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Demovictory9

Demovictory9's Journal
Demovictory9's Journal
April 26, 2020

hand-washing disposable diapers, rushing to potty train, using newspaper as prices jacked up


‘What if I run out?’ Cost of diapers and rush to potty train strain low-income parents


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It was also the first time in weeks that she’d scraped together enough quarters for laundry, and her children were quickly running out of clean clothes. Recently, she’d picked the princess decal off 4-year-old Beatríz’s outgrown shorts and inked a spider over them for her 3-year-old, Máximo to entice him to wear his sister’s hand-me-down. The success was short-lived. Since she’d run out of diapers, nothing stayed dry very long.

“They just opened a store right here — they ran out of diapers like this,” Juárez said with a snap, nodding to a market across from the laundry center. “I went down here to MacArthur Park, they didn’t have any. I went to Costco, they didn’t have any. I went to Target, sold out. I’m here with the kids, going store to store, and they didn’t have any supplies.”


In desperation, she began hand-washing dirty disposable diapers and hanging them to dry in the shower. At that point, she felt she had no choice.

“On that day, I started potty training him,” she said.

Toilet training is difficult under the best of circumstances. But the pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on poor parents like Juárez, who pay about as much to diaper a child as an average L.A. family spends on their electric bill — about $80 a month. Here, as elsewhere, poverty extracts a premium, limiting where families can get supplies and their ability to buy in bulk, experts said. With store shelves stripped and more than half of Angelenos out of work, families like hers are scrambling to cut that cost.

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“The smaller markets on the corner, they’re jacking the price of the Pampers up so you can only afford the six-pack instead of the 12-pack,” said Alan-Michael Graves, national program director for the Good+Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing diapers in Los Angeles and New York. “If you add cost plus availability, it makes it very challenging for parents to provide these diapers to their kids.”

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A recent drive-through distribution event started at 7:30 a.m., half an hour ahead of schedule, because the line of cars was already looped around the block. By 10 a.m., most sizes had run out.

“They’re like gold to the families we serve,” said Norah Weinstein of Baby2Baby, a local diaper bank that has partnered with the L.A. Unified School District to provide supplies to families in need. “Parents in our program are emptying out diapers, hanging them to dry and putting them back on their babies. They’re using newspaper as a substitute for diapers, they’re not eating so they can provide diapers and food for their children.”


https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-25/coronavirus-diapers-scarce-parents
April 26, 2020

yesterday was record for new cases in the US (almost 39,000)

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

not sure if the increase is from more testing or just more cases
April 26, 2020

4 brothers (Chris, Ben, Aaron, Matthew Dorr) make money by anti-quarantine sh*t stirring

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/conservative-activist-family-behind-grassroots-anti-quarantine-facebook-events-n1188021

Conservative activist family behind 'grassroots' anti-quarantine Facebook events
A family-run network of pro-gun groups is behind five of the largest Facebook groups dedicated to protesting shelter-in-place restrictions.

A family-run network of pro-gun groups is behind five of the largest Facebook groups dedicated to protesting the shelter-in-place restrictions, according to an NBC News analysis of Facebook groups and website registration information.

The groups were set up by four brothers — Chris, Ben, Aaron and Matthew Dorr — and have amassed more than 200,000 members collectively, including in states where they don't reside, according to an NBC News analysis based on public records searches and Facebook group registrations.

The Dorr brothers are known in conservative circles for running pro-gun and anti-abortion rights Facebook groups that bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by antagonizing establishment conservative leaders and activists.

Their usual method is to attack established conservative groups from the right, including the National Rifle Association, and then make money by selling memberships in their groups or selling mailing lists of those who sign up, according to some conservative politicians and activists who have labeled the efforts as scams.
April 25, 2020

trump just tweeted: Remember, the Cure can't be worse than the problem itself. Be careful, be safe,

Remember, the Cure can’t be worse than the problem itself. Be careful, be safe, use common sense!

April 25, 2020

The Peace Corps Says Goodbye, All of its volunteers around the world are pulling out

https://www.newser.com/story/290066/the-peace-corps-says-goodbye.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_world_img_b


After two weeks alone in a hotel room in the Virginia suburbs, 40 minutes outside Washington, Kelsea Mensh was ready to go home. A few weeks earlier, the 22-year-old Peace Corps volunteer had completed a year of service in the Dominican Republic. She was working on a school improvement project and applying for funding to install hand-washing stations to help provide running water in her community. She was filled with purpose and excited to fulfill her two remaining years of service. Then an email came, followed by a phone call. The Peace Corps was pulling all its volunteers from projects around the world because of concerns about the coronavirus, the AP reports. There would be no hand-washing station. There would not even be time to say goodbye.

In a message posted on the Peace Corps website last month, Director Jody Olsen said the decision to temporarily suspend operations was difficult. "Fortunately, we were able to safely evacuate each of our posts, avoiding a situation where Volunteers would have been stranded overseas as borders and air space were shutting down to prevent the spread of COVID-19," she said. In response to questions, the agency said about 7,000 volunteers were evacuated from 60 countries. Upon returning to the US, they were asked to self-quarantine for two weeks. The Peace Corps declined to comment on whether any evacuees tested positive for the coronavirus.
April 25, 2020

"I support Trump because he means what he says!"

https://twitter.com/itsJeffTiedrich/status/1253758963012767746


Jeff Tiedrich
@itsJeffTiedrich
Deplorables: "I support Trump because he means what he says!"
also Deplorables: "Trump didn't mean what he said!"
April 25, 2020

Michigan senator apologizes for wearing Confederate flag face mask

Michigan senator apologizes for wearing Confederate flag face mask
Dale Zorn initially defended his actions, saying it was part of ‘our history’, but eventually apologized after widespread outrage

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/25/michigan-senator-mask-confederate-flag


A Republican politician in Michigan has apologized after wearing a face mask that appeared to depict the Confederate flag, an image offensive to many Americans as a symbol of racism and slavery.

Michigan state Senator Dale Zorn wore the mask during a Senate vote at the Michigan state capitol in Lansing on Friday. He initially defended his actions, saying his wife had made the mask and that it depicted the flag of Tennessee or Kentucky.

“I told my wife it probably will raise some eyebrows, but it was not a Confederate flag,” Zorn told Lansing TV station WLNS on Friday.

He went on to add: “Even if it was a Confederate flag, you know, we should be talking about teaching our national history in schools and that’s part of our national history and it’s something we can’t just throw away because it is part of our history.”

When Zorn was asked what the meaning of the Confederate flag is, he replied “the Confederacy”.

https://twitter.com/RealBNewland/status/1254052036909416450

April 25, 2020

US Navy destroyer in Caribbean sees significant coronavirus outbreak

https://news.trust.org/item/20200424140331-zrivo

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy destroyer is believed to have a significant coronavirus outbreak on board as it carries out a counter-narcotics mission in the Caribbean, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, marking the latest challenge for the military in dealing with the virus.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that over a dozen sailors had tested positive for the virus. Given the size of ship, usually only a few hundred sailors, an outbreak like this is likely to cause concern and raise questions about whether it would have to return to the United States.

The cases on the ship appear to be the first onboard a ship currently underway at sea.

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt was in the Asia Pacific when it had an outbreak onboard, having to eventually dock in Guam. Nearly 850 out of the roughly 4,800 personnel on the carrier have tested positive on the Roosevelt.

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