CoViD-19: Relief Is Coming, Aid For Venues | Vaccine Rollout & Allergy Guidance | Virus Mutations Raise Concerns | SD LEAs Violate Disclosure in Tactical Gear Acquisition

Teddy Bear Christmas At Hotel Del Coronado in the Before Times (Taken 12.28.2019)

I have so much to talk about today, but I'm gonna put a lot after the jump, because today was actually a lovely day. I'm trying to reset my circadian rhythm so I didn't let myself sleep all day as I had been from our DDD experience last week. I woke up to Nova and Darren in the kitchen, and she was inspired by the bag of yeast I bought to make pizza dough from scratch. I spent some time outside, the weather perfect, and I went through some things to donate from the studio, put away laundry, and I messed around shooting Jupiter and Saturn at dusk. For the pizza makers, it ended up being about a six hour process and I wasn't super happy that D had to run to Vons for mozzarella and other stuff because I'm trying to make us fully quarantine so we can do backyard Christmas at my mom's, but I told him that's it: if we run out of stuff, we run out, or we can do grocery delivery, but there will be no leaving the house for us besides late night dog walks. 

Meanwhile, I caught up with my sister on the phone, and she told me that a girl from my niece's soccer team tested positive. The girl hadn't been to practice since Tuesday, and they've been doing outdoor, separated, workout only practices, but (a) I was so glad we pulled Nova from her team when we did because it was easy to see how the rules slip and (b) it made me mad because her program (though not her specific team) were the ones shown over and over on the news demanding the reopening of youth sports and competitive play. My sister and the girls found out on Saturday and all went and got tested, so hopefully they'll get their results tomorrow, but they're on lockdown now, too, or as my sister said in soccer speak, the DL. 

More and more friends are testing positive or knowing people who are sick. I found out a college pal who lives in London is a long-hauler after getting COVID in March and her symptoms are debilitating and devastating. Another friend's dad died last week. And then I caught myself fighting with someone on Facebook who is literally making up her own statistics, fighting with nurses and people who work in hospitals and morgues that they are all just exaggerating the numbers and danger. It is maddening. California is quite literally the world epicenter at the moment. If you think you don't know anyone adversely affected by COVID-19 at this point, you're are just not paying attention. 

Anyway, lots to get to today, so all of that after the jump. 

COVID-19 CDC (Mostly) Walks Back Testing Guideline Changes | Who's Policing The Police? | "Donald Trump and the RNC are negligent, period"

 Flamingo at San Diego Zoo (Taken 1.20.2020)

I finished this post in the afternoon but had to wait for the County's statistics to post and then got distracted with a nap, making dinner, watching World's Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, however reluctantly because producer Mark Burnett is a piece of shit. Still, the images are stunning and something about this pandemic has made me slightly obsessed with survival/outdoor shows in addition to the remodeling/backyard shows I've also been watching.
Obviously today was the last day of the RNC, and obviously I didn't watch. Time to keep moving forward and brace for whatever else comes our way this year and look forward to the election when we can finally imagine life out of this berserk hellscape. The good news was that the CDC walked back their guidelines that asymptomatic but exposed people didn't need to be tested. The bad news is that you still have to just look our for your own health, as increasing numbers of businesses, schools, health officers, and various jurisdictions refuse to share positive cases, even when people may have been in close contact. 

CoViD-19 Pandemic Continues to Spike | Federal Police Reform On The Table |

My new camera is much better than my other one in lowlight situations. 
This is Bun Bun, the wild cottontail that lives in our yard. 

After our Thursday BBQ, Darren and I hung out in the studio till the wee hours of the morning and I got to test out my new camera on Bun Bun. As a result, Friday was a super non-productive day. I didn't watch any briefings (if there even were any?) and generally avoided news all day. Nova started soccer training today (not super happy about that), so after picking her up, we went to La Jolla Cove to see the sea lions for about a half hour. I was totally impressed with some people who followed us down the cliff, all maintaining space from us and the sea lions, which isn't always the case. We also made a big trip to CostCo to continue our raging Friday night. I've been trying to find new shows and movies to watch but haven't really found anything great. Straight Up on Netflix is meh. Athlete A on Netflix is stunning and shocking and sickening and very well done in its explorations of USA gymnastics' sexual abuse. Some links and stuff after the jump. 

San Diego Leaders: Sorry to Disturb Your Weekend, But Some Shit Is Going Down In Case You Hadn't Noticed

Crowd Leaving Waterfront Park For 4th of July In Other Times (Taken 7.4.2017)

I pulled some tweets and Facebook posts from my elected officials around 9pm on Sunday night, so the time stamps are accountable from that point backward. All weekend I've been trying to follow our leaders for meaningful comments, and while a few did, the silence of our City is absolutely deafening. After seeing what was going on in La Mesa on Saturday, why weren't they all over social media on Sunday with a unified message? Why isn't there someone offering information and guidance for the protesters who wanted to keep things peaceful, organized, and still within the boundaries imposed by the City? It's a shame many of them were just nowhere to be found or merely offered the equivalent of "thoughts and prayers" with generic pleas for unity.

County of San Diego Facebook: Last Post 5.29.2020 5:41pm
City of San Diego Facebook: Posted on 5.31.2020 about POETRY and 5.30.2020 about the automotive museum.
San Diego Police Department: Posted around 4pm on 5.31.2020 to enact Unlawful Assembly order and to complain about protesters.

The Country Is On Fire. La Mesa Is On Fire.

SDPD Tactical Vehicle (Taken 9.2.2017)

I was copying posts onto my blogger earlier today because I thought it was important to save writings in case Facebook starts deleting posts, but I never would've predicted that the violence and damage would hit the City of La Mesa. It feels very different when this sort of thing hits the areas in which you live. By several accounts including on the ground reporters from NBC, the protest in La Mesa was peaceful for over three hours until the police responded to vandalism by spraying tear gas at the crowd and shooting a woman in the face with a rubber bullet. There are also numerous accounts that suggest that people who peacefully protested in the daytime are not the same people who are wreaking havoc tonight.

I've been watching streams for five hours and it is just heartbreaking. La Mesa brought out the "bearcat" in La Mesa Village and were pushing all people out around 1. Vons at La Mesa Blvd and University was completely looted, as were most businesses in the same strip mall, Walmart in La Mesa, BevMo in Grossmont Center. La Mesa Lumber, Randall Lamb Architecture and Union Bank and Chase Bank in La Mesa were all completely engulfed in flames. Sprouts, Game Stop, Target, San Diego Reef and dozens of other businesses have had windows broken and/or were looted. It's heartbreaking to watch, but it feels impossible to turn it off. If you want the links and other posts, click after the jump.