#and then i mixed up new mexico and arizona the first time but that's partly because i was already off kilter

[thebreakfastgenie]

New Hampshire is easy because it's right next to Maine!

[introvertguide]

Easy Rider (1969); AFI# 84

The current movie under review from the AFI top 100 is the counterculture road film, Easy Rider (1969). As a note for anybody looking for screen captures, this is also the title of a magazine with many scantily dressed women next to vehicles, so be specific with your google image search. The film combines the hippie lifestyle with the beatnik concept of being free from "the man." It spoke to a lot of Americans at the time who were fighting back against government restrictions on one hand and the freedom of Civil Rights on the other. The film ended up making almost 100x the budget and was one of the first super performing, low budget indie films. The film was written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern. It was produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It is funny to think about now, but it was basically Peter Fonda's hippie son and some of his buddies getting together and making a movie about a road trip. Well done! Before we go any further, let's get the normal warning out of the way...

SPOILER WARNING!!! I AM GOING TO SPOIL THE MOVIE THAT DOESN'T REALLY HAVE A MAJOR PLOT!!! WHAT STORY THERE IS I HAVE SPOILED SO WATCH THE FILM FIRST IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO RUIN IT FOR YOU!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

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Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) are freewheeling motorcyclists. After smuggling cocaine from Mexico to Los Angeles, they sell their haul and receive a large sum of money. With the cash stuffed into a plastic tube hidden inside the Stars & Stripes-painted fuel tank of Wyatt's California-style chopper, they ride eastward aiming to reach New Orleans, Louisiana, in time for the Mardi Gras festival. This all happens either in silence, in Spanish, or beneath the in-coming planes at an airport, so there really isn't any dialogue. It truly is exposition at the most basic level. What the director is basically communicating is "two guys got some money, here's how, now don't worry about it and enjoy the travel montage."

During their trip, Wyatt and Billy stop to repair a flat tire on Wyatt's bike at a farmstead in Arizona and have a meal with the farmer and his family. It is kind of interesting because Wyatt talks later about nobody being willing to help him, yet he is invited to use the barn and tools and then invited to have dinner with the whole family. Later, Wyatt picks up a hippie hitch-hiker, and he invites them to visit his commune, where they stay for the rest of the day. The notion of "free love" appears to be practiced, with two of the women, Lisa and Sarah, seemingly sharing the affections of the hitch-hiking commune member before turning their attention to Wyatt and Billy. The people at the commune seem to like Wyatt and want him to stay, but Billy doesn't seem to fit in and he is antsy to get back on the road. As the bikers leave, the hitch-hiker gives Wyatt some LSD for him to share with "the right people".

Further down the road, the two see a parade and playfully join the back. The pair are immediately arrested for "parading without a permit" and thrown in jail. There, they befriend lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), who has spent the night in jail after overindulging in alcohol. After the mention of having done work for the ACLU along with other conversation, George helps them get out of jail and decides to travel with Wyatt and Billy to New Orleans. As they camp that night, Wyatt and Billy introduce George to marijuana. As an alcoholic and a "square", George is reluctant to try it due to his fear of becoming "hooked" and it leading to worse drugs but he quickly relents. It is funny when Wyatt calls it "grass" and George doesn't know what that means. I don't know about other areas, but any 13-year-old where I live would most likely know what Wyatt was talking about.

Stopping to eat at a small-town Louisiana diner, the trio attract the attention of the locals. There is a booth packed with young girls next to a booth packed with what I can best describe as hicks. The girls in the restaurant think the trio are exciting, but the local men and a police officer make degrading comments and taunts. Wyatt, Billy, and George decide to leave without any fuss. They make camp outside town and talk about how their freedom scares a lot of people. In the middle of the night, a group of locals attack the sleeping trio, beating them with clubs. Billy screams and brandishes a knife, and the attackers leave. Wyatt and Billy suffer minor injuries, but George has been bludgeoned to death. Wyatt and Billy wrap George's body in his sleeping bag, gather his belongings, and vow to return the items to his family. This happens really fast and I wasn't really sure what had occurred or that George was dead. First time I saw this, I was looking at something else for 30 seconds and turned back to see Wyatt and Billy going through a wallet. I rewatched and the time between George going to sleep and the duo going through his wallet after death was about 37 seconds.

Wyatt and Billy continue to New Orleans and find a brothel that George had told them about. Taking prostitutes Karen (Karen Black) and Mary (Toni Basil) with them, Wyatt and Billy wander the parade-filled streets of the Mardi Gras celebration. They end up in a French Quarter cemetery, where all four ingest the LSD the hitch-hiker had given to Wyatt and experience a bad trip. I had to double check the name, but it is the same Toni Basil of "Oh Mickey, You're so fine, You're so fine you blow my mind, Hey Mickey!" fame.

The next morning, as they are overtaken on a two-lane country road by two local men in an older pickup truck, the passenger in the truck reaches for a shotgun, saying he will scare them. As they pass Billy, the passenger fires, and Billy has a lowside crash. The truck passes Wyatt who has stopped, and Wyatt rides back to Billy, finding him lying flat on the side of the road and covered in blood. Wyatt tells Billy he's going to get help and covers Billy's wound with his own leather jacket. Wyatt then rides down the road toward the pickup as it makes a U-turn.

Passing in the opposite direction, the passenger fires the shotgun again, this time through the driver's-side window. Wyatt's riderless motorcycle flies through the air and comes apart before landing and becoming engulfed in flames. A helicopter shot shows the carnage as the truck drives away and the credits roll.

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This movie is not what I would call my personal favorite, but many critics have praised it for the dialogue, visuals, and story. I am assuming when mention is made of the dialogue, it is in reference to Jack Nicholson, because the two lead characters are that mix of uncomfortable and annoying that you get with sometimes who is inebriated in some way. They repeat themselves, say phrases that make no sense and then laugh about it, and constantly say "what?" so the line is just repeated. The actors were often high during the making of the film and that is not at all surprising.

It seems funny to me that Dennis Hopper acted, directed, and partly wrote the script for the film, yet he gave himself the part of basically the third wheel. The character of Billy seems like he wants to be rich and have nice things but has fallen into the hippie lifestyle. He seems uncomfortable with the drug deal at the beginning. He doesn't want to pick up the hitcher. He wants to leave the commune and get back on the road. He insults George and has to apologize. He is the first to talk about the girls at the diner. He wants to go get prostitutes at the place that George talked about. He is the one that flips off the guys in the truck. Billy is the driving force of everything that goes wrong.

We can't talk about this film without mentioning the soundtrack, because it is kind of what the movie is famous for. Songs on the sound track include: "The Pusher" and "Born to Be Wild" (Steppenwolf), "The Weight" (The Band), "If 6 Was 9" (Jimi Hendrix), and "It's Alright, Ma" (Bob Dylan). Try putting this soundtrack on while driving and you will realize how perfect it is for a road trip. I don't think there has been a better grouping of driving songs.

So does this movie belong on the Top 100 American movies? Well, I guess. It was a watershed independent film during a time of major change in America and the world. It caught the interest of many in a generation and that is interesting enough to experience. Now would I recommend it? Not really. The film was kind of boring and the end is not satisfying. It is fascinating on many levels and I thought that the conversations that involved the character of George were good, but all lot of the movie is kind of slog. The campfire conversation between Wyatt, Billy and the hippie is just painful. It is maybe ironic, but this is a road trip movie that doesn't really move. It is worth watching if you are interested in the time period.

[brajeshupadhyay]

How the coronavirus’ spike is complicating hopes of a full economic recovery

But on Friday, Heitzmann was cut loose again, hours before her shift was to begin.

“I don’t have any savings left,” the 28-year-old said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to be before I get a paycheck again.”

Millions of American workers are suffering from economic whiplash, thinking they were finally returning to work only to be sent home again because of the coronavirus’s latest surge. Stores, restaurants, gyms and other businesses that reopened weeks ago are shuttering once more, and this time Congress appears less inclined to provide additional aid. Other companies that had banked on customers returning and restrictions lifting — such as hotel chains, construction firms and movie theaters — are seeing hours cut and reopening dates pushed back indefinitely as consumer demand stalls.

And many governors, including some who had drawn scrutiny for initially playing down the virus’s risks, are issuing new safety restrictions, in some cases just weeks after the first round of guidelines had begun to lift. In recent weeks, three states — California, Florida and Texas — have implemented new policies that partly restrict restaurant or bar service. Nine others — Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and North Carolina — have postponed or slowed reopening plans.

Thousands of workers are caught in these rapidly shifting seas, many of them hourly and low-wage service employees, and are now facing unemployment for a second time. They say the past few months have been jarring: navigating unemployment in March, preparing to go back to work in April or May, and now confronting the prospect of another long stretch without a paycheck.

This time, many say they’re on even shakier financial ground as they topple into yet another period without a job. They face what experts have begun calling a “fiscal cliff”: the July end date for the $600 in weekly supplemental aid that has helped keep so many families afloat.

“Luckily, I have rent for this month,” said Heitzmann, who pays $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. “But after that, I don’t know.”

For restaurants and bars, another big hit

For many restaurant and bar owners and workers, the past few weeks have brought an onslaught of bad news. Some said they watched wearily as infections began to tick up, just as they were starting to reopen after months of being closed.

Then came all the new cases.

Kell Duncan, who operates the Churchill, an indoor market in Phoenix with 10 shops and restaurants, described the bind restaurant owners have found themselves in with the caseload surging.

After cases crossed the 40,000 threshold in Arizona, he closed down the business and sent all 30 employees home for the second time — just a month after reopening — knowing that if he stayed open, someone would probably get sick.

“We’ve been lucky,” he said. “Ultimately, we said, ‘This just feels wrong. Let’s close and wait this thing out.’ “

Sherry Weir, who owns Big O’s Simply Delicious outside Fort Worth, made a similar choice, voluntarily shutting down her restaurant and deli on Friday.

The food service and bar industry — which employs more than 8 million people, or about 5 percent of the workforce before the pandemic — has been decimated by the virus, losing more than 6 million jobs in March and April. But a strong rebound of 1.4 million jobs in May helped drive down the country’s unemployment rate, sending hopes soaring that an economic recovery was underway. This new round of closures points to the significant challenges that will exist until a coronavirus treatment or vaccine is developed.

“It’s hard when there’s not been clear leadership and the population is getting mixed messages,” said Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine and economics at Stanford University. “How do we plan for economic restoration while protecting public health? It is a little bit of Whack-a-Mole. There’s not a great model for that.”

Pain sinks deeper into the economy

The rising number of cases has sent a cascade of fear across other industries, too, not just those directly affected by shutdowns.

Samantha Hartman, 29, an administrative assistant at Rosen Hotels in Orlando, had been preparing to return to work at the end of July. The company had told employees that business would be back to normal by then, she said.

But a follow-up last week from her employer confirmed the sinking suspicions she felt as cases spiked in the area: The reopening would be pushed back to August.

Hartman, who has a heart condition and relies on her job not only for her income but for its generous health-care plan, fears that that date will prove similarly quixotic, she said.

She’s concerned about the end, scheduled for late July, of the extra $600 a week in federally funded unemployment benefits. And she said she feels torn between waiting out the potential return to her work and applying for jobs in other fields that may be less vulnerable to the shutdown than the hospitality industry is.

“I’m in a weird place where I have no idea where my life stands a month out,” she said. “That’s very terrifying.”

Kadeem Howell, a physical therapist in New York, has spent the past week teaching himself how to trade stocks and options after being furloughed for the second time in three months.

When he was laid off in March, Howell relied on unemployment benefits to pay his bills. But he was called back to work in May at a Manhattan orthopedic clinic, a mixed blessing as he worried about bringing the virus back to his home in Westchester County, where he and his wife live with her parents, who are in their 70s.

His bosses gave him an ultimatum: He could show up for work or voluntarily terminate his position, which would’ve meant forfeiting unemployment insurance.

“I just kept thinking: Do I risk going on public transportation, going into the city, knowing I’m going into the epicenter of this disease?” he said. “It’s a very uncertain and frustrating time, but I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice. I decided to keep working.”

But he was furloughed again on June 15. He and his wife had hoped to buy a house this year but are putting their plans on hold.

“I feel stuck,” he said. “Do I stay on unemployment? Do I apply for a job somewhere else? Do I just wait and sit on my heels? There is no easy answer.”

No end in sight

The fresh round of closures is raising fears that the already challenged recovery could stall out.

The number of people who are continuously receiving unemployment insurance ticked down slightly last week, from 20.5 million to 19.5 million.

But there are those, such as Michael Hebert, 25, whose financial challenges aren’t captured in the weekly statistics.

Hebert is technically employed, but just barely: The 52 hours a week he used to work at a hot-dog eatery at the airport and the Harrah’s casino in New Orleans before the crisis have been cut down to eight, after he was summoned back to work a few weeks ago.

Hebert said he gets no sick time, vacation pay or health benefits from his work, just $10 an hour, which hardly pays the bills.

“It’s barely enough to pay a phone bill,” he said. “Two seconds, it’s gone. It’s a struggle because if we don’t meet the bills, we’re going to be on the streets.”

Scholars have begun debating how influential temporary shutdowns are on the country’s employment levels.

According to a preliminary study by two Harvard researchers, limitations at restaurants, bars and nonessential businesses accounted for 4.4 to 8.5 percent of the significant increase in unemployment in mid-March.

Public health experts said the threat of a new wave of closures is why stringent measures have been needed to prevent the virus’s spread.

“It’s an impossible choice,” said Emily Timm, a senior director at the Texas-based Workers Defense Project, a nonprofit organization that helps immigrant and undocumented workers. “People don’t want to risk their family’s health. But it’s not a choice if you don’t have access to the safety net or you were living paycheck to paycheck before the coronavirus hit.”

The organization has been issuing $750 grants to laid-off workers who weren’t eligible for unemployment insurance because of their documentation status. Timm said many of the recent beneficiaries are people who had gone back to work in the restaurant or hospitality industries only to be laid off again.

Hartman, the Orlando-based administrative assistant for Rosen Hotels, said she thinks elected officials in states with rising cases who minimized the threat of the virus are responsible for the increase — and the ensuing damage to the economy.

“The longer we stay open, the more our cases rise, the more it gets publicized in the news and the more it puts off people from coming here,” Hartman said. “So I think we should have stayed shut longer — that initial shutdown was less detrimental than shutting down a second time.”

There are some indications that factors beyond the shutdowns weigh more heavily on the economy.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis issued a recent report saying that businesses said declining demand from consumers was the top constraint on their recovery, ahead of social distancing requirements and concerns about their workers’ health.

“The pace of business reopening has to be completely in sync with the amount that demand is going up,” one of the authors, Charles S. Gascon, an economist at the bank, said in an interview. “It’s not like there’s an on or off switch in the economy that you flip and things go back to normal. Things have to get back up to whatever the new normal is.”

Only four states — New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota and Vermont, representing just 4 percent of the U.S. population — are meeting all the federal criteria for reopening, according to a recent report from Goldman Sachs.

Back in Phoenix, Duncan says it could be months before he opens the Churchill again.

He and his team spent weeks rethinking layouts, adding foot pedals to doors and installing hand sanitizer stations after the business closed the first time, in mid-March. They kept paying employees — first from their own pockets and then with money from a $200,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan.

But Duncan said he still had a nagging feeling that he wasn’t doing enough to protect workers and customers, as the number of coronavirus cases around him ballooned. There was little guidance from local officials, and he couldn’t get clear answers from his insurance company about what would happen if there were an outbreak at the Churchill.

He has deferred his monthly mortgage payments, but he says the uncertainty of when — or how — to reopen has been debilitating.

Weir and her husband, who own the deli outside Fort Worth, told their staff that they’re closing for two weeks. But they have a plan, should they need to remain dark through the end of the year: using money from a small loan they took out to expand their business during more auspicious times to keep it and its eight employees afloat now.

But there are more important considerations than the health of the business at the moment.

“It was just a matter of time before we got sick, or somebody else did because they were in our establishment,” Weir said. “I don’t want any part in that.”

The post How the coronavirus’ spike is complicating hopes of a full economic recovery appeared first on Sansaar Times.

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[dipulb3]

US coronavirus: Texas governor orders further restrictions | Appradab

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/us-coronavirus-texas-governor-orders-further-restrictions-appradab/

US coronavirus: Texas governor orders further restrictions | Appradab

“Presently, it’s clear that the rise in circumstances is basically pushed by sure forms of actions, together with Texans congregating in bars,” Gov. Greg Abbott stated Friday in a information launch.

That adopted Florida reporting one more report of recent circumstances — virtually 9,000 in simply sooner or later.

Sixty-four counties in Florida had been in Section 2, which allowed eating places, bars, and different distributors licensed to promote alcoholic drinks, except nightclubs, to operated bars.

Nationwide, virtually 40,000 coronavirus cases were reported Thursday, surpassing a earlier one-day excessive on April 24, in keeping with Johns Hopkins College. The nation is averaging extra new circumstances per day than ever, with a seven-day common of 33,035 on Thursday, a Appradab evaluation of the Johns Hopkins information exhibits.

“One thing’s not working,” Dr. Anthony Fauci stated of the nation’s present method.

In a single day, Arizona and New Mexico joined Texas and eight different states in pausing their reopening plans.

The developments mark a “heartbreaking scenario” that calls for stricter actions instantly, stated Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor School of Medication in Houston.

“We have now to save lots of lives at this level,” he instructed Appradab on Friday morning, earlier than Abbott’s order.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler stated Covid-19 beds might be at capability in the course of July at this fee.

“Pausing won’t make issues higher,” Adler instructed Appradab on Friday. “We have to do one thing that is totally different than that. The established order won’t shield us.”

The sudden spike in confirmed cases in recent days is not any shock, one other well being professional stated.

“Each epidemiologist was telling, screaming as loud as we may, that three weeks after Memorial Day, we might have a peak within the circumstances, and 5 weeks after Memorial Day we might start to see a peak in hospitalizations and deaths,” epidemiologist Larry Good instructed Appradab on Thursday night time.

“For those who let everyone out with out face masks and with out social distancing in the course of a pandemic, that is what was predicted.”

And whereas greater than 2.four million circumstances have been identified nationwide because the pandemic began, the quantity of people that have been contaminated is more likely to be 10 occasions as excessive. Antibody assessments present greater than 20 million individuals have been contaminated with coronavirus, most of them with out understanding it, stated Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

Antibody assessments study an individual’s blood for indicators that the immune system responded to an an infection. Federal officers have been conducting such assessments nationwide to find out how many individuals had previous undiagnosed infections.

“A superb tough estimate now’s 10 to 1,” Redfield stated.

Between 5% and eight% of People have been contaminated with the coronavirus, with the numbers various by area. New York, as soon as the epicenter of the pandemic, could have the next proportion of individuals with previous infections than some states within the West, Redfield stated.

Meaning 90% or extra haven’t been contaminated and are vulnerable to the virus, highlighting the necessity to act aggressively to fight rising an infection charges, he stated.

Some circumstances went unnoticed partly as a result of testing was at first restricted to individuals who had been very unwell, Redfield stated. As extra individuals get examined, he added, it is clear a big proportion had gentle signs or none in any respect.

Fauci, the nation’s prime infectious illness professional, stated Friday that the White Home coronavirus process pressure is “seriously considering” pool testing and acknowledged to The Washington Submit that the Trump administration’s present technique is not sufficient.

“Pool testing” mixes a number of individuals’s virus take a look at samples right into a batch, or pool, after which assessments the pooled pattern as soon as. If it comes again unfavourable, then all individuals within the batch may be eradicated directly. If the result’s optimistic, every particular person’s pattern will get analyzed individually.

The mass screening proposal remains to be within the dialogue stage and isn’t anticipated to be introduced on the process pressure briefing later Friday, Fauci instructed Appradab.

States postpone reopening plans

Coronavirus has killed greater than 124,000 individuals in the USA, and confirmed circumstances are surging in a majority of the nation.

To date, 32 states are reporting a rise in new coronavirus circumstances this week as in comparison with the prior week. Eleven of them report a 50% enhance or larger. They embrace Montana, Idaho, Vermont, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri and Mississippi.

Miami started requiring masks in public at 5 p.m. Thursday, and Mayor Francis Suarez says DeSantis ought to do the identical for the entire state.

“I’d advocate it. I do not see a draw back,” Suarez instructed Appradab on Friday, noting the state’s pandemic is “4 occasions extra intense than it was in March.”

Going with no masks in public in Miami may convey a tremendous of as much as $500 for repeat offenders.

Of a attainable stay-at-home order, Suarez stated, “All choices are on the desk.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey stated at a information convention Thursday, “It is rising, and it is rising quick throughout all age teams and demographics. Anybody can get this virus, and anybody can unfold this virus.”

Arizona well being officers reported new circumstances topping 3,000 as of final week, a tempo that might quickly overwhelm hospital intensive care services, the governor stated. “We count on that our numbers might be worse subsequent week and the week following,” Ducey stated.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott paused any additional phases to reopen because the state recorded almost 6,000 Covid-19 circumstances Thursday.

“It is fairly dire,” Hotez stated.

Abbott’s strikes got here as his state, California and Florida — the three-most populous — set data for new coronavirus cases.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis additionally indicated his state wouldn’t be transferring to calm down current restrictions. So did Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, who stated the state is placing additional financial reopening plans on maintain.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a finances emergency to release $16 billion to struggle the pandemic. The state’s hospitals have seen a 32% enhance in sufferers with coronavirus over the previous two weeks, he stated.

US Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-California and a physician, says many counties reopened too rapidly.

“At the least in my county, Riverside County, certainly they opened the economic system too early,” Ruiz stated on Friday. “The counties that you simply’re seeing with the speed of transmission and the upper rise are the counties that opened too early.”

The listing of most weak is up to date

Initially of the pandemic, well being consultants did not deal with youthful individuals as a result of the precedence was the older inhabitants and people with underlying well being situations.

With the rising numbers, some states are warning that the virus is affecting a wider vary of individuals. Extra youthful individuals testing optimistic is a “smoldering fireplace” that may hit weak populations, stated Erin Bromage, a Appradab medical analyst and a biology professor on the College of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

In the meantime, federal well being officers up to date the listing of who’s most susceptible to extreme issues from Covid-19.

The CDC added gentle weight problems to a listing that features the aged, individuals with lung or kidney illness, and people with diabetes. Individuals with average to extreme bronchial asthma are additionally at larger danger together with pregnant girls, the CDC stated. These with heart problems, power kidney illness and power obstructive pulmonary illness are additionally at larger danger, the CDC’s Dr. Jay Butler stated.

So are these with situations similar to sickle cell illness, poorly managed HIV an infection, bone marrow transplants or an organ transplant.

The CDC additionally eliminated the precise age threshold, saying it isn’t simply these over age 65 who’re at elevated danger for extreme sickness.

Appradab’s Maggie Fox, Jen Christensen, Jennifer Henderson and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report.

[investmart007]

TIJUANA, Mexico  | Group running asylum caravan fears spotlight comes at a cost

New Post has been published on https://is.gd/JN4EQY

TIJUANA, Mexico  | Group running asylum caravan fears spotlight comes at a cost

TIJUANA, Mexico — The group that organized a monthlong caravan of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States wanted to draw attention to the plight of people fleeing violence. If headlines are any measure, it has been a smashing success.

President Donald Trump and Cabinet members have called the caravan a deliberate attempt to overwhelm U.S. authorities and proof that more must be done to secure the border with Mexico, including construction of a wall. The rhetoric from the White House and its allies has also fueled an outpouring of support from Mexicans and Americans, with food and other staples, financial contributions, free legal advice and offers of a place to live in the U.S.

Roberto Corona, founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, considers the intense spotlight a mixed blessing. It has raised public awareness of the toll of violence in Central America, but he said it may sharpen a crackdown by the U.S. government.

“We want to show the humanity of this, not the politics,” Corona said. “It’s not about the wall.”

Caravan organizers have been pilloried by the Trump administration. Vice President Mike Pence said during a California border tour Monday that the asylum seekers were being “exploited by open-border political activists and an agenda-driven media.” U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday he was sending more prosecutors and immigration judges to the border.

Trump has used the caravan to try to build support for his wall — even though the asylum seekers generally turn themselves in to border inspectors — and to call for an end to so-called “catch-and-release” laws and court rulings that allow some asylum seekers to remain free while their cases wind through immigration court, which can take several years.

The latest caravan marks an evolution of Easter-season migrant protests that started around 2008, usually sponsored by Catholic priests who ran shelters. For the first few years, they seldom did more than advance through the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, often dressing in Biblical garb and carrying crosses in processions meant to echo Jesus’ walk to his crucifixion and to protest the violence they suffered themselves.

They drew little attention, partly because thousands of Central Americans were openly streaming north through Mexico aboard freight trains every day, headed for the U.S. border.

When Mexico cracked down on its southern border and migrants riding trains in 2014, the processions became higher profile. They were a way to defy the government “blockade” of the trains and the highway checkpoints where buses were searched. The 2014 caravan was effectively broken up by Mexican police in the southern state of Tabasco.

Even after the government began to take a more hands-off approach, the caravans seldom got as far as Mexico City, though some smaller groups made it to the U.S. border.

Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which Corona created at Southern Methodist University in 2008 to ensure Latino day laborers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area got fair treatment from employers, participated in the 2014 caravan but didn’t organize its own until last year. The loose-knit group has established two shelters in northern Mexico near the Arizona border but still has no office or paid employees, said Corona, who now lives in San Diego.

The group’s first caravan of Central Americans traversed Mexico last April and May, reaching about 600 people at one point and dwindling to about 100 by the time it reached Tijuana, organizers said. Most sought asylum. Few noticed.

Its second caravan in November attracted about 700 people when arrived in central Mexico but dropped to about 200 in Tijuana, including about 80 who sought asylum, Corona said.

Its third caravan has grabbed the most attention by far, departing March 25 from Tapachula, a city of 300,000 in a major coffee-growing region where Pueblo Sin Fronteras had posted flyers in migrant shelters and held meetings in a city park. Central Americans walked for days on roads and train tracks, at one point reaching more than 1,000 people.

During the first week of April, organizer Irineo Mujica said Trump’s attacks brought more attention and made the effort more difficult to manage. “We do not believe in, nor do we want, a caravan of this size,” he said.

But the conspicuousness came with advantages, too, namely in the form of assistance from the Mexican authorities who had once targeted such travelers.

Valmore Ramirez Cortez, a 32-year-old Salvadoran government worker, had battled coughing and fever while hopping trains whose surfaces were scorching hot by and cold at night. His outlook improved in the southern state of Oaxaca when he, his 18-year-old nephew and two teenage sons got 20-day permits to stay in Mexico. There were police and Red Cross escorts along the way.

On Sunday, after two days of legal orientation arranged by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, nearly 200 asylum seekers marched through Tijuana to a U.S. border inspection facility only to be told it had reached its capacity to process asylum claims for the day. By the following afternoon, the first few caravan members had been allowed inside to begin making their cases to be allowed to live in the U.S.

As the caravan neared the border, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said people fleeing violence should seek protection in the first safe country they enter, meaning Mexico. But Ramirez, who fled his country Jan. 31 after a gang killed two of his brothers and promised that he and his nephew would be next if they didn’t join, said he won’t feel comfortable until reaching the United States for good. He hopes to join a cousin in Maryland.

“I don’t come for money or work, I come out of necessity,” Ramirez said while reading a Christian-inspired book under a tarp at the Tijuana border crossing, waiting his turn. “There is nothing more beautiful than living in the country where you were born.”

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By Associated Press – published on STL.News by St. Louis Media, LLC (A.S)

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[brajeshupadhyay]

But on Friday, Heitzmann was cut loose again, hours before her shift was to begin. “I don’t have any savings left,” the 28-year-old said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to be before I get a paycheck again.” Millions of American workers are suffering from economic whiplash, thinking they were finally returning to work only to be sent home again because of the coronavirus’s latest surge. Stores, restaurants, gyms and other businesses that reopened weeks ago are shuttering once more, and this time Congress appears less inclined to provide additional aid. Other companies that had banked on customers returning and restrictions lifting — such as hotel chains, construction firms and movie theaters — are seeing hours cut and reopening dates pushed back indefinitely as consumer demand stalls. And many governors, including some who had drawn scrutiny for initially playing down the virus’s risks, are issuing new safety restrictions, in some cases just weeks after the first round of guidelines had begun to lift. In recent weeks, three states — California, Florida and Texas — have implemented new policies that partly restrict restaurant or bar service. Nine others — Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and North Carolina — have postponed or slowed reopening plans. Thousands of workers are caught in these rapidly shifting seas, many of them hourly and low-wage service employees, and are now facing unemployment for a second time. They say the past few months have been jarring: navigating unemployment in March, preparing to go back to work in April or May, and now confronting the prospect of another long stretch without a paycheck. This time, many say they’re on even shakier financial ground as they topple into yet another period without a job. They face what experts have begun calling a “fiscal cliff”: the July end date for the $600 in weekly supplemental aid that has helped keep so many families afloat. “Luckily, I have rent for this month,” said Heitzmann, who pays $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. “But after that, I don’t know.” For restaurants and bars, another big hit For many restaurant and bar owners and workers, the past few weeks have brought an onslaught of bad news. Some said they watched wearily as infections began to tick up, just as they were starting to reopen after months of being closed. Then came all the new cases. Kell Duncan, who operates the Churchill, an indoor market in Phoenix with 10 shops and restaurants, described the bind restaurant owners have found themselves in with the caseload surging. After cases crossed the 40,000 threshold in Arizona, he closed down the business and sent all 30 employees home for the second time — just a month after reopening — knowing that if he stayed open, someone would probably get sick. “We’ve been lucky,” he said. “Ultimately, we said, ‘This just feels wrong. Let’s close and wait this thing out.’ “ Sherry Weir, who owns Big O’s Simply Delicious outside Fort Worth, made a similar choice, voluntarily shutting down her restaurant and deli on Friday. The food service and bar industry — which employs more than 8 million people, or about 5 percent of the workforce before the pandemic — has been decimated by the virus, losing more than 6 million jobs in March and April. But a strong rebound of 1.4 million jobs in May helped drive down the country’s unemployment rate, sending hopes soaring that an economic recovery was underway. This new round of closures points to the significant challenges that will exist until a coronavirus treatment or vaccine is developed. “It’s hard when there’s not been clear leadership and the population is getting mixed messages,” said Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine and economics at Stanford University. “How do we plan for economic restoration while protecting public health? It is a little bit of Whack-a-Mole. There’s not a great model for that.” Pain sinks deeper into the economy The rising number of cases has sent a cascade of fear across other industries, too, not just those directly affected by shutdowns. Samantha Hartman, 29, an administrative assistant at Rosen Hotels in Orlando, had been preparing to return to work at the end of July. The company had told employees that business would be back to normal by then, she said. But a follow-up last week from her employer confirmed the sinking suspicions she felt as cases spiked in the area: The reopening would be pushed back to August. Hartman, who has a heart condition and relies on her job not only for her income but for its generous health-care plan, fears that that date will prove similarly quixotic, she said. She’s concerned about the end, scheduled for late July, of the extra $600 a week in federally funded unemployment benefits. And she said she feels torn between waiting out the potential return to her work and applying for jobs in other fields that may be less vulnerable to the shutdown than the hospitality industry is. “I’m in a weird place where I have no idea where my life stands a month out,” she said. “That’s very terrifying.” Kadeem Howell, a physical therapist in New York, has spent the past week teaching himself how to trade stocks and options after being furloughed for the second time in three months. When he was laid off in March, Howell relied on unemployment benefits to pay his bills. But he was called back to work in May at a Manhattan orthopedic clinic, a mixed blessing as he worried about bringing the virus back to his home in Westchester County, where he and his wife live with her parents, who are in their 70s. His bosses gave him an ultimatum: He could show up for work or voluntarily terminate his position, which would’ve meant forfeiting unemployment insurance. “I just kept thinking: Do I risk going on public transportation, going into the city, knowing I’m going into the epicenter of this disease?” he said. “It’s a very uncertain and frustrating time, but I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice. I decided to keep working.” But he was furloughed again on June 15. He and his wife had hoped to buy a house this year but are putting their plans on hold. “I feel stuck,” he said. “Do I stay on unemployment? Do I apply for a job somewhere else? Do I just wait and sit on my heels? There is no easy answer.” No end in sight The fresh round of closures is raising fears that the already challenged recovery could stall out. The number of people who are continuously receiving unemployment insurance ticked down slightly last week, from 20.5 million to 19.5 million. But there are those, such as Michael Hebert, 25, whose financial challenges aren’t captured in the weekly statistics. Hebert is technically employed, but just barely: The 52 hours a week he used to work at a hot-dog eatery at the airport and the Harrah’s casino in New Orleans before the crisis have been cut down to eight, after he was summoned back to work a few weeks ago. Hebert said he gets no sick time, vacation pay or health benefits from his work, just $10 an hour, which hardly pays the bills. “It’s barely enough to pay a phone bill,” he said. “Two seconds, it’s gone. It’s a struggle because if we don’t meet the bills, we’re going to be on the streets.” Scholars have begun debating how influential temporary shutdowns are on the country’s employment levels. According to a preliminary study by two Harvard researchers, limitations at restaurants, bars and nonessential businesses accounted for 4.4 to 8.5 percent of the significant increase in unemployment in mid-March. Public health experts said the threat of a new wave of closures is why stringent measures have been needed to prevent the virus’s spread. “It’s an impossible choice,” said Emily Timm, a senior director at the Texas-based Workers Defense Project, a nonprofit organization that helps immigrant and undocumented workers. “People don’t want to risk their family’s health. But it’s not a choice if you don’t have access to the safety net or you were living paycheck to paycheck before the coronavirus hit.” The organization has been issuing $750 grants to laid-off workers who weren’t eligible for unemployment insurance because of their documentation status. Timm said many of the recent beneficiaries are people who had gone back to work in the restaurant or hospitality industries only to be laid off again. Hartman, the Orlando-based administrative assistant for Rosen Hotels, said she thinks elected officials in states with rising cases who minimized the threat of the virus are responsible for the increase — and the ensuing damage to the economy. “The longer we stay open, the more our cases rise, the more it gets publicized in the news and the more it puts off people from coming here,” Hartman said. “So I think we should have stayed shut longer — that initial shutdown was less detrimental than shutting down a second time.” There are some indications that factors beyond the shutdowns weigh more heavily on the economy. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis issued a recent report saying that businesses said declining demand from consumers was the top constraint on their recovery, ahead of social distancing requirements and concerns about their workers’ health. “The pace of business reopening has to be completely in sync with the amount that demand is going up,” one of the authors, Charles S. Gascon, an economist at the bank, said in an interview. “It’s not like there’s an on or off switch in the economy that you flip and things go back to normal. Things have to get back up to whatever the new normal is.” Only four states — New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota and Vermont, representing just 4 percent of the U.S. population — are meeting all the federal criteria for reopening, according to a recent report from Goldman Sachs. Back in Phoenix, Duncan says it could be months before he opens the Churchill again. He and his team spent weeks rethinking layouts, adding foot pedals to doors and installing hand sanitizer stations after the business closed the first time, in mid-March. They kept paying employees — first from their own pockets and then with money from a $200,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan. But Duncan said he still had a nagging feeling that he wasn’t doing enough to protect workers and customers, as the number of coronavirus cases around him ballooned. There was little guidance from local officials, and he couldn’t get clear answers from his insurance company about what would happen if there were an outbreak at the Churchill. He has deferred his monthly mortgage payments, but he says the uncertainty of when — or how — to reopen has been debilitating. Weir and her husband, who own the deli outside Fort Worth, told their staff that they’re closing for two weeks. But they have a plan, should they need to remain dark through the end of the year: using money from a small loan they took out to expand their business during more auspicious times to keep it and its eight employees afloat now. But there are more important considerations than the health of the business at the moment. “It was just a matter of time before we got sick, or somebody else did because they were in our establishment,” Weir said. “I don’t want any part in that.” The post How the coronavirus’ spike is complicating hopes of a full economic recovery appeared first on Sansaar Times.

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