COVID Dystopia: Surround Sound

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There was a steep learning curve in getting surround sound for this film. I hired Alan Kirkland, a sound engineer in Georgia, to do the mix. He managed to complete it in two days. The trouble is that I am unable to hear the surround sound mix on my end. When I play the six audio tracks on my computer they only go through the two stereo speakers.

I only gave Alan one note from that listen through, which was to cut the volume of Mike Pence‘s clapping by half. No one ever noticed Pence, so I didn’t need him clapping loudly for attention. I still need to edit that change into the final Premiere Pro project.

At noon today I am going over The Rev‘s to listen to the surround sound mix on his 6 speaker system. Andy Matchett said he is going as well. I think I just need to hook my computer up to the home system to get it to play. I just have to hope it will work. Honestly there is no time to make changes since I need to send out the files today to have a Digital Cinema Package made TODAY. It takes three days for the DCP to be made and the technicians test the file in a cinema to make sure it works.

Now that the surround sound mix is done I talked to Alan about possible sweetening it further after the next Film Festival. He said there are at least 30 instances of things he would like to try. I am thinking various ambient sounds could be mixed throughout. The sound of flames would probably help along with other folly work. Though the DCP creation may signal a completion to the film, it continues to evolve.

CDC Muzzled

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The New York Times recently published an article with the headline: “We were helpless.” It wasn’t news that the 45th president has muzzled The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) but there were new insights into the mood in the agency as their research and advice was ignored and silenced. The article is supported by interviews with 11 current and former agency employees, as well as a review of text messages and other documents. Which showed the agency under the thumb of the former president.

In February 2020, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, a senior CDC official, warned Americans to prepare for a pandemic. When The former president learned of the announcement he was furious and severely reprimanded her. With her silenced the entire agency was put under political pressure to downplay the pandemic. Vice President Mike Pence, with no epidemiology experience was put in charge of the coronavirus task force. It was his job to silence and spin communications from the CDC.

CDC officers were sent to airports around the country to screen passengers flying into the United States from China. They were told however that they could not wear medical masks because the politicians did not want to alarm the general public. Passengers from China were wearing masks but the medical professionals were forced to go mask less. It soon became clear that the virus was spreading not just from people who showed visible symptoms, but also asymptotically.  Just screening for visible symptoms was pointless. The public needed to be warned but the CDC was silenced.

Privately, CDC  officers were calling friends and family asking them to cancel weddings and planned vacations, to stay home, and to wear masks and even goggles when they venturing outside. The general public was not told. Those who shared their thoughts on social media were told to stop or be fired.

A month later the CDC director finally announced the asymptomatic spread of the virus. Finally after two months, the white house begrudgingly advised the public to wear masks. Had the CDC been allowed to advise the public when they wanted, 36,000 lives could have been saved. Considering the ongoing mass hypnosis and denial that number is a drop in the bucket in the ever escalating preventable COVID death toll.

So is the CDC being muzzled in 2023? It would appear so.

SS “Lost” Texts

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The US Secret Service (SS) erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, shortly after they were requested by oversight officials investigating the agency’s response to the US Capitol riot, according to a letter given to the House select committee investigating the insurrection and first obtained by CNN.

The National Archives and Records Administration is investigating the “alleged unauthorized deletion” of a large cache of text messages sent by Secret Service officials in the days surrounding the attack. There are only two explanations for the deletions, one is stupidity and the other is malicious intent to hide evidence.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general, who is charged with overseeing the Secret Service, has criticized the agency’s handling of the matter and said some of the messages were deleted after he requested them in February 2021.

The SS ushered then-Vice President Mike Pence to a secure loading dock beneath Capitol grounds while the Jan. 6 attack was underway. Pence aides have described efforts by his detail to get Pence to leave the Capitol in his motorcade, which Pence refused to do, contending that he wanted to remain in the Capitol until the counting of electoral votes was complete. The vice president’s motorcade retreating from the insurrection would have been seen world wide as a symbol of defeat. Was the SS complicit in wanting to achieve that defeat?

The Homeland Security Department’s watchdog has opened an investigation into the loss of Secret Service text messages. The January 6 committee is seeking missing text messages from 24 Secret Service employees related to Jan. 5 and the day of the Capitol attack. The committee has subpoenaed the texts for clues to what happened that day, including reports of then-President Donald Trump being blocked by agents from accompanying his supporters to the Capitol.

Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called the allegations “concerning” in a statement August 11, 2022. “We need to get to the bottom of whether the Secret Service destroyed federal records or the Department of Homeland Security obstructed oversight. The DHS Inspector General needs these records to do its independent oversight and the public deserves to have a full picture of what occurred on January 6th,” the Michigan Democrat said.

Oldenburg

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Claes Oldenburg, best known for sculpting everyday objects like spoons and bowling pins into monumental public sculptures that loom large as buildings. Oldenburg died July 18, 2022 at the age of 93 from complications from a fall. He once proposed replacing the Washington Monument near the Capitol building with a huge pair of scissors.

During the Civil War, on July 11–12, 1864, Confederate General Jubal A. Early launched an attack on Fort Stevens, in what is now Northwest Washington, DC. Union reinforcements arrived in the nick of time to save D.C. from Confederate invasion.

On January 6, 2021 a mob of insurrectionists invaded the capitol building to stop the certification of the results of the presidential election and an attempt by Donald Trump to try and overturn the election. Insurrectionists who had been chanting “Hang Mike Pence” came amazingly close to the vice president of the United States.

The pandemic had kept Americans cooped up at home where they devoured super spreading conspiracy theories on the internet. Trump downplayed the coronavirus pandemic and promoting the unfounded claim that the US presidential election had been stolen from him. Conspiracy theorists took the bait and devoured it. Q Anon also claims that a powerful cabal of Democrats and elites are trafficking and abusing children and Trump is the only salvation. To this day, they still believe he won the election, and that the U.S. Space Force will hand the next presidential election to Trump.

In 1923 Hitler launched a coup from a beer hall in Munich. From there the marched on Berlin to overthrow the German democratic government. The coup was crushed and Hitler went to jail for a short time. He realized he had to take over the government from the inside and that is what he did in the years leading up to World War II.

Trump hasn’t learned his lesson from this despot. His coup was a desperate authoritarian attempt to stay in power. Trump lacks Hitlers cunning. He is a weak excuse for a despot but the dim witted still believe his every lie.

Original Sin

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The Original Sin of the United States response to the COVID-19 Pandemic was the inability to get enough tests to isolate and contain the outbreak. The US missed a critical window to ramp up testing and implement precautionary procedures to get on top of the virus.

January 2020: The World Health Organization opted to use an approach developed by Germany to test for COVID-19. The United States instead decided to develop its own testing approach. The German testing method was made public on January 13, 2020 and the American testing method was made public on January 28 2020. The American tests were defective and gave inaccurate readings. Because of this, The United States had a very slow start in widespread testing. The CDC gave restrictive guidelines on who could be eligible for COVID-19 testing. The initial criteria were people who had recently traveled to certain countries, or people with respiratory illness serious enough to require hospitalization, or people who have been in contact with a person confirmed to have coronavirus.

On February 19, 2020 the first U.S. patient with COVID-19 of unknown origin (a possible indication of community transmission) was hospitalized. The patient’s test was delayed for four days because he had not qualified for a test under the initial federal testing criteria. By February 27, 2020 fewer than 4,000 tests had been conducted in the U.S. Although academic laboratories and hospitals had developed their own tests, they were not allowed to use them until February 29, 2020 when the FDA issued approvals for them and private companies.

On February 25, 2020 a group of researchers from the Seattle Flu Study defied federal and state officials to conduct their own tests, using samples already collected from flu study subjects who had not given permission for COVID-19 testing. They quickly found a teenager infected with COVID-19 of unknown origin, indicating that an outbreak had already been occurring in Washington State for the past six weeks. State regulators stopped these researchers’ testing on March 2, 2020.

On March 5, 2020 Vice President Mike Pence, the leader of the coronavirus response team, acknowledged that “we don’t have enough tests” to meet the predicted future demand. By March 11, 2020 the U.S had tested fewer than 10,000 people. On March 12, 2020 Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged “a failing” of the U.S. system and that the demand for SARS-CoV-2 tests was not being met.

The first COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and South Korea were identified at around the same time. Critics say the U.S. government has botched the approval and distribution of test kits, losing crucial time during the early weeks of the outbreak, with the result that the true number of cases in the United States was impossible to estimate with any reasonable accuracy. South Korea’s aggressive testing, contact tracing and isolation of those infected succeeded where the US response failed. They flattened the curve.

By March 22, 2020 drive-through testing had started in more than thirty states, although the Associated Press reported that “the system has been marked by inconsistencies, delays, and shortages,” leading to many people waiting hours or days even though they showed symptoms and were recommended by a doctor to get a test.

On April 6, 2020 Federal health inspectors released a report stating that hospitals were experiencing shortages of test supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other resources due to extended patient stays while awaiting test results.

By early May, 2020 the U.S. was testing around 240,000 to 260,000 people per day, but this was still an inadequate level to contain the outbreak.

By June 24, 2020 thirteen of the forty-one federally funded community-based testing sites originally established in March were set to lose federal funding. They remained under state and local control. Trump administration testing czar Admiral Giroir described the original community-based testing program as “antiquated”. In June 2020 Trump said several times that the U.S. would have fewer cases of coronavirus if it did less testing—”If we didn’t do testing, we would have no cases”—and he told a June rally that he had ordered a slowdown in testing. In July 2020 he continued to suggest that “if we did half the testing we would have half the cases”.

In August 2020 the CDC quietly lowered its recommendation for who should be tested, saying that people who have been exposed to the virus but are not showing symptoms “do not necessarily need a test”. The previous recommendation had been that people exposed to the virus should be “quickly identified and tested” even if they are not showing symptoms, because asymptomatic people can still spread the virus.

In December, 2020 the FDA authorized the use of a rapid testing kit developed by Brisbane, Australia-based Ellume Health. The test is available for purchase without a prescription for about $30 and can give results in about 20 minutes. The FDA approved the test for people with and without COVID symptoms.

Effective January 26, 2021 the CDC will require all air passengers two years of age and over entering the United States (including U.S. citizens and Legal Permanent Residents) to present a negative COVID-19 test, taken within three calendar days of departure​, or proof of recovery from the virus within the last 90 days.

March 5, 2021 the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Cue Health Inc. for its over-the-counter at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19. As of March 9, 2021, there are 340 tests and sample collection devices are authorized by the FDA under EUAs.

Joe Biden met his goal of 100000 vaccine shots in arms early (58 days) and reset his goal for 200000 shots in arms in his first 100 days. He called for Americans to do their part to end the pandemic by wearing masks and keeping up social distancing as the vaccine rollout ramps up. “We’re in a war with this virus,” he said. Had testing been rolled out with the same level of resolve, hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved.

 

In State

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Brian D. Sicknick, the Capitol officer who died defending the building from insurrectionists is just the fifth person to have that honor. He lay in state on February 3, 2021.

On January 6, 2021 at the direction of the former President a riotous mob stormed the building. The mob chanted that they wanted to kill Vice President Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. Five people died that day.

The Senators and Congress were evacuated to safe locations just moments before the mob forced their way into the chambers. Lawmakers passes within 65 feet of the mob wandering the halls. Some insurrectionists carried zip ties to restrain lawmakers. Had Capitol police not put up the resistance the did the death toll might have been much higher.

“Blessed are the peacekeepers like Brian,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader. “Let us be peacekeepers now in his memory.” The chief, as well as the top security officials in the House and the Senate, all resigned in the aftermath of the riot. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill placed their hands over their hearts in honor. “We must be vigilant as what President Lincoln referred to as the harsh artillery of time. We will never forget,” Ms. Pelosi said during the ceremony.

Citing two law enforcement officials, the New York Times reported that Sicknick was struck with a fire extinguisher at some point during the breach of Congress. However, reports of an attack have not been confirmed. “Nearly 140 Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers were injured in the assault. Some were not issued helmets, and one officer was stabbed with a metal fence stake. Another has two cracked ribs and two smashed spinal disks, and a third is going to lose his eye.” Gus Papathanasiou, the Capitol Police Union chairman, said in a statement. Two other officers have committed suicide since the attack on the capitol.

Coward’s Coup

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Donald Trump called followers to Washington D.C. for a “Wild” time. He had been feeding then lies about how his election had been stolen for weeks. When Trump incited his protestors at the White House, he claimed he would walk beside then to the Capitol where ballots were being counted and confirmed. However when he go off the stage he slipped away to watch the protest unfold on TV fro the comfort of the White House.

Trump likely considers the seditious coup attempt as a win. He celebrated the unfolding violence like a football fan cheering on his team. His cult followers succeeded in forcing their way into the capitol and they all walked away to brag about their exploits in various D.C. hotel lobbies. Few protestors were arrested in the capitol the few arrests that did happen came afterwards because of a curfew instated by the mayor of D.C. Muriel Bowser.

Senators and congressmen were whisked away just moments before the cambers were breached. On congressman knew the head of the National Guard in Maryland and he called for help. Help would not come until approval was granted from higher up, namely the presidential office. Hours passes with no such approval but Mike Pence finally stepped in to get troops on the ground. Violent insurrection works, and Trump and his followers will try again. Protestors are only concerned that they didn’t do more damage to the democracy. Rumors circulated that they wanted to hang Mike Pence and a noose was hung from a gallows outside the capitol building. Terrorists had zip ties to restrain any legislators they found. It is pure luck that legislators escaped a far worse fate. Trump was hoping for authoritarian control of the government but the cult followers didn’t know what to do once they got inside the capitol. The anarchy had no focus, much like the POTUS’s own disjointed approach to everything.

Some Capitol police simply invited the terrorists into the Capitol while others held their ground at all costs. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said late Thursday January 14, 2021 that he would resign, hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for him to be fired for the extraordinary security failure. Senate Sergeant at Arms, Michael Stenger, and House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, will leave his position as well. But what about the instigator in chief? Will Pence invoke the 25th Amendment that would remove the POTUS from office? Pence might want to run for president in 2024 so he needs the support of the lunatic fringe. Peloci want to impeach again but can that happen in 12 days? I doubt it. Many Republicans still back the big lie that the election was not fair. Even after facing possible murder by an angry mob, they hold tight to the lie that caused the sedition.

Live pipe bombs were found outside the DNC and RNC and weapons like lead pipes and even fire arms were used. A Capitol police office died from his injuries. Thankfully these terrorists are not smart. They filmed themselves commuting their crimes with their cell phones. Dan Rather made a great point, in that it would be much harder to identify these idiots if they wore masks. Of course it was a man from Florida, Adam Christian Johnson who had his photo taken as he walked of with House Speaker’s lectern. Arrests are happening all across the country now since so many shared their crimes on social media. Trump has already invoked the punishment for destruction of Goverment property, it is a $250,000 fine and, ten years imprisonment. I hope everyone who entered the Capitol gets that sentence. Of course the largely mask less protest will become the latest super spreader event, allowing the virus to spread across the country.

In 1923 Adolph Hitler had a failed coup attempt in Germany with no major consequences. He spent 8 months behind bars, during which time he dictated Mein Kampf, his political autobiography. Ten years later he took power in Germany. If there is no consequences for Trump, insurrections like the one at the capitol will continue. Twitter shut down Trump’s account permanently but far more action is needed. Inciting violence against the government hasn’t happened since the civil war. It is not a time to turn the other cheek.

50 Legislators Infected

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As of December 30, 2020, Ballotpedia identified 50 United States politicians, candidates, and government officials at the federal level who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. One Federal Politician, 7 state politicians and 4 local politicians have died from COVID-19.

Seven members of the U.S. Senate have been diagnosed with COVID-19 as have 33 members of Congress. Four members of Congress have died from the virus.

Luke Letlow, a representative of Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District died December 20, 2020 and Stephen F. Williams of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit died August 7, 2020, Virginia State Senator Ben Chafin died on January 1, 2021 due to COVID-19.

Mike Pence swore in 6 new Senators on January 3, 2021, “Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic?” he asked each in turn. Senators who would typically be gathered in full on the Senate floor were spaced, and many were not in attendance due to COVID-19.

As Americans continue to die at a rate of several thousand every day, the POTUS is only obsessed with a seditious attempt to overthrow the election results. He has pledged to fight when Congress meets on January 6, 2021 to formally count the votes of the Electoral College. Several GOP lawmakers signed a letter pledging to object to the results unless Congress investigates the election before they counted. The effort is sure to fail in the Democratic-controlled House and likely in the Senate, where several Republicans led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have warned colleagues not to challenge the Electoral College vote. A group of nearly a dozen Senators announced they would join the effort unless an “emergency 10-day audit” of the election returns in the “disputed states” is completed.

This waste of time by seditious Senators and Congressmen is likely just an attempt to build a name for themselves as they think ahead to future elections. The nations capitol is bracing for violence as MAGA marchers gather to disrupt the city. Posts on the new far right social media site Parler, indicate that January 6 is in line with the QAnon conspiracy pseudo-religion that thinks President Trump is building a “storm” that will wash away his enemies. It’s seen as a “final stand” for many of Trump’s supporters. Trump who is encouraging protestors to DC said the day “will be wild.” Rep Gomer Pile (R) Texas, said that a court’s refusal to force Mike Pence to overturn the presidential election results essentially served as a call to Americans to incite violence in the streets. Signs are being erected in DC stating that open carry of guns is illegal in the capital. The time for racist groups and militias to “Stand back and stand by” has expired.

They Know Not What They Do

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Vice President Mike Pence took a trip to Texas where he visited the First Baptist Church in Dallas on Sunday June 28, 2020. A choir of more than 100 people performed without masks spraying each other and the audience with aerosolized droplets which spread COVID-19.  According to organizers, nearly 2,200 people attended the Celebrate Freedom Rally.

Studies have suggested that COVID-19 can spread through respiratory droplets in the air that can linger inside buildings. High-powered vocalizations, for instance loud talking or singing, are particularly efficient in producing these tiny particles. Other choir-linked outbreaks have occurred in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Throughout the service, the members of the choir sang at full volume, behind an orchestra. I really feel bad for the orchestra who would have gotten the full force of the fire hose. Singers were not six feet apart. The audience packed in a few rows back were also not practicing social distancing. Face masks at the event were “strongly encouraged,” with signs posted around the venue signaling the suggestion. Perhaps 50% of the audience took the suggestion while some wore the masks incorrectly. The choir put their masks on between songs which is counter intuitive since the singing is the best way to spray the virus into the venue. Secret Service agents must have known to place the Vice President off to the side rather than being seated front and center. The indoor service lasted for about one and a half hours.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an outbreak in a 122-member choir in Washington state. 86% of singers that attended that one rehearsal contracted the deadly virus. At that 2.5-hour choir practice attended by 61 persons, including an symptomatic patient, there were 32 confirmed and 20 probable secondary COVID-19 cases that occurred. Three patients were hospitalized, and two died.

In an interview Pence said that “people should listen to state and local officials on wearing masks in public, every state has a unique situation.” Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott opened his state early. The state has become a hot spot for the spread of the virus in recent weeks and he has had to reverse his position by requiring bars to close, putting restrictions on outdoor gatherings, and scaling back restaurant dining to help stop the spread.

The CDC initially recommended that churches consider suspending or at least decreasing the use of a choir and congregants singing during services. The CDC asserted that “The act of singing may contribute to transmission of Covid-19, possibly through emission of aerosols.” They have had to soften their language by “suggesting” or asking people to please “consider” life saving measures. Late last month however, the agency quietly removed that guidance from its website. According to The Washington Post, the White House requested that change.

I actually got sick to my stomach working on this illustration. I went into the bathroom and dry heaved. I am being physically affected by blatant the irresponsibility I see all around me. I scrubbed the bowl while kneeling before it. That is when the image of the Exorcist pea soup fire hose effect hit me. It occurred to me that Trump uses the same distraction technique when he doesn’t have an answer to any policy question. Denying reality does not defeat reality.

“Forgive them father for they know not what they do.”

Resurgence in Dating and COVID-19

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A dating app for wealthy people sees their members getting ready to date on the Fourth of July weekend despite social distancing rules still being in effect. Men and women who have been in isolation for months are desperate to score a date. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, online dating has taken off. Messaging on Hinge increased 30%, and Tinder saw its biggest day ever on March 29, with over 3 billion swipes. People have more time to talk online.

The virus is primarily spread, through respiratory droplets. And this is why it’s important to maintain that physical distance. Because you don’t know who has it and who doesn’t. And so, if people act irresponsibly and go out wanting to meet people, well then we’re gonna create new chains of transmission. Writing love letters is quite romantic.

With  a resurgence of COVID-19 cases hitting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered Bars closed though he refuses to consider a step back in his phase 2 re-opening plan. On June 26, 2020 there were 8,942 new COVID-19 cases on , shattering the previous record of 5,508 set just two days ago. New Case counts keep rising by about 1000 cases each day. DeSantis said the order was issued because many people were disobeying the state’s reopening guidelines. “People weren’t following it,” the governor said. “There was widespread noncompliance, and that led to issues. If folks just follow the guidelines, we’re going to be in good shape. When you depart from that, then it becomes problematic.” He however  refuses to make mask wearing mandatory state wide.

Back in April while NYC was suffering from the onslaught of the deadly virus, the governor claimed victory over the virus when he visited the president at the White House. “Everyone in the media was saying Florida would be like New York or Italy and that has not happened,” he said. “We had a tailored and measured approach that not only helped our numbers be way below what anybody predicted, but also did less damage to our state going forward.” Now he has to eat his words.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in response, ” look at the numbers, You played politics with this virus, and you lost.” “It was never politics. It was always science,” Cuomo said. He  criticized other state leaders’ response to the coronavirus pandemic Thursday June 25, 2020, saying some states who rushed to reopen their economies were playing politics.

Dr. Anthony Fauci in testimony before a congressional committee said on Tuesday that the rate of new coronavirus infections could more than double to 100,000 a day if current outbreaks were not contained, warning that the virus’s march across the South and the West “puts the entire country at risk.” “We have a very heterogenous country, but heterogeneity doesn’t mean that we are not intimately interconnected with each other,” Fauci said. “So what goes on in one area of the country, ultimately could have an effect on the other areas of the country.”

Vice President Mike Pence wore a face mask to a public briefing on Tuesday June 30, 2020 where the message from the surgeon general and others was clear: Americans should to do the same while in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The vice president and others removed their masks only when delivering remarks. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said “When you do not wear your face covering, we end up in a situation where you see higher rates of disease spread and you end up having to close places. This mask, this face covering, actually is an instrument of freedom for Americans if we all use it.”

Today July 2, 2020 Florida reached a new milestone surpassing a 1000% increase in COVID-19 cases since it re-opened.