Saturday morning links: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

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Saturday, April 18. 2020

Saturday morning links: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Yeah, the world has gone crazy. What else is new? Get out there and buy a coffee and a donut - and don't worry, be happy.

An appreciation of Weird Al Yankovic

BBC Sports Broadcaster Gives Colorful Commentary Of His Dogs Fighting Over A Chew Toy

This university is offering credit for learning to play Dungeons and Dragons

More Than 400 News Outlets Partner With A Project Seeking Media To Beef Up Climate Coverage Amid Pandemic

The Limits of Clean Energy - If the world isn’t careful, renewable energy could become as destructive as fossil fuels.

Joe Scarborough's Bowing, Scraping Question to Biden: Can You Talk About People's Pain?

Joe Biden’s Double Standard - Confronting a sexual-harassment allegation, will the former vice president demand the due-process protections that he previously denied to others?

For three years, the left has been peddling the story that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election in collaboration with the Trump campaign, with the ridiculous Steele Dossier cited as the proof.Now, the Party Line has shifted. The Russians still did it, says the new line, possibly working with the Clinton campaign, only they fed disinformation to the gullible...

Was Trump the Only One in Washington Innocent of Russian Collusion?

At Long Last John Solomon Says Indictments May Be Coming This Week in Obama’s Spygate Scandal

Waiting for the truth

CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK MAY HAVE STARTED AS EARLY AS SEPTEMBER, SCIENTISTS SAY

David Warren: The world cannot be fixed

What Is The Proof That This Covid-19 Thing Really Is A "Crisis," Or That Economic Suppression Is The Solution?

Beef processors are closing U.S. plants, warn of beef shortages and hoarding

Are You Wearing Sweatpants While Working At Home During Bat Soup Virus? The LA Times Is Not Happy With You

Why coronavirus jobs crisis isn’t as bad as it may seem

Dr. Ronny Jackson to Newsmax TV: Time to Open Texas

SICHEL: Either We Wait For A Vaccine, Or We Turn The Lights On Now

That is too rational

Tammy Duckworth Falsely Accuses President Trump of Killing Americans in Coronavirus Crisis by Withholding Ventilators

Such trash talk. There are too many ventilators, plus they don't work well for covid oneumonia anyway

Influential COVID-19 Model Uses Flawed Methods And Shouldn’t Guide U.S. Policies, Critics Say

2.9 Million Americans Already Delinquent on Home Loans Thanks to Fauci Lockdown – Open The Economy!

“THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING” IS NOW “THE BUCK PASSER IN CHIEF”

Whatever he does is wrong cuz he is retarded orangeman

Why Epidemiologists Still Don’t Know The Death Rate From COVID-19

Lower than anyone thinks

COVID-19 Is A Man-Made Virus: HIV-Discoverer Says "Could Only Have Been Created In A Lab"

Internal memos reveal Chinese leaders delayed warning public of coronavirus pandemic

Duh. Lying is an Asian thing. Multicultural understanding, you know?

China Is Bargain Hunting—and Western Security Is at Risk. Beijing could use the coronavirus-induced economic crisis to go on a buying spree. The U.S. and European governments must restrict the purchasing of distressed companies in sensitive sectors.

WaPo: WHO Has A China Problem — But It’s Waaaay Worse Than That

Washington Post: Anti-Israel Activist Spews More Gaza Coronavirus Agitprop

Lying is a middle-eastern thing too. Ever been to a middle-eastern market?

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 08:36 | Comments (14) | Trackbacks (4)

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Excellent video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndy76mJHD6o

#1 Jake on 2020-04-18 11:15 (Reply)

Four degrees from MIT! Unlike a lot of colleges, that really is an achievement!

I would also suggest this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGC5sGdz4kg&feature=youtu.be

#1.1 mudbug on 2020-04-18 13:29 (Reply)

What Is The Proof That This Covid-19 Thing Really Is A "Crisis,"

The author sets up a strawman and then knocks it down. Why do we still fall for this?

The shutdown/quarantine was intended to gain time. Time to allow us to acquire PPE equipment and to ready the hospitals for what was coming (and is still coming). It worked, in fact it worked so well that in most of the country people are wondering if this is really a crisis. The problem with the shutdown is that now politicians have to make a purposeful decision to end the shutdown and politicians are not good at decisions which will leave them vulnerable to criticism.

However, regardless of the politicians willingness to actually make a decision the shutdown was not intended to "fight" the flu or end it or cure it. And the accompanying pain of the shutdown is NOT the cure. In reality the shutdown was a kind of rope-a-dope to buy time. It isn't a winning strategy or a cure. Time is up. Now we need to move to the second phase of this pandemic and deal with the increase in cases and deaths once the shutdown ends.

#2 OneGuy on 2020-04-18 11:43 (Reply)

“It worked”

Well, we did not overrun hospitals, that’s true. How can we ever be 100% sure it would have ever been otherwise? Are we not relying on those sketchy models, again?

We also pushed a lot of hospitals and private physician groups towards and into bankruptcy, too. Pretty big downside that has long-term consequences we will have to live with for years.

I’m just a little uncomfortable making declarative statements like that as if there is no room for interpretation.

#2.1 Jeff Brokaw (Link) on 2020-04-18 12:17 (Reply)

yes, the 'it worked' is based on zero evidence.

The problem is that the virus is so widely distributed, that no amount of suppression will do more than shift the dates around a bit.

When there are so many copies of the virus, 'reducing exposure by 80%' DOES NOT reduce infection by 80%, probably not by any amount at all. It's not a linear response. The only way to actually reduce the infection is to reduce the exposure to virtually zero, which cannot happen.

The people getting sick now are pretty much the ones who would have gotten sick with or without shutdown.

#2.1.1 jay on 2020-04-18 17:56 (Reply)

From WSJ today: “New Data Suggest the Coronavirus Isn’t as Deadly as We Thought”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-data-suggest-the-coronavirus-isnt-as-deadly-as-we-thought-11587155298

Preliminary, needs peer review etc. But they found 3-4% of Santa Clara County had antibodies, putting the infection fatality rate between 0.12 - 0.20%.

Bet on that number nationwide. The financial markets seem to be doing that very thing.

#3 Jeff Brokaw (Link) on 2020-04-18 11:44 (Reply)

"China Is Bargain Hunting"

We should keep China out of our country. Make it illegal for them to invest here or to own any property. In fact there is no good reason for any country or foreigners to own property here.

#4 Emu on 2020-04-18 11:50 (Reply)

Hear, hear! Our relationship to China is analogous to what should now be a nasty divorce. The dependent and/or abused wife (USA) must disengage in every possible way. We (along with the entire world) have been ruthlessly attacked by China's deliberate withholding of the virus information for weeks until it was too late for the world to take control precautions (as China itself did from the beginning), compounded by their closing off of Hubei province (yes, it has borders!) while allowing international flights in and out of Wuhan for weeks, thus infecting the world, with emphasis on Europe and the US.

"When someone shows you who they are, believe them."
"The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

#4.1 CT on 2020-04-18 17:47 (Reply)

The “Iron Law” Of Oligarchy – Always Pick The Policy-Makers

QUOTE:

“The iron law of oligarchy” is a political theory, first developed by the German sociologist Robert Michels in his 1911 book, Political Parties.

It asserts that rule by an elite, or oligarchy, is inevitable as an “iron law” within any democratic organization as part of the “tactical and technical necessities” of an organization.

Stiegler refines the Iron Law of Oligarchy, in his Theory of Economic Regulation, also suggesting that the big guys will always win and the little guys will always lose.

This is made crystal clear in the financial crisis of 2008 and the current economic collapse. In 2008 the perpetrators of the reckoning were provided with cheap loans that negated free market forces while rewarding excessive risk taking. This free flow of cheap money continued for the next decade. Financial markets as an efficient pricing mechanism of the productive allocation of finite resources died in 2008. What we were left with was a clear display of The Iron Law of Oligarchy.

In today’s crisis we see that financial markets received enough support to prop market capital within short reach of all time highs despite the economy seeing 22 million working Americans filing for unemployment. Policy makers first response to the crisis was to quickly allocate $5 trillion to a relatively few financial firms in order to prevent them from having to take losses on their speculative trades. These firms used the cash to re-inflate market prices, which created profits, from which they paid back the loan via the repo market.

On the other hand, it took several weeks for policy makers to allocate only $350 billion to support the government forced closure of around 20 million small businesses. This relatively small funding allocation ran out after 1.5 million small businesses received assistance.

Policy makers are yet to agree on a second bill to increase funding while many small business owners are left with $0 in the bank to feed their kids, pay their bills and wonder how they are going to recover. Imagine the stress. No seriously, pause and imagine the soul crushing stress they are living with every minute of every day. Yet policy makers are choosing to remain on break until early May. You can be certain if the banks or hedge funds were in trouble a bill would be passed immediately.

. . . Policy makers pick winners and losers. Oligarchs pick policy makers.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/iron-law-oligarchy-always-pick-policy-makers

#5 feeblemind on 2020-04-18 11:56 (Reply)

"Confronting a sexual-harassment allegation"--Ha. Who says Biden is going to confront any such thing? It's nearly down the memory-hole already.

Anyway, he's barely competent to stand trial.

#6 Texan99 on 2020-04-18 12:08 (Reply)

Where are all the environmental studies of the prevalence of the virus on surfaces. Seems a NYC subway car or bus would be perfect test platform. The could do it before then after cleaning to show the efficacy of the cleaning.

German virologist Hendrick Streeck has reported “There is no significant risk of catching the disease when you go shopping. Severe outbreaks of the infection were always a result of people being closer together over a longer period of time, for example the après- ski parties in Ischgl, Austria.”

Would this if scientifically proven not go a long way to ease the fears of many? Why do we not have a scientific report after 6 weeks? Where are the environmental studies majors?

#7 JK Brown on 2020-04-18 12:23 (Reply)

Well, volunteers largely home this weekend. This am notice says currently under 300 cases across TMC...

#8 anon a mouse on 2020-04-18 12:24 (Reply)

Re: WaPo: WHO Has A China Problem — But It’s Waaaay Worse Than That

It's not only WHO but the UN. The real question is, "Why do we support these organizations at all?"

#9 mudbug on 2020-04-18 13:25 (Reply)

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/weird-al-yankovich-appreciation/: I appreciate the heck out of Weird Al! Used to listen to Dr. Demento, who introduced me to Weird Al. But I won't read the NYT article.

#10 Sam L. on 2020-04-19 13:07 (Reply)

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Saturday, April 18. 2020

Saturday morning links: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."