But after the ruling, the plaintiffs identified documents - 55 so far - that should have been turned over to them but never were. Last month the court ordered the state to turn over the computers so the plaintiffs could forensically examine them because the judges found "some form of 'fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct' likely occurred."
"With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections," Obama told a packed House of Representatives chamber Wednesday night. "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people. And I'd urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems."
You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”--Lee Atwater, former RNC Chairman, adviser to Reagan and HW Bush Administrations, close acquaintance to Karl Rove
"With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections," Obama told a packed House of Representatives chamber Wednesday night. "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people. And I'd urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems." Alito, part of the court's conservative majority, could be seen apparently frowning and quietly mouthing the words "not true."Via CNN, 2010
Just earlier in the week, Biden's campaign affirmed the candidate's support for the ban, setting off criticism from abortion rights supporters, who called on Biden to reverse his long-held position.
Long before Trump ran for the White House, Justice Kennedy’s son, Justin, worked as an investment banker at Deutsche. Enrich describes how he developed a relationship with Trump, his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, helping to finance real-estate deals no other bank would touch because of Trump’s record of failing to pay his debts to lenders, contractors and business partners. ... Justin Kennedy was part of the US branch of Deutsche Bank from 1998 to 2009. Drawn to Trump’s risk-taking and glamour, he became a Trump confidant, sitting with the real estate impresario at the US Open tennis or in Manhattan nightclubs, and chaperoning huge loans to finance Trump’s real estate spending sprees. Kennedy, who ran the bank’s commercial real-estate team, continued to lend to Trump even though Deutsche clients had suffered severe losses when Trump’s casino business collapsed and he declared bankruptcy.
“It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” Leslie Moonves, chairman of CBS, said of the Trump phenomenon in March, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. "Letter from a Birmingham Jail, MLK Jr."
In the transcript published by the Post, (Kevin) McCarthy speculates that the Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee’s computers and, in the process, discovered whatever opposition-research materials the Democrats had gathered on Trump. “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” (Kevin) McCarthy said, according to Entous, a superb reporter who heard a tape recording of the colloquy. “Swear to God.” In the Post piece, McCarthy’s remark is met with laughter, and Ryan cautions his colleagues, “This is an off the record . . . No leaks! . . . All right?”
The timeshare presentations in Nevada are gettimg out of hand...
“...and walk away with a trip to beautiful Las Vegas Nevada! Enjoy a complimentary 5 day 4 night stay at any MGM casino resort all on us! No nonsense, no gimmicks. Just a bit of your precious time! Call today!” Yes. A vacation extravaganza all on the arm. Courtesy of the Hibou Timeshare Corporation. All it cost was your time and cooperation for a timeshare presentation. Simple enough yes? I wish I would have realized how much better a couple of overtimes would have served me, than taking myself to that horrid building. I was living in Phoenix AZ with my parents. Still half way bullshitting my final semester at college. I’ve got to be honest, I was checked out. It was summer..I was going to graduate and I had these final two classes in the bag. I could have failed my finals and still walked out with a C. Yes but that kind of luxury came at a price. My social life was the casualty in all of this. While I did have a tight knit of pals, my attendance to social gatherings were...well..less than punctual. I was usually doing work for one of my advanced classes. If not that, then I was pulling a shift at either of my jobs. Yeah..you could say I gave up the glamour of late night pizzas, puking in my friends car and hooking up with a random ASU frat sluts for a heavier wallet...except I was paying everything out of my own pocket. My gas, insurance, cell, college. I wasn't exactly hiding cash in the walls. My parents worked hard but..never did make a living to give me and my siblings an extravagant lifestyle. We were grateful though. So when I heard that AD of how I could get a long needed vacation to party central Las Vegas, all for watching some BS timeshare I knew I wasn’t going to buy into, you bet your ass off I made that call. The phone only rang once before I got an answer, “Thank you for calling the Hibou Timeshare Corporation, how can we help you?” a voice rang through the phone. The voice sounded shrill and sickly. “Hi, I'm calling about the vacation in Vegas? Says that you need people for a presen..” “Yeessss.” the voice interrupted “The timeshare presentation, well...we would be so honored to have you” “Uhh..yeah...anyway I’d like to sign up? Is there a form online or do you take the information here?” I said..now feeling a bit tense. “Well I'll tell you what...pack your things for the vacation. When we are finished presenting..we can send you on our way to Vegas. We just need..a bit of your time.” That was that. He gave me the address, date and time of the meeting. The area was in a place called Amargosa Valley in Nevada. Luckily it was just about an hour away from Vegas. Before we parted ways on the phone, the operator said something...he said something that should have been a MAJOR red flag. “Okay then, you’re all set...we will see you July 28th at 4:30pm. Not a moment later” he laughed “Oh..and..one more thing, if you have some more specimens like yourself that might be interested in the free vacation...bring them along. They’ll all receive the same prize and you will receive $100 cash for every person you bring. We look forward to presenting you, Austin. Good day.” I never gave him my name. Still, my young dumb brain didn’t hear anything past $100 dollars. So I rounded up a few of my best pals and we were set to meet the reps over at the timeshare. The days leading up to the trip I couldn't get a hold of myself. It was so exciting. My first real vacation in...i couldn't remember how long. I longed for this type of adventure with my friends. We packed a truck full and set off to Amargosa Valley. I brought Luke, Larry and Adam. We’d been friends since the 3rd grade. We all moved to AZ from different parts of the country that summer, so being new kids we naturally ganged up together. Luke was from Texas..we called him Tex. Real big guy. Loved to work out but definitely was a bit of a boozebag. Larry was from Ohio. Quiet in public but probably the loudest of us all. Always had some political conspiracy to talk about. Then Adam..Adam was interesting. He was from Florida...or Georgia...or Nebraska. Adam never could keep it straight about where he was from. He always had some sort of story and backtrack about where he’d come from. I personally thought he was probably from another part of AZ and just wanted to fit in...so we humor him and let him be the nomad of our group. I myself was originally from California...things got pricey so we made the move to blistering AZ. That was my crew. No matter how long it had been, we were always as tight as ever. The ride was filled with laughing and gags. Stops at fast food joints and all around bullshitting. Yes it was an amazing time just driving there, we couldn't wait to get on with the meeting and head down to Boozeville USA. As we approached our destination...something felt off. Amargosa Valley had been a bit of a ghost town the whole drive. A gas station here. A small outlet there...but otherwise unpopulated. When we hit our destination we were met by a Chrome building. Smack center in the middle of the highway. As we parked at the only stall..we all took a look at each other. “Well this is...odd.” Luke said plainly. “Yeah man...are we really going there?” Adam shook out. Barely containing his fear. “Look guys, I know it looks weird. This place is really clean and bright in the middle of a dusty desert but c’mon. It's like what...an hour of our time? Within 2 hours we’ll be on our way to the dopest guys trip ever.” I said...selfishly. The guys all agreed. We got out, locked the car up and walked in through the sliding glass doors. The cool air hit us like a wave. Each of us breathing in the refreshingly cold air. The inside of this lobby..was also immaculate. Chrome everywhere. Right down to the sofas and chairs. A woman came from around the front desk. “You must be here to be presented. I see you brought more specimens! What a joy! Will you gentlemen please follow me?” She said. Specimens. Ugh. Her tone. That word still makes me shutter. Me and the boys looked at each other..all with the same should we do it look on our faces. Maybe it was the cold air enticing our sweaty brows. We’d been a poorly AC’D truck for a couple hours. Or maybe it was the ice cold drinks she presented in front of us. Whatever the case we followed her through a door behind the front desk and were met with a grand auditorium. It looked as if it could hold maybe 50 people. And all they had was me and my knucklehead friends. As we sat down, sucking down sodas and waters, a mans voice came over the intercom. “Welcome my friends to the Hibou Timeshare Corporation presentation. Today you will be examining the lifetime of these vessels. Determine whether or not you think they are a smart investment and make a choice if you would like to partake!” I recognized the voice. It was the same shrill tone that I set up the appointment with. “Now my dear friends, it's time to sit back with your favorite drink...and listen..” With that, a large projector screen came down from the celine. An old timey countdown began winding down. BEEP3...BEEP2...BEEP1 From what I can remember, I heard the screams of something...unnatural. A scream so high tone that I felt as if my ears would burst with blood. I tried clasping my hands over my ears but to no avail. The screams were too overpowering. As soon as it started, I passed out. I awoke looking at the lights on the celine. Unable to sit up. I could tell I was bareass naked on a metal table. I moved my head, the little that i could to see Adam next to me on another table. Naked as the day we were born. He was encased in what looked like a light purple energy field. Looking more in depth, I too had this field in front of me. Before I could speak the tables raised up. Bringing me upright. Bringing me face to face with Tex. To the left of me..Larry. “My friends, I present to you: Terramite 99-0 specimens.” a voice rang out. The same voice from the auditorium. “They are..of the male species. Strong. Cunning and above all loyal...if raised properly.” “HEY, you bastards. WTF is this! LET US GO!” Tex cried out. Before he could continue, the energy field tightened around him. Tex let out a scream that will haunt me for the rest of my life. The smell of burned flesh and hair filled the area. I would have puked had the horror of seeing my best friend being burned alive wasn't keeping my attention away from the smell. When the field lifted, Tex was stripped down to the muscle fibers. Hair burned down to the scalp. Tex convulsed until he finally relaxed into a hanging position on the table. “Now see..specimen is now sedated. Reduced to a weaker position. With the energy field keeping him contained and the Auto-Reversal Time Warp engaging, we can have this specimen back into working shape immediately.” There was an electrical hum in the air. As before my eyes, Tex’s skin began to heal. His hair growing back. And all burns subsiding. It was as if nothing had happened to him. He still hung in limbo, but we could see the breath return to his chest.The rest of us let out bits of gasps of horror and astonishment. I could see Adam crying a bit in the corner of my eyes. A figure appeared from behind me. A tentacle graced my shoulder, not even phased by the force field. I caught sight of the creature. It stood around 7foot tall. Skin that looked human but a head that was elongated. No nose. And eyes that were black as coal. It had two tentacles for hands. I could not see its feet, as it was covered by a long gown. Larry screamed in anger. “Your...your...a...a…” he managed to get out before the creature silenced him. “Shhhh….I am...a salesman is all. Now my friends I will demonstrate the life cycle of the Terramite 99-0’s.” With that, Larry's forcefield began to hum. Right before my eyes Larry began to get...smaller. Not in stature necessarily, no, but in age. He went from being a young man..to a teenager..to that kid i met in 3rd grade..to an infant. His cries were extremely loud. Unaware of the horrors around him. At that moment I could hear Adam's field begin to hum. “Please no! Please!” Adam begged. “If you will direct your attention to our third pod:” Adam then began to scream as he went from a young man..to middle aged man...to retirement age and finally...to a decrepit old man. Hair as white as snow. Wrinkled beyond recognition. Each breath looking to nearly be his last. “From birth to the declining ages of 70 and beyond the Auto-Reversal Time Warp pods are the perfect tool to use when training your armys, your children, your slaves. Imagine...never having to replace workers. Never worrying if your training methods or punishments might go too far. Never losing a prisoner to death. And though the Terramites look to be difficult to control, I can guarantee their cooperation once put through the proper training.” The creature said. Full of glee in his dead eyes. Between the crying of baby larry and incoherent babbling of old man adam, the room felt like it was spinning. Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger, the rest of the lights came to life. The room we were in were surrounded by seats, similar to the ones we sat in. However, sitting in these seats were ghastly creatures of different varieties. Some looked like the salesman creature. Others were ogreish. Large bodied creatures covered in a film of slime. Some of them even looked human. It was the eyes though...their eyes were a teal color with white pupils. Many many creatures looked up me and my friends. All of them began clapping their hands and cheering in unison. The claps were deafening. The cries of the baby felt as if a baseball bat was ramming my head. Adams babbling was terrifyingly disturbing. And Tex...hanging there. Eyes rolled back into his skull. I couldnt imagine the hell he began to feel. At this point I wondered what awaited my fate. The clapping stopped abruptly. “Oh...Austin...yes, well if you want to know what fate awaits you just shut your eyes. Shut your eyes and quietly count back from 3.” the creature said...was he reading my mind? Suddenly the urge to close my eyes overtook me. Almost as if I had no choice, I began counting down. 3….2….1…. Everything went black. I wasn't sure if i was alive or dead...or somewhere in between. I saw nothing but black for what felt like a lifetime. And in an instant...I heard that same shrill scream. Only this time I could not cover my ears. I couldn’t feel my body but I felt an unimaginable amount of pain. As the scream grew to its peak, I slammed my eyes open. Trying to catch my breath. I was back in the car...we were all back in the car. The engine was on. Shitty ac blasting. The others were still out. I sat up in my seat. Not wanting to move too suddenly. The sun was beating down on us. I looked over at the time on the dash…July 28th 4:34 pm. I reached into my shirt pocket and I found several vouchers for the MGM hotels in Vegas along with $300 dollars. I also found a card that simply read “Hibou Timeshare Corp. would like to thank you for a bit of your time” The boys came too. All feeling rather groggy. “We all fell asleep huh?” Adam laughed. “We here?” They didn't remember a thing. Not one thing. Not going in...not the reception area...not the freaky timeshare presentation...not one bit. I lied...i told them that while they were sound asleep, we arrived a little earlier than expected. The presenter had an emergency and left our vouchers at the front desk and apologized profusely. “Wow, what a gentleman!” Tex laughed. “We definitely owe it to him to sit through another timeshare, probono.” Larry added. I think it's safe to say that I will not be returning to this or any other timeshare. As I drove away I could see the building disappear in the rear view mirror. So if you’re traveling deep within the southwest of the United States and hear an ad for a free vacation that's too good to be true...do yourself a favor..turn off the radio, call into work and ask for some overtime..because nothing is ever given for free.
COVID-19 has now infected more than 215,956 people. There have been 8,757 confirmed deaths and 84,080 confirmed recoveries attributed to the virus.
Recent Updates Note: These are the updates from the last 48-72 hours. MARCH 18 -
United States: President Trump signed into law a coronavirus relief package, which provides free coronavirus testing and ensures paid emergency leave for those who are infected or caring for a family member with the illness. The bill also provides additional Medicaid funding, food assistance and unemployment benefits. The "third phase" coronavirus response bill is expected to pass later this week. Read more here.
United States: President Trump announced that home foreclosures and evictions will be suspended “until the end of April.” Read more here. He also invoked the Defense Production Act, which gives the government the authority to control the production and distribution of scarce materials deemed "essential to the national defense." In his executive order, Trump specifically cites protective equipment (presumably face masks) and ventilators as meeting the criteria in this provision. Read more here.
United States: Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ben McAdams become first members of Congress to test positive for coronavirus. Read more here.
United States: King County in Washington State is building a 200-bed field hospital on Shoreline soccer field amid coronavirus outbreak. Read more here.
United States: The New York Stock Exchange said starting March 23, it will temporarily close its historic trading floor and move fully to electronic trading. This is the first time the physical trading floor of the Big Board has ever shut independently while electronic trading continues. Read more here.
United States and Canada: US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have agreed to close the US-Canada border to all non-essential travel in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus. Trade will not be affected. Read more here.
Canada: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced a massive $82-billion aid package to help Canadians and businesses cope with the global COVID-19 pandemic, including income supports, wage subsidies and tax deferrals. The package includes $27 billion in direct supports and another $55 billion to help business liquidity through tax deferrals. Read more here.
Japan’s Hokkaido, the nation’s prefecture with the highest number of coronavirus infections, will end its state of emergency over the epidemic on Thursday. Read more here.
Europe: The European Central Bank launched an extra emergency bond-buying program worth 750 billion euros ($820 billion) in the latest attempt to calm markets and protect a euro-area economy struggling to cope with the coronavirus epidemic. Read more here.
France: French police handed out over 4,000 fines Wednesday to people found violating an order to stay at home, on the first full day of a lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Read more here.
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared a state of emergency to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The new measures allow Prime Minister António Costa's government to restrict movement of people, temporarily suspend the right of workers in vital sectors — such as health, civil protection, security and defense — to strike, and ban protests and social or religious meetings Read more here.
Brazil: Davi Alcolumbre, the head of Brazil's Senate, became the latest high-level political figure to test positive for coronavirus on Wednesday. Read more here.
Chilean president Sebastian Pinera declared a 90-day state of catastrophe Wednesday to address the spread of COVID-19 in the country, which has 238 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus. By law, a state of catastrophe puts the armed forces in charge of public order and security and enables military control of the movement of people and goods. Military officials will be able to issue direct instructions to public employees and local governments and establish measures deemed necessary to maintain public order, including curfews. Read more here.
Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa records first coronavirus death. Read more here.
Europe: This year's Eurovision Song Contest has been canceled in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, organizers confirmed on Wednesday, marking the first time that the much-loved competition has ever been scrapped. Read more here.
Australian airline Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar will suspend scheduled international flights from late March until at least the end of May due to the coronavirus crisis. In a statement posted on its website Thursday, Qantas Group announced that 60% of its domestic flights would also be cut, and two-thirds of its 30,000 employees would be temporarily stood down. Read the announcement here.
RyanAir, Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier, said it expected “most if not all” flights to be grounded, apart from a small number to maintain connections between the UK and Ireland. Read more here.
MARCH 17 -
United States: A plan developed by the federal government to combat the coronavirus reportedly projects the pandemic will last 18 months or more and could feature multiple “waves.” Read more here.
United States: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin raised the possibility with Republican senators that U.S. unemployment could rise to 20% without government intervention because of the impact of the coronavirus. Mnuchin discussed the scenario with the lawmakers on Tuesday as he proposed an economic stimulus of $1 trillion or more. Read more here.
United States: Treasury and IRS to delay tax payment deadline by 90 days. Read more here.
United States: The U.S. military is preparing Naval hospital ships for deployment, and is looking to open its labs to help test civilians for coronavirus. The Pentagon also plans to distribute equipment. Read more here.
United States: White House requests and additional $45.8 billion in emergency funding due to coronavirus. The request comes on top of the $8.3 billion in emergency funding passed by Congress just two weeks ago and underscores just how dramatically financial demands at federal agencies have grown in a matter of days. Read more here.
United States: Schools are likely to be closed for the rest of this school year according to Governor Newsom of California. Ohio's governor has made similar statements. Read more here.
United States: Are Hospitals Near Me Ready for Coronavirus? Here Are Nine Different Scenarios. | There is a tool in the article that allows you to see your area's hospital capacity. See the interactive tool here.
EU: Leaders of European Union countries have agreed to close the EU’s external borders to most people from other countries for 30 days in a new effort to slow the coronavirus pandemic. Movement within European Union member nations will be still be allowed. Read more here.
Spain: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a package of measures worth a total 200 billion euros ($219 billion), between loans, credit guarantees, benefits and direct aid, to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the economy. The package represents about 20% of the country’s gross domestic product; 117 billion euros for the package will come from the government, with the rest to come from private companies. Read more here.
Scotland: No new jury trials will take place in Scotland for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus. Read more here.
Bolivia will close its borders to non-residents and suspend all international flights to combat the spread of coronavirus. The measure will remain in place until March 31. Read more here.
Australia declares emergency, warns coronavirus crisis could last six months. Read more here.
Euro 2020 has been postponed by one year until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more here.
MARCH 16 -
A Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine designed to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has begun at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI) in Seattle. Read more here.
The European Union will ban all nonessential travel into the bloc for at least 30 days. Read more here.
France has instituted a lockdown and will deploy 100,000 police to enforce the lockdown and fixed checkpoints will be set up across the country. Under the new measures, soldiers would help transport the sick to hospitals with spare capacity and a military hospital with 30 intensive care beds would be set up in the eastern region of Alsace, where one of the largest infection clusters has broken out. Macron also announced he was postponing the second round of local elections on Sunday. Read more here.
United States: President Trump held a press conference today, where he said that the U.S. may be able to get the new coronavirus outbreak under control by July or August at the earliest. He also said his administration may look at lockdowns for “certain areas” or “hot spots” in the nation, but said he wasn’t considering a full national lockdown. Watch the press conference here and/or read about it here.
United States: The Department of Health and Human Services experienced suspicious cyberactivity Sunday night related to its coronavirus response. The suspicious activity HHS was not a hack but it may have been a distributed denial of service -- or DDOS -- attack. Read more here.
United States: Six Bay Area counties announced “shelter in place” orders for all residents on Monday — the strictest measure of its kind yet in the continental United States — directing everyone to stay inside their homes and away from others as much as possible for the next three weeks. The directive begins at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and involves San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties — a combined population of more than 6.7 million. Read more here.
United States: New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut institute regional rules that ban gatherings of over 50, and close casinos, gyms, and theaters. Read more here.
United States: The Ohio primary has been postponed. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced late Monday that his administration will order that polls be closed on Tuesday due to a health emergency. Read more here.
United States: Dow Plummets Nearly 3,000 Points as Virus Fears Spread. Read more here.
Canada is closing its borders to noncitizens because of the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. citizens are exempt from the ban “for the moment." Read more here.
Israel is preparing to open four hotels across the country as quarantines sites for confirmed cases of coronavirus, Minister of Defense Naftali Bennett announced Monday night. The hotels will be used to treat people exhibiting mild symptoms of the virus. Read more here.
Finland closes schools, declares state of emergency over coronavirus. Daycare centres are to stay open but parents were asked to keep their kids home if possible. Read more here.
Sudan’s ruling sovereign council closed all airports, ports and land crossings and declared a public health emergency on Monday over fears about the spread of coronavirus. Read more here.
Idris Elba has tested positive for coronavirus along with several other celebrities. See Idris' tweet here.
Amazon will hire 100,000 warehouse and delivery workers in the United States to deal with a surge in online orders, as many consumers have turned to the web to meet their needs during the coronavirus outbreak. Read more here.
The Peace Corps is telling its volunteers around the world that it is suspending all operations globally and evacuating all volunteers in light of the spread of the new coronavirus. Read more here.
United States: The College Board has cancelled the May SATs. Read more here.
48 points: jesseaknight's comment in In the show St. Elsewhere, a character in the finale is shown to have thought of the whole series, which means he also made up all the shows that had crossovers with St. Elsewhere. This expands into the shows that were mentioned in the shows. There is at this point 419 shows in this universe
44 points: Derosa6037's comment in the longest single set at the laugh factory lasted 7h and 34m (by Dane Cook in 2008).
43 points: astronoob's comment in Margaret Hamilton, NASA's lead software engineer for the Apollo Program, stands next to the code she wrote by hand that took Humanity to the moon in 1969.
42 points: rus_reddit's comment in Rand Paul was the national debt for halloween in 2015. He said it was a very scary costume.
40 points: thejesiah's comment in Close Encounters of the Third Kind Geocache in Northern Italy
38 points: electro_hippie's comment in Why is smiling being frowned upon in the Russian culture?
37 points: SlideNERD's comment in The head of a tapeworm under an electron microscope
37 points: wtfisthisnoise's comment in Is U.S. income tax invalid because Ohio wasn’t legally a state when the 16th amendment was ratified?
35 points: Otterfan's comment in President Obama Roasts Donald Trump At White House Correspondents’ Dinner (2011)
35 points: _Foy's comment in Ways the Great Lakes try to Murder Ships - illustrated
The next Detroit: The catastrophic collapse of Atlantic City
With the closure of almost half of Atlantic City's casinos, Newark set to vote on gambling and casinos or racinos in almost every state, it seems as if the reasons for the very existence of Atlantic City are in serious jeopardy. Israel Joffe Atlantic City, once a major vacation spot during the roaring 20s and 1930s, as seen on HBOs Boardwalk Empire, collapsed when cheap air fare became the norm and people had no reason to head to the many beach town resorts on the East Coast. Within a few decades, the city, known for being an ‘oasis of sin’ during the prohibition era, fell into serious decline and dilapidation. New Jersey officials felt the only way to bring Atlantic City back from the brink of disaster would be to legalize gambling. Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts, first opened its doors in 1978. People stood shoulder to shoulder, packed into the hotel as gambling officially made its way to the East Coast. Folks in the East Coast didn't have to make a special trip all the way to Vegas in order to enjoy some craps, slots, roulette and more. As time wore on, Atlantic City became the premier gambling spots in the country. While detractors felt that the area still remained poor and dilapidated, officials were quick to point out that the casinos didn't bring the mass gentrification to Atlantic City as much as they hoped but the billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs for the surrounding communities was well worth it. Atlantic City developed a reputation as more of a short-stay ‘day-cation’ type of place, yet managed to stand firm against the 'adult playground' and 'entertainment capital of the world' Las Vegas. Through-out the 1980s, Atlantic City would become an integral part of American pop culture as a place for east coast residents to gamble, watch boxing, wrestling, concerts and other sporting events. However in the late 1980s, a landmark ruling considered Native-American reservations to be sovereign entities not bound by state law. It was the first potential threat to the iron grip Atlantic City and Vegas had on the gambling and entertainment industry. Huge 'mega casinos' were built on reservations that rivaled Atlantic City and Vegas. In turn, Vegas built even more impressive casinos. Atlantic City, in an attempt to make the city more appealing to the ‘big whale’ millionaire and billionaire gamblers, and in effort to move away from its ‘seedy’ reputation, built the luxurious Borgata casino in 2003. Harrah’s created a billion dollar extension and other casinos in the area went through serious renovations and re-branded themselves. It seemed as if the bite that the Native American casinos took out of AC and Vegas’ profits was negligible and that the dominance of those two cities in the world of gambling would remain unchallenged. Then Macau, formally a colony of Portugal, was handed back to the Chinese in 1999. The gambling industry there had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly was ended in 2002 and several casino owners from Las Vegas attempted to enter the market. Under the one country, two systems policy, the territory remained virtually unchanged aside from mega casinos popping up everywhere. All the rich ‘whales’ from the far east had no reason anymore to go to the United States to spend their money. Then came the biggest threat. As revenue from dog and horse racing tracks around the United States dried up, government officials needed a way to bring back jobs and revitalize the surrounding communities. Slot machines in race tracks started in Iowa in 1994 but took off in 2004 when Pennsylvania introduced ‘Racinos’ in an effort to reduce property taxes for the state and to help depressed areas bounce back. As of 2013, racinos were legal in ten states: Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia with more expected in 2015. Tracks like Delaware Park and West Virginia's Mountaineer Park, once considered places where local degenerates bet on broken-down nags in claiming races, are now among the wealthiest tracks around, with the best races. The famous Aqueduct race track in Queens, NY, once facing an uncertain future, now possesses the most profitable casino in the United States. From June 2012 to June 2013, Aqueduct matched a quarter of Atlantic City's total gaming revenue from its dozen casinos: $729.2 million compared with A.C.'s $2.9 billion. It has taken an estimated 15 percent hit on New Jersey casino revenue and climbing. And it isn't just Aqueduct that's taking business away from them. Atlantic City's closest major city, Philadelphia, only 35-40 minutes away, and one of the largest cities in America, now has a casino that has contributed heavily to the decline in gamers visiting the area. New Jersey is the third state in the U.S. to have authorized internet gambling. However, these online casinos are owned and controlled by Atlantic City casinos in an effort to boost profits in the face of fierce competition. California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Texas are hoping to join Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and the U.S. Virgin Islands in offering online gambling to their residents. With this in mind, it seems the very niche that Atlantic City once offered as a gambling and entertainment hub for east coast residents is heading toward the dustbin of history. Time will tell if this city will end up like Detroit. However, the fact that they are losing their biggest industry to major competition, much like Detroit did, with depressed housing, casinos bankrupting/closing and businesses fleeing , it all makes Atlantic City’s fate seem eerily similar.
49 points: jesseaknight's comment in In the show St. Elsewhere, a character in the finale is shown to have thought of the whole series, which means he also made up all the shows that had crossovers with St. Elsewhere. This expands into the shows that were mentioned in the shows. There is at this point 419 shows in this universe
45 points: Derosa6037's comment in the longest single set at the laugh factory lasted 7h and 34m (by Dane Cook in 2008).
42 points: astronoob's comment in Margaret Hamilton, NASA's lead software engineer for the Apollo Program, stands next to the code she wrote by hand that took Humanity to the moon in 1969.
42 points: thejesiah's comment in Close Encounters of the Third Kind Geocache in Northern Italy
41 points: rus_reddit's comment in Rand Paul was the national debt for halloween in 2015. He said it was a very scary costume.
38 points: srone's comment in The New BMW X6 Has Light-Absorbing 'Vantablack' Paint
37 points: SlideNERD's comment in The head of a tapeworm under an electron microscope
37 points: wtfisthisnoise's comment in Is U.S. income tax invalid because Ohio wasn’t legally a state when the 16th amendment was ratified?
36 points: _Foy's comment in Ways the Great Lakes try to Murder Ships - illustrated
36 points: bigtcm's comment in My immigrant Chinese parents make tamales every year.
2: Vote!: So, as a reminder the deadline to register to vote is on Monday, October 5, visit http://govoteky.com/ for information on how to request your absentee ballot. Voting absentee is the safest way to vote this year because of COVID-19. So if you do not have access to the internet, you can call your county clerk's office to request your absentee ballot. The clerk's office will complete your absentee application over the phone with you. So that's an even easier step to be able to vote this year.
3: PPE: As we all know PPE is a vital part of protecting Kentuckians during this pandemic and I am proud to report that, as of this week, our Department of Public Health warehouse has completed the stockpile. There is enough PPE in Kentucky for a 120 day surge.
4: Mask Up KY
Dr Stack: And then if you look at Kentucky, we had a nice long plateau, almost three months, at about 50 new cases per million per day. Then we surged up, and we have now reached a plateau of 150 to 160 new cases per million per day. But here's the challenge: the good news is we're not exponentially growing, the bad news is, if you were to draw a line against this, we have a general upward slope which means that actually over the last four to six weeks we're losing ground, it's getting worse as we go on.
Dr Stack: The next thing is you have to get your flu shot. Flu spreads the same way can mask, you get your flu shot, there's a good chance we could shut down influenza this year. Again, if you're sloppy and careless it’s going to be impossible to know who has the flu and who has COVID, and people who are uncertain about their status are going to be subjected to a lot more needless worry, angst, and probably inconvenience, while they go through additional testing.
Dr. Stack: if you have a cough, a cold, runny nose, a fever, chills: do not leave your house, do not go to work, do not go to school. This, of all years, is not the year to be casual and spread any kind of infection, because you know what? If you’ve got a cough and a fever people aren't going to assume you’ve got the common cold, they're going to be worried you have COVID-19. Don't do it, if you're sick, stay home. If you're sick enough to need medical care, contact your primary care provider and seek advice.
Is the 15-minute test going to become available in KY? -- So the White House announced, I think it was yesterday, that it's going to be shipping a very large number of Abbott rapid tests, and there's another word that's in there, because there's been two types of rapid tests, to the country. It will be about 100 million more to the entire country. Kentucky will receive its portion based on our population. We are going to receive them all between now and December 31st.
Will the state offer any further extension on renewals of driver's license similar to what was announced in July? That order expires September 30th. -- Yes. Tomorrow, I'll be signing an executive order that allows for people to renew their driver's license by a dropbox or by mail. You still have to renew it in one of those two fashions, all the way up to February of 2021. It doesn't automatically extend
Do you have a progress report on the job Ernst & Young is doing on unemployment? -- We can provide- we will work on that tomorrow an update on E&Y's work on unemployment. It's been absolutely necessary to prevent us from falling further behind. We are gaining ground but there continue to be a significant number of claims that we are working through.
Lt. Gov: Alright, good evening everybody. I'm going to kick us off today with the Fast 4 at 4, lots of good news to share.
First is a jobs announcement. The latest company to join Kentucky's manufacturing sector is Chapin International, a manufacturer of metal compressed air sprayers based in Bavaria, New York. Chapin plans to invest nearly $5.5M, and create up to 100 full time jobs in the years ahead. The location will manufacture and distribute metal compressed air sprayers for industrial use, agriculture, home and garden, and other applications. This is a great project, located in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Representatives from Chapin reached out to our local and state economic development teams just over two weeks ago, and the company has already found a home in an existing former manufacturing facility in the Rockcastle business park. This is a testament to Team Kentucky's dedication to helping businesses find the best fit for them, as quickly as possible. Kentucky's logistical advantages and ideal geographic location were major factors in our ability to bring Chapin to the Commonwealth. We are at the center of a 34-state distribution area in the eastern United States, with the existing infrastructure necessary for companies to ship products to customers as quickly as possible. It's one of the many advantages Kentucky offers companies, and we're glad to have the opportunity to help Chapin International business. Investments like this one from Chapin will help us to build a better Kentucky.
Alright, second up is voting. As many of you know I'm a former civics teacher and so one of my favorite things to do was to talk to my students about the democratic process and how important it is to be a responsible citizen and vote. As we all know there is record turnout expected all across the country for the 2020 general election. And as a mom, it's very exciting for me because this is the first presidential election in which Emma, Will, and Nate will all get to participate, Evelyn is the only one that doesn't get to and she's only eight months old, so. Our family has engaged in many discussions about democracy and how lucky we are to live in this country at a time when we have the right to vote. So, as a reminder the deadline to register to vote is on Monday, October 5, visit http://govoteky.com/ for information on how to request your absentee ballot. Voting absentee is the safest way to vote this year because of COVID-19. So if you do not have access to the internet, you can call your county clerk's office to request your absentee ballot. The clerk's office will complete your absentee application over the phone with you. So that's an even easier step to be able to vote this year.
Third, we have more good news about PPE. Kentuckians have continued to answer the call in the fight against COVID-19. It is this team Kentucky spirit that makes our home so special. I can tell you that spirit of unity, despite a global pandemic, is on full display through the Commonwealth from Paducah to Pikeville, and from Maysville to Monticello. Two weeks ago governor Beshear and I visited the Department for Public Health's warehouse to show the success in securing PP for frontline workers, and other Kentuckians. As we all know PPE is a vital part of protecting Kentuckians during this pandemic and I am proud to report that, as of this week, our Department of Public Health warehouse has completed the stockpile. There is enough PPE in Kentucky for a 120 day surge. Governor Beshear has talked about the time, earlier in the pandemic, when he spent days on the phone trying to secure PPE. He will tell you, he was not sure that this day would come. This is one of the successes for Kentucky in our battle against COVID-19. Our team has worked diligently to secure the protective equipment we need in our hospitals, in our long term care facilities, and other crucial frontline jobs. We appreciate those workers, our corporate partners, and everyday Kentuckians who contributed to make sure that we could reach this point.
And last but not least, we're going to talk about Mask Up Kentucky and show some really good examples from across this Commonwealth of folks who are wearing their masks and doing the right thing.
Alright, thank you to our Lieutenant Governor. And today, continuing school pride here in the Commonwealth, I'm wearing Knox County Public Schools. This was sent to me by their Director of Communications with a really nice note talking about how their community had come together to fight for each other, to protect one another, and I love- this is this the line they have under their letterhead: “Inspiring leaders and changing futures one child at a time.” So thank you to Knox Public Schools. Also want to let you know we have a new member of our production team, who is Jim, who's helping us out here, moving forward, so now we have Kenneth at home. We miss you Kenneth. We don't miss the slides, but we miss you, James, who is here working on that and now, Jim as well. Now, I've known Kenneth for a long time, he'll take that in good humor or we'll find out about it on Twitter here in just a little bit.
Alright, while that's good fun- today's COVID report is not.
Today we are reporting our second highest total that we have had since March the sixth at 1,018.
Positive cases today: 1,018 - What that means is that we are on pace to have even more cases than last week where we set a record number of cases.
Total tests conducted: 1,446,385 (PCR: 1,362,929, Serology: 55,904)
Positivity Rate: 4.24% - That's a positive thing.
Total hospitalized: 5,250
Currently hospitalized: 589
Total in ICU: 1,520
Currently in ICU: 129
On a ventilator: 81 - Please pray for those individuals
Total recovered: 11,792
New deaths today: 8 - Sadly we are reporting a loss of eight additional Kentuckians due COVID-19 or that COVID-19 was a contributing factor to their deaths.
Total Deaths: 1,170
New deaths by county: 68 M Hickman, 71 F Henderson, 77 M Floyd, 86 M Bullitt, 86 F Kenton, 85 F Floyd, 87 F Kenton, 93 F Belle
Let's remember and think about those families, let's make sure we turn on our green lights, and let's also know when we have 1,018 cases it means we're going to lose more people moving forward. 1,018 cases is far too many. It does mean we're doing a lot of tests, and that's important; because we got to find those positives- we got to make sure that we can either quarantine them or get them the help they may need in the hospital, finding those positive cases, it helps make sure that we can get them better. But 1,018 cases is going the wrong direction. So, we need you to wear a facial covering. 1,018 cases ought to be a wake up call if last week's 5,000 almost 5,000 cases wasn't. We can't let this thing get out of control again because maybe we're tired. We know the steps that it takes and I think tomorrow we'll be back again with our revised top 10 rules to defeat COVID-19, because we probably need to talk about them more and again. But, but this mask. We really need you to where it really needs you to wear it.
Racial breakdown of all cases: 80.32% Caucasian, 11.84% Black or African-American, 1.54% Asian, 5.80% Multiracial
Ethnicity breakdown of all cases: 89.17% non-Hispanic and 10.83% Hispanic
Racial breakdown of all deaths: 83.55% Caucasian, 12.80% Black or African-American, 1.12% Asian, 2.52% Multiracial
Ethnicity breakdown of all deaths: 96.41% non-Hispanic and 3.59% Hispanic
Long Term Care Facilities (PDF): 38 new residents and 23 new staff positive from yesterday, and 3 more deaths, 1 new facility.
Total facilities: 339
Total deaths: 670
Active cases: 576 residents, 437 staff
Total cases: 4413 residents, 2928 staff
K-12 Update (PDF): 15 new students and 14 new faculty/staff positive, 12 new schools from yesterday.
Total facilities: 576
Active cases: 746 students, 348 faculty/staff
Total cases: 1138 students, 411 faculty/staff
Again, this is our, our, our audited version, you're going to see the dashboard, which will have more up-to-date numbers, more immediate numbers, again remember our dashboard is what's reported by schools for the day before. It hasn't gone through the vetting of the local health department and through us but it's a way to have some immediate idea of what we may be seeing in your school or your community. And this is after it's gone through our process which can lag for five days.
University Update (PDF): 303 new students and 2 new faculty/staff positive from yesterday, 3 new facilities.
Total facilities: 58
Active cases: 1374 students, 48 faculty/staff
Total cases: 3244 students, 87 faculty/staff
I said yesterday that I believed we were at the start of a new escalation, we're certainly seeing that in today's numbers. That means we got to work harder. Now this is a war and we've won many battles. We can't walk away from the battlefield. We can't stop doing what it takes and I really need your help. In the Fall, and I think Dr Stack, who's back with us today after getting a week off, which I know is needed, will tell you that right now, moving into the fall, has the potential to be the most dangerous time we have seen in Kentucky. And it doesn't have to be, because we know that there is a vaccine in our future we just have to get to the point where we can prove that it's effective and deploy it to enough people. So are we willing to do what it takes to protect one another, until that point in time? I think that answer is yes, but we’ve got to prove it. Alright, I'm gonna ask Dr Stack to come up. He's got a couple of different things to come over to go over and then we'll answer questions.
Thank you Governor, it's good to be back. And I know that the people watching this will appreciate it was nice to go somewhere where no one recognized me for a change. So, I enjoyed my time away. I have a few updates I want to go over, So I'm going to start with the schools. So, for K-12 schools yesterday was the first day that the self-reported data from the schools went live as a public dashboard. So this was a screenshot that I took before I came here, you'll see a huge spike up on the data on the right hand side, that's what you would expect. In the interest of clarity, the schools were asked to report yesterday, the 28th, data for the first 24 hours. So information reported them in the last 24 hours, I didn't want to- this was not a tag; you're it moment, I'm not trying to go back in time, we're going to get a new steady state as we go forward. So, people may have had folks in quarantine last week or new cases last week that won't be captured here, it's a snapshot in time and it's beginning on Monday, the 28th. As I understand that we have about 2,000 K-12 schools in the state of Kentucky, that's public and private, of those we have about 1,700 plus in our database so far. Those who are not in the database we're getting outreach and emails. Thank you, we appreciate that, and we expect it, and we will add you if your name is not presented the way you want it presented, we will update those things. So we're working through those details, but it just went live yesterday.
We have over 1,300 schools who have reported data into this. So I'm satisfied that this is a good first step, but clearly when we're little over 1,300 reporting, when I just told you there's almost 2,000, we've got a ways to go. But for being only the second day that we've been doing this, thank you very much, I appreciate the effort. For those in the general public and for those who work in schools, K-12, this is a tool for you, more than anyone else. So we have other surveillance tools that I'll use for public health and I will definitely look at this but this is for the public. For those of you who have children in K-12 schools, you should be able to go here, you should be able to find your school by name, and you should be able to find the data that they've reported. If you don't find data here, I encourage you to call the school and ask them and enquire and work in partnership with them. Remember we get through this better if we work together. No one wins when we're pointing fingers at folks. This is all about trying to be honest, as open as we can, acknowledging the data, as we understand it, and being honest about that, and working together in good faith. So this is a tool for the public to try to help you be informed, at least in some closer to real-time situation as to what's going on in the school. We will report that the dashboard will update every morning with data from all the way through the previous day. And that's how that will be updated, and we'll go from here and see how that progresses over time,
Those of you who saw me discussed this a couple weeks ago will recognize this. This is the color-coded metric-based dashboard for schools to determine the mode of instruction they should be in for school. The way this works, you're supposed to look, if you're a superintendent or someone responsible for school, every Thursday we recommend it at eight o'clock at night because we update this around dinnertime or late afternoon every day. You look Thursday evening at the map that we have on our website, I didn't put the map in here, it's published right on the main page of the website every single day, you match the color of your county to the color on this map, it's that simple, and then you do the things that are down the column. Now those are recommendations and folks have asked for these recommendations or these requirements. So, the reporting I just talked about, and a metric along these lines, part of this comes from a KRS statute that talks about how schools behave during epidemics. This is all to give public health guidance so that superintendents can decide whether to have their students in person, virtual only, or hybrid instruction, and there are instructions and guidelines down there and a wealth of KDE documents. The Kentucky Department for Public Health continues to work with the Kentucky Department for Education so thank you for that partnership. We did make one change to this today, and this rests with me. I did not like that in some states, they used a 14 day criteria that when they closed to in-person instruction, they had to shut down for two weeks. I wanted to use the metric as much as possible to guide decisions to open and close and not pick, you know, an arbitrary number of 14 days. So I put in there, instead of a 14 day metric that when you hit the red level which is a very high level of disease that you had to get back down to yellow before you should consider resuming in-person instruction. I described that as Chutes and Ladders you hit a long chute and if you remember that game and you went down a couple levels. I have removed that part so now you just follow when you check on Thursday night whatever color, your county is what you should do for the following week, and you don't have to get back down to yellow. I have said from the beginning, it is not our intent to strand people in the wrong categorization. The tool is intended to identify when the disease is particularly active in your community, the entire community, that involves K-12 schools but it also involves nursing homes, and businesses, and also restaurants, and bars, the whole community has to come together- it's a community based problem, and the community has to come together to do what needs to be done to improve the situation. So the one change we made today was you don't have to go all the way back down to yellow to consider resuming in-person instruction. But we do strongly urge you to read everything that's on there, follow the guidance that's posted. And I have to place this in context before I go to my next slide. We have to take this seriously folks, it's about to get colder, people are going to go indoors more, the disease is still out there. Every place, every place on the planet Earth where people have gotten lazy and lax about following the things we recommend has seen a surge in disease, every place. And we've had some improvements in hospital care and some improvements in treatment, but we have not had any massive breakthroughs. So we are in a position where if we take our eye off the ball, we're gonna get in trouble real quick, and I'll make that point on the next slide.
So you've seen me use these, those of you who watch these briefings on a regular basis, over and over. This is from the 91-Dovic, the COVID-19 backwards website. And what it shows is, adjusted by population, the number of new cases per million people in your state on the seven day rolling average. So if you look New York got smacked hard and badly at the beginning, in fact to this day it's one of the areas that was the hardest hit in the entire United States and probably in the world, other than maybe Wuhan in the very beginning. New York has still managed to keep their disease burden relatively low, but even New York is still running that line down there, I think it’s at 50, so it's still running active disease, but it's much more suppressed. If you look at Kentucky, we're at about 152, now actually 160 new cases per million people per day. You’ll have to take my word on this, is really hot, that's running very hot. Remember this is a disease that when it gets out of control it starts to double rapidly. And so, the little simple math here you go from one to two to four to eight to 16 those numbers are still relatively small. When you go from 150 to 300 to 600 to 1,200 those are big numbers. So as you start getting those bigger numbers, that's more people sick, and after people get sick, hospitalizations follow, and after hospitalizations, that's when you can have deaths. And so what I put in here is New York as the red line. Who's relatively well controlled by comparison, if you were looking at Germany, on a different map- I can't put those that I found yet on the same map, countries and the States. If you were to take Germany, New Zealand, South Korea places that have lowered the disease and really kept it there, they would belong down near that black line at the very bottom. They've controlled the disease so well that in that country- if you didn't follow the rules you could walk out in public and you'd have a very low likelihood of getting sick but the reason it's that safe, is because they followed all the rules and they kept things closed down so that people in those countries are remarkably safe. But it's because they have very strong adherence to the things we're recommending be done. So, the US overall is the orange line. And if you look, we had a surge in the beginning, and a plateau and a surge and then it came back down and now it's on the upswing. I don't remember the latest data but as recently as the last 48 hours there were at least 26 states who are having a noteworthy positive increase in cases.
And then if you look at Kentucky, we had a nice long plateau, almost three months, at about 50 new cases per million per day. Then we surged up, and we have now reached a plateau of 150 to 160 new cases per million per day. But here's the challenge: the good news is we're not exponentially growing, the bad news is, if you were to draw a line against this, we have a general upward slope which means that actually over the last four to six weeks we're losing ground, it's getting worse as we go on. And it's getting worse at a time that schools are going back into session, colleges and universities are in session, bars and restaurants are open. Remember we said we tried to take a multifactorial decision making approach to this, we looked at a lot of different things, we recognize the importance of the economy, and people's wellness, and being at work, and activities, but we can't afford to let this get out of control. Here's the thing for those who like casino metaphors, the house always wins. So here's the thing: people may flaunt the rules and disregard the rules and you know what? You may luck out, and it may work out okay. But the bug, the virus, is the house here. I don't know what county, or what city, or where, but if we ignore the rules someone's going to get bitten and they're going to get bitten bad. I don't have to guess on that, I can tell you that with absolute certainty: Everywhere that people got sloppy the virus got out of control and took a lot more lives. So please, when I talk about these wrap up points I'm going to make here, please take this seriously. I hope you've seen over the last six to seven months, we have gone through a period in the spring where there was so much we didn't know, and there was legitimate reason to be terrified of what could happen. And now we've gotten into this phase where we know that if we take certain simple steps that we can control the spread of the disease. Now people are really tired of this, they're fed up with hearing about this stuff, and they want to get back to their lives, but I'm going to tell you, that's not happening until we get to some time next year and probably not until past the summertime, because even when we get the vaccines- and I'm glad that things have gotten revised at the federal level because now it's aligning with what I was saying for weeks before, is that we're not going to have sufficient amount of quantity of vaccination materials to get everybody until we get to the summer or beyond next year. Hopefully we'll get something in late December or early January, but it'll be a small amount and it will be for the highest risk or highest targeted individuals, and then we'll move forward from there. And when we get to a better place where we have more information and it's appropriate we'll update you on vaccination plans, which we're actively working on too. But until then, we've got to wear masks, we have to physically distance more than six feet, you have to wash your hands. You've got to do three other things, if you have a cough, a cold, runny nose, a fever, chills: do not leave your house, do not go to work, do not go to school. This, of all years, is not the year to be casual and spread any kind of infection, because you know what? If you’ve got a cough and a fever people aren't going to assume you’ve got the common cold, they're going to be worried you have COVID-19. Don't do it, if you're sick, stay home. If you're sick enough to need medical care, contact your primary care provider and seek advice.
The next thing is you have to get your flu shot. The United States apparently ordered 200 million doses of influenza vaccination this year which is higher than the 170 million they did the year before and even that was apparently a peak of sorts. You have to go out and get your flu shot. Let's make sure we use all those doses and force the government to order more of them, because if you get the flu shot, it's going to reduce the burden of flu. And if you wear your mask you know what? Flu spreads the same way can mask, you get your flu shot, there's a good chance we could shut down influenza this year. Again, if you're sloppy and careless it’s going to be impossible to know who has the flu and who has COVID, and people who are uncertain about their status are going to be subjected to a lot more needless worry, angst, and probably inconvenience, while they go through additional testing.
several years back evangelicals weren't comfortable at all saying trump was a christian. before and during trump's campaign conservative evangelicals were all over the map on where they stood concerning his faith: in 2015 dobson said,'I am very wary of Donald Trump,” Dobson said in his email, citing Trump’s business in gambling. “I would never vote for a king pin within that enterprise. Trump’s tendency to shoot from the hip and attack those with whom he disagrees would be an embarrassment to the nation if he should become our Chief Executive. I don’t really believe Trump is a conservative. Finally, I would never under any circumstance vote for Hillary Clinton'. in 2016, and to this day, dobson says on his 'family institute' website, 'If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn’t have a clue about how believers think, talk and act.' in 2011 franklin graham told christianity today: ' “No question, the guy’s got a lot of baggage. He owns casinos. He’s had multiple marriages. I did not endorse him.” when trump evangelical bouncer, robert jeffress, defended trump on fox news, regarding stormy daniels' announcement she had a sexual encounter with Trump and was paid to keep quiet before the election, Jeffress explained [to] Juan Williams that evangelicals 'knew they weren’t voting for an altar boy.' eric metaxas in responding to the hollywood access video of trump, [in] an email to 'RNS [... said he] rejected the characterization that he has strongly backed Trump, saying his support “has always been tepid and tremendously qualified." [...] in addition, 'James MacDonald, pastor of the Chicago-area megachurch Harvest Bible Chapel and a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, also withdrew his support after the video aired, calling the candidate “letcherous and worthless.' in 2016 mike huckabee tweeted: 'Trump may be a car wreck, but at least his car is pointed in the right direction. Hillary is a drunk-driver going the wrong way on the freeway'. the family research council president, tony perkins, put his support this way: 'You know what? Nations are built on calculated risk. Yeah. You could say we’re taking a calculated risk, but we’re at a point where we have to as a nation because what we have seen in the last seven and a half years has put the nation fiscally and culturally on the edge.' of course, we can't forget jerry falwell's endorsement as early as january of 2016: [...] “In my opinion, Donald Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus taught in the great commandment,” he said. “He cannot be bought, he's not a puppet on a string like many other candidates ... who have wealthy donors as their puppet masters,” he said. “And that is a key reason why so many voters are attracted to him.” at this time there's no direct evidence, nor cohen's testimony that there was a quid pro quo for falwell's endorsement. the falwell's and trump's have been friends since 2012 when trump spoke at liberty univ. it was falwell's endorsement that opened up the evangelical base to trump and ultimately cut ted cruz out of the race. but it can't go without saying that knowing the past 4 or 5 years of both trump and the falwell's lives, the entanglement is very deep, as you will see. so, given the lack of evangelical consensus, the lack of a solid biblical argument, and the life of trump, the location of where to put him, while retaining some evangelical dignity and avoiding hypocrisy, a charismatic evangelical named lance wallnau enters the story with his best selling book, 'God's Chaos Candidate' on oct of 2016, as well as his piece in 'charisma news', 'Why I Believe Trump Is the Prophesied President'. wallnau argued trump 'is a “modern-day Cyrus,” an ancient Persian king chosen by God to “navigate in chaos.' he even added a little numerology: trump's the 45th prez and cyrus is god's anointed in isaiah 45, so trump's anointed. makes sense right? anyway, aside from us living in a democracy, the idea grew, even to the point of netanyahu comparing him to cyrus. now many evangelicals are compare him to king cyrus. two years have now passed and it was a month before the 2018 midterms and a movie came out called, 'the trump prophecy.' the film was a partnership between 'reelworksstudios' and (-wait for it-) liberty univ's arts program, where it attempted to make the comparison of cyrus and trump. popularity grew when fox news' jeanine pirro touted the film, along with many other radio and tv hosts . while the idea of the cyrus-trump connection is still being floated it doesn't make sense now. why? due to trump openly stating he's changed his faith. more specifically, when trump himself, a couple weeks ago became a non denominationalist, it closed the personal distance between him and jesus, it, theoretically, should bring him closer to jesus, which negated the cyrus typology, which gave him distance from jesus; that's the point of changing one's faith isn't it, to get closer to god. as that distance is now gone, as cyrus was a pagan, and trump is claiming he's a reflective christian -a genius-, having deepened his faith, how can he still be compared to a pagan king? -especially with being surrounded by evangelicals for 4 years. over the past 40 years non denominationalists have grown over 400%, and a 1/3 of all evangelicals are nondens.. who are the nondens? they're basically the largest protestant denomination, and made up many southern baptists, with provisos.. it's unusual for a very stable genius billionaire, to self identify with nondens, but paula white has a 6,000 sq ft home, former trump faith advisor in the 1950s (check out 'the family' on netfix). so, perhaps trump is an eisenhower type, having changed his faith for political profit? if he did, one thing is certain; he can't use the cyrus connection any longer, for attempting to now makes him a public con. trump has stated, 'i'm the chosen one.' he was joking, somewhat, but like so many of his supposed jokes, they usually appear two-sided; they're like a reverse irony found under a bulimic joke, like: “Suburban women, will you please like me? - Please. Please,” he said in PA last week. his other "jokes" we have to wait several hours or a day later to discover if it really was a joke: “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’. again, '"And then I see the disinfectant, that knocks it out in a minute.. and is there a way you can do something like, by injection, inside, or almost to clean... It sounds interesting to me.' and again, 'russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30k emails that are missing.'. these dormant jokes a day or so later are fairly common and have created lots of confusion. i bring this up 'cause trump uses religious language more than any other past presidents in a 100 years, more than twice as eisenhower, and figuring out what he's really saying regarding faith, in politics, isn't any better than his policy discussions, and some might say it's worse -- as he weaponizes/attacks it, too:
when one looks at trump's photo op at st. john's church, as the clergy and protesting faithful and others were cleared with force and gas, just moments later trump took their place on the church sidewalk, standing alone, fixated on cameras, fumbling a bible, then holding it next to his head, never praying, nor mentioning god. during that time, he said two times, 'we have the greatest country in the world,' then walked to the front steps of the church, stood with his back to the steps, as the other pics must have somehow lacked his authority, called some of his staff and bill barr to stand with him while they posed for more pics, stating twice again, ' we have the greatest country' or words to that affect. here one say that trump weaponized the church equating it to a dominating power over those who disagree with trump's edicts. it was a symbol for what constitutes christian nationalism, in my view.
“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” the president said. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so.” Later, in front of dozens of members of Congress at his acquittal celebration at the White House, Trump singled out Pelosi and Romney by name, going further by accusing her of neither praying for him, nor praying at all. “She doesn’t pray. She may pray, but she prays for the opposite. But I doubt she prays at all,” the president said.
...
trump said of ted cruz: "but I've never seen anybody that lied as much as Ted Cruz. He goes around saying he's a Christian. I don't know. You're going to have to really have to study that. yes"
a trump tweet on cruz: 'How can Ted Cruz be and Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?
trump in ohio:'[biden] will take away your guns, take away your Second Amendment. No religion, no anything.” [...]there will be no god is biden is elected', and biden 'will hurt the bible, hurt god,'
finally: Trump responded swiftly at a campaign event in South Carolina, saying: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.” “No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man’s religion or faith,” he told a packed room at a golf course resort.
of course, trump's not the only person to weaponize god-talk. pastor paula white does it as well: christians will 'stand before god if they vote against trump'. of course, she's known as the most adamant evangelical that says trump is a christian. sadly, she's had her run-ins with heresy regarding the trinity, is a prosperity gospel preacher, gone off the rails publicly more than once, has been investigated by the senate, published a book in oct of 2019, that 'christiantiy today' called, disturbing, depressing, narcissistic, dishonest, materialistic, lacking self-awareness, shallow, and trumpesque. so, she's really something -- and of course she's probably trump's top spiritual adviser that works in the white house. the same failure of christian virtues can be said of jerry falwell jr, the president of one of the nation's largest christian colleges, but truly, his narrative doesn't need repeating, except the new sage of he and his wife's game of 'would you rather'.. the same also goes for pastor franklin graham, who is a xenophobe and weaponized 'opposition to President Donald Trump to “almost a demonic power”, metaxis agreed, although he didn't like the 'almost'. finally, to end our sampling, there's pastor robert jeffress statements that anti-trump 'evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons, and they cannot admit that they were wrong.' [...] “We cannot afford to be like German Christians who, in the rise of the evil reign of Adolf Hitler, just remained neutered. They remained silent. And you saw what happened there,” Jeffress said. “I think there’s a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now, and we must push back against that tide.' this is not an argument of guilt by association, these individuals have shown evidence of a failure to abide with the teachings of jesus and the church. their miscarriage is aligned with trump's, and perhaps more so, as they for decades have studied christianity. yet, they aren't running the country and lying daily about the covid virus as thousands die weekly; they aren't constantly attacking and damaging the usps,, mail in ballots,, the press, race, climate science, fauci, the fbi, even saying doctors are profiting off of covid deaths and inflating the dead numbers, attacking impeachment accusers, his sexual misconduct accusers, gold star families ...the list of trump attacks are almost found everywhere and everyday now. therefore, if he's not cyrus, not a christian, is he a con? i think the evidence is abundantly clear. for much of the attacks and weaponizing of people, institutions, and things, the gop has also been silent. they are silent on race, the media, even their own institutions. i'd be something if they came out and supported him in numbers, but they don't. paul states in 1 cor: 11: Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did. i don't see that happening much in the gop or trump's staff or trump himself, given he's the most religiously rhetorical president in over a 100 years, and that the nondens are the true believers; in fact, the evidence appears to indicate the opposite conclusion. donald trump is a con of the highest order, a chronic liar, a cheat, and devious. therefore, evangelicals should ask themselves ‘what would jesus do about this?' the answer would be, 'don't vote for trump.’
The Governor's 5/14 Coronavirus briefing will begin soon as of 2:00 PM
Streaming at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S82_3b9JITQ and http://ohiochannel.org/governor-live-stream.html I recommend using the youtube link. I will be keeping this post updated with a summary as it continues. Things I find most important will be bold. Keep in mind it will often be paraphrased. The stream itself is the best source. Previous streams can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCporaXCeaOJgZKz7y3C0zbg Thank you for all the awards and other offers but please save your money for the future economic uncertainty which is likely going to occur. Ohio: 24,800 confirmed cases (with 1,557 extra probable cases), 1,388/24,800 confirmed deaths (with 146 extra probable deaths), 4,718 hospitalizations, 1,268/4,718 in the ICU United States: 1,397,700 confirmed cases and 84,109 deaths. Here is a link to a google drive that shows the history of cases and deaths created by kcmasterpiece347: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CNGX6aLGsyIWZctChwsQ-UdRQ8JEzhuS9I_1oVnkb4s/edit?usp=sharing 0110010001100010 has put together information on the latest and most accurate numbers here: http://covid19.danoniot.com/ Here are some graphs showing the latest information created by st1tchy: 4/7: https://imgur.com/BX95vIU 4/8: https://imgur.com/OdP8nFu 4/9: https://imgur.com/bXtPvZI 4/12: https://imgur.com/Zu2G5Dp 4/13: https://imgur.com/VqYuLzP 4/14: https://imgur.com/KD43gKy 4/15: https://imgur.com/JHwcrsJ 4/16: https://imgur.com/dNCPrZr 4/17: https://imgur.com/rzkZwuJ 4/18: https://imgur.com/4FFkKHn 4/19: https://imgur.com/bMEGH0e 4/20: https://imgur.com/a/vvOfaD6 4/21: https://imgur.com/QJXKMfx 4/22: https://imgur.com/dBSow4z 4/23: https://imgur.com/Ea7GULT 4/24: https://imgur.com/MQTZWku 4/27: https://imgur.com/UeHhlve 4/28: https://imgur.com/IPt12zi 4/29: https://imgur.com/zdVKLQA 4/30: https://imgur.com/dCeij16 5/01: https://imgur.com/bIPUbzw 5/04: https://imgur.com/G28UoY3 5/06: https://imgur.com/VitMOFA 2:03 PM: The Governor begins speaking Today I'm wearing a tie from Case Western Reserve University This week is Police Week. I want to thank everyone in law enforcement. Unfortunately, many events honoring our fallen police officers have had to be canceled due to COVID-19. I would like to take a moment to mention those who have died serving Ohio in 2020. Let's have a moment of silence in remembrance of their sacrifice and the sacrifices of those currently serving Ohio. A close friend of mine, Dwight Radcliff died on May 6th. Fran and I attended his funeral. He was the longest serving sheriff at the time of his retirement in 2013. Former state representative Andy Thompson also unexpectedly yesterday. He served the state well. On Tuesday, I talked about childcare and explained the concerns we had. We've been discussing this for weeks, trying to figure out what the best practices for reopening would be. There really is not enough data about children and COVID-19. We want to get more data and find a way to reopen safely, in a way that protects children and childcare employees. if we do this wrong we will run the risk of exposing more Ohioans to COVID-19. Childcare providers will be allowed to reopen on May 31st. This will look different from before and I am going to have Joni Close, President of the Sisters of Charity Foundation speak about the changes we plan to make. 2:12 PM: The Governor stops speaking 2:12 PM: Joni Close begins speaking Maximum of 9 per classroom for most children, with toddlers having a maximum of 6 per classroom. Hygienic standards will be increased dramatically. These will be only some of the changes and there will be more. Some of these might make you somewhat uncomfortable due to it being different but we believe it will be the best for you and your children. 2:16 PM: Joni Close stops speaking 2:16 PM: The Governor begins speaking There's really no playbook out there for doing this. We need to be cautious to keep everyone safe during this pandemic. We will be constantly monitoring the current situation and we may make changes as necessary based on what we see. We're going to perform a study into the childcare situation as it reopens. This will make Ohio a leader in the country, as we will be capable of learning more about how the virus spreads. Unfortunately, there is a lot of what we don't know and that will affect how we proceed. Childcare providers will need help due to our changes. We are going to give 60 million dollars to Ohio childcare providers, both public and private, in order to ensure they are properly funded. We will have additional information available online shortly. 2:19 PM: The Governor stops speaking 2:19 PM: The Lieutenant Governor starts speaking May is a new chapter in our response to COVID-19. We're trying to keep a balance between health of Ohioans and the health of our economy. Some more businesses may be reopening but keep in mind that it will be up to the local health departments to control what reopens and what does not. Day Camps will reopen on May 31st. The protocols governing day camps will be released tomorrow online. BMVs will reopen on May 26th. We want you to use the online services, as we've put a lot of effort into moving many services there. There will be some cases where you have to go into the BMV but only go as absolutely necessary. There is still an extension on renewals, so you do not have to do this immediately. Campgrounds will also open completely, on May 21st. They will have to meet certain requirements that are currently available online. Gyms and fitness center may reopen on May 26th. The new protocols for them will be available later today. Non contact and limited sports will also reopen on May 26th. Other, more contact-oriented sports will be investigated for reopening as well. Pools will also be able reopen on May 26th. The CDC has found no evidence of the spread of COVID-19 in water. Water parks and amusement parks will not be reopening based on our guidance. Horse racing can reopen on May 22nd but spectators will be prohibited. This does not mean that Casinos or Racinos can reopen. 2:30 PM: The Lieutenant Governor stops speaking 2:30 PM: Amy Acton starts speaking 231,795 tested in total. Of those infected, 4,121 were health care workers. We're digging deep into the policies related to childcare and how it will affect the spread of COVID-19. I want to thank our entire childcare team. We're going to be working with a national study, that will have a large focus on Ohio, in order to find out the best practices for reopening childcare. We're working to become a nationwide leader in the study of childcare during this pandemic. 2:36 PM: Amy Acton stops speaking 2:36 PM: Question Period Begins Regarding childcare and with the possibility of further illness and death in children with COVID-19, is it possible we are gambling the lives of our children by reopening and doing this study? Amy Acton: I don't think we're gambling by doing this. Everyone is important and deserves protection. We are going to do this based on expert advice on best practices. We need to give parents a chance to go back to work and prosper. We know of the cases of children getting far sicker and we're paying close attention to this. COVID-19 has an exaggerated response on our immune system no matter the age, but we want to make sure to learn and understand how it affects children, as well, as time goes on. 2:39 PM: There are concerns that children are not receiving the education they would have otherwise. Will schools be capable of reopening in the fall and what can you do to ensure they are receiving the education they need if they do not? Governor: I think this is a major concern. Many teachers are making strides in distance learning but some kids don't have internet or have other issues. The fact that we know so little about COVID-19 makes us feel that schools cannot reopen any time soon but every school is currently looking into ways they can reopen. We still don't know how things will be by the fall but we will do everything we can. 2:42 PM: It sounds like many childcare centers will have to turn families away. How do you plan on advising them on that subject? Governor: I think it's going to be difficult for any of us to predict how the market will change with these new rules. We are giving money to childcare providers in order to ensure they are capable of reopening. This is a work in progress, which means that we're still learning and finding out new ways to lessen the spread of COVID-19, while reopening childcare. Childcare providers may have to hire more employees in order to serve the families they had in the past. Unfortunately, some may not be capable of reopening due to financial troubles. We did all of these things in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and we will keep making these decisions with that in mind. 2:46 PM: It seems that cases, deaths, and other metrics have plateaued rather than gone down. What has changed in how you perceive success as time has gone on? Governor: We've seen a plateau over three weeks in terms of all of our metrics. We were most worried about a large surge. We're still ramping up our testing. We're doing 8,000 tests every day sat this point. We need to keep our testing capacity increasing while also ensuring our supply chain can keep getting those tests out to those who need them. Testing and contact tracing is how we're going to keep this virus from spreading. There are many other indicators, such as traffic rates throughout the state, that we are looking at in order to make future decisions regarding mitigations. 2:48 PM: Reddit is freaking out and it’s causing some problems with my updates. Fixed as of 2:50 PM. Amy Acton: No one on our team is ignoring the concern and worry that Ohioans are feeling right now. As we go on, you need to keep in mind how at risk you are and use that knowledge to make your decisions and keep yourself safe. 2:51 PM: Using what we've learned about antibody testing, how do we know that we didn't have a surge earlier? Amy Acton: This is a process that will take years. We won't understand COVID-19 for quite some time. Many have been claiming that they had many symptoms of COVID-19 early on in the knowledge of the disease. Obviously, as time goes on, hindsight will be 20-20. We'll keep looking into new information as it comes out. 2:54 PM: The most prevalent question I've received is regarding the unemployment system not serving Ohioans properly. I know you've made improvements but many feel it is not enough. What more can you do for them? Lieutenant Governor: This is the thing I've been most frustrated for Ohioans about personally. Director Kim Hall has been working to do everything her team can do to improve the system and has already created the new system for 1099 employees. I know that around 100,000 people have not been served yet and many others have not been able to get through to receive more information on their claims. We're all doing everything we can to expand the system as possible. Our system is very old and difficult to update but many other states are facing these same issues. Unfortunately, we have received many fraudulent claims and those need to be policed and denied. This is part of what leads to such delays. 2:59 PM: What targets will state agencies be hitting in terms of reductions in the coming fiscal year? Governor: We'll be discussing that with the legislature. We've already made very tough cuts but we don't have any new information available at this time. One thing I can say is that this is a very difficult time. Costs are going up and our revenues are decreasing dramatically. 3:01 PM: Do you have an idea of how many families might be left out of day cares? Will licensing become more flexible? What about using school facilities? Governor: It's not our goal to have any families left out of the system. We're doing surveys on how many providers will be coming back. We'll adjust as necessary. We can't make any definitive statements at this time. Lieutenant Governor: Please remember that we're working on supporting the childcare industry to ensure that all of this can work. 3:03 PM: Are you going to remove Dr. Acton's order that closed school facilities until June in order to allow youth sports to reopen? Governor: We were actually just discussing that earlier. It's a very good point. We're still looking into that. Lieutenant Governor: Grounds are not technically closed by the order, only buildings. We will not be forcing any local community to reopen. I am sure that as we go on, there will be things that slipped through the cracks and we want to ensure that the lines of communication are open as much as possible. 3:06 PM: Are you concerned about a pending legal battle over your orders? As you know, Wisconsin's stay at home order was struck down by their Supreme court. Governor: I have already been sued a lot. We want to ensure that our orders conform more to what we are seeing day to day. We are seeing stories from Europe about second waves and we really don't want to have to see that in Ohio. We need to be very careful as everything opens up. Staying safe in this crucial time will decide our future numbers and whether we have to close again. 3:08 PM: There is a feeling that your Minority Health Task Force hasn't made any new statements or released more information. What is going on with this? Governor: I will be talking about that either Monday or Tuesday. This virus has pulled back the curtain on poverty and racial issues, especially in regards to health care access. We've worked with the legislature to look into issues of infant and maternal mortality and we saw these issues already. We're now going to have to figure out new ways to help African American communities in Ohio. That will come next week. 3:11 PM: Why are we not hearing more about treatment? Also will we not be returning to normal life until a vaccine comes out? Is Hydroxychloroquine being given out to patients? Amy Acton: I talked a lot about treatment early on but I can talk about it more in the future. We've received shipments of new drugs for use against COVID-19. There is still developing information on drugs like Hydroxychloroquine, in terms of its affect on COVID-19. For now we'll have to treat the symptoms up until we can find a cure, if we can find a cure. The thing that worries me the most is the low oxygen levels found in those with COVID-19, who are walking around, not even realizing it. 3:16 PM: How can you prove to those who are trusting in your orders that reopening as we are is safe? Amy Acton: When we first made our orders, we were using information from George Bush's administration, that we believed would best protect Ohioans. We do know that this has had effects on the economy and even people's mental and physical health. This is going to be a collaborative process but it needs to go on with caution. The biggest thing that will slow and stop the spread of disease will be how everyone lives. Be judicious with your choices and decisions as time goes on. 3:19 PM: How do you plan on bringing forward gun reforms in Ohio that you promised, despite the pandemic? Governor: That's a continuing discussion with the legislature. 3:21 PM: There's been information in certain nursing home facilities regarding the zone and region system you've mentioned that showed that some of them have no information regarding that system. What do you think about that? Governor: This is not something that should be happening. I believe you that this is happening but it's something that I do not want to have happening. I don't know what facility you're talking about but I think we're going to keep moving forward on that. Amy Acton: I'll look into this and speak to our leaders in that area regarding improving this. 3:24 PM: Are we getting close to returning to normal regarding surgeries? Governor: It's been in the past week or so that we've released new orders regarding that. We need to keep monitoring our hospital capacity as time goes on in order to decide if we can return to normal 3:25 PM: Question Period Ends 3:25 PM: The Governor begins speaking Thank you to all of our childcare workers and everyone else returning to work. We'll be playing a rendition of Amazing Grace by the Combined Pinkerton North and Pinkerton Central Marching Bands. No more updates until Monday unless it's absolutely necessary. 3:27 PM: The Stream Ended.
“There’s just countless states, Indiana is open, Pennsylvania is open, Michigan is probably gonna beat us and reopen. We are literally going to be surrounded by states that have poker open ... Casinos with table games are limited, which means there are no poker tables. Craps and black jack tables will be limited to three to four players, and plexiglass barriers are in place to keep ... On Friday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that the state's casinos and racinos have been permitted to reopen on June 19. DeWine said the approval comes after the state's casino industry ... A day after Kings Island filed a lawsuit seeking to reopen, Gov. Mike DeWine announced a reopening date for Ohio's casinos, racinos, amusement parks and water parks. Regular Casinos Regular casinos in Ohio are located in four cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo. All of these Ohio casinos are non-smoking, open 24 hours. Racetrack Casinos Besides the four regular casinos, there are also seven Ohio casinos located at racetracks. All racetrack casinos in Ohio are open 24 hours. Arizona casinos open Friday with lines to get in. I have a neighbor that is fully prepared to bring his lawn chair out the night before when Vegas opens, like it’s a Black Friday sale. There are over 10 casinos in activity in the State of OH. In total, those gaming establishments feature more than 15,000 slot machines, 300 gaming tables, 110 poker tables and the other forms of gambling includes 7 horse tracks. The biggest gaming venue of the Ohio State remains the Columbus Hollywood Casino & Hotel. Located in the Western part of the city, the classy and sophisticated gaming floor provides 2,200 slot machines, over 70 gaming tables and more than 35 poker tables. The state ... History of Casino Gambling in Ohio Ohio is another state which is quite late to the casino industry having only opened the first casino in 2012. The racing tracks in the state were the first to start with gaming, 2011 saw a bill pass that allowed video game terminals at the racetracks. This allowed for 11 racinos to be established. There is poker in Ohio! You will find over 116 live poker tables to play at. You will find the following games in Ohio casinos: Limit Holdem, No Limit Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, 7 Card Stud, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha 8 or Better, Razz, Mixed Games. Some Ohio casinos also offer convention centers and meeting spaces. Over the entire town, you will ... Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's office says its ban on public gatherings to protect the public for the outbreak of the new coronavirus doesn't include an exemption for casinos.