LESLIE EASTMAN: Coronovirus Task Force shows why America doesn’t need a permanent “Pandemic Office.” “The ready-when-needed ‘Pandemic Office,’ headed by Vice President Pence, is clearly effective and avoids needless bureaucracy and layers of regulation. . . . One of the benefits of Trump not having an extra layer of bureaucracy to wade through is that his administration has created perhaps the most effective public-private partnership to respond the the real needs of the American people. The Trump approach also means that novel ideas for providing medical assistance and new drug therapies are going to be available faster.”
Archive for 2020
March 15, 2020
THE POOR LITTLE THING: Smallest known dinosaur found trapped in 99-million-year-old amber.
ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Bernie Bros warn of ‘massive exodus’ if Dems nominate Biden.
HE’S NOT WRONG: Fauci: Americans are ‘going to have to hunker down significantly more’ to fight coronavirus.
Why hasn’t NYC closed the bars, especially with St. Patrick’s Day coming? I mean, even AOC is on the case.
IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY, OR WHAT? Someone Modified A Drone So That It Looks like Snoopy Flying Around On Top Of His Doghouse.
WHAT BIPARTISANSHIP LOOKS LIKE:
BIDEN VIRTUAL TOWN HALL: The Confused Ramblings of a Perpetually Confused Candidate. “People tweeted some embarrassing snippets from that disastrous event during which Biden seemed confused and uncertain about . . . everything.”
OF COURSE, SHE’S A HACK: Yale shrink who claims Trump is ‘mentally unfit’ refuses to diagnose Joe Biden.
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS, ESPECIALLY FOR AMERICA’S NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL.” Derp: AOC Advises People to Eat at Home Just Days After Calling People ‘Racists’ for Eating at Home.
IT’S NOT NEWS THAT GEORGE CONWAY IS AN IDIOT. BUT IT’S FUN TO DUNK ON HIM: George Conway Gets Destroyed on Twitter After Suggesting WH Physician Isn’t a Real Doctor.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: When will a coronavirus vaccine be ready?
Coronavirus: US airports in disarray over screening. To be fair, we’ve been bad at airport screening in general for nearly 20 years now.
Pandemic will take months to contain – diseases expert.
Chinese Tycoon Who Criticized Xi’s Response to Coronavirus Has Vanished.
Iran’s death toll from coronavirus reaches 724 – health official on Twitter.
Austria imposes major restrictions on movement over coronavirus.
Kazakhstan declares emergency due to coronavirus.
Taiwan reports six new coronavirus cases in largest single-day rise, all imported.
Japan Coronavirus Infections Rise to 1,484.
New York state officials announce first 2 coronavirus deaths.
Virginia governor announces state’s first death from coronavirus. Acquired “from an unknown source.”
IT’S COME TO THIS: ‘Somber Time,’ and Sober for Some: Pa. Liquor Stores to Close in Philly Suburbs. “All state-run liquor stories in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties will close, effective Tuesday, March 16, until further notice, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said Saturday. All 88 stores in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties will be open regular hours tomorrow, Sunday, March 15. On Monday, March 16, only select locations will open. That list can be found at the bottom of this story. The LCB noted that Pennsylvania residents can shop for wine and spirits at www.FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com, having purchases shipped directly to their homes.”
AT AMAZON, Deal of the Day, Chemical Guys MIC_507_06 Professional Grade Premium Microfiber Towel, Gold (16 in. x 24 in.) (Pack of 6).
MASCOTS OF THE ANOINTED: The ongoing creation of Greta Thunberg.
The account of Greta’s plight is undeniably moving. As is the portrait of Malena and Svante’s worry and anxiety, as they battle to stop Greta from wasting away. And wasting away she is. After dropping 10 kilograms in weight, the doctors tell Malena and Svante that she will have to be hospitalised unless she starts eating. It takes a heart of stone not to feel for this family, torn apart by a daughter who seems to be willing death.
It takes a heart of stone not to laugh, too, as the other Greta emerges in her mother’s proud re-telling, diagnosis in hand, and a cause for which to fight. This Greta is straight from the character stable of the 21st-century sitcom, the super-intelligent nerd whose truth-telling defies social norms, the geek who pays no heed to the feelings of others. Like that of Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory or Moss from the IT Crowd, her comedy is that of the absolutely humourless.
So to her father, who has just returned from Sardinia having taken Beata away for a restorative break, Greta’s first words are: ‘You just released 2.7 tonnes of CO2 flying there and back. And that’s the equivalent of the annual emissions of five people in Senegal.’ And to her mother one morning over breakfast, apropos of nothing: ‘You celebrities are basically to the environment what anti-immigrant politicians are to multicultural society.’
You’re a thought criminal! And apparently, as socialists, her parents’ reactions were very much akin to Parsons after he was arrested in 1984:
‘It was my little daughter,’ said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride. ‘She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh? I don’t bear her any grudge for it. In fact I’m proud of her. It shows I brought her up in the right spirit, anyway.’
Read the whole thing.
Related: Prince Harry Tells Russian Prankster Greta Thunberg Would Outsmart ‘Sick’ Trump.
BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH: On the 15th day of March, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia.
THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF OCD IN THE CORONAVIRUS ERA:
● Shot: The hellish side of handwashing: how coronavirus is affecting people with OCD.
—The Grauniad, Friday.
● Chaser: He Has 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer and Nowhere to Sell Them. Amazon cracked down on coronavirus price gouging. Now, while the rest of the world searches, some sellers are holding stockpiles of sanitizer and masks.
—The New York Times, yesterday.