‘Your money or your life!’ (updated 21mar20)

George Rebane

Proposition:  Many more lives will be lost and/or ruined by intentionally tanking our economy into a depression, than will be lost to Covid19 going forward with a balanced policy of social distancing and continuing our economic pursuits with due prudence during the waning epidemic.

The iconic and immortal Jack Benny, comic of a bygone era known for portraying a skinflint, performed that classic skit where a robber walks up with a gun and demands, ‘Your money or your life!’.  Benny takes time to react and looks absorbed, prompting the thug to demand ‘Well?!’ to which Jack replies, ‘I’m thinking, I’m thinking.’

At Casa Rebane we are now in HD13 – our 13^th day of hunkering down which began on 8 March.  We are in the so-called most vulnerable age group, even though we are both still healthy, which at our ages can change overnight.  Given this, and the many birthdays under our belts, both of us have had much talk about what direction the country should take going forward.  The alternatives seem to be –

1. Everyone hunkers down, leave home only for the necessaries of life, businesses shut down, millions of jobs are permanently lost, government prints and distributes tons of cash to everyone (with dire fiscal consequences), the morbidity and mortality curves are flattened, and if all ‘goes well’ we emerge losing fewer lives to Covid19 and then dive into a genuine global depression taking years to recover, during which many more (millions) of uncounted lives are lost to poverty and perhaps real war, and more millions of lives are consigned to various stages of destitution.
2. Quickly learn how to manage infection risks with social distancing etc, and go on with prudently modified business practices while preventive medicines/vaccines are discovered and treatments developed to minimize the inevitable morbidity and mortality rates which will rise and take from the oldest and weakest among us. But in doing so keep the wheels of business and industry turning so that we don’t become a second or third world country with the potential for real civil unrest that will inevitably rise from our great and chronic socio-political divisions.

Rebane Doctrine calls for taking #2 as the wisest and best approach.  Executing such a well-considered and purposeful plan forward will allow us to emerge economically strong, and most certainly wiser about how to manage our affairs in preparation for the next pandemic (Covid19 is NOT the last one we will encounter).  And showing leadership with #2 will allow us to set an example to the rest of the world and support them in taking their own prudent risks and cope with small to moderate losses.

If our national measure of utility is to reduce the number of premature deaths over, say, the next five years, then it’s a no-brainer to avoid #1.  So while you are doing your own thinking, consider that no poor and destitute country has ever been able to take care of its own, let alone help others and contribute to preserving the environment and providing a satisfying quality of life for its citizens.  Fearfully hunkering down will guarantee that we will suffer such a dreadful future, in short America opting for #1 will be penny wise and pound foolish.

I am reminded of the encouraging words of Sgt Dan Daly, the holder of two Medals of Honor at Bellau Wood, “Come on you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?!”

[21mar20 update]  ‘Low Wage Workers Face Brunt of Coronavirus Crisis’ (here) is one of the many news articles explaining to us the obvious – it was ever thus.  Yet these low- and mid-wage workers are continuously pandered to about the feds bailing out Wall Street capitalists and greedy corporations.  They don’t grasp that giving money only to such workers will not help, for they will have nowhere to spend it for their necessaries – if only the grassroots libs would attempt to think about that.  But they don’t; they don’t comprehend that the low- and mid-wage workers don’t create jobs, instead, they benefit from having jobs.

It is America’s business owners and investors who create and sustain the companies, and take the risks to make the stuff we need while creating the jobs that make our quality of life possible – it is called capitalism.  But today, one of our political parties and its academia, media and entertainment industry allies are doing everything possible (including crisis enhancement) to convince Americans that government can do it all much better than the private sector – they take pride in being called socialists and communists.

Comments

[The Estonian Fox]

You seem to be on the right track George. Top estimates of 2.2 M extra deaths due to the China virus. That is less than double the normal annual death toll here. Market losses so far are on the order of $10T. That comes to over a $4M 'cost' per death. That doesn't include any drop in GDP. Given that a depression may be several years long, not a happy choice. (Note - if you are a Democrat, or a news reader, your death cost calculation may be 100 times larger, or smaller).

So the net result, a few years hence, of this China virus:

China loses 10,000 (0.001%) of their population. They keep their dictatorial government with no one complaining (OK, make that 10,550 lost, to cover the ones who actually do complain). They don't pay anyone for damages they caused. They convince the media that it was our fault. Net change = zero.

We lose 2.2M people, 1% of our population. And we get a shift in our government toward one that now wants to keep a stranglehold on its newly-flexed powers. Along with a big increase in our debt. Not a happy choice.

[scenes]

The problem seems to be one of hospital overloading. A hybrid approach. Everyone over 60 stays home for three months. Hell, put an ankle monitor on them and pay them to stay put.

...the scenes doctrine...

[scenes]

GeorgeR....Now here's an interesting question.

Let's say that the worse case scenario listed herein comes to pass....

https://dnyuz.com/2020/03/20/the-best-case-outcome-for-the-coronavirus-and-the-worst/

what are the personal best moves to make? I'm seeing widely varying numbers on mortality rates, but feel comfortable with a 10%+ death rate for 60+ year old men if health facilities fall in short supply. Perhaps double that with 80+ with health issues. It's still unclear just how many cases have low/no symptoms.

The best answer would combine avoiding illness along with avoiding the human fall-out. The hoi polloi get friskier, of course, when things get sketchy.

I admit that it's not as exciting as escaping the Red Army, but it's certainly a problem worth considering.

[Bill Tozer]

I am choosing #2 above.

‘The luxury of apocalypticism
The elites want us to panic about Covid-19 – we must absolutely refuse to do so.’

“How curious. In the past it was hysteria that was seen as a malady of the mind. Now it is the reluctance to kowtow to hysteria, the preference for calm discussion over panic and dread, that is treated as a malady. Today, it is those who prefer reason over rashness, whether on climate change or Brexit, who are judged to be disordered. According to the new elites, their apocalypticism is normal, while our calm democratic commitment to a political project, such as Brexit, or our desire to treat pollution as a practical problem rather than as a swirling, cloudy hint of nature’s coming fury with man’s hubris and destructiveness, is mad, deranged, in need of treatment. Their End Times nervousness is good; our faith in moral reason is bad.”

https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/17/the-luxury-of-apocalypticism/

We are, after all, social beings.

[scenes]

re: BillT@7:51AM

Ah well, we'll know what the deal is soon enough. It looks like a nothingburger in the US so far as health effects go but it's hard to ignore the experience of others. Whistling past the graveyard goes against all my instincts, but it's not clear what the side effects really will be.

People will only stay inside for so long, most simply can't afford to, so I expect a quarantine effort to fail. You do have to laugh at the small number of people who actually make the world run of course, most of the economy is stuff we could do without. In a more extreme environment, you can see law enforcement fading a bit. The interest in starving city monkeys in Thailand will shift to a similar problem in the omnipresent California homeless, perhaps they will inherit the Earth as the true survivors.

Plugging your own facts into one of the web Chinese Virus survival calculators can be an eye-opener, but in the words of Ms. Roseannadanna, 'it just goes to show you, it's always something'.

[fish]

Chinese Virus survival calculators .....

???

[scenes]

re: Fish@9:06AM

Different people have put together calculators where you plug in age, location, health issues, gender (only 2 possibilities, sadly), and they'll return your likelihood of dying with a case of the Chinese Flu. No doubt they're looking at areas with large numbers of cases to generate statistics, which tend to be (a) not in the US and (b) can't handle the hospital surge.

It's inaccurate as all get-out I'm sure, but seeing a number like 1:20 or 1:10 or 1:7 is something of an eye-opener. Russian Roulette style numbers call for contingency planning if they have any validity at all.

[scenes]

Just wait for the uproar when the first home-delivered China Flu case happens, include delivery drivers as possible vectors.

‘Terrified’ Package Delivery Employees Are Going to Work Sick

https://dnyuz.com/2020/03/21/terrified-package-delivery-employees-are-going-to-work-sick/

[L]

Toes @ 7:51. One of the best essays I've ever read to describe exactly what our self-described 'betters' are doing to themselves and attempting to also inflict on us innocent bystanders.

I hope to God that Emery(s), Keach, Anderson, Frisch and Pelline can spare a minute to go and read it, a long look in the mirror would do a world of good in encouraging them to abandon the hell ship they are crewing and return to normal lives of peace and joy. Then, go back and read it again.

One more time: None of the end-of-the-world crap they're peddling is actually taking place on the planet we live on.

Yes, we have plenty of problems, some of them related to the environment (no, oil is not going to last forever), but nearly all can be solved with a complete embrace of the endless energy represented by nuclear development. God has given us an answer to our greatest problem (energy), please don't let thoughtless chicken littles throw it away.

[L]

Perhaps I need to say it again: Solve the looming problem of needing more and more energy to continue the human project and everything else becomes manageable over time. Fail to solve it and the future looks far darker than even the CAGW fanatics can imagine.

Listen to the engineers: Renewables are mathematically short, by a couple orders of magnitude, of being any kind of answer, even a poor one. Imagine getting twenty times as much of this junk on line and unimaginable cost and then having to replace it all in about 10-15 years. Who among the usual suspects (named above) imagines that is sustainable?

Don't all chirp at once. Thanks

[Bill Tozer]

@ 9:37 am

Well, reports (posted here I think) say that the Wuhan Virus can live on cardboard for 24 hours. The recommendation is to leave your Amazon packages untouched for a day before handling. Guess whoever wrote that did not take porch pirates into consideration. Damn if you do, damned if you don’t.

Overheard by moi at the Dollar General an elderly couple talking while buying supplies filling the basket. “Put that back. We can get it on Amazon and anything else we need.” Lol. Just don’t touch them boxes. :). Hey, don’t pizza delivers come on cardboard boxes? It is as Dr. Rebane said on Rebane’s Ruminations, it’s a crap shoot.

[scenes]

" Renewables are mathematically short, by a couple orders of magnitude, of being any kind of answer,"

According to those Nathan Lewis lectures, you need solar energy gathering at about the price of house paint per sqft, but the idea sure sounds good. Simply wave your hands about all that empty land (aside from homeless encampments no doubt) at the old airport and magic happens.

To be fair, the Chinese have proven that you can live with fairly low energy usage in high numbers. That's the future presented by some folks when you get right down to it. Too many people anyway, just wait for the explosion of people to burst forth from Africa, failing some other pandemic.

[scenes]

billt: "“Put that back. We can get it on Amazon and anything else we need.”

lol. There's no point in burst their bubble I suppose.

For scientific reasons, I've been keeping track of Amazon item availability. Every time (every) I've found something useful and threw it in a list for later, it was gone by the next day. These folks won't get much in the way of diseased cardboard, but they're not going to get that case of Pop Tarts either.

[Bill Tozer]

“Proposition: Many more lives will be lost and/or ruined by intentionally tanking our economy into a depression, than will be lost to Covid19 going forward with a balanced policy of social distancing and continuing our economic pursuits with due prudence during the waning epidemic.”—Dr Rebane

SUICIDE’S NOT PAINLESS

“But no society can safeguard public health for long at the cost of its overall economic health. Even America’s resources to fight a viral plague aren’t limitless—and they will become more limited by the day as individuals lose jobs, businesses close, and American prosperity gives way to poverty. America urgently needs a pandemic strategy that is more economically and socially sustainable than the current national lockdown.”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/suicides-not-painless.php

Besides the hunkering down part, I see the final result of the Green New Deal as big if not a bigger threat to US economy as the Kung Flu. At least our truckers are not put our of commission...yet.
—————-
Residue from road trip yesterday: Truckers have to eat too! Truckers are having to make adjustment. Truck stops have closed the “Trucker Areas” where you can take a shower (free), sit down and get a good hefty meal at a good price, and have sleeping bunks for those who want to get out of big rigs and stretch out and get some shut eye. Did it myself back in the vagabond hitchhiking days. Walked right through those “Truckers Only” signs.
Gone! Restaurants closed everywhere, Rest Stops on the freeways closed, and fast food joints keep only the drive thru windows open. So, if you can’t drive your rig through Mickey D’s drive-thru, the solution is simple, right? Just walk up to the drive-thru window and order, duh.
Negatory there, good buddy. The drive-thru fast food joints don’t allow you walk up to the window, Gotta be in a vehicle, lol Oh my. We desperately need them to deliver trailers packed with TP and medicine and grub, but then say, “An empty stomach drives them on. Keep that hammer down.”

Wait til the GND disturbs the supply chain more than China.

https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/03/89721983_2867782603268128_755633091241836544_o.jpg?w=960&ssl=1

https://i0.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/03/IMG_2717.jpg?w=720&ssl=1
——————-
OMG!!! Long time acquaintance trying to move inherited furniture to office out of state, since it’s a near empty 5 bedroom house as they make plans for Calexit. Report: They are now rationing gasoline near the state border (heading east) to keep the Shelter-in-Place Californians from driving too far away.

[Bill Tozer]

Never let a good crisis go to waste

‘Pennsylvania coal mines forced to shut due to COVID-19 risk, natural gas unaffected’

Pennsylvania coal mines forced to shut due to COVID-19 risk, natural gas unaffected
—
Under the category, “What else could go wrong?”

There are counties in PA in this day and age that rely solely on coal to heat their homes. Rural counties, mostly. So, imagine you and the lovely bride lost their jobs due to ‘19 (or suddenly working from home with one computer in the house), the schools have closed and the kids are home for the duration and you become overnight homeschool teachers, the big grocery stores are packed, the supplies running low, and the State issues a Shelter-n-Place order.

Q: What could be worse?
A: Spending the duration of the Great Quarantine freezing your butts off in a freezing ass cold house with the all gang there.

Those woman folk, for some yet to be explained reason, really do not like living in a freezing cold house and then start bringing up the topic of “Its freezing in here”, constantly. They just don’t want you to listen, they want you to Fix the Problem. It’s cold in here!

“Sorry Sugarplum, we can’t get no coal.” Oh boy. What could be worse? Furniture burning time.

What don’t break ya will make ya. :)

[Bill Tozer]

Link:

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/metals/032020-pennsylvania-coal-mines-forced-to-shut-due-to-covid-19-risk-natural-gas-unaffected

[fish]

Posted by: scenes | 21 March 2020 at 09:37 AM

Just wait for the uproar when the first home-delivered China Flu case happens, include delivery drivers as possible vectors.

The Simpsons already covered it.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrxeW_WipVk

[scenes]

re: Fish@1:28PM

I did run into a solution though.

#notmyvirus

[scenes]

re: Fish@1:28PM

I did run into a solution though.

#notmyvirus

[scenes]

meanwhile, the thin veneer chips away.

"French border guards impound trucks filled with 130,000 face masks bound for Britain for NHS workers battling coronavirus"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8137039/French-border-guards-impound-trucks-filled-130-000-face-masks-bound-Britain.html

[George Rebane]

scenes 214pm - And Trump draws crap from the socialists about preaching and implementing 'America first'. Crickets from the lamestream on this.

[scenes]

Luckily, The Atlantic digs right to the heart of the matter.

"The Coronavirus Is a Disaster for Feminism"

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/03/feminism-womens-rights-coronavirus-covid19/608302/

Damn, I thought that the coronavirus was a disaster for critical race theory or transgender identity or something.

[Don Bessee]

Could be, could be -

Covid-19 and the Democratic presidential primaries, the two biggest stories of the year so far, reflect a common theme: the death of the progressive left. Looking back, historians may well see late 2019 and very early 2020 as a kind of high-water mark for American progressivism.

How will Covid-19 reshape public opinion?

-- The notion of very open international borders will seem strange and indeed intolerable, as most of the world’s wealthy nations have been looking for ways to keep foreigners out. The new restrictions on movement will not be repealed so quickly or so thoroughly, and for a while the U.S. may restrict movement across domestic states and cities. President Donald Trump will appear to have been ahead of his time, and immigration will no longer be a viable mobilizing issue for the left.

-- The egalitarianism of the progressive left also will seem like a faint memory. Elites are most likely to support wealth redistribution when they feel comfortable themselves, and indeed well-off coastal elites in California and the Northeast are a backbone of the progressive movement. But when these people feel threatened in their lives or occupations, or when the futures of their children suddenly seem less secure, redistribution will not be such a compelling ideal.
I am not saying you have to welcome this change, only that it is likely.

-- A massive dose of fiscal policy has been another progressive priority. Now that even Republicans are embracing stimulus, as a political issue it will cease to be effective for the left.

-- The case for mass transit also will seem weaker, because subways and buses will be associated with the fear of Covid-19 transmission. In a similar fashion, the forces of NIMBY will become stronger, relative to those of YIMBY, because people secure in their isolated suburban homes will feel less stressed than those in densely packed urban apartment buildings.

-- There is likely to be much more government intervention in some parts of the health-care sector, but it will focus on scarce hospital beds and ventilators, and enforce nasty triage, rather than being a benevolent move toward universal coverage. If anything, it will drive home the message that supply constraints are binding and America can’t have everything — hardly the traditional progressive message.

-- The climate change movement is likely to be another victim. How much have you heard about Greta Thunberg lately? Concern over the climate will seem like another luxury from safer and more normal times. In addition, the course of anti-Covid-19 efforts may not prove propitious for the climate change movement. If the fight against Covid-19 suddenly improves (perhaps a vaccine working very quickly?), Americans may come to expect the same in the fight against climate change.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus-killed-progressive-left-130016290.html

;-)

[Don Bessee]

A step in the right direction -

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/03/21/rapid-coronavirus-test-approved-by-fda-results-in-45-minutes/

;-)

[George Rebane]

DonB 431pm - From your mouth to God's ear, may He attend to your insights.

[Bill Tozer]

Don B @ 431 PM

Open-Borders Dems Threaten U.S. Health Care System

https://patriotpost.us/opinion/69359-open-borders-dems-threaten-us-health-care-system-2020-03-20?

Daily quotes put here in these Kung Flu times.

Perspective: “The economic devastation that is now playing out before our eyes is not caused by the Wuhan flu virus. In the last 21 days, approximately 162,000 Americans have died. Of that number, 150 were killed by the Wuhan virus.” —John Hinderaker

For the record: “After Donald Trump correctly labeled the China virus the ‘China Virus,’ Leftmedia apologists for Red China labeled him ‘xenophobic.’ We should all be Xi-nophobic!” —Mark Alexander

Observations: “The Chinese Communists, like all Communists, hide societal problems. There is no crime, disease or addiction in the collectivist state. This kind of secrecy and dishonesty can be disastrous, especially in a highly interconnected world. Though millions of Chinese have been lifted out of extreme poverty through free trade, with modernity comes some basic responsibilities — for instance, not killing everyone in the world with preventable zoonotic diseases.” —David Harsanyi

Food for thought: “A challenge like we are facing can be an opportunity for national renewal. Will young people step up to help those in need? Will politicians work together to help get America through this crisis? Will the media pull the plug on the fake controversies for at least a few months? The last one seems pretty unlikely, but two out of three wouldn’t be bad.” —Neil Patel

Hell freezes over: “[Rep. Ayanna Pressley] always says, unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership and we are seeing that in our country right now. I have faith that we will survive this as a nation and build together.” —Rep. Ilhan Omar on Donald Trump

Braying jackass: “President Trump at this point is the Herbert Hoover of his generation.” —Mayor Bill de Blasio (And de Blasio is the Neville Chamberlain of his generation.)

Village idiot: “We need to stop calling it, or labeling it, like it’s ‘[China] did it to us.’ Mother Nature really did it to us.” —"The View’s" Whoopi Goldberg

And last… “I hate to thrust my Western cultural values on anyone, but maybe it’s time to stop eating bats.” —David Harsanyi

[Don Bessee]

BT - Mayor Bill de Blasio (And de Blasio is the Neville Chamberlain of his generation.

I have to disagree, that is a grave disservice to 'peace in our time Chamberlain' waving piece of paper notwithstanding.

Comrade deblasio is a pipsqueak that is sitting on a urban socialist volcano of his own making. Something tells me the tiny apartment dwellers may find themselves realizing the value of our beloved first responders including the thin blue line before this is over.

But on the bright side the deplorables in places like here and flyover country, who by the way decide the election, still have our bibles, guns, ammo, pantry and positive attitudes.

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Re: Your money or your life:

https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-03-18-at-8.06.01-PM.png?w=990&ssl=1

https://i0.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-03-16-at-8.25.07-AM.png?w=974&ssl=1

https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/03/IMG_2695.jpeg?w=1170&ssl=1

https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-03-19-at-8.17.57-AM.png?w=1160&ssl=1

[Bill Tozer]

One man’s opinion. Agree with most of it, not all

‘Needed: the reopening plan. Fast’

https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2020/03/needed-reopening-plan-fast.html

[scenes]

I took a break from foreign newspapers and web forums (the last are hard to track down, my thinking is that places like Germany tend to squash local political forums) to check out The People on reddit.

Fer example:

https://old.reddit.com/r/ems/

https://old.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/fmfb1q/consider_donating_ppe_to_hospitals_and_first/

The N95 mask debacle is pretty silly for as cheap and generally useful as they are. Generally, I'd say that the US (and everyone else's) health system was never set up for a system wide need for resources. In the past, you could keep your equipment and consumables stock low because you could simply ship them in from the next state over if needed.

I sort of wished that I was dead and buried before the world reaped the reward of open borders, JIT, foreign supply chains, mass transit, over-dense population, lack of self sufficiency, and mobile populations, but it was always going to happen.

Besides, just look what Trump did to Italy.

[George Rebane]

All black swans require an ex-post ipso facto scapegoat. An once-in-a-lifetime pandemic is no different. And the best and most convenient political way forward on this is to hang the whole thing on an already well-oiled and established scapegoat. It is the cheapest and most effective kool-aid to serve the mini-minds.

[Scott O]

We humans assign a cost/benefit value on human life every day. It's only when the decision making of where that line is drawn becomes massive in numbers and personal in nature that this topic is openly raised. There used to be malaria in the US but we decided to get rid of it. That could be done in Africa as well, but now we have new values and certain knowledge as to what that will cost not only in dollars, but in other forms of life that we value more highly now than when the swamps were drained and DDT was sprayed openly. Instructing other humans how to only drink clean water would save millions of lives every year, but we have decided that we would rather 'respect' the other cultures 'need' for their way of life.
What's my answer?
Not sure I can come up with a dollar cost/benefit number, but at least I can discuss the topic without resorting to silly fake morality and blather about "doesn't matter what it costs if it saves one life".
It does matter. Real money translates to real things.
And real things are needed to save the lives of as many people as we can.

[George Rebane]

re ScottO's 1041am - We put a computable dollar cost on human life every time we decide to, say, use highway funds to landscape roadsides or decorate bridges instead of erecting additional miles of center-line barriers to prevent head-on collisions. And with little effort, one can find countless other computable examples for the dollar-worth of human lives. However, don't expect the price/life numbers to be consistent between the bureaucracies; nothing like that ever is - another reason why in almost all things govt is the problem.

[L]

A far larger consideration is that, obviously, not all lives can possibly be worth the same expressed in monetary terms. For example, what would have been the dollar value of having Adolf Hitler die of a heart attack in, say, May 1939? Or not have Mao born at all. In cases like these, human life could be said to have a negative value, no?

[Scott O]

L 2:44 - I used to think that way, but now I'm pretty certain the human condition will always serve up an ogre for the times.

[George Rebane]

L 244pm - Consideration of the value of anything, including human life, is usually a market-driven thing - value is in the eyes of the 'valuer'. In my example of highway decorations v dividers, the valuer was some unknown bureaucrat who accepted the trade-off, probably without ever doing the math. But in the end, a value on something must be a positive sum that someone has to pay/allocate. In the case of a Hitler/Stalin/Mao, the value of their life was zero to most and more than zero to a relatively small number (maybe) - remember, we can't Monday morning quarterback here.

Now if you consider the value of someone's future death, then that turns things on their head. If a name of a current despot were brought up and people were asked to contribute to the cost of his assassination, then we could sum the contributions and determine the current market value of his death (his life was already valued at zero). That would be an interesting exercise if on your tax form you could check a box and designate a dollar amount contributed to, say, the CIA to arrange the death of a designated bad guy. Now there you have democracy in foreign policy.

[Don Bessee]

The blue mob's own botox Nancy seems to think its no big deal to get the relief package done before the markets open. -

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/22/nancy-pelosi-nixes-bipartisan-talks-on-coronavirus-package/

Meanwhile in the real world -

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/22/americans-across-country-embrace-patriotism-during-coronavirus-put-flag-up/

;-)

[Gregory]

“Despite the limitations of this study, in the absence of any effective treatment, in this urgent situation, this Plaquenil and Azithromycin combination therapy should be given to patients with COVID-19 as a treatment option,” Ying Zhang, a professor of microbiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote in an email. “For now, there is no time to wait.”
https://www.newsweek.com/2020/04/03/hydroxychloroquine-answer-coronavirus-pandemic-inside-race-find-covid-19-cure-1493349.html

Sufferers of TDS are suggested to sit tight until long term studies are completed and approved by the FDA.

[Don Bessee]

The usual suspects lying their asses off -

She among many Democrats have accused Trump of calling the coronavirus a "hoax" on the campaign trail when he was actually conflating the uproar of the virus to the uproars of the Russia and Ukraine investigations, which he referred to as "hoaxes."

CNN BLASTED FOR ARTICLE CLAIMING TRUMP IS 'PEDDLING UNSUBSTANTIATED HOPE' AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

The Trump campaign responded to Ocasio-Cortez's comments on social media, calling the congresswoman's claim a "lie."

"AOC just repeated the lie that President Trump called coronavirus a "hoax." This is not true, and has been debunked by numerous fact-checking sources. This would've been a great time for a fact check, @jaketapper," Trump campaign rapid response staffer Abigail Marone said.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/cnns-jake-tapper-under-fire-after-admitting-he-didnt-fact-check-aoc-on-trump-coronavirus-claim

;-)

[Don Bessee]

Cryin chuck and botox Nancy want to crash the markets even further what scum bags -

Stock Futures Have Dropped as Much as They Are Allowed to After the Senate Failed to Pass a Coronavirus Aid Bill

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/04563270-e367-3f25-ac16-a28f34a6962d/stock-futures-have-dropped-as.html

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Don, just when you think they can't embarasse themselves any more, they prove me wrong again.

'City Hall didn’t secure 1st order of COVID-19 supplies for NYC until March 6'

New York Post

METRO EXCLUSIVE
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City Hall didn’t secure 1st order of COVID-19 supplies for NYC until March 6
By Julia Marsh March 20, 2020 | 1:09pm
Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio William Farrington
Mayor Bill de Blasio has blamed President Trump for the city’s severe shortage of COVID-19 supplies even though City Hall didn’t secure its first order for emergency protective gear until March 6, The Post has learned.

Officials with the city’s Office of Emergency Management tried to purchase nearly 200,000 n95 masks on Feb. 7, but weeks later they learned the vendors had already run out.

It was not until March 6 and March 10 — over two months after the coronavirus outbreak first hit China — that they finally secured the first emergency procurements of masks and hand sanitizer, according to the city comptroller’s office.

“Our city is the epicenter of this outbreak in the United States, and we are lacking supplies because the mayor didn’t notice until two weeks ago?” fumed City Councilman Chaim Deutsch.

“We ought to have been prepared for this. Blaming Trump is an easy way to avoid hard questions, but it exposes a distinct lack of management on the part of this administration,” the Brooklyn Democrat said."

https://nypost.com/2020/03/20/city-hall-didnt-order-covid-19-supplies-for-nyc-until-march-6/

[scenes]

You guys might find this interesting.

https://old.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/fn4kfe/italian_in_lockdown_ama/

[Walt]

First LIBS say Trump wasn't acting fast enough.
NOW,, the Queen of the DAMNED and others say Trump is acting "too quickly".
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/03/22/u-s-futures-dive/
U.S. stock futures smashed into “limit down” trading curbs in their first hour of trading Sunday night after Democrat pushed back against economic rescue measures on Capitol Hill.

"Traders appeared to be reacting to developments in Washington, D.C. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat, said Sunday afternoon that she rejected the idea of working on the plan in the U.S. Senate supported by Republicans and the White House. She said she would instead move forward with her own economic package."

That bitch is wanting more pork than Jimmy Dean ever dreamed of.

[scenes]

re: Walt@6:41PM

So basically the Democrats are playing chicken with the future of the country. Nice one. Of course, they have a solid election advantage in driving down the stock market.

On another matter, you gotta love all of the newspapers out there.

Article: 5 ways to save your life from coronavirus
...and up comes the paywall...
WE HOPE YOU'VE ENJOYED THE BLAHBLAH TIMES
CONTINUE READING BY SUBSCRIBING FOR $50 PER YEAR

Those guys would probably do this if the asteroid was an hour out.

[Bill Tozer]

Headline reads:
BONGINO: CHINA FOUND ‘OUR WEAK SPOT’ IN ‘IDENTITY POLITICS,’ MEDIA ‘USEFUL IDIOTS’ HELPING
————-
Headline reads:
DEUTSCHE BANK: HELICOPTER MONEY WILL BE "DISASTROUS" AND WILL LEAD TO HYPERINFLATION, "BUY GOLD"
——————
Headline reads:
POLICE IN CALIFORNIA PLAN TO USE DRONES TO ENFORCE QUARANTINE LOCKDOWN
https://news.grabien.com/wire-police-california-plan-use-drones-enforce-quarantine-lockdow
———————
Drones? Child’s play. Come and get Papa Bear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2vNNqbl5Us

[Bill Tozer]

As you were saying @ 6:41 & 702 pm

,Mark Levin on House Dems' coronavirus plan: 'People are sick and dying and Pelosi is playing games'

“Pelosi reportedly was seeking a "laundry list" of items to be included in the legislation, including wiping out up to $10,000 in student loan debt per person and securing election-security funding.”

https://www.foxnews.com/media/mark-levin-coronavirus-stimulus-pelosi-democrats-senate?

Your money and your life. Oh, the games people play now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5znh58WITU8

[scenes]

scenes from the apocalypse indeed.

Check out this nice story on reddit.

https://old.reddit.com/r/entitledparents/comments/fmnefk/3_ems_send_their_kids_over_for_food_because_i/

[Don Bessee]

Standing as one Nation to help our neighbors!

Amazon and Microsoft join White House team to unleash high-performance computing on COVID-19

https://www.yahoo.com/news/amazon-microsoft-join-white-house-034716909.html

;-)

[Walt]

Speaking of life,,, anyone seen Biden,,, or Emery?

[The Estonian Fox]

Gregory @ 4:03 PM

Good article from Newsweek. It actually had useful information in it. I didn't realize that Newsweek was still in existence.

[fish]

Posted by: Walt | 22 March 2020 at 10:32 PM

Speaking of life,,, anyone seen Biden,,, or Emery?

Biden? The campaign is using the down time associated with the quarantine to spruce him up before the election. He’s been shipped back to London where the crack technicians at Madame Tussauds will try and make him look more lifelike.

Emery...not a clue.....”Complaint Camp” maybe?

[Bill Tozer]

We are all in this together

California, you can now get cocktails delivered to your home during shelter in place.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/wine/article/California-you-can-now-get-cocktails-delivered-15146289.php

[Bill Tozer]

COSTS VERSUS BENEFITS

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

“WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/costs-versus-benefits.php
————————-
Oh my. They have pissed off the Grim Reaper.

MITCH GETS MAD

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/mitch-gets-mad.php

[The Estonian Fox]

BT @ 9:04PM
When Mike Pence was asked if Nancy Pelosi was a hotdog, he replied "There isn't enough mustard in the world to cover Nancy Pelosi."

Special thanks to Darold Knowles & Reggie Jackson for this re-used quote.

[Walt]

This will play well come election day. The Swamp Queen , and Chuckles Schumer are playing politics with lives.
https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2020/03/22/sen-bill-cassidy-pelosi-and-schumer-put-relief-for-americans-on-hold/
"“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Cassidy in an interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Sunday with host Joel Pollak. “Democrats and Republicans broke down into five working groups. They came to agreement on all five areas — appropriations, for example, tax law changes upon health and welfare issues, etcetera — we put them into a package, and now we had a vote tonight that would just allow us to continue to debate it for the next 30 hours. Keep in mind, all this negotiation has taken place between Democrats and Republicans. Pelosi came over with Schumer after having agreed to everything, and then said no, they that wanted something different, far different.” "

One holdup is that the queen of the DAMNED want more money to kill more children than the virus will.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/22/report-democrats-push-for-small-business-assistance-for-planned-parenthood/
"The Hill reported Sunday that one of the reasons bipartisan support for a massive coronavirus stimulus package has fallen apart is, once again, because Democrats want the bill to prop up Planned Parenthood."

[fish]

Posted by: Walt | 23 March 2020 at 08:50 AM

Democrats Holding COVID-19 Bill Hostage Over Unrelated Demands

Ehh....whaddyaa going to do Walt.....Progressives gonna Progressive.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democrats-holding-covid-19-bill-hostage-over-unrelated-demands

[Walt]

Fish,, Rub our proggys' noses in it for starters.

[Bill Tozer]

Well, it’s better than a sharp poke in the eye. It’s better than nothing.

Headline reads ‘Texas turns to prison labor to help cover face mask shortages’

“The masks are made from locally grown cotton, rather than synthetic material, so they aren't of the highest standards, he said.

"They're not the one you would want in an emergency room, but it sure beats nothing," Whitmire said.”

https://www.click2houston.com/news/texas/2020/03/23/texas-turns-to-prison-labor-to-help-cover-face-mask-shortages/

As they say, fake until you make it and dress the part.

BTW, the 2nd largest capital dome in the US (DC is #1) is in Austin,Texas. Beautiful building, gorgeous dome when lights shine on it at night....and built by good ole Texas prison labor, not slaves.
The Georgia Hwy Department really screwed up when they introduced crabgrass to the US for erosion control and that is so far of topic...I have not idea where that came from. :)

[scenes]

re: masks

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/business/masks-china-coronavirus.html

[George Rebane]

Chloroquine for Covid19 is now being picked up by the media after it was announced by Trump. The use of that vintage malaria drug for preventing and fighting the virus seemed like a no-brainer from the git-go. In these pages, this epiphany was announced on 17 March last - toot, toot!
https://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2020/03/testing-testing-testing-really.html

[George Rebane]

Covid19 testing. For those interested in how the reliabilty of today's testing might affect public policy are invited to peruse the 23mar20 update of 'Testing, testing, ...'.
https://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2020/03/testing-testing-testing-really.html

[Don Bessee]

Sounds like botox Nancy wants to take your money -

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/23/nancy-pelosi-proposes-1120-page-coronavirus-bill-stuffed-with-pork/

;-)

[George Rebane]

Please post your relief legislation comments under 'The Demonic Party ...' Pay attention!

[Walt]

1400 pages... The queen of the DAMNED is really outdoing herself.
Yus Lefties,, blame Trump.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/23/nancy-pelosi-proposes-1120-page-coronavirus-bill-stuffed-with-pork/

[Bill Tozer]

Daily quotes snuck in here.

Insight: “Some may try and tell us that this is the end of an era. But what they overlook is that in America, every day is a new beginning and every sunset is merely the latest milestone on a voyage that never ends. For this is the land that has never become but is always in the act of becoming.” —Ronald Reagan

For the record: “We had a high level of bipartisanship in five different working groups over the last 48 hours where members who were participating were reaching agreement. And then all of a sudden the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House shows up, and we’re back to square one. So, we’re fiddling here — fiddling with the emotions of the American people, fiddling with the markets, fiddling with our healthcare. The American people expect us to act [today]. And I want everybody to fully understand if we aren’t able to act [today], it will be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dicker when the country expects us to come together and address this problem.” —Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Food for thought: “Far-left liberals like Sanders and Biden not only want open borders — as do the rest of their out-of-touch party — they’ve also pledged to give health care to millions of illegal immigrants. How is that even possible when the current U.S. health care system is already stressed to the max and struggling to provide adequate medical care for its own citizens?” —Adriana Cohen

Non compos mentis: “BTW, Trumpers was this worth the tax cut? (Your 401K is now obliterated). Were the deaths and suffering of Americans that could have been prevented by competent leadership worth ANYTHING?” —Jennifer Rubin

Now do abortion: “I want to be able to say to the people of New York — I did everything we could do. And if everything we do saves just one life, I’ll be happy.” —New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

And last… “It’s time for government officials to share in the sacrifices that have been forced down the throats of the American citizenry. None of these government officials should be collecting so much as a dime in pay while they deny their own communities the right to earn a living.” —Sean Davis

[scenes]

warning: talking head, lengthy

a bit of the politics of the Wuhan Flu, furriners in China, local conditions, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR-m2vnpEmM

[scenes]

Pretty wild.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-02-21/a-mysterious-cult-is-at-the-center-of-a-surge-of-coronavirus-cases-in-south-korea

[Scott O]

This Woo-hoo Flu is exposing the worst of the most insane state in the Union:
"Yes, the state that removed criminal penalties for knowingly giving someone AIDS has imposed criminal penalties on anyone who might inadvertently spread Wuhanvirus. Yes, the open-borders governor who claims he has no moral authority to tell Mexicans to stay out has ordered all Californians to stay in.
And yes, the state that’s rapidly decriminalizing property crimes has criminalized going outdoors. A Californian who decides to take a walk in a park risks more severe penalties than an illegal alien who steals a TV."
And it goes on.
https://www.takimag.com/article/locked-down-in-third-world-california/
My goodness - what a world, what a world.

[scenes]

Wondering why US hospitals don't have enough masks? Anyone who thinks that this didn't happen here is naive.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus-chinese-students-and-tourists-buy-12000-face-masks-edinburgh-pharmacy-send-home-families-1381955
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-07/china-implores-employees-and-clients-to-scour-world-for-masks
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/chinese-nationals-living-in-singapore-buy-masks-to-send-back-home
https://japantoday.com/category/quote-of-the-day/chinese-people-living-in-japan-have-bought-10-to-20-boxes-of-masks-at-once.-masks-sell-out-as-soon-as-they-come-back-in-stock.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200203000556

[Bill Tozer]

Mr. Scott O @ 5:58 pm

https://www.facebook.com/KingforCongress/photos/a.169008886506462/3618367541570562/?type=3&theater

How low can they go? Opps, don’t answer that. Bad juju.

[Don Bessee]

Well of course the socialist dems would chose foreigners over citizens they have for decades -

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/23/democrats-push-foreign-graduates-first-clause-in-coronavirus-bill/

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

re: masks

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/los-angeles-times-and-bloomberg-news-federal-stockpile-of-n95-masks-was-depleted-under-obama-and-never-restocked

[Scott O]

BT 7:34 - A slight correction for Mr King: They are only stopping the sale of firearms to law-abiding citizens.
The newly released criminals can get a shooter in short order as the only 'background' check they have to pass is - "got the cash?"

[scenes]

Just one of those little things you run into.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/catastrophic-shocks-through-complex-socio-economic-systems-a-pandemic-perspective-david-korowicz/

http://images.feasta.org/2013/07/Catastrophic-shock-pandemic2.pdf

[Bill Tozer]

Scott O @ 9:23 pm

Correct as usual. In NJ, the gov has ordered LE to stop doing background checks for gun buyers. So, they aren’t banning gun sales, they just are making damn sure you can’t buy one. It took less than on day for the 2nd Amendment Foundation to file suit, throwing together a hastily made nine page brief to the US District Court in NJ. The gov’t must protect our rights to bear arms, not hinder our rights.

Kinda like Gov. Gavin here on the Left Coast. He has closed down our state parks, he just ordered the state park parking lots to be closed.

[Bill Tozer]

Darn it. Oppps. Omitted an important three letter word.

“the Left Coast. He has NOT closed down our state parks, he just ordered the state park parking lots to be closed.”
——————————————————
I am thinking that as bad and slimy COVID-19, the Dem Party and the media are downstream of the virus, but not by far.

NBC news reported on the 60 year old couple in Phoenix that drank the miracle malaria cure that Trump endorsed as a possibility. The husband died, the wife went to ICU. Gleefully the NBC babe reported on the death after the couple self-medicated with chloroquine and could not contain her joy at dashing hope Trump raised.
The NBC reporter babe’s Twitter account has things like, “Don’t listen to Trump! He does not know what he is doing. People took his advice and died. People died!” and the like. Don’t listen to Trump was the main theme. “Stay home, wash your hands, and call your doctors if you feel ill.” Well, that’s the same advice Trump has been giving, lol.

—Here is the facts and the headline should of read, “Arizona man dies after drinking fish tank cleaner.” Maybe a sub-heading of ‘chloroquine phosphate sounds like chloroquine, right?’

https://nypost.com/2020/03/23/man-dies-after-self-medicating-with-chloroquine-phosphate-to-treat-coronavirus/

[scenes]

"—Here is the facts and the headline should of read, “Arizona man dies after drinking fish tank cleaner.” Maybe a sub-heading of ‘chloroquine phosphate sounds like chloroquine, right?’"

I ran into that yesterday. Too funny. After all, never report the truth when you can invent an anti-Trump whopper.

I wonder sometimes if a person could invent a metric, maybe computer-generated, on how crazy venomous the media is and then run different eras' newspapers through it. Comparing a newspaper's treatment of LBJ or Nixon vs Trump would be interesting.

Maybe it's just as much a sign of the times. MSM becomes more like click bait internet in order to sell ads. The writing declines as the age and education decline (and the AA hires increase) in the professional press.

[George Rebane]

scenes 802am - Indeed Mr scenes. Your observation could also be under 'Demonic Party' because it really highlights the well-known scumbags make-up of the lamestream and their political affiliation.

[teine rebane kenney]

re: Fish@9:06AM
My morbid curiosity is nearing dysfunctional and I secretly count on fingers and toes, so opening Excel to plug in numbers killed two bats with one....

[rl crabb]

Any seniors here ready to sacrifice themselves for the good of the nation? https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/24/covid-19-texas-official-suggests-elderly-willing-die-economy/2905990001/

[Gregory]

Crabby, you don't have kids or grandkids, do you?

There is no such thing as a risk-free life, and no, I would not sacrifice my progeny's future to move my risk of dying from Wuhan SARS from 1% to 0.1%.

Weeks, not months. Get ventilators built, get effective treatments in place, get China's "wet markets" shut down.

[George Rebane]

rlcrabb 1125am - I already made my declaration Bob, how about you? Are you willing to accept Alternative #2?

[Scott O]

re R Crabb 11:25 - Seems like a lot 'seniors' are dying anyway. Along with folks of other ages. And there is no surety that any plan we choose to follow will prevent my death. And there is no surety that my dying will help anyone.
It's really a matter of personal freedom vs public health. No matter where you draw the line, some one is going to squeak.
And no matter what Trump does, the folks with TDS are going to squeak 24/7.
Now - where's the oil?

[scenes]

Oh dear. Poor Mr. Crabb. He does a drive by with a (already posted) bon mot and just gets hassled by everyone.

Of course there's some truth to the economy vs. health risk angle in all of this.

Look at it this way, if the economy well and truly crashes, the civil unrest and poverty might well kill a helluva lot more people than the Wuhan Flu. It's a funny balancing act and no doubt the administration can do no right, the #resistance is more important to a lot of folks than keeping the ship afloat.

In other news.
https://babylonbee.com/news/dems-demand-stimulus-bill-include-reparations-for-transgender-native-americans-affected-by-climate-change

[Don Bessee]

While the resistance and the socialist dems have done their worst to ding the prez the opposite is happening -

The CBS News/YouGov survey released Tuesday found that 53 percent of Americans feel Trump is doing a good job handling the situation, compared to 47 percent who think the opposite. 54 percent are also optimistic about the administration’s ability to handle the situation moving forwards, despite 66 percent saying it was not prepared at the beginning.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/polls-majority-americans-approve-trump-135026886.html

;-)

[George Rebane]

scenes 1222pm - points already made should be referenced/cited instead of reintroduced as new. Yours was my Alternative #1.

[Buckk Sexton]

Who cares what this old man wants?

Coronavirus government response updates: Trump wants country 'opened up' by Easter despite warnings from health experts.

I am from the government and I want to help you

[Buck Sexton]

Trump should pull up his cufflinked sleeves and get on the toilet paper production line. Instead the old germaphobe hides out.

[Bill Tozer]

We are yet to see models of how many will commit suicides, how many will turned to drugs, how many marriages will rip apart, how many people will get wiped out due to Main St bankruptcies, how many communities die AS direct the result of a collapsed economy. How many other chronic illness will rise due to alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and stress when the economy collapses?

Last week alone, 700,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance, the highest weekly number since the The Great Recession...if not higher. How many people will made homeless and thus into poverty. How many folks will then fail to care of themselves in a healthy and clean living environment?
—————————————
Tenn. Department of Health release test results for household contacts of COVID-19 case

“NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WMC) - The results are in for the household contacts of the first case of COVID-19 in Tennessee. Officials with the Tennessee Department of Health tested individuals who are in close contact with the patient that is infected with the virus.
Authorities said TDH received negative test results for the people in close contact with the patient.”

“Health care providers and public health officials are giving guidance to the family to prevent further spread of the illness.
Authorities would like to remind Tennesseeans that COVID-19 is not currently widespread in Tennessee or the United States. The overall risk to the general public remains low.
Health officials also stated there are no additional precautions recommended for residents in Tennessee at this time, only normal practices to help prevent spreading respiratory viruses.”
——————————————
What’s those results going around? Nine out of ten test negative for Coronavirus, and those that tested positive had a 96-98% recovery rate. Doctors test those who are sick, showing symptoms. Again, 9 put of 10 of the ill patients tested negative for Kung Flu. They had a smoker’s cough, bronchitis, the flu, etc.

A few days ago, 50% of the COVID-19 cases in the US were in seven counties. This morning, 50% of the cases of The Plague are in TWO counties. Why should someone in South Dakota or Northern Utah or Tennessee be under Shelter in Place or face lost of income because of two or more virus consecrated clusters? The ole Urban Rats ruling over the rural.

The good news is the more testing going on, the lower the mortality rate falls and falls. We have test more people in 8 days than the Libs’ beloved South Korea has in 8 weeks.

[fish]

Posted by: teine rebane kenney | 24 March 2020 at 11:19 AM

re: Fish@9:06AM
My morbid curiosity is nearing dysfunctional and I secretly count on fingers and toes, so opening Excel to plug in numbers killed two bats with one....

I have a 9:06 am post on this thread?

(Wonder if this one will make it through?)

[Gregory]

toes 241pm

please forgive the nag, but it ain't a flu. it's SARS, and the WHO didn't name the disease after the virus because "From a risk communications perspective, using the name SARS can have unintended consequences in terms of creating unnecessary fear for some populations, especially in Asia which was worst affected by the SARS outbreak in 2003.

For that reason and others, WHO has begun referring to the virus as “the virus responsible for COVID-19” or “the COVID-19 virus” when communicating with the public. Neither of these designations are intended as replacements for the official name of the virus as agreed by the ICTV."

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

SARS is internationally known as a virus that arose from a Chinese wet market and having another 17 years later might be embarassing for The Party.

[Don Bessee]

Well that sure looks like a ascending trend and the independent numbers should give creepy grampa joe the jitters -

The poll shows 60 percent of Americans approve of the president's handling of his actions to combat the virus. That includes 94 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of Independents, while just 27 percent of Democrats approve of the president's handling of the outbreak.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gallup-poll-trump-coronavirus

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

I forgive your rag, Gregory. Asking please was a nice touch. :)

Question: How many SARS have been traced back to the wet bat and rat markets?

Interesting that we have still not found Patient Zero. All these viruses have a Patient 0. AIDS in the Left Coast got traced back to an airplane steward, a rather promiscuous homosexual fellow. Sometimes they trace a disease/virus back to a villager whose wife had visited her relatives in another village. They always trace back to find Patient 0 to help understand the origin, what was the person doing, eating, cooking, who he/she came in contact with, and exactly where, what season, etc.

[Walt]

With news like this,BS and Emery may go looking to get infected.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/24/gallup-60-percent-favor-donald-trump-coronavirus-response/

"A new poll from Gallup shows that President Donald Trump’s approval rating for his handling of the coronavirus is now at 60 percent.

The president’s overall approval rating is also at 49 percent, tied for the best of his presidency."

But you still have Biden you can vote for... Seen his latest hostage tape?

[Bertie]

Trump's latest TWEET (all caps are his): "WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. ..America will again and soon be open for business so you people need to go back to work and start shopping again so the economy doesn't go in the tank and hurt my chances of getting reelected. BESIDES I WILL GET A VENTILATOR IF I EVER NEED ONE EVEN IF YOU WON'T. I REALLY MISS MY CAMPAIGN RALLIES WHERE EVERYONE CHANTS MY NAME AND LAUGHS WHILE I INSULT ANYONE WHO HAS CRITICIZED MY INCOMPETENCE. I LOVE THE ADULATION BECAUSE I'M GREAT AND DESERVE IT. SO GET OUT THERE AND SACRIFICE YOUR LIVES FOR THE ECONOMY, LIKE MY GOOD FRIEND AND LT. GOV. OF TEXAS DAN PATRICK RECOMMENDS. BY DOING THIER PART IN PROTECTING THE VALUE OF MY INVESTMENTS AND PROTECTING AMERICA FROM THE MUSLIN (sic) INVASION , EACH FAMILY WHO SACRIFICES A LOVED ONE, WILL RECEIVE A 10% DISCOUNT ON THEIR NEXT PURCHASE OF TRUMP BRANDED ITEMS OR A STAY AT A TRUMP RESORT (offer good through the November election). God bless America.

PS--work it fishy... roe your boat for me

[Buck Sexton]

Come on, which one of you seniors are going to take one for the team and start handing out shopping carts and bagging groceries?

It's just the flu!

[Gregory]

toes 332

The CCP made the earliest info go away this time.

https://obeythekitty.blogspot.com/

[Walt]

You first BS,, Your more of the lemming persuasion.

[Bill Tozer]

Gregory. Chairman Meow! No, I did not eat your cat. Quit asking. :)

Guess this goes here:

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – “The “baile funk” dance parties have been called off. Some open-air drug markets are closed for business. Gangs and militias have imposed strict curfews. Coronavirus is coming, and Rio de Janeiro’s lawless favelas are gearing up for the onslaught.

City of God, a sprawling complex of slums made famous in a hit 2002 movie of the same name, registered the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Rio’s favelas over the weekend......”

According to well-sourced Rio newspaper Extra, City of God gangsters have been driving round the slum, blaring out a recorded message to residents.

“We’re imposing a curfew because nobody is taking this seriously,” the message said, according to Extra’s Tuesday story. “Whoever is in the street screwing around or going for a walk will receive a corrective and serve as an example. Better to stay home doing nothing. The message has been given.”

https://www.oann.com/gangs-call-curfews-as-coronavirus-hits-rio-favelas/

When gangs are telling folks to behave, you know things are getting serious. The Plague is bad for business.