We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Forget the politics and forget the hate and the hateful media. As Scott Adams says (and as I observe), the American people almost entirely come together in positive ways when the going gets tough. We might not be a family, but we're a team. Team America.
That is when it matters. Petty politics and sniping are for the good times, not the challenging and sacrificial times. Nobody is worrying about pronouns or the weather now, thank goodness. Unfortunately, there are more important issues.
The vast majority of people who have died from coronavirus had underlying conditions, according to the CDC. New York City's numbers reflect that as well. Of the 790 people who have died from COVID-19 in New York City, all but 13 had underlying conditions. The city department of health's definition of "underlying conditions" includes diabetes, lung disease, cancer, immunodeficiency, heart disease, hypertension, asthma, kidney disease, and GI/liver disease.
I was wrong to make a bit of fun about the toilet paper pandemic. If you anticipate the worst all the time, sometimes you will be right. I have to say that, between the virus politics, peoples' economic and medical lives, and the epidemiology, it's confusing. I am glad I am not in charge. I am afraid April 30 will be as aspirational as was Easter. Lives are being destroyed, and it's nobody's fault.
10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.
11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.
12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”
13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.
16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
- Abbott Labs device approved for 5 minute testing of COVID-19 - 99% of hospitals are NOT overwhelmed - 80% of coronavirus deaths were overweight - CNN is being HORRIBLE in their coverage - Mike Cernovich MVP for information on coronavirus crisis - WHO lies to public that masks don’t help
Just wash your hands - whenever you go to do something. Purell if you got it, but soap is fine. Assume the bug is everywhere, but if you wash, no problem - and don't touch your darn face. If sick, quarantine yourself. Apparently this bug is not easy to catch except by hands or lengthy times in close spaces. Exposure is pretty much unavoidable, but getting sick is not.
Lots of people feeling snowbound these days, housebound. Get outside!
A short excerpt from Snowbound: A Winter Idyl (1866):
Yet, haply, in some lull of life, Some Truce of God which breaks its strife, The wordling's eyes shall gather dew, Dreaming in throngful city ways Of winter joys his boyhood knew; And dear and early friends the few Who yet remain shall pause to view These Flemish pictures of old days; Sit with me by the homestead hearth And stretch the hands of memory forth To warm them at the wood-fire's blaze! And thanks untraced to lips unknown Shall greet me like the odors blown From unseen meadows newly mown, Or lilies floating in some pond, Wood-fringed, the wayside gaze beyond; The traveller owns the grateful sense Of sweetness near, he knows not whence, And, pausing takes with forehead bare The benediction of the air.
Ahhh, the benediction of the air. Read the entire wonderful but old-fashioned-sounding 1865 poem by the great north of Boston newspaper editor and abolitionist here.
He made a lot of money from that poem. Whittier's home, to which the poem refers, stands in Haverhill, MA. It's a sentimental poem you can read to the kids - with feeling! Especially on a snowbound day.
If, as the evidence suggests, the Chinese virus is enormously dangerous to people with certain medical conditions and those over 70 years old, but a much smaller danger to those under 70, then shutting down the entire country indefinitely is probably a bad idea.
But even when the time is right — by Easter, June or the fall — there will be no one to stop the quarantine because the media will continue to hype every coronavirus death, as if these are the only deaths that count and the only deaths that were preventable.
What mayor, governor or president will be willing to take the blame for causing a coronavirus death?
That's when pols are challenged - when all options suck. This thing is loose on the planet, and will never go away entirely. Like flu never goes away, despite vaccines.
How are our readers dealing with this current mess?
Your work situation, getting outdoors, shopping, exercise, masks, level of fear, etc.
As for me, working from home (no choice), shopping every other day, using Purell, and exercising in the barn. No socializing. Riding and hiking this weekend. Not paranoid, just going along with the general tendencies.
... the biggest threat to mankind that the world has ever seen: the COVID-19 virus, also know as the Chinese flu, which to date has killed—are you ready—276 people in the United States, almost all of them over 80, almost all with serious co-morbidities.
Two-hundred-and-seventy-six people! And yes, that frightening number will rise. It will be 400, 500 before you know it. Maybe when all is said and done, we’ll see 1,000-1,200 identified who have died from complications that can be traced to this respiratory illness.
Meanwhile, somewhere between 22,000 and more than 50,000 people have died from the seasonal flu in the United States this year. Why is there no panic about that?
Kimball is a smart guy. What's your view? You are smart too.
Forget the politics and forget the hate and the hateful media.
Image via 
I was wrong to make a bit of fun about the toilet paper pandemic. If you anticipate the worst all the time, sometimes you will be right. I have to say that, between the virus politics, peoples' economic and medical lives, and the epidemiology, it's confusing. I am glad I am not in charge. I am afraid 
1 Corinthians 1:10-18