Bad News Thread

kickingandscreaming said:
Is this correct? If so, wow.
Click to expand...
It is correct.

The numbers get updated throughout the day. So what you see in the morning may change by evening.

So it really begs the question (s).

CA has shut down hard. No school, university, no sports, severe biz restrictions and closings.

For what? The CA plan was/is to stop the SPREAD of the virus.

Take a look at the next 2 biggest states that have taken a decidedly different approach.

Their cases per million are essentially the same as CA.


2021-01-04_1502.png

www.worldometers.info

Coronavirus Update (Live): 137,240,920 Cases and 2,958,141 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic - Worldometer

Live statistics and coronavirus news tracking the number of confirmed cases, recovered patients, tests, and death toll due to the COVID-19 coronavirus from Wuhan, China. Coronavirus counter with new cases, deaths, and number of tests per 1 Million population. Historical data and info. Daily...
www.worldometers.info www.worldometers.info
 
"Government bureaucrats were caught flat-footed, and the flood of money being rushed out the door in the name of emergency meant more vulnerabilities than ever. It took many states more than six months to add verification requirements and partially stem the flow. Just to use one state as an example, Washington state usually identifies a few dozen fraudsters in a year—now, it has identified more than 122,000 since March.

“When you consider the policy factors accelerating benefits and getting them to the neediest people and the expanded $600 available … we had the perfect storm,” Washington Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi Levine said. “[Scammers] have been lying in wait for this moment.”

fee.org

‘It’s Easy Money’: Nigerian Scammer Laughs about Huge Sums Stolen from COVID Welfare Programs in Bombshell Interview

An astonishing $36 billion has been lost to fraud in pandemic unemployment benefits, the Department of Labor reports. ‘It’s easy money,’ one glib Nigerian scammer admitted to reporters.
fee.org fee.org
 
Desert Hound said:
"Government bureaucrats were caught flat-footed, and the flood of money being rushed out the door in the name of emergency meant more vulnerabilities than ever. It took many states more than six months to add verification requirements and partially stem the flow. Just to use one state as an example, Washington state usually identifies a few dozen fraudsters in a year—now, it has identified more than 122,000 since March.

“When you consider the policy factors accelerating benefits and getting them to the neediest people and the expanded $600 available … we had the perfect storm,” Washington Employment Security Department Commissioner Suzi Levine said. “[Scammers] have been lying in wait for this moment.”

fee.org

‘It’s Easy Money’: Nigerian Scammer Laughs about Huge Sums Stolen from COVID Welfare Programs in Bombshell Interview

An astonishing $36 billion has been lost to fraud in pandemic unemployment benefits, the Department of Labor reports. ‘It’s easy money,’ one glib Nigerian scammer admitted to reporters.
fee.org fee.org
Click to expand...
I agree. Congress should actively pursue the financial firms who allow the money laundering to take place. If that infrastructure didn't exist, then there's no way they could skim so much so quickly. Spread the web side enough and they would catch a lot of other launderers also.

BTW, the $36B is an estimate only and could be way over or way under.

I fucking hate these scammers.

I also fucking hate the enablers, i.e. the financial institutions who allow this to happen and continue to operate with impunity (minor wrist slaps aside) like HSBC and Deutsche Bank

Extract,
Mobile banking and other online money-transfer apps have opened up new avenues for moving money around more easily. They allow access to accounts without anyone ever appearing in person – even avoiding cameras at ATMs – and offer debit cards that are easily moved on the black market.

Scammers used Green Dot accounts to transfer funds in bulk in the Washington fraud, LeVine said. Mayowa, the scammer in Nigeria, said fraudsters also use Venmo, PayPal, Cash App and Walmart2Walmart to extract funds.

“Once those funds go to a Green Dot account, they’re often transferred through a series of movements into mules based in the U.S. probably, then moved offshore in two to three hops,” said Armen Najarian, chief identity officer of Agari, the security firm.
 
China says Biden represents 'new window of hope' for relations with US
Biden will 'return to a sensible approach,' Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said

Biden's Treasury Pick Yellen Earned Millions Speaking to Banks
 
If true, this is the whole ball of wax.....the Rona will never disappear, it becomes endemic like the flu, T-cell immunity will bring the death rate way down, but people will still die from it as an end of life event when they are old, everyone will get the Rona eventually, and every winter will be flu & Rona season. Even if this just pans out as more fear porn, it's disturbing the virus is moving in this direction which makes it more like the ever changing flu, than one of the more stable pox viruses.

UK scientists worry vaccines may not protect against S.African coronavirus variant

HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/BRITAIN-SOUTH AFRICA-VACCINE (UPDATE 4):UPDATE 4-UK scientists worry vaccines may not protect against S.African coronavirus variant
news.trust.org news.trust.org
 
I came across this one a day or so ago.


Like the U.K. variant, the new strain discovered in South Africa, officially called 501Y.V2, involves multiple mutations inside the coronavirus at the same time.

“They both have multiple, different mutations in them, so they’re not a single mutation,” John Bell, a medicine professor at Oxford University, explained in Britain’s Times Radio on Sunday. “The mutations associated with the South African form are really pretty substantial changes in the structure of the (virus’ spike) protein.”

--

Scientists are still unsure whether existing vaccines are effective against these new mutations. While a related study is underway, Bell said his gut feeling was that Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines would still be effective against the U.K. strain, but he was less certain about the one identified in South Africa.

--

The South African variant was first detected on December 18. Preliminary studies suggest the variant is associated with “a higher viral load, which may suggest potential for increased transmissibility,” according to the World Health Organization. As of December 30, the variant had been reported in four other countries.

observer.com

As New COVID-19 Strain Attacks South Africa, Vaccine Experts Are ‘Incredibly Worried’

Scientists are uncertain that existing vaccines will be effective against this new mutation.
observer.com observer.com
 
Grace T. said:
If true, this is the whole ball of wax.....the Rona will never disappear, it becomes endemic like the flu, T-cell immunity will bring the death rate way down, but people will still die from it as an end of life event when they are old, everyone will get the Rona eventually, and every winter will be flu & Rona season. Even if this just pans out as more fear porn, it's disturbing the virus is moving in this direction which makes it more like the ever changing flu, than one of the more stable pox viruses.

UK scientists worry vaccines may not protect against S.African coronavirus variant

HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/BRITAIN-SOUTH AFRICA-VACCINE (UPDATE 4):UPDATE 4-UK scientists worry vaccines may not protect against S.African coronavirus variant
news.trust.org news.trust.org
Click to expand...
I personally don't think it will ever disappear. It is something we are going to have to live with.

And by living with it...no masks, schools open, biz at full capacity, etc. We cannot keep doing what we are doing long term.
 
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Especially in light of how many public school systems have performed during the rona.

It is a good read.

"Researchers can compare the academic performance of children who win the lottery and attend a charter with those who lose it and attend a traditional neighborhood school. Every lottery study has found charters produce overall learning gains for urban students. Many of those gains are huge, effectively wiping out the educational inequities that have persisted for the entire history of American schools."

If you want to help the underserved.......

"For years, perhaps the most devastating acronym in anti-charter sentiment was CREDO. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford conducted a national survey in 2009 that compared the outcomes of similar kids (as measured by factors like family income) at charters and traditional public schools. The report found that charters were producing slightly worse outcomes than traditional public schools. If you’ve read much criticism of charters, you’ve probably seen a reference to the study, which skeptics have treated as the final word. But its conclusions have long since ceased to be true. Another CREDO study four years later found the sector had improved, and in 2015, a survey focused on charters in urban districts, where education reformers have concentrated their energies (and where gains have outpaced suburban and rural areas). It found urban charters on average gave their students the equivalent of 40 additional school days of learning in math and 28 additional days of learning in reading every year. CREDO’s studies confirm the conclusion that the lottery studies have found: In most cases, urban charters now provide the same group of students much better instruction."

 
And continuing the above....

"The final element of charters’ formula is inescapably controversial. They prioritize the welfare of their students over those of their employees, which means paying teachers based on effectiveness rather than how long they’ve been on the job — and being able to fire the worst ones."
 
Charter parent here, (at one point both kids were in Charter, but the oldest is not anymore,) and we've been nothing but pleased. My youngest had some significant (life threatening,) health issues and they bent over backwards to help keep him learning as best he could.

I'm not sure how/where it started, (nor do I care,) but at one point a large grip was that their teachers don't have to be credentialed- that was a complete lie for our school. There is also a huge backlash against the lottery-type system. People saying they can exclude those with special needs. Again, not true, especially at the campuses we're familiar with.
 
Glitterhater said:
Charter parent here, (at one point both kids were in Charter, but the oldest is not anymore,) and we've been nothing but pleased. My youngest had some significant (life threatening,) health issues and they bent over backwards to help keep him learning as best he could.

I'm not sure how/where it started, (nor do I care,) but at one point a large grip was that their teachers don't have to be credentialed- that was a complete lie for our school. There is also a huge backlash against the lottery-type system. People saying they can exclude those with special needs. Again, not true, especially at the campuses we're familiar with.
Click to expand...
My kids are at a charter as well. Night and day vs the public school they were in previously. One that was ranked as one of the best in AZ for that matter.
 
Desert Hound said:
And then you have the shenanigans at public schools.

I think one of the problems public schools have is that they don't focus so much on education. They focus on the latest fads, social justice, etc instead of focusing on the basics....actual teaching the kids the basics...math, reading, etc.

www.city-journal.org

Radicals in the Classroom

The San Diego Unified School District has been radicalized. In recent months, the district has announced mandatory diversity training for teachers, added a new “ethnic studies” curriculum focused on racial grievance, and even abolished the requirement to turn in homework on time—all in the name...
www.city-journal.org www.city-journal.org
Click to expand...
So true. And it takes an act of god for anyone to be disciplined! The bullying I've heard of happening in some of the public schools, (who then just got hands slapped, if that,) is mind boggling.
 
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