I’m Done – A Guest post by Michael Hooten

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

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I’m Done – A Guest post by Michael Hooten

You know, I used to be among the group that believed that President Trump’s twitter usage was no big deal.  I thought he used it to tweak the press, to get them to overreact, and to generally misdirect them while he did other, more significant things in the background.

Not any more.

Now, I believe that he should tweet more, and find even more ways to subvert the press to get his message out, and to do so with all the passion and bombacity he has ever shown.

Why the change of heart?  Because of this past Sunday, March 15, 2020.  I saw firsthand what the press is willing to do to stoke the panic in this country over a virus that while certainly dangerous, is not likely to approach plague level death, even in those countries most affected.

I’m not even talking about the way the press has given us every worst case scenario they could dream of in that serious, authoritative voice they use to inform us of our impending doom.  That’s bad enough. No, what finally put me over the edge was a simple thing, really. I wanted to know what Trump said at his press conference on Sunday. And it was not very easy.

Think about how you get news: you go to your favorite news site, or you turn on the TV, and you skim through the headlines.  See what the top stories are. And yes, Sunday evening, there were plenty of articles about Coronavirus everywhere I looked. And then on a local news aggregate, I saw that Trump had given an address about the state of things.  And when I clicked the link… it was broken. But I saw that it had come from a local news station, and I went to their website, and looked for the article. It wasn’t on the front page, but I did find it as #7 on their most read stories on the sidebar.  Clicked on it, and got a wire article that started off with this:

President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Americans to cease hoarding groceries and other supplies, while one of the nation’s most senior public health officials called on the nation to act with more urgency to safeguard their health as the coronavirus outbreak continued to spread across the United States. Dr. Anthony Fauci says he would like to see aggressive measures such as a 14-day national shutdown.

Great lede, don’t you think?  That last sentence especially really puts it all into perspective, essentially saying that Trump is urging people to stop panicking, but one of the leading experts is urging for even more drastic measures.

Great.  Now try to find the press conference from Sunday.  Not coming up? Well, the article I pulled that quote from didn’t give a link to the address itself, but to the daily CDC briefing, and as a live link.  Not the last one they gave. And definitely not to the address that Trump gave. So I googled “Trump address Sunday”, and found a few articles that were basically the same wire report quoted above.  And the videos the search gave me were mostly from the previous week, but none from Sunday.

So I tried this: “Trump march 15”.  The second video was this one, which is a clip from the address, but not the whole thing.  Still, some good information in there, if you care to watch. And a slam of the press for spreading fake news, which is looking more and more justified.

Because the next thing I looked for was Dr Fauci’s wanting a 14 day national shutdown.  That was the implication you got, wasn’t it? But it took me a bit to find that actual video as well. And it was not exactly what it was advertised to be, what a shock.  Dr Fauci urged caution, preferred over-reaction to under reaction, but also urged rational approach. Not all areas needed a shutdown, he said. And not all places were going to be as affected.  And the situation is serious, but not dire. But don’t trust me, watch it for yourself.

I hate the press right now.  The words they use are designed to scare.  The stories they highlight are the most extreme.  They do not compare it to previous pandemics, or even to the typical flu.  The misinformation is subtle, and they claim to be giving us the facts, but then they spread rumour and innuendo.  Are the facts there? Kind of. If you look. But not it’s not what they highlight. Look at that opening paragraph again.  Half a sentence of Trump the authoritarian jerk. The rest is dire projections and how we need to ignore him.

We’re in the midst of a panic.  It’s unnecessary, counter productive, and quite frankly, dangerous.  The press is asking, “Can we handle this?” and then telling us that we really can’t.

So now, I want Trump to route around them.  Find ways to spread the message, and by all means, mock the press.  When this passes, and it will, be the one who looks like he hadn’t lost his mind.  And then do a super cut of all the ways the press stoked this inferno.

Just be prepared to cut it down a bit.  Because no one watches videos that last for days.

287 thoughts on “I’m Done – A Guest post by Michael Hooten”

  1. and the press saying how we wouldnt be having these problems if we had socialized medical care, and yer kinda going ‘mumblemumblemumble’ about conditions in countries that have it

    1. Socialized health care doesn’t mean that everyone will have an ICU bed with respirators. Refer to Italy, apparently. And universal health care doesn’t magically result in those appearing out of nowhere.

      Me, I’m just irritated that just going out to run errands TOOK LONGER THAN NECESSARY.

        1. I don’t think that’s correct. Can’t remember where I saw it, but there was a bar chart that had us below a few other countries. Wish I could remember where it was now.

          1. Dang, forgot to add: Keep in mind that the ICU beds are not all empty just waiting for CV cases. At any given time, the hospital system is likely running above 50% capacity. The health system in general here is more like a JIT supply chain than anything else. There is not a robust surge capacity here.

            1. And it is anywhere else? Especially in a government run system where you have to wait hours for emergency care and days to months for non emergency care.

            2. The Wall Street Journal today has a short editorial pointing out that in the US there are between 20 and 31 ICU beds per 100,000. Canada has 14 (rounding up) per 100,000, and the UK has . . . between 8 and 4 (rounding up) per 100,000. The US hospitals are already shifting elective surgeries in order to open up ICU beds, and ventilators are very, very thick on the ground, with more in places where they can be quickly distributed.

              1. Does that UK number include private hospitals? Not all, but many also have an ICU section. Canada, you’re effed . . . NHS only, as they use the US as their private provider, but some places in the UK use private care plans as perks of working there. “Don’t wait on the NHS, We help you with a good dentist and Doctor!”

                1. The editorial doesn’t say, and it quoted a study from 2012. I will be optimistic and hope that those are NHS numbers, not counting private facilities.

                  1. okay, because I would suspect them to be closer to the Canukistani numbers overall instead of being that short. I think they also tend to use less dedicated ICU rooms, and some ICU cases are just in a regular bed.

                2. Spain is nationalizing private care. My guess is Portugal is next. even though public care doesn’t work for shit.
                  Pray for my parents if you can spare the cycles.

                  2. oy.
                    I shall keep them in my thoughts
                    Spain had a few really good private hospitals, too. Many of the motorcycle racers used a few places there, by choice.

              2. I know some folks in the UK who are freaking out… I would like to be able to try to calm them down, but how can I, when they have the NHS?

              3. Let’s keep i mind that the numbers of those ICU beds had been determined by government regulation, required “certificates of need” that effectively capped the availability of those beds.

                Think about the comparative availability of MRI scans in Canada vs in the US for illustration of the process’ functioning.
                –

            3. Who is defining “ICU”?

              In the US that’s a specialized bed unit with a higher nurse/patient percentage and priority access to hospital services. In the Glorious People’s Republic of Elbonia, it might mean the witch doctor slides in an extra prayer every now and then.

              1. also, in the US there are often near ICU levels of care that can be rolled room to room.
                Back when my sis spent 30 days in an ICU, and 9 in a room with everything but the ICU designation. Really all it meant was she slept a bit better as it was sometimes quieter (room mate could get loud. head blow with broken bones from a motorcycle crash), and the nurses checking the room tried to be quiet at night.

            1. I wonder what percentage of those German ICU beds are on site at Landstuhl and other American military bases.
              –

          3. The numbers that show us with fewer beds might be *all* beds, not ICU beds. It could well be that we have fewer total beds per 100K people. We like to send people home instead of keep them in hospitals.

            1. Yep. I found a chart (on Wikipedia, apply appropriate seasoning) that showed us with a sort of middling number of total hospital beds per 100,000 — but also a middling to low occupation rate of them.

            2. yes, but apparently that’s just counting “hospitals”
              You know all those “remote walk in surgery centers” and suburban “emergency” services that take up a lot of our medical need? In a pinch they can be treated as hospitals. And then we have TEN TIMES more hospital beds than the rest of hte world per 100k.
              Yeah.

          4. No, no. They don’t. What you saw was the WHO saying our healthcare was “inferior.”
            BUT that’s because the WHO considers government health care so good that it overrides EVERYTHING else about the system.
            This is like what Michael is talking about. It’s all in the reporting.

            1. This goes for a whole lot of things, happiness ratings! They don’t actually measure who is happiest, they assign scores on various things and add them up. Socialism always gets a lot of points. Services. Museums. Whatever they decide contribute to happiness. Then announce that some place or other has the highest happiness rating. For all anyone knows the people themselves are miserable poop heads.

              The WHO says that our healthcare is inferior *by definition* because it’s not a government run universal system. If they give a score to wait times, it’s not weighted very high compared to other things which get lots of points. Hey, the care you waited for three years so now your knee injury is permanent was FREE so clearly that was superior care.

              2. In my adult life I have found that if you assume that any pronouncement from any agency of the United Nations is so much drivel, you won’t be wrong often enough to matter.

                1. “… assume that any pronouncement from any agency of the United Nations is so much drivel”

                  So you like to work from Best Case Scenarios?
                  –

            2. And don’t forget that they lie. If your daughter, like one of my daughter’s best friends, is born preemie, with lung issues, and she gets second rate care (if any) and dies three days later, it’s recorded as stillborn

              We count those children. And they go against our healthcare stats.

              &%$#!

          5. The one I saw spreading on FB was a wikipedia link– and if you dug long enough, you found out most countries had an exact number of ICU beds, and that’s all that’s available.

            The US had a survey of…I think it was AHA associated public hospitals? I remember they were very clear that no hospital that was limited admission was counted… and that was the number they used. And it was two years old.

        2. There’s a fallacy in that claim, hinging on the scale of this country. Five thousand ICU beds in Seattle, Los Angeles or Chicago do squat for sick people in Poughkeepsie or Dogpatch. It ain’t nothing, but it ain’t as reassuring as you might want.
          –

          1. Though people are more likely to catch it in Seattle, Los Angeles or Chicago than in small towns.

            Though you’re not wrong. I’m just a little touchy about “but I have to drive an hour to go to the doctor” being used as an excuse to argue to centralize things MORE. We really ought to encourage more regional and local hospitals.

            1. Agreed – the point was merely that we need to look beneath the surface of statistical claims. We could have one ICU bed for every four Americans but if all of them are on the West Coast (or in Dallas, for that matter) the claim s not very comforting.

              Nor am I suggesting the ration of 1 in 4 is the proper amount of ICU beds.

              Distribution of such assets by the invisible hand of the market beats government experts every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
              –

              1. Speaking of fun with statistics, does anybody know how many of the ill and deceased in Italy are actually Italian? Because Power Line notes: “As a result of One Belt and One Road, there are more than 300,000 Chinese living in Italy.”
                –

              2. And also the quasi-visible hand of the Woke, who say that charity hospitals run b y religious orders in backwater locations MUST be shut down if they don’t fully embrace The Gay, and atheism, and whatever shibboleth the SJWs have their knickers in a twist about this week.

            2. Obamacare was designed to force considerations of hospitals and medical practices, which necessarily leads to closure of facilities and centralization/ Recall that Obama wanted to federally impose mandatory regional planning that would force people out of rural and suburban areas back into cities. There is deliberate reason why his slogan was “Forward”

              1. Obamacare was designed to force consolidations of hospitals and …

                Autocorrupt does not seem to be your friend today, thus the proposed amendment.
                –

          2. Except flying patients is routine. A friend’s wife was just flown from nowhere Kansas to Kansas city so she can have excellent ICU care….
            So, per 100k is per 100k.

            1. Yep – HEMS is the acronym for the helicopter version, but there’s fixed-wing air ambulance as well. Air-EMS in general and HEMS is used a lot more often for “This ill fellow needs more specialized care than we can give him here at Little Hospital Medical Center, so go fly him up to Big Well Equipped Hospital” than for picking accident victims up at the site of a crash.

              1. When I was doing my hospital time for me ALS we flew one a day out of the level 2 I was at about equal trauma and medical iirc. I think I’ve flown people twice. Both arguably precautionary (one for extrication time per med control, once for extensive injury but no aloc.

                Can probably use national guard and such as well.

                1. I know a lot of the military helo pilots I’ve chit-chatted with– and their air crews– like to do medi-flights for their annual quals. Means you’re not just wasting the fuel.

        3. Correct. See WSJ editorial, today (3/17). Bernie carefully obfuscated this when he asserted that Italy has more hospital beds than we do. Yes, regular ones, because the USA’s more advanced medical technology allows far more procedures to be done as outpatient procedures, or with shorter hospital stays.

          As far as the media is concerned: it’s quite clear that the Democrats are ecstatic about the potential for a recession, and their media lackeys are doing their level best to push that agenda. So are local left-wing politicians who are busy issuing nonsensical and harmful orders, like the mayor of Boston who just shut down all construction in the city. I don’t suppose the fact that construction workers lean Republican is at all relevant here, no that couldn’t possibly be a consideration…

            1. Ours, too. On the other hand, bar owners and others see the two dead weeks ahead as a good time to do some renovations in their business. So, more materials, fasteners, paint, sandpaper and power tools go out the door here. It’s an ill wind…

              1. There might be something too that – I was in Home Depot today, and the joint was jumping, especially around the pro desk. It looked like a lot of people were going to fill in their ‘at home’ time with small or large renovation projects.

      2. Socialized medicine necessarily means that government decides who gets treated and how, and if the government PTBs decide that the old and the politically incorrect should not be treated as their existence interferes with the imposition of the “socialism/communism will really work this time” agenda that decision will be not to treat those people. Just look at Italy. Look at the NHS has already declared that it will not treat (generally) people who express politically incorrect views.

        1. “Socialized medicine necessarily means that government decides who gets treated and how”

          Not treating the old, or newborn, in general (unless glorious leader). The newborn situation we’ve seen play out in public in UK, a couple of times. Sure outcome wasn’t projected to be good. But I also look at my cousin 1967 – 1970.

          Cousin was born with Spina Bifida, extreme case. Doctors wouldn’t even clean her after birth. Told parents it was best to let her die. They refused. You don’t refuse Uncle Joe, long. Not that big, but boy is he demanding. Aunt was obviously out of it. I look at the trials & tribulations and engineering done on behalf of Lisa as contributing to the successful outcomes occurring today. Was she limited to a wheelchair, yes. Did she have brain damage? No. Was she the poster child for mainstreaming handicapped in classrooms. Yes, actually. Granted this comes under unintended consequences. Aunt is perfectly willing to rant on what went wrong.

          Suit was for mainstreaming physically handicapped who needed an aid to assist with physical needs. Not handicapped needing aids to control an out of control child, or a child whose mental capabilities will never even reach 1st grade level or peer level and the usual behavioral issues accompaniment.

          Then there is my mom. I have no idea where she comes up with these, other than happening where social medicine is practiced. One is if you are above a certain age, they won’t treat you, even if you want it. That age cut off has always been about 5 years younger than her current age, rounded to nearest 5. It is 80, now (she’s 85). Yet she had no problem getting a cancer on her leg treated (discovered because our puppy scratched her, then part of scratch wouldn’t heal. Otherwise no sign of cancer.) A friend of hers has the same cancer, is older, & has had surgery to remove 3 times; is looking at a 4th.

          Now are there people who decide to not treat aggressively, anything? Regardless of age? Yes. It. Is. Their. Choice. Not the systems. Does it happen more frequently as the age goes up? Yes. Note, taking money out of play here. BIL mother has cancer. She has been on palliative care since diagnosis, on the decision of her doctors & her children. It isn’t money. It is because she has extreme dementia. She barely recognizes her children sometimes. Has 100% stopped recognizing the grandchildren, let alone her children’s spouses. She wouldn’t understand the treatment involved. She wouldn’t cooperate. Now? With the lock down, social distancing, dining room closure? Word is she is not handling it well. And, she isn’t particularly social with her peers in the assisted living facility.

          2. “I look at the trials & tribulations and engineering done on behalf of Lisa as contributing to the successful outcomes occurring today.”

            This, SO much this. Every time I read of doctors wanting to terminate life support to an infant as “futile care” and deny efforts to prolong that life, I remember that virtually all care, at one time or another, was considered futile and it is only be attempting the futile that we learn HOW to address the problem.

            Let that infant suffer a little but more “Life not worth living” in order to perhaps, down the live, effectively treat other babies so that they may have lives worth living.

            Once upon a not so distant time any treatment for Cancer was merely “prolonging the inevitable” and “dragging out the suffering.” By doing that we’ve earned to treat Cancer and extended the lives of millions of people. Life is terminal for all of us; that’s no reason to devalue it.
            –

          1. Eh, that was less than it appeared. Basically don’t yell racial epithets at the staff or other patients.

            1. In fairness they have that here too; this had to be especially emphasized after various first responders were assaulted; and medical staff at either clinics or hospital get screamed at – though it’s a general ‘do not abuse staff, or else you get refused services and thrown out’ sort of thing.

              1. Maybe. If the hospital gives a damn. If cops show up. Etc. Had it happen to my coworkers before. The most recent will probably be pled down, the others it would fall to go file a report with pd when you’re off

            2. so, basically, don’t suffer from a brain tumor?

              There are a lot of illnesses that cause people to say random things that they would not have said in their right minds. So, don’t suffer from them, either.

          2. Oh, there was a government crapweasel claiming to work for the FDA on Twitter who decided he was offended by the criticism over testing and vaccine red tape and belched up this:

            “This is happening, whether you like it or not. There will be curfews, freedom of assembly restricted, and—boy, it was not wise to snap at me—if it gets really bad, food will be rationed. Take a wild guess which department would ration the food.“

            1. So basically the hyperauthoritarians are trying to turn this into their wet dream fantasy of, well ruling over ‘the plebs.’ Unsurprisingly. The jackasses gotta jackass.

              While I understand the reasons the government is giving about not closing down schools, it’s really not easy on my nerves. I gotta say, while out on errands and appointments, there are still a fair amount of people out and about, though not as many as there normally would be.

              Still enough that damnit, there are plenty of shelves empty at the pharmacy, and there’s a long line to the checkouts. (Unlike the rest of Australia, I wasn’t stocking up on disinfectants and dunny paper…)

              1. I tend to look at this as the canary in the coal mine, like the Secret Service agent just before Trump was inaugurated who said she wouldn’t take a bullet for him. SHE got fired. How many others feel the same way, but were just a tad more discreet?

                1. And then add the so-called reporters who are publishing vital security info as to Secret Service protection for President Trump, like the one WaPo “reporter” tweeted out recently. Add their rhetoric about “Trump being Hitler” and you can easily draw the conclusion that they WANT Trump to be assassinated and are trying to facilitate it.

            3. I don’t know if I’m more offended by his presumption that he’d last five minutes, or by his painful ignorance.

              Anybody who does something more than warming a seat in the FDA should be well aware that their level of control compares unfavorably to a three year old holding the leash for a large pack of puppies.

              1. A much too large percentage of the federal strains are worse than cartman’s respect mah authitah. Problem is that the ones that want to hurt others are the ones that get ahead in the bureaucracy. Hence why these tantrums are gonna result in deaths, just sadly not necessarily those of those having them.

            5. USDA. I saw it. Also the USDA’s announcement that he doesn’t work for them and that they have contacted Twitter about his fraudulent claim. Turns out the guy has a long history of cons and other unpleasantness.

                  1. Lying bullies who declare that they’re going to punish you using the power an agency they don’t work for doesn’t even have?

                    Being prepared to shoot them when they try to use the power they don’t have seems like a better idea than tar and feathers. Partly because they’re unlikely to get gumption if there’s a big enough group for non-fatal measures.

              1. Oh, I’m already there….. Did you know that 6 inch diameter PVC pipe is waterproof with the proper application of pipe caps…. and has an amazing storage volume inside…..

      1. Nobody mentions China, where it originated and was allowed to spread worldwide. That seems like a gigantic fail of socialized medicine to me.

        1. Come on. Everyone knows socialized medicine just means that the government will pay for the same doctors used by congress so that they can treat the taxpayer. Not that the 30% decrease in payment between Medicare payments and private insurance (nevermind caid) don’t get in the way.

      2. Anybody know where Sophie Trudeau is getting her treatment since testing positive for Woo-Hoo Flu?
        –

        1. I doubt she’s getting the same kind of care as us plebians, that’s for sure.

    3. Free cartoon concept for anyone willing to do the illustrating: Use the familiar meme form of “How my friends see what I do,” “How my critics see what I do,” “How my parents see see what I do,” “How I see what I do,” and “What I actually do” and use it to illustrate different versions of socialized health care.

      Even if it is merely a two-panel “How Progressives imagine socialized health care” vs “How socialized health care actually works” contrast the imagery ought provoke thought among those unaccustomed to such strain.
      –

      1. The British Socialist Party already tweeted a meme. It showed people lined up in front of a NHS hospital, captioned, “Capitalism, where people wait for health care” and a shiny new piece of equipment at a hospital in Pennsylvania (Bethhelem, IIRC), captioned “Socialism, where health care waits for you.”

        Top that.

        If it can be topped.

      1. there’s a typo there, its supposed to say and *yet* as in the press is going mumblemumblemumble

    5. Matthew 5:45

      Father which is in heaven: for he maketh. his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

      1. The rain it falls upon the just/ and on the unjust fella./ But mostly on the just because/ The Unjust stole the Just’s umbrella! [Attributed to lots of people, but Charles Bowen gets the official credit/blame.]

  2. I’ve noticed too that some of the news programs like to run a feel good story at the end. It leaves you feeling less negative about them after a half hour barrage of negativity. But then I analyzed it. The story is always trivial or very local and painted as the exception. It’s never anything IMPORTANT. It leaves you thinking – good things are rare and I shouldn’t expect them except as rare gems.

  3. Well said! This is why we are now taking the time to listen to all his press conferences, even if we have to do it after it’s occurred. We use Right Side Broadcasting’s YouTube channel for that, since we know it’ll be uncut and unedited.

    It was heartening to see how the private sector is stepping up under the guidance of the current administration. No nationalization and seizure of assets needed. Government realizes and expresses a need, and industry responds. Reminds me of what I read about the private sector’s response to World War II.

    Two examples of capitalism at work. Socialism would be the death of us. Stay safe out there, everyone. Stay safe, and keep the faith. I love that President Trump is appealing to Heaven in this time, a reminder that all of us should. Above all powers, above all thrones, sits the one true God and His Son.

    1. Another two examples – one of our friends (who my daughter is hand-holding through a messy divorce) is getting a little frantic because her hours at her job are being cut back because of the Wuhan coronavirus (yes, I WILL call it that!) but my daughter just pointed out that the local HEB grocery chain is hiring more people to stock shelves, and the local Amazon division is hiring more drivers, because … the grocery store shelves are emptying fast, and more people are turning to home delivery of stuff. These jobs probably are only temporary – but it’s an ill wind that blows no one any good at all.

  4. Breitbart for the win! I watched the presser Trump gave, and the responses his people on the task force gave. But I stopped broadcast and cable years ago.

  5. USA Today has scare headlines today They claim it may be August before “social distancing” (everything being closed) can come to an end. I growled. We’ve got drug trials based on what’s worked in Australia and Singapore, we’ve got much better testing already, we’ve got vaccine work in progress [and yes, I recall the story of the disaster of the 1960s Swine Flu vaccine mess]. I expect a bump in cases as spring break wraps up, just like we see a bump in other infectious diseases after spring break.

    1. I wonder if some of the deaths are being caused by secondary bacterial infections, rather than the virus itself, and that such infections are not being reported because of privacy laws restricting details and a lack of testing once a patient is positive for the coronavirus. Indeed, one wonders if some of the deaths in some countries are the result of a “too late” introduction of antibiotics to prevent or treat such secondary infections.

      Two years ago, without need for any cornavirus outbreak I had a cold (that since I work from home I stupidly tried to work through) which turned into an upper respiratory infection and then pneumonia (which fortunately did not get bad enough to require hospitalization as it was caught just as it was getting going. Was given antibiotics and steadily recovered.

      1. Interesting point. Seriously, does one really die from the flu? (swine, spanish, etc) or is it really complications like pneumonia?

        1. From what I understand, it’s more the complications. What makes this virus so problematic is that it makes the lungs super vulnerable to those secondary infections and/or complications in some 5-10% of the populace. Not all in that condition die, but they require pretty extensive medical care.

        2. If I remember correctly, the answer is something like “yes, but it’s usually so complicated that it’s easier to say flu or complications of the flu.”

    2. And a likely working treatment with the malarial medicines.
      I had a vodka and tonic earlier, just to boost my system. 😉

  6. Another place that has livestream and/or archive video of pressers and Beat the Press (I wish!) type talking head shows is the conservativetreehouse dot com.

    Sunday’s press converence: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/03/15/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-briefing-500pm-et-livestream/

    (I haven’t watched it; video and my internet connection aren’t on good speaking terms. OTOH, it’s listed as complete, and Sundance tries to give POTUS a fair shake all the time.)

    I’m still fuming over the NYT’s lie about states getting equipment, “accidentally” failing to mention that the Feds will cover, and that the states can probably get equipment faster than the Feds. I do like that the President doesn’t hesitate to punch back, though (IMHO) some of this crap starts getting into arrest territory. *cough* Chicom propaganda pushing *cough*

    1. I have no doubt that if it is found that the Chinese engineered this virus and released it intestinally in order to cause an economic downturn and a panic in order to try to get Trump beaten in November and help the Democrats elected, not only would Democrats and their media arm not denounce China for its actions but they would blame Trump for antagonizing them with tariffs and “starting a trade war”

      2. Honestly, that doesn’t make any sense to me. Doing experiments and having an accident makes sense but purposeful release just doesn’t. It also doesn’t make any sense that the US would do it, which is what China is now trying to claim, that we had some guys go over there and plant it. So maybe they’re trying to get ahead of revelations that it’s bioengineered. But I doubt that, too. Viruses jump species. That’s the simplest and most likely explanation.

        As for the global panic. Seems like far too many countries (Europe) were trying to show how open minded they were and now they’re sorry. For the US I’m fully willing to entertain the idea that someone figured out that this would pass in time for the economy to make great gains toward recovery before November and they want to make sure that people see the government as savior before that happens.

        Dangerous and idiotic children, all of them.

        1. Remember though that XI is an advocate of “going back to Mao” and is ruling in such a manner. One of the things that Mao always stated was that he did not see a nuclear war with the US as a problem as some Chinese would survive and the USA would be destroyed (presumably because any survivors would reject capitalism and embrace communism). Regardless of how delusional this may be, I think it is clear that Mao believed it, and Xi may equally believe it, and thus willingly sacrifice his own people in order to transmit the disease. Indeed, it may have been seen as an opportunity to get rid of dissidents and blame an epidemic for it. I put nothing past Xi based on his very clear desire to be the next Mao.

          1. I didn’t know that about Mao. Reminds me more than a little bit of the Iranian nutcase who thought that a nuclear war with Israel would be an automatic win for the Muslim world, because they could destroy Israel while the resulting counterattack wouldn’t take out every Muslim. Is this a common delusion among genocidal dictators, that it’s okay to bring about the end of the world, because obviously your people will be the ones to rebuild?

            1. Mao was a serious fruitcake. See Chung and Halliday. Alma ‘likes’ Frank Dikotter’s books.

              He had a lack of recognition for the humanity of the Chinese.

              Jinping Xi, given what he experienced, is an extremely warped person to want to be anything like Zedong.

              You would be making a dangerous mistake to presume that there is anything scruples could stop him from doing.

              The reason to think that he would probably not release a bioweapon among his own people is that he would not want to get strung up by them, and they might have the gumption to do that if he did. Of course, he personally may be lunatic enough to think that no one would dare.

        3. If this were engineered it would be a lot worse, like having a 30-day incubation period while infectious, and worse for military age males instead of old folks.

          Although, XI is right there in the highest impact sweet spot – maybe it was a coup attempt? Hmmmmm.

        4. Outbreak pattern is wrong for intentional use. Would have been multiple widespread outbreaks, to maximize ramp up and swamp health services.

          Accident of nature or Man more readily fits available info.

      3. I’m of the opinion that if the virus was engineered in their labs, it wasn’t released intentionally. Lab practices are not what we would consider safe, and there have been instances in the past of the researchers selling off lab animals to the wet market, because why “waste” them?

      4. I’m skeptical of the idea that the Chinese created the virus for two reasons.

        1.) Epidemics started for thousands of years without people having to make them.

        2.) China is such a large country with a large population that the chances of a major pandemic arising from it is very high.

        Of course, this doesn’t mean that certain people haven’t tried to take advantage of/spin the pandemic for their own reasons. But that’s not a conspiracy, that’s opportunism.

        1. well, I recall a Canadian story, last year, about a Chinese researcher being arrested for attempting to smuggle out a biological (I think it was a coronavirus of some flavor), and Wuhan has a research center likely doing military research into biological and chemical weapons

          1. I’m sure they’re researching it, not yet convinced they released one. Wouldn’t a bioweapon be more lethal?

            1. This seems slightly more lethal than others of the same variety, and seems to affect orientals a bit harder. Use against neighbors? Internally?
              Besides, it might well be an accidental release, and something they were looking at but hadn’t gotten to the point they wanted.
              All speculation, with some of their oddball methods and customs, that it occured near a place like that might well be totally unrelated, but really, when you see its supposed origin point (A market) and the facility where this work takes place, it is easy to see how several different scenarios would cover accidents, even if it is a CDC style research center, and not a more devious joint.
              See all the recent drug recalls for garbage in the mix due to ingredients drawn from China, same with pet foods, kids’ plastic and vinyl toys . . . If they screw up things that bad for someone who will really hurt their pocket book, how careful are they for stuff at home? They will care less about what happens to the populace there, they got plenty.

              1. The “worse against Asians” thing got more or less rebutted in an earlier comments thread on this site. The study had a sample size of eight, one of whom was an Asian male. A later study with a much larger sample size found that smoking was the determinate at risk factor. And many Chinese both smoke, and live in cities with lots of air pollution.

                2. also, Italians (especially the older ones) who smoke/smoked, and now got tons of Chinese coming and going (Iran as well). and gee wilikers, why’d they get hammered?

              2. Yeah, I’m with in the “this was something they were working on but wasn’t ready for prime time” camp. As we’ve noted, there are Chinese immigrants everywhere, which means that Chinese agents could have orchestrated a deliberate release anywhere. In that case, why start your bio war in your own backyard? If the goal was to take down the West, the logical place to start would be London, New York, Los Angeles, etc. If the goal was to take out threats to the CCP then it would have started in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or among the Uyghers in Xinjiang/East Turkestan.

                Announcing the virus you intentionally released started a couple hundred yards away from your bioresearch lab is the kind of tradecraft you get in really, really bad spy novels. That sounds a lot more like poor employee control — as noted a known problem — than “we’ll deliberately release it here so that no one thinks we did it on purpose” kind of double think.

                1. Seeing more and more, that shoots the more severe stuff down too.
                  1% lethality in South Korea.
                  More and more positive tests that had no symptoms.
                  The numbers untested and not ill has to be very high.

                  Be careful around those susceptible, until it’s over, and don’t be stupid would be nice. Instead we get Kermit flailing.

                  1. And lethality dropped like a rock once they started testing people who weren’t already at death’s door, so more tests is likely to drop it even more as they find the sample was jacked up.

                    2. Exxxactly – once they start testing universally – the death rate from this Wuhan Corona virus drops like a rock.
                      And I am using the term “Wuhan Corona virus” deliberately, because it seriously pisses off the Chinese commies. (Yeah, and your premier Xi looks like Winnie the Pooh cartoon, so … bite me!)

            2. It could have been something that was intended purely for research purposes – i.e. “let’s see what we can do with this strand!” In such a case, pure lethality would have been a drawback, since it would have made it more difficult to study the animal subjects that they were testing it on.

            3. The lethality of the bioagent depends on the objective.

              If you want to cripple an opponent, it doesn’t have to be lethal at all. Just swamp the healthcare system and screw up their economy. Panic soon discombobulates them. Then they are too busy and distracted to oppose adventures elsewhere.

              “Sow discord in the enemy camp”
              “Greatest victory is without fighting”
              (Paraphrased)
              – Sun Tzu, The Art of War

              The CCP may have been playing with /studying this bug in a lab, but I doubt the outbreak was intentional. They may soon exploit our distraction while theirs ends. But that is opportunistic predation, not long-term planning.

              And we are -much- better at pick-up games.

          2. That the research center that has a logo almost identical to Umbrella Corporation’s?

              1. What’s the etymology of the word “snopes”, which obviously means “idiots” or “dopes”?

    2. Don’t know that we can arrest for just passing along “expert” opinion. However – any of those that did things like move toilet tissue off of grocery shelves to get their story – THOSE should be charged, convicted, and given the maximum, plus fining the bejesus out of their stations. It’s the equivalent of shouting fire in a theater (that is not on fire at the time).

      1. Actually the “shouting fire in a theater” assertion regarding free speech is one of the most misrepresented statements about free speech rights ever. First, the right to free speech protects one from government taking action on the speech, it does not protect you from being sued by others for causing them harm because your intentionally false speech caused a panic directly resulting in their injury (i.e. stampeded, etc.)

        Also, and very important, the case where that statement was made has been effectively overruled by subsequent Supreme Court cases on free speech, and thus is not good law. Yet everyone still cites that one line as justification for government limits on free speech.

        1. And of course, that case wasn’t about “shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theater either”–it was about the arrest of an anti-war guy who issued pamphlets protesting the draft. If I were on the left, I’d be real careful about citing that case…

          2. There were Vietnam era cases that effectively overturned the “crowded theater” casel which was a much older case.
            “

            1. Older? Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: “Schenck v. United States in 1919, which held that the defendant’s speech in opposition to the draft during World War I was not protected free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” [Wiki]

              Holmes is the same moral idiot who decreed, “three generations of idiots is enough,” thus endorsing a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit (Buck v. Bell, 1925).

              Clearly the man was better in dissent than in the majority.
              –

              1. … Dang. On hearing that verdict, my response would have been to have my lawyer file a lawsuit against Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., in his personal capacity, for conspiracy to deprive me of my Constitutionally-guaranteed rights, with that verdict as Exhibit A of the suit. Wouldn’t go anywhere, of course, but it would make LOTS of headlines, which would be the point of the exercise.

                Yeah, I don’t suffer fools gladly.

        2. Not quite.

          Yes, it is well established that government cannot preemptively prohibit any speech whatsoever.

          However, criminal charges – not just civil – can be made and conviction obtained with “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” of two things:

          1) Knowledge by the person making the false statement that it was false, at the time the statement was made.

          2) Tangible harm to one or more persons as the result of the false statement.

          3) Sometimes required as part of the proof, other times merely an aggravating factor, benefit to the person or persons making the false statement.

          Now, (1) is a slam dunk in these cases. (2) could be a stretch, but not impossible. (3) is not an absolute, but fairly easy.

          (Really, I would like to see them brought up on “incitement to riot” – noting the fights that have broken out – but those statutes require “intent to incite.” Impossible to prove here, and probably not present anyway; they just were after ratings.)

          1. Largely correct, but keep in mind that the SCOTUS decreed in New York Times vs Sullivan that it is permissible for the Press to slander, libel, defame, besmirch, denigrate, calumniate, smear, and sully any target definable as a “public figure” (a definition which seems to incorporate far more Republicans than Democrats to extrapolate from disparate treatment of Trump and Obama.)
            –

            2. Not exactly. There is a test in place. For a public figure, both parts of the test must be met. Unfortunately, proving the “reckless disregard for the truth” in a way that will stand up to an appeal is proving to be an impossible task.

              1. I believe the technical term is “A loophole big enough to drive an M-1 Abrams through.”
                –

                1. Not so much a loophole as it is willful disregard by the appeals courts, imo. Far too much latitude is given to the press on this matter, to the point where nowadays you’re effectively a public figure even if the event that brought you to public attention was the press slandering you in the first place.

      2. Where there’s something going on is where the accepted terminology switched from Wuhan Coronavirus == OK, to “Dat’s Raaaaacist to call it [Wuhan|Chinese|Foreign] Coronavirus”. Several “respected journalists” all came up with this switch the second that China started doing a propaganda push.

        Also, the bit that “it was US soldiers who did biowarfare on the poor defenseless Chinese” sure got a push. I wasn’t shocked (disgusted, and took out all bookmarks for the Blogger Who Need Not Be Named) to see it in fringe news, but NBfrickingC? Something is being passed around, and it’s not just virus.

        1. Well, unfortunately, that is also not chargeable. Passing on enemy propaganda is not criminal – except in declared war. (It has to be declared war, too, not a “police action” type of thing – which is a pity, otherwise CNN would have been taken down three decades ago, and be just a bad memory now.)

              1. ear buds and kindles/paperbacks
                Do have the scroll under the work info screens. used to be Fox. Went from silly clickbait to dizinformatia

              2. It won’t help with airports, but waiting rooms can often be surprisingly amenable to changing the TV or turning the sound down / turning it off. I’m a proponent for changing the channel to HGTV, because as I put it to the reluctant receptionist, “Who wants to be even more stressed out while we’re waiting? Let’s watch something happy and beautiful that turns out well, like home rehab.”

                Given that they don’t like dealing with highly stressed people either, this is highly persuasive! (And I’m highly amused when I come back for another followup, and it’s still on HGTV. Making the world a better place, one doctor’s office TV at a time!)

                1. You have done your service to humanity!

                  I was actually thinking of the auto dealership that I USED to have the car done at. (I didn’t quit them because of CNN, though. Overtightened an oil filter, fractured it, ruined an engine – and would not accept any responsibility. Big wheel in town, so not worth trying to sue the gonophs.)

              3. How to silence almost any TV you can get physical access to, in three easy steps.

                Step 1: buy some of these:

                https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z3S4CZX/

                (If that doesn’t load an image, it’s a headphone adapter: 3.5mm male jack to 6.25mm female socket. Designed for plugging your professional-quality headphones with the larger plugs into smaller electronics like smartphones, but read on for the OTHER practical use).

                Step 2: get close enough to the TV to be able to find the headphone socket. It’ll usually be on the side somewhere.

                Step 3: plug the headphone adapter into the TV’s socket. Most TVs will detect that something was plugged into the socket and automatically send the audio output through the headphone socket instead of through their built-in speakers. Voila: muted audio, with no need to fiddle with the buttons in an obvious way.

                Then either take the adapter with you when you leave, or if you don’t mind leaving a three-dollar device behind, leave it plugged into the TV when you board your plane. Have fun guessing how long it will be before ANYONE complains that that TV is silent. 🙂

                Bonus: you haven’t committed property damage in any way, so your conscience can be clear.

                  1. Idea is not original to me, but I don’t remember where I saw it. Just want to disclaim credit I haven’t earned.

          2. OK, I guess you’re right. Still, one wonders how much in the way of favors/financial incentives are being offered to those pushing the China line.

            1. I doubt they’re receiving anything more substantial than an implied promise they’ll be “remembered” when the time comes …

              “As I am sure they will be,” says the Wallaby, while carefully whetting a blade.
              –

              1. They don’t need financial incentives because they either are pushing the China line because agree with the China line, the same way the ones who used to push the Soviet line did; or they are like the NBA and other businesses that are so terrified of losing any bit of business in China whatsoever that they will do anything that China demands, even if it means selling out their own country.

            2. I’m sure there’s a form of coordination with the MSM. Not actually colluding, but paid by the same boss. I know media people, and they won’t cooperate with each other, but they’ll take money from just about anybody. It would be 3 or maybe all 4 of the MICE elements.

              1. I have not doubt that the MSM is actively coordinating with the Democrats to foment a much panic and hysteria as possible.

        2. “Nothing But Crap”

          Not to be confused with
          “Moonbats Spewing Nothing But Crap”.

    3. My only defense of that stupid is that if there is a small number of manufacturers having one point of contact would be more straightforward than 50 state governors screaming for stuff. But problem is that DC is rats nest of ted tape and even if the .Gov miraculously pulled 1000 vents and beds out of pocket you’d still get states complaining that it be split among all affected states and not just the worthy (read: blue) states

  7. I haven’t paid much attention to the mainstream media for decades. I always knew they were biased, and as I grew older I became aware that they were also STUPID. I cull a certain amount of information fro the web, absorb a bit of Teh Narrative by osmosis, and try to observe and deduct.

    My feeling? We got another Progressive Left nothingburger. They may be able to whip us a certain amount of economic pain, but I still think it’s gonna fall flat.

    2. Two weeks. And then people will start breaking these stupid rules en masse.
      And the demand for everything that has closed will go through the roof.
      I hope the asshole arsonists enjoy their two weeks That’s ALL they get.

        1. My assumption is you also have a crazy democrat governor.
          AGAIN I think this shit will get old fast, unless literal carts are going up the road with dead bodies.
          Americans are ALREADY restive.

          1. Jim Geraghty at NRO:

            The American Public Won’t Obey These Quarantine Rules Forever
            [SNIP]
            Americans will accept the government’s request that they stay home, work from home if possible, and have their kids stay home from school for several weeks. We can all enjoy watching a lot more television and Netflix. We can live with canceled conferences, postponed vacations and weddings, and not eating out in restaurants and bars. We can accept a canceled March Madness and a delayed start to the baseball season, and uncertainty as to whether the NBA and NHL seasons will finish. We can live with waiting a few months longer for our big summer blockbusters.

            (Pennsylvania, you’re pushing your luck by closing the state liquor stores.)

            But as March turns to April . . . and April turns to May . . . people are likely to grow less and less willing to stay cooped up inside. People are barely staying away from the beaches now.

            Those “shelter in place” orders in place in San Francisco and being contemplated for New York City had better be absolutely necessary; it’s hard to see why doing anything outside should be barred if people are using sufficient precautions about keeping their distance from each other. It’s hard to sort out what is indisputably medically necessary and which proposals represent governors and mayors playing “more-restrictive-than-thou.”

            … If we need a really intense lockdown now to prevent a longer one (with even more economic pain), let’s tear the Band-Aid off all at once. At some point, Americans will start finding the restrictions too onerous to obey.
            –

            1. And yet another reminder why the right to bear arms is so vital; it is the only thing that prevents government from imposing this kind of stuff on a permanent basis.

            2. “At some point, Americans will start finding the restrictions too onerous to obey.”

              Actually, I think the actual likely mood is better summed up by “At some point, Americans will decide they have had Enough Of This Shit”

              1. And that point is becoming NOW as people lose jobs and find themselves unable to finish school assignments for NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
                I can’t be the only one who is at “I’ve had enough of this shit” already.

          2. My guess from here within an OMGWOOPWOOPSHELTERINPLACE area covering some 6.7 million people in the 6 counties in the SF Bay Area is that they rolled out their public health order nominally for 3 weeks, but they will suddenly declare “Hooray! Big Government Worked!” in about a week and a half, seeking to make people grateful for letting them out early and heading off any mass displays of civil disobedience.

            The order here has so many loopholes that I’m thinking it’s basically just to A) mostly close the restaurants (they can only do take-out) B) close the bars (oddly no take-out provision there), and C) scare more people into mostly staying home. Their definition of “essential businesses” that are to remain open is quite loose as well.

            I laughed when I saw “news media” is a named essential business.

            It will be interesting when the shopping panics and TP hoarding is over to compare places that issues shelter-in-place orders

      2. In some situations there is value in rigorously complying with bad laws, so you have as clean a slate and conscience as possible when the compliance ends.

      3. Two weeks as long as a whole bunch of people don’t get very ill and fill up the hospitals. If we do have a sudden increase of cases (where people who caught it two weeks ago finally become ill) people might make it longer before rebelling.

          2. Oregon Governor shut schools down until April 28 …

            Second death in Oregon today, well reported, confirmed today … Eugene/Springfield. Age 60. Not nursing home. No further details.

            We are in Eugene.

  9. The Washington Post has the full March 15 press conference here:

    It’s a 2-hour video. You have to fast-forward through 45 minutes(!) of annoying audio test tone and nothing happening on video, before the actual press conference starts. Given that even 10-year-olds know how to edit video these days, it’s safe to assume that they REALLY don’t want you to watch this.

    1. No, the way live videos work is that as soon as you take it live, YT starts recording dead air, and continues recording until you shut it down. I think the White House channel does live events with a long lead-in to make it easier to find, because otherwise most people will not get a notification until after the event is over.

      Then by the next day, the White House channel uploads a video with all the dead air trimmed out. (Golden State Times often beats them to it, but, ads.)

      If you just sub to the White House channel, you’ll save yourself a lot of annoyance.

  10. Geez, people, just subscribe to the White House Youtube channel, it has all the speeches and briefings live (and reposts them after trimming the dead air). No need to search all over hell’s half acre for snips and bits and yesterday’s rumors.

    https://www.youtube.com/user/whitehouse/videos?disable_polymer=1

    There are a couple other channels that run earlier feeds (and sometimes carry rallies that the WH channel doesn’t) but this’un will get you all the official statements. Look also for “Golden State Times” for quicker posting of some live events (tho you have to put up with ads, which the WH channel does not have).

    1. The White House could give a needed boost to alternative media sites just by using them itself. Bitchute instead of Youtube, and Gab instead of Twitter.

  11. I have often wished Trump were more … restrained in his use of Twitter. I have far more often (and for far longer) wished the Mainstream Media were more honest in their journalism. I have wished the Press would eschew journalism for simply reporting events rather than editing reality to conform to their narrative desire.

    I have long been resigned to not having my wishes granted.
    –

    1. Every time Trump tweets something that makes me wince, I look at the response and think “You know what? Maybe a second outlet for him as well.”

  12. I’ve been avoiding the major news outlets, because they are so desperate to find something to get their cortisol and adreneline high, and if they can do Orange Man Bad as well-bonus!

    Sadly, because I’m stuck at home due to my job being in San Francisco, the main computer is exactly 90 degrees from the TV and Mom is a CNN junkie.

    2. I have the same setup, TV at 90 degrees to the PC, same room. Headphones are a life saver, and I have a sheet of cardboard propped up to block the television.

      For your listening pleasure, may I suggest:

      Silk Music Progressive House 24/7: Melodic Beach & Adventure Music

      This is what I have on most of the time. Its unintrusive, mostly instrumental, and cheerful. The pictures that go with it are nice too, handsome young people playing fun sports and jumping off things into the water.

  13. I am not watching any of this shit. What y’all are seeing now is assholes playing politics with real people’s real actual lives.

    I’ve already seen this show in miniature. I once upon a time worked in hospitals. Mean Girl Politics was the name of the game, patient care was a distant secondary concern. It was nauseating, and I was not the least bit accepting of it. 20 years later, nothing has changed except that I don’t work in hospitals. I can’t take the bullshit, it damages my calm.

    So now, y’all get to see the show. Its Politics first, Big Money second, securing the life, liberty and property of citizens is not even on the board. Try not to dwell on the individual lies, it will just make you nauseous. Simply accept that a large number of Movers and Shakers out there in the Big System don’t consider -you- important except as a bulk resource. Humans are like corn. What happens to an individual kernel doesn’t matter, as long as most of it gets into the bin.

    There is no way to “fix” this. “If only [Big Politician] were running things, then it would all be okay…”

    No.

    [Big Politician], doesn’t matter who that is, can’t fix a system where politics is more important than human life.

    That’s where it starts. The certain knowledge that the system itself is too big, too broken and contains too many vermin. Once you really get that, then the rest is obvious.

    The next step is a little harder. That’s where you look around you, find the nearest piece of the system that’s small enough for you to handle and get to work. Local school board, local hospital, something bite-sized.

    1. From Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe:
      The Colonel: I don’t read no papers, and I don’t listen to radios either. I know the world’s been shaved by a drunken barber, and I don’t have to read it.
      –

  14. Had to watch/listen to the last 30 min of today’s presser (waiting at mop chop shop.) Ye gads. 1) Reporters don’t listen to other people, 2) or to each other. 3) Or read what was in yesterday’s news.

    I got the sense that the press pool wants the POTUS to close the country, lock everyone indoors, and that will make the nasty virus go away this week. OR to do a lot more doom-n-gloom “we’re just like England, oh woe, woe!” I’d have started reaching for the clue bat a loooooong time before the conference ended.

      1. Here in Tiny Town, TX, it’s the first day of the parents back at work as the kids are on spring break. It’s also gently raining, so the street isn’t filled with munchkins running up and down.

        Peter went and got a pedicure, and then wandered next door to the donut shop. (It did call to him. Lo, the smells bid him take his place among the consumers…) The owner was out of donuts and breakfast burritos, though he had kolaches and donut holes left, and it wasn’t from panic, it was from teenagers at loose ends and parents trying to grab something on the way to work. He informed my darling man that if Peter were to buy all the kolaches, he’d throw all the donut holes in free, and then shut down early and go enjoy the day. (Despite the rain, fishing may have been mentioned.)

        There is a distinct lack of panic in the air. Of course, the rain is washing the pollen away, and promising plenty of growth, to the delight of the ranchers, farmers, and gardeners, and the groans of everyone who will soon be cutting the lawn…

        1. Likewise up here. The folks in the shearing shed [heh!] were older, and very sang froid about everything. The nice lady trying to do everything by herself (her business partner is out sick – chronic condition flared up) said someone had demanded to know why she didn’t close and stay home. She said 1. there are no cases in the area and 2. she didn’t want to starve. The rest of us agreed 100%.

          We’re between rain rounds at the moment, but people have been out doing the yard and park things one does in soft, warm weather. And of course walking dogs. The gym was moderately busy at 0630 (my visit) and 0930 (mom’s session). They’ve stopped group classes, but won’t close entirely until the Health Department gives the word. Since they are also a PT and rehab facility, that makes excellent sense.

          1. Gym down here is also open – but then, Carmen is known to, if you come in sick, pick up the pushbroom shove you out the door at the end of a 5-foot pole.

            Since nobody wants to be subject to the laughter of others and a chest full of bristles with an irate gym manager behind it, it’s a fairly healthy place. 🙂

        2. Sounds awesome. Its cold and crappy here in the southern reaches of the Demented Dominion, although I did get five minutes of sun a little while ago taking Maximum Maxwell out to chase the ball. (It isn’t “fetch” with him, its “chase”. Two balls required, the second one is thrown to get him to release the first one.)

          I’m not looking forward to the Time of Mowing. Everything is soggy, I’ll be getting stuck all over the place.

          2. ” Maximum Maxwell out to chase the ball. (It isn’t “fetch” with him, its “chase”. Two balls required, the second one is thrown to get him to release the first one.)”

            Sounds familiar. Pepper is the same way, regardless of the toy. Throwing is either ball or loop. She’ll chase it, fetch it back, but then it is keep away. Use another toy to get her to drop it. Throw it. Pickup just retrieved. Repeat, until she quits bringing toys back. Working on hand off from her with treats or if loop, offer to “tug”. She’s getting better at handing it off after the retrieve.

  15. > I saw firsthand what the press is willing to do

    For at least twenty years people have been questioning the media spin on events. That’s about when the internet got enough traction for lots of people to be able to compare notes on “what we saw happen” vs. “what the MSM said.”

    Probably, they’ve been lying to us all along.

    We knew how the press worked in Italy, Germany, and Britain, and how they lied to us in the 1930s and 1940s, but surely they wouldn’t get up there on the screen and lie directly to our faces…

    Yep, they would. And anyone who called them out was a “denier” or “conspiracy theorist” or “radical.”

    Kinda glad there’s one in the Oval Office now…

    1. Go back and read Mencken on being a Newsman. His biographical works – Newspaper Days and Heathen Days – will give you some idea, and is posthumous My Life As Author And Editor gets more into the details.

      Newspapers started life as political broadsheets. They’ve never traveled far from those roots.

  16. I just got word via official email that I and my colleagues, being city employees, are now on an enforced 2-week paid vacation. See, I think this is why the lazy-a$$ “civil service” on the federal and state level are so sanguine about a national shutdown: they’re not going to lose a cent, let alone a job or a business with years of sweat equity. This has no downside at all when the tax serfs of the general public can just be flogged a little harder to fulfill your fat, ironbound contract. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands live in fear of losing everything … which is made harder by having to listen to an overwhelmingly Democrat (NOT ME! NOT ME!) “civil service” whine endlessly about “equity” and “justice.” Just saying.

    1. I’m a grouch. I’ve been a grouch for a long time. People seldom mention equity or justice in my hearing, because they know my response is going to be, “Yes, if we were fair and equitable about it we would have hung your thieving arse from a lamppost some time back.”

    3. Meanwhile Chairman Murphy of the People’s Republic of New Jersey is demanding that the Feds build (and pay for) new hospitals asap in NJ to treat virus patients; never mind that by the time a single hospital gets built there will likely be no need for it at that point. Of course plenty of popcorn would be needed to see what the environmentalists do as they normally oppose any new construction project.

      Elsewhere in the never let a crisis go to waste category, Congressional Democrats are demanding that as part of the virus package that their long desired complete forgiveness of all student loan debt be enacted, while at the same time they are denouncing Trump for “using the crisis to pursue tax cuts”, because for Democrats the solution to economic problems is never for people to keep and be able to spend more of their own money.

      Democrats have made it clear that they see this as a means to achieve their goal of socialism now, socialism forever. And it will be totalitarian socialism, as it the Democratic Party run jurisdictions that are imposing the kind of absolute controls on activity and conduct (such as the San Fran bay area “lowdown” orders) that if done by Trump, or indeed any Republican, would be denounced as being fascist and proof that “insert name of Republican here” is “just like Hitler”.

      Of course if Trump really were the next Hitler, his critics would have already been disappeared, much like the Chinese tycoon was recently disappeared by XI.

      I think social distancing toward Democrats should be giving them the one finger salute-with both hands.

      1. Has Mssr. Murphy consulted with the state’s construction unions?

        BTW: Wikipedia says they only have 37K members. I doubt they can raise all that many hospitals. Has the state’s chief executive considered lifting regulatory barriers to the swift erection of thos facilities?

        Not holding breath awaiting answer to that.
        –

        1. Hire 37k more workers. May be completely untrained, incompetent and destructive but they’ll pay dues and that is all that matters.

          1. My bad; clarification in order:

            Wikipedia says [the Army Corps of Engineers] only have 37K members …

            A sizable percentage of whom are probably paper pushers.
            –

    4. Not only will they not lose anything, but they will get to bask in the big government as savior meme the media and government will foist on populace (note there us no try there) and get to expand their power. I get more and more suspicious that a healthy government begets an unhealthy servant class

  17. For all broadcast government public events CSPAN is a valuable resource. Here is their archive of White House addresses: https://www.c-span.org/search/?searchtype=Videos&sort=Newest&sponsorid%5B%5D=929

    Finding the precise video you seek requires a bit of work, less as you acquire familiarity with their filing system. Each video is accompanied by a searchable transcript of middling quality (it is as reliable as the familiar closed captions you get on screen, which is to say some words and phrases are hopelessly garbled.)

    Of course, in the world envisioned by our Founders there would be journalists who boiled the event down to key points, enabling you to quickly grasp the gist and determine whether to view the whole two hours (BTW – the transcript enables you to, as mentioned, search key terms and phrases and watch the relevant portion of the recorded press conference … if you know for what to search.) But this ain’t that world, is it?
    –

  18. “I hate the press right now. The words they use are designed to scare. The stories they highlight are the most extreme.”

    They look at stores shelves emptied of toilet paper and smile at a job well done. They would happily shout Fire! in a crowded theatre if it gave them footage to run at eleven. Used to be America knew this about the Press. See The Front Page, His Girl Friday, Meet John Doe, or Ace in The Hole. But ever since All The President’s Men the MSM has thrived on promoting itself glamorous and noble.
    –

    3. Well even back in the early-mid 1980s when I went to college, the journalism majors were the farthest left of the left, and it has only gotten worse since then. It is no surprise that their coverage mimics Soviet era Tass and Pravda; to them the Soviets and Mao’s China wee the good guys. This is why they downplay anything negative about Cuba and Venezuela (you can read an entire NY Times article on Venezuela’s problems and never seed the word socialism once). Most MSM journalists are the Democrats/Socialist/Communists/Communazi praetorian guard, devoted to the service of “the cause”.

    4. I didn’t see All the President’s Men, but I did see Citizen Kane at a young enough age.

      And there’s almost never really any war in Cuba.

      This one scene has succinctly illustrated my attitude towards The Press as a whole for several years now.

  19. Posted this a few days ago in a political forum:
    It does strike me that this whole virus thingy and market crash would have been a damn fine October surprise. Pity is that this is mid March so with a modicum of effective governance the worst will have long since passed by election time.

    Still holds, though the media appears bound and determined to stretch the panic as long as possible in hopes that it will still impact the elections.
    My expectation is that the rest of March and all of April will be a carp storm, but things will settle out and stabilize no later than early May. Unless the powers that be find some way to exacerbate the whole mess or pile some additional crisis on top of everything.
    Let us not forget that the ultimate prize is control of the US government for the next four years. Depending on who wins that period will represent a return to the gradual decline and globalization of our entire nation as exemplified by our last red diaper baby POTUS, or the resurrection of America as the preeminent power and beacon for freedom on this sad sorry planet.

    2. My expectation is that the rest of March and all of April will be a carp storm,

      –
      I thought Sara had an exclusive on the Carp Storm franchise.

  21. Yeah, I’m in the habit of ignoring the media, watching a real task force presser when I can get it, and trying to stay sane. I think the media hope to keep this going long enough to suppress the economy as close as they can get to the election. And yes, President Trump should continue to tweet and hit back at the spin, disinformation, and other attacks (even though the MSM will continue to portray his punch-backs as HIS aggression and rudeness.)
    I’m hopeful of what I’m seeing in my personal life – non-Trump and even anti-Trump people who are also getting frustrated (& even angry) with the disinformation and the panic-pushing. And the MSM thought their brand was suffering before…

  22. This is a media driven panic. Re the ’empty’ shelves, note that they are ‘tight’ shots… There is plenty of food available, may not be your ‘preferred’ T-bones and NY strips, but there is food. There has been, and continues to be, a concerted effort to demonize this administration starting from day 1. The media will be perfectly happy to crash the economy if it defeats Trump. There was NO outcry during H1N1 or MERS, even though the infection rates (according to what I’m seeing) were higher. I agree with Michael on this!

      1. Along with prominently repeating calls by Democrats to nationalize the food supply. Never mind that in socialist countries, the shelves are always empty, no panic buying needed.

        1. They have a cunning plan. I do not think it will mean what they think it will mean.

          Democratic PACs plan millions in ad spending slamming Trump over coronavirus response
          A Democratic super PAC is planning a $5 million ad blitz hitting President Trump for how he has handled the coronavirus.

          Pacronym’s ad campaign is the first major planned offensive against Trump in the 2020 election using the administration’s coronavirus response as its selling point. The multimillion-dollar investment seeks to make the government’s handling of the pandemic a major campaign issue, according to the Washington Post.

          “This is a public health issue and a national security issue, but it’s also a public policy issue and thus a political one,” said Tara McGowan, founder and chief executive of Acronym, a nonprofit group affiliated with Pacronym.

          Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh responded, targeting former Vice President Joe Biden, the leading contender to win the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump in 2020.

          “It is laughable that his allies would launch this attack when Americans can see for themselves through daily public briefings that President Trump and his team are on the case and have been so since before Joe Biden even woke up to the situation,” Murtaugh said. …
          –

          1. Politicizing a pandemic while we’re in the middle of it is not going to win them any voters they didn’t already have.

            Trump can run counter ads with praise of his efforts from CA Gov. Newsom, WA Gov. Inslee and NY Gov. Cuomo.

            Somebody was standing on the wrong side of the fan when they decided to throw that bucket of [crap].
            –

              1. Not in my wildest dreams. Their arrogance and self-regard make Vizzini look humble.
                –

      2. There’s plenty of food. Number one son works in a supermarket stocking shelves overnight – PhD student and all – the only shortage is warehouse workers to load the trucks.

        in re., the above. The Irish Health system collapses every year under the load as does the British NHS esp in the north. This year they ran out of gurneys so they couldn’t even keep people in the hall. I can remember the French and German system collapsing under influenza in the winter and heat waves in the summer. They had portable morgues set up. You need to read the local papers in the local language.

  25. You guys are a bunch of paranoids, that’s what you are.

    What, you think the media are bunch of villains with loads of cunning but no wisdom or common sense or even foresight enough to look a few months ahead, putting on faux-solemn expressions but hiding their gleeful grins and rubbing their hands together in joy at that feeling of power as they see everyone scrambling?

    That’s so absurd no one would buy it if was in a book or movie.

    Besides, it doesn’t matter if a few elections got postponed: people can still vote absentee. In fact are being encouraged to! So whatever is the problem?

    We should all trust the media.

          1. Awwww, shucks. I was aiming for Sardonic* — “disdainfully or skeptically humorous : derisively mocking” — in my persona.

            Sarcasm is just my chief weapon. Sarcasm and bitter irony. My two chief weapons are sarcasm and bitter irony … and ruthless skepticism …. My *three* weapons are sarcasm, bitter irony, and ruthless skepticism … and derisive mockery. My *four* weapons are sarcasm, bitter irony, ruthless skepticism, derisive mockery … and an almost fanatical devotion to Sarah.

            *per Merriam~Webster
            –

    4. “We should all trust the media.”

      Be sure to stock up on plenty of “personal lubricant” first.
      –

  26. “I hate the press right now. The words they use are designed to scare.”

    Yes. And your point? Look at the coverage of any storm, earthquake, disaster….. The photo is THE WORST THING THEY COULD FIND, because “If it bleeds, it leads”. It’s ALWAYS been that way.

  27. Who, among us, believes the “media” a) tells us the truth, b) is on our side, c)wants the best for us?
    Me, neither. I know the media lies to us

    1. Who believes that? The person passed out in the corner, who believed that you couldn’t get drunk on green beer. I think he’s a newbie here. *beatific kitty smile*

  28. Tucson’s Mayor just went all in on the insanity.

    All bars, restaurants, and other “gathering places” to close through the end of the month. My work’s in the county and not the city so it’s exempt, though we’re taking precautions like moving all our indoor shows to outside stages.

    Expect to see some never reopen because of financial loses, and evictions, utility cutoffs, and bankruptcies to spike come May when service staff can’t afford to make bills, and that will ripple up the supply chain.

    And when this ends being as much of a nothing-burger as a virus with a 2% mortality rate can be; look at people not to take the next outbreak seriously because of this media fueled panic, no matter how bad that one is.

    1. This, exactly – the establishment mainstream media and local politicians overreacting are playing with fire. No, worse than fire – they are playing with white phosphorous, and have not a clue as to how badly their credibility and authority will be affected, if this turns out to be a nothingburger. I mean – most of us on this forum put very little credibility in the national news media anyway.
      The damage that will be done to small businesses, tiny local enterprises will be damaging in ways that I can’t even begin to forecast … they’ve already cancelled a very popular farmers’ market at the Pearl in San Antonio. I got an email today – the April and possibly May monthly market at the old courthouse in Blanco is cancelled … a lot of the vendors who make these markets are small enterprises, with regular M-F jobs; I think that the markets are their ‘extra’ money. If it turns out that the national establishment media is fanning the flames of panic, there will be repercussions, probably lasting longer than the Wuhan virus will last.

    2. I suspect the whisper to close comes in part from liability lawyers. “If you do what the POTUS/CDC say, you can’t get sued. If you don’t and someone falls ill, they will sue you for $$$$$$$$$.” And we all know how that decision dilemma ends for bureaucrats.

  29. MEANWHILE, in Oregon (some emphasis added) Liberals discover that no “good deed” goes unrewarded:

    Portland lawyers dispute claim that police used excessive violence against antifa
    Lawyers in Portland, Oregon, are encouraging a judge to toss a lawsuit alleging that the city’s police force used excessive violence against antifa.

    The city’s attorneys responded to complaints filed by three antifa protesters who claimed that police assaulted them during a summer 2018 outburst.

    “That the city somehow condones or sympathizes with fascists is simply an outrageous claim that should be properly stricken,’’ Deputy City Attorney Michael Jeter argued to U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman. “It unnecessarily impugns the character of the city and its officers. It’s scandalous and has no business being in the lawsuit,” he continued.

    The members of antifa, a militant left-wing group that has been known to assault political opponents and journalists, filed a civil rights lawsuit alleging specific actions from police. Plaintiff Aaron Anthony Cantu says he suffered a traumatic brain injury after police threw a flash-bang grenade near him, and co-plaintiff James Mattox accused law enforcement of firing rubber-tipped projectiles at him.

    The suit reportedly describes Mattox “waving his anarchist shield, flipping off the officers and shouting profanities.” After one projectile failed to strike him, he shouted, “Look, you missed!’’ He says police then fired an additional projectile at him, striking him in the arm. …
    –

  30. I’m trying to support local companies. Went by one of my favorite breweries/pubs and got two growlers filled. Considering how today went (I’m nervous, I admit it-work hasn’t told me exactly what they’re doing), we might empty the two growlers before Friday. 😀

    1. Apparently our management got blindsided by HR yesterday (imagine that we got the email saying people shall work from home more hours before its sender announced they were taking opportunity elsewhere). Its not completely nuts atm since we can work remote and they’re not barricading doors but have backed down to highly highly recommending wfh but it’s been pretty obvious over last 36 hrs.

  31. As an intellectual exercise I’ve been trying to think of a situation where panicking would be a good response. So far I’ve come with nothing.

    1. Late outdoor humorist Patrick McManus recommended what he called the “Modified Stationary Panic” when lost in the great outdoors.
      You panic, but stay in one place as you do. Once you get it out of your system, you can then think clearly about your situation.

  32. Channel 9 Australia has one of the absolute worst headlines going right now:
    “Coronavirus: Experts’ dire warning about duration and death rate of pandemic”

    Guys- you are NOT HELPING!!!!

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  35. The media broadcasting a narrative that is nothing but vicious lies has been true since the deplatforming movement started, about the time Obama got elected. It’s old news, and is so pervasive that not even Forrest Gump could fail to have noticed it by now. (On some topics, such as the environment, the narrative of lies goes back 70 years or longer. Public panic is the health of the media.)

    Everybody sensible gets their news today from blogs and podcasts, and shuns the Hollywood media companies and all their works. They have discredited themselves totally and forever. And they did it long before the virus got loose in Wuhan.

    But there is a real story here that begins with the virus, and it’s the emergency, both fake and real. Fake because they are exaggerating the danger of the virus. Real because the response of governments to the “emergency” is the true emergency. You may have heard “war is the health of the state”; but declarations of emergency do the trick too, to the extent that they enable the use of emergency powers.

    If I’m right, those powers are about to see not just widespread use, but misuse; authorities will conduct no-knock raids and “accidentally” kill a lot of people whose only crime is to disagree with the Deep State. Thus proving that the movement Alex Jones represents is mostly right, even though he too is probably an agent provocateur in the Deep State’s pay. He didn’t create the movement; he just ran out in front of it to pretend to be its leader.

    I hope you are all hunkered down with plenty of ammo, because you probably can’t buy any more until the “emergency” is over. If it ever is.

      1. More like a test to see what they can do without us fighting back effectively. A sequel to 9/11, you might say.

  36. If the Conservative Right were the big bad the MSM make us out to be, we’d have gone into the studios and executed them on national TV. Only about 10% of any news broadcast is straight truth, with another 20 to 30% partials; but it’s a few pearls buried under 3 cubic yards of pig shit. In most cases, it’s not worth wearing pearls for the effort to find them.

    1. I hardly think it fair to compare Rachel Maddow to “3 cubic yards of pig shit” — first, I don’t believe she’s that large and second, to gain any soil enrichment from her you’d have to bury the bulk, not spread it through the top couple inches of topsoil with a rake.
      –

        1. That’s a HORRIBLE thought!!! A good shredder’s a valuable tool and not designed for anything so dense.
          –

          1. Good chipper/shredder will handle 200 year old NH oak; it’ll handle hand super dense pundits fine.

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