20200808 - Corona Virus Part 21 - BLM Part 10

 

Another week has passed for Wendy and I in our little tin can by the sea. We are doing well, always enjoying one another's company as we isolate to survive the corona virus pandemic. To a layman, it appears that something has happened to testing for the virus. The CDC came out with guidance that instructed younger people that they didn't need to test for the virus - instead, just isolate at home for ten days. And in Florida, our governor has removed the need for testing restaurant workers - the manager is now responsible for determining if someone should be at work or not. Wen and I vowed not to eat at a restaurant for a while, since we can't trust it. Even at a drive through, we can't trust it. Work continues on for me. I'm still working from home and loving every minute of it. I had a bunny visit me on Wednesday to brighten my spirits. We had a mini-reorg at work. Our leader decided to insert a layer of management between him and the developers. So, I now have six layers of management between me and the senior partners. Kinda like the six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but different. The chart above shows the race for a vaccine. Currently, I do not plan on getting vaccinated with any of these. There has been too little science and quite a bit of pomp associated with them. I have oodles of questions, like "how long will it last," "if I need a booster and my first shot was brand A, can I safely use brand B for the booster," "are there any long-term side effects," and a volume of others.

This week marked the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan by the US. I lived and worked in Japan for three years. I had one Japanese gentleman, a shop manager, thank me for ending the war. I told him that I personally had nothing to do with it; I wasn't even born. Then he told me part of his story - that he was a crewman in a two-man kamikaze submarine in Tokyo harbor when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed. The detonations were only three days apart - August 6th and 9th, 1945. So, my friend concluded, he thanked me because he is alive today to have a conversation with me. I'm getting teary just recalling that moment. I've also been to both Peace Park in Hiroshima and Ground Zero in Nagasaki. If you find yourself in Japan, I strongly recommend going to both of these locations. If nothing else, a ride on the Shinkansen bullet train is well worth it, but I think the visit to these locations will change you. It's ironic that I reinforced my internal pacifist by being in the armed services. To me, one scripture resonates more than most others - Exodus 20:13. Look it up.

Arctic sea ice has shrunk to the lowest level since satellite information tracking it began in 1980. This is a reduction in sea ice area of 26.4 % over those 30 years. The sea ice moderates our winter-summer temperature extremes and without it, we will have huge temperature and humidity swings globally as the seasons change. Since we mitigate the seasonal variations with air conditioning and heating, which are dependent on burning fossil fuels, this will only exacerbate the current situation. But it's all a hoax, right? 🙄

Cases	Deaths	Tests

Scope	Cases	% Inc.	Deaths	% Inc.
Worldwide	19,584,576	10.0	724,860	6.0
United States	5,097,187	8.2	164,139	4.7
Florida	518,075	10.1	7,927	15.8
Pinellas County	17,358	6.1	469	27.8

For what little they are worth, the numbers are presented in the table to the left. These numbers, and nearly all numbers surrounding the corona virus, now follow Goodhart's Law: when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. I suspect that the federal government is trying to rein in costs, so now they are reducing the number of tests by applying policy and advisories to remove requirements for COVID-19 tests. As a result, I expect the Florida and Pinellas county week-over-week percentage increases to dwindle. I'm sure that there are associated advisories and policies to reduce the deaths due to COVID-19 as well. It will take a couple weeks to see that appear.

The protests continue for Black Lives Matter, with a recent encounter in Utah. There, a peaceful BLM protest was countered with a protest by "Utah Citizens Alarm", a pro-police group that were armed. Why would you come armed to a peaceful protest? I don't think the intent was peaceful.

The economic numbers - Google tells me that the local 7/11 is selling gas at $2.09/gal. The DJIA is up over the week, starting Monday morning at 26542 and ending Friday afternoon at 27437. Unemployment is still up, at 10.2% during July. The increased unemployment payment, as well as eviction prevention, and the loans for small businesses have now lapsed. The house and the white house have been trying to negotiate a new bill. First question - where are the senators in this? Vacationing? Second question - why has it taken so long for them to negotiate? The senate tried to pass a bill, but it failed within their own chamber. I guess that left the house to wrangle with the treasury to get something done. Neither bartered in good faith, though. Members of the house wanted to expose how the senate waited forever and offered so little, and the treasury knew that the president would use executive orders to get something done. Or can he? Our constitutional moments for today -

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

- Constitution of the United States of America, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

- Constitution of the United States of America, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7

One idea floated was to remove all payroll tax. There are numerous issues with doing this, like defunding social security and medicare. Probably the worse situation is that the courts would be defunded. I went though this once in Alabama - 2010 was a shortfall year for taxes in Alabama and as a result, they defunded the court system in 2011, causing courts to take days off, furlough many clerks and officers, and generally downsize. The case backlog was huge and crime increased as a result. 

On politics: "This Content Isn't Available Right Now." - Facebook.

A Florida Illinois man...

I had to venture to articles from Illinois for this one. A man driving a powerboat was killed when his own anchor hit him. He was trawling the anchor, he hit the gas, the line went taught, and the rebound pulled the anchor out of the water and straight into the driver of the boat. 

It's a turf war on a global scale

I'd rather hear both sides of the tale

See, it's not about races

Just places, faces

Where your blood comes from is where your space is

I've seen the bright get duller

I'm not going to spend my life being a color

- Bill Botrell and Michael Jackson, Black and white, Dangerous, 1991