Let COVID Burn!

Posted on by Thor

Ottawa, Canada has been under siege form a truck convoy since January 26, 2022. The truckers are protesting a vaccine mandate for truckers, implemented in mid-January on both sides of the US-Canada border. They want the freedom to spread disease.

Protester demands include an end to all Covid-19 restrictions in Canada and the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Much like the insurrection at the United States Capitol some protestors carry Trump, Nazi and Confederate flags.

Ottawa Mayor, Jim Watson has declared a state of emergency, and Trudeau’s government has deployed hundreds of Royal Canadian Mounted Police to the protests. This has not stopped the protest from expanding and shitting don several bridges which are important trading routes between the United States and Canada.

The protest in Canada has inspired copycat truck protests. CNN reported that the Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement across the country that a convoy of truckers protesting Covid-19 vaccine mandates could soon begin in the U.S., with the potential to affect Sunday’s Super Bowl in the Los Angeles area and cause other disruptions. “The convoy will potentially begin in California as early as mid-February and arrive in Washington, DC, as late as mid-March, potentially impacting the Super Bowl LVI scheduled for February 13 and the State of the Union Address scheduled for March 1.” the bulletin said. Law enforcement and security officials guarding the Super Bowl in Inglewood, California, are preparing for any possible disruptions.

COVID-19 Wildfires

Posted on by Thor

California is experiencing a wildfire of a COVID-19 crisis surpassing 3 million COVID-19 cases this week. The state reported 694 new Covid-19 related deaths January 20, 2021, its second highest single day toll to date. As of January 20, 2021, California had a total of 3,019,371 confirmed infections. More than 20,800 people hospitalized across the state for Covid-19. Approximately 4,750 of those patients are in intensive care units.

The Los Angeles Times reported that LA County is particularly hard hit. A dozen mobile refrigerated trailers are parked in the county morgue parking lot to handle all the bodies. Each trailer can store 25 bodies. Overwhelmed funeral homes are forced to turn families away.

As the pandemic rages in California, medics are being told to ration oxygen.  At the start of the new year, oxygen and the medical supplies associated with it were hard to come by in parts of Southern California and some hospital administrators worried they would have to choose which patients get these resources during the next COVID-19 surge.

There is hope that the vaccine roll out might help curb the surge in deaths. However the vaccine roll out has been slow, coming in fits and starts. San Francisco’s public health department will run out of covid-19 vaccine January 21, 2021 because the city’s allocation dropped substantially from a week ago and doses that had to be discarded were not replaced. Two thirds of the state is under a regional stay-at-home orders based on ICU capacity. Sleep Train Arena, the former home of the Sacramento Kings north of Sacramento’s downtown has been turned into a COVID-19 treatment facility to ease the strain on southern California hospitals. The arena should be able to handle 244 patients with the proper staffing and resources. Creating more bed space is easy, but finding staff for these facilities is the dilemma.

California health officials and researchers at the state’s universities and hospitals are trying to learn more about another variant of the coronavirus. Only days after the so-called “UK variant” was identified here in the state, a different, separate variant has now been traced to outbreaks in Santa Clara County. The UK variant spreads more easily being more infectious. Researchers are trying to find out if the the California variant is also more infectious.

Los Angeles International Airport is now offering COVID-19 test results in as little as 30 minutes with the addition of rapid antigen tests at the airport’s on-site laboratory. The nasal-swab antigen tests are available only at the Terminal 6 lab location and cost $80. California officials are pinning their hopes on the newly inaugurated President Joe Biden as they struggle to obtain coronavirus vaccines to curb the surge that has packed hospitals and morgues in the state.

COVID Prayer

Posted on by Thor

A California man murdered a fellow COVID-19 patient with an oxygen tank. 37 year old, Jesse Martinez became upset when the 82-year-old man sharing his hospital room started praying, according to Los Angeles police.

Martinez allegedly grabbed an oxygen tank and bludgeoned the elderly patient.

The victim died the following day.

The police said the two men did not know each other, and they were receiving treatment for coronavirus in a two-person room in Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster in southern California.

Jesse Martinez, was arrested and charged with murder, a hate crime enhancement and elder abuse,” a statement read. The victim has not been identified. Martinez was moved from the hospital room to a jail cell and is expected to appear in court in Antelope Valley on Monday December 28, 2020. The investigation is ongoing.

Leaving on a jet plane.

Posted on by Thor

On October 14th, Terry and I left for a month long trip to Australia. Terry was an exchange student for her senior year in high school and her Lauriston Australia class mates were holding their snurfurtieth reunion. I went along for the ride. Australia is about as far away from Florida as you can get. Getting there is an all day affair involving a stop over in Los Angeles California. My one view of LA on this trip was the Scoreboard bar in the airport. Sports events played on the ten or so TV screens above the bar as tired travelers drank in an attempt to relax.

I wish I could sleep in flight. I tried every possible way to rest my head against the bulk head or on a pile of clothes. My neck hurts, just thinking about that flight. I keep thinking that a large beach ball would be the perfect way to wedge myself into a rest full position.  Terry seemed to slumber through most of the flight thanks to the pills she popped right before take off. I spent most of my idle time watching movies on the seat back screen in front of me. It was a 24 hour entertainment marathon. There even was a camera mounted on the tail of the plane, so you could watch the flight as if it was a video game. That camera view is nerve wracking however if you watch as the plane lands. I’ve used quite a few flight simulators and I began to question the pilots flight pattern on the approach into LA. He weaved left and then right. I was so thankful that he did finally manage to find the runway.

“The Gun’shine State”

Posted on by Thor

Over 1200 peaceful protesters marched from Lake Eola to the Orange County Courthouse on Wednesday July 17th to honor Trayvon Martin the 17 year old who went to the store to get some skittles and was shot to death by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford. George Zimmerman had been found not guilty around 10pm this past Saturday by an all female jury in the shooting. Shock and outrage swept the nation.  Protests turned violent in Los Angeles and Oakland, California and across the nation this week. There were no reported problems at the Orlando march. Helicopters  grew louder as the protest approached the courthouse. It had been raining hard as I walked towards the courthouse but the storm clouds passed allowing me to sketch when I arrived.

As protesters filled the plaza in front of the courthouse, they chanted, “What do we want?” and everyone replied “Justice”. “When do we want it?!” “NOW!!” Protesters carried signs saying, “No Justice, No Peace” and “We are Trayvon.” Some protesters wore hoodies which is what Trayvon wore when he was profiled by Zimmerman as someone up to no good.

Natalie Jackson, an attorney for Trayvon’s parents urged protesters to “vote and raise your voices against Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law”. This law makes it possible for a vigilante to be innocent if they at anytime feel threatened. Travon tried to run, but Zimmerman followed. At some point the teen had to defend himself, but he had no weapon, Zimmerman did. The law needs to change.  Florida is once more a joke because of its warped and backwards justice system. Olumide Ajileye shouted out, from the courthouse steps, “Everyone needs to get involved, this does not end today!”

Someone told me that Zimmerman might even make money on this travesty by suing an NBC show that edited down the 911 call he made on the night of the shooting. The edited audio made it seem obvious that Zimmerman was profiling the black teenager. Zimmerman could become a multi millionaire in a civil case against the media. Reader, Abbe Wise Arenson , suggested a new state motto, which she picked up from a pundit, “gun’shine state” – we need reform!

Police officers kept walking over to see what I was up to. The first officer liked the sketch and each officer in turn came over to look as word spread.  I was just glad they didn’t tell me to get out of the bushes where I was sitting. When the hour long rally ended, protesters quietly drifted away. When I was two blocks away, I realized I forgot my umbrella  back where I had been sketching, When I returned it was still there. I had to get to a final dress rehearsal for “Violin(ce)” at the Shakespeare Theater.