Head Scratcher

If I am having a cocktail I may watch portions of the Trumpaganda talks on the nightly news but most often I do not.  There is not a time during any of it I scratch my head and think, “What if I have head lice? Who will treat it and will it infect my home that I clean 10 times a day?”  Then I take a drink.  I am now a raging alcoholic which may also be another problem to treat along with the OCD and my mental health break I plan on taking.

Let’s first examine how this shit happened:

First:  The CDC and the Trump fuckwits failed to do their duty in a timely and effective manner.

Second:   Jared Kushner and his shadow cabinet.

Third:  Endless Trump fuckups, here and here and here again.  Or how about Dr. Trump. Or just Baby Trump.

Fourth:  Airlines that want bailout money also did not help with this.

Lastly: The big fucking Kahuna!  Nearly half a million flew here post Wuhan even after restrictions were set in place. See above as to how that and why that happened.

The bulk of the passengers, who were of multiple nationalities, arrived in January, at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Newark and Detroit. Thousands of them flew directly from Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, as American public health officials were only beginning to assess the risks to the United States.

Now look at those cities and see a pattern emerging?  I do and I am an idiot okay not that but I am losing my mind.

Flights continued this past week, the data show, with passengers traveling from Beijing to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, under rules that exempt Americans and some others from the clampdown that took effect on Feb. 2. In all, 279 flights from China have arrived in the United States since then, and screening procedures have been uneven, interviews show.as many as 25 percent of people infected with the virus may never show symptoms. Many infectious-disease experts suspect that the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks after the first American case was confirmed, in Washington State, on Jan. 20, and that it had continued to be introduced. In fact, no one knows when the virus first arrived in the United States.

Okay so now the paranoia will spread faster than the virus and when I theorized that civil unrest would be the next phase directed this time to those of Asian descent, well this should do it.

 About 60 percent of travelers on direct flights from China in February were not American citizens, according to the most recently available government data. Most of the flights were operated by Chinese airlines after American carriers halted theirs. 

I think this is when the idiots who kept telling me to SHUT IT DOWN might apply it to this.

Now instead of directing their ire at Crazy Dopy Grandpa and his ship of fools that a vessel right now docked off Pennsylvania Avenue which is clearly infected with some kind of crazy, the Trumptards will of course misdirect their anger to the people of Asian descent.   Statues are so 2019 and this is a new decade bitches and this hate has to find a new home.

Again we are all under house arrest regardless of our health. Some of us me by carriers, some of us may be utterly immune and in turn have no way of knowing. The insanity of this as we come out of it in June we will have about three months before its time for what? FLU SEASON.  Oh this is fucking priceless.  As by then we will not have a proven vaccine and the hysteria of trying to get said annual shot (which I do regardless as every year that shot is based on the prior years outbreak so its basically kinds sorta useless, but hey) will become a money maker as we fight for it like toilet paper.  Then we start again with the protocol which means for me, gloves and mask on pubic transport, hand sanitizer and the rest,  as I learned from school kids that I don’t want their shit and now I really don’t so yay for me on that social and physical distancing.  I cannot believe how that will allow me to work and not ever have to have any contact other than writing the shit on the board and not speaking! PRAISE BE on this Palm Sunday!

I bet all the terminated and staff that quick the Trumpland ship of fools look back not in anger but relief.  Now I have to have a drink its been too long.

Stay! Sit! Shake? NO!

Those commands are ones we often give to dogs to train them and it may be necessary to eliminate the paw swipe as we re-examine what it means in the future to greet and meet strangers.  Never one to the kiss on the cheek which I find oddly faux European in origin (given what we have seen in those countries that follow that protocol a big no on that ever!) we usually shake hands and in turn use the firmness of grip as a determinate of power.  Weak shake, weak person. Trump one upped that with some bizarre see saw death grip which again given he is a germaphobe has now suddenly felt compelled to shake hands to the posse that is clustered about him during each crazy ranting conference in clear violation of social distancing protocol established as safe by the CDC.

If one thing we have learned you cannot change someone else you can only change your behavior and your response to it.

Right after I wrote my last blog post, Stress Test, I found this article in the Washington Post about the landscape of America post pandemic.   Each essay is from an individual in a given profession that is of course taking credit for seeing this in some sort of divination of what the future will hold as if we know, care and assume you are an authority on life other than your own.

This essay held the most weight as it was a based on history and of course the reality of the present in comparing this to the 1918 Flu Epidemic:

As influenza ransacked their communities, many Americans clung to the familiar, adhering to established ways of doing things. Men and women faced pressure to respond to the pandemic according to gendered norms. In letters and diaries from the time, women openly discussed their fears and their experiences of loss; because they were assumed to be innately self-sacrificing and skilled at caregiving, women were called upon to be nurses. Men, meanwhile, were expected to exhibit only strength and stoicism; they expressed guilt and shame when illness required them to take to their beds. People of color continued to face segregated health care: Philadelphia opened emergency clinics for white residents but did nothing for its African American community. Eventually, a local black physician organized their care. In Richmond, African American patients could visit the new emergency hospital, but they were relegated to the basement until the staff secured another, separate space for their treatment. 

The pandemic did not disturb the social and economic inequities it had made visible. And yet, while knowledge of the past is essential to understanding the present, history is rarely a reliable predictor of the future. We need not repeat the mistakes of those who came before.

The other that stood out is this about urban planning:

The current pestilence is likely to accelerate those shifts, which bear major ramifications for how Americans get to work. Transit ridership was doing poorly before the crisis, declining throughout the country, while telecommuting and driving alone continue to grow. With the specter of contagion, city-dwellers are told to avoid crowded subways, removing a critical element that makes ultradense cities work. In New York, subway traffic is down precipitously, as many commuters now work at home instead. Toronto is eliminating much of its downtown train service. The Washington Metro is also cutting back. 

Just as progressives and environmentalists hoped the era of automotive dominance and suburban sprawl was coming to end, a globalized world that spreads pandemics quickly will push workers back into their cars and out to the hinterlands.

Nashville with its lack of sidewalks, its lack of decent highways and its near to non-existent public transportation will find itself back to 1950 segregated neighborhoods and a city that will not offer any appeal what-so-ever as building high rises adjacent to the tourist trap that runs the city economy is hardly where anyone with money would elect to live so hello Williamson County.   For me here in Jersey City nothing will change and for that it means for me but for many of my weird fucking neighbors whom I don’t speak to or even acknowledge I say – BYE! They are largely young professionals, with larger than normal families as they live multi generational and in turn have just realized that maybe living in a city with no parks, places to play and confined to a high rise might not be the best place to live as a family. I had to explain to one of the Concierge’s here that he thought that might mean that families would move to Jersey City.. no unless they move into a single family brownstone then no and that still is limiting when it comes to space and yards and again if you are going to commute anyway why not further out to get more for your money.   So this will be the single occupants, the newly coupled and transplants as it is still cheaper than Manhattan but it is not a family city unless you head into the Western area of the city (which is undergoing gentrification and this will speed it up) as it is now building light rail to connect to major urban transit.  But again I suspect much of this work force will be working from home now and in the future as driving into Manhattan sucks.

But for Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle I think that there will be a sea change as the cost of real estate has already pushed people out and now it will further that movement in a new way that these same cities have pushed for the greening of America will be on the forefront of greening of suburbia.

And again Jersey has tried to push a narrative that is so fucked up and confusing that any of these Mayors remain in office after this will only prove me wrong that people here do vote and do care as Hoboken, Jersey City and Newark have been having a massive dick off that makes little to no sense and actually contributes to some of the problems that are about social distancing, proper self management and respecting businesses. As of today the Bakery nearby has a phone order only in place. You stand outside look in the window as to what is on offer and then call to pick it up from the door.  The ice cream store is the same and I suspect more will follow as some restaurants tried pick up and delivery and it just did not work so they are closed “indefinitely”.  Here is where leadership and calm voices and rational heads would be useful.  Instead its hysterics over watching friends play soccer, how close are you and hey don’t you all know each other and why would anyone sick play? Again it is as if we are all children with no sense of self regulation.  Hey if they get sick they are at least easy to track and of course if they live cite for a misdemeanor.

When my daily conversation is with a Barista who is the most annoying individual I have ever encountered, who has no social clues and is often rude to the point of unkind this is where I am at with social distancing and yet I feel immense pity for her and wish that I could model at least some type of appropriate ways to tease and riff people without the abject nastiness that she displays. I felt that way with the religious kooks in Nashville so it is just more of the same only different. And again much of what I see here comes from two different places: The urban dweller who is used to crowds and the other is a distinct cultural bend that includes a strong religious community of conservative practitioners of their faith both in Judaism and Catholicism.

So where will be when this ends, and that is not until June which puts us out 90 days, I suspect more businesses will close or some will pivot again and figure it out and some will just go on as business as usual; Which the bagel street across the street from the bakery has and it is just fine, the only behavior I change is mine, I wear gloves, a mask and cover my head and they don’t treat me any differently and that is how it should be.

In the shadow of New York, New Jersey faces its own deepening crisis as virus spreads

By Richard Morgan, Ben Guarino, Tim Craig and Devlin Barrett
March 27, 2020
The Washington Post

HOBOKEN, N.J. — At New Jersey’s oldest hospital, the demands of fighting a pandemic threaten to overwhelm the city’s medical resources — a frightening prospect confronting more communities as coronavirus burrows deeper into the United States.

With just 333 hospital beds for a commuter city of 55,000, Hoboken University Medical Center has less than a week before “we will not have the resources to save lives,” said Ravinder Bhalla, the city’s mayor.

Sometimes mocked as “Bro-boken” for its hordes of young professionals who cross the Hudson River every day to work in Manhattan, this town is bracing for the same onslaught of critically ill people now gripping New York.

So far, Hoboken has only 59 confirmed cases, but the mayor noted that many of those people are in their 20s and 30s, and he thinks it’s only a matter of time before the figure jumps dramatically.

“In New York, in a span of two weeks, they’ve gone from about 50 cases to 25,000,” Bhalla said. “So it feels like we are looking across the river at a wave, and what I’m trying to do is hold my hand out and push that wave back.”

Like the rest of state, Hoboken’s bars and restaurants and most businesses are closed. But even in a shutdown, many of the residents still commute to New York for jobs.

“I want people to know, even though we only have about 50 cases, this feels like the calm before the storm,” Bhalla said.

John Rimmer, director of the hospital’s emergency department, has been working from home since he contracted covid-19, the potentially lethal respiratory disease caused by coronavirus.

So far, the number of patients hasn’t been overwhelming, he said, but the severity of their illness is straining resources. The hospital is using eight of its nine ventilators for critically ill patients, according to hospital officials. There is an emergency reserve of another 10 it can draw on if necessary, but those are designed for short-term emergency use, not longer-term recovery. The hospital is seeking another 13 respirators.

“We’re trained for trauma, but shooting events, train crashes — things that end in a few hours,” Rimmer said. “With this, there’s no end in sight.”

The hospital, which was founded during the Civil War, is now seeing about 130 patients a day, and 3 out of 4 of those are suspected of being infected with coronavirus.

The hospital’s CEO, Ann Logan, said her staff has been “watching this, chasing this, planning this. This is our every day now.”

As of midday Friday, New Jersey had nearly 9,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, and 108 deaths. The state is second only to neighboring New York in the number of cases, underscoring just how easily the disease leaps and spreads across state lines.

“These are not abstract numbers, these are our neighbors, our family, our friends, all of us, we are in this together and we mourn together,” said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D). “But we have expected, with a heavy heart, that this would take an increasing toll on our state.”

Unlike in New York, where Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) has tried to make coronavirus tests widely available, Murphy and New Jersey health officials say they are trying to reserve their tests for only those showing flu symptoms.

“We need to know we are testing the right people, and not wasting tests,” Murphy said.

Even with the strict limits on testing, New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith M. Persichilli said it currently is taking as long as seven days for tests to be completed. The lag time has unsettled state leaders, who say they remain unsure just how bad the pandemic will become in coming weeks.

“This is a war, and we all know what the ingredients are for winning a war,” said Murphy, who noted that the most recent predictive models show the crisis may not peak until mid-April.

Amid widespread concern from hospital staff and first responders about a lack of personal protective equipment, Murphy took the extraordinary step of ordering all private businesses in the state to disclose to his office by Friday evening whether they had any stockpiles of protective supplies.

“This is not an ask, it’s an order,” the governor said.

In Lakewood Township in Ocean County, Mayor Raymond G. Coles feels as if the storm has already slammed into his community. Over the past week, the number of cases there doubled to more than 100.

Coles said the outbreak has been centered in the city’s Orthodox Jewish and Hispanic communities, both of which have tightknit family structures and frequent contact through social and religious gatherings. The virus quickly spread through the Orthodox community, which makes up about 60 percent of Lakewood’s population, before anyone even knew the contagion had made its way to the East Coast, Coles said.

“Folks just don’t understand with the Orthodox community, just how central daily life is in synagogue and with schools,” the mayor said. “People want to pray three times a day, and learning is paramount to life.”

In the Latino community, Coles noted, the virus quickly spread through some households because it’s not uncommon for more than one family to live together.

“And if one person gets it, it just spreads,” he said, adding that local and state officials are now working to try to ensure that immigrant communities understand they will receive treatment for their illness even if they do not have health insurance.

Over the past two weeks, amid warnings from state and local officials about remaining indoors, Coles said most of Lakewood’s residents now “understand” the virus and “are afraid of it and respect it.”

But he wishes he had more guidance from government leaders and health experts.

“If we had been made aware a few weeks sooner, we would have locked down a lot sooner, because once people were aware of what was happening, this town has pretty much locked down,” said Coles, noting that at least three Lakewood residents have died. “We really wish we could just push the self-isolation back in time.”

The scale of the pandemic is bigger in New York, where more than 500 have died. But New Jersey is facing the same steep hill to climb.

“New Jersey is literally right behind [New York],” said Maria Refinski, president of the New Jersey Nurses Union CWA Local 1091 and a nurse at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J. “As they start to peak, we are going to be right there also. We’re behind, but not by much, in regards to timing.”

Refinski said some hospital staff working in intensive-care units are already resorting to buying their own versions of hazmat suits to try to guard against getting sick, because protective equipment is “constantly running low.”

A survey released Friday by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that 90 percent of mayors who responded think their communities lack the necessary gear to effectively fight the spread of the virus.

Taken together, the cities reported a need for 28.5 million face masks, 24.4 million items of personal protective equipment such as gowns and gloves, 7.9 million test kits and 139,000 ventilators.

In Paterson, N.J., the mayor and other city officials became so concerned about supplies at the local hospital that they raided the city’s emergency stockpile, amassed in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

On Thursday, officials went to a Passaic County warehouse and removed 15,000 surgical masks, 1,000 N95 masks, thousands of rubber gloves, 500 thermometers and 100 stethoscopes for delivery to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center.

Stanley Trooskin, the chief medical officer at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, said his facility has spent the month of March gearing up for what they fear will be a flood of coronavirus cases. The 600-bed facility has been devoting more of its beds to intensive-care work.

In canceling family visitors and other activity, the hospital is more quiet than usual, giving it a “very eerie feeling” as staff wait for the coming storm, Trooskin said.

“I’ve never seen this level of cooperation and people putting their petty issues aside,” he said. “We think about a week ahead, five days and 10 days, this giant wave that’s going to overwhelm us — we don’t know that for sure.”

Two tents were recently set up to direct incoming emergency patients. In the first tent, a health-care worker dressed in protective equipment asks about possible covid-19 symptoms. Patients who potentially have covid-19 are directed to a second tent, where a robot awaits to allow an emergency medicine physician to perform a remote physical.

Health-care workers at the hospital have protective equipment in line with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and New Jersey guidelines, but “optimally we’d walk around in spacesuits taking care of these patients,” Trooskin said.

******ETA**** Since posting this Trump has gone full tilt boogie crazyz-cra  with this announcement***

2:04 p.m.
Trump says he’s considering a two-week quarantine on the New York metro area

President Trump said Saturday he may announce later in the day a federally-mandated quarantine on the New York metro region, placing “enforceable” travel restrictions on people planning to leave the New York tristate area because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Trump said he spoke with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in the morning. Asked if the quarantine pertained to limiting travel out of those areas, Trump said it was and it would be enforceable.

“I’d rather not do it, but we might need it,” he said.

Cuomo, however, said he had not spoken to Trump about a potential federal quarantine.

“I haven’t had those conversations,” Cuomo said when asked about Trump’s comments, which came as the governor was giving a news briefing. “I don’t even know what that means.”

Stress Test

We are all there now and the endless confusing messaging, the grandstanding by Politicians (this weeks winner the asshole from Kentucky, Thomas Massie) and the overall stillness of the city streets that ebb and flow depending on the weather and how stir crazy individuals get.

For the first time I shopped in a calm Whole Foods who were letting people in one at a time, the same with Target (although they were not really doing so as the joint was kinda empty like the streets) and the ferry once again transported a single passenger to Manhattan (me) and only myself and one other and the terminal empty, the Seaport path utterly deserted if not a few walkers/runners; All of which were kept within social distancing guidelines.   But yesterday when the temps hit in 70s I just felt I could not go out as I knew that they would be out there. They are those who seem to have no concept of social distancing, seem to think they and their baby carriages, dogs, bikes and partners they are walking with take priority when it comes to navigating the sidewalks.  Again why Jersey City closed its small parks that people could at least walk around or sit away from each other and be outside is beyond my understanding but then again this is the dick off where the Mayor here wants to shove his in anywhere he can prove his is the biggest as the State park a two stop light rail ride is wide open and all parks are open across the water so much for not leaving the house and confined to your closet in a tower of germs.

This has done one thing for me, never wanting to live in an apartment complex again. From not knowing how to properly dispose of waste/recycling/breaking down boxes to just their overall superiority that comes from insecurity explains why New York is the epicenter with Jersey as the second.  There is something about the mindset here that contributes to the way they behave and interact with others.  Before the virus I actually liked the tough as nails demeanor and it suited me but  with the crisis it like the medical center has revealed that beneath the tough shell is a weak soft mass of tissue that is utterly untenable.   Which explains the histrionics about how every city needs the biggest the mostest the bestst medical equipment to the overwhelming honorifics and beatitudes that have the medical professionals equivalent to the Military or the “First Responder” club which for decades has been the way to acknowledge those who work in shitty jobs but are given faux titles of respect to somehow compensate for failing to compensate and recognize them for their work and in turn excuse them for their behaviors when they fail to live up to these absurd concepts and beliefs about said men (and women) with guns.  And that goes with Doctors and Nurses and the bizarre parallel universe that has them now Generals and Soldiers on the “front” line of defense.  When we have heard repeated story after story of turning away symptomatic patients and in turn handling some equipment and treatment without training and of course the decision about who gets treated versus who does not.   Expect more of that to be reveled when the crisis is over.

Yes folks I am not one to hyper grandstand or laud praise on those people who elect to enter fields of choice, pursue the necessary study, licensing or training required to be in said fields.  As we also know the quality and consistency of said education and training is a variable that is akin to the transmission of a virus, it is a matter of luck and some careful precautions.

I saw a parade in one Jersey township of lovely white middle class families lining the streets of their neighborhood with signs and balloons as the Teachers drove through the streets in their own cars and waved to the adoring students and their families.   I would love to see that say in the Bronx or Queens which are the hot zones for the virus and where many families have no access or availability of the internet connections, space or tech skills required to access distant learning. Again like the restaurant and food industry you get what you pay for and what you can pay for defines the type of food and place you can eat. And the same concepts of Education that you can apply to the food industry you can apply to the medical industrial complex as well.    Access and availability are dependent upon your income, your status in society and of course race and gender as well as age. Ugly truths are just that truths not ugly ones just uncomfortable ones, like anal warts or herpes. Treatable but not always curable.

This is not over by a long shot I suspect it will move through June as we now are cycling through a massive seasonal change that now revolves to the countries below the equator. As New Zealand already closed its borders and in turn contained the virus the same would have to be in all countries that are moving into winter when viruses thrive.   And it means all of those in the Northern climes have to vet, test and force not request FORCE those entering into quarantine for 14 days.  And yes we have that power to do so but how and to what that means is another massive attempt at closing ports both air and sea and mobilizing a massive effort to do so.  This is not impossible but it is.

Then we have the issues that run from immigration, residents on visa’s or pending ones, we have massive economic switches that have been pulled which means every single sector of our GDP will have to rethink how they do business and what that means for them going forward. This is not like 2008 which had to focus on the banks, lending and financial service industries.  NO, this is about every single business and industry and even institutions on how they will go forward post pandemic.

In 2008 that was called the stress test:  A bank stress test is an analysis conducted under hypothetical unfavorable economic scenarios, such as a deep recession or financial market crisis, designed to determine whether a bank has enough capital to withstand the impact of adverse economic developments. In the United States, banks with $50 billion or more in assets are required to undergo internal stress tests conducted by their own risk management teams as well as by the Federal Reserve.

Now change that word or business “bank” and replace it with Hospitals, Medical/Health Insurance, Education/Schools, Contracting, Food and Restaurant Industry, Supply Chain – as in any and all; Government,  Manufacturing; Tech, Utilities, Infrastructure, Communication, Hospitality, Small Businesses that run a wide gamut of type, Transportation both local, national and international, Finance and Investment, and even Government and its unyielding bureaucracy.  In other words: Every single business, industry and institution that provides services in the United States and within the larger global economy will have to undergo a stress test.

What that means again is deep cleaning to find out what is needed, what needs to be tossed and what we can use and repurpose for dual purpose or for something else entirely. Think about a multi cooker and all it can do in your home during a  medical crisis? Yogurt – check.  Rice – Check. Bread – Check. Sear – Check.  Steam – Check.  Slow cook – check.  High Cook – Check.  We now get why the Instant Pot  is so popular it does it all! That is one item that can withstand a stress test.

I suspect that some of these furloughs and layoffs will continue on well past the lifting of quarantine as each industry evaluates the need over the reality.  That insurance company, that bank, that distribution company or builder that has made do with a piecemeal effort of staffing and closing of offices, branches and moving those to online or remote work spaces I suspect will continue. This means that business can literally switch many employees akin to Uber drivers as they can work out of their home, using their own internet connections, equipment and more importantly their residence and this will reduce overall operating costs in which to downsize and in turn scatter their offices to varying cost friendly tax incentive award locations.   And that big bribe will become the new big dick in the room as varying States and Governors will use the data from Covid and their varying dick measuring protocols to prove how “SAFE” and “PRODUCTIVE” they were during this pandemic.  This is where the stress test is about voting and being active in the election process.  Some dicks need a condom to stop the spread of disease and some simply need a circumcision.

So Seattle, San Francisco, Boston (why I have no idea that place is horrid but whatever oh wait HARVARD)  and of course New York will end up as always winners in the crap shoot but then look at Nashville or other second tier cities that are already in mid stream but Tornados or other issues that plague the city – finding out it has no infrastructure, the industry they relied upon such as Hospitality is now suddenly a non essential service as we move forward will bring much of the growth to a halt. And the city long before the double whammy was already in budget crisis. So how it pulls out I am not sure but right now it won’t pass a stress test of any kind.

But that goes for many other cities of similar nature – Las Vegas. There was a mass shooting that should have already changed the way the game is played and now this.   As I suspect the old road trip will be the new staycation and the idea of getting on a flight to spread germs, get germs and the need to have a collective germ-a-thon, like Mardi Gras, Coachella and other larger festivals and gatherings will also need to be less of a must go, as can I see it online?

That will not last but the disposable income, the need to Instagram and top one another most likely will when you are simply trying to get out of this and move forward. America has always been a competitive top the Joneses type of country.  As my Parents were first generation Immigrant or second generation immigrant but WASPS in every sense of the word we were much more isolation oriented, aka “private” and yet highly socially conscious as my Parents saw first hand the troubles in ways that I had not.  And as a result I got how things get bad and how you get through it when it hits the fan.  Americans and that includes Immigrants as they came here in pursuit of the bullshit peddled to them and are in fact more vested in that mythology than the native born truly are narcissistic empty folks that rely upon colloquialisms and false notions peddled to them by those whom they have aligned.  The message is as only as good as the messenger and we have many that are mixed if not utterly contradictory. Few of them regardless can withstand a stress test.

I knew what that was like living in Nashville as I heard repeatedly the talking points peddled to them by the real leader in the City, the head of Tourism, Butch Spyrdion, then the Chamber of Commerce that also had tremendous influence if not actual policy plans that were enacted by the supposed elected council and my other favorite body of power, the MDHA that never met a plan or builder or a check attached to a developers hand than the housing authority.  And that is everywhere as I have seen some idiotic building here that blows me away for its arrogance.  And I call it that as the housing is not in line with actual incomes and businesses that live and work in Jersey City.  This is not a suburb of NYC it is a small city that would like to be Williamsburg but it can’t it just is Jersey and that is why I like it.  And I love Manhattan but funny I decided to not live there as I needed to always be socially distant so I would never get too close and too infected with all that is that city.  And all places are in the eye of the beholder. And I always do a stress test before I make a critical decision and while I did not fully do that in this move I am relieved to be here I cannot imagine living in Nashville during this nightmare.

This week 3 million filed for unemployment, that does not include the self employed, the gig employed, the contract employees or those small business owners.  Then we have what this means in the bigger cities with diverse economies that shut down fast and furious and put us all in shock and awe will come out of it better for it but there will be also a sea change about how we work and live. For years the greening of America encourage urban density and clearly we saw that sucks so I suspect a new model of the suburbs will evolve and rather than malls being shopping meccas they will become community centers that have gyms, older day care, younger day care, some shopping, some library and other services that enable mobility and opportunity. The other is building of better neighborhood schools and stopping the insanity of school choice as busing kids across townships is not healthy nor productive.  Perhaps finally Teachers may get the respect they deserve.  And in turn dying towns once neglected may find themselves restored and renewed the essential message of building green.  If it is broke can it be fixed and what does it take? Can it withstand the stress test?

We have become a nation of disposable wipes and then we hoard them when we need to share them. What that says is that we failed to learn that when we were young but then again when all those around you fail to model what they ask you do to.. don’t do as I do do as I say … well you get what we have today.  I was well schooled and maybe this might do what we have failed to do for decades in the me nation.  Ah fuck it we will be back to it within 24 hours of this pandemics end.  Just go for a walk and see what I see.  It is not pretty it won’t stand up to the stress test.