Harris gets a Presidential desk... Navy Seabees build Kamala Harris a Resolute Desk of her own https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/navy-seabees-build-kamala-harris-resolute-desk-her-own Navy Seabees built a desk for Vice President Kamala Harris made of timber from a historic warship as part of an effort to craft a desk of comparable historical significance to the president's Resolute desk. The U.S. Naval Construction Force built the desk using wood from the USS Constitution, the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat. The Constitution was first launched in 1797 in Boston as one of the U.S. Navy's first six frigates. An eagle and stars drawn from the Constitution's stern are carved into the desk, which Harris received in February. "The desk project was initiated to deliver a desk of comparable ... provenance, history, and heritage as the president’s HMS Resolute desk," according to the U.S. Navy. Crafted from the wood of the British HMS Resolute, that desk was as a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes from Queen Victoria in 1880. The vice president's version began under former President Donald Trump, with Seabees starting construction in early January. A second desk, built for the Secretary of the Navy, was made using materials from the frigates USS Constitution, USS Chesapeake, sloop of war USS Constellation, and battleships USS Texas, USS New Jersey, and USS Arizona. The construction of both desks took about seven weeks. Those who worked on the desks pointed to the potential significance for the country, and for the military in particular, of decisions made before them. "Knowing they’ll sit there every day is huge. The importance of their job can affect everything we do," said Navy Builder 1st Class Hilary Lemelin, who is assigned to the USS Constitution. "It’s a piece of history now." Inside each desk is a pen tray with a note from former Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite and a piece of the USS Arizona, the battleship that sank during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Lemelin said this part would be a constant reminder of the officeholder's power and the country's history. "Every time they open that tray to sign an important document that could potentially change the Navy or the nation, I think I put that there for them to use," Lemelin said. "For me, that’s history, and we’re helping whoever sits in those seats think about the immense weight they hold." According to recent photographs, Harris's new desk appears to sit in her West Wing office. The vice president has another office at the White House, a ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, used primarily for interviews, meetings, and the swearing-in of Cabinet officials, and once used as the Navy secretary's office. She has another office in the U.S. Capitol. The vice president's desk in the EEOB was first used by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 and later belonged to Presidents William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Harry Truman. Harris's office did not respond to a request for comment confirming the desk's whereabouts.
ALL TIME HIGHS. >4MM vaccinations/day. Nearly 1MM job gain for March. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I’m happy earning $30k, ecstatic at $60k, and a Biden and alternative energy supporter at $300k+/yr. I see massive amounts of capacity and other competitive pressures hitting trucking freight rates within 9 months, but by that time, I will have moved to my second act, even turning my nose up at an alternative energy position worth $200 - 300k per year. Oh, and I love future President, Kamala, too!
It will be a Reagan landslide if Biden runs again in 2024. A slam dunk if Kamala takes the reins (sexist voter stays home) but we will also maintain control of Congress. #JobBiden
There are three critical issues I believe the Biden Administration needs to address, preferably sooner, than later: 1. Lead in encouraging, or if necessary, pressuring our media to reincorporate historical journalistic practices in order to restore viewer trust and faith in the news, and by extension, in unified public response to threats, such as Corona viruses, both Beta and rising threat of a zoonotic transfer of a Alpha version strain currently decimating hog populations. Article attached at bottom of this post. We need to have our media organizations to aspire to have the credibility of a Walter Cronkite at his prime. The only way to accomplish this is through unrelenting journalistic integrity. 2. Lead in encouraging, or if necessary, pressuring all political parties into agreeing on ground rules concerning politicizing crises that did not have direct origins in political incompetence, such as Covid-19. As a result of previous politicalization of Covid-19, almost half the country see this virus as a political tool, not the dangerous and evolving pathogen that it is. 3. Lead in alerting and encouraging the American people, Corporate America, Professionals, and politicians that ethics matter and in the long run, our society is more prosperous when people trust each other and our establishments. Further, ethics issues that rise to the level of a crime should be consistently prosecuted, regardless of political affiliation. Trust increases confidence and utilization of third party services, thus increasing spending that job growth and our economy are so reliant on. The Biden Administration is made up of a good crew that seem to have a good handle on most economic imperatives. I believe it is time for Joe to utilize his greater credibility than the media currently possesses and address the American people directly on the above issues initially in depth and with updates as major developments occur. I miss the care free innocence that was 2020: New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suggests that a strain of coronavirus that has recently alarmed the swine industry may have the potential to spread to humans as well. The coronavirus strain, known as swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), emerged from bats and has infected swine herds throughout China since it was first discovered in 2016. Outbreaks of such an illness have the potential to wreak economic havoc in many countries across the globe that rely on the pork industry. The virus' potential threat to people was demonstrated in lab tests that revealed SADS-CoV efficiently replicated in human liver and gut cells, as well as airway cells. The findings were published Oct. 12 in PNAS. Though it is in the same family of viruses as the betacoronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19 in humans, SADS-CoV is an alphacoronavirus that causes gastrointestinal illness in swine. The virus causes severe diarrhea and vomiting and has been especially deadly to young piglets. SADS-COV is also distinct from two circulating common cold alphacoronaviruses in humans, HCoV-229E and HCoV-NL63. "While many investigators focus on the emergent potential of the betacoronaviruses like SARS and MERS, actually the alphacoronaviruses may prove equally prominent -- if not greater -- concerns to human health, given their potential to rapidly jump between species," said Ralph Baric, professor of epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health. While SADS-CoV has not been known to affect humans to-date, the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a potent reminder that many coronavirus strains found in animals have the potential to infect humans as well -- an effect known as spillover. The Baric lab worked with Caitlin Edwards, a research specialist and master of public health student at UNC-Chapel Hill, on the study which suggests humans may be susceptible to spillover of SADS-CoV. Edwards, the study's first author, tested several types of cells by infecting them with a synthetic form of SADS-CoV to understand just how high the risk of cross-species contamination could be. Evidence from the study indicates that a wide range of mammalian cells, including primary human lung and intestinal cells, are susceptible to infection. According to Edwards, SADS-CoV shows a higher rate of growth in intestinal cells found in the human gut, unlike SARS-CoV-2, which primarily infects lung cells. Cross-protective herd immunity often prevents humans from contracting many coronaviruses found in animals. However, results from the testing done by Edwards and her team suggest that humans have not yet developed such immunity to SADS-CoV. "SADS-CoV is derived from bat coronaviruses called HKU2, which is a heterogenous group of viruses with a worldwide distribution," Edwards said. "It is impossible to predict if this virus, or a closely related HKU2 bat strain, could emerge and infect human populations. However, the broad host range of SADS-CoV, coupled with an ability to replicate in primary human lung and enteric cells, demonstrates potential risk for future emergence events in human and animal populations." In response to these findings, Edwards and colleagues tested the broad-spectrum antiviral remdesivir as a potential method of treatment for the infection. Working with Gilead Sciences, remdesivir was developed by the Baric Lab to combat all known coronaviruses, including SADS-CoV. It is currently being used to treat COVID-19 infections in humans, including the United States president. Preliminary results from this study show that it has robust activity against SADS-CoV, though Edwards cautions that more testing is necessary on additional cell types and in animals to confirm these findings. "Promising data with remdesivir provides a potential treatment option in the case of a human spillover event," she said. "We recommend that both swine workers and the swine population be continually monitored for indications of SADS-CoV infections to prevent outbreaks and massive economic losses." SADS-CoV could also pose a threat to the U.S. economy, which was third in global pork production in 2019. In 2012, the U.S. pork industry was devastated by different swine coronavirus that emerged from China. "Not surprisingly, we are currently looking for partners to investigate the potential of SADS-CoV vaccine candidates to protect swine," Baric said. "While surveillance and early separation of infected piglets from sows provide an opportunity to mitigate larger outbreaks and the potential for spillover into humans, vaccines may be key for limiting global spread and human emergence events in the future." Other members of the Department of Epidemiology involved in the study include Boyd Yount, Assistant Professor Rachel Graham, PhD; Sarah Leist, PhD; Yixuan Hou, PhD; Associate Professor Amy Sims, PhD; Jesica Swanstrom, Trevor Scobey, Michelle Cooley and Caroline Currie. Story Source: Materials provided by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Journal Reference: Caitlin E. Edwards, Boyd L. Yount, Rachel L. Graham, Sarah R. Leist, Yixuan J. Hou, Kenneth H. Dinnon, Amy C. Sims, Jesica Swanstrom, Kendra Gully, Trevor D. Scobey, Michelle R. Cooley, Caroline G. Currie, Scott H. Randell, Ralph S. Baric. Swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus replication in primary human cells reveals potential susceptibility to infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020; 202001046 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001046117 Cite This Page: MLA APA Chicago University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Swine coronavirus replicates in human cells: Scientists reveal potential of swine coronavirus jumping from animals to people." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 October 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201014082754.htm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ScienceDaily
You know my opinion on polls. However, how does Biden’s approval rating compare with the US press? Preferably a poll not done by a US media company. Oh, wait..