Archive for 2020

THE SILVER LINING IN CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: It may represent a tipping point toward much wider adoption of telecommuting, which could be a huge paradigm shift in transportation, housing, personnel and project management, urban/suburban migration patterns, family dynamics, and much more, according to Mark Mills, writing in City Journal. Speaking as one who has mostly telecommuted for nearly two years, I say bring it on.

NEW FLYNN DOCS ARE ‘CLEARER MAP’ OF FBI CORRUPTION: That’s the word from investigative journalist Lee Smith. This guy deserves much more attention. Next question: Why did the government hide those documents for so long?

WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THAT TESLA IN MY DREAM LAST NIGHT? Here’s why it’s significant that two people never independently have the same dream. (BTW, it was red.)

OCEANIA HAS NEVER BEEN AT WAR WITH BRETT KAVANAUGH: Don’t Let The Washington Post Get Away With Memory-Holing Its Anti-Kavanaugh Campaign.

Related:

In the fall of 2006, Bill Clinton (who knows a thing or two about Biden’s current spot of bother), told a Washington Post interviewer, that “There is an expectation among Democrats that establishment old media organizations are de facto allies — and will rebut political accusations and serve as referees on new-media excesses.”

DID ANY JOURNALISTS ASK FAUCI ABOUT THIS? Why US outsourced bat virus research to Wuhan: US-funded $3.7 million project approved by Trump’s Covid-19 guru Dr Anthony Fauci in 2015 after US ban imposed on ‘monster-germ’ research. Because this story is over a week old and I haven’t seen anything.

Back in October 2014, the US government had placed a federal moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) research – altering natural pathogens to make them more deadly and infectious – as a result of rising fears about a possible pandemic caused by an accidental or deliberate release of these genetically engineered monster germs.

This was in part due to lab accidents at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July 2014 that raised questions about biosafety at US high-containment labs.

At that time, the CDC had closed two labs and halted some biological shipments in the wake of several incidents in which highly pathogenic microbes were mishandled by US government laboratories: an accidental shipment of live anthrax, the discovery of forgotten live smallpox samples and a newly revealed incident in which a dangerous influenza strain was accidentally shipped from the CDC to another lab.

A CDC internal report described how scientists failed to follow proper procedures to ensure samples were inactivated before they left the lab, and also found “multiple other problems” with operating procedures in the anthrax lab.

As such in October 2014, because of public health concerns, the US government banned all federal funding on efforts to weaponize three viruses – influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

In the face of a moratorium in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci – the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and currently the leading doctor in the US Coronavirus Task Force – outsourced in 2015 the GOF research to China’s Wuhan lab and licensed the lab to continue receiving US government funding.

The Wuhan lab is now at the center of scrutiny for possibly releasing the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and causing the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Worth remembering Fauci’s role here, as it may influence his conduct today.

OPEN THREAD: Flaunt the Imperfection.

AND RIGHTLY SO, AS IT WAS STUPID: US Women’s Soccer Pay Claim Dismissed By Court. “The women’s team has been paid more on both a cumulative and an average per-game basis than the men’s team over the class period.”

DAN RATHER COULD NOT BE REACHED FOR COMMENT: Youtube Top Official Mocks Content Creators ‘In Their Basement.’

Related: Twitter Just Suspended Candace Owens for a Really Dumb Reason. “Twitter user @robbystarbuck said he spoke to Twitter about Owens’ suspension. Twitter confirmed Owens was indeed suspended for her tweet about the Michigan stay-at-home order and said they would reinstate Owens’ account only if she agreed to delete her tweet.”

As Ed Morrissey warned in 2018, “When the service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. If you don’t want to be the product, don’t sign up in the first place.”

MOVIE THEATERS RETURNING MID-JULY? “Warner Bros. has made it clear that they are sticking to their guns with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and they still plan on releasing it in theaters in July. Disney is planning to release Mulan later that month as well. These will be the first big movies to be released since theaters shut down over the coronavirus, and the movies are both expected to have a low box office opening. In a recent interview with Variety, National Association of Theatre Owners’ CEO John Fithian revealed that plans are in place to open up major chains such as AMC and Cinemark by mid-July. Tenet is set to be released on July 17th, and Disney’s Mulan is set from July 24th.”

(Via Moe Lane.)

KARENS IN THE WILD: This flyer is being stuck up and left on cars in Downtown Knoxville.

It’s legal for restaurants to reopen now although — making this flyer even worse — some of these places aren’t reopening yet.

But to the extent the information on this is false, the perpetrator could be liable to a lawsuit. And should be, because this is a dick move. However, a lot of the reaction is hostile, like this comment that appeared on Facebook: “I’m gonna eat at these places even harder now. Thanks, Karen.”

I’m hoping that 2020 will mark the silencing of the Karens. They’ve had their way, and their sway, too long.