Walrus Whisperer
Hope in chains...
You CAN can or dehydrate meat. I've never dehydrated chicken, know it can be done. Bacon can be canned. I've made hamburger rocks. Not the best tasting things, but it beats starving.
PREP Regardless of What You Think About the Virus, Things Are About to Change
- Thread starter Hfcomms
- Start date
mourningdove
Pura Vida in my garden
I took care of my propane last month.
jazzy
Advocate Discernment
Covid-19 in Sweden - charts and statistics
Current data on Covid-19 focused on information that is interesting from a Swedish perspectivewww.covid19insweden.com
Sweden's population is over 8.8 million.
For comparision, the Tampa Bay Metro Area, including Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, is about 3.1 million est.
Sweden has reported 73263 total cases, according to the above website.
They have reported 5465 deaths. Deaths as a percentage of reported cases, about 7.5%
Hillsborough County, including Tampa:
Total Cases: 14,677
Deaths: 158
Deaths as a percentage of reported cases in Tampa, just over 1%
Pinellas County, including St. Petersburg & Clearwater:
Total Cases: 8,759
Deaths: 199
Deaths as a percentage of reported cases in Pinellas County, about 2.2%
It appears we may be doing much better than Sweden, either in managing the care of the infected, or doing a much better job of testing and tallying cases.
that is very interesting about sweden, thanks. im also wondering about the strain(s) sweden has, if its the same in the US or stronger to get that 7.5% death rate. but it could be several factors together.
yeah, i think we are in a wjhole new ball game but havent figured out all the new rules just yet.
willowlady
Veteran Member
According to this post, China knew about Covid-19 back in 2014: CORONA - EXCLUSIVE: New Evidence Confirms China Lied – Current Coronavirus is Not New and Was Identified Back in 2014
Sorry, OP, but I'm not buying that much doom and gloom due to the virus. Viruses have been with us forever, and will be forever. What's going on by political radicals taking advantage of the virus-induced environment (can't sing in Church but riots... er... protests are fine) is a different issue altogether. If Trump loses the election, we will indeed be hunkering down for the long-term to the best of our ability. Luckily, we moved last fall fairly far aware from da big city (Portland, OR) where it was obvious that things were going to hell in a handbasket at near FTL speed. We've already done quite a bit to be able to ride out the storms.
Sorry, OP, but I'm not buying that much doom and gloom due to the virus. Viruses have been with us forever, and will be forever. What's going on by political radicals taking advantage of the virus-induced environment (can't sing in Church but riots... er... protests are fine) is a different issue altogether. If Trump loses the election, we will indeed be hunkering down for the long-term to the best of our ability. Luckily, we moved last fall fairly far aware from da big city (Portland, OR) where it was obvious that things were going to hell in a handbasket at near FTL speed. We've already done quite a bit to be able to ride out the storms.
RACE - Interesting interview, Fernando Aguirre and Matt Bracken is a new must-hear Matt Bracken interview that is relevant to all of the above.
Meemur
Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
Fauci said there would be a second wave, so there WILL be a second wave.
He is an authority. He knows stuff. He's been right every time so far.
I wish I had never heard of the guy! What a piece of work.
I do believe there will be a second wave in late summer or early fall, but I'm going more on what happened in 1918, not his predictions.
Corona won't "wave". There is ample evidence that the suppression method they've been so far invested in to "flatten the curve" has actually done a grave disservice to the world. Instead of quarantining the healthy they should have made it possible for the medically at risk to shelter in place. It would have prevented an untold number of deaths.
What we are seeing is the inevitable break down of the suppression method. And as a coronavirus it is also inevitable that some form of it will continue in the cool and damp weather that will eventually make itself felt.
What we are seeing is the inevitable break down of the suppression method. And as a coronavirus it is also inevitable that some form of it will continue in the cool and damp weather that will eventually make itself felt.
I'd say can up most if not all of that meat. Then you won't have to worry about finding a freezer, or paying for the electricity to run it, or cooking when things are crazy and/or you're sick.
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bassaholic
Veteran Member
Mask wearing is a precursor of the coming mark of the beast system. Currently, I cannot buy/sell without one.
Next is the vaccine.
Next is the vaccine.
psychgirl
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Honestly, I’m more worried about this fall than what’s happening right now. I’m extremely vulnerable to the first rounds of those last fall infections that start up. Without fail, I catch at least one and end up on abx for a bronchial infection that’s usually pretty intense.
If I could I’d not leave the house after Halloween.
But that’s fantasy land for those of us who HAVE to work.
Michiana MaJo
Deceased
Some of you may recall that awhile ago, the CDC said it was going to add in cases of seasonal flu, this fall, along with CoVid ones......that will help give them their second wave!
abby normal
insert appropriate adjective here
My two cents, there will be a new virus rolled out in October that will make the corona look like child's play. Corona is old news and people are burned out hearing about it (short attention spans and all that) so here comes something new and improved .
It will coincide with another major disaster, possibly natural/earth related (resulting in grid failure) and a big financial boom for some frosting on the cake.
If I'm the bad guys I'm pulling out all the stops in October. Election coming up, plus much of the US will be heading into winter. That will be the ideal time to strike.
It will coincide with another major disaster, possibly natural/earth related (resulting in grid failure) and a big financial boom for some frosting on the cake.
If I'm the bad guys I'm pulling out all the stops in October. Election coming up, plus much of the US will be heading into winter. That will be the ideal time to strike.
I feel your pain and sympathize. My mother has chronic bronchitis (finally under control despite the mess the world is in). Last two years we've been able to find her triggers and illiminate/avoid as much as possible. She has COPD from years of living with a smoker as well as growing up in a house of smokers. Lucky for us she is resilient. My hubs and I also offered my parents our old house when is just a couple of houses down the street and we are moving them in in August. My parents jumped at the chance so fast after years of "we're never moving back to the city" that it actually caught us off guard. Honestly I'll be relieved not to have to make the three hour drive one-way to take them groceries and such and I'll be able to help out in other ways. Also will be more opportunities for their grandchildren to do their part as well.
Looks Harmless
Bite Me
We purchased a countertop ice maker and it has been an awesome buy. It can make 26lbs of ice in 24hrs. We just fill some gallon ziploc bags and keep them in the freezer. We always have ice and no longer have to make trips to town to buy over priced bags. Something you may want to look into.
We got one of those about three years ago on clearance after DH fixed the ice maker on our Kitchenaid fridge until it couldn't be fixed any more. We love it! They don't have a long life expectancy but ours is still going strong. I did trays for a while but we use a lot of ice and I needed the freezer room back.
Our fridge worked fine other than the ice maker so I wasn't inclined to go spend a couple thousand on a new one. Also, I like that I can use water from the Berkey in it. I do the freezer bag thing too since I only run it long enough to build up our ice supply and that may be why it's lasted as long as it has.
That’s because he’s behind itFauci said there would be a second wave, so there WILL be a second wave.
He is an authority. He knows stuff. He's been right every time so far.
abby normal
insert appropriate adjective here
I believe the bioweapon was designed to do exactly this. Young strong brainwashed people make good slaves. Older folks with knowledge and strong values just drain resources.
Makes me sick.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Fauci said there would be a second wave, so there WILL be a second wave.
He is an authority. He knows stuff. He's been right every time so far.
Yep. Just like the CDC.
Marseydoats
Veteran Member
I'm old with a heck of a lot of health issues, and I can still work all the millennials I work with into the ground.
Hfcomms
EN66iq
His agency of which he leads did help fund gain of function research projects of people working at the Wuhon lab. He knows full well why this particular virus has such an affinity for human ace-2 receptors. Some research shouldn’t be done and especially with the Chinese that have proven to be very sloppy with their biosafety facilities.
Zagdid
Veteran Member
Yep, as of the first of the month, the SNAP program went back to it's normal payout amount.
I just got back from the dentist. Masks REQUIRED until you're actually sitting in the chair. Then I was given an "anti-viral mouth rinse" before they'd work on me. And they can't use the ultrasonic cleaner-probe anymore because is generates "airborne particulates."
Hfcomms
EN66iq
The Chinese have other problems as well. Due to the population explosion and culture male babies are much preferred to female so you have a lot more young Chinese men than women. Lot's of frustrated Chinks dancing with themselves. Great to have a 'managed' society, eh?
bassaholic
Veteran Member
I understand it fine.
And if I didn't, why would you question me being a Christian?
When it comes to prophecy people interpret things many different ways. Even several scholars together won't agree on everything. Also, maybe one, you?, could be more far along on your understanding that another so to say a person isn't even Christian because they don't see it like you do is pure ignorance. I have to question if you have the Spirit of Christ in you (as scripture recommends).
Zagdid
Veteran Member
As Alabamians sleep on pavement for benefits, state unemployment fund runs low
Alabama may have to turn to the federal government to shore up its unemployment fund within 2 months. Meanwhile people wait in line overnight for help.
www.montgomeryadvertiser.com
As Alabamians sleep on pavement for benefits, state unemployment fund runs low
Melissa Brown, Montgomery AdvertiserPublished 3:26 p.m. CT June 26, 2020 | Updated 11:30 p.m. CT June 29, 2020
The Montgomery sky over the Alabama State University campus was rapidly developing from twilight blue to dusky navy when the rain began to fall on the two women.
The two pulled tote bags from their sedan before one shrugged into a yellow rain coat, stuffing her pockets with last-minute essentials. After one woman slung a folding chair over her shoulder, the two began their way toward the ASU Acadome, their heads bowed against a now-driving rain.
It was 8:30 p.m., and they were preparing to set up camp outside of Alabama's makeshift unemployment claims help center. It would be 12 hours until doors opened, and the two women weren't even the first in line when they arrived on the rainy Wednesday evening.
A line of unemployed or underemployed Alabamians has formed in Montgomery parking lots for weeks, first at the Cramton Bowl and later at the ASU Acadome, with thousands of people huddling through the night in hopes of receiving their version of a Golden Ticket: a numbered spot in line to speak to one of a handful of Alabama Department of Labor employees in person.
For many, it’s a last-ditch to receive unemployment benefits when phone call lines remain jammed, benefits are frozen for obscure reason and savings run out, if they existed in the first place. Amid an unprecedented global pandemic, many Alabamians can't afford to lose the maximum $275 Alabama unemployment weekly benefit, or the $600 CARES federal subsidy that will end next month.
The Alabama Department of Labor has been, by all accounts, overwhelmed. The department has received 576,314 unemployment claims to date. The department is staffed enough to field less than 4% of the calls it receives per day, according to department estimates, and staff trained to legally handle unemployment claim issues are only based in Montgomery.
"Unfortunately, we urge patience. I know everyone has very little of it at this point," spokesperson Tara Hutchinson said. "We understand the frustration, the anger. We understand the questions."
The state unemployment fund is also on track for insolvency by the end of the summer. A department spokesperson confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday that, if trends continue, it will follow other states in borrowing from federal funds to stay afloat in one to two months.
Desperation in Montgomery is so high a black market system has emerged: A security guard on Thursday morning, shouting to the crowd, said anyone caught selling a ticket would be "prosecuted." One woman, who declined to give her name to the Montgomery Advertiser, confirmed she had been present on Tuesday and saw people bartering over ticket slots, asking $100 to $200 for the brightly colored rectangle that can get you through the Acadome doors.
Ten hours after the first people set up camp in a pouring rain, chaos descended on the steaming asphalt in front of the Acadome. Hundreds of people were awaiting in a long, quasi-socially distanced line when conflicting instructions from a security guard and staff caused a rush to a single file line in front of the door.
Shouting broke out among groups afraid people had cut in the line, a critical issue if there were more people than tickets that day. One man shouted at people to distance themselves due to coronavirus concerns, while another woman stood off to the side, nervously eyeing the line her husband, a kidney transplant recipient, was standing in.
"Let's get some respect and order," one staff member yelled over the crowd. "If there's going to be any sign of disorder, my order will be for everyone to go home." The security guard told people they had to raise their hand if they wanted to leave the line to go to the restroom.
"Please don't cut the line off," one woman pleaded. "We've been here since 3 this morning."
Victor Hogans, a former poultry plant worker who drove through the night from Dothan, tried to number people off in the line, in the hopes it would quell people's nerves. He was shouted down, but wasn't angry at the people around him.
"They're frustrated with their bills, caring for their kids. The coronavirus has gotten people messed up. People have to pay for medicine, they have to pay for food. They can't pay for their car bills, their cars are being repossessed. People can't get no help," Hogans said. "People have been let down and disappointed for so long. The people are frustrated. Many people had already had financial issues and problems, and now they really have problems. It's tearing families apart. People have been out here a long time. It causes your cup to runneth over, and it causes a domino effect."
Insolvency of Alabama unemployment fund
On March 18, days after the first coronavirus case was diagnosed in Alabama, Alabama's unemployment fund — funded through employer taxes paid in the first fiscal quarter — had a little over $704 million. By mid-May, an historic rush of unemployment claims had depleted its coffers to $490 million.
In the next four weeks, the fund paid out another $149 million. As of Friday, June 19, $341 million was left in the fund.
“We expect this trust fund to remain solvent for anywhere for a month to two months,” said Tara Hutchinson, communications director at the Department of Labor. “Basically, every two weeks we’re paying a regular year’s worth of benefits.”
If current trends continue, the department does “expect the trust fund to become insolvent if that happens.”
The situation isn’t without precedent. California, Ohio and other states have already informed the federal government they will need to borrow to keep state funds afloat. Alabama did the same during the Great Recession, Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the department is receiving an "overwhelming" amount of calls per day, up to 210,000 a day with 300 people available to answer them. She said they can typically process 6,000 to 7,000 calls per day.
But nearly every person the Advertiser spoke to about their claims issue said it was impossible to get through on the phone system.
Harold, who formerly worked in transportation in Huntsville before work dried up in March, arrived at the Acadome around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Montgomery. He was one of the few who had been able to get through the phones to someone, but they said they couldn't find his claim, his name or social security number in the system.
"Which means when I applied, the system threw it out. I didn't know what to do," he said, when his wife looked online and decided they needed to travel to the department's Montgomery headquarters to get answers.
"I came up here this afternoon. And then they told me we'd have to stay the night," Harold said. He and his wife hadn't prepared for an overnight stay, but he got a hotel room for her and brought a chair out into the rain. "Sometimes we have no choice."
One of the earliest to arrive on Wednesday night, he got a coveted spot under a door covering.
"I had no idea I would be here. We were going to go back to Huntsville today, but I said no, we have to stay here," Harold said. "They made us stop working. And then people are saying we shouldn't get money because we're lazy. There's a disconnect there."
Sarah, a young hospitality worker from Birmingham, hesitated to give her last name to a reporter. "You already have to swallow your pride to sit out here," she said, sitting next to Harold. "I'm just a private person."
"You get on social media and people are bashing it. But they're only seeing one side of it. People who are seeking unemployment are not people who don't want to work."
Sarah wasn't new to the process on Wednesday. It was her third time waiting overnight to see a DOL worker.
The first time, she was No. 58 in line. There was a problem with her employer's filing that needed to be fixed.
The second time, she was No. 92. Something was wrong with her direct deposit, and she wasn't receiving her benefits.
The second time Sarah came, a worker inside the Acadome temporarily lost her paperwork, an experience Sarah found stressful and upsetting as a form with her social security and bank account information was floating around the room.
"I get that government workers are under a lot of stress," she said. "But these are people's livelihoods. That was my identity. There were only five workers inside."
On Wednesday, she was among the first 10 people waiting to get in.
"They don't keep the air on inside," she said of the process inside the Acadome. "It feels barbaric."
"So they're taking the pain, too?" Harold, overhearing, asks her of the workers.
"I hate it for them," Sarah said. "But at the same time, I hate it more for the people out here."
"They're paid to be in that unbearable situation," Harold said. "And we're trying to get the money that we're owed. It's more unbearable for us."
"You've been here three times?" Harold asked Sarah, who nodded. "Now I'm scared."
An 'unfriendly system' for Alabama unemployment
Hutchinson said Thursday 7 to 10 people are working the Acadome, and the department can't set up similar sites anywhere else because the staff, trained in certain unemployment law and procedures, are based in Montgomery.
The department has recently staffed up two additional call centers through a contractor, pulling back Alabama Department of Labor retirees and people from other states who have similar job training.
"The issue with increasing staffing is it's not as simple as going off the street and hiring someone," Hutchinson said. "If it was, I promise we would do it."
More than three months into the pandemic that brought the economy to a grinding halt, Hutchinson said the nature of the unemployment claims issues now are drastically different from initial problems.
There is a significant decline in new claims, she said, but the backlog of existing claims that have been tied up, for whatever reason, require a higher skillset to deal with. It's not a simple data entry problem. Much of their call volume is repeated calls over a single issue.
"Repeatedly calling all day long, it ties up the system," Hutchinson said. "Once people are able to get their information into the call back system, they need to stop calling us. We will return the call."
But the Advertiser has spoken to multiple people who have never received a call back or have found the system of online forms and confusing questions nearly impossible to navigate. Caine Clayton, who was laid off from a Birmingham-based marketing job in March, said he expected his claims to take a few weeks to process, given the volume of people flooding the system.
He immediately filed for unemployment, in what was initially a pain-free process online. As the current system works, Alabama requires you to file a claim, which must be approved, and then go back and file each individual week to receive benefits.
"After that, I still consistently logged online to check the status and there were no updates. I also called the 1-800 number on their site numerous times, but each time I never got a dial tone and was immediately met with an automated message indicating that they were essentially busy and for me to try back. A few weeks ago, a chat box appeared and I was able to submit a general email asking the status — never heard back," Clayton said.
Clayton found another job weeks after he was unemployed, but still hadn't received back pay. On June 20, he received a letter telling him he had a 10-day window to reply to an inquiry about his new employer. The letter provided him a number to call.
But Clayton said the letter was dated June 3, and he had missed the 10-day window to respond before the letter even got to him.
He's tried to call in anyway.
"Zero luck getting through," Clayton said. Due to his current schedule, driving to Montgomery in hopes of securing an in-person consult is out of the question.
Michael Forton, a lawyer and director of advocacy for Legal Services of Alabama (LSA), said navigating Alabama's unemployment system can be an "insurmountable task.
"They’ve set the system up as much as possible to be difficult," Forton said. "I think the system is designed to be unfriendly, and now they realize it should have been set up to be more friendly."
Forton said communications between LSA attorneys and others around the case well-versed in unemployment claims have stalled, and LSA has seen its unemployment claims caseload increase seven-fold year-over-year.
It's hit-and-miss whether you will or can file a claim, Forton said. A recent client "pushed the wrong button or key" on a filing and her claim was frozen. She drove several hours to Montgomery for help, but "she got there too late."
"If there is any sort of thing, the smallest problem, you can't get through," Forton said.
The Alabama Department of Labor maintains no one is required to travel to Montgomery to address their unemployment claims and it will honor backdated claims. But for many, driving to Montgomery seems to be the only option.
"Staff and people are sending mixed communications. It's in disarray," said Hogans, the Dothan poultry worker. "They're just sending people here, not communicating with each other.
On Wednesday night, facing 12 hours in a folding chair for the third time, Sarah tried to steel herself with perspective.
"I keep telling myself to be grateful during this process," Sarah said. "There are people who won't receive any benefits, for whatever reason, or they don't have as good of help (as I do.) Third time, whatever, people have it a lot harder. I try not to have a pity party."
The next morning, a group of women in ASU alumni shirts unloaded cases of water and packs of snacks into rolling wagons. They walked down the line, handing out oranges and drinks to people shaking off a few hours of damp sleep in the morning light. A handful of people had brought tents or chairs with head coverings, but many sat out in the elements all night with folding chairs. Some sat on the pavement. One woman appeared to have brought a step ladder to lean on until doors opened.
The group of women handing out breakfast shrugged off gratitude. They didn't want recognition, they'd just seen photos of the lines on social media and wanted to do what little they could for people in "impossible" circumstances.
As they packed up to leave, one woman surveyed the line, her brows knitted above a face mask.
"This is not how we are called to serve people," she said, shaking her head sadly.
There is nothing to interpret. The MoTB issue is one of the clearest in the Bible. As part of taking the Mark, YOU MUST RENOUNCE GOD. If such renunciation is not a part of the process, it's not the MoTB.
However, many Christians choose to completely ignore that part of it so they can
You don't have the right to question ANYTHING about me, be it my faith or anything else. I don't know you and you are nothing to me in terms of "significant person" in my life.
hiwall
Has No Life - Lives on TB
But, but unemployment is now way down again, isn't it? My government told me so.As Alabamians sleep on pavement for benefits, state unemployment fund runs low
Alabama may have to turn to the federal government to shore up its unemployment fund within 2 months. Meanwhile people wait in line overnight for help.www.montgomeryadvertiser.com
As Alabamians sleep on pavement for benefits, state unemployment fund runs low
Melissa Brown, Montgomery AdvertiserPublished 3:26 p.m. CT June 26, 2020 | Updated 11:30 p.m. CT June 29, 2020
The Montgomery sky over the Alabama State University campus was rapidly developing from twilight blue to dusky navy when the rain began to fall on the two women.
The two pulled tote bags from their sedan before one shrugged into a yellow rain coat, stuffing her pockets with last-minute essentials. After one woman slung a folding chair over her shoulder, the two began their way toward the ASU Acadome, their heads bowed against a now-driving rain.
It was 8:30 p.m., and they were preparing to set up camp outside of Alabama's makeshift unemployment claims help center. It would be 12 hours until doors opened, and the two women weren't even the first in line when they arrived on the rainy Wednesday evening.
A line of unemployed or underemployed Alabamians has formed in Montgomery parking lots for weeks, first at the Cramton Bowl and later at the ASU Acadome, with thousands of people huddling through the night in hopes of receiving their version of a Golden Ticket: a numbered spot in line to speak to one of a handful of Alabama Department of Labor employees in person.
For many, it’s a last-ditch to receive unemployment benefits when phone call lines remain jammed, benefits are frozen for obscure reason and savings run out, if they existed in the first place. Amid an unprecedented global pandemic, many Alabamians can't afford to lose the maximum $275 Alabama unemployment weekly benefit, or the $600 CARES federal subsidy that will end next month.
The Alabama Department of Labor has been, by all accounts, overwhelmed. The department has received 576,314 unemployment claims to date. The department is staffed enough to field less than 4% of the calls it receives per day, according to department estimates, and staff trained to legally handle unemployment claim issues are only based in Montgomery.
"Unfortunately, we urge patience. I know everyone has very little of it at this point," spokesperson Tara Hutchinson said. "We understand the frustration, the anger. We understand the questions."
The state unemployment fund is also on track for insolvency by the end of the summer. A department spokesperson confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday that, if trends continue, it will follow other states in borrowing from federal funds to stay afloat in one to two months.
Desperation in Montgomery is so high a black market system has emerged: A security guard on Thursday morning, shouting to the crowd, said anyone caught selling a ticket would be "prosecuted." One woman, who declined to give her name to the Montgomery Advertiser, confirmed she had been present on Tuesday and saw people bartering over ticket slots, asking $100 to $200 for the brightly colored rectangle that can get you through the Acadome doors.
Ten hours after the first people set up camp in a pouring rain, chaos descended on the steaming asphalt in front of the Acadome. Hundreds of people were awaiting in a long, quasi-socially distanced line when conflicting instructions from a security guard and staff caused a rush to a single file line in front of the door.
Shouting broke out among groups afraid people had cut in the line, a critical issue if there were more people than tickets that day. One man shouted at people to distance themselves due to coronavirus concerns, while another woman stood off to the side, nervously eyeing the line her husband, a kidney transplant recipient, was standing in.
"Let's get some respect and order," one staff member yelled over the crowd. "If there's going to be any sign of disorder, my order will be for everyone to go home." The security guard told people they had to raise their hand if they wanted to leave the line to go to the restroom.
"Please don't cut the line off," one woman pleaded. "We've been here since 3 this morning."
Victor Hogans, a former poultry plant worker who drove through the night from Dothan, tried to number people off in the line, in the hopes it would quell people's nerves. He was shouted down, but wasn't angry at the people around him.
"They're frustrated with their bills, caring for their kids. The coronavirus has gotten people messed up. People have to pay for medicine, they have to pay for food. They can't pay for their car bills, their cars are being repossessed. People can't get no help," Hogans said. "People have been let down and disappointed for so long. The people are frustrated. Many people had already had financial issues and problems, and now they really have problems. It's tearing families apart. People have been out here a long time. It causes your cup to runneth over, and it causes a domino effect."
Insolvency of Alabama unemployment fund
On March 18, days after the first coronavirus case was diagnosed in Alabama, Alabama's unemployment fund — funded through employer taxes paid in the first fiscal quarter — had a little over $704 million. By mid-May, an historic rush of unemployment claims had depleted its coffers to $490 million.
In the next four weeks, the fund paid out another $149 million. As of Friday, June 19, $341 million was left in the fund.
“We expect this trust fund to remain solvent for anywhere for a month to two months,” said Tara Hutchinson, communications director at the Department of Labor. “Basically, every two weeks we’re paying a regular year’s worth of benefits.”
If current trends continue, the department does “expect the trust fund to become insolvent if that happens.”
The situation isn’t without precedent. California, Ohio and other states have already informed the federal government they will need to borrow to keep state funds afloat. Alabama did the same during the Great Recession, Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the department is receiving an "overwhelming" amount of calls per day, up to 210,000 a day with 300 people available to answer them. She said they can typically process 6,000 to 7,000 calls per day.
But nearly every person the Advertiser spoke to about their claims issue said it was impossible to get through on the phone system.
Harold, who formerly worked in transportation in Huntsville before work dried up in March, arrived at the Acadome around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Montgomery. He was one of the few who had been able to get through the phones to someone, but they said they couldn't find his claim, his name or social security number in the system.
"Which means when I applied, the system threw it out. I didn't know what to do," he said, when his wife looked online and decided they needed to travel to the department's Montgomery headquarters to get answers.
"I came up here this afternoon. And then they told me we'd have to stay the night," Harold said. He and his wife hadn't prepared for an overnight stay, but he got a hotel room for her and brought a chair out into the rain. "Sometimes we have no choice."
One of the earliest to arrive on Wednesday night, he got a coveted spot under a door covering.
"I had no idea I would be here. We were going to go back to Huntsville today, but I said no, we have to stay here," Harold said. "They made us stop working. And then people are saying we shouldn't get money because we're lazy. There's a disconnect there."
Sarah, a young hospitality worker from Birmingham, hesitated to give her last name to a reporter. "You already have to swallow your pride to sit out here," she said, sitting next to Harold. "I'm just a private person."
"You get on social media and people are bashing it. But they're only seeing one side of it. People who are seeking unemployment are not people who don't want to work."
Sarah wasn't new to the process on Wednesday. It was her third time waiting overnight to see a DOL worker.
The first time, she was No. 58 in line. There was a problem with her employer's filing that needed to be fixed.
The second time, she was No. 92. Something was wrong with her direct deposit, and she wasn't receiving her benefits.
The second time Sarah came, a worker inside the Acadome temporarily lost her paperwork, an experience Sarah found stressful and upsetting as a form with her social security and bank account information was floating around the room.
"I get that government workers are under a lot of stress," she said. "But these are people's livelihoods. That was my identity. There were only five workers inside."
On Wednesday, she was among the first 10 people waiting to get in.
"They don't keep the air on inside," she said of the process inside the Acadome. "It feels barbaric."
"So they're taking the pain, too?" Harold, overhearing, asks her of the workers.
"I hate it for them," Sarah said. "But at the same time, I hate it more for the people out here."
"They're paid to be in that unbearable situation," Harold said. "And we're trying to get the money that we're owed. It's more unbearable for us."
"You've been here three times?" Harold asked Sarah, who nodded. "Now I'm scared."
An 'unfriendly system' for Alabama unemployment
Hutchinson said Thursday 7 to 10 people are working the Acadome, and the department can't set up similar sites anywhere else because the staff, trained in certain unemployment law and procedures, are based in Montgomery.
The department has recently staffed up two additional call centers through a contractor, pulling back Alabama Department of Labor retirees and people from other states who have similar job training.
"The issue with increasing staffing is it's not as simple as going off the street and hiring someone," Hutchinson said. "If it was, I promise we would do it."
More than three months into the pandemic that brought the economy to a grinding halt, Hutchinson said the nature of the unemployment claims issues now are drastically different from initial problems.
There is a significant decline in new claims, she said, but the backlog of existing claims that have been tied up, for whatever reason, require a higher skillset to deal with. It's not a simple data entry problem. Much of their call volume is repeated calls over a single issue.
"Repeatedly calling all day long, it ties up the system," Hutchinson said. "Once people are able to get their information into the call back system, they need to stop calling us. We will return the call."
But the Advertiser has spoken to multiple people who have never received a call back or have found the system of online forms and confusing questions nearly impossible to navigate. Caine Clayton, who was laid off from a Birmingham-based marketing job in March, said he expected his claims to take a few weeks to process, given the volume of people flooding the system.
He immediately filed for unemployment, in what was initially a pain-free process online. As the current system works, Alabama requires you to file a claim, which must be approved, and then go back and file each individual week to receive benefits.
"After that, I still consistently logged online to check the status and there were no updates. I also called the 1-800 number on their site numerous times, but each time I never got a dial tone and was immediately met with an automated message indicating that they were essentially busy and for me to try back. A few weeks ago, a chat box appeared and I was able to submit a general email asking the status — never heard back," Clayton said.
Clayton found another job weeks after he was unemployed, but still hadn't received back pay. On June 20, he received a letter telling him he had a 10-day window to reply to an inquiry about his new employer. The letter provided him a number to call.
But Clayton said the letter was dated June 3, and he had missed the 10-day window to respond before the letter even got to him.
He's tried to call in anyway.
"Zero luck getting through," Clayton said. Due to his current schedule, driving to Montgomery in hopes of securing an in-person consult is out of the question.
Michael Forton, a lawyer and director of advocacy for Legal Services of Alabama (LSA), said navigating Alabama's unemployment system can be an "insurmountable task.
"They’ve set the system up as much as possible to be difficult," Forton said. "I think the system is designed to be unfriendly, and now they realize it should have been set up to be more friendly."
Forton said communications between LSA attorneys and others around the case well-versed in unemployment claims have stalled, and LSA has seen its unemployment claims caseload increase seven-fold year-over-year.
It's hit-and-miss whether you will or can file a claim, Forton said. A recent client "pushed the wrong button or key" on a filing and her claim was frozen. She drove several hours to Montgomery for help, but "she got there too late."
"If there is any sort of thing, the smallest problem, you can't get through," Forton said.
The Alabama Department of Labor maintains no one is required to travel to Montgomery to address their unemployment claims and it will honor backdated claims. But for many, driving to Montgomery seems to be the only option.
"Staff and people are sending mixed communications. It's in disarray," said Hogans, the Dothan poultry worker. "They're just sending people here, not communicating with each other.
On Wednesday night, facing 12 hours in a folding chair for the third time, Sarah tried to steel herself with perspective.
"I keep telling myself to be grateful during this process," Sarah said. "There are people who won't receive any benefits, for whatever reason, or they don't have as good of help (as I do.) Third time, whatever, people have it a lot harder. I try not to have a pity party."
The next morning, a group of women in ASU alumni shirts unloaded cases of water and packs of snacks into rolling wagons. They walked down the line, handing out oranges and drinks to people shaking off a few hours of damp sleep in the morning light. A handful of people had brought tents or chairs with head coverings, but many sat out in the elements all night with folding chairs. Some sat on the pavement. One woman appeared to have brought a step ladder to lean on until doors opened.
The group of women handing out breakfast shrugged off gratitude. They didn't want recognition, they'd just seen photos of the lines on social media and wanted to do what little they could for people in "impossible" circumstances.
As they packed up to leave, one woman surveyed the line, her brows knitted above a face mask.
"This is not how we are called to serve people," she said, shaking her head sadly.
bassaholic
Veteran Member
There is nothing to interpret. The MoTB issue is one of the clearest in the Bible. As part of taking the Mark, YOU MUST RENOUNCE GOD. If such renunciation is not a part of the process, it's not the MoTB.
However, many Christians choose to completely ignore that part of it so they can
I did not say mask wearing was the MOTB. You are making that up.
Maybe you read it too fast?
You questioned MY Christianity.
And YES, I do have the right to test things you say about God's Word. The scripture clearly says so.
Hfcomms
EN66iq
As Alabamians sleep on pavement for benefits, state unemployment fund runs low
Alabama may have to turn to the federal government to shore up its unemployment fund within 2 months. Meanwhile people wait in line overnight for help.www.montgomeryadvertiser.com
As Alabamians sleep on pavement for benefits, state unemployment fund runs low
Melissa Brown, Montgomery AdvertiserPublished 3:26 p.m. CT June 26, 2020 | Updated 11:30 p.m. CT June 29, 2020
The Montgomery sky over the Alabama State University campus was rapidly developing from twilight blue to dusky navy when the rain began to fall on the two women.
The two pulled tote bags from their sedan before one shrugged into a yellow rain coat, stuffing her pockets with last-minute essentials. After one woman slung a folding chair over her shoulder, the two began their way toward the ASU Acadome, their heads bowed against a now-driving rain.
It was 8:30 p.m., and they were preparing to set up camp outside of Alabama's makeshift unemployment claims help center. It would be 12 hours until doors opened, and the two women weren't even the first in line when they arrived on the rainy Wednesday evening.
A line of unemployed or underemployed Alabamians has formed in Montgomery parking lots for weeks, first at the Cramton Bowl and later at the ASU Acadome, with thousands of people huddling through the night in hopes of receiving their version of a Golden Ticket: a numbered spot in line to speak to one of a handful of Alabama Department of Labor employees in person.
For many, it’s a last-ditch to receive unemployment benefits when phone call lines remain jammed, benefits are frozen for obscure reason and savings run out, if they existed in the first place. Amid an unprecedented global pandemic, many Alabamians can't afford to lose the maximum $275 Alabama unemployment weekly benefit, or the $600 CARES federal subsidy that will end next month.
The Alabama Department of Labor has been, by all accounts, overwhelmed. The department has received 576,314 unemployment claims to date. The department is staffed enough to field less than 4% of the calls it receives per day, according to department estimates, and staff trained to legally handle unemployment claim issues are only based in Montgomery.
"Unfortunately, we urge patience. I know everyone has very little of it at this point," spokesperson Tara Hutchinson said. "We understand the frustration, the anger. We understand the questions."
The state unemployment fund is also on track for insolvency by the end of the summer. A department spokesperson confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday that, if trends continue, it will follow other states in borrowing from federal funds to stay afloat in one to two months.
Desperation in Montgomery is so high a black market system has emerged: A security guard on Thursday morning, shouting to the crowd, said anyone caught selling a ticket would be "prosecuted." One woman, who declined to give her name to the Montgomery Advertiser, confirmed she had been present on Tuesday and saw people bartering over ticket slots, asking $100 to $200 for the brightly colored rectangle that can get you through the Acadome doors.
Ten hours after the first people set up camp in a pouring rain, chaos descended on the steaming asphalt in front of the Acadome. Hundreds of people were awaiting in a long, quasi-socially distanced line when conflicting instructions from a security guard and staff caused a rush to a single file line in front of the door.
Shouting broke out among groups afraid people had cut in the line, a critical issue if there were more people than tickets that day. One man shouted at people to distance themselves due to coronavirus concerns, while another woman stood off to the side, nervously eyeing the line her husband, a kidney transplant recipient, was standing in.
"Let's get some respect and order," one staff member yelled over the crowd. "If there's going to be any sign of disorder, my order will be for everyone to go home." The security guard told people they had to raise their hand if they wanted to leave the line to go to the restroom.
"Please don't cut the line off," one woman pleaded. "We've been here since 3 this morning."
Victor Hogans, a former poultry plant worker who drove through the night from Dothan, tried to number people off in the line, in the hopes it would quell people's nerves. He was shouted down, but wasn't angry at the people around him.
"They're frustrated with their bills, caring for their kids. The coronavirus has gotten people messed up. People have to pay for medicine, they have to pay for food. They can't pay for their car bills, their cars are being repossessed. People can't get no help," Hogans said. "People have been let down and disappointed for so long. The people are frustrated. Many people had already had financial issues and problems, and now they really have problems. It's tearing families apart. People have been out here a long time. It causes your cup to runneth over, and it causes a domino effect."
Insolvency of Alabama unemployment fund
On March 18, days after the first coronavirus case was diagnosed in Alabama, Alabama's unemployment fund — funded through employer taxes paid in the first fiscal quarter — had a little over $704 million. By mid-May, an historic rush of unemployment claims had depleted its coffers to $490 million.
In the next four weeks, the fund paid out another $149 million. As of Friday, June 19, $341 million was left in the fund.
“We expect this trust fund to remain solvent for anywhere for a month to two months,” said Tara Hutchinson, communications director at the Department of Labor. “Basically, every two weeks we’re paying a regular year’s worth of benefits.”
If current trends continue, the department does “expect the trust fund to become insolvent if that happens.”
The situation isn’t without precedent. California, Ohio and other states have already informed the federal government they will need to borrow to keep state funds afloat. Alabama did the same during the Great Recession, Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said the department is receiving an "overwhelming" amount of calls per day, up to 210,000 a day with 300 people available to answer them. She said they can typically process 6,000 to 7,000 calls per day.
But nearly every person the Advertiser spoke to about their claims issue said it was impossible to get through on the phone system.
Harold, who formerly worked in transportation in Huntsville before work dried up in March, arrived at the Acadome around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Montgomery. He was one of the few who had been able to get through the phones to someone, but they said they couldn't find his claim, his name or social security number in the system.
"Which means when I applied, the system threw it out. I didn't know what to do," he said, when his wife looked online and decided they needed to travel to the department's Montgomery headquarters to get answers.
"I came up here this afternoon. And then they told me we'd have to stay the night," Harold said. He and his wife hadn't prepared for an overnight stay, but he got a hotel room for her and brought a chair out into the rain. "Sometimes we have no choice."
One of the earliest to arrive on Wednesday night, he got a coveted spot under a door covering.
"I had no idea I would be here. We were going to go back to Huntsville today, but I said no, we have to stay here," Harold said. "They made us stop working. And then people are saying we shouldn't get money because we're lazy. There's a disconnect there."
Sarah, a young hospitality worker from Birmingham, hesitated to give her last name to a reporter. "You already have to swallow your pride to sit out here," she said, sitting next to Harold. "I'm just a private person."
"You get on social media and people are bashing it. But they're only seeing one side of it. People who are seeking unemployment are not people who don't want to work."
Sarah wasn't new to the process on Wednesday. It was her third time waiting overnight to see a DOL worker.
The first time, she was No. 58 in line. There was a problem with her employer's filing that needed to be fixed.
The second time, she was No. 92. Something was wrong with her direct deposit, and she wasn't receiving her benefits.
The second time Sarah came, a worker inside the Acadome temporarily lost her paperwork, an experience Sarah found stressful and upsetting as a form with her social security and bank account information was floating around the room.
"I get that government workers are under a lot of stress," she said. "But these are people's livelihoods. That was my identity. There were only five workers inside."
On Wednesday, she was among the first 10 people waiting to get in.
"They don't keep the air on inside," she said of the process inside the Acadome. "It feels barbaric."
"So they're taking the pain, too?" Harold, overhearing, asks her of the workers.
"I hate it for them," Sarah said. "But at the same time, I hate it more for the people out here."
"They're paid to be in that unbearable situation," Harold said. "And we're trying to get the money that we're owed. It's more unbearable for us."
"You've been here three times?" Harold asked Sarah, who nodded. "Now I'm scared."
An 'unfriendly system' for Alabama unemployment
Hutchinson said Thursday 7 to 10 people are working the Acadome, and the department can't set up similar sites anywhere else because the staff, trained in certain unemployment law and procedures, are based in Montgomery.
The department has recently staffed up two additional call centers through a contractor, pulling back Alabama Department of Labor retirees and people from other states who have similar job training.
"The issue with increasing staffing is it's not as simple as going off the street and hiring someone," Hutchinson said. "If it was, I promise we would do it."
More than three months into the pandemic that brought the economy to a grinding halt, Hutchinson said the nature of the unemployment claims issues now are drastically different from initial problems.
There is a significant decline in new claims, she said, but the backlog of existing claims that have been tied up, for whatever reason, require a higher skillset to deal with. It's not a simple data entry problem. Much of their call volume is repeated calls over a single issue.
"Repeatedly calling all day long, it ties up the system," Hutchinson said. "Once people are able to get their information into the call back system, they need to stop calling us. We will return the call."
But the Advertiser has spoken to multiple people who have never received a call back or have found the system of online forms and confusing questions nearly impossible to navigate. Caine Clayton, who was laid off from a Birmingham-based marketing job in March, said he expected his claims to take a few weeks to process, given the volume of people flooding the system.
He immediately filed for unemployment, in what was initially a pain-free process online. As the current system works, Alabama requires you to file a claim, which must be approved, and then go back and file each individual week to receive benefits.
"After that, I still consistently logged online to check the status and there were no updates. I also called the 1-800 number on their site numerous times, but each time I never got a dial tone and was immediately met with an automated message indicating that they were essentially busy and for me to try back. A few weeks ago, a chat box appeared and I was able to submit a general email asking the status — never heard back," Clayton said.
Clayton found another job weeks after he was unemployed, but still hadn't received back pay. On June 20, he received a letter telling him he had a 10-day window to reply to an inquiry about his new employer. The letter provided him a number to call.
But Clayton said the letter was dated June 3, and he had missed the 10-day window to respond before the letter even got to him.
He's tried to call in anyway.
"Zero luck getting through," Clayton said. Due to his current schedule, driving to Montgomery in hopes of securing an in-person consult is out of the question.
Michael Forton, a lawyer and director of advocacy for Legal Services of Alabama (LSA), said navigating Alabama's unemployment system can be an "insurmountable task.
"They’ve set the system up as much as possible to be difficult," Forton said. "I think the system is designed to be unfriendly, and now they realize it should have been set up to be more friendly."
Forton said communications between LSA attorneys and others around the case well-versed in unemployment claims have stalled, and LSA has seen its unemployment claims caseload increase seven-fold year-over-year.
It's hit-and-miss whether you will or can file a claim, Forton said. A recent client "pushed the wrong button or key" on a filing and her claim was frozen. She drove several hours to Montgomery for help, but "she got there too late."
"If there is any sort of thing, the smallest problem, you can't get through," Forton said.
The Alabama Department of Labor maintains no one is required to travel to Montgomery to address their unemployment claims and it will honor backdated claims. But for many, driving to Montgomery seems to be the only option.
"Staff and people are sending mixed communications. It's in disarray," said Hogans, the Dothan poultry worker. "They're just sending people here, not communicating with each other.
On Wednesday night, facing 12 hours in a folding chair for the third time, Sarah tried to steel herself with perspective.
"I keep telling myself to be grateful during this process," Sarah said. "There are people who won't receive any benefits, for whatever reason, or they don't have as good of help (as I do.) Third time, whatever, people have it a lot harder. I try not to have a pity party."
The next morning, a group of women in ASU alumni shirts unloaded cases of water and packs of snacks into rolling wagons. They walked down the line, handing out oranges and drinks to people shaking off a few hours of damp sleep in the morning light. A handful of people had brought tents or chairs with head coverings, but many sat out in the elements all night with folding chairs. Some sat on the pavement. One woman appeared to have brought a step ladder to lean on until doors opened.
The group of women handing out breakfast shrugged off gratitude. They didn't want recognition, they'd just seen photos of the lines on social media and wanted to do what little they could for people in "impossible" circumstances.
As they packed up to leave, one woman surveyed the line, her brows knitted above a face mask.
"This is not how we are called to serve people," she said, shaking her head sadly.
What a mess. How long before some of these people go postal??
Tristan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Fauci said there would be a second wave, so there WILL be a second wave.
He is an authority. He knows stuff. He's been right every time so far.
He might be in a position to assure it happens.
You referenced it as “preparation” for the MoTB. That is erroneous.
You questioned my faith personally, which is not your right, hence my comment.
bassaholic
Veteran Member
Conditioning for the coming system is not erroneous.
We are also being conditioned by having our foreheads scanned in order to enter places of business.
As far as your faith, you questioned mine first by referring to me as an alleged Christian, so I guess are are even
Christians are supposed to know Scripture. Not necessarily at “expert level” (I certainly don’t) but there are certain “key points” that all christians should know. Your post was worded in such a way that it appeared you did not. Thus my comment.
Further, your premise is erroneous to begin with. Christians aren’t being “conditioned.” Having one’s temperature taken during a pandemic has ZERO relation to renouncing God and condemning one’s self to eternal hellfire. You’re WAY over the “paranoia threshold.”
Further, your premise is erroneous to begin with. Christians aren’t being “conditioned.” Having one’s temperature taken during a pandemic has ZERO relation to renouncing God and condemning one’s self to eternal hellfire. You’re WAY over the “paranoia threshold.”
FloridaGirl
Veteran Member
Last year I was in the hospital for a week with flu like symptoms. Lost all taste and smell. Could not get out of bed. I slept twenty-four hours a day. Had gastric symptoms which I still have, now I hear China lied and said this virus has been out since 2014. Still not back to normal and have no energy. Wonder if I had the virus back then since they never could diagnosis me with anything, just a bad flu. Really thought I was dying at one point. Family even advised.me to make sure my will was in order.
bassaholic
Veteran Member
I fully disagree with this.
What makes a person a Christian is their salvation. Understanding end time prophecy has nothing to do with that.
After salvation, comes learning of other things. Everyone is at different levels of knowledge and understanding.
I also never said "Christians are being conditioned". You’re WAY over reading into things.
I would bet most others who read what I wrote understand that was a statement on the general mask wearing situation and conditioning. Saying "we" doesn't imply Christians or Christians only.
They aren't making me, or us, wear a mask due to being a Christian.
To be clear, people, globally, are being conditioned.
Also, I have zero paranoia about this. This is what I'm looking for. The coming one world system. I won't be here for it either.
Nice chat, thanks.