The year 2020 is going to see a lot of changes in the World by December 31. Old problems are going to become even more unbearable and new problems are going to strain everyone even more and drastic changes are inevitable. To survive, people (espicially in the United States) are going to have to change or fall by the wayside. It is defintely going to be a strange year.
POLITICS
COVID-19 is proving to us that our governments are failing the people on the basic premises of health and safety. Health and safety – the keystones of any society – are the first things cut by politicians at any level of government when budgets get tight. I was a Police Officer in Baltimore and Baltimore, in response to the COVID-19 budget disruptions, is going to lay-off Police Officers and Fire-Fighters:
Mayor Young considers layoffs amid coronavirus pandemic; candidates weigh in | WBFF – posted 04/11/20
Former police spokesperson and mayoral candidate T.J. Smith points to Baltimore’s crime. He says:
“We are in the midst of uncertain times in a global pandemic, but Baltimore has been facing a crime epidemic for much longer. While other cities have seen a reduction in violent crime during this pandemic, we have not. Attempting to balance the budget shortfalls on the backs of our first responders is disheartening, especially right now. They are essential employees who must be on the frontlines and don’t have the option to work from home. Before our employees are asked to give, every single penny needs to be accounted for and other fiscally responsible moves should be considered before our depleted first responder ranks are further demoralized.”
https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/mayor-young-considers-layoffs-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-candidates-weigh-in
Of course, what politicans say during an election year should always be taken with the “Grain of Salt”. It’s amazing how it all changes after the election or re-election.
The major problem is that no one says you have to be smart to be a politician. That you have to have Critical Thinking Skills or even common sense to run a government. My favorite example is the President of City Council of Los Angeles and an outbreak of Typhus in L.A. last year:
Los Angeles City Council’s president suggests to deploy ‘army of cats’ to deal with rat situation | Fox News – posted 02/19/19
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/los-angeles-city-councils-president-suggests-to-deploy-army-of-cats-to-deal-with-rat-situation
Remember what I said about the intelligence level of politicians?
To get elected the major point is: “Promise everything to everyone and you will get elected.”
Unfortunately most politicians have little or no experience with emergency or crisis management and have to learn by On-The-Training. I mean, a Mayor of a City will not get re-elected if they can’t handle a normal winter snowfall let alone a major snowstorm
Pandemic Provides Defining Moment for Government Leaders
Governors and mayors don’t run for office with the intention of managing emergencies. But when a crisis strikes, they become the public face of government response and need to be ready to communicate accurately and calmly.
https://www.governing.com/now/Pandemic-Provides-Defining-Moment-for-Government-Leaders.html
A second major problem is that being prepared, being trained up and keeping what is necessary on hand is expensive, time consuming and often doesn’t lend itself to the promised political agenda all politicians have in getting elected. We’ve always known that a COVID-19 (or some other major event) was coming. It’s been written about, discussed and planned for ever since I can remember and they were not ready.
My father ran the local truck dock in my small town and was tasked in the 60’s with setting up fallout shelters in case of nuclear war. We stocked the shelters with hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Civil Defense supplies big back then. My father carried a pocket dossimeter and, when we heard of a atomic weapons test, would check it frequently. And none of it was ever used – sort of makes you think.
The United States (and the whole world) has dealt with infectious disease since before we became a country – all of the “Classics”. Remember Polio and Smallpox? We ALL got the vacinations for them – lined up to get them. Measles, chickenpox and so on. And what happened? – We forgot everything from those days. Remember the panic over H1N1 in 1976? It was 1918 all over again – we are all going to die! It wasn’t 1918 and the H1N1 of that day was a different strain and the rushed attempt to vacinate people was almost as bad as the actual disease:
The Long Shadow of the 1976 Swine Flu Vaccine ‘Fiasco’ | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/long-shadow-1976-swine-flu-vaccine-fiasco-180961994/
I did 20 years in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman – mainly in the field with the Marines. We studied and practiced responses to Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare. We went to the “gas chamber” at least yearly (remember doing that?), ran courses in full MOPP gear and trained and trained. Yeah, I know a little bit about it. Thankfully never had to use those skills.
What I’m trying to say is that we’ve always known it was coming and we should have been prepared but we weren’t! The plans changed, fell by the wayside, weren’t “politically correct”, cost to much, demanded constant attention and just “weren”t important” to the politicians in today’s world.
US never spent enough on emergency stockpile, former managers say – News – GoErie.com – Erie, PA – posted 03/27/20
https://www.goerie.com/zz/news/20200327/us-never-spent-enough-on-emergency-stockpile-former-managers-say
George W. Bush in 2005: ‘If we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare’ – ABC News – posted 04/05/20
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/george-bush-2005-wait-pandemic-late-prepare/story?id=69979013
How New York City’s Emergency Ventilator Stockpile Ended Up on the Auction Block – Route Fifty – posted 04/07/20
https://www.routefifty.com/health-human-services/2020/04/new-york-city-emergency-ventilator-stockpile-auction-block/164424/
Calif. halted reserve of ventilators, masks, mobile hospitals | Reveal – posted 03/27/20
https://www.revealnews.org/article/california-created-a-massive-medical-reserve-with-acute-care-beds-ventilators-and-n95-masks-and-let-it-collapse/
Our politicians have failed us and we failed by voting for people who promise everything and actual give very little.
FOOD INSECURITY
COVID-19 and Natural Events are going to overwhelm the world’s food supply this year. If this is news to you then crawl out from under the rock and actual look around you. Surprisingly, even the “News” is starting to talk about it and when the “News” gets past its political asgendas and discusses real news, then you know it is getting bad.
Right now, the world is looking at a major starvation event that is going to be pushed on us for the next year to 18 months. This is not an uncommon event when situations affect the World as whole – history is filled with examples. Even in the United States it is going to get more expensive to buy food and supplies will run low at times. Of course, the people who were struggling BEFORE COVID-19 will struggle even more and the “News” will be filled with the sad and tragic events and blaming everyone but themselves for what is occurring.
I’m not going to include a bunch af articles and reports in this section because it would go on forever! I’m going to direct you to 2 of my pages that should give you a very good idea of what is occurring because of COVID-19 and Natural Causes.
For COVID-19 and other illinesses affecting the Food Chain, check out my Food Insecurity Page – General at:
Food Insecurity – General
Now, for Natural Causes and Food Insecurity. The 2nd page I would like you to look at mainly deals with an ongoing event that is hitting some of the most starvation-prone areas of the world and, because of COVID-19, the resources needed to remedy the situation are going to COVID-19 and not the issue. East Africa and the Middle East are seeing a plague of Locust – yes, grasshoppers – and it is almost biblical in natural. While ALMOST biblical it is not that uncommon, but this year it is bad. Check out the page covering this plague at:
Food Insecurity – Locust Plague
Something for which I don’t have a page for is Natural Disasters – earthquakes, fires, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes and so on. I believe that the world is entering/in a cyclic of particularly bad disasters and it is going to make the COVID-19 era even worse.
As John C. Mutter, Ph.D writes in “Tremblor” under the title:
“What if? What if a natural disaster strikes amid a pandemic? | Temblor.net”
“Given the timescales of the Earth’s natural spasms, and the course of the pandemic, it will only be by luck that we will avoid an intersection. Somewhere an earthquake or a major storm will happen in a place where the nemesis is out of control. Then what?”
https://temblor.net/earthquake-insights/what-if-what-if-a-natural-disaster-strikes-amid-a-pandemic-10789/
Pandemic And Wildfire: California Is Preparing For A Crisis Within A Crisis – capradio.org – posted 04/16/20
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/04/15/pandemic-and-wildfire-california-is-preparing-for-a-crisis-within-a-crisis/
Why a natural disaster during the coronavirus pandemic worries some who’d be in charge – CNNPolitics – posted 04/19/20
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/18/politics/coronavirus-natural-disaster-response-fema/index.html?utm_source=fbCNN&utm_term=link&utm_content=2020-04-19T16%3A01%3A43&utm_medium=social
Sort of says it all. It’s going to happen.
Now to Natural Disasters let’s add Man-Made Disasters to the mix. The debate is raging on where and how COVID-19 came into being and it is getting shriller. My belief, based on the fact that some scientists are claiming it is very similar to the original Coronavirus S.A.R.S. -which broke out in China, just like COVID-19 – that they are calling in S.A.R.S.-2 is that it was manmade. Weaponized S.A.R.S. or not, it is still makes you think. This debate will go on for decades.
Other examples:
Chernobyl – yes the nuclear plant that crashed in 1986. Wild fires were raging a very short distance from the site – which is still radioactive – over the past week thretening to re-release radioactivity back into the air.
Chernobyl fire under control, Ukraine officials say – BBC News – posted 04/14/20
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52277414?at_custom3=BBC+News&at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_campaign=64&at_custom2= facebook_page&at_custom4=1AC8D830-7E22-11EA-92CE-DD153A982C1E&at_medium=custom7
Read this book or watch the HBO Mini-series for a very good idea of what happened there.
I really don’t think tht man’s pollution is going to stop because of this pandemic.
Toxic Waste Products –
Possible Toxic Crisis Looms in Russian Far East Because of Industrial Disaster Inside China – Jamestown – posted 04/08/20
https://jamestown.org/program/possible-toxic-crisis-looms-in-russian-far-east-because-of-industrial-disaster-inside-china/
Social Disorder
At first it started out with criminals and stupid people – people taking advantage of COVID-19 to get something they wanted. There are just to many exmples out there to even attempt to pick out just a few. These will always be here in times of trouble.
Now, in some ways, our current society is starting to fail apart and the divisions might just tear some parts of the Country apart. All of the pundits have been talking about the “City vs Rural” divide and, truthfully, the “City”, due to sheer numbers, has been winning. I believe that things will be changing in the near future. In “Rural” I include the small cities across the county.” Reasons:
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Pandemics hit the Cities worse than the rural areas – logical. People packed in closer together versus spread out further apart. People will search for fewer people areas to live in.
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Politicians (most from cities) believe that what is good for the cities is good for the rural areas – false! Don’t even need to discuss the obvious differences.
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Rural people don’t want “Big City” people, politicians and values telling them how to live their lives.
Exclusion Zones
The Fire
Public Health Triage by Doc Wes 