American Power

Monday, December 14, 2020

California Central Valley: Desperation and Defiance Amid Lockdown

At LAT, "‘I’ve seen people die.’ COVID-19 slams Central Valley hospitals, as many resist lockdowns":

FRESNO — The last time Dr. Eyad Almasri had a day off was in November, when he was infected with the novel coronavirus. His symptoms were not life-threatening, but it crushed him, he said, that he couldn’t be with his patients for 10 days.
A pulmonologist with the Fresno campus of UC San Francisco, Almasri works in the intensive care unit at Community Regional Medical Center in downtown Fresno — so packed with COVID-19 patients that the hospital has had to create makeshift isolation wards, including one in a hallway. Exhausted staff, working long hours seven days a week, rarely take off their protective gear because the entire area is the “dirty zone” — a phrase Almasri detests. With so many patients, there is no time for breaks anyway.
The story was similar this week in much of the San Joaquin Valley, where hospitals were crowded with COVID-19 patients. As of noon Saturday, availability of ICU beds in the region was zero. Fresno, a metro area with more than 1 million people, hit that dubious marker two days earlier.
“There is no help on the way,” Almasri said Thursday. “I can’t tell you how scared people are, and I can’t even sit there and hold their hands. There are so many others waiting.”
Across California, medical professionals such as Almasri live a world apart from average citizens, who have no clear window into the conditions of hospital wards. But the San Joaquin Valley is different. Nowhere else in California do intensive care doctors and nurses work in such a fragile system.
It’s an agricultural valley with high rates of poverty and a staggering shortage of doctors. Yet during the pandemic, many local leaders have been openly defiant of public health directives.
The Fresno City Council on Thursday approved an order intended to clamp down on backyard parties, for what it was worth. But the city police chief quickly issued a statement saying his officers would not enforce it. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases continue to soar in the county, in part because of outbreaks at a Foster Farms poultry plant and a state prison.
In Stockton, in the northern part of the San Joaquin Valley, some small-business owners are demanding a reprieve from closures, arguing that this third round is arbitrary and unfair. They say there is little sense in having large chains such as Target and Walmart, where workers come into contact with hundreds of customers a day, remain open while shutting down outdoor dining for neighborhood eateries and services such as salons. Closing again, they contend, may mean that they go under permanently — a financial catastrophe for them and their employees.
“The hospitals are not overflowing because of restaurants,” said Johnny Hernandez, co-owner of the Black Rabbit gastropub in Stockton, who joined a protest with other small-business owners Thursday on the steps of Stockton City Hall. Hernandez said he has let go seven of his 10 employees and doesn’t have the funds to make it past this month. For him, the threat of financial ruin is more real than the specter of illness.
“I don’t see Republican; I don’t see Democrat,” said the former union organizer. “I see people hurting.”
The valley is a diverse place, with complex opinions on the pandemic. Farmworkers and other essential Latino workers have been hit hard and are scared that the coming months will be even tougher. But with many lacking legal immigration status and unable to receive state aid, they must work to put food on the table. Many business owners also recognize the seriousness of the pandemic and are taking precautions to protect themselves, their families and employees...

Still more.

Sydney Sweeney

At Celeb Jihad, "SYDNEY SWEENEY SELFIE PHOTOS."

Christopher Dede, The 60-Year Curriculum

At Amazon, Christopher Dede, ed., The 60-Year Curriculum.

Lionel North Pole Central Christmas Tree Train Set

At Amazon, Lionel COS1900337 North Pole Central Christmas Tree 22.8 inch (57.8cm) Train Set.

BONUS: The Christmas Story: Drawn directly from the Bible.

Douglas Murray, The Madness of Crowds

At Amazon, Douglas Murray, The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity.

Chinese Communist Party Pushing Narrative of the Superiority of its Authoritarian Political Model

I hear Buddy Holly singing up there near the Pearly Gates, "That'll Be the Day..."

At NYT, "China’s Combative Nationalists See a World Turning Their Way":

In one Beijing artist’s recent depiction of the world in 2098, China is a high-tech superpower and the United States is humbled. Americans have embraced communism and Manhattan, draped with the hammer-and-sickle flags of the “People’s Union of America,” has become a quaint tourist precinct.
This triumphant vision has resonated among Chinese.
The sci-fi digital illustrations by the artist, Fan Wennan, caught fire on Chinese social media in recent months, reflecting a resurgent nationalism. China’s authoritarian system, proponents say, is not just different from the West’s democracies, it is also proving itself superior. It is a long-running theme, but China’s success against the pandemic has given it a sharp boost.
“America isn’t that heavenly kingdom depicted since decades ago,” said Mr. Fan, who is in his early twenties. “There’s nothing special about it. If you have to say there’s anything special about it now, it’s how messed up it can be at times.”
China’s Communist Party, under its leader, Xi Jinping, has promoted the idea that the country is on a trajectory to power past Western rivals.
China stamped out the coronavirus, the messaging goes, with a resolve beyond the reach of flailing Western democracies. Beijing has rolled out homegrown vaccines to more than a million people, despite the safety concerns of scientists. China’s economy has revived, defying fears of a deep slump from the pandemic.
“In this fight against the pandemic, there will be victorious powers and defeated ones,” Wang Xiangsui, a retired Chinese senior colonel who teaches at a university in Beijing, averred this month. “We’re a victor power, while the United States is still mired and, I think, may well become a defeated power.”
The firm leadership of Mr. Xi and the party has earned China its recent success, say newspapers, television programs and social media...

Kerry McDonald, Unschooled

At Amazon, Kerry McDonald, Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom.

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Today's Deals

At Amazon, Today's Gold Box Deals.

More, Amazon Best Sellers.

Still more, American Furniture Classics 840 4 Gun Wall Rack, Medium Brown.

Here, Fixed Blade Knife with Wood Handle for Hunting and Fishing - Good for Camping and Travels - Dependable Knife for Survival.

And, Cold Steel Bushman Series Fixed Blade Survival Knife with Hollow Handle, Fire Starter and Sheath - Great as a Camping Knife and Throwing Knife.

Plus, Jinager Survival Gear Kits Outdoor Survival Gear Tool for Trip,with Fire Starter, Whistle, Wood Cutter, Tactical Pen for Camping, Hiking, Climbing for Wilderness/Trip/Cars/Hiking/Camping.

BONUS: Tim Wu, The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age.

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Shop Amazon Outlet

Here, "Shop Amazon Outlet – Clearance, Markdowns and Overstock Deals."

Also, High Peak Outdoors Moose Country Gear-20 Degree Regular Sleeping Bag, Orange/Grey.

And, "Carhartt Men's Arctic Quilt Lined Yukon Active Jacket.

Plus, Bobcat Knives Custom Handmade Hunting Knife Bowie Knife Damascus Steel Survival Knife EDC 10'' Overall Walnut Wood with Sheath.

And more, OneOdio A70 Bluetooth Over Ear Headphones, Studio Headphones with Shareport, Foldable, Wired and Wireless Professional Monitor Recording Headphones for Guitar Amp Online PC Tablet Home Office Online.

Still more, Protein Powder - MuscleTech Nitro-Tech Whey Gold - Whey Protein Powder - Whey Protein Isolate + Peptides - Protein Powder for Women & Men - Chocolate Protein Powder, 5.5 lbs (76 Serv).

And, LabsMen 2-in-1 Horny Goat Weed Extract with Epimedium (13mg Icariin), Maca, Tribulus Terrestris, L Arginine & Ginseng – Testosterone Booster for Men - Enhance Stamina, Performance & Libido.

BONUS: Ilya Shapiro, Supreme Disorder: Judicial Nominations and the Politics of America's Highest Court.

Yuri Slezkine, The House of Government

At Amazon, Yuri Slezkine, The House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution.

Joe Biden's Wife, Soon to Be First Lady, Should Drop the 'Dr. Jill Biden' Ruse

Heh.

This is hilarious, at WSJ, "Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.":

Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden—Jill—kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the “Dr.” before your name? “Dr. Jill Biden” sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title “Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs.” A wise man once said that no one should call himself “Dr.” unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc.
I taught at Northwestern University for 30 years without a doctorate or any advanced degree. I have only a B.A. in absentia from the University of Chicago—in absentia because I took my final examination on a pool table at Headquarters Company, Fort Hood, Texas, while serving in the peacetime Army in the late 1950s. I do have an honorary doctorate, though I have to report that the president of the school that awarded it was fired the year after I received it, not, I hope, for allowing my honorary doctorate. During my years as a university teacher I was sometimes addressed, usually on the phone, as “Dr. Epstein.” On such occasions it was all I could do not to reply, “Read two chapters of Henry James and get into bed. I’ll be right over.”
I was also often addressed as Dr. during the years I was editor of the American Scholar, the quarterly magazine of Phi Beta Kappa. Let me quickly insert that I am also not a member of Phi Beta Kappa, except by marriage. Many of those who so addressed me, I noted, were scientists. I also received a fair amount of correspondence from people who appended the initials Ph.D. to their names atop their letterheads, and have twice seen PHD on vanity license plates, which struck me as pathetic. In contemporary universities, in the social sciences and humanities, calling oneself Dr. is thought bush league.
The Ph.D. may once have held prestige, but that has been diminished by the erosion of seriousness and the relaxation of standards in university education generally, at any rate outside the sciences. Getting a doctorate was then an arduous proceeding: One had to pass examinations in two foreign languages, one of them Greek or Latin, defend one’s thesis, and take an oral examination on general knowledge in one’s field. At Columbia University of an earlier day, a secretary sat outside the room where these examinations were administered, a pitcher of water and a glass on her desk. The water and glass were there for the candidates who fainted. A far cry, this, from the few doctoral examinations I sat in on during my teaching days, where candidates and teachers addressed one another by first names and the general atmosphere more resembled a kaffeeklatsch. Dr. Jill, I note you acquired your Ed.D. as recently as 15 years ago at age 55, or long after the terror had departed...

Too good, lol.

And the fallout (the inevitable leftist hissy-fit), at the Wrap, "Wall Street Journal Slammed as Sexist for Op-Ed Calling Jill Biden ‘Kiddo’ and Urging Her to Drop Doctor Title."