Story of JLWOP: Extremes of Cruelty, Hope and Beauty of free life!

 It was heart wrenching to read this article on Washington post. Normally, my attention span is for a minute or two max, just read first few lines or paragraphs and scroll to end to wrap it up and move to next. However, this article, forced me to read it twice.. thrice.. to understand and absorb the extremities of human cruelty, human hope, beauty of life.. free life.. essentially.. this article summarizes all the aspects of HUMANITY itself. 

To summarize, this is the story of Mr. Ligon a.k.a. Mr. Joe. Now 83 year old, spent last 68 years of his life in prison/s (6 different institutions), cancer survivor, in good health and spirits now.. for the crime, if he would have committed today as a teenager, he would be out in max 10 years (58 years before, at the age of 25). 

It could have all together different outcome of what he would have been today, if he was released at the age of 25. He could have gotten his life back and who knows, all together successful person and living happy free life. or maybe not.. 

However / whatever he would have been or done with his life, it would have been his life! His free life!

Some could argue that, his life would have gone back towards violence, just like many of his family members. Many of his male family members were killed while he was in prison. However, why look for all the negatives, why not look at his sister and niece.. they are doing well.. In any case, I am sure that he would have done much better than in last 58 years of incremental prison time he got. Whatever, we say, he spend these extra 58 years, mainly due to color of his skin. But, I guess, we all know that.. Unfortunately, we aren't still making enough progress on this front..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/02/19/joe-ligon-release/?arc404=true

The best part of the story is about Optimism, Hope, Happiness and Exuberance towards the free life for him. Obviously, at this age, his expectations from life are very small and simple. For most of us, it is next to impossible to empathize with him, forget about understanding what is going on with him. 

Nevertheless, a happy beginning of another life chapter for Mr. Ligon. 

Important thing is to continue to reform our justice system so we don't hand out these type of cruel punishments based on our prejudices towards race, color, religion. 

Hope for the best!

Can BCG vaccination be savior for Coronavirus Pandemic?

Though, its too early to predict but I DO hope, not too early.. Hopefully, we will be able to confirm it's effectiveness in few months.. possibly.. in weeks.. I see good enough momentum and off the late, this topic is trending in scientific/medical community.

It seems that BCG vaccination which is given to more than 100 million+ babies every year mostly in developing world as safeguard for Tuberculosis (TB). Some Developed world countries like Japan and Korea also still administer it. Most of the anecdotal evidence points that this is what helping many of these countries to be less impacted by Coronavirus.. Otherwise, I was so much worried by the impact it could make on densely populated country like India..
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-tbvaccine-explaine-idUSKBN21K372

Just to be cautious, there is some contrary evidence about this as well. There are many Western countries, where Coronavirus is very prevalent and creating havoc despite BCG vaccination is/was administered to most of the population. I think, France is one such example.

Multiple trials in different part of the world are going on. One is Australia and another one in Netherlands. This NY Times article summarizes it best..
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/health/coronavirus-bcg-vaccine.html?

Good news is that it is almost century old tried and tested vaccine. We know about it's pros and cons very well. Obviously, it can't be used as treatment to patients who already got it. and there are some restrictions on who all can get it. Still, I believe, more than 95% of the population could be eligible for it. If it can definitively proof that it can help, it would be great for all of us.
Though, there are some talks about this creating shortage of immunization for kids in developing world. I hope, we can ramp up supplies and it would be short blip.
We need some kind of short/medium term solution/workaround for this pandemic before we come up with real vaccine. Otherwise, we can't be expected to stay in our houses for next year or two. That would be worse than getting infected by virus itself.  Not only that, this solution could potentially get many of us (if it proves its effectiveness) immediately out in workforce normalizing economy, and potentially helping other patients.. 

Ethics and Transparency of Congress / Senators

Why nobody is talking about 4 Senators (as of now) selling their stocks right before pandemic? Obviously, we were/are so busy with the Pandemic that we forgot so called high crimes of our Senators. Regarding these senators' huge stock sale, right before pandemic hit and stock market plummeted to the levels not seen before, I don't believe in "Luck" or "Coincidence".
To be fair, there is one percent chance that it was coincidence or it pre-programmed or planned. Even if there is some chance, given that these high ranking officials and congressmen/women/Senators have so much advanced information, that all there trades (or even plans) should be made public at least 24 hours before they go into execution. Essentially, publish their stock transaction plans in advance on public register/web-site so, their citizens have access as well. 
This simple solution will ensure all transparency and enable us save expensive justice department inquiries into such matters. Not that I am hoping that anything will come out of these inquiries.. I Don't think that these people would be so stupid to leave any trace of their instructions. If they really left some traces, then they definitely don't deserve to be in Senate..
In one case, Senator gets briefing and magically Million+ worth stocks are sold out. Her husband happens to be NYSE head as well. Same senator is telling public about nothing to worry about Corona!! Too good to be true.. and when it is too good to be true, it isn't!!

I honestly, don't like this law of restricting trading on insider information.. Instead of restricting, we should allow trading.. as long as trading plan/activity is public. Ideally, at least 24 hours before they trade. or in case of significant market volatility, if someone feels compel to trade instantaneously, it should be made public within seconds, so that public can also act on it. We have seen so much of violations (and probably, million times more violations, we haven't seen) of this law, that it is essentially useless. People will figure out ways to circumvent laws. Instead of prohibiting, we should encourage everyone to trade based on whatever their resources are. Just publish their plans and actions instantaneously, so others can act if they want to.. 

Very innovative use of idle resources to combat Coronavirus Pandemic

I was pleasantly surprised and happy to read this news. in given scenario.. Indian Railways is massive transportation system in India, considering it transports more than 10 million+ passengers every day. There must be tens of thousands train coaches with sleeper beds and electricity with battery backup. Each can be converted into mobile hospital to isolate and if needed transport Corona patients from remote/rural places to hospitals with capacity to care for them. In worse, case, idle railway stations themselves can become medical facilities.
Bigger question is, where will be the medical equipment like ventilators etc will come from to equip these coaches. Nevertheless, these train coaches can be used to provide mobility and transfer of patients much more safely to better medical facilities.

On other note, it was so disheartening to read about millions of labor moving out of cities to their homes.Some better fortunate got hold of trucks etc to be go back.
 https://in.reuters.com/video/2020/03/28/migrant-workers-leave-cities-on-trucks-i?videoId=704304893&videoChannel=101

Many were not so lucky and are still stranded on roads without enough water and food. So far, we have only heard about one death of such labourer, who died walking back to his village (270 Km / 170 Miles) from Delhi.
This aspect wasn't well thought out before issuing 21 days lock down order. It had started happening before lock down order itself, and administration / government should have thought about logistics on this. In a way, we are making this problem even worse by sending and spreading this disease to vast rural areas of India, where once this is spread, it will be difficult to contain and provide help. We really can't blame anyone, as there wasn't any precedent for any such thing before. However, still, we should try to set up some kind of camp or shelter for these daily wage workers in cities where they were and provide them food and other basic necessities.

Here is the news copied, in case, Reuters link changes/stops working:

India to use some train coaches as coronavirus isolation wards

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - India said on Saturday it was planning to turn some railway coaches into isolation wards for patients with coronavirus, as authorities scramble to prepare the country’s health infrastructure for an expected surge in cases.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the country’s 1.3 billion people this week to stay indoors for three weeks in the world’s biggest lockdown, seeking to curb the spread of the illness. India’s network of trains, the country’s lifeblood, has been idled.

One train coach has been turned into a prototype quarantine facility, state-owned Indian Railways said in a statement on Saturday.

Once they get clearance, the plan is for each of India’s railway zones to convert 10 coaches into such wards every week, the company added. Indian Railways has 16 zones, according to its website.

“Railways will offer clean, sanitised & hygienic surroundings for the patients to comfortably recover,” tweeted railways minister Piyush Goyal. He did not specify how many people could be cared for in each coach.

India has reported 918 confirmed cases, including 19 deaths.

The lockdown measures are taking a huge toll on India’s poor, including millions of migrant labourers whose jobs in cities have vanished. Many are now walking back to their villages or crowded bus stations in the hopes of finding rare transport, raising fears they will unintentionally spread the virus across India.

On Saturday, a migrant worker, who set out from New Delhi on a 270 kilometres (168 miles) walk to his hometown in Madhya Pradesh, collapsed and died, a police official said. 

India’s home ministry said in a statement on Saturday it was advising states to provide food and shelter to migrants at relief camps alongside highways.

Can Democracies stop Corona (aka Covid-19 / Chinese) Virus?

Couldn't stop myself from commenting on this news item. True, despite early warnings, any western  democratically elected governments failed to act and take preventive measures, which could have stopped this pandemic from spreading. At the same time, some governments like Singapore (I guess, democratically elected government) handled situation pretty well.
I think, best aspect (if any silver lining) of this crisis is that it exposes many so called democratically elected leaderships. In particular, it exposes our Dumb Trump's leadership among some other leaderships in Western Europe. 
Though, we can't say for sure, but there is good chance that, this crisis wouldn't have become such a large scale epidemic or pandemic, if there was Democratically Elected government in China in first place. Initial suppression and more or less murder of Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, who tried raising alarm very beginning wouldn't have happened if there wasn't any fear of Autocratic regime. I heard today, that local Police and politicians were reprimanded and were forced to apologize to Doctor Li's family. But in reality, it wasn't there fault, if they wouldn't have suppressed those news and silenced Dr. Li, they would have been fired (or worse) long time back. In this case, they got away by just apologizing and may be reprimand on their service record. But, in truth that was failure of system. These folks were just scapegoat.
Nevertheless, coming back to the core topic. Time will tell, how we and rest of the other democratically elected governments perform in this time of crisis. However, best part of Democracy is that it will bring best out of the system. It will ultimately weed out bad actors and dumb Trumps.. but ultimately, it will prevail.. Already, after realizing his mistakes (though, can't admit), our President has started acting, and I am sure, that this pandemic unleashed by Chinese government (figuratively), will be over soon!

Everyone, stay safe and healthy!!

Chinese propaganda claims democracy can’t stop virus

By Trudy Rubin

Philadelphia Inquirer

China is promoting a propaganda narrative that its authoritarian system is uniquely capable of curbing the coronavirus, in contrast to the chaotic response of Europe and the United States.

Nevermind that the virus began in Wuhan and spread because Communist Party officials suppressed whistleblowers. Beijing’s new storyline stresses that its draconian lockdown of tens of millions of its people (and ability to build new 1,000-bed hospitals in 10 days) was able to control the virus, even as new cases are soaring in America.

This propaganda effort might seem unpromising, except that President Donald Trump has only just gotten serious about the pandemic, leaving the U.S. dangerously behind in containing and mitigating the virus. This gives global appeal to the Chinese argument that authoritarianism works better than democratic governance.

Hopefully, the strengths of our democracy will work — in evidence as governors, mayors, media and health experts pushed Trump to pay attention. But depending on what happens, the Chinese narrative could make global inroads and increase Beijing’s future geopolitical influence.

That narrative can be summed up by a People’s Daily article that asks “why China can pull together the imagination and courage needed to deliver a blow to the virus while the United States struggles to handle the outbreak.”

Beijing is even arguing that the disease didn’t originate in Wuhan. A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman tweeted that “it might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.” (This is more official than the suggestion of Sen. Tom Cotton, RArk., that the virus might be Chinese biowarfare. But it’s probably in part an unfortunate response to Trump’s calling the disease the “Chinese virus,” which has more of a racist tinge than his use of “Wuhan virus.” So each side is now politicizing the virus, with the Chinese hitting harder.) Of course, this Chinese narrative “is also designed to take some of the heat off Xi Jinping at home,” says the University of Pennsylvania’s Jacques deLisle, director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China.

Beijing has also just kicked out journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

You might conclude that the propaganda won’t get global traction because it’s a pretty transparent effort to airbrush Xi Jinping’s mistakes. Yet, the U.S. response to the crisis gives China’s propagandists a huge boost.

From late January through early March, Trump downplayed the coronavirus, insisting it was “totally under control.” His Jan. 31 decision to ban travelers from China was important, but he squandered its major benefit — providing time to prepare for an inevitable outbreak here. Trump rejected the early warnings of health experts and continues to insult journalists who question his endless misstatements. His false spin, echoed by Fox commentators, lulled his supporters into complacency. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll taken March 12-13 revealed that only 40% of Republicans believed the coronavirus was a real threat, compared with 76% of Democrats and 50% of independents.

So it’s not surprising that until late last week, Trump failed to mobilize the nation and push through a national emergency plan for testing, which is just starting to ramp up. Without widespread tests, or draconian Chinese-style lockdowns, it’s impossible to measure and stop the spread.

Trump also failed, until this week, to rally the military and all government agencies to help states expand medical facilities and to consult fully with governors desperate for national leadership (insulting them instead with labels like “snake”).

This has costs: The time lost — crucial to testing and containing the virus in order to avoid a national shutdown — cannot be made up.

Now, belatedly, the White House is organizing the whole of government. And listening to the experts. And taking the virus seriously, although Trump continues to spin and spout untruths.

We don’t need the Chinese to point out that this is “embarrassing” for a great democracy.

But we do need to demonstrate, for our own sakes, that their propaganda about a hapless democracy unable to cope is false. Even if that coping comes belatedly and in spite of failed White House leadership.

The message of Chinese propaganda, contrary to Beijing’s intentions, is that democracy requires new White House leadership up to the task. Trudy Rubin is a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist. © 2020, Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.

COVID-19: Online School Education Tools

During these unprecedented times, Federal, State and local governments have declared emergencies to contain COVID-19 virus (a.k.a. Corona Virus) community spread further. Using emergency powers, governments have relaxed (or in legal sense "Suspended") many of the HIPAA regulations which enable our health care workers to leverage common sense technological tools to reach out to patients remotely without overwhelming our medical system. All this is worth applauded. Though, it came little late here in US, despite warning signs hovering from January itself. Our President Dumb Trump's ego prevented early action which would have prevented this pandemic to reach US. Never-mind, better late than never...
Main topic I want to address in this note is about kids education. Just like many of your kids, my kids are also at home and we as parents are trying our best to keep them engaged and keeping them busy. Keep them getting some useful education and knowledge flowing into their young minds.

Our area schools were closed since yesterday for two (possibly more now) weeks. School district's mission is to prepare teachers and staff to train them in these two weeks so they would be ready to delivery education remotely in case, this pandemic persists longer. So hope they would be ready by end of these two weeks to teach most of the kids remotely if needed.
Then, I saw this post:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2020/03/13/zoom-video-coronavirus-eric-yuan-schools/amp/
Our technology leaders are volunteering tools to help us with this crisis as much possible. Just like we have these rules in healthcare to protect patient privacy etc.. I am sure, many such rules must be there to protect Student Privacy etc in education sector. and Just like have suspended these rules for healthcare, why can't we suspend these rules/protocols in education and start leveraging these tools to maximize benefit to our kids and students.
I would urge, our local education district boards to consider relaxing these rules and take help of many of parent volunteers (in silicon valley many are technological savvy and won't mind volunteering) to set up these virtual class sessions for our kids during this time. I personally have offered my kid's teacher and waiting for response. However, if anyone else in bay area community wants some help, I am ready to volunteer my time to them. Please feel free to reach out to me thru this blog or email me directly at shaigarg1@yahoo.com


Here is another news clip from our local newspaper Mercury News which highlights gravity of the situation:

CONTAINING COVID-19

7 Bay Area counties lock down

Residents banned from leaving homes except for essential work, food, services

By John Woolfolk and Casey Tolan

Staff writers

In a dramatic and unprecedented move reflecting growing alarm over the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic, seven Bay Area counties Monday announced sweeping shelter-in-place restrictions effectively confining millions of residents to their homes for three weeks with exceptions for essential work, food or other needs.

The new orders by health officers in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties appear to be the most aggressive public response to the coronavirus anywhere in the U.S. so far. The directives are criminally enforceable and go well beyond Monday’s stepped-up calls for increased “social distancing” from the nation’s capital, evoking lockdowns in parts of hardhit Europe.

“In my life, there’s not even a remote precedent for this sort of thing,” said Robert Siegel, 66, a Stanford University professor of microbiology and immunology. “It’s quite unprecedented for Americans to be experiencing this.”

Tomas Aragon, health officer for the city and county of San Francisco, announces a shelter in place order by public health directors on Monday.

DAI SUGANO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Across the seven counties, many businesses will be ordered to close, and residents will be allowed to leave their homes only for “essential” reasons from 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday through April 7.

Essential reasons include getting health care, shopping for groceries and supplies, caring for family members and exercising outdoors.

“I recognize that this is unprecedented,” Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said Monday. “If I had thought last Friday’s announcement (to close schools) was hard, this one is exponentially harder. But we must come together to do this. We know we need to do this, and we know we need a regional approach. We all must do our part.”

And in a sign of how serious the crisis is becoming, Santa Clara County announced two additional deaths due to the coronavirus on Monday — two men, in their 50s and 80s, died at hospitals Sunday — doubling the death count in California’s hardest hit county.

Some other large urban areas have considered similar restrictions on public movements in recent days, including New York, where the National Guard was deployed to help quell an outbreak in the suburb of New Rochelle.

The latest orders go much further than the increasingly restrictive federal, state and local guidances about the virus released in recent days. Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo counties last week ordered schools closed. On Friday, Santa Clara County barred public and private gatherings over 100 people with restrictions in place for assemblies of 35 to 100.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last week urged a statewide ban on gatherings of more than 250 people, over the weekend urged bars and nightclubs to close, restaurants to limit service and older residents not to leave home.

Monday’s announcement came in legal orders from the health officers in the seven counties as well as Berkeley, which has an independent health office. Officials said the directives could be extended longer than three weeks or amended to end sooner, as needed.

Businesses allowed to operate during the lockdown include supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, convenience stores, health care offices, child care facilities, banks, hardware stores and laundromats. Restaurants will be allowed to operate, but only for delivery and take-out service. Nonessential gatherings of any number are banned, but public transit will continue operating for essential travel as long as travelers keep 6 feet apart. Nonresidents will be able to travel to return to their homes outside the Bay Area.

In addition, governments will continue to provide health, law and order, sanitation and other essential services.

Marin County Health Officer Matt Willis said that “essential things we need will be available to us.”

“Grocery stores will remain open,” Willis said. “You can get your medicine from your pharmacy, you can still visit your doctor. We can all expect to experience some cabin fever. You can still walk your dog.”

Health officers acknowledged Monday how difficult the extraordinary measures will be for families already struggling to cope with the rapid upending of their lives, between children told to stay home from school, businesses urging employees to work from home and events canceled. But they said the dire threat of the outbreak makes a regional response necessary.

“We are in a rough place, and we are going to have difficult times ahead of us,” San Mateo County Health Officer Scott Morrow said. “The measures we’re putting in place are temporary, but they will last longer than any of us want. This is the time to unite as a community, come to each other’s aid and dig really deep to find your best inner self and pull out all the compassion, gratitude and kindness you can.”

The guidance, they said, comes after substantial input from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and best practices from health officials around the world.

Grant Colfax, the director of San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, said health officers from the counties conferred over the weekend and concluded that they needed to put in place the new restrictions as soon as possible.

“Every hour counts,” Colfax said. “The evidence tells us that now is the time to implement this step.”

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said that violation of the order is “enforceable as a misdemeanor” but added “that is an absolute last resort.”

“We’re looking for voluntary compliance,” he said. “If we do get called to those situations, we’re going to try to educate the public.”

Homeless people will not be subject to the order, although officials encouraged them to seek shelter and said they would work with state officials to maximize resources available for the homeless population.

The new orders exclude three Bay Area counties — Sonoma, Napa and Solano. Representatives of those counties did not respond to questions about whether they would follow suit. They have reported some of the fewest cases, with Napa still listing no infections Monday.

Santa Cruz County, which is not part of the ninecounty Bay Area, made the decision to join the shelterin- place order Monday after nine confirmed cases.

The restrictions follow new data showing increasing local transmission of coronavirus, the health officers said. The cases confirmed in the Bay Area account for more than half of California’s total — and experts believe there are likely many others in the region that haven’t been discovered yet due to a lack of testing.

The pandemic has sickened more than 167,000 people in more than 151 countries, half of them in China, and killed more than 6,600. The Bay Area has been at the center of the viral outbreak in the state and is one of the nation’s hotspots for infections, with the first case reported Jan. 31 and a cruise ship stricken with infections departing Oakland on Monday. There are at least 335 confirmed cases statewide and nine deaths.

Of the region’s counties ordering shelter in place, by Monday Santa Clara County had 138 confirmed cases, San Mateo 42, San Francisco 40, Contra Costa 34, Alameda 18, and Marin and Santa Cruz nine each.

Also Monday, Newsom issued a new executive order to help prevent evictions during the pandemic.

The order gives local governments the authority to halt evictions for renters and homeowners, aims to slow foreclosures, and helps keep utilities running for residents affected by COVID-19.

In addition, the state Legislature passed a $1.1 billion coronavirus spending package, fulfilling an emergency request from Newsom. The money will go to efforts like opening new hospitals, cleaning schools and child care facilities, purchasing health care equipment, and housing homeless people in hotels.

Monday also marked the start of widespread school closures affecting about half of districts around the state, including Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, with many attempting to teach students online. New York City and Los Angeles — the nation’s two largest districts — also are closing.

Experts say keeping people apart is the best way to stop the virus’ deadly advance.

“If everybody was successfully quarantined for two weeks, that would put a substantial dent in the transmission of the virus,” Siegel said. “It’s valid reasoning, but we don’t know the extent to which that will work.”

Barring a turnaround in the numbers of new cases and deaths, the Bay Area and other hard-hit areas could face even stricter measures going forward, Siegel predicted.

“You can look at the trajectory of policy in other countries,” he said, “and it’s my expectation that it’s going to become more restrictive.”

Staff writer Robert Salonga contributed reporting.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith talk before a news conference Monday in San Jose announcing a shelter-in-place order.

DAI SUGANO — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

President of Numbers or US Citizens?

It was absolutely shocking to see Trump's interview about Cruise ship coming from Hawaii. 23 passengers/Crew members have confirmed Corona and most others are in danger of getting it... and our POTUS is worried about optics of his numbers if he allows those passengers and crew members on shore? Really? This totally reminds of President Obama's statement about Trump that he doesn't have temperament to be President of the United States of America.
I would rather prefer that passengers stay on ship, so my numbers won't look bad!!!

But what else you would expect from Dollar Trump or I should call Number Trump? This is the real face of $ Trump!! I would say millions of thanks to our founders that they created checks and balances. I think, some of them had vision that some day reality TV personality will become President and may not be capable of running as President.

His Interview snippet should be best and free advertisement for Democratic candidate. They should simply keep on rolling it and let all the electorate decide if they want Dollar/Number Trump or someone other responsible person. 

We got a Sick President!!

After his first address to joint session of congress, it was looking like Trump is coming back to his senses and we were looking forward to some sensible decision making going forward. and then... 

This tweet of Trump being victimized of spying by previous administration without any inkling of the evidence to support. 

Worst part was to call a very well respected and elected President sick man/guy. 

This so called sick man was elected twice with much better electoral and popular votes than the sickest and most deplorable President in the history of United States yet!! 

This so called sick man completed his presidency and left legacy which will be there forever in the history of United States. Though time will tell but if my analysis or predictions are true, Trump may not even finish his first year, before getting impeached by his own fellow Republicans. Only hope for him to be saved will be Democrats, as this will take away sweeping victory in 2018 elections. 

Not sure what is going thru Trump's mind (if there is any)... But if he thinks, that to cover up his AG's scandal, he can create another controversy so that democrats will forget the liar AG and will focus on this.. then he may be right.. I am sure after democrats will stop asking for Sessions' resignation, he will turn over and say that he meant something else.. or maybe, he found some evidence that Obama discussed to start wire tapping etc.. basically twist and eat his own words. 

Now, what all this tells about him and more importantly, about United States of America? as he did got elected by our system and people... even if Russia meddled into our elections by hacking and taking out all the negative reports about Hillary.. and helping Trump win the Presidency.. Onus is on America and it's electorate to understand and take right decision making. Though, separate topic, but I do believe that it was Democratic Party and it's so called elites/heads who made him The President.. Nevertheless, we elected him.. It does tells about us that we are getting too complacent and crybaby about the conditions, for which most of them, we ourselves are responsible.

In a way, it was good thing.. I think, after this people will remember for a long time, what a decent or good President means and this is not the job where anyone and everyone can assume to take over. This presidency will remain a very good case for someone like Trump (though I doubt if there will be anyone like him) to think about getting elected to this office. 

As we say in India.. Whatever happens, happens for good!!

Implosion of Democratic Party - Unimaginable consequences!!

Democrats are making lot of noise against all kind of decisions (executive or non executive) from Trump administration.. In reality, they themselves are responsible to ensure his win to White House. They have to admit that they messed up by unnecessarily promoting Hilary at the cost of Bernie. Bernie could have easily excited critical mass of youngsters and liberals to vote for him to defeat Trump in electoral votes as well. In reality, Hilary wasn't able to excite most of the voters enough to move them to ballot boxes.. Whereas Trump Supporters though less in numbers were super excited and pushed for him. 

Despite all this, if they still elect Nancy Pelosi back as their leader, then only God (if any) help them. 

On top of that, I don't understand rationale of these demonstrations and Women Marches against Trump. What the hell these folks were doing on November 8th. On November 8th, they were all sleeping comfortably hoping that Hilary won't mind missing one vote. Well.. those few votes are responsible for where we are today. Now, reality is that Trump is democratically elected leader of this country and respect not only his opinions but also folks who took pain to go to Ballot Box on Nov 8th.. 

Not that I am big fan of Hilary.. still voted for her as I strongly felt that Trump was bigger evil. and he IS.. unfortunately, he is playing with people's mind. giving them false hope of decent blue collar job on their high school diplomas.. maybe for few years, they may have jobs.. but ultimately, this protectionism and visibly direct hatred towards rest of the world is going to bring down the very fabric of the country. In my view, what Trump is trying to do is ultra ultra socialism or even communism.. trying to save/create jobs by carrot or stick.. and we all know that socialism and communism doesn't work.. It collapses nations.. 

Only thing which had worked in this country is the top and bottom quality immigration. This country has attracted both best of best talent from all over the world which helped USA become superpower.. as well bottom most (for the lack of better words) type of immigration, which had provided desperately needed hands for all kind of jobs to support middle and upper middle class of this country. Agreed, no system is perfect.. but it was working perfectly fine for this country.. 

What was not working was white lower middle class of this country which was looking for decent blue collar jobs after their high school diplomas hoping to make decent by their early thirties.. 

If Trump or for that matter anyone wants to do anything for them (blue collar workers), then they have to make them understand that blue collar era is gone!! There is not going to be any blue collar workers in few decades at the most. What will be there is: "what we call knowledge Worker"!! even basic bachelors degree is no longer enough for coming days. They need to dream more than simple blue collar jobs. If Trump really want to do something for them, them maybe, offer them free enrollment in universities (excluding Trump University!!) to come upto speed on 21st century skills. That is the only hope for them. 

Otherwise, they are simply cutting the tree where they are sitting.. Bernie was trying to do same by offering all kinds of free social programs.. which now looks so good as compared to Trump's exec orders.. These orders are simply destroying the very foundation of this country and hence making very long term damage not only internally but globally by giving mantle of world leadership and vision to rest of the world.. for anyone sensible country to grab it and run with it. 

this shows mental bankruptcy of Trumphhh

Trumphh has filed for financial bankruptcy many time.. with his statement on US District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel.. he filed for his mental bankruptcy.. but wait.. was there even any asset there to begin with..

that statement was the straw which broke my back and forced me to write about this Mentally bankrupt Trumphh
I mean.. I am so angry on him that words and sentences are overflowing.. Come on.. You don't even have basic knowledge of US constitution or what?? You are just a presumptive nominee of the republican party.. nothing more.. understand and respect three pillars of this democracy. These three pillars are designed just for this reason.. in case one of them is accidentally run over by moron like you..
Now, let us talk about bias.. by the definition of Trumphhh.. every human will be biased.. same logic may be applied to any white judge.. he/she may be biased in positive way for him.. come on.. he is building wall to stop rapists and killers.. right.. so by that definition every white Judge should love him.. won't that be counted as bias.. same logic could be applied or twisted and then applied on any human / race.. some way or other.. some race is either benefiting from the Wall or harmed by the wall..

I think, inherent problem is that you are such a divisive person that in theory people either love you or hate you.. which essentially constitutes as bias in my view.. I think, problem is not the Judge Curiel's race / ethnicity.. it is your bankrupt brain and idiotic statements it comes with.

Essentially, the way I understand, you are preparing yourself to save yourself from potential negative judgement.. essentially preemptive effort to save yourself from disgrace of the fraud and cheating you committed in the name of so called savvy business of Trupmhhh University.. So Mr. Savvy Businessman, if you can stretch definition of ethics and truth to extent of fraud.. maybe it will work in case of some fraud business and universities.. maybe impress some other fellow bankrupts like you.. but in long term, you are not going to survive..
Own your actions... get ready.. you don't have to demean others.. your moral standards are so low that your followers don't expect anything nice or ethical from you.. Negative or positive judgement.. it doesn't matter.. but such foolish and idiotic statements will create general bias against you from rest of the two pillars of our government which will definitely sink you.. unfortunately, it will sink our dear and beloved USA as well..

http://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-keeps-up-attacks-on-judge-gonzalo-curiel-1464911442

Next Revolution in Self Driving Car Concept?

This news in particular caught my eyes.. this concept gives you kind of plug-n-play type of concept. Here are some of the key pros/cons I am thinking about:

1. Con: Only I could think is that it will take away one passenger capacity (take away  your driver seat) when operating the vehicle.. after this, I think, there are just pros..
2. Flexibility: Not only you can continue using your existing beloved car with this Motobot but also fold and pack it to trunk if you want to enjoy your car yourself on some scenic route or just without any major traffic or if you just want to clear your head!!
3. Personalization: You can personalize this motobot not only physically (well cultured chauffeur or sexy babe..blond / brunette.. or whatever your imagination may be...) but more importantly, you can customize it to your driving habits. You may use it as your personal assistant for everything you need. You may use as your talking buddy and bounce your ideas while in car or just ask it to focus on driving while you blast your music or show.. 
4. Portability: Move from one car to another without thinking.. even leverage it for your rental cars? also, use it send it back to home to drop off your kids or to take your spouse to office.. as long as it is certified to drive alone.. depends on it's driving privileges.. 
5. Regulatory: Licensing - Since you will own this particular motobot, you can take it to DMV get it approved and get Driving License or attach it to your Driving License.You take full responsibility for this thingy.. As long as firmware major release remains same.. this is certified and licensed by DMV. Just like human's aging and retest by DMV, you get it to DMV every two/five years for certifications.. How about car pool lane eligibility? I guess, we have to live without that for now.. 
6. Security:  Physical - Leave it in car in extreme weather to monitor your car and surroundings. Cyber - much more easier to bring it to test or regulatory labs to test for any bugs/virus etc.. You can limit its communication to outside world.. if you are really paranoid about security and this poor thing will just do what it does best.. drive your around.. 

If this can be build to almost human specs on understanding human instructions and can be packed with all the bells and whistles of self driving car in humanoid fashion, I don't see why it can't be as successful as any other cool car model..

Yamaha, SRI test-run robot project

By Kevin Kelly

kkelly@bayareanewsgroup.com

MENLO PARK — Move over, Siri, and make way for Motobot. The Menlo Park-based research institute responsible for creating Apple’s digital personal assistant is now partnering with Yamaha Motor Co. to develop Motobot, a humanoid robot intended to beat one of the world’s fastest motorcycle racers.

In conjunction with a team from a local Yamaha research lab, SRI International’s robotics department is building Motobot, which they intend to exceed ninetime world champion MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi’s best lap time by the end of 2017. That news came during a recent announcement of the Yamaha-SRI partnership at the CES Robotics Conference in Las Vegas.

It may sound like — and may partly be — a publicity stunt, but since late 2014, SRI has been working with Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley, both of which have offices close to one another in Menlo Park, on developing a robot that could help increase rider safety. Consider it a high-tech diagnostic tool for motorcycles that just happens to look like a cyborg.

Also, consider it a bit of kismet.

When Yamaha called on SRI for help in late 2014, the Stanford research offshoot just happened to be proposing a similar system to the Pentagon, one that would become DARPA’s Alias program, an in-cockpit automation system intended to augment rather than replace the human pilot. It took just eight months from the time SRI signed on to help build Motobot for the team to deliver a working prototype to the Tokyo Motor Show last fall.

“The idea of having a humanoid robot operating a system designed to be used by flesh-and-bone humans without modifying that system at all was at the forefront of our thinking,” said Thomas P. Low, associate director of robotics at SRI. “There were some technologies we had worked on before that were really enabling (but we) started with a clean sheet of paper.”

Motobot allows motorcycle developers to test vehicles at their extremes without having to worry about the safety of a rider. Unlike a crash-test dummy that tests the impact of a collision on a vehicle’s occupants, Motobot is designed to test the limits of an unmodified vehicle. In more than 300 tests thus far, Motobot has never caused a motorcycle to crash.

According to Motobot founder Hiroshi Saijou, besides safety improvements, the robot could stretch the limits of design and performance, possibly making motorcycles ride more smoothly even as they achieve faster speeds.

“If we can use robots, we can do more aggressive things,” said Saijou, CEO and managing director of Yamaha Motor Ventures.

The team is looking far beyond just faster and safer motorbikes. When finalized, according to the researchers, the Motobot could be used to test agricultural and factory vehicles.

“Imagine a large agricultural harvester or tractor is doing a zigzag pattern over many acres and has to avoid obstacles,” Saijou said, “but it’s largely repetitive work and may be suited more for a robot than a human being.”

He also envisioned “a customized autonomous vehicle” that on large factory floors could move 10 mph and, like a drone, be programmed to avoid stationary obstacles.

“This pushes the limits of what’s possible, so this is a very moonshot type of program,” said Philip von Guggenberg, SRI’s director of business development.

Yamaha has been in the business of making motorcycles since it was founded 60 years ago, but over the past 20 has moved into developing industrial robots and an unmanned helicopter system. SRI has been at the forefront of robotics research and development for the past 40 years, having been responsible for the first telerobotic surgery system and “Shakey,” the first mobile robot with the ability to perceive and reason about its surroundings. More recently, the research institute has been working on “extremely agile, physically aware humanoids” and lightweight wearable robotics, according to Lowe. SRI was also responsible for the first computer mouse, the first ARPANET (pre-Internet) transmission and the first assigned Web domain names.

The Yamaha and SRI researchers said they plan to continue the partnership beyond Motobot. So look for more locally grown breakthroughs in the future.

As Amish Parashar, Yamaha Motor Ventures’ director of strategic business development, put it at CES: “I think there are bold projects and I think working on these bold projects is supremely important. ... For the entire industry, if we push projects just a little bit forward, the state of the art gets advanced just a little bit and all of us benefit.”

The Motobot is shown during an undated test run in Alameda. The project to develop Motobot, a humanoid robot that sits atop an unmodified MotoGP cycle, is a partnership between SRI International and Yamaha Motor Co.

Non functional Government

It is amazing to see how dysfunctional our government in DC has become. Seems that these morons only want to protect their seats and just their seats.. nothing more nothing less..

However, in doing so, they are literally making mockery of US as a whole. They need to understand why US is still super-power despite borrowing trillions of dollars from whole of the world.

1. Need less to say, it is technological advantage.. that to in defense which makes them still most strong army of the world despite billions or trillions of dollars of cut in defense budget. 
2.  After this, it is a simple world called "Trust".. This trust in USD which makes USD as world currency.. Which makes US treasury bond papers even better than gold.. and all the governments invests and keeps their forex reserves in these two things.. 

These morons need to understand that their monkey business is hurting image and in turn hurting this trust factor. Which is much more bigger damage to US and its entire population. These small small things about funding to social program is nothing to be worried about. One way or other, folks will be managed.. There might be some issues here and there.. but this is peanut..

Impact of loss of trust by world market will be much more devastating to US.. fortunately, all the other countries are in much more bad shape so we may be lucky that world may ignore this monkey business from these morons.. 

I simply don't understand their position.. 2012 elections were very clear verdict.. if US population didn't wanted Obama Care they would have got Romney into white house and also given republicans full control of Senate.. it was clear verdict that US population likes this concept of Obama care.. essentially, in my view something is better than nothing..This issue is over.. If they still want to fight about it.. they should do so in 2014/2016 elections and take full control of White house and Congress. There is no need to do this drama where they are going to loose any how and be registered in US history as Super Morons who tarnished US image in world market. STOP IT.. Get Over!!! What will you do with your seat/re-election if US itself will sink.. Come on wake up.. and think more than just your seat and re-election.. it is much more bigger than that.. 

DEADLOCK IN WASHINGTON

What if closure goes on longer?

Shutdown’s impact could widen, intensify for people needing help on food, housing, education, jobs

By Josh Richman and Steve Johnson

Staff writers

As the federal government shutdown creeps toward its first full week with no resolution in sight, experts say October could be a cold, dark month for many — but November could make that look like the good old days.

Millions of Americans are nervously watching their calendars, knowing that support for the basics of daily life — food, housing, education, jobs — have begun eroding and could vanish around the end of the month at the earliest, throwing lives into chaos and perhaps tripping up the nation’s fragile economic recovery.

“The longer this goes on, the greater uncertainty there will be for funding some of these programs,” said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of the California Department of Finance.

This not-so-rosy forecast assumes Congress will raise the nation’s debt ceiling by Oct. 17. If it does not, all federal borrowing stops and the government could halt billions of dollars in payouts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, military pay, veterans benefits and other areas that had survived the shutdown. 

However, on Thursday House Speaker John Boehner reportedly told GOP colleagues he won’t let the nation default. 

But that doesn’t mean the shutdown won’t continue. If it does, Thanksgiving could find many Americans with little to be thankful for. 

The cascading consequences would confront Americans at every level: The poor and elderly would lose access to food and housing, and the better- off would lose government contracts and agency supports for investment in companies and jobs. 

California’s food stamp program supporting nutrition for 1.9 million poor residents would run out in November, as would school programs serving about 4.5 million meals a day mostly to low-income students. 

Cutting off food aid has costly consequences. For example, about 350 elderly people in Fremont, Newark and Union City get one free hot meal a day from a Meals on Wheels program, said LIFE ElderCare Executive Director Patricia Osage. The closed federal Administration on Aging reimbursed the $1,575 daily cost; Osage said she can cut back other services and tap reserves to keep delivering meals for “six or seven weeks.” 

After that, she said, “you would see within six months that skilled nursing facilities would be packed,” as lack of nutrition undercut seniors’ health. Skilled nursing costs about $1,500 a day per person, she said — nearly as much as feeding 350 people. 

Elsewhere, confusion reigns: Closed federal offices have no one to answer questions or resolve conflicts. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s shutdown plan suggests the nation’s 3,300 housing authorities will see public housing subsidy vouchers and operating costs cut off in mid-December — or maybe after October, said Oakland Housing Authority Executive Director Eric Johnson. Such a cutoff could affect rent payments for tens of thousands of Bay Area households. 

Nothing is certain after Nov. 1, agreed Katherine Harasz, deputy executive director of Santa Clara County’s housing authority. The two program administrators would love to discuss this with HUD, but “there’s nobody to call” now, Johnson said. 

The shutdown could clip the Bay Area housing market’s recovery. Mortgage lenders can’t verify applicants’ Social Security numbers or Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts. The Federal Housing Administration has only a skeleton crew, so closing some FHA-insured loans — about 15 percent of the market — might be delayed. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture won’t close new loans for rural borrowers until the shutdown ends. 

The shutdown also threatens the struggling job market. Federal money and oversight support private sector hiring, but when the money spigot for contracts and facilities twists shut, the economic effects ripple widely in surrounding communities. Locking up Yosemite National Park and the NASA Ames lab in Mountain View, for instance, empties small-business cash registers for miles around. 

Federal money also primes the job pump with oversight and support for innovation: Shutting down the Food and Drug Administration’s processing of new drug applications for longer than a month “could be frightening,” said Travis Blaschek-Miller, spokesman at Bay-Bio, Northern California’s biotech and life-science industry group. 

San Francisco-based Symic Biomedical, which is studying treatments for osteoarthritis and cardiovascular ailments, last month won two federal research grants worth a total of $409,000. It was a godsend for the struggling company, said co-founder John Paderi, but now he can’t get the money. 

“If (the shutdown) carries on for a while, this could be a very big problem,” he said. A prolonged closure of the Securities and Exchange Commission could affect initial public offerings, said Jeffrey Vetter, a partner and securities lawyer at Fenwick & West. 

Twitter, for example, plans to raise up to $1 billion in its IPO, and The Wall Street Journal reported concern that a lengthy shutdown could interfere with its schedule. 

Even the mechanics of hiring are broken: The Department of Homeland Security closed its E-Verify program, which companies use to check the immigration status of job candidates. And we won’t know much about the job market because the Labor Department can’t issue reports. 

The U.S. Department of Education says a shutdown of more than one week “would severely curtail (its) cash flow to school districts, colleges and universities.” 

It is uncertain when that money will run out in California. However, “child care services for poor families and grants benefiting children of military families could be affected within days,” said state Education Department spokeswoman Tina Jung. Even the military isn’t immune, although active duty men and women are still being paid. Travis Air Force Base near Fairfield closed its commissary, library, education center and heritage center, and its medical center is curtailing elective surgeries after furloughing more than 700 civilian employees — almost half of those regularly on the base. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ website says VA claims for compensation, pensions, education and vocational rehabilitation “will be suspended when funds are exhausted.” The shutdown might add a month to the current 12- to 18-month backlog at the Oakland VA office, said Nathan Johnson, director of the Contra Costa County Veteran Service Office. “They’re used to waiting at this point,” he said.

Staff writer Dan Nakaso contributed to this report. Josh Richman covers politics. Contact him at 510-208-6428. Follow him at Twitter.com/josh_ richman. Read the Political Blotter at IBAbuzz. com/politics. 

that is one huge leap of faith for Delta!!

I will be concerned about flying in Delta.. I would expect them to have at least one emergency bag with all the essential manuals and map etc. Don't they know that Surface runs Microsoft OS? Which can crash anytime anywhere for any reason?? What if Pilot is looking for some critical information and Surface shows them blue screen r asks them to wait while they upgrade?

Having said that, I do agree that Microsoft Surface Pro is damn good replacement of PC. However, entire PC category is getting substituted by tablet category created by iPad.. But agreed that it is good win for Microsoft and clear message for them to spend more on tablet hardware and more importantly OS/ecosystem development.

Due to a very good friend, I happen to be using Surface tablet and I like it for basic PC type of activity. Microsoft's biggest asset is Office suite which makes Surface a very attractive combination from price/performance ratio. However, this logical attractiveness is still not strong enough to overcome love for iPad!!

All the best to Microsoft and Delta for their new adventure!!!

Surface 2 tablets fine fit for Delta

Airline set to buy 11,000 of the Microsoft devices

By Joshua Freed

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Delta Air Lines plans to buy 11,000 Microsoft Surface 2 tablets for its pilots to replace the heavy bundles of books and maps they haul around now.

Other airlines, including American and United, have been buying Apple’s iPad for that purpose.

Delta says the Surface tablets will save it $13 million per year in fuel and other costs. Right now, each pilot carries a 38-pound flight bag with manuals and maps.

Delta plans to test the tablets on its Boeing 757s and 767s, which are flown by the same group of pilots. The airline is hoping for Federal Aviation Administration approval next year to use the tablets throughout a flight, and it hopes to be using the devices on all of its other planes by the end of next year.

One reason Delta picked a Microsoft device was that it’s easier to give pilots separate sections for company and personal use, said Steve Dickson, Delta’s senior vice president for flight operations.

Pilots will be able to install personal software and keep their own items such as photos on the personal section of the devices, while another portion will be dedicated to Delta’s software, Dickson said.

“We trust them to manage that side of the device,” Dickson said.

Another reason for picking the Surface tablet is that Delta’s training software also runs on the same Windows operating system as the tablets, reducing the need to redo that software for another device, Dickson said.

Delta has already done a test program where pilots could bring their own devices, including iPads.

In August, Delta said its flight attendants will get Windows phones to process in-flight sales of food, better seats, and other items.

Microsoft announced last week that it is updating its tablet line, which includes the Surface 2s that Delta is buying. The Surface 2 is the cheaper of the two versions sold by Microsoft, retailing for $449 each. Dickson declined to say how much Delta is paying.

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MARK LENNIHAN/AP

Delta plans to buy 11,000 Microsoft Surface 2 tablets for its pilots to replace heavy bundles of books.