The government is providing monies to the legions of displaced workers to live on during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Predictably the bureacracies responsible for dispensing these much needed dollars are not making it easy for the end users to receive the money.

It takes a lot patience and perserverance to navigate through the System.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 4.29.2020 – Kathleen Pender

It wasn’t easy, but self-employed people who had the patience and perseverance to deal with the California Employment Development Department’s overloaded website Tuesday were finally able to apply for federally funded unemployment benefits.

Asked about problems with the EDD website at his news conference Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said it’s “not surprising the first few hours we’ve got to figure this out.” Since March 15, EDD has sent out $5.3 billion in unemployment benefits, including $926 million on Sunday alone.

Late Monday, EDD tweeted that it “will be able to take applications for PUA benefits at 10 a.m. Tuesday.” The federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program provides up to 39 weeks of benefits to self-employed and other workers who don’t qualify for regular state benefits and lost work as a “direct result” of the coronavirus.

Many people who logged into the department’s UI Online site before 10 a.m. were able to apply.

Jennifer Bader started applying at 7:22 a.m.

“First it would take me in a circle,” she said. Bader could enter her email and check “I am not a robot,” but “when I would go to log in, it wouldn’t take me to the page where I would put in my password. Then all of a sudden that page came up.”

Completing the application “took about an hour. There were tears. This whole thing has been so frustrating,” she said.

Bader owns Bohemian Hair in Clovis, a Fresno suburb. In late February, she curled Jill Biden’s hair when the former second lady was in town ahead of Super Tuesday. About three weeks later, the salon closed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Bader had previously applied for regular state unemployment benefits. EDD allowed and even encouraged this, presumably because workers who are employees under state law are eligible for regular state benefits, even if they’re being paid like independent contractors. Truly self-employed people, including business owners, cannot get state unemployment.

Like many self-employed workers who applied for regular state benefits, Bader got a notice saying her benefit amount was zero. So on Tuesday she wasn’t sure whether to reopen the old claim or start a new one and couldn’t find answers. Unable to open the old claim, she finally started a new one, but was confused by differences she noticed. The old application asked for her gross income, the new one asked for net income. “I was worried about screwing myself up,” she said.

Others who had previously applied for regular benefits — and got none — weren’t sure what to answer when the questionnaire asked whether they had previously applied for benefits.

Many people attempting to apply for the new pandemic benefits were stumped when they couldn’t find a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance application on EDD’s website. That’s because there isn’t one.

On Monday, the California Labor and Workforce Agency published on its website a list of frequently asked questions. No. 14 explained that “UI Online is the EDD’s application portal for both regular (unemployment insurance) and PUA claims.” All applicants start off with the same basic questions, and based on their responses, “the EDD will determine if your claim is processed as a regular UI claim or a PUA claim.”

That was not obvious on the EDD website most of Tuesday.

“It’s weird EDD buried the COVID-19 process (for pandemic benefits) within the application,” said Lee Heidhues, a self-employed paralegal in San Francisco.

Heidhues said he had to reload many pages and “a couple of times it kicked me out and I had to go back to the beginning. I was afraid I would have lost everything but I was able to log in and go back to where I was.” The process took 30 to 45 minutes, “which I guess isn’t too bad in the scheme of things,” he said.

Working in law, Heidhues said he is used to doing research and dealing with state agencies.

“Other people who aren’t used to this would probably give up,” he said.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Tears-frustration-greet-those-applying-for-15232878.php

It’s astounding how researchers can up with conclusions which are bound to please some and infuriate others.

Here we are in the midst of a Pandemic and a study claiming that nicotine can fight off the Coronavirus is released by the French Institut Pasteur. This will do wonders for tobacco sales.

Predictably there is another study, this one published in the Chinese Medical Journal which reaches a totally opposite conclusion.

You be the judge.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 4.28.2020

According to a new French study, smokers could be better protected than others from the novel coronavirus because nicotine blocks its docking sites. Another study, however, suggests exactly the opposite.

In the past, scientists had already looked at the possibility that nicotine might also have positive effects on the body. For example, researchers studied the effect of nicotine-like substances on the treatment of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. For people with serious conditions like dementia, the benefits of nicotine were found to outweigh its disadvantages.

The results of the French study so far do not mean, however, that everyone should try to have a smoke as quickly and as often as possible.

Smokers are generally considered a risk group for infections with the novel coronavirus. According to a study published in the Chinese Medical Journal, they usually contract more severe and protracted forms of the disease it causes, COVID-19, than non-smokers and die more often as a result.

However, French researchers led by Jean-Pierre Changeux, a neurobiologist at the Institut Pasteur, suspect that nicotine patches could help prevent infections with the dangerous virus. They have published a corresponding hypothesis on the science portal Qeios.

They came to this conclusion because their data, which contradicts that of the Chinese study, shows that there seems to be only a small number of smokers among COVID-19 patients.

The study looked at around 500 COVID-19 patients, of whom 350 had been treated in hospital and 150 had a mild disease progression. Only 5% were smokers, Zahir Amoura, head of the study and professor of internal medicine, told the news agency AFP. This in turn meant there were 80% fewer smokers among the COVID-19 patients than in the general population of the same age and gender cohort.

Read more: Nanomachines to be deployed to fight next viral pandemic

An earlier metastudy by researchers led by Giuseppe Lippi from Verona, Italy, published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine, came to a similar conclusion: that smokers are no more likely to contract COVID-19 than others.

Nicotine as protection?

The French study assumes that nicotine can protect against the new coronavirus. It is based on the hypothesis “that nicotine attaches to cell receptors (ACE2) used by the coronavirus, thereby preventing the virus from attaching,” explains Changeux, who also holds a chair at the College de France.

The virus cannot enter the cell and cannot spread in the organism if nicotine blocks it, the researchers conclude. The Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris is now to investigate this finding in more detail.

https://www.dw.com/en/does-nicotine-help-against-the-new-coronavirus/a-53260336

San Francisco 4.25.2020

Today was the sing-along for San Francisco as we opened our windows at noon and commemorated our City with a shout out “I left my heart in San Francisco” to honor the front line workers responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

The idea for this sing-along is that of Charlotte Mailliard Schultz. She hopes the gesture will lift the spirits of San Franciscans.

Ms. Mailliard said, “We will conquer this. We will be back!” There is a hashtag #SingOutSF

Liz sang (along with Tony Bennett)  while down the street a trumpet rendition filled the air which you can hear at the end.

Eventually San Francisco will be back to scenes like the photo above.

The link to the sing-along is below. Vocals by Liz – Video by Lee

Photo – Lee Heidhues

https://photos.app.goo.gl/N5i1cD3qZk9FC8xt8

The Germans have learned their lessons of history.  America has not and never will.

It’s disgraceful that the American mainstream media has not picked up on the story. That is because the media is totally cowed by the American gun lobby.

The German online network Deutsche Welle is unsparing in its criticism of the American President. This investigative story fits right in with the obvious but under reported story that Trump’s most ardent fanatical supporters are behind the movements to end Shelter in Place.

The powerful American gun lobby is leading this movement which will have dire consequences for the nation.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 4.24.2020

A tense mood in the US

The coronavirus crisis continues to ravage the US, with the country’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, predicting more than 200,000 deaths and over 1 million infections over the course of the pandemic.

In a country where a majority of voters agree that stay-at-home measures should be in place, a small number of loud pro-gun activists give the impression that the country is even further divided.

As the US 2020 election season begins to ramp up, political actions like this could see a huge impact on the political landscape and outcome of the vote. With pressure from the vocal far-right political minorities for which Trump continues to show support, the question is whether this fringe support is enough to keep him in office.

With a president so connected to pro-gun activism and the increasing influence of far-right lobbies on White House policy, the Dorrs could achieve exactly the kind of loosened gun laws for which they have long campaigned – and for which they are now trying to exploit the coronavirus pandemic.

There were nearly 870,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US and just short of 50,000 deaths as of early April 24, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Trump demonstrated support for the “Reopen America” campaign in three separate tweets on April 17, which read: “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!,” “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!,” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”

An investigation into protests against coronavirus restrictions in the US revealed a tale of coordinated political action by gun lobbies.

A DW investigation has found that protest groups in various US states against recent coronavirus lockdown measures were set up by conservative gun lobbyists. The coordinated effort seems to be driven by the apparent long-term aim of building a larger base of support for gun law relaxation.

This comes after thousands of people across the US organized online and started to demand an end to stay-at-home orders. Protest organizers claim on their Facebook pages that the lockdown restrictions are a result of “politicians on a power trip,” who they allege are “destroying our businesses, passing laws behind the cover of darkness, and forcing us to hand over our freedoms and livelihood.”

“Reopen America” has become the common name for these protests. Between April 8 and 16, at least 34 website addresses, such as http://www.reopeniowa.com or http://www.reopenpa.com for the state of Pennsylvania, were purchased.

These web addresses automatically redirect to pages on pro-gun sites. The gun lobby pages incorrectly claim that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and its resulting disease, COVID-19, are “far less deadly than the flu” and say, in text littered with typos, “President [Donald] Trump has been very clear that we must get America back to work very quickly or the ‘cure’ to this terrible disease may be worse that the disease itself!”

The registration of so many reopen website addresses in a short period of time led social media users to conclude that the campaign was “astroturfing” — the practice of making a campaign appear grassroots while withholding that it was organized by a single entity.

Of the 34 website addresses registered, only 16 are linked to active pages, with five tracing back to one family in the American Midwest, the Dorrs. These reopen websites were for Iowa, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio, each of which has laws allowing open carry of firearms with a permit.

These laws are not loose enough for the Dorrs, who are ultra-conservative pro-gun political campaigners active in a number of US states. Three Dorr brothers — Ben, Aaron and Chris — are especially involved in political campaigns criticizing the Republican Party for not being conservative enough on gun laws and on abortion laws. However, they are strong supporters of Trump.

Earlier this year, the Republican Party of Minnesota described them as “scam artists” who are “actually just building their own brand and raising money.”

One of the brothers, Ben Dorr, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that these claims are “fake news,” adding that his group, the Pennsylvania Firearms Association, would ramp up efforts in 2021. He said he set up the websites for the anti-lockdown protests from a “constitutional approach.” This originalist approach strictly interprets the US constitution as it was understood in its 18th-century context, and remains a theme in the Dorrs’ politics, with the anti-lockdown protests adding to their ultra-conservative messaging.

By flouting state lockdown rules and gathering in crowds, health experts worry that these protests could contribute to the skyrocketing cases of infection across the US.

https://www.dw.com/en/revealed-how-the-us-gun-lobby-exploits-the-coronavirus-pandemic-to-further-its-aims/a-53230399

If looking at your Apps for the latest depressing Covid-19 news is getting you down, there is definitely a change of pace available.

Mick LaSalle, the San Francisco Chronicle long time movie critic, can’t go to the traditional cinema.  Like the rest of us he is checking out innovative means of watching the latest movies in the palm of your hand.

San Francisco Chronicle 4.23.2020

“Most Dangerous Game” is a feature film that has been rolling out in daily installments on Quibi. As of Thursday, April 23, all installments of the film have been fully released, and right now it’s the best movie out there — even though it can’t quite be experienced as a movie and isn’t exactly “out there” in the usual sense.

For those just hearing about Quibi, it’s a new entertainment streaming service made for your mobile phone. No TV, no computer, just the phone. It contains a wealth of content — documentaries, news shows and even feature films — all presented in bites of less than 10 minutes. So, I watched all 15 installments of “Most Dangerous Game” on an iPhone, and I can’t say that the medium interfered with the experience.

“Most Dangerous Game” is probably the most enjoyable movie ever to star Liam Hemsworth, and if that doesn’t sound impressive enough, it also provides Christoph Waltz with his most genial yet menacing showcase since  2014’s “Big Eyes.” It is simply a pleasure to hear Waltz talk here. Particularly enjoyable is the way Waltz pronounces the words “hunt,” “hunting” and “hunted,” overemphasizing the “t” with an air of precision and delicacy, as he makes the most outrageous propositions imaginable.

Hemsworth plays Dodge, who, in the movie’s first scene, comes to Miles (Waltz) in desperation. Dodge is a struggling entrepreneur who has recently received a devastating prognosis: He has only a few weeks to live. He needs to support his pregnant wife and his future child, and he has heard that Miles might be a source of help.

Miles won’t lend him money, but he does know a way that Dodge can earn money. In fact, he can earn tens of millions, if he is willing to participate in a “hunt” … as the “hunted.” When Dodge asks if the hunt will be conducted with paintballs, Waltz gets that steady, dead-eyed “Inglourious Basterds” expression on his face: No. Not paintballs. This will be “sport in its purest form — a hunt to kill.”

There have been many movie variations on this concept over the years, but what makes this one different is that the hunt takes place in a city (Detroit) with the aid of modern technology. There are no guns allowed, and every time Dodge lasts another hour, more money is deposited into his bank account. The hunters are presented as a lethal collection of malicious eccentrics, the most memorable of which is played by English actor Chris Webster, as a kind of amalgam of every British stereotype — bloodless, prissy, polite, perverse, impeccably tailored.

Production values are high, from Matthew J. Lloyd’s atmospheric cinematography to Todor Kobakov’s pulsing score. This is a big-scale thriller that just happens to be on the tiniest of screens, and the production’s scale is especially appreciated now. So far, the films that have been released onto streaming services have been kids’ films, art films or somber relationship dramas. “Most Dangerous Game” is a fun, well-made thriller for an adult audience.

Just one bit of advice for Quibi: This movie took almost two weeks to be released, one episode at a time. Nobody wants to watch a movie that way. Release all the installments at once, the way Netflix does, so that people can binge it if they like. It’s hard to maintain one’s interest in a story when it’s just seven or eight minutes a day. Let the audience decide whether they want well-spaced portions or just want to gobble all of it up in one sitting.

M“Most Dangerous Game”: Action thriller. Starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz. Directed by Phil Abraham. (Unrated. 105 minutes. Available now on Quibi.)

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/review-most-dangerous-game-the-best-movie-out-there-but-you-can-only-watch-it-through-quibi

These people are amazing.  Totally ignoring the danger of the Pandemic.

Having gorged themselves on the Make America Great Again (MAGA) toxic brew four years ago the Trump Storm Troopers will walk off the cliff to keep the Clown Prince in office.

Sadly the rest of us will pay for their untelligent and ignorant behavior.

These are not spontaneous protests. These incendiary events are orchestrated directly from the White House by the Huckster in Chief himself.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 4.22.2020

Just days after hundreds of protesters converged on the state Capitol to oppose Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-home order, the California Highway Patrol said it won’t issue permits for further demonstrations on state property anywhere in California.

The ban on large public events will remain in place until health officials decide it’s safe for people to gather in large groups given measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus, CHP officials said.

“In the interest of public safety and the health of all Californians during the COVID-19 pandemic, effective immediately the California Highway Patrol will deny any permit requests for events or activities at all state facilities, to include the state Capitol, until public health officials have determined it is safe to gather again,” CHP Officer John Ortega told The Chronicle.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-bans-protests-at-state-Capitol-after-15219432.php#photo-19328561

The Wall Street Journal published an editorial continuing to bemoan the fact unemployed American workers are receiving an additional $600 weekly during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The problem is with the American economic system. American workers should be paid a living wage.  Many wage earners must take on two jobs to make ends meet; housing, health care, food and basic necessities. If America guaranteed a “living wage” to everyone the issue that the WSJ has turned on its head would not exist. The extra $600 weekly the currently unemployed are receiving simply raises their income to a sustainable level. It is not a disincentive to work. It is money required to exist at a subsistence level in America. The WSJ editorial is yet another example of its ruling elites , “Let them eat cake” philosophy.

Following is the WSJ Editorial – 4.22.2020

Paying Americans Not to Work

Four GOP Senators were right about the harm from rich UI benefits.

Much of the harm from the coronavirus is unavoidable, but it would be nice if politicians didn’t compound the damage by ignoring the laws of economics. The worst blunder so far on that score is the $600 increase in federal jobless benefits that is already undermining the economic recovery.

On Wednesday we ran an op-ed from Kurt Huffman, whose Portland, Ore., company helps chefs run and staff their restaurants. Because of the coronavirus, he had to lay off 700 people. But some restaurants have adapted with takeout and delivery, so he needs to hire some back.

Woof Woof!!!

In the time of Covid-19 there is the rare good news story to bark about.

 Here you are.

San Francisco Chronicle 4.21.2020

San Francisco police have arrested a 27-year-old Palmdale (370 miles south of The City) man in the theft of a dog outside a Bernal Heights grocery store last December, police said Tuesday.

Police said the arrest was “the direct result of dogged work by investigators” from the SFPD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

The dog’s owner, Emilie Talermo, learned Monday that Jackson, a blue-eyed mini Australian shepherd, had been left at a shelter in Los Angeles County. Shelter staff scanned and detected a microchip, and the dog and owner were reunited Tuesday morning.

A representative from the SFPD picked the dog up in Santa Monica and drove him back to San Francisco, arriving early Tuesday morning. A video provided by SFPD showed Jackson barking happily and licking Talermo’s face as the two were reunited.

Last Friday, police said, they arrested Nicholas Bravo, 27, of Palmdale, on suspicion of felony grand theft in Jackson’s disappearance. Bravo was already in custody at the San Joaquin County Jail on unrelated charges and was cited to appear in San Francisco Superior Court this summer, police said.

Police did not say who had the dog or who dropped him off at the shelter.

Talermo’s search for Jackson included starting a website called “Bring Jackson Home” and hiring a plane to fly a banner over San Francisco after he disappeared last December. She offered a $7,000 reward for the dog’s return and said Monday the community had rallied to help her get the word out across the state.

I just found this on http://www.tomdispatch.com which describes itself as an antidote to the mainstream media.

Personally, I have not watched even one minute of the Huckster’s daily nonsense hour in the time of the Corornavirus.  And I have no intention of doing so.  Still, the following makes for interesting, entertaining and sobering reading.

“On being addicted to Trump and his press conferences” is the title of the full article by Rebecca Gordon referenced below.

Tom Dispatch 4.21.2020

He hosted 14 seasons of The Apprentice and its successor, The Celebrity Apprentice, and in all those years I probably spent seven minutes watching the show, or flipping past it as I looked for something else — and, as far as I was concerned, that was seven minutes too many. I don’t want you to think that I didn’t watch my share of junk on TV. I did. But a blowhard New York real-estate (self-)promoter whose most memorable line was “You’re fired!” judging the business skills of a group of sycophantic contestants? I preferred Law and Order reruns any day of the decade.

And here’s the thing: now, I get to watch the “You’re fired!” show (“nasty!”) whether I want to or not. In fact, just about the only thing Donald Trump has proven good at is firing people in his administration, which has a turnover rate the likes of which is surely historically unprecedented. In fact, the Brookings Institution estimates that 85% of his “A team” has turned over in these years, sometimes many times. After all, he’s had four chiefs of staff, five deputy chiefs of staff, five communications directors, four press secretaries, four national security advisors, at least six deputy national security advisors, three secretaries of defense (one “acting”), and so on.

Unfortunately, just about the only ones who haven’t been fired are the rest of us and, in our coronaviral moment, we have little choice (if we aren’t front-line workers) but to sit idly and watch, or force ourselves not to watch, you-know-who.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/