JFKA Forum Journals of the Plague Year?

[W. Niederhut]

Joe,

     The scenes from California and Oregon this week are horrifying.  I hope that all of you folks out there are o.k.

     Here's a photo of what it looked like on Colorado Highway 34 when we were driving home from Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday afternoon.  Smoke from the Cameron Peak fire had blanketed the Front Range here from Fort Collins down to Denver.

[Ty Carpenter]

Not to make light of the circumstances, but I thought this pic captured the essence of the situation.

[Joe Bauer]

11 minutes ago, Ty Carpenter said:

Not to make light of the circumstances, but I thought this pic captured the essence of the situation.

Ha!  Of course we need some lightness of spirit through all of this.

W N imagine a similar sunlight blocking scene here as you show in Colorado, only much darker and redder. Truly Martian like. And you know that our suns light is much more diminished on Mars due to it's farther distance from the sun.

If this is what it looks like on Mars, and with not one living plant and no visible water... who the heck would want to go there?

A dark red dust filled sky on a barren, completely void of biological life rock surface. Much of our Earth is a true Garden Of Eden in comparison.

[Kirk Gallaway]

Joe, I've been down visiting my sister since Monday. I can tell you whatever coloring you've seen in the last 4 days is absolutely nothing compared to up in Santa Cruz or the SF Bay. When I left  my daughter in San Jose on Monday at noon, it was 97, and plenty of smoke in the valley. On my way down through  Scott's Valley by the CZU it was 106!, I stopped in Capitola, only 7 miles of distance , but by the ocean  and it was 86! You were mentioning  on Labor Day they were closing the beaches in Monterey with forecasts of 100 degree weather. But when I got down there at 2 PM. A marine layer had come in and the temperature was 73!

I thought it was absolutely great! There's a lot of complaining on the local news about  the visibility, which isn't good, but I took a walk in Garland Park yesterday, it was 64, it wasn't  smoky.  Tuesday's light was a little spookier. In the late afternoon sunlight, the  leaves on the ground looked like sawdust. Today, it's almost normal, but a little weird. But believe me, you haven't seen anything like it is 50-100 miles North!

Edited September 10, 2020 by Kirk Gallaway

[Joe Bauer]

Kirk, I know.

But you back up my description of how dark it was yesterday all day both here and up North through the Santa Cruz mountains...correct?

Garland Park?

My gosh, to know one of this forum's most esteemed and educated members is actually hiking around just 10 miles from my residence is an exciting thing.

Some day maybe I can actually meet one of our core members in person.

My first wish would be Doug Caddy however.

Caddy is a man of history. Right there in the middle of Watergate, personal friend to E. Howard Hunt, advisor to Billy Sol Estes, connected to some very important persons in the Washington DC intel area, and on and on.

Edited September 10, 2020 by Joe Bauer

[Douglas Caddy]

It has been two days since member Kris Millegan hurriedly wrote on Facebook, "Fire down the road!" He and his family live in Springfield, Oregon that is near Eugene. His wife, Joanna, posted 17 hours ago that she had evacuated and was at a relative's house but that Kris had remained behind to attempt to protect their home. Nothing more has been posted, probably because there is no way physically to do so. At&T has been taken over for sole use by the fire crews. TrineDay's office is in Waltersville, which is near Eugene. It, too, is likely under a fire threat.

For Kris and family their world now is the virus, economic downturn,  and destruction by fire.  What could come next? Say a prayer for them.

[Kirk Gallaway]

On 9/8/2020 at 1:16 PM, Ron Bulman said:

Even fox news acknowledged this, 20% of new cases in August traced to Sturgis.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-linked-to-20-of-us-coronavirus-cases-in-august-researchers/ar-BB18PcTl?li=BBorjTa

32 degrees and snowing in Salida.

You know Ron, I posted that in another forum in a thread talking about masks and the virus, and a guy sent an article I was looking for but hadn't been published until yesterday refuting their methodology. It does seem like an outrageous figure that would involve some extrapolation. And the more you extrapolate, the "iffier" it would have to become. However in fairness, he doesn't discount the possibility of a super spreader event.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/09/09/did-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-cause-260000-coronavirus-cases-here-are-problems-with-that-study/#2359fd4625a8

Edited September 10, 2020 by Kirk Gallaway

[Ron Bulman]

On 9/10/2020 at 12:07 PM, W. Niederhut said:

Joe,

     The scenes from California and Oregon this week are horrifying.  I hope that all of you folks out there are o.k.

     Here's a photo of what it looked like on Colorado Highway 34 when we were driving home from Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday afternoon.  Smoke from the Cameron Peak fire had blanketed the Front Range here from Fort Collins down to Denver.

Contrasted with 8" of snow in Poncha Springs a day later this is incredible.  Went up to Wolf Creek Pass / Ski Area Friday afternoon after a day of sun, two days since snow.  Sill at least 6".  While not packed I've no doubt one could have skied it Thursday morning.  In early September.  Weird weather.  Not man made/Global Warming though so we're led to believe.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Ron Bulman

[Ron Bulman]

I'm somewhat worried this evening regarding the plague.  While still high, numbers are going down, thankfully, finally, hopefully continuing to do so.  I think due to common sense by a majority regarding masking, social distancing and washing hands etc.  Not national or state in many cases leadership.

But.  My daughter is a Human Science teacher at a large HS North of Dallas.  This week, 3 days, she's had 20 kids switch to virtual classes because they tested positive or were in close contact with someone who did.  She's not feeling well this afternoon/evening.  She was coming to visit tomorrow night through Saturday, bringing the grandson.  Now maybe not. 

[W. Niederhut]

On 9/16/2020 at 10:52 PM, Ron Bulman said:

I'm somewhat worried this evening regarding the plague.  While still high, numbers are going down, thankfully, finally, hopefully continuing to do so.  I think due to common sense by a majority regarding masking, social distancing and washing hands etc.  Not national or state in many cases leadership.

But.  My daughter is a Human Science teacher at a large HS North of Dallas.  This week, 3 days, she's had 20 kids switch to virtual classes because they tested positive or were in close contact with someone who did.  She's not feeling well this afternoon/evening.  She was coming to visit tomorrow night through Saturday, bringing the grandson.  Now maybe not. 

   Scary stuff.  A friend of my daughter tested positive recently and my wife subsequently spiked a low grade fever.  It's not all that easy to "socially distance" from immediate family members. 

    Fortunately, we all tested negative.  I violated Trump's CDC guidelines by getting tested while asymptomatic.  

[David Andrews]

Here's a heartwarming tale of Obamacare vs. single-payer healthcare for you.

Obamacare may be working at some people's houses, but not at this family's house, and not at mine.

https://nypost.com/2020/09/16/new-mexico-teen-dies-of-cancer-from-parent-refusal-to-see-doctor/

The only good thing Trump did for me was remove the IRS penalty for not being able to afford Obamacare.  It's more than Obama did for me.  Why am I a leftist?

Edited September 18, 2020 by David Andrews

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, David Andrews said:

Here's a heartwarming tale of Obamacare vs. single-payer healthcare for you.

Obamacare may be working at some people's houses, but not at this family's house, and not at mine.

https://nypost.com/2020/09/16/new-mexico-teen-dies-of-cancer-from-parent-refusal-to-see-doctor/

The only good thing Trump did for me was remove the IRS penalty for not being able to afford Obamacare.  It's more than Obama did for me.  Why am I a leftist?

David,

     Medicaid expansion under Obamacare has been a Godsend for many people here in Colorado in recent years.  We also had a promising Obamacare health insurance co-op here that was, ultimately, sabotaged (defunded) by the GOP-controlled Congress after the Kochs bought control of both the House (2010) and Senate (2014.)

     Obamacare has been plagued by both the lack of a public insurance option and by state discretion over Medicaid expansion.  We'll never have a functional, cost-effective system as long as the private, for-profit health insurance corporations control the money.

Trump has done nothing but throw a sabot in the Obamacare machinery, while pushing junk insurance plans.

[David Andrews]

6 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

David,

     Medicaid expansion under Obamacare has been a Godsend for many people here in Colorado in recent years.  We also had a promising Obamacare health insurance co-op here that was, ultimately, sabotaged (defunded) by the GOP-controlled Congress after the Kochs bought control of both the House (2010) and Senate (2014.)

     Obamacare has been plagued by both the lack of a public insurance option and by state discretion over Medicaid expansion.  We'll never have a functional, cost-effective system as long as the private, for-profit health insurance corporations control the money.

Trump has done nothing but throw a sabot in the Obamacare machinery, while pushing junk insurance plans.

And that Medicaid expansion was great for people who didn't work, but not for working people who didn't qualify for Medicaid and couldn't afford Obamacare.  That seems to include the family in my post whose son died.

[Sandy Larsen]

 

Anybody who wants to quickly find out what Obamacare would cost them can use the Kaiser Foundation Obamacare Calculator. I just used it to get these figures:

Single 60 year old with $15k income:   $26 monthly premium

Single 60 year old with $20k income:   $77 monthly premium

Single 60 year old with $30k income:   $199 monthly premium 

Married 60 year olds with $30k income:   $68 monthly premium each

 

(In comparison, Medicare is $145 monthly per person. So most of the above examples are cheaper than Medicare. And they include drug coverage while Medicare doesn't.)

Obviously these are all highly subsidized premiums.

There are three levels of coverage, named Bronze, Silver, and Gold. YOU GET A SUBSIDY ONLY IF YOU PICK A SILVER PLAN. I suspect that some people who complain about the price of Obamacare picked a Bronze plan hoping to pay a lower premium, only to discover it has a very high premium. And so they walk away thinking that Obamacare sucks for low-income folks. LOW INCOME PEOPLE NEED TO PICK A SILVER PLAN. Bronze and Gold plans are for high-income folks.

 

[Paul Brancato]

On 9/18/2020 at 2:57 PM, David Andrews said:

Here's a heartwarming tale of Obamacare vs. single-payer healthcare for you.

Obamacare may be working at some people's houses, but not at this family's house, and not at mine.

https://nypost.com/2020/09/16/new-mexico-teen-dies-of-cancer-from-parent-refusal-to-see-doctor/

The only good thing Trump did for me was remove the IRS penalty for not being able to afford Obamacare.  It's more than Obama did for me.  Why am I a leftist?

David - would you elaborate? The underlying story here, it seems to me, is the incredible ignorance of the parents, who certainly could have taken their child to the doctor once, or to an emergency room once. Why is this a story about Obama care? Maybe you could share your personal complaint - why it doesn’t work for your family. I’m not defending the Affordable Care Act, which did help millions of people, but surely left millions behind. How did you and your family fall between the cracks?