NO. HE SHOULDN’T. HE SHOULD EXIT STAGE LEFT PURSUED BY BEARS. EXTRA POINTS IF THE BEARS ARE RABID: World Health Organization Director Should Resign Says Sen. Martha McSally.
Archive for 2020
April 4, 2020
START CUTTING DOWN ALL NON-ESSENTIAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES/SERVICES. WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD THEM, AFTER HITTING OUR ECONOMY WITH A HAMMER AND DANCING WITH LUNACY: COVID-19: massive unemployment, except in government.
FAR AWAY FROM US? China’s place in the post-COVID-19 new world order.
BUT THERE ARE STILL AMERICANS: ‘This Is Not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia Where You Are Asked For Your Papers!’ Says Maine Sheriff.
SORRY, MAY I ASK PRECISELY WHY THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS GONE NUTS? Former Supreme Court Justice Warns of a British ‘Police State’.
YEP. AND AS NOTED, AN INTERESTING THING, DESPITE SIMILAR NUMBERS OF CHINESE AND SIMILAR CULTURE, THE PORTUGUESE WHO HAVE A PARALLEL, PRIVATIZED HEALTHCARE SYSTEM ARE FARING MUCH BETTER THAN ITALIANS AND SPANIARDS: It was inevitable that socialized medicine gave up on the elderly with COVID-19.
YES, I KNOW. IT RUINS THE NICE PANIC WE’VE GOT GOING: Data & Numbers: COVID 19.
Chances increase daily that Winnie the Flu is a paper tiger.
DID I LINK THIS YESTERDAY? IF NOT, GO READ IT: Monday Thoughts (yes, the d*mn virus).
WITH TRUMP DEFERRING TO EXPERTS AND DELAYING NORMALCY TO THE NEVER-NEVER? ALL OF THEM: Businesses That Are Going To Fail.
THESE DAYS WHEN ANGER IS OFTEN CRIPPLING IN TERMS OF WHAT I CAN PRODUCE, IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO HAVE SOMETHING TO LAUGH ABOUT, AND THIS ONE IS A DOOZIE: Sans sanction ni restrictions, le Portugal est (relativement) épargné par le #coronavirus.
For those who don’t feel like Google translate, that is roughly “Without sanctions or restrictions, Portugal is (relatively) spared by #coronavirus. Fair. Portugal has far fewer fatalities than Spain or Italy, which is inexplicable. Unless you assume that the Portuguese aren’t throwing grandma from the train, that is taking the opportunity to rid themselves of elders, while the other two nations almost certainly are. Or take into account the fact that Portugal has a private medical system alongside state-provided health system. (Spain did too, but nationalized at the beginning of the crisis, because… I don’t know. What ARE they putting in the paella these days, anyway?)
BUT the truly hilarious thing in that article is that the Portuguese Prime Minister attributes this to the Portuguese being — I swear I have to pause and laugh before I type it — more organized than other Europeans.
I have no idea what he’s smoking, or where he found it, but that’s potent stuff. Breaking rules and laws is by way of being a Portuguese pastime. Portuguese don’t line up, they scrum. There isn’t anything requiring order and careful deliberation that the Portuguese don’t do sideways, backwards and upside down. And frankly that’s part of the reason I retain some fondness for the place! Disciplined! I told my husband and rendered him speechless for minutes!
April 3, 2020
AT AMAZON, deals in Movies & TV.
YOU PROBABLY SAW THAT MISLEADING MAP OF TRAVEL BASED ON CELLPHONE VIDEOS. IT WAS USED IN A CONDESCENDING AND ELITIST WAY.
Today, New York Times journalist and podcast host Michael Barbaro tweeted a map showing on the dates when people stopped traveling over two miles. Most of the South was lit up bright red, an indication that they hadn’t stopped until very recently, if at all. Other states had red counties, but it was hard to ignore the blaring siren of the South.
In the midst of a pandemic where folks are encouraged to stay home, this chart could seem damning, especially if you think the South is full of idiot rednecks.
Which Barbaro apparently does.
“In a word…. The South,” he tweeted. . . .
As Facing South reporter Olivia Paschal points out, the map makes more sense when viewed with the second map in the Times article in which it originally appeared, which showed that the Southern states in question had seen less travel than what was considered “normal.”
The Times story delves into this further: Southern municipalities and states have been slow to implement stay-at-home orders. But Southerners are traveling less. And the map doesn’t account for necessary travel, like to get groceries or seek medical care.
Barbaro didn’t mention that. “LOL rednecks” is an easier tweet.
There are nine states where more than 5 percent of the population has no car and no supermarket within a mile. North Carolina is one of them; the rest are also in the South.
Almost 28 million people in the South live in rural areas, almost half of the country’s rural population. Because of the spread, people in rural areas have the longest distances to travel to receive medical care. And the South, the sickest region in the United States, accounts for one in 10 COVID-19 deaths.
Some other facts Barbaro might have missed: The South has the lowest median household income of any region in the U.S; nine of the 10 states with the highest poverty levels are from the South.
The South also has the biggest minority population of any region.
A quick Google search reveals that Michael Barbaro grew up in Connecticut, attended one of the oldest country day schools in the country, and went to Yale University. He got a job at The Washington Post straight out of college and shifted to The New York Times shortly after that.
So let me offer a real-life example: My house growing up was in downtown Mount Airy, and the closest Food Lion was 1.3 miles away. If my family needed more than food, Walmart was 4.3 miles away. If we had to go to the ER, it was 2.2 miles. For folks who live farther out, the shortest distance you can travel is at least two miles.
I promise you, Michael Barbaro, they aren’t driving for the hell of it.
It’s as if Michael Barbaro is some sort of elitist twatwaffle. But yeah, those dumb southerners don’t know how to practice social distancing like these New Yorkers:
In a word . . . NYC.
UPDATE: This photo from ABC7NY wasn’t taken on Thursday, as reported. Apparently it’s from March 30, which was Monday. Not a huge difference, but still.
OPEN THREAD: Throw back the little ones.
USA TODAY FACTCHECK RATES AS “TRUE” TRUMPS CHARGE THAT the Obama Administration depleted the national n95 mask stockpile.
DON’T WORRY, ANY MINOR WORLD THAT FALLS APART COMES TOGETHER AGAIN: Interstellar Comet Borisov is no longer in one piece. I mean, just ask any major dude.
Alternatively, this is the alien pod separating from the cometary nucleus it was using for cover. I mean, this is 2020, anything can happen.
HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT SUCKS: Doctors Say Hospitals Are Stopping Them From Wearing Masks. ‘I’m being yelled at. I’m being told to take it off. I’m being told that I’m scaring patients and that I’m scaring other people.’ We’ve had people who had their jobs threatened.”
MY FORMER STUDENT JORDAN MOLLENHOUR, ALONG WITH OTHERS, brought a planeload of masks into Knoxville for distribution to hospitals and first responders. Great work.
FLIP. FLOP. Biden campaign says he backs Trump’s China travel ban. “Biden first accused Trump of xenophobia in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic on January 31, at a campaign rally in Fort Madison, Iowa — in comments that came shortly after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the travel ban.”
IT’S ILLUSTRATED WITH A BAT. I DON’T REALLY CARE WHERE THEY GO, SO LONG AS IT’S NOT A CHINESE SOUP MARKET: Wireless network helps scientists track small animals.
#JOURNALISM: After mocking Trump for promoting hydroxychloroquine, journalists acknowledge it might treat coronavirus. “Journalists and top Democrats have beaten a similarly hasty retreat from their previous claims that Trump’s ban on travel from China was both xenophobic and ineffective. But media outlets’ misinformation on hydroxychloroquine was unique because it involved not simply policy disagreements but also suggestive medical advice and directives that could have dissuaded some from seeking certain treatments.”
The press lied, people died. But no responsibility, and no consequences.