Coronavirus
Babbittry, Boosterism, City, Conflicts of Interest, Coronavirus, Culture, Ethics, Local Government, Politics
Social Capital and Hardship
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
What role does social capital play in a community’s health? Adam Gopnik, in The Paradoxical Role of Social Capital in the Coronavirus Pandemic, ponders whether there’s a relationship between communities with high social capital and a community’s public health. Gopnik uses a traditional definition of social capital as the “parts of society that, without being…
Coronavirus, Documentary
Frontline: Love, Life & the Virus (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
?? The story of a young mother in a coma battling COVID-19 after giving birth — and the schoolteacher who stepped in to care for the newborn. This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Director Oscar Guerra chronicles a 30-year-old mother named Zully and her fight to survive COVID and see her newborn baby,…
Coronavirus, Education, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.10.20: 9 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard presentations from a consulting epidemiologist and also a former Jefferson County school administrator who now works with Jefferson County. After comment & discussion, the board voted 6-1 to extend the September 1-11 teaching format through 9.25, with the present expectation of…
Coronavirus, Economy
The Pandemic Economy
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Economists Carmen Reinhart and Vincent Reinhart write in Foreign Affairs that we’re in The Pandemic Depression: Although dubbed a “global financial crisis,” the downturn that began in 2008 was largely a banking crisis in 11 advanced economies. Supported by double-digit growth in China, high commodity prices, and lean balance sheets, emerging markets proved quite resilient…
Cats, Coronavirus
Friday Catblogging: A Cat Cafe During the Pandemic
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Embedded above is a video about the Neko Cat Cafe in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The pandemic’s led to changes at the establishment. Gabe Gurarante writes The Cats at Capitol Hill’s Temporarily Closed Neko Cafe Basically Run the Place Now: Even though Capitol Hill’s cat cafe Neko has been temporarily closed for months due to…
City, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Local Government, Open Government, Public Health
Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 8.4.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, among other items — the council slightly modified its mask ordinance, discussed (but took no action on) a racial justice initiative that would create an Equal Opportunities Committee, voted unanimously to extend the lake drawdown project for approximately another year, and voted to continue virtual public…
City, Coronavirus, Education, Open Government, Public Health, School District
Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.3.20: 6 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard a presentation from the district about fall instruction for the first two weeks of school, and the metrics the district is considering when deciding schools’ status after those initial weeks. The meeting was informational only, so the board took no action.…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Coronavirus, Corporate Welfare, Disinformation, Economy, Elections, Herrenvolk, Militarized Policing, Parodies, Propaganda, Protests, Public Health, Trump, Trumpism, Tyranny
The Juice Media: A Message from the White House (Pandemic, Autocracy, Corporate Cronyism, and Disenfranchisement)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Conspiracy Theories, Coronavirus, Documentary
Conspiracy Theories: A Frontline Documentary and Coronavirus Disinformation
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Of Alex Jones & Roger Stone, Frontline’s United States of Conspiracy describes how “trafficking in conspiracy theories went from the fringes of U.S. politics into the White House. [It’s an] investigation of the alliance among conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, longtime Trump associate Roger Stone and the president — and their role in the battle over…
City, Coronavirus, Education, Open Government, Public Health, School District
The Whitewater School Board’s Decision on Early Fall Instruction: 4 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
Updates, afternoon of 7.28.20: (1) I’ve added a recording of the 7.27.20 meeting. The best record is a recording. (2) A reader emailed to ask where I stand on recent pandemic-related public actions. On masks, I supported the city’s ordinance (to take effect 8.1) as an unfortunate necessity to preserve safe mobility in the marketplace.…
Agriculture, Coronavirus, Documentary
Frontline: COVID’s Hidden Toll (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
City, Coronavirus, Open Government, Public Health, School District
The Whitewater Unified School District’s Proposed Fall Instructional Plans
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
Last night (7.22), the Whitewater Unified School District held a virtual meeting to describe a fall instructional proposal to be presented to the district’s school board on 7.27.20. The meeting was interrupted, and so the district published today (7.23) a video describing the proposal. Embedded above is that video presentation. (There was an earlier, recorded…
Business, City, Coronavirus, Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Liberty, Local Government, Open Government, Public Health, School District, University
Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Temporary Mask Ordinance: 7 Points
by JOHN ADAMS • • 10 Comments
Updated evening of 7.22.20 with meeting video. (The discussion on Whitewater’s mask ordinance runs from 31:09 to 3:37:50.) At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, the seven-member council voted unanimously for a temporary mask ordinance, taking effect 8.1.20 and running through 12.31.20, requiring masks in parts of buildings open to the public, and…