The White House promised that 20M Americans would be vaccinated by the New Year. With 2 days left until that deadline, how’s that going? Answer: Not so well. pic.twitter.com/gDdZvUujKc — The Recount (@therecount) December 29, 2020
Coronavirus
Coronavirus, Education, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 12.21.20: 5 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Monday night’s school board open session saw, among other items, a unanimous decision to maintain the existing close contacts and quarantine guidance, goals presentations from four administrators, a district administrator report predominantly on the results of parents’ and students’ survey preferences and class selection for the next semester, and discussion whether to have school board…
Coronavirus, Covidiocy, Culture, Federal Government
Private Meetings in Public Monuments During a Pandemic
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Washington Post reports that Interior [Department] shuts Washington Monument after interior secretary tests positive for the coronavirus (‘Park Service staff say they may have been exposed when David Bernhardt led a private, after-hours tour’): Officials have taken the extraordinary step of closing the Washington Monument starting Friday as a precaution after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt —…
City, Coronavirus, Economy
What Changes After the Pandemic?
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Megan McArdle, writing at the Washington Post, speculates about What changes after covid-19? I’m betting on everything. She’s thinking about the other side of the pandemic, when the worst has subsided, and we are no longer here but instead there. Her forecast focuses on technological changes likely in the wake of the COVID-19: But on closer…
Coronavirus, Education, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 11.23.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Monday night’s school board meeting saw a majority of the board adopt a mostly virtual instructional model, to run through 1.17.21 (with exceptions for students 4K, early childhood, and perhaps other vulnerable populations). The full agenda for the meeting is available. (Items 9A, 12A, and 15F were omitted from the agenda by consent.) Updated afternoon of…
Coronavirus, School District
A Fair, Thorough Assessment of Whitewater’s Schools and the Pandemic Awaits (at the End of the School Year)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
The pandemic, having gripped Wisconsin beginning late last winter, seems likely to last well into the coming spring. There have been numerous district meetings, declarations, assessments, positions, and revisions of policy over the last several months; there are likely to be more before next June. Through it all, one sound truth: it is not on…
2020 Presidential Election, America, Coronavirus, Culture, Documentary, Economy, Elections, Film, Trump, Voting Rights
Frontline: A Nation in Turmoil (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Filmed across the country this past year by a production team headed by Mike Shum and Blair Woodbury, “American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil” captures the diverse perspectives of a number of people — a pastor, a barber, a doctor, an activist and more — as they deal with COVID-19 in their communities, respond to…
Coronavirus, Documentary, Film, Public Health
Totally Under Control
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Update, 10.31.20 — ‘Totally Under Control’ Documentary Streams for Free Through Election Day: “Neon is making “Totally Under Control,” its documentary about the White House’s response to COVID-19, available to stream on its website for free through Election Day on Nov. 3.” Original post from 10.27.20 follows — Noted documentarian Alex Gibney’s Totally Under Control recounts…
Coronavirus, Mendacity, Sen. Ron Johnson
Sen. Ron Johnson: From Ludicrous to Malevolent
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
I’ve previously described Sen. Ron Johnson as America’s Dumbest Senator™, and his years in office confirm that assessment. A man who was formerly ludicrous, however, may now be fittingly described as malevolently mendacious. Sophie Carlson, Laura Schultz, and Patrick Marley report Wisconsin reports record-high 48 coronavirus deaths as Sen. Johnson falsely claims state has flattened the curve:…
America, Coronavirus, Public Health
How America Bungled the Plague
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A year ago, the United States was regarded as the country best prepared for a pandemic. Our government had spent nearly two decades strategizing for a doomsday scenario. So what went wrong? How is it that America, which wrote the global playbook for pandemic response, accounts for just 4 percent of the world’s population yet…
Coronavirus, Public Health
Frontline: America’s Medical Supply Crisis (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
When the coronavirus hit, why were countless Americans left unprotected amid a desperate shortage of PPE and other critical medical equipment? FRONTLINE, The Associated Press and the Global Reporting Centre investigate. In the wake of President Donald Trump’s COVID-positive diagnosis, and as cases spike in parts of the country, “America’s Medical Supply Crisis” examines why…
Coronavirus, Public Health
Indifference to Others
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
For every famous political figure exposed at these events, there’s going to be a non-famous staffer who never makes the news, who doesn’t have the same access to rapid testing and treatment, and who had no say in the choice to eschew basic safety measures for symbolic reasons. — Julian Sanchez (@normative) October 3, 2020…
Business, Coronavirus, Economy, Joe Biden
Kevin, a Small Business Owner, Backs Biden for President
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Coronavirus, Education, Laws/Regulations, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 9.28.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
Monday night saw something close to a conventional school board meeting for Whitewater – the routine oversight of a small school district, even during a pandemic. We will one day have meetings that are even closer to routine (yet with the challenges of poverty and malaise to be addressed). The full agenda for the meeting…