April 18, 2020

"You see all over the country now people are revolting against certain state governors who want to maintain lockdown. It can’t go on."

"This forced shutdown, the forced ruination of the United States economy must end. And I can’t tell you. I was longing for that day yesterday.... I don’t know how many of the people who are among our experts setting policy, I don’t know how many of them have been broke. I don’t know how many of them have been where 22 million Americans are, without a job, without any income, and unemployment compensation that just will not get it done. I don’t know how many. There may be some. I’m sure that the law of averages would dictate some have been there. But I don’t know how many. Trump has been there, by the way. Trump has been at the edge of the cliff looking over it. His survival techniques are a fascinating story and why they’re not going to damage him ultimately with every effort they’re gonna mount on this.... And I think that way too many people in some positions of authority and power really don’t face dire economic circumstances like an increasing number of the American people do. It worries me. As I say, I’ve been there, and it’s scary to me, just the memories of being in that circumstance. And it was a number of different times for me. It’s scary to remember it. But it enables me to understand what people are going through and how it cannot go on. It simply can’t...."

That's the Rush Limbaugh perspective (from yesterday's show).

Also: "Do you realize whatever the length of time this task force has been up and running there has not been one subversive leak, not one? Not a single subversive leak.
Not a single act or leak of sabotage. It’s phenomenal. Think of all the opportunities people on this task force had. There is a sympathetic media waiting out there beating down the windows, beating down the doors, begging anybody, a staff member, an actual member of the task force, 'Please, please, we know things can’t be going this well. We know some of you have to think Trump’s an idiot. Just tell us. Just tell us. We promise you anonymity.'... Throughout all of this, not only did Drs. Fauci and Birx not take the bait whenever they were given a chance to insult Trump, Trump never diminished anybody. Trump anybody insulted anybody on his team. Trump never made anybody say, 'Well, if they’re that bad, why do you have them on the team?' He was nothing but respectful of everybody on his team. He stood behind all of them. He was happy to share the stage with any and all of them. He did not tweet when things weren’t going well that somebody was a buffoon and made a mistake. He acted as real leaders do. He stood behind the American people. He made it clear that everything going on was for the benefit the American people. All the while, he was taking just incredible incoming fire from critics, the Democrats, the media — and he held the line."

68 comments:

Nichevo said...

Well, yeah.

Bay Area Guy said...

Telling millions of healthy young people to stay home, give up their work, give up their LIVELIHOODs, until further notice from educated scarf woman in DC was a bad idea then, and a bad idea now.

Protect the vulnerable - have them stay home.

The rest - let them work!

Jersey Fled said...

What? They couldn't even find a mythical "anonymous administration official"?

What's going on at the NYT and WAPO?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Bay Area Guy for President.

Shouting Thomas said...

God bless you, professor, you're coming out of your obedient, helpful funk.

Live free or die!

Sebastian said...

Meanwhile, out in the real wold:

"Less than half of L.A. County residents still have jobs amid coronavirus crisis"

More "marginal businesses," as we've been told on this very blog. Take that, deplorables: don't be in the wrong half.

WK said...

Rush: You can see all over the country now people are revolting.....
Hillary: Revolting. They are deplorable!

Sebastian said...

"you're coming out of your obedient, helpful funk"

Indeed. Alarmism didn't suit Althouse, but her and Meade's panic was a useful indicator of the national mood. Hard for politicians to hold out against it if even Meadehouse thinks as they did.

But it's good to see Althouse hasn't lost her mind, which typically recognizes BS as BS. Of which there was a lot. Which did and is doing a lot of damage.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

After Russia Russia Russia Maddow lie & impeachment over Joe Biden's crimes- shutting down the nation is the perfect slide into 3rd base-Hillary revenge porn.

Ray - SoCal said...

With all the bad information out there on Coronavirus, I respect the decisions Anne and Meade for their health. There are still a lot of unknowns on the virus, and the best approach.

The good news is more known everyday.

Shouting Thomas said...

Is anybody out there working on a vaccine to immunize us from fake media panics?

LYNNDH said...

My wife and I have been there too, several times. We made it to where we are now, comfortable life.
We are 73. If the shut in is lifted we will still take precautions for a good long while, but that is OUR choice.
I think the tendencies of govt in power to become petty tyrants is in full bloom. What will happen at the ballot box (that is if stuffing and harvesting don't steal the election) will be interesting. I don't think anyone knows what will happen, especially the so called experts.

Michael K said...

Two things to remember.

One, government employees are getting paid. They are in no hurry to get things going again.

Remember the government shutdowns when they were not getting paid ? Panic !

Two, small business owners vote Republican. "I can't be responsible for every undercapitalized business."

Let them starve while I eat my $12 a pint ice cream.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

It might be remarkable that there were no leaks from the perspective of a white house press that has had nothing positive to say about Trump from day one.

Meanwhile, the people he picked realized the severity of the task at hand and behaved accordingly. Trump picked good people.

narciso said...

the American greatness piece, I linked a few days ago, how the shutdown orders are targeted at those who are more predisposed to be trump supporters, small business people, retail workers, in rural areas, whereas govt and big corporate employees are more exempt,

Jess said...

The first amendment demands citizens are never denied their right to peacefully assemble. Federal laws describe the crimes of using authority to deny citizens their rights. Otherwise, when anyone uses their authority to force people to stay home, or to arrest them when they don't, is committing a felony. Maybe a few arrests will place it all back into perspective? Throw a few governors in jail for their felonies?

Drago said...

Pelosi knows the democrats/LLR's attempts to politically weaponize the pandemic have essentially failed (too many videos that prove Trump's point exist) so as of yesterday Pelosi sent out a public letter to all dems/LLR-lefties with the New and Approved Talking Point: This is now the Trump Depression.

Yep.

As predicted months ago, this entire event ends up with an economic storm that the dems were desperately and openly wishing for over the last several years as the only way to take Trump out.

Sebastian said...

Even the UN is turning against the panic:

"Hundreds of thousands of children could die this year due to the global economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and tens of millions more could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis, the United Nations warned on Thursday. The United Nations said an estimated 42 million to 66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the coronavirus crisis this year"

So what will be more important to prog governors, hurting Trump or helping children?

Temujin said...

No- it cannot go on. And here's the thing. It worked at first because we were all so scared or cautious. Some more than others. But we all chose to cooperate with state and local officials out of concern for our neighbors and the greater good. (whatever that is).

But the shutdown works only if there is buy-in from the people. And when politicians start using this crisis (as Dems are wont to do) to break out 'want lists' of things to get accomplished that would never get accomplished going down normal legislative paths, or when they choose to arbitrarily allow things that their patrons want, and disallow things that their political opponents want- well then that leads to revolt, rebellion, and getting tossed out of office.

The people's patience is growing short and in some states it's boiling over. And when they have to hear how Nancy Pelosi gets to spend time with her grandkids from New York, when the rest of us cannot see our kids or grandkids at all- even those living in the same city. We tend to get resentful. When Nancy then shows us how she gets through all this and manages to ignore approving the additional surplus needed to fund the PPP program by eating massive amounts of Jeni's Gelato held in her $24,000 refrigerator/freezers, well...her head on a pike seems a logical conclusion. Not literally, of course. I would never condone her head on a pike. I have too much respect for pikes.

Drago said...


Sebastian: "Hundreds of thousands of children could die this year due to the global economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic and tens of millions more could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis, the United Nations warned on Thursday. The United Nations said an estimated 42 million to 66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the coronavirus crisis this year"

If hundreds of thousands of children have to die and millions more have to be plunged into desperate life threatening poverty to save one person from ChiCom virus and provide the democrats new hope for the November election, it will have been worth it.

Yancey Ward said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drago said...

You know which groups cannot afford to social distance? the global poor.

And now we are going to have lots and lots more of them.

Just think of it as a Global Elites Great Leap Forward!!!..just dont pay attention to those newly created large dirt mounds.

Yancey Ward said...

The problem was that the shutdown was one-size-fits all. There was no real justification for shutting down 95% of the geographic area of the US. If you look at all the states, the cases are highly concentrated inside the borders of the cities with actually few hotspots in the surrounding suburban towns and counties. I live in a county, Anderson County TN, that has had a cumulative 16 cases, 1 death, and only 5 active cases as of yesterday. The situation in most of the counties of TN is the same- 95%+ of the cases in TN are in 5 of the 95 counties. I think all but two of the counties have had shrinking active case loads for the last week- recoveries are greater than new cases.

The state will reopen for business on May 1st guaranteed.

Bruce Hayden said...

"Less than half of L.A. County residents still have jobs amid coronavirus crisis"

Moreover, I saw a photo of a LA freeway yesterday, and it was fairly full of vehicles. Of course, LA has the problem that only legal residents are effected by their lockdown order. The illegals can just throw their tickets away. They aren’t going to be jailed, because CA doesn’t do that to illegals, and, anyway, they are trying to clear out the jails now anyway, to keep inmates from infecting each other. And, as a sanctuary city in a sanctuary state, the illegals aren’t going to be deported.

But once there is a sufficient level of public civic disobedience, it becomes impossible to enforce quarantine type laws. Just not enough police, and those there are, are already working overtime. If CHP tried to shutdown nonessential travel on that freeway, it would have been ineffective. They would have been lucky to pull over 1% of the drivers to see if they were engaging in essential travel, and a roadblock would have probably tied up traffic for miles, until everyone started routing around the roadblocks.

Yancey Ward said...

I wrote a rhetorical question 3 weeks ago- how different would the Democrat governors and the media be treating this if federal, state, and local employees had had to file for unemployment rather than "working" from home- and include in that all the white collar employees in the private sector doing the same thing. I promise you this- the response would be have been vastly different. There is a real divide in the country here in this regard, and Laslo nailed it with a comment a few weeks back about Eloi and Morlocks that rings truer by the day.

Qwinn said...

Listening to Cuomo calling for an "army" - his word - of "tracers", people who track interactions between people to trace infections.

What will this army do when the current pandemic is over?

My gut says, trace the spread of subversive ideas.

In Cuba, every single neighborhood block has at least once, maybe several, informants whose only job is to spot and report on the neighborhood deplorables.

Cuomo and other Democrats want to use this pandemic to eliminate huge swaths of service industries that require peaceful assembly, and replace them with "tracers" whose job it is to find and report the spread of dangerous infections, to soon include subversive ideas.

Oh wait, I forgot, it could never happen here.

jaydub said...

The Wuflu latest stats from the third most populous county in NC (530,000):

Cases: 171 total, new cases added in last 8 days: 1,1,4,1,2,5,2,2

Dead: 12 total, 1 under 25, 1 between 25 and 50, 7 between 50 and 65, 3 over 65.

In NC state news:

State unemployment staff has been tripled to handle the flood of claims with 210,000 new claims processed related to Wuflu since mid March, including 93,000 in the week ending March 21.

Fortunately no government employees have been furloughed because all are essential.

Our governor's cower in place order for the month of April is expected to be extended to at least mid-May.

State motto has been changed from "To be rather than to seem" to "It's a freakin pandemic I tells ya, a freakin pandemic! Not only that, we're all going to die!"

rcocean said...

Pelosi and Schumer are multi-millionaires, and so are most of the Democrat Governors. They aren't hurting. And neither are their wealthy donors. And the chattering classes can work from home.

Va shut down the state till June 9th. I think that won't last, because its insane. Large parts of CA outside of LA and the SF Bay area need to reopened ASAP.

Michael K said...

If CHP tried to shutdown nonessential travel on that freeway, it would have been ineffective.

Maybe they could dump 37 tons of sand on the I 10. It worked for San Clemente.

Of course, West LA is the home of the "Silicon Beach" and big D donors.

Otto said...

All good.The weak are dying,the obese are dying, the old are dying, social security will become solvent, medicare will become solvent, economy will boom. Darwinism lives.

Sebastian said...

"It’s scary to remember it."

It'll be even more scary if the devastation continues. The people hurt by shutdowns have been nice about it so far. How much longer?

stevew said...

What liability do state governors face if they re-open and people get sick and die? I bet that is at least part of their decision making.

Tommy Duncan said...

Qwinn said...

"Listening to Cuomo calling for an "army" - his word - of "tracers", people who track interactions between people to trace infections.

What will this army do when the current pandemic is over?"


If the new infection rate numbers out of California are true there is no purpose for "tracers". Most of the people spreading the disease have no symptoms and no knowledge they are spreading the virus. There is nothing to trace.

JohnAnnArbor said...

The lowest on the economic ladder are being hurt the most by far. Democrats CLAIM to care about them.

hombre said...

I would attribute the shortsightedness in arriving at a reasonable compromise solution to the hysteria created by the stupidity and malevolence of the leftmedia and politics - largely Democrat politics. Lefties have turned us into a half-nation of pussies waiting for the government to tell us what to do.

So many commenters here and elsewhere have offered common sense: Protect the vulnerable. Put the others back to work. Wash your hands. Wear masks and gloves. Keep your distance where possible. The insane, ignorant response: “You don’t care if people die!” I care, but the government isn’t in charge of that. It is in charge of preserving the nation.

When I was a kid we studied how the US overcame a lack of tanks, guns and planes at the outset of WWII. If we had this mainstream media, we’d have lost the war, just as we lost Vietnam. If our descendants have schools and books, they will read about how we hid in our homes while the most powerful economy on earth went down the crapper and the consequences.

Matt said...

He's right. I live inside the Beltway and I think people here are definitely isolated from the rest of the country. Its a different world. Lots of nice houses and neighborhoods. Very few old cars being driven. Even the number of smokers here is shockingly low compared to when I travel to other parts of the country. We are spoiled here because the economy runs pretty much on tax dollars.

Which is I why I expect we'll eventually be targeted for hate and violence when the S really HTF. And, honestly, I won't blame the angry hordes when they come.

daskol said...

The US is not set up for this kind of mass collective action (thank God). Noncompliance has been a huge risk, probably the biggest risk to any major action to combat the virus spread, since day 1. I hope the lesson that people take from this experience, which will include the bitter experience of millions of Americans harmed economically by the shutdown, is not that we shouldn't act to prevent the spread of a virus. If we had acted quickly to seal national borders and take common sense mass action--masks, hygiene recommendations, curtailing large gatherings, limiting travel from certain areas (e.g. dense coastal cities), recommend distancing for vulnerable populations--we could likely have achieved a better outcome in terms of virus spread without the cripplingly expensive and unevenly borne shitshow we are dealing with today. The governors and mayors and the many petty tyrants and wannabe petty tyrants among them were empowered to act in often authoritarian ways because we were not sufficiently aggressive at the outset to assert our sovereignty with respect to national borders and individual common sense about how not to spread a virus (masks). We were told otherwise by our highest global and national officials: travels bans were unnecessary, masks don't help, yada. Lies, and not just from the ChiComs. Costly lies. Lies that have a logic to them, a logic that can be sussed out from our over-optimized, globalized world where shutting national borders was anathema, even heresy. I hope that besides the restoration of national sovereignty and individual common sense, the rest of Trump's agenda re nationalist economic development, a manufacturing/industrial resurgence in the US and strategic negotiation of trade and other international matters to ensure a robust domestic supply chain sees a lift from this experience. If we take the lessons correctly, not just about the petty tyrants lying in wait for crisis but also the systemic/structural factors that left us vulnerable to this catastrophe, it will be a costly but highly worthwhile lesson.

I still think there's a good chance that the economic catastrophe may look worse now than it will in a short time so long as we manage the re-opening of the country, just as the worst case outcomes of the virus seemed far scarier to many just a few weeks ago. We can snap back economically in most industries that are not materially impacted, although big sectors like hospitality and travel and their many, many service jobs may take years to return.

hawkeyedjb said...

"marginal businesses"

How come there's no such thing as a non-essential government activity? Not one goddamn thing.
Diversity administrators are still getting paid, you betcha. Because somebody, somewhere might miss a trigger warning.

daskol said...

For my part, as a germ disliker, I have always had to fight off cootie feelings to ride the NYC subway, which I have done for decades. It's going to be a lot harder now: subways kill. I hope stats around the dangers of various transit methods, including cards, now incorporate mass transit's tendency to spread deadly disease as a risk factor when evaluating transport safety. Let's get real about the downsides of high density living, and I say that as a lifelong NYer and NY lover.

tcrosse said...

Here's how the return of the Las Vegas Strip looks to industry analysts:
Las Vegas strip to come back with major differences

Jersey Fled said...

My neighbors are both teachers. They pretend to teach their students online and continue to get paid. The kids largely ignore it and are all over the streets every day, but get credit for being in class.

Our government at work.

cacimbo said...

NYC is encouraging people to report their neighbors to 311 for not social distancing. At the same time NYPD cops are ordered back to work 14 days after they test positive. One cop got a second test a week after being returned to work - positive. City doctor told him, "yes, you are still contagious. Just make sure to wear your mask." Now the Mayor is saying city beaches and pools are going to be closed all summer. The playgrounds and basketball courts are already closed. How does anyone really think that is gonna work out?

How did they arrive at the 14 day quarantine guidelines for positives? Another friend got sick 3/22, finally got tested on 4/15, she was shocked when test came back positive. She still has a little tightness in chest but felt she was recovered. Taste and smell had returned - yet she still is a contagious danger.

daskol said...

The people of NYC will reopen the parks/playgrounds and beaches as soon as the weather gets consistently nice, for better or for worse. The humor in petty tyrant deBlasio trying to assert himself at this time, a moment when people are more open to govt intrusion than typical to say the least, is that nobody here is listening to him anyway. It's a black humor when leadership would be helpful, but his nonentityness is too complete to rehabilitate. Huge loser.

Sebastian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
daskol said...

I'm sure the class action lawsuits are already being prepared, and city employees like NYPD and FDNY and DOC (corrections) and the EMTs and so forth will be suing the city for another decade or two. NYC Corp Counsel is going to be a busy job for a while, as it was after 9/11 and the two decades after that when safety and wage/labor violations stacked up into enormous lawsuits.

Sebastian said...

"she still is a contagious danger"

Depends on how you look at it.

She is not a danger to healthy young people, and she is helping to build up herd immunity.

We need more cases, the right kinds of cases.

Of course, we've already had plenty more than tests revealed, than were "known," another indicator of the extent of the panic.

Sebastian said...

"Noncompliance has been a huge risk, probably the biggest risk to any major action to combat the virus spread, since day 1."

Always ignored by the proponents of general shutdowns. We would have done better with much less expensive targeted isolation of vulnerable groups whose compliance would have been easier to enforce, even if we turned a blind eye to Althouse biking on public trails and tactfully passed by DBQ's armed compound.

"I still think there's a good chance that the economic catastrophe may look worse now than it will in a short time so long as we manage the re-opening of the country, just as the worst case outcomes of the virus seemed far scarier to many just a few weeks ago"

Perhaps. Fingers crossed. But unlike the ass-pulled numbers spouted by the alarmists -- 11 million! 2.2 million! 1 million! 240 thousand! 77 thousand in Minnesota alone!-- we already have some hard economic numbers, 22 million unemployment claims, to start with. Better reopen quick or the economic ventilators ain't gonna work so good.

Kathryn51 said...

stevew said...
What liability do state governors face if they re-open and people get sick and die? I bet that is at least part of their decision making.

Zero liability - but plenty of political liability. Which is why the Dem governors only talk about staying locked up until fatality rate is zero. They are afraid that opening up is seen as caving to capitalists. . .or something.

Night Owl said...

Good comment daskol @ 12:06. Many good points.

We're so divided as a country, and with a media that thrives on spreading hate and lies, if a real killer disease (the wu flu ain't it) hits we'd be doomed. Our ruling class is awful. They would lead us to damnation because the left thinks they are always right and have nothing but contempt for the opposition, and the right no longer trusts the left.

We have the ability to bounce back economically if we reopen sensibly and soon, and I hope we will. But there are so many who want to see "Trump's Great Depression", that the upcoming months will be interesting to say the least. It will be a test to see whether the majority of Americans want to really live free or be ruled by power-hungry bureaucrats... and Karens.

Michael K said...

If the new infection rate numbers out of California are true there is no purpose for "tracers". Most of the people spreading the disease have no symptoms and no knowledge they are spreading the virus. There is nothing to trace.

Exactly. The contact tracing is an excuse to track cell phones and license plates for purposes attractive to Democrats.

gilbar said...

Top coronavirus model significantly lowers total estimates of US deaths in new projection

there WILL BE 2 MILLION deaths!!! Hospitals OVERWHELMED! LACK OF VENTILATORS!
...
there will be 200,000 deaths!!! QUIT PRETENDING THAT IT'S JUST THE FLU!!!
...
there's gonna be 80,000 deaths! it's real Real bad!
...
there's gonna be (up to) 60,000 deaths; depending on the breaks
...
we'll count 34,063 deaths, 'cause we've changed what we count as a death
...
But, REMEMBER! IT'S STILL WORTHWHILE, to bankrupt the country and Destroy people's lifes; 'cause
hmmm, well, 'cause.... well, it's because (?) I'm SURE we need to do it; i can't remember why
BUT... WE DO!!

daskol said...

Contact tracing is horrifying. That many Dem leaders see political value in a protracted economic decline is horrifying. I'm sure for many or our exalted leaders this has been a political battle from the outset, and never shifted much from being a political battle. For responsible and accountable leaders who take their responsibilities to their constituents and principles seriously, well, the political warfare is coming hard for them, too, now. It's encouraging on some level to see that the ground is shifting such that the political battle is now at the forefront of many people's minds. It is an ugly battle, though.

gilbar said...

but, y'all WERE right after all.... IT'S NOTHING LIKE THE FLU
THE FLU IS A HELL OF A LOT MORE DEADLY

Birkel said...

2 weeks of government shutdown when everybody knows the paychecks will be rendered eventually.
STATUS according to MSM: Hair on Fire!

Possibly 2 months of people having no jobs and no income.
STATUS according to MSM: No big deal.

Me: These people are worse than useless.

Andrew said...

One problem I see is who will come back to work if the new subsidized unemployment checks are more than a person's actual wages. Could this have been Pelosi's plan?

Kai Akker said...

More "marginal businesses," as we've been told on this very blog. [Sebastian]

Yes, indeed -- by me, as I simply reversed your formulation of letting all marginal people die. A formulation you posted dozens of times on here. Are you still whining about my one comment a week or more later? Time to grow up, Sebastian!

320Busdriver said...

Nothing pisses me off more than the thought of WI governor Toni Evers saying it was insulting to suggest that state employees like parks employees take a pay cut or even a temporary furlough after his “proclamation” that state parks are closed to the proles. Talk about tone deaf.

He can Fuck off!

Sebastian said...

Kai: "Yes, indeed -- by me, as I simply reversed your formulation of letting all marginal people die"

I never respond to the bad-faith commenters around here, but f$*k that.

We've taken names, and we remember.

DavidUW said...

I've said it before, I've been saying it on our neighborhood groups, and i'll say it here.

Pick a day.
Everyone who has a business open it up. Wear a mask, put deliveries out on a curb for pick up, limit numbers in your store. Run half your factory lines, whatever. but open it.

Done.

Kai Akker said...

Well, I thought you could put on your big-boy pants, but maybe it was too much to hope for.

"We've taken names, and we remember." Whoooo! LOL

Robert Cook said...

"Trump has been there, by the way. Trump has been at the edge of the cliff looking over it."

Hahaha! Trump has filed bankruptcy several times, either because of his incompetence as a businessman, or because, (as he claims), he's "smart" and took advantage of the tax laws. (Maybe both.) But he's never been broke, never had a moment of worry about whether he would be able to pay his medical bills, to buy food or keep himself and his family housed. Trump is a hustler, a con man, and when he couldn't convince others to give him their money to keep him afloat, he turned to his father or siblings for loans. Trump hasn't the slightest thing in common with the working people of the country who face disaster every time nature or the powerful fuck with the order of things beyond the system's capacity to absorb it.

n.n said...

there WILL BE 2 MILLION deaths!!! Hospitals OVERWHELMED! LACK OF VENTILATORS!

At its most liberal (i.e. surreal) estimate of reduced viability, the Wuhan virus(es), perhaps "Her Choice," perhaps their Choice, pales in comparison to the excess deaths forced by "her Choice", and it too can be limited through prudent steps. Here's to social progress and wicked solutions.

Neither Planned Parenthood nor planned parent nor planned population.

n.n said...

Everyone who has a business open it up. Wear a mask,

According to researchers from Wuhan, the minimum social distance should be 12 feet. And, if we follow the Precautionary Principle, the very one spurring people to react to catastrophic anthropogenic climate cooling... warming... change... excess CO2... excess Carbon, excess Population, then we should double that estimate. So, the minimum social distance should be 24 feet. That will reduce the viability of V, P, and E, too.

Michael K said...

Trump hasn't the slightest thing in common with the working people of the country who face disaster every time nature or the powerful fuck with the order of things beyond the system's capacity to absorb it.

Cook, why don't you try to run for office and see which of you the common people trust more ?

You spout leftist BS but the market for that crap is mostly the stupid and the grifters who think they can make a buck from it.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Jersey Fled,

I can't speak to your neighbors, but as the wife of a teacher I can tell you that, while he has no means of forcing his students to attend class, he is doing his usual work and then some. He has three-and-a-half orchestras to run (three levels of string orchestra and a full orchestra whose conducting he shares with the band director), and one class in music theory; all are getting daily assignments (reading and quizzes for the music theory kids, playing assignments for the others). The playing assignments are partly repertoire they were already preparing for a now-canceled concert, but he's arranged software such that they have access to the full score, which they can listen to, play along with, and finally delete their own part from the mock up and play along in its stead. There are also short playing exercises for rhythm, particular finger patterns, &c.

His entire downstairs studio has been turned into an audio/visual broadcasting station, basically, so that he can cut from his own image to a program screen and back again. There's some great jerry-rigging so that the lighting is good for both purposes -- one large umbrella is currently blocking off most of the light from a skylight, for one thing, and a shoji screen draped in a blanket has been curved around his chair.

He has two private students, who are getting lessons the same way.

In other words: Some teachers are doing their jobs. Even in the face of bushelsful of unbelievable crap written in pure educratese, hopeless bungling and shilly-shallying from certain school administrators, and of course the ever-helpful contempt of people like yourself.

mandrewa said...

Matt Christiansen's commentary on the Michigan governor.

Birkel said...

So the United Nations finally started acknowledging what I have been saying for 6-8 weeks, eh? Yeah, the United States' economy has a cold. The rest of the world's economy is about to end up in ICU.

Quite literally women and children will be hardest hit.

RichAndSceptical said...

Make sure high risk people have n95 masks, hand sanitizer, and gloves, and that they know how to protect themselves. Establish improved standards for nursing homes, VA hospitals, etc, then set America free.

It would also help if they would be specific about who is being hospitalized and who is dying. Make sure the people most at risk realize they are most at risk.