March 22, 2020
Here is a great concept for governors. Don't act like a dictator. Don't wreck the economy. Deal with the people who have the problem.:
DeSantis Considers New Strategy for Florida Coronavirus Fight; Isolation Shelters
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08:39 AM
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Finally some great news! Timing is everything. This will give the medical care a huge advantage!
FDA Approves New Test that could Detect Coronavirus in about 45 Minutes
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08:18 AM
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March 21, 2020
Looks like the cops in Detroit are all under quarantine. l 152 Detroit cops in coronavirus quarantine, 5 test positive
Looks like hording ammo was a good idea after all!
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04:39 PM
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I had a busy couple of days. First, Cathy's eye surgery was canceled so I assumed her preparatory eye shot was too. We had been called Thursday by two different people telling us the surgery was off.
Thursday night we received a robocall confirming her Friday appointment.
I had to call first thing and they told me they wanted her out there anyway. So I had to hustle her out of bed and get rolling (her appointment was for nine) and we spent the morning with all manner of poking and prodding. They decided to do some laser surgery on her to keep her retina from detaching until they could actually operate.
I mentioned they ought to serve drinks there as nobody can go to a bar these days. The intern agreed, and said they should serve Quarantinis. I don't know if she coined that or not but it is fitting. I could have used one that morning - or better yet a cup of coffee.
We got home about noon and I followed through on my plan to go to the Ozark Hilton.
Still no toilet paper in Schnucks or at Quick Trip. Would they have some down in Dogpatch?
Well they did. Only Scott single rolls, so I didn't get much, but at least the Dollar General down there had some. Thank goodness; I was afraid we'd have to use corn cobs, like the old timers, or at least newspaper.
At any rate, it was pretty chilly down at the Ozark Hilton, but I had some good wood so the fire was warm (and not TOO smokey - my home made wood stove tends to smoke terribly when the wood is bad and while it probably killed any virus I may have caught it certainly isn't good form my lungs, which usually feel like I smoked a carton of cigarettes after a cold night visit with bad wood.)
At any rate, traffic was busy on the way down and it was busy this morning on the way home. I guess the admonition to stay home is falling of deaf ears.
BTW the Ozark Hilton - my paradise made from trash down deep in them thar hills, is still doing o.k. Rodents seem to have torn up more stuff since my last visit, but they at least had the decency not to break anything or bother me while I was watching a movie.
At any rate, getting toilet paper was itself worth the trip.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
03:43 PM
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March 20, 2020
issued an order yesterday shutting down all "non-essential†businesses in the state. Of course, pretty much all businesses are essential to those who own them and work for them. But that isn’t what Cuomo meant:In between my quotes is some very good stuff from the London Times about the dangers of self-isolation. Go here https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/the-days-dumbest-comment.php to read it all. Please!"I want to be able to say to the people of New York — I did everything we could do,†Cuomo said. "And if everything we do saves just one life, I’ll be happy.â€
This is profoundly stupid. When you are dealing with the lives of millions of people, everything you do–or don’t do–has consequences. When you drive thousands of businesses into bankruptcy, people die. When you unemploy millions of people, some of them die. When tens of millions live in more straitened circumstances, some of them die. There is robust social science research on this point. Shutting down New York’s "nonessential†businesses will kill. How many, we will never know. So Cuomo won’t have to take responsibility for his ill-advised action. And, of course, millions of lives will be blighted even when no one dies.
[...]
A reader asks some good questions:
Is Saturday Night Live an essential business? Is the New York Times? MSNBC? New York magazine?
Not to mention the broadcast television networks. If the coronavirus caused the shutdown, even temporarily, of the New York Times and MSNBC, it would not be entirely in vain. But I don’t suppose that is going to happen. "Essential†means different things to different people.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:18 PM
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John Nolte pulls no punches in this article, found here: https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/03/19/nolte-cnn-baffled-leftists-wont-listen-to-president-naziliarrussianspy-to-social-distance/ and I very much suggest you read it. If you happen to be out in public, in violation of the President's recommendations, and if you happen to be arguing with a liberal about it, this will give you some heavy ammunition to use.CNN and the rest of America’s fake news media have literally spent four years engaging in a deliberate campaign to undermine Donald Trump by smearing him as a serial lying, racist Manchurian candidate who sexually abuses women. And now this very same media is baffled over why countless leftists are not taking the president’s warnings seriously about the Chinese coronavirus.
Here’s a perfect example, courtesy of one of America’s most reckless and unreliable anti-Trump activists, Jake Tapper.
During his basement-rated CNN show Tuesday, Tapper got sanctimoniously "enraged†over a bunch of people in San Francisco who are ignoring that city’s shelter-in-place rules.
Below are the pull quotes; if you can stomach the virtue-signaling, the full conversation is here.
SANJAY GUPTA: Look, Jake, I’m with you on this. I still get the impression, despite what we’re hearing from the White House, and the distinct change in tone, which has been good and necessary … I still get the impression people in many places are not taking this seriously.
…
JAKE TAPPER: This is, actually, kind of enraging. Many people in San Francisco have clearly not gotten the message!
…
GUPTA: Again, I applaud the seriousness with which this is being taken at the White House and a lo of the comments that came from the white house. But we’re not seeing it translate into the action that is necessary right now.
…
TAPPER: While you have President Trump, yesterday and today, clearly stating what the CDC is recommending: 15 days of social distancing, avoiding groups, staying six feet away from people, staying inside as much as possible … you see pictures from Florida, Spring Break, it looks like an eighties movie down there.
By the way, Gupta is one of the celebrity liars who went on Stephen Colbert’s show to falsely accuse Trump of rejecting a coronavirus test from the World Health Organization.
Anyway, get yourself a load of these two assholes pondering the eternal mystery of why two groups of people, groups almost entirely made up of leftists, aren’t heeding health warning from President NaziLiarRussianSpy.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:32 AM
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March 19, 2020
Huh??? So it's better to receive mail handled by multiple people than to simply allow them to go online? Only government could get something so backwards.
FBI shuts Online Public Records Operation over Coronavirus - Encourages Standard Mail
Man they must be smoking some major weed there!
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:34 AM
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The Chicoms have been putting out window-dressing to trick foolish westerners into adopting "sustainable energy" policies. Well, now that they have a real problem to deal with, that is going by the wayside.
According to a piece in Zero Hedge:
It is the latest in a string of moves by the Chinese government to cut support for renewable energy. The attitude has shifted in recent years as manufacturing costs have dropped. The government now seems focused on getting renewable energy to stand on its own.
On Tuesday, China's National Energy Administration (NEA) announced it had cut this year’s subsidies for new solar power projects by 50% to 1.5 billion yuan ($215.8 million). "Of the total, it has earmarked 1 billion yuan for large solar projects, which will be divvied out through auctions. The remainder will be used for residential solar systems," Caixin reports.
China is also doing away with subsidies for new offshore wind farms this year and is ending subsidies for new onshore projects in 20201.
I've got news for everyone; China never had any intention of developing renewable energy. They knew it was a fool's errand. They wanted to give the appearance of going that way to trick their competitors into wasting money and effort on a will-o-the-wisp.
Between the tariffs and trade war with the U.S. and now the Wuhan Coronavirus the Chinese can't afford to play these games.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:18 AM
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Liberals are all screaming at Donald Trump for saying this Coronavirus wasn't a major worry back in January. Well, who said this?
"Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in Wuhan, China."
Was it Donald Trump?
Nope. It was the World Health Organization
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:23 AM
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Contrary to claims the mortality rate for COVID-19 is three or four percent, new research says it is more like 1.3%
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/16/lower-coronavirus-death-rate-estimates/
And that is the KNOWN rate. There are likely a lot more people infected than we know who are asymptomatic or only mildly ill.
When Ebola was threatening to become a pandemic we were assured it was safe to bring to the U.S. - with a 90% mortality rate.
Why are we destroying the World economy?
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:16 AM
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There were 541,000 deaths in England and Wales in 2019/2020. 50,000 were from seasonal respiratory complications. Will everyone please calm down.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:01 AM
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Check this out. Kansas legislators are taking steps to prevent the Governor from using the Wuhan virus to promote Leftist causes in the state.
From the Witchita Eagle article:
The Senate approved a resolution following an extraordinary debate over how far a chief executive can and should go as the state fights COVID-19. The measure, passed in a 39-2 vote, would allow (Governor Laura) Kelly to extend the state of disaster she declared last week, but with significant restrictions. It now heads to the House.
Senators voted to prohibit the governor from seizing ammunition or limiting the sale of firearms during the current crisis. They also barred Kelly from commandeering private property or controlling the movement of people within the disaster zone, which encompasses the entire state.
Good for them, but they really shouldn't have had to take this sort of action. Liberals never let a good crisis go to waste.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:38 AM
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Without intervention, in the next 30 to 60 days, the economy is going to go off a cliff. Even with intervention, it is going to be pretty bad. JP Morgan predicts this will be worse than 2008.
They are right only to a point.
As soon as the virus passes, demand will pick up rapidly. The Chairman of FedEx says we will see a "V" in the economy. That is perhaps the best way to describe it.
As soon as this passes, perhaps as soon as May or June, the economy will come back very strongly because of the pent up demand.
We just have to survive the next six to eight weeks.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:30 AM
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You can have all you want at market prices, or scarcity at a price set by law. Pick one.
Price Gouging Laws will do More Harm than Good during the Coronavirus Pandemic
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:20 AM
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New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio calls for the nationalization of industries.
https://deneenborelli.com/2020/03/new-york-city-mayor-de-blasio-calls-for-nationalizing-industries-over-coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR2Zjxxd3OGeDxV-TEbdph3KGHMewtCS9WFeC0uxOtfoDTPca3S7VtvNOWE
Yeah; that's really what we need! Sadly, some in the Democratic Party will think it's a good idea.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
08:02 AM
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Thar she blows!
An Effective Treatment for Coronavirus has been Found in a Common Anti-Malarial Drug
The Journal Nature agrees.
So does Dr. Roy Spencer:
On the subject of using antimalarial drugs for COVID-19 treatment, I've compared COVID-19 cases versus malaria incidence by country....
This is amazing. I downloaded all of the data for 234 countries, incidence of total COVID-19 cases (as of 3/17/2020) versus the incidence of malaria in those countries (various sources, kinda messy matching everything up in Excel).
RESULTS, Multi-country average malaria cases per thousand, COVID-19 cases per million, in three classes of countries based on malaria incidence:
Top 40 Malaria countries: 212 malaria = 0.2 COVID-19;
Next 40 Malaria countries: 7.3 malaria = 10.1 COVID-19
Remaining (81-234) countries: 0.00 malaria = 68.7 COVID-19
Again, the units are Malaria cases per thousand "population at risk", and COVID-19 cases per million total population.
In all my years of data analysis I have never seen such a stark and strong relationship: Countries with malaria basically have no COVID-19 cases (at least not yet).
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
07:19 AM
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March 18, 2020
About 10 years ago, when Europe was in the midst of fiscal crisis, advocates for welfare spending rioted in some nations.
Given the continent’s grim long-run outlook, that got me thinking about the potential for a future breakdown of civil order and I wrote that it was tragic that most people in Europe didn’t have the right to own guns for self-protection.
The author's interview on NRA-TV follows, which you'll have to go to the article to see: https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/pandemics-civil-order-and-gun-control/
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
03:23 PM
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The legal authority of individual states to shutter businesses and force people into quarantine is discussed in this article.
It’s vitally important to understand that while the federal government possesses far more resources than any state, the president has less inherent authority to respond to pandemics than governors. The federal government is a government of enumerated powers—it has only the powers granted it by the Constitution. Therefore, for the president or Congress to act they have to locate the source of their authority within a specific provision of the Constitution.
The states, by contrast, possess a general police power—an inherentauthority that is then limited by both the state and federal Constitution. A governor or state legislature can often act without a specific grant of power. The power to act is presumed, absent a specific limitation.
In 1824, the Supreme Court observed in Gibbons v. Ogdenthat sovereign state authority includes the authority to enact "quarantine laws†and "health laws of every description.†Think of it like this: Just as the president and the federal government act at the peak of their powers when national security is threatened, America’s governors are often at the peak of their power when public health is at stake.
Thus, as AEI’s Jay Cost noted in an excellent Twitter threadon police power vs. enumerated power, a governor backed by a state legislature has "the sovereign power to make you go home if you are a menace to ‘public health.’†President Trump, he notes, does not have that power. Thus, governors have broad latitude to order curfews, close businesses, and limit public gatherings.
But what about the First Amendment? Can the government really order churches to close? Doesn’t the First Amendment guarantee free exercise of religion? What about a citizen’s rights of freedom of assembly and freedom of association?
If a state closure order targeted churches—and churches only—the order would almost certainly be unconstitutional. But the state closures orders in response to COVID-19 represent classic examples of a "neutral law of general applicability†that are presumptively lawful under Employment Division v. Smith. If restaurants and bars and movie theaters are closed at the same time, churches won’t enjoy any special protection under the Free Exercise Clause.
Setting aside churches for the moment, the state interest in confronting a recognized, deadly pandemicthat is breaking out on American shores is so strong that most bans on public gatherings will pass even the most exacting legal scrutiny. Even laws that directly curtail First Amendment freedoms will be upheld if they can pass a legal test called "strict scrutiny,†which requires the government to demonstrate that its actions advance a compelling governmental interest and are enacted through the least restrictive legal means.
And with SCOTUS closing up shop there would be no way to appeal these closures on a Federal level even if we wanted to. Or rather it would go before some Obama appointed judge. Great.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:54 AM
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Now we are getting to the nub of exactly why the media and the Establishment are pushing this Coronavirus so aggressively.
The coronavirus could be Generation Z's 9/11
Here is the money quote:
Trust in institutions and experts is critical in times like these—and fewer of us have it. When trust is low and political polarization is high, we are less prepared to agree on basic facts and less prepared to work together. If you don't trust the government, you're less likely to listen when the government tells you to stay home.
Now that the scope of the challenge is clear, we're going to have to trust each other more and listen when public health experts tell us: No, this is not a good time to visit an older relative. No, it's not a good idea to go ahead with your spring break as if nothing has changed. It's becoming clear that distrust kills.
Aha!The point is to panic the public into sheepishly trusting the government, the Ruling Class, and the Media. We have grown increasingly suspicious of our rulers, and Trump was the result. Something had to be done, but what?
Hype a pandemic into a planet-wide emergency and stampede everyone into corrals. Watch as fear wins the day and the public turns to the "best and brightest" to rule them.
Cute trick.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
10:19 AM
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One of the claims going around is that Trump closed the White House Pandemic Response unit.
No he didn't.
From Tim Morrison at the Washington Post:
[...]
It is true that the Trump administration has seen fit to shrink the NSC staff. But the bloat that occurred under the previous administration clearly needed a correction. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, congressional oversight committees and members of the Obama administrationitself all agreed the NSC was too large and too operationally focused (a departure from its traditional role coordinating executive branch activity). As The Post reportedin 2015, from the Clinton administration to the Obama administration’s second term, the NSC’s staff "had quadrupled in size, to nearly 400 people.†That is why Trump began streamlining the NSC staff in 2017.
One such move at the NSC was to create the counterproliferation and biodefense directorate, which was the result of consolidating three directorates into one, given the obvious overlap between arms control and nonproliferation, weapons of mass destruction terrorism, and global health and biodefense. It is this reorganization that critics have misconstrued or intentionally misrepresented. If anything, the combined directorate was stronger because related expertise could be commingled.
The reduction of force in the NSChas continued since I departed the White House. But it has left the biodefense staff unaffected — perhaps a recognition of the importance of that mission to the president, who, after all, in 2018 issued a presidential memorandum to finally create real accountability in the federal government’s expansive biodefense system.
The NSC is really the only place in government where there is a staff that ensures the commander in chief gets all the options he needs to make a decision, and then makes sure that decision is actually implemented. I worry that further reductions at the NSC could impair its capabilities, but the current staffing level is fully up to the job.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:38 AM
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