Lucky

From wapo.com: In Rio de Janeiro, where the virus has already killed tens of thousands, upturned the economy and sent rates of homelessness soaring, moments that recall the darkest days of the pandemic are once more appearing in the news. Sick people, unable to get help in the medical system, are again being found dead at home. Lines stretching into the hundreds are forming for intensive care beds. Hospital officials are warning of supply shortages and an imminent collapse in medical services. Even the vaunted private heath-care system reached 98 percent capacity in its intensive care units this past week, officials said. In states across the country, the situation wasn’t much better. People crowd a beach in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 29, even as coronavirus cases continue to increase. (Bruna Prado/Getty Images) “Brazil has to be very, very serious,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, told reporters this past week. The situation is “very, very worrisome.” But public health experts in Rio de Janeiro are expressing alarm over what they are seeing — both from officials and also from ordinary people. In May, during the worst weeks of the first wave, city life was vastly constrained. Even if Rio never fully locked down, shops and restaurants closed, people worked from home and several field hospitals were opened. This time is different. There is neither talk of field hospitals, nor restrictions on businesses. The streets and beaches remain full of unmasked people who are either unaware or unbothered by the alarming health warnings. As coronavirus kills indigenous people in the Amazon, Brazil’s government goes missing “We are not going to take a step backward,” acting Rio de Janeiro governor Claúdio Castro said Thursday, conceding the difficulty of reinstating restrictions. “It’s no use to pass measures that the population won’t follow.” On Friday, Castro and Rio Mayor Marcelo Crivella announced the opening of more hospital beds and that city schools would halt classes. But health officials across the country are warning that such minor restrictions almost certainly won’t be enough. The most powerful weapon against the coronavirus — fear — has dulled. Many people either simply don’t care or no longer believe in the dangers posed by the virus. “We’re facing a campaign of disinformation and denial,” said Suzana Lobo, president of the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine. “The impact in January will be very, very large. Our fear is that in January and February, the health system won’t be able to bear it.” In a fiercely individualistic society, where people have little trust in either government or each other, the pandemic has, from the beginning, been a mass social experiment in the limits of scientific persuasion. But now, public health officials are increasingly worried that their warnings don’t matter. “It’s this story: ‘My life for a dip in the ocean,’ ” said Ligia Bahia, a public health professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. “It’s as if we haven’t learned any lessons. For us, it’s very sad. “We’re completely defeated,” she added. “I don’t even want to talk about a vaccine.” Now, many Brazilians who have been victimized by the disease only see a year filled with mistakes, errors in judgment and confusion. Latin America had time to prepare for the coronavirus. It couldn’t stop the inevitable. Santos de Lima, the teacher, said everyone in her family, who live in the impoverished and crime-plagued area of Pavuna, had been petrified of the disease. But as cases began to diminish, the city relaxed almost all of its containment measures. “Very, very, very irresponsible,” Santos de Lima now says of the decision. But at the time, she, along with much of the city, was loosening up. Allowing herself to believe the worst had passed, she went back to the classroom. And her family started to get together once more, even though her 65-year-old father, Carlos Alberto Correia de Lima, was in poor health. Much of the family soon had the coronavirus. Now, many of them can’t look past the guilt. “You ask whether we are responsible for what happened,” she said. “We keep asking if things could have been different, if our contact could have been avoided.” But she can’t come up with any good answers. “The guideline is to avoid contact, but are we supposed to stay in complete isolation for nine months?”

What would be the point in pardoning someone who was NOT a criminal? Just saying...

Thanks for the reply, @numazu1

Numazu says: "I was not particularly horny but what the hell right? " Numazu, what I wonder is how you get your stamina. You clearly like to have a lot of sex, good for you, but do you ever just say no, I am not horny, so no hookup? Even when I was younger I could not have kept the pace that you seem to. So I really do wonder. No obligation to answer, but if you would...thanks!

I am an avid reader of books. I looked forward very much to reading Shuggie Bain, but when I finally got the book, I found that it was mostly unreadable. It's very bleak reading.

Max and Tul are a married Thai couple who sing. I just learned about them today, and I do like them.

Nobody responded to a post on Britney Spears? That's no surprise to me.

Oz, I think those words must be added when they translate the song into Thai. American moms would never stand for their kids hearing such words.

Butt care is in !http://www.newnownext.com/butt-care-products-intimate-skincare-worth-the-money/11/2020/

As of this moment, numazu's update is bound to be better than the election results.

I think that Trump won.

Happy Halloween, @Suckrates

The Washington Post interviewed numerous Thai police who support the protests. There are reports of police actually helping the protesters evade arrest: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/thai-police-protests-army-king/2020/10/22/3c0b162e-1130-11eb-a258-614acf2b906d_story.html

The state of emergency has been canceled. The protests continue. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-22/thailand-lifts-emergency-decree-protests

You mean the exchange of my health for COVID?

A state of emergency was declared today. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-14/thai-police-disperse-protesters-outside-pms-office

The Thai king is in the news again as the LA Times looks at his vast wealth and his increasing power: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-13/thailand-king-richest-transparency

It's an interesting article, to say the least: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-10-08/brazil-strains-at-quarantine-as-virus-cases-pass-5-million

How do you know his age?

I have an ATM card from First Republic Bank. There are no ATM charges in the US, and for foreign charges they reimburse you in full.

Gosh, Adam, I am not sure why you posted this, and in this section as well. I didn't care for the video at all, but in case someone might, here is a better liink:

I saw it live in New York and it was quite well done. Glad to see it getting a bigger audience.

I hope to go in August or September, 2021.

This is a September 19th tweet from Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project. Do Not Be Afraid. Do Not Tremble. Do Not Waiver. Do not doubt either the goodness of our people or the possibilities for our future. Do not let small men with tyranny and malice in their heart, or hypocrites with no core, make you afraid for our future or of your countrymen and women. Do not let the fascists, racists and conspiracy theorists make you afraid of your neighbors or the strangers who could be your friend. We should all be grateful that we have been chosen by this rancid and dangerous hour to stand up and fight. What we do now matters. Our Capitol is occupied by a cabal of small and low men and women who have betrayed all of us, the American experiment, their oaths and basic decency in service of a corrupt and malignant cult of personality that is vandalizing our principles, ideals, inheritance, future and fundamental goodness. 200,000 of our countrymen and women are dead. At least 150,000 of them could be alive, but for Trump’s lethal lying and the immoral, supine complicity of his collaborators and enablers. Let us resolve to rise up and strike down Trumpism. Let us put it down with righteous anger and fury. Let us resolve to never let this happen again. Let us do our duty as American citizens. Let us be conscious that we are called to safe action when we consider the blood, sacrifice and courage of ordinary people who stood their ground on a field in Lexington and Gettysburg. The men who stormed the beaches of Normandy and dropped from the skies over France to crush fascism are smiling at our cause. The men and women who taught the world the meaning of the words “human dignity” as they protested segregation, absorbed the beatings and marched across the Edmund Pettus bridge are watching and judging us. We are in the right and for the right. We are fighting for the good. Trumpism is UNAMERICAN. It is illiberal, demagogic, dishonest, cruel, corrupt and disgusting. Let us strike it down. We will. Vote. Have joy in this fight. RBG is with her husband again. She is arguing with Scalia and meeting Washington and Lincoln. Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass are there. Susan B. Anthony is there, and so is Elie Wiesel. A great champion of freedom has arrived in heaven. Her work is done. Her burden is now ours. Let us honor her legacy by doing our duty. FIGHT, REGISTER, VOTE. I DISSENT are the most American of words. Thank you, Madame Justice. May your memory be a blessing. We all know that it is. (I did a search and did not find it previously posted.)

It goes on: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-09-24/student-leader-drives-democracy-protests-in-thailand