May 12, 2020

It's a Small World After all.....

PHOTOS: Shanghai Disneyland Reopens, Offering a Glimpse at Very Different Park Experience

Shanghai Disneyland has officially reopened — and it certainly looks different than it did pre-coronavirus.

Disney announced on Tuesday that the Chinese park — the company's largest international location — would be reopening its gates on Monday, May 11, for the first time in over three months. Tickets for the first few days sold out immediately on Friday morning after becoming available to the public on the park's website.

Joe Schott, the president and general manager of Shanghai Disney Resort, shared that the park would be opening under "enhanced health and safety measures," and warned that "some things will look a little different," in the announcement on Tuesday.

Photos from the park’s opening day support Schott’s statement, as new social distancing protocols are put into action.

May 12, 2020

Inspiration in case you have some free time at home...

May 12, 2020

The doctor vs. the White House

Axios

Dr. Anthony Fauci's goal for his testimony on the Hill today — to warn the country of the dangers of reopening too quickly — precisely undercuts what President Trump and the White House are trying to achieve this week.

The state of play: Trump and his team built its messaging this week around convincing Americans that they had enough testing and personal protective equipment to begin to safely return to work — and Trump has been publicly chiding blue-state governors for keeping their states closed longer than he'd like.

Fauci plans to tell a Senate hearing Tuesday Americans will face "needless suffering and death" if the U.S. prematurely reopens its economy during the novel coronavirus pandemic, the New York Times reports.

The NIAID director will testify via videoconference before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee COVID-19 hearing on when it's safe to return to work and school.

May 12, 2020

Opinion: Why I endorse challenger Harrison over Sen. Lindsey Graham

Greenville News

May 12, 2020

Today's Election Calendar

9 PM:
Wisconsin

Wisconsin-7 Special Election
Tom Tiffany (R) - State Sen., Ex-State Rep., Ex-Little Rice Town Supervisor & Businessman
Tricia Zunker (D) - Wausau School Board Member, Law School Dean & Attorney

Nebraska

Democratic Presidential Primary

Democratic Primary for Senate
Chris Janicek - Bakery Owner & '18 Candidate
Dennis Frank Macek - Air Conditioning Technician, Ex-Teacher & '18 Candidate
Larry Marvin - Retired Hardware Store Owner, USAF Veteran & Frequent Candidate
Angie Philips - Businesswoman & Mental Health Advocate
Alisha Shelton - Mental Health Counselor
Andy Stock - Attorney, College Instructor & '18 County Treasurer Candidate
Daniel Wik - Physician & '16 US Rep. Nominee

Democratic Primary for NE-2
Ann Ashford - Attorney & Wife of Ex-Cong Brad Ashford
Kara Eastman - Non-Profit Executive, Social Worker & '18 Nominee
Gladys Harrison - Restaurant General Manager

11 PM:
California

California-25 Special Election
Mike Garcia (R) - Defense Contractor Executive & Iraq War Veteran
Christy Smith (D) - State Assemblywoman, Ex-Newhall School Board Member & Ex-Policy Analyst

May 12, 2020

Jeffrey Katzenberg Blames Pandemic for Quibi's Rough Start

New York Times

LOS ANGELES — Jeffrey Katzenberg hasn’t left his Beverly Hills home in nearly 50 days.

Deprived of a frenetic schedule that, before the coronavirus pandemic, typically meant three breakfast meetings, three lunch meetings and a working dinner, the veteran executive has filled his days with what he calls “Zoom-a-roo” videoconferences as he tries to rejigger Quibi, the streaming app he started with Meg Whitman a little more than a month ago.

Downloads have been anemic, despite a lineup that includes producers and stars like Jennifer Lopez, LeBron James, Idris Elba, Steven Spielberg and Chrissy Teigen.

The service, which offers entertainment and news programs in five- to 10-minute chunks, was designed to be watched on the go by people who are too busy to sit down and stream TV shows or movies. It came out when millions of people were not going anywhere because of stay-at-home orders across the country.

“I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus,” Mr. Katzenberg said in a video interview. “Everything. But we own it.”

https://twitter.com/rishad/status/1259977675462107143

May 12, 2020

Contact tracing leadership change costing city delays, say involved parties

Source: Politico

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to yank oversight of contact tracing from the health department he’s at odds with has delayed the virus-fighting measure by at least a week — precious time the city can hardly afford, according to an official involved in the initial effort.

Amy Dixon, a consultant who was in the midst of assisting the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to bring on 1,000 contact tracers, said last week’s leadership change stalled the process.

“In this transition, time was lost in interviewing possible candidates, period. At least a week,” Dixon said in an interview Monday afternoon.

City officials contacted her several weeks ago, when de Blasio made clear he wanted to hire an army of people to interview Covid-19-positive New Yorkers to ascertain their prior whereabouts. The effort is intended to track sources of infection and slow its rapid spread throughout the city.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/05/12/contact-tracing-leadership-change-costing-city-delays-say-involved-parties-1283485

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The campaign for the 2021 Mayor's Race began a year ago; I think a lot of NYC Democrats will be happy to have a replacement for De Blasio.

May 12, 2020

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday for Wisconsin's 7th district special election

Source: KBJR

NORTHWEST WISCONSIN (WQOW) -- An empty seat in Congress is looking to be filled Tuesday during the special election for Wisconsin's 7th Congressional district.

Republican Senator Tom Tiffany and Democrat Tricia Zunker are vying for the seat after Republican Sean Duffy resigned in September, citing health complications with a child.

Voters across the 21-county district will be heading to the polls Tuesday after Gov. Tony Evers announced no changes would be made to the special election.

According to the Wisconsin Election Commission, as of Friday morning, clerks across the district had received nearly 111,000 absentee ballot requests.

Read more: https://kbjr6.com/2020/05/12/polls-open-at-7-a-m-tuesday-for-wisconsins-7th-district-special-election/

May 12, 2020

With Advisers Feuding and Numbers Plummeting, Trump Eyes Campaign Shake-up

Vanity Fair

With the coronavirus death toll surpassing 80,000 and the unemployment rate at Great Depression-era levels, there is a growing consensus among senior Republicans that Donald Trump’s reelection is slipping away. Recent internal polls show Trump trailing Joe Biden in six swing states, a data point that augurs a landslide loss in November. “The swing state polls are horrific,” a prominent Republican briefed on the numbers told me. The White House’s COVID-19 outbreak is only the latest headline that reinforces the narrative that Trump can’t get control of the pandemic. “This is what should worry the campaign: Biden is in his basement and he’s beating Trump,” a former West Wing staffer told me. “If I were Biden, the lesson I would learn is: Shut the fuck up and let Trump go out there and destroy himself.”

Seeking to change the trajectory of the race, Trump is now discussing a shake-up to his campaign leadership, three sources close to the White House told me. Two sources said Trump has told people he wants to install 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a senior role. “Trump’s feeling is, ‘why are we losing everywhere?’ The president is sick of it,” another former West Wing official said. According to a source, Lewandowski has told Trump that the RNC doesn’t grasp how dire the polls are. “Corey thinks the GOP isn’t solid on fundamentals. He says the campaign and the party spend time sending out press releases bragging about how well they’re doing,” the former official said. (Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the Trump campaign, said in an email, “literally none of this is true.”)

Trump’s interest in Lewandowski has sparked conflict with Jared Kushner, two sources said. “There’s a battle over personnel,” a former West Wing official said. Kushner is strongly opposed to Lewandowski joining the campaign, sources said. Kushner led the effort to force out Lewandowski in 2016, and has since successfully kept Lewandowski on the outer edge of Trump’s orbit. According to two sources, Kushner is trying to recruit Mike Pence’s former chief of staff Nick Ayers to take a senior campaign role. In 2018, Kushner recruited Ayers to replace John Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff. Ayers turned down the offer, and sources said he has no interest in joining the Trump campaign. One person close to Ayers told me he’s aligning himself with Nikki Haley to lead her potential 2024 campaign. “He views Haley as the right train to be on,” the source said.

Trump and campaign manager Brad Parscale’s relationship has been fraying for weeks, sources said. Trump was said to be annoyed last month about a largely positive profile of Parscale in the New York Times Magazine. Trump had already been irked by Parscale because of the talk that Parscale, a former website designer from San Antonio, had made millions of dollars through his companies from Trump’s campaigns and bought a Ferrari. “The money is the biggest issue for Trump,” a former West Wing official said. A few days before the Times Magazine piece was published, Trump called Parscale and reportedly threatened to sue him for the campaign’s weak poll numbers. According to a source briefed on the widely reported call, Parscale told Trump to blame the campaign’s struggle on Kushner. “Brad said, ‘Blame the people Jared brought in,’” the source said. (Parscale did not respond to a request for comment.)

May 12, 2020

To reopen, Washington state restaurants will have to keep log of customers to aid in contact tracing

Source: Seattle Times

With eight Washington counties now approved to move to Phase 2 under Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan to reopen the state, the governor’s office Monday released a set of requirements restaurants will have to comply with if they want to reopen for dine-in service.

Stevens, Wahkiakum, Skamania, Ferry, Pend Oreille, Columbia, Garfield and Lincoln counties have all been cleared for Phase 2, which allows restaurants to reopen at 50% capacity, and caps table sizes at five.

Notably, the 13 criteria that restaurants will have to adhere to in order to reopen for dine-in service during the novel coronavirus pandemic include a stipulation they “create a daily log of customers and maintain that daily log for 30 days, including telephone/email contact information, and time in.”

This is to aid in any contact tracing, should that become necessary.

Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/to-reopen-washington-state-restaurants-will-have-to-keep-log-of-customers-to-aid-in-contact-tracing/