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A man with a needle in his arm. Streets littered with trash. Constant retail theft. Cars with broken windows from smash-and-grab auto burglaries. These are some of the images that have been used recently to describe San Francisco. But even if that narrative may have been accurate a year ago, it is now contrary to what we generally see in San Francisco today. In the San Francisco of spring 2024, you instead find commuters grabbing coffees and heading in to their offices; tourists admiring the streets comprised of unique Edwardian and Victorian architecture; friends enjoying the fresh fish at outdoor...

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said the Baltimore bridge recovery operation is “remarkably complex” as crews work to remove the cargo ship that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge last week as well as the debris. Moore joined NewsNation’s ‘Cuomo’ late Thursday, telling host Chris Cuomo the ship is “literally the size of the Eiffel Tower, and the weight of the Washington Monument.” Moore said 27,000 tons of bridge debris is“pancaked” at the bottom of the river. When the ship struck the bridge, an eight-man construction crew was working to repair the road surface. The collapse was so fast they...

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt stated that President Joe Biden put “the strongest economic recovery of anywhere on the planet” into motion, but “in 2020, for persuadable voters, the number one television show that they watched was ‘The Bachelor,'” and “People are busy in their lives. They’re not watching the news throughout the day.” Co-host Joe Scarborough asked, “Ben, how frustrating is it for you, we’ll just say for you, personally, that you’ve got these numbers, you’ve got — and the numbers are extraordinary, if you compare them, not only to our...

People with ischemic (clot-caused) stroke had better early recovery of cognitive function if treated with intravenous injections of a combination of biologically active components of ginkgo biloba during the first two weeks after the stroke, according to a preliminary study. In early 2023, researchers from this study published the results of a multicenter trial indicating that people with ischemic stroke had better recovery if they were treated with daily injections of ginkgo diterpene lactone meglumine (GDLM), a combination of the biologically active components of ginkgo biloba. The researchers analyzed the cognitive recovery of 3,163 stroke survivors (average age of 63...

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced Thursday that President Joe Biden would name Penny Pritzker, a billionaire heiress and former commerce secretary, to manage Ukraine’s economic recovery from the ongoing war. Sullivan, a major proponent of the “Russia collusion” hoax against President Donald Trump, told reporters that Biden, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky at the White House for the sixth time on Thursday, would “introduce a special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery, Penny Pritzker, who will focus on engaging the private sector, partner countries, and Ukrainian counterparts to generate international investment in Ukraine and work with Ukraine to make...

President Biden defended his GOP rival Mitch McConnell after the Senate leader once again froze up while answering questions from reporters — insisting that the bizarre episode is “part of his recovery” from a recent concussion. The president said McConnell’s “response” was not unusual when recovering from such an injury, and denied having any concerns about the 81-year-old’s ability to effectively lead the Senate. “I spoke to Mitch. He’s a friend and I spoke to him today,” Biden said when asked about McConnell’s health at a news conference on FEMA’s response to Hurricane Idalia. “And, you know, he was his...

Germany's economy is not likely to see a sustained recovery in the coming months based on early indicators such as new orders and business climate, the economy ministry said on Monday. "On the domestic front, the expected cautious recovery in private consumption, services and investment is showing the first signs of hope, which are likely to strengthen as the year progresses," said the ministry in its monthly report. SNIP

San Francisco, California, remains the slowest among 63 major U.S. cities in recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, according to mobile phone data. The new data from the University of Toronto’s School of Cities repeats a finding from early 2023, when San Francisco was last among 62 cities. The recovery index is “computed by counting the number of unique mobile phones in a city’s downtown area in the specified time period, and then dividing it by the number of unique visitors during the equivalent time period in 2019. For example, the March 2023 – May 2023 time period is compared to...

Jan. 11 was a typical day for Isaac VanWasshenova, a trash collector for Waste Management. The 35-year-old from Barnesville, Ohio, got in a truck at the depot and headed to the streets of Mt. Lebanon. While picking up trash, he looked forward to seeing people he knew and talking with the children who sometimes ran outside to see him. “I always want to do my job 100%, but I also want to be kind to people,” he said recently. “You never know what people are going through. If they need something, I tell them, ‘Just ask.’” About an hour into...

As a separate question arising from my last "article" / question, I am about to make a recovery drive for a refurbished Dell desktop machine I purchased recently. (Dell Precision Tower 3420 - a fairly impressive little machine considering I got it in great condition for under $80 including shipping.) When I read about recovery drives, often it is stated they can be used to restore the machine to its "factory" state, software-wise, should one run into a software problem, corrupted drive, etc., not otherwise resolvable. But... This machine likely originally had WIN 7 Pro on it and then was...

A top aide to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said that he is “well on his way to recovery” as he remains hospitalized to receive treatment for clinical depression and will return to work in the Senate “soon.” Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s chief of staff, tweeted three pictures of the freshman senator during a meeting on Monday with him at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where they discussed a number of items Fetterman is expected to work on in the coming months. “Productive morning with Senator Fetterman at Walter Reed discussing the rail safety legislation, Farm Bill and other Senate business,”...

Let’s start with the balloon whose story is the most clear, i.e. the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US this month. That balloon was shot down over the ocean off the coast of South Carolina. You may have seen photos of portions of the balloon being pulled into a boat. These images were taken last week.The DoD has released photos of the recovery operation off the coast of South Carolina to gather the CCP spy balloon debris.Credit: Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompsonpic.twitter.com/ODRoS8I3iu— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) February 13, 2023Today the DOD released even more photos of the ongoing...

Sailors of EOD Group 2 retrieve wreckage of Chinese spy balloon. Public Domain image. CREDIT EOD GRU 2 Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/EODGRU2/. Tuesday, sailors from the US Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2, based a Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story and working from aboard the dock landing ship USS Carter Page, started recovery operations at the site of the downing of a Chinese spy balloon about six miles off the coast of Myrtle Beach, SC in less than 50-feet of water.It was brought down by a flight of F-22 Raptors, using the callsigns FRANK01 and FRANK02 in honor of...

The U.S. military has started a recovery mission for debris from the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down by a U.S. fighter jet on Feb. 4, according to the Pentagon.Several U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels established a security perimeter where the balloon hit the water, about six nautical miles off the coast of South Carolina, and were searching for debris, a senior defense official and a senior military official said on Feb. 4.“The nature of the debris is still being assessed. But recovery options will seek to recover all debris and any material of intelligence value,” the defense...

Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin shares a special thank you message for his family, teammates, NFL community, and all those who supported him after his incident on Monday Night Football.

BRUSSELS, September 9, 2022—In a joint assessment released today, the Government of Ukraine, the European Commission, and the World Bank, in cooperation with partners, estimate that the current cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine amounts to $349 billion (€349 Billion). This figure is expected to grow in the coming months as the war continues.President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, said: “Ukraine is fighting for democracy and our common values. The EU cannot match the sacrifice Ukraine is enduring but we are mobilising all our instruments to address the most immediate needs, including for housing for internally...

From the website: "Let's Bring Them Home. We are Adventures With Purpose (AWP) - a Search & Recovery Dive Team dedicated to helping families of missing loved ones. Because of your amazing support: 24 Missing Person Cold Cases Have Been Solved since 2019, providing answers to families looking for their lost loved one. Your support, through watching our documentaries, making purchases and donations, make it possible for us to provide this FREE Service to Families." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My comments .... At the bottom of the Home page is a section called ~ IN MEMORY OF ~ Cases are listed and you...

The post-COVID recovery will be change not restoration. We’ll be forced to rebuild where we are.Years ago, I moved from a somewhat larger small town (pop. 30,000) in upstate New York to a smaller small town (pop. 2,500) 15 miles east in order to establish a little homestead with gardens, fruit trees, and chickens. I found this three-acre property literally on the edge of town, a five-minute walk to the center of Main Street. If you’ve been following this column on urban design the past year, you know I’ve said we’re entering an era of stark economic contraction that will...

The fact that our nation’s unemployment rate is approaching the low rate of 3.5% that was reached just prior to the pandemic should be a cause for celebration. But for a variety of reasons, the official unemployment number is misleading.The employment situation is not as rosy as it may seem. There is a wide disparity among the states that can be explained by how much economic freedom they allow, including how severely each state shut down its economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Consider that the U.S. remains 1.6 million jobs short of our February 2020 high, just before the pandemic...

As first discussed last June in “Will ESG Trigger Energy Hyperinflation” and again today “Woke Capital Won’t Save the Planet – But It Will Crash the Economy“, the “green”/ESG shift in politician thinking has unleashed an epic surge in commodity prices, which are propelling inflation higher and will likely force central banks to keep tightening until they trigger a recession and/or a market crash (probably both). Unfortunately, as Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid writes in his chart of the day, given the start seen in 2022, there is no simply solution to what has been a broad-based social shift toward environmental...