RIPPLES - Coronavirus (COVID-19)

"American skyscrapers face an uncertain future amid coronavirus" PBS NewsHour 6/4/2020

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Fears of the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp shifts by companies to allow employees to work from home could devastate the nation’s office skyscrapers, some economists say.  But real estate moguls say the office as we know it isn't dead yet.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores how uncertainty is affecting the market.

"How the coronavirus crisis offers a glimpse of what poor, black communities ‘feel every day’" PBS NewsHour 6/4/2020

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SUMMARY:  Long lines to enter stores.  Anxiety about finding food on the shelves.  Boarded up businesses and barren streets.  Journalist and author Dawn Turner says this pandemic has afforded everyone the chance to understand what people who live in poor communities faced long before COVID-19.  Turner offers her humble opinion on why we all need to make a connection between the pandemic and the protests.

"Stories of 5 coronavirus victims in the U.S." PBS NewsHour 6/5/2020

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SUMMARY:  Even as unrest and mass protests dominate national headlines, the novel coronavirus continues to take more lives.  We share stories of five victims, including a baker who endured internment during World War II, a veteran of the Fire Department of New York who responded on 9/11 and a retired elementary school teacher.

CLIMATE CHANGE - It's Happening, It's Now

"‘It’s happening, it’s now,’ says U.S. government report on climate change" PBS NewsHour 11/23/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  On Friday, the federal government released its most dramatic report yet on the effects of climate change.  According to scientists, the country is already experiencing serious consequences from rising global temperatures, including more frequent and severe storms, fires and flooding.  John Yang talks to Michael Oppenheimer, professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University.

What has our (U.S.) Negligence Wrought?

Our negligence:

1)  G.W. Bush invades Iraq and that draws our military strength away from Afghanistan which harbored the 9/11 terrorists.

2)  We fail to support ANY military action in the Syrian civil war, not even air strikes.

Results:

A)  Our involvement in Afghanistan goes on for 11+ years.

B)  Syria is, for all intents and purposes, is destroyed by a megalomaniac dictator.

C)  And Iraq ends up with a non-functional and divided government, and a weakened and non-effective military.

D)  Now we have ISIS, and IMO, Putin perceives an opportunity to expand Russian power.


I firmly believe that if we had NOT invaded Iraq and stayed focused on Afghanistan, we would not have been there for 11yrs and the Afghanistan government would have been more stable.  Iraq would have had an army that could counter any over-spill from Syria.

If we had at least given air support in the Syrian civil war by bombing Bashar al-Assad's army depots (especially tanks) and air fields, Syria would have been much better off and ISIS would not have been born.

Our inaction or negligence is what has put the U.S. and countries in the region is grave danger.  This will cost us even more now AND we may not be able to reverse the consequences.