Duke is Guilty

Posted on by Thor

Lo G & Colbonyx are trying to send signs to the world that The Duke (their corrupt employer) is guilty for illegally supplying blood samples to Tim Nugget, the CEO of a corrupt tech company called Manogen. They find subtle ways to send this message into the world like this free record promotion which is only available if people enter Guilty Duke numerically on the music web site.

Galia Social is the name of the rock band behind this concept. Their debut Album “Rise” is available now for purchase:
The album began streaming on all digital platforms on February 22nd, 2020. Their premiere album “Rise” is available for purchase.

These two musicians clearly fully understand one another and are there for each other.

After Pulse: Roxy Santiago

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Roxy Santiago became involved after the Pulse Nightclub massacre helping the community. Th month before the tragedy she had been asked to be on the board of the Center. Her start date was to be June 28, 2016 but Pulse happened. She was also a volunteer with the Red Cross action disaster team.

Roxy woke up at about 5AM on June 12, 2016 because there were so many updates on her phone. A message said, “I hope Kay is OK.” Kay, a good friend was dating a bartender at Pulse. She scoured the internet and saw what had happened at Pulse. She couldn’t believe it at first.

She decided to text The Center. She decided that is where she needed to go to help out. She arrived about 7:30AM. She opened her laptop and started to find out what was needed, water food. She worked through Human Rights Campaign, Democratic Caucus, and her own Facebook. The phones were blowing up. Water was needed at the blood bank and then there was an immigration issue. It was four days of non- stop communication and gathering of resources.

At 9:30AM she had to go down to Pulse and do a live interview on TV representing The Center. There was so much going on that there wasn’t even a moment to shed a tear. After a hug you might well up but then you would have to get back. There was a real bond between the seven of so people who were there for the four days. A men’s clothing store donated the clothes for the funerals. So many elements came together that you normally do not thin about. Golden Chorale donated a refrigerator truck for the water. The truck couldn’t handle all the water, so The Track Shack let them use their warehouse space to store it. Whatever came in, went right out the back door to families.

Days later she went home and there was a program on TV where Lady Gaga read the names. For the first time tears flowed. She pulled herself back together and went right back to the Center. At the Dr. Phillips vigil she helped Patty Sheehan with the Spanish section of her speech. She didn’t make it to Lake Eola.

For the one year remembrance she wore the angel wings and went to Pulse at 2AM. That experience made her heart feel a little better and it kept her going. The work was ongoing.

Biden Sends 200 Ventilators to Florida

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Florida is facing a major surge of COVID-19 cases because of the DeSantis Variant. Hospitals in Central Florida are completely full and non-COVID related cases are being turned away. In Florida,  more than 10,000 people are hospitalized.

“The Strategic National Stockpile deployed 200 ventilators, 100 high-flow nasal cannula kits and related ancillary supplies to Florida earlier this week,” the spokesperson for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) wrote in an email.

Asked about the shipment on July 10, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis said, Ummm duh whaaaa? He has banned local mask and vaccine mandates in Florida amid the surge in recent weeks in COVID-19 cases in the state. He is also making sure children are not mandated to wear masks when they return to school. School boards are having to countermand his orders to try and keep children safe. DeathSantis is threatening school officials who require masks by withholding their pay. The Biden administration is looking into ways to possibly compensate any officials who lose pay if DeathSantis follows through on his threat.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on August 11, 2021, “As a policy, we don’t send ventilators to states without their interest in receiving the ventilators. I think the most important question here is why would you oppose receiving the ventilators when clearly you need those in your state given the percentage of hospitalizations that are occurring?”

Florida on August 6, 2021 reported 134,506 new Covid-19 cases over the past week, more than any other seven-day period during the pandemic. Hospitals are now treating 14,787 coronavirus patients; that number represents a 145 percent increasing over the previous week.

Sturgis Yet Again

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I can not believe that I have to report about another 10 day Sturgis, South Dakota super spreader event. This is a clear indicator that I have had to document this pandemic for over a year.

This year over 700,000 bikers are expected to arrive in this small South Dakota town to infect one another and then return too their friends and family all over the country to spread the virus.

In Meade County South Dakota, where Sturgis is, only 37% of the population has received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, leaving plenty of unvaccinated fuel for the Delta variant to burn through. A report by infectious disease experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and South Dakota health officials traced 649 Covid-19 cases around the country and at least one death to the 2020 rally. The report said the “true national impact” of the rally on the pandemic is likely underestimated.

Another CDC report linked the rally to a Covid-19 outbreak in Minnesota, where at least 51 residents who attended the event became sick, and another 35 people were infected after coming into contact with a person who went to the rally. Those 35 people were household, social and workplace contacts, it said.

Of those 86 cases, four people were hospitalized, and one died, according to the report. The virus back then could infect 2 to 3 other people. The Delta variant has the advantage that it can spread from one infected person to 5 to 8 other people causing a far greater exponential spread.

Sheriffs are reporting that this year’s rally is more crowded than ever. Sheriff Ron Merwin said August 7, 2021, “There are more people [at the rally] than in the 31 years I’ve been doing this,” the Rapid City Journal , and Sturgis Police Chief Geody VanDewater said calls for law enforcement are “up dramatically” versus prior years. Masks are not mandated at the rally. The Sturgis rally generates 800 million in sales revenue for the local economy and that is more important than any life. So begins another COVID surge in the midwest.

Elementary Watson, Wear a Damn Mask

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Mad Cow presented Hound of the Baskervilles by Steven Canny & John Nicholson and directed by Tony Simotes as a soft opening for the theater. It was originally slated to open in January but the dates kept being pushed back because o the pandemic. They decided to present the show in July after the cast had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Three actors, Michael Geniac, Tommy Keesling and Anthony Pyatt Jr. seemed to ply a cast of dozens. I had read the Sir Conan Doyle book in high school so I was somewhat familiar with the story which was rather mysterious and foreboding. This fast paced show however was a madcap comedy that delivered on the laughs. Anthony Pratt did an admirable jog as Sherlock Holmes and he certainly got an amazing workout with lightning quick costume changes. Tommy Keesling was hilarious as the bumbling and yet quite insightful Watson. Michael Geniac performed primarily as Sir Henry Baskerville but was also hilarious as a cast of lower cast characters. As one he carried a sheep in a sack dragging his bum leg. Some of the acting hearkened back to the timeless physical performances in the early silent comedies. The sound and lighting cues in this show were spot on.

Mad Cow strongly advised non vaccinated patrons to wear masks although county government is advising everyone vaccinated and non vaccinated should wear masks indoors. Social distancing consisted of one seat between groups of people which amounts to about two feet of distance. Our group wore masks the entire time but mask usage in the audience was spotty at best. A fog machine supplied thick plumes of smoke which functioned as a reminder of how we were all swapping air in the small theater.

Some of the biggest laughs came from interactions with a stuffed scarecrow that represented a body that had fallen from a cliff. The pants slipped down resulting in some undignified bum humor. After a solid year with no theater it was fun to just relax an laugh out loud.  Mad Cow as now dipped it’s toe into live theater after a year of pandemic isolation. I do hope theater can safely continue to inch back into everyday culture. Broadway shows are beginning to open starting this fall, 2021 in NYC.

Panera in a Pandemic

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There were 73,000 new cases of COVID-19 in Florida yesterday, July 24, 2021. Florida can now boast one fourth of the cases in the United States as the Delta variant rages across the country. Florida leads the country in cases and hospitalizations. In Orlando, a woman reported on her trip to a local hospital. Has had to go to the hospital frequently for outpatient care and her doctor sent her to the ER. She is used to being wheeled straight in but not this time. Patients lines every hallway, some curling up in the middle of the floor. Paramedics waited in line to drop off patients. Social distancing was impossible. Some people lowered their masks to cough and then lifted them back up, while a woman vomited into her hands two feet in front of her.

Because of the recent surge in cases, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings has advised that everyone should wear masks when in crowded places indoors. Of course everyone interprets “Crowded” differently. Some folks don’t think a room is crowded unless their nose is physically inside someone else’s open mouth and their nipples are pressed up against someone else’s chest.

I had promised my class a trip to an air conditioned restaurant to sketch on location before the Delta variant surge had gained steam. I let them all know that we could go if they agreed to all wear their masks the entire time we were inside the restaurant. In an overheard conversation one man said that Panera is less crowded on Sunday, which was the day we were there to sketch. The place was packed. Staff all wore masks and I noticed that the cashier washed his hands each time he handled money.

Besides my students, no one in the restaurant was wearing masks. Most of the students ordered food and drink and after eating only one student put her mask back on. I respected another student who put her mask on any time I approached to give advise or notes. I chose to eat at a table outside and then came back in to get a quick sketch. I worked on my tablet at first but the battery died, so I did this second sketch on paper which never blinks off and dies.

Since my students didn’t follow my advised safety protocol, I will not be bringing them to any other venues. From now on classes will be held outside on the Crealde campus where they can go mask less. With CDC guidance contradicting local advice, people are left to navigate a grey area of health and safety measures. If you give people the option to ignore science, they will live in joyful ignorance every time.

American Tourists

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It was the first hearing held by the House Select Committee investigating the attack by pro-Trump rioters who were trying to stop the certification of the presidential election.

Four officers — Pfc. Harry Dunn and Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the U.S. Capitol Police, and Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department — each gave opening statements and answered questions from committee members.

Some toady of a Republican representative from Georgia said that he felt the rioters walking through the halls of the Capitol looked to him like tourists. The same representative on January 6th was photographed barricading the doors of Congress to try and keep the rioters out of the chamber. The officers in the Committee Hearing were asked about the tourist comment. Daniel Hodges said, “Well, if  that is what American tourists are like then I can see why other countries do not like American tourists.”

Fanone decried those in Congress who are “downplaying or outright denying what happened” that day, saying, “I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them.”

“The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful!” Fanone shouted as he pounded the witness table. “Nothing, truly nothing has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day. And in doing so betray their oath of office.”

 

After Pulse: Jessica Brooks

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At the time Pulse happened, Jessica Brooks was an emergency communications specialist for the Orlando Police Department. On that evening she was a call taker.  A call taker answers the 911 calls as well as non emergency calls and they collect all the information and they put it in the computer. A dispatcher then get that information and gets it out to the officers who are responding.

On June 11, 2016 she was on the 3PM to 3AM shift taking calls. The entire week had been insane to the point where they wondered what was going on. They were busier than they have ever been. They thought that maybe the Christina Grimmie murder at the Plaza Live was the end of the insanity. Everyone was burnt out. There had been a car jacking that day as well.

Six call takers worked the lines. She was handling six radio channels. She had worked as a dispatcher for eight hours and for her last four hours she became a call taker. Things usually slow down between midnight and two. At to AM it can pick up because that is when the clubs let out. She was on her last break and it was just before 2AM. She took a bathroom break and when she walked back in the room, the phones were ringing off the hook. Co-workers wee standing up. She heard there was an active shooter at Pulse nightclub. She wasn’t sure it was legit. She decided to plug back into her headset and take a few calls and she would take a break later.

She doesn’t remember many of the calls. The first call she does remember was the worst call she had ever taken. It was a female who was stuck in a bathroom. She was scared and begging for help. She encouraged her and let her know there was an officer on the scene. Then Jessica heard gun shots. They were not in the bathroom but they were close. Then they were in the bathroom. She heard screaming and horrible things. There was moaning for a while and then silence. She stayed on the line putting it on hold and handled other calls hoping she could go back to the line and get a response, but she didn’t.

The next call was a minor traffic accident with no injuries and she had to inform the driver that there were no officers available. Some of that evening is a blur. She took another call from someone what was trapped in an office at Pulse. She was on the phone with him for a while. There were ten others in the room. She got his basic information and kept him calm. Inside she was panicking because of hat had happened to her last caller. She didn’t want that to happen to him. Ultimately she got to hear who went in and pulled him get out. She could hear her co workers talking to people in bathrooms, and the same room as her survivor. She knew of parents who were texting their children who were trapped in the bathrooms.

It was a loud insane night. The final call she took that night was from the shooter. She couldn’t hear him because it was so loud in the room. He claimed his allegiance to an Islamic state. He said, “I am the Orlando shooter.” She muted her phone, and told her supervisor that she had the shooter o the phone. One of the lieutenants was there and he made his way to her so he could take over the call. She asked the shooter where he was, and he said he was at Pulse. Her computer screen showed a map, that map shows where the call is coming from. He was indeed right at Pulse. He spoke in another language at another point. Then he hung up on her. The lieutenant took her console and she was done for the night. She wanted to stay but they wouldn’t let her. Some people worked 16 hour shifts but they must have seen on her face that she had enough. The first call is what got to her the most. She could not sleep for 48 hours.

At home she did click on the news which announced that 20 had died. She felt sick and turned it off. She felt she would never be the same. A friend came over from work along with a pastor and she was surrounded by love. The next day she went to church in search of hope. She was off work for 4 days.

 

After Pulse: Deacon David Grey

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Deacon David Grey is from the Dioceses of Greater Orlando. Catholic Deacons, priests and the bishop provided pastoral care and leadership to the Hispanic community and the Orlando Community following the Pulse nightclub massacre.

On June 12, 2016 David as sitting at home on the front porch following a run. They found out what had happened. He connected with the chief operating officer at the Diocese. There tragedy was just down the street from the church. They needed to be involved in doing something. David needed to get dressed and get down there.

He ended up at the hotel which became the staging point. It was very chaotic since no one had experienced something of this magnitude before. Families clung to the hope that they would find out what happened to their loved one but those in charge needed to know who next of kin were. Finally at the end of the day news was not forthcoming for the families. It just wasn’t possible.

A Federal Response team was on route to Miami for a training exercise and they were diverted to Orlando. The Federal agents took control form city and county agencies. This threw off notifications. Some notifications were done. There was chaos and anger. One person walked around with a cell phone with a photo and he told people , “If this is your son, he is not coming home.” He was frustrated and angry. Pizzas came in that were ordered by people from California. People wanted to help in any way they could so there was food and water. Translators started manning tables and taking in supplies.

Word went out among the priests in the hospitals that there needed to be a response. Because of his position, as a deacon, David knows most of the priests. They needed to find priests who speak Spanish. He called Catholic Charities, to find people who were bi-lingual. He assembled a team who were bi-lingual and they immediately came down. This was on a Sunday when they had to juggle masses. The day was open and unstructured as they walked with families in their moment of uncertainty and need. The bishop had flown to California and when he landed he heard about the Pulse massacre and he got right back on a plane to Orlando.

Universal prayer services were planned soon afterward. A timetable structure had to be developed so that Spanish speaking priests could meet with families. Then came funeral arrangements. Family were coming in from other countries. In the midst of a challenge like this you have to have hope. That can be hard to come by. There were challenges in the family structures in the midst of the tragedy. Unity was the primary message moving forward in both the city response and the church response. We stand together, Orlando Strong.

The Rural Unvaccinated

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The number of American getting vaccinated fr COVID-19 has plummeted over the past several months. The number of people getting vaccinated each day has dropped 88% from April of 2021. Americans have been offered free beers, scholarships and multi million dollar lottery prize but many don’t want the vaccine. States with the lowest vaccination rates supported the former president.nws is specifically encouraging it’s viewers to not get vaccinated.

With the Delta variant spreading like wildfire across the country, the unvaccinated are falling sick and dying. Frustratingly those deaths are “completely avoidable” now that vaccines are available. Across the country, more than 99% of US Covid-19 deaths in June were among unvaccinated people, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Coronavirus case numbers are rising sharply in the Sunshine State once again as the Delta variant spreads. The Florida Department of Health reported more than 23,000 new coronavirus cases last week — an 8,000-case increase over the previous week. Only 58% of the eligible population in Florida has gotten vaccinated. A sharp rise in COVID-19 cases has prompted Orange County to abruptly change course and suggest that all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks when in crowded environments. The announcement by Mayor Jerry Demings came late Monday July 12, 2021 at an Orange County coronavirus news briefing. “A pandemic within a pandemic is starting to occur,” he said. Orange county’s 14-day rolling positivity rate hit 7.8% on Monday, almost double that of 4.28% two weeks ago. 406 cases of new infections were reported to Florida department of health July 11, 2021. The party only ends one way for the unvaccinated.