THAT’S AMAZING! IF THEY WERE ABLE TO DO THAT, THEN I’M ALL FOR ‘EM! Did COVID-19 Lockdowns Reach Back in Time to Affect Behavior Before They Were Imposed?

Zimmer links to a chart that shows the reproductive number in Massachusetts falling precipitously in March. But that downward trend began more than three weeks before Gov. Charlie Baker issued his business closure and stay-at-home orders. By the time Massachusetts officially locked down on March 24, the number had fallen from 2.2 to 1.2. That decline continued during the lockdown, falling to a low of 0.8 by May 18, when the stay-at-home order expired and Baker began allowing businesses to reopen. It is therefore possible that closing “nonessential” businesses and telling people to stay home except for government-approved purposes reinforced the preexisting trend. But the lockdown had no obvious impact on the slope of the curve.

The reproductive number continued to fall sharply until the end of March, when it dropped below one, which indicates a waning epidemic. The drop then slowed, and the number fluctuated, going up and down a bit but always staying below one. Since the lockdown was lifted, the picture has stayed pretty much the same. The estimate for yesterday was 0.8, which is a bit surprising if you believe the lockdown was crucial in keeping the number low. Although it has been more than a month since Baker started reopening the state’s economy, virus transmission has not been notably affected.

But politicians can’t take credit for things people do voluntarily.

MY LATEST FOR THE PJMEDIA MOTHERSHIP: Two Americas: Risk-Tolerant vs Zero-Risk — Will One Ruin the Other?

There really are two Americas: The Risk-Tolerant America, and Zero-Risk America.

Before we get to that, however, I’m afraid I have some very good news for you: Americans are catching the Wuhan virus at record rates.

Now, if you’re a card-carrying member of Zero-Risk America, your panties just spontaneously wadded. Those of us who live in Risk Tolerant America — and if you’re a regular VodkaPundit or PJMedia reader, I’m guessing that includes you — understand that this is very good news indeed.

Still, some details would be helpful in order to explain our Two Americas.

Read the whole thing, if you don’t mind me saying so myself.

MORE REASONS TO DECOUPLE: Without firing a shot, China has killed Hong Kong.

YES! COME TO KNOXVILLE FIRST! Whataburger confirms expansion into Southeast, with eyes on Tennessee.

MATT MARGOLIS: Here’s Why the ‘Russian Bounties’ Story Is the New ‘Russian Collusion’ Hoax.

DISPATCHES FROM THE 1917 PROJECT: Seattle Leader on CHOP Shootings: ‘We Have to Dismantle Capitalism to Win a Violence-Free Society.’ WHAT?!

ON THE PAYROLL, USEFUL IDIOT, OR FELLOW TRAVELER? YOU MAKE THE CALL: Adam Silver Says He Hopes The NBA Can Find A ‘Mutual Respect’ With China.

GLEICHSCHALTUNG: Catholic university threatens to revoke scholarship of student who criticized its pro-LGBTQ tweet. Says the student: “In other words, if I want to survive at this Catholic institution, then I need to lie; lie on Twitter, and tell everyone that, in fact, my Catholic beliefs are wrong, and I am in full communion with the stance the school has taken.”

THE LEFT-WING CRACKUP: Should a white member of the moral elite get rich off of this scam?

A couple of weeks ago, street protesters broke all the windows in a coffee shop that I frequent. Normally, I’d get angry about an act of senseless violence like this, but the media tells me that those vandals are good people fighting for a righteous cause, so I’m trying to keep it in that perspective. Perhaps it’s even the owner’s fault for not putting up a “Black Lives Matter” sign in the window like so many other small businesses here in Richmond have, although I suspect it’s more of a prophylactic measure than true expression of solidarity. It’s very confusing. It looks to me like the Left has lost its mind, resembling a cult more than a political movement, with its disciples repeating stock phrases like robots.

The message I get repeatedly from the people in charge of our current cultural revolution, and the media that complies with its rhetoric and actions, is that they’re the moral elite, and we can’t question them. So when the mob tore down a statue of George Washington in Portland, they explained that it’s because he was a slave owner, and therefore justified. Don’t bother arguing that he was the founder of the nation, because the United States, according to the progessive moral elite, is nothing to celebrate. It’s a failed, white supremacist state conceived in slavery and beyond redemption. The only solution is to tear it down and rebuild it from the ground up, which is what BLM espouses. Liberals voicing their approval for the BLM movement should keep this in mind. If they get their way, you’re not going to like it.

Read the whole thing.

Related!

The Sorbonne meets Conquest’s Third Law of Politics: “The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.”

“THAT’S A COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS STATEMENT!” SHOULD BE THE DEFAULT RESPONSE TO PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING FREDO SAYS. CNN’s Cuomo vs. St. Louis Home Defender: You Are The Face Of “White Resistance” To Black Lives Matter.

“How do you feel about becoming the face of political resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement?” was Cuomo’s first question.

“First of all, that’s a completely ridiculous statement,” McCloskey responded. “I’m not the face of anything opposing to Black Lives Matters movement. I was a person scared for my life who was protecting my wife, my home, my hearth, my livelihood. I was a victim of a mob that came through the gate. I didn’t care what color they were. I didn’t care what their motivation was. I was frightened. I was assaulted and I was in imminent fear that they would run me over, kill me, burn my house.”

McCloskey continued, “To give you context, on June 2nd, I watched the city burn, I watched the 7-11 get smashed in, looted and burned for 40 minutes on live television with nobody showing up to do anything. I realized at that time, we’re on our own, when bad things happen, they unpredictably turn really bad, really fast. That same night, retired St. Louis Police Captain David Dorn was murdered. These things get very bad very quickly. And when those people came through the gate, when it was a mob, I didn’t take the time to see their birth certificates or anything else, I was defending my life, my house, my wife and what I spent 32 years building there.”

Throughout the interview, Cuomo continually doubted McCloskey’s fear that his and his wife’s lives were at risk and attempted to poke holes in how much of a security threat the protesters actually posed. He told Cuomo the reason why the protesters weren’t able to get the steps of his home is not because they weren’t going to loot it, it is because he and his wife brandished their weapons. . . .

Cuomo attempted to portray the mob that broke a private gate to gain entrance as peaceful demonstrators on their way to protest St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson that happened upon McCloskey’s property. McCloskey said the mayor lives more than a half a mile away and the mob was in a gated community that did not provide access to the mayor’s house.

Luckily for the Democrats, elections are seldom decided by suburban voters.

FAUCI’S STAR SEEMS TO HAVE DIMMED: Rand Paul rips Fauci’s coronavirus response, says schools should be reopened.

WOW: Here’s How Many Shipping Containers You Could Fit Inside SpaceX’s Starship. “A new visualization by Twitter user Neopork shows just how much room there is inside Starship’s cargo fairing. According to the graphic, you could fit two entire standard 40-foot shipping containers, and still be able to comfortably stand on top of them.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Fresno State faces calls to remove Gandhi statue.

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RECOVERY SUMMER! June private payrolls rose 2.37 million and there was a big positive revision for May, ADP says. “For the month, hiring was especially strong in the pivotal leisure and hospitality industry, which took the biggest hit as measures aimed at curbing the coronavirus spread meant shutting down most bars and restaurants across the country. The sector added 961,000, by far the biggest gain in any industry.”

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Climate Alarmist Apologizes but I Still Want Reparations From Al Gore. “In the fourteen years since Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth made that claim ‘global warming’ has become ‘climate change,’ largely because the alarmists keep being wrong about everything and they needed a malleable catch-all phrase to better market their snake oil.”

ABOLISH THE CHAZ POLICE!

The CHAZ/CHOP “security” folks are shooting unarmed black men and boys at a much greater rate than the Minneapolis police, who are what this is supposedly all about.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Williams College Cuts Tuition 15%, Cancels Fall Sports Due To COVID-19.

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: (Video) Harvard Student threatens to stab anyone who says “all lives matter.” Will liberal colleges and universities ever teach students that speech ≠ violence?

Somebody’s angling for either great press from the New York Times, or a job there.

THERE’S A MOVEMENT IN TENNESSEE TO DO THE SAME THING. Oregon Is Third State To Offer Diploma Privilege To 2020 Law Graduates. And I understand Texas law deans have written the Texas Supreme Court asking for the same there. There’s a move toward that in Tennessee as well, though I don’t know yet if it will happen.

CONSERVATIVE LAUREN BOEBERT UNSEATS FIVE-TERM REPUBLICAN SCOTT TIPTON.

Flashback: “Boebert drove three hours from Rifle, openly carrying a handgun, to confront [Robert “Beto” O’Rourke] the presidential contender. She owns Shooters Grill in Rifle on Colorado’s Western Slope (where the waitstaff open carry loaded firearms in the establishment). ‘I was one of the gun owning Americans who heard you speak regarding your ‘Hell yes I’m going to take your AR-15s and AK-47s. Well, I’m here to say hell no you’re not.’”

COLORADO: Gov. Jared Polis closes Colorado bars again after coronavirus cases increase.

I’d just gotten used to being able to get out of the house at lunch to grab a cocktail and a sandwich at my favorite corner place.

REALLY? BECAUSE ALL THE SMARTEST PEOPLE TOLD ME HE HAD TO: Americans not hot for Biden to pick black VP, only 51% of blacks support.