Coronavirus news

[Dave Benke]

But again, a public school system can survive and thrive apart from powerful teachers' unions. In fact, it is more likely than not that they would. It isn't as though the demise (or de facto demise through loss of clout) of teachers' unions would spell the end of public schools.

If the public school system is unable to hire enough teachers because they are not offering the pay and/or benefits of a unionized district, then it will not survive. It was clear when we lived in Wyoming that the wages and benefits of the union miners is what controlled the pay and benefits of the non-union mines.


The quality of the schools affects much more than children's education. I heard from a hospital employee that the hospital has troubles getting new doctors because they look at the quality of the school system (which isn't very good) and decide that they do not want to move here. One teacher told me that teachers could go less than four miles north into California and earn 1/3 more than they are making here. He is a single man with no children so he can survive on the pay he's receiving here. Teachers with a family to support have difficulties.

One problem with unionizing teachers is that so much goes by seniority and tenure. When my wife taught in top flight private prep schools, all the teachers were on one year contracts. There simply weren't (and couldn't be) burnouts or people hired in a pinch when there was a vacancy on short notice but who weren't truly excellent teachers. That simply isn't the case in, say, Chicago public schools. The cost per pupil is astronomical and getting rid of a bad teacher is nigh on impossible. If there were school choice and flexibility with staffing, superintendents would have all kinds of incentive to make sure the best teachers were happy and the worst teachers were gone.

I don't think that's quite the same in NY.  Here the most political issue is the school principal, who has a lot of control as to making teachers feel welcome or want to move on.  We have a really strong relationship with our local public schools at the church, and find them more than amenable to assist in many regards.  But each system is different.

Dave Benke

[peter_speckhard]

The Covid relief bill passed today with no support from Republicans and one Democrat dissenting. It dovetails with the discussion of teachers as it, absurdly, bails out the massively underfunded public pension plans that threatened to bankrupt states like Illinois without regard to Covid. The unions bargain for excellent guaranteed retirement with money that just isn’t there, then feast on more responsible states that kept their pensions in line with reality. Basically, Indiana teachers with less in retirement income are being forced to chip in more tax money to make sure Illinois teachers continue to get a greater retirement income.

[Dave Likeness]

Underfunded pensions by the state of Illinois are the result of the Democrat
Machine of Chicago.  This red ink has been going on for decades.  The state
has waited patiently for a bailout from the federal government.  Senator
Dick Durbin of Illinois has his Democrat hands all over this relief bill.  The
Covid 19 Relief Bill today has about only 9% of the funds going toward Covid 19.

[Rob Morris]

A little simple math with no commentary: the relief bill is for $1.9 trillion

Thats $1,900,000,000,000.

To count to 1.9 trillion nonstop would take 60,248 years.

If you filled Yankee Stadium with people (masked, of course), and distributed $1.9 trillion among them, each person in attendance would receive over $300 million.

It may be the right choice, but it's so easy to underestimate how large an amount of money we are discussing here.

[peter_speckhard]

https://www.newsweek.com/stanford-doctor-calls-lockdowns-biggest-public-health-mistake-weve-ever-made-1574540

[Charles Austin]

Old "news," Peter. The Great Barrington Declaraton was written last fall and generally denounced by most of the scientific community. It claimed 8,000 signatures from public health experts and doctors, but investigations showed that some of those signatures were fake.
Furthermore, the declaration came from the American Institute for Economic Research, a libertarian, free-market think tank part of the empire of Charles Koch, the right-wing billionaire who denies climate change and opposes all regulations on business. A key drafter of the declaration, Dr. Suneptra Gupta, was also among those advocating the discredited plant to gain "herd immunity" by having young people go out and get infected. Epidemiologists and public health experts called the assumptions behind the Great Barrington Declaration "flawed and untested." (US News and World Report, Nov. 6, 2020)

[peter_speckhard]

You don’t even bother to assess data, evaluate ideas, or think. No matter how thoroughly your pet ideas get proven wrong by the facts, you cling to them. Hide under a blanket in your basement until 2023. You’ll be safer that way.

[Charles Austin]

Nonsense Peter. What do you want me to do, list a bunch of footnotes for every comment I make? Do you do that? You just posted a link to an article, that article being deeply deeply flawed. I pointed out the flaws.
I am reading the facts presented by main stream scientists, by those who are actually leading the battle against the virus, and by those who have analyzed their results. You posted without a link from a far right wing think tank. Why do you believe them?
Here’s how I see your postings: if something comes from a certain segment of thought or political views, it is automatically unquestionably wrong. It is part of the vast liberal steamroller crushing your “pet ideas.“ I can’t even comprehend how you hold the views you hold concerning your church body.
I have said it before and I will say it again: I do not think you and I occupy the same world. I can relate to some other “conservatives“ who post in this modest forum, and I can see why they hold the views that they do and I comprehend how they express them. That is not true for me with most of your comments.
And when you simply post a link to a far right source without comment, you use a simplistic tactic previously employed in this forum by the anonymous trolls, now happily gone from our life here.

[peter_speckhard]

Nonsense Peter. What do you want me to do, list a bunch of footnotes for every comment I make? Do you do that? You just posted a link to an article, that article being deeply deeply flawed. I pointed out the flaws.
I am reading the facts presented by main stream scientists, by those who are actually leading the battle against the virus, and by those who have analyzed their results. You posted without a link from a far right wing think tank. Why do you believe them?
Here’s how I see your postings: if something comes from a certain segment of thought or political views, it is automatically unquestionably wrong. It is part of the vast liberal steamroller crushing your “pet ideas.“ I can’t even comprehend how you hold the views you hold concerning your church body.
I have said it before and I will say it again: I do not think you and I occupy the same world. I can relate to some other “conservatives“ who post in this modest forum, and I can see why they hold the views that they do and I comprehend how they express them. That is not true for me with most of your comments.
And when you simply post a link to a far right source without comment, you use a simplistic tactic previously employed in this forum by the anonymous trolls, now happily gone from our life here.

In other words, you don't understand or comprehend my ideas, nor can you even see how I can hold them. You conclude we occupy different worlds. I, on the other hand, already know what you think on virtually every topic and understand quite well why you think it and what worldview holds it together. I understand you and disagree. You don't understand me at all. So maybe quit commenting on my posts.

[Charles Austin]

I shall try not to comment on “your posts.”
But I will make modest attempts to correct and counter some of the “information” in them, such as your view that there was significant election fraud last November and that public education is “polluted” by liberalism and teachers’ unions. These things and some others, in my not so humble opinion, make you a silent and unwitting enabler of the insurrectionists of Jan. 6, and place you among those who - again in my not so humble opinion - impair the ecumenical mission of Lutherans today.

[John_Hannah]

OOPS! We are straying back into politics that has nothing to do with the church and theology. Please. . . .

Peace, JOHN

[Dave Benke]

Today marks the one year anniversary of the lockdown.  I'm doing a Lenten series on "Character Builders" using Romans 5:1-8 as the template.  Last night the verse was "we glory in our sufferings," which led to an exploration of Colossians 1:24 and other verses (Romans 8 et al) which connect the suffering of Christ to the continued suffering of Christians in the Body of Christ and eventually to the Unio Mystica and the reality of the idiopoeia, whereby "God - by means of the bond of the Spirit - transfers all the suffering of Christians, their pious words, works and feelings, to Himself as if they were His own."  That was a little weighty for a Wednesday evening, but there has indeed been a lot of human suffering this past year.  And for us Christians, a suffering accompanied by the Suffering Servant and by a cloud of witnesses to the surpassing power of the cross.

Dave Benke

[D. Engebretson]

Today marks the one year anniversary of the lockdown. 

It is hard to believe that it has been an entire year.  I looked back and this thread began not long before on February 28 with a report from J. Eriksson on a "state of emergency" that had been declared in Japan in response to the newly spreading virus.  It appears that they had already gone into their own lockdowns before us.  We were, however, already talking at that time about live streaming our services, something that is now commonplace.  However, it is interesting that the thread was political from the start, even as it is at times now.  I noted at the time that the CDC considered the "potential threat" in this country as "high," but the "immediate threat" for the "general public" as "low."  That was Feb. 29.

We were already 16 pages into the thread this time last year (March 11), and we were initially discussing the elements of the Sacrament, specifically the use of wine. It wasn't until 5:20 that someone reported that "The Episcopal Diocese of DC has canceled all worship services and closed its churches for at least two weeks."

On March 12 I reported that the WHO had officially declared the coronavirus as a pandemic. I also noted that the President had declared a 30 day travel restriction on travel from Europe. Dr. Benke that same day reported: "...our Atlantic District Task Force on Disasters and Emergencies is also getting out information for our congregations including whether to hold services and how to take precautions."  I then noted that "In California the governor "urged an end to gatherings of more than 250 people to counter the spread of new coronavirus."  Benke then noted that this was "unfolding on an hour by hour basis here in NY." On that same day I noted that "the governor of my state [Wisconsin] has just declared a public health emergency in Wisconsin and we have only 6 confirmed cases of caronavirus."  In also wrote that "Dr. Ashok Rai, Prevea Health President/CEO was also quoted as saying the United States health care infrastructure is not designed for a pandemic."

A year ago we were, in a sense, just waking up to a new and frightening reality, with which none of us had any prior experience.  Some shared a few historical items from the Spanish Flu, but by and far we were trying to make sense of an unprecedented global event.  Events were being cancelled right and left, warning statements were being issued, but we had no idea of just how the next twelve months would pan out. 

Now the debate is how we ease out of the restrictions into which we were placed a year ago. 

[Jeremy Loesch]

The KCK BBQ is much better than the Johnson County BBQ.

Blasphemy! My family has considered Hayward's the best BBQ restaurant in the world for more than 40 years.

When we assess KC BBQ, a major factor is the quality of onion rings.  Gates, a long standing BBQ establishment, has fairly mediocre onion rings.  Bland coating and the onion pulls out of the ring leaving you with just the shell.  And their rings are inconsistent.  Jack Stack has tremendous onion rings- flavorful coating that binds to the onion very well.  Summit Hickory Pit has the best onion rings that I have experienced here.  LC's BBQ and Jack Stack's BBQ is better but their onion rings make up for it.  A restaurant in the Waldo area had pretty good onion rings and a burnt ends on Texas toast sandwich that was beyond amazing.  Had.  They closed last year. 

And to tie this in to covid-related issues, masks generally are a good thing.  My wife and I have noted that the typical sniffly, snotty noses are unknown this winter.  Our kids still swim, dance, and do karate but there have been no colds running around.  But all masks are not the same.  The neck gaters were found to be more of a spreading device than a containment device. 

If a BBQ joint slices their onions properly, uses a thicker coating to bread those onions, then the ring can cover both nose and mouth offering the eater more than sufficient aerosol droplet coverage.  This has been studied in my family through blind studies, eyes open studies.  But have no fear, we will not submit our findings and research to the NE JAMA, because we only follow reputable medical magazines. 

Jeremy

[Dave Benke]

Today marks the one year anniversary of the lockdown. 

It is hard to believe that it has been an entire year.  I looked back and this thread began not long before on February 28 with a report from J. Eriksson on a "state of emergency" that had been declared in Japan in response to the newly spreading virus.  It appears that they had already gone into their own lockdowns before us.  We were, however, already talking at that time about live streaming our services, something that is now commonplace.  However, it is interesting that the thread was political from the start, even as it is at times now.  I noted at the time that the CDC considered the "potential threat" in this country as "high," but the "immediate threat" for the "general public" as "low."  That was Feb. 29.

We were already 16 pages into the thread this time last year (March 11), and we were initially discussing the elements of the Sacrament, specifically the use of wine. It wasn't until 5:20 that someone reported that "The Episcopal Diocese of DC has canceled all worship services and closed its churches for at least two weeks."

On March 12 I reported that the WHO had officially declared the coronavirus as a pandemic. I also noted that the President had declared a 30 day travel restriction on travel from Europe. Dr. Benke that same day reported: "...our Atlantic District Task Force on Disasters and Emergencies is also getting out information for our congregations including whether to hold services and how to take precautions."  I then noted that "In California the governor "urged an end to gatherings of more than 250 people to counter the spread of new coronavirus."  Benke then noted that this was "unfolding on an hour by hour basis here in NY." On that same day I noted that "the governor of my state [Wisconsin] has just declared a public health emergency in Wisconsin and we have only 6 confirmed cases of caronavirus."  In also wrote that "Dr. Ashok Rai, Prevea Health President/CEO was also quoted as saying the United States health care infrastructure is not designed for a pandemic."

A year ago we were, in a sense, just waking up to a new and frightening reality, with which none of us had any prior experience.  Some shared a few historical items from the Spanish Flu, but by and far we were trying to make sense of an unprecedented global event.  Events were being cancelled right and left, warning statements were being issued, but we had no idea of just how the next twelve months would pan out. 

Now the debate is how we ease out of the restrictions into which we were placed a year ago.

Within the next two weeks we will have 50% dining in restaurants in NYC, and in-person high school instruction.  Additionally, because the stimulus package included aid for states and cities, we will most likely not have tax increases here in the most highly taxed corner of the US.  "Ease out" is indeed the operating phrase.  We are attempting to develop a parish transition plan to the new normal.  It's really going to be slower going here.  But that's OK.

Dave Benke