March 11, 2020

"[T]he president was able to take quick action to limit the number of people coming in from China that had exposure to coronavirus, but the No Ban Act would make it more difficult..."

"... for the president to keep Americans safe by addressing needs as we see other countries like Iran — you're seeing a large, potential large outbreak in Iran — Iran is one of those countries that we currently have a travel ban on because they don't allow us to properly vet that terrorists aren't coming into our country.... The president ought to be able to keep potential terrorists from coming into our country, but now with this outbreak of coronavirus, the president also needs to have all the tools available to limit, people coming in from countries with a high propensity of coronavirus... You wouldn't want legislation that would make it more difficult.”

Said Steve Scalise, quoted in "GOP leaders call on Pelosi to pull travel ban bill over coronavirus" (The Hill).

28 comments:

henry said...

Pelosi is deranged. Anything to get permanent power, even stacking illegals in California to up the coastal electoral votes.

rhhardin said...

Why does it matter - Trump will veto it.

tim in vermont said...

Whatever Trump wants, do the opposite. #Resist.

Greg said...

1. The entire planet has been naming viruses after the place it first started for at least 100 years, ie since viruses were 1st identified
2. The left is now saying it is racist to refer to the covid19 virus as the Chinese corona virus or Wuhan virus.
3. China wants to minimize their failures in controlling and admitting their problem for 2 months or more
4. Those calling this racism are a)stupid ignorant virtue signalers, or b) Paid Chinese agents
c) Voluntary Chinese agents

tim in vermont said...

I have a long time friend who was in Manhattan during 911 and has suffered from lung problems ever since, who is very sick with the flu right now. Hasn’t been tested for Wuhan.

tim in vermont said...

China is calling it an American bioweapon, BTW.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

That’s the point. Nancy wants open borders. All Democrats do. They can’t win future races without importing a new electorate.

Ralph L said...

I haven't seen anything about North Korea. If they're still malnourished, they could be de-populated. But at least they won't be travelling here.

Fernandinande said...

In a previous thread a lot of people seemed confused about exponential growth, but there's an easy way to think about it: it's like compound interest.

Here's a nice graph, supposedly based on real data from China.

tim in vermont said...

Democrats don’t just want to win, they want to engineer the electorate so that they can’t lose. But to point this out is racist.

gilbar said...

Greg said ...
4. Those calling this racism are a)stupid ignorant virtue signalers, or b) Paid Chinese agents
c) Voluntary Chinese agents


Greg, Embrace the POWER of the word AND

rhhardin said...

Exponential growth is how six degrees of separation works.

David Begley said...

The Dems would rather harm Americans than let the President do his job.

America needs to realize that the Dem party is anti-America. And this is not just Begley rhetoric. Dems support Open Borders. That means illegal aliens and, most importantly, killer drugs. Illegals lower wages for Americans. Dems support sanctuary cities. Biden was bribed by the Chinese. Hillary was a tool for any country with a checkbook. The CAGW scam is about destroying American industrial might.

Why would any sane American vote Dem? Wake up everybody!

rhhardin said...

Also Erdős numbers.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

OK, ban travel to Europe. That's where the biggest outbreak is outside of China.

tim in vermont said...

Isn’t all growth exponential? I mean that the exponent is the natural log * some coefficient? I don’t remember that stuff all that well, so maybe I am wrong. It just seems like this “exponential growth” phrase has long since divorced from any rigorous mathematical definition.

narayanan said...

Blogger Aunty Trump said...

Isn’t all growth exponential?
____________++++++++++++++
my Deplorable spelling is explodential

Fernandinande said...

Isn’t all growth exponential?

Of course not, it's a temporary phase because it always becomes impossible to continue growing at a given rate, then it become impossible to continue growing at any rate, then whatever was growing decreases.

Besides and besides.

tim in vermont said...

This whole thing is definitely showing some of the weaknesses of market capitalism. For instance “just in time” supply chain. Excessive integration into the global economy based on rosy assumptions about a future free of “black swans.”

I am starting to get tired of that black swan metaphor. Black swans are supposed to be really really rare. You know, like nobody, well nobody European, have ever seen one until Cook “discovered” Australia.

tim in vermont said...

I understand the modeling of infection diseases. I remember that they were, to me, the most interesting problems in my statistics and probabilities course, because the judgements one had to make and the insights required to solve the problems were so subtle. All I am saying is that “exponential” has become a buzzword that carries a terror factor apart from dry mathematics.

To me the disease growth problems were like Futurama and the playing card problems were more like Big Bang Theory.

gilbar said...

Aunty Trump said...
Isn’t all growth exponential?


Let's say that
four days ago, there were 64 cases
three days ago, there were 16 cases
two days ago, there were 4 cases
yesterday , there were 2 cases
That's exponential growth! It's growing EXPONENTIALLY (with the exponent being -2)

don't like that one?
four days ago, there were 64 cases
three days ago, there were 66 cases
two days ago, there were 68 cases
yesterday , there were 70 cases
That's exponential growth! It's growing EXPONENTIALLY (with the exponent being 1/6)

actually, it be 70.03 or so; which, since we're talking integer people... is 70

Michael K said...



That’s the point. Nancy wants open borders. All Democrats do. They can’t win future races without importing a new electorate.


Plus the virus offers the chance to kill off all those older voters who know history and remember the Soviet Union.

Wince said...

Why did the Republican house members put it so delicately to Pelosi?

At least behind the scenes, it should be "go ahead, make my day".

Maillard Reactionary said...

re rhhardin @7:55: He refers to Paul Erdős, one of the most eccentric (and influential) of 20th century mathematicians, a field rich with eccentrics.

One feels entitled to wonder if rhhardin has ever opened a can of tomato juice with a carving knife (because it was the first tool to come to hand) and returned it to the refrigerator still leaking its contents from the gash.

Mark said...

OK, ban travel to Europe.

There is a de facto near-ban to there already. Most folks will not go there at this time.

And I personally know a couple of people that were going to go to Italy last week, but cancelled their trip. Even if they were to enter Italy, there was no certainty that they would not be quarantined coming back.

n.n said...

Democrats, alleging diversity, opposed rational and practical measures to mitigate the progress of terrorism, which is at minimum a social contagion, too.

bagoh20 said...

Trump saves lives, fights disease, terrorists, and communists. He's a real live superhero! Superheros always have something strange about their appearance - thus Orange Man. His superpower is effectiveness and the ability to make his enimies lose their freaking minds at will.

Mark said...

You were saying, John Lynch?