"Trump defeats COVID" commemorative coin

Just when you thought the Trump Administration has sunk as low as it could go, there’s this: now on sale at the White House gift shop for a mere $100

[link:https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/3628383001|

Trump to pardon Susan B. Anthony

Just heard it on MSNBC

Billy Graham statue proposed for US Capitol

So the proposal is to replace a white supremacist with an anti-Semite

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/03/01/north-carolina-wants-billy-graham-statue-to-replace-one-of-a-white-supremacist-in-the-u-s-capitol/

Did Mary Hart flash "white power" sign at Trump event

Looks like it, but you can be the judge:

https://twitter.com/ggfromcal/status/1279332144532254721?s=21

Trump's campaign may have committed a COPPA violation

COPPA is the The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and it limits what information can be collected online from minors. Trump’s sign up website did not have anything to confirm the age of people signing up for tickets, not even a self-certification that the person signing up was over 18.
As a result, the campaign could be liable for up to $42,530 in fines for every ticket registration by a minor because they were also collecting personal data for the campaign. Assuming 500,000 registrations by minors, that works out to a possible fine of .... $21 billion!

Hydroxycloroquine as treatment for COVID19 virus

The French study on the use of Hydroxycloroquine and Azithromycin for COVID19 is online and open to comments. Let me tell you, there are comments. Below is an excerpt from one of the clearest and most concise which notes that of the 26 original participants, 6 were not included in the result because 1 died, 1 had severe side effects, 3 were transferred to ICU, and 1 went home. None of the 15 controls died. The study measured viral load by nasal swab, but it’s not clear that this is a predictor of outcome and it appears that the control group were not monitored as carefully as the patients receiving the drugs. There was no placebo group.

1) There were 26 patients treated with hydroxychloroquine. Of these 6 are excluded because they did not continue the full 10 day course of treatment; 3 were transferred to ICU, one died, one discontinued due to adverse reaction (nausea) and one left hospital early.

Thus among the 26 patients started on with hydroxychloroquine, 15% (4/26) went to ICU or died vs. 0/15 of the controls, a difference that may be due to chance. However the baseline characteristics of the 6 patients who deteriorated rapidly are not presented in Supplementary Table 1. The analysis of outcomes of the treated group are based on the remaining 20 treated patients.

Gov. Lamont orders workers at 'non-essential' businesses to stay home during coronavirus outbreak

Source: Hartford Courant

Gov. Ned Lamont will order all workers at “non-essential” businesses to stay home during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, he announced Friday.
Grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, gas stations and other necessary businesses will be allowed to remain open. Restaurants will still be able to provide takeout services.

Read more: https://www.courant.com/coronavirus/hc-news-coronavirus-update-0320-20200320-m5oro7ss3vb3nlqsormcmt6nty-story.html

Gov. Tom Wolf orders all Pennsylvania businesses that aren't 'life-sustaining' to close, will enforc

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Gov. Wolf has announced that all but “life-sustaining” businesses in Pennsylvania must close by 8 p.m. Thursday as the novel coronavirus continues to spread.
The governor had previously asked nonessential businesses such as salons, gyms, theaters, and entertainment venues to close. Under the new order, life-sustaining businesses that may continue physical operations include gas stations, farms, health care facilities, and transit systems, according to the Wolf administration.
The order applies to the city of Philadelphia, which previously had been allowed to impose and enforce its own restrictions.

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/spl/pennsylvania-shutdown-lifesustaining-businesses-tom-wolf-shut-down-20200319.html

Southwest Airlines fined for operating with incorrect weight&balance calculations

There's no indications that any of the flights SW operated were unsafe, but the potential for this to go wrong and end badly should be obvious

https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/faa-proposes-to-fine-southwest-airlines-39m-for-incorrect-weight-and-balance-data/136101.article

The FAA has proposed to levy a $3.9 million fine on Southwest Airlines for operating more than 20,000 commercial flights with incorrect weight and balance calculations, potentially putting the safety of the flights at risk.

The violations took place between 1 May and 9 August 2018, on 21,505 flights with 44 aircraft, the FAA alleges. The incorrect data included empty weight, centre of gravity or moment data. This information is used to determine the number of passengers and amount of fuel that can be carried, and how cargo is loaded, the FAA says in a statement on 10 January.

“Southwest’s operation of these aircraft was contrary to the airline’s approved weight-and-balance programme and FAA-issued operations specifications,” the FAA says.

Weight and balance calculations on any aircraft are critical to flight safety. Faulty or incomplete calculations can compromise the aircraft’s structural integrity, and lead to tail strikes upon take-off or control difficulty in the air.

Southwest has 30 days after receiving the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the allegations.

GE shares drop after Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos calls it a 'bigger fraud than Enron'

Yikes!

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/15/ge-shares-drop-after-madoff-whistleblower-harry-markopolos-raises-red-flags-on-its-accounting.html

General Electric shares fell after Madoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos targets the conglomerate in a new report, calling it "a bigger fraud than Enron."
The 175-page report claims GE was hiding the depths of its financial problems and would need to significantly raise its insurance reserves. It also points out alleged accounting issues with its oil and gas unit.
"My team has spent the past 7 months analyzing GE's accounting and we believe the $38 Billion in fraud we've come across is merely the tip of the iceberg," Markopolos says in the report.
Markopolos said he has given the report to securities regulators and that certain information he has uncovered was given to law enforcement only, and is not in the public report.