COVID-19
From the web:
The Miami Herald reported Saturday (18 April 2020) that Gov. Ron DeSantis' top attorney reached out to Holland & Knight, which represents the Herald, to sway them not to file a lawsuit the newspaper was preparing in its pursuit of information the administration has about the names of elder-care facilities affected by the coronavirus. The pressure worked. The firm decided not to file the lawsuit. Let that sink in. The governor of the state of Florida put pressure on the law firm representing a media outlet seeking information during a public health crisis. And it worked. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241942211.html
Seen in the comments at https://news.yahoo.com/trump-administration-require-nursing-homes-005004929.html
It is no wonder that COVID-19 related cases overwhelmed New York hospitals. It is not a result of any shortage of money for new hospitals. New York law forbids adding a new hospital unless you have been favored by bureaucrats with a certificate of need. Government bureaucrats restrict the quantity of hospital beds much the way they used taxi medallions to limit the number of taxis on the streets of New York City. As Mercatus Center explains,
Certificate-of-need (CON) laws require healthcare providers to obtain permission before they open or expand their practices or purchase certain devices or new technologies. Applicants must prove that the community “needs” the new or expanded service, and existing providers are invited to challenge would-be competitors’ applications. CON laws have persisted in spite of mounting evidence from health economists, regulatory economists, and antitrust lawyers showing that these laws fail to achieve their intended goals.
As reported in April 2017 edition of Reason, a baby born in LewisGale Medical Center in Salem, Virginia, died after Virginia bureaucrats used the commonwealth’s certificate of need law to prevent the facility from having a high-tech neo-natal intensive care unit.
Today would be a good day to check if such a law applies where you live, and to tell “your” State lawmakers to repeal it if one does.
Photoshopped fake for the purpose of satire. Download full size. This is how Trump supporters picture their president.
Text from the biography of Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Dr. Fauci was appointed director of NIAID in 1984. (...)
Dr. Fauci has advised six presidents on HIV/AIDS and many other domestic and global health issues. He was one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that has saved millions of lives throughout the developing world. (...)
In a 2019 analysis of Google Scholar citations, Dr. Fauci ranked as the 41st most highly cited researcher of all time. According to the Web of Science, he ranked 8th out of more than 2.2 million authors in the field of immunology by total citation count between 1980 and January 2019.
Dr. Fauci has delivered major lectures all over the world and is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest honor given to a civilian by the President of the United States), the National Medal of Science, the George M. Kober Medal of the Association of American Physicians, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, the Prince Mahidol Award, and the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award. He also has received 45 honorary doctoral degrees from universities in the United States and abroad.
Dr. Fauci is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, as well as other professional societies including the American College of Physicians, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Association of Immunologists, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals; as an editor of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine; and as author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,300 scientific publications, including several textbooks.
Listen to Dr. Fauci, not to Trump. One lengthy list of President Trump’s lies about the novel coronavirus can be found at The Atlantic. If you are still a Trump supporter, now is the time to wake up and shut off your crazy switch. If you don’t like the Democrats, check out the other candidates. Don’t be surprised if the Republocrats in State legislatures prevent third party candidates from being named on the ballots. Campaign workers have to go around and collect signatures, which is illegal now.
This story is rapidly evolving. Any Dr. Fauci video we feature would quickly become outdated. One way to get up to date with straight talk from Dr. Fauci is to use the Youtube filter. Go to https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Dr.+Fauci and activate the filter, selecting Today.
Excuse for a police state.
Always remember that the virus outbreak is no excuse for violating people’s rights.
China
Don’t let the coronavirus outbreak distract your attention away from the human rights violations that government officials in China are committing against the Uygher Muslims. Just a reminder.
Hand sanitizer
Check out Reason explaining how federal regulations suppress the supply of hand sanitizer. Even if you support the federal and State restrictions on booze, remember that the distilleries could produce hand sanitizer for health care professionals, and the other hand sanitizer factories would then be able to supply retailers.
Testing for COVID-19
As reported in the Washington Post, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) shipped faulty test kits. Meanwhile, many companies stood ready to supply quality test kits, but federal regulations prevented them.
The right way to teach health care
Right after high school graduation, you would move into a dormitory at the hospital, and mop floors to pay for your room, board and tuition. Once you get an entry-level job, such as nurse’s aide or emergency medical technician (E.M.T.) you do that job to pay for your room, board and continued tuition.
There are already promotions built into the system, such as going from licensed practical nurse (L.P.N.) to registered nurse (R.N.) or from emergency medical technician (E.M.T.) to paramedic. Design the ladder all the way from mopping floors to doctor of medicine, optometry, dentistry or whatever.
Right now, many thousands of medical school students would be able to help take care of the coming wave of patients. Besides, the students would graduate medical school without a student loan.
Many a major league baseball player started in the minor leagues, living with a host family and riding a beat-up old bus.
The War on Walkers
Imagine finishing a 16-hour shift at the hand sanitizer factory, and as you are walking home, “starving,” you detour to the fast food place. The lobby is closed, but the drive-up window is still open. They refuse to serve you because you don’t have a car, and therefore you don’t matter. Expect more discrimination against walkers as restaurants offer take-out only. That’s what they get for trying to reduce their carbon footprint instead of supporting the auto and oil industries.
Persons who don’t matter
You can file on line for unemployment, but the library is closed. You can go later, but then it’s too late. The bureaucrats will send the $1,200 bonus to last year’s bank account. Many people closed out their bank account since then. You’ll be able to file on line, but the library is closed. Persons without internet just don’t matter to bureaucrats. Since post offices are still open, they could make a paper form available to mail in, but why should they want to do that for persons who don’t matter? It is bad enough that they will be mailing out checks at the rate of 5,000,000 a week instead of paying everybody now. Folks who have that nasty habit of signing their names in ink on the back of a check and cashing the check, just don’t matter anymore to bureaucrats. They’ll just have to wait. That’s what they get for not entering into a contract with an internet service provider.
Bail-outs
Expect some politicians to welcome the coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to take more money from struggling families and give it to big businesses, such as airlines. Libertarian candidates, do check and see how your opponent votes on such things.
Just because the bureaucrats sent you some money doesn’t mean you should object any less to corporate welfare. Tell U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Senator Rick Scott, and the U.S. Representative who represents (or misrepresents) you, to end corporate welfare.
The right way to stockpile
Have you ever noticed that stocking up is prudent, stockpiling is bad and hoarding is terrible, but they all mean the same thing?
Even a pre-storm rush puts a strain on a retail system designed for just-in-time delivery. Often, a factory has a production line with a worker stacking cartons on a pallet. When the pallet is complete, a forklift driver removes it to a waiting trailer. It goes that day, to the distribution center of a retail chain, and they unload it, count it, sign for it and then load the cartons onto trailers bound for their stores. Sometimes, a production line will run for a few hours, and the product is brought to a warehouse where workers pick from it to fill orders for two weeks. The cost of setting up the production line is balanced against the need to produce a variety of stock-keeping units (SKU’s) while maintaining a minimum of inventory. It is up to you and me to maintain stockpiles for emergencies.
Under normal conditions, somebody could buy a tractor trailer load of hand sanitizer or toilet paper without putting a dent in availability. The factory would simply make more, to keep the supply “pipeline” filled. It is unfortunate that somebody who would invest a handsome sum on such a gamble would be punished for it when a disaster strikes.
In a way, we were quite lucky with this disaster. The factories are running, the power is on and the stores are open. The next disaster, there may be no warning, and whatever you have in your home, that is it.
Some people had all summer to stockpile toilet paper and hand sanitizer, and instead they spent the money taking trips to the beach. Other people never had a spare dime in their budget, due to rising rents, caused by zoning restrictions that prevent the construction of an abundance of new housing.
If you are saving for college or retirement, spend some of the money on emergency supplies from normal retail channels. When you retire or lose your job, you can eat the canned food. The welfare office won’t ask about how well you are stocked. As the expiration dates approach, either use it up or donate it to your local food pantry.
If you are stocking up on pasta, buy spaghetti, which is much more compact than pasta in other forms. If subsequent customers have to settle for elbow macaroni or shells for tonight’s dinner, they’ll live.
The U.S. Postal Service
Big shots at the U.S. Postal Service are crying for a bail-out. There is a better way.
First of all, eliminate all discounts. If it costs me 55 cents to mail a letter, it should cost everybody 55 cents. No more 5-cent discount just for using a postage meter. That discount is a result of their intense hatred toward stamp collectors. When sending a package, try to pay the postage with stamps and you may wind up doing battle with a trigger-happy window clerk who just can’t understand that stamps are valid for paying postage. Once you say you will send it for that price and take your eyes away to count the money, they consider themselves entitled to issue a postage meter tape. You may have to snatch the mailpiece away and observe, No matter how much you hate stamp collectors, I still have a right to use stamps as postage.
Imagine a poll worker automatically giving his or her favorite party’s ballot to undeclared voters without asking which party’s ballot the voter wanted.
No more pre-sort discounts, because postal workers should sort the mail, and because every piece of mail deserves a postage stamp, a legible postmark and a cancel.
Second of all, there is no sensible reason for all the different classifications of Periodical Class Mail. Was the magazine mailed by a professional society? Does it contain more than 75 percent ads? What difference does it make? It still costs the same to deliver it.
6.2 Publications of Institutions and Societies
6.2.1 Basic Standards
A publication that meets the applicable basic standards in 4.0 through 9.0 and 11.0 and contains only the publisher’s own advertising and not, under any condition, the advertising of other persons or organizations, is eligible for Periodicals mailing privileges if it is: ( ... )
6.2.2 Types of Publications
Publications are eligible for Periodicals mailing privileges if they meet the basic standards of 4.0, contain only the publisher’s own advertising or general advertising subject to 6.2.3, and are published by:
a.) A benevolent or fraternal society or order organized under the lodge system and having a bona fide membership of at least 1,000 persons (publications under the auspices of the society or order are also eligible).
b.) A trade union (publications under the auspices of the union are also eligible).
c.) A strictly professional society, that is, a group consisting solely of persons who have obtained professional status by advanced educational training, experience, specialized interest, or peer examination. Where applicable, public certification in a particular field of the arts or sciences (such as engineering, law, or medicine) is considered in determining eligibility. The members must be engaged in their given profession under its binding standards of performance and conduct on which the public is entitled to rely.
Every piece of mail should be franked with one or more postage stamps that show the amount of money. The piece should be postmarked by postal employees, none of this U.S. POSTAGE PAID AT NEW YORK, NEW YORK PERMIT NUMBER 12345 nonsense. A postmark on the envelope of a bank statement helps the customer locate the right statement.
Eliminate third class mail and have all correspondence sent by first class mail.
Too much mail arrives with uncanceled stamps, illegible postmarks or both. What is wrong with those postal workers anyway? They need to practice revenue protection.
Self-stick stamps should have a water-soluble primer between the paper and the adhesive so collectors can soak the stamps off with water, not other chemicals.
U.S.P.S. needs to pick up the mail at the U.N. every afternoon at closing time, not the morning four days later, after the holiday weekend.
Every time there is a postal exam, U.S.P.S. is flooded with applicants. They are called up in descending order of their test scores. Many who get a passing grade never get called because applicants with higher scores are called first and then another test is held, leaving them like a runner on base when the inning ends. This means U.S.P.S. is paying too much for labor, which a wage freeze would solve. It also means the best and brightest minds are being put to use sorting letters instead of curing COVID-19. It’s true that a lot of people who get hired don’t last, particularly as carriers. Not everybody is cut out for that.
A.P.W.U. always demands more than U.S.P.S. management is willing to offer. The so-called collective bargaining agreement always goes to arbitration, a job which should be done by Congress. I say so-called because neither side agreed to it, and it is written by the arbitrators and not by the bargainers.
From https://apwu.org:
The big news is in – 200,000 postal workers represented by the APWU have a new union contract!
Neutral Arbitrator and Interest Arbitration Panel Chair Stephen Goldberg issued his binding decision on the terms of the new union contract between the American Postal Workers Union and the United States Postal Service
Readers are encouraged to visit the A.P.W.U. website for their side.
Congress should freeze the wages until supply meets demand. That’s only fair to the customers paying the postage, and to the applicants who need a job. In some areas, the labor market indicates higher wages than in areas of high unemployment. U.S.P.S. could help balance the market by sorting mail addressed to an area of low unemployment down to the five-digit ZIP Code, or even the carrier route, rather than the first three digits. The receiving facility where a labor shortage exists would have less work to do. The sending facility in an area of high unemployment would have more work to do.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, postal workers deserve a safe workplace and protective equipment.
Supermarkets and motels
If you work for a supermarket or motel, please pass this on to the boss. Motels are being hit hard and have vacant rooms. They need to install small washing machines. Add a microwave oven and refrigerator if it is not already in there. I say this because each supermarket employee has a unique family situation. For some, a motel room is the best option. When the worker tests positive and requires isolation, a motel room with an exterior door facing fresh air, (unlike a hotel room where the door faces a common hallway) will provide the perfect isolation. The employee, upon testing positive, will proceed to the motel and move in for two weeks. The room will need to be pre-stocked with food and other necessities. The sight of wet bed sheets hanging to dry will drive the patient to take a long walk outdoors, which is fresh air and exercise. Supermarket chains will need to make arrangements with local motels. As for the cost, the supermarkets are enjoying exceptional sales now, facing a crush of customers, and there is nothing wrong with increasing prices to reflect increased costs.
Supermarkets ought to prepare for a strong demand for money orders and stamps, as more customers will stroll into the joint to cash unemployment checks and paychecks from new jobs, before direct deposit kicks in. They cannot renew their car registration in person, so they have to mail in the payment. Starting today, when somebody cashes a check, you should ask, “Do you need any money orders?” This may increase if the U.S. Government starts mailing out four-figure checks and the customers are uneasy about carrying so much cash.
Businesses should also consider buying machinery similar to the farebox that accepts coins and displays the total. Folks could stock up on $1 coins at the bank and pay for their pizza delivery much more conveniently with $1 coins than with quarters; and coins are much easier to disinfect by immersion in a disinfectant than notes are.
Speed up the economic recovery.
The best way to speed up the economic recovery is for the State legislatures to wipe out all the local zoning restrictions. Immediately, there will be an abundance of new jobs in demolition and construction, and with the glut of new housing, — meeting the modern code — landlords will have to slash rents to find tenants. Folks will be able to save up for down payments and for college. Folks without cars won’t have the cost of a parking lot added into their rent. Some poor, suffering billionaires will look out their bay windows and see working class people, minorities and immigrants moving in. Some real estate investors will lose everything, same as some plantation owners lost everything when the slaves were emancipated and Confederate money became worthless.
If you cannot afford to live in an affluent town, because of the zoning restrictions there, you also have no say in those restrictions, because you don’t live there. That is why zoning restrictions need to be abolished at the State level. Today would be a good day to tell “your” State representative and State senator to abolish all zoning restrictions throughout Florida. To suggest that cities and towns shouldn’t have this forced upon them is like saying that slaveholders shouldn’t have emancipation of slaves forced upon them.
Prioritize your resources.
First, take care of yourself and the family members for whom you are responsible. This is not inconsistent with helping others out. You can volunteer at a food pantry even as you depend on it. Many charities right now need both volunteers and money to deliver supplies and services.
If you have more than you need, you can share with people who are seriously struggling; but use your head. Don’t try to bail out the economy. Order a pizza if you actually want one, and tip the driver. Don’t drink a pallet of beer just to provide seven minutes of work to a forklift operator at the brewery. Spend your money more wisely, building up a reserve of supplies. Spending money on home repairs provides somebody with a job, and increases your home’s resale value.
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