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.
Have you noticed people avoiding public spaces this week? I have noticed fewer people on the subways (Which is great. Probably Ubering, or, God forbid, "working from home".)
Word is that the theater/movie biz is having a drop in attendance. Restaurants and pubs as busy as ever. People vary in their vulnerability to fearfulness. I refuse to be among the fearful. It's just not my way.
My church this morning was packed, as always. No more sipping the wine from the same cup, though. I never liked that idea anyway.
My gym is as busy as usual. They claim they do a special cleaning every three days. Whatever.
What about travel plans? Cruise lines are dead for a while, and northern Italy is shut down. I feel bad for their businesses. It's a Black Swan event. If you plan for Black Swans, you go nuts.
Paranoids love to have a teensy bit of fact to appear to justify their habitual fearfulness, and preppers love having a reason to justify their prepping. I feel those people just find it exciting, but most people I talk to just joke about the hysteria.
What a crazy world! If you ask me, a 6-month supply of peanut butter and jelly, and a bag of flour, ought to take care of it. Maybe 50 bags of chips, and how many cases of beer? Store Shelves Across The Country Are Emptying Fast
NYC is experiencing a virus panic. It must be in anticipation of a Wuhan-style 14-day lockdown. Supermarkets are running out of things like toilet paper, beer, coffee, etc. and there are empty shelves where the tomato sauces and spaghetti were. My Trader Joe's looks a little like Venezuela.
But why the run on water? People are buying all of the bottled water. Why? I can understand stocking up on beer and wine, but water?
In the cockpit on an Airbus A350 flight, Munich to Tokyo. The first class food looks actually edible. I've watched so many of these that I sometimes pretend I am flying when I'm driving a car.
These guys talk quite a bit about their training. The crew speak a bit about their jobs too. They seem to like their work.
Scott's podcast today, with Scott stoned. He's a better talker stoned than 99.9% of people cold sober.
Virus panic is making a lot of adults act insane. The stock market, though, makes sense in its own crazy way because of supply chains, etc., and it always overreacts anyway. Good buying opportunity, as I see it.
With all the news hype, I wonder what our readers think about this phenomenon whether the news hype aspect, the medical aspect, or the panic.
"Since when has a U.S. president allowed the little guys themselves, dressed as they've just come off the farm, authentic as can be -- no Hollywood stylist could do as well -- come out and speak their truth?"
“What I love about these rallies is that they provide such a stark contrast to the vision of America that the Democratic candidates keep describing. The story they’re selling is that these are dark times in a country that’s being run by a lawless autocrat. The rallies are filled with thousands of happy people who are laughing and applauding a president for whom they have very deep affection. Trump comes off as a proud, gloating grandpa, giving off no autocrat vibe whatsoever.”
My kids are too old to ever suffer under your universal this and universal that, and I'll dedicate the rest of my life to ensuring that my grandkids won't have to, either.
First-term socialists—House representatives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her fellow “squad” members, inspired by Sanders—now set the new Democratic agenda. And it is one that is more radical than anything seen in modern American history and largely unsustainable: calls to level a wealth tax and new top income-tax rates of 70-90 percent, to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, all student debt, an enforceable southern border, the internal combustion engine, and most Second Amendment rights, and to enact multi-trillion dollar new entitlements as outlined in the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free college, free healthcare for illegal aliens, and reparations.
Like the Jacobins, they are now killing their own.
They have one heck of a job, especially in Atlanta. Not that piloting is easy either. I would fly anywhere with this guy. He's a retired F-16 pilot and exudes competence.
Some cognitive dissonance via 