Nice to hear from you! Yes, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I hesitate to say this, but as I read the @baba post about T, I clearly heard the word "stroke." I'll just leave it there. Either literally or figuratively, clearly it's not a good sign for him.
I hope the valet heals quickly and with ease.
I can only imagine what is going on there today. I actually feel sorry everyone.
Hopefully the valet heals quickly. I am sure he is worried he has exposed the President. That is a tough thing to carry while sick with this disease.
The Trump administration will not implement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 17-page draft recommendation for reopening America.
(The sound of silence is deafening in the room. I literally thought of plenty to say but the words...they just kept stopping mid-thought. What else is there to say? I let that statement stand alone).
That moment when you read that your Governor/State Department of Health just put a stop on a team of university experts working on COVID-19 modeling. Apparently the joint university modeling project showed the only way to have a good outcome on re-opening the state was waiting until at least the end of May. This was after 5 different models were used with different timeframes.
The modeling team of about two dozen professors at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona was compiling the most robust public model in Arizona of COVID-19. Now they can't have any state data to work with. The new model the state of Arizona is now relying upon is from FEMA and is not being released to the public. So, no transparency. Of course why should that even be a thing?
CAN YOU SAY REVERSE COURSE??
It appears that state officials in Arizona are reversing course on their idiotic decision. This turn comes after pressure from Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and local and national media attention. Even Rachel Maddow devoted a segment on it last night. Yesterday ASU and then UofA both decided to continue with their modeling work, even without cooperation of the state of AZ. The state local reps and even our US senator Kirsten Sinema have been very vocal.
Chris Minnick, a state Health Department spokesman, noted in a written statement that the department communicated on Thursday with the university modelers from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.
ASU Biodesign Institute Executive Director Joshua LaBaer said the university is working on a website where they plan to post the model publicly so that people can view it.
“Our goal here is to understand what's happening,” LaBaer said. “Academia is all about generating and looking at data, analyzing it and trying to understand what it means, and I think we are going to continue doing that. We don't set policy; that's someone else's job. What we do is analyze the situation and make that information available. And we're committed to doing that, under all circumstances.”
So, this information the professors have been working on is going out to the public mo matter what. I think that played a major role on the reversal.
And that it was an idiotic thing to do.
Last week I came across an entry in Urban Dictionary that made my day: "Cuomosexual - In love with competent, reassuring governance by a leader who uses complete sentences and displays common sense during a pandemic."
Also, for fans of American 19th century/environmental literature, this satirical take on the age of social distancing from McSweeney's is hilarious: "Who's Laughing Now Assholes?" A Letter from Henry David Thoreau to Literature Faculties at Cushy Liberal Arts Schools
Both the Oglala and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes are ticking off the S. Dakota Governor. Good for them!
The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe has rejected an ultimatum by South Dakota's governor to remove checkpoints on state highways within tribal reservations or risk legal action.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/09/us/south-dakota-sioux-tribes/index.html