∙ I’m sure you know by now, but in case you don’t, beginning July 5, E.J. Harrison & Sons began weekly residential curbside collection of all 3 bins; trash, household recycling, and yard waste, at no additional charge. You no longer need to alternate the weekly collections of recycling and yard waste services. This service upgrade is part of Harrison’s ongoing commitment to keep up with the rapidly evolving world of recycling on the road to zero waste. It always amazed me how many people couldn’t figure out which cans to put out, so they put out all 3 anyway.
∙ The city of Ventura has apologized for texts sent by a planner during a May 26 Planning Commission meeting considering the 72-townhome Haley Point project in midtown Ventura.
The associate planner, Jamie Peltier, was seen texting. She was communicating with an unnamed relative and city staff. In the text she wrote, “I hate the public so much,” and “They hate everything and everyone.”
In describing the Haley Point project, Peltier wrote, “What a lovely development that the community HATES (her caps).” Later, she described opponents of the project saying, “They went straight psycho.”
Ventura spokesperson Heather Sumagaysay issued an apology saying, “It is unfortunate that the employee used a personal mobile device to communicate with a family member during the meeting for communications related to the public’s business,” Sumagaysay said.
“We deeply regret this happened. This does not reflect the respect for the public to which the city is committed.”
I don’t believe texting should be allowed during meetings, unless an emergency or relevant to the proceedings. I think she should be removed from the commission or should step down.
The commission’s approval of this project was appealed to the City Council. On Monday, July 12 the Council voted 7-0 to deny the appeal so the project will slowly proceed through other city approvals as necessary to commence with the construction.
∙ Last month, 130 people died of Covid-19 in Maryland. None of them were vaccinated, according to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. In addition, unvaccinated people made up 95% of new Covid-19 cases in the state and 93% of new Covid-19 hospitalizations, Hogan said.
The connection between vaccination status and Covid-19 is not specific to Maryland and is not limited to last month.
The new Delta coronavirus variant is focusing on the dangers of the people who haven’t been vaccinated, so go get your vaccination. Delta is more contagious, deadlier, and is quickly spreading.
Currently, the variant accounts for 1 in 4 cases in the U.S., according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But that number could keep rising if vaccination rates don’t start picking up quickly enough. Among those ages 18 and up in the U.S., 57.4% are fully vaccinated, while 66.5% has received at least one shot. The life you save might be mine.
A true story. When Carmichael felt sick from side effects after her first COVID-19 vaccine, her mother Jones decided to skip hers and hope for the best.
Her family said Jones contracted the Delta variant and died June 9. They are hoping no one else has to go through what they went through and are encouraging others to get vaccinated or wear a mask and socially distance.
∙ The deadly heat wave that has devastated many parts of the country (Palm Spring’s 120, 130 in Death Valley) was impossible without human-caused climate change that added a few extra degrees to the record-smashing temperatures. An international team of 27 scientists calculated that climate change increased chances of the extreme heat occurring by at least 150 times.
Luckily, we don’t know much about heat waves in Ventura. Hot here is 75, and we complain.
∙ Bible studies: Eating shellfish and wearing a shirt with two kinds of thread are forbidden in Leviticus.
∙ Bill Cosby has been freed from prison after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction. Some people, including Bill Cosby, believe that he has been found innocent of his many crimes against women. This is not the case – he is just as guilty today as he was 3 weeks ago.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that they found an agreement with a previous prosecutor that prevented him from being charged in the case. Legal scholars say that it was the right decision because his 5th Amendment right not to incriminate himself had been violated. Attorney Erwin Chemerinsky stated, “Even those who commit despicable crimes are protected by the Constitution.” Perhaps the prosecutor who made this possible should be made to finish out Cosby’s time in prison.
∙ President Biden has signed several Executive orders that he believes will help consumers. One that could be of the most help asking the Food and Drug Administration to work with states to allow the importation of prescription drugs from Canada where they often cost a fraction of the US prices. It also deals with the fact that the 10 largest healthcare systems control a quarter of the market. It is believed that this results in higher prices and less choice for patients. There are other provisions that will help our poor health system.
∙ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), during an interview on a conservative podcast, compared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to continue to require members of the House to wear masks on the chamber floor to steps the Nazis took to control the Jewish population during the Holocaust. Scary ain’t it that this woman is in our government?
Some House Republican leaders have condemned her incendiary remarks as well as Jewish groups aimed at the Georgia congresswoman and the party leaders’ silence.
“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy .
∙ All K-12 public schools in Florida will hold a moment of silence at the start of the day starting next school year, according to a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
According to the law, principals of each public school shall require teachers in first-period classrooms in all grades to set aside at least one minute but not more than two minutes daily for the moment of silence (will teachers be required to carry stop watches?). Teachers may not make suggestions as to the nature of any reflection that a student may engage in during the moment of silence, the law states. A period of “silent prayer or meditation” was optional for school districts in the state prior to the new law.
“It’s important to be able to provide each student the ability every day to reflect and be able to pray as they see fit,” the Republican governor said before signing the bill. “The idea that you can just push God out of every institution and be successful, I’m sorry our founding fathers did not believe that.”
Regarding the separation of church and state, in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, Thomas Jefferson declared that when the American people adopted the establishment clause, they built a “wall of separation between the church and state.”
Kid’s that want to pray can do that at home and in church, they don’t need to do it in school, nor should they be required to do such.
∙ A 10-year-old boy died in Philadelphia on Saturday after finding a gun in his home and fatally shooting himself. Police said the boy and his 8-year-old sister found the gun in a cabinet in their home in North Philadelphia while they were alone.
According to the University of Washington, U.S. gun deaths is 100 times higher than Britain’s, and 200 times the Japan rate. Nearly 60% of gun deaths are from suicide. Women are five times more apt to be murdered by an abusive partner when the abuser has access to a gun. I doubt if anyone buys a gun thinking that they will kill themselves or their partner.
