MaxRedline

The Official Word

❄️ Most of us have woken up to a lovely winter wonderland this morning. Our hospitals are under extreme pressure at the moment, we need your help to reduce patients presenting with injuries due to avoidable accidents in the ice & snow. If you need to go out, walk like a penguin� pic.twitter.com/BUEQ822HQz

— NHS Lothian (@NHS_Lothian) January 21, 2021

Welcome To The Underworld

These "sleeping pods" look an awful lot like coffins to me:

 

L.A. Lifts Burning Restrictions

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The death rate during the COVID-19 pandemic is so high in Los Angeles County that an emergency order has been issued lifting environmental limits on the number of cremations that can be performed every month.

Interesting development, there - I'd never realized that they had restrictions on cremations. I guess there's very little that they won't try to regulate in that part of the country.

The death rate in the region is double what it was before the pandemic, leading to a big backlog at hospitals, funeral homes and crematoriums, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District. "The current rate of death is more than double that of pre-pandemic years, leading to hospitals, funeral homes, and crematoriums exceeding capacity without the ability to process the backlog of cases," the AQMD said.

It appears that they've been keeping corpses in coolers but have been running out of room. One would think that cremation would ease the space burdens for local cemeteries, as they've been running out of space as well. Besides, some folks keep cremains in urns at home, saving even more space.

 

I Reckon That's One Way To End Violence

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Police are investigating a deadly incident at a Harlem subway station.

Describing the moment, Ramos Diaz told CBS2’s Kiran Dhillon, “It was something I cannot explain. It was something three-dimensional, like I wasn’t in the real world.”

“I was on the phone with 911 when I saw him get electrocuted,” he said.

Since police weren't actively involved, any subsequent "demonstrations" will likely be muted. Stay away from the third rail.

 

Portland "Antifa"

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - Groups of ANTIFA agitators surrounded police officers who were responding to a man with a knife in a mental health crisis in downtown Portland, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

Officers were called out to the 300 block of Southwest 4th Avenue at 1 p.m. Friday.

After an hour and a half, the situations were apparently resolved.

 

Not Sure That's Going To Do Much

American Airlines will not serve alcohol on flights to and from the Washington, DC area after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol, a spokesperson said. American and United Airlines had both said they would move crews to airport hotels, and Alaska Airlines told staff to avoid downtown Washington.

Alaska Airlines seems to have adopted the better approach, but then they've always seemed more pragmatic - which is why I go with them whenever possible.

They're usually very calm and comfortable.

As I slept through most of yesterday, I didn't really find out that anything had gone on in D.C. until this morning. Skimming through the news lines, it appears that cops there shot and killed a woman, and three other people died as well. Sleeping through it all seems to have been a good choice. Media probably had a field day with it all. It's still unclear that airline alcohol sales had anything to do with the D.C. events, but I suppose they felt obligated to do something, even if it makes no difference.

 

Time To Find Real Work

Newsroom layoffs reached a record high in 2020, growing nearly 200% compared to the previous year, according to a new study from the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The grim numbers come as multiple news organizations and TV news networks, including Fox News, ABC News, BuzzFeed, Vox Media, Vice Media, the New York Post, The Atlantic, Fortune magazine, the Tampa Bay Times and the New York Times, announced layoffs across their news and business divisions in 2020.

"Layoff" seems to be a more politically-correct term than the somewhat more bruising term for what's really happening: "you're fired". Are you going to miss any of them?

 

Illegal Aliens Seem To Be Self-Deporting

California’s most vulnerable immigrants have faced unprecedented challenges this year, with some weighing whether it’s worth staying in the United States altogether.

“It’s not even that the country is not welcoming any more, it’s just not an option any more,” said Gallegos. “I hear that all the time from people here, and from friends and family in other countries.”

“Things aren’t perfect in Mexico,” Figureo said in Spanish. But at least there’s access to healthcare, and some unemployment benefits for those who need it, he added. “In comparison to what it was in the US, the situation for us in Mexico right now is much better.”

It's not as though they were asked to come here illegally, so it's nice to see that some of them are self-deporting and returning to their own countries.

 

Reckon Rules Is Rules...

A staff member of WinCo Foods shut down a self-checkout for an elderly woman today in one of their locations in Oregon. You can see the ‘abusive’ staffer shut down the machine so the woman can’t checkout and then proceed to see what some people (including the elderly lady) see as assault.

Seems a bit like overreaction on the part of the employee. WinCo had no comment. Maybe overreaction by all involved, actually.People all over just seem to be getting weirded out in general.

 

Like Mother, Like Daughter

The white woman wanted by the NYPD for falsely accusing a black teen of stealing her cellphone was apparently busted early last year with a relative — who’s accused of attacking a public-safety worker, California court records show.

Miya Ponsetto — who was caught on camera allegedly attacking 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. at the Arlo Hotel on the day after Christmas — was charged with public intoxication on Feb. 28, according to the online docket for the Los Angeles Airport Courthouse.

Nicole Claudine Ponsetto — who appears to be Miya’s mom — was busted as a co-defendant and slapped with an identical charge, according to the docket.

You buy them books and buy them books, and all they do is eat the covers....