Twilight’s Last Gleaming

Posted on by Thor

As a petty and petulant Donald Trump left the White House, 400,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. More than 20,000 people are dying per week. An American dies abut every minute. The virus is about to surpass the number of Americans who died in WWII.

My father fought in WWII and one of my most vivid memories as a child was our family visit to the capitol building. I remember the feeling of awe when entering that huge vaulted dome for the first time. A faded black and white photo shot by my brother documents the moment my father held the doors open for my mother to enter our Nations Capitol.

The National Mall, was covered with 200,000 American flags as a memorial for the lives lost as Joe Biden is worn in as the 46th American president. On January 6, 2021 this was the sight of an angry mob’s violence as they attacked the Capitol.

I had to work through the inauguration but at lunch time I listened to Lady Gaga as she performed the Star Spangled Banner. Her performance chocked me up for the flag was still flying   above the Capitol despite the violence of the insurrection just days before. She wore a giant gold pin in the shape of a dove that reminded me of the Hunger Games. The violence the mob had incited was very much like the dystopian nightmare presented in the Hunger Games. Finally this field presents a symbol of hope. Biden plans to begin taking basic health precautions that Trump ignored and mocked. The country will still be divided among those who wear a mask to protect loved ones and those who deny science. Biden want to unify the nation and he has his work cut out for him. One year ago on January 20, the United States had its first known case of the novel coronavirus which was discovered in Snohomish County, Washington.

Thousands of COVID-19 Vaccines are Wasted

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At a hospital in a COVID-19 hot spot, a vaccination team inoculated employees. Most employees had already been inoculated. An ER doctor suggested the remaining doses be administered to vulnerable patients or non-hospital employees. The policy however was clear, the shots could only be given to hospital employees. The ER doctor pleaded with upper management and they ultimately relented.

However the vaccination team had gone off shift and the remaining doses had been thrown out. “This kind of thing is pretty rampant,” Ashish K. Jha said. “I have personally heard stories like this from dozens of physician friends in a variety of different states. Hundreds, if not thousands, of doses are getting tossed across the country every day. It’s unbelievable.”

Covid-19 vaccines have a short shelf life once they are thawed out for use. Because of federal and state mandates, hospitals and other health care providers would rather risk a dose going bad than give it to somebody who isn’t scheduled to get a shot. Some states like Massachusetts now have rules requiring hospitals to report the number of vaccine doses that have been discarded, Jha said.

While there doesn’t appear to be any solid numbers yet of how many of the Covid-19 vaccines have been discarded in the United States since the rollout began last month, the World Health Organization warned in 2005 that up to 50 percent of the vaccines released globally each year end up in the dumpster because of supply chain problems, such as not having enough freezer space or transportation issues. Vaccine doses are being thrown out by medical providers who couldn’t find the precisely correct recipients under rigid applicability tiers fashioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of the 31.2 million doses distributed as of Friday morning, only 12.3 million had been administered. President elect Joe Biden has promised 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days. Guidance from the CDC may have been a bit too rigid, Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a webcast hosted by Schmidt Futures and Social Science Research Council. The CDC recommended giving the very first vaccines to front line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. While the priorities won’t be abandoned, “when people are ready to get vaccinated, we’re going to move right on to the next level, so that there are not vaccine doses that are sitting in a freezer or refrigerator where they could be getting into people’s arms,” Fauci said. Flexibility and less waste is needed moving forward.

MAGAts

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The Urban Dictionary defines MAGAts as… “Trump supporters who blindly regurgitate the simple minded rhetoric of their beloved cult leader. They typically drive vehicles with large Trump 2020 or MAGA stickers or flags attached to them and gather in large groups. They refuse to wear masks and unlike the larval stage of the diptera, they serve absolutely no purpose in either nature or society.” I heard the phrase used for the first time this weekend listening to a radio show about the domestic terrorist attack at the United States Capitol.

With Trump’s violent rhetoric cut off by Twitter this movement is seeking alternated methods to get their insurrectionist messages out to the masses. They use a messaging service on Zillow to communicate. Zillow claims they can not monitor communications on their platform.

This is a rare case where people literally live streamed their own crimes. This of course made the job of the FBI much easier since videos keep popping up every day. Wave after wave of MAGAts smashed into police, eventually overcoming defenses and entering the building shortly after 2 p.m. MAGAts mad their way right into the Senate chamber and rifled through lawmakers desks. One with bull horn pincers wrote a note of vice president Pence that read, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” He is being held without bail. In jail this MAGAt refused to eat the food insisting that he only eats organic foods. Most maggots I know of will eat any open flesh wound.

Pre-Pandemic: Subways

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This sketch was done during an Urban Sketching Class I was teaching at Elite Animation Academy. The girl seated in front of the soda machine and sketching, was one of my best students. It is always a pleasure to find a student who has laser beam focus and a real desire to learn.

I usually take students here after instructing them in one point perspective. This sketch was done in an ancient sketchbook that was returned to me after being in someone’s attic for 30 years. The paper is brittle and thin but I am happy to finally be filling the book up.

The great part of taking students to Subways to sketch is that I can order a sandwich to eat while there. I always ordered a ham and Swiss with lettuce and tomato and a splash of oil and vinegar with a light sprinkle of salt and pepper. I miss those days of going on location to sketch. For now I am exploring the world virtually to do my rather political illustrations each day.

This last week of 2020 I actually got to instruct two students virtually and I am teaching them how too use photo reference to piece together ideas. Growing up I longed to find a decent painting instructor but never really found one. Perhaps I didn’t ask the right questions. I am trying t give my students the basic and fundamental instruction that I yearned for when I was young. Hopefully they will run with what I give them. I know the student in this sketch soaked in everything I threw her way.

Disneyland Super Vaccination Site

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Disneyland in Anaheim, Orange County (O.C.), California is being used as a vaccination super site. Tents have been sett up in one of the iconic theme park parking lots and cars began lining up a 5AM on January 13, 2021. Appointments must be made before hand and many drivers were disappointed to find this out as they waited in line. 10,000 people signed up on the evening of January 12, 2021 for appointments. The website crashing shortly after going live. Across the country people have been having trouble getting signed up for a vaccination.

O.C. firefighters and paramedics  vaccinated 3,000 patients at the super site on the first day. The goal is to be able to do two and a half times that many people next week, if vaccine doses are available. Disneyland will be one of five O.C. vaccine super sites. Dr. Clayton Chau announced that anyone age 65 or older will now be eligible to get vaccinated in O.C. That’s in addition to healthcare workers, emergency responders and residents of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.

Projected ICU capacity remains below 15% in the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions which remain under the Regional Stay at Home Order. The following areas remain under the stay at home order…

  • Southern California: Remains under order; four-week ICU capacity projections do not meet criteria to exit order.
  • Bay Area: Remains under order; four-week ICU capacity projections do not meet criteria to exit order.

Due to high rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations impacting the health care system, California is also under a Limited Stay at Home Order.

  • California has 2,900,246 confirmed cases to date. Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayed.
  • There were 40,622 newly recorded confirmed cases January 15, 2021.
  • The 7-day positivity rate is 11.4% and the 14-day positivity rate is 12.6%.
  • There have been 37,802,255 tests conducted in California. This represents an increase of 352,719 during the prior 24-hour reporting period.
  • As case numbers continue to rise in California, the total number of individuals who will have serious outcomes will also increase. There have been 32,960 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
  • As of January 15, 2021 providers have reported administering a total of 1,188,703 vaccine doses statewide. Numbers do not represent true day-to-day change as reporting may be delayed. As of January 15, 2021 a total of 3,144,575 vaccine doses, which includes the first and second dose, have been shipped to local health departments and health care systems that have facilities in multiple counties.

Bulletproof Democracy

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The Capitol building has heightened security after the domestic terrorist attacks of January 6, 2021. All house members now must go through metal detectors before entering the chambers and they are being told they can purchase bulletproof vests, get security training, and those expenses will be re-reimbursed.

Some republican members grew angry and refused to go through the metal detectors, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced $5,000 fines for a first offense and $10,000 fines for a second offense for any lawmaker that didn’t go through security.

Pelosi in a statement said she expressed her “deepest gratitude to the U.S. Capitol Police for the valor that they showed” during the pro-Trump riot and claimed some Republicans “disrespected our heroes by verbally abusing them and refusing to adhere to basic precautions,” by refused to go through the metal detectors.

Members of Congress on January 12, 2021 were also reminded not to carry guns outside of their own offices, including onto the floor of the House, reiterating an existing rule several House Republicans have publicly and privately lobbied against. Freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who owns a firearm-themed restaurant in Rifle, Colorado. Caused some controversy last week when she vowed in a viral ad to bring her Glock to work. During the January 6 attacks Boebert also tweeted out the movements of Nancy Pelosi which would make it easier for rioters to find the House Speaker.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), said in a Facebook live video that she had a close encounter on the day of the insurrection in which she thought she was going to die. Many members of the house were nearly assassinated. She sensed that something was wrong no only from the crowd violence but from the inside. She did not feel safe going to the extraction point to shelter inn place with other lawmakers, because there were QAnon adherents  and white supremacists sheltering with her. She knew that given an opportunity, they would allow for her to be kidnapped and hurt.

Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), one of the 10 GOP members of Congress who voted to impeach President Donald Trump, said Thursday he believed his life might be in danger and he was planning to buy body armor to protect himself. Before the vote January 13, 2021, Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) claimed more Republicans would have joined Democrats in impeaching Trump had they not been “paralyzed with fear” about the threats to their lives.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern, stolen by a Florida man in Capitol riot, has been returned. She used the same lectern on January 13, 2021 after the House impeached President Donald Trump,a second time. From behind the lectern, she said the House demonstrated that “no one is above the law. Not even the president of the United States,” while calling Trump “a clear and present danger to the United States.” Before the impeachment, She personally thanked the troops and their families “for protecting the Capitol and our democracy.”

Rep, Mikie Sherrell (D-NJ), revealed that there were suspicious “tours” of the Capitol the day before the insurrection. There had been no tours allowed due to the pandemic. The sight was so unexpected that they called the Sargent at Arms. The only way the ours could have gotten in would be with a lawmaker or his staff. The next day during the insurection, the terrorists had inside information about the layout of the capitol building.

Lawmakers were warned of multiple potential threats between now and inauguration day, January 20, 2021. One alleged plot involved rioters potentially seeking to surround the Supreme Court and the Capitol with weapons, to prevent Democrats from entering Congress and allowing Republicans to control both chambers, the sources said. Members of Congress and their guests will have to go through  through metal detectors for President-elect Joe Biden‘s inauguration next week, because of concerns from Democrats that GOP colleagues may have helped incite the riot or communicated with organizers.

90,000 in Next 3 Weeks

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More than 90,000 Americans might die in the next three weeks the CDC has reported. More than 38,000 Americans have died of Covid-19 in the first two weeks of the new year. Currently, more than 130,300 people are hospitalized with the virus, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.

New York City is about to open Yankee Stadium as a vaccination site and in California Disney Land is also to become a vaccination site. Disney Land is slated to become the states first super vaccination site, able to vaccinate upwards of 7,000 people each day. California has lagged behind it’s planned vaccination rate, doling out around a third of its doses so far. Fast efficiency distribution of the vaccine has been a problem across the country.

Perhaps Disney World will also become a vaccination site here in Florida but the parks have been packed at the start of the New Year with tourists to profit from people who are stiff crazy from the pandemic.

Besides the 20,000 National Guard now in Washington D.C. there are also National Guard troops helping administer the vaccines in 16 states and territories. CVS Pharmacy has reported that they should be able to administer 25 million vaccinations a month, but that program is not off the ground yet. What is needed is a unified National plan but the POTUS has denied the virus and left it up t each state to figure out ho to distribute vaccines. The result is anarchy. In New Jersey, smoking is considered to be a pre-existing condition and therefor smokers are moved to the front of the line for a vaccine.

I have a sister in South West Florida still struggling to try and get vaccinated. It has become her full time job. She had an appointment set up for January 14, 2021 but got a call back from the health department and was told that they had run out of vaccine. She is now on a list and might be called when more vaccine comes in. Shipments of the virus are not expected for two weeks.

Joe Biden is planning  1.9 Billion dollar COVID Relief plan that includes $1400 stimulus checks and an additional $160 billion for a national vaccine program, including $20 billion for distribution, and an additional $50 billion for expanded testing. The plan also calls on Congress to invest $170 billion in K-12 schools and higher education, including $130 billion for schools to safely reopen. Unfortunately we have six more days to wait before he and Kamila Harris are inaugurated.

Losers at the Gate

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Why all the animal pelts worn by the nut jobs that attempted to overthrow the D.C. Capitol? Does  insurrection attract cos-players?

One arrived at the Capitol wearing what appeared to be a fox-hide hood and a fuzzy cloak, looking much like a Neanderthal, except he wore round Harry Potter glasses, a bulletproof vest and he was carrying a police riot shield. He has been arrested.

Another, a self proclaimed “QAnon Shaman,” wore a a horned Viking headdress and his body was covered in a brick pattern which presumably celebrates Trumps medieval attempts to build a southern border wall. He has been arrested.

Neanderthals believed that by wearing fur pelts they could inherit some of the animals viscous traits. These egg heads didn’t inherit anything but lame conspiracy theories. Viking imagery feeds into the idea of white nationalist  origins. Nazis took the warring viking sea faring culture to promote a white German nation state. German scholars blamed socialism, Jews and class revolutions for the “decline” of a Germanic race they saw descending from this Viking past. The destruction of Thor’s hammer would mark and end to this outdated vision of violent white supremacy. Oddly some had pitchforks as weapons. Of course the riot on the Capitol will be a super spreader event. The COVID-19 virus will offer its own form of justice for any that skirt the law.

The riot was in part a counter response to the Georgia election in which Reverend Raphael Warnock, a black man and a Democrat, was elected to office unseating the long held Republican state. With black voters turning out in record numbers, white supremacists responded with violent insurrection.

Nearly 100 people have been arrested for their roles in the attack. More serious misdemeanors and felony charges related to weapons, conspiracy and assault could result in prison time. In this age where everyone carries a cell phone with a camera the evidence is overwhelming and still being discovered. Many idiots shared photos of themselves online and therefor were very easy to arrest. Most rioters didn’t wear masks so they are easy to identify.

Donald Trump has been impeached a second time, now for “incitement of insurrection”. Ten Republican lawmakers joined in voting for the impeachment. It is quite possible some Republican lawmakers were complicit in inciting this armed insurrection and that evidence will get plenty of airing when the Senate begins the process of holding a trial to determine whether to convict Trump, and potentially bar him from ever running for any federal office again. The Stop the Steal event organizer, Ali Alexander, said that three GOP lawmakers, Paul Gosar (R-Az.), Andy Biggs (R-Az), and Mo Brooks (R-AL) all helped him organize the events of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol. Mo said at the Rally at the White House, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” Brooks faces censure from Congress, a disciplinary action for inciting an insurrection.

During the attack freshman congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Co), tweeted the location of Nancy Peolci, which would give rioters a better idea of where to find the house speaker. Boeberts Twitter account has been shut down and she is surprised.

Cyber Breach

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When rioters invaded the Capitol on January 6, 2021 they broke into chambers and offices of lawmakers gaining access to computers, laptops, zip drives for over two hours. US Attorney for DC, Michael Sherwin, stated “electronic items were stolen from senators’ offices, documents.” Senator, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), reported that at least one laptop had been stolen. The cybersecurity consequences of this attack will take months to sort out.

Passwords, documents, access codes, and confidential or secret information may have been stolen. We also need to assume that some computers may have been compromised, with malware loaded onto them. This makes all information on the computers potentially accessible to foreign agents.

Likely only a few machines were compromised, but federal IT personnel must assume that all the digital devices at the Capitol have been compromised. From the moment lawmakers started re-using computers at 8PM that night, information could be compromised. Russia has conducted cyber attacks against the United States for some time. Though Capitol police seemed surprised by the attack, most news organizations and anyone paying attention to online chatter would have known about the impending violent insurrection. It would be quite easy to have a foreign agent sneak into the Capitol with rioters.

A scorched earth policy is the only way to guard against possible attack. All computers need to be replaced along with light switches drapes or any other place a bug might be planted. Malware doesn’t always trigger immediately so many machines could be Trojan horses waiting to invade and seize information.  The amount of work to clear the Capitol of the threat is staggering and of course tax payers will pay for it.

Day of Broken Glass: Shelter in Place

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January 6, 2021 was America’s Day of Broken Glass. When the Capitol was breached by rioters, members of the Senate and Congress had to shelter in place in a secure location. That secure location was a committee hearing space. Several of those lawmakers have tested positive or COVID-19 possibly exposing others in the room to the virus.

The Capitol’s attending physician, Brian Monahan, notified all lawmakers Sunday January 10, 2021 of the virus exposure and urged them to be tested. Lawmakers were huddled together in the room for several hours while the Capitol was under siege.

Face coverings are required in House committee hearings and mask-wearing is a requirement on the House floor. Some lawmakers and staff were furious after video surfaced of Republican lawmakers not wearing their masks in the safe room during lockdown.

The clip showed Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) trying to pass out masks to lawmakers without face coverings. Newly elected QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) was one of the offenders. She grinned as the rioters took control of the Capitol outside the conference room. Now that she is a member of the government, she should realize that she is a satanic pedophile elite who is responsible for all the evil in the world.  Markwayne Mullin (R-Ok.) beside her, joked that he didn’t want to get into politics, but he would not accept a mask being offered to him. He wore a varsity football jacket, possibly thinking he could blend in to the crowd of rioting yahoos should the safe room be overrun. Andy Briggs of (R-Az.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Michael Cloud (R-Tx.) and, Doug LaMalfa of California all refused masks.

Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) announced Monday January 11, 2021 that she has tested positive for COVID-19. She believes she was exposed to the virus while sheltering in place with several of her House colleagues, some of whom she said refused to wear masks.  A statement from Watson Coleman’s office indicates she was was in that specific safe room. Coleman is isolating and awaiting the results of PCR testing; she previously received the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID19 vaccine, which was made available to members of Congress, the Supreme Court, and Executive Branch agencies for the purposes of continuity of government operations. She said, “I received a positive test result for COVID-19, and am home resting at this time. While I am experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms, I remain in good spirits and will continue to work on behalf of my constituents.” Pramila Jayapal, (D-Wash.), said she has also tested positive and criticized Republican members of Congress who declined to wear a mask when it was offered to them.

Also testing positive were, Jake LaTurner of (R-La.) and Charles Fleischmann (R-Tenn.). A spokesmen for both lawmakers told the Post they were not in the lockdown room. The riot was a super-spreader event, said Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The crowd “wasn’t adhering to what we know are good practices in terms of mask-wearing and other things,” he said on Sunday’s Face the Nation. “I think they deliberately eschewed those things. So, yeah, we’re going to see chains of transmission come out of that kind of a gathering, for sure.”