NOW WE KNOW WHY WE’VE BEEN LOCKED IN. APPARENTLY THEY’VE LANDED, AND THE PUPPET MASTERS ATTACH TO THE FACE?  ‘Wow, What Is That?’ Pentagon Formally Releases Three UFO Videos.

A man with a face mask is an enemy…..

APPARENTLY EVEN PROPHETS OF DOOM CAN GET A CLUE:  COVID19 update, April 28, 2020: drug repurposing; perverse incentives; Neil Ferguson now sees further lockdowns as impractical.

WHEN WE VISITED CHARLOTTE NC 20 YEARS AFTER MOVING OUT, THE MALL AT WHICH I WORKED AS A YOUNG NEWLY WED HAD CLOSED. AND ACQUIRED A REALLY BAD REPUTATION BEFORE DOING SO: Lament for a Mall.

SMOD? IT THAT YOU?  Huge asteroid passing Earth morning of April 29.

NOT ALL HEROES OF THE LOCKDOWN WEAR CAPES. OR MUCH OF ANYTHING, REALLY:  Strip club in Oregon brings burlesque to coronavirus carry-out.

WHY, IT’S AS IF LIVING ENTAIL TRADE-OFFS! HOW CAN THAT BE? WE’VE BEEN PROMISED WE CAN HAVE IT ALL!  Disinfectant poisonings on the rise in children amid coronavirus.

IT’S TIME TO SAY NO MORE:  Fear is an opportunity for tyranny.

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SO TENNESSEE GOVERNOR BILL LEE HAS RELEASED A NEW ORDER AND IT’S LESS RELAXED THAN EXPECTED. Rich Hailey is unhappy.

The governor of Tennessee told everybody that he would not be extending his safer at home executive order, and that he would allow local governments to begin reopening their businesses when it expired.

Business owners reacted, bring in inventory, stocking shelves, bringing back employees, and spending money to get ready to reopen.

Today, just a couple of days before businesses were going to reopen, the governor issued a new executive order. Only some businesses would be allowed to reopen. Others would have to remain closed. Restaurants could open, but bars could not. Gyms could open, but swimming pools and bowling alleys could not. Stores could open, but playgrounds, amusement parks, theaters, auditoriums, arcades, race tracks, etc could not.

All of the theaters in Pigeon Forge were planning on reopening following the governor’s original announcement. They brought back their casts and crews, spruced up the theaters, and got everything ready to open up.

Now they can’t. All that time, effort, and yes, money, has been wasted as the governor, at the last minute, took away their hope.

This will be devastating to these businesses. Many of them will fail because of the governor’s about face. In a cruel parody of the last minute reprieve of the death row inmate, instead of offering a reprieve, the governor’s call has pulled the switch on Sevier County.

I cannot state this strongly enough; this eleventh hour extension of the shutdown will do irreparable harm to the county. It will be far more devastating than the fire of a couple years ago because ther will be no coming back for many of these businesses. The governor’s order will destroy even those businesses he so graciously deigned to allow to open. How will restaurants survive with no patrons? The locals won’t be able to afford to eat there, and the tourists won’t come because there’s nothing to do. The only thing more corrosive to a bottom line than a closed restaurant is an open one with too few customers, and Governor Lee has ensured that is exactly what will happen.

And for what? Saving lives from COVID-19? Feh. The numbers are clear and getting clearer. COVID-19 was never the monster it was made out to be. Serious? yes. Devastating? Not hardly.

What will be devastating is the countless lives destroyed by this continued overreaction on the part of the governor.

It’s sad; just a couple of days ago, I was praising him for allowing each local jurisdiction the dignity of deciding for themselves exactly how to transition back to a functioning economy.

I should have known better.

See what I mean about not trusting myself in front of a camera right now? I was able to go back and delete all the intemperate remarks and ‘colorful metaphors’ in the first version of this rant.

Well, that’s the advantage of text.

I’M SO SORRY TO REPORT THAT LONG-TIME BLOGGER AND INSTAPUNDIT COMMENTER KATHY KINSLEY HAS DIED. She started blogging not long after I did, and kept up a nonstop flow of sparkling insight on various platforms for the rest of her life. May she rest in peace, and know that she is missed.

INSANITY: Wash. State Came One Vote Away From Releasing Green River Serial Killer So He Wouldn’t Get Wuhan Virus.

WELL, YOU CAN’T EXPECT HIM TO LAY OFF CITY WORKERS OR CUT THEIR PAY. THAT’S CRAZY TALK. Nashville Mayor Cooper: ‘Enormous’ 32% tax hike needed to endure Covid-19 crisis.

Well, if you’re tired of too much growth and prosperity in Davidson County, this should fix that.

OPEN THREAD: While the poor people sleepin’ all the stars come out at night.

HMM: Antibody tests support what’s been obvious: Covid-19 is much more lethal than the flu.

Results from coronavirus antibody tests have started to trickle in, and they bolster the consensus among disease experts that the virus is significantly more lethal than seasonal flu and has seeded the most disruptive pandemic in the past century.

“I think it is the worst pandemic since 1918,” said Cecile Viboud, an epidemiologist at the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center, alluding to the “Great Influenza” pandemic that claimed an estimated 675,000 lives in the United States.

The new serological data, which is provisional, suggests that coronavirus infections greatly outnumber confirmed covid-19 cases, potentially by a factor of 10 or more. Many people experience mild symptoms or none at all, and never get the standard diagnostic test with a swab up the nose, so they’re missed in the official covid-19 case counts.

Higher infection rates mean lower lethality risk on average. But the corollary is that this is a very contagious disease capable of being spread by people who are asymptomatic — a challenge for communities hoping to end their shutdowns.

The crude case fatality rates, covering people who have a covid-19 diagnosis, have been about 6 percent globally as well as in the United States. But when all the serological data is compiled and analyzed, the fatality rate among people who have been infected could be less than 1 percent.

But as infectious disease experts point out, even a seemingly low rate can translate into a shockingly large death toll if the virus spreads through a major portion of the population.

Well, yes. Low fatality rate times huge infection rate equals big overall death numbers.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Hawaiian Brewery Under Investigation for Hand Sanitizer Giveaway. Absurd enforcement of liquor regulations harms public health efforts. “In other words: It’s against the law in Maui to give away hand sanitizer to people who buy liquor from you. And it’s also against the law to give liquor away to people who buy hand sanitizer from you.”

SPACE: SpaceX to test Starlink “sun visor” to reduce brightness.

ROGER SIMON: The Case for Suing the Chinese Communist Party.

THE MATRIX IS CURRENTLY GLITCHING VERY BADLY:

● Tupac Shakur is alive and waiting for his unemployment in Kentucky.

● Gwinnett [Georgia] man named Speedy Gonzalez arrested, accused of mail fraud scheme.

● Life Imitates Monty Python: A Dead Parrot Lawsuit!

As Rev. Jim Ignatowski once said on Taxi, “I thought I was on my way to Nirvana. All I ended up with was recurring flashbacks of the original Mouseketeers.”

FLASHBACK: Joe Biden Continues to Campaign Against Sexual Assault.

Launched in 2014 by the Obama White House, the It’s On Us campaign works to raise awareness about sexual assault, particularly on college campuses. Joe Biden has been a particularly vocal advocate for the campaign, having spoken about it at the 2016 Oscars and on several college campuses. Under the new administration, It’s On Us continues under the nonprofit Biden Foundation.

Based on the current allegations against Biden, he’ll certainly lose the key Democrat base of Hollywood:

Of course I’m kidding — Hollywood’s fully onboard with Biden. Or maybe not: Alyssa Milano Wants You to #BelieveTaraReade, Maybe.

SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Later school openings allow teens to get needed sleep, study finds: Delayed start to the school day can help 60 percent of students who don’t get adequate rest.

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REMEMBER THE CHINESE STUDY SUGGESTING THAT BLOOD TYPE A IS SOMEWHAT MORE LIKELY TO GET COVID-19?: Now there is an American study that included data from patients at New York Presbyterian Hospital.  It suggests the same thing and a little more. It found COVID-19 patients were more likely to be A or B blood types and were less likely to be O. These results were significant only for Rh positives. The difference in rates is not overwhelming, so don’t stop washing your hands if you have O type, and don’t run for the hills if you have A or B.

DISNEY IS A GREEDY PIG: Disney sparks backlash with #MayThe4th tweet.

Disney has been accused of trying to claim media ownership of popular hashtag “MayThe4th” on Twitter.

The company’s streaming service, Disney Plus, encouraged fans to share their favourite Star Wars memories using the hashtag on Monday.

It followed up with a legal warning suggesting any user who tweeted the hashtag was agreeing to Disney’s terms and letting it use their content.

It backtracked after a huge protest by fans and widespread mockery.

Good.

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

YOU WENT FULL WEIMAR, MAN. NEVER GO FULL WEIMAR: German doctors stage naked photo shoots to protest shortage of protective equipment.