March 5, 2020

Will the coronavirus put an end to campaign rallies?

Are you avoiding crowds? If not yet, at what point would you?

Campaign rallies are a particular problem, because not only are they crowded, but the idea is already out there of deliberately spreading the virus at the campaign rally of a candidate you oppose:
Democratic Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca faced conservative criticism Tuesday after sharing a meme on Twitter suggesting she stands in “solidarity” with the idea of spreading coronavirus at President Trump’s campaign rallies.
The disease is viral, and the idea is viral.
CdeBaca, apparently posting in jest, had retweeted a meme that said: “For the record, if I do get the coronavirus I’m attending every MAGA rally I can.”
It doesn't matter that some of the people spreading the meme (AKA virus) feel that they are joking. They're like asymptomatic spreaders of coronavirus. They lack awareness that they are dangerous, and that makes them "superspreaders." Others who catch the idea may not confine themselves to the humorous form and may break out into action.

Whether anyone is awful enough to do that, how can you feel trustful in such large groups?

If campaign rallies end, what effect will it have on the 2020 elections? My first thought is that it will hurt Trump because he's so effective at rallies and he seems to have far more capacity to do rallies than his (likely) opponent Joe Biden. And people will think — rightly or wrongly — that Trump is responsible for the virus and maybe getting rid of him will magically chase off the virus. And what if he keeps up with the rallies — because they work for him and because he wants to minimize the problem — and breakouts of virus seem to be traceable to rallies?

There will be conspiracy theories that Trump-haters have spread the virus, whether they did or they did not. There's insane panic down that road.

The cynical part of my mind foisted the next question on me: Which candidate appeals to the insane-panic voter?

117 comments:

traditionalguy said...

Hmm. What would Napoleon Bonaparte do?

clint said...

How is "CdeBaca" pronounced? Does it have an interesting origin, or is it like Bloomberg's grandkid where the parents smooshed their names together to make up a new one for the kid?

rhhardin said...

Just point out that it doesn't work. It infects everybody, Trump supporter or not, at an enormous rate.

It's democrat thinking. Only the first infection counts, the consequences of that do not.

JAORE said...

FFS.

Colleges closing, schools closing. The NCAA Tournament by telecast only.

Panic is upon us.

For the sake of their health, Democrats should avoid the crowds at voting sites next November.

You can't be too safe.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

I'm worried about the candidates! If they keep meeting people, they'll catch it, and they are all old. Imagine a 1/6 chance for each candidate that they'll die from exposure. Maybe that's a little high, but Bernie has a preexisting condition, and they are all under a lot of stress.

Kristen said...

Be honest- it wasn't "deliberately spreading the virus at the campaign rally of a candidate you oppose."

It was deliberately spreading it at Trump rallies, because the people who so rabidly oppose Trump are the only ones who think it's funny to "joke" about killing people who support him. Call it what it is- Trump derangement syndrome. Trump's supporters aren't deranged, so you're not going to see these "jokes" by them.

Fernandinande said...

Candy Cow Head.

gilbar said...

sounds like, they're pre-making an excuse; for Why Jo Biden can't be seen in public
It's NOT that he's Dead! and it Certainly isn't that he's suffering from dementia
IT's THE CORONAVIRUS!
THAT'S WHY we can't have any rallies; Or Debates!

paminwi said...

“ CdeBaca, apparently posting in jest”
Anyone really believe she said it in jest?
Yeah, I don’t think so.

Leland said...

Large scale events, like a campaign rally, are usually rare enough that people will "suffer through" any annoying illness like a head cold to attend. So yes, there are probably people there who shouldn't be that will get others sick. When I go to any such event, I take extra vitamin C, wash my hands after contact with others, and avoid touching my face, which likely means not eating at the event. Doesn't matter if it is a campaign rally or rock concert.

Or, you can panic like the world ends this week.

narciso said...

he's pining for the fjord's dontcha know,

narciso said...

of course there is the interesting filip that senator chris murphy, was hanging around with a whole contingent of Iranian officials in munich last month, some of whom may have been contagious,

Fernandinande said...

Lileks has some news clippings contemporaneous with the 1957 Asian flu (oh the racism, it burns!): "In a city of one million population there could be as many as 200,000 cases and 400 deaths."

On page 23 of the paper.

Sebastian said...

"the idea is already out there of deliberately spreading the virus at the campaign rally of a candidate you oppose"

The prog idea is out there of deliberately spreading the virus at the campaign rally of the candidate progs oppose.

FIFY.

I know you are straining to fake neutrality, but, as "observers," let's keep it real.

Limited blogger said...

I've got tickets to see Dead and Company August 1st (Jerry Garcia's birthdate) at Met Life stadium. I bought the ticket insurance for the first time ever.

Think things will be sorted out by then?

Freder Frederson said...

It was deliberately spreading it at Trump rallies, because the people who so rabidly oppose Trump are the only ones who think it's funny to "joke" about killing people who support him.

Give me a freaking break. Achilles regularly fantasizes about killing his political opponents on this blog. Of course you will argue that he is serious, not joking.

MadisonMan said...

Am reminded of Dan Savage licking doorknobs.

AllenS said...

If you are in poor health, stay away from crowds, but if you are healthy, go to any rally, sporting event, shopping mall... Not a problem.

Avoid all Biden rallies, because you will catch the stupid virus.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Given the effort I'm exerting keeping my 79-year-old mom safe, it's amazing to me 77-year-old Joe Biden and 78-year-old Bernie Sanders are still out meeting random people. The disease is spreading faster than the testing for the disease. They are only testing a subset of people who end up in the hospital with a major illness, and only when it's atypical. I suspect a lot of "normal" deaths of old people from pneumonia are being ignored. That already happened in Washington state, where it was only noticed because a lot of "normal" deaths happened all at once.

Meade said...

"Am reminded of Dan Savage licking doorknobs."

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/13/1469461/-Are-You-Willing-to-Lick-Door-Knobs-for-Hillary-or-Bernie

https://althouse.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-lad-is-good-friends-with-woman-who.html

narciso said...

and other incidents of that matter, recall Nicolson baker's snuff book checkpoint, 'death of a president' these are not outliers, the attacks against the huntress on facebook, which were not taken down by Zuckerberg,

Eleanor said...

Given how many people die from influenza every year, and we don't cancel large scale events during the winter every year, I'd say it's an over-reaction. But it does fall into place with our fear culture, The one that keeps kids from playing outside because our neighbors are all kidnappers and sexual predators.

JML said...

We have trip to Alaska planned in May, with a cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver at the end of it. Standard trip insurance is free thru my CC. If I want all inclusive, I have to spend around $1200 and would only get back around $4400 if we decided not to go. I'm not sure that is worth it. OTH, if we get sick and can't go or have to return, we are covered. I was never interested in a cruise unless it was tied to Alaska. This will be our first and most likely last.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Bob Boyd said...

There will be conspiracy theories that Trump-haters have spread the virus, whether they did or they did not. There's insane panic down that road.

Now you're just trolling us.

Anonymous said...

Now if only we could have some kind of panic that could shut down every other aspect of campaigning.

Big Mike said...

“ CdeBaca, apparently posting in jest”
Anyone really believe she said it in jest?
Yeah, I don’t think so.


@paminwi, file this under “Althouse is gullible”

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Althouse, October 17, 2006

Bush shook his hand and then “turned to an aide nearby, who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president’s hand.”
Writes Barack Obama (in his new book "The Audacity of Hope," which Michiko Kakutani loves).


Misposted this in the other thread.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Eleanor:

It's not fear culture when the death rate is 20x the rate for influenza (.16% v. 3.4%).

It varies by age, with kids being almost immune and old people being extremely vulnerable.

jeremyabrams said...

How many poll workers will still be willing to work the polls, including for early voting? Absentee voting (sadly for the republicans) also will skyrocket.

If it follows the usual flu in being seasonal, and dies down during the summer, rallies may be possible then, but even so, it will likely be back in force by October.

Inga said...

“Anyone really believe she said it in jest?
Yeah, I don’t think so.”

You don’t think so because you aren’t very bright. If the silly woman really had Covid19 she would most likely be too ill to attend any rally. And her joke wasn’t funny.
————————————-
“It was deliberately spreading it at Trump rallies, because the people who so rabidly oppose Trump are the only ones who think it's funny to "joke" about killing people who support him.”

“Give me a freaking break. Achilles regularly fantasizes about killing his political opponents on this blog. Of course you will argue that he is serious, not joking.”
————————————-
Yes, how many times have we heard Achilles and even Michael K talking about hanging political opponents from lampposts? Everyday has a new reason for Achilles to have a civil war. And he’s not joking.

narciso said...

how many death threats did scott walker get, please stop pretending you have any such such concerns

Dust Bunny Queen said...

We are avoiding big crowds. But then again, we always do anyway. Other than some outdoor car shows or shopping at Costco or other stores we usually aren't in crowds.

I expect that the CV19 virus will soon be everywhere. You can't stop it. There really isn't a whole lot we can do to prevent getting it; especially since people who are infected don't show symptoms for some time, but are still contagious.

We do have to go to a larger city, next week, to visit my ailing 93 year old father. (This will probably be the last time we will see him as he isn't long for the world.😔) I plan to wipe down every surface that we have to touch in the rooms and other places etc etc etc. Taking precautions is all we can do.

Interestingly the World of Warcraft Corrupted Blood Plague Incident has been closely studied by real world Epidemiologists. "Unexpectedly, it was in this virtual world that epidemiologists and disaster planners discovered an untapped resource in trying to predict mass economic and societal responses to a global pandemic. Good read.

Some players just ran away and accidentally infected other areas of the virtual world before they died. Others isolated themselves (or just logged off of the game until it was over) Other, higher level characters, ran toward the infected areas and tried to help. Others purposely spread the plague because they are evil dicks. (I was playing then, and my lowly hunter just hid like the coward that he was :-)

In a virtual world video game, no one is really going to die. However, people acted in ways that were predictable and have parallels in the real world. In the real world there ARE consequences

Howard said...

Achilles may not be joking, but he is a sad joke.

Hagar said...

CdeBaca refers to descendants of:
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer of the New World, and one of four survivors of the 1527 Narváez expedition. During eight years of traveling across the US Southwest, he became a trader and faith healer to various Native American tribes before reconnecting with Spanish civilization in Mexico in 1536. Wikipedia

I think it has also been customary for servants of a household taking the name of the owner. anyway, these are families long resident in what is today the American Southwest.

Deb said...

“ CdeBaca, apparently posting in jest”

Jesting or not, you really have to question the judgment of these elected officials, in this and so many other instances. I feel we really have hit rock bottom with our choices of candidates.

Levi Starks said...

Which candidate?
That’s an easy answer. Both.
And I’m even guessing the percentages
would be similar.

MayBee said...

I am not avoiding crowds. I am avoiding people who are too worked up about Coronavirus, who have very little to fear about it.

Browndog said...

Austin says SXSW is open for business!

Locals are furious. The real ones, not the California transplants that are, or have, turned Austin into the same shithole they came from.

Ann Althouse said...

I spent $1,000 for tickets to something that I'm now contemplating staying away from. We'll see what happens?

Am I supposed to stop going to my Pilates lesson?

Howard said...

Keep you immunity up by fasting.

Equipment Maintenance said...

Inga said: "Everyday has a new reason for Achilles to have a civil war."

Every day the progs think of some other way to oppress, enslave or kill us, so, yeah.

Howard said...

You're not supposed to admit that you go to Pilates.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I avoid campaign rallies, as the sickness they spread is far more dangerous than the coronavirus.

MountainMan said...

"Whether anyone is awful enough to do that..."

Actually, I think they are. And I can predict how they vote, too.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Althouse:

Now is a time when your disdain for travel pays dividends.

gilbar said...

The disease is spreading faster than the testing for the disease
The disease is exactly as fast as the testing for the disease.
fify

IF you assume,
that the chinese are right; this is a Brand New Thing, and only the people we've tested have it.
That gives you not many deaths for hardly any infections == a large mortality rate
BUT
IF, there are 10 people who have it (or, had it), and Never knew/noticed; that drops the mortality rate by (you guessed it!) a factor of 10)

Known infections continue to Skyrocket... as we test more.
We are now testing, ALL OVER the world; and we're FINDING it all over the world.

Of the 3,337 deaths, how many were in china? 3012

If medical experts, like Igna are correct; shouldn't we be seeing tens of thousand (SCORES of thousands!) of deaths by now?


It certainly could be, that i'm whistling pass the graveyard; but that's not how i see the numbers

narciso said...

speaking of staying away, they moved the last? james bond over to November, which is when they usually release it, but it's a sign it will stink like dingo's kidneys,

rightguy said...

I think the healthy among us we should simply go about our business just as we would do during a flu epidemic- attend ball games, movies, etc. , but take precautions. Many of us will get COVID19 anyway, just as we catch a cold or flu every winter. You can't isolate 24/7 for 3-6 months and have a life. I'm really not that concerned.

Curious George said...

There seems to be no reduction in attendance at my gym....and I can't think of many worse places to go if you want to avoid contact with a virus.

Fernandinande said...

"Laws That Criminalize Spread Of Infectious Diseases Can Increase Their Stigma"

Oh no!

Butwadeaminute, is increasing the stigma of a infectious disease a good thing or a bad thing?

Jim said...

I think Althouse is wrong about how people would respond. I think Trump supporters would be absolutely pissed, thinking (rightly or wrongly), due to the meme, that it was Trump haters that spread it. It would probably be "maybe they did it" thoughts and words unless it happened at two rallies. Then there would be rage.

Trump supporters would have two groups- one that avoids the rallies and one that goes to even greater lengths to attend them. They will travel from other states and follow the rallies like Grateful Dead groupies. They will have a "Come at me, bro!" attitude.

Liberals and moderates will be embarrassed to be associated with someone that would intentionally spread Coronavirus. The Democratic candidate will see a small but crucial drop in support.

Overall effect? Trump wins in a landslide. And more Coronavirus deaths.

jimf said...

I am definitely avoiding crowds. Did not attend a free CLE session this week. That can wait a couple of months.

Jamie said...

I... guess... there's a point to be made about equivalencies between a publicly stated intent, joking or not, by an elected official to spread a disease among her political opponents and an anonymous blog commenter's overwrought and violent statements about his (or hers). But it's my opinion that that point is "These are not equivalent."

jnseward said...

Russia collusion, Kavenaugh rape parties, Covington kids, shampeachment, more Russian collusion, corona virus hoax. It’s pretty clear who the insane-panic voters are.

Browndog said...

As one of the medical experts said early one, COVID19 is highly contagious, but not as infectious as other strains of Corona virus.

tcrosse said...

My relatives in Bellevue, WA, report that they are fully hunkered down for the duration. They must have their teenage daughter handcuffed to a radiator.

rcocean said...

I spent $1,000 for tickets to something that I'm now contemplating staying away from. We'll see what happens?

Better go. Bob Dylan might die tomorrow.

Kai Akker said...

Of the 3,337 deaths, how many were in china? 133,012

fify

rcocean said...

my wife hates crowds, so we're safe. However, I assume outdoor sporting event are OK, and may attend a few ball games. As long as the air is circulating and you're not in a closed in space. Broadway may be hard hit, if there's panic.

wildswan said...

Bioterrorism has never caught on because, unlike an army or a twitter mob, it is difficult to make the germs move in on the enemy only. For example, it wouldn't be easy to "push" corona onto Republicans as if it were another DNC lie spread by the fake news group; corona would probably be most dangerous among smokers with hypertension or diabetes regardless of political affiliation.

mezzrow said...

The first rule of Pilates is: You do not talk about Pilates.
The second rule of Pilates is: You do not talk about Pilates.

It's like Fight Club or Band Camp.

Ken B said...

She can only mean court packing.

Marc in Eugene said...

I wondered why 'one goes to the gym' but 'takes Pilates lessons'-- Contrology. One learns something new every day.

Not seeing any of the West Coast Panic here in Eugene although the plague is certainly being talked about. If the Eugene Symphony tries to lock the doors, instead broadcasting March 19th's concert on the radio, I'll be peeved.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Progs love the idea of shutting down their opponents' rallies. They don't allow anyone to wear Trump gear, they steal Trump signs, they assault anyone attending a Trump rally, or campaigning for Trump in any way. They know nobody but Joe really wants to go to a Biden rally. They doxx and ostracize anyone who supports Trump, they encourage social media sites, on the internet developed by the US government with our tax dollars, to quash all opposition. They'll do anything they can, including germ warfare, to enforce their one-party system, the kind that Sanders admired so much in Cuber and Rusher.

Temujin said...

The insane panic voter resides on the Left. Examples abound, including trying to take out the Republican House members.

As for travel, I'm re-evaluating every trip- business or personal- I've got planned through the next few months.

What if you held an election and no one showed up?

Guildofcannonballs said...

Why are people taking Dan Savage's advice seriously??

He's just a silly faggot*, not a real person of seriousness.

*I think that is how it identifies, or at least it used to

https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/germ-warfare/Content?oid=3092

Curious George said...

Trump is able to pull huge crowds to him. I don't see Trump ending his rallies. I also do see them as much of a risk. Keep him up on the stage away from people. Forget the shaking hands and selfies. No one will mind. He knows how to get his word ut and reach the people.

But Biden? Ending campaigning for him reduces the risk of dementia fueled gaffe-fests or him simply soiling himself on stage. No chance of him sniffing on someone (like he did again yesterday).

Or resident dullard equates Trump and Biden as equals when it comes to dementia. I wonder what the dolt will say as Trump grinds him to dust over the next 8 months.

Bruce Hayden said...

“ We have trip to Alaska planned in May, with a cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver at the end of it.”

The Boss (i.e. my partner) gave down the law last year. We were going on a cruise. I don’t get the allure - floating port to port that I am not interested in visiting with thousands of other people, eating and drinking too an excess, etc. But the Vancouver to Anchorage trip is the one that I could get aboard with. Couple I know did it on the ferry many years ago, sleeping on deck in sleeping bags or staying overnight at B&Bs, etc. much too old for that now, at least with this woman. Bicycled through Vancouver, and walked Anchorage in the past, and greatly enjoyed it. But what I really loved was the AK coast. She wants a Mediterranean cruise. Nope. And not Caribbean nor Mexican. Esp not Mexican these days. But I did agree to the cruise up (or down) the northern coast, and it was supposed to be this year. She would go for the food, and I for the scenery. Besides, she had booked this cruise for her ex husband right before their marriage blew up, better than two decades ago over some egregious actions on his part.

As you can tell, I wasn’t enthused, but was going along because it would get her out of the house. I would rather spend this coming summer and fall building my new, rather large (maybe 1600 sq ft) garage in MT. I have HOA approval and the adjoining lot. And would prefer the money going to something less ephemeral than a cruise. But she had gotten me onboard for the cruise, reluctantly.

But since people on that one cruise ship got infected, better than a month ago, I knew that we weren’t going on a cruise this year. She is a rabid germaphobe, even around me, the only person she usually deals with personally in a day. I mentioned that cruise ship being quarantined, that most of our infections in this country being a result of that Deep State government employee overriding policy to break quarantine. Etc. then yesterday I told her directly that we weren’t going. No! No! No! She makes those decisions! I don’t (I would expect it to be a mutual decision, but she really doesn’t understand that concept very well. Ok I say, I have an extra box of masks, a box of gloves, hand sanitizers, and we can go. Nope, she said, we aren’t going. I moan about missing the sights. Nope! She has decided that we aren’t going. So we aren’t.

She refuses to admit that I am the only guy, outside of her son sometimes, who can manipulate her psychologically. It just takes some prep work (the previous mentions of the coronavirus in relation to that one cruise ship), and a bit of negative psychology. What I really love is when I can do it via reverse triggering her Catholic guilt (her seeing herself being triggered by the guilt, and digging her heels in to resist it). Didn’t need that this time though. Mission Accomplished.

narciso said...

you don't have to be insane to vote democrat, but it helps,

ga6 said...

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca wrote of his journey,I recommend it.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%C3%81lvar+N%C3%BA%C3%B1ez+Cabeza+de+Vaca?_requestid=1073784

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Kai Akker said...
Of the 3,337 deaths, how many were in china? 133,012

fify"

Yeah you sure did fix it, didn't you.

JeanE said...

Trump has already generated a lot of energy through actual rallies and he could readily switch to virtual rallies- keep up that enthusiasm and win points for protecting the public.

LA_Bob said...

Of course, I stood in line for about an hour to vote two days ago. Behind me was a tiny 80-year-old Asian woman. She stood for about 45 minutes before a poll worker asked her age and brought her inside to vote ahead of us "younger" folks.

The panic is the real problem. The virus is not harmless, and a pandemic is all but inevitable, but it's not the Black Death. That 80-year-old is more vulnerable than I am.

What will really trigger panic is if one of our septuagenarian candidates (incumbent included) succumbs to COVID-19.

Iman said...

Whether anyone is awful enough to do that,

Ha!!! Is there any doubt?

Kai Akker said...

Regime change in Beijing -- now, or wait three months until virus is quieter?

Iman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Iman said...

Better go. Bob Dylan might die tomorrow.

I’m a big Dylan fan. What a disappointment it was to see him back in 2009 (I think it was, Mellencamp played as well). His songs were near indecipherable and he and the band sounded terrible.

Curious George said...

Bruce Hayden, that sounds like one special lady.

Richard said...

As I indicated in another thread, I attended the AIPAC policy conference. It was a three day meeting with 18K+ people there each day. I will be attending the ACC basketball Tournament next Tuesday through Saturday. There will be 20K people in attendance each day. So the short answer to your question is that I am not planning to curtail any of my activities. I do not see the need to panic at this time. As of now the odds of being infected are extremely low. Anyway, we are all going to die from global warming in 10 years. :)

Drago said...

Inga: "You don’t think so because you aren’t very bright. If the silly woman really had Covid19 she would most likely be too ill to attend any rally. And her joke wasn’t funny"

Actually, statistically speaking, she most certainly would NOT "be too ill to attend any rally."

And we here in Denver know she wasn't joking. She was playing to her base who ate it up.

Achilles said...

Inga said...

Yes, how many times have we heard Achilles and even Michael K talking about hanging political opponents from lampposts? Everyday has a new reason for Achilles to have a civil war. And he’s not joking.

Democrats in cities and states that passes sanctuary statutes have already started a civil war.

Democrats have already promised gun confiscation.

You have already started it Inga.

You and Howard are getting 3 year old girls raped in bathrooms.

You are just a piece of shit.

Jupiter said...

"Am I supposed to stop going to my Pilates lesson?"

Let's see, you are 66 years old, right? How much older do you want to get?

Original Mike said...

"Whether anyone is awful enough to do that,"

Oh, they're awful enough all right.

Jupiter said...

"Democrats in cities and states that passes sanctuary statutes have already started a civil war."

Well, then so have all those counties in Virginia. I suppose you could argue that refusing to have your guns taken away by urban idiots, as the Virginians have done, is not as bad as refusing to allow your fellow citizens to protect their homes and property from invaders, as the sanctuary cities are doing. Hell, here in Oregon, we are in open rebellion against the federal marijuana laws, and have been for some time.

Jupiter said...

And no, I'm not keeping a dossier on Althouse. She has previously mentioned her age, and she was one year older than I am. I assume she still is.

Pettifogger said...

So now adherents to the party of caring, diversity, and tolerance come out in favor of biological warfare. We'll accord foreign adversaries the benefits of the Geneva Convention, but domestic political opponents, the real enemies, can suck it up.

Vance said...

The difference between Achilles, Dr. K or anyone else here on the right that is talking about "hanging liberals from lampposts" is that it's a warning, a "This is what will happen if you leftists keep pushing" kind of thing.

No one wants to hang leftists from lampposts, just like no one wants to put down a rabid dog. But sometimes, reluctantly, and for the safety of all, these things need to happen.

Whereas leftists like Inga love, love, love political violence against Republicans. She was all in on shooting Republican congressmen and women. She loves antifa's bike locks over the head strategy. Now this "Let's infect tens of thousands of Trump voters and hopefully all of them will die!" strategy. Note that Inga didn't condemn it; didn't say it was wrong. She just pointed the finger at Achilles and said "He likes saying stuff so that justifies my side trying to commit acts of bioterrorism!!"

If leftists like Inga are going to Start going around trying to infect people and get them killed, then we will indeed have to start hanging leftists from lampposts to preserve us all. Is that what you want, Inga? Apparently so.

Oh yes, Inga is part of the party that loves, loves, loves letting illegal immigrants go to rape 3 year olds and grandmas. She defends it.

"How can you support such an awful person like Trump who says mean things on Twitter? How can you vote for him? The moral thing to do is vote for the party that loves to let criminals go to rape 3 year old girls! We love that! That's far more moral than Trump's mean tweets!"

Achilles said...

Jupiter said...
"Democrats in cities and states that passes sanctuary statutes have already started a civil war."

Well, then so have all those counties in Virginia. I suppose you could argue that refusing to have your guns taken away by urban idiots, as the Virginians have done, is not as bad as refusing to allow your fellow citizens to protect their homes and property from invaders, as the sanctuary cities are doing. Hell, here in Oregon, we are in open rebellion against the federal marijuana laws, and have been for some time.


If the government was small and did only what it was supposed to do we wouldn't be fighting.

The federal government has no place making laws about drugs. It has no place making laws about abortion.

The only thing the Federal Government should be doing is enforcing the Bill of Rights and protecting citizens from the States.

Shit is all backwards in this country because the natural tendency for Government is to grow and attract people who want to tell other people what to do.

Michael said...

I am traveling as I usually do. I am going to a hockey game in Vancouver next week. I am shaking hands with my colleagues. There are 98,000 worldwide who have been infected, 54,000 have recovered. The US has 149 cases out of 350 million inhabitants. 49 of the US cases were in Wuhan China or on the cruise ship. I will begin to worry when the daily increase is 100 or more and geographically more diverse.

Jupiter said...

From what I read, it seems clear that an American's chances of getting this virus are high, as are his chances of surviving it. The odds of successfully avoiding it, by skipping Pilates, are nil. If you are seriously concerned, and I don't say you shouldn't be, it will take a major alteration of your normal habits to significantly affect the odds.

I feel sorry for the people who work in stores, hospitals, etc, who really don't have much choice. They must be very worried, for themselves and their families.

Ann Althouse said...

"I wondered why 'one goes to the gym' but 'takes Pilates lessons'--"

When did people start calling the health club "the gym"? I've always considered that bullshit.

In my case, I don't go to any sort of gym or health club for Pilates. It's a Pilates-only place. There's nothing else to call it but Pilates.

I don't belong to any "gym" or health club. I get plenty of exercise by going outside, and I don't want to feel I "should" go to some indoor place to "work out." Bleh!

I do go to Pilates, however — a private lesson, not a class. That's a particular thing that I think is worthwhile, even though it's indoors.

William said...

I go to the gym with fair regularity. There seems to be a mild fall off in attendance there, and those that attend hit the Purell dispenser more frequently. I wonder about vulnerability. After a workout, your resistance is down and you're in close proximity with people who are grunting and groaning and sweating. This would seem to be a place where infectious diseases could spread. Yet I've never heard of any gyms being at the center of an outbreak....I'll keep going, but I've got my misgivings. Be just my luck to die in an effort to stay healthy and fit....You pick your places. I wouldn't go on a cruise at any price, but I'll keep going to the gym. Probably best to avoid Dylan concerts. Lots of old, sickly people in attendance at them.

Ann Althouse said...

""I wondered why 'one goes to the gym' but 'takes Pilates lessons'--""

If you're saying there's a difference between going and taking, I wrote "go to" for Pilates.

Ann Althouse said...

I wrote "lessons" to convey that it's not a group, so "class" would not be accurate. I'm not trying to be snooty, if that's how it reads.

Inga said...

“Whereas leftists like Inga love, love, love political violence against Republicans. She was all in on shooting Republican congressmen and women. She loves antifa's bike locks over the head strategy. Now this "Let's infect tens of thousands of Trump voters and hopefully all of them will die!" strategy. Note that Inga didn't condemn it; didn't say it was wrong. She just pointed the finger at Achilles and said "He likes saying stuff so that justifies my side trying to commit acts of bioterrorism!!"

If leftists like Inga are going to Start going around trying to infect people and get them killed, then we will indeed have to start hanging leftists from lampposts to preserve us all. Is that what you want, Inga? Apparently so.

Oh yes, Inga is part of the party that loves, loves, loves letting illegal immigrants go to rape 3 year olds and grandmas. She defends it.”

It takes a special sort of projection to come up with this sort of commentary. Very special.

Freeman Hunt said...

I am avoiding crowds and have stopped eating restaurant food for the time being. It's not panic; it's logic. I assume anyone who compares this virus to flu hasn't been following the story beyond the United States. (Note that we have no idea how many U.S. cases there are because we've hardly tested anyone.)

I am making an exception for one child's competition event because he may qualify for nationals. But we will be avoiding people there, and who knows--nationals may be cancelled.

Inga said...

If one is over age 65 and insists on attending group activities during a pandemic, I’d say reconsider. The latest...

“3.4% Mortality Rate estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO) as of March 3
In his opening remarks at the March 3 media briefing on Covid-19, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated:

“Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected.””

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-rate/#who-03-03-20

Achilles said...

Inga said...


It takes a special sort of projection to come up with this sort of commentary. Very special.

You support sanctuary cities and states.

You support open borders.

You want people to break the law. You want people raped and you want people killed.

Period.

You are a piece of shit.

Achilles said...

Inga said...

“3.4% Mortality Rate estimate by the World Health Organization (WHO) as of March 3
In his opening remarks at the March 3 media briefing on Covid-19, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated:



This person and her party called Trump a racist for stopping travel from China on February 1st.

Achilles said...

“In the Congress and in the Courts, House Democrats will continue to oppose the Administration’s dangerous anti-immigrant agenda,” she said. “We will never allow hatred or bigotry to define our nation or destroy our values.”

Nancy Pelosi just saying what her Chinese paymasters ask her to say.

Michael K said...

Yes, how many times have we heard Achilles and even Michael K talking about hanging political opponents from lampposts? Everyday has a new reason for Achilles to have a civil war. And he’s not joking.

The crazies are spreading. The last one who accused me of wanting Civil War was Ritmo several years ago.

I have explained the "lamppost" reference a couple of times ( a la lanterne) and in Inga's clouded consciousness this is advocating hanging people from lamp posts. Any reference to violence I make is defensive. I can certainly appreciate that DA's husband coming to the door with a pistol when idiots come knocking at 5 AM. Best not try to get into my house at 3 AM. Colt 1911 with extra magazines in the bed side stand.

I am not looking for trouble. If it arrives, all I have to do is work the action. By the way, I have my CCW and another 1911 in the car.

Freeman Hunt said...

Hopefully the infection rates diminish as temperatures rise. This would give us more time before it comes back in the fall.l

Achilles said...

More people have died of flu in the US in the same time period as died of corona virus in China.

The WHO and the aristocracy are trying to cause a global recession.

We all know why. Democrats and the globalists want Trump out.

Infinite Monkeys said...

Came looking for the Dan Savage reference, was not disappointed.

Ken B said...

Where's Farmer? Has the failure of Bernie crushed his soul?

Ken B said...

Never owned a gun, never wanted a gun. If I ever move back to the states though I’d give very serious consideration to getting one. And taking lessons. Fire eaters in the senate calling up whirlwinds doesn’t change my mind.

Dan said...

I've stopped watching TV shows with crowd scenes or even large ensemble casts.

Doug said...

Now if only we could have some kind of panic that could shut down every other aspect of campaigning
Don't you know the Dems will use coronavirus to keep Biden from appearing in public.

Kai Akker said...

Are you avoiding crowds? If not yet, at what point would you?

Yes. We went to two concerts since this news first began breaking. The first was special enough we took our chances. The second was in the largest hall in our city, where there is plenty of room in general. It also seemed early enough that the spreading wouldn't have reached us. Knock on wood.

Re your Pilates -- I just came from canceling my gym membership. This is an environment that strikes me as rife for infection. Large membership, users are supposed to clean off their own machines, yeeccch. And a chamber concert coming up later this month is in a small, tight hall where not only the seating is very close, people are also crammed together in the entrance hallway during intermission and on exit. So that one has to go.

Next will be some family gatherings. That's going to have some social costs.

Kai Akker said...

I am treating this, psychologically, like the homefront in a war where we have to make some sacrifices and hopefully come out OK at some point in the not-too-distant future. Hunker down for a while. The odds are in our favor, theoretically at least, but there are still things that can put them much more in our favor, I think.

DavidD said...

“I feel we really have hit rock bottom with our choices of candidates.”

Democrats: “Hold my latte.”

wbfjrr2 said...

The WHO 3.4% mortality estimate is bogus.

As somebody pointed out, China has had 3000 of the 3500 or so that have been reported dead from this disease. I seriously doubt the Chinese numbers. Likely more died and more were reported infected in China, but China isn’t telling. It’s also true that nobody knows how many we’re actually infected, because mild cases don’t get into the system to be counted.

On the other hand, having lived in Shangha for several years fairly recently, Chinese numbers if taken at face value and just added into the equation will certainly lead to a higher mortality rate than would occur in most modern Western countries, especially the US.

Facts you don’t see in the news or from WHO regarding China:
1. Most Chinese smoke like chimneys, EVERYWHERE. Cigarette store the size of a 7-11 abound in the cities. Way more people, per capital, smoke there than in the US, and second hand smoke is a non issue in China. They don’t care. They smoke while eating at home and in restaurants, in airports, even in Chinese hospitals.

2. The air is incredibly polluted. We never saw stars or the moon while we lived there. Literally. Often we couldn’t see buildings a few hundred feet away. Beijing was even worse, and the second and third tier (size-wise) cities all awful due to coal powered plants. Flying over the interior of China you can look down and see the plumes and clouds of smog over the cities you pass over.

3. They have for the most part terrible sanitation standards. Dishes etc are often washed in cold water without soap. It was routine to see Chinese squatting by a community faucet washing pots and dishes straight from the cold spigot, sans any sign of soap or detergent.
Chinese men spit notoriously, big phlegmy globs, ANYWHERE. I never understood why, it must be cultural. Singapore outlaws it, by the way. They spit on restaurant floors, sidewalks, you name it. Once at an airport counter while I was enduring a lengthy process, the adjacent male agent was spitting several times on the floor. Disgusting. Young children are dressed in split pants, and they squat and do their business right on the sidewalks. Toilets for the Chinese are almost all a hole in the floor that goes somewhere unknown. The water is undrinkable by western standards.

4. Huge numbers of people live on top of one another. Wuhan, where we are to,d this started, has 11 million people, but is a second tier city. When we lived there 2008-2011, there were 25 cities over 25 million occupants. Chung Ching has over 35 million.

5. Chinese hospitals are for the most part pretty primitive by our standards. When we were being briefed on how to get by upon arrival in China, we were instructed to find the closest private hospital and make sure we had the taxi instructions with us so we could get there if needed. We were instructed to avoid the public hospitals if at all possible.

My point in all this is that the mortality rate in China will be many times the mortality rate here due to the factors above. Their lungs are in worse than the average American’s lungs due to the smoking and pollution, and the risk levels for catching the disease are exacerbated by poor sanitation, medical standards, and population density.

Meanwhile the flu here has caused over 18,000 deaths thus far this flue season, and nobody alters their living routine because of it. The 2017-2018 season saw 60,000 people die here, and hundreds of thousands of people globally. WHO was quiet, as I recall. Many millions ignore exhortations to get shots, each and every flu season here.

They should call this corona flu, and stop stirring up panic with bogus, inflammatory reporting and conjecture. Likely many more people have the flu each year than get included in the stats, as mild cases just are self treated. Likely the same is happening with this virus. So the denominator is likely underestimated in the mortality rate.

wbfjrr2 said...

Please ignore the autocorrect incorrections in my note above.

Vance said...

Just one follow up here: Inga did not deny anything I attributed to her. She just tried the old "fake laugh, so people will think I denied it!"

But see, Democrats DID attack Republican congressmen trying to kill them,. Schumer is out there threatening bodily harm to the Supreme Court. Antifa rages on. In my little state of Utah, we have Democrat people literally rioting over the indoor port; coupled with pitched battles with the cops last summer.

The Democrats are violent, and Inga has no words of condemnation, only "do you really think I think this way?" Well, all evidence points to "yes, Inga really relishes violent Democrats."

So it's totally in character for Schumer's Democat party to commit attacks of bioterrorism.

rightguy said...

What wbjffr said.

Thank you for that detailed, factual first hand report. It should widely read and discussed.

MayBee said...

wbfjrr2 said...

100%

I lived in Hong Kong during SARS, and you are absolutely correct about all of this about China.

AllenS said...

Thank you, wbfjrr2. Just what I suspected.