not found to be positive for COVID-19. Even then, if they are not seriously compromised, they can be treated at home on quarantine within the home.

There is just less general hospital admissions.

My point of view hasn't changed regarding the readiness of the states. There are freelancing fabricators in every region in the country. The states need to hunt them and invite them to become a part of the solution. They will be ready to fabricate and then manufacture PPE.

PUT THEM TO WORK.

Additionally, as noble a balanced budget is for states, now is a very different time. The state legislators need to pass a suspension of balanced budget requirements until this nightmare is over.

My understanding of the current federal reserves of ventilators and otherwise is that they haven't been maintained or serviced and aren't working. From what I am reading the federal reserves of these machines and PPE supplies are exhausted and the warehouses are empty.

WE ARE ON OUR OWN.

Until the ventilators are rolling off the assembly lines PLAN to make ventilators as fabricated by MIT. I could be more serious. 

Globally, the USA is:

23.4 percent of the cases with 207,281 out of 884,609.

Also

10.3 percent of the deaths with 4614 out of 44,703.

April 1, 2020
By Kavahn Mansouri

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (click here) is calling on President Donald Trump to open a special enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

At his daily briefing on coronavirus, Pritzker said people across the country need to have access to healthcare during the pandemic. At the briefing, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, announced 986 new cases and 42 additional deaths, bringing the state case total to 6,980 and death total to 141....

The intelligence should have been in place to maintain national security.

Scott Air Force Base is in Illinois where the virus is still spreading.

At the beginning of this mess the two places I thought would be exempt from the virus would be prisons and the military. I was wrong on both counts.

In order to get the virus a person has to be exposed to the virus. A prison population is basically isolated from the public, so in a perfect world, the virus spreading through any prison system should be contained. I guess visitors and the correctional staff brought the virus to the prison and then the prisoners passed it onto each other unwittingly.

That is part of the problem we now face with prisoners that have limited movement to prevent infection and absolutely no hospital staff to administer care in a way the virus demands it.

A military base is an isolated piece of property where some enlisted and officers live. So, in a perfect world, the alert should have reached them first to set up isolation from any chance of being exposed to the virus. Of course, for any person that lives off base and has a family the danger of being exposed increases. But, I am really surprised at the degree the USA military is open to these infections. By all rights, their bases could easily serve as a "safe harbor" for all soldiers and officers. Here again a federal stay at home order would have spilled over into the military and they would have taken measures to prevent infection by anyone coming on the base. That stay at home order never was issued federally and this is the result.

No one in this administration put the military first to protect them and the USA's national defense.

The two places that can compromise the safety of citizens in this country, namely prisons and the military, were never issued information to move in a manner that would prevent these issues.

California, the state that once called prisons campuses, is having a large prisoner release.

April 1, 2020
By Kavahn Mansouri

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 has been announced at Scott Air Force Base. (click here)

A Department of Defense civilian employed at the base was tested March 26, with the results confirmed Tuesday, the base statement said. The employee has been working from home since March 18 and was not symptomatic.

Officials said the case was not travel-related, and the employee is now recovering at home.

As of Tuesday, St. Clair County had reported 42 cases of COVID-19 and two deaths from the virus.

April 1, 2020

Registered nurses (click here) at 15 hospitals in seven states — including one in Las Vegas — are planning to voice their concerns Wednesday about what they say is a lack of preparedness for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A news release issued by the National Nurses United union said protests are planned across the seven states because a lack of preparedness “places nurses, other staff, and patients at risk in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.”

One of the hospitals listed in the release is MountainView Hospital, 3100 N. Tenaya Way, in Las Vegas. The hospitals where protests are planned are all run by HCA Healthcare....

Senior citizens should file income tax returns for the state and federal government.

Many seniors work a part time job and just consider it extra income, but, it is more than that. The income tax returns, even city returns, sometimes have hidden credits. The federal return has a earned income tax credit (EITC) (click here) that can be obtained by low and moderate income. It is not reliant on having a child on the tax return as a dependent. This tax credit is available to any low to moderate income individual.

March 31, 2020
By Sahil Kapur

Washington - New information from the IRS (click here) on Monday shines more light on what people can do to get their checks from the government as quickly as possible while many families worry about paying the bills and buying food during the coronavirus crisis, which has cost millions of people their jobs.

For Americans eligible for stimulus cash under the new relief law, the fastest way to receive it is to make sure they've filed a tax return for 2019 or 2018 with bank information so the government can deposit the money directly.

The IRS says it will use people's 2019 returns to calculate eligibility and automatically send the money to those who qualify. If they haven't filed a 2019 return, it'll be based on the 2018 return....

I have been impressed by the response Las Vegas has put forth. The city government is not messing around. They are doing the hard work.

March 31, 2020

Developers of MSG Sphere (click here) at The Venetian no longer expect to finish next year as they pull the plug on construction because of the coronavirus pandemic....

I told you so. Slap on the wrist is not going to do it.

They are fanatics. They don't care about breaking the law. He is probably asking god to save the world, or whoever they talk to.

There is no reason for this, the church has a Facebook page and lectures/sermons can be posted there. Facebook also has the capacity to offer a live audience interaction. There is absolutely no reason for this preacher to carry on like this. His favorite lecture seems to be "A Tale of Two Kings (Basically it ensures he gets his cut first.)

April 1, 2020

Facebook Page (click here)

Central, Louisiana — Buses and cars (click here) filled a Louisiana church parking lot for another service Tuesday evening as worshippers flocked to hear a Louisiana pastor who is facing misdemeanor charges for holding services despite a ban on gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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A few protesters turned out, too, including a man shouting through a bullhorn against those gathering at the Life Tabernacle Church in the city of Central, where pastor Tony Spell has been holding services. Another demonstrator held up a sign reading: "God don't like stupid."

CBS Baton Rouge affiliate WAFB-TV reported the service was jammed with hundreds of parishioners. The station said there were also dozens of cars on hand to see if anyone stopped Spell from holding the service....

When corporate America is not a partner, but, a hindrance it is time to issue summons to court.

April 1, 2020
By Cliff Pickard

Cleveland, Ohio - Hobby Lobby (click here) has been “quietly” reopening stores across the nation, including all locations in Ohio, defying orders in several states closing “non-essential” businesses because of the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to reports.

Business Insider reports Hobby Lobby, which primarily sells craft supplies, on Monday reopened all 19 locations in Ohio, even though the state remains under a shelter-in-place order. The company has several locations in Northeast Ohio, including Mentor, Solon, Macedonia, Stow, Fairlawn and Medina....

April 1, 2020
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Ana Swanson

Washington - Chemicals used to construct military missiles. (click here) Materials needed to build drones. Body armor for agents patrolling the southwest border. Equipment for natural disaster response.

A Korean War-era law called the Defense Production Act has been used to place hundreds of thousands of orders by President Trump and his administration to ensure the procurement of vital equipment, according to reports submitted to Congress and interviews with former government officials.

Yet as governors and members of Congress plead with the president to use the law to force the production of ventilators and other medical equipment to combat the coronavirus pandemic, he has for weeks treated it like a “break the glass” last resort, to be invoked only when all else fails....

Our youth is somewhat out of control. There is a culture among them "Thrill Seekers." There is a very dangerous entity for this. The "Affluenza Defense" is actually being used among the wealthy when their young adults exert their "Thrill Seeker" culture and actually murder people. The "Thrill Seeker Culture" among the American youth/young adults is very real and they literally dare the virus to kill them.

This is a problem in the country and it has to be addressed.

Besides Texas' Affluenza Defense, there is another one in Michigan.

July 3, 2019
By Bill Froelich

An 18 year old man (click here) is in the Grand Traverse County Jail accused of murdering a homeless man back in May.
With his arrest comes disturbing new details about James Chisholm’s murder.
Traverse City police started their investigation into the murder of Chisholm five weeks ago.
He was killed along Boardman Lake.
Now their only suspect has turned himself in.
Early this morning the teenager turned himself in to police at the county jail.
Police say they’ve been working with law enforcement in California and with the suspect’s attorney to arrange for his surrender.
Joshua Vandehoef appeared by video arraignment this morning on an open murder charge.
The family of James Chisholm was also in the courtroom to see the man police believe killed him.
His body was found by people walking along the Boardman Lake Trail on May 29th.
Police called it a violent murder, investigators believe it was Joshua Vandehoef who stabbed Chisholm in the neck....

Young people are getting the wrong message these days. I can only guess why. Privilege and cheating pay off, don't they? 

Lie? What lie?

Depending on the patient, the SCARS of COVID-19 can exist beyond the disease.

What we don't know can hurt us. This article is about the pathology of the virus. I really believe fighting the inflammation is important.

March 25, 2020

The article describes two patients (click here) who recently underwent lung lobectomies for adenocarcinoma and were retrospectively found to have had COVID-19 at the time of surgery. Pathologic examinations revealed that, apart from the tumors, the lungs of both patients exhibited edema, proteinaceous exudate, focal reactive hyperplasia of pneumocytes with patchy inflammatory cellular infiltration, and multinucleated giant cells. Fibroblastic plugs were noted in airspaces.

“This is the first study to describe the pathology of disease caused by...COVID-19 pneumonia, since no autopsy or biopsies had been performed thus far. This would be the only description of early-phase pathology of the disease due to this rare coincidence...Since both patients did not exhibit symptoms of pneumonia at the time of surgery, these changes likely represent an early-phase of the lung pathology of COVID-19 pneumonia," Dr. Xiao said....

Method of invasive virus:

March 29, 2020

As the number of COVID-19 cases (click here) around the world continues to climb, hospitals are under increased pressure to provide emergency care for the most severely ill patients. What does this involve, and how does the coronavirus damage the respiratory system?

The virus first invades our bodies by attaching to a protein called ACE2 on cells in the mouth, nose and airways. For the first week of infection, symptoms are relatively mild, with sore throat, cough and fever....

This article while interesting makes the exception of children; I think that is irresponsible. Children are succumbing to this virus, too. To see them as carriers is wrong, too. Everyone can be a carrier.

...In ICU, various treatments can support these more serious breathing problems. This includes high-flow humidified oxygen, delivered via a nasal mask. The oxygen is warmed and its humidity artificially increased so as to avoid uncomfortable dryness. It is gently pumped into the lungs at a comfortable rate that still allows the patient to speak and eat.

If breathing worsens further, the patient is then intubated. This involves inserting a tube through the mouth and into the windpipe, through which oxygen is delivered via a ventilator. Intubated patients need to be sedated (kept asleep) until their lungs recover enough to work without assistance....

The article goes on to talk about Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) (click here). Australia might be doing this regularly to their patients, but, the USA is not equipped for such drastic measures. The USA is having a difficult time getting ventilators in place and to try to obtain more of these ECMO will be through an existing manufacturer and will take too long.

These are recovery stories:

March 20, 2020
By Julia Naftulin

As new cases of COVID-19 pop up, (click here) people around the world are recovering from their own bouts of the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

Recovery can mean different things depending on the severity of a person's symptoms, their age, and whether they have any underlying health conditions. For some, their symptoms go away permanently, while others could have long-term lung damage.

This is what it was like for a handful of people who recovered from COVID-19....

This is an article out of Hong Kong that addresses the POTENTIAL aftermath of this virus. The problem here is that a vaccine is often two or more years away. Future generations will benefit from it, but, if we could remove this virus from the face of the Earth, it would be a good thing.

14 March 2020

People who recover (click here) after being infected with the novel coronavirus can still be left with substantially weakened lung capacity, with some left gasping for air when walking quickly, doctors in Hong Kong have found.

The Hong Kong Hospital Authority made the findings after studying the first wave of patients who were discharged from the hospital and had fully recovered from COVID-19.

Out of 12 people in the group, two to three saw changes in their lung capacity.

"They gasp if they walk a bit more quickly," Owen Tsang Tak-yin, the medical director of the authority's Infectious Disease Centre, told a press conference Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post.

"Some patients might have around a drop of 20 to 30% in lung function" after full recovery, he said....

New York City has an Ultra-orthodox Jewish Community. The one in Israel is having an escalation in cases more so than the rest of the country. I do believe communities with highly orthodox citizens of any religion need to be more vigilant of their wellness and perhaps a reluctance to enter into treatment.

"Social Distancing" is mandatory to reduce exposures, illness and potential deaths.

April 1, 2020
By Aamer Madhani, Kevin Freking and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

President  Trump on Tuesday (click here for a very helpful slide map) warned Americans to brace for a “hell of a bad two weeks” ahead as the White House projected there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic even if current social distancing guidelines are maintained.

Public health officials stressed that the number could be less if people across the country bear down on keeping their distance from one another.

“We really believe we can do a lot better than that,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. That would require all Americans to take seriously their role in preventing the spread of disease, she said....

The Trump Administration is basically unhelpful when it comes to human life on Earth.

April 1, 2020

By Lee Moran

Former President Barack Obama (click here) on Tuesday called out President Donald Trump’s haphazard and widely criticized handling of the coronavirus pandemic, urging voters to “demand better of our government.”

“We’ve seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic,” Obama tweeted. “We can’t afford any more consequences of climate denial. All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall,” he added.

Obama, who has rarely attacked Trump since leaving office in 2016, did not mention the current commander in chief by name in the tweet....

There is every reason to open all avenues of opportunity to cover Americans during this national emergency. HHS should have issued Medicaid and Medicare to all Americans facing a COVID-19 diagnosis. Trump accepts the help of health insurance companies to provide free coverage to subscribers, but, Americans first have to be subscribers to receive free care. There is no doubt that when a national emergency is about human health the first thing to be done is to provide the country's Medicaid and Medicare to the hospitals to cover all Americans. Why declare a national health emergency if the president's administration is a hindrance to the best outcomes of Americans?

Refusing the opportunity of health care insurance, allowing increased pollution in the USA are all issues that prove Republicans care about money over people.

April 1, 2020

By Tami Luhby

The Trump administration has decided not to reopen enrollment in the Affordable Care Act's federal exchanges amid the rising coronavirus pandemic, a senior administration official said Tuesday evening.

Pressure had been building on the White House to launch a special enrollment period to allow the uninsured to purchase Obamacare policies. The decision came the same day that President Donald Trump warned of a painful two-week stretch ahead as infections continue to spread.

Democratic lawmakers asked administration officials to temporarily reopen the exchanges several weeks ago. Also, two leading health insurance industry groups wrote congressional leaders in mid-March asking for such a move.

"Given the risk posed by Covid-19, it is more important than ever for people to have health coverage," the CEOs of America's Health Insurance Plans and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association wrote, referring to the disease caused by coronavirus....

The virus appearing suddenly in Detroit is not so much a surprise as a clue.

I would be very suspicious of any humanitarian aid coming from Russia and China.

March 30, 2020
By Sharon Weinberger, Jana Winter and Martin De Bourmont

Washington - In late November 2018, (click here) just over a year before the first coronavirus case was identified in Wuhan, China, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Detroit Metro Airport stopped a Chinese biologist with three vials labeled “Antibodies” in his luggage.

The biologist told the agents that a colleague in China had asked him to deliver the vials to a researcher at a U.S. institute. After examining the vials, however, customs agents came to an alarming conclusion.

“Inspection of the writing on the vials and the stated recipient led inspection personnel to believe the materials contained within the vials may be viable Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) materials,” says an unclassified FBI tactical intelligence report obtained by Yahoo News.

The report, written by the Chemical and Biological Intelligence Unit of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate (WMDD), does not give the name of the Chinese scientist carrying the suspected SARS and MERS samples, or the intended recipient in the U.S. But the FBI concluded that the incident, and two other cases cited in the report, were part of an alarming pattern....
,

Mayport, Florida is an excellent place for the aircraft carrier to make dock.

I don't want to hear how an aircraft carrier with COVID-19 isn't good enough to dock in Mayport, Florida when the Florida Senators have been begging for one to be brought to Florida.

January 25, 2018
By Joe Daraskevich

The uphill battle to bring a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to Mayport Naval Station (click here) continued Thursday when U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio sent a letter to President Donald Trump asking for funding in 2019 to help make the dream a reality.

The Navy promised to bring a nuclear carrier to Mayport in 2009 after decommissioning the USS John F. Kennedy two years earlier. The conventionally powered Kennedy was the last carrier to call Mayport home.

But the project came to a halt in 2012 when President Barack Obama released a budget that didn’t include the funds necessary to continue modifications to the Mayport basin.

The latest request from Nelson, D-Fla., and Rubio, R-Fla., comes after the state’s entire congressional delegation sent a letter to the Department of Defense in March asking to include funding for the project in the 2018 budget.

The money was not included in this year’s budget, so Nelson and Rubio are trying again....

This is the Republican response to a national emergency.

They give Trump a pass on the aircraft carrier's high infection rate without prudent measures to prevent it in the first place.

They are suspending environmental laws JUST BECAUSE (click here). Not that there is a reason is even fabricated, just suspend the laws that exist.

Do not expect the Republicans to vote for an extension of the current financial benefits coming to Americans.

Here's the EXCUSE POLITICS of the Republicans...

Republican lies and blaming, but, no accepting responsibility. They even have a virus to blame for their lies and rherotic, too.

Trump's statement about giving supplies and vents to other countries is a lie. His administration has been begging every other country for help and the one country responding is Russia.

March 23, 2020
By Robbie Gramer

The U.S. State Department (click here) is instructing its top diplomats to press governments and businesses in Eastern Europe and Eurasia to ramp up exports and production of life-saving medical equipment and protective gear for the United States, part of a desperate diplomatic campaign to fill major shortcomings in the U.S. medical system amid a rising death toll from the new coronavirus.

We know what Trump did to the president of Ukraine, what other demands is he making now under the radar to save and enhance his campaign.

The appeal comes as European governments are themselves struggling to cope with one of the worst pandemics to spread around the globe since the 1918 Spanish flu. It represents a stark turnaround for the United States, which has traditionally taken the lead in trying to help other less-developed countries contend with major humanitarian disasters and epidemics....

Republicans will make the argument there is an overreaction because the life-saving measures instituted by many governors have kept the numbers of dead and ill down because of their decisions, so it plays into the negative politics of the Republican DENIERS.

The fact is there is no current immunity to most of the people of the USA. This isn't over until it is over and the very virus the Repuglicans use as an excuse for their politics will be around for some time. It will cause more deaths if they are stupid enough about politics that push people into public venues before it is safe to do so.

De Santis is killing the elderly on Social Security and often vote Democratic. He is a killer.

DeSantis is looking forward to making Trump's Daydream come true. You know, do nothing and watch people die in front of you. Trump is wrong about what an unmitigated COVID-19 looks like. No one would be getting out of bed and would die there and the hospitals would still be swamped. Not only that but 2.2 million dead in an unmitigated COVID-19 is low as far as I am concerned. The people would be swamping hospitals completely unprepared for their tsunami. There would be far larger numbers than 2.2 million.

The American people need to grow an appreciation of the Liberals and Democrats, THEY are the canary in the coal mine. They are the first to leap to attention when lives are in the breach. Their focus is always the people less able to care for themselves.

DeSantis knew full well that the Spring Breakers would go home and infected with COVID-19. He definitely was looking forward to the deaths that would bring. NO RELIGIOUS DOGMA IS GOING TO SAVE HIM FROM WHAT HE DID.

Americans need to be sure about the monies they are spending with the support coming from the federal government through their employers or the unemployment checks they are currently receiving that will be increasing in the weeks to come. There is no guarantee the Republicans will pass a bill that extends the benefits.

Virgin Orbit (click here) has stepped up to bring the people fo Great Britain a real opportunity to make it through this pandemic with the obvious failure of the current Prime Minister. Their efforts will support people globally as well. But, then that is Sir Richard. He takes his title seriously. He developed his own version of the emergency ventilator. They don't have to last forever, they just have to last through the illness.


"Bridge" ventilators (click here) developed by experts in collaboration with Virgin Orbit.