I’m sorry I’ve been largely absent from my own blog. The truth is that I’ve been largely absent from my own life.
It is a form of depression, but one I hadn’t wrestled with before. I’ve never before been THIS angry. Angry enough I had to shut my entire ability to work — including non fiction and short pieces down — in order not to live in a state of near-berserking.
And I’ve never before felt so impotent that it feeds into the depression. Of course I’ve never before watched the imposition of Cuba-style socialism on the bastion of free men (yes, women are included in that, and if you think I need to mention this every time you’re part of the people destroying civilization without realizing what you’re doing and one of the people I’m no longer in the mood to give consequence to.)
It doesn’t help that this dropped on top of other worries that were ALREADY consuming my life before: I appreciate the world’s and politicians attempts to distract me from a couple of things I’m waiting to drop to make sure the boys DO graduate this year, and from my fears the boob thing will be cancer by going completely insane. I particularly want to thank my state governor for attempting to crash the state economy in tandem with all the other crazy state governors, in what (if they keep it up) guarantees a famine event by next winter. I think HOWEVER you’re going overboard a little.
Maybe it’s time to back up?
Okay, to be clear, the chances that the Chinese Virus was ever going to wipe out 1/10th of our population, let alone more, were very, very, very low. HOWEVER when this started out, we didn’t know that. We just didn’t. And the sh*t coming out of China, including the crematoria running day and night were terrifying.
The virus is still horrible in China. PROBABLY. I mean, the Chinese are still dying and a lot are still locked in. But is it the thing that has many names but which started out as COVID-19?
No one knows. No one really knows what is going on in China. Partly because, as a friend of mine who loves the culture and has lived in China put it “It’s not that they lie. It’s that they don’t really have a concept of the truth.” Some Arab cultures have similar issues. You see, truth that can be verified by other people, truth that is “scientifically testable” is not only not a given for humanity, it seems to be a really difficult idea. Judging from oour plague of irreproducible results, it’s really difficult for US too and being lost here. It might be something that came to the west, or solidified in the west with the scientific revolution.
In China “truth is what serves our purposes.” For everyone. Which is why medicines made in China might be full of plaster. If you’re lucky.
Anyway, the point is no one knows what is going on in China, and though we know that people are dying in droves, and that we’re not being told the truth, we don’t know that it’s caused by this virus.
In fact there are tons of reasons to believe it isn’t, including the fact that the virus isn’t that lethal anywhere else. And before you say “Italy” — Italy is cooking the books, including counting anyone who dies of anything else and had this virus onboard as dying of the virus — besides the fact that Italy has other, systemic problems, just as China does.
There were always those of us who suspected that some purging of political dissidents was going on behind China’s facade of virus attack, and some of it might be true. But there are a lot of other things going one. One of them is that China was hurting — badly — economically. The 8 years of Obama’s Summer of Recovery had put a dent in how much “cheap crap” Americans were buying. There were already parts of their economy dying. They compensated by stealing patents and frauding more (remember they have no concept of fair dealing, along with no concept of the truth. And no, this is not racist, though it might be “culturalist” but I don’t know how, unless you believe all cultures are exactly the same, in which the technical name for you is “idiot.” And yes, I know there are a ton of you out there who were taught that. You were mis-taught. There is no value judgement involved. Cultures are different. I think ours is more suited to survival and thriving of the human race, but that’s me. However, if you’re going to be dealing with other countries you have to be aware of the differences. This, BTW doesn’t mean diddly about the character of people of Chinese origin. It just means that people who grow up in the Chinese culture might have blind spots which aren’t ours and which make business affairs cross culture difficult.)
But then came Trump’s sanctions and attempts to stop our bleed out of jobs and currency. And no, he wasn’t wrong. But it put the hurt on China, MAJORLY which is why all our press — who knew they were in the pocket of the Chinese to that extent — squealed like stuck pigs.
The thing is it might have caused FAMINE in China. China has a veneer of modernity and western civilization, but it is not. The average peasant in China still lives in conditions our 19th century ancestors would find primitive and stark. They might wear t-shirts, but they’re living in primitive, and close to the bone conditions.
When the sanctions cut into them, crematoria running night and day might be a sign of anything, including widespread famine. And Wuhan was particularly impoverished due to hosting the Military games, which means the government emptied parts of the city and destroyed people’s livelihoods uncaring of what happened. There were APPARENTLY a lot of people on the edge of starvation.
Which, yes, makes them more susceptible to disease. Or just dying of hunger.
On top of which, there have been rumors filtering out of a new bird flu, and worse of locusts in unprecedented numbers eating their crops. This comes on top of a swine flu that killed or caused them to kill most of their pigs, to the point rivers ran red.
So, you know, what happened with the virus and China is not a sign of anything.
But when I first became aware of this in January, I was briefly very worried. It looked like it would be bad, very bad indeed. And like everyone else, I kept thinking “Would China react like this if they didn’t have way more deaths/it weren’t way more severe?”
Well, yes, because as I’ve explained there are a ton of other (very bad) things going on in China, and blaming the virus is not as embarrassing.
Since then, despite various attempts to stampede us, from the incredibly stupid computer model, to the numbers in Italy (note that only 12% of death certificates that show Covid-19 as the cause are plausibly even close to true.), to our own authorities doing testing only on people showing severe symptoms, and publishing the number of infected as though it were growing and not more people being tested for it, to as far as I can tell, hospital administrations assuming when we first tested is when people were first infected and having decided (PFA?) that the thing has no asymptomatic infections, but that most infections “take 16 days” which is why the surgeon general (medical degrees apparently don’t mean you can examine assumptions) thinks this week will be “the worst yet,” the truth is that this virus is probably one of the greatest panics incited over absolutely nothing in the history of humanity.
In the magnitude of delusion compared to the actual effects/danger, it is the elephant that birthed a mouse.
I’m not saying people won’t die from the infection. We’re humans. People die from a hangnail. People die from getting too much sun. People can and do die from sinus infections. It’s just not common. Every year, I guarantee, several people die from the common cold. I once tried to die from a really simple virus my two year old shrugged off in a week.
People will die. But in terms of who dies of Chinese Virus, we’re learning they’re the people who would die of …. well, anything. Most of them will be seniors who would have died in less than year anyway.
And when you type that people call you unfeeling and tell you how would you feel if that were your mother, or your grandmother.
The answer is DEVASTATED. Very very sad. I’ve said in the past, and it’s true, that I’d give years of life for the ability to have tea with grandma once more, in her kitchen.
But my mother is eighty five. My father is eighty nine. Both of them are adults and cognizant that they are MORTAL. They certainly wouldn’t want western civilization destroyed to save them. Particularly because when global economy crashes, they won’t survive, anyway. Nor will anyone their age. Hell, it’s unlikely anyone my age will survive very long, because we get the maladies and the thing that don’t work very well. People are only living to their eighties and nineties because we’re wealthy and stable enough to give them medicine and think nothing of the cost. And because they can be well fed, clean, warm.
The proof that this virus is probably less lethal than the common cold is hard to come by, partly because we’re still only testing people who are showing symptoms. And we haven’t tested that many people, as is. And as proven we can’t trust numbers from China or Italy, and knowing the games they play with numbers for infant death and murder, I’d be very careful trusting numbers from the EU.
So, we lean heavily on the numbers from the Diamond Princess, because it’s a closed test case. Iceland might also be trustworthy. And South Korea might be more or less straight up. And there are studies surfacing of what is really going on that confirm THE VIRUS IS NOT A BIG DEAL.
COVID-19: the unwarranted panic
COVID-19: interesting data from Korea and from the Diamond Princess
COVID-19 – Evidence Over Hysteria
Don’t expect the media to tell you this. They benefit from the panic directly. Their almost gone influence has been revived. You see, most people don’t actually read news online. They learned to distrust the media from talking to friends at lunch/diner/office. Those are gone, and bored and scared people have the news on. And they BELIEVE them. So don’t expect the media to EVER give the all clear.
All the more so because they’ve seized on this to create a state of panic that will allow them to push their favorite political prescriptions. If you think your lefty friends saying that we’re adopting Bernie’s program is hyperbole, it’s not. The media has stampeded us into an horrendous recession, and the left is taking advantage of it.
The left will also never ever give the all clear. They’re seizing on the panic to create their socialist paradise by fiat. The fact it looks a lot like Cuba or Venezuela hasn’t hit them yet. And they might not mind, anyway. Most of them would rather reign in hell.
But I still think they have NO clue of the devastation they’re precipitating. Most of them are urbanites, work in offices, and have a degree in the soft sciences. Some are even extremely competent and successful in their own fields, but they are complete idiots when it comes to how the world works or what the economy is.
There are signs they are completely delusional. One of them is the charming illusion they can keep people in lock down for 18 months, and all that will happen is they “save lives” and “socialism.” Another is their uniform support for The Green New Deal, an underwear gnome solution based on wishful thinking and astonishing ignorance. Yet another is how they think printing money will compensate for everything. Yet another is an article I saw yesterday about how we recovered from the 2008 recession by 2009. Apparently someone REALLY believed those cooked numbers and the headlines on “summer of recovery” and didn’t have highly qualified friends unemployed for half a decade at a time.
And that’s the problem. It’s not so much the “enemies, domestic” though of course, it is a major problem. As is the fact these mal-educated emotional children have political power. I mean at the level of functionality and divorce from reality they’re the nobility of pre-revolutionary France. (And it would behoove them to remember how that ended.)
But the really, really major problem is that they have NO clue how their actions impact reality, other than what they want to see. It’s entirely possible they don’t believe reality exists. (College-educated people in possession of half-digested philosophy are apparently more dangerous than a buffalo in a china shop.)
What we have grown-size toddlers, walking around a room-sized computer, randomly smashing circuit boards with their hammers and giggling.
You see, they know the more functionality they take down, the more chance that Orange-man-bad who told them they couldn’t have whatever toy they wanted will be taken out.
BUT THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY’RE DOING is causing IRREPARABLE damage, and that it might never be repaired.
If they understood the economy and its complexity they wouldn’t be socialists or communists. Because the reason socialism and communism destroys economies and kills people is that it ignores the complexity of economy and people.
They confuse symbol with reality (In this as in everything else, btw) so they think printing money creates value. They think that they can lock us in the house for eighteen months, and as long as they keep us in money, everything will be fine.
They miss not just that food/other necessities still need to be produced, but that they need to be transported. And that for them to be transported, there needs to be oil (no, please, this is not the time to have dreams of tech we don’t actually have) available to fuel trucks, and truckers willing to take to the road. They miss that just handing people money doesn’t mean they can buy food, even if it is available. They miss the interweb of value and interchange that keeps economy going, from building maintenance to paying your rent, to keeping the lights on.
They fail to understand you can’t stop the complex, chaotic system that is American economy and have it restart again.
They are pampered and confident, and they have no clue there can be a world with lates, let alone a world without beans.
If this goes on, we’re going to have a massive famine sometime next winter. Massive. People will die. Not just the very elderly people that the Chinese Virus targets, but people of all ages all over the world.
Even if we’re still producing enough food — we might be, America is a wonder, but I wouldn’t bet. Farmers needs seeds, fertilizer, maintenance for their machines, replacement parts, etc. — there won’t be a distribution network in place.
The stock market is not the way people who are very rich get money so they can build a money bin and swim in it. It’s the engine of the world. It supplies a way to move value around, so that farmers can borrow to buy seed, so that they can have tractors and other machinery. It is what allows trucking companies to operate. It is what keeps food on your table, clothes on your back, and the heat on.
Every part of the machine is interlocked. And what is happening is taking the wheels off. It’s smashing into the center of the economy with a hammer.
BTW when I say there will be famine and people will die, I mean in the US. PEOPLE WILL DIE. Of hunger. Of lack of heat. Of lack of medicine. PEOPLE WILL DIE. And not all of them the insane people who are instigating this.
In fact, most of the power mad governors will be just fine. And one can only hope that the idiots roaming facebook and saying this is their chance to smash capitalism get to FEEL what they’re encouraging. Dying of hunger ain’t pretty.
In the rest of the world? If people starve in the US, the rest of the world will starve worse. Russia thinks it can be resurgent. So does China. They’re going to find mostly they die. Their despotic systems only work in an hyper abundant world.
But what this whole thing adds to is that the Chinese Virus was not the problem. The people imposing crazy quarantines and measures are. The idea that you can shut the country down for two weeks is bad enough. The people trying to stampede us into doing it longer, are ignorant of the realities of economics, or indeed of reality.
Should you wash your hands and not slip tongue to total strangers? Sure, but you always should. Antibiotics have made us cocky and banished a lot of the social distancing and care of the past, but not only do they not work on viruses (viri) but are losing effectiveness.
IF you can work from home, you should work from home. If it’s possible to home school, you should home school. BUT I ALWAYS THOUGHT SO. And you shouldn’t go and lick doorknobs. Or shrines. BUT again, you never should.
Other than that? We need the restrictions lifted. Yesterday, if not sooner.
Listen to me, and start besieging your idiotic political leaders. WE MUST LIFT THE STUPID HAMMER FROM THE ECONOMY.
It will still hurt like a mother. Oh, it will hurt. The next two-three years we’re going to get hyper inflation, unemployment and it’s going to be really hard. But I trust you guys. You’re battlers. Build under, build over build around.
However the president is right. The cure is far far worse than the disease. In fact, the “cure” deliberate or not is an attack at the heart of the economic engine of the world. Which is to say it’s an attack on humans’ ability to lie at all.
And before the greens crow about this, oh, please. This type of thing is not GOOD for the environment (whatever that means. You guys are high on semantic stupidity.) The humans who survive are going to give fuck all for your precious “ecology.” They will do what they have to do to stay alive. Which means the end result will be like something of your worst nightmares, with wood fires everywhere, forests burned for the rich soil beneath, animals hunted to extinction. And yeah, there probably will be enough humans left to do really bad damage. Not that I care, because you see I’m for team human. I want humans to survive. But you idiots, who hate your own species, probably do care. And be aware you lose. In the end, you lose big.
If we continue with this stupid shit, and allowing marginally elected, probably with the help of fraud and disinformation ignoramuses to mandate where we can eat, where and when we can work, where we can walk, and what we can do, will only guarantee that millions die of starvation and disease within the next couple of years. And that’s JUST in the US. World wide hundreds of millions will die.
I beg you, with tears in my eyes, stop being afraid of the virus and start being afraid of the statists destroying our liberties, our economy, our society.
If we can save what remains of western civilization, in the end we win they lose.
They know that. They don’t mean to lose. And they have no idea that they can’t win.
They don’t know what they’re playing with, nor what they’ll unleash.
According To Hoyt 
Well, y’know what they say: if one thing don’t kill you another thing will.
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What Nature doesn’t do to us will be done by our fellow Man.
Kingston Trio?
“The Merry Minuet.” Ranks up there with “The First Thing You Know” from _Paint Your Wagon_ when you are feeling less-than-charitable toward one’s associates (human and otherwise.)
I thought I recognized it. Not familiar with the other.. yet.
I’m somewhat heartened by the POTUS backing away from the hysterical media* and politicians (but I repeat myself) and suggesting that the governors be allowed to decide what their state needs in terms of movement restrictions and business limits. NY is not ND. Dallas County is not Roberts County.
I’m also heartened by the growing number of people snarling at the media and the politicians (see above) and saying that yes, this is serious but not worth destroying lives over. We’re building under, at least outside of the major (D) and VileProg strongholds.
*I hope someone gives the media some of the credit for the people in AZ who took what they guessed was an anti-malarial drug that happened to be used to clean fish-tanks. Not all the credit, but some credit.
I’m not heartened by the fucking governor of my state. Pardon my French.
I understand. I’m not thrilled with my governor deciding that the Panhandle and Houston and Dallas are the same, with the same problems. But he seems to be capable of learning, unlike yours. *sends sympathy waves north and west*
On the plus side, your lieutenant-governor has said the grandparents of Texans are not interested in survival at the cost of their children’s and grandchildren’s liberty.
Search on it — you’ll be amused at the various ways “news” organizations spin it.
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Both MI and WI have the dumbocrats running things
Problem is it seems that’s the general feeling. All the hysteria over “millions will die” to cover the “I should get free money, pay no rent, etc”
*sympathy*
The governor of California is one of the Hair-On-Fire Panic leaders.
Or, more like, find the loudest screaming mob and run in front of it pretending you’re leading it.
Son figured this out yesterday: they’re all auditioning for president. The imbeciles.
It’s a shame they can’t all lose. Oh, wait… 🙂
I fairness, Sarah, you weren’t heartened by your state’s governor before this “state of emergency.”
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My state governor could be with advantage substituted by a toddler with a speak and spell, or my cat Havelock.
From what you’ve said about your cat, Havelock would be an improvement.
Shall we start a write-in campaign for Havelock in the next election? I am convinced it would he the second best governor I have had in any of the six states and one territory I have had the pleasure to reside in in my adult life.
The other party is not helping the matter by running the candidates they keep putting up there.
I am quite honestly surprised that the Gov. of MN has NOT gone full-bozo-shutdown and seems to be behaving in an at least somewhat sane manner. Maybe it’s time to check for pods.
He represented a moderate to conservative district in the House, so he learned how to fake reason and common sense.
Oops. He has now.
and my governor has no clue about the way the real world works, as usual.
What do you expect from the outlaw OOps sorry Democrat Jared Schutz Polis
This has been the greatest hoax since Halloween 1938.
The only thing that differentiates present conditions in some states from Nazi era Germany is there are no arm tattoo identification numbers. Yet. I suspect they intend to use mandatory implanted microchips since they work better for access to the national data base of trouble makers like you.
In the news conference last night, Polis said “it’s an executive order, so it’s the law”. He always wanted this be, er, king.
OMG. He needs to be whipped the length of Colfax avenue while wearing a dunce cap and being pelted with refuse.
He also needs to be sued by everyone hurt by this.
Gee, you would think a competent executive would have somebody on staff able to explain that laws are passed by legislatures and signed into effect by the executive, while an executive order is merely
and thus lacks authority over the civilian population.
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and no, they’re flaming Trump for the people poisoning themselves.
And was apparently labeled “poison.”
But, But, it had some of the same words in it!!!11!!1!
Every chemist or chemical savvy person in the world face-palmed.
Ethylene Glycol {(CH2OH)2} and Propylene Glycol {CH3CH(OH)CH2OH}are both Glycols, but, the first one Will kill you, the other, for most folks, Might upset your stomach. The rest will be irritated or allergic to the Propylene, and get a mild bit sicker.
I have had some nutter tell me Propylene Glycol was “Just a glycerin, and glycerins are very safe”
Ah, NO!
Even nitroglycerin?
Bit of a difference between a cardiac patient using nitro pills as prescribed and some nutter licking sweaty dynamite.
Mmmmm . . . Sweaty Dynamite . . .
Plus TNT, C4, an ammonite cratering charge, and half a barrel of diesel fuel makes a *really* cool explosion. Aaah, those were the days. (As the HQ Company for a National Guard engineer battalion, we got to ‘dispose’ of excess materiel. 🙂 )
an ammonite cratering charge
Wait…. I didn’t think they could use technology……..
Or, are they the guys who hated Israel so much?
Licking sweaty dynamite sounds like something Wile E. Coyote would do.
That’s using, or losing, your head.
Or a crazy Iranian fanatic.
One of the worst headaches I ever had was from sweaty dynamite. (My pyro-effects group was asked to dispose of some stuff for the explosives company. We happily agreed. Then we saw what they sent. There was some good stuff, and some “anyone have a ten foot pole?” stuff.) Yes, I wore gloves. They got soaked through. There were some comments that the sticks might have been left over from the filming of _The HellFighters_, or perhaps from Alfred Nobel’s personal stash.
Yow! A genuine “dynamite headache.” I am NOT envious.
And as I recall, dynamite is considered to have a whole year of shelf-life. And it means it.
right?
Massengil’s ‘Elixir sulfanilamide’ springs to mind.
the people in AZ who took what they guessed was an anti-malarial drug that happened to be used to clean fish-tanks.
The heck?
A couple who apparently saw that their fish tank cleaner contained the anti-malarial that’s effective against the Wuhan Virus, and ingested it. He’s dead, and she’s in the ICU.
Darwin Award! Almost got the coveted Double Darwin!
It could be argued that their death and near-death are due to the Wu Kung Flu virus.
https://reason.com/2020/03/24/chloroquine-phosphate-coronavirus-trump-arizona-death/ I disagree with the writer’s take, but anyone who eats material labeled as poison and not for human consumption . . . That’s not the fault of the POTUS.
Even if it was the exact same compound, they took an overdose amount if I read the press stories correct (and iirc it was not alone in the mix and something else might well have killed them at the concentrations they took it).
Give them a Darwin and shoot the press blaming Trump, is my take.
Agreed. Seriously, this couple was dumb beyond belief.
Pretty much this. I mean, how they lived to be in their sixties without doing similar (just by going ‘oh it has some of the same words it must be it!) is beyond me. I didn’t have any sympathy for them, and yes that is cold of me.
And the fucking press. *snarl*
*sigh*
The only reason some people are still alive is because breathing is a semi-autonomous action.
If people want to self medicate with anti-malarial “drugs”, what’s wrong with the old Imperial standby of a gin and tonic?
If it saves one person, it’s worth it!!!!!
*considers a nightly gin and tonic … in spite of more or less giving up on heavy alcohol a couple of decades ago*
To your good health! Salud!
Gin and tonics aren’t heavy alcohol. They’re light and refreshing. And if you don’t use my recipe* they don’t have to be alcoholic. Remember, we’re after the tonic, not the gin.
*Fill glass with gin until the world looks like a better place, add a splash of lime juice and top with tonic. There have been days where I got a bigger glass, Friday being the most recent.
I used to drink tonic water without the gin. It gave me something adult looking without alcohol that I could drink around the guys.
Standard supermarket tonic water is undrinkable by itself. Ecch.
The premium tonics like Q and Fever Tree are totally different animals and are very very good. They make the gin and tonic a completely new experience, and I say this as someone who is a bit of a gin connoisseur.
And Q tonic, at least, is drinkable by itself. I haven’t tried Fever Tree yet.
I have. Fever Tree is good stuff.
Fever Tree brand is lovely stuff – my daughter (who is a non-alcohol drinker) adores the Ginger Beer. All very good stuff – and as noted, top of the line as these things go.
I have to say, I am disappointed in the education of my fellow citizens, that there apparently HASN’T been a run on tonic water.
Granted, there isn’t enough quinine in tonic water to do much good – the real, anti-malarial strength would make your ears sing.
Well, here there has been – and a check of Amazon has the out of stock, don’t know when they’ll get more.
But – I recalculated my first take when I realized that the prophylactic dose recommended for travelers to shit-holes is the same as the curative dose – but weekly, not daily.
Depending on how bitter you like your G&ts, you can easily get the reported preventative effect.
The ‘tonic’ is far below the required dosage of quinine, as I understand it. The modern mixer is something a person can drink straight (if many will find it a bit unpleasant). The stuff the Brits added gin to? They pretty much HAD to add something to make it (barely) palatable. It would not surprise me if it was often gin, gin, alright, now the gin & tonic or something like that.
My husband is one that actually LIKES tonic water (but, he’s odd – also like liver). Yes, the dosage for malaria is much higher. And, quinine, in its original form, is quite bitter. Long term use does have some side effects, not experienced by all. Short term use is relatively safe.
I once had a roommate who would eat or drink anything sweet. That’s when I learned to drink tonic water, so I’d always have something for myself. Nescafe had some orange-ish coffee that was also too bitter for him. I once even wound up making tonic water ice cubes as there was this failure to re-fill the tray, so…
Been “self-medicating” for a week now (but vodka, not gin). I don’t seem to have the virus.
So, obviously, it works!
I am astonished by the fact that our governor, still the Despicable Kate Brown, did *not* go full potato in the Oregon shutdown. The places closed are things we can do without for the while. How many people really need to go to a tanning salon right now? Dance classes and big various sporting events, can be put off. Closing the senior centers will hurt, but the restaurants are operating as takeout and delivery setups. The gospel mission is handing out meals to-go. They always need food, and as soon as I can practically make it into town, I’ll help.
AFAIK, at least in our state, critical needs are being staffed. There’s disruption, but not as bad as I feared. The scary portion is the open-end for the order… (Oh yeah, gun shops not effected. OTOH, sucks to be a jewelry store.)
We’re still officially at 1 or two CV-19 cases in our county, though the hospital is preparing for any onslaught. Interesting in that they moved the flu testing center further away from the hospital/clinic campus; I’m guessing that the not-a-flu is still bad here.
And yeah:
I didn’t die, but had a hell of a case of pneumonia from a chronic sinus infection. The antibiotics that cleaned up my lungs finally got the sinus cavities cleared. I’m paranoid about sinus inflammation.
“I am astonished by the fact that our governor, still the Despicable Kate Brown, did *not* go full potato in the Oregon shutdown.”
I know. Not sure what happened to stay her hand. Word has it part of what pushed her this far was the original “suggestion” had people going to the coast & partying on the beaches, as well as bigger city citizens driving to coastal towns whose supplies hadn’t been raided, yet. Kind of the “Act like a toddler. I’ll treat you like a toddler.” So, Ms Brown is pissed, but at least held back the spanking hand …. more of a stern talking to / time out response.
Yeah, the only place mentioned that rose an eyebrow at first was furniture stores, but I can just see someone who is CV-19 positive getting all over the seat cushions.
I normally test new mattresses, too. (Not for the full range of uses – which has led to a couple of exchanges over the years…)
“this is serious but not worth destroying lives over”
I think I posed this yesterday, but … If this were ALL TRUE and the disease the threat they claim (stipulated) it still would not be worth turning this country into Venezuela without the oil reserves, which is what the Pelosi Cure calls for.
Might as well die quickly.
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THIS. THIS. THIS. THIS.
I can’t endorse this comment hard enough.
c4c
Went for a walk today along a favorite section of trail. Highly-favored, as in there were people every 50-100 feet (and yes, we passed probably less than six feet apart, but the trail is only just six feet wide, you can’t do a whole lot about that.) Given the comments I overheard (“Look at all the turtles!”) a lot of people haven’t gone out for walks on this trail before.
One of my kids asked how likely it was that we’d have to go into full quarantine. I said it wasn’t likely unless people kept doing stupid stuff like clogging all the beaches (which have since shut down, go figure.) Now I’m off to go drop off some old crib pieces to be turned into set piece. Oh noes, I’m going outside my usual haunts—without directly contacting anyone. And they can blinking leave the stuff outside if it freaks them out, a little rain won’t hurt them.
Six feet is RIDICULOUSLY “excess of caution.”
We’ve taken the “precautionary principle” into reductio ad absurdam territory.
They shut the beaches, then spent Sunday chasing out the swimmers and surfers. Pretty sure said surfers had way more social distance then people walking outside the shops. IN the meantime 30k down the coast, in the “shire”, the beaches are still open and are packed,
So the good news is apparently the bosses wife spent 3 hours in the car with someone who had been In Northern Italy and believes they contracted it. Subsequently we have had a light cold running around the office, I have been concerned because its been hanging around for over 2 weeks but its just a runny nose when I am tired with zero other symptoms. If it’s the dreaded covid then meh.
Dear Lord.
My nose ALWAYS runs when I’m tired.
But I had exhaustion, mild cough and fever for 8 weeks. Jan and Feb.
I had a cold that lasted 5 days in Feb. For me, that’s forever! Been in medicine for decades and never catch anything anymore. I want the antibody test so I can say everyone already had it, forget it, and GET TO WORK!
Yep. Oxford has conducted a test in GB. Most people already had it.
And antibody test (15 minutes) apparently on the way.
BTW doctor’s appointment (surgeon’s) today?
I won’t write about it, don’t want to embarrass them/not their fault. BUT just getting in the building was like one of those puzzle games. i got three sets of mutually contradictory instructions, none of which worked. When I finally got their attention/got into the office, I was told that they didn’t know about any of those instructions, because they’re being handed a book worth of new regs everyday. No one CAN keep up with it. 😦
Chicago mayor this afternoon announced that going outside was for “brief respites only.” No 5K runs, she said, which take what 30 minutes? People will be subject to a $500 citation for staying too long in public parks and beaches and apparently just for being outside. Subsequent violations will result in arrest. Which is too funny for words since the Sheriff yesterday released 1,000 felons to over concerns that the WuFlu would propagate in the Mayor’s Jail.
I’m going to ignore the civil liberties issue for the moment. The deeper concern, the one unspoken by the Mayor and Police Chief is “public order.” I suspect the powers that be are worried about crowds and gang activity. Interesting times in the Windy City.
Lordy.
Can’t wait to see how the CPD rank and file respond. (http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com) Last thing they want is to be making these kinds of arrests. I mean really. Enough is enough already
“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad “
“The Plague Killed One Thousand but Panic Killed Ten Thousand.” (Source Unknown)
And in the US, the News Media and “Liberals” are pushing the Panic. 😡
screaming it from the rooftops and every tv screen they can finagle
The more of a panic they can gin up, the more they think it will enable them to shove their identity-based Marxism down everyone’s throats. As we saw with Team Mueller, the Kavanaugh hearings and everything else, the Democrats work in close coordination with their media arm to promote their radical narrative
Keep i mid that these clowns are professionally practiced at running about with their hair on fire.
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You can’t spell Pandemic without Panic.
This comment needs all the likes.
Or Dem
and Dem.
Some do not realize what (who) Phobos and Deimos orbit.
Causation can be bidirectional, if not commonly so.
Pandemic.
Dem.
Panic.
Went to the supermarket yesterday. TP and paper towels were both still gone. So were rice, flour, and similar items. Surprisingly, facial tissue (one per customer limit) and hand soap were both in stock, albeit in limited numbers. Most other items were in stock, though not all of them were at normal capacity (the egg section was only a quarter full, for instance).
What surprised me during this mess was that – aside from frozen vegetables – frozen foods were largely still available throughout the entire mess. I question how many people can really use the flour they horded. But the meals that just needed to be heated up were still available.
Personally, my supply of #10 cans (and the edible contents of those cans) remain undiminished.
Eggs here jumped in price, and are rather scarce, with store imposed limits on purchase.
Saturday before last I got two dozen Jumbo as that was the only selection left not Eggland’s Best (graded medium brown. . . Forgot to mention that when chatting here about shopping) and I left 3 dz behind. Likely the last at the normal (for this time of year) price. They were more than this side the river, but A: I was there, and B: wasn’t worried about it for the small difference.
This week never even went down that aisle, so I only know the Store had a sign out front informing folks of the jump and limits.
Bought a dozen large AA eggs from 18 mile west of my house Byrne Dairy store for 99¢ twice this week, a dozen for home, a dozen for work. But the grocery stores, including Walmart, were sold out…
The Byrne Dairy 9 miles south was pretty much sold out of milk the afternoon I stopped there. The day before I had picked up a ½ gallon at the store 18 miles west, and another one the next day on my way to work.
In our area, at least, dairy shortages are spotty. No one has any toilet paper for very long after they get some.
Paper mills are working a lot of OT for TP, and after everything calms the eff down, will not be making much for a while. Some have changed over to TP and paper towels, and will go back to what they usually make.
Number one son works overnight in a supermarket. The were sent home early last night because the store had a normal day rather than the blowouts they had been having. He says the store is full every morning and that the night before they ran out of work and had to “block”.
Now the only risk is political.I have no confidence at all in our governor (NJ) but am hoping that we will see a reverse cascade where momentum will give him cover and allow himself to avoid blame. then we might be able to get going again
I have every confidence that our NJ governor will find every way to screw us over that the law allows, and some that it does not. The Second Amendment Federation and the NJ Second Amendment Society have just sued to reverse his order to close gun shops and ranges.
So will our bonehead in the Statehouse.
My husband and I went to our local Southeastern CT Stop &Shop for the early senior hours this morning.
It was *not* fully stocked, but not as bad as Wallyworld, or even the base commissary was last week. We’re going to hit both of those later this morning in search of more TP (with what we found at S&S we now have maybe a week and a half?).
I work(ed?) at one of the local casinos, and as far as I know we haven’t had a confirmed case yet connected to either, though one of the housemate’s supervisors in security was in a mandatory 14 day quarantine starting over a week ago.
Yeah, I work in WI and live in MI, My confidence isn’t high either.
What, you’re a Yooper? 😀
better’n being a Troll form da mitten . . . until 4 years ago I was a displaced Yooper. Back home, barely, after 20 years in the swamps of Louisiana, and 12 in the DFW area.
I was from the cuff of the mitten — down by Ann Arbor. Family has a farm there.
Aunt and uncle live in St. Joe, Unk works in Benton Harbor (Chicken Man! wait . . .), and several of my cousins have since moved down state. Two were in Grayling (one passed away) another somewhere outside Detroit. And of the two born trolls, one works for the Michigan Republican party in Lansing. Her brother is career Navy, and I forget where he is stationed now.
My gay cousin also lives in Lansing with his partner. Forget what he does, but he is more conservative than the cuz working for the Republicans. I think his sister might be down state as well, but I am not positive. She was around Petoskey I think.
If’n you’re nice, We might could get you a Bridge Pass so you can visit the U.P (~_^)
It’s a two-prong problem. Factories have to make more toilet paper because of the idiots who caused a run on it. And that toilet paper then takes up space on the freight haulers that could be used to move other stuff.
And the trucker are running into problems with idiots in the state government closing up all of the rest stops so that they can’t catch a bit of shut-eye when they’re doing a long-haul. Yes, the Feds have relaxed some of the rules about making long runs without stops. But the truckers still need to sleep every now and again even if the Feds are looking the other way.
PA just eased back their restrictions. Rest stops are open on the Turnpike, but only two have 24 hr food service, though the convenience store parts are open.
Crossing the streams:
I have seen reports of [people] stealing the TP from rest stops. One more thing to irritate truckers while giving new overtones to the phrase “long haul.”.
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Yeah. I knew truckers who hated Texas simply because rest stops seem ill spaced due to its size, When the tighter time rules hit, it got that much worse. I think part of the raising of the speed limits, especially at night and on trucks, was to help that.
“Shuteye”? a much more urgent need is a toilet. “Trucker’s friend” is an emergency measure.
Now that folks are spending all day at home, they’re going to use 2-3 times as much TP, too.
Which won’t do any good for getting reserves at stores back up.
Heh. I was in the garage (aka: storage facility B) this afternoon and discovered a 36-roll pack of Scott’s TP I’d picked up at Sam’s Club some 6 – 8 weeks ago, carried into the garage and forgot about because we typically stock each in-house facility with nine rolls at a time.
Suddenly I look at my falling bank accounts with greater equanimity.
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I doubt it’s the last at that price. Easter is coming, and the egg producers had ramped up long before this with laying chickens. Also, expect the price of chicken to fall sharply – if they don’t sell all the eggs, some hens will be sacrificed.
a lot will drop afterwards, unless this is stretched so far that becomes moot, and even at cheap prices no one is buying.
Part of the worry Milady Sarah has, I’m sure.
There was some toilet paper at the local Kroger yesterday. Actually, quite a bit, though the shelves weren’t fully-stocked. So I got a big pack of toilet paper and that’s going to be the last I get for awhile.
the last I bought was some weeks ago when I made a run to Green Bay. I had just yelled at the cat for clawing up a roll and hooking a few others, so it was on my mind when I went past it on sale.
I’ve probably enough not clawed I will still not open that pack until after this blows over. You can tell the silly hording is taking place of panic hoarding, when there is plenty it goes fast, then a few packs seem to live on the shelf for a few days. It’s like it hits 3 packs and folks think “Well, I can manage, I’ll leave it for someone else”.
Local supermarket, I am told, tends to get shipments of 1,000-1,500 pieces (cases) this time of year. A week or so ago, the order was size-restricted to 1,800 and then moved up to 2,000. They might order that much, but don’t get it all. They will be (be now, likely already did) get a truck in today. Supplies are LOW. A whopping 350 pieces (I did NOT drop a digit). J-I-T is great… when the demand is constant/predictable (mostly) and supply chains fairly full. The panic-buying has thoroughly hosed things for a while.
Sugar and flour can be found, but choice is limited. Yeast packets? Nope.
More people eating at home from school to office lunches, and not eating at restaurants where they don’t have good reason to trust the hygiene of the kitchen staff will account for it. A broad general uptick in usage in a just-in-time system will lighten the whole grocery store without any panic buying at all..
It’s like the reports of types of food that are out of stock. They seem to be primarily what kids and adults are used to eating for lunch, and now they’re eating at home instead of the school cafeteria or a nearby burger joint.
Nods. Though there ARE panic buyers and would-be profiteers.
Lot of “and” going around.
Rubbing alcohol – used for disinfecting things – is also nigh-impossible to find these days.
We got plenty. . . 4 55gl drums worth
oh right, we make a chemical with it (~_^)
Yesterday, we took delivery of 4 55gl drums of sodium hypochlorite. I think someone has a plan to disinfect the buildings, but they better check with our chemists. It is a quite a bit more concentrated than store-bought bleach. I foresee a mess if used as is or at household mixes not compensating for the higher percentages.
Speaking of, here’s a protip for those looking for disinfectants: try your local liquor store. Mine was well-stocked with 190 proof Everclear and Gem Clear, and I hear tell that anything with that high an alcohol content makes an effective antimicrobial. Apparently not many people have figured that one out yet so your odds of getting some are probably very good. Just put the stuff in an empty spray bottle and you’re ready to go.
DON’T PUT THAT IN YOUR CAR. SERIOUSLY. You’ll smell like a wino.
The only people I’ve seen argue that we are going to lock the country down for 18 months are people like you who argue we should do nothing. What I’ve seen people say is that we need to lock things down while we ramp up production on testing, ventilators, respirators, PPE’s, and work to develop treatments. As well as working to not overwhelm our hospital systems.
Also you can’t use data from South Korea and the Diamond Princess to argue that we can just go about our lives as normal because they had enough tests that they could trace contacts and get them locked down to stop spreading the disease. Which we can’t do in America yet.
The only people I’ve seen argue that we are going to lock the country down for 18 months are people like you who argue we should do nothing.
https://time.com/5804555/coronavirus-lockdown-uk/
Also
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8120501/Draconian-shutdown-measures-18-MONTHS-coronavirus-report-warns.html
Also:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/03/18/1089474/eighteen-months-of-lockdown
And contrarily – Only 5 weeks of economic freeze-in-place:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8126599/NECSI-academics-challenge-Imperial-College-claim-coronavirus-lockdown-18-months.html
And fuck it, five weeks is way too long.
Did you bother to read the article? From the article you linked “The report says that suppression strategies could evolve over time if the virus can be controlled. For example, if a country manages to reduce the spread of the virus and the caseload with lockdown measures, it could set up sophisticated contact tracing and quarantine measures.” Which is what we are doing right now- buying time.
Did you bother to read the article?
Funny, from your characterization of Sarah’s article, I was about to ask you the same thing.
Doesn’t really matter. Even if the virus never gets under control, a long-term shutdown will do more harm than good. You’ll end up losing more people due to the long-term problems you’ve introduced to the economy via the shutdown than you would have if the quarantine had been lifted.
This, so many times this.
Between financial hardships, social isolation, and the continual hammering out of bad news, I fully expect to see a spike in suicides starting mid-April. The end of seasonal affect disorder in places under the hardest restrictions, like Seattle and NYC will only drive this worse.
We’re heading to our version of winter Down Under, and I rather expect there to be a spike in violence soon. There’s already starts of it – there was a robbery spree for toilet paper by some Middle Eastern looking men, reports of Chinese looking people raiding outside of the cities groceries for supplies by the busload*, and people who stayed sensible and didn’t panic buy are NOW starting to panic because it’s been WEEKS and their own sensible supplies have started to dwindle and they cannot replenish. There’s talk now of shutting down public transport, because somehow in the pointy heads of the idiots, they think that everyone drives.
*This is fueling theories, combined with the news that China suppressed information and research into the first signs of the disease LAST YEAR that the WuFlu was an intentionally released bioweapon to cause financial crashes throughout the world and leaving our economies vulnerable to their scooping up.
In other words Mad Max for real?
Ha! Maybe, if the reports of buying ammunition to stockpile are true. NZ has more of the gun buying lines though, so maybe over there…
And I bet those gangs will have guns, even if citizens don’t.
Yep.
Speaking about guns, found this, thought I should share.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5717/text?r=1&s=1
Looked up the name because it seemed familiar. It’s Mr. “Guam will Capsize”!!!
2nd Amendment violation by any other name.
Pretty much. Why is that doddering old fool still in office?
That may be the guy who I recently heard had an excellent, professional staff.
“Never let a crisis go to waste.”
Dems gotta Dem.
THIS.
There are calculations correlating per capita income in a society with life expectancy. Societal wealth means more ICU beds than are strictly necessary, stockpiled ventilators, masks, gloves, laboratory capacity to develop and perform disease identification tests, therapies, vaccines and more.
Societal wealth means we’ve got a lot of what it takes to get along. It means medical infrastructure, educational infrastructure, logistical infrastructure. Shutting down the economy to fight a pandemic is akin to putting a tourniquet around your neck: it works alright in the short term but that term is very short indeed.
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THIS. It means better fed populace, etc.
The entire premise of this shut down is to “flatten the curve”. This assumes essentially that we’ll all get it and the purpose of all this madness is to spread it out and stop the hospital system from being overwhelmed. Thus, the only thing that matters is the proportion who get seriously ill or die since, if that rate is low enough, the hospitals won’t get overwhelmed. Similarly, if the therapeutics work even a little they will reduce the number of people who get seriously ill or die and shorten the time they spend in critical care, which keeps the hospitals from being overwhelmed.
The Diamond Princess is the best experiment around how many people will get seriously ill or die and the proportion of people getting seriously ill or dying is hugely under the numbers being thrown around by all the academics, and of course the press and twitter. Adjusting for the age distribution and applying it to The US pyramid, the rate gets close to that we get from a severe flu. I would note that the people making this argument have tended to be Nobel winners and the others have very spotty records. In my line of work one needs to check sources.
The obvious retort is Italy. OK. Let’s look at that. My parents are dead these many years and according to the current way of counting my father died of a cold. The cancer that he suffered with over the year prior was just a contributing factor. That’s the way it’s being counted in Italy and the US. Further, the Italian hospital system gets overwhelmed every year. All the European systems do. The Germans do the best but they still have gurneys in the hall and no beds every year. Ireland’s health system broke in January. They had no gurneys never mind beds. if the summer is hot, they have to put the bodies on ice. I can remember the French doctors petitioning the state for permission to work overtime to treat the dying. They were refused, The glories of socialized medicine.
A society cannot work on the precautionary principle. A certain degree of wastage and risk is inevitable. In any case, we will all die and we do not know the day nor the hour. When there was the possibility of this being a planet killer this reaction was arguably necessary. Now no. Never mind suicide. If we don’t open again we will have rationing, starvation, and civil unrest. There are some who would like that They are fools or knaves.
THIS.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Famine will kill ten times what this bullshit COULD kill.
Go hide under your bed. The common cold is MORE lethal.
The common flu is more lethal. Sure, this shit is more contagious, but ugh.
the contagiousness bothers me, but I still think numbers are not anywhere close to right.
This is, though like a few of the more severe strains of flu we have gone through for some sectors, and we didn’t chop our heads off over those.
Probably not true. 80% of the Diamond Princess never got the virus. I’m pretty sure the regular flu is more contagious than that!
I’d like to have better information on that, if it’s true (granted that’s without taking the petri dishes of schools into account.) Not because I’m questioning what you’re saying, but it’d be nice to have proper data that I can link (to folks like my mom, particularly.)
https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/en/2019-ncov-e/9417-covid-dp-fe-02.html
Aaaaaallllll kinda datas here, too, right bar.
I’ve been linking folks to the descriptions of symptoms; turns out that it WILL sometimes make you use more TP.
Yep. First week of Jan.
I did know about the case of gastro the CCPlague can give you, oddly, from somewhere… probably from the awesome folks here.
They’re already discussing ‘level 3 restrictions’ and we’ve been on level 2 for only a couple of days. Something too about NZ going full level 4, which is apparently martial law lockdown.
Since there’s talk about mobilizing the military here, that may happen here soon.
This. BTW you were right about Wu-Flu sometimes having body-pains. BUT it’s a rare symptom, which is why ER doc friend thought it was not part of it.
The stated hypothesis was the only people talking about the 18 months shutdown idea were in reality proposing doing “nothing”.
I cited four articles (3 on the 18 month thing and one opposing the 18 month idea, while still talking about it) that in fact did not propose doing “nothing”.
This is called disproving the hypothesis, the most critical step in the scientific method.
Congratulations, you have performed a public service by proposing a hypothesis that was disproved. Now someone else gets to synthesize a new hypothesis based on the disproof of yours.
Science!!
Thank you. Little fascist stomping for “arresting” people he doesn’t like under the excuse they’re spreading the virus.
Oh. You have issues reading?
Did I argue we do nothing? No. We should make allowances for the very old.
This bullshit, though? Take your fash boots and go stomp elsewhere. We are Americans.
And if you haven’t heard the 18 months, your dem friends aren’t telling you. Or you’re too stupid to read their posts. Ask someone to explain the long words.
Go away fascist
…but the voices in his tiny overheated head insist that’s what you “really” said and they’ve never lied to him before!
(A common snark I use. Sometimes I fear I use it too much, then folk like donal come along and I wonder if I’m using it enough.)
OBJECTION! Asserts facts not in evidence. We do not know that his head is, indeed, tiny. It might possibly be quite fat.
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Oh. South Korea wasn’t in this kind of lockdown. And the Diamond princess quarantine was ineffective. Which you’d know if you read the article.
I won’t wish you corona virus. Because a cold is no big deal.
I hope you die in the famine you’re cheering for, instead.
Did you hear about how they let people from the Ruby Princess disembark in Sydney WITHOUT EVEN CHECKING THEM? Yeah, one guy went and took a six hour train ride home from the city, and one of the older passengers died. Thus we are hearing about “HOW WE MUST ENACT EVEN MORE DRACONIAN MEASURES THAN JUST THE DAY BEFORE” from the government, and it’s shit like that that makes me really think the unchecked disembarkment was deliberate. And there was a bill shortly before the panic, being discussed, about going cashless here in Australia, or the least, prevent large amounts of physical cash being used for purchases. I can just bet they’ll push for that.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-australia-ruby-princess-cruise-passenger-who-tested-positive-to-covid-19-speaks-out/a11e5449-3410-4e38-af4d-a2ff064feb5b
No checks. The guy said they were handed a flyer. Some of my kin who rushed back said the same thing when they came back from overseas by plane. Not even checking temperature.
But we must raaaaiiiise restrictions!!!1
What I was going to tell you was that we know this isn’t real by the way the left treats it. It’s like Global warming. It’s all signaling, while they fly everywhere.
This is the same thing. THey’re not afraid. They’re using this to get power.
I know it isn’t as real as they pretend. Just that thing with the Ruby Princess and the lack of checking at entry to Australia tells me that. Sure I am more worried for my kids, especially the baby girl, because her conditions make her more vulnerable. But beyond reporting that there is a baby and its older sister testing positive I am not hearing how ill they are, etc.
And thanks to their insanity I still have to go out anyway, to get medicines, and it’s just too scary to try get toilet paper.
The rural communities are very hard hit by the restrictions. The ones that come in once every three weeks, once a month, to restock in bulk, because they live hundreds of kilometres from the nearest grocery. The farmers who make our food. It’s blind enforcement without thinking about it.
There are thus far reports of three minors dying from this.
got a link please?
ALL kids and people under 60 who died of this had significant co-morbidity.
Also don’t trust ANY reports from Italy.
I’ve been hearing of folks under 40 dying, but, grain of salt until I see better info, since I suspect those who did die had other issues that made it worse for them. And no, I’m not really trusting reports from Italy, but that’s who’s getting blared on the local news here, about HOW BAD IT IS and why SHUT DOWN NOOOOOW.
*sigh*
The first death in the Texas Panhandle was a 30-40 year old with . . . underlying medical problems.
If (and only if) the Italian government had it right, the study quoted here:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/03/24/the-italian-connection/
indicates that of the sample of 350 people from the first 2000 fatalities, a grand total of 1% did *not* have any co-morbidities.
25% had one co-morbidity
26% had two
48% had three.
One of the author’s conclusions (he’s an Odd who likes research) is that the outbreak got embedded in a hospital, infected all/most the vulnerable people in there, and then went outward.
FWIW, the sample mentioned had the average age of death to be 79 years.
could only find one about the US one — I read the “three” in another article about it.
https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-first-child-reportedly-dies-from-coronavirus/ZeKCSu7w4di0z4G24vHFNP/
Thanks.
I know that US reports were claiming a previously healthy 17 year old died of it in Korea.
Per Korea, who had several different places do tests to provide a double-blind, he didn’t.
But I’ve seen folks claim it anyways, same way they try to blame patient #31 for infecting the members of her church who died before they should’ve even been showing symptoms if they’d been infected by her.
Found this one about kids getting sick, versus just testing positive.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8148091/Mother-begs-people-stay-home-healthy-son-5-hospitalised-coronavirus.html
Oh good grief, the kid has a temp of 107 of COURSE he was hallucinating!
That’s why high temperatures in five year olds are bad, and it has nothing to do with the kung flu! Would she feel better if it was a vanilla cold, or some other infection?
Probably not. But sigh, y’know? I do want to know how children who do get sick fare, but it’s made out to be worse than ANYTHING EVER.
I know it won’t make you feel any better– we’re not feeling any better about our youngest!– but part of why there’s no information is because the kids who catch it aren’t getting sick unless they were already sick.
I know; she’s been in my prayers; have been quietly praying for our babies especially, but for babies who’ve been sick to make it through. And for the parents to be okay as well.
*big hugs*
And people look at it and freak out, because most people do anecdotes, not data. (sigh)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-24/rural-shoppers-ask-to-be-exempt-from-coronavirus-grocery-limits/12084480
It would be too much to hope, I suppose, that the young idiots calling for socialism realize that if what they keep clamouring for comes to pass, empty shelves would be standard. But nah, from a Sargon of Akkad vid I watched a few days ago, apparently the twitterati are mocking that empty shelves happen in capitalism too. The fools.
And if they did manage to get the government that they’re clamoring for – complete with the attendant bare shelves that always accompany that form of government – they’d blame it on the “pre-existing conditions” at the time of the implementation of that form of government.
Just like Obama and his cronies (parroting Carter and his cronies roughly 45 years earlier) told us that we would never again see decent rates of growth in the economy.
“Just like Obama and his cronies (parroting Carter and his cronies roughly 45 years earlier) told us that we would never again see decent rates of growth in the economy.”
Give Obama, Carter and their cronies credit: they never expected a Republican to ever again occupy the White House.
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“If it weren’t for those blasted nosy kids, we’d have gotten away with it!”
We’re noticing! But since it’s “extreme right wing” Sky News, most folk are gonna ignore it.
SKY NEWS DECLARED NONESSENTIAL, SHUT DOWN BY GOVERNMENT
There was a great photo of a “reporter” in facemask and other gear… and the camera operator not wearing anything unusual at all. Gee, media theater? Yup!
There was on cruise ship in January with infected people that Trump directed not be allowed to disembark and the careerists in the State Department ignored him and let it disembark anyway. Thus this time the career swamp creatures ignoring the elected official who is THEIR BOSS, literally has cost lives.
Was it a cruise ship or the flying back of said pax? Iirc the state dept weenie was proud of following “protocol” instead of quarantining like the president wanted. And there is why people assume the bureaucracy is intentionally making this worse and plotting.
’twere the latter. The CDC people who tried to stop it were overruled by a State Department [long, profane list of adjectives deleted] creature.
Sometimes I find myself tempted to hope certain cretins don’t die from some disease or other thing and instead get regenerative immorality. Since the thought of trillions upon trillions of years from now them finding themselves floating in a starless vacuum or trapped on a dead world constantly suffocating/freezing and regenerating the damage to only start suffocating/freezing again seems fitting.
Then I feel terrible about myself since not even the worst cretin on the planet deserves that.
(Hooray insomnia. Bringing out my inner demons for all to see.)
As an entertaining a cruel fate that would be, the thought of inflicting those cretins on future generations unasked for is cruel to our descendants.
Yeah, that’s another snag in that fate.
See Larry Niven’s short story, “Wait It Out.”
http://news.larryniven.net/biblio/display.asp?key=31&order=4&direction=1
Actually,yes fuck we can. And here is why. Because the Diamond Princess let people out in Japan, and all Japan has done was have an early spring break. Domestic flights and trains are full. Life is going on everywhere, in a country with a VERY large elderly population.
And yet, the hospitals are not full of wheezing WuFlu patients. The morgues are not full of dead WinnietheFlu patients. So get a grip. Literally no one is saying to do nothing. We ARE saying that basic precautions that should have already been adopted and commonplace are SUFFICIENT and that the current restrictions go too far.
Interesting. My question is, what did Japan do that Italy did not?
If you look at the areas that have done best, it’s three things: masks, testing, contact tracing. Only we don’t have masks or testing, and we gutted contact tracing in the 1980s for PC reasons. If you don’t have a scapel, the hammer becomes your only option.
No. The areas that have done worse have effed up numbers.
Also our testing is being done: of the people who show symptoms. and only something like 13% have active Covid-19.
You are right about the masks, though. And since we have the highest social distance in the world, the hammer is bullshit.
“The masks are useless”
followed by
“IT’S AIRBORNE AIIIIIEEEEE”
*facepalm*
They didn’t attribute all deaths to COVID-19 in the hopes of getting international aid??????
*is trying not to spill her drink laughing* Besides that XD
Not smoke like chimneys. Get proper vaccines and generally love healthier lives anyway. Better air quality, too. So, lots of environmental factors.
Also, Lombardy, which is the epicenter of the Italian outbreak, has a large presence of Chinese textile workers from Wuhan. So they probably had more initial disease vectors, which makes sense, because they also had “strange pneumonia” back in December, just like everyone else.
And, they always have bad flu seasons, and even with the wailing and gnashing of teeth right now, I haven’t heard anything about “exceeding normal flu deaths”, just that WuFlu has the *potential* to be more lethal and more contagious.
The only reason anybody knows or cares about the Italian healthy system and its losses are because people are trying to panic us about them.
And yet Africa, which has actual Chinese trading enclaves (Irony? Yes!!) is reporting almost nothing.
There were reports early on in local media from some of the less SH African countries that they had plenty of viral pneumonia cases in local hospitals but no test kits at all, so nothing qualified for reporting.
Local media had park rangers up in the SF North Bay complaining (and then closing roads solely to impede) because so many people went walking on the trails in their park over the weekend.
I see similar attitudes over in Hawaii where they are closing beaches on some islands.
You know, there’s actual science that this virus cannot abide the UV in sunshine, so people out walking on a sunny day or lying on a beach are probably good, and besides, they are adults not children in nanny’s care.
Sometimes it’s really annoying living here behind the lines.
Problem is that with the ignorance and misinformation out there all this is being hyped as airborne Ebola (remember all the arguments that we couldn’t enforce quarantine on the handful of individuals exposed way back when that was in the wild here). The medical establishment is as risk averse as the bureaucracy and that we have the combination of the two means that the safe answer is always no. They will not be blamed for a massive chunk of economy going under because businesses lost income for over a month on their recommendation but if 0.05% of patients treated off label had extra headaches it would be their fault. But since we’ve got no good information because of duplicity and failure of the .Gov everyone made to treat this as if this is death sentence for anyone. But corps shutting down production lines, airlines grounding, etc is all just the price we pay to save maybe two bad flu years of population.
And as for vents, masks, etc, we can get stuff running up, and to my knowledge they are but we need to actually be able to built them here and we handed that all over to chicoms already.
I don’t know about ventilators, but I’m sick and tired of hearing that we handed all of our mask production over to the Chinese. It’s simply NOT TRUE. 3M makes masks domestically, and has at least one production plant in North Dakota (and possibly more in other locations in the US; I haven’t checked). The company had announced that it was greatly ramping up production several weeks ago, with statements that 3M would be expanding shifts, and increasing the number of production lines.
3M makes a rather large and surprisingly diverse range of items and products, by the way. For instance, Scotch – the makers of “Scotch Transparent Tape” – is a 3M brand.
The reason we’re short on masks is that the FEDERALLY STOCKED STRATEGIC RESERVE of masks and other PPE was depleted by distribution to health care professionals during the Obama Swine Flu epidemic and Barry’s guys never bothered to replenish it.
And are now blaming Trump for it, even though their guy had twice as long and less than half the obstruction and distractions, and did nothing.
Their guy had a much greater challenge: he had to bail out the Iranian economy and nuclear program.
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So you’re saying the Obama team took a massive dump, didn’t flush, left the seat up and a burned out bulb in the lamp? And now the nation’s fallen in it.
With no paper on the roll, too.
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Reading ‘Under A Graveyard Sky’ has given me a whole new perspective on the expression ‘In the dunny’. 🙂
And didn’t wash their hands before cooking dinner for extended family including crazy Uncle Joe.
Yep. And can’t really get past a foot an a half, because it’s droplet transmission. yes, it can aeorosolize. BUT YOU DON’T BREATHE OUT AEROSOL. Geeeeesh.
Sneezes and coughs. It is not cake or death. I can have seasonal allergies, the wrong pets, AND be an asymptomatic carrier of the Communist Herpes.So yes. And at least in the lab, it can hang about mid-air for a couple hours. Hard surfaces (ditto qualification)* for 72 gours.
Keep your distance, yes. Wash your hands. Often. Wipe down counters, ditto, and any object that gets passed from hand-to-hand.
But if you are not elderly or immuno-compromised let’s get back to work!
*Note that this is one legit study, non replicated, and did not test to see whether the available viral load could infect living cells. ONE. Which begs the question: What in the bloody blue blazes are all the world’s scientists DOING?
Muzzled in the same way contradicting Climate Chaaaaaangeeeee!!!!!! probably? There was the story of a scientist who was ordered to destroy her(?) samples last year, iirc…
Shadow, don’t read this around breakables. “Rectification” my Aunt Sally….
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3052966/chinese-laboratory-first-shared-coronavirus-genome-world-ordered
If that’s true, then it lends credence to the idea that this was supposedly a secret bioweapon in development that got out, that I’ve been seeing floating around on the Net.
To some extent, while that’s possible, I also see China being opportunistic about a pandemic outbreak of a novel virus of high contagiousness and certain levels of lethality causing panic. They certainly ‘never let a crisis go to waste.’
Shadow, have you seen this.
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2020/03/25/women-hardest-hit-australian-senator-wants-to-remind-us-all-that-covid-19-is-a-gendered-crisis/
Not til you linked it. Was reading the NYPost’s articles about the idiots who are coughing on people, produce and licking items in shops, for likes. I’m actually rather glad the idiots are being charged with a serious criminal offense. (Bioterrorism in some form?)
Actually on that note, I’ve been reading/watching commentary about how this actual cause of concern (as in: it’s real with actual problems, versus gender studies concerns) is exposing feminist narcissism and that Climate Change idiots are unable to get the attention they crave. So they try to make commentary/claims regarding the virus, or say they have it (or claim that they may have it.)
Hillary Clinton asserted that women were the primary victims of war. Everything after that is not up to the mark.
It CAN’T. That was a study where they aerosolized it. And even then it was “hanging about” but mostly in non-infective form.
You don’t breathe aerosol. and what doesn’t infect you can’t kill you.
There are other studies on the hard surfaces. There is very small viral load and, uh, it can’t. READ THE ARTICLE, truly
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/covid-19-evidence-over-hysteria
No ma’am you need to read the whole article.
This one:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
With the caveats I mentioned, there’s a half life of at least an hour. Viable and infectious… MAYbe. You’d have to take the samples collected after one hour (min) which *in theory* have enough viral load and actually inoculate some kind of living medium.
So MAYBE not. But I wouldn’t bet on it. So don’t take foolish risks as hayfever season ramps up. You have too many stories to finish!
The Zero Hedge graphs are pure GIGO. Don’t get me wrong, I want to believe, but all the inputs are some degree of rubbish. Doesn’t really matter, because the cure is worse than the disease, and all the folks in charge of making important decisions are … What they are.
You’re right about panic + progs = death.
FYI, Sarah, the “Evidence Over Hysteria” article was rather savagely refuted on several points.
Still has a bunch of good links, but the author’s arguments and conclusions are suspect.
Shit. It didn’t copy the right link.
Still a good cartoon, though. XD
Savagely responded to, yes; refuted, not so much. He’d have to have actual arguments, rather than fallacies and dripping condescension. Pulling the “so what you’re saying is” trick was especially obnoxious.
In fact, the twitter-refutation I caught being flatly inaccurate in some of their savageness– and I didn’t even like the original article because it needed some editing work done, yet the “refutation” tried to cite a study being a source for a number– when that number wasn’t from a study, it was from a statement. The college educator with a book coming out was attempting to draw attention to a study by the Chinese CDC, which was cited, but wasn’t the source of the percent that pissed him off.
Will do. But in MUCH happier news, here is a very good article: https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=238638. I makes a lot more sense and explains the transmission rates.
Okay. I read it. It’s going to take me longer to get through the WHO/China report. Still not impressed with it. Too much replacing “We don’t know, but the evidence shows it could go either way” with “..Q.E.D.”
Here’s a fun one for you: I know two corona-chan dates. One is getting better. The other is working from home and not telling anyone about being sick because then said person goes off paid administrative leave and has to use sick leave. Oh! Bonus: Public Health is complaining because doctors aren’t reporting the positive CCPflu results, but are telling patients to report it (HPPA) and Public Health won’t accept self-reporting patients.
All the “data” is crap on stilts. All we’ve got is the microbiologists and the doctors treating it, and the information is … Not nearly enough.
I’m really rooting for attenuated SARs.
Going on CNN to play chicken little and beg for grants.
Or transmitting findings to Beijing
Heh.
“there’s actual science that this virus cannot abide the UV in sunshine”
We need to erase the Obamacare tax on tanning beds, STAT! It is a matter of the survival of the nation!
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I saw an article on stuff to disinfect cars, and all I could think was “or your could leave it outside instead of parked in a garage and let the sunlight disinfect it”.
I would not bet on that. UV, at least the hard stuff does not go through glass well. That is why UV lights are made of fused quartz.
Ah, good to now. Will have to stick to disinfecting water in plastic bottles.
It does make me think; do the stores/on-line outlets hafve UV lights in stock; seems a way to set up something to disinfect stuff (point the light at the entrance way door knob and handle for instance)
When we had to replace our HVAC about 10 years ago, the model we got has a UV disinfecter. I just replaced the bulb in January.
And even more so with tinted windows. We’ve been trying to block UV for 20+years.
Yes, but pasteurization is a real thing, and the inside of a closed up car baking away for 6 or 7 hours above 120F is definitely going to do a number on any bacteria or virus on interior surfaces – and I found a reference stating cars parked in direct sunlight reach sustained interior temperatures of from 130F to 175F.
It is possible to fry an egg in a pan heated in a car. (Must be a cast iron pan.)
“It is possible to fry an egg in a pan heated in a car. (Must be a cast iron pan.)”
Or bake cookies. That was with an aluminum pan.
Not in Oregon this time of year, even with the sun shining. But later in the summer, definitely.
Possibly may be possible elsewhere but the article I read about it that insisted on cast iron was, I think, in California.
I’ve seen it on FB on a lot of pet sites, different state locals. Someone even did it on a relatively cloudy “cooler” summer / spring day … essentially anytime it approaches 70 degrees outside, proof it isn’t safe to leave children or pets locked in a car even with windows down.
Was told a story once by Housemate that he watched a cop go into a local grocery, and come out with eggs, a cheap frying pan, some other stuff, during a typical SA summer. Cop cracked the eggs into the pan, and set it on the bonnet of his cruiser, whereupon the eggs fried. The eggs were eaten with a fork and some ketchup, then the pan and other items “chucked into the car, he got in and drove off.”
Then there was this demo:
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/matt-moran-cooks-lamb-in-a-hot-car-to-show-danger-to-children-locked-inside-20151204-glf7xn.html
Going back to the China Plague, anyone heard the bit of advice about “drinking hot drinks every 20 minutes, to force the virus into your stomach so it will be destroyed by your stomach acids”?
Well, two things – yeah the virus that went into the stomach would not fare well (so the actual act of eating bat soup did not start this), but the virus in your bloodstream would not all suddenly decide to jump through the stomach lining tissue and into the stomach itself, so you’d still have plenty left to make you sick.
And second, this virus uses the ACE2 pathway to trick it’s way into your cells, and apparently that ACE2 protein expression is common in both deep lung cells (more so in smokers) and in cells in the intestinal tract, which is why some who get this get intestinal symptoms, some of those pretty significant symptoms – so doing something to somehow trick the virus into ones digestive tract would be possibly sub-optimal.
Hang.. severe G-I issues… details? Or at least, pointer to where I can read up. Makes me wonder about a bit of nastiness a couple weeks back.
Newest update from Japan of symptoms:
In table 1, the number of reported cases by age group for each symptom and medical intervention is shown. From the time when the case was reported until March 9, the main symptoms identified were fever 188/287 (66%), cough 180/287 (63%), pneumonia 121/194 ( 62%), general malaise 79/195 (41%), sore throat 58/211 (27%), nasal discharge and/or congestion 30/150 (20%), diarrhea 29/154 (19%), headache 25/128 (20%), joint and/or muscle pain 10/142 (7%), nausea and/or vomiting 9/145 (6%), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) 7/123 (6%), and conjunctival congestion 2/119 (2%). Please note that the change in denominators was due to the exclusion of a case from the total if there was no information provided for that symptom or if it was unknown.
https://www.niid.go.jp/niid/en/2019-ncov-e/2484-idsc/9497-covid19-14-200309-e.html
I know of a nasty attack of GI disease back during winter, though I’m not free to discuss details.
sometimes one wonders.
I’ve heard WARM. As in, lower than body temperature.
THIS.
Oh yeah; Every summer, someone fixes Bow Wow Beef by leaving their dog in the car. Heatstroke is definitely a thing.
“I would not bet on that. UV, at least the hard stuff does not go through glass well.”
Not vehicle windows at any rate. They are UV protected by design. The reason why the sun streaming through my house windows onto my UV protection treated glasses lens triggers the darkening down of the lenses. But the same sun streaming through my vehicle windows on to the same UV protection treated glasses lens does not trigger the reaction. Or why I have to carry sun glasses just to use in a vehicle.
Heat. Leave a parked car in the sun. HEAT.
Yeah, trying to treat a raging case of Bobism by being Bob will not do you any good.
I’m not sure if today’s essay would have persuaded me of the urgency of limiting the harm by politicians if I hadn’t been learning about Pelosi’s stimulus proposal. I am definitely persuaded now, but do not see any immediate action I can take.
I think she blinked. According to this, Nancy might have noticed a large quantity of rope in her vicinity and a nearby lamp post.
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/362522/
When the left is getting as pissed as the right, she might have decided it’s an overstep. (The fact that it’s now perfectly clear that she’s got Schumer’s, er, heart in her purse might make things a bit tense in the future.)
Interest. they always act in what they perceive is their interest. They tried it on. It didn’t get traction. The serious money wasn’t happy. Wasn’t it Carvillle who wanted to come back as the bond market?
Let’s see if she can compel her party though the vote
My understanding is that Pelosi maintains her grip on power – even after losing the House majority more than once (which usually causes the current house party leader to get replaced) – because she controls the funding purse strings. The Dems have to either do as Pelosi says, or go without the reelection funding that she can help them get.
So they’ll vote the way that she wants – aside from a few possible nutty hold-outs, like the Squad.
And all of the Democrats are on board with the mandatory vote harvesting and same day registration provisions that are in the House Bill, provisions that are intended to enable Democrats to steal the election regardless of what voters actually want.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/24/left-wing-groups-poised-to-enforce-election-changes-in-pelosi-covid-19-bill/
Pelosi claims that she will give up on the House Bill “for now” and let the Senate Bill be voted on in the House and “see what happens” To me this is a clear indication that she intends for Democrats to defeat the Senate Bill in the House and to then offer her Bill as the “only” Bill that can get past the House, Marxist wish-list and Democratic Party rigging mechanisms included. Then if Trump vetoes the noxious construct, they can get their media arm to blame “bad orangeman evil” for vetoing help for people. It is the same kind of despicable conduct that has driven the Democratic party’s conduct since Trump won and indeed even before that.
Words are insufficient to express the disgust and anger.
OF COURSE. They aren’t frauding enough. They need to fraud more.
It’s going to end in lifting them above all….
It would be amusing to insert language in the bill granting line-item veto authority to the president, able to be over-ridden by simple majority in both chambers. Trump cannot add any spending, merely reduce it. The line item veto would also apply to non-expenditures, too, such as same-day voter registration. Restoring that would also require a mere simple majority in each chamber.
I’m confident Malignancy and Schmuck would enjoy taking Trump to task for any cuts to vitally needed programs like “Cash-for-Clunkers” airline style, or underwriting for ballot harvesting.
As long as I’m rolling out my wish list, I want a new Cabinet agency (those familiar with my proclivities are hereby granted a moment to pick up their jaws.) The sclerotic effect of RDA, CDC and other regulatory bodies strongly indicates a need for a Cabinet agency tasked with reviewing and revoking regulations. Let such selected regs be retainable pursuant to a sixty-percent endorsement by the chambers. Should they ever complete review of standing regulations they could then take o the job of approval of proposed regulations. I suspect a stint as Secretary of Deregulation would enhance any candidate’s CV on the Right.
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we already do cash for clunkers with airlines, the USAF buys them if they are at all related to something in the AF inventory.
Which explains the sea of 707 airframes in the desert around Tucson.
yeah they are needed as parts for KC-135s iirc.
And AWACS, and Looking Glass, and MC-135s, and…
The Air Force has gotten a lot of mileage out of the 707 air frame.
i thought some of the stuff had moved to newer airframes…. guess that didnt happen
Some of it may have, I think specially outfitted C-17 might have taken on the medivac role, and Looking Glass may have been grounded with the cold war.
Hang them anyway.
You mean “raise them above all!”
Pour encourager les autres
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Indeed.
More like pour décourager les répéter.
Sure, lets call it that. Raise ‘em nice and high above us all. *grin*
Upmthe long ladder and down the short rope
Long stakes.
I like the cut of your jib , sir. Now I have to go repent.
If you are going to use stakes anyway, use short ones.
You need long stakes to get your Tepes on properly.
Son and I were going down this train of thought earlier, so…
But not greased.
Like Darth Vader, Philanthropist. Don’t put people down, lift them up. 😀
Hey, even Darth Vader practices “social distancing”. Courtesy of Powerline:
https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-03-23-at-1.33.04-PM.png?resize=768%2C1083&ssl=1
I prefer to think of it as “giving them a lift.”
Not allowed to in my area; banned because of the risk of spreading disease. 😦
Too easy on em
Strangle, not neck snap.
No – this is merely a strategic retrenchment. The Senate will probably spend the full thirty hours of debate on this bill, which was ALWAYS intended as a shell to be filled by the House bill — where we can be sure that whatever Nancy wants, Nancy gets. This is merely a battle with the real war yet to come.
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My fond hope is that Pelosi realized that people were actually looking at what she was doing and they were actually paying attention to her actions. I think she’s still going to try and sneak stuff in and have Trump either accept the bill as-is and get what she wants, or have him veto it and claim that he really doesn’t care about people and only wants to support the rich.
I would be supporting her opponent in the 2020 election, but because of the jungle primary system her opponent is Shahid Buttar. And, if Wikipedia is right, most of her endorsements are from people that make Pelosi look like Ronald Regan in 1980.
It’s okay if Pelosi stays in for her district. It might do her
blackheart some good to see the senate and house both go super majority republican, all because of her actions. Well the squad might have given her a tiny push. But sounds like they are all being booted out by their own party primaries … who knew?Shush now. Let me dream, a little …
I know. Super majority republican Senate, and House, with a republican president, isn’t the smartest thing to wish for. I’ll settle for just majority in each, with a republican president.
Skip a beat or ten, maybe…
when the dems are socialists? Yes, it’s a good thing to dream of.
I know. That is why it is so conflicting.
Dems as
communistssocialist makes republican super majorities in all 3 houses makes it a want now / need. But super majorities in both houses isn’t necessarily good historically regardless of the party. But there needs to be some things rolled back by force of law that have been pulled by democrats and their activist judges. But …Okay. Right now I want the republican super majority in all three houses. But I’m also willing to acknowledge that others may not agree, and they have reasonable reasons.
Democrat or Republican they’re still politicians — meaning a fair percentage are grifters out for the main opportunity.
It is easy to be Conservative in the minority, the main-chancers tend to enroll in the other party. But as we saw with the “Gingrich Revolution” and the T.E.A. party scammers, political success tends to draw the parasitical into the party.
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OTOH – looking at the leadership of the House Dems — Pelosi, Clyburn, Maxine, Nadler, Schiff and the rest — the GOP would be hard-pressed to empower worse. I cannot think of any House Democrat whose highest calling in life wouldn’t be fertilizer.
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That’s a relief. In a more enlightened age, Nancy would be burned as a witch.
Why wait? If she’s here in her district, we’ve had a lot of rain lately and a good bonfire won’t get far…
Does EPA allow burning that much plastic?
The Pelosi Prescription is amputation of our liberty in order to die more slowly.
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The amount of people I’ve seen straight up cheering on the quarantine shutting down economy is the scary part. Most seem to think everyone has a cushy job where they just sit at home, put on Netflix and pretend to work or get paid to be home and this is all just a minor inconvenience. Or folks that were able to prep and have absolutely no concern about having had to keep their stuff going.
Is it wrong that my first thought with the rent strike crap is that the owners could just as easily douse their property in gasoline and burn it down since it’s only gonna be a cost since the thieves aren’t gonna let prop taxes slide
Yesterday I was feeling a bit under-the-weather. I went out shopping anyway solely because our wonderful Oregon governor was threatening a lock-down. Otherwise I would have waited a couple of days until I no longer risked spreading whatever I had (probably not the virus). Good job Governor.
Will Coronavirus kill people? Yes. But you know what else kills people? A faltering economy.
https://thewriterinblack.com/2019/10/02/how-can-you-talk-economics-when-were-talking-about-peoples-lives/
It’s fairly recent but I may need to bring that forward as a “Blast from the Past.”
If an item seems insufficiently ripe for citing as a Blast From The Past, please consider the identifier: See, I Told You So!
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I think we might consider giving two cheers for corruption. We don’t know how the vote will go today but we can speculate the conversation that Chuck had with his patrons at GS. MMmm Chuck, WTF exactly do you think you’re doing? The bond market almost broke on Friday. If the Fed hadn’t bailed it out the whole f’in world would have ended. cut it out and get on with it. I suspect a similar conversation went on between malignancy and the Silicon Valley crowd.
Lot’s of people who can do the math are doing the math and while the politicians are a stinking pile of ideological stupidity and malice, their owners know that you don’t kill the goose you just take its eggs.
I’m also not immediately concerned with hyperinflation. It’s not clear that new money is being created it’s simply replacing money that has been destroyed. We may have it later since the MMT crowd will be all over this but not yet. The problem with Keynesian economics is that Samuelson turned it into an ongoing process of deficit spending with a priesthood of Harvard economists to lead it. My view is that Keynes wrote the general theory to key Baldwin to spend money once. Had he lived he would have abandoned it.
The sad thing is that we would likely have had a more controlled downturn since the markets were overvalued, overbought, and overconfident. Now their bad behavior will be bailed out.
“My view is that Keynes wrote the general theory to key Baldwin to spend money once. Had he lived he would have abandoned it.”
I gather it is believed he was in the process of just such reconsideration shortly before he died. I confess to insufficient curiosity to look into the evidence; I was satisfied enough he a) was dead ad b) had been wrong.
I am curious about the amount of “wealth” destroyed by the bursting of the Stock Market bubble (P/E ratios were running about thirty percent above historical norms) vs how much is to be infused by this bailout. Long-term we might all be better for that bubble bursting as it did. In the long run, of course, we are all dead … including the Earth, Sol and the Universe itself.
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The market was certainly overvalued, overbought, and overconfident. I use a modified long term trend PE for valuation and at its peak the market was at 31 times long term trend earnings vs the post WWII level of about 18. Only the tech bubble was higher. We were at full employment so prices were creeping up. Oil was well off its lows and the money supply was increasing and accelerating. I had trimmed my stock allocation down substantially but it hadn’t gotten to the point where I would want to short in size. in any case, we were set up for a correction or a mild bear market. We ended up with a fairly sharp bear market in two weeks rather than the months we would normally have. It’s not over yet unless this unwinds very very quickly. Yesterday was a short covering rally where you buy the rumor and sell the news.
In any case, the damage is not to stocks really, though it will hurt pension funds, or better that the stock market is a reflection of things not the things. The issue is in the bond market. There has been huge panic in the bond market and the bond market is a thing and not just the reflection of a thing. That’s where the bulk of the money is going. If our past history is any guide it will be used to bulk up balance sheets since, in a panic, only the best collateral US Treasuries then Germany then UK then oblivion. When BONY comes for its collateral at 3:00 every afternoon you either have it or you’re gone
My argument on Keynes won’t fit in a blog post and I go on too long as it is.
An interesting proposal on taking advantage of circumstances to dodge the long-term interest rate bullet:
Here’s a painless way to save taxpayers trillions amid coronavirus pandemic
By Newt Gingrich and Stephen Moore
To combat the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government may have to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars more than the $1.8 trillion Uncle Sam is already expected to borrow. And that’s on top of our pre-emergency deficits.
What about the borrowing costs? Fortunately, there is an opportunity to save trillions of dollars in projected spending on interest rates that could offset the cost of this extra borrowing and even trillions of dollars of past borrowing: That extra money comes from the unique opportunity the United States has to refinance its debt at a remarkably lower interest rate.
The US government has a once-in-a-lifetime chance to save American taxpayers trillions of dollars over the next 30 years — without raising a single tax or cutting a dime from government programs. The window on this opportunity could slam shut quickly and unexpectedly, so the time to take advantage of this windfall is right now.
The federal government should immediately begin refinancing the near $20 trillion national debt (publicly traded) by replacing all expiring bonds with 30-year bonds. The Treasury Department should also issue new 50-year bonds and should even experiment with issuing 100-year duration bonds.
Here is why: For the past several decades, interest rates on government bonds have been falling fairly steadily (to 2 percent at the start of this year, down from 15 percent on 30-year treasuries in 1980). This decline has accelerated in the last several weeks, as fear of the coronavirus has paralyzed many parts of the economy and caused an investor rush to safety in US government bonds.
The interest rate on 10-year Treasury notes has fallen to 0.75 percent, and, even more incredibly, rates on 30-year bonds have dropped below …
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But Sarah, they’re #NotDying4WallStreet! They’ve got a hashtag and everything! They’re serious!
Funny how the “solutions” are all “more socialism”. I mean, what are the chances of that?
What’s grimly amusing is how many people who are not dying Wall st are simply acting out against Daddy and grandpa whose Wall Street money makes their hipster lives possible.
Dear Lord help us! They’re dumber than most rocks. They think that wall street is separate from the rest of the economy.
And yeah, this is viral Global Cooling/Warming/Climate change. The solution is ALWAYS socialism. Under which this shit is always worse. Unexpectedly!
Apparently there were some feeble attempts to TRY tie this in to ‘climate change’ or ‘Gaia’s revenge’ but now the Greenies are sulking because nobody is buying that, and that female Greenie MP here has managed to put both feet in her mouth.
Well, the way you’re cussin you’d fit right in on the street where it’s just punctuation. the wife gets mad at me but it’s hard to stop when you curse all day.
I have a strange aversion to writing it though. Too much Catholic school.
I’m sorry. I HONESTLY try not to. BUT see that I was so angry it prevented me WRITING ANYTHING or even talking to friends.
I’ll try to keep it down.
Another symptom of aggravated Bobism.
*writes a script for video games*
What kind of music do you like?
Er…. classical?
Funny – all through the Democrat Primaries I kept hearing the theme from Benny Hill.
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‘Yakity Sax’ may not be classical, but it’s definitely classic!
That, and that clown theme that Paul Joseph Watson likes to use mocking people’s idiocy.
Problem isnt those dummies that stand on stage. It’s the jackboots in bureaucracy and the puppet masters that evoke imperial march
*Writes second script*
Play Anacreon and some Brahms once a week until symptoms subside.
(Yeah, I’m creatively bankrupt. Ignore the specifics, but video games and music have helped me manage the condition in the past.)
I don’t play video games, except Mah Jong.
…clockwork orange
I’m not offended. Quite the contrary. It’s the most versatile word in the language. q.v., the fucking fuckers fucking fucked. Put that with how ya doin and fugettaboutit and you could hold an entire conversation on any trading floor on the street.
fogged about it. them fucking fuckers are fucking with my fucking country 😉
Wish I could loan you my copy of Mass Effect 3’s Multiplayer game. Let you play as a krogan character and let the Blood Rage flow.
Grant Theft Auto since it is such a free sandbox lets you have a lot of fun if you want to forego doing missions for a bit and just engage in the good ol’ ultraviolence.
Well, ME3 has the celebratory headbutts in-between waves if you have more than one krogan player in the match and they aren’t some pyjack who’ll not join in the headbutting.
(Krogan characters have a headbutt as their light melee attack. When the game was first out lots of players would “salute” other players by initiating a headbutt towards the other if they were playing a krogan character. Very silly and fun. Alas, in the games I’ve played I haven’t met many players who know that. Silly pyjacks.)
Eh. I have the same philosophy. There are occasions, however, when it is bile coming out of my mouth – or my eyes. Worst is when there is nothing coming out; the family has seen it just a couple of times, but they know to evacuate the area.
Some of Wall Street is only attached to the wider economy in the sense of an intestinal parasite.
My husband knows this stuff inside and out (with maths), but the best I can explain is that it’s like Gresham’s Law. Rent-seekers, and crony-oligarchs can out-compete honest traders.
So here’s our pickle: How do we get the folks who believe their own lying eyes over our half-baked logic? Half-because they can’t do math and won’t stick around for the bun to finish cooking. They SEE the bad actors. Those dudes are real, bro!
But… NA[—]ALT. In fact the majority aren’t like that. If you’d just exercise patience and judgment, and work with me to separate the bad actors from the good, we have to figure out how—
Liar! Hater! You’re a [—–] ist!
And! . Traitor! Sellout!
And ever and anon come the Marxists throwing spanners into our language just to make life more interesting.
Good grief. We can’t get this together for ***vacines***. That one should be relatively easy.
It’s more interesting to look at what happened when Wall Street went belly up under my favorite President, Calvin Coolidge.
Credit where due: when you have Socialism all other problems are trivial.
It’s always important t keep things in perspective.
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I think there are a lot of people who don’t understand what “the economy” is. They see “the economy” as a bunch of numbers and something that guys in black suits care about. The idea that “the economy” represents how their organic kale magically appears on the shelves of Whole Foods hasn’t penetrated their thick skulls.
Don’t they know what happened the last time Wall Street went belly-up? Or do they, and don’t care? Either way, very disturbing.
Yeah, they know. Roosevelt saved American citizens by instituting Social Security.
And nearly becoming a dictator . . .
Wait.
They are fine with dictators as long as they are the ones doing the dictating. Thus their adoration for Castro, Chavez, Maduro, Ortega, Mao, Stalin, etc.
As far as I can tell, the Left’s motto is “It’s okay when we do it!”
I think that’s most people’s motto.
I have a hashtag for them then: #PelosiPlague
“Italy is cooking the books, including counting anyone who dies of anything else and had this virus onboard as dying of the virus”
Gee, you mean the way the Brady Campaign, Democrat Party and our MSM cook the “Gun Violence” deaths?
Who’d of thunk!
–
What would people here think of the FCC revoking major media broadcast licenses on the grounds that they were using them to spread panic that was against the public interest?
It sets a scary precedent, but they are certainly using public property (the airwaves) entrusted to them to deliberately harm the public. This should not go unpunished and treason charges are definitely too far.
It sets a scary precedent.
Remember when Mitch McConnell was Senate Majority Leader while Dubya was president, and was considering creating the “nuclear option” to deal with Democratic intransigence where judicial nominees and Democratic filibusters were involved? And how wiser heads convinced him not to do so, because eventually the Dems would end up in power, and they’d have control over that same process?
And how the Dems *did* end up back in power, and Reid foolishly went ahead and invoked that same process, and is now a laughingstock because of all that the Republicans have been able to accomplish with Trump and McConnell working together?
Yeah, like that.
Except you’re talking about something that gets to the heart of one of the core Constitutional protections in the Bill of Rights. What McConnell considered, and Reid actually did, was merely a parliamentary process in the Senate. You’re talking about something that – in the wrong hands – could essentially be abused to the point of shutting down the entirety of debate from one side.
Ah yes, but let’s remember that it is “Freedom Of The Press” not “Freedom Of The News Media”. They are free to print whatever News they want to print but the Government can regulate what they broadcast and what they put on-line. [Very Very Big Sarcastic Grin]
A little more serious, it is interesting that in Europe (including England) there was regulations on the use of Printing Presses. To own and operate a printing press, often a person had to get a license from the local Powers That Be. It was perfectly legal for the local Powers That Be to remove said license if the printing press was used to print something that the local Powers That Be did not like.
Thus the Bill Of Rights guarantee didn’t refer to newspaper publishers/reporters but to the Freedom to spread ideas via printing presses. In the build-up to “us kicking the British out”, printers & printing presses help spread the idea of Freedom From England.
Oh, I laughed at the people who claimed “Those People Aren’t Real Journalists” and/or “That Company Isn’t A Real News Organization”. Freedom Of The Press has little to do with the News (although they are protected by it) and everything to do with spreading ideas/information that the Powers That Be might not like. 😆
Every time leftists claim that the Second Amendment only applies to the guns in use at the time of the Constitution’s writing (i.e. muskets) I remind them that if they want to play that game, then their First Amendment rights only apply to printed newspapers and pamphlets printed with wet ink printing presses.
LOL 😆
“the Second Amendment only applies to the guns in use at the time of the Constitution’s writing (i.e. muskets)”
Not exactly “just muskets”:
The Ferguson rifle was an early breechloading flintlock rifle designed by Major Patrick Ferguson for the British military during the 1770’s. It had a calibre of .650in and a .615in cartridge and production began in 1776 before ending two years later ended with only 100 made for the British army during the American revolution. … As it was not a muzzle loader it had a rate of firing 7 rounds a minute. The weapon was superior and faster to load and fired compared to the American Kentucky rifles and the Brown Bess musket.
https://guns.fandom.com/wiki/Ferguson_rifle
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I always thought 2A was about the Hessians. The first 3 George’s used to bring them in whenever they needed to bang heads together.
And the primary reason it was not produced longer or in larger quantity was those damn rebels killed redcoat officers with such regularity, and that poor Scotsman was shot from his horse, dragged by one stirrup across into the rebel lines, refused to surrender, and in return got 8 musket balls as a parting gift at Kings Mountain in 1780.
Fergusib was the driver for the rifle design that bore his name, so given it was more expensive to produce and no longer had a champion within the British Army it was dropped and the units using it went back to eth Brown Bess.
The Girandoni air rifle was a multi-shot weapon in service with the Austrian Army at the time the 2nd Amendment was written.
And Lewis and Clark took one along and used it.
I have an image (that it’s too hard to post here) showing the typical 1776 surgeon’s kit with a caption “If you believe the Second Amendment only covers muskets, here’s the healthcare you have a right to.”
Well, they have been complaining that Trump has bee insufficiently dictatorial.
Perhaps their refusal to carry his press briefings would justify seizing them in the public interest? Is there a clause for that in the Defense Production Act? Do’t all the Red World tyrants the Lefties adore require all news outlets carry such “addresses in the public interest”?
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Well, the EAS (Emergency Alert System) could be activated nationwide. That would require all radio, broadcast television, and – most importantly – all cable and satellite providers to put the content on all channels. (CNN, MSNBC, etc. are not required to put it on under the law. But how does their propaganda reach us? Through those middlemen.)
It might be time to do what they’ve been demanding for years and re-instate (in temporary basis) the Fairness Doctrine. All Things Considered would have to give Rush Limbaugh one of their hours, Morning Edition would have to let Mark Levin program half its content, all “News” networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FNC and MSNBC) would have to carry all presidential briefings and, in respect to fairness, all Joe Biden’s shadowy briefings as well. Let Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi, as leaders of their chambers, have fifteen minutes daily.
The trial period to end once the current Pandemic Panic is resolved.
After all, if it saves even one life …
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One thing that might slow it down is to make them vulnerable to being cited under laws about delivering defective goods, especially when they are obviously lying.
“There were always those of us who suspected that some purging of political dissidents was going on behind China’s facade of virus attack, and some of it might be true. “
I highly doubt it ever stopped. More like, the virus was something of a happy accident to the inquisitors, allowing them to clean house ever so much more efficiently and right under everyone else’s noses.
It has been said that I am something of a pessimist when it comes to totalitarian, Marxist, Socialist, and Communist regimes. I contend that does not necessarily follow that I am wrong in thinking as I do here…
If they understood the economy and its complexity they wouldn’t be socialists or communists.
But the problem is, they don’t want to understand. You can explain free markets to them until you’re blue in the face, but they’ll just blow off your arguments with talk about Greed vs. Compassion. Or how The One Percent own ninety-nine Percent of the wealth. Or racism. Or sustainability. Or something, because they want their Rainbows ‘n’ Unicorns Utopia where they never have to make a hard choice or struggle through a bad time.
Because the reason socialism and communism destroys economies and kills people is that it ignores the complexity of economy and people.
Or that those economies are run by types like Lenin who only know how to get power and, consequently, think they don’t have to know anything else. They give the orders, and carrying them out is someone else’s problem.
A related consideration is that that much power puts Damocles’ sword over their heads. When that much power is at stake, second place is the first loser. People from Robespierre to Trotsky to Madame Mao have found this out the hard way.
“Or that those economies are run by types like Lenin who only know how to get power and, consequently, think they don’t have to know anything else. They give the orders, and carrying them out is someone else’s problem.”
Oh, I am certain they got the job done faster. But there are no men living and none dead that I can think of that I would trust with that much power. Rather, who would you trust with that magnitude of *responsibility*? No one, that’s who.
There is no way a man can know to the exact amount what each and every soul under his vast dominion needs to live and thrive. Planned economies fail for a reason. There is similarly no group of humans I would trust with such power, either.
The beauty of the free market is that it is infinitely reactive in near real time. Demand for toilet paper rasies prices, manufacturing hires more shifts and sources more raw material, supply increases and price falls once more. People with celiac disease aren’t issued rations of bread and told to eat it or starve, and those with other conditions can manage their lives far better than the local Party representative.
Not even a saint would survive such a position. Better still should one limit the power of those who are told to represent us (*not* lead. Represent our interests and we’ll get along just fine). Diapers and politicians should be changed regularly and for the same reason, after all.
The vast shortages are in part due to the price controls that have been imposed under various “anti-gouging” laws that became popular after Hurricane Katrina. Never mind that not having such restrictions allows prices to rise high enough to discourage hording, and that it also provides incentive for manufacturers and suppliers to provide more of the in-demand product, and that prices will fall as supply catches up to demand and demand levels off as people stop hording due to high prices. The anti-gouging shortages, like all price controls, create perpetual shortages, as we saw in Venezuela before they took the next step of outright confiscation (and that is the next step once price controls inevitably fail as we see from Democrats demanding nationalization). For example, see the 1970s gas lines, for those old enough to remember.
“see the 1970s gas lines, for those old enough to remember.”
I remember the lines. I also remember being paid to drive everyone’s vehicles down to the gas stations, when they were open, to fill em’ up. Got paid to do this too. Well okay. Two of the vehicles the payments were “you get to drive your baby sister to swim practice all week before school.” At O’G*d – 30 – No didn’t have to pick her up or wait, because I had to get home, to get ready for, and then walk to school … I had just gotten my state drivers license when it all started.
Yeah, they blow off people like me, or other folks who lived in Romania, describing what it was like behind the Iron Curtain as “But that wasn’t REAL Communism/Socialism!” They also refuse to move to Vietnam or China or South American Socialist states.
So much “fake” Communism/Socialism, so many corpses.
I’ll keep risking not-real-enough free-markets over attempted socialism.
And they don’t meet criteria to move to Canadia or scandiland because there are actually immigration rules.
Which they honor, for reasons unknown, instead of DEMANDING they be allowed to settle there, the way they demand that the entirety of the third world be allowed to settle in the West, no questions or legal immigration necessary!
They think they’ll be among the nomenklatura of New Socialist Australia. After all, no one as elite as themselves could possibly be one of the lumpenproletariat…
You *do* have some rope set aside for, ah, emergency use, right?
There’s the entirety of the Outback to drop them off to.
“there are a ton of other (very bad) things going on in China, and blaming the virus is not as embarrassing.”
Having these “bad things” happen in close proximity to anointing Winnie the Flu as “President for Life” might cause ignorant, superstitious peasants to suspect the gods have been angered and have withdrawn their Mantle of Heaven.
Blaming the virus discourages any post-mortem examinations.
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“They certainly wouldn’t want western civilization destroyed to save them.”
My father (and his father before him) en-effing-listed, putting his life on the line to save Western Civilization (from Adolph & Tojo, and from The Kaiser, respectively.) I don’t think they’d welcome being used as a premise for its destruction.
The term “ungrateful brat” comes to mind, to sell our inheritance for a mess of toilet paper.
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“don’t expect the media to EVER give the all clear.”
Surely those who warned of Russia, Russia, Russia and who insisted Trump’s impeachment was necessary to protect the Constitution would not mislead us?
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> “It’s not that they lie. It’s that they don’t really have a concept of the truth.”
Oh. Like American politicians, media and academia. It’s not an entirely foreign concept…
PRECISELY.
“they think printing money will compensate for everything.”
I saw yesterday that Rep. Tlaib was calling for the US to mint two platinum coins, each designated as worth one trillion dollars, so they’re recognizing that printed money might not be worth face value.
It could have been hoax, but even the Babylon (America’s Paper of Record) Bee draws the line at credible.
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The basic idea was suggested back when Obama was in office. I’m not sure who publicized it. It might have been Matt Yglesias, though I don’t remember for sure.
>> “In fact, the “cure” deliberate or not is an attack at the heart of the economic engine of the world. Which is to say it’s an attack on humans’ ability to lie at all.”
I think you mean “ability to LIVE at all?”
And I don’t think Trump will let the lockdown go on for much longer. He’s a smart businessman and he knows what kind of damage this will do.
yes.
It’s got covid. Pour aquarium cleaner over it
yes. My keyboard is being funny on some letters.
Amen
On a much more hopeful note there is Fr. Berardelli who gave up his ventilator for a stranger. his parishioners had bought it for him but he gave it to a younger person in need. A saint in our time perhaps. Ora pro nobis.
I know. Lord give him eternal rest amid the splendors of glory.
Amen.
It is a form of depression, but one I hadn’t wrestled with before. I’ve never before been THIS angry. Angry enough I had to shut my entire ability to work — including non fiction and short pieces down — in order not to live in a state of near-berserking.
For what it’s worth I’ve been living with a close relative of that form that I’ve only survived by shutting down almost everything.
It coming to a head is why I’ve been absent so much.
For the record, Herb, I’ve worried about you. I don’t know if it helps.
BUT it’s important to know you’re not alone. And you’re not. I thought Charlie Martin was mad at me. We used to talk every week. We haven’t talked in almost a month. he thought I was mad at him.
No, we’re both just mad at this shit….
Like I as much as said to Sarah, I wish I could just give you a recipe for what helped me, but I’m not entirely sure what helped me, or how to duplicate it in varied circumstances.
What seems to be a major part of helping sounds seriously crazy, and very much not the sort of thing to have an obvious near parallel in your lives.
Plus, I had language issues to begin with, so the ‘level of anger that takes away writing’ might have been quite a bit lower. So I might be thinking band-aid for a gushing chest wound level intervention anyway.
My instinct is that you have mentioned career concerns/moving positions, and that we both know what Sarah has said about her writing and her boys.
On the news a couple of days ago (I know, I know, I watched the news, bad, bad me) they said hordes of gringos are buying up all the chloroquine from the Mexican pharmacias, leaving none for the locals.
All because some random idiots on the internet said chloroquine can cure or prevent the Wu Kung Flu, not because of any microbiologists or epidemiologists.
Chloroquine treats bacterial, amoebic and parasitic infections. I never heard that it did anything about viruses.
Here in the U.S. chloroquine is a tightly regulated prescription drug, because it can have nasty side effects. As far as the FDA is concerned, if a drug saves millions, but the side effects kill one, it MUST BE BANNED!!!
———————————
Lots of people make mistakes, even stupid mistakes, but only the government can force everybody to make the SAME stupid mistakes.
I took it years ago (Or the hydroxy one, I don’t exactly remember). when I was going to malarial pestholes. Did me no harm and I didn’t get malaria. on the other hand, in the US we can buy unlimited quantities of paracetamol and that’s a known killer. There are strict limits in the UK about how much you can buy. We can’t buy the good Sudafed without giving our life story so we all have sinus headaches because some clown might brew meth from it.
As far as epidemiologists go, the ones who’ve gotten traction seem to have been mostly wrong. We don’t know what the rest think because the only source of information is Twitter. The microbiologists don’t seem to be objecting and what evidence there is for it working on viruses seems to be positive. The random idiots are doctors in the field treating patients and some patients who were treated.
I only hope that the people who ate fish tank chemicals marked poison didn’t breed first.
Agree completely about the government as it’s full of people who think nothing of eating fish tank chemicals marked poison. We need to keep track of what regulations have turned out to be unneeded and ensure they don’t come back.
> We can’t buy the good Sudafed without giving our life story so we all have sinus headaches because some clown might brew meth from it.
—
Leading to the joke about meth cookers turning meth back into Sudafed to sell during the allergy seasons…
Note of course that the same people who demand that one cannot get Sudafed without photo ID are adamant that people be allowed to register to vote and to actually vote THE SAME DAY without ID.
We see.
There was a quiet, but brisk, business at Flat State U of those of us with state ID and no allergies getting Sduafed for those without state ID and with allergies. Ten percent mark-up, cash only. Or so I was told. According to rumor.
We can’t buy the good Sudafed without giving our life story so we all have sinus headaches because some clown might brew meth from it.
I never thought that would stop meth brewers at all. They would just steal it from somewhere. I doubt the Sudafed is shipped by armed guards anywhere. Maybe the factory producing it has them, but I doubt anywhere else.
Something must be done for the children. I’m so tired of a bunch of utterly incapable, inferior, and generally mentally ill psychopaths telling me what I can and cannot do for my own good.
Facists with bad tailors.
Iirc the danger is the homebrew meth lab vs the folks supplying most of the stuff. Cartels and such can get industrial grade and quantities of the stuff. Same as they get USGI M4s and such.
But easy to get the sheep to herd than grab the goats
One of worst drugs to die from? Tylenol/acetaminophen/paracetmol. And it’s too flipping easy to do on it. Rule of thumb iirc was less than 24-48 hrs to get emergency help, or you get comfort care cuz no chance.
There was some research back in 2005 that indicated that it was effective against coronaviruses (I think the research was done in connection with the MERS outbreak). Some other countries have tried it and it seems to work. It’s been used off-label here with some positive results.
Not sure what the mechanism for action is, but it seems to impeded the virus’ ability to enter the cell.
Chloroquine doesn’t fight viruses. But among other things, it infiltrates and blocks ACE-2 sites in the lungs, guts, and kidneys, thus kicking out or keeping out COVID-19 from its favorite playground cells.Without being able to take over the ACE-2 sites and turn them into a bloody deadly mess, coronavirus doesn’t do much damage.
It is the Zpac and the other thing that actually kill the coronavirus.
Do ACE inhibitors have an effect, positive or negative in any way?
Some drugs have effects way off from their normal use — one treatment’s unpleasant side effect may be another disease’s cure. Aspirin, per some very old studies, is somewhat virucidal so long as the virus hasn’t yet penetrated the cells (probably why sucking on an aspirin at the first hint of a sore throat sometimes wards off the flu). Newcastle vaccine (for chickens) can be used to cure canine distemper. (Yes, really. I know the vet who developed the treatment, and I’ve personally seen it work miracles.) Was reading about some drug earlier today that is nominally an antiviral but also also attacks cancer cells. And so on. Not really that unusual. Basically if a drug affects a given biological pathway HERE, it likely will also do so THERE, and any target that depends on that pathway may be affected — however unrelated it may seem to the layman.
Anyway, HQC in combo with another drug showed some promising results against CV19 — apparently someone’s intuition to try an HIV treatment, under the theory that what halts one virus might halt another.
It’s now been used in several countries and it does cure Xi disease. PARTICULARLY in combination with zythromax. (Sp?)
NO ONE KNOWS WHY. Though it might have something to do with its effect on the immune system.
I heard (sorry – only half-listening at the time) something about it affecting the way the cells accept zinc, allowing them to better resist the virusical invasion. I don’t know much about cellular biology beyod the sense we’ve only begun to understand what is happening, but I am aware that one effect f a bad cold is depletion of the body’s zinc, so …
One other point: I don’t have to know HOW a medicine does it work for it to treat my sniffles.
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For what it’s worth, Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Fooled by Randomness, Black Swan, Antifragile, Skin in the Game) argues that we understand the human body way less than we think we do, so we almost never know why something worked out didn’t, but we can still make good decisions based on whether it worked or didn’t.
Zithromax or azithromycin
Azythromycin. (If there’s a difference. I’m almost at 24h awake, so I might be missing something.)
“Okay, to be clear, the chances that the Chinese Virus was ever going to wipe out 1/10th of our population, let alone more, were very, very, very low. HOWEVER when this started out, we didn’t know that. We just didn’t. And the sh*t coming out of China, including the crematoria running day and night were terrifying.”
Yes, very much so. We did not know anything. The shit coming out of China was frigging terrifying.
But the regular flights from Wuhan to Toronto carried on as usual. They carried on as normal from December until a week ago. Nearly 4 months of -nothing-.
As a Canadian, whose government historically has been a hell of a lot more on the ball than that, I’ve been astounded. People are dying in droves from a flu outbreak, and airplanes full of passengers from that city are landing in my country. They don’t get screened for a fever, they don’t get tested for the virus, they don’t even get asked how they’re feeling today.
The excuse is that the Government of Canada abhors racism. Public health screening to control a fatal contagious disease is racism. Cancelling flights from a given country because of an outbreak is racism. Government ministers have come right out and said this in public. When Trump cancelled flights he was denounced as a racist all over Canadian media. (But then Trudeau cancelled all foreign flights last Monday, and suddenly it wasn’t racist, because nobody said anything. But I digress.)
But where are we today? Canadians are potentially under threat of arrest if we leave the house. Because screening foreigners is racist, but locking OUR people under house arrest isn’t.
Or something.
Of course all of that is bullshit, because they don’t have enough cops to actually do it. The cops are not even enforcing the speed limit right now. People are -booting- it around here. ~140K on the highway, 85-90mph. Nobody has the least concern that they’ll get pulled over.
But, not about to let a crisis go to waste, the Liberals have been busy:
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2020/03/24/showing-up-to-riot-22/
TL/DR version, the Liberal government wants to grant itself the power to tax, spend and borrow without consulting the House of Commons. Not for a couple of months either, but until 2022. Two years.
That’s where we are right now. Going to be an interesting summer.
Again, the leftists aren’t acting like this is a real emergency, just an opportunity. Think about it for a moment.
They perceive any sign of instability or change as an opportunity. Sort of like frogs, which only percieve “fly” and “not fly.”
They don’t actually have any goals for that opportunity, other than taking power unto themselves.
I’m definitely thinking about it. One of the things I’m thinking, which is disturbing my sleep, is that this is the best they could manage. This astounding level of sheer, stunning incompetence is their best shot at mitigating a catastrophe.
That it might be a conspiracy based on the top politicians having secret knowledge about the disease is less disturbing.
Sarah, seriously. In the midst of an outbreak they didn’t even take anyone’s fucking temperature at the -airport.- They didn’t calculate that it would be cheaper to shut down international flights for a couple of months than to shut down the entire country.
If that wasn’t deliberate and due to corruption, if that was down to just plain stupidity, then we all have a much worse problem that we thought.
Well, if you will accept weed induced stupidity (and if you’ve dug up Speaker’s work, you know about the impaired risk assessment stuff), it is possible that you might come round to the position I’ve found myself in for the past ten-fifteen years. ~:D
But there are probably a bunch of different positions you can move to beyond that.
And I’ve read that Canada is low on PPE because Prime Minister Zoolander sent literally tons of it to China in February.
We’re low on PPE because we don’t make anything here, and because the hospital system keeps a low inventory of everything. Because they are idiots who never think ahead to wonder “what if SARS came back?”
We’ve already seen this show once before in 2003 with SARS. They dropped the ball then and 23 people died. They dropped it again now, only a lot harder. Like they spiked it into the ground this time.
We’re low on beds because on an average Tuesday, there are ambulances sitting in the parking lot of the average hospital with patients in them, waiting hours and hours to be admitted to the hospital.
The government has not bought any new ventilators yet, that I am aware of. There’s been no announcement of new equipment being delivered, that’s for sure. They aren’t testing either.
You know, I’m willing to stay home for a short period (and I am), but not indefinitely. I suspect that’s the case with most ordinary people. But there’s far too many people on the other side who are eager for a permanent emergency, and I think we should be asking why that is. Especially for a disease that has such a low fatality rate. What would they be demanding if this was more lethal?
they’d be hiding
They’re doing this because they know it’s just lethal enough to cause a stampede.
I guess it’s one step closer to living in pods and eating bugs.
They’ve tried the eating pods things, and that didn’t work out. I don’t wanna consider living in bugs. Not even the VW version.
THIS. Or can be PRETENDED to be lethal enough.
PRECISELY.
“You know, I’m willing to stay home for a short period (and I am), but not indefinitely. I suspect that’s the case with most ordinary people.”
Okay. After son headed off to his swing shift today, hubby comes in and asks “What do you want to do? We could go somewhere. Into the mountains. Probably crappy weather for it, but we could go, you know, for a drive?”
Sounds great. Except for the stay at home order. Mountains, while highways are clear, side roads aren’t. Nor are the parking areas or hiking trails … they still have snow. Beaches are closed. So are any trailheads along Hwy 101 or any of the highways getting there (to be fair, the latter are closed because haven’t opened for the season). So where are we going to go? Note, this is the same person who wants me to limit grocery shopping or leaving the house period.
People. This is the second day he hasn’t been able to go up to the golf club and golf … he is going to drive me to check to see if Costco has a case of Mike’s Hard Lemonade or equivalent. Note, I don’t drink at home, normally … and nothing stronger than a (as in one) margarita (raspberry or blackberry) when we eat out, sometimes.
With a disease that was 30-90% lethal depending on outbreak we were being told that we were not able to quarantine known exposures. But that was under mierdas
Mad Mike has been saying pretty much the same thing on his blog and on Facebook (when they aren’t putting him in Facebook jail yet again). Like us, he’s had sales events he depends upon for his livelihood canceled or indefinitely postponed, and is staring at financial disaster.
He thinks what we ought to be doing is isolating the vulnerable and their immediate caregivers, and having everyone else catch it, get over it, catch it again if necessary to ensure immunity, and build up the herd immunity to the point the vulnerable can come back out of isolation again because enough people will be immune that there’s not the high risk of person-to-person spread any more.
I’ve been trying to get stuff up on eBay, and I’ve been having a little success with the emoji masks. However, I’ve had to reword the titles and descriptions to scrub out any and all references to health or protection and present them as purely cosplay items — and eBay still yanked one of my listings. I don’t know if I missed fixing its description, or if this is a prelude to them taking down all my emoji masks. And my sales there are nowhere near the lost convention income I need to make up. (I’m not even bothering to put up books or t-shirts, because neither of them sell worth squat online).
I keep hearing these stampeding cattle bellow that if the shutdown doesn’t continue for months, the health care system will temporarily crash. However, if they get their way, it’ll crash, burn, and be gone forever, and none of them care to hear that reality. We’re not even staring out this crazed social experiment from a safe position. There were massive crop failures last year, on top of other ongoing farming disasters that were already poised to raise the price of food. And now they think we can just skip a year? The word “insane” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’m stuck in one of those loony bins that thinks they can keep this up for months, and I don’t think our dear governor has considered the likelihood that the longer he tries to keep it up, the greater the chance and angry mob is going to board him up in his own damn mansion and set fire to it.
People freaking out about every new case of Wu Flu are missing the point. Yes, we need to flatten the curve, but we need to flatten it into a specific shape. Ideally, the curve of infections peaks just under the capacity for the health care system to treat (which will itself be going up as we add capacity and develop treatments). That’s the quickest way to get the bulk of the young and healthy population infected, without causing excess deaths, so that we can build the herd immunity that will protect the vulnerable in the future. If vaccination isn’t on the table, variolation is the next best thing.
With regards to the economy, I’m more sanguine. Recessions are caused by reductions in spending. Normally that’s caused by fear and uncertainty regarding the future, and it’s hard to figure out when that fear and uncertainty are no longer warranted. This time the reduction in spending is caused by executive fiat, so we’ll know when it ends (even if we don’t know now). In both cases, once the reason to reduce spending goes away, the pent-up demand comes to the fore and people start spending more. That’s why most (Thanks, Barry!) recoveries show a strong spike in growth before slowing down to the average. When the lock downs are lifted, people who had been eating in their homes for weeks are going to go to restaurants every single night. Vacations are going to be rebooked. Cars will be test-driven and bought. People will make up for lost time and then some. And about six months from now there will be a big boost in the baby products sector.
“Well, boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader’s mule, the radio is gone and we’re leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower why we’d need sleigh bells on this thing… But we got one little budge on them Rooskies. At this height why they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain’t gonna spot us on no radar screen!”
There’s another issue. And that issue is that the manufacturing and retail are being ended. And starting them back up again takes money.
If your corner restaurant shuts down, then there’s a good chance it won’t start back up again. And even if the owners are interested in going back into business, there will be expenses that they wouldn’t otherwise have to deal with as they reopen, and likely are forced to rehire some or all of their staff.
That “social distancing” thing is a generally good idea.
Now if we could get people to do it with their automobiles, we could REALLY cut the death/injury rate.
NO, not saying “don’t drive”, saying “drive smarter” — futile, I know.
You should see the friggin’ traffic around here. Oh my ghod, every speed merchant there ever was is out there with the pedal to the metal, enjoying the beautiful lack of cars. Its just like it used to be when I was a kid. People just booting it in the fast lane, slow cars hiding in the slow lane where they belong. The slow cars are only going 70mph, because this is Ontario and people here are all crazy.
Good thing I don’t still have my motorcycle. I’d be in grave danger from being the fastest thing on the road. ~:D
Many years ago, due to various circumstances, Pa wound up in a light plane crash. Overall, he got very lucky as he survived it mostly intact, nothing caught fire (despite leaking fuel), and he was found quickly as someone saw him go down. Later, when people asked about a limp or some such he’d say there was crash… and they’d ask about that… and if he mentioned a plane, there was (he thought) too much interest and too much to properly explain. So he started telling a little white truth: “flying too low”… which made it sound like a more mundane auto accident… which is generally of little interest.
Time to start flooding state and federal phone banks.
Here is what people don’t get: yeah, CV19 is overall no more deadly (and maybe less so) than the flu, which nukes ~30,000 lives a year in the U.S. alone. But with flu we have a long history of good herd immunity built up, from regular exposure and vaccine. With CV19, we have none. Which means if we do nothing to slow the spread — we’ll get a lifetime worth of serious-to-fatal cases just in the first couple years. (After that, herd immunity will kick in and it’ll be just another seasonal nasty. Might already be so in select regions. But not generally.)
And THAT is why epidemiologists are freaking out. Yeah, CV19 will probably kill 300,000 people over the next decade, no matter what. BUT — would you prefer they all died in the next two years? and that many die needlessly due to overloaded health care systems, as is happening in Italy? Cuz that’s what happens if we can’t slow it down. Compared to Europe, where they chose to avoid economic disruption — the U.S. has, on a per capita basis, only a small fraction as many cases, and a TINY fraction as many dead.
And bodies piled in the streets is a lot worse for the economy than any degree of temporary shutdown.
And stop conflating Euro-socialism and Cuba-style dictatorship with what’s going on in America. Yeah, that’s your experience in Portugal, but it’s not what America does. We take back our liberties after the crisis passes. Were that not the case, we should still be under the thumb of a slew of natural disasters and two world wars.
We can regrow the economy, especially once we drag our manufacturing back from overseas (and now we’ve the literal incentive from hell). We can’t get the people back. And if the people are gone, so is all their earning power and creativity and culture.
“Bring out your dead!”
“We take back our liberties after the crisis passes. Were that not the case, we should still be under the thumb of a slew of natural disasters and two world wars.”
Which is why we’re rid of the Patriot Act, gun restrictions, and the NSA. Pull the other one.
Er… “not more infective” means that even without herd immunity, it kills about the same people.
Also go look at the data from the Diamond Princess. It only infects something like 17% of whom 1% die.
Mortality is way lower than the common flu.
TRULY. Think about it.
Yes, virgin field epidemics are terrifying. IF they’re both infective and lethal.
This isn’t. What you’re seeing is crazy lies from abroad and a bizarrely skewed testing here.
Like not only people who are ALREADY ill, but also in some states, only those over sixty.
There is no there, there.
You might want to read this detailed post from an ER doc who is treating these patients:
https://texags.com/forums/84/topics/3102444
===
Clinical course is predictable.
2-11 days after exposure (day 5 on average) flu like symptoms start. Common are fever, headache, dry cough, myalgias(back pain), nausea without vomiting, abdominal discomfort with some diarrhea, loss of smell, anorexia, fatigue.
Day 5 of symptoms- increased SOB, and bilateral viral pneumonia from direct viral damage to lung parenchyma.
Day 10- Cytokine storm leading to acute ARDS and multiorgan failure. You can literally watch it happen in a matter of hours.
81% mild symptoms, 14% severe symptoms requiring hospitalization, 5% critical.
===
[post continues, many more details]
That is a lot worse than common flu.
Also, demographics in the U.S. are not like elsewhere; here about a third of cases are younger people (aged 20-45).
[I note that some symptoms sound suspiciously like catastrophic thyroid shutdown.]
PS. Commenter on page two translated the original post from ER-Doc-Speak into English. Also, National Task Force now recommends that HC workers do HCQ prophylaxis (see downthread).
https://texags.com/forums/84/topics/3102444/2
The Iceland test results suggests 50% no symptoms. So halve those numbers to account for people infected but asymptomatic.
Precisely this. But it’s more than that. The ones who got infected at least in the DP are only 17%, including in the dangerous ages.
Grand Princess, the one I found when I googled while only remembering “it was something princess”, had 7% infected at most. That’s giving every benefit of the doubt, counting “infected” (21) against only “tested” (290) rather than against the total number of passengers (over a thousand). It could be argued that all the passengers and crew combined is the “correct” population form which to draw the statistics since “sick” presents whether tested or not. Still, I used the smaller figure for population which will, therefore, give the highest rate of infection and…7%.
At least.
The timing of the test indicates it is a floor, not a ceiling.
You do realize I have a ton of friends in health. If there’s a doctor overwhelmed by this, there are a hundred sitting around scratching their heads and going “Where are all the patients.”
Well then! here’s some more for you. Today’s JAMA roundup:
http://read.alerts.jamanetwork.com/csb/Public/show/axac-1vsi6e–p9s62-azss9rq0
Includes a video interview with the chief of critical care at a hospital in the Bronx (which I haven’t watched yet). But from an article on outcomes in patients with preexisting cardiac conditions… mortality of those serious cases is around 50%. Makes me wonder about later cardiac complications in the silent cases (this happened sometimes with an early variety of parvovirus — apparently recovered, but within the next year they’d die of heart failure).
[I would really like to see thyroid profiles during severe cases; looks to me like catastrophic shutdown.]
Treating critical patients doesn’t mean he has accurate numbers.
Korea, the Diamond Princess, and apparently Iceland all have half of all cases without symptoms at all.
His symptoms don’t match up with a systematic collection from Japan, either– selection issues?
If he has indeed only seen three flu swabs in the last two weeks, and they also got kung flu, it sounds like they’re infecting folks that come in sick, or there’s additional selection issues.
That was the problem in Italy. The hospital was infecting people.
Cousin is a nurse in hospital in Brooklyn. They are overrun with panicked people with mild or no symptoms who think they’re going to die. They have a lot of really sick people but they’re not close to overwhelmed in critical care yet.
Panic kills. People who purposely spread panic are killers.
Yep. Brooklyn.
Sarah, Em’s brother in law is a pulmonary physician at New York Hospital. Her sister is reporting that they’re seeing more people who think they have it, but they don’t let him in the “hot zone” because he’s pushing 70. He looks after the “normal” patients.
Everyone is seeing more people who think they have it. 10% have it.
I mentioned the family friend who was told his heart surgery was an optional surgery (they changed their mind when his wife returned the call and very carefully
DID NOT threaten to kill them, but repeated what they’d said.
Well, my folks got a call from him last night.
Just got back from the hospital the day before….took longer than expected, because he got a freakin’ infection in his spleen or something utterly unrelated that went septic.
He’s now at home, safe, and had actually gone and done an inspection a few hours after he got home, because he’s mildly crazy like that but it was medically allowed.
HE WAS MORE SCARED WHEN HE THOUGHT HE HAD THE KUNG FLU THAN WHEN HE FOUND OUT IT WAS AN INFECTION THAT HAD HIT IS BLOOD STREAM.
Heart surgery, nasty infection, and what scares him is something that has a now possibility of one positive test case in the entire county. (After testing over 100 people, they finally found one via contact testing with someone who visited someone in Seattle…who is in quarantine there, because they’re were exposed. Hadn’t gone back to Okanogan county yet….)
Sigh.
yeah. they said same about exploratory surgery.
Dan got…. POLITE. I had it wednesday.
And it’s NOT cancer. It’s a weird infection. They want me back after all-clear.
Thanks be to G-d! *does happy kitty dance* Not happy that it’s an infection, but that it’s not the Big C.
Yay no big C, but anything “infection” modified by “weird” is worrying to me!
me too. But my body is WEIRD.
Has your weird body ever had a full pituitary workup?? or parathyroid and cortisol tests? cuz by all you’ve said — sounds like central hypothyroidism (that’s progressed to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis because of long neglect, hence all the autoimmune issues), not primary. Hyperparathyroidism is the end stage here, but often not diagnosed. And I do hope you’re getting some source of T3, not just T4.
I have seriously weird hypothyroidism. Treated with T3. Need to go see an endo to make sure it’s on track, as my doc changed his “posting” and can’t treat me now.
NO T4. I turn all T4 into RT3 instead of T3….
For 20 years (we figure it set in with the pneumonia that almost killed me in 95) all my doctors, including specialists like gynecologists and dermatologists looked at my face and went “you’re ragingly hypothyroidal” then gave me the basic test. I was producing plenty of T4 and all the other stuff, and they never looked at RT3.
I was starting to get dementia and other issues by the time a brilliant young doctor figured it out.
But now I need to change….
Autoimmune has been with me since birth.
We don’t actually know how many people die of the flu and we don’t actually know how many people get it. It’s all a series of WAGs. I would also note that there are 60 mm people in Italy. The death rate as reported is not within significant figures. There are no piles of bodies and what evidence there is says there won’t be.
The problem here is fog-of-war and the precautionary principle. Our politicians have been panicked into a corner and I don’t see very many governors with the moral courage to admit they might have been wrong. Trump has done it a little but hasn’t gone far enough. The house sees this as an opportunity.
Every war and major economic crisis has led to a reduction in our liberty. This one is no exception.
If we ignore all the makes-it-worse-than-the-US-would-be exceptions for the cruise ship, the total number dead for the US would be about less than 60,000.
17% infection rate, bit over 1% of those die.
And that’s ignoring we’re not that OLD in the US.
When this panic is over, half the population will not need to buy any Toilet Paper for about two years. What will that do to the suppliers and distributors?
TP makers already said they’re not upping production. Smart people.
The other half of the population will buy a couple of extra packs and stash them for the next panic-stricken run on TP. Then they’ll be back to buying like normal.
New tests are being developed, verified, and put into production in a dozen days. Ford, GM, and other big companies are starting to turn out safety gear at WWII production rates and gearing up to make simplified ventilators.
No ether country or economy could do this, for reasons I think we all understand. The Chinese are trying to get into the act, but the results from their test kits are only a little better than a roll of the dice.
We’re not lost yet, but we can be sure the anti-American media will give neither honest criticism nor honest blame.
Be of good cheer, Sarah, if only because we need you! And I’d bet a good deal that, apart from a few fetid, noisome, suppurating trolls, every fan here is deeply grateful for you and all you do.
Hear Hear! Hip hip HOORAYYYY!
a test for antibodies in England revealed half the population has had covid-19, and could only remember mild symptoms they thought was a cold.
I bet you it’s the same here. But our tests only show ACTIVE infection.
My aunt in Hertfordshire swears she had it in January. She had all the symptoms shortness of breath, fever, etc., Two of her grandchildren , same thing.
She’s 85 and tough as an old boot.
Do you have a link for this? It would be very useful.
Probably this one:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/oxford-epidemiologist-heres-why-that-doomsday-model-is-likely-way-off/?
I’m really starting to wonder if I had a mild version of this thing back in Jan-Feb. Unproductive cough, felt lousy, wheezed a few times, upper-chest tightness, but I don’t know if I had a fever, because I never checked. After all, given my Day Job and all the various things that circulate, it could have been any viral bronchitis, not just the Kung Flu.
I hope so. It may be regionally so. But the not-like-flu symptoms (eg. cardiac and kidney damage) for the serious/hospitalized cases are saying otherwise — this is not something we’ve seen before at any measurable scale, and if we’d already been uniformly exposed, we should have been seeing this symptom set in the serious cases all along. Doctors should =certainly= have been uniformly exposed, were it an established virus, and should therefore not be falling ill.
There’s also the problem that they’re using a near-miss antibody test (my understanding is that they’re using the SARS antibody test since they already had it and they do cross-react), not an exact-match antibody test. This is kinda like checking for smallpox exposure by testing for cowpox antibodies… and makes me wonder just how many other related viruses might cause a false positive for antibodies.
Reziac, ALL pneumonia damages heart and kidneys. I know. I was hospitalized with it for 11 days in 1995 and almost died. I also have had walking pneumonia half a dozen times.
THEY ALL DAMAGE HEART AND KIDNEYS. And that’s before you are on IV Zythromax for 10 days. THEY all shred your lungs, which caused a panicky nurse to tell me I had “bloody holes in your lungs, you have to let them put you on a respirator!” (Except I was too fragile for one, and would have probably have got more damage from this.)
TRUST me. This is all half facts and strange panicky stuff. Part of what started making me smell a rat is the way these things are breathlessly reported, and when you dig, it’s like “Yep. Like all flu/pneumonia/whatever EVER.”
I am not a medical professional, though I know a ton of them. Except for clusters, they’re all looking at empty beds and a million rules a day.
I am HOWEVER a survivor of psy-ops, including those of the Soviets in the seventies. This smells like psy-ops all over. And no, I don’t think it’s Chinese. I think it’s enemies-internal. I.e. old Russian tactics. I can smell them a mile away. There were times my life depended on detecting them. This one is CLASSIC.
And I’m sorry I get SO upset with you guys. I have to remind myself you haven’t been through this.
I’m trying to collect my thoughts on what smells bad about this for an article on PJM. There are actually a ton of signs the most “panic” pushing people like my governor don’t take this seriously.
There’s the half reporting and part reporting, and contradictory “facts” and all of it at fever pitch.
I refer you to the global warming hysteria for another example, only not as fevered.
ALSO no. I actually know people who were tested. It was an antibody test designed for this, which will now be produced for mass use. Not for the original SARS.
This is why the guy with the “model” started saying “never mind.” Because he was about to be caught. A week on lock down, when he told us we needed 18 months and he’s saying the UK bent the curve? Oh, please. He’s been discovered and is trying to cover. That’s all.
Oh, there’s no question the Democrats and other subversives are doing “Never let a crisis go to waste” and trying to foment panic, while not believing in it themselves. This is their SOP. But these people believe many things that aren’t so… hence their lack of actual concern is in itself somewhat concerning.
And I look at the example of NYC vs the rest of the country, and consider that perhaps business-as-usual was not the best course.
Trump has been saying we can’t stay shut down for long, and that much is obvious, but consider whether having healthcare maxed out for a few months, with a concentrated spate of deaths (perhaps not more than normal for the year, but more in an obvious clump) would be economically worse, if only because then you get more widespread stresses and panics.
That might also sound the death knell for the GOP, for having “done nothing to avert the crisis”, and then where would we be? In fact, I think that threat is WHY the Dems ‘cooperated’ pretty much across the board — it was that or get voted out next time around and suddenly the whole USA is purple to red instead of trending blue. Perhaps Dems got hoist by their own petard here.
.
I know of a woman who died from bronchitis this winter. It damaged her heart, she coughed so much.
I wonder if by the end of this we’ll have produced enough supply to crash the market for such gear.
“What’s with the three ventilators?” “COVID surplus.”
People at home are making masks for health care workers. Look up “Million Mask Challenge.” I am DAILY cheered by the spirit of America.
But we still need farmers and truckers and people who work.
Let America work.
I think I mentioned it before, but one fellow’s stepfather is a trucker who wanted to get some time off. Can’t get it. If it can roll, it’s rolling.
It took me a day to realize that your last sentence could be a rallying cry against the Left: Let America Work! Work Free! (I have a bookmark sub^4 category, Destroying the Free Worker. ie. You don’t own your labor. We do.)
c4c
This requires noting:
Albert Uderzo, co-creator of French comics series Asterix, dies at 92
Cause of death is reported as heart attack.
He enriched the world.
–
D*mn. But then Goscini had left a while back.
Think on it. When we get there, there will be a lot of Asterix we’ve never seen. THE BETTER ones, with both of them doing them.
Sarah, love your posts on instapundit. Keep your head and spirits up.. we are America, we will be ok, we will solve this and WE WILL PROSPER.
All the best
Thank you.
From Booker report, this on stilts
Sequester vulnerable people, not all people.
Pour huge energy into protecting people in hospitals and old age homes, whether patients, residents, or caretakers.
Wash our hands really well.
Disinfect vector surfaces, if we can.
Keep our hands away from our faces whenever we’re in a setting in which our hands might carrying the virus.
Practice social distancing.
If possible, wear masks in public to prevent the virus’s spread.
Read what Bergstrom wrote. Dripping condescension is not an argument although it does seem to be the go to in these decadent days. Bergstrom made a categorical error by confusing diagnosed with a test cases with cases. Everything else he wrote is BS.
My wife is pre screening news for me now because every clown who confuses diagnosed with a test cases with cases drives me into screening at the TV fury.
Read what Bergstrom wrote. Dripping condescension is not an argument although it does seem to be the go to in these decadent days.
Be fair, he also had displayed reading inability and logical fallacies before I quit reading.
Besides being a whining twit who created the problem he whined about, ie, commenting on twitter.
Shorter:
Behaved exactly like a college educator with a book coming out.
Indeed. When it comes out that he was off by at least an order of magnitude, will he apologize? Snort. Another team of epidemiologists has come out and said that the hospitalization rate will be 1 in 1000. They’re at Oxford but they must be wrong because science.
Suspicious person that I am, I think that’s why it was put on Twitter.
Speaking of cures, here’s a jackass who needs an early date with a rope. via Ace of Spades.
“Democrat governor Steve Sisolak is evidently a science denier and is refusing to allow chloroquinine to be used by Nevadans.”
https://amgreatness.com/2020/03/24/nevada-governor-bans-use-of-promising-drug-chloroquine-to-fight-coronavirus/
DO YOU KNOW how hard it was not to link that at insty with “Rope, Lamppost”?
Soooooo many lamp-posts in need of ornaments…
Ummm…even based on the SK/Diamond Princess data, you’re looking at a virus that’s between six to seven times deadlier than the flu. In a really bad year. (I would also point out that OF COURSE the quarantine didn’t work on the ship. I cannot imagine any environment more conducive to the spread of disease than a cruise ship except, perhaps, an airplane.)
That having been said, the Germans seem to be doing much better than the Italians (everybody is doing better than the Italians) and yeah, we need to be asking the question of “will more people die as a result of economic disruption than from the spread of COVID if we keep this up for eighteen months.”
The answer is…maybe. Depending on what “this” is. Right now Texas seems to be trying to keep as many things going as possible, but I understand that the situation is different elsewhere. We could–probably–maintain Texas levels for a couple of months without doing permanent economic damage. Going full Cali would break the economy for good in the same time frame.
https://spinstrangenesscharm.wordpress.com/ has a link to some of the German numbers– they are getting not very many old people popping positive.
********
Ummm…even based on the SK/Diamond Princess data, you’re looking at a virus that’s between six to seven times deadlier than the flu.
100% over age 70– which is about 15% of the US population, not over 30%. CDC estimates 65+ are hit with 75% of the flu “serious complications” and deaths.
Something I saw pointed out, the CDC’s estimate of flu cases is…very estimate, I guess we could say?
Their FluView shows a lot of estimated flu, but their positive flu tests aren’t going up to support it, and not because nobody’s getting them. And the increase started before kung flu was supposed to be here. Haven’t compared to last year, or other prior years.
their estimated flu stat appears to be 100 times the tested positive number for each year … 100 ???? don’t forget almost all the flu tests are done to folks who are very ill and are being admitted to the hospital … much like the early covid19 stats … the Diamond Princess stats are the best we have but it also has a non cross-sectional demographic … considering the age of the folks who tested positive a 1% death rate seems wonderful … infect 700 60 – 80 year olds with the flu and see if you get as few as 7 dead … I very much doubt it …
Montana just did a mandatory shutdown… and on reading the list of exceptions, well, it’s pretty much everything except “random public mixing in small space” (bars, restaurants, schools, sporting events). So all the farming and trucking and banking and grocery shopping continues much as usual (and Hutterite eggs are still abundant, in fact overflowing the counter). I imagine our universities halted classes, but I wonder about the dormitories and other confined living spaces.
Yellowstone is closed. Granted only a small section of Montana. Lodges have cancelled all May bookings & pushed opening up until June. Most aren’t open until late April anyway. Word is even the locals aren’t getting in. Only road open is the highway that has to stay open for travel all year, except for blizzard conditions.
Glacier is closed for the season regardless. It’s summer opening date is variable anyway; depends on snow pack.
Off topic perhaps but today is 25 March. The traditional date of new year, the day the world was created, the feast of the Annunciation, and the day the ring was destroyed in Mount Doom.
Thus, for believers
Venite, exsultemus Domino, iubilemus Del, salutari nostro.
Come let us ring out our joy to the Lord
In graphic form:
Some thoughts:
1. I’ll accept two weeks, even three, as a necessary public health measure. But at the end of that period, there had better be some very good, very transparent evidence before I’ll accept that we need to lock down for longer.
2. If this goes on for 6 weeks or more, Americans are going to start saying, “Fuck it, I got work to do. If I get it, I guess I get it. If the cops wanna arrest me, yeah, go for it.”
3. I really want all my friends in the entertainment, hospitality, and restaurant industries to get their jobs back pronto.
4. Scolding other people about the slightest skepticism toward DOOOOOMMM is the newest form of virtue signaling, with all the purity spiral behavior you would expect.
5. Some people go around looking for things to be anxious or angry about. I wonder how they ever get anything done, other than complaining. Oh, wait, they don’t.
6. I was talking with my 11-year-old daughter the other day about the WA governor calling a lockdown, and she volunteered, “I don’t think this is going to be as bad as they say.” I suspect that attitude is probably common among her school friends she’s been chatting with while they’re all at home. (She didn’t get it from her mother, that’s for sure.) We had a good talk about skepticism and critical thinking, and how to think about what biases people might have before believing them.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/will-new-crisis-legislation-repair-damage-from-last-weeks-crisis-legislation-11585155513?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb
“The restaurant owner, who is seeking a sensible way to avoid firing people while maintaining the viability of his business, received the following note from his attorney in response:
We definitely understand these positions, but absent any regulations on these issues we’ve been advising a risk-adverse interpretation that the laws would apply in situations like this when the government has ordered a closure or limited operation of a business to encourage social isolation and stop the spread of COVID-19. Hopefully further guidance from the state and federal government on this issue will be available soon.”
7. Once the panic is over and things go back to more or less normal, the gaslighting from politicians and the MSM is going to be intense.
And we need to be ready.
They will gaslight because if we figure out it’s a wet petard, they’re at risk of sudden death. Seriously.
OK, two things…
In fact, most of the power mad governors will be just fine.
Because – like so many of the ideological pathologies so prevalent in our modern world – they can afford to screw up. They have guaranteed paychecks, guaranteed pensions, guaranteed protection, guaranteed healthcare, guaranteed… you get the picture.
Their despotic systems only work in an hyper abundant world.
I’m going to disagree. Their systems will work just fine in a world with less abundance. They always have.
*For the right value of work* – they will still be able to govern despotically.
They won’t be able to shrug off all the bad results, however, as the abundance currently allows them to do. They will have lots of dead folks, lots of nasty happenings (famine, war, pestilence), maybe even frequent turnover in the despots. There won’t be planeloads of rice coming from UNICEF. There won’t be MSF(DWB) to inoculate their children. There won’t be hospital ships when the tsunami or earthquake levels part of their country. The peasants will suffer. But the despotism itself will chive on, as it has from time immemorial.
as a simple exercise, I went back to 2017-2018 flu season … 600,000 positive flu tests, 60,000 dead … spread over 6 months with I assume a typical bell curve for infectious disease progression …
I assume the peak month of the season will have twice the numbers compared to just a simple divide by 6 number … 60,000/6 = 10,000 … double that to 20,000 … In a month .. 666 a day for an entire month …
basically multiply those numbers by 10 to get the positive tests for the month … 6,666 positive a day for a month …
and the covid19 mortality rate is not 2-1-3-5 % ??? because a CDC mortality rate for a disease is calculated using the Estimated infected …
anybody want to guess what the Estimate covid19 infected number is ?
Based on the nonsense flying around the internet like covid is 10 times more infectious than the flu which is actually physically impossible, I just assumed its just as infectious …
CDC assumes the estimate flu infections are 100 times the positive tests …
if covid19 just matches the flu then the estimated mortality rate of covid19 is:
as of 9pm 25 March we have 66,048 positives, 944 deaths
so 944/ (66048 * 100) = .00091429 which is .01429 % … flu estimated mortality rate .1 %
(stop before you claim, “But covid19 is MORE infectious, if it is then the multiplier goes up from 100 to 200 or 300 which makes it less and less lethal)
(I get yelled at every time I do this math for the hair on fire brigade because … well, they never say why they just yell.)
I too get yelled at….
They yell because their hair is on fire … and they’re afraid you’re going to put it out.